The Best Books The Battle of Waterloo

Essay on Justin Biebers Unique Rise to Fame - 934 Words

Who became the only artist to have five number one albums before turning 19 years old, the first person ever to reach a billion views on YouTube, and has made over 100 million dollars in less than three years, making him the most successful child star since Michael Jackson? No one other than Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber is the first to do many things, even by how he was discovered. What happens when a child star gets millions of dollars at such a young age, have to make adult decisions, and is forced to grow up in front of the spotlight? This downfall effect has destroyed and even taken the lives of some child stars. Will Bieber be the next train wreck? Justin Bieber’s early rise to the top has been impacted by social media, and now the†¦show more content†¦Later that day, inside the building Bieber got to finally sing for Usher, who immediately wanted to sign him. This led to a battle between Usher and Justin Timberlake of who would get to sign Bieber. When Bieber me t with L.A. Reid, he know that Usher would be who he would sign with. Bieber signed with Island Def Jam recording studios. This signing would lead to the very powerful upcoming of his early career (Justin Bieber.). With social media on his side, Bieber was continuing to grow in popularity through YouTube, Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook. His label doubted him at first, stating he would need Disney or Nickelodeon to help get him started. Bieber went ahead, knowing that the adults did not know how powerful social media was and is, and sought out to prove them wrong. Justin Bieber’s debut album was entitled My World and was released in November 2009. Usher appears as a guest vocalist on the album and also appears in the video for ‘One Time’. The track reached number one in Canada and also experienced global success. ‘One Time’ was followed by the release of singles such as ‘One Less Lonely Girl’, ‘Love Me’, and ‘Favorite Girl’. During a promotional tour, Justin Bieber was due to appear at a shopping mall in Long Island, but the visit had to be cancelled when an unexpected crowd of over 3,000 turned up and threatened to breach s afety. A number of Bieber’s fans suffered minor injuries. The Vice

Sun Tracking Control Strategy Engineering Essay Free Essays

It is good known that in theory, 41 % more sunshine is available by tracking the PV faculty to follow the day-to-day class of the Sun, comparative to fixed installings. The overall aim of this survey is to develop a control algorithm that improved public presentation and dependability the two-axis solar tracker. To accomplish this end, this survey dressed ore on optimising the LM3S811 based accountant board, thrust hardware and package. We will write a custom essay sample on Sun Tracking Control Strategy Engineering Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Keywords: embedded system design, two-axis Sun trailing, control algorithm. A ±ntroductA ±on Solar energy systems and equipment such as PV and twenty-four hours illuming systems, solar aggregators, and solar-powered heat engines work best when their aggregators aim straight at the Sun. Adding a solar tracker to these systems increases their efficiencies at the disbursal of initial and operational costs and system complexness. It has been estimated that the usage of a trailing system, over a fixed system, can increase the power end product by 20 % – 40 % with cost addition 10 % -30 % [ 1-3 ] . Since the Sun ‘s place in the sky alterations with the seasons and the clip of twenty-four hours, tracker is used to aline the aggregation system to maximise energy production. Several factors must be considered when finding the usage of trackers. Some of these include: the solar engineering being used, the sum of direct solar irradiation, feed-in duties in the part where the system is deployed, and the cost to put in and keep the trackers. Concentrated applications like concentrated photovoltaic panels ( CPV ) or concentrated solar power ( CSP ) require a high grade of truth to guarantee the sunshine is directed exactly at the focal point of the reflector or lens. The two basic classs of trackers are individual axis and double axis. Single axis solar trackers can either hold a horizontal or a perpendicular axis. In concentrated solar power applications, individual axis tracker is used with parabolic and additive Fresnel mirror designs. Dual axis solar trackers have both a horizontal and a perpendicular axis leting them to track the Sun ‘s evident gesture virtually anyplace in the universe This paper presents a control scheme for a two axes solar tracker that is executed in an ARM based Stellaris L3S811 microcontroller. Correct sun place is inferred from the GPS. The proposed control scheme consists of a combination between ; an unfastened cringle tracking scheme, and a closed cringle scheme. The overall aim of this survey is to develop a control algorithm that improves public presentation and dependability the two-axis Sun tracker. To accomplish this end, this survey concentrates on optimising the accountant board, thrust hardware and package. Two-axA ±s Sun tracker The Sun ‘s beams can be decomposed into two constituents, one perpendicular to the panel surface, and the other analogue to the surface, where merely the former radiation can be received by the panel. Therefore, the angle between the Sun ‘s beams and the normal of the panel which is called the incident angle should be every bit little as possible. Incidence angle alterations with the diurnal and seasonal fluctuations. Therefore, the fixed-installed solar aggregators can non to the full absorb the solar radiation energy. If at any clip by automatically tracking solar aggregators, panel place can be adjusted harmonizing to the Sun ‘s flight to cut down the incidence angle ; it will be able to absorb more solar radiation energy than the fixed panels in the same irradiation conditions. The panel of dual-axis Sun tracking system rotates around the two reciprocally perpendicular shafts, AZ shaft and lift shaft, shown in Fig 1. It will track the Sun ‘s AZ angle and l ift angle, so that the panel can accomplish incident angle of 0. Two methods are normally used in solar trailing to place and follow the place of the Sun at any blink of an eye of clip between dawn and sundown: the closed cringle control method and the unfastened cringle control method. The closed cringle control method uses several feedback detectors such as LDR, photodiode, light-intensity detectors, mention cells and a signal processing circuit [ 4-6 ] . The signal processing circuit compares the end product signals of the detectors and operates on a feedback cringle with the coveted signal status. The end of the cringle is to bring forth maximal entire mistake signal from detectors by continuously seting the tracker way until the shadow on the detectors is the lower limit. A drawback of the closed cringle control method is that it can non efficaciously track the Sun on a cloudy twenty-four hours without a robust algorithm. Fig. -Structure of the two-axis Sun tracker. The unfastened cringle control method uses the longitude and latitude informations of the solar tracker location to find and track the place of the Sun [ 7, 8 ] . It has the advantages of easy scheduling and high truth. The system is simpler and cheaper than the closed-loop type of Sun tracking systems [ 9 ] . It does non detect the end product of the procedures that it is commanding. However, a fixed get downing way of the tracker at dawn every twenty-four hours is required in this method. Therefore, the get downing way of the tracker must be corrected from clip to clip. Consequently, an open-loop system can non rectify any mistakes so that it could do and may non counterbalance for perturbations in the system. Specifying Elevation and Azimuth Angles The algorithm for Sun trailing uses the solar lift, i? ±e and azimuth, i? ±A angles computed at the solar tracker location. The tracker must be aligned horizontally to find the lift and AZ angles accurately along with the hr and decline angles with regard to the heavenly equator or plane as depicted in Fig.1. Solar lift, i? ±e is the angle between the skyline and the line linking the beginning and the Sun that is, the complement of the zenith angle. Solar AZ, i? ±A is the angular supplanting of the projection of the line to the Sun onto the horizontal plane from the south axis. The solar lift angle, i? ±e, of the orientation system in the perpendicular plane, ?e, can be calculated as follows [ 9 ] sini? ±e=sini? ¤ sini? ¦ +cosi? ¤ cosi? ¦ cosi? · ( 1 ) Where e is the lift angle of the system i? ¦ is the latitude. is the hr angle ( 15 A ; deg ; / hr ) , where ? = 0 at local midday. is the solar decline, where ? is calculated from Cooper ‘s equation, ( 2 ) N is the twenty-four hours of the twelvemonth ( 1 – 365 ) with N = 1 stand foring the 1st of January. Fig. – The relation between lift and zenith angles. The azimuth angle of the system in the horizontal plane, ?A, is calculated as [ 9 ] . ( 3 ) The solar trailing system normally returns to its initial remainder place after sundown, and starts to track the Sun after the Sun rises above the skyline. The dawn and sunset times can be calculated utilizing [ 13 ] for system location. DesA ±gn and application 3.1. Mechanical Design The panels ‘ support construction was designed with two grades of freedom in order to change the disposition and orientation. Besides, the construct of the panel ‘s support every bit good as the system that allows this support to go around around the two axes was developed. The tracker is composed of a fixed base which is straight on the land, holding a mechanism that connects the base to the back uping construction of the panels. This mechanism consists of two parts, which have a grade of freedom ( from each other ) in two axes. For altering the disposition of the construction, extra linear actuator is mounted to the solar tracker control system. Linear actuators are highly precise by design, particularly when compared to pneumatic and hydraulic solutions. Screw based mechanical additive actuators allow to progress or withdraw the motivation rod by highly little increases, which is required for the exact placement of solar tracker. Electric additive actuator consumes highly low electricity and are available in 12 Volts d.c. it can be powered by the solar panel itself supported by a battery. Linear actuators can be remarkably little, particularly when sing the scope of gesture that is required for traveling the Sun tracker. Photograph of the mechanical construction is shown in Fig. 3. Fig. – Mechanical construction of the Sun tracker. 3.2. Hardware Design The hardware design combines the embedded microcontroller with two DC motor drivers, rotational DC motor, DC motor controlled additive actuator, solar rotary motion mechanism, GPS, pyranometer, wind gauge, tilt switches and MEMBS based inclinometer. A general block diagram of the control system is shown in Fig. 4. Global placement system ( GPS ) is connected to the microcontroller via a standard consecutive RS-232 port. GPS sends to the microcontroller sentences, that contains a twine of characters, continuously. These sentences chiefly include longitude, latitude, height, day of the month and clip for location where GPS is placed. Since microcontroller has the existent clip clock circuitry, it is moderately accurate over short periods, but it needs standardization sporadically. As a consequence, the GPS clock signal is used to update the microcontroller ‘s internal clip sporadically and therefore effects of the long term mistakes are eliminated. As portion of the attempt to better solar tracker dependability and better understanding public presentation, a pyranometer is being added to solar tracker. This pyranometer allows the informations acquisition system to mensurate exactly the irradiance witnessed by the PV faculties on that tracker, and therefore better supervise the impact of the tracking algorithm on the energy end product of the system. Solar tracker steps tilt angle with potentiometer that has long-run dependability job. A higher dependability option is a solid-state inclinometer. It has three chief advantages ; inherently higher dependability, higher declaration less than 0.1 A ; deg ; , direct measuring of angle. In this undertaking, micro electromechanical systems based on electronic inclinometer ADXL345 is used [ 11 ] . Digital end product informations is formatted as 16-bit two ‘s complement and is accessible through either a SPI ( 3- or 4-wire ) or I2C digital interface The inclinometer would typically be mounted straight underneath a tracker ‘s plane, from where the disposition can be measured. Fig. – Sun Tracker control system block diagram. The solar tracker is fitted with bound switches to guarantee robust operation. A micro roller switch mounted on the base of the solar tracker prevents multiple revolution completion of the AZ tracking phase. The solar aggregator besides includes two more bound switches on the zenith tracking phase to forestall over travel harm to the additive actuator mechanism. The initial reset balance usage tilt switches. The mechanism include four tilt switches ( E, West, south and north ) To protect tracker constituents from over air current velocity, system besides requires an wind gauge to mensurate wind velocity. Consequently, we need powerful and cost-efficient microcontroller to link all these parts and manage to track the Sun. It must hold two consecutive port, ( UART ) one for communicate computing machine the other 1 for GPS, two PWM signals for motor A and motor B, one I2C port for solid-state inclinometer, hardware counter input for wind gauge, parallel input for pyranometer, at least four digital inputs for tilt switches. In add-on, these characteristics we need package development tools for microcontroller. Sing the computation of the mentioned before, 32-Bit Stellaris microprocessor LM3S811 which is optimized for small-footprint embedded applications, fits best to the Sun tracker system. TI Stellaris LM3S811 microcontroller has a Reduced Instruction Set Coding ( RISC ) ARM nucleus, internal oscillators, timers, UART, USB, SPI, pull-up resistances, PWM, ADC, parallel comparator and watch-dog timers are some of the characteristics [ 10 ] . Software Design The developed Sun tracking algorithm enables high-precision finding of Sun angles and times for dawn, solar midday and sunset year-round. The flow chart of the algorithm is drawn in Fig. 5. The computation of the Sun angles with the Sun tracking algorithm package merely requires the specification of the day of the month, clip and exact longitude, latitude and lift of the location through a GPS system. Fig. – Flow chart of Sun tracking algorithm. The algorithm we developed for the control of the Sun tracker is composed of two chief subdivisions. In the input subdivision, the solar lift and AZ angles every bit good as dawn, sundown, solar midday and present solar times are calculated harmonizing to subdivision 2 and used as shared variables in other parts of the package. When the system starts, Stellaris foremost sets tracker to the place place and so takes GPS information to cipher the Sun set and rise times. The present solar clip is compared with the dawn and sunset times to find whether tracking should get down or halt. At dark clip, it waits following sample clip. Sample clip period may be defined harmonizing to proficient restraints. First restraint is GPS hot start clip that is 1 second for GPS. It can non be shorter than this value. The other restraint is the energy consumed by motor A and B during one tracking measure. We set sample clip to 2 minute during experimental work. The present solar clip between dawn and sun set clip ‘s Stellaris reads pyronometer value to look into if there is adequate solar radiation to bring forth power. Otherwise, Sun tracker stays at place place until solar radiation rise to lower bound of solar radiation. After solar radiation reaches the coveted value, so algorithm reads anemometer value to specify whether the Sun tracker can travel safely. If non, Sun tracker stays at place place at least during one sample clip. Otherwise, it starts tracking the Sun. In the end product subdivision of the algorithm, the package takes azimuth, ?A, and lift, ?e, angles from shared variables and converts them to drive gesture. The deliberate angles ?e, ?A, are so subtracted from the old place values. Harmonizing to the obtained angle difference and their marks, microcontroller sends PWM and way signals to the motor accountants. Motor A and motor B takes solar panel to the new place. Motor A can drive solar panels to turn in the horizontal plane in order to track the alterations in AZ angle ; its positive place is westbound. Similarly, motor B can drive solar panels to turn in the manner of fliping so as to track the alterations of solar lift angle ; its positive way is downward. At the terminal of tracking, the place of mechanisms demands to be defined. The electronic inclinometer ADXL345 sends x, Y, omega axis values to the Stellaris. This digital axis values are converted to angles by the microcontroller. By comparing the mensural angles with deliberate angles, the two motors take different motions to complete come up to the coveted place of the solar panel. Finally, when this twenty-four hours is over, the system backs to the place place to wait for the following twenty-four hours. ResultS and dA ±scussA ±on Sun tracker was tested both in the research lab and out-of-doorss utilizing SM-55 solar panel [ 12 ] . During the out-of-door trial, the Sun tracking system was moved to outside of a edifice so that we could compare the consequences between fixed place and two-axis Sun tracking systems. During a 24-hour test period, the two-axis solar tracker was required to run for about 2 proceedingss every hr to keep proper alliance with the Sun. Fig. – Outdoor trial consequences of sun tracker. During the trial procedure, solar panel charged to the battery, and solar panel current and electromotive force values were measured and stored every minute utilizing a information lumberman. End of the twenty-four hours, the solar panel, charged the battery up to 408.2 Watt-hour energy for about 11 hours. The recorded information on the twenty-four hours 5.5.2012 proved that the two-axis solar tracking PV panel produced more energy than the fixed 1 with about 40.7 % . ConclusA ±on In this survey, a cost effectual two-axis Sun tracker has been developed. The ARM Cortex-M3 nucleus microprocessor successfully calculated the tilt angle of the solar panel in order to look into the accurate Sun lift angle. The placement technique, which has been investigated by the DC motor and additive actuator, reduced the mistake in turn uping the lift AZ angles to 0.1 A ; deg ; . The proposed tracker has increased the energy collected by 40.7 % . How to cite Sun Tracking Control Strategy Engineering Essay, Essay examples

Marketing of Service Products for GrainCorp - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMarketing of Service Products for GrainCorp Company. Answer: Introduction GrainCorp Company is Australian based with its main headquarters at south Sidney. The companys main activity is to buy and receive grains from the farmers, restore them safely for reselling them later. The company provides safe transport means of the various grains from the farmers and later to their esteemed customers to enhancing proper handling, storage and distribution of the grains at a later date to their customers. With active branches in over 30 countries worldwide, the company has several bulk Grain Ports evenly distributed at their main branches to enhance distribution and receiving of their grain products. Among the various edible oil producers, GrainCorp is one providing these services to their consumers (FDI rules, 2014). Service provider description Last year 2016, GrainCorp Company celebrated its a hundredth birthday with a sign that it has been in existences for such a longer period compared to other recent agribusiness units in the market today. With a mission and vision to develop in to being one of the major Agribusiness companies in the world and by providing the best services to their customers, the company has made an impact in the industry. The company is valued for its commitment to enhancing good value on their products and also enhancing safety measures for their employees as well (O'Keeffe, 2017). The companys market is based on two marketing aspects, product and market orientation. Product orientation refers to the activities enhanced to ensuring that products involved are in good shape. While, market orientation refers to the means enhanced in creating and advancing product market by getting new customers and also working to maintain the existing once in the market (Swilley,2014).). Following the marketing approac h, I was able to acquire products from GrainCorp. Quality grains sold to me by GrainCorp Company on May 20th in this 2017 were of high and best quality compared to earlier purchases that I have done on similar grains in recent years. Having visited the company stores for the first time ever, the welcoming was warm in a way that the introduction was done by the employees at that time (Stahl, et al, 2012). Explaining the type of grain products available, their relevance, how they are important to a grain farmer and the growing grain market. It was my first visit to buying my farming grain products in the store and was the best purchasing experience I have ever had. Few months down, following the main steps given by the experts in the company retailing stores in the name of employees, grain farming is doing well with massive production. The company is giving right experience to grain farming farmers as they are able to gather advice on how to ensure the farming products are delivered as they desire and also sell their farm products to the Company as its the best market. The farmers being the main target, their occupation has been uplifted. Target Market Analysis Occupation of different individuals links them to certain service providers in the market. Farmers are the main target market in the business platform of GrainCorp as much as other consumers are targeted. This is as a result of the services given relating to grain product buying from the farmers and also selling seeds and other grain farming products to the same farmers again. The company is responsible of ensuring the well-being of its target market as well as provision of the best services. Farmers have various needs and wants that should be addressed by GrainCorp management such as seeds, advice and ready market for their products (Venkatesh, 2008). Farmers specializing in grain farming production require the best seed products for planting. The specialized individual cannot be able to enhance proper farming activities of the grain if there is no advice given to her or him (Wo? Gawlik, 2015). Therefore, through the companys experts, the farmer requires ultimate knowledge to enhancing proper farming. Including knowledge on how to plant, clear the weeds that may be involved and how to harvest the product. The other need is on market enquiry, the farmer is mostly motivated by having a ready market to selling his or her products. The grain farmer needs a favorable and ready market to sell his or her grain farm products (Datta, Ailawadi van Heerde, 2017). Service performance analysis of 3 of the 7ps of marketing The marketing mix aspects of the 7ps model are very important if used efficiently and effectively to help enhance the marketing business plan. Among the 3 Ps are people, product and price (Parker, Roper Medway, 2015) People. These are the individuals involved in product production, packaging, marketing and customer contact. Its mainly the customer contact employees that enhance service provision to the companys target market. GrainCorp has ensured that the service contact employees to their customers are well trained to offer relevant information about their services and products important in enhancing their market (Enache, 2011). Product This is the product or service that the company offers in large scale to the target market. GrainCorp as an Agribusiness company has various grain farming products that it offers to its customers. The seeds and other marketing services are of high quality just as the customers require them. This is important as it ensures the companys image is maintained by proper customer service provision and high quality products. Price This refers to the price the customer pays for the product or service from the service provider. This is a very important factor of marketing as its intended to ensure both the customer and the service provider are satisfied over the price indicated on certain services and products. Customers price satisfaction is very important as it enhances customers loyalty. GrainCorp Company has favorable price quotations that ensures the value quoted is similar to that of the product. This is important to ensuring customers price satisfaction in marketing activities (Dadzie, et al, 2017). Recommendations Adopt efficient customer relation skills. Customers are the main stakeholders in marketing activities. To improve on how they are handled is important as it ensures all their requirements and needs are catered for. GrainCorp has a large basis for customer relations activities as various services are offered both in selling their products as well as buying customers products. To ensure all the customers needs are catered for efficiently, the company should offer customer relation skills to all people involved. Ensure there are adequate and viable customer contact people (Voorst, et al, 2017). Adopt purchasing cost analysis strategy. This is an important criterial to the company to help in evaluation of all the costs involved in production. As an agribusiness company with a growing marketing platform, the costs involved in all production activities might be higher than that of other service providers in the same market. Having their target market all over the world but with minimal production points, transport cost and marketing cost might be relatively higher. If the cost at which the product is given in the market does not involve all the expenses incurred in these production activities it might lead to failure of the company marketing goals. As a result, adopting effective cost analysis strategy is very important to ensure effective pricing of the companys services and products. Conclusion Business marketing platform has a responsibility to ensuring the set target market needs and requirements are effectively taken care off. GrainCorp Company with the farmers as their main target market should ensure that the services provided both in buying and selling the grain products are off high quality and done in the right way. This will enhance customers acquisition and satisfaction in maintaining customers loyalty. All service providers should ensure customers satisfaction in all its activities towards them as they are the main stakeholders. References "ADM/GrainCorp: Australia's FDI rules in operation." International Financial Law Review (February 2014): 6. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 28, 2017). Dadzie, K. Q., Amponsah, D. K., Dadzie, C. A., Winston, E. M. (2017). How Firms Implement Marketing Strategies in Emerging Markets: An Empirical Assessment of The 4A Marketing Mix Framework. Journal of Marketing Theory Practice, 25(3), 234-256. doi:10.1080/10696679.2017.1311220 Datta, H., Ailawadi, K. L., van Heerde, H. J. (2017). How Well Does Consumer-Based Brand Equity Align with Sales-Based Brand Equity and Marketing-Mix Response? Journal Of Marketing, 81(3), 1-20. doi:10.1509/jm.15.0340 Enache, I. (2011). Marketing higher education using the 7 PS framework. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 4(1), 23-30. O'Keeffe, P 2017, 'contestability in the Australian wheat export industry', Journal of Australian Political Economy, 79, pp. 65-86, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017. Potter, M 2015, 'Takeover: Foreign Investment and the Australian Parker, C., Roper, S., Medway, D. (2015). Back to basics in the marketing of place: the impact of litter upon place attitudes. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(9-10), 1090-1112. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2015.1035307 Stahl, F., Heitmann, M., Lehmann, D. R., Neslin, S. A. (2012). The Impact of Brand Equity on Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Profit Margin. Journal of Marketing, 76(4), 44-63. doi:10.1509/jm.10.0522 Swilley,E. (2014). Upper Echelons Theory and Market Orientation: TMT Characteristics as Antecedents to a Market Orientation.Revolution in Marketing: Market Driving Changes, 189-189. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11761-4_92 Venkatesh, U 2008, 'The case for organized agri-retail--the Indian imperative', Journal of Services Research, 1, p. 91, Business Insights: Essentials, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017. Voorst, S. F., Kate, C. A., Jong-Potjer, L. C., Steegers, E. P., Denkta?, S. (2017). Developing social marketed individual preconception care consultations: Which consumer preferences should it meet? Health Expectations, 20(5), 1106-1113. doi:10.1111/hex.12555 Wo?, B, Gawlik, A 2015, 'The Development of Agri-tourism in Opole Province, Poland. From Inexpensive Holidays in the Countryside to Experiential Marketing', JETA: Journal Of Environmental Tourism Analyses, 3, 1, pp. 80-89, Hospitality Tourism Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017.

Marketing of Service Products for GrainCorp - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMarketing of Service Products for GrainCorp Company. Answer: Introduction GrainCorp Company is Australian based with its main headquarters at south Sidney. The companys main activity is to buy and receive grains from the farmers, restore them safely for reselling them later. The company provides safe transport means of the various grains from the farmers and later to their esteemed customers to enhancing proper handling, storage and distribution of the grains at a later date to their customers. With active branches in over 30 countries worldwide, the company has several bulk Grain Ports evenly distributed at their main branches to enhance distribution and receiving of their grain products. Among the various edible oil producers, GrainCorp is one providing these services to their consumers (FDI rules, 2014). Service provider description Last year 2016, GrainCorp Company celebrated its a hundredth birthday with a sign that it has been in existences for such a longer period compared to other recent agribusiness units in the market today. With a mission and vision to develop in to being one of the major Agribusiness companies in the world and by providing the best services to their customers, the company has made an impact in the industry. The company is valued for its commitment to enhancing good value on their products and also enhancing safety measures for their employees as well (O'Keeffe, 2017). The companys market is based on two marketing aspects, product and market orientation. Product orientation refers to the activities enhanced to ensuring that products involved are in good shape. While, market orientation refers to the means enhanced in creating and advancing product market by getting new customers and also working to maintain the existing once in the market (Swilley,2014).). Following the marketing approac h, I was able to acquire products from GrainCorp. Quality grains sold to me by GrainCorp Company on May 20th in this 2017 were of high and best quality compared to earlier purchases that I have done on similar grains in recent years. Having visited the company stores for the first time ever, the welcoming was warm in a way that the introduction was done by the employees at that time (Stahl, et al, 2012). Explaining the type of grain products available, their relevance, how they are important to a grain farmer and the growing grain market. It was my first visit to buying my farming grain products in the store and was the best purchasing experience I have ever had. Few months down, following the main steps given by the experts in the company retailing stores in the name of employees, grain farming is doing well with massive production. The company is giving right experience to grain farming farmers as they are able to gather advice on how to ensure the farming products are delivered as they desire and also sell their farm products to the Company as its the best market. The farmers being the main target, their occupation has been uplifted. Target Market Analysis Occupation of different individuals links them to certain service providers in the market. Farmers are the main target market in the business platform of GrainCorp as much as other consumers are targeted. This is as a result of the services given relating to grain product buying from the farmers and also selling seeds and other grain farming products to the same farmers again. The company is responsible of ensuring the well-being of its target market as well as provision of the best services. Farmers have various needs and wants that should be addressed by GrainCorp management such as seeds, advice and ready market for their products (Venkatesh, 2008). Farmers specializing in grain farming production require the best seed products for planting. The specialized individual cannot be able to enhance proper farming activities of the grain if there is no advice given to her or him (Wo? Gawlik, 2015). Therefore, through the companys experts, the farmer requires ultimate knowledge to enhancing proper farming. Including knowledge on how to plant, clear the weeds that may be involved and how to harvest the product. The other need is on market enquiry, the farmer is mostly motivated by having a ready market to selling his or her products. The grain farmer needs a favorable and ready market to sell his or her grain farm products (Datta, Ailawadi van Heerde, 2017). Service performance analysis of 3 of the 7ps of marketing The marketing mix aspects of the 7ps model are very important if used efficiently and effectively to help enhance the marketing business plan. Among the 3 Ps are people, product and price (Parker, Roper Medway, 2015) People. These are the individuals involved in product production, packaging, marketing and customer contact. Its mainly the customer contact employees that enhance service provision to the companys target market. GrainCorp has ensured that the service contact employees to their customers are well trained to offer relevant information about their services and products important in enhancing their market (Enache, 2011). Product This is the product or service that the company offers in large scale to the target market. GrainCorp as an Agribusiness company has various grain farming products that it offers to its customers. The seeds and other marketing services are of high quality just as the customers require them. This is important as it ensures the companys image is maintained by proper customer service provision and high quality products. Price This refers to the price the customer pays for the product or service from the service provider. This is a very important factor of marketing as its intended to ensure both the customer and the service provider are satisfied over the price indicated on certain services and products. Customers price satisfaction is very important as it enhances customers loyalty. GrainCorp Company has favorable price quotations that ensures the value quoted is similar to that of the product. This is important to ensuring customers price satisfaction in marketing activities (Dadzie, et al, 2017). Recommendations Adopt efficient customer relation skills. Customers are the main stakeholders in marketing activities. To improve on how they are handled is important as it ensures all their requirements and needs are catered for. GrainCorp has a large basis for customer relations activities as various services are offered both in selling their products as well as buying customers products. To ensure all the customers needs are catered for efficiently, the company should offer customer relation skills to all people involved. Ensure there are adequate and viable customer contact people (Voorst, et al, 2017). Adopt purchasing cost analysis strategy. This is an important criterial to the company to help in evaluation of all the costs involved in production. As an agribusiness company with a growing marketing platform, the costs involved in all production activities might be higher than that of other service providers in the same market. Having their target market all over the world but with minimal production points, transport cost and marketing cost might be relatively higher. If the cost at which the product is given in the market does not involve all the expenses incurred in these production activities it might lead to failure of the company marketing goals. As a result, adopting effective cost analysis strategy is very important to ensure effective pricing of the companys services and products. Conclusion Business marketing platform has a responsibility to ensuring the set target market needs and requirements are effectively taken care off. GrainCorp Company with the farmers as their main target market should ensure that the services provided both in buying and selling the grain products are off high quality and done in the right way. This will enhance customers acquisition and satisfaction in maintaining customers loyalty. All service providers should ensure customers satisfaction in all its activities towards them as they are the main stakeholders. References "ADM/GrainCorp: Australia's FDI rules in operation." International Financial Law Review (February 2014): 6. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 28, 2017). Dadzie, K. Q., Amponsah, D. K., Dadzie, C. A., Winston, E. M. (2017). How Firms Implement Marketing Strategies in Emerging Markets: An Empirical Assessment of The 4A Marketing Mix Framework. Journal of Marketing Theory Practice, 25(3), 234-256. doi:10.1080/10696679.2017.1311220 Datta, H., Ailawadi, K. L., van Heerde, H. J. (2017). How Well Does Consumer-Based Brand Equity Align with Sales-Based Brand Equity and Marketing-Mix Response? Journal Of Marketing, 81(3), 1-20. doi:10.1509/jm.15.0340 Enache, I. (2011). Marketing higher education using the 7 PS framework. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 4(1), 23-30. O'Keeffe, P 2017, 'contestability in the Australian wheat export industry', Journal of Australian Political Economy, 79, pp. 65-86, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017. Potter, M 2015, 'Takeover: Foreign Investment and the Australian Parker, C., Roper, S., Medway, D. (2015). Back to basics in the marketing of place: the impact of litter upon place attitudes. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(9-10), 1090-1112. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2015.1035307 Stahl, F., Heitmann, M., Lehmann, D. R., Neslin, S. A. (2012). The Impact of Brand Equity on Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Profit Margin. Journal of Marketing, 76(4), 44-63. doi:10.1509/jm.10.0522 Swilley,E. (2014). Upper Echelons Theory and Market Orientation: TMT Characteristics as Antecedents to a Market Orientation.Revolution in Marketing: Market Driving Changes, 189-189. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11761-4_92 Venkatesh, U 2008, 'The case for organized agri-retail--the Indian imperative', Journal of Services Research, 1, p. 91, Business Insights: Essentials, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017. Voorst, S. F., Kate, C. A., Jong-Potjer, L. C., Steegers, E. P., Denkta?, S. (2017). Developing social marketed individual preconception care consultations: Which consumer preferences should it meet? Health Expectations, 20(5), 1106-1113. doi:10.1111/hex.12555 Wo?, B, Gawlik, A 2015, 'The Development of Agri-tourism in Opole Province, Poland. From Inexpensive Holidays in the Countryside to Experiential Marketing', JETA: Journal Of Environmental Tourism Analyses, 3, 1, pp. 80-89, Hospitality Tourism Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 September 2017.

Computer Underground Essays - Hacker, Cybercrime, Hacking

Computer Underground The Computer Underground. The beginning of the electronic communication revolution that started with the public use of telephones to the emergence of home computers has been accompanied by corresponding social problems involving the activities of so-called computer hackers, or better referred to as the computer underground (CU). The CU is composed of computer aficionados who stay on the fringes of legality. The CU is composed of relatively intelligent people, in contrast to the media's description of the ultra intelligent and sophisticated teenage hacker. The majority have in common the belief that information should be free and that they have a right to know. They often have some amount of dislike for the government and the industries who try to control and commercialize information of any sort. This paper attempts to expose what the CU truly is and dispel some of the myths propagated by the media and other organizations. This paper also tries to show the processes and reasons behin d the criminalization of the CU and how the CU is viewed by different organizations, as well as some of the processes by which it came into being. What the CU is has been addressed by the media, criminologists, secuity firms, and the CU themselves, they all have a different understanding or levels of comprehention, this paper attempts to show the differences between the views as well as attempt to correct misunderstandings that may have been propagated by misinformed sources. The differences between the parties of the CU such as, hackers, crackers, phreaks, pirates, and virus writers have rarely been recognized and some deny that there are differences thus this paper attempts to give a somewhat clearer view and define exactly what each party is and does as well as how they relate to one another. Every individual in the CU has a different level of sophistication when it comes to computers, from the height of the advanced virus writer and network hacker to the pirate who can be at the same level as a novice computer user. The prevalence of the problem has been dramatized by the media and enforcement agents, and evidenced by the rise of specialized private security firms to confront the hackers. The average person's knowledge about the CU has been derived mostly from the media. The media gets their information from former CU individuals who have been caught, from law enforcement agents, and from computer security specialists. The computer underground, as it is called by those who participate in it, is composed of people adhering to one or several roles: hacker, phreaker, pirate, cracker, and computer virus developer. Terms such as these have different meanings for those who have written about the computer underground, such as the media, and those who participate in it. The media's concept of the Computer Underground is the main cause of the criminalization of the activity and has largely occurred as the result of media dramatization of the problem (Hollinger and Lanza-Kaduce, 1988). In fact, it was a collection of newspaper and film clips that was presented to the United States Congress during legislative debates as evidence of the computer hacking problem (Hollinger and Lanza-Kaduce, 1988, p.107). Unfortunately, the media assessment of the computer underground displays a naive understanding of CU activity. The media generally makes little distinction between different types of CU activity. Most any computer- related crime activity can be attributed to hackers. Everything from embezzlement to computer viruses have, at one time or another, been attributed to them. Additionally, hackers are often described as being sociopathic or malicious, creating a media image of the computer underground that may exaggerate their ability for doing damage. The labeling of the CU and especially hackers as being evil is well illustrated by these media examples. The first is from Eddie Schwartz, a WGN-Radio talk show host. Here Schwartz is addressing Anna, a s elf-identified hacker that has phoned into the show: You know what Anna, you know what disturbs me? You don't sound like a stupid person but you represent a . . . a . . . a . . . lack of morality that disturbs me greatly. You really do. I think you represent a certain way of thinking that

This is a creative writing piece about the differences between me and my sister entitled Ten Years Later.

This is a creative writing piece about the differences between me and my sister entitled Ten Years Later. Ten Years LaterMy older sister was always late in the mornings, and every day I waited on the couch next to the door, counting the hundreds of seconds until she was ready. I waited, dressed, with my bright pink backpack secured, my shoes tied, and my coat zipped. I watched her run around the house, looking for a last minute snack, or sometimes finishing her homework. It puzzled me that no matter how early she woke up, she was still always late. Finally, she would open the door, and together we would sprint down the street to the bus stop, where we would be the last two kids on the bus. I resented her for making me sit in the front row, and I was determined to convince my parents that I was old enough to go by myself. They didn't give in for two years, until I reached second grade.Kitchen and staff, Windsor Hotel, Montreal, QC, 19...For the first week, my sister walked with me. It wasn't intentional, but by the time I reached the end of the driveway, she caught up to me and we would w alk side by side. The following week, when Lana abandoned her resolution to be on time, I left my house alone. As I turned the corner, I confirmed her absence, and began my walk in solitude. It wasn't far, not more than a quarter of a mile, and there was plenty of time to spare. Yet I walked briskly at first, and then I began to run. Afraid of looking behind me, I dashed to the end of the street. Sobbing, I stood alone, until the others gradually found their way to the bus stop.I refused at first to admit that I didn't know what to do with my newfound liberty. I wished that it would...

Country project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Country project - Essay Example According to our business strategies, Saudi Armco will produce an estimate of 8 barrels annually and manage over 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia (Tait). In addition, it has 300 trillion scfd of natural gas oil rich reserves estimated to have a yield of approximately 260 million barrels, hence explaining why it accounts to be the leading daily oil producer globally (Fernandez). Some of these prominent reserves embrace Ghawar and Shaybah, which are the world’s principal oil fields ever unveiled. In addition, Saudi Armco boasts of having the world’s largest hydrocarbon network, which is mainly the Master Gas system - MGS. MGS is a gas gathering and processing system built in 1975 that will enable Saudi Armco to sell all its gas products obtained during oil production as well as from gas reservoirs (Badr 1). The system will also become Saudi Arabia’s industrialization main resource ever since it can produce large amounts of natural gas on a daily basis. (Ferna ndez). In addition, Saudi Armco hosts several goals it ought to accomplish like producing about 10% of energy consumed globally on daily basis (Zuhur 149). To maintain its petroleum production capacity, Saudi Armco will constantly involve itself in varied investments with the intention of heightening its good publicity, be the most reliable energy producer and a global supplier. All the company’s activities will encompass exploring, refining, chemical processes, distribution, marketing and production, which will all be exclusively under supervision of Ministry of petroleum and mineral resources in conjunction with the supreme council for petroleum and minerals. Initially, Saudi Armco’s plans were to use Cray supercomputers in its EXPEC computer centre (ECC) in aid to process large quantities of data from exploration (Badr 2). However, plans are underway to ensure we integrate a new supercomputing system with a storage capacity of 1050 terabytes to enable it support maj or explorations in the Red sea region. Currently, Saudi Armco owns five domestic refineries in Saudi Arabia, which will be primarily for availing adequate oil products to the local market. In addition, together with other stakeholders, the enterprise expects to buy a half of each of the two existing in-kingdom refineries located at Yanbu and Jubail. According to our objectives, apart from marketing crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas together with liquids, Saudi Armco will also export crude oil to other global regions using tankers. The Company will also actively participate in the fight against environmental degradation like air and water pollution. For instance, the management board has already rolled out Saudi Armco’s environmental plan incorporating all intended departmental branches (Badr 2). In this context, Saudi Armco will be able to play a major role in advocating for technological solutions to environmental issues not only now but also in the future. Conse quently, this will prompt the company to maintain all its projects while under in operation aim at minimizing their environmental pollution by use of high classic technological knowhow (Badr 3). Part 2 Saudi Arabia Physical and demographic environment Advantages to business Most oil and gas reservoirs explored by Saudi Armco their respective locations are in Saudi Arabia. This is a great advantage to the enterprise because it does not incur costs of transporting raw materials to the refineries before shipped to varied

El Mozote Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

El Mozote - Essay Example Its mission was Operacion Rescate or in other words Operation Rescue, was to abolish the revolutionary existence in a small district of northern Morazan, where the FMLN had a base camp and a training area. On the arrival of the armed forces, the soldiers not merely found the villagers but the campaigners who have constructed a refuge in the neighborhood area. The military forces asked the villagers about the guerrillas and told them to lock themselves in their houses1. In the next two days, soldiers separated men and women plus children as well. During the morning they grilled torture and finished the men in various locations. After killing the men, they took women and older girls in groups, raped them and than killed them from their machine guns. Girls of age 12 were also raped under the alleged reason of supporting the guerillas. After killing the whole inhabitants, soldiers set up fire to the buildings. On December 13, they went to the village of Los Toriles, which is 2 km away from El Mozote. A lot of inhabitants managed to escape but the unfortunate were lined up and shot dead. However, the same thing was repeated in La Joya canton on December 11, in the village of La Rancheria on December 12 and in the village of Jocote Amarillo plus Cerro Pando canton on December 13. The victims of El Mozote were left unburied2. The guerrilla's secret radio station start

Cloud 9 by Caryl Churcill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cloud 9 by Caryl Churcill - Essay Example Basically, the play serves to create a visual impression of Britain at different times where the country and its people strived to have an identity of their own by breaking the stereotypes associated with the old era. The prevalent themes in this play are those of post colonialism, gender identity and an assessment of the ruling authorities. There is a general quest for identity that is most visible throughout the first act. The acting of the characters in their own true identity is a thing that should be concealed. They must do so in secret like when playing a game of hide and seek. If an identity shows disrespect to England, then that identity ought not to exist or should be concealed as per Clive. Clive’s is inclined to the idea that nontraditional sex identity is a sickness that can be cured though Churchill presents n provision that seems to dwell on the contrary. He asserts that sexual identity cannot be structured in another way but gender can be rearranged. There is a continuous difficulty in search of identity for characters such as Victoria, Betty and Edward in the second act even though they’re free from the direct influence of Clive. This shows that the search for identity is not as simple as thought even in a new world different from the traditional settings. This depiction of gender identity is influenced by the political system and other systems of rule in the times depicted in the play. This makes the play have a political and historical dimension. The play has very deep political insights that separate the political theatre into two strategies. These are the really dominant styles of rule in the last century that is viewed as â€Å"reflectionist† and the modern form of political approach of â€Å"interventionist†. As the characters demonstrate their struggles to discover their real identity, they represent a whole country (Britain) that struggles to find the ideal form of governance. This shows that the country itsel f is struggling to find its own identity. The real nature of Britain and the actions in a period of conquest and territorial acquisition is covered in the first act. The mind of the reader is set in a period of post war Britain therefore visualizing what the country was before its gradual decline in power. The reader can picture Britain being at the peak of its power and its quest to become a great colonizer and a country worthy of repute. This impacts the â€Å"bully† mentality about Britain in that period. The activities of the country are also streamlined to conquer Africa in an attempt to civilize the continent otherwise regarded to host â€Å"beasts’. Joshua is caught in this context of trying to become a native that sees the British as the exclusively civilized people that ought to be emulated but not people from his native background. This play show the impact of the British on people from Africa and what they perpetrated in order to be feared and establish the mselves as a powerful nation among its colonies. Churchill does a commendable work in airing this attribute that shows the attitude of Britain towards its colonies. Another notable observation from the play with an administrative bearing concerns the military. The author seems to suggest that the military efforts of the country were a making a joke of the state. Lin’s brother acts as a soldier who shows least care for the country he is supposed to represent wholeheartedly. It is evident that he’

Analysis of the Dutch Healthcare System Real Estate

Analysis of the Dutch Healthcare System Real Estate Chapter 2: Hospitals, corporate real estate management and alternative real estate financing structures Healthcare systems across the globe are under continuous reform. Thus, it is important to note that healthcare systems are still evolving. Moreover, in Europe a distinction is made between so-called Bismarck mixed and Beveridge healthcare models. Bismarck systems are based on social insurance, and characterized by a multitude of insurance organizations, who are organizationally independent of public and private healthcare providers. Examples are such as in France, the Netherlands and Germany (Krankenkassen). In Beveridge systems, however, financing and provision are handled within one organizational system and based on taxation. This implies healthcare financing bodies and providers are completely or partially within one organization, such as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK and Spain (Lameire, et al. 1999; Finfacts, 2007). Throughout history, healthcare systems across the world have evolved from Bismarck into Beveridge systems and vice versa. Usually, such reforms are a bone of contention. A recent example is the highly controversial debate in US politics on reform of the American healthcare system, which is unique in its application of the Private Insurance model (Lameire, et al. 1999). Democrats have long called for a universal health insurance program, which involves the expansion of coverage and restricting the power of insurance companies. Proponents argue that health insurance should be affordable and accessible to all, while opponents (mainly Republicans) fear too large a role of the government and the use of tax money to finance the arguably enormous costs involved. Both parties seem to agree that the power of insurance companies should be restricted by banning underwriting practices that prevent many Americans from obtaining affordable health insurance. However, though U.S. president Obama has praised various aspects of the Dutch social security-based (Bismarck) healthcare system, a similar evolution of the American healthcare system yet has to commence (NY Times, 2009). This section begins with a brief historic overview of the Dutch hospital (or cure) sector, with a focus on its evolution. Second, the interdependencies between healthcare real estate, (strategic) corporate real estate management, and alternative real estate financing structures will be elaborated upon by using corporate real estate management (CREM) theory and comparing various sources from academic literature. These are intertwined since healthcare heavily depends on real estate as a resource in fulfilling its core business activity. By opting for alternative ways to finance real estate, hospitals are able to free up additional capital to support their clinical activities. As the Dutch healthcare system currently is under reform and hospitals become responsible for real estate investments themselves, they are under increasing pressure to consider more cost-efficient options and enhance their competitive position. Alternative real estate financing structures such as public-private partnerships, where hospitals profit from the knowledge and experience of private sector parties through various partnership agreements, could provide a alternative feasible alternative here to more traditional real estate financing structures. For example, hospitals could opt for a sale-lease-back agreement, where hospital real estate is sold to a private party and leased-back to the hospital for an annual fee. By analyzing the above, this theory and literature review will provide the reader with an answer to the following sub-questions: How are Dutch hospitals regulated and financed? How can corporate real estate management add value to hospital real estate? How do alternative real estate financing structures relate to hospital real estate? The Dutch hospital sector The origins of healthcare in the Netherlands can be traced mainly to the activities of voluntary organizations, which often provided healthcare on a charitable base. These organizations used to be run mainly on religious or ideological foundations, resulting in the creation of healthcare facilities with a Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or humanistic foundation (Folter, 2002). The Dutch healthcare tradition reflects the changing relationship between the government and voluntary organizations. Dutch hospitals largely originated from private and often charitable initiatives; virtually all are non-profit and most are still private organizations. However, today they are no longer organized along denominational lines. Though private ownership predominates, the Dutch government heavily regulates the healthcare system. In the postwar era of the 1950s, there was a focus on hospital construction, part of the broader effort to rebuild the country. In 1971, an extensive planning system was undertaken under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV) to regulate hospital capacity, the main motive being that many people felt hospitals were too concentrated in the urban areas and too few were located in other parts of the country (Den Exter, et al. 2004). Planning, regulation and management In the 1960s and 1970s, the expansion of health technology and healthcare resulted in a steep increase in health care costs. The main cause of the cost increase was attributed to the building of new hospitals and healthcare institutions. The Hospital Provision Act (WZV) of 1971 became the Dutch governments most important hospital planning tool, enabling the government to regulate construction of all healthcare institutions. The responsibility for its implementation was allocated to the provincial health authorities. The overarching goal of the WZV was to regulate the supply and promote the efficiency of hospital care. Hospitals were not to be constructed or renovated without successfully passing a declaration and licensing process. Approval of the building project rested on a detailed plan for each hospital service affected in a specific geographic region, which included a description of the existing service capacity, the suggested change of capacity, and a schedule to complete the project. The planning process began with the issuance of an instruction from the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport to the provincial government. The instruction described the categories of hospital facilities for which plans were to be developed, the geographical region covered, and the deadline to complete this. Provincial governments considered a number of regulations and guidelines in the process. Regulations related to the planning process and guidelines to the content of the plan. Many stakeholders were involved in the formation of regulations, including hospitals, patients and consumer organizations, local authorities, and insurance companies. In the initial stage, the provincial government prepared a draft plan. This plan included: an inventory of existing capacities; an evaluation of the existing situation in terms of shortages and weaknesses; a description of construction, renovation and expansion proposals; and an implementation plan and time schedule. Subsequently, the draft was forwarded to the health minister for approval. The health minister, after counseling the Hospital Provision Board (CBZ), determined whether or not the draft was acceptable. The draft plan formed the foundation for the issuance of so-called acknowledgements, which allowed hospitals to receive reimbursement for services from health insurers. The drawbacks of the initial hospital planning process under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV) were its complexity and lack of flexibility. Therefore, in January 2000, in order to improve the planning process, a new Act, the Special Medical Procedures Act (WBMV), came into existence. The focus of this Act was on quality of care rather than cost containment and aimed at promoting healthcare with maximum quality and minimum risk to patients at affordable cost (Den Exter et al., 2004). Decentralization According to Den Exter et al., in the Netherlands policy traditionally has been prepared and implemented by a massive neocorporate bureaucracy, uniting government agencies, quasi-governmental organizations (the advisory and executive bodies), suppliers and providers in the private sector, and insurance companies. This national body has a significant degree of control over decisions regarding the number and distribution of hospital beds and specialist places, and on investment decisions and management costs in health care. In the 1970s, centralized government coordination and planning became the leading principle in the Dutch healthcare system. However, the 1974 policy paper Structuring health care (Structuurnota Gezondheidszorg), contained proposals for decentralized administration by regional and local authorities (Second Chamber of Parliament, 1974). In 1986, the coalition government departed from the centralized model by undertaking major reforms, especially in the field of social health insurance. The integration of different insurance schemes into one social insurance for all Dutch citizens (with largely income-related contributions) was a bone of contention. The aim was to increase solidarity in healthcare financing. Under these reforms, all insurance companies would function as independent and risk-bearing insurers and compete for insured patients under the same regulations. A central fund (centrale kas) was to provide budgets for all the insurers. A key issue in the reforms was the shift of the insurance risk from the public funding system to the individual insurance plan, justified by the less government, more market trend. The shift of insurance risk involved a policy of transferring regulating competencies from the collective to the private sector, such as providers and insurance companies. In the Netherlands, this policy is called functional decentralization. This has mainly occurred in the cure-sector, which entails acute care and both specialist and general medicine. By means of negotiations and contracts, an increasing number of health insurers and providers have become important determinants in shaping and interpreting healthcare today, while the government and administrative agencies used to assume these roles in the past. This is emphasized by the new role assumed by medical specialists in hospital care. For example, they have acquired an independent coordinating position versus both hospital management and sickness funds (Scholten and van der Grinten, 1998). Hospital budget reforms In the Netherlands, today all hospitals and other healthcare institutions are required to have an overall annual budget. This is in line with the governments cost-containment policy. If the hospital exceeds its budget, there is no possibility of recalculation or compensation. Specialist fees are an exception to this overall hospital budget. Below follows an overview of the budget reforms that have taken place up until 2009. Function-directed budgeting (1988 2000) The old budget system, which was in use since 1988, was a function-directed budget system. The budget was divided in four cost components: location costs, fixed costs, semi-fixed costs, and variable costs. Location costs concern infrastructure, for example buildings and equipment including depreciation and interest. In the old budget system, these investments required approval by the health minister under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV). Second, fixed costs are costs that do not generally vary with the activity volume. For example, the number of people served by a hospital in the region. Thirdly, semi-fixed costs are not affected by the scale of production of a hospital in the short run. These are capacity-based costs, and include the number of beds and specialist units. Finally, variable costs are directly related to the activity volume or the production (production units) of the hospital. Parameters for variable costs include admissions, outpatient visits, nursing days, day care and day treatments (Den Exter et al., 2004). In the old system, the hospital budget was determined as follows: Number of persons in service area (x tariff) + number of licensed hospital beds (x tariff) + number of licensed specialist units (x tariff) + negotiated volumes of production units, for example hospital admissions (x tariff), inpatient days (x tariff), first outpatient contacts (x tariff), day surgery (x tariff) and special treatments (x tariff) Tariffs varied with hospital size, implying larger hospitals were allocated higher tariffs than smaller hospitals. In addition, hospitals were allocated capital expense budgets. For example, rebuilding projects and new hospital construction projects were covered by a 100% mark-up applied for 50 years. This implies payment was guaranteed for 50 years through a mark-up in the day rate. As a result, hospitals were not exposed to financial risk regarding major capital expenses. Further, hospitals received a standardized budget for small investments, such as maintenance. These investments did not require the approval of the health minister. Performance-driven budgeting (2000 2005) Until 2000, hospitals still received the full budget when it produced less inpatient days than estimated under the principle budget=budget. However, this was changed into a performance-driven payment system implying hospitals would get paid less if they would produce less inpatient days than agreed upon with health insurers. The underlying notion of this change was to increase hospital production, in order to put a halt to waiting lists. However, this transition brought a number of new problems along: Hospital budgets were unable to keep up with the increase in demand for hospital care. While patients paid insurance, they were unable to benefit from hospital service directly because of waiting lists. The admissions, inpatient days and day surgery tariffs used to set the budget proved completely artificial, not reflecting true costs. Incentives for efficiency were weak. The budgeting system did not stimulate hospitals to inform insurers and patients about their performance. This is a politically sensitive issue, as hospitals received extra money to combat waiting lists but were reluctant to explain for what goals they used this money. DBC-budgeting and dot (2005 present) Therefore, a new gradual transition is currently taking place to a Diagnosebehandelings-combinatie (Diagnosis Treatment Combination, DBC) financing system. The DBC system has the following implications: a transition to output pricing with defined and priced patient-treatment categories; location costs remain fixed and all other maintenance costs will be integrated into the location cost center of hospital budgets (set by the College Tarieven Gezondheidszorg, CTG, Healthcare Tariffs Council); and hospitals are contracted by sickness funds based on patient-treatment categories. The main notion is that hospitals are reimbursed for the costs they incur resulting from medical treatments. The DBC-A segment tariffs (acute care) remains government regulated (through the NZa, Dutch Healthcare Authority) and concerns acute care, whereas hospitals are largely free to negotiate tariffs with healthcare insurers in the DBC-B-segment (non-acute care) in an effort to promote market forces. Currently , about 34% of the DBCs is allocated to the B-segment; the Dutch Health Ministry aims to increase this proportion to 50-60% by 2011 (Van Poucke, 2009). The DBC system is comparable to the DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) system used abroad. However, there are a number of differences: DRGs are coded at the beginning of the treatment, while DBCs are coded afterwards. A patient can be coded in more than one DBC. In the DBC system the coding is not done by special personnel but by a medical specialist. The physician salary is included in the DBC, giving physicians an incentive for upcoding. In the DBC system, more flexibility is granted to parties that negotiate at the local level on production, number of treatments, and number of specialists. Furthermore, efforts are being made to integrate the fee-for-service system for specialists and the hospital budget system into a single integrated budget (Den Exter 2004). However, since the system is still in early development, the effects of DBC financing on hospitals are still ambiguous. As a result, improvements have been proposed which will be implemented as of January 1 2011 under the DOT (DBCs Op weg naar Transparantie, DBCs on the road to Transparency). This implies that the 100,000 DBC products will be sized down to only 3,000 in order to increase transparency for the patient, healthcare practitioners and healthcare insurers (DBC Onderhoud, 2009). Real estate investment reforms Until 2008, the Dutch healthcare system applied a publicly supported healthcare real estate budget system. However, since 2008, Dutch healthcare institutions have become financially responsible for the return and risks of their real estate investments (see Chapter 5: Real estate investments). Moreover, the Dutch healthcare system is changing toward a regulated market system with increased competition between healthcare providers. According to Van der Zwart et al. (2009), these developments are likely to change the way healthcare institutions will manage and finance their real estate, the location choices they make and the building typology they choose. Furthermore, real estate is becoming an increasingly strategic fifth source of profitability and overall performance, similar to capital, human resources, information and technology (see figure 2.1). For hospitals, considering and using real estate as a strategic production asset can reap added value, as will be explained in section 2.2.2. Financing hospital real estate: from supply-driven to regulated market forces As health insurers now negotiate quality and quantity agreements with hospitals and patients are broadening their horizons, the importance of an integrated approach to the product hospital care. Hospitals should be able to use their real estate as a distinguishing element in attracting customers (the patient). As a result, real estate is being transformed into a strategic resource for hospitals as well and hospital executives are paying growing attention to real estate management, including location management (what to do where), business plans (do investments yield positive returns) and real estate asset valuation. Building plans are based on functional clustering: hospitals divide new buildings into hotels (patient rooms), hot floors (operating rooms), offices (simple treatments, patient consults), and industrial plants (medical support/facilitating functions). As hospitals are no longer required to own their real estate assets, some are seeking partners willing to take over some o f their real estate management (Windhorst 2006). The Dutch government used to be in charge of allocating the budget of healthcare real estate investment, but is moving toward a regulated market system to keep healthcare affordable in the future. This deregulation gives healthcare institutions the opportunity to make their own decisions, translating into more individual responsibility and a higher risk exposure of investments. The government no longer guarantees financial support for real estate investments, and thus real estate investments have to be financed by the production and delivery of healthcare services. As a result, the need for competitive advantage will also increase (Van der Zwart, et al., 2009). The Dutch government used to apply a strict approval system in the former real estate budget system in order to regulate the capacity and costs of hospital health care. All initiatives to build, renovate or demolish a hospital building were evaluated in terms of their fit with a regulated overall capacity per service area, square meter guidelines per hospital bed and per function, and a maximum standard of costs per square meter (Van der Zwart, et al., 2009: 2). The initiatives were approved by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports, who was advised by the Netherlands Board for Healthcare Institutions. The real estate capital costs (depreciation, rent, maintenance costs and so on) were guaranteed by the government. The healthcare providers real estate budget was independent of the production of healthcare services. According to Van der Zwart et al., hospitals did not bear any responsibility for the risks of their real estate investments in the old system. Furthermore, they were not responsible for the running costs and a possible deficit if production decreased. As a result, hospitals attempted to obtain the maximum amount of square meters and were not encouraged to be either cost efficient or cost effective. In March 2005, the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports announced the modification of this real estate budget system and the introduction of a healthcare system with regulated market forces (Hoogervorst, 2005). The main goal is to keep healthcare affordable by stimulating competition and, as a result, reduce healthcare costs. This deregulation provides healthcare institutions with more flexibility in the briefing, design and management of hospital buildings and real estate investments. Similar to the old system, private not-for-profit initiatives are still the main force behind the capacity of hospitals, but in the new system hospitals are themselves responsible for the return on real estate investment and the effects of real estate decisions on utility value, investment costs and running costs. Since January 2008, hospitals have to finance real estate investments and capital costs from their product and service revenues. This implies a switch from a centrally steered real estate budget system with governmental ex ante testing of building plans and investment proposals into a performance driven and regulated finance system on the output (Van der Zwart, 2009: 3). To ensure a smooth transition, there is a transition phase until 2012 with a standardized and maximized budget for capital costs per m ². This trend will have a strong effect on the briefing, design and management of hospital real estate (Van der Voordt, 2009). Hospitals will get new opportunities while experiencing higher risks at the same time and hospitals will have to aim more at competitive advantage. Furthermore, partnerships with private partners will be more common. According to Fritzsche et al. (2005) and van Hasselt (2005), this transition has a number of implications, as illustrated in table 2.1 and figure 2.1. Moreover, organizational changes (e.g. mergers and network organizations), demographic changes (ageing of the population, multicultural diversity), technological developments (e.g. new medical equipment, new installation techniques), fluctuations in the economy and changing views on healthcare and the responsibility of government, healthcare organizations, market players and healthcare consumers play their role, too (Van der Voort, 2009: 2). As a result of mergers and the growth in hospital functions, hospitals are likely to grow even larger than before. Van der Voordt argues that all these changes affect the healthcare real estate stock and cause a need for new health care real estate management strategies. Christensen et al. (2000) warn for the entrenched and change-averse nature of healthcare systems. They argue governments and institutions should be more open to business models that may seem to threaten the status quo at first, but will eventually enhance the quality of healthcare for the end-user: the patient. New institutions with disruptive business models adapted to new technologies and markets should replace entrenched and old-fashioned institutions. Thus, they conclude that government and healthcare sector leaders should help insurers, regulators, hospitals and health professionals to facilitate disruption instead of preventing it. Current challenges The practical implications for hospitals of the current transition to a new healthcare system in terms of capital financing and real estate investments will be further explained in chapter 4 and 5. First, the following section will elaborate on the theoretical foundations of corporate real estate management. Corporate real estate management In order to make well considered decisions with regard to new building projects, rebuilding projects and the sale of real estate property, a deep knowledge of the real estate property and the many related internal and external developments is required. For example, what actions need to be taken in order to eliminate or reduce discrepancies between demand and supply? And how effectively does real estate support the main business processes? Corporate Real Estate Management is one of the disciplines that addresses such questions. The key issue at stake here is to align the supply (e.g. locations, properties) with the requirements related to the primary process (demand) and the strategic goals of the organization. The overall aim is to create maximum added value for the organization while ensuring a maximum contribution to total organizational performance (Van der Voort, 2009). Increasingly, (corporate) real estate is becoming a substantial resource for firms and other institutions. For example, firms are looking at real estate to provide both stability and capital growth to their portfolios. It thus presents an attractive return compared to the volatility in equity prices (DTZ, 2006). Already in the early 1990s, researchers began to call attention to the largely unrecognized importance of corporate real estate to many businesses. They pointed at the substantial balance sheet value of real estate and the large proportion of operating expenses resulting from real estate services (Roulac, 2001). For example, Veale (1989) concluded corporate space costs account for 10% to 20% of operating expenses or nearly 50% of net operating income. In their paper, Rediscover your Companys Real Estate, Zeckhauser and Silverman (1983) estimate corporate real estate accounts for 25 to 40 % of the total assets of the average firm. Many firms underestimate the intrinsic value of their real estate portfolio, even though the magnitude of costs related to owning properties are second only to payroll costs (Veale, 1989). Zeckhauser and Silvermans survey results mention 7 important steps a firm can take to make more efficient use of its real estate assets. For example, firms should manage real estate responsibly and set achievable goals in order to generate profits from its real estate assets or limit costs. Furthermore, a firms choice of real estate activities other than managing property depends on the nature of the business it operates in and the historical record of its real estate portfolio. This implies that firms that more heavily depend on real estate for their business activities might be more actively involved with their proper ty management. Zeckhauser and Silverman conclude that every firm should review and adjust its real estate policies to reconcile operating objectives with real estate values and opportunities, and evaluate the intrinsic value of its property. Though the return on real estate is generally lower than the return on the core business activity, real estate may provide other forms of added value, such as efficiency and effectiveness of the activities in the firm. Kaplan and Nortons (1992) balanced score card approach describes the performance of a corporation as being defined by a combination of financial, internal business, customer, and innovation and learning perspectives. In addition to the financial value of real estate, unique characteristics such as the design of a building transform real estate into an asset that can be difficult to imitate, substitute, or trade. Furthermore, the physical image of a building may function as a marketing tool, attracting attention to a firms services. Thus, when buildings reflect the business purpose and promote important work relationships they can contribute significantly to corporate strategy and serve to distinguish a firm from its competitors (Krumm de Vries, 2003). Strategic corporate real estate management Roulac (2001), with his Aligning corporation real property with corporate strategy-model, links real estate strategies with sources of competitive advantage. A corporate business strategy addresses key elements such as customers, employees and processes. A corporate property strategy affects employee satisfaction, production factor economics, (realized and foregone) business opportunities, risk management decisions and other effects on business value. Thus, it is crucial in enhancing or inhibiting the companys expression of its core competency and the extent to which it can realize its core capabilities to their full potential (Roulac, 2001). The existing scientific research in this field has resulted in the conclusion that it is generally more advantageous for firms to rent, rather than own the real estate they use, enabling them to free up capital to invest in the things they are good at (Brounen and Eichholtz, 2003). The shares of firms who sell their real estate typically outperform the average and firms with large corporate real estate holdings are typically associated with relatively low performance. However, within the field of real estate finance, little research has been conducted on the effects of alternative real estate financing structures on the performance of non-profit organizations, such as hospitals. Though Eichholtz and Kok (2007) examined the performance effects of alternative real estate financing on the American senior healthcare sector, little is known about the performance of hospitals owned and/or operated through alternative real estate financing structures such as, for example, public private partnerships (PPPs). In 1993, real estate expert Michael Joroff (1993) expressed the need for a move in real estate management from a purely operational approach to a more strategic one, including a strong emphasis on the role of real estate in achieving corporate goals. According to Joroff, this requires a switch from a day-to-day focus on building management (manager) and controlling accommodation costs (controller) towards standardized real estate utilization (trader), adapting real estate assets to the market (entrepreneur), and eventually ensuring strategic real estate decisions contribute to corporate goals (strategist). See figure 2.2 below. An organization often finds itself in a combination of different stages. According to Fritzsche (2005) hospitals still need to make the move to the upper stages. Thus, when hospitals make a transformation to more business-like entities, they will find themselves in the entrepreneur or strategist stage. However, it is debatable whether hospitals should be located in the final stage, as hospitals in essence are non-profit foundations and do not have the same goals and core-business activities as business organizations. This is where the classical debate regarding public versus private provision of a public good (healthcare) enters the arena; this will be discussed further in section 2.3. The added values of real estate According to De Jonge (2002), several ways

The Frogs :: Essays Papers

The Frogs The frogs were singing again. I had heard them all night through the thin membrane of my tent. Their songs had died down with the rising sun, but now they picked up again with a fervor that sounded not unlike desperation to my teenage ears. I rested in the tent only a few moments before clearing the sleep from my eyes and springing out of my sleeping bag to greet the mourning. Dew droplets still covered everything, and the mourning seemed as magical as any other morning does to a young person of sixteen, camping in the woods. My brother had already awakened. He was sitting on a rock waiting for other people to wake up and smiling happily to see that it was me first and not one of the other kids from our group. They were all pretty boring, and we had no interest in their stories of adolescent rebellion. I slipped my feet into my hiking boots and looked at my watch. It was just after seven, and I knew that the two counselors who were with us wouldn’t wake up till at least eight. We had time to play before they did. â€Å"The lake or the cliffs?† I asked, gesturing to the singing frogs behind me and the rocky face that we had nestled our tent under the previous night. We had been hiking a long time the night before, at least twelve miles. We still had a long way to go too. The stretch that we were completing started just at the Connecticut border and wound its way down through the mountains of New York and into New Jersey before finally ending at the border in Pennsylvania, the most famous of East Coast trails. â€Å"The cliffs!† he said keeping his voice to a hushed shout as not to wake the others. There were adventures to be had, and it just wouldn’t fit to have anyone wake up and tell us to do something and spoil our excitement. He was just a bit shorter than me, but his frame was already starting to develop into something wider and heavier than mine. I, two years his senior, wouldn’t allow him to beat me in a sprint.

Dantes Inferno

The Inferno is more than just a fictional story about someone traveling through life. It is actually more like an autobiographical journey of life through its author, Dante Alighieri’s. He basically wrote with the personal purpose of recording where all of the people he came in contact within his life, will go when they die. This could be one of three places; Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven. He went on to design specific, fitting punishments or rewards based on each person’s life. Dante then tied this all together and made himself a character that walks the entire length of the abstracted world.Written in the early 1300s by an angry Dante living in exile, he literally describes a man who has been trapped, and must find a way to escape. He also includes the hidden Renaissances darkness, and the people who are Manipulating. As Dante passes through the depths of hell he begins to see sins that would be punished and tortured in medieval times to the same acts that are displayed in the era of the Renaissance, and yet are treated differently. The Renaissances era that had a lot of influence on Dante and the journey through hell.Whether they were someone that betrayed him in his political career or the girl that he fell in love with when he was 9 years old, he found a way to integrate them into the Inferno. It’s not hard to notice that in the symbols, Dante considers trust and loyalty to be one of the most important human characteristics. He basically felt this way due to the point that he was betrayed and exiled away from his beloved homeland, by the pope. It is because of this that he places offenders of breaking these at the center of hell. Dante was exiled from Florence in 1302 and this is where his feelings that helped structured the story.When he comes out of the dark forest Dante is blocked by the three beasts. The beasts are a lion, a leopard, and wolf. The lion is seen to poses pride, the leopards' role is that of lust and the wolf represents is greed. The three ferocious beasts have three of the seven deadly sins. Canto 3 started the read when Dante comes to himself again and realizes he is lost in a dark, savage, threatening forest deep in a valley. He tries all night to find a way out; when he comes to the foot of a high hill and his way is blocked by three beasts.He thinks he's going to get past the leopard that comes first, but the lion is more fearsome, and the wolf drives him back, despairing, to the dark wood. He then sees a human shape and calls out for help. It is the shade of Virgil, When researched he was the great Roman poet of the time of the emperor Augustus, where he as a poet has learned so much, and Dante begs him for help against the wolf. Virgil tells him that the wolf is too fierce to get by, that she is ravaging all of Italy, and will do so until the person comes who can chase her back to Hell.But Virgil promises to get him out of the dark wood, not by taking him past the beasts, but by leading him through Hell. Once he has seen those who suffer in Hell, Virgil will lead him up the mountain of Purgatory, where souls become ready for eternal bliss, and then someone else will take over and lead him up to Heaven. Virgil can't go there because, living before Christianity had spread, and he was not a Christian. Dante accepts Virgil's guidance through hell, and they set out. The first circle he sees was beings that where not good enough to go to heaven, or bad enough to join the bottom of hell.As the reading continued I realized it also showed that the angles had a choice between heaven and hell, which made it different from anything I have read from the past. Canto 5, is when he first enters the Second Circle, Dante sees Minos, a horrible, snarling demon to whom each soul confesses everything. Minos warns Dante to turn back, but Virgil again asserts that Dante's journey is divinely ordained. Dante hears wailing again. Spirits pass through the air like a flock of birds, tormented by Minos; they have no hope of rest, and no hope of less pain. One long line of spirits gets Dante's attention, and he asks Virgil who they are.Virgil replies to him, all having died because of love, and Dante is bewildered by pity. Canto 34 is in the deepest depth of Hell, the lowest point in the whole universe. Virgil lets Dante know that he is about to see the being who is the ruler of Hell. Dante looks through the sadness and sees something that looks huge and like a windmill in the distance. The wind is strong, and he has to shelter himself behind Virgil. In the icy plain beneath them the souls are now completely buried in the ice, through which he sees them. When they get closer, Virgil makes Dante come out from behind him and look at Satan.Dante is so frozen and weak he feels neither dead nor alive, but he looks. There is the being who was once the fairest angel in Heaven, Lucifer, who rebelled against the one and only God who had made him so fair. Who was once beautiful but ug ly now from where he sits, he is much bigger than the giants Dante saw at the outer edge of the deepest pits. His head has three faces, one red, one white and yellow, one black. Two big bat wings sprout under each face, and it is the flapping of those wings that made the ice of Cocytus. He weeps tears and blood from each of his six eyes, and in each mouth he chews on a sinner.Virgil having seen everything, they must go. Dante holds tight to Virgil, with his arms around Virgil's neck, and Virgil goes right up to Satan and takes hold of his flanks, which are covered with hair. From tuft to tuft he descends to the midpoint of Satan's body, and then manages to turn himself upside down and start climbing. They reach a cleft in the rock and there Virgil puts Dante down on the edge. Dante looks back, and there are Lucifer's legs upside down. Dante is utterly bewildered. Virgil explains that the midpoint of Satan's body is the center of gravity of the earth.The story also reminds me of Reve lations more than just the relation of Rome. It is the same idea of describing others who have live into a different situation or character. Both Authors must have had similar feeling towards the groups, they both had hatred and wanted revenge. They describe the groups for who they were as a character that nobody would like. Dante Had made people change their family name, because he had shown a lot about the person to others, just because a relative was in the poem. He needed something to help him relived all the hatred he carried with him self; the Poem did not spike me as a comedy but more of a drama.

Gender Issue in Legally Blonde Essays

Gender Issue in Legally Blonde Essays Gender Issue in Legally Blonde Essay Gender Issue in Legally Blonde Essay The document was written by an interviewer. 2. The document was written to give insight in the life of a slave woman. 3. The document is biased. The document is biased because Annie Coley was talking about slave life, but in the document she was only talking about her family’s life in slavery. (â€Å"We bought Sunday clothes. We got to rest three days at Christmas. We had a big dinner, but Boss gave us that out of his smokehouse. †) When Annie Coley says that, she is only referring to her own family during the slave days. She is not talking about slavery as a whole. 4. The document’s intended audience was basically the whole world; anybody who read it. 5. The document is an interview that was turned into an autobiography. 6. The document was written in the 1930’s. 7. The document was published in 1972. 8. The document focused on ex-slave Annie Coley’s life. 9. The document focused on the areas of freedom within the slave system, the situation of women in slavery, and the differences between slavery and freedom. 10. From the document I have learned that not all slave owners where terrible. I mean don’t get me wrong slavery in itself is horrible, but I mean in the way that the slaves where treated. For instance, when Annie Coley says (â€Å"After the crop was laid by, we went with Big Boss to his church and sat in the back seats. We couldn’t any of us read the Bible, so that was why Boss made us go to church so that we could hear it read. †) Although, the Boss should have let them go to school and learn how to read, he letting them hear the Bible being read in church was a gesture that he did care about them in some aspect. :

Free Essays on The Achievements of Public Education

Since the early 1980’s, the issue of America’s flattering public school system has become a serious concern. The crisis in K-12 education is one of the biggest challenges facing the nation. If America’s Public Schools are to meet the needs of the twenty first century, they must be reinvented. It is not enough to try to fix the schools; they must be reconstructed in both fundamental and radical ways. The school system must be reconstructed. The future of the American public school system is significant because the maintenance of an informed and productive community is vital to the future of this country. The pitifully low results of American students through international test scores are one obvious fault. Another is the failure of many students to demonstrate their knowledge of basic skills and literacy. It is surprising that such a long time has passed without any sufficient effort put forth to correct the problem. Even more surprising, is the fact t hat some deny that such a problem exists. There is a great deal of evidence to show this problem. For more than a century, America’s public schools have been an essential source of the country’s strength. Public education has allowed citizens to become productive members of society by providing them with skills and knowledge necessary for the labor force. Schools prepare students to be literate, informed and reasoning citizens. According to Philip Schlechty, author of Schools for the twenty-first century, â€Å"Public schools are the ties that bind this pluralistic society into a nation. Our Nation’s thirty-sixth president, Lyndon B. Johnson, also believed that there is no institution more fundamental to American society and democracy than its public schools (Schlechty).† In the competitive knowledge based world of the twenty-first century, the education of America’s youth will be more important than ever. More responsibility will be placed on schools ... Free Essays on The Achievements of Public Education Free Essays on The Achievements of Public Education Since the early 1980’s, the issue of America’s flattering public school system has become a serious concern. The crisis in K-12 education is one of the biggest challenges facing the nation. If America’s Public Schools are to meet the needs of the twenty first century, they must be reinvented. It is not enough to try to fix the schools; they must be reconstructed in both fundamental and radical ways. The school system must be reconstructed. The future of the American public school system is significant because the maintenance of an informed and productive community is vital to the future of this country. The pitifully low results of American students through international test scores are one obvious fault. Another is the failure of many students to demonstrate their knowledge of basic skills and literacy. It is surprising that such a long time has passed without any sufficient effort put forth to correct the problem. Even more surprising, is the fact t hat some deny that such a problem exists. There is a great deal of evidence to show this problem. For more than a century, America’s public schools have been an essential source of the country’s strength. Public education has allowed citizens to become productive members of society by providing them with skills and knowledge necessary for the labor force. Schools prepare students to be literate, informed and reasoning citizens. According to Philip Schlechty, author of Schools for the twenty-first century, â€Å"Public schools are the ties that bind this pluralistic society into a nation. Our Nation’s thirty-sixth president, Lyndon B. Johnson, also believed that there is no institution more fundamental to American society and democracy than its public schools (Schlechty).† In the competitive knowledge based world of the twenty-first century, the education of America’s youth will be more important than ever. More responsibility will be placed on schools ...