The Australian and American Free

The Australian and American Freedom Rides Essay This paper quickly examines the likenesses and contrasts of the ‘Australian and American Freedom Rides’ history. All through the article, there is a conversation on what the reasons were for the dissent of the Freedom Rides. It likewise calls attention to the length of the dissent and the significant areas where they were held. The paper additionally demonstrates the various responses to the dissent and the compelling conduct it results in. The American Freedom Rides were inspired by the ‘Journey of Reconciliation’ in 1947, â€Å"led by social equality activists Bayard Rustin and George Houser†1. The Freedom Rides in America included riding a transport restricting the isolation of dark and whites riding together in buses2. Racial isolation was made illicit after the Boynton v. Virginia case, particularly in significant open places, for example, â€Å"restaurants and sitting areas in terminal serving transports that crossed state lines†3 . After the case, the Freedom Riders resisted racial isolation by observing whether the Boynton v. Virginia case law was followed. The Australian Freedom Rides were propelled by the Freedom Rides of the ‘African American Civil Rights Movement. ’ The purpose behind the Freedom Rides in Australia (as in America) was to challenge the barbarous conduct of white individuals towards individuals of color who were living in nation towns4. The Freedom Rides in Australia likewise included riding a transport simply like America, into New South Wales nation towns and fighting in segments where Aboriginal individuals were dismissed, for example, being â€Å"often denied assistance in shops, made to stand aside while others were served, restricted to their own segment in films, prohibited from clubs and bars, and barred from open swimming pools†5. The Freedom Rides in America comprised of riding into â€Å"segregated southern United States†6, it began at Washington D. C. , on May 4, 1961 and intended to arrive at New Orleans on May 17, â€Å"but they never arrived at New Orleans†7. The Freedom Rides went through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, got done with a social affair in New Orleans, Louisiana8. The span of the American Freedom Rides happened for the most part in May 1961. Not at all like in America, the Freedom Rides in Australia occurred later on the twelfth February 19659; when the University of Sydney understudies rode into the â€Å"towns in northern New South Wales which contained huge Aboriginal populations†10. One of the fundamental towns referenced was at Moree; where they fought in pools, drawing in a great deal of savagery. The Freedom Rides likewise went through Wellington, Gulargambone, Lismore, Bowraville and Kempsey. The length of the Australian Freedom Rides happened essentially in February 1965. In America, the response to the dissent was exceptionally extraordinary. All through the dissent, the Freedom Riders ran over brutality and the response of the dissent was heartless. While postponing their excursion to replace a sliced tire, â€Å"one transport was firebombed and the Freedom Riders were beaten (by a white horde). The subsequent transport was likewise assaulted and the travelers beaten†. 11 In America, there was a Freedom Ride joined by the State Highway Patrol, taking their excursion set out toward Montgomery; yet when â€Å"local police neglected to ensure them, they were again beaten†12. Like America, the Freedom Rides in Australia â€Å"gained exposure when the understudies were set upon by irate groups and set under police protection†13. The understudies squeezed into the passage of the Moree pool, simultaneously an enraged group â€Å"booed and catcalled†14. The predicament proceeded after â€Å"27 youngsters and ladies from Sydney University attempted to accompany six Aboriginal kids into the baths†15. This was one of the responses of the Freedom Riders drew consideration towards, the isolation at nearby pools. Both the American and Australian Freedom Rides challenged the isolation of highly contrasting individuals; alongside racial segregation that individuals of color experienced. Both of the Freedom Rides occurred around the 1960s which was a period of extraordinary social and social hugeness. Both of the Freedom Rides came about with rough conduct and the overall population getting forceful. All in all, the Freedom Rides were an important occasion in history which contended that racial separation ought to be restricted and everybody in the public arena ought to be acknowledged.

Dirty Dominos Essay Example for Free

Grimy Dominos Essay On April 13, 2009, a video developed on YouTube indicating a Domino’s Pizza representative †Michael Setzer †altering a customer’s food orders. Doing the shooting was Kristy Hammonds, who was on a similar move as Setzer when the occurrence happened. In the video, Setzer is shown stuffing cheddar up his nose before setting it on some garlic bread, deliberately sniffling on other food things, and in any event, cleaning his posterior with a wipe before utilizing it to wash dishes. Out of sight, Hammonds is heard chuckling and describing; â€Å"in around five minutes, they’ll be conveyed to conveyance, where someone will eat these, indeed, eating them. By 9:30pm the next night, the video had pulled in about one million perspectives. References to the video were additionally appearing in Google query items for Domino’s. The episode was likewise getting expanding news inclusion, both locally and broadly. Exacerbating the situation, the media discharged subtleties of Hammonds’ criminal record, demonstrating that she was an enlisted sex guilty party. From the outset Domino’s senior administration chose to sit idle, accepting that the publicity would fade away and the circumstance would show signs of improvement without anyone else. Be that as it may, the issue was a long way from blurring endlessly, so Domino’s felt it was important to act. To begin with, they had the video expelled from YouTube, yet various different refers to had just downloaded it, making circulation of the video difficult to control. Next the two representatives were promptly terminated and accused of sullying food disseminated to people in general. At long last, on the counsel of the nearby wellbeing division, the establishment proprietor disposed of every single open holder of food and disinfected the whole branch. In spite of these endeavors, the issue was as yet not leaving. It was turning out to be progressively certain that Domino’s expected to react publically †however how? To whom? Also, when?

December 2019 Admission Thoughts - UGA Undergraduate Admissions

December 2019 Admission Thoughts - UGA Undergraduate Admissions December 2019 Admission Thoughts It is early December, and as such we are about two weeks removed from the Early Action decision releases. At this point in time, we are getting a wide range of questions from admitted freshmen, deferred EA applicants, Regular Decision applicants and potential transfer students. As such, this blog post will go into detail about the different questions that come up this time of year. Freshman Applicants What do I do now that I am deferred from Early Action? The first thing is to be patient. The next step of the review, which is the holistic read process, takes a while and we need time to look at everything within the files of the students we will be reading. Review the deferred EA FAQ for more details about what a deferral means, and what you can then send us to help in the review. If by mid-late December you know your fall grades but your school will not release an official transcript until January or later, go ahead and put your fall grades into your Update form along with any new activities or leadership roles. When will deferred EA or RD applicants hear a final decision? We have three decision dates for freshman, with the first one being in November. The next decision date is in mid-late February, and this will be a very small group of students who are mostly RD applicants, and would have been admitted in November if they had applied Early Action. A small percentage of this group will be deferred EA applicants, with almost all of these being students who were initially incomplete for EA. The final decision date is in March, and these will be all remaining decisions. How can I demonstrate my interest in UGA so you know I will attend if admitted? You cant. UGA does not use demonstrated interest in our review, so there is no need to let us know you like us. We assume by you applying to UGA that you like us. Can you tell me more about scholarships and the timeline for receiving scholarships from UGA? We made a number of initial scholarship offers paired with the EA admission offers in November, but this process is far from being complete. We will be reviewing files between now and early April for scholarships, and we will release these offers during different points of time between now and April depending on our review process. Just like admissions, where we offer a large number of students admission knowing that some of our applicants will choose to go elsewhere, we also offer a number of scholarships with that knowledge that not all scholarship recipients will accept our admission/scholarship offer. As such, when a student declines an admission or scholarship offer, we do not then turn around and offer it to another student, as we have built this possibility into our overall admission/scholarship offer process. When is the last SAT/ACT date I can use for admission (RD or deferred EA)? The last test dates UGA can use for admission are the December 2019 exams. When you take the exam, make sure to have these scores sent to UGA as soon as possible. We will be importing these scores in December and January, but we will cut out the importing of scores sometime in later January. You can track the sending of SAT scores through your College Board account, and then by going to the Score Sends tab (ACT does not have this as of yet). you can also see all of the scores UGA has received on your status page. As a Regular Decision applicant, when do I need to submit the application and the supporting materials? The deadline for RD applicants is midnight EST on January 1, and we suggest not waiting until the last second to hit submit. The deadline for supplemental materials (counselor and teacher recommendations and a HS transcript) to be sent is January 8. We suggest you go ahead and work with both your counselor and teacher(s) now to make sure the Secondary School Report and recommendations will be sent in on time. For test scores, we need for you to have both taken and have requested UGA as a score recipient by January 8 (this does not mean we need the scores in our file by 1/8, only that they have been taken and requested). When will I know about Honors Program admissions? The Honors Application opened up on December 1, and only the Honors Program can tell you more about admissions to their program. As a deferred EA applicant or RD applicant, what are my chances of admission now that the EA decisions have been released? I have no ability to predict a students chances of admission, whether it is in EA, deferred EA or RD. Every year is different from the next, and every applicant pool varies from year to year on size and academic/co-curricular strengths. Data on previous years are not an accurate predictor of current year admissions, so right now everyone (including me) just needs to wait and see what the overall applicant pool is like and then give us time to review the individual files. I expect that we will be admitting a similar number of freshmen overall (last year it was 13,000+ total freshman admitted), and so we have a large number of students still to admit since we admitted 7,000+ in EA. Transfers When will the Transfer Application for Summer/Fall 2020 be open? The transfer application for next year will open up on January 22nd. We will begin reviewing transfer files in February, and decisions will go out every Friday beginning in March and going through early May. We cannot guess when a specific transfer decision will go out, as it depends on a number of variables. Can an exception be made for the March 1 application and transcript(s) deadline for transfers, or is there a possibility of conditional admission if I do not have 30 completed transfer hours on a transcript by March 1? We do not make exceptions for the transfer deadline, and we do not offer conditional admission to students. Transfer applicants must have 30 or more completed hours of work showing on an official transcript by March 1 in order to be considered for transfer admission. Are AP credits and DE work used in transfer decisions? Yes, we can use coursework from another college that is credit for AP work and/or DE work taken in HS as a part of our transfer review, but the work MUST be on an official transcript from another college, and the work must be shown as actual coursework from that other college (so for example ENGL 1101, 3 hours.) If it is not on an official college transcript or if it is not an actual course with credit hours from that college, we cannot use it in our review.

Gilgamesh, Achilles and the Human Condition Essay

Gilgamesh, Achilles and the Human Condition Gilgamesh and Achilles, each heroes of their respective epic tales, embody the whole array of typical heroic attributes. They stand above. They are men set apart. They operate somehow in that area that lies between average mortals and the gods themselves. They are stronger, faster, more wily than those they face in battle. They overcome. They are men who stand alone in their various strengths. They are also susceptible to weakness. Each of them, at pivotal times in their stories, are reduced to debilitating grief. They are brought low. At least for a moment, they are given the clarity to see some of the errors in their ways. They stand alone. But it is now different from the typical†¦show more content†¦Maybe these heroes, in being given the opportunity to see who they really ought to be, are faced with the fact that their actual selves are in fact in direct opposition to their true selves i.e., the selves they could and should be. As each of these episodes plays out, however, the reader is confronted with the question of whether or not these moments of breakthrough are ultimately fruitful. In other words, do the heroes, in fact, learn anything? In order to address this problem, it is necessary to grapple a bit with the tension between the potency of fate versus that of free will in these tales. Are these characters even able to learn? Are they able to make free choices regarding the unfolding of their lives? Or are they predestined to follow the classic path of the tragic hero? Is there any such thing as the Choice of Achilles? What does all this say about the human condition, not just in literature but for ordinary, everyday human beings? Do we have any control over the type of persons we become? Is there a fixed destiny in store for all of us? Some combination of the two? Before these larger questions can be addressed, it is necessary to begin with the texts before us. And in order to learn something about the significance of these moments of vulnerability and breakthrough for these heroes, it is important to establish the respective contexts from which they arise. The immediate cause for Gilgameshs being broughtShow MoreRelatedHeros and Sidekicks Eastern Western and Modern Mythology. Achillies and Patroclus, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Batman and Robin1713 Words   |  7 Pagesrelationships between Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad, and Batman and Robin in the graphic novel Death in the Family. This essay will explore the similarities and differences between these important pieces of literature. The three mythologies are quite different in relation to the three pairs’ relationships with each other. The Iliad takes place during the Heroic age on the Peloponnese and the kingdom of Troy. Achilles knew Patroclus since theyRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh Essay1801 Words   |  8 PagesTonisia Tutt Professor Andre World Literature 1 October 11, 2015 The Epic of Gilgamesh does not quite have a happy end. Truthfully, Gilgamesh is not successful in his mission. It is shortsighted and deceived to expect that Gilgamesh, the saint, must be effective in his journey to hold the characteristics of courage. An unsuccessful journey not harsh any more than a courageous ending is essentially joyful. For recognitions of this, we need to look no more distant than the plenty of thoughtful legendsRead MoreMythology in the Ancient World2263 Words   |  10 Pagesrelied heavily on mythology to entertain, to answer questions, to explain and to implement social expectations. But most importantly, it allowed these people to explain the creation of the universe, the birth of mankind, the forces of nature, human condition and the purpose of life. As a result, myths can be considered essential for certain groups of peoples to explain the powerful forces that shape and affect their lives. These are evident in the mythology of Rome, Greece, Christian myt hs, the NorseRead MoreAncient Times, The Epic Of Gilgamesh1756 Words   |  8 PagesIn ancient times, the Epic is developing. It is a long prose poem that carries major national values and that narrates the exploits and virtues of a male, a hero. The oldest epic develops in antiquity, it is entitled The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic is a story narrating a great general action to symbolize and fix it in time. It also serves to highlight the interest of the people: religion, unity, patriotism, its territory, its culture. The action is major and central, despite many side events, itsRead MoreZeus Vs. Greek God Essay2252 Words   |  10 PagesZeus apparently swallowed his pregnant wife and she gave birth to Athena in Zeus s head which had to be split open to release the kid; well actually Athena was born fully grown and armed (and presumably clothed as well). Now I put to you that no human in even the wildest drug induced state would conjure up such a fantasy. Instead, this is a misin terpretation of some sort of high-tech alien process little understood by the ancient Greek historians. See below for further analysis. Secondly, ZeusRead MoreEssay on The Odyssey21353 Words   |  86 Pagestakes part in the Trojan War on the side of Agamemnon. Of all the heroes who return from the war, his homeward voyage is the longest and most perilous. Although Odysseus is in many ways a typical Homeric hero, he is not perfect, and his very human flaws play an important role in the work. Penelope - the much-enduring wife of Odysseus and the patient mother of Telemachus. If travel is Odysseus test, staying home is Penelopes. She keeps home and family intact until Odysseus can return

Notes On The Ohio State University - 1851 Words

Vy Do 4502 Leadership Paper The Ohio State University October 20th, 2015 Patrick Solitano is a married, middle aged, Caucasian adult male. Patrick is currently living at home with his parents. He is undiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, experiences manic episodes, and angry and violent reactions. In his immediate household, Patrick’s father, Patrick Solitano Sr. seems to have obsessive compulsive tendencies and gambles on sport events. He is undiagnosed with any disorders, but the characteristics seem to be there. His mother Dolores seems to want to help her family, but she enables the bad habits and seems to make things worse sometimes. However, she is also a mediator, when the family argues. Pat’s older brother Jake seems to†¦show more content†¦It is unsaid, but she could have borderline personality disorder because of her extreme emotional reactions, unstable interpersonal relationships, compulsive and impulsive sexual activity, lack of anger management, and self-harm. Ronnie is dealing with a new child, a demanding wife, and dealt with Patrick when he went away. Ronnie’s wife, Veronica completely shreds Ronnie’s confidence and seems to control most aspects of his life. Pat met Danny, while he was in treatment, and Danny has an anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, used crystal meth, and was in treatment because he assaulted someone. Danny, as well as Pat’s friends and family have their own issues that they need to work out. However, Patrick is in denial that he has any issues, but he recently discovered that his wife was cheating on him and was involved in a physical altercation, with the man his wife was cheating on him with. The altercation resulted in Patrick being sent to a psychiatric treatment facilitation for inpatient treatment. After eight months of treatment, Patrick was released from the treatment center, but against his doctor’s recommendation. However, the court determined that he was stable enough to be released, as long as he was complying with his wife†™s restraining order, attend therapy and medicines prescribed. As Pat’s case progresses, we see many sides of him and how he handles certain situations and influences that come his way. Patrick seems to have

EA Games Free Essays

string(57) " seriously to the point they will do a complete rewrite\." Change is part of organizational growth and survival in our modern global economy. If an organization is going to grow and survive, it needs more than traditional strategic business plans. One of the principal drivers of competition is technological advancements. We will write a custom essay sample on EA Games or any similar topic only for you Order Now Company’s can develop a strong competitive advantage through the strategic use of information technology. This white paper will discuss information technology (IT) concepts that have successfully been utilized by other organizations. The purpose is to benchmark how other companies have successfully implemented information technology and how SaveWithUS can conceptualize these strategies. The focus of IT is not just on the internal applications or computer systems that reside on the network; rather the focus is the strategic approach that information systems can have to support the business plans, goals, and objectives of the organization. Ultimately, a strategic approach to information technology should improve a company’s competitive advantage, business intelligence, reduce costs, increase margin, streamline business processes speed, accuracy, and reliability, communication, data based decision making, and increase overall customer value (Mickler, 2008). Many start-up companies develop a business plan but rely heavily on their own experience when it comes to business decision making rather than facts that an existing company would use. As the company grows, mistakes become more costly, they will rely more and more in information to base sound decisions. SaveWithUS is at the juncture where business decisions need to be based on facts not guesses. To remain competitive and profitable, SaveWithUS needs to reduce costs of merchandise manufactured and products purchased for resale. Technology has changed the way information is captured, stored, processed, analyzed, distributed, communicated; and the organizational infrastructure which is used to reduce costs, increase profits, and gain a competitive advantage. The effective use of information technology requires an organization and cultural change. The most important component in the change equation is making the decision to change. If resistance to change permeates, this will lead to the breakdown and irrelevancy of what was once a strong organization (CTU Online, 2008). Change is forever part of business sustainability. Understanding the external business environment can improve the strategic approach that an organization should adopt in a competitive market. A highly competitive environment includes multiple firms targeting he same market to win the same business. The external environment has forces which business must contend with for survival. Michal Porter has devised a five forces model that focus on these external pressures. The five pressures are 1) rivalry among existing competition, 2) threats of substitute products, 3) bargaining power of suppliers, 4) bargaining power of channels and end users, 5) barriers to entry. This model can be very helpful to think of competition in its broadest sense which suggests areas for competitive posture. Porter’s five-force’s model provides the framework to judge an organizations position and analyze a business level strategy which will describe how an organization competes in the marketplace (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). These are just a few reasons why information technology is the critical infrastructure of any organization. The case study referenced herein is Electronic Arts (EA), the leading independent video game publishing company, producing popular titles such as The Sims, Madden NFL, and Medal of Honor. They also publish games based on Hollywood franchises such as the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Godfather. Nestled in Silicon Valley, Electronic Arts is a very successful organization with more than 50 best-sellers that sold more than a million copies each. Many people would believe that Electronic Art’s is a video game development company which base its success from the rich talent pool of creative people, artists, animators, programmers, and technicians. This is a highly competitive industry and getting more competitive every year with a fickle customer base. EA has competitors such as Activision, Take-Two, and Vivendi Games which all sell strong in the marketplace. It would be reasonable to assume they also have a highly talented staff of developers and creative artists. EA is successful because they are the model of a stellar management company. According to EA president and COO John Riccitiello, â€Å"EA pulls it off by honing the way that it develops and markets games: by thinking of its products as emotional, cinematic experiences, not toys. † Electronic Arts is in the business of delivering a total entertainment experience. The company built its creativity on a foundation of management discipline (Salter, 2007). EA understands the completive landscape and performs extensive due diligence. Riccitiello has stated, â€Å"We often know more about the feature set of our competition’s products than our competition does. † Electronic Arts recognizes that gaining a competitive advantage will not materialize because of slicker graphics, audio, or better storylines than the competition; consumers expect these features to improve over time and that is part of the gaming industry. EA knows that the high-tech imagery features they develop today will only be copied tomorrow which will not provide long-term advantage. EA has strong competitive intelligence, forecasting, budgeting, timing, and methodical project management disciplines. EA uses information technology to store financial data, sales data, important customer data, competitive data, and offer access to share this information across business units. EA has the discipline of sharing best practices and technologies using intranet libraries. This enables data to become more accurate and to be shared or broadcast faster through a more reliable means (Mickler, 2008). An e-business strategy can be defined as the electronic means of internal and external communications for an organization. Internally, employees can use a private intranet to share information, facilitate knowledge dissemination, management reporting, collaborate with business partners, sales promotions, and competitive intelligence, all of these features and more can be used with the development of an intranet. EA is diligent to understand their customers. They know that what is real to their consumers is what is on TV. Electronic Arts believes in gaining better understanding of their audience through the use of focus groups. These are non-EA groups of gamers and EA takes their recommendations seriously to the point they will do a complete rewrite. You read "EA Games" in category "Essay examples" Traditionally, the gaming industry is male dominated. Industry demographics suggest the target audience is male between the ages of 16 and 24. EA wants to expand their market beyond the typical gaming demographics. However, EA proceeds with caution not to lose current customers that do not want to see dumbed down products. When making complex decisions on marketing strategies and tactics, it is important look at hard data to in decision making. Information technology can provide the means of using marketing intelligence, trends, economic data, competitive market data, technological, demographics, government sources, and cultural and social information to provide a solid foundation upon from which to draw (Salter, 2007). Using e-business strategies such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools can identify important customer data to develop products and service specific to their needs, wants, and desires. The result of their data was a game titled the SIMS which attracts customers of all ages, thus developing new markets with different set of wants, needs, and desires. In addition, e-business is a means to reduce customer and supplier expenses, meet customer and supplier needs in a defect-free manner, and improve the speed in which these functions can take place. Knowledge management tools are processes the organization will employ to collect, store, analyze, and distribute information. Information technology offers data mining technique which are the convergence of technologies that provide computations to make sense of all the information stored (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). The maturity of an information system in an organization can have a direct effect on the speed, accuracy, and reliability of its data processing. Information technology can eliminate the manual logging of paperwork, eradicate human error and increase speed, accuracy and reliability of the information stored (Mickler, 2008). Some of the mundane tasks can become completely automated through bar code scanners and other technology which will reduce labor costs, increase accuracy of data, and induce inventory cost controls (Mickler, 2008). I addition, information technology can improve the manufacturing process while meeting customer demands and reduce costs. In an effort to accurately control inventory costs, SaveWithUS should consider Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing and including technology to help reduce costs. JIT does not use the conventional ways of producing products with large batch sizes at high volumes. The JIT philosophy is where machine operators produce only the items needed, when it is requested, and on time. Information technology also plays a vital role in measuring the return on investment for these new processes (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). Computer inventory management systems can control and coordinate delivery of raw materials or components from suppliers with production schedule, thereby minimizing inventory carrying costs. It is absurd to realize management can not track the percentage of repeat business, the accuracy of the expense of manufacturing costs, and sales goods of sold (CTU Online, 2008). The objective of SaveWithUS needs to be the development of a realistic business strategy that has full support of top management, established clear goals, development of long-term customer relationships, and provides maximum value. Bringing quality value to the customer is vital in the competitive and global business world. A competitive advantage is achieved when an organization has integrated information technology in the business activities with the value chain more cost-effectively than the competition. The goal of a business is to sell their products and services and keep customers buying in the future by means of adding value. Customers exchange something of value, such as money, for the products and services an organization produces. Strategic planning allows an organization to recognize how the customer sees the value of a company’s product or service and helps better position their goods in the market to make a profit (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). Strategic plans will use resources of people, money, facilities, and technical capabilities that are required in order to achieve the goals and objectives. The goal of information technology is to support these efforts and add value of speed, accuracy, and reliability (Mickler, 2008). In the games industry, success, novelty, and great innovative designs do not automatically mean that a company will enjoy long-term success. In fact, the annals of the gaming publishing industry is eroded with once triumphant companies that currently are no longer existence. It takes a distinct mixture of success and business savvy to stay afloat and competitive. This review is hypothetical, created solely to fulfill course task requirements. The review of and title of an article depicts Electronic Arts (from now EA) as â€Å"Playing to Win†, the fact is that they are indeed playing the business game to win. EA is one of the world’s foremost reliant interactive software developing and publishing company. Since its inception, EA has garnered more than 700 awards for outstanding software in the U. S. and Europe. According to their own on-line career opportunity web site EA(2010) they say that EA markets its products worldwide under four brand logos and has over 33 product franchises that have reached more than a million unit sales worldwide. We will discuss more about their target market audiences in the next two sections. EA see themselves as a company that provides a product to it’s target market that appeals in the sense of interactive cinematic gaming experience. According to Salter (2002) Computer and video games are a bigger business than the movies, and the biggest force in games is Electronic Arts a company whose blockbuster titles dazzle millions of customers and generate billions of dollars in sales. As the world leaders in interactive entertainment we can say that EA’s most important competitive advantage is the fact they have lasted 20 years in the business and has gathered enough experience to leverage heritage into the entertainment gaming industry. Their other advantage is that they allow their 12 developing studios innovation freedom while impressing the discipline to meet deadlines. This means that it’s not all about gaming but also about planning, and management having a good business plan in place and a good vision is certainly a good competitive advantage. This is corroborated by Rabin (2010) when he says that the business plan developed was visionary and had three key elements: first, that the creative talent at the company would be treated like artists, involved in the marketing, and generally revered more than at other companies in the industry; second, that they would develop proprietary tools and technology that would enable them to quickly develop their titles cross-platform; and third, that they would handle the distribution to stores. Their primary target market (audience) is the users of advanced entertainment systems. The customary gamers are males in between the ages 16-through 24 year of ages. EA has continue to expand and move their traditional demographics As the market expands, their enthusiasts is to figure out how to publish products for people who are not the within the traditional demographic model. The fact is that EA’s present their content to a wide general audience appealing to all key demographic market segments by logically brainstorming their products as an emotional experience, How do they create an emotional experience? The emotional experience is created through offering their target markets a highly targeted campaign contributing the opportunity for the user to interact with the game. It’s a simple but very radical idea in which the users is part of the cinematic experience, therefore the user does not see the game as a toy but as an appealing realistic experience. Currently, their specific target market audience comprises a wide general range of users utilizing advance game consoles, personal computer system, video game consoles such as Nintendo, Play Station, Play Stations, and numerous others. Let’s clarify one thing about game publishing companies. They are exactly just that â€Å"Publishers† , they don’t consider themselves to be developers. The game entertainment publishing arena is quite busy and extremely competitive. Beside having fun and playing games it takes discipline to be creativity and code award winning games. This is a fact that is corroborated by Salter (2010) when he writes that it takes a tough company to make entertaining games. Salter quotes the president and COO of â€Å"The forgotten aspect of creativity is discipline,† beside discipline it takes a good development team and a good project manager with a sense of scheduling, creating buzz about the product through a hard core marketing campaign. Everything centers around information technology especially the discipline of methodically managing their projects, their information technology systems play a large aspect of their success through regimented collaborative best practices across their an intranet library. In closing in my opinion what makes Electronic Arts a potential winner is their ability to take ingenious people who are highly motivated and talented and create excessive amounts of value. Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSâ„ ¢, EAâ„ ¢, EA SPORTS Freestyle â„ ¢ and POGOâ„ ¢. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3. 67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. We were tasked to improve the functionality of the site, both technically and visually. The technical aspects of keeping up with ncreased user demands and features and facilities offered by the site were all dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction. It was felt that the site architecture and the user experience still left room for improvement, and we have lots to offer to fill this need. It was also important to ensure that the CRM and frontend complimented one another visually. Above all, we wanted the access site to offer an equivalent experience to the Flash site, rather than an alternative one. Our reputation as designers with flair for translating a company’s brand onto their website and for creating great user experiences got us this project. We were given the responsibility of revamping the entire site to reflect the brand of the company. Creating a site that was easily scalable and low on maintenance was also one of the primary requirements. We made the site made very light and the download speeds were reduced substantially. Only a few colors were used through most of the site, and two other colours were used where some differentiation was needed. Style sheets were created to keep the vast amount of content consistent visually. A clean, slightly serious and professional look was given to the entire site. How to cite EA Games, Essay examples

Response to Reform Health System

Question: Discuss about the Response to Reform Health System. Answer: Introduction: Thank you for your response and I agree with your comment on implications of RSBY scheme for quality of care. The government should not only focus on the accessibility of the health care facilities by the beneficiaries of the poor families, but also on the quality of the care. However, presently just 53.9% of the below poverty lines families have enrolled for the scheme in India. It implies that the primary challenge is increasing awareness to ensure 100% involvement. In addition, minimising the fraud and corruption in India is a biggest challenge than thinking about accreditation right now. I agree that the out-of-pocket payment should be minimised. The coverage of Rs. 30,000 per family per would not suffice for treating chronic illness such as Diabetes and worsen the quality of care. Thank you for your response and I agree with your comment on safety and acceptability. Unnecessary services and fraudulent claims by hospitals as also mentioned by Girish would only lead to wastage of resources rather than enhancing health benefits. The other challenge for the government is to improve medical investment into unserved and rural areas rather than ubran areas. Therefore, the government should seek companies such as Global health care system to expand infrastructure in rural areas and improve the quality of care. People do face challenges such as delay in the settlement of payments, which is another drawback. Thank you for additional information on the improvement of out-of-pocket payment system. References Dror DM, Vellakkal S. Is RSBY India's platform to implementing universal hospital insurance?. Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2012 Jan 16;135:56-63. Nandi A, Ashok A, Laxminarayan R. The socioeconomic and institutional determinants of participation in Indias health insurance scheme for the poor. PloS one. 2013 Jun 21;8(6):e66296.

Billy Beane Changing the Game Case

Based on Billy beane â€Å"changing the game† case, explain why and how the Oakland A’s economic situation after 1995 shaped its Compensation strategy In 1995, when the Oakland A team was sold out, Alderson realized that he had to adopt a different approach so that the Oakland A’s would be able to compete well with other teams. In this case, he went ahead and embraced the on-base percentage system, explaining that, if he could get every player to play his part on the production line, then he could pay less for runs than the going rate.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Billy Beane: Changing the Game Case specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, the better the players played, the higher they were paid by the association. This was done to boost the players morale and increase loyalty, thus avoiding poaching of Oakland A’s players by other organizations. Staffing One of the roles of human resources department involves hiring the most competent employees for the firm through a formal and rigorous selection process, as well as creating a conducive working environment that ensures all the recruited staff remain in the firm for most of their productive life. However, in the contemporary business world, most organizations often outsource some of the processes to recruitment agencies, since they are cheaper to deal with, and the company will not have to undergo the entire process. In the Oakland A‘s organization, Billy Beane recruited the players depending on the skills they seemed to posses. He relied on a method called, scouting, in which, he used a five-tool theory that consisted of the following elements: hitting for average, hitting for power, running speed, arm’s strength, and the field ability. In this approach, he used a checklist to indicate how many tools a player possessed. In the system of money ball collected baseball experts that included: players, coaches and managers, and is often subjective.Runs battle in, and battling statistics were used to gauge players; they were the only statistics that were available at the time. Lewis (2003) argues that â€Å"the Oakland A’s’ front office took advantage of more empirical gauges of player performance to field a team that could compete successfully against richer competitors.†Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The management of the Oakland A paid the best players well as a way of retaining them and keeping them from been poached by other competitive baseball agencies (Pedersen et al, 2010). This is in realization that well compensated players will tend to commit their efforts and loyalty to the team. Training and development strategies After Billy beane adopted the system of selecting players based on the 5-tool method, the players went through training. Keeping in mind that they were the best in their high school teams, they did not need much training. They had the notion that their capability in individual performances was crucial in winning games even without having to train for long periods. Primarily, baseball is usually dependent on individual performances. According to Lewis (2004, p. 423), â€Å"in football, a play can only succeed if all players on a team work together in terms of blocking, running, catching, and throwing,† while for baseball to be of numeric value, every pitch, hit, catch or throw depends on a player’s efforts. In this case, when a team comprises of player who are competent in hitting, catching, and throwing, there is a high possibility of being formidable in all games played. Explain how compensation, staffing, and training strategies were aligned with each other to create an overall HR strategy for the Oakland A’s organization Billy Beane employed the use of checklist as a way of hiring players due to the fact that the approach was relatively efficient and reliable. According to Lewis (2003, P. 423), the success of the Oakland was via the application of a unique scientific evaluation method and selection of athletics talent. A checklist assists an organization to systematize and perfectise its hiring process, depending on how many employees it wants to hire at that particular time. In addition, a checklist on how to hire an employee helps you keep track of your recruiting efforts, since one is able to choose between different character and ability of an employee. In addition, a checklist acts as a communication aid during the recruitment process all the way to the completion of hiring process. Moreover, it is employed in training programs for new players. Therefore, having merged the three strategies, the Oakland management was able to lead the Oakland A’s to various wins.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Billy Beane: Changing the Game Case specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, despite these few merits, there are some potential problems encountered with some human resource strategies used by the Oakland organization. These include staffing strategies, whereby, selection used checklist as a way of selecting potential players as they play. As much as there are advantages to this method, it also contains several limitations, thus it is a poor way of selecting players. First, the checklist method is a behaviorally based approach to performance appraisal that requires raters to observe employees’ behavior and record performance related judgments about these behaviors. The checklist method may be biased in distinguishing the best, average, and poor characteristics of employees. Secondly, it is expensive and time consuming, especially for an organization like Oakland which is large, and may need to rate several players. Moreover, some very ess ential characteristics may pass unnoticed since the method is conducted on sight, hence becoming difficult for the manager to evaluate the athletes effectively. References Lewis, M. (2004). Moneyball. Retried from https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/0-393-32481-8.html Lewis M. (2003). Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. New York: W.W. Norton. Pedersen, P. M. et al. (2010). Contemporary Sports Management. New York: Human Kinetics. This coursework on Billy Beane: Changing the Game Case was written and submitted by user Eli Reyes to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Book Review Song of Solomon

Book Review Song of Solomon Summary of the Book The central theme in Toni Morrison’s book, â€Å"Song of Solomon†, is the quest for self-identity. In the novel, the author narrates the life journey of a young man, â€Å"Milkman† Dead, who lacks enthusiasm for his life, is alienated from his relatives, his cultural roots and his community.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Book Review: Song of Solomon specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At first, Milkman appears psychologically and spiritually enslaved, but later, his aunt, Pilate, and his ally, Bains, help him to embark on a journey of self-discovery. It is through his quest for spiritual and physical restoration that Milkman is able to relate to his inner self and regain his sense of self-worth. The events of Milkman’s journeys span over thirty years. In part I of the book (Chapters 1-9), Morrison narrates Milkman’s early life in his hometown, a small town in Mich igan. From his birth to his early thirties, Milkman is spiritually empty; his aunt’s conservative tendencies and the father’s worldly lifestyle could not help him grow spiritually. At one time, Milkman’s father and his sister, Pilate, are forced to flee their home following their father’s killing over land. Later, following a disagreement, they go separate ways only to meet again in this small town in Michigan. The two still have a grudge against one another and could not communicate. Towards the end of part I, Milkman sets out on a quest to find his aunt’s hidden gold, which, according to his father, would become his inheritance. In part II, Milkman travels to the South ostensibly to search for gold (his inheritance). His quest leads him to a farm in Danville, Pennsylvania, his grandfather’s home. He would later trace his lineage to a small town, Shalimar, in Virginia and go there. It is in this small town that his quest ends when Milkman m eets his paternal relatives and discovers his true self-identity. Developing Milkman’s Quest Morrison uses many narrative elements in part I in developing Milkman’s quest in the American South in part II. One such narrative element is setting. The South harbors Milkman’s past history particularly slavery in the South. Morrison uses the name â€Å"Southside†, Pilate’s residence in the town, to denote their southern ancestry, the origins of the Black population. Thus, Pilate’s place gives Milkman a direct emotional connection to his ancestors in the South. Also, Morrison predicts the importance of Milkman’s journey to his southern ancestral home when he states that Milkman’s walk in the Not Doctor Street was dreamlike and strange following his quarrel with his father.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More His quarrel with his father marks a turning point in his life as he learns of his father’s materialistic tendencies over family traditions. Also, in part I, as Milkman walks down this street to his aunt’s Southside residence, he encounters people â€Å"all going the direction he was coming from (78). Here, Morrison signals that in order for Milkman to discover his identity, he will have to go against the grain and transcend not only the Northward migration of the Black population but also his selfish desires and pleasures. Morrison, in part I, narrates Milkman’s inquisitiveness to know the meaning of one’s name to signify Milkman’s as well as his ancestral origins. It is the South that harbors the secrets of Milkman’s ancestral past and the origin of his family name, which they lost because of their high mobility. As his father explains, Macon Dead, was the name given to his grandfather by a Freedman Bureau official, which the Macon family kept because Milkman’s mother insisted that it was new and would wipe out the past (53). His father’s explanation marked another turning point as Milkman later sets out to find his family origins and his true identity. By dropping their family name the Macon family lost their traditions and history. The surname is significant to the family as it gives them a sense of self-determination. Thus, Morrison uses Milkman’s urge to know his family name in part I to herald his subsequent quest to the South to discover his heritage and self-identity. Another narrative element Morrison uses in part I of the novel to herald Milkman’s journey in part II is sequencing of events. Milkman’s self-alienation and disaffection to his family and the black community required complete restoration. He had lost his sense of heritage and therefore, could not relate well with his family or community. Morrison first symbolizes Milkman’s uniqueness during his birth. He narrates tha t Milkman is born, the first Black baby, in an all-White hospital called Mercy Hospital. Morrison also narrates how Milkman’s prolonged breastfeeding distinguishes him from other children. At only age four, after Milkman learns that people cannot fly, he loses â€Å"all interest in himself and likewise has no interest in those around him (9). The author narrates how Morrison was excluded by other children while growing up. His siblings treated him with â€Å"casual malice† (10), which, ironically, made Milkman, from an early age, to develop the urge to seek answers about his true identity and familial origins. The social exclusion Milkman suffers marks a turning point in his life as he realizes that he is different from other kids. It also makes him to seek to find out about his ancestry, hence his quest to the South. As Milkman becomes older, his life is fraught with failures, partly because of his childhood alienation and lack of empathy and self-awareness. Morrison narrates that, at 22 years of age, Milkman still acts and behaves as a child. He writes that Milkman had not â€Å"thought of his mother as a person, a separate individual, with a life apart from allowing or interfering with his own (75).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Book Review: Song of Solomon specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Also, Morrison portrays Milkman’s perceptions as inaccurate and self-centered. He assaults his father to please his mother but learns that â€Å"there was no one to thank him-or abuse him, his action was his alone (68). This marks another turning point in his life, as he learns that he is responsible for his actions and by extension, his destiny. Morrison also gives his point of view regarding Milkman’s actions. He states that Milkman’s â€Å"sleeping with Hagar had made him generous, or so he thought, wide-spirited, or so he imagined (69). The author’s poin t of view portrays Milkman as a self-absorbed and selfish young man, with no dream in life. It is no wonder the prospect of hidden treasures (gold) makes him set out on a quest to find it. Morrison also gives his views about Milkman’s adulthood dream. He states that Milkman contemplated relocating from the Not Doctor Street to a new place with â€Å"new people, new command. That was what he wanted in his life† (180). The author’s views and sequencing technique to herald Milkman’s future quest to the South. Magical Realism in the Book Morrison uses many examples of magical realism to advance the novels’ themes. One such example relates to his use of descriptions that appeal sense perceptions such as odors, tastes and colors. For instance, he describes the realistic, yet the mysterious quality of the smell of ginger, when he compares his hometown in Michigan with a mystical place in the Far East. He writes: â€Å"An odor like crystallized ginger, or sweet iced tea with a dark clove floating in it†¦ made you think of the East and striped tents and the sha-sha-sha of leg bracelets†¦.† (184). His magical description evokes emotions of Milkman’s lost personal identity and culture. It helps to elaborate the novel’s realistic themes of bemoaning lost culture and personal identity. It underscores Milkman’ and his friend’s (Guitar) search for self-identity, which is a key theme of the book. Another example of magical realism occurs in chapter 11. In this scene, Morrison describes the sounds made by the hunting dogs during the hunt. He describes the sounds as â€Å"all those shrieks, those rapid tumbling barks, the long sustained yells, the tuba sounds, and the drumbeat sounds†¦ (278). His depiction of the voices, though, distinctive and realistic, is, in time and space, shrouded in mystery. Morrison also links the conscious experiences and the memories of the characters’ past li ves. Morrison uses this approach to advance the novel’s theme of the search for one’s self-identity as exemplified by Milkman’s search. It is through his epic search for self consciousness that readers understand the significance of familial and communal identity in his life.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another example of magical realism that involves personal consciousness occurs in chapter 10. Morrison describes Circe’s house as â€Å"looking as if it had been eaten by a galloping disease, the sores of which were dark and fluid† (220). She then proceeds to describe what is going on in Milkman’s memory including his flight from his hometown in Michigan to Pennsylvania, his final chat with his personal friend, Guitar, his journey on to Circe’s house and his interaction with his father’s friends before returning to Circe’s house where Milkman is. This approach of superimposing past memories with the present is an important magical realism technique that helps Morrison to describe the dynamics of the characters’ conscious experiences. A new sense of self-identity transforms the once narcissistic Milkman into an empathic man as shown in his realistic interaction with his girlfriend, Sweet: â€Å"He made up the bed. She gave him gumbo t o eat. He washed the dishes†¦ He scoured her tub (285). Here, Morrison encourages greater consciousness among the black people to seek to understand their history and community identity. Her description of how Milkman connected with his personal and familial consciousness borders magical realism. Milkman, in chapter 15, on completing his quest, reflects on the people he has interacted with and how they helped shape his destiny. He becomes conscious of his familial and community origins as shown in the list of names of his black kinsmen. Morrison uses this mental imagery to illustrate the book’s theme of personal and community sense of identity. Toni Morrison’s Female Character Portrayal Morrison depiction of the female characters in the novel illustrates the defects of gender relations among the blacks. She portrays female characters as crucial in the development of personal and community identity. All the females Milkman interacts with, though he mistreats them, help him discover his self-identity. One such female character is Pilate, an influential figure in Milkman’s life, who, unlike Macon Dead, is conservative and disdainful of Macon’s materialistic lifestyle. Morrison uses Pilate to represent the deep connection that females have to their people and ancestors. A stark contrast to Pilate values her ancestry and longs for a reunion with her relatives in the South. However, to her brother, Macon, kinship is not important. Pilate plays a crucial role in Milkman’s life. Her incomplete song makes Milkman to seek for the missing words of the song later in the book. The words of her song are symbolic because she is attempting to assist Milkman discover his identity. At the end of the book, Milkman gets all the words and is able to sing the entire song, which makes him feel that he has found his true identity. Pilate helps Milkman, who had lost all personal and cultural consciousness because his father was ‘deadâ€⠄¢ emotionally, to discover himself. Thus, Pilate helps to develop an emotional connection to his ancestors. Morrison also portrays female characters as role models. In the novel, all of Milkman’s role models are females who guided him throughout his life. Even his close male friend, Guitar, is a rogue murderer who could not guide Milkman. In the end, Milkman discovers that Pilate’s teachings were relevant to his final destiny, though, initially, he had sidelined her. As it turns out, Pilate is the most influential figure in Milkman’s quest for self-identity. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage International, 1977. Print.

Where are you going, where have you been joyce carol oates Research Paper

Where are you going, where have you been joyce carol oates - Research Paper Example The story is reflection of the dangers faced by people during the Civil Rights movement during the mid 1960s. During this period, people started challenging the moral and social conventions after the World War II. This was a time of Civil Right Movement and popular cultures. Some of the incidences that proved the dangers of rebellion includes JFK killing. Just like Connie in the story, JFK died for being rebellious during the same era in which Oates wrote her story. Lyndon and Kennedy were both the presidents of the United States who fought for Civil rights. Kennedy supported the campaign against racial segregation and supported civil rights. However, he later distanced himself from the movements because many Southern Whites were not happy. He thought it would be difficult to pass civil rights laws with the strong opposition from the whites. Fighting for civil right led to his killing in the year 1963. Lyndon also fought by signing the civil right bill which prohibited discrimination on racial grounds (Gaines 3). Oates was also inspired to write her book during the time of Martin Luther and Malcolm X. The two leaders demonstrated the dangers of rebellion during the era of civic right movements. Malcolm was rebellion because he used violence when fighting for freedom and rights of his supporters. He supported civil right in a violent way. This led to his assassination in the year 1965. His character is reflected in Connie in the story. It was important for Connie to get her freedom. However, she acquired it in a wrong way. Martin Luther also supported civil rights. However, he did not believe in violence. He fought for freedom in harmonious and passive way. However, he was still opposed the existing laws. He rebel against racist and lack of freedom in a verbal way. His fight for civil right led to his assassination during the same era Oates wrote her book (Gaines 2). In addition, Oates was motivated to write his

General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 Term Paper

General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 - Term Paper Example Eventually, the impact of GARA 1994 on the socio-economic welfare of the manufacturers of general aviation aircraft before and after the Act was enacted will be thoroughly discussed. About General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) of 1994 With the purpose of amending the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA)1 was enacted (Angelley, 2011; Clinton, 1994). Under GARA of 1994, the term â€Å"general aviation† includes all types of aircrafts with no more than 20 passengers that had received an airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Kovarik, 2008; Clinton, 1994; Kister, 1998). The said Act applies to all aircrafts 18 years old or more when the accident happens (Angelley, 2011; Clinton, 1994). GARA is an Act of Congress that was made under the Senate Bill S. 1458 – 103rd Congress. Aside from preserving the rights of the pilots and passengers, the main reason why the Act was created is to protect the aircraft manufacturers from the prolonged adverse socio-economic impact of product liability in small aircrafts of not more than 20 passengers (Angelley, 2011; Kister, 1998). ... In fact, the enactment of GARA 1994 has made a lot of general aviation aircraft victims and their attorneys become frustrated for failing to receive justice for losing the lives of their loved ones or facing the consequences of physical injuries caused by the general aviation aircraft accidents (Kovarik, 2008). The main purpose of implementing the GARA of 1994 is to create some exceptions wherein the general aviation manufacturers can be protected from the risks of lawsuits caused by manufacturing designs created more than 18 years since the aircraft was released from the warehouse of general aviation companies2. On top of the number of years when the general aviation aircraft was manufactured, other important considerations that will not protect the general aviation manufacturers under the GARA of 1994 include the following conditions: (1) in case the manufacturer of general aviation aircraft can prove that there has been a misrepresentation or withheld information coming from the F AA that could somehow have triggered the plane to crash; (2) in case the victims of the plane crash is a passenger who is at the time of the crash receiving emergency or medical treatment; (3) in case the person who died or was physically injured in the plane crash was not a passenger of the aircraft; and (4) in case the lawsuit has a written warranty that directly involve a specific aircraft3 (Angelley, 2011; Kovarik, 2008). With regards to the future maintenance requirements of the aircraft, the said Act does not protect the owners of the general aviation aircraft for not being able to perform their responsibility in maintaining the quality of the aircraft’s engine

Video rental and sales system

Video rental and sales system A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the University of Greenwichs Bsc (Hons) Software Engineering Abstract In the current business functions, an especially rental resource is on of the main challenging part. So that, utilising the resources that are implemented by the companies. The business processes are the major task according to the project budget as well as time limitation. So that software solutions those managing and controlling the functions has to be analysed in a proper way to obtain the successful use of them. The report illustrate about the project that analyse the problem of renting and how to gain the solution for those procedures. Video rental and sales is a complete software solution for controlling and managing rentals of customers. This research is all about controlling and managing resources for everyday rentals. Based on the client needs the resources could be rented. An excellent desktop application has been processed and implemented in order to manage that resource that is currently used by the video rental system. This system solution has been implemented using the technologies of front-end Microsoft Vb.Net and back end SQL Server. Preface This thesis is partial fulfilment of university of the Greenwich undergraduate programme, prepared and submitted by me. This software project helps me a lot to gain knowledge in different parts such as software design and development.   During this project research and development period, I get the clear understanding, how these software engineering principals, technologies can be applied in real time projects. This project approach as a practical way in all stages of software development and make me clear in every stages that software engineering techniques could be applicable.    I am a software engineering student. In this case, this project is closely related to my programme of study and other subjects. My current study is helps me each stage of this project such as system analysis, designing, coding, testing, implementing, Etc, to a develop a final solution for this business. I use MicrosoftVb.Net programming language in order to develop the proposed system. I implemented desktop application the help with Microsoft.net framework based on the customer requests. Moreover this project gives some ideas to access the a range of software engineering techniques and tools for the successful project. Acknowledgements This work carried out for this project would not have been a success without the good guidance a given to me by various people and various time. There are many people helped me. First, special thanks to my project Supervisor Mr. Alexander M. Fedorec and Second Marker. Who helped me in the literature review part and guide me to get the Approval for the Ethical Research application. His comments and guidance helps me to make this report according to a professional standard. My thanks to all the lecturers and University staffs specially library staffs who guide me to get good online journals from the Student portal. In addition, thanks to the authors of articles and magazines which are really helps to my final Document. At last, I wish to thank my Colleagues, their reviews and proof reading about my project helps me to do   more reliable and useful last time. 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Information At present world, widely the uses of software solutions for the companies are considerably increased. The reason is they might get whole solution for their entire services in a single software application rather than doing sub services. It will save lots of money, time and human resources, etc. Therefore most of companies are likes to computerize for their business operations. The melodius company Current situation is they do not have any improved technology. They are spending a lots money, time consuming, extra workers, etc to run their business operations. As a result of these the melodius company has decided to computerize their business. They are trying to make a new revolution in the video rental market. 1.2 Overview The melodius video rental (pvt) Ltd started its business operations as a small size in 2000.And gradually extend out their business to length and breath. Video rental main purpose is renting and selling Video DVDs, Audio CDs, etc. Purchase the products from the supplier and Allocates the products (CDs, DVDs) for sales and rental is the main area of concern for this company. Each staff of the company from top level to bottom level has a typical, free and unique role to play for their company needs. If we have a look in the project proposal ,the main aim of this project is carry out a deep investigation about rental, sales operations and resources allocation for an integrated Movie rental and sales system. The proposed software package gives some improved facilities to the Staffs and the users To run their business smoothly. This could be an entire solution for movie rental and sales functions problems. According the company needs operations are able to divide in to two main types. Such as Sales and Rental. At present the company keeps all the paperworks, documents in manual form. The Following modules are currently in process in the system, Member, Employee, Supplier, Sales, Rental, Payment, product. These existing operations are linked to each other of the modules. Due to these reasons, management faces lots of difficulty. Generally, the overall existing system is slow and unsystematic. The current system and those issues have driven to the top management (Owner of the business) in order to choose for an alternative option. That will enable the company to improve its operations and good progress. There for the management has decided to computerize their existing manual operations. Here my duties and responsibility was to develop a video rental system and sought out these kinds of administration problems, give freedom to the management level people and let them do their central part activities. Moreover, giving an excellent customer service and user friendly product. 1.3 Scope of the project At present in real world, the new technologies are developed in every field. According to these changes, we have to adjust our business activities. This project overall target was design an excellent desktop application and implement for the melodius video company. This helps a lot to the Management and the staff to work for this company freely and pleasurably. The main purpose of this project creates a user friendly, unique and modern software package. With higher security facility (User levels, Password encryption). Make easier to use the forms with navigate Buttons. User could feel free and comfortable when he uses the system. 1.4 Aims and Objectives When the project was begun its cover the whole business operations and benefits of the system. In order to achieve these benefits a few objectives were initialized. Such objectives are. A deep investigation about the existing manual system and their accessible process measurements. Write   a system analysis report based on the system requirements Understand the requirements and the principles when developing a software application Design and develop a video rental system using software engineering techniques. Testing the video rental system using available accessible data. Evaluate the final product and think about new ideas to improve further development. 1.5 Project Management Methodology The successfulness of the project is depends on the selection of the technology, tools and how we are applied in the project. If we take our project, it was a long-term project and its takes more than six months time. The traditional waterfall model is most suitable for long time projects. According this project the waterfall model is most suitable. The following reasons are easy to identify the requirements that enable to develop the system is In. We require a life cycle system. That is before being the system; the requirements are studied through the interview. It is not need to make the changes in the system and it is not advisable while creating the system or modifies the system. Hence since the steps to create this system is in co-ordination with the waterfall model. Therefore I have chosen this waterfall model. Which is follows. The Waterfall Model Each stage related into the next Feedback in the Waterfall Model The Advantages of using waterfall model is By far the most commonly used approach up to now. The waterfall model underpins all the most widely used methods. The stages are clear-cut. The innovative ideas were behind that documents are produced at each stage Consequently preferred by managers as easy to manage. All research and design done before coding starts, it means better quality program design. Well suited for developing stable and well understood computer-based applications. Feasibility study This feasibility study main aim is depth analysis and decides the melodius video rental company and about its businesses operations whether it will be operationally, financially or technically feasible to develop the software product. These studies involve analysis of current issues and gather the relevant informations. Here I have selected three important types of studies for measure the system success as the operational feasibility, technical feasibility, and economical feasibility. Operational feasibility The operational feasibility is discuses about the company performance, information, economy and control. 1. The management is not happy with existing the manual system. Because that is very slow and it is having many mistakes. So he doesnt like to work with the manual system. 2. The manager is unable to produce the day to day transactions and other business information from the departments. 3. They have to spend more time consuming to send information and to get information from the other departments. 4. Receipts or invoices are not in a clear format, when giving after the business transaction to a customer or supplier. 5. The economy level is poor which means its hard to get good benefits from the system. Because of the resources (Rental, communication, and electricity bill) cost is very high now days. For these reasons they have to reduce the cost. In order to increase the benefits. 6. The business datas handling is not a secure way. Anyone can handle the records. And higher possibility of data loses. 7. The management have to spend more time to search the information and produce the reports about their transactions. 8. The existing manual system is not flexible and more complicated there for they must have to computerize the existing system. Technical feasibility The technical feasibility analysis, what the technical resources are available in the system, and what are the technical resources are need for the new computerized the system. Available technical resource: Air conditions facilities, Fans, Tables, Chairs, Shelfs They have limited technical resources. Earlier they have done all operations manually so they didnt need any technical resources. When they have work with computerized system they must need some all the relevant technical resources and the trained staffs. Following resources are needed in order to develop the system. Computers Processor: Pentium 2.2GHz or more Hard drive: 40GB or More. RAM: 512MB or more. Network cables switches CD-ROM drive. Monitor 15 colour colour printer black white printer Software requirements: Windows operating system. Special software for sales rental Microsoft Visual basic .Net SQL Database Economical feasibility The economical feasibility analyses about the cost and benefits of the company existing system and proposed system. Such as Software development coast, Hardware coast, as well as the system running coast. Schedule feasibility study The aim of the Schedule feasibility is analysis the planning and assessing the time period for the completion of this project Analysis-This analyse part, the problems and objectives were identified and the user requirements for the project. It takes two weeks time. Design-Based on the user requirements this part focuses on the system design. It could be divided in to two main parts. It takes three weeks time. Development-This part took six weeks time to develop the software product. Testing-In this testing part, two testing types took place. First, is unit testing and second is Acceptance testing in order to find out errors and solve the errors. This takes one weeks time. Implementation-The implementation section will show how section implemented. This takes one weeks time. Maintain-This part checks the objectives of the project and that it has met the user requirements. And this tells the project successfulness. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction A large amount of analytical and theoretical works discovers new things, thorough that can encourage Effective improvements. However, it is essential to study the direct connections based on observation and research in order to get in to the related various type of efficiency achievements. In this literature, review I analysed based on research and observation straight away in the video rental business in order to find the key points and drawbacks. At presents the video rental business being the main topic of deep concern from the operations management community (Drezner and Pasternack, 1999; Dana and Spier, 2001; Pasternack, 2001; Lariviere and Cachon, 2002) Re: Coordination of quantity and shelf-retention timing in the video movie rentalindustryGerchak, Y; Cho, RK; Ray, S | IIE TRANSACTIONS | 2006-0738:7, | 525-536 | Description: Times Cited: 6 Because people are thinking now a days home video is very good leisure and it is a valuable entertainment expenses, which is make movie rental as a big business.   Normally video DVDs or CDs available on hand to the public, after a few months from release. These materials are available to public in two ways; first one is renting DVDs or CDs from rental Stores second one is selling DVDs form Retail Stores. My project deals with both Rental and Sales. According this system three main type of people will work Admin and staff who control the system. Supplier who providing the resources (CDs, DVDs) Member who renting or buying the CDs. Normal Customer who only buying CDs Companys main focus is video rental and sales. Currently the company give services to their customers through their manual system and handling all the transactions by manually. Its inconvenient to the customer often. For this reason the company has lose the customers in past and their turnover is shrinking when compare other stores. So the management has decided to computerize the transactions instead their existing manual system in order to give the efficient and improved services to their customers. This literature review will carried out the problems and make sure the work is going right way and valuable. Problems identified in the current system 1. Handling customer They are handling their customers manually. This will cause them difficulty and time consuming to search a Customer card. In case if a record has not been entered in to the required file or a book, there may be some disagreements between the customers and the employees of the company. This leads to shrink the fame of the company. Solution:-Handling and maintain of the customers in a glowing comportment. 2. Maintaining the sales records The sales records of the company are not kept very effectively. Records cannot be easily track in case of future reference. The company cannot have a well planned future business because it cant go through the past records and most of the records are not very accurate. Solution:-Well organized method of handling of all the sales. 3. Maintaining the information of their products The details of their products are not kept in a well organized manner and cannot be referred when needed. The products sold, and the stock balance is not easily tracked, hence the shortage or some time certain important products maybe out of stock, then in such a circumstance customer satisfaction will be very much reduced. Solution:-All the products and its brands are clearly following a path. 4. Problems on maintaining the Payment Sometime they may ask the customer to pay for one product twice by mistake, such incident will make to shrink the good relation and the trust of the customer, making to lose customers confidence as well loosing the customer. Solution:-Product balance can be tracked time to time. 5. Maintaining the supplier information There would be a lot of suppliers. Its difficult to find a supplier detail without being delayed or maybe in some cases they might loss a contact detail of a particular supplier, which might be an important contact for a special product or a Brand, loosing this sort of information will make the company to have problems of finding products of famous brands. Solution:-All the supplier information will be collect then and there. 6. No updated information available Updated information is not very easy to provide to customers if the company runs manually. Solution:-Brands and latest editions that are being handled by the company can be tracked without doubt. 7. Payments can only be made by cash or credit payments Running manually, the company could have only the payment methods of cash and cheques. This is a great disadvantage for the customers who use the credit payment card. Solution:-Payment can be made in cash or credit, and efficient and quick service can be provided. 8. Problem:-Dissatisfaction of customers While the business is running on the manual system, the customers would not be satisfied of the services provided to them. They might have to wait in a long queue to pay for the items they bought. This may be due to the absence of the employees or maybe due to the slow system of the company. Solution:-Membership form will be filled automatically, according to the sales that are made and this would only be for the required sales. Some additional solutions Make sure the integration, integrity and independently for the video rental system and reduce as soon as possible changes for human errors by introducing database concepts. Introduce high secure functionality. It is important that customers and the suppliers information be prevented from leaked out. System will also enables the management to do accurate calculation as well as obtain reports such as total income for the given time period. Better utilization of storage space. Doing away with manual will reduce the space taken up by the data storage. This can be utilizing the better for other purpose. A comprehensive project database that act as a central repository to track the below mentioned needs. Define work in progress. Easy access for the items short shipped on the order. Easy to scheduling and tracking records Easy of maintaining, schedules, monitoring, reporting of progress. 2.2 Legal Social Ethical and Professional Issues and Considerations In this project, I am used copyright material, such as Microsoft products, and Adobe products. Im used university of Greenwich licence to use the other related soft wares. As a university student, I have the rights to use university resources. Some Interviews and questionnaire done by me with Owner of the business, staffs and some customers. In the project there are no any personal datas did not collected. Therefore, the data protection will not affect my project. All the collected data is stored in my personal computer with password protection. All the information will be deleted after completion this project. 4 Requirements Analysis 4.1 Introduction When consider about software development projects, requirement analysis is a most important part. In this part, be able to collect informations together about current situations in order to indentify the drawbacks about the system. This requirement analysis should be correct, testable and relevant to the company requirements. Moreover, it must be significant to system designing part. 4.2 Requirements Gathering In this part requirements can be collect in to the system boundary by contact the users to find out their requirements. In this part used to gather different types of techniques such as interviews, questionnaires, observation, etc 4.2.1 Questionnaires   Questionnaires are quick gather information from large amount of people in a certain period. It is possible to do paper based document either electronic copy. In addition, it is very cost effective method when compare with interview. Major advantages are most of the people are familiar to questionnaires and very easy to analyse.   This questionnaire has been used to gather informations from the customers. Questionnaires with customers    Melodius video 1. Role of person completing this form a. Manager (other company) b. Administrator c. Computer Programmer d. Customer 2. When you contact a melodius video representative, is he/she courteous? Are you satisfied with the way your problems or questions are handl? a. Most Satisfiedb. Satisfied b. Ok  c. Dissatisfied 3. How you feel other music centre compared to melodius video? a. Excellentb. Very good c. Good  d. Poor 4. How do you feel when you pay by using the membership card? a. Most Satisfied      b. Satisfied b. Okc. Dissatisfied 5. Who is the person in our organization you contact most frequently? a. Company Owner   b. Sales men b. Manager  d. Others 6. How you are, feel about our payment system? a. Excellentb. Very good c. Goodd. Poor 7. Comments (Please write us on the back of this form) Questionnaires with customers Answer sheet Melodius Video 1. Role of person completing this form a. a. Manager (other company)-16   b. Administrator-5 b. c. Computer Programmer-3 d. Customer-26 2. When you contact a melodius video representative, is he/she courteous?    Are you satisfied with the way your problems or questions are handle? a. Most Satisfied   -5    b. Satisfied-15 b. Ok -25    c. Dissatisfied -5 3. How you feel other music centre is compare to melodius video? a. a. Excellent -15  b. Very good-10 b. c. Good-20  d. Poor-5 4. How do you feel when you pay by using the membership card? a. Most Satisfied   -10   b. Satisfied-12 b. Ok -8 c. Dissatisfied-20 5. Who is the person in our organization you contact most frequently? a. Company Owner -6    b. Sales men-24 b. Manager -10   d. Others -10 6. How you are, feel about our payment system? a. a. Excellent-5  b. Very good-5 b. c. Good -15   d. Poor-25 7. Comments? (Please write us on the back of this form) 4.2.2 Interviews Interviews are one of the most common and powerful techniques to find out the requirements. This brings to face-to-face contact with customers or staffs to discover their requirements. And interviews are makes a higher response rate. Also, make clear about doubts and make sure that perfectly understood by repeating questions. Appropriate People 1. Company Owner 2. Company manager 3. Payment Division manager 4. Stock division manager 5. Purchase division manager 6. Sales division manager 7. Lending manager Interview with Company Owner: Objectives: 1. Get the permission to analyze the system. 2. Identify the people who are participating the system. 3. Study about the problems of the existing system. 4. His/her expectation about the new system. Questions: 1. What are the major departments you have? 2. What are they doing? 3. What are the problems are you facing with in the current system? 4. How should be the proposed system? 5. What are the facilities you want to include with the proposed system? 6. Do you have enough money for the new system? Interview with Company manager Objectives: 1. Study the problems with the existing system. 2.   Study about manager work. 3.   Study about what are the difficulties he/she facing his/her work. 4.   Who are the people involved with each departments Questions: 1. How you are working for current system? 2. What are the problems you are facing for the current system? 3. Are you satisfied with other staff work? 4. What are you expect of the new system. Interview with payment Division manager Objectives: 1. Know the problems with the existing payment system. 2. Study about his/her work. 3. Identify the difficulties with his/her work.   Questions:   How you are working for existing payment system? What are the problems are you facing for the current system? When more customers come to make the payment, can you manage? How will your action if a customer is not made his payment? 5. How you handle your payment database? Interview with stock Division manager Objectives: 1. Know the problems with the existing payment system. 2. Study about his/her work. 3. Identify the difficulties with his/her work. Questions: 1. How you are working for existing system? 2. What are the problems are you facing for the Stock activities? 3. When more and more items come to the stock, how can you handle? 4. Do you like increase stock division people amount? What are the reasons? 5. How you handle your stock database? Summarize of the interview Interviewer: Company owner Subject: Study of the company Duration: Two hours Mr. Thanushan is the owner of the melodious video company. He likes to build the manual system to the computerize system, because the company staff have to work quickly and accurately. For that, he is satisfied to have a centralized database. He is not satisfied to have an online computerize system. In addition, he likes to have good quality software for the company sales, inventory rental activities. Thanking interview. Interviewer: Company Manager Subject: Study of the complete system Duration: Two hours Mr. David is company manager. He likes to work with computerize system, because the company staff have to work quickly and accurately. In addition, he is unable to get the information from the sub divisions. He is not satisfied to have an online computerize system. Moreover, he likes to have good quality software for the company sales, inventory rental activities. Thanking interview Interviewer: Payment division Manager Subject: Details of the payment system Duration: Two hours Mr. Suresh is the manager of the payment division. He likes to work with computerize system, and centralized database system, because he feel very difficult to work with the manual system. In addition, he has to generate the report quickly and accurately. Thanking interview Interviewer: Stock Division manager Subject: Details study of the stock activities Duration: Two hours Mr. Rohan is the manager of the stock division. He likes to work with computerize system, and centralized database system. Moreover, he likes to increase the stock division employees. In addition, he likes to have more shelves to keep the stock. Because he have difficult to keep the items without damages and the staff have to spend more time to find out the place of the items. Thanking interview Interviewer: Purchase division Manager. Subject: Details of the purchase activities Duration: Two hours Mr. Kishan is the manager of the purchase division. He likes to work with computerize system, and centralized database system, because he have to work quickly and accurately. And he likes to purchase the cds from good quality Product Company. For that, he likes to contract some good quality companies. Thanking interview. Interviewer: Sales division Manager Subject: Details analysis of the sales activities Duration: Two hours Mr.Roys is the manager of the sales division. He likes to work with computerize system, and centralized database syst

Nursing Leadership Paper Essay

They have an open concept design, select menus, and our outside landscaping that allows their residents to enjoy a comfortable setting during either their short or long term stay. Their care is directed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals that includes a Medical Director, attending physicians, 24 hour licensed nurses, a dietary manager, activity director, social worker, and therapist for physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation. At Park Manor, the goal is to provide the care and services to meet the physical, emotional and social needs of each of our residents. I got to work with the MDS nurse, an MDS nurse is the nurse in the long term care facility who schedules and completes the RAI-Resident Assessment Instrument, a detailed assessment done at least quarterly on every nursing home resident. The MDS nurse is also usually responsible to coordinate the completion of the care plans for the resident based on the results of the assessment. We were collecting data from a whole bunch of sources; from the nurses, aides, resident, families, doctors, progress notes, therapy notes, etc. Then we completed the paper/computer MDS form based on our complete assessment (using the data collected). A RUG score (or resource utilization grouper) score is generated based upon our answers which is used to determine medicare/medicaide reimbursement rates for the facility. The MDS is used to create the care plan, determines reimbursement rates and determines quality measures/indicators per federal standards. State Surveyors pull these reports prior to inspection visits and to know who is losing weight and who may have pressure ulcers, etc.

New Labour claims to be ‘tackling domestic violence on every front’ (Home Office 2000)

In 1999, the Government published ‘Living Without Fear: An Integrated Approach to reducing domestic violence', outlining their commitment to reducing the incidence of violence against women and the strategy for accomplishing this. Safe housing is a basic human need. As many women are dependent upon a man for this necessity, the choice between unsafe housing or homelessness is often unrealisable. The majority of safe accommodation for women escaping violent relationships is provided by the voluntary sector with little support from the state. Safe housing is a crucial element for women leaving violent partners. ‘The need for both temporary and permanent secure accommodation for women and children who have left home because of violence must be paramount' (Harwin and Brown 2000 p219) In this essay, I plan to review the history of safe housing provision for women in the UK and look at the influence of the Women's Aid movement, the role of local authorities and the influence of the Conservative governments. Then I will assess the welfare needs of vulnerable women and children – what housing support do women escaping violent relationships need? Do different ethnic groups have different needs? Following that, Labour's focus upon domestic violence will be analysed and I will assess whether this emphasis has produced any real changes for women in terms of housing and homelessness. In term of housing, Dobash and Dobash (2000) developed four conditions under which an abused woman is able to be safe: 1. Her male partner ceases his violence and lives peacefully; 2. The woman escapes to refuge where she can live free of violence, albeit only temporarily; 3. The man is successfully evicted from the matrimonial home, remains away and does not harass her, or; 4. The woman is safely rehoused in another home and is not pursued or harassed in her new location. (Dobash and Dobash 2000 p200) The Government's pledge represents significant statutory commitment to this issue for the first time – do Labour's promises reflect real change? Firstly, to look at the history of safe housing provision for women in the UK. Traditionally, it has been thought that the state ought not to interfere in family life; domestic violence therefore raises questions about the position of the state in the private sphere of the family (Wasoff and Day 2000). Even relatively recently, the prevalence of this attitude can be identified. During the thirteen years of Conservative government during the 1980s and 90s, an emphasis was placed upon the important role played by the nuclear family unit and policy encouraged ‘traditional family values' and stigmatised groups such as single parents. Policy objectives of the time were directed at ‘tackling the problem' which tended to express a ‘problem family' orientation towards reducing recurrences of abuse of violence. Consequently, this approach underplayed policies aimed towards prevention or the enforcement of victim's rights. The feminist refuge movement was established in the 1970s, previous to this there was no provision and women leaving a violent partner had to rely on the informal sector for support from family or friends. Domestic violence was not regarded as a sufficient reason for homelessness and any input from statutory agencies such as the police or social service departments was geared towards reconciliation (Morley 2000). The women's refuge movement began with a few houses offering sanctuary to women organised on ‘self-help' principles. Somerville (2000) notes the influence of the movement upon public perceptions of domestic violence that led to major changes in public policy. Consequently, there has been a huge amount of legislative change. This began with the Domestic Violence Act (1976) which allowed a woman to obtain a court order to excluded her violent partner from the home and the Housing (Homelessness) Act (1977) made it a duty for local authorities to house women made homeless as a result of domestic violence. However, whilst this was an enormous step forward, in reality women had a difficult time ‘proving' violence. Due to the nature of domestic violence, there are rarely witnesses. The wording of the1977 Act was ambivalent and open to misinterpretation, less than half of refuge groups felt that it had improved women's housing prospects (Morley 2000 p233), this was largely due to inconsistencies in legislative interpretation. Surveys such as Jayne Mooney's study into domestic violence in North London (1994) revealed high levels of domestic violence, this put pressure on the government to make more legislative changes. Changes in policing emphasised the importance of protecting the victim and taking strong positive action against the perpetrator. Similarly, social service departments made an ‘about face', recognising the importance of empowering mothers, rather than threatening them with the removal of their children. However, whilst the 1990s have been regarded as a period of significant development in terms of public awareness of domestic violence (Hague 1999), The Housing Act (1996) has been seen by some as a step backwards. This legislation removed the right of those defined as ‘statutorily homeless' to be housed permanently. Local authorities can only offer permanent accommodation to those registered on the council housing list; those escaping domestic violence are now merely entitled to temporary accommodation. The legislation gave local authorities the power to refuse housing to any person believed to have suitable accommodation elsewhere, this especially affects women from ethnic minority groups who could be assessed as having access to housing in another country (Harwin and Brown 2000). Obviously, this had consequences for many made homeless as a result of violence. Section 180 of the 1996 Act made local authority funding for refuges a duty. As a result, an average 37% of refuge income is received from this source but has brought with it its own disadvantages. Women's Aid (2000a) note that some local authorities fail to comply or set conditions which ‘undermine strategies for ensuring the safety of abused women and children' as well as putting pressure upon refuges to only take local women. That aside, as mentioned earlier, the trend towards appropriate intervention and support for those escaping violent relationships has been upwards. A 1992 Home Office Enquiry resulted in a co-ordinated national response and emphasised multi-agency co-operation. There are now over 300 refuges throughout the country offering a wide range of services with specialist provision for women and children from differing ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Before I move on to examining the role New Labour have played in terms of safe housing provision it is important to look at exactly what it is that is needed by women and children escaping violence from men. The Conservative government's introduction of the ‘right to buy' programme has resulted in depleted council housing stock and social renting has developed into a residual sector (Conway 2000). Local authority housing has increasingly catered for a smaller range of people marginalized from mainstream society. Combined with the fact that households headed by women are at a disadvantage as a whole in the UK this results in further social inequality for those escaping domestic violence. Women need good quality housing in a safe environment with a responsive housing management. Access to suitable housing would include: ? A sensitive response to all applicants ? Day-to-day management support ? Specialist support staff ? Liaison with other services and agencies ? Benefits advice/debt counselling (Adapted from Conway 2000 p102) McGee (2000 p91) identified three main areas of support wanted by women escaping domestic violence: 1. Easily accessible information regarding sources of support. 2. Counselling. 3. Help for mothers in supporting the children to deal with their experiences. This final point is a particularly important one. Refuge financing does not take into account the numbers of children using refuges. There is no recognition of the existence of children, and the cost of providing for children, when there may be up to 18 children in a six-bedroom project (Women's Aid 2000a). Additionally to this, children are often extremely disturbed by the violence they have witnessed and the disruption in their lives, yet a quarter of all refuges have no funding for a specialist children's worker. Women from minority groups can face increased difficulty when escaping a violent partner. Racism especially plays a large part in dissuading black women from taking action to address violence from a partner. The reputation of the police is a significant factor in this. Mama (2000) notes that the police appear more ready to investigate cases of illegal immigration than to respond to cases of domestic violence. Despite attempts to challenge racism within the police force, officers on the ground have still been found to perpetrate the abuse via racism. The belief that violence against women is part of the black culture is one that appears especially resistant (Mama 2000). In terms of housing it is imperative for black women to be housed in an area which not only places her in an area away from the perpetrator but also ensures her safety from racism. Women, especially those with children, are more likely than men to be dependant upon social housing; for women from ethnic minority backgrounds this is even more so. The most crucial need of women, overwhelmingly in evidence, is that of safe permanent housing. The refuge movement has improved service provision for women considerably, but is limited by their ability to solely provide temporary housing for women and children. Only by statutory provision can this need be met. This would necessitate significant statutory change. Women who continue to live with a violent partner often give their fear of being homeless as their reason for remaining (Mama 2000), a valid one as evidence suggests. If New Labour is ‘committed to tackling domestic violence on every front'; this is the key area they need to be addressing. So, to evaluate the progress being made. Since coming to power, Labour have been keen to adopt a more progressive stance towards domestic violence than the Conservative rhetoric for supporting traditional families that arguably promoted male control over women. Publications such as ‘Living Without Fear' (1999) and the ‘Break the Chain' (1999) campaign were some of the platforms used by the Government to address this issue and encourage people to access help and support. Early evaluations of Labour's policy response to domestic violence have been cautious in supporting the Government's proposals. Hague (1999) acknowledges that both before and after election, Labour have been clear in their commitment to improving services for victims of domestic violence. However, she notes that there have been contradictions and lack of consistency in policy. Both Hague (1999) and Harwin and Barron (2000) draw attention to the fact that there are discrepancies between local authorities in terms of practice guidelines. There is no national policy to govern their practice and whilst many local authorities have recognised the serious nature of domestic violence, some less liberal authorities adopt a harsh view of the law, leaving many women and children in insecure and vulnerable positions in terms of housing. There is no single government office directly responsible for policy in this area; it falls between the Home Office, the Department of Environment and the Department of Health. A clear example of this is the research discussed later in this essay. This reiterates the findings published by the Government in ‘Tackling Domestic Violence' (1998) which considered how local authorities dealt with domestic violence and partnerships with other agencies. Based on evidence from local authorities it discovered evidence of inadequate funding and incomprehensive coverage (Wasoff and Dey 2000). In the publication ‘Government Policy Around Domestic Violence', little attention is paid to housing and accommodation despite the actuality it is recognised as a key issue. The key point states the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions has worked with other Government agencies to commission research into accommodation and support services available to those suffering domestic violence. Harwin and Barron (2000) assessed the research in terms of accommodation provision; their key findings, published by the Home Office, include: ? Leaving the family home is a last resort and some would have stayed if security was improved ? Good practice by local authorities needs to be examined and assessed ? Problems with service provision still exists ? Official figures on homelessness due to violence are inaccurate and underestimate the extent of the problem ? In term of temporary accommodation, much is not appropriate for women with children and the length of stay in temporary accommodation is unacceptable The paper concludes that monitoring of domestic violence need to be improved in terms of how many applicants for housing as a result of violence are rejected and support services need to be improved, particularly resettlement services. A key area only to be addressed this year has been that of the Housing Act 1996 in relation to homelessness. Hague stated ‘If it [the Housing Act 1996] remains on the statute book under Labour, [it] is a license for less liberally-minded authorities to adopt harsh measures.' (Hague 1999 p144) With the Homelessness Act 2002, Labour has brought major changes to the statutory program of help for women who are homeless as a result of domestic violence (Delahay 2002). Whilst it makes no new environment for homelessness or housing allocation, the Act does contain some tangible revisions to the terms of the Housing Act 1996. Introduced is a new category of priority need for housing for ‘a person who is vulnerable as a result of ceasing to occupy accommodation by reason of violence from another person or threats of violence from another person which are likely to be carried out' Homelessness Act 2002 s10 Additionally, the proposed Code of Good Practice emphasises the safety of the applicant and maintaining confidentiality. The need to ‘prove' violence has been repealed and it has been accepted that the impact of violence or threatened violence can be cumulative. The impact of this legislative change is impossible to evaluate at present but it does represent a significant shift towards supportive measures for those experiencing violence. The Government has placed a great deal of focus upon developing a co-ordinated response towards domestic violence in terms of multi-agency partnerships. ‘Our overall goals are†¦to see effective multi-ageny partnerships operating throughout England and Wales' Living Without Fear (1999) Local authorities have been particularly responsive to these initiatives (Hague 1999) Examining the wider picture, increasing women's eligibility for housing will not have a real impact if this is not backed up by addressing the problem of residualisation. Labour is doing little to address this (Morley 2000) and could even be seen as exacerbating the issue by announcing in Autumn 2002 their intention to grant housing association tenants the right to buy which will further deplete social housing stock. In conclusion, there have been huge improvements in terms of support for women experience violence in the home, much of this directly attributable to the work of Women's Aid and other feminist groups. The Government's commitment to addressing this issue can only be positive but the overall picture remains one of ambivalence and lack of consistency in policy implementation. Continued lack of funding appears to remain the key issue in terms of housing and is holding back comprehensive intervention. Domestic violence is about control over women, a sentiment that thrives within the larger system of patriarchy within our society Our social order is antagonistic to the female gender. If domestic violence is about control, then our society enables men's control over women. As a whole, Labour's policy has a tendency towards liberalism (with a small ‘l'!), thereby neglecting policies that might encourage equality. It is important to acknowledge the increased prominence of domestic violence, however, fundamentally the Government falls short on its claim to be ‘tackling domestic violence on every front'. When a woman makes the important step of leaving an abusive relationship she faces a society that opposes her at every turn – lower pay, little accessible childcare, and significantly inadequate housing – no wonder the relationship begins to look attractive again.