The Relationship Between Lobbying, Businesses And Political Decisions Essay

The Relationship Between Lobbying, Businesses And Political Decisions - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that lobbying is the process of trying to influence the decisions made by an administration, for example, the government especially the members of legislative assemblies of regulatory agencies. Economic lobbyists represent, educate and advocate on the behalf of their business clients’ interests. Politics and economics affect each other in complex sometimes inexplicable ways. The aim is to make the people in the administrative capacity to look favorably on the side of the business. Politics and economics are tied together with some scholars even arguing that politics is merely an extension of economics. Political economists strongly speak out on the proactive position of governments in economic policy and for their ability to regulate the business cycle. Regulation of the business cycle involves putting in place fiscal and monetary measures in order to mitigate or avoid adverse effects of economic depressions and recessions. These mea sures also pertain to economic policies such as taxation, economic barriers, price fixation et cetera. The aim of the economic lobbyists is to make sure that the policies the government makes favor them and provide a conducive business environment for the success of their businesses. The lobbying involves delivery of data or opinions to a government decision maker at local or national level. They do this by presenting the interest of their company or client in the context of public interests.

Beowulf Comparison Essay Example for Free

Beowulf Comparison Essay Beowulf is a very appealing novel as well as a film. The novel Beowulf and the film have many similarities, but they have more differences then anything. While watching the film I noticed many added parts that were not included in the novel. In the film, Grendel’s arm caught is caught on a rope as he’s trying to escape. As the men get closer he has no choice but to cut his own arm off in order to escape, this action is an actual animal reaction when their limb gets caught, the eat their own limb off. This event does not occur in the novel. In the novel Grendel is described as an evil monster with claws, while in the film he appears to be a regular human being. There is also some romance that goes on in the film. Another difference is that the novel is written in very old English while the English in the film seems a little more modern. Religion also seemed to play an important role in the film that it didn’t play on the novel. Before I watched the film I expected an ugly demon looking thing to play the role of Grendel, but instead he was just a very tall man with birth defects. In my opinion Grendel is not the monster the book makes him out to be. When Beowulf becomes furious with Grendel he begins to mimic Beowulf in amusement. While in the novel Grendel becomes angry and goes completely wild. I found both the novel and the movie amusing because they both had something different to offer. Reading the book allows you to visualize the characters and what their personality traits are going to be like. The novel will also allow me to better understand the climax and main points. As far as the film goes, it really helped me comprehend what is going on in the story, due to the novel being in Old English. After reading the novel I expected the film to be distinctively different, especially the way Grendel was portrayed. Despite the differences from the novel and the film, they both give me a clear understanding of what is occurring in the story.

Conflict In Cairngorms National Park Environmental Sciences Essay

Conflict In Cairngorms National Park Environmental Sciences Essay The Cairngorms National Park is the largest in the UK which covers 3800 sq. m. area. It has typical natural environment, cultural heritage and local communities and also included eight different natural reserves. It has wild lands, moorlands, forests, rivers, lochs and glens. The national park has Scotlands five highest mountains. The majority area of the forest in the park is covered by pine. Spey, Dee and Don Valleys are found in lowland areas from where rivers, lochs and marshes are originated. This park has provided home for 16000 people and 25% of the UKs threatened wildlife species. Aviemore, Ballater, Braemar, Grantowin, Kingussie, Newtonmore and Tomintoul are populated areas in the park. The park is one of the renowned outdoor recreational sites in the world. Visitors are allowed to visit the park by walking, wheelchair, horse, bicycle and boating. They can enjoy in golfing, fishing, cycling, hill walking, skiing and deer hunting. The Cairngorms mountain area was listed as national park in 2003.It provides conservation site for pine, recreational purposes such as tourism development and deer hunting sites. The land area in the national park is occupied by certain land owner and the area is call as states. Due to the difference interest of the land owner there are conflicts in the land management. The Forestry Commission has major role and also responsibility to conserve the forest of the national park. The Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has major role in management of Cairngorms which supports fund for overall management and conservation of the national park. Due to gradual change in land used pattern natural ecosystem has changed into cropland, pasture land, tree plantation, timber harvesting and urbanisation. The river Dee is major source of drinking water supply in Aberdeen which is originated from Cairngorm Mountain. The land management system of Deeside is divided into woodland, agriculture land, heather and forest. The woodland of the Deeside has owned by landlords or estate. Most of the forest in Cairngorms have owned privately, which are Balmoral estate and Glen Tanar. The Balmoral estate is owned and funded by the British Royal Family. The aim of the Balmoral estate is for conservation of natural environment, deer hunting and farming. The Royal Family and their guests visit the Balmoral estate for recreation. During the time they enjoy with deer shooting. Similarly, Glen Tanar was the property of a single person from Manchester in parts but now the ownership has shared with other people. The main focus of the Glen Tanar is to conserve the natural Scot pines for timber production and salmon fishing in river Dee. Several conflicts due to human activities regarding land use pattern, biodiversity conservation, aquatic habitat, landscape in Cairngorms have been found. Major conflicts are given below Conflict between Pine Forest and Deer Management Balmoral estate and Glen Tanar have the same boarder. Each of the area has its own objective. Conservation of dear for hunting is the main objective of Balmoral estate and the conservation of Scot pine is the objective of Glen Tanar. The deer graze the young shoots of the pine which is nutritious for the deer. The grazing of the pine shoot by the dear is major conflict in Glen Tanar. This is the main problem for pine regeneration and deer management in the Cairngorms area. Similarly, pine forest is natural habitat of a bird called capercaillie. The bird has poor sight and low flying. The birds select the habitat of pine trees for feed, nesting and check rearing. The estate has constructed the fence to protect the pine from the grazing of the deer block the movement of the bird and decree the population of birds. Forestry Ownership There is conflict between forest ownership and forest management sectors. Scottish Natural Heritage supports partial fund for conservation of cultural heritages of the estates. The woodland are managed by traditional estates .The private forest owners are not giving proper attention to manage wildlife and natural environment. Forestry Commission has taken the responsibility for conservation and regeneration of the forest. Overgrazing of deer and sheep in upland area of the mountain also related with the conflict to wildlife and forest conservation. Impact on Biodiversity The land owners who managed the private forest sell their woods which cause loss of biodiversity. Agriculture The owners have planted trees and they used agrochemicals which caused pollution in the River Dee .The pollution affects the salmon population in the river. Recreation Some parts of the Deeside are selected to manage salmon fishing and hunting of grouse and deer. Heather and birches, fishing, skiing are beneficial for tourism. But the skiing caused change in land use and also affects the hill birds and ecology. Similarly, cycling, dog walking, hill walking, climbing are also responsible for conflict in local area. Conclusion The Cairngorms National Park has high value for natural and environmental concerns. Different issues related to conflict are still found in the national park areas. There is conflict between deer grazing and forest ownership, utilization of forest resources and land ownership land management. There is necessary to find the root causes of the conflict among the stakeholders to improve the environmental quality of the park.

Irony in Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Hamlet

Irony in Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay will discuss the issue of irony in Hamlet by dealing with the problems that arise as a result of Hamlet's attempt to avenge his father's death. One of the central problems is the clash between Hamlet's overpowering need to believe in the ghost of his father, who is the authoritative figure in his life, and the awareness that he lacks empirical knowledge of the truth. In trying to achieve this knowledge, Hamlet sets out on a mixed mission of accusation, revenge and the search for truth, finally causing the upset of the original revenge plot when it ricochets off Polonius' dead body and hits Hamlet in the name of Laertes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a tragedy, Hamlet deals very heavily in anguish and frustration that are not necessarily allowed the means to be resolved or dissipated.   Marvin Rosenberg notes in his essay, "Subtext in Shakespeare", that in tragedies, there are greater uncertainties and the "mystery of the character deepens, and the subtext is subtler, more open to variable interpretation"(82). Hence, unlike Viola, Hamlet's actions overlay motivations of greater ambiguity and these actions, as the play progresses, seemed that they are not primed to make the situation come a full circle. Instead of a an equilibrium, therefore, one finds a form of usurpation where the crown of Denmark, represented by both Claudius and Hamlet, is removed and taken by a foreign prince, Fortinbras.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's desire for vengeance came about as a result of the ghost's appearance and his accusatory speech in which he extorts his son to "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.25). Hamlet is at once struck with the problem of whether he should believe that the ghost is really that of his father and ... ... 1998. Kreiger, Elliot. "Malvolio and Class Ideology". Bloom (19-26). Leverenz, David. "The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View". Schwartz, Murray M. and Coppelia Kahn, eds. Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays. Baltimore: John Hopkins U P, 1980. Nevo, Ruth. Comic Transformations in Shakespeare. London: Methuen & Co., 1980. Rosenberg, Marvin. "Subtext in Shakespeare". Thompson, Marvin, and Ruth Thompson, eds. Shakespeare and the Sense of Performance. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1989. (79-90). Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985. Thatcher, David. Begging to Differ: Modes of Discrepancy in Shakespeare. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. Vickers, Brian. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven: Yale U P, 1993    Irony in Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Hamlet Irony in Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay will discuss the issue of irony in Hamlet by dealing with the problems that arise as a result of Hamlet's attempt to avenge his father's death. One of the central problems is the clash between Hamlet's overpowering need to believe in the ghost of his father, who is the authoritative figure in his life, and the awareness that he lacks empirical knowledge of the truth. In trying to achieve this knowledge, Hamlet sets out on a mixed mission of accusation, revenge and the search for truth, finally causing the upset of the original revenge plot when it ricochets off Polonius' dead body and hits Hamlet in the name of Laertes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a tragedy, Hamlet deals very heavily in anguish and frustration that are not necessarily allowed the means to be resolved or dissipated.   Marvin Rosenberg notes in his essay, "Subtext in Shakespeare", that in tragedies, there are greater uncertainties and the "mystery of the character deepens, and the subtext is subtler, more open to variable interpretation"(82). Hence, unlike Viola, Hamlet's actions overlay motivations of greater ambiguity and these actions, as the play progresses, seemed that they are not primed to make the situation come a full circle. Instead of a an equilibrium, therefore, one finds a form of usurpation where the crown of Denmark, represented by both Claudius and Hamlet, is removed and taken by a foreign prince, Fortinbras.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's desire for vengeance came about as a result of the ghost's appearance and his accusatory speech in which he extorts his son to "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.25). Hamlet is at once struck with the problem of whether he should believe that the ghost is really that of his father and ... ... 1998. Kreiger, Elliot. "Malvolio and Class Ideology". Bloom (19-26). Leverenz, David. "The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View". Schwartz, Murray M. and Coppelia Kahn, eds. Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays. Baltimore: John Hopkins U P, 1980. Nevo, Ruth. Comic Transformations in Shakespeare. London: Methuen & Co., 1980. Rosenberg, Marvin. "Subtext in Shakespeare". Thompson, Marvin, and Ruth Thompson, eds. Shakespeare and the Sense of Performance. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1989. (79-90). Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985. Thatcher, David. Begging to Differ: Modes of Discrepancy in Shakespeare. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. Vickers, Brian. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven: Yale U P, 1993   

Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield – Brand Rejuvenation of Motorcycle in India The year 2000 could have been decisive. That was when the board of directors at Eicher Motors decided to either shut down or sell off Royal Enfield – the company's Chennai-based motorcycle division, which manufactured the iconic Bullet motorbikes. For all its reputation, the sales of the bike was down to 2,000 units a month against the plant's installed capacity of 6,000; losses had been mounting for years. Just one person stood up to the board, insisting Royal Enfield should get another chance.He was Siddhartha Lal, a third generation member of the Delhi-based Lal family, promoters of the Eicher group of companies. Lal, then 26, was an unabashed Bullet fan: he even rode a red coloured Bullet while leading the baraat (procession) to his wedding venue, instead of the traditional horse. â€Å"The board agreed to give me a chance,† says Lal. â€Å"It was not because of its confidence in me, but because the b usiness was doing so badly it could hardly get any worse. † Lal felt Royal Enfield could still be saved. The bike had its reputation, a cult following, an instantly recognisable build, and aspirational value.Changes had to be made to keep up with the times and make the bike more acceptable, and there in lay the problem. Royal Enfield fans liked the bikes exactly the way they had always been. â€Å"We needed changes to attract new customers but by doing so risked losing existing ones,† says R. L. Ravichandran, whom Lal brought in as CEO in 2005 as part of his revival effort. Ravichandran had earlier worked with both TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto. â€Å"We were in a peculiar situation,† he adds. Rejuvenating Times The change had to be a calibrated one.The mistaken notions of prospective customers had to be addressed, and any reservations about Bullet and Thunderbird, which was launched in 2002, removed. At the same time, Lal and Ravichandran were clear that the individu ality of Royal Enfield bikes should not be compromised. â€Å"We did not want to go down the commuter route, but instead looked at the leisure segment,† says Ravichandran. Retaining the bikes' rugged looks was a given, including the build, the design of the head lamp and the petrol tank. But should the gears be shifted close to the rider's left foot – as in most bikes – or retained on the right side?The question gave Lal and his team many sleepless nights, since long time users were dead opposed to the change. The engine was another thorny question. The old cast iron engine was a relic of the past. Its separate gear box and oil sump design made it prone to oil leaks and it seized up very often. Its ability to meet increasingly strict emission norms was also suspect. A modern aluminium engine would eliminate these problems, but it would lack the old engine's pronounced vibrations and beat – which Royal Enfield customers loved.Laws of physics made it imposs ible to replicate these with the new engine. The new engine had 30 per cent fewer parts and produced 30 per cent more power than the old, with better fuel efficiency. By 2010, all Royal Enfield models had begun to use the new engine. Two other problems needed to be addressed: the quality of some of the components Royal Enfield bikes were using, and the sales experience. The case is prepared by Prof. Sanjay Patro and Aby Abraham, XLRI Jamshedpur for academic purpose only. It is not to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a business situation To tackle the first, shop floor process were fine e ses e-tuned, whil suppliers w exhorte to le were ed improve qua ality levels. R Royal Enfield also embar d rked on a larg scale inter exercise to tone ge rnal e up performa ance. â€Å"We de eclared 2006 as the year o getting bac to the bas of ck sics,† says Ravichandra â€Å"We also formed a fie quality ra an. eld apid action fo to bridg the gap bet orce ge tween custo mer expectations an the reality nd y. † Slowly, the tide turned. E t Engine relate problems and oil leaka ed ages in the b bikes were tackled first.By 2008 de ealers were reporting lo ower worklo oads in the workshops. Warranty c claims fell sharply too. Royal Enfi ield also beg conduct gan ting marquee rides to promote leisu biking. e ure â€Å"Such steps removed the fears abou our produc reliability some customers may h ut cts' y have had,† says Venki Padmanabh han, who su ucceeded R Ravichandran as CEO e n earlier this year after Ravichandra was eleva an ated to the b board of Eich Motors. To improve sales exper her e rience new expanded. company-ow wned sho owrooms were la aunched and dea alershipsIn October 2008, Roya Enfield lau al unched in G Germany its newly desig gned 500cc Classic mod – inspire by J2, a del ed 1950 model Bullet – wit the new engine. It was a success, th admired fo its pe for erformance and fuel economy. Emboldened Lal launch it in In d, hed ndia in Nove ember 2009 initially as a 350 cc b bike, priced at Rs 1. 20 lakh. This proved a hit too. â€Å"Now, our capacit utilisation is 100 per t , ty n cent. Yet there is a six month waiting period for hs deliveries,† says Venk â€Å"We pla to doub our cap ki. an ble pacity soon to 1. 5 lak bikes. kh Changing T Times According to industry body, the Soc ciety of India Automob Manufac an bile cturers, the In ndian twost l e wheeler industry is expected to pos an annual growth of 11-12 per cent, and the market is expected to double ever four years till 2020. A ry s According to data from Nomura and Crisil, as o d 0 wo-wheelers were sold in India 20 011-12. Vehi icles in the executive many as 10 million tw segment form the bulk of sales at 6. 5 million, f med k 6 followed by the economy segment (1. 8 million) y and premium segment (1 million). m 1. The recent series of hike in the price of petrol h s es have played a significant role in the sa of twoale wheeler s, ac ccording to S SIAM, as mo first-time four-wheel buyers in rural India and tier II ost e ler n and tier III c cities have d deferred their purchases. Two-wheelers account for a very h high 76 per cent of mar rket share in the autom n mobile sector in Asia’s third-largest economy. Passenger r t vehicles account for 16. 2 per cent. 25 According to a recent H t Human Deve elopment Re eport by UN NDP, India i one of the youngest is e nations with the median age being 29 yrs by the year 2020.A the pene h And etration figur of 35% res Urban and 1 14% rural in ndicates that there going to be a per g riod of grow in the tw wheeler wth wo market. Challenging Times g The compet tition in high ‘cc' two wheeler seg her gment is heat ting up. Bajaj (Pulsar 35 NS, Rs 50 1. 75 lakh), Yamaha (Sp ports bike F FZ1, a 998cc motorcycle, at a price tag of Rs 8. 7 lakh), c e Kawasaki N Ninja 650, etc are burning the rubber t enthrall In c g to ndian youths. 2 Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Direc tor of Bajaj Auto, the 2nd Largest Motor cycle manufacturing Company of India, said â€Å"We have recognized the different needs of the customers of our high end bikes.To cater to these needs we have established separate stores called as â€Å"Bajaj Probiking Showrooms at in the major cities across the country. The Kawasaki Bajaj Ninja is available exclusively through Probiking Showrooms. † Bajaj has joined hands with KTM of Austria a bike manufacturer since 1934 and has brought higher end motorcycles in India under the brand KTM Duke. Hero Moto Corp after separation of its ties with Honda has become more aggressive. Honda charting out its solo journey wants to bring the best of the world to one of the fasted growing market of India. These are the few competitors to name.Many more will follow. Entry of Harley Davidson into India added new flavour to the higher end segment. HarleyDavidson India commenced operations in August 2009 and appointed the first dealership in July 201 0. Since early 2011, Harley-Davidson has been assembling motorcycles in India at its CKD (Completely-Knocked-Down) assembly unit at Bawal in Haryana. India is the second country where Harley-Davidson has CKD assembly operations outside the US, after Brazil. Harley-Davidson currently offers a range of 14 models from each of its 5 families – Sportster, Dyna, Softail, V-Rod and Touring.Each of the five Harley-Davidson motorcycle families boasts of a distinct character and caters to the varied sensibilities of the broad range of customers. Road Ahead Siddharth Lal observed that it grew at 42% and could sell 74,626 bikes during the year 2011. Venki is excited about the fact that demand has more than doubled and Enfield can supply and he is not bothered about the market share figures as they see themselves in a different league. In his words ‘it is more about the context of the product†, the product-market ‘. â€Å"Royal Enfield is a leisure brand that it enables customer to enjoy leisure†. It is an involving and engaging motor cycle† . The bike demands for continued caring kind of interaction from its riders that leads them to develop a emotional bond. Today, Royal Enfield's problems are of a different kind. It needs to scale up without diluting brand equity. From being the most expensive bike on Indian roads, today it faces challenges from iconic global brands such as Harley-Davidson which has entered the Indian market. With other competitors getting battle ready,how can it hold on to customers through the waiting period of six to eight months.Driving change when the chips are down is easy, when there is no other option. In Royal Enfield's case the? What would be your recommendations to Mr. Venki Padmamnabhan, CEO, with regard to its future roadmap, Product strategy, Brand Management /engagement and Marketing strategy? 3 Exhibit 1 Production figures for 2012 Jan-12 Hero Motocorp Ltd. 458848 7303 Royal Enfield 76 Harley David's Feb-12 479927 8005 116 Mar-12 502208 9004 104 Apr-12 485325 9013 104 May-12 515627 9256 100 Jun-12 517848 9265 74 Jul-12 469951 10057 90 Aug-12 401194 10237 86 Sep-12 367869 10255 87 Oct-12 426307 10606 78Exhibit 2 Harley Davidson Bikes Price list India Harley Davidson Super Low Price In India : 5. 5 lakh Harley Davidson IRON 883 Price In India : 6. 5 lakh Harley Davidson 883 Roadster Price in India : 7. 5 lakh Harley Davidson Forty-Eight Price In India : 8. 5 lakh Harley Davidson Nightster Price In India : 9. 95 lakh Harley Davidson XR1200x Price In India : 11. 95 lakh Harley Davidson Street bob Price In India : 13. 95 lakh Harley Davidson Super Glide Custom Price In India : 15. 45 lakh Harley Davidson Fat Boy Price In India : 19. 2 lakh Harley Davidson FLSTFB Fat boy Special Price In India : 19. lakh Harley Davidson Haritage softail classic Price In India : 20. 2 lakh Harley Davidson Night ROD Special Price In India : 19. 55 lakh Harley Davidson Road king Price In India : 22. 45 lakh Harley Davidson Street glide Price In India : 24. 2 lakh Harley Davidson CVO ultra classic electra glide Price : 34. 95 lakh Exhibit 3 Royal Enfield Bikes Price List in India 2012 : Royal Enfield Classic Chrome – 1,67,000 Royal Enfield Desert Storm – 1,57,000 Royal Enfield Electra 5 S – 69,000 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Classic 1,23,000 Royal Enfield Thunderbird K.S. 89,000 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 ES – 85,600 Royal Enfield Machismo 350 – 78,000 Royal Enfield Electra 4 S – 93,100 Royal Enfield Machismo 500 – 1,04,000 Royal Enfield Thunderbird S. S – 1,07,000 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 UCE – Rs. 99,500 Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark ES – Rs. 1,11,000 Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark KS – Rs. 1,07,000 Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark – Rs. 1,16,000 Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 – Rs. 1,66,000 4 -2: l Exhibit- Bajaj: Driving the Power Revolution with Pulsar 5 Exhibit: 3: Harley Davidsonâ€⠄¢s Advertisements in india t 6

Dmci Homes Application of Pert Essays

Dmci Homes Application of Pert Essays Dmci Homes Application of Pert Essay Dmci Homes Application of Pert Essay information on units and important areas within the vicinity. Assistance on transactions concerning the developer, including following up documents * Community events  such as sports fests, family day, Halloween treats, Christmas party, etc. You are also able to enjoy the perks of living in a DMCI Homes community. Modern-day facilities that are standard features in the developments and which contribute to a more convenient lifestyle include: * 24-hour security service * Gated entrance and perimeter fence * Overhead water tank, deep well, and underground cistern * Covered bridge way connecting the residential building to the car park * Individual drying area at the roof deck Provision for CATV and telephone lines QUALITY WORKMANSHIP Expect efficient floor plans and high-quality structures with first-rate construction techniques in the development of all DMCI Homes projects, owing to its mother company DMCI’s 50-year c ommendable track record in the construction industry. DMCI Homes also provides one (1) year quality warranty that covers repairs, free of charge, on any workmanship defects of the unit. Fast and reliable, the companys construction of the residential buildings and turnover of units are within 6 to 12 months only. READY FOR OCCUPANCY AND MOVE-IN POLICY For as low as 20% down payment for mid-rise or 30% down payment for high-rise, a homebuyer may immediately move into his or her unit and enjoy the privileges of living in a DMCI Homes residential community, provided his or her unit is completed. Without the long wait, take pleasure in a resort living ambience right within your own backyard, or realize your condo unit’s earning potential sooner than you expected. II. Literature Review A BRIEF HISTORY OF SCHEDULING BACK TO THE FUTURE Presented at 4 6 April 2006 Hyatt, Canberra. Patrick Weaver FAICD, FCIOB, PMP. Director, Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd Introduction The science of ‘scheduling’ as defined by Critical Path Analysis (CPA) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2007. In 1956/57 Kelly and Walker started developing the algorithms that became the ‘Activity-on-Arrow’ or ADM scheduling methodology for DuPont. The program they developed was trialed on plant shutdowns in 1957 and their first paper on critical path scheduling was published in March 1959. The PERT system was developed at around the same time but lagged CPM by 6 to 12 months (although the term ‘critical path’ was invented by the PERT team). Later the Precedence (PDM) methodology was developed by Dr. John Fondahl in 1977 as a ‘noncomputer’ alternative to CPM. Arguably, the evolution of modern project management is a direct consequence of the need to make effective use of the data generated by the schedulers in an attempt to manage and control the critical path1. The evolution of scheduling closely tracked the development of computers. The initial systems were complex mainframe behemoths, typically taking a new scheduler many months to learn to use. These systems migrated to the ‘mini computers’ of the 1970s and 80s but remained expensive, encouraging the widespread use of manual scheduling techniques, with only the larger (or more sophisticated) organizations being able to afford a central scheduling office and the supporting computer systems. The advent of the ‘micro computer’ (ie, personal computer, or PC) changed scheduling forever. The evolution of PC based scheduling move project controls from an environment where a skilled cadre of schedulers operating expensive systems made sure the scheduling was ‘right’ (and the organization ‘owned’ the data) to a ituation where anyone could learn to drive a scheduling software package, schedules became ‘islands of data’ sitting on peoples’ desktops and the overall quality of scheduling plummeted. Current trends back to ‘Enterprise’ systems supported by PMOs seem to be redressing the balanceand offerin g the best of both worlds. From the technology perspective, information is managed centrally, but is easily available on anyone’s desktop via web enabled and networked systems. From the skills perspective PMOs are re-developing career paths for schedulers and supporting the development of scheduling standards within organizations. This paper tracks the development of scheduling (with a particular focus on Micro Planner and Primavera) and looks at the way the evolving technology has changed the way projects are scheduled and managed. In the Beginning Pre 1956 The concept of ‘scheduling’ is not new; Sun Tzu wrote about scheduling and strategy 5000 years ago from a military perspective, the pyramids are over 3000 years old, transcontinental railways have been being built for some 200 years, etc. None of these activities could have been accomplished without some form of schedule; ie, the understanding of activities and sequencing. However, whilst the managers, priests and military leaders controlling the organizations responsible for accomplishing the ‘works’ must have an appreciation of ‘scheduling’ (or at least the successful ones would have) there is little evidence of any formal processes until the 20th Centenary. Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist is credited with the developed the bar chart (Gantt Chart) in 1917 as a production control tool. In its pure form, the bar chart correlates activities and time in a graphical display allowing the timing of work to be determined but not interdependencies. Sequencing is inferred rather then shown and as a ‘hand drawn’ diagram, the early charts were a static representation of the schedule. Fig. 1 A typical Gantt chart. Milestone charts were also in regular use by the 1950s2. Major contracts were subdivided into sections with target dates set for accomplishing the work required to achieve each ‘milestone’. However, as with Gantt Charts, all of the dates and durations shown in these charts were based on heuristics (rules of thumb) and/or experience. It was possible to identify slippage but any assessment of the impact of a delay was based on a personal view of the data rather than analysis. As a consequence when schedule slippage became apparent on major contracts, the tendency was to flood the work with labor and ‘buy time’ frequently at a very high premium. Independent of the development of schedule control processes based on bar charts and milestones, work on linear programming had been going on for a number of years. This branch of mathematics looked at the cause and effect of actions on each other in situations such as the flow of traffic along a freeway. One of the mathematicians involved in this work was James E. Kelley. CPM and Kelly and Walker3 The origin of CPM can be traced back to mid 1956. E. I. du Pont de Numours (Du Pont) was looking for useful things to do with its ‘UNIVAC1’ computer (this was one of the very first computers installed in a commercial business anywhere and only the third UNIVAC machine built). Fig. 2 – An early UNIVAC Computer Du Pont’s management felt that ‘planning, estimating and scheduling’ seemed like a good use of the computer! Morgan Walker was given the job of discovering if a computer could be programmed to help. Others had started studying the problem, including other researchers within Du Pont but no one had achieved a commercially viable outcome. In the period from late 1956 through to April 1957, Walker assisted by Kelly and others had scoped a viable project. Their challenge was to solve the time-cost conundrum. They could demonstrate that in preference to flooding a project with labor to recover lost time, focusing effort on the ‘right’ tasks can reduce time without significantly increasing cost. The problem was identifying the ‘right’ tasks! Fig. 3 – The Time / Cost Curve On the 7th May 1957, a meeting in Newark Delaware committed US$226,400 to a project to develop CPM; Du Pont’s share was $167,700, Remington Rand Univac contributed $58,700. Univac had decided to help ‘to keep IBM at bay’; competition can be useful†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ but more important than the money was the people brought to the project by Univac. The Du Pont team was lead by Morgan R. Walker, key players from Univac were James E. Kelley and John Mauchly. Kelley was the mathematician and computer expert nominated by Mauchly to ‘solve the problem’ for Walker. The solution adopted by Kelley borrowed from ‘linear programming’ and used the i-j notation to describe the relationship between activities. This constrained the sequencing and made the calculations feasible (remembering the challenge was still to resolve the ‘time-cost’ trade off). This solution created a couple of significant challenges. One was gathering the data needed toload the computer model. Engineers were not used to describing work in terms of activities (tasks) with resource requirements and different costs depending on the resources deployed for a ‘normal’ duration and a ‘crashed’ duration. Gathering the data for the first CPM model took Walker over three months. The other problem was that unless you were a mathematician the concept of i-j was virtually meaningless! The ‘Activity-on-Arrow’ diagram was developed to explain the mathematics to management. Despite all of the problems, by 24th July 1957 the first analysis of the George Fischer Works schedule had been completed and the concept proven. The schedule included 61 activities, 8 timing restraints and 16 dummies. Fig. 4 A section of the George Fisher Works CPM schedule The major challenge then became reducing the number of calculations and variables to a level that could be processed in a reasonable timeframe. The estimate of the time needed to update a schedule of 150 to 300 arrows was some 350 hours of computer time per month. Some of the challenges were as basic as accessing the right computer; magnetic tapes storing the schedule data were prepared on the DuPont computers and then flown across the USA to be run on machines capable of analyzing the data. Development continued through 1958 and in March 1959 Kelley and Walker jointly presented CPM to the public at large at the Eastern Joint Computer Conference in a paper entitled ‘Critical Path Planning and Scheduling’. As with many innovations though, CPM nearly died as a concept. CPM saved DuPont 25% on their shutdowns, but they dropped the system shortly after the management team responsible for its development changed in 1959. Similarly, RemRand could see little future in the system and abandoned it! CPM as a technique was ‘saved’ by Mauchly ; Associates (including John Mauchly and Jim Kelley). Starting in 1959, they commercialized CPM, simplified the process to focus on schedule (rather than cost), organized training courses and developed an entire new way of ‘doing business’. CPM was popular but expensive – solving scheduling problems (eg loops) could cost the price of a small car! PERT and Other Systems PERT was developed independently by the US Navy Special Projects Office, Bureau of Ordnance (SP). A team comprising members of SP and consulting firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton was established in 1957 and produced its first report in July, 1958. Apart from introducing uncertainty into schedule durations, the lasting contribution the PERT teams have made to the business of scheduling was the invention of the ‘critical path’. Kelly and Walker used the name ‘main chain’ for the longest path through their schedule. By 1961, a multitude of PERT like systems had been developed including MAPS, SCANS, TOPS,PEP, TRACE, LESS and PAR. These systems were all network based and had distinguishing features of their own. PEP is particularly interesting as it was essentially ‘a connected bar chart; ie, a set of bars with links connecting the ends of related bars’5. A concept that has re-surfaced in a range of computerized scheduling tools in recent years. By 1968 PERT and CPM had emerged as the standard nomenclatures and dominant systems. Precedence Diagramming Method In 1961 John Fondahl published a report entitled ‘A Non-computer Approach to Critical Path Methods for the Construction Industry’6. This paper described the PDM system of scheduling and was offered as effective manual process to bypass the expensive computer based CPM system. The irony being PDM is now used by every computer based scheduling system, PERT has dies out completely and CPM is rarely seen and is generally only found in academic papers where the calculations are performed manually! Mainframe days†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Through to the early 1980s, to create a project schedule you either used a mini or mainframe computer system. Or drew and calculated schedules manually. Or did both; manual calculations first (to sort out problems) then pload the corrected and checked schedule to the computer. The run-time on the computer cost too much for errors! Schedulers were trained through a process of apprenticeships and mentoring; it cost too much and took too long to fix problems caused by inexperience! The consequence was the evolution of a group of project schedulers skilled in both the art and science of scheduling. H owever, as Kelley noted from the very earliest CPM training courses, there was a significant variability in the outcome for scheduling exercises caused by differing skill levels and perceptions on the trainees. The existence of scheduling departments meant the scheduling processes were standardized and the schedule data was largely ‘owned’ by the organization. Additionally, the desire of professional schedulers to exchange information and develop their skills would appear to have been the foundation for the evolution of ‘modern project management. PC systems Micro Planner Micro computers emerged in the late 1970s, machines like the Commodore and Atari were initially aimed at the enthusiast. However, by the end of the 1970s micro computers were starting to make their presence felt in the business world. One of the leaders in the business market was Apple Computer with its first ‘commercial’ PC, the Apple II being launched in 1979. The first commercial scheduling software for this class of computer was developed by Micro Planning Services in the UK. Running on the Apple II Micro Planner v1. 0 was released in 1980 after 14 months development, based on the ICL PERT mainframe system. The first IBM PC was launched in 1981; although the definitive IBM XT was not launched until 1983. In 1982, ‘The Planner’ is released for the 256K IBM PC and the Sirius/Victor. Windows’ type operating systems became available in 1984 (Apple Macintosh) with Microsoft’s ‘Windows v1. 0’ being launched in November ‘85. Micro Planner maintained their association with the Apple system launching graphical scheduling systems for the Apple Macintosh in 1986 and Windows in 1988; followed by the first true GUIb scheduling tool Micro Planner X-Pert in 1989. The author managed the Australian arm of the Micro Planner group from 1986 through to 1998 over this period the total annual sales of the business grew to more than $1 million. Primavera Primavera was founded in May 1983 by: Dick Faris, Joel Koppelman and Les Seskin (who owned a batch entry mainframe scheduling system). Today Primavera is arguably the dominant ‘high end’ project scheduling tool worldwide. But where did the name come from? Focusing on the then ‘mainstream’ DOS operating system, Primavera shot to prominence with the release of a 10,000 activity capable system in the late 1980s and has maintained its position as ‘market leader’ with a steady flow of innovative developments. The Changing Industry During the 1970s, the arrival of powerful project scheduling systems running on ‘Mini Computers’ caused the first major change. The lower operating cost of systems such as MAPPS on Wang and Artemis on HP and DEC hardware caused the rapid demise of mainframe scheduling systems. Apart from a few legacy systems the era of the mainframe was over by the mid 1980s. The ‘mini systems’ retained many of the characteristics of the mainframes though and required skilled schedulers to make efficient use of them. From the perspective of the people working as schedulers all that changed was the hardware and maybe the software vendor. The rapid spread of relatively cheap, easy-to-use’ PCs in the latter half of the 1980s spawned dozens (if not hundreds) of PC based scheduling systems including TimeLine and CA Super project at the ‘low end’, and Open Plan and Primavera at the ‘high end’ of PC capability. The ‘low end’ tools spread the availability of scheduling systems to a very wide audience and allowed everyone access to cheap computer based scheduling. This had two impacts, by the early 1990s no one was doing manual scheduling (apart maybe from a few ‘old timers’) and the number of people creating schedules on a part time, untrained basis exploded. At the same time, the increasing capability of the ‘high end’ systems annihilated the significantly more expensive mini systems. Scheduling had become a desk top PC based process. The last of the significant changes in the industry started in latter part of the 1980s and has continued through to the present time. Despite the ever increasing number of people using PC based scheduling tools; the competition in the market has driven prices down and caused a major consolidation of the industry. For many years, Microsoft Project could be bought for less than $100 per set. This decimated the ‘low end’ market. Similarly the cost of developing GUI interfaces and staying competitive in the features arms race at the ‘high end’ caused most of the system developers to move to greener pastures or simply close up shop. It is only since the start of the 21st century has this trend begun to change. The increase in the sophistication of Microsoft Project and the rise in its base cost to around $1000 has opened up the market to a number of low cost entry level tools based primarily on bar charts. There has also been an increase in the number of generally available niche systems offering enhanced; risk (eg Pertmaster), time/location and line of balance capabilities (eg DynaProjectâ„ ¢ and LinearPlus) and other functionality, that can operate stand alone or use data from and interact with the dominant systems such as Microsoft Project and Primavera. One very interesting development is a Russian tool called SPIDER. This software dynamically links time and cost (the original Kelley and Walker objective) within a managed risk profile. The loss of skills and control Prior to the 1980s Scheduling was a serious business; it used very expensive assets, required significant training and skill and was largely centralized and ‘visible’. Where manual scheduling was used, the saving in system costs was offset by the tedium of lengthy manual calculations. It simply did not pay to make mistakes! The arrival of ‘easy to use’ scheduling tools with a graphical interface radically changed the industry. Scheduling migrated to the desktop and the myth that ‘anyone’ can schedule (provided they knew how to switch on a PC) emerged. Many people learned ‘scheduling’ from using tools like Microsoft Project. There was no training or oversight and as a consequence, the average schedule is littered with ‘fixes’ allowed or encouraged by the tool. The trend has been towards a focus on computer processes and getting a schedule ‘looking right’ rather than analyzing a project to determine the appropriate duration based on appropriate resources and designing the schedule to be an effective management tool in the context of each specific project. As a direct consequence of this loss of skills, the importance of scheduling has dropped in most organizations and most projects run late! But the tide is turning†¦.. Current trends back to the future The requirement for effective ‘corporate governance’ is focusing management’s attention on project controls. The requirement for visibility, predictability and accountability of project performance can only be achieved by the introduction of effective corporate tools supported by skilled project schedulers7. The drive for visibility has been met by the arrival of powerful ‘Enterprise’ tools such as Primavera Enterprise and the suite of programs from WST including Open Plan and WelcomeHome. These integrated tools with effective data management and security ‘built in’ deliver the visibility and control needed for effective corporate governance (provided the tools are adequately supported). Additionally, the integrated nature of the tools makes project data visible and this visibility encourages enhanced quality. The drive for quality is creating a demand for skilled schedulers. This skills shortage is being helped by the spread of PMOsd and a renewed interest in scheduling training8. Many PMOs are also starting to recognize the need for, and develop skills in the ‘art’ of effective scheduling, as well as providing a home and career path for schedulers. The trend back towards a corporate view of schedule information and the requirement for skilled schedulers to operate the tools and provide effective support to project managers is being supported by the development of new standards. PMI will launch its ‘Scheduling Practice Standard’ in 2006, to augment the information in the PMBOK Guide. A longer term initiative is the work being undertaken by PMI’s College of Scheduling to develop and publish its ‘Scheduling Excellence Initiative’9. SEI is planned to develop and publish a comprehensive set of industry accepted best practices and guidelines for every aspect of project management ‘that touches a schedule, or that a schedule touches’. The consequence of these trends is that schedulers are once again in great demand around the world. The role of the scheduler is back! Conclusions The evolution of scheduling has been a fascinating journey: Kelley and Walker set out to solve the time-cost conundrum and invented CPM. For most organizations the resolution of time-cost issues is still in the ‘too hard’ basket (although SPIDER offers an interesting solution)! The PERT project invented the name ‘Critical Path’, and everyone else borrowed it. Fondahl invented a non-computer methodology for scheduling that is now used by every computer package worldwide! Whilst Kelley and Walkers CPM system was developed for computers and is now only seen as a manual technique. The changing role of the scheduler has been almost as interesting: The mainframe era saw scheduling as: o A skilled profession o Central to the success of projects The new ‘enterprise’ era sees scheduling as o A skilled profession o Central to the success of projects We have gone back to the future! III. Data and Analysis -Data Activity| Description| Predecessor| ABCDEFGHIJKLMN| Civil and StructuralFire Protection WorksMechanical WorksElectrical WorksPlumbing WorksAuxilliaryMasonry/WetworksMiscellaneous Walls ; FinishesMiscellaneousPainting WorksCeiling WorksFloor FinishesMechanical EquipmentElectrical EquipmentFire Protection EquipmentPlumbing Equipment| D, EB, C, EAAHH, IGFK, L, M| This Table shows the flow of activities in building basement 3. We were able to determine the activities by the given data. * CPM Network Crash Completion Time 9 months Crash Cost: Php 6, 197, 600. 00 Critical Path: B – G – L M IV. Conclusion This study investigates on the feasibility of project development thru the use of PERT and CPM techniques. Both aided the researchers in getting the critical path, optimum project completion time, and minimum project cost incurred after the optimum crash completion time. The critical path is the longest path of the project where it indicates the amount of time needed for the completion of the project. Thus the activities along this path must be accelerated in order to catalyze the project, On the other hand, when delays happen in these activities would cause a chain reaction of delays throughout the scheduling, etc for the rest of the project. Obtaining the optimum project completion time is done by crashing the network. Crashing the network refers to crashing a number of activities in order to reduce the duration of the project below its normal value. Based on the data obtained, this project accomplished in 13 months with a total cost Php 4, 596,400. 0. However if the project is crashed the soonest possible time is 9 months with a cost of Php 6, 197, 600. 00. V. Recommendation Though PERT and CPM considers the cost and completion time available it doesn’t really reflect how the real scheduling of a construction project is. It is only an ideal flow of activities. In current construction project activities usually starts simultaneously e. g. As soon as this first floor floor ing is done, they begin with the next floor not observing anymore the other activities to be done on first floor. Therefore the use of PERT CPM should be of initial study and not as a basis of overall scheduling of construction. VI. References Hillier and Lieberman. â€Å"Introduction to Operations Research†, Chapter 10 Project Management with PERT/CPM, 7th Edition Weaver, P. (2006) â€Å"A Brief History of Scheduling†, ; pmforum. org/library/papers/2006/A_Brief_History_of_Scheduling. pdf;. â€Å"PERT/CPM for Project Scheduling ; Management†, ;interventions. org/pertcpm. html;. â€Å"Pert Diagram and CPM†,

Analysis Of Heuristic Methods Essays

Analysis Of Heuristic Methods Essays Analysis Of Heuristic Methods Essay Analysis Of Heuristic Methods Essay The Influence of Cognitive Heuristics and Associated Bias On Rational Decision Making The following essay attempts to analyze the influence of heuristics, specific strategies or shortcuts to speed thought using readily available information and perceptions to speed decision making, and the influence of bias emanating from the use of these heuristic methods that move us from accurate rational decision making, to non-optimal decision making. The concept of heuristics was introduced by Simon (1957) in his discussion of limited rationality, in which he argued that because of cognitive limitations, humans have little option but to construct simplified models of the world. Simon saw heuristics as adaptive strategies used by humans to cope with their limited information processing capacity (Shanties). I will attempt to evaluate specific instances of bias as a result of heuristics, their effect on the decision making process, and make recommendations for avoiding such bias in cognitive decision making. One must understand the process of how decisions or Judgments are made, and the influence of available time and information, as well as the relative importance of he decision within a particular process instance. Cognitive activity tends to process available information within a time frame, and then attempts to use reason to form an understanding or Judgment of a situation or problem. When time and information are limited, or the importance of a decision is considered to have minimal risk, the use of heuristics helps to arrive at quick and typically reasonable decisions, to keep us from getting mired in these frequent day to day events. Unfortunately, the human mind tends to rely on these heuristic methods which lend themselves to bias, which n turn negatively influences important decision making, and can lead to faulty or non-optimal Judgments. Research has identified and defined twelve biases linked to certain cognitive heuristics, and explains the basis for them so they are recognizable to us. Knowing to recognize and be able to describe the various biases, as well as our personal susceptibility to enlist them, can help us to effectively use a prescriptive model for decision making to avoid bias, and use diligence to accurately evaluate our decision making processes. The key to improved Judgment lies in learning to extinguish between appropriate and inappropriate uses of heuristics, when your judgment is likely to rely on heuristics, and how to avoid them (Baseman, Moore). The twelve common bias heuristics (see Table 1) alluded to above are those that we frequently over-rely on in our day to day decision making processes. In addition, it is possible and likely probable that one or more of these biases can be at play in any decision making process at the same time. The current financial crisis in Europe has its roots in decision making associated with the purchase of mortgage backed securities and credit default swaps. At the height of this activity, brokerage houses in were still purchasing these investment vehicles stateside, as warning signs were starting to indicate that many banks were under-capitalized and a slowing of the economy would put a number of them at risk. In an effort to keep profits going, securities traders targeted foreign nations and their city governments to market these securities as guaranteed (triple AAA rated) investments, the argument being that the United States real-estate market and the lending institutions that financed mortgages were historically a very safe, low risk environment for stable returns. A DOD number of these countries and their local city governments bought bundled mortgage securities, again as other investors were turning them down due to risk. One can assume a number of heuristics played a role in the purchase of these investments, where likely regression to mean, the confirmation trap, and over- confidence were influencing those responsible for making these investment decisions. An analysis of building rates and new mortgages should have illustrated an over-heated building boom, which would likely need to correct to a mean average, and that in doing so, some percentage within these bundled mortgage securities would be in default, affecting future returns. As many cities were looking for low risk investments to grow their retirement accounts to fund future obligations, at a cursory glance, the overall history of the American housing market indicated stability and little risk. Had these governments and city managers done due diligence and sought non-confirmatory evidence, they would have seen the housing bubbles generated during low mortgage interest rate eras, and dissolving when rates started to go back up or the economy slowed. Over-confidence likely played a role, as most f these officials were elected to their positions, and felt power and prestige allowed them to feel infallible in their Judgments when pressed about their decisions to purchase these new investment securities, with little or no history. The resulting failure of these investments and the ensuing fiscal crisis for these governments and their cities, begs the question of how they arrived here and where did their decision making fail so dismally? In this situation, these governments first needed to recognize the importance of the decision in front of them, and that a rational decision making process was in order to guarantee optimal results. The first item to undertake would be to define their problem; funding growing future pension obligations with investments outside their traditional low return options. The second item would be to identify the criteria associated with decision; what type of return would be reasonable, at what risk, what were other options to fund the obligations. The third item would be to weigh the criteria; what investments would optimally serve the purpose set forth. The fourth item would be to generate or search for alternatives; was there a way to sell or privative national assets for funding, or to reduce the obligation by reducing benefits, increasing the retirement age, etc. , where this effort would continue until the cost of the search outweighed the value of the additional information. The fifth item would be to weigh and rate each alternative based on the criterion, to later evaluate the solutions derived from them. Finally, the sixth step would compute the optimal decision, based on the ratings in the prior step. In the course of working as a production process and project engineer, I find my decision making or Judgment has been flawed at times by ease of recall and o make a Judgment on a machines projected downtime and the impact to operations off the top of my head. I tend to produce events and recollections that are more easily recalled from memory based on vividness or how recently they last occurred. When estimating repair or project costs, I find myself anchored to the original cost of a machine, and typically do not make adjustments to this Judgment until realizing after the fact that the costs will be much higher. In both these cases, poor decisions can result based on these communications, where if I misidentify an actual problem u to ease of recall, maintenance or production resources dedicated to restoring the equipment can now be working on the wrong thing, and additional time and production are lost. Should I set an expectation of cost based on an anchoring bias, the decision to move forward on a project could lead to the loss of upper managements confidence if the projects actual cost is significantly more than the original estimate. In the first case identifying the ease of recall bias, conferring with the maintenance or production supervisor to corroborate my recollection or provide additional information would be a simple way to avoid this bias. In the case of anchoring, simply qualifying a response in the moment as my best guess, or asking for time to research is much more effective than setting unachievable expectations that lead to a loss of confidence later. At the heart of both of these uses of cognitive heuristics is whether or not they are appropriate for the situation, and if not, establish a plan using the six steps for achieving optimal decision making. Table 1 Bias Type Description Ease of Recall Individuals Judge events that are more easily recalled from memory, eased on vividness or regency, to be more numerous than events of equal frequency whose instances are less easily recalled. Retrievable Individuals are biased in their assessments of the frequency of events based on how their memory structures affect the search process. Insensitivity to base rates When assessing the likelihood of events, individuals tend to ignore vase rates if any other descriptive information is provided even if it is irrelevant. Insensitivity to sample size When assessing the reliability of sample information, individuals frequently fail to appreciate the role of the sample size. Misconceptions of chance Individuals expect that at sequence of data generated by a random process will look random, even when the sequence is too short for those expectations to be statistically valid. Regression to the mean Individuals tend to ignore the fact that extreme events tend to regress to the mean on subsequent trials. The conjunction fallacy Individuals falsely Judge the conjunctions (the two events occurring) are more probable than a more global set of occurrences of which the conjunction is a subset. The confirmation trap Individuals tend to seek confirmatory information for what Individuals make estimates for values based upon an initial value (derived from past events, random assignment, or whatever information is available) and typically make insufficient adjustments from that anchor when establishing a final value. Conjunctive- and disjunctive-events bias Individuals exhibit a bias toward overestimating the probability of conjunctive events and underestimating the probability of disjunctive events. Overconfidence Individuals tend to be overconfident of the infallibility of their Judgments when answering moderately or extremely difficult questions. Hindsight and the curse of knowledge After finding out hither or not an event occurred, individuals tend to overestimate the degree to which they would have predicted the correct outcome.

The easiest way to settle office grammar disputes

The easiest way to settle office grammar disputes The easiest way to settle office grammar disputes Like it or not, we all end up getting thrown into arguments about whether something weve written is correct. This could be a colleague picking you up on your apostrophes. Or it might be a subtle point of style that your manager crosses out with angry red pen. It may just be a snide Facebook comment from someone who sees correcting the grammar of strangers as the highest good in earthly existence. Seemingly minor disputes like this can blow up into major arguments and tetchy, defensive disputes. And while some people can devote over forty thousand words to debating capitalisation after a colon, for most of us this isnt the best use of our time. So how do you settle an argument over whats right and wrong as quickly as possible? Seeking the Authority The easiest thing would be to check against the correct usage in the book that says what counts as correct English. But heres the thing: there is no such book. Nor is there any individual person. There is nobody, at all, on the planet, whom you can ask for the definitive answer on whether or not a particular piece of usage is absolutely correct. But surely this is too much? Dont some things stay the same? Not really. In language, very little is safe from change. Practically every area of English has changed in some way: from fundamental aspects of grammar right down to the meaning of words. For example, the word ‘December’ originally meant ‘the tenth month of the year’. So you might want to think twice about inviting pedants to Christmas dinner – unless you want someone turning up with mince pies in October. Where does this leave us? Were all passengers on a ship without a captain. But dont worry, its fine: we dont need one. We dont need a gold standard, just a set of conventions that most people agree on – especially in professional contexts. To draw an analogy: theres no single authority to tell you that showing up to a job interview at a consulting firm in board shorts and a tank top is the wrong thing to do. And maybe in fifty years surfer chic will be de rigeur for any aspiring professional. But for the moment were happy to call this wrong. This is all very interesting, but how does it help you when you need to check which conventions to obey? And which ones to ignore? Heres a rundown of three ports of call when youre in the midst of an office argument: Single words We recommend picking a good dictionary to use across your organisation. For example, at Emphasis we use Collins English Dictionary. This allows us to spell and hyphenate words consistently. Rather than spending time debating whether or not to write coordinate or co-ordinate, we just use their first preferred variant. Grammar and punctuation rules So many of the arguments we see professionals have are based on half-remembered superstitions from school. But its best to skip this act of strained remembrance and go directly to the best available information. Some of the best ports of call here are books written by linguists whove looked into these matters in detail, and offer facts instead of conjecture. For example, Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style, which contains extremely in-depth analysis of dozens of grammar rules (or supposed rules). If someone is bringing out grammatical artillery during your discussion, Pinker is an excellent guide through the confusion. A lot of other arguments come from an over-reliance on rules of thumb about good writing (such as the golden rule that you should never use the passive voice). When you come across this kind of debate, we recommend Joseph Williams Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace and his nuanced, up-to-date analysis of what precisely makes good writing. Huge swathes of the finicky arguments that you can get into over split infinitives or starting a sentence with an And or a But can be solved by pointing people to these kinds of sources. But what if your argumentative friend continues to disagree with professors of linguistics on the matter? You may have just spotted either a lost cause, or an argument that is threatening to take up too much of your time. Points of style Some questions will never be ultimately decided. For example, the capitalisation of job titles varies considerably across organisations and contexts. So theres flexibility on this point when choosing a style for yourself or your organisation. Making decisions about these sorts of questions every time you encounter them is a big waste of time and a recipe for inconsistency across your organisation. One of the best ways round this is to get into the habit of checking style guides. Good examples are the style guides of The Economist and the Guardian. Theyve already done the work of looking into questions about grammar and usage, and tend to offer much more succinct recommendations than youll find if you trawl through the internet looking for answers. And our own style guide, The Write Stuff, is designed specifically to help you with the questions you face most in your day-to-day writing. These include questions like how to capitalise job titles or how to write common abbreviations like CEO. Youll find all the answers in one place – and you can download your free copy here. (Well be talking more about the ways style guides can help you at work next week.) Beware rabbit holes Above all, make sure that the time you spend looking into these questions is time well spent. The main problem with looking things up is it can work too well. You can easily end up spending hours reading about the tiniest points of usage and style. For example, here are over 20 blog posts, written by reasonable, informed users of English, on the differences between that and which. This is just too much information when youre trying to solve an argument quickly. Instead, we recommend taking one of the three routes above for solving each question, ending your disputes, and getting on with your life. Don’t forget: if you’d like a handy reference for resolving some of those office-based style matters, you can download a free PDF of our guide The Write Stuff here. And if you’d like our help with developing a style guide for your company, get in touch. Image credit: Junial Enterprises / Shutterstock

Ancient and Indigenous Mathematics Research Paper

Ancient and Indigenous Mathematics - Research Paper Example However, a massive and countervailing pressure was the culmination of European supremacy in the shape of political control in large areas of Asia and Africa. Out of this supremacy, the ideology of European pre-eminence emerged and permeated a wide range of economic and social activities and also enhanced the unique role of Europe in providing the spirit for science discovery (Peat, 2006). This paper is going to discuss how mathematics has developed through ancient times and some of the factors that have led to the development of modern mathematics and also address the role of mathematics in other disciplines. Many social needs require numbers and calculations. Therefore, mathematics automatically came into play with the evolution of social systems. A well organized operational system is required to handle numbers and calculations. Nonetheless, as fascinating as the basic theories of counting may be, the origins of mathematics include more than just counting, enumeration and arithmetic. The human needs that instigated mankind’s initial efforts at mathematics were: calculations, counting and measurement (Kline, 2012). For example, an inheritance could not be distributed certain basics of division are known or a temple cannot be built if certain facts about squares and volumes are known. Mathematics was born from practical needs such as the ones above. Others argue that the central part of indigenous mathematics is based upon two simple questions: How much and how many? It is a convincing argument that long before our early ancestors had need to count their cattle or sheep, their unsophisticatedly organized social systems had simple rituals based on priority and rank. Also, according to Breasted (1988), it is evident that some socialized animals of diverse groups such as the red deer and baboon have some elementary sense of order of precedence, referred to

Memo Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Memo - Case Study Example Airing of this content was done by only few people among the CBS employees however, they failed on their duties. In this case the entire CBS is held responsible of actions of the employees who aired the content in the course of undertaking their duties. FCC had earlier come up with three ethics, these are: explicit scenery of the portrayal of sexual organs or activities. The substance dwells on or repeats at extent portrayal of sexual organs or activities. The last one is whether the substance appears to tamper or is used to titillate, or whether it may intensify the probable indecency of broadcast. FCC has made all the principles and laws clear whereby any form of exposure is prohibited by the law. Pacifica challenge on FCCs fleeting expletives is a decent illustration of infringement of the set standards and principles by FCC. Amid a mid-afternoon radio show George Carlins monolog, was publicized by a radio station. The monologs had smudged words in it that shouldnt be said in an open wireless transmission. The audience members were cautioned prior of a probability of sensitive and offensive dialect. Later a protestation was sent to FCC by a man who claimed to have listened to the show while driving with his young child. As a result of the fact that monologue contained non-scripted spoken vulgarity obscene words during a live radio broadcast makes it an fleeting expletive The FCC and Fox can be used as a prime example in this case whereby the ABC claimed to having not received a fair advertisement preceding to the broadcasts in question from FCC. This is the fact that fleeting invectives and short-lived nudity could actionably be found indecent, , however the FCC’s over-all policy is clear and which requires it to have a context-specific inspection of each purportedly offensive program with an aim of determining whether it needs censuring or not. However, I concur that the centerori renunciation by the court is incorrect that the Super Bowl

661 questions 1 and 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

661 questions 1 and 2 - Assignment Example Organization change initiative may fail because of the following factors; overloading priorities, whereby, managers tend to have divided loyalty on which responsibility to undertake first causing a change initiative to be unsuccessful (Clemmer, 2001). Overconcentration on achievements may cause organization change to be unsuccessful because organization may over concentrate on quality and achievement and forgets on conducting an assessment to determine whether organization is moving retrogressively or progressively (Clemmer, 2001). Additionally, a change initiative may become unsuccessful if managers delegate duties and give instruction without leading others to implement those changes (Clemmer, 2001). In above connection, lack of proper coordination and communication between managers and stakeholders within an organization may make a change initiative to become unsuccessful (Clemmer, 2001). I experienced a revolutionary change from childhood to adulthood whereby, I had to make decisions without relying on my parents. However, my parents could develop some resistance because they could not admit that fact that I had become an adult who can make his own decision. This story may relate to the stories of Kodak, Hewlett, IBM and Mc Donald’s in chapter one in the sense that, in both stories there are some forms of resistance when carrying out a change (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2008). The most common issues across all the stories are that there is some form of resistance to change. For example; in Kodak Company, the announcement of reducing amount of dividend paid to shareholders in order to adopt new technology was faced with a lot of resistance by all stakeholders (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2008). In above connection, the HP CEO Fiona experienced resistance from both staff members and family when she declared a merger between Hp and

Methods of tempering by water Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Methods of tempering by water - Coursework Example The revenue from the exports is then reinvested towards purchasing food stuff and machinery in order to sustain the rapidly growing economy of Qatar (Mclachlan, 2010). The current high oil prices are responsible for making sure that Qatar has a favorable balance of payment. It should however be noted that, the country’s dependence is not sustainable and its oil reserves are expected to be completely used up by the year 2023. This has led to the government of Qatar shifting its focus towards the development of the natural gas industry. The government has embarked on a plan to increase its production of liquid natural gas that has been attributed as being the major driving force in Qatar’s rapid growth levels in recent years. There are ongoing plans to expand the production of (LNG) exponentially, which according to estimates, will make the country the biggest exporter of LNG in the world. In 2010, Qatar’s major partner in import trade was the US and it accounted for 11.8% of all imports of Qatar marking a shift from Japan, which had been the main trade partner in exports and imports with Qatar. The country’s foreign trade has grown rapidly in recent years because of developments in the oil, gas industries and related infrastructure undertakings. In 2009 for example, the rate balance for goods rose from $ 25,555million in 2009 to $ 53,863million in 2010 which was an increase of 110.8%.I n 2010, the exports of goods including ere exports was estimated to be $95,736 million which was 75% of the overall nominal GDP. The total imports into Qatar between 2006 and 2010 increased by 41.4 % due to the improvement in, economic activities coupled with Qatar’s hydrocarbon increase in production and extension. A significant portion of the imported items included metal and machinery that are necessary for the development of the hydrocarbon industry of Qatar. Additionally, there were increases in expenditure on non-oil materials for

The feminization of love, How men and women are portrayed by society Research Paper

The feminization of love, How men and women are portrayed by society and the media - Research Paper Example On the other hand, love is a multi-faced movement, which varies based on situations, as well as one’s individual motives. There are many types of love, possibly as numerous as do several persons, who are loved and are in love. It entails a wide diversity of feelings characterized by some set behaviors (Robert 88). These components range from the one we feel for our parents, acquaintances, siblings, and kids to the ones we are feel for our wives or husbands. Currently love is connected to sexual relationships, a boy girl relationship may be termed as love, but, in most circumstances, it is infatuation or lust. However, what we are thinking, as love in the society is determined by women, and not by men (Gelsthorpe 53). Society in the past, viewed men and women from different perspectives. Their roles were well defined by the norms and taboos of a given society. Crisscrossing of duties was prohibited, and penalties were put in place to handle any uncouth behavior. However, changes occur every day with respect to the roles men and women play. In fact, today, their roles are reversed. This has seen the society change drastically within a short duration of time. With the transition of society, men and women continue to modify their lifestyles and way of living. In the field of administration, women are now heading countries, big organizations and small ones at the grass root level. Academically, women are now studying technical courses, which were only left for men. Women have now moved from kitchen and bedroom materials to the head of the families. Their duties and responsibilities have changed from caretakers to economically productive people in the society. Gender equity has now chipped in, and with the company of love, men can now share duties with their partners. Mode of life has further changed considerably. To some extra ordinary scenario, it has proved to be slightly complicated to allow women to participate actively. This is not due to discrimination, but the view of the society in some circumstances, women are viewed as vulnerable. For instance, a war situation. In the negative side, the society terms women as the weaker sex because occasionally, they feel annoyed if the other partner shows love with masculine behavior. They claim that it is invisible to them (Mark 36). How society view men and women culturally vary from place to place, ideas of appropriate behavior based on gender are varying among cultures along with the era. Although some aspects receive extra widespread attention than some others, Masculinities and Feminism claims that there are traditions where it has not been a taboo for men to contain homosexual relations, while there are others, who term as a vi ce, based on cultural beliefs and customs. In the 'Western' account age, when the modern caucus stated that men showed suppressed feelings of not relating, men were emotional about their feelings for their friends. â€Å"Companionship in the outback of Australian previous century is a situation in point" (Hutter 35). Further aspects, though, may differ noticeably with time plus place. In the then times, women were normally associated with roles correlated to medicine and even healing duties. As a result of the coming up of witch-hunts over Europe together with medicine institutionalization, these responsibilities finally ended up under the domination of men. Women turned to have no voice on whatever happened. In the last recent few decades, though, these responsibilities have become for the most part gender-neutral in Western civilization (Mark 178). The element of conference or traditions seems to play a leading role

Is technology an invasion of privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is technology an invasion of privacy - Essay Example The development of science in equipping the authority with methods of spying is not expected to end with wiretapping. Brand eisprescient and haunting words evidently apply nowadays, as the mark between science fiction and science is incessantly redrawn. This paper will show how technology is an invasion of privacy. Contemporary technologies for amassing personal information that surpass the physical, freedom enhancing restrictions of the ancient means are relentlessly appearing. They prod more deeply, extensively and quietly than traditional techniques, transcending obstructions (whether distance, walls, darkness, time or skin) that historically sheltered personal data. The boundaries that have defined as well as given authenticity to social groups, systems and the individual are progressively permeable lacking special validity. The influence of private and governmental organizations to coerce disclosure (whether centered on circumstance, technology, or law) and to collect, analyze a nd disseminate personal data is growing swiftly(Lyon& Zureik 45).The world is converting into a transparent community of record in that documentation of the history, present identity, location, physiological and communication, and psychological behavior and states is more and more possible through technology, and people’s privacy is no longer private. With extrapolative DNA and profiles, there are even alleges to being able to see individual futures. Collection of information often ensues invisibly, remote and automatically-being fabricated into routine undertakings. Awareness and unpretentious approval on the involvement of the individual might be lacking. The extent of personal data collected is increasing. Fresh technologies hold the capacity to disclose the unknown, unseen, withheld or forgotten. Like the unconscious or the atom discovery, they reveal tads of reality, which were previously concealed, or did not encompass informational clues. Individuals are in a way turne d inside out (Foucault 23). To be living as well as a social individual is to give off inevitably signals of continuous information-whether into the mode of heat, motion, pressure, brain waves, cells, perspiration, olifacteurs, sound, garbage, or waste matter, and more acquainted forms, for instance, visible behavior and communication. These fragments are awarded new connotation by modern surveillance technologies, thereby invading peoples’ privacy. In a value-added, hotchpotch process, machines (regularly with only a slight aid from their support system) may discover significance in combining and surfacing heretofore futile data (Lyon& Zureik 45).The proportion of what persons know concerning themselves (or are able to know) vs. what experts and outsiders can know about them has budged away from the person. Data in varied forms from extensively separated geographical regions, establishments and times can be certainly merged and examined. In comparatively unrestrained fashion , fresh (and old) establishments are capturing, merging and vending this data, or placing it to unique internal usages (Laudon 90). Technology is an invasion of privacy through the fresh information technologies that encompasses larger issues concerning the multifaceted inter-relations of society and technology;

Methods of tempering by water Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Methods of tempering by water - Coursework Example The revenue from the exports is then reinvested towards purchasing food stuff and machinery in order to sustain the rapidly growing economy of Qatar (Mclachlan, 2010). The current high oil prices are responsible for making sure that Qatar has a favorable balance of payment. It should however be noted that, the country’s dependence is not sustainable and its oil reserves are expected to be completely used up by the year 2023. This has led to the government of Qatar shifting its focus towards the development of the natural gas industry. The government has embarked on a plan to increase its production of liquid natural gas that has been attributed as being the major driving force in Qatar’s rapid growth levels in recent years. There are ongoing plans to expand the production of (LNG) exponentially, which according to estimates, will make the country the biggest exporter of LNG in the world. In 2010, Qatar’s major partner in import trade was the US and it accounted for 11.8% of all imports of Qatar marking a shift from Japan, which had been the main trade partner in exports and imports with Qatar. The country’s foreign trade has grown rapidly in recent years because of developments in the oil, gas industries and related infrastructure undertakings. In 2009 for example, the rate balance for goods rose from $ 25,555million in 2009 to $ 53,863million in 2010 which was an increase of 110.8%.I n 2010, the exports of goods including ere exports was estimated to be $95,736 million which was 75% of the overall nominal GDP. The total imports into Qatar between 2006 and 2010 increased by 41.4 % due to the improvement in, economic activities coupled with Qatar’s hydrocarbon increase in production and extension. A significant portion of the imported items included metal and machinery that are necessary for the development of the hydrocarbon industry of Qatar. Additionally, there were increases in expenditure on non-oil materials for

Is technology an invasion of privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is technology an invasion of privacy - Essay Example The development of science in equipping the authority with methods of spying is not expected to end with wiretapping. Brand eisprescient and haunting words evidently apply nowadays, as the mark between science fiction and science is incessantly redrawn. This paper will show how technology is an invasion of privacy. Contemporary technologies for amassing personal information that surpass the physical, freedom enhancing restrictions of the ancient means are relentlessly appearing. They prod more deeply, extensively and quietly than traditional techniques, transcending obstructions (whether distance, walls, darkness, time or skin) that historically sheltered personal data. The boundaries that have defined as well as given authenticity to social groups, systems and the individual are progressively permeable lacking special validity. The influence of private and governmental organizations to coerce disclosure (whether centered on circumstance, technology, or law) and to collect, analyze a nd disseminate personal data is growing swiftly(Lyon& Zureik 45).The world is converting into a transparent community of record in that documentation of the history, present identity, location, physiological and communication, and psychological behavior and states is more and more possible through technology, and people’s privacy is no longer private. With extrapolative DNA and profiles, there are even alleges to being able to see individual futures. Collection of information often ensues invisibly, remote and automatically-being fabricated into routine undertakings. Awareness and unpretentious approval on the involvement of the individual might be lacking. The extent of personal data collected is increasing. Fresh technologies hold the capacity to disclose the unknown, unseen, withheld or forgotten. Like the unconscious or the atom discovery, they reveal tads of reality, which were previously concealed, or did not encompass informational clues. Individuals are in a way turne d inside out (Foucault 23). To be living as well as a social individual is to give off inevitably signals of continuous information-whether into the mode of heat, motion, pressure, brain waves, cells, perspiration, olifacteurs, sound, garbage, or waste matter, and more acquainted forms, for instance, visible behavior and communication. These fragments are awarded new connotation by modern surveillance technologies, thereby invading peoples’ privacy. In a value-added, hotchpotch process, machines (regularly with only a slight aid from their support system) may discover significance in combining and surfacing heretofore futile data (Lyon& Zureik 45).The proportion of what persons know concerning themselves (or are able to know) vs. what experts and outsiders can know about them has budged away from the person. Data in varied forms from extensively separated geographical regions, establishments and times can be certainly merged and examined. In comparatively unrestrained fashion , fresh (and old) establishments are capturing, merging and vending this data, or placing it to unique internal usages (Laudon 90). Technology is an invasion of privacy through the fresh information technologies that encompasses larger issues concerning the multifaceted inter-relations of society and technology;

Meaning of life, Life Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life, Life Essay Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We all live in this big labyrinth of suffering. Th only way out of the labyrinth is death. † To live is to suffer, to survive to find meaning in the suffering. Few peopl e actually commit suicide to liberate themselves form suffering. Most people find meaning or purpo se for their life so that they have the motivation to live on. Some think that suffering make them wis er, some think that suffering is a test of faith, there will be rewards for them in the after life if they c an endure the suffering on earth. Some people couldnt understand but keep going on with their life for their loved ones. Some people keep themselves busy to dodge from the question. My view on this question is that suffering does not make life any more or any less meaningful. Beca use as an atheist, I believe that there is no God, the Universe does not have a divine plan for us. Tha t the existence of life is just purely a miraculous accident. When we die, we stop existing. The time we spend on Earth will not amount to anything in an afterlife in another dimension. Therefore, life i s inherently meaningless, with or without pain and suffering. Human are powerless in the face of m eaninglessness . The only way we can deal with life is to embrace the fact that there is no intrinsic va lue in life. We can only create our own meanings. One can create meaning of life with or without su ffering. But since suffering is an inseparable part of our life, it more or less give us insights on mean ing of life. Dr. Bernard Rieux can best exemplifies my point of view. When the plague got out of control and O ran was placed under quarantine, it didn’t stop the doctor form battling the plague, fighting the war t hat was doomed to fail. At this point, many would wonder what is meaning of of the doctor’s action s when they are all in vain. The answer can be found in a dialogue he shared with Tarrou. Tarrou asked the doctor why he was so committed to fighting the plague if he does not believe in G od. The doctor replied that whether or not God exist is irrelevant and he didn’t have the time to thin k about what waits him in the future and what will come out of his actions. The only thing he knew that there were sick people suffering and they needed to be cured. Even though he admitted that his struggles against death would only be temporary victories and that the plague was what he referred as an†endless struggle†, he said that this was not the reason to give up struggle. From the dialogue, we can see the doctor was aware of the intrinsic meaninglessness of his life, bec ause he said he wouldnt waste time to think about the existence of God and what his action will lea d to him. If he deemed his life has inherent meaning, he should have thought about the above questi ons. Thought he considered that his life is inherently meaningless, the plague gave me the meaning. The meaning lies in the other people. The doctor was fully aware that his attempts at lifting people out of misery is an impossible task as more and more people became infected and die. And there were no effective cure. Basically, his sitti ng around and doing nothing or wearing himself off to save the patients might just possibly lead to s ame outcome. However, the doctor did not stop his work in face of his powerlessness to alter the situation. Becaus e under this situation, he was left with only two choices, ignore it or act on it. There was no third op tion. The doctor chose the later one because he couldnt bear to see people suffer and doing nothing about it. It’s meaningless to battle the unwindable battle against the plague. It was not defeating the plague that gave meaning to the doctor. It was the people gave him meaning. It was his compassion for others that keep him going in times of suffering. From the case of Dr. Rieux and his battle against the plague, we can see similarities in the real worl d. The plague is like the amoral universe, and Dr. Rieux represents all the human beings. We are po werless in face of the meaningless of life, just as Dr. Rieux was powerless in face of the plague. But we do have a choice, we can create meanings for ourselves just as Dr. Rieux has learnt from sufferin g and found meanings in helping people. Winston Smith from 1974 1984 somewhat share some similarities with Dr. Rieux in terms of action upon the unchangeable, though he was not such a noble and heroic person as Dr. Rieux. In his case, the unchangeable was the Big Brother. Winston Smith lived in a state where every moves, every wo rds ands every thoughts he made were monitored by the Party. In the instance of living in an extrem e state where even having disloyal thought against the party is in violation of law. The meaning of li fe for Smith was not to start a revolution and topple the party, and change the system entirely. Thou gh Smith had thought about it and desired it to happen. Deep down he believed that it was impossibl e to achieve the goal and sooner or later he would be arrested by the Party. Nevertheless, he set out t o challenge the limits of the Party. He kept a diary which has† Down with the Big Brother† written o n it over and over again. He had an forbidden affair with Julia. Also he joined the Brotherhood whic h he believe is the enemy of the Party. I think the meaning for Smith did not lie in being the hero. What was important for him was to stay as human as possible. Through the rebellious acts against the Party in his own ways, he got to keep his spirit and his human side. That was the meaning he could find for himself. Despite the fact that he was completely compromised at last when he was brought into Room 101, where he was tortured to an extreme degree and indoctrinated to cure his â€Å"insaneness†. He was com pletely broke and dehumanised. His passionate hatred towards the Big Brother turned into absolute l oyalty and love. He should not be blamed for betraying Julia and not upholding what he believed in the first place in such extreme conditions. After all, he did try to rebel against the Big Brother even t hough deep down he knew he couldn’t do anything to overthrow the Big Brother. Dr. Rieux and Winston Smith resolved the question of meaning through their rebellious acts against the plague and the Big Brother. There are people who find suffering itself reveals the meaning of lif e. Father Paneloux is a good example to illustrate this point of view. In his first sermon addressing t he plague. He said that the plague was a punishment by God. That it was the result of the sin of all c itizens. He criticised the people for not attending church and repenting for their sins. Therefore the p lague was reminder of God’s power and the Oran residents should start to change their habits and st art to fear God again. Unlike Dr. Rieux, who is an atheist, Father Paneloux based his life and work on his christian faith. F rom a Christian point of view, everything happens on earth has purpose and fit into the grand plan o f God. Therefore, it was his job to make sense of the suffering of the plague so that he and the peopl e listening to him will be able to endure and continue to believe in God. From his interpretation of s uffering, the meaning of life for Father Panels was more easily understood than Dr. Rieux and Winst on Smith. The meaning of life was really simple, that is to serve and honour God in his will. Though he changes his view on suffering drastically after witnessing the death of an innocent child. He did not view suffering as a punishment anymore. He said that the reason why a innocent child sh ould suffer was not something that human would necessarily understand no matter how hard they tri ed. They just had to keep in mind that it was God’s will. One must keep his faith and God and find t he good in bad situation. In spite of a changing tone, the meaning for Father Paneloux remained the same- to serve God. To conclude, life itself is inherently meaningless. Not even religion can provide an universal answer to the meaning of life. There are no answers for that and never will be. Suffering does not make one’ s life meaningful. But through suffering one might find meanings in life and live a meaningful life. Wu Ngai Ching, Ivy 20189319 Grade: 21/25 ? 19/25 (due to 2-day late submission) Comments: ?Ivy – In terms of the main thesis of the essay, you’ve done a good job delineating your own atheist view on the meaning of life and drew 3 examples from the 2 works to discuss what m ight be the meaning of life for them. Your argumentation is quite right and your analysis of e ach of their reaciton and thoughts on this difficult question is right on. ?However, you simply â€Å"narrated† through the whole essay without really giving detailed or c oncrete evidences from the book. I wish you could provide some passages or quotes from se veral particular moments in the book to clearly illustrate your point. This is one of the ways t o demonstrate that you’ve actually done the reading, and that is also what we’ve been doing in class – making your point across by providing specific passages/instances in the book as c oncrete evidence. So please remember to do so for your final paper!