A Close Reading and Critical Discussion of a Passage Selected From Part I of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kasey Essay Example

A Close Reading and Critical Discussion of a Passage Selected From Part I of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kasey Essay Paying Particular attention to the creation of atmosphere in this extract, consider in what ways its themes and narrative style are characteristic of the novel as a whole.The opening to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest introduces a wide range of themes and ideas which are later developed by Kasey as the novel progresses. The way in which he portrays his ideas within the extract is unique and powerful as he uses a number of techniques such as figurative language, which allow the reader to produce an extremely vivid image of the atmosphere felt within the asylum. The narrative, provided by Chief Bromden, allows the reader to relate closely to the experience felt by those confined within the ward, and therefore sharpens the emotions and imagery put forth by Kasey. This form of narrative is extremely effective as the reader is continually able to completely immerse themselves within the lives of the patients, giving the book additional depth and realism.The proposal that horrific abuse is present in the ward is instantly planted by Kasey. Chief Bromden introduces the impression that the black boys sexually violate patients within the hospital while the other patients sleep. The atmosphere presented is one of great oppression, the black boys are described as hating everything giving a sense of pessimism and total lack of hope. Chief Bromden is described attempting to avoid the attention of the aides by creeping along the wall quiet as dust. This could be interpreted as an indication that after spending so long in the hospital any form of free will has disintegrated, hence the reference to dust. The religious idea that when a person passes away their body turns to dust could also be apparent here, those held on the ward are dead on the inside. Kasey creates an atmosphere of repression and sadness in which patients would rather become invisible than face the consequences of being singled out by workers within the system. This theme continues through much of the novel, w ith many of the patients still unwilling to step forward and challenge the authority present within the ward. McMurphy brings a sense of life back to those left empty, reinstating a sense of hope.The way in which Chief Bromden is treated by the aides is degrading and cruel. They deprive him of his humanity and treat him like an animal rather than a human being. Any dignity left within a patient is soon taken away, for example, they hand Bromden a mop and simply motion to the spot they aim for him to clean. There is no compassion, it seems that within the hospital humanity has taken a step back and human rights no longer exist. A hellish image is created as the Chief sees the eyes glittering out of the black faces transfixing him with fear. The reader is overwhelmed by the malicious intent of the black boys as they detect his terror.Kasey uses animalistic imagery to further advance the theme of savagery within the hospital. There seems to be a pack mentality as the aides all look up, all three at once and as they mumble heads close together. The idea is taken further when examining the role of the Big Nurse in the group. It seems that she is the leader and has control over the male aides. This links in with the proposal that she denounces her sexuality and takes the role of the alpha male, losing her feminine traits and taking on more of a dominant role. In her bag she carries no woman stuff, no evidence that she is anything other than a dominant figure. By hiding her sexuality she eliminates any weakness associated with the female race, therefore giving away nothing to those who oppose her. The idea that she can easily intimidate three males who are clearly strong themselves illustrates her immense power, it seems that she is infallible and lacks a weakness.The animalistic imagery is revisited later in the extract, as Nurse Ratched shape shifts into a creature bigger than a tractor. The idea that she hides within the body of a woman, yet is really a horrific a nimal is terrifying, and linked with the implication that she is unstoppable; a machine with no self control makes the idea even more effective.The dominance that Nurse Ratched shows can link in with several other ideas within the extract. Bromden states that the black boys perform sex acts in the hall. In a male ward this seems extreme as one would not normally relate sexual pleasure when only one sex is present. It seems that perhaps under the rule of the Nurse the black boys suffer from immense sexual oppression, and therefore have no other option than to seek a reprieve early in the morning when nobody is there to see, almost as if they feel guilty. This theme revolving around sexual abuse continues, McMurphy is continually challenging the sexual oppression, which comes to a climax at the end of the novel when he exposes the Nurses sexuality to everybody on the ward.Kasey introduces the idea of mechanical dominance within the extract. There are many references to Nurse Ratched a nd machinery, and many more general references to a mechanical system being in place. When she enters the ward, the lock on the door seems to respond to her touch as it cleaves to the key, soft and swift as if it itself knows the importance of the person about to pass through. Her fingernails are like the tip of a soldering iron. This suggests that she is the link, bonding the machinery with her human disguise to create a system working in seemingly perfect harmony. Her bag is compared to a toolbox full of a thousand parts. The concept that she uses these items on the patients further advances the notion that humanity is taken away stage by stage and replaced by machinery that the nurse can control.Kasey makes several possible references to religion. In her rage Ratched moves as if to wrap herself tightly around the black boys like a snake. In story of Adam and Eve the devil takes the form of a snake to corrupt the human race, one must question whether Nurse Ratched is representativ e of the Devil, an idea which links in with the fate of McMurphy later in the novellas he is punished upon the crucifix shaped table like a Christ figure. At times of desperation one can assume that everyone will turn to a higher power, and in this case one must question whether the situation in which patients find themselves within the asylum forces them to turn to God. This links in with the hellish imagery put forth by Kasey and experienced firsthand by Bromden.In conclusion it seems that Kasey uses a variety of techniques to create a terrifying atmosphere within the asylum and ward. The patients are deprived of their humanity, and in a way destroyed by the system. The use of imagery and religious connotations allows the reader to experience the suffering felt by the patients due to the immense power of Kaseys writing. The novel is characterised by the dominance of a single figure, and the oppression felt within the combine, these themes run throughout and produce atmosphere, emo tion and an overall sense of absolute desperation characteristic of the characters within One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

Introduction to Online Teaching for English Teachers

Introduction to Online Teaching for English Teachers There has been huge growth in opportunities for online teaching for ESL/EFL teachers over the past few years. Heres a quick overview of the current situation, exciting opportunities in the pipeline and tips on sites that are currently offering online teaching possibilities. Online Teaching as an Independent Contractor Most online teaching opportunities provide work as an independent contractor. What this means is that there are no set hours and you can work as much or as little as you wish. Of course, thats also the catch- often there is little work to be had. The upside is that online teaching generally allows you to set your own prices on these services. Establish a top reputation in online teaching, and you can ask for a higher rate. Competition In the world of online teaching, there is a lot of competition, which sometimes leads to fewer hours. However, things are changing rapidly and more and more students are finding their way to the variety of online teaching venues. Here are some of the main sites that currently offer an online teaching opportunity: VIPKID: VIPKID focuses solely on teaching English online and handles all the lesson plans and client communications. Available to teachers from the U.S. and Canada, VIPKID has an application process that involves a mock lesson. Teachers that perform well will have a higher base salary. VIPKID offers additional bonuses and incentives. iTalki: This site started off as a place to find speaking partners in various languages via Skype. Now, its grown to include online teaching services in English. Online Teaching as an Employee There are a few companies that offer opportunities for paid online teaching positions. Of course, the competition is more intense for these positions, but the pay is steady. If you are an experienced teacher, comfortable with technology, would like to take advantage of online teaching, but desire a fixed schedule this is probably for you. The best place to look for one of these positions is TEFL.com. Creating an Online Teaching Business There are a number of teachers that have set up their own online teaching businesses over the past few years. A number of these businesses seem to be doing well. Youll need the ability to think like an entrepreneur (this includes marketing yourself, networking, developing contacts, etc.) If this appeals to you, it could also be the most lucrative online teaching arrangement - but it is hard work and can take quite a while to build up to the point where you have a steady stream of English learners. Basic Requirements To successfully participate in online teaching youll need to be able to do a few things well: Use technology with ease. Make sure that you dont waste students time while you learn the technology. This sounds quite obvious, but it is often a problem.Create a few lesson plans that focus on online teaching. Youll need a game plan for online teaching. Its not the same as teaching in a classroom.Spend some money on good technology for your online teaching. These days gadgets are cheap. Make sure to invest in a good camera, headphones and microphone. Youll also need a computer that can handle video/audio streaming so make sure you have enough RAM!Willingness to promote yourself. If you would like to compete with other teachers as an independent contractor, youll need to promote yourself through your profile, blog, YouTube, etc. Currently, students dont just show up and they have lots of choices. There are many preparations to make before you begin online teaching. This guide to teaching online will help you deal with the most important technological considerations. Finally, if you have had any experience with online teaching, please share your experiences so we can all learn.

Application of Neo-institutional and Practice Theory to Fuji Xerox Essay

Application of Neo-institutional and Practice Theory to Fuji Xerox - Essay Example Fuji Xerox Australia Institutional Design In 1990s organizational change and need for adaptation appeared as a core issue in organizations due to complexity in the political, regulatory and technological environment (Greenwood and Hinings 1996). This ability to embrace change and adapt to it has become a key factor in an organization’s survival and retaining a competitive edge. Minor(2007, p351) describes institutionalization as a process by which specific behaviors or activities are cognitively and normatively applied in an organization, so that it is taken for granted that they are lawful. The institutional theory there by, does not focus on organizational change but on isomorphism and stability of an organization (Greenwood and Hinings 1996). Fuji Xerox executive Mr. Gorrie explained the organizational design as a process by which FX aligns their business processes for creating an efficient decision-making process work-flow. Furthermore, they have a reward system to motivat e employees to engage in behavior that is congruent with their environmental conservation goals. Situation Analysis Application of Neo- Institutional Theory Initially it was considered that perhaps institutionalization could be detrimental to an organization’s ability to embrace change. This concept was replaced by a newer one that proposed that institutionalization could actually serve as an excellent basis to propagate change (Greenwood and Hinings, 1996). Recent developments in Neo-institutional theory have highlighted the capacity of various organizational factors to function as agents of institutional change. This concept can be extrapolated to the concept of institutional entrepreneurship, which implies that organizations develop and manipulate structures to work toward their strategic objectives (Nelson, Neri and Paul, 2007). Mr. Gorrie suggested a practical example of change management that was supported through institutionalization. He suggested that when FE was awar ded the contract for New South Whales Government worth $300 million. The contract required for FE to supply multi-function devices to all higher educational institutions under the umbrella of NSW. The project was huge and the organization was under a great deal of pressure about their capability to meet such a massive demand. That required for extensive change management, this required for massive expansion to deliver the order and manage their daily operations. So in light of institutionalization, the change was communicated trough top management and intranet throughout the organization. Furthermore, a senior manager was appointed to ensure that the change was properly communicated and implemented. Application of Practice Theory The main concerns for practice theory are the dynamics of action and the social environment in which the action takes place. According to Feldman and Orlikowski (2011) Practice theory can be applied to an organization in three ways: Firstly the Empirical fo cus that deals with how people act in the context of the organization, secondly the Theoretical focus which relates the actions of employees to that on the social structures of life, and thirdly the Philosophical focus that addresses the constructive role that organizational practices play in creation of social reality. Mr. Rodney

Jet Blue Airways Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Jet Blue Airways - Essay Example Jet blue is known for its low cost strategy in the airline industry. It has been seen that increasingly companies are entering the airline sector with the aim of having lower fares, however Jet blue is known to be the most successful one in achieving these low fares. After September 11 2001 bombings the airline sector was said to be in recession, many of the airline companies filed for bankruptcy during that period. The best option available for airline companies to survive was to come up with any innovative solution. JetBlue and many other airline companies shifted towards a â€Å"no frills† low cost strategy. Many were unable to achieve it successfully but JetBlue did survive with the implementation of the low cost strategy. This was done with the aim to attract customers towards the airline sector which was being neglected and lesser people chose to travel via airlines. But once JetBlue came up with a low fare many customers gradually shifted back towards its airline servic es making JetBlue a very profitable venture (Bangs 2002, Wynbrandt 2004 & JetBlue) In early 2003, JetBlue, continued to see opportunities to grow by adding both new markets and new flights to existing destinations. In February, the company announced that five new flights would be added to the West Coast from New York and Washington DC. The company has also added flights between New York City (JFK Airport) and Las Vegas, San Juan, Peurto Rico and Bufallo, New York. JetBlue is known for its point to point route policy which has changed the philosophy of the airline sector. It greatly emphasizes on saving time and thus tries to improve the experience of the customers by having those routes which do not need a stop (Gittell et al 2001 Aviation Week and Space Technology 2008 & Wynbrandt 2004). With the airline sector expanding new methods of attracting customers have arose. Such a feature is also

Reflective practice journal Food and physical exercise Article

Reflective practice journal Food and physical exercise - Article Example This analysis of the articles enables individuals to increase their understanding on how children perceive movement and therefore there are suggestions for policies and changes in the environment to increase freedom of movement. They also show that a thin subsidy on ASBs and a fat tax in SSBs will have beneficial results on reduction of obesity rates in children therefore increasing the cost of good decreases consumption and enables one to maximise utility (Andreyeva et al. 2010). I personally think that the above articles advocates the need for physical exercise, eating nutritional foods and the introduction of policies for example raising taxes on fatty foods and the introduction of healthy eating guidelines in South Australian schools as a way of curbing obesity. The policies can be implemented by ensuring that there is good media campaigns and behavioural modification. Individuals should appreciate changes in lifestyle and have positive attitude in achieving changes in healthy eating and healthy weight this generates confidence. I therefore think that as individuals we should concentrate avoiding risk factors such as poor nutrition, unhealthy weight and physical inactivity (Drewnowski & Darmon

Workforce Obsolescence

Workforce Obsolescence The loss of critical skills, i.e., the disappearance of non-replaceable workforce, is a problem faced by many product sectors tasked with supporting critical systems. This problem is common for organizations that must manage the DMSMS-type obsolescence problems for hardware, software and materials discussed in the other chapters of this book. For some products, the loss of worker skills and experience can be mitigated by simply adjusting hiring rates and instituting training of younger workers, however, in other sectors experience can be very difficult to replace. This chapter focuses on the loss of critical skills that are either non-replaceable or take prohibitively long times to reconstitute. 13.1 Defining Workforce Obsolescence Mismatches between the skills possessed by the workforce and the skills needed by employers create a number of issues that complicate the long-term manufacturing and sustainment of systems. These mismatches have been classified into the following three general categories: skills obsolescence, skill shortage, and critical skills loss. Skills obsolescence (also referred to as human capital obsolescence) describes situations in which workers lack the skills needed to either become employed or remain employed, (De Grip and Van Loo, 2002). This often includes the segment of the workforce that have skills, but those skills are obsolete requiring retraining of the worker. Where obsolete skills refer to skills that are no longer needed. Skill shortage describes situations where there are insufficient available skill competences to fill the needs of an organization, e.g., (Green et al., 1998). Skills shortage articulates the need to identify, train and retain the workforce to fill current and expected future skill needs. Skills shortage has many causes including the speed of technology advancement, e.g., (Duan et al., 2002), training and education gaps (Skinner et al., 2004), and can also be the result of an organizations inability or failure to protect its core skill competencies over long periods of time or during economic downturns (Melymuka, 2002). Critical skills loss is relevant to this book and is the focus of this chapter. Critical skills loss refers to the loss of skills that either cannot be replaced or require a prohibitively long time to reconstitute, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). In this case reconstitution of the skills may require many years if possible at all. Critical skills loss is a special case of organizational forgetting, i.e., the loss of knowledge gained through learning-by-doing. Organizational forgetting can be caused by labor turnover, periods of inactivity, and/or failure of an organization to institutionalize tacit knowledge (Brsanko et al., 2010). Critical skills loss is a permanent and involuntary form of organizational forgetting that may be unrecoverable. Critical skills loss (in the context of legacy system support) is the result of long-term (20+ years) of workforce attrition where highly-skilled workers retire without a sufficient number of younger workers to learn their skills and take their p lace.[1] Critical skills loss is not necessarily the result of poor planning or lack of foresight (and although activity is light, it is not nonexistent); rather it is an inevitable outcome of the organizations dependence on a highly-specialized highly-critical skill set for which there is small, but non-zero, demand, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). It should be stressed that critical skills loss is a long-term phenomenon it occurs gradually over 20+ years, i.e., over the span of several generations of management coupled with mergers, acquisitions, and product line changes, critical skills often diffuse and eventually disappear. In the context of this book, the salient issue that defines workforce obsolescence for legacy mission-, infrastructure-, and safety-critical systems is critical skills loss. 13.2 How Critical Skills Loss Impacts Systems and Where it Comes From Critical skills loss is rarely a problem in high-volume low-skill manufacturing applications, e.g., assembly-line workers. For these applications, an appropriate workforce nearly always exists or can be readily constructed through training programs. However, managing human skills obsolescence is becoming a significant problem for organizations tasked with supporting legacy systems. These support organizations need to be able to understand, forecast and manage a highly-specialized workforce with potentially irreplaceable skill sets. The system support and management challenges created by the loss of critical human skills have been reported in many industry sectors including: healthcare (Waldman, 2004), nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008), aerospace (Testimony of Elliot Pulham, 2002), and other enterprises(Leibold and Voelpel, 2002). In the IT industry, the shortage of mainframe application programmers experienced in legacy applications is very problematic, (Goodridge and McGee, 2002) and (Hilson, 2001); in this case the necessary skills are no longer being taught because demand has dropped and younger workers interests are elsewhere. The loss of critical skills is most troublesome for organizations that must provide long-term support for legacy systems. For example, for defense systems, the loss of critical skills is potentially devastating: Even a 1-year delay in funding for CVN-76 [aircraft carrier] will result in the loss of critical skills which will take up to 5 years to reconstitute through ne w hires and training. A longer delay could cause a permanent loss in the skills necessary to maintain our carrier force. (Congressional Record, 1994). The causes of critical skills loss include: education and training declines (e.g., universities no longer educate engineers in the programming languages that are used in many legacy systems, (Shead, 2013); younger workers may perceive that certain occupations are in decline, e.g., nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008) and are therefore discouraged from entering them; similarly younger workers may perceive certain occupations as not cutting-edge and therefore not enter them (Ahrens et al., 1995) (Adolph, 1996); younger workers may leave jobs supporting legacy systems to pursue other positions that appear to be more lucrative and exciting (Figure 13-2 in Section 13.3.3 shows an exit age distribution for a legacy control system); the shrinkage of feeder occupations, e.g., historically the U.S. Navy has provided highly-skilled workers to the nuclear power industry (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008); older workers protecting their jobs by not passing knowledge along to younger workers, e.g., (AndolÃ…Â ¡ek, 2011); and fundamental differences between young and old workers regarding job perceptions (i.e., social and cultural influences) (Goodridge and McGee, 2002). 13.3 Quantifying the Impact of Critical Skills Loss Critical skills loss impacts the sustainment of mission-, infrastructure- and safety-critical systems. As the human capital that possesses the skills to support a system shrinks, the time that the system is down (non-operational) when the system requires support will increase. Downtime increases lead to increased business interrupt time, which results in a loss of revenue for manufacturing systems. Increases in downtime in the transportation, defense and service industries decreases system availability, which can lead to a loss of revenue, safety compromises, property damage, and loss of life (e.g., emergency vehicle unavailability). In this section, we briefly review the applicability of some existing models to quantifying the impact of critical skills loss and then describe one modeling approach that estimates the financial impact of the problem. 13.3.1 Existing Approaches Nearly all of the existing modeling and quantitative treatments address the problem of skills obsolescence, which is a different problem than the critical skills loss problem addressed in this chapter. Most skills obsolescence treatments assume that workers skills become outdated or are otherwise no longer useful, possibly as a result of automation and other advances in technology. These works focus on the mitigation of skill decay in a workforce over time. The only existing work applicable to critical skills loss focuses on knowledge preservation, i.e., the capture of non-replenishable knowledge, (Joe and Yoong, 2004) (Hailey and Hailey). Some applicable work has also been done on retirement wave planning (Friel, 2002); however, this work focuses on head count rather than skill content. The modeling performed by Bohlander and Snell (2010) addresses a situation that is similar to critical skills loss, however, worker attrition and the costs associated the unavailability of the workers is not considered. In Bordoloi (1999), a model for different skill level workers that enter and exit a company is developed; the model takes into account the rate at which the company gains and loses workers. However, the model in(Bordoloi, 1999) does not estimate workers experience as a function of time and therefore does not determine the impact of critical skills loss on supporting systems. In the planning model developed by Huang et al.(2009) the goal is the determination of an ideal hiring rate using differing worker skill levels. While this model uses workforce simulation and determines the ideal hiring rate, the model does not take into account the costs incurred by the unavailability of workers. The basis for most workforce planning models is the physical sum of people employed, (Holt, 2011). However, the model developed by Holt, however, does not consider the aging of individual workers over time. There are models that have some applicability to critical skills loss in the maintenance workforce planning literature, e.g., (Koochaki et al., 2013) (Martorell et al., 2010) (Ait-Kaki, et al. 2011) and (Ahire et al., 2000). These models focus on optimizing maintenance scheduling and resource allocation. Maintenance policies have the goal of maximizing plant or process line availability while concurrently minimizing cost through the timely presence (and appropriate skill set) of maintenance workers. Koochaki et al., 2013) points out that maintenance workers are usually highly skilled and therefore difficult to recruit and that the efficient and effective use of a scarce maintenance workforce is very important. The model in (Koochaki et al., 2013) addresses the impact of limited ma intenance workers (i.e., maintenance resource constraints) on the grouping of maintenance activities while comparing age-based replacement and condition-based maintenance (CBM). In (Ahire et al., 2000), the makespan (which is the total length of the schedule) is minimized for a groups of preventive maintenance tasks constrained by workforce availability. Other papers treat the influence of CBM on maintenance scheduling and workforce planning, for examples see (Koochaki et al., 2013) and the references contained therein. In general these references focus on the determination of the optimum size maintenance workforce. 13.3.2 Modeling Human Skills Loss A detailed model for the loss of non-replinishable maintenance resources has been developed in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). The technical development of the model is briefly summarized here, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for more detail. The model uses historical workforce data to forecast the size and experience of the workforce pool as a function of time. The workforce experience pool is then used to determine the cost of supporting (sustaining) a system as a function of time. The model was created to address the questions: what will todays skills pool look like in the future? and what impact will the future skills pool have on the organizations ability to continue to support the system? A key assumption in this model is that sufficient experience exists today to adequately support the system, and we wish to forecast the future workforce skills pools experience relative to todays skills pool. The model has four primary inputs: a current age distribution (fC), a hiring age distribution (fH), an exit age distribution (fL) and the hiring rate (H). Assuming a stationary analysis, the distribution of exit ages (fL) and the distribution of hiring ages (fH) and are constant. This does not mean that the same number of people are hired each year, but rather that the hired peoples ages are always distributed equivalently. The same assumption is made for fL. The distribution of current ages (fC) is used as an initial condition. To assess workforce pool size and experience over time, we must project the experience of the workers in the pool into the future. This projection starts with the initial conditions in the pool and accounts for age related loss and subsequent hiring. The level of experience within the skills pool changes over time and can be determined from: 1) the new hires added to the skills pool; 2) the attrition (loss) rate of skilled workers; and 3) the varying skill levels of the workers in the pool and how those skill levels (experience) increase as workers remain in the pool. The net frequency of people in the pool of age a during year i relative to year 0 is given by, (13-1) where, i is the number of years from the start of the analysis, a is age, and Hi is the fraction of new hires per year (fraction of the pool size at the start of the analysis period i = 0). The first term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the current workforce pool size (relative to year 0), the second term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the number of new hires (relative to year 0), and the multiplier accounts for the retention rate. Note, Equation 13-1 assumes that the hiring rate, Hi is the same for all ages, a. The initial condition for the model is that the fraction of people of age a relative to year 0 in year 0 is given by,. The cumulative net frequency of people in the skills pool, NNET, in year i is determined by summing Ni(a) over all the ages (y = youngest to r = retirement), (13-2) Calculating the size of the workforce pool (head count) over time is necessary but not sufficient to capture an organizations future ability to support a system because workers have different levels of experience. Because of the varying experience, not all workers provide an equivalent level of value to the support of the system. In this model, experience is defined as the length of time that a worker has spent in a particular position. The cumulative experience in the workforce pool in year i, Ei, is calculated using, (13-3) where, RE and IE map age to the experience measured in years (RE and IE are determined using a parametric model from actual data). Note, while experience has the units of time, Ei, which is used in this model, represents the cumulative experience relative to the initial condition. The time to perform maintenance in year i is found from the cumulative experience using, (13-4) where, is the time to perform a maintenance activity with a skills pool having E0 experience at i = 0. In Equation 13-4 the time required to perform maintenance increases as experience decreases due to the following factors: 1) less-experienced workers require more time to perform maintenance (learning curve effects), and/or 2) if the pool of workers capable of performing the required maintenance task shrinks, appropriate workers may not be available at every site and may have to travel from a different location, which takes time. The most significant impact of the loss of critical human skills for legacy systems is the ability to perform system support (corrective maintenance) in a timely manner. Corrective maintenance costs consist of: spare parts, labor, downtime, overhead, consumables/handling, and equipment/facilities. When a corrective maintenance event occurs, the cost of performing the required maintenance action is, (13-5) where is the fraction of the maintenance events of severity level j that result in a business interrupt, is the cost of replacement parts (if replacement parts are needed) in year i,is the cost of labor (per unit time) in year i (with appropriate overhead applied), and is the cost of business interrupt (per unit time) in year i. , and are assumed to be discounted using an appropriate discount rate. 13.3.3 Example System Support Case Study A detailed case study was previously published in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). In this section we only provide a few highlights from that case study. The case study considered the support of a legacy control system for a chemical product manufacturing company (the system was originally developed and deployed in the 1970s) and has over 2000 instances (plants) installed and currently operating and supported worldwide. In this case, because the process line availability is very important, unscheduled downtime cannot be tolerated. The model overviewed in Section 13.3.2 requires three distribution inputs: the current age distribution (fC), the distribution of hiring age (fH) and the distribution of exit age (fL). Two of these distribution inputs are readily available from organizations field data: the hiring age (fH) and a current age distribution (fC), Figure 13-1. The current age distribution (in Figure 13-1b) has a mode of 55 years, which is very close to the early retirement age in the organization, thereby demonstrating the issue that this chapter is focused on. The exit age distribution (fL) shown in Figure 13-2 for this case study was synthesized using the distributions for fH(a) and fC(a) in Figure 13-1 along with the assumption of a stationary process. Figure 13-2 is a bathtub curve. It indicates that workers either exit early or exit late (but few exit between ages 45 and 60. The younger workers exit because they are changing jobs within the company. The company modeled in this case study, has had difficulty retaining young workers (engineers) to support the legacy system. The younger engineers have a tendency to relocate to other job opportunities within the company that they perceive as having better long-term career prospects. Above age 60 the workers are retiring. Figure 13-2 supports the critical skills loss observation made in Section 13.2 that younger workers leave legacy system support jobs (presumably for other positions). The number of workers (pool size) is shown in Figures 13-1 and 13-2, but the experience contained within the pool is not reflected in these distributions. To get from pool size to the workforce pool experience, the mapping from age to applicable experience is needed. The parameters for the mapping function in Equation 13-3 were generated from the years of experience (on the control system) and the years of service to the company. The net pool size (number of workers) over time as a fraction of the pool size in 2010, NNET, is shown in Figure 13-3a. Figure 13-3b shows the experience relative to 2010, and Figure 13-3c shows the average age of the workers in the pool. The results in Figure 13-3 assume no hiring, H = 0. Figures 13-3a and 13-3b indicate that although a 10% drop in head count occurs in the first 6 years, the experience remains approximately constant (existing workers are gaining enough on-the-job experience to offset the drop in head count). After 2016, the experience drops as the oldest and most experienced workers leave and are not being sufficiently replenished. Assuming that the lost skills are replenishable (they are not for the real company treated in this case study), we can estimate what the future hiring rate, Hi, would have to be to preserve the initial level of experience, E0, in the skills pool. Equation 13-1 is used to determine the annual hiring rate, Hi, that is required to replenish the cumulative experience lost as a result of attrition and retirement. Figure 13-4 shows results for hiring rate, Hi, relative to the initial pool size P0as a function of the number of years from the start of the analysis. Figure 13-4 shows that no hiring is required in the first five years (we are not allowing hiring to drop below 0, a hiring rate below 0 would reflect a layoff situation). A hiring rate of over 6% is required starting in 2017 for 9 years and then settles to 2-5% for all the years thereafter. When H is greater than zero in (4), the hiring rate is applied to the entire hiring age distribution, fH. The required hiring rate solved for in Figure 13-4 accounts for both the time required for new workers to learn the skills necessary to support the system and the exit age distribution in Figure 13-1. Figure 13-5 shows the annual cost of supporting the legacy control system through year 2040 (all 2000+ instances of the system are costed here). The cost modeling is performed using a stochastic discrete-event simulator that samples time-to-failure distributions for the components of the control system to obtain maintenance events (determining the maintenance event dates and the components that need replacement). Subsystem-specific (and severity category specific[2]) failure distributions are sampled to obtain failure dates for the system. At each maintenance event, maintenance resources are drawn and a cost is estimated using Equation 13-5. Most of the maintenance events do not result in business interrupt time because they only impact one of the two parallel control systems and = 0, however, a small fraction (the most severe events) result in dual control system failures where > 0. The risk of dual failures and the resulting business interrupt is captured by the differing severit y categories. The specific data associated with the system count, the subsystem/severity category reliabilities, and the cost of business interrupt time is proprietary to the customer and therefore not included here. For this case study, was determined to be 0.54, meaning that when the number of people in the pool drops below 54% of the number that are in the pool initially (in 2010), the extra maintenance time penalty (modeled by (15)) is applied. Figure 13-5 shows two support cost results. The results demonstrate that there is minimal effect of skills loss prior to 2030. In year 2028 existing lifetime buys of spares parts (hardware) start to run out resulting in the cost step between 2028 and 2030. We obtain the lower curve in Figure 13-5 when there is no skills loss, Ei/E0 = 1 for all i in Equation 13-4. In this case there is still an annual cost increase caused by part obsolescence that is mitigated via lifetime buys of parts (these buys commit significant capital to the pre-purchase of spare parts and long-term holding costs). The higher cost curve in Figure 13-5 is the case where no replenishment of lost skills is possible (H = 0), this is close to reality for the company considered in this case study. 13.4 Discussion Workforce planning means ensuring that you have the right number of people, with the right skills sets, in the right jobs, at the right time. This chapter presents a model that enables workforce planning in cases where the workforce is non-replenishable. The model developed estimates both the number of skilled employees (workforce pool size) and the cumulative experience in the workforce pool. This information is used to determine the resources available to maintain a system as a function of time. Cumulative experience dictates the time (and the resultant cost) required for workers to perform the maintenance activities necessary to support the system. Because of the prohibitively large cost of legacy system replacement, these systems are rarely replaced unless a catastrophic failure occurs or their support costs become impractical. The model can potentially be used by companies to support the development of business cases for system replacement, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). Numerous important assumptions were made in the development of the model. In the solution presented here, we assume that years on the job is the only way workers can gain experience. We have not accounted for methods that could be used to accelerate the rate at which workers become more experienced, e.g., capturing older workers knowledge in knowledge bases [29,30] could accelerate experience. We have performed a discrete-time analysis because the input data that was available to us only exists annually. A continuous-time solution could also be developed, but one must be careful to match the model to the form of the input data. There are several indirect consequences of the loss of critical skills that we have not addressed, and which would be challenging to quantify in terms of cost. The workers that are maintaining systems (particularly engineers) are likely to be performing other beneficial tasks in addition to corrective maintenance. Besides corrective maintenance, they may also perform: preventative maintenance, projects intended to upgrade the reliability and/or performance of the system, and knowledge transfer activities. As workforce resources decrease, it is reasonable to assume that all tasks, except corrective maintenance, would decrease. Even if sufficient resources remain available for corrective maintenance tasks, an inability to perform the other tasks that the engineers might do results in a loss of: maintenance efficiency improvements, system reliability improvements that could decrease future maintenance requirements, and system performance. Further, if the job satisfaction amongst the eng ineers that are forced to only perform maintenance decreases then their retention may be negatively impacted. There are other factors that may modify the case study presented herein. These factors include location (culture certainly impacts the likelihood that highly-skilled workers remain in system support jobs), gender, the product sector, etc. These effects could be analyzed with the presented in this chapter model if sufficient data existed. [1] For many types of legacy systems, 5 or more years of on-the-job experience may be required to become competent. [2] The level of maintenance required (which dictates the maintenance resources required) and the degree of business interrupt associated with the maintenance event are governed by the severity categories. See From (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for details.

Physics of Image Processing Essay -- physics photo photograph digital

Missing Figures Characteristics of Light There are a few fundamental characteristics of light that are useful to be aware of before proceeding with the discussion on how CCD's and Film can function to save a useful, meaningful image. One of these important fundamental qualities is the fact that visible light is electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic Radiation, Photons, and Energy Levels Electromagnetic radiation has many different classifications. Some such classifications include AM/FM Radio Waves, microwaves, visible light, x-rays, and gamma rays. A key factor in these classifications is that each different type or "level" of electromagnetic radiation contains different energy levels. These energy levels are determined by the speed or rate that charges from a given source move to create an electric field (for instance, moving charges through an antenna or lightbulb) (Serway 1090). Hence, this oscillating electric field has two very important characteristics: it has a frequency and a wavelength. Furthermore, light can also behave as a particle in some instances. This particle of light is called a photon, and is essentially the amount of energy that a light wave has at a certain frequency (the energy of a photon is not dependent on the intensity of the light, but rather only dependent upon its frequency) (Serway 1107). It is this "duality of light" that allows CCD's and film to function as they do, as energy is transferred to materials through light via. photons. Since the energy of a photon is only related to its frequency, an equation (discovered by Einstein) relates photons to the electrons they produce by: E = h * f Where E is the energy of the produced electron, h is Planck's constant (6.63 * 10^-34 J... ...graphic Sensitivity. 2001. 31 Mar. 2003 Gambhir. The Photographic Process: Silver Bromide Crystals. 1 April 2003 Harris, Tom. How Cameras Work. How Stuff Works. 1 April 2003 Light - Part VIII. 1 April 2003 Spectral Configuration Guide. 31 March 2003 Thompson, Tom. "Charge-coupled device." Computerworld 6 Aug. 2001: 49 Visible Light Waves.2 April 2003 Woodworth, Charles. How Photographic Film Works. How Stuff Works. 1 April 2003

Nurture and nature affect the human growth and development Essay

The dictionary defines growth and development as the process by which human increase in size and mature in form and function. It can be influenced by nurture- the act of nurturing and the physical world or nature itself. Nurture affects growth when it comes to biological aspects- heredity for instance. If the parents are both tall, the possibility that the offspring be tall is high. Hence, it really affects growth. But, what about the development? Read more: Personal factors that affect child development essay For sure, heredity is again involved. However, nurture affects human growth especially development. It is a huge factor in both two. It affects growth in the sense that the nutrients needed by a child is dependent in nurturing ways of his family most especially the parents themselves. Parents are the agent for nurturing their child. Nurture, moreover, affects development in so many ways. If the social interpretation of an individual is bad, maybe the product is also bad and vise versa in good. In addition, here are some instances that nurture affects development: First, during the primary stage when the family is the immediate environment and the child is still not capable of thinking, the parents themselves influenced the identity of this child through the given name. whether we like it or not, we cannot choose what name we wanted others to call us because nurture dictates it. Second, during the secondary stage, our social concept is affected/influenced by the environment- church, school, peer group, social setting and mass media. If we are raised in a Christian family, maybe we tend to practice what has been indoctrinated to us. Hence, even Socio-Economic status(SOS) affects one’s social concept. Lastly, it is just to say that nurture dictates one’s personality. It should be normative enough and is accepted by the society.

buy custom Efficiency Enhancement essay

buy custom Efficiency Enhancement essay Todays society is what it is, because of technology. Technology in todays society touches on every aspect of life. Every sector of the economy is dependent on technology. Technology affects international relations among nations. Every day the level of technology keeps on advancing and more new knowledge is brought to the eyes of mankind. Technology has both good and bad effects of which can be long term and/or short term. This research aims at briefly highlighting the effects and causes of technology. The paper will achieve this by giving real life illustrations which are well known and some of which are quite amazing. The paper takes no stand but draws the general picture of the effect and causes of technology on mankind. The paper will explore both the good and bad side of technology. This research exclusively uses literature review as the only way of data collection. To cover for inadequacy and bias which may result from this kind of data collection, the literature sources used are purely from credible sources consisting of peer reviewed journals. Literature review This section will review causes and effects of technology with illustrations from real life examples. The section will at times base its arguments on reasonableness of a situation and make intuitive conclusions. The section is divided into three sub-sections which talks about efficiency, knowledge and security. In reviewing the sub-sections, both the advantages and the disadvantages will be brought to light. Efficiency Enhancement Technology can be said to have advanced as a result of the need for efficiency. The need for efficiency pushes people to develop ways in wich processes can be done in better ways. The inefficiency associated with processing large data manually brought about the development of computers. The need to process the same data faster and accurately has led to development of supercomputers (Zelkowitz, p. 162). The need to work efficiently in dangerous areas for long time brought about the development of robots. Robots controlled by human beings are more efficient, faster and can work for more hours than human beings (Burgard 192). Generally speaking, the need for efficiency is everywhere; the medical field, the military, space science, education, business etcetera. In a summative way, efficiency brought about by technology makes it easier to carry out various processes making it easier for mankind to have a better lifestyle. For instance, advanced communication through the use of computers and internet has made it possible for outsourcing of jobs to be possible. This has meant millions of saving for the American corporations as outsourcing has been shown to be cheaper than internally hiring employees. Globalization, a talk of the day anywhere, has been catapulted by technology. Without technology, globalization will be far from a dream. Thus, it is reasonable to argue that all the benefits accrued from globalization are due to advances in technology. Globalization has opened up opportunities for various countries to trade more openly and create numerous job opportunities (Narual 103). Technology in the medically has greatly increased efficiency. Advanced and complicated surgical operations can be carried out in pursuant of saving lives. Use of laser equipments in the medical field makes it possible for surgical wounds to heal faster and is less painful. Advancing technology in the medical field has made doctors to be eefficient and save lives of millions of people (Geisler and Heller 32). Enhancing Knowledge Technology has made it possible for mankind to have an advanced knowledge of how the universe functions. It is possible to make whether prediction to reliable levels. Technology has made it possible for earthquakes to be detected well before they mount momentum to destructive level. It is possible to see the development of hurricanes, typhoons and tornados. This significant whether you are in a ship or on the land as it help you to prepare enough or even be evacuated (Ravi, Aditya and Gupta 41). Technology has made it possible for cloning to be done on sheep. There are various experiments which have been carried out on mice. All this has been made possible through technology. These experiments reveal a lot knowledge which makes it possible for mankind to find better ways of treatment. By gaining knowledge on how the human body functions, it is possible develop drugs and counter malfunctions of the body in a better way without compromising the chances of peoples lives (Geisler and Heller 35). Technology is also used to study and gain knowledge on the ecosystem around us. How will one know that the blue whales are endangered without engaging divers and sophisticated machines to find out? What about the python reserves in the world? They will swallow you up if you counting them manually, technology has to be engaged; may some flying cameras or something close to that. Having the knowledge of the ecosystem makes it possible for proper preservation measures to be undertaken. Technology makes it possible to understand to what level the ozone layer has been depleted so that corrective measures can be taken (Narual 103). Buy custom Efficiency Enhancement essay

I can tell Essay Example

I can tell Essay Example I can tell Paper I can tell Paper I can tell, think, and believe that my online behavior is no different when I am in person with others all day long but the reality is I act differently. I am an introvert by nature, my energy when Interacting with others Is derived from being able to internalize and analyze my thoughts rather than voice them until I am ready. If I were to enter a crowded room, my preference Is to observe my surroundings first and when ready, I would approach someone rather than to Jump right Into a conversation. When I communicate online, I am very comfortable to jump right in; I eve no concerns or feel uneasy, as I am not subjected to the physical or emotional aspects related to having to start a conversation. Anonymity is a powerful force. Hiding behind a fake screen name makes us feel invincible, as well as invisible (Bernstein, 2012, Para. 7). Studies on extroverted or introverted behaviors online have shown that computer-mediated communication might result in more outgoing behavior especially amongst extremely introverted or shy people (Magical- Hamburger, Winnipeg Fox, 2002; McKenna Barge, 2000). Blamer and During 2012) argue that the perceived anonymity and distance of computer-mediated communication help overcome social Inhalations. Milan (2012) described how people tend to exaggerate their persona when online because there Is more time to revise and calculate the content they present than In spontaneous face-to-face Interactions. Recognizing my personality type, being introverted I do behave differently because it is easier for me to overcome my social inhibitions. My emotional reaction to online news and information is dependent upon how passionate I am on the subject matter or the connection it makes based on my own experiences. For instance, my ability to feel compassion for the victims off natural disaster causes me to question what the individuals are undergoing, what they think and feel as I see and hear their expressions and reactions. My attempt to answer what it means to be fully human In a virtual space became harder to answer than I Initially thought. My Interpretation of this encompasses one being able to actually do all they can when In person wealth a virtual environment. I think of the simulation game Second Life, that mirrors all aspects of mankind set In a make-believe environment.

Domestic Terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Domestic Terrorism - Research Paper Example Since they are illegal, terrorist organizations often resort to illegal ways of financing their activities such as extortion, violent robbery, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and arms smuggling. In recent years, drug trafficking has emerged as the biggest income source for these organizations (Crews and Tarzi, 2008). A number of studies have shown that the link between terrorism and drug trafficking is strong particularly in countries that are either the hubs of terrorism planning and organization or the main target of terrorism. It is for this reason that drug lords create domestic terrorism against the United States troops and the indigenous Afghanistan population (Shanty, 2011). This paper will discuss how drug lords in Afghanistan create domestic terrorism against United States troops and indigenous population in Afghanistan. According to the American government and Afghanistan government officials, the profits from drug trafficking in Afghanistan was estimated to be about $3.2 bil lion in 2012. The bulk of this profit went to Taliban warlords, as well as other militants. It is estimated that Afghanistan is currently producing nearly 90 percent of the global supply of illegal opium and about 85 percent of the world’s heroin supplies and morphine come from the country (Piazzo, 2012). Opium is the largest cash crop in Afghanistan; in 2006local export revenues from the crop constituted about 35 percent of the nation’s gross national product. At the same time, opium production employed nearly 14 percent of the country’s population. While it is clear that opium production in Afghanistan is critical for the country’s economy, illicit opiate production and trade is considered by many policy analysts, media commentators, academics, and politicians as a crucial contributor to terrorism acts in the country targeting indigenous population and United States troops. The Afghan Taliban extremist group uses opiate drug revenues to finance itself, mainly by taxing refined products, stocks of harvested poppy, and drug crop cultivation (Peters, 2009). Typically, media sources report the Taliban resistance within the borders of Afghanistan, training camps within Pakistan borders, and daily opinions of United States troop conflicts with Taliban forces. However, there is little reporting in regard to drug lord territory and border control in Afghanistan, as well as the drug lord contribution to terrorist acts against the indigenous population and the United States troops within the borders of Afghanistan (Crews and Tarzi, 2008). Various investigations have revealed that drug trafficking significantly supports terrorism in today’s world, particularly after the United States invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is no doubt that drug trafficking is a very lucrative business and it generates big profits that are used for illegal activities including supporting terrorism (Leu, 2008). Drug trafficking has extensively benefited fr om political, economic, social and technological. Al Qaeda, Sunni extremists, and Taliban are some of the terrorist organizations that significantly benefit from selling and shipping of illegal drugs. Investigations have found that the proceeds and profits realized from drug trafficking are usually laundered through certain legal business and pumped back to terrorist organizations and their associates who then use to fund terrorism (Dolan, 2005). The Afghanistan

French colonisation in popular culture of francophone countries Personal Statement

French colonisation in popular culture of francophone countries - Personal Statement Example With the French culture spreading beyond the national boundaries, one would argue that one of the major implications of the French colonization led to the spread of French language to Africans. Sonnenburg continues to emphasize that the French assumed the African syntax and made it obligatory for the Africans to speak French, a policy referred to as the assimilation process (221). Centuries later, the Francophone countries still use French as their official language. Africans adopted the Frenchman way of living. The mode of dressing changed for the Africans. Regardless of copious protests against the revolution of the Africans to Frenchmen, the French managed to change the Africans. With time, studies indicate that Africans were able to change their lifestyles to French to extent that to be elected in the legislative assembly, Africans had to lead a life similar to that of the Frenchman (220). In the case of Tunisia for example, nearly all the elite and government officials had been assimilated to being Frenchmen. Eradication of the French language and replace it with the indigenous Arabic language was completely tasking for the Tunisians. With French literacy elevated in Tunisia, this is yet another impact on the culture of Francophone colonies of Africa. In a study of colonization and France with its spheres of influence, France ought not to be linked to colonization. France has been associated with education and spread of the same to other generations (223). In one way or another, it would arguable that the French brainwashed their colonies into accepting their language and culture; thus, entire loss of the African identity. As opposed to coercion like other colonial masters, the French managed to influence he colonies into embracing the Frenchman way of living (222). Francophone countries became multicultural societies embodied with a blend of both African culture- in minute forms, and the French culture dominating the way