Hypothetical disaster scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hypothetical disaster scenario - Essay Example Moreover, Al Ain has experienced intermittent water supply due to problems of transmission as well as distribution. The Al Ain nuclear power plant experienced some technical problems and this resulted in the leakage of radioactive materials in the environment. This situation raised fears of contamination by the radioactive materials among residents who fear for their lives and their livestock. Because of the environmental concerns relating to the effects of the radioactive materials, there was need to conduct research on the state of the environment to determine the extent and quantity of radioactive components within Al Ain region (Environmental Agency 1). This is because radioactive materials generated from nuclear plants due to accidents are dangerous and can have immense negative impact on the environment with extreme cases resulting in the death of various forms of biodiversity. In order to achieve this mission, there is need to collect data from the environment in order to use for examination of the situation. Data collection entailed sampling of water in the environment. First, with assistance from environmental experts and chemical analysts, ground water samples from the plant’s premises are collected for lab testing and further examination. Consequently, I would collect water samples from the neighboring regions. The aim of this step is to use the data for comparison and further analysis and decision-making (Bodansky 23). Afterwards, chemical experts take these samples into the lab for examination and analysis. After examination and analysis, the results obtained from the two samples indicate presence of radioactive materials in the environment. Water samples collected within the plant’s locality indicate high concentration of iodine – 131, a radioactive material compared to those collected some distance away from the nuclear plant (Nuclear world Association 1). Since the water table in Al Ain is close to

IT Enters a New Learning Environment Essay Example for Free

IT Enters a New Learning Environment Essay It is most helpful to see useful models of school learning that is ideal to achieving instructional goals through preferred application of educational technology. These are the models of Meaningful Learning, Discovery learning, Generative Learning and Constructivism. Meaningful Learning If the traditional learning environment gives stress focus to rote learning and simple memorization, meaningful learning gives focus to new experience departs from that is related to what the learners already knows. New experience departs from the learning of a sequence of words but attention to meaning. It assumes that: ââ€"  Students already have some knowledge that is relevant to new learning. ââ€"  Students are wiling to perform class work to find connections between what they already know and what they can learn. In the learning process, the learner is encouraged to recognize relevant personal experiences. A reward structure is set so that the learner will have both interest and confidence, and this incentive system sets a positive environment to learning. Facts that are subsequently assimilated are subjected to the learner’s understanding and application. In the classroom, hands-on activities are introduced so as to simulate learning in everyday living. Discovery Learning Discovery learning is differentiated from reception learning in which ideas are presented directly to student in a well-organized way, such as through a detailed set of instructions to complete an experiment task. To make a contrast, in discovery learning student from tasks to uncover what is to be learned. New ideas and new decision are generated in the learning process, regardless of the need to move on and depart from organized setoff activities previously set. In discovery learning, it is important that the student become personally engaged and not subjected by the teacher to procedures he/she is not allowed to depart from. In applying technology, the computer can present a tutorial process by which the learner is presented key concept and the rules of learning in a direct manner for receptive learning. But the computer has other uses rather than delivering tutorials. In a computer simulation process, for example, the learner himself is made to identify key concept by interacting with a responsive virtual environment. Generative Learning In generative learning, we have active learners who attend to learning events and generate meaning from this experience and draw inferences thereby creating a personal model or explanation to the new experience in the context of existing knowledge. Generative learning is viewed as different from the simple process of storing information. Motivation and responsibility are seen to be crucial to this domain of learning. The area of language comprehension offers examples of this type of generative learning activities, such as in writing paragraph summaries, developing answers and questions, drawing pictures, creating paragraph titles, organizing ideas/concepts, and others. In sum, generative learning gives emphasis to what can be done with pieces of information, not only on access to them. Constructivism In constructivism, the learner builds a personal understanding through appropriate learning activities and a good learning environment. The most accepted principles constructivism’s are: ââ€"  Learning consists in what a person can actively assemble for himself and not what he can receive passively. ââ€"  the role of learning is to help the individual live/adapt to his personal world. These two principles in turn lead to three practical implications: ââ€"  the learner is directly responsible for learning. He creates personal understanding and transforms information into knowledge. The teacher plays an indirect role by modeling effective learning, assisting, facilitating and encouraging learners. ââ€"  the context of meaningful learning consists in the learner â€Å"connecting† his school activity with real life. ââ€"  the purpose of education is the acquisition of practical and personal knowledge, not abstract or universal truths. To review, there are common t hemes to these four learning domains. They are given below: Learners ââ€"  are active, purposeful learners. ââ€"  set personal goals and strategies to achieve these goals. ââ€"  make their learning experience meaningful and relevant to their lives. ââ€"  seek to build an understanding of their personal worlds so they can work/live productively. ââ€"  build on what they already know in order to interpret and respond to new experiences. LB#6: IT Enters a New Learning Environment. Effective teachers best interact with students in innovative learning activities, while integrating technology to the teaching-learning process. In Meaningful learning * Students already have some knowledge that is relevant to new learning * Students are willing to perform class work to find connections between what they already know and what they can learn. In Discovery learning Ideas are presented directly to students in a well-organized way, such as through a detailed set of instructions to complete an experiment or task. In applying technology, the computer can preset a tutorial process by which the learner is presented key concepts and the rules of learning in a direct manner for receptive learning. In Generative Learning Active learners who attend to learning events and generate meaning from this experience and draw inferences thereby creating a personal model or explanation to the new experience in the context of existing knowledge.Motivation and responsibility are seen to be crucial to this domain of learning. In Constructivism The learner builders a personal understanding through appropriate learning activities and a good learning environment. Learners: are active, purposeful learners. Set personal goals and strategies to achieve these goals. Make their learning experience meaningful and relevant to their lives. Seek to build an understanding of their personal worlds so they can work/live productively. Build on what they already know in order to interpret and respond to new experiences.

Languages Essays Italian Economic Miracle

Languages Essays Italian Economic Miracle The Italian Economic Miracle Exposed: The Use of Comic Effects and Irony in Calvinos Marcovaldo. The Economic Miracle that is said to have swept across post-war Italy in the 1950s has been attributed by many scholars to the decision to open up the economy. This, in turn, gave Italy the chance to undergo a growth spurt that would help it keep pace with the rest of the world. According to Foot, the decision, made in the 1950s, to open up the country to trade and to let it integrate into the world market allowed it to catch up rapidly with the leading economies (2001:110). The growth spurt in the economy had wide-reaching effects. It changed the lives of the Italian people, many of whom found themselves transplanted from familiar rural areas to modern urban environments essentially a brand new way of life. As Foot asserts, Italys economic miracle transformed the countrys cultural landscape (2001:19). This is the world that was the setting for Italo Calvinos collection of stories, Marcovaldo, ovvero,Le stagioni in città   (Marcovaldo, or The Seasons in the City). The protagonist of these stories, Marcovaldo, appears to be a good-hearted, hard-working man. He ekes out a living as a day laborer, providing for his wife and children, but it is clearly a marginal existence. The struggle of his daily life is eased by his imagination, which leads him to become entangled in a number of amusing adventures. Marcovaldo has been described by one scholar as a man with the heros nostalgia for nature and open spaces,   whose sensitivity to the changing seasons in a cityscape polluted by all kinds of objects and living things, make sense only within the context of an urban setting (Jeannet 1977:26). These stories, or fables, as they are sometimes called, can be read on a surface level as a delightful collection of misadventures by a well-meaning but misguided individual. However, when considered in the light of this stark urban setting, they stand out as comical and ironic, a vehicle used by Calvino to expose the negative sides of this so-called economic miracle. It has been suggested that alongside the depiction of urban corruption and pollution, Calvino also, through the lovable but haplessly inept protagonist, undermines the Romantic notion of a return to nature' (Gabriele 1994:21–22). Thus, it seems that Calvino has transplanted Marcovaldo this high-spirited, though misguided, representative of rural life into the hostile new terrain of urban life. In so doing, he wrote a book that can be read as a volume of entertaining tales, and at the same time an ironic critique of the results of the economic boom. Calvinos use of comedy and irony is present throughout the book, and starts at the beginning. In the initial story, Calvinos description of Marcovaldo is wry and amusing, and it sets up the contrast between Marcovaldos simplistic nature against the backdrop of the strange new city: Aveva questo Marcovaldo un occhio poco adatto alla vita di città  : cartelli, semafori, vetrine, insegne luminose, manifesti, per studiati che fossero a colpire lattenzione, mai fermavano il suo sguardo che pareva scorrere sulle sabbie del deserto (7). Apparently, Marcovaldo is oblivious to the eye-catching distractions of the modern city; to him, they are non-existent. Instead, he is alert to the signs, however few and however bleak, of the natural world. In fact, he spends his time searching them out. The paucity of these signs does not deter him or detract from his enthusiasm. This suggests that he longs for his former, simpler life, and that he misses the rural background that he knows best. The search for signs of the natural world is rewarded when Marcovaldo discovers, to his delight, the first mushroom: Si chinà ² a legarsi le scarpe e guardà ² meglio: erano funghi, veri funghi, che stavano spuntando proprio nel curoe della città   (7). The discovery of the mushroom fills him with hope. Suddenly the drab grayness of the city melts away, and the drudgery and struggle of his daily life becomes less oppressive: A Marcovaldo parve che il mondo grigio e misero che lo circondava diventasse tutta un tratto generoso di ricchezze nascoste, e che dalla vita ci si potesse ancora aspettare qualcosa, oltre la paga oraria del salario contrattuale, la contingenza, gli assegni familiari e il carpane (7). The exaggerated happiness at the discovery of a mushroom serves to highlight the stark contrast of the urban world with his rustic background. The double reversal that follows the discovery of the mushrooms is another example of the comical irony that Calvino employs to expose the negative aspects of the economic boom. We note that Marcovaldo carefully guards the location of his discovery until Sunday, when, wife and children in tow, he heads for the mushroom site to pick them only to learn that there are bigger, better mushrooms, and that he is not the only one who is gathering them. This is the first disappointment, followed by an evening in the hospital, because it turns out the mushrooms are poisoned! Although Marcovaldo here may simply appear to be a bumbling fool, it seems plausible that Calvino is demonstrating the potential for disaster that is a result of uprooting people from the country and setting them down into a new and unfamiliar environment. Gabriele asserts that Marcovaldo knows nothing about the natural world, as is evidenced by his mishaps with the mushrooms and the pigeons. Marcovaldo has not been transplanted from a rural environment into an urban one; rather, he chases a rather indefinite dream of paradise (Gabriele 1994:21–22). Calvino might also be suggesting here that the time Marcovaldo has lived in an urban environment may have obliterated the common country logic he once had. Alternatively, perhaps this incident is used to demonstrate that Marcovaldo is, after all, a simpleton who simply does not know a good mushroom from a poisonous variety. Another possibility is that Calvino is trying to say that Marcovaldo, now an urban dweller, has taken on the greed associated with the rise of the city, and that this greed overpowers his natural instincts. The move from country to city, then, is portrayed as having deleterious effects on new urban dwellers. As Olken suggests, Calvino implies here that all growing things undergo corruption in the noxious atmosphere of the city (1984:121). Starting with the first story and continuing throughout the book, Marcovaldo embarks on a variety of ill-fated adventures, and each of them ends with a reversals or double reversal. Thus, it appears that Calvino reinforces the message albeit in a comical way that the financial prosperity that has been called the economic miracle is not a miracle for everyone indeed, it has a dark side. The final story has a twist that goes beyond this, suggesting that although Marcovaldos integration into urban life has been less than successful, that the lives of his children show a level of promise. Calvino describes a typical urban Christmas with clear irony: Tutti erano presi dallatmosfera alacre e cordiale che si espandeva per la città   festosa e produttiva; nulla à ¨ pià º bello che sentire scorrere intorno il flusso dei beni materiali e insieme del bene che ognuno vuole agli altri: e questo, questo soprattutto come ci ricorda il suono, firulà ­ firulà ­, delle zampogne, à ¨ cià ² che conta (118). Rampant materialism is juxtaposed with the feeling of good will it supposedly inspires, and the ugliness of the city clearly debases the sentiments of good cheer. In this story, Marcovaldos children must complete a school project that requires them to bring gifts to a poor child When Marcovaldo comes upon them in the midst of their preparations, he asks what they are doing and they respond Dobbiamo cercare un bambino povero e fargli dei regali (119). It occurs to him to remind them that they are poor children themselves, but apparently the spirit of materialism overcomes him and he responds Bambini poveri non ne esistono pià º (119). When the children do eventually find a poor child upon whom to lavish their gifts, it turns out to be none other than the child of   the president of the Union for the Implementation of Christmas Consumption (il presidente dellUnione Incremento Vendite Natalizie). This very spoiled child, dissatisfied with the hundreds of toys he has already amassed, is delighted by the gifts of Marcovaldos children, and he embarks on a wave of destruction that culminates in the burning down of the family home. Calvino turns the horror and humiliation that Marcovaldo feels when he learns of this incident into a clever and telling reversal. When Marcovaldo shows up for work the next day, he is certain there will be repercussions from the exploits of his children. After all, it was their actions that led to the mischief of Gianfranco and the ensuing destruction. In addition, although Marcovaldo is correct in his assumption that there will be fallout to contend with, he is wrong about the nature of that fallout. Therefore, when approached by high company officials the next day, he is not surprised, and girds himself for the worst-case scenario. However, when he arrives, he is told by the officials that there has been a change in the gift-giving program. Apparently, Gianfrancos destructive deeds have been seen in a far different light by his father: in the act of destroying everything in his wake, Gianfranco finally appeared, for once, to be happy. This has inspired the president to change the course of the gift-giving campaign. The officials inform Marcovaldo of this, exhorting him to hurry, because   LUnione Incremento Vendite Natalizie ha lanciato una campagna per il lancio del Regalo Distruttivo (123). Thus the actions of his children, for which he expected a certain and swift punishment, have actually turned around into a new commercial venture based on destruction. Calvinos portrayal of Marcovaldo as a bumbling peasant in the city can be seen as a vehicle through which he presents the negative aspects of the Italian economic miracle. He does this by setting this transplanted character into the foreign and often hostile urban environment. This volume is versatile: the adventures of Marcovaldo can be read as a series of delightful childrens tales or as a treatise exposing the dark side of the miracle. Cannon points out that Calvino had high aspirations for a literature autonomous but not divorced from political concerns (1989:33). The duality of Marcovaldo suggests that was his intention with this book. The image projected b the fiction of Calvino, suggests Cannon, seems to have become that of an increasingly indecipherable world (1989:38). She discusses the crisis of reason that is a recurrent theme in Calvinos fiction (1989:39). Oaken suggests that Marcovaldo represents the modern immigrant who tries desperately to adapt and conform. He will never really succeed, as his children may do; he is too divided between the two worlds, ill-prepared and therefore victimized (Olken 1984:122). The victimization of Marcovaldo, however amusing and ironic, is a tool Calvino uses to bring to light the negative repercussions that the sudden growth of prosperity brought with it. The final chapter does offer a glimmer of hope, in that the adaptability of Marcovaldos children, and of children in general, will better equip them to integrate into the new world. They have already done so, in fact, and with much more facility success, even than their parents. Whether Calvino believes this is positive or negative, he does not indicate here, perhaps because that has become a moot point. Change, for better or for worse, is inevitable. References Bloom, Harold, ed. 2001. Modern Critical Views: Italo Calvino. Broomall, PA: Chelsea   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   House Publishers. Calvino, Italo. 1963. Marcovaldo, ovvero,Le stagioni in città  . Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a.,    Torino. Cannon, JoAnn. 1989. Postmodern Italian Fiction: The Crisis of Reason in Calvino, Eco,    Sciascia, Malerba. London: Associated University Presses, Inc. Foot, John. 2001. Milan Since the Miracle: City, Culture and Identity. Oxford: Berg. Gabriele, Tommasina. 1994. Italo Calvino: Eros and Language. London: Associated University Presses, Inc. Jeannet, Angela. 1977. Italo Calvinos Invisible City. Pp. 25–36 in Bloom, Harold, ed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2001. Modern Critical Views: Italo Calvino. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House   Ã‚   Publishers. Olken, I.T. 1984. With Pleated Eye and Garnet Wing: Symmetries of Italo Calvino. Ann   Ã‚   Arbor, Michigan: Universit of Michigan Press. Signorini, Luigi Federico. 2001. Italys economy: An introduction. Daedalus, Spring. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3671/is_200104/ai_n8929681

Steroids: A Growing Role in Society Essay -- Sports Drugs Steroid Essa

Steroids: A Growing Role in Society Dear Mr.: Here is my research project on steroids and its effect on society. While conducting my research I have learned that steroids are becoming a serious and dangerous problem in society. I believe that my research project would be a good reference for anyone interested in the science and culture of steroids in America. Some of the topics I covered in my project are topics that have for the most part been ignored by most scholarly works on steroids. For example, I have devoted a whole section of my paper to the prevention and care of steroid use. I also included a large section on the scientific facts and effects that steroids have on the body. The issue of steroids in society is a very hot topic and I was able to find many helpful materials from many different sources. One of these sources is a controversial book written by a former Major League Baseball player. Other sources are from newspaper and magazine articles written in lieu of the recent controversies. By using subjective materials such as these I was able to get a feel for the opinions within American culture regarding the use of steroids. I’ve enjoyed working on this project, and would be happy to answer any questions. Sincerely, Name Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Steroid use is a growing problem in society. There is a multitude of research pertaining to the science of steroids but the prevention and treatment of steroid use has for the most part been largely ignored. In order to get to the root of the problem the research should contain not only the basics of steroids, but also the culture of steroid use.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reasons why people use steroids range from improving sports performance to prevention of abuse and rape. By focusing not only on the obvious reasons for steroid use, the prevention and treatment of steroid use becomes a much bigger and more complicated problem than most would assume.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many different procedures being used to control steroids and their abuse. Some of them appear to be working but many of them do not. Only telling people the adverse affects of steroids is the most ineffective way to control the problem. Rather, teaching people the risks and rewards of steroids and how to receive the same rewards without actually using the drugs seems to be the most effective method.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Steroids have now t... ...2005). Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. New York: Regan Books.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ciola, T. (2004). Steroids Kill. Orlando: Axion Publishers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gallaway, S. (1997). The Steroids Bible. Belle Intl.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Info Facts: Steroids. (2005). National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved March 28, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/steroids.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kerr, R. (1982). The Practical Use of Anabolic Steroids With Athletes. Research Center for Sports.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lukas, S. (2001). Steroids (The Drug Library). New Jersey: Enslow Publishers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paris, J. (2005, April 16). Steroids: dangerous, illegal and so very easy to obtain. North County Times [Online newspaper]. Retrieved April 16, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/04/17/sports/amateur.txt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Silverstein, A. (1992). Steroids: Big Muscles, Big Problems. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Teens and Steroids. (2000). Focus Adolescent Services. Retrieved April 10, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.focusas.com/steroids.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yesalis, C. (2000). Anabolic Steroids in Sports and Exercise. Philadelphia: Human Kinetics Publishers.

MCDonalds Essay

Strategy and Repositioning the Brand McDonald’s in India Sameer, Sharanbir Kaur Abstract- Despite global slowdown, Indian economy is resurgent and offers fresh opportunities as well as challenges to global players. McDonald‘s still treats the Indian market as one of their young markets although what they have achieved in 15 years here, it would usually take them 25 to 30 years in another market. McDonald‘s philosophy of Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V) is the guiding force behind its stellar service to the customers. However there is still a huge potential in the Indian food market that remains untapped in terms of family restaurants, quick service restaurants and breakfast eateries. Coming in the wake of these, their rebranding effort requires much more than a mere change of the logo or signage. There is a need to critically evaluate the right marketing mix. The article is focused upon assessing the marketing efforts in India in terms of positioning of McDonald‘s. Index Terms- Rebranding, Repositioning, Demography, Marketing Mix I. FAST FOOD INDUSTRY IN INDIA T he Indian fast food industry has evolved over time and always has been in line with the needs of people of all ages and segments. There are enterprises which scale from one room outlet to a chain having hundreds of outlets like McDonalds in India. As per new research report ? Indian Fast Food Market Analysis? , India is blessed with one of the fastest growing fast food markets in the world. The Indian fast food market is growing at an annual growth rate of 30-35%. Almost all big fast food brands of the world have succeeded in making their presence felt in the country and most of them posting an appreciable growth. Although the market has witnessed robust growth in the past couple of years, it remains largely under penetrated and concentrated in the metropolitan cities. However, there is large room for growth in tier-II cities, tier-III cities which are mostly untapped. Therefore, the future of Indian fast food industry lies in masses that live in tier-II and tier-III cities. In 2013, the global fast food market is forecasted to have a value of $200 billion, an increase of 29. 3% and a volume of 94. 7 billion transactions, an increase of 10. 4% since 2008. The consumer spending on processed food has increased at an average rate of 7. 6 per cent annually from 2008 to 2010 and this is expected to rise at an average of around 8. 6 per cent until 2012, according to a report by Assocham. Almost all big fast food brands of the world have succeeded in making their presence felt in the country and most of them are posting appreciable growth. It is estimated through the Euromonitor International and Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Survey, that the average Indian spends just $ 11 as compared to his Chinese counterpart who would ideally spend $ 20 on fast food. Yet , if we see the Indian spending on food in totality , they spend 23 % of their earnings on the same while the Chinese spending is 20 %. So, the inference that can be drawn is that owing to the eating pattern of Indians they prefer to eat at home and would spend on cooking ingredients over fast food. However, this does not spell good news for the industry. It is set to witness the entry of new fast food players that plan to hit the Indian market with a vengeance with international giants like Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks being amongst them. II. THE COMPETITION People prefer fast food because it’s cheap, easy to prepare, and heavily promoted. India is a developing country with 2 percent of organized and 98 percent of unorganized sector. So most of the fast foods that came into Indian market as India has a high growth in every sector. Major players in fast food in India are: McDonald’s KFC Pizza Hut Dominos Cafe Coffee Day Barista More than 75% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent locals. McDonald‘s product line in India is almost similar to other burger chains with a dominant Indian flavour. Perhaps, it would be correct to say that their only similarity with their foreign outlets is that they have French Fries and still use buns. Examining the immense Indianzation they have attempted in their menu here it wouldn‘t be surprising to see Indian Chapatis in place of buns. Their current offerings reflect the same. www. ijsrp. org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012 ISSN 2250-3153 2 Table I : Present Menu for McDonald’s India Menu Ranges Burgers and other Bites Spicy Delights McSpicyPaneer ExtraValue Meals Chicken McNuggets Meal McAloo Tikki Happy Price Menu Breakfast Menu Favourites Sausage McMuffin with egg French Fries McAloo Tikki Happy Meal Meals Source: McDonaldsIndia. com Desserts Big Spicy Paneer Wrap Filet O Fish Meal Maharaja Mac Meal McVeggie /McChicken Meal Chicken McGrill Beverages McSwirl Iced tea/ Cold Coffee Minute Maid Pulpy Orange/ Cappucino/ Tea Soft Serve (Strawberry /Chocolate) Veg Supreme Veg Pizza McPuff Veg McMuffin Sausage McMuffin Pancakes Filet O Fish Chicken Maharaja Mac Chicken McGrill Meal McChicken/ McVeggie McVeggie Meal McFlurry McChicken meal III. BUSINESS MODEL The Business Model of McDonald‘s is a franchise-based model coupled with strong corporate branding. The focus is on the branding of McDonald‘s as a globally accepted service provider with strong customer perception about: www. ijsrp. org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012 ISSN 2250-3153 3 Happy Employees means Happy Customers – McDonald’s Efforts of repositioning its Brand-Recently, McDonald’s management has decided to change itsstrategies. They now want to provide not only a place to sit and eat but also an experience that can be enjoyed by their customers. Figure 1: The Service Marketing Triangle Zeithaml and Bitner (1996 ) McDonald‘s realized very early in their business that in order to achieve happiness amongst customers;the possible route is through happy, motivated and committed employees. In accordance with this they played on the customer first strategy. Even in India, their efforts clearly indicated that they were keen to understand the Indian consumer. Hence they adapted themselves to tickle the taste buds of their Indian customers to become a brand that enjoys a very high brandrecall. Therefore they focused on internal as well as external marketing. The level of importance has changed to be in the following order (the most important people arenow at the top). Corporate Branding – The marketers are shifting the branding efforts from their product brands to a more holistic corporate branding . The reason for the shift can be traced to the belief that, it is the corporate image that carries a great impact on the buyers who are more aware and more exposed to media coverage on various issues be it environmental responsibility, being corporate social responsibility or be it responsibility towards health of future generation. McDonald‘s describe a corporate branding framework that is based on three elements: Figure 2: McDonald’s Service Pyramid Figure 3: Corporate Branding Source: Hatch and Schultz (2003)), â€Å"Bringing the Corporation into Corporate Branding†, European Journal of Marketing, The recent McDonald‘s rebranding strategy is a part of this thought and vision. McDonald‘s road to success has not always been rosy. They have been at the receiving end of the media‘s onslaught. There was a huge uproar in US after media exposure against McDonald‘s unhealthy menu that was affecting the nation and leading it to a generation suffering from obesity and heart diseases among many more ailments. There were employment issues internally which showed that they did not treat their workers well. Hence they assessed their strategies again and came up with new objectives that strengthened their previous aims and gave a new direction to them as well. www. ijsrp. org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012 ISSN 2250-3153 4 McDonald’s Marketing Efforts Over the Years – Proactive Rebranding – A Proactive strategy includes a new line of business or market that does not conform to the existing brand identity. When McDonald‘s once referred to itself as Mickey D‘s to target kids in a commercial, it had just coined a new way of catering to an audience separate from its traditional family audience. Objectives of McDonald’s Repositioning StrategyMcDonald’s, the promise of American fast food anywhere in the world, has had to rethink and reposition its brand offerings in different countries. While some basic elements like Ronald were left in place the menu underwent an overhaul. For example, in India, the menu has no beef dishes since it is not considered religiously correct to eat cow‘s meat: there is the very popular McAlooTikki, a potato-based patty in burger buns; the Big Mac is replaced by the Maharaja Mac, the Big Mac in chicken; there is also the paneer (cottage cheese) McVeggie burger. The Italian McDonald’s has a special coffee spot. To celebrate its 20th anniversary in China, McDonald’s rebranded under the â€Å"Make Room for Happiness† campaign. They had all you want coffee refills; Wi-Fi and a more modern restaurant design were unveiled. This was done exclusively for China, where McDonald’s positioned itself as a place to relax away from the high demands of the average Chinese‘s life. Its â€Å"I’m Lovin’ It† slogan made way for â€Å"Make Room for Happiness,† and McDonald’s became the place where the stressed young Chinese can spend quality time rejuvenating after working for long hours. The result was an 18% increase in sales, and an increasing legion of fans that is fueling McDonald’s’ growth in China. McDonald’s Changing Markets Changing Strategies Decades after its launch, the Big Mac is changing colours, literally. The world’s largest fast-food chain is letting go of its familiar red-and-yellow colours for more muted tones as it goes for its biggest and costliest revamp in the country, in line with its global strategy of attracting more adults. For the next generation of consumers McDonald‘s plans to cultivate a very different image from its existing one. After revamping 280 stores in various markets last year, McDonald’s is now opting for the Tampa model and will spread that design to upwards of 800 locations this year — roughly triple what it did last year. The company is donning a new look when India is on its way of becoming a global hotspot for food retailers, with chains like Starbucks, Burger King planning to enter the country. Some McRemodel highlights include : †¢Redoing roofs – The bright red roofs that have topped McDonald’s for several decades are getting the heave, replaced with flatter, more conventional roofs. †¢Muting paint – The neon yellows and reds common to the interiors and exteriors are becoming history, replaced with much more subtle oranges, reds, yellows and even greens. †¢Updating chairs – Those industrial steel chairs are giving way to wooden chairs, colorful stools and, in some cases, vinylcovered chairs that resemble leather. Some stores will have larger lounge chairs similar to the kind you might expect to find in a coffee shop. †¢Doubling drive-through – To ease lines inside and outside stores, many locations are adding second drive-through windows to speed up service. †¢Splashing colour – McDonald’s hasn’t junked it’s familiar red and yellow colors altogether, but it is making them far less obvious. Instead of filling the restaurants with them, it’s splashing bright yellow and red here and there for effect. †¢Dividing dining areas – The sea of tables and chairs is history in the remodelled stores. The new dining rooms are divided into separate eating zones for larger groups, eat-and-run customers and folks who want to stay and lounge. †¢Adding flat-screens TVs – Large, flat-screen TVs — some playing contemporary music — are showing up in many locations, though fewer than half of the remodelled stores will display them. The new design makes the customer feel more comfortable and at leisure to enjoy their surroundings. This offers to McDonald‘s two key opportunities- firstly, to shift to another www. ijsrp. org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012 ISSN 2250-3153 customer base with high spending power and then to broaden their menu with offerings at a higher price point. Risks Involved – When a global organization like McDonalds is going in for rebranding, a lot of financing is involved and the global impact is huge. Though the step taken by the managers of McDonalds is well calculated but speculations are on till the time it doesn‘t fair well in the market and most importantly to the customers. This kind of rebranding in the Indian Food Industry can help change the image of McDonald‘s completely like in the case of Pizza Hut, which has become a part of fine dining segment, which it was not earlier. The Indian consumer is considered to be loyal but still the risks involved are high. 1. A trade-off between what is expected from a company and what a company has to gain from the consumers One can see that one facet raises the scale while the other weighs it down making it a tough task. In order to sustain the balance, it requires big investments which will surely add to the costs incurred in the rebranding. If the rebranding falls flat, it will result in a major profit decline. 2. Store positioning McDonald‘s needs to have the most current information to determine if present outlets are cannibalizing each other‘s business. To achieve this McDonald‘s team willneed comprehensive, demographic data of India along with both theirs and competitors‘ outlets. IV. CONCLUSION The task is mammoth as McDonald‘s tries to keep up in the race for a piece of the great Indian pie . As per Forbes , McDonald‘s India operations contribute 30 % to their sales which is a considerable share. It might become imperative to create a Point of Difference to fight it out in the Indian market as all fast food brands have modelled themselves on local flavours now , the latest being KFC with its ? Streetwise‘ menu. While McDonald‘s does have the edge with its excellent supply chain and distribution network the customer ultimately does become the king with low brand loyalty in this category being the generalisation . The rebranding effort on their part seeks to bring 5 in a new flavour to their brand offering but what remains to be seen is whether they are still able to strike a chord with the customer. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the people who assisted us in this endeavour of ours. First and foremost , we would like to thank Mr. Praveen Gupta, HOD , Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management for his valuable time and support. Also, a special mention to the staff of McDonald‘s Jor Bagh, Delhi who was very patient and helpful during our visits to the outlet for the study. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Lovelock,Wirtz and Chatterjee ,? Services Marketing ? , in Plastics ,Sixth Edition ,India , Pearson , 2010 , pp. 66-98 , pp. 340-372 Aaker, D. A. (2004b), ? Leveraging the Corporate Brand? , California Management Review, 46 (3), pp. 6-18 Bijoor, H. , ? A Time to Rebuild? , Business India, February 20,2011 pp. 48. Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, ? Bringing the Corporation into Corporate Branding ? , European Journal of Marketing, 2003, 37 (7/8), pp. 1041-1064. Jacquelline, B. and Kline,S ,? From McLibel to McLettuce: Childhood, Spin and Re-branding? ,2007 , Society and Business Review, 2(1)

Caliban quite complex Essay Example

Caliban quite complex Essay Example Caliban quite complex Essay Caliban quite complex Essay He is using his education to be evil and he is no doubt an evil character. he shows the contrast between the civilised and uncivilised man. This makes Caliban a very complex character, it is the battle between nature and nurture. Although he is educated he is superstitious and uses his education to do anything evil with it that is possible.  Although he is very poetic he is also a savage beast which symbolises the contrasts of people in the world. This is also a way of Shakespeare revealing his characters to the audience. In Act 2 Scene 2 Caliban enters the scene carrying a pile of wood. This symbolises the heavy burden of his duties and his situation both mentally and physically ad might provoke a reaction of sympathy from the audience. He hides under a cloth afraid that prospero has sent someone to torture him for being to slow with the wood. He would sound bitter a hateful. Trinculo enters the stage here and is also afraid but of the storm and hides under the same cloth as Caliban. He identifies Caliban as a fish. This makes Caliban quite complex because although he is not attractive to look at he is educated and sometimes more civilised that the two supposed civilised men. This is also how Shakespeare reveals his characters, through their appearance ad also through the way they speak. For example Caliban speaks in verse but Stephano and Trincuo speak in prose. He sees the fish and proclaims he could make some money out of him by letting people pay to see him. This is a rather evil and selfish thing to do. When Stephano enters the scene he is singing and is very drunk. Caliban thinks he is going to be tortured and begs for forgiveness. Do not torment me prithee : Ill bring my  wood home faster  Stephano has the same idea about making money out of Caliban which shows that Trinculo and Stephano are both lowly characters and not very civilised. Stephano gives wine to Caliban and thinks he is a monster with two voices but soon discovers that it is Trinculo. Shakespeare, in this scene, reveals Stephano and Trinculo as lowly characters using language. Both characters speak on prose. The pair celebrate and Caliban thinks they are gods. These be fine things, and if they be not sprites :  thats a brave god, and bears celestial liquor: I will kneel  to him.  Caliban is a very gullible character and this is one of his complexities. He receives a little kindness and makes the giver an instant god.  Hast thou not droppd from heaven?  He is a primitive character and although he can speak in an intelligent way he is still very superstitious and believes in gods of the sky and moon. This is also a way that Shakespeare reveals Calibans character, through his personality. In some sense he is stupid because he makes lowly people into great gods and is prepared to worship Trinculor and Stephano. He misjudges these characters. I will kiss thy foot: I prithee be my god.  Caliban is called a most ridiculous monster  Which of course is true. During his stupidity he doesnt forget his hatred for prosper and devises a plan to make Trinculo and Stephano the rulers of the Islands. he provokes humour but He is being laughed at not joining in with laughter.  He is making the same mistakes again.  Caliban is most likely better educated that Trinculo and Stephano. The two lowly characters are supposed to be civilised people yet they talk in prose compared to Caliban who talks in verse. This shows a contrast between the characters. Caliban is willing to worship people he is probably more civilised then. I agree that Caliban is a complex character. This is shown by the contrast between his vunerabilty and his venomous nature. Shakespeare reveals this through the appearance of Caliban, his language and the way he delivers his speech. He is a complex character as he can be venomous one moment and then talk about his island and be very poetic and delicate.

The Radio Pakistan Essays

The Radio Pakistan Essays The Radio Pakistan Essay The Radio Pakistan Essay The Radio Pakistan Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) As observed in the case of television, the state maintained a position of monopoly in the radio sector until the2002 liberalisation of the media and PEMRA’s emergence as a broadcasting licences-awarding authority. Sincethen, there has been a steady growth in FM radio stations across the country. According to figures from 2009, there are presently 40 FM radio stations operating in Pakistan. After an initial surge in new radio stations, however, PEMRA’s increasing tariffs for new licences has significantly reduced the pace of applications being submitted. Another visible consequence of this surge in prices has been a gradual control of the radio market bythose actors with sufficient financial and political power, that is, ‘industrialists, large media groups, feudal lords or politicians’. 57 In spite of the above liberalisation in the sector, the state-owned PBC still maintains a dominant position, especially with regard to its reach in rural areas. According to the PBC’s own figures, its 69 medium (33), short wave (7) and FM (29) stations cover approximately 80 percent of Pakistan’s territory, or 96. 5 percent of the population, and it has a regular audience of 95. 5 million listeners. 58 Its dominant presence in rural areas is obviously linked to the low technological threshold represented by radio in general, when compared to more expensive, sophisticated and electricity-dependent communication systems such as internet or television. In addition, the PBC has successfully attempted to establish a foothold in those areas by localising its broadcasting activities. It suffices to say that, in addition to the Urdu language, the PBC also broadcasts in 20 regional languages from 33 different cities. Beside its traditional and exclusive field of operations, namely medium and short wave transmissions, Radio Pakistan has become increasingly active in expanding its broadcasting to FM radio waves as well. Is first FM transmission dates back to 1998, but since 2002 it has been adding many more FM channels to its services, keenly aware of the fact that FM listenership comprises about 40 percent of the total radio listenership in the country, and also increasingly conscious of the need to reach those listeners at the periphery of the country – such as in the FATA – who could easily fall under the spell of local militants using FM stations for propaganda purposes. 59 â€Å"External† Competitors The medium and short wave realm, however, has not always been the PBC’s undisputed and undisturbed broadcasting domain. The largest media organisation in the world, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), can rightly claim a presence in what used to be British India, which predates the establishment of the PBC. BBC operations started in the colonial territory in the 1940s, mainly as a counter-propaganda media outlet to the German Nazis. The programmes at that time were broadcast in the Hindustani language for the local population. It was only with the 1947 partition that the PBC came into being. Two years later, the BBC followed the political developments by establishing an Urdu-language broadcast for Pakistan, and in 1966 it formalised this new service by creating the BBC Urdu Service. By the late 1990s the BBC Urdu Service had become the dominant radio news service in Pakistan. In 1998 it was said to reach 20 million daily listeners across both Pakistan and India. In 2009 that number had dwindled to 13 million. This decline has been largely attributed to the media liberalisation process that was launched in both countries and to the subsequent emergence of strongly competitive new mass communication media. In addition, the BBC started to encounter increasing problems with short wave frequencies in Pakistan, due to competing transmissions from Radio China. In an attempt to counter the growing competition, in 2001 the BBC Urdu Service launched its own website, where it also put its radio transmissions. Further, it also decided to step into FM radio broadcasting in order to gain better control of the reach of the local transmissions. The FM radio experience worked well until 2007, when a new Pakistani law prohibited foreign broadcasts from within the country. At that point the BBC created BBC Pakistan and it also started to rebroadcast its programmes through local FM stations. The BBC is currently considering the launching of a BBC Urdu TV channel that would nitially broadcast programmes for two to six hours a day. 60 Despite the complex and challenging legal and political environment in which the BBC has had to operate from the very beginning, its fame as an independent broadcaster has earned it a great deal of respect and a significant listenership among the Pakistani population. Interestingly, this appears to be particularly true in the politically unstable tribal areas. According to a Waziri researcher, ‘60 to 70 percent of the people living in FATA listen to and rely on BBC news broadcasts’. 61 The recent launching of programmes in Pashto has further strengthened the BBC’s position in these areas. Before the start of the latest military operations, the BBC was believed to have an almost complete coverage of FATA. The channel can count on three local correspondents based in Peshawar and on coverage originating from the NWFP’s districts of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. The geographical embeddedness of BBC correspondents has earned them widespread credibility among the local population and often, in addition, special access to militants operating in those areas. The remainder of the local population is believed to listen to a series of new radio channels that have been set up with the support of the international community, and above all of the US (via USAID). These FM radios include: Radio Deewa – affiliated to the Voice of America (VOA); Radio Mashaal (â€Å"Torch† in Pashto) – launched in January 2010 by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/ RL), it broadcasts in local Pashto dialects with the objective of offering ‘an alternative to the growing number of Islamic extremist radio stations in the region’;62 Radio Azadi – established in 1985 by RFE/RL, it is presently ‘the leading media outlet in Afghanistan, reaching 50% of the Afghan population across the country’,63 and also some of the border areas in Pakistan. For the 2010 fiscal year, there has been a request to the US Congress to provide additional funding to this station in order to expand broadcasts to Pashto speakers in northwest Pakistan; and Radio Dilbar – part of a project supported by the British government, it aims to increase the capacity of FM radio stations in NWFP by training their staff in developing citizen-based programming. The purpose of the international community in these areas is clear: to use these radios to reach out to the local communities with a mixture of entertainment, current affairs and religious programmes, in order to pursue a peacebuilding agenda and eventually to fill the gap left by the so-called Taliban radios that were operating in some of the FATA agencies and other settled areas64 (mainly in the Khyber agency and in the Swat Valley, with the already mentioned Radio Mullah) prior to the April 2009 military offensive. These ew local radios have characterised themselves by the careful use of terminology referring to the militants,65 and by their educational efforts towards a â€Å"true† understanding of Islam. 57 IMS (2009). Op. cit. p. 22. 58 For more information, see radio. gov. pk/aboutus. htm and radio. gov. pk/new/site/images/pbc_st. jpg. 59 As it has been indeed the case with the Taliban leader in the Swat Valley, Maulana Fazlullah, also known as Radio Mullah. 24 Initi ative for peacebuilding www. initiativeforpeacebuilding. u 60 Most of the information provided in this section has been collected during an interview with Wussatullah Khan, BBC Urdu Service representative, Islamabad, 20th January 2010. 61 Interview, Mansur Khan Mahsud, FATA Research Center, Islamabad, 21st January 2010. 62 ‘RFE/RL launches radio station in Pakistan’s Pashtun Heartland’, RFE/RL, 14th January 2010. Available at reliefweb. int/rw/rwb. nsf/db900SID/SNAA-7ZS2S7? OpenDocument. 63 For more information, see rferl. org/info/Afghanistan/181. html. 4 According to Mansur Khan Mahsud, the Taliban did not need radio channels in other FATA agencies because these were de facto already under their control. These radios broadcast by using simple technology, whose outreach was necessarily limited. The average range was estimated to be no more than 50 to 60km. When the military offensive got off the ground in the Swat Valley, the transmission capabilities were imm ediately neutralised and at the beginning of 2010 no Taliban radios were signalled by Mansur Khan Mahsud either in that valley or in the FATA. 65 Terms such as â€Å"terrorists† or â€Å"fundamentalists† are carefully avoided.

Critical Perspective on Management and Leadership

Critical Perspective on Management and Leadership Introduction Critical Management Studies (CMS) form a substitute to a number of conservative administration presumptions and approaches. The key reason behind the development of CMS was to provide a transformative approach to traditional management. CMS is a sceptical look at the management and organisational structures that are currently in use.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Critical Perspective on Management and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These structures are evaluated and criticised based on their demonstrated social and ecological sustainability (Adler 2007). Contrary to the popular belief, CMS is not rooted on the focus on individual organisations and their managers’ poor management practices (Adler 2007). This belief, which is propagated by the outsiders of CMS, is largely untrue. CMS stands for the critical assessment of the wider organisational and management structures. Adler state s that CMS focuses on ordinary elements such as ecological pessimism, public discrimination, and pitiable management that are displayed in the wider social and economic structures whose traditions have been simulated by long-established administrators and the evolving conformist organisations. The current framework of CMS entails the critical assessment of issues in management such as marketing, organisational strategies, information systems, accounting, organisational relations, and international networks (Clegg, Dany, Grey 2011). CMS focuses on fundamental matters such as the use of uncertainty and analysis of the ubiquitous organisational administration speculations, the prevailing organisational configurations and traditions in the effort to propose changes. The use of criticism and critique in CMS is also aimed at illustrating how the contemporary organisational patterns and structures are disruptive and conflict ridden, with this situation being propagated and nourished by ou t-dated beliefs and practices in management (Sim Van Loon, 2005).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More CMS does not only offer critique to the management issues, but also goes a step further to offer solutions and alternatives. The aim is also to prove that the practices and beliefs are essentially changeable, with the change being dependent on the attitudes, thoughts, and knowledge of the management (Sim Van Loon, 2005). CMS has developed from the works of a number of theorists and scholars who have contributed in the development of theories and structures that are essential to the recommended management changes. Some of the people who contributed significantly in the creation of CMS include Foucault, Weber, and Hegel, with the theorists and scholars contributing to, ‘contemporary developments that stretch beyond the realm of academic theory and philosophical or social thought’ (Adler, 2007, p.1316). The modern-day business enterprise serves different functions in the modern society and a critical assessment of these functions is necessary, with different social avenues of critique developing. Some of the contemporary issues in the global economy that have influenced the modern business environment include the introduction of the European Union and its market, the rise of China and India as global economic and social forces. These developments have provided a basis of comparison to the largely traditional and dominant Anglo-American organisational values and models. CMS is very broad, with the major concepts, theories, and thoughts being significantly many. This report applies the CMS theories to assess a case study on call-centre labour in a global economy by Premilla D’Cruz and Ernesto Noronha (2009).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Critical Perspective on Management and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Case Set Up Bullying at the workplace has been a topic of concern for a long time for managers and human resource departments in organisations. This account, which is based in Indian, looks at the use of CMS in the analysis of D’Cruz and Noronha’s scenario examination on call centres. These individuals performed an investigation on the workplace occurrences of workers in some intercontinental call hubs in Mumbai and Bangalore. The two managed to assess the role of organisational sources of bullying at the workplace, thus providing some recommendations to the same (D’Cruz, Noronha 2009). Case Study Analysis Human resource management policies that are adopted in different organisations are displayed in the call centre working analysis above. There is a significant gap in HRM roles. Most organisations state that they apply soft policies, with the case study showing that hard HRM policies are actually th e ones being practiced. Most studies that have evaluated relationships between employers and their employees have concluded that although managers consider workers their most precious resources, they instead apply inflexible HRM guidelines and controls that are detrimental to their workforce. This shows that the organisation is considered more important in relation to employees. In the call centre, employees have no working union to safeguard their interests. They are however paid well with regard to the existing labour markets in the country. Another positive assessment of the HRM policies in the organisations shows that employees feel important while working there since adequate measures are in place to influence their self-interest and self-esteem. The organisations also participate in the inculcation of values to their employees to ensure that they put the organisational interests ahead of their own. Such organisations incorporate group work and collaboration at their workplaces . However, there are several negative policies in these call centres, including the hard and extended running hours. The operational circumstances are also complicated based on the many and frequently cruel customers that they encounter every day in their job.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These employees also have very high organisational targets, with the managers being harsh in the workplace. Harassment to these employees has contributed to conditioning, with D’Cruz and Noronha (2009) terming it as depersonalised bullying, which is created by the harsh policies, managers, supervisors, and a forceful working environment. HRM practitioners as displayed in the case can be described as disguising hard working conditions provided at the workplace with soft rhetoric. Critical theory is important in this expression. It states that rhetoric has dominated over reality in the current HRM mandates (Guest 1990). According to Guest (1990), HRM roles act as a smokescreen where the management teams can evade union formation and function in organisations, thus turning employees into working slaves, where they can work against their own will in the belief that the organisations are benevolent. Another researcher who is opposed to the displayed organisational rhetoric is Tada jewski (2011) who states that this rhetoric introduces HRM tasks that consider organisational benefit before employee welfare. Gane and Kalberg (2013, p. 26) also observe, ‘organisations use rhetoric to communicate an inherently attractive image of people who trust each other, share risks, and rewards and are united by common feelings of identity while providing little indication of the remote economic rationalism that distinguishes management in the real world’. Other researchers and analysts have also claimed that the softness displayed by the management is a way of ensuring that employees are subjective to the interests of the organisation. Managers also use the softness to wade off discontent from the displayed organisational control. The Indian Call Centre analysis provides results that reinforce critical perspectives. The analysis of the case study can also be done using the theories on transformational leadership and bureaucracy advanced by Max Weber. Bureaucracy In organisations, some officials are appointed to carry out specific duties and functions. They are awarded specific powers to carry out these functions (Budhwar, Varma, Singh Dhar 2006). Bureaucracy in the ideal form is the organisational arrangement where specific individuals are involved in the giving and receiving of commands, which are based on the existent rational system of rules, with no involvement of external influences (Morrison, 2006). The fundamental features of the bureaucracies described by Max Weber define the running of some organisations, with control vesting on specific individuals (Cox 2009; Cooper Burrell 1988). He claims that this form of bureaucracy leads to the ‘iron cage’ phenomenon in organisational management although the ideal application of bureaucracy would lead to greater organisational efficiency and effectiveness (Cox 2009). In the operations at the call centre, both the supervisors and junior employees are obedient to the existing di fficult and intolerable conditions at the workplace. The acceptance to working in these conditions demonstrates the iron cage phenomenon described by Weber (Cox 2009). These workers have been deprived of their privileges to dispute and to set right the circumstances at the administrative centres, with the reason being that they have acknowledged depersonalised maltreatment. In this case, CMS can be used to show how organisations can use bureaucracy to change the meaning and use of teamwork. In the organisation, the traditional and mainstream management perceptions practised include teamwork as a tool for mobilising employees to achieve organisational goals and improved organisational performance (Adler, Forbes, Wilmot, 2007). CMS on the other hand demonstrates that teamwork is abused in the present day organisational dispensations. Research works indicate that teamwork is effective as a management aid. However, in the recent years, the poor performance of well-staffed teams to perfo rm and deliver on the organisational goals has cast doubts on this notion. CMS, therefore, suggests that teamwork in the modern context is a tool for the exploitation of employees by organisations, with management and HRM mandates using teamwork to oppress team members in the name of improving organisational performance (Adler, Forbes, Willmott 2007). Transformational Leadership Transformative leadership as suggested by Max Weber (Cooper Burrell 1988) and/or advanced by Bass can be considered in terms of the ‘I model’ (Bass, 1990, p. 19). This model of transformational leadership consists of four components, including intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, individualised consideration, and idealised influence (Bass 1990). The model states that leaders should act as role models in organisations. According to Bass (1990), the intellectual influence that demands leaders to act as role models causes the generation of trust and the foundation of ethics in orga nisations. Intellectual stimulation entails the incorporation of views on employees in the operation of the organisation by the transformational leaders. Individual consideration, on the other hand, ensures that transformational leaders consider the welfare of each individual in the organisation irrespective of their levels in the organisational echelon. These types of leaders give attention to workers, thus providing them with motivation and encouragement in the course of their work. Inspirational motivation entails transformational leaders motivating their employees, inspiring them, and providing them with bravery and means of countering any challenges in the organisations’ operations. In the call centres discussed in the case study, leaders have a little display of transformative leadership as evidenced by the occurrences of depersonalised bullying in their respective organisations and their inability to deal with the same. Employees display a labour force that is not moti vated, inspired, or dedicated to their work, and are not involved in the development of policies or their implementation (Adler, Forbes, Willmott 2007). These employees demonstrate the absence of transformational leadership, with the authors stating that the organisation needs the introduction of this form of leadership (Adler, Forbes, Willmott 2007). Recommendations It suffices to make a number of recommendations to the changes that are necessary in the organisations in terms of their management policies with regard to CMS. The organisations should embark on the introduction of a union for employees to cater for their own welfare. A union will be crucial in the development of a better working environment for these employees since it will safeguard their interests in the organisation. Another change that the management needs to adopt is teamwork that is geared towards employee motivation and empowerment. Instead of using teamwork to affect the organisational productivity, organisa tions should apply the same to motivate their employees. The call centres also need to adopt training for their leaders on the principles of transformative leadership to ensure such leadership is practiced in these organisations. The call centres need to introduce policies that are friendly to the workforce. These policies include the reduction of the working hours for employees. Since these employees work in cruel conditions, they are exposed to depersonalised harassment from all sides, including the clients. A reduction of the working hours and the introduction of shorter shifts will act as a cushion for some of these challenges. Other necessary measures include the introduction of new campaigns to enhance collaboration between employees and their supervisors and the creation of a working feedback mechanism. Employees should be allowed to express their views through participation in decision-making processes in these call centres. Conclusion In conclusion, critical management stud ies are important in the changing of the conventional organisational dispensation. CMS provides alternative management theories in the attempt to change the conventional practice in organisations. The report has focused on depersonalised harassment as witnessed in the aforementioned administrative centres in India as discussed by D’Cruzi and Noronha. Several Max Weber’s suppositions, namely civil service and transformative headship, have been used in the assessment to determine the situation at the areas of work, specifically at the said call hubs. An analysis using these theories has shown that the management structures in the contemporary organisations are different from the rhetoric discussed by researchers. The HR customs are oppressive and that workers have adapted to working in these conditions. The report suggests some major changes that should be made at these organisations based on the CMS analysis. The adoption of these recommendations is crucial to improveme nt in the HR issues observed in the call centres. Therefore, human resource managers have a lesson to learn from this report in terms of the way they handle employees who are the key pillars of any organisation. HR managers need to make sure that the environment to which employees are exposed is work friendly in the effort to motivate them (the employees) towards giving their best to the organisations. This strategy will in turn lead to the accomplishment of the formulated targets. References Adler, P 2007, ‘The Future of Critical Management Studies: A Paleo-Marxist Critique of Labour Process Theory’, Organisation Studies, vol. 28 no. 1, pp. 1313–45. Adler, P, Forbes, L Willmott, H 2007, Critical management studies, Annals, vol. 1 no. 1, pp. 119-179. Bass, B 1990, ‘From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision’, Organisational Dynamics, vol. 18 no. 3, pp. 19-31. Budhwar, P, Varma, A, Singh, V Dhar, R 2006, HRM syst ems of Indian call centres: an exploratory study, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 17 no. 5, pp. 881-897. Clegg, S, Dany, F Grey, C 2011, Introduction to the Special Issue Critical Management Studies and Managerial Education: New Contexts? New Agenda?’, Management, vol. 14 no. 5, pp. 272-279. Cooper, R Burrell, G 1988, Modernism, Postmodernism, and Organisational Analysis: An Introduction, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK. Cox, J 2009, Critical Management Studies at Work: Negotiating Tensions between Theory and Practice, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar. D’Cruz, P Noronha, E 2009, ‘Experiencing Depersonalised Bullying: A Study of Indian Call-centre agents’, Work Organisation, Labour Globalisation, vo. 2 no. 2, pp. 24-46. Gane, N Kalberg, S 2013, Presenting Max Weber. (Max Weber and Contemporary Capitalism and Max Webers Comparative- Historical Sociology Today: Major Themes, Mode of Causal Analysis, and Applications) (Book rev iew), Canadian Journal Of Sociology, vol. 3 no. 1, p. 407. Guest, D 1990, ‘human resource management and the American Dream’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 27 no. 1, pp. 377–397. Sim, S Van Loon, B 2005, Introducing critical theory, Icon Books, Royston. Tadajewski, M 2011, Key Concepts In Critical Management Studies, Sage, Los Angeles, Calif.

Why it is good to be good or why it is Goodness Constructive Essay

Why it is good to be good or why it is Goodness Constructive - Essay Example Evil is differentiated from good in this essay, because it creates injustice and comes from violating the virtues of the soul, according to Book II of The Republic. I agree with Plato that being good is good in itself, and it is also good because of its virtuous individual and social consequences, and these arguments support the claims that a just soul is good and a just city is also good. In order to understand what is good, it is important to examine the meaning of justice, because this essay shows that justice is good for humanity. One of the ways to establish what justice means is through defining what it is not. In Book I, the Sophist Thrasymachus argues: â€Å"justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger.† He says this to undermine the need for justice, since Sophists are known to lambast virtues as useless to society. He feels that justice does not serve the needs of the whole, and instead, it only preserves the interests of whoever is in power. Socrates counters that injustice is the one that is wrong because it opposes wisdom. He explains how people pursue their talents, since they have the wisdom to do so, but when they stop pursuing their talents, then there is injustice. In this sense, justice does not serve the strong only, but also every individual who knows that what is just is to do achieve their specialized potential (Plato Book IV ). Socrates also shows through his arguments that certain rules which allow a group to act in common help them reach their goals and there is justice in that. Thrasymachus already praised before the need to follow a set of rules. Lastly, Socrates argues that if justice is a virtue of the soul, and the virtue of the soul refers to the health of the soul, justice is attractive because it contributes to the health of the soul. Socrates asks: â€Å"Then the just is happy, and the unjust miserable?† Indeed, this essay agrees that the just is happy,

Harry potter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Harry potter - Essay Example This story is all about an orphan boy, and unbeknown to him, he is a wizard and very popular in the world of Wizards and is admitted in the well-known magic academy, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, whose ten years of life is surrounded in a tiny cupboard under stairs with the very detestable Dursleys and their nasty son Dudley, could never imagine a life full of magic, but all that is about to change when a letter comes through an owl messenger announcing his admission in the great Hogwarts. Once he makes his way into the school, he becomes aware about the reason for his fame – Lord Voldemort, the most feared wizard who is also referred as â€Å"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named†. However, the first novel of the whole series mostly shows Harry getting aware of the magic and making friends, nemesis and facing Voldemort for the first time, after getting cursed by him when he was just a baby. As the story evolves one can, to some extent, grasp the few agendas tha t the book seems to be outlining and those are the value of humility and friendship, the dangers of desire and the periodic need of rebellion. Regardless of his surrounding and the people he is dealing with, Harry’s respect and dignity for others is never lost on anyone. Even though he is just a kid, his values and thinking is that of an adult, usually a kid of his age is very naughty, lively, whiny and childlike, but after reading the book and watching the movie one cannot blame him for having any such traits. The value of humility in him can be judged at different turns in the book, for instance, in the academy he is uncomfortable with the popularity and when his potions teacher, professor Snape dubbed him as â€Å"our new celebrity† he gets embarrassed, similarly, when the teacher humiliates him on ignorance of herbs he remains silent, showing respect for the teacher. Interestingly, children often seems to enjoy and take advantage of being famous, but again this is not the case with

Reading with Comprehension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reading with Comprehension - Essay Example Learning Difficulties in Reading with comprehension According to Callella (2000), learning difficulties comprise of the inability to make clear connections between the text read and its actual meaning. Readers may be confronted with a number of difficulties in an attempt to understand and comprehend any piece of writing, which they read. Most of the difficulties in learning affect children and hinder their understanding of written texts. It becomes extremely challenging for school going children to understand what they read, when they have difficulties in learning. Some of the learning difficulties in reading with comprehension include challenges in decoding, linguistic comprehension, and poor phonological and semantic skills. Other difficulties may be related to problems with visual word recognition, fluency, and problems with inference making and working memory. These difficulties will now be analyzed on the basis of how they influence reading with comprehension. The lack of proper decoding skills can act as a constraint on reading with comprehension. This may happen when decoding is slow and effortful; in such a case, resources may be dedicated to word level processing. On the other hand, when decoding in the reader is automatic, then the task of comprehension may be possible. Reading comprehension can be compromised when decoding in the reader is poor (Westwood, 2004). Decoding relates to the speed of word reading; children who have poor reading comprehension skills can be slower at reading words than students with excellent reading comprehension skills. The relationship between reading comprehension and efficiency in decoding continues in a person’s lifetime. Poor reading skills and non word reading in early childhood may predict learning difficulties in reading with comprehension in secondary school years and adulthood. Linguistic comprehension can also be a source of poor reading comprehension. The simple model of reading holds that apart from def icits in decoding, poor comprehenders may also have deficits in linguistic comprehension. Readers may have difficulties in understanding the language used in a comprehension (Westwood, 2004). For example, they may not understand the actual meaning of the words used. This learning difficulty presents a challenge to the understanding of written text. In order to make meaning out of written texts, the reader should understand the language used. Thus, difficulties in understanding the actual meaning of words, phrases, and vocabulary used can be regarded as a learning difficulty in reading with comprehension. According to Allington & McGill-Franzen (2000), poor phonological skills also pose significant challenges in reading with comprehension. Phonological skills have a correlation with the development of literacy in children as well as adults. Phonological deficits may usually characterize individuals with poor reading comprehension skills. Comprehension problems on the basis of phonolo gical skills may emanate from the inability to sustain phonological representation of verbal information while reading. Phonological skills play an essential role in determining how the reader represents verbal information when reading. Thus, the inability of children to set up phonological representation leads to difficulties in reading with comprehension. Other difficulties related to phonology entail problems in word recognition.

E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals Dissertation

E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals - Dissertation Example This research will aim on providing an insight about application of e-marketing in the healthcare sector of UK. In present days, internet has become one of the major trends in business and is being used widely in several sectors. Internet not only offers free exchange of information, but is also emerging as one of the dominant networks for business marketing. In the current era, internet facilities are observed to deliver various new opportunities for businesses, especially in terms of marketing communication. The online consumers can enjoy ranges of products or services in more reasonable prices and in more convenient manner. Today, E-marketing gives consumers an opportunity to gather information and choose the right product or services at the right time. Therefore, several new entrepreneurs as well as existing small and medium size enterprises are nowadays exploring the e-marketing services in order to improve their business operations and discover the new business opportunities. I n service sector such as health care industry, financial establishments, hospitality and tourism industry are now using the e-marking extensively. The use of internet for collecting information has already become much significant in healthcare sector and will probably become more vital in upcoming days. The extensive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) movement reveals changing demands on the healthcare industry with societal transformation, with rising life anticipation, with shifting form of illness, and with altering scientific competencies (Marrow, n.d.). In present days, the e-marketing, in hospitals of UK had observed impressive growth. Several hospitals in the UK have initiated ICT in order to cope up with other businesses. The consumers are becoming ever more comfortable with uses of internet technology and are also purchasing ranges of products and services through it. Likewise, huge numbers of consumers are using internet in order to gain information about medic al and health (Sanchez, 2000). In contrast with other organisations, hospitals in UK are experiencing a rapid knowledge about using ICT. Traditionally, the use of internet as marketing in the healthcare industry was limited due to lack of knowledge about its advantages. Though these limitations have not ended yet, but hospitals in UK are now becoming more open-minded and conscious about the possible paybacks they can gain by using internet as marketing tool. Besides, implementation of internet as marketing in other industry had also contributed to this trend in hospital organisations. Even though for small organisations are unable to bear the expense of using E-marketing, but several large hospitals in the UK have recognised that the benefit for this expense are great once made-up. Similarly, several private hospitals are developing good websites which can increase brand awareness, raise productivities and also to some extent save cost in other extents of business (Sanchez, 2000). 1 .2. Problem Statement Presently, the healthcare industry is witnessing enormous challenges because of continuous increase in public demands. Private hospitals are under great stress of continuous improvement of services to the rising patients, habitually with insufficient funds. The hospitals are much cognisant about using e-marketing compared to other industries. However, the enormous challenges of hospitals relate to better productivity to exploit inadequate funds and

Criminal Justice Field Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Justice Field - Case Study Example According to her statement, it is quite clear that she was aware of her husband's habit of stealing and indicated that he was doing it in order to support them. Some of the stolen items were also listed in the statement in conjunction with Whitehead's comments on to their ownership (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 2). However, during the trial in Circuit court for the city of Danville, Whitehead denounced everything she had indicated in her statement. She went ahead and claimed that she did not know about Walden's habit of breaking into people's cars. Instead all she knew was that Walden returned with a bunch of things including money. However, during the cross examination, Whitehead admitted that the items brought back to the apartment by Walden were not his. In a contradicting statement, Walden denied having never given Whitehead any stolen item though he pled guilty on the issue. From the issued statements, the trial court decided to bring together Whitehead's forty denunciations to thirty two counts for accepting stolen items from her husband (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 3). In return, the court passed a ruling for each count. Later on, during a sentencing hearing the thirty two counts were reduced to six counts whereby Whitehead was sentenced to five year's imprisonment with four years suspended on each count, for a total of 30 years imprisonment with 24 years suspended. However, the trial court withheld the sentencing on the remaining 26 counts conditioned on 25 years of good behavior. Appearing before another judge in the same court who had been asked by the common wealth to cancel her suspension, Whitehead pled guilty for violating her probation. Consequently, the trial court cancelled its prior suspension and sentenced her to seventeen years, four months of imprisonment with 12 years, four months suspended, for a total of 5 years in addition to her sentences of the new conviction (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 4). The court of appeals confirmed the new convictions and the revocation order in an unpublished opinion indicating that the evidence was adequate to support the court's sentencing. From the information obtained, I tend to disagree with the court of appeal's ruling on Whiteheads case; confirming Whitehead's convictions and the trial court's order of revocation of her probation. This is due to the fact that the common wealth never contended that Whitehead was involved in the actual theft of items or that she received the stolen properties from Walden. Although, there was some contradicting information from Walden regarding her awareness on the stolen items, the court of appeal should have gone a step further and investigate the case. Jeffrey Wayne Rowe v. Record No. 081173 Case It was around 1:30 am on July 9, 2005 when Officer Brian J. Fair of the Virginia Beach police department noticed a truck being driven recklessly. At the moment, he was in his dark blue uniform and was driving his personal car on his way home. He immediately contacted the Virginia Beach police dispatcher requesting for the notification of the incident to the Virginia state police since he believed that the truck driver (Rowe) was drunk. However, he was informed that there were no available state police

Affirmitive Action initiatives Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Affirmitive Action initiatives - Coursework Example s owing to the fact that the US has become increasingly dominated by people from the Asian and Mexican decent that have dominated the work force in the past. This has made it increasingly difficult for companies to make out the individuals that qualify for affirmative action. This being said, I think that biracial individuals should be counted for Affirmative Action initiatives based on their lineage and simply not by looking at the color of their skin. This is because looking at the skin color can be deceiving. Secondly, it is important to look at the social status of the individuals. Some biracial individuals are well-off and may not be in need of the affirmative action. Biracial individuals should also be counted based on where they come from (Korgen, 1999). This is because some of them live in highly marginalized areas and are in dire need of the affirmative action within the work place. Finally, affirmative action should be based on the academic background of the individuals. Some biracial individuals are well educated and may not require Affirmative

E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals Dissertation

E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals - Dissertation Example This research will aim on providing an insight about application of e-marketing in the healthcare sector of UK. In present days, internet has become one of the major trends in business and is being used widely in several sectors. Internet not only offers free exchange of information, but is also emerging as one of the dominant networks for business marketing. In the current era, internet facilities are observed to deliver various new opportunities for businesses, especially in terms of marketing communication. The online consumers can enjoy ranges of products or services in more reasonable prices and in more convenient manner. Today, E-marketing gives consumers an opportunity to gather information and choose the right product or services at the right time. Therefore, several new entrepreneurs as well as existing small and medium size enterprises are nowadays exploring the e-marketing services in order to improve their business operations and discover the new business opportunities. I n service sector such as health care industry, financial establishments, hospitality and tourism industry are now using the e-marking extensively. The use of internet for collecting information has already become much significant in healthcare sector and will probably become more vital in upcoming days. The extensive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) movement reveals changing demands on the healthcare industry with societal transformation, with rising life anticipation, with shifting form of illness, and with altering scientific competencies (Marrow, n.d.). In present days, the e-marketing, in hospitals of UK had observed impressive growth. Several hospitals in the UK have initiated ICT in order to cope up with other businesses. The consumers are becoming ever more comfortable with uses of internet technology and are also purchasing ranges of products and services through it. Likewise, huge numbers of consumers are using internet in order to gain information about medic al and health (Sanchez, 2000). In contrast with other organisations, hospitals in UK are experiencing a rapid knowledge about using ICT. Traditionally, the use of internet as marketing in the healthcare industry was limited due to lack of knowledge about its advantages. Though these limitations have not ended yet, but hospitals in UK are now becoming more open-minded and conscious about the possible paybacks they can gain by using internet as marketing tool. Besides, implementation of internet as marketing in other industry had also contributed to this trend in hospital organisations. Even though for small organisations are unable to bear the expense of using E-marketing, but several large hospitals in the UK have recognised that the benefit for this expense are great once made-up. Similarly, several private hospitals are developing good websites which can increase brand awareness, raise productivities and also to some extent save cost in other extents of business (Sanchez, 2000). 1 .2. Problem Statement Presently, the healthcare industry is witnessing enormous challenges because of continuous increase in public demands. Private hospitals are under great stress of continuous improvement of services to the rising patients, habitually with insufficient funds. The hospitals are much cognisant about using e-marketing compared to other industries. However, the enormous challenges of hospitals relate to better productivity to exploit inadequate funds and

Affirmitive Action initiatives Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Affirmitive Action initiatives - Coursework Example s owing to the fact that the US has become increasingly dominated by people from the Asian and Mexican decent that have dominated the work force in the past. This has made it increasingly difficult for companies to make out the individuals that qualify for affirmative action. This being said, I think that biracial individuals should be counted for Affirmative Action initiatives based on their lineage and simply not by looking at the color of their skin. This is because looking at the skin color can be deceiving. Secondly, it is important to look at the social status of the individuals. Some biracial individuals are well-off and may not be in need of the affirmative action. Biracial individuals should also be counted based on where they come from (Korgen, 1999). This is because some of them live in highly marginalized areas and are in dire need of the affirmative action within the work place. Finally, affirmative action should be based on the academic background of the individuals. Some biracial individuals are well educated and may not require Affirmative

A Breakthrough in DNA Sequencing Essay Example for Free

A Breakthrough in DNA Sequencing Essay The human genome can give a lot of information about a person. The genes can be used to trace a person’s family tree, clone an entire human being, and, more importantly, give information regarding certain diseases he or she may have. In this connection, according to an article published in the Science Daily, researchers from the Human Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and NimbleGen Systems, Inc. ave developed a new technique that combines gene chip technology with the latest gene sequencing machines that enables fast and accurate sequencing of selected parts of the genome. The technique uses microarrays to enhance the volume of specific genomic sequences and subsequently, a DNA sequencing machine determines the exact genetic code of the material. Furthermore, based on the article, the breakthrough is faster, more accurate, and more efficient than the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method, which was is the technique usually used in DNA sequencing. In one experiment, the new technique was able to analyze 6,400 exons, which are the parts of the genetic code that contains the instructions in making proteins. In short, researchers or scientists can actually use the new technique to select a portion of the DNA that is suspected to cause a disease, remove the unwanted portions, and increase the selected genome’s volume using microarrays by three hundred times or more, giving results that are more accurate at a faster time. Personally, I think that this is a welcome development especially in hastening and improving the treatment of certain diseases such as cancer. Moreover, being a student taking up microbiology, I believe that the new technique could be highly useful in analyzing the genes of certain bacteria that have antibiotic resistance. This breakthrough could also provide crucial information as to how these genes of certain bacteria could mutate which is essential in finding a treatment for the disease these bacteria could cause.

Implementation of Wireless Receiver Algorithms

Implementation of Wireless Receiver Algorithms Figure 1 System Specifications (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 2 Message format (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 3 Non-coherent receiver (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 4 Coherent receiver (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 5 Receiver Front-End (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 6 Frequency response of a passband filter (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 7 Band-pass filter response Figure 8 Band-pass filter input/output Figure 9 Implemented DPSK demodulator (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 10 Low-pass filter input/output Figure 11 Optima sample time diagram Figure 12 Symbol with 40 samples (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 13 Early-Late sample at an arbitrary point (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 14 Early-Late sample at the maximum point of power (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 15 Early-Late symbol synchronization input/output Figure 16 Result of non-coherent receiver detection Figure 17 IQ Downconverter (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 18 Sine and cosine table graphs Figure 19 Index control flow (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 20 Filter comparison (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 21 Down-conversion: x3I vs. x3Q counter clockwise Figure 22 Down-conversion: x4I vs. x4Q counter clockwise Figure 23 x6I vs. x6Q Figure 24 Averaging approach to overcome the jitter (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 25 Code to solve the jitter Figure 26 Principle of the differential detector (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 27 Constellation without Phase Offset (dI Vs dQ) Figure 28 Result of coherent receiver detection using differential coherent demodulator Figure 29 BPSK and DPSK BER comparison (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 30 Costas Loop algorithm (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 31 Costas loop: yQ vs. yI Figure 32 Message obtained using Costas loop Figure 33 BER comparison of different modulation schemes and techniques (Sklar, 1983) This project is focused on implementing and coupling several functional blocks that will allow us to detect, extract and decode a wireless message that is being broadcasted in the Merz lab of computers. In the following sections, we will find the implementations of coherent and non-coherent receivers. In the section 1 we define the basic background knowledge that will be commonly used in the posterior phases of the report. We define the basic structure and features of the transmitter as well as the message format that the system is intended to detect. Finally, we define what is a coherent and a non-coherent system and provide a classification about the different techniques. In the section 2 we will analyse the non-coherent receiver implementation from the message acquisition, going to the filter section, signal scaling and refinement, using a DPSK demodulator to define the probable symbols represented, then establishing a synchronization for the symbol and finally presenting the message obtained. The section 3 will focus in the realization of a coherent receiver, considering two possible variations on this type of implementation: the first will be developed using a differential coherent demodulator, in this technique we will not recover the carrier signal. The second implementation of this receiver, will be done using a carrier recovery technique, which is in this case a Costas Loop Algorithm. Some common blocks are done in all the possible implementations that were carried out during this project: the first is the receiver front-end which is the responsible to acquire and prepare the signal for the posterior processing. To recover the symbol synchronization, we use a technique called early-late gate, this will let us know what is the most convenient instant of the time to sample the signal. For the case of coherent signal, we must adapt this technique to apply it separately for the signal I (in-phase) and Q (quadrature). The section 4 contains analysis, conclusions and discussions of the results obtained during the realization of the phases. The last sections of the report detail the references used for further explanations and the different programs used for implementing each block. In each section, we include little further explanations that could be referred to understand the steps and details that have been done in the corresponding section. 1. Background knowledge 1.1. Aims and objectives The focus of this project is to demonstrate the implementation and the behaviour of data links using Radio Frequency as media and different techniques. Basically, we use two techniques: coherent and non-coherent implementations. A further explanation of these techniques will be done in the following sections. A second implementation of a coherent receiver will be carried out by using a phase recovery technique with the Costas Loop and coupling the posterior phase to this block. The specifications of the system to be implemented could be defined as a set of blocks connected as follows: Figure 1 System Specifications (Tsimenidis, 2016) Where the transmitter has been already implemented, therefore the work will be carried out in the receiver algorithm to obtain the final data, which of course must be in a human readable format. We also must consider that the format of the message that is being broadcasted wirelessly in the Merz lab has the following format: Figure 2 Message format (Tsimenidis, 2016) 1.2. Digital modulation The digital modulation process refers to a technique in which the digital representation of the information is embedded in a signal, a carrier typically a sinusoidal signal, in such a way that this information will modify an established parameter of the signal. We can define a sinusoidal carrier in a general way as a signal that will correspond to the equation: Where the information could be embedded in this will be called amplitude modulation, if the parameter this will be called frequency modulation and finally the phase modulation will be obtained if we embed the data in the expression. Regard to the symbol this is called the angular frequency, it is measured in radians per second, this is related to the frequency (f) expressed in Hertz by the expression. 1.3. Coherent and non-coherent detection Considering the receiver side, we can classify the demodulation or detection based on the use of the carriers phase information in the process of information recovery. In the case that the receiver uses this information to detect the signals it will be called coherent detection, and non-coherent detection otherwise. This are also called synchronous and asynchronous detection, respectively. Coherent Non-Coherent Phase Shift Keying (PSK) Diferential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) Frecuency Shift Keying (FSK) Frecuency Shift Keying (FSK) Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) Figure 3 Non-coherent receiver (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 4 Coherent receiver (Tsimenidis, 2016) 2. Non-coherent receiver 2.1. Receiver Front-End This segment of the non-coherent receiver will consist of the first two blocks, which are common for both coherent and non-coherent implementations. Figure 5 Receiver Front-End (Tsimenidis, 2016) The first block is the responsible to take a sampled input expressed as bits, represent it as a float number and then normalise it to a range +/- 1.0. The second stage applies a bandpass filter to the signal, this will attenuate the parasites components of frequency that could contaminate the signal that we received. Figure 6 Frequency response of a passband filter (Tsimenidis, 2016) To design the passband filter we must consider the following information: let = 4800 Hz, data rate = 2400 bps and sampling frequency = 48000 Hz. These assumptions, led us to the following results: Lower passband cut-off frequency: = = 3600 Hz Upper passband cut-off frequency: = + = 6000 Hz Lower stopband cut-off frequency: = = 1200 Hz Upper stopband cut-off frequency: = + = 8400 Hz The implementation of the filter will be done using the sptool command of Matlab, using the above defined values as parameters for the filter. The following figure shows the result obtained in the realization of the lab, considering the number of filter coefficients of 101. Figure 7 Band-pass filter response Figure 8 Band-pass filter input/output 2.2. DPSK demodulator To implement the non-coherent detection, we are going to use a DPSK demodulator, which was previously categorized as a non-coherent technique. The DPSK demodulator will take advantage of two basic operation that occur on the transmitter: the first is the differential encoding, and the second is the phase-shift keying. In the transmitter, the signal will be advanced in phase, with respect to the current signal, if the symbol to be sent is 0, and the phase will be preserved if the bit corresponds to 1. In the side of the receiver, we have memory that will be able to compare the phase of two successive bit intervals, i.e. it determines the relative difference in phase of these two, determining the correspondent symbols without the need of having information about the phase of the signal in the transmitter. Figure 9 Implemented DPSK demodulator (Tsimenidis, 2016) The FIR matched filter block will correspond to a low-pass filter, this is required because the demodulation process, as it is a multiplication between two sinusoidal signals, will generate a low-band signal and a high-band signal, where the second one should be filtered. 2.3. Symbol synchronisation The symbol synchronisation, also called symbol timing, is a critical process that consists in the continuous estimation and update of information of the symbol related to its data transition epochs. This is a critical process that must be conducted to keep the communication accuracy in acceptable levels. Broadly speaking, the synchronization techniques could be classified in two groups: open-loop and closed-loop. The chosen technique for this project corresponds to the Early-Late Symbol Synchronization which is a closed-loop type. The most popular technique is the closed-loop synchronization because Open-loop synchronizer has an unavoidable nonzero average tracking error (though small for large SNR, it cannot be made zero), a closed-loop symbol synchronizer circumvents this problem.(Nguyen Shwedyk, 2009) The corresponding results of the output of the demodulator are the following figures, these corresponds to the signals before and after the signal is filtered with the FIR low-pass filter. Notes: The curve in blue corresponds to the signal containing the high-frequency parasite component, and the curve in red shows the result of filtering the high frequency component, i.e. this is the output signal of the filter. The symbol correspondence is: symbol 0 for positive numbers, and symbol 1 for negative magnitudes. Figure 10 Low-pass filter input/output 2.3.1. Early-late Symbol Synchronization (Reed, 2002) The algorithm Early-late used for synchronization is supported by the idea that the sample of a symbol must be taken in the time where the energy is maximum, this will warranty a minimum error probability. This algorithm exploits the symmetry of the signal, neglecting the distortion and noise. Considering the following figure, we can see that the optimal time to take the sample, identified as T, should be in the halfway between two points T0 + d and T0 d, if the power in the T0 + d and T0 d is, ideally, the same. Figure 11 Optima sample time diagram Suppose the following figure shows a symbol, we can notice that if we take an arbitrary sample, e.g. n=3 and depending on the thresholds, could be wrongly interpreted as 0, however the most appropriated value is 1. Figure 12 Symbol with 40 samples (Tsimenidis, 2016) With a buffer size of 20 registers, we can notice that in the following figure the power levels of the signal for n=0 and n=19 are different, then we need to move the whole buffer one space to the right. Figure 13 Early-Late sample at an arbitrary point (Tsimenidis, 2016) If we continue with the iteration and we follow the rules described in the flow diagram, we will converge in a finite number of iterations, where we can see that the result is located as expected, this could be seen in the following figure. Figure 14 Early-Late sample at the maximum point of power (Tsimenidis, 2016) The results of the application of this algorithm for our case are shown in the following figure: Note: The signal in red is the input of the early-late symbol synchronization block and the signal in blue is the value of Em that will finally determine the value that the symbol is representing, in each case. Figure 15 Early-Late symbol synchronization input/output 2.4. Frame synchronisation As was stated in the in the background section, the message frame will begin with the characters ++++ and the message has 72 bytes encoding the message using a ASCII characters. Therefore, this section will deal with two tasks: (1) Detect the message preamble and (2) Decode byte per byte of the data contained in the payload. After the preamble section, we will detect 576 bits, corresponding to the 72 bytes that correspond to the ASCII characters. These characters will be dumped into an executable file that will then show the message that has been detected and decoded. The specific implementation of the algorithm is attached in the appendix section of this report. 2.5. Results and evaluation The result of applying the steps described in the sections from 2.1 to 2.4, we obtain the message, getting the result showed in the next figure: Figure 16 Result of non-coherent receiver detection 3. Coherent receiver The coherent receiver, also called synchronous receiver, implies certain degree of agreement or knowledge about parameters used in the transmitter side. For the case of the project, we have a signal of type DPSK, i.e. the codification is contained in the variation of the phase of the signal. 3.1. IQ Down-converter The aim of this component is to decompose a complex signal in terms of its in-phase and quadrature elements. To achieve this decomposition, we are going to perform the implementation using lookup-table oscillators, i.e. that for a given signal in-phase and quadrature components will be obtained by using the definitions given by: Figure 17 IQ Downconverter (Tsimenidis, 2016) Upon these definitions, the components that we obtain could be represented in two separated graphs, each one of them representing a different component table. Figure 18 Sine and cosine table graphs As for the index control of look-up table, we decide to use for loop to generate x2I[n] and x2Q[n], storing and transporting data to corresponding files as x2I.h and x2Q.h. These files will be used later to perform the conversion of values. Figure 19 Index control flow (Tsimenidis, 2016) After understanding the principle, we defined all of variables and initialized them to zero inside the main, and select the appropriate value of some variables such as state_mf, coeffs_mf and N_mf.Same as the picture over, the original data from bandpass output is also separated into two filters: Matched Filter I and Matched Filter Q, and the coefficients of the filters are the same with the original one. The benefit of using the lookup-table oscillators (setting x2 into x2I and x2Q) is to decrease the time of simulation because of the lower required sampling rate.ÂÂ   We can use via lookup table method to call them from x2I.h and x2Q.h, so that we can use it more efficiently in Matlab instead of shifting itself. And then, we multiplied x1 to x2I[n] and x2Q[n] one by one by using another for loop and got x3I and x3Q.Besides,the code of matched filter had been given by tutors and got x4I and x4Q. {x4I=fir(x3I,coeff_mf,state_mf_I,N_mf);ÂÂ   //match filter I } {x4Q=fir(x3I,coeff_mf,state_mf_Q,N_mf);ÂÂ   //match filter I } Figure 20 Filter comparison (Tsimenidis, 2016) We monitored and recorded x3I and x3Q in PicoScope and print screen. The wave of them spinning fixed at the origin point so three of these blows were selected to describe this wave batter. Figure 21 Down-conversion: x3I vs. x3Q counter clockwise After this, we can visualize the outputs of each one of the filters, now we are going to plot in the figure x4I and x4Q, obtaining: Figure 22 Down-conversion: x4I vs. x4Q counter clockwise 3.2. Symbol synchronization After IQ down-converter, the next stage is symbol synchronization. To achieve this, we create x5I[n] and x5Q[n] and sent x4I, x4Q one sample at the time. The procedure that we should do in this section is similar to the one seen in the non-coherent detection, however we must consider two buffers instead of one, one for I and other for Q parts. The sum of the above established energies will correspond to the energy that can be seen as the total energy of the signal, which is similar to lab of the symbol synchronization for the non-coherent receiver. The corresponding calculations to obtain the signals after the symbol synchronization process are defined as: Then, plotting the results obtained, we see the following figure: Figure 23 x6I vs. x6Q Due to synchronization problems, we threated the jitter that was causing these inconsistences using the averaging approach, as described in the follows: Figure 24 Averaging approach to overcome the jitter (Tsimenidis, 2016) Figure 25 Code to solve the jitter 3.3. Differential coherent demodulator In this section, we will implement a differential detector, also called a differential coherent demodulator. Figure 26 Principle of the differential detector (Tsimenidis, 2016) At first, we declare and initialize appropriately the required variables and define .In this differential detector, need to multiply ,1 symbol delay by . N N=1 N=2 N=3 After this, we defined x6I_prev and x6Q_prev to deal with this problem and let x6I_prev and x6Q_prev denote the values of x6I and x6Q from the previous symbol. It is very important to initialize them to zero at the declaration because we know . (Tsimenidis, 2016) x6I_prev=x6I; x6Q_prev=x6Q On the same time, dI contains the first two terms which stand for the In-phase part and dQ which contains the last two terms which stand for the Quadrature part. Hard decision is then achieved by deciding whether the dI value is positive or negative, with a negative value indicating that a logic 1 was transmitted which might be used in the next step that is frame synchronization and message detection. Now we obtain the plot showi