Brain Structure Essays - Hypothalamus, Limbic System,

Brain Structure The part of the body that motivates eating is the hypothalamus. The small gland is located in the midline at the base of the brain, just below the hypothalamus, and interacts closely with the pituitary gland and acts in coordination with the reticular formation. The two components of the hypothalamus dealing with hunger are the lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial nucleus. The lateral part is what allows a person to feel hungry and sends out signals to the rest of the body that one is ready to eat. If this part is damadged, one would not feel hunger and would experience aphasia, which is starving. The ventromedial nucleus gives satiety, or the feeling that one is full. This component is also necessary, because an injury here would produce hyperphasia, when the body does not know when to stop eating, and would surely become obese. Along with his theory of emotions, Schachter studied obesity and the reasons for the uncontrollable urges to binge by those who are overweight. His research reveals that much of the overeating is due to the reinforcements that the obese find in food. He mentions that while those with an appropriate weight are stimulated to eat when aroused by internal cues, obese look for other factors to reinforce their need to eat. For example: the smell of food, the way a platter is served, the colors and decorations on a plate, or even the contact comfort that the food produces in the hands or in the tongue. This euphoric way of eating might be satisfying during dinner time, but in the long run, it is extremely dangerous. By eating only what appeals to vision, smell, or texture, one does not satisfy the bodily needs for varied nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and therefore be mal-nutrinioed and be exposed to obesity and other illness as well. Anatomy and Physiology

Free Will Essays - Free Will, Determinism, Causality, Free Essays

Free Will Essays - Free Will, Determinism, Causality, Free Essays Free Will Do I have Free Will? After considering the evidence for the three views I have concluded that soft determinism is best supported. I will be arguing for soft determinism with evidence presented in the class readings. I will start out with the evidence of unconscious motivation. It is the unconscious that forces us to act out things we think are justifiable but can actually be hurtful. With the three factors of our unconscious state, the ID, super-ego and the unconscious ego, we tend to be in a tug-of-war with our mind over who has control. With the mind being in the unconscious state we tend to make compromises in our actions. With the unconscious working, we have the freedom of free will. Once the ID is in action it puts its demands in the table and wants satisfaction while the super-ego denies the wish. We need our unconscious to mediate between the two forces otherwise our mind would be in a constant battle. Another argument for the point would be of moral responsibility. According to Hospers we have none. We are conditioned from birth with qualities of our personality, social standing and attitudes. Most people are so set on their ways that unconsciously they block out rational thought and act on what they have been programmed to do. In the unconscious state we are just bystanders to our neurosis which is always in control and has already been unconsciously determined. If most of our acts are compelled then we have no means of true freedom. Now let us look at free acts versus unfree acts. First, we should have a definition of both: free acts are caused at that moment by internal states whereas unfree acts occur due to outside forces. A true Libertarian believes that there is no cause for anything, that everything happens as the self decides while a Determinist believes everything happens due to some outside force. The soft determinist has the right idea, that all acts are necessitated by previous causes. There are some free acts and there are some unfree acts. We need both of these forces to guide us through life. If we go through life without worrying about a single thing then I believe that this life has been wasted, that we have just been going through some routine only to get by and then move on to something better which has been determined for us somehow. We need free acts thrown into the mix so we have some reason for living. Right now I am acting out of free will in a way, I am writing this paper. You might say i t is an unfree act because it is an assignment but I can choose not to do it. My free act is that I want to learn more by exploring this subject so I can apply myself to better things. In soft determinism we also need some unfree acts. Just this past weekend after the snow storm I was pulling into the parking lot and pulled into the space, knowing very well that I buried my car in 8 inches of fresh snow. This event was caused by the huge amount of snow we got and that the lot wasn't plowed. Since it was not my choice to get my car stuck in the snow, this is an example of an unfee act. While most things are determined for us it is that little free agent that keeps us going. The evidence for Libertarianism is less persuasive than Determinism and Soft Determinism. First of all the argument for the inner standpoint is very unpersuasive. This is trying to show that determinism is false, which is entirely impossible. The argument is that you cannot look at things from an outer standpoint, that a determinist tries looking at it as through a different, or wrong, point of view and when they discover that it is not there then they their beliefs don't exist anymore. Also, that moral freedom is an inner act is hard to comprehend. It is said that the act must be one of which the person judged can be regarded as the sole author. He can be held morally responsible for

Bus 617-week 12 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bus 617-week 12 - Essay Example It varies from the day and individual. Cafeteria benefits allow the employee to choose benefits from array of menu benefits. First the employer must identify the benefits package. This will help to evaluate and monitor whether benefits objectives are meet in a set targets of goals. The benefits improve the employee morale, productivity and motivate the employee. The flexible benefits are synchronized with other social insurance programs that employee subscribes and the organization pays to maximize the benefits and reduce the risks of the employee. With updated communication on the benefits programs the employee confidence grows and organizations’ values are meet. The benefits choice highly influences the employee satisfaction toward the organization (Raymond A. Noe, 2011). Self managed teams incorporate a wide range of benefits. With team decision making capabilities, productivity is improved, there is a high interconnection between the employees and there can be negotiated flexible benefits depending on the job roles and responsibilities. Depending on the personal life different employees have different scope of priorities. Thus a health care plan may differ according to responsibilities and personal life. A 55 yrs. old man need a cover for himself, and the wife and the rest cover channeled to other retirement plans where as a 30yr old single mum needs a comprehensive cover for herself and children. All these scenarios can be negotiated on a team level and budgeted for with little input for he management. The team can decide on the flexibility of the job apply mode of flexibility depending on the work schedules and responsibilities of each employee. The compressed work schedules can be incorporated for the employees who are furthering their studies externally. The tele-commuting can be applied for the sales and marketing workers who’s productivity is measured via the sales targets and other factors and have a little to do in daily production of

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) - CAM Therapies Assignment - 2

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) - CAM Therapies - Assignment Example The authors of the article document the profiles of most likely candidates for complimentary alternative medicine (CAM). This paper uses the authors’ context to discuss the reasons why some people opt for CAM, the demographic that is most susceptible to CAM, and how the article has contributed to the study of CAM practices in terms of benefits and distractions of its modality. Individuals select complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) for three major reasons when compared to the traditional allopathic methods of healing. Primarily, individuals who do not go for checkups or attend conventional medical facilities for medical care develop a tendency to seek alternative medicine. For instance, the study depicts that about 19.3% of the population did not seek conventional medical care in a 12-month period. Another reason why some people prefer complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) to conventional medicine is that such individuals have more health problems. The study reveals that 14.7 million people with more health problems could not seek conventional care due to cost and non-cost factors. Perhaps such individuals think that contemporary alternative medicine is more convenient and affordable when compared to the conventional medicine. In as much as education and gender appeared to be the key predisposing factors, enabling factors such as insurance coverage and poverty status did not directly associate individuals to complimentary alternative medicine (CAM). Huge disparities exist in the demographics and profile of the individuals who are prone to complimentary alternative medicine. Approximately 19% of people who did not seek conventional care over the past one years of the study were highly likely to opt for complimentary alternative medicine (CAM). Of these, 38.4% had some health needs with others harboring acute cases. Primarily, 25% of the people who did not use conventional care sought complimentary alternative care. It implies that most of the

Comparison on Pietro Germi's film Divorce, Italian Style and Martin Essay

Comparison on Pietro Germi's film Divorce, Italian Style and Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas - Essay Example Clearly, their future, their past was something that was hidden in the dark corners of their minds (Liehm 56). Germi’s film Divorce; Italian style examines ideas like social customs through a shadowy comedy about a gentleman, Ferdinando. He attempts at thinking of reasonable and legal way in which he can get divorced from his wife. This reason behind all this thinking is because Ferdinando wants the freedom to marry his true purpose of craving, his 16 year-old cousin. In this mirror, we can clearly see that the Italian social life is extremely at odds with each other. The illegal divorce and the stigmatization of women in society clearly show that something is extremely at stake. In a lot of many ways, Ferdinando’s actions show the extreme levels of peculiarity the society can get to. Additionally, the manner in which Fernando gets annoyed his wife, just serve at great to show us the banalities of the two characters. What is quite unbelievable is that the society well accepts Fernando’s decision to murder his wife. This is like adding salt to injury. In any case, it high lights how callous the society can get (Liehm 96). Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas is wrought in sinister gangster activities. In terms of courses of texture, no film comes near it. In short, this means that it ahs shares a large monogyny in the sphere of rivalry, detail, and expansiveness. It covers widely the gangster life-style. In this film, the gangsters are mostly men, and such they have the slightest tinge of idea about of appropriate attitudes, the notion of masculinity, and certain inclinations. Some of the crucial aspects in this film and the predominately male gangster society include reputation, trustworthiness, and brazenness. Ideally, the idea of male masculinity is expressed in the manner in which the characters are concerned with the welfare of each other by

Cloud computing security

Cloud computing security Abstract The term Cloud computing becomes more popular day by day. As this is happening, security concerns start to arise. Maybe the most critical one is that as information is spread into the cloud, the owner starts to lose the control of it. In this paper we attempt to give a brief overview of what is described by the term Cloud computing and provide a small introduction to what we mean by Cloud computing security [Brunette, 2009]. Make a discussion of what are the security benefits that Cloud computing introduces and also the security risks that arise due to its adaptation according to [ENISA, 2009]. Index Terms Cloud, security, risks, security benefits. Introduction Cloud computing funds started to build in early 90s. The main idea behind cloud computing is to separate the infrastructure and the mechanisms that a system is composed of, from the applications and services that delivers [Brunette, 2009]. Clouds are designed in such a way that can scale easily, be always available and reduce the operational costs. That is achieved due to on demand multi-tenancy of applications, information and hardware resources (such as network infrastructure, storage resources and so on). According to [Mell, 2009] Cloud computing is composed by five Essential Characteristics, three Service Models and four Deployment Models as shown in figure bellow. More details on each of the above components can be found in [Mell, 2009] Security The way that security control is implemented on Cloud computing is most of the times similar to this of traditional IT environments. But due to the distributed nature of the assets security risks vary depending on the kind of assets in use, how and who manages those assets, what are the control mechanisms used and where those are located and finally who consumes those assets [Brunette, 2009]. Furthermore earlier we mentioned that multi-tenancy. This means that a set of policies should be implementing how isolation of resources, billing, segmentation and so on is achieved is a secure and concise way. In order to measure whether the security that a Cloud Provider (CP) offers is adequate we should take under consideration the maturity, effectiveness, and completeness of the risk-adjusted security controls that the CP implements. Security can be implement at one or more levels. Those levels that cover just the Cloud infrastructure are: physical security, network security, system security and application security. Additionally security can take place at a higher level, on people, duties and processes. It is necessary at this point to have understanding of the different security responsibilities that CPs and end users have. And also that sometimes even among different CPs the security responsibilities differ. Security Benefits [ENISA, 2009] in its report has spotted the following top security benefits that arise due to the use of Cloud computing. Security and the benefits of scale: when implementing security on a large system the cost for its implementation is shared on all resources and as a result the investment end up being more effective and cost saving. Security as a market differentiator: as confidentiality, integrity and resilience is a priority for many the end users, the decision on whether they will choose one CP over another is made based on the reputation this CP has on security issues. Hence competition among CPs made them provide high level services. Standardise interfaces for managed security services: as CPs use standardise interfaces to manage their security services the Cloud computing market benefits from the uniformity and tested solutions this introduces. Rapid, smart scaling of resources: Cloud computing is considered resilient since it has the ability to dynamically reallocate resources for filtering, traffic shaping, authentication, encryption. Audit and evidence gathering: since virtualization is used in order to achieve Cloud computing, it is easy to collect all the audits that we need in order to proceed with forensics analysis without causing a downtime during the gathering process. More timely, effective and effective updates and defaults: another thing that Cloud computing benefits from virtualization is that virtual machines (VM) can come pre-patched and hardened with the latest updates. Also in case of a configuration fault or a disaster caused by changes made on the VM, we can rollback to a previous stable state. Benefits of resource concentration: having all of your resources concentrated makes it cheaper to maintain and allows physical access on those easier. That outweighs most of the times the risk the disadvantages that this generates. Security Risks The following classes of cloud computing risks were identified by [ENISA, 2009]. Loss of governance: as users do not physically posses any resources, CPs can take control on a number of resources. If those resources are not covered from an SLA security risks arise. Lock-in: as we write this paper there is still no standardization on how to move data and resources among different CPs. That means in case a user decides to move from a CP to another or even to migrate those services in-house, might not be able to do so due to incompatibilities between those parties. This creates a dependency of the user to a particular CP.. Isolation failure: one of the disadvantages of multi-tenancy and shared resources occurs when the resource isolation mechanism fails to separate the resource among users. That can occur either due to an attack (guest-hopping attacks) or due to poor mechanism design. In present days attacks of this kind are pretty rare compared to the traditional Oss but for sure we cannot rely just on that fact. risk category covers the failure of mechanisms separating storage, memory, routing and even reputation between different tenants. Compliance risks: there is a possibility that investing on achieving certification is put under risk due to the following: The CP cannot provide evidence of their own compliance with the relevant requirements The CP does not permit audit by the cloud customer (CC). Also it is possible that compliance with industry standards is not able to be achieved when using public Cloud computing infrastructure. Management interface compromise: CPs provide to the users, management interface for their resources on public Cloud infrastructures. That makes those interfaces available over the internet allowing remote access applications or web browsers vulnerabilities to allow access on resources from unauthorised users. Data protection: CP is possible to handle data in ways that are not known (not lawful ways) to the user since the users looses the complete governance of the data. This problem becomes even more obvious when data are transferred often between locations. On the other hand, there are lot of CPs that provide information on how data are handled by them, while other CPs offer in addition certification summaries on their data processing and data security activities. Insecure or incomplete data deletion: there are various systems that upon request of a resource deletion will not completely wipe it out. Such is the case with Cloud computing as well. Furthermore difficulties to delete a resource on time might arise due to multi-tenancy or dues to the fact that many copies of this resource can exist for backup/ redundancy reasons. In cases like this the risk adds to the data protection of the user is obvious. Malicious insider: there is always that possibility that an insider intentionally causes damage. For that reason a policy specifying roles for each user should be available. The risks described above constitute the top security risks of cloud computing. [ENISA, 2009] further categorises risks into policy and organizational risks, technical risks, legal risks and finally not specific risks. Vulnerabilities The list of vulnerabilities that follows [ENISA, 2009], does not cover the entirety of possible Cloud computing vulnerabilities, it is though pretty detailed. AAA Vulnerabilities: Special care should be given on the authentication, authorization and accounting system that CPs will use. Poor designed AAA systems can result to unauthorized users to have access on resources, with unwanted results on both the CP (legal wise) and the user (loss of information). User provisiontion vulnerabilities: Customer cannot control provisioning process. Identity of customer is not adequately verified at registration. Delays in synchronisation between cloud system components (time wise and of profile content) happen. Multiple, unsynchronised copies of identity data are made. Credentials are vulnerable to interception and replay. User de-provisioning vulnerabilities: Due to time delays that might occur, credential of user that have earlier logged out might appear to still be valid. Remote access to management interface: Theoretically, this allows vulnerabilities in end-point machines to compromise the cloud infrastructure (single customer or CP) through, for example, weak authentication of responses and requests. Hypervisor Vulnerabilities: In virtualized environments Hypervisors is a small piece of middleware that is used in order to be able to control the physical resources assigned to each VM. Exploitation of the Hypervisors layer will result on exploiting every single VM on a physical system. Lack of resource isolation: Resource use by one customer can affect resource use by another customer. For example IaaS infrastructures use systems on which physical resources are shared among VMs and hence many different users.. Lack of reputational isolation: The resource sharing can result on one user acting in such a way that its actions have impact on the reputation of another user. Communication encryption vulnerabilities: while data move across the internet or among different location within the CP premises it is possible that someone will be reading the data when poor authentication, acceptance of self-signed certificates present and so on. Lack of or weak encryption of archives and data in transit: In conjunction with the above when failing to encrypt data in transit, data held in archives and databases, un-mounted virtual machine images, forensic images and data, sensitive logs and other data at rest those are at risk. Poor key management procedures: Cloud computing infrastructures require the management and storage of many different kinds of keys; examples include session keys to protect data in transit, file encryption keys, key pairs identifying cloud providers, key pairs identifying customers, authorisation tokens and revocation certificates. Because virtual machines do not have a fixed hardware infrastructure and cloud based content tends to be geographically distributed, it is more difficult to apply standard controls, such as hardware security module (HSM) storage, to keys on cloud infrastructures. Key generation: low entropy for random number generation: The combination of standard system images, virtualisation technologies and a lack of input devices means that systems have much less entropy than physical RNGs Lack of standard technologies and solutions: This is the case of lock-in risk, where users cannot move across different providers due to the lack of standards. No control on vulnerability assessment process: If CPs will not prevent their users from port scanning and testing for possible vulnerabilities and also there is no audit on the time of use (ToU) for a user (something that places responsibility on the customer) severe infrustrusture security problems will arise. Possibility that internal (Cloud) network probing will occur: Cloud customers can perform port scans and other tests on other customers within the internal network. Possibility that co-residence checks will be performed: Side-channel attacks exploiting a lack of resource isolation allow attackers to determine which resources are shared by which customers. Lack of forensics readiness: While the cloud has the potential to improve forensic readiness, many providers do not provide appropriate services and terms of use to enable this. For example, SaaS providers will typically not provide access to the IP logs of clients accessing content. IaaS providers may not provide forensic services such as recent VM and disk images. Sensitive media sanitization: Shared tenancy of physical storage resources means that sensitive data may leak because data destruction policies applicable at the end of a lifecycle may either be impossible to implement because, for example, media cannot be physically destroyed because a disk is still being used by another tenant or it cannot be located, or no procedure is in place. Synchronizing responsibilities or contractual obligations external to cloud: Cloud customers are often unaware of the responsibilities assigned to them within the terms of service. There is a tendency towards a misplaced attribution of responsibility for activities such as archive encryption to the cloud provider even when it is clearly stated in the terms of the contract between the two parties that no such responsibility has been undertaken. Cross cloud applications creating hidden dependency: Hidden dependencies exist in the services supply chain (intra- and extra-cloud dependencies) and the cloud provider architecture does not support continued operation from the cloud when the third parties involved, subcontractors or the customer company, have been separated from the service provider and vice versa. SLA clauses with conflicting promises to different stakeholders: An SLA might include terms that conflict one another, or conflict clauses made from other providers. SLA causes containing excessive business risk: From CPs perspective an SLA can hide a bunch of business risks when someone thinks of the possible technical failures that might arise. At the end user point SLAs can include terms that can be disadvantageous. Audit or certification not available to customers: The CP cannot provide any assurance to the customer via audit certification. Certification schemes not adapted to cloud infrastructures: CPs will not really take any actions to provide security measures that comply with Cloud computing security standards. Inadequate resource provisioning and investments in infrastructure: This vulnerability comes in hand with the one that follows. Provisioning of resources should be done carefully in order to avoid failures of the provided services. No policies for resource capping: CPs should make really well provisioning of their resources. Also end users should be able to configure the resources that are allocated to them. If the limits of requested resources exceed this of the available resources results can be unpredictable. Storage of data in multiple jurisdictions and lack of transparency: Multiple copies of users data can exist since mirroring of the data is performed in order to achieve redundancy. During that time the user should we aware of where are those data stored. Such a move can introduce unwanted vulnerabilities since CPs may violate regulations during this time. Lack of information jurisdictions: there might be a case where data are stored using high level of user rights. In that case end users should be aware of it in order to take preventing measures. Conclusion In this paper we tried to give a brief overview of cloud computing and discuss what security on Cloud computing means. Furthermore, we made it easy for the reader to understand what the benefits and risks of moving toward Cloud computing are. Vulnerabilities of Cloud computing are listed as those were described in [ENISA, 2009], allowing us to have a full view of what are the considerations that we should keep in mind when moving on Cloud computing. It is also well understood that exhaustive risk and security control is not recommended on all Cloud computing implementations. The level of control should always depend on prior evaluation. There are still lot of open research areas on improving Cloud computing security, some of those are; Forensics and evidence gathering mechanisms, resource isolation mechanisms and interoperability between cloud providers. References [ENISA, 2009] ENISA editors. (2009). Cloud Computing Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security. . [Accessed 25 March 2010] [Brunette, 2009] Glenn Brunette and Rich Mogull (2009). Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing, Version 2.1 [Accessed 25 March 2010] [Mell, 2009] Peter Mell and Tim Grance (2009). The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing, Version 15. [Accessed 26 March 2010]

Should Marriage Be Left To The States? Essay -- essays research papers

My short answer is "no", but let me explain. Before answering what I think the situation should be, it is helpful to look at what the situation is. Currently family law is a matter left to a great extent to the states. States have the power to decide who may marry, the legal process required to do so, and what the legal consequences of that marriage are within the state. In all these matters states differ from each other. The state is limited in its actions, though, to the requirement of its own constitution as well as the constitution of the United States. What those constitutions require is often a matter of great debate, but the ultimate judge is the state's highest court for matters pertaining to its own constitution, and the Supreme Court of the US for matters in the US Constitution. In either case the constitution can be amended by a process laid out therein. So, for example, the US has ruled that a state may not forbid interracial marriages, or forbid inmates from m arrying (except under compelling reasons). I am not aware of any argument claiming that the US Constitution currently forbids same-sex marriage, although there are arguments that it requires it either as matter of a fundamental right to marry, or as a matter of equal protection. It has been noted that the federal government has banned polygamy, but I don't believe this is quite true. The US Congress is ultimately responsible for the laws in DC and the territories. It thus banned polygamy in Utah when Utah was a territory. The Congress also the power to decide whether to admit a new state to the Union (both these powers are in Article IV, Sec. 3). Thus Congress refused to admit Utah to the union unless it's state constitution perpetually forbade polygamy. If Congres had thought it had the power to ban polygamy in the states, this would not have been necessary. There is also the issue of section 1 from the above Article IV which guarantee Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. (Section 2 could also lead to some issues, but as it has been interpreted these issues seem minor). Here is briefly my understanding of how the SCOTUS has interpreted that clause, based primarily on my reading from Andrew Koppelman's book (see left sidebar) which devotes all of chapter 5 to this subject. Fulll Faith and ... ...ough a process they decided upon. As I said, I'm not a big fan of the state as sovreign concept, but it's what we have right now. Unless we are going to abandon that concept, it is up to the state to deal with matters of how their own constitution should be interpreted. Other than prohibition (which many say in hindsight was a terrible idea) the only time we limit what a state can do within its own territory is when otherwise it would violate the right of an individual as a US citizen. In summary, if I could write the constitution as I saw fit, states wouldn't have rights and marriage policy would be set by the federal government. If we are going to leave marriage policy to the states, as the constitution currently does, I see no reason to carve out an exception for same-sex marriage. States already have the requirement to provide equal protection in all of their laws including marriage, and I believe this would require same-sex marriage. I have no problem with somebody pushing for an amendment to the constitution if they see a change as necessary. I would hope the amendment would be narrowly tailored, though, to address the specific problem or problems it is designed to address.

Final Exam Solutions (Leadership and Organizational Behavior) Essay

1. TCO A, B) Define organizational behavior and list the four emotional intelligence competencies that contribute to understanding ourselves and others within the organizational behavior environment. 2. (TCO D) Referring to the team decision-making process, define consensus and unanimity and explain the difference between the two. 3. (TCO E, F) Although conflict is usually considered a negative experience to be avoided, it actually has the potential to produce positive organizational outcomes. Please identify three ways in which conflict can be a positive influence. 4. (TCO G) There are six sources of position power in organizational settings. Identify and define three of these sources. 5. (TCO H, I, J) The senior executive team at AllGoodThings.com, after a strategy review session with the Board of Directors, has decided that it’s time to invest some time and capital in improving the corporate culture. The company has rebounded from a near calamity two years ago, and while it was a great scramble, the company survived and is in the strongest position ever. They knew that the culture had been strained by the episode and wanted sincerely to work to bring things back to â€Å"normal.† With the assistance of local HR offices, a case was made to the employee population that certain aspects of their current culture might have suffered over the past few years and that it was time to think about change. They announced that they would be undergoing an organizational culture review and that everyone’s opinion was valued. A whopping 79% of the employees participated in the survey that they administered. Senior management had worked with the consultants for a few months before the survey was given and had determined their â€Å"Ideal† scores. The survey confirmed their suspicions. 6. (TCO C) As a manager you are in a situation where a key employee seems to have lost his excitement about the job. The employee’s familiar positive tone and high energy approach to the job and the workplace seem to be on the wane. You really don’t know what is going on with this person. But, you can try to start to understand this employee by examining various motivation theories. Use elements from each of Maslow’s theory, Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory, and Equity theory and assemble your own motivation theory to help you to start understanding this employee. Be sure to fully explain and define all elements that you use in your new model of motivation. Finally, compose a short case to demonstrate how your motivation model can actually be applied. 7. (TCO G) The Michigan and Ohio State studies represent seminal research on leadership theory. Both studies identified two basic forms of leader behaviors. What were the similarities in the findings from these two studies and what was the significance of the research? 8. (TCO A, B) In order to meet organizational goals and objectives management must comprehend organizational behavior in relationship to the functions of management. List and describe the management process functions and describe how the five personality traits contribute to the management process. 9. (TCO E, F) Neff Incorporated is a small business with 100 employees and 4 managers. 10.(TCO D) Define the concept of social loafing. Why does social loafing occur? Give an example of social loafing and a suggestion for how to prevent it.

Gsm Specification & Air Interface

[pic] WHAT IS GSM GSM: GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications: originally from Groupe Special Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile telephone systems in the world. The GSM Association, its promoting industry trade organization of mobile phone carriers and manufacturers, estimates that 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM Specifications-I RF Spectrum GSM 900 1. Mobile to BTS (uplink): 890-915 MHz 2. BTS to Mobile (downlink):935-960 MHz 3. Bandwidth: 2* 25 MHz GSM 1800 1. Mobile to BTS (uplink): 1710-1785 MHz 2. BTS to Mobile (downlink) 1805-1880 MHz 3. Bandwidth: 2* 75 MHz GSM Specification-II 1. Carrier Separation : 200 KHz 2. Duplex Distance : 45 MHz 3. No. of RF carriers : 124 4. Access Method : TDMA/FDMA 5. Modulation Method: GMSK 6. Modulation data rate: 270. 833 Kbps ADVANTAGES OF GSM: 1. GSM uses radio frequencies efficiently & due to the digital radio path the system tolerates more intercellular disturbances. 2. The average quality of speech achieved is better than in existing analogue systems. 3. Data transmission is supported throughout the system. 4. Speech is encrypted & subscriber information security is guaranteed. . Due to the ISDN compatibility, new services are offered compared to analogue systems. 6. International roaming is technically possible within all the countries concerned. 7. The large market toughens the competition & lowers the prices both for investments & usages. GSM SPECIFICATIONS The main idea behind the GSM specifications is to define several open interfaces which then are limiting certain parts of the GSM system. Because of this interface, openness the operator maintaining the network may obtain different parts of the network from different GSM network suppliers. Also when an interface is open it defines strictly what is happening through the interface & this in turn strictly defines what kind of actions/procedures/functions should ne implemented between the interfaces. STRUCTURE OF GSM: [pic] GSM Specifications: Before looking at the GSM specifications, it is important to understand the following basic terms: * Bandwidth —the range of a channel's limits; the broader the bandwidth, the faster data can be sent * Bits per second (bps) —a single on-off pulse of data; eight bits are equivalent to one byte * Frequency —the number of cycles per unit of time; frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) Kilo (k) —kilo is the designation for 1,000; the abbreviation kbps represents 1,000 bits per second * Megahertz (MHz) —1,000,000 hertz (cycles per second) * Milliseconds (ms) —one-thousandth of a second * Watt (W) —a measure of power of a transmitter Specifications for different personal communication services (PCS) systems vary among the different PCS networks. Listed below is a description of the specifications and characteristics for GSM. * Frequency band — the frequency range specified for GSM is 1,850 to 1,990 MHz (mobile station to base station). * Duplex distance —The duplex distance is 80 MHz. Duplex distance is the distance between the uplink and downlink frequencies. A channel has two frequencies, 80 MHz apart. * Channel separation —The separation between adjacent carrier frequencies. In GSM, this is 200 kHz. * Modulation —Modulation is the process of sending a signal by changing the characteristics of a carrier frequency. This is done in GSM via Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK). * Transmission rate —GSM is a digital system with an over-the-air bit rate of 270 kbps. * Access method —GSM utilizes the time division multiple access (TDMA) concept. TDMA is a technique in which several different calls may share the same carrier. Each call is assigned a particular time slot. * Speech coder —GSM uses linear predictive coding (LPC). The purpose of LPC is to reduce the bit rate. The LPC provides parameters for a filter that mimics the vocal tract. The signal passes through this filter, leaving behind a residual signal. Speech is encoded at 13 kbps. GSM Subscriber Services There are two basic types of services offered through GSM: telephony (also referred to as tele services) and data (also referred to as bearer services). Telephony services are mainly voice services that provide subscribers with the complete capability (including necessary terminal equipment) to communicate with other subscribers. Data services provide the capacity necessary to transmit appropriate data signals between two access points creating an interface to the network. In addition to normal telephony and emergency calling, the following subscriber services are supported by GSM: * Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) —DTMF is a tone signaling scheme often used for various control purposes via the telephone network, such as remote control of an answering machine. GSM supports full-originating DTMF. * Facsimile group III —GSM supports CCITT Group 3 facsimile. As standard fax machines are designed to be connected to a telephone using analog signals, a special fax converter connected to the exchange is used in the GSM system. This enables a GSM–connected fax to communicate with any analog fax in the network. * Short message services —A convenient facility of the GSM network is the short message service. A message consisting of a maximum of 160 alphanumeric characters can be sent to or from a mobile station. This service can be viewed as an advanced form of alphanumeric paging with a number of advantages. If the subscriber's mobile unit is powered off or has left the coverage area, the message is stored and offered back to the subscriber when the mobile is powered on or has reentered the coverage area of the network. This function ensures that the message will be received. * Cell broadcast —A variation of the short message service is the cell broadcast facility. A message of a maximum of 93 characters can be broadcast to all mobile subscribers in a certain geographic area. Typical applications include traffic congestion warnings and reports on accidents. * Voice mail —This service is actually an answering machine within the network, which is controlled by the subscriber. Calls can be forwarded to the subscriber's voice-mail box and the subscriber checks for messages via a personal security code. * Fax mail —With this service, the subscriber can receive fax messages at any fax machine. The messages are stored in a service center from which they can be retrieved by the subscriber via a personal security code to the desired fax number. Supplementary Services GSM supports a comprehensive set of supplementary services that can complement and support both telephony and data services. Supplementary services are defined by GSM and are characterized as revenue-generating features. A partial listing of supplementary services follows. * Call forwarding —This service gives the subscriber the ability to forward incoming calls to another number if the called mobile unit is not reachable, if it is busy, if there is no reply, or if call forwarding is allowed unconditionally. Barring of outgoing calls —This service makes it possible for a mobile subscriber to prevent all outgoing calls. * Barring of incoming calls —This function allows the subscriber to prevent incoming calls. The following two conditions for incoming call barring exist: baring of all incoming calls and barring of incoming calls when roaming outside the home PLMN. * Advice of charge (AOC) —The AOC service provides the mobile subscribe r with an estimate of the call charges. There are two types of AOC information: one that provides the subscriber with an estimate of the bill and one that can be used for immediate charging purposes. AOC for data calls is provided on the basis of time measurements. * Call hold —This service enables the subscriber to interrupt an ongoing call and then subsequently reestablish the call. The call hold service is only applicable to normal telephony. * Call waiting —This service enables the mobile subscriber to be notified of an incoming call during a conversation. The subscriber can answer, reject, or ignore the incoming call. Call waiting is applicable to all GSM telecommunications services using a circuit-switched connection. Multiparty service —The multiparty service enables a mobile subscriber to establish a multiparty conversation—that is, a simultaneous conversation between three and six subscribers. This service is only applicable to normal telephony. * Calling line identification presentation/restriction —These services supply the called party with the integrated services digital network (ISDN) number of the calling party. The restriction se rvice enables the calling party to restrict the presentation. The restriction overrides the presentation. * Closed user groups (CUGs) —CUGs are generally comparable to a PBX. They are a group of subscribers who are capable of only calling themselves and certain numbers. AIR INTERFACE In cellular telephone communications, the air interface is the radio-frequency portion of the circuit between the cellular phone set or wireless modem (usually portable or mobile) and the active base station. As a subscriber moves from one cell to another in the system, the active base station changes periodically. Each changeover is known as a handoff. A cellular connection is only as good as its weakest link, which is almost always the air interface. Radio-frequency (RF) circuits are subject to many variables that affect signal quality. Factors that can cause problems include: * Use of the handheld phone set or portable wireless modem inside buildings, cars, buses, trucks, or trains * Proximity to human-made, steel-frame obstructions, especially large buildings and freeway overpasses * Abundance of utility wires that can reflect radio signals and/or generate noise that interferes with reception * Irregular terrain, particularly canyons and ravines * Inadequate transmitter power in phone set or wireless modem Poorly designed antenna in phone set or wireless modem In addition to these variables, some cellular networks have inadequate coverage in certain geographic areas. Usually this is because there are not enough base stations to ensure continuous communications for subscribers using portable (handheld) phone sets. As a network evolves, more base stations may be installed in a given region, and in that case, this problem will dim inish with time. Conversion of a network from analog to digital can result in dramatic improvement.

Professional Certification and Your Career

Professional Certification and Your Career Professional certification is a process by which a person develops the knowledge, experience, and skills to perform a specific job. Once the individual completes a course of study, he or she receives a certificate earned by passing an exam that is accredited by an organization or association that monitors and upholds prescribed standards for the particular industry involved. The National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) is a leader in setting quality standards for credentialing organizations. A wide variety of industries and careers offer professional certification, from highly technical jobs and human services of all kinds to jobs in the arts, including ballroom dancing. In each case, the certificate assures employers, customers, students, and the public that the certificate holder is competent and professional. In some professions, certification is a requirement for employment or practice. Doctors, teachers, Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), and pilots are examples. What’s in It for You? Professional certification shows employers and clients that you are committed to your profession and are well-trained. It gives them confidence in your abilities  because it proves that your skills have been evaluated and approved by a well-regarded professional organization. Certification makes you more valuable to employers and so you can expect to: Enjoy better employment and advancement opportunitiesHave a competitive advantage over candidates without certificatesEarn higher wagesReceive tuition reimbursement for continuing education A Sampling of Careers Requiring Certification Many of the careers that require certification are represented here at About.com. Below is a list of articles on various types of certifications. In the end, there is also a link to the list of NOCA member organizations that require certificates. It offers an interesting glance at the various types of industries from which to choose if you’re uncertain about which certificate you want. Certified Meeting ProfessionalCoast Guard Captain’s LicenseCulinary Arts CertificatesDatabase CertificationsDesktop Publishing CertificationESL CertificationGraphic DesignInterior DecoratingLandscaping Certificate ProgramsLogistics and Supply Chain ManagementParalegal certificatesProfessional CounselingProfessional Massage TherapyProfessional Studies Certificate in OperaReal estateRetail CertificationSpecialist Certificate for Sign Language InterpretersTechnology Certification GlossaryHighest paying jobs in the technology industry NOCA’s list of member organizations State Certification Requirements Many of the professions that require or offer certification are governed by the state in which the certificate holder practices. Your school or association will help you understand these requirements, but you can also find them at each state’s government website. Search for: state.your two-letter state code here.us/. Example: state.ny.us/. On the home page for your state, search for certifications. Choosing the Best School There are almost as many requirements for earning a certificate as there are fields requiring them, so how you go about becoming certified has everything to do with what kind of certificate you want and what you want to do with it. First, know the differences between all the different types of schools so you can choose the right school for you. Begin your search by visiting the websites of the associations and organizations that govern or accredit the schools in the field you have chosen. On the Internet, search for the name of your field and associations, organizations, and schools: Search: nursing associations results in the American Nurses AssociationSearch: pilot associations results in the Aircraft Owners and Pilots AssociationSearch: CPA organizations results in the American Institute of Certified Public AccountantsSearch: project management schools results in both directories like the Trade Schools Directory and specific schools such as the Project Management Institute at Capella University Online Schools If you think an online school would work best for you because of the flexibility it provides, read up on online certificates before you choose a school. Financial Aid Paying for school is a concern for many students. Loans, grants, and scholarships are available. Do your homework before going to school: Paying for Business SchoolFAFSASallie Maes Scholarship Search Continuing Education Most professional certifications require that certificate holders complete a certain number of hours of continuing education annually or bi-annually in order to remain current. The number of hours varies by state and field. Notices are generally sent out by the governing state and/or association, as is literature advertising continuing education opportunities, conferences, and conventions. Make the Most of Continuing Education Conferences Many professional associations gather their members yearly in the form of conferences, conventions, and/or trade shows to provide continuing education seminars, to discuss the state of the profession and new best practices, and to showcase the latest products and services. Networking at these gatherings can be extremely valuable to professionals.

Merriwell Bag Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Merriwell Bag Company - Case Study Example Furthermore, demand forecasting helps in constructing the pricing decisions as well as estimating the investment requirements for the future use (Lapide, 2006). From the demand forcast, it can be noted that the demand for the bags are maximum in the market in the pick season. It shows that Merriwell Bag Company’s bag demands depend largely upon its seasonality. However, it can also be observed that the demand for the bag declines steeply in the market during the off-season. Even though, from an overall perspective a growing trend can be witnessed in the demand forecasted. To certain extent the accuracy of forecasting can be improved through selecting separate forecasting groups with proper management control system. The primary objective of forecasting group is to make plans in order to collect appropriate information related to demand. The members of the forecasting group should be well trained in this regards. Members of the group should use both the qualitative and quantitative method in forecasting to gain more accurate information along with development of new measures for improving forecasting in future. After every session the group member should measure the processed method and re-analyze the data collected to minimize errors (Moon, Mentzer, Smith, & Garver, 1998). The forecasting method used by Ed Merriwell in the prior years was based upon his ‘feel’ which has been recently observed as ineffective in terms of accuracy. According to the quantitative method used, the sales of the organization are likely to increase during the entire year of 2008, especially in the season time. However, in establishing the new sales forecast, Ed Merriwell’s ‘feel’ is quite likely to have a negative impact on the operational process owing to the changes in the personnel associated with the customer purchasing departments along with the rapid increase in the short-shipped accounts. It is worth mentioning in this regard that quantitative method

Journal critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journal critique - Essay Example And this study was carried out to understand the factors that affect the international students so that in the future, programs can be designed so as to make their stay comfortable, easy and enjoyable rather than a stressful experience. Although the study started with a good intention, while reading the article, it becomes evident that the research was not well planned and many things were missed out. First of all, depression and anxiety are two different things. ‘Depression’ can be defined as a condition of emotional dejection and sadness which can go on for weeks, months and also for years ( Depression â€Å"n.d.†). While ‘anxiety’ is a mental ‘state’ or a feeling of apprehension characterized by stress ( Anxiety â€Å"n.d.†). The major difference is that depression can be for months together while anxiety is temporary state of mind which occurs in response to certain event in life . The study of the depression and anxiety should be carried out separately and not together. While answering the questions, the participants might not be able to clearly point out if what they are feeling is a something temporary or permanent in nature. The second most important thing about the study is the method that was used to conduct the study. The article says that the e-mail of request to participate in a study was sent to 3000 students and only 440 actually participated. This narrowed down the scope of the study and so, some of the conclusions could not be considered permanent. For e.g. It was found that the students from Latino ethnicity had higher level of depression than the students from Asian ethnicity. However, as the sample which was studied had very small number of