Thursday, October 31, 2019

Bill of Rights Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bill of Rights - Assignment Example s in the law courts, is forbidden by the law while, in South Africa, the law can impose any heavy fine on the offender according to the seriousness of the crime (Pederson, 2010). The United States should amend the law on protecting offenders from heavy fines because this encourages them to commit serious crimes because they are aware that no heavy fines will be imposed on them. In the United States, that cruel and unusual punishments should not be imposed on the offenders while, in South Africas law, there is a specification limiting any unusual punishments. The United States should change its view on the type of punishment because if someone has killed deliberately then he/she deserves heavy punishment including life imprisonment, which is not yet approved by the United States government (Pederson, 2010). People in South Africa may fear to commit crimes because of the fear of heavy punishments while people in United States may dare commit serious crimes because they are aware the law does not allow heavy

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Media Influence on Young Adults Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Influence on Young Adults - Research Paper Example Young adulthood is a confusing time in life. On one hand, you are too old to act childishly. On the other hand, you aren’t quire old enough to be taken as seriously as an adult would be. Therefore, many young adults struggle to find a midpoint between the two. This is no simple task. â€Å"Young adults are striving daily to formulate their identity†¦Young adults, perhaps more impressionable than they would like to admit, use the media as a major source of identity formation. The media also represent a common ground that young people share. From the media they acquire a set of guidelines to follow, both moral and stylistic,† (Ornstein). There is a great division between the set of guidelines young people acquire from media, as Ornstein distinguishes. Morally, one can argue that there are many more sources for a young adult to learn from. Many young adults begin to establish their morals by seeding out what they like and dislike from the morals they have been raised with. There is a framework for them to work with. This is not as much the case, however, with stylistic preferences and values. There are millions of media images bombarding us these days. In fact, the definition of media has expanded so much in the last decade that the term media seems to be an umbrella term. With all these images, it is practically impossible not to be influenced. As I said earlier, young adults are especially susceptible to the influence of media. Because they are in such a transitional period in their lives, young adults soak up information from anywhere they can get it. Using this information, they â€Å"try on† different personas, seeking out what works for them. Aesthetically, this holds a number of possibilities almost as large as the number of media influences available to young adults today. With luck, young adults will model themselves after a worthy role model with an admirable image, leading the young adult to develop into a similarly admirable person. As we all know, however, many times this is not the case. There are many media images that are available to young adults w hich glamorize otherwise negative physical traits. There are many ways in which the media images of beauty can negatively affect a young adult. One of the most common instances which this occurs is with body image. Magazines are a typical example of this. According to a study of 104 adults on media use, â€Å"Magazines were read for information on current fashions, recipes, and health issues†¦Reading magazines gave respondents feelings of sexiness, self-esteem, luxury and creativity,† (Survey Asks Young Adults about Media use). One can gather that if young adults are accrediting their self-esteem to reading magazines, that the images in them naturally must be influential. There are a wide variety of images in a magazine targeted toward young adults. Many of these images are advertisements that are geared at selling products to these young adults, many times by young adult celebrities. Couple the controversy surrounding the premature sexualization of young adult celebriti es with the survey results that associate sexiness with , it isn’

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Planning, Scheduling and Control

Planning, Scheduling and Control Business or business organizations involve conceptualization of implementation of a specific plan designed for particular business outcomes. This particularity of business outcomes envisages putting up a well coordinated system for realization of the same. Forming a conglomeration of peoples, activities work schedules, methods, processes, all geared towards achieving a specific business objective, work or assignment, it works according to a plan to achieve the objective within a particular time-frame, with the available or additional resources. This whole process is given the generic name of Project, and coordinating all the activities within it to achieve the desired objective to perfection within the time frame is known as Project Management (Heerkens; 2001). Given the generic nature of the work as well as the outcome it can be said that every activity requiring a particular work to be completed within a particular time by using a particular amount of resources takes the shape of a project. In that way every activity, be that of building a township, a bridge, a subway project, oil refinery, steel production, manufacturing facility erection or even conducting a study to seek some particular information, data or have some desired outcome, all can be termed as projects. In that way projects are distinguishable from continuing work processes like manufacturing process, routine management work or doing daily chores, which are continuing in nature, with the distinguishing factor being a specific time for start and completion of a particular work. So, essentially, time is the core element of a project. As a result the inseparable part of a project is adoption of proper management systems and processes to complete the project within the particular time and cost (Levine; 2002). For this it is imperative that there should be proper planning to execute a project within the allotted time, cost and resources for which there should be proper planning for its implementation . Project planning and implementation within the allotted time by properly organizing it to maintain quality of execution, avoid risks and adhere to the project schedule by proper utilization of resources is key to the success of a project (Hillson; 2003). This study essentially pertains to discussing the key aspects of project planning and control activities in order to successfully complete a project by adhering to the quality of execution of projects. Project Management: Project management essentially is the process of planning, organizing and managing the allotted resources given to a project in order to successfully complete the projects objectives and program. As said, a project is one time work unlike a continuing process, and has a particular period of execution with a starting and ending time in order to meet particular goals and objectives that is aimed at bringing about a particular outcome(Kerzner; 2009). It means that the projects are different from usual business processes that have repeat value and are of permanent nature requiring routine functional work that is envisaged to produce different products and services. In actual practice, the two systems are quite different, thereby requiring the development of specific technical skills and adoption of separate management practices. Projects adhere top specific phases or stages of work processes. According to Horine, project management process includes conducting feasibility studies, defining the project scope and objectives, planning the model to attain those objectives, implementing the plan according to design and scope, evaluating the process of implementation to ensure that the project is being implemented according to guidelines and quality along with provision of proper support and maintenance backup to protect against any hiccups in the implementation process (Horine; 2009). All these are required because project management is a meticulously planned and organized effort to attain a specific and single objective like building a flyover, implementing a software system or building a thermal power plant. It is for this reason only that the project management process includes developing a project plan, which includes defining the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and goals to be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and time peri od for completion and managing the implementation of the project plan, along with establishing control procedures to track the proper implementation of the project according to the objectives relative to the plan and intervene to restore the quality of implementation wherever required (Lewis; 2006). All these aspects constitute the project planning and control process. Project Planning, Scheduling and Control: Planning: According to Lewis, project planning and control includes developing a standardized management methodology to implement the objectives of a project that can be comfortably adapted to any project and be flexible enough to be customized for such projects but for which there should be a specific system with checks and balances to proceed with the project according to the plans and objectives (Lewis; 2005). This means that the project management function has a specific process and stages of implementation as is given below: Project Planning: Contents Project Planning: Key Stages Source: F Harrison; Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach; Gower Publishing; 2004 The project planning and control process therefore pertains to defining the scope and responsibilities accruing to a project, scheduling the time and resources, estimating the cost and budget and analyzing the risks associated with the project implementation process and planning to handle those risks. Suppose there is a project to construct a new administrative building for a certain organization. In this case the management of the organization will define the scope of implementation of the building plan, estimating the time needed to complete the project and the resources in terms of materials, money and time needed for it. There would also be measures to analyze the risks that can come in the way of constructing the building in terms of escalation of costs, time, materials and inadvertent incidents that would hamper the e smooth construction of the building. For this the manager of the project will have to make a blue print and accommodate all the factors while planning the impleme ntation of the project. In such cases the planning process is properly delineated and documented for the benefit of all the members of the project team as well as the client or the organization for whom the project is being implemented (Turner; 1998). This process also becomes beneficial in taking steps to control the project according to the requirements and preventing it from going from its planned path that would necessitate intervention in terms of cost and materials by the project manager. In order to achieve all these objectives the project management process includes key elements to the project planning process i.e. the products, activities, resources, schedule, budget, risks and assumptions. Accordingly, the project planning process determines what are the products and sub-products that a project must deliver ad what quality aspects it must adhere to, what are the activities and the resources needed to carry out the project, what is the sequence and schedule that must be fol lowed to complete the project, what is the budget needed for implementing the project, what are the risks associated with implementing the project and what are the assumptions that are part of the project(Burke; 2003). The projects management planning process therefore incorporates all these aspects to formulate the plan of implementation. Broadly speaking the project plan includes all the aspects that are needed to properly implement a project according to the specifications of the client. Accordingly the actual requirements of a project may vary but there is no dichotomy with regards to the planning process that needs to be applied of such projects. For this the project implementation and planning process includes some fundamental principles, like breaking down the whole project into cohesive work packages, defining the desired results and encouraging the team members to work towards the plans to achieve the results (Williams et. al.; 2008). All these aspects of the planning proce ss follow certain basic objectives of the project plan that includes ensure that all the work and products need to achieve the project objectives included in the plan. For this the project planners include a framework to integrate the key planning and control functions i.e. scope, quality, cost, time and risk at different stages of the project management and implementation stage and specify the team and the responsibilities of the team members   to deliver the requirements of the project (Kendrick; 2004). In this whole planning process there includes factors such as scheduling the project to bring the desired outcome of the project. Scheduling and Control: Scheduling of a project essentially signifies managing the implementation of the project, keeping in view the time factor in primary sense, and adjusting the men, material and activities into the whole process (Berkun; ; 2005). This means that the project must follow a regimented routine according to daily weekly and monthly basis so that the project is effectively implemented according to the controls of its requirements and other factors. It is also important that the different activities associated with a project planning and implementation process are well coordinated so as to avoid delays and chaos in the implementation of the project that would result is costs and time overruns. A typical project schedule divides the work associated with a project into different activities all coordinated to the overall whole. In this the works are divided into areas of activities and the tine taken as well as the mode of operation is determined accordingly with the most easy path and the criti cal yet effective path of each activity of the path is determined with assessment as to the time lapse that can happen in the event of the time and work pace not keeping up with the allotted time schedule. Source: : F Harrison; Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach; Gower Publishing; 2004 Accordingly the project implementation stage and control stage is divided into various activities and the time allotted is measured accordingly as is shown in the diagram above. In it the works are divided into critical and non-critical activities and the milestone is to be achieved with the overall work process along with the float time that can emerge due to unavoidable time delays. Along with all these factors it is also likely that without proper scheduling of the project it may happen that it may drag along beyond the manageable limit and therefore become unviable. So, the core part of effective implementation of a project is its proper scheduling so that unnecessary delays and cost overruns area avoided and there is harmonious coordination between all aspects of the work process of the project as well as the different stakeholders and service providers associated with it. Project Documentation: As mentioned in the preceding scheduling of a project is done in order to achieve all the factors the project planning process breaks down the project into a particular schedule as per its desired outputs in order to facilitate the proper implementation and control as well as help in maintaining quality of implementation of the project. Accordingly the project is divided into different sub-structures and process in order to effectively maintain quality of implementation such as primary outputs of a project a supplementary outputs of a project (Berkun; 2008). Along with it the project manager needs the proper documentation and processing of the activities in order to effectively track the implementation of the project as well as communicate with the team members and the management to articulate the progress of the project, give directions to the members to work according to an accepted framework and measure the progress of the project at different stages of implementation for which th ere should be proper documentation of the project planning, scheduling and control process. In the primary outputs the documentation process includes defining the product breakdown structures, product descriptions, work breakdown structures (WBS), work package descriptions (WPD), organization breakdown structure (OBS), responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) and assumptions documentation. In the secondary outputs of a project planning, implementation and control process the documentation and processing those are needed pertain to creating a product flow diagram (PFD), work flow diagram (WFD), control accounts (CA) and dependency structure matrix (DSM) (Berbee; 2009). All these aspects of the project process are properly documented in order to properly implement a project. For this the project manager establishes a proper structure and accessories for documentation as well as recruitment of relevant persons to manage such processes, which brings to the human resources aspect and the management structure of a project planning and implementation process. According to Leach, the most critical part of a project management process is the management part itself which means that if the management structure and the people manning it are not competent enough to effectively plan and implement the project than all the other factors even if they are of highest degree of quality, will fail to deliver the results (Leach; 2004). It is for this that the project planning and implementation process gives utmost importance to the management structure and team as well as the human resources aspect of the overall project structure and process. Management Structure: A typical product management structure incorporates the following management structure as mentioned below, with necessary customization as per the requirements of the individual projects: Source: Self Designed The typical project management team therefore consists of a project head who takes part in the conceptualization planning and overall control of the project followed by a project manager who actually oversees the implementation of the project with a team that consists of technical head, operation head quality control head resource head who do the actual work of implementing the project and directly supervise the work   through a team consisting of managers workers, technicians, suppliers and stakeholders along with support staff(Rothman; 2009). In the case of a building project the management would consist of a project head having wide experience in managing building projects, same is the case with the project manager who must have ample experience in managing projects associated with the construction industry. The different heads of the project should also have adequate experience in their area of activity and desirable experience in actual projects involving the construction indu stry. In this place it may be convenient to argue as what would happen if some people with general project management experience are taken into projects involving construction if buildings. In normal sense it would not make that much of a difference. But in actual stage of implementation and the critical factors associated with it the hands on experience of a person comes in handy. Along with it there is the factor of scheduling for efficient management of time and resources. In such a situation it if great advantage if personnel with hands on experience in specific projects are included in the project planning implementation and evaluation process rather than having general project management experience (Wong; 2007). Nonetheless the underlying spirit for proper implementation of a project is management of time and quality. Nowadays there are various technologies, tools and methods to manage project planning, implementation, quality control and delivery.   Techniques and Technologies: The present day project management exercise is a highly technical function involving a number of complex tools and processes as well as advanced software systems to effectively implement, schedule, track and maintain the quality aspects of a project. It is immaterial whether the project is a brick and mortar concept or an academic concept, what is important is that there have emerged methods that can effectively coordinate all the activities and effectively establish communication channels between all the stakeholders of a project in order to maintain the time, quality and overall objectives of a project. At the outset there are basic operational tools like PERT and CPM which effectively schedule the project into different activities and measure the time, cost and materials required for completing the project (Kendrick; 2009). Along with these basic tools there are some methods that quantify the time required for completing the project along with the costs required. Some allied disciplines and tools are also used like the financial forecasts, statistical measurement of lead and lag time for completing a project as well as the application of quality tools like six sigma to ascertain that the project is going according to the accepted quality standards. But the most profound effect of technology on the project management discipline has been the development of various software for proper management of the overall project planning, scheduling, implementation, quality control, budgeting and assumption processes. One of such tolls is the Project Management suite developed by Microsoft that is known as MS Projects, which is a complete software package to manage the entire project management process. In it there are various functions and techniques to effectively plan, schedule monitor and implement various projects by adhering to all the functions and disciplines required for implementing a project (Microsoft Inc; 2009). Besides MS Projects there are other software applications designed to manage projects that are developed by different software companies for specific projects by different companies. Along with all these developments there have been instances where companies have developed their own software and techniques by applying a host of discrete software processes to create their own project management tools that cater to all its aspects including budgeting and quality control. In essence all these softwares have made the project management with overall planning, scheduling, quality control budgeting and monitoring, a smooth and hassle fee process by which the managers can hope to achieve expected outcomes without leaving anything to chance. This goes a long way in achieving efficiency in project planning scheduling and control process as well as its proper implementation. Conclusion: Project management is a complex and complicated   process requiring coordination of a host of disciplines along with men, money material that are to be coordinate within a proper time frame to achieve all the objectives of a project without compromising on the quality aspect of it. In that way it becomes necessary to design proper planning, scheduling and quality control mechanisms to give proper implementation to it. In this it becomes necessary to take the help of different tools techniques, documentation processes and technologies so that the project gets implemented successfully and according to its objectives. -x- Reference: Gary Heerkens; Project Management; McGraw Hill Professional; 2001; 250 pages H Levine; Practical Project Management: Tips, Tools and Tactics; John Wiley Sons; 2002 D Hillson; Effective Opportunity Management for Projects; Marcel Dekker; 2003 Harold Kerzner; Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling;Wiley; 2009 1120 pages Greg Horine; Absolute Beginners Guide to Project Management;   Que publications; 2009; 432 pages James P. Lewis; Fundamentals of Project Management; AMACOM; 2006; 160 pages James Lewis; Project, Planning, Scheduling and Control; McGraw-Hill; 2005; 550 pages F Harrison; Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach; Gower Publishing; 2004 R. Turner; The Handbook of Project Based Management; McGraw Hill; 1998) R Burke; Project Management: Planning and control Techniques; John Wiley Sons; 2003 Mary Williams, William Meri; The Principles of Project Management; Site Point; 2008; 224 pages Tom Kendrick; Project Management Toolkit; AMACOM; 2004; 256 pages Scott Berkun; The Art of Project Management; OReilly Media; 2005; 374 pages Scott Berkun; Making Thngs Happen: Mastering Project Management; OReilly Media; 2008; 392 pages Davis Berbee; 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know; OReilly Media; 2009; 250 pages L Leach; Critical Chain Project Management; Artech House; 2004 Johanna Rothman; Manage Your Project Portfolio; Pragmatic Bookshelf; 2009; 250 pages Zachary Wong; Human Factors in Project Management; Jossey-Bass; 2007; 368 pages Tom Kendrick; Identifying and Managing project Risk; AMACOM; 2009; 368 pages Microsoft Inc., MS Projects 07; 2009; cited in http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/default.aspx

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Technology of Landing on Mars :: Computers Space Papers

The Technology of Landing on Mars While just traveling to Mars is a difficult task, landing on the planet has proved to be next to impossible, with only a small fraction of the attempted landings ending in success. Over the years there have been several different designs of Martian landers that have attempted to slip past the proverbial â€Å"galactic ghoul† protecting the planet Mars. However, few of these designs have fared successful at landing smoothly. These technologies have ranged from the original Viking using aero braking and rocket power, to the Mars Pathfinder mission’s novel air bag solution. In order to gain insight into the surface of the red planet, landing is a must. Thus, the potential solutions and their benefits and drawbacks must be examined. The Purpose: Delta V Requirement To get from orbit around Mars to the surface requires a significant amount of braking. First, the lander in orbit has a large amount of gravitational energy with respect to the surface of the planet. Second, orbiting the planet requires a certain velocity that will be greater than the velocity of rotation of the planet for a low orbit, this excess velocity must be bled off as well. Energy requirements they are usually expressed in terms of the change in velocity necessary for a given maneuver, or delta-v. To escape from a planet requires a certain increase in velocity and to land requires a certain decrease. Either way, however, energy is required; in absolute terms, the energy required to land should match the energy required to escape. Escaping the surface of the Earth requires about 11,000 m/s of delta-v. To travel to Mars orbit about 6,000 m/s is required. The smallest portion of the delta-v required is the approximately 5,000 m/s necessary to land on the surface of Mars. (Clarke 221). However, what makes this one of the most interesting phase of the trip is that whereas we pretty much know what to expect from the first two legs of the trip, what types of situations we may encounter on landing are largely unknown. How To: Methods of Landing There are several different options to lower the velocity of the lander once it has reached the planet. These options are generally used in combination with one another for maximum effect. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks, but in combination, some of these can be alleviated. Aerodynamic Drag The most broadly used, and most useful, of the speed-reduction mechanisms fall under the category of aerodynamic drag.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Aldi Inc Strategic Swot Analysis Review Essay

Summary Aldi, Inc. (Aldi) is a grocery retailing company. The company’s stores supply various food and general merchandise such as fresh meat and produce; refrigerated and frozen foods; snacks and sweets; bakery, dairy, pantry items and beverages. In addition, it also offers skincare and beauty products, house hold must have products, and beer and wines. Aldi operates over 1,200 stores in the US and sells over 1,400 of the most frequently purchased grocery and household items in manageable, non-bulk packaging. It operates as a subsidiary of ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG. The company is headquartered in Batavia, Illinois, the US Our Aldi, Inc. provides a comprehensive insight into the company’s history, corporate strategy, business structure and operations. The report contains a detailed SWOT analysis, information on the company’s key employees, key competitors and major products and services. This up-to-the-minute company report will help you to formulate strategies to drive your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better. Scope – Business description – A detailed description of the company’s operations and business divisions. – Corporate strategy – Our summarization of the company’s business strategy. – SWOT analysis – A detailed analysis of the company’s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. – Company history – Progression of key events associated with the company. – Major products and services – A list of major products, services and brands of the company. – Key competitors – A list of key competitors to the company. – Key employees – A list of the key executives of the company. – Executive biographies – A brief summary of the executives’ employment history. – Key operational heads – A list of personnel heading key departments/functions. – Important locations and subsidiaries – A list of key locations and subsidiaries of the company, including contact details. Note: Some sections may be missing if data is unavailable for the company. Reasons to Buy – Gain key insights into the company for academic or business research purposes. Key elements such as SWOT analysis and corporate strategy are incorporated in the profile to assist your academic or business research needs. – Identify potential customers and suppliers with this report’s analysis of the company’s business structure, operations, major products and services and business strategy. – Understand and respond to your competitors’ business structure and strategies with Our detailed SWOT analysis. In this, the company’s core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed, providing you with an up to date objective view of the company. – Examine potential investment and acquisition targets with this report’s detailed insight into the company’s strategic, business and operational performance.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Code of Ethics Essay

Introduction The organization’s code of ethics serves as a guide to its employees when making difficult decisions. Ethics helps professionals with their actions and practices that are directed to improve the welfare of people in an ethical way (Fremgen, 2009). An organization’s culture and mission statement also help its employees make ethical decisions. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) organization is the national public health organization that is committed to protect the health and safety of our nation. CDC’s mission statement focuses on to protect the health and safety of our communities through prevention strategies and control of disease. The mission statement motivates the employees to do their best to prevent diseases and infection. The code of ethics provides guidance to ensure that CDC employees avoid situations that could violate ethics law (CDC, 2013). The organization’s mission statement and culture reflect its ethical values. Organizat ion’s Goals and how they are tied to its ethical principles. The organization’s goals are to provide protection for our nation’s health and safety. The CDC has pledged to treat all human beings with dignity, honesty, and respect. They have also pledged to provide an environment for positive personal growth and integrity. The CDC provides employment for over 17,000 employees and they work to provide a diverse work environment where everyone is treated equally, respectfully, and with human dignity. The ethical principles tied to the organizational goals are autonomy and integrity. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and everyone deserves the truth. The CDC works to provide the most truthful information regarding disease, both treatment and prevention. They are using new technology to make access to information easier, as well as research becoming more scientific and in depth. It is important to the CDC that everyone in our  nation is provided with the most up to date information. Organization’s role and importance of the ethical values The CDC organization’s role is paramount to the continued health of this nation. The CDC has responsibilities toward everyone with in this country to provide education and protection about health and disease prevention. From an ethical stand point the CDC uses the theory of utilitarianism which is basically doing the most good for the greatest number of people. With the CDC, a team of nurses, doctors and scientists do their best day in and day out to do oversee the nation’s ongoing health hazards by providing proven research and constant breakthroughs to the public. Also with the CDC being a federally funded agency under the department of health and human services, the healthcare organization must practice ethical behaviors with one which is justice â€Å"Fairness in all our actions with other people. It means that we must carefully analyze how to balance our behavior and be fair to all. Justice implies that the same rules will apply to everyone (Fremgen, 2009).† With their use of technological advancements no single person or persons are given more or less information and or protection from illnesses or disabilities. The other must be responsibility, responsibility is a sense of accountability for one’s actions. Responsibility implies dependability. A sense of responsibility can become weakened when one is faced with peer pressure. Medical professionals must be able to answer or be accountable for their actions (Fremgen, 2009).† Since this organization is federally funded it has a duty to every American to follow through with every part of their mission statement for a healthier and well safeguarded nation. â€Å"Detecting and responding to new and emerging health threats (Centers for Disease Control, 2013).† This means that as healthcare organization workers are working around the clock to prevent new illness while trying to make old illness a thing of the past. Operating on the fact that if one is human and is part of t his country then they have a right to protection from emerging health dangers. Relationship between the organization’s culture and ethical decision-making The Organizational Culture revolves around creating a work environment where employee health and safety is valued, supported and promoted through workplace health programs policies, benefits, and environmental changes (CDC, 2013). In order to achieve this goal the CDC  promotes positive health based programs both in communities and places of employment. If employers create a healthier workplace then not only will it decrease the likelihood that employees will have to miss work due to injury or illness, it will also ensure higher productivity from staff. If companies enact policies and procedures that support health it will make that company more attractive place to work for both existing employees and potential new employees. The five main categories that CDC recommends offering health information and care for employees are behavioral health, health screening, mental health, injury, and adult immunizations (CDC, 2013). Providing services for things like depression, alcohol and substance abuse, smoking cessation, and nutrition courses will help provide overall better lives for employees which will result in having more highly motivated productive workers while they are on the job.. Some ideas for promoting a healthier workplace to lower obesity would be offering lunches to employees to purchase that consist of fresh fruits, vegetables, and salads. Employers can put together exercise groups or offer reimbursement to employees who obtain gym memberships and attend at least four days a week. Importance of the organization’s ethical values supporting your ethical values It is important that the ethical values of an organization support the ethical values of its members/staff. Without the support and understanding of ethics in the workplace, situations can become incredibly hard for not only the staff but also for the patients involved. The principles and values mentioned in oaths and declarations form the basis for ethical practices in health care. â€Å"Despite differences, these works often emphasize several common value orientations or ethical principles, including beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, respect for patient autonomy, and confidentiality.† (Gabel, 2011) As a rebirth of interest in medicinal ethics is not only a positive influence for patients, but is also very crucial to all medical staff members. Research has been collected to suggest that medical professionals, particularly physicians, often have a rising burnout rate when they perceive that the ethics and values they stand by are not the same as the organization they are connected to and work with. Doctors and other medical staff personnel who are faced with overwhelming working conditions, negative influences to their own morals, are most likely attend to these situations in different methods in attempting to save  his/her personal resources. â€Å"However, overwhelming work demands or conflicts involving basic values make increased stress, diminished or depleted resources, and more likely causes burnout. (Gabel, 2011) To not accept low-paying patients because of government insurance, such as Medicaid, could be considered unethical. Even though a code of ethics can form a bas eline for unethical behavior, such behavior should be viewed as unethical in the first place. When employees share the same values they will react the same when such problems arise. It is not farfetched to assume that organizations will run smoother when its workforce agrees on what is moral behavior and what is not, at least with respect to the conduct of business. Social Responsibility for CDC in the community The social responsibilities for this organization in the community are to continually inform and educate the people of the importance in preventing the conditions that may affect them as a whole. According from the Public Health Reports, â€Å"Understanding the multilevel and overlapping nature of these epidemic, and their social and structural determinants, is the key to designing and implementing more effective prevention programs† (Dean & Fenton. 2010). An example of what this organization is socially responsible for is when they are dealing with individuals who are affected by HIV, Viral hepatitis, STIs, and TB. They are responsible for informing an individual with how to properly go about their disease or infections, they are provided the information they need that includes how to overcome being socially impaired due to their conditions, and they are also offered interventions to help them cure or proper treatments of their condition. According to the Report of the National Expert Panel from the CDC website, they have made suggestions like opening both a YMCA and health clinics in housing communities to help promote health. They also suggested that they train more community activists that can serve as advocates in the community for healthy families and also to open book banks and create walking paths. They also suggested that the CDC can help the communities by investigating social determinant of health, help develop community-based systems that help with health disparities and also to use more evidence based programs in the schools. Conclusion CDC is the nation’s leading public health agency that protects the health and safety of the members of our community. The organization uses ethical approach when serving the nation. CDC has a culture that supports and develops ethical practices, raising staff awareness, and tools to analyze ethical issues (CDC, 2013). The organization follows the policy of Code of Federal Regulations provided by U.S. Health and Human Services in any research involving human subjects. CDC has many research centers to conduct prevention research to prevent and control chronic and acute diseases. References Centers for Disease Control. (2013). Mission Statement, Public Health Ethics, Workplace Health Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov Dean, Hazel D ScD, MPH and Fenton, Kevin A MD, PhD. (2010). Public Health Reports. Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles Finegan, J. (1994). The impact of personal values on judgments of ethical behavior in the Workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(9), 747. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview Fremgen, B. F. (2009). Medical law and ethics (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Gabel, S. (2011). Ethics and Values in Clinical Practice: Whom Do They Help? Mayo Clinic proceeding 86(5):421-424. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles Recommendations for future efforts in community health promotion. Report of the National expert Panel on Community Health Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/pdf/community

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Bill Clinton the life the legacy essays

Bill Clinton the life the legacy essays President Bill Clinton inherited America at its worst and do you know what he did with it? He whipped this country back into shape and got us on the road to social and economic prosperity. In just one year he was able to drop the countries unemployment rate from 7.4% down to 4.0%. That was the largest drop in Americas history since World War II. Also he was one of the first presidents after Nixon to really make an effort to open up trade relations with the Republic of China. Clinton was the first president to use the MTV media as I call it. It is a way to connect to youth across America on their level so they can ask the questions that matter to them. Through out scandals and good times he did what needed to be done in this country to keep it moving forward, that is a true leader. Bill Clinton was the best president since John F Kennedy for many reasons, but mostly for his ability to balance the economy, his work in foreign policy, how he related to the youth of America, a nd finally his ability to stay cool under pressure. In 1993 when President Clinton came into office he inherited one of the worst economies America has ever had. Thanks to raganomics and twelve years of creating less than 175,000 jobs a month can do that to a country. Clinton came in and with in one year raised that level up to 248,000 new jobs a month, The largest change in the job front since the depression. Not only were jobs created, but he gave money back to the middle class, the people who actually benefit from tax returns. This was a change from the Bush and Regan economies, which used trickle down economics. In this economy the top ten percent get most of the tax money back because they supposedly spend more. It has been shown that, the idea doesnt work. The middle class takes their tax returns and spend it back into the U.S. econ ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Enthalpy Definition in Chemistry and Physics

Enthalpy Definition in Chemistry and Physics Enthalpy is a thermodynamic property of a system. It is the sum of the internal energy added to the product of the pressure and volume of the system. It reflects the capacity to do non-mechanical work and the capacity to release heat. Enthalpy is denoted as H; specific enthalpy denoted as h. Common units used to express enthalpy are the joule, calorie, or BTU (British Thermal Unit.) Enthalpy in a throttling process is constant. Change in enthalpy is calculated rather than enthalpy, in part because total enthalpy of a system cannot be measured. However, it is possible to measure the difference in enthalpy between one state and another. Enthalpy change may be calculated under conditions of constant pressure. Enthalpy Formulas H E PV where H is enthalpy, E is internal energy of the system, P is pressure, and V is volume d H T d S P d V What Is the Importance of Enthalpy? Measuring the change in enthalpy allows us to determine whether a reaction was endothermic (absorbed heat, positive change in enthalpy) or exothermic (released heat, negative change in enthalpy.)It is used to calculate the heat of reaction of a chemical process.Change in enthalpy is used to measure heat flow in calorimetry.It is measured to evaluate a  throttling process or Joule-Thomson expansion.Enthalpy is used to calculate minimum power for a compressor.Enthalpy change occurs during a change in the state of matter.There are many other applications of enthalpy in thermal engineering. Example Change in Enthalpy Calculation You can use the heat of fusion of ice and heat of vaporization of water to calculate the enthalpy change when ice melts into a liquid and the liquid turns to a vapor. The heat of fusion of ice is 333 J/g (meaning 333 J is absorbed when 1 gram of ice melts.) The  heat of vaporization of liquid water  at 100 °C is 2257 J/g. Part A:  Calculate  the change in enthalpy, ΔH, for these two processes. H2O(s) → H2O(l); ΔH ?H2O(l) → H2O(g); ΔH ?Part B:  Using the values you calculated, find the number of grams of ice you can melt using 0.800 kJ of heat. SolutionA.  The heats of fusion and vaporization are in joules, so the first thing to do is convert to kilojoules. Using the  periodic table, we know that 1  mole of water  (H2O) is 18.02 g. Therefore:fusion ΔH 18.02 g x 333 J / 1 gfusion ΔH 6.00 x 103  Jfusion ΔH 6.00 kJvaporization ΔH 18.02 g x 2257 J / 1 gvaporization ΔH 4.07 x 104  Jvaporization ΔH 40.7 kJSo the completed thermochemical reactions are:H2O(s) → H2O(l); ΔH 6.00 kJH2O(l) → H2O(g); ΔH 40.7 kJB.  Now we know that:1 mol H2O(s) 18.02 g H2O(s) ~ 6.00 kJUsing this conversion factor:0.800 kJ x 18.02 g ice / 6.00 kJ 2.40 g ice melted Answer A.  H2O(s) → H2O(l); ΔH 6.00 kJ H2O(l) → H2O(g); ΔH 40.7 kJ B.  2.40 g ice melted

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Political Profile of President Barack Obama

Political Profile of President Barack Obama On November 4, 2008, 47-year-old Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the United States, after a hard-fought two-year presidential campaign. He was sworn in as president on January 20, 2009. Fast Facts: Barack Obama Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama, IIKnown For: 44th President of the United States, in office January 20, 2009- January 20, 2017Born: August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, HawaiiParents: Barack Obama Sr. and Ann DunhamSpouse: Married on October 18, 1992 to Michelle Robinson, an attorney and Chicago nativeChildren: Malia and SashaEducation: B.A. in international relations, 1983, Columbia University. J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first black Editor of the Harvard Law ReviewMajor Accomplishments: First African American president, Nobel Peace Price (2009), Profile in Courage Award (2017), best-selling authorFun Fact: Obama is a Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears fan, and an avid basketball player Early Life Born Barack Hussein Obama, Jr, his father was a Kenya-born Harvard-educated economist and his mother was Ann Dunham, a caucasian anthropologist. He was 2 years old when his father left the family. His father (deceased in 1982) returned to Kenya, and only saw his son once more. His mother remarried, and moved Barack to Indonesia. He returned to Hawaii at age 10 to live with his maternal grandparents. He graduated from the respected Punahou School with honors. As a teenager, he scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, and has admitted to dabbling in marijuana and cocaine. His mother died of cancer in 1995. Political Timeline Before entering politics, Obama worked as a community organizer and a civil rights attorney. In addition, Obama was a Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at University of Chicago Law School. In the early 90s, he aggressively organized one of the largest voter registration drives in Chicago history to help Bill Clintons 1992 election. Obama (D-IL) was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2004, after serving 7 years as an Illinois state senator. In 2004, Sen. Obama also signed a $1.9 million deal to author 3 books. The first, The Audacity of Hope, discusses his political convictions. His 1995 autobiography was a bestseller. Barack Obamas voting record and stances as US Senator and Illinois State Senator reflect a practical, common sense progressive thinker who emphasizes increased support for teachers, college affordability, and restoration of meaningful federal support of veterans. As a Senator, Obamas areas of special legislative interest were in support for working families, public education, health care, economic growth and jobs creation, and ending the Iraq War. As an Illinois state senator, he worked passionately for ethics reforms and criminal justice reform. Obama first rose to national prominence when he delivered an inspiring keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama declared his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency. On June 3, 2008, Obama accumulated enough Democratic convention delegates votes to become the presumptive party nominee for the presidential race. On October 9, 2009, the Nobel Committee announced that President Barack Obama had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The Obama Persona Barack Obama is a independent-minded leader with an even-keel temperament, charismatic speaking skills and a knack for consensus-building. Hes also a talented, introspective writer. His values are strongly shaped by his expertise as a Constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney, and by Christianity. While private by nature, Obama mingles easily with others, but is most comfortable addressing large crowds. He is known for being unafraid to speak and hear hard truths when necessary. Obama was named by Time magazine in 2005, 2007 and 2008 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Memorable Quotes You cant have No Child Left Behind if you leave the money behind. I do agree that the Democrats have been intellectually lazy in failing to take the core ideals of the Democratic Party and adapting them to circumstances.... Its not just a matter of sticking in a quote from the Bible into a stock speech. There has yet to be a serious conversation about health care on the floor of the United States Senate. ...as parents, we need to find the time and the energy to step in and find ways to help our kids love reading. We can read to them, talk to them about what theyre reading and make time for this by turning off the TV ourselves. Libraries can help parents with this. Knowing the constraints we face from busy schedules and a TV culture, we need to think outside the box here - to dream big like we always have in America. Right now, children come home from their first doctors appointment with an extra bottle of formula. But imagine if they came home with their first library card or their first copy of Goodnight Moon? What if it was as easy to get a book as it is to rent a DVD or pick up McDonalds? What if instead of a toy in every Happy Meal, there was a book? What if there were portable libraries that rolled through parks and playgrounds like ice cream trucks? Or kiosks in stores where you could borrow books? What if during the summer, when kids often lose much of the reading progress theyve made during the year, every child had a list of books they had to read and talk about and an invitation to a summer reading club at the local library? Libraries have a special role to play in our knowledge economy. - June 27, 2005 Speech to the American Library Association

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Listening to a new radio station Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Listening to a new radio station - Essay Example Generally, I listen to all types of music. I like to sample the various offerings of radio stations and enjoy variation. Admittedly, my favorite types of music are Rock and Metal. I am able to tolerate all types of music but country music is the exception to the rule. I hate the "twang" of the accent and don't find the music to be inspirational at all. To prepare and complete this assignment, I set my cell phone and car radio to country stations. On my phone I usually listen to the internet radio and I have my personal favorite radio stations saved. I created and added a country station to my favorites and listened to the stations for the same amount of time that I would normally listen to my preferred stations. The second day listening to country music was actually funny, I got in my car in a hurry, when I turned on the ignition started playing country and without thinking I turned off the radio, then I remembered why it was on that station. I turned it on again and struggled all th e way to work, the same happened with my phone, I turned it on and off so quick! I can't believe how desperate I was to avoid this assignment! I think that while I love the messages that the country songs attempt to convey, the music is just so depressing.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Sustainability and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sustainability and Ethics - Essay Example The very issue of fuddling may also lead to the civil society organisations competing with each other for funding and therefore render it impossible for the civil society organisations to work in concert to have creative and constrictive regulation of the business environment.Given the fact that these organisation can be manipulated by the very businesses they are supposed to regulate, it becomes clear that they may not work for the good of the public but may seek the good of the individual people running them. In this kind of scenario, it can be said that their value to the society is not only reduced but that they are actually harmful to the very public they are supposed to protect. However, it cannot be assumed that all civil societies are easily manipulated by private business through funding. Some of them are well managed and are able to retain their authority and are run with integrity. These few civil society organisations are most likely to be helpful to the public and help i n protecting the public from other organisations that may be unethical in the way they operate.There are a number of issues that affect the way a business is run. Sustainability has become a major beacon in the development of business strategies and it is important for any business manager to be able to know what business sustainability is in order to carefully and effectively include it in the business model and ensure that the business has a good sustainability plan (Brockett and Rezaee, 2012). However, the challenge to its is that there are various definitions of sustainability, and although they are all similar, they all defer from each other in at least one critical way.

Computational Biology The Serine Protease Active Site Essay - 1

Computational Biology The Serine Protease Active Site - Essay Example Chymotrypsin belongs to the trypsin family of serine proteases and is usually secreted in inactive form (zymogen) in the small intestine. The structure of chymotrypsin was elucidated via the X-ray crystallography.Below is the structure of chymotrypsinogen (see Error: Reference source not found) The active site is the catalytic unit of an enzyme. The determination of the three-dimensional structure of chymotrypsin by X-ray crystallography was the basis of greater insight into the mechanism of action of serine proteases. The Swiss-PDB Viewer software available at http://spdbv.vital-it.ch/disclaim.html was used to manipulate the coordinates of chymotrypsin and subtilisin serine proteases retrieved from the protein data bank (PDB available at www.rcsb.org). The catalytic site of most srine peptidaeses including chymotrypsin is composed of a catalytic traid of serine, histidine and aspartic acid residues. The ezyme the experimnt dealt with are are serine proteases and they have been known to exhibit similar spatial arrangements. However, the residues of the enzymes may adopt different order in the amino acid sequence. Catalytic triad is composed of Ser195 on one side and Asp102 and His57 on the other side inside the active site cleft. An extensive hydrogen bonding network exists in the triad for instance NÃŽ ´1-H of His57 and OÃŽ ´1 of Asp102 and also between OH of Ser195 and the NÃŽ µ2-H of His57. However in the event that His57 is protonated the latter bond is lost (Hedstrom, 2002). Figure 8: The positions of the backbone nitrogens are shown; the residues are Ser195 and Gly193 and the distances from these nitrogens to the peptide carbonyl oxygen. This brings the two residues closer for interactions to occur The catalytic triad in subtilisin contains residues 32, 64 and 221; the oxyanion hole comprises the side chain of Asn155 and the backbone NH of Ser 221; the mouth of the specificity

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Intellectual property Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Intellectual property - Assignment Example Past rulings by the CJEU and The High Court of England and Wales, will be useful in analyzing the soundness of this injunction. According to the EU’s E-commerce Directive, there is need for a balance to be struck in order to create a system that exempts intermediaries such as the information society service provider who function as conduits of information and do not engage in monitoring or editing of content1. In the case project, balance is not struck. The Directive clearly states that an intermediary that expeditiously removes access to illegal content once they have received notice of the infringement will not be held liable. Additionally, Article 12.1 of the Directive states that a service provider cannot be held liable for content transmitted through its network if the provider does not start the transmission, does not choose the receiver of the content, and does not alter the content. The above injunction against the Information Society Services Provider is blanket in na ture, which deviates from the E-commerce detective. The E- Commerce Directive rules out the creation of monitoring obligations for intermediaries. According to article 15, limitation of liability should not be interpreted as giving any obligation. In the above case, the injunction is giving an obligation to the provider. This implies that providers of online material will not be liable for illegal material that has been availed in their networks by its clients if the provider is a mere channel and has processes in place to take out the material quickly; and they will not be required to supervise activity in advance2. This principle of limitation of liability for internet service providers is applicable in many jurisdictions. Despite the present legislation, the debate concerning intermediary liability continues with industry and regulators raising the issue of liability. In analyzing this

A Psychological History of the German Film Essay - 2

A Psychological History of the German Film - Essay Example However, in the news coverage, the objective of the film’s original authors seemed distorted. In Wiene’s version, the story is screened with Caligari more of a conformist rather than Janowitz’s and Mayer’s intention of portraying the film as a revolutionary one. Wiene’s version of the film Caligari utilizes pictorial presentation to demonstrate the fantasies of a madman. The use of pictures bonds well with the audience, who develop a clear understanding of the background and gestures used. The film is basically a blatant expression of psychological issues. Caligari depicts how the film industry has developed from ancient periods. It uses motion pictorial presentation to convey the themes covered to its audience. Caligari portrays life amidst and after the war, exhibiting the error of Hitler. The film covers the reality that the Germans had gone through during the war and the illumination of the scenes was such that it appeared soul-oriented. Caligari presents the evolution of cinema in the 19th century as new techniques emerged.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Descartes and The Matrix to address a topic Essay

Descartes and The Matrix to address a topic - Essay Example It is about human beings being deceived by their own senses into believing that the state of events in the world around them is true but in actual sense they are in a dream state. In analysing the film in light of Descartes first three meditations, the first meditation is about the things that people may doubt, the second about the nature of people’s minds and how it is easier to know it than the body while the third meditation is about God and whether he actually exists (Wilson 13). In the film, Descartes malicious and evil deceivers are represented by the agents within the matrix whose core aim is to hide the truth and cause doubt in our minds. They deny us the chance of actually differentiating between what is reality and what is false. In the first meditation, Descartes suggested that he believed not an optimal God but somewhat an evil demon was responsible for hiding the truth from him and thus leading him to spiral down a trail of doubts and scepticism that eventually le d him to a possible truth that nothing is actually certain (Wilson 34). In the movie, the matrix is displayed as a program that is fed into one’s mind which causes the person to believe the reality of the false world that is being projected to them. The program deceives senses into thinking that an individual is at that time experiencing a false world but in essence they are just lying in a pod which is wired to the Matrix. The agents, as mentioned earlier, are part of the programme that is fed into a person’s mind to stop people from discovering reality. However, the difference between what is real and what is a dream is still hard to correctly identify as was exemplified in the movie where the main character, Neo, is captured by the agents in the matrix and bugged but instead he wakes up in his bed thinking that it was all a dream. It is with his dream argument that Descartes is able to exercise his doubts on the evidence given to us by our senses. He goes to the ext reme of questioning his own existence in his second mediation where he wrote: â€Å"I am--I exist: this is certain; but how often? As often as I think; for perhaps it would even happen, if I should wholly cease to think, that I should at the same time altogether cease to be† (Chappell 56). Further, in his second meditation, he posits that there is a truth in the existence of a powerful malignant being who is omnipresent and all his endeavours are toward deceiving him. Descartes says â€Å"But [as to myself, what can I now say that I am], since I suppose there exists an extremely powerful, and, if I may so speak, malignant being, whose whole endeavours are directed toward deceiving me? Can I affirm that I possess any one of all those attributes of which I have lately spoken as belonging to the nature of body? After attentively considering them in my own mind, I find none of them that can properly be said to belong to myself.†-Descartes (Wilson 23). He also believes that the possibility of an external world that remains true may also be meddled by the Evil deceiver and still cannot be trusted fully without question. Later, he also introduced the concept of God into his third meditation who actually overpowers the Evil deceiver’s power much like in the matrix where Neo’s Powers was much stronger than the agents who were keeping him and people from discovering reality. The deceiver presented in the Matrix and that proposed have shown certain

A Psychological History of the German Film Essay - 2

A Psychological History of the German Film - Essay Example However, in the news coverage, the objective of the film’s original authors seemed distorted. In Wiene’s version, the story is screened with Caligari more of a conformist rather than Janowitz’s and Mayer’s intention of portraying the film as a revolutionary one. Wiene’s version of the film Caligari utilizes pictorial presentation to demonstrate the fantasies of a madman. The use of pictures bonds well with the audience, who develop a clear understanding of the background and gestures used. The film is basically a blatant expression of psychological issues. Caligari depicts how the film industry has developed from ancient periods. It uses motion pictorial presentation to convey the themes covered to its audience. Caligari portrays life amidst and after the war, exhibiting the error of Hitler. The film covers the reality that the Germans had gone through during the war and the illumination of the scenes was such that it appeared soul-oriented. Caligari presents the evolution of cinema in the 19th century as new techniques emerged.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Indian Book Retail Industry Essay Example for Free

Indian Book Retail Industry Essay The Indian book retail industry is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore, out of which organised retail accounts for only 7 per cent.The industry is expected to grow by approximately 15 per cent a year.Book retail contributes only about 1 per cent to the overall retail industry. Text and curriculum books account for about 50 per cent of the sales. Second-hand books are also a big chunk of the book retail market. In the past few years, several large format book store chains have come up, such as Landmark, Crossword and Om Book Shop etc . More than 75 per cent stores of these large chains are in top eight cities. These Organized Book retailers are focusing on improved customer experience. Many book stores have also introduced coffee shops and provide a library-like atmosphere where customers can sit and read, while sipping coffee. Besides this online channel is also significant with players like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam etc. With the printed word considered an endangered species in much of a rapidly digitizing world, India now represents one of the best book markets in the world. â€Å"There has definitely been a huge jump in the size of the industry in terms of book sales and the number of books being published,† said Mita Kapur, the founder of Siyahi, a literary agency, who says the number of books published in English is growing by 30 percent a year. Vikrant Mathur, associate director of Nielsen Book, India, said the volume of book sales grew by 45 percent during the first half of 2011. For the entire year, Nielsen, a global information provider, documented English-language book sales of 3.28 billion rupees – about $62 million – from more than 12 million books sold. And that is probably only a fraction of true total sales, since Nielsen only measures about 35 percent of the total market. â€Å"Where physical books are concerned India right now is a very, very big market,† said Priyanka Malhotra, director of Full Circle Publications. â€Å"There is a whole younger generation coming up from BPOs who are starting to read in English, which is where a lot of new demand is coming from.† Online retail have also spurred growth in the industry. To summarize India’s book retail industry is broadly divided into 3 sectors : 1. Organized 2. Unorganized 3. Online The organized sector has big names such as : crosswords, OM book shop , landmark etc to name a few. On the other hand unorganized sector is huge and highly fragmented, with shops spanning from local book stores to road side book shanties to red light book sellers etc. This sector is also filled with piracy and pirated copies of original books (which is a serious threat to the sales of organized sector) Online sector is the newest of them all and has just started to takeoff in sales since last 3-4 years. The major advantage of such a format is the wide variety of offerings under one roof and ease of access for the users. Thus this is the fastest growing sector among all of them. The prominent players in this category are Flipkart.com, Infibeam.com etc. Unorganized sector (Golden book depot) Golden book depot is a typical book store among many in the unorganized sector of the india book retail industry. This store is loacated in the vicinity of our target organized sector store ( OM book shop) i.e. Ber Sarai ( adjacent to IIT) in south Delhi. As can be seen in the photograph, this is a small shop , almost 1/10th of the size of om book shop and most of the products are available behind the counter, with only magazine stand placed just outside the store. As magazines as a category has most no of impulse purchase. On an average around 50-70 customers come to this book store, and this tore has a footfall conversion of over 85% which is very high as compared to the organized sector (OM book shop) . The reason for this behavior is that most of the products in these kind of shops are behind the counter and it doesn’t provide the luxury to the customer to stroll around and search and read a book as in the case of organized sector. Therefore almost all of the customers coming to these shops like golden book depot are aware of what they want and demand that directly from the shop keeper who then searches the book in the shop and hands over to the customer. Besides having a smaller area , less variety of books and behind the counter selling, the sales (in terms of no. of books sold) is still higher in golden book depot as compared to OM book shop . The reason for that being : 1. Availability of educational books , i.e. educational course materials and  competitive exam preparation books. These books constitute the majority of the portion of these book shops in unorganized sector. These kind of books , especially course materials for various courses such as MBA, B.Tech, BCA etc . are not available at book stores like OM book shop. As they (Organized) focus more on selling of novels and leisure read books. 2. Many of the popular shops in unorganized sector offer a facility to bring the old books and exchange them with the new books at a discounted rate or return the old books at a discounted rate in form of cash return. This is a major reason why price conscious middle class Indian customers prefer unorganized sector over organized sector. 3. Perception in the minds of Indian customers that these small shops will offer the same product at cheaper rate than the organized sector shops, which have flashy interiors and huge shop floor. This perception is true also upto some extent as these shopkeepers in these small shops have the control over their margins and not guided by any company policy ( as in the case of OM book shop) that means these shop keepers can even squeeze their margins from around 10% to as low as 1-2% to attract or retain a customer by offering them the cheapest bargain. Organized sector (OM BOOK SHOP ) About Om Book Shop Retailer and Publishing House: Om Book Shop is a part of Om Books International, a leading English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, and is a prominent player in the Indian book industries. The book retailing chain has a significant presence across the Delhi-NCR region. Besides stocking books, movies, magazines and CD ROMs, Om Book Shop is also a major distributor of books of many leading international imprints. OBI began publishing in 1993. Collection: With a strong focus on children books and coffee-table books, the store has a diverse collection including books on Lifestyle, Nature and Wildlife, Fashion, Bollywood, Heritage and Culture, Management, Health Fitness, Cookery, Architecture and Interiors, pictorial books for children etc. Children section is a major thrust area for the company and OBI publishes children’s titles under the Om Kids imprint: illustrated classics, mythology, folk tales, encyclopaedias etc. Loyalty programs and other salient features: Other salient features Om Book Shop currently holds about 50 thousand registered customers with the Om Book Privilege Loyalty Programme which offers points, discounts other offers to its loyal customers. OBS aims to popularize the Gift -a- book idea across its stores and delivers services like Dial-a-book which allows the customers to shop from their homes; and the efficient and helpful staffs in the book stores assists them in finding the right book or the right gift for the right occasion. Overview: Product, Category and Store Product Category: ‘Books’ Retail Format: Category Specialists Customer segments: In terms of demographics, the Om Book shop customer can be a child/adult from any age group, gender, income class (reasonably well off) etc. Store: Om Book Shop is located in DLF Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj. The store is located on the 2nd floor of the mall and the floor plan is provided in Figure1. The store is strategically located in a way that it falls on one of the 2 ways to the food court and movie theatre. Figure 1: Floor Plan of Om Book Store STORE PHILOSOPHY * Layout * Ambience/dà ©cor * Sale program * Loyalty Store layout structure Om book store has a very functional and efficient physical layout. Mall sq. foot area is very expensive so there seems to be an effort on part of the book store to utilize as much area as possible. Hence the layout may be a bit crammed for some customers. The bird’s eye view of the layout is as follows: The front view of the store is a transparent glass window through which a passerby can easily see into the store. The poster’s on display from the  front view are only of â€Å"OM publisher’s† in different categories like kids books, cook books, and biography (Amir Khan’s â€Å"I’ll Do it My Way†. The most popular and eye-catchy book categories are positioned near the entrance of the store. The largest selling categories, Children’s books, Fiction, and New Arrivals are placed in shelves that a customer encounters as soon as he enters the store. These sections also have the largest impulse buy and are therefore kept at the forefront. Om book’s self published books in the kids category is displayed in big piles on the ground straight in the line of path of a customer who walks into the store. Since the child often runs about choosing his/her own story books and activity (colouring/mask) books and heavily influencing the purchase decision of the parent so the children books of the OM publisher has been strategically kept within reach of the child on the ground to woo the him/her. Other publications in the same Children’s category have been kept on the shelf and in â€Å"sideway† display to decrease their exposure to the child/parent. Om Publication’s in any other category when placed on the shelf have been given a frontal full display to encourage sales. Management books being the next most popular category, they have been placed right after the popular categories when comparing in terms of â€Å"distance from entrance†. Categories pertaining to work or hobby like gardening, travelling, cooking etc / or specific topics of interest like astrology, philosophy, poetry, etc have been grouped towards the end of the store, furthest away from the entrance. This is because these categories can usually not create impulse purchase and so every customer need not pass through these segments/aisles. People who do buy these books are targeted shoppers and will anyhow walk to the back end of the shop to pick up his/her book. These categories are not as popular as the others and have loyal customer following. The impulse buy accessories are lined along the passage on either side from the entrance to the cash counter. It is further seen that the counter is placed at the other end from the entrance to ensure that a customer has to walk through all the impulse purchase offerings before he/she can buy the book. The products on offer in this so called â€Å"impulse accessory† shopping segment are: pens (parker and waterman), magazines, cookbooks, horoscope books, key rings, bookmarks, marble-paper/wrapping paper, and bestsellers in each category. It can further be noticed that the best seller section just prior to the cash  counter is dedicated solely to Om publication. Additional aspects of the Store Layout The layout is no doubt very functional keeping in mind the profit maximization philosophy of the store and the main agenda of pushing its own publication to the shopper. However the spacing of shelves is crammed with little walking space, hardly any sitting space (only 2-3 stools), and only 1 book stand. The entire focus is on 1 product offering i.e. books. Unlike competitors in the organised sector like Landmark, it is not focussing on the entire shopping experience, (no coffee, no other items on offer like stationary etc, no sitting space). Store Ambience and Decor The bookshelves were made of engineered wood like particle wood. This created a unique and rich traditional effect. Plastic or metal bookshelves were not used since they do not look expensive and give a modern feel, which was not something the book store wanted. Furthermore the particle wood was coloured a light shade of brown to give a bright and roomy/spacious look to the store. However the bookshelves were placed too close and for a particular section of customers who prefer the comforts of abundant seating arrangement, coffee facility, and walking space (as provided by Landmark), the sheer functional design of the store might be interpreted as a crammed. This might not work well for a particular segment of customers whose involvement with the shopping experience is as high as, if not higher than the involvement with the product itself. Furthermore the store works on the philosophy that it will focus on selling books alone and not encourage customers to spend hours just reading in the store. This is unlike some of its contemporaries like Landmark that encourage customers to sit and read inside the store. Hence at OM book stores some customers may complain that the staff hover close to them and make them feel uncomfortable if they stay too long. The store plays light and slow English instrumental music to suit the taste of the higher-strata of people who usually visit the Promenade Mall and create a relaxed atmosphere in the store. Instrumental music is  played since a song with wordings would disturb the concentration of a customer reading the epilogue/back-cover of a book. This gives a contemporary feel to the store. Store Sale Programs The store’s maximum profit comes from its Children’s section. Hence the sale period coincides with the summer and winter vacation in schools in Delhi. December to Mid-January and May to June are the respective winter and summer sales. The store is also receptive to mall trends in sale. Since almost every other shop in the mall had a sale in July, so the store too announced a sale to cash in on the increased footfall to the mall during the sale-period. There was no Flat Sale offer. Discount amounts were graded on the basis of demand. Books with high demand had low sale; New Arrival, Top 20 Fiction/Non-Fiction, general Fiction, and bestsellers had only 10% discount. The store felt that irrespective of the price these books would sell and so gave negligible discount on them. However on the kids section the discount was higher, around 20%, and even higher discounts on children’s books published in-house by Om Publications. This is because the store believes that parents during the sale period buy in bulk and a higher sale would induce them to buy more and yet it would not affect your margins. Furthermore parents are price conscious when buying for little kids since the books cannot be added to a collection later on and mostly become irrelevant in a short time after the child has outgrown them. The sale on OM publication was the highest because they already had the highest margins on it due to the absence of a middleman, and therefore could easily afford a large discount on those books. By touting the large discounts they aim to attract consumers to their publication and yet make the largest profit on the same sales. The books with the largest discounts (say more than 50%) were displayed in piles on the floor. This was due to the belief that even if the books weren’t displayed at eye-level, even then the mammoth sale amount would encourage the shoppers to make the effort of bending down to pick up the book. To publicise the sale big red stickers were pasted on the glass walls of the store which can be viewed by the casual shopper passing by the store. Inside the store the discount for each section was  mentioned separately through stickers and pointers. Store Loyalty Program A book is generally a product category where the consumer’s involvement with the product (i.e. the book itself) is much higher than his involvement with the store. Even if a person might have store preferences, yet his/her loyalty lies with the book and not with the store. Hence a consumer would not really care much as to whether he bought his/her book at OM Book stores or at Landmark, which is a stones throwaway. Thus in order to boost retention of loyal customers Om book stores has come up with a loyalty program, a privilege card holder concept which is as follows: * 1 point for every Rs.10 purchase. * Minimum points for redemption are 500 points. * 1 point equals Rs 1 reduction in bill amount. 60-70% of walk-in customers were privilege card holders and the store already has 4500 privilege card holders. The scheme is a moderate success. Store Timings | 11 A.M to 10 P.M ( For Mall)11 A.M to 8 P.M ( For standalone shop not the store we studied)| Working days| All 7 Days of the week| Peak days| Saturday and Sunday| Peak hours| Evenings post 6:00 pm| Staff| 10-12 members including the manager. Manager stands behind the counter at one of the two cash registers. He is accompanied by 2 staff members whose work is to: 1. Use the second cash register for quick transactions during peak hour to prevent long queuing period 2. To get a book for a customer if he/she directly comes to the counter and asks for a specific book.| Floor Staff responsibilities| * Taking care of the specific three to four sections assigned to them. * keeping a track of inventory * Filling the requisition form for the replenishing of stock * Guiding the customers if required * Sticking the barcode behind each new book before placing them on the shelf.| Shifts| There are no shifts; each staff member works throughout the day from 11:00 AM -8:00pm (fixed) and from  8:00pm-10:00pm (variable) depending on the rush. Hence post 8:00 pm the retained staff is paid on overtime basis.| Showrooms (strategic positioning)| NCR – 5 in malls and 2 stand aloneMumbai – 1 stand aloneThe store we studied was in the Promenade mall beside DT cinemas movie ticket counter on the 2nd floor.| Revenues| 1.5 to 2 Lakhs on weekdays3 to3.5 Lakhs on weekendsChildren, Fiction – highest selling category (80% of sales)| CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The product category is such that it involves Limited-Decision Making by the customers. The reasons for purchase of a book from the store can be: * Buying for self- Leisure * Buying for self Knowledge * Buying for Others- Regular * Buying for Others- Situational The greater the motivation to make an optimal decision, the more likely an attribute-based choice will be made. Thus, attribute-based processing is more likely for an expensive book purchase than it is for an inexpensive magazine. The easier it is to access complete attribute-by-brand information, the more likely attribute-based processing will be used. A variety of situations influence which choice approach is most likely. A book bought with the intention of a gift purchase is assigned more importance than a purchase for oneself. Thus, gift purchases would be more likely to produce attribute-based decision processes. Time pressure is a major determinant of choice process used, with increasing time pressures producing more use of attitude-based decisions. Thus, we can identify 3 major clusters of customers that visit Om Book Shop. Category I: DEDICATED READER This is the kind of person who feels complete with a book in his hand. For him, the behaviour is governed by his choices alone and it is solely his decision. He is always trying to find the time to get back to his book. He is convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. His primary information search happens within the store only. Category II: LITERATE GOOD CITIZEN This is the kind of person who usually buys a book after reading it review by a critic or an expert. Such a person does more information search before coming to the store. For our respondent group, the most dominant sources for this information were reviews and Bestseller lists published in newspapers, magazines or online blogs and sites likes Amazon.com. Category III: FAD READER This is the kind of person who only reads the popular books/ latest bestsellers so he can be up to date on what other people are talking about and be seen by others as someone who is well read. He often reads for the social credit he can get out of it. His primary information search is more through his friend circle or his group of colleagues from whom he might hear the latest ‘fads’ in terms of books. Such a person could also go in for information search in popular newspapers/magazines or the shares on social media websites.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Drug Action On Gut Motility Biology Essay

Drug Action On Gut Motility Biology Essay Describe and explain the effect of field stimulation on ileum contraction? The experiment aims to determine the functional role of different drugs like morphine, atropine or naloxone on contraction of guinea pig ileum using transmural stimulation or acetylcholine applied exogenously. The transmural stimulation is given with an initial pulse width of 0.5ms, frequency 0.1Hz and gradually increasing the voltage until we get a measurable contraction. The transmural stimulation, given to the guinea pig ileum acts on enteric nervous system lining the gastrointestinal system controlling GIT , produces an action potential at the membrane causing depolarisation and permeable to calcium (ca+2) ion and leads to increase in ca+2 ion concentration through voltage gated ca +2 channel. This causes release of acetylcholine (ACh) at synaptic cleft, which are directed to bind with muscuranic (M3) receptors. These act by G- protein couple receptors mechanism. Gs Protein activates phospholipase C (PLC), catalysis the hydrolysis of phosphoinositides, (the phospholipids found within the cell membrane) generates two second messengers inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG). These second messengers, influence the protein phosphorylation and effectively regulates the intracellular ca+2 concentration. The IP3 formed binds with the IP 3 receptor and control the release of ca+2 from intracellular store. The DAG mainly activates membr ance-bound protein kinase, protein kinase C (PKC) , have vast cellular distribution and phosphorylate different proteins and become reason for raised intracellular ca+2 concentration causing contraction. These two second messengers initiate the contraction of ileum by field stimulation. 2 . a . Molar concentration morphine Vs contractile response of field stimulated tissue (in mm) Table showing the contractile response (mm) of morphine on field stimulated guinea pig ileum at different molar concentrations Concentration of Morphine (M) Contractile response (mm) 1 -10-10 92 3 -10-10 91 1 -10-9 90 3 -10-9 88 1 -10-8 82 3 -10-8 64 1 -10-7 36 3 -10-7 30 1 -10-6 27 3 -10-6 26 1 -10-5 24 Fig .a. showing the effect of different concentrations of morphine on guinea pig ileum measuring contractile response in mm b. The logarithm of the molar concentration morphine Vs contractile response of field stimulated tissue (in mm) Table showing the different contractile response at varying logarithm of molar concentration of morphine on guinea pig ileum Log Concentration of Morphine (M) Contractile response (mm) -10 92 -9.522878745 91 -9 90 -8.522878745 88 -8 82 -7.522878745 64 -7 36 -6.522878745 30 -6 27 -5.522878745 26 -5 24 Fig. b. Graph showing the effect of log concentration of morphine on guinea pig ileum measuring contractile response (in mm) c. Molar concentration morphine Vs % relaxation of stimulated tissue. Table showing, the % relaxation of stimulated tissue at different molar concentration of morphine. Concentration of Morphine (M) Percentage relaxation of stimulated tissue (%) 1 -10-10 0 3 -10-10 1.086 1 -10-9 2.222 3 -10-9 4.347 1 -10-8 11.111 3 -10-8 30.434 1 -10-7 60.869 3 -10-7 67.391 1 -10-6 70.652 3 -10-6 71.739 1 -10-5 73.913 Fig. c . Graph showing the % relaxation of stimulated tissue of guinea pig ileum at different molar concentration of morphine. d. Molar concentration of acetylcholine Vs contractile response in unstimulated tissue (in mm) Table showing the contractile response of unstimulated tissue (in mm) at different molar concentration of acetylcholine (M) Molar concentration of Ach (M) Contractile Response (mm) 1 -10-8 17 3 -10-8 37 1 -10-7 49 3 -10-7 58 1 -10-6 59 3 -10-6 59 Fig. d. Graph showing the contractile response (in mm) on unstimulated tissue of guinea pig ileum at different concentration of acetylcholine e. The logarithm of the molar concentration acetylcholine Vs contractile response in unstimulated tissue (in mm) Table showing, contractile response (in mm) of unstimulated tissue at different concentrations of acetylcholine. Log Concentration of acetylcholine (M) Contractile Response (mm) -8 17 -7.522878745 37 -7 49 -6.522878745 58 -6 59 -5.522878745 59 Fig. e. Graph showing contractile response (in mm) of unstimulate tissue of guinea pig ileum at different log concentration of morphine. 3. Explain the effects of morphine on field stimulated-induced contractions and how/why this is affected by atropine and naloxone? Morphine is an opioid analgesic drug acts on opioid receptors. There are three major subgroups under opiod receptors:  µ (mu), ÃŽ ´ (delta) and ÃŽ º (kappa) receptors. Morphine mostly acts on  µ receptors. From the graph, during field stimulation-contraction, on addition of morphine of 0.1nM concentration it does not show any much effect initially, but on increasing concentration of morphine it shows gradual decrease in contractile response and sudden downfall of response by half from 100nM to 300nM and then stabilise with little varying response (in mm) in further concentration. This is due to, when morphine is added to the bath of field stimulated-induced contraction the activation of opioid receptors ( µ), via Gi- protein, which inhibits adenyly cyclase, thus decrease in cAMP formation, leading to closing of ca+2 channels and decrease in muscle contraction by inhibting release of ACh at synaptic region. Naloxone acts as competitive antagonist at  µ, ÃŽ ´, ÃŽ º receptors. It is also used as counter the overdose of opioid molecules. When naloxone is added to the field stimulated guinea pig ileum, which is having morphine of certain dose causing dose-dependent decrease in response. The naloxone, acts as competitive antagonist of morphine which replaces the morphine occupied at opioid receptors and reduces the available receptors for morphine to bind and leads to reversing the morphine effect towards field-stimulated contraction. So, the response increases gradually with increase in concentration of naloxone from 200nM to 1000nM and then 3000nM. This shows effective competitive antagonism of naloxone towards morphine activity. In case of atropine, the graph shows, on addition of atropine there is a slightly decrease in response initially and then gradually fall in response due to action of atropine as antagonist at Ach receptor, which occupies the M3 receptor and inhibits the contraction via G-protein receptor mechanism. 4. Explain the observed effects of morphine, naloxone and atropine an Ach-induced contractions and relate this to the effects on field stimulation. From the graph, we know that the morphine and naloxone do not show much significant effect on ACh-induced contraction on guinea pig ileum than field stimulated contratcion. But the atropine show a significant effect on ACh- induced contraction. During field stimulation, the morphine acts via Gi protien (adenyly cylase inhibition) and inhibits cAMP formation and decrease ca+2 concentration and effect the ACh release at synaptic cleft (endogenous). But in the ACh-induced contraction, ACh is available exogenous to occupy the M3 receptors and intiate contraction, showing morphine does not much effect its action as in graph it slightly inhibits just 0.4mm. Naloxone, act as opioid receptor antagonist, may not act on Muscarinic receptors, show no much effect on ACh-induced contraction as ACh in exogenous can direct act on M3 receptors as in graph and which is different in case of field stimulated contratile response, inhibits the morphine action and increases ACh at synaptic region producing significant contraction. Atropine, is a muscarinic (M3) receptor antagonist, the graph shows a significant effect on ACh-induced contractions by atropine. Atropine as competitive antagonist, added to bath occupies the M3 receptors much faster than ACh and inhibits its action, which inturn inhibits ileum contraction.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel Essay -- essays research papers

Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel.In the novel Jane Eyre, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the tone of Jane Eyre is in fact a feminist novel. This book points out the times of unfairness in the Victorian society between men and women, where the man always comes first and is the master of his wife and always the provider. There are many examples that show feminist acts that usually do not occur in the Victorian era, such as wiith strength and integrity, Jane is able to break free from the role that the rest of the society has put her in, which is uncommon in that time period. In the Victorian period women were to clean, cook, take care of kids, and whatever her husband might ask of her, so for Jane Eyre to be so independent it does make the novel a feminist novel which also becomes one of the first feminist novels. There is no doubt Jane Eyre is a feminist novel because of Janes independence, her character, the feelings she has on independence and marriage, the symbolism, setting, and overall theme of the book. Jane Eyre immediately opens up the novel as an independent character. In a cruel household Jane is a niece of a very strict and mean aunt, Mrs. Reed. In the very beginning the book opens with Jane sitting all alone in a room reading a book by herself. This is the first sign of independence. Instead of being with her cousins she chooses to be alone. This is how Janes childhood is while living in her aunts house, she tries to stay by herself. The next sign of Janes independence is when she is sent away to school. At the school Jane does not get into a large group of friends. She stays with one friend her whole school career. This proves Jane does no... ...e Jane proves herself able to function, through the time she spends at Moor House, in a community and in a family. She will not depend solely on Rochester for love and she can be financially independent. Furthermore, Rochester is blind at the novels end and thus dependent upon Jane to be his guide. There is no doubt Jane Eyre is a feminist novel because of Janes independence, her character, the feelings she has on independence and marriage, the symbolism, setting, and overall theme of the book. Janes independence is unusual for victorian times and is one part of her characteristics that makes her a feminist. With Janes view on marriage and being one of the first feminists it makes the novel very feminist. The author Charlotte Bronte consistently made the victorian people believe women could lead an interesting important life with her book "Jane Eyre".

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Concusion :: Personal Narrative Essays

Concusion " Ding , Ding, Ding." School had just ended. My butt had been just freed from the oppression of that chair for the rest of my life. Never again was I planning to sit down in Mr. Dicksons room again. But that was the least of my concerns. Because, today I couldn't wait to get riding on the Bike trails. These were old paths of a railroad track that had jumps built on them. By the time I got out to the bikeracks and met my friends, we were exhilerated. "To the bike trails?" I asked. "to the bike trails" they replied. We had been going to the bike trails for weeks now. Every day we came back for another thrill. So, with haste we sped away from school. Our first stop was my house. " going to the bike trails , Mom" I said while grabbing a box of little debbie snacks. "O.K., be home for supper" she said. This was in code it meant be home at five. Well who cares on to the second stop, Dons Deli. I went in and grabbed the usual. A pink lemonade Snapple and one of those huge pixie sticks. I got to the counter. "The usual" the cashier said "Yup" I said realizing that this recognition was a product of the last few weeks. "That will be two dollars" she said. But that was needless because I had already left the money and was half way out the door. I mounted my bike and rode the steed while sucking down as much sugar as possible. We finally arrived at the bike trails. We then Infiltrated the left over food that we bought from Dons Deli. We were all on a sugar high, it's now time to ride. We did the usual. Had jump contests, fix jumps, and practiced new tricks. I had a good day, my jumps were perfect. And we would soon would move on to the hardest jump†¦. The big double. This jump was about three and a half to four feet high. And a proximately eleven feet long. Not only that, if you messed up their was a ditch in the middle. I jumped it at least ten times, missing trees on the landing every time. And because of this we decided to move it over. This process only used about an hour of precious jumping time. We had made the jump better than ever. I tried the jump first of course. We couldn't have made it any better.