Friday, November 15, 2019

Looking At Discipline Investigation Report

Looking At Discipline Investigation Report As anyone encounter a new profession, they dont necessary know the rules, the writing involves, or the traditions yet. In this assignment and the course of this paper, I will investigate the discourse community I hope to join professionally and understand how it works. The purpose of this assignment is to help understand the importance of genre in term of different discourse community. Furthermore, it will reinforce the understanding of ways writing differs among from one genre to another. The discourse community I have chosen is System Engineering (ISE). The field of ISE is rather large and thus I will be focusing on mainly the supply chain aspect of the field. To conduct this analysis, I will be looking over two source of text related to the field of System Engineering and analyze its rhetorical issues, content, structure, and its style language. In addition, I had a chance to interview a person whom is in the field and briefly will discuss on the type of writing the person does a s well. INTERVIEW SUMMARY The person I interviewed is employed at a company who produces semiconductor and supplies to all type of industries worldwide. The person has been employed for the company for about five to six years. He started out as an intern, but today is working full time. He has a variety of job functions within the company, so there is no solid name for the position he is in. However, after interviewing him, I was able to get a view of what he does. After sitting down and discussing some of the writing he does in his work, I got a bit of a reality shock. In many ways, I always assumed that the field he was in involved lots of writing, but this was far from it. Of course he writes, but very little of it. My assumption was he would write lots of documents involving research topics related to his career, since after all, thats what I was I gathered from all the research paper I have to write in my study. Actually, most of his writing was in the form of emails, work orders, presentation slides, and short memos, but its nothing huge like I expected. He pointed out that the skill he use the most is actually verbal. He also explains that in this career, although you write, its just not as often as compared to communication. Since he deals with the supply chain aspect of the company, this is where his where most of his time is spent on. Hes constantly on the phone talking to clients, handling from one order to the next. Additionally, he has to communicate to his superior, co workers, and especially clients. Once I found this out, I actually thought twice about my career for a moment. I wouldnt mind communicating on the phone with clients, but days after days wouldnt be my ideal job. However, knowing this, I have a clue into the type of writing I would have to do in the future, which is limited. Moving on, I then asked him if he ever gone out of his discourse community and what his experience was. He answered that he has gone over to different area of the company, but mainly to socialize. He explains that its different from his community. They speak, act, and even write differently. To connect his experience, he told a story he once experienced working with people from other communities. He once spent a whole six months writing a proposal to give to one of his client on how to improve their supply chain. Once finished and handed over to the client, the client looks at it, but brushes off to the side. Because the proposal was written completely in a different style, the client just couldnt comprehend the materials, nor did he even bother to look deep into it. Right off the bat, he felt it would take too much time for him to analyze the entire proposal. He also noted that he has couple of friends in the business area of the company and they do write a lot more than he does. In term of writing, he explains that its obviously different between what he writes and what they write. They also write proposals and but theirs is long detailed documents while he writes short and brief documents. DOCUMENT SUMMARY In the first article Turning the Supply chain into a Revenue Chain, the author Gerard P. Cachon concentrates a specific area in supply chain, revenue sharing. Revenue sharing is when a retailer shares the profit it makes to supplier. This is different from the traditional method of paying off the item completely. This article has a typical problem and solution approach. The author Cachon explores the company Blockbuster and its video rental problem. Its current supply chain method provides insufficient videos to customers. The solution to Cachon, is to ditch the traditional pricing method and use revenue sharing to solve this problem. Since this article is slim, the author provides a short description of the two methods and then shows the pros and cons in a table to compare them. But whats the purpose of describing the two methods? By comparing the two, it gives the readers or audience an opportunity to look into the advantage and disadvantages between the two and let them decide whi ch is more efficient for their business. This audience can be business owners, instructors, engineers, or even student who is interested in doing research upon the topic. The second article Supply Meet Demand in an Uncertain World. The author explains about companies confrontation with a large amount of number and variety of products on the market, they find it more difficult to determine demands and forecast production. Consequently, they end up having inaccurate forecasts and as a result cost becomes a problem. Therefore he also details a new approach to the remedy the entire forecasting, planning, and production process. To be able to accurately forecast demands, they must figure out their suppliers (retailer, wholesalers, and manufactures) needs. By figuring this out, companies then have critical decision to handle the most unpredictable items; for instance, such as seasonal demands. In other words, the main article discuses the importance of forecasting and how its vital for companies to understand and avoid making forecasting mistakes. The bottom line, forecasting accurately provide production efficiency and save cost, and in return provides mor e profits. CONCLUSIONS By doing the interview and analyzing the two documents, I finally have a broader understanding how to approach different type of writing. Every discourse community has a different style of writing. Whether is written formally or informally, the target audience varies and therefore affects the way the author writes. In the engineering field, the most likely audience for the technical reports is other engineers with a similar background. For example, my professional field of ISE, because the person has to write lots technical reports and as a result, the paper would probably have many technical terms engineers would understand. In the article Turning the Supply Chain into a Revenue Chain, I discovered several key terms that was widely used in these type of writing. This includes: efficient, costly, inventory, revenue, retailer and supplier. In the second article, much same happens with similarity to the first. The format and way the grammar style used in technical reports can also be different. Although, the format is organized like most writing; it has an intro, body and conclusion, with the difference of several additions. It includes a discussion on the findings, and visuals such as graphs, tables, figures, pictures, and illustration. Technical reports have an organized and structured format because a majority of the time, their audience may not read the entire report in one reading. Often times, they may just look for relevant data. So therefore, the way its written, readers are able to open a document, and locate what he/she is looking for easily. What Ive ultimate taken away from analyzing the two documents is the variety and amount of writing involve in my community. In my opinion, the type and amount of writing done varies from different level. A chief engineer in the ISE field would likely have less writing to do whereas an entry position engineer would have lots more. I can safely assume that once I start out my career, there would be more writing involves. I probably have to write things similar to the person I interviewed. This might be in the form of memos, presentations, and work orders.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Does Geography control your destiny? :: essays research papers

Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the history of the earth we have seen many countries leave their homeland. Most of these countries however, are those that are not landlocked. Countries which were not landlocked organized themselves and set sail for new territories to explore. Boat technology allowed for travel, resulting in the whole world becoming more accessible and allowing people to overcome what was thought to be indestructible geography. Obviously access to the sea lowers transport costs and aids economic growth. Yet this mattered less in earlier centuries. Even in some ancient civilizations, they learned to overcome the problem of not having technology. The original silk route from China to Europe used the camel rather than the ship. Only when ship design became advanced from the 15th century onwards did sea-borne trade gain centre-stage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  India and China however, were landlocked and were by far the greatest industrial powers in the world till the Industrial revolution. Technology, not geography, helped temperate agriculture and industry to zoom ahead. One way a country overcomes geographical isolation is to improve its transportation infrastructure. Better roads, ports, paths, and other modes of transport provide access to world markets. But a country can only derive full benefits from these investments against a backdrop of good trade and macroeconomic policies. Consequently this leads to the belief that people again control the thought of their own geography.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Note that Europeans migrated in enormous numbers to warmer climates from the 17th century onwards. However these warmer climates were not always easy to live in. The conditions that a person living in a tropical climate would put up with were far greater than those who live in the subtropics. Global warming has been a huge concern in the entire world. In The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David S. Landes argues that Europe's temperate climate encouraged hard work and capitalist development, while the heat of the tropics brought reliance on slaves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The communications revolution has shrunk distances. Bangalore, currently the software capital of India with Hyderabad a close second, has proven that landlocked countries can do just as well and that overcoming geography can happen.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

United Airlines

United Airlines employees seem utterly incompetent. The recent dog death incident is only the latest in a string of situations in which United employees have screwed up. But the incidents don't reflect a competence deficit at the airline; they reveal a culture problem — and United's leaders must take specific actions to fix it. United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz must take specific actions to fix the culture problem at his company. (Photo by Jim Young/Getty Images)The ProblemWhen Dr. David Dao refused to give up his seat on a plane last year, specifically United Express employees under contract carrier Republic Airlines called airport security who ended up dragging him off the plane. Weeks later, a United gate agent refused to allow two young girls to board a plane because their leggings didn't adhere to the airline's dress code for â€Å"pass travelers.† And just last week a flight attendant insisted on putting a dog in an overhead bin because its carrier wouldn't fit under the seat and assured the dog's owner that it would be fine up there. The dog was found dead upon arrival at the destination.These employee actions are deplorable and quite a disconnect from the company's brand slogan â€Å"Fly the Friendly Skies.† The employees seem completely opposite from those featured in the company's recent Olympics advertisements which aimed to show that their superhero-like qualities enabled them to ensure the safe, smooth, and fun passage of Olympic athletes as well as everyday customers. The contrast between the company's brand aspirations and its actual operations couldn't be sharper.The DiagnosisAlthough United's employees seem to be at fault, the underlying cause is the company's lack of culture leadership. CEO Oscar Munoz and his fellow leaders are responsible for the huge gap between the company's brand identity and organizational culture. They have failed to engage, train, and motivate employees adequately and appropriately.Munoz is credited with stabilizing the airline's workforce after the poorly executed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines in 2010 resulted in a widespread lack of trust between the airline's management and its workers. He also has boosted United's position in monthly on-time performance rankings of U.S. airlines from near the bottom to middle of the pack or better.But he and other United executives have not been effective in cultivating the culture at the company. In fact, they have contributed to an unhealthy and poor-performing corporate culture by:Making vapid promises and setting vague values. After the disaster with Dr. Dao, the airline rewrote its overbooking policies and promised to empower employees to act in the moment to put customers first. Munoz pledged that â€Å"every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect. † The company initiated a new employee training program called â€Å"core4† to emphasize the company's four core values: caring, safe, dependable, and efficient.Clearly the recent dog death, along with several other incidents in the past year involving pets being delivered to incorrect destinations and/or dying while under United's care and the fact that the airline remains among the highest of U.S. airlines for complaints, indicate that whatever changes the leaders have implemented have not delivered on their promises. The training has not been effective and its values are at best aspirational and more likely inconsequential.Prioritizing operational performance over employees. United's on-time and financial performance gains seem to have been achieved on the backs of its employees. On online forums, flight attendants routinely complain about what they view as deliberate understaffing. This, combined with the increase in quick turns due to more aggressive flight scheduling, means that attendants have too much to do in too short of a time during the boarding process. They aren't paid until the aircraft pushes back from the gate and they're held accountable for departures delayed by lack of in-cabin readiness. It's easy to see why they often rush through procedures and indiscriminately follow procedures.Not respecting or listening to employees. United recently announced that it would discontinue quarterly bonus payments to most employees and would replace them with a lottery-based system in which those who qualified for the lottery through participation in the core4 program could win prizes.When employees responded in an uproar, Munoz explained that the program's intent was â€Å"to spice up the process a little bit.† His comments suggest that leaders view employee compensation as something needing an injection of fun instead of understanding its role in meaningfully engaging employees and contributing to their livelihood. Also his statement, â€Å"We'll be working over the next couple weeks to make sure we get input from people at all levels,† suggests that employees were not adequately consulted during the conception of the change. RecommendationsSetting prescriptive values. Setting policies and procedures do not help to anticipate every customers and also dictate the appropriate employee's response. Employees must be guided by clear and prescriptive values that help them determine how to handle unforeseen or difficult situations. Vague values such as â€Å"caring† don't provide the specificity that employees need to help them make the right in-the-moment decisions. But if United's leaders were to articulate and abide by values such as â€Å"listen carefully and respond respectfully,† they would increase the likelihood that customers would be treated appropriately.Empowering and equipping employees. It's important for employees to develop emotional intelligence and learn effective communication skills, their hands shouldn't be tied by restrictive policies that dictate certain customer handling and they shouldn't face serious consequences for improvising when the situation calls for it. Moods and e motions influence how well the employee follow the decision process. Leaders should let the employee to have the freedom to make judgement.Aligning employee experience and customer experience.Employees can and will only deliver an experience to customers that they experience themselves , so leaders must train employees the way they want employees to treat customers. Therefore, managers should motivate their employees. If managers only follow procedures and don't take the time to understand what their employees need, employees are going to operate by the book regardless of what customers might really need. If employees are treated as if their behavior is less important than airline performance, they will care less about customers' well-being and more about on-time departures and efficient operations. This will affect the company's profit growth. But if leaders listen, value, and trust their employees, Employees will likely to listen to, value, and maintain loyalty of the customers.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Meet Janus, Father of Zeus and Roman Original

Meet Janus, Father of Zeus and Roman Original Janus is an ancient Roman, a composite god who is associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. A usually two-faced god, he looks to both the future and the past at the same time, embodying a binary. The concept of the month of January (the beginning of one year and the ending of the end) is both based on aspects of Janus. Plutarch writes in his Life of Numa: For this Janus, in remote antiquity, whether he was a demi-god or a king, was a patron of civil and social order, and is said to have lifted human life out of its bestial and savage state. For this reason he is represented with two faces, implying that he brought mens lives out of one sort and condition into another. In his Fasti, Ovid dubs this god two-headed Janus, an opener of the softly gliding year.  Hes a god of many different names and many different jobs, a unique individual the Romans regarded as fascinating even in their own time, as Ovid notes: But what god am I to say thou art, Janus of double-shape? for Greece hath no divinity like thee. The reason, too, unfold why alone of all the heavenly one thou doest see both back and front. He was also considered the guardian of peace, a time at which when the door to his shrine was closed. Honors The most famous temple to Janus in Rome is called the Ianus Geminus, or Twin Janus. When its doors were open, neighboring cities knew that Rome was at war. Plutarch quips: The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. When the two doors were closed, Rome was at peace. In his account of his accomplishments, Emperor Augustus says the gateway doors were closed only twice before him: by Numa (235 BCE) and Manlius (30 BCE), but Plutarch says, During the reign of Numa, however, it was not seen open for a single day, but remained shut for the space of forty-three years together, so complete and universal was the cessation of war. Augustus closed them three times: in 29 BCE after the Battle of Actium, in 25 BCE, and debated the third time. There were other temples for Janus, one on his hill, the Janiculum, and another built, in 260 at the Forum Holitorium, constructed by C. Duilius for a Punic War naval victory. Janus in Art Janus is usually shown with two faces, one looking forward and the other backward, as through a gateway. Sometimes one face is clean-shaven and the other bearded. Sometimes Janus is depicted with four faces overlooking four forums. He might hold a staff. The Family of Janus Camese, Jana, and Juturna were wives of Janus. Janus was the father of Tiberinus and Fontus. History of Janus Janus, the mythical ruler of Latium, was responsible for the Golden Age and brought money and agriculture to the area. He is associated with trade, streams, and springs. He could have been an early sky god.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essays

Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essays Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essay Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essay When Gandhi was 16 his father became very ill. Being very devoted to his parents, he attended to his father at all times during his illness. However, one night, Gandhis uncle came to relieve Gandhi for a while. He retired to his bedroom where carnal desires overcame him and he made love to his wife. Shortly afterward a servant came to report that Gandhis father had just died. Gandhi felt tremendous guilt and never could forgive himself. He came to refer to this event as double shame. The incident had significant influence in Gandhi becoming celibate at the age of 36, while still married. [78] This decision was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Brahmacharya - spiritual and practical purity - largely associated with celibacy and asceticism. Gandhi saw Brahmacharya as a means of becoming close with God and as a primary foundation for self realisation. In his autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. He felt it his personal obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather than lust. For Gandhi, Brahmacharya meant control of the senses in thought, word and deed. . [79] Towards the end of his life, it became public knowledge that Gandhi had been sharing his bed for a number of years with young women. [80][81] He explained that he did this for bodily warmth at night and termed his actions as nature cure. Later in his life he started experimenting with brahmacharya in order to test his self control. His letter to Birla in April, 1945 referring to women or girls who have been naked with me indicates that several women were part of his experiments. [82] He wrote five editorials in Harijan discussing the practice of brahmacharya. [83] As part of these experiments, he initially slept with his women associates in the same room but at a distance. Afterwards he started to lie in the same bed with his women disciples and later took to sleeping naked alongside them. [82] According to Gandhi active-celibacy meant perfect self control in the presence of the opposite sex. Gandhi conducted his experiments with a number of women such as Abha, the sixteen year old wife of his grandnephew Kanu Gandhi. Gandhi acknowledged that this experiment is very dangerous indeed, but thought that it was capable of yielding great results. [84] His nineteen year old grandniece, Manu Gandhi, too was part of his experiments. Gandhi had earlier written to her father, Jaisukhlal Gandhi, that Manu had started to share his bed so that he may correct her sleeping posture. [84] Gandhi saw himself as a mother to these women and would refer to Abha and Manu as my walking sticks. Gandhi called Sarladevi, a married woman with children and a devout follower, his spiritual wife. He later said that he had come close to having sexual relations with her. [85] He had told a correspondent in March, 1945 that sleeping together came with my taking up of bramhacharya or even before that; he said he had experimented with his wife but that was not enough. [84] Gandhi felt satisfied with his experiments and wrote to Manu that I have successfully practiced the eleven vows taken by me. This is the culmination of my striving for last thirty six years. In this yajna I got a glimpse of the ideal truth and purity for which I have been striving. [86] Gandhi had to take criticism for his experiments by many of his followers and opponents. His stenographer, R. P. Parasuram, resigned when he saw Gandhi sleeping naked with Manu. [87] Gandhi insisted that he never felt aroused while he slept beside her, or with Sushila or Abha. I am sorry Gandhi said to Parasuram, you are at liberty to leave me today. Nirmal Kumar Bose, leading anthropologist and close associate of Gandhi, parted company with him in April, 1947 post Gandhis tour of Noakhali, where some sort of altercation had taken place between Gandhi and Sushila Nayar in his bedroom at midnight that caused Gandhi to slap his forehead. Bose said, there was no immorality on part of Gandhi. Moreover Gandhi tried to conquer the feeling of sex by consciously endeavouring to convert himself into a mother of those who were under his case, whether men or women. This maternal emphasis has also been pointed out by Dattatreya Balkrushna Kalelkar, a revolutionary turned disciple of Gandhi

Monday, November 4, 2019

Relationship Between Buildings Shape And Energy Conservation Essay

Relationship Between Buildings Shape And Energy Conservation - Essay Example Since centuries, humans continued to benefit from unlimited resources of the planet earth while remaining unaware of adverse effects of human intervention on different aspects of human lives. However, since few decades, a huge number of countries have shown their concern regarding the issue of energy conservation that now poses threats and risks to human lives adversely. In order to save the planet, experts (Williams, pp. 23-25, 2002) now believe that besides creating advanced technologies for zero emissions, it has now become very imperative that construction industry should incline towards sustainable designs and shapes of buildings that play a crucial role in conserving energy largely. For this reason, energy conservation has now become one of the foremost priorities of architects, builders, and other stakeholders in the building industry that are now putting efforts to acquire sustainable shapes of buildings for the highest conservation of the energy. From this perspective, the p roposed research will be a minute contribution in the series of such efforts.Research StatementIn this regard, the proposed research will focus on the following purpose statement:â€Å"To analyze the relationship between Buildings’ Shapes/Designs and Energy Conservation†Research QuestionsIn particular, the proposed study will focus on the following research questions:ïÆ' ¼What is Energy Conservation?ïÆ' ¼What falls under the category of buildings’ shapes?

Friday, November 1, 2019

Case response Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Response - Case Study Example Southwest’s growth strategy has always been to stay away from big cities characterized by delays in airports and instead concentrate on secondary options, which basically are less crowded. Such an approach as this has worked for the airline in the past allowing it to swiftly turn around its aircrafts in addition to flying more routes while at the same time staying realistically on time. Nevertheless, regardless of what looks like a cannot-lose situation, the airline could also be taking a huge gamble in LaGuardia; although a pretty secure one. Southwest is an airline that is known for its reliability on timely service, not only for its customers but also behind the scenes. The delay issues experienced in New York cannot just be underestimated-every one of the big 3 regional airports is frequently among the poorest performers especially in terms of punctuality-and will pose a great challenge for Southwest to surmount. Thus for Southwest to turn around the situation, and sustain its fast-turnaround approach of operation, it has its work already cut out. Whitney Eichinger-Southwest’s spokesperson has been on the record pointing out that the airline has proved critics wrong and succeeded in Philadelphia where everyone thought Southwest would run into difficulties (Heskett & Sasser Jr, 2013). Nevertheless, a move to LaGuardia is an exceptional opportunity that will not only open a huge population of business travelers but also the 8 million New Yorkers-some of whom may forego a ride to Long Island simply to snag low fares offered by the airline. This would especially be a catch if Southwest flies to Chicago and possibly Florida. The Airline’s fans in New York will especially be extremely happy since they will say goodbye to long and boring drives out the expansive Expressway of Long Island. In addition, Southwest will have access to a wide pool of weekday customers flying to such cities as Dallas, Toronto and Chicago. The airline will also increase its