The Character of Miss Fairchild in Hearts and Hands Essay Example

The Character of Miss Fairchild in Hearts and Hands Essay One of the main characters in the short story Hearts and Hands, written by O Henry, Is an attractive young woman named Miss Fairchild. This character has feelings for a man named Mr.. Gaston, another main character, and cannot see that she Is being lied to because of her feelings and obliviousness. The problem involves counterfeiting. She is told that Mr.. Gaston Is a marshal and Is handcuffed too criminal who counterfeited and they are all In a train going to Leavenworth. She cannot see past her feelings for Mr.. Gaston and therefore, allowed herself to be lied to. She Is described as an attractive rich young woman with a gloss of style and manner but she Is also human, therefore has feelings too. Miss Fairchild Is a rich woman who has manner and style. In the train, she looks and speaks how a first class person should. She has a full, sweet, and deliberate voice that she used while conversing with Mr.. Gaston. This also shows that she is in love or at least has feelings for Mr.. Gaston. When she glanced at them she was disinterested at first but as soon as she noticed it was Mr.. Gaston, her countenance brightened and a tender pink tinged her round cheeks. We will write a custom essay sample on The Character of Miss Fairchild in Hearts and Hands specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Character of Miss Fairchild in Hearts and Hands specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Character of Miss Fairchild in Hearts and Hands specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Miss Fairchild was also too blinded by her feelings that she couldnt see past them and allowed herself to be lied to. She is also a normal human being who does not and cannot always act with a gloss of style and manner. This characteristic was showed when she began truly and simply talking about the West to the two men with shining eyes and said that money isnt everything. All of those traitsbeing rich, elegant, oblivious, in love, and human describe Miss Fairchild. She was all of these, but was lied to because she couldnt see past her feelings. But in reality, its not like they will ever see each other again.

Genre conventions in the films Control, Dead mans shoes and Casino Royale Essays

Genre conventions in the films Control, Dead mans shoes and Casino Royale Essays Genre conventions in the films Control, Dead mans shoes and Casino Royale Essay Genre conventions in the films Control, Dead mans shoes and Casino Royale Essay Essay Topic: Gun Control There are many different genres of film and each has its own set of generic conventions, films will follow these conventions to a certain degree. For example many mainstream Hollywood films will follow these conventions almost fully; films with a niche audience will often stray away from these generic conventions. A film that follows these conventions too strictly may be said to be boring and predictable however the audience may take pleasure from seeing conventions they know and take comfort from it. I am going to look at the films I am studying in terms of generic conventions and how they make use of them. The most conventional film is Casino Royale; it is a typical action film featuring almost everything the viewer would expect from an action film. One convention of an action film is that the character faces challenges and dangerous enemies. This is definitely true for this film with the protagonist facing many dangerous challenges such as gun fights and car chases. He also has dangerous human enemies such as Le Chiffre. : As this is a mainstream film with a high budget it will need to recoup this budget from sales and because of this the films producers will make sure the film follows generic conventions that they know the audience should enjoy instead of trying something new which may fail. Another generic convention of action films is beautiful women; this is also seen in Casino Royale with Vesper. Some scenes focus on her as a sexual object and this can be related to the male gaze theory. The main convention of an action film in my opinion is the following of the protagonist on his journey as he faces challenges; this hero will always succeed in conventional action films. This makes it very predictable for the audience who will often know for sure the hero is going to win and in a lot of cases the beautiful female (if there is one) will fall in love with him. However if the film breaks these conventions the viewer expects to see it will surprise them making the film more interesting and exciting. The least generic of these films in my opinion is Control, firstly because of its genre classification it is a biography, drama and music film. This is not a common form of film in comparison to the very popular action/adventure genre and this is why it is harder to say if it follows generic genre conventions. It is a lower budget independent film and I would say that it doesnt follow many typical mainstream conventions. One thing that makes this film less generic is that it is in black and white, this is to fit in with the time period the film is portraying and to make it more realistic. However this is something that a lot of mainstream films wouldnt use because their viewers may not appreciate it. A film on the same subject is Joy Division it gives the viewer an insight into the band and their lifestyle but in a different way. This shows how different films on the same subject can be as they follow conventions of different genres. Dead mans shoes is also a low budget film like control but in contrast it is fairly generic in its conventions. The main idea of the plot is of a man taking revenge on people by killing them. This basic idea can be found in many horror films and as the viewer may expect he does kill all of the people who had abused his brother. However the plot does have an unexpected twist with Richard getting the last victim to instead kill him. This is an example of how a typical plot can be changed to add excitement. A typical feature of this film is the violence and bloodshed featured, it is seen in most horror films and will be expected by the audience. For example in the scene when Richard drugs the victims he shoots one of them in the head, this is brutal and realistic violence. It could be compared to violence seen in Hollywood horror films such as saw, although these films are entirely different.

The American Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The American Dream - Essay Example Thereby, if one accesses the viability of achieving the American Dream in the current times, it seems pragmatic to assert that the American Dream does not seem as much of an achievable option today. A range of social, political and economic facts corroborate to this belief. There is no doubt that the people in America do enjoy a better quality of life as compared to many other nations. It would also be safe to say that the poor in America today are better off as compared to the past. However, it is also a reality that economic class in America is something that is getting more rigid and difficult to transcend. The gap between the rich and the poor in America is further augmenting and the poor are not poor because they are less hard working or less willing to work. Class mobility has become an aspect of the American life that has really ossified (Kamolnick 114). The other things is that though the confidence and trust of the people in their nation’s innate capacity and fertility has traditionally been subservient to the imminent economic circumstances, still it is worth mentioning that the current economic meltdown has indeed shaken the people’s faith in the American dream. This is not because the people have lost faith in the values and beliefs underlying the American society. It is because people have largely come to believe that the rich and the powerful do have the power to get away with anything (Alpasian & Mitroff 143). They have the power to bring the national economy down on its knees, and the irony is that they will not be penalized for it but will rather be rescued by commensurate economic bailouts and privileges (Alpasian & Mitroff 157). One scarcely finds the trust and belief in many of the contemporary Americans that one traces in the works of Anne Bradstreet, a belief in the possibility for individual growth and t he maturity of personal talent, irrespective of the imminent constraints and shortcomings. It appears

Lowering Drinking Age from 21 to 18 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lowering Drinking Age from 21 to 18 - Essay Example This proposal essay takes a look at the legal age of drinking and why it should be rolled back to 18 years of age. It also pinpoints the essential changes that need to be made within the legislation as well as tackles problems in a head on fashion. There are chances which will crop up every now and then which will make the above-mentioned proposal sound illogical and insane yet the outcome is for the betterment of one and all, and especially the youth of present times. After all, they know what is good for them and how they can amend their lives in essence with the time and spirit of the present epoch. In the times much like today, people look at their lives in the form of an open canvas – waiting to throw paints on their personalities. Same is the case which holds true for drinking where they suggest and indeed I am of the view that it should be allowed at the age of 18 years because at this age, a person gets mature enough to distinguish the good and the bad for his own self . Tamura (1992) asks the question regarding lowering the drinking age since there have been amendments in the legislative processes of different countries from time to time. What this highlights is the fact that legislation under such domains is a significant impediment in the wake of lowering drinking prohibitions. The legal age is just a yardstick of measuring one’s age at the end of the day. It does not give any idea about a teenager’s mental and physical maturity. What it presents to one and all is a mere age dynamic.

Develop a leadership plan for addressing the issue identified in the Research Paper

Develop a leadership plan for addressing the issue identified in the case study - Research Paper Example The downtown areas of Monson largely populated by local government and municipal buildings suffered heavy losses of government property owing to the large scale destruction of government buildings and offices. Apart from the large scale destruction of residential and government properties the central and downtown areas of Monson also suffered from potential damage of several commercial properties. Many business offices operating in such regions had to close down or were bound to switch over to other areas by opening up newer branches. It is observed that the downtown region of Monson which was once largely populated with trees now was completely barren after being heavily struck by the tornado. Large scale destruction of residential properties in the downtown region were observed after the tornado strike ruined around 290 houses thereby claiming both properties and lives in a devastating fashion. Thus, it is found that the region of Massachusetts became struck by a tornado of deadly potential. In the light of the above case the paper tends to evaluate the leadership issues in regards to the conduct of emergency operations to save both life and property and thereby in citing an effective plan to help enhance the efficiency of the emergency plans. For Massachusetts the year of 2011 was quite a disaster as the state was struck with one of the largest tornadoes across around 18 community regions that claimed around 550 lives and made a huge chunk of the population homeless (Town of Monson, 2011, p.1; Earth Observatory, 2011). A large number of faults were observed in regards to leadership issues to render effective emergency services to the victims of such tornado devastated regions. Firstly, it was observed that there were huge communication gaps between the government authorities and the agencies that were working to promote emergency related services. There were also communication gaps where the people pertaining to the agency operations

Coca-Cola Amatil Limited Management

Coca-Cola Amatil Limited Management Introduction The soft drink manufacturing industry is one of the largest industries around the globe. In Australia, it is one of the greatest revenue generators, estimated at $4bn as of 2016 according to the ibisworld.com 2016 report (IBISWorld.com, 2016 P. 1). The major players in the industry in Australia are Coca-Cola Amatil Limited and Asahi Holdings. The aim of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the performance of Coca-Cola Amatil Limited by first looking at the overview of the company itself. Overview of the Company Management and directors of the company The management of Coca-Cola Amatil Limited comprises of the Board of Directors and the group leadership team. The Chief Executive Officer, officially known as the group managing director, Ms. Alison Watkins (CCA, P.1) is both on the board of directors and the leadership team. The board of directors comprises of the Chairman, Mr. David Gonski, and the CEO (CCA, P. 1). The Chairman is a non-executive director. The other non-executive directors include the following: Ilana Atlas, Non-Executive Director (Independent) John Borghetti, Non-Executive Director (Independent) Anthony (Tony) Froggatt, Non-Executive Director (Independent) Martin Jansen, Non-Executive Director Mark Johnson, Non-Executive Director (Independent) Wal King, AO Non-Executive Director (Independent) David Meiklejohn, AM Non-Executive Director (Independent) Catherine Brenner, Non-Executive Director Paul OSullivan, Non-Executive Director (Independent) Krishnakumar Thirumalai, Non-Executive Director (Nominee of TCCC) (CCM, 2016) The management team consists of the Group managing director, Ms. Alison Watkins, and the following: Mr. Reg Weine, Managing Director SPC Mr. Barry OConnell, Managing Director, Australian Beverages Mr. Kadir Gunduz, Managing Director, Indonesia PNG Mr. Shane Richardson, Managing Director, Alcohol Coffee Mr. Chris Litchfield, Managing Director, New Zealand Fiji Ms. Libbi Wilson, Group Human Resources Director Ms. Betty Iyanoff, Group General Counsel Ms. Katie Newton-John, Joint Company Secretary Mr. James Lane, Sales Director Ms. Liz McNamara, Group Head of Public Affairs and Communications Mr. Simon Edgar, Director Marketing, and Strategy Mr. Chris Sullivan, Chief Procurement Officer Mr. Warwick Hutton, Chief Information Officer Mr. Andrew Wilson, General Manager-Strategy, Planning Innovation Mr. Davis Akers, Head of Investor Relations Ms. Kate Mason, Chief Transformation Officer (ibisworld.com, 2016) Major shareholders (holding at least 5% of shares) Coca-Cola Amatil Limited is a public limited company in Australia (IBISWorld.com, 2016 P. 1).   According to IBISWorld.com, (2016), the major shareholders are the following: Coca-Cola Holdings Ltd of the United States of America, with a percentage shareholding of 29.21 HSBC Custody Nominees Limited (Australia) with a share of 18.65% JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited with 10.05% shareholding National Nominees Limited (Australia) with 8.54% shareholding Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited with 5.93% shareholding. Compensation of Directors and Top Executives The company has a remuneration committee that is responsible for setting out the remuneration of all employees. The committee has set favourable compensation incentive plans that are performance based; a key management who performs better is likely to earn more on top of the fixed remuneration. According to the CCA Annual Report (2015, P. 62), the compensation of key management personnel was as follows; A.M. Watkins, the Group Managing Director, had a fixed compensation which included Salary and leaves entitlements amounting to $2,263,266, non-monetary benefits of $450, superannuation of base salary of $19,046 and another amount of $7,720. The manager was also able to take at-risk performance related compensation which amounted to $1,564,500 (Coca-Cola Amatil Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). The Group Chief Financial Officer, Mr. M.J. Robert had a fixed salary of $1,810,083 and non-monetary benefits of $258. He also received a superannuation of base salary amounting to $9,654 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). He was also entitled to at-risk performance-related compensation of $267,027 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). The Group Human Resources Director, E.C Wilson, was entitled to a fixed salary of $620,987 and non-monetary benefits of $36,562 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). The Managing Director of Indonesia PNG was entitled to a fixed salary of $719,674 and non-monetary benefits of $432,970, and a risk allowance of $ 371, 626 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). The managing director of New Zealand and Fiji was entitled to a fixed salary of $341, 440 and non-monetary benefits of $5,254 with risk allowance of $316,269 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). The managing director of Australian Beverages, on the other hand, was entitled to a fixed salary of $939,462 and non-monetary benefits of $118,222 with a risk allowance of $491,447 (CCA Annual Report, 2015, P. 62). Key performance Indicators (accounting and market) Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, being the largest company in the Asia Pacific in the soft drinks industry, has several key performance indicators which serve as the basis for its business decisions. According to ibisworld.com (2016), the Accounting Key Performance Indicators include: The Return on Revenue percentage Percentage Return on Shareholders Funds Percentage Return on Assets Percentage Profit Margin The Revenue per Employee The Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) per Employee The percentage Effective Tax Rate The Percentage Gearing The Interest Cover The Current Ratio The Dividends paid per Share The Marketing Key Performance Indicators are: The percentage change of Total Revenue Growth The percentage change in Sales Revenue Growth The Percentage change in Total Assets The percentage change in the Net Profit After Tax The percentage change in Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) The percentage change in Shareholders Funds Evaluation of the performance of Coca-Cola Amatil Limited Coca-Cola Amatil Limited is one of the major players in the Soft Drink Manufacturing Industry in Australia. The industrys retail market has been hit by changing customer preferences of soft drink which has led to a significant drop in revenue. However, the growth in popularity of energy and sports drinks has spearheaded the growth of the industry. According to IBISWorld.com (2016), the industry revenue has been projected to increase at an annual rate of 2.4% for the next five years through 2015-2016. In Australia, the company is ranked position 72 in the top 2000 companies. The primary source of income of the company is from the manufacture of beverage and tobacco in the Australia industry. According to ibisworld.com (2016), Coca-Cola Amatil Limited is reported to have generated total revenue of $5.253 billion in the year ending 2016. The company operates in two groups namely: Non-Alcoholic beverages, and Alcoholic, Food, and Services. Under the Non-Alcoholic Beverage segment, the company manufactures and distributes the Coca-Cola licensed products in five Asia Pacific countries which are Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia (IBISWorld.com, 2016). For the purpose of evaluation, the report will cover the various segments in which Coca-Cola Amatil Limited operates. Spirit Manufacturing in Australia In 2007, CCA started to venture into the alcoholic beverage market after signing a 10 year deal with Beam Global Spirits and Wines Inc and executing it as a joint venture with SABMiller (IBISWorld.com, 2016). As of 2016, the number of companies in the industry is 71 with a turnover growth rate of 1.31 and a size of $1.7831 billion (IBISWorld.com, 2016). Coca-Cola Amatil Limited has an estimated market share of 15.3% in this industry (IBISWorld.com, 2016). Over the past five years, from 2012 to 2017, CCAs alcoholic segment has been performing well despite a reduced consumption which has slowed growth rate. According to IBISWorld.com (2016), CCAs revenue in this industry is expected to increase at an annual rate of 3.3% through December 2017. The primary competitors are Diageo Australia Limited and Asahi Holdings (Australia) Pty Limited. Diageo and Asahi Holdings have market shares of 23.6% and 12.3% respectively, implying that Diageo is the market leader followed by CCA. Fruit and Vegetable Processing in Australia The company ventures in the fruit and vegetable processing through its subsidiary company called SPC Ardmona (IBISWorld.com, 2016). The subsidiary processes a broad range of fruits and vegetable products for sale in various retail stores. The companys performance in this segment has been hampered by cheap imports from South Africa and Italy (IBISWorld.com, 2016). There has also been a competition between the major supermarkets such as Woolworths and Coles, which has also led to the reduction in prices of the products. The industry size is estimated to be $5.8864 billion with a turnover growth rate of 0.29. CCA has a market share of 5.7%. Other players in the Industry are Simplot Australia Pty Limited and Heinz Watties Pty Limited with market shares of 8.1% and 6.6% respectively (IBISWorld.com, 2016). Coca-Cola Amatil has been struggling to cope with the competition over the past five years. Generally, it has been underperforming due to oversupply from cheap imports. Extreme weather has also affected the company since it has reduced fresh produce.   In 2013, the total revenue was 319.8, up from 317.2 in 2012. There was also an increase in 2014, but the revenue decreased in 2015 which was recorded to be 319.6 down from 328.1 in 2014. The revenue in 2016 rose to 332.4. Soft Drink Manufacturing Coca-Cola Amatil boasts being the largest soft drink manufacturer in Australia with a market share of 53.8% (ibisworld.com, 2016).   Its rival, Asahi Holdings Pty Limited has a market share of 24.9%. Historically, the performance of CCA has been strong. However, high competition and shift of customers preference of soft drinks due to health concerns have significantly affected the revenue.   Despite being the market leader in the industry, CCA has been underperforming over the last five years. The companys revenue has been falling due to pressures from competitors and marketing costs. According to IBISWorld report (2016), the revenue increased between 2011 and 2012. From 2012 to 2016, the profits have sharply decreased. Overall Company Performance In overall, CCA has been performing relatively well considering the fact that its main business segment has the highest market share in Australia. Sales Revenue According to Saunders Cornett (2014), sales revenue refers to the net income from the sales of goods or services after all the costs have been subtracted. Over the last five years, CCA has been recording an unstable growth in sales revenue. As at December 2012, the sales revenue was $5,097,400. This was followed by a drop in 2013 which recorded sales revenue of $5,036,400, a growth rate of -1.2%. In 2014, the sales revenue grew at a rate of -1.9% to $4,942,800. This was the lowest figure in the span of five years. In 2015, CCA did a lot to achieve high sales revenue of %5,093,600,000 which is equivalent to a growth rate of 3.1%. In 2016, the sales revenue changed positively at a rate of 1.1% to record a figure of $5,150,800,000 (ibisworld.com, 2016). Although the sales growth rate seems to be staggering, the average growth of sales revenue from 2011 to 2016 is 1.4%. Total Revenue Saunders Cornett (2014) define total revenue as the income of a company from all sources, including the sales revenue, in a given period. The figure includes the sales revenue and revenue from other sources. Just like the sales revenue, CCA has had unstable total revenue since 2012. The company recorded $5.175 billion of total revenue in 2012 (ibisworld.com, 2016). In 2013, the total revenue dropped by 1.1% to record $5.1199 billion (ibisworld.com, 2016). In the following year, a further decline in total revenue was also realized, at a staggering figure of $5.0341 billion, which was a drop by 1.7% (ibisworld.com, 2016).   In 2015, CCAs total revenue increased at a rate of 3% to become $5.1869 billion by the end of the year (ibisworld.com, 2016). By the end of 2016, the total revenue was recorded as $5.2532 billion, which was an increase of 1.3% from the previous year. On average, the percentage change in growth rate since 2011 is 1.5%, implying that the company is on the righ t track. However, comparing to the average growth rate in the industry which was 2.36% in 2016, the company has been underperforming. Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) is the amount of money a company earns after all its expenses (Saunders Cornett, 2014). Coca-Cola Amatil Limited has been hit by fluctuations in profits, and its profits have generally been decreasing sharply from 2012 to date. In 2012, the net profit after tax was $457.8 million. This was followed by a sharp decrease in 2013, which was $79.9 million, which is a percentage decrease of 82.5% (ibisworld.com, 2016). In 2014, the profits increased more than twice and reached $272.1 million, which is 240.6% growth. The profits grew further by 44.6% in 2015 but, as of 2016 December, the profit was $246.1 million as opposed to $393.4 million in 2015, which was a decrease of 37.4% (ibisworld.com, 2016). On average, CCA has not been doing well regarding profits. Its average change in NPAT is -16.1%. As of December 2016, the industry average NPAT was 4.99%, implying that CCA has been performing poorly. Return on Revenue (ROR) To understand the profitability of CCA, it is essential to look at the change in ROR. In 2012, the change in ROR was 8.9% (ibisworld.com, 2016). In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, the ROR was 1.6%, 5.4%, 7.6% and 4.7% respectively (IBISWorld.com, 2016). This implies that the company was more profitable in 2012 and 2015 compared to the rest of the years. Return on Assets (ROA) The ROA measures the profitability of a company in relation to its assets. CCA has been doing well since it has been recording a positive ROA since 2012. Coca-Cola Amatil Limited management team can be said to be efficient in utilizing assets to generate revenue. From 2012 to 2016, the Return on Assets is 6.8%, 1.2%, 4.5%, 5.9%, and 3.8% respectively. The average ROA in the industry as at 2016 was 1.9% compared to CCAs 3.8% (IBISWorld.com, 2016). The company has, therefore, been performing well in the industry. Question 2 Robert Alba just won the state lottery. He has been given the option of receiving either  $62.9 million today or $5 million a year for the next 35 years, with the first payment paid  today. Discuss the process that Robert should use to determine which payment option he  prefers. Ignore all taxes and assume that Jesse will live for at least 40 more years Solution To determine the best option, we need to determine the present value the Annuity due of for the given cash flows since the payment in the second option is going to be made at the beginning of the period. Present value or the discounted value refers to the current worth of the given amount of money or the stream of cash flow that is going to be received in future at a particular rate of return (Brealey, Myers, Allen, and Mohanty, 2012). The present value is usually less than the future value due to the time value of money characteristic, which states that money will always earn an interest; therefore, a dollar today is more than a dollar tomorrow. The formula is as follow; (Brealey, Myers, Allen, and Mohanty, 2012) Where C=the cash given per period i = rate of interest n= the number of payments In this case, the present value of $62.9 million today is $62.9 million. Robert Alba should determine the present value of the cumulative cash flows of $5 million per year for 35 years.   The best option would be that with the highest present value. Using the formula above, the present value for option B will be as follow; Assuming a uniform interest rate of 10%, $53.04 million is less than $62.9 million; therefore, Robert Alba should choose option A, i.e. to receive the payment of $62.9 million now. List References Brealey, R.A., Myers, S.C., Allen, F. and Mohanty, P., 2012. Principles of corporate finance. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. CCA Annual Report, 2015. Real Possibilities Real Progress-2015 Annual Report. Accessed on https://www.ccamatil.com/-/media/Cca/Corporate/Files/Annual-Reports/2015/CCA166-CCA-Annual-Report-2015-WEB_final.ashx CCA, n.d. Coca-Cola Amatil Limited. Accessed on https://www.ccamatil.com IBISWorld.com, 2016. IBISWorld Company Premium Report: Coca-Cola Amatil Limited. Balance Date: 2016 Saunders, A. and Cornett, M.M., 2014. Financial institutions management. McGraw-Hill Education.

An Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You

An Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most productive writers of our time. Between 1971-95, Oates published twenty-five novels, eighteen short story compilations, three collections of novellas, five volumes of poetry, six editions of plays, eight books of essays, and countless more umcollected works (Kellman 487). As the format for her writing varies, so does her subject matter. Her creations cover a wide range of genres, but Oates' main fascination is contemporary America with its "colliding social and economic forces, its philosophical contradictions, its wayward, often violent energies" (Johnson 8). Oates' works, and somethimes even Oates herself, have been subject to responses ranging from extreme praise to harsh criticism from the literary community. Oates has won many significant literary awards and has even been nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in literature but has also received her share of bad press. Oates' work has time and time again been criticized for being too violent, to o bizarre, degrading to women, and "the exact antithesis to the feminist movement" (gtd. in Wesley par. 32). I believe the opposite is true. Oates herself has been quoted as saying that her subject matter is "today's culture," and that all she is trying to do is to bring the ills of our cuture "to a place where it can be examined" (Johnson 10). Some of her stories are purely fictional, but many stories seem to be ripped from the headlines. Zombie, a 1995 novel, is loosely based on the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings (Seltzer 288). The highly acclaimed short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" draws its inspiration from the case of an Arizona serial killer,... ...arterly Review 38 (1999): 487-495. Literature Online. 13 July 2002 . Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Selected Early Stories. Princeton, NJ: Ontario Review Press, 1993. Seltzer, Mark. Serial Killers: Death and Life in America's Wound Culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998. Smooth Talk. Dir. Joyce Chopra. Perf. Treat Williams, Laura Dern, Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge, and Levon Helm. Vestron Video, 1986. Southner, Randy. "Celestial Timepiece: A Joyce Carol Oates Homepage." 2002. University of San Francisco. 12 July 2002 . Wagner, Linda W. Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates. Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1979. Wesley, Marilyn C. "Reverence, Rape, Resistance: Joyce Carol Oates and Feminist Film Theory." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 32.3 (1999): 75-85. Literature Online. 13 July 2002 .

Hotel Management System Essay

1.1 Introduction The aim of every business is to achieve operational excellence and efficiency. The effectiveness of business processes today has been influenced by technology. However, as computing technology becomes increasingly vital to conducting business and communicating with associates, new and more complex issues must be resolved. Among them is the need to ensure that the benefits derived from using computers are not reduced due to accompanying information management inefficiencies or to the creation of new business risks. A hotel is a building where travelers can pay for lodging, meals and other activities. Hotel Management involves combination of various skills like management, marketing, human resource development, and financial management, inter personal skills, dexterity, etc. Hotels are a major employment generator in tourism industry. Hotel management can be a very lucrative field, both in terms of annual revenues Furthermore, hotels are big attractions to businesses and associations l ooking to hold events. Booking an event means additional revenue for the use of a conference or banquet room, in addition to overnight guests who may use laundry and other concierge services. Work in the area of Hotel Management involves ensuring that all operations, including accommodation, food and drink and other hotel services run smoothly. Hotel management system goes a long way to assist hotels in achieving its aims. Hotel management system as an automated system will enable hotels provide all round services to their various customers or stakeholders through digital or electronic means. The system will assist management in its day-to-day business activities, make decisions. 1.2 Subject and Field of Study The field of study is computer studies and in relation to the subject area being Information Management system and Web Application Development with highlights on Database management, Web and Internet Technology. This project is a web application development project prior to my area of study, the project is designed specifically for hotel businesses that has seen the need of transforming business activities from the manual process to digital process and also businesses that needs safe and proper customer data management in electronic form using the internet. 1.3 Study Objectives The study objectives are categorized into two: 1.3.1 Global Objective: The Global objective of this project is to contribute to the general body of knowledge and research work in the area of developing a hotel management system that will automate the whole management processes of the organization (hotels). 1.3.2 Specific Objectives: The following are the targeted objectives to be accomplished in order to achieve the general objective above. To be able to create mutual communication between customer and business (hotel). To provide a platform for online booking and reservation by customer’s rooms. To provide easy access to customers in viewing and making selection of hotel rooms. To be able to manage fast access to guest(customers) information and easy update of records. To be able to provide security measures to access the hotels information lowering data security threats. To be able to provide better data management facilities To able to enable backups of respective users to be made and accessed when it is needed. 1.4 Problem Statement Intended to explore the impact of the design of Hotel Management System is expected to overcome the general problems in handling issues relating to hotel business activities, managerial activities, difficulties in providing stock control of equipment’s used in the hotel, difficulties on monitoring and tracking customers details and requirements on which the tasks are performed, the time consuming aspects of various customers moving all the way to the preferred hotel to make reservation and bookings as well as viewing at the hotel rooms available. However providing notifications to respective customers about their reservation status is also time wasting. Also management of these hotels finds it difficult manually keeping records of their various employees, clients and other vital hotel related information. Difficulties in making references to old business transactions, data’s and other negotiations and issues concerning security of data and  recovery manners is also considered. It is designed to replace old method of recording information by using pen and paper. 1.5 Research Methodology The proposed research methodology for this project is the â€Å"Waterfall Model†. The waterfall model takes fundamental process activities and it is a sequential design process, often used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of separate process phases such requirement specification, software design implementation, testing and maintenance. To ensure that our project is in par with our client needs, we used the waterfall model approach in developing the systems. The first process of the model is data gathering. Here we gather information about basic hotel management system functionalities. Joint Application Development (JAD) will be used as fact- findings techniques that will be used to gather the requirements analysis if the Hotel Management System should be implemented in any hotel. After the first phase of data gathering we proceeded in interviewing our clients. We asked about what their expectations were in a hotel management system. Some clients already had a hotel management system. In this case we asked them about what improvements they would have wanted to add in the system such as implementing an attribute for passport information. After gathering all of the information from our clients we proceeded with the next step which is analyzing of data and problem solving. In here we began conceptualizing the components our system needed such as inputting name and creating a log in log out system. We also thought about what elements from our initial concept did not require. After conceptualizing all of the elements we need in creating our system we proceed to the next step which is implementing requirements. In here we decide what applications we need in developing the system. Here we decided to use VB.Net and MySQL as our primary programming languages. Now that we have our tools we proceed to the next step which is system and software design. In here we take our concept design and upgrade that design by implementing our tools in the design. This means we have to understand the requirements of the end user and also have an idea of how the end product should look like. System design also helps us specify the hardware and  system requirements to create the overall system architecture. System design is the (stepping stone towards) our next task which is GUI design. GUI design is the process of designing user interface of the entire system. This means that we start creating actual look of the program for our system. After creating the design we proceed to next step which is system coding. This is where the command lines are assigned to a GUI so that they would have their proper functions. An example would be initiating the connection query in order to connect to the database. After adding all of the required components we proceed to the final step which is system testing and debugging. Here both individual components and the integrated whole are methodically verified to ensure that they are error-free and fully meet the requirements. 1.6 Background and Justification of the Study The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which a hotel management system will be used in the organization to manage hotel business processes. A background study shows that the hotel’s daily operation is managed by the Administrative Department. The process starts from customers coming to the hotel to make reservations and enquiries, through the hotel receptionist. The customer booking details will be recorded in a manual form and filed. After making enquiries and finally a reservation is made, the reservation form would be forwarded to the cashier for payment to be made, all involving paper work. Since it involves paper work lots of time is consumed and booking & reservation takes a lot of time. Furthermore, when a customer wants to check out, files will have to be searched and retrieved so that the final operations of checking out a customer will be performed. Some of the service personnel who have studied the issues concerning the manual business operation issued by customers, has contended that the manual operation reduces the operational productivity of the hotel. Because there have been cases records have been mishandled due to human error, some data’s cannot be found etc. HMS helps in managing reservations, bookings, guests and agents. The user can search for the vacant rooms in the hotel and book for it by not necessarily coming to the  physical location of the hotel. An administrator can view the booking details, transactions and coordinate the activity with the agents. He can track the entire site activity. Reservations can also be made through a phone call or an email. 1.7 Expected Outcome of the Project At the end of this project, the following becomes the outcome: There will be a created mutual communication between customer and management. Customers will be enabled make online booking and reservation by searching for rooms. There will be enabled effective storage of customers’ data Administrators will be able to manage fast access to guest files and updates of records will be done effectively and efficiently. Administrators will be provided with better data management facilities. There will be enabled security measures when trying to access the hotels information lowering data security threats. There will be enabled frequent backups of respective user details and access when needed. 1.8 Presentation of Thesis Chapter 1: General introduction is focused on the research which is the Project Proposal. Chapter 2: Literature Review which focuses on history and the outlook of the existing systems. Chapter 3: Methodology. In this chapter, the proposed system is analyzed into details and its importance discussed expansively where context level diagrams, dataflow diagrams, flowcharts will be used to explain the proposed system further. Chapter 4: System Analysis and Design; the study carries on with the design of the system. This chapter will encompass database modeling, class modeling, use case modeling and the relationship diagram of the proposed system. Chapter 5: Testing and Implementation; Implementation of the computer software goes on after the design. The system will be tested and reviewed to reveal errors. In this chapter also the documentation of the completed system. It also lays emphasis on both the users of the system and the system itself. Under the user documentation, the manual for both the user and the expert who will administer the system will be known. Finally conclusion and recommendation will be made as well as observations are identified and the necessary improvement which could be added to the system is made.

Thermal Pollution Essays

Thermal Pollution Essays Thermal Pollution Paper Thermal Pollution Paper It is one of the pollution that effects on living things and the environment badly. The definition of thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. When water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the change in temperature decreases oxygen supply, and affects ecosystem composition. Urban runoff?seawater discharged to surface waters from roads and parking lots-can also be a source of elevated eater temperatures. When a power plant first opens or shuts down for repair or Other causes, fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by the abrupt change in water temperature known as thermal shock. * Effects of thermal pollution on the environment There are several effects of thermal pollution * The dissolved oxygen content of water is decreased as the solubility of oxygen in water is decreased high temperature * High temperature becomes a barrier for oxygen penetration into deep Goldwater. * Toxicity of pesticides, detergents and chemicals in the effluents increases with increase in temperature. * The composition of flora and fauna changes because the species sensitive to increase temperature due to thermal shock will be replaced by temperature tolerant species. Metabolic activities of aquatic organisms increase at high temperature i nadequate more oxygen level falls under thermal pollution. * Discharge of heated water near the shores can disturb spawning and can Bienville young fishes. * Fish * Sudden migrations are affected due to formation of various thermal zones and periodic increase in temperature producing a thermal effect * Distribution of organisms among major and minor communities. Changes to reproductive powers and increased susceptibility to disease * production of heat shock proteins for thermonuclear. Bio indicators are the first to show the effects. * Decrease in productivity of the water body . * Economic and environmental damage * Effects of thermal pollution on the living things All plant and animal species that live in water are adapted to temperatures within a certain range. When water in an area warms more than they can tolerate, species that cannot move, such as rooted plants and shellfish, will die. Species that can move, such as fish, will leave the area in search of cooler notations, and they will die if they can not find them. It can be said that pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm of discomfort to the ecosystem and in this essay on pollution these problems will be discussed. The blacksmith institute issues annually a list of the worlds most polluted worst places. In 2007 issues the top ten nominees are located in Azerbaijan, china, Peru, Russia, Zambia including India. In the last industrial age, the term over pollution was common, representing a view that was both critical of industrial pollution but likewise accepted a certain degree of pollution as nominal industrial practice. Say on pollution. With the growing number of automobiles and the greenhouse effect problem becoming more and more of a threat, air pollution is something to be concerned with. Essay on pollution. This essay on pollution will also discuss the major forms of it. They are listed below along with the particular contaminant relevant to each of them. Essay on polluti on. *Air pollution:the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common gaseous pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Say on pollution. *Light pollution: includes light trespass and astronomical interference. Littering:the criminal throwing of inappropriate man made objects, unredeemed onto public and p riveter properties. Essay on pollution. *Noise pollution: which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise? *Solar contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground leakage. *Thermal pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused y human influence. Visual pollution which, can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards. *Water pollution by the discharge of waste water from commercial and industrial waste into surface waters, discharge of untreated domestic sewage, and chemical contaminants such as chlorine, fro m treated sewage. Essay on pollution. About 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are generated every year. The United States alone produces about 250 million metric tons. Americans constitute less than 5 % of the worlds population. Essay on pollution.

Response to the research question

Response to the research question adaptations. Students need to be given an opportunity to engage in open-ended and self motivated sessions accompanied with sufficient guidance and direction from their teachers (Potts, 2003).

EZL 124 Supporting children's learning in the early years Essay

EZL 124 Supporting children's learning in the early years - Essay Example Over time, I progressed to Nursery nurse, with a wide range of roles and responsibilities attached to my job. The thorough training I underwent taught me the importance of play; holistic approach to early years learning and safety of the children; evaluation of my work and identification of my weakness through deep reflection on my practice and the promotion of diversity, equality and inclusion of all children regardless of their abilities and cultural backgrounds. The centre helps and supports children, their families and staff when appropriate. I realized it was one of my passions to support and help children with special/ additional needs. The centre works with other agencies and professionals in supporting children’s positive development and promoting their welfare. It adheres to the policies set by the Every Child Matters, 14 national standards, Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and all other relevant policies and regulations. Personally, in my practice, I promote equal opportunity, inclusion , planning for children’s needs and interests, working with parents and being a positive role model to our students and volunteers as well as to less experienced staff. In doing so, I uphold the high standards of the centre and become one in its consistent provision of quality care. The five areas of Every Child Matters namely: Staying Safe; Being Healthy; Enjoying and Achieving; Making a Positive Contribution; and Achieving Economic Well-Being are all goals that the centre attempts to meet on a daily basis. Working with a team of colleagues hones my skills in interpersonal relations, planning for the children, and sharing and gaining knowledge about each child’s needs and children’s development in general. Parent relations are likewise maintained effectively as I keep the lines of communication open for them regarding their children. Networking with various professionals from different agencies involved with