Friday, September 6, 2019
The Modified Market Economy Essay Example for Free
The Modified Market Economy Essay What is a modified market economy? What factors have been responsible for the emergence of this kind of economic system? How do governments influence economic decision making in such systems? Use Australian examples to illustrate your answer. A modified market economy is a market economy in which there are varying amounts of intervention and property ownership by the government. The Australian economy would be classed as a modified market, as we have a certain degree of government intervention, and this is something we should feel lucky for in our country, because due to this we are able to experience the free, fair lifestyle which we enjoy. The emergence of this kind of economy is mainly due to weaknesses in the market economy which, with out regulation, becomes an economy mainly concentrated on the wealthy people. The basic reason for the modified market economy is that the free market does not produce an efficient allocation of resources, and that the free market does not distribute output in a socially desirable way. For example in a modified market, the government regulate the flow a income a bit so that not only the rich make money. In a market economy the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as there is no regulation in terms of income distribution. The intervention by the government, in forms such as social security nets, which is present in a modified market, makes society more evenly spread rather than everyone being one of two things, that is, very rich, or very poor. In such economies as these, the government influence economic decision making much to our advantage in terms of them providing many of the resources needed to satisfy collective wants, making restrictions upon what can and can not be done, in the interests of our health, the environment, impacts upon society etc. Through this they regulate much of the possible ?bad economic decisions that could be made. The Australian government does place some limitations on freedom of enterprise, but generally encourages private business activity as it is an advantage to our whole economic growth in terms of employment etc. The Australian government also encourages the idea of fair competition. To keep the consumer choice less restrictive the government might not allow certain take overs that may limit the number of choices available to the consumer. Competitive prices that come from businesses are also good for the economy in general, for example if an Australian owned company, such as Uncle Tobys, can provide the same food as an American owned company at a competitive price, then consumers will tend to buy from the Australian company which keeps more our money in our country. Basically, the government intervention in economies such as ours, is all done to benefit our economy as a whole, to help even the distribution of income, to provide resource to help satisfy our unending collective wants. It is all done in an effort to make our countrys economy as efficient and all round satisfying, as possible. To make our country a prosperous and enjoyable place to live.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Use Of Hydraulic Kers Commercially Engineering Essay
Use Of Hydraulic Kers Commercially Engineering Essay The potential of using a KERS on a bicycle to store hydraulic energy can be achieved using a device such as a hydraulic accumulator. In a hydraulic accumulator the potential energy is stored in the form of a compressed gas or spring, which is used to exert a force against a relatively incompressible fluid. Accumulators store energy when the hydraulic system pressure is greater than the accumulator pressure and releases hydraulic energy in the opposite case. By storing and providing hydraulic energy, accumulators can be used as a primary power source for a KERS. Accumulators are naturally dynamic devices; meaning they function when configuration changes, for example, valves opening and closing. Accumulators respond rapidly to configuration changes, and nearly instantaneously for gas accumulators. They are usually used in conjunction with a pump/motor in a hydraulic circuit. A hydraulic system utilizing an accumulator can use a smaller fluid pump since the accumulator stores energy from the pump during low demand periods. The pump doesnt need to be so large to cope with extremes of demand, therefore the supply circuit can respond more quickly to any temporary demand and to smooth pulsations. There are four types of accumulator: bladder, diaphragm bladder, piston (spring or gas controlled), and metal bellows. Depending on the application, the choice of most suited is based on the required speed of accumulator response, weight, reliability and cost. Compressed gas accumulators are the most commonly used type since they generally have the faster dynamic response and are most reliable. Accumulators with seals will generally have the lowest reliability as there is the potential for leaks. Pressurised gas accumulators take advantage of the fact, that the gas is compressible. The potential to store energy and the affect of the accumulator is dictated by its overall volume and pre-charge of the gas. The pre-charge is the pressure of the gas in the accumulator when there is no hydraulic fluid within the accumulator. Too high of a pre-charge pressure, reduces the fluid volume capacity, and limits the maximum amount of hydraulic energy that will be available to the system. A gas accumulator has a gas pre-charge, which is less than the nominal hydraulic system pressure. When hydraulic fluid enters the accumulator, the gas is compressed to the nominal system pressure, which is in an equilibrium position and corresponds to the maximum amount of energy that can be stored. As system hydraulic pressure drops, the gas will expand forcing hydraulic fluid back into the system. Most gas accumulators are bladder type, made up of a vessel divided into two volumes, by a flexible membrane. Within the bladder, nitrogen is stored under high pressure, which is an efficient and safe medium since the ability of gas to store energy increases exponentially as pressure rises and because of its inert properties. As fluid from the hydraulic circuit, enters the vessel (under system pressure) and impinges against the bladder, the gas is compressed allowing energy to be stored. The release of energy when required is achieved via conventional valve arrangement. Figure Bladder Accumulator [10] and [4] Use of hydraulic KERS commercially There are, a number of emerging systems that allow the operators of vehicles to reduce both fuel consumption and unwanted emissions, specifically to vehicles that are subject to constant stop-start operations, like for example buses, refuse collection vehicles (RCV). Constant stop-start operations, such as braking in large vehicles, produce considerable kinetic energy, which is wasted as heat. Capturing this energy using conventional hydraulic technology enables it to be stored and then returned to the vehicle systems. The potential uses are not just limited to aid subsequent acceleration (reducing the energy required from the engine), but can potentially power ancillary equipment. For example, RCVs can use stored energy to drive the hydraulic refuse compacting and packing mechanisms. This enables a significant reduction of engine speeds and operating noise [10]. Hydraulic Power Train Technology Hybrid hydraulic power-train technology normally incorporates a hydraulic system operating parallel to the IC engine to share the task of powering the vehicle. Although other arrangements are possible (in series), the simplest is where the conventional vehicle transmission and driveline components are replaced by a hydro-mechanical transmission, a system that works similarly to a hydrostatic CVT. In which the output shaft from the vehicles engine is used to drive a hydraulic pump that in turn supplies pressure to hydrostatic motors; these are then connected via a gearing mechanism to the vehicle power-train to drive the wheels [10]. These motors then, under braking, act as pumps to charge accumulators, where energy is stored before being released back to the power-train, transmitting torque to the driveshaft and propelling the vehicle. Fig depicts the capturing and releasing of energy in a hydraulic circuit. Engine Trans Pump/ Motor Low Pressure Accumulator High Pressure Accumulator Drive Shaft Capturing Releasing Figure Hydraulic Power-train Examples of Commercial Hydraulic KERS There are two commercial products of hydraulic hybrid KERS on todays market and both are implemented on delivery vehicles and refuse truck applications. These are Parker Energy Recovery System [6], and Eaton Hydraulic Launch Assistà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (HLA ®) [7 ].Prototype testing proposes typically regenerative braking capability captures about 70% of the KE produced during braking, minimizing the load on the engine, and helping to reduce fuel consumption [9]. The hydrostatic motors, when acting as pumps during vehicle braking, also help to slow the vehicle down by inducing drag on the rotating drive-train; a feature that helps to reduce brake wear [9] by more than 50% [8]. Generally these systems operate at a maximum pressure of 5,000 PSI [9]. The hybrid technologies are controlled by specialized systems that are activated upon braking. The controls prevent service brake application until just before a complete stop. They also monitor if the energy stored in the accumulator falls below a predetermined level, upon which the vehicle engine can be used to provide supplementary power. However, on vehicles with frequent stop-start cycles, this is seldom required as even gentle braking is sufficient to maintain the stored energy at high levels. http://www.eaton.com/ecm/groups/public/@pub/@eaton/@hybrid/documents/content/ct_132084.jpg Figure Hybrid Hydraulic KERS implemented on large Vehicles [7] The HLA ® has two modes of operation, Economy Mode and Performance Mode. When the operating in Economy Mode, the energy stored in the accumulator during braking is used alone to initially accelerate the vehicle. Once the accumulator has emptied, the engine will begin to perform the acceleration. This process results in increased fuel economy of 30% and provides increased acceleration of 2% [7 ]. Economy mode allows for maximum fuel savings maximum exhaust emission reductions of 20% to 30% [7]. In Performance Mode, acceleration is created by both the energy stored in the accumulator and the engine. Once the accumulator has emptied, the engine is completely responsible for acceleration. While a 17% increase in fuel economy is possible, the greatest benefit is an increased acceleration of 26% [7]. The benefits of hybrid solution are numerous; reduced emissions, increased brake life, and better fuel economy. The technology also allows the possibility to reduce the size of the vehicle engine as this can be sized for peak speeds, rather than for low-end torque. Application of Hydraulic KERS to a Bicycle A team of engineering students from the University of Michigan [1] undertook a project to use a hydro-pneumatic regenerative braking system on a bicycle. It was a redevelopment of a heavier previous attempt to make a working prototype to fit within a 29 front wheel (fig). They use a 0.5 litre accumulator and believed this to be sufficient in storing the required energy at a maximum working system pressure of 5000psi. Its weighed an impractical 13kg almost as much as a bike and is its major drawback, its weight can be accounted for by its separate high and low accumulators, separate hydraulic pump and motor and its relatively large mounting bracket (fig). Figure Prototype Hydry-pneumatic KERS from the University of Michigan [1] Calculations They failed to test and thus supply conclusive results for the performance characteristics of their prototype, but instead prescribed its key performance parameters via theoretical calculations. In the same way and based on the same calculations the following section outlines the performance of a hydro-pneumatic KERS. Storage Capacity Firstly for a hydraulic system to be implemented the storage of fluid must be addressed, the capacity must be determined and pressures needed to store the kinetic energy. The combined mass of cyclist and bicycle (90kg) braking from 32km/h (20mph) has 2880kJ of kinetic energy. Parker [5] (manufacture of accumulator and motors) rates the ACP series accumulators at max pressure 5000psi, if assuming ideal gas law: () So () Parker rates the ACP Series Accumulators 2 bore with capacities of 0.32l, 0.5l, 0.75l. If the accumulator has a pre-charge of P1 = 3200psi and max pressure is P2=5000psi; then rearranging gives: () Taking the capacity as: V1=0.5l gives V2= 0.32l. Energy stored is: () Thus 0.5l capacity accumulator pre-charged to 3200psi provides more than 5kJ. Hydraulic Motor/Pump Performance Fig presents torque-rpm curve for the Parker 09 series hydraulic motor. It will be used to determine braking and launching performance of the hydraulic motor/pump. Figure Torque-Rpm Curves for Parker 09 Series Hydraulic Motor [1] Braking A hydraulic KERS must use a hydraulic motor to provide enough torque to run the bicycle as well as providing enough resistive torque to be an effective brake. If the bicycle travelling at 32km/h (20mph) on 0.66m (26inch) diameter wheels, which spins the motor at 4632rpm through the 18:1 gear ratio of the pump gear train, then this corresponds to 4.52Nm of torque at 3000psi (fig ). This translates to a braking torque of about 81.36Nm applied to the main gear due to the 18:1 gear ratio. Launching On release of pressure, a fully charged 5000psi accumulator generates 7.57Nm of torques (fig). The 14:1 gear ratio of the motor gear train applies a 105 Nm torque to the main bicycle cluster gear. 7.57Nm corresponds to around 800rpm from motors torque rpm curve (fig), which turns the main gear at around 57rpm due to the 14:1 gear ratio. This is an initial speed of 8km/h (5mph) which will increase as pressure is expended. Advantages In many applications, especially those where high power densities are required, hydro-pneumatic systems offer a more efficient alternative to system driven by electric motors. The technology can be used to capture and transfer high levels of energy extremely quickly compared with similarly sized electric systems, which generally require long periods over which batteries have to be charged. They are also likely to have a longer operating life than battery-powered systems. Disadvantages The main disadvantage of a hydro-pneumatic KERS would be its weight, which is attributed to by weight of hydraulic fluid, accumulator material (steel), and the fact that in application it would be necessary to have separate high and low pressure accumulators. As well as potentially needing separate hydraulic pump and motor. In hydro-pneumatic systems when the gas is not charged by the hydraulic fluid and thus not storing energy, the fluid can be considered dead weight. If implemented on a bicycle to be used as a KERS, this would be counterproductive. Lastly hydro-pneumatic systems are limited where consistent levels of power are required for extended periods at near constant speeds, such as long-distance cruising. Conclusion The major consideration when using hydro-pneumatic accumulator for storing the energy whilst braking, is of course the loss of pressurized gas in a sealed accumulator. It is a failure critical to safety when it plays such an important role as braking. It is apparent the hydraulic accumulator needed for a KERS, does not have an excessively large capacity (pre-charged to 3200psi), in order to release enough energy to propel a bike to 32km/h (20mph). Furthermore, a hydraulic motor can produce 81.36Nm braking torque which makes it an effective brake. However based on the weight of the prototype (13kg) from the University of Michigan, it is impractical to use a hydro-pneumatic technology, as it stands currently, for a bicycle KERS.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Dangerousness and Dangerous Offenders
Dangerousness and Dangerous Offenders Dangerousness and Dangerous Offenders. Analyse the concept of dangerousness and critically evaluate its usefulness for the criminal justice system. Dangerousness, is the concept of criminology that is used to attribute those offenders who are deemed to pose a significant risk to the general public but whose actions cannot be made attributable to a specific mental illness. This therefore means that the administration of their criminal punishment is, by law, to be dealt with by the penal system as opposed to the medical profession. This paper analyses this concept of dangerousness, which will predominantly take into consideration the difficulties of creating an adequate legal definition for the use of the â€Å"dangerousness†concept as a tool within the modern criminal justice system. In particular, critical assessment of a possible use for a dangerousness concept will be analysed with reference to difficulties of categorisation of dangerous behaviour and possible usefulness.  Once a use for dangerousness has been identified, this will be analysed with reference to possible impacts on the modern Human Ri ghts regime. These findings will be cross referenced with the work of the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and the Multi-Agency Public Protection Panel (MAPPP) in order to determine whether there really is a use for an all encompassing ’dangerousness’ concept in Criminal Justice. A.     Definition of the Concept of Dangerousness Research into the dangerousness concept reveals that it is a character that is attributed to certain criminal offenders. Floud and Young therefore describe dangerousness as:            â€Å"a pathological attribute of character: a propensity to inflict harm on others in disregard or defiance of the usual social and legal constraints†¦Ã¢â‚¬ The first revelation of the concept of ‘dangerousness’ is, therefore, that it is a notion aimed at the criminal offender. A second aspect of the concept is that the offender need not be suffering from any form of mental illness. This does not pose huge problems for the criminal justice function of sentencing, since mental illness is indicative of insanity, which when averred in a court of law, has the effect of acquitting the offender on account of lack of mens rea to commit the crime. The insane are therefore dealt with by the medical profession on a strictly subjective level in a way that the penal system would be ill equipped to provide. This was evident in the case of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who, after a period of time in prison due to a failed plea of diminished responsibility, was eventually found to be mentally unsound and was placed into psychiatric care. Finally, a third aspect, or perhaps a problem associated with the above definition is that there is little guidance on the classification of behaviour that can be deemed as dangerous. This will be dealt with below. In relation to this, there is no assistance in the determination of the boundaries between dangerous and non-dangerous offenders. B.     Dangerousness as a useful tool for the criminal justice system            1.        Definition of Criminal Justice In order to assess a potential tool for the Criminal Justice system, it is essential to know exactly what Criminal Justice is in order to identify its specific requirements for potential, useful tools. Criminal Justice is highly complex for the simple reason that it is a system operated by various institutions including the police, the crown prosecution service, the criminal defence service, the courts, the probation service and the prison service to name but a few. Sanders and Young have however identified one key principle of all institutions that are instrumental in the Criminal Justice system, which is to regulate:                      â€Å"potential, alleged and actual criminal activity within procedural limits supposed to protect the citizen from wrongful treatment and wrongful conviction†¦Ã¢â‚¬            2.        Requirements for dangerousness to be a useful tool Dangerousness, as a tool within this system, therefore requires to be instrumental in the regulation of alleged and actual criminal activity. Dangerousness itself would fit into the criminal justice modal as a legal term for the attribution of certain offenders but, in doing so, it must have a functional use beyond mere classification. As a tool within a fair legal system that is governed by the Human Rights Act 1998, it is also necessary that the definition of dangerousness is clear and precise so that offenders are given the benefit of full transparency of the law. C.     A function beyond mere classification? What is the function of dangerousness? In 1981, Fleud and Young presented their publication on the discussion of dangerousness as a classification of individuals for the purpose of imposing predictive judgements:            â€Å"†¦for sentencing purposes a man should only be judged ‘dangerous’ if it can be predicted that he will commit a future offence with something like the degree of particularity and certainty with which we could reckon to establish the fact that he committed a past offence†¦Ã¢â‚¬ While this is certainly a function for the tool of ‘dangerousness’ in the criminal justice system, ‘dangerousness,’ as a designation that leads to predictive judgement, is a blatant attack on the concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty‘. This is clearly pronounced by the fact that all criminal acts are determined in a court of law using the standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt,’ and that the evidential burden of proof lies with the prosecution as opposed to the defendant. This also profoundly supported by Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which categorically stipulates the right to a free trial. In addition, our current criminal justice system employs initiatives that are geared towards the rehabilitation of the offender, which means that modern day imprisonment is not only a fulfilment of the requirement to protect the public, but is also a means of educating the offender for the purpose of development of re-integration into society. The premise for preventative detention would suggest that the offender is past hope for such rehabilitation. Any form of incarceration for reasons other than the determined sentence administered through the channel of a fair trial must be given the most absolute and strict scrutiny. This is the basis upon which the extended detention of forty-eight hours under s 41(3) of the Terrorism Act 2000is based and, under strict circumstances laid out in Schedule 8, this period of detention may be extended. The significance for ‘dangerousness’ is that, as a concept of criminal justice that facilitates extended incarceration, there would require to be a clear, precise and strict declaration of parameters to determine the situations that would give rise to ‘dangerousness’ without which there can be no certainty in the law governed by Human Rights concepts. These findings therefore show that preventative detention can now never take place in line with Human Rights but does this mean that dangerousness is a concept that is fully obsolete? This in not the case when we examine the operation in the modern era of the organisation of MAPPA, which was set up in 2001 under the authority provided by the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. MAPPA is a supervisory, regulatory body that monitors offenders that are deemed to be dangerous to the public. Far from being a hindrance to the Human Rights concept, MAPPA bridges the gap between, the right to Liberty of the offender who has served time in prison, and supervision for the protection of the public. MAPPA is also a clever way of allowing for the continued adherence to Article 5 (ECHR) by facilitating the monitoring function of MAPPA as justified by the fact of a right to liberty and security of person under Article 5 for the general public. This is given priority over an absolute right to Article 5 protection for the dangerous offender. The approach is therefore intended to be the proportionate measure that finds adequate compromise between the rights of the general public on the one hand, and the offender on the other. This therefore allows for qualified freedom within a more specialised version of the traditional practice of probation. D.     Finding parameters for dangerous behaviour As a premise from which to determine the ‘dangerousness’ in behaviour, types of criminal behaviour that fall into this category would be all forms of criminal offence that would be considered as creating risk of ‘grave harm to others’. A traditional viewpoint for this concept is to include such violent crimes as murder, rape and all other forms of assault. In addition, this umbrella can also include crimes where there is a less direct aim at bodily harm, such as dangerous driving, arson and other wilful destruction of property. However, the list can be endless! The problem of attribution of dangerousness to specific crimes is solved under the MAPPA model by limiting the supervisory scheme to violent and sex offenders. In addition, the high risk offenders are referred to the more specialised MAPPP. The powers of both organisations are found under the Sexual Offences Act and Criminal Justice Act 2003, in which the responsibility for supervision of dangerous offenders is granted to the Police, Prison and Probation Services who are collectively referred to as the ‘Responsible Authority.’ This model does however leave open two ongoing problems.            1.        Dangerous behaviour is still not necessarily confined to violence and sex offences From a criminal justice point of view, the focus on specific types of behaviour, although initially pointing to violent crimes, does ignore the fact that grave harm can be inflicted in other ways such as the committal of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. In fact, these types of crimes have the potential of creating far more widespread harm than that of conventional acts of violence. There is equally a distinct social difference between the physically violent spectrum of criminal behaviour and the so-called white-collar criminal activity involved in crimes of deception. This first problem therefore reveals that ‘dangerousness’ should not be limited to acts of violent and sexual nature but it continues to reveal the fact that any potential list of ‘dangerous crimes’ must be finite in order to preserve certainty in the law.            2.        Vast focus on the offender ignores the social context of crime Not only is it clear that dangerous crimes need not be exclusively of the violent and sexual nature, but the focus of ‘dangerousness’ is wrong in that it draws attention to the criminal and the crime as opposed to the social problem that generated the criminal behaviour. As shown via illustration of the problem associated with the classification of ‘dangerous’ crimes, there are many social contexts that are capable of creating certain criminal activity. A mere focus on the offender does nothing to hit hard at the root of the problem and the criminal justice system simply continues to imprison and punish offenders from the breeding grounds of, on the one hand, deprived and poverty stricken areas, and on the other, hand, corrupt administrative institutions. Dangerousness therefore not only ignores problems in society, but in doing so, it misses out on the wide variety of types of criminal activity that can be generated across the spectrum of social environments.             3.        Counter arguments It must however be remembered that there are other forms of supervisory mechanisms in place for the future prevention of non-violent and dangerous crimes such as embezzlement. These include the striking off of Directors from the board of directors following criminal activity. Furthermore, in relation to the targeting of social problems associated with specific areas of the country, John Prescott is currently heading one of the most comprehensive and widespread re-generation programs in UK history. Conclusion Dangerousness, as a legal concept, has extremely limited scope and the MAPPA model is merely a Human Rights friendly method of supervision that has utilised the word dangerous to describe violent and sex offenders. While the dangerousness concept has the potential to go far further than this small window of crimes, it is as a result of the complexities inherent in dealing with various crimes and their diverse social backgrounds that dangerousness cannot become a single operation within the criminal justice system. Instead, its usefulness is merely that of a non-legal but linguistic adjective to different crimes that require diverse preventative measures. Bibliography Legislation Sexual Offences Act 2003Criminal Justice Act 2003Terrorism Act 2000Human Rights Act 1998 (European Convention of Human Rights) Case LawR v Sutcliffe, The Times, 23 May 1981 Textbook PublicationsJ Floud and W Young, â€Å"Dangerousness and Criminal Justice,†(Cambridge Studies in Criminology XLVII, 1981)A Ashworth, â€Å"Principles of Criminal Law,†(Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 2003)A Sanders and R Young, â€Å"Criminal Justice,†(Butterworths, 2nd edition, 2000) Web Resources The Labour party: www.labour.org.uk/jpbattlebusThe Home Office: www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk
Garbage Essay -- essays research papers fc
On May 16, 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that police officers, without a warrant, have the right to inspect curbside rubbish for evidence. â€Å"Justice Byron R. White’s opinion for the majority said the privacy of garbage bags left outside the home and its immediate surroundings is not protected by the Fourth Amendment because people have no ‘subjective expectation of privacy’ in their garbage ‘that society accepts as objectively reasonable’†(Taylor 559-560). The Supreme Court’s ruling on curbside rubbish is fair because people voluntarily leave their trash at the curb for collection.      The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states â€Å"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.†This basically means police officers cannot come into a home and just rummage through personal belongings. However, many people feel the Supreme Court’s ruling is a violation of the Fourth Amendment because they feel rummaging through garbage is rummaging through their personal belongings. A person’s trash is private and can reveal very personal information. â€Å"A search of trash, like a search of the bedroom, can relate intimate details about sexual practices, health and personal...
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
The Yellow Wallpaper :: essays research papers
For this assignment I chose to review â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The yellow wallpaper was about a lady with what is said to be a temporary nervous condition and her husband traveling to the country for the summer and for the healing powers of being away from writing which seems to worsen her condition. The people in the story rent a house for three months and the main character in the story is tormented, she stares at this wallpaper for hours on end and thinks she sees a woman behind the paper. "I didn't realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman." She becomes obsessed with discovering what is behind that pattern and what it is doing. "I don't want to leave now until I have found it out". The plot of the story was boring, going from one thing to another just to have the woman lock herself in a room and pull all the wallpaper down at the end. The rising action would lead you to believe she completely went crazy there was one part where she explicitly says she wanted to burn the house down because of the smell from the wallpaper. It sounds as if she is suffering from far more than a nervous depression when you hear things like that. There was one big thing that’s repeated throughout the story and it’s the fact that she keeps saying no one wanted her to write because it is supposedly the cause or one of the reasons her ailment continues. The other characters in the story are distant from her like everyone is trying not to see the problem this woman is delusional, psychotic, maybe even completely insane. There are hints of this all throughout the story, she doesn’t go anywhere nobody wanted her to write. I’m thinking there is more going on in the story, something between the lines maybe she’s being abused and that is the real root of her illness. When you get to the root of the story it’s really about this woman being dominated by her husband. She is almost running scared of him she doesn’t dare do anything around him, she doesn’t mention it but I believe she would be disciplined in some way if she was to get out of line by defying him some way. The Yellow Wallpaper :: essays research papers For this assignment I chose to review â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The yellow wallpaper was about a lady with what is said to be a temporary nervous condition and her husband traveling to the country for the summer and for the healing powers of being away from writing which seems to worsen her condition. The people in the story rent a house for three months and the main character in the story is tormented, she stares at this wallpaper for hours on end and thinks she sees a woman behind the paper. "I didn't realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman." She becomes obsessed with discovering what is behind that pattern and what it is doing. "I don't want to leave now until I have found it out". The plot of the story was boring, going from one thing to another just to have the woman lock herself in a room and pull all the wallpaper down at the end. The rising action would lead you to believe she completely went crazy there was one part where she explicitly says she wanted to burn the house down because of the smell from the wallpaper. It sounds as if she is suffering from far more than a nervous depression when you hear things like that. There was one big thing that’s repeated throughout the story and it’s the fact that she keeps saying no one wanted her to write because it is supposedly the cause or one of the reasons her ailment continues. The other characters in the story are distant from her like everyone is trying not to see the problem this woman is delusional, psychotic, maybe even completely insane. There are hints of this all throughout the story, she doesn’t go anywhere nobody wanted her to write. I’m thinking there is more going on in the story, something between the lines maybe she’s being abused and that is the real root of her illness. When you get to the root of the story it’s really about this woman being dominated by her husband. She is almost running scared of him she doesn’t dare do anything around him, she doesn’t mention it but I believe she would be disciplined in some way if she was to get out of line by defying him some way.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities
Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth†it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units. Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth†it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Racism and Sociology Essay
The Plight of Man  Racism has punctuated the shaping of society for centuries, each major instance of which has helped dictate the direction of social interaction. Although we have come a long way in addressing the situation, it still remains a prevalent issue today. Being a global citizen in this day and age, one has a responsibility to be tolerant, as social circles overlap in a multicultural environment, and the luxury of being informed, grace of the globalizing advances in technology and social media. We live in a melting pot society and the idea of â€Å"Racism†holds no place in the modern world. Being collections of individuals who perceive ourselves to be members of the same social category, we share similar emotional involvements and we experience social overlap. To have conflict or strife in the community, as a result of racial animosity, degrades the moral pillars upon which society is built and results in what is effectively a civil war. The population experiences stratification and the distribution of social rewards are poorly distributed, as are the burdens. These institutionalized mis-allocations as a result of race or ethnicity continue to perpetuate prejudice and create a minority group, which is characterized namely by lack of social power or authority. The term â€Å"Prejudice†refers to attitudes of aversion and hostility toward the members of a group simply because they belong to it and hence are presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to it. The results of deeply engrained racial prejudices are active racial discriminations and the arbitrary denial of privilege, prestige, and power to members of a minority group. With every stigma attached to members of a certain culture, the potential for conflict and separation increases, as does the social and political stress. These prejudices can be very deeply engrained, because of the nationalistic tendencies, on both sides, to carve your own independent nation out of an existing state. These tendencies set the tone and direction for the social interactions to come. In North American society, immigration has long since been a part of our heritage and until recently had very lenient immigration laws allowing immigrants from Africa, China and people of varying faiths and groups to retained their cultural identities and distinctiveness for many years.  As a result of these multi-ethnic societies, certain ethnic groups can lose their personal distinctiveness through the process of assimilation, or retain their identity and integrity through the process of pluralism. Assimilation refers to those processes whereby groups with distinctive identities become culturally and socially fused. Pluralism refers to a situation in which diverse groups coexist and boundaries between them are maintained. There are two distinct direction in terms of mind-set when practicing pluralism: Equal Pluralism, where ethnic group members participate freely and equally in political and economic institutions. And: Unequal Pluralism, where economic and political participation of minority groups is severely limited by the dominant group and may even entail genocide. Through the scope of global media we’ve been able to catch a glimpse all of these social phenomenons at play. From racist remarks in professional sports leagues, to hate fueled attacks at home as well as abroad, we can see these interactions affect public opinion and incite unique reactions.  When a race is being discriminated against, it becomes very difficult for a person of that race to compete, survive, and strive in that society. Because the allocation of social benefits and opportunity are not based on the merits of the individual, but rather preconceived notions. The contemporary or modern racism has been derived from many different places and ideas, one of the most common ideas being upbringing. As a youth, we are malleable and we rely on our parents to help us become who we are. Part of that involves how their own experiences have shaped their attitude. Distinct opinions, that of which children don’t have the maturity to form on their own. They rely on the education of their parents. But not only that, they believe it whole-heartedly; not having known anything else. This is often where the problem starts. Racism creates boundaries for people with potentially great minds and does not allow for a collective contribution of its citizens, which I believe t o be a critical component of a country’s development and success. If a class of people is not allowed to be educated, they cannot make important contributions in a society of technological advances and medical arenas. The denial of quality education to certain groups of people only serves to obstruct the economic progress of a nation. If we ostracize a class of people and don’t allow them to participate culturally, we fail to understand and appreciate our differences and similarities, we fail to improve and we fail to develop socially.  These issues can be analyzed from multiple different perspectives. Some see society as a system made up of a number of interrelated and interdependent elements, each performing a function that contributes to the operation of the whole and others as power struggle over scarce resources, while for some, society is based on human interaction. Let’s start with Functionalism, focusing on dysfunction or disorganization within the social system as a cause for conflict. The premise behind the Functionalism perspective on race is that there would be a consensus between different ethnicities and race as immigration continued and our social circles continued to overlap. Naturally, to have this consensus, the minority group would need to assimilate with the larger group. At which point, they would become working and active members of society, contributing towards the benefit of the dominant ethnicity. At the core of Functionalism, is the idea of harmony but Functionalists do say that ethnic differentiation reduces consensus, increases the chances of conflict, and threatens the equilibrium of a society. Racism interferes with the efficient operation, the stability of the system and the achievement of societal goals. The saving grace for this theory is that it also promotes group formation and cohesion. The process of assimilation, in which a minority becomes absorbed into the dominant society -socially, economically, and culturally- infers willingness to participate and becomes a part of the majority social circle. The Conflict Theory perspective would involve all the different groups in society fighting amongst each other for all available resources and opportunities for advancement or personal betterment. When a sub-population feels somehow disadvantaged or are not receiving a sufficient share of the resources, be they money, power, prestige, or respected values and work to overcome those perceived disadvantages. This theory relates back to Marxist train of tho ugh and his famous â€Å"Class Theory†where these struggles for resources are limited to conflict between castes in society. This perspective argues for class-based conflict as an inherent and fundamental part of society, Conflict Theory promotes the idea that racial and ethnic conflict is in fact tied to class conflict and that in order to reduce racial and ethnic conflict, class conflict must first be reduced. Some cultures in the past, because of these repetitive battles over assets, have been bred out of War and as a result were quick to behave in a conflicting manner. The conflict is related to ethnocentrism and for more reasons than one relates directly to racism. Symbolic Interactionism is the individuals experience with and insight into meaning, as a function of interactions. The primary determinant of behaviour is the understanding that people have for one another. We start to see social problems and conflict in Symbolic Interaction when some social condition is defined by an influential group as stigmatizing or threatening to their values and disruptive of normal social expectations. Society, for a Symbolic Interactionist, is a network of interlocking roles and understanding your role, is pivotal. Social order is constructed mainly through interaction as individuals, through shared ground, explore their social world. The thing that first sets Symbolic Interaction into motion, from a racial perspective, is Competition: creating a niche for people by dividing urban space. Making it a prime medium through which to analyze the effect of racism on behaviour. Generally, the Functionalist perspective looks at society as a complex system. Functionalists aim to focus on different contributions to social solidarity and stability. Orthodox Functionalism did not technically envelop critical analyses of race or ethnicity, going instead for perceiving race as another constituent element. This element, within the larger whole of society, that is assimilated into its harmonious and smooth functioning’s. From this perspective, societies can be seen as finely tuned, interacting, and fundamentally relational constructs that function like organisms, with all different facets of the model are continuously, and unconsciously working towards social equilibrium. Given this repetitive emphasis on equilibrium and harmony, the Functionalist perspective easily allows for specific micro and macro analyses’ of more explicit race-inspired issues such as hate crimes or social power discrepancies and general racial conflict. It allows for the microana lyses in that most of modern sociology is oriented around the individual and trying to identity formation of the socially constructed nature of race. It is much less well adapted to understanding individual discrimination and prejudice because it ignores the inequalities that cause tension and conflict. The Conflict theory, although it does account for much of the tensions seen is a discriminant world, is much to inclusive of all classes for it to be the main theory that can describe the tensions precipitated by race. To that effect, the Conflict Theory revolves around competition for resources and precipitates a much better scope through which to analyze of racist behaviour. The Symbolic Interaction Theory encapsulates the individualistic nature of mans behaviour as well as the social aspect of it. Peoples interactions with each other are attaching meaning to one another’s actions instead of merely responding or reacting to them. Human interaction is mediated by the use of a more subtle language of symbols and signification, by interpretation, or by ascertaining the meaning of one another’s actions. This can be done collaboratively in the instance of a one on one form of behavioural interpretation, as in attacks, or general attitude interpretation, as in social stigma s. We can clearly see the necessary relationships that define racism, in this day and age, with the Symbolic Interaction alone. Functionalism makes much available through its similar perspective but it’s lack of attention to the micro scale of society and the truly individualistic approach that humans take to understanding, and exhibiting behaviour makes it’s contributions lacking a key aspect of racism. The Symbolic Interaction also takes into account the Correspondence Bias and it’s tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behaviour is due to internal, dispositional factors; and to underestimate the role of situational factors. Biology and nature are very deeply connected and share a complex relationship. Early outlook of this relationship revealed that culture is slightly a product of biology. More recent perspective, however, is that human culture has reversed this particular causal direction and, culture can actually influence human evolution, which I personally think is where we’re at now. Racism ranges from the abstract micro interactions that stem from socializing negatively and being misinformed to concrete, cultural objects. We need to strive for a functioning society and the only way there will be to work collectively. In conclusion, humans are naturally competitive, and naturally we’re going to continue to be competitive in nature. The only thing we can do is attempt to step outside of the boundaries that are set for us socially and the ones we personally set for ourselves. We are inherently social creatures, even though our Western perspective of self is more introspect-based, it ’s all about society in then end. Bibliography (Diana Kendall, 2008). Social Problems in a Diverse Society 2nd. Canadian Edition. Pearson Augie Fleras (2005) Social Problems in Canada: conditions, constructions and challenges. 4th. Canadian Edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall
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