Music and Crime

Music and crime are two very distinctly different but related things. Music has effects other than providing pleasure to listeners. On one hand, music may affect emotions in such a way that it may trigger a person to justify a criminal act. On the other hand, it can also help suppress a potential criminal’s emotions, which may possibly prevent crime from happening. For most people, classical music is that which usually has a positive effect. It may calm the violent instinct that is deep within a person, especially those who have no other means to release these instincts.   Thus, classical music may have a negative effect on crime. Music and crime can be correlated through an individual’s mood. The mood that music inherently suggests is usually reflected in one's thoughts. To clarify, crime may be usually driven by a person's mentality, while music can influence one's thinking.   In some forms of music, there are seemingly subliminal messages that may cause a variety of effects for different personalities. The subliminal messages that could influence a person can be a contributing factor in crimes (Cooper). However, other forms of music, like classical music, are popularly believed to have positive effect that can prevent potential criminals from committing crimes. For instance, some studies also show that classical music has the effect of keeping the violent instinct down.   This can be attributed to the kind of slow, meditative and soothing quality that classical music has in trying to deal with certain elements, such as brute force and violence. It can bring back gentle and tender memories of a person, which would most likely result in bringing out the gentle emotions that a person might have hidden deep inside of him (Partenheimer).This can have the unexpected effect of eliminating the kind of violent instinct that leads to crime.   For instance, in West Palm Beach, Florida, authorities found that playing classical music in the streets have lessened the criminal incidents in the said street (USA Today). Everyone is subjected to music with embedded messages.   There are kinds of music that seems harmless and innocent that may actually influence one to commit crimes if it has an embedded negative message.   This occurs because people have different levels of comprehension; these negative messages may unconsciously encourage them to commit crimes. If a person was exposed to music with a positive message, like that of classical music, the person that might have been previously inclined to commit crimes will be persuaded to gently stop committing crimes.   Moreover, a person's mood can also be influenced by music.   Basically, it works in the same way subliminal messages do. However, it only targets more of the emotional side of a person (Wilson). People who might have been in the mood for violent acts or criminally prosecutable actions will be very reluctant to engage in these kinds of acts if there is a big emotional weight pressing their feelings. This is the power that classical music has; it is capable of influencing the kind of mood that a person has. Classical music may help encourage resistance for criminal thoughts that will prove to be beneficial to one's psychological state. Classical music has the kind of ephemeral quality that the human mind cannot possibly comprehend in all its subtleties.   For this reason, the mind cannot actively stop the kind of influence that music exerts. The human mind unconsciously follows the lead made by the kind of music it is exposed to since the sounds are not hindered by simple syntax of human language. The kind of wordless but emotionally tangible quality that is inherent in classical music takes it straight to the inner workings of the human emotion. There is nothing but the defenseless inner self or ego that bears to receive the kind of message that the music has.   Since classical music transcends the usual human emotional barriers through its capability to affect emotions, the person's thoughts and mood is usually affected as well.   In turn, it also strongly influences the actions of the person. Classical music is powerful because it targets the basic emotions that can influence a person’s intention to commit crimes. In addition, classical music can influence a person in a relatively peaceful or positive way.   Even if there are various reasons behind criminal or deviant acts coming in many forms, all of them are at least connected to some emotions as part of the underlying reasons hidden deep in the part of the human psyche. Classical music, which has an unfathomable effect on the human psyche, can highly influence a person’s decision to commit a crime. In conclusion, classical music is conducive to positive emotions; therefore, it has a negative effect on crime because it triggers a positive effect on one's emotions and thinking.   The effect of such musical forms and the mood it represents has the capacity to diminish a person's violent instinct, as well as to keep criminal thought at bay.   In this way, classical music can be instrumental in preventing crimes. Works Cited â€Å"Classical Music on West Palm Corner Deters Crime.†Ã‚   USA Today. 8 July 2001. The Associated Press. 22 March 2008   Cooper, Candy. â€Å"Subliminal Messages, Heavy Metal Music and Teen-age Suicide.† San Francisco Examiner. 29 September 1989. 5 March 2008 â€Å"What are subliminal effects?† World of Mouth Experiment. 2007. 5 March 2008 Wilson, Stephanie. â€Å"The effects of Music on Perceived Atmosphere and Purchase Notions in Restaurant.†(Abstract). Psychology of Music 31.1 (2003): 93-112. 5 March 2008 Partenheimer, David. â€Å"Violent Music Lyrics Increase Agreesive Thoughts and Feelings, According to New Study.† APA. 2003. 5 March 2008 â€Å"Classical Music on West Palm Corner Deters Crime.†Ã‚   USA Today. 8 July 2001. The Associated Press. 22 March 2008 < http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/07/08/music.htm>      

Death Penalty should be Illegal Essay

Each year in America there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment in the United States today. Once the jury has proved a criminal guilty they go to the second part of the trial – the punishment phase. Lethal injection is the most common form of death. Capital Punishment is a difficult issue and there are as many different opinions as there are people. In this country Capital Punishment is not allowed but in America it is legal and it should not be. I think that Capital Punishment should be made illegal in America. The reasons I think that this should be illegal are. Firstly it is possible to execute someone who is innocent. If this does happen it cannot be undone whereas if they had been put in jail they could be released and given compensation. Secondly I think that death penalty is almost not a punishment because you are not around to be punished like if you were in jail with the poor living conditions and no freedom. The opposing side strongest argument would be in 1991; a young mother was rendered helpless and made to watch as her baby was executed. The mother was then mutilated and killed. The killer should not live in some prison with three meals a day, clean sheets, cable TV, family visits and endless appeals. For justice to prevail, some killers just need to die. Another reason I think that Capital Punishment should be made illegal is that life imprisonment without parole serves the same purposes as this at less cost. Right now, to execute someone in The U.S it costs approximately three times the amount it would to have them serve a life sentence in prison. The money used to pay for the death row (including court appeals) comes out of the taxpayer’s wallets. If Capital Punishment was made illegal, this money could go to other projects in need of the funds like building new prisons. A while ago in Britain, a man was released from prison who was wrongly  accused of committing murder. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment, for this murder. While he was in prison he always maintained he was innocent. It took years on campaigning while he was in prison to prove that he actually was innocent. If such a crime like this had been committed in America he could have been put on death row and been executed. If later on they found out he was innocent there would be nothing they could do to bring him back to life. In Britain the man was released and given compensation. There have been cases in America where innocent people have been executed, and this is the main reason I think it should be illegal. I hope most of you will now see the reasons why capital punishment is a waste of time and should not be made legal.

Evaluate President Kennedy’s Handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1962 the humankind faced the biggest threat to destroy itself. In 1962 October the Cuban Missile crisis broke out and for thirteen days held the world as its hostage. The Crisis broke out when Khrushchev brought his missiles in Cuba to help Cuba protect themselves from possible attack and invasion from United States of America. Since Cuba is a neighbour to United States this action threatened to USA only by its existence. For America the main goal was to persuade Khrushchev to take back the missiles. Achieving this goal the most important persona was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose successes and failures were crucial in the progress of Cuban Missile Crisis. Firstly, one of the failures of President Kennedy is that he underestimated Cuba and its relationships with Soviet Union. Only when the Missiles were placed in Cuba America's spies noticed that they do exist. America and its leaders nor did expect that Soviet Union could place Missiles in Cuba, nor payed much attention what is happening so close to them. Somehow Americans missed intense ship routs between Soviet Union and Cuba and did not thought that they can hide loads dangerous to whole human kind. The second failure of F. Kennedy was that he provoked the crisis to break out. He was the first one who placed missiles in Turkey near the territory of Soviet Union and by this action threatened to the country. When the Missile Crisis broke out F. Kennedy did not even remembered that America has its powerful weapons near the territory of Soviet Union. Also, Americans were the ones who wanted Fidel Castro and communism elimination from Cuba and by this wish they encouraged Soviet Union to take action. Soviet Union held itself as a country responsible for the spread of communism and America only proved that communism needs to be defended. So for Soviet Union it was a moral and legal justification by placing missiles in Cuba because of America's president's actions earlier. Secondly, the success of F. Kennedy is that he managed to convince the rest of the world that the placement of the missiles so close to the USA's territory is a unjust action toward America. Having in mind that Americans were the first ones who places such powerful weapons near the Soviet territory this task should have been very difficult. The main argument for F. Kennedy was that he did not hide himself and his action when he placed his missiles in Turkey and the SU did hide its actions. F. Kennedy with this argument managed persuade the rest of the world that Soviet Union are the first one who started threaten for USA and not contrary. Also, F. Kennedy's success was that he did not publicly enjoy and proclaim his nuclear power in the world arena. The fact that he did forget the fact that America has its missiles in Turkey proves the fact that he did not hide anything, but also did not remind to everyone about his countries power. This feature was very useful during the missile crisis, since it helped to save America's as innocent victim image. The President even managed to justify its missiles in Turkey by saying that the NATO was responsible for the place of missiles and only USA provided it with them. Moreover, the President succeeded in not only saving America's image, but also his own. In the time of crisis during the meeting of his principal advisory group he taped the meeting. In the tape he postured himself as a leader, whose only goal is peace and good relationships with Cuba. Furthermore, F. Kennedy's other success was his determination peacefully solve this dispute. He was gave orders to his subordinates to remove the missiles from Turkey even though it could not be seen done so in exchange for Soviet Union's removal of its missiles from Cuba. In addition to that, F. Kennedy succeeded in controlling the situation. He gave explicate orders not to fire the missiles in Turkey without his direct orders. In this way he prevented the misunderstandment between officers and made sure that only if Soviet Union attack for sure, USA will respond. F. Kennedy wanted himself determine whether America's nuclear weapons will be used or not. Also, F. Kennedy understood as clearly as no one else how dangerous and destroying the nuclear war can be. He also understood that this missile crisis was a step, that could lead to the break out of World War 3 and possibly a nuclear war. Because of this knowledge F. Kennedy pushed for compromise much more stronger that anyone in his administration did. The last Kennedy's success in handling Cuban Missile Crisis was that after the removal of Soviet Union's missiles from Cuba America's leader did not boost himself nor humiliate Soviet Union in achieving its goal. With this way he extinguished the dispute for many years. To conclude, we can state that Kennedy during Cuban Missile Crisis made his mistakes, but the good decisions overbalanced the bad ones. President Kennedy with his wish of peace managed to handle the Crisis, his owns and Americans emotions. This Crisis could have lead to the end of the world, but because of Kennedy's and Khrushchev's actions it did not.

Workplace Safety Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Workplace Safety - Research Paper Example However, the cases of hazardous workplace injuries are still caching the attention of public. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) is the American employee safety act which also deals with workplace safety issues. In this paper we will discuss whether OSHA is proving successful in dealing with workplace safety issues or not. Problem Statement The problem statement for the research paper is, ‘Is OSHA Proving Successful in Ensuring Workplace Safety for Construction Related Occupations and Other Dangerous Occupations’. Literature Review There are various kinds of occupations that an individual chooses to earn his/her living. Some of those occupations are considered dangerous from the perspective of personal heath, whereas some occupations are somewhat less dangerous and are considered harmless. Workplace safety is the biggest concern for any individual while adopting any occupation. People prefer to adopt such occupations that are considered less dangerous. The reason is that health is the most precious asset for a person. Employees’ level of productivity is linked directly with the level of protection that they feel while at work (Hayes, Perander, Smecko, & Trask, 1998). If employees feel safe at work, their level of productivity increases as they can focus on their work properly. On the other hand, concerns over safety adversely affect their levels of concentration and productivity. However, sometimes people have to adopt such occupations that are most vulnerable to personal safety. Construction related occupations fall into the category of those occupations that are considered dangerous. The reason is that construction related occupations have many concerns regarding workers’ safety. As Cullen (2002) states, â€Å"most jobs have expected, known hazards† (p. 7). For example, many laborers and even engineers while working lose their lives falling accidentally from high roofs of multistory buildings. In the same way, sometime s electricians suffer deadly electric shocks when they forget to apply appropriate security measures regarding electric current while doing electric work in new buildings. These are just some of those risks that make construction related occupations unsafe and dangerous for health. However, the fact is that construction related occupations are not the only type of occupations that are hazardous; there also exist some other occupations that are even more dangerous as compared to construction related occupations. Some of those occupations include firefighting, fishing, criminal justice system related occupations, farming, and aircraft pilot. OSHA guidelines are there to protect most of these occupations. The guidelines are proving very effective as they have reduced the number of per year causalities associated with these occupations up to some extent (Lanoie, 1992). However, workers are still suffering workplace injuries because management officials of most of these occupations are n ot skilled enough to implement OSHA safety mechanisms properly. Therefore, a lot more still needs to be done by the management officials in order to overcome the issue of workplace safety properly. Workplace safety is the main factor that plays its part in making people consider some occupations dangerous and risky for personal health and safety. People are usually not aware of OSHA guidelines regarding workplace safety nor they have in their minds that whether the companies for which they are going to work follow OSHA safety guidelines or not. Therefore, they consider

Chipotle case analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chipotle analysis - Case Study Example The company has also been able to maintain profit margins of about 36% as indicated by the chart below(Fundable, n.d). CMG’s business level strategy includes cost leadership and product differentiation. In line with a dynamic corporate management under the leadership of Steve Ells, all Chipotle restaurants are company owned rather than franchised. Chipotle accepts fax orders coupled with the use of e-commerce from their website, as well as, an iPhone app allowing users to locate nearby restaurants, place orders, and prepay with their gift or credit card. These strategies offer dynamism, convenience, and efficiency to the customers, large sales, and profits turnover (Fundable, n.d.). First, Chipotle’s â€Å"food with integrity† mantra has been consistent throughout the years giving new and old customers something to identify with. Second, supporting local farmers, as well as, protecting animals serve as the key public relation resources. Well-established supply chains reduce logistics even during pick hours while focus on fresh and naturally raised ingredients is a parallel to most of its competitors (Fundable, n.d.). Yes. If CMG stays on the disciplined growth lane as it is, it can still maintain a debt-free balance sheet. Moreover, keeping away from mergers or franchising might allow it to keep a tight grip on the investments, equity, as well as, returns to investment in line with its business strategies. The greatest challenge is competition. For example, from Panera Bread Company. Another is globalization. With the surge in globalization, restaurants are sprouting up, it might lose customers, and thus, revenues might decrease (Fundable, n.d.). It has to be innovative; market oriented, and maintain a people-first culture. This way, it will regain control of the micro and macro-economic factors. It also has to invest more on advertising, as well as, an all-inclusive architecture. For instance, CMG allows the customers to see the food being prepared.

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team - Essay Example Lencioni believe that these five "feed on each other" in destroying the success of the group. Lencioni emphasized the negative effects of the absence of trust in a team. Without this, any member of a team will not harmoniously work with each other. This breeds another dysfunction: fear of airing of constructive and genuine opinions to his group members. In a team with closed communication lines, team members rarely commit to clear and agreed upon decisions. Without lucid commitment to a clear plan of action, hesitation of each member to be accountable to his action will most likely follow. Whenever accountability is not held by members of a team, results of the team will be unnoticed. Inattention to results will consequentially create an environment wherein team members put their individual needs above that of those of the group. As we can see the existence of one creates a chain reaction that often results the emergence of the rest. What engenders the greatest impact on me upon reading Lencioni's solutions to these five dysfunctions masterpiece is the author's solutions or countermeasures to the first dysfunction, the lack or absence of trust. He first stressed the importance of having a competent leader in a group. He will instigate discipline and persistence that the rest of his team members need. He should initiate the solutions posed by Lencioni.

The Key Drivers for Business Continuity Management Essay

The Key Drivers for Business Continuity Management - Essay Example 'Business Continuity can be seen as a bridge between Risk management and Emergency Planning; it utilizes the risk identification and management processes of formal risk management and the crisis management capabilities of emergency planning'. (Myers, 2006) This note is given by Myers (2006), and though it cannot be called one of the BCM definitions, but it gives better understanding of the terms and the area of its application. Thus Business Continuity management is aimed to work in both daily and emergency situations; according to the abovementioned citation, it becomes evident, that BCM should both work for the prevention of the critical situations (its primary aim) and for the minimization of the negative consequences for the events which have already taken place. This two-fold role is revealed no matter in which company BCM is implemented. It is difficult to implement BCM notions into the company's performance, but it is even more difficult to make BCM a part of the company's cor porate culture. Many UK organizations at present fail to implement effective plan of prevention critical incidents, which interrupt and may threaten their business activity. Disaster planning and risk management, as well as managing company's benefits is the area which is rarely addressed by the modern businesses. The principal question, which the companies ask, is 'why implement BCM notions How it will positively influence company's performance Are the minimized risks comparable to the costs involved In order to understand how important BCM is for the modern companies, it is interesting to look into the 2006 BCM survey which gives the principal lacks (problems) faced by the companies and thus give the reader basic understanding of... As the report highlights  business continuity Management, or BCM, as it is more commonly known, is a business organization-driven activity that is concerned with developing the organization's ability to continue providing critical services (or business processes) in the event of an interruption.From this paper it is clear that Business Continuity management is aimed to work in both daily and emergency situations; according to the abovementioned citation, it becomes evident, that BCM should both work for the prevention of the critical situations (its primary aim) and for the minimization of the negative consequences for the events which have already taken place. This two-fold role is revealed no matter in which company BCM is implemented. It is difficult to implement BCM notions into the company's performance, but it is even more difficult to make BCM a part of the company's corporate culture.  Many UK organizations at present fail to implement effective plan of prevention critica l incidents, which interrupt and may threaten their business activity. Disaster planning and risk management, as well as managing company's benefits is the area which is rarely addressed by the modern businesses.  The present economy can be characterized as being digital networked economy, which actually has no clear boundaries and thus is more vulnerable to various undesirable invasions (either computer and Internet viruses, or financial frauds).

Global transportation issues and challenges Thesis - 1

Global transportation issues and challenges - Thesis Example It is not only trade-related challenges that plague the transportation industry across the world. There are problems with urban congestion, making effective usage of alternative energy to reduce pollution, shortages of drivers, regulatory concerns, political issues and constraints, and even global price fluctuations in various nations and markets. Any breakdown in transportation can create societal hardship and even impacts the positive socio-economic growth of a country (Harriet, Poku and Anin, 2013). Therefore, failure to recognize and address the many different issues and challenges of transportation maintains long-term consequences for national and human development. The main problem of this research study is to uncover what specific challenges and issues are facing the global transportation industry. Without comprehensive knowledge of these problems, economic growth and social development of a nation can be gravely impacted. This study, therefore, attempts to address contemporary transportation challenges and, through comprehensive review of transportation-related literature, propose potential recommendations for professionals in the transportation industry to address these problems and achieve efficiency in transportation activities. Investment in infrastructure is fundamental for ensuring effective transportation systems. Nations must be considerate of such infrastructure dynamics as parking lots, traffic lights, roadway networks, and ports (to name only a few). Lack of investment in these transportation-related aspects creates substantial inadequacy in transportation systems (Yu, De Jong, Storm and Mi, 2012). Control, investment and management of traffic improves productive use of transport infrastructures and, as one relevant example, traffic lights in an urban region which are allowed to become malfunctioning increases traffic congestion and creates

The future status of English as the global language is assured Essay - 1

The future status of English as the global language is assured - Essay Example This means that it is a language that is not going to disappear anytime soon because it is deeply rooted among many cultures. The same could be said of Mandarin. However, Mandarin has historically never had the same global appeal of English due to one thing—colonization. The English language originated from England and was exported around the world the England’s colonies. Countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have all had their cultures and language shaped due to the influence of England. Mandarin was never allowed to expand like this because China never ventured far outside its own borders. In addition to England, the United States of America also became a great exporter of the English language. After the United States won independence from England, it did contribute much to world affairs. It was only after the Second World War that America started to influence many different countries around the globe. Because they speak the English language, the United States was, and still does, influence they way people talk. Over the centuries, English has long been the language of trade between countries. Although English is only the native language in a few countries, there are considerably more nations that have established English as their second language. The reason for this is simple—trade. Because many of the native English speaking countries are considered to be first world, it is advantageous for poorer nations to do business with them. To accomplish this, it makes sense to learn English in order to be able to communicate effectively with them. It would be unrealistic for an English speaker to learn a language of another country that wants to engage in trade—because the developing country wants to grow, it must learn to speak the language that will help to get them there. Although English will surely be threatened by other upcoming languages, particularly Mandarin, the future status of the English language as

General topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

General topic - Essay Example Metaphysics is further categorized into two main sub branches of Cosmology, which studies the origin and nature of the universe, and Ontology, which studies the nature of being and existence. Within metaphysics there are a broad range of differing philosophical theories having dissenting opinions and expressing opposing views... Among the many influential metaphysicians include Plato and Spinoza, each known for their philosophical studies and theories with respect to their conception of reality. The aim of this essay is to highlight the important aspects of their philosophies with respect to their ontology (i.e. their conception of reality), and also to compare the two philosophies and their ethics by enlightening the most prominent of the ontologies. Plato’s Philosophy The theory of Forms of the theory of Ideas is the basis of Plato’s philosophy. It refers to the belief that the material physical world as it appears to us in reality in not the real world, but itâ€℠¢s only the image of the real world. Theory of Forms According to Plato, the objects that we see in the real world are not actually real, but the imitations of the real Forms. In allegory of the cave in one of Plato’s dialogue Republic that discuss the Forms, it is said that the objects that we human beings perceive in the world are characterized as shadows of real things, and the real things cannot be perceived directly. These Ideas of Forms are the foundation of good or bad behavior and they are the basis behind Plato’s dualism and they also allow him to show the immortality of the soul. The Ontological Dualism Plato speaks in defense of the notion of clear ontological dualism which has two different types of realities or worlds: The Sensible World & the Intelligible World. These two worlds are quite different in a sense that the Sensible World consists of individual realities and so it consists of more than one part forming the whole. It is the world that is invaria bly and always changing, the world of material, physical and space time things. Conversely, the Intelligible World is the world of Forms (or Ideas), which are the invisible universal realities and in general do not change. These Forms or Ideas can well be understood, inferred and known and they are unquestionable realities. According to Plato these Forms are not just the perception or concepts in or minds, in fact, they exist out of our senses and consciences as free and independent beings. Plato realizes that although the Sensible World is ontologically inferior and the intelligible World possesses the highest degree of reality, the reality of sensible things cannot be denied, and it also has the quality of being which originates from the imitation of the real world. The immortal entity or the Creator of the universe gives the shape of the intelligible world’s Forms to the amorphous and formless sensible objects; hence they appear similar to the Forms ("Torre de Babel"). For ms – The Essential Basis of Reality One may question what exactly are the forms? A form is something that is the essence of the objects, without the existence of these forms a thing would not be the kind of thing it is. For example, we may draw a square shaped object on a chalkboard and say it’s a square. A square as we know is a polygon with 4 sides and it’

Discuss the importance of children making choices Essay Example for Free

Discuss the importance of children making choices Essay Issues that could be considered might be that the children are young and can’t make up their mind enough, even though it’s good to let children make choices the adults are to support the child helping and reassuring the child. Some children are more confident playing in a set activity; any child who is not as confident has to be helped and giving motivation to help their development. â€Å"Children like to feel the same as others; living with a medical condition may make a child feel different† Tassoni p, (2007) childcare and education 3rd edition page 60. When giving children the opportunities to make choices you make them feel in control and help to build up their self-esteem, children need to make choices to develop their understanding of the world and know how to handle their self, not encouraging them to make choices might lead them to misbehave or rebel. Choices enhance their imagination; play can consist of amusing or imaginative activity for independent play or with others. The rites of play are evident throughout nature; it helps in their social development. In a classroom it’s important for the children to choose what activities they would like to do, according to Piaget’s constructivist principles if they can make their own decision they will be self-motivated and they will not feel the need to break rules behind the teachers back. â€Å"Play often entertains props, tools, animals, or toys in the context of learning and recreation. Some play has clearly defined goals and when structured with rules is called a game. Whereas, some play exhibits no such goals, nor rules and is considered to be unstructured in the literature. † http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Play_(activity) A1 – Describe how practitioners can encourage children to direct their own play. â€Å"For play to be empowering children must be allowed to take control of their own play rather than follow what adults want them to do† Tassoni p, (2007) childcare and education 3rd edition pg. 318 Practitioners would have to provide activities that would encourage children to play independently, letting the children choose what activates and equipment they want to use can help. When the children are playing on equipment a practitioner could ask the child â€Å"how are you supposed to use it† this will make the child show you, it’s good for a quieter child, encouraging them to take part in the play. When laying out activities or equipment it’s important that you are aware of spaces around, the children will not be encourage to play when an activity is not appealing to them. Make sure that there is enough room for the children to play around it. When choosing the equipment get the children involved let them choose what they would like to play. A practitioner should intervene when the children are choosing numerous activities let one child at a time get a say then the practitioner can make the final decision making sure you explain to other children why they could not have done that activity then. Creative play D1 – describe the activity You will need; 2 medium sized containers 2 different coloured paints Paint brushes (different sizes) Pasta (different shapes) Different colour sting Scissors Coloured paper Beads Glue Pour the pasta into the separate containers. Allow the children to paint the pasta. Use the different colour paint for each container. When they have finished painting, leave the pasta to dry. When they have dried the children can choose whether to make jewellery or use the pasta to decorate their drawings. D2 – what is the purpose or aim of the activity? Include the age of the children. This activity is for children aged 3 or 4. It will help to develop their hand and eye co – ordination skills, whilst making their jewellery, threading the string through the pasta. It helps develop their fine motor skills. It helps with their social development because they are working with other children and learning how to take turns. â€Å"Children need to feel secure, valued and loved without this emotional support; they find it hard to show co – operative behaviour. Attention seeking behaviour can be assign that a child needs more support† Tassoni p, (2007) childcare education 3rd edition page 44 This activity will also support their language and communication skills because they are talking to other children, telling each other what they’re making and who they’re doing it for. D3 – describe how the activity is set up to promote the children the children’s interest. Get the children’s attention firstly and tell them to come and help you set up the activity. When you’re choosing the paint ask the children what colours they want to use. Choose a child to pour the pasta into the containers, give all the children paint brushes to paint the pasta, supervise them to make sure they are all playing together and encourage all the children to take part in the activity. Once all the pasta has been painted take the trays and put them away to dry, explaining to them the next step of the activity. When the pasta has dried put them onto a table, (still in the containers) get out any beads that may be around and ask the children† who wants to make a necklace or bracelet†. You give the children the choice of what they want to make, while they are doing so interact with them, ask them questions about what they are making, keeping an eye out for the children that are struggling. â€Å"Play may also serve as a pretext, allowing people to explore reactions of others by engaging in playful interaction. † http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Play_(activity) D4 – health and safety considerations Consider any skin allergies of the children. They may not be able to use the paint. Make sure the children are supervised at all times when making the jewellery because the small beads are choking hazards. D5 – the adult’s role in stimulating play in this activity. During this activity the practitioner will play the role of the facilitator. The practitioner will be talking to the children asking them questions; â€Å"what are you making†, â€Å"who are you making it for† and helping the children if they need it. He/she will try and encourage the children who are having trouble and motivating them giving each child praise and acknowledging their efforts. D6 – explain how this activity provided for children’s choices This activity allows the children to make choices and be independent with their play when they’re making their jewellery they can choose whether to make a necklace or a bracelet and they will be able to choose what colour string they would like to use. They can also choose what shape pasta there are. C1 – description of a resource that supports spontaneity and choice The beads support the children’s element of choice because there are different beads of shapes and size a colour; it supports their spontaneity because each child’s jewellery will be different and unique. D7 – how does this activity meet the individual needs of the children? This activity can be for all children. Children with allergies may not be able to do the painting part of the activity. Children with learning needs can take part with the help and supervision of an adult because they might not fully understand what to do so the adult can support and encourage them. B1 – explain how the activity can be extended to meet individual play needs. To extend this activity you could use the pasta for different things. Getting a box and gluing the pasta onto it. Making pictures with the pasta. The children could use the left over pasta as food in a food tray. This activity is suitable for a child with learning needs because it’s supervised by an adult, the child will get help.

Step By Step Guide On Making A CD Case For D+T Resistant Materials Essay Example for Free

Step By Step Guide On Making A CD Case For D+T Resistant Materials Essay 1. Find right equipment; ruler, chisel, sand paper, glue, pine and ply 2. Measure the right lengths of wood and then cut into 4 separate parts 250mm for the lengths and 170mm for the widths Equipment needed; Ruler, saw, pencil 3. Create a rectangle for the main frame-using lap joints (250mm high and 170mm in width, sand if needed), 4. Equipment needed; chisel, hammer, glue and pencil 5. Create long thin pine about 95mm long and 7mm high (so they look a bit like sticks) make about 12 pieces (6 ether side) to make the support for the CDs Equipment needed; pencil, saw, ruler 6. Glue the pine sticks to the inside of the frame making sure that nothing sticks out using sand paper, and also making sure that it only goes about 3/4 of the way down to leave space for the storage area. Equipment needed; glue, sand paper 7. Before sticking on the plywood make sure the CDs fit in between the frame nicely Equipment needed; CD 8. Making sure that nothing is sticking out and that the measurements are all correct glue the plywood on to the back of the pine frame. Equipment needed; ruler, glue 9. Sand down any sticking out bits to make it look presentable. Equipment needed; sand paper 10. Sand the corners to make it aesthetically pleasing as possible. Equipment needed; sand paper 11. Then for a finishing touch add water based vanish. Equipment needed; vanish

Analyses Proposals The Coffeemate Brand Uk Marketing Essay

Analyses Proposals The Coffeemate Brand Uk Marketing Essay Firstly, this report will analyse the current position of the Coffee-Mate on the market place in the UK and secondly, will be given proposals for future strategic development of the Coffee-Mate brand in the UK. There should not be mass targeting in the cream powder market, however the segmentation of the market will help to identify potential buyers or buyers and will separate them into clusters within parallel buyers pattern. The important role plays the marketing mix such the right product, the right place, the right promotion at the right time. The Coffee-mate should preferably maintain and improve the market position, however it can be costly and not very often cost successful. The promotion which should be used for the Coffee-mate should be more determined on the product differentiation. It should show why the Coffee-Mate is different from the ordinary powder creamer and why the consumers should use the Coffee-Mate and nothing else. Also it should be considered a new distribution plan and the volume of products to offer. There should be a high concentration on the segments which are targeted and choice of the right product to this segment. The right marketing mix is a crucial for a suc cessful and profitable product. Contents Introduction In this report it will be firstly analysed the Coffee-Mate brand and current position on the market place in the UK based on the information from case of study the Coffee-Mate (Kotler at al, 2008). Secondly, it will be given proposals for future strategic development of the Coffee-mate brand in the UK. Firstly, there should be asked the key questions in strategic marketing management (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How might we get there? Which way is the best? How can we ensure arrival? The Nestle Coffee-Mate brand background The Coffee-mate was first introduced in 1961 as first non-diary powdered creamer in US by Nestle. In 1989 was introduced Nestle Coffee mate liquid, which was number one of non- dairy product on the market. Nestle Coffee-Mate developed a different flavours of powdered cream to keep their customer interesting in and buying their products. Nestle changed the view of kitchen coffee to cafe coffee made in the kitchen (http://www.coffee-mate.com/Faq.aspx). Customers of Coffee-mate can enjoy the different flavours also seasonal flavours (Gingerbread and Eggnog) and special edition, furthermore Coffee-mate can be found in fat free, reduced fat and sugar free in powdered and liquid products. The brand is playing important role for the Coffee-Mate. The Coffee-Mate is part of the Nestle, well known brand which will add value to the product and will differentiate Coffee-Mate from its competitors. The Nestle is using corporate umbrella branding where the companys name is attached to the entire p roduct portfolio (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). For Heinz the umbrella is covering a wide range of products drinks (NESCAFÉ Gold Blend), breakfast cereals, and chocolate full Nestle portfolio (Appendix 1). There are advantages of corporate umbrella branding. Firstly, in Nestle case it can be reduced cost for a new campaign (promoting only the new product not the brand) and the brand name of Nestle is already well-known and established. McDonald at al (2008) believed that using corporate umbrella branding can be a disadvantage the brand name to not be as strongly identified with any one product also it can be argued that Nestle will lose the name as a coffee and chocolate brand. McDonald at al (2008) agreed that the brand dilution occurs when consumers no longer associate a brand with a specific product or highly similar products and start thinking less of the brand. Market and environmental analysis Where are we now? Wilson and Gilligan (2005) believed that the importance of organizations performance in the market place is influenced by three key factors: The organizations current market position The nature of environmental opportunities and threats The organizations ability to cope with environmental demands. The Nestle Coffee-Mate current position on the market is seen by managers of Nestle as less growth potential than for example Nestle food products. In the result, the budget for marketing campaigns was minimized, however the budget for ground coffee increased  £43 million campaign aimed at reminding people that instant coffee is 100% real coffee made from pure and natural coffee beans and nothing else (Nestle press releases,2009). The coffee creamer market has advantages and disadvantages. Coffee creamer products have a better whitener use than dried or powdered milk, however consumers sees coffee creamer as something for special occasions but not for their daily coffee. The market for coffee creamer is complicated with different types of consumers behaviour. Firstly, there are consumers who will not use powdered milk or cream at all. Secondly, there are users who will use powdered milk into their coffee but will not use cream (the taste is changed). Thirdly, users will use Coffee-Mate only in case of emergency (run out of milk or cream). Fourthly, there are users who are using coffee cream daily however consider creamer as a treat. The use of Coffee-Mate correlates with consumption of coffee in UK. The average consumption of coffee is about 3kg per head in the UK, which is about 1.5 cups per day which is low compare to Italy, France or Germany (5kg) and in the Scandinavian or Benelux region (11-13kg)(Kotler a t al, 2008). The national Food Survey suggests that there is correlation between weekly income and consumption of coffee (the higher income the higher consumption of coffee). The UK coffee market is up 19% from 2002 ( £720 million in 2007). Instant coffee contributes 81% of market share however it can be seen shift from instant coffee into premium non-instant coffee (Mintel, 2008). On the other hand, Mintel researchers found that one in five consumers agree that it is too much effort to make ground coffee at home (Mintel, 2008). The strengths and weaknesses (strategic and marketing analysis) The main strengths of the Coffee-mate are its capability to replace the real cream or milk and the length of the life time storage, however legally it cannot be defined as non-diary because it contains ingredients such vegetable fat and dried glucose which contains a real milk derivates. The weaknesses of the Coffee-mate are firstly its limitation in sales. Secondly, the Coffee-mate it is not weekly shopping item and preferably consumers are buying fresh cream or milk instead of the powdered. Consumers see using powdered cream or milk just in emergency situation and furthermore not all the coffees are made with milk or cream. Thirdly, the Coffee-mate is not independent product and can be consumed only with coffee. Customer analysis The customers of the Coffee-mate are consumers who are buying instant or ground coffee and using powdered milk or coffee creamer. The survey was done by TGI and divided consumers into five potential groups for Coffee-Mate. The key variables used by TGI to segment the market are: income, age, social grade, concerning about health and environment, shopping activity and budgeting, social places (pubs, restaurants), brand versus own label, travelling, media (TV, radio, newspapers)  , number of children at home, area where they live, level of consumption of Coffee-Mate and creamers and occupation. TGI user survey divided consumers into five clusters Appendix 2. Cluster 1: Sharon and Tracy Experimentalists (Sample proportion: 15.4 %) Cluster 2: Eileen and Mary Cost constrained, older, and conservative (Sample proportion: 23.6 %) Cluster 3: Sarah and Anna Affluent, Young foodies (Sample proportion: 24.4 %) Cluster 4: Dawn and Lisa Cost constrained, Young families (Sample proportion: 13.9 %) Cluster 5: Dorothy and Amy Affluent (Sample proportion: 22.7 %) Market share Cluster 1 Sharon and Tracy 15, 4 % Cluster 2 Eileen and Anna 23, 6% Cluster 3 Sarah and Lisa 24, 4% Cluster 4 Dawn 13, 9% Cluster 5 Dorothy and Amy 22, 7% Source: TGIs user survey Competitor analysis The main competitors of the Coffee-Mate on the market place are fresh milk and cream (Appendix 3). For the coffee creamer market the main competitors are Compliment, Kenco, Compleat, own label and others (Appendix). Coffee-Mate has about 55% market share on the coffee creamer market. To be successful and better than competitors Coffee-mate has to concentrate on advantage for example a capacity to replace the milk which the Coffee-Mate has. To be better than competition it has to be known how the competition markets their products. The four main questions have to be asked: What is each competitors current strategy? How are competitors performing? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What can we expect from each competitor in the future? (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Strategic direction and strategic formulation Where do we want to be? Market segmentation, targeting and positioning It can be argued that the market for cream powder is segmented, however not mass targeted. The segmentation of market helps to identify group of buyers or potential buyers and divide them into groups within similar buyers pattern (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). It is advantage for marketer to segment the market because the marketer then decides which segments present the greatest opportunity which are its target markets (McDonald at al, 2008). Not everyone likes the milk or cream into their coffee. Therefore, the marketers will divide up the market into the segments by exploring behavioural, demographic and psychographic differences within buyers (McDonald at a, 2008). The Coffee-Mate developed strategic marketing to target the market segment. The particular segment cannot be contented with only one product. If the Coffee-Mate was targeting only one segment 41% of the 55% (McDonald at al, 2008) the current market share however it will lose 14.5% which is owned by Coffee-Mate Lite. The Coffee-Mate has to use multiple segments and obtain a greater market share of coffee cream market. How might we get there Strategic choice which way is the best? The American Marketing Association (AMA) in 1985 said Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. To achieve the needs of the target segments the right marketing mix must be developed. The product (Coffee-Mate) has to be accessible in the right place (distribution), at the right price and in the right time (McCarthy, 1960). Thomas (1987) also believed that the product or services offering of a company or organization ultimately determines the nature of the business and the marketplace perception of the business. In this sense it is the core of the marketing management function. The product Coffee-Mate will have to satisfy the target segment. In this case, it will be difficult to satisfy many segments for this reason the preference segments will be identified clustered preferences (natural market segments). TGI user Surveys identified five potential consumers for Coffee-Mate. Based on the Appendix 3 it can be seen and argued who are potentially the most profitable group and which should be targeted. It can be said that Dawn and Lisa (young families, 13.9% sample proportion) and Sharon and Tracy (experimentalist, 15.4% sample proportion) will become Eileen and Mary (older and conservative, 23.6% sample proportion) and Sarah and Hannah will lose attractiveness for this segment (Kotler, 2008). The Coffee-Mate marketing MIX Product Abbot (1995) highlighted about product What people really desire are not the products but satisfying experience, however Levitt (1976) argued that the products have to be seen as the benefits not the functions. The Coffee-Mate is the product with a strong position (55% market share) on the market place, however it can be argued that one of the important aspects is brand name. Nestle is a strong, well -known brand and instead of creating, developing and maintaining a new one the Coffee-Mate become part of it. Wilson and Gilligan (2005) also agree that it is only in this way that the organization is able to promise and continue to deliver to the consumer a superior value than that offered by competitors. The importance of the coffee-mate product is in which phase of the product cycle is. The Coffee-mate cream powder is probably in the mature stadium. There is not a rapid growth on the UK market also there is not a sign of the new entries on the market or decline in demand for the Coffe e-Mate. Price The price is one of the important factors of the marketing mix. If there is wrong pricing decision the competitors will win and Nestle will lose their customers. Managers have to know the pricing strategies of their competitors and how big are their financial resources to cope with their competition. The Coffee-Mate should concentrate on the maintenance and improvement of market position (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Advantage of this objective is the improvements of the market share however it can be very costly and not often cost effective. Coffee-mate is already in leading position (55% market share) but there is danger that they will lose it. One the factors can be the lack of finance for campaign and promotion. Promotion Promotion is also important aspect of the marketing mix. It can be said that promotion is the visible face (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005) which symbolize the product and communicate with customers. In 2002 Nestle spent  £1m on the Coffee-Mate campaign to change customers opinion on the coffee whitener from coffee whitener to coffee enhancers with main slogan Coffee-mate does it for coffee so deliciously creamy tasting its almost improper (http://www.campaignlive.co.uk, 2002). In 2007 there was marketing campaign which promoted the Coffee-Mate Even when there is milk around (Appendix 5). It was previously discussed that young families, experimentalist, older and conservatives are the market which should be targeted. The tools which can be used to target the market can be: the TV, newspaper and a new medium Facebook and Twiter (Appendix 6). The new campaign should be more concentrated on the product differentiation. There are not other competitors who are producing powder cream or liqu id with different taste (Appendix 7) and sticks pad which can be used on the go. The Coffee-Mate should have distanced more from other in the market and create a major competitive advantage. To create competitive advantage there have to be understanding of particular segment, however the disadvantage of product differentiation can be limited opportunities for the sector growth and creating differences that customers do not value (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Furthermore, they have to convince the customer that the Coffee-mate is better than competitors products. Place The distribution plan is final and also important part of marketing mix. The right choice of distributors and volume distributed can make huge impact on the volume of products sold. To achieve the competitive advantage the right distribution channel has to be recognized. The Coffee-mate is sold by retailers (Morrison, Tesco, Sainsbury,), Internet and through other channels however there should be considered other options workplace, universities and hospitals. There is a huge opportunity to be a successful. Full-time working women agreed first thing in the morning I tend to have coffee with semi-skimmed milk, but towards 11 oclock I want something which is more relaxing, more substantial, so I have coffee with Coffee-Mate. It seems to be comforting. (Kotler at al, 2008). The distribution of the Coffee-Mate into the coffee machine which are in the workplace, universities or hospital will bring benefits, improve a market share and bring a new customers. To select a right channel of dis tribution the plan has to be considered (Wilson, 1983). Marketing MIX in use The different option (Coffee- Mate Lite, Gingerbread, Pumpkin) will influence the marketing mix of the Coffee-Mate. There have to be concentration on the segment which is targeted and the product which is offering to this segment. The product has to convince the segment market which is for example colour of packaging, the size and quality. It will be impossible to convince a lot of segment markets with only one product like the Coffee-Mate. The price will be influenced by the cost production, consumer demand and advertisement cost. The launch of the new favour such Lite, Mocha or Latte there have to be research that there will be high consumers demand for this products. Conclusion In this report the current marketing positions of the Coffee-Mate brand was analyzed and after were given proposals for future strategic development of the Coffee-mate brand in the UK. The Coffee-Mate is currently in the leading position, however the managers do not see the potential growth in the future. Despite this believe, the Coffee-Mate has a benefit of the length storage compare to fresh milk or cream, however powder cream is still seen as the treat by users and as the emergency by non-users. The market was divided by TGI into five clusters and the most profitable group was chosen and will be targeted. The best way how to achieve the success such as market growth and profitability can be done by better segmentation of the market and better clustered preferences. The Coffee-Mate is not just cream powder and the campaign has to say it to the potential costumers. The Coffee-Mate should create the competitive advantage from the differentiation. The Coffee-Mate has to persuade the consumers that they are better than their competitors. The crucial is the concentration on the segments which are targeted and chose the right product for this segment.

East of Eden Essay: Criticism of East of Eden -- East Eden Essays

Criticism of East of Eden      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Possibly the best piece of criticism I discovered was an essay by Joseph Wood Krutch. Krutch begins by making a statement praising the enormous amount of energy that is required for a book with the scope of East of Eden. Very briefly, Krutch summarizes the novel and draws an analogy between it and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Krutch points out that in this novel, Steinbeck has avoided falling into the trap of writing a melodramatic as he has in some other pieces. Krutch says of Steinbeck: "Never, I think, not even in The Grapes of Wrath, has he exhibited such a grip upon himself and his material." (Krutch 370) Krutch points out that, especially in the first third of the book, the character parallels to symbolic figures are rather distracting, but become less so as the book progresses. Steinbeck is often associated with writers who hold deterministic philosophies and are moral relativists, but Krutch asserts "it is difficult to imagine how any novel could more e xplicitly reject [these values]." (Krutch 370) Krutch assigns East of Eden the position of determining Steinbeck's position as a moralist and ends his review by stating "there is no question whether Mr. Steinbeck has written an intensely interesting and impressive book." (Krutch 371) Harvey Curtis Webster was the author of another review I found helpful. He begins with the very blunt statement that "it will take almost equal quantities of pride and stupidity to deny that it is one of the best novels of the past ten years and the best book John Steinbeck has written since the Grapes of Wrath." (Webster 369) To conclude his strong opening paragraph Webster states "It is to be doubted it any American novel has better chronicled ou... ...ress. 1957. pp. 302-305. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. David Marowski. Vol 45 Detroit: Gale, 1987. pp. 370- 371 Neary, Walter. "About John Steinbeck". 27 Nov. 2001 <http://www.steinbeck.org/About.html>. Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. 1939. New York: Penguin, 1973. Steinbeck, John IV Nancy Steinbeck, and Andrew Harvey. Other Side of Eden. Prometheus Books. Feb. 2001. Various contributors. "Amazon.com Buying Information." Amazon.com <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0140186395/ customer-reviews/qid=1007248185/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_75_1/102-8744870-2692125>. 28 Nov. 2001 Webster, Harvey Curtis. Out of the New Born Sun. Saturday Review, New York. Vol. XXXV. No. 38. 20 Sept 1952. pp. 11-12. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. David Marowski. Vol 45 Detroit: Gale, 1987. pp. 369-370

Venturi house vs the Villa Mairea Essay -- Essays Papers

Venturi house vs the Villa Mairea Comparing the Venturi house vs. the Villa Mairea’s relationship to Orthodox Modernism, both Aalto and Venturi rejected the perceived sterility of Orthodox Modern buildings. This rejection led to the development of Post-Modernism in architecture. Both of these architects believed that Orthodox Modernist ultimately produced designs consisting of glass or white boxes and a desensitization for the human scale and form. The idea of Modernism, that form follows function, is defied by Venturi. He asserts that the form should be separate from both the function and the structural facts. He felt that decorative and symbolic forms should both play a part in the structural core of a building. Venturi built a home for his mother Vanna Venturi in 1963. The Venturi home is located in Chestnut Hill, PA. Venturi based the plan on a symbolic conception instead of on spatial abstraction, which he considered to be an aspect of Orthodox Modernism1. This design for his mother had a sloped roof, with the chimney becoming the center of the house. It rises up out of the roof and seems to split the house in two. It has a deliberate deadpan character. But this apparent blandness, hides the many internal complexities and contradictions of the home. This is a house that uses big and small, inside and out to counterbalance the complexity2. Complexity in combination with big scale in a small buildings achieves an appropriate architectural tension. The...

Essay -- Papers

[IMAGE] A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERIODIC TABLE Although Dmitri Mendeleev is often considered the "father" of the periodic table, the work of many scientists contributed to its present form. [IMAGE] In the Beginning A necessary prerequisite to the construction of the periodic table was the discovery of the individual elements. Although elements such as gold, silver, tin, copper, lead and mercury have been known since antiquity, the first scientific discovery of an element occurred in 1649 when Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous. During the next 200 years, a vast body of knowledge concerning the properties of elements and their compounds was acquired by chemists (view a 1790 article on the elements). By 1869, a total of 63 elements had been discovered. As the number of known elements grew, scientists began to recognize patterns in properties and began to develop classification schemes. Law of Triads In 1817 Johann Dobereiner noticed that the atomic weight of strontium fell midway between the weights of calcium and barium, elements possessing similar chemical properties. In 1829, after discovering the halogen triad composed of chlorine, bromine, and iodine and the alkali metal triad of lithium, sodium and potassium he proposed that nature contained triads of elements the middle element had properties that were an average of the other two members when ordered by the atomic weight (the Law of Triads). This new idea of triads became a popular area of study. Between 1829 and 1858 a number of scientists (Jean Baptiste Dumas, Leopold Gmelin, Ernst Lenssen, Max von Pettenkofer, and J.P. Cooke) fou... ... varied periodically with atomic number. The question of why the periodic law exists was answered as scientists developed an understanding of the electronic structure of the elements beginning with Niels Bohr's studies of the organization of electrons into shells through G.N. Lewis' (see a picture) discoveries of bonding electron pairs. The Modern Periodic Table The last major changes to the periodic table resulted from Glenn Seaborg's work in the middle of the 20th Century. Starting with his discovery of plutonium in 1940, he discovered all the transuranic elements from 94 to 102. He reconfigured the periodic table by placing the actinide series below the lanthanide series. In 1951, Seaborg was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work. Element 106 has been named seaborgium (Sg) in his honor.

Analysis of Conflict Essay

Beijing Bicycle is a 2001 Chinese drama film under the joint venture of the Taiwanese Arc Light Films and the French Pyramide Productions. Staring first-time actors Cui Lin and Li Bin, This film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Jury Grand Prix and New Talent Award. This film is a perfect example of the generation the director Wang Xiaoshuai grew up in. The people that comprise Beijing as well as the lifestyle they lived are well portrayed in this film. The social status along with the primary characteristics of the movie such as the bicycle (an extremely common use of transportation during this period in China) and mail delivery were great facets to portrayal of Sixth Generation China. The conflicts faced through the two primary characters are symbolic of the issues Wang attempts to express, and leaves an important impact on the difference between stereotypical China and the collection of unique rough life experiences that needed to be expressed with the Chinese people. Through this film Beijing Bicycle I will investigate the work of Wang Xiaoshuai, a famous Sixth Generation director, and explain the particular social, economic, and political trends that Wang expresses through this film while exploring the historical periods that brought culture to these issues as well the socio-economic divisions of change. The emergence of the â€Å"Sixth Generation Directors† in the global film market was closely connected to the political currency attributed to their films’ ‘underground’ production in China. The early films directed by Zhang Yuan, Wan Xiaoshuai, and Jia Zhangke, for example were often referred to as ‘underground’ films by festivals and the media because of their taboo subjects, production outside Chain’s official studio system and censorship bureaucracy, and their illegal submission to (or screening at) international film festivals outside China (Chris Berry 2003,35). The underground phenomenon in new Chinese cinema from mainland China is a result of global and local politics. However, underground cultural production is not unique to China and has great importance of historicizing China’s ‘underground’ cinema. This in part can be accomplished by avoiding the pitfall of assuming that underground film in China is a product of an absolute dichotomy between legal and illegal film production, official sanction versus official censure, and market availability versus proscribed access. The Cultural Revolution and its lasting effects Organizationally, the Cultural Revolution was an assault on the middle levels of the Chinese bureaucracy, in an attempt to make them less bureaucratic and more open to mass participation. The idea was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society, and to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Party. Economically, revolutionary pragmatism represented pursuit of some Cultural Revolutionary goals, but not others. Essentially most economic activity was halted, with â€Å"revolution†, regardless of interpretation, being the primary objective of the country. Equalization of economic differences between city and countryside remained an operative goal, with vigorous efforts undertaken to provide machinery, fertilizer, and construction materials to agricultural communes and to extend educational and public health services deeper into rural areas. (HARRY HARDING 2009, 70) Ironically, the ten years of the Cultural Revolutio n brought China’s education system to a virtual halt. Many intellectuals were sent to rural labor camps, and many of those who survived left China shortly after the revolution ended. The Cultural Revolution also brought to the forefront numerous internal power struggles within the Communist party, many of which had little to do with the larger battles between Party leaders, but resulted instead from local factionalism and petty rivalries that were usually unrelated to the â€Å"revolution† itself. Because of the chaotic political environment, local governments lacked organization and stability, if they existed at all. Members of different factions often fought on the streets, and political assassinations, particularly in predominantly rural provinces, were common. There was a definite struggle in local authority, with a tremendous need for population restructuring. Social, Economic, and Political Trends in China since the Cultural Revolution The imprint of the idealistic goals of the Cultural Revolution is misleading. China since the Cultural Revolution has seen the redefinition of policy in social and economic ideals as well as the re-allocation of political power. Many changes were made and equalization of peasant incomes within communes was no longer actively sought. For instance, in the beginning of 1970, Peking announced that the production team (the smallest collective agricultural unit within the commune) would remain the basic unit of accounting (HARRY HARDING 2009, 71). This meant, in effect, that no effort would be made to redistribute resources from richer to poorer production teams. It was now viewed that egalitarianism would only lead to weaken peasant motivation and morale. There contained a highly volatile combination of unspecified policies mixed with fragmented power that allowed proper pursuit of proper leadership in a more systematic and realistic way. Important shifts occurred with restoration of organizational discipline, acceptance of certain economic inequalities, an accommodative and conciliatory foreign policy, and even signs of intellectual and artistic liberalization. Thus, the long-term success for the campaign by the Cultural Revolution to reduce bureaucratic ideals (red tape, duplication of function, overstaffing, and inefficiency) is uncertain. Every prominent theory of organizational behavior, as well as the history of China’s own organizations, suggests that organizational problems have not been completely solved. Arguable, the rapid rate of economic development is impeded by the lack of systematic knowledge about managing in highly valuable dynamic contexts. Not only is competition immensifying in China, but the rules regulate competition are also changing. These conditions raise fundamental economic, sociological, and organizational questions about management during periods of transition (Anne Tsui 2004, 134). And yet, at the foundation, mass participation in governmental affairs is still very much in evidence with attempts still being made to reduce disparities in income between city and countryside (HARRY HARDING 2009, 76). China today is simply not the same as it was before the Cultural Revolution. The formulation of moderate social, economic, and organizational policies has been accompanied by explicit repudiation of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. What guided the Director’s experiences and expressions emerging from post-cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution has often been described as a decade of turbulence and catastrophe in cinema. Insomuch as cinema is concerned, feature production was suspended from 1967 to 1969. A total of 598 features and over 1,000 documentary, animation and educational titles that had been produced in the proceeding seventeen years, as well as 883 foreign features, were sealed and stored. (Yingjin Zhang 2004, 217) However, rising from this revolution, heroism, collectivism, and optimism characterized socialist cinema, which functions primarily as a historical discourse designed to legitimize the CCP regime and its political hegemony in the PRC. As discourse, socialist cinema reconstructed a utopian revolutionary or socialist family in which individuals are given critical moments to discard their own private fantasies, discipline and reform themselves by voluntary participation in collective work. The acceptance in individuals in the grand family, most often symbolized by their hard-earned CCP membership, is often projected as a group ceremony. Narrative structures of ‘obstacle-fighting-victory’ and ‘ordinary folk-revolutionary-hero’ are simultaneously filmic ingredients and key components of the new post-revolution. To get away from political constraints and to probe beneath the ideological surface of Chinese films, a number of scholars shifted their attention to film’s aesthetic effect, narrative structure, and thematic concerns from the mid-1980s on, and the result is what I call the history of film art (Yingjin Zhang 1999, 9). Other issues the director was directly impacted by as seen through the film Beijing Bicycle is the societal movement to take on a police perspective. Discoveries show that with each passing year, the number of criminals tracked down in Beijing from within the ranks of the immigration increases. From 18.5 per cent of criminals in 1986, it increased to 18.6 per cent in 1987 and then jumped to 24.6 per cent in 1988 (Michael Dutton 1992, 89). The films expression of China through Cycling A primary expression that the Director Wang Xiaoshuai uses in the film is the appropriation of cycling as a cultural technique for travel and inter-relations. China, even today, is known to contain one of the largest fleets of bicycles in the world. To assess the degree to which the introduction of modern technological products challenged Chinese society at the end of the 19th century and later, one has to take into account the continuous action toward industrialization and modernization in China. In the 1930s, the Chinese cycle industry came into being. Nearly synchronously, the three largest importers of bicycles Tongchang Chehang (Shanghai), Changcheng (Tianjin), and Daxing (Shenyang) established their production lines. Starting around 1929/1930, with the assembly of manufactured and imported cycle parts, the enterprises grew rapidly. The combined output of the Chinese bicycle industry reached 10,000 units annually between 1937 and 1945. By the mid-1930s, Chinese cycle history reached a stage comparable to that of Western Europe around the turn of the last century. A rapid increase in numbers of cyclists in the larger cities can be observed shortly after mass production was taken up. Prices now finally reached a level, which brought the bicycle within the reach of a wider population. The number of bike owners in Shanghai (3.5 million inhabitants) constantly increased to 230,000 in the late 1940s. China-wide, there may have been half a million bicycles in 1949. The year 1949 marks the pivotal year in Chinese national history in both cycle history and the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The bicycle soon found a strong advocate in the communist government. The bicycle received strong support by the government in three principal ways: the cycle industry, urban street planning, and financial subsidies. The nascent bicycle industry thus was able to accomplish growth rates of 58.7% annually -ambitiously charted out in the first Chinese Five-Year-Plan (Esfehani Amir 2012). The level of one million bicycles was reached in 1958. It seems that economic and modern infrastructural reasons, rather than cultural preconditions explain China’s development into the bicycle nation of the 20th century. Today’s ubiquity of the bicycle in China has led to the widespread assumption of a cultural inclination of Chinese to bicycling. The films expression of China through Education The Cultural Revolution led to a temporary decline in educational homogamy in urban China, which was eventually reversed when the Cultural Revolution ended. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-76), radical de-stratification policies reversed the social order and weakened educational value in urban China in three extreme ways. First, the impact of education as an intra-generational stratification mechanism decreased. Second, the significance of education as a reproduction mechanism of stratification also declined. Lastly, the traditional cultural status of education as highly valued was attacked. Formal education was disrupted in urban areas. In the aftermath of this decline in enlightenment, the post-Cultural Revolution era (1977-94), Educational value regained its strength in urban China. To achieve market-oriented economic reform, the government resorted to education and honored intellectuals. In 1978 the new Chairman Deng Xiaoping stated, â€Å"Intellectuals are part of the proletariat† (Lijun Song 2009, 259. Education became increasingly prominent as a criterion for selecting a mate. Consequently individuals, especially the college education were more likely to meet potential partners in school than would have been possible during the Cultural Revolution. Also, an upsurge of divorce appeared in the early 1980s, due to the reestablished importance of education. The household registration system continued to enhance urban educational homogeneity. After the abolition of the examinations in 1979, the curricula of many schools were modernized to include training in science, mathematics, and foreign languages (Patricia Ebrey 1981, 254). Evidence of Social and Economic Change How one sums up the particular balance of social and economic change in culture is up to the individual. The formulation of moderate social, economic, and organizational policies has been accompanied by an explicit repudiation of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution (HARRY HARDING 2009, 76). China today is simply not the same as it was before the Cultural Revolution. While some central and provincial radicals have been purged, political power in China is still fragmented, divided among provincial representatives, second-echelon military leaders, the civilian bureaucracy, and a few â€Å"respectable† radicals. The second legacy of the Cultural Revolution has not yet been overcome. The amount of attention China places on economic statistics at the beginning of the year indicates a new confidence in the health of the Chinese economy. Moreover, findings provide evidence that both the cultural reproduction model and the cultural mobility model have applicability to the Chinese ( Yuxiao Wu 2008, pg 201). Since the economic reform in 1978, China has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. However, this growth has not shared equality across China, and regional inequality has become an important topic of academic inquiry and government policy. Rural-urban inequality is the major component of country-level regional inequality in China. It should not be forgotten that China is still a large agricultural nation. According to the 200 Population Census, rural population accounted for 63.91 per cent of the total (Hui Liu 2006, 378). This reflects not only the income level (per capita income) but also the economic development level or gross value of rural social product, and economic structure (agricultural output, and non-agricultural output). It is interesting the lack of acceptance by urban dwelling people, as this distinction between inter-regional and intra-regional inequality is important to government organizations as these are the focus of both regional problems and government policies in China. It is well known that regional inequality has a close relationship with regional development. Rural-urban migration is â€Å"pushed† by rising agricultural productivity and â€Å"pulled† by the increasing demand for the industrial products and services with the rising income of the national population. In the demo-economic model of rural-urban migration, it is assumed that the demand and supply of urban and rural labor are balanced in the process of industrialization and urbanization (Jianfa Shen 1998, 33). The problem lies in the rapid urbanization process in recent years caused by a liberal migration policy and rising agricultural productivity. It appears that the huge problem previously hidden in the rural a reas is now being shifted to the urban areas. Migration was tightly controlled by the government in the pre-reform period. This was effectively achieved by the use of residence registration, grain rationing, hob allocation and housing control. Government policies regarding urbanization and migration have changed in the reform period: urbanization is now regarded as a positive process which can stimulate socio-economic development, and the control of rural-urban migration has been more or less relaxed. China in the 1990s saw unprecedented changes in all the areas of social life. Particularly profound were the changes in the economic and cultural spheres. As the country shifted from a planned to a market economic system, its economy took off, but new social problems, such as unemployment and increasing social inequality, followed as well. These economic developments have also been accompanied by the rise of new cultural values, notably materialism (Guobin Yang 2003, 273). Bibliography 1) Anne S. Tsui, Claudia Bird Schoonhoven, Marshall W. Meyer, Chung-Ming Lau and George T. Milkovich Organization and Management in the Midst of Societal Transformation: The People’s Republic of China Organization Science , Vol. 15, No. 2 (Mar. – Apr., 2004), pp. 133-144 2) Berry, Chris. Chinese Films in Focus II. Basingstoke, Hampshire [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. 3) Dutton, Michael Robert. Streetlife China. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print. 4) Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook. New York: Free, 1981. Print. 5) Esfehani, Amir. â€Å"The Bicycle And The Chinese People; the Bicycle as a Metaphor for the Early Influence of Western Technology in China.† Web. 12 Nov. 2012. . 6) Guobin Yang China’s Zhiqing Generation: Nostalgia, Identity, and Cultural Resistance in the 1990s Modern China , Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp. 267-296 7) Harry Harding Political Trends in China Since the Cultural Revolution A nnals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , Vol. 402, China in the World Today (Jul., 1972), pp. 67-82 8) Hui Liu Changing Regional Rural Inequality in China 1980-2002 Area , Vol. 38, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 377-389 9) Jianfa Shen China’s Future Population and Development Challenges The Geographical Journal , Vol. 164, No. 1 (Mar., 1998), pp. 32-40 10) Lijun Song The Effect of the Cultural Revolution on Educational Homogamy in Urban China Social Forces, Volume 88, Number 1, September 2009, pp. 257-270 (Article) 11) Yuxiao Wu Cultural Capital, the State, and Educational Inequality in China, 1949–1996 Sociological Perspectives Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring 2008) (pp. 201-227) 12) Zhang, Yingjin. Chinese National Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Transportation Management

In the past, transportation management was a tactical concern – a necessary cost of conducting business, which does not have much impact on profit margins. Today, rising fuel prices and increased pressures for improved service have made transportation management a strategic issue. Companies have to meet and exceed customer expections if they are to be the preferred service and goods provider. A transportation management system (TMS) is an end- to -end software solution that is a part of supply chain management concerning transportation operations. It includes planning and optimization, execution, business intelligence, and freight payment.In addition, it also supports additional services, such as bid optimization, network modeling, yard management, benchmarking, and dock scheduling. Inbound and outbound networks too are supported on a global basis, typically helping companies to move freight from origin to destination cost effectively. In this essay, I will be using Sargento F oods as a case study. The focus of the essay will be on analysing the existing TMS solution adopted by the firm, identifying their areas of weaknesses and recommending strategies that will help to improve the transportation system to better suit the evolving needs of Sargento Foods.Background information Sargento Foods Inc. is a family-owned business, employing approximately 1,300 people at four Wisconsin facilities, one in Washington, and one in South Dakota. They are one of the largest converters of cheese in the United States, offering a variety of cheese products marketed through four business divisions: Consumer Products Division, Food Service Division, Food Ingredients Division and Culinary Solutions. Inadequacies of its existing system before the switch to Sterling TMS: Sargento was managing their distribution and logistics with a hosted TMS solution which was not able to meet their operational requirements.When Sargento Foods planned orders into shipments, the previous solut ion did not consider the cost, service or contractual commitments to carriers. It was not able to accurately allocate transportation costs at the order level. For example, accessorial costs were not being allocated. Recognizing the limitations of their current system, Sargento realised the need for a solution that would meet their current operational needs, as well as any changes they may face in the future. Solution adopted by Sargento FoodsSargento and identified IBM to be their provider and went live with Sterling Transportation Management System (Sterling TMS) in 2006, delivered on cloud, integrating with 30 carriers, shipping approximately 3,000 orders per month, and transporting 24 million pounds of Sargento products on average per month. Sterling TMS works with Sargento’s existing supply chain applications as well as IBM ® Sterling Information Broker ®, allowing them to improve logistics efficiency and customer satisfaction.Customers are placing orders via EDI, whi ch are then fed into Sargento’s SAP ERP system. SAP feeds inbound purchase orders to Sterling TMS as well as Sargento’s Warehouse Management System. Sargento uses Sterling TMS for shipment planning, execution and freight payment. They are now able to track the performance of their carriers, allowing them to identify areas where they can eliminate costs. They are also utilizing the system for visibility purposes and can now accurately allocate transportation costs to their customers.With Sterling TMS they can clearly identify where their shipments are throughout the process and confirm the right rates for the right shipments. They are also using freight payment on the back end after the shipment is completed. Key benefits: As Sterling TMS system is delivered on cloud, this results in fewer IT resource requirements, no upgrade costs, configuration instead of installation, faster and easier connectivity, and lower total cost of ownership using a system that spans the enti re process of Planning, Execution, settlement and Performance analysis.On time delivery Sargento Food’s on time delivery has always been 99%. With the implementation of Sterling TMS, on time delivery has improved. Lower cost with the implementation of Sterling TMS, Sargento has been able to lower the cost of product shipped per pound by 15 percent. through more efficient planning, clear identification of carrier costs and formalized contracts within Sterling TMS. 60 percent administrative cost savings by automating freight payment Sargento improved operational efficiencies by eliminating manual processes and non-value added services.In the past, if a carrier charged Sargento an incorrect transportation cost, Sargento did not have the visibility to correct these charges prior to being invoiced for them. Sargento would calculate the rates, but were often invoiced using a different rate. As a result, Sargento had a difficult time reconciling payments. Since the implementation of Sterling TMS, each carrier has a contract in the Contract Management Module of the system where their rates are locked and paid accordingly with no discrepancies.Not only has the system helped Sargento manage costs, the automation has reduced the manpower required to reconcile payments from 15 hours per week to six hours per week resulting in a 60 percent reduction in administrative costs for freight payment. Improved allocation of costs Accruals are done as soon as the product is loaded at the distribution center. The billing information is fed to the finance department and the accrual of transportation costs is done in real-time. Accessorials that occur during delivery are captured as part of the invoicing process and are also allocated down to the order level.This helps to ensure the real cost of freight is captured for each customer. With Sterling TMS they are now able to evaluate charges during the year to better determine what the customer charges should be the following year , taking in to account the back end fees that each customer was accumulating. This allows Sargento to accurately allocate costs back to their customers and helps ensure Sargento remains profitable. Reduced LTL shipments by 60 percent Prior to the implementation of IBM Sterling TMS, Sargento was doing 10 percent of their shipments via Less than TruckLoad (LTL).With the visibility provided by IBM Sterling TMS, they are able to convert more of their shipments into Full TruckLoads (FTL), with only 4 percent now being shipped as LTL. With enhanced planning capabilities, Sargento can now plan multi-stop and multi-pickup routes consolidating on average four different customer orders per shipment, for optimal execution and further cost savings. Recommendations to improve transportation management system: Improve on missing functionalities and international carrier network There is no perfect transportation management system in the market.While IBM sterling TMS is a comprehensive solution, h owever it does have its own inadequacies due to its missing key functional pieces( fleet management, multileg international shipment planning/optimization and execution, and multicarrier parcel management). To improve on this, it could partner up with other providers whose strengths complement and make up for its missing functionalities to provide a more comprehensive one stop solution for clients like Sargento Foods. Sterling TMS' strength lies only in its North American carrier network and its functionality is incomplete for the most complex users.The lack of a comparable international carrier network holds it back in complex global TMS management which could affect clients i. e Sargento Foods should the the needs of the latter evolve with increasing complexity, requiring a complex global TMS management. Sterling TMS would have been more competitive in the marketplace if it can replicate the scale of its carrier network in international markets. Special carrier mobile application Sterling TMS gives its carriers the ability to update shipment status and tender requests using mobile devices.Since the power of a TMS is directly proportional to the expertise of its users, vehicle operators should be trained so that they possess the skills to extract the maximum value out of the TMS solution. TMS to add social media capabilities. The communities of carriers, shippers, 3PLs, suppliers and customers who are involved in transportation process can be connected via different mediums like facebook, twitter and also google+ by sending short messages and updating the status information. Dropbox can be used for sharing invoices and carrier credential documents. Siri for TMS.Since voice recognition is in use in the warehouse management, Sterling TMS too can also make use of this voice functionality rather than manual execution to conduct a search faster. However at present there is still room for improvement in voice search yielding precise results. Tapping into big data B eyond merely tendering the system, Sterling TMS can also further develop systems that utilise â€Å"big data† that is collected during the transportation process and stored in the TMS by imbedding business intelligence into TMS so as to analyse the data to identify key trends in the market in order to make informed business decisions.Business Intelligence Business Intelligence helps to understand transportation expenditure and allow causes of negative trends in costs and performance to be identified so that corrective actions can be taken and enable the opportunity costs between service and cost trade-offs of different transportation strategies and tactics to be evaluated. Sterling TMS makes use of performance dashboards which is useful but does not provide Sargento with any insight on how its performance compares against industry peers or the broader market. The data only reveals information at hat instant in time and is not embedded within the TMS, which limits the ability for users to leverage it. 3PLs and SaaS providers are in the best position to provide this missing link as they have a built-in network of shippers, carriers, and other trading partners that execute millions of transportation transactions annually through their operating platforms. Therefore, Sterling TMS hey can use all of this network data—such as rates, carrier performance, and transit times to develop a â€Å"transportation index† that gives companies visibility to market-level trends.They can then embed this index information within their TMS application and BI dashboard as LeanLogistics did with its â€Å"LeanDex Transportation Index’’. CH Robinson and Transplace too are exploring ways to leverage their network data and TMS business intelligence dashboards in a similar way. Similarly Sterling TMS can tap on business intelligence to provide more value add to clients like Sargento Foods. TMS vendors will go beyond execution In its 2011 Transportation Management Report, research firm Capgemini Consulting outlined the various components that make up the execution side—as opposed to the planning aspect—of a typical TMS. One of the biggest trends we’re seeing right now are TMS that are trying to be more than just execution systems,† says Chris Caplice, executive director at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Transportation and Logistics. â€Å"Basically, a TMS gathers the information on a load to be tendered and matches that data to a historical routing guide. Then it communicates to a carrier and manages the ensuing communication process† â€Å"The more advanced TMS is going beyond that and tapping into other information services and utilizing that data to help the shipper make the best possible decisions. If Sterling TMS can be connected directly into a market data benchmarking service that funnels data back to the system, this will positioning Sterling TMS to serve as mor e than just an execution feed. Customised software Transportation management systems offered by vendors like Sterling IBM should offer a flexible configuration that adapts to company’s unique strategies, network constraints and variables so that it is designed according to a company’s specific circumstances. With so many constraints and variables, transportation issues can’t be solved with a cookie cutter software that is generally used for all companies.Software designed should be personally customised for individual companies or may be customizable by users. The transportation management system should support a wide range of mathematical approaches, allowing the company to view the problem holistically and then constantly modify those approaches based on its current needs and requirements as the variables change. However, the cost of this may be higher and customisation would require the technical team in Sargento Foods to work togther with the software provid er to come up with a custom made software specifically designed for Sargento Foods.Also the assumption would be that employees of Sargento Foods would have the technical expertise to handle to complexities of the software. Instead this would increase the cost of implementation. While on demand solution (self service) is currently very popular and is functionality-driven; with the ability to deliver on all processes – from sourcing to planning to execution to costs auditing to reporting & analysis yet Only a few Transportation Management systems have the ability to execute with some functional depth in all areas.Therefore Sargento Foods would probably need to take into consideration whether IBM Sterling TMS has the ability and versatility to execute across all diverse functions through continuous review of KPIs and performance reviews as well as whether they are able to continuously meet performance targets. As circumstances and economic conditions are in a continual state of flux, a system that may be applicable now may beoutdated very soon unless continual updates and improvements to the systems are made.Sterling TMS has to continually invest in its TMS solution to ensure that it stays ahead of its competitors. Sargento Foods should also constantly monitor and tune its strategies to address changes in its networks, supply chain, market and customer demands and adapt its strategies to capitalize on market opportunities. Rather than just letting Sterling TMS solver run unattended, Sargento Foods must always look for ways to drive more value for their business by discussing with Sterling TMS should it outgrow its system.Managed TMS Some companies have discovered that investing in SaaS-based TMS reaped initial savings, but subsequent returns were not as rosy. The next stage in the development of TMS solutions, â€Å"is software plus consulting services, using a 3PL model. Should Sargento Foods adopt this new model,,it will be able to tap on the external e xpertise from the dedicated teams employed by a TMS provider often stationed permanently on-site and acting as an extension of the client’s staff.These individuals act as quasi-employees of Sargento Foods, Their relationship with Sargento Foods is ongoing and team members represent the client firm in various capacities. For instance , they are involved in customer meetings providing routine analyses and expert advice. The advantage of this is that the service provider( of the Managed TMS) has planners that do not have to go through a planning period before becoming effective as opposed to the traditional 3PL and secondly shippers like Sargento Foods do not have to worry about degradation in their planning capabilities if a key employee leaves the company.Some customers recognize that in Managed TMS they have a partner that can provide a totally integrated transportation management program—from brokerage through to execution and optimization in a one- stop solution. Sar gento FOods may consider managed TMS solution and outsourcing its transportation management and operations to a dedicated team from a service provide. this would perhaps more effectively optimise the usage of its TMS solution. Conclusion In conclusion, Sargento Foods would better manage its transportation were the above mentioned functions adopted. For instance, improving on missing unctionalities and international carrier network; using special carrier mobile application and social media capabilities; Siri for TMS, taping into big data, using business intelligence and analytics; going beyond execution and tapping into other information services, utilizing that data to help the shipper make the best possible decision; peronally customising software design for Sargento Foods; constantly monitoring and tuning its strategies to address changes in its networks, supply chain, market and customer demands and adapt its strategies to capitalize on market opportunities.Rather than just letti ng Sterling TMS solver run unattended, Sargento Foods must always look for ways to drive more value for their business by discussing with Sterling TMS should it outgrow its system. Subsequently it could consider switching to managed TMS should it require expertise from supply chain and transportation management to better optimise its operations.