Who is More to Blame for the Murder of King Duncan?

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the tragic hero or the great and virtuous character, Macbeth is destined for downfall as he brings suffering and defeat upon himself. However, this statement can be widely debatable, as many would assume that Lady Macbeth also plays an immense role in the murder of Duncan, the beginning of the tragedy. Early in the play, Macbeth encounters three witches or supernatural beings that foretell his future as the new King of Scotland. Intrigued by their prophecies, Macbeth places faith in their words.Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, is instrumental in his ambition, manipulating him, as they both scheme for greatness. Driven by the will to become King, Macbeth commits the murder of the current King Duncan and continuously murders those that suspect him.He is led to his own destruction as Macduff, a Scottish noble, later kills him. Moreover, although both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be considered guilty for the downfall of Macbeth or the tragedy of the play, Macbeth is more to blame as a result of his ruthlessness, his ambitious desires, and his naà ¯ve character, which allow him to betray his own conscience.Macbeth’s ambitious character and his insatiable lust for power drives him to change his nature towards evil commencing his tragic downfall. Upon hearing the prophecies of the witches, Macbeth immediately ponders about the predictions and creates an idea to murder the King. Macbeth states that the image of Duncan, the current King’s death â€Å"doth unfix my hair† (I. ii. 148) meaning that this image was too horrid to even imagine. Early in the play, the witches only predicted that he would become King but it was Macbeth’s ambitious character that takes it to the next step as he now thrives on the will to become King.Although the King’s death was never mentioned in the prophecies, Macbeth plants the idea in his head that the only way for him to become King, as the predictions stated w as to kill Duncan, which creates and displays his lust for power. Macbeth also mentions, â€Å"let not light see my black and deep desires† (I. iv. 58). This is another example in which he now admits this dark character inside him, demonstrating that his valiant, brave character displayed in the beginning of the play is slowly fading away or deteriorating as his ambitious character takes over.Furthermore, by virtue of his honest character, Macbeth admits to himself of his â€Å"vaulting ambition† as he states, â€Å"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’er leaps itself. † (I. vii. 25-27) These lines portray that Macbeth has no other reason to kill Duncan except for his strong desires of wanting to become King. Macbeth’s character as ambitious appears again as even to the eyes of his wife, is seen clearly as lustful for power. Lady Macbeth states â€Å"art not without ambition† proclaiming of his ambitious character.Macbeth’s ambitions is the root cause of his tragic downfall as his lust for power drives him to murder which is the misdeed that places his life at risk and begins his fall from glory. Macbeth as a man with solid morals and a well-established conscience allows himself to be manipulated by other significant characters of the play such as the witches and Lady Macbeth. The witches make two significant appearances in the play, each in which they use equivocation to confuse and manipulate or spark the characters in the play to lead a life of evil.Their first appearance was in front of Banquo and Macbeth in which they praise him as they predict his future as the next King. They know that by calling him â€Å"King hereafter† (i. iii. 53) that it will create desires in his heart and they use these quick phrases or these words placed in paradox to manipulate Macbeth to do something that would earn him that title. Macbeth who has a conscience of his own, all ows himself to create unwanted desires in his heart knowing well that patience is an attribute that only the noble obtain.Macbeth, by the end of his first soliloquy, makes the final decision to not murder the King because in his point of view, â€Å"Duncan both born his faculties so meek† (i. vii. 16-17) and it would be injustice to kill a righteous person but later on changes his mind as he allows his conscience to be moved again by his wife, Lady Macbeth who questions his manhood to achieve the power that they would get if they kill Duncan. She states â€Å"If you durst do it, then you were a man† (i. vii. 56-57) as she tries to convince her husband to go along with Duncan’s murder.Foolishly, Macbeth allows her to change his mind when he could have easily refused proving that he had a mind of his own. The witches near the end of the play manipulate Macbeth once more, but this time it was Macbeth who sought their help therefore getting himself into more trouble . A wise person would make the right decision not to ask the troublesome witches for help, but in Macbeth’s case, he deals with this situation differently as he is again easily manipulated into developing hubris, which leads to his downfall and his tragic ending.Therefore, although Macbeth had a conscience of his own and had the right to make his own decisions, he allowed himself to be manipulated by others, which eventually leads to his own death. Macbeth makes further errors in judgment following his misdeed of killing Duncan as he commits other major crimes, which all precipitate his downfall. For example, the murder of his friend, Banquo. Acting completely on his fear that Banquo’s sons will become King and himself remaining unrecognized, Macbeth decides to kill both Banquo and his son, Fleance.Macbeth knew that he was under suspicion for Duncan’s murder therefore concludes with these two reasons to kill an innocent man and his son. This is proven through Ma cbeth’s statement made in Act 3. Scene 2. Lines 41-42. Macbeth establishes his fear as he says that he is â€Å"full of scorpions in his mind†. Therefore, this murder was another factor or crime that leads him directly to his downfall. Another crime that Macbeth commits that is unforgivable was when he murdered a mother and a child.To take advantage of the situation, Macbeth kills Macduff’s family, which was a tragic scene as Macduff’s son dies creating pathos in the audience’s heart and depicts Macbeth’s character as mad or insane. These murders portray his downfall as extreme for all the serious sins Macbeth has committed. Macbeth’s desire for power, his ignorance towards his own conscience, and the further crimes he commits portray him as more to blame over Lady Macbeth for his own downfall and death.Throughout the whole play, although Lady Macbeth may seem as the masculine character and the brain behind the murder of Duncan, she p lays a minor part in Macbeth’s own desires and the further crimes he independently commits that end in his downfall. Lady Macbeth is a significant character but is not more to blame for every tragic hero brings his fate upon himself. Therefore to conclude, Macbeth is more to blame for his own defeat and suffering.

Sample Sop for Iit Madras

If one were to ask my friends to describe me they would call me a very pleasant, diverse, active and intelligent woman. My outstanding   academic performance at school , active participation in academics with strong quantitative and analytical abilities,   in addition to good leadership and communication skills earned for me   the â€Å"Young Student Scientist† title from the Ministry of Human Resource Development from among the thousands of students who applied for it nationally. Throughout my student career,   I have been a top ranker. I was in the top 0. % of  Ã‚   all engineering aspirants in my state, which secured me a place in   Government College of Engineering, one of the premier engineering institutions   in India. My four years of undergraduate studies   and my exposure to various aspects of curricular, co and extra curricular activities have   given a strong foundation to my analytical skills. My deep interest in   complex and intricate coding a nd the application of basic math skills have   enabled   me to channel my quantitative and conceptual skills in analysing business issues. I have always enjoyed being   appreciated by the faculty members for my diverse interests and accomplishments. During these four years   of engineering studies, I interacted with students from different states of varied cultural and social backgrounds. Working with these students on group   assignments, presentations, food festivals and other events taught  Ã‚   me to be   more tolerant, open minded and empathetic. It   made me a better team player. I am interested in factors that affect the competitive performance of a business concern and the manner in which changes   in technology affect an organization's structure and long-term business strategy. I am determined to become a   powerful business Analyst and 10 years down the line I want to be the creator of a world class IT company. In order to gain an appreciation of these and related issues, it is essential for me to have a strong grounding in   Management. This would enable me to understand better the   complexities that lie behind the working of an organization and broaden my horizons, so that my avenues are not restricted to a particular trade or industry. I have come to the conclusion that studying at INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-MADRAS will definitely be the catalyst in putting me on the road to success.

Marketing Segmentation of Tata Nano in India and Its Targeting and Positioning Strategy.

Contents Market Segmentation, Positioning, Targeting: A case of Tata Nano in India EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Targeting and positioning strategy of Tata Nano and recommendations for the company are given. INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND: According to Howard and Sheth (1969, p. 70), â€Å"market segmentation depends on the idea that the company should segment or divide the market in such a way as to achieve sets of buyers† Historically sellers were engaged in mass marketing. They were into the mass production, mass promotion and mass distribution of one product to all consumers in order to obtain economies of scale. This approach of marketing segmentation made the producers to compete against their competitors in terms of products and services. Kotler says â€Å"the product differentiation is to provide variety to the buyers rather than to appeal to different segments†. DISCUSSION: CRITICISM OF MARKETING SEGMENTATION: When the size of the market is so small to do marketing When a brand is a dominant brand in the market. When more number of people falls in the same category. Most of the brands do not operate within the same segment. Certain brands cannot fit into a particular segment which is a drawback to this strategy. In very small businesses and brands this strategy will not work and it is not possible. CASE OF TATA NANO IN INDIA AND ITS MARKET SEGMENTATION: Tata Motors is the leading automobile manufacturer in India with a huge portfolio which includes trucks, passenger cars, buses, and utility vehicles. Even though there are many products from Tata Motors an interesting case of Tata Nano is discussed further. Generally Tata Motors follow the marketing segmentation concept and they have succeeded which already prevails in the history. Tata Nano which comes under the passenger car segment was launched in January 2008. India’s passenger car segment has been grown extraordinarily for the past four years and it was the clever strategy of Ratan Tata to launch a product in that segment. Heading to the marketing segmentation of Tata Nano is quite interesting. Tata Nano is specially designed and manufactured for the middle class and lower middle class people in India (Interview of Ratan Tata). Marketing Segmentation for Tata Nano: Geographic: rural areas, semi urban areas, small towns, large cities and metropolitans. Demographic: Age group: people of age group above 18 (as the legal age for driving in India is 18) Size of family: family size not more than 5. Psychographic and Behavioural: ANALYSIS OF TATA NANO’S MARKETING SEGMENTATION: From the above segmentation variables and how Tata Nano is segmented, it is clear that the manufacturer wants his product to be used by almost everyone in all geographic conditions. In demographic segment the income group of $220 can easily purchase this car is mentioned. But again they say this can also suit the people who own cars already for the sake of increasing the count which adds privilege to them as well as their status. Even in the occupation category, it is mentioned that right from students to any profession person can use Nano which again puts a lot of people in the category. TARGETING AND POSITIONING OF TATA NANO: Tata Nano’s targeting strategy starts from its tag line â€Å"The people’s Car† and â€Å"the world’s inexpensive car†. Tata Nano is segmented to the middle class and lower middle class people who had only dreamt about cars which also include the people who earn $220 per month. Their target customers are those who are extremely price conscious and have low latitude of acceptability. Industry wise they target the two wheeler industry, three wheeler industry (which are more costly than nano), public transports as well to an extent. Hence pricing is their most effective targeting strategy. (Admap magazine, www. warc. com/admap) Positioning of Tata Nano is solely based on its price which may also become a drawback to them in future. Tata Nano is well positioned which will be doing a marketing for the entire Tata Motors. As Nano will be the first car of many customers there will be a possibility of customers to follow Tata Motors if they have a good value for money product and good customer relationship management. As mentioned Nano will be the first car people will surely change their car and that might be possibly for another car in Tata Motors itself. Moreover Tata is also got a wide range of cars which are durable and better quality which suits Indian roads. (NDTV news) {draw:frame} {draw:rect} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} draw:frame} {draw:frame} CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The marketing segmentation concept is a good strategy in marketing but not applicable for all industries, services or products. Nano is got a good segmentation and its well targeted and positioned. As Nano is targeting people with its price strategy, in future due to some inflation if value of money increases they might not be able to con vince their customers. Tata is a good reliable brand in India and now the positioning of Nano as the first car of many people will surely help them in growing their Tata Motors organisation. REFERENCES: Caroline Tynan and Jennifer Drayton, Journal of marketing management, 1987, 2, No 3, 301-335. Smith, W. R. (1956), â€Å"Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies†, _Journal of Marketing, _2J (3), pp. 3-8. Baker, M. J. (Ed) (1984), Macmillan Dictionary of Marketing and Advertising, London, Macmillan. Haley, R. L (1968), â€Å"Benefit segmentation: A decision-oriented research tool†, Journal_ of_ Marketing, 32(3), pp. 30-35. Chisnall, P. M. (1985), Marketing: A Behavioural Analysis (2nd edition). Maidenhead, Berkshire, McGraw-Hill UK Ltd. Lunn. T. (1978), â€Å"Segmenting and constructing markets†. In: Consumer Market Research Handbook (2nd edition) (Eds. ) Worcester, R. M. and Downham, J. , London, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. (UK) Ltd. , pp. 343-376. Haley, R. L (1968), â€Å"Benefit segmentation: A decision-oriented research tool†, _Journal of_ Marketing, 32(3), pp. 30-35. Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, (2009), â€Å"_NDTV’s review of the Tata Nano_†, NDTV Profit Online, [http://profit. ndtv. com/2009/03/23220600/How-does-the-Tata- Nano-drive. html]. www. tatanano. inservices. tatamotors. com Joseph Sassoon, Admap magazine, www. warc. com/admap.

Electrical Principles Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electrical Principles - Coursework Example It involves taking snapshot of each cell at installation time and then measuring subtle changes as cells age. A 25% resistance increase over the initial reading provides hints to the battery’s overall performance drop. Measurement of a battery’s internal resistance is done through reading voltage drop on load current or AC impedance. The obtained results are considered ohmic values. There is a widespread held notion that internal resistance has a relation to capacity, yet this is not true. Most batteries retain flat resistance throughout its service life. In figure 1 is the capacity fade and the internal resistance of battery cells. The circuit set-up contains the battery to be studied lying in series with a resistor. The potential difference across load is measured and so is the current for a different resistors/rheostat in the circuit. The idea is for the overall resistance of circuit changes so that the current is different each time. The reason that doing this is to tell us about internal resistance of battery because the potential difference across internal resistance is Vinternal resistance=I⋅r and it is possible to vary I by altering circuit resistance. Where the potential difference across internal resistance is varying and hence, we add up all potential differences given as E=Vload +Vinternalresistance in determination of internal resistance. This can be represented

Ethical dilemmas facing multinational corporations in their marketing Essay

Ethical dilemmas facing multinational corporations in their marketing of goods and services abroad - Essay Example The best thing is that the benefits and disadvantages are determined even before the organization goes the global way and thus it saves itself from embarrassment which it might face without having proper knowledge and adequate research within it. The significant thing here is to get prepared and be ready for what is to come in the future as concerns to the organization that we are talking about here. (Beckman, 1967) The ethical concerns rose in the wake of marketing of goods and services abroad remains one of the most talked about concerns and this is highlighted within the length of this paper. The ways and means that are usually taken care of whilst managing the goods and services abroad are aplenty and it is only up to the top management within a company that the same can be handled in a several different methods. They are the ones to decide as to what is the real manner in which the firm’s goods and services would be handled as well as who will head the respective departments, lead the business strategic units and act as legal and media representatives of the said business. The business, as marketers say, exists to satisfy its target audience through fulfilling a need courtesy its products and/or services or a combination of the both, the same being true in case of a retail outlet which sells gasoline to local consumers, thus giving in petrol plus extra services in the form of window cleaning, fuel gauge checks and so on and so forth. (Kelley, 1973) A company or an organization needs sound management framework at its top so that the staff and the employees workin g at different levels feel at ease with the job as well as the working environment. This indeed is very important as it builds long-term credibility of the organization that it cares about its employees and not just the customers and in cases profits and revenues only. (Korzeniowski, 2001) International businesses with regards to

Innovation and Enterprise (BBVA) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Innovation and Enterprise (BBVA) - Essay Example Innovation and Enterprise (BBVA) In most instances, innovation is commonly attributed to newness of a given aspect (Varis and Littunen, 2010, p. 128). However, they argue that there is no universally conclusive definition of the term since in the present world new knowledge is always coming up and not everything new can be classified as innovation. However, OEDC (2005, p. 101) described firm level innovation as planned change in an organization’s activities geared towards enhancing the organization performance. Innovation is differentiated based on main two aspects. The first looks at the object of change, such as product, market, process and organizational innovation (Oke, Burke and Myers, 2007, p. 735). Moreover, the type of innovation can be based on their how radical they are or their newness; that is based on the extent of change. According to Varis and Littunen (2010, p. 128), radical innovations usually bring up revolutionary changes and in some instances may trigger technological innovation. Basic ing redients of innovation are transferable and the most critical source of innovative ideas include the firm’s the employees, competitors and research (Beach, 2006, p. 1). Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria is a major retail bank in Spain that offers a wide range of financial services to both end-user clients and business customers. The bank was established in about one hundred and fifty years, and has grown significantly to open branches in USA, Mexico and South America. Currently, the bank is the largest in Mexico and is listed among the 25 major banks in US. Moreover, BBVA is among the few Western Banks operating successfully in Japan. By 2008, BBVA had 112, 000 employees serving more than 47 million countries in more than 30 countries (Ramis-Pujol and Droege, 2011, p.3). The bank has been able to balance its corporate principles while still focusing on customer service. In addition, BBVA views innovation as an engine for its future growth. Presently, BBBVA is one of the seven largest banks in the world measured in terms of market capitalization after joining this league in 2009. Types of Innovation by BBVA One of the types of innovation implemented by BBVA is product innovation when the bank came up with tu cuentas. Some years back, BBVA bank identified the great potential offered by internet technology to retail banking. The bank felt that its customers could appreciate more online banking services to better manage their financial activities and make them more open. The bank envisioned that customers could be more satisfied knowing what they spend their finances in, average money spent on different items in the budget and compare their spending trends with those of their peers. Moreover, the new product could help the customers develop strategies to optimize their spending habits. Tu cuentas was also developed to improve the user experience and increase its functionality and flexibility. Moreover, BBVA intended to allow its customers incorporate their banking information from other their accounts in other financial institutions. This last functionality was a unique service in retail banking. Given that the bank was financially and expertise constrained, it decided to

The managment of corporate social responsibility in developing Essay

The managment of corporate social responsibility in developing economies - Essay Example It is also seen that in the developing economies, monitory power is concentrated in the few industrial and corporate houses, which constitute the core area in the development. Yet another major feature of the economy is that it has emerging market with vast potential, which attracts lots of foreign investments and multinationals with their numerous products. It is a fact that government alone cannot be responsible for the socio economic development of its population. Though it provides the basic guiding principles and policy parameters of development process in the various core areas, people must also take up the cudgels to get involved into the process along with the government, if the country is to achieve the distinction of sustainable development that percolates down to the people living at poverty line. Hence, according to social scientists and economists, the corporate houses including the multinationals, must get involved in exercising their social responsibility with right earnest and contribute towards the all round development of the nation, especially the underprivileged segment of the society and the underdeveloped region which may even lack the basic infrastructural facilities. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a relatively new concept that is becoming increasing more popular among the multinationals and big corporate houses which have significant presence in a developing countries or are intending to enter the emerging market of developing economies. ‘The relationship between companies and civil society organizations has moved on from paternalistic philanthropy to a re-examination of the roles, rights and responsibilities of business in society. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), defined in terms of the responsiveness of businesses to stakeholders’ legal, ethical, social and environmental expectations, is one outcome of these developments’ (UNIDO, 2002). The last few years have seen rising cases of CSR in the socially

Personality and Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personality and Music - Essay Example Creativity and the ability to adjust socially are vital aspects of what dictates a person’s personality in terms of adapting in a community and determining whether a person has any common interests for relationship-building. If music is able to stimulate centers of the brain which regulate these actions, then perhaps it can enhance whether a person is capable of having quality friendships. If a person leans toward a specific type of music, like rock, rap, or hip hop, it might be due to the fact that the person is searching for personal creativity and finds stimulation from a specific genre. For instance, rock music might appeal to the person’s desire to break away from certain home environments and it inspires them to succeed. Perhaps also a desire to listen to hip hop might offer feelings of community or personal assistance for a charity-minded type of person. When they feel that the music is closely connected to their own wants and needs, it might offer a sensation in the brain which creates perceptions of contentment or creativity that other types of music do not provide. This is only a hypothetical scenario, however it is based on the idea that music and involvement in music over time can be linked with changes in the physical brain. Since the brain is still largely a mystery today, it might just be possible that stimulation from an emotional viewpoint could be triggered from certain varieties of music. It is relatively common knowledge that the brain has pleasure centers within it, perhaps music stimulates these regions but only when certain types of music are playing. It might, then, be that personality aspects are also changed as the person finds some reward in listening to certain music and it changes how they behave outwardly. Where society might have seen them as being withdrawn, now that music has changed their frustration to pleasure, they are seen as vibrant and happy

Methodology Chapter (2) Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Methodology Chapter (2) - Dissertation Example Figure 2.1 In vitro effects of sildenafil on murine embryo development 2.1.2 In vivo effects of sildenafil on murine embryo development This part of the experiment was not conducted due to requirement for changes in the license. However, the in vivo effects on the development of oocyte would have been examined by injecting sildenafil on female mice for a period of four days with the following three doses: 0.5 mg/kg, 1.5mg/kg and 2.5mg/kg. Afterwards, the female mice would be mated naturally with males; then one-day old zygotes would be harvested from sacrificed females. The number of oocytes and corpora lutea recorded would be used to determine the rate of ovulation. Thereafter, the embryos would be grown to blastocysts again in a media not supplemented with sildenafil. The quality of development of the embryos would then be determined by examining their development rate, and assessing the numbers of the blastocyst cells (figure 2.2). Figure 2.2 In Vivo effects of sildenafil on murin e embryo development 2.1.3 Expression of PDE5a in the mouse pre-implantation embryo The experiment was conducted by examining the presence of PDE5 mRNA in murine embryos at the successive stages of embryo development. The embryos used for study were obtained from mice that had been mated naturally. On the other hand, the blastocysts had been cultured in standard conditions. 2.2 Sildenafil Citrate purification from commercially available Viagra tablets In both the in vitro and in vivo experiments, sildenafil had been cleansed from commercially available Viagra tablets by leaving 20g sephadex G-25 overnight to swell in 100ml of distilled water. A column of 80ml was then applied with the sephadex gel and equilibrated in 100ml of distilled water at room temperature. A Viagra tablet of 38mg was then placed in 91.2ml of distilled water and slowly mixed with a magnetic stirrer at room temperature for a period of twenty minutes. It was then filtered for 20 minutes under a temperature of 4 d egrees Celsius. The liquid in which sildenafil has been dissolved was then applied on the column. The column was rinsed with the Viagra solution just before it was flushed with 400ml of water to wash away any possible small molecules. This way, only sildenafil was left precipitated to resin. The column was then applied with 1% Formic acid to rinse the sildenafil off. The absorbance of the rinsed solution was then observed and according to Francis et al. (2003), the rinsed sildenafil had a sharp peak absorbance at 40ml (Figure 3.1). Figure 3.1 Elution of pure sildenafil from sephadex column After sildenafil was rinsed, the column was washed again with 160ml or distilled water to eliminate the formic acid. After the column was free of formic acid, it was then washed with 320ml of 0.2% sodium azide in order to preserve it for later use. The rinsed sildenafil was then frozen at temperatures of -80 degrees Celsius. It was then dried by freezing it in a high vacuum. This was done by first sublimating the contents for a period of 8 hours at 0.37 mbar and under a temperature of -53 degrees Celsius, then desorbing it at 0.001 mbar for 3 hours. The weight of the crystallized contents was determined by examining the rate of absorbance of sildenafil over the whole sildenafil that had been eluted, assuming that there had been a recovery rate of 60%. The eluted sildenafil was then dissolved in 0.1% formic acid in order to obtain the normal concentration of refined

Educational Preparation in Nursing Essay Example for Free

Educational Preparation in Nursing Essay With a consistent change in modernizing medicine, along with the continuing advancement in technology, continuing education in nursing is essential for a variety of reasons. The nurse’s main concern is providing safe, efficient, and effective patient care with positive patient outcomes. This paper will examine the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at an associate-degree level versus a baccalaureate-degree level, in order to provide an evidenced-based understanding of the variation in the educational preparation of nurses. An associate-degree nursing program usually takes place over the course of a two year period, providing the nurse with the confidence in skills and knowledge to be placed in an entry-level position upon graduation. These types of programs focus on preparing nurses for care settings including community hospitals and long-term care facilities—and were traditionally designed to compensate for the nursing shortage. A bachelor-degree nursing program typically takes place over a period of four academic years; and is intended to prepare its graduates to practice nursing in leadership and management positions in a number of care settings (Creasia Friberg, 2011, pp 25-27). A bachelor-degree program in nursing provides a further understand of not only the scientific and clinical nursing education, but also a more in-depth overview of specialized skills including: critical thinking, decision-making, communication, leadership, case management, and health promotion (The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice, 2012, para. 1). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing describes evidenced-based recommendations that explain that in order to â€Å"respond to the demands of an evolving health care system and meet the changing needs of patients, nurses must achieve higher levels of education (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012, para. 5).† The professional nurse holding a baccalaureate-level degree is prepared for a broader role in patient care with a higher understanding of holistic treatment, community health, clinical research, and nursing leadership and management. The added course work provided in a baccalaureate program is designed to prepare the nurse for a broader scope of practice and a better understand of issues that affect patients and their health care, including: cultural, economic, political, and social issues. â€Å"Nurses with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees are well-prepared to meet the demands placed on todays nurse (The Impact of Ed ucation on Nursing Practice, 2012, para 1).† Patient outcome are the principal for continuing education. The level of educational preparation required by a baccalaureate-degree nurse allows for more equip decision-making in approach to patient care situations. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, In the October 2012 edition of Medical Care researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that surgical patients in Magnet hospitals had 14% lower odds of inpatient death within 30 days and 12% lower odds of failure-to-rescue compared with patients cared for in non-Magnet hospitals. The study authors conclude that these better outcomes were attributed in large part to investments in highly qualified and educated nurses, including a higher proportion of baccalaureate prepared nurses. (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012, para. 9) With â€Å"Magnet† indicating a higher portion of baccalaureate nursing staff, it is determined that the nurse prepared at a bachelore-degree level is better prepared to approach a patient care situation with the capability of taking immediate action to provide better patient outcomes, than that of a nurse prepared at the associate-degree level. This goes to show that higher education has a strong impact on nursing practice. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, a better educated nursing workforce will improve patient safety and enhance nursing care, decreasing mortality rate—as there is a significant correlation between nurses educated at a bachelor-degree level and lower patient death rates (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012). Through this research it is apparent that there is a significant connection between patient health care outcomes and the educational preparation of nurses. It is now established that the nurse prepared at a baccalaureate level is more readily capable of caring for critically ill patients; working in situations requiring critical thinking, leadership, and decision-making; and also taking roles in clinical aspects relevant to non-hospital settings. â€Å"Researchers have identified improved patient safety and lower rates of patient morbidity and mortality; lower levels of medication errors and procedural violations; and fewer disciplinary actions for BSNs (Altmann, 2012, para 4).† The need to continue education in nursing is on-going in order to continue to keep up with the changes in technology, advances in medicine, and to provide the best patient care. The Grand Canyon University Philosophy for nursing education explains: Baccalaureate nursing practice incorporates the roles of assessing, critical thinking, communicating, providing care, teaching, and leading. The caring professional approach includes the values of autonomy, altruism, human dignity, integrity and social justice with unconditional regard for all people. Nursing practice includes health promotion, disease prevention, early detection of health deviations, prompt and adequate treatment of the human response to acute and chronic illness, and compassionate care for those experiencing death. (Philosophy, n.d., para. 8) It is essential to maintain competency in nursing practice through the pursuit of continuing education. The difference between educational levels involves clinical competencies in a variety of settings, decision-making skills, leadership roles, job opportunities, and most importantly overall patient outcomes. In order to provide the best care for patients, a higher education, and continuing increase in knowledge is essential. References Altmann, T. K. (2012). Nurses attitudes toward continuing formal education: A comparison by level of education and geography. Nursing Education Perspectives, 33(2), 80-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009642651?accountid=7374 Creasia, J. L., Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing Practice [5] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/books/978-0-323-06869-7/id/B9780323068697100029_p0150 Fact sheet: Creating a more highly qualified nursing workforce. (2012, October 24). Retrieved November 8, 2012, from American Association of Colleges of Nursing:

ICICI Bank: Porters Five Forces Analysis

ICICI Bank: Porters Five Forces Analysis Contents (Jump to) Introduction Impact of Globalization on Banking Industry Poter’s Five Forces Model Rationale of the Porter’s Five Forces Model in the Banking Industry Threat of New Entrants: Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Bargaining Power of Buyers: Threat of Substitute Products: Intensity of Competitive Rivalry: Introduction to ICICI Bank Impact of Globalization on ICICI Bank Conclusion References Introduction Globalization is the integration of worldwide markets. It changes everything enabling corporations, countries and individual to approach around the world deeper and cheaper never ever before (Freidman, 2005). According to Cato (cited Ervin Smith, 2008), â€Å"Globalization† defines the current inclinations towards the unbound flow of international investment trade beyond borders and the emerging merger of the economy around the world. Globalization hikes development standard of living of the countries that expose themselves to global market as it increased economic freedom and drive competition (Ervin Smith, 2008). ‘Globalization is the merger of historically distinct and separate national market into huge global market. Falling down of barriers to sell internationally’ (Hill, 2012) There have also been changes in the composition of trade and financial flow and trade flow are increasingly made up of intermediate factors of production. Hummels, Ishii, and  Yi (2001) detail the growth in vertical specialization, and Jones, Kierzkowski, and Lurong (2005) detail the rise in fragmentation and outsourcing. At the same time, capital market transactions are an increasing part of international Financial Flows. Lane and Milesi-Ferritti (2007) document the increasing importance of cross-border capital flows since the mid-1980à ­s. Globalization, in brief, is a process of increasing economic integration and growing economic interdependence between countries in the world economy. It is a relative softening up of economic and trade barriers across the countries so as to facilitate a free inter ­flow of capital technology, people, goods and services. Demand and competition in the market has been increased and changed. From production to services each and every sector is looking for international exposure. So many national companies become International in the last decade. Most of U.S. Companies have their Head offices in USA, but all the production work done by Asian countries like China, India and Philippians (Hill, 2012). Impact of Globalization on Banking Industry The banking sector is one of the most important economic sector and most influential and responsive to change whether international or domestic (Kenaway, 2009) The world banking system has gone through many transformations in last decade. There are drastic changes in service as well as technology. There is huge increment and integration of international financial sector. Transformations create the opportunity and challenges for international banking. It also provides the opportunity to expand internationally. Banks come with different changes like high quality customer services and less face to face interaction for example customer can contact with bank through call centre many miles away or when they can buy goods and send the money through online transaction system within minimum time period. Deregulate the banking acts and combines with globalization and integration of financial markets. Create new competitive environment to increase the efficiency of baking services. Increment in competition due to globalization and deregulate should affect on small and large scale banks. After adopting globalization government stopped protecting their local banks, world become a level playing field with survival of the fittest. Due to high competition banks provide best possible services in the most efficient way. Now banks start providing all financial solution to customer. They are providing loan and so many third party cross sell products. Competition made traditional banks come out of comfort level and turn to more effective way to service customers. So many small scale domestic banks merge with big players of industry ‘Many of research studies show that large scale impact on banking industry in all over the world. Due to global competition many of small bank merge with large banks. For example Bank of Rajasthan merge with ICICI BANK in 2010.’ (Business standard.com, 2010) Poter’s Five Forces Model According to Henry A. (2011) Porter’s five forces framework can help organizations to ascertain the attractiveness or profit potential oftheri industry by analysing the relative impact of each of the five forces on their industry structure. (Henry, 2011) The availability of the various players makes the industry so competitive and dynamic. This calls for a need for each individual player to operate competitively in order to sustain its business. The players in the industry need to make a strategic analysis of the industry in order to know the appropriate strategies to be applied in order to sustain the business continuity. One of the useful models in assessing the attractiveness of any industry is Porter’s Five Forces Framework (Porter, 1980) Rationale of the Porter’s Five Forces Model in the Banking Industry The model attempts to address key strategic issues in a wider scope. Many of the issues mentioned in the model, including the forces and the management of those forces, are relevant to the banking sector as well as any other service-oriented business. The results, which will be obtained by the application of this model, should be given the value of the time of the analysis and that a continuous review is necessary in order to avoid to be myopic or obsolete with the results. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces (Porter, 1980). Figure 1 provides details of the framework. Fig: Porter’s five forces model (Exploring Management, John R. Schermerhorn, Jr) Threat of New Entrants: According to Hill and Jones (2009) potential competitors are the companies that are not currently competing in the industry but have capability to do so if they choose. The threat of entry of new firms into an industry depends on extent of barrier to entry like economies of scale, capital requirement, government policies, switching cost for buyers, etc. (Kew Stredwick, 2005) To open a new bank, huge capital investment is required. Moreover, there are lots of regulatory issues like government regulations for licensing, etc. Despite of these obstacles, a large number of banks are entering the market so the threat of new entrants should be high. But, due to bank failures and mergers according to FDIC, the number of banks opened from 1977 through 2002 is roughly 215 per year. Trust is one of the biggest hurdles for entry of a new bank. It is difficult for new banks to start up due to involvement of money financial information of other people. People tend to trust big brand names that are well known big banks, which, according to them are trustworthy. Today, banks are providing facilities for serving all financial needs of the customer at one place. Customers tend to allow a major well known bank to look after all of their accounts and financial needs. This centralization further makes it difficult for new banks to enter. As a result, the threat of new entrants is relatively low in banking industry. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers are the individuals or companies that provide inputs in terms of resources and materials, services etc into the industry (Hill Jones, 2009). The power of suppliers is dependent on Number of suppliers, Brand Power,possibility of forward integration and dependence of customers, etc.(Kew Stredwick, 2005) In banking industry, capital is the major resource and primarily there are 4 suppliers of capital i.e. Deposits of the customer, loans mortgages, mortgaged securities and loans taken from other financial institutions. Through these major suppliers, the bank can meet its requirements like borrowing needs of the customers and at the same time keeping enough money to fulfill withdrawal requirements. The power of the suppliers is widely based on the market and impact of this power is between medium to high. Bargaining Power of Buyers An industry’s buyer may be the individual or end user that will ultimately consume/buy the product of the firm or the companies that distribute the products further. (Hill Jones 2009). Buyer’s power depends on concentration of buyers, alternative sources of purchase, possibility of backward integrations. (Kew Stredwick, 2005) As far as an individual is concerned, it is not a major threat. But, if the cost of switching is higher, then this can affect the power of the buyers. If a single bank looks after all the banking requirements of the customer like savings, mortgages and other financial needs, then it will be a big botheration for the customer to move to some other bank. In order to persuade customers to move to their bank, the entrepreneurs may use different tactics like lowering the switching costs, but most of the customer may still choose to stay with their current bank. The internet has played a vital role in increasing the power of the customer in this industry. Customer can very easily and conveniently compare various banks at almost no cost at all. The cost of opening and maintaining an account as well as the rates offered by different banks can be checked by the customer anytime, anywhere. Threat of Substitute Products The more substitutes a product has, the demand for the product becomes more elastic. Elastic demand means increased consumer price sensitivity which equates to less certainty of profits (Kew Stredwick, 2005). Availability of substitutes of products places limits on the prices market leaders can charge (Hill Jones, 2009) The banking industry is not as much affected by rival banks but the non-financial organizations pose bigger threat of substitution. Although these organizations do not provide deposits, withdrawals, etc, but services such as mutual funds, insurance and fixed earning securities are offered by these companies in much convenient way. Method of payment and loans pose a threat of substitutes, which is relatively higher. For example, dealer who sell costly items like automobiles, ornaments, electronics, etc usually prefer financing expensive items. Usually, these companies give lower rate of interest on bill payment as compared to loan taken from any bank.9 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry Rivalry refers to the degree to which firms respond to competitive moves of the other firms in the industry (Hill Jones, 2009). Rivalry among existing firms may manifest itself in a number of ways- price competition, new products, increased levels of customer service, warranties and guarantees, advertising, better networks of wholesale distributors, and so on Barnat, 2014.) There is very high competition is banking industry. This industry is into existence since hundreds of years and is servicing people since then. Due to this reason, banks need to try to inveigle customers from their rival banks. This is done through lower rates of interest on loans, higher rates on deposits, better convenient after sale services and other investment related services. The basic competition is this industry is to give best services within minimum time period. But due to this completion banks are suffering from lower Returns on Assets (ROA). Due to this nature of the banking industry, there is possibility of more consolidation of the industry. Bigger banks go for acquiring or merging with smaller banks instead of spending valuable money on advertising and marketing. Introduction to ICICI Bank Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India founded in 1955 as a joint venture of World Bank. Its parent company is ICICI group. ICICI bank promote in 1994 by ICICI limited and whole subsidiary of ICICI shareholding. It is an Indian multinational bank and financial services provide based in Mumbai. ICICI have global banking operation 19 countries. ICICI Bank Ltd is Indias second largest financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank has a network of 2,533 branches and 6,800 ATMs in India, and has a presence in 19 countries, including India. The bank has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia, and Canada; branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Centre; and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The companys UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany. ICICI Banks equity shares are listed in India on Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Impact of Globalization on ICICI Bank To cope with globalization and increasing customer demand, ICICI was one of the new banks to start internet banking, private banking services and mobile banking services and mobile ATM services. Influenced by globalization, ICICI was the first ever bank from India to borrow Currency Units from European countries. With globalization and presence of multiple national and international firms, it was necessary to provide payment facilities through credit cards. Hence with Airtel and HPCL, ICICI bank launched multi-branded credit card to enhance customer base. ICICI has collaborated with Lloyds TSB of UK to make it easy for people of Indian origin living in the United Kingdom to access more branches and ATM in UK as well as India. In terms of profits, there has been a substantial improvement. It was a conscious strategy to pare the size: the bank decided to focus on profitability and efficiency. It has improved the composition of funding by reducing high cost funds. There was growth in international business. The international business which was 25% of the bank’s balance sheet now has come down to 23%. In the UK and Canada, the loan books are flat and in Russia it shrank. In terms of financial performance, ICICI has improved its Earnings Per Share, from 2009 through 2013 EPS has grown from 33.76 to 72.22; an increase of approximately 114%. Also, the net profit margin has risen from 5.63 to 12.94 in the period of past 5 years. ICICI has reduced its total expenses by 17% and increased its income by 15% approximately ICICI had adopted a strategy of aggressive sales and introduced new innovative expansion strategies and launched new different products which attracted the customers. ICICI had also taken over couple of companies which did give a major boost to its business and deposits recently it had also taken over Bank of Rajasthan. ICICI is successful in catering to the needs of its Indian Customers who are overseas (Non Resident Indians) by introducing many NRI services. ICICI was successful in opening many current and savings accounts and increase its deposits and has also introduced savings accounts for children as well. With this kind of exemplary performance and coupled with superb customer service in a very short span ICICI had emerged and successfully became one of the leading private sector banks of India. Conclusion The overall impact of globalization on ICICI bank is good. The net profit margin of the bank has increased by 2.5% annually in the past five years. The business strategy of the Bank has mainly been driven by the increased globalization of the Indian economy, the growing trend of Indian corporate expanding overseas, the large population of non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin across the globe and overseas companies looking to invest in India. References Barnat R. (2014), Stratigic Formulation, available at http://www.strategy-formulation.24xls.com/ Ervin J, Smith Z.A, Globalization:A Reference Handbook, 2008 Friedman T.L. (2005), The World is Flat Henry A.(2011), Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press p. 81-83 Hill C., Jones G. (2009) Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach, Cengage Learning p. 43-45 Hill C.W. (2012), International business competing in global marketplace, McGraw-Hill Education http://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/about-us.html Hummels, D., J. Ishii, and K.-M. Yi (2001): The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade,Journal of International Economics, 54, 75-96. Hummels, Ishii, and Yi (2001) Detail the growth in vertical specialization, and Jones, Kierzkowski, and Lurong (2005) ICICI Annual Report FY13 Available at http://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html Jones, R., H. Kerzkowski, and C. Lurong (2005): .What does evidence tell us about fragmentation and outsourcing,.International Review of Economics and Finance, 14, 305.316. Kenawy, Ezzat Molouk, (2009), Globalization and Its Effects on the Banking System Performance in Egypt p. 55 Kew J., Stredwick J. (2005), Business Environment:Managing in a Strategic Context, CIPD Publishing, p.21-23 Lane, P. R., and G. M. Milesi-Ferretti (2004): .International Investment Patterns,.CEPR Discussion Paper 4499. Porter, M E. (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, New York: The Free Press. Reporter B.S., Bank of Rajasthan to merge with ICICI Bank, available at: http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/bank-of-rajasthan-to-merge-with-icici-bank-110051900028_1.html [Last Accessed: May 19, 2010] Schermerhorn J.R. (2009), Exploring Management, John Wiley Sons Subsidiaries of ICICI Bank Annual Report FY2013 Availabel at: http://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html Upender M., Shreedhar V.(2013) Growth Rates and Responsiveness of Credit to the Changes in Deposits in the Indian Banking, Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools Abstract In this report the concepts of different network management principles will be explored with a view to demonstrating how Observer manages wide area networks. The report will explore the issues with WAN and how Observer overcomes these problems. Introduction Wide area networks are becoming far more complex and far wider spread than ever before, this of course leads to some big problems for the network managers of these large scale networks. Most of these networks are huge in size and can easily encompass an entire city, whereas most of them are transcontinental. This poses the first of many problems for a network manager, they may not be in the same continent as a large proportion of their network. This makes the use of network management software essential, such as Observer. Using network management software means the network manager would not have to leave their desk to find any fault in the network whether it was in the next room or half way across the globe. Literary Review The most useful literary text the author found was from the new owners of Observer, the software used in this report. The new owners ViaviSolutions have published a white paper on using   Observer Analyser, their latest version of the observer suite as a security tool. (anon, 2014) The journal by Liu et al. (2014) provided a lot of insight into where wide area networks are going, and their optimisation. It contains interesting formulae for network optimisation using the Gauss-Newton method of nonlinear least squares. This principally agrees with the first text in this review about the nature and make up of a wide area network. Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) goes on to agree in part with the rest of the journals about the nature of a WAN but goes on to discuss the fact that traditional controllers can cause bottle necks in the network and that opting for SDN (Software Defined Network) allows for a faster network and a higher level of quality overall. Ahmedi Mitrevski, (2014) looks at possibly the only real area of disagreement with regards to WANs and that is how much they cost. The relative cost of implementing and the monthly upkeep of a network seems to be the only area where professionals disagree about these networks. Anon (2008). This seminar outlined the principles of network management that are considered as industry standard. Cahn, (1998). This journal looks at the design of WANs and their benefits, and this also agrees with the principles outlined in the previous articles mentioned, including the ambiguous nature of the costing of a network. It outlines there are only three important numbers when considering a WAN, these are the cost, either monthly up keep, total set up cost or a mixture of both, the reliability and the response times, and goes on to say these are all directly proportional to each other, as in if you reduce the amount of money spent the response time goes up which brings the reliability down. Dian Septama et al., (2015). In this journal there is lots of information regarding providing a high quality of service, one of the main areas a network manager faces the biggest struggles and can cause the biggest issues aside from security. Feng et al.,( 2014) this journal explores the real world application of a WAN and covers the issues in using traditional methods against new technologies which are opting for more automation and utilising programs and algorithms to manage the trivial day-to-day running of a network which frees up the human element to focus their time on more important tasks. Geer,( 2013)this journal focuses more on the security and current state of the internet, but in essence the internet is just a very large WAN and so its management and security are relevant here (Langer et al., 2010) this journal uses the example of a healthcare organisation utilising the fast and secure delivery methods of a WAN to transport confidential patient files and details across the WAN to remote geographical locations, the main example used is radiology images. These are now digital images and are large in size due to the resolutions required to accurately use them for medical diagnosis. Malhotra et al., (2011) this journal replicates closely the experiment that was carried out by the author of this report, the main differences are this journal experiments with a LAN and uses OPNET to generate the usage. Shin et al., (2007) this journal agrees with Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) and Feng et al.,( 2014) in so much as they state that a network should be monitored and managed by an algorithm based on the existing SNMP framework. Tiropanis et al., (2015)this journal explores the development of networks and their respective sciences and how these have evolved, specifically into internet science and web science. And how each of these areas are evolving in their own areas and how each of them has an impact on the others. Travostino et al., (2006) this journal outlines another real world application of WANs for the distribution of virtual machines and how they can be utilised to compute large tasks aver the network instead of only using local resources. Wang et al., (2014) this journal documents an experiment into the future of how security of a WAN could be implemented. It outlays an idea of sending the authentication key across the network securely but not via mathematical encoding to deter eavesdroppers but by quantum physics. The system uses high frequency lasers beamed down fibre optic cables which are encoded by the transmitter and then decoded by a receiver, the encryption is encoded into the specific frequency of the lasers architecture and photon length. Each transmitter and receiver contain sophisticated monitoring circuitry which monitor the incoming traffic and actively scan for Trojan horse photons from the channel. Observer and wide area networks For the purposes of this report the author created a simulated WAN to utilise the software Observer to implement network management. The network simulated three terminals situated in three cities around the world. The console was simulated as being in London, one was in Paris and the other was in New York Fig 1: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Console (Circled) Fig 2: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Second PC (Circled) Fig 3: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Third PC (Circled) Once the author had set up the WAN they opened Observer on each of the machines connected to the virtual WAN. The machine simulated as London was selected as the machine to be the console for the purpose of managing the network and so was configured to collate the data generated by the network. The other two machines utilised the inbuilt traffic generation tool in Observer. Although the software produces traffic this is of a CBR style and so the data received is evidently simulated but for the purpose of this report this is acceptable. The traffic generator in Observer comes with a plethora of options. The default option sends a small group of packets through on a broadcast channel (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) the author altered this setting to generate the top talkers and pair matrix graphs as on a broadcast channel all the traffic appeared to be generating and received by the switchs MAC address which wasnt the case. The size of the packet and the transmission length were also altered to gi ve a larger test sample. The author also tried to generate random traffic which is one of the options but this seemed to have no effect on the traffic generated as it was constant bit rate style simulation traffic. Fig 4: observer running on first PC (Simulated location Paris) Fig 5: Observer running on third PC (simulated location New York) Fig 6: Traffic Generation on second PC (Paris) Fig 7: Traffic Generation on third PC (New York) On the console PC observer was running several of its functonal windows, first of which was the top talkers windows. This window is utilised to identify the staations on the network with the highest traffic volumes. This is particularly usefull from a management perspective as to monitor the personality of the network in order to maintain smooth operation, and identify potential security threats. (Anon, 2016) the top talkers screen provides a huge amount of information about the different stations attached to the network, including the amount of traffic generated and received by the node in both packets and bytes, its MAC address, its IP address . From this screen the network manager can monitor all the nodes on the network and diagnose issues as they happen. If a node suddenly starts generating large amounts of traffic for no apparent reason the network manager can have observer set up an alert and even have it send a SMS message or email reporting the issue. This ensures the networ k manager can stay on top of all aspects of the network regardless of time or location. If any issues arise the network manager can deploy a resource from the technical team to resolve the problem swiftly so as not to impact upon the quality of service. Fig 8: Observer Top Talkers window with Paris PC selected Fig 9: Observer Top Talkers window with New York PC selected Looking at the top talkers window identifies that the two Traffic generating PCs were indeed the ones with the heaviest traffic flow, followed by the swiches and hub that connected them all together. A network manager looking at this screen can monitor all machines connected to the network regardless of geographical location, even wireless connections are shown and can be monitored. (Liu et al., 2014) Another window on the console pc is the paired matrix screen. With this tool the network manage can monitor the pathways the network traffic is taking on the network. Through this analysis the network manager can optimise the network through routing manipulation. If a particular router is getting the brunt of the network traffic a second router can be installed to share the traffic burden and reduce the utilisation of the initial router and theoretically improve the quality of service. (Anon, 2016), (Anon, 2008) Fig 10: the Pair Matrix window showing traffic from the Paris PC the the New York pc and then to conslolePC Fig 11: Paris and New York PCs traffic going straight to Consloe PC The final tool used by the author is the packet capture window. The first attempts at packet capture by the author demonstrated the need for checking the settings thouroughly as the buffer for capture was very small and so the captured line on the graph was tiny to start with untill this was increased by the author. After increasing the buffer size the graphs look much better and the data far more usable. After increaseing the buffer hugely the traffic was restarted and the capture began again. The packet capture showed the traffic being generated as it monitors all traffic on the network, but will only capture a certain amount for analysis. Fig 12: Packet Capture window showing the current traffic on the network (yellow line shows packets captured, blue line is total packets on network) Fig 13: Packet cature after buffer increased Fig 14: Dialogue box from Observer detailing total packets and ability to save the range for later reference Through the packet capture the network manager can observe the networks personality again to monitor for threats and general maintenance of the network. (Anon, 2016) Results After running the experiment the data collected showed exactly how powerful the observer tool can be, although there was only three machines the scope of observers abilities is evident and can easily be imagined for a network of three thousand machines. The interface can be de-cluttered to show only relevant information so the network manager wouldnt get bogged down with an information overload. Looking at the paired matrix graphs there are several lines on the screen all of which are communiquà ©s between nodes on the network, not all of these are PCs most of them are routers and switches along which the WAN is established. The thickness of each line denotes the amount of traffic it has dealt with. These lines show both incoming and outgoing traffic and the lines connect the source to its destination address. The labels are a combination of the assigned name, normally the name assigned in the NIC and its MAC address EG. Broadcom[5A:7C:09] the label for the console PC. As shown in fig 11 the packets do not have to be routed to or even through the console PC for Observer to pick the packets up and display them. The data collected from the packet capture can be used to manually calculate the utilisation of the network, although this can also be worked out by Observer automatically. The packet capture screen is in a graph format with time across the bottom and the amount of packets per second up the side. There are three coloured lines on the graph blue which denotes the total packets on the network, yellow which are the packets captured by Observer and red which denotes the amount of dropped packets. In the data captured there were no dropped packets, and a peak of approximately 500 packets per second. This flow rate lasts for five minutes with no dropped packets, showing the networks utilisation was within acceptable ranges. if there had been dropped packets it would show that the network was working too hard and there for would mean it had a high utilisation and would prompt the network manager to address the utilisation, and to optimise the efficiency of the network. Looking at the top talkers table in fig 9, in this data it is evident which nodes on the network receive the most and also which transmit the most. This information is highly important to the network manager as these are essential to the security and effective maintenance of the network. For example if there was an employee using the companys network to watch movies on their workstation the network manager would see within Observer a radical change to the stoichiometry of the network and its personality would change. Once this change had been brought to the network managers attention they could look on Observer at the top talkers and paired matrix charts and identify which terminal was using an abnormal amount of the networks bandwidth and then take action against the offending party in line with the companys IT policy. Conclusion This report has looked at the management techniques used in applying wide area networks, their future, their application in the real world and their design and deployment, it is the opinion of the author that the general consensus is that the IT community seem to be in agreement about most concepts of wide area networks, apart from the cost of them, and how to control them. Although the majority of newer reports (Shin et al., 2007), (Ahmed Boutaba, 2014), and (Feng et al., 2014) are swayed towards having the majority of the control handed over to algorithms and evolution programs, there is also still call for there to be a human element to be involved in the management process.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   After looking through the papers used in the research for this report it is the opinion of the author that the application of a well managed WAN is far more beneficial than any other communication option, considering the internet is in reality just a huge WAN its self, a WAN can run everythi ng in a business or academic environment, from physical security like door locks and fire alarms through to phones (Dian Septama et al., 2015) and lighting, there are even applications to control environmental conditions. With the introduction of automated network managers, the buildings air conditioning could be being controlled by a computer thousands of miles away. With the development of encrypted laser communications utilised in QKD making networks virtually completely secure the control of more sensitive systems may fall under the control of larger WANs and possibly a large central, global WAN to control all the mundane systems around the globe. To conclude this report the author believes in view of the huge advances in using automated network management options and the amount of non communications based areas controlled by nodes on the network, coupled with the advancements made in artificial intelligence the role of the human network manager could become extinct as we know it. The role could progress to either being an overseer of the AI or completely redundant altogether. Bibliography Ahmed, R. Boutaba, R. (2014) Design considerations for managing wide area software defined networks. IEEE Commun. Mag., 52 (7), pp.116-123. Ahmedi, B. Mitrevski, P. (2014) On The Development of Methodology for Planning and Cost-Modeling of A Wide Area Network. IJCNC, 6 (3), pp.71-90. Anon (2008) 10th IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS2008). IEICE Communications Society Magazine, 2008 (7), pp.7_12-7_15. Anon (2014) USING A NETWORK ANALYZER AS A SECURITY TOOL. 1st ed. Minnetonka. Available from: [Accessed 17 December 2015]. Cahn, R. (1998) Wide area network design. San Francisco, Calif., Morgan Kaufmann. Dian Septama, H., Ulvan, A., Hlavacek, J. Bestak, R. (2015) High Available VoIP Server Failover Mechanism in Wide Area Network. TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 13 (2), p.739. Feng, Y., Cui, D., Li, Y., Zhang, J. Li, J. (2014) Contrasting Meteorological Wide-Area Networks and Evolutionary Programming. AMM, 687-691, pp.2557-2560. Geer, D. (2013) Resolved. Communications of the ACM, 56 (6), p.48. Langer, S., French, T. Segovis, C. (2010) TCP/IP Optimization over Wide Area Networks: Implications for Teleradiology. Journal of Digital Imaging, 24 (2), pp.314-321. Liu, L., Ling, Q. Han, Z. (2014) Decentralized Gauss-Newton method for nonlinear least squares on wide area network. IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng., 67, p.012021. Malhotra, R., Gupta, V. K. Bansal, R. (2011) Simulation and Performance Analysis of Wired and Wireless Computer Networks. International Journal of Computer Applications, 14 (7), pp.11-17. Shin, K., Jung, J., Cheon, J. Choi, S. (2007) Real-time network monitoring scheme based on SNMP for dynamic information. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 30 (1), pp.331-353. Tiropanis, T., Hall, W., Crowcroft, J., Contractor, N. Tassiulas, L. (2015) Network science, web science, and internet science. Communications of the ACM, 58 (8), pp.76-82. Travostino, F., Daspit, P., Gommans, L., Jog, C., de Laat, C., Mambretti, J., Monga, I., van Oudenaarde, B., Raghunath, S. Yonghui Wang, P. (2006) Seamless live migration of virtual machines over the MAN/WAN. Future Generation Computer Systems, 22 (8), pp.901-907. Wang, S., Chen, W., Yin, Z., Li, H., He, D., Li, Y., Zhou, Z., Song, X., Li, F., Wang, D., Chen, H., Han, Y., Huang, J., Guo, J., Hao, P., Li, M., Zhang, C., Liu, D., Liang, W., Miao, C., Wu, P., Guo, G. Han, Z. (2014) Field and long-term demonstration of a wide area quantum key distribution network. Opt. Express, 22 (18), p.21739.

Comparative Essay: Compare Nothings Changed with Vultures, Analysing :: English Literature

Comparative Essay: Compare Nothings Changed with Vultures, Analysing the Political Message Conveyed Introduction My essay is based on comparing the poems ‘Nothings Changed’ with ‘Vultures’. I am looking at the similarities and differences in the writing, characters, setting, structure, words and poetic devices used. I am also looking at the different emotions the different poets have used. How do the poets use setting to convey mood? ============================================ In ‘Vultures’ the poet uses sad and dull words to convey the mood. I know this because in the poem the poet has used words such as ‘greyness’ and ‘dead tee’. He has used these to express his emotions and to reinforce the atmosphere of the poem and what the poem is about. In ‘Nothings Changed’ the poet has used words to describe what he is looking at and how he feels. He has used words like ‘new up-market, haute cuisine’ and ‘working mans cafà © which sells bunny chow’. The words he has used are to enhance the setting and for the reader to acknowledge the comparisons between blacks and whites in the poem I think that the similarities in the poem are that both poems enhance the poet’s emotions and feelings. The differences are that in ‘Vultures’ has described his setting in a simple way, whereas in ‘Nothings Changed’ the writer has gone into detail. How does the poet use characters? The poet who has written the poem ‘Vultures’ has used his main characters as animals, which are vultures. He has also added the commandant. I know that the vultures are the main characters because the title of the poem is ‘Vultures’ and in there he has used sentences such as ‘a vulture perching high’ and ‘Nestled close to his mate’. The commandant has been introduced in the poem in the sentence ‘Thus the commandant’. As the word ‘Vultures’ is a metaphor it creates an image in the readers head to make the poem more effective and he commandant has been given two personalities to say what the character is like and to give more of an idea of what the poem is about. First, the commandant is said to be grouse, yet affectionate and capable as he stops at the sweet shop to buy his kids some sweets. The characters in ‘Nothings Changed’ are blacks and whites, which are against each other. The poet himself is also a character. The reason for this is that the poet tells how different whites are to blacks, as he uses setting and actions to suggest how the blacks and whites are seen to others. Sentences he uses are ‘New, up-market, haute cuisine†¦ Whites only inn’ and refers to the blacks in this sentence; ‘Working Comparative Essay: Compare Nothings Changed with Vultures, Analysing :: English Literature Comparative Essay: Compare Nothings Changed with Vultures, Analysing the Political Message Conveyed Introduction My essay is based on comparing the poems ‘Nothings Changed’ with ‘Vultures’. I am looking at the similarities and differences in the writing, characters, setting, structure, words and poetic devices used. I am also looking at the different emotions the different poets have used. How do the poets use setting to convey mood? ============================================ In ‘Vultures’ the poet uses sad and dull words to convey the mood. I know this because in the poem the poet has used words such as ‘greyness’ and ‘dead tee’. He has used these to express his emotions and to reinforce the atmosphere of the poem and what the poem is about. In ‘Nothings Changed’ the poet has used words to describe what he is looking at and how he feels. He has used words like ‘new up-market, haute cuisine’ and ‘working mans cafà © which sells bunny chow’. The words he has used are to enhance the setting and for the reader to acknowledge the comparisons between blacks and whites in the poem I think that the similarities in the poem are that both poems enhance the poet’s emotions and feelings. The differences are that in ‘Vultures’ has described his setting in a simple way, whereas in ‘Nothings Changed’ the writer has gone into detail. How does the poet use characters? The poet who has written the poem ‘Vultures’ has used his main characters as animals, which are vultures. He has also added the commandant. I know that the vultures are the main characters because the title of the poem is ‘Vultures’ and in there he has used sentences such as ‘a vulture perching high’ and ‘Nestled close to his mate’. The commandant has been introduced in the poem in the sentence ‘Thus the commandant’. As the word ‘Vultures’ is a metaphor it creates an image in the readers head to make the poem more effective and he commandant has been given two personalities to say what the character is like and to give more of an idea of what the poem is about. First, the commandant is said to be grouse, yet affectionate and capable as he stops at the sweet shop to buy his kids some sweets. The characters in ‘Nothings Changed’ are blacks and whites, which are against each other. The poet himself is also a character. The reason for this is that the poet tells how different whites are to blacks, as he uses setting and actions to suggest how the blacks and whites are seen to others. Sentences he uses are ‘New, up-market, haute cuisine†¦ Whites only inn’ and refers to the blacks in this sentence; ‘Working

The Dirty South :: essays research papers

The Dirty South During the times of the Civil Rights Movement the black communities of Birmingham, Alabama suffered severely due to the notorious acts of racism geared towards them simply because they were black. They boldly endured beatings, lynching, bombings, and demeaning treatment from the white community and especially from the Clan. The September 15, 1963 racially motivated bombing of the Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which resulted in the deaths of four innocent black girls, was one of the darkest moments of the Civil Rights Movement and perhaps one of the darkest days in Birmingham, Alabama’s history. Betty Blackman was born and raised in Birmingham. Her life was engulfed by the racism and left her with dramatically scaring memories of Birmingham.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I grew up in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. I was born there December 11, 1947. Most of the memories I have of growing up there are the most painful memories that I have, which is strong racism and living in every day fright. I remember not being able to drink out of the cleaner water fountains around town; they were for the white people. The water fountains that were available to us were few, far between and very filthy. The black people were treated like dogs in Birmingham. I remember having to enter of the all stores and restaurants in town through the back entrances. One place I remember so vividly was a restaurant called Stadium Grill. We ordered food there every week while we were doing the wash across the street at the Laundromat. We enter in the back door into a very tiny poorly lit room. There were no tables or chairs for us to sit and eat there, it wasn’t allowed. There was only a small window to which we placed our orders and left. The front of the restaurant was large; it had tables with real cloth coverings and beautiful flowers sitting in the middle of the tables. I never once stepped foot inside the front of that restaurant. The way our communities were much different than they are now. Black people were not allowed to live among the white people. The white people lived in big lavish homes on the far east side of town and the blacks lived on the west side of town in small run down homes. There was, however, one subdivision that the wealthier black families lived. The name of it was the Goldwire Area and even now it never compares to the homes in which the poverty stricken families live now. The Dirty South :: essays research papers The Dirty South During the times of the Civil Rights Movement the black communities of Birmingham, Alabama suffered severely due to the notorious acts of racism geared towards them simply because they were black. They boldly endured beatings, lynching, bombings, and demeaning treatment from the white community and especially from the Clan. The September 15, 1963 racially motivated bombing of the Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which resulted in the deaths of four innocent black girls, was one of the darkest moments of the Civil Rights Movement and perhaps one of the darkest days in Birmingham, Alabama’s history. Betty Blackman was born and raised in Birmingham. Her life was engulfed by the racism and left her with dramatically scaring memories of Birmingham.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I grew up in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. I was born there December 11, 1947. Most of the memories I have of growing up there are the most painful memories that I have, which is strong racism and living in every day fright. I remember not being able to drink out of the cleaner water fountains around town; they were for the white people. The water fountains that were available to us were few, far between and very filthy. The black people were treated like dogs in Birmingham. I remember having to enter of the all stores and restaurants in town through the back entrances. One place I remember so vividly was a restaurant called Stadium Grill. We ordered food there every week while we were doing the wash across the street at the Laundromat. We enter in the back door into a very tiny poorly lit room. There were no tables or chairs for us to sit and eat there, it wasn’t allowed. There was only a small window to which we placed our orders and left. The front of the restaurant was large; it had tables with real cloth coverings and beautiful flowers sitting in the middle of the tables. I never once stepped foot inside the front of that restaurant. The way our communities were much different than they are now. Black people were not allowed to live among the white people. The white people lived in big lavish homes on the far east side of town and the blacks lived on the west side of town in small run down homes. There was, however, one subdivision that the wealthier black families lived. The name of it was the Goldwire Area and even now it never compares to the homes in which the poverty stricken families live now.

Penelope, the Odyssey

Penelope, Loyal Wife of Lord Odysseus While Penelope is not the principal character in Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus’ perception of her is optimal. The relationship between them is not based on loyalty, we, the audience, have the privilege to understand his genuine feelings towards her. Throughout Odysseus’ journey, Homer assures us that he loves Penelope regardless of the fact that he has his episodes of infidelity. Homer also insinuates that Odysseus, although maybe not immediately, acknowledges the sacrifices that she makes for him.He also elaborates that Penelope is dedicated to Odysseus by constantly reminding us of how she refuses to give up on her marriage and settle with one of the many suitors that plague her estate. Penelope proved herself to be a strong individual in The Odyssey. For years during Odysseus’ absence from his kingdom, unable to return home, there were men who contended against one another hoping that they would be able to take Odys seus’ place on his throne.However, Penelope continued to wait for her husband to come home regardless of how unlikely it was that Odysseus would reclaim his title of king, all while allowing the possible replacements to believe that they have a chance as Antinous describes to Odysseus and Penelope’s only son: â€Å"So high and mighty, Telemachus—such unbridled rage! Well now, fling your accusations at us? Think to pin the blame on us? You think again. It’s not the suitors here who deserve the blame, it’s your own dear mother, the matchless queen of cunning.Look here. For three years now, getting on to four, she’s played it fast and loose with all our hearts, building each man’s hopes– dangling promises, dropping hints to each– but all the while with something else in mind. (Book 2:90-100) This suggests that women of the society in Ancient Greece would be devoted and dependent on their husbands, but were also given optio ns to pave their own paths. If tragedy were to strike, women would be able to do what they wanted to, in terms of choosing a new husband.Throughout the epic poem, Penelope can be viewed as either active or passive—active, in the sense that she is content with being independent and not allowing the suitors to sway her mind towards choosing them, and passive, because she allows the same suitors to eat away at her possessions and also that she remains submissive as a loyal wife. However, the only constant that is guaranteed is that she does love and is loyal to Odysseus, as she reveals to a stranger, oblivious to the fact that it is her husband, in fact, in disguise: â€Å"No, no, stranger,† wise Penelope demurred, â€Å"whatever form and feature I Had, what praise I’d won, he deathless gods destroyed that day the Achaeans sailed away to Troy, my husband in their ships, Odysseus—if he could return to tend my life the renown I had would only grow in glory. N ow my life is torment . . . look at the griefs some god has loosed against me! All the nobles who rule the islands round about, Dulichion, Same, and wooded Zacynthus too, and all who lord it in sunny Ithaca itself– they court me against my will, they lay waste my house. So I pay no heed to strangers, suppliants at my door, not even heralds out on their public errands here– I yearn for Odysseus, always, my heart pines away. Book 19:138-51) It was also made clear to the suitors, even though they were being led on, that they understood that Penelope had no interest in substituting Odysseus, as explained by one of the murdered suitors: â€Å"Famous Atrides! † Amphimedon’s ghost called back. â€Å"Lord of men, Agamemnon, I remember it all, your majesty, as you say, and I will tell you, start to finish now, the story of our death, the brutal end contrived to take us off. We were courting the wife of Odysseus, gone so long. She neither spurned nor embraced a ma rriage she despised, no, she simply planned our death, our black doom!This was her latest masterpiece of guile: she set up a great loom in the royal halls and she began to wave, and the weaving finespun, the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until I can finish off this web . . . so my weaving won’t all fray and come to nothing. This is a shroud for old lord Laertes, for that day when the deadly fate that lays us out at last will take him down. I dread the shame my countrywomen would heap upon me, yes, if a man of such wealth should lie in state without a shroud for cover. Her very words, and despite our pride and passion we believed her. So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web– by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done. Three whole years she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme . . . (Book 24:130-57) While Penelope can be deemed mischievous by those whom she had deceived, the result was that she was truly faithful to her husband, despite the amount of time she had to wait for him and aside from his lack of fidelity towards her. Works Cited Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York, 1996

Educational psychology Essay

From 1834, the year of emancipation of slaves in Dominica and the other British West Indian colonies to 1845, the popular education that was existent was really religious education. The concept of a state system of education in the West Indies emerged in Britain in 1833 as part of the act to emancipate slaves in British custody. Prior to that, the masses of the people had practically no formal education. In Dominica, from 1834 onwards, the British subsidized primary education through grants but basically, education was imported and promoted mainly by missionaries. The content of education was divorced from the interests and needs of the masses and the community. Emphasis was on the classics and the arts. There is little doubt that the churches original interest in education was the creation of influential educated elite. In practice, their interests were denominational, especially seen in the establishment of secondary schools. Proposed educational policies depended greatly on the availability of funds, which were always insufficient. Therefore, changes and reforms were minimal. The newly elected legislative councils and their leaders gave little support. In reality, education, in practice was for a privileged minority. The populace remained virtually ignorant and illiterate. The pre-emancipation society was therefore not in any sense an educated one. Where slaves received any instruction at all it was of a religious nature provided by the church at long intervals. The authorities had no aims or standards; hence there was no system of formal education. It was against this background that the British Imperial Government incorporated an education grant in the 1833 Act of Emancipation to assist in the educational development of the Negroes. Establishing schools for the masses was provided for by the Act, which included grant money from the imperial government to provide education in the ex-slave colonies. This grant money is known as the Negro Education Grant. It was regarded as an urgent matter. The total grant amounted to a mere ? 30,000 per annum for five years for all the BWI of almost one million people. The decision to allocate the grant was executed through the local legislatures and the religious bodies. The grant was decreased each year and ended in 1845. The denominations were offered financial help to build schools, and later to assist in the payment of teachers’ salaries as the best means of developing a system of education. Dominica’s share of the Grant amounted only to ? 600 to be spent on 14,000 ex-slaves. This amount was very insignificant and was spent mainly by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPCK). After two years it became apparent that the desired and intended results were not forthcoming because of the many difficulties faced. Some churches were unable to accept more grants because they could not bear the recurrent expenditure on their schools. In August 1837, the grant was switched to pay one-third of teachers’ salaries instead. This was insufficient, and the societies did not expand their operations further. As the expected expansion did not materialise the imperial government was disappointed. Hence, the union of the imperial government, local legislatures and the churches could not fulfil the early ambition to create a viable education system. Thus, in 1841, the imperial government started to withdraw the fund. The Mico trustees who had done the most protested, but to no avail. In 1845 it came to an end, and so the burden fell on the West Indian legislatures and workers to increasingly support the education of their own children. In Dominica, the drive towards education for the masses was assisted by the local legislature, thus complimenting the work done by charities and the churches so that by July 1840, Dominica had 20 schools, 10 teachers, 1,086 pupils and total average attendance was 750. The British Imperial Government gave two main reasons for ending the NEG: 1. English workers were said to be worse-off than West-Indian workers 2. The Baptists were said to be prospering – although they had refused all aid Both claims were false. The churches lacked both money and resources. The British felt in the case of Dominica that the Catholic Church could not and would not provide appropriate education. They therefore supported alternatives to church schools. They decided to provide secular schools and to withdraw grants to the church schools. This was strongly opposed until a compromise was reached. The main success of the period of the NEG was the idea of popular education. The Provision of Secondary Education in Dominica: Providers and Gender Issues From the foregoing, one can appreciate the fact that the provision of education was a task that involved the participation of several providers or stakeholders: The British Imperial Authority, the Local Legislature or Assembly, the Church (especially the Catholics) and the Charities (especially the Mico Trust). Prior to emancipation, the provision of education was the responsibility of the churches and the charities. Education was very limited and very few benefited. In reality, what ever was taught was basically religious education. With the passage of the Act of Emancipation, an attempt was made to establish popular education. The NEG thus provided the needed funds for this purpose but eventually ended in failure. These funds were channelled through the bodies mentioned above, especially through the charities and the churches. By 1868 the main providers were mainly the state (the Local Legislature) and the church. It must not be forgotten that the vast majority of the population were Catholics and therefore co-operation and compromise between the two bodies were of paramount importance. By that date, the majority of primary schools belonged to the state i. e. 18 out of 33 (54%). This was unique, for no other West Indian society had such participation by the state in educational provision. In the case of secondary education, the provision was by the Church (Catholic). The first establishment for the provision of secondary education was the Convent High School (CHS) in 1858. This was exclusively for the children of the local elite. The children of the rural peasantry and the working classes were excluded. The state provided some funds for the school. But there were no secondary education provided for the masses. It is again unique to Dominica in that early period that post-primary education was being provided only to girls when this gender was marginalized in the rest of the W. I and in Britain itself. Even today, in 2000, over 65% of secondary school students are girls. The figures for the Clifton Dupigny Community College, University of Technology (Jamaica) and University of the West Indies are roughly the same. In the case of Dominica, male marginalisation has had a long history, contrary to popular opinion. Due to mounting pressure and clamour for secondary education for boys and the children of the masses, the state established the Dominica Grammar School (DGS) on the 16th of January 1893, with a registration list of 25 boys under the headmastership of one tutor, Mr. W. Skinner (M. A – a graduate from Catherine’s College, Cambridge, England). It was to be run as a government school, with the aim to provide higher education for boys. The building being used was a personal gift from Mr. Dawbiney, a respectable Jamaican who had settled in the island. The DGS remained a boy’s school until 1972. This occurred at a time when the number of girls selected by the Common Entrance Examinations far surpassed that of boys. The first DGS girls came from the CHS and the WHS. The total number of girls on the roll for that year totalled 34 out of a total of 560 students. Thus a reluctant but necessary era commenced in that year – the DGS becoming a co-educational institution under the headship of Mr. J. K. Gough (B. Sc; Dip. Ed. from Scotland). In that same year there were 14 Dominican staff members who were university graduates. Not to be outdone by the Catholics, the Wesleyan Society (Methodists) following the tradition of their rivals, opened the second high school for girls in the island, the Wesley High School (WHS) in October 1927. By that year, 80% of the students accessing secondary education were girls. This again was a unique situation second to none in the W. I. This further marginalized the boys given the restrictive and limited nature of access at the time. At this juncture, it is necessary to appreciate the great effort expended by the churches in the provision of secondary education in the island of Dominica, albeit for denominational reasons. In 1932, the Christian Brothers (Catholics) opened the second educational establishment providing secondary education for boys, the Saint Mary’s Academy (SMA). By that year educational provision was roughly equal for both genders with boys now having the slight edge, notwithstanding the fact that the girls were doing better in entrance and scholarship exams. There were insufficient spaces available. An entrance examination would soon be rigorously applied to ration out, select and match the number of students to the available supply of places. This state of inequitable affairs became unbearable as the girls were now being marginalized in favour of boys who were securing less ‘passes’ than girls in the exams. In other words, the selection was a function of available places. The two boys’ schools had more places than the two girls’ schools. Therefore, fewer girls were selected although their average scores were higher than that of boys who secured places. In the1972/1973 school year, the Labour government of Mr. Edward Oliver Leblanc took the bold step to make the DGS co-educational. This occurred at a time when the number of girls who had succeeded at the Common Entrance Examinations far surpassed that of boys. Since then, girls have kept on increasing the education gap or divide to the extent that in Dominica and the West Indies this problem of ‘male marginalisation’ and ‘male underachievement’ and the like, have now become so serious that it threatens the whole concept of male patriarchy. The year 1972 has been regarded as a milestone in Dominica’s educational history as far as secondary education is concerned. From that year all new secondary schools have opted to become co-educational with the exception of the Saint Martin’s Secondary School in 1988. Another important milestone in our educational history is the year 1971. For the first time, secondary educational provision moved out of Roseau with the establishment of the co-educational Portsmouth Secondary School (PSS). This greatly reduced the cost burden to parents in the northwest, north and northeast of the island, who, hitherto had to make tremendous sacrifices to provide education for their children in the capital, Roseau. By 1974, the Common Entrance Examinations as a selector of educational life chances was psychologically so devastating to pupils that those who were not selected felt that they were ‘rejects’ and ‘failures’ with no hope or future. It was against this backdrop that a group of concerned persons headed by Ms. Jean Finucane-James decided to provide a ‘second chance’ to those pupils that was not based on a selective exam. This co-educational school was named the Dominica Community High School (DCHS). Apart from the PSS, the early 1970s were characterised for having secondary education concentrated in the capital city of Roseau. The ‘70s was a period of political upheaval. In August 1979, Hurricane David struck and the island was devastated: 43 deaths, massive destruction of crops and the forest, wildlife was decimated, schools and the social and economic infrastructure was destroyed. The economy came to a standstill. Educationally, the students suffered greatly. A large number of students from the northeast could not attend the Roseau schools. In the aftermath of the hurricane, two schools were opened in the northeast: St. Andrew’s High School (SAHS) in 1979, located in Londonderry which is run and operated by the Methodists and in 1980, the Marigot Foundation High School (MFHS) headed by Mr. Martin Roberts, a former Methodist minister. The last named school was eventually renamed the Marigot Secondary School (MSS) when in 1999 it passed over to the state. These two schools are co-educational institutions. In this catchment area the Common Entrance Exams consistently selects more girls than boys. In the 1980s four schools were established. In 1981, the Seventh-Day Adventists began to provide secondary education. The Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School (SASS) is located in the Portsmouth suburb of Granvillia. It is a co-ed school. In that very same year the co-ed St. Joseph Campus of the DGS was opened which later became a separate entity as the St. Joseph Secondary School. In 1996 it was renamed the Isaiah Thomas Secondary School. In 1988, two government co-ed secondary schools were established from what were formerly Junior Secondary Programmes: the Goodwill Secondary School (GSS) and the Grand Bay Secondary School (GBSS). In that same year, the Catholic–run St. Martin’s School for girls upgraded its technical/vocational wing into a fully-fledged secondary school called the St. Martin’s Secondary School (SMSS). With the opening of these new schools and the continued use of the Common Entrance Exams the gender balance continue to be in favour of girls to the detriment of boys. In October 1994 the Nehemiah Christian Foundation headed by Mrs. Rhoda George opened the Nehemiah Comprehensive School with 60 boys and girls. The school is located in Jimmit, Mahaut. In the financial year 1995/96 the government entered into a loan agreement  with the World Bank to fund the Basic Education Reform Project (BERP). One of the three main objectives of the project was to expand access to secondary education. Under the project, this objective was fulfilled in the co-ed Castle Bruce Secondary School (CBSS) in 1998. TABLE I DOMINICA: Academic Secondary Schools, 2002/03 |School |Year Founded |Boys |Girls |Total |Status | |Convent High School | | | | | | | |1858 |0 |493 |493 |Assisted | |Dominica Grammar School |1893 |518 |281 |799 |State | |Wesley High School |1927 |0 |287 |287 |Assisted | |St. Mary’s Academy |1932 |420 |0 |420 |Assisted | |Portsmouth Secondary School |1971 |402 |435 |837 |State | |Dominica Community High School |1975 |79 |46 |125 |Assisted | |St. Andrew’s High School |1979 |233 |292 |525 |Assisted | |Marigot Secondary School |1980 |86 |59 |145 |Assisted | |Isaiah Thomas Secondary School |1981 |312 |393 |705 |State | |SDA Secondary School |1981 |108 |87 |195 |Private | |St. Martin’s Secondary School |1988 |0 |306 |306 |Assisted | |Goodwill Secondary School |1988 |380 |262 |642. |State | |Grand Bay Secondary School |1988 |334 |343 |677 |State | |Nehemiah Comprehensive School |1994 |64 |73 |137 |Assisted | |Castle Bruce Secondary School |1998 |266 |291 |557 |State | |Orion Academy |2003 | | | |Private | |Total | |3 202 |3 648 |6 850 | | Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs, 2002/03 The School Curriculum Several factors impinge on the development of the curriculum in Dominica: slavery, colonialism, politics, economics, religion, socio-cultural biases, parents, teachers and the learners themselves. In the pre-emancipation era the curriculum that existed was of a religious nature. The society was largely illiterate and ignorant. There existed no notion or idea of popular or mass education. With emancipation in 1834, the rudiments of a system of education began to take shape. The limited curriculum was non-scientific and bookishly academic based on rote and memory teaching and learning. By 1868, as the primary system took root the three r’s were taught namely reading, writing and arithmetic. The system that was taking shape was one that would provide labourers and servants and no more. At the secondary level, the curriculum catered for the children of the elite: Maths, Science, Geography, English, Greek, and Latin. The colonial powers and the local legislatures controlled the educational system. In other words, the ruling elites/classes decided who should be taught, what should be taught, when, how and where. The entire process from start to finish was decided for the learner. In 1899, Agriculture was being promoted as a subject to be taught so that the learner would become an agricultural labourer or worker on an estate or join the ranks of the impoverished peasantry. So agricultural schools were encouraged. In this way the islands would remain as sources of primary agricultural produce. When the British abolished the local legislatures and imposed direct crown colony rule the curriculum again was being used as a tool to keep the masses in their place. It limited them to learn the basics and agriculture. Attempts were made to improve education at the end of the First World War (1914-1918): salaries to teachers, payments by results and attempts at compulsory education. The West Indian Conference in Dominica in 1932 urged the region to struggle for compulsory education among other things. This failed. In 1957, the ministerial system was brought to Dominica with some exercise of authority by the house of assembly. But power still lied with the British parliament. Budgets could be passed, but had to be approved by Britain. In 1967, Dominica became an associate state with Gt. Britain. All internal matters were under local jurisdiction, but foreign affairs, trade and defence resided with Gt. Britain. Dominica could now influence and shape educational progress, but very little happened. The primary system continued to develop. The high schools became stagnant. The last one to be established was in 1936 (SMA). Thirty-seven years passed before the next one, the PSS was established. By 1978, the curriculum at the primary was now being driven by the Common Entrance Examinations to the detriment of all else. The same thing could be found at the secondary schools. The entire curriculum was driven by foreign external examinations. The foreign element was removed in 1985 when we switched from the Cambridge and London GCE ‘O’ Levels to the regionally based CXC examinations. But the GCE ‘A’ Levels still continue to dictate the curriculum at the post-secondary level. In 1998, CXC began to test pilot its own ‘A’ Levels known as CAPE, which will soon replace the English-based GCE ‘A’ Levels. The School Curriculum and Examinations The CXC and the GCE curriculum dictate the locus and focus of secondary education in Dominica. These exams cater for the 30-40% of the ability range of secondary students. The entire curriculum was driven by foreign external examinations. The foreign element was removed in 1985 when we switched from the Cambridge and London GCE ‘O’ Levels to the regionally based CXC examinations. But the GCE ‘A’ Levels still continue to dictate the curriculum at the post-secondary level. In 1998, CXC began to test pilot its own ‘A’ Levels known as CAPE, which will soon replace the English-based GCE ‘A’ Levels. The HSC, LSC and GCE dominated the curriculum of secondary schools since the 1880s. The failure rates were very high at both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels. It was also a drain on the scarce resources of the region. The minimum of 5 ‘O’ Level subjects were required to move into the sixth form and five subjects were needed of which 2 must be at ‘A’ Level for university entry. The Caribbean was influenced by educational and curriculum developments in North America and Europe, especially Britain. Revolutionary curricular changes in maths and science were being undertaken in the USA as a result of the Russian success in Sputnik I. In the U. K, the Nuffield Foundation invested heavily in a science development project. In 1969-70, the West Indian Science Curriculum Innovation Project (WISCIP) began at St. Augustine, UWI, and Trinidad. It was a new approach with emphasis on enquiry and experimentation, understanding and constructive thinking. This was introduced in the DGS and the other high schools of the time. During that same period ‘New Mathematics’ was introduced in the schools’ curriculum. All five of the secondary schools in Dominica adopted it. The Convent High School had their first ‘O’ Level candidates in 1971, and the DGS in 1972. Results in all Caribbean schools were not so good at first because of the unfamiliarity with the new approaches and topics such as inverses, identities, algebra of sets and matrices, decimalisation and metrification, vectors, inequalities and topology. At first most of the schools used the School Mathematics Project (SMP) books, but these were replaced by the Joint Schools Project (Caribbean edition) series, as part of the CEDO/UNESCO/UWI Caribbean Mathematics Project. The CXC was established in 1972 to serve the Commonwealth Caribbean. The process took over 10 years. The CXC was to replace the GCE exams. It would develop syllabi, conduct exams and issue certificates. This was a form of asserting cultural and intellectual independence from our colonial past and from Britain. Politically, the Caribbean has eschewed integration. There was the West Indian Federation as colonies of Britain (1958-1962). It ended in failure due to insularity, nationalism and dependency. With independence, the nations can dictate their educational goals and match these to national needs. In Dominica, we have not had a long history of educational reforms established in law. In 1949 an Education Act was passed to regulate and govern the sector. This was changed in 1997 when the new Education Act was passed. This was part of an attempt to harmonise education legislation in the Eastern Caribbean. In 1995 the Basic Education Reform Project was launched (BERP). The Project had three main objectives: 1. to strengthen the management and planning capacity of the Ministry, 2. to enhance the quality of education, and 3. to expand and conserve school places. Economically, we live in an interdependent world, a global village. We are partners bargaining from a position of weakness. Unequal terms of trade, onerous foreign debts, trade deficits and balance of payment problems deplete our resources so that our educational budgets are severely constrained. In general (1999 – 2004), Dominica spends about 17% of its recurrent budget on education, 1-2% on materials and supplies and about 80% on personal emoluments. New Curriculum Developments. Primary schools follow a curriculum, which has recently been reviewed by the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU). Schools have been provided with curriculum guides for English Language, Mathematics and General Science for Grades K to 6. Curriculum guides for Social Studies, Mathematics, Science and English Language were to become available in September 1999 for grades K to 6. A curriculum guide for Social Studies has been prepared for Form 1 at the secondary level. Workbooks for Grades k to 3 for English were to have been made available from September 1999. In addition a curriculum guide for Health and Family Life covering primary and secondary age ranges is being monitored and supported in schools. A draft national policy for this was presented to Cabinet in August 1998 but has not yet been officially approved. The CDU has planned to review Music, PE, Art and Craft, and Agriculture in 2001 as well as to start writing and production of support materials for pupils and teachers. The revised primary schools curriculum appears to be appropriate at the national level. The main problem appears to be in its delivery. The main need at the primary level for curriculum development is in relation to adapting the teacher’s guides for multigrade teaching and provision of differentiated activities for all subjects and all classrooms. Dominica does not have a National Curriculum and therefore, the curriculum de facto is determined by each school and in practice is closely related to the requirements of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) other external examinations and higher ability students. A balance needs to be struck between the academic and practical skills education in the secondary sector in any future national curriculum. The Ministry of Education has outlined the following process to arrive at the promulgation and implementation of the National Curriculum (NC): National Curriculum Committee (NCC) established in school year 1999/2000 NCC reviews existing curriculum: locally and regionally Under the NCC, Subject Teams and Subject Areas are established Development of Syllabi, and Curriculum Guides in Core Subject Areas Curriculum Training of Staff/Subject Team Members Resource Provision First Draft National Curriculum in Core Subject Areas Review of Draft Curriculum Development of Curricula in other subject areas. Establishment of National Norms and Standards for all subjects Piloting of National Curriculum in a cross-section of schools Promulgation of National Curriculum by Minister of Education Use by all schools of the National Curriculum as of September 2003 The Secondary Education Support Project (SESP) had been working with the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU) to write and pilot a revised curriculum for Forms 1 to 3 in the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, incorporating activities for average and below average ability pupils. Drafts of curriculum guides for Form 1 have been completed and were made available to schools in September 1999. All the guides for the four core subjects were made available in 2001. The CDU also has completed work in Music, Art, Craft, and Agriculture. However, the major curriculum need resides in the consideration of a curriculum which will meet the needs of all students – academic, technical/vocational, aesthetic, spiritual, moral and for citizenship and fulfill the ambitions set out in the 1997 Education Act. This would be especially so when Universal Secondary Education is achieved.