Reaction Paper: Oedipus the King Essay

Prophecies, it is a presumption from extraordinary being, maybe from the prophets, gods or goddesses about the destiny of somebody. In the classical story of Oedipus the King, the story revolves about the prophecy made by the god about the destiny of Oedipus. It is a classic literature from the Greek mythology. It is a story about the young boy that was destined to kill his father and will commit incest by being the husband of his mother. Dramatic unities: unity of actions, unity of time, unity of place. Unity of actions, it is the casual connections of events and incidents; unity of time, it is a concept that the tragedy should confine itself as far as possible, to a single revolution of the sun; unity of place, it is a concept about the epic, the epic can narrate the number of actions simultaneously in different parts. These concepts was shown by the story, it simultaneously narrate the actions and also with connections in every scene; it also achieve the unity of time by making all the scenes looks like happen in just a day. Tragic hero, it was describe as a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake. The tragic hero in the story is Oedipus. Hamartia, it may be accompanied by normal imperfection, it was describes as a situation where the hero makes an unintelligent act where you cannot immorally blame him/her. This concept can be seen in the story when Oedipus gets angry on the prophet because of saying he is the one who kill Laius. Hubris, it was describe as the obstacle that the tragic hero will encounter to achieve his goal. This was happen in the story when Oedipus was trying to know the truth, the herdsman didn’t want to talk. Peripeteia, it is the human actions made results exactly opposite to what was intended: it is working in blindness to one’s own defeat. This was seen in the story, it is when Oedipus tried to escape the prophecy, but while escaping, he killed his father where 3 roads met. Anagnorisis, it is the realization of truth, it is the opening of the eyes, sudden lighting flash in the darkness. This concept can see in the scene when herdsman tell the truth, and Oedipus was shocked, even Jocasta; Oedipus made himself blind, while jocasta committed suicide. Catharsis, one of the most difficult concepts in poetics of Aristotle, describes as the purging of the emotions of pity and fear that are aroused in the viewer of a tragedy. You can see this in the story, it happens in the scene where the herdsman was forced by Oedipus to reveal the truth; he was scared on how Oedipus will react. As a whole, the story is great. It touches the heart of every reader, and after reading this text, you wish that destiny will not happen to you or your friends and family. A nice text, must read. Sources: 1. http://www.slideshare.net/ashtri/aristotles-poetics-3096300 2. http://www.english.hawaii.edu/criticalink/aristotle/terms/catharsis.html 3. http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/aristotletragedy.html

Sorporate unethical behaviour Essay

You have been exposed to several cases of corporate unethical behaviour. Ethical misconduct of senior executives appear to be at the centre of these scandals. In Australia, the James Hardie Industries ‘asbestos’ case has been featured in the media for some time. The company has been accused of causing over half of the number of documented cases of mesothemilia, a lung cancer caused by asbestos. In your in-class essay writing, you are required to do the following. 1. Using utilitarianism, discuss two reasons each in favour of, and against, James Hardie executives’ conduct. 2. As summarised in your week 2 tutorial exercise, reflect in your essay, how your views concerning ‘responsible business’ have been influenced by †¢your research for this assessment task, and †¢by your engagement with the subject matter of COMM101. 3. Referencing and citations: The two references provided below should be used in your essay but are only starting points for your research. On their own, they are not sufficient. A requirement of this assessment task is that you should submit to your tutor, as an attachment to your essay, a list of references consulted whilst preparing for this essay. This list should be cited in your essay and prepared using a word processor and produced via a printer. Ensure you follow the referencing guidelines set out in your subject outline. As a guide, we expect that you should have consulted at least six references (including the two mentioned below) in preparing for this assessment task. 1. Read One Philosopher’s Approach to Business Ethics in your textbook, Shaw et al (2013), pp.105-112. Use the content to develop your essay. 2. Read and use the content from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Decision in James Hardie Penalty Proceedings (Tuesday 13 November 2012), available at http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/12-275MR+Decision+in+James+Hardie+penalty+proceedings?openDocument

Product Differentiation Essay

Definition: Development or incorporation of attributes (such as benefits, price, quality, styling, service, etc.) that a product’s intended customers perceive to be different and desirable. Advertising and promotion of a product is based on its differentiating characteristics. Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product-differentiation.html Today, the market is crowded with similar brands, clamoring for the attention of customers. In order for their brands to stand out, companies strive hard to make them appear different from competing brands. This is product differentiation. Product differentiation is an objective that a business may try to achieve through its marketing. Any business, must try to differentiate products from those of competitors, so as to gain a ‘competitive edge’ over them, thereby attracting more customers. This difference can be achieved by altering the product- making it better than that of the competitor’s or it can be ‘perceived’- such as a strong brand identity developed in the promotional campaign. Need for product differentiation:  usually customers cannot tell the difference between competing products- hence the need to differentiate developing a competitive advantage Focus and differentiation A product may have a lot of attributes, but it is essential to focus on only few of the attributes. Eg: Volvo-safety, BMW-performance : but it doesn’t mean that Volvo does not perform or BMW is not safe. They have just focused on those aspects of their products. Therefore their products will be differentiated on that particular attribute. If a product claims to be good at everything, you run the risk of consumers not believing what you say, even though you may have all those attributes. If a product is focused: 1) more credible 2) customers will think that they are as strong in other areas. What to differentiate: Easiest way to differentiate is on price, but it is least effective as competitors can always copy it easily.Example: Indian computer market included companies such as HCL and IBM. Then came Siva from sterling computers which sold it’s computers at a cheaper price. Therefore others followed suit, and then Siva had to further differentiate it’s product in order to attract customers as competing products were similarly priced. Hence, it is better to differentiate on other attributes such as- features, performance, reliability, reparability, design, style, performance and so on. Examples: 1) Blackberry- Differentiated by addition of BBM in their smart phones. Although other smart phones with IM platforms existed, Blackberry was the one of the first to offer this service to customers as a standard on it’s devices. Their competition did not have any such service at the time. This attracted customers. 2) Promise- People thought promise was different from other toothpastes as it had clove oil however even some other toothpastes had clove oil, but only Promise focused on this attribute and hence it was perceived as a differentiating characteristic. 3) Hero Honda motorcycles- differentiated in terms of fuel efficiency- â€Å"fill it shut it, forget it† Branding and Product differentiation Branding is one way of differentiating products and services. Industries like the garments and tobacco industries, for example, use branding very effectively as the products within these segments are often very similar and have little to distinguish themselves from each other. Branding helps to retain customer loyalty. Example: Smokers, are very particular about their brand and believe that no other brand can satisfy them. In an experiment, 300 smokers who were loyal to 3 major brands were given an unidentifiable sample of each brand to smoke and were asked to identify their own brand. The result: only 35% were able to identify the brands; and under the law of averages, pure guesses accounted for a third of correct identifications. The reason for this was that brands of cigarettes within the same category (menthol for example) differ very marginally in terms of strength, flavour  and taste, and it is difficult for a smoker to truly distinguish between them. The reason why a smoker is loyal to a particular brand is the advertisment. Eg: Charminar: â€Å"it takes charminar to satisfy a man like you† – reinforces that only Charminar can satisfy the man who smokes them! Product differentiation vs USP USP is not the same as Product differentiation. USP refers to advertising to communicate a product’s differentiation while Product differentiation is the process of describing the differences between products or services. Types of differentiation: Horizontal Differentiation: is by the customer’s preference/taste of certain characteristics of the product. (Same qualities/price, different style/taste/colour) Perceived value remains the same. (eg: different colours of lipsticks) Vertical: Products differ in some characteristic which all consumers agree is best. Based on quality. Prices differ as perceived value differs (eg: Different brands of lipstick: Mac, Lakme, Lipice) Horizontal differentiation is about consumers’ wants and preferences, while vertical differentiation focuses on the consumers’ willingness to pay for the quality. Remember: DO NOT offer wildly exaggerated differentiation that the market does not want. (eg: High priced men’s toilet soap â€Å"Aramusk† was unsuccessful due to price) DO NOT negate useful and expansive differentiation by under attending to other parts of the product- service package. The difference should be OVER AND ABOVE the MINIMUM expectations.†¨Example: Fancy hotels with poor service The product is not differentiated until the CUSTOMER understands the difference . The consumer perception is what matters.

Activity Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Activity Report - Essay Example Time is an important aspect of any project as it dictates the amount of resource used and the time within which services can be accessed. Optimally, the project will require two months and one week for completion. To achieve this, independent activities of the project will run parallel while dependent activities will run one after the other. Running the programs parallel will ensure that we follow the critical path and the project is complete within the shortest time. However, we anticipate a number of challenges while implementing this project. To begin with, the expect user difficulties in using this software. For instance, the users may face the challenges of working with a new mail system. To ensure that the project is successful, the project team will train all the employees on how to use the system, and the technical staff will handle the specific challenges that arise thereafter. Intensive training will ensure that all employees can safely work with software and that they can learn it as quick as possible (Smith, David, Kelly and Nowacki 45). In addition, we anticipate that a number of errors will arise during the implementation stage. The software team will monitor the process to correct all software errors as soon as they arise. In this light, we believe that the project will roll out in a smooth manner and will have optimal benefits to the organization. On the other hand, it is recommendable that the employees co-work with the implementation team so that they learn any arising issues as soon as possible. In addition, it is recommendable that the management team co-works with the software development team to foresee any challenges for correction before implementing the project. On this ground, we invite the corporate board to grant this project as part of its commitment to development the information technology system in the

Construction Law - Subcontracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Construction Law - Subcontracts - Essay Example This paper examines various clauses of the Sub-contract and their level of compatibility with the Construction Act 2009 and the Joint Contracts Tribunal rules. The enactment of the Construction Act 1996 on 1st May 1998 made it the sole regulatory mechanism for all construction contracts (Evans, 2005; Teichmann, 2011).   The law was intended to handle issues in the construction industry relating to payments for completed construction projects and the then rampant cases of prolonged and costly legal disputes that were bringing construction activities at the sites to a near standstill. In the Act, different stakeholders in the building industry now reached a consensus about the various provisions which sought rationalize payment issues and establish a new way of resolving disputes that would keep construction projects going on throughout the duration of seeking resolutions to conflicts.  Adjudication was the new dispute resolution mechanism which was brought into the 1996 Construction Act. The Construction Acts are limited to regulating construction contracts only.  Sinden et al (2012) have noted that a construction contract is a working arrangement between two parties with for purposes of implementing construction activities.  In general, construction operations encompass erecting, altering, renovating, servicing, extension or bringing down of any buildings, constructions or works (Lynch, 2013; Evans, 2005).  This broad definition of construction works also includes piping and electrical installations, drainage networks and tunnels, clearing the debris from the site, landscaping and applying finishing touches like painting and decorations among others. In light of these definitions, this sub-contract is well within the confines of a construction project. Owing to the applicability of the Construction Act 1996 to contacts formed in writing, this Sub-Contract was conceived within the law (Teichmann, 2011). Nonetheless, the Construction Act 2009

Building Construction for the fire service Essay

Building Construction for the fire service - Essay Example Historically, the summer of 1871 in Chicago brought intense and uncontrollable fire, which burnt massive housing. Around 17,500 buildings burnt and 90,000 people were affected by the fire of 24 hour or more. Approximately 300 people died due to it and the dry summer with strong winds spread burning debris in all directions, which affected 73 miles of area. The building structure of that era entailed single layer construction style. The outside layer was responsible for fire protection, but the inside contained all wooden structure. The main water supply and storage was also a wooden structured pine building. When the fire grew intense due to unavailability of proper extinguishing mechanism, (Schons, 2011) the fire blazed for unlimited duration until the rain cooled it off after 24 hours. The pine wood water storage building was the only water supply used by the fire department in those days and that water was also wasted due to collapse of that building. After this horrific fire incident and massive destruction the authorities bend down to look into the basic design of building structures in such catastrophic situations. Therefore, in 1896 NFPA National Fire Protection Association devised a new way to protect massive fire in buildings; hence, introduced automatic sprinkler system. Initially, this system lacked proper standardization and many apprehensions from the researchers made it a little slow to become implementable. However, in 1901, majority of the Factory Mutual buildings were instilled with automatic sprinkler as an innovative fire protection tool, and this technical change in the construction of building became the prime way to prevent property from sudden fire. Another deadly fire incident in Iroquois theater (1903) is considered the lethal fire event in the history of US that burnt 602 people. The wooden structure of the theatre, no exit passage, and ornamental fabric (curtain and

Whig party during American Civilization Research Paper

Whig party during American Civilization - Research Paper Example The party advocated for internal improvement of the various issues such as roads, railroads and digging of canals and deepening of rivers. At the time the United States of America was very much isolated and they needed to access different markets to sell or buy their goods. In the United States of America the name â€Å"the Whigs† was introduced by Mr. Jefferson after they were forced to drop the name â€Å"Anti-federalists after it was declared as inappropriate. In some of his correspondence he called his friends â€Å"The Whigs.†All this was as a result of some political differences in regards to the adoption of the constitution. The Constitution of the United States is considered as a â€Å"document of eminent wisdom and ability† however it has some weakness (William 54). The people who were in charge of coming up with the document were very much aware of some of the weaknesses of the constitution. Some of the clauses in the constitution became a contentious issue among the big political parties at the time. An example of a such a cause was the ne declaring â€Å""that all men are born free and equal, and entitled to the enjoyment of liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Even though at the time the issue of slavery was rife a nd the slaves were being mistreated. One major clause that brought a fierce split between the major political parties was the â€Å"conflicts between federal and states rights, objects of national or sectional concern, fiscal regulations and financial schemes.† The people who were supporting the adoption of the proposed constitution were referred to as the Federalists while the people who opposed it were referred to as the Anti-Federalists. In order for the constitution to be adopted some discussions had to be carried out between the major political parties. A series of conventions had to be held to determine if the proposed constitution cud be adopted or not. In

Research Proposal Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Research Proposal Example In the wake of these corporate failures, basic principles and rules are being reviewed and strengthened in order to reinstall investor confidence. At the heart of these corporate governance reforms is the common interest in the effectiveness of boards of directors. Corporate governance codes, experts and activists have long advocated changes in the board structure. As a result of the successful implementation of corporate practice codes in the private sector corporations, the government has decided to implement the system in public/civil departments and government offices. The public offices are supposed to benefit the people who pay tax to the government on various assets and income earned by them. The government departments should exhibit transparency, and accountability to the various stakeholders including general public. These departments have a key role in a society where people's money is handled by government departments when they left with excess income allowed by tax author ity. In this context, the present study s an attempt to examine the impact of corporate government practices implemented by revenue commission in the UK on the customers'/ tax payers' satisfaction. Corporate governance is a conscious and sustained effort on the part of a corporate entity to strike a judicious balance between its own interest and that of its stakeholders. It is the relationship among various participants in determining the direction and performance of corporations. It is not merely enacting legislation; but instilling an environment of trust and confidence as ethical business behavior and fairness cannot be legislated. It aims at minimizing the chances of corruption, malpractices, financial frauds, and misconduct of management. It provides various codes and regulations to establish effective governance system and to monitor the performance of corporations in the context of transparency, advocacy, accountability and social contribution to the society. Governance is not just a pious platitude. It is the accumulated outcome of inspiration, influence, wisdom, guidance and control, which keeps a body or an organization not only moving but also moving on the right tr ack and at the right speed. It is inherent in the very nature of cosmic as well as human systems. However, corporate governance is essentially a state of mind and a set of principles based on relationships. It can work only if the people entrusted with these responsibilities believe in and are committed to the principles that underline effective corporate governance, which in ultimate analysis, is a way of life and not a mere compliance with a set of rules. Ideals of corporate governance primarily need transparency, full disclosure, fairness to all stakeholders and effective monitoring of the state of corporate affairs. It is, thus, concerned with values, vision, and visibility. Sound corporate governance practices lead to greater management accountability, credibility, and enhanced public confidence. Statement of the Problem With the corporate scandals in the early 2000, corporations across the world are under pressure to convince and ensure that the various stakeholders are happy with the system of corporate governance. Many new standards/policies of Corporate Governance (CG) and changes in accounting and reporting

The American War of Independence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The American War of Independence - Essay Example But by whatever stroke of fate, the colonials completely trounced the mighty forces of Great Britain. The rout was so unexpected that the historian John Ferling quoted George Washington as saying that the "American victory was a little short of a standing miracle".1 Ferling went on to say that the skirmishes and battles "often hinged on intangibles such as leadership under fire, heroism, good fortune, blunders, tenacity and surprise".2 The British forces all throughout the war played the aggressor , employing time-tested strategies and tactics that it had used before against the French, Spanish and Irish foes. The colonials, meanwhile, a complete tyro in any warfare, were always on the defensive employing tactics that were best suited for the occasion. "often dismissed by the British as ragtag"4 were surviving on a measly budget accorded them by the Continental Congress. Thus, in some skirmishes, they were on the brink of starvation, sometimes attired in tattered clothes and shoes and sometimes in decrepit condition. The triumvirate of King George III, Secretary of State George Germain and Prime Minister Lord North formed the nucleus which decided what tactics Britain should implement in the war in the New World. This nucleus ,based in London, 3000 miles away from the arena of war, was responsible for the coordination, the logistics and the communication needed to win a war. Meanwhile, the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from all the colonies and based in Philadelphia, was the brain and the nerve center , the controller and the coordinator of the colonial forces. With the riches coming from its colonies in the West Indies, Canada, America, Gibraltar and India, there was no doubt that Britain entered this war financially prepared. The Congress, on the other hand, aware that any victory would hinge on how well-oiled the war machinery would be, desperately sought finances both from abroad and from the home front. It used the strategy of diplomacy and psychology on England's long-standing enemies, France and Spain, stoked the latter's hatred and resentment and came out extracting some financial support as well as munitions from both. Since that was not enough, it used 4 tactics to raise money locally i.e. loans from "well-to-do merchants and planters"; "forced loans ... from farmers who were given certificates of indebtedness"; by levying money or goods "apportioned among the various states"; and by "issuance of paper money, the famous Continental currency".5

Music and Tourism in Scotland Essay Example for Free

Music and Tourism in Scotland Essay Scottish Tourism bloomed in the 1990s due to major cultural changes in society. Scotland began to create a new identity through the use of media that promoted the social and cultural attributes of the country. Scotland’s home-grown artists were used as a voice at the forefront of the promotion of Scotland’s culture and heritage to world tourism. My essay will consider a range of issues surrounding the relationship between Scottish tourism and the development of Scottish music during the 1990s. It will consider the artists and songs that played a key role in the development of Scotland’s national identity through outlining particular advertising campaigns used to promote for Scottish tourism. My essay will also discuss the future plans for Scottish Tourism and how music will be part of them. Scottish Music and Scottish Tourism Tourism contributes an enormous part of the economy in Scotland – boasting a visitor spend of approximately  £4b per year. As a tourist destination, Scotland boasts idyllic opportunities for its visitors such as the hillwalking the Munro Mountains, fishing the River Tay, immersing in the history of Edinburgh or Stirling and admiring the cultural diversities of Glasgow. These opportunities are realised and exploited by Government body: Creative Scotland, which was set up in 1993 and is dedicated to supporting the promotion of culture in Scotland on both national and international levels. Creative Scotland support the current Scottish Governments Corporate Plan, which promises: ‘To focus Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.’ Scotland has developed an exceedingly strong worldwide reputation for its diverse culture and is continuing to do so by championing music and the arts through large scale events and festivals such as Celtic Connections, a relatively new festival of traditional Scottish music which is exclusively held across a number of high-profile venues in Glasgow including the flagship Glasgow Royal Concert Hall which was opened as part of the cultural renaissance of Glasgow in 1990 with Glasgow becoming a European City of Culture in 1990. The formation of this festival alone has increased global interest from its multiple televised broadcasts on BBC and HD and a promotional tour to Chicago in 2012 during the Ryder Cup at the nearby Merdinah Country Club. Another notable festival is T in the Park which is sponsored by Scottish Brewery; Tennents. Established in Glasgow in 1993, the festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2013 and showcases international artists with a focus on new and established Scottish acts such as Scottish Band; Travis, who gained international recognition through performing at the festival from 1994 as an unsigned band and subsequently becoming a headlining act of the festival in 2000. The festival moved to Perthshire in 1997 and politicians in the area were united to promote ‘A Soundtrack for Scotland’s Tourism’, linking traditional music and tourism and diversifying the tourist industry. The festival attracts 85,000 people from all over Britain and in some cases worldwide, to Fife, Scotland, the festival has become: ‘One of the most important and critically acclaimed music events on the international festival circuit.’ The festival has been televised on BBC and footage of the festival includes shots of the backdrop landscape of Kinross and Fife regions. Promoting Scottish Nationalism and Tourism with Music in Sports Branding Branded produce from Scotland provided the tourism sector with an indirect source of advertising the heritage and culture of Scotland during the 1990s. Many advertising campaigns were televised; in particular for the alcohol industry, which used iconic songs synced with images of rural and urban Scottish landscapes which helped create an escapist image of Scotland. An example of this would be Tennents’ Lager, who used Dougie Maclean’s song Caledonia against the imagery of a grimy busy city with arrogant people compared to the contrasting escapist, social, warm and friendly atmosphere of a public house in Edinburgh The sense of nationalism and pride in the cultural diversity in Scotland went from strength to strength in the early 1990s. Scotland celebrated a period of excellence in sport on a global scale which also helped boost the number of visitors to the country. Although Scotland’s national football team failed to advance through the group stages of all the World Cup tournaments in the 1990s including Italy, USA and France respectively, Scotland’s national Rugby team celebrated international success, beating England 13-7 in the 1990 Five Nations Grand Slam. This event penned The Corries lament: ‘Flower of Scotland’ as the unofficial national anthem of Scotland, boosting the national pride and identity and has been used ever since at most sporting events. The song was written to: ‘Kindle a new awareness of what is being lost and what can be regained. Scotland’s resistance, not its defeat is stressed here.’ Another notable use of Scottish music for advertising Scottish Tourism is the 1997 television campaign which used The Silencers version of Wild Mountain Thyme, which is a traditional piece of music popularised by the particular advert which featured iconic scenes of Scotland’s rural landscapes, castles and activities such as travel, surfing and walking. The advert quoted Scottish Poet Norman MacCaig who wrote about Scotland: ‘Only mens minds could have unmapped into abstraction such a territory.’ Another song of note which relates to a worldwide audience and captures the picturesque imagery of Scottish landscapes would be Runrig’s version of the traditional Scots Lament; ‘Loch Lomond’, which was voted as Scotland’s best song by a reader poll in Scottish publication The List in 2008, beating Dignity by Deacon Blue, Caledonia by Dougie MacLean and 500 Miles by the Proclaimers, all of whom are regarded as Scottish Nationalist artists with Pete Wishart, Keyboardist of Runrig being elected as an SNP MP at Westminster in 2001. Conclusion The Future of Scottish Nationalism and Tourism Scotland’s culture and heritage will continue to grow in the tourism spotlight through the commitment of Creative Scotland and its relationship with VisitScotland which is evident from its goals: ‘Creative Scotland’s ambition is to see Scotland as one of the world’s most creative nations by 2020.’ An example of this commitment is apparent as 2012 is the ‘Year of Creative Scotland’ which continues the celebrations of Scottish culture and promotes it to the world through festivals such as the Sound Festival which will be held over October and November and aims to bring visitors to the North East areas of Scotland to enjoy alternative music of Scotland. The internet has increasingly become a major role in the promotion of Scotland’s live music events with internet website; www.visitscotland.co.uk, acting as the information and marketing gateway for prospective visitors to find information, link to external websites such as event homepages and furthermore, purchase event tickets directly with great ease. Glasgow will again become City Of Culture in 2014 and will host the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup, which will be an ideal opportunity for sports and Scottish music to join forces once again.

Desistance Rehabilitation And Reintegration

Desistance Rehabilitation And Reintegration When a criminal is able to stop the behavior that characterizes his or her criminal activities, the gradual process involved is what is termed as desistance. Apart from the fact that it has practical applications for probation workers with criminal offenders from the community, desistance also has a strong link and connection in the rehabilitation of a criminal. However, theories of desistance when compared to the theories of the onset of criminal behavior have been much neglected and underdeveloped in the history of criminology (Smith, 2007). It is therefore a good sign when studies of desistance increase drastically especially since the last twenty years; this has been particularly noticeable after the development of the life course theory that was done by Sampson and Laub. But as Piquero (2004:103) explains, continued research has been significantly affected by methodological and theoretical issues. Moreover, theorists in the field have not been able to come up with a universal de finition of desistance. Consequently this paper endeavors to create a workable definition of desistance and to furthermore give a preview of the updated main facts and theories of desistance. Understanding desistance Oxford Dictionary defines desistance as, to desist or to stop doing something; cease or abstain. Applying this definition to criminology is however a bit technical. The big question is usually about time, if a criminal is able to stop a certain criminal behavior for four weeks for example, is it correct to classify him or her as an accomplished case of desistance? What is the recommended time for one to be sure that he or she is free from the crime? If future behavior can best be predicted by looking at past behavior, and if recidivism and relapse are the rule rather than the exception, then how does a precise definition of desistance be formulated? (LeBel et al, 2004). Laub and Sampson (2001) as a matter of fact agree that a definition of desistance cannot be made, they support that the questions in a particular research best deduce the definition of desistance for the researcher (cited in Maruna, 2006). According to Shadd Maruna, for a habitual offender, any recognizable time spent without doing any crime is called primary desistance. However studies on recidivism and relapse cannot be complete without an outline of achieving long term desistance. Maruna goes on to therefore state that secondary desistance is when a criminal is able to change his identity and take an almost permanent direction to a life free of the initial crime that was a norm in his behavior. Studying secondary desistance is important as it seeks to understand how initial offenders can be able to keep a distance from their crimes. Desistance is therefore not the final result of the end of a crime; it is actually the process that is gradual and continuous till the end result of successful desistance. Sampson and Laub (2001) acknowledge that there is a huge difference between the stopping an offence and the continuous change to a crime free lifestyle. They mark that as compared to theories of offending, desistance theories have not yet been fully studied and explained, however desistance is now understood as the procedure necessary for acquiring a n accomplished state of non-offence. It is important that a criminal who wants to change must be willing to change his or her self identity and concept to be able to grasp the full context of change. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) explain that on the contrary it is a common occurrence to find ex-offenders who have undergone desistance commit other acts of deviance, (cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003: 298). Desistance is therefore basically the ability of a former criminal to be able to completely withdraw from a crime and to maintain being in that state regardless of the challenges involved when trying to keep away. Some of these challenges are social stigma, return to criminogenic environments after release from prison, homelessness, addiction, and limited career and educational opportunities (Richards and Jones, 2004). Career criminals are those who have been criminal offenders for a considerably long period of time (Maruna, 2001). According to Laub and Sampson (2003), career criminals rather than small time offenders should be given more attention in researches on desistance. However another major problem in the study of desistance is the availability of completely successful offenders in desistance to the researchers in the field (Maruna, 2001; Burnett, 2004). Total desistance to many ex-offenders is quite a hard step as most of them usually end up going back to their initial criminal tendencies (Piquero, 2004). Addiction is a very significant factor that is more often overlooked yet its contribution to the whole process of desistance has a major impact on the ability of a criminal to completely change. It is therefore important to understand the connection between the two before arriving at a definition of desistance. From a number of researches it has been recognized that the link between addiction and criminal activities is actually very strong. A drug addict is therefore more likely to engage in crimes (Maruna, 2001). Moreover the cause of addiction and criminality are as a matter of fact very similar. Frisher and Beckett (2006:141) found that a large percentage of drug abusers are very active members in criminal gangs. Therefore, when defining desistance, it is necessary to note that the complete resistance of both criminal offending and drug abuse must be realized (Maruna, 2001). To achieve the purpose of this paper desistance can be described and defined as the initial process allowing quality desistance from drug abuse, criminality and other forms of deviance for an ex- criminal. Quality desistance in this case is the is the total termination of previous criminal behaviors together with other possible forms of deviance like drug abuse for at least ten years accompanied by a change in the identity of an individual. Desistance theories Ageing Age has been found to be a significant factor in criminology, as one grows older it is noted that their level of criminality greatly reduces. (Smith, 2007; Sampson and Laub, 2003; Gluecks, 1943; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003). In 2000 in the United Kingdom 19 year olds were found to have committed crimes fifty times more those which men of over fifty years had committed. According to research the total lifespan of a criminal is usually general considering factors like early deaths, imprisonment and when a criminal is evolving to avoid being detected (Maruna, 2006). In a research of 411 criminal males in London, Farrington (1990) found that as the criminals grew older, their crimes reduced greatly with time but this however depended on different types of crimes (cited in Smith, 2007). For example, burglary is at its highest at age 20 while fraud and drug abuse offences record their highest at the age of 25 all the way to 30 as burglary sets on a steady decline afterwards. Nevertheless for the persistent hardcore criminals into their 70s, there was a clear connection between their age and their crime rates according to studies by Laub and Sampson (2003, 2005, 2005b). Furthermore they realized that alcohol and drug offences were their highest in the mid- thirties as compared to other offences. They finally came to a conclusion that both age and the type of crimes affect the whole process of desistance as well. However there have been different explanations to the not clear age crime curve. Developmental criminologists have been able to link the ag e of an offender and the capability of total desistance to childhood related issues. (Mulver et al, 1988; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003; Nagin, 2005; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2005a) Offenders are therefore divided into two distinct groups, the adolescent and the persistent adult offenders. As a result it will be evident that in their late teens the adolescents will be able to grown out of crime and will be able to work on their social circles basically due to their education and good social integration skills. Academic failure, broken relationships and neuropsychological handicaps on the other hand doom the adult offender to a life of deviancy (Moffitt, 1993; 1994; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003). This theory therefore separates offenders into two distinct groups each with very unique characteristics determined by childhood factors, and only those who fall into the correct group have any hope of desistance. Sampson and Laub (2003; 2005a; 2005b) have strongly criticized this developmental approach to explaining desistance, and state that, there is no such thing as a fore-told life course persister (2003:179). They explain that desistance is achievable for ant type of offender no matter which group they are in whether adolescent or adults. According to them childhood fa ctors of offence do not determine desistance but instead help to explain the whole process of desistance. Gottfredson and Hirschi claim that offenders simply stop offending because of the natural aging of the individual (1995; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003). They point out that for any organism there is always a stage of discontinuity that applies to criminology and the study of desistance and its links with age. Therefore desistance is a natural process for any offender. Maruna (2001) however does not fully agree with this because according to him desistance, especially at the beginning, takes a huge amount of emotional, psychological and even physical effort and resources. Gluecks (1943) agrees with this too because he highlighted that desistance was the result of a process of maturational reform, meaning, an offender gradually grows out of crime (cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003). This maturation process usually starts after age 25 when a criminal is able to settle down as the crime rate reduces gradually. However this theory has similarly been criticized as it does not probe into th e meaning of age; instead it assumes that the process of aging itself is responsible for desistance (Maruna, 2001; Sampson and Laub, 2003). Acknowledging that age is a significant factor in desistance, Sampson and Laub (1992) state that maturational reform does not satisfactorily explore its significance in relation to social bonds and life turning points (cited in Maruna, 2001). Life Course Theory A significant study on 500 men up to the age of 32 was carried in the 1930s and 1940s by the Gluecks (1943; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003; 2005a; 2005b). Sampson and Laub later on in an impressive research followed up on 52 of these men and investigated on their criminal career to the age of 70. They found out that the causes of desistance and persistence are actually opposites, namely the development of social controls, structured routine activities and purposeful productive human agency (Sampson and Laub, 2003; 2005a; 2005b; 2006). Their finding indicated that job stability, military service and marriage were able to positively contribute to achieving desistance. These turning points were realized in the process of desistance whereby an offender seeks to start a new life by changing location or even starting a new job like entering the military for example. This however does not necessarily involve starting over, sometimes these offenders work to gain back and maintain their orig inal contacts like a job or a marriage in their quest to stop their criminal tendencies. Whichever path desistance takes these turning points often lead to: a knifing off of the past from the present opportunities for investment in new relationships that offer social support, growth, and new social networks forms of direct and indirect supervision and monitoring of behavior structured routines that center more on family life and less unstructured time with peers situations that provide an opportunity for identity transformation and that allow for the emergence of a new self or script These factors, they explain are true and are not affected by the type of marriage and the crime life of an individual , though informal, cohabiting and parenthood have also been linked to successful desistance (Sampson and Laub, 2006; Katz, 1999). Individuals with none of these social bonds are also more able to stop offending because, they have nothing to lose. Rebecca Katz (1999:13) indicates that, families of procreation may play a significant role in developing desistance since family influences self control and delinquency. Life course theory emphasizes on the strong influence of the social environment to offending explaining that absence of criminal peers reduces the chances of an individual ever engaging in offences and consequently attitudes and beliefs favorable to conformity will develop (Warr, 1998; cited in Sampson and Laub, 2003). Life Course Theory contradicts the link between developmental theories in criminal careers and desistance. It agrees that adulthood experience s are essential as well but to some point more significant in establishing the possible trajectory of desistance (2003). Offenders desist as a result of individual actions (choice) in conjunction with situational contexts and structural influences linked to key institutions that help sustain desistance. As such we argued that desistance is a process rather than an event, and that It must be continually renewed. This fundamental theme underscores the need to examine individual motivation and the social context in which individuals are embedded. (Sampson and Laub, 2003:171) Agency Yet another essential element that has been pointed out as key in achieving successful desistance is agency. (Burnett, 2004; Maruna, 2001; McNeill, 2006; Maguire et al, 2006; Maruna, 2001; Sampson and Laub, 2005 a). The theory of rational offence understands the fact that a criminal is able to make decisions based on his judgment of what is good or bad according to him in his crime life. Agency therefore works hand in hand with rational choice in the key decision making processes of a criminal. Agency is important since it assists in the overall process of making a rational choice. Furthermore, considering the often irrational patterns of offending of many criminals, and the many economic and social constraints offenders live under, rational choice theory alone cannot account for decisions to desist (Burnett, 2004; Sampson and Laub, 2005b). In their study of the Gluecks men Sampson and Laub (2005a) found that agency was a vital component in successful desistance. There is more to the structural support in the process of desistance, agency is required to offer the determination and persistence part of the equation. Agency determines the will to keep moving on and only those who are persistent will be able to manage the whole process. This will to desist and the internationalization of responsibility to overcome the challenges offenders face as they undergo desistance (Maruna, 2001), is very difficult to measure or predict and introduces a seemingly random component into life course turning points, making neat prediction inherently a difficult endeavor (Sampson and Laub, 2005a:177). Moreover it is a quintessential component in the study of desistance and persistence in a criminal career that has however not been fully researched to date. In their research of the life course theory of life Sampson and Laub assert that they have been seeking to explain the importance of the human agency as an aid in understanding desistance and other deviance forms (2003:177). Knifing offà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ ones past, has come out to be a vital element to describe the ability to be able to accomplish a successful desistance for some individuals. To achieve this voluntarily, agency is necessary since it is one of the most difficult things to do and needs a lot of determination. It is a process that is more often accompanied by cutting all past contacts and establishing new ones for example geographical location and family. Most importantly though, Maruna et al (2006a) explained that it can as well involve internal change, or a change in the way the offender views themselves, their past, and their environment. This change in the individuals thinking is vital for the maintenance of long term desistance (Maruna, 2001; Sampson and Laub, 2003; 2005a; Maguire et al, 2006). Contemplation time was found to be a crucial moment that assisted in creating a turning point to desistance according to a study by Margaret Hughes (1998). And it was found that the opportunity to contemplate came as a result of a change in geographical location, imprisonment and residential treatment programmes. Hughes participants found their desire to change develop when they removed from the usual environments and being able to get ample time for self actualization. Social identity Researchers have tried to explain the phenomenon whereby some individual are able to sustain long term resistance while others do not, and it has been discovered that apart from agency, an individuals self identity change is similarly necessary. The chance of an ex-offender remaining crime free very much depends upon developing a new identity, and new values and beliefs that were not compatible with criminal offending (Burnett, 2004). For sure, a significant amount of work done in rehabilitating offenders and addicts, such as 12 Step and cognitive behavioral therapy, targets change in the individuals self-perception (Maruna, 2001). Each and every individual, whether an ex-offender, offender or normal citizen has a unique self identity through which their actions are guided upon, it is therefore as a result of this mechanisms that give people the different circumstances they exist in. Crucially, self-narratives provide a subjective account of the meanings that offenders place upon changes and turning points in their lives (McNiell, 2006).More often though not a fact; self narratives have been of assistance when people seek to explain their actions. Narratives very often change throughout the life course and understanding narratives, helps individuals realize the significance of past and present events in our lives (Sampson and Laub, 2005a). In a desistance study in Liverpool, Shadd Maruna investigated the different self narratives of two distinct groups of offenders whereby one persisted and the other desisted, to account for the changes in ex-offender identities (Maruna, 2001). He was able to find out that both the desisting and persistent criminals actually had more or less the same personality characteristics and were not as agreeable and conscious as the general population. Self-narratives are the only components that divided the two groups after thorough interviews. Active offenders had what Maruna described as a, condemnation scriptà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (2001), meaning, they saw life as an unfortunate abyss of hostility and uncertainty. They believed that circumstances had pushed them to their present situation and there was nothing they could do to change things and that the authority pushed them even further away. Desisting ex-offenders on the other hand had a positive outlook on their past and present and this is wha t assisted them to continue with their desistance process. It is this self-narrative that may be the tool needed for successful desistance. The self-narrative of the ex-offenders holds a version of the truth that is often quite different from historical truth (Maruna et al, 2007). This self narrative attaches a psychological component to the real facts of the past and creates a purpose and meaning in the life of an offender. This is what brings about the positive outlook and assists in achieving desistance. In a study focused completely on religious changes of rehabilitated offenders, Maruna et al discovered that their self-narrative was interestingly changed by their conversion experience (Maruna et al, 2006b). As a result the importance of this self narrative is once more highlighted as it helps an offender realize that the past can be changed and that the future has a hope even for those in long sentences. The offender is therefore able to have a new sense of identity, empowerment, purpose and forgiveness. The self narratives of most offenders in the desisting group have a common characteristic Maruna describes as, the redemption scriptà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (2001). This is basically the belief that an offender is a good person and that his or her past was merely as a result of circumstances of crime, recidivism and addiction. As a result of this, the offenders are able to endeavor to live new lives as they continue in with their desistance. They are then able to view themselves as role models with the necessary knowledge and experience to advice and educate the next generations, something Maruna calls, Making Goodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸. The major difference therefore between the desisting offenders and the persistent ones is the positive energy they surround themselves with. Confidence and self belief are as a result pointed out to be essential qualities as they guide an offender to understand that their past was a necessary component for them to be where they are at the present. This redemptive narrative helps them realize that they are not their past and that their future is what that matters. The acknowledgement of a supreme power beyond them has also been a contributing factor in the lives of these offenders. This is because they realize that their past might have been a plan to give them the positions they hold in the present, like being counselors and youth leaders. This moral superiority and change from the past, according to Maruna, is to make up for long stretches of lost life. During desistance according to Stephen Farrall some offenders undergo long periods of creating new social identities (2006:85). However much these offenders change, it is not forgotten that they acknowledge they are responsible for their criminal past. The idea that reformed criminals accept blame and feel shame for all of their crimes is not supported by research (Maruna, 2007). Successful offenders in desistance often admit to the guilt of their past but they however rationalize their actions and justify or blame themselves and accept that circumstances might have pushed them to criminality. Sometimes however they do not accept their actions and believe that the society pushed them to crime. Such a belief system would not encourage an ex-offender to accept responsibility for breaking laws that they perceived to be based on middle class values, and representative of a society that had neglected and mistreated them (Maruna, 2001). The Liverpool Desistance Study prove that a concurrent characteristic of the redemption script is an offender accepting to take control of changing his future however they do not acknowledge their past crimes. An internalization of full responsibility for their future, including the determination to overcome the many obstacles they will face, seems to be a defining feature of successful desisting ex-offenders. Maruna (2001:88) summarizes the themes of the desisting persons narrative as: an establishment of the core beliefs that characterize the persons true self an optimistic perception (some might say useful illusion) of personal control over ones destiny the desire to be productive and give something back to society, particularly the next generation Moffitt Adolescence-Limited and Life-Course-Persistent Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Taxonomy Moffitts (1993) concept of dual taxonomy of offending similarly tries to explain the processes of desistance and persistence. Moffitt (ibid) outlined that offenders can be grouped into two; adolescent limiteds and life persisters. Moffitt proposes that the two groups are different and unique from each other in their offence and desistance processes, with the life course persisters having a different aetiology to the adolescent limited offenders. It is explained that they may be suffering neurological problems that affects their cognitive and learning skills. This is therefore evidenced by poor social skills even in the family leading to the various forms of anti social behavior and poor self control Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990). Early signs of antisocial behavior are a common characteristic of life course persisters (for example under-age drinking, premarital sex) as a result they are often excommunicated from their initial societal setting because of poor behavior, development and social bonds. Early signs of antisocial behaviors like these are normally a clear indication of a persistent criminal career in the future. This will be in connection to the age graded theory meaning there patterns of crime will be different and theirs will be a continuous cycle of events of affected marriages, work, education and relationships. Moffitt continues to explain that unlike life course persisters, adolescent limited offenders are not affected by any neurological problems and are able to successfully develop their social networks and cognitive skills. Therefore the causal factors for their criminality are connected to the gap between social development, age and desires. Age for example prevents them from engaging in adult behavior like sex or drinking. As a result of deviance from their desires, they tend to associate with the life course persister leading to the growth of their deviance. However, due to their developed social skills and academic success they are likely to be able to change more easily if they choose desistance. This is because they will be able to depend on their strong social bonds for support. Maruna (cited Laub Sampson 2001) explains that finding continuity in the criminality maybe be caused by methodology, by concentrating on dispositional traits to the exclusion of other personality traits. People can be able to change as Laub and Sampson write, even if their characteristic personality traits do not change radically with time. In order to understand desistance , researchers need to explore other aspects of personality such as offender self-perceptions or personal strategies Maruna (cited ibid). Narrative script There are two distinct narrative script types in the desistance literature that highlight how criminals really view themselves and their societal roles. For the persisters their script usually has a concurrent theme of condemnation. More often they blame external conditions like poor family relations and lack of education for their criminality. They generally have an external locus of control. In contrast the offenders who finally become successful in desistance have a redemption script. They are complete opposites of the latter and are fully responsible for their actions. As a result they make a positive choice to stop the crime by accepting rehabilitation programmes. They are described to have an internal locus of control. Factors that influence the particular narrative script that gets adopted by a criminal are majorly internal factors such as personality and genetics especially after rehabilitation. A higher chance of a redemptive script is noted to be as a result of intense rehabilitation. A probation workers relationship with an offender has also been linked to affect desistance. It is there important for these officers to have empathy skills that are crucial in the process of guiding an offender to desistance as they strive to be able to re-integrate back into the society. Relevance of desistance theory The desistance theory is relevant in a number of different applied and academic professions. The desistance theory to researchers may provide a foundation to be able to examine the different factors that contribute to the cessation of a criminal offence from a theoretical view. The desistance theory allows for a number of different crimes in history and their approaches like the Lombrosian biological positivism, to have consideration in the present society which has an evident difference in its ways of thinking. As a result criminology is more understood and its relationship with other disciplines like psychology, politics and social policy acknowledged. This will consequently allow the development of collaboration for a positive cause of reducing re offence rates. The desistance theory on a practical level has assisted the criminal justice system (CJS) to identify possible solutions to cases of reoffending of successful candidates of desistance through for example initiating community based sentences. This kind of programme is sure to gradually decrease the number of criminals in HM Prison Service institutions for short periods. Studies have shown that short-term sentences in prisons for example (those for less than six months) often lead to increased crime rates after release. This is well explained by the fact that these short-term prisoners to not undergo complete metamorphosis from not covering all the rehabilitation programs. Their exposure to the hard core criminals in the prisons who have been there for longer and have been experienced criminals also contributes to their overall change. In addition desistance theory assists in the continuous development of training programmes for the respective professionals responsible for working with ex-offenders in the community. For example the Probation Service (see Narrative script section, above). Controversies It is important for the general public to realize that desistance is achievable and takes time. Offenders should therefore not be viewed as bad people who cannot live with others even after rehabilitation programs. The public is therefore advised not to discriminate these groups of people in their society. Reintegration cases of offenders back into the society have always caused massive outrages by a large percentage of the public community. There are numerous related cases of such circumstances that have often been quite difficult and delicate to handle. For example in 2011, the case of the reintegration of Jason Owen who was initially convicted of playing some part, albeit minimal, in the widely reported death of Baby P (now known to be Peter Connelly) in 2007, and after serving his sentence for causing or allowing the death of Peter he was later released in 2011. The Sun newspaper immediately kicked off a campaign to find him. Readers were urged to write and report to the newspaper of any knowledge of his whereabouts. There was an article in the same newspaper that sent sentiments of outrage over the fact that the ex-convict had actually tried to find a job. This is a clear indication of how the effort of successful psychological research can be nullified by news reports in the popular media. This kind of outrageous reporting is especially a common characteristic of Tabloid newspapers. Their influence over the public is often impressive and they are as a result able to manipulate and affect the attitudes of the wider public towards their view of desistance and offenders. As a result of this, future recidivism is often developed gradually due to the ill-informed public. Newspapers then use this recidivism as proof of their initial correctness. Conclusion

Procter and Gamble Company with consumer goods

Procter and Gamble Company with consumer goods 1.0 INTRODUCTION The Procter Gamble Company (PG) is one of the top makers of consumer goods companies in the world. Among the famous billion dollars brands are Duracell, Oral-B, Gillette, Head Shoulder, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, and Wella. PG has three major categories of products, mainly beauty and grooming, health and well-being, and household care products. The organizations corporate mission is to touch and improve lives of the worlds consumers, now and for generations to come by providing branded products and services of superior quality and value (Procter Gamble 2011). PG has a unique corporate structure that is very different from major market leaders in the world. Its structure is one of the main pillars for its growing capability. PG has combined both the global scale benefit organization with the local focus of each particular country where its products are sold (Procter Gamble 2011). The corporate structure of PG consists of three major parts which are Global Business Units (GBUs), Market Development Organizations (MDOs), and Global Business Services (GBS). The GBUs focus mainly on branding, competitors and consumers. They are responsible for the shareholder returns and profitability of the company. MDOs are to know the consumers and retailers in the markets PG is competing and combine new ideas from GBUs into business plans that work in each country. The GBS in another hand is one of the four major pillars of the organization to support 127000 employees and 300 brands sold. GBS provide over 170 employee and business services including IT, finance, facilities, purchasing and employee services as well as business building solutions (Procter Gamble 2011). PG established five business strategies for its own (Procter Gamble 2011). The first strategy is to develop sustainable innovative products which are environmental friendly. Second strategy is to improve PGs operation to be more environmental friendly. Third strategy is to improve childrens lives via the organizations social responsibility programs. Fourth strategy is to engage and equip the employees of PG to build sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work. Fifth strategy is to work transparently with the stakeholders. PG major business processes focuses on consumer production innovation and brand management. In order to achieve both of these, PG has its own intranet called Innovation Net (INET) to connect different departments ranging from RD, Engineering, Purchasing, Consumer Market knowledge, Patent/Legal and Business Information Systems. With the integration of AskMe Enterprise tools, PG will be able to leverage the information from each department to better monetize it (Realcom 2009). Knowledge workers of PG would be able to share their knowledge and collaborate to solve same problems encountered via INET. PG has strong relationship with Wal-Mart since 1980s because of the business process automation between the two and the collaboration carried out to work together better (Christopher Koch, 2002). PG is establishing efficient relationship between the industry and academia with research universities (Nathan 2011). 2.0 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) INFRASTRUCTURE In year 2003, Procter and Gamble (PG) has signed a 10 years contract, worth $3 billion with Hewlett-Packard (HP) to outsource her overall IT infrastructure. HP will run PGs data centers and information technology infrastructure, and also provide desktop and end-user support, and to oversee network management (Sandeep Junnarkar 2003). 2.1 Computer hardware platform PG has selected Hewlett-Packard (HP) as her IT infrastructure provider. Desktops and end-user support in PGs global operations over 180 countries are provided by HP. HP was selected for its global IT expertise, services quality and cost, and collaborative approach, as most importantly shared a same vision and values with PG, which PG strongly believe this will be able to accelerate innovation in PG (Palo Alto 2003). 2.2 Operating system. PG has started to get involved in high performance computing (HPC) to run simulations in research, design and testing before production since early of 1980s to increase productivity and reduce the production cost of company. However due to wide variety of products, and large number of researchers, product designer and test engineers in PG, the IT organization needs a more user friendly computer cluster. PG also faced difficulties in integrating software from different vendors as no any vendors can offer PG all the software they need in traditional (Microsoft Corporation 2008). In mid 2007, PG replaces its UNIX operating system with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition operating system. PG employed Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to support its high performance technical and scientific applications with parallel processing to improve their performance. Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 not only improved the use of HPC and productivity in PG, but also improved cluster deployment and management by 20% (Microsoft Corporation 2008) 2.3 Enterprise software applications (SAP) PG runs its business using SAP ® software (SAP AG 2009). The key challenge faced by PG is, she has wide range of products and has a very complex sales order process. Emerging as a worlds premier consumer product company, PG puts her customer as priority and would like to give satisfaction to her customers by on-time-delivery (OTD). PG uses community definition groups (CDGs) from the Enterprise Services Community (ES Community) program provided by SAP, which create the sales order cockpit a single monitor that supports the everyday activities related to sales orders (SAP AG 2009). Through CDG and ES Community, productivity of PG improved by integrating functionality that required many scattered transactions into a single cockpit. 2.4 Networking and telecommunications The visionary stance of PG on product innovation and development to be a company that collaborates-inside and out-better than any other company in the world (Cisco Systems, Inc. 2008). Videoconferencing rooms were used for PG teams to collaborate internally and externally, but greater challenges are faced by PG due to unreliable technology which cause poor video and audio quality, and thus prevented effective collaboration. The problem is then solved when GBS work with CISCO to develop a video collaboration strategy based on the TelePresence solution. In mid of 2007, PG has expanded to more 40 Cisco CTS3000 TelePresence studios, also known as Video Collaboration Studios which enable team members in PG exchange idea and even have meetings in minutes (Cisco Systems, Inc. 2008). Through these, team members in PG are able to collaborate innovatively and smarter without travelling anywhere, decisions making are also accelerated. 2.5 Consultants and system integrators PG commits herself to achieve the goals of making the company more efficient while running it cost effectively and to have breakthrough opportunities in innovation by moving toward a digitized and visualized environment. PGs GBS created a network of customized workspace portals (decision cockpits) which stored latest business intelligence which benefits thousands of her employees who can access information to make real-time business decisions. The number of portals grew to 160 over time and had different platforms, technologies which increased the difficulty to manage and costly to maintain. Different user interface of cockpits made it hard for other users when using other cockpits. There were too many legacy reports generated from all these cockpits which slowed down the process of accessing needed information for the executives level. PG needed a new cockpit platform to be standardized and streamlined, provide easy access to a single source of accurate, real-time business information, enhance user experience, reduce the cost and inefficiencies related with cockpit development and maintenance, improve data integrity and the delivery of reports, accommodate web 2.0 features. PG turned to Accenture for help to develop and manage the new cockpit platform. Accenture together with PGs GBS redefined PGs Vision for enterprise information management, standardized and integrated systems for a simpler and faster organization. By this, the cockpits are delivered 5 times faster than before and 35 percent less development cost and 50 percent reusability (Accenture 2010). 2.6 Data management and storage Procter and Gamble selects SAND/DNA for SAP NLS Pilot Project in March 2008. SAND Technology Inc. is an international provider of intelligent enterprise information software. PG emerged as one of the world biggest consumers products company, has wide range of products with approximately135, 000 people in more than 180 countries (Procter Gamble 2011). Too many data to be stored and managed efficiently and cost effectively is the key challenge of PG (SAND 2008). SAND/DNA enables highly efficient data storage, with minimal administration requirement and integration with PG Enterprise Software Applications, SAP. Data stored are easily accessed from SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 (SAND 2008). SAND also provides lower cost data storage over a long term (Yazdi Bagli). 2.7 Internet platform Key challenge in PG in internet platform is reaching out to consumers through digital world. PG sees digital world as an opportunity to reach out their brand to consumers, and build up connections with their consumers (Angelica Mari 2009) Microsoft.NET has interactive features and like touch, gestures, rich UI, and location awareness, enable PG to attract and connect with consumers. Besides being technically impressive, Microsoft.NET is cost effective and efficient development platform (Microsoft 2009). 3.0 CLOUD COMPUTING AND ITS BUSINESS BENEFITS AND COSTS 3.1 Cloud computing and its current trend Cloud refers to the Internet. Cloud computing is a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software. (Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P.,2010). The hardware and software capabilities are provided as a service over the Internet by vendors such as salesforce.com. Through cloud computing, hardware and software are managed by vendors, including installations, configurations, testing, running, security, and updates (Salesforce.com 2011). In traditional way, different types of right software are needed in each and every computer in company to make sure all the staffs are able to carry out their work. The operational cost will be very high due to buying new software and providing license for software. However, this problem can be solved using cloud computing. Users are just required to log in to one application, which allows users to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. This made scaling up and down of software easier. In this way, cloud computing allows a company to increase their capacity or add capabilities on computing without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software (Eric Knorr Galen Gruman, n.d.). Currently in cloud computing, users are able to access to the application as long as an electronic device (i.e. PCs, netbooks, Smartphones) has access to the web. Users are able to keep up their work everywhere and easily. 3.2 Cloud computing solutions Salesforces.com Sales Cloud and Service Cloud are applicable to PG sales team and customer support team. Sales Cloud Enterprise edition with $125 per user a month will be applicable to the entire organization with features such as storing customer contacts, tracking customer interactions, integrating with Google apps, reports and analytics, sales forecasting and many more features which will be benefiting the sales team(Salesforce.com 2011). The Service Cloud Enterprise edition with US$135 per user a month will be able to improve PG customer support whether it is offline or online with web customization and integration. Web 2.0 integrations such as Twitter and Facebook will further enhance the productivity of PGs customer service by interacting with the customers in real time (Salesforce.com 2011). 3.3 B usiness benefits and cost of cloud computing Many organizations have changed their IT infrastructure to cloud computing due to cost and time effective. In cloud computing infrastructure, no hardware or software need to be installed, but all the business activities, includes customer relationship management (CRM), HR, accounting are able to be carried out by opening a browser, log in, customize the app, and start using it (Salesforce.com 2011). Other than that, IT teams will not be wasting their time on installations, maintenances and upgrading their software because all the updates are performed by vendors. Cloud computing enables a fast access to own data from different remote devices and able transfer and sharing file between users rapidly.All the changes made also will be synchronized in PCs and mobile devices (Rivka Tadjer 2010). Other than that, cloud computing allows easy and fast integration of applications, both traditional software and cloud computing infrastructure (Salesforce.com 2011). Thus, all co-workers are able to keep up their works easily. Business activities are not restricted in office workplace, but every worker can access and perform their work with any internet devices they have. Other benefit of cloud computing is we do not face the risk of loss of data as all the data and files are stored in the cloud. Complete disaster recovery is available and data will not lost during upgrades. Customizations and integrations of all the works and data are automatically preserved during an upgrade (Salesforce.com, 2011). By implementing cloud computing infrastructure, less man power needed to manage and update the hardware and software. This allows man power in IT department to focus on strategic activities with greater impact on the business. 4.0 RECOMMENDATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTION It is recommended that PG to adopt the cloud computing for better business process and efficiency. Salesforces.com is recommended for PGs sales and customer service team for the sales order process while HP cloud solution is recommended for the companys IT infrastructure. Below are the reasons of why such recommendations are made. 4.1 Customer and supplier services: integrating SAP into Salesforce.com The sales order cockpit by SAP is important for PG sales order process. The limitation of the current situation is that the sales team and customer service team has to be in office in order to access to the cockpit and the teams have to go back and forth for pulling information from different platforms. By integrating the sales order cockpit into Salesforce.com, PGs employees would be able to access to sales process by SAP, CRM and other sales tracking in one platform at anywhere, anytime as long as they have the internet access. Upon applying such integration, PG will be able to save more on maintaining cost, integration cost, and time to have more productive sales process, better customer satisfaction as the employees are able to see the problems and solve them in the shortest time possible. The sales team is able to save more time in getting information and spending more time with the customers. 4.2 Achieving business strategy One of the business strategy PG has is to improve PGs operation to be more environmental friendly. Adopting cloud computing can help the company to achieve this strategy. It is said that many companies will move to cloud computing to consume 90% of the electricity from public utilizes instead of generating the same amount of their own electricity (Consero Insights 2010). 4.3 IT infrastructure and cost PG outsourced its IT Infrastructure to HP with $3billion over 10 years. HP will manage overall infrastructure in PG from data centers, general network management to desktop and end-user supports. In term of cost, cloud computing   can reduce the cost of IT hardware and services over the time as in cloud computing, payment are based on byte of usage (Cloud Computing IT 2010). Traditional IT Infrastructure is restricted to the limit of licensed user, which will cause inelasticity in scaling up the company (Zemanta 2009). Key component in cloud computing software as a service (SaaS) which enables company access on applications and large amount of computing power without purchasing it. SaaS can be operated by multiple computers at the same time yet no upgrades and contract renewal required ([emailprotected] Carey 2008) 4.4 Information Technology PG realize the importance of digital world, as a medium to touch the life of people. PG also implementing â€Å"cultural revolution† to train and develop IT staff with the skills necessary to blend IT with PGs businesses and provide IT innovation. PGs IT organization play a vital role in shaping the companys future and PG uses IT technology to identify market trends, anticipate business needs and create programs globally (Thomas Hoffman 2006). Key feature in cloud computing which is accessibility, availability and scalability (Tony Chung 2008) enable PG to obtain data to carry out market analysis conveniently. On the other hand, cloud computing is said to be limitless, flexible to scale up and down without affecting its performance and operational cost. 4.5 Competitor Firms IT Services Unilever, one of the strong competitors of PG boost their sales by focusing on the consumers rather than advertising and promotions (Russell Parsons, 2010). Unilever focus on one-to-one basis on respective group to ensure effective approach (Unilever 2011). Unilever partnership with BT to perform high quality and cost effective global network by delivering managed networks and communications solutions to customers around the world (Unilever 2002). 4.6 Competitor Firm: Unilever IT investment Unilever has an annual IT budget at about USD1128 million (Natasha 2010). Unilever invested into its global network which provides advanced messaging and security services in 2002 (Unilever 2002). Unilever also employed Business Objects data integration products by SAP to quickly integrate its numerous data sources to continue its growth strategy to consolidate brands, simplify processes, streamline supply chains, and increase revenues (Business Objects 2008). Compared to Unilever, investment of PG in IT is much lower. However, one good thing in Unilevers IT is Business object, which is able to load data, transform into useful data and load in data warehouse in short time where PG can consider in IT infrastructure. 5.0 CONCLUSION The findings in this report show that cloud computing is beneficial to PG in terms of cost saving, productivity, and efficiency. Salesforce.com SaaS will better help the sales and customer relationship management in PG through real time data anywhere as long as the employees have the internet connection. HP IaaS will be save more money in IT infrastructure as PG only pay for what is being used and will be able to scale up or down according to the usage anytime in future. It is strongly recommended that PG to adopt cloud computing solutions to help the company achieve better results.

Rate of Reaction Experiment - Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Rate of Reaction Experiment - Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid To investigate the effect, of changing the concentration of a reactant, in a chemical reaction on it rate. The equation used for the experiment was: Sodium + Hydrochloric Sulphur + Sulphur + Sodium + water Thiosulphate acid dioxide chloride Na2S2O3 + 2HCl(aq) S(s) + SO(g) + NaCL(aq) + H2O The Collision Theory can explain reaction rates perfectly. A chemical reaction can only occur between particle when they hit or collide at a minimal amount of energy need for them to react this is called the activation energy. The rates of a reaction depends on how hard and often the reacting particles collide. Basically, particles have to collide in order to react 1) They must also collide hard enough to give a reaction. 2) Pressure can also affect reaction rates between gases, an increase in pressure pushes the molecules closer together making them collide more often, which in turn increases the reaction rate. 3) A presence of a Catalyst could affect the result, as it is a substance that alters the rate of the reaction. without itself appearing in the final result. When a solution becomes more concentrated it means there are more particles of reactant knocking between the water molecules, this means collisions between important particles more likely. In a gas, increasing the pressure means the molecules are more squashed together, there will then be lots more collisions. Higher temperature also increases the energy of the collisions, it makes particles move faster. Faster collisions can only b caused by increasing the temperature. enzymeThis is shown in the diagram opposite. The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution and activation energy For a reaction to take place particles have got to collide with energies greater than or equal to the activation energy for the reaction, this can be marked on Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution. I have chosen to investigate the effect concentration has on a reaction. I chose this because it is the easier to prepare and will provide the most accurate set of results. Equipment --------- Hydrochloric acid (5cm3) Sodium thiosulphate Paper with black cross on Conical flasks Goggles Water Pipette Measuring cylinder Method To provide fair accurate results it is important to ensure that the same printed cross is used for each experiment. In this the experiment the amount of Sodium Thiosulphate is varied each time in comparison to the amount of water used, the solution will always add up to 45cm3. There will always be 5cm3 of hydrochloric acid used. The experiment was performed at room temperature as this made the experiment easy to perform, as no heating or cooling devises were necessary.

just war Essay -- essays research papers fc

One of the oldest traditions in religious ethics is that of the just war. The "Just War Theory" specifies under which conditions war is just. Opposition based on the Just War Theory differs from that of pacifists. Oppositionists oppose particular wars but not all war. Their opposition is based on principals of justice rather than principles of pacifism (Becker 926). In the monotheistic religious traditions of Christianity and Islam, one role of God (or Allah) is to limit or control aggressions among humankind. In these religious traditions, God establishes an ideal or standard for the righteous use of force by followers of the faith. These standards, or just war traditions, address details of when to use force to solve disputes, to what extent the force should be employed, and whose blessing is required to insure that the use of force is appropriate in the eyes of God. If a situation satisfies the just war tradition in that culture and the aggression is carried out for religious reasons, the action can be further classified as holy war. Many Americans connect the concept of holy war only with Islam. In fact the Christian crusades during the middle ages were just such a holy war being waged by Christians against Muslims. Whether a particular situation qualifies as a holy war or not, the focus of the just war tradition is to ask God for approval. â€Å"Appeals to ‘holy war’ or ‘religious crusade’ in one or another tradition are one type of appeal to divine authority regarding the use of force.† In recent history numerous conflicts, border skirmishes, battles and wars have arisen in which governments have decided to apply military force to varying degrees. Inevitably, politicians, policy-makers, religious and military leaders seek divine authority on which to base the struggle of their population and the loss of life. Have religious ethical values or theological aspects of the just war tradition influenced the nature of these military actions? Have the prevailing religious values kept military actions any more humane than they might otherwise have been? This paper will examine the theological roots of the just war tradition in the Christian and Islamic cultures. In addition, it will try to ascertain how religious ethics, and the just war tradition in particular, has been used between the †Å"war† on terror and the United States. Finally, this paper will dem... ...; Weigel, George. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Greenhaven Press, 1978. â€Å"Encyclopedia of Islam.† Esposito, John L. New York: International Union of Academies, 1960. â€Å"Exploring the Christian Faith.† Packer, J.I., Osborn, Grant R., Brown, Colin. Nashville, Tennessee: Lion Publishing, 1996. â€Å"Just War and Jihad, Historical and Theoretical Perspectives on War and Peace in Western and Islamic Traditions.† Kelsay, John & Johnson, James Turner. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1991. â€Å"Living Religions.† Glasse, Cyril. Oxford University Press, 1995. Fisher, Mary Pat. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. â€Å"The Christian Theology Reader.† McGrath, Alister E. Malden, Ma & Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. 1995, 2001. â€Å"Pacifism.† Encyclopedia of Ethics. Ed. Becker, Lawrence C. New York & London: Garland Publishing, INC. 1992. â€Å"War and Peace.† Encyclopedia of Ethics. Ed. Becker, Lawrence C. New York & London: Garland Publishing, INC. 1992.

House of Scorpion Essay

Political corruption is one of the significant themes in the novel â€Å"The House of the Scorpion. † Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Everyday political figures and governments who we rely on to protect us betray us. Whether it is by bribery,extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, embezzlement, criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering or human trafficking, political officials or governmental systems we look up to have dabbled in corruption here or there.However, the corrupted governments inside the novel do not differ from our everyday government such as: the American government because both governments inside and outside the novel prevent people from leaving the country, make illegal deals with people and corporations for favours and both have become a country in a state of regression. To begin with, the American government relies on Opium’s border patrol to cease people from leavin g the United States of America because they live off the ever deteriorating population. Similarly, everyday people in the United States are prevented from leaving the country.Per year about 24 million people emmigrate from the USA, and 25% are prevented. However, the reasons why the people are prevented from leaving are not legitimate. The American Government â€Å"enraptures† most people into tax schemes, financial issues etc. that prevent them from leaving the country such as the mandate â€Å"ObamaCare† scheme. The mandate requires you pay up to 10,000 in fees before leaving the country which has caused a great deal of problems including the shutdown of the American Government. Furthermore, in America there were 2 recent laws waiting to be passed and 1 is still being discussed.The first law requires all citizens to have a passport in order to pass the border, even when driving into Mexico or Canada. Obtaining a passport, however, is neither free nor guaranteed. You must apply, pay an exorbitant amount of fees, and wait for weeks for the passport to be verified and returned. The second law that is still pending, states that recently, the State Department quietly proposed a new questionnaire as a part of the of the passport application criteria.The new form requires you to provide things like names,  birthplaces, and birth dates of your extended family members, records of blood tests and also and, where you got vaccines, the address of every place you have ever lived in your entire life, and also, the name and location of every school you have ever attended. Most people would find it impossible to provide such information, yet the form requires that the responses â€Å"are true and correct† under penalty of fines or imprisonment. If this proposal passes, then US citizens will have a nearly insurmountable hurdle to obtain a passport and be able to leave the country at will.Even if it does not pass, it is a clear demonstration of what the people who run the country are thinking. However, preventing people from leaving the country is just looking at the base of the tree. Pursuing this further, as we start to climb up our tree we encounter further resemblance of the American government to it’s counterpart in the novel. In the novel the powerful government officials help the people like El Patron stay in power by strangling most businesses in the market.In the same way the American government officials in our world do many dealings with big people or corporations in return for favours in terms of votes, campaign funding, discounts, or money. For example, in the book by law, clones must be given drugs at birth to stunt their intelligence, making them just a step above vegetables. Matt, avoided this simply because of El Patron's influence on the government similarly leading corporations and people have influence on the government officials by having a sufficient amount of money to bribe the politicians who let the m do bad things and then do it again.For example in 1997 around the time the Pentagon was converting its documents into digitized storage systems, government official Duke Cunningham proposed a document-digitization system which was 20 million dollars. The system was invented by a company called Wilkes, and it was later known that Wilkes had given Duke Cunningham $630 000 in cash, pre-owned Rolls Royce and a $2000 contribution to his daughters graduation party. Further more money laundering has become a significant factor in every American election.Another politician, who took bribes from people and corporations was government official Marcelo Co. To begin with, Co had taken bribes from co-conspirators in order to get his friends elected in his office. As a result Co was elected representative of Moreno Valley every year. Pursuing this further, Co had taken a $2. 36 million from a corporation in return for Co to vote for them on land zoning distributions. In spite of being involved in illegal activities, the most shocking occurrence was when FBI investigators discovered that he was siphoning publicly raised funds to his mother in the Philippines.Together, with Co taking bribes to elect his friends into his office, accepting bribes from corporations, and laundering money to foreigners Marcelo Co is now serving a 20 year sentence in jail. Finally, we reach the top of our tree only to realize all the branches have long been withered. In the book as said by El Patron â€Å"The United States has become the equivalent of a third world country. † America has dropped low in many rankings where it use to be the top competitor due to a government who places attention to a higher degree to weapons development or drug eradication.Thus, other problems such as education, and the welfare of the people are rarely given attention. Our tree has transitioned from a lively and full to a leafless and withered one. It has become much like the tree in the summer with leaves a nd beautiful branches becoming withered and leafless in the winter. In fact, a recent survey on where do Americas best days lies, uncovered that, 75% people think â€Å"Americas best days lie in the past. † These staggering statistics indicate how much America, has deteriorated from its former glory.Furthermore, statistics prove that in most categories America used to be a top competitor prove that America barely reaches the top ten. American participants rank 16th in literacy, 21st in math, and 14th in tech skills beforehand they were at the top of these categories. However, the reasons why the have fallen from these rankings is not because other countries like Japan or Finland advance precipitously, but because America regresses. The reason why America is a underprivileged country is because, it constantly worries about the uncertainty of the future and does not give attention to it’s present.As said by Dalai Lama, a buddhist spiritual leader â€Å"What matters is t o live in the present, live now for every moment in the future. † As a final analysis the American government portrays a bona fide resemblance to its counterpart in the novel â€Å"The House of the Scorpion. † This is due to the American government both inside the novel and outside preventing people from leaving the country, making illegal negotiations with people and corporations and by doing so, has become a country in a state of regression. However, like any other tree it has the potential to change as the seasons go by.

Scope Limitation

ScopeThe scope of the study refers to the parameters under which the study will be operating. The problem you seek to resolve will fit within certain parameters. Think of the scope as the domain of your research—what’s in the domain, and what is not. You need to make it as clear as possible what you will be studying and what factors are within the accepted range of your study. For example, if you are studying the ill effects of bullying on middle school children, the scope could include both face-to-face bullying and cyber-bullying in grades 6 through 8.LimitationsLimitations are matters and occurrences that arise in a study which are out of the researcher's control. They limit the extensity to which a study can go, and sometimes affect the end result and conclusions that can be drawn. Every study, no matter how well it is conducted and constructed, has limitations. This is one of the reasons why we do not use the words â€Å"prove† and â€Å"disprove† wit h respect to research findings. It is always possible that future research may cast doubt on the validity of any hypothesis or conclusion from a study. Your study might have access to only certain people in an organization, certain documents, and certain data. These are limitations. Subsequent studies may overcome these limitations.Limitations of Qualitative StudiesA limitation associated with qualitative study is related to validity and reliability. â€Å"Because qualitative research occurs in the natural setting it is extremely difficult to replicate studies† (Wiersma, 2000, p. 211). When you select certain methodologies and designs, for example phenomenology, they come with limitations over which you may have little control.Limitations of Case StudiesWe cannot make causal inferences from case studies, because we cannot rule out alternative explanations. It is always unclear about the generality of the findings of a case study. A case study involves the behavior of one pers on, group, or organization. The behavior of this one unit of analysis may or may not reflect the behavior of similar entities. Case studies may be suggestive of what may be found in similar organizations, but additional research would be needed to verify whether findings from one study would generalize elsewhere.Limitations of Correlational StudiesCorrelational research merely demonstrates that we can predict the behavior of one variable from the behavior of another variable. If a relationship exists then there is an association between variables. However, two variables can be associated without there being a causal relationship between the variables. If we find that X is associated with Y, it could mean that X caused Y, or Y caused X, or some â€Å"third† (confounding) variable caused both X and Y without there being any causal relationship between X and Y.Correlational research may also have limitations with respect to the generality of the findings. Perhaps the study invol ved a specific group of people, or that the relationship between the variables was only investigated under some situation or circumstance. Thus, it may be uncertain whether the correlational findings will generalize to other people or situations.Limitations of Randomized ExperimentsExperiments involving the random assignment of participants to conditions sometimes allow us to make causal conclusions if the variables that are manipulated are not confounded with other variables. Experiments gain rigor by controlling for influences outside of the variables of interest. However, there still may be limitations with respect to the generality of the findings.The experiment may have involved a specific group of people, certain situations, and only some of the possible conceptualizations of variables. Thus, we may not know whether the findings will generalize to other people, situations, or conceptualizations of the variables. Within  particular bounds, significant findings from an experim ental study may infer a general cause, but the presence of other unmeasured variables can limit that inference.Limitations of Survey InstrumentsSurveys that are distributed with time constraints were noted by Delva, Kirby, Knapper, and Birtwhistle (2002) as problematic in that people who struggle with real or perceived time constraints are less likely to respond to surveys because these possible respondents feel overworked – they just do not have the time to complete the survey. Surveys often also suffer the limitation of forcing respondents into particular response categories, thereby limiting the range of responses. Unlike an interview, where respondents can ask clarifying questions, respondents are usually limited to the text in the survey itself for direction about how to complete it and where to respond.DelimitationsThe delimitations of a study are those characteristics that arise from limitations in the scope of the study (defining the boundaries) and by the conscious e xclusionary and inclusionary decisions made during the development of the study plan. Unlike limitations, which flow from implicit characteristics of method and design, delimitations result from specific choices by the researcher. Among these are the choice of objectives and questions, variables of interest, the choice of theoretical perspectives that were adopted, the paradigm (qualitative/quantitative/mixed), the methodology, the theoretical framework and the choice of participants.The first delimiting step is the choice of problem, implying that there were other, related problems that could have been chosen but were rejected or screened off from view. To elucidate the delimitations of your study review each decision you had to make in putting together your study. In your purpose statement you declare what your study intends to accomplish. In the delimitations section you can repeat this declaration along with a pronouncement of what the study does not intend to cover. In the latt er case, your decisions for excluding certain pursuits are likely based on such  criteria as not directly relevant; too problematic because†¦; not feasible and the like. Make this reasoning as explicit as possible.