Alasia Hotel Resorts Companys Risk Management

Alasia Hotel Resorts Companys Risk Management Introduction Understanding risk and risk management in an organisation requires one to understand that risks are varied depending on the type of organization in question. Risk management is the system of strategies, policies and practices that minimize an organization’s exposure to risk, cushioning it against the effects of those risks (Investor Glossary 2011; McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2005).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Alasia Hotel Resorts Company’s Risk Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To understand the nature of the dynamics of risk requires one to also consider the variety of business interests and business fields such as health, transport, finance and other (Hutter and Power 2005). Thus, risk management in the business environment assumes different perspectives depending n the organization and the risks in question. However, Hutter and Power (2005) adds that risk management is not something an organization chances to do, but should be a deliberate effort to prepare the organization to deal with future emergencies. Thus proper and effective risk management ensures that the future of the organization is assured. This does not however mean that organizations understand the nature and type of risks that they will encounter in the present and in the future. It means that organizations must implement the correct strategies to deal with dynamic risks as they arise and minimize their effect (Hutter Power 2005). Company outline Alasia Hotel Resorts (AHR) Alasia Hotel Resorts (AHR) is owned by Alexia Limited which was registered in 1984 as a private limited company. AHR is an exclusively full service establishment with fully owned hotels and resorts in these exceptional cities; Berlin, Frankfurt, Budapest, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Sydney and Hamburg. The company has also franchises in London, New York and Florida. It offers a variety off services and products, and c aters for individual, group and corporate clients on full board, half board and customized services. AHR has well established restaurants, coffee shops, bars, catering and cocktail lounges with full service personnel. AHR also offers accommodation services in our main resorts or condominiums with room and personalized services. Condominiums are only for private full board accommodation for small groups or families and guarantees all services offered at the he main hotels. All our large hotels also have exclusive retail shops such as gift shops, boutiques and chemists.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Our hotels and resorts offer other services such as beauty parlors, ballrooms, fitness centers, health amenities, laundry and valet service. Other than these, AHR also has the facilities for exhibit halls, seminars, conferences, private functions such as wedding and ot her types of meetings. To facilitate easy movement of clients, AHR has secured coaches and saloon cars available upon request. As Hutter and Power (2005) explains, risk management is a deliberate effort that is part of AHR’s core business; the same can be said of AHR. The nature of AHR’s business, deals with risks every day, therefore risk management is a core function in its daily operations. As such, risk management becomes the culture and therefore in the business practices at the company. The company has tailored its risk management to suit its business model, nature of business and other factors, such as future expectations (AS/NZS ISO 31000, 2009). The company has thus had to implement risk management strategies as well as processes and a criterion of evaluation to ensure that risk management procedures meet the necessary criteria. Risk management practices at AHR The Company has realized the potential danger of the risks that it is exposed to and as such has for med a risk management department whose membership incorporate all the departmental heads under the leadership of the Risk Evaluation And Management Officer whose is assisted by the company’s chief finance officer and chief operations officer. The mandate of this department is to device and implements best risk management practices. The following are some of the risk management practices implemented by the Risk Evaluation and Management Unit at AHR. The company’s risk management practices are based on Hubbard’s (2009) theory of calibrating and quantifying risks through actuarial science methods as well as creating a community for risk analysis. This helps to give accurate values of the value and effects of risks to then company and means that risk are quantified in terms of probabilities. The best alternative for each probability is quantified and recorded ready for implementation in case risk happens. The method is anticipatory and forwarded looking and more eff ective basis for dealing with respective risks. This theory provides the basis for implementation of the following risk management practicesAdvertising We will write a custom report sample on Alasia Hotel Resorts Company’s Risk Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Human resource risk management Reducing the human resource risk involves a very comprehensive recruitment and selection exercise for the best employees, which is later accompanied by empowering the employees through comprehensive and continuous training and giving them the authority to solve any problem regarding any client issue. Training program also includes leadership development; equipping all employees with leadership skills improves accountability (Enz and Siguaw 2010). This greatly improves the employee’s skills and knowledge thus ensures high productivity levels are maintained. It also encourages non-performers to seek career prospects elsewhe re thus reduces non-productivity risk that would have arisen. For long term commitment the company has implemented an attractive compensation for employees who engage on long term basis (Huselid 1995). Compensation for performing employees includes vacation in one of the international hotel for employee and their immediate families, paid leaves, allowances for extra time duties, among other packages. The objective of this management practice is to improve employee morale and productivity while empowering them to offer satisfactory services to guests and thus ensure that guest are satisfied with AHR’s services. Financial risk management Minimizing financial risk involves controlling the company’s revenue and income by calculating the equilibrium pricing and controls. Because the company operates in various countries, its finances rare also exposed to foreign exchange rates fluctuation (Prindl 1978). Managing the forex rate fluctuations, the company has identified a repo rting currency, US dollar, in which it converts all its assets. This decision is based on the concept of the stability of the US dollar and its universality, which makes financing its international operations easier. Alasia transacts its daily international business through a pre-agreed exchange rate that is not affected by any variation in foreign exchange rates. As such, the company profit margins are insured against any loss. The company and the Risk Evaluation and Management Unit came up with the following equation for hedging;Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More h=E-1 Where E is equal to the amount of foreign exchange exposure risk and varies from 0 to 1. If total hedging is done, the amount of E will be equal to 0 and thus not sensitive to any fluctuations in foreign exchange (Kroner and Sultan 1993). Managing insurance premiums The company has also engaged in insuring all its assets for any loss of value and damage. Depreciating assets such furniture, kitchenware and vehicles have been well insured and thus any loss of value is compensated. Other than this, the nature of the business as well as the international political climate exposes the company to rising insurance premiums. This affects the company revenues. As such, the company has integrated a training program for all its employees in risk reduction. This is aimed at helping reduce claims and as such has kept the insurance premium rates for the hotel relatively low. The company entered into agreement with its underwriter for discounted insurance premiums if the company manages its claims. Negotiations are in their final stages and this arrangement is expected to come into force soon (Hill 2004). Effective risk management practices Hedging One of the most effective risk management practices the company is the hedging that incorporates the value and nature of assets. This means that the company incorporates the value of the asset in determining the hedging value. As such, the asset value is part of part of calibrating the hedging ratio (Kroner and Sultan 1993). Hedging has also seen the group run its international business efficiently without incurring any losses associated with changing forex rates. As such the company has managed to make long term plans for its international business operations (Chowdhry d Howe 1999). The company has seen the rise of its hedged assets such as franchises and other outsourced services like chattered flight for its clients. As such, the company has seen its international business operations done at optimal rates and therefore sw ells the company’s profits margins. Insurance and its benefits Hedging may not guarantee the protection of the company’s physical assets, thus the insurance policy against loss of value is a novel idea. It ensures that the company’s loss in the value of its company depreciating assets such as vehicles, furniture and others is easily recovered is recovered during liquidation. As such, the company’s capital investment is protected against loss as well as guaranteeing better returns in investment. As such, these make the company more fluid in increasing its acquisition and replacement of such assets (Gustavo and Stavros 2011). Ineffective risk management practices Some of the practices in the company’s risk management have not been effective and may not necessarily reduce the effects of risks to the company. Such activities as managing the insurance premiums are not sustainable. This is because the causes of the said rising in insurance premiums are e xternal and outside the group sphere of influence. Such issues as terrorism affect global travel therefore forcing people to stay in their homes and avoid such risk. In effect of the rising threat, the underwriter automatically appreciates insurance premiums due to the increased threat as such situations are not covered by discounted rate agreement. As such, the hotel industry suffers most damage when such threats are high (Hill 2004). The group has one of the best recruitment exercises in the market. It helps in establishing the best quality workforce for the company. It guarantees that the company hires the best brains in very field. However, the exercise ignores one of the fundamental aspects of human resource development, which is developing and growing its own human resource through internship and apprenticeship. Apprenticeship is a very efficient method of grooming potential replacements as well as ensuring a reservoir of workers in a company as well as tapping the best talent while still raw and developing it to fit into a company’s needs (Enz and Siguaw 2010; Huselid 1995). Lastly, the company is not entirely secured by establishing the dollar as the principle currency of trade. The dollar despite being a relatively stable currency is not immune to fluctuation. Due to the company’s large volumes of trade, even the slightest negative change in the value of the dollar will affect the company’s income (Kroner, and Sultan 1993). Recommendations To improve its risk management practices, the company should consider the following recommendations; Alternative currency The most viable option to cushion this effect is to establish an alternative currency such as the Euro as its principle currency of trade, which the company will use to conduct business with, should the dollar fluctuate significantly (Prindl 1978; Malevergne Sornette 2006). Workplace issues The company’s human resource risk management practice is very efficient in man aging how employees work. However, it does vaguely cover employees’ claims concerning harassment, discrimination as well as other workplace issues. As such, the company should keep a regularly updated company policy on discrimination and train all employees on policies concerning these issues and how to avoid them at the work place (Hill 2004). Insurance industries research The insurance industry is also so unpredictable and as such company risk losing their investment when an underwriter is dissolved. To reduce this risk the company should conduct a research on possible insurers based on the highest claims rating. More important, the company should engage insurers who have the best solvency ratings (Hill 2004). Reference List AS/NZS ISO 31000., 2009, Risk management principles and guidelines. Sydney: Standards Australia. Enz , C., Siguaw, J., 2010. The human dimension: a review of human resources  Management issues in the tourism and hospitality industry Cornell Hotel an d Restaurant Administration Quarterly May Web. Hill, J., 2004. Right this way! Hotels make room for risk management. Web. Available at  https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-coverstory/2004/08/23/45573.htm [13, March 2011]. Hubbard, D., 2009. The failure of risk management: why it is broken and how to fix it. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Hutter, B., Power, M., 2005, Organizational encounters with risk. New York: Cambridge University Press. Huselid, M., 1995. The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover,  Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance. The Academy of Management Journal. Vol. 38, No. 3. Kroner, K. , Sultan J., 1993. Time-varying distributions and dynamic hedging with  Foreign currency futures. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 28. Malevergne, Y., Sornette, D., 2006. Extreme financial risk: From dependence to risk  management. New York. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., Embrechts, R., 2005, Qu antitative risk management. New Jersey: Price Town University Press. Prindl, A., 1978. Foreign Exchange Risk. The Journal of Risk and Insurance. Vol. 45, No. 4.

5 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Martin Luther King, Jr.

5 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Martin Luther King, Jr. There is so much we can all learn from Martin Luther King, Jr, and not just on the day off we get once a year to commemorate his life! But it might not have occurred to you to adapt some of his deep wisdom to your own life and career. Here are 5 powerful lessons from Dr. King that could help you live better, do better, and go further.1. Ask why.And more importantly, ask â€Å"why not?† If someone tells you something is impossible, ask this very important question to figure out why they are so convinced, and whether you might be able to offer a solution no one else had seen. When looking for answers to some of the biggest questions of a generation, Dr. King turned to other sources for inspiration. This  teaches us the answers to our problems will often come from unexpected corners, and how important it is to learn from other people and other cultures as much as we can.2. You can’t change change.Change is constant. Dr. King was initially hesitant to join in the 1963 Mar ch on Washington, but he adapted to the evolving movement and ended up leading one of the most moving and effective platforms for social change. Be adaptable. Realize that change is inevitable. All you can control is what you do in the face of it.3. Find where you can give, not just receive.Dr. King once said, â€Å"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’† In stressful times, it becomes very difficult to focus on anyone but ourselves. But this is a moral requirement, and increasingly more so in our interconnected, fast-paced world. When you’re in a rut, focus on helping people- you’ll be surprised at what a difference that can make.4. Tune out the critics.As long as you’ve chosen a path that’s good and a cause that you are passionate about, and as long as you’re pursuing both with integrity, honesty, and concern for others, then you’ll need to tune out the haters now and then . People will always be critical. Rejection will always happen, particularly in the course of a career. But if you know you’re doing the right thing, you should keep doing it.5. Leave a legacy.Think about what sort of mark you want to leave on the world. Is the work you’re doing going to make a difference to the next generation? Even if you can’t make an impact on the same scale as Dr. King, you can figure out ways to leave your workplace, industry, etc., a little better off for your having been there.

One Day Essays

One Day Essays One Day Essays Michelle Barncastle March 19, 2011 Extra credit On research day I went to the Hispanic Student Achievement and learning academy intervention program. She did a study about Hispanic culture because the drop out rate is so high. The percent of Hispanic students that drop out of school is 25 percent and its 1 and 4 of all ethnicities. She wanted to know if making the students at risk for dropping out have more attention by teachers and have them go into a regular classroom if their scores and grades would go up. They tested this for a semester and there was a good outcome to this experiment while it was going on. The at risk students they really liked being in a separate classroom and having one on one attention. They filled out a survey saying what they most liked about the class they were in and many of them said they liked how when they skipped class for whatever reasons they felt bad for skipping because the teachers cared that they were gone. With this program they new that they would graduate, but when they got taken out of th e class that’s when they started to fall behind again. The second research event I went to was To Come it was about children with disabilities. She talked about visual impairment and how they change the materials in the class for the students that do have visual impairment. Whether it be changing the colors of the projects or the size of the words on the paper. She has does many different studies with visual impairment but she said that she has so many missing data that she has not found yet. This study she has been working on has been a 12-year process and she still has a lot to do. I really enjoyed this workshop I went to I did not know this information before I went in. It was also very fascination topic and was very well thought and well researched. I am glad I went and choose this workshop to go to. The next workshop I went to was about Technically of Art. I picked this workshop to go to because I love learning about art so I thought it was a good fit for me to go to. The speaker she has helped designs the sets for UNC’s theater performances. She said Art was a storyteller and the sets are supposed to tell the story and then when the actors come on the stage they should play off the set. She told us how much work that goes into making a set. How much detail goes into it, was so neat because when you see a set you know what the finished product is. She took us step by step into each step that goes into the sets and it was so cool after each step she showed us a picture and once it all came together it was so beautiful. All of the detail they put into the set was amazing they made everything from scratch. I though it was so fascinating to see all of their hard work come together. I really enjoyed

Beware of These 26 Worst College Majors

Beware of These 26 Worst College Majors SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make while you’re in college (or even before you begin) is what you’ll want to major in.When you choose a major, you might primarily think about your academic interests or long-term career goals. But perhaps you’re concerned about more practical matters, like employment and earnings opportunities. If you want to scope out majors that will make it more difficult for you to be professionally successful in the long run, you’ve come to the right place. Here, I’ll lay out what makes a major â€Å"bad† before listing the worst college majors in a variety of categories (like worst paying majors, majors with the highest unemployment rates, and lowest value majors). Keep in mind, however, that these can still be great subjects to study. Already majoring in one of the subjects on this list or planning to in the future? Don’t worry - that doesn’t mean you’re doomed to professional failure. At the end, I’ll list tips and strategies for success if you’ve decided to pursue one of the majors on these lists. Let’s get started! What Makes a Major â€Å"Bad?† There's no such thing as an objectively bad major - you should study whatever topic you choose. But in the context of this article, I’m defining the "worst" college majors as onesthat may make it more difficult for you to: Find employment post-graduation (based onaverage unemployment rates) Make a good living (based on average salary) Both find a job AND find a job that pays well There are a lot of reasons why a particular major might make it more difficult for a graduate to find a relatively well-paying job quickly. You’ll want to do your own research on majors that you’re interested in, but here are some possible explanations for why a major may end up on one of our â€Å"worst† lists: Competition in an industry is particularly high, making it harder for recent grads to break into the field. There isn’t a lot of demand for a particular professional with that major, which drives down salaries. A bachelor’s degree may not be enough to gain success in the field. Students may need to pursue a graduate degree in order to find gainful employment. Jobs in a particular field may be found mostly in the public sector. Public sector jobs tend to pay less than private sector jobs. These majors can still be great areas of study and lead to fulfilling careers; they are just, on average, less lucrative ones. Majors With the Worst Employment Rates The following majors are the ones that may make it most difficult for you to find a job after graduation, especially in your field. These majors are correlated with higher-than-average unemployment rates based on a recent report out of Georgetown University. Here are some recent, important figures for reference: Unemployment rates for high school graduates, aged 18-24: 18.9% Unemployment rate for graduates with bachelor’s degrees, aged 18-24: 6.7% *Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2014 You’ll notice that the unemployment rates listed below are much lower than 18.9%, which is the unemployment rate for people without a college degree. They are, however, higher than the average unemployment rate for young people with bachelor’s degrees (6.7%). I’ve also included unemployment for â€Å"experienced graduates† of these majors - you’ll notice that unemployment rates drop as people age and gain more professional experience. We can’t tell, however, whether these people are working in the particular field they majored in at school. On this list, recent college grads are defined as individuals with bachelor’s degrees aged 22-26. Experienced college grads are defined as individuals with bachelor’s degrees aged 35-54. The most recent data is from 20-2012, which is a few years ago now, but given how long this sort of research can take it’s the best information we currently have. These majors may lead to increased job search timelines, which means more stress and less money in your pocket. International Business Unemployment for recent college grads: 12.3% Unemployment for experienced college grads: Not enough information available Computer and Information Systems Unemployment for recent college grads: 12.1% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 4.3% Anthropology and Archaeology Unemployment for recent college grads: 10.9% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 7.1% Political Science Government Unemployment for recent college grads: 10.9% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 5.8% Architecture Unemployment for recent college grads: 10.3% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 7.3% Philosophy and Religious Studies Unemployment for recent college grads: 10.3% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 6.4% Fine Arts Unemployment for recent college grads: 10.2% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 6.5% Commercial Art and Graphic Design Unemployment for recent college grads: 9.9% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 6.8% Economics Unemployment for recent college grads: 9.8% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 4.4% Psychology Unemployment for recent college grads: 9.3% Unemployment for experienced college grads: 6.3% Worst Paying Majors If your primary concern when choosing a major is earning potential, you might want to stay away from the ones on the following list. They’re correlated with particularly low earnings for â€Å"experienced† grads (aged 25-59) according to that same Georgetown report. Median earnings are more helpful than average earnings because averages are easily skewed by very high or very low outliers. Keep in mind that the most recent information from this report is from 20-2012, so salaries are probably slightly higher now. For reference, the average graduate with a bachelor’s degree makes $45,478 right out of college. The average adult with a bachelor’s degree regardless of age makes about $59,124. You may want to avoid the following majors if this empty wallet makes you sadder than it would the average person. Fine Arts Median earnings for recent grads: $28,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $52,000 Drama and Theater Arts Median earnings for recent grads: $28,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $52,000 Anthropology and Archaeology Median earnings for recent grads: $29,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $57,000 Physical Fitness, Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Median earnings for recent grads: $30,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $53,000 Social Work Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $44,000 Family and Consumer Sciences Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $47,000 Music Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $52,000 Psychology Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $53,000 Philosophy and Religious Studies Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $56,000 Film, Video, and Photographic Arts Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $56,000 Chemistry Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Median earnings for experienced grads: $73,000 Lowest Value Majors In this category, I used information from that Georgetown Report to consider the lowest value majors. These are majors that are associated with both high rates of unemployment AND low salaries - that is, they’re the majors that showed up on both of the lists above. Here, you can check out unemployment and median earnings for both recent and more experienced grads for the lowest value majors. Anthropology and Archaeology Unemployment for recent grads (22-26 years old): 10.9% Median earnings for recent grads: $29,000 Unemployment for experienced grads (30-54 years old): 7.1% Median earnings for experienced grads: $57,000 Philosophy and Religious Studies Unemployment for recent grads (22-26 years old): 10.3% Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Unemployment for experienced grads (30-54 years old): 6.4% Median earnings for experienced grads: $56,000 Fine Arts Unemployment for recent grads (22-26 years old): 10.2% Median earnings for recent grads: $28,000 Unemployment for experienced grads (30-54 years old): 6.5% Median earnings for experienced grads: $52,000 Philosophy and Religious Studies Unemployment for recent grads (22-26 years old): 10.3% Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Unemployment for experienced grads (30-54 years old): 6.4% Median earnings for experienced grads: $56,000 Psychology Unemployment for recent grads (22-26 years old): 9.3% Median earnings for recent grads: $31,000 Unemployment for experienced grads (30-54 years old): 6.3% Median earnings for experienced grads: $53,000 Are You Doomed If You’ve Chosen One of the WorstMajors? The short answer: no. There are a lot of reasons you can be successful even if you’ve chosen a major that’s associated with low salary, high unemployment, or both. Many students prioritize personal and academic interests over high future salaries, and that’s 100% OK (as long as you’re well-informed and realistic about your employment prospects). Still concerned? Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t be too worried about choosing a â€Å"bad† major. Don’t abandon ship until you’ve read the rest of this post. You Don’t Have to Pursue a Career That’s Directly Related to Your Major Some of the majors listed above are fairly flexible or broad in scope (like psychology or philosophy). If you’re concerned about getting a job or making enough money after you graduate, you should know it’s possible to switch gears and look for entry-level employment that isn’t directly related to your major. Many employers will view your past employment history as more important that your college major, especially as you get older. You may have to spend more time working your way up the ranks from an entry-level position, but that’s super common with recent college grads anyways. You Can Pursue Graduate Degrees in Your Field A graduate degree may lead to an increase in salary and a decrease in the chance you’ll stay unemployed. Some BA degrees won’t get you anywhere in a particular field without a graduate degree (e.g. you can do next to nothing in psychology without at least a master’s). This won’t apply to every major, but you may want to look into whether a graduate degree (either an MA or a PhD) is all but required for a job in a particular field. Graduate degrees can be expensive and costly, but they can really pay off in the long run with better employment prospects and higher salaries (again, though, it’s important to do your own research on this). Alternatively, you may be able to pursue a graduate degree in a new field, especially if your undergraduate major is one of the more flexible options. 4 Tips If You’re Studying One of the Worst College Majors If you’ve chosen one of these majors (and will be sticking with it), there are a few important things you can do to make sure you don’t end up unemployed or underpaid. Know What You Can Expect to Make If you have a specific career in mind, you can look at websites like payscale.com or salary.com for more info on average earnings. If you’re happy (or unhappy) with these prospects, this will give you an idea of whether you should stay the course or pivot to another career path. Speak With Other Graduates in Your Major Are they working in the same field, or are they doing something different? Are they happy with what they’re earning? Was it difficult to find a job? Keep in mind that any information you get is is anecdotal evidence, so take it with a grain of salt. Meet With a Career Counselor You can often schedule a meeting with a counselor through your school’s career center. They can speak with you more about possible career options based on your major, interests, and strengths. They may also have more info about job growth and earning potential. Finally, career counselors may have contacts in your field in case you wanted to connect with grads in your major - this could turn out to be a great resource. Have a Career Plan Coming up with a solid plan means asking yourself a ton of questions about what you want, including: Do you want to stay in your field and look for jobs directly related to your major, or do you want to branch out? Can you start getting entry-level experience now so that you’ll be better prepared to enter the workforce after you graduate? Would it pay off to look into graduate degree programs? Would a graduate degree make you significantly more valuable as an employee? As your answers to these questions shift (or not) over time, you can amend your plans and goals so that your professional career ends up where you want it to. Coming up with a plan - even if you have to scrap it a few times - is never a bad idea. Wrapping Up The way I defined â€Å"worst† at the beginning of this article was pretty narrow. If your primary concerns are job availability and/or salary, the majors listed here may not be the best fit for you. However, that doesn’t mean that these majors should be avoided at all costs and under all circumstances, and it doesn’t mean you can’t be successful if you’ve chosen one of these majors. It does mean that you should think carefully and critically about your career prospects, especially if you’re interested in choosing one of these majors. To be frank, however, everyone should be doing this if they want to be optimally successful with their degree, no matter how â€Å"good† of a major they’ve chosen. What’s Next? Still stressed about selecting a college major? Only you can figure out which major is best for you, but we may have some information to make the decision a bit easier. Learn about how to choose a major for your college application, and then check out our post on the average college GPA by major. If you’re thinking longer-term about your career prospects, you might be interested in learning about job shadowing - it’s a great way to test out a particular profession to see if it may be a good fit. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Design Essay

Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Design - Essay Example The political powers have played key roles in the share of the oil products. In addition, international environmental policies have demanded that there be a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gasses. Hydrogen and hydrogen-powered fuel cells are the better options as a means of achieving alternative sources of power. A fuel cell is concerned with converting chemical energy that is present in a fuel to be emitted as electricity. The process demands the use of oxygen. Hydrogen can be produced separately from varying components available naturally. The chemical processes that take place in a fuel cell demand a continuous supply of fuel and oxygen in order to sustain the production of electricity. The most direct driver for clean energy sources, those are safe, secure and reliable amidst this economic competition is worth investing. The needs that the projected source should meet include the mitigation of changes in the climatic conditions, greatly reduce the amount of toxic levels of pollutants and set forth a clear plan for the ever-dwindling oil reserves. The above results must for some reasons be met without which the effects will be felt in the economy, the health aspects in societies and the environmental consideration. The efficiency in the use of energy, in line with a focus on the supply, and an inclination on the growing proportion of carbon-free sources is highly encouraged. To achieve objectives to power elaborated above, it is essential that hydrogen and electricity be ventured into to determine one of the best approaches to meet customer, economic and environmental needs. Hydrogen is regarded as an energy carrier. Hydrogen has regenerative characteristics becaus e they can be produced from nuclear available sources, and the fossil-based energy system made use in the conversion. Fuel cells achieve use in portable devices like mobile phones, motor vehicles and for heating purposes in power generators considered in

Work Place Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Work Place Safety - Essay Example Therefore, human resource personnel together with the management ought to formulate and implement action plans to help address these issues. This paper explicates workplace safety issues in healthcare, and specific HR role in assuring safety. This paper further focuses on safety issues unique to healthcare, how HR enters into safety issues with their clinicians, and case studies of hospitals that have successful safety projects. Improving workplace safety in health care organizations has been a global challenge affecting both industrialized and third world countries. Each and every aspect of health could potentially put the safety of health providers and their clients at risk. For instance, the fact that health care providers deal with patients who sometimes present themselves with communicable disease means that they have a higher risk of acquiring the infections. According to the United States Department of Labor (2010), 653,000 incidents relating to harm or occupational diseases were account in 2010. These incidents in healthcare were higher when compared to other areas of the economy. In an effort to reduce these incidents, HR ought to work hand in hand with clinicians. Before explicating HR issues relating to workplace safety, it is important to define safety and workplace safety in the context of healthcare. A definition of safety cited by Hughes and Ferrett (2010, p. 2) denote safety as "The protection of people from physical injury". The meaning of workplace safety is explicated by Hughes and Ferrett (2010) through a definition of work-related ill health. In elucidating the definition in laymans terms, work-related ill health can be referred to as diseases resulting from or prompted by processes characteristic of healthcare organizations Jong et al (2014) posits that a healthcare provider can acquire special infections such as

British Invasion and the Folk Revival Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

British Invasion and the Folk Revival - Essay Example As it may be, the most significant reason of this onslaught proves to be the decline of the power of American music during the era of the 1960s. The American rock ‘n’ roll was already facing a steady downfall in caliber and quality since the major record companies, supported and abetted by few of the top outlets of the time disregarded the music type. Â  Major radio channels also betrayed it and considered releasing other products over it, which further deteriorated the condition of American rock ’n’ roll. The area of authority in pop music enjoyed by teen idols like Fabian and Frankie Avalon had directed numerous youth to commercial folk and jazz. While an ostensibly everlasting stream of modernity songs and dance crazes added up to be a failed attempt at developing a durable core following for rock ‘n’ roll. (Gillett 32) Â  The Beatles played an important and significant role in the American music history and it’s difficult to think of the British invasion taking place without them. An abundant number of bands sailed along to the top standards of American charts, did not prove to possess more talent than the uninspiring teen idols they had taken place of. However, the Beatles demonstrated to be an exceptional case. They were talented and were admired by the critics as well as the crowd. Beatles, after a short period of time producing American r & b-pop, and country music carried on to compose rock classics. Their new taste and production turned out to be extremely admirable, which was destined to be carried through many generations to come. Performing in small clubs in England and Germany trained all the Beatles band members to be excellent musicians. There artistic quality and equally convincing vocals helped them promote their talent and achieve success. Â  

5 Star Men Grooming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

5 Star Men Grooming - Essay Example The Art of Shaving was established by Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka during the year of 1996 and in 2009, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble (The Art of Shaving, 2013). The Art of Shaving has expanded its distribution operation to 66 locations nationwide and the company has the mission â€Å"to be a household name for generations to come† (The Art of Shaving, 2013a). In 2009, Art of Shaving was acquired by Procter & Gamble (promoter of Gillette brand). Five of the existing stores of the company were redesigned by Procter & Gamble and new style quotient like pictures, furniture was added in order to reflect The Art of Shaving’s upscale, men’s club brand image (The Art of Shaving, 2013a). Product portfolio of The Art of Shaving has seven verticals such as 1- Shaving Products- Pre-Shave item, Shaving Soap, Shaving Cream, Shaving Bowls and After-Shave; 2- Shaving Brushes- Silvertip, Fine and Shaving Stands; 3- Razors- Fusion Razors, Straight Razors, Electric S havers, Mach 3 Razors, Blades, Safety Razors; 4- Shaving Sets- Fusion Chrome Collection, Power Shave Collection, Contemporary Shaving Sets, Compact Shaving Sets, Chelsea Collection; 5- Kits & Gifts- skin care kit, 3-piece manicure set, 7-piece manicure set; 6- Grooming & Skincare- Skin Care, Grooming Accessories, Hair Care, Fragrance and 7- Travel- Shaving Products, Lather Goods, Travel Kits (The Art of Shaving, 2013b). ... n those locations where customers can easily find the shops and the company invested significant amount in developing the infrastructure within the store that can grab the attention of customers (Wohl, 2009). After the company has acquired by P&G, it has got the financial backup to finance its strategic and marketing activities such as expanding distribution channel, promoting product offerings etc. After the acquisition, P&G advised The Art of Shaving to offer more customer friendly products and increase privacy of customers visiting the retail store (The Art of Shaving, 2013a). For example, on the basis of advice of P&G, The Art of Shaving improved display containing razors, oils, lotions and started using richer & darker colours in order to attract customers (Wohl, 2009). At present, The Art of Shaving has more than 80% of retail outlets located in big cities or suburban shopping mall locations and the company has also opened outlet inside the upscale stores such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdale (Wohl, 2009). According to report published by Wohl (2009), The Art of Shaving opens on an average 20 to 40 stores in a year and has the plan to expand the brand out of USA within next 5 years. Even before the acquisition, The Art of Shaving worked with P&G for significant number of years and the luxury man grooming company simultaneously used Gillette blades as part of their portfolio (Wohl, 2009). The Art of Shaving uses premium pricing policy in order to reflect the elegance and luxury feelings associated with the brand in some cases, products offered by the company might be dearer by 40 to 50 times. For example, The Art of Shaving sells razor handles at a price range of $100-$500 while customers can buy the complete razor sets at less than $10 from Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Module 4 Written Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Module 4 Written - Essay Example Latin American countries characteristically have high inflation rate, with some countries having as much as three digit percentage. In fact in a 70 year history of Argentina, the country averaged in excess of 200 percent inflation rate, Brazil on the other hand averaged 390 percent from 1980, and attaining a high of 6821 in the first quarter of this year. Venezuela rates are very high, a rate of 63.4 percent. The concept of Purchasing power parity (PPP) would imply that the currencies of these countries shall depreciate compared to the United States dollar so as to consolidate the purchasing power across the countries. According to Keown, Martin & Petty (2008), PPP reflects the relative value of purchasing a product in one county versus another. A high inflation rate has the effect of making their exports cheap while making imports expensive, thereby discouraging demand for Latin American imports and forces a downward pressure in their Latin American currencies. Depreciation of the c urrencies compensates the rising prices on Latin American exports when viewed by imports from the US and other countries. Interest rate parity exacts pressure on the forward rates to contain a large discount as a result of the high interest rate prevailing in Latin America, which shows a snag of hedging Latin American currencies. Hence, the option to hedge bears more sensibility if the expected rate of depreciation exceeds more than the forward rate. It is also important to factor in that certain remittance cannot be hedged anyway as a result the value of uncertainty in future remittances The forward rate of a Latin American currency would have a big discount; as a result the Latin American interest rate would be higher than that of the US. The discount operates as the prediction of the rate of change in the value of the Latin American currency given a lengthy period of time, which I represented by the forward

Case study,I will have to attach a copy of the case.the name of the Study

,I will have to attach a copy of the .the name of the file will be - Case Study Example A tort occurs as a result of a person’s duty to others which is created by one or more laws. A person who perpetrates a tort is referred to as a wrongdoer or a tortfeaser. A wrongdoing act of tort is referred to as a tortuous act (Stuhmcke 56). The principle goal of the law of tort is compensation of victims or their dependants. The generic pattern of tort comprises of an act or omission by the defendant which causes damage to the plaintiff. The damage has to be caused by the fault of the defendant, and the fault must be a form of harm acknowledged as attracting legal liability. The model of determining whether a tort occurred follows the act or omission leads to causation and faults a person’s protected interests, which results in personal damage and injury (Stuhmcke 60). By suing Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporation on basis of negligence, Hartman has to prove several things in a court of law. One, Hartman must prove that the three defendants owed her a du ty of care. This concept is grounded in the ruling of the Donologhue v Stevenson case (1932) where the House of Lords turned down a previous law in which liability for careless behavior existed only in a number of separate, specified circumstances. The House of Lords asserted that general duty entails taking reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which one can reasonably foresee would likely injure your neighbor. A Neighbor in this context refers to persons who are so closely and directly affected by a another’s act that they ought to have them in contemplation as being so affected when another is directing his/her mind to the acts or omissions which are called into question (McLaughlin 63). In addition to establishing a duty of care, Hartman must further prove that the damage she suffered was foreseeable. This concept was advanced in Caparo v. Dickman (1990) case where it must be established that there was proximity between herself and the three companies. Contributory n egligence defense In this case, Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporations have a defense in that they did owe a duty of care to Hartman. However, Hartman was not responsible for her own safety as she was negligent by walking in front of her car knowingly. As such, the three corporations can establish that Hartman was negligent and it is for that reason that she suffered the accident. Moreover, the defendants have a defense that Hartman did not read the contents of the receipt that indicated that the management was not responsible for damages incurred by valet parking customers. This concept is generally referred to as the plaintiff’s default or contributory negligence. For this defense to be relied, the defendants have to show that Hartman is to blame for her suffering. Dangerfield, continental and Sandman Corporations must prove that; Hartman exposed herself to the danger of being hit by walking in front of her car Hartman was negligent Hartman’s negligence/fa ult contributed to her suffering. These conditions have been met as explained above. Although contributory negligence is a popular defense in tort, the defense does not free the defendants from liability. It acts to reduce the amount of damages payable y the defendant to the extent of the plaintiff’s contribution. Once Hartman establishes that the three companies owed her a duty of care, she has to prove that the defendants were at fault. That means that Dangerfield, cont

Low Cost Leadership Strategy

Low Cost Leadership Strategy In the world of businesses today, every organization definitely needs information systems in their way of doing business. Laudon and Laudon define information system as a set of interrelated components that retrieve, process, store and distribute the information to support the decision making in an organization. In fact, those who acquire a decent information system would eliminate those who dont have to fight against it. The ever changing world of information technology brings new challenges for every organization to set up an information system that would provide numerous advantages. According to Laudon and Laudon (2009), there are six main reasons why business are investing millions of dollar in information system and technologies, among them are operational excellence; new products, services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; improved decision making; competitive advantage and last but not least, survival. Therefore, Aalsmeer Flower Auction (will be known as Aalsmeer throughout the research paper) who is encountering several problems would need the help of information system to overcome the problems. 2.0 Information strategy 2.1 Analysis of current situation Aalsmeer is facing threats from various sources and should utilize the information technology today in defending their business. Laudon and Laudon (2009) believe that the more successfully a firm can align the information technology with business goals, the more profitable it will be. Apart from that, business people who claim themselves do not understand information technology will pay a hefty price in poor performance (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). In the market today, electronic driven flower market is becoming more and more dominant than the traditional way of doing business. Besides, the competitive environments among the retailers encourage them to merge and forming a larger company with an increased in demanding power. Indeed, they are demanding fresher products, more varieties, smaller quantities and multiple deliveries and this inevitably exert pressures on Aalsmeer who needs to change their way of doing business in order to survive. It is advisable for Aalsmeer to adopt a new strategy for the organization to achieve their business objectives and ensure competitive advantage in the industry. The objectives of Aalsmeer at the moment are: Enable innovation for the business processing methods Redefine the value chain to reduce transaction costs Integrate smoothly with wholesalers and retailers Increase the market share to increase profit 2.2 Low-cost leadership strategy After examine the current situation of Aalsmeer, low-cost leadership strategy is undoubtedly the most suitable for the company now. Low-cost leadership strategy is centered on the capability of Aalsmeer to produce and deliver the products of high quality at low costs. A company having low-cost leadership when extends its value to customers expectation, can further strengthen its strategic position in the market place, (Alagse, n.d). In fact, information systems could be use to lower the operational costs and hence, lower prices for the customers. The typical example is Wal-Mart, which is a company continuously relies heavily on information system to reduce costs and this leads them to one of the largest profitable company. They replenish the products as soon as the customers make payments at the cashier. The computers collect information from the stores and send it to suppliers and therefore, Wal-Mart does not need to spend large amount of money on maintaining large inventories. Aalsmeer offer relatively standardized products with features that are acceptable to customers; in other words, with minimum differentiation at the lowest competitive price. In addition, Aalsmeer who are suggested to follow a low-cost leadership strategy need to maintain constant efforts aimed at lowering their costs, but yet creating values for the customers. Such efforts include investing in technologies, establishing tight control of production and overhead costs, minimizing the cost of sales and services. Specifically, investing technologies means to develop a new information system for Aalsmeer to achieve the objectives stated earlier which would be discuss later on this proposal. Implementing the strategy means Aalsmeer must consider its value chain of primary and secondary activities and effectively link them to be successful. The critical focus now is to increase the efficiency of how the business process. In detail, processes and procedures of selling flowers to customers must be simplified, achieving efficiency and effectiveness and last but not least, monitoring the cost of activities provided by others that interface with the companys inbound and outbound logistics. For instance, the delivery travel costs. Moreover, when Aalsmeer successfully implements the low-cost leadership strategy, it can still obtain a high return even when the Porters five competitive forces are strong. Porters five forces Explanation Traditional competitors When Aalsmeer is offering the lowest cost in the market, the competitors will undoubtedly consider competing in a price war, and even if it does, Aalsmeer will still continue to earn profit after the competitors compete away their profits. Customers If there is any customers tends to drive prices below the cost of the next most efficient company, that company might choose to exit the market and leaves the low-cost company with a monopoly position. Therefore, customers would lose bargaining powers when that happens since low-cost company would be in a position that has power to raise the prices. New market entrants Aalsmeer who successfully utilize the low-cost strategy generally will sell in large volume to earn high profit. This indirectly creates a barrier for the new entrants who need to enter the industry at large scale (large enough to achieve the same economies of scale with low-cost company). Suppliers Once Aalsmeer achieve the lowest cost in the market, it enables them to absorb a greater amount of cost increases from suppliers before it must raise prices charged to customers. Moreover, Aalsmeer who will be dominating the market may force the suppliers to hold down the level of price increases, reducing the power of suppliers. Substitute products and services Aalsmeer, as a low-cost leader will be in a more attractive position relative to the substitutes. They could reduce prices to maintain the price-value relationship to retain customers from going to the electronic driven market. 2.3 Enterprise Resource Planning The information system that is suggested for Aalsmeer would be the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which can be define as a set of integrated programs capable of managing a companys vital business operations for an entire multi-site, global organization. ERP attempts to integrate the key business processes of an entire firm into a single software system that allows information to flow seamlessly throughout the organization. For instance, the transactions with customers and flower growers. Indeed, the key to ERP is real time monitoring of business functions, which allows timely analysis of key issues such as quality, availability, customer satisfaction, performance and availability. It is a set of integrated software modules and a central database that enable data to be shared by many different business processes and functional units throughout the enterprise (Curtis Cobham, 2005). Sources: extolcorp ERP functional units Financial and accounting The Aalsmeer is facing challenges from the electronically driven flower markets and due to this reason, it is vital for them to have a complete accounting system. All the transaction ought to be recorded quickly with no error or minimal error in order to let the other departments to take the next actions immediately. It also includes cash management and forecasting, credit management and financial reporting. It would gives Aalsmeer an edge if they could forecast the cash flow and make important decisions when necessary such as, stop buying stock of flowers when they flower markets are down in particular period. Human Resource Since consumers are demanding fresher products, more varieties and smaller quantities, the human resource definitely needs an information system that can divide the jobs to each employees from each department of the organization. Therefore, the company could satisfy the demands from the consumers. Besides, human resource process also involves performance management and travel expense reporting. The new system could do a performance analysis of the current situation and make necessary changes to it. Apart from that, the travel expenses such as petrol fees can be monitored closely to avoid any extra expenses being used. Manufacturing and production Whereas the manufacturing and production processes includes mainly the procurement process, which is the action of obtaining flowers at the operational level. As the problems stated, the growers are becoming more professional and starting to utilize the electronic way of selling their flowers. The system could manage the inventory effectively by not wasting any extra capital to rent the inventory, or having insufficient place to keep the flowers. This is to ensure the flowers are in good quality control and further strengthen the links between wholesalers and retailers when they actually get what is ideal for themselves. Supply Chain Management It is composed of three sub processes: demand planning, supply planning and demand fulfillment. Demand planning is to understand the customers buying patterns and then develop aggregate long-term or short term forecast of demand on the flowers. Whereas the supply planning includes the strategic inventory with distribution planning and demand fulfillment is to provide a fast, accurate and reliable delivery for customer orders. It also helps to determine what type of supplies is required, what quantities are needed to meet the demand, and how the shipments of supplies and products to customers are to be scheduled, monitored and controlled. Customer Relationship Management A system that helps in all aspects of customer encounters, including marketing and advertising, customer service after the sale and programs that retain loyal customers. Aalsmeer ought to understand the needs of current and potential customers to increase customer retention and loyalty, which leads to a bigger market share. With the processing system capturing data of every customer with the company, Aalsmeer would then know the best way to sell the flowers based on the analysis such as customer preference, time of purchasing, ways of purchasing and many more. This could ensure an increase in efficiency of the selling force and then, increase the productivity by focusing on the most profitable customers. 2.4 Advantages of ERP Agile manufacturing underpins the success of Smart car, DailerChryslers city car brand. Smart has successfully responded quickly to customer demands ever since they have adopted the ERP system from Baan, the Dutch software vendor (Geoff Nairn, 2003, as cited in Curtis Cobham, 2005). The optimized production is due to shorter processes but yet still came out with reliable products. Advantages Explanation Improvement of Work Process It ensures good work processes based on best practices which lead to increased efficiency. In this case, the ERP could helps in reducing costs for the organization, such as human resourcing or transaction cost. Besides, it eliminates the problem of synchronizing changes between multiple systems and provides a top-down view of the enterprise at anytime. Increase in Access to Data for Operational Decision Making The data is integrated from all the departments in the organization to provide excellent support for operational decision making. In addition, it allows the company to provide greater customer service and support, strengthen customer and supplier relationship, and also generates new business opportunities. The system connects the necessary software for accurate forecasting and this allows inventory levels to be kept at maximum efficiency. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Kay. R (2004) believes that System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a model created for an organization when adopting a new information system. In fact, SDLC is a sequential series of steps to build an information system and it is one of the most common development strategies. It is best to follow the SDLC which consists of five phases: system planning, system analysis, system design, system implementation, system operation and maintenance. The phases are interconnected by the inputs and outputs, and if the previous phase has poor outputs, the rest would be affected. 3.1.1 System Planning The first phase of SDLC is system planning, which happen when there is a request of a new system. Aalsmeer realizes that they need a new information strategy in order to remain strong player in the market. A preliminary investigation ought to be conducted to review the existing system and identify the problems. Indeed, a feasibility study could be carried out to identify whether the proposed new system is feasible to be implemented. If the new system is possible, practicable, reasonable and applicable in four main aspects, then the management should invest on it in order to get benefits in a long term. Aspects Why? Technical feasibility To determine whether a new IS can be developed with available technical resources. Does Aalsmeer Flower Auction have the hardware, software and equipments? Can it be developed with current technology? Economic feasibility To determine whether the new IS has a reasonable cost despite the changes it will brings Can Aalsmeer Flower Auction bear with the cost? Operational feasibility To determine if the new IS will be used effectively and efficiently after it is developed Are the changes to business operation minimal? Schedule feasibility To determine whether the new IS can be developed within an acceptable time frame? After conducting the feasibility test, Aalsmeer could then decide the actions to be taken based on the preliminary investigation report. 3.1.2 System Analysis Next, it is the system analysis phase, where the purpose is for Aalsmeer to learn how to improve the existing system, and then determine what the new system should do in order to achieve the goals. Therefore, the organization could find some facts about the current system, such as the strength and weakness of it and produce a report with what is required in the new system. Requirement Anticipation Requirement Specification Requirement Investigation In fact, Aalsmeer could gather the facts by study existing documentation, interview with employees, observation and questionnaire. Then, operational details and performance criteria need to be specified and examined, i.e. the speed of the ERP system after developed. After that, this phase carefully analyzes the information and then prepares a system requirement document which should include managements and users requirements, and recommended plan to develop the new ERP. 3.1.3 System Design This is the phase where after the management level has decided to develop a new system for the organization. A blueprint, which is a detailed plan that satisfied all requirements specified, needed to be develop at this phase. Aalsmeers management should discuss this with all the employees in order to develop a system that satisfies everyone. Programs related are written, tested and documented by the analyst. In addition, internal and external controls are to be designed to ensure the system would be reliable, accurate, maintainable at any time and secure. Lastly, this phase would end up with system design specification where the blueprint is presented to managements and the actual users for review and approval. 3.1.4 System Implementation At this phase, the developed ERP system will be installed in the organization. In addition, operational documentation and procedures of the new ERP system are prepared for the Aalsmeer employees. The employees would need to attend classes to be trained in order to utilize the system effectively. This is a phase of conversion from old system to new system. Indeed, the new system is a huge and complex one, so Aalsmeer could install the software step by step and therefore, it would not crash the whole system when some particular department has problem using it. Aalsmeer could create a legal contract that indicates the system is approved and will be signed by users and stakeholders (Stair Reynolds, 2008). A post-implementation system evaluation could be done to access the quality of the system. Apart from that, it is to examine whether the system operates ideally and are the costs and benefits within the earlier expectations. 3.1.5 System Maintenance This phase is an on-going process as the purpose is to support the operation of the system through proper maintenance, enhancement and protection. Under the maintenance process, any broken hardware is repaired or replaced to avoid any surprising break down. Besides that, the Aalsmeer needs to optimize the system to make the system run smoothly. For example, by compressing the data base, or delete the old and unused files. When there are any errors detected, modification should be done as soon as possible (Stair Reynolds, 2008). On the other hand, enhancement is needed at particular time interval to increase the system capability such as adding more hard disk space to store a large database of customer information. In addition, new functionalities and features could be added when there is a change in the ways of doing business. Lastly, the protection on the system to ensure it is not attacked by any virus or hackers. The firewall of the system is configured and monitored to minimize the chances of being attacked. Besides, backing up the database is definitely a good way to protect all the customer information which is private and confidential. King Stairs Software (n.d.) mentioned that a proper backup strategy is vital for business as well as personal users. 4.0 Impacts and effectiveness of ERP Systems changeover can be effected in some ways which not only has certain benefits, there will be drawbacks as well (Curtis Cobham, 2005). 4.1 Organization The purpose of this research is to identify a way for Aalsameer to strengthen itself in the market. It is believed that the company is able to reduce the operational cost, due to the effectiveness of the system to finish up the work in lesser time given. The new system would emphasize on the information technologies, where the large amount number of workers is no longer needed. Apart from that, the organization can offer lower cost compared to rivals. The ERP system enable the organization to fight with the electronically driven market and thus, accelerating the business growth. Besides, the budget saved can be use on the marketing campaign to promote the new system of organization to public, and thus, they would be well aware of the new operating business model. However, Aalsameer should consider whether the system supports the business objectives (OBrien Marakas, 2008). If the system does fully support the business objectives, it is worth to be invested even though they may face problems on capital, when hiring the system vendors to develop it. If the system does not support the objectives, Aalsmeer may need to re-consider the actions taken before. 4.2 Management Whereas for the management level, the reports statement such as invoice, can be generated through online now. It saves the time for everyone the processing time is cut down in a systematic way. To top it off, it reduces the workload easily and the burden of management level can be taken off. Therefore, it increases the efficiency of management level since they can rely on the ERP system more than before. By using a complete and efficient ERP system, it also reduces the error or mistake which could possibly occur when the work is done by human alone. The process of paper work simply becomes easier, simpler and faster for management and they could put more attention on other problems. For example, searching for more potential customers via new marketing communications. On the other hand, they can put more emphasis on matters that could possibly cut down the operational cost such as downsizing the number of workers in the organization. Since the organization is utilizing the ERP system now, it is possible to rely on the technology instead of human hand to do the work. However in reality, it may be difficult for the management to layoff the employees who may be had work for the company long time, but it is essential to make the decision as it benefits the organization, after all. 4.3 Employees Certainly, there would be several impacts on the employee of the organization, who is the direct users of the new ERP system. Firstly, it may create a chaos in them, where the new system would take over their position by terminating them. Besides, elderly employees who are not familiar with new technology, or not used to changes in working environment will definitely suffer in using ERP when the system is installed. Indeed, employees who are not good at adapting to the surrounding will face hardships this may create a negative environment in the organization. However, it is believed that after few months, they will eventually find themselves comfortable with the ERP. Moreover, the new system will ease the burden of the employees, and increase the time for them to focus on their work. For instance, they can provide a good and reliable quality of customer service which in long term, will bring up the reputation of Aalsmeer Flower Auction. Moreover, since the ordering and payment are all done online now, it simplifies the working process. Indeed, employee would be more ambitious in completing their tasks. 5.0 Conclusion All in all, Aalsmeer definitely needs a new information strategy as well as a new information system in order to achieve the business objectives. Ideas suggested to Aalsmeer are considered carefully and it is believed as the best way for the organization now. If Aalsmeer would to follow the proposal carefully, they would achieve the business objectives and make a success in the market today. References Books Curtis, G. Cobham, D., 2005. Business Information Systems. 5th ed. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P., 2007. Essentials of business Information Systems. 7th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P., 2009. Essentials of management Information System. 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. OBrien J.A. Marakas, G.M., 2008. Introduction to Information Systems. 14th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Stair, R.M. Reynolds, G.W., 2008. Principles of Information Systems: a managerial approach. 8th ed. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Websites Alagse, n.d. Promoting through leadership . [Online] Available at: http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s10.php [Accessed 2 April 2010] Kay, R., 2002. QuickStudy: System Development Life Cycle. [Online] Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/71151/System_Development_Life_Cycle [Accessed 5 April 2010] King Stairs Software, n.d. The importance of backup. [Online] Available at: http://www.kingstairs.com/articles/doc0003.html [Accessed 24 April 2010] Extol, 2006. Secured Enterprise Application. [Online] Available at: http://www.extolcorp.com/solution/sea_ecerp.html [Accessed 25 April 2010]

Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis

Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis Wikipedia defined that self-identity is the mental and conceptual understanding and persistent regard that sentient beings hold for their own existence. In other words, it is the sum total of a beings knowledge and understanding of his or her self. Components of the self-concept include physical, psychological, and social attributes, which can be influenced by the individuals attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. These components and attributes can be condensed to the general concepts of self-image and the self-esteem. In our own culture and society, we are taught by our parents and the elderly to value or own culture and custom and must not feel that we are superior to others after we had accumulated a lot of new knolwedges and experiences. We should not turn our back to our own society, roots and land after we had been abroad but we should be proud of our own identity. This is what is lacking in most of us in our community. We tend to forget our roots and we are not proud of being part of a particular culture or race. In this research paper, I have choosen to analyze two masterpiece from our Malaysian writer.This study is based on Muhammad Haji Sallehs poems, which is si tenggang homecoming and the traveler .The overall aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the portrayal of the theme searching of self-identity. In this research paper, I will also include the two poems implications of using these two poems towards education. 2.0 Background of the author Muhammad Haji Salleh (1942- ) is a well-known Malaysian poet, critic, translator, editor and researcher. He is the sixth Malaysian Laureate. He was born on 26th March 1942 in Taping, Perak. Muhammad had most of his education in Malaysia; he received his early education at Bukit Mertajam High School and Malay College Kuala Kangsar. However, he did his teacher training at Lodge Teacher Training College in England. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Malaya (Singapore), Masters of Arts from the University of Malaya in 1970 and a Ph.D from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America in 1973. In 1977, he was a Professor under the Fullbright-Hays programme and taught at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA. He is a professor at the Department of Malay Letters in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and was once appointed as the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities as well as Head of Institute of Malay Language and Liter ature. Muhammad Haji Salleh is the only Malaysian poet who is studied in the Literature English programme. 3.0 The Authors Writing Career Muhammad Haji Salleh began writing poetry in 1963 when he was a student at the Malayan Teachers College, Brinsford Lodge, England. Muhammad started writing much earlier but only towards the late 1960s that he became well known in Malaysia. Muhammad has lived much of his life abroad in the United States while he is pursuing his studies and most of his poems are written in English. As his educational background was centered on Bahasa Malaysia and English language, he writes in both languages. Later, he devoted much of his time to write in Bahasa Malaysia. He often translated his own Malay poems and other local Malay poems into English. T.S.Eliot and W.H.Auden who he admired influenced the English poems that he wrote. The beauty of the language and the messages convey in the poems written by these two poets had inspired Muhammad Haji Salleh to write English poems. Muhammad Haji Salleh has received various awards for his works, both at national and international levels. Muhammad won the Asean Literary Award in Bangkok, Thailand. A Number of his poems won various prizes and in 1972, he was awarded the Asean Literary Award for his anthology of poems Perjalanan si Tenggang II, which was subsequently translated in English in 1979.He was made a National Laureate in 1991 and was awarded the Hadiah Sastera Kebangsaan in 1976, the Australian Cultural Award to Asian Artists in 1975 and the Asean Literary Award (Poetry) in 1977. Writing both in Bahasa Malaysia and English, Muhammad has devoted his life to the development of the Malaysian literary tradition. He is not only well known as a poet but also as a literary scholar. As a post-colonial poet and a professor of literature, Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity. In fact, the quest of identity is reflected in his poems especially in the outstanding collections of Poems of the Outsider (1973), The Travel Journals of Si Tenggang II (1979), Time and Its People (1978), Poems from the Malay Annals (1981) and Rowing Down Two Rivers (2000). 4.0 Background of The Poems: si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity through his writings. It is very clear that his works explore the human condition and problems related to individuality and community life. These two poems: si tenggang homecoming and the traveler are able to portray Malay traditions, culture and beliefs because it deals with a universal theme, which are the issue of identity, selfhood and the essence of being oneself. Both of these poems reflect the poets concern for the Malay society and explore the human condition and problems related to identity. Muhammad consistently wrote about the theme of seeking for self-identity because he lived most of his life abroad and influenced by the western world, where he stayed there for many years but he never forgot that he belongs to the Malay society; his mother tongue is Malay which is the language of his native land. Although he writes in English but he still talks about the village life, the city and its people and the Malay society as a whole. That is why both of these poem generally consist of encourages criticisms or opinions that differ from the Malay culture. It is because traditional society generally does not encourage criticisms or opinions that differ from accepted beliefs or those, which have been taken to be a way of life. 5.0 Discussion on si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler. Si tenggangs homecoming poem consists of six stanzas. Upon closer study, it is a reflection of si tenggangs experiences as a traveler, who had been abroad for a while and returned to his homeland. The persona is telling the reader that in the process of discovering himself; he has not lost his sense of inheritance and roots. This can be seen through stanza 3, line 31-34,

The short story If I Quench Thee by William E. Chambers is an appropria

The short story If I Quench Thee by William E. Chambers is an appropriate story as it effectively deals with the issue of racism by showing it through the eyes of a racist white father who assumes his daughter is marrying a black man. If I Quench Thee Choose a short story that you know well that deals with an important issue. State what the issue is and show, by referring to the plot, character, and technique and how the author has successfully explored the issue in an interesting and unusual way. The short story â€Å"If I Quench Thee† by William E. Chambers is an appropriate story as it effectively deals with the issue of racism by showing it through the eyes of a racist white father who assumes his daughter is marrying a black man. â€Å"If I Quench Thee† is about Arthur Stern, a successful business man who visits his daughter who works as a social worker in the ghetto. Whilst Arthur is visiting her she is visited by a black man who is rejected by her father because he is racist so he leaves. He waits outside and thinks about it and realises he can bare his daughter dating a black man so he goes back to apologise. When he returns he overhears the black man saying to Arthur’s daughter Monica that marrying her would be the best the he would do. Hearing this Arthur fills will anger and leaves. He waits for Tod to come out then murders him saying that it was a mugging and it was self defence. In the police station his daughter turns up and tells her father that the black man was the vicar for her wedding. This has been the only time Arthur was ever scared. Arthur Stern is a successful business man who owns a mink farm. He was in the Korean war which I think lead to his hatred of other races. Arthur an... ... disgusted that people could be so racist and how people could think that they have a right to kill others just because they aren’t the same skin colour as them. It made me think about how sick and twisted people can be and how that some people can hate something so much that they would take it too such extreme lengths as to things such as murder. I personally think racism is wrong because people of a different race aren’t any different or inferior to white people like Arthur Stern thought. To conclude, I think that the author has expressed the view on racism in an effective way relating to the plot, characters and techniques used. Even though Stern was such an â€Å"evil† man, he can still feel regret for such a terrible act after realising that what he has done is actually wrong. This makes me believe that human society can improve on its views of racism.

Little to None :: essays research papers

The job of the Chief Executive of the United States is to represent the people. The President is responsible for doing what is in the best interest for the citizens of the United States using facts, advice, and evidence and not through his/her own personal religious beliefs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  United States is the most religiously diverse country in the world, and it remains this way because its constitution has promised its citizens a freedom in which there is a separation between church and state. Since the President is the one person that represents all people in America, he/she should not be allowed to control our country based on his own faith and beliefs. The president’s job is to make decisions that will speak for the majority of the people, no matter what race or religious background they may be. The President has an obligation to take the advice and information he gets from advisors and other high officials, and use that knowledge in order to plan what is best for the country as a whole, even if it conflicts with personal religious beliefs. When religious beliefs are used to make policy decisions, one is imposing their religious belief upon others who might not agree, and ultimately is a violation of the first amendment that sets the sep aration of church and state.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is one exception in which the President may use his own personal beliefs. When there is no information leaning towards the right thing to do, or the pros and cons of a certain situation are balanced, the President should be able to use his own morals and personal belief to make a final decision. This is not something that should happen on a regular basis, but when there is no other sources leading one to the right direction, the only choice left is to use one’s own morals, values, and beliefs to determine what direction might be best for the country as a whole.

Introduction to Business Law

Mary’s Discount Public Relations Company has recently hired you as a PR consultant. Mary knows you have studied business law and asks your advice on the following: Mary operates an information service known as â€Å"Mary’s PR Notes â€Å" which she emails to clients who subscribe to her service. Mary’s PR Notes provides subscribers with abstracts of articles on public relations. The articles come from a variety of newspapers and magazines. The abstract includes the headline of the article (unaltered) and a short summary of the article’s content written by one of Mary’s employees. Recently the editor of â€Å"Puffery 4U† contacted Mary complaining that Mary’s service is using his material. The editor was particularly concerned about how Mary uses the headlines from his articles. Advise Mary * Describe and discuss the nature of the issue and the legal implications * Identify the relevant area of the law referring to cases and statutes * Apply legal principles to the problem or issue using the relevant law to argue the case * Include a literature review of the problem including relevant legal citations Throughout this essay the topic of Mary’s Discount Public Relations Company and Mary’s PR Notes will be discussed and analyzed as to why Mary’s company may have breached some levels of copyright. Mary needs to be advised on what she may be doing wrong and how she can overcome these issues in her current situation regarding â€Å"Puffery 4U† and their complaints of how Mary is using their material and also other complications she may face in the future. Mary’s public relations company offers an information service titled â€Å"Mary’s PR Notes† which she emails to clients who subscribe to her service. The emails provide subscribers with abstracts if articles on public relations which come from a variety of newspapers and magazines. The abstracts include the headline of the article, which is unaltered in any way, and a short summary of the article’s content, which is then written by one of Mary’s employees. Recently the editor of â€Å"Puffery 4U† contacted Mary and is complaining that Mary’s service is using his material and breaching copyright. The editor is particularly concerned about how Mary uses the headlines from his articles. Copyright is a type of property that is founded on a person's creative skill and labour. It is designed to prevent the unauthorised use by others of a work, that is, the original form in which an idea or information has been expressed by the creator. Copyright is not a tangible thing. It is made up of a bundle of exclusive economic rights to do certain acts with an original work or other copyright subject-matter. These rights include the right to copy, publish, communicate and publicly perform the copyright material. Mary’s situation with â€Å"Puffery 4U† may come under the subject of copyright infringement (Copyright Act 1968 Sect 36) where someone reproduces in material form the whole or part of a work without the consent of the owner. Examples include when a work is published, reproduced or performed in public without the copyright owner's permission. This general rule is subject to a number of specific exceptions in the Copyright Act. Although Mary or Mary’s employees haven’t changed the title of Puffery 4U’s articles or other articles referred to, they have however made their own summary of the articles which may twist the viewer’s perception on what the subject of the articles may be about. Even though the summaries may still be completely relevant to the articles and no bad intentions are being made, Mary’s company is still reproducing the articles or parts of them without the consent of the owners of the original material. It is possible however that in Mary’s case her business may be able to be let off with fair dealing. This is where the material is an article in a periodical then reproducing the whole or part of the article may be fair dealing for research, study, criticism or review by an individual. The Copyright Act provides that copying a reasonable portion of a work for the purposes of research or study, criticism or review, news reporting or parody and satire will be a fair dealing. As only a small part of the articles are being reproduced, Mary’s case may be an exception to the copyright law and no legal action will be taken but this is still not a guaranteed outcome so other measures should to taken into account. If Mary wishes to avoid legal action being taken out on her company then she can take several different measures. First she must seek permission from the owner of whom she wishes to take abstracts and articles from before using and altering them to make sure they won’t have an issue with Mary using documents. Secondly, if she clearly states in her emails she sends out where the original text is from and that the summary written in fact by Mary’s company and not the original publisher then the owner of that text will possibly have less of an issue with the company breaching copyright infringement. Thirdly, if Mary made connections with the sources she pulls the articles from she could send her summaries to them for them to approve first and then once she has the approval she can be free to send out her emails with their articles in them. If a copyright has been infringed, the owner may sue the infringer in federal court, seeking an injunction against future violations of the copyrights. The owner may recover actual damages, which are losses plus the infringer’s profits from use of the copyrighted work. Or, any time before a court issues a final judgment, the owner can elect to receive a set amount in damages as defined in the copyright statute, in lieu of actual damages. The amount of statutory damages can range from $200 to $150,000, based on a court’s determination of several factors, including whether the infringement was intentional. On 1 January 2007, a range of copyright enforcement measures started as a result of the Copyright Amendment Act 2006. These include the creation of a tiered system of copyright criminal offences incorporating indictable, summary and strict liability offences. The strict liability offences do not contain fault elements and attract maximum penalties of 60 penalty units ($6,600). These offences are supported by a copyright infringement notice scheme provided for under the Copyright Regulations 1969. An infringement notice penalty is 12 penalty units ($1,320). The introduction to this scheme was created and designed to deal specifically with lower-level copyright crime such as first time offenders, street stall or market operators. Under this scheme, an offender issued with an infringement notice by a law enforcement officer will have the option of paying a fine or risking the possibility of prosecution in court. In addition to paying a fine, some offences will also require the offender to forfeit copyright material and/or related devices in order to avoid prosecution. In 2001, the TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd v Network Ten Ltd (‘Panel Case') was a case with claims that commercial broadcaster Network Ten infringed copyright in Channel Nine broadcasts when re-broadcasting extracts of Nine's program ‘The Panel' over the period from 10 August 1999 to 28 June 2000. ‘The Panel’ is a talk show comprised of a regular panel and guest panelists who discuss recent events and current issues, using television footage from a variety of sources as a basis for humorous comment and critical discussion. The claim of copyright infringement related to 20 excerpts of Nine footage, ranging in length from eight seconds to 42 seconds. The excerpts were from a variety of programs including The Today Show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Days of Our Lives and Sale of the New Century. Nine claimed that Ten’s re-broadcasting of excerpts of its programs constituted an infringement of its copyright in the television broadcast as provided for in s 87(c) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (the Act). Nine also claimed that Ten had breached s 87(a) of the Act by making a cinematograph film of the programs or a copy of such films, but this latter claim has not yet been determined. This judgment relates only to Nine’s claim in relation to s 87(c) of the Act. On 11 April 2003 the High Court granted Network Ten leave to appeal against the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court and in September 2003 heard arguments on the operation of ss 14, 25(4) and s 87 of the Copyright Act 1968 regarding the claimed infringement. The ruling from the Federal Court was announced as fair dealing in broadcast television. This case is similar to Mary’s situation as Network 10 was only re-broadcasting small extracts of ‘The Panel’ and did not have the intention of bad mouthing Channel Nine or putting them in a negative spotlight. It is possible to argue and win Mary’s case depending on the extent to whether how relevant her summaries are to the original text of the articles she is using in her emails and if she is trying to persuade people to not read them. The case may end up being ruled as fair dealing if the following situation were to occur. It would be wise for Mary to act on this current situation as soon as possible as â€Å"Puffery 4U† may not be the only people concerned with the way Mary is using their articles. She may see herself facing multiple lawsuits, which could create a bad reputation for not only her company but for herself as well. Although Mary and her employees may think they aren’t doing any harm and are actually advertising other peoples work to a wider audience, authors of the articles may perceive this situation different and just want to claim work as their own. If â€Å"Puffery 4U† were to take legal action upon Mary this would cause implications for her not only in the short term but long term as well. She may face multiple fines from the magazine and newspaper companies she has been collecting articles from which would affect her financially and it would also give Mary a bad name and affect her future business dealings. Bibliography http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/index.php?pg=10-1 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/

Native Americans and Colonization Essay

Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture. Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them. This triggered the largest population decline in all recorded history. Fifty percent of the Native American population had died of disease within twenty years. Soon after, Native Americans began to question their religion and doubted the ability of shaman to heal. This was the first step towards the destruction of Native cultures. The Native Americans had never experienced anything like these deadly diseases before and they came to believe that Europeans had the power to kill or give life. Many Native groups, because they were nomadic, didn’t see land as belonging to one person. The idea that someone could come in, claim a piece of land and ban them from it, caused many problems. They could no longer hunt or forage for food in places they had always done so. Fights over territories began to break out and groups who always had plenty of food, now barely had enough. Many Christian missionaries tried to force Native American people to abandon traditional religious beliefs and practices (Mayo, 33). Christian missionaries would sometimes launch attacks on Native American religious institutions when forcing them to convert to Christianity did not work. These harmful attacks destroyed not only their temples and religious artifacts, but also a huge part of their culture. Laws were introduced that protected the land and property the colonists had acquired, banned most of their religious ceremonies, and forced the children into the European educational system. The Europeans wanted to deny the Native Americans of their cultural identity, which eventually would end up wiping them out. Native Americans were deeply effected by colonization. It was extremely unfair of the Europeans to destroy Native American way of life. If the Native Americans had the weapons, like guns and disease, that the Europeans did, then maybe they could have fought for what was theirs. Europeans came to America and changed the Native Americans lives forever. This contact between the Native Americans and Europeans was called the Columbian Exchange. While both Native Americans and Europeans received advantages and disadvantages from the Columbian Exchange, Native Americans definitely suffered more while the Europeans were benefited more. It is not right that the Native Americans lived on American land all their lives and had the land as well as their culture taken away from them in a matter of only a few years. Mayo, Louise A. American Dreams and Reality: A Retelling of the American Story, Volume 1 Second Edition. Illinois: Abigail Press, 2000.

Costa Del Sol Essays - Andalusia, Ethnic Groups In Europe

Costa Del Sol Essays - Andalusia, Ethnic Groups In Europe Costa Del Sol Costa Del Sol It is possible that the Neolithic revolution, the discovery of agriculture the passage of nomadic to sedentary peoples, reached Europe by way of Africa through what is known today as Andalusia. This historical center of influence, an east - west displacement, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic began with a revolution that introduced the usage of metals and the arrival of colonizers from the east. A confluence of fertile lands, of metallurgy and fishing activities took place in this westernmost area that the Tartars once inhabited. This mysterious civilization that lived in the southern Iberian peninsula since the bronze ages, established the first known monarchy in western Europe. The Tartars, an agricultural and cattle raising people, also worked the gold mines while their ships traded with Great Britain from the west and received the Phoenicians from the east. This marked the beginning of a complex geographical position between two oceans and two continents. Rome took up residence on these shores after realizing that this region could become the open door for a threat from Cartage. Roman legions appeared for the first time in the 3rd century BC. The exuberant province of Btica would become for the next seven centuries part of the great civilized world, contributing to the empire materials such as metals, wine, oil, wheat, philosophers, writers and the first two emperors born outside of the Italic peninsula.: Trajano and Adriano. Other peoples appeared from the north. From the shores of the Rin descended the Vandals in 411 AD. They settled in the valley of the Guadalquivir river and in northern Africa and for half a century united the shores of the two continents. Before being expelled by the Visigoths they had given a new name to the region of Europe: Vandaluca. Since the arrival in 711 of Islam this region enjoyed wonderful times. The Caliphate of Crdoba during many years was the most sophisticated state in all of Europe. The Arabs contributed new techniques to agriculture, botany and science, poetry and intellectual development during a period of eight centuries. Their political breakdown was taken advantage of by the Christian Kingdoms from the north of the peninsula accelerating the capture of the Iberian peninsula. In 1236 Crdoba fell. Sevilla followed in 1248. The last bastion, the Kingdom of Granada, was conquered by the Catholic Kings in 1492. that same year Columbus set sail from the Andalusian port of Palos in Huelva, to discover America. The center of global economic and political movement was displaced. An Andalusian town took notice of this crucial moment achieving its greatest glory shortly afterwards for the following 150 years. Known as the spot where the heart of Europe beats, Sevilla became the neurological center of the Spanish empire. Her port received ships loaded with gold and silver from America, and from there minted coins were circulated throughout other European nations. A little later Cdiz would continue this Andalusian leading role in its relations with the Indies. Sanlcar de Barrameda, a neighboring village became the port from where the first round the world voyage was initiated. Romantic travelers would later recall such splendors with archeological remains of demolished towers, hidden patios in ancient homes and stately palaces. The myth of figures such as Carmen and the figure of Don Juan, generous bandits, brave bullfighters and oriental exoticism arose; images constructed by foreign eyes that today still endure. Recent Andalusian history is tied to a turbulent 19th century that started off with the War of Independence and the approval of the first Spanish Constitution in the courts of Cdiz in 1812. Efforts to modernize and industrialize the economy were marked by massive exploitations of mineral