Monday, September 30, 2019

Gatorade †Every Game Needs a Hero Essay

The commercial is about the new Gatorade commercial entitled Every Game Needs a hero. The commercial uses stop motion to feature an ongoing game. With its monochromatic form, the only thing that can be viewed in full color is the Gatorade item that can be found on the side where the water jug must be put in.   The commercial uses the song O-fortuna by Therion, which is a very famous song used as soundtrack in a lot of suspense, actions, and adventure movies. Several sports were featured like baseball, basketball, football and tennis. Finally, the commercial made its subjects moved by exemplifying the climax of the game, hand in hand with inspirational short phrases. Moreover, a grand finale is set by showing the Gatorade logo in the end. By watching the commercial, it is indeed clear that the commercial is a type of brand Advertising. In this case, Gatorade has promoted its brand by using famous sports personalities to persuade people to buy its product. Gatorade is an energy drink suited to fight dehydration. Every athlete exerts their full force when playing a game and because of that, they partially or fully lose the water levels in their body causing them to dehydrate. With Gatorade’s goal, to re-hydrate, replenish and refuel, it is certainly effective to use some sports personalities to endorse its product. In their website, they are fully promoting that Gatorade is faster to absorb that water in rehydrating an active person’s body. The commercial, in my opinion as the bystander, is very easy to like. When I first watched it, it is undeniably eye-catching. The commercial implies a lot of curiosity in which a viewer will not hesitate to watch it until the end. The special effects used in this commercial, although not new, were very effective. The opening scene was stunning especially when everyone can relate to the visuals presented on the first frames of the commercial. When it comes to the music used, I personally like it, not to mention I am a big fan of the band Therion, but also because it is very familiar to everybody’s ear. The music used as part of the effects of every game was very effective. On the other hand, there are still some aspects in the commercial in which I, as the viewer will be able to dislike. If I didn’t see the Gatorade jug on a part of the commercial and instead, jumped on the middle or latter part of it, I would never have thought that it’s from Gatorade. The stop motion thing is good but was poorly edited or visually criticized. Also, the Gatorade thing in this commercial was poorly emphasized as well as the message is quite vague. The theme every game needs a hero is quite fuzzy as delivered in the commercial. It comes in a way in which leaving me, as a viewer confused by finding out who the hero was, is it Gatorade or the sports personalities? I may even think that the hero is me. By interpreting all the thoughts gathered in watching this Gatorade commercial, I have come to a wrap-up thought that Gatorade is just simply emphasizing that everyone can become like any other sports personalities just by putting Gatorade beside them. The commercial put a lot of energy in me, in which I would not hesitate to watch it over and over again.   It affects most to those who really love sports. In contrast, it may minimally affect those who have no heart for any sport activities. However, the commercial is stunning especially is viewed first time. All in all, I could say that the commercial is exceptionally effective.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Jetblue Airways: Managing Growth

Jet Blue Airways; Managing Growth 1. Jet Blue? s Business- level strategy; value and cost drivers Jet Blue uses to create and maintain ist competitive position Founded by the discount airline veteran David Neeleman in 2000, JetBlue Airways has quickly become one of the largest discount airlines in the United States. Starting primarily by serving the East Coast, the airline has since expanded throughout the country and entered the international market.The reasons for its early success are numerous: JetBlue entered the market with one of the largest levels of liquidity of any start-up airline; it met the needs of customers’ whose primary concerns are price and route; and it successfully defined its brand and differentiated itself from competitors by offering an above average customer experience and amenities for a discounted price. They are offering fares with the â€Å"point to point† system. JetBlue? s business-level strategy is therefore a mix of cost-leadership and di fferentiation.David Neeleman’s idea behind JetBlue was to start a company that combined the low fares of a discount airline carrier with the comforts of a small cozy den in people’s homes. His vision involved both business and leisure customers to have cheap and affordable flights throughout the United States and abroad on newer aircraft that are not only comfortable, but are equipped with modern entertainment options, and a customer centric business model which makes customer service a number one priority.In contrast to its competitors, for example, JetBlue offers fares up to 65% lower but added comfort features such as assigned seating, leather upholstery and satellite TV on individual screens in every seat. Moreover, they are practicing a â€Å"get-to-the-destinations-at-all-costs† culture, which makes it their declared aim never to cancel a flight. JetBlue Airways does not operate to a traditional mission statement; rather, it operates to a set of core value s: Safety, Caring, Integrity, Fun, and Passion. 2. Strategic group map of the airline industry; positioning to create a strategic competitive advantage ompany| Routes serviced| Prices| size| Continental | 292| 1,586| 44939| Delta| 587| 1,009| 118856| Southwest| 97| 0,775| 77693| JetBlue| 71| 1,371| 14729| American| 336| 0,186| 745700| United| 180| 1,706| 67000| The biggest and simultaneously oldest airline companies are United, American, Delta and Continental Airline. This is why they are referred to as legacy carriers. Their strategic competitive advantage is the hub and spoke system. In this system, airlines created hubs at specific airports where thousands of passengers were shuttled to their connecting flights, the so called spokes.In doing so, these airlines can ensure to keep costs low and protect market share. Another argument strengthen this strategy is that passengers can travel between numerous destinations without changing airlines. Delta uses this strategy to dominate ge ographical segments of the market, for example Atlanta. Southwest Airlines on the other hand established a completely different strategy. They take passengers direct between cities, which is referred to as point to point. Additionally, Southwest is using secondary airports serving major metropolitan areas.With their different strategic advantage, they are able to attract another target market. Because they offer fares between cities that are often less than 500 miles apart, they targeted customers that would have otherwise traveled by car. In this way Southwest maintains high levels of plane utilization while keeping its operating costs low enough to support its discounted fares. Another part of their strategy is their reliance on a single type of plane, the Boing 737. This allowed them to standardize ground and flight personnel training which decreased the airline? average turnaround time between landing and starting again. Moreover, Southwest focuses on customers whose priority is low-cost, on-time performance. There are no complications for customers, like seat assignments. Therefore, Southwest as well as Jet Blue are considered as low cost carriers (LCC). Jet Blue offers fares up to 65 per cent lower than legacy competitors. Jet Blue Airways positions itself by connecting large, typically northeastern, US cities with warmer cities in the southeast. Jet Blue? s emphasis is like Southwest? s on low fares and point to point transportation.Jet Blue entered the market like Southwest with only one machine, the A320. In this way they could ensure serving a variety of medium- and long-haul routes and numerous overnight flights. Jet Blue could also standardize its training and servicing processes around the aircraft. This allowed them to gain flexibility in scheduling and capacity management. Another feature for customers to make travelling with this airline more attractive are added comfort features such as assigned seating, leather upholstery and satellite TV on individual screens in every seat.Their key principle was that flight cancellation should be avoided at all costs. In 2005, Jet Blue broadened their portfolio in entering the market of medium-sized cities, which was served only by regional airlines. They entered this market using a new midsized aircraft called E190. In launching this new machine, they were able to use synergy of combining the A320 and the E190 profitably while serving now smaller and bigger airports. This portfolio mix gives Jet Blue a yet matchless, strategic competitive advantage compared to the other airlines.Their goal now should be to improve the synergy between the two machines and the profitably run their fleet with the optimum amount of aircrafts. 3. Strategy/ structure needed to support the A320 versus the E190; reconcilable differences? ; opportunities for synergy The new developed strategy of Jet Blue was to acquire enough E190 aircrafts to serve medium- sized cities to provide a steady flow of passengers to fill the seats on the longer-haul routes of their A320 aircrafts. A big advantage of this system was that it also worked the other way around.Jet Blue turned out to have an enormous advantage in comparison to the regional airlines, because the E190 had more seats than the traditional RJ. They could use the best option for efficiently serving medium-sized markets while offering passengers more comfort, because they did not had to face limitations on the size of the planes as RJ did. Therefore, Jet Blue has to overcome some essential problems caused by significant differences between these two aircrafts. On the one hand, the E 190 is operated at 12 per cent greater costs than the A320, therefore 34 per cent less costs than for a typical RJ.The E 190 was a great innovation because it could target a wider range of profitable destinations with a greater seating capacity to feed into A320 flights. This results in higher loads and improved economics for Jet Blue. The breakeven load for the E190 of 75-80 per cent was much lower than for the A320, which made is easier to introduce service into new markets. One of the problems is that it takes up to 40 to 50 airplanes before a company benefits from economies of scale. And while taking delivery of the new E190, Jet Blue continued its purchases of A320 aircrafts.Reasons therefore are that this machine had proven to be an extremely reliable machine, and Jet Blue had standardized its operations around this plane. Another concern is the dual certification for pilots . It was simply not feasible for a pilot to simultaneously obtain enough flights as an E190 captain and as an A320 captain. This means pilots could only fly one of the two machines. This brought up another issue: An A320 captain received higher hourly wage rate than an E190 captain.This is why they had to keep pace with the A320 deliveries. The short-haul routes served by the E190 increased revenues but they also increased costs. The reason therefore is as mor e frequent flights required E190 aircrafts to spend more time on the ground than the A320 for taxiing, loading, and unloading between flights because the processes were not standardized yet. This resulted in a disadvantage in accumulating flying hours for pilots, because they get only credit for time spend in the air.Any time spend on the ground was not included. This affected their whole seniority and income availability, which is tied to the number of airplanes they take. Additionally, the E190 has non-skid flooring on the cargo bins as a safety feature to prevent baggage handlers from slipping on the floor while loading and unloading. Although it was intended to be a good thing, it increased loading time and also increased the potential for strains and back sprains as handlers had to lift bags they previously have slid.Also flight attendants had to make significant adjustments. The E 190 had smaller galleys from which to serve customers. The shorter duration of E190 flights provi ded less time for the attendants to provide the high level of service to which jet Blue passengers had become accustomed. The work of the employees in charge of servicing and maintaining Jet Blue? s fleet also increased considerably. They had now two completely different machines to take care of manufactured by different companies. This created additional operating complexity.This is why they decided to invest in maintenance capabilities. The last and most important group affected by the differences between the two machines is customers. Changes in their behavior and expectations are required. Especially concerning to the carry- on baggage, because the storage bins are from different sizes. This means passengers can take the same baggage in one machine as hand luggage, on the other machine they need to check it at the gate. There are enough opportunities for synergy effects.The system of the two machines working together is still in its introductory phase. Once these difficulties an d maintenance and special level of service for the customers are overcome, the synergy should run pretty well as it was intended to be. 4. Efforts of JetBlue to repair damage to its reputation; successful efforts? Necessary/ successful change in CEO? The Valentine ? s Day crisis that would later be referred to as „the worst operational week in JetBlue? s seven-year history,â€Å" began on February 14, 2007 when flights from JFK were heavily booked.Although the snow lingered longer than expected, JetBlue boarded its flights. As the snow turned to freezing rain the FAA prohibited domestic flights from taking off. This winter storm that enveloped the New York metropolitan region and JetBlue’s hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport left hundreds of the company’s passengers stranded aboard planes on the tarmac, some for as many as ten hours. Hundreds more waited in vain in the terminal for flights that the airline would eventually cancel.The flight disruptions at JFK plunged JetBlue’s entire operation into chaos, forcing the carrier to cancel more than one thousand flights over a six day period. In the morning of this Wednesday, JetBlue? s executives and employees had no idea that an operational catastrophe was about to happen, one that would threaten the company’s financial stability and tarnish its otherwise sterling public image. David Neeleman stepped down after the Valentine’s Day incident in 2007 only because his organization failed to deliver on its principles of excellent customer service.To restore its reputation, JetBlue embarked on a bold and unconventional image restoration campaign that included issuing disarmingly candid public apologies and a radical new covenant between the company and its customers called the â€Å"JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights. † The change of management was instituted to help rebuild JetBlue’s tarnished reputation and to develop innovative strategies which wo uld prevent situations like that from ever happening again. The CEO described the bill of rights as a written covenant between the company and its customers.The bill of rights specified in no uncertain terms the monetary compensation customers would receive if JetBlue failed to meet certain performance benchmarks, such as ground delays after landing. The Bill of Rights, allowed JetBlue to strengthen its brand among loyal customers and even those who were affected in the airline’s operational difficulties at JFK and other airports across the country. Additionally, the announcement of the Bill of Rights served as a powerful introduction to countless other air travelers who had yet to fly with the airline.In addition, the Valentine’s Day crisis taught the Corporate Communications group valuable lessons about using the Web and social media. For example, the corporate communication team arranged for Neeleman to appear on more than a dozen television news and talk show progr ams on February 20, including The Today Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Neeleman had already starred in videos posted to JetBlue’s Web site and YouTube in which he said he was â€Å"humiliated and mortified† by the company’s failures.Through numerous written and spoken mea culpas, Neeleman begged JetBlue’s customers for forgiveness. I feel that JetBlue? s powerful brand, corporate structure, and agility as a smaller airline should enable it to rebound from the Valentine? s Day crisis in 2007 and beyond. Of course, the events that began at JFK will not soon be forgotten by the public or the organization, but the issuance of the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights and the apologies demonstrated the airline’s commitment to its patrons over the long term, not just in the days and weeks following the onset of the crisis.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Heritage Assessment Essay

The culture of a person can change the way one views different aspects in life. Medical professionals are not exempt from this. Patients may be treated by one medical professional differently than they would be treated by the next just based on the culture the medical professional grew up in. This paper will examine the usefulness of applying the heritage assessment tool in evaluating the needs of the whole person. This author’s family and two other families have been interviewed and in this paper it will be explained how the cultures differ from one another, as well as showing many similarities regarding ones view on healthcare. Healthcare in America has changed drastically over the years. One reason for this is the recent trend in immigration and migration to the United States. With this, the United States is experiencing many different cultures that bring different values and beliefs. This brings a challenge to healthcare professionals as they attempt to care for patients a s individuals. The heritage assessment tool is a list of 29 questions that can be asked regarding family, religion, traditions, demographics and food choices. The more positive answers one gives the greater the person’s identification with traditional heritage is. This tool is unique due to the fact that unless you are siblings no two people’s answers will be the same. The questions are the same but the answers are individual. This assessment tool was beneficial when interviewing these families because it helped the interviewer to see how ones heritage sways their values and beliefs and their outlook on the importance of health care. Using this tool also shows the uniqueness of different cultures and how beliefs are passes from generation to generation. Another interesting thing the assessment tool does is that it shows interesting similarities between people from different cultures as well. The heritage assessment was used in analyzing the writer’s heritage and all 29 questions were answered with mostly positive answers. This writer’s family has high expectations regarding their healthcare. Modern medicine is the choice for this family and healthcare is very important to them. Yearly checkups with a primary care provider are sought out. Healthcare is paid for using an insurance health plan and cash to cover deductibles. However, this family’s heritage also includes some older home remedies. The elders used to believe that if you had fever they could use rubbing alcohol and bath you in it and it would make the fever go away. This culture also believes you should avoid chocolate to prevent acne. There is also a belief that eating carrots could make your eyesight better. These wives tales have been passed from generation to generation. The preferred food for this family was red meats and the only common health problem appeared to be hypertension. The second family assessed came to the United States as migrant workers in the early 1960’s from Mexico and started having a family here and have been In the United States since. This family also had mostly positive results on the assessment tool. This family has high beliefs in preserving their ancestor’s traditions. This family did report that due to finances modern medical treatment was not of great importance to them. This family reported that being of lower income they had to use what they call a Curandera( witch doctor) for medical purposes. The Curandera is trusted in the Mexican culture to give healthcare advice and remedies. This family prefers using the Curandera for reason such as being in the states illegally and they feared being turned in if they went to modern medical clinics. The heritage of the Mexicans also has many home rituals that are bel ieved to work besides medicine. This culture uses candle burning for healing purposes. The fat from a cow’s udder is also used for killing pain according to this family. The diet of the Mexican culture is high in fat. This culture also believes in the â€Å"evil eye† and believes that this can cause illness or curses and they were black charms to keep this evil away. One common health problem this family reported was a trend with diabetes. The third person interviewed immigrated to America in 1969 from Greece. This family came to America Due to military purposes. The woman interviewed explained that she grew up in Athens Greece and that family and the Greek culture is very important to them. This person also reported that teaching her children to speak Greek even though they grew up in the US was a must. The woman interviewed, explained that health care is very important to the Greek culture. She stated that there is free health care for the poor. Some people have private insurance, but she talked of her family being farmers and they paid into a private insurance once a year that covered anything medical that they needed. She reports that they get a book and all their medical treatments and illnesses are kept in this book. According to the woman interviewed many people in this culture also turn to a witch doctor for health care treatment and advice. This culture also believes in the evil eye; however this family report wearing a blue eye, or gem around their neck or on a bracelet to protect them from the evil This family reports that one of their favorite staples is lamb. There are many things learned from a person’s heritage that affect the way we think of others and of health care needs. Being aware of the differences in cultures may help medical professionals to provide better quality healthcare. Reference Edelman, C. L. (2010). Emerging Populations and Health. In Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span. Healthy People 2010 (2009). Goal 2: Eliminate Health Disparities. Retrieved on October 5, 2012 from http://healthypeople.gov/data/midcourse/html/exesummary/Goal2.htm Spector, R. E.(2009). Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness (7thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education,Inc.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Wildlife Photography for the Amateur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Wildlife Photography for the Amateur - Essay Example This passion must have also been through vast experiences with nature, though trekking, mountain climbing, biological studies, or even habitual adventurism. Subject matter refers to the focus, the topic, or the object and image of the photographer's interest. In wildlife photography, subject matter refers to any living, non-living or moving object in the wildlife, but mostly, the animals. The subject matter like any topic of conversation can be tackled in various ways. For time specified, the subject matter may be shoot during night, at dawn, at noon, break of dawn, dusk, day time, all the time except when there is disruption of the natural existence of the subject and its environment, or there is much more danger than can be handled. For themes, subject matter may be viewed and shot when resting, sleeping, eating, basking in the sun, attacking a prey, gathering food, walking, or any interesting act the subject may be doing which the photographer may find novelty, or interest. Wildlife photography... The Elias and Katmai National Parks of Alaska (Donahue, 2003) provide for the best locations of sighting, and shooting Grizzly or brown bears. Both parks provide a wide range of landscapes that include wild Brooks River, snowy vastness, forest, hilly or mountainous as well as rocky terrain. The bears, either solo, in group, in family, and in action provide the perfect subjects as they eat berries, patiently wait for the catch, chase gulls, fish for salmon by the falls, climb hills or mountains, or tackle the cold, wild water. Sufficient knowledge about the terrain, as well as about bears must be born in mind by the amateur photographer prior to traveling and taking photos of this subject. It pays to be with a professional guide or another professional photographer to embark on a doubly dangerous a mission as taking photos of bears in Alaska. Frost-bite, the rugged terrain, as well as the possibility of being attacked by the subject must be of foremost consideration. With proper distance and the equipment support which necessitates long-range telephoto lenses, take the subject in their best forms or actions. The bears of Alaska provide for revealing photos of "family" among the beasts, diversity of their sustenance, as well as the skills and patience they exhibit in catching their fish meals. Bears are also surprising subjects as they already have learned how to dive in order to catch food --- the salmon. At times, they may also exhibit emotive acts as caring and playing with their cubs, as well as guiding them towards independence. B Lions or Cheetahs in Africa The Sub-Saharan Africa, the Kruger National Park, Tanzania, and the Shamwari Game Reserve of South Africa provide for a wide choice of subjects that include rhinoceros, zebras, giraffes,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Rumbold v General Medical Council Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Rumbold v General Medical Council - Essay Example At interview Mr. A found it difficult to appreciate the severity of the offenses for which he appears before the court, viewing himself more as a victim of modern technology rather than as an offender. He had clearly given little consideration to the harm caused to children by the production or distribution of such images, although when this was discussed with him, he did admit that he was beginning to realize the harm that this could cause. Mr. A is a 44-year-old man, who is married with two young children aged 8 and 10. He has no previous convictions. As a result of this conviction, his partner has ended their 15-year relationship and he now resides with his parents in a household with no children. He currently has no access to his children, a matter which is being dealt with by social services and the civil courts. Whilst he understands the reasons for this he tells me that he is profoundly depressed as a result of the breakdown of his family. He is adamant that he has never posed any risk to his family. Mr. A left education following a degree in public sector management, and until his conviction work as a manager for the local authority. He is currently suspended from work pending the outcome of his sentence. Mr. A tells me that he has never had any issues relating to alcohol or drug dependency, however, his level of alcohol use has increased in recent months as a result of his anxiety relating to these proceedings. Mr. A continues to make a financial contribution to support his ex-partner and their children. In the case study above it is stated that the number of images was relatively small. There is no indication of the level of the images and therefore it is not possible to give a definitive answer as to whether a community sentence is appropriate.

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; Essay

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; - Essay Example The stories are entertaining, highlighting his views about women, excessive consumption of alcohol and drinking games, which lead to him insulting people, and embarrassing sexual encounters. Whether the stories are true or overly exaggerated perhaps is irrelevant, as one of his stories, which is in his popular publication and on the website is the â€Å"famous sushi pants story† (Max, 2006), and which recognizes and emphasizes on a familiar sequence of events individuals follow during a night out drinking alcohol, and commonly defined as binge drinking (Measham & Brain, 2005). Binge drinking is when an individual takes six or more standard drinks in one given period (WHO, 1994). Binge drinking is a common drinking behaviour in Ireland (SLAN, 2007). The impact of alcohol relies on the amount taken, although alcohol is a depressant it can have a stimulating effect. Some common effects following consumption include a sense of dis-inhibition, social freedom, and excitement, the proverbial ‘Dutch courage’, and a warm feeling of enjoyment. However, at higher doses alcohol can affect the cerebellum, which results in poor balance and slurred speech (Drinkaware, 2014). The ‘Sushi Pants Story’ is one of a young mans shamelessness. Morality is rarely discussed. However, moments during the story the author has inscribed remarks, â€Å"remembering past encounters with the law, and realising there is no one around to bail me out of the county lock up, I summon up every bit of adrenalin in my body to sober up, I apologise again† (p.6). There appears to be disapprobation or at least of an egressing consciousness that there is something "wrong" with this behaviour. Additionally, there is a way in which this story records the pain and sorrow of a young man whose life while in certain aspects is in good order, in other ways has careened out of control.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Global warming caurse genetic changes Research Paper

Global warming caurse genetic changes - Research Paper Example These changed seasonal relations are explicable totally as temperature-responsive reactions (McDonald, 2). Climate changes on diverse geographic scales and timescales. Climatic changes monitored over a few decades associates with alterations in living populations and species. Some speculative grounds for anticipating types of climate-driven changes in species and populations that we observe nowadays to play out as hastened speciation over the timeline of thousands or millions of years exist (Barnosky& Kraatz, 3). Global warming is moving at a quicker rate at more northerly latitudes, which is leading to less cold stress caused by extreme winter and longer growing seasons. Species of animals have been enlarging their range toward the limits and populations have been developing, migrating or reproducing earlier over the past 40 years. Phenotypic plasticity or the capability of characters to change their behavior, morphology or physiology in response to modified ecological circumstances have attributed to these developments and changes (Connor, 2). Many species are changing to the lengthened growing season caused by the slight rise in standard global temperatures over the past century. Seeds are sprouting, birds migrating and frogs regenerating earlier. All of these however are not lasting genetic transformations but changes in individual behavior (Nature.com, 1). Numerous studies have indicated connections between climate drifts over the past 50 years or so and changes in population density, in the geographic variety of species or in other parameters that affect the number of offspring produced. Such effects have been monitored in different mammals such as moose, deer, African antelope, bighorn sheep, caribou, musk oxen and foxes. Therefore, it appears likely that climatic changes influence how animals are distributed on

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

One-Child Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

One-Child Policy - Essay Example From the research "One-Child Policy" it is clear that the Policy contributed to increased saving by individuals and provided better support to children’s higher education. It also helped to provide better healthcare services to women and reduced pregnancy-related risks. The policy proved hugely beneficial in terms of increased employment, reduced burden on natural resources and rate of exploitation. The overhead cost of social service and social maintenance and problems associated with overpopulation like poverty, epidemics, law enforcement etc were considerably reduced. This helped the government to focus on economic growth. The policy has come under flak for myriad reasons. While forced abortion and infanticide are cited as major human right violations, many social problems have also emerged with the single child. It has resulted in abnormal sex ratio and it is expected that there would be 30 million more men than women by 2020! It is also believed that spacing birth would h ave yielded the same result as the policy. Most importantly, the dependency of the elderly population on young generation has significantly increased which could ultimately impact their overall welfare. The one child policy was an important initiative to control burgeoning population which was already under huge pressure from many spheres of the public good. The overpopulation not only increases dependency on the state and increases overhead costs, it also adversely impacts social policies like employment, environment considerations and economic growth. The policy proved quite effective in controlling population dynamics and promoted higher economic growth and employment. Environment efforts also got the boost as large volumes of waste were significantly reduced. It was also important element of the national saving as it motivated individuals towards higher saving and investment for

Monday, September 23, 2019

A midsummer night's dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A midsummer night's dream - Essay Example The action swings back and forth between these characters and with typical dexterity Shakespeare interweaves these separate threads into a colorful tapestry. The action commences in Athens, and then repairs to the woods outside Athens before climaxing again in Athens. The setting of the action in the woods is an essential aspect of the play. It is the realm of fairies and there is magic in the air, literally! It is a world far- removed from reality and where imagination is given free rein. In this surreal, setting the lovers find an escape from the restrictions of polite society and can shed their inhibitions. The woods are beautiful, dreamy, and mysterious but it can turn menacing and the characters find themselves confronting their dark sides before completing the transformation which holds the key to their collective happiness. And it is in this theme of transformation that permeates the play that the woods have particular significance. Northrop Frye speaks of the â€Å"green world† in Shakespeare’s comedies as a place offering brief solace from the mundane difficulties that pervade human existence (qtd. in Sullivan Jr. 184). In the words of Laroque, â€Å"The green world was regarded as a place of escape from the constraints of the law and of everyday life, a place of change and deep interior transformation† (29). The woods in A Midsummer Night’s Dream perform this function admirably. Athens has become an inhospitable place for the lovers Hermia and Lysander as Egeus wishes his daughter to marry Demetrius and he would rather have her executed as per the laws of the land than allow her to follow the dictates of her heart. When Theseus is asked to preside over this conundrum he finds that his hands are tied and he says: These lines reflect the harshness and rigid cruelty of the hub of civilization that is Athens.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Performance appraisal Essay Example for Free

Performance appraisal Essay Performance appraisal has been one of the most-debated management practices for several decades. It has generated a wide variety of viewpoints. There are those who see performance appraisal as making an important contribution to human resource management, in that organizations require systematic information on how well employees are performing in their jobs as a key element in ensuring that human resources are used as effectively as possible. Employees at all levels experience a need to know clearly what they should be doing and what is expected of them in terms of quantity and quality of output. In addition most people want to be in a position where they can perform better next time around. A number of writers, especially during the 1970s, expressed pessimistic views about the future of performance appraisal schemes, and the assumptions on which they are based. Some have tended to write off conventional versions of performance appraisal as backward, simplistic and even counterproductive, arguing that conventional appraisal processes often lead both the manager and employee to approach the performance review with dysfunctional role stereotypes. The employee expects to hear what is wrong with his or her performance, while the manger expects to have to well the evaluation to a reluctant and possibly hostile member of staff. (Gordon Anderson 1996) In this case study, it present the issues that caused Xerox Company emerged as a result of their research. In a word, it is all about change. It is talking about the linked issues of visibility and growth, and the compelling need for a process or model to deal with the problems of increasing effectiveness in the midst of all the change. I discuss changing attitudes and HRD political relevance, and present evidence of concern for HRD effectiveness. In Xerox appraisal new system they use Mulit-appraisal which is 360-degree Appraisal. The limitations of conventional performance appraisal in placing considerable, and sometimes total, emphasis on the judgment of the employees manager have been identified and discussed by a number of  writers. A pioneering study carried out a number of years ago in Gulf Oil, and described by Stinson and Stokes (1980), highlights an alternative, multi-rater method, which overcomes a number of the deficiencies of conventional, manager-orientated appraisal. Probably the most significant development likely to influence the nature of performance appraisal in the future is the shift away from conventional appraisals undertaken typically by line managers towards the concept of 360-degree appraisal. The concept builds on multi-appraisal and refers to a situation where appraisal data is collected all around an employee, from his or her manager, subordinates, peers and customers, internal and external. A number of factors are encouraging organizations to introduce, or to seriously consider the introduction of, 360-degree appraisal. These include: ØFlatter, less hierarchical, more flexible, team-based organization structures; ØAwareness of the limited perspective of managers; ØRecognition of the value of contributions from other sources; ØThe advantage of a range of perspectives, given the increasingly complex roles many people play in organization. In research identified the need for building and maintaining close relationships with line and staff management as essential for a successful HRD organization. It is really depend on the organization and communication processes. A wide range of methods and criteria for appraising performance is used by organizations. The various ways of measuring performance stem directly form the different components of performance. We can see in the new system of Xerox, they are: Simple ranking, using this system the appraiser is called upon to make a judgment about the general level of the performance of each employee. Based on the appraiser ranks each employee from best to worst. Alternate ranking, this process involves a number of stages. While this approach may have some advantages in determining the ratings, it suffers from the same defects as the simple ranking approach. The HRD Function In effective HRD functions, staff development is built in to the annual operating plan as a requirement. It is not only supported by management, but also seen as essential to the continued effective operation of the HRD function, and adequate funding supports it. Another one is Feedback, It tells employees, How am I doing? and Where do I go from here? How would you like to be a member of a bowling team and go bowling every week, but only get your scores once a year? Coaching is the day-to-day effort to review work, answer questions, discuss progress (or lack of it) toward meeting standards, develop skills, and provide positive guidance. Is the supervisor the only person who can provide coaching to an employee? Coworkers, other supervisors, and even customers can often be in a good position to compare the employees performance to established standards and then give helpful feedback. As the articles shown that the core of any organization is its staff. Without workers, who is going to do the job? How come the goal is going to achieve? How effectively an organization maintains a quality team of employees is linked to its ability to manage its staff and recognize the contributions of each player. Effective performance management systems enable an organization to objectively and systematically rate employee performance, while providing the tools necessary to take that performance level and equate it to compensation actions. Employees have always expressed the desire for open feedback regarding their performance. More and more companies are embracing the pay for performance concept and its tie to compensation. A well-executive performance management plan enables an organization to achieve critical goals: ØRecognize the efforts and contributions of current staff ØReward staff with compensation directly linked to performance ØMotivate staff to improve performance ØOrient staff towards goal achievement ØRetain key employees through the use of competitive compensation programs ØAttract quality employees with an effective performance management system A necessary condition for the effective management of performance appraisal systems in any organization is the need to clarify and communicate to all concerned the objectives which the system is intended to achieve. Typically, performance appraisal schemes are expected to serve multiple objectives. This can often be strength in that several purposes can be achieved, but I can also prove to be a disadvantage if it leads to a dissipation of effort and lack of focus. It is obviously of crucial importance, and everyone in an organization especially the key decision makers should be fully aware precisely what objectives the system of performance appraisal is expected to achieve, and the priorities within these objects. Performance appraisal should lead to the identification of the training and development needs of employees. Indeed, it can be argued that without an appraisal scheme, it would be only accidental if training and development efforts were aimed in the right direction (Anderson 1980). Performance appraisal, by providing feedback to employees on job performance, creates a basis for improvement and development. The developmental function of appraisal is concerned with improving the performance of people by identifying areas for improvement, setting performance targets for the future, and agreeing plans for follow up action. This aspect also involves developing the capacity of people through formulation plans to develop their skills and careers, and helping individuals to reconcile their job and career aspirations with opportunities available in the organization. Furthermore, there is certain amount of overlap between the evaluative and development functions, in that the evaluation of past performance will often be an important influence upon the setting of future targets. Brinkerhoff  and Kanter (1980) contend that this function is both backward looking in the sense of evaluating past performance so as to establish standards and forward looking in that the established standards serve as incentives for future performance improvement through generating peer competition and the desire to best ones won past record. The argue further that an additional overlapping, but also overarching, purpose for performance appraisal is to ensure that managers are performing a critical management function. Managers should be paying careful attention to the assessment of the past performance of their staff against organizational requirements, and to the development of greater productivity of the human resources available. This function of performance of performance appraisal of encouraging careful and systematic approaches in assessing the performance of employees is of great importance for practicing managers, and they often recognize its value. The possible conflict between the evaluative and developmental dimensions has been much discussed in the appraisal literature. The central issue appears to be: can the manager, acting as appraiser, effectively be both judge and helper without experiencing role conflict? Since future decisions must be based, at least in part, on evaluations of previous behavior, it could be argued that this conflict is superficial rather than real, and that an effective manager should be about to cope effectively with both roles. When we looked further at the issue of growth. The Conference Board, in a study of trends in corporate education and training, found that the number of training professionals had increased in nearly two-thirds of the firms surveyed. The board cited the following as evidence of the enhanced role and status of HRD in many companies: ØManagement has become convinced that education drives the business. ØA stepchild until recently, the training function is now seen as essential to the companys strategic goals. ØDeveloping our people is now the heart of our business strategy. ØTraining departments used to be wiped out by recessions, but few were in the recent one (Lusterman, 1985, p.2). Affecting the growth of HRD is the increase in the overall number of jobs and the shifts from sectors such as manufacturing to service organizations. Newly created jobs require new skills training and workers being displaced need retraining. In addition, more workers are coming to expect training as part of the normal job environment, and will demand it if they dont see it. This is especially true in high technology, where employees want to stay on the leading edge-they cant afford not to. The negative factors are: ØPossible distortion due to popularity factors influencing peers; ØPossible negative reactions towards those who irrespective of this performance, are seen as unorthodox, inclined to challenge existing practices, and therefore perceived as threatening; ØFriendship rating; ØDistortions due to fear of retaliation; ØReliance of peers on stereotypes in making evaluation. Despite the risks evident from the number of possible negative factors, peer review may well have an increasing role to play in performance appraisal systems of the future, especially in non-hierarchical, team-based organizational structures in which peers are willing to give objective evaluations of one anothers performance, and where peers interact sufficiently frequently to be able to develop an informed view of the performance of colleagues. Conclusion Appraisal of employees tasks place whether a formal appraisal system is in operation or not. In small companies, formal systems are probably unnecessary; in larger companies, a formal system goes some way towards ensuring that decisions based upon judgments of employee performance are fair and just. However, the mere installation of an appraisal scheme does not ensure that appraisals are well founded. There are a large number of human tendencies towards error that must be recognized by those conducting appraisal. This recognition and ways to overcome the problems are best achieved through training. The appraisal of performance is useless unless the results of the appraisal are translated into action. This is the purpose of the appraisal interview. It is a mechanism for feedback of information to employees, and an opportunity for employees and their superiors to sit down and plan remedial action. Appraisal interviews involving problem solving, counseling and joint objective setting are essential components of a successful appraisal scheme. REFERENCE French,W. Human Resources Management 4th Edition, Houghton Miffin co, Boston, 1998. Graham, H.T, Human Resources Management, recruitment and selection, Britain ,1983. Leslie W. Rue, Ph.D., Lioyd L. Byors, Ph.D, Management skills and Application recruitment and selection, Australia,1997. Pearson, R., The Human Resources , Managing people and work, Australia, 1990. Kramar, R, Mcgraw, P Schuler, R. S., Human Resources Management in Australia. Longman. South Melbourne, 1997. Parry, K. W., Smith, D., Human Resources Management. USQ Press. Queensland, 1998. Dessler, Griffiths, Lloyd- Walker, Williams, Human Resources Management, Prentice Hall, Australia, 1999.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

History of Fashion in Western Society

History of Fashion in Western Society History of Fashion. Fashion has always been a reflection of the collective consciousness and unconsciousness of society.   In politically conservative times, fashion reflects the staidness of the majority, but also the subversive elements of the minority.   No less a controversial figure than King Louis XIV of France was rumored to have said that fashion was a mirror.   Music, films, and television, all potent pop culture mirrors in their own right of the anxieties, hopes, and dreams of any society, all collectively form a synergistic relationship with fashion, each informing, influencing, and cross-pollinating the others in various turns.   Fashion is also a pop culture manifestation of the intellectual and cultural trend of postmodernism.   Fashion depends on newness; summer, fall, winter, spring are seasons that occur inexorably each year, and with them, the demand for new fashion lines.   The inexhaustible hunger for new ideas and inspirations in fashion and other pop culture arenas lead s inevitably to cannibalization, plagiarism, re-contextualization, and re-imagination of ideas past and present – the essence of postmodernism.   If we survey the landscape of where pop culture and fashion have been, we can to some degree predict the elements which may define where it will go, though in the postmodern universe of the 21st century, it is next to impossible to predict what incarnations will come to pass. Fashion is the byproduct of a leisure society that has transcended many of the basic human struggles on the lower level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.   Most people in prosperous Western nations are fortunate enough to lead lives in which the acquisition and/or maintenance of food, shelter, and clothing is not a struggle that consumes their existence, as is sadly true in many African nations, for example.   Free to ponder the meaning of their lives and the many ways in which it is possible for humans to express their inner thoughts and feelings, citizens of the leisure society began to use fashion as a mode of self-expression and reflection of any number of zeitgeists of their time.   As far back as the 1700s, French women consulted fashion magazines to learn the latest fashion trends.   Sketch artists were present in royal courts to make note of the fashion choices made by the ruling classes, and communicated these ideas to dressmakers across the nation, who in turn crafted facsimiles for those who were able to afford such fashion mimicry.   The French have historically held a special place in the fashion universe since this time.  Ã‚   As the 1800s and 1900s saw Western societies evolve from agrarian societies to industrial societies, with the concurrent increase in wealth and disposal income, the focus on and indulgence in fashion increased.   With the advent of pop music, most notably rock-and-roll in the 1950s, and television, teenagers all around the world saw the likes of Elvis Presley and his gyrating hips, causing a global fashion sensation.   Boys everywhere began to sport white t-shirts (in whose sleeves the more raucous ones rolled packs of cigarettes), blue jeans, and grease their hair.   Celebrities from the arenas of music, film, and then television became the new royalty, the new elites, for Western cultures, and the fashion trends they embodies became inspirations for millions in each successive generation. The messages of rock-and-roll became more complex, subversive, and powerful in the 1960s, corresponding with the United States’ controversial entry into the Vietnam War and a wholesale rejection on both sides of the Atlantic of many of the traditional values of the Cold War era.   The Beatles’s turn from fresh-scrubbed, feel-good bubblegum pop to psychedelic and metaphysical subject matter influences a new set of fashion trends which shocked the Establishment to the core.   Men and women everywhere began wearing colorful (both literally and figuratively), outrageously expressive, and even outlandish fashions, and allowing their hair to grow long. The exhaustion from the myriad political and socio-cultural revolutions of the 1960s, and the stagnant Western economies of the 1970s gave way to a culture preoccupied with escapism and simply having a good time.   Sit-ins and political protests gave way to champagne-filled boogie nights.   The flower-power psychedelia fashion trends of the late 1960s and early 1970s gave way to the groovy leisure suit styles inspired by the music trend of disco that consumed the world from roughly 1976 to 1980 and cemented by the global box office phenomenology of the film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta and featuring a soundtrack packed with disco hits written by the Bee Gees.   The tight-fitting and well-cut suits worn by Travolta, and the sexy, stylish dresses and pantsuits of the women in the film inspired millions to change their wardrobes accordingly.   On the tail end of the disco era came a brief but potent preoccupation with cowboy fashion, inspired by the peculiar util itarian clothing from the American Old West – cowboy boots, rugged blue jeans, ten-gallon cowboy hats, etc., again propelled into the collective fashion consciousness of the world by another hugely successful film, 1982’s Urban Cowboy. At the same time the fashion trends inspired by disco and cowboy culture were dying out, the realm of the political again profoundly affected the universe of fashion.   The elections of conservative political figureheads Margaret Thatcher in England and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. sparked a schizophrenic revolution in clothing and music:   as economic recoveries were engineered on the backs of the working poor, the culture that proclaimed â€Å"greed is good† took to reveling in the wearing conservative, yet expensive or even shocking clothing – furs, for example which reflected the mindset of conspicuous consumption.   Simultaneously, those cultural elements who were not benefiting from the economic boom were rebelling against the conservative establishment trends and adopting controversial styles embodied, for example, in the slut-chic clothing popularized by the music and videos of Madonna.   Music videos, a new invention in pop culture and institutionalized b y the power of MTV, became a new showcase for outrageous fashion statements in the 1980s and beyond. The greed and spiritual bankruptcy of the 1980s gave way to the hippie nouveaux culture of the Earth-and-cause-friendly early-to-mid 1990s, and then to the greed nouveaux culture of the late 1990s, spawned by the phenomenal economic growth of the Internet boom.   By this time, pop culture had begun to liberally cannibalize itself for new ideas, having exhausted much of its potential for true originality.   As technology and civilization continue their exponential evolution of consumption, genuinely original ideas become more and more difficult to generate, leading fashion designers to borrow from past ideas, to combine hitherto uncombined or un-combinable ideas, as evidenced by the infamous phrase â€Å"What’s old is new; what’s new is old.† The early 21st Century is a time of profound uncertainty in fashion, with a myriad of recycled influences competing for the crown of the next hot fashion trend.   The inherent self-referentiality and cannibalism of post-modernism, however, makes it virtually impossible to predict which trends will take hold and when.   The next decade will make for a fascinating time in the universe of fashion.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Economic Benefits of the Commonwealth Games: Manchester

Economic Benefits of the Commonwealth Games: Manchester Economic benefits that Manchester gained by hosting the Commonwealth Games 2002 This paper discusses Manchester’s hosting of the 2002 Commonwealth games, and how it was used as a catalyst for urban regeneration. It discusses the theory and history behind hosting Mega events.  The rationale behind cities bidding for mega events has shifted. They bid not only to raise the image of their city on the world stage, button use the new facilities as a catalyst for urban regeneration. The Manchester case study is drawn from the local council websites and reports published during and after the event. This gave an insight into the long term economic gains for the city. The paper concludes that the hosting and the urban regeneration were successful for Manchester. This success has promoted other cities to bid for Mega events. 2.0 Introduction There are three advents that are described as mega events, the Football world cup, the Olympic and Commonwealth games. These events are held every four years, with cities around the world bidding to host them. For the purpose of this paper the discussion will be on the Olympic and Commonwealth games. The main Focus will be on Manchester hosting of the2002 Commonwealth games. Mega events as steeped in tradition, they are a platform for host cities to show what they can do. Cities plan for them years in advance, putting their bid forward so they can succeed on the world’s stage. When a city is successful in a bid, there are other cities that are disappointed. This paper discusses Manchester’s successful Commonwealth games bid after two failed Olympic bids. When a city hosts a Mega event it is in the public eye, everybody remembers the spectacle of the opening and closing ceremonies. What is not so public is all the planning behind the scenes, committing resources to the success of the games. These resources are committed at an early stage; the bid has to be viable to be considered. The rational for hosting games has shifted from the prestige associated with the attention of the world’s media, to a tool for regenerating rundown areas of the host city. Therefore the planning of the venues has shifted from temporary buildings, to long term facilities for the local communities. Some cities hosting mega events are looking at the long term usage for the new facilities after the event, in the past a lot of these buildings were built as temporary structures and pulled down shortly after the closing ceremony. This is viewed by some commentators as waste of resources, with prolonging the life of these buildings cities, can benefit long after the games are finished. This shift has attracted new cities to bid for Mega events, with the justification that it will lead to economic growth both short and long-term. The benefit can be two fold, raising the image of the city and regenerating a rundown area. Although not all host cities have been successful at obtaining growth, some are still repaying the debt that was run up to host the games. The resources that each city has ploughed into holding these prestige games are immense. To succeed they require the backing of local residents, council, sports providers, grants, the government and their agencies. This should be incorporate at the planning stage to increase the chance of a successful bid. The value to local residents of a city hosting a mega event is immense in economic terms. It is not only the new facilities that can generate income, if the games are a success, the city can attract tourism long after the event. The games cannot be viewed in isolation of the sporting stage, there is the build-up to the bid, the planning of hosting the games and the long term value they van add to the city. All these factors make up a successful mega event bid. Manchester spent a long time planning for the games. This is illustrated in the time line that appears in the appendices of this paper. This was not an easy ride, as financial problems affected the plans. Manchester overcame these and held the 2002 Commonwealth games. 3.0 Aims and objectives The aim of this paper is to assess the economic impact of cities hosting mega event; this will concentrate on the 2002 common wealth games held in Manchester. The objectives are †¢Ã‚  An in depth analysis of the history of mega events, with the resources and planning to host such an event   †¢Ã‚  An analysis of the economic benefits that can be gained and the disadvantages of hosting a major sporting event. 4.0 Methodology This chapter discusses the research methods used for the project and the rationale for their choice. It discusses methods that were not used, with justification of why they were not included.  Included is a critique of methods selected, and with hindsight identifies any changes that would have enhanced the research.   This paper critically evaluates the impact of the 2002 Commonwealth games on the city of Manchester. This paper will investigate the economic impact of a mega event and the subsequent urban regeneration. This will be compared to other host cities, both with the Commonwealth and Olympic games. Selection of the topic was stimulated and formed out of heightened publicity on the topic. The aim of holding the games was not only publicity for the city but to use it as a tool of urban regeneration. The nature of the research was discussed with colleagues and fellow students this not only added practical ideas and suggestions, it opened new avenues of thought.  This was the discussed with lecturers sounding out ideas, gauging opinions and clarifying the question.  Focusing in on the question was obtained by employing relevance trees, narrowing the research area.  This gave direction to the research, although with reviewing the literature this changed several times (Buzau, J. 1995).   Next, a research proposal was compiled, with the benefit of organising ideas and setting a time-scale for research.  Theoretically, the proposal would highlight any difficulties with the research question and access to data.  Creating a time-scale would focus on targets and meet deadlines in the completion of the paper.   The literature review, discussing theories and ideas that exist on the topic formed the foundation of the paper.  The findings from the research are then tested on theories for validity (Saunders, M. et al1997).  The literature review was challenging, there is very little academic research on the topic area. Most of the literature focused on individual’s performances at the games, and the impact of hosting the Olympic Games. This information proved relevant in understanding the justification for bidding for mega events. Journals and newspaper articles were the back bone for the review, together with internet sites and reports. Tertiary data sources, such as library catalogues and indexes were used to scan for secondary data.  This produced journals and newspaper articles, and Internet addresses.  With the amount of literature, it took time to sort out relevant material to the research.  Narrowing down the search Bell’s (1993) six point’s parameters was applied.  Applying key words that were identified in the first search produced relevant and up-to-date material (Bell, J.1993).  A limitation on the literature search was the amount of time to read all articles and books on the subject. Whilst reviewing the literature references to other publications were followed and reviewed.  Bells checklist on identifying the relevance of literature found was a practical method to reduce the amount of reading (Bell, J. 1993). A case study on the impact on the city of Manchester of the 2002Commonwealth games was chose to replace primary research. This would report the actual benefits gained by staging such a major event. There is a lot of information presented in articles on the benefits of hosting Mega games, but little on the problems.  Therefore a lot of information was rejected due to the bias of the content. Articles and web sites were used to form a picture of the impact. This would then be compared with the literature and previous host cities To produce primary data the success of a mega event proved to be vast task, taking a lot of time to produce results. Internal and external operations of several organisations, providers, spectators and competitors would have to be compared to reach any level of validity. Instead it was decide to review a case study. This was then compared to the literature review. 5.0 Literature Review This section will review all the relevant literature on mega events, including cities that have bid and hosted them together with the history of the games. The review will also discuss the rationale behind bidding and the benefits it can bring to a City who hosts an mega event. 5.1 Mega Events Mega events are regularly defined as special events, these have unique status. Hamilton, (1997) characterise these events containing similar features, including international dimensions, short-termed, and may be either a one-off occurrence or conducted on a regular cycle. From the literature, size emerges as a dominant distinguishing feature separating mega from non-mega events. Both the Olympics and the commonwealth games fall into this category, they are international, short termed and held on a regular cycle. They are held every four years, at different locations (Hamilton, L 1997:124). Sporting events are rapidly increasing in popularity as a means of attracting attention to particular geographic locations (Getz, 1998).Increasingly, cities are basing their marketing around Mega events(e.g. Manchester and the Commonwealth Games), in order to maximise the benefits to be achieved from event-driven tourism, sponsorship, and media exposure. Sporting events make up an important part of the overall Mega event industry. In reality there are a limited number of Mega sporting events that exist. This has led to fierce competition among cities to be successful in winning the business of playing event host (Getz, (1998) cited in  Westerner, H et al 2002:303). 5.2 Resources Required The size of an event can be discussed in four different ways. First is determined by the noticeable involvement of national and regional government authorities. Government agencies provide an event with the development of policies, infrastructure or making resources available supporting the attraction of events to major cities  (Westerner, H teal 2002). Higher technical competencies are required, such as advanced facilities, suitable event location and skilled personnel; these are directly related to size of the event. The demands placed on services provided by host cities to deliver an event is of superior quality when compared to other event types. The technical competencies must satisfy number of requirements. This includes the technical standards set by international federations pertaining to competition, non-competition elements (accommodation and transport) and personnel issues competition management, and personnel issues  (Westerner, H et al 2002). The higher competencies are a requirement for the event management team, made up of both bid and operational teams, it is composed of expert people capable of carrying out professional relations with event owners and organisers prior to and throughout the event as well as having the technical expertise to stage the event  (Westerner, H et al2002). The hosting City requires broad support from both direct and indirect stakeholders. Overall approval must come from the general public, government, (target) markets and other business sectors. The large amount of capital invested from the public purse in bidding for and staging an event, it is essential for strong community support for the process (Ernst Young, (1992) cited in  Westerner, H et al2002:305). 5.3 Planning for the Games International and worldwide events are more important now than ever before. In most countries major events are significant to all levels of society and institutions, whether at local or national level. Sporting events dominate large sections of the press, television and radiobroadcasts. Therefore event management has become an industry in its own right, with both specialist organisations and individuals(Torkildson, G 2005). The decision making process for the bid will develop a long term strategic plan (Johnson G, , Scholes, K 2004). This strategy is the direction and capacity of an organisation, (i.e. the committee forth games) which achieves advantages through its configuration of resources within the changing environment. The strategy answers both the questions where do you want to go? and how do you want to get there?  The first question is answered when the bid is accepted and the second is answered when the strategies are planned (Mullins L2005). Planning is the first stage of implementing the development of the city for the capacity to hold the games. Managers are required to step back to look at the environment, competitors, market place and review both the internal and external strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT analysis will focus the managers on both internal and external factors that can affect a new strategy. The host city must recognise its strengths and utilise them, and reduce weak areas through planning (Groucutt, J. teal 2004). Managerial decisions are made to identify what is required to implement the new strategy. What are the new resources are required? I.e. Property, finance or employees, and how will the city gain these resources?  Then the risk should be assessed for its long term value to the host. Strategies should not only be considered on how they will affect existing resource capabilities, but also if needed new resources and how they will be controlled. The costs to the host should be weighed against the long term gains, and if needed it can be reviewed, accessed and amended accordingly (G, Johnson K, Scholes, 2004). Mega Events are a dynamic and multi-dimensional phenomena, there are at the same time, urban events, tourist events, media events and international global events. They are the subject of collective corporate recourse, with action in each of the sections. Therefore amulet dimensional approach is required in the planning and managing of the games. This requires multi-disciplinary team based approach(Torkildson, G 2005).   5.4 Marketing Kilter et al (1993) identify several target markets to which place marketers direct their attention. These include visitors’ athletes, officials, spectators and the media, residents and workers, business and industry, and export markets. The focus of sporting events is on the visitor segment, including business and non-business visitors. Business visitors include persons who travel to a place for meetings, conventions, to inspect sites or to buy or sell a product. Non-business visitors include tourists who travel to see the place and travellers who are visiting family and friends. Individuals travelling to particular destination to attend the event or teams and participants attending events as well as organizing committees and such can also be categorized as non-business visitors (Kilter, P et al 1993). The increase in the competition and the globalisation has not only saturated the extent of competition in the markets but mainly saturated the target markets itself as argued by Brassington and Pettit (2003).This is mainly because of the fact that the high level of competition among the participating organisations in a given market segment has increased the product range leaving the customers with an endless variety of products to choose for satisfying their requirements. This level of saturation has also increased the need for further development in the market in order to achieve competitive advantage as well as sustainable growth in the business (Brassington, F and Pettit, S 2003). Therefore mega events will if correctly marketed stand alone as a once only product. This product offers a unique entry into a market, there is little comparative competition, although all sport and leisure will compete for their market share. Although a Mega event is no normally at the same level as the existing competition. This approach is accomplished through the geographical spread either nationally or internationally by the host (Lynch, R 2003). The domestic and/or international media, coupled with the selling of broadcasting rights, are important characteristics of mega events The support of the media prior to or during an event guarantees exposure and consequently raises world-wide awareness of the event and host city. The 2000 Olympics in Sydney generated in excess of $1.3 billion in revenue from broadcasting the Games, indicating the substantial financial returns for event owners, organisers and the host city brought about by media support for the event ( Westerner, H et al2002). 5.5 Sponsorship Corporate sponsorship of sports and other events is one of the fastest growing forms of marketing communications used to reach target audiences. The rate of growth in sponsorship expenditures is greater than for traditional media advertising and sales promotion. Corporate spending on sponsorship worldwide was estimated to grow 12 present in2001 (Roy, D and Cornwell, T 2003). Sponsorship is viewed as a means of avoiding this clutter by enabling sponsors to identify and target well-defined audiences in terms of demographics and lifestyles. Linking a brand with an event via sponsorship enables firms to gain consumers attention and interest by associating with events that are important to them. Despite the increased use of sponsorship to reach market segments there has been little research on the impact of sponsorship on consumer behaviour(Roy, D and Cornwell, T 2003). While sports sponsorship activities range from providing athletes with uniforms to funding entire stadiums, the basic principle behind such sponsor ships appears to be their proposed ability to increase brand equity by means of enhancing brand image. There are several key goals associated with corporate sponsorship of events such as (1) enhanced brand image via associations with positively perceived events; (2)increased goodwill via perceptions of corporate generosity; and (3)elevated brand awareness due to increased exposure (Miyazaki, A and Morgan, A 2001). The high prices paid for Olympic sponsorships reveals that at least some organisations find these efforts to be worthwhile. This is illustrated by comments from top corporate officials that the Olympics are â€Å"the most important marketing opportunity of the decade† and management suggestions that this investment will heighten global recognition and increase revenue (Miyazaki, A and Morgan, A 2001:9). 5.6 Tourism In the 1980s and 1990s, political, economic, and technological developments that led to the global economy became a feature of the environment within which cities compete for economic growth. This trade in goods and services has become increasingly open and internationally competitive; cities had to compete with cities from around the world for investment capital, businesses, and tourists. Cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo have become â€Å"global or world† cities in the urban hierarchy. These cities contain the largest variety of cultural and entertainment facilities of the highest quality, such as museums, galleries, opera houses, theatres, and concert halls (Burbank, J et al2002) Therefore other cities are a disadvantage when competing for tourism. The pursuit of hosting a mega-event is a mechanism for economic growth. This strategy relies on obtaining a single event large enough to be seen as a way to generate future economic growth. Many events can bring tourists and attention to a city, but the mega-events sufficiently large that it creates a single focal point and timeframe for completing event-related development. It is also noted that stadiums and sports teams are luxuries that financially strapped cities can ill afford; therefore holding a mega event can provide the city with these facilities for the future (Burbank, J et al 2002) The number of tourists to an area where a mega event is due to take place increases.  Individuals are drawn to destinations because of omega (sporting) event rather than the region itself. For example, tourism estimates of visits to Sydney between 1997 and 2004, as direct response to the Olympic Games, have been set at 1.7 million. Actual visits for the period during 2000 have been estimated to be 20 percent of this total (Forecast, 2001). Arising from the growth of the tourism industry has been an emphasis on place (or city) marketing and promotion and the emergence of mega sporting events to support and enhance this promotion. Place marketing represents the techniques utilised by certain organisations to raise the awareness of their particular destination to specified target markets.  Promotional objectives relate to capturing the attention of international visitors and to providing information in an endeavour to entice them to travel to a specific destination (Moutinho, L and Wits 1994). 5.7 Attendance of Events A standard set of economic factors would be expected to affect demand for attendance. Price of admission and, more generally, the opportunity cost of attendance (including cost of travel, car parking, food and beverages at the venue, and programme), would be predicted to be negatively related to attendance. Income of the potential audience at sporting contest, and size of population in the potential market for contest, would be expected to be related positively to attendance. Availability and price of substitutes would also influence attendance. Some substitutes might be considered â€Å"direct†, such as the live broadcast of the event. Other substitutes will be â€Å"indirect†, for example, attending a different sporting event or contest; or other types of entertainment alternatives such as theatre or movies (Borland and  Macdonald, R 2003) Macroeconomic factors could have an impact on attendance such as threat of unemployment. Although it has been suggested that attendance at sporting events may constitute a social outlet for unemployed persons, therefore the attendance is higher as the rate of unemployment increases (Borland, J and  Macdonald, R 2003) The infrastructure of the venue has a direct impact on attendance to the events. The quality of viewing, the facilities at the stadium, the quality of seating; the impact of adverse weather conditions; distance from contest and extent of vision to different parts of the sporting field. Catering and bathroom facilities can also have an impact(Borland, J and  Macdonald, R 2003) 5.8 Economic Benefits The national government’s involvement in bringing events to a city is on the increase. The level of spending dedicated to biding for an event demonstrates the strength of governments backing. This is to the detriment of the competition with other (cultural) activities undertaken by government and other interest groups. Openly supporting abide increases the pressure of accountability to the public and hence support will only be given, if it is clear that justifiable and measurable benefits for all stakeholders are generated by hosting the event (Westerner, H et al 2002). The economic activity associated with staging mega sporting event can create significant economic benefits for the host destination. Howard and Crompton (1995) defined the economic impact as â€Å"the net economic change in a host economy that results from spending attributed to sports event or facility†. Economic impact studies enable the quantification of the benefits to a community to be ascertained in order to justify the investment in the event (Howard, D and Crompton, J1995:55). The Olympic Games provide an obvious example of significant economic contribution by a mega sporting event. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics made a profit of US$125 million with the Seoul Olympics exceeding that profit by a further US$50 million. Outcomes of this magnitude serve to encourage cities to bid for high status events (Law, C 1993). In September 1990, Atlanta won the bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. In spite of the approximately $2.5 billion price tag, the benefits derived from hosting the Olympic Games were expected to outweigh the costs. Positive media attention, construction of facilities and infrastructure, and employment increases were identified as the primary beneficial output of this massive endeavour. The cash in flow during mega games is relatively easy to identify, the legacy â€Å"of the games in terms of long-term benefits is more difficult to measure. The positive employment impact of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, led to a 17% increase in long term employment in the surrounding area (Hotchkiss, J et al 2003). It must be noted at this point that not all events are successful financially. While focusing on the economic benefits presented by mega sporting events, there are significant financial burdens that such events place on host communities. This financial commitment to events often requires a degree of community assistance through public funding. The external benefits associated with mega sporting events enable this financial assistance to be classified as an investment, with clear reciprocal benefits to the host community (Westerner, H et al 2002). Once the mega-event policy is underway, extra-local interests become increasingly vital to a successful outcome. Hosting modern games requires the authority and cooperation of not only the host city, but other state and local governments and agencies as well. Moreover, the financial demands of the games require support from local public and private sources, but are increasingly dependent on multinational corporations and the government (Burbank, J et al 2002). Several global cities have had their fingers burned by over ambitious sports development plans. Sydney found itself in trouble finding permanent use for Stadium Australia. The Manchester bid, while ambitious, was also realistic. It already had the G-Mix Centre and MEN arena, Old Trafford and Maine Road football grounds. It has added to this the velodrome, an aquatics centre, Sport-city, and the City of Manchester stadium. These facilities are part of the long term regeneration, the aquatic centre has been appropriately sited for the city’s three universities; Sport-city is to become one of 10 regional centres of excellence in sport; and the stadium will be used jointly by Manchester City football club and community teams (Anonymous 2002). 5.9 Urban Renewal The Olympic Games are regarded as the world’s most prestigious sporting occasion. They are typical of mega events in that they are transitory, bring short-term international participation and attention and can have long-term consequences for the host city. There is considerable investment in both sporting facilities and the supporting infrastructure, although after the games these then become legacies to the host city.  The costs involved in hosting the Games are now so high that host cities can often only justify the expenditure when it is seen as leading to a major programme of regeneration and improvement (Essex’s and Chalked, B. 1997). Harvey (1989) has discussed that urban policies to compensate Forde-industrialisation have become more proactive and entrepreneurial often involving some form of interurban competition for jobs and investment. The use of ‘urban spectacles’, such as major sporting events, as a strategy for urban renewal are being seen as one of the main products of post-modern society This is also a means by which cities express their personality, enhance their status and advertise their position on the global stage. Urban politics have shifted to ales bureaucratic, more entrepreneurial and autonomous stance (Harvey 1989).  An example of these new urban politics is Manchester’s Olympic bids of the 1980s and 1990s, in which local government-based decision-making and bureaucratic politics were essentially replaced bay dynamic business leadership (Essex, S and Chalked, B. 1997). For the host cities there is important justification for bidding to stage the Games, particularly in recent years, the stimulus to economic development and urban regeneration. The event can promote economic activity as a result of the jobs created by the vast numbers of tourists visiting the city before, during and after the event. The construction of sports facilities can also play a role in programmes of urban renewal by, for example, introducing new sporting and recreational facilities into previously under-provided areas. On broader scale, preparations for the event can also provide a means of justifying new investment in transport infrastructure and in projects to enhance the city’s landscape and physical appearance (Essex, S andChalkley, B. 1997) 5.10 History of Mega events There are several games that are held on a four yearly cycle; these include the Olympics, Commonwealth, and the world cup. Each has grown in stature with more cities bidding for the right to stage them. The information below was extracted from both the Olympics and Commonwealth Games web sites. The first Commonwealth Games were the product of discussions and ideas shared over a thirty year period. John Cooper proposed sports and cultural gatherings for English speaking nations in 1891. In 1911 sport competitions were part of the Festival of the Empire in London, in which athletes from England, Canada, South Africa and Australasia competed (www commonwealthgames.org). The first games in Hamilton Ontario, Canada consisted of six sports, with around 400 athletes from 11 nations. The name of the games has changed frequently. The first four games were known as the British Empire Games. The name was changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games for the 1954-1962 editions. From 1966 to 1974 the name British Commonwealth Games was used and from 1978 to the present the Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia hosted a very successful 1998 edition of the Commonwealth Games. The Queen’s Baton was carried to the stadium on an elephant and presented to Prince Edward by Malaysia’s first ever Commonwealth medal winner Kohl Eng. Tong, a bronze medallist in weightlifting from the 1954 games   The Olympic Games are steeped in history. Today, the Olympic Games are the worlds largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movements high ideals and the commercialism or political acts which accompany the Games has been noted since ancient times According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). Approximately1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. The revival of the ancient Olympics in 1896 attracted athletes from 14 nations. The largest delegations came from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. Winners were awarded a silver medal and an olive branch   To conclude the games are steeped in history and are a prestige event for any city to host. They can raise the city’s image on the world wide stage, thereby attracting tourism in the future. But an emerging factories they can be a catalyst for urban regeneration, therefore the value of holding the games can be immense to host city, if it is conducted right.   6.0 Case Study Manchester This section will present the facts of Manchester successful bid forth 2002 Commonwealth games. The information is from the City Council’s web site, reports and articles. The second part will pre Data Vault in Data Warehouse: Advantages and Disadvantages Data Vault in Data Warehouse: Advantages and Disadvantages Applications, Implementation, Merits and Limitations of Data vault in Data warehouse Abstract Business companies face many challenges in exploiting and analyzing data held in diverse sources. Data vault is the latest data warehouse methodology which caters the business needs of flexibility, scalability, agility and large volume of data storage which the prior existing models fail to bestow. Brief data vault architecture, applications of data vault to improve technologies, merits and limitations of data vault are proposed in the review. Data vault 2.0 a latest methodology which can overcome certain limitations of data vault is also proposed. Keywords-Data vault; Data vault 2.0; Data Warehouse Data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-varying, non-volatile collection of data that is used primarily in organizational decision making. It is a specially prepared repository of data. While Building a data warehouse, aspects such as data modelling, management of business project, risk management, user or organization requirements must be taken into consideration. For many years, Data warehouse architecture consisted of Inmon or Kimball methodology. Each methodology design has its own pros and cons but are unable to meet the requirements of handling large volume of data processing and re-engineering of data. Inmon stated that data warehouse is a duplicate of transactional data that is specially structured for the purpose and analysis and querying. It a data driven model where the data is loaded without knowing in prior the user information. In this model data warehouse and the data marts are separated and have their own storage, scalability and traceability in response to the user requirements. It is time variant, non-volatile, costly and not user-friendly. Kimball made an innovative approach by making the data warehouse more user friendly by the concept of dimensional modelling. It is composed of facts and dimension tables which provides user the necessary information for decision making. The Kimball data warehouse is consistent of data marts making the initial cost lesser. The Kimball data warehouse is consistent of data marts making the initial cost lesser. With large amount of data from multiple sources and regular business rules changes, Inmon and Kimball data modelling approaches become less effective. Hence a better evolved model of data vault is created by Dan linstedt. The Data Vault is a detail oriented, historical tracking and uniquely linked set of normalized tables that support one or more functional areas of business. It is a hybrid approach encompassing the best of breed between 3rd normal form (3NF) and star schema. The design makes the model efficient to store large volumes of data and changes of business rules do not require changes in the data warehouse hence it is cost efficient and user friendly. The data sources are in 3rd NF and data marts work in star schema. The data vault components are Hubs, Links and Satellites. Hubs contain the unique list of business keys and depicting core concepts of business such as customer, sales and are vital to identify and track their information. Business keys should have historical uniqueness. Links are the connections that relates two or more business keys and other links. The hub imposes the links granularity in relation to the link. Satellite contain the descriptive data that provides context to hubs and links business keys and contains only one parent table. When data changes occur in data warehouse, the descriptive changes are captured in satellites. Two major technological works is reviewed where data vault is applied to increase the system and business performances: 1. Droid vault a trusted data vault for android device and a guaranteed platform that provides sensitive data protection from malicious softwares for data owners. The model contains two layers of data storage, the green layer where the secure data are processed and the red layers that processes the unsecure data. Droid vault has three components 1. DPM maintains a secure channel for secure data transfer. The sensitive data are encrypted before the data is sent from the droid vault to the android file system. The Bridae module acts an interface. The I/O module secures the user input and display. A unique public/private key is set up for authentication which is one time registered password in the droid vault for secure data transfer to the untrusted android OS users. The design of DV hence provides confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. The limitation of the model is: a secure environment will provide limited storage hence the data is moved to the untrusted android filesyste m. This downside requires additional extra encryption process in the droid vault. 2. Data vaults database technology for scientific file repository. Scientific researches is need of efficient technology to explore and manage high volumes of data storage which is rapidly increasing. Hence a data vault technology for storing large volumes of scientific data is constructed. Metadata managed by workflow systems or the file names let researchers search for data. DBMS can approach this issue by processing information at the data storage site, providing malleable query use to analyze and reduce information to TB of data. The limitations of this approach are 1.it is tedious and costly to load the state of art DBMS and DMS will not support specific scientific domain file formats. The solution to this problem in MongoDB data vault. The data vault components are: 1.the data vault wrapper facilitates communication with metadata external file repositories and data access. The virtual data warehouse structure is managed by the data vault cache. The data vault optimizer searches the best query execution plans. The data vault hold the data in it s original place format and parallelly allows transparent metadata and analysis, access of data using query language. The main advantage is the business rules can be applied in advance before the actual loading of data. Hence data vault provides extended functionality and flexibility. Structural information is separated from descriptive information for reasons of flexibility and avoidance of re-engineering in the case of a change. The Data Vault allows parallel loading of data and suitable for processing large amount of data when compared to the previous available techniques. The data are not processed or filtered. Change of data are never done and can process large amounts of data. Flexible, scalable and integrated data model and agile ready and final exploitation of data is not allowed. Data Vault is only power user accessible. Data in the Data Vault is not cleansed or quality checked and the benefits of data vault are indirect but very real. Data backup is necessary for the business and more up-front is required for long term payoff. The data vault architecture may be flexible and scalable but does not guarantee the reports generated are fully correct. Data Vault model introduces many joins and integration problems also unstructured data cannot be processed. Data must be made into information BEFORE delivering to the business. Data vault 1.0 is devoid of snowflake data model. Most of source data typically are not tracked by change hence forcing a re-load. Metadata must be defined in column based level for the business for storage paradigm to make sense. As the complexity of business rules increases the possibility of parallelism and scalability decreases. Scalability decrease will result in more time consumption for amount of information that is passed for processing. Data vault 2.0 is the latest data warehousing methodology which is a novel and improved version to overcome certain downside of data vault 1.0. The advantages are: 1) The must use of hash key as surrogate key enable the flexibility of data loading in parallel due to independent between satellites therefore paving way for usage of unstructured data in data vaults. 2) Data Vault 2.0 is zero dependency type architecture. The data across different can be joined easily, hence allowing data vault to be built in multiple platforms and can adapt better to changes. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Due to demand of processing large volumes of data and continuous changes in the business rules, data vault model is superior to Inmon and Kimball methodologies in terms of flexibility, agility and scalability and cost. The data vault 2.0 plays a critical role in minimizing certain important drawbacks. Data vault methodology should be more evolved to overcome the current limitations thereby providing better business and user solution. CONCLUSION The data vault methodology proves to be an excellent solution for the data warehouse for reasons of agility, flexibility, scalability etc. The data vault design make the model very effective for storing large volumes of data. The technology applications such as droid vault and data vault for scientific repositories have been modelled with use of data vault was benefitted in terms of security and storage and more. The data vault is advantageous but also has its limitations. Some of the important limitations are overcome by the latest data vault2.0 methodology. The data vault limitations should be overcome effectively by understanding the business and user needs and create more solutions in a cost-effective way in line with requirements. REFERENCES Stuart Lewis, Lorraine Beard, Mary McDerby, Robin Taylor, Thomas Higgins, Clarie Knowles, Developing a Data Vault, The International Journal of Digital Curation, Vol 11, No 1 (2016) Milena Ivanova, YaÄÅ ¸iz Kargin, Martin Kersten, Stefan Manegold, Ying Zhang, Mihai Datcu, Daniela Espinoza Molina, Data vaults: a database welcome to scientific file repositories, IEEE, Computing in Science Engineering ( Volume: 15, Issue: 3, May-June 2013 ). Lamia Yessad, Aissa Labiod, Comparative study of data warehouses modeling approaches: Inmon, Kimball and Data Vault, IEEE, System Reliability and Science (ICSRS). Xiaolei Li, Hong Hu, Guangdong Bai, DroidVault: A Trusted Data Vault for Android Devices, IEEE, Engineering of Complex Computer Systems (ICECCS), 4-7 Aug. 2014. V. Jovanovic, D. Subotic, S. Mrdalj, Data modeling styles in data warehousing, IEEE, Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO) William Inmon, Derek Strauss, Genia Neushloss, DW 2.0: The Architecture for the Next Generation of Data Warehousing.