Every Reality Is a Fiction, the Player Essay

Our world consists of many realties. Two being commercial, and the other, artistic. A commercial reality is one limiting risk, and predictability, always aiming to suit those who yearn for it. Artistic reality however, breaks rules, and has social merit. This means there are many possible outcomes. One could be saddened or depressed by the reality, and others, joyful. It is because of this uncertainty in artistic realities that the film industry, as well as many other industries, have taken it upon themselves to glorify the truth. It is because of their coexistence that causes them to clash. The statement that every reality is fictitious, is rather bold however. Although in numbers, there are a few people who hold very strong moral and have a sense of quality in what they do. The Hollywood film industry is mainly commercial. Offering little or no interest in writers work that consists depth. This reality consumes those considered â€Å"naive† to the industry. Commercial realities are realities that are created by people who want to escape their own and subconsciously create a reality that is deemed impossible to the â€Å"real† world. Commercial realities are attractive to most, because you can experience something otherwise unimaginable. This is known as a reality lacking artistic merit. It is us, the audience of massive Hollywood productions, that show true appreciation of films made by producers who show no other interest than creating fictional nonsense and profiting from it. Hollywood creates commercially successful films without artistic merit, and those that have this merit are difficult to come by. Movies such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Ernest Lehmen, and Boys Don’t Cry by Kimberly Peirce pose a social function, and â€Å"break the rules† of The Film Industry. The film making industry is created by artificial characters living paranormal lives that we aspire to have. However, who can jump from a 4 story building and land on the ground with no injury? Who can be stabbed and instantly heeled by only a bandage and continue battling the world with heroic attributes and a vision to sustain â€Å"humanity as we know it†? Commercial realities are fictitious, stick to a strict formula, and leave us dreaming of a better life. The American Film Industry however, would argue that without these commercially rich movies, there will be no economic growth without the return or investment they provide. A contrasting reality to those of commercial is that of artistic. This reality has deeper meaning to it, and value. Artistic reality may be generally defined as the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic challenging elements. Artistic reality is better known as ‘realism. ’ â€Å"Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic Movement. Instead it sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. † – Sourced from Wikipedia’s â€Å"Realism (art)†. Artistic realities reveal the truth, which means they may emphasize the ugly or despicable. Artists use their work as a form of expressionism, which is open to interpretation. Their oeuvre breaks the rules, as they see the ordinary, and can create new pieces that challenge the mind and provide social merit. Many people attempt to depict things accurately, from either a visual, social or emotional perspective. Theatre Realism shares many stylistic choices with naturalism, including a focus on every day (middle-class) drama, colloquial speech, and mundane settings. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of a close observation of outward appearances. Often artistic realities can be labelled as fictitious. This is due to the majority of society being so involved in consumerism, that they can no longer differentiate from commercial being formulated, and artistic as challenging. Commercial realities enhance the breeding of money. Commercial values manipulate the very anatomy of a natural, mundane reality. â€Å"Commercially precious films of ‘reality’ have become the organ grinder’s monkeys of money. † They are made to increase the generative value and staying in power of money, the power of money to breed money, to fertilize itself. They are not made to empower people and provide certain value. Artistic reality however, leaves no stone unturned. Realism sees little value in money, and it sees no reciprocal material possession that could be exchanged for money. Artistic realities merely capture that which is tangible and accurate. Society may attempt to defend themselves by escaping this as it may be deeply depressing. It is the confusion of distinguishing between commercial and artistic realities that ultimately reduces both to nothing but fictitious mumbo jumbo that controls our lives. The difference between the two is huge, however difficult for ‘commoners’, or those not involved in the film industry, to interpret. Whether an individual comprises their lives of commercial or realistic values, these values can be labelled as fabricated or factual. The film industry’s repackaging and misrepresentation of the truth to suit themselves, is entirely profitable. This profitability is their ultimate ruling guideline. If a film does not provide profits, the film was a total failure, regardless of its social merit. Artistic realities are open to interpretation and provide a bit of freedom for people to choose the outcomes of scenarios. Painters, writers, film makers and news reporters are some of the main people involved in the way reality is interpreted because they are their own masters, and creators. Every one watches them, reads their papers or interperates their work. It is important for people to recognise that regardless of the message that is trying to be brought across, that reality is subjective, and hence, it may appear fictitious to anyone apart from their maker. Commercial or artistic.

From A Mother With Love Essay

I am writing this slow because I know that you can’t read fast. We don’t live where we did when you left home. Your dad read in the paper that most accidents happen within 20 miles from your home so we moved. I won’t be able to send you the address, as the last family that lived here took the house numbers when they left so that they wouldn’t have to change their address. This place is real nice. It even has a washing machine. I’m not sure if it works too well though. Last week I put a load in, pulled the chain, and haven’t seen them since. The weather isn’t too bad here., it only rained twice last week, The first time it rained for three days and the second time for four days. The coat you wanted me to send you, your Uncle Steve said it would be a little too heavy to send in the mail with the buttons on, so we cut them off and put them in the pockets. We got another bill from the funeral home. They said if we don’t make the last payment on Grandma’s grave, up she comes. John locked his keys in the car yesterday. We were worried because it took him two hours to get me and Shelby out. Your sister had a baby this morning but I haven’t found out what it is yet, so I don’t know if you’re an aunt or an uncle. If the baby is a girl, your sister is going to name it after me, she’s going to call it Mom. Uncle Pete fell in a whiskey vat last week. Some man tried to pull him out but he fought them off and drowned. We had him cremated and he burned for three days. Three of your friends went off a bridge in a pick-up truck. Ralph was driving. He rolled down the window and swam to safety. Your two friends were in the back. They drowned because they couldn’t get the tailgate down. There isn’t much more news at this time. Nothing much has happened. PS, I was going to send you some money but the envelope was already sealed.

Business Product Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Product Analysis - Coursework Example Coke was initially developed by pharmacist John Styth Pemberton in year 1886 (Biswas & Sen, 1999). In the history of 112 years, Coca-Cola has entrenched itself into American culture. In 1994, the American use was more than 773 million servings of Coca-Cola, Sprite; diet Coke, Fanta and additional products of the coke corporation. The corporation's drink products comprise bottled plus canned drinks fashioned through self-governing plus business owned bottling plus canning operations (Wikipedia, 2009), (Bellis, 1997), and (The Coca-Cola Company, 2008). The Coca Cola Company has truthfully one of the supreme stories in U.S. history.' The technique in which the company has pressed on and endured the taste of time makes an impression up till now their harshest detractor.' The Coca Cola Company has a dread exciting history and still an additional assuring future.' Their industry policy, all along with an extremely devoted customer base, has guided The Coca Cola Company to the position of boss of the market (Pendergrast, 2000), (Bellis, 1997), (Biswas & Sen, 1999) and (The Coca-Cola Company, 2008). At the present time, the Coca Cola Company is working with a network of license bottlers. It has fifty three bottling divisions aligned among 26 corporations. Each of these bottlers previously was performing business through Parle's Ramesh Chouhan, after his sale of drink products to Coke. As for each contract signed among Coke and bottlers, the previous provisions to them through soft drink focus. According to the latest plan and policy of the coca cola, the Coke bottlers will stop to remain self-governing entities; in its place, depending on physical positions, they will be amalgamated into one of the super bottling corporations. Believing the enormous impending of enlargement of the whole worldwide marketplace, coca cola desires to increase the marketplace by 40 % for each annum (Wikipedia, 2009), (Biswas & Sen, 1999), (Bellis, 1997), and (Olson, 2005). Fundamental Marketing Strategies The Coca Cola Corporation is capable to attain its aims and objectives by means of the product development or distribution technique or promotional features. In fact, better management from the plant place to the sales services that corporation presents, something could be employed to differentiate (Riz, 2009). The product forms a center in the differentiation policy in the middle of the other P's of the Marketing Mix policy. Product Differentiation is extremely significant in product management for the Coca Cola and has potential in forming flourishing marketing strategies (Pendergrast, 2000). Here I have presented the Coca-Cola Mission Statement and Objective that is developed after the huge marketing study and brand positioning research (Thecoca-colacompany, 2007) and (Wikipedia, 2009). 1.)'''''' To Refresh the World in mind, body and spirit. 2.)'''''' To motivate Moments of Optimism, in the course of our brands and our actions. 3.)'''''' To Create Value and Make a Difference, all over the place we engage. 4P's marketing Mix Models This section presents the analysis how Coca-Cola can produce a better marketing through

Innovation and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 2

Innovation and Change - Essay Example Today, innovative activity is a vital undertaking in determining the competitiveness of a country in the global markets as well as its economic progress. Despite the great importance that innovation bears in addition to the opportunities brought about by globalisation and new and advanced technologies; many governments around the globe are faced with difficulties in strengthening their activities in this area (Cole, 2010). This paper sets out to discuss the policy issues and challenges that face innovation and look at the ways to address these challenges. In the process of addressing these challenges; it is evident that influencers of policies regulating innovation activities are mostly governments. In addition, the major steps to be taken towards addressing most of the challenges are often within the power of the government. Today, the rise in the standards of living of people around the globe can be attributed to innovation. Today’s more productive economy can be pointed to the application of technological advances in combination with innovative and entrepreneurial approaches in the creation and distribution of commodities; both goods and services (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009). In areas where the regulatory and market structures are favourable to the expansion of the more productive activities; the result is more economic growth and development hence; the effort of innovation in conjunction with formal research and development (R&D) remain the main themes of growth. Research opines that innovation is on the rise towards forming a major part of the economic activity (Warda et al., 2006). In the past two decades, growth in investment in machinery and equipment has been more rapid than in knowledge in most countries. In countries such as the United States and Finland, investment in knowledge is much greater than that in machinery and equipment. Furthermore, activities of R&D have intensified in most countries in the past decade but major developed n ations still remain unchanged in this area. The rate of growth of productivity is heavily influenced by improvements made in the skill composition of the workforce. More recently, the significance of innovation has been bolstered by the rapid technological advances and globalisation that have led to the establishment of new markets and new forms of competition that deliver consumers with innovative products and services. Even though these developments hasten the need for many countries to elevate the value chain; de Serres et al. (2006) opine that strengthening innovation performance is a major problem in these nations. An example is the slow progress witnessed with the Lisbon strategy of the European Union. However, a renewal of the strategy resulted in some success in helping the EU’s R&D and innovation performance – which is a key element of the Lisbon strategy; to increase the intensity of R&D in every economy. Innovation, however, is difficult to measure using R&D since for it to succeed it requires that a number of policies be implemented across extensive domains ranging from funding of the R&D, entrepreneurship, immigration, education as well as financial, product and labour market regulations. Analysis from the past decade reveals that the rapid increases in the intensity of R&D in many countries around the globe are due to a number of factors. These factors include (de Serres et al., 2006): i. Reduced anti-competitive regulations of the product market that

Human resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resource Management - Essay Example The three human resource topics that will be emphasize in this analysis are managing sex and gender issues, employee benefits and compensation, and equal employment opportunities. My father’s company currently has only two employees. I envision tremendous growth for this company and within five years it is highly likely the firm could approach a payroll of over 100 employees. One of the topics that must be emphasized by the managers and the human resource department of the company are sex and gender issues. The civil rights and feminism movements of the 1960’s helped women reached equality in the United States. In the past women served the role of housewives. Today there are as many women in the workforce as men. In the 1900 only 19% of women worked, but by 2007 women composed 46% of the labor force (Lee & Mather, 2008). Due to the importance of women in the workplace the company must protect the rights of its workers and provide equal opportunities for employees of bot h sexes. My father’s business will become a place where people feel secured and happy to work there. The best way to achieve that goal is by complying with labor laws to ensure the employees are provided with a safe working environment. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Right Act prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. â€Å"Title VII applies to private employers, state and local government employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and joint employer-union apprenticeship programs with 15 or more employees† (Equalrights, 2011). The company will utilize an ethical framework to ensure all employees are respected. Another problem related with gender is a concept known as glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that affects the chances of women and minorities to reach the managerial level in an organization due to prejudice (Businessdictionary, 2011). To prevent the glass ceiling from occurring at the organization the firm must hire women and mi norities to become a part of the managerial team as the firm begins to grow. The company must audit its human resource composition every three months. The manager will compare the ethnic and gender composition to determine if the firm’s human resources have a similar composition as the population of the United States. The second human resource issue that the company must manage well is its employee salary and benefit packages. Employees participating in the U.S. labor force expect to get compensated well. In the United States the average salary is $41,673 (Ssa, 2011). The company must perform adequate research on how much each profession is paying in the United States. The salary the company will pay its employees will be equal or higher than the average salary for the profession based on experience. A website that provides excellent information regarding the salaries of different professions based on work experience is Salary.com (Salary, 2011). The company will be able to m aintain a higher employee retention rate if the firm pays competitive salaries. A second component of a total compensation package is the benefits. In today’s economy sometimes employees value benefit as much if not more than salary. The employees knows that a salary can be replaced by getting a different job, but a job that offers tremendous benefits are hard to

Sustainable Practices in FM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Sustainable Practices in FM - Assignment Example The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1997 encourages countries to make an effort to reduce carbon emissions. Corporate social responsibility requirements for all businesses has now expanded to include a duty to reduce and control carbon emissions (Lee, 2008). In other words, as a business organization, this organization is bound by legal and corporate social responsibility requriements to reduce and control carbon emissions. This report will identify the ways in which a business’s carbon footprint is made up, why there is a need for this organization to manage and control its carbon footprint, options for appropriate renewable energy solutions, recommendations in light of the building’s condition, type and location. ... 5840). Teir 2 businesses are those that create emissions from the use of electricity and gas. Teir 3 businesses include the entire supply chain and could include both tier 1 and tier 2 businesses for which the tier 3 business is indirectly responsible for (Matthews, et al., 2008). In other words, a business can be both directly and indirectly responsible for carbon emissions. This business is a retail organization and although it does not directly consume carbon at the production gate, it does contribute indirectly by purchsing goods for retail from production gates that do. In the meantime, this business also directly emits carbon in the use of energy such as electricity from fossil fuels. All goods and services including food and household products as well as transport, business products such as ink, paper, computers and so on are produced with the emission of carbon (Hertwich & Peters, 2009). This organization provides household products and this is significant because a study con ducted by Hertwich and Peters (2009) found that worldwide, household consumption accounts for 72% of all carbon emissions. Therefore as a provider of household goods, this business indirectly contributes to the largest source of carbon emissions. In addition, this business as a retail business, retailers contribute to a carbon emission in a number of ways. There is the direct emision of carboms from using fuels to indirectly contributing through employee travel or via the supply chain (Minahan & Sands, 2012). The Need for Reducing the Business’ Carbon Footprint There are two significant changes occurring in the market. First, there are countries such as the EU and the US that have

Reflections on interventions with vulnerable families Essay

Reflections on interventions with vulnerable families - Essay Example lients were teenagers suffering from mental health issues and this resulted after the clients started involving in drug abuse due to parental negligence. The best way of establishing and maintaining a professional relationship with the clients was through talking and educating them about the impact of drug abuse towards their health. The significant of family life education cannot be undervalued; however, it is vital to create good relationships with the client and their family because health relationships within the family are crucial to the well-being of children, adults and also the society as a whole. Social workers should understand that there is no family which is perfect but some families face enormous strains and trauma, without receiving any support or help and this can be detrimental to such vulnerable families (Ko, et-al, 2008). Supporting vulnerable families in the society is crucial; therefore, family support services should cover varied intervention programs. I made significant efforts of building trusting connections with the clients through understanding their needs, and addressing the environmental issues contributin g to health problems. Building trusting connections with the clients demands effective communication process; thus I learnt the significant of communicate efficiently with the clients in order to create mutual understandings. There is a form of oppressing attributed to issues of child negligence and poverty; in fact, these issues have significantly contributed to increased rate of drug abuse among the teenagers and youth. Consequently, increased cases of drug abuse have resulted to deteriorating mental health among the members of the public. In this case, this has led to a need for offering families and those who are involved, in order to empower them through various ways aimed at addressing issues that contribute to these problems. On the other hand, these problems can be solved by integrating effective strategies such as

College graduates get low interest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

College graduates get low interest - Essay Example ale, a research organization gathered statistics this year on graduates of over 900 colleges and universities, enquiring from them what they did at college and the amount they now make. PayScale then factored in the amount spent on the degree; after financial support .It is from this that the firm approximates the returns gotten from several kinds of degrees. It was found out that a degree course is a good bet wherever one studied it. This makes college graduates a safe bet as far as college low interest loans are concerned. The US. Department of Education develops and releases products that come with lowest student loans rates to assist college graduates. These include Direct Subsidized Loans that in 2013-2014 came with an interest rate of 3.86%, this is courtesy of US Department of Education. This rate is much lower than what is offered by private lenders. Apart from low rates of interest, students offered these loans aren’t responsible for the payment of interest during their schooling period. These costs are covered by governmental sources. Apart from federal low interest rates loans, there are also private lenders offering loan products that have low and attractive interest rates. Such products as these are tailored for students having outstanding credit scores as well as a cosigner having a good credit standing. Such like students are regarded as ideal borrowers since it’s very likely that they are going to honor their credit responsibilities. Most banks seem to reward such kind of b ehavior and battle for the business offered by

Swot Analysis for Pizza Connection Essay Example for Free

Swot Analysis for Pizza Connection Essay Pizza Connection demonstrates numerous strengths within the organization when meeting with the owner, Dave Collier. Mr. Collier explained to our firm that they have been successful and at the same time benefiting from the rise in popularity of pizza that swept across the country during the past few years. He also stated that, with this rise in popularity of pizza, his company took advantage of the trend and created the franchisers home office to coordinate national and regional marketing which also included advertising support. In addition, Mr. Collier knows the market well and is willing to do whatever it takes to take advantage of the opportunity that may lay outside the company. Moreover, Dave Collier also explained to our firm that, because of the coordinated national and regional marketing strategy, it will also give a boost with the internal process within the organization. Mr. Collier also provided a strong product development support. With this strong product development support, there will be a new line of specialty pizzas that will expand Pizza Connections market appeal. This is a very strong aspect to our firm because it shows that Pizza Connection is willing and ready to make the best changes for the company. Weakness When there is strength, there is also weakness. During our meeting with Mr. Collier, he told us that he noticed a decline in sales. Over the past few months, the number of customers has declined steadily. He further explained to us that he believes that customer demands have changed. To be more in-depth, he believes that providing high-quality pizza at a reasonable price was no longer enough. Instead, providing speed, convenience, and alternative dining options is the key. Our firm then realized that these were some of the areas that they lack in: 1. ) Dine-in customers; Pizza Connections were not providing dine-in patrons with fast enjoyable food. Customers now want to get-in, be seated, provide with fast high quality service, and get out quickly. 2. ) Phone-in customers; Pizza Connections lacks in making sure that customer food is ready to be picked up. 3. ) Carry-out customer; lack of providing speed and convenience to customer when ordering and receiving there food. Another weakness that came to light in our meeting with Mr. Collier was that there was a lack of space in the restaurant to do parties. Parties are a growing trend with little league baseball teams, youth soccer teams, and birthdays all have been part of this growing demand for party space in restaurants. Our firm has to find a solution for this because this is a community involvement problem. If the community starts to complain, then slowly but surely Pizza Connections will be out of business for good. Our firm wants to make sure that our clients in the surrounding community are pleased with the organization and the services they provide. Opportunities After carefully analyzing Pizza Connection weaknesses, we have sought out some opportunities that they can take advantage of as of right now. Some of the opportunities that our firm believes can bring in more profit for the company are to address the Dine-in, carry-out, and phone-in situation, and make it better. These are the essential internal opportunities that they can take advantage of immediately. Mirror off your competitors strategies like Pizza Hut or Unos. Also, another opportunity that can pursue that a lot of other company havent yet, is used the World Wide Web (WWW). With that, Customers can place order online instead of using the phone and give exact time when they are going to pick up there merchandise. This becomes more convenient for your customers and the business as a whole. Some other opportunities that our firm noticed which Pizza Connection can do is to start delivering and creating more specials for the products they sell. Most pizza venues deliver to the customer which makes it more convenient for the consumers. Pizza Connection has to expand the operation now to be considered a threat in the market. Also, Pizza Connection can recognize most of the little league team that come in to the restaurant on a regular basis and sponsor them. This will give the teams who are recognized a sense of local celebrity status and more publicity that we believe will be beneficial to Pizza Connections success in the long run. Threats Finally, Mr. Collier explained to us the threats that they are dealing with at the current time. Besides the changing of the market demands, competition for the consumers dining dollar increased significantly in the geographic area where Mr. Colliers restaurant served. The number of dining establishments in the area has more than tripled during the last two years. Numerous of Dine-in, and Drive in, has given Mr. Collier a strong threat which make him and our firm wonder if things can get back to normal. Pizza Connection has many threats to deal with but our firm will come up with a solution to solve these problems.

Investment and Japan Essay Example for Free

Investment and Japan Essay 1. Why, historically, has the level of FDI in Japan been so low? 2. What are the potential benefits to the Japanese economy of greater FDI? 3. How did the entry if Walmart into the Japanese retail sector benefit that sector? Who lost as a result of Walmart’s entry? 4. Why has it been so hard for Walmart to make a profit in Japan? What might the company have done differently? Japan, an island nation on the Pacific ocean, has none of the natural advantages that have facilitated cross-border trade and investment in other parts of the world. Also, Japan was badly defeated in World War II and occupied by Allied forces at the end of the war. Japan was totally closed to foreign investment during that period. The Japanese government sets up important barriers to reduce the foreign direct investment into Japan to develop the country by avoiding other countries’ financial shocks. Additional, the high rental and labor cost impact the Foreign Direct Investment level too. Japan as a host country, a greater FDI can result from the resource-transfer effect, employment effects, balance-of-payments effects on competition and economic growth. Walmart entered the Japanese market by purchasing large stakes in similar retailer Seiyu. Walmart helped Seiyu reorganized the structure, implemented point-of -sale and SMART inventory tracking systems, supply-chain and distribution management systems,etc. Walmart gave a free American strategy lesson to the Japanese retail industry. Walmart also increased the the level of competition in Japan, it resulted in stimulating the developing retail industry and lowering the price of products to improve economic growth in Japan. But Walmart as a foreign investor in Japan did not make profits from 2000-2010. During the years of losses in Japan, Walmart still believed the American style retail store can grow anywhere in the world. They have made similar mistakes just like in Germany. Walmart failed to grasp the fact that the consumer and retail environment in Japan has a different culture. In Japan, people puts loyalty on a highest value. It’s difficult to pursue the consumers from local â€Å"7-eleven† to foreign â€Å"Walmart†. â€Å"Every day lower price† strategy is not enough power to change Japanese consumers buying  behavior. Japanese consumers tendency to buy smaller quantities and good packaging or appearance of goods. The quality of product also play a huge role in their purchasing decisions. For Walmart, better understanding of Japan’s culture and improving relationship with supplier may help them move forward to success in Japan.

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community Research Proposal Ghaida Ayesh Proposed Research Topic: The Effect of Biased Media in the Arab World on the Palestinian Community. Research Question: Why Palestinians believe media even though there are different sources with different opinions on the same topic? Introduction and Purposes: In September of 2013, there were billboards around Bethlehem city attracted my attention saying â€Å"Did you know a 3rd tower fell on 9/11?† and this sentence followed by a website to be checked if someone interested of getting more details, it was www.rethink911.org, I checked the website. It was all about introducing facts about what happened in the 11th September, 2001. And there was a documentary video which presented by agroup of Architects Engineers who try to unveil the truth behind the fell of the World Trade Center Twin Towers on that day, and the surprising thing that there was a third building fell on that day called the World Trade Center Building 7 that didn’t hit by plan and collapsed in free fall 7 hours after the twin towers collapsed, I didn’t remember that on that day I heard about the existence of a third building and no news mentioned a story about the third building. I wondered how could media hide such a thing, why did they do that especia lly the U.S media, who could control all the main media networks around the word for not reporting about the third tower, and why did the audience believe them? While reading several articles about the issue trying to explore some facts, I realised that media coverage followed accusations by government authorities that pointed toward Al Qaeda as the group that carried out the attack on the United States and Osama bin Laden as leader of that group. Those news reports on the attack and the aftermath shaped public  opinion to support the war on terrorism.Other ways to influence public opinion include political advertising.Subsequently I realised that media plays the role of the invisible hand in this universe and controls the audiences’ minds in a strange way, so what makes media’s audiences believe what they hear or see? Therefore, I plan to conduct a research about the media impact in the Arab world, and my purpose of this research is to see how the news reporting now adays by affect people’s opinion toward what’s going on in the Arab world. And how the biased media can control people’s political thinking? It will also aim to tackle issues such as is media report or create news? Moreover who are the parties that control media in the Arab world? Background and Methods: In order to get data for my research, first I will read articles and researched conducted to a related topics, and will conduct a survey that target under graduate university students in Bethlehem University, also a group of people who used to set in Cafà ©s and watch, read and listen to news, so this will enable me to gather relevant information, ultimately giving me the necessary tools to be able to compare people’s perspectives about today’s media, besides what is their relevance source of media, how their believe in media changed in the last years? Also to see if they make sure about the news they read before sharing it with other people in social networks. Further, I will prepare for a focus group of university students with different political views about what’s going on in the Middle East, and during this focus group I will introduce different resources of media with different opinion specifically about the Syrian revolution because I have noticed that th ere are many conflicted opinions in the Palestinian community about it and cannot find group of people have the same political analysis about what’s going on there in Syria, and during the discussions that will arise I will observe how this group of people going to react and comment about the differences in media and opinions. I choose surveys because using this tool will make me able to collect different opinions about media, and the creating of focus group is efficient to see immediate reaction and different opinions about media and this will give me information about what is the source of news that people prefer and trust, and how people evaluate the reliability of the reported news? I think about targeting university students and people who usually set in cafà ©s to watch news when distributing the surveys and creating the focus group; because these types of groups gathers people with different values and believes in one spot. And this will make the data I gather more efficient. Literature Review Watching news, reading newspaper or magazine, or listening to a radio station are one of the main activities in every day’s life. And these media become part of culture. While reading about the media effect and impact on people’s opinion and beliefs I found that there are three main sociological perspectives on the role of media, the first called the Limited-effects theory (1940s-1950s) this theory supports the assumption that people has the control of their own choices and choose what to watch, what believe and what to not; so the studies of the media influence showed that well- informed people relied more on personal experience, prior knowledge and their own reasoning unlike those who are less- informed ones. However for me there is a missing point in this theory that makes me disagree with it, the point is that when someone wants to get some knowledge about something he looks for information through media, if not through media, he will ask other people for informatio n and for sure these people didn’t get this knowledge from nothing, they got it for example, from books, magazines, TV or internet which all considered as media. And another important thing is that this theory was created when the existence, availability and dominance of media was far less widespread which make it out dated (Entman 1994). The second theory is Class-dominant theory this theory follow the postulation that media is owned by a minority elite who controls it, and this elite group is cooperating with each other as a result, they can control what people see or hear, in addition because the main source of income for media is advertising, when a big company that finance large advertising campaigns in media do something unethical this media protect the image of this company because it is not for her benefit to harm the image of the company because this will make the media lose a big source of income (Mills 1956). The third and final theory called Culturalist theory (19 80s-1990s), this theory combined the other two theories and it believes that people interact with media in a way so they create their own meanings out of the images and messages received form media, moreover this theory has two standpoints, the first is how audiences interact with media, and the other standpoint focuses on the producers of media. For the first standpoint because people choose what to watch, how much to watch and may choose to not watch; studies done by sociologists and linguists found that audiences interpretation of what they choose to watch is based on their own knowledge and experience. Therefore, culturalist theorists claim that, while a few elite in large corporations may exert significant control over what information media produces and distributes, personal perspective plays a more powerful role in how the audience members interpret those messages. (The Role and Influence of Mass Media 2013). Several reports and studies showed that the media can influence the audiences’ political view, and voting decision, for instance a study conducted in one of NBER working paper series, the study took the introduction of Fox News into a cable market as a case to analyze its news reporting impact on the federal election, they collected data for 28 states in the United States of America. After that they compared the change in the Republican vote share between 1996 and 2000 for the towns that had adopted Fox News by 2000 with those that had not. And the result showed that Fox News had a significant impact on the 2000 elections. The entry of Fox News increased the Republican vote share in presidential elections by 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points, depending on the specification. Since Fox News in 2000 was available in about 35 percent of households, the impact of Fox News on the two-party vote share in 2000 is estimated to be 0.15 to 0.2 percentage points, 200,000 votes nation-wide. (De llaVigna and Kaplan 2006). Another study find that Fox News watchers were 50 percent more likely that viewers of other networks to believe (erroneously) that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. (Steven, Ramsay and Lewis 2003). These statistics raised in my mind why did people believe median in such a case? Is it because it represents their inner affiliation? Or because the way it is presented is coming straight to the point that interest them? Or is it all about the credibility that a channel may be having? These are another minor questions of what I am looking for, and may lead me to study the case through some focus groups with different affiliation. In addition other studies found that over 70 percent of Americans believe that there is a great deal or a fair amount of media bias in news coverage (Pew 2004). Evidence of bias ranges from the topic choice of the New York Times (Puglisi 2006) to the choice of think-tanks that the media refer to (Groseclose and Milyo 2005). Media bias was even more prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century (Gentzkow 2006). There is another theory addressed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw, which is Agenda- Setting Theory it describes the powerful influence of media by telling what issues are important, they came out with this theory by studying the influence of media on the 1968 presidential election, the study titled 1968 Chapel HillStudy, the conclusion of this study is that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. (McCombs and Shaw 1972). Biased Media: The media is biased whenever it provides fake images or out of context facts to support a certain viewpoint. The media is also biased whenever it â€Å"framing† issues of eventer on a certain way to fake the facts. Many scholars argue that framing can actually decide how we view a situation. (Kuypers 2002). A biased media affects the publics understanding of current events and issues without giving the public all the facts. Opinions based on biased information are not usually the same as opinions based on neutral information. So for the public to make informed decisions on issues and politics, they must be given neutral information. (Kelly and Pax 2004) As shown, media has powerful impact on people’s beliefs, and is controlled by group of people, furthermore there is agreement about the existence of biased media, and most of studies are conducted in western areas. That is why the current research study will be aimed to find out why people in the Arab world, from Palestine, in Bethlehem believe what media reports. Limitation: Unfortunately I will not be able to collect audience’s interaction with the reported news about what’s going on in the Arab world specially about what so called the Arab’s Spring because I have no access to audiences from other countries. In addition I can’t get statistics about what are the news media people in the Arab world watch, read or listen. As a result I am limited to Bethlehem University undergraduate students only. Because of that, I will be restricted to only normal audiences in the Palestinian community. In addition, there is no available technology for media that give statistics about what people watch on TV. And what are the main news TV channels they watch such as Nielsen technology. Bibliography DellaVigna, Stefano, and Ethan Kaplan. 2006. The FOX News Effect: Media Bias and Voting. NBER Working Paper, Cambridge, MA: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. Entman, Robert M. 1994. Reopening the Black Box: Toward a Limited Effects Theory. Political Communication 11 (3): 313 314. Gentzkow, Matthew. 2006. Television and Voter Turnout. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 931-972. Groseclose, Tim, and Jeffrey Milyo. 2005. A Measure of Media Bias. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1191-1237. Kelly, and Pax. 2004. Think on Journalism. July 1. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.jour.unr.edu/think/bias.html. Kuypers, Jim A. 2002. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Conoversial Issues. London: Praeger. McCombs, Maxwell E., and Donald L. Shaw. 1972. The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. The Public Opinion Quarterly (American Association for Public Opinion Research) 36 (2): 176-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747787. Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. NEWS AUDIENCES INCREASINGLY POLITICIZED. Study, Washington, D.C.: PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS. Puglisi, Riccardo. 2006. BEING THE NEW YORK TIMES: THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR OF A NEWSPAPER. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/. April. Accessed January 26, 2014. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/19292/1/Being_the_new_york_times.pdf. Steven, Kull, Clay Ramsay, and Evan Lewis. 2003. Misperceptions, The Media, And The Iraq. Political Science Quarterly 118: 569-598. 2013. The Role and Influence of Mass Media. CliffNotes. May 7. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/contemporary-mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media.

Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan Mind Essay example -- essays papers

Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan Mind If one were to study the idea of Puritan thought through only the reading of these three works of Jonathan Edwards, one could probably gather a good idea of the inner workings of the Puritan mind. These three works do well to disclose to the reader the inner and outer workings of Jonathan Edwards. The Personal Narrative displays to the reader Jonathan Edwards' view of himself as he progressed through life, and the ideals and the things that were most valuable to him, and the things that were a hindrance to himself. The sermon A Divine and Supernatural Light exhibits the nature of Jonathan Edwards' intellectual mind, and the view of expository preaching that he and the Puritan mind may have held and endorsed. Finally, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God shows Jonathan Edwards' passion for people to come to the same understanding of God as he (and most other Puritans) held. Through these three literary pieces we will see how the Puritan mind struggles with the goals of inner and oute r piety, and how they concern themselves with the eternal position of their soul. Jonathan Edwards, as a model of Puritan life, lived a life that concerned itself greatly with appearing and feeling godly. Most of the Personal Narrative shows Edwards in a struggle between delighting in God, and returning "like a dog to his vomit," (176) and going the way of sin. It seems, though, as Edwards grew in his faith, his concern for piety grew even further. At several points in his life he decided to "part with all things in the world for an interest in Christ" (177). Edwards struggled to delight himself in the things of God and surround himself with those things, often shutting other things out in order that he ma... ... salvation as some liberal theologians would suggest to us. In conclusion, Edwards paints a very unmistakable picture of how a Puritan mind works through these three essays/sermons in this book. Puritan thought is seen as very pious, reflective, spiritual, works-based, concerned about their salvation, and exclusive in nature. Edwards offers a three-dimensional view of how his mind works through the narrative of his personal life (Personal Narrative), the work of his intellectual mind (A Divine and Supernatural Light), and the passion of his soul (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God). Being a student of theology, I found it an interesting insight into how his mind worked, in seeing Edwards' view of God. I am a firm believer in understanding people and their motivation by looking at their understanding of God. Edwards was an excellent example of the Puritan mind.

The Move from Doubt to Certainty; A Look at the Theories of Descartes and Locke :: essays research papers

Descartes is interested in the certainty of his existence and the existence of other people and things. Descartes’ beliefs vary from those of Socrates. Descartes argues that knowledge is acquired through awareness and experience. Using this approach, Descartes moves through doubt to certainty of his existence. He asks himself various questions about the certainty of his existence and solves them through clear thought and logic. Using this method Descartes establishes doubts to be truths and by the end of the book, he has established that he does indeed exist. In this paper, I will show how Descartes moves through doubt to certainty. I will explain how Descartes uses the cogito, proves the existence of God and what that means to his existence. I will also discuss the general rules of truth that Descartes establishes. In the First Meditation Descartes begins to examine what is certain and what is doubtful. Descartes wants to establish that his knowledge is certain and not doubtful. He states, ...I had accepted many false opinions as being true, and that what I had based on such insecure principles could only be most doubtful and uncertain; so that I had to undertake seriously once in my life to rid myself of all opinions I had adopted up to then, and to begin, and to begin afresh from the foundations, if I wished to establish something firm and constant in the sciences.(Descartes 95) By this Descartes means that he wishes to establish a foundation for his knowledge based on certainty instead of doubt. Descartes first looks at the senses. This is important because the senses are the first thing to cause doubt. He focuses on the perception of things. He says that things far from him, in the distance, give him reason to doubt their certainty, while things that are close to him are indubitable and he is clear about their certainty. However, Descartes realizes that dreams pose an obstacle to his beliefs. Even up close, dreams can be indubitable. Descartes believes that if a person has had a dream that was so intense that the person could not determine it form reality, then they have reason to doubt objects that are close to us and appear to be indubitable. In order to resolve this problem, Descartes suggests that one must examine whether they are dreaming or not. Descartes realizes that he can not rely on his senses anymore to give him dubitable truths.

Irresponsibility in the Great Gatsby

A responsible marriage is when both sides of the relationship take responsibility for their actions, for one another and most importantly are not having affairs with others. When there is lack of responsibility, things are at risk to be destroyed or lost. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald all of the marriages fail to show any signs of responsibility through their actions. We see three main relationships throughout the novel that fail to act in a responsible manner. Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Tom and Myrtle, and Daisy and Gatsby. Daisy and Tom are both extremely irresponsible. Tom's irresponsible persuasion essentially leads to Myrtle's death. Daisy does not take any responsibility for her actions which lead to Gatsby's death. Tom and Daisy Buchanan's irresponsibility in their relationships ultimately leads to death and destruction, for their own relationship and others. Tom and Daisy Buchanan's marriage is full of irresponsibility, on both sides of the marriage. This leads to chaos between them, and destruction of life. We see Daisy's irresponsible actions during the scandal at the Plaza Hotel. When Tom, Daisy and Gatsby have a vivid argument, Daisy reveals that she † never loved him†. Tom, her husband, asks: â€Å"Not at Kapiolani†, to which she replies: â€Å"No† (F. Scott Fitzgerald pg. 132) This shows that Daisy apparently never loved Tom. Daisy is a irresponsible woman, she is saying that she never loved her husband. If that is the case, then why is she married to Tom in the first place? This is extremely irresponsible . In addition Daisy is also showing her feelings for Gatsby in front of her husband. Daisy quietly says to Gatsby â€Å"You look so cool. Their eyes met and they stared at each other, alone in space. â€Å"You always look so cool,† she repeated. She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. (F. Scott Fitzgerald pg. 119). This just proves Daisy's irresponsibility. If she had loved Gatsby so deeply, why is she still married to Tom? Daisy is acting as a irresponsible child. She is switching through lover. Daisy is all talk and she shows no responsibility in taking action. If she were responsible, she would choose a man to be with and respect him. Tom Buchanan is a irresponsible man with absolutely no feelings for others. In addition, he is in two relationships, with Daisy and Myrtle Wilson who lives in the dreadful valley of ashes. Throughout the novel Tom misleads Myrtle into believing that one day he would save her from the valley of ashes. However the truth behind Tom's amour for Myrtle is simply sexual pleasure. Myrtle believes that Tom is her ticket to the upper class. When Myrtle's husband, George Wilson, realizes Myrtle has been sleeping around, however he had a dream to leave the valley of ashes with Myrtle. In order for this to happen, he locks Myrtle up. Myrtle breaks free wanting to be with Tom and not in the pigsty of the valley of ashes. She runs out in the middle of the street, and is killed by Daisy. Nevertheless, Tom is ultimately the reason Myrtles dies, because of his irresponsibility. Tom is the reason for Myrtle's death because he leaves Myrtle hanging and is not in contact as much. Myrtle's hopes and dreams were slipping away and she realizes this. In chapter II we see how Tom persuades Myrtle in believing that he cares about her. Tom wants Nick to meet Myrtle. Tom is inviting Myrtle to come to downtown New York. I want to see you,† said Tom intently. â€Å"Get on the next train. † â€Å"Al right† replies Myrtle. â€Å"I'll meet you by the news stand on the lower level. † (Fitzgerald pg. 26) Tom is being a irresponsible man because he is first of all seeing multiple women at the same time. In addition to this, he knows that George loves his wife and still continues to see his wife. Through Tom br inging Myrtle often downtown New York, he manipulates Myrtle in believing he cares for her. However from Tom's point of view he only sees pleasure. When Tom says he would like Nick to meet Myrtle, he shows signs of ownership and care. Myrtle is astonished that such a successful man would want to be with a woman of her class. â€Å"We're getting off,† he insisted. † â€Å"I want you to meet my girl. † (F. Scott Fitzgerald, pg. 24) Tom's behavior is irresponsible for wanting to be with Myrtle only for pleasure. He treats Myrtle as his property and he misleads her in believing that he loves her. Tom wants Myrtle as his property for sexual pleasure, not as a caring and loving partner, Tom actions are irresponsible in seeing only pleasure, without caring about Myrtle who believes being with Tom is her only way out of the valley of ashes. When Myrtle Buchanan is struck by Gatsby's car, she is immediately killed. Since the car is Gatsby's, one would presume Gatsby is the driver. However Gatsby spills the truth out that Daisy was the one driving. Daisy does not take any responsibility for what she has done. She tells nobody, as if nothing had happened. When George Wilson wants revenge over the killer, Gatsby is the one who takes the blame for Daisy's actions. As a result George murders Gatsby in believing he was the one who killed Myrtle. We know this when Gatsby leaks the secret to the crash. How the devil did it happen? † â€Å"Well, I tried to swing the wheel-â€Å"he broke off and suddenly I guessed the truth. â€Å"Was Daisy driving? † â€Å"Yes,† This shows how careless and extremely irresponsible Daisy truly is. She had killed a woman and had acted as if she did not hurt a fly. In addition Daisy is not being a responsible driver, which ultimately leads to crashing into Myrtle and not taking responsibility for what has happened. Daisy truly expresses her irresponsibility, she had not come to Gatsby's funeral and this is the man who she had apparently loved so deeply. Nick realizes how Daisy had not even sent a letter, flowers or any sort of apology for what had happened: â€Å"I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower. † (Fitzgerald, pg. 174) Daisy's absence at the funeral of the man who she had apparently loved, proves how irresponsible she is. This means she had not loved him so greatly and she only had a obsession with Gatsby. Daisy again is irresponsible since she should have told Gatsby the truth and not act as if she loved him. Throughout the Great Gatsby, all of the relationships are irresponsible, which leads to death and destruction. Three relationships failed tragically: Tom and Daisy, Myrtle and Tom, and Daisy and Gatsby. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are two wealthy people whose minds flow with no responsibility and only money. This leads to destruction and death. Tom's irresponsibility in persuading Myrtle that he was there to help her eventually leads to her death. Daisy's childish and irresponsible actions eventually result in Gatsby's death. Through Tom and Daisy's shortage of responsibility in their many relationships it ultimately caused death and destruction, both to their relationship and others.

Estee Lauder: Integrated Marketing Communications plan Essay

Executive Summary The purpose of this situation analysis is to identify internal and external factors that will have an impact on Estee Lauder’s integrated marketing communications program (IMC). A situation analysis is necessary to determine the position Estee Lauder is currently occupying, in terms of finances, promotional strategies, product range and brand image. A thorough analysis will help identify any opportunities and potential threats that the company may come across and the effect that these opportunities and threats will have on their new IMC program. Strengths and Weaknesses will also be identified and taken into account as the new IMC program is developed. As part of the internal analysis Estee Lauder’s past promotional mix strategies will be assessed and evaluated. Strengths and weaknesses will also be evaluated in terms of brand image and the products and services they offer were also identified. Estee Lauder’s current promotional strategy has a strong focus on advertising in sources of print media within media relevant to its target market such as fashion magazines including, Harper’s Bazaar and In Style. Personal Selling also plays a dominant role in Estee Lauder’s current IMC strategy. The use of the Internet and Direct marketing has played a minimal role in Estee Lauder’s IMC program for Australia. This was identified as a weakness but also as a potential opportunity to expand and use these promotional tools in their future IMC program. Other weaknesses were based around poor and inappropriate promotional strategies for reaching their intended ‘youth’ market and consumers in their twenties. Brand image, price, package and product design were seen as being â€Å"too old† for the targeted younger consumer. The new IMC program will be focused on overcoming these weaknesses and on reaching the younger audience in the most effective way. Strengths such high levels of brand awareness, trust and a strong position in the market place have been Identified and utilised in the future IMC program. The external analysis involved gaining insight regarding customers and competitors. A pilot study was conducted among 18-25 year olds regarding  their perceptions and experiences with Estee Lauder in order to develop a more in-depth analysis of Estee Lauder’s customer base amongst young Australian females. Competitor Analysis required thorough research into the strategies and positions of Estee Lauder competitors in the market place. Major competitors included Loreal and Revlon, their strengths and weaknesses were identified and will be considered during the development of Estee Lauders new positioning strategy. Although a company has little or no control over their external environment an effective marketing communication strategy will anticipate such conditions and respond to them sufficiently. Estee Lauder needs to consider socio-cultural forces such as consumers increasing concern regarding animal testing among other environmental and social issues. They must also be aware of the adverse affects on the IMC program that will occur if any social expectation are breached or if any legal or political regulations are breached. The environmental analysis also identifies the opportunity for growth due to the trend in overall retail growth and specifically cosmetic growth in Australia today. If the following factors are considered Estee Lauder have the opportunity to develop an effective IMC program that will strengthen its brand and allow them to expand into the younger market as they have been aspiring to do. Industry and Company Information Estee Lauder is a market leader in the cosmetics and skin-care industry. This market is highly competitive and rapidly expanding, with competitors continually entering the market. They offer a range of cosmetics, fragrances and skincare products. Estee Lauder is a well established brand since 1946 and has grown into a parent company for many well known skincare and cosmetics brands. These include MAC, Clinique, Stilla, Aveda and Bobbi Brown. This situation analysis will focus on Estee Lauder as a consumer brand and not the EL Companies empire as a whole (see appendix 1). Internal Analysis Today, Estee Lauder has a solid customer base in many countries including the USA, UK, Asia and Europe. Estee Lauder’s and Clinique’s combined sales made up 40% of the total cosmetics market share, with Lancome (owned by competitor L’Oreal) holding the third largest market share, with 13% of the cosmetics market (Bittar, 2002, p.29). Over the past five years, Estee Lauder’s sales have slowed, allowing for Clinique, Estee Lauder’s sister brand to gain market share, replacing them as number one brand in department store sales (Bittar,2002,p.29). Currently Estee Lauder’s primary objective is reposition themselves as the consumers first choice for cosmetics. In order to achieve this objective Estee Lauder need to analyse current marketing efforts and identify opportunities for further expansions that will increase and improve the reputable Estee Lauder brand. Pricing Strategies Estee Lauder’s prices are at the higher end of the price scale within the cosmetics market. This is consistent with many of Estee Lauder’s direct competitors namely Lancome and Dior along with other subsidiary brands including MAC and Stilla. Their prices are set 20-35% above the price points of Clinique products. Current RRP prices for various Estee Lauder products can be found in appendix 2. Review of Firm’s previous promotional programs o Advertising – Print media is the current primary advertising medium for Estee Lauder. Some of the main channels include fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, In Style, Marie Claire, Cleo and Cosmopolitan. These magazines are targeted toward females with various lifestyles and levels of disposable income however they are all image conscious and is appealing to Roy Morgan’s visible achievement segment and those who aspire to be part of this group (Mindset, 1998) (See appendix 3). Estee Lauder has been featuring Liz Hurley as the face of their cosmetics for the past seven years and has proven successful in endorsing their  prestigious brand of cosmetics, fragrances and skin-care, (Bittar, 2002). Estee Lauder’s current models infuse â€Å"the brand with energy, vitality and modernity† and aiming to â€Å"connect the brand with consumers† (Staff Report, 2003). Last financial year, EL companies allocated $US56 million to advertising to promote the core Estee Lauder brand. This figure has been consistent over the past five years and is the largest advertising figure of any EL Company. o Internet – Estee Lauder have not utilised the internet within the Australian marketplace. Their current website is targeted towards the U.S, European and Asian markets. It does not provide Australian consumers with a customised information source regarding available products and new company developments. o Sales Promotion – Estee lauder endorses its distributer such as Myer and David Jones with promotional gift packs as an incentive to spend as certain amount of money or buy a specific product. They uphold their prestigious image by seldom discounting their products. Sampling promotion has also been used successfully to promote new products and allow consumers to experience the product first hand, without having to commit to a purchase.However, this has not been successfully used for Estee Lauder’s recent release of â€Å"Pure Colour† range of eyeshadows and lip gloss’s. Pilot research conducted found although this new range is targeted towards the younger market, it is still not being recognised as the brand of choice for 17-25 year olds (see appendix 4 & 5). o Personal Selling – All Estee Lauder sales consultant are specifically trained and have high levels of product knowledge. Cosmetics is a high involvement purchase and therefore requires consultants to have an in depth knowledge of all products offered by Estee Lauder. o Direct Marketing – Currently Estee Lauder are not using the internet for direct marketing sufficiently. Department stores often send promotional brochures to opt in mailing list clients if new products are released or  special offers are available. Assessment of relative strengths and weaknesses of product and brand Estee Lauder as a brand  · Strengthes – High brand awareness – High brand recall – Trusted brand – High perceived quality – High Brand Equity – Good customer service – Perceived as prestigious brand  · Weaknesses – Communication Strategy not in line with target market – Price of products too high to allow for repositioning into young market – Brand perceived as â€Å"too old† for target market – Products not designed for younger market (i.e. anti-ageing moisturisers) – Package design for mainstream product lines not innovative and modern, sending conflicting messages and confusing consumers  · Opportunities – Possible expansion into younger mass markets – Ability to pursue an online strategy to enhance their marketing communications by introducing online catalogues and creating a direct marketing database. – Ability to establish themselves as the leading cosmetics brand in other markets including Australia, specifically targeting 20-30’s market and the youth segment. – Creation of new communication strategy to build upon existing brand strengths and reputation. – Opportunities for co-branding to reach untapped markets.  · Threats – Losing existing customer base i.e. older market due to new market direction – Possible confusion for consumers regarding mixed promotional messages targeting the young and older market i.e. strategies are not integrated – Losing market share – Deterioration of perceived brand quality and prestige due to changing the promotional strategies to suit the younger market – Potential loss of revenue as a result of decreasing product prices to attract the younger customers Competitive Analysis As Estee Lauder redirects their focus from the older aged females to those in  a younger age bracket, they encounter a different group of competitors. These competitors operate in the mass market of cosmetics and skin care. Each brand is continually challenged to apply a successful integrated marketing plan so as to maintain and/or increase their share of the market thus creating a high level of competition for Estee Lauder. Direct Competitors Revlon and Loreal Paris are both mid-range cosmetics brands that represent Estee Lauder’s biggest threats. They are direct competitors of the traditional EL Company brand as the quality, price and packaging of their products are more appealing to the younger market. Recent annual 2000 figures showed Revlon making $1,491,600,000 alone in cosmetics sales and Loreal with $12,051,000,000 from cosmetic and skin-care sales combined (http://www.sharelearn.com/520samp.html). Estee Lauder presently generates $2,700,000,000 in the prestige market, and can largely be attributed to a higher gross margin in retail prices (http://www.myneweconomy.com/articles/020703/estee.htm). Indirect Competitors Estee Lauder’s indirect competitors or product substitutes consist only in skin-care and not in cosmetics. Face-moisturizers and cleansing products are not yet specifically designed or even targeted towards younger women and appear to still target mature-age women. In which case, Loreal Paris’ offering of skin-care products specifically designed to nourish the skin of young women, offers a substitute for those products not catered for by Estee Lauder. Message and Media Strategies used by Competitors  · Loreal Paris Evidently, Estee Lauder’s primary competitor is Loreal Paris because both are competing for leading positions in the skin-care and cosmetics market. The  Loreal Paris brand was developed for infiltration into the mass market and targets young females who desire high-quality, innovative and fashion-forward beauty products at affordable prices (http://www.lorealparisusa.com/frames.asp#aboutloreal/page_a.asp). Their promotional campaign ‘Because I’m worth it’ (http://www.lorealparisusa.com/frames.asp#aboutloreal/page_a.asp), has proven to be a success in terms of their efforts to communicate a modern and self-confident message to their target audience. They have used a number of international spokespersons including Andie McDowell, Laetitia Casta, Heather Locklear, Vanessa Williams, Virginie Ledoyen, and Milla Jovovich (http://www.lorealparisusa.com/frames.asp#aboutloreal/page_a.asp), all famous actors and models, to endorse the quality of Loreal Paris products and give young females an image to aspire to. Using a range of international faces allows Loreal Paris to target the cultural youth market because it promotes a wide cosmetics range suiting any skin colour and image. This allows them to expand their target market and remain competitive.  · Revlon Revlon also has a similar marketing approach as Loreal Paris. Their corporate strategy aims to offer young women a sense of ‘glamour, excitement and innovation’ (http://www.revlon.com/corporate/corp_ca_history.asp) when using these cosmetics. They have recently launched their new face for the Revlon brand ‘Halle Berry’ a famous U.S. actor, whom exerts an independent, confident and sexy young image for women of today. By using this one spokesperson, they have created a unique identity for the brand and encourages the younger market to use the Revlon products so they can be perceived in the same way. This consistent image associated with the brand gives consumers an easy product recall whenever they see her in movies, billboards, magazines and other channels of advertising. Key Benefits of Competitors and their Positioning Relative to Estee Lauder’s  · Loreal Paris – has established its brand name in the market place since 1907 and therefore high brand awareness – large budget committed to R&D and ability to be on the edge of cosmetic technology – have been targeting the younger mass market for years and are therefore trusted in their quality of beauty products and known to sell at affordable prices – is the global cosmetics leader with 16.8% market share – product offering is extended to hair colouring, cosmetics, skin care and styling aids thereby enhancing brand recognition  · Revlon – has established its brand name in the market place since 1932 – have been targeting the younger mass market for years and are therefore trusted in their quality of beauty products and known to sell at affordable prices – ranks 4th in the top ten global cosmetics leaders with 7.1% market share – product offering extends to personal care (eg. Nail polish), fragrances, cosmetics thereby enhancing brand equity  · Estee Lauder – has the opportunity to penetrate the youth mass market with years of marketing and operating expertise in the cosmetics industry – is currently ranked 2nd global cosmetics leader – extensive economic resources to conduct R&D – has economies of scale because of the size of its pre-existing operation – trusted as a prestigious quality brand – family controlled enterprise allows for consistency in marketing and management decisions although no evidence to support this observation Consumer Analysis Cosmetics is a luxury product and involves a high level of involvement from the consumer (Schiffman et al, 2001). When purchasing cosmetics and skincare, consumers want to be sure that the products they are purchasing are safe and will not harm their skin . Estee Lauder has identified this need and has catered for this by decreasing the risk involved when purchasing cosmetics at pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase stage. Experience at Point of Purchase Estee Lauder Australia is the third country to undergo dramatic transformations in the appearance of their counters in department stores (King, 2003). The new counters are brightly coloured and have interactive displays, which allows passers by to test products at their own discretion without having to consult Estee Lauder staff. However should assistance be required with any of the products, there are always friendly, knowledgeable staff to assist potential customers. All consultants are thoroughly trained and have extensive knowledge about all product lines. This professionalism enhances to the consumer’s experience of Estee Lauder at the point of purchase as they learn more about specific products and their skin type as well. The revitalised counters are a real feature now as they are by far the brightest and most elaborate in major department stores (namely Myer/Grace  Bros and David Jones) in comparison to any of its direct or indirect competitors and creates a salon like experience for the consumer (Gold Coast Bulletin, 2003). Buyer Roles and Cosmetics Unlike products such as fragrances where the buyer is not the user, the majority of the time, cosmetics buyers are the users of the product. Although, this does differ around increased purchase periods such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day when the buyer (i.e. husbands and boyfriends) are not the end users of the cosmetics. Estee Lauder has identified this and designed their promotional activity accordingly. All advertising (predominantly instore promotion and print media) features young attractive women, that many purchasing the product would see as an aspirational figure. The more youthful Carolyn Murphy featured in the current advertisements provides the younger market that Estee Lauder is currently trying to conquer, a face that they can relate to (as opposed to Elizabeth Hurley, who Estee Lauder felt was too old for the younger market). Perception of Estee Lauder The perception of Estee Lauder amongst younger people is that it is a brand for â€Å"older people† (The Nation, 2003). This perception of the brand will clearly take an extended period of time to change, however with the current steps undertaken by Estee Lauder, they are well on their way to turning this around (see appendix 7 for Kapferer analysis of perception of Estee Lauder). As the pilot research conducted depicted, Estee Lauder’s products are priced too highly for the younger market to purchase. If they do wish to conquer this market successfully, they will have to consider pricing options on certain product ranges to make it more affordable to the target market (See appendix 8). Whilst Estee Lauder is priced too highly for people in this age bracket, they still view the brand as fashionable, as results of the pilot research study concluded (see appendix 9). Environmental Analysis Social/Cultural In recent years consumers have developed a heightened awareness of social and environmental conditions such as animal testing. Many consumers hold strong views towards animal testing and do not want to buy products that have caused animal suffering. Consequently consumers often want to acquire company information regarding animal testing before they buy the product, many cosmetic companies including Estee Lauder shy away from this controversial topic and provide confusing and ambiguous statements regarding the topic as they are guilty of continuing animal testing but wish to avoid public opposition (http://www.buav.org/pdfs/cosmetic_experiments_-_bluf.pdf). As well as being environmentally friendly consumers expect their brands to be socially responsible and to give back to the community. This force gives Estee Lauder the opportunity to sponsor charities that are important to their target market. Any sponsorship should form an integral part of Estee Lauder’s IMC to promote the brand as being socially aware and responsible.. If a customer perceives a brand as being socially irresponsible they will often remove the brand from their evoked set and not even consider them in any of their future purchase decisions. Political / Legal There are many political and legal obligations that Australian cosmetic companies must comply with in order to protect consumers. â€Å"The public has the very reasonable expectation that cosmetics should be safe to use as directed on the label and as people would normally expect to use such products† (www.ASCC.com.au). All cosmetic companies selling their products within Australia must comply with all Australian Safety Regulations. Cosmetic companies must also comply with the Trades Practices Act among other regulations and legislation regarding product safety and ingredients (www.ascc.com.au). These rules and regulations have enormous implications for Estee Lauder and other cosmetic companies in Australia. It is imperative that these regulations are followed as court action can be seriously detrimental to the company financially. Further more, bad publicity as a consequence of not following such regulations can cause irreversible damage in terms of the reputation of the brand. Technological Due to technological advancements there is a lot more information available to the consumers regarding the safety and effectiveness of cosmetic products and the ingredients within them. Due to the amount of scientific information and studies available to them, consumers have developed a very sceptical attitude towards cosmetic brands and their products. The implication for this is that Estee Lauder must provide consumers with as much information and as much proof regarding product effectiveness as possible in order to facilitate the buying decision process. Technology has also worked in favour of Estee Lauder as they have been able use technology to create new innovative products in attempt to gain competitive advantage. Economical Changes on the economy could also have a strong impact on cosmetic sales. Cosmetics are categorised as a luxury item so when the economy is down and consumers have less buying power cosmetics would be among the first product categories to suffer. After the events of September 11 sales dropped to a virtual standstill resulting in the worst holdiay season for American retailers in years (Bittar,2002). However currently Australian retail sales has experienced strong growth since May 2003 (www.abs.com.au) (See Appendix 10). In 1998-99 $4.1 billion was spent on cosmetics, perfumes and toiletries (www.abs.com.au). These statistics indicate it is a healthy growing industry giving companies the opportunity to increase sales and expand product lines.

Hca/250 Motivation and Organizational Culture

Motivation and Organizational Culture HCA/250 Amy Carson University of Phoenix 4/2/13 Ayame Nakamura is a Japanese immigrant who is employed by a drug organization in California. The company’s administration is confrontational and interferes with Ayames ethnic background and also challenges her cultural background. This paper will discuss workplace motivation techniques, the influence of organizational culture and the role of management in workplace psychology. Workplace motivation techniques: Administration plays a significant role in psychology at the work place.Some of the major duties they are responsible for are setting standards for good work etiquette while maintaining quality and quantity for their goods and services. Management may need to take on many different roles to achieve these responsibilities. For example; the role of a firefighter to extinguish tempers of customers and coworkers, the role of a police officer to settle disputes and maintain discipline or orde r, or as a friend to encourage trust and honor among the company. Whatever problem that may arise, administration needs to have the ability to cope and solve them in a quick and proficient manner.The atmosphere must have a secure, impartial and equality feeling for both the workers and management in the workplace. Security is not just a physical feeling of being safe in the office but also assurance of their mental state regarding job stability, fair treatment, mental and physical comfort without harassment, favoritism or unfair judgments. Administration should be comprised of leaders, individuals who positively impact other people while not abusing the administrative powers. Management has 5 key elements that incorporate self-awareness, inspiration, societal skills, sympathy as well as self-administration.Anyone in an administrative role must be regarded as reliable, honest, skilled, persistent, open to suggestion, and dedicated in the eyes of their workers. Build a foundation, If an employee knows nothing about a company’s history than there is no feeling of investment which in turn keeps that employee un interested in the company’s future. When creating an atmosphere, a happy company is a productive company. Employees look for advancement within their company. Without the ability to develop growth in a career, most employees feel trapped in a dead end job.Take consideration of current skills and future goals of employees to decide what may become of them down the road. Improving your professional training programs and educational development for employees will instill a feeling of investment in their future and your company’s which will translate into improved job performance. It is important not to forget the fun, give unexpected diversions like a free pizza lunch, an early leave day or anything that will show your appreciation in an unplanned way. Acknowledging contribution of employees can make a huge morale boost especially if recog nized in front of their coworkers.Offering incentives to perform well will give motivation and competition to employees. Put your money where your mouth is by honoring all promises that you make to an employee. Failure to pay up may lose not only the trust of that employee, but of all who hear their story. Career coaching is a good way to provide employees with the ability to reach the next professional level. Bring in professionals that offer personal counseling for life’s dilemmas whether personal or professional because both can affect the work environment. And finally, match a person tasks to their talents or they will be unconfident or more prone to failure.Influence of organizational culture No matter how different or similar one culture to another is, the other culture will seem abnormal because it is a system of informal rules that govern the behavior of that society. Cultural organization is unique and configures their norms, beliefs, values, and behavioral character istics into the individual and groups that unite to get things accomplished. Patterns begin to evolve and become a rule of basic assumption; whether it is a new idea, one recently discovered or under development by a certain group as they learn to cope with internal integration and external adaptation problems.Cultural characteristics are hard to define because culture is multi-dimensional with integrated components that intertwine at different levels and ever-changing which takes time to establish and therefore time to change it also. Culture becomes the fabric or social glue that unites its participants, this will counteract any processes that are different becomes an unavoidable side-effect of life in an organization. Mutual understandings and a shared system of meanings becomes the basis of communication in a cultural organization.Functions of a society need to be fulfilled with a certain amount of satisfaction or culture can impede the efficiency of that organization. Problems with this concept arise when trying to categorize culture or when, why, or how corporate culture should be changed or finding the best, healthiest or most desirable one. References: Arthur unknown 1999-2013 retrieved on 4/3/2013 from: http://www. allbusiness. com/motivate-your-employees/16567613-11. html#gsc. tab=0 Armstrong, Michael 2009 retrieved on 4/3/2013 from: http://av4kc7fg4g. earch. serialssolutions. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/? ctx_ver=Z39. 88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon. serialssolutions. com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book&rft. genre=book%20item&rft. title=Armstrong%27s+Handbook+of+Human+Resource+Management+Practice&rft. au=Armstrong%2C+Michael&rft. atitle=Organizational+Culture&rft. date=2011-01-01&rft. pub=Kogan+Page+Ltd&rft. isbn=9780749452421&rft. spage=383&rft. epage=399&rft. externalDocID=1718700036

E-Ticket

INDEX 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2. FEASIBILITY STUDY a) ABSTRACT b) PROBLEM STATEMENT c) FORMULATION OF SOLUTION STRATEGIES and d) ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATE SOLUTIONS 3. REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS a) HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS b) SRS DOCUMENT i. SOFTWARE MODEL ii. ARCHITECTURAL PATTERN iii. DESIGN PATTERN iv. SCOPE AND PROCESS v. OUTLINE OF ANALYZED PROCESSES 4. SYSTEM DESIGN a) PROJECT SYNOPSIS b) ER-DIAGRAMS c) UML DIAGRAMS i. USECASE DIAGRAMS ii. CLASS DIAGRAMS iii. SEQUENCE DIAGRAMS d) DATABASE DESIGN 5. MAINTENANCE 6. CONCLUSION 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ABSTRACT ? Name of the Project: e-Ticketing Vision: The Ultimate motto of the project addresses all the problems that were faced by the current traveling agencies. Coming to the feasibility aspect the current project focuses on 1) Economical Feasibility 2) Technical Feasibility 3) Operational Feasibility ? Deliverables/ Functional Specification:- 1. Current Administrators 2. Current Agents 3. Customers 4. Details of the services. 5. Timings, Sourc e, Destination details. Note: The application should be secured with different levels of access control. INITIAL INVESTIGATION Project Request and Problem initializationThe first step in System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the identification of need. The user request identifies the need for change and authorizes the initial investigation. The objective is to determine whether the request is valid and feasible. The outcome of the initial investigation is the presentation of results called project proposal. An acceptance signature on the project proposal by the authorized person and its acceptance by the MIS department makes it a formal agreement to proceed with the detailed analysis and design of the candidate system. PROBLEM DEFINITION:This project is basically about the â€Å"e-Ticketing† for â€Å"xxxxxxxxxx†. The existing procedure of â€Å"e-Ticketing† was done locally respective to the travelling agency, looking up and checking the various details of di fferent services in different places was a tedious and cumbersome process. It was even error prone and definitely not a pleasant task to perform. There are many problems involved in the existing system and has the following limitations- †¢ Time consuming (All process was done involving manually). †¢ Lack of integration. †¢ Difficulty in data processing (Since for each time the customer has to manually involve). Changing the decision at the last moment is a tedious task. †¢ Difficulty in viewing the service details. These were the chief reasons for the development of the project. To alleviate the above lacuna and thus achieving better information retrieval, the organization has decided to introduce the use of â€Å"e-Ticketing† FORMULATION OF SOLUTION STRATEGIES AND ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATE SOLUTIONS Organizations today can be benefit from the availability of these alternatives and evaluate how they can best benefit from them in the short to long term. Full tr easury centralization is today more accessible than ever.The traditional centralizing structures are still the preferred options, but payment factories are becoming more critical as the integration layer between treasury and the rest of the organization. Furthermore, strategic outsourcing is lowering the investment and project risk barriers and can significantly reduce the execution time of a centralization initiative if not even leap-frog some of the intermediate phases. While organizational centralization is a concept that is well understood, its practical application faces many challenges that often lead to a slow progression towards fully centralized management models.Transition can take different forms and can proceed at different speeds depending on the corporate organization. Individual business as well as form-wide initiatives, driven by cost efficiency, process integration or performance visibility, generate new centralization-fostering opportunities The use of reference to centralization terminology requires some qualifications: †¢ Strategic coordination – the less intrusive form, relying on policies, procedures and guidelines centrally issued. Compliance control – based on a formal and strict compliance and reporting framework, which could extend to central approval for certain activities †¢ Mandated execution – involving the transfer of some value-adding activities to a central entity †¢ Functional consolidation – migration and reorganization of entire activities into a new infrastructure Over the past decade functional centralization has experienced a strong acceleration thanks to rapid developments in application technology and communication protocols.By breaking down some of the barriers to effective exchange, access and circulation of data and information, the functional distribution of tasks and activities can be designed in a more flexible manner. Business applications can be deployed as single globa l installations and accessed remotely and securely. They can interface more easily with other systems and integrate a number of independent or standalone processes. The combination of these features takes centralization to a new level of sophistication and at the same time makes it more accessible and appropriate to a broader number of organizations.While organizational centralization is a concept that is well understood, its practical application faces many challenges that often lead to a slow progression towards fully centralized management models. Transition can take different forms and can proceed at different speeds, depending on the corporate organization. â€Å"Centralization† is commonly associated with a number of strong benefits that range from pure cost savings to control improvement, full compliance with corporate policies, process standardization, increased productivity and expertise consolidation. Hardware and software Requirements User interface requirements: D reamweaver MX.IDE : Eclipse Database requirements : Oracle8. 1 Server : Tomcat 5. 0 Preferred Technologies : JavaScript, Java ( Jdbc 2. 0,Servlets2. 1, JSP 1. 2 ,Struts) SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS MODEL In this project we are using the â€Å"Evolutionary Model† which is also referred to as the successive versions model and sometimes as the Incremental model. Comparison of different life cycle models Although classical waterfall model is the basic model for all the other life cycle models but it cannot be used in practical development projects, since these models supports no mechanism to handle the errors during the phases.This problem is overcome in iterative waterfall model but it is not suitable for very large projects and for projects that are subject to many risks. This model assumes that the requirements be completely specified before the next of the development activity can start, it cannot be satisfactorily used in projects where only rough requirements are available at the beginning of the project. This model creates blocking states in the system i. e. , some team members would have to wait for a phase to be complete before they can start their next activity. This is clearly wastage of resources and such wastages are rarely tolerated in real projects.In this life cycle model, the software is first broken down into several models (or) functional units, which can be incrementally constructed and delivered. The development team first develops the core modules of the system. This initial product skeleton is refined into increasing levels of capability by adding new functionalities in successive versions. Each evolutionary version may be developed using an iterative waterfall model of development. Each successive version of the product is fully functioning software capable of performing more useful work than the previous versions.In this model, the user gets a chance to experiment with partially developed software much before the complete version o f the system is released. Therefore, the evolutionary model helps to accurately elicit user requirements during the delivery of the different versions of the software, and the change requests therefore after delivery of the complete software are minimized. Also the core modules get tested thoroughly, thereby reducing chances of errors in the core modules of the final product. Further, this model obviates the need to commit large resources in one go for development of the system.The main disadvantage of the successive versions model is that for most practical problems it is difficult to divide the problem into several functional units, which can be incrementally implemented and delivered. Therefore, the evolutionary model is normally useful for only very large products, where it is easier to find modules for incremental implementation. Often the evolutionary model is especially when the customer prefers to receive the product in increments to be able to start using the different feat ures as and when they are developed rather than waiting for the full product to be developed and delivered.Evolutionary model is very popular for the object-oriented software development projects, because the system can easily be partitioned into stand-alone units in terms of the objects. ARCHITECTURAL PATTERN Model-View-Controller The Model Layer The model layer in a Java based web application can be implemented using any Java-based technology, such as EJB, Hibernate, or JDO. In our CoreBanking System. The model is represented as simple JavaBeans containing the data and business logic in a simple data access object. As far as possible, the model objects should be developed so that they have no knowledge of the environment.This allows us to more easily reuse them across environments and applications. The View Layer The view layer of most Java based web applications is made up of JavaServer pages. To facilitate the development of the view, Java provides a set of JSP tag libraries. Th ese tag libraries allow us to easily provide fully internationalised user interfaces that interact with the model components of a web application. The vast majority of dynamic Web front ends are based on HTML forms, and users of such applications have come to expect from these applications certain behaviours, such as form validation.With standard JSP, this is a tedious process that involves recording the contents of the form and populating every form element with information from a JavaBean in case of error. Java facilitates this sort of form processing and validation using Custom tags. These, in combination with the JSP tag libraries, make View development with forms really simple and natural. The Controller Layer Java includes a Servlet that implements the primary functions of the Controller, which is to map the incoming URL to a model object. The Servlet provides the following functions: 1.Decide what action is required to service a users request 2. Provide view data to the view 3. Decide which view to show next A Java developer must provide these actions (models) to implement the logic of their application. What is Model-View-Controller? . Let’s start by looking at how the Model, the View, and the Controller interact with one another: [pic] Figure 1: Model 2/MVC architecture As you can see from the above diagram, the user interacts with the Controller components (usually represented by Servlets) by submitting requests to them.In turn, the Controller components instantiate Model components (usually represented by JavaBeans or other similar technology), and manipulate them according to the logic of the application. Once the Model is constructed, the Controller decides which View (usually represented by JavaServer Pages) to show to the user next, and this View interacts with the Model to show the relevant data to the user. Using Java Server Pages or Servlets alone is known as Model 1. Model 2 was not particularly innovative or new; it uses Servlets to resemble Controller and Java ServerPages for resembling views.Many people realised that it follows the well-known MVC pattern that was developed back in the days of Smalltalk. As such, Java programmers tend to use the terms Model 2 and MVC interchangeably. DESIGN PATTERN Data Access Object Context Access to data varies depending on the source of the data. Access to persistent storage, such as to a database, varies greatly depending on the type of storage (relational databases, object-oriented databases, flat files, and so forth) and the vendor implementation Problem Applications can use the JDBC API to access data residing in a relational database management system (RDBMS).The JDBC API enables standard access and manipulation of data in persistent storage, such as a relational database. The JDBC API enables J2EE applications to use SQL statements, which are the standard means for accessing RDBMS tables. However, even within an RDBMS environment, the actual syntax and format of the S QL statements may vary depending on the particular database product. There is even greater variation with different types of persistent storage. Access mechanisms, supported APIs, and features vary between different types of persistent stores such as RDBMS, object-oriented databases, flat files, and so forth.Such disparate data sources offer challenges to the application and can potentially create a direct dependency between application code and data access code. When business components-entity beans, session beans, and even presentation components like servlets and helper objects for Java Server Pages (JSP) pages –need to access a data source, they can use the appropriate API to achieve connectivity and manipulate the data source. But including the connectivity and data access code within these components introduces a tight coupling between the components and the data source implementation.Such code dependencies in components make it difficult and tedious to migrate the appl ication from one type of data source to another. When the data source changes, the components need to be changed to handle the new type of data source. Forces Portability of the components is directly affected when specific access mechanisms and APIs are included in the components. Components need to be transparent to the actual persistent store or data source implementation to provide easy migration to different vendor products, different storage types, and different data source types. SolutionUse a Data Access Object (DAO) to abstract and encapsulate all access to the data source. The DAO manages the connection with the data source to obtain and store data. The DAO implements the access mechanism required to work with the data source. The data source could be a persistent store like an RDBMS, an external service like a B2B exchange, a repository like an LDAP database, or a business service accessed via CORBA Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) or low-level sockets. The business com ponent that relies on the DAO uses the simpler interface exposed by the DAO for its clients.The DAO completely hides the data source implementation details from its clients. Because the interface exposed by the DAO to clients does not change when the underlying data source implementation changes, this pattern allows the DAO to adapt to different storage schemes without affecting its clients or business components. Essentially, the DAO acts as an adapter between the component and the data source. Participants and Responsibilities Business Object The Business Object represents the data client. It is the object that requires access to the data source to obtain and store data.A Business Object may be implemented as a session bean, entity bean, or some other Java object, in addition to a servlet or helper bean that accesses the data source. Data Access Object The DataAccessObject is the primary object of this pattern. The DataAccessObject abstracts the underlying data access implementati on for the Business Object to enable transparent access to the data source. The Business Object also delegates data load and store operations to the DataAccessObject. Transfer Object This represents a Transfer Object used as a data carrier. The DataAccessObject may use a Transfer Object to return data to the client.The DataAccessObject may also receive the data from the client in a Transfer Object to update the data in the data source. Consequences: †¢ Enables Transparency Business objects can use the data source without knowing the specific details of the data source's implementation. Access is transparent because the implementation details are hidden inside the DAO. †¢ Enables Easier Migration A layer of DAOs makes it easier for an application to migrate to a different database implementation. The business objects have no knowledge of the underlying data implementation. Thus, the migration involves changes only to the DAO layer.Further, if employing a factory strategy, i t is possible to provide a concrete factory implementation for each underlying storage implementation. In this case, migrating to a different storage implementation means providing a new factory implementation to the application. †¢ Reduces Code Complexity in Business Objects Because the DAOs manage all the data access complexities, it simplifies the code in the business objects and other data clients that use the DAOs. All implementation-related code (such as SQL statements) is contained in the DAO and not in the business object.This improves code readability and development productivity. Centralizes All Data Access into a Separate Layer Because all data access operations are now delegated to the DAOs, the separate data access layer can be viewed as the layer that can isolate the rest of the application from the data access implementation. This centralization makes the application easier to maintain and manage. Scope of the Development Project Database Tier: The concentration is applied by adopting the Oracle 8. 1 Enterprise versions. SQL is taken as the standard query language.The overall business rules are designed by using the power of PL/SQL components like stored procedures stored functions and database triggers. User Tier: The use interface is developed is a browser specific environment to have centralized architecture. The components are designed using Dreamweaver and Java server pages power the dynamic of the page design. Data Base Connectivity Tier The communication architecture is designed by concentrated on the standards of servlets and Java Beans. The database connectivity is established using the Java Database connectivity. PurposeThe generated application is the first version upon the system. The overall system is planned to be in the formal of distributed architecture with homogeneous database platform. The major objective of the overall system is to keep the following components intact. ( System consistency ( System integrity ( Overall se curity of data ( Data reliability and Accuracy ( User friendly name both at administration and user levels ( Considering the fact of generality and clarity ( To cross check that the system overcomes the hurdles of the version specific standards OUTLINE OF ANALYZED PROCESSES ACTOR: ADMIN Process:1 Registration of new Administrator Input: Enter all the admin details like first name, last name, date of birth etc. Process: registration (form) Output: registration success/ registration fail ? Process:2 View Pending Agents Input: All the Pending Agents Process: view Pending Agents (form) Output: Accept/Reject Process:3 View Permanent Agents Input: All the Permanent Agents Process: view all the permanent Agent Details Output: success/fail ? Process :4 Add a new Bus Input: Enter Number, Type, Source, and Destination†¦ Process: Add the details in the database Output: success/fail Process :5 Add a new Bus Type Input: BusType, Id†¦ Process: Insertion of new Type (Id. ) Output: succes s/fail ? Process :6 Add Offer Input: OfferName, Applicable for, time. Process: adding Offer (form) Output: success/fail ? Process :7 Add New Trip Details Input: Enter all the trip details like Tripid, Locationid, etc. Process: New Trip (form) Output: success / fail ? Process:8 Change Halts Input: Enter existing source, destination details of the Location Process: change Halts (form) Output: success/fail ? Process:9 Send Messages To Notice Board Input: Enter Description of the Topic, Applicable to†¦Process: sendMessages(adform) Output: success ? Process:10 Send Mails Input: Agents Id, Customer Id Process: send mails (form) Output: success ? Process:11 Create new group Input: Enter grid and name of the group Process: insertGroupDetails (GroupDetailsForm gdf) Output: success ? Process:12 View all the Buses Input: View All Process: get all the details from Database Table Output: success/fail ? Process:13 View Offers Input: View Offers, Time they will be elapsed. Process: view Offer s (table) Output: success ? Process:14 view Permanent Agents Input: view all the existing Permanent AgentsProcess: all the permanent Agents (table) Output: success ? Process:15 view messages Input: view All the messages that r sent by Agents, Customers Process: view Messages (table) Output: success ? Process:16 view Buses Input: view all the existing Buses Process: view Buses(table) Output: success ? Process:17 View TripDetails Input: view All the TripDetails Process: Get all the trip details like(Trip Id,Timings.. ) Output: success ? Process:18 view BusTypes Input: view all the existing BusTypes Process: View BusTypes(table) Output: success ACTOR: AGENT ? Process:1 RegistrationInput: Enter all the Agentdetails like first name, last name, date of birth etc. Process: registration (form) Output: registration success/ registration fail ? Process:2 View Pending Agents Input: All the Pending Agents Process: view Pending Agents (form) Output: Accept/Reject ? Process:3 View Permanent Agent s Input: All the Permanent Agents Process: view all the permanent AgentDetails Output: success/fail ? Process :4 Add a new Bus Input: Enter Number, Type, Source, and Destination. Process: Add the details in the database Output: success/fail ? Process :5 Add a new BusType Input: BusType, Id,Process: Insertion of new Type (Id. ) Output: success/fail ? Process :6 AddOffer Input: OfferName, Applicable for,time.. Process: adding Offer (form) Output: success/fail ? Process :7 Add New TripDetails Input: Enter all the tripdetails like Tripid, Locationid, etc. Process: NewTrip(form) Output: success / fail ? Process:8 Change Halts Input: Enter existing source, destination details of the Location Process: change Halts (form) Output: success/fail ? Process:9 Send Messages To NoticeBoard Input: Enter Description of the Topic,Applicable to†¦ Process: sendMessages(adform) Output: success Process:10 SendMails Input: AgentsId, CustomerId Process: send mails(form) Output: success ? Process:11 Cr eat new group Input: Enter gid and name of the group Process: insertGroupDetails (GroupDetailsForm gdf) Output: success ? Process:12 View all the Buses Input: View All Process: get all the details from Database Table Output: success/fail ACTOR: CUSTOMER ? Process:1 Registration of new Administrator Input: Enter all the admindetails like first name, last name, date of birth etc. Process: registration (form) Output: registration success/ registration fail ? Process:2 View Pending AgentsInput: All the Pending Agents Process: view Pending Agents(form) Output: Accept/Reject ? Process:3 View Permanent Agents Input: All the Permanent Agents Process: view all the permanent Agent Details Output: success/fail ? Process :4 Add a new Bus Input: Enter Number, Type, Source, and Destination. Process: Add the details in the database Output: success/fail ? Process :5 Add a new Bus Type Input: BusType, Id, Process: Insertion of new Type (Id. ) Output: success/fail ? Process :6 AddOffer Input: OfferNa me, Applicable for, time. Process: adding Offer (form) Output: success/fail Process :7 Add New TripDetails Input: Enter all the trip details like Tripid, Locationid, etc. Process: New Trip (form) Output: success / fail Project Synopsis Technical Descriptions ? Database: The total number of databases that were identified to build the system is 14. The major parts of the databases are categorized as administration components and customer of based components. The administration components are useful is managing the actual master data that may be necessary to maintain the consistency of the system. These databases purely used for the internal organizational needs and necessities.The Administrator, Agent and Customer components are designed to handle to transactional states that arise upon the system whereas customer makes a visit onto the portal for making his transactions faster. The Customer components are scheduled accept parametrical information from the users as per the system nece ssity. ? GUI: In the flexibility of the users the interface has been developed a graphics concept in mind, associated through a browsers interface. The GUI’S at the top level have been categorized as ? Administration users interface ? Agents interface ? Customer users interfaceThe Administration users interface concentrate on the consistent in that is practically part of organizational actuaries and which needs proper authentication for data collation. The Administrator and Agent user interface helps the respective actors in transacting with the actual information as per their necessities with specific to the required services. The GUI’s restrict the ordinary users from mismanipulating the systems data, which can make the existing system non-operational. The information with specific to their personal standards and strategies can be changed through proper privileges. Modules: ) Administrator Module: This module maintains the services related to system administrator who is authenticated upon the system. This module fairly maintains the integration between the modules related to backend database and the functionalities carried out in the whole organization. This module also binds itself with the agent and customer details. 2) Agent Module: This module maintains the information related to the customers who have been signed upon to the system as well as the internal information of the organization. The module integrates itself with the other modules like the Administrator module and customer module that are provided y the organization. This module acts as a major integrator with Admin transactions and the requests for approvals that are raised by the customer. 3) Customer Module: This module manages and keeps track of the details of the existing services. It has interaction to Agent as well as administrator to keep track of the consistency of information form time to time as they are executed. 1. Actor: Admin The Admin module consists of the followin g services: ? Register another administrator. ? View pending agents and Accept or Reject them ? View permanent agents ? Add a new Bus. ? Add New Bus Type ? Add Offer Add New Trip Details ? Change Halts ? Send Messages to notice Board ? Send Mails ? View All the Busses ? View All Administrators ? View Offers ? View Permanent Agents ? View Messages ? View Busses ? View Trip details ? View Bus Types Register another administrator: In this process, Admin submits the details of another administrator with whom he want to share his responsibilities. The person whom admin appoints as an administrator will have the privilege to do all the responsibilities that are performed by actual Admin only if he is properly authenticated after login. †¢ View pending agents and Accept or Reject them::In this process, he can view the pending agents, he may accept the agents or reject. The agents who r accepted will be treated as Permanent agents. Those who are rejected, their details will not be upda ted in the database. †¢ ViewPermanentAgents: In this process he can view all the permanent agents along with their complete details. And the details of new Agents which he made from pending to permanent agents. †¢ Add New Bus : In this process, if the existing services are not able to meet the requirements of customers, he may add new types to meet the requirements of customer. Add New Bus Type: In this process, if the existing services are not able to meet the requirements of customers, he may add new types to meet the requirements of customer. †¢ Add Offer: In this process, a strategy of new offers will be declared by admin to attract customers, and increase his business and thereby withstanding in the competition. †¢ Add New Trip Details: In this process, new trip details will be declared by admin as per the agent & customer requirements. By modifying the trip details according to customer and agent requirements they may feel convenient. †¢ Change Halts:I n this process, admin can change the halts of his buses according to the Requirement of customers and also the agents keeping in view of appropriate halts and timings. †¢ Send Messages to notice Board: In this process, admin can display the messages about the bus services, timings, charges, offers, trips, also the details of performance appraisal of his employees to motivate them. †¢ Send Mails: In this process, admin can send the messages about the queries that were posted by both agent and customer. A proper feedback must be there for every organization to withstand the competition and to be interactive with customers. View All Administrators: In this process Admin can view all the administrators that are appointed by him for responsibility division. and he can all the details of them completely in this module. †¢ View Offers: In this process Admin can view the offers he provided . Because he should delete the offers as and when the time of the particular offer has been elapsed. †¢ View Permanent Agents: In this process Admin can view the permanent agents that r under his guidance. By viewing this module he can have the complete idea that who are the new agents added as permanent and also their details. View Messages: In this process Admin can view all the messages that are sent by agents for enhancements and has the privilege to implement the enhancements if the requirements are really needed. Can view all the messages that are sent by agents for enhancements and has the privilege to implement the enhancements if the requirements are really needed. †¢ View Buses: In this process, admin can view the details of the services and their appropriate timings and their halts and also the type of services and all other desired details. †¢ ViewTripDetails:In this process, admin can view the details of the services and their appropriate timings and their halts and also the type of services and all other desired details. †¢ ViewBusTyp es: Instead of sending messages to each and every account with this service Admin can display the message into the notice board and is accessed by every person. †¢ Logout: Whenever the Admin wants to quit the application he needs to use this service so that the session will be invalidated so that no one can access his account thus restricting others in accessing the Admin’s account. 2. Actor: Agent Registration for new License ? Registration ? Add Offer ? View Offers ? Send Messages ? View Messages ? Book Ticket ? Block Ticket ? Add Customer ? View Customers ? Logout †¢ Request for new license: In this process, new bus station that is agent want to establish should take a license from the Central agency i. e. Head Office . In the license certificate establishment details. Location, date details will be there. Registration In this process, agent can change his password by submitting the specified fields like agent id, old password, new password, retype new password.I f he enters the correct values then his password and he will get new password. †¢ Add Offer In this process, offers will be announced by agent office to implement business strategies such that it will improve the throughput and withstand in the competitive environment. †¢ View Offers: In this process, the existing offers include and also to delete the offers if the specified offer time has been elapsed. †¢ Send Messages: In this process, the total offers include new & old will be maintaining at the agent office. If the correspondent agent office has some permanent customer it can send messages to them. View Messages: In this process, every agent maintain list of messages to which they have sent, the messages how the people (customers r interactive with both agents and Administrators. †¢ Book Ticket: In this process, agent can book the tickets as the requirement of the customer approached by verifying the availability of trips, timings, availability seats†¦. †¢ Block Ticket In this process, agent office maintains details of customers if any one wants to cancel the tickets immediately they can block the tickets by assigning to others who r ready that trip. .Add Customer:In this process, if any customer wants to register with the agent he has the privilege to add the customer and make the services available to this new Customer. †¢ View Customers: In this process, every agent office maintains data about the customers, and their complete details regarding the journey along with his journey details. And also the services he was using. †¢ Logout: Whenever the Agent wants to quit the application he needs to use this service so that the session will be invalidated so that no one can access his account thus restricting others in accessing the Agent’s account. 3. Actor: Customer ? Register ? View Offers View Messages ? Send Messages to Agent ? Send Messages to Administrator ? View Bus Services ? View Bus Trip details like t imings †¦ ? Send Request to agent for booking a ticket ? Logout †¢ Register : In this process the Customer who wants the intended services provided by the agency. He should submit the details required, and if they r valid then only he will be given with one unique ID, Password which he should submit while login phase. If he forgets the password or Id he will be provided with an option to regain its Uid And password, but he should submit some details correctly with the data which he was submitted during registration phase. View Offers: In this process, customer see offers according to that he can register to view the offers. If he is eligible for that offer i. e. time is not elapsed he may bargain that offer. †¢ View Messages: In this process, customer sees all messages that are given by Customers, Agents, and Administrators and may get the required information. †¢ Send Message to Agent: In this process, Customer Registration modifications (i. e. ticket cancellati on, buy new tickets, dates postponement) occur. If the customer has any problem-sending message to agent can solve him. †¢ Send Message to Administrators:If the agents could not solve problems of the customers, meesage are sent to the administrators to solve those problems. Such they may get the accurate information from the adminstrator or send their valuable suggestions to implement by the Organization. †¢ View Bus Services: This process helps to get overall information about bus services i. e. Bus timings, routes such that he may get the services for his desired timings And may travel accordingly. †¢ View Bus Trip details like timings †¦ This process helps to give overall information about bus services And No. f Trips, Bus timings, routes, availability at his desired timings †¢ Send Request to agent for a ticket booking: In this process customer can directly reserve the tickets in nearer agents or from far place. by submitting the source & destination det ails along with the fare details i. e. the way of amount to be paid. †¢ Logout: Whenever the Customer wants to quit the application he needs to use. This service so that the session will be invalidated so that no one can access his Account thus restricting others in accessing the customer’s account. IMPLEMENTATION Program Design LanguageThe program design language is also called as structured English or pseudopodia. PDL is a generic reference for a design language PDL looks like a modern language. The difference between PDL and real programming language lies in the narrative text embedded directly within PDL statements. The characteristics required by a design language are: ? A fixed system of keywords that provide for all structured constructs date declaration and modularity characteristics. ? A free syntax of natural language that describes processing features. ? Subprogram definition and calling techniques that support various nodes of interface description.PDL syntax should include constructs for subprogram definition, interface description date declaration techniques for structuring, conditions constructs, repetition constructs and I/O constructs. PDL can be extended to include keywords for multitasking and/or concurrent processing interrupt handling, interposes synchronization the application design for which PDL is to be used should dictate the final form for the design language. Testing Objectives: The main objective of testing is to uncover a host of errors, systematically and with minimum effort and time. Stating formally, we can say, ?Testing is a process of executing a program with the intent of finding an error. ? A successful test is one that uncovers an as yet undiscovered error. ? The tests are inadequate to detect possibly present errors. ? The software more or less confirms to the quality and reliable standards. Unit Testing : ? The purpose of the coding and unit testing phase of software development is to translate the software d esign into source code. Each component of the design is implemented as a program module. The end-product of this phase is a set of program modules that have been individually tested.To enable the engineers to write good quality programs, every software development organization normally formulates its own coding standards that suits itself. A coding standard addresses issues such as the standard ways of laying out the program codes, the template for laying out the function and module headers, commenting guidelines, variable and function naming conventions, the maximum number of source lines permitted in each module, and so forth. ? During this phase, each module is unit tested to determine the correct working of all the individual modules.It involves testing each module in isolation as this is the most efficient way to debug the errors identified at this stage. Another reason behind testing a module in isolation is that the other modules, with which this module has to be interfaced, may not be ready. Integration and System Testing Integration of different modules is undertaken once they have been coded and uni tested. During the integration and syste3m testing phase, the modules are integrated in a planned manner. The different modules making up a software product are almost never integrated in one shot.Integration is normally carried out incrementally over a number of steps. During each integration step, the partially integrated system is tested and a set of previously planned modules are added to it. Finally, when all the modules have been successfully integrated and tested, system testing is carried out. The goal of system testing is to ensure that the developed system conforms to its requirements laid out in the SRS document. Our project is integrated and tested by using an activity by name (- testing. (- testing is the system testing performed by the development team. MAINTENANCEMaintenance is any work done to change the system after it is in operational. The term maintenance is used to describe activities that occur following the delivery of the product to the customer. The maintenance phase of the software life cycle is the time period in which a software product performs useful work. Maintenance activities involve making enhancements to products, adapting products to new environments, correcting problems. In this be retrieve the data from the database design by searching the database. So, for maintaining data our project has a backup facility so that here is an additional copy of data, which needs to be maintained. More over our project would update the annual data on to a CD, which could be used for later reference. CONCLUSION ? WORK DONE: The â€Å"e-Ticketing† was successfully designed and is tested for accuracy and quality. During this project we have accomplished all the objectives and this project meets the needs of the organization . The developed will be used in searching, retrieving and generating information for t he concerned requests. ? GOALS ? Reduced entry work. ? Easy retrieval of information ? Reduced errors due to human intervention ? User friendly screens to enter the data Portable and flexible for further enhancement ? Web enabled. ? Fast finding of information requested BIBLIOGRAPHY Reference Books: 1. The Complete Reference ——————–Patrik Naughton, Herbert Schildt 2. Java Servlet Programming ——————–Orielly 3. Html Black Book ——————–Steven Hozner 4. The Programming Language ——————–Ivan Bayross 5. Software Engineering ——————–James Websites: 1. http://www. java. sun. com 2. http://www. sunsoft. com 3. http://www. javasoft. com 4. http://www. apress. com 5. http://www. oracle. com 6. http://www. jspin. com