A Health and Fitness Company Essay

You are a top executive in your corporation. After careful consideration, you were selected to work on a project to use MIS to change the way business is run. In a group of 5, you will be responsible for researching the practices in your industry, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the industry, and make an innovative plan to use MIS to improve on current practices. Finally, you will be required to submit a typed report and deliver an oral presentation to the board of directors following these guidelines: Your report MUST include the following side headings: 1. History and Background (provide detailed information about the industry, past and present business model/practices, the industry’s strengths and weaknesses) 2. Target Customer (identify the target customer in terms of age, gender, income, location, needs†¦etc. Have your customers’ needs changed over the years? Are all their needs fulfilled? Is there a gap between customers’ needs and market offerings?) 3. Competition (who is your competition? What are your plans to ensure that you are steps ahead of your competition and how will you respond to changes in the competitive environment?) 4. Survey and Results (you are required to design a survey to help you with your project. Be sure to include a copy of your survey questions, sample size, summary of results, and recommendations) 5. Proposed Use of MIS (explain how MIS will benefit your industry/corporation. Provide details of the benefits and challenges of using MIS in your industry/corporation) 6. Implications (what are the implications of the suggested use of MIS on the industry?) 7. Financial Benefits (what are the costs and financial benefits of using your proposed plan? Explain the impact on revenue, fixed costs, variable costs, initial investment, training, implementation, customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer satisfaction) 8. The Future (what changes do you foresee in the future of your industry/corporation? How will you respond to changes in technology, processes, competitive environment, customers’ taste/needs, economic environment†¦etc.?) The purpose of your research is to a) provide you with an opportunity to learn more about a specific industry and the current processes used b) Identify opportunities to use MIS to change how business is run and improve on current business practices. All group members must participate in the preparation of the written report and delivery of the oral presentation. Do not read directly from your report (you may use index cards to remind yourself of important points), face the audience when presenting. Allow time for questions from the audience and be prepared to answer them. Audience members must be prepared to ask questions also. Your report must be TYPED, double-spaced, use Times New Roman size 12 font for body of report. Include a cover page (with all group members’ names, title (Industry/corporation), date, presented to: Prof. Eshra) and a correctly formatted references page (APA) for all sources used (minimum of 5 different sources). Prepare a minimum of 10 PowerPoint slides to use when presenting your report. Before your due date, you are required to submit a printed copy as well as an electronic copy of: 1. Your report (10 pages minimum excluding cover page/table of contents/references) April 6, 2013 2. PowerPoint presentation (minimum 10 slides)-Submit on the day you present Be as creative as you can to capture the attention of your audience (use of multimedia, original digital pictures, short videos is encouraged).

How effectively the authors of your chosen texts explore

Parent/Child relationships are widely portrayed in the two novels, Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. The authors both explore and portray the relationships between the main characters and a parental role differently in relation to the other despite them both being from opposite sides of the world, as well as the story being set in different time periods. In Mister Pip, its Matilda a young black girl from the island of Papua New Guinea with her mother Dolores and in The Curious Incident.. ts Christopher, a young boy with Aspergers Syndrome from Swindon along with father Ed Boone. The children on the island in Mister Pip are made to look inferior to the adults earlier on in the novel. Despite being a norm or value, the children in Mister Pip are made to abide all the rules that are set by the adults which often makes them feel less important than the adults. This is established early in the first few pages of the novel â€Å"We weren't worthy of that. It was as if we didn't exist† (page 3). Although its the norm in most cultures and societies that the children are raised to respect the elder peers, follow the rules set by them and inherit their general knowlegde, its seems that both the children and their parents are intellectually equal despite the difference in age and observation. â€Å"When our ancestors saw the first whit guy they thought they were looking at ghosts.. † (Page 5) This shows the intellectual relationship between the children and their parents who mainly base their knowledge of what they've observed forcing the children to believe it word for word. However, Christopher in the Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night Time, does not consider the adults superior in the novel when he is being shouted at by Mrs Shears for being on her lawn and holding the corpse of the dog Wellington he just ignored her. â€Å"The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn't like him touching me like this. And this is where I hit him. † (Page 9). Christopher lashes out in the way he believed to be right rather than the way he was aised to deal with these types of situations which suggests that besides his syndrome, there have been a lack of trust between Christopher and his dad during his upbringing that Christopher felt he didn't have to stick by the rules enforced: in this case, â€Å"you know its wrong to hit a policeman† (Page 22). In Mister Pip, the relationship between Matilda and her mother Dolores is very complicated, they come into conflict over the book â€Å"Great Expectations† when Matilda tries to tell her mum Dolores about how much she enjoyed the book. Lloyd Jones portrays Dolores as a strict Christian who is a very proud woman however is embarrassed to tell Matilda her daughter, of her age. So when Matilda tries to tell her mum about the book Dolores goes against the story by saying its immoral causing the two characters to drift further apart. â€Å"She must have anticipated this because she used her softer voice, the one she used the night before Great Expectations came between us† (Page 36) Matilda quotes as she realises anything regarding Great Expectations angers her mother. This then leads to conflict with Mr Watts, the teacher which Dolores shows a lack of respect by calling him Pop-Eye (the nickname the children had developed for Mr. Watts). The contention then begins to grow between Dolores and Mr. Watts when Dolores visits the school to preach about religious faith. As the conflict grows, it seems that Matilda is being forced into thinking two different ways of life. â€Å"The same space had come to exist between Mr. Watts and my mum. And I knew I would have to choose between the two† (Page 40) shows Lloyd Jones uses the intellectual conflict between the adults to highlight how this happens regular between parents which often impacts on the child and what they will be like growing up. On the other hand, in The Curious Incident†¦ Christopher's relationship with his father is jeopardised after he finds out that his father lied to him about his mothers death. Father said that he didn't know what kind of heart attack she had and now wasn't the moment to be asking questions like that† (Page 36) This particular event in the story changes the dynamics of the novel, tension and the relationship with his father as he wanted to know what had happened to his mother. The problem resulted to Christopher taking independence within his own life on his journey to London to find his mother, then becoming very close again in the latter part of the novel; While he realises the reality of life that his parents never allowed him to understand. Mark Haddon uses the syndrome of Christopher to emphasise how eager he is to be self reliant, this separates the characters because that's what Christopher tries to achieve although he is not in a self reliant position due to his condition and age. The Bond between Matilda and her real father can be described as non-existent throughout majority of the novel up until towards the end when he returns from the mines. Matilda considers Mr Watts as her main male figure for majority of the novel and even when her father does come back she continues to accept that Mr Watts (Pop-eye) is the â€Å"father† in her life. This was considered another reason why Mr watts and Dolores have a lot of conflict when it comes to Matilda. In Curious Incident, at first the bond between Christopher and his father is very strong. It is so strong you they had more than a family bond, they also had a good reliant friendship. In both the curious incident and mister pip the adults/ parental figures are secretive when it comes to telling the children in the two novels the truth about certain incidents. The children in Mister Pip are not told about what is going on in the war and are kept from finding out the truth, which gives the indication that just like in today's society the children are being protected from the truth about current affairs in the world because of their age and innocence. Christopher in The Curious incident is kept from finding out the truth of his parents split up, even though he is not a child and is in his teens the parents feel that he would not fully understand the reasons for them splitting up which would give us the impression that there is trust issues between Christopher and his parents. The authors used different techniques to explore the child and adult relationships, despite of the circumstances each main character was facing and/or due to the lack of a biological parent. In regards to the question, the authors explore the relationships well as both Mark Haddon and Lloyd Jones use their novels to define trends in relationships throughout different places and era and how that can affect them in the long-term. Despite also defining that both parents and children within the novels are equally reliant on one an other.

Cell Energy Worksheet Essay Sample

What is cellular respiration and what are its three phases? Cellular respiration is the procedure by which negatrons are transferred between glucose to coenzymes and so to oxygen. NTP is made by the resettlement of negatrons. The terminal consequence of the procedure is the C dioxide and H2O that are released as by-products of the procedure. The three phases are: glycolysis. citric acerb rhythm. and electron conveyance. What is the function of glycolysis? Include the reactants and the merchandises. Where does it happen? Glycolysis is the sugar splitting procedure where the molecule is split in half outside of the chondriosome. The molecule NAD+ picks up negatrons and H atoms from the C molecule and go NADH. ATP is produced from the procedure. every bit good as pyruvic acid. Glycolysis can happen with or without O. With O it is the first phase of the cellular respiration. but if the procedure is done without O it is called agitation. What is the function of the citric acid rhythm? Include the reactants and the merchandises. Where does it happen? The Citric Acid Cycle starts after the glycolysis rhythm produces the ethanoyl group CoA compound. The Coenzyme A is removed and the staying C skeleton is attached to another 4-carbon molecule. The new 6-carbon concatenation releases C dioxide. Two ATP’s are produced during this procedure for each molecule of glucose. The terminal consequence of the citric acid rhythm is 4 CO molecules. 6 NADH molecules. 2 ATP molecules and 2 FADH2 molecules. The procedure is portion of the transition of carbs. fats. and proteins into C dioxide and H2O ; which is useable energy. What is the function of the negatron conveyance system? Include the reactants and the merchandises. Where does it happen? The negatron conveyance is the bringing of negatrons through a concatenation of negatrons in the membrane of the chondriosome. Electrons are transported along the concatenation and as they move along the concatenation they lose energy. The O a individual breathes pulls negatrons from that concatenation and H2O is formed because of it. The energy released relays H ions across the membrane and creates a high H ion country. The H ions speed through the membrane and produces ATP. Photosynthesis: What is the overall end of photosynthesis? Photosynthesis is the procedure through which sunshine and C dioxide is changed into sugar and O for nutrient in workss. The C dioxide is strained into pores in the foliages and into the cells of the works. The cells filter the C dioxide into the chloroplasts. which convert the visible radiation to do C dioxide and H2O into sugar and O. Because photosynthesis merely occurs in workss. why is it indispensable to animal life? Through the nutrient concatenation. animate beings eat works life and addition foods from it for endurance. If certain animate beings couldn’t acquire the nutrient they need. so the animate beings that prey on these works feeders wouldn’t have nutrient either. Plants are indispensable to prolonging life in the nutrient concatenation. Photosynthesis besides helps because O is produced. which is indispensable for most of life on Earth. What is the function of the light reactions? Include the reactants and the merchandises. Where does it happen? The light reactions are the first measure of the photosynthesis procedure by which visible radiation is absorbed into the chloroplasts. Inside the chloroplast. there are flattened sacs called thylakoids. The energy is converted into a chemical energy procedure. The photosystems. which are made of protein and chlorophyll. gaining control light energy and are connected by an negatron conveyance concatenation. The photosystem absorbs the light energy and makes the negatrons super active. The negatrons are replaced by negatrons striped from H2O and create O. The energized negatrons go down the conveyance system and let go of energy that pumps hydrogen ions into the thylakoid. ATP and NADPH are produced and are used to do the sugar in the Calvin rhythm. What is the function of the Calvin rhythm? Include the reactants and the merchandises. Where does it happen? The Calvin rhythm takes topographic point in the thick fluid of the chloroplast called the stroma. Carbon dioxide molecules combine with RuBP molecules. They go through a series of reactions and the sugar molecules. called G3Ps. are rearranged back into RuBPs. G3Ps can be used to construct glucose or sucrose. Both are types of sugars that can be broken down into ATP’s necessary for works growing or other undertakings. The Calvin rhythm is indispensable for sugar creative activity for fuel in the photosynthesis procedure. Summary: Explain how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are linked within ecosystems. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration both generate molecules that are used between procedures. The ecosystems need both procedures because both procedures work together to maintain life traveling. The cellular respiration of organisms exhales C dioxide. which is so used by photosynthesis as a fuel to make the O necessary for life. Visit the NASA web site ( hypertext transfer protocol: //data. Gb. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. gov/gistemp/graphs/ ) and research planetary temperature alterations. How has planetary heating affected overall temperatures? What effects do cellular respiration and photosynthesis have on planetary heating? Global heating is an addition in mean temperatures across the air. surface and oceans around the Earth. When nursery gases trap heat and visible radiation. the temperatures across the Earth rise. The ecosystems are threatened because species of workss and animate beings can’t adapt to the lifting temperatures and stop up deceasing out. There is an addition in CO2 gases and the cellular respiration/photosynthesis processes become imbalanced. For the procedures to work in harmoniousness. both the animate beings that exhale C dioxide and the workss that take the CO2 gas and change over it into O must every bit lend. If the workss die out. the animate beings will non acquire plenty O to last. If a works dies. the animate being that eats it will decease and so will the animate being that preys on that works feeder. The balance between cellular respiration and photosynthesis must be preserved. Mentions: Approximately. com. ( 2012 ) . Cellular Respiration. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //biology. about. com/od/cellularprocesses/a/cellrespiration. htm BioFlix. ( 2008 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //media. pearsoncmg. com/bc/bc_0media_bio/bioflix/bioflix. htm? eb4respiration [ Multimedia ] . Retrieved from BioFlix. SCI230 web site. BioFlix. ( 2008 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //media. pearsoncmg. com/bc/bc_0media_bio/bioflix/bioflix. htm? eb4photosynthesis [ Multimedia ] . Retrieved from BioFlix. SCI230 web site. GISS Surface Temperature Analysis. ( 2012 ) . Retrieved from

Personal Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Personal Reflection Paper - Essay Example I was able to change my thinking from having goals of childish nature to a more mature outlook on life. The activity gave me an opportunity to compare my life goals with those of my classmates. This is critical in terms of comparing me with other like-minded and equally intellectual formidable classmates. This comparison showed me that despite my ambitious nature in terms of my life goals, there are others who are more ambitious and aggressive. It was a revelation and a challenge for me to work harder and be more ambitious in order to compete on the same level with my intellectual equals. As the exercise proceeded, I was able to reevaluate my life goals and coalesce them with a more realistic and tangible future. The defining moment for the entire exercise was the peer review section where classmates were tasked with evaluating each other’s life goals. The result of this activity was that my teammates gave me the second highest score in the entire class. It was a defining moment for me in terms of not just my self-esteem but also my general outlook on life. This event truly gave me an opportunity to evaluate and reevaluate my life goals. This activity also helped me to distinguish between the tangible life goals and what is pure fantasy. The score given to me by my classmates was evidence of the progress I am making in terms of fulfillment of my life goals. I honestly feel that I am making huge strides in the right direction, and I have a more confident approach to life and achievement. A bulk of this is fully attributed to the activity presented to us by the professor. My book club facilitation focused on chapter 6 of the book titled, "Becoming a leader" by Benis. The title of the chapter was effectively dubbed leaders perspective and desire. This activity was rather significant because I had never thought of myself as a leader. The activity was a revelation into my potential as a

Innovation in a sustainable future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Innovation in a sustainable future - Essay Example Ever since my childhood, I have many anticipations and objectives for my future career. A few of the anticipations have eventually faded away as time has passed by. However, at present, my career aspiration is concentrated in the area of science. Furthermore, I would also prefer to mention that my career aspiration is to become a diligent engineer. Based on this aspect, the report discusses about my career aspirations and potential professional development in engineering field for the next ten years. Career in Engineering.Engineering is one of the most important fields of study in the academic life which opens up various career paths into a range of science areas. Engineers have extensive assortment of career options in comparison with other professions such as business or management among others. Engineering has vast scope in advance fields such civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and electrical engineering among others. In this context, I would like state that my career aspiration in engineering is to become an electrical engineer. This branch of engineering is largely related with the design and application equipment in order to generate power and distribute energy.What Electrical Engineers Do.As discussed above electrical engineers are concerned with the generation and utilisation of electricity. It is one of the leading braches of engineering. The key emphases of electrical engineers are to develop sources of power, energy control systems and sign al processing. As an electrical engineer, I will concentrate on planning, maintaining and creating products which can effectively generate electricity. Electrical engineering area is quite vast and there are so many areas of specialisation to select from such as electronics, power, communication and computer among others. I would take specialisation in the area of power or energy1. Energy Demand in Daily Life Over past few decades, the requirement of energy in daily life has increased considerably. Although there are several sources of energy, most of the effective energy sources are non-renewable in nature such as coal, natural gas and oil among others. This high requirement for energy along with non-renewable nature of key energy sources has generated the need for innovation of an alternative energy source. One of the most prevalent alternative energy sources is solar energy. In comparison with other non-renewable energy sources, solar energy is highly accessible and it also has l ow adverse impact on environment during power generation. Furthermore, I would also like to mention that this area of engineering has not been exploited properly and possesses a huge prospect in future as a sustainable energy source. By understanding the importance of solar energy, I have selected this area as my future career aspiration and after ten years, I want to see myself as great innovator in solar energy engineering field where this energy source will become much inexpensive and effective to produce energy and to satisfy the considerable level of energy demand2. Career Aspiration in Solar Energy Engineering Solar energy engineers require developing, designing and evaluating energy based products and projects in order to minimise energy expenses and enhance energy efficiency. Solar energy engineers also specialise in heating, ventilation, cooling, green building and lighting among others. Concerning these specialisation areas of solar energy engineering, I would prefer to ta ke cooling. The reason is that in power generation

Each student is required to write-up a six-page proof of concept for a Essay

Each student is required to write-up a six-page proof of concept for a start-up enterprise. Your concept should capitalize on an - Essay Example It also does not use mercury and contributes to reduce climate control costs in comparison with a florescent bulb. With the growing competitions in the business world, smarter investors know what to invest in. Considering this facet, investing in LED energy savings bulb can be regarded as one of the most prospective businesses in Indonesia. Contextually, it is observed that the revenue generated from the global LED lighting market stands at a substantial figure of US$9.46 billion in 2013. It is estimated that the global demand for LED lighting would broadly stay the same for the coming 4 years. However, this steady growth prospect bodes well for the proposed start-up business (Sector Publishing Intelligence Ltd, â€Å"The World Market for LED Lighting†). Indonesia is determined to be amongst one of the leading resource saver countries in the world. Considering the current electric equipment demand, investing capital to start a business of LED bulb in Indonesia can be considere d as beneficial. THESIS STATEMENT This essay will mainly focus on the opportunity for the investors to invest into the LED energy saving bulb business in Indonesia. The essay would also contain a new-start up business concept mainly focusing on establishing a LED light bulb In Indonesia along with determining the value which can be created by the business. DISCUSSION Potential in LED business in Indonesian Electronic Market. Indonesia is considered to be amongst the largest economies in the Southeast Asia. It has registered a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 6.2% till 2012 and is projected to be above 6% for the coming five years. It has been viewed that during the downfall in the global economy the country was measured to be amongst the top performers in the global context. The vital reasons behind the strong performance emanated from effective performance of number of industries, high domestic demand of goods and services along with rich natural resources. Additionally, it i s also observed that the consumer market of Indonesia is considered to be amid the fastest developing markets, where GDP per capita is US$3500 exceeding many of its neighboring countries. The political condition of the country is determined to be supportive in comparison with other nations especially in the South Asian region of the world. It is worth mentioning that according to an estimation, it is predicted that 60 million people who are considered as low-income Indonesian workers would join the intermediate class of people in the upcoming years, increasing the consumer demand (Export.gov, â€Å"Doing Business in Indonesia: 2012 Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies†). LED light bulbs are observed to be electronic bulbs that utilize semiconductor technology to use electric energy in a more efficient way. It has been viewed that with the increasing technical advancements in every aspect, large organizations are adapting more advanced technologies to develop products b y considering the increasing negative impacts of their operations on the environment. Indonesia is ascertained to be amongst those countries that have been implementing policies and regulations to adapt eco-friendly products as their first priority. It has been viewed that LED lighting products are now available three or more times more effective than compact florescent products and are considered to be the best lighting alternative till date. The LED insurgency in lightning technology is

Individual development project (O.B course) Essay

Individual development project (O.B course) - Essay Example The main issue with the company I worked for that it lacked an appropriate leadership style that would best fit the company. In the decade when the company was facing problems and crisis the main problem was that it lost a good relationship and a factor of trust between the employees, labor and the top management. A leader in true sense is someone who leads his followers along the way or path towards their goals and objectives (Blanchard, Hersey & Johnson 2008). Leadership is the characteristic that will enable a person to inspire group of people to realize common interest or goal. Analysis of the issue The base of any organization rests on the philosophy, vision, goals and values of the management. As a result this drives the culture of the organization that is made up of the formal, informal and social environment of the organization. Basically it is the culture of the organization that determines the leadership type, group dynamics and communication within that organization (Glidd on, 2006). The culture, the leadership style, the communication, group dynamics are the things on which the perception of the worker is based and these are the things that direct the motivation degree of the worker. So at the company I worked in the decade of crisis and low performance these factors were not being addressed according to the expectation of the workers and labor as in the previous and present times. Trust is an expectation that is positive that another does not and will not by words, decisions and actions act opportunistically. Trust is based on two things mainly that are familiarity and risk. Trust has a lot of dimensions mainly like integrity, competence, consistency, loyalty and openness etc. Integrity relates to things like truthfulness and honesty, competence means the interpersonal and technical knowledge and skills, consistency relates to predictability, good judgment and reliability under various situations, loyalty means the willingness to safeguard and prote ct face for any other person and openness relates to the reliance on someone else to provide you the truth in full. There are three types of trusts that employees in any company can experience. One is deterrence or fear of punishment based trust, the other is identification or trust based on mutual understanding, appreciation for other people’s desires and wants, and the knowledge based or behavioral predictability based trust that roots back to the interaction history. At the company I worked the basic issue was that the trust was deterrence based. It means that the employees feared punishment and were forced to trust the CEO whereas they dint not like his leadership style at all. Solution of the issue In the world today effective managers should develop trusting relationship with the ones they seek to be leading. As with the increasing competition in the world the managers who lack this factor are not taken to be an effective. Organizations nowadays are strictly in search o f transformational leaders (Kaiser, 2009). The transformational leaders are the ones with vision and are charismatic to carry that vision. True leadership effectiveness is the product of exhibiting of right behaviors at the right time. Leader should be someone who has a personality, verbally adept, smart and likeable. Good leaders and managers know how to keep the environment of the organization competitive and cooperative at the same time (Hofstede, Gert, and Michael, 2010). The greatness of the organizati

Research paper politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research paper politics - Essay Example It soon became evident that the American colonies of the New World were more interested in slaves than gold, and the slave trade quickly overshadowed the gold trade. Dutch, English, Danish, and Swedish competitors weakened Portuguese control and in 1642, the Portuguese left the Gold Coast permanently although their influence continues to this day. Various European powers attempted to dominate the profitable slave trade. The Dutch West India Company operated throughout most of the eighteenth century, and the British African Company of Merchants, founded in 1750, was successor to several earlier organizations and became the dominant European power on the Gold Coast (Buah 2004). Portugal's control of West Africa was gone by the seventeenth century, and Angola was the only major area left under Portuguese control. Angola, independent at present, is strongly influenced by Portuguese culture and its official language is Portuguese. It is especially distinctive because of South African infl uence and white settler communities, as well as the harsh colonial style of the Portuguese. The area therefore has become unique in Africa. As in most Portuguese colonies, mixed race children hold a different status (Angola 2007). In addition, Angola became divided into three factions-capitalists, independent, and the dominant party at present, the Population Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Violence, hunger and poverty marked the end of the twentieth century in Angola with peace being achieved in 2002. Even though they have gained their independence, "class, cultural, and linguistic divisions still haunt the country" (Birmingham 2006). Although France traveled to West Africa as early as 1483 and the first West African settlement was founded in the mid-seventeenth century in Senegal, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the French were firmly established in Cte d'Ivoire. Cte d'Ivoire, like the rest of West Africa, was subject to European influences, but absence of sheltered harbors made the area less appealing. The slave trade had little impact on the peoples of Cte d'Ivoire. Its profits were in ivory, but a decline in elephants closed down the trade by the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1904, French West Africa consisted of Cte d'Ivoire, Dahoney (present-day Benin), Guinea, Niger, French Sudan (present-day Mali), Senegal, Upper Volta and Mauritania, ruled by the governor of Senegal, who became governor general. Most of the inhabitants of the colonies were subjects of France with no political rights (Handloff 1988). Handloff continues his history of the Ivory Coast noting that until 1958, gover nors appointed in Paris administered the colony of Cte d'Ivoire using direct, centralized administration that left little room for Ivoirian participation in policy making. The French colonial administration adopted divide-and-rule policies, applying ideas of assimilation only to the educated elite. These elite were inclined to take on the culture of the colonizers, moving away from their African heritage, and the influence of French culture continues to this day. The French-educated elites, or evolues, embodied the "African

How German propaganda differed between WW1 and WW2 Essay

How German propaganda differed between WW1 and WW2 - Essay Example In 1914, European nations called upon their friends to face up the possibility of going to war and prepare for it. By this time, the United States was faced with isolationism in a bigger part because of President Wilson’s worry of snarling foreign alliances. This isolation slowly started to fade when the united States lend large sums of money to the British and the French. The United States responded to the British propaganda where they considered the British as the unflinching defenders of the right, French and the Belgians as miserable heroes and the Germans as the deep-dyed scoundrels (Schulman, 1990, pp.13) Often, propaganda was used more tactically in WWII. Robert Sherwood, one of Roosevelt’s speech authors, led a committee whose main objective was to battle a war of word in opposition to the axis. Not only did this board act to super charge United States support but also sought to disseminate information on America’s participation to Axis-controlled regions abroad (Schulman, 1990, pp.13). In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, the Nazi party grew stronger while the mass media became a extremely mighty passage for assembling the huge support they were to soon have ( Osley, 1995, pp.7). Carefully and persistently the government officials avoided the word propaganda. The U.S successively preferred using the word information. In 1917, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was designed by the U.S government to yield support for the war, improve on patriotism and a stronger faith in democracy. The Germans were featured in wartime films as ruthless and life threatening animals. Patriotic colors were used in the posters to show the might of America and its allies. A movement that had Kaiser Wilhelm’s head in a jar was started by the National War Garden commission which requested the public to plant and can vegetables. Cans of vegetables that read, â€Å"Can Vegetables, Fruits and the Kaiser too† smothered the

Methods of Ordering Essay Example for Free

Methods of Ordering Essay When using the fryer you must be careful because the oil is hot and it may spit. There must always be a sticker above the fryer at average height for a human that reads Warning, danger Hot this sticker is replaced every 6-7 months depending on how clean and clear the writing is. What is it? This is called a flat top grill. Its like a large version of a grill. It has heaters underneath the silver plate which heat up the plate, so that bacon and eggs can be cooked on it, the spatula in the bottom left hand corner of the picture helps the chef to get the food of the plate. How do you clean it? When cleaning it you have to use a special cleaning product called D12, this is special because it helps to get the fat and grease of the plate and also if some of the chemicals get underneath the plate it wont ruin the heater. You must wait at least 12 hours until you can use the grill again, this is just in case there is still cleaning fluid on the plate which could be transferred on the food. Is it serviced? Again its the same as the pot wash and the fryer. Its checked every 6-12 months, however if this brakes down then its not as critical as the others the chefs can cook it in a frying pan. It may be less healthy than using the silver plate, but this is simplest way if its broke. Health and Safety? If you are using this then you must beware the silver plate gets hot. Its the same as fryer there is a warning sticker which says Hot Beware. You must remember when putting food on to the plate that you dont over stack it otherwise the it smokes a lot and the plate automatically turns the heat up which mean it can overload the plate with too much food. What is it? This piece of equipment is called a pot wash. All your have to do it rinse the dirty dished and plates stack them in a blue create, then lift up the sliver handle and slide in the crate once this is done pull the handle back down and the pot wash will wash it depending on the setting that you set it on. How do you clean it? Cleaning this piece of equipment can take up to 48 hours depending on how many times you use it a week. Firstly you have to take out the wash blade and take them apart, by unscrewing the screw in the middle, and place them in a bowl of hot soapy water for 12-24 hours. The valves and drain link need to be unattached and socked in anti bacterial liquid for 24 hours. Finally there are blue crates which are mainly self cleaned my water and liquid soap. Is it serviced? The pot wash needs to be serviced every 6 12 months if there is anything wrong with the pot wash it need to be repaired quickly as if its broke it can not be used until fixed meaning that service of the food may slow down as all dishes have to be hand cleaned. Health and Safety? If you are using a pot wash you must remember to stack all cutlery and dishes upside down and in a neat way. Dishes cant be stacked on top of each other as the blades may get jammed. If you are cleaning the cutlery then you need to do it all at once with no other dishes or bowls. The childrens menu is colourful and bright to interest the young children. The layout of the menu is appealing to the correct age range. The food is well priced on the childrens menu. The puddings on the childrens menu are well sized, also their choose is very child friendly. The inside of the childrens menu is coulorful and has pictures of some of the food. The vegtable chance is very useful to the children as it has picture of the vegatables in the right hand cornor. However some of the portion sizes are quite big for a child, I also noticed that there was mainly chips with every meal and not just in the childrens menu. As well on the childrens menu there is starters and I think that children under the age of 12 dont need starters, because the starters size would fill them up. Finally, as an overall view of the childrens menu I think that the food has a good balance of healthy foods, It has a colourful and funky look as an overall menu. The main menu is more sacfistercated for the older customers such as teenagers, adults and OAPs. The front of the menu has a picture of an appetizing picture of a plate of steak and chips. Below this there are 4 smaller boxes which have different offers such as: Golden Greats, Curry club, Sunday roast and homemade specials. On the back of the menu there is puddings menu and this consists of individual puddings, hot and cold, also there are sweet sharers which are large puddings which you can share they also do a selection of hot drinks. Finally on the back they have bigger boxes explaining the offers in more detail. The inside of the menu is set up well because each section has its own box. They have mega meals which are extra large meals which just have more on than your average meal. They have salads and sides which your can be ordered as an extra. Storage space: At the three crowns and sugar loaf they have two different sections for storing food a wet cupboard and a dry cupboard. The dry area is for crisps, nuts, food in packets that you find on a bar and they do keep some for the dry kitchen food. The wet area is for the drinks, such as fruit shots, alcohol, cans of pop, J20s and water. They have got other storage places they have two fridges and a freezer, one fridge is a walk in fridge where you can get your food, and the other fridge is a normal fridge which only holds cooked or uncooked meat there are two separate compartments for the meats that are cooked and uncooked. The freezer is outside and is for frozen meat and other frozen goods. Methods of Ordering: The manager will order all the stock they need on the Tuesday online and it will be delivered on the Thursday, Its all done on the internet to make it easier and less paper work, also it is quicker. Ordering on the internet is a bit like online shopping you login with the certain user name and password, then you get to pick what foods you need and how much off it. The company that the pub uses are Churchill china, Marstons, Blakemore and PH Snacks direct. At the 3 crown and sugar loaf they have to follow certain safety procedures and regulations. They have to have clear posters of accident and emergency procedures; they have to have fire drills and large posters telling people where the fire exits are. Also above the fire exits they have to have a green light in case the electric goes out and the customers can still find the exits. In the kitchen they have to have fire extinguishers and fire blankets these have to been placed in an easy to access place. The pot wash has a area which is for dirty dishes and place, no one is allowed to bring glasses in to the kitchen they have to be taken to the bar and they are put in a separate dishwasher, this is to insure that people dont cut themselves and also glass has to be put on to a different wash because otherwise it will crack the glass. The posters have to be clean and be read able, the warning signs need to be replaced every six months to insure that they dont fall off the wall or they dont get dirty. All the knifes are covered in a well fitting plastic cover and placed in a container. Knifes have a separate wash because they could get jammed in the machinery, also no one is allowed to hand wash them because you may cut your self, and if the knifes were hand washed they would have to be done in D12 formula which could mean painful if you cut yourself and hand your hand in D12 solution. The chopping boards are in 3 different cupboards red, white, green. They are in different cupboards to stop cross contamination, from the meat and the vegetables. The pub have special cleaning products which are stronger than household cleaner, They will clean the surface and get rid of nay bacteria or bugs. The cleaning products are stored by the door in the kitchen, They have signs that warn people that they are toxin and dangerous. First aid is a high priority in a kitchen because if someone is cooking then there is a high risk off being injuries mostly minor injuries, however there has been some cases where people have seriously burnt there arm therefore everyone in the kitchen should know at least basic first aid. Monday 8th June 2009 Today, I used the pot washer, which was a hose which was over a large sink. Then you have to stack the plates and dishes in a crate, and push it into a large grey box, and push the lid down and press the go button and it cleans the dishes on a certain setting. I also learnt how to lay the tables, and that each customer must have a napkin, knife and folk and that each table must have a bottle of salt, pepper and vinegar. If the customer has ordered a steak then they have a steak knife. In the kitchen there were several metal rail which were next to a machine which transferred the orders from the bar to the kitchen. I had to take the ticket from the machine and slot it in to the metal rail. Tuesday 9th June 2009 Today the head chef, Helen let me chop the tomatoes and lemons in to sixes. Then Scott showed me how to cut the lettuces. Then I helped to waitress for a while and then Denise asked me to start on the puddings, There are several different puddings and each one has custard or ice cream, each pudding has its individual time in the microwave. Finally the stock was meant to have arrived to day however it failed to turned up because of the internet connection failure. Wednesday 10th June 2009 Today I laid the tables with the menus and cleaned down the tables. Later on I had to chop two crates of tomatoes in to slices, wedges and halves. I then chopped pepper, lemons, cucumber and a bucket full of lettuce. For the rest of the day I was on the mains station which is where they prepare all the mains and starters. I also helped waitress with Scott. Thursday 11th June 2009 Today I was on mains again and starters, I was allowed to help make the sandwiches but only for a while because the sandwich station is in the middle of the kitchen and I wasnt quicker enough for the orders coming in. Later on I went into the main seating area and collected the empty glasses and wiped down the table, I also laid the tables in the morning. Friday 12th June 2009 Today I went on to the Puddings station, I had to work quickly because the orders fro pudding were quick and a lot of people were sat outside in the sun and wanted ice cream. I put the menus out again in the morning and was on the pot was for half of hour because today was very busy and the dirty plates and dishes were getting stacked up. Name: Helen Green Do you enjoy working her? Why? Yes, I do enjoy working her it is fun and the other members of the team are all very friendly. I enjoy working here because the hours are good and I enjoy the adrenaline cooking give me. Is it safe? Yes, as you know all the staff are first aid trained in case of an emergency and we check that the first aid case if full with the correct equipment every week. Is the food that you cook healthy? We try and make it as healthy as we can, however if we are busy then cooking it the healthier way does take longer and means that the customers have to wait, however we would always try and keep to the healthiest possible way of cooking our food. Is the food safe to eat? Yes, all are products that we cook with are very safe and all the chefs are trained to cook the food correctly. The meat is also safe to eat as we check the temperate of food before we give to the customers Do you have any dislikes about the pub? Yes , Only one thought I would like the kitchen to be bigger because as you know we have a lot of members of staff due to the high amount of customers, and it can get very hot in the kitchen and also can get a bit over crowned. Why are the childrens meals such big portions? Well we are looking I to the childrens menu portion sizes, due to complaints from the customers. We have written to Marstons HQ about changing the menu. Although if it was my decision I would defiantly have smaller portion sizes. Do all the plates of food, stay within the movement guidelines? All the menus are created by Marstons HQ, and I believe that they keep to the RDA for the customers.

Using Enterprise Gamification For Improving Business Essay

Using Enterprise Gamification For Improving Business Essay Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. (Gamification Wiki, 2012) Though a relatively new field, gamification has been used in a variety of applications albeit in a simpler manner, from driving customer loyalty through loyalty points to improving employee engagement within the workforce using titles such as Employee of the Month The latter is an example of enterprise gamification wherein enterprises use gamified systems to bring about internal change. However most such systems are currently heavily simplified and extrinsically focused, only looking to reward employees with badges, which leads to the danger of reducing the employees intrinsic motivations. Also, many of the enterprise gamification platforms have only been designed for use in the developed world and hence the need to explore how these might differ for an Indian audience with its different set of motivations and appeal to them. Taking these into account, this paper looks to explore how gamification works and what are the underlying psychological factors and how Indian enterprises can use it in their employee development process. The findings would lead to a proposed enterprise gamified framework for improving workplace motivations and the performance appraisal process currently being practiced in Indian organizations. Lastly we look at the possible limitations of having such a system in place at the enterprise level and explore areas of further development for future research. Introduction A common definition of gamification is the application of game elements in non game contexts (Deterding, 2011) At the heart of gamification is the objective of getting the desired behavioral response by appealing to the players motivations. A repeatedly used approach is to use the scoring elements used in video games and use them in a different context. Though the term is relatively new, this concept has been in application for centuries in the form of frequent flyer loyalty programs for customers, enterprise leader boards in the sales and customer care divisions. However, in recent years the concept has gradually seen an increasing no. of applications within the enterprise. Some of the examples are listed below Intranet The SAP community network is an internally used community network (intranet) where leader boards for domain experts in every domain is maintained Productivity Enhancement Call centers are using gamification techniques to improve representative performance by making use of leaderboards, levels, virtual badges and immediate feedback. The danger could be that it could be used as a tool to constantly monitor and pressurizing them. Efficiency Enhancement Efficiency enhancement is about improving general skill level of employees and not just the work related to their job. Helping employees deal with their emails is an example. Companies use gamification elements such as progress bars, virtual points and feedback on time spent for emails to help them deal with this. Seriosity is another company that has created a virtual currency around the emails. This helps employees decide which mails to deal with first and decide the urgency of the emails they are sending out to other employees. Knowledge Management Application called WhoWhatWhere is an enterprise collaboration system where consultants are encouraged to share information about what they are working on thereby making it easier for consultants working on similar projects to get in touch with them and seek help Innovation The UK Dept of Works Pension created the Ideastreet, essentially seen as a trading platform for ideas. Employees put forward ideas which have a inherent stock listed price associated with them. Other employees have the option of buying or selling these stocks so that a few of the ideas have a much higher market cap than the others. This has proved to be a well performing solution, with the no. of new ideas being implemented increasing by the tune of 54%. Recruiting and Onboarding Gamification is also being used for recruitment for certain managerial positions using online simulation games that depict real life scenarios and test the decision making skills of the players. This competition leads to a pool of best players who are then considered as potential candidates for the company. All the above mentioned examples of enterprise gamification and gamified systems in general, can be broadly classified according to what user motivations they cater to, which could be intrinsic or extrinsic motivations. The concern with gamified systems that are heavily extrinsically focused such as the one currently employed in call centers, is the long term negative impact that most organizations are not aware of. This is something that shall be addressed in detail in subsequent sections in this paper. Organisations that offer gamification platforms for employee engagement are growing in developed countries. Bunchball is currently one of the biggest which offers Nitro as a plugin gamification application to Salesforce. The Indian enterprise market however, is currently largely untapped and presents huge opportunities for the same. Most Indian employees find the current performance appraisal systems in most organizations highly inefficient and unsatisfactory. The current efforts of the HR professionals to improve employee seem to fall short with workplace morale and productivity running lower than desired. Taking these factors into consideration, this paper looks to propose an enterprise gamification model for improving intrinsic workplace motivations and the performance appraisal systems currently in place in Indian organizations. Theoretical Background What are Games? A formal broad definition applicable to all forms of games proposed by Zimmermann Salen, 2003 says that A game is a system in which players engage in artificial conflict, defined by rules, which result in a quantifiable outcome. However, what this definition lacks is the notion of a feedback system. The feedback system can take the form of points, levels, progress bars and serves to quantify the progress made by the user, how close/far the user is from the goal and provides motivation to keep on playing. In addition to this is the concept of voluntary participation. Be it indoor games such as monopoly, social games, alternate reality games to the most popular sports played today, voluntary participation requires that each one plays the game willingly, accepting the rules and goals of the system with the freedom to enter and leave the game whenever desired. This ensures that the artificially created challenging environment is not found threatening and can be experienced as a playful, safe and enjoyable activity. All these characteristics of the definition of a game are important and are modelled by Dignan in the figure below (Dignan, 2011): A definition of a game (Dignan, 2011) What makes Games so Engaging? Before we delve further, it is important to explore what is it about games that is so engaging and why it seems to be the answer to current workplace engagement and productivity issues according to us. An important research conducted by McGonigal to explore how playing games leads to human happiness has answers to this question. According to McGonigal (2011) studies have actually shown that people are at their happiest when doing hard work at the borders of their skill level. Only when people are continuously challenged according to their skill levels and continuously receive feedback on their work will they have a sustained engagement, otherwise they will end up getting bored.C:UsersmicaDesktopFlow.png This is also explained well by a central model for the appeal for video games the concept of flow. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, people feel best when they are neither underchallenged nor overchallenged but at the right level of skills. And as people learn with time and repetition, challenges have to increase to keep up with growing skills. The research goes on to say that most of the traditionally considered relaxing activities such as watching TV, are actually mildly depressing. She argues that this is because companies often fail to continuously challenge employees at the right level in a structured way without giving them frequent feedback. In short, it goes on to proclaim that The Opposite of Work is not Play, it is Depression. Empirical studies also show how the responses that games elicit are very similar to real life emotions, if not the same. Even if the reward might be growing more crops in Farm Ville, the reward though purely fictitious elicits an emotional state that happens to be no different from a real life scenario. To summarize there are multiple dimensions to games that cater to different needs of the players and have been segregated as follows When it comes to the workplace, at a fundamental level we could conclude that the work in itself not the demotivating factor for workers in an organization. It is more so the lack of one or more of the above needs that results in a decrease in their morale over time. For example a rigid company structure could end up stifling the workers need for independence or autonomy. More so, the absence of a continuous challenge that gives employees an opportunity to master their skills and a more regular, robust feedback system that helps them figure where they stand is currently missing. A gamified system would serve the solution for this through continuous feedback on their current skill set and quantifying their scope of improvement. A choice provided to the user at various stages to set their own goals would mean that their need for autonomy is also served to. Throughout this paper, we would henceforth look at building a framework considering these factors. Using Games as a Form of Behavioural Change Dr. BJ Fogg of Stanford University developed a behavioural model which described three elements Motivation, Ability and Trigger that are necessary for behavioural change to occur. In essence, the greater the user motivation, more the probability of hard to do abilities being performed. Similarly if the motivation for the user is very low, the ability demanded to perform the task must be also very low ie easy to do. C:UsersmicaDesktopFogg.png Even when both motivation and ability are sufficiently high to reach the threshold, a trigger becomes necessary to be able to change the user behaviour. The model is intended to help designers identify what stops people from performing the intended behaviour. Game elements go a long way in incorporating this model to change user behavior in the following manner 1. Game dynamics use positive feedbacks in the form of points, scores, progress, social status etc which help in improving user motivation. 2. Through training and master of skills, they increase the perceived ability of users by making difficult jobs simpler and more manageable. 3. Game dynamics place triggers in the path of motivated users at the optimal level of user ability to trigger a behavioural change. Gamification for Motivational Design At the core of the gamification system is tapping into the right motivational factors that drive users. Since the motivators vary for different people, game systems needs to be customized accordingly. Broadly speaking, motivators can be divided into extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivators are driven by external rewards such as the desire for power and status. Intrinsic motivators are driven by the inherent joy of doing the task itself instead of using any external reward mechanisms. Such motivators at the workplace might include autonomy, mastery, curiosity and feeling connected to the overall cause of the company. Traditionally, most enterprises have essentially made use of extrinsic motivators to motivate employees and enhance productivity. But studies show that excessive focus on external rewards results in users losing their intrinsic motivation to perform the task that previously existed, which is not in the best interests of the user itself. If the organization starts using gamification based upon external rewards and then stops the rewards program, it will be worse off than when it started as users will be less likely to return to the behavior without the external reward (Deci, Koestner Ryan, 2001). Good gamification practise however emphasizes on intrinsic motivators to help them succeed in work life. Hence the concept of meaningful gamification takes it a level further through gamified designs, with the user at its centre, appealing to his/her intrinsic motivations and with a focus on providing user benefits without any adverse effects in the long run. Reiss Sixteen Motivators (2001) Despite the many theories in the field, few are based on actual scientific research. One of them was Steven Reiss who in his book Who am I comes up with 16 categories of motivators which are collected in a statistical manner using which he tries to explain human behaviour. Among the 16 we found only 11 categories to be relevant to the workplace as the rest were found to be related to basic physical needs such as consuming eating which is outside our scope. The 11 categories are presented below with a brief description of their desire profile and segregated into intrinsic and extrinsic motivators accordingly: The dominant motivators among this list would be different for the various profile segments, hence research would be necessary to figure out the most important motivators at work for Indian employees which will form the core of the gamification framework to be designed. Research Methodology A quantitative approach was adopted by means of a survey to capture the relative importance of the 11 Reiss motivators found to influence human behavior in a workplace environment. The sample size for the survey was 36 individuals working in different organizations across India. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of the motivators for them on a Likert Scale. After their responses were captured, a regression was run to establish a relationship between the respondents levels of motivation in a workplace and the various motivators. The relative importance of the motivators was then established by comparing their standardized coefficients. The process then led us to the motivators that were considered most important by Indian employees in the context of a workplace environment. C:UsersmicaDesktopTempg.png Research Methodology Process Leading to the Gamified Framework These dominant workplace motivators and barriers to adoption insights would then be used to design the appropriate game mechanics and come up with the final gamified system as shown in the figure above. Findings Analyzing the results of the survey showed us that Indian Employees are motivated by factors such as curiosity, independence,social contact status and not factors such as competition or power. This implies that the gamification structure that is created needs to have game layers that focuses on group tasks and freedom of players involved in the game. The game layers also need to emphasize on increasing ability since curiosityis an important motivator for Indian employees. On the basis of the results obtained we make the approach to design a gamified framework. Since there currently does not exist a fixed method of developing a gamified system we have given our recommendations based on these results and the theoretical construct described above. Choosing the Right Game Mechanics The biggest problem with todays workplace is the absence of any structured goals that provide an optimal challenge, real time feedback of ones own performance and how the contribution has an impact at an organizational level. In this context game mechanics serve the purpose of increasing either ability or motivation to accomplish the desired behaviour for the employees through real time feedback in the form of points, progress bars etc and other components. Since the major motivators in the Indian workplace context have been found to be curiosity, social contact status and independence/autonomy, care must be taken to see that different game mechanics are in place to cater to these motivations. Hence the following proposition consisting of three different features that serve a different purpose, appropriate mechanisms would be used 1. Personal Efficiency Model For Curiosity Autonomy Motivators To-do lists and progress bar map to track the employees personal goals such as time management, emails cleared, level of project completed etc both to increase ability and motivation. This is done by assigning progress to create incentives for players to complete goals they set for themselves. A sample diagram depicting the same is as given below C:UsersmicaDesktopPicture1.png Sample Visual Map of Individually Set Goals and Status of Completion To cater to the employees motivation for curiosity, a set of interactive quizzes and challenges of different levels testing his/her knowledge in the domain would be necessary. The levels would be of adaptable difficulty (such as in GMAT exams), based on the performance of the worker in the previous level. Customisation components to choose personal goals in different competency areas. This provides workers with a feeling of independence and autonomy. 2. Online Stock Market Model For Status and Social Contact Idea Resource A game where individuals come up with innovative ideas in their domain which are listed on the virtual stock exchange. Employees can now buy/sell these ideas using in game currency so that each idea now has a market cap too. Resource Management using in-game currency as extrinsic rewards for good idea suggestions 3. Peer Recognition and Social Features For Social Contact and Status Community features to encourage unexpected positive feedback from peers and improve motivation when individual contribution levels have reached. A similar interface to elicit positive peer feedback on a software called Rypple is shown in the figure. Social Badges to cater to the players need for appreciation from colleagues and flaunt their status C:UsersmicaDesktopwork.jpg Social Recognition Feature Employed on Rypple.com Designing a Gamification Framework There are three major frameworks and models included in this paper for the purpose of coming up with a gamification framework. There are Dignans Game Frame which describes all the necessary components of a behavioural game (Dignan, 2011), Dr. Reiss Sixteen motivators which describes what motivates the player (Reiss, 2001) and lastly Dr. Foggs Behaviour model which examines how a new behaviour is realised (Fogg, 2011). Dignan describes a behavioural game as made up by ten components which together design the framework Game Frame (Dignan, 2011). The Game Frame allows the designer to look at any behavioural game from the top down, understand its essential parts and see how they together make up a game. In this paper, Dignans Game Frame is used as a structure to describe the situation. This structure needs to be filled with information based on our research. However, to design how the game is played and the available tools for the players, one needs to know what kind of behaviour that is intended (outcome). Before designing how it is played, what currently inhibits the intended behaviour (the obstacles) were investigated from the survey results. The characteristics of these obstacles are then categorised in terms of lack of ability or motivation with Dr. Foggs behavioural model to investigate what kinds of mechanics that will be most efficient to promote the new behaviour. We now take each element of the Dignans frame to explain the overall gamification framework for our system. The Objective and Activity The objectives of this recommended gamified framework will be to encourage employee innovation at the workplace, improve the intrinsic motivation of the employee in alignment with the organizational objectives and to put in place a more robust performance feedback system. Reinforce good habits and real-time recognition and rewards. Recognize achievement publicly or give real rewards in the discount coupons. The main activities of the game will involve entering logs, giving feedback to peers and/or submitting ideas apart from setting custom goals. The Player Profile Based on the results that we obtained using our research, an attempt was made to create a profile for players involved in the system i.e. Indian employees. Since curiosity, status, Independence and social contact proved to be the most important indicators, certain inferences were drawn about the behavior of Indian Employees: Peer recognition and appreciation by fellow employees were significant Learning and development of new skills acts as a powerful motivator Employees remain driven if given the freedom to decide their own goals and pace to achieve those goals Team activities or tasks that involved the organization as a whole generates a lot of interest . Outcomes The last frame in Dignans game frame is the outcomes that are generated along the way of the game. The short-term outcomes should primarily be to get individual feedback on everyday activities at work. The long-term outcomes are to get a clearer picture of the career progress, improve employee morale through feedback. The outcomes of the game are to receive immediate individual feedback about the organizational impact of their contributions and to visualize the career progress. Defining the Feedback Cycle A significant feedback would be in the form of the community-like feature where employees can give feedback on each others personal goal statuses. The motivational factor will be increased by community-driven feedback and intangible rewards. These rewards should be in terms of in-game currency, and badges for reaching a certain personal achievement. One important part of the competence model is that the employees estimate their own performance. In terms of the feedback, this means that the employees need to estimate the value of their own performances in this system as well. Hence, when logging an activity, the employee needs to estimate how valuable that particular action is. Defining Resources and Skills Resources are the drivers of game using which a player moves forward within a game. The resources in the stock based platform for ideas is the virtual currency that players are allotted to buy/sell. Since the currency allotted to players is limited, players must ensure that they allocate it judiciously for ideas that they think will work best. In case of the Gamified feedback system, resources are the badges and points that act as motivators and used to display appreciation for ones efforts. Skills are specialized abilities one that puts to use in a behavioral game and can be categorized as physical, mental and social. Our gamified set up requires players to use their mental skills for generation of ideas and continuous learning and social skills that help individuals get their ideas to be popular and well traded. Triggers Certain activities work very well as triggers. For example simple activities like sending notifications to employees that tell him of his weekly performance in a domain vis-Ã  -vis another employee who is working in a similar domain could act a trigger for the employee .Notifications could also tell the employee of his weekly performance over his/her last weeks performance .The direct comparison is such cases could help employees set the pace for the rest of the week. Transparency Should an employees performance be revealed to other employees? It is a question that needs serious consideration. Often employees do not like the comparison that comes with the sharing of another employees progress and such comparisons could prove to be fatal. An example would be a gamification system based on leader boards employed by Disney for its laundry workers. The real time sharing of information about a workers performance and the continuous comparisons hampered employee performance and created a sense of nervousness amongst employees. On the other hand sharing information is an integral part of the feedback mechanism that allows one to comment and receive feedback on ones progress.A possible solution to the problem would be to let the employee decide by giving him the choice to reveal his/her personal information to whomsoever they want. System Limitations The suggested gamification system has its own strengths and weaknesses. One of the most obvious thing that needs to be ensured is long term engagement. Gamified setups are designed to achieve both short term and long term objectives and therefore needs to be continuously developed and maintained to ensure that players dont get bored. Emphasis must lie on increasing ability of the players and changing the motivational elements within the structure which involves bringing in new game elements and tweaking existing game mechanics Another limitation of a stock market like setup for Ideas is that there comes a time when stocks might be traded due to their association with people and not with ideas. There is an inherent danger of the system becoming a personality driven platform rather than a platform being idea driven. The other danger which has already been mentioned is that of a player getting too involved in the game and restricting his concerns to achieving a higher stock price for the ideas selected by him/her and not the ones that can bring a change. Finally there is the question of participation. Games require voluntary participation from all its players. A platform meant merely for ideas that does not fall within the purview of an employees personal responsibility may not encourage players to voluntarily participate. Employees may however be encouraged by their superiors to part of such a set up but this runs the risk of an employee engaging in the system with not much interest. Any social game requires participation and lack of interest to participate can prove detrimental to the setup. Ideas of System Future Potential and Further Development Even if the suggested game layer attempts to promote each activity by adding motivational elements, a big focus on increased ability has permeated the selection and design of the game mechanics. To achieve a greater impact, organizational elements at the workplace need to be included in the system so that in-game rewards have a clear connection to the consultants career. One step in that direction would be to incorporate projects as part of the game layer. That would allow log entries to be linked to specific project entities and the connection between the system and what the consultant actually do will be clearer (instituting a more relevant feedback loop). It would also create a good way for project leaders and management to give feedback. The down side, and the main reason that it is not proposed, is that it would bring an additional dimension, raising the commitment and time needed to use the system. There is also great potential in adding team based mechanics into the system. These could be project based teams or made up teams. There are many examples showing that the social component in team-based activities is a powerful way of affecting behavior. Dedication takes time but enables more ways to create relevant feedback loops, awards more strongly connected to the consultants professional situation, in-game currency that can be spent in various ways, team-based structure and challenges etc. It is all a question how deep the gamification system is allowed to permeate through the organisation. Another important aspect that needs to be considered before the implementation of a gamified system is to identify how it will impact the skill level of employees. Employee skills can be classified into -a) Core skills i.e. those skills that all employees in the organization are expected to have, b)Unique skills i.e. skills that are unique to an individual and c)Future skills i.e. skills that an employee would like to have in the future. A gamified set up works best in situations where employees can put to use their core skills to be part of a team-based activity for the greater organizational good or in situations where individuals can develop future skills as part of their personal responsibility. While it is imperative that organizations look closely towards data, employee behavior and organizational culture to create a gamification structure that can best support its objectives; it must take steps to ensure that an employee remains motivated to fulfill his responsibilities and does not get lost in the game.

Effect of temperature on the rate of reaction between magnesium and hyd

Effect of temperature on the rate of reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid Apparatus: Magnesium strips (5cm) Hydrochloric acid Water bath Clamp x 3 Clamp stand x3 Ruler Measuring cylinder (100ml) Measuring beaker (50ml) x2 Rubber tube Rubber bung Gas syringe Wire wool Stop clock Aim: My aim is to find out if heating the hydrochloric acid affects the rate of magnesium and hydrochloric acid. Prediction: I predict that the heating the hydrochloric acid will effect it as heating is one type of changing the rate of reaction. Method: Get three clamps and clamp stands from the cupboard, and set them up and get a water bath and set it up to the right temperature (20-80) and then let it get to the right temp get a gas syringe form the tray and set the up to one of the stands and then measure out 30ml of hydrochloric acid and pour that in to the 50ml measuring beaker and then place that in to the water bath, repeat that with the other measuring beaker. Measure out 5cm of magnesium ribbon with the ruler and clean as much of magnesium oxide of as possible and, place a rubber tub...

moralant confant Conflicting Values in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Conflicting Values in Antigone In the play "Antigone" by Sophocles, Creon and Antigone have distinct and conflicting values. Creon's regard for the laws of the city causes him to abandon all other beliefs. He feels that all should obey the laws set forth by him, even if other beliefs, moral or religious, state otherwise. Antigone, on the other hand, holds the beliefs of the gods in high reverence. She feels that the laws of the gods should be obeyed above all others, especially when in respect to family. Creon has a very strong opinion about the laws of the city and the laws passed by him. His method of enforcing them is very strict. Creon orders that Polyneices will not be buried because of his dishonor towards Thebes. Furthermore, if anyone is caught burying him they will be killed for disobeying his order. Polonieces is Antigone's brother. He is being punished because he attacked Thebes and betrayed Creon and the people of Thebes. Creon's harsh punishment on those who disobey the law makes many fear him and dare not to go against him. One example is Ismene's regard for Creon's laws. She tries to talk her sister out of burying her brother because of what could happen to her if Creon found out that she went against him. Ismene says "We must obey them.....I yield to those who have authority"(5). Not only do the people of Thebes obey the laws of the city because of their fear but because it is a shame to dishonor the king. To go against the kings claim and dishonor the law is to die a more shameful death then Antigone's mother and father(59-60). Antigone does not want to let her brother be left without a proper burial. Her belief is to show respect and love towards her brother she must bury him. Her beliefs in "The sacred laws that Heaven holds in honor" are far more important than those set by the king(Antigone 78). She feels that the king cannot override her belief in the gods. Â  Antigone feels very strongly about burying her brother against Creon's orders. She refused to back down from her opinion even when confronted by the king and sentenced to death. Antigone reasoning is: "It was not Zeus who published this decree, Nor have the powers who rule among the dead Imposed such laws as this upon mankind; Nor could I think that a decree of yours- A man-could override the laws of Heaven Unwritten and unchanged"(450-455).

Ideas of Progress in Naipauls A Bend in the River Essay -- Naipaul Be

Ideas of Progress in Naipaul's A Bend in the River    In his novel A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul paints a picture of Salim, an Indian man living in an isolated African town at the beginning of independence. Salim, as an Indian, has something of a unique perspective on the events of the time - in some ways, he lives between two worlds. Having experienced the "civilizing" influence of British colonial rule, he comes from a culture that is more "advanced" than that of Africa but less so than that of the West. This hierarchy of progress is seen throughout the book, and the theme of progress is best illustrated in this passage from the opening of Part Four, just after Salim's return from London:    So at last I had come to the capital. It was a strange way to come to it, after such a roundabout journey. If I had come to it fresh from my upriver town it would have seemed immense, rich, a capital. But after Europe, and with London still close to me, it seemed flimsy in spite of its size, an echo of Europe, and like make-believe, at the end of all that forest. (247) ..

What Roles Do Governments Play in the Fight against HIV/AIDS? How Big Are They?

In the fight against HIV/AIDS, there are many points-of-view as to who plays the bigger role. In reality governments and non government organizations play very big and important roles, measuring who plays the biggest role might be difficult to determine.Some governments such as the United States and the French governments have been known to be the biggest financial contributors to the fight against HIV/AIDS, but I will also be researching further to find out which countries have contributed the most in the past couple of years, and what type of contributions they have made such as financial contributions, summits, rallies, among others.HIV/AIDS threatens the development and propensity of countries around the world. It impacts heavily on individual's ability to be economically productive and the expenses incurred in treating HIV/AIDS treatment have been overwhelming.This is especially so in developing countries where pressure on the available health centers has mounted significantly a s more people get admitted for treatment of HIV/AIDS related complications. Life expectancy in most countries has gone down with up to twenty years highly decimating the workforce.The need to promote change in behavior in order to reduce occurrence of the pandemic and the ever increasing need to come to the aid of the victims is therefore inevitable. Approaches meant to fight discrimination and stigma faced by HIV/AIDS patients are also essential.It is almost impossible for private organizations to take these responsibilities mostly due to their limitation in funds. Governments have therefore taken center roles in the fight against HIV/AIDS establishing organizations to fight the pandemic while funding other private organizations to promote the fight against HIV/AIDS. There is therefore a dire need to fight HIV/AIDS and best suited to lead in these campaigns is the government.The governments mostly cannot participate in the rallies, seminars and summits held to promote AIDS awarenes s. It is through funding of the organizations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS that it usually offers its support.AnalysisAccording to the UNAIDS World AIDS Day report, many countries have taken the initiatives of reviewing their national strategies to address HIV/AIDS with the growing danger of the pandemic. Due to this, new infections have decreased from three million in 2001 and 2.7 million in 2007. The death rate of patients with HIV/AIDS has also reduced significantly as a result of the availability of anti-retroviral treatments provided by most governments.Governments especially members of the United Nations have been actively involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS following the Millennium Development Goals set up during the Millennium Summit. The governments are required to make strategies that address the prevention, accessibility of medical care, prevention of mother to child and enhancement towards research and cure of the disease.Capable governments have also been r equested to make contributions into the global fund which will assist in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Developing countries too have realized the impact of HIV/AIDS on their economies and they are coming up with policies to address the pandemic.The challenges however arise where the governments are willing but they cannot afford to fund the required projects. Global organizations such as the UNAIDS, IMF, World Bank and USAID are chipping in to assist the developing countries.Developed countries and especially America have been on the fore front in fighting HIV/AIDS in low and middle income countries especially in Africa where the pandemic has hit hard. These countries that provide funding for the low and middle income countries are known as donor countries.To further demonstrate the efforts that governments are putting in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to justify their roles in the fight, this study makes use of three countries that have made very significant e fforts. The United States has been ranked top in the fight against HIV/AIDS especially due to its involvement internationally.Canada and France have also displayed a similar passion to contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS through participation in various campaigns and through funding of organizations involved in HIV/AIDS control and prevention.The United States has been very keen on the fight against HIV/AIDS making it a top priority in its national policies. The government funds both private and public organizations in the country to fight against HIV/AIDS. Apart from supporting the fight against HIV/AIDS within the country, U.S also funds international bodies in the fight against HIV.The U.S government through its numerous partnerships with organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa has been actively involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. US made the largest contribution in Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with their contribution making up about 33% of the total c ontribution.The U.S has mostly made use of PEPFAR and USAID to make their contribution in the fight against HIV/AIDS both in America and other parts of the world.The government of the United States made a breakthrough initiative when it came up with the United States president's Emergency Relief for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This organization has played significant roles in the world through funding of projects of improvement of treatment and care of HIV patients.More details about PEPFAR will be described below. US have also been fighting the pandemic through USAID which is the principal government agency that extends help to other countries. At least $7 billion has been spent by USAID to fight HIV/AIDS. USAID is one of the partners of the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief in the U.S.

Determining the mass of calcium carbonate obtained Essay

Purpose: The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the mass of calcium carbonate obtained from the reaction between calcium chloride and sodium carbonate. Apparatus: – Three beakers (250 – ml) – Spatula – Balance à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.1g – Filtration setup – Filter paper – Stirring rod – Plastic wash bottle Materials: – Sodium Carbonate – Calcium chloride – Distilled water Procedure 1. Weigh out 4.0g of calcium chloride (111g/mol) and dissolve in enough distilled water. 2. Weigh out 6.0g of sodium carbonate (106g/mol) and dissolve in enough distilled water. 3. Pour the sodium carbonate solution into the beaker containing calcium chloride solution. 4. Stir the mixture. Set up the filtration apparatus. Weigh the filter paper and then filter the mixture. Rinse the beaker and empty the contents in the funnel. Wash the precipitate with distilled water several times. 5. Place the filter paper with the precipitate and leave it to dry out. After it is completely dry, then weigh the dry filter paper with the precipitate. Data Table: Measurements taken in the experiment Mass of the filter paper 2.00g à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.01g Mass of filter paper with the precipitate (after filter paper dried) 5.10g à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.01g Mass of precipitate 3.10g à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.01g* *The mass has an error of (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.01) because of the reading in the mass, in which they show up to only 2 decimal points 1. The equation of the reaction that took place is shown below, in which a grey/white precipitate of calcium carbonate was produced. CaCl2 (aq) + Na2CO3 (aq) —> Ca (CO3) (s) + 2NaCl (aq) Calcium + sodium —> calcium + sodium Chloride carbonate carbonate chloride 2. The theoretical mass and the experimental mass are going to be found out in order to see how much calcium carbonate should be obtained theoretically and how much was produced in the real reaction. To find the theoretical mass of calcium carbonate, firstly we have to find the limiting reagent in the reaction. The mole ratio from the equation is CaCl2 : Na2CO3 1 : 1 The actual mole ratio of reagents present is Mass in g – 4 : 6 Molar mass in g mol ^-1 – 110.98 : 105.99 n = mass – 0.03604 : 0.056609 . Molar mass Having looked at the mole ratio, it is apparent that since calcium chloride has the lowest number of moles present, it is therefore the limiting reagent. The limiting reagent calcium chloride is therefore used to calculate the theoretical mass of calcium carbonate that can be obtained: Theoretical yield = number of moles of limiting reagent x mass of calcium . carbonate = 0.03604 x (40.08 + 12.01 + 16 + 16 + 16) = 0.03604 x 100.09 = 3.6g 3. Therefore theoretically the mass of the calcium carbonate that can be obtained is 3.6g. The theoretical yield assumes that everything reacts perfectly, and we are able to recover everything 100%. These ideal conditions are rarely present and so we would expect the actual yield to be less than the theoretical yield for this reason. To calculate the experimental mass, the following calculation is done: Experimental mass = Mass of filter paper with the precipitate – Mass of filter paper = 5.1g – 2g = 3.1g As expected the experimental mass is lower than the theoretical mass. 4. It is not advisable to use sodium carbonate to calculate the amount of product in the reaction. The theoretical yield depends on the limiting reagent and not the other. Here the two reactants are in a molar ratio 1:1 but the actual molar ratio is 0.03604:0.056609. The sodium carbonate is in excess. It is not possible even under ideal conditions for every sodium carbonate to react to form the product. Therefore it is not advisable to use this. Conclusion Having looked at the results, it is clearly seen that the actual experimental mass is less than the theoretical mass yield. This is not an unexpected result. According to my results the actual mass of the precipitate produced was 3.1g, while that of the theoretical mass is 3.6g. The percentage yield of this reaction can be calculated by; Percentage yield = Actual mass X 100 = 3.1 X 100 = 86% . Theoretical mass 3.6 The maximal yield of a chemical reaction would be 100%, a value that is never reached. Yields about 90% are called very good, yields above about 75% are called good, yields below about 60% are called modest, whilst yields below 30% are called poor. This experiment had a border-line very good yield in regards to these literature guidelines. In practise the theoretical yield based on the balanced chemical equation is never achieved owing to impurities in reagents, side reactions and other sources of experimental error. The possible sources of error in this experiment may include: – Material used may have been tampered with and so would affect the overall results. – Wrong measurements were taken. – Error arrising from human judgement. – The balance only recorded 2decimal points. – The filter paper may not have been left long enough to dry. A possible modification to this experiment would be to make the sodium carbonate the limiting reageant rather then the calcium chloride as it was in this case. This would be done so that we would have a smaller number of moles of sodium carbonate then calcium chloride. Although my experiment was successful, many improvement could have been made to both my experiment and too the experiment. This includes: – Repeating the measurements for more trials so that more accurate answers could be found. – Using an accurate method to measure the mass, so as to reduce the errors in the experiment. – Make sure that none of the compound is accidentally spilled out. – Use larger quantities so to reduce the error in their recording

Argument of Jonestown Death as a Mass Suicide Essay

The Jonestown Massacre, which had a death toll of 918 people (Rosenberg, 2003), can in the main, be regarded as mass suicide or what in the words of the founder Jim Jones was termed â€Å"revolutionary suicide†. This is because all but one of temple members, Christine Miller, supported Jones’ suggestion of â€Å"revolutionary suicide† (Jonestown Audiotape, 1978). Jim McElvane, a former therapist, assisted Jones by arguing against Miller’s resistance to suicide, stating â€Å"Let’s make it a beautiful day†. This statement was followed by applause from Temple members. In addition to Jim McElvane, several other temple members gave speeches praising Jones and his decision for the community to commit suicide (Jonestown Audiotape, 1978). Some instances that preceded the ugly event and suggest it as mass suicide include; i. White Nights: â€Å"revolutionary suicide† rehearsals A Temple defector Deborah Layton recalled that after work, when purported emergencies arose, the Temple sometimes conducted what Rev. Jones referred to as â€Å"White Nights†. During such events, Jones would sometimes give the Jonestown members four choices: (i) attempt to flee to the Soviet Union; (ii) commit â€Å"revolutionary suicide†; (iii) stay in Jonestown and fight the purported attackers or (iv) flee into the jungle. On at least two occasions during White Nights, after a â€Å"revolutionary suicide† vote was reached, a simulated mass suicide was rehearsed (Layton, 1998). Deborah Layton described the event in an affidavit: â€Å"Everyone, including the children, was told to line up. As we passed through the line, we were given a small glass of red liquid to drink. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We all did as we were told. When the time came when we should have dropped dead, Rev. Jones explained that the poison was not real and that we had just been through a loyalty test. He warned us that the time was not far off when it would become necessary for us to die by our own hands† (Affidavit of Deborah Layton, 1998). From the above statement culled from Affidavit of Deborah Layton, it is evidently clear that Temple members are fully aware that a time will come when it will become necessary for them to die by their own hands. Although, they were not told when or how the â€Å"suicide† will occur (Rosenberg, 2003). ii. Notes from non-surviving residents of Peoples Temple Notes from the non-surviving residents of the Peoples Temple suggest that the event at Jonestown was a mass suicide. Similar to the â€Å"suicide note† usually written by individuals that commit the anti-social act, notes found at the scene of the event in Jonestown suggest it was mass suicide. Found near the body of Marceline Jones (wife of Jim Jones) was a typewritten note, dated November 18, 1978, signed by Marceline Jones and witnessed by Annie Moore and Maria Katsaris, stating: I, Marceline Jones, leave all bank assets in my name to the Communist Party of the USSR. The above bank accounts are located in the Bank of Nova Scotia, Nassau, Bahamas. Please be sure that these assets do get to the USSR. I especially request that none of these are allowed to get into the hands of my adopted daughter, Suzanne Jones Cartmell. For anyone who finds this letter, please honor this request as it is most important to myself and my husband, James W. Jones (Letter from Marceline Jones, 1978). Annie Moore left a note, which in part stated: â€Å"I am at a point right now so embittered against the world that I don’t know why I am writing this. Someone who finds it will believe I am crazy or believe in the barbed wire that does NOT exist in Jonestown.† Moore also wrote, â€Å"JONESTOWN—the most peaceful, loving community that ever existed.† The children loved it. So did everyone else.† The last line, Moore wrote â€Å"We died because you would not let us live in peace.† in different color ink (Last words – Annie Moore, 1978). iii. Leo Ryan Delegation’s Report Another evidence that characterized the death at Jonestown as mass suicide is the U.S congressman Leo Ryan’s report of his visit to Jonestown. Ryan stated that none of the sixty (60) relatives Ryan had targeted for interviews wanted to leave Jonestown, the 14 defectors constituted a very small portion of Jonestown’s residents, that any sense of imprisonment the defectors had was likely because of peer pressure and a lack of physical transportation, and even if 200 of the 900+ wanted to leave â€Å"I’d still say you have a beautiful place here† (Hall, 1989). Similarly, Washington Post reporter Charles Krause stated that, on the way back to the airstrip, he was unconvinced that Jonestown was as bad as defectors had claimed because there were no signs of malnutrition or physical abuse, while many members appeared to enjoy Jonestown and only a small number of the over 900 residents expressed willingness to leave (Layton, 1999). Lastly, in 1978, officials from the United States Embassy in Guyana interviewed Social Security recipients on multiple occasions to make sure they were not being held against their will (Pear, 1978). None of the 75 people interviewed by the Embassy stated that they were being held against their will, were forced to sign over welfare checks, or wanted to leave Jonestown (Wessinger, 2000). Jonestown as a Religio-political Movement Vs Collective Action Founded in 1956 by Reverend Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple (known also as Jonestown) was a racially integrated church purported to practice what it called â€Å"apostolic socialism† (Dawson, 2003, Time Magazine, 2008) that focused on helping people in need. Jones had a vision of a communist community, one in which everyone lived together in harmony and worked for the common good (Rosenberg, 2003). This is similar to the communist movement proposed by Karl Marx and Marx followers. Thus, distinct from various scholarly views on collective behavior, Jones aligned this religious cum political ideology with the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, World’s renowned socialist movement. Unlike any routine or non-routine collective action, Jones purported to establish Jonestown as a benevolent communist community, stating: â€Å"I believe we’re the purest communists there are† (Pear, 1978). Marceline Jones (wife of Jim Jones) described Jonestown as â€Å"dedicated to live for socialism, total economic and racial and social equality. We are here living communally† (Dawson, 2003). After the day’s work ended, Temple members would attend several hours of activities in a pavilion structure, including classes on socialism (Layton, 1998). Discussions around the topics raised often took the form of Jones usually portraying the United States as a â€Å"capitalist† and â€Å"imperialist† villain, while casting â€Å"socialist† leaders, such as North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Joseph Stalin, in a positive light (Hall, 1987). Another factor that distinguished Jonestown from collective action is that it lacked some elements of collective actions identified by Useem (1998) such as riots, rebellion, and civil violence, planned and unplanned protests, destructive barricades, peaceful and violent demonstrations, aggressive display of grievances, and so forth. Furthermore, unlikely of collective actions, Jonestown participated actively in politics. Founder Jim Jones was appointed as the Chairman San Francisco Housing Authority Commission (Reiterman and John, 1982). Both in theory and practice, Jonestown is a religio-political movement. Jonestown strongly supported communist movement of the Soviet Union and identified with them. Prior to their eventual death, Jones wrote a letter, on behalf of Peoples Temple (‘apostolic socialism’ church) , to the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Guyana in which he instructed that all their assets be given to the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, it is intellectually instructive to conclude by bringing to mind that Jonestown ended as a collective action sequel to their â€Å"revolutionary suicide† which has been severally argued as a collective decision of the Peoples Temple resident members at the time of the event. Theoretical Explanations of Jonestown Event i. Social identity theory: One theoretical tradition that provides sufficient explanation to the Jonestown event is social identity theory. Developed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner in 1979, the theory was originally developed to understand the psychological basis of intergroup discrimination, and to identify the minimal conditions that would lead members of one group to discriminate in favor of the in-group to which they belonged and against another out-group (Tajfel et al., 1986). Generally, a social identity is the portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity theory asserts that group membership creates ingroup/ self-categorization and enhancement in ways that favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group. This quest for positive distinctiveness means that people’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. This is exactly what transpired in Jonestown. In application, it is obvious that at various forums, statements like â€Å"I believe we’re the purest communists there are† (Pear, 1978), â€Å"We are here living communally†, â€Å"Let’s make it a beautiful day† (Dawson, 2003), dominated Jones, Marceline and other Temple members’ discussions. ii. Social Solidarity Theory: Another theoretical paradigm that dominated the terrain of the study of movements and collective actions in the 1960s is social solidarity theory. The theory is an off-shoot of Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theory on 1938. According to Durkheim, collective conscience and social solidarity constitute common belief and sentiments. â€Å"solidarity, rather than insufficient integration, provides the necessary conditions of collective action, and rebellions, protest, collective violence, and related forms of action result from rational pursuit of shared interests†(Useem, 1984). Without this common sentiment or agreement, solidarity would be impossible. Citing Tilly and others, Useem (1998) opined that solidarity refers to dense social networks and a strong collective identity. This shared sentiment, solidarity and group consciousness characterized the underlying principles for the formation of Jonestown. Members see themselves as the same and they stood pungently against the U.S capitalism and imperialism. As such, Rev Jim Jones and Temple members moved to establish a community where communalism, egalitarianism and equality will dominates. References Catherine Wessinger (2000) â€Å"How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate† ISBN 978-1-889119-24-3, p. 31-34. Dawson, Lorne L. (2003). Cults and new religious movements: a reader. Wiley Blackwell. pp. 194. ISBN 1-4051-0181-4. Annie Moore (1978) â€Å"Last Words from Annie Moore† Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. Retrieved from www.wikipedia.com on 24th October, 2012. Layton, Deborah (1998) Seductive Poison. Anchor, 1998. ISBN 0-385-48984-6. p. 53. Retrieved from www.wikipedia.com on 24th October, 2012. Layton, Deborah (1999). Seductive Poison. Anchor, 1999. ISBN 0-385-48984-6. p. xix (Krause forward) Retrieved from www.wikipedia.com on 24th October, 2012. Marceline Jones (1978).†Letter from Marceline Jones† Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. Pear, Richard. â€Å"State Explains Respo nse to Cult Letters.† Washington Star News. November 26, 1978. Reiterman, Tim and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People. Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0-525-24136-1. p. 485. Rosenberg Jennifer (2003) â€Å"The Jonestown Massacre† retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1970s/p/jonestown.htm on 24th October, 2012. Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of inter-group behavior. In S. Worchel and L. W. Austin (eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Chigago: Nelson-Hall Time Magazine, â€Å"Mass Suicide at Jonestown: 30 Years Later†, 2008. Retrieved from www.wikipedia.com on 24th October, 2012. Useem Bert (1998) â€Å"Breakdown Theories of Collective Action† Annual Review Sociology 1998. 24:215. Useem B. (1997). â€Å"The state and collective disorders: The Los Angeles riot/protest of April, 1992. Sociology Forces 76:357 -77