6. “It Is More Important to Discover New Ways of Thinking Essay Example for Free

6. â€Å"It Is More Important to Discover New Ways of Thinking Essay Developing new ways of thinking about what we already know is very important as it helps us to develop a better understanding of that which we already know so to some extent the above statement is true. However it is as significant to discover new data or facts. In fact these two concepts go hand in hand; it is because of some discoveries that we knew when they first came to light that we have something we call existing knowledge to think about and sometimes it is through trying to develop new ways of thinking about a certain issue without a solution that we finally decide it is best to find a new explanation or concept of looking at it. A student who goes from lower to higher school both learns new and advanced ways of thinking about the information they have gathered in previous grades as well as some new data they have never come across before which further stresses that both concepts are important. We cannot learn everything at once nor can we know all sbout those things we know, which is why both developing what we already know and leaarning some new things are equally important. In some cases one may find that discussing and thinking about what we already know but in a new clearer way can help us reach a conclusion whereas if we had chosen to discover new facts about it instead, our horizon of confusion would have been broadened and we find ourselves with yet another mystery to solve. A good example of a case like this is death. Unless someone dies and comes back and tells us exactly what happens after death, no one can ever really know what happens. Any information we all have of life after death is based on assumptions that is if there is even life after death. Discovering new facts about the so called life after death isn’t but going to cause even more confusion, so really in my view I would say it is rather best that one sticks to the knowledge and believe they have over this issue, and if anything, find new ways of thinking about instead of creating yet another confusing phenomena based on assumptions. But such fields as Science motivate constant discovery of new knowledge because this is one area of knowledge where falsification is the only method used to prove the theories because we cannot verify, in other words prove a Scientific theory to be true in any way but we can pfove it fo be wrong. In this case it is clear then that in Science it is more important to discover new facts or data than to think about that which we already have as we need new discoveries to falsify old theories. However sometimes it may be thinking hard and deep into a scientific theory that makes one see fault in it as a result make new discoveries in which case both thinking of something in a new way and making new discoveries would have been equally important. We can for instance look into the famous example of the falsification of Newton’s theory of gravitation by Einstein’s theory of relativity. Einstein like all other Scientists of that time saw nothing wrong with Newton’s model until a crisis came when Newton’s theory of gravity failed to account for the behavior of light. Obviously this had to be a result of scientists thinking of new ways of applying Newton’s model. No one expected the negative outcome they came out with but it was negative and the Scientists were faced with a dilemma they had to solve. That it is when Einstein invented his theory of relativity, a whole new theory, which could work even for those discoveries that Newton’s model failed to. In any case, the point is to show that finding new ways to think of something can actually lead to the discovery of new information which in turn gives us something new to think about and in new ways if we please. Living only by developing things we already know would be depriving ourselves off so much knowledge. Had the people who lived before our generation decided they wanted to live only on what they knew, there would be so much we do not know. Generations like that of Newton or Einstein, generations like that of Priestley or Lavoisier who made discoveries about oxygen and those of people who learned the word of God and passed it on from generation to generation till the bible was written we would not have the knowledge we have today. And the knowledge does not end there and like the paradigm shifts suggest, there will always be new information, new theories and new ways of thinking as the world revolves that will override the current theories but should we decide to live only by the data that already exists, we may find that we are making experiments with 90% errors all the time.

Mekong River Upstream Privileges And Downstream Threat Environmental Sciences Essay

Mekong River Upstream Privileges And Downstream Threat Environmental Sciences Essay The Mekong River (Langcang Jiang) is located in Southeast Asia, and it is considered as the seventh largest river in the world in terms of discharge and the tenth longest river in terms of length. Its origin is at Tibet Plateau, Yunnan Province, China, then flowing 4200 kilometers through Myanmar, Laos PDR, Thailand, Cambodia, and finally through the extensive delta in Vietnam into South China Sea. The Mekong basin contains full of natural resources including fishes and other aquatic diversities living in that region. The body of river is divided into two parts. First, the upstream part includes its origin in Tibet Plateau belongs to China and Myanmar and the downstream part is belonging to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The study reported that the Mekong River would benefit to hydropower production, expansion of irrigated land, reduction of the threat of flooding in the delta region, natural resources and the extension of navigability of the river as far as northern Laos. Th e catchment is resource rich and is represented as largely under-utilized. It also lies with a geopolitical region that benefit to riparian states in terms of politic, economic and environment development. Given this, the Mekong stands out as one of Southeast Asias most pressing and large scale resource and environmental management concerns. Moreover, the riparian states importantly depend on the Mekong River due to its abundance of resources; as a result, they ultimately formed a committee to maintain Mekong river regime. That is Mekong Committee in 1957. From this time, the principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedure specifically concerns with development of Mekongs resource have been maintained and changed through this regime. Inter-state conflict vis-à  -vis the use of the Mekong Rivers water resources emerged for the first time in the early 1990s. The dispute was employed as leverage in a disagreement between Thailand and Vietnam over the fair and equitable utilizat ion of the Mekongs water resources. At a deeper level, it reflected broader concern regarding strategic shifts throughout Southeast Asia and in Thai-Vietnamese relation following the peaceful conclusion of the cold war. The device of the committee is to coordinate the lower Mekong basin (Mekong Committee) and designed to facilitate the use of the Mekongs resource since 1957. In 1995, a new arrangement was established that Mekong River Commission (MRC) was renewed to deal with the management or the issues of sovereignty, non-interference and condition of interdependent. The Mekong River Commission consists of the lower basin countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Moreover, among the riparian states of Mekong basin, China is the most upstream country and a political and economic superpower in the region. China has often been considered to exhibit unilateral behavior toward the lower Mekong River riparian. MRC is not the only institution in the Mekong Basin, many oth er mechanisms such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) which includes China as a major partner was agreed to establish in 1992. The sub-region is covering 2.30 million square kilometers and feeds around 250 million head of total population. There are four international rivers within this sub-region, namely, the Greater Mekong River, Irrawady River, Yuanjiang-Honghe (Red) River and Nujiang-Salween River. All of the four rivers flow from Yunnan Province into respective Mainland Southeast Asian Countries. Among them, the three rivers of Mekong, Irrawady and Yuanjiang-Honghe are with great potentials for water transport development. These rivers could become water passage and transport network connecting Chinas Yunnan Province with the five Mainland Southeast Asian countries by joint cooperation and development. In following section, I will explain the main issue in Mekong River Basin Upstream privilege, downstream threat, and some mechanisms to deal with this complex issue. Upstream Threat The upstream countries are considered as China, Myanmar and Lao PDR in Mekong River Basin. They claim resources and development in their occupied areas in upper Mekong Basin. As a matter of fact, most of the riparian states try to extract as much as benefits as they can such as dam development, hydro power plan, energy project and navigation or passageway since the Mekong River is regarded as one of the mainly rich in resources for those purposes. Therefore, the country put much attention on development in Mekong Region. Of course, among the upstream states and all the riparian countries, China emerges as the most powerful state, and it is also the super power in the world in term of economy and more likely in the future the military super power. The industrialization of Chinas economy from agriculture base, it needs many factors to improve its economy such as electricity as the main part, raw materials, transportation, tradeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Moreover, as a strong economy in Mekong reg ion, China acts unilaterally in relation to development of dam. China adopted two approaches to ASEAN countries especially in Mekong River Basin. Beside this, it projected many plans for dam development to transfer energy to Chinese industries consumption and navigation. The first approach is non-cooperation, meaning it develops its own plans by itself without negotiation with other sovereign countries in Mekong River region. However, the downstream see it as a threat because the development might change the natural flow of river. Sometimes, it may cause the serious flood in rainy season and drought in dry season in the lower countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Therefore, the downstream countries try to get China in negotiation in order to make better use of Mekong River resource and sustainable development in that area. In 1970, Chinese planners began planning a scheme of the mainstream of upper Mekong in Yunnan involving 7-8 dams which can produce the capacity of 15, 550 KW or 17% of Chinas project on power demands (Pech SokhemKengo Sunada, 2008). The second approach is that China has implemented the active engagement with Mekong river shareholders as well as the ASEAN members. It sees the advantages of cooperating with ASEAN countries particularly the downstream countries including Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In November 2001, Chinese Premier Zhu Rong Ji provided $5 millon for major shoals, rapids, and reefs along the 331 Km Mekong River stretch from China-Myanmar border to Luang Prabang. In addition, China provided fund as well as the technical assistance to downstream for dam development or hydro power plan. Therefore, China plays an active role in investment in regional energy trade in downstream countries. In 2005, Chinese Premier, Wen Jia Bao, promised at 2nd GMS summit, China would like to cooperate with other Mekong members for future energy development and dam plans, and he also laid out Chinas plan for Common prosperity with each other in Mekong region. It tries to foster mutual trust, treat each other with sinc erity to calm down the downstream countries perception to China. All in all, even though China has cooperatively with other upstream and downstream countries, it still serves as China interest in term economy and power. The main threats to downstream are as following (i) dredging of river bed in the upper Langcang Mekong for improving the commercial navigation; (ii) large scale dam plans in Yunnan, China and ambitious dam development; (iii) Cambodias concern over flooding from the flood control measures along Vietnam -Cambodia border; and (iv) Vietnams grave concern over flooding and dry season low flow in the Mekong Delta due to the upstream development and so on. Downstream Impact Previous section, I have mentioned the Chinas acting in international relation with ASEAN states especially in Mekong River Basin. China usually use it sole power to develop many dam projects in order to develop its economy since it now needs much electricity for factories and water to connect from Yunnan province to South East Asia countries. Therefore, China makes change the natural flow of water in Mekong river basin. On the other side, downstream countries including Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are affected by hydropower plant in Mekong basin. Particularly the most affected ones are Cambodia and Vietnam for they are located in lowest part of Mekong River. However, I would like to focus on overall threat to downstream states and effect of water management in Cambodia as a result of upstream unilaterally adopted project on those areas in their country. Actually, countries in downstream states are living in the complex ecosystem. As the Mekong River serves water resources and natural resources and benefit to roughly 60 million people, the people are accordingly affected by eight large dams in Yunnan province, China. More importantly, most of the dam projects of China do not have environmental impact assessment. Sometimes, the negative impacts do not need hundred years to see the environmental deterioration. For instance, hydropower project, Xiaowan, was started in December 2001 and expected to finish in 2012. This dam development is at 292 meter height and considered as the highest dam project in the world; however, the impact on Lao PDR is that it will meet flood in the dry season. Another case in Vietnam, it will cause the serious flooding in Southern part of province. Moreover, the large dam project not only causes the flooding in downstream countries, but also they many incur other crises including ecosystem, aquatic diversities, climate change, uncontrollable flooding, food scarcity, prolong floods and droughts, decrease sedimentation biodivers ities, deforestation, land clearance. Now lets look at some particular impact as following: Destruction of fish and fisheries: flooded in dry season will seriously damage the fish-feeding. Impact on agriculture: 80% of rice production in lower Mekong basin depends on water, silt, nutrient provided by seasonal flooding of Mekong. Flood in dry season will erode and decrease sediment and it affects long-term agricultural yield. IV. Cambodia Challenge: Water Management in Cambodia After getting familiar with upstream and downstream problem, I will elaborate more on Cambodia case. Cambodia is located in downstream countries among riparian states in Mekong River Basin. This location can either give opportunities for Cambodia or threaten the water management in Cambodia. In fact, 85% of agricultural activities in Cambodia, depends on Mekong River flowing from upper stream countries. The benefits which Cambodia can get are that due to potential situation it can absorb many resources such as fish and other aquatic biodiversities that move from upper stream because of changing of water management in those countries. Prior to explaining the water system and challenges that Cambodia face, I would like to describe about brief background of Cambodia. Cambodia is situation in South East Asia and located in latitude between 10o and 15o in North and Longitude between 102o and 108o in East. It covers roughly 181,035 km2 in territory and has total population around 14 million people dispersed in 24 province and 4 cities. The people mostly gather in city of Phnom Penh due to the fact that it is the economic, politic, cultural city of Cambodia. Among total population, 71% are farmers, 21% are employed in service sector and 8% works for industrial sector. Since most of population are doing agricultural activities; therefore, it needs high and systematic water supply to operate this field. The question is that where can Cambodia access the water for supplying its agricultural activities. In fact, Cambodia can access the water from two main sources such as from Mekong River and Great Lake ( Tonle Sap) located in center of the country. During the wet season, water will flood the surrounding areas and especially the water supply from Mekong River Delta and Tonle Sap all in all will direct to Great Lake; as a result, it will lead to the flood. Whenever there is a flood, it will bring the tilt and nutrition to the soil which was flood; therefore, it is useful for agriculture and cultivation. In addition, due to the fact that Cambodia highly depends on water supply from Mekong River; the changes in water flow in Mekong River Basin will accordingly damage the agricultural and cultivating area in Lower Mekong River especially in Cambodia since the 85% of the flow of river is situated in Cambodia. Moreover, there are many causes that can damage to the water supply in Cambodia. First of all, the upper stream countries such as China, Myanmar and Lao PDR developed 14 hydropower plans which can get generate the capacity of 222,600 MW. Since the Upper stream countries developing their dam project particularly in China, it may block the flow the water to run the engine to produce the fulfill the dam process; there will incur irregular flow of water; as a result, the fish resources will decrease due to alternation of ecosystem. Moreover, people will usually depend on fisheries will lack of fish, therefore, their income will accordingly lower. Furthermore, in mid-2006 downstream states agreed to develop 11 dam projects comprising of 2 in Lao PDR, 2 for Thailand, and 2 for Cambodia. As a result of the developing the plans for dam projects for hydropower plans to generate the electricity for local consumption, it is seriously affects the livelihood in Mekong river. That can reduce the quantity of fish supply particular in Cambodia. All in all, due to the plan of dam projects in both of upper and lower stream in Mekong River Basin, the suffer will likely affect the livelihood and species. V. Solution to the problem: Suggestion to the use of GMS As I have mentioned in the previous section about the challenges of downstream of Mekong Basin especially Cambodia which is one of the large stake country in Mekong River Basin, in this section, I will introduce some proposed solutions which suggested by countries in Mekong River as well as external superpower countries call for water protection since the world will be facing the water security in the future if there are not enough mechanisms to manage it. Therefore, in order to make sustainable consumption of Mekong River, every involving state has responsibility to cooperatively work with all the members in Greater Mekong River. If there are not suitable methods or system to control the effective use of Mekong River, it may be in one day damaged, and it will cause serious catastrophe among riparian states particularly downstream countries namely Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam such as flooding in rain season and disastrous drought in dry season in low areas of Mekong Basin. In order to cope with this problem, there are many mechanisms to deal with this issue ranging from strengthening of the role of Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) to the newly established of Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI). In 1992, the concept of Greater Mekong Sub-region was proposed by Asian development bank (ADB) for promoting all involvement of all member states in Mekong River including China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This regional cooperation is partitioned to promote building relationship among riparian states of Mekong River for express idea platform, negotiation platform, and sharing information platform. It facilitates the cross-boundary negotiation since every member has to share the idea when they want to develop the plant in Mekong Basin. If there is not information sharing from each state; therefore, the state will cause damage of water usage in Mekong River as the fisheries stock availability inside the Mekong River. To this instance, the cooperation is very useful and necessary because state can receive information and take action in prevent the crisis from happening. Thats why it is deemed necessary to strengthen the role of GMS. Beside this, the GMS can includ e all member states especially China which is the most upper stream of the basin since China formerly act unilaterally on its dam projects and power plants in upper stream, which can cause serious damage to lower stream of water use and fisheries stock. Moreover, the effective mechanisms are being used for dealing with any kinds of issue regarding the Mekong River. In brief, we will see the sharing information in regional cooperation will help strengthen the make use of water as well as the resources in Mekong River too. Following the establishment of regional cooperation, Greater Mekong Sub-region, the states in low basin also try to build firm relationship for effective use of the river and help each other for any necessary skill and ability building. In 1995, the states such as Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam initiated the Mekong River Commission (MRC) for regional economic cooperation. In the MRC, each member tries to work together for better use in Mekong River. Moreover, they conduct the meeting every year in order to share the idea and information in term of power plant development and other dam projects that may affect the water flow to lower delta of the river. Furthermore, each member every year meet each other to strengthen more relationship and study on dam project from upper level to lower level of Mekong River. MRC is very useful in term of regional cooperation since 1995 because the states regard as an effective commission for sharing idea in term of water use in the basin. Moreover, in 2009, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for creating the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) in Waters Day. This creation aims at promoting more tied relationship among member states. There has been much regional cooperation in order to make better use and sustainable development of water and resource in the Mekong River because if there is no maintenance or cooperative work, we will meet the crisis in the future. In conclusion, upstream states lead to many effects on downstream countries in terms of economic, politic, and environment. Therefore, downstream ones call for regional integration among riparian states along Mekong River. Moreover, Mekong River Committee plays significant role in coordinating and promoting cooperation in Mekong River Basin. Many referendums and treaties have been signed in order to ensure the sustainable use of resources and benefits. In addition, Greater Mekong River embraces China to negotiation and cooperation. We will see the role of GMS to solving the internal conflict in Mekong River.

The History Of Zara Information Technology Essay

The History Of Zara Information Technology Essay Zara is the most successful brand of Spanish company Grupo Inditex. Its owner, Amancio Ortega, opened first retail store in 1975 in La Coruna, a small port in Spain. Zara became the worlds largest fashion retailer by 2008 end. By this time it had stores in over 70 countries, out performing its rivals like Gap of USA and Sweden based HM (Hennes Maurits) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/12/retail.spain). Zaras Innovative Operations: Daniel Piette, director of fashion, LVMH has described Zara as possibly the most devastating and innovating retailer in the world http://tbmdb.blogspot.com/2009/12/business-model-example-zara-devastating.html, owing to the companys innovative and unique approach in fashion retail. Zara follows the concept of a vertically integrated supply chain, in which the company has a tight control over most of the design phase, production phase and distribution system to its chain of retail outlets. The rest of these processes is handled by its sister concerns with nearby locations. Unlike its competitors Zara does not outsource its production to Asian developing countries; the proximity of production units helps Zara by giving flexibility in production so that the company can meet the ever-changing demands of the consumers more efficiently than its competitors. Zara has integrated the system of POS (Point Of Sales) and has formed a unique method that helps in the production of new designs. POS helps in monitoring what designs are bringing in maximum sales at the retail shops. The store managers are allowed freedom to decide which designs to display and which ones to keep back in the store, depending on the sales of those designs. Zaras employees at the retail outlets gather feedbacks from the customers and convey the information to the headquarters with the help of hand-held PDAs that each employee is required to carry. At the headquarters, the design teams immediately respond to feedbacks sent via PDAs and begin designing new clothes accordingly. The clothes are manufactured and distributed to the retail stores within a short period of 2 to 4 weeks owing to the vertical integration of its supply chain. While its rivals are busy finding and identifying what the latest trends might be and finally take 4 to 9 months to distribute new designs to their respective stores, Zara manages to design, manufacture and distribute new designs in a matter of just of 30 days. Taking advantage of the fast turn around time, Zara eschews the concept of producing just one collection per season, like its rivals do. Instead the designs keep on changing frequently so that Zara manages to deliver new designs twice a week to its retail shops. Zara only produces small quantities of each style so that there is continuous demand of popular designs. It cuts down on manufacturing costs as well. Thus Zara manages to deliver around 12000 different styles in a year whereas its competitors can produce only 4000-5000 per year. Hence, the company-coined phrase, fast fashion http://www.3isite.com/articles/ImagesFashion_Zara_Part_I.pdf. Current Technology in Information Communication Zaras use of technology in information technology is unique from its competitors. Firstly Zara uses much less technology, in terms of expenditure and work-force, than its competitors just 0.5% of its work force compared to 2.5% of employees that its rivals utilise. Similarly Zara spends only 0.5% of its revenue on information technology compared to expenditure of 2% by its competitors. Secondly Zara employs a unique combination of human and IT intelligence. Managers at the stores and the market survey done by the employees, form the human intelligence while IT intelligence consists of the PDA devices used to send information collected by the managers and other employees carrying the PDAs. An order form is transmitted to each managers PDA asking for information such as availability of garments and patterns of garment sales. The managers of each retail outlets then divide this order form into sections and these sections are transmitted to the PDAs of each employee to fill up, based o n customers feedback and the kind of designs sold. Employees then transmit back their respective sections to the managers PDA, after entering the customers requirements. The managers of each store are given total authority to determine and identify which sections are to be retained in the order form. The edited order form is then sent back to headquarters where the designing teams start working on the basis of the order forms. This unique hybrid of humans technology helps in managing the inventories efficiently and quick and efficient link between demand and supply, thus successfully helping in their own doctrine of fast fashion. Summing up Zaras use of technology http://leoborjblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/zara-it-for-fast-fashion/: Gather customer requirements PDAs Logistics and transmission of order form POS terminals and modems. Quickly designing new style CAD (Computer Aided Design) Advantages of such an Innovative System Vertical integration of supply chain and short turn around time lead to High turnover of product. Quick and efficient distribution helps to eliminate warehouse requirement, saving on additional storage costs. Searching the market for latest fashion trends and responding quickly to the consumer requirements with the help of hand-held PDAs. Complete autonomy and flexibility to the employees and managers who are in direct contact with the customers. POS terminals run on DOS operating system, which is cheap and easy to maintain and operate. Perceived limitations of this System http://www.slideshare.net/koffman/zara-case-study-2780928 Zara and its sister concerns have been using DOS as their main operating system in all the processes. It is an outdated operating system. As the POS vendor supplies DOS OS to zara only, it can always stop its supply, while continue to supply other operating systems to its other customers. Store managers are the decision makers. Zara headquarter relies solely on the experience and intuition of the managers. Instead of looking after customers, managers and employees have the time-consuming task of manually entering the garment details in small PDAs. This could result in the employees failing to assist some customers in choosing and might miss out on few garment sales. Inventory is maintained manually as well. Information transmitted is one way only. Managers have no knowledge of the inventories at headquarters and the stores distribution centre. Consequently managers cannot promise a customer if a particular garment that has been sold out, can be replenished and in how many days. Promises made to customers not kept can damage Zaras reputation, so the managers need to know about the garments inventories at headquarters and the distribution centres. There is a great demand for Zaras garments even though new designs are available twice a week. Zara may consider increase in production to meet these ever growing demands. Gathering of information therefore may need to be upgraded in terms of frequency. Its competitors can change to a better OS or software package and increase their turn around time, neutralizing Zaras edge of fast fashion over them. New IT Technology for Sustainability http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=97642 Benefits: New technology may not help Zara in increasing the competitive edge over its competitors but will help in sustaining that edge. A new operating system will help in installing software packages that will help in efficient access of inventory at the stores as well as headquarters and distribution centers. Upgrading to new OS will remove the companys dependency on its current supplier of DOS. Using more than one IT supplier will increase Zaras bargaining power. A Network can be set up between HQ, production centers and retail stores. POS system can be automated so that each sale will automatically update the POS devices. If the POS system of all stores can be interlinked all the store managers can easily know the inventory online and can make and keep their promises to customers demanding a particular garment. POS automation will help reduce overall workload of the employees and managers, as they will not have to manually enter every detail required in the order form. There will not be any need of hand held PDAs. Dedicated POS software will ensure that orders will now be made on the basis of theoretical inventories and will be more accurate. Orders can now placed continually increasing the frequency from twice a week to daily. Ideal software to be used for integration would be ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Linking all the process in the supply chain, from HQ, design centers to retail stores, will not only help the managers in accessing inventories but will also help HQ to regulate the supplies more accurately according to the orders placed. Production will become even leaner than before. ECQ (Economic Order Quantity) can help in determining quantities of different garments that buyer can order so that there is sufficient stock for the customers. This will reduce inventory cost as well. Knowing reorder levels will streamline managing of the inventory and help in maintaining the autonomy of the managers. Managers can determine from the reorder levels whether a particular garment needs to be ordered before it will go out of stock and can transmit the same to the production centers that are now linked to the retail outlets. Of course manual checks will still be needed occasionally to check a stores real time inventory is same as the theoretical inventory in case of exceptions like garments getting stolen or gone missing. Designers at HQ will now not depend entirely on the managers discretion and can observe themselves sales of new designs due to two-way system integration by ERP. Just in case a store does run out of stock on a particular garment, the manager can easily check the inventories of local nearby stores for availability and suggest the customer to go there. Inter-store connectivity will have added advantage of shipping garments to another store that has more demand of a particular garment. This will further increase the speed-to-market. Besides HQ even managers of different stores will benefit if they know through network what is selling at other stores and what is not. Cost Analysis: Zara will have to upgrade to better OS that will support ERP like Linux, Unix or Windows NT. Implementation cost of Linux is lowest of the three OS. But recurring costs like service-contract is much higher (McAfee et al). Annual cost of using Unix is the lowest and if functionality remains more or less same, Unix will be best suited. If other costs like plans for systems failure are not taken into consideration then implementation cost will relatively much lower than prospective ROI (Return On Investment). Risk Analysis: Changing software and operating system in all retail shops world over is not an easy task. Due to location of Zaras retail outlets all over the world, there will be many extra tangible costs. Cost of replacing current POS system with the new one. Cost of installation of new cables in each store and maybe new infrastructure to support the cables. Cost of external IT support, hiring professional consultants. Cost of internal IT management and technical training of personnel. Time taken to train the personnel till outside assistance is not required cannot be determined as level of training and learning will be different at different locations around the world. Risk Reduction: Both current and new systems should operate together till the personnel of each store can run the new system smoothly; this will not interrupt any service provided to customers. Zara has a huge pilot outlet that is around 1,500 square meters. Zara can use this as training facility from its personnel from all over the world. Zara can use it to test the new system as well. Zara can hire experienced software professionals and open an in-house department for software management and development. Zara can outsource the management and development to experienced software companies. However Zara will have to trade-off between highly efficient and expensive companies. Zara should develop a contingency plan and an exit plan as well in case the company cannot continue with the up gradation for some reason. Robust data backup is required in case the new system crashes due to mishandling by inexperienced staff.

An Analysis of the Form and Ideology of Hedgehog in the Fog :: Film Movie Hedgehog Fog Essays

An Analysis of the Form and Ideology of Hedgehog in the Fog The animation, ?Hedgehog in the Fog?, tells the story of an inquisitive hedgehog passing through a wood to visit his friend the bear cub to count the stars. It has won numerous awards for it?s style and originality after it?s release by Yuri Bonsovich Norstein (1941 - to date) and his small crew at the Soyuzmultfilm studios in Moscow in 1975. ?Hedgehog in the Fog? is the fifth of Norstein?s six completed works. All have a deceptive simplicity, a faux naivetà ®ehat begs a deeper understanding of their origins and implications. Norstein has a very original, particular style to his animations and the purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the form and ideology of one of his animations with the intention of discovering what it is that makes his artwork so unique and has led to him being regarded as one of the greatest animators in history?. The method by which this will be done will be to firstly report the elements and functions that went into forming Norstein?s animations and ?Hedgehog in the Fog? in particular, then to analyse how these elements .mix with his personal influences to imply further meaning within his work. The hedgehog?s journey begins as he enters the wood carrying a bag of sweets for the bear, and unknowingly stalked by an owl. He pauses for a moment to entertain himself by calling into a well and listening to his echo, the owl does the same. Continuing he sees a white horse standing in the fog and is concerThed~~s to whether it might suffocate should it lie down, and so enters the fo~ff~.i*eIf just to ?see what it was like?. Once within, the fog itself becomes a great part of the plot, revealing and hiding a number of characters that amaze, help or alarm him, or all three. All the while the bear cub is heard calling the hedgehog, with great concern, in the distance. At one point, becoming enthralled with a large tree, the hedgehog loses his sweets, only to have them returned to him by a dog. Finally after accidentally slipping into a stream and being saved from drowning by a fish the hedgehog finds his friend the bear who fusses over him incessantly having been worried as to his whe reabouts. The film ends with the hedgehog deep in thought about everything that had happened.

The Sound Of Hollyhocks :: essays research papers

The theme of Hugh Garner's 'The Sound of Hollyhocks'; concerns one of Canada's most serious social problems. The theme suggests how condescension and discrimination can have devastating effects on the people around us. The story is set in Pinehills Clinic where alcoholics and psychotics are placed to recover. Wilf Armstrong, an alcoholic at the clinic, ends up with 'Rock Hudson';, who is a psychotic at the hospital, as his roommate. 'Rock Hudson'; was the nickname given to William Cornish Ranson by some of the other alcoholics. Rock was forced into mental illness by his mother because his wife, Sarah, was from a different social class. Rock comes from a rich family and he met Sarah at one of his father's branch of banks. They got married secretly because Rock knew that his mother would object such a marriage since Sarah came from a poorer and less prestigious background. The first meeting between Sarah and Rock's mother proved to be a disaster. Due to Rock's mother's disapproval of S arah, Sarah and Rock's marriage starts to fall apart. One thing leads to another, and Sarah and Rock's marriage ends with Sarah's abrupt death. This pushes Rock into his present state of hearing flowers talk to him. This is a great example of how social problems such as condescension and discrimination can have devastating effects on those around us. If Rock's mother had not shown such hostility towards Sarah and Rock, they wouldn't have grown apart and Sarah would not have died and Rock would not have gone crazy. So Rock's mother, who originally just wanted the best for his son, becomes the person that pushes Rock into his mental illness, which ultimately lead to his death. Things like this happen every day in Canada and around the world. Awhile ago, several 'skinheads'; were tried for beating a Sikh man to death due to racial and religious differences.

How does Steinbeck use setting in his novellas Essay

Steinbeck uses the beginning of each chapter to paint the image of the room or location in which the chapter takes part. The main locations are the place near the pool, the bunkhouse, the dream farm, Crooks’ room, and the barn. Steinbeck picks items or feature of each place to help evoke the atmosphere of the place and to symbolise the greater ideas of the story. The idealised setting near the pool is where people start waiting to begin working towards the American dream, hoping to live an idealised existence; it acts as a canvas for their dreams to be painted upon. However, Crooks’ room and the bunkhouse represents the difficulty to reach the ‘American dream’. The barn is somewhere to reminisce about the struggle on the path to the idealised world. Then the last chapter of the novella returns to the place near the pool, this is when they know they have failed. That this is reality and it is clear it is just a dream. This cyclical structure shows the contra st about dream and reality. As mentioned the first chapter of the novella is set in the place near the pool. The setting resembles paradise. Somewhere you can be at peace. This fools Lennie into believing that he is safe when he is not. The picturesque setting makes people believe that dreams are attainable. There is great peace and tranquillity, as indicated by the fact that ‘deer come to drink in the dark.’ There is no one that can endanger their lives, the dears are not afraid of the predators, just as Lennie is not. But the danger that lurks underneath. This is illustrated in the killing of the snake by the heron ’a silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while it tail waved frantically’. Lennie’s arrival describe as ‘silent as a creeping bear’. Mirrors the arrival of the snake ‘A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool’ this foreshadows Lennie’s death. The bunkhouse and Crook’s room are the two settings in which most of the novel la takes place. The settings contrast because the bunkhouse is plain, but Crooks’ room is full of possessions. The reason for this is Crooks is that he doesn’t have a chance @being a stable buck and a cripple he was more permanent than other men’ and he is black. In light of this the harness room is more than he can wish for. Crooks has ‘more possessions than he could carry on his back.’ This is a lot more than the other men, meaning that he is a more permanent inhabitant. On the other hand, the men in the bunkhouse  are transient and not move a lot of possessions. ‘Over each bunk there was apple box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves for the personal belongings of the occupant of the bed †¦ this shelves were loaded’. The men (except Crooks) share a long rectangular building with 20 other men, where they could have a whole farm to themselves; even if the men do not have a house to themselves they still try to create some persona l space and belongings. The dream farm is the fantastical world for the ranch workers to work and live in. this is the place where people feel free, and can do whatever they please ‘if we don’t like a guy we can say, â€Å"Get the hell out† an’ by God he would.’ This shows that they are they boss and do not ‘have to buck no barley eleven hours a day’. They could set their own rules. When they have this dream farm they would be independent. They do not have to be given food, money and shelter ‘No more running’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunkhouse.’ In the dream farm they had a place where they could settle for once, they could even think about making a family, because they would be settled and have a regular income to support the family with. This is a dream that is currently impossible for them. The barn is a place to be supposedly safe as it is a place to shelter and protect the animals in. this is ironic as it is the place that Lennie kills he dog and Curley’s wife in the barn. All the places in the novella signify the hardships of life. The place near the pool symbolises the contrast between dreams and reality. The bunkhouse is a gateway to their ‘dream’. Crooks’ room shows the segregation and prejudice that was around in 1930s America. The barn represents loneliness and death. The fault of the dream farm is it does not actually exist.

Family Adaptation on Pregnancy Essay

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction and Background of the Study Based on latest Census of Population and Housing, which was conducted last May 1 2010, the household population of the Philippines reached 92,097,978. From this number, the total population of City of Muntinlupa, Barangay Tunasan is 51,033. Family works together and how well it can organize itself against potential threats depends its structure (who its members are) and its function (the activities or roles family members carry out). (Crea, Barth, & Chintapalli, 2007). Pregnancy is such a huge change in a woman’s life that is brings about more psychological changes than any other life event besides puberty (Rojas, Wood, & Blakemore, 2007). A woman’s attitude toward a pregnancy depends a great deal on psychological aspects such as the environment in which she was raised, the messages about pregnancy her family communication and others. (Darby, 2007). For many families, the stage at which children leave to establish their own households is the most difficult stage because it  appears as like breaking up the family. This stage may represent a loss of self-esteem for parents, who feel themselves being replaced by other people in their children’s live. As well as the feelings of siblings, they feel some jealousy and less able to cope up. To support the statement above, a nurse can serve as an important counselor to such as family. He or she who is planning to have an own family is what they have spent a long time preparing them to do, or that leaving the home is positive, not a negative, step in family growth. Muntinlupa City is composed of 9 Barangays and one of these is, Barangay Tunasan, with an estimated land area of 950 hectares, a population of more or less 75,000 inhabitants residing in the barrio proper and in different Subdivision, Puroks and Sitios. It has 13 Subdivisions and Villages, 7 Puroks and 12 Sitios and 1 Industrial Complex, housing 25 factories and business establishments. With that, the focus of this study is to determine how the families adapt to pregnancy considering that based on a study, the chosen community which is the barrio proper, found out that there are insufficiencies in their Health Center and medical supplies are inadequate. 1.2 Statement of the Problem The study aims to answer the following questions: 1) What is the demographic profile of respondents when grouped according to: a. Gender b. Religion c. Educational attainment 2) What is the type of family adaptation of respondents as to: a. Type of Family b. Family Finances c. Health d. Spiritual Growth e. Emotional Support f. Level of coping g. Stress Management 3) Is there a significant relationship between the demographic profile variables and the concept of family adaptation of the respondents when grouped according to: a. Gender b. Religion c. Educational attainment 1.3 Hypotheses Ho1: there is no significant relationship between gender of the respondents and the concept of family adaptation on pregnancy Ho2: there is no significant relationship between religion of the respondents and the concept of family adaptation on pregnancy Ho3: there is no significant relationship between educational attainment of the respondents and the concept of family adaptation on pregnancy 1.4 Significance of the study Community: In the chosen community, the study will serve as a guide to the family on how to adapt on pregnancy and for the Barangay Health Workers to be able to assist the family and have a deeper understanding to the said program and do appropriate health actions in line with the perceived adaptation on pregnancy. Nursing Students: this study will help students understand on how the family adapts to pregnancy and for them to apply their skills and knowledge, to be able to carry out appropriate interventions utilizing the nursing process. School of Nursing: this study will serve as basis for improvements and enhancement of teaching content for the family Future Researchers: this study will serve as a guide and reference and baseline information to further develop studies. The study can also open in development of the study. Participants: this study will help participants to improve their health promoting behaviors according to the least frequent healthy behavior. Researcher: this study will help the researcher gain knowledge on how to properly make a research paper according to its process. 1.5 Objectives of the study Main purpose: The study is aim towards describing the family adaptation on  pregnancy. Specifically, it is aimed to: 1) determine the demographic profile of the respondents  2) determine the type of family adaptation on pregnancy of the respondents 3) determine the significant relationship between the demographic profile variables of the respondents and their adaptation to pregnancy 1.6 Scope Delimitation and Limitations of the Study This study is focus on the adaptation among selected families living in Barangay Tunasan, Arandia Street, Muntinlupa City.   As subjects of this study, complete enumeration was utilized according to the criterion. Family with ages 18 and above living in Barangay Tunasan, Muntinlupa City regardless of their gender and socio-economic status. This study is limited only on assessment of the family adaptation on pregnancy of families of the chosen community. The study does not cover interventions to be given whether the result showed need to improve their adaptation on pregnancy. References: http://www.muntinlupacity.gov.ph/index.php?target=barangaydetails¶ms=request_._barangay_.._id_._2 http://www.census.gov.ph/sites/default/files/attachments/hsd/pressrelease/National%20Capital%20Region.pdf