How Useful is Bakhtin’s Concept of Carnival?

Bakhtin Mikhail Mikhailovich (1895-1975) was Russian philosophist, literary critic and the theorist of art. He is a representative of Russian Structuralism and his historical and theoretical researches on epic and novel literature are important for understanding of the cultural development. Mikhail Bakhtin was one of the first theorists who investigated the polyphonic form of the novel ( «Problems of Dostoyevsky's Poetics », 1929) and folk â€Å"laughing† culture of the Medieval Ages ( «Rabelais and his World, 1965).He is also an author of the essays  «The issues of literature and esthetics » (1975) and â€Å"On the philosophy of the act† (1986). He was the first who use the concepts of dialogism (The Dialogic Imagination) and heteroglossia, the carnivalesque and chronotope in the literary critique. Bakhtin’s concepts are very useful for explanation of the nature of the genre of the novel. The â€Å"dialogism† and â€Å"heteroglossia† invo lve a special â€Å"multivoiced use of language†. The concept of the novelistic â€Å"chronotope† describes historical aspects of literary sources; it uses specified and differentiated time and space for the plot.The present essay is devoted to the concept of â€Å"the carnivalesque†. Bakhtin considers that novels â€Å"can be described as inspired by a laughing truth, indebted to parodic genres and to the spirit of carnival†. Bakhtin was interesting in Rabelaisian work since 1930s. His first work about this Renaissance writer was  «Francois Rabelais in the history of the realism » (1940). This work appeared in the time when Soviet ideology admitted concepts of the realism and the national character. Bakhtin adopted these categories and proposed the concept of carnivalesque.He suggested that low humor culture of Medieval Ages and Renaissance was a power folk opposition to the official values and government. The characteristic of folk low humor, the â €Å"life of the belly† was accepted as the main source of Rabelais book and became a discovery in the critique on medieval literature and, particularly, Rabelais creative work. It was the first publication about the philosophy of laugh. The theory of carnivalesque was developed not only for the explanation of local historical fact but as a universal phenomenon of the world culture.Bakhtin’s idea about  «carnivalization » of literature was developed in other works, but the first record of this theory appeared in the second edition of the monograph on Dostoyevsky. After the Second World War, in 1946 Bakhtin tried to defend theses in the Institute of World Literature (Moscow). The subject of his theses was the creative work of Rabelais. But in Stalin epoch his dissertation was rejected (Bakhtin received the degree of candidate of science (the lowest scientific degree in Russia) only in 1952) and they prohibited publishing the text of the dissertation about Rabelais.Mi khail Bakhtin published the book â€Å"Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaya kul’tura srednevekovia i Renessansa† (The creative work of Francois Rabelais and the popular culture of the Medieval Ages and the Renaissance more known as Rabelais and his World) only in 1965. In the next couple years this book was translated in foreign languages (English translation by Helene Iswolsky was published in Cambridge, MA: M. I. T. Press, in 1968) and it opened the epoch of Bakhtin’s influence on the Russian and world humanistic thought.The central esthetic idea of Rabelais and his World is â€Å"grotesque realism†. Rabelais created images of the grotesque body; he emphasized the features of â€Å"lower bodily strata†. The grotesque body is opened to the world, his physiology is not hidden, and this body degrades and regenerates actively. â€Å"In grotesque realism†¦ the bodily element is deeply positive. It is presented not in a private, egoistic form, s evered from other spheres of life, but as something universal, representing all the people.As such it is opposed to severance from the material and bodily roots of the world; it makes no pretense to renunciation of the earthy, or independence of the earth and the body. We repeat: the body and bodily life have here a cosmic and at the same time an all-people's character; this is not the body and its physiology in the modern sense of these words, because it is not individualized. The material bodily principle is contained not in the biological individual, not in the bourgeois ego, but in the people, a people who are continually growing and renewed†¦.This exaggeration has a positive, assertive character. The leading themes of these images of bodily life are fertility, growth, and a brimming-over abundance. Manifestations of this life refer not to the isolated biological individual, not to the private, egotistic ‘economic man,' but to the collective ancestral body of all the people† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World, p. 19). Bakhtin found the Renaissance was a period of the benign balance between destructive and regenerative features of grotesque realism. He wrote:â€Å"The essence of the grotesque is precisely to present a contradictory and double-faced fullness of life. Negation and destruction (death of the old) are included as an essential phase, inseparable from affirmation, from the birth of something new and better. The very material bodily lower stratum of the grotesque image (food, wine, the genital force, the organs of the body) bears a deeply positive character. This principle is victorious, for the final result is always abundance, increase† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World, chapter 1, p. 62).Mikhail Bakhtin emphasized an opposition between the low popular culture and the official culture of the later middle Ages and early Renaissance. The official culture use static stratified model of the world. Unofficial culture is a culture of Carnival. The etymology of the word â€Å"Carnival† is enough sophisticated. The word is derivated from Italian carnevale, alteration of earlier carnelevare, literally, removal of meat, from carne flesh (from Latin carn-, caro) + levare (from Latin to remove, to raise). Another explanation finds roots of the Carnival in Ancient mysteries.They derivate word â€Å"Carnival† from â€Å"carrus-navalis† (the chariot-ship) of Roman religious ceremonies. Carnival concentrates the contrasts of folk culture and shows the chaotic and imperfect nature of the world. An individual of the middle Ages lived two lives: one that was the official life (church, social duties etc), another was the carnival life filled in with burlesque and low humor. The novel of Rabelais shows how the popular culture liberated the society and how the conventionalities were destroyed in the contact with the reality of the modern era.Bakhtin sees Rabelais not only as a novelist but â€Å"his wor k embodies a whole new philosophy of history, in which the world is viewed in the process of becoming† (Bakhtin’s cycle, 2004). In the Prologue to Rabelais and His World Michael Holquist wrote: â€Å"Bakhtin's carnival, surely the most productive concept in this book, is not only not an impediment to revolutionary change, it is revolution itself. Carnival must not be confused with mere holiday or, least of all, with self-serving festivals fostered by governments, secular or theocratic.The sanction for carnival derives ultimately not from a calendar prescribed by church or state, but from a force that preexists priests and kings and to whose superior power they are actually deferring when they appear to be licensing carnival. † (Michael Holquist, â€Å"Prologue,† Rabelais and His World) The carnival of the adventures of Pantagruel is not similar to the modern carnival. The Renaissance cultures understand the carnival as the â€Å"temporary suspension of al l hierarchic distinctions and barriers among men †¦ and of the prohibitions of usual life.†(Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World p. 15). The Renaissance Carnival is unusual world where festive pleasure and philosophy exists contemporarily. It is topsyturvy world, the world of the primary chaos. Bakhtin proposed the semiotic theory of the carnival, the theory of the carnivalizing of quotidian life. The central idea of the concept of carnivalizing or carnivalesque is an â€Å"inversion of binary contraposition† – replacing official values with low folk culture. When people came to the carnival square than all routine ideas and their oppositions of Christianity change each other.The King of Carnival is a pauper or fool (trickster). Everybody does honor to him. There is a Carnival bishop and Christianic sanctuaries could be desecrated. The top became the bottom, the head – the genitals (low body). Females and males switch their places. Billingsgate and devout phrases change each other. Everything was subject of top down imposition. Why? Bakhtin found roots of the carnival in the agrarian cults of pre-Christianic culture. Carnivalizing â€Å"makes it possible to extend the narrow sense of life† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World p. 177).The aspiration of carnival is to uncover, undermine – even destroy, the hegemony of any ideology that seeks to have the final word about the world, and also to renew, to shed light upon life, the meanings it harbours, to elucidate potentials; projecting, as it does an alternate conceptualisation of reality. Dialogism is a fundamental aspect of the carnival – a plurality of ‘fully valid consciousnesses' (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, p. 9), Baktin used the concept of the dialogism as a necessary condition of the understanding: â€Å"Two voices is the minimum for life, the minimum for existence† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, p. 252).The carnival papered over the differe nces between the social strata. â€Å"Carnival is the place for working out a new mode of interrelationship between individuals . . . People who in life are separated by impenetrable hierarchical barriers enter into free and familiar contact on the carnival square† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, p. 123). Today the elements of carnivalesque are inherent for some ethnic groups, e. g. Bantu tribe. Traditions of European carnival culture flourish in Latin America, in particular in Brazil. (It’s interesting, that so popular in the Brazilian carnivals â€Å"samba† came from the Bantu word â€Å"semba†).In the modern culture the carnivalesque is actual as never before – but it is another carnivalesque. Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnivalesque has four main themes: the tumultuous crowd, the world turned upside-down, the comic masks and the grotesque body. Bakhtin also categorizes the carnivalesque into three basic forms: ritual spectacles (such as fairs, feasts, wakes, processions, mummery, dancing and open-air amusements with costumes, masks, giants, dwarfs etc), comic verbal compositions and various genres of billingsgate or abusive language.â€Å"†¦ we are especially interested in the language which mocks and insults the deity and which was part of the ancient comic cults† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, p. 16). But some authors found limitations in the theory of the carnivalesque. Richard Berrong wrote that Bakhtin‘s theory had some weaknesses. Bakhtin emphasized the role of laughter culture but do not take in the account the historical context of Rabelais's changing attitude (R. M. Berrong, Rabelais and Bakhtin†¦ , Ã'€. 15, 19-51).The concept of the carnivalesque helps us to identify an atmosphere of festivities, disdain of authority and material anti-intellectualism in literature. It could be applicable to certain genres carousals in Flemish painting and to the social criticism of postmodern art. Bak htin’s concept of carnivalesque could be useful way for the analysis processes connecting the comic and the serious issues of routine life. Medieval carnival players went to the streets in masks and costumes, their ritual spectacles (e. g. the Feast of Fools or the Feast of the Innocents) were full with the topsyturvy.The citizens were admitted to â€Å"occupy† the cathedral and turn it upside down and inside out. They could tell everything and do everything. They were equal and close in this moment. They were very much like Americans today. Where is American carnivalesque? You could find in the streets of New Orleans during Mardi Gras or in the New York during Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. If can find it in the bad blocks and slums. Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the â€Å"carnivalesque† can be applied to ethnical studies of African American or Latin American culture.Today we can use the concept of the carnivalesque when we analyze issues of satire and paro dy in the festival performance of the globalization. We can see the elements of carnivalizing in the pubs, in political actions, advertising and media, in the street theater etc. We see grotesque body of the modern civilization and the modern art. For example if we apply Bakhtin's idea of the carnivalesque to the comedies and romantic movies we can easily find accordance to Bakhtin's description of the world turned upside down in the interests of liberating laughter.In Bakhtin's view, comedy relocates the spiritual from the top (a head and the face) to the bottom (the belly, the bowels and the genitals): â€Å"The essential principle of grotesque realism is degradation, that is, the lowering of all that is high, spiritual, ideal, abstract† (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, p. 19). Another modern arena of the contemporary carnivalesque is advertising. Carnivalesque PR stunts are used to attract attention of the potential customer. Otherwise, traditions of the carnival could co nstitute a strategy of resistance to the abusing advertising.I found very interesting material about rave music and use of Bakhtin’s concept of carnivalesque. Rave is out of the mainstream. Like medieval carnival the rave has capacity to disrupt and remake official public norms, both they lead people into the â€Å"symbolic sphere of utopian freedom†. Rave realizes its carnivalesque features in several ways. There are no exclusions to participate in the medieval carnival or rave party and there is no hierarchy between people in the time of festivity or the party. There are oppositions between official and non-official life etc (Rave as Carnival, 2004).But I think that Mikhail Bakhtin never think we will use his concepts to argue our non-trivial ideas about music, movies, public relations – about everything. He was a literary critic and proposed the concept of the carnivalesque to explain dynamics of social changes in the late Medieval Ages and early Renaissance. He uses Rabelais’ work because he was the most typical writer for this period and the elements of carnival grotesque were shown in Gargantua and Pantagruel very clearly. Mikhail Bakhtin died in 1975. He made an important contribution to science. But his concept is not universal.Nothing is perfect.References 1. Bakhtin and Medieval Voices. (1995) University Press of Florida. Gainesville.2. Carnival, History And Popular Culture: Rabelais, Goethe And Dostoevskii As Philosophers (2004) The Internet encyclopedia of philosophy http://www. iep. utm. edu/b/bakhtin. htm.3. Rabelais and Bakhtin Popular Culture in â€Å"Gargantua and Pantagruel† by Richard M. Berrong (1986) University of Nebraska Press, 180 p..4. Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin (1984) Indiana University Press 510 p..5. Rave as a carnival (2004) http://www. odevarsivi. com/12/50972. htm.

How Dreams and Dreaming Affect Individual Characters

Explore how dreams and dreaming affect individual characters in the novel. Remember to consider how the American Dream is represented in your answer. In the novel most of the characters have a dream. Each of the characters seem to have a sense of loneliness in each of their lives and their dreams are the things that keep them hoping for something better than their lives on the ranch. Lennie’s dream for one is based on his childlike personality, he wants to be with George and ‘tend to the rabbits’.At every point in the novel where he believes his dream will be compromised you see him fill with rage and throw a tantrum like a child would. When something goes wrong his brain comes back to the rabbits and how he can’t bear to loose his dream, this drives him to try and cover up or runaway from his wrongful acts. Lennie’s dream is tied to George’s and without George his dream is very unlikely to happen. Moving onto George, at first it seems his dre am is based on leaving Lennie to live his life as he chooses but as the novel progresses it becomes clear that he shares a dream with Lennie.This would be to ‘have a little house’ and ‘live off the fatta the lan’ and in this dream Lennie gets to ‘tend to the rabbits’. Compared to Lennie’s very childlike outlook on their dream George is very practical in his way of thinking for example his dream includes having ‘a cow and some pigs’ and ‘have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens’ so that they can ‘live off the fatta the lan’. A lot of the men in the novel that move from place to place often dream of having their own place, something that can belong to them and being their own boss.George is possibly the only person that gets close to his dream being achieved with a little help from Candy. Another character with a dream is Curley’s wife, who wants to be ‘in the moviesâ₠¬â„¢. Her dream is based upon naivety and how she is very easily led to believe things. On two occasions she has been fooled into this way of thinking once when she ‘was a kid’ and a show came to town and ‘one of the actors. He says I could go with the show’ but her mother wouldn’t allow it. On the second occasion she ‘met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers’ and was told ‘he was gunna put me in the movies.Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gunna write to me about it. ’ She never received a letter and blames it on her mother once again, the way she talks about it is though she knows that it wasn’t going to happen but can’t bear admitting it so she makes her mother the scapegoat. Also she talks about her dream as though it’s in the past and wont progress any further than that. Candy and Crooks both dream of not being alone and a better life away from the ranch which is ul timately the true ‘American Dream’.Most of the conflicts that happen in the novel can be blamed upon the so called ‘American Dream’ when the dream world and reality collide. The American Dream contradicts itself by claiming it will do thing, for example equality when in reality Curley’s wife and Crooks are shown to have next to no presence on the ranch just because she is a woman and he is black. By the end of the novel it become clear to George that bitter Crooks is correct, his dream will never be achieved. Overall the novel highlights the impossibility of the ‘American Dream’ ever being achieved. In the end not one person has achieved their dream.

Business Law in Canada for Vicarious Liability †Free Samples

In order to ensure that clients are protected by businesses, their is the need to ensure that there is a clear structure that has been put in place to guarantee the same. Vicarious liability is one of the doctrines that has been put in place in order to ensure that mistakes that are made by employees while in the course of their duty are placed on the businesses. This ensures that employers are able to manage their employee effectively in order to ensure that no mistakes are realized as a result of the same. As it has been noted above, vicarious liability does not place too much liability to businesses. It is essential for employers to ensure that their employees effectively handle their clients in order to minimize any risk that may be imminent. It must also be understood that   bouncers do not have equal power to police officers. Therefore, they should not be allowed to harass people while on duty to a point whereby damage is realized. This should be blamed on the employer who should be able to train their employees on how to behave and handle clients. Nickels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., McHugh, S. M., Cossa, R., & Sproule, B. (2010). Understanding Canadian Business.  McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto, ON. Yates, R. A. (2012).  Legal Fundamentals for Canadian Business. Pearson Education Canada. Fudge, J., Tucker, E., & Vosko, L. F. (2003). Employee or Independent Contractor-Charting the Legal Significance of the Distinction in Canada.  Canadian Lab. & Emp. LJ,  10, 193. Yates, R., Bereznicki-Korol, T., & Clarke, T. (2002).  Business   law in Canada. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall. Tardif v.  Wiebe 1996 Carswell B.C. 2438  (B.C.S.C.) Bowal, P., & Bontorin, L. (2014). Vicarious Liability: The Legal Responsibility of Employers.

Cars History Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Cars History - Research Proposal Example Although work on developing steam engines began in the 17th century, the idea to incorporate it into a road vehicle gained momentum only in the next century. In the course of the 18th century, many futile attempts were made to produce what was yet to be called the ‘car’. To be fair, engineers had indeed developed a few designs for steam-powered road vehicles, but they lacked the popularity and acceptance accorded to steam power in ships and railways. This was primarily because the steam based engine was too heavy for a practical road vehicle. Yet, the 19th century was called the Age of Steam. Harsh legislation was one great bane, at least in a few countries, with virtually strangling speed limits, at 5Â  mph in towns and cities, and 10Â  mph in the country. Laws went as far as directing a man bearing a red flag to precede every vehicle. In addition, tiime curfews applied to all vehicles except street trams. Electric Vehicles were among the earliest ones to be accorded the status of ‘automobiles’. They produce no exhaust fumes and are practically silent. Acceleration exceeds that of conventional vehicles. Sometime in the 1830s Robert Anderson of Scotland supposedly invented the first electric carriage while Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of the Netherlands, designed the small-scale electric car. Electricity as a means for transport propulsion found greater success in the field of public transport such as tramways and streetcars, where a constant supply of electricity was possible by means of overhead power lines. Historically, Electric Vehicles lagged in popularity primarily due to issues with high battery costs, low distance interval between successive recharges, long charging time, and low battery lifespan, etc. But these vehicles are generally cheaper to make and maintain than internal combustion engine vehicles because they have fewer parts. However, around 1900, electric land vehicles in America outsold all other

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Fast plant - Lab Report Example The experiment was based on the general procedure as that of monohybrid activity. In this case the P1 and p2 plants are homozygous for two traits that include one dominant and one recessive. Four phenotypes were considered in this investigation of dihybrid genetics that include the following; Firstly, non-purple entails no expression of purple anthocyanin pigment in the plants (anthocyaninless) and the genotype of this mutant that is recessive is anl/anl. Secondly, Purple entails a pigment referred to as purple anthocyanin is visible on the hypocotyls. This trait is known to be wild type (dominant).The genotype is ANL/ANL Thirdly, the yellow Green; in this case, the homozygous (ygr/ygr) produces a plant that is light green than the normal green fast plant. Fourthly, normal green genotype is wild type (dominant) for yellow green and it is known as YGR. Purple stem Wilscon fast plants consists of anthocyanin which is purple pigment found in several plants that include Wisconsin fast pl ant used in the experiment (Williams, 1986). The pigment can be observed best at 4-7 days. This could be observed at the plant hypocotyls and stems under the leaf tips and cotyledons. It is well known that the single gene (anl) regulates whether the anthocyanin will be expressed or not. The (anl/anl) homozygous form is seen to be completely suppressed. In this case, the plant will appear bright green (non-purple).Yellow green gene (ygr) determines whether the leaves will be either green or yellow green in colour. The leaves will appear pale (yellow green in colour for recessive (ygr/ygr).But for YGR/YGR genotype the leaves will appear green and in this case, this genotype is the wild type. The test that is normally applied to show how well the observed ratios fit the expected statistical ratios is referred to as chi-square test. In this case, the observed number deviations is calculated from the

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Columbia HCA Fraud Case - Essay Example My goal is to relate the case to the subject of Business Ethics and derive important lessons on how business should be conducted. Reading thru the case study, we can discern the numerous causal factors of the federal investigation of Columbia/ HCA. From what I can understand, the investigation was brought about by a combination of internal and external factors which is presented below: It was started in June 1996 by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin that the Medicare program will go broke by 2001 with the way funds are being spent. Expenditures were increasing exponentially with $160 billion for the 1994 fiscal year. That's about $440 million per day. By the year 2003, it is projected that it will mushroom to $380 billion or $1 billion per day according to the Congressional Budget Office. As a general observation, any activity that increases or decreases suddenly is subject to the curiosity of other people especially when it involves large amounts of money. This being the case, it only took a matter of time before it caught the attention of government authorities who have become very keen in finding ways to eliminate unnecessary expenditures and catching fraudulent transactions. The arguments used by the managers to justify the large increase in Medicare costs was the increase in efficiency, more expensive equipment and better accounting practices. These arguments alone are enough to stir speculations because Medicare expenditures should rise due to the rise in harder-to-treat diseases requiring more expensive medication. Does it make sense then that there was an increase in acute and chronic disease when the health care service became more efficient Does it mean those doctors in the past misdiagnosed patients and when Columbia/HCA came into the picture, they suddenly became experts in diagnosis (Remember that most of the doctors were still those under the past management) New Legislation Protecting Whistleblowers Whistleblowers are those that expose the anomalies of their employees, partners, and co-employees. Anomalous activities, in this case, refers to fraudulent acts that cheat the government (and consequently the taxpayers) of their money. It may include tax evasion and false claims. In the past, whistleblowers were exposed to retribution by the entities who they claim is engaged in anomalous activities. They could only expect minimal attention from the authorities and if ever they were given such attention, they could only expect minimal legal assistance so why bother being one Unless you have very deep grievances against the person, being a whistleblower was a risky venture. With the new legislation, more legal protection for the whistleblower was provided. Incentives were also offered such as the 30% of the recovered money going to the whistleblower which was mentioned in the reading. With the combination of these two important measures, whistle-blowing became a less risky venture. The focus of Government Authorities in Stemming Corruption.

Java Programing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Java Programing - Assignment Example Java is also simple in that software that can run in small machines can be constructed in java. This feature in java enable clean definition of of interfaces and makes it possible to provide reusable software. Object orientation focuses on the design on the data or objects and on the interfaces to it. Java language has an extensive library of routines for easily coping with TCP/IP protocols like Http and ftp. This allows java application to open and access objects across the net via URLs with the same ease the programmers are used to accessing a local file system. Java is a very environmentally flexible language since it can be easily run in multiple operating system. An interface can be multiply-inherited and they can be used in a more flexible way than the usual rigid class inheritance structure. Java one can compute a data type name and have it trivially dynamically linked into the running system. By making interconnections between modules later in the execution of the program, java will completely avoid problems and make the use of object-oriented paradigm much more straightforward, Libraries can freely add new methods and instance variables without any effect on their clients. Shows a set of use cases and actors (a special kind of class) and their relationships. Use case diagrams address the static use case view of a system, these diagrams are important in organizing and modeling the behaviors of a system. The goal of the use case is to identify all the features that the users of the system expects the system to support, but it does not reveal any details about the implementations of these features. The system can be run in systems from windows XP that has MS_Access as the database management software. The hardware minimum hardware requirements of the system that will be used to implement the system are Pentium II and above. Ram of -1gb and at-list a hard disk capacity of 20gb. This are the images in the system that users will upload

Career Management Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career Management Plan - Assignment Example My Career management Plan sets the timeline for achieving this objective by 30th January 2017. While this may be quite an ambitious goal especially when looking at the timeline, my passion for this career path propped by my personality and academic background would play a pivotal role in safeguarding the achievement of the goal. With a thirteen years’ experience and training in animal control, animal handling, animal control code enforcement and supervision, it is imminent that I have the requisite skills, abilities and knowledge for the job. However, this does not undermine the fact that more learning and experience in varied capacities is required to achieve my career objective. Nevertheless, in my 13 years’ experience, I have found out that I derive immeasurable satisfaction in enforcing the provisions of all the applicable ordinances, laws, codes and regulations pertaining to animal control as well as initiating the necessary actions in order to correct violations a nd deviations. My passion for overseeing the compliance of animal control regulations has informed my desire and goal of being a Chief Animal Control Officer by the end of January 2017. Interim Goals My career plan, goals, and objectives are set upon a number of interim goals. The interim goals aid in the pursuit of my career aim of becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. In essence, my first interim career goal is to possess and maintain a valid Animal Control Enforcement Certification from my state. This will aid in attaining the necessary requirement in my department for becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. In addition, it would set me on the right path of my career by differentiating my roles in line with the career. My second interim goal would be possession and maintenance of a valid Euthanasia Certification. With this certification, the roles and responsibilities that will be assigned even in my current position will be more in line with my career. My third interim goal is to obtain and maintain a valid Chemical Immobilization Certification from the Drug Enforcement Agency. This is not only a requirement in my Department for anyone who aims at [performing duties and responsibilities in animal control field, but also complements my two previous goals. My fourth interim objective is to play a greater role in the supervision and motivation of subordinates. This interim goal aims at outlining my initiative and passion as an individual in safeguarding quality service provision in the department. In essence, this will be combined with training my subordinates on the various aspects of the animal control field. This would allow for the growth of more enhanced interaction and communication skills necessary in my career as Chief Animal Control Officer. My fifth interim objective is to gain experience as Animal Control Officer in line with the basic animal control course taken. This is in line with obtaining a driver’s license which would enhance my c apacity to execute my duties and responsibilities as Chief Animal Control Officer. In essence, this is the initial step taken by individuals who aim at becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. Resources Needed There are variations as to the resources required to meet the interim goals, as well as the ultimate goal. The first interim goal will require that I relocate to West Virginia

The Impact of Skiing and Tourism on Mountain Environments Essay

The Impact of Skiing and Tourism on Mountain Environments - Essay Example According to ecologists, the enormous increase in skiing since the 1970s has had several effects on mountain water levels of lakes as well as streams; harmed mountain wildlife by the destruction of surroundings, noise and contamination as well as disturbing yearly weather conditions. Winter is a significant source of earnings and the activities such as skiing; snowboarding, hiking and ice climbing rely greatly on snow. Nonetheless, very few people ever actually stop to think about the impact the activity on the mountain as well as its eco-system. For instance, â€Å"orange peel requires more or less two years to break down, butts of cigarette will stay on the hillside for more or less 5 years before the atmosphere breaks them down, when skiing through trees, and one can harm them by knocking off branches as well as killing little shoots beneath† (ETUP, pp. 65-77, 2000). ...h 22' condition as the number of people visiting the resort rises, which in response, generates pressure to develop transport connections to these places and thus, the cycle goes on. The indirect cost of the rise in human wealth and delight is to the detriments of the mountain and its associated environmental situations. Mountains are very receptive to severe alterations that human beings are presently inflicting on them. The recurring harm, as well as environmental changes that people impose on the mountains, is hard to repair. It will not take a year or two for things to get back to normal (Beniston, pp. 46-57, 1994). Human created environmental harm, which results in unpredictable climate changing patterns, with forecasts together with more rain as well as melting glaciers that will result in attrition and overflows on large scale. Poor snow records, diminishing glaciers and unusual weather patterns are few of the implications of these alterations for the alpine in recent years (Clifford, p. 33, 2003) High temperatures noticed in the summer of 2002 caused a few of the European glaci ers to move away by more or less 10 percent creating doubt between some weather experts that in fifty years glaciers could possibly melt away. Since stress rises on the ski businesses to construct higher into the mountains to get to snow consistent regions, receptive high mountainous surroundings influenced eventually. The rise in universal temperatures will have a severe implication for a lot of ski resorts situated at lower altitudes. It is not just as easy as going higher to acquire extra snow.

SEO content for a web site selling custom trailers Essay

SEO content for a web site selling custom trailers - Essay Example This is intended to bring closer selected medical services to far-flung community areas not accessible to health services. Lately, some hospital functions were devolved to diagnostic medical health mobile clinics like dental services, x-ray, blood, HIV, pregnancy, malaria and urine tests, MRI imaging, and other possible medical services are now made conveniently available to the public through customized mobile medical trailers. Mobile medical exam trailers are a necessity in far-flung community areas where first-rated hospitals are remote from community and health services that are difficult to avail of. A mobile medical exam trailer should have laboratory and diagnostic medical testing capability with a minimum of three doctors and nine nurses. It is important that a medical diagnostic mobile trailer accommodate around 1,000 patients per week more or less. With a mobile medical exam trailer, selected medical services can now address certain medical health needs of remote communities. Thus, if your community local officials are to purchase a mobile medical trailer to service their constituents, here are some pointers on how to select a customized mobile medical exam trailer. Customized mobile medical exam trailer must have these basic health services: Medical Imaging equipments are expensive to acquire and install. These also need more spacious room to get them installed. So depending on the allocated budget, proponents or those who will be responsible in setting up and operating a mobile medical diagnostic and laboratory trailer will have to check on what their budget can afford. For cheaper options, you may choose to merely have a single health service independent Mobile trailer like providing only a mobile Ophthalmology Clinic or an independent Dental Care Mobile Clinic within the community. Regardless of the constraints, it is highly recommended that any far-flung community that is remote from any prime medical hospital or

Zoo Essay Example for Free

Zoo Essay Going to the zoo has always been a favorite American past time. Families would sometimes retreat to this place where animals from the wild are caged and enjoy how these animals interact with each other. While man has always been at the top of the pyramid, the wonder of seeing these animals live and relate with others in their species has time and again drawn old and young children alike. Among the animals closest to man are the gorillas, baboons and mandrills. In the same way that man forms his own community, these animals also form their own legions of society. Gorillas like humans have their own distinct identification. Whereas man is identified according to his fingerprints, gorillas on the other hand are identified through their noses in which each gorilla has its own unique nose pattern. Gorillas moves quadrupedally and uses a special kind of quadrupedal gait wherein it uses its knuckles, hence, the term â€Å"knuckle walking†. Gorillas can also climb trees or higher surfaces but they cannot move suspensory as in the case of monkeys. Looking at the group of gorillas closely, one cannot see that it is patriarchal and polygynous in the sense that a basic group is composed of one male, usually a mature-silver black male wherein he acts as the leader of the group and unlike other primates, gorillas are more reserved. When they are in the wild, female gorillas would normally leave their group upon reaching sexual maturity and would tend to join groups of gorillas with a fewer females. It is evident by watching these groups of gorillas that there is hierarchy among them although males place high in the hierarchy. Like humans, grooming among gorillas also has become an essential habit and this usually occurs between the male silver back and the adult females. However, despite having lived in the care of humans, gorillas seldom interact with them. In fact, in the twenty-minute observation of this species, only once did the gorillas notice their visitors. They seemed to be living in their own world and no care whatsoever with its human visitors. While gorillas are reserved, baboons on the other hand most frequently interact with people. As seen by their actions, baboons are intelligent and very crafty that when they are in the wild, they are often treated like pests because they steal agricultural crops. But like gorillas, baboons also move quadrupedally although when they run, they seem to be like that of a horse galloping. They are very lithe and when something gets its attention, baboons tends to become excited and would run abound in its cage. Adult baboons sit in small groups while they grooming each other and the young ones play around. And ironically, among all the primates, the baboons seemed to be the most conscious and conceited because they spend most of their time grooming themselves although this can be different when they are in the wild. This is probably a form of forging a bond among their group while keeping their bodies free and clean or external parasites that would cling to their furs. Unlike gorillas which have a definite male hierarchy, baboons on the other hand allow females to rise in rank as leaders in their groups. Young baboon males enter new groups by forming â€Å"friendships† among females by protecting and defending them. Even for a short period of time, it is evident that baboons can also be aggressive especially among males. On the other hand, the black and white colobus monkey seems to be a mutilated or mutant form of primates. Although its black and white fur is very beautiful, it does not have thumbs like the baboons and gorillas. The infant black and white colobus are nearly white all over that it barely resembles its parents. Its tale is very fluffy like that of a stuff toy and their stomach seemed to be bloated and large. The black and white colobus monkey is very lithe and agile. It rarely goes to the ground and uses the branches and bars as trampolines, jumping up and down and leap among bars. Like the gorillas, the black and white colobus monkey is dominated by a male and forms its own territory. Because the colobus monkey tends to stay up on branches and bars surrounding its cage, it rarely interacts with humans. This kind of primate moves quadrupedally and is a semibrachiators as well as an agile acrobatic leaper. In fact, it can move up from bar to bar or from one branch to another with a length of six meters. Interestingly though, the tail of the colobus monkey is being used to balance itself. It is also funny to take note of that colobus monkeys belch on each others faces. When they are out in the wild, the colobus monkey is normally headed by a male but the female is not totally dominated. For example, the female black and white colobus monkey in the zoo seemed to form a society or bond of their own, taking care of the offspring of one and seemed to pass it along to other female colobus monkeys that it is hard to keep track which is the mother of the infant colobus monkey. Indeed a visit to the zoo even for just twenty minutes will render a visitor various insights as to how these animals act and move. The facts learned from books and the Internet are not only substantiated but also corroborated and having kids around to watch these animals will definitely teach them how these animals live in their own communities.

Management as the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness

Management as the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness This assignment is mainly focuses on the assessing of the statement of Management is the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness, and the integrating activity that permeates every aspect of the operations of the organisation. To make the background for this assessment it was first studied most important factors that are likely to determine the successful performance of work organisations. In achieving that first it was focused to understand the concept of organizational effectiveness and various approaches for organizational effectiveness and through that study identify the factors. And then the consideration was given to study the main obstacles to effective organisational performance and how to overcome those. Finally attempt was taken to assess the validity of the statement of Management is the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness, and the integrating activity that permeates every aspect of the operations of the organisation, considering with the changing nature of modern work organisations. Important Factors of Effective Organizational Performance What is Organizational Effectiveness Here before assessing the factors of effective organizational performance the consideration was given to understand the concept of organizational effectiveness. According to the view of Jonathan Knee the organizational effectiveness may depend on most essential three key elements. *People Here the people means staff of the organization *Culture A combination of Style, Skills and Shared Values of the organization *Impact This mainly includes the factors like profitability and financial sustainability, not only that but also the value shaped for any stakeholders. It can be shown by the following graph. In this article author say that these elements together have to manage because they are tightly inter-related nature. People create a culture that shapes them in turn. Future generation self-selects into an existing culture that meets their needs. And secondly people implement the organizations plans, and the culture supports and increases. And thirdly this inter-relation is so important because the organizations ability to achieve its goals affects its ability to attract and retain effective people and to sustain a high performance culture. (Info abstracted from: The article of Organizational Effectiveness by Jonathan Knee, 2008) Early studies state the organizational effectiveness is general rests on evolving suitable methods of selection, training, placement, in various steps of the organization. (Info abstracted from: The book of Organizational Behaviour by Indian Institute of Management and Technology, 1997) And also another view of Organizational effectiveness is that OE is always concerned with the unique capabilities that organizations develop to assure that success (Info Abstracted from: The book of The Changing Definition of Organizational Effectiveness, Human Resource Planning, Vol. 27.1. by McCann, Joseph. 2004) Most modern views of the organizational effectiveness say this has to be look in a way of system approach. Accordingly many HR practitioners try to look at the HR process and identify it in system approach. Accordingly they say that by looking at it in system approach organizations can achieve organizational effectiveness. (Info Abstracted from: The book of Measuring Organizational Effectiveness, Canadian Management Centre. 2005) Accordingly we can identify early HR notions have identifies this concept as Only HR function including recruitment, selection, Training and development. With reference to the literature review the identification can be done as that organizational effectiveness is not only depending on the Human Resource of the organization but also it is a integration of both people and the system of the organization. Factors of Effective Organizational Performance Here to identify the factors which effects to the effective organizational performances can be identified as using several case studies. Case Study Alpha Company This is a case study which was done by the Canadian Management centre to identify the effective organizational performance. The main theoretical model that they have use d here is that the system approach. Alpha Test Company is a European Owned small manufacturing company of office furniture. They have three major competitors in the market. Their major three strategic imperatives are as follows. (1) A clearly defined and defensible niche (2) A highly customer-focused culture (3) A lean and efficient manufacturing operation When achieving the strategic initiatives first the company has run in a lost way. The company could not decide whether it wanted to be an industry niche leader or follower and operations managements focus turned inward and away from acceptance of the customer. The most important thing for the driven of the strategic direction is that the intellectual support for that, but in Alpha organization there was more or less act as careful technicians instead of passionate supporters of quality and service. According to the new strategic inputs the manufacturing facility became highly controlled, with job responsibilities narrowly defined, performance measures relatively unclear. The organization became more rigid and inflexible, with employees focused on them, moving at a purposeful speed and indifferent in changing. So as a result of these initiatives the organization became more incapable of doing much more than being a fine place to work. These familiars resulted for this test by the Canadian Management Institute. The test was began by collecting data band sophisticated data analysis, and researching on efforts at creating high-touch customer focus and created a gap between the beliefs of the employees and the companys expectations for performance At the end of the research it was identified several factors to improve the organizational effectiveness through several strategic initiatives as follows. *First one is that as company should be continuously realigned in order to avoid from fluctuations. *In these alignments organizations should maintain their own unique alignment *Thirdly consider on technology in order to see the complexity of the world and competitors and with the predictions be ready to understand and manage the complexity *Then strategic initiatives should be taken to align the people to support the new strategic direction, HR will come in to action in this point. (Info Abstracted from: The book of Measuring Organizational Effectiveness, Canadian Management Centre. 2005) Case Study Competitive Advantage To obtain the effective organizational performance many companies use the sustainable competitive advantages by bringing into line their talent and business strategies. Most of the organizations use the methods like mergers or acquisitions, restructurings or shifts in business strategy can bring many functional effectiveness. Accordingly this article describes that many organizations of their studies brings value to their clients organizations by facilitating the integration and alignment of the business strategy with a workable talent management strategy. And also they mentions as aligning has to be done in the areas of capabilities, processes, attitudes, and talents. And with reference to many of their client organizational experiences they say three major solutions for organizational effectiveness. Organizational Effectiveness Solutions Strategy Implementation This is mainly focusing on structure, people systems and processes, and to deliver great customer experiences. Strategic Workforce Alignment These are the workforce strategies considering employee needs and investment on employee needs. Many HR initiatives could be taken at this stage. Change Management This is the design to support for change at all level of the organization. With the external environmental changes many initiatives can be taken for change management to obtain the sustainable competitive advantages (Info Abstracted from: Right Management consultancy service, www.manpower.org. Right Management Inc.) Accordingly factors of Effective Organizational Performance can be summarised as follows. Continuously realignments in order to avoid from fluctuations *Maintain unique alignment *Use of technology *Develop human resource of the organization to support the strategic initiatives *Sustainable competitive advantage *Change management *Integrating the organizational system according to the system approach Obstacles for effective organizational performance Poor Leadership Organizations are composed to of individuals and groups for achieving certain goals and objectives by means of differentiated functions that are intended to be rationally coordinated and directed through time on a continuous basis. A group within the organization has to select one of their members as a leader/ representative for coordinating their views/ demands and expectations. The leadership as such is an essential part of the organizational life. Leadership is a group process, through which individuals initiate activities for delivering the common objectives of the community by working together simulating each other, supplementing abilities and resources and evolving an effective organizational pattern. So as many of the organizational activities are leading and monitoring by the leadership of the organization, if it is not effective whole organizational process will collapse. Accordingly it can be identified that poor leadership is the main obstacle for achieving organizational effectiveness. To overcome from this obstacle it is needed to identify the role of the leader effectively and appoint a person who has these characteristics or in other hand develop these skills of the appointed leader. Those roles are as follows. *Developing a team work *Representing the members *Appropriate counselling *Exercising power and authority properly for constructive purposes *Time management *Managing and leading the group towards completion a task *As a potential strength for the members work force *Creating a cordial relationship and containing discussions *Continuing the role as a motivator and a source of inspiration (Info abstracted from: The book of Organizational Behaviour by Indian Institute of Management and Technology, 1997) Barriers in Communication It can be taken many strategic initiatives to make the effective organizational performances. But this should be communicated for the people in the organization correctly. If it is not happened it will cause for total failure of the strategic initiatives. As example in the case of Alpha Test Company they made the strategic initiatives by controlling operations in a very tuff manner. Employees also monitored in a rigid manner. This caused for the failure even this can cause for run down from the existing situation also. So it is essential to consider about the effective communication. For that identification of the barriers in communication will be a best method. Even when the receiver receives the message and makes the genuine attempt to decode it there are a number of barriers which disturb the receivers understandings. These obstacles are known as Barriers in communication. They are personal, physical and semantic barriers. The barriers may entirely prevent a communication or filter a part of it or give incorrect message. Poor Group and Inter-group Relationship Groups in organizations have become the subject of much mythology and the target for strong feelings. What then is the truth about the groups? Why do they exist? What functions do groups fulfil for the organization and their members? How should one conceptualize a group, and how does one judge the goodness or effectiveness of a group? What kinds of things can groups do? And what they cannot do? What impact do groups have on their members? On each other and on the organization within which they exist what are the prospects and constrains of Inter-group Corporation and inter-group competition. How does one manage and influence group? These are very important factors which have to be considered for the effective organizational performance, because poor relationship may cause for many destructive things. To overcome from these kinds of obstacles it should be organize to maintain team work among the employees. Assessing the validity of the statement Accoridng to the requirments of the assighnment the statement Management is the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness, and the integrating activity that permeates every facet of the operations of the organisationshould be asessed in terms of its validity considering the changing nature of modern work organisations. Before assess the validity of the statement we should look into the question on what is the changing nature of a modern work organization. In fact today we all are in a changing nature, this is not only for a business, even for a individual and as well for a family we are in a changing nature. The changing nature actually means the rapid transformations of social, economic, environment and political factors. As these factors are highly changing it has created a changing nature in our lives. Also this affect of the changes of these factors has made significant differences for todays businesses. Actually the main reason for these rapid changes is the technological advancement occurred around the worldwide. Today in each and every corner technology has become the driven force therefore every country is using technology for their businesses, and as well as for their individual lives. The extensive magnitude of using technology has created another challenging environment where many more opportunities are opened for further technological advancements. Therefore as a result everything is in a rapid change. Particularly if take a business they face to lot of changes in their businesses. Due to these technological advancements everything is always changing and it affects for the social, political, environment and economic lives of people, as a result of these changes as whole the overall society has become a changing nature. Not only the technology the current worlds economic system is also a main reason for current changing environment. As todays most of the economies are open economies and fewer barriers to entry to the market this has created a huge competition among the organizations, not only in local markets this has created a huge competition among the businesses in the international market. As a result of this today every organizations is trying for innovations and they dedicate much resources for research and development accordingly new developments are introduced to the market and therefore this increase the competition in the free market. As a result the overall nature has become very competitive. Actually there is a link between the technology and the competitive market, because in actual sense the technological innovations lead for the competitiveness. Accordingly we can come to a conclusion in identifying what is a changing nature. The identification of this changing nature is highly important to analyse the validity of the statement. In analysing the validity of the statement we can analyse it as two parts. One is on the first part of the statement which is Management is the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness and the othe part on the integrating activity that permeates every facet of the operations of the organisation. Before asses the validity of the statement Management is the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness we should identfy what is exactly meant by management. One ideology on management informs that Management is the art of getting things done through people, also further it says that management is the process of getting things done through the efforts of other people. Also another set of team informs that the management is an art of problem solving. Through management the problem solving is done effectively and it achieves organizational objectives through the effcient use of scarce resouces in changing enviornment. A comprehensive definition on management elaborates that management is the process or the procedier of planning, organizing, leading and controling an organizations four core resouces which are human, financial, physical and information resource to achieve organizational golas in effective and efficient maneer. (Info- Abstraced from lecture notes of Mr. Weerathunga. G. on Intrduction to management, of Certificate Cousrese in Human Resource Management, Insititute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka) Accordingly through considerting the definitions on management we can conclude that management is the process of planning, forcasting analysing and implementation of organizational activites in order to achive the goals and objectives of the organization. Then it should be important to identify about what is organizational effectiveness, accordingly it can be mentioned that for organizational effectiveness there is two main concepts. According to the traditional view of the organizational effectiveness, it says that organizational effectiveness is the management of recruitment, selection, training and placement; this is directly focused on the human resource aspect of the organization. But according to the modern concept on organizational effectiveness, it says that it should be considered as a system approach and accordingly the system should consider about the both human resources aspect and as well as on the other systems of the organisation. Simply it says that organizational effectiveness means that the effectiveness of all aspect of the business. Accordingly as the statement says it can be mentioned that the management is a cornerstone of organizational effectiveness in todays changing nature. Management means all about planning, and forecasting on organizations activities. Accordingly in todays changing nature always the facts are changing therefore in management it analyses focuses and plans according to the changes of the environment. For an example let say that TESCO which is the best retailer in UK, they are always changing with the nature, they have proper management practices and accordingly they plan, analyse, forecast and implement their business strategies in relation as suits to the changes occurred. Further lets say they clearly forecast the peak business times for them and as well they implement proper strategies targeting the nature of the change, lets say till November there is not a special season but with the beginning of the December the whole super market environment changed by the TESCO to face to the chan ge nature of the business. Through changing their business environment they can attract many more customers for their business. Lets say due to the changing nature there is a huge social trend immerged for using products which are produced in the local market. Accordingly TESCO as a strategic planner have to identify the business requirements according to the social trend and give special consideration on marketing the good which re locally produced. Having proper management is the key indicator to identify the changes in the environment and to ensure organizational effectiveness. Lets take another example from Schuh foot ware. In organizational effectiveness all the parties should be benefited, accordingly the employees and as well the employer should be benefited. The winter season is critical time where it makes several changes in the business nature accordingly there is a huge demand created to the winter shoes. Therefore the organizations all the systems should be ready to cater to the social demand. Accordingly the machinery, the human resource, and the vehicles everything should be ready for the organizational performance, if all these systems are ready to supply to cater to the social demand only the organization becomes effective. So as per to address this organization should be effective and to ensure the organizational effectiveness there should be management where it plan, analyse, forecast and implement according to the necessary requirements. Accordingly analysis the validity of the first part of the statement it can conclude that its a correct statement because there is a strong affect of the management to ensure organizational effectiveness in a changing environment. After analysing the validity of the first part of the statement, we should analyse the second part of the statement which is integrating activity that permeates every facet of the operations of the organisation The second part of the statement merely informs that the organizational activities should be integrated where it covers all the areas of the business. And this statement is linked with the first part of the statement which says management is a cornerstone for organizational effectiveness. Actually this is a very vital and valid statement, because today in modern businesses intergraded approach and integrated management is mostly important for the organizational effectiveness. Integrated approach means the organization takes it all factors and resources as a system. This means in integrated approach all the resources and facts are identified as factors which has an effect on a change of any factor. Simply in integrated approach it identifies if there is a change in the human resource there is an affect for the machinery of the organization. As an practical example lets say that machine operates of an organization engage in a strike, as a result the machines are underutilized or not ut ilized then as the ultimate result the production flow breaks, likewise in integrated approach or in integrated management everything is analysed as a whole. But in traditional approached the resources are taken separately and just analyse the simple affect only. Actually this integrated approach is nothing it is almost similar as the modern school of thought of organizational effectiveness, which is system approach. Therefore integrated approach is a vital part in organizational effectiveness. When take the meaning of both parts of the statement it says that management with a proper integrated approach ensures organizational effectiveness in a modern changing environment. Actually this statement is a highly valid statement because without having management practices there is no organizational effectiveness and without having a integrated approach it is difficult to face to changing nature of todays modern businesses. Lets take an example to validate this statement. The growth and expansion of TESCO Plc indicates how this statement has been affected for them. Tesco is known as the British largest retailer by international sales an also local market. At the same time TESCO is the third main retailer of the world. The company was first established in 1919 by Mr. Jack Cohen. The company first appeared with the Tesco brand in 1924. The first supermarket of TESCO was opened in 1956. Within these 9 decades TESCO has made the horizons of their business and has become a giant in the market. The management of TESCO analysed the total business approach as a whole and implemented the integrated management as a practice in 1997. They understood that to ensure organizational effectiveness the business should be managed as an integrated approach and according to that the management style should be changed. They further analysed without being changed they cannot survive and grow in the business in such challenging and changing environment. As a result of their innovative thinking they introduced a new business strategy to diversify their business and it became the establishment of Tescos success in recent past. Accordingly the Tescos new business strategy addresses, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢To be a successful retailer in the international market à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢While being the leader in the market to ensure that their business core is in UK à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢To hold a strong position in non-food services as in food service. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢To be outstanding retailer in diversification in Tesco Personal Finance, Telecoms and Tesco.com à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Identify the community needs and cater according to that Accordingly currently the Strategies of Tesco is based on five main elements as Core UK, Community, Non-food, Retailing services, International. By considering all these facts and figures it can be concluded that this statement is a highly important and valid statement. Conclusion This report is all about organizational behaviour. The study analyses and provides valuable knowledge in the subject area. As in the first section of the study the student is given the more opportunity to study about theoretical aspect of the organizational behaviour, accordingly the study has been expanded to identify about the most critical factors which affect for organizational effectiveness. After that the student has to work on in identifying the obstacles for successful organizational performance and effectiveness and then to study about how we can overcome these barriers. As in the second part of the study it provides a more consideration for the student to get practical knowledge about the concept and accordingly he is required to critically assess and validate a statement on organizational effectiveness. Validating the statement provided a strong practical background on the study area. The assessment and validating through using examples is many more helpful to study the concept in a more practical manner. And also which has to be assessed is a highly valid statement for the organizational effectiveness. Accordingly as an overall conclusion it can be mentioned that this study covered a vast area of the subject area covering the both theoretical and practical aspect.

Analysis of the Internet of Things

Analysis of the Internet of Things The Internet of things is a term coined by Massachutes Institute of technology (MIT).The term describes a vision of the internet in the future where all things or objects are on one network. These things will contain: A Unique identifier Its own individual digital presence- it will know who and where it is. The ability to process or exchange information Can store data about itself Is capable of participating in or making decisions relevant to its own destiny on a continuous basis? The term Internet of things covers the whole infrastructure such as the hardware, software and services supporting the networking of physical objects. (European Commission, 2008) A Brief History of the Internet The first development to the present World Wide Web was Enquire. This contained a project management tool that allowed pages of notes to be linked together and edited. (Anderson, 2007). Eventually, after the evolution of various technological and software developments was the World Wide Web created. With a browser/client that could view and edit pages of marked-up information (HTML). The edit function only really materialised in later browsers: Viola WWW and Mosaic (the current Netscape browser.). Web 1.0 Introduced in 1994, web 1.0 consisted of an individual source (e.g. Website or a file) publishing information which could be viewed or downloaded by a client. This was a straight client-server network, so those individual clients were not able to fully interact with the source. The main purpose of web 1.0 was to push information to a relatively passive audience. (Castelluccio, Michael, 2008). This passive audience would consist of users who would create their own websites. So, the majority of web 1.0 websites contained HTML tags scattered all across the web but without the ability for users to add to the website unless they understood HTML. This left internet interaction exclusive to people who were HTML literate. Web 2.0 In 2008 web 2.0 became the associated term for the uprising of new products and services on the internet. The term was created four years previous by Dale Dougherty, vice president of OReilly Media Inc.2 Evolving from web 1.0, 2.0 represented a more peer to peer environment. This concept emphasized more the individual user having the ability to upload content (pictures, music, and videos) to a website. These websites took the form of blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds and social networking sites. This user interaction coupled with improvements in networking technology, has made the internet more personal and accessible. According to (Anupriya Ankolekar et al, 2007), Web 2.0 is distinguished mainly from Web 1.0 by the following characteristics: Community: Web 2.0 offers multiple users to work together and to share information. So the website is more effective than that of just having one contributor to the site. Each contributor gains more from the system than she puts into it. Such community website examples would be the music file sharing service Napster and an event calendar Upcoming. Mashups: Services from different sites can be brought together, in the creation of a new website such as using Google maps in your website. Ajax: The base for the previous two characteristics, Ajax creates responsive user interfaces. Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, AJAX for short is a number of technologies ranging from CSS and XHTML for standards based presentation to XML for data retrieval and data interchange to JavaScript for binding everything together (Garrett, 2005). The traditional Web application model was based on the users actions on a web interface triggering a HTTP request to a web server. And in turn the server sending a HTML page back to the client. This lead to stop/starting of information as it goes and comes back to the user. Ajax prevents this by having an ajax engine being placed between the client and server. Instead of a webpage the browser loads an ajax engine made of javaScript code. This engine creates a asynchronous connection with the user independent of the server. Every action which would normally result in an HTTP request generation now turns into a JavaScript call to the AJAX engine. Web 3.0- The Semantic web Web 3.0 or a semantic web is being proposed as the natural progression for the development of the Web. A definition from Paul Anderson in an article in the American scientific explains that the semantic web is about the shift from documents to data- the transformation of a space consisting largely of human-readable, text oriented documents, to an information space in which machine readable data, imbued with some sense of meaning is being exchanged and acted upon. This machine readable data would consist of metadata. Defined by (NISO 2004) Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information. RDF There are current technologies which are being developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) which aims to bring development towards a Semantic Web. These technologies such as RDF (Resource Description Frame work) can be used to give meaning to the metadata on the World Wide Web. RDF according to (Berners-lee et al, 2001), encodes a triple (object, subject, verb) using XML tags. These tags are hidden labels that annotate web pages but these tags have no meaning to the document. With RDF, the document makes decisions that things (people, webpages) have properties (is an author of) with certain values (another webpage). He goes on to develop that these objects can be identified by an URI (Universal Resource Identifier), the best known being a URL (Universal Resource Locator). The triples produced by RDF form webs of info about related things. And with URI encoding the document, the URI makes sure that this information is not just words but is tied to a unique definition that everyon e can find on the web? Ontologies But how can a machine differentiate between these terms/objects? OWL or Web Ontology Language is a formal language which represents ontologies (intelligent agents) in the semantic web. These intelligient agents will help relate various types of metadata from the RDF. According to (Berners-lee et al, 2001) ontologies have taxonomy and a set of interference rules. Taxonomy: Defines classes of objects and relations among them. And can express a large number of relations among objects by assigning properties to classes and allowing subclasses to inherit such properties. Interference Rules help distinguish similar terms, for example that an address from Sligo it, being in Sligo, must be in Co. Sligo, which is in Ireland. (Berners-lee et al, 2001) explains the computer doesnt truly understand any of this information, but it can now manipulate the terms much more effectively in ways that are useful and meaningful to the human user ?. With the ability to perform this function more accurate web searches can be produced, as the searches are based on a precise concept instead of using vague keywords. Turn to the Internet of Things The possibilities of the semantic web can give a base for the IOT to be developed, due to the quick, intelligent and personal nature of semantic technologies and to the fact that URIs can point to anything. This includes physical objects, which through RDF can promote their functionality (What they do and how they are controlled) (Berners-lee et al, 2001). (Artem Katasonov et al, 2008) suggests that for the IOT to happen the semantic base or (middleware) must be decentralised. This is suggested due to the high volume of devices connected to the internet, administrators will have it difficult in managing such a wide variety of unscalable information and media. There will be a need for self-manageable complex systems. They also go on to argue that semantic technologies firstly, will function as the basis of heterogeneous components and the integration of data across many domains and secondly, will be used for the coordination of the intelligent agents representing those resources. As previously mentioned in the last section, intelligient agents can roam as a middleware between the heterogeneous component and an autonomous software agent. (Artem Katasonov et al, 2008) defines the role of the agent as having the ability to monitor the state of the component, make decisions on behalf of the component and to discover, request and utilize external help if needed. The agents offer a more flexible system, one in which networks will be monitored easily as information will be already processed. What are Things? The IOT will be based on these intelligent objects which will all communicate with the each other and the end user. These things as previously stated will be individual entities which can interpret and communicate with the internet. They will have an active part within the internet and have the ability to share information about themselves and their environment. (European Commission, 2008) gives a few examples of objects which do menial tasks but use very smart systems and advanced network connections: Retail Example Mobile Phones will have the ability to be used as credit cards, travel passes and to gain information from the internet. With the use of NFC (Near Field Communications) technology could this be possible. They estimate that there will be 1billion by 2015. Another example given is a fully automated warehouse, where items are checked in and out. Orders can be passed directly to suppliers automatically. All the cause of RFID (Radio Frequency Identifiers) attached to goods and products. Manufactures can view the market needs in real time, this saves time and energy leading to the whole process being more environmentally friendly. E-health Example RFID and sensor technologies will help in early diagnostics of patients help doctors make more informed decisions and it will produce alerts if a patients health deteriorates. All information will be gathered through lightweight, intelligent sensors on the patient or by possible smart dust (microscopic computers) within the patient. Energy Example Through a network of sensors can temperature and lighting be dynamically controlled. This helps intelligent houses to reduce energy consumption without the loss of an individuals comfort. Environment Example The IOT will have an effect on how certain conditions (traffic, weather, air particles, water pollution, and the environment are monitored and examined. RFID Radio frequency Identification tags typically are small devices that can be embedded in or attached to objects for the purpose of identifying the object over a radio channel (Karjoth et al, 2005). RFID consists of a reader and a tag. Uses of RFID technology RFID has been in use now for many years. It started being used in World War II, by British planes to help them discover their own aircrafts using the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system. In the 1960s it was used by Los Alamos National Laboratory to gain access control to there company. People in the company wore RFID badges so they could be identified. This helped limit access to important areas in the company and also made it harder for badges to be forged. Since then RFID has being used to identify animals, track airline luggage, locate lost items, prevent theft and make toys more interactive. Recently, a few multi-national companies have shown an interest in this technology such as Wal-mart, Tesco, and the US Military. The main aims according to Roy Want is to make the cost of tags decrease, streamlining the tracking of stock, sales and orders (Want, 2006). With the ability to store information and to connect with tags over a digital communication network, RFID can track the journey an object makes between the factories, warehouses, vehicles, and stores (Want, 2006). RFID Tags The tag, when attached to an object can be identified by the reader over a radio channel. Tags can be read easier and faster than that of normal barcodes, usually within the range of a few meters. An RFID tag contains two main components: An antenna which is a flat, metallic conductive coil which has the potential to be less than half a millimetre in size, is used to send and receive radio waves. An antenna can be printed, etched or stamped on a plastic foil or silicon chip which (Karjoth et al, 2005) defines as a substrate. The second component the silicon chip is a microchip or Integrated Circuit (IC). According to (Plaggenborg, 2006), the smallest IC is 0.15 mm x 0.15 mm and is 7.5 m thick. Both the antenna and IC are attached to a plastic tag. The main types of RFID tags are active, passive and semi-passive. Active tags contain their own internal power source. The word active is due to the fact that it uses an active radio frequency transmitter to communicate in a session with the reader. This gives active tags a better read range than passive tags, covering hundreads of meters. It can communicate through difficult environments such as water or heavy metal, which Plaggenborg states is impossible for passive tags. He goes on to say that active tags have a greater amount of memory and are more secure because of their more advanced IC processing capabilities. Passive tags use electromagnetic waves from the reader to attract a connection to the tags antenna. Power is transferred from the reader to the tag through the electromagnetic waves. Because it does not need its own battery passive tags can have an unlimited lifespan (in theory). But a passive tags response is limited by the readers signal strength. The tags response or backscatter is limited by its range which is around four to five metres. Because of there simple design and low cost (five cent a tag), passive tags are mainly used in the retail industry. Semi-passive tags contain both a small battery and require waves from the reader to send a response. The small battery within the tag is used for the ICs logic and to give a response to the reader through the antenna. Due to the small battery these tags have a short lifespan, they are more delicate and are very expensive. Classes of Tags Tags are separated into different classes depending on there functionality. This framework which was developed by the Auto ID centre and later by EPC (Electronic product Code), 1separates tags into five different classes. From class one to the greater functionality of class five. Tag Memory A tags chip is either read-only memory (ROM) or read-write. Data which is embedded onto the chip at its manufacturing stage that can only be read was called class 0 tags. Tags can be used with static random access memory (SRAM) to produce what is called a Write Once Read Many (WORM) tag. The unique id in this tag type is permanently stored on the chip.12 Read-only chips are mainly used for tracking. Read-write allows the ability to change the chips ID and also to add some data to the tags memory. Information can be programmed onto read-write chips but these are very expensive. EEPROM (a technique for erasing memory and overwriting it) can also be used for this process. Also chips can be manufactured in such a way that the ID is cannot be altered but that information can still be written to memory. Passive tags can store from 32 bits to 128 kilobytes of data. Since active tags have their own battery they can afford to store more, some tags having the ability to store up to one megabyt e of memory.13 Frequencies (Plaggenborg, 2006) states that there are four frequency bands, each with their own characteristic in regards to communication. For example low frequencies can penetrate such conditions as water and metal but are much slower than that of high frequencies. High frequencies are faster but with the defect that they cannot penetrate the conditions mentioned. RFID operates on an unlicensed spectrum space called ISM (industrial, scientific and medical). The ISM frequencies vary on which country you are in. There are two distinct systems in regards to its physical properties to which RFID communicates from the tag to the reader. Low frequencies and high frequencies use near field communication through the process of inductive coupling from a magnetic field. The reader creates a magnetic field between itself and the reader. The reader induces an electric current in the tags antenna. From this, the reader gains the tags ID and also gives power to the tags IC. The reader learns the tags ID, by varying the load on the antennas coil which changes the current on the readers communication coil.12 Ultra High frequency and Microwave frequency use far-field communication. It uses the physical property of backscattering, which is the process of the reader sending a continuous signal frequency that is reflected back by the tags antenna. The tag encodes the reflected signal with information using modulation (i.e. changing the amplitude of the waves returned).12 RFID uses a frequency spectrum similar to that of wireless and Bluetooth networks and hybrid tags are currently being developed for them to communicate.12 Standards As with any established product and technology, RFID has many proposed standards. Standards provide many benefits such as universal procedures for all and interoperability between technologies. There are a number of bodies in the development of RFID Technology ISO EPC global ETSI FCC 12 (Plaggenborg, 2006) states the point that the main areas to which standards have being proposed are Air interface protocols These are ISO standards ranging from ISO 18000-1 to 7 and are concerned with how tags and readers communicate. EPC has its own set of standards similar to ISOs 18000-6 (860-960 MHZ range). These EPC tags are not interoperable with each other and are not interoperable with the ISO standard. So EPC are working on a new set of protocols (GEN 2) that can work with the class 0 and class 1 passive tags and should be closely aligned with the ISO standard.12 Data content and Encoding This is concerned with data formatting or organisation, numbering schemes (Plaggenborg, 2006). Conformance- This is the testing of products to see if they meet the standards. Applications- How standards are used on certain labels13 Electronic Product Code Is a unque code which is contained within an RFID tags memory. It is much the same as the barcode scheme UPC for identifying physical objects. EPC is differs from UPC as it has the capability to identify every single product item individually. For example when a shopkeeper scans a barcode the code relates to the type of product he is scanning (this packet is a packet of Jacob biscuits).If he scanned another packet of Jacob biscuits he would get the same result. In contrast, if he scanned an EPC tag he would be able to identify not just the make of the product but the individual product he is scanning. So this time when he scans another packet of Jacob biscuits, (that is not the original packet) it will come up with a different result. EPC uses a 96 bit number to identify a product. This gives it a huge scope of numbers for product identification as opposed to UPC. As shown in figure 3 The EPC code consists of many components. The header identifies what coding scheme is in use. There are many different schemes to which Matt Ward gives three examples Global Trade Identification Number GLTN, Serial Shipping Container Code SSCC and Global Location Number GLN.15 The Manger number defines the company that produced the product (Manufacturer). The object class identifies the actual product. The Serial number refers to the individual item/product. EPCs 96 bit code according to Matt Ward can identify 268 million companies, each manufacturer can have 16 million object classes and 68 billion serial numbers for every individual object. Matt Ward in his paper (Ward et al, 2006), also discuss about the EPC Network Architecture. He explains, clearly how RFID tags do not work in isolation but are part of an overall system be it a supply chain or any kind of logistical recording. He notes how the RFID tag can work as the primary key in representing a product within the database. A vision of this technology is being developed which is called the EPC Network Architecture. The architecture consists of many tags being connected through their readers to an organisations database or back-office enterprise system. In the previous chapter we observed the possible middleware for the Semantic web. Well here are the key technologies which (Ward et al, 2006) suggests are appropriate for supporting the massive increase of information that will result from in an RFID system. Savant is as he puts it is the middleware software system that links reader devices and processes the information streams from tags. It acts as the gateway to the enterprise systems and database applications, providing filtering, aggregation and counting of tag-based data. (Ward et al, 2006) ONS Object Naming Service much like the Domain Name Service (DNS) on the World Wide Web helps translate the EPC code into a Uniform Reference Locator. This is where it looks up the location of where the tags associated database is. Physical Mark up Language (PML) is an XML-based language which uses a standard vocabulary for describing physical objects, observations made by the RFID readers of these objects and observations made about the readers themselves and there exchanging of data throughout the EPC network (Ward et al, 2006). It uses two main vocabularies: one for communication between Savant and the enterprise applications and a second (Core PML) for communication throughout the EPC network. (Seong Leong,2004) (Ward et al, 2006) notes indirectly about the IOT when he mentions of the possibilities of IPV6 as an alternative to EPC coding. IPV6 is a communication network standard which delegates the addressing and routing of data packets through a network. It is an improved addressing protocol from that of IPV4 which has the capacity up to 4 billion addresses. IPV6 can give 430 quintillion addresses for every inch of the worlds surface.15 But Ward explains that for a tag to have an IPV6 address, it would no longer be used as an assigned permanent identifier on objects. Saying this he highlights the fact that the U.S. military are investigating and planning to use IPV6 tags in the near future. RFID Readers Readers can be handheld or a fixed device. Examples of handheld readers are similar to that of barcode readers, but readers can be placed in PDAs or mobile phones. Class 5 tags are actually designed to be readers; they can read and exchange information with other tags.15 Fixed readers are used for electronic tolls or can be placed within walls or ceilings. Readers communicate with a tag to gain its id number. When the reader is held close to a passive tag, the tags antenna consumes the energy from the reader which in turn powers the IC. The IC responds information back. This depends on the type of tag. There are two main types of readers: ones in which the reader can only read information from the tag. These usually operate with an EPC class 1 tag. The other type is readers which can write information onto the tag. This depends on if the memory on the tag is read/write. According to (Ward et al, 2006), Readers are becoming more sophisticated and are beginning to act as an entry to th e internet through supporting TCP/IP technologies and other such protocols as DHCP, UDP/IP and wireless 802.11. RFIDs Relevance to the Future of the Internet From the research into this area we have seen that RFID has the components to develop a network of communicating things. Because RFID can both send and receive data about an object within various conditions e.g. underwater, through walls etc. We can communicate with solitary objects and their position, condition and other relevant information for whatever purpose they were placed on an object. Through examining various papers on this topic, most come to the conclusion that RFID as a technology is not attractive enough of a proposition for companies to develop at present. RFID is too expensive to be added too or implemented in a manufacturers product. Currently, you can get the cheapest RFIDs at 5 cent each.13 Matt Ward sees RFID tags as a stepping stone to ubiquitous computing. There will not be a fully fledged IOT but one in which will be developed systematically. He proposes that the internet will be extended to a level below computational devices, which consists of simpler devices/items. As the RFID technologies become more accepted in the market place, there will be more of a demand for tags that can achieve greater amounts of tasks. Similar to the pre requites we defined in section two, Matt notes the technological developments needed for their relevance in the internet of things. Firstly, each of these items must be able to identify itself to other items and to the network in general. This is provided for by the introduction and development of RFID technology. Secondly, these items should include some element of embedded computational power in order to act with some level of intelligence. Thirdly, they will need to have some sense of their physical environment and geographical location. Continuing developments in computational science and electronics, particularly work on miniaturisation, tiny operating systems and wireless communication will make this vision increasingly realistic (Ward et al, 2006) Near field communication This is a new development in RFID, one of which uses near field coupling signalling between devices in the 13.56 MHZ band.11 This standard has the ability to read existing passive tags and aims to develop them to communicate with peer devices at a 20cm locality. It was set up by the Near-field communication forum. The NFC standard aims to streamline the discovery process by passing wireless Media Access Control addresses and channel-encryption keys between radios through a near-field coupling side channel, which, when limited to 20 cm, lets users enforce their own physical security for encryption key exchange (Want,2006). He also mentions how through this two way authentication process can a more reliable connection be made then that of Wireless and Bluetooth. Reliable in the sense that it would not form any associations with devices that arent local. Sensory RFID Many commentators believe the next development of RFID will be an enabled sensory function. This will give tags the ability to make measurements about its surrounding environment based on such gauges as pressure, temperature, flow-rate and speed vibrations.15 These devices will be connected to the internet by radio frequencies or through wireless communication systems. Due to the batteries capacity, active tags would seem to be more qualified for development.13 Plaggenborg describes in his developmental paper of RFID about Mitsubishis research team who developed location aware objects with light sensitive RFID tags. This consisted of an RFID reader with a projector to give precise feedback of a products location. The device is aimed at the products in question. It projects a pattern over the product and each pixel shows a different code. This code with its identity is then communicated back to the handheld device. It then uses an (x, y) coordinate to visually give the user feedback. As we can see, its not impossible for this technology if creatively used to be developed further. Distributed Memory The amount of memory a tag can store could be limitless if the tag can store and recover its information from a local database. But the tag could not be able to implicitly recover the information all the time. For tags to work more effective, it will need to utilise its self storing capability. Currently a tag can store from 200 to 8,000 bits.12 believes that tags in the future will have the ability to store more information. Leaving to more distributed information being placed in our surroundings. Standardisations for the IOT If the IOT is going to happen then interoperability is a must. There are currently a number of groups who are working on low power wireless communication standards between objects. ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth Low Energy are the main standards for this type of communication. But the base of communication for the Physical layers for Zigbee and 6LoWPAN is IEEEs 802.15.4. IEEEs 802.15.4 Developed and maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, 802.15.4 is a low power wireless personal area network (LoWPAN) standard. Released in 2003, it was the first low power-radio standard.18 It is used as a specification for the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers. To gain a complete protocol stack other standards are needed to define the higher layers. According to (Orrevad, 2009), the physical of the protocol uses three different frequency bands: 868-868.8 MHz within Europe which allows one communication channel, 902-928 MHz within North America that allows ten to thirty channels and 2400-2483.5 MHz range for the rest of the world and uses up to sixteen channels. This standard aims to work with multiple low cost nodes of a long lifespan. To achieve an IOT such attributes would have to be viable. But this low cost/ low power solution, limits the capability of both the microcontroller and the LoWPANs links. The throughput is suggested to reach the 250Kbps limit . And the frame length is only 128 bytes. It uses short 16-bit link addresses, as well as IEEE EUI-64 addresses, to reduce header overhead and memory requirements. LoWPANs make contact over multiple hops. Microcontrollers which work with this standard usually have about 8 Kbytes of data RAM and 64 Kbytes of program ROM. The main features of IEEE 802.15.4 highlighted within (Orrevad, 2009)s informative paper are the fact of its use of carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) which avoids collisions, sharing a single channel with multiple users by using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), with the ability to sleep it gives appropriate energy efficiency and through its use of guaranteed time slots (GTS) it can guarantee sensors transmission if they are critical in nature. Frames Frames contain a certain patterns in which other devices can understand. Differerent frames have different uses. There are four types of frames defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard : Beacon, used by a coordinator to transmit beacons A data frame, for different data transfers An acknowledgement(ACK) frame, used for a confirmation of successful frame transfer A MAC command frame, used for handling all MAC transfers between entities The beacon, ACK, and MAC frames are mainly used for lower layer signalling. Headers Headers in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard consist of the physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer headers which contain different features that can be set when sending a packet. Maximum physical layer packet size including overhead is 102 octets.19 He adds, if you add link-layer security you add an extra 21 octets for an AES-CCM-128 encryption. This leaves 81 octets available for the higher levels of the protocol stack. IPV6 integration IPV6 is the newest version of the Internet protocol, which was created in the late 1990s as a solution to the limited numbe