Saturday, August 31, 2019

Hlt 205 Policy Interview Analysis

HLT 205 November 14, 2012 Policy Interview and Analysis The medical care delivery component setting that was explored is a health care health center. The guideline associated subjects that I acknowledged at this health center were linked to statements owed attempts. Many of the problems occurred like this: †¢ Imperceptible expenses, for example statements pending in inflated figures. Clarification to problem is detailed billing. †¢ Considerable figures billed for undersized quantity, for example an instrument for measuring temperature. Clarification to problem is to have a personal set. Dual charges should be a requirement in the cost of every appointment, for example latex material applied to inspect an individual. Clarification of problem is to observe that charges were not made. Individuals billed should comprehend the charges. †¢ Equalized charges are physicians pre-arranged by organizations that offer coverage. If an individual is forced to use a physician not in coverage, individual can be billed extra. Clarification of problem is to verify if the physician will accept current coverage provided by insurance company before administration by physician. Expenses more for the not covered are exercises billed to insured in direction of protecting the not covered. Clarification of the problem if individuals are not covered, inquire for reduction of bill for paying by cash. †¢ Billing for aid organization is an income tax itemization for health care centers. Necessity of attending individuals of low income and homeless should be communicated to Medicaid. †¢ Persistently tracking balances due is then a charge not compensated, and the individuals is reassigned to an organization that collects debt.A clarification is to make available a reimbursement plan comfortable for the individual at very small gain. †¢ Billing preparation guiding principles are not consistent and every individual has a different case. Clarification to the problem is to bill every individual the same for every type of procedure as others have received, although problematic disparities persist on every individual. †¢ Guiding principles are not current and efficient. A clarification of the problem is to have an organization that evaluates the guidelines to make sure that no mistakes are made. Re-current variation of personnel is a setback for the reason that employees are not directed for a considerable amount of time to comprehend the demand for payment for the health center. Provided above was a list of policy examples for statement collection of the health center. My brother is a source from this health center and several of his concerns among these statement collections are individual disappointment because the lack of attention that they apply for his or her own health, the lack of attention to report back to the physician of any issues and not properly taking recommended medicine.The problem persists and is directing toward troubles ome health circumstances may escalate the bill for the individual. Health care demand for payment can be an issue, especially for new staff not properly trained; â€Å"mindfulness of proper vocabulary in descriptive detail will allow for enhanced recording† according to Heidelbaugh, Riley, M, & Habetler, (2008); individuals can make errors and not appropriately charge patients the correct amount, electronic collections have helped with the process of billing an individual correctly.References Garcia, Joe M. Email interview, retrieved Monday, November 14,2012 Heidelbaugh, J. J. , Riley, M. , & Habetler, J. M. (2008). 10 billing & coding tips to boost your reimbursement. (Cover story). Journal Of Family Practice, 57(11), 724-730.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Parent’s Role in Children’s Education Essay

COURES CODE: CS 1111, Registration No: 1212129, NAME: TALHASHAKEEL, SECTION: BS/CS1-A ROLE OF PARENTS IN CHILDREN EDUCATION Parents are their children's first teachers. It is from parents that children learn about their culture, values, and language. Parents play a very valuable role in their children's education in and out of the classroom. Because of this reason, parents need to take on the challenge and provide their children the tools they will need in order to be successful in school and life.Education does not only involve acquiring academic qualifications it also    involves learning how to be a productive member of society, it involves how to behave in social settings, it involves learning how to figure everyday problems, and so much more. By talking to their children, parents can help them increase their vocabulary, they help their children in their receptive and expressive language, and they help their children feel empowered. Also, parents that talk with their children b uild lasting positive and strong relationships.A basic role of parents is to provide physical security for their children. Medical attention is one of the components of a physically secure environment. Another role of the parent is to provide intellectually stimulating environments. There are two things parents can do to help their children. The first is to read to their children every day and the second is to expose their children to many different things. Parents can provide great experience for their children. For instance, reading with or to their children is an excellent activity.Reading increases vocabulary, reading at home can help children learn to enjoy reading and increase reading ability. Parents can take trips to museums in order to increase interest and knowledge of children. Parents have a great deal of responsibility. They are their children's first teacher. It is from parents, children can learn their culture, social skills, life skills, and get exposed to many exper iences. Parents must be willing to take on the challenge of exposing their children

Thursday, August 29, 2019

A Response Paper On Christopher Steiner’s

Christopher Steiner’s article entitled ‘Authenticity, Repetition, and the Aesthetics of Seriality’ talks about the ‘mechanical reproduction of art’ at the height of technological improvement and technical production nowadays.He discusses Walter Benjamin’s essay entitled ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ in the issue that: first, mechanical reproduction is not just a new form of technical production but engenders â€Å"an entirely new philosophy of production in which the work of art is emancipated† (Steiner 88); and second, that the mechanical reproduction and consumption of art makes the object more accessible to wider population (88).His argument, therefore, is that â€Å"to justify the authenticity of tourist art one must begin from an entirely different starting point† (89), since tourist art should be viewed as a culturally valid, authentic art.   He argues that mass-produced art carries a n authenticity, which it shares with other mass-produced objects in the industry.What I argue, however, is that mechanical reproduction of art does not carry anymore the authenticity and validity of what a true art should be—that it should be an expression of views, beliefs, and culture of an individual or a number of individuals.   Objects that undergo mass production are merely ‘reproductions’ of the original item.   The true ‘art’ is in its originality.This means that, although the reproduced object is an exact image of the original object, it is merely a mimic and is not an expression of the self.   When it comes to being culturally valid, however, I agree that objects that undergo mass production are, indeed, culturally valid, since it reveals a certain aspect of culture that, though reproduced again and again, still holds the originality and the individuality that the culture and the people reflect.Art is like what a human being is: it is a reflection of culture and society, yet it cannot be an exact replication of the other—for there is none like it.   Mass-produced objects of art contain authenticity and validity in terms of culture art, but not as an individual art.Works CitedSteiner, Christopher.   â€Å"Authenticity, Repetition, and the Aesthetics of Seriality: The Work of Tourist Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.†Ã‚   [name of book].   Ed. [name of editor].   Place: publisher, year.   87-103.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Tourism industry Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tourism industry - Dissertation Example are highly associated with the formation of strategies among the travel and tourism companies regarding the changing demography on travel and tourism industry? 3. What are the assessments of companies regarding the potential impacts of changing demography associated with their strategic formulations within the travel and tourism industry? 3. Literature review The following are preliminary results of survey of related literature. Competitive strategy Competitive strategy is everywhere especially in contemporary society where there is a need to implement strategic moves in order to respond to any significant changes. Like for example, in tourism and travel, organisations under this industry needs to substantially adapt to changes in the environment. According to Porter (1998), the formulation of competitive strategy is associated with understanding the current activity within the corresponding type of business, the actual event happening in the business environment, and the assessment of potential activities that every business should be implementing. In other words, competitive strategy is highly influenced by the actual business environment. Tourism has emerged as one of the fastest developing economic activity across the globe (Fayos-Sola, 1996; Koutsouris & Gaki, 1998). The fundamental objective of tourism has been recreation and relaxation to rejuvenate mind and body. In the changing times, while the basic concept has remained same, the modus operandi and mechanisms of providing customers with unique experience have changed. The changing demographic patterns of society are major elements of change that hugely influence consumer behaviour and have considerable impact on national economy and market imperatives. Awareness and knowledge about demographic trends... Holloway (2002: 205) says that the ‘scope of providing new attractions to feed the insatiable appetite of the tourist is never ending’. With advancing technology and increased income, the age group of 18-35 years is endowed with more buying. Mathieson & Wall, (1989: 39) have defined tourism as ‘total number of persons who travel, or wish to travel, to use tourists’ facilities and services at places away from their places of work and residence’. Tourism was hitherto an occasional family vacation which was self managed. But today the technology has redefined communication and transformed tourism into an industry that customizes experiences of its customers. Thus, lifestyle of GenX is not constrained by money and along with new gizmos, prefers new tourist destination which can satisfy their sense of adventure. Witt & Witt, (1995) propose that understanding consumer behaviour in tourism industry with regard to travel destination, special interest tours etc. have become major factors that must be identified and addressed. In the highly competitive environment, an in-depth analysis provides the industry with necessary information that can be exploited and customized to suit the changing preferences of the masses. The flexibility within the travel plans and the variety across the travel and recreation hugely facilitate in meeting the demands of the segmented market. In the tourism industry, technology plays very important role.

Contrast Mackays Tulip Bulb story with the US housing market of the Essay

Contrast Mackays Tulip Bulb story with the US housing market of the past 45 years - Essay Example The recent credit crunch bothering the US economy in particular and the world economies in general, unleashed by subprime mortgages amply reveals the susceptibility of markets to speculative fads and misinformed human avarice and greed. In the given context, Mackay's 'Tulip Bulb' story published in his book 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds' seems to be highly relevant. Infact the given narrative is a crystal clear example of a debilitating dichotomy between the prices of a coveted asset and the market fundamentals (Garber 14). The story is based in the year 1559, when the tulip bulbs became a priced commodity in Holland. Infact tulip bulbs were widely traded in the local market exchanges and the people went to the extent of stretching their speculative propensities far beyond their means and started investing in the tulips bulbs that sometimes fetched a price as high as 2,000 guilders. This obsessive herd mentality was totally oblivious of the pragmatic market realities and was solely driven by mass instinct (Peers 29). Eventually, in February 1637, the tulip bubble busted and brought the Dutch economy down to its knees. The story being discussed certainly draws one's attention to the housing and real state bubble that dominated the US economy in the last five years.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Organizational behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Organizational behavior - Essay Example This gives the individual participators a sense of personal achievement (Heller, 1999). In addition, competent persons who can perform irrespective of absence of effective leadership can reach higher heights if there is effective leadership to guide and motivate them. Bright ideas, best interest, and sound business knowledge are key ingredients to a successful business, but these are not enough. Effective leadership is required to bring people together with an aim to achieve common goals of the organization (Yourarticlelibrary.com, 2014). Effective leadership is inevitable for making things happen in the consistently changing market dynamics. An organization must invest in effective leadership in order to remain relevant in a business environment with ever changing competition, profile of people joining the organization, legal, political, and social-cultural environment (Stanfielf, 2009). In addition, organizations face challenges that are specific to them. Strategies need to be developed to deal with these challenges. Effective leadership is fundamental in the formulation of appropriate strategies and implementation of these strategies to propel organizations in the right direction. If there are two teams of equal competence, but one team lacks effective leadership, the team with effective leadership will certainly win over the team that lacks effective leadership (Adair, 1983).Effective leadership at all levels of an organization increases the chances of survival of an organization. It also enables to sustain the g rowth of the organization and realization of organization’s full capacity (Fenimore and Nirenberg, 2004) Effective leadership is characterized with empowerment of employees through inclusion in decision-making, enhanced communication and consideration of individual needs and rights of the employees. The subsequent effect of effective leadership is enhanced employees commitment to the

Monday, August 26, 2019

Prudential Insurence Case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Prudential Insurence Case - Assignment Example The company’s tangible resources are financial, human and physical resources. It had in its possession several physical resources that she managed; they include equipment and buildings. The strong financial position of the company ensured that it had very stable financial resources for conducting its duties or operations without substantial problems in terms of shortages of money. This considerably put it in a position of avoiding unnecessary debt financing. Nevertheless, the company also ensured that it maintained a workforce that is highly motivated; which has been a major driving force in ensuring that it achieves its intended goals of service delivery to its clients. Furthermore, the company invested heavily in the development and training of its employees as this is a critical factor in making sure the employees that are fully involved or fully engaged in the service provision deliver work or services of high quality, and those that deal with matters marketing or promotio n make sure that the potential clients are made aware.On the other hand, the intangible resources of the company included, goodwill, intellectual and technical (Hopkin, 2012). The company had for a very long time enjoyed the technical resources that greatly facilitated its goals. Events identified by the management The most critical events that were identified by the management were fraudulent practices on the side of the sales agents. This was reported by the internal auditors of the company in the year 1982. A failure by the management of the company to ensure that consumer protection regulations and laws are enforced was also detailed during the early 1990s by the internal audits of the regional offices and individual divisions. At first, we can say that the management did not take the events seriously, which means that they considered them as opportunities to continue their fraudulent practices until when matters got out of hand as the reputation of the company started going dow n significantly, when they were again seen as risks that called for drastic actions or solutions. Management’s primary risk response The management cannot be commended wholly for identifying the risks that were facing the company as they were revealed but no drastic measures were taken, instead they were viewed as opportunities; this can be said so as it failed to enforced the consumer protection laws and regularities, meaning that there was no goodwill to seal the loopholes. The management did not react immediately when it was realized that there were serious fraudulent activities on the side of the agents, which was turning out to be the biggest undoing or problem of the company. When a report was released by the internal auditors to the board of directors of the company, they continually insisted that the management was aware of the problems and was taking the necessary measures in ensuring that they were solved amicably and completely (Hopkin, 2012). When matters got wors e, the board of directors found it necessary to ensure that there is a change of guard, whereby a new manager in the name of Ryan was brought in to try his part even though he was largely untested. However, when Ryan came in, he deemed it necessary to overhaul some of the company’s structures by first changing the business approach of the company

Sunday, August 25, 2019

The Character of the Female Gender, as Related in The Glass Menagerie Essay

The Character of the Female Gender, as Related in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams - Essay Example The Wingfield's fire escape takes on the symbolism of one of the main themes of the play, escape. Amanda is a brave but dominant woman, trapped in the past and her youth as a Southern Belle. Laura is trapped by her shyness, fragile sensitivity and disability, her 'reality' centering around her glass collection and old records. Tom is a poet, trapped by a boring job in a shoe factory, and the responsibility of providing for his mother and sister. The other themes explored include illusion, failure and disappointment. Nobody really wins, no dreams come true. Summary of Marxist Analysis: Marxist socialism seeks a classless society where everyone is equal, or has equality of opportunity. Tom Wingfield reflects Williams' circumstances, through which he became socially aware, being surrounded by the poor, the low-paid workers, the unemployed, bohemian writers, poets, artists and radical activists. In Glass Menagerie, when setting Scene One for us, describing the location, Williams displays his socialist, Marxist beliefs, or at the least, his sympathy towards that philosophy. He says: Note how he has told us of the class level involved, and the emotive use of the words 'fundamentally enslaved' in connection with the family and its living conditions. In this respect, he is showing us his disgust that people should have to live this way, and subscribing to the Marxist ideal. Again, there is a connection to socialist values when he has Tom pay his dues to the Union of Merchant Seamen, rather than the electric bill - thus highlighting a belief in the unions and socialism, as opposed to capitalism. In speaking about the impending war, Williams puts into the mouth of Tim Wingfield, some further indication of the belief that people are not getting what they are entitled to out of life. Tom: "Hollywood characters are supposed to have all the adventures for everybody in America, while everybody in America sits in a darkened room and watches them have them! Yes, until there's a war. That's when adventure becomes available to the masses!....Then the people in the dark room come out of the dark room to have some adventure themselves-...." (Williams, 1936, Scene Six, p. 282) In using the word 'masses' the playwright makes us recall that this terminology is frequently associated with Marxism. As for coming out of the dark, it is symbolic, not just of Tom waking up to what he is being deprived of, but of all the people seemingly oppressed as he is. There is too, a cynical realization that in having 'adventure', those same masses will suffer. The play exposes, through Tom's narration, how that Capitalist dream has collapsed, it is an illusion. Williams is not unsympathetic, but in Tom's escape, is telling us that everybody deserves the opportunity

Saturday, August 24, 2019

EU Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EU - Case Study Example td justified its actions by pointing to some provisions in the sex discrimination act 1975 that allowed discrimination in regard to employee retirement. By referring to section 6(4) of the act, section 6(2) does not apply to retirement or death. Also, the equal pay act 1970 did not prevent an employer from using discriminatory retirement ages on men and women. Thus, s6 (2) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act 1970 did not help Mrs Duke win her case against her employer. The equal treatment directive states that any discrimination is unlawful. However, it is normally possible for a state to fail in implementing the directive. In such a situation, the claimant has to prove that it was the state’s failure to do what it was required to do. Since the directive had not been implemented by the state, it is acceptable for the state to compensate the claimant. However, for the state to be required to compensate the employee, the employer has to be considered an arm of the state. Since Mrs Duke’s employer was a private employer, her claim will not be allowed. Both the Sex Discrimination Act and Equal Pay Act did not reflect the Equal Treatment Directive simply because the state had failed to implement the directive. As such, individuals would be deprived of some of their rights. This reasoning swayed the court’s opinion hence making them to rule against the appellant by stating that discrimination in relation to retirement was allowed. Lord Templeman relied on the Von Colson Case to make judgement on the case that lay before him. He argued that the Von Colson Case did not enable the German court to invent a law of adequate compensation when such law does not exist. Also, the case is no authority in the proposition that a member state court should distort a domestic statute’s meaning to achieve or conform with community law. Therefore, lord Templeman stated that it was unfair to GEC Reliance Ltd distort the meaning of the sex discrimination act

Friday, August 23, 2019

Paintings in art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Paintings in art history - Essay Example Fifteenth-century artist Sandro Botticelli is noted for his lyrical, flowing style, often decorative and showing a certain elegance. The Florentine Renaissance became a cult of beauty, love and gratification of the senses, and Botticelli in both The Birth of Venus and Spring (Primavera) reflected this delicate and romantic Renaissance style, with Venus rising from the sea on an open shell, unclothed but demure, and later clothed at her coronation. Because these two paintings are different sizes, it was thought they did not belong together, but further analysis shows enough similarities to make them a set (â€Å"Analysis;† â€Å"Allegory†) At a time in Italian history when Florentine artists were enamored of mythology, Botticelli captured the essence of the myth. The elements in any composition are line, shape, color, pattern, value, form, texture, space. Those specifically attributed to the Sistine Chapel are 1) lines – direction of lines leads eye to specific ar ea of painting; 2) shape – height and width of shape creates an illusion on the ceiling panels; 3) space – the relationship of positive and negative space affects impact and unity; 4) color – bright, dark, intense—implies texture through color, line, shading, repetition and pattern. Michelangelo began painting the Sistine Chapel in 1508 and completed it in 1512, almost single-handedly. The four main elements that define the vaulted ceiling of the Chapel are, as noted, line, shape, color, and pattern. The ceiling is painted in panels, with circles., squares, and triangles framing the different panels. Colors, bright and dark, lead the eye to the focus in each panel. The technique is fresco. There are nine central panels illustrating and interpreting stories from Genesis in a specific pattern ("Michelangelo"). Albrecht Drer Albrecht Drer was a painter and engraver who was best known for his woodcuts and prints. His etching work was meticulous with special focus on color in his paintings. He was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci's studies of the human figure and applied Leonardo's proportions to his own figures. Finished form and richness of conception, as well as perspective and proportion are characteristics of his work along with color and energy (Ponich). Rembrandt Rembrandt van Rijin is noted for his transfiguration of experience into art. It is his inner emotions as represented in his art that makes him unique. He was highly influenced by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titan in their depiction of the human form, but he is a multi-faceted artist, excelling as a painter and an inspired graphic artist and etcher. He painted, drew and etched portraits, landscapes, figures, and animals, but above all scenes of biblical and secular history and mythology. Although also known for his self-portraits, his most famous works show his ability to expand his subject matter. One of his best known paintings is called "Night Watch" although it has since been found to be a daytime scene. His art symbolizes a whole period of art history rightfully known as "Holland's Golden Age" ("Rembrandt"). Romanticism Romanticism (1800-1850) unlike its opposite, classicism, has a storytelling, epic quality that extends to music, painting, and literature. Richard Wagner's music evokes feelings of power and dread, with its emphasis on emotion and great freedom of form. It was his aim to offer a complete synthesis of the arts in his music. According to Alfred Einstein in "Music in the Romantic Era, A History of Musical Thought in the 19th Century (New York, 1947), "[Wagner] was the first to

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Toyota Goes Green Essay Example for Free

Toyota Goes Green Essay With the high costs of fuel and the environment dwindling. Companies have started going green to help reduce cost and find alternative to the natural burdens of the economy by using eco friendly services and products. Car companies like Toyota have gone green to look for another alternative to rising fuel prices and better gas mileage. With their introduction of the Prius, Toyota has become the world’s leading car manufacturer. The Prius also helps out by being environmentally friendly. Hybrid cars like the Prius are designed with an electric motor that is mixed with a gasoline engine that lets drivers get above average gas mileage. â€Å"Existing models get 47 to 60 miles per gallon, depending on where youre driving. Toyota claims you can drive its 2004 Prius from Detroit to Washington on a single tank of gas â€Å"(U. S. A Today, 2007) Toyota has not only made cars to prove that they are going green but they also incorporate ways to save money and save the environment. In an article in the Times magazine it states â€Å"What matters more than one car model,† says the article, â€Å"is the efficiency Toyota brings to all aspects of its business a corporate philosophy that strives to exterminate waste†. Toyota can use a single production line to make several car types, which means it has cut energy use by 30 per cent since 2000. †(Times, Jan 11) Toyota has made a huge financial impact by choosing to design and sell economic friendly products. â€Å"In Toyotas case, green also refers to the color of cash; this month the carmaker announced that between December, 1997, and May, 2007, it sold more than 1 million hybrid cars worldwide. †(Janna, R) The auto industry has made a major impact by producing these hybrids. Toyota is not the only maker of hybrids like the Prius. Honda started the craze by being the first car company to produce the Hybrid vehicle which was called the Honda Insight. The Honda Insight was introduced in 1999 and provided lower gas emissions. Soon Toyota caught on to the craze of hybrid vehicles by making the Prius, the Highlander, and now even the new Camry is a hybrid car. Other car companies like Ford and General Motors have noticed the financial impact and are said to roll out new hybrid vehicles with in the next three years. The environment has been effected tremendously by companies going green. Like the car companies that have gone green other companies have also gone green by trying to find other alternatives for rising fuel costs. It is not only the rising prices of fuel for cars that the economy is focusing on. Energy companies have also joined the cause to go green and fight the rising cost of fuel for electricity. Energy companies are trying to save money while expanding their markets by using less fossil fuel and making products and services that are more economically friendly. â€Å"With energy prices trending higher, the threat to the bottom line continues to grow. That’s made the motivation for conserving fuel more compelling. Some 65 percent of U. S. companies think that escalating energy prices pose a potential roadblock to their companys growth over the next 12 months, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the fourth quarter of 2005. †(MSNBC, 2007) Other companies such as Cargill which is in the global food processing business have started to use their waste into new energy. Using meat scraps they have been able to develop a methane gas that has allowed the company to save money by replacing the high cost of natural gas. Electricity companies have started to use alternatives such as ethanol and wind energy to power the world’s energy. â€Å"U. S. ethanol production hit nearly 4 billion gallons last year, according to the U. S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 100 ethanol plants are in operation, another 33 are under construction and nine are being expanded, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. â€Å"(MSNBC, 2007) â€Å"Wind energy is also getting a lift. Though it makes up just a half a percent of U. S. energy consumption, its the fastest growing sources of renewable energy in terms of usage and capacity. One big reason is the dramatic cost per kilowatt of producing electricity with wind making it much more competitive with fossil fuels. †(MSNBC, 2007). I can not make any recommendations on what should have been done since I think the rising new technology and the eco friendly products and services are helping cut costs while helping the World clean up the environment. I look forward to the new innovation since these costs are sky rocketing every day. I can only hope that average people like us get the much deserved break that we need. (2007) â€Å"Companies going green with energy alternatives â€Å"Retrieved on November 27, 2007, from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/12040418/ (2007). Times Magazine Jan 11†Going green is natural for some† Retrieved on November 28, 2007, from http://www.timesonline. co. uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/graduate_management/article1291095. ece U. S. A. Today, Block, S Your Money (2007)†Going green with car can save you some green at tax time† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www. usatoday. com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2004-01-13-ym_x. htm Reena, J (2007) â€Å"The business benefits of going green† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www. businessweek. com/innovate/content/jun2007/id20070622_491833. htm? chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_green+design.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Are Cell Phones Good for Health Essay Example for Free

Are Cell Phones Good for Health Essay Talking on a cellular phone or living near to a cell site does not cause cancer, according to a report by the Royal Society of Canada. The society looked at GSM networks, mobile phones, cell site antennas and roof top aerials, on behalf of Health Canada. They did, however say that the existing safety limits for maintenance staff working on the cell sites, and should be revised to take into account possible damage to the eyes, due to the unique physiological make up of the eye. Upgrade handsets: If you are using too old handset, upgrade it to some recent handset which has released in last 1-2 years. Recent handsets use low power and take care of reflections to save battery as well as high radiations. Use standard handsets: Some cheap mobiles do not maintain standards. Always use handsets from branded companies. Cheap phones can be harmful to life. Use Bluetooth: Use Bluetooth headset/hands free to talk on phone. Bluetooth operates on low frequency. You can put the phone in back pocket. Use PC software: SMS chatting is most common in youngsters. Most of brands provide PC connectivity software’s; some 3rd party tools are also available. Connect cell phone to PC through Bluetooth, keep mobile at a distance and enjoy SMS. Use Flight Mode: Switching off and on mobile might be tedious when it’s not in use. Use flight mode profile of phone to deactivate radio signals, it will perform same operation as switch off but keeping other functions on. Avoid Mobile Internet: Get a wired internet connection for PC to use at home. Avoid using mobile internet connections (GPRS and 3G based). You will always find a cheaper wired internet option in this competitive market.

Significance of Security Testing

Significance of Security Testing Premalatha Sampath Abstract Software security testing is an essential means which helps to assure that the software is trustworthy and secure. It is an idea which has been brought from engineering software to check whether it keeps on working properly under malicious outbreaks. Software security testing process is lengthy, complex and costly. It is because several types of bugs are escaped in testing on a routine basis. The application might perform some additional, unspecified task in the process while effectively behaving as indicated by the requirements. Thus, to build secure software as well as meet budget and time constraints it is essential to emphasis testing effort in areas that have a larger number of security vulnerabilities. Therefore, vulnerabilities are classified and various taxonomies have been created by computer security researchers. Along with the taxonomies, there are also various methods and techniques which helps to test the commonly appearing test issues in software. These techniques gener ally include generic tools, fuzzing, checklists of unpredictable depth and quality, vulnerability scanners, hacking or hiring hackers etc. This study focuses on the introduction, importance, vulnerabilities, approaches and methods of security testing. Articles related to these components were chosen. They were then evaluated on the basis of security testing approaches. Furthermore, the study explores the flaws and vulnerabilities of security testing and figures out the importance of security testing. Moreover, the research also highlights various methods and techniques of security testing. In the end, compiling all the articles research questions like what is the importance of security testing and what are the approaches to security testing are answered. Introduction Security is one of the many aspects of software quality. Software turns out to be more complicated, with the wide utilization of computer which likewise increase software security problems. Software security is the ability of software to provide required function when it is attacked as defined by the authors (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010). There are few common types of security testing such as vulnerability assessments, penetration tests, runtime testing and code review. New vulnerabilities are being discovered with the coming of internet age. They are existing because of many reasons: poor development practices, ignoring security policies during design, incorrect configurations, improper initialization, inadequate testing due to deadlines imposed by financial and marketing needs etc. (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008). The significance of security in the life cycle from network security, to system security and application security is currently recognized by the companies and organizations asa coordinated end-to-end procedure stated by (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016). Therefore, in systems to discover which types of vulnerabilities are dominant, security vulnerabilities are categorized so as to focus the type of testing that would be needed to find them. On the basis of these classifications, various taxonomies are developed by computer security researchers. According to the author (AL-Ghamdi, 2013), at the requirements level security should be explicit and must cover both overt functional security and emergent individualities. One great approach to cover that is using abuse cases which portrays the systems behaviors under attack. Two strategies that must be incorporated by security testing are : testing security functionality using standard functional testing techniques and risk based security testing based on attack patterns and threat models. There are normally two categories of vulnerabilities: bugs at the execution level and flaws at the design level (Tondel, Jaatun Meland, 2008). The research done in this article evaluates the security testing approaches and the methods in order to detect the flaws and vulnerabilities of security in the software. All this approaches and methods of security testing will help to make the software more secure, flawless and bug-free. Thus, the goal of this study is to find out the significance of security testing in todays fastest growing internet age and to introduce developers with an esteemed importance of systems security. The literature review is divided into 4 sections. The first section gives the overview of security testing. The next sections answer the research questions like what is the importance of security testing and what are the various approaches to security testing. Literature Review Importance of Security Testing In contrast with simple software testing process, providing security to a system is exceptionally unpredictable. This is because simple software testing only shows the presence of errors but fails to show the absence of certain types of errors which is ultimately achieved by security testing. As per the author (Khatri, 2014), there are two essential things which should be checked by the system: First, validity of implemented security measures. Second, systems behavior when it is attacked by attackers. The loopholes or vulnerabilities in system may cause failure of security functions of system eventually leading to great losses to organization. So, it is extremely fundamental to incorporate testing approaches for data protection. Security Vulnerabilities There are certain types of errors which are termed as security vulnerabilities, flaws or exploits. The authors (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010) states that there are certain flaws present in system design, implementation, operation, management which are referred as vulnerabilities. As per (Tà ¼rpe, 2008), in order to target testing it is important to understand the roots of vulnerabilities and these vulnerabilities vary from system to system. These exploits are broadly categorized on their similarities by (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008) as follows: Environment variables: Information that does not change across executions of a program is encapsulated by such variables. Buffer Overflows: A memory stack is overflowed which leads the program to execute the data after the last address in the stack, generally an attacker gets the full control of the system when an executable program builds a root or command line shell. Operational Misuse: Operating a system in a non-secure mode. Data as Instructions or Script Injections: due to improper input checking, scripting languages include information with executable code which is then executed by the system. Default Settings: If default software settings require user intervention to secure them they may encounter a risk. Programmer Backdoors: The developers of the software leave the unauthorized access paths for easy access. Numeric Overflows:Giving a lesser or greater value than estimated. Race Conditions:Sending a string of data before another is executed. Network Exposures: It is assumed that when messages are sent to a server adequately, clients will check that. Information Exposure: Sensitive information is exposed to unauthorized users which can be used to compromise data or systems. Possible Attacks According to the authors (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008), (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016) and (AL-Ghamdi, 2013), secure software should achieve security requirements such as reliability, resiliency, and recoverability. Then they describe various possible attacks such as: Information Disclosure Attacks: To disclose sensitive or useful data, applications can often be forced. Attacks in this class include directory indexing attacks, path traversal attacks and determination of whether the application resources are allocated from a conventional and accessible location. System Dependency Attacks: By observing the environment of use of the targeted application, vital system resources can be recognized. Attacks of this type include LDAP injection, OS commanding, SQL injection, SSI injection, format strings, large strings, command injection, escape characters, and special/problematic character sets. Authentication/Authorization Attacks: These attacks includes both dictionary attacks and common account/password strings and credentials, exploiting key materials in memory and at component boundaries , insufficient and poorly implemented protection and recovery of passwords. Logic/Implementation (business model) Attacks: For an attacker, the hardest attacks to apply are often the most gainful. These include checking for faulty process validation, broadcast temporary files for sensitive information, attempts to mall-treatment internal functionality to uncover secrets and cause insecure behavior and testing the applications ability to be remote-controlled. Approaches to Security Testing According to the author (Khatri, 2014), approach to security testing involves determining who should do it and what activities they should undertake. Who: This is because there are two approaches which security testing implicates 1) Functional security testing and 2) Risk-based security testing. Risk-based security testing gets challenging for traditional staff to perform because it is more for expertise and experience people. How: There are several testing methods however the issue with each method is the lack of it because most of organizations devote very little time in understanding the non-functional security risks instead it concentrates on features. The two approaches functional and risk-based are defined by the authors (Tà ¸ndel, Jaatun Jensen, 2008) as follows: Functional security testing: On the basis of requirements, this technique will determine whether security mechanisms, such as cryptography settings and access control are executed and configured or not. Adversarial security testing: This technique is based on risk-based security testing and determines whether the software contains vulnerabilities by pretending an attackers approach. Methods and Techniques of Security Testing by (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010), (AL-Ghamdi, 2013) and (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016). Formal security testing To build a mathematical model of the software and to provide software form specification supported by some formal specification language is the basic idea of formal method. Model-based security testing A model by the behavior and structure of software is constructed by model-based testing and then from this test model, test cases are derived. Fault injection based security testing This testing emphasizes on the interaction points of application and environment, including user input, file system, network interface, and environment variable. Fuzzy testing To discover security vulnerability which gets more and more attention, fuzzy testing is effective. To test program, it would inject random data and evaluate whether it can run normally under the clutter input. Vulnerability scanning testing To find software security risks, vulnerability testing is used which includes testing space scanning and known defects scanning. Property based testing By using program slicing technology, this method will extract the code relative to specific property and find infringement of the code against security property specification. White box-based security testing One of common white-box based testing method is static analysis which is great at finding security bug, such as buffer overflow. It includes main features like deducing, data flow analysis and constraint analysis. Risk-based security testing To find high-risk security vulnerabilities as early as possible, risk-based security testing combines the risk analysis, security testing with software development lifecycle. Discussion There are some type of security vulnerabilities which are more serious or are more common than others, therefore classification and rankings of vulnerabilities can be utilized to focus testing. Today, attacks such as Cross-Site Scripting and SQL injection are very common and new vulnerabilities are still being discovered. Basically, security testing can be divided into security vulnerability testing and security functional testing. To ensure whether software security functions are implemented correctly and consistent with security requirements, security functional testing is used. Whereas to discover security vulnerabilities as an attacker, security vulnerability testing is used. Risk-based security testing is useful when a complex system requires numerous tests for adequate coverage in limited time. Recommendation To build a secure system, security testing is used however it has been overlooked for a long time. Protection and security have been given prime significance in todays world, therefore in programming applications, it is highly recommended to look forward for information and operations security which demands critical consideration but it is rather ignored. There is still nothing like 100% security. The old way of doing things and traditional methods must change and new methods should be applied in practice if one wants to ship secure code with confidence. Conclusion The literature review was done taking 8 articles addressing the topic Significance of Security Testing. This report analyses the definition, classification, importance and approaches to software security testing. Classification of vulnerabilities and flaws were identified and what could be the reason behind occurrence of these vulnerabilities were discussed. The study also highlighted the various approaches like the functional and risk-based security testing and various methods in detail to tackle the flaws and errors detected in the system. These methods and techniques helps the system in various aspects like to advance the capability to produce protected and safe software, more cost-effective management of vulnerabilities and measure progress. Though, these approaches and classification makes software secure to a major extent but still security testing has a long way to go. References AL-Ghamdi, A. S. A. M. (2013, April). A Survey on Software Security Testing Techniques. Felderer, M., Bà ¼chler, M., Johns, M., Brucker, A. D., Breu, R., Pretschner, A. (2016). Chapter One-Security Testing: A Survey. Advances in Computers, 101, 1-51. Khatri, M. (2014). Motivation For Security Testing. Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 5(6), 26-32. Preuveneers, D., Berbers, Y., Bhatti, G. (2008, December). Best practices for software security: An overview. In Multitopic Conference, 2008. INMIC 2008. IEEE International (pp. 169-173). IEEE. Tian-yang, G., Yin-Sheng, S., You-yuan, F. (2010). Research on software security testing. World Academy of science, engineering and Technology, 70, 647-651. Tà ¸ndel, I. A., Jaatun, M. G., Jensen, J. (2008, April). Learning from software security testing. In Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, 2008. ICSTW08. IEEE International Conference on (pp. 286-294). IEEE. Tondel, I. A., Jaatun, M. G., Meland, P. H. (2008). Security requirements for the rest of us: A survey. IEEE software, 25(1). Tà ¼rpe, S. (2008, April). Security testing: Turning practice into theory. In Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, 2008. ICSTW08. IEEE International Conference on (pp. 294-302). IEEE. Appendix A Articles Concepts Requirements for Security Testing Vulnerabilities (Exploits, bugs, flaws) Possible Attacks on Software Approaches Techniques or Methods Functional Risk-based Best Practices for Software Security: An Overview (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Motivation For Security Testing (Khatri, 2014) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security Testing: A Survey (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  A Survey on Software Security Testing Techniques (AL-Ghamdi, 2013) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security Requirements for the Rest of Us: A Survey (Tondel, Jaatun Meland, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Research on software security testing (Tian-yang, Yin-Sheng You-yuan, 2010) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Learning from software security testing (Tà ¸ndel, Jaatun Jensen, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security testing: Turning practice into theory (Tà ¼rpe, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Figure 1: Concept Matrix of the study of Significance of Security Testing

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Great Controversy according to Young Goodman Brown :: Free Essay Writer

In our own Christian struggles, people tend to believe that it is simple as good evil. People don't realize however that in this fight, the Devil can infiltrate a seemingly normal, Christian Human Being, but it's true. Better yet, in our own walk with God the Devil lurks near to test what might look like a strong relationship with Christ. As shown in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," even a grounded, sincere Christian can have his or her faith tested. Hawthorne's story refers to Brown's travel companion as 'the serpent,'; and though the story is allegory based the story itself raises an age old battle that is being fought to this day, the great controversy. The Great Controversy as it is formally known as, is the fight between good and evil…Michael and Lucifer. On the issue at hand Ellen White says 'The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man's behalf and to fasten souls in his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence till the Saviour's mediation is ended, and there is no longer a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish.'; Within this fight, man, sinful in nature is in the middle of it. According to the Story Young Goodman Brown, Brown left faith or his faith to walk with the serpent, or the devil. He was so deep-rooted in his faith but disregarded it to walk with the devil. All throughout the walk the devil tried to test his faith by showing him harsh realities and telling Young Goodman Brown about his past and the negatives about his family's heritage. That is just one of the traps of the devil, more so the one of the greatest tests of faith can be the existence of evil spirits. Ellen White says in her book The Great Controversy, 'There is a growing tendency to disbelief in the existence of evil spirits, while the holy angels that "minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Hebrews 1:14) are regarded by many as spirits of the dead. But the Scriptures not only teach the existence of angels, both good and evil, but present unquestionable proof that these are not disembodied spirits of dead men.';(White 111) In the story the devil used his evil minions to deceive Young Goodman Brown and to make it appear that the people that appear to be good and upstanding Christians aren't.

Monday, August 19, 2019

A Lustful Seduction in To His Coy Mistress :: essays research papers

Seduction most commonly refers to the use of sexual desire in order to persuade an object of affection to change their behavior and meet the desire of their seducer. Andrew Marvell’s ever so passionate poem, â€Å"To His Coy Mistress†, entirely implies the motive to bed a young lady (531). The question raised however, is just what is the attitude of the speaker towards his mistress? Is he acting out of love or lust? And who indeed is the narrator? Could it possibly be Andrew Marvell or an imaginary character that readers can be swept away into the magical enchantment of his lyrical poetry? The foremost indication as to who the narrator may be is in the title. The title is: To Coy His Mistress, not: To Coy My Mistress. For in that case, the word â€Å"my† in the title would portray that Marvell was writing a personal piece, and as it is known, it is not. Perhaps it was Marvell’s intent to satisfy readers by creating an immortal imaginary lover as the protagonist. Therefore, allowing readers to be in awe of his magnificent language and take pleasure in the intentions behind it (531). But just what are those intentions? Is this dominant male’s intention toward the mistress out of love or lust? What the narrator does clearly portray to the audience is that this is a straight forward poem. The male says that, if immortal, he would with pleasure spend all the time on heavens and earth wooing his mistress. But, time is not immortal and nor are they, that he suggest she willingly give herself to him and fulfill his seize the day urgency (531). Using clever literary devices and enchanting imagery the scene is set for him to go forth with his seduction. The persuasive seduction begins in the narrators high remarks of his mistress, An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast, Bust thirty thousand to the rest. An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. (13-18) Such a whimsically beautiful description, could only be written out of love, correct? If he loved her for all of her entirety why would he write the following stanza? For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. (19-20) It is here that it can begin to be questioned if he truly means all he declares? If he speaks so highly of his mistress why would he not love her at any lower rate and love her for all that she is? A Lustful Seduction in To His Coy Mistress :: essays research papers Seduction most commonly refers to the use of sexual desire in order to persuade an object of affection to change their behavior and meet the desire of their seducer. Andrew Marvell’s ever so passionate poem, â€Å"To His Coy Mistress†, entirely implies the motive to bed a young lady (531). The question raised however, is just what is the attitude of the speaker towards his mistress? Is he acting out of love or lust? And who indeed is the narrator? Could it possibly be Andrew Marvell or an imaginary character that readers can be swept away into the magical enchantment of his lyrical poetry? The foremost indication as to who the narrator may be is in the title. The title is: To Coy His Mistress, not: To Coy My Mistress. For in that case, the word â€Å"my† in the title would portray that Marvell was writing a personal piece, and as it is known, it is not. Perhaps it was Marvell’s intent to satisfy readers by creating an immortal imaginary lover as the protagonist. Therefore, allowing readers to be in awe of his magnificent language and take pleasure in the intentions behind it (531). But just what are those intentions? Is this dominant male’s intention toward the mistress out of love or lust? What the narrator does clearly portray to the audience is that this is a straight forward poem. The male says that, if immortal, he would with pleasure spend all the time on heavens and earth wooing his mistress. But, time is not immortal and nor are they, that he suggest she willingly give herself to him and fulfill his seize the day urgency (531). Using clever literary devices and enchanting imagery the scene is set for him to go forth with his seduction. The persuasive seduction begins in the narrators high remarks of his mistress, An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast, Bust thirty thousand to the rest. An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. (13-18) Such a whimsically beautiful description, could only be written out of love, correct? If he loved her for all of her entirety why would he write the following stanza? For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. (19-20) It is here that it can begin to be questioned if he truly means all he declares? If he speaks so highly of his mistress why would he not love her at any lower rate and love her for all that she is?

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Two Empires In Japan :: English Literature Essays

Two Empires In Japan Two Empires In Japan by John M.L. Young and The Christian Confrontation with Shinto Nationalism by Kun Sam Lee were the two books I used for this topic. The former, an intimate 100 year chronicle of the persecution by the Asian government with their demands that all people bow in Kyujo-yohai, ( worshipping the Imperial House from afar); and the struggle of the Japanese Christians in times of compromise and triumph under such totalitarian pressure. The latter a more detailed historical account of old Shinto and the earliest Christian missionaries. The following essay will focus on the conflicting ideologies within Japan between the Shinto militarists and the Protestant mission effort from it ¹s germination in 1859 until 1957. Dr. Young cites the entrance of Christianity into Japan at 1542 when a ferocious storm found two Portuguese sailors shipwrecked on the southern island of Tanegashima. The Japanese accepted the Romish syncretism of the gospel, but were more interested in the goods and technology that came with later Roman Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1549. The priests ¹ attempts at proselytization were not very difficult; the spirit in which their efforts were received is aptly demonstrated :  ³The images of Buddha, with slight application of the chisel, served as images for Christ. Each Buddhist saint found his counterpart in Roman Christianity; and the road- side shrines of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, were rededi- cated to Mary. Temples, altars, bells, holy water vessels, censers, and rosaries were all ready and could be easily adapted to the needs of the new religion. ( Young, pp. 12 ) Oda Noyabunga welcomed the Roman missionaries, for he needed their advanced weaponry to successfully defeat the Ashikaga Shogunate. Shortly after his victory, Noyabunga was assassinated and all priests were driven out of Japan in 1587 vis a vie a decree from Hideyoshi the Great. Sadly, Japan went more than 400 years without the influence of true religion in the entire land. Until the arrival of two Presbyterian missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Hepburn in 1859. As the new missionaries became established they began starting mission schools for the children in which could become trained in the way of the gospel. However, after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 ( which consisted of the demotion of 270 Daimyo and over 2 million samurai giving up thier sword and status ), the indigenous religion of Japan, Shintoism, took a revitalized grip on the masses.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Who or What Is Responsible for the Downfall of Macbeth

â€Å"Who or what is responsible for the downfall of Macbeth† â€Å"For brave Macbeth–well he deserves that name– Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,And fix'd his head upon our battlements. † – Act 1 scene II â€Å"The tragedy of Macbeth† is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays about a man who murders his king and continues to commit other acts of villainy to secure his position of power.The broad spectrum for the downfall of Macbeth would include the three witches, Lady Macbeth and who else but Macbeth himself. For it is his own ambitious nature, insecurity and fear that drives him into creating his own ruination. Our first impression of the character Macbeth is through the words of others, the wounded sergeant wh o praises him for his valor. This is followed by Duncan’s words of praise as he refers to him as â€Å"O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! †.However these heroic accolades do not seem to last long as our perception of his character is tainted after his meeting with the witches. Macbeth is shown to be entranced by the prophecies made by the witches and moves through a dreamlike state and seems to be â€Å"possessed† or in a trance (whether it being literal or simply an act of his own doubts this is debatable). Some may see Macbeth simply as a puppet being controlled by supernatural forces as he is twice described to be â€Å"rapt† and be quick to blame his downfall on a twisted turn of fate, or inedibility.Though the witches are held responsible for the initial inception of the idea, judging that Macbeth is one of sound mind and body, he should be strong willed enough to be able to resist temptations. In fact his inability to do so, is further echoed in ou r hearts by the comparison between his and Banquo’s reaction. After the second prophecy becomes true, Macbeth’s first thoughts turn to murder. He demonstrates his terror at having these thoughts and â€Å"horrible imaginings† enter his mind, with his heart â€Å"knocking at his ribs†. From this e can gather that Macbeth would have originally possessed the ambitious murderous nature that proceeds to take over, giving the readers a glimpse at his â€Å"darker side†. His earlier thoughts of betrayal can also be seen from his reaction to Duncan naming Malcom his successor. â€Å"Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires: / The eye wink at the hand! yet let that be, /† Macbeth is disappointed in Duncan’s choice and once again thinks about murder to gain kingship, a clear example of how his ambition begins to brew within him.Though Macbeth is ultimately responsible for his own tragedy, Shakespeare paints the role s of women in the play as evil, manipulative and ambitious, even going far enough to push past traditional female virtues to create characters that enrich the plot. Exploring the relationship between gender, masculinity and power, bringing in ideals of bravery, power, violence and force of will. A correlation between manhood and displays of violence and cruelty is also heavily implied by the characters. Throughout the play Lady Macbeth is seen as a frighteningly manipulative woman, as she constantly emasculates her husband.Knowing of his desperation to prove his manliness, she calls him a coward and insults his manliness, Macbeth falls a dumb victim to this manipulation. Many argue that since Shakespeare’s treatment of women is misogynistic, the women of this play must be held responsible as it is heavily implied that women are the cause for the bloody action of this play, however this is not the case. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the heart of the play, as it is only thr ough their ambitious nature which drives the bloody motion in the play forward.However later on in the play, Macbeth is shown to act more willfully, shown by his improvisations on the morning of Duncan’s murder, his decision to murder Banquo and Fleance, his decision to kill Macduff’s wife and child and even acts indifferently to the news of his wife’s death. He begins to gradually isolate himself from his wife, clearly indicating how he has cut all ties with Lady Macbeth as his lust for kingship takes over and consumes him, once again acting upon his own free will.Though a man of unspeakable evil, Macbeth differs from the traditional Shakespearean villain as he is unable to completely conquer his feelings of guilt and self doubt, enabling a much more complex emotional turmoil, displaying the dramatic collapse from what he was to what he became. Throughout the play, Shakespeare brings out the ambivalent personality of Macbeth (this being particularly obvious in the early stages after certain encounters with women) as blind ambition obliterates his earlier attributes as he comes out as a tyrant.His ambitious nature has clearly lead to ill effects upon himself, as he becomes tempted with these ideals and becomes a tyrant. Throughout the play, Macbeth’s dialogue and actions showcase his overwhelming guilt (appearing in physical forms of apparitions and hallucinations). Demonstrating that Macbeth is fully aware of his wrongdoings and understands that his actions are corrupt. Despite the guilt that is driving him insane, Macbeth makes no effort in stopping his wrongdoings. â€Å"All causes shall give way:/ I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, /should I wade no more, /Returning were as tedious as go o'er†/.Bringing out his underlying characteristics within his personality, allowing to readers to understand that his subsequent acts of murder are motivated by his fear and insecurity over loosing his kingship and of the discovery of his crimes. Macbeth demonstrates that he has a conscious and knows his thoughts are immoral and evil, â€Å"My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, / Shakes so my single state of man that function / Is smother’d in surmise; and nothing is / But what is not†. In spite of all of these , Macbeth makes no attempt to repent or reverse his situation and is therefore responsible for his own tragedy.In conclusion, Macbeth himself is responsible for his own downfall for several reasons. Though the witches’ predictions are responsible for initiating his downward spiral, Macbeth was the one who first thought about killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless ambition and manipulative nature influenced his thoughts, however it was Macbeth that allowed his wife to gain so much control over him, allowing her influence and putting power into her hands (though eventually cutting all ties with her and acting out of his own evilness).His ruthless ambition drives him to violence, his insecurities about his masculinity allows him to be manipulated and his lack of courage stops him from trying to reverse or resist his own tragedy. That is why, Macbeth must be solely responsible for his downfall. â€Å"Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And then is heard no more. / It is a tale /Told by an idiot, / full of sound and fury,? Signifying nothing. /† – Act V, scene V

Friday, August 16, 2019

Accidental Death of an Anarchist Essay

Dario Fo’s original play, Accidental Death of an Anarchist has been adapted and transformed an innumerable number of times, to greater or lesser success. Most often, adaptations that involve a modernisation or complete transformation of the play can be seen as less successful as they tend to alter the original so much that the original message and intention of the play is lost. However, often when adapting the play to a modern context, a complete transformation is required to satisfy the requirements of a vastly different audience. Whilst it is difficult for a non-Italian speaker to fully comprehend the message, style and purpose of Fo’s original writing of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, through literal translations and other’s opinions, we can begin to decipher Fo’s original intention in writing such a politically active text. Written in 1970 in response to the â€Å"accidental† death of Pino Pinelli, an anarchic railway worker, in the play Fo writes about real life events in a political framework. His central message undoubtedly revolves around his desire to incite a will to act in his audience. See more: Homelessness as a social problem Essay As asserted by Joseph Farrel in his introduction to Nye’s adaptation of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, â€Å"it was no part of Fo’s scheme to be unduly subtle in his approach or intentions† and, as Fo himself has said, his aim was to provoke â€Å"laughter with anger†. The central message of Fo’s play is indisputably one of political origins, which highlights the utter corruption of the society in which it is based. However, Fo achieves this aim through the mechanism of farce, for, as according to Joseph Farrel, â€Å"Farce seemed to him [Dario Fo] the most effective means of provoking thought†. It is for just this reason that Fo disguised such a serious, â€Å"hard-hitting† message in the guise of farce, for â€Å"farce was a device which prevented ‘catharsis’†, â€Å"one of the worst dangers†. Fo believes that laughter â€Å"serve[s] a purpose, to grab the attention of the audience†. Nevertheless, Fo does not merely want to â€Å"make them [his audience] laugh, but he also wants them to feel indignant about the cover-ups and miscarriages of justice perpetrated by the Italian police force†. In so doing, the central message of the play challenges the authorities while demonstrating that comedy can be at the heart of truth. The style of Fo’s original play rightly fits under the â€Å"noble and modern† genre of farce, as described by Dario Fo himself. Fo models his characters after the medieval giullare and harlequin from Commedia dell’arte. When the play was originally performed, it was modified on a day-by-day basis, as according to the events uncovered during the trial of Pinelli. Thus, the play also included improvisation and was subject to change according to the audience’s reactions. Furthermore, the play usually contained a â€Å"third act† that involved a debate with the audience in which Fo would discuss the affair and encourage audience participation. Fo’s play generally involved an absence of the â€Å"fourth wall† and actors would often communicate with the audience. In Fo’s original, the madman is the character that, according to Farrell, â€Å"destroys all conventions† and â€Å"does not merely cavort and make fun of the baubles the king wears around his neck, but also of his right to wear a crown at all†. The madman â€Å"exists in a dimension of his own†, however is also the â€Å"personification of reason and public morality†. His primary purpose is to expose the utter corruption and, to a certain extent insanity, of the police force. It is ironic that this task is awarded to a madman. While Fo depicts the policemen as â€Å"smiling and largely benign† buffoons, he ensures that their â€Å"sinister† nature and malicious tendencies are not lost. Fo’s original gives the journalist â€Å"a completely straight part†, for, as according to Fo, â€Å"there comes a point when laughter is no longer necessary†. When translating the play, numerous issues arise that, in some cases, prevent the true meaning of it from being conveyed. First and foremost among these issues is the simple fact that, as stated by Brigid Maher in her article entitled The Comic Voice in Translation: Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist, â€Å"the translation of literature is a cultural act as well as a linguistic one†, which leads to the question, â€Å"how can a play be made to work in the target culture while still retaining some of those qualities that make it a part of the source culture? †. It is undeniable that different ultures understand and endorse different things, resulting in the conclusion that, an adaptation is the best means to ensure the play remains relevant when the culture of the target audience is changing. Many adapters struggle in â€Å"finding a means of communicating to a non-Italian audience the information on political events Fo was able to take for granted with his own audiences†, and thus many have produced â€Å"nothing more than a kind of surreal farce†. Adapters also encounter difficulties when attempting to â€Å"accommodate performance traditions as well as accuracy† and â€Å"ensur[ing] that dialogue is speakable as well as faithful to the original†. The key issue in translating the play lies in remaining faithful to the original: a play of massive political impact that lies well and truly in the genre of farce. This aim of the play, to â€Å"provoke laughter with anger† is difficult to replicate, resulting in many translators of the text â€Å"emphasis[ing] the comedy of the play at the expense of the politics†. Simon Nye’s adaptation of the play, created for Methuen Drama in 2003, seemingly remains true to the original text, although the translation appears to entail a loss of â€Å"anarchism† in the changing of the context and political references. This results in the play losing seriousness, to the extent that its potency is diminished. In Michael Billington’s review of Nye’s adaptation of the play, he states that he â€Å"miss[es] the moral anger that should underlie the madcap zaniness† and that the play is â€Å"torn between reverence for the original and the desire to do a radical re-write†. In essence, this translation of the play is exactly that; while it appears to remain true to the original, changing the political context to relate more to post 9/11 fears of terrorism results in the actual concept of anarchism being lost, taking the tragedy of the death of an innocent man along with it. Gavin Richards’ version of the play, written for Belt and Braces Roadshow Company in 1979, while different to Simon Nye’s, still falls short of being a true translation of the original. In the words of Tony Mitchell, Richards’ adaptation â€Å"distorted the original text, cutting it extensively and adding speeches and stage business which often went completely against the grain of Fo’s play†. The satire of the play is diminished and it appears to descend into the realms of â€Å"slapstick† comedy to obtain â€Å"easy† laughs. Brigid Maher elieves that Richards’ version of the play â€Å"presents not so much an interpretation of the text, as a significant rewriting which in large part misrepresents the â€Å"intention of the text†Ã¢â‚¬ . She believes that Richards’ alterations â€Å"significantly alter the ideology of the text† and that it becomes a play that is â€Å"simplistically funny and has less of an edge of social and political criticism†. Richards appears to miss the point of Fo’s play, that is to â€Å"elicit†¦ not only laughter, but also indignation and impetus to action, and never†¦ atharsis†, especially in his conclusion of the play, in which a cathartic feel is undoubtedly interwoven. Both Nye and Richards elected to alter the name of the madman, â€Å"Il Matto† in Italian, to maniac, and in so doing lost some of the potential meaningfulness of the madman’s speeches. Fo originally depicted the madman as â€Å"cunning, scheming, disrespectful towards authority, quick-witted†¦ incisive in his judgements and scornful of official cant and mendacity†, as described by Farrell. He is supposed to be â€Å"the personification of reason and guardian of public morality†. While in Nye’s translation the maniac maintains this â€Å"reason† and â€Å"public morality† by asserting that the anarchist was â€Å"completely innocent†; according to Jane O’Grady in her review of Nye’s play, â€Å"he [the maniac] doesn’t really enjoy himself enough to transport the audience into hilarity†, with â€Å"laughter† being one of the primary aims of the original play. Nevertheless, the madman maintains his didactic demeanour and endlessly offers attacks on authorities, such as when he tells the inspector to â€Å"stop dumping on people†. In Richards’ play the maniac’s speeches and other important dialogues are short and concise, to the extent that major sections appear to be missing. This is evident in the play when the maniac’s speeches in Nye’s translation tend to extend for pages and involve complex discussions about the politics of the time, including anarchism, to the extent that social class segregation is discussed, in the lines â€Å"There’s an old saying: ‘The squire sets his dogs on the peasants. The peasants complain to the king, so the squire kills the dogs and gets off the hook†. Richards’ play completely omits these references, resulting in a play that appears to value slap-stick comedy and â€Å"easy-laughs† above arousing indignation and â€Å"impetus to action† against the utter corruption of the authorities. Furthermore, the language employed by Richards is both vulgar and exceptionally colloquial when compared to Nye’s adaptation. This is evident in many lines, such as when the maniac is describing the positives associated with being a judge. In Richard’s translation, the maniac says, â€Å"Take your lathe operator- touch of the shakes, couple of minor accidents, out to grass. Coal miner, bit of silicosis and he’s fucked at fifty†, whereas in Nye’s translation, the same speech reads, â€Å"Worker on a production line’s past it at fifty- trouble keeping up, making the odd slip-up, out you go! Your miner’s got silicosis by the time he’s forty-five- off he trots, sacked, before he’s entitled to a pension†. Nye’s maniac appears to have greater intelligence than that of Richards’, which is evident simply because he brings up the thought of a â€Å"pension† at all; a concept that Richards entirely omits, along with many other such references. Richard’s version also omits the section in which the maniac transforms himself into a Bishop, condensing the variety of references in the play and thus the play becomes less politicised. According to Tony Mitchell, Richards often â€Å"reduce[s] the characters to caricatures† and uses a â€Å"highly non-naturalistic, agit-prop form of staging†. Richards â€Å"reduce[s] the police characters to almost racist Italian stooges† and seems to miss the point that in the original, â€Å"despite being bumbling, incompetent buffoons, they are always capable of maintaining an aggressive, threatening front†. Richards ensures that the policemen are reduced to these â€Å"bumbling† fools when he makes them â€Å"crawl around† and bestows them lines such as â€Å"oggy, oggy, oggy, oi, oi, oi! †. Nye also has a tendency to portray the policemen as â€Å"smiling and largely benign† buffoons, and in so doing their underlying â€Å"sinister† nature is lost. However, Nye’s major downfall lies in is his characterisation of the journalist, a character that, in the original has â€Å"a completely straight part† for when â€Å"laughter is no longer necessary†. Nye depicts the journalist as a playful, flirty woman who often participates in the comedy. O’Grady describes this as â€Å"ill-thought out† and thus some of the underlying seriousness of the play is lost. Nye strays from the original when he does not attempt to break the â€Å"fourth wall† and no audience participation is encouraged, whereas Richards remains true to the original in frequently breaking the â€Å"fourth wall†. This is seen in his play when Bertozzo addresses the audience by saying, â€Å"I ought to warn you that the author of this sick little play, Dario Fo, has the traditional, irrational hatred of the police common to all narrow-minded left-wingers and so I shall, no doubt, be the unwilling butt of endless anti-authoritarian jibes†. Nevertheless, it is unclear if this is actually an attempt to remain true to Fo or simply a comedic mechanism to obtain â€Å"easy† laughs, the second of the two more likely due to the nature of the statement and that it is in fact insulting Fo. Richards’ play commences with an introduction that describes the background behind the situation, perhaps as an attempt to replicate the background knowledge that audience members would have been in possession of when Fo’s play was originally performed. However it is Nye that undoubtedly has written a play as close to Fo as any modern adaptation could be. This is evident throughout the play, however is most prominent in his choice of ending. Nye concludes with the death of the maniac, and thus that of another innocent man, and a real judge entering to â€Å"reopen the enquiry into the death of the anarchist†. Contrarily, in Richard’s version of the play, he concludes with two alternative endings, one in which the policemen are killed and the other in which the journalist dies. The maniac concludes the play with the line â€Å"whichever way it goes, you see, you’ve got to decide†, and thus a certain cathartic feel is produced. Dario Fo’s original intention in writing Accidental Death of an Anarchist was undoubtedly to provoke not only â€Å"laughter†, but also â€Å"anger†; an â€Å"impetus to action† against the utter corruption and lies surrounding the Italian police force of the late 1960s. His intention, as he has said himself on numerous occasions, was never to provoke â€Å"catharsis†, and it is for this reason that neither Simon Nye’s nor Gavin Richard’s adaptations of the play are particularly successful. Fo’s discontent with these particular adaptations stemmed from their having transformed the entire message of his play. He believed that the moral anger and potency was missing, the laughs were paramount and that the â€Å"painful immediacy† was lost. As Pissani rightly asserted in Richard’s own adaptation of the play, it consists mainly of â€Å"unheard of distortion to the author’s meaning†. Nevertheless, this loss of potency in the plays can, to a certain extent, be attributed to the problems associated with translations. It is difficult for a non-Italian audience that has not been exposed to the political events of Italy in the 1960s to comprehend Fo’s complex referencing. This ensures that alterations must be made by adapters to account for this, and in so doing, much of the original message of the play is lost. Furthermore, in changing the culture of the target audience, expectations and even humour is changed and thus no adaptation of Fo’s original could ever be a true representation of it. It is not just these alterations in references that cause adaptations of the play to be unsuccessful in the society of today. It is also the simple fact that many audiences are not as politically active or affected as Fo’s original audience, and thus a certain complacency is adopted in our culture. This complacency results in the play being not as successful despite updated references, simply because the political events in the play do not resonate as profoundly with a modern audience. Accidental Death of an Anarchist Essay Q) Critically analyze the Figure of Madman in Dario Fo’s play The Accidental Death of an anarchist. A) Dario Fo’s play The Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) lies in the category of revolutionary theatre that challenges the fascist regime of Italy. The play is a farce based on events involving a real person, Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell – or was thrown – from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. He was accused of bombing a bank. The accusation is widely seen as part of the Italian Far Right’s strategy of tension. Just like Fo’s other play, this play is also funny and subversive and shows a strong preference for the culture and traditions of the ordinary people and a commitment to the left wing politics. The play moves quickly through a series of farcical situations and exposes the hypocrisy and anti- people character of the bourgeois society and the so called sacred institutions- the police, the judiciary, the religion and the media. The play was originally written and performed in Italian in 1970 and first English translation was done in 1979. Central to the play is the character of The Madman, who is the prime protagonist of the play. Through the story of the madman in a police station Dario Fo has a created a â€Å"classic example of exquisitely political theatre† with a comedy that begins from being realistic, (the stage setting is of a realistic, ordinary police station) moves towards the frankly implausible (the madman, the inspector, the superintendent and the constable singing the song of anarchists in the police station), reaches to the level of grotesque (the constant punching and kicking of Bertozzo by the police officials, and the falling eye) until it ends with a hilarious and ludicrous climax. â€Å"He (the madman) invents dialogue based on a paradoxical or on real situation and goes on from there by virtue of some kind of natural, geometric logic, inventing conflicts that find their solutions in one gag after another in correspondence with a parallel political theme, a political theme which is clear and didactic. You are moved and you laugh but above all you are made to think, realize and develop your understanding of everyday events that had escaped your attention.† – Franca Rame on The Character of Madman in Accidental Death of an anarchist The madman is not just a character in the play, but he acts as a literary device in the play. He provides most of the humor content of the play. The madman is whimsical and he constantly contradicts other characters as well as himself. His series of logical/illogical arguments becomes impossible to tackle and it frustrates the Police Department. Even though being termed as psychologically unfit, the madman appears to be the most intelligent character in the play. He ridicules the police officials for missing out on the basic concepts of English grammar and the use of the most important â€Å"COMMA† that changes the meaning of a sentence. He dictates the terms of law and judiciary to police officials. He is extremely sarcastic. He ridicules the superintendent for assuming the railway man planted the bomb in railway station without any substantiate evidence and sarcastically rebukes the â€Å"kindergarten logic†. The people in power appear to be inhuman and brute in their actions, and the â€Å"sacred† governmental place, the police station appears to be a madhouse or a slaughterhouse. The madman, even though he is mad appears to be the sanest character in the play. In fact, he appears to be directing the play according to his wishes. Suffering from a disease of enacting people, he sees the world as a stage and other people as his fellow characters. He warns Bertozzo that soon he is about to be punched by Pisani and warns him to duck. Bertozzo ignores the directorial warning of the madman. Later he tells the superintendent to stop playing around and â€Å"keep to the script†. The actions of the play move around as the madman says and everyone does what he asks them to. Bertozzo, who defies the madman’s instructions, keeps on getting punched and thrown out. Hence, Fo, in his play, takes the power out from the hands of the police, the judiciary, and the media and gives it to the representative of the lower section of society, the madman. By pretending to be, in turn to be various figures of authority – psychiatrist, professor, magistrate, bishop, forensic expert – the Maniac forces officials to re-create the events with the purpose of showing the inconsistencies in the official reports of Pinelli’s â€Å"leap† and to confess their responsibility in the anarchist’s death. The madman manages to create mayhem within the policeman, representatives of law and order and figures of authority are made to appear ridiculous and a target of laughter. He exposes how people in power are all in collusion to save their own. Now I am about to show some of the theatre/TV productions of the play and give brief comments on how the character of madman operates in them. Firstly, take a look at the 1983 British TV movie that was telecasted on Channel 4. In this production, the original Italian setting is mixed with contemporary references to Thatcher’s Britain. 1) In the beginning itself, various impersonations of the madman are shown pointing towards the crime committed by him. 2) The madman constantly points towards the audience that is standing upwards, and the crew, and chats with them. And he talks to the director about the censorship laws on television in Britain, when the inspector says The â€Å"F† word. (5 minutes 30 seconds). 3) In the play, not only the madman enacts different roles, but the same constable is used on the 2nd floor and the fifth floor and also as a liftman. The madman here is concerned with anti – materialist sentiment as well. The madman remarks about the fact low budget of the show saying, â€Å"Couldn’t they get a different actor to play you? Who’s directing this thing, Ian MacGregor?† (17 minutes) and the Maniac, â€Å"This is commercial television in crisis!† Similarly, in The IIT production of the play, which is performed in India, in Hindi, the references are converted according to Indian settings and sentiments. 1) The University of Padua is converted into University of Patiala. The madman teaches the Hindi vowels to the constable and the policeman. (4:30) (A aa e ee) 2) The police inspector in the 6th minute of the play says to the madman that he’s madder than the madman. As I said above the madman appears to be the sanest of characters in the play. My fair Heathen Productions in their September 2007 production actually used a woman for the role of the madman. Hence the madman is enacting as a madman from the beginning and in fact is a mad woman. This does not bring a significant change to the play, except probably the so called marginalized figure of a madman, becomes a more marginalized figure as in this production it’s a woman, who comes to a male dominated domain and creates havoc in the lives of the men from powerful sections of the society. Hence, different theatre companies have used different types of madman to heighten the message of the play.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Bag the Elephant: Book Review

In this book authored by Steve Kaplan the setting was focus on the current business situation where in order to overcome the challenges you have to be like â€Å"elephants† where being smart is not the only way for you to win these big companies but you also need to be strong, clumsy and slow and must have huge memory like elephants.In this book, it also provides a way on how a business can truly succeed in getting large companies rather than getting small ones, which for some it still in the present trend business do, because for them it is easier for them to do transaction, but in this book Steve explains that getting the â€Å"big elephants† provides a huge lift in your business because it does not only give your big profit but also helps you sustain for longer years and established stability in the long run.Bag the Elephant book does not just provide how important doing business with large companies, but also it gives a clear idea on how these big companies help est ablish other businesses also. Like take for instance if you work in big companies with their good financial standings and also partnership with other businesses, with that alone, it means that you could extend wider business connections and that would definitely give bigger opportunity for your business as well.In this book, Steve Kaplan also gives some advice on how to win big companies, like what attitude and character or right negotiations that are needed in order to win them and most especially how would you sustain this in the long period for your business to grow as well as how these companies would help sustain their business. II. Analysis and Evaluation In this book it provides why and how business people in particular focus on winning big companies rather than small ones, like the one that will put you over the top like improving sales and marketing strategy that can help you get that giant customer.How these Elephant helps you increase your revenue, profits and success. Mo re than a strategy book, Bag the Elephant is packed with proven tactics, tools, and techniques along with real-world examples from the author's vast experience that will demonstrate how you can put these powerful ideas to work. To prepare you for long-term success, this book â€Å"Bag the Elephant..† also provides the 6 keys for a successful big-customer focus †¢ how to map and use a big company's red tape to your advantage †¢ ideas and techniques for developing your own Elephant prospect list †¢ how to find champions who can become your inside sales reps †¢ how to build strong alliances that result in maximum sales †¢ secrets of negotiating with an Elephant without giving away your profit margins †¢ techniques for turning customer catastrophes into customer loyalty †¢ how to avoid the 5 killer mistakes that can put you out of business.This book also provides outlines on why getting big companies profitable rather than getting projects from small companies. The book Bag the Elephant is all about how smart and intelligent business owners can win and keep those all-important companies, make-or-break clients. This book also filled with dynamic advice and real-life examples, delivered in an energetic, straight-shooting fashion that gets right to the core of its powerful idea—how to land the account that will put you over the top.Here are six keys to achieving the elephant mindset and understanding the big customer. Mapping and using big company's red tape and irregularities to your advantage. This book also outlines how these big elephant needs you as much as you need it and how to do effective negotiations. In he first part, Elephant is Waiting, it shows how important and how business people must think that there is really high potential in doing business with them and these big companies are just waiting for them, if only they know what their needs are for them to have better business with them.On the second part, The Secret life of the Elephant, it somehow focuses on learning the ropes of big companies, the way they do business and how they actually do transaction. This is very important because knowing how to do business with big companies are far different than getting into small or medium sized companies. Like from the simplest knowing the discount schemes, red tape transactions, etc. this are vital because that is how business works for big companies and that must be well adhered in order to succeed.(Kaplan, S, 2005). Reading this book has provided better way of understanding the way how business works and how it should be applied in the real world. This book also explains that it is still very common these days that for some companies it is still important to maximize profit and reduce expense. But, this has been a little bit changed as the demand for innovation and technology and the need for process improvement are becoming an important factor for success of an organization.With thes e latest developments and trend in the business, companies with their top executives would always look intently what they need to improve or in other case needed to innovate. The main reason is that, in any case the managers with the executives of the company must carefully look on this need and should not give any drastic and not well-studied decisions. It is also where managers’ inputs are very important and they should not be just deciding for their own sake but it should be for the betterment of the whole company.This book also provides better discussion how big companies can be a big factor for profitability which is currently the main issue for companies to sustain their business. Secondly, it also focuses on competitiveness, how a company can be competitive in the midst of hardships in businesses. Competitive advantage, how does this become a very important motivating factor for some companies, particularly the global companies?Actually, there are two very common quest ions that are commonly address when it comes to competitive advantage and these are: is with regards to attractiveness of industries for long-term profitability, there is no company that does not want to have a long-term profitability. This is one factor that really drives company to continually be competitive. Strategies and efficient approaches are really well-focused and well desired activities that company needs to focus carefully.That is why there was no doubt that there are companies would even invest for research and development because that is one factor that contributes to long-term profitability and not just focusing on the customer satisfaction and efficient internal management. The second question why competitive advantage needs to apply by a company is in order for them to know their current status in the industry. In the second question it is simply carefully studying the current status of the company, is the company effective in what areas?Does the company established effective long-term plans and strategies? These types of questions would even help in establishing a sort of knowledge base or baseline before actual process improvement take place. This also provides a better reflection to current business situation that in order to really implement the right process for any competitive advantage that needed to be implemented in a company, there should be an effective long-term strategy that should be establish.And this strategy should focus mainly on operations management, this is very important that every company needs to start improving its own operation, there are other companies that fails to do this, the main focus here is that these companies needs to make sure that they improve first their own turf and that they are well prepared enough to work on for bigger challenges ahead.Some of the key factors and priorities that relates to operations management are the following: studying carefully what operation management style needs to be applied, secondly, understand the current demand and supply, third, the company’s current product and service offered, and lastly is what are the current consumer demand, variety of needs, diversity concerns, need for flexibility and other important issues that need to be address by the company.That is why with regards to operations management, it does not particularly focus on operations within the company but also more importantly is the external factors that affect it. III. Lesson, Thoughts and Experiences One lesson in this book is that for anyone, you should always strive hard into the top even though it is hard and sometimes seems impossible. Like for instance in school, it is important that we work hard in our studies because this will also be our main passport to our future career which would give us advantage against the competition someday.The most important lesson in his book is that, businesspeople must now be afraid of getting big companies, because this can provide long term success in the business. This does not just provide businesses long term stability but more importantly it provides much greater opportunity in the long run because their business also works with other big businesses and that alone can give you more opportunity to grow and that can help you sustain your business.Secondly, this book also gives business people an idea that learning the ropes of these â€Å"big elephants† must also be taken into careful consideration because this is not the same and really far different than going into transaction with small companies. Lastly, it also provides better explanation on how competitiveness and quality on the way you operate with these big companies is needed and much more expected because it is not just as simple as doing daily business with them, they desire better results and that is a growing challenge as you go along dong business with them.The longer you do business with them the more new and exciting ideas is needed that would also help them re-define their business and that would not just help them achieve their goal but more importantly help you attain your goal as well. Like it is also being said that if the company has been enhancing its capabilities on how they can serve their customers, it also makes the company creates its own distinctive competencies and this is now where innovations, efficiency, quality, and customer responsibilities form together as a leverage by the company to be competitive and work effectively in its operation.If the company continues to strive and maintain its vision of improving its competencies, it also brings the company in performing value creation in the organization. This value creation will also be the main ingredient for success on doing business for these â€Å"big elephants† in the business. So expect challenge in life and be ready to face it with all your mind and strength because that is the only way you can overcome it and for sure at the end of it you will win it. List of References Kaplan, S. (2005). Bag the Elephant!. How to Win and Keep Big Customers. US: Bard Press