PESTLE of the body shop in the Uk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

PESTLE of the body shop in the Uk - Assignment Example However, the management of Best Body shop can take advantage of UK’s political structure of parliamentary democracy to invest in less stable countries like the Middle East and Russia. The system relatively provides cushion against possible political risks. Best Body shop predominantly use premium based differentiated approach to marketing instead of assuming the market leader position. Therefore, Saleem (2006) points out that such enterprise are vulnerable to the economic variations in the UK. Besides, the aftermath of global economic crisis of 2007 presented major challenges to the UK market and especially, businesses like Best Body Shop that entirely depends revenue generated from UK economy. However, opportunities for success still exist through a structured stakeholder collaboration. Wetherly & Otter (2014) explain that the complex interplay of social and cultural factors of the UK market either declines or improves cosmetic and beauty industries. Hence, Best Body Shop should aim to identify a set of practices that appeal to all the cultures. Representation of an essentially inclusive social and cultural economy is a success strategy. Essential improvements like internet services offer the business unique opportunities like online transactions, issuance of invoices and assessment of customer feedbacks. Thus, Best Body Shop and similar industries have received an exponential sales and rapid online shopping for the beauty products in store. Hence, technological advancements open avenues for business expansion. Nonetheless, technology is a risk factor if mismanaged. Best Body shop must comply with legal standards stipulated by European Union and UK laws. Specifically, Kew & Stredwick (2008) highlights that the UK laws stipulate that the shop must conform to requirements for minimum wage payments, legislation for fair marketing, hiring, compensation, and equal treatment of all employees. The national product

Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay Example for Free

Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is the enzyme that is responsible for converting ethanol to acetaldehyde (the reaction is shown in Figure 13. 1). It is the enzyme responsible for the metabolism of ethanol in the alcoholic beverages we consume. Five different isozymes of ADH have been identified, and it has been shown that the enzyme has a rather broad substrate specificity and can oxidize aldehydes as well as primary and secondary alcohols. For example, ADH can also oxidize methanol (wood alcohol) and ethylene alcohol (antifreeze). The poisonous nature of these compounds results from the ADH-catalyzed conversion of these compounds to toxic products. For example, ADH converts methanol to formaldehyde, which is toxic to the optic nerve and can produce blindness. In high doses, formaldehyde may be fatal. In this study, the authors investigated the ability of formamide compounds to inhibit alcohol dehydrogenase. Only a portion of their data is presented here. The authors were able to propose a mechanism for the inhibition from the extensive data they collected using a wide variety of formamide compounds. The mechanism is shown in Figure 13. 2. Figure 13. 1: ADH-catalyzed oxidation of ethanol. 2 Questions 1. Certain individuals are more sensitive to alcohol than others. For example, women are more sensitive to alcohol than men–even when body weight and % body fat are taken into account, women become more intoxicated than men consuming an identical amount of alcohol. Using what we have learned in the enzyme chapters, give biochemical reasons that would explain why women become more intoxicated than men when consuming an equal amount of alcohol. 2. A treatment for methanol poisoning is to have the victim drink large amounts of ethanol. Why might this be an effective treatment? 3. The authors of this study studied the ability of N-1,5-dimethylhexylformamide to inhibit mouse ADH1. The activity of the enzyme was measured in the absence of inhibitor, and in the presence of 1. 0 :M inhibitor. The data are presented in Table 13. 1. Table 13. 1: Inhibition of mouse ADH1 by N,1-5-dimethy lhex ylformam ide Ethanol Concentration, mM ADH1 velocity, ) NADH absorbance/min (without i nhibit or) ADH1 velocity, ) NADH absorbance/min (with i nhibit or) 0. 20 0. 036 0. 022 0. 25 0. 042 0. 024 0. 36 0. 048 0. 027 0. 60 0. 065 0. 029 2. 00 0. 075 0. 033 Figure 13. 2: Mechanism of ADH1. The inhibitor binds as an aldehyde analog. 3 M max a. What are the K and V values for ADH in the absence of inhibitor? in the presence of the inhibitor? b. What type of inhibitor is N-1,5-dimethylhexylformamide? Explain. c. Calculate the values of and/or ’, if they are significantly different from 1. What kind of inhibitor is N-1,5-dimethylhexylformamide? Explain. ii d. Calculate the K and/or K’ (whichever is appropriate) for N-1,5-dimethylhexylformamide (Hint: You can obtain these values from and ’). 4. The authors describe the mechanism of ADH as an â€Å"ordered bi-bi† mechanism. Give a written description of the mechanism, as shown in Figure 13. 2. How does N-1,5- dimethylhexylformamide inhibit the activity of the ADH enzyme? How does N-1,5- dimethylhexylformamide differ from the â€Å"classic† inhibitors of this type that are described in our textbook? 5. The authors found that a class of compounds called pyrazoles were also inhibitors of ADH. These inhibitors bind to the E-NAD complex. What kind of inhibitor are pyrazoles? Are + these inhibitors the same or different as the formamides? 6. a. Would N-1,5-dimethylhexylformamide be an effective alternative for the treatment of methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning, assuming that it is non-toxic itself (and as an alternative to getting the patient drunk, as described in Question 2)? Would N-1,5- dimethylhexylformamide be effective even if the concentrations of methanol or ethylene II glycol were very high? (Hint: Compare the values of K or K ’, whichever is appropriate, M and K ). b. The compound 4-methyl pyrazole is currently being used as a treatment for methanol poisoning. How would the effectiveness of 4-methyl pyrazole compare with the effectiveness of a formamide treatment? Reference Venkataramaiah, T. H. , and Plapp, B. V. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, pp. 36699-36706.

Human-Centric Computing in Three Dimensions :: Essays Papers

Human-Centric Computing in Three Dimensions The object of any project designated as â€Å"human-centric† is to make computers more accessible to humans, and not to make humans more accessible to computers. It seems that in the twentieth century computers have developed and become slightly easier to use, but no more accessible than they were when they were first invented. This has become a problem, since using a computer is nothing more than using a few mechanisms that are not naturally used by humans, such as a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Efforts have begun, though, to change the trend, making computers more natural for humans to use. There are many methods of making them more natural, such as voice-recognition, and even simpler items, such as more advanced search engines for the internet. Another good example of the new human-centric projects is an attempt to use recent technological advancements in three-dimensional graphics to make computers more user-friendly. All of these ideas can be brought to gether using new technology, but only if humans direct their progress towards the human-centric instead of techno-centric. One of these new three-dimensional attempts to make computers more human-centric is called Farsight nV, a project by the nVidia Corporation and the Quantum 3D Corporation. This project is utilizing the power of software and hardware made by the nVidia Corporation and integrating these elements into military and civilian vehicles. By using elements such as Synthetic Vision and â€Å"Highway in the Sky† flight guidance, the project will make vehicles safer and easier to use, all while enhancing the methods that humans use to interact with the computers embedded in the vehicles. These two elements utilize the latest enhancements and technology in the three-dimensional graphics field and make all of the menus and information the computers display many times easier to read and much more comprehensive for the user. The project will benefit humans â€Å"†¦by bringing the power of nVidia technologies into the cockpit and onto the dashboard-- greatly benefiting ev eryone who needs real-time 3D information while moving through the world." (Qtd. in Quantum3D and nVidia Announce Farsight nV Program). A second project centered on the same goal is taking place at the University of Utah.

Simul8 in Supply Chain

[pic] PLYMOUTH BUSINESS SCHOOL COURSEWORK COVERSHEET GROUP WORK NAMES and NUMBERS of students in the group (2 Students): 1. El-Iraki, Youssef (10448517) 2. Badr, Noureldin (10445226) MODULE CODE: MBM5204 MODULE NAME: Logistics, Supply Chains, Systems and Methods Lecturer: Professor Dongping Song DEADLINE : 11th February 2013 WORD COUNT: 1,657 By submitting this piece of assessment the group confirms that all the work is thoroughly and adequately acknowledge and referenced, and has been completed in accordance with the University and Programme Regulations.Table of Contents 1. 0 Introduction3 2. 0 Current Simulation Model3 2. 1 Clock Options3 2. 2 The warm-up period3 2. 3 Results collection period4 2. 4 The number of trials used4 2. 5 Results analysis4 3. 0Pooling Resources5 3. 1 The impact of pooling resources5 3. 2 Comparison between initial model and pooled model6 4. 0Usefulness of Simulation Model in Business Context6 4. 1 Simulation and decision making6 4. 2 Researcher Recommendat ion8 5. 0 Bibliography9 6. 0 Appendices:11 1. 0 IntroductionSimulation is one of the three quantitative analysis solutions and it is essential in logistics decision making (Ghiani, et al. , 2004). Simulation model can answer what if questions in existing system as for this case, the business needs to know and evaluate performance if two warehouses and four drivers can be pooled to compare the results and the influence of the supply chain performance, in order to give an optimal supply-production-distribution system decisions. The researchers used SIMUL8 program to run the simulations and draw the predictable models needed. . 0 Current Simulation Model 2. 1 Clock Options The business is working daily from Monday till Friday by which the shifts are starting from 9:00 till 17:00 (8 hours/day), and the time is set up in hours to monitor the start time and the length of each day. 2. 2 The warm-up period The warm-up period is crucial when building up simulation for manufacturing models, b ecause there is no work-in-progress in such industries at the beginning of the process (Concannon et al. , 2007).Robinson (2007) stated that there are various methods to determine warm-up period in the simulation model such as the model of run-in for a warm-up period until it reaches a steady state and then the data are deleted and the model of a realistic initial condition at the start of the run. The first model was taking into consideration when determining the warm-up period and has shown that the warm-up period is 280 hours. It is worth adding a 20% to the normal warm-up period as a safety margin (SIMUL8, 2013).The table below shows the exact warm-up period after running and monitoring the simulation model. Figure (1): Warm-up period [pic] 2. 3 Results collection period The result collection period is usually chosen to reflect an appropriate operating period. In this model the period set to 1600 hours = 40 weeks. The researchers decided to choose 40 weeks as statistically n ? 3 0, it is important to use large sample size to be more accurate and it is necessary to produce results among variables that are totally different (Freeman, et al. , 2010). 2. 4 The number of trials usedAfter running the simulation model, it was important to generate the results required to help the company analyse the output data accurately. The more trials used, the more accurate the results will be. Approximately 3000 trials for both initial and pooling models are conducted to give sufficient accurate results needed for the company. 2. 5 Results analysis Appendix (2) illustrates the results that conducted after running the simulation of model 1. The average time in system is 110 hours due to many reasons in the supply chain which affects production plan that lead to poor delivery performance.Although the main objective of any manufacturer is to decrease lead-time in order to satisfy customer and achieve better delivery performance. Driver’s performances are 91% and they are considered as an important resource to deliver finished goods to end customers at the right time. The waiting percentage of the available vehicles is set to be 2% which cannot be considered as a factor that hinder the efficiency of customer delivery. However, the working percentage of vehicles can be enormous factor that affect customer delivery.As shown in appendix (2), vehicles are only operating at a 79% of its total working ability. Since the warehouses hold finished goods and is considered to be an inventory, therefore it is crucial to minimise the capacity of the warehouses to achieve greater financial success. Appendix (2) shows that the average queue size of both warehouses is nearly 16 units whereas the maximum capacity of the warehouses is 50 units, thus the capacity of the warehouses are efficiently used. Average queue time of the available warehouses is another factor that must be taken in the prior considerations.An average of 34 hours is spent to deliver orders from w arehouses to customers and this can be nearly 30% of the whole time spent in system. The rule of thumb declares that once the goods are manufactured, it must be delivered as quickly as possible to reduce storage costs and to satisfy customers. Pooling Resources 3. 1 The impact of pooling resources Pooling resources is a possible method to improve service performance without adding any other resources. Pooling help to reduce the variability of data collection, however pooling of customers adds variability to the system and no efficiency will be gained (Vanberkel et al. 2010). Furthermore, it helps to reduce the average queue time in system for the products; it is optimal to schedule the shortest job first and to give priority to short jobs (Downey, n. d. ). Thus, it can reduce inventory holding period and costs. This method used in the model is called FIFO (first-in first-out). 3. 2 Comparison between initial model and pooled model 1- There are dramatic changes after pooling warehous es, the queuing time dropped from 34 hours to 15 hours while queue size decreased from16 units to 15 units.As a result the average time in system declined from 110 hours to 88 hours, thus it can lead to better customer service, saving storage costs and save time as well. 2- After pooling the drivers, it has influenced the waiting times of the vehicles to increase slightly from 2% to 2. 4%. While driver’s utilisation has improved significantly to rise from 91% to 93%, therefore drivers after pooling can respond quickly and flexibly to customers. Usefulness of Simulation Model in Business Context 4. 1 Simulation and decision makingThe simulation model can help the real-world companies to provide efficient production and distribution systems as stated by Tunali et al. (2011). SIMUL8 has become the preferred tool as it brings solutions for production planning and scheduling to thousands of engineers that have complex supply chains and distribution systems such as Chrysler, GM, Fo rd etc. (SIMUL8, 2013). SIMUL8 is easy to use and support numerous critical decisions making every year because it enables to create accurate and flexible output more rapidly.Moreover, it helps bridging the ERP gap by creating new and feasible production plans (Concannon et al. , 2003). Analysis and assessment of business processes; development of what if scenarios and export to implementation platforms, such as workflow management and ERP systems are the key advantages of simulation modelling, because it enables the integration of these functions easily and more accurately (Verma et al. , n. d. ). As a result, decision making can be easily overtaken and this is the reason why thousands of companies use simulation modelling to optimise their supply-production-distribution systems.Chrysler saved $5 Million by using Simul8 software which helped them to identify the best performance and bottleneck lines, thus it assisted them to slow it down. Simul8 also reduced the manpower on these a ssembly lines which have saved $ 600,000 per year as labour costs. On the other hand, the researchers could not identify the best performance and bottleneck lines because it needs Simul8 professional software which is used in real world companies and the need of historical data is crucial to be more realistic when identifying the bottlenecks in the supply-production-distribution systems (Simul8, 2013).The researchers used Simul8 education software in this case and they found out after pooling warehouses and drivers, significant results are achieved such as reducing inventory (from 16. 7 units to 15. 5 units) and the time of finished goods spent in the warehouse was also decreased significantly (34. 5 hours to 15. 9 hours). As a result, the lead-time dropped from 110 hours to 88 hours. Furthermore, driver’s utilisation increased from 91. 1% to 93. 6% after pooling the resources (drivers).Thus, the business could react more responsively to customers and achieve enormous financi al success because of their drivers’ flexibility (Velverde et al. , 2000). According to McLean and Leong, simulation models can help manufacturing and operational departments to determine which new technologies need to be used, organise labour shifts and materials management required for each production stage and modelling of supplier relationships (McLean and Leong, 2001). Table (1): Usefulness of Simulation Model Usefulness of the Simulation Model | |Business Context |Current Simulation Model | |Support the operation of supply chain through â€Å"what-if† |A trial of approximately 3,000 runs were conducted to compare the available | |manufacturing model |results | |Perform capacity planning analysis |Available capacities for warehouses in the initial model were set to 50 each, but | | |it was planned to pool both warehouses together to have a capacity of 100 which | | |delivers enormous results.Maximum batches for trucks and availability% of drivers| | |were set which helped for planning the distribution process of the model | |Establish the required resources for production and material |Determine and manage the required raw materials needed for assembling the product | |handling |(How many raw materials needed from each supplier) it can also be set on which | | |statistical distribution used to supply these values materials as the simulation | | |runs | |Ability to evaluate overall firm performance |Every stage of the production and distribution process are evaluated such as | | |working%, waiting%, utilisation of drivers, queue sizes, queue times, etc. As a | | |result, this can elp evaluate the performance of the company and assist the top | | |management in taking the right decisions | 4. 2 Researcher Recommendation By using SIMUL8, the researcher suggested to add value to the company even after pooling their resources which affected in significant results. The researches created new model and recommended to add one more vehicle with the same amount of resources that are available (drivers, warehouses) to compare with the previous results. The following table shows even more effective results as customers received their orders in less than the time spent by using only 2 vehicles.It has also shown that driver’s utilisation increased significantly from 93. 2% to 97. 9% and this is due to a huge reduction in waiting times of drivers. Finally, warehouses queue size and queuing time have decreased to meet nearly the maximum efficiency by which slight amount inventory holding and very tiny amount of time is spent inside the warehouse where most of the finished goods are ready for delivery to customers once arrived. Table (2): Results of adding extra vehicle [pic] 5. 0 Bibliography †¢ Concannon, K. Elder, M. Hindle, K. Tremble, J. and Tse, S. (2007) Simulation Modeling with simul8. [online] Available at: < http://www. visual8. om/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/simulation_modeling_with_simul8_web. pdf > [Accesse d on 26th of January 2013]. †¢ Concannon, K. H. , Hunter, K. I. & Tremble, J. M. (2003) SIMUL8-Planner: Simulation-Based Planning and Scheduling. [online] Available at: < http://ieeexplore. ieee. org/stamp/stamp. jsp? arnumber=01261593 > [Accessed on 28th of January 2013]. †¢ Downey, A. B. (n. d. ) Using queue time predictions for processor Allocation. [online] Available at: < http://www. cs. huji. ac. il/~feit/parsched/jsspp97/p-97-2. pdf> [Accessed on 27th January 2013]. †¢ Freeman, J. , Shoesmith, E. , Anderson, D. R. , Sweeney, D. J. & Williams, T. A. (2010) Statistics for business and economics. 2nd ed.Hampshire: South-Western Cengage learning. †¢ Ghiani, G. , Laporte, G. and Musmanno, R. (2004) Introduction to logistics systems planning and control. Chichester: Wiley. †¢ McLean, C. and Leong, S. (2001) The Role of Simulation in Strategic Manufacturing. [online] Available at: < http://citeseerx. ist. psu. edu/messages/downloadsexceeded. html > [Accessed on 30th of January 2013]. †¢ Robinson, S. (2007) A statistical process control approach to selecting a warm-up period for a discrete-event simulation. European Journal of Operational Research [online], 176 (1). Available at: < http://ac. els-cdn. com/S0377221705005643/1-s2. 0-S0377221705005643-main. pdf? tid=65d0a6b8-6edb-11e2-94b5-00000aacb35e&acdnat=1359990116_8f49ecb58acc4020e744141def925d90 > [Accessed on 26th of January 2013]. †¢ Simul8 (2013) Warm-up Time. [online] Available at: < http://www. simul8. com/support/help/doku. php? id=gettingstarted:techguide:warmup&do=show > [Accessed on 26th of January 2013]. †¢ Simul8. (2013) Chrysler projected to save $5 million using SIMUL8. [online] Available at: < http://www. simul8. com/our_customers/case_studies/chrysler_line_balancing. htm > [Accessed on 28th of January 2013]. †¢ Tunali, S. , Ozfirat, P. M. & Ay G. (2011) Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory. Setting order promising times in a supply chain networ k using hybrid simulation-analytical approach: An industrial case study. 9, (9), p. p 1967 – 1982. [online] Available at: < http://ac. els-cdn. com/S1569190X11000888/1-s2. 0-S1569190X11000888-main. pdf? _tid=9efcdf7a-6a48-11e2-a658-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1359487271_e121e9fba1ca576f0e980d12317a80a9 > [Accessed on 29th of January 2013]. †¢ Valverde M. , Tregaskis O. & Brewster C. (2000) International Advances in Economic Research. Labor Flexibility and Firm performance. 6, (4), pp. 649-661 [online]. Available at: < http://link. springer. com. up3xt5ae3w. useaccesscontrol. com/article/10. 1007/BF02295375 > [Accessed on 31st of January]. †¢ Vanberkel, P. T. Boucherie, R. J. Hans, E. W. Hurink, J. L. & Litvak, N. 2010) Efficiency evaluation for pooling resources in health care. OR Spectrum [online], 34 (1), pp. 371-390. Available at: < http://doc. utwente. nl/67543/1/memo1902. pdf > [Accessed on 27th of January 2013]. †¢ Verma, R. , Sharma, A. & Gupta, A. (n. d. ) Role of Simulation Modeling in Business Process Re-engineering. [online] Available at: < http://simvehic. com/admin/rpapers/Role%20of%20Simulation%20Modeling%20in%20Business%20Process%20Reengineering. pdf > [Accessed on 28th of January 2013]. 6. 0 Appendices: Appendix (1): Initial Simulation Model [pic] Appendix (2): Initial results [pic] Appendix (3): Pooled Simulation Model [pic] Appendix (4): Pooling Results [pic]

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 17

The reception was held in a different grand hall. My brother, Lydia, Bridget, and I formed a receiving line by the entrance to thank and greet our guests. Damon put it on a bit, bowing and pretending to know people he didn't. Compelling them into thinking he was an old friend, no doubt. While Bridget showed off her ring, Lydia gave everyone warm kisses or handshakes or smiles, whatever their relationship dictated. She even laughed when Bram tried to snatch a â€Å"farewell† kiss. Bridget stood by her side, beaming with what looked like genuine joy. â€Å"Thank you for coming today,† I said time and time again, the words tasting like chalk on my tongue. â€Å"We're so glad you could come celebrate with us. My thanks for being here today. Pleased to meet you, thank you so much for being here.† â€Å"Stefan Salvatore?† demanded a matron in an almost unmoving thick gray silk dress and pearls, holding on to my hand for longer than was strictly necessary. She pronounced the e at the end of my last name and fixed me with an eye as stony as her skirts. â€Å"Yes, ma'am,† I said, giving her as warm a smile as I could. â€Å"Of the Florentine Salvatores? Prince Alessandro?† â€Å"I'm not rightly sure, ma'am,† I answered, trying to keep my smile. â€Å"When my father came to this country he declared himself an American. He didn't keep up with our old relations.† Her eyes widened and her grip on my hand became loose. â€Å"An immigrant. How charming.† She didn't smile and pulled her hand out of my grasp, moving on. Several hundred people later we finally got to sit down. The bride and groom's table was festooned with palm fronds and garlands of huge flowers, and was covered with every expensive delicacy you could want to eat – or show off that you could afford. There was a seafood appetizer of oysters and other delicacies including Scottish smoked salmon and Russian caviar. Then came a main course that consisted of an absolutely staggering number of dead animals: roast beef, quail, venison, pheasant, woodcock, duck, lamb, roast pork, hot and cold, braised and grilled, minced and sauteed, sliced and in pies. It was all crowned off by a wedding cake, five tiers of the finest fruitcake covered in fondant and decorated with scrolls, swoops, columns, and sugar birds. The black-jacketed waiters poured glass after glass of champagne, and everyone chatted gaily. But my muscles were tied in knots. The â€Å"wedding† was officially over. Damon and I were legally married into the Sutherland family. It was only a matter of time before he began the next phase of his plan – whatever that ended up being. â€Å"Darling, get me a glass of water, would you?† Lydia was asking my brother, touching him tenderly on the cheek. â€Å"In some ceremonies, it's the lady's place to love, honor, and obey. Shouldn't you be getting one for me, little wife?† he smiled, but in a way I didn't like. â€Å"Of course! Anything for you, dear,† Lydia said. â€Å"Water, wine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Blood?† Damon prompted. Lydia laughed. â€Å"If you wish, it's my command.† Bridget didn't eat any of the expensive repast, leaping up from the table constantly to talk to her friends, holding out her hand and showing off her ring. I spent most of dinner nervously pushing very expensive food around a very expensive plate with a very expensive, very heavy silver fork, never taking my eyes off Damon. As dessert came out, Bram took pity on me and sat down in Bridget's place for a moment. â€Å"Congrats, old chap,† he said, shaking my hand. â€Å"You and Damon snagged two of the best New York has to offer.† I nodded miserably. â€Å"Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland are just terrific. And Margaret†¦ well, she's a spitfire, but I trust you'll be able to win her over eventually.† My head snapped up. â€Å"Have you noticed anything, er, odd about Margaret?† Bram had known the Sutherlands since he was born. Perhaps he had some insight into what made Margaret able to withstand Damon's charms. Bram scratched his floppy black curls. â€Å"Odd?† â€Å"Yes, she's different from the others. Stronger,† I said leadingly. Bram let out a rueful laugh. â€Å"That's for sure. One time when we were younger, I stole her favorite doll to use it as a nurse in a war game with my brother. I swear, the look she gave me! She didn't even have to touch me to send a painful shock through my entire body. Needless to say, I never played with her toys again.† â€Å"She was able to hurt you without touching you?† I pressed, trying to put the pieces together. But just then, Winfield tapped me on the shoulder and nodded toward a back room. Damon came with us, a mock-serious look on his face. As we quietly filed past the guests and down a side corridor, I strained to look out the windows. Through trees and towers I could see the mighty Hudson and the Palisades, a golden sun shining down on the sparkling river, the green forests, boats and barges parading slowly up and down the water. I almost did feel like a king surveying his countryside, since marrying into this family set me into the top of New York's highest society. We entered a dark-paneled smoking room, and Winfield immediately set about pouring some ruby-red sherry. Damon pulled out a silver flask and right there in front of Winfield spiked his drink with blood. Human blood. â€Å"To marriage eternal,† Damon said, raising his glass. Winfield agreed energetically. â€Å"To marriage.† I just nodded and tossed back the drink, hoping the cool liquid would sate my thirst. â€Å"There's a serious matter I need to talk to you lads about.† Winfield settled his frame into a large desk chair. Damon leaned forward expectantly. I tensed in my seat, ready for whatever would come next. â€Å"The matter of a dowry.† I squeezed my hands together. Damon grinned, exposing his gleaming canines. He threw himself on to a velvet couch. â€Å"Just what I was going to ask you about, Father. You don't mind me calling you that, do you?† â€Å"Not at all, my boy,† Winfield said, offering Damon a cigar. My brother took it, carefully trimming and lighting the end in a matter so professional I wondered where he picked up the habit. The two sat puffing for a moment, releasing large clouds of smoke into the tiny room. I coughed. Damon, enjoying my discomfort, took the effort to blow a smoke ring my way. â€Å"Now here's the thing. I want you two boys to be able to stand on your own two feet. My girls deserve real men, and if anything should happen to me, I want to make sure they're taken care of.† â€Å"Of course,† Damon said, out the corner of his mouth, around the cigar. â€Å"I have several mines in Virginia; one is gold. They could use some managing. And then there are the railway shares I've bought into†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My brother widened his eyes. I looked away, unable to bear watching him compel this poor man. â€Å"I would prefer cash,† he said. â€Å"All right, that seems reasonable,† Winfield said without pause or even blinking. â€Å"An annuity, then? A living salary?† â€Å"Up front. All of it,† Damon said pleasantly. â€Å"One twentieth of my estate, capital, and holdings, then?† Winfield asked politely. â€Å"More like a quarter.† An automaton, Winfield mindlessly agreed to everything Damon suggested. But I couldn't figure it out – would this keep Winfield safe? Would Damon just keep him around, ordering whatever he pleased out of him? â€Å"I'm glad you're so concerned about taking care of my girls in the manner to which they have been accustomed,† Winfield said, but his voice sounded hollow, as if somewhere some tiny part of his mind knew something was terribly wrong. The poor man drew out some checks and a pen. In a moment it was done, and Winfield presented me with a check with so many zeroes on it, it was barely readable. Damon bared his teeth in something that was less a grin than a rictus of victory. He stood up, holding his glass of blood-laced sherry next to me. The smell was intoxicating. It took every ounce of my strength not to leap up and drain the cup. And then Winfield said the most amazing, banal thing in the world. â€Å"Those checks will take a while to clear,† he apologized, unaware of how those eight words might have just saved his life. Damon glowered, thunderheads in his eyes. It was a look of angry frustration that was famous in Mystic Falls, and something no one wanted to be responsible for causing. It was a dangerous thing to disappoint my brother. He crumpled the check in his hands. â€Å"You didn't mention that before,† he growled, waving the sherry under my nose. I stiffened, my thirst making my fangs burn. â€Å"I'm going to have to sell a great deal of my estate, capital, and holdings to get the cash to back this,† Winfield answered so plaintively it made me sick. â€Å"So do it!† Damon ordered. But I was no longer paying attention. I had to get out of the room. My Power reacted to my hunger – to my anger – and I felt the beginnings of a change. â€Å"I have to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I didn't even bother making up an excuse. I pushed my way out of the room, past my evil brother and our sad father-in-law, out of the castle, and into the black night where I belonged.

history of Bumgardner Family essays

history of Bumgardner Family essays In my paper, I want to discuss the family from Augusto County, Bumgardner family, I want to talk about their relationship with each other. The father was a farmer and distiller. The mother made a quilt for her oldest daughter, Eugenia E. Sproul, that has been past done through the years, they seem like they had strong relationship. They have two sons, William and Jacob who were both in the military. Jacob was a 1st sergeant in the Marquis Boys regiment in 1864 and William was a private in the 1st Va Cav. Eugenias husband was also in the Militia. I want to talk about their lifestyles and the symbolic quilt that Melinda McCorkle Bumgardner made. The family lived in the South, Augusto County and owned 23 slaves, the daughter, who married Archibald Sproul, who was also fought on the confederate side, owned six slaves. This family, so far seems well off, they had a large piece of land, with many animals and probably had plenty of work to keep their 23 slaves busy. I found this familys name is many sections of this website. I have searched through the public records and have found the population census, the agricultural census and the slave owner have been resourceful. I am using the section under Images and Maps about the Antibellum Quilts from the Upper Shenandoah Valley. The mother made a beautiful quilt for her daughter, and still today its being passes down the family to the next girl named Eugenia. I want to learn more about the slaves they owned and what happened to them, I am not sure how to find out the names of their slaves. I want to see if I can find any articles or letters having to do with this family. I have found no church records about them. I did want to compare this families lifestyle and way of living to another family in the northern county of Franklin, PA, but after researching on this family I realized that there is so much information I want to include and discuss. ...

Contingency Theories of Organizations Essays

Contingency Theories of Organizations Essays Contingency Theories of Organizations Essay Contingency Theories of Organizations Essay Part 2 Ob: What is the nucleus statement of eventuality theories of organisations? Discuss giving illustrations from at least one such theory. Measure the claims of this theory and measure its relevancy for organisations today. Organizations operate in many different environments and it is critical to measure how they influence their constructions. Effective and efficient organizing has become progressively of import in the modern universe characterized by rapid alterations. Eventuality attacks emphasize that in order for organisations to win they must follow a construction suitable for the environment in which they operate. There are many signifiers of eventuality theory. In general, eventuality theories are a category of behavioural theory that claim that there is no best manner to form a corporation and the organisational construction of the company. An organisational or leading manner that is effectual in some state of affairss may non be successful in others. Therefore, the best manner of forming the company, is contingent upon the internal and external state of affairs of the company. External environments influence organisations in a varied figure of ways. Critical external factors include, but are non limited to, the size of the organisation, labour markets, handiness and cost of capital, rivals, governmental Torahs and policies, managerial premises about employees, schemes, engineerings used, etc. The chief thoughts of eventuality theory are: * There is no cosmopolitan or one best manner to pull off * The design of organisations and its subsystems must fit with the environment * Effective organisations non merely have a proper fit with the environment but besides between its subsystems * The demands of an organisation are better satisfied when it is decently designed and the direction manner is appropriate both to the undertakings undertaken and the nature of the work group. Several eventuality attacks were developed at the same time in the late sixtiess. The outgrowth of the theory was the consequence of unfavorable judgments of the classical theories such as Weber s bureaucratism ( Weber, 1946 ) and Taylor s scientific direction ( Taylor, 1911 ) which had failed because they neglected that direction manner and organisational construction were influenced by assorted facets of the environment: the eventuality factors. The eventuality attack originated with the work of Joan Woodward ( 1958 ) , who declared that successful organisations in different industries with different engineerings were characterized by different organisational constructions. In this essay I will discourse three influential eventuality theories, those of Burns and Stalker ( 1961 ) , Lawrence and Lorsch ( 1967 ) and Fiedler ( 1967 ) . Tom Burns and Graham Stalker in their 1961 book, The Management of Innovation studied about 20 Scots and British electronics companies runing in progressively competitory and advanced technological markets. Their findings demonstrated that organisations runing in stable environments are really different from those which have to confront a changing and dynamic environment. The writers have discovered that differences in the manner houses approached alteration and invention related to the values and mission of the houses. Nathan birnbaums and Stalker classified the houses into 2 classs on the footing of their managerial constructions and patterns: mechanistic and organic. The writers found that mechanistic organisations, besides called bureaucratisms, are suited for comparatively stable environmental conditions. Such organisations are clearly programmed, purely controlled and hierarchically structured. Often they do non hold mission and vision statements, and alternatively depend on established regulations for counsel, mensurating success by the grade to which staff conforms to treat and process. Organizational undertakings are typically broken down into specialised activities. Persons are responsible for their specific maps in a comparative isolation from the overall organisational end. The organic organisations are more likely to be under unstable environmental conditions. Organic organisations are orientated towards consequences, have a level organisation construction alternatively of a hierarchy, and small construction in footings of procedure and regulations. They focus on consequences and employees receive positive wagess for originative and matter-of-fact parts. Given these conditions it becomes necessary to reexamine and redefine the duties, methods, inter-role relationships, and even ends on a continual footing. Nathan birnbaums and Stalker emphasized that each system is appropriate under its ain specific conditions. Neither system was superior to the other under all state of affairss. Since the 1960s much of Hagiographas in organisation theories field is a changeless argument between the machine/organ analogies, and efforts to develop growing theoretical accounts of how simple mechanistic signifiers can turn into the more complex organic signifiers. Another important survey to show the relationships between environmental features and effectual organisational constructions was conducted by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch ( 1967 ) . They studied ten US houses in three separate industries ( plastics, nutrient, containers ) that confronted changing grades of uncertainness, complexness and alteration. The research workers found that successful houses in each industry had a different grade of distinction. The houses runing in unsure, complex, quickly altering environments had more extremely differentiated internal constructions: gross revenues, production and R A ; D sections. Such organisations require the greater demand for suited mechanisms for incorporating and deciding struggles between scopes of sections. Successful houses in more homogenous and stable environment were more formalistic and hierarchal in their signifiers. Writers concluded that successful houses must hold internal constructions every bit complex as environments in which they operate. This seminal work of Lawrence and Lorsch refined the eventuality theory by showing that different markets and technological environments require different sorts of organisations, and that fractional monetary units or functional sections within an organisation might be managed in different ways, due to fluctuations ensuing from their sub-environments. Their position is ecological those organisations that can outdo adapt to the environment will last. Managerial leading has influenced organisational activities in many ways. These influences include actuating subsidiaries, budgeting scarce resources, and functioning as a beginning of communicating. Contingency theories of leading argue that no individual leading manner is effectual in all fortunes, but the leading manners are contingent on the organisational and situational context. Fred Fiedler s theory ( 1967 ) is the earliest and most extensively researched is besides known as eventuality theoretical account of leading effectivity. Fiedler s thoughts originated from trait and behavioural theoretical accounts by saying that public presentation of the group is dependent on the leader s psychological orientation and on three contextual variables: group atmosphere, undertaking construction, and leader s power place. The eventuality theoretical account underlines the importance of both the leader s personality and the state of affairs in which that leader operates. The first major factor in Fiedler s theory is known as the leading manner. This is the consistent system of interaction that takes topographic point between a leader and work group. In order to sort leading manners, Fiedler has developed an index called the Least-Preferred Coworker ( LPC ) graduated table. To acquire an LPC mark a leader is asked to believe of colleagues with whom he/she has of all time worked and take the 1 with whom the work was the most hard. Then this individual is rated on a figure of eight-point bipolar graduated tables ( friendly/unfriendly, hostile/supportive, etc. ) . The responses to these graduated tables are summed and averaged: a high LPC mark suggests that the leader has a human dealingss orientation, while a low LPC mark indicates a undertaking orientation. The 2nd major factor in Fiedler s theory is known as situational favourableness or environmental variable. This fundamentally is defined as the grade a state of affairs enables a leader to exercise influence over a group. Fiedler so extends his analysis by concentrating on three cardinal situational factors, which are leader-member, task construction and place power. For leader-member dealingss, Fiedler maintains that the leader will hold more influence if they maintain good relationships with group members who like, regard, and swear them, than if they do non. Fiedler explains that undertaking construction is the 2nd most of import factor in finding structural favourableness. He contends that extremely structured undertakings, which specify how a occupation is to be done in item provide a leader with more influences over group actions than do unstructured undertakings. Finally, as for place power, leads who have the power to engage and fire, subject and wages, have more power than those who do non. For illustration, the caput of a section has more power than a file clerk. By sorting a group harmonizing to three variables, it is possible to place eight different group state of affairss or leading manner. These eight different possible combinations were so classified as either undertaking orientation or relationship orientated. Several deductions can be derived from Fiedler s findings. First, it is non accurate to talk of effectual and uneffective leaders. Fiedler goes on by proposing that there are merely leader who perform better in some state of affairss, but non all state of affairss. Second, about anyone can be a leader by carefully choosing those state of affairss that match his or her leading manner. Last, the effectivity of a leader can be improved by planing the occupation to suit the director. For case, by increasing or diminishing a leader s place power, altering the construction of a undertaking, or act uponing leader-member dealingss, an organisation can change a state of affairs to better suit a leader s manner. The undermentioned facets can be considered as strengths of Fiedler s theory: it is prognostic and supported by a batch of empirical research, it does non necessitate that people be effectual in all state of affairss and provides a manner to measure leader manner that could be utile to an organisation. However among its failings are the fact that it is cumbrous to utilize, it does nt explicate what to make when there is a mismatch between manner and state of affairs and it does nt take into history situational variables, like preparation and experience, which besides have an impact in a leader s effectivity. Finally, there is some uncertainty whether the LPC is a true step of leading manner. In drumhead, the kernel of eventuality theory is that best patterns depend on the eventualities of the state of affairs. Contingency theory is frequently called the aˆ?it all dependsaˆ? theory, because when a eventuality theoretician is being asked for an reply, the typical response will be that it all depends. While this may sound simplistic, measuring the eventualities on which determinations depend can be a really complex. Eventuality theoreticians try to place and mensurate the conditions under which things will probably happen. Sing that organisations should achieve both external and internal tantrum to accomplish superior public presentation, at the same clip, the procedures of scheme preparation and execution are non dissociable activities ; there is a demand for an integrative attack that incorporates both schools of idea. The appropriate direction manner and organisational construction depend on the environmental context of the organisation concerned. The ability to pull off alteration is now recognized as a nucleus organisational competency. Mentions: 1. Fineman, S. , Sims, D. A ; Gabriel, Y. ( 2005 ) Forming and organisations, London, Sage. 2. Smith, M. J. ( 1984 ) . Eventuality regulations theory, context, and conformity behaviours. Human Communication Research, 10, 489-512. 3. Burns, T. , Stalker, M. ( 1961 ) . The Management of Innovation, 3rd Edition, 1994, Oxford University Press 4. Lawrence, P. R. , Lorsch, J. W. ( 1967 ) . Organization and Environment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 5. Fiedler, F. E. ( 1964 ) . A Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness. Progresss in Experimental Social Psychology ( Vol.1 ) . 149-190. New York: Academic Press. Burnes, B. ( 1996 ) , No such thing as aˆÂ ¦ a aˆ?one best wayaˆ? to pull off organisational alteration. Management determination, Vol. 34, Issue 10, pp. 10-18