France’s chemical giant

DrumheadIn 1995 Fisons plc was acquired by Pennsylvania-based Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. , in bend entirely owned by France ‘s chemical giant Rhone-Poulenc S.A. Though its position among the universe ‘s pharmaceutical companies was later subsumed in beds of corporate ownership, Fisons had boasted a history of more than 300 old ages in concern before its dismantlement. Founded as a flour factory in the late eighteenth century, it rapidly developed into one of the universe ‘s largest fertiliser manufacturers. As the fertiliser market matured into a low-profit trade good over the class of the twentieth century, the company diversified into horticultural merchandises, pharmaceuticals, and scientific instruments. In the mid-1980s, Fisons divested its fertiliser involvements to concentrate on the extremely profitable medical side of the concern. By 1993 the company was the universe ‘s third-largest maker of scientific instruments and ranked among the universe ‘ s 60 largest pharmaceutical concerns. Fisons ‘ weak research and development attempts and unequal selling attempts, nevertheless, led to one-year losingss and a steep diminution in its stock monetary value mid-decade. The British company tried to contend off the progresss of its Franco-American rival, but relinquished ownership in the autumn of 1995. Fisons plc began as a flour factory and bakeshop founded by James Fisons in Barningham, England, in the late eighteenth century. In 1789 a boy, besides named James, started a maltings concern that expanded into Stowmarket and Thetford, two river towns that helped the household concerns expand. James Fison and Sons was formed in 1808, and by 1840 the house was entering & A ; lb ; 100,000 in one-year gross revenues. Subsequently that decennary, the household entered the underdeveloped field of fertilisers and moved the concern ‘s central office to Ipswich. Within a few old ages, Fisons had built a manure plant and was bring forthing its ain sulphuric acid. As fertilisers became the company ‘s primary concern, pesticides based on sulfurs were added to the merchandise mix. In 1895 the company was split into two parts: James Fison and Sons and Joseph Fison and Co. During World War I, Fisons helped do explosives, but the company returned to fertilizer by the terminal of the war to buoy dwindling nutrient production. When fertiliser monetary values plunged after the war, the two Fison companies, along with two others with which they had late merged, were reunited to organize Fison, Packard, Prentice and Co. ( Fisons ) in 1929. During the 1930s, Fisons began to spread out through acquisitions. The company ‘s most important add-on was the Anglo-Continental Guano Works Ltd. , which doubled the size of Fisons. Anglo-Continental was a budding pudding stone with a pharmaceutical subordinate, Genatosan ; Fisons was therefore brought into that moneymaking market. Fisons ‘ acquisitions continued throughout the 1930s, and by 1939, with 39 subordinates, it was the largest fertiliser company in Great Britain. During World War II Fisons felt the force per unit area of both a manpower deficit and increased demand for fertilisers. Some of the company ‘s fabrication workss were bombed every bit good. The company name was shortened to Fisons Ltd. for marketing lucidity in 1942, and it emerged from the war with about two-thirds of Great Britain ‘s fertiliser market. Fisons made more acquisitions after the war ‘s terminal, first buying Wiffen and Son, a all right chemicals maker. The new subordinate became portion of Fisons ‘s chemicals and biologicals division, headed by Genatosan. The Wiffen acquisition included the Loughborough Glass Company, which would subsequently develop into Fisons ‘s Scientific Equipment division. The purchase of Pest Control Limited during the 1950s brought Fisons into agrochemicals, a market that was closely related to the fertiliser concern. Fisons hoped to capitalise on the two Fieldss ‘ common research, development, and distribution methods. In 1968 research workers at Genatosan discovered disodium cromoglycate ( DSCG ) , which was developed as the branded anti-allergenic Intal. The drug differed from its rivals because it was a contraceptive, whereas others were taken after the oncoming of allergic symptoms. Intal gross revenues boosted the pharmaceutical division ‘s net incomes from & A ; lb ; 1.14 million in 1968 to & A ; lb ; 2.43 million in 1970 and & A ; lb ; 5.6 million in 1973. By 1971 Fisons had organized its many subordinates into four divisions: Fertilizers, Agrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Scientific Equipment. The company developed these primary concerns through acquisitions every bit good as merchandise and market enlargement. Acquisitions were focused geographically in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Fertilizers contributed 50 per centum of the pudding stone ‘s one-year gross revenues at that clip, and Fisons fought to keep a competitory border in Great Britain ‘s fertiliser market: 80 per centum of the division ‘s gross revenues were in its place state. However, the supply side of this division was hamstrung, since its primary ammonium hydroxide provider was besides its primary rival, Imperial Chemical Industries plc. During the first half of the 1970s, Fisons tried to rectify this state of affairs by increasing its majority purchasing in planetary markets, particularly sponsoring Morocco. Morocco increased its monetary values six-fold in 1973, though, and other providers rapidly followed suit. At the same clip, U.K. monetary value controls held fertiliser monetary values below the universe market monetary value for ammonium hydroxide, efficaciously extinguishing Fisons ‘s fertiliser net incomes. Fisons ‘s Agrochemicals group besides ran into problem during the seventiess, when it lost a valuable client, Ciba-Geigy Ltd. Fisons tried to back up this group by increasing capital investings, particularly in the United States. The company besides boosted research and development financess, but since most of this division ‘s attempts focused on making replacements for merchandises that were already on the market, Fisons lacked a strong merchandising suit. During the 1970s, anti-allergens comprised between 60 and 70 per centum of the Pharmaceutical division ‘s gross revenues, but Intal had merely captured 6.1 per centum of the anti-allergy market, which was led by Glaxo ‘s Ventolin. After a decennary of research, the division was covering a serious blow when Fisons decided non to market its new drug, Proxicromil, a replacement to Intal, because it was found to do malignant neoplastic disease in animate beings. With Intal ‘s unrenewable patents set to run out in 1982, the Pharmaceutical division ‘s chances were non good. In 1972 the Scientific Equipment Division was spun off from the Pharmaceutical division, and acquisitions in Germany and Australia, every bit good as the purchase of Britain ‘s Gallenkamp, helped Fisons go Great Britain ‘s top scientific equipment maker. Many of Gallenkamp ‘s contracts were with the authorities, universities, and infirmaries, nevertheless, many of which cut their outgos in the recessive 1970s. Fisons ‘s Horticulture division was separated from the Agrochemical division in 1977. It produced and marketed amateur and professional horticulture merchandises, and its strengths were in peat-based merchandises, particularly the popular and well-established Fisons Gro-Bags — self-contained, nutritionally balanced dirt pokes. The peat operations were extended with a new works in Yorkshire and the acquisition of Howlett ‘s, a company with peat militias in Cumbria and Scotland. Although it was a new focal point for Fisons, gardening was really one of the company ‘s most unafraid concerns by the terminal of the seventiess. It was vertically incorporate and held commanding portions of the markets in which it operated: 50 per centum of the lawn fertiliser market ; 20 per centum of the solid fertiliser market ; 30 per centum of the peat market ; and 12 per centum of Great Britain ‘s weed and pest control concern. Throughout the 1970s, Fisons had gone into debt to do a cloudy reorganisation and shore up up its historical focal point — fertilisers — merely as competition and planetary consolidation in this market eroded net incomes. At the same clip, high involvement rates and rising prices dug into the net incomes Fisons managed to gain through its other operations. By 1980 Fisons ‘s chances looked dim. The Fertilizers division was runing at a loss ; Agrochemicals could non trust to vie with the research and development spendings of bigger rivals ; the Scientific Equipment division was enduring from authorities cutbacks ; gardening was a little, developing concern ; and the Pharmaceuticals division, a primary profit-maker, had all of a sudden lost its lone long-run growing merchandise. Fisons was on the brink of bankruptcy. John Kerridge was promoted to main executive officer ( CEO ) from executive manager in mid-1980 and given the undertaking of change by reversaling Fisons ‘ downward spiral. He began the reformation by cutting costs, shuting down four production units and three farms in the Fertilizer division, so extinguishing more than 1,000 places in the group. Fisons ‘s corporate central offices were moved from high-rent London back to Ipswich, and economizations were made in the Scientific Equipment division every bit good. Kerridge ‘s most cardinal alteration was the sale of the Fertilizer division to Norsk Hydro a.s. in 1982 for & A ; lb ; 59 million. The divestment was a extremist alteration for Fisons and involved the disposal of what had been the foundation of the company for more than a century, every bit good as the division with the most gross revenues. The troublesome Agrochemicals division was sold the undermentioned twelvemonth to Schering A.G. for & A ; lb ; 60 milli on. These divestments left Fisons with three primary concerns: Pharmaceuticals, Horticulture, and Scientific Equipment. The pharmaceutical group was expanded with the 1980 purchase of Great Britain ‘s Charnwood Pharmaceuticals, Australia ‘s Orbit Chemical Pty. Ltd. in 1982, and Italy ‘s Intersint in 1983. Great Britain ‘s Weddel Pharmaceutical was acquired in 1983 and merged with Charnwood, which would specialise in generic drugs. Fisons ‘s Horticultural operations grew geographically through a joint venture with Canada ‘s Western Peat Moss in 1980, and the acquisition of Langley Peat North Ltd. of Alberta in 1983. These purchases gave Fisons entree to big peat supplies and the North American market. The British operations were supplanted with the acquisition of Webb and Bees seed operations from Shell Holdings ( U.K. ) Ltd. in the early 1980s. The Scientific Equipment division grew through the add-on of Watson Victor, a New Zealand distributer of research lab equipment, in 1982. Haake-Butler Instruments, of which Fisons owned 67 per centum, was later founded in the United States. Overall, Kerridge ‘s cardinal alterations improved Fisons ‘s balance sheet dramatically ; the corporation went from doing one-year involvement payments of & A ; lb ; 13 million in 1980 to holding no net adoptions in 1983. Fisons was even unafraid plenty to do a successful stock offer of & A ; lb ; 28 million that twelvemonth. The Pharmaceutical division ‘s continued heavy research and development outgos resulted in two new drugs: DSCG-based Opticrom, released in 1984, and Tilade, a new asthma intervention, introduced in 1986. This division acquired Laboratorios Caesen, of Spain, in 1984, and Bracco de Mexico in 1986. Kerridge was made president in 1984, and he clarified the scheme he had been utilizing to turn Fisons around: â€Å" We wish to run in industries of built-in attraction, which have potency for growing and a record of profitableness of successful participants, [ and ] we wish to be in clearly defined concern sections where Fisons can moderately draw a bead on to being an effectual rival by virtuousness of its size and its fiscal and managerial resources. † The company would no longer run on the peripheries of its chosen markets, as it had in the seventiess. For illustration, Fisons concentrated on the gardening and scientific equipment markets, which were non yet consolidated or dominated by a individual powerful company. Fisons hoped to be that company. Fisons burst onto the U.S. market for scientific equipment, which was place to 40 per centum of the universe ‘s research activity, with the acquisition of Curtin Matheson Scientific Inc. ( CMS ) in 1984. CMS was the second-largest distributer of scientific equipment in the United States. Fisons besides purchased United Diagnostics Inc. and Pacific Hemostasis Laboratories Inc. , which were combined with CMS to give the latter fabrication capacity. By the beginning of 1985, Fisons ‘ Scientific division was the third-largest organisation of its type in the universe and the largest outside the United States. Fisons continued to turn, geting in 1985 Murphy Chemical, which helped widen the Horticulture division ‘s portfolio of merchandises, extend selling in Europe and North America, and shore up Fisons ‘s peat supplies. Subsequently in the decennary, the Horticulture division would sell its 50 per centum portion of Asef-Fison B.V. to its joint-venture spouse, DSM Agro Specialties B.V. In 1986 Fisons bought Applied Research Laboratories, a taking maker of scientific equipment with planetary selling capacity, and two old ages later it purchased Union Scientific Limited, a Hong Kong company. Several of import acquisitions were besides made by the Pharmaceutical division in the late eightiess. Italchimici SpA, an Italian house, and Pennwalt Corporation ‘s pharmaceutical division, a U.S. maker of ethical and nonprescription drugs, were purchased in 1988. A Gallic company, Gerbitol S.A. , brought expertness in cardiovascular medical specialty, antibiotics, and dietetic addendums to the division in 1989. In all, with the aid of its important 1980s acquisitions, Fisons ‘s pre-tax net incomes increased by an norm of 56 per centum per twelvemonth to & A ; lb ; 230 million ( US $ 410 million ) . The corporation ‘s market capitalisation rose from & A ; lb ; 40 million in 1980 to & A ; lb ; 3 billion in 1990. The 1990 purchase of VG Instruments, a maker of mass spectrometers and surface analysis instruments, more than doubled Fisons ‘ end product of analytical instruments and catapulted the Scientific Equipment division to the figure three topographic point in the planetary market place. It looked as if Fisons had launched its 2nd back-to-back decennary of growing and prosperity. By the terminal of 1991, nevertheless, it was clear that jobs in the Pharmaceutical division had dragged the full company down. Late that twelvemonth, Fisons revealed that two of its of import new drugs, Opticrom for hay febrility and Imferon for anaemia, had been recalled from the U.S. market after the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) denied blessing of the company ‘s British mills. Harmonizing to a 1992 Economist article, the FDA ‘s everyday cheque of Fisons ‘ U.K. mill revealed warehouses with holes in their outside walls ; hapless record maintaining ; and â€Å" the possibility of gnawer, insect or avian activity in the [ conveyance ] containers. † Fisons ‘s pre-tax net incomes for 1991 dropped 17 per centum to & A ; lb ; 190 million, and the company faced needed investings of more than & A ; lb ; 25 million to convey its British mill up to U.S. criterions. John Kerridge resigned â€Å" on wellness evidences † in mid-January 1992 and was temporarily replaced by Patrick Egan. In April of that twelvemonth, Egan became president, while Cedric Scroggs was selected as main executive officer. The new leaders decided to sharpen Fisons ‘ focal point on pharmaceuticals and scientific equipment by depriving its OTC drug and horticultural concerns. In November 1992, Fisons agreed to sell its North American OTC drug operations to Swiss drug concern Ciba-Geigy Ltd. for & A ; lb ; 92 million ( US $ 60.3 million ) . This section represented about 50 per centum of Fisons ‘s planetary consumer wellness division gross revenues and 40 per centum of that group ‘s net incomes. Egan and Scroggs recognized that the British company lacked the resources and marketing influence necessary to vie in the American consumer drug market. Fisons ‘s new direction forged a joint development and selling understanding with Allergan Inc. , a U.S. ocular company, early in 1993. The agreement called for Fisons ‘ 400 U.S. sales representative to co-market Allergan ‘s ocular drug Acular. The U.S. company ‘s gross revenues force, in bend, would assist market Fisons ‘ ocular intervention Opticrom. The agreement presumed that Opticrom would be re-registered by the FDA. By early 1993, Fisons had made important betterments in its Opticrom mill, but new FDA reviews had still non resulted in blessing tardily in the twelvemonth. Fisons suffered yet another reverse when it suspended development of an asthma medical specialty, tipredane. The company had been banking on the new drug to bolster its core respiratory concern in the late ninetiess. Tipredane had been licensed by Fisons from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and was in the thick of unsuccessful clinical tests in more than a twelve states. The failure of tipredane left Fisons with merely one new drug, remacemide — an epilepsy intervention — in development. In May 1993 Fisons sold its North American gardening concern to a pool led by Macluan Capital Corp. of Vancouver for US $ 60 million in hard currency and used the returns to cut down its debt. Fisons besides planned to sell the balance of its Horticulture division every bit shortly as an chance arose. In July the company sold its consumer wellness merchandises concern in Australia and New Zealand to Warner-Lambert for about US $ 23 million. The sale included the Rosken line of curative skin-care merchandises. Despite Fisons ‘s early 1990s attempts to bolster its pharmaceutical concern, some analysts insisted that the company had neither the research and development strength nor the selling clout necessary to vie in an ethical pharmaceutical concern that demanded frequent find of advanced medical specialties. Industry perceivers anticipated an at hand amalgamation or coup d'etat for Fisons. Those outlooks intensified as Fisons ‘ portion monetary value declined from & A ; lb ; 2.45 in mid-1992 to & A ; lb ; 1.13 by the terminal of 1993. Over the class of the latter twelvemonth, the company ‘s scientific instruments division went & A ; lb ; 16 million into the ruddy. CEO Cedric Scroggs was fired that December, Finance Director Roy Thomas took early ( and presumptively nonvoluntary ) retirement, and Stuart Wallis took the helm of the beat-up house. Throughout the 18 months, Wallis made a valorous and moderately successful attempt to bolster Fisons ‘ stock monetary value. Though the company suffered a loss on 1994, a major reorganisation and divestment plan eliminated at least 1,000 occupations, cut costs, and helped the house ‘s stock monetary value rebound about 75 per centum to & A ; lb ; 1.93 by mid-August 1995. That addition was non plenty to forestall Franco-American rival Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. ( R-PR ) from doing a hostile & A ; lb ; 1.7 billion ( US $ 2.6 billion ) command for control of Fisons on August 18th. Though some analysts thought the offering monetary value, at 16.7 times expected net grosss, was excessively high, CEO Wallis complained to Chemical Marketing Reporter that the monetary value â€Å" significantly undervalues Fisons. † The British company backed up that averment when it reported a 40 per centum addition in net income, to & A ; lb ; 48.6 million, for the first half of 1995. That happy intelligence helped progress the house ‘s stock to & A ; lb ; 2.60 by the terminal of September. In October, R-PR upped its command of & A ; lb ; 2.65 per portion, or US $ 2.9 billion. Unable to happen a more amicable suer, Fisons accepted the coup d'etat that month. Though the British house and its many subordinates around the universe continued to be listed among R-PR ‘s operations through 1996, it shortly became clear that the tri-centenarian entity would finally discontinue to be. Over the class of 1996 and 1997, R-PR slashed about 3,000 excess occupations in the United States and Great Britain, divested several Fisons divisions ( including the scientific instruments concern ) , and discontinued many of the subsumed company ‘s pharmaceutical research and development plans. For its about US $ 3 billion, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer got an main course into the US $ 15 billion and turning respiratory drug market, or more specifically, the respiratory drug bringing section. At the clip of its purchase, Fisons had two promising bringing media in the development grapevine: a non-CFC aerosol and a dry-powder inhalator. Indeed, Fisons probably played a function in an addition in gross revenues and cyberspace at R-PR from 1995 to 1996. Year-over-year grosss increased six per centum, to US $ 5.4 billion, and net grew by about one-third, to US $ 473.5 million. In November 1997, when Rhone-Poulenc acquired the staying tierce of R-PR that it did non already ain, Fisons ‘ destiny appeared sealed. Officials at the company ‘s U.S. and U.K. central offices early in 1998 asserted that Fisons no longer existed, either as a group of subordinates or a division. Question-1Discuss the grounds from the instance and the usage of theory, the stakeholder direction by this organisation ; chiefly its booby traps? Answer: Question-2How would you hold handled this state of affairs ; suggestions to be rationalized with strong theoretical underpinning? Answer: Question-3At the clip of John Kerridge ‘s surrender, what strategic options did Patrick Egan have to steer the company back to its old glorification? Answer:

Teacher Centered And Learner Centered

Student-CenteredStudent-centered learning is viewed as a progressive approach to teaching. The focus in student-centered learning is to make students more aware of the material they are learning and why it is important. Teachers want to make students more active in the classroom, by encouraging them to interact with one another. The teacher measures achievement based on individual student performance, instead of comparing each person to their peers. Teachers practicing student-centered learning techniques encourage students to create their own learning goals. Instead of writing objectives on the syllabus that states the material that will be covered during the course, these teachers write objectives displaying the knowledge the student will gain after completing the course. Teachers encourage students to learn through activities such as classroom debates, discussions, peer mentoring, field trips, creating individual portfolios and participating in both self and peer reviews. By incor porating these activities into the lesson, teachers want students to learn skills that can be transferred to other activities in their students’ lives.Teacher-CenteredTeacher-centered learning is the traditional approach used by educators in the classroom. This method of teaching is very regimented. Teachers choose the course material based on the curriculum they are required to cover by the end of the semester. Student success is based upon a measure of individual performance in comparison to the work of the rest of the class. Emphasis is placed on the instructor in a teacher-centered classroom. The lecture follows a strict format where the teacher talks and the students listen to what she has to say. The classroom is very quiet, as students work on assignments individually, instead of with their peers. Classroom objectives are measured upon the amount of material covered, not necessarily the level of learning achieved by each student. Students are all given the same learnin g goals, which are based on the information covered in class. Teacher Centered And Learner Centered Student-CenteredStudent-centered learning is viewed as a progressive approach to teaching. The focus in student-centered learning is to make students more aware of the material they are learning and why it is important. Teachers want to make students more active in the classroom, by encouraging them to interact with one another. The teacher measures achievement based on individual student performance, instead of comparing each person to their peers.Teachers practicing student-centered learning techniques encourage students to create their own learning goals. Instead of writing objectives on the syllabus that states the material that will be covered during the course, these teachers write objectives displaying the knowledge the student will gain after completing the course. Teachers encourage students to learn through activities such as classroom debates, discussions, peer mentoring, field trips, creating individual portfolios and participating in both self and peer reviews. By incorp orating these activities into the lesson, teachers want students to learn skills that can be transferred to other activities in their students’ lives.Teacher-CenteredTeacher-centered learning is the traditional approach used by educators in the classroom. This method of teaching is very regimented. Teachers choose the course material based on the curriculum they are required to cover by the end of the semester. Student success is based upon a measure of individual performance in comparison to the work of the rest of the class. Emphasis is placed on the instructor in a teacher-centered classroom.The lecture follows a strict format where the teacher talks and the students listen to what she has to say. The classroom is very quiet, as students work on assignments individually, instead of with their peers. Classroom objectives are measured upon the amount of material covered, not necessarily the level of learning achieved by each student. Students are all given the same learning goals, which are based on the information covered in class.

Existentialism and Film Noir Essay

Existentialism and its worldview are believed to have derived from Nietzsche’s provocative and controversial statement â€Å"God is dead†. The underlying meaning to Nietzsche’s controversial statement is that empirical natural science has replaced metaphysical explanations of the world. As a result of this, according to Nietzsche we no longer have any sense of who and what we are as human beings. He concludes that no foundation exists anymore for the meaning and value of things. Nietzsche’s philosophy shines light on what film noir is. That is, an artistic response to, or recognition of, this alteration in our understanding of the world. To emphasize the existentialist attitude in film noir, various stylistic and thematic techniques are used. Common techniques or characteristics of film noir that we see in both The Maltese Falcon and The Killers include: unconventional or non-classical narrative patterns, opposition of light and shadow, disorientation of the viewer, incoherent plot lines, inversion of traditional values and its corresponding moral ambivalence, non-chronological ordering of events, and characters whose actions are not motivated or understandable in any rational way. The similarities of characteristics between existentialism and film noir are prominent; for example, Siodmak and Huston distinguish the alienation and disorientation of a post-Nietzschean world, one without transcendent meaning or value. The constant opposition of light and shadow as seen in The Maltese Falcon and The Killers, helps communicate the dark characteristics of a post-Nietzschean world. For instance, when the swede peacefully awaits his assassins, we get a sense of estrangement and lack of sense and meaning. This lack of sense and meaning is further emphasized when the room goes dark and you see him from the neck down in light, but the face is in total shadow. A sense of despair is created through this camera technique by showing that no one else is in the room, leaving him hopeless to escape. A common characteristic of film noir that we see in both The Maltese Falcon, and The Killers, is the use of unconventional or non-classical narrative patterns. The use of non-classical narrative patterns emphasizes the cynical characteristics of a post-Nietzschean world. For instance, in The Maltese Falcon, Miss Ruth Wonderly initially claims to Spade and Archer to be searching for her sister, however her true intentions were to implicate Thursby her unwanted accomplice by killing Archer. Miss Ruth Wonderly’s contemptuous behavior coincides with the pessimistic view about the nature and purpose of human life. Non-classical patterns are established through various stylistic techniques. Such as the non-chronological ordering of events, often achieved through flashbacks. An example of this technique is seen in The Killers, when flashbacks are used to tell the story leading up to Ole Andersen’s death. The use of flashbacks and complicated sometimes-incoherent plot lines, as in The Maltese Falcon, are examples of the stylistic techniques that are used in film noir to communicate the mood and sensibility. A final common technique that is used in film noir is portraying characters whose actions are not motivated or understandable in any rational way. For example, why does Miss Wonderly lie about her name and objective in the beginning of The Maltese Falcon when she is sure to get caught at some point? By portraying the characters in this manner, Huston leaves the viewer with unanswered questions, leading to the disorientation of the viewer. It has been argued that film noir cannot be defined, therefore has no essential characteristics. That being said, considering noir as a response to the death of god helps explain the commonality of elements that philosophers have recognized in noir films. Moreover, the directors of The Maltese Falcon and The Killers use of thematic and stylistic characteristics in their films make them two of the best examples of film noir. They clearly depict a world of the post-Nietzschean period in their films, that is one of despair, alienation, and paranoia, which is essentially an existential attitude towards life.

Are Economic Sanctions A Humane Alternative To War or Are They Simply Essay

Are Economic Sanctions A Humane Alternative To War or Are They Simply a Tool of Coercion - Essay Example Some sanctions, such as that placed upon South Africa during the 1980's, have proven very successful; others, for example the one waged upon Cuba by the United States, have proved to be singularly unproductive and even harmful to the sanctioning nation. In between these poles are examples such as that of Iraq, where various kinds of sanctions were tried over the years before war finally ended the impasse. These three examples are also interesting because each represents a different kind of sanctioning body. International, unilateral, and consumer bodies were involved in Iraq, Cuba and South Africa respectively. As well as considering the role each group plays in creating and developing the sanctions, it is also necessary to consider whether economic sanctions actually prevent military action, whether they help or hinder regime change, and whether there are any better alternatives to the current system of economic sanctions, with specific reference to 'Smart' or targeted sanctions. Wikipedia also notes that: "Economic sanctions are frequently retaliatory in nature". Some consider that there are three general policy objectives which make the application of economic sanctions useful. The national security objectives also can be applied to international security, such as that enforced by the UN. Clearly, the first two categories are the most well known, but nations may impose sanctions for economic situations, sometimes in connection with the WTO. The question of who approves and enforces these sanctions also makes a considerable difference when examining the impact of sanctions upon all of the countries involved, and why, is also relevant. Countries usually apply economic sanctions as a diplomatic measure between condemning a certain regime and taking military action: It has become almost a diplomatic necessity to level sanctions prior to military intervention to show that all other options have been exhausted. (Slate.com) It is therefore clear that some economic sanctions are put in place as an appeasement measure to other countries before invasion takes place. Economic sanctions are popular because they offer what appears to be a proportional response to challenges in which the interests at stake are less than vitalthey thus satisfy a domestic political need to do something and reinforce a commitment. (Haass) There is no unanimous opinion on why sanctions are a valid way of controlling another country's government. While the late Pope was firmly opposed to the use of sanctions, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops considered sanctions to be a "Non-military alternative to the terrible options of war or indifference" (usaengage). Whether

Conflict and Ethical Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conflict and Ethical Issues - Essay Example The federal agency approaches banks, telecom agencies etc. to go to the bottom of the plans. And thus the process of further investigation begins. Now there's one very crucial issue which gets overlooked in this episode. The conspiring guys could be just a small group of people and the federal agency ends up with huge personal data of thousands/ millions. For the sake of argument we can even think that at the leisure time federal agency people would start monitoring the intimate bedtime telephonic conversation/ net-chatting between two renowned Hollywood actors/ actresses or two well known republicans/ congressmen. This conversation could then be recorded and next morning the tabloids would be full of hot stories. Well, the federal agency would never come out with assurances that they won't allow this to happen and maintain the privacy of all such 'monitored' people, for the simple reason that they will never admit of having any such data.

Financial Performance of Morrison Plc Assignment

Financial Performance of Morrison Plc - Assignment Example Return on equity (ROE) provides information regarding how much profit the company has been able to generate in regards to its equity. A high ROE is desirable. Return on assets (ROA) tells an investor how effective a company has been at producing profits from its assets. A high metric is the desired output. The debt to equity ratio measures how much debt a company has with regards to its total equity. A low ratio is a good sign. The current ratio compares the current debt a company has in regards to its current liabilities. The formula is current assets divided by current liabilities. A high ratio is a warning because it’s a sign that the firm is having liquidity problems. Working capital is calculated by subtracting current liabilities from current assets. A positive working capital is the desired output. The quick acid ratio is calculated with the same formula as the current ratio except that in the numerator you must subtract prepaid expenses and inventory. The sales to asse t ratio represent how much revenue a company is generating in regards to its total assets. It is important to understand that in order to perform a complete analysis of the company’s performance utilizing ratio analysis the financial analyst must perform research to obtain information about the industry standard ratio performance. The results of the financial ratio analysis reflect that the performance of the company has declined between 2008 and 2009. The net margin, return on equity and return on assets metrics decreased in 2009. The current ratio went up by 4%. The company has liquidity problems evidence by its negative working capital for both 2008 and 2009. Based on the ratio analysis performed on Morrison Plc for the years 2008 and 2009 the researcher would not invest in the company. Prior to making giving this recommendation, the author would need to compare the 2009 ratio results with the industry standard.

Create Marketing Plan Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Create Marketing Plan - Case Study Example The implementation and control of the marketing plan is highly essential task to be carried out in the whole plan, so that it can be ensured that the plan is running according to the designated tasks. The Rapid developments that are emerging in the solar cells, the lighting that is being supplied through LEDs is creating a lot of cost reduction in many of the developed countries. A country running on LED will tend to save a lot of power consumption, and this with time will gradually happen as in the current era a lot of research work is being done on the use of LED lights everywhere (Energy Alternatives 2010). Barefoot power is a business based on social entrepreneurs. It works on designing those products that are beneficial for the people living in poor countries. So, that the poverty level reduces in these countries. Barefoot believes that in developing the country economically, it is necessary to access energy as this is one of the key elements and key building blocks. To make technology available for people around the globe, residing in poor conditions deserve to be given such a product which gives them high value (Barefoot power 2010). The company’s main aim has been to design high tech technology products for providing benefits to the people who are residing in poor countries. The organization has a wide range of products that are targeted towards providing poor communities with useful technology related products. At the start of the product’s life cycle we are not aiming to capture the whole market share, targeted customers especially those lacking electricity are focused on more than the local customers. The Barefoot organization has strong links with the industry of micro finance and that makes it have a competitive edge than its competitors (Barefoot power 2010). The product name is Firefly, which is solar powered and uses LED

Legal Transplants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Legal Transplants - Essay Example The establishment of a market economy and the introduction of an ‘open door’ policy in China have necessitated the need for internationalising Chinese law and there is an increased stress on legal assimilation or transplant, which is to be based on market-associated legal mechanisms. There is a fear in some corners that legal transplantation may end up westernising Chinese law, but to be an economic super power, there is a necessity for China to modernise its law. Much Chinese literature has stressed the need for harmonising or assimilating China’s law with that of international conventions and practices and transplanting into China western laws on market-associated mechanisms. The main objectives of economic and structural reforms and the freedom of productive forces are the main criteria for internationalisation of Chinese law6. Legal transfusions have been carried out around the globe. The rest of Asia has benefitted from the import of laws from China and many South–East Asian nations have imported Islamic laws into their legal systems. There exists corroborative evidence that East African nations have benefited from the transplantation of Indian legal rules. The latest legal developments in Mozambique and Namibia have an influence from South African laws. And today, the close relationship between Africa and China could trigger a new transmission of legal models to support business transactions7. Laws that are consistent with the pre-existing social order or with the local atmosphere are more probable to be successfully transplanted and implemented. A nation is likely to derive economic advantage from a successful legal transplant, but this does not depend the legal rule’s country of origin but whether it is the most apt to resolve a given... This paper stresses that the PRC government does not refer the international human rights accords as an instant legal source but rather as a reference point of legislation. This connotes that PRC does not want to imitate the exact treaty provisions in its national human rights law but may prefer to fine-tune the substance of international human rights provisions to suit with the Chinese or local scenarios. The author of the paper talks that other human rights deficiencies include, as discussed above, included coerced confessions, restriction of the right to be promptly charged or released and lack of client-lawyer privilege. Freedom to assemble and establish trade unions falls short of ICESCR provisions. It is suggested that a radical change within the Chinese political system is needed to introduce the Human Rights Law in tune with international human rights treaties. Legal adoption of international human rights laws in China should be tailored to the needs of the Chinese one-party system with enhanced safeguards for the ordinary citizen within an authoritarian rule-of-law government is the current need. This report makes a conclusion that if China really wants a total legal transplant of the international human treaty provisions into its HRL, it should endeavour to implement the following: it should fine tune some chosen laws to the prerequisites of the ICCPR; produce a reliable understanding of the Constitution that is unfailing with the ICCPR; introduce a constitutional amendment to include the norms of the ICCPR; and insert a rule in its ordinary statutes or in its Constitution that requires a prior application of the ICCPR.

Brazilian Worker's Party System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brazilian Worker's Party System - Essay Example According to Borges (2011), the Brazilian party system has always been associated with clientelism; hence, today, the country has a more stable party system. However, the two parties that seem to overrule the rest during presidential elections are the worker’s party (PT) and the party of Brazilian social democracy (PSDB). Hence, according to Love (2009, pp 38), during the times of President Lula, the Brazilian politicians were known to bribe citizens in poor regions by offering them pork so that they could vote for them; cash handout was also common during polling. Some of the political parties also created a client group, whose aim was to vote for a certain party. According to Mainwaring (1999 pp 5), â€Å"parties have weak roots in society and limited legitimacy and exercise little influence over congressional representatives.† He adds that Brazil has severally reshaped and dissolved party systems formation as follows, in 1889, 1930, 1937, 1965 and 1979. Moreover, Mai nwaring (1997 pp 8) notes that the Brazilian political systems are less disciplined compared to the American political parties. Further, â€Å"instability, fragility, fragmentation, non-differentiation, lack of cohesiveness and representativeness are the words to describe political parties in Brazil† (Kinzo, 1993, pp 139). This is due to lack of democracy in any party in the country in the earlier years.Rules have also been put in place; however, these rules tend to favor parties that are undisciplined, decentralized, and individualistic. In addition, the author describes the weak parties as a hindrance to popular representation in politics, thus sustaining elicit politics. Politicians were hence seen as the main drive to represent their parties. However, the weak parties disadvantaged the establishment of accountability through parties; for instance, the weaknesses of some political parties interfered with leadership in Brazil (Mainwaring, 1999, pp 6). According to Mainwarin g (1997 pp 3), party discipline is essential in any political system since it influences how well the legislatures and executives function and interact. When parties are undisciplined, there is a high possibility of the government to be unstable and ineffective, and interferes with the

Public policy problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public policy problem - Essay Example Generally speaking, a person is considered obese when that individual has more body fat than is considered healthy for their particular age, height and gender. Though obesity is normally only regarded as a grown-up problem, their kids face even greater risks associated with the condition. While other types of physical conditions may be easier for children to hide under their clothing or to mask in various ways, obesity is impossible to hide under clothing and too often leads to them being teased or otherwise tormented by cruel jokes by their misunderstanding schoolmates. The disapproving stares and negative looks from other adults and children greet them every time they meet another set of eyes. This often unconscious response on the part of other people can contribute to severe emotional damage that often lasts a lifetime. Even when the excess weight is lost, these psychological scars can drastically impact the child’s ability to achieve the level of fulfillment and happiness that should be every child’s right. The physical consequences of obesity are also unacceptably extensive. It is widely acknowledged that obesity can significantly lower life expectancy despite the person’s age. With obesity now accepted as being at pandemic proportions, it is of supreme importance to identify the common causes of obesity as well as the most effective methods of treating it to help children overcome the social and personal drawbacks of being overweight. One of the most disturbing features of obesity is its close association with more than 30 adverse health conditions and countless psychological ramifications. Increasingly, younger persons are starting to experience arthritis of the hips, back, hands and knees as a result of the long-term misuse their bodily systems must endure. The possibility of breast cancer is doubled for people who are obese as compared to people who maintain a somewhat stable weight as an adult or ‘normal’ weight as a child. Other cancers such as esophageal, gastric, endometrial and colorectal cancers are also much more common among the obese, even those at younger ages. It seems pointless to list the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease because of obesities direct correlation with higher levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream which blocks arteries of the heart (â€Å"Health Effects†, 2002). This problem is aggravated in obese persons due to their veins being more constricted. This has the effect of impeding oxygen transmission to bodily tissues and provoking complaints of sleepiness, general fatigue and breathing problems. Predictably, all of these side effects and other associated risks of obesity or just being overweight have a negative impact on a child’s rate of growth and their general ability to develop. â€Å"Even for children, obesity can increase the risk of stroke and hypertension, a statistic supported by the fact that more than 75 percent of people who suffer fro m hypertension are obese†

Confessions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Confessions - Essay Example Before confession, an old woman named Ryan, who was also his teacher, was the main person who framed his views about religion and the hereafter. She was the one who would mention hell every now and then. She always had a candle in her purse, which she used to symbolize hell. She would ask boys to hold a finger in the flame, and would tell that it was nothing as compared to eternal burning in hell. â€Å"Then she asked were we afraid of holding one finger-only one finger! - in a little candle flame for five minutes and not afraid of burning all over in roasting hot furnaces for all eternity† (O’Connor 2) was what she would tell the boys. Jackie got the idea that religion was all about burning people who did wrong deeds. He knew that life did not matter, as all that mattered was the hereafter in which God had to burn people in â€Å"hot furnaces† (2). Ryan was responsible for outlining these ideas of Jackie’s, as she would say, â€Å"All eternity! Just thin k of that! A whole lifetime goes by and it's nothing, not even a drop in the ocean of your sufferings† (2). Jackie’s perception of confession before the priest was also very pessimistic, and this perception had also been granted by the off-putting Mrs. Ryan. She had mentioned an account of a man who had made a bad confession. He stayed in guilty for many days to come, and finally went to priest for correcting his confession; but, he got burnt the night before the confession. For Jackie, that was the consequence of a bad confession, because he says, â€Å"This story made a shocking impression on me† (2). Hence, he believed that a bad confession led to horrible death. Moreover, he also believed that he was a great sinner, as Ryan would mention, off and on, that it was important to examine the conscience to be a good person. She would ask the boys if they loved their parents and other people whom they knew; and, Jackie knew that he was an ultimate sinner because he hated his grandmother and his sister. â€Å"I had no hope of ever doing anything else† (3) means that Jackie had become hopeless because his perception of religion had been deteriorated in a very bad way. That is why, the day he was going to confess, he looked back at the houses and metaphorically thought that it was like â€Å"Adam's last glimpse of Paradise† (4). However, Jackie confessed. It was a heart-wrecking experience for him. He could not find the courage in the first instance; but, he confessed before the priest the second time he got the chance to speak it all out. To Jackie’s surprise and contrary to what Nora had told him, the priest proved to be very understanding. He listened to Jackie’s intentions of killing the grandmother and Nora, and gave him three Hail Marys. That changed the world for Jackie. Previously he had thought of religion as a freaking thing that intended to give punishments only; but now, he understood that religion was not scary. He says, â€Å"I knew now I wouldn't die in the night and come back, leaving marks on my mother's furniture† (9), which shows that he was not worried of burning due to a bad confession or burning in hell anymore. Before confession, his state of mind was upsetting, which shows when he says, â€Å"the wind whistled outside so that the silence within seemed to crackle like ice under my feet† (4); but, after the confession his mental state had totally changed, which shows when

Tesco Essay Example for Free

Tesco Essay Introduction This report will discuss the downturn in Tesco’s profits and will describe the contribution of the key business functions to the changes implemented in the organization. (Finance, Marketing, Operations, and Human Resources). Also, it will explain the key stakeholders of the organization and the key issues in managing stakeholders. Furthermore, it will include a SWOT analysis and a Power and Interest Matrix about Tesco. Business functions In the case study of Tesco, it is stated that they will appoint more staff to win their customers back. This step is related to Human Resource Management. HRM is activity, which include recruitment and defining the organization’s demand for skilled staff. â€Å"HRM includes the training and development of existing staff along with the recruitment of new staff.† (Capon 2009, p195). HRM is concerned with the overall strategic contribution of people to the organization. This involves developing policies on how to recruit, reward, and retain people. Moreover, HR department is about the contribution of the employees to the organization and what are their skills, abilities, and career development needs. The key activities of HRM are Recruitment and Selection, Performance, Learning and Development, Appraisal and Rewards. The changes in HRM will help Tesco to overcome the downturn in the most effective and efficient way due to the fact that when there is a strong motivation and enthusiasm to achieve your goals and know how to run your own business it is highly possible to become more competitive on the market and to be a leader in the market place. To increase their revenues, organizations such as Tesco rely on changes in one main area, in our case – changes in HRM. With this step, Tesco managed to returns its profits and moreover, to increase them with nearly 18% at  £1.1bn. For chain as Tesco it is exquisitely important the Operations Performance. The five performance objectives, which affect Tesco, are Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility, and Cost. Firstly, quality means high ‘specification’ of a product or service and it is important for Tesco to have ‘quality’ products in their shops. â€Å"Speed indicates the time between the beginning of an operations process and its end.† (Slack, Lewis 2008, p38). Dependability is to give to the customers a delivery time. Flexibility is essential for the quick and efficient response to the customers demand. The last and the most important performance objective is Cost. It is important for the retailers because the lower the cost of producing the products or services, the lower they can sell it to the customers. The third business function related to Tesco is marketing. Marketing is about understanding the costumer’s needs and succeed to satisfy their wants and needs. It is a functional activity, which is focused mainly on customers, and will they purchase and continue to purchase the certain product or service. â€Å"Because the purpose of business is to create and keep customers, it has only two central functions – marketing and innovation. The basic function of marketing is to attract and retain customers at a profit. â€Å"(Jobber 2010 cited Drucker, p3). Marketing explains that to retain the existing costumers is easier than to attract new ones. The marketing mix is important for Tesco because it covers and explains five different aspects. The marketing mix is composed of Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and People. Firstly, the product is something that you will sell to the customers so it has to be successfully launched. The second P is price and it can be different- can be reduced or increased. Promotion is about introducing your product, how you will launch it on the market. The certain product can be promoted and advertised in different ways, through press, television, radio, magazines, internet. The promotional activities for supermarket such as Tesco can be loyalty card s for getting extra points. The fourth P is Place and it ensures the delivery of the product at right time and in the right place. The last key business function, which affects Tesco, is Finance. Finance is related to usage of the finance by the organization and how the finance is managed in the certain enterprise. Because of the growing competition and the growing demand for internet shopping, Tesco started changing its marketing mix from a traditional to a more modern model. Instead of considering only physical placing the products, Tesco needs to devise reliable internet positioning of the products, which could be supported by effective e-marketing and guaranteed efficient delivers. The product life cycle is very useful for Tesco because it allows to determine the stage of your business and if it is prosperous. The product life cycle is the period of time in which a product or service lasts. Over the course of this cycle, there are five stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Saturation and Decline. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Tesco has very solid position in the global market It is a powerful retailer brand It is the winner of the Retailer of the year 2008 By creating a loyalty card they achieving loyal customers Tesco was trying to gain a new markets such as books and it was unsuccessful due to the fact that there are already approved shops Finance profit levels for Tesco were impacted through bad debt Opportunities Threats Can continue to try entering new markets with new products Trying to meet the needs of the customers International growth Making an online catalogue To create unique products There is a persistent threat of takeover from the market leader Wal-Mart Only in USA. ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart as well and it is threat to Tesco here in UK because of very good internet shopping and low prices Stakeholders Stakeholders are individuals who have an interest in an organization. Some of them can be external and others can be internal. External stakeholders include customers, competitors, financiers, suppliers, government. Internal stakeholders include managers, directors, employees, shareholders. Stakeholders are able to influence and contribute to the company. (Capon 2009). First main step is to determine your stakeholders, their influence, and power about the organization. Secondly, it is exquisitely important to identify what the stakeholders are interested about. Moreover, you should have answers to some main questions such as: What financial or emotional interest do they have about your project or organization? What motivates them? The main stakeholders for Tesco are customers. All customers want is variety of products to choose from and quality in services or products at low costs. Like most organizations, Tesco needs their customers because they are the income and they buy their products. Customers apply pressure on Tesco to meet their needs. Meeting the customer’s needs can be done in different ways such as opening a new store or variety of goods. Tesco have a feedback service so every customer can raise questions or express opinion how the store can be improve. This makes Tesco highly competitive at the market. Customers are the main and key stakeholders for Tesco due to the fact that they can express a certain opinion about improving the store. Moreover, they can say from customer’s view how to make shopping quicker, easy, and enjoyable. In the Power and Interest matrix, customers are in category D – a key player because they have a high power to change Tesco stores and a high interest to be a customer in such a high quality supermarket such as Tesco. Power and Interest Matrix about TESCO Category A Minimal effort Category B Keep informed Category C Keep satisfied Category D Key player TESCO’S CUSTOMERS Conclusion In conclusion, every aspect from the key business function to the stakeholders is very important for Tesco and can influence over it. Every organization has to deal with the business problems and to know how to run the company. Tesco undoubtedly knows what their customer wants and satisfy their needs and desires in the best possible way. The advantage of Tesco is that they are ready to accept the criticism and are ready to change their stores, products, services. List of References: Baines, P, Fill, C and Page, K (2008) Marketing Principles and Society, Chapters 1 and 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Balogun, J. and Hailey, V.H. (2008), Exploring Strategic Chance, 3rd Edition, Essex, Pearson Education Limited Barringer and Ireland (2012), Entrepreneurship, 4th edition, Essex, Pearson Education Limited Capon, C. (2009), Understanding the Business Environment, 3rd Edition, Essex, Pearson Education Limited Jobber, D. (2010), Principles and Practice of Marketing, 6th Edition, Berkshire, McGraw-Hill Education Pelsmacker, B., Geuens, M., Bergh, J. (2005), Foundations of Marketing Communications, Essex, Pearson Education Limited Slack, N. and Lewis, M. (2008), Operations Strategy, 2nd Edition, Essex, Prentice Hall

Evaluation of the Tourist View on Museum

Evaluation of the Tourist View on Museum Critical Evaluation from the visitor/tourist point of view. The NMI: Arts and History Collins Barracks This discursive essay is based on a field trip under took by myself as part of the Heritage Studies Year 3 class at GMIT. This field trip consisted of travelling to Dublin to visit two of Irelands museum attractions the Chester Beatty Library and the National Museum of Ireland: Decorative Arts and History Museum at Collins Barracks. The Decorative Arts and History Museum is the museum that I chose to write the essay on. The essay is intended to be a critical evaluation of the heritage product provided at this museum and also assess its performance at doing this task. The essay shall also examine a number of issues for this museum like best international practice for museums of this type, its Management Philosophy and analyse the visitor experience offered at this site. The essay will begin by looking briefly at some of the heritage of the building and the site that is Collins Barracks, the former barracks that now houses the Decorative Arts and History museum. Collins Barracks itself presents its own unique history and heritage. Collins Barracks is one of the oldest inhabited barracks in Europe and was once one of the largest. It was built originally as an Army barracks for the British armed forces and it was called The Royal Barracks. The building was erected in 1702 and designed by architect Col. Thomas Burgh (1670 1730) in an early Neo-classical style. The building itself appears to be well maintained by the OPW and it is in a good state of repair. A visitor here cannot ignore the magnificence of this structure and the surrounding site and they will hopefully experience the years of history that this place offers. The central square at Collins Barracks, which at one time would have held six entire regiments, is surrounded by arcaded colonnades and blocks linked by walking bridges. In 1922 the barracks was taken over by the Irish Free State and later renamed Collins Barracks after the former leader of the first Irish Provincial Governme nt Michael Collins. In 1988 it was decided to close the barracks and in 1997 it was opened as part of the National Museum of Ireland, specialising in Decorative Arts History exhibits. The original structure was redeveloped to house this museum and in keeping with its previous military history it houses, in addition to its Decorative Arts History exhibits, galleries dedicated to Irelands military history. Nature of the heritage product available at Collins Barracks. Our visit to the Decorative Arts and History museum was much too short. Due to the extensive nature of the building and the time constraints we were under, it was difficult to spend enough time examining all the exhibits that were on display. There are nearly 30 different exhibition galleries spread between four floors and a building beside Collins Barracks houses the Asgard and its exhibition. The many different displays within the galleries ranged from fine examples of silver, ceramics, glassware, furniture, clothing, jewellery, folklife, coins, metals and weaponry. This museum endeavours to offer an overview of Irelands social, economic and military history over the last millennium. I began my visit to the museum by viewing the Asgard and its exhibition. It is a great achievement to have had this iconic yacht restored to its former glory. As one walks around the Asgard one is forced to reflect on those who would have sailed her and the part she and her navigators played in Irelands history. As well as informative information boards on the Asgard and Irelands struggle for Home Rule, there are also a number of interesting artefacts from this period including a number of the Mauser rifles that were part of the 1914 Howth gunrunning. It is quite fitting to have these rifles here as they complement the story of the Asgard. Unfortunately there are no audiovisual displays here and the information blurbs are only written in Irish and English. From the Asgrad exhibition it is a short walk across a paved path to the well signposted reception area of the museum. Here a visitor can pick up a museum floor plan, which is in a number of languages, and this gives a brief description of the different exhibition galleries on the four floors while also showing the services available within the museum. The receptionist here was pleasant and helpful. he military section it is well documented and some of the displays are artistically presented. The history linking the Irish to the wars in Europe, and the rest of the World like the Boar War and US Civil War is very intriguing. The displays and information boards here are easy to follow for even the casual visitor. A downside is the placingto this excellent condition was that information boards and present in the narrow corridors. as was that dealing specifically with Irelands struggle for Home Rule and Independence. The various clothes, weapons of war and even the poor soldier eating his dry bread while on patrol in the hills add to this bringing alive of the past and of course the somewhat startling skeleton of Dickie Bird, a horse that fought in the Crimean War in 1854 with the 5th Dragoon Guards. One doesnt expect to be faced with a standing live skeleton from 1854 whose bones were found by archaeologists in 2008 at Clancy Barracks in Dublin. The Understanding 1916 exhibition, which chronicles Irelands 1916 Easter Rising, is helpful in trying to understand the background to the 1916   Rising. It is clearly presented but perhaps some audio/visual presentation would reduce the tedium of standing and reading all the details. Visceral memorabilia, such as first-hand accounts of the violence of the Black Tans and post-Rising hunger strikes, the handwritten death certificates of the republican prisoners and their postcards from Holloway prison, bring to life this poignant period of Irish history. On the ground floor is a chain of thematically interconnected galleries, Soldiers and Chiefs, devoted to almost five hundred years of Irish military history. Apart from an array of helmets and weaponry, theres the impressive Stokes tapestry which was created by a British soldier who devoted his spare time to the depiction of contemporary garrison life. Disappointingly the interactive panel that went into detail about the tapestry was blurred and not working. Other exhibits trace the Irish involvement in the US Civil War and one of personal fascination was the information board that listed all the names of the Irish that fought and died with General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. World War I with later examples of tanks and a de Havilland Vampire fighter plane while, contrastingly, theres the 200-year-old Bantry Boat, captured from the French frigate La Rà ©solue during the abortive invasion of 1796. Decorative arts is a tough thing to get right, especially if you want to offer a broad appeal, but the well-designed displays, interactive multimedia and a dizzying array of disparate artefacts make for an interesting and valiant effort. On the 1st floor is the museums Irish silver collection, one of the largest collections of silver in the world; on the 2nd floor youll find Irish period furniture and scientific instruments, while the 3rd floor has simple and sturdy Irish country furniture. Modern-furniture-and-design lovers will enjoy the exhibition on iconic Irish designer Eileen Gray (1878-1976), one of the museums highlights. One of the most influential designers of the 20th century, Grays life and work are documented in the exhibit, which shows examples of her most famous pieces. The fascinating Way We Wore exhibit displays Irish clothing and jewellery from the past 250 years. An intriguing socio-cultural study, it highlights the symbolism jewellery and clothing had in bestowing messages of mourning, love and identity. Some of the best pieces are gathered in the Curators Choice exhibition, which is a collection of 25 objects hand-picked by different curators, and displayed alongside an account of why they were chosen. The various exhibition galleries are absolutely amazing. There is a very rich collection in each of the categories. One could easily spend a whole morning on any one of them. Coming from one of these, Harry Clarkes The Unhappy Judas provided a startling contrast. The majority of exhibits have clearly written explanations, written in both English and Irish, but some are difficult to read due to the surrounding low light. Unfortunately there did not appear to be any translated into other languages which must make it difficult for some foreign non-English-speaking visitors to understand. It would have been more helpful had they had audio explanations, particularly for those who are visually impaired. I found this most interesting but for the person who wants to linger, browse and read the numerous pieces, it would have been helpful to have sitting down benches, as in the foyer. Speaking to a member of staff afterwards, he explained that the exhibition areas are narrow so that when there are large groups, benches could be an unsafe obstruction. Best international practice for institutions of this type: Edinburgh Museum NMS. Edinburgh is an amalgamation of Royal Scottish Museum and the National Museum of antiquities. It has exhibitions of various types which are similar to Collins Barracks.: see www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum -of-scotland. Collins Barracks website gives very informative overview of its exhibits, so that a visit can be planned in advance. This is also true of Edinburgh Museum. Management Philosophy Refer to Mission Statement on the website Quoting from website..Our philosophy is to uphold the values of : Authenticity: Working in partnership with staff. Excellence in all our activities. Investing in people. In achieving this philosophy, it is dependent on ongoing commitment of all stakeholders, including, in particular, staff of the museum, Dept. of Arts, Sports Tourism, and the O.P.W. if Phase 2 of the development of Collins Barracks is to be completed. The development of the Central storage area requires a lot of money and commitment. Cf. Strategic Plan.   Cf statement of chairman J. OMahony July 2008. Heritage Product, Visitor Facilities and Marketing. Visitor facilities: Restaurant, good and reasonable in price. Toilets, clean and bright. Shop, ok. There is a need for more seating in all areas, to make it a more relaxing as well as an educational   experience. There is a need to be more aware of people with specific needs, eg. Website said thatthere were objects that could be touched, for visually impaired people. On enquiring, the staff member did not know anything about this. As previously mentioned, the need for audio aids for visually impaired people. Marketing: Collins Barracks is a wonderful place with so much to see, but I have passed it so many times in the Luas as well as walking past but never knew that there were so many treasures there. Is this due to poor marketing? Visitor experience: Cf. Trip Advisor, Facebook Twitter Great museum, so many interesting exhibitions. Asgard, great. I would be very happy to go there again. Entrance from Luas stop, with all the ascending steps could be a problem for older people. There is a need for clearer marking of alternative entrance via car park. Heritage product: My favourite was the Eileen Gray furniture exhibition but I would have been happy spending more time on any of the other exhibitions, had time permitted. I intend going there soon again. Visitor profile; Speaking to a staff member, he told me that during the summer they have many foreign visitors and visitors with Irish ancestry. They see people of all age groups. Approx.. 60,000 a month during the summer holiday months. In October 2013, they had 20,164 visitors. They get many families when they have special events on. It is also popular for school groups. There are often book launches etc held at the museum. Listen to interview with Pat Wallace on Marian Finucane on RTE radio 1 on Sunday November 2nd. Well worth listening to, on the lack of funding to the museums. Overall impression? The site is being well run and cared for with helpful friendly staff on every level. The cafà © could be improved on. Fewer and better meals on offer and better ventilation in the kitchen to prevent the pervasive smell of cooking oil wafting through to the dining area. The shop offered a wide range of souvenirs and goods produced in Ireland. Service was again friendly and helpful. As an observer the visitor profile varied from school groups, to guests from the U.S. Africa and China to one day city trippers. A place well worth a return visit and one to watch for exhibitions, events as shown on their website. West of Smithfield on Benburb Street is the National Museums Decorative Arts Collection,. Unquestionably, the best of these is Curators Choice, on the first floor of the west block, which is selected by museum curators from all over Ireland. Among its draws are a medieval oak carving of St Molaise; the extravagant cabinet presented by Oliver Cromwell to his daughter Bridget in 1652; and the remarkable fourteenth-century Chinese porcelain Fonthill Vase. The Out of Storage section is another highlight, bringing together everything from decorative glassware to a seventeenth-century suit of Samurai armour, while others focus on Celtic art, coinage, silverware, period furniture, costumes and scientific instruments, and there are usually plenty of temporary exhibits. Read more: http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/ireland/dublin/collins-barracks/#ixzz3KJp4qIAX All of these displayed with imagination in innovative and contemporary galleries, which entice you to go further, look harder and examine more closely. In the Curators Choice exhibition there is amongst other treasures, an ancient Japanese ceremonial bell, which dates back over 2000 years. Explore the histories of soldiers and their families in Soldiers Chiefs: The Irish at War at Home and Abroad since 1550. Examine the decade of disturbance between 1913 and 1923, from the Dublin Lockout, through the Easter Rising to the end of the Civil War in The Easter Rising: Understanding 1916. Included are artefacts such as Etruscan vases, gauntlets worn by King William at Battle of the Boyne, a life belt and oar salvaged from the wreck of the RMS Lusitania and a pocket book carried by Wolfe Tone whilst imprisoned in the Barracks. Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/dublin/sights/museums-galleries/national-museum-ireland-decorative-arts-history#ixzz3KJfM23cI Museums and galleries are vital to the educational and cultural health of society. This, however, is not always either seen or understood, and as long as this is the case, the continued existence of museums will be tenuous. Lang, Caroline, Reeve, John, and Woollard, Vicky, eds. Responsive Museum : Working with Audiences in the Twenty-First Century. Abingdon, Oxon, GBR: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 24 November 2014.

Top Marks For The Best Employee Awards Management Essay

Top Marks For The Best Employee Awards Management Essay Nowadays an increasing number of organizations employ Best Employee Awards as a means to motivate their employees, and managers believe that best employee awards could encourage employees to reach their goals or accomplish their tasks in an efficient manner. In fact, as the saying every coin has two sides goes, top marks for the best employee awards has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore it is crucial for managers to make full use of the benefits of this kind of motivation while avoiding its negatives. This essay is separated into three parts. The first part shows the structure of the essay while the second part focuses on analyzing the benefits and problems of top marks for the best employee awards. At the same time, views from relevant literature and the examples from the case are used to support the points of the essay. The conclusion of this essay can be found in the last part where several useful suggestions are given for operation of organizations. 2. Analyses and Discussion 2. 1 The scheme of Top Marks for the best employee awards and the motivations of using it The Top Marks for the Best Employee Awards is a method of staff motivation and an annual performance evaluation method. It gives managers a chance to recognize the employees who produce the best-qualify work during month or year of evaluation. Usually organizations will evaluate the best employees according to their performances and then award them with bonus, trips, promotion and so on (Murray, 1982). The purpose is to encourage desirable behaviors by spotlighting role models, so that every employee could set a goal to be the best employee. Consequently, organizations could obtain augmentation in productivity and profitability by rewarding and keeping their top performances. 2.2 Advantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators Different organizations set up different awards; however, these various methods will lead to different effects and results of staff motivation. Hence it is really important for organizations to make right use of staff motivators such as best employee awards. According to the literature reviewed and the case, the advantages of using this scheme are summarized as follows: First of all, best employee awards can generate fierce competition between individuals or teams of employees within an organization. While only a few employees could receive awards based on their individual performance, all the other employees usually would regard those awards owners as role models to inspire themselves and to work harder. (Lloyd, 2009). Needless to say, it is a strong staff motivator. As the case mentioned, Mr. Devine takes the best employee awards as a part of an overall strategy to identify who top performers are so that all the employees try their best to improve their performances. Without the competition, the organization will decrease its productivity and profitability. Secondly, intelligently designed incentives can be a boon to companies that seek to retain excellent employees for the long term. Lucrative awards, whether these are in the form of stock or bonuses, make it worthwhile for employees to stay at their firm, even if a salary offer from a competitor is more attractive (Grote, 2005). Incentives can also make employees feel as if their hard work is appreciated and recognized, thus reflecting well on their managers and the company as a whole. Those persons receiving the awards in the organization will become more loyal and respect the value of the organization. As a result, they will put all their energy into work to contribute the organization. Thirdly, by using positive reinforcement to motivate employees, a manager may build a good relationship with his employee, which fosters a sense of trust (Lindner, 1998). In a good manager-subordinate relationship, employees may feel respected and comfortable in their working environment. Providing rewards, both tangible and in the form of praise, can make employees happier. Happier employees often perform better at work. Just as the example of the case mentioned, Stephen Carella was a team leader at Kwik-Fit Financial Services and he set the best employee awards as a goal at the start of the year. He said the best employee awards was a great incentive and motivated him to do his best at work. According to him, when he was rewarded the great cash prize, it was the best moment of his life. Such rewards could make employees more royal to their organizations and they may regard the organizations as their homes, which, in turn, will benefit the organizations. 2.3 Disadvantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators Although there are so many advantages of Best Employee Awards, we should see the other side of it, the disadvantages of it can be concluded as follows: First of all, employee resentment will be a serious problem in the organization. Because best employee awards can only be awarded to few persons, then some employees who think they work harder than award winners will feel unfair (Kerslake, 2002). In other words, in a perfect scenario, where the employees who work the hardest always reap the most rewards, incentives pose little problem. But no companies operate in an ideal world and thus incentives can breed resentment and discord among teams and employees. So like the example in the case mentioned: its very important that staff believe you have chosen the right person; its vital for the credibility of the scheme. It would be a disaster if the prize is awarded to the wrong people. At the same time, Best Employee Awards will lead to poor teamwork because individual incentive schemes by definition encourage individual rather than team effort (Clemmer, (2004). Some employee will focuses on their personal performance but pay less attentio n to the cooperation of team as well as the whole companys interest. Moreover, while its easy to quantify a salesmans performance, it is harder to quantify a staff writers contribution to the department, even if the writer is adding just as much value to the company. That can cause those under an incentive scheme to feel unappreciated as well as lead to the case of the recipients of unfair treatment. Therefore, using negative enforcement as a form of motivation could cause employees to become dissatisfied with their jobs. Unhappy workers typically produce less quality work, become sluggish or fail entirely to meet deadlines (Podmoroff, 2005). So how to make appropriate rewards troubles all the managers. Good rewards could encourage employees but inappropriate rewards may not. In the case, the salesman was awarded Best Employee but felt embarrassment because of the poor prize. As a result, the most excellent employee left the company. Thirdly, even though the organization executes the ideal scheme of rewards, for the best employee, applying too much motivation or offering too many rewards can also have a negative effect. Employees can become over-confident and they may feel that they are the bosses favorite workers, even if they start to slack off on their projects or test the limits of their working relationship with their supervisors (Messmer, 2001). Best Employee Awards may create reluctance to exert  the  expected level  of  effort: workers may believe that management will progressively increase  the  performance targets required to trigger  the  same bonus payment (Smith, 2004). They may therefore be reluctant to carry on at  the  incentives level  of  performance they have achieved, on  the  grounds that this will only result in higher targets that will make  the  bonus more difficult to obtain. 2.4 Recommendations The analysis of Best Employee Awards will help us to make full use of the staff motivation. As to how to deliver powerful praise and rewards in the organization rightly, there are three primary factors that determine  the  effectiveness of Best Employee Awards. The first one is right time.  Managers should deliver praise and awards at the right time, letting employees feel proud about the awards rather than feel ashamed. If award winners feel ashamed, then such awards would go the opposite way just as the two examples in the case. The second recommendation is right person. Managers are supposed to choose the most excellent employees to award (Bruce, 1998). Then, the right persons will be role models of the organization. If not, other employers will be unsatisfied with the awards so that the staff motivation would fail. The organization should give the prize which is what the employees really want. That way the employees will feel that they are valued by the company and will get motivated. The third one is right praise.  We all know that how you say something is as important as what you say.  The  same principle applies in staff motivation. Praising with energy and enthusiasm is more powerful than being stoical about it. In other words, managers should use high praise to reinforce staff motivation. For example, the general praise such as Good job! contributes very little to its effectiveness. The  more enthusiastically supervisors deliver their praise,  the  more impact it has. Regardless of the level of enthusiasm, it is critical that supervisors deliver  the  feedback sincerely. Managers should never leave their  employees  with the  possible notion that the praise is not sincere. 3. Conclusion This essay discusses the positives and negatives of Best Employee Awards, which is a popular method employed by managers to motivate their staff. It first outlines the basic scheme of Top Marks for the best employee awards and then look at the advantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators in three ways. What Follows is the coins of such means of motivation. Finally three practical recommendations are given to avoid those possible drawbacks of using Best Employee Awards.

The Ending of Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis :: Metamorphosis essays

The Ending of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis At first glance, the final four pages of Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis seem to be meaningless. This assumption, however, is anything but the truth. The final four pages, although seeming to be of no importance, serve to show the reader how the Samsa family changes as a result of the main character's, Gregor Samsa's, death. The family's changes are best exemplified in two different scenes: the scene at the kitchen table, and the scene on the trolley. During the scene at the kitchen table, there is a common change among the family members: their new willingness to do things independently. Their bold act of writing "letters of excuse" is a clear example of their new independence. Prior to Gregor's death, the family relied completely on Gregor's financial support and had little in terms of responsibilities. Kafka explains this lack of work when he writes, "they [Gregor's parents] had formed the conviction that Gregor was set for life in his firm . . . they were so preoccupied with their immediate troubles that they had lost all consideration for the future,"(17). By taking the initiative and writing to their employers, Gregor's family proves that they no longer depend on Gregor. The scene at the kitchen table proves revealing once again when Mr. Samsa announces that he will fire the cleaning lady (17). By doing so, Mr. Samsa demonstrates that he has changed and can take responsibility. Grete (Gregor's sister) and Mrs. Samsa also show that they have changed by not contesting Mr. Samsa's decision to fire the cleaning lady. In retrospect, firing the cleaning lady is an additional step towards change from the past. The second revealing scene is the scene on the trolley. In this scene, Kafka reveals the family's plans for the future, as well as the significant changes in Grete. He also emphasizes that leaving the apartment together is "something they [the family] had not done in months"(58). Demonstrating again their change to independence. Similarly, the family's plan to buy a "smaller and cheaper apartment" (58) further proves that they have become independent. Kafka's remarks pertaining to Grete reveal a different kind of change. During all of the turmoil involving Gregor, Grete matured both physically and mentally.

Alcohol and its effects Essay -- essays research papers fc

Alcohol is a large part of American culture. All over the United States drinking is not only acceptable but a social norm from teenagers to adults. This is not only the case in the U.S., but all over the world, where some drinking ages are 18 and 19 years of age. In America specifically, alcohol has been around for centuries and is a large part of many social gatherings. Although this is the case now, in the early 1900’s during the prohibition period, all alcohol was banned and deemed illegal to possess. Even though illegal, the task was just too heavy and alcohol was too much a common practice for most Americans. As time went on the prohibition period ended and the laws were revoked, making it legal again to possess alcohol. The drinking related problems that were around during prohibition pale in comparison to the problems alcohol has caused since then. Many people wonder if kids are drinking earlier and earlier and they feel the drinking age should be raised. On the other hand many people are against raising the drinking age, mainly those whom would be affected by this decision, Americas youth. From its affect on society, including its appeal towards young adults, to the diseases it causes, the problems of alcohol abuse are widespread and in many forms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is a known fact that many Americans drink alcohol on a weekly basis. Depending on the rate and volume of consumption, alcohol has many different effects on the human body. Light drinking has been proven not to be a problem, and is even considered to be healthy. A glass of Red wine once a day is known to be beneficial to the heart. It helps prevent coronary heart disease by reducing plaque deposits in the arteries surrounding the heart, preventing blood clotting, while also helping to dissolve clots that already exist (Rehm 1210). Moderate and heavy drinking is a different story though. When drinking to the point of moderate to heavy consumption, there is a greater risk for personal injury. Car accidents are not the only causes of injury when under the influence of alcohol. Many incidents of injury are directly related to alcohol consumption including violence, and accidental personal injury. This being said, drunk driving is the main cause of death associated w ith alcohol consumption (Rehm 1220). Researchers have found that with increased volumes of alcohol consumption on... ...  Ã‚  Health and Research World, 1991, 52. This article speaks of adolescent alcohol use and abuse. It examines the lack of research done on adolescent health issues and the current knowledge of the consequences of adolescent alcohol consumption. The article also presents strategies on how to inform and clarify the issues of adolescent alcohol abuse. Brad Mackay, â€Å"Alcohol Rivals Tobacco for Health Impact: WHO,† Canadian Medical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Association, June 8, 2004, 1778. This article was short but provides a good comparison of alcohol and tobacco. The article presents good facts while giving good suggestions for solutions to the rising problems with alcohol. Jurgen Rehm, â€Å"The Relationship of Average Volume of Alcohol Consumption and Patterns of Drinking to Burden of Disease: An Overview,† Addiction Research Institute, May 8, 2003, 1209-1228. This article is aimed towards a large study to estimate the global burden of disease attributable to alcohol. The article tries to identify the relationships between average volume consumption, patterns of drinking, disease, and injury outcomes. The article also gives many numbers to back up its points.

Personal Narrative: When I got my drivers license :: essays research papers

Can you remember when you got your driver?s license? From what I can remember getting my license was one of the most exciting things in my life. Having your license means having more freedom. If I didn?t have my license my life would be very different. To get your license you need to take the class, pass the written test, take behind the wheel, and finally take your driving test. When I took driver?s ed. I was a little scared, but very excited at the same time. It was nice for me because they provided the class right at the school, therefore I didn?t have to pay for it. The class wasn?t very long it only lasted one quarter. I enjoyed going to class because I wanted to do good, and I liked to learn about driving. Overall I did very well I received an A, now I had to take the big test. The written test that you were required to take was taken at the armory. You needed to pass the written test to get your permit. The test was 100 questions that number made me very nervous because I?m not a very good test taker, and that is a lot of questions. The night before the test I couldn?t sleep because I was so worried about not passing the test. I think I read the book five times before I finally fell asleep. In the morning mom brought me to the Armory, I went in to take my test. It took me about forty five minutes to take it. I brought my test to the front desk they correct it right there, when she was done she came to tell me I passed. I was so excited now I could drive!! I wasn?t nervous to drive because my dad let me drive sometimes to my grandpa?s house If I took the back roads, so I had a little experience. When I took behind the wheel it was a little different than driving on the back roads, but I did ok. When I finished behind the wheel I signed up for a driving test. This was the part I had been waiting for, I wanted to pass so I could drive alone. The day of the test was very stressful, I had to use my grandma?s car because mine had tinted windows. I had never driven my grandma?s car, and I could not do corner backing with it.

Psycho Or How a Killer is Born in a Hitchcock Film Essay

Film analysis doesn’t require a philosophy of deep thought, but merely requires the participation of the viewer. In films the audience will witness aspects of their own lives played out; the actions, emotions and scenery draw from the viewer their frame of reference. The art of film can be analyzed through specific scenes and the meaning they have in reality. For instance in the cult film Psycho the viewer is placed in third person point of view mainly focusing on the story of Norman Bates. The audience becomes part of the film because of the intrigue the writer, director and actors bring to the screen. The feeling of loss of meaning is very prevalent in the duration of the film; the antics of love, exploit, desire in the viewer and in the end of the film is well orchestrated by the director Alfred Hitchcock. That is the purpose of filmmaking, to begin a story and have the audience become so engrossed in its unfolding that they lose a sense of themselves in proportion to reality and completely step into the film, the character’s triumphs and misdeeds become the audience member’s own guilt, and as the story progresses, the audience forgets their own selves in order to better become part of the caste of characters in the script. The following paper will analyze Psycho as directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock creates his scene through the use of different camera angles. In his other films as well as Psycho, he makes good use of the camera shooting from an aerial vantage point and he uses elements of the scene to be incorporated in the shot (Arnold paragraph three). This is seen in Dial â€Å"M† for Murder in which the camera does an aerial angle from the ceiling and shoots Wendice and Captain Lesley (or Swann) discussing blackmail and the chandelier is used to be incorporated into the scene and it is used in Psycho in which the camera angle depicts Norman Bates and Marion Crane are having a conversation in Bates’ taxidermy room and the camera shoots through the animals from a downward angle in order to create for the scene a sense of foreshadowing. Thus, the animals are a symbol of the emotions of the woman; they foreshadow her death and eventual ownership through her death to Norman Bates. One element that Hitchcock utilizes in this movie is a symbol; the phone. The phone is not only used as a transference of scenes but also as a revealing factor of the character; the characters reveal their true intentions on the phone, their feelings, their desires, and it is with the phone that the plot progresses forward and things about the other characters are revealed to each other, such as Marion’s boyfriend trying to get a hold of her, and the police detective’s phone. Hitchcock uses other things that are of importance, that are part of the scene in his other movies such as windows in The Birds in which the characters can witness the danger going on outside but also have distance from that danger, whether or not that distance is false. Hitchcock uses the mother in Psycho for this revelation to characters and the audience alike in that Bates dresses up as his mother, uses his mother, and her voice in a mis-in-scene in order to persuade characters in believing a lie instead of the truth; the truth being that he dresses up as his dead mother and kills women whom he could potentially have a relationship with, or whom he likes. It is with these elements that the movie audience can have that voyeuristic sense of discovery of the character’s intentions and plot development that Hitchcock creates and progresses the thriller movie genre. The psychosis of the character Norman Bates in Psycho truly takes on the development of a serial killer. There are sub-categories of serial killers: visionary, mission oriented, hedonistic, power oriented, and among these there are organized and disorganized. For each of these types of killers there are certain character dispositions. The visionary types are compelled by voices or visions and are described as being psychotic. They will not choose a victim because the motives are outside of themselves (voices, visions). The mission oriented type kills people because they believe that the victim is unworthy of life; this type is said not to be psychotic. The victim of this type of killer will fulfill a psychological need (as with Norman Bates character, in which he had to kill young women because his desire for them was overruled by his mother’s overbearing personality even in death, and therefore Norman had to keep his mother alive in order to continue to feed his desire for killing what he could not have, and in order to maintain the consistency his life had when his mother was alive and ruling his life by not allowing him to entertain or go out with girls). The hedonistic type kills simply for the high of killing and there are signs of sexual arousal involved with the killing (which could also be part of Norman Bates’ personality type as he killed as his mother for sexual arousal). A comfort killer is a subtype of hedonistic killer and they will kill victims with whom they have some sort of relationship (also as with Norman Bates whose victims were young women who stayed in his hotel). The power oriented killer kills for control, is not psychotic and is obsessed with holding the power of the victim’s life in his/her hands (in Norman’s case however, the killer, him/his mother, killed in order to keep control over Norman’s actions, thus his psychosis could be persuaded by the issue of control but not control over his victims). Usually each of these killers (excepting the comfort killer) will use a hands-on method of killing using weapons in violent fashion (In Norman’s case it was a knife).   Each of these typologies involves either organized or disorganized killings. An organized killer is usually competent, intelligent, targets strangers as victims, uses restraints, and performs sex on their victims. The organized killer will be very aware of their crime and leave no trace or evidence at the scene of the crime (this is what Norman did at the beginning of the film, as is seen in the shower, and his clean up of the scene and dumping the car in the pool/swamp next to the hotel). On the other hand a disorganized killer will often be socially immature, may kill people they know, are often sexually inhibited, live alone and leave the scene of the crime full of fingerprints. (which also described Norman Bates). It would them seem as if Hitchcock created a serial killer in Norman Bates who epitomized every variable of serial killing psychosis; in point of fact, Hitchcock created the supreme serial killer, mixing in different elements of each sub-category into the one character. Spatial mobility is also an area where serial killers differ (as seen with Hitchcock’s keeping his scenes mainly in the hotel, or the Bates’ family home, which is given its own character by the lighting and the silhouette in certain scenes). Among this category there are geographically stable killers and there are geographically transient serial killers. The geographically stable serial killer live in the same area for an extended amount of time and they will kill in that area and dispose of the body somewhere close to home or within the neighborhood (which is what Bates does with his victim’s cars). A geographically transient serial killer will travel constantly, killing from place to place to confuse law enforcement agencies (here is an element of serial killers which Hitchcock does not give to Norman Bates). For, if a killer kills too many people in one area, the agency may believe the killer is from that specific area, and when the killer moves to the next town the same will happen so that there may not be a blatant pattern. As the number of crimes increase the lapse of time or cooling off periods decrease (as is also presented in Psycho). There is a tendency of degeneration of personality and the crime scenes will show a high increase of violence toward the victim (another reason why female serial killers are not believed to be transient killers – too violent of a personality). This is in correlation with the killer thinking that since they’ve done this type of thing before and haven’t been caught then they are in a realm of invincibility. Serial killer studies have been attentive to whether or not a killer is psychotic or that they kill for a type of self-preservation. In the case of Bates, it seems that a lot of his aggression, and violent temperament came from his abusive mother. Psychosis has grounding in the idea of the nurture or nature of a person. Childhood studies bring up issues such as the stages of when a mother is detrimental to the healthiness and mentality of a child and when a father is more apt to be an active participant for that child. The basis for the study is founded on the idea of a person not suddenly waking up one day and deciding to kill (as has been thought in past studies). There is a fundamental concept of socialization involved with such behaviour. The idea behind the killers motive is almost certainly tied to how they perceive their surrounding environment and how they don’t connect on the appropriate level with that society. A Swedish study done conceives of the matter of killers being narcissistic and unable to comprehend society in something other than egocentric terms. A dysfunctional family is used as a frame of reference, and if that childhood is stressful, dangerous, or filled with lack of love, then a certain consequence will occur, be it introversion or to an extreme, the beginnings of becoming a killer, as is seen in Norman Bates. It is through this specific film that the audience becomes a part of the spectacle of the film; through the characterizations, the plot, the point of view, and camera angles, and the development and pathologies of the serial killer Norman Bates each scene in this film aids in the development of the audience becoming immersed in the progression of the film. Each of the elements listed above is an enhancement to the story, and without the use of Hitchcock’s bird’s eye view, and psychosis of the character Norman Bates as shown through the character’s dramatic scenes and off camera mother’s voice to enhance the scene, and the other film techniques used, this movies would not be memorable because the audience member would not be invested in the outcome. Thus, the audience is immersed in how Bates became a serial killer, how he kills, why he kills, and the psychosis behind his killing. The character, the development of the plot, and the lighting and camera angles each add to the psychology of the film Psycho. This film allows for a supreme suspension of disbelief and it is through this that the true Hollywood thriller is found. Bibliography Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock. Anthony Perkins. Janet Leigh. Vera Miles. Shamley Productions. 1960.