Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Eh Is a 68-Year-Old Male Who Comes Into the Clinic...

EH is a 68-year-old male who comes into the clinic complaining of a fever with a temperature of 103  °F. He has had a cough for the last three days that is producing some thick green brown mucous. The MD feels he most likely has bacterial pneumonia. He also has a history of having rheumatoid arthritis, and being immune compromised as he is on an immunosuppressant methotrexate. He has noted that over the last year he has lost weight unintentionally and feels he is underweight. 1. Understanding epidemiologic concepts of the chain of transmission of organisms from host to victim, describe how EH could have been infected. * Pneumonia is refers to an infection in the lungs that causes swelling in the lungs tissue and this inflammation†¦show more content†¦His wife can use automated bicep, wrist cuff but I don’t think she can use the scope. KH’s most primary factor risk is an HTN because of his age and also the extra 30Ibs of his DM. but his 30Ibs over is not a sig nificantly bad if KH were health of metabolically but the overweigh can lead to cause of hypertension. 2. What is the rationale for treating KH with an ACE inhibitor? What is the mechanism of action? What part of the blood pressure formula do they affect? The prescribed of medications are also ethnicity needs to take because some of the medications works better some of the groups ethnicity than other people. It is an angiotensin II of vasoconstrictor that elevates of B/P angiotensin II are also formed of angiotensin 1in the bloods enzyme and enzyme can cover ACE and interfere activity of enzyme of ACE because it decreases the angiotensin II. Most of all if he has vasodilation and blood pressure is reduces. 3. KH’s hypertension is not adequately controlled. What other intervention might be considered? The other interventions are if there is no well treatment of couple of things, I think there would be damage to the heart, arteries and that could be a heart attack, heart disease, stroke and more. 4. What tips can you give KH’s wife to improve the accuracy of her blood pressure measurement technique? Used the better way to measure the blood and for the cuff to wrap

Monday, December 16, 2019

Prelude to American Revolution Free Essays

Creating the New Nation The social, political, and economic consequences of the Revolutionary War and the early American Republic have served as a blueprint for global freedom enabling subsequent generations and the nations to secure the blessings of liberty. With the culmination of the French and Indian War, British and American ethos clashed causing the American colonists to create a new nation founded on the principles of self-government and human liberty. The following paragraphs will detail a succinct history of the events that shaped this watershed historical and political movement. We will write a custom essay sample on Prelude to American Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now The year is 1754. After years of feeling envious of the Spanish spreading culture around the globe, the British decided to follow in their footsteps, hoping for the same successful results. They set their sights on the New World that promises, â€Å"Land as far as the eye can see† and religious freedom. So they set sail to travel to the Promised Land, only to soon find themselves in a major conflict. It’s not before long that the British are in battle with the current French habitants. Both sides try to receive as much help as possible, by befriending local Native American tribes. This war is now famously known as The French and Indian War. This brutal, exhausting war lasts seven years. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris is signed to finally end the warfare. Taking note of this, the British Parliament issues the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade any British colonists to settle past the Appalachian Mountains. The tired, beaten-up, colonists were outraged. Some refused to comply and moved out west anyways. This is significant because this is the first sign of rebellious acts that the colonists made leading up to the American Revolution. The damage from the French and Indian War was far more devastating than people realized. Britain was severely in debt and stripped of resources. As a result, a few taxes were placed on the colonies. The most important being The Stamp Act of 1765. The idea was for the British to place a tax on all documents produced in the British colonies. This was the main form of communication, so having to pay even more for something they used very often frustrated the colonists to an even greater extent. Many colonists thought it was against their rights to be taxed without their consent. The phrase, â€Å"taxation without representation† became more and more popular within the general public. Some colonists even formed rebellious groups and protested the British Parliament’s taxes. On March 5, 1770, a group of protesters were on King Street in Boston, Massachusetts. They began verbally abusing and harassing eight soldiers stationed in front of a building. Without order, the soldiers fired into the crowd, instantly killing three people and wounding others. This major event is known as the Boston Massacre. After several similar events, significant figures such as Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and many others, signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. This document stated that America is declaring its independence against the British Government. The thirteen colonies considered themselves â€Å"independent†, not knowing the major actions that Britain was going to commence. The American Revolution had officially begun. A disgruntled colonist named Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet criticizing not only the British, but the colonists also. He thought that no one was actually taking actions in preparations for the war against Britain. He constantly used biblical references to try and influence people to take action. This pamphlet, titled â€Å"Common Sense† is famously known as being the most popular pamphlet in the revolutionary era. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, the young country of America thought they needed some type of constitution; therefore, The Articles of Confederation were established. The A of C loosely linked the 13 states mainly to deal with foreign affairs. It didn’t create an executive branch. Each state had a single vote and 9 of the 13 states had to vote for a bill before it passed. The main problem with this was that Rhode Island had the same amount of power as Virginia, which had three times Rhode Island’s population. Also, The A of C did not provide the government power to tax, raise an army or navy, and regulate commerce for national interests. States, however, could enforce taxes. Frustration continued throughout the American states for years. A farmer named Daniel Shay, led a small army and tried to revolt against the government. Shay’s Rebellion was stopped, but exposed several major problems. First, there was not standing army to stop a rebellion. Second, many people, including Thomas Jefferson, agreed with Shay. Jefferson stated, â€Å"The tree of liberty has to be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants from time to time. It is as natural as manure. † And thirdly, the A of C were not working AT ALL. In 1787, a quorum of 55 emissaries from 12 states gathered in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson called this a â€Å"Convention of Demigods†, but it was formally known as the Constitutional Convention. They issued many major compromises. One being the CT Plan/Great compromise. This set a standard to how many representatives in each state could be in Senate (equal) and the House of Representatives (based on population). Another compromise they established was the 3/5 compromise. This stated that slaves were to be counted as 3/5 of person. This greatly impacted when bills or policies were in the voting stages. Lastly, The Electoral College was created. The idea of this was to be used for future presidential elections. They were to use the number of congressional electors from each state to determine the president based on the state’s power. For example, California would have more Electoral College votes than Oklahoma because it has a higher population. Realizing that the A of C has led to be a string of failures, George Washington appointed James Madison to construct the U. S. Constitution. Many Anti-Federalists sharply criticized the Constitution because it did not recognize many civil rights. The first 10 amendments of the Constitution, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, is a necessity to the most precious of our rights. It prohibits too much intrusion by the government. In other words, it greatly limits the government’s power. As the country became more and more in debt, Alexander Hamilton argued that Assumption was the right way to go because the debts were caused by the shared goal of Independence. In addition, it put the states under more power by the federal government. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison met with Alexander Hamilton for dinner in Philadelphia one greatly historic weekend. They made a deal: Jefferson would support Assumption and Hamilton would support moving the Nation’s capital to the Chesapeake area. This is why the capital is in the South and called Washington D. C. Once George Washington left office, John Adams took his place as President. Adams was not going to take any negativity for the way he ran things. So the Adams’ Administration established the Alien and Sedition Act which enforced arrest on any people who criticized the government. Thomas despised the way Adams took things during his presidency. So Jefferson runs against him and sabotages Adams’ presidency and wins the Election of 1800, aka The Revolution of 1800. Immediately, Jefferson with the help of James Madison tried to thwart the federal government’s power. In conclusion, Early America, despite all the rebellious acts and criticism, served as a blueprint for global freedom enabling subsequent generations and nations to secure the blessings of liberty. Thanks to many great leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and many more, there is a standard set in the country that the Government must abide by. The impact of events such as the American Revolution, Boston Massacre, Constitutional Convention, etc. , the country has grown stronger and more knowledgeable about foreign affairs and globalization. Although America is still considered to be a young country, the history within this great nation is one of the richest in the world. 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Sunday, December 8, 2019

Criticism on Green Washing

Question: Discuss about the Criticism on Green Washing. Answer: Introduction: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concern of the company towards the social responsibility. It is more of a movement that promotes companies to be aware of the influence, which are created around the society. In another word, CSR is a business approach, which contributes to sustainable growth by delivering social, economic and environmental profits of all the stakeholders. This broad concept is practiced with several definitions and deals with various topics, such as, corporate governance, environmental effects, health and safety, working conditions and input to economic growth (Schuetze and Chelleri 2015). However, the major purpose of CSR is to change towards sustainability. On the other hand, Green-washing is a concept, which states that the companies try to be more compassionate towards the environment than they actually are. It also includes misleading the consumers about the environmental benefits of a certain product, with the help of ambiguous advertisements and unpr oven claims (Bosun, Teodorescu and Teodorescu 2014). Social Security uses several strategies, which includes the implementation of the business policies without damaging the environment and the economy, while the companys reputation stays as it is and the healthy competition remains in the market. If an organization is seen to be damaging the environment, it is to be seen as a socially irresponsible one, and it would risk the partnership with all the stakeholders. The loyalty between the consumer and the brand entirely depends on the relation between the consumer and the product. The social security strategies make new business policies to come up with new products using the natural resources in a cost-effective way (Blome, Foerstl and Schleper 2016) On the contrary, green washing has several sins. The most common one is the sin of Hidden Trade Off, which says the product is green and is made of recycled plastic or paper. Originally, the product might be harming the environment, but this single feature makes the product accessible in the market. The second most common sin of green washing is the sin of no proof, where the company claims the product to be green, or made from recycled goods, but they do not provide any proof of that. Mostly toilet tissues or the facial tissue companies claim their products to be made from recycled goods without providing any evidence. Another sin of green washing is that, when another company with limited workforce reviews the products. The goods come in a mass volume, maybe with a single feature of CSR, but it gets through only because of the disregard by the third company (Onkila 2015). Another form of sin is, the exact percentage of the recycled products are not mentioned, but stated in a vague manner. The toxicity level might be high during the recycling process, but only some amount of the percentage is declared on the label or sometimes at the back of the product. The other sin is called fibbing, where the company uses false posters or already marketed ones on the product, but the consumers have no clue about it. They are not even aware of the fact that the brand has tricked them and making them use a product, which is harmful to the environment. The other two sins include lesser of two evils and the sin of irrelevance, where in the former one, the company claims to true to the product type, but it distracts the consumer from the bigger harm to the society. Most of the organic cigarette companies do this trick with the customers. The other one includes the environmental declaration that might be truthful but insignificant for the consumers seeking green products. The companies commit these sins very often and the products are very much accessible in the open market (Fla mmer 2013). Conventionally, the Corporate Social Security refers to the responsibility of the company to act fairly and ethically and their consideration of the impacts on the society at a large, but does not include sustainability essentially. Sustainability, on the contrary, is concerned with the preservation of the resources and dealing in a manner that is conductive to long term business. But the underlying arguments of sustainability are often hidden and the corporate houses indulge in the practice, which causes long term harm to the environment (Walker and Wan 2012). The basic truth is, companies do not portray the exact truth about the products to the consumers. They claim to be green but they do not act green at all, because most of the corporate organizations have some amount of evil impact on the environment, depending on the state of the company (McMichael 2012). In the current scenario, Green washing is being used by most of the companies, against their rivals in the market. Most of the corporate houses do not reveal their secret of green washing in the severe competitive market; they try to put eyewash in front of the consumers in order to be labelled as a socially responsible company. If the companies do not keep their green schemes to themselves, they might be accused of being green washed by their rivals without difficulty (Tsagas 2012). However, (Tsagas 2012) stated that in recent times, several companies are going for the green business, and the numbers are rising day by day. When the annual report of any company gets published, they keep a section, which mentions the CSR activities, taken on account. As the socially responsible companies and the green consumptions are increasing, green advertising has increased in last 20 years (Crane, Matten and Spence 2013). The scenario demands a little transparency about the green business from the corporate houses. If there were any doubt about the fact, that whether CSR is a little more than the green washing, it would be a false claim. The corporate houses do not declare their secrets about the CSR activities or the green business openly, as they are very much cautious about their rivals, pointing out the mistakes about the CSR activities. However, transparency and the well establishment within the financial scheme is the key to maintain the CSR activities. Most of the times, companies make mistakes on this account intentionally or maybe unintentionally. If a corporate house is dealing with the green washing, some actions should be taken on the company. Reference List Blome, C., Foerstl, K. and Schleper, M.C., 2016. Antecedents of green supplier championing and greenwashing: an empirical study on leadership and ethical incentives. Bosun, P., Teodorescu, M. and Teodorescu, B., 2014. Corporate Social ResponsibilityCollaborating for the Future.International Journal of Education and Research,2(3). Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L.J., 2013. Corporate social responsibility in a global context.Chapter in: Crane, A., Matten, D., and Spence, LJ,'Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context,2, pp.3-26. Flammer, C., 2013. Corporate social responsibility and shareholder reaction: The environmental awareness of investors.Academy of Management Journal,56(3), pp.758-781. McMichael, P., 2012. The land grab and corporate food regime restructuring.Journal of Peasant Studies,39(3-4), pp.681-701. Onkila, T., 2015. Pride or embarrassment? Employees emotions and corporate social responsibility.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,22(4), pp.222-236. Schuetze, T. and Chelleri, L., 2015. Urban Sustainability Versus Green-WashingFallacy and Reality of Urban Regeneration in Downtown Seoul.Sustainability,8(1), p.33. Tsagas, G., 2012. Reflecting on the value of socially responsible practices post takeover of Cadburys PLC by Kraft foods inc: implications for the revision of the EU takeover directive.European Company Law, Kluwer Law International, Special Issue on CSR and SRI,9(2), pp.70-80. Walker, K. and Wan, F., 2012. The harm of symbolic actions and green-washing: Corporate actions and communications on environmental performance and their financial implications.Journal of business ethics,109(2), pp.227-242.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Information System Alsmeer Flower Auction Essay Example

Information System Alsmeer Flower Auction Essay Information Systems Aalsmeer Flower Auction Management Consultancy Report Introduction This assessment work will consider how the use of modern information systems and technology might ensure the continued success of the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. The report will look at the type of business, information requirements, information strategy which can help Alsmeer Flower Auction to cope with changing environment. Also will take into consideration the impact and effectiveness of a new system for the organisation, management and employees. Business Analysis Aalsmeer Flower Auction (Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer) is a flower auction, located in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the heart of the international floriculture sector. It has an intricate and high-quality network of companies, ranging from breeders and growers to sales experts and export firms, representing every aspect of the business. The Netherlands is the place where supply and demand come together. From Europe and beyond (source: About FloraHolland http://www. flora. nl/en/AboutFloraHolland/Pages/default. aspx). On January 1, 2008 the Aalsmeer Flower Auction merged with their biggest competitor FloraHolland. FloraHolland flower auction plays a key role in the Netherlands, land of Floriculture where its position as marketplace fulfils the role of matchmaker, intermediary and knowledge center. Figure 1. FloraHolland key facts Number of centers6 (Aalsmeer, Naaldwijk, Rijnsburg, Bleiswijk, Venlo and Eelde). Number of clocks40 Number of members5,000 Number of supplyers9,000 Number of customers3,500 Number of employees4,400 Most important import countriesKenya, Israel, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Germany Most important export countriesGermany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Belgium source:http://www. flora. nl/en/AboutFloraHolland/Cooperative/Pages/Factsandfigures. aspx) One of the most important part of FloraHolland Company is Aalsmeer Flower Auction which offers globally-producing growers and globally active wholesalers and exporters a total concept: a central marketplace for the buying and selling of floricultural products with a range of marketing channels, facilities for growers and buyers a nd logistics. This makes the Aalsmeer Flower Auction a prominent link in the international chain of flower and plant sales. We will write a custom essay sample on Information System Alsmeer Flower Auction specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Information System Alsmeer Flower Auction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Information System Alsmeer Flower Auction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Structure of Aalsmeer Flower Auction cleary showing Figure 2. The AFA uses two main channels to play its role as a mediator among growers and buyers: †¢ auction: by using the auction clock, most of the supply from growers is divided into smaller units to be sold by exporters and wholesalers. †¢ direct mediation: teams of mediators combine specific supply and demand to generate transactions for day trade and futures. In this process, they often follow the auction prices (sources: Bringing e-Business to the World’s Largest Flower Auction: The Case of Aalsmeer’ 2005 www. dea-group. com). As a part of FloraHolland they transform and collect several information (see figure1) about their customers, suppliers, transport, mambers, employees, products (flowers, plants), transactions, etc. In 21st century in this type of business to be competitive advantage in the industry key role play new technology application named electronic business. It may be defined as the appli cation of information and communication technologies in support of all the activities of business. E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business is any process that a business organization conducts over an information technology (IT) or computer-mediated network, such as the Internet. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these (source: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Electronic_business). Currently AFA (as a part of FloraHolland) concentrated on computer system innovation named E-services. They using internet and electronic channels to support its business process and to connect buyers and suppliers what helped AFA to redefine the value chain, to reduce transaction costs, to strengthen the link with wholesalers and retailers and to increase market share. Currently AFA offer for their customers on line access to: Account on-line Clients and auction can settle customer’s accounts through daily and weekly statements. The Internet application Account Online makes these invoices available electronically. If customer have auctioned products or used mediation, then they may download the daily statement after 8 p. m. The weekly settlement is available beginning Friday at around 10 p. m. Account Online is a free service. Clockviewer Easy-access and cost-effective way to gain insight into what is happening on the clock. With a subscription to â€Å"Clockviewer† customers may follow online exactly what is happening at the same minute on the clock in the stands in Aalsmeer. Clock Supply Online provides information on clock supply every auction day beginning at 3:15 pm. The information includes data on suppliers, products and amounts. Information is updated every five minutes until the â€Å"closing bell†. The system gives an advance look at the daily clock supply available. It supports the buyer in his purchasing and administrative procedures. EAB Besides the paper delivery form (PAB) the floriculture industry also uses a digital version: the e-delivery form (EAB). Each supplier may use the EAB to provide direct supply information to all floricultural auctions in the Netherlands. EABel If customers are unable to utilize the e-delivery form (EAB), you may transmit supply information by phone using EABel. EABel is accessible seven days a week between 8 a. m. and 10 p. m. Electronic direct batch accountability The VEPT (temporary electronic batch feedback system) contains clock transactions from the current auction day. The major advantage of this service is that you can receive transaction information already during the auction process. Electronic batch accountability Electronic batch accountability (EPV) contains clock transactions on the current auction day from the mediation organization. This information is sent to client â€Å"after auctioning†. In addition, Electronic Batch Accountability includes clock transactions from the current auction day. The major advantage of this service is that the transaction information is sent to customer already during the auction process. Floranet is to compare sales figures from the past three years, products prices checker, account history and transaction services. FlorEcom order system FlorEcom-notices (order confirmations and order responses for example) are part of the FlorEcom-order system. FlorEcom-notices are designed according to a certain structure (electronic data interchange (EDI). Image Centre Electronic photo supply. The photos are used for Remote Buying, image auctioning and projection auctioning. Internet weekly and daily statementThis daily statement, which has the exact same content as the standard paper daily statement, is sent each afternoon by internet to your (electronic) inbox. Kiss it Current information on logistical processes. MyFloraHolland This Internet portal allows both buyers and suppliers online access to a wealth of information (special code needed to access). TeleVBA With TeleVBA customers may consult information and statistics concerning products they have supplied. Thay may access packaging data and statistical figures on all products traded through the auction. Customers may also call up their personal Buyer Top 25. All this information is only available for them to consult and print out. Saving and editing the information (as with electronic daily statements) is not possible. Tracking and Tracing If supplier have the products for sell through their delivered using their logistical services, they may use the Tracking Tracing option to see exactly which logistical phase customers products are in at the moment. (Source: http://www. lora. nl/en/Supplying/Eservices/Pages/default. aspx ). Information requirements and strategy Board of Aalsmeer Flower Auction needs still a lots of information to be competitive in the industry and to achieve their business objectives (entering a new market, maximize sales, minimize costs, market dominance, new technologies). To be competitive and the best in the market they should know their: Services Quality, Infor mation Quality, System Quality, User Satisfaction, Information Use, Individual Impact, Organizational Impact. That information can give them knowledge about: Main competitors and their solutions, -How and where they can find new and original products? , -How sell products fresh as possible? -New technologies (better conectivity with suppliers and customers). -World’s prices in Industry, -How to keep information and data safety? -How minimize costs, etc. The best information system strategy for AFA is a continue ‘Business Inteligence’- ‘Business Inteligence’ refers to computer-based techniques used in spotting, digging-out, and analyzing hard business data, such as sales revenue by products or departments or associated costs and incomes. Business Inteligence uses technologies, processes, and applications to analyze mostly internal, structured data and business processes while competitive intelligence, is done by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information with or without support from technology and applications, and focuses on all-source information and data (unstructured or structured), mostly external to, but also internal to a company, to support decision making. As a main point of their startegy (‘business inteligence and e-services’) Aalsmeer Flower Auction needs to: 1. Extend their IT department to better identify and develop their information system and be more competitive with a changing enviroment. 2. Merge Mediation and Auctioning and departments in one. Between the auctioning and mediation departments, there is a cultural difference. Employees of both departments see each other as competitors. In the past, the emphasis was clearly on auctioning, while mediation was mainly a by-product. Now, business is gradually moving to mediation, but the mediation process is following the price setting at the auction. As a result, both channels are strongly interrelated. Just the cooperation of the two channels gains advantage for growers and buyers. They can choose which percentage of selling or buying they want to do via each channel and therefore they are almostalways assured of selling or buying what they want. 3. Concentrate and extend E business strategy. E-services (Online auction) is a parts of a large segment of internet software engineering e-commerce software solution development. Online marketplace, if powered by quality auction software, is an effective means of connecting buyers and sellers online while optimizing trade processes such as negotiation, payment and shipment. This services can give AFA easier entrance to new market and new customers. Extended E-services and IT department can give a possibility to offer better and quicker services (flower can be fresher and faster delivered to buyer), more varieties, cut cost, etc. For the Aalsmeer Flower Auction best solution to keep and transffer important information and data (finance, sales, customers, employees, suppliers, logistic, etc. ) is connected and integrated computer system with all their departments. This strategy can help Aalsmeer Flower Auction extend customer and supplier base, compare effectivnes of other uctions and their problems. Also it can be more attractive and easy for employees and for existing and potential clients. Easy connection and communication between staff, suppliers and customers, knowledge about competitors and other parts of Company (FloraHolland) is a key to success. Methodology needed to identify and develop a new information system An Information System consists of four parts which include: procedures, software, hardware, and information or data, which are essentially the same. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. It is very important to know how data collection is important to theoretical development, and how different traditional research methodologies used to collect data have strengths and weaknesses that can cause some research to be dilemmatic when investigating certain topics. The wide availability of Internet technology give possibility for new five approaches include two new data collection techniques ( data-collecting agents and Web log files) and three new research approaches that extend existing methodologies (online experiments, online judgment tasks, and online surveys) (source: Kauffman, Robert J. (Editor); Tallon, Paul P. (Editor). Economics, Information Systems, and Electronic Commerce : Empirical Research). Information System effectivenes in Company is dependent to Services Quality, Information Quality, System Quality, User Satisfaction, Information Use, Individual Impact, Organizational Impact. To check and messures all this facts they can use analysis (like SWOT, PEST, ets) or one of the software development methodolgy and their models. SWOT and PEST analysis is a valuable step in assessing your companys and competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It offers powerful insight into the critical issues affecting a business. Softwere Development Methodology refers to the framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system. A wide variety of such frameworks have evolved over the years, each with its own recognized strengths and weaknesses. One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects. Each of the available methodologies is best suited to specific kinds of projects, based on various technical, organizational, project and team considerations (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Software_development_methodology). The three basic patterns in software development methodologies. Figure 3. (sources: Software development methodologies http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Software_development_methodology). For AFA one of best methodology can be V-model. They all ready started business inteligence strategy so they have a lots important information to choose more complexed methodology than Watrfall, Prototyping or Spiral. The V-model is a software development process which can be presumed to be the extension of the waterfall model. Instead of moving down in a linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the coding phase, to form the typical V shape. The V-Model demonstrates the relationships between each phase of the development life cycle and its associated phase of testing. The V-model deploys a well-structured method in which each phase can be implemented by the detailed documentation of the previous phase. Testing activities like test designing start at the beginning of the project well before coding and therefore potentially saves a huge amount of the project time. Figure 4. V-model The V-model consists of a number of phases. The Verification Phases are on the Left hand side of the V, the Coding Phase is at the bottom of the V and the Validation Phases are on the Right hand side of the V. V-model includes two phases: Verification Phases:Validation Phases: Requirements analysis In the Requirements analysis phase, the requirements of the proposed system are collected by analyzing the needs of the user(s). Unit Testing In the V-model of software development, unit testing implies the first stage of dynamic testing process. It involves analysis of the written code with the intention of eliminating errors. It also verifies that the codes are efficient and adheres to the adopted coding standards. Testing is usually white box. It is done using the Unit test design prepared during the module design phase. This may be carried out by software developers. System Design Systems design is the phase where system engineers analyze and understand the business of the proposed system by studying the user requirements document. The software specification document contains the general system organization, menu structures, data structures etc. Integration Testing In integration testing the separate modules will be tested together to expose faults in the interfaces and in the interaction between integrated components. Testing is usually black box as the code is not directly checked for errors. Architecture Design The phase of the design of computer architecture and software architecture can also be referred to as high-level design. System Testing System testing will compare the system specifications against the actual system. After the integration test is completed, the next test level is the system test. System testing checks if the integrated product meets the specified requirements. Module Design The module design phase can also be referred to as low-level design. The designed system is broken up into smaller units or modules and each of them is explained so that the programmer can start coding directly. User Acceptance Testing Acceptance testing is the phase of testing used to determine whether a system satisfies the requirements specified in the requirements analysis phase. (sources: Software development methodologies www. wikipedia. org/wiki/sytems_development). Also popular and effective softwere development methodology can be for AFA Rapid Application Development (RAD). RAD that involves techniques like iterative development and software prototyping. In Rapid Application Development, structured techniques and prototyping are especially used to define users requirements and to design the final system. The development process starts with the development of preliminary data models and business process models using structured techniques. In the next stage, requirements are verified using prototyping, eventually to refine the data and process models. These stages are repeated iteratively; further development results in a combined business requirements and technical design statement to be used for constructing new systems (source: http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Rapid_application_development). The impact and effectiveness of a new system for the organisation, management and employees. The New Information System will have important impact for AFA’s ‘knowledge’ about Company, their strengths and weaknesses. New system can: -transform unstructured processes into routinized transactions, -transfer information with rapidity and ease across large distances, making processes independent of geography, -replace or reduce human labour in a process, -bring complex analytical methods to bear on a process, bring vast amounts of detailed information into process, -enable changes in the sequence of task in a process, often allowing multiple tasks to be worked on simultaneoulsly, -allows the capture and dissemination of knowledge and expertise to improve the process, -allows the detailed tracking of task status, inputs and outputs, -can be used to connect two parties whitin process that would otherwise communicate through intermediary (internal or external). New developments in Information System and Technology have led to an increasingly mobile workforce. AFA are no longer tied to their desk in order to stay in the information loop. They customers can buying or selling wherever they are. Ultra-mobile PCs permit to access e-mail and other data products at a wide range of locations. A wide range of new technologies can give businesses access to faster communication, increase efficiencies, and the ability to work away from the office, get new customer from all world, better control and manegement, etc (source: ‘What is the impact of new technology in the workplace? ’ www. helium. com ). New information technology can open a door of opportunities for AFA and their mployees willing to explore non-traditional work arrangements. This technology also allows a new kind of team to emerge. Virtual teams can be formed, bringing together the best people regardless of location and time. E-mail, teleconferencing, video conferencing, and new emerging technologies are enabling people around the world to communicate and collaborate rapidly and efficiently. References Books 1. Kauffman, Robert J. (Editor); Tallon, Paul P. (Editor). Economics, Information Systems, and Electronic Commerce : Empirical Research. Websites 1. Aalsmeer Flower Auction www. wikipedia. org/wiki/Aalsmeer_Flower_Auction 2. Information systems discipline www. wikipedia. org/wiki/information_systems_discilpline 3. FloraHolland E-servives http://www. flora. nl/en/Supplying/Eservices/Pages/default. aspx 4. Methodologies www. ncycles. com/e_whi_methodologies. html 5. Software development methodologies http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Software_development_methodology 6. Systems development www. wikipedia. org/wiki/sytems_development 7. IS Effectiveness for business www. business. clemson. edu/ISE/html/is_effectivenes. tml 8. RAD development http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Rapid_application_development 9. About FloraHolland http://www. flora. nl/en/AboutFloraHolland/Pages/default. aspx 10. Facts and Figures http://www. flora. nl/en/AboutFloraHolland/Cooperative/Pages/Factsandfigures. aspx 11. Electronic Business http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Electronic_business Articles 1. ‘What is the impact of new technology in the workplace? ’ www. helium. com 2. ‘Bringing e-Business to the World’s Largest Flower Auction: The Case of Aalsmeer’ 2005 www. idea-group. com

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Flag Burning A Crime Against America essays

Flag Burning A Crime Against America essays Flag Burning: A Crime Against America? Flag burning can be and usually is a very controversial issue with people. Many people believe that the American flag stands for something important and shouldnt be destroyed in that manner. Others believe that flag burning is a statement that one should be able to make without major repercussions. Both sides have valid opinions and both sides state their case well. Although I am neither nor or against the burning of the flag, I believe the right should not be taken away. I believe that if a group of people have valid reasons and a valid point to make by obliterating a flag in such a way, they should have the right to do it. The people who are against flag burning seem to generally be those who have served this country through war and through other such ways. They are older people who believe that this country is quite wonderful if not almost perfect. They have a strong sense of patriotism to this country and would die for what it stands for: liberty and freedom. They could compare it to the burning of crosses in front of a church or to the way the Nazis turned a very beautiful symbol into a racial and religious hate badge for murderers. Disrespect for tradition is what it boils down to. From a young age we are conditioned to blindly respect that flag hanging from a pole and to pledge out allegiance to it without even knowing what it truly is. It has been tradition for at least three generations. People who have been prisoners of war or people who fought for this country have a reason to respect it so much. The have fought long and hard for what we have and respect it. Some of our generation d oesnt realize how lucky we have it. A child of this generation could debate how good and pure and wonderful this country is and could show you how we have had our liberty and freedom taken away to the point that we really dont have any. True, we have had our freedo...

Friday, November 22, 2019

How to Survive Your Upcoming Panel Interview

How to Survive Your Upcoming Panel Interview You’ve just been told your interview won’t be a one-on-one or series of individual interviews, but a panel interview instead. Maybe it’s your first panel interview. Maybe they just freak you out and throw you off your game. It can be intimidating going before the â€Å"firing squad,† so to speak. But don’t be intimidated. Think of this as an opportunity to convince more decision makers of how good a fit you are. Get as many of them on your side as you can. It’s a much more efficient use of time! But if the rapid fire scenario still frightens you and your nerves are daunted by the extra pressure, here are 7 strategies for how to prepare and sail through.1. Do your homework.Think about the preparation required for a normal interview, then multiply that by the number of people on the panel, at least. Figure out, first of all, who is going to be on your panel. You can ask the recruiter or hiring manager for names and titles; this is standard prac tice and will help you better assess what might be most important to each. Find out as much as you can about their roles, successes, career backgrounds. Think about the questions each one might be likely to ask and then prepare great answers.Then, go through your resume to make sure you don’t need to explain away any gaps or oddities. And then rehearse. Have friends or family fire questions at you, so you can practice answering them, and addressing each questioner by name.2. Look smart.Show up 10 minutes early (you should do this anyway, but wasting four or 10 people’s time is much worse than just one). Wear something professional and make sure your appearance is well-groomed and neat. Consult the company’s dress policy and err on the side of caution. Try a dark, smart suit if in doubt.Present yourself with confidence and keep your body language open. Don’t fidget. Sit up straight, smile, and don’t forget to breathe. Remember to make eye contact wi th questioners when answering. And then make sure your confidence level doesn’t spill over into arrogance.3. Build rapport.Once you get a sense of the room, start getting comfortable, and make sure everyone else is comfortable too. Answer each question directly to the person who asked it, but find a way to broaden out your answer at the end and address the group. Show how you can engage the room, build up a sense of teamwork and camaraderie. Put people (i.e. customers/coworkers) at ease. Remember to keep each member of the panel in mind with each answer. Don’t exclude the rest of the panel to answer one question too narrowly or directly.4. Control the pace.The rapid-fire situation only has to be overwhelming if you let it. Remember, you can control the pace of the conversation. You are well within your rights to pause before answering a question. Get to the point quickly, keep your answers brief, and don’t get bogged down. This will help you get your answers out before the next question comes your way.If you get cut off before you finish, immediately ask yourself whether what you were going to say was important enough to persist. If not, move on. If yes, politely say you’d like to just share one final thought on the previous question, then move on.5. Prepare for follow-ups.Just as in a normal interview, you will probably get follow-up questions to your answers in a panel interview situation. Do your best to prepare for this as you usually would, taking into account ways you can broaden your follow-up answers to engage more of the group.6. Make connections.Whenever possible, connect your answers to other questions or other answers during the interview. This shows that you are constantly tracking the bigger picture, and making connections. Don’t underestimate how impressive comments that link back to other comments can be to the panel and its individual members.7. Follow up.Thank each member of the panel individually whenever p ossible, with a firm handshake, eye contact, and a genuine smile. Then send personalized thank you notes- preferably handwritten- to each, and promptly. Gather up as many business cards as possible- this will help with thank yous and with future networking.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Dissertation ;HOW EFFECTIVE ARE CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS IN CHANGING UK Essay

Dissertation ;HOW EFFECTIVE ARE CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS IN CHANGING UK CONSUMER ATTITUDES ABOUT VARIOUS CLOTHING BRANDS - Essay Example The paper has been based on two main objectives, i.e. Studying the consumer attitude towards brands and Studying the impact of the celebrity endorsements on UK customer attitudes in clothing industry. The paper has a major limitation as it lacks a qualitative research and is also focused on the low income group of the population. The research findings clearly highlight that a majority of the individuals are not impacted by the celebrity endorsements. Branding is one of the most essential aspects of any business. In the recent times, the main motif behind complete branding can be understood to be attempts to combine the customer preferences with the various diverse activities. The impact of celebrity endorsements on an overall brand specifically in the clothing industry is essential to understand and relate to. The form of marketing adopted by marketers significantly affect the consumer purchasing style and decisions. Fashion marketing is a complicated business process, much like any other industry, which involves everyone in the industry from manufacturing workers to the retail buyer. Clothing is produced, promoted using a variety of mediums, and ultimately delivered to the final buying segments. Once in the retail environment, the buyer instructs salespersons about new clothing merchandise, develops employee talents in selling and sales techniques, and generally has flexibility in deciding on specific fashions and designs (Care ers, 2005). All of these activities contribute to the process of ensuring that sales targets are met for both the manufacturer and the retail organisation which carries the fashion brands. In the UK alone, consumers spent  £46.2 billion on clothing in 2006 (Brand Strategy, 2008). Across the whole of Europe, consumers spent 311.6 billion Euros on clothing and fashion, representing a very profitable industry internationally. Marketers hence recognise this industry is very large and

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Paper 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Paper 1 - Essay Example It describes how a particular professional group should act ethically when discharging their duties (Harris 17). In the second case study, engineer A was recently hired to by safecomp to work in their quality control department. After a few weeks, the engineer was asked to sign off some protocols, standards and testing procedures since he had been the one working on them. However, engineer A felt that he was not experienced enough to sign off such crucial documents since he was not fully acquainted with the procedures and standards at safecomp. The engineer let his supervisor know about his stand, but the supervisor would hear none of it. Finally, engineer decided not to sign off the documents, as he was not sure and thought he would jeopardize his career by signing the documents. This paper will support engineers a decision not to sign off the documents. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has laid out a code ethics to govern this professional group. Under the code of ethics by the IEEE, by signing off the documents, engineer A would be agreeing to take responsibility for the safety and health of those would end up using the product (Ieee.org). However, due to his lack of experience the engineer did not think he would be able to sign off such protocols. He was also unsure of the procedures and standards of the company, and as such, the engineer felt that he did not have the authority to sign off such crucial documents. Although he was charged with the responsibility of handling the quality control department, the company should have given the engineer enough time on the job to acquire the necessary experience and get to know the procedure of the company before being allowed to sign off such crucial documents. In the event the products were faulty, he would be held directly responsible for any casualties and would jeopardize his career and even risk jail time. The IEEE code of ethics also states that a professional should always

Saturday, November 16, 2019

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay Example for Free

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay In the novel ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ by Erich Maria Remarque, the main character Paul Bà ¤umer’s development shows the horrors of the First World War and the effect it had on the young men who fought in it. Paul Bà ¤umer is the main character whom is nineteen years old, Bà ¤umer volunteered for the army along side four of his classmates. Some parts in the novel is written in past tense when Paul Bà ¤umer is collecting his thoughts. Most of the novel is written in Present tense. During the novel we see Paul Bà ¤umer changing as a person, he has just left school and is a young boy with no experiences. By the end of this novel end even half way through he had become a well experienced man. Paul Bà ¤umer is the main character and also the narrator. At just nineteen years of age, Bà ¤umer volunteers for the German Army. Before war is a young creative and passionate person who had lots of love for his family. As the war went on Bà ¤umer changed as a person. Bà ¤umer and four of his classmates joined because they felt it was their patriotic duty. After a while of being in the trenches Bà ¤umer starts to get visions of being in Kantoreks class as he gave his great ‘iron youth speech.’ He soon realises Kantorich persuaded the class to join. â€Å"During the drill time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went under his shepherding to the District Commandant and volunteered.† Bà ¤umer felt he was doing right by his country but he soon feels he can’t tell anyone about his experience in the army and where his families are concerned he feels like an outsider. People like Kantorek are hypocrites, urging young pupils to join up whilst not volunteering himself. Kemmerich dies. This is the first death we experience as readers in the novel which is very upsetting. â€Å"I became faint, all at once I can not do anymore†¦ He is dead. The face is still wet from the tears. The eyes are half open and yellow like old horn buttons.† Bà ¤umer feels upset and dark inside, he has just lost his best friend, and they grew up together, school buddies. He is almost like a brother to Bà ¤umer. I feel sorry for Bà ¤umer at this point in the novel because I would hate to lose any of my friends or classmates if I was in the army because I think you would need a lot of friends and good people around to keep your spirits high. This is one of Bà ¤umers most important memories because they got revenge on Himmelstoss. Himmelstoss was a postman before he enlisted in the war. He is a corporal who trains the recruits. Himmelstoss likes punishing the young recruits and is very harsh and strict. â€Å"Tjaden wets his bed†¦ Himmelstoss maintained that it was sheer laziness and invented a method worthy of himself for curing Tjaden†¦ with mattress of wire netting.† The young men ended up unwell or with the cold because of this they ended up sleeping on the floor. Bà ¤umer and his friends got revenge by getting him from behind with a big white bed sheet and they covered his mouth with a pillow so he could not scream. Tjaden pulled down Himmelstoss’ trousers with a whip in his mouth. The training camp is harsh and full of sadness, I would not like to be there. Baume describes the front line as a mysterious whirlpool. â€Å"I am in still water far away from its center. I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking e slowly, irresistibly, inescapably into itself. The front line is a line along which apposing armies face each other and is horrific because you are face to face and it is very hard to stay alive. Bà ¤umer feels different from everyone else in his hometown because he feels he is different, they are different. He has been away for so long he does not feel at home anymore. He’s not just a boy anymore, he’s now a man. I feel so much respect for Bà ¤umer by this stage because he has done so well and all army men deserve respect. When Bà ¤umer returns home from leave he feels obliged to volunteer for a dangerous night patrol. Whilst in ‘No-Man’s Land’ Bà ¤umer gets lost. Paul hides in a shell – hole but a bomb goes off behind him when he is alone. â€Å"This is the first time I have killed with my hands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bà ¤umer feels so guilty for killing the French man. He starts to think about the French mans life and his family. â€Å"If only he had run two yards further to the left, he might now be sitting in the trench over there and writing a letter to his wife.† This changes Bà ¤umers character for the better because he now realises how precious life is. Bà ¤umer feels hatred against the war and realises it’s a bad thing. I personally think war should be illegal because what is the point in killing human beings for victory. I don’t think that’s a victory, it’s a crime to kill. If we are not at war you would be sent to prison and just because its war that makes it ok? The situation has got a lot worse for the German Army by this late stage in the Novel. In this part Bà ¤umer and Katazinsky are the last two soldiers alive from all the characters whom were introduced at the beginning of the Novel. Kat gets hit by a shrapnel at this point leaving him with a smashed shin. Bà ¤umer carried him back to camp on his back, only to discover on their arrival that a splinter had hit Kat on the back of the head and killed him on the way. Kats death makes Bà ¤umer careless to weather he dies in war or not and also he can now face the rest of his life without any fear. I feel sorry for Bà ¤umer at this point because he must feel so alone. Bà ¤umer is now alone without a friend in the trenches because the war has taken all of them away and now Bà ¤umer is all alone. â€Å"Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear.† At the end of the novel Bà ¤umer is careless of his life. He has changed dramatically since the beginning. At the beginning Paul was a young boy with lots of dreams, now he is a man who is careless. I feel very lucky that none of my family died during the war and it’s a very emotional thing to go into. This book is important and should be read by future generations to show how life was and that they should realise how life was and that they should notice how lucky they are. This book makes you have so much for our soldiers.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Johnny Walker :: Johnny Walker Short Story Essays

Johnny Walker Sera walked into Circle K on fifth st. without noticing it had not been remodeled since 1986, and that someone from another, more financially kept city might actually find the convenience store to be disgusting, the dirt being so thick on the windows that you could only see blurry faces on the inside. Inside she saw five people in the store and believed that all of them were staring at her, looking through her like they knew more about herself than she did. The clerk, she thought, had even looked up from her monotonous duties at the cash register to glance her wrinkled leathery face in Sera's direction. An ugly bum in the beer section reached into the cooler with a calloused black hand as Sera walked through the candy aisle to pick up a case of Budweiser. "Ah yes, forty ounces to freedom." The black skinned bum grabbed a forty of old English malt liquor while he turned a decrepit smile toward Sera. She smiled back sheepishly without knowing why and took the Budweiser out of the fridge that Liza had sent for her to get. She thought of Liza as she stood in line behind the old bum. Her face, an illusion in her mind, made out of the back of the bums scraggily black afro. When she walked out the door the bum stood outside with his paper bagged forty in his hand. "Need any help with that tonight?" He grinned with a yellow and half tooth full mouth. "I tend to get pretty thirsty." He held up his forty as if to clarify his thought to Sera. Sera looked at the black man and saw how gross he looked, and then thought why not bring someone back to the apartment for Liza to fuck with. "Sure. I'm walking. It's just a couple of blocks down in the Kohler building." Her voice was firm but also curious. "Lets doer little woman." Sera rolled her eyes, turned around, and started walking. * * * When they passed the third floor on the way up to the Landlady's apartment Sera had glanced down the hall and seen that Luther's door lay wide open, and that some of his books had spilled out into the hallway toppled on top of each other. On the fourth floor, Liza's door lay open and Sera could hear her washing clothes while talking to Luther.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Term: Poverty Reduction Programs

The proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly in the past four decades, and poverty reduction has en much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Name. Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts.Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. In the past four decades, the proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly ND poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Name. Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and rec ent episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor.Great inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts. II. Definition of Terms Poverty- is scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Unemployment- occurs when people are without work and actively seeking work. GAP- Gross domestic product (GAP) is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a year, or other given period of time.GAP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living Corruption- in philosophical, theological,or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral imp rutty or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or ‘political', corruption occurs hen an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain Tax- is a financial charge or other levy imposed upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many administrative divisions. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labor equivalent. Population growth- is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using â€Å"per unit time† for measurement Ill.Outline Poverty in the Philippines: Causes, Constraints, and Opportunities comprehensively analyze the causes of poverty and recommends ways to accelerate poverty reduction and achieve more inclusive growth. The report provides an overview of current government responses, strategies, and achievements in the fight against poverty and identifies and prioritize future needs and interventions. The analysis is based on current literature and the latest available data, including the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey.The main causes of poverty in the country include the following: low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years; owe growth elasticity of poverty reduction; weakness in employment generation and the quality of Jobs generated; failure to fully develop the agriculture sector; high inflation during crisis periods; high levels of population growth; high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of economic expansion; and Recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and â€Å"environmental poverty. Key factors that worsen poverty in our country Economic growth did not translate into poverty reduction in recent years; Poverty levels vary greatly by regions;Poverty remains a mainly rural phenomenon though urba n poverty is on the rise; Poverty levels are strongly linked to educational attainment; The poor have large families, with six or more members; Many Filipino households remain vulnerable to shocks and risks; Governance and institutional constraints remain in the poverty response; There is weak local government capacity for implementing poverty reduction programs; Deficient targeting in various poverty programs; There are serious resource gaps for poverty reduction and the attainment of the Megs by 201 5; Multidimensional responses to poverty reduction are needed; andFurther research on chronic poverty is needed. Other cause The incomplete land reform aiming at overthrowing the traditionally unequal agrarian society coupled with lack of support for farmers has been a long-lasting flaw in the governments' development policies that can still massively reduce poverty in the Philippines. Thus, the role of the state remains central to redistribute more equally the wealth created in the co untry, in order to avoid leaving the poor behind.Supporting the extremely poor must be seen as a long-term investment and counterbalanced with future gains. However, mistrust in the government combined tit corruption and/or incompetence makes the overall task much harder, even though it has led to the rise of militant movements that speak in favor of farmers to build fairer trade systems. In a strange way, another problem for the Philippines is that, in spite of having embraced liberalizing and international organizations' rules, they have now ended up less integrated in the world economy than other Asian countries.For instance, import tariff on rice makes it one of the rare exceptions in WTFO, although understandable when you see how important rice is to the livelihood f millions of Filipinos. However, recent research on food price increase has shown that tariffs do not help protect farmers and instead increases poverty in both rural and urban areas. That's because, even if importe d rice can compete with domestic rice, the competition results in an overall reduction in consumer prices that is good for everyone.Moreover, with the right support, it helps identify which farmers need help and training so that they can either better manage their rice production or diversify their crops. Effects of poverty in the Philippines Rapid Population Growth Given that the population of the Philippines is increasing at a rapid rate of 2. 36% per year, it can be translated as an increase of more than 5,000 people daily in a country, which already has an increase of more than four million poor people since 1985. An 1985, the absolute number of people living in poverty was 26. 5 million.This increased to 30. 4 million in 2000 and from 2006 to 2009, increased by almost 970,000 Filipinos from 22. 2 million to 23. 1 million. As the Philippines have financially limited resources and a high poverty rate, the rapid increase in population has become a robber because there is an alread y insufficient resource to support the population, which leaves much fewer resources to improve the economy. From 2003 to 2006, even though the Philippines experienced above-average economic growth, the poverty incidence actually increased as a result of its population growth rate.Unemployment Poverty reduction has not kept up with GAP growth rates, largely due to the high unemployment rate, high inflation rate and wide income inequality. From 2000 to 2009, the economy of Philippines grew by 3. 2% on average annually, which was on par with the economic performance of its neighbors. However, this recent growth did not translate into more Jobs. Unemployment in the Philippines has been high in comparison to its neighbors, at around 7. 5% to 8. 0% since 2006.As the world's second largest archipelago, the Philippines have faced difficulty in Job creation due to its inability to attract more foreign, direct investments. Died Gunrunning, whom is the Central Bank Deputy Governor, mentioned that while capital flows are turning to the emerging markets, foreign, direct investments to the Philippines remain relatively low due to the weak investment climate. The Philippines have hefty business procedures, or tax and customs administration, weak protection against expropriation and high-energy cost. Therefore, the poverty rate remains constant over the years.There is a lot of poverty in the Philippines. Some people, called â€Å"squatters,† live near trash mounds and scavenge through the rubble to find materials that they can re-sell. Many are living in extreme poverty and unsanitary conditions. One of the effects this impoverished lifestyle has on them is an extremely short life expectancy. But there are some rays of hope. For one, slow but steady economic improvements are providing Jobs in places like call centers. Secondly, charitable organizations like the Philippine Aid Society are growing and working hard to fight poverty.For those who want to do their part to help, consider a financial donation to one of these charities. Some solution for Poverty in Philippines Major Government Reform Removing of corrupt government officials Create more Employment Opportunities Call for help from the foreign countries for assistance in ending poverty ‘V. CONCLUSION Protecting the â€Å"pre-poor† Aside from the fact that over 1/3 of the population lives in poverty in the Philippines, experts have also observed that a good 50% of households are in a precarious tuition vulnerable enough to fall into poverty if a minor financial setback happens.Hence, the government must not Just take care of the poor, but also make sure that millions more don't fall into poverty. Prevention is a must, if they want to prevent the problem from getting much bigger. Precariousness is usually worse in rural areas, even though many urban Filipinos are often at risk of falling into poverty as well. This shows that if urban poverty in the Philippines is much lower than rural one, there is a constant risk that it gets much bigger since many households are too vulnerable to economic shocks. Also, a characteristic of these precarious families is that they tend to have more kids than the non-precarious ones.Therefore, guaranteeing access to education and contraception are things that the government must focus on for its poverty prevention plan End import tariff, reduce poverty in the Philippines The other main problem slowing down efforts to tackle poverty are tariff (I. E. Taxes) on imports. Although they were created to protect local production, they ended up having the opposite effect. Tariff has made it more expensive for local producers (both in agriculture and industry) to import much-needed input for production. Therefore local production has stalled and resulted in more expensive prices for everyone.And in the end, many Filipinos were eventually buying foreign goods anyway as they're (sometimes) cheaper and more diverse. In the sass, the gove rnment has started reducing tariff which decreased the price of energy (e. G. Oil and coal) and eventually reduced poverty as other prices fell as well. The government made up for the loss in revenue by implementing a carbon tax that also helped protecting the environment. Indeed, for a while cheaper oil also meant more pollution as the population used more machines. In the end, revenue from the carbon tax proved even higher than that from tariff.As a result, the excess of money led to lower taxes on the population and thus less poverty in the Philippines too. V. RECOMMENDATION Corruption is Just one of the factors in these problem but we must work together in order to end it. There are many ways to help the poor and end the poverty in our country. But it is not Just the problem of the government it is also the problem of all Filipino people. We as a the citizen of this country must work our way to establish ourselves by educating our minds in developing our personal lives and by th is we an as a country rise to the challenge of ending poverty.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Candid Communication Essay

Due to the costly failed attempt to expand to the European market, and recognition of the major underlying cultural problems which resulted in the unsuccessful expansion, our team has been tasked with proposing plans for revitalizing your corporate culture. Key personnel, who could have provided advice to avert the flawed expansion strategy, did not voice their concerns or advice because such actions were not culturally encouraged. As an executive management team, you have recognized that this failure to uphold a corporate culture which values candid communication at all levels was the ultimate cause of this setback. This proposal is designed to uncover potential obstacles to creating a culture which foster candid communication, and present a plan of action to alter the corporate culture from the ground up. Question 1: The obstacles of fostering candid communication can be categorized into three areas: personal, physical and cultural. When discussing personal obstacles, the outer layers peel back to find both interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers that your organization will find in their journey to value candid communication. For example, interpersonal barriers occur between team members, such as differences in personality styles or behavioral preferences. Ignoring or not addressing these differences can lead to rivalry, competition and fear of speaking up due to retaliation or further dislike from other co-workers. Though individuals in your company may not like or be willing to work with one-another, the major obstacle is to first get them talking to address their differences. Furthermore, even if your employees hold similar behavioral or personality styles, another obstacle may be that their relationships might not be strong enough to support constructive criticism from others, indicating a lack of trust. The absence of trust is the first dysfunction of a team, according to Patrick Lencioni. â€Å"Trust is the foundation of a team† and the lack of trust is the team’s inability â€Å"to understand and open up to one another† (Lencioni, pg. 43-44). Strong, trusting relationships support providing feedback to other employees and supervisors without fear of future scrutiny. Lack of trust within a group also holds a strong influence on intrapersonal barriers to speak freely. Intrapersonal barriers are those that occur within the individual self or mind but are strongly influenced by their surroundings. For example, without the feeling of trust, employees may revert back to their safety zone by keeping quiet and holding back opinions in order to protective themselves (Lencioni, pg. 195). Likewise, other intrapersonal barriers can be as simple as the individual’s self-confidence level or working with individuals who prefer not to provide criticism for fear of rejection from the group. In addition, another obstacle is the absence of individual’s sense of belongingness to the company, one of Maslow’s steps in his Hierarchy of Needs. Belongingness comes from the company support of employees through personal development and job enrichment which play a critical role for employees to recognize that they and their opinions are valued enough to be shared. Secondly, physical barriers of separation, such as the physical distance between locations, geographic barriers like oceans or even walls between offices, can also hinder the ability to communicate openly to employees,. For example, as your company expands internationally, it will face the creation of virtual teams. Virtual teams are at a disadvantage to build trusting, strong relationships because they do not have the luxury of sitting across the table from one-another to work out disagreements. And, even if they wanted to, it would be extremely expensive for the company to fund trips back and forth across the pond. On the other hand, co-located employees may still feel that physical barriers impede their ability to share from blocked areas and closed doors providing visual cues to employees that they are either not needed or wanted. Last, as your company grows it will face both society and company built cultural barriers. Societal barriers, such as international relations and generational differences can influence the effectiveness of conducting business and building relationships in the future. For example, do the companies that we are working with international hold the same emphasis on candid dialog? Do cultural barriers or age differences enable employees to provide productive feedback or criticism without violating a social norm or without fear of creating adversarial relationships? Both examples of societal based barriers greatly influence the ability of people to feel they can share openly. Likewise, company built cultural barriers continue to obstruct straight talk if the culture does not reward such behavior and the population contains individuals who do not fit the cultural mold. For example, Nordstrom employees who are not fanatic about how amazing you Nordstrom’s is will â€Å"be ejected like a virus† (). Employees who do not see rewards for behaviors or do not agree with the cultural behaviors will not be comfortable to share candidly. Question 2: In order to combat these negative obstacles the company must first create and communicate a solid value structure, mission statement and form committees to help implement and generate ideas. The assurance that people feel valued needs to be the primary focus of the company citing the well known fact that employees are the number one customers. A credo similar to the one mentioned in Built to Last (p. 9) for Johnson & Johnson, listed open for all to see, must be presented to the employees specifically listing core values including but not limited to: welcome change, be honest/open, recognize success but not shun failure, treat everyone with respect and spend considerable amount of time nurturing culture. For maximum impact management needs to proactively practice (MBWA) by walking around displaying, encouraging and measuring the success of all these values. These values and structures need to be engrained early in the employees so that the culture will become second nature. The objective is for the employee to be culturally rooted early. This is why the processes of recruiting, hiring, socializing and training new employees is critical, similar to Nike within Built to Change â€Å"the company fostered a â€Å"just do it† identity that was reflected in its structure, the people it hired†(p. 46). Once hired, the cultural foundation has been set and injection into the company’s system will receive little resistance making it simple to promote candid communications. Disregarding early processes may allow people to slip into the company who don’t fit the cultural mold and/or they are not properly adjusted into the system. These outcasts have a possibility of being rejected from the system resulting in employee turnover or a multitude of other problems. Recruiters can ensure recruits fit into the open communication culture by various techniques of evaluation, starting at first contact, including socializing events and interview processes. Events that require potential employees to socialize with current employees at their peer level will help evaluate their compatibility within the system and the employees. Employees administering interviews are encouraged to ask more behavioral questions rather than job function related questions. This will also ensure that new candidates are on the right path to successful transplant into the company. Once hired, new employees are to be indoctrinated with the concept of free speech. In order to build relationships and foster vertical communication, all new employees regardless of position, are to attend a high level onboarding training that is done within one large room. Next they participate in a communication building scavenger hunt requiring them to find and speak to certain individuals within the organization. The new employees are then paired with existing employees in their own department for 3-6 months because it typically takes a while for employees to become situated and comfortable in their new environment. By training employees in this way you guarantee little deviation from expected culture and instill the free speech initiative, making it easier to have candid conversations. People tend to respond positively to change when they receive recognition from managers. Displaying exceptional behavior is often overlooked leading employees to believe that the attribute is not exceptional or essential to success. When establishing a system for rewarding positive behaviors, especially those that revolve around the core values and candid communication, the rewards need to be in high regard to the employee and not necessarily monetary, Microsoft shows this in Built to Change when it â€Å"employees have challenging work and, of course, one of the most highly rewarding stock plans around†¦. hereby attracted some of the country’s top software engineers and marketing geniuses†(p. 47). Equally important within the innovation process is having more time to develop new ideas shown in Built to Change 3M’s â€Å"policies and practices that give employees time to experiment, and its reward system recognizes innovative work† (p. 39). The rewards and time provided for ideas generated will bring about open communication but would be ultimately ineffective in the event that there isn’t a way to evaluate these ideas and innovations. Therefore a committee consisting of white and blue collar workers should be assembled to evaluate and investigate ideas that are submitted for validity or cost effectiveness. To instill a culture that embraces and utilizes open communication candidly the company must have a way to promote and judge the performance of the changes. A committee will be formed in order to set goals, establish who will be in charge, schedule mingling events, enrich communications and ultimately ensure that this initiative isn’t forgotten. The mingling events would serve as a tool to not only build relationships between employees, breaking down communication barriers, but to strengthen and reinforce ties to the company. Some examples of the events would include speed mentoring, company picnics, benefit fairs, blood drives and fundraising events. Next the committee would be responsible for enriching communications throughout the company by fostering goodwill, laying out company-wide changes and compiling and maintaining the medium for communication disbursement. Mediums of communication can vary from newsletters, memos, banners or blogs. In Corporate Culture and Performance, Tandem Computers practices this by displaying achievements â€Å"are regularly recognized on bulletin boards as Our Latest Greatests†(p. 16). Communication transmitted must be professional to avoid wasting time across the organization. Some additional information, including information about the CEO’s family, may be added to show that she is human and the message is genuine. The committee would also explain new product information, organizational issues that might be confusing and benefit changes that might seem to only benefit the employer. By doing this managers can build rapport to increase employee understanding of the company, products, ethics, culture, and external environment, showing that the managers are not hiding information. This builds trust and fosters open communication. In order to facilitate information sharing, the company must utilize various ways of mentoring. Level mentoring should be skipped so that employees get an opportunity to meet with someone above the direct management. Reverse mentoring will be also instilled in the company as the younger person might have some fresh ideas and new tools. Sometimes, a new set of ideas might be the solution to a lingering issue in the company. Training sessions are organized by putting the management and employees on the same teams. Likewise, large group information sessions are implemented to talk about issues related to employees with management information similar to Merck’s communication meetings that are held three times a year. These meetings will have the full support of upper management and are used to open communication, improve the flow of information among all levels of management and to provide employees with information they need to do their jobs better. There could also be an improvement in information sharing by having no doors on offices or no physical barriers between management and lower level employees. Honda and Harley Davidson have an open door policy as described in Built to Change (p. 9). The company should clearly define fair policies and procedures. This will help the employees to know what is expected of them. If employees know what the company expects, it is easier for them to be accountable for their own behavior and contribute accordingly. Clear guidelines for professional conduct will be established by the company so that co-workers treat each other with respect regardless of their position in the company. Also, a process of performance review system will be implemented to ensure the employees are promoting the company’s value structure. A 360 degree review process will be utilized by the company which will help to provide on-going feedbacks to all the employees. This will enable all the subordinates, peers and supervisors to have their input towards the company. This will also help to assess all employees on a continual basis on how they are performing to business needs as well as adapting to the values of the company. The results from these reviews can be used to make administrative decisions as well as to plan for training and development in the future. The company should also not sway from their core values no matter what, as described in Built to Change (p. 4) in the Southwest Airlines example. This will enable the employees to stay loyal and feel comfortable knowing that their jobs are stable. Finally, the company will provide proper benefits to the employees including fair pay based on individual performance, team performance and seniority so that the employees feel valued. A proper organic organization structure will be designed to empower people and allowing them to make their own decisions. This will make the employees accountable with their decisions. A flatter organization structure will be designed in order to enable employees to speak freely to higher levels of management for advice. This will also enhance the mentoring process and help to build effective relationships. After assessing the culture and gathering input, the company should identify the system, policies and procedures that must be either changed or implemented to support the new culture. The new infrastructure should address role expectations, accountability, rewards and selection systems. The company will also have defined job descriptions and encourage people to switch departments so that employees won’t feel pigeon-holed. In other words, the company will also allow mobility within the organization in order to get the most out of their employees and employees will be more flexible. The employees should also understand other roles and jobs in the company to be able to relate to them and provide input for improvements. The company will focus more on team based design that will eventually help to elevate individual performance in the company. Individuals in the company will be cross trained or conditioned in order to improve the overall performance of the whole team. Although the word â€Å"team† is heavily used in the industry today, teams often play a major role in initiating organizational change. A cross functional team design will create mutual accountability for results and joint ownerships of work products. Above all, a properly designed organic organization structure will positively impact the ability to focus, directly affects the communication channels and empowers people by giving the employees a drive to make their own decisions. Question 3: While designing and implementing an effective, company-wide communication structure is vitally important, the activities performed by leaders at all levels are paramount to sustaining an effective communication culture. Managers are the face of your company’s culture and their interactions with their direct reports will be the frontlines of the company’s culture battles. Beginning with the hiring process, managers must be mindful that they are not only assessing the potential hire’s technical skills and abilities, but also their fit within the culture. They must abide by and practice recruiting and hiring techniques that will reasonably ensure that the company is hiring candidates that will express the desired behavior and align with the culture. These techniques could include maintaining relationships with contacts at local universities and recruiting firms. If these contacts are familiar with your company and culture they could aid in providing a stream of potential new hires and would be able to â€Å"pre-screen† for cultural fit. Mangers should openly discuss the company’s culture and ask explicit questions regarding how the potential hire feels he/she will fit within the culture. This will set cultural expectations of open and candid communication with all interviewees long before any are hired. Also, managers should use behavioral type interview questions to test the candidate’s attitudes, trust and ability to speak freely. Additionally, the interviews should be conducted by employees of varying levels of the company, both managers and non-mangers, with a single manager soliciting feedback from all other interviewers regarding their assessment of the recruit. Once potential employees are deemed to be a cultural fit and are hired it is important to continue the initiation process into the culture. Managers need to immediately begin teaching new employees about the open communication culture and submerging them in it. The Container Store, for example, submits all new hires to a weeklong orientation in which they are taught the inner workings and philosophy of the company (FoE, pg. 75). Socialization techniques can be utilized to build the relationships between the new and established employees, understanding that well socialized employees are more likely to share information freely. Managers can organize gatherings of new and current employees to introduce the new hires to their co-workers. Examples would be ice cream or pizza socials in which ice-breaker type games are used to introduce and socialize new hires to their peers. Mangers can also take new hires to lunch with a small group of their fellow employees in an effort to socialize the new employee in an environment outside the workplace. An emphasis should be made at these types of gatherings to learn about the employee’s life outside of the work environment. Other practices like a mentoring or buddy system could also be utilized to engage the new employee in an open communication culture. The focus of these activities should be to build trust and a sense of value within the new hire. Employees that perceive themselves as being valued and have strong trust relationships with their direct reports and co-workers are more likely to give of themselves, that is, to invest their â€Å"heads and hearts† with your company. While recruiting and initiating new hires into the culture is vital, most of a leader’s time will be spent maintaining the open communication culture. These tasks can be broken down into activities that build relationships, empower employees and provide reviews and feedback. Mangers should spend a considerable amount of time getting to know and nurture relationships with their direct reports. Leaders should adopt a Management by Wondering Around system where managers spend time with employees getting to know what they are doing, how they are doing it, what kind of problems they are facing, and what help is required to solve the problems (Dynamic Business Strategy, info from Vick). This type of communication should be seen as an integral part of managing people, not as an additional burden to a manager’s already busy schedule. An open-door policy should be utilized so that managers are available to their employees as much as possible. Leaders should also maintain a database of employee birthdays and employment anniversaries and recognize these occasions with cards and/or gifts. Management could also hold monthly get-togethers to celebrate the birthdays, anniversaries and milestones that occurred that month. Managers should be encouraged to spend time with their direct reports outside the work environment. Informal gatherings like lunches and happy hours could be utilized to get to know direct reports on a more personal level. Managers should hold occasional casual days in which employees are allowed to wear themed casual attire like university t-shirts to kick off football season or Hawaiian shirts at the start of summer. Additionally, leaders could send out daily or weekly e-mails informing employees of what is going on around the company.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

MASH TV Show Premiers

MASH TV Show Premiers MASH was an extremely popular TV series, which first aired on CBS on September 17, 1972. Based on the real experiences of a surgeon in the Korean War, the series centered upon the interrelationships, stresses, and trauma involved in being in a MASH unit. MASHs final episode, which aired on February 28, 1983, had the largest audience of any single TV episode in U.S. history. The Book and Movie The concept of the MASH storyline was thought up by Dr. Richard Hornberger. Under the pseudonym Richard Hooker, Dr. Hornberger wrote the book MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors (1968), which was based on his own experiences as a surgeon in the Korean War. In 1970, the book was turned into a movie, also called MASH, which was directed by Robert Altman and starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce and Elliot Gould as Trapper John McIntyre. The MASH TV Show With nearly an entirely new cast, the same MASH characters from the book and movie first appeared on television screens in 1972. This time, Alan Alda played Hawkeye Pierce and Wayne Rogers played Trapper John McIntyre. Rogers, however, didnt like playing a sidekick and left the show at the end of season three. Viewers found out about this change in episode one of season four, when Hawkeye comes back from RR only to discover that Trapper was discharged while he was away; Hawkeye just misses being able to say goodbye. Season four through eleven presented Hawkeye and B.J. Hunnicut (played by Mike Farrell) as being close friends. Another surprising character change also occurred at the end of season three. Lt. Col. Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson), who was the head of the MASH unit, gets discharged. After saying a tearful goodbye to the other characters, Blake climbs into a helicopter and flies off. Then, in a surprising turn of events, Radar reports that Blake was shot down over the Sea of Japan. At the beginning of season four, Col. Sherman Potter (played by Harry Morgan) replaced Blake as head of the unit. Other memorable characters included Margaret Hot Lips Houlihan (Loretta Swit), Maxwell Q. Klinger (Jamie Farr), Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers), Father Mulcahy (William Christopher), and Walter Radar OReilly (Gary Burghoff). The Plot The general plot of MASH revolves around army doctors who are stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) of the United States Army, located in the village of Uijeongbu, just north of Seoul in South Korea, during the Korean War. Most of the episodes of the MASH television series ran for half an hour and had multiple story lines, often with one being humorous and another being serious. The Final MASH Show Although the real Korean War ran only three years (1950-1953), the MASH series ran for eleven (1972-1983). The MASH show ended at the end of its eleventh season.  Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, the 256th episode aired on February 28, 1983,  showcasing the last days of the Korean War with all the characters going their separate ways. The night it aired, 77 percent of American TV viewers watched the two-and-a-half-hour special, which was the largest audience to ever watch a single episode of a television show. AfterMASH Not wanting  MASH  to end, the three actors who played Colonel Potter, Sergeant Klinger, and Father Mulcahy created a spinoff called  AfterMASH. First airing on September 26, 1983, this half-hour spinoff television show featured these three MASH  characters reuniting after the Korean War at a veterans hospital. Despite starting off strong in its first season,  AfterMASHs  popularity dumped after being  moved to a different time slot during its second season, airing opposite the very popular show  The A-Team. The show was ultimately cancelled just nine episodes into its second season. A spinoff for Radar called  W*A*L*T*E*R  was also considered in July 1984 but was never picked up for a series.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus The Temple of Artemis, sometimes  called the Artemisium,  was a huge, beautiful place of worship, that was built around 550 BCE  in the rich, port  city of Ephesus (located  in what is now western Turkey).  When the beautiful monument was burned down 200 years later  by the arsonist Herostratus in 356 BCE, the Temple of Artemis was built again, just as large but even more intricately decorated. It was this second version of the Temple of Artemis that was awarded a place among the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. The Temple of Artemis was again destroyed  in 262 CE when the Goths invaded Ephesus, but the second time it was not rebuilt. Who Was Artemis? For ancient Greeks, Artemis  (also known as the Roman  goddess  Diana), the twin sister of Apollo,  was the athletic, healthy, virgin  goddess of hunting and wild animals,  often depicted with a bow and arrow. Ephesus, however, was not purely a Greek city. Although it had been founded by Greeks as a colony on Asia Minor around 1087 BCE,  it continued to be influenced by the original inhabitants of the area. Thus, at Ephesus,  the Greek goddess Artemis was combined with the local, pagan goddess of fertility, Cybele. The few  sculptures that remain of Artemis of Ephesus show a woman standing, with her legs fitted  tightly together and her arms held out in front of her. Her legs  were wrapped tightly in a long skirt covered with animals, such as stags and lions. Around her neck was a garland of flowers and on her head was  either a hat or a headdress.  But what was most pronounced was her  torso, which was  covered with a large number of breasts or eggs. Artemis of Ephesus  was not only  the goddess of fertility, she was the patron deity of the city. As such, Artemis of Ephesus needed a temple in which to be honored. The First Temple of Artemis The first Temple of Artemis was built in a marshy area long held sacred by locals.  It is believed that there was at least some sort of temple or shrine there at least as early as 800 BCE. However, when famously-rich King Croesus of Lydia conquered the area in 550 BCE, he ordered a new, larger, more magnificent temple to be built. The Temple of Artemis was an  immense, rectangular  structure made of white marble.  The  Temple was  350-feet long and 180-feet wide, larger than a modern, American-football field. What was truly spectacular, though, was its height. The 127 Ionic columns, which were  lined up in two rows all around the structure, reached 60 feet high. That was nearly twice as high as the columns at the  Parthenon in Athens.   The entire Temple was covered in beautiful carvings, including the columns, which was unusual for the time. Inside the Temple was a statue of Artemis, which is believed to have been life-sized. Arson For 200 years, the Temple of Artemis was revered. Pilgrims would travel long distances to see the Temple. Many visitors would make generous donations to the goddess to earn her favor. Vendors would make idols of her likeness and sell them near the Temple. The city of Ephesus, already a successful port city, soon became wealthy from the tourism brought in by the Temple as well. Then, on July 21, 356 BCE, a madman named Herostratus set fire to the magnificent building, with the sole purpose of wanting to be remembered throughout history. The Temple of Artemis burned down. The Ephesians and nearly the entire ancient world were stupefied at such a brazen, sacrilegious act. So that  such an evil  act would not make Herostratus famous, the Ephesians  banned anyone from speaking his name, with the punishment being death. Despite their best efforts, Herostratus name has gone down in history and is still  remembered more than  2,300  years later. Legend has it that Artemis was too busy to stop Herostratus from burning down her temple because she was helping with the birth of Alexander the Great that day. The Second Temple of Artemis When the Ephesians sorted through the charred remains of the Temple of Artemis, it is said they found the statue of Artemis intact and unharmed. Taking this as a positive sign, the Ephesians vowed to rebuild the temple. It is unclear how long it took to rebuild, but  it easily took decades. There is a story that when Alexander the Great arrived in Ephesus in 333 BCE, he offered to help pay for the rebuilding of the Temple as long as his name would be engraved on it.  Famously, the Ephesians found a tactful way  of rebuffing his offer by saying, It is not fitting that one god should build a temple for another god. Eventually, the second Temple of Artemis was finished, equal or just a bit taller in size but even more  elaborately decorated. The Temple of Artemis was well-known in the ancient world and was a destination for many worshippers. For 500 years, the Temple of Artemis was revered and visited. Then, in 262 CE, the Goths, one of the many  tribes from the north, invaded Ephesus and destroyed the Temple. This time, with Christianity on the rise and the cult of Artemis on the decline, it was decided to not rebuild the Temple. Swampy Ruins Sadly, the ruins of the Temple of Artemis were eventually plundered, with the marble being taken for other buildings in the area. Over time, the swamp in which the Temple was built grew larger, taking over much of the once-grand city. By 1100 CE, the few remaining citizens of Ephesus had completely forgotten that the Temple of Artemis ever existed. In 1864, the British Museum funded John Turtle Wood to excavate the area in the hopes of finding the ruins of the Temple of Artemis. After five years of searching, Wood finally found the remains of the Temple of Artemis under 25 feet of swampy mud. Later archaeologists have further excavated the site, but not much has been found. The foundation remains there as does a single column. The few artifacts that have been found were shipped to the British Museum in London.