Critical Path Analysis

Critical Path Analysis INTRODUCTION: Planning, Scheduling and Controlling are three important functions of management. Planning involves the formulation of objectives and goals that are subsequently translated into Specific plans and projects. Scheduling is concerned about the implementation of activities necessary to achieve the laid down plans. The function of control is to institute a mechanism that can trigger a warning signal if actual performance is deviating (in terms of time, cost and some other measures of effectiveness) from the plan.If such a deviation is unacceptable to the concerned manager, he will be required to take corrective action to bring performance in conformity with the plans. The PERT and CPM models are extremely useful for the purpose of planning, scheduling and controlling the progress and completion of large and complex projects or for carrying out the analysis of these three managerial functions. Before we describe the basic concepts used in the constructi on and analysis of these models, let us first understand the meaning of a project. What is a project?A project can be defined as a set of large number of activities or jobs that are performed in a certain sequence determined logically or technologically and it has to be completed within (i) a specified time, (ii) a specified cost and (iii) meeting the performance standards. Examples of a project from fairly diverse fields are given below: 1. Introducing a new product in the market. 2. Construction of a new bridge over a river or construction of a 25 storied building, 3. Executing a large and complex order on jobbing production. 4. Sending a spacecraft to the mars. GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF PERT/CPMA network is a graphical representation of a project, depicting the flow as well as the sequence of well-defined activities and events. Developed during the 1950s, both CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique) are network techniques/models. The network app roach helps project managers in planning, Scheduling and controlling. As a planning tool it helps the manager to estimate the requirements of resources viz. , materials, equipment, manpower, cost and time for each activity or tasks of the project. This approach cannot make decisions by its own.It only provide additional information to executives to facilitate decision making process. Also it does not provide solution to every management problem. It certainly helps in identification of those activities, jobs or events which control the completion of the project. The working methodology of critical path analysis (CPA) which includes both CPM and PERT, consists of following five steps: 1. Analyse and break down the project in terms of specific activities and/ or events. 2. Determine the interdependence and sequence of specific activities and prepare a net work. . Assign estimates of time, cost or both to all the activities of the network. 4. Identify the longest or critical path throug h the network. 5. Monitor, evaluate and control the progress of the project by replanning, rescheduling and reassignment of resources. The central task in the control aspect of these models is to identify the longest path through the network. The longest path is the critical path because it equals the minimum time required to complete the project. All other paths other than the critical path (i. e. o critical or slack paths) offer flexibility in scheduling and transferring resources, because they take less time to complete than the critical path. ADVANTAGES OF CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS There are a number of advantages in using critical path analysis. 1. It allows for a comprehensive view of the entire project. Because of the sequential and concurrent relationships, time scheduling becomes very effective. Identifying the critical activities keeps the executive alert and in a state of preparedness, with alternative plans ready in case these are needed.Breaking down the project into small er components permits better and closer control. 2. Critical path analysis offers economical and effective system of control based on the principle of management by exception i. e. need for corrective action arises only in exceptional situations and in most of other cases, performance is in conformity with the plans. 3. It is a dynamic tool of management which calls for constant review, a reformulation of the network, and finding the current path of relevance and optimum resources allocation.FUNDAMENTALS OF A CPA NETWORK ( Activity An activity is any portion of a project which consumes time or resources and has a definable beginning and ending. For example, â€Å"laying of pipe† is an activity requiring the use of resource mainly effort. Activity may involve labour, paper work, contractual negotiations, machinery operations, etc. Commonly used terms synonymous with â€Å"activity† are â€Å"task† and â€Å"job†. Figure 1 and 2 Activities are graphically r epresented by arrows, usually with description and time estimates written along the arrows.The tail of the arrow portraying an activity represents the starting point of the activity and its head represents its completion. The arrow may be straight slanting, or bent but not broken (see figure-1). The arrow is not a vector and need not be drawn to scale. ( Events The beginning and ending points of an activity or a group of activities are called events. Synonyms of an event are â€Å"node† and â€Å"connectors† An event is often represented graphically by a numbered circle (see figure-2), although any geometric figure such as square, oval, rectangle etc. will serve the purpose.We shall, however, stick to the most commonly used convention for representing an event viz, the circle. A few examples of events are as follows : (i) Material procured, (ii) Design completed, (iii) Project started, (iv) Bricks laid, etc. All activities in a network must commence from some event. Su ch events are called the tail events because they are connected to the tail of an activity. These are shown in figure 3. Similarly, all activities in a network must have terminal points called the head event because it is at the head of an activity. These are shown in figure-4.Figure-5 depicts tail and head events connected by arrows representing activities i. e. it depicts the dual role of an event. Event 14 is the head event for one activity and tail event for another. In a network, symbol â€Å"i† is used for the tail event (also called preceding event) and â€Å"j† for the head event (or succeeding event) of an activity. The activity, then being I-j. If an event represents the joint completion of more than one activity, it is called a merge event. If an event represents the joint initiation of more than one activity, it is called a burst event.A network is, then, a graphical representation of a project plan, showing the inter-relationship of the various activities. Networks are also called arrow diagrams (see figure – 6). When the results of time estimates and computations have been added to a network, it may be used as a project schedule. Conventions adopted in drawing networks: There are two conventions normally adopted while drawing networks. In the early stages of network drawing, it is suggested that the conventions should be respected until sufficient experience has been gained to justify dropping them.These conventions are: a) Time flows from left to right. b) Head events always have a number higher than that of the tail events. The above stated conventions allow activities to be referred uniquely by their tail and head event numbers, so that â€Å"activity 3-4† means only â€Å"the activity which starts from event 3 proceeds to event 4†; it cannot mean â€Å"the activity which starts from event 4 and finishes event 3†. Graphical representation of events and activities: Events are represents by numbers withi n circles. Activities are represented by arrows, the arrow-heads represent the completion of the activities.The length and orientation of the arrow are of no significance whatsoever (chosen only for the convenience of drawing). The activity of leaving place A and walking to place B can equally well be represented by figure-7. Fundamental properties governing the representation of events and activities: The representation of events and activities is governed by one simple dependency rule which requires that an activity which depends upon another activity is shown to emerge from the head event of the activity upon which it depends and that only dependent activities are drawn in this way.Thus, if activity B depends upon activity A, then the two activities are drawn in figure-8. Figure 7 AB 1. An event cannot occur until all activities leading to it are complete. 2. No activity can start until its tail event in reached. The above two properties can be combined into a single one, namely that â€Å"no activity may start until all previous activity in the same chain are completed. Logical sequencing are connection of activities; A project entails several activities. The arrows are arranged to show the plan of logical sequence in which the activities of the project are to be accomplished.The sequence is ascertained for each activity by answering the following three quires viz: (i)Which activity or activities must be completed before the start of a particular activity ? (ii) Which activity or activities should follow this? (iii) Which activities can be accomplished simultaneously? The activity or activities which immediately come before another activity without any intervening activities are called predecessor activities to that activity. The activities which follow another activity without any intervening activities are called successor activities to that activity.In a project of laying a pipe line, the three activities involved may be trenching, laying pipe and weld ing pipe. To decide the logical connection between these three activities necessary that they be carried out in series, the reasoning being that the pipe cannot be laid until trenching has been done and welding cannot be undertaken until the pipe has been laid. This way we decide the logical sequencing between different activities. Errors in logical sequencing: Two types of errors in logic may arise while drawing a network, particularly when it is a complicated one. These are known as looping dangling. 1)Looping: Normally in a network, the arrow points from left to right. This convention is to be strictly adhered, as this would avoid illogical looping, as shown wrongly below : (2)Dangling: The situation represented by the following diagram is also at fault, since the activity represented by the dangling arrow 9-11 is undertaken with no result. A To overcome the problem arising due to dangling arrows, following rules may be adopted. (i) All events, except the first and the last, must have at least one activity entering and one activity leaving them, ii) All activities must start and finish with an event. (3)Duplicate activities: Consider the following figure 11: A XY B Figure 11 In the above figure, activities A and B may be called duplicate activities because they have same head event (i. e. 6) and the same tail event (i. e. 7). One remedy for such a situation is the introduction of a dummy activity (4) Dummy activity: It is a hypothetical activity which consumes no resource and time. It is represented by dotted lines and is inserted in the network to clarify activity pattern under the following situations: ) It is created to make activities with common starting and finishing events distinguishable. ii) To identify and maintain the proper precedence relationship between activities that are not connected by events. iii) To bring all â€Å"loose ends† to a single initial and a single terminal event in each network using dummies, if necessary. For example, problem of duplicate activities in the figure-11 above may be circumvented as shown in figure-12. A XY B Figure 12 Figure – 13 shows three cases for the following set of dependency relationships: Activity C is dependent upon both A and B.Activity D is dependent upon A alone. BC AC A DD BA C B AD The first portrayal (on top left of figure-13) is clearly wrong since it shows D as dependent upon not only A but also B which is not desired. The other portrayal (ii) is also wrong since A is being shown twice and thus contravenes the fundamental axiom of network that three must be one arrow for each activity. The way out to this dilemma is the representation by means of the dummy activity. In the third portrayal of figure -13, C is dependent upon both A and B (via dummy) whereas D is dependent upon just A.Numbering the events: The event numbers in a network should in some respect reflect their logical sequences. When a complicated network has been drawn then the problem of assignin g numbers to the events involved in the network arises. A rule devised by D. R. Fulkerson, involving the following steps may be followed to resolve the problem numbering the events. i) An â€Å"initial† event is one which has arrow/arrows coming out of it and none of the arrow entering it. In a network there will be only one such event. Call it â€Å"1†. (ii) Delete all arrows coming out from the event 1. This will give us at least one more â€Å"initial event†. i) Number these events as â€Å"2, 3†¦. † (iv) Delete all emerging arrows from these numbered events which will create new initial events. Then follow step (iii). (v) Continue the above steps till last event is obtained which has no arrows coming out of it. Consider the numbering of events in the following figure. Figure 14 F AFA BG B CH CG AF AF BG BG CH CH AF AF BG BG CH CH Figure 15 Here we proceed from left to right. The event with least x- co-ordinate is assigned the smallest integer, sa y 1. other events are assigned progressively higher integers with regard to x-co-ordinate.If two or more events (4 and 5 above) have the same x-co-ordinate, the one towards arrow should have higher number. Further, it is not necessary, and in fact also not desirable to number the events consecutively. It would be a better scheme to number the events as 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 in the above diagram instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. This affords insertion of more activities and events omitted by oversight or having become necessary in view of certain logic revisions. It was mentioned earlier that it is desirable that all the activity arrows point from left to right. If the arrow is vertical it may point downwards or upwards.For the sake of preventability it is to be recommended that activities emanating from one event or converging to another may make as great angles between themselves as possible. A few more conventions are given below: (i) Keep the arrow to the extreme right. (ii) A s far as possible avoid drawing arrows that cross each other. Usually by suitable ‘stretching’ the network diagram it is possible to avoid this. (iii) Where, however, crossing is unavoidable, bridging may be done. This applies to dummies as well. Draw boldly a big network. Smaller ones are confusing. Use of pencil and rubber is recommended.Exercise: Depict the following dependency relationships by means of network diagrams. The Alphabets stand for activities. 1. A & B control F; B and C control G. 2. A & B control F; B Controls G while C controls G and H. 3. A controls F and G; B controls G; while C controls G and H. 4. A controls F and G; B and C control G with H depending upon C. 5. F & G are controlled by A, G and H are controlled by B with H controlled by B and C. 6. A controls F, G and H; B controls G and H with H controlled by C. Answer: The required networks are given in figure -15 Exercise: Find out the superfluous (unnecessary) dummy activities in the network b elow. BEH C AF G D Figure 16 JKL M FG AB CDE H M IK Figure 14 Basic steps involved in drawing a CPM/PERT network : Network is defined as a diagram representing the activities and events of a project, their sequence and inter-relationships. The basic steps involved in drawing a network are: i) Breaking up of the entire project into smaller systems known as tasks. ii) For each tack ascertain the activities and events to be performed. iii) For each activity determine the preceding and succeeding activities. iv) For each activity determine or estimate the time and other resources needed. v) Draw a network depicting the assembly of tasks into a project.Network Construction Problem 1 The activities involved in the computer installation process are detailed below. You are required to draw the network. ActivityPredecessor Activities A. Physical preparationnone B. Organizational planningnone C. Personal SelectionB D. Equipment InstallationA E. Personal TrainingC F. Detailed systems designC G . File ConversionF H. Establish standards and controlsF I. Programme preparationH J. Programme TestingI K. Parallel operationsD, E, G, J. L. Finalize systems documentationI M. Follow upK, L B< C (ii) AA None < A None < B B B D C D A A < D (iii)C

Friedrich Engels and histor Essay

If one is not historical, then it is unscientific. The historical process that has commenced for millennia in the development of societies is a product of scientific processes and vice versa. Friedrich Engels has greatly contributed to the exposition of historical dynamics, one that is ever changing, in constant contradiction with the forces within and without. As it has been definitely asserted, historical materialism, as a part of a dialectic philosophy is not just narrowly limited to a â€Å"study† but it is a scientific process wherein events were investigated, researched, a hypothesis is derived and tested or compared if that assertion applies to universal condition. History thereof is a result of contradictions, a making of man, not just simply a compilation of events that transpired in the past. Only in such a way can history become a science. Thus, a truly revolutionary of his time, Engels presented history according to the material basis of the existence of societies, discussed the evolution of such societies as subsequent effects of the past, constantly playing interconnected, interwoven stories, which without the other is simply incomplete, unscientific. Here he illustrated the formation of history as a result of humanity’s struggle to attain its aims, therefore its own creation, its own being. Engels’ history does not consider man simply a being with presupposed actions, knowledge or decisions, man is a becoming, moulds the society that he belongs to, inseparably intertwined with the progress of the economy, his propensity to survive, to all other aspects of social existence. Certainly, Engels’ life is no different from the society he intended to explain. What has moulded him to become such a great influence in socio-economic paradigms and in the formulation of Marxism surely has a basis in his past, interconnected with his identity, with everything that has gone through his age, internal and external, positive and negative. His own being a laboratory of man as a â€Å"becoming† and of contradictions where which a new form from the antagonisms of the old is drawn. Hence, his life and works were a result of scientific processes, a fruit of the reactions among the material conditions that he was exposed to, a synthesis of numerous theses and anti-theses. Facts and figures are simply not what history is. Facts and figures say something but not substantially anything. History is a correlation and interrelationships between and among facts and figures without finding those connections are mere ink and paper –insignificant. Hitherto, Engels’ works remains to be of great influence in the struggles of oppressed peoples and of the international proletariat. This came into reality because Engels’ works were connected to the material foundations of human existence, ideas and theories that are not alienated: theories that can be felt, ideas that are tangible and inseparable from the activities of societies. As it was, matter precedes consciousness; Engels’ historical and philosophical analysis did not surface out of mere conception of abstract economic and historical fables, but were a result of the effects of the economic and social conditions existing at that time; societies came into reality first and from those realities a consciousness was obtained enabling Engels to scientifically analyze the future of societies based on the reasons that has caused past societies to progress into what they are at present. Engels biography is a display of such scientific course. His early life has been the origin why he came about with his voluminous works on history, implications brought by the facts how he was raised and intended of him to become, his experiences, and his direct contact with the production process and later in complete absorption to the revolutionary struggle in the industrial West. Friedrich Engels was born in Barmen, Prussia to a family of bourgeois origins in September 28, 1820, time when Europe was at the height of the development of the industrial era and wars of conquest for the accumulation of market, labour and resources for the bourgeois economy. It was a time of rapid changes ensuing on all borders, expansion of industrial interests was grappling Europe and colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America were continuously ransacked while the European continent was in a constant scrabble of migration from different nations in search of industrial work. Indeed an era of accumulation of wealth and technological advances to improve productivity . His nascent years have been vital for the development of his future philosophical pursuit. In his poem â€Å"To My Grandfather†, written December 20, 1833, Friedrich has shown his early acquaintances in history through stories in the Greek mythology which he described as â€Å"many a beautiful story† that his grandfather told him . Another untitled poem written 3 years after described characters in stories from all over Europe seen by young Friedrich as â€Å"pictures to delight† . He was an observer and the environment drew much attention from him. Once he wrote about the conditions in Wuppertal, one of his first attempts to explain the seemingly complicated miseries of the working class , that even the columns of a building and the style of architecture did not escape his watch. It was the beginning of his acquisition of his most powerful weapon in his revolutionary battle, the excellence in textual conveyance. Not only was it a peek to his future history inclinations but also his superb literary talent that has greatly manifested in his works. His father, a German textile mill owner wanted him to become an industrialist too like himself. Though, the environment in which Friedrich Engels lived was full of stark contradictions, external factors which greatly affected his inner resolve, so that a strained relationship developed between them. A supporter of the Prussian government, Friedrich’s father held conservative views in politics and religion which could be attributed to his Protestant Pietist devotion that he entered Friedrich in local Pietist schools, indoctrinating him of narrow fundamentalist views of society that were never acceptable to his broad interests. He was then sent to Bremen, a German port city, before he finished his high school studies to work as a clerk, and there he exhibited despise to autocracy and religion, enjoyed life at its fullest and studied literature, philosophy, theology and history . The democratic struggles gaining political momentum at that time was under a literary movement drawn Engels to participate under a pen name Friedrich Oswald. His first work, a poem titled â€Å"The Bedouin † was published in the Bremisches Conversationsblatt No. 40. In September 1838 and many other literary works and commentaries proceeded thereafter. When he moved to Berlin to join the Household Artillery of the Prussian Army, he already had attractions to the Young Hegelians . His contact with the radical group proved to be vital in Engels’ future philosophical treatises. Hegelian philosophy maintained an idealist core with the dialectic claims that everything, after they had come into being, will ultimately wither away, a constant reminder of change and development inherent in everything therein. Though Hegelian dialectics maintained that thought precedes matter, it still had some followers who were radicalized and reached the point of concluding that even the Prussian state and religion will pass. The most revolutionary of them, however, deviated from Hegel’s â€Å"consciousness precedes matter† and inclined towards materialism. These revolutionaries, among them the 22 year-old Friedrich Engels, asserted that it is the other way around based on Ludwig Feuerbach’s rejection of Hegelian idealism and turned the tables for materialism. He would later publish a pamphlet hailing Feuerbach’s â€Å"The Essence of Christianity† in 1841. The pamphlet echoed Feuerbach’s materialist basis of societal thought and finally debunked theological monopoly of reflection with a â€Å"pulverizing† blow, but later Feuerbach’s materialism would be wedded with Hegelian dialectics . There he was an active radical, wrote articles for the democratic movement while attending lectures at Berlin University with his military service all at the same time. Before he would be sent to England, Engels, travelled to Cologne to meet Moses Hess, the first Hegelian who called himself a communist and the man behind Rheinische Zeitung –a radical daily newspaper. It was possibly in this acquaintance that Engels was influenced with utopian socialism and his travel to England would be decisive in starting a proletarian revolution in the most advanced industrial nation . His experience in Manchester, England in his father’s factory from 1842 opened his eyes to the realities of the working class which he stated in his Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844, his first book bourn out of his observations in his father’s firm. In his English travel desertion, Engels have had certain exchanges with other workers’ organizations, radical, utopian socialists and Chartists and wrote for Robert Owens’ Utopian socialist paper, the â€Å"New Moral Order† . Only on his way to Barmen did he meet Karl Marx, his lifelong revolutionary collaborator. They first met in Cologne in 1842 and Karl Marx was an editor in the Rheinische Zeitung but took no time to explore their philosophical similarities. That friendship would last for about four decades. Together, Marx and Engels paved the way for the synthesis of Dialectical Materialism, Historical Materialism and Scientific Socialism among many other works that were to become the foundations of the proletarian movement. Engels could never be considered as Marx’s side kick as others would usually portray him, nor must he be treated as above Mar’s intellect on many philosophical questions. Often they would consult each other on certain points of argumentation and Engels recognized Marx’s excellence and at the same manner, Engels displayed his virtuoso in historical and literary fields. They were, in the truest sense, partners in their lifelong struggle for the liberation of the working class. What Engels had become could be ascribed to the people who had played certain parts in his â€Å"becoming†. His grandfather introduced him to the world of history and literature, his father pounced on him that he would later hate everything that his father believed, Hegel on his dialectics (though Engels had broken away from the idealist sector), Feuerbach presented the materialist view for his and Marx’s philosophical synthesis of the Dialectical Materialism and the millions of the workers’ masses that have borne the weight of the whole capitalist production system were, presumably, the greatest influences on Engels’ philosophy. Thus cementing that Engels was really a man that is a â€Å"becoming†. An accumulation of experiences, observations and contact with nature was the reason for having such philosophical standpoint . Engels’ philosophical background could be that of a German philosophy that could be traced from Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel. Though Engels or Marx did not have any â€Å"original† philosophical theories, it is precisely the justification on what was commented on the Critique on Feuerbach that theirs was a philosophy that aimed direct to the point of changing the existing order in the world not just explain it. On many occasions, Engels has directly found the connection of matter and thought, of historical events that are quite apart in ages but were systematically an integral part of the totality of human history. Friedrich Engels’ first book was the Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844, written when he was in Manchester England. On its preface, Engels explicitly stated the conditions of the working class at that particular time based on his direct acquaintances with the proletariat or twenty-one months, straight from his observations. These observations were directed for the German proletariat so intense their conditions that Engels wished to know the root causes of their misery . In his dedication to the British proletariat, Engels can be seen as a true revolutionary, never satisfied with documents, it was a close contact, an integration among the masses of British workers that has propelled his understanding of the conditions of the working class. It was on the streets, in the alleys, in the working places that true understanding can be derived. The whole of Manchester turned into a laboratory of revolution . Manchester in 1844 is the centre of the Industrial Revolution which he observed, made the conditions of the workers worse. Huge industrial cities such as Manchester and Liverpool had disease occurrences four times grater than in the countryside. Before mills were introduced in England, more than four thousand out of ten thousand children die of whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, and smallpox and an addition of another three hundred after. While adult mortality numbered to a thousand out of ten thousand and another two hundred added to the previous respectively. In one of his contributed article to the New Moral World Engels concluded that this condition must soon be ended with a revolution that would rearrange the social order existing at that time in three countries in Europe (England, France and Germany) as there is a fast spread of suffering among the working men in the continent. There were existing socialist and communist movements in many parts of Europe, half a million communists in France alone, with some differences in minor points in principle but again, Engels asserted that the proletarian class has the power to rise and become masters of their own, enjoy the fruits of their own labour only if these communists would be united –that would later be named as â€Å"proletarian internationalism† – costing most of Eastern Europe after the Second World War, a little more than a hundred years, with the USSR’s campaign of socialist annexation . Engels described the state of the capitalist system in England, being the most advanced at that time. In the book’s 1892 preface, 52 years since it was first published, the author noted that the rising industrial nations such as France, Germany and America and starting to break Britain’s â€Å"industrial monopoly† and finally reached what has England reached in 1844 and the effects were not different. Same economic laws apply and the fight of English workers five decades ago is happening in the country. It is after all still a bourgeois mode of production, the same tendencies, characteristics and social classes and antagonism still exist. Such was what he had predicted in his first edition and, scientifically, it was indeed the same characteristic of the capitalist economy regardless of nations and cultures. The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 mirrored the condition of the working class not only in certain time frame but through the times as long as capitalism exists in a more or less varied intensity. Further expounding on the roots of the proletariat’s miserable place in the relations of production, Lenin commented that Engels was not the first to say that the working class is suffering from the ills of the capitalist mode of appropriation and expropriation, but it was Engels who said that the working class is being pushed to the very edges so that the proletariat had been left with no choice but to fight back and destroy the bonds of slavery. A power, so much moving this line had exuded that after seven decades Russian proletariat had risen to create the first proletarian state. In 1847, Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian anarchist was banned from Paris because of calling for the over of the Polish and Russian governments. Bakunin was one of the many revolutionaries that appearing in Europe. A revolutionary high tide is sweeping all over the continent and the great masses of workers are looking for the lead in the revolutionary struggle. Such was the condition when Engels wrote â€Å"The Principles of Communism† in 1847, a year before the Communist Manifesto was published. There was, however an earlier composition for the Communist League. In June of that year, the founding event of the Communist League, the Congress of the Just, the Principles of Communism was written to serve as a draft for a statement to be embraced by the proletarian revolutionary movement, the Communist Manifesto . The International Workingmen’s Association formed in 1864 was actively participated by Engels, and later joined Marx in the General Council in 1870, two after the IWA was organized. Historically, the IWA had a huge part in the uprising in Paris in 1871: the Paris Commune. In this event Engels’ writings defeated Bakunin’s Alliance for Social Democracy. IWA was considered to be the first International, and after the Paris Commune was quelled, after the commune died, Engels guided the formations of many socialist parties in Europe, especially in Germany which has been the movement that the whole European communist movement looked upon as bearer of the great socialist revolution. It was here that the term â€Å"manufacture†, denoting production by hand was conceived by Engels, such was to differentiate â€Å"production by hand† from production using a machine. This scheme was decisive in future historical annotations for the transition from guilds to factories of the primitive capitalist model. It is best too clarify that Marxist literature considers, based on historical materialism, that world history has not grown uniformly, some have advanced to capitalism, other nations remain in the feudal stage, and certain communities were even at the stage of primitive communalism. In the year 1884, Engels wrote â€Å"The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. It was this document that really showed Engels’ distinction in history. He wrote this manuscript in just two months to continue what Marx would have wanted him to do – a treatise on the evolution of the State. This book covers the history of many nations, the emergence of private property and classes, and the state and ultimately how this state would perish, mush like Hegelian concept on the dialectical process of societies. Engels’ works were immensely influenced by Hegelian thought, especially evident in his â€Å"Origin of the Family†¦ † which was a complete narration of the scientific evolution of the societies, brought about by the contradictions that were constantly the cause of development, of ending an old social order and beginning anew. Aside from that, Engels life as a revolutionary and his works were also influenced by Moses Hess’s utopian socialist ideas, which, together with Karl Marx, they arrived into concluding that the future of capitalism is a scientific socialism and the establishment of the proletarian state. He also viewed the economy as the social foundation that it gives rise to the conception of the state, and that material foundation is the essential ingredient of the thought or way of thinking that would be dominant in the society. It was the very core of the materialist belief that matter precedes consciousness. Which takes us to think that a worker can not have a consciousness of a proletariat if the society has not reached the stage of capitalism, because in the first place, a condition does not exist that would permit a capitalist relation of production (wage labour). Through his life, Engels never believed in marriage pointing out that the natural order of reproduction is not bound by the exclusivity of a woman to a single man. That only came into being when the concept of private property had materialized, so as women. Women held a high place in the primitive societies since they were the only means that tribes and communities would survive was only through continued human reproduction . Engels’ works were referred to by the revolutionary movement especially on the philosophical discourses on dialectics, historical materialism and some of his economic formulations. These influenced leaders of different socialist parties in Europe and around the globe. In autumn of 1985, the leader of the Russian proletarian socialist revolution, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote about Engels saying that he was a great teacher of the world’s working class, and his life must be known to every workingman. Lenin further states that Engels did not let his bourgeois status to stop him from serving the cause of the revolution, study of philosophy and science and politics. The article published in Rabotnik, clarified certain principles in Engels’ philosophy, and asserted that although Engels followed Hegelian dialectics, he was nevertheless not an idealist but one who firmly believes in materialism. Engels, said Lenin, used scientific methods in answering the economic questions of the time. It also gave an insight into Engels political history that being said, Engels was a democrat before he became a socialist. Thus Engels taught that the liberation of the working class is in the hands of the working class. Lenin after 22 years would lead the Russian working class to a socialist victory, fulfilling Engels’ vision of a socialist state won by the proletarian themselves. Later in 1920, three years after the Russian socialist revolution had been won, a document was published showing that Lenin would again comment on Engels through â€Å"The Marx-Engels Correspondence† which he wrote in 1913. The letters contained many of the theoretical foundations of socialism, masterfully fighting through the ins and outs of the political struggle in Europe. It was an exposition of the revisionist renegades attempt to mislead the great masses of the proletariat to capitulate in the bourgeois political system. Through these letters, as Lenin pronounced, the socialist movement was kept in the right track. The tasks of the proletarian revolutionary were outlined to serve as a guide for many socialist parties that were waging underground warfare against their governments. The dialectical course of history was reaffirmed and from that principle, Russian revolution had drawn much of Engels’ guidance in the theoretical as well as in the practical recourse of the revolution. Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese revolution from the 1920’s until after the Second World War had been a staunch Engels follower through his works with Marx. Chairman Mao had quoted the communist manifesto, stressing on the point that without the theories that Marx and Engels developed, the revolution will have no guide. Revolutionary theory as Mao had said would give the people a direction in waging a war for national liberation, to assure that there would be no resurgence of bourgeois state in liberated nations and ensure that new democratic revolutions will continue to the socialist stage . Again Mao on his article on Women, Engels was often quoted because of his contributions in the study of the status of women in the society, through his book â€Å"the Origin of the Family, Private Property and State†. The study of the women was a big issue in the Chinese revolution. China was then waging a war against traditions that existed for thousands of years that was the feudal relationships between husbands and wives, elderly and the young in Chinese culture. Engels’ views on the question of the equality of the sexes in the primitive communal stage of societies shed light on the history of the struggle of women. Women suffer exploitation twice. A female worker is exploited because she is a worker and she is a woman. She does not only suffer from capitalist exploitation but also from male domination. However, the struggle for women’s liberation is not a struggle against the opposite sex, but a struggle based on the economic class . Friedrich Engels was said to be the builder of socialist thought, the International Review issue no. 83 on the 4th quarter of 1995 stated that Engels had been persistent in his revolutionary career, truly of German tradition. Owing much to his perception of the workers’ movements tendencies and strengths that in the article his first book published was the book used by many revolutionaries through the years of struggle all over the world, from Russia to China. Thus Engels was a man defined by his becoming. Through his life, from the time he was born till the day he died, Europe was in the middle of an economic advancement, it was also a period of political changes. In the middle of those political and economic current, Friedrich Engels stood to face the challenges of his time. The blowing winds of free thought have set his mind to open to new ideas, seemingly the emergence of radical movements were just on the right time. When he became a part of the Young Hegelians, his philosophical inclinations were further developed. If we would look at this through an idealist perspective, it would be possible that Engels life had the right coincidences: Marx was born on the same era; the proletarian movement was on its fiery start. However, dialectically, the course of history would be just the same, it could have not been Engels, it could have not been Marx but still the truth of the development of societies will be there because it is science. History is a making of humanity not just one man, thus independent of anyone’s identity yet it identifies with everyone. It is the reality. Through Engels’ writing Marx was able to find himself a competent partner in his revolutionary theorization. Together they had formulated the socialist philosophy that soon changed the course of the modern society. Engels contributed much to humanity’s understanding of history, complete and thorough interpretation of the events, explained the mysteries that bind each and every event from the beginning of human civilization. History was view on another angle, from the toiling masses, thus, breaking the monopoly of the establishment’s monopoly of truth. Hitherto, societies were seen as dynamic, changing every second, quantitatively and qualitatively –change that was internally caused by those who are within the system, not by something that is detached, alienated, or abstract. Material basis was always at the fore of historical explanations. Engels’ historical insights gave the ruled power over the ruler, the oppressed over the oppressor. In time, the order of things will be changed, asserts Engels, which change will never end. History had become an integral part of the future, not confined to the records of the olden times; it has passed yet continues to take part in molding the future of societies. Without Engels history would still continue and take its path as we have it today. Without Engels to help Marx, the society will still change. Therefore, Engels did have a contribution to humanity’s history. Through his writings, Lenin foresaw the First World War as an imperialist war took advantage of it and made the revolution at home victorious. With the victory of the Russian proletariat, the course of struggles around the world suddenly changed course and had a farther perspective. Not only did these liberation movements aimed to free their nations from foreign domination but had decided to free them from the slavery brought about by the conception of private property. Movements did not only strive to destroy the existing political order perpetuated by tyrants, they had sought to destroy the economic foundation of tyranny. In the country from where he came from, Engels, too, caused much change. He became one of the contributors to the German philosophy, became an inspiration to German revolutionaries and paved the way for the advancement of the German proletariat. As Germany was inseparable from the conditions that what existing in Europe at that time, it too had been reached by the socialist movement that after the Second World War, Germany was divided into two. East Germany had a socialist economy and the, capitalist. Engels had his great deal of share in the development of Marxism and socialism. He was the brain behind the Communist manifesto and Historical Materialism. His studies in the field of history enlightened Marxists and revolutionaries in the course of the inevitable changes in the society. Bibliography (Section 1) Kenwood A. G. and A. L. Lougheed. The Growth of the International Economy 1820-2000: An Introductory Text. London: Routledge, 1999. Carver, Terrell. Engels. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2003. Engels, Friedrich. â€Å"Bedouin. † Young Engels, Marx & Engels Internet Archive. Available from www. marxist. org. Engels, Friedrich. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. New York: Pathfinder Press, 2000.

The Primary Image of Southwest Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

The Primary Image of Southwest Airlines - Essay Example Southwest believes, and practices, that its employees are family and the culture is entirely informal. Teamwork is the watchword and practiced from the top down. The entire strength of 32000 plus employees work with each other, help out each other, indeed reach out to comfort and support co-workers facing difficult times even in private lives. The company has nine labor unions but they are nowhere like their counterparts in other airlines. In the last decade, there has been only one strike lasting six days by machinists. Â  It has the lowest cost per available seat mile in the industry at 7.1 cents that is 30% lower compared to its nearest rivals United and Continental. It is a lone operator that has no code-sharing arrangement with any other airline and flies from point to point with no concept of hubs. Â  The primary image of an organization is akin to family, clan or tribe where relationships, needs, feelings, and skills are the characteristics of its members. The objectives are empowerment, liberation, fulfillment, and self-actualization of both the individual and the group and the challenge are how to develop an attitude to achieve this goal. Â  There are three assumptions to all HR theories. Organizations serve human needs. People and organization need each other for this service. It is critical that people and the organization are in complete harmony to fulfill this purpose. Â  The most valuable assets of any business are its people. This is one fact that is singularly recognized at Southwest. Therefore they have a created a People Department instead of the HR department to give it a more humane face. Whereas in the aviation industry and indeed in other industries too, Human Resources represent a professional, structured and therefore very stiff-collared concept, at Southwest it means entirely the opposite.

HRD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

HRD - Essay Example One of the major roles of human resource management in an organization is staffing as no single organization is in a position to run its operations without employees, both fully functional and support staff. As such human resource development sees the recruitment and selection of human resources, read employees, into the organization. This occurs after human resource development runs planning for human resources where they determine the employees required to meet the goals and achieve set targets for the organization. Recruitment involves attracting qualified applicants for a job that exists in the organization and the qualifications should meet the job description, while selection involves human resource management selecting from the qualified applicants that are best suited (â€Å"Introduction to human†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , n.d.). The other role of human resources is orientation into an organization where after hiring; an employee is expected to familiarize himself or herself with the or ganization and its functions and operations. In this case, human resource development plays its role in orientation, where it acquaints its employees with aspects of the organizations so that the employee is comfortable in the organization and ready to work based on the information that is passed on to him or her during this process. Human resource development provides information on the basics and other information that an employee collects and creates in the process of working in then organization, but most of it is the basics that are provided at orientation (â€Å"Introduction to human†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , n.d.). The third important role of human resource development is training and development, where it provides employees with skills and knowledge to perform their tasks and fulfill their duties responsibly and as per organizational objectives. In this role, human resource development provides training for new employees who

Read all about it Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Read all about it - Essay Example Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference in the length of words found in newspapers and magazines. The mean length of words in newspapers is statistically greater compared to the mean length of words in magazines. The mean length of words for the magazine is 4.65, with a standard deviation of 2.32. The median is 4.00, and the most frequently occurring word length is also 4.00. The range is 11.00, with the shortest word having one character, and the longest with 12. There are a total of 100 entries for this sample. The cumulative percentage distribution for magazine word length shows that more than half of the words (59%) found in a magazine are shorter than 4 characters. 90% are shorter than 9 characters while almost all at 99% are not more than 11 characters in length. On the other hand, the average length of words in a newspaper is 4.57, with a standard deviation of 2.50. The median is 4.0 and the most frequently occurring word length is 3.0. The shortest word has only 1 character and the longest has 11 characters. There are also a total of 100 words for the newspaper sample. The cumulative percentage distribution for newspaper word length shows that more than half of the words (59%) found in a magazine are shorter than 4 characters. Almost 90% (89%) are shorter than 8 characters while almost all at 98% are not more than 10 characters. The results show that there is no significant difference in the mean length of words in a newspaper versus those found in a magazine. Thus, the null hypothesis is not rejected. Suresh has empirically shown that words in either print media are no longer than those found in the other. In the mid-60s, AMM destroyed the last remaining ground rules of free music with their aesthetic of total sound. Rob Young reflects on the groups achievements over 30 years, and finds their collective approach very much alive. Three men, grey haired, have been making

How the revolution affect the cultural and human relationship Essay

How the revolution affect the cultural and human relationship - Essay Example This was initiated in between 1966-1976 by Mao Zedong the chairman of the Communist Party of China at the time. The movement had significant influence on the people of China an estimated a quarter of the entire humanity today socially and also economically. In Liangs autobiography the revolution affected his family and his adequate access to education in their hometown of Changsha as a result its turbulent political campaigns. The effects of the revolution are seen in the entire life of Liang Heng starting from his family break up, being sent to the countryside for "re-education and later on as Liang works as a factory worker (Liang, 1983). Despite the revolution starting as a political campaign in the Peoples Republic of China, the revolution had immense effect on the cultural and human relationships with the people of China as Liang Heng writes in his book "Son of the Revolution" (Liang, H. 1983). Among the effects on the cultural relationships is seen in the education system. The revolution affected the intellect in the society as they were the ones running the central government operations at all levels of administration. Liangs father and mother had attained a high school education by this time. The revolution saw many young and energetic Chinese make an effort to attain higher education to be considered for better employment including Liangs himself. The cultural relationship between education and revisionist was changed during the revolution. Many saw higher education later on as a gateway to satisfactory job and decent housing (Jiang, 2007). The revolution affected the human relationship within many Chinese families including Liangs family. During the Hundred Flower Campaign Liang Hengs mother was sent away for labor reform as it was called during the time of the revolution (Liang, 1983). This was mainly due to Liang Hengs comment. This brought about the first division of

Laddering Interviews Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Laddering Interviews - Essay Example This helped with clear articulation about the qualities of a backpack which stimulates purchase. The other two participants were light users of backpacks, meaning, they were not avid users of backpacks and as such did not know much about the brands that offer backpacks. These two respondents were essentially insensitive to brand name implying they had a preference for generic backpacks. The interview was dissected into questions that inquired about the reasons the participants bought backpacks and the associated characteristics of the backpacks which led them to do so. Next the interview progressed to go deeper to relate the consequences of the characteristics. Lastly, the interview attempted to link how the consequences were influenced by the values each respondent held with respect to backpacks. The responses to the interview showed that most of the participants sought value in the backpacks. A lower price was an attractive characteristic if the backpack was also complimented by greater quality. The more heavy users of backpacks preferred backpacks with high quality fabric, finishing, and water proof lining. This was more common among participants who did sports. On the other hand, participants whose needs were simple preferred lower prices backpacks. This is because the generic backpacks – as opposed to branded backpacks – met their daily needs which included spaciousness to accommodate books, pockets to keep laptop and other accessories, and partitions to keep notes and other books. The size of a backpack was also another important attribute which determined if participants bought the backpack. Size was related to the usage of different participants. Participants who used backpacks for sports needed a larger space to accommodate clothes, equipments, and other necessary accessories. Durability was also identified as a critical attribute

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY - Essay Example Malcolm X changed considerably reading about his life and while I had previously considered him to be one of the leaders who suggested that violence is necessary to obtain political gains, after reading about him I feel that Malcolm X was quite more about creating a sense of unity rather than discord. The life that Malcolm X lived is quite stunning considering the fact that he started off as little more than a thief and ended up as one of the most famous leaders in American history (Gallen, 1992). At the same time, I could not help but compare his life to other leaders who went through trials before coming to terms with their inner thoughts and their own understanding about American society. In these terms, the development of Malcolm X as a leader is quite remarkable. However, it becomes rather difficult to understand how those who respected and followed him when he was advocating an extremist view could not come to accept his more liberal approach to America and Islam. After he came back from his visit to the holy shrines in Mecca, Malcolm became more open towards white Muslims and other Muslims who he had thought to be lesser than black Muslims like himself. While his own vision of Islam had been changed dramatically with time and understand, those of his followers remained quite the same. On reflection, it seems the Nation of Islam was nothing more than a violent organisation where deviation from the rules of the party can result in ouster from the group. On the other hand, Malcolm X comes across as an open minded Muslim who becomes more accepting of all creeds and considers the differences between them to be arbitrary if they can agree on the fundamentals of what they follow (Gallen, 1992). If an individual like Malcolm X can come to understand our differences and not consider them to be a dividing line between races or genders, there is no reason why we cannot develop means by which we can solve differences today. These differences may be local, regional,

Sample SWOT analysis Essay Example for Free

Sample SWOT analysis Essay SWOT analysis shows strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This sample SWOT analysis for David Jones can provide a competitive advantage. Strengths Real Estate is A Strength of David Jones(Has over 200 retail stores in France and Luxembourg)- David Jones Unique Products David Jones Brand Name David Jones(since 1838 ) Domestic Market Store locations as Low risk and high value locations Weaknesses -competitive market (Mayer .Woolworths. Coles Group .Wesfarmers) -investments in research and development Limited global penetration Opportunities -income level is at a constant increase -venture capital -new products and services -new acquisitions -growing demand Threats -global economy -tax changes -unexpected problems -growing competition and lower profitability SWOT Analysis Strength 1.Strong domestic presence in Australian market in fashion, electricity and food products 2. Variety of products offered 3.Store locations as Low risk and high value locations 4. Has over 200 retail stores in France and Luxembourg Weakness 1. Due to many options available, brand switching is high and low brand loyalty 2. Limited global penetration Opportunity 1. Entering into pharmaceutical business 2. Leveraging on brand name David Jones to enter into other product line extension Threats 1.Increasing domestic competition as new brands coming constantly 2. High brand switching by customers means limited brand loyalty

Analysis of Personality Type Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Personality Type Essay My overall personality has it strengths and weaknesses. I believe we all have our downfalls. I’ve been told I’m really outgoing, Goofy, loving, funny, kind-hearted, intelligent, but also very helpful. I’ve also been described as quiet, and very shy. This can be good and bad in a number of ways for a number of reasons. Put all of this along with my vark type, and SDS report and you have one interesting person. When it comes to being outgoing there is a time and a place. It’s okay to be outgoing but not in certain settings like in a classroom in the middle of a lecture where everyone should be quiet, yet attentive. As far as being goofy all the time, gives me the opportunity to uplift others in ways that I never thought was possible. Simply speaking to someone and making them laugh can change a person day drastically; well that’s what my friends always say. They could go from having an okay day to a great day from a simple hello, a smile, and a little joke from time to time. I’ve been told laughter is the key to life and we’d all be bitter without it so I try to keep people around me laughing. Being funny comes natural and I’ve been told I have that â€Å"natural touch.† Making someone laugh can brighten any dull moment and change someone’s day just as well as speaking to them. I love to laugh and I also try to keep people laughing because it’s just something I enjoy doing. At times I don’t even try to be funny and I still accomplished this goal without even trying. I can be very kind-hearted when I choose to. For example I have a love for helping people so I am extremely kind when it comes to someone wanting my help. It makes me feel like I have done like a good deed. . I’ll pretty much help with anything as long as it doesn’t harm me or them in any way. I’m also very intelligent. I can talk and educate someone who is unfamiliar with just about any subject, including, mathematics, and even English. These are just a few of my strengths which bring out good and bad characteristics of my personality. As far as putting all of this with my VARK, and SDS reports I think I am one interesting person. In the VARK report I am more of a kinesthetic and then a visual learner. In some cases that could be a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing about that is I can thing is when I give presentations; I can really make it come alive. Instead of just writing all of these boring words down I would put a lot of pictures and colors on there, and bring it together in a way where it catches your eye to make you want to pay attention. But, in some cases it could be bad because what if my boss doesn’t like the whole picture idea because he or she is a different type of learner. Well our personalities could clash. When it comes to the SDS report I am an ECS which means I am enterprising, conventional and very social. Enterprising means that I am a type of person that likes to persuade or direct others, very adventurous, agreeable, and ambitious. Conventional means that I am follow orderly routines and meet clear standards, and I am also very careful and efficient obedient, and orderly. Last but not lease I am very social, meaning I like to help, teach, counsel people, very friendly, cooperative generous and reasonable. I have a few distractions and weaknesses when it comes to my personality but I plan to work on them on a daily basis. As of now, my strengths out way my weaknesses so I don’t have much to worry about. I’ll focus mainly on my strengths but also put a certain amount of effort towards improving my weaknesses. Career Profile Out of the entire career I have looked at, I think I would like to go in to the business field. Not just any business, CEO, or an entrepreneur type thing. Knowing that I like to cook I will incorporate that into my career choice too. A CEO (Chief Executive officer) is a title of a person who holds the highest position in a company. A CEO is very individualized depending upon the size of the company, and of course they have to have the right education. To be a CEO you have to have a MBA, which requires a 4 year undergraduate degree, and some of a graduate studies as well. If I where to go to grade school at Michigan State it would cost about 39,896 for an out of state student. I would have to have a GPA requirement of 3.4-3.8, and it takes about 4 years to finish. Because I live in Texas I would have to relocate myself to Michigan. To get into grad school you have to take the GMAT. The GMAT test doesn’t test you on knowledge in business or other subjects, it is a mental intelligence tester, and to see how well you can make a decision under pressure. Most grad schools look at your college grades and GPA, but they really pay attention to your GMAT. It is really important. Next is an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages a business undertaking assuming the risk for the sake of profit. Also they see opportunity, and take it to build a plan. Start his or her business to manage and receive profit. Be an entrepreneur it is a good idea to take the same route as a CEO, that way your education is much higher than some of the other business owners, and might be more successful. Last but not least is my love for cooking. I really want to go into that field as well mostly the business side of it any way. To go into any of owning any type of food industry, it is only fair that you go to culinary school, so that you know how to cook for one, and how to run your own food business. If I where to go to a culinary school I would pick La Cordon Bleu. For one they teach you all the culinary techniques you need to know, and they also teach you how to run and work in the food industry. To attend La Cordon Bleu Its cost about $37,500 to get a BA in Culinary Arts and Baking $ Pastry, and its takes about 14 months or a year and 2 months to get your degree. If you put all three of these together you have some one that is an CEO of a Food company or a restaurant chain, and someone who can not only run a business but cook in it too. To enter my field of choice I am looking at about $80,000 and that’s just education alone. If I add the relocation and housing and food added on with the education, that is about $100,000. Once I start working that is a different story. A CEO starts out at about $366,551, and at the most could make up to $1,117,442. On average a CEO makes about $704,731. A CEO works about 50 to 60 hours a week. Its looks like I am going to be very busy. A chef starts off a 45,000 a year and could make up to $96,000, and on average they make about 75,000 a year. A chef works about 35-45 hours a week, and if you are a CEO or the owner of that particular restaurant I probably would be working twice those hours. I’m looking at a very time consuming life. In some field there is a little, or a big thing called benefits. If you are a CEO you get GREAT benefits. I’m talking insurance for everything, dental, eye doctor, regular doctor, and anything else you can get covered in they basically covered. When you are a CEO of anything there is a 70% travel rate, so you will always be on the go to a new place. An average workday is about 12-16 hours. Also to be a CEO you have to know staff development and leadership methods, because it is a requirement. To be a chef you have some benefits, but if you are a chef and a CEO it really doesn’t matter what your benefits are for being a chef, because you are pretty much covered in CEO part. The chef travel rate is about 20-40% and your work about 4 day a week and about 8-10 hours a day. Some requirement to be a chef you have to have Pastry and cooking styles and techniques, and some baking methods. Also you have to be physically fit and have to know how to work in 3-4 star restaurants. Being in this fields or fields, it is going to require a lot of work and time from me, but I know if I just stay focus and stay on top of my game, I can do it. And if I see that I might fall, well there is always a choice of having a helping hand, maybe like a partnership on the business side just to take some of the load off of my shoulders. Entering this field I know I want to make sure that this is really what I want to do. So I asked 2 people if they would like to share some of their tips on how they made it through school, and how long did it take them to get there. Now I really wasn’t able to interview strangers, so I interviewed some people that I already knew. The first person was my business professor, Dr. McNeil. He has the highest degree in business, but he isn’t the CEO of anything, but he did tell me how to survive in business school. What I learned from him is that you have to go into school know that there are a lot of people that you are competing against. There are people from all over the world that are trying to make it in the business industry, but you can’t let that knock you down. He told me when he was in business school it was very hard to get interviews, because it was always that one person that was better than him. But he said that didn’t stop him. He just knew that he had to work harder and smarter. When he went to Career fairs and tried to look for jobs, he didn’t just give his resume out nor just give his business card out. He sold himself and his personality to the other business owners and CEOs to get jobs and internship for more education in his field. Once he changed how he approached the people and how he talked to the people, he saw that more and more people where asking him to work for their companies. The other person I interviewed was my Culinary Teacher form high school, Mr. Chef Brown. He is indeed in the restaurant business, and I thought he would be the perfect person to tell me how to get there. He is a teacher and has a catering business on the side. My culinary teacher was right where I was in some years ago, in college and not sure what he wanted to do. He decided to go to culinary school, because he liked food. At first he wasn’t thinking about owning his own restaurant. He was there because he knew he was going to get to eat what he cooked. Talk about going in with the wrong state of mind. Once he was a year into his culinary college he noticed that he was learning way more than he expected to like learning all types of styles of cooking methods, and learning how to run and own his own business. That was an eye opener for him. It gave him an idea on what he wanted to do when he got out of school. What I got from his interview was when you going to choose your career, don’t just go in there because you like what they do. Go in there knowing what you are going to get out of and it and knowing what you are going to do when you are done. He points was also similar to my business professor, there is always going to be someone better than you. So work hard and smart, but mostly work smarter, and when you going to school know what you want to get out of it. Reverse Goal Setting When you are trying to get something accomplished you have to have a plan, or certain goals you want to meet. To be an CEO, get into entrepreneurship, or chef I have to have a plan, and I have to start now. Starting with my far far way plan, and that is to own my own business and be successful. To own my own business I have to go to business school, and because of the type of business I want to own, I have to go to culinary school. Which leads me to my next goal, the far away goal, and that is going to La Cordon bleu for the study of Culinary Arts and Baking a Pastry. My next goal is the one that is in distance, and that is going to grad school. It’s going to take some hard work to get there. But, to get there I have to work on my goal that is down there street which is finishing college. Some people don’t even make it through their freshman year of college. But I am going to make it my goal to get through my freshman year, and not just make through, I want to finish off with a 3.5 GPA. The only way I will be able to reach these goals is I have to make them believable to myself. Starting with my on the couch goal, finishing my freshman year with a 3.5 GPA. To make it realistic I really want to shoot for a 4.0 GPA but I know that isn’t possible coming from a 2.8 GPA, but I will still keep it in the back of my head for motivation, because I desire to get a 4.0. Now knowing that this is where I want to be, I am going to have to come up with a plan to get to my on the couch goal, and be able to make it to my far far away goal. I have to make it come to reality. This semester I want to finish my freshman year off with a bang, by bring my 2.8 up to a 3.5. I know I have to always go to class, study, and try to pass test and quizzes, and just really put effort in to all 7 classes that I have all this semester. I will need books, a computer, and a bible to help me get through this, because I know it will be a tough thing to do. If I put my mind to it I know I can do it. I don’t really think I would need money; it’s all about putting forth some effort. My rewards would be that I would become eligible to look for internships to help me get some practice in my field that I want to go into. I also can apply for scholarships to help pay for the rest of my way in college. If I start now, and start studying every night form 9-11pm and make sure that I get enough rest. I will make to my on the couch goal and my far far away goal. References Ellis-Christensen, Tricia, and O. Wallace. What Is a CEO? WiseGeek. Conjecture. Web. 09 Mar. 2012. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-ceo.htm. Diploma, P. (2010). What kind of Degree Do You Need to Be a CEO? Retrieved from Phony Diploma : http://www.phonydiploma.com/what-kind-of-degree-do-you-need-to-be-a-ceo.aspx Oklahoma, T. U. (n.d.). The OU Price of College of Business. Retrieved Feb 24, 2012, from OU.EDU: http://www.ou.edu/content/price/mba/mba_fulltime.html School, C. B. (2011). GMAT (Graduate Mangament Admission Test) . Retrieved from GMATCAT.COM: http://www.gmatcat.com/GMAT.html SBA Direct. What Is an Entrepreneur? Web. 09 Mar. 2012. http://www.sba.gov/content/what-entrepreneur.

Ultrasound-guided Interscalene Block for Dislocated Shoulder

Ultrasound-guided Interscalene Block for Dislocated Shoulder Preliminary results of ultrasound-guided interscalene block for dislocated shoulder: Abstract Background Traditionally, patients with a dislocated shoulder joint will be subjected to general anesthesia for closed reduction, if this procedure cannot be managed with light intravenous sedation and opioid analgesia. Successful interscalene blockade of the brachial plexus allows painfree reduction of the dislocated shoulder. However, the interscalene blockade for a dislocated shoulder is usually performed in the emergency room and to optimize patient safety it is desirable to minimize the dose of local anesthetic using ultrasound-guidance. The objective of this cohort study was to determine the clinical feasibility of ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus blockade using a safe dose of just 10 mL of lidocaine 1% in producing sufficient and effective muscle relaxation, allowing painfree reduction of a dislocated glenohumeral joint. Methods We performed ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus blockade with 10 mL of lidocaine 1% in a cohort of 10 patients with dislocated glenohumeral joints presenting in the emergency room, where the shoulder could not be reduced following intravenous sedation and analgesia. Results The success rate of closed reduction of the dislocated shoulders was 100% with complete pain control and muscle relaxation during the reducting procedure. Median patient satisfaction (VAS, Visual Analogue Scale 0-10) after completion of the procedure was 10 (range 8-10). Conclusion Ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus blockade using merely 10 mL of lidocaine 1% effectively produces muscle relaxation allowing pain free reduction of the dislocated glenohumeral joint with a success rate of 100% and high patient satisfaction. Keywords dislocation, shoulder, glenohumeral joint, ultrasound Introduction Dislocation of the gleno-humeral joint is associated with severe pain and is frequently presented in the emergency room (ER). Reduction of a shoulderdislocationrequiresalleviation of the pain and musclerelaxation. Traditionally, this is obtained using general anesthesia (GA) with rapid sequence induction, when initial attempts of reduction using light oral and/or intravenous sedation and opioid analgesia are not successful. However, GA is associated with the risk of aspiration and requires an anesthetist, access to the operating theatre and postoperative observation in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). Interscalene blockade (ISB) of the brachial plexus (BP) will achieve the desired effect of muscle relaxation and pain alleviation and eliminates the risks of GA cost-effectively. ISB of the BP usingelicitation of paresthesia to locate the target nerves wasemployedalready in 1973 to obtainanalgesia and musclerelaxationallowingreduction of a dislocatedshoulder joint 1. ISB of the BP using electrical nerve stimulation to allow reduction of a dislocated shoulder joint was later reported 2, 3. However, the motor response due to the electrical stimulation can be very painful in patients with dislocated shoulder joints. Some authors have reported location of the BP using ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia instead of electrical nerve stimulation 4, 5. Blaivas and Lyon (2006) used in-plane (IP) approach and 30 mL of either lidocaine 1% or bupivacaine 0.25%. The success rate of pain free joint reduction was 100% in four patients. Bhoi et al. (2010) used out-of-plane approach and 6-15 mLlidocaine 2% and had a success rate of a 100% in three patients. The current report describes an ultrasound-guided approach to ISB of the BP using IP approach and 10 mL of lidocaine 1% for reduction of the gleno-humeral joint in a preliminary cohort of patients with dislocated shoulder where reduction in the ER had been attempted with light sedation and analgesia without success. Methods The requirement for approval of the protocol and for written informed consent, was waived by the Central Denmark Regional Committees on Biomedical Research Ethics,due to the fact that the ultrasound-guided ISB of the BP for reduction of dislocated shoulders is an established method in our departments. Following informed consent 10 consecutive patients scheduled for reduction of dislocated gleno-humeral joint were included in the study (Table 1). We have only included patients with dislocation of the gleno-humeral joint where reduction has been attempted in the ER without success. Following establishment of venous access, the patient was placed in the supine position with the head turned contralateral to the side to be blocked. Vital signs monitoring was opted out during the procedure in the ER provided that all of the following criteria were fulfilled: (1) the block was performed by a consultant anesthetist who performs ultrasound guided peripheral nerve blocks on a daily basis and ( 2) the block was performed with uninterrupted, direct real time visualization of the needle tip during the entire procedure and (3) using parasagittal from-posterior-to-anterior IP approach and (4) with visualization of the spread of a 1 mL test dose of saline alongside the nerve roots of C5-C6 prior to injection of lidocaine and (5) real time visualization of the spread of lidocaine during the entire injection and (6) no supplementary lidocaine in addition to 100 mg was injected (7) in a fully awake and alert patient. If the above criteria 1-7 were not fulfilled, then the procedure was aborted immediately and not resumed until full vital signs monitorering had been applied. . Needle path and injection of local anesthetics Using an aseptic technique the needle was inserted from the posterior end of the ultrasound transducer and thereafter advanced IP in an anterior direction until the needle tip was seen in close proximity to the C5 and C6 nerve roots (Fig. 1). Hydrolocation was per formed with 1 mL of saline confirming the appropriate location of the needle tip and the spread of the injectate prior to injection of local anesthetic (10 mL of lidocaine 1%). The endpoint of the injection manoeuvre was to observe that the local anesthetic spread alongside the C5 and C6 nerve roots as assessed by real-time ultrasound. The dose of lidocaine was injected incrementally with intermittent aspiration. If the spread of local anesthetic was deemed inadequate the needle tip was repositioned as necessary with direct real time visualization using solely ultrasonographic guidance. Equipment The ultrasound scanning was performed with an M-Turbo ultrasound machine (Sonosite, Bothell, WA) using a 6-13 MHz linear transducer (HFL38, Sonosite ®, Bothell, WA, USA) covered by a sterile sleeve. Definition of successful ISB Successful ISB was defined as reduction of the dislocated shoulder joint with no need for conversion to general anesthesia. Study design and data collection The study was planned as a prospective cohort study to determine the clinical feasibility of the low-dose IP ISB to allow reduction of a dislocated shoulder joint . Thus, no formal power analysis or statistical test analysis was performed. Results A total of 10 patients were enrolled. Nine patients had an anterior dislocation of the gleno-humeral joint and one had a posterior dislocation. Demographic data are presented in table 1. The success rate of reduction of the dislocated shoulders was 100% with complete pain control and muscle relaxation during the reducting procedure. Median patient satisfaction (VAS, Visual Analogue Scale 0-10) after completion of the procedure was 10 (range 8-10). Median time from completed block performance to shoulder reduction was five minutes (range 3-10 minutes). The median pain VAS score immediately prior to the performance of the interscalene block was 10 (range 7-10), and all patients were awake and fully alert during the procedure. All procedures were completed in accordance with the criteria 1-7 (see Methods). Outcome data are presented in table 2. Discussion Our preliminary data demonstrate that a dislocated shoulder can be reduced effectively without pain, and with good muscle relaxation using ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus blockade with a small dose of lidocaine. By application of this technique, deep sedation and opioids and/or general anesthesia with fast track induction is avoided in a population of typically non-fasting patients. Ultrasound-guided ISB of the BP is applicable also in patients with severe cardiac co-morbidity, where GA would not be attractive. Ultrasound-guided ISB of the BP is also a simple and low-cost technique compared to general anesthesia and does not occupy the capacity of the surgical ward or the PACU. Application of a safe and innocuous dose of a local anesthetic with a broad therapeutic range is critically important, when peripheral nerve blocks are performed in the ER outside the primary venue of anesthesia. The standard dose of 100 mg lidocaine optimizes patient safety, as accidental intra venous injection of this magnitude of lidocaine would be virtually harmless. However, intravenous injection using ultrasound-guidance is practically impossible when appropriately performed in accordance with the criteria listed in the Methods section. The theoretical risk of an accidental intraarterial or intraspinal injection is considered non-existent obeying the above mentioned criteria 1-7. Resuscitation equipment is readily accessible in the settings of the ER. However, any dose of any local anesthetic employed for peripheral nerve blocks without full vital signs monitoring remains a controversial issue. If the reader cannot honour all the criteria 1-7, the advice of the authors is to apply full vital signs monitoring during and after the performance of the nerve block even when using a small dose of a local anesthetic with a broad therapeutic range. Our preliminary data suggest that the patients experience maximum satisfaction with this technique (median VAS score 10). We hav e no data to compare patient satisfaction to nerve stimulation guidance for interscalene blockade or general anesthesia. There are some important limitations to our study. First, the study is non-randomized, un-blinded and it does not include a control group. Second, the sensory and motor quality of the interscalene blocks was not tested and the effect was just documented by clinical success. Third, lidocaine pharmacokinetics was not calculated and serum-lidocaine was not measured. Fourth, the choice of dose of local anesthetic was arbitrary and not based on titration. Fifth, the study included only a small sample of patients. However, the clinical success rate of reduction was 100% and the patient satisfaction very high despite the fact that our data were sampled in a population of patients where the primary attempt for a closed reduction of the dislocated shoulder supported by sedatives and opioids failed. This strongly indicates the feasibility of the described technique and reduced dosing of local anesthetic. Future randomized controlled trials have to clarify the usefulness of a broader indication for ultrasound guided interscalene nerve blockade for patients with dislocated shoulders. Conclusion This preliminary cohort study demonstrates that ultrasound guided interscalene BP blockade using merely 10 mL of lidocaine 1% effectively produces muscle relaxation allowing pain free reduction of the dislocated glenohumeral joint with a success rate of 100% and maximum patient satisfaction.

Transcendental Philosophy :: Paideia Philosophy Kant Papers

Transcendental Philosophy One needs specific initiation into the classics of transcendental philosophy (Kant’s "Criticism," Descartes’s "Metaphysics," and Fichte’s "Doctrine of Science") because all say farewell to the common sense view of things. The three types of transcendental thinking converge in conceiving rational autonomy as the ultimate ground for justification. Correspondingly, the philosophical pedagogy of all three thinkers is focused on how to seize and make that very autonomy (or active self-determination) intellectually and existentially available. In the concrete way of proceeding, however, the three models diverge. Descartes expects one to become master of oneself and "the world" by methodologically suspending his judgement on what cannot qualify itself to be undoubtable. Kant leads us to the point where we can triangulate universal conditions of the possibility of knowledge through individually acquiring the competence to judge the legitimacy of encountered propositional claims. Finally, Fichte confronts us with the idea of the identity of self-consciousness and objectivity. (1) Transcending ordinary life and experience to a somewhat higher being is surely not the scope of transcendental philosophy. What the revolutionary achievements of Descartes, Kant, and Fichte have generically in common is to account for the legitimacy of our knowledge claims or, in other words, for the possibility of autonomy. The business of that kind of philosophy is to rationally reconstruct the rightness of judging. For that design the architecture of those authors' theorizing is necessarily opposed to normal experience. (First of all, the common notion of "things affecting us" has to be abandoned.) Transcendental arguments are therefore all but common sense. They are in no respect "realistic" or ontologically dependent. (2) Whoever wants to get familiar with transcendentalism — perhaps just in order to criticize one or several of its representatives — must overcome the threshold of open or covert realism and ordinary experience. One also has to avoid the common misun derstanding that transcendental reconstruction represents a form of idealism. So this kind of philosophy seems to be a fortiori charged to give a good deal of pedagogical help for its own sake. The respective philosophical educations (paideiai) have to fight against the realist as well as the idealist tendencies of interpretation. Positively it is not enough for them to represent what is essential to transcendentalism as a genus; they must particularly transmit what is specific to Kant's "Criticism", to Descartes' "Metaphysics" or to Fichte's "Doctrine of Science". I. Rene Descartes was the first one to fully realize that reliable orientation could never passively be found in "things" or "institutions".

History of Computers :: Technology Computers Essays

History of Computers When you think about the origins of the electronic digital computer, what scientists’ names come to mind? Many historians give the credit to the American scientists J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchy. They built their Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) during World War II. These two scientists founded the first private computer systems company. Although most people recognize Eckert and Mauchy as the persons accountable for the computer industry, historians are beginning to recognize a more unfamiliar history of the computer, its roots in the military establishment. (Meyers) The birth of the abacus was the beginning of computer history. The abacus is a wooden rack that holds two horizontal wires with beads strung on them. Moving the beads on the abacus can solve regular arithmetic problems. Thomas of Colmar developed the desktop calculator. While great advances were made in mathematical physics between 1850 and 1900, mechanical engineering and science began to make important advances in several areas by the time WWI broke out in 1939. The Navy was particularly interested in the development of advanced technology beginning in World War I. â€Å"Important advances in naval warfare, including the use of mechanical directors and computers for fire control, the use of radio for communication across great distances, and the development of the attack submarine posed new technical problems for strategists.† (Flamm) A consulting board was set up in order to screen the proposals of outside inventors. The board also set up a laboratory to work on the problems of antisubmarine warfare, and eventually the Naval Research Laboratory was then established in 1923. The development of RADAR, radio communications, and the interception of encrypted enemy communications traffic were all supported by the Navy’s postwar research efforts. â€Å"Because signals transmitted by radio could be intercepted much more easily than communications over land lines, cryptanalysis became an economic means of acquiring in telligence about the intentions of foreign, especially naval, military forces.† (Flamm) During the 1930s, the Navy supported substantial work on servomechanisms at MIT. The analog computers were developed after Navy officers enrolled as graduate students in MIT’s Servomechanism Laboratory.

Extended School Day Essay

Imagine you are a seven-year-old whose’s parents work until five each night. When you come home after school there is no one home with you. What could you get into? You might know right from wrong but you still might get yourself into some trouble. Just out of plain curiosity you might get into something or an accident could happen without you even being involved in it. But I say there is a way to stop this from ever happening. I think we should either keep schools open longer or introduce more after school programs. Many advantages would come from either of these ideas. For one the parents would not have to be in a state of worry about whether their child is safe at home or in trouble. Plus you always have that added guilt about not being able to help your kids with their homework. Now with either longer days or more after school programs a lot of stress could be taken away from your family. No more having to pay for sitters which could stress out a families finances. Also the dangers of the kids being home and getting into trouble would be cut down severely. And also with the longer days or more after school programs parents would be able to get home, at least one parent would be home, to pick their kids off the bus. I wanted to suggest some programs I feel would help out with the problem at hand. These programs would be a reading and math after school program. One program I would suggest is a reading after school program. It is said that today, too many children fail to read at a level we would expect for the grade they are in. In a study done in 1998, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that, thirty eight percent of our nation’s fourth graders failed to read at the basic level. That fact alone says we must enforce more after school programs. Now they also found that sixty-four percent of African American and sixty percent of Hispanic American fourth graders read below the basic level. This shows we need to not only put these programs in suburban schools but also city schools. Research has shown that students who are behind in reading can catch up to grade level with additional reading instruction and tutoring after school and in the summer. And that is what I am trying to put in effect. We all know that to succeed in school all students need good reading skills, and that’s just a fact. Another program that I think is good is a mathematics after school Program. I has been found that students who take rigorous mathematics courses are much more likely to go on to college and into promising careers than those who do not. And with technology becoming more prevalent in the workplace, the need for employees with mathematics backgrounds has greatly increased. In my research I have found that far too many students finish middle and junior high school without developing a solid foundation in algebra and geometry. Research done by the international comparative assessments said that U. S. student achievement in mathematics falls below the average in the middle grades. We need to help improve this. I think some other important facts help support my case for the longer school day and the after school programs in this little chart. Some reasons why the public supports after school programs: *Over 28 million school-age children have both parents or their only parent in the workforce. *At least 5 million children — and possibly as many as 15 million — are left alone at home each week. *Many children, especially low-income children, lose ground in reading if they are not engaged in organized learning over the summer. *Experts agree that school-age children who are unsupervised during the hours after school are more likely to receive poor grades and drop out of school than those who are involved in supervised, constructive activities. *Statistics show that most juvenile crime takes place between the hours of 2:00 and 8:00 pm, and that children are also at much greater risk of being the victims of crime during the hours after school. Here is another chart showing that after school programs enhance a child’s academic achievement. *Participants in after-school programs:* *Show increased interest and ability in reading *Develop new skills and interests *Show improved school attendance, increased engagement in school, and reduced dropout rate *Turn in more and better quality homework and can spend more time on task. *Are held back or placed in special education classes less frequently *Show higher aspirations for the future, including intention to complete high school and go to college. These facts are real. This is why I picked trying to make a longer day and more after school programs. And with these two programs the numbers will go up. I plan on adding more programs to what I have wrote in here. But I think implementing a longer school day and these after school programs should help not only the parents of these children but the children themselves.

Affirmative action in the United States Essay

Tanglewood may have difficulty filling their vacancies in the future because the company has a very large shortage with their sales associates. Even though Spokane has a high unemployment rate and they are able to supply a lot of people with jobs, the chances of closing the gap that is needed to fill the vacancies aren’t likely. Since the sales associates move up to shift leader, department manager, assistant store manager and then store manager then the company can fill the higher level vacancies easier. This then creates the huge shortage with sales associates. As time goes on Tanglewood will have difficulty filling vacancies just because there won’t be enough people that fits the requirements in order to be hired by Tanglewood as sales associates. Tanglewood should engage in a more specific strategy to change their recruiting and promotion practices so that they can target more women and minorities. Spokane doesn’t have a high number of minorities but if Tanglewood changes promotion and recruiting practices then this will help attract the minorities that do live in Washington. There is a high number of females so the company shouldn’t have trouble recruiting females but designing a new affirmative action will help solidify a higher number of female employees. I do believe that if the company promotes different and targets certain regions and areas through secondary schools and other employment agencies then the company can meet their affirmative action goals in a year. Pros and cons of using internal promotion versus external promotion would be that when you use internal promotion you are relying on your employees to produce the qualified candidates that fit the mold that your company is looking for. If you use external promotion then you are going to be able to do a lot more and find more people that have the qualifications. If you use internal promotion is may not take as long as  external promotion because you can give the employees an incentive to bringing in new employees. External promotion may take longer because it is based on who replies to the recruitment or who the employment agencies inform you of. There may not be as many females that aren’t already working in within the company that are going to meet the qualifications of a supervisory position. If the company looks to promote externally they may be hiring more white males into a management position over females and minorities. They may already have some females within the company that can be promoted to that level. 4. I believe that each individual store should continue to create an environment that allows the employees to bring innovation and their own voice to upper management. Each store should work well as a team and want to see each other succeed in order to meet the overall goal for the company as a whole. By incorporating an Affirmative Action plan and changing the Equal Employment Opportunity to better suit the company I feel as if each store will benefit greatly by bringing in people from a different background. The store managers should be responsible for focusing on the applicants qualifications in order for the company to continue the affirmative action. This should be followed up through training and when promotion is to be considered. Once this is set in motion the company will be able to fill the gaps in each position.

A brief history of cosmetics Essay

Through the ages, cosmetics have been in used to transform appearances. It started with the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks (Avoncosmeticsnug 2007). In Ancient Egypt, exterior appearance is closely attached to spirituality (Mellor 2008). Looking good is not for vanity but for the gods. During those times, Ancient Egyptians used black kohl to color their eyes. It is a concoction made up of burnt almonds, oxidized copper, a couple of different-colored copper ores, lead, ash, and ochre. Kohl is applied using a stick and Ancient Egyptians applied it in an almond shape onto their eyes (Mellor 2008). For the lips and cheeks, a blend of red clay and water were applied, while henna was used on the fingernails (Narada 2008). This tradition behind cosmetics started to fade when the Greeks arrived and used cosmetics for aesthetic purposes (Mellor 2008). The use of cosmetics was widely accepted and it was a thriving commerce around the Mediterranean at that time (Narada 2008). Later on during the time of the Romans, perfumes were widely used in baths, fountains and also weapons (Boyd 2008). Romans also apply kohl just as Egyptians did (Narada 2008). As the nineteenth century ushered in, whitening mixture was applied on the face to be able to achieve a fairer complexion. During those times, whiter skin meant a good social status since darker skin is associated with the working class (Mellor 2008). This cosmetic was composed of carbonate, hydroxide, and lead oxide. But due to lead poisoning that caused muscle paralysis or death, lead oxide was replaced by zinc oxide which is still being used until today (Boyd 2008). Eventually by the 20th century, safer cosmetics were made available as doctors started to work with cosmetics companies to avoid problems like lead poisoning (Modes in Makeup 2008). The industry got a boost when cinema became popular and the masses tried to imitate actresses on the big screen. Helena Rubinstein and Max Factor both made their mark during this time as they developed an assortment of cosmetic products like mascara, colored powder, and pancake make-up (Boyd 2008). The new century also brought in a new trend – the tan complexion. Tan was now the symbol of affluent individuals who did not need to work but instead simply went outside and engaged in recreation. The bronze look was the look to go for (Modes in Makeup 2008). The industry continued to grow during the 50’s and the 60’s. Cosmetics companies advertise a great deal in televisions where the focus was on the lips and eyes. Natural products as well have grown in popularity. These are products with botanical components. By the 70’s, the concern for the environment was widespread and harmful ingredients were then banned for manufacturing (Boyd 2008). Many players now are part of this booming business. The industry will continue to grow as cosmetics continue to be an integral part especially of women lives. 2. 3 Branding Kotler (2003) defines a brand as any mark or label that is attached to a product that means something for people or something that people can be associated with. For example, coffee is a product and Starbucks is a brand that means high quality coffee and is usually associated with yuppies. In other words, a brand produces a certain image, feeling, emotion, personality, or even a set of values in a person’s mind by just hearing or seeing the brand’s name. For example, Coca-Cola connotes enjoying the moment of having a cool drink with friends or family, FedEx implies fast and safe delivery service, Porsche is expensive but luxurious cars, New York City is the city that never sleeps, and The Body Shop promotes the beauty of each individual while protecting the planet (Kotler 2003). Kotler (2003) further explains that building a brand involves an intricate and interdependent system of devices such as advertisements, public and media networking, financial support for events or issues, and many more. But the most important device is the customer service provided by the brand’s employees. Friendly and helpful shop employees may determine whether clients will come back or not. Everything about the company, its plans, processes, services, and final merchandise must revolve around the brand it is promoting. This is how valuable a brand should be for a company. On the other hand, to be able to say that a company truly has an effective brand depends on the level of loyalty and influence the brand has on consumers in general and on its clientele in particular (Kotler 2003). Specifically, branding is a marketing strategy of a business to make its product stand out among competitors. It uses tools like distinctive product names, symbols, slogans and other images (Principles of Marketing 2008). It not only helps in distinguishing a product but also safeguards the consumer from other products that seem to be the same (Hislop 2001). An example of a product with good branding is Nike’s sports apparels and shoes. The brand is strongly associated with sports and the checkmark sign and the slogan just do it sets it apart from other sports brands. Aside from familiarity branding also invokes emotional responses – Lexus with the feeling of luxury – or cultural responses – Pepsi with the youth (Hislop 2001). It was about 15 years ago when the concept of branding entered the business world. However, until now, the word is still being confused with marketing and advertising. The process of branding should be the first step followed by advertising under the big umbrella of marketing. Research shows that companies that do not establish a brand identity first before advertising only see themselves lose money (Klein 2008). Branding is not all about raising awareness to the product. It is about getting the consumers perceive the product as the sole answer to their troubles or needs (Lake 2003). The logo or slogan is not the brand of the company instead it is the character of the company. The brand is what the company symbolizes in the customer’s mind (Klein 2008). It is a summation of all the opinions and encounters of the customer with the product or service (Lake 2003). It is imperative for a company to establish a lasting brand if it intends to survive in the very competitive world of business.