Monday, September 30, 2019

How Can Basketball Affect the Growth of a Child? Essay

Basketball: my dreams, my life, my passion. Of course I had interest in several other sports (baseball and soccer being the two larger ones), but none held my interest the way basketball did. Even when I was just a young boy, the game of basketball fascinated me and, ultimately, captured my heart. Growing up, I didn’t understand how much the game could have affected my life. Now, I want to coach to share my knowledge and love of basketball to positively affect other people’s lives. One might ask what does basketball actually do that could or would change someone’s life? Well, for starters, the game forces you to exercise. In order to play basketball, you’re going to have to actually get up off the couch! But, in reality, the physical improvement is just an added bonus. The real value is in what you LEARN! One learns how to work with other people as a unit in order to accomplish a common goal: to win. That is, in itself, the definition of teamwork. Being able to communicate with other people is a necessity in the world. It’s how you make friendships, how you get things accomplished, and how to get people to understand what you’re talking about. Without good communication skills (something that you can learn with basketball), it becomes very difficult to be successful. Alas, the list truly is endless to what basketball can teach (the value of hard work, communication, and teamwork just to name a few of such perks), and I want to be the one to teach it. Having a grand passion for the game myself, I strongly believe that I will be able to change at least one child’s life. And if I could get at least one child to learn these things, I know that it would have been worth it.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

After Apple-picking by Robert Frost Essay

The â€Å"apple†: In this poem, Robert Frost uses the symbol of picking apples to represent the speaker’s hard work and decisions throughout his life. In the Bible, the apple symbolizes knowledge; this analogy reinforces the knowledge gained from the speaker’s life experiences. â€Å"My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree/Toward heaven still† emphasizes that the act of picking apples can be interpreted as something related to religion. In the book of Genesis in the Bible, Eve was tempted by a snake to eat the forbidden fruit of the apple because the snake convinced her that eating it would make her more knowledgeable than God. This story can be related to the poem because when Eve eats the apple, she can go up the â€Å"ladder to heaven† because she is â€Å"omniscient† enough to do so. A freshly picked apple could also symbolize opportunities in one’s life. In the poem, the speaker does not successfully pick all the apples, this shows that there were a lot of opportunities in his life that he never accomplished. â€Å"Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough/But I am done with apple-picking now† show that the speaker is quick to give up on the opportunities he was offered during his life. The imagery of the thousands of apples that struck the earth and became bruised also means that the speaker has wasted a lot of opportunities in his life. â€Å"Winter† Frost also uses â€Å"winter† to symbolize a long resting period or death. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker contemplates whether death is merely the state of hibernation, meaning that there is life after death or just â€Å"human sleep† where the speaker is able to wake up the next day only to find that he has to continue living his old life. In line 12: â€Å"And held against the world of hoary grass†; the word â€Å"hoary† means frosty, the poet has chosen this specific word in order to show the speaker’s pessimistic view about the world and reiterate the speaker’s contemplations about death. > Structure: The poem is not structured into any stanzas because the whole poem is one stanza. It contains forty-two lines but only fourteen sentences. If the sentences were highlighted, it would look like the steps of the ladder mentioned in the second line of the poem. These â€Å"steps† emphasize the speaker’s longing to die in order to go to heaven. The poem has multifarious end-rhymes, but it doesn’t have a regular pattern. â€Å"I was well/Upon my way to sleep before it fell/And I could tell† is an example of some end-rhymes that allows readers to vicariously imagine an image where the speaker is drowsing off with his head slowly going down and up again. The rhyme words â€Å"well†, â€Å"fell†, and â€Å"tell† emphasizes deep sleep. There were also some assonance present in the poem: â€Å"Stem end and blossom end,† and â€Å"Magnified apples appear and reappear†. These assonances were also used to provide readers with a drowsy feeling. The number of syllables of each line of the poem varies from two to eleven syllables. The longer lines of the poem add to the sleepy mood of the poem but the short and abrupt lines create a sense of hesitation and the sudden awake of the speaker from his sleep. For example: â€Å"Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall† shows the speaker’s dreaming state of mind while â€Å"For all† emphasizes a sudden alarm for the speaker. > Tone: The overall tone of the poem is pessimistic because the speaker is upset with his failures in life and is just passively waiting for his ‘long sleep’ or death. This can be seen when the speaker was picking apples and gives up when he was unable to successfully pick all the apples. â€Å"Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now† shows that the speaker gives up his opportunities in life so easily by simply saying he’s done with â€Å"apple-picking†. Towards the end of the poem, he sarcastically says: â€Å"Long sleep, as I describe its coming on/Or just some human sleep†. By adding â€Å"or just some† in front of â€Å"human sleep†, the speaker hints to the reader that he is sick and tired of having to wake up from his sleep to find that he has to run the same old, monotonous life that has no meaning. The speaker wants to be like the woodchuck that is able to hibernate during winter and is able to start a new life after it wakes up from hibernation. The speaker wants to have a new life and not the current one he’s leading. > Repetition: The word sleep is repeated six times in the poem, to strengthen and reiterate the speaker’s feelings of drowsiness. The word â€Å"sleep† gives the strongest effect at lines 35-40. There is a rhyme between the word â€Å"Heap† in line 35 and the word â€Å"sleep† in line 38†³. Another â€Å"Sleep† is repeated in the same line: â€Å"This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.† The last the lines of the poem: â€Å"Long sleep, as I describe its coming on/Or just some human sleep† nicely ends the poem with a sleepy tone. This ambiguous line leaves readers uncertain whether the speaker is indeed just having some â€Å"human sleep† or has already entered his â€Å"long sleep†. â€Å"Long sleep† as mentioned above, was an euphemism for death. Frost juxtaposed the words â€Å"long sleep† and â€Å"human sleep† in order to contrast the fact that â€Å"long sleep† implies ‘life after death’ and â€Å"human sleep† implies ‘boring and old life†. The speaker is being a little sarcastic because he doesn’t even care whether he is going to die or not. He says he might go for a â€Å"long sleep† or just a normal â€Å"human sleep†. The poet raises a question to readers about whether humans know what happens after they die. Humans cannot know what comes after death; it is only through their faith in a religion that can give them a sense of where they are going after death.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

PASS Lifestyle, Leisure and Recreation Essay

Introduction: The recreation and leisure activities present in our world today are differ from what generations 100 years ago participated in. Our physical environment is changing continuously under the effect of natural, cultural and economic systems which influence people’s lifestyles. As lifestyles change, peoples’ way of spending their leisure time, and leisure activity preferences, also change. Urban open public spaces such as parks seem to lose their popularity as shopping malls have become the new leisure centres due to the increasing need â€Å"to consume† of today’s societies. Our age has the accessibility of information and convenience of abundant transport to take us the venues that we can enjoy ourselves, or free ourselves from the issues of our daily life. Information of available activities that we know today, mainly come from sources such as the internet and the television or media. Media has shaped the many lifestyles of today, via their advertising of activities and appliances. By shifting our lifestyle, some of our interests in recreation and leisure have changed over the ages. Activities that existed 100 years ago but not today: Stickball. Stickball was a street game that is immensely related to baseball which adapts to the environment it was played in. The activity only required a rubber ball and a stick of any form. This activity has gradually died out, as people started to earn more money to afford playing other sports that involved swinging at a ball. The media also helped advertise America’s Major League Baseball, which put peoples’ interest into a more popular activity. Some people believe that this activity did not actually die out as it was the origin of all bat-and-ball sports that exist today. Playing Cards and Dominoes Since people living in the early 1900s, mainly middle-aged men, gathered together at bars after their day’s work, they took attraction to group activities. Their main activities were card games which involved betting small amounts of money or a glass of beer. In their houses, Dominoes was a common family game which appealed to all age groups. In today’s lifestyle, not all people have the luxury of time to participate in these activities or have lost interest due to the introduction of personal technological devices. These devices include the popularised iPod and computers, in which people can ‘surf’ the internet to find out many leisure and recreational activities which suit their lifestyle. Activities that exist now but not 100 years ago: Shopping The availability of shopping centres has increased rapidly in the past 10 years, as the world’s economy grew, and the average earning of families increased. The shopping for recreation and leisure of today mainly refers to excessive buying of ‘wanted’ materials for interest of the buyer. This modern activity is common among females, usually in groups. It fits into the lifestyles of women who do not work on weekends, and consumes much of the day, thus the inclusion of food courts in shopping centres. 100 years ago, shopping was not popularised as income of an average household was lower, and many women had to stay home to attend to the housework. The availability of shopping centres and transport to shopping centre venues was limited during that time. Most of the time, shopping was a chore rather than a leisure activity because it involved buying needs for the family, such as food and learning materials. Extreme Sports With increased knowledge and equipment to ensure safety, extreme sports are quite popular in modern society. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and they can help isolate thoughts of current issues, help set new goals, and improve physical fitness. Some extreme sports which are available near suburban areas are: mountain bike riding, indoor or outdoor rock-climbing, body boarding and canoeing. In the 1900s, people were not aware of these activities due to the inconvenience of less media sources. Among teenagers and young adults, free running is particularly popular in city areas which have a variety of artificial environments. This activity did not exist 100 years ago because it originated from later popular movements like graffiti and internet groups. Dining Out The modern society values the bonding of couples more than the world 100 years ago. A common activity amongst couples is dining out, to create an atmosphere of romanticism. By observing the growing population, the variety of employed jobs is also growing. The food industry is one of the largest in the world, and has led to the creation of restaurants of different cuisines. Since the countries of the world are becoming more multicultural, people want to break away from eating their traditional foods. Dining out provides a solution to changing tastes, and may sometimes aid in saving time as cooking at home may take several hours when attempting to provide fine food. Activities which existed 100 years ago and still exist now: Soccer 100 years ago, soccer teams received growing groups of supporting members and fans that popularise the sport. The soccer associations of today have provided many opportunities for sport betting, employment and sponsorship to advertise brands or companies. In many schools of the 1900s and today, grassed areas were easily converted to soccer fields so that students could play this sport during or after school time. Older age groups can join soccer clinics and clubs where they can play for enjoyment at learning levels to competitive levels. Watching soccer matches is also considered a recreational and leisure activity among fan groups which follow the current soccer. Film Going out to watch movies was a leisure and recreational activity that was present 100 years ago and now. This activity is popular as many films relate to the current world affairs. This activity would not have survived if not for the extremely low pricing of cinema tickets in the 1900s. The price of tickets has inflated in our era, but this is acceptable as our average income has increased. Conclusion: From the research I have accumulated in recreational and leisure activities of 100 years ago and today, I have found out that a major factor of the changing pursuits has been the shifting of daily lifestyles. The trends originating from media has shaped the many lifestyles of our world today, which has in turn changed our interests. Another factor of our leisure and recreational pursuits is the availability of information and transport we have today that lets us do what we want. However, the popularity of early activities has declined as our society has further developed these activities, while the appeal of the activities has been surpassed by our modern trends and movements.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Body Image and Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Body Image and Identity - Essay Example This makes quality interpersonal communication untenable and thus hinders the overall development of the personality. Another important issue that factors in good interpersonal communication is self awareness, which is, how well the person knows their own self. The statement that she makes about herself, "If only I weren't so fat, I could find clothes to fit me like normal people do", shows how she considers herself abnormal. Her experiences as an overweight child and the messages that she has received from the society have affected her temperament and have made her a shy person further deterring her from building good interpersonal skills. Reece seems to also have a hidden fear of facing and expressing her feelings, this fear makes her to shut out her friends during the 'fat days' when she is striving to attain her perceived ideal looks. Instead of making conversation she says "Leave me alone" and leaves the table leaving her friends behind. This prevents her from accepting professional advice or even encouragement and comfort from her friends. In order to improve her interpersonal communication, Reece should focus on her self-concept. By developing a positive self concept her communication will also improve. According to William Schutz, communication fulfills the three basic needs of inclusion, control and affection. By being aware of her needs, Reece can open up to her friends instead of shutting them out and thus open a channel of communication, which can lead to better self awareness and correct her skewed body image. This will also take care of the hidden issue of facing her feelings and her fear of expression. Reece sends negative messages to herself at every turn which further strengthens her unhealthy self-concept. When she looks in the mirror, her mind throws a message at her saying "you are fat, fat, fat". These messages contain ideas about her perceived unattractiveness and a discriminating society. These messages are probably the echo of her previous experiences and thoughts that were passed on to her through media and influential people in her life. Reece can make a conscious effort to send positive images to herself. This exercise will aid the unlearning of ideas she has already woven into her personality and make it easier to transform her body image and identity, and thus improve her communication. In order to do this she should also consciously isolate distorted feedback that the other person sends during conversations. By doing so Reece can prevent further damage to her body image. This means that she should be aware of the responses from people and be able to determine which o nes will influence her and which ones she should ignore while trying to understand in which way she has stimulated that kind of response. Both verbal and non verbal communication plays a role in how others respond to us. It is important to consider posture, gestures and facial expressions while evaluating responses. Effective solution to interpersonal communication involves two persons. There are two major concerns in interpersonal communication, self awareness, which we already discussed, and knowledge of the other person we are communicating with. When there is a higher degree of uncertainty about the responses to be expected from the other person the communication is not open and there is very little self disclosure. This leads the person to become

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Business Issues and the Context of Human Resources Assignment

Business Issues and the Context of Human Resources - Assignment Example In the year 2007, Vodafone Group achieved the permission or license of mobile phone within the region of Qatar. It is recognized with the name, Vodafone Qatar, which is situated in Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). However, within a very small time frame, it become successful in positioning itself as one of the reliable and admirable brand in the region of Qatar among other rival players. It is mainly due to its aim to offer distinctive services to its customers so as to create a different image in the market. This strategy proved effective for the organization that enhanced almost 32.3 percent of the total market share and brand value of Qatar among many other contenders such as Qtel. Furthermore, the range of customers also increased from 151,000 in the year 2009 to 814,000 in September, 2011 (Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C, 2011). In this age of competitiveness, sustainability is the prime requirement of any organization, operating in any segment. However, in order to attain sustainability, it’s extremely to analyze the capabilities and evaluate the resources in the best way so as to attain remarkable results. Only then, the productivity of the organization might get enhanced resulting in amplification of the brand image and equity in the market among other existing contenders. Thus, it might be stated that in order to attain competitive position, the business or human resource strategies or tactics need to be shaped in an effective way. Similarly, the organization of Vodafone Qatar, also comprises of varied types of forces that helps in shaping its human resource strategy for future growth and development. Some of these factors are presented below: Talent management: It is recognized as one of the most important factor or force that helps in shaping the human resource strategies or policies of the organization of Vodafone Qatar. This is because in this age, talent or experienced employee is the prime weapon that may help the organization in inventing

Physics for Future Presidents Writing Assignment Essay

Physics for Future Presidents Writing Assignment - Essay Example technological advancements and the improved knowledge in scientific fields, the deductions and conclusions made by scientists have proven to be accurate and even in some instanced averted disasters in the recent past. Therefore, for future heads of state to prevent future disasters from affecting the inhabitants of their respective countries, they ought to turn to scientists for counsel regarding certain issues of national security. It is necessary for them to display some level of scientific consciousness and edge themselves with qualified advice-givers to be able to make more profound long term decisions (Muller, 2010). Environmental consciousness and strategic prowess in decision making would be very vital tools in determining the success of our future leaders in safeguarding the planet. The comprehension and understanding of science, acts like a compass to our frontrunners directing them to making the most appropriate decisions. There exists pandemonium all over the globe and the urgent matters resulting to all the confusion, ought to be looked into by our leaders and appropriate decisions be made on how to tackle these matters. The comprehension and understanding of science by our prime ministers and presidents is most vital due to the environmental disasters that are looming, due to the way human being are continuously destroying and polluting the environment. Radicals have made it their goal in life to use the obliviousness of the ignorant leaders as a weapon against them. Resulting to individuals living in constant fear, these radials involve themselves in acts of terrorism. They are using ungrounded justifications as explanations to fulfill their own selfish desires. It is up to our future leaders to put under control such delicate issues without resulting to additional collateral damage. The utmost danger is that of extremists acquiring nuclear armaments and weaponries. Deterrence from these catastrophes is beneficial to each and every one of us.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Basketball Court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Basketball Court - Essay Example Personnel Roles 8 Project Manager: Sultan Malki 8 Assistant Project Manager/Quality management: Hassan Hazime 9 Resource Management and communication: Majid Altaweraqi 9 Task Management and assistant resource manager: Khaled Alqahtani 9 Research and Information Management /Cost analysis: Mohammed Dashti 10 Project Team Manager/ Project change Manager: Tamer Turjuman 10 Project Cost Analysis and Duration 12 Work breakdown structure 13 Location 14 Plot Pictures 15 Back view 15 Front View 16 Aerial View 17 Appendix 18 Fundraising requirement 18 Conclusion 20 Reference 22 Benefactor contacts 23 Background The main purpose of the proposed basketball court project is to provide an alternative outdoor recreation facility to the surrounding community of NW 27th Terrace in the city of Miami specifically in Midtown. This area is not quite the typical, safe residential area where facilities are spread throughout the district. So, it is considered somewhat a poor community in Miami where many si milar struggling neighborhoods exist in this city. In addition to that, there are houses and a public school located within a walking distance from this empty property that has been assigned to be a basketball court. The facility usage will not be limited to a certain group in that area. All community members will have an equal chance to use the basketball court. An outdoor basketball court provides another venue for recreational sports to host intramural activities and a place of open recreation for all community members. In addition, being involved in sports and outdoor activates is a good way to relief stress and anger. Consuming energy at a basketball court is safer and more beneficial to community members rather than being active on the streets that can lead to injury or crime; according to the Australian Institute of Criminology, â€Å"sport and physical activity have crime prevention potential.† Project initiation Project selection To build an outdoor basketball court within 6 months with a starting budget of $5000, in order to reduce gang violence Vision and benefits Reduce gang violence Engage young members to be active in the community Benefit the community, economically, socially and educationally Project Planning Key Staff Project Manager (PM) 2 Assistant Project Managers (APM) Public Relator (PR) Sports Surface Construction Cooperation Project Charter In the United States, the U.S. department of justice authorizes the action to construct and build a basketball court. In order to construct a basketball court, certain specification is required by the outdoor sports construction companies and by the suppliers. Fundraising shall come from Miami Dade County ($10,000), Neighborhood Donations ($5,000), Nike ($300,000), Urban Development ($50,000), Miami Heat Charity Organization ($100,000),and Spalding corporation ($35,000) Scope Statement Project Objective The primary objective is to build an outdoor basketball court within 6 months located at 21 3 NW 27th Terrance, Miami FL. Deliverables I. A standard high school or outdoor court (actual coverage 51’0’’ X 84’0’’) II. Concrete Slab (51’2’’ X 84’2’’) III. Two Fixed-Height, In-Ground Hercules Basketball System Models IV. Fixed- Height surrounding Fence with Openings V. Simple freestanding aluminum bench for sports court VI. An 8000 watt lighting system

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Ass 5.8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ass 5.8 - Essay Example In order to determine the official unemployment rate it is important to determine the total labor force. Total labor force = Unemployed work force + employed workers = 8.4 + 108.5 =116.9 Therefore, Unemployment rate= Number of unemployed workforce ?100 = 8.4 ? 100 = 7.2% Total Labor force 116.9 The official unemployment in the US in 1991 was = 7.2% 2. If bureau of statistics considered 1.2 million people as unemployed, the official unemployment rate will be as follows; Official Unemployment rate= Number of unemployed workforce ?100 Total Labor force Total labor force = 108.5 + 1.2= 109.7 Official Unemployment rate= (1.2?109.7)100 =1.1% There was a discrepancy of 6.1% obtained by finding the difference between the two rates of unemployment as follows 7.2%-1.1% =6.1%. The discrepancy may be attributed to an increase in recession and inflation rate leading to a decrease in unemployment rate by 1.6% in the second answer. 3. The Concept of natural rate of unemployment Natural rate of unem ployment refers to the rate of unemployment that occurs in a healthy economy when the labor market at equilibrium (Taylor, 2007). At this at this point full employment corresponds with the rate of unemployment. The concept can be presented diagrammatically as shown below. Real Wage ASL N= labor force ADL Natural rate of Unemployment We Q1 Q2 Source: Author Natural rate of unemployment include Frictional and structural unemployment (Mankiw, 2011). Frictional rate of unemployment occurs when people leave their current job and went to look for new better and satisfying jobs (Mankiw, 2011). During this period, people may remain unemployed and therefore, an economy may experience frictional rate of unemployment (Mankiw, 2011). On the other hand, Structural rate of unemployment occurs when new technological changes leads to unemployment because people do not have the required skills and knowledge to do the job and therefore, people need to be retrained in to make their skills correspond t o a job need (Woirol, 1996). Distinguishing between â€Å"good† inflation and â€Å"bad† inflation and why some economists see some inflation superior than others. Economist asserts that a good inflation refers to the one that creates caution to an economy of an impending deflation so that an economy can put in place necessary measures to curb impending deflation (Mceachern, 2012). Additionally, a good inflation can helps in real wage adjustment in case of disequilibrium. On the other hand, economist asserts that a bad inflation is the one that has a depressing impact to an economy making the cost of living to be extremely high and unbearable(Mceachern, 2012). A bad inflation tends to make an economy engage itself in borrowing leading to escalating debts. Additionally, wages and income tend to remain low as the cost of living continues to rise (Mceachern, 2012). This situation could lead to strikes and boycotts as workers pressures employers to increase their salaries and wages in order to cope with high cost of living (Mceachern, 2012).Some economist hold that hyper inflation as a superior as compared with double digit and moderate inflation. This is because hyper inflation makes the economy to become totally depressed as money in circulation losses value making the cost of living unbearable. Lesson 9: Managing the Economy: Fiscal Policy and Its Effects 1 (a).Effects of $20billion tax cut on

Monday, September 23, 2019

Africa Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Africa - Article Example Access to food is a basic but most violated human rights throughout the world in recent times. World Food Summit 1996 hunger reduction target proved to be a failure regardless of the fact that food production grew faster than the world population. Throughout world, about 840 million people are malnourished and most of them are in Africa (Clover 5-7).Food security is a term used for adequate access to nutritious food which is considered as acceptable in a certain culture. Chronic food insecurity affected 38 million people, and hunger claimed 24,000 lives daily in Africa during 2003.Famine is the extreme manifestation of food insecurity, among 39 countries experiencing food emergencies in world, 25 are African. However, this is the crisis that emerged in slow motion. Africas state of food emergency is a consequence of a wide range of issues which include: structural poverty; famine and drought; adverse weather conditions; civil conflicts; political and economic crises; HIV/AIDS and ina dequate policy and decision making. Failure is identifying the intervening the developing issues are probably the major causes of Africa’s persistent vulnerability. In order to tackle these root causes, focusing on structural deficiencies must lead to long-term reconsideration process of food security. Moreover, WTO must restructure for active participation in poor countries. For a balanced approach in dealing with immediate food aid issues and long-term strategic plans, a multifaceted approach covering political, social, economic, and environmental factors must be devised(Clover 8-14). World Food Summit(WFS) held in 1996 established the target of reducing hungry people by at least 20 million every year during 2000-2015.Some countries have showed progress, however, annual decrease of 2.5 million is far below the level required to achieve the target by 2015(Clover

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Victorian women Essay Example for Free

Victorian women Essay How does Thomas Hardy portray Bathsheba Everdene And Fanny Robin as typical representatives of Victorian women? Hardy uses this novel to express his prolific writing style, which involves introducing his characters slowly as the play goes on. He explores the characters and their influences and participation in the plot with intense detail. Far from the madding crowd is written in a Victorian pastoral setting, hence the way he portrays the characters as typically Victorian with powerful detail especially the women in particularly Bathsheba Everdene and Fanny Robin. Hardy can be seen in this novel to be recreating a local, ageless atmosphere often of a period before his birth or his early years and this sensitive, detailed, vivid breathing of life into a rural setting seems to be an essential factor in his thoughts and feelings when writing. Bathsheba Everdene is a beautiful woman who seems to control and dominate large parts of the play but at times being particularly arrogant and impetuous towards other characters and as the central role in the play, Hardy has manipulated her around the other characters very well. Bathshebas interaction with the other characters seems to have an effect on Fanny Robins participation in the play because of Hardys attempt to portray them both as typical representatives of Victorian women. She quickly becomes the central character by inheriting and learning to run a farm in Weatherbury where the play is situated. Hardy early on begins to introduce Bathshebas awareness and possibly fear of marriage and what that could do to affect Bathshebas status and profile within the village. Gabriel Oaks conversation with Bathsheba shows her to be perhaps an unpredictable, spirted young woman who has never been in love. The two discuss marriage with remarkable frankness. Bathshebas egocentric personality is exposed when she admits that she would delight in the prospect of having all the trappings of marriage such as a piano, pets and her own carriage and a spectacular ceremony however, she objects to having a long life husband and losing her freedom. Gabriels proposal to her of marriage is an emotionally intense conversation, which is why Hardys attempt to portray Bathsheba as typically Victorian was directed away exposing a different side to Bathshebas character. Gabriel: I can make you happy. You shall have a piano in a year or two, farmers wives are getting to have pianos now, Ill practice my flute right well to play with you in the evenings. Bathsheba: Yes, I should like that Gabriels hopes are built up as Bathsheba unveils her excitement at the prospect of marriage however; the realisation that this will never happen sets in. No, tis no use, I dont want to marry you. For a marriage would be very nice in one sense. People would talk about me and think I had won my battle and I should feel triumphant and all that. Her battle is one that she feels she needs to win to maintain her high profile status and leading female role within the village. She feels that to win her battle against society she needs to get married and therefore she can be triumphant once again. She explains that since a woman cannot win her battle by showing off the delights of a marriage and a wedding without having a husband then she cannot be triumphant by getting married, except not yet. While Bathsheba seems a bit shallow, her self-determination and powerful quest for success are commendable, and she remains a sympathetic yet surreal character. Hardy has manipulated Bathsheba so much that she has unusually selective characteristics whilst simultaneously attempting to convincingly portray her as typically Victorian without hindering Fanny Robins character so much as to effectively ruin it. Fanny Robin is a young orphaned servant girl at the farm who runs away the night Gabriel arrives in the village. With Fannys character, Hardy has chosen to use her to such an extent that she has become what is perhaps the most emotionally unstable character in the entire story and by doing this, he has attempted to manipulate her along with Bathsheba to portray them as typical Victorian representatives. She has an interesting but bleak role in the story but has a surprisingly significant effect on some of the major scenes without exposing her self as a particularly dominant or socially intractable character. She attempts to marry sergeant troy early on in the play and then ends her participation in the play by tragically dying whilst giving birth to his child. She is a foil to Bathsheba, showing the fate of women who are not well cared for in this society. Fanny robin is linked instantly with troy, has been helped kindly farmer Boldwood and has been the youngest maid in Bathsheba newly taken household, yet has a surprisingly unconvincing character compared with Bathshebas powerful dominance throughout the story. Fannys initial radiant excitement, her recent dejection, her memorable conversation with troy and her fatal error of mistaking the church for her marriage with troy all form a pathetic, wretched background to her unmistakably emotional and fragile character.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Reduction of Lead Time by Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM)

Reduction of Lead Time by Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) is a strategy which needs to applied throughout the company and whose primary goal is the reduction of lead-time in each and every operation of the company while simultaneously reducing costs and improving quality. QRM can be defined in two contexts: Externally (Customers point of view): QRM means quickly responding to customer needs by designing and producing goods customized to cater those needs. Internally, QRM stresses on reducing the lead times throughout the organization, leading to lower inventory, better quality, reduced cost, and greater responsiveness. QRM uses Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT) as the metric for measuring the success of QRM processes. MCT is an extension of the concept of lead-time, which is the time from the receipt of order from the customer till the product is delivered to the customer. There are 2 ways of implementing QRM: one is using large breakthrough improvements and the other is through continuous improvements. QRM was developed by Rajan Suri, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is famous for his works on continuous improvement programs. He not only gave the theory but also the practical ways by which QRM could be successfully applied and integrated in the operations of the company. QRM is basically an extension of Time based Competition (TBC), which was a strategy used by Japanese firms in the 1980s. TBCs philosophy is to use speed to gain competitive advantage. QRM is more particular as it is restricted to manufacturing firms only. QRM finds its first foray in history in 1993 with the foundation of the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[2] In 1995, Rajan Suri published the article Slaying the Beast which put forth some bad policies which were prevalent in manufacturing companies and also offered explanations for the same. This helped QRM gain a lot of recognition and importance.1 The positive response spurred Dr. Suri to con tinue working on this subject and this further led to his consulting businesses in implementing QRM and successfully applying the same in many companies. Since then, the Center for QRM has helped in applying QRM in nearly 180 companies resulting in reduced lead times and increased market shares.2 QRM Principles: Traditional View: Everyone will have to work faster, harder and longer hours, in order to get jobs done in less time. QRM Principle #1: Find whole new ways of completing a job, with the focus on lead-time minimization Its not necessary to work harder, faster and longer hours to complete job earlier. One can focus on finding new ways to complete a job that takes lower time. Most of the time a job spends in a queue instead of in process and traditional approach only look to reduce processing time (touch time) and in QRM focus is on lead-time (total elapsed time) and not just processing time. Out of total lead-time 34 days only 19.5 hours is a touch time so it makes sense that we should focus on whole 34 days. But generally organizations are not designed to focus on lead-time. Mainly because organizations dont recognize the cost of waiting they mainly focus on processing time like one need to reduce batch sizes to reduce waiting time but it will increase number of setups that will increase their processing time which is mostly opposing to company goals. So, Companies need to change their accounting systems and reward systems so that benefits of reduction in lead-time can be measured and rewarded appropriately. Examples of Organizational Waste Due to Long Lead Times: Expediting of hot jobs or late orders: Requires Systems, Air Freight, People, even Top Management time. Production Meetings required to change and update priorities. Overtime costs for trying to speed up late jobs. Time spent by Sales, Planning, and other Departments to develop and update forecasts. WIP and Finished Goods holding costs, including space. Obsolescence of parts made to forecast but not used. Quality problems not detected till much later; lots of rework or scrap. Opportunity for: Order changes or even cancellations. Feature and scope creep. Loss of sales to competition. Sales time devoted to expediting and explaining delays to customer. Complex systems required to manage the dynamic environment. There is one major problem with cost based systems that hinders QRM implementation that is functional structure of an organization. Looking the figure one can see how organizations fell into vicious circle by delaying regular jobs because of hot jobs and then again increase in hot jobs due to insertion of safety time due to delay in regular jobs. This is also called response time spiral. And so the spiral grows. QRM focus on reducing system in time like we do in service industry but this will require substantial reorganization of most of the processes. Basically, we will end up with cellular organizations in shop floor and also in offices and each cell will focus on its customers. The POLCA material control system helps coordinate production across multiple cells. Also, new operating methods such as time slicing are described, to help cells share non-cell resources. Traditional Belief: To get jobs out fast, we must keep our machines and people busy all the time. QRM Principle #2: Strategically plan for spare capacity plan to operate at 80% or even 70% capacity on critical resources. This principle is hard to digest as we believe that we should utilize capacity to its maximum possible value. Any reduction in the same would mean losing out on productive opportunities, resulting in increasing costs. However, by keeping all the machines busy at tall times does not necessarily transform into higher output or higher productivity. We frequently encounter the problems of growing queues due to the presence of a few bottleneck machines and jobs spending a lot of time waiting for resources due to mismanagement. All this ultimately results in increasing the lead time of the jobs which culminates in the increase of the organizational costs, which have been enlisted in the previous table. In the long run, these costs actually prove to be greater than the opportunity costs of not utilizing the spare capacity. Hence, the spare capacity should be considered as a strategic investment that will pay for itself many times over in increased sales, higher quality, and lower total cost s. Traditional Belief: In order to reduce our lead times, we have to improve our efficiencies. QRM Principle #3: Measure the reduction of lead times and make this the main performance measure. Eliminate traditional measures of utilization and efficiency. This is again a measure which is very hard to digest. We always measure the usefulness of any process through its efficiency and utilization. However, the problem with the traditional belief is not that efficiency is not an important measure, but that most measures of efficiency result in increased lead time which ultimately harms the organization. Large batches are used in a lot of companies in a bid to reduce the setup costs. However this very measure results in increasing the lead time which can culminate in the same problems as enlisted in the previous principle. There are numerous examples to show the scope of reduction of lead time in organizations, a prominent one being the case study in Becker (2001) which showed how lead time for a line of spare parts for the oil drilling industry dropped from 40 days to 5 days using reduction of lead time as the main performance measure in a manufacturing cell. QRM says that the quantities as calculated by EOQ are not appropriate and consistent with the goal of reducing lead time as EOQ doesnt consider many costs of large lots like expediting of late orders, overtime cost for trying to speed up late jobs, WIP holding costs including space. Also quality problems are detected much later than with small lots and the amount of rework and scrap generated is also much larger. At the same time, another important point which is missed in EOQ is the lack of responsiveness which occurs when the process is carried out with large lots. Large lots and planning for the same makes it difficult for the organization to respond quickly to change in customer needs. Nor can good lot sizes for QRM be predicted by the MRP system, since it assumes fixed queue times regardless of workload. Hence, in order to reduce the lead times throughout the organization, it is important for everyone in a manufacturing firm, and especially for senior managers, to understand the dynamics of factory operations. The senior managers need to have a broad outlook and decide on the policies of manufacturing and performance measures only after fully understanding the effects of capacity utilization, efficiency measures, and lot sizing policies on lead time. Traditional Versus QRM Views of Capacity and Lot Sizing. Source: QRM and POLCA:A Winning Combination forManufacturing Enterprises in the 21st Century Rajan Suri. The differences between the traditional and QRM views can be observed from the figure given above. Traditional performance measures of utilization and efficiency encourage managers to exploit their resources to the maximum possible value. Production is considered infeasible only when the capacity utilization exceeds their maximize resource utilization, and only think about their capacity limit as a boundary between feasible and infeasible production targets. Also the perception is that larger lot sizes lead to increase in efficiency. However, QRMs focus is solely on reducing lead time, and hence the impact of utilization and lot size on the same is studied. Higher utilization leads to increase in lead time, whereas lead time first decreases and then increases with increase in lot size. It is essential to consider all such manufacturing dynamics in order to come up with a process that minimizes the lead time and thereby costs. Traditional Belief: We must place great importance on on-time delivery performance by each of our departments and our suppliers. QRM Principle #4: Stick to measuring and rewarding reduction of lead times. According to QRM on-time performance is an outcome not a performance measure. Because if on time is considered as performance measure departments will quote longer lead-time to match up with on-time delivery. Again this will result in Response time spiral and results in poor performance of organization. But with QRM, organization will focus on shortening lead-time as a performance measure. In QRM its called QRM Number (measure of lead time reduction). This will eliminates Response Time Spiral and performance of organization will improve. Traditional Belief: Installing a material requirements planning (MRP) systemwill help in reducing lead times. QRM Principle #5: Use MRP for high level planning and coordination of materials. Restructure the manufacturing organization into simpler product- oriented cells. Complement this with POLCA, a new material control method that combines the best of push and pull strategies. MRP systems are of great help in managing material supply and ordering but lead-time cannot be reduced using MRP. MRP should be used on high level planning and coordination not on cell level in a cellular structure implemented by QRM, whereas POLCO can be used to manage material between cells and inside cells. POLCO basically a hybrid of push and pull systems using benefits of both. Traditional Belief: Since long lead-time items need to be ordered in large quantities, we should negotiate quantity discounts with suppliers. QRM Principle #6: Motivate suppliers to implement QRM, resulting in small lot deliveries at lower cost, better quality, and short lead times. This phenomena can be again seen as entering in Response Time Spiral in which if company buys in large batches this makes supplier to have longer lead time and company to order even larger batches. Internal and external incentives like discounts motivate ordering in large batches. The results this can be verified in John Deere where implementation of QRM with suppliers reduced cost and also improved quality with shorter lead-time and batches. Traditional Belief: We should encourage our customers to buy our products in large quantities by offering price breaks and quantity discounts. QRM Principle #7: Educate customers on your QRM program, and negotiate a schedule of moving to smaller lot deliveries at reasonable prices. Not only at the supply side, the small lot concept needs to be applied at the distribution end too. Normally it is the tendency of the sales force to get higher orders by offering quantity discounts. This will again lead to the spiral of increasing lot sizes, both during the process as well as on the procurement side, ultimately leading to lowering of delivery performance. By implementing QRM, a company can reduce its costs manifold which can then be passed on to the customers. There is a need to demonstrate to the customer that the company can deliver high quality at low prices even for small lots, which would be more beneficial both to the company as well as the customer. Thus, the idea of small lots percolates throughout the organization, from top to bottom, as well as throughout the supply chain, from supplier to customer. Traditional Belief: We can implement QRM by forming teams in each department. QRM principle #8: Cut through functional boundaries by forming a Quick Response Office Cell (Q-ROC), which is a closed-loop, collocated, multifunctional, cross-trained team responsible for a family of products aimed at a focused target market segment, and empower the Q-ROC to make necessary decisions. The traditional approach might result in local quality improvements in the respective departments. However, QRM is more concerned with the overall organization than just one department. The requirement is to cut the overall lead time for manufacturing as well as office operations for which Q-ROCs are more appropriate. Such Q-ROCs result in significant reduction of lead times for jobs such as cost estimating, quoting, and order processing. Closed-loop implies that the team would be self-sufficient in dealing with all the problems related to reducing lead time. This implies cutting across functional boundaries and changing the reporting structures to ensure the success of the process. Needless to say, this team needs to be given power in order to make the decisions as reducing lead time is the primary goal of the organization. The best example would be that of Ingersoll Cutting Tool Company, in Rockford, which reduced its engineering and order processing time for customized cutters fro m 10 days to half a day after implementing QRM principles. However, QRM should not be considered as an application of Reengineering as by using principles of system dynamics in the design of Q-ROCs, providing specific engineering and management principles for manufacturing organizations, plus by changing management principles and performance measures and adopting a company-wide approach, QRM goes much deeper than Reengineering. Traditional Belief: The reason for implementing QRM is so that we can charge our customers more for rush jobs. QRM Principle #9: The reason for embarking on the QRM journey is that it leads to a truly productive company with a more secure future. Also, lower cost/price, higher quality and shorter lead times result in highly satisfied customers. Charging more for speedy response is sustainable only in the short-term. In the long run, it is quality which differentiates a product from its competitors, and the same purpose is served by QRM. Searching for ways of squeezing time out uncovers quality problems and wasted efforts. Changing policies and adopting measures to rectify the same results in higher quality, lower WIP, less overhead, lower operating costs, and greater sales. The QRM Approach yields even better results than Lean Manufacturing as it ignores the wastes caused by long lead times. QRM takes the goal of waste reduction to the next level, creating an even leaner enterprise that will remain a formidable competitor for years to come. Traditional Belief: Implementing QRM will require large investments in technology. QRM Principle #10: The biggest obstacle to QRM is not technology, but mindset. Management must recognize this and combat it through training. Next, companies should engage in low-cost or no-cost lead time reductions, leaving expensive technological solutions for a later stage. As we have seen in many quality improving methodologies like Six Sigma, House of Quality the most important factor in the success of these initiatives is their acceptance by all the members of the organization; and QRM is no different. Realigning of all employees, from the shop floor to the boardroom, from desk workers to senior managers, to the QRM principles is a pre-requisite for the success of QRM, and hence training gains significance. Normally, performance measurement is tied to the cost accounting system which is an impediment to the successful implementation of QRM. Performance measurement must be aligned with the principles of QRM if the company has to benefit from the same. In a nutshell, the following points can be summarized about Quick Response Manufacturing: It requires measurement and efforts to minimize the metric, Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT), which is defined as the typical amount of calendar time from when a customer creates an order, through the critical-path, until the first piece of that order is delivered to the customer. This can be measured using the QRM number. Some changes in the structure of the organization are necessary to ensure the success of QRM. It basically requires the strategy of the organization to change from cost-based to entirely time-based with full emphasis on lead time minimization. Functional to Cellular:Cellular manufacturing is a pre-requisite of QRM as the cells yield greater flexibility in manufacturing. Top-down Control to Team Ownership:QRM requires the formation of closed-loop, cross-functional teams which need to be given complete power for monitoring the processes. Specialized Workers to a Cross-trained Workforce:Since the success of the process requires reduction in lead times across all the departments, there is a need to provide proper training to the workers so that they can perform multiple tasks and have a broader outlook. Efficiency/Utilization Goals to Lead Time Reduction:The evaluation parameters, performance measures have to shift from the traditional accounting measures to the goal of lead time reduction. The following steps need to be implemented in the organization so that QRM is a success: Creating a QRM mindset: The most important part is to make people realise the advantages of QRM over the previous measures i.e. the wastes created due to long lead time which are even ignored in Lean Manufacturing. Thereafter, a high-level QRM Steering Committee needs to be formed to oversee the QRM efforts. Also, like Six Sigma,by providing QRM training, some employees can be made QRM champions who can then be entrusted with the responsibility of the projects on a daily basis. Changing of organizational structure: Cross-functional planning team are formed to study feasible projects to which QRM can be applied. This would require the management to indulge in a detailed analysis of various consideration like Manufacturing Critical PathTime, product volumes, needs relating to strategy and other factors. Thereafter, QRM cells are formed and training and cross-training is provided to the operators in these cells by an implementation team which consists of members in the new cell as well as planning team members. Measurement of MCT is done to monitor lead time. Including of system dynamics: QRM requires going through the policies on utilization and efficiency in order to determine the proper loading of the cells. It also calls for making provisions for spare capacities and reduction in the batch sizes in order to reduce the lead time. Enterprisewide expansion of QRM: The process would typically begin with a single project. If the project is a success, its results need to be conveyed to all the members of the organization and more projects need to be undertaken based on QRM principles. QRM should not be restricted to the organization alone but should be extended through the entire supply chain. E.g. the suppliers should also be motivated to inculcate and apply the principles of QRM which would have mutual benefits for both parties. POLCA: The Material Control System for QRM: POLCO is Paired-cell Overlapping Loops of Cards. To implement this system the company need to create cells of the production process focusing on subsets for similar parts and then it processes a given customer order through differing cells depending on the needs of that order. High Level MRP is used to provide high level planning and coordination of materials from external suppliers and across these internal cells. But cells are managed individually. To explain POLCO we can take an example of a shop floor. Assume P1 focuses on color printing and P2 on black white printing after which we have three Formatting Cells, F1, F2 and F3, which convert the printed sheets into reports with the desired pages. After formatting comes binding operation, which include punching holes and notches, cutting the sheets, and bending, A1 to A4. Finally, all orders go to the Shipping Cell S1, where the packaged plates are placed in shipping containers and then loaded onto carts. The material control system used is POLCA where High Level MRP and a cellular organization is a prerequisite. In this case all Release times are created with the help of High Level MRP. But even after authorization of POLCO work will not begin until all conditions are met. POLCO cards are used to communicate and control the material movement between cells. As Figure shows the POLCA card flows for a particular order at any organization based on initial design. This orders routing takes it from P1 to F2, then to A4 for binding, and finally to S1 to be shipped. This order will therefore proceed through the POLCA card loops with the pairs P1/F2, F2/A4 and A4/S1. If cell P1 has a job authorized that is going to F3 next, then a P1/F3 card must be available at P1 in order for it to begin that job. If a P1/F3 card is not available, that means that there is a bottleneck at F3 and working on that job will only add to the work-in-process at F3. Instead, it would be better for P1 to put its resources into a job that is needed by another cell that is not backlogged. So the cell team at P1 skips the P1/F3 job for now, and looks at the next authorized job to see if a card is available for that job, and so on. Differences from KANBAN: POLCO cards only control flow between cells not within. POLCA cards are not product specific but they are specific to particular pair of cells. POLCO cards are used as capacity signal whereas Kanban is used as inventory signal. As return of POLCA card from a downstream cell signals that the cell has available capacity. Benefits yielded by POLCA: POLCA helps in managing short-term fluctuations in capacity and also assists in reducing congestion on the shop floor. If a POLCA card from a downstream cell is not available, it means that that cell or some other cell further downstream is backlogged with work. Hence it does not make sense allocating further work to that particular job, without replanning of resources, as this will only increase inventory in the system since somewhere downstream there is a lack of capacity to work on this job. A better alternative would be to use this cell for some other job during the time being. POLCA cards flow in longer loops which allows the production to respond to changes in demand or differences in the complexities of jobs. The additional jobs in the loop can act as a buffer to absorb variations in demand and product mix which makes it highly suitable to meet the needs of responsiveness. On the contrary, the pull system stresses on achieving constant takt times throughout the organization, ignoring the fact that a variety of products will require different manufacturing times. Benefits of Quick Response Manufacturing: Product Leadership: The main objective of QRM is to minimize lead times. By implementing QRM, a company attains many beneficial and competitive advantages. Benefits of Quick Response Manufacturing: Product Leadership: QRM enables a firm to have shorter time to market. Thus a firm can reach out to customers with the latest technology while competitors play catch-up. There are two ways of looking at it. The first is that a given point of time a firms product would be superior to that of its competitor. Another point of view is that since a firm has shorter lead time it can deliver technology that is openly available to the market much earlier. Thus, the firm can skim the market due to its superior product. This can be depicted on a time line . Lower working capital: Lower lead times permit companies to have lower raw material and finished goods inventory. As a result the working capital requirement is decreased. This places the firm in a better strategic position to utilise their resources and capital. Better position to increase market share: The lower lead times increase the firms responsiveness to opportunities in the environment. This increased responsiveness helps the firm attract customers and increase its market share. Increased inventory turns: Since the production system is triggered by demand, smaller batches are produced, inventory decreases, and the number of inventory turns increases. Many inefficient producers have substantial amounts of capital tied up in inventory; therefore, their inventory turns are low. Reducing the cost of quality by minimising rework: Cellular manufacturing places more responsibility and accountability on specific production teams. This results in specialization which inherently increases the quality of the product. It is much easier to pinpoint defects since the problems are directly traceable to certain teams or members. This has a positive impact on the quality of products. Cost Reduction: QRM aims at finding opportunities to improve the existing process. This results in lower operating costs. Using QRM, companies are able to save, in some cases, up to 25% of total operating costs by solving problems before they happen. Increasing Long Term competitiveness: QRM ultimately aims at enhancing the long term competitiveness of the team. The above mentioned benefits are only the stepping stones in the right direction. The enhanced competitiveness of the firm ensures that is objective of enhancing shareholder value is fulfilled. Issues of Quick Response Manufacturing: Increased reliance on suppliers: QRM requires a strong relationship with ones raw material suppliers and partners. To react to demand, a manufacturing firm must closely partner with suppliers that will quickly accommodate the firms production schedule. However, if the supplier cannot provide raw materials due to problems such as quality assurance/control, equipment repair or union labour, the manufacturing firm may not be able to meet customer requirements. This could result in stock outs and backorders. Change Management: It can be very difficult to implement QRM in a manufacturing environment. QRM is a business enabling philosophy that works top-down and therefore, changes the roles and responsibilities of the employees. Traditional roles, from lower levels through upper management, are drastically modified and the corporate infrastructure is typically altered. Employees can be extremely apathetic to these changes, which is a barrier that could significantly hinder the implementation process and the success of QRM. To implement QRM, companies must have representation from all functions i.e line and support functions (production, planning, purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, quality, finance and human resources) to facilitate the implementation. All functional areas need to buy-in to QRM philosophy to successfully implement such a major change in the way the firm does business. What Differentiates QRM from Lean? First and foremost is the QRM mindset: the driver for all the principles and strategies in QRM is reduction of lead time. This time-based mindset results in many operating policies that are different from traditional ones. In contrast the driver in JIT/Lean is waste reduction. Although the business press has been talking about the importance of lead time reduction, or speed, for over a decade, we find that most companies still lack the knowledge and the tools to effectively reduce their lead times. Worse still, policies are in place that are lengthening, rather than shortening, lead times. QRM devotes a substantial amount of effort in educating management and workers on why these traditional policies result in long lead times, and in showing them the QRM principles that must be put in place instead. QRM is a companywide strategy. While the original implementation of JIT/Lean at Toyota may well have encompassed the whole company, most Western implementations of JIT/Lean have focused on manufacturing and materials management. In many cases, JIT/Lean has been interpreted even more narrowly as merely implementing a pull system with kanban cards. In contrast, QRM clarifies at the outset that it is a companywide strategy with implications far beyond the shop floor, and principles for other company areas, such as, office operations, are clearly presented as part of the QRM philosophy. QRM provides rational principles and tools for lead time reduction. QRM uses an understanding of system dynamics, and exploits this understanding to define the best structures and policies that will reduce lead times. QRM begins by educating employees and giving them insight into these system dynamics. This then helps justify, to management and workers, the need for changes in policies. State-of-the-art analysis tools such as the MPX software package incorporate this analysis of system dynamics and help to derive the specific changes needed and to quantify the benefits that would be achieved. For companies making a large variety of products with variable demand, as well as for companies making highly engineered products, the JIT/Lean strategy of pull is either wasteful or breaks down altogether. For such companies, QRM provides an alternati

Friday, September 20, 2019

Rising Cost Of Living In The Current Regime

Rising Cost Of Living In The Current Regime The aim of this study is to investigate the existence of rising cost of living and examine the responses of the community against the rising cost of living in KPK Pakistan. The rising cost of living dilemma is not only dace by one country. The study highlights the factors which enhance the rising cost of living in KPK. These factors are Income level, Price and population. The primary date collected from the six districts of KPK Pakistan. The study targeted 150 respondents randomly for data collection. The six districts were Peshawar, Charsada, Mardan, Bannu, Noshehra and Kohat. Six hypotheses were developed which were tested under one tail t-test. Findings show that out of six two null hypothesis rejected and rest four accepted. Because the respondents was not agree with statement of four hypothesis which was establish in study. The four hypotheses was about migration, multiple job, job hopping and community members give preferences on the basic items on the luxurious items which wer e not accepted. The community members do not leave their home town, not take interest in multiple job because they spent their time with their families, do not take interest job hopping and community members are in undecided situation to give the preference to the luxuriously items or not due to social status, and consider as status symbol because they feel that these luxurious items become daily life practice. Introduction The rising cost of living is the well-know community dilemma around the world from last 50 years (Church, 2011) Cost of living suggest that Adam Smith believed in a minimum wage equal to twice what it would it cost one working person to raise a family with two kids (Georedd, 2010). The rising cost of living reminiscent of many other countries is test for the present Thai governments stability, particularly in the stir of political tumult in the Middle East and gigantic natural catastrophe throughout many counties of the world (Leeahtam, Treesraptanagul, 2011). Since 1950, the rising cost of living has massive impact on in the developed countries community like America, Japan, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the community has paying enormous amount for a few basic goods (Bongaarts, 2004). The rising Cost of living in the United States can vary depending on locality and standard of living. Immense cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are likely to have towering costs of goo ds and services (Castro, 2009). The rising cost of living is the problem has faced by the African and South Asian countries .In South Asia the some factors which influence the living cost are similar to the west countries .like inflation, income, social status, expenditure. The factors which are not influence by the cost of living in the western world but have the vast impact on the Asian countries community like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh is the family size and social culture (Sothearith, Sovannarith, 2003). In Pakistan the cost of living is accelerating mode since partition but last two decade inflation rate accelerated in double digit. The inflation is the basic element and impressive impact of the rising cost living (Khan, SchimmelpfennIig, 2006). The households are facing problem of paying higher prices for necessary items like shelter, food, clothes, electricity, gas water, and transport. Many households feels that prices are raising too fast (Church, 2011). The living cost of community is escalating because the prices of basic products are sky-scraping. Rising prices are equal to the inflation; rising prices would mean you have less buying power. Rising cost of living mean as a persistent raise in the general price level, means is the rate at which the prices of goods are rising (Tahir.S, 2006). According to Qqyyum (2011) the rising cost of living was recognized by the Consumer Price Index which determines the average price of customer goods and services purchased by households. The rising cost of living are connected with rapid emergent economy where the claim for goods and services is higher that the countrys creation ability (Haq, Hussain, 2008). The central banks are the authority in the countries to control the inflation, through supply of money by rising or falling short term interest rates. For instance, the European Central Bank decides to keep yearly inflation rate under 2% to encourage price steadiness and appropriate growth. (Massod, 2011). The purpose of this study is to identify the community response against the rising cost of living in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. This study will be accomplishing to inspect the causes of rising cost of living and responses of the community about the rising cost of living in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw. The rising cost of living problem has faced by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa community. The factors that influence the rising cost of living are change in the Pakistan due to culture difference as compare to the other countries in the world (Iqbal, 1994). This study examines the response of the community and gives the solution for better living standard. Literature Review The literature shows that influence that cost of living are affected by the various factors. Like Inflation, Income, Size of family, Migration, and Better job opportunities. First inflation impact. The cost of living affect by the inflation, the inflation is nothing more than a sharp upward movement in the price level (R.P Cent 1996). Born said (1996) Too much money chasing too few goods. The sharp increase in goods and services prices over the past couple of years has raised serious concerns about the food and nutrition situÂÂ ­ation of poor people in developing countries, about inflation, and in some countries about civil disturbances. Real prices are still below their mid-1970s peak, but they have reached their highest point since that time. Both developing and developed country govÂÂ ­ernments have roles to play in bringing prices under control and in helping poor people (Braun, 2008). Khan et al, (2006) In Pakistan the inflation relatively low for quite a long time, the inflation rate accelerated in Pakistan late 2003 after the 1998-99 crises, inflation was reduced to below 5 percent by 2000 and remained stable through 2003. Rigid monetary policy joint with fiscal consolidation appears to have contributed to this low inflation environment The under develop countries have single digit inflation rate indicates that these countries are on the road to emerged as developed country. China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Russia and Bangladesh are the under develop countries, they have single digit inflation rate which suggest that they are moving towards as the developed country. Its mean the government have a stable monetary police there are not massive different between in the balances of payments and government have a sufficient reserve. In these countries there is political stability and equally opportunity available to every citizen of the country for employment. The value of under develop countries currencies have rising gradually. Pakistan, Egypt, and Venezuela are the under develop countries but they have double digit inflation rate, that suggest the economy situation is vice versa to the above mention under develop countries. (Masood, 2011) Secondly, the income influence the cost of living when the prices of consumer goods is rising the community is not be able to buy it because of the income is not allowing him to buy it (Pochet, 1997 ). The income has impressive impact on the rising cost of living. In the USA people have a very high level of income the living cost is much better than the east countries that is why people from all over the world desire to move into the country because of the very high salaries as well as the plenty of job opportunities. The community of the USA has the well income source as compare to the Asian countries. The USA is the richest and most dominant nation in the world. At present, it ranks 1st in terms of economy and quality of life. The current GDP of the nation is over 13 trillion Euros with a per capita GDP of over 44,000 Euros (Castro, 2009). Haworth and Rasmussen in his study (1973) said that uniform salary package is not useful tool to decrease the cost of living. The income level in USA was declined last three years due to recession. According to DeNavas, Proctor, Smith (2011) household income was $49,445 in 2010, 2.3 perÂÂ ­cent turn down from 2009. In 2007 when the recession hit the US economy, real income has declined 6.4 percent and is 7.1 percent income level was top in 1999. Family and nonfamily households income level turned down between 2009 and 2010. The income level of family houseÂÂ ­holds was turndown by 1.2 percent to $61,544 on average base the income of nonfamÂÂ ­ily households was turndown by 3.9 percent to $29,730. According to Africa Development Bank (2009) the income levels in Africa; Seychelles has the maximum per capita income $ 8,180 in 2005. Egyptian per capital income was $ 1,260. The income level of other Africans countries was between $ 5,000 and $ 6,000. South Africa and Tunisia was per capita income levels of $4,700 and $ 2,800, for the same duration. Asian countries like Chain the per capita income of that person who run households in 1995 was $735, but rose 24% in 2006.the middle class householder pre .capital income $1,300 to $2,400 that income the spend on necessary items (Dyck,Hansakul, Saxen; 2009). Individual led his life accordance to price. The income always affect by the price whenever the price of consumer goods are rising the individual look upon his income; that his income permit him to buy the particular product. In America according Castro (2009) the prices of food items, clothing accessories are affordable due to vast variety in food and clothing. The consumer has the opinion to shift from one product to another and the Chains products give them more space to the consumer. The housing cost is very high due to migration of the people in this part of the world. The high food prices restrict the poor and middle class families to change the food consumption pattern, even the poor families shift to less balance diet which is injurious for their health. According to Braun (2008) the families spend 50 to 60 percent of their income on the food items in US. In US the living cost of one person is $1of one day, if there is increase in the food prices 50% the per person living cost will be $1.50, and your family member are five; current budget of $5 are not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the family. Growing energy cost is not included in this and the future domestic budget. According Demeke, Pangrazio, Maetz (2009) the prices of rice vegetable and oil was increased from January to May 2008. The citizen of those countries which have a low per capital income and highly dependent on import, high import bills and high food prices was become big challenges for the country, specifically for those countries which have limited foreign exchange and high food uncertainty. The factors which increase the food prices and other consumer items, food consumption expansion, bad weather, low investment, high oil price, low production activates and transport cost, under cultivation, weak dollar, and speculative activities and trade policies also reason for high prices [Demeke et al ,2009] According Saif (2008) in Arab countries the food prices was skyrocketed in 2007 because most of the food products are import from other countries. In short run they have no opinion to control this situation. Oil producing countries can control the inflation in the food price because they have massive revenue, non-oil producing Arab countries have not yet any plan to control this situation, these countries citizen are living below and just at poverty line. The price should be control through trade oriented, customer oriented, and producer oriented strategy (Demeke et al, 2009). Develop agricultural sector through investment and market accessibility, training and educating farmers. Providing the basic facilities to the rural citizen to prevent migration and expand rural agricultural sector. Grow the energy sector to reduce the cost of energy through different technique generate energy through wind turbine. Bring more investor in food market in Arab countries (Saif, 2008). Wasti (2011) In Pakistan per capital income $1051 in 2011, there is increase in per capital income as compare to 2010 is 0.4%. But that increase is not sufficient because on the other side of picture the prices of basic items are going the sky scraping. According to Federal Bureau of Statistics the inflation rate is 13.9%. The appendix -2 related the prices of the consumer items on the average base. The tables are shown in the appendix which is related to the last one decade; in all these tables the prices of each commodity are shown which essential necessary for the community. These tables demonstrate price levels of each commodity are in the rising trend, therefore no decreasing trend in the price levels of the commodity so that is establish there is rising cost of living in Pakistan. The rising cost of living is increasing more sharply from last five years because price levels of the commodity are in a sky- scarping trend in the Pakistan (Economic survey 2010-11). Third, the cost of living also affected by the population /family size. When the family size/ are rapidly increasing, the demand of the family will be increase if one person support the family it is difficult for him to fulfill the requirement of the family the living cost is increase rapidly, the rapid growth in population also increase prices due to too much demand for goods and services (Bongaarts, 2004). Cebula and Richard (1980) said that rising cost of living and population has positive relationship. Whenever increase in the population the price level of the commodity is also increase. The middle class families of Asian are the fastest emergent population cluster in the world. In 2000 the middle class families population of Asian countries was 1.4%of global population and 2.1% of global income, and should be increase in 2030 population would be 8.9% and income 7.7% of global income (Dyck et al, 2009). Family growths of developing countries are much faster than the family growth in developed countries. The Government of Pakistan announced that four persons in the family are the admirable for family and sound for the country because earner can support the family easily and the government can provide the opportunities to his race (Bongaarts, 2004). The dynamic increase in the Asian families size in the dynamic increase in the consumption of the families because every person of family wants basic necessary items for them so most of the family not be able to provide them like Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh, Sri lank are those countries in which the families size is bigger than their income size (Dyck, et al 2009). According to World Bank and IMF(2005) the new generation of Asian countries like Pakistan, and Indian changing their life style the know the income source are limited so we should do family planning because country like Pakistan the economy situation is not very well so we should limited our family for our bright future. Ashford said in (2009) the population size of the country can be reduced through unintentional pregnancies, family planning, reduce the birth rate give the better and technical education to the women and provide the opportunities for the job to increase the income level of the family and delay or gap in the pregnancies. The responses of community against the rising cost of living, and the community fulfills their requirements through different channels like migrate from one city to another do more than one job, better job opportunities (Felipe, 2009). The rise in the cost of living encourage the migration, migration within the countries and from one country to another country are occur due to rising cost of living within the country. Individuals and families migrate to the area where lot of opportunities to meet their obligations (Ahmad, Gulzar, 2007). Castro said in (2009) the people migrate to USA due to better economy and political stability in the country. There is rising living cost but there are lots of opportunities for the migrated peoples as compare in USA. China is the major provider of migrated labor due to this reason now in Chain there are storage of labor. Chinese polices makers have stop the flow of migration to the other countries especially in these immigrant mostly farmer are migra ted to the other countries for the better living standard. There is decline in the production of agriculture sector of Chain (Brauw, Talyor, Rozella, 2001). Migration with in the country means rural citizen are migrate to urban areas which creates worse result, the extra burden on the cities which craft problems for the locals like increase in the prices of the communities, house rent, build the gap between the income level of the urban and rural households, and political turmoil (Yang, 1999) Some time migration is not done by the rising cost of living. In Chain migration is occur due to their preeminent future because in the some rural area of chain is not well developed the health, children education, basic food items, electricity and many more is not available for the rural citizen so the migrate to the urban area or to the other countries (Yang, Salehi, Kats, Yau, Ashley, 2006). Migration decision is not only the decision of one individual this is the decision of a whole family, that one person or full family migrate to the other region because whole family are facing the rising cost of living. The migrate for long time or short time to earn more and more money that their rest of families member spend better life and save money for future and meet the obligation against the rising cost of living.(Brauw et al, 2001). Migration decision are mostly influenced by the income level and economy situation of the family and the country. When there is rising cost of living, the one earner income are not sufficient to fulfill the need of the family so individual or family migrate for better living standard and fight with the rising cost of living (Kennan, Walker, 2003). The origin of mankind migration is the most significant factor to improve the economy and eminence of life of people in the country and outside the country. The people move to that region where privileged real income and control cost of living and fight with the rising cost of living through their respectable incomes (Ozgen, Nijkamp, Poot, 2009). Ahmad and Gulzar said if government makes the policy that minimum income level are same for all people in the country the people migrate those cities where cost of living is low and value of income is high, means that there is decrease cost of living and migration in do more. In USA the mostly community members do multiple jobs due to high cost of living and the low income level. The individuals who include in doing multiple jobs are young bachelors and newly married couples, the teenagers do part time jobs with their education (Castro, 2009). Ostrosky said in (1983) in USA the householders are not be proficient if they do single job thats why in USA the householders mostly do multiple jobs because cost of living so high. In middle class families of USA the children become adult they bear their own expensive due to rise in the cost of living. In Asian countries last three decades the multiple job trend are increasing day by day because the Asian countries are facing the same dilemma which was faced by the western countries the rising cost of living (Henderson, Vernon, Shalizi, Zmarak, Anthony, 2001). In Pakistan the price of basic commodity is raising and salary level is not increasing as the prices level are increasing, the community members are looking those channels in which the meet their requirement .the multiple jobs is the best option to increase the income level and meet the demand of the products price (Husain, Rashid, 2006). The most significant reason for doing multiple jobs is the pay or salary level, salary is the only weapon against the fighting with rising cost of living. When your weapon is empty or insufficient bullets in the weapon you cannot fight with your enemy. So fighting with the rising cost of living you must possess handsome income level in this versa economy situation the community members do multiple jobs to achieve better life standard (Rehman, 2009). The community members have another opportunity to show resistant against the rising cost of living is the job hopping (Lee, Geraanart, Weller, Trevor, 2008). Rehman said (2009) the job hopping means the employees change their job for no reason just for fun they do job hopping. The mostly job hopping occur due to less opportunities in the present job the employee turn to that job where they have better future opportunities and where their future is secure (Romero, Cruthirds, 2009). The job hopping are faced by every organization, if the organization are paid incentive to the employees on the different events like rewards on the attendance and bonuses the job hopping is not be eliminate because these feature are so ordinary they do not distinguish the organization and persuade the employees to stay with them.(Miller, Hom, G-Mejia, 2001). The job hopping begin when employees feels that the present income level is not sufficient to overcome the rising cost of living then he search for the other job opportunities to survive in the rising cost trend (Rynes, Gerhart Parks, 2004). Research Hypothesis Following hypothesis is set to be evaluated: H1: The cost of living rise during the last three years H2: The monthly expenses rise during the last three years H3: The community members migrate to another city due to rise in the cost of living. H4: The community members do multiple jobs due to rise in the cost of living. H5: The community members do job hopping due to rise in the cost of living. H6: The community members give preferences to the basic commodity items on luxuriously items due to rise in the cost of living. Research Methodology The sample chosen 150 responded for the comprehensive questionnaire from six district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The criteria for selection of a respondent, the respondents run their families and must be job holder. The randomly selected 150 responded included government servants, doctors, businessmen, journalists, professors, bankers, and shopkeepers. The respondents belong to the different community of six district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In this six disttrict include Peshawar, Charsada, Mardan, Bannu, Nowshehra, and Kohat Results and Analysis The responses of the respondents are described through questionnaire which are dispense among the selected 150 respondents. The questionnaire carries 19 questions and in this 19 questions hypothesis are include in the shape of question. The questionnaire gathers the responses of the respondents and on these gather responses through questionnaire applied statistical tool like mean, standard deviation, and variance. The statistical tools are calculated through SPSS 19 edition software Excel 2007. T one tail-test is used to acceptance and rejection of hypothesis, the t statistical value calculated through mean standard deviation and ÃŽÂ ¼. The calculated t statistical value is more than +1.645 than accept the hypothesis and when less than -1.645 reject the hypothesis. The table-1 is computed through Microsoft Excel 2007 edition. The data is placed in the table is gather from the questionnaire. The table consists on items like Gander, Age, Income range, Save, Saving range, and Expenses range; the other parts of table are respondents data and the responses in the form of percentages. This table shows the response of KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA community about their yearly activities related to the consumption of the income. Previously in the methodology 150 respondents are mention, to the know the responses of community for research of Rising Cost of Living in the KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA in the Current Regime, this table show the response. In table, 91% are males and 9% are females, in which 60% are married and 40% are unmarried respondents. In the age range section the 43% of respondents belongs to the age group of 20-30 which is the highest partition in the age group, rest off other age range have the respondents are 29%, 20%, and 9%. Income section is the most important section and tells that who much one respondent earn in the month. The 26% respondents are able to earn more than 42000Rs per month means 39 individuals or householders income of the month are more than 42000Rs which are the highest in the income section. In income section 23% of respondents earn income from 21000-28000Rs range between per month, which are the second highest in the income section. The 6% of respondents income are less than 7000 per month, which show the poorer middle class families earning. The other income range groups belong to the lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, and high upper class. The 9% income earned in th e month by lower middle class, the 17% income earned by the middle class families, 23% and 9% income are earned by the upper middle class. The 11% and 26% income are earned by the high upper class. Saving section in table 66% of respondents are said that they are saved money for their future and 34% of the respondents are said no or hide their saving. The saving section further divides in to saving range this research study that those respondents are said that we are not saved money for future but in saving range the mark on different options that the save money for future. The research examines those respondents which belongs to the high upper class and upper middle class means income level is high or earned more income in the month like more than 42000Rs, they marked on the high saving range like 9000 12000 and 12000 15000Rs. These both range have the highest response of the respondents, 9000 12000Rs range have 26% respondents save money for future which are the highest percentage of response of the respondents, and 12000 15000 range have the 11% respondents save money for their future benefits. The saving range less than 3000 having 23% responses of the respondents, which shows that the communi ty have a very scare income level to save money and they are facing hand to mouth situation mostly are the poorer middle class and the lower middle class families. The other saving ranges has a same level of response of the respondents is 20%, this response belong to the middle class and upper middle class families. The expenses section of table shows, the respondents behavior towards their expenses of the community. The research shows the respondents utilization behavior; the respondents spend their money on their food able items they spend 60% of their income on the food items. This research shows another point that those respondents having a high income level the expenses level of those respondents are high. In expenses range 20000 25000Rs are the range where 43% of respondents are lying which is the highest range in the expenses range section. The high upper class in the society not carries lot of peoples so in the research the respondents of that class are not so much selected, response of that class regarding expenses is low which is 29% against the expenses range of more than 25000Rs, means the respondents of that class is low the response is low. The table 2 computed through SPSS 19 edition and Microsoft Excel 2007. The SPSS computed hypotheses data and originate the result of 150 respondents. The SPSS evaluate Mean, Standard Deviation, and Variance of each hypothesis data, which further help to find out the t-statistical value. The Microsoft Excel 2007 is used to calculate t-statistical values for each hypotheses. The T- one tail test is applied on the each hypotheses which determine the t-statistical value, as earlier mention that mean, standard deviation, and variance is used to find out the t values. The t values calculate through this equation t= m-ÃŽÂ ¼/S.D for each hypotheses. The table 2 provides the base for the following tables calculation. The following tables consist of H0 = ÃŽÂ ¼ and ÃŽÂ ¼=3, number of hypothesis like H1, mean, standard deviation and total number of respondents which is 150. Microsoft Excel 2007 is used for the calculation of t-statistical values for each following table through this equation First hypothesis as stated above is the agreement of the cost of living has been rise during the last three years, the result show in table-1 our null hypothesis is ÃŽÂ ¼=3 which clarify the neutrality of statement and ÃŽÂ ¼ place for the population mean but our alternative hypothesis ÃŽÂ ¼>3 show that the respondents approach is towards agreement for the statement where our estimated mean is 4.01, Standard Deviation is1.277, number of observation is 150, and standard t-statistics is +1.660744 following traditional t-test with the estimator = estimated mean population mean/ Standard deviation. Hence our t-statistics +1.660744 is more than tabulated value of t which is +1.645 under the 0.05 level of significance following one-tailed testing. Therefore we accept H1 that cost of living has been rise during three years. Second hypothesis as mentioned above is the agreement of the monthly expenses rise during the last three years, The result show in table-2 our null hypothesis is ÃŽÂ ¼=3 which clarify the neutrality of statement and ÃŽÂ ¼ set for the population mean but our swap hypothesis ÃŽÂ ¼>3 show that the respondents approach is towards agreement for the statement where our estimated mean is 4.41, Standard Deviation is 1.414, number of observation is 150, and standard t-statistics is +1.780727 following traditional t-test with the estimator = estimated mean population mean/ Standard deviation. Hence our t-statistics +1.780727 is more than tabulated value of t which is +1.645 under the 0.05 level of significance following one-tailed testing. Therefore we accept H2 that the monthly expenses raised during the last three years. The first two hypotheses H1 and H2 accept, so that indicates the community is facing the rising cost of living trend, the acceptance is encouraging the research. For H3 H0: The community members do not job hopping due to high living cost. H3: The community members do job hopping due to high living cost. Third hypothesis declared above is the agreement of job hopping due to Rising Living Cost the result shows in the table-4 our null hypothesis is ÃŽÂ ¼=3 which explain the neutrality of statement and ÃŽÂ ¼ place for the population mean but our switch hypothesis ÃŽÂ ¼

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Searching for Knowledge and Expert Opinions Essay -- Expertise Knowled

In the search for knowledge and truth, there are times in which assumed experts provide insubstantial and useless, if not uneducated, opinions and guidance on their assumed field of expertise. In most of these cases, the assumed expert is not truly an expert. An expert is one who is highly knowledgeable and skillful in a particular field, through an unusually large amount of experience, training, and studies, to the point that he or she is sought after to receive opinions, guidance, and wisdom on the particular field by people that are not highly knowledgeable and skillful on the particular field. A definition equal to the previous one for ‘expert’ is, a master in a particular field. The opinions of true experts in their particular field of expertise are very important and should be highly valued in the search for knowledge. People are able to seek guidance and educated opinions from experts because of the vast and lengthy expertise in their field. People, contrastingly do not normally seek the opinions of non-experts because they lack sufficient knowledge, experience, and wisdom to be able to give educated and worthy opinions on the supposed field of interest. Experts, however, have enough knowledge and experience to give worthy opinions and ideas for the search for knowledge and greater understandings in the particular fields of interest. Both Payton Manning and Tom Brady are expert quarterbacks. Peyton Manning’s â€Å"anticipation and accuracy are virtually unmatched because he throws the ball before defenders are ready and puts it in a place where only his guy can catch it† (Tucker 3). Tom Brady was an incredible leader who put up astounding numbers at times while seemingly willing his team to multiple Super Bowl titles... ...ecessary training and experiences to be extremely proficient, knowledgeable, and skillful in their specific fields of interest to the point that they are sought after for guidance and wisdom and further knowledge searching. Works Cited Marine Corps News Service. "Marine Corps Scout Sniper Training." US Military. About.com, 3 Sept. 2003. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. cs/marines/a/marinesniper.htm>. Naik, Abhijit. "Famous Economists." Buzzle.com Intelligent Life on the Web. N.p., 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. famous-economists.html>. Tucker, Ross. "Why Manning Is a Better NFL Quarterback than Montana, Brady." Editorial. SI.com. Ed. Ross Tucker. Ross Tucker, 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. peyton.manning/index.html>.