Enterprise Resource Planning System Disk4U and Sungate Foods

Question: Discuss about the Enterprise Resource Planning System for Disk4U and Sungate Foods. Answer: Introduction According to Monk and Wagner (2012) ERP which stands for Enterprise Resource Planning is a fully automated computer-based system for management of resources. The resources of the system are physical assets, finances, human resource and the components. The purpose of this automation is to ensure better flow of information between the different aspects of the business functions and the stakeholders (Hall 2012).AI (Accounting Information System) is a subsidiary of ERP and emphasizes more on the finances of the system. ERP/AIS help organizations to have a clearer picture of the business and ensure better inventory, production, and financial control. In this report it mainly analyzes about the two business processes and their requirements for implementation AIS/ERP software for the organization. The two organizations are Disk4U and Sungate Foods. For the purpose of the business proposal, the system requirements have been analyzed, with the help of the analyzed data comparative study between the available AIS/ERP software have been done for the selection of suitable software for the organization have been suggested. Company Background of Disk4U and analysis of existing system The Disk4U which is based in Sydney specializes in CDs and Vinyl records. The company is family owned and has four business outlets spread around the city. Earlier the business used to be limited to the physical shops and orders over the phones, which have lesser demands which could be met with the help of manual computations and planning. With the advent of the internet, the company also started taking an order over email and recently started online channel through Ebay. The expansion led to the requirement of better planning and computation tools for the organization. The lack of advanced facilities in the organization is affecting the capability of the team to take the required decisions on time (order processing and delivery). The organization doesnt possess the further capability to accommodate expansion. Hence it is highly recommended that the organization either goes for more employees or the company goes for automation systems that need working knowledge about the computer and is much more versatile and cheap compared to the equivalent workforce (Dumas et al. 2013). The company takes an order over the phone, email and through Ebay, which makes the delivery process a tedious task due to the variable address of delivery. The present system due to lack of automation suffers various disadvantages like lack of co-ordination between the outlets, which results in late delivery and sometimes delivery through the wrong outlet, which is a result of mismanagement of resources (Slabbert Seymour and Schuler 2016). Hence the expansion has resulted in severe mismanagement of resources and the possible solution for proper management is process automation. The companies of the market are facing difficulties in hiring in this booming economy which has resulted in the closure of the organizations around the world. The companies which are more resilient are facing problem in up gradation of the system (Weske 2012). The evolution of internet has changed the demographics of the present market, and the customers prefer the online mode for their order placement. The placed orders are delivered at the doorstep, hence making customers life easier. Hence the customer loyalty has been compromised hampering the previous market scenario. Hence the thriving businesses are making their presence in the online market (Meeker and Wu 2013). For management of the online business, it becomes necessary to have an automated system for taking the order and making the delivery for winning the trust of the consumers. For an efficient system, which co-operated between the physical and the digital world the need of AIS/ERP is paramount. The need of online presence has been seen in the above section, but the presence of physical location along with the internet presence sets a higher standard for the organization. The physical location long has been associated with loyalty and trust and having a physical outlet always adds to the credibility of the organization (Jones 2013). Hence a hybrid system of an organization is better than singular approach and organizations around the world are following this system. But this hybrid model needs greater resources, and the problem can be resolved with AIS/ERP (Johansson and Carlsson 2013).In his article Morgane Palomares says that the customer today has become knowledgeable about the products and services and for making the services that are more price conscious the organization should be interconnected and automated. Figure 1: Enterprise resource planning (Image source: blog.thehcigroup.com) Accounting system of Disk4U Disk4U is a company which deals with CDs and Vinyl records. The organization which was manual till date is facing the brunt of globalization and the internet. The requirement of the organization is simple. It wants to maintain the present business as a hybrid model that has both the online and the physical presence. The physical system of the organization consists of four shops that are distributed throughout Sydney. The business due the physical outlet had been manageable due to a lesser amount of sale through the outlets and with the present workforce, but the expansion of the organization into internet has made the presence of the company global which has resulted into increased orders and for the management of the financials is becoming difficult day by day. Also, the delivery system is suffering due to inefficient management and is causing a delay in services (Masoud 2013). Figure 2: The accounting process in Disk4U Image Source: As created by author Hence the AIS/ERP system has been suggested for Disk4U.The automation system is also capable of adapting to the future requirements and will help the organization have a better outlook about the processes being carried out by the system. Since Disk4U is distributed over four different places, a centralized automation will enable the managers to have a centralized view of the working system. The company also takes orders over the phone, email and through Ebay. Hence the delivery address is not constant and is different for each delivery. The delivery can be assigned to the specific outlet with the help of ERP software. Since the data is managed centrally, the faults in the system will be reduced, and the process is bound to be more efficient. AIS tools and packages for Disk4U ERP is management software that deals with the planning and management of the various component of the business process. ERP deals with segments like procurement, supply chain, human resources and finances (Johansson and Carlsson 2013). The software that inherently emphasizes the management of the finances is known as the AIS. A small organization that has limited management scopes opt for AIS and the organization which wants the planning associated with all its finances to opt for ERP. AIS is an integral part of ERP and hence for this project will be treated as one. For designing and selection of the system the various components of the system such as Planning, inventory management, production report and management updates, accounting information and bookkeeping, finances, and sales and purchases have to be updated in due time (Aslam Coombs and Doherty 2012) The procurement functionality in ERP deals with product planning, inventory management and manufacturing associated with the organization. Supply chain deals with the marketing, sales, and purchases of the organization. Human resources deal with the man forces that are working for the organization and the finances deal with the monetary dealings of the organization which deals with purchases and income (Leon 2014). For the selected organization Disk4U, there are two options that are available and can be implemented. The first option is offline software installation on the computers that are installed in the facility and the second one is the cloud services that doesnt need software to be installed in the system, the rentals are paid on a monthly basis and can be accessed anytime anywhere, and the update is all real-time and synchronized. There are ample cloud service providers in Australia, some of them being Sage, SAP, MYOB, Xero, etc. Selection of an AIS/ERP for the business For the ease of automation, the AIS/ERP that has been selected for the organization is Xero. Xero is the premier in the field of cloud accounting and bookkeeping in Australia. Cloud services have been suggested for Disk4U because of the size of the organization and its distributed nature. As it is already known that the cloud services are accessible from anywhere, and the competitive pricing makes the option extremely viable. The starting price for the cloud services is only 20 USD, and the services can be accessed even from a Smartphone(Xero Accounting Software, 2016). Since the requirement of the organization is not very high the starter pack, whose price has been mentioned above, is suggested. The packs can be upgraded with the growing business, and it goes pretty easy on the pocket. Analysis of the present system of Sungate Foods Sungate Foods is a rice and wild rice producing company based in Victoria and produces up to 80 tons per hour in peak season. It has a staff strength of around 200 employees and has three processing cum warehouses located in western Victoria. The largest milling facility of the company is situated in an area of 125,000 square feet and has a storage capacity of thirty thousand metric tons. The paddy in the raw for is processed in the facilities and the pure, clean rice is generated for consumption by the people. The organization is a medium scale company and has varied needs, for that purpose, there are various facilities maintained by the company. The organization has its rail spur, 250 thousand square feet of roads and air pollution controller which scrubs 240,000 cubic feet of air every minute. The company has the capability to work for 24 hours a day in peak season. To feed its production rate, the company buys from 350 farms and subsequently packages, distributes and finally sells the products in both domestic and international markets. The process of getting the rice is tedious and involves cleaning, boiling, drying the obtained output, milling, finally sorting and packaging the clean rice. The cleaning section contains the paddy cleaner which sorts out the stones and the dust; this makes the paddy free of any dirt. In the next step, the paddy is half cooked which is known as par-boiling so that the grains are made hard enough to withstand the pressure applied during the milling. The boiled rice is then dried and moved to the milling section where the husk is removed from the rice, and clean rice is produced (Kondo and Kawamura 2013). Figure 3: the information flow in Sungate Foods Image source: As created by author The organizations similar to Sungate Foods' are facing huge pressure due to a population boom and increased crop production. The pressure on the organization has resulted in the expansion of the facilities and development of the new facilities. More facilities under the same management need a proper management framework for maintaining quality and the speed. Quality and the speed of production is of paramount importance to an organization and decides the future course of the company (Jeston and Nelis 2014). For maintaining the desired goal of an organization, it is mandatory that the real-time data regarding the plants are available to the management for proper decisions. With the present infrastructure and facilities, the functions of the management were getting hampered in the organization, and the errors that were caused due to the mistakes had to be rectified which involved a great deal of works that costs the company a fortune (Bender et al. 2016). Hence the similar businesses need a system that can be easily edited and updated in case of any discrepancies. For ease of operation Ricegrower Association have implemented automated systems for speeding up of the various aspects of the farming which also ensures better work compared to previous methods(Rga.org.au, 2016). Ake Rice Mills have made the whole process mechanized which has helped in reduction of costs and processing time. This automation is the whole process has made the system more versatile and rugged. Involvement of lesser human workforce has resulted in lesser revenue that is being spent on the workforce as the machines are more capable compared to human beings(Akericemill.com, 2016). Hence it is recommended that the present system should be automated for ease of operation and saving time which will in time save a lot of human resources and ease the pressure on the accounting department and the management. Integration of ERP and IS for Sungate Foods Sungate Foods is a large organization and deals with a large amount of data every day. The data quantity can be guessed from the amount of work that the organization does every day. Manual data handling of such massive amount of data is bound to errors that will either result in a faulty calculation that can compromise with the name and fame of the organization. To ensure faultless transaction records, the time wasted is very large and involves a huge amount of human resources. A survey that has been done by the organization reports ten times the wasting time for editing the error that has been done while creating the multiple entries that is a fact of life for organizations of such order (Krahel and Vasarhelyi 2014). The time that is being wasted for error management and correction could be efficiently used for other productive works. The compilation of the financial records takes around weeks for completion from the patchworks. The staffs of the organization are always working for data insertion and the faults to the system make the work more tedious. The need for updated inventory is paramount for any organization and Sungate Foods' spends a lot amount of work to maintain it. The inventory data is also important for making the proper decision for a system. The absence of data or a faulty inventory feed will result in bad decisions that will in due course affect the organization which should be avoided on a priority basis. Hence the organization has expressed interest to implement the AIS/ERP system for minimization of calculation faults, that will reduce the time wasted on doing the calculations again and will help the management to have a better view regarding the system for taking valuable decision which will take the organization to the pinnacle of its glory (Aslam Coombs and Doherty 2012). Figure 4: The characteristics of information system (Image Source: Hill et al. 2013, pp: 210) AIS for Sungate Foods The Enterprise Resource Planning deals with the various aspects of the organization management. The various resources that are being used by the organizations are effectively managed to meet the ultimate goal of production. The aim of ERP is to ensure a smooth information flow between the departments so that the decisions that are taken by the concerned authorities are data driven and is not some whimsical decision (Chai Liu and Ngai 2013). Hence the ERP suites that are being sold on the market are designed to collect and organize all the data from the various levels of the organization and provide it to the management, so that have a better insight into the performance indicators in the real-time. There are five major components of the ERP; they are financial management, customer relationship management, human resource management, manufacturing resource management and supply chain management (Monk and Wagner 2012). Figure 5: Represents the accounting cycle of Sungate Foods Image Source: As created by author The ERP software module helps the administrator of the organization to administer the process parameters of the company in real-time. The process parameters are the supply, procurement, inventory, finance, project, product lifecycle, human resources and the different critical factors of the process through the interconnected modules. For successful execution of the ERP, the whole system should be interconnected for a real time feed of the necessary parameters. There is various ERP software available in the market space some of them are: MYOB, SAP, Sage, etc. This software makes management of the system more efficient and time saving. Selection of an AIS/ERP for the business The need of Sungate Foods is very specific. The organizations need Accounting Information System, for easing the workload of its finance department and make the data available for better management decisions. The AIS services can be sorted out with the help of the available AIS software like Xero or MYOB, but the better management can't be facilitated with the help of AIS only (Usman Coombs and Neil 2014). For this purpose cloud ERP software has been selected for the organization. The selected service provider is Sage X3. The Cloud services can be accessed on any device and anywhere in the world and provided all the needed services like capturing all the information in a single platform, intelligent business integration and implementation of the application within eight weeks. With the pricing of 112 USD per month per user Sage is offering a price that is unbelievable for many (Go.sagex3.com, 2016). The implementation of the software on the cloud in going to cost around 8300 USD and the users can be increased or reduced on a monthly basis. The flexibility and the price that is being provided the Sage are incomparable and with the cloud services that are being offered by the company it is bound to become a market leader. Conclusion The report contains two cases that propose two business proposals for two organizations. The prepared business proposal presents the implement ability of the AIS/ERP software for the organizations. The two organizations that have been scrutinized here are Disk4U and Sungate Foods. The former company deals with the CDs and Vinyl records and has outlets in the city of Sydney. The later company is a rice mill conglomerate that has processors and warehouses at three different locations in Western Victoria. The proposal has successfully suggested AIS/ERP software for data management according to the requirements of the organization. Further, the software services have been scrutinized based on the services and price of services so that the companies get the maximum out of the money they spend. References Akericemill.com. (2016). Ake Rice Mill Co, Ltd. the Top rice exporters of Thailand. [online] Available at: https://www.akericemill.com/profile.php [Accessed 8 Sep. 2016]. Aslam, U., Coombs, C. and Doherty, N., 2012. Benefits realization from ERP systems: the role of customization.BENEFITS,5, pp.15-2012. Bender, M., Delia, W.M. and Majumdar, G., International Business Machines Corporation, 2016.CORRELATING TEST RESULTS VARIATIONS WITH BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS. U.S. Patent 20,160,140,032. Chai, J., Liu, J.N., and Ngai, E.W., 2013. Application of decision-making techniques in supplier selection: A systematic review of the literature.Expert Systems with Applications,40(10), pp.3872-3885. Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., and Reijers, H.A., 2013.Fundamentals of business process management(Vol. 1, p. 2). Heidelberg: Springer. Go.sagex3.com. (2016). New Subscription Licensing for Sage ERP X3 | Sage X3. [online] Available at: https://go.sagex3.com/press-release/new-subscription-licensing-sage-erp-x3 [Accessed 8 Sep. 2016]. Hall, J.A., 2012.Accounting information systems. Cengage Learning. Jeston, J. and Nelis, J., 2014.Business process management. Routledge. Johansson, B. and Carlsson, S.A., 2013. An Approach for Identifying Business Requirements for Development of Prospective ERP Systems. InBuilding Sustainable Information Systems(pp. 247-257). Springer US. Jones, G., 2013.Clickology: What Works in Online Shopping and How Your Business Can Use Consumer Psychology to Succeed. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Kondo, N. and Kawamura, S., 2013. 14 Postharvest Automation.Agricultural Automation: Fundamentals and Practices, p.367. Krahel, J.P. and Vasarhelyi, M.A., 2014. AIS as a facilitator of accounting change: Technology, practice, and education.Journal of Information Systems,28(2), pp.1-15. Leon, A., 2014.Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education. Masoud, E.Y., 2013. The effect of perceived risk on online shopping in Jordan.European Journal of Business and Management,5(6), pp.76-87. Meeker, M., and Wu, L., 2013, May. Internet trends. InProc D11 Conference. Rancho Palos Verdes. Monk, E., and Wagner, B., 2012.Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning. Monk, E., and Wagner, B., 2012.Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning. Rga.org.au. (2016). Ricegrowers' Association of Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.rga.org.au/ [Accessed 8 Sep. 2016]. Slabbert, B., Seymour, L. and Schuler, J., 2016. Business benefits and challenges of multiple ERP landscapes. Usman, A., Coombs, C. and Neil, D., 2014, September. Re-Conceptualization of Tailoring Types and their Impacts: a Perspective for Contemporary ERP Systems. InMCIS(p. 30). Weske, M., 2012. Business process management architectures. InBusiness Process Management(pp. 333-371). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Xero Accounting Software. (2016). Pricing Plans for Small Business Accounting | Xero. [online] Available at: https://www.xero.com/pricing/ [Accessed 8 Sep. 2016].

Language and the Brain Essay Example

Language and the Brain Essay Language and the brain Many people assume the physical basis of language lies in the lips, the tongue, or the ear. But deaf and mute people can also possess language fully. People who have no capacity to use their vocal cords may still be able to comprehend language and use its written forms. And human sign language, which is based on visible gesture rather than the creation of sound waves, is an infinitely creative system just like spoken forms of language. But the basis of sign language is not in the hand, just as spoken language is not based in the lips or tongue. There are many examples of aphasics who lose both the ability to write as well as to express themselves using sign-language, yet they never lose manual dexterity in other tasks, such as sipping with a straw or tying their shoes. Language is brain stuffnot tongue, lip, ear, or hand stuff. The language organ is the mind. More specifically, the language faculty seems to be located in certain areas of the  left hemispheric cortex in most healthy adults. A special branch of linguistics, New medical imaging techniques such as  PET  and  fMRI  have allowed researchers to generate pictures showing which areas of a living brain are active at a given time. In the past, research was primarily based on observations of loss of ability resulting from damage to thecerebral cortex. We will write a custom essay sample on Language and the Brain specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Language and the Brain specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Language and the Brain specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Indeed, medical imaging has represented a radical step forward for research on speech processing. Since then, a whole series of relatively large areas of the brain have been found to be involved in speech processing. In more recent research, subcortical regions (those lying below the cerebral cortex such as the  putamen  and the  caudate nucleus) as well as the pre-motor areas (BA 6) have received increased attention. It is now generally assumed that the following structures of the cerebral cortex near the  primary and secondary auditory cortexes  play a fundamental role in speech processing: * Superior temporal gyrus  (STG):  morphosyntactic  processing (anterior section), integration of  syntactic  and  semantic  information (posterior section) * Inferior frontal gyrus  (IFG,  Brodmann area  (BA)  45/47): syntactic processing,  working memory * Inferior frontal gyrus  (IFG,  BA 44): syntactic processing, working memory * Middle temporal gyrus  (MTG):  lexical semantic  processing The left hemisphere is usually dominant in right-handed people, although bilateral activations are not uncommon in the area of syntactic processing. It is now accepted that the right hemisphere plays an important role in the processing of suprasegmental acoustic features like  prosody. Most areas of speech processing develop in the second year of life in the dominant half (hemisph ere) of the brain, which often (though not necessarily) corresponds to the opposite of the  dominant hand. 8 percent of right-handed people are left-hemisphere dominant, and the majority of left-handed people as well. What can language disorders tell us about the brains language areas? Tourettes syndrome, which produces random and involuntary emotive reflex responses, including vocalizations This type of disorder, which often affects language use, is caused by a disfunction in the subcortex. There is no filter which prevents the slightest stimulus from producing a vocal response, sometimes of an inappropriate manner using abusive language or expletives. These words are involuntary and often the affected individual is not even aware of uttering them (like um in many individuals) and only realizes it when video is played back. This syndrome is not so much a language disorder per se as a disorder of the filters on the adult emotional reflex systema kind of expletive hiccup. True language is housed in the cortex of the left hemisphere, not in the subcortical area that controls involuntary responses. Certain types of brain damage can affect language production without actually eliminating language from the brain. A stroke that damages the muscles of the vocal apparatus may leave the abstract cognitive structure of language intactas witnessed by the fact that right hemisphere stroke victims often understand language perfectly well and write it perfectly with their right handalthough their speech may be slurred due to lack of muscle control. We have also seen that certain disorders involving the subcortexthe seat of involuntary emotional responsemay have linguistic side effects, such as in some cases of Tourettes syndrome. But what happens when the areas of the brain which control language are affected directly, and the individuals abstract command of language is affected? We will see that language disorders can shed a great deal of light on the enigma of the human language instinct. SLI. One rare language disorder seems to be inborn rather than the result of damage to a previously normal brain. I have said that children are born with a natural instinct to acquire language, the so-called LAD; however, a tiny minority of babies are born with an apparent defect in this LAD. Certain families appear to have a hereditary language acquisition disorder, labeled  specific language impairment, or  SLI. Children born with this disorder usually have normal intelligence, perhaps even high intelligence, but as children they are never able to acquire language naturally and effortlessly. They are born with their window of opportunity already closed to natural language acquisition. These children grow up without succeeding in acquiring any consistent grammatical patterns. Thus, they never command any language welleven their native language. As children and then as adults, their speech in their native language is a catalog of random grammatical errors, such as:Its a flying birds, they are. These boy eat two cookie. John is work in the factory. These errors are random, not the set patterns of an alternate dialect:   the next conversation the same SLI-afflicted individual might say  This boys eats two cookies. These sentences, in fact, were uttered by a British teenager who is at the top of his class in mathematics; he is highly intelligent, just grammar blind. SLI sufferers are incapable of perfecting their skills through being taught, just as some people are incapable of being taught how to draw well or how to see certain colors. This is the best proof we have that the language instinct most children are born with is a skill quite distinct from general intelligence. Because SLI occurs in families and seems to have no environmental cause whatsoever, it is assumed to be caused by some hereditary factorprobably a mutant, recessive gene that interferes with or impairs the LAD. The precise gene which causes SLI has yet to be located. Aphasia We know which specific areas of the left hemisphere are involved in the production and processing of particular aspects of language. And we know this primarily from the study of patients who have had damage to certain parts of the left hemispheric cortex. Damage to this area produces a condition called  aphasia, or speech impairment (also called dysphasia in Britain). The study of language loss in a once normal brain is called  aphasiology. Aphasia is caused by damage to the language centers of the left hemisphere in the region of the  sylvian fissure. Nearly 98% of aphasia cases can be traced to damage in the  perisylvian area  of the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. Remember, however, that in the occasional individual language is localized elsewhere; and in children language is not yet fully localized. SUMMARY Lets sum up three important facts about language and brain. First, humans are born with the innate capacity to acquire the extremely complex, creative system of communication that we call language. We are born with a  language instinct, which Chomsky calls the LAD (language acquisition device). This language aptitude is completely different from inborn reflex responses to stimuli as laughter, sneezing, or crying. The language instinct seems to be a uniquely human genetic endowment:   nearly all children exposed to language naturally acquire language almost as if by magic. Only in rare cases are children born without this magical ability to absorb abstract syntactic patterns from their environment. These children are said to suffer from  Specific Language Impairment, or  SLI. It is thought that SLI is caused by a mutant gene which disrupts the LAD. The LAD itself, of course, is probably the result of the complex interaction of many genesnot just oneand the malfunction of some single key gene simply short-circuits the system. For example, a faulty carburetor wire may prevent an engine from running, but the engine is more than a single carburetor wire. Many thousands of genes contribute to the makeup of the human brainmore than to any other single aspect of the human body. To isolate the specific set of genes that act as the blueprint for the language organ is something no one has even begun to do. Second, the  natural ability for acquiring language normally diminished rapidly somewhere around the age of puberty. There is a  critical age  for acquiring fluent native language. This phenomenon seems to be connected with thelateralization  of language in the left hemisphere of most individualsthe hemisphere associated with  monolinear cognition  (such as abstract reasoning and step-by step physical tasks) and not the right hemisphere, which is associated with 3D spatial acuity, artistic and musical ability. Unlike adults, children seem to be able to employ both hemispheres to acquire language. In other words, one might say that children acquire language three-dimensionally while adults must learn it two dimensionally. Third and finally, in most adults  the language organ is the perisylvian area of the left hemispheric cortex. Yesterday we discussed the extensive catalog of evidence that shows language is usually housed in this specific area of the brain. Only the human species uses this area for communication. The signals of animal systems of communication seem to be controlled by the subcortex, the area which in humans controls similar inborn response signals such as laughter, crying, fear, desire, etc.

Eldorado Essays - Eldorado, Poetry By Edgar Allan Poe, Shade

Eldorado In the poem ?Eldorado,? the poet conveys the romantic attitude of following one's passions to the very end, even throughout all circumstances. From a realist's point of view, when times become challenging or success is unlikely, it is wiser to give up and stop wasting time. A romantic, however, views the pursuit of passions and human nature as the only goal; every worry or concern that lies in the way of emotional thought is only arbitrary. This poem is written in an AABCCB rhyme scheme and consists of four main stanzas, each with the repeating symbol of shadows and the legendary city of gold, Eldorado. The knight in the poem begins his journey with much enthusiasm, becomes discouraged later in life, and is then finally encouraged by his solitary inspiration: his romantic desire for finding Eldorado. The introductory line, ?Gayly bedight,? shows the knight's original enthusiasm and splendor in dress. Throughout the first stanza, the knight retains his motivation in ?sunshine and in shadow,? or in the bad times as well as the good times. Although he has already made a long journey, he is still ?singing a song? to show his lack of discouragement. The poet uses alliteration to emphasize an ?s? sound in the words sunshine, singing, song, and search. This creates a general feeling of an upbeat rhythm. The reader almost wants to sing the poem, rather than read it. At the end of the stanza, the phrase ?In search of Eldorado? shows the knight's continual pursuit for his vision of paradise. The second stanza continues with the ideas of shadows and Eldorado, but each of those terms take on a new twist. The first two lines state the knight's progressed age in comparison with his original boldness. The third line of the stanza, ?And o'er his heart a shadow? shows depression falling upon the knight. The shadow, rather than a symbol of general ups and downs, now stands as a deep discouragement and a depressed spirit. Assonance is used with an ?o? sound in the words old, bold, o'er, shadow, found, ground, looked, and Eldorado to create an atmosphere of age and depression. The last two lines, ?No spot of ground that looked like Eldorado,? convey an emotion of doubt. The knight is now depressed and seems to be questioning whether he will ever find Eldorado. The next stanza progresses the knight's dismay to an extended level. Now, beyond a slight doubt, he is almost ready to forfeit his quest for paradise. The knight is old, and his strength has finally ?failed him at length.? However, before completely giving up, he meets a ?pilgrim shadow.? This shadow, now no longer a symbol of depression, meets him as a companion on the journey. In reality, the shadow is symbolized with personification but also represents a reflection of the knight's own spirit and thoughts. The knight, discouraged and worn out, asks himself where Eldorado can possibly be. In this case, the knight doubts the very existence of Eldorado, or paradise. The last stanza shows a response from ?the shade.? The phrase ?Over the Mountains of the Moon,? implies that paradise lies in unreachable lands. This is emphasized through capitalization. The third line, ?Down the Valley of the Shadow,? is a direct allusion to the biblical reference, Psalms 23:4, ?Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.? This allusion is especially apparent due to capitalization. In this case, the ?Valley of the Shadow? is a reference to death. The knight thinks introspectively and comes to the realization that paradise is unattainable on this earth, but he will not let the discouragements of the world inhibit him from reaching his goal. He will find paradise in Heaven. As a true romantic, he will ?ride, boldly ride? to attain the goal of his passion. The knight lifts himself out of depression and regains his inspiration. The shade replies, ?If you seek for Eldorad o,? telling the knight to get back to his mission. He will follow his passions wherever they lead him, even through death, but he will find paradise. Poetry and Poets

Thomas Becket Essay

Thomas Becket Essay Thomas Becket Essay PFC Moses English 4 10/25/11 Thomas Becket Thomas Becket, more commonly called Thomas of London, was born about the year 1118 in London. His mother was a native of Caen. His father, who camefrom a family of small Norman landowners, had been a citizen of Rouen, but migrated to London before the birth of Thomas, and was once the Sheriff of London. He ended his life though in straitened circumstances. Thomas still received an excellent education. Becket's administrative skills, his charm, intelligence and diplomacy propelled him forward. At the age of ten he was put in a school in Surrey with the canons of Merton priory. later he spent some time in the schools of London, and finally studied theology at Paris. In 1142, a family friend broght Thomas under the notice of Archbishop Theobald to Rome. He also took him to the council of Reims (1148). It seems to have been at some time betweent these dates that he visitited Bologna and Auxerre, and began those studies in the canon law in which he earned a small d egree for. He never made himself an expert jurist. In 1151 he was sent to Rome by the archbishop with instructions to dissuade the Curia from giving approval to the coronation (crowning of a sovereign or a sovereign's consort) Stphen's eldest son Eustace. It is said the Thomas distinguished himself by the ability with which he executed his job. In 1154 he was promoted to be archdeacon of Canterbury, after first taking deacon's orders. In the following year, Henry II, at his recommendation, bestowed on him the important offic of chancellor. Now Thomas controlled the issue of royal writs and the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage, but he had personal fascination upon a prince who was inexperienced, and 13-14 years younger. He became Henry's close friend and was included in all affairs of state. It had been the hope of Theobald that Becket's influence would be exercised to support the privileges which the Church had took from Stephen, but the Chancellor agreed with the in terests of the Church to those of his new master. Under his administration the Church was severely taxed for the prosecution of Henry's foregn wars; and the chancellor became subject to the reproach "of pluging his sword into the bowles of his mother." It was Thomas who organized the Toulouse campaign of 1159; even in the field he made himself suspicious by commanding a company of knights, directing the work of destruction, and supervising the conduct of the war after the king had withdrawn his presence from the camp. When there was war with France upon the Norman border, the chancellor acted as Henry's representative; and on one occasion engage in single combat and unhorsed a French knight of very high prestige. Later it fell to his part to arrang eth terms of peace with france. He discharged the duties of an envoy with equal magnficence, with which he made the treaty of May 1160, which put an end to the war. In 1162 he was transferred to a new place of action. Henry put on him the see of canterbury, left empty by the death of Theobald. This casued some talk, since Becket, at the time when it was made, was still a simple deacon. Becket, however, disappointed all the expectations. He did not allow himself to be made the king's tool; nor did he attempt to protect the Church by humoring the king in ordinary matters. he devoted himself to ascetic practices, confined himself to the society of churchmen, and resigned the chancellorship. Now he was on the worst terms with the king before a year had gone by. they came into another conflict at the council of Woodstok on July 1163, wehn Becket successfully opposed the king's proposal that a land-tax, known as the sheriff's aid, wich formed part of that official's slary, should then forward be paid into the Exchequer. It was fortunate for Becket's reputation that Henry punished him for his change of front by a systematic persecution in the forms of law. The archbishop was then able

Trade preferences for developing countries Essay

Trade preferences for developing countries - Essay Example On the other hand, in 2005, the OECD3 conducted an empirical research and reached to the conclusion that multilateral trade liberalization implemented by the EU has resulted in comparatively higher sizeable corrosion of predilections than the liberalization processes implemented by countries like Canada, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Thus, the importance of the trade preferences provided by the EU proved to be relatively less in comparison with the preferential schemes provided by other countries. The conclusion of OECD has also been maintained by Nilsson in his empirical research conducted in 2007. In the year of 2007, Persson and Wilhelmsson4 put their effort to find that some particular EU preferential deals had produced great impacts, specifically the schemes that were offered to the Pacific countries as well as the African Caribbean nations. These kinds of findings had earlier been reported by Nilsson in 20025. However, the preference schemes of a donor country should be seen with respect to the overall trade openness of the donor. For instance, if a benefactor does not have a high figure relating to the imports covered under the preferential schemes, then this would result in the entrance of a bulky share of the donor’s imports under the mechanism of MFN-0 tariffs. In this case, the capacity for preferences is limited as well. As a result, no matter whether the utilization of the rate of preferences in such state of affairs is high or low, it no longer becomes so vital. For getting an accurate picture of the openness of a donor to imports from less developed or developing nations, it is vital to study the share and the quantity of imported commodities entering the EU under the scheme of MFN-0, the proportion and volume of dutiable imports, the proportion of imports entitled to preferential arrangements, and, finally, the rate of preference utilization. This paper will put its effort to examinee the impact of EU trade preferences towards developing countries with special focus on India on the basis of existing literatures. However, before moving onto analyzing the impact, the paper will discuss the existing trade preference scheme. Then, it will consider general impact on developing countries a s a whole and finally it will put its special focus on India. Scope and coverage of trade preferences forwarded by EU: The fundamental principle of World Trade Organization is to practice the non-discriminating attitudes among the trading partners. However, it has been accepted that the developing nations should get favored treatment, compatible with their relatively disadvantageous economic situations. During 1971, following one of the UNCTAD’s (United Nations Conference on Trade & Development) recommendations, it was pointed out that the nations that had entered into the agreement under the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), predecessor to what is now known as the WTO, had agreed upon on a waiver of ten-y ears for the

Should celebrities who break the law face stricker penalties Research Paper

Should celebrities who break the law face stricker penalties - Research Paper Example Because they are idolized by young people and many of them appear to make a habit of crossing the line, the government should consider handing out more stringent punishments for law-breaking celebrities. Lindsay Lohan entered the limelight as a child fashion model at the age of three. She is best known for her roles in movies such as Herbie, Mean Girls and the remakes of The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. Lohan became a household name because of how well she played goodie-girl-next-door roles. Sadly, Lohan has also become popular due to the number of times she has been asked to appear in court for drinking and driving and other acts of misdemeanor. From May 26, 2007 when she was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) the first time, Lohan had been arrested a second time for DUI and another time for stealing a necklace at a store. (Kunkle, A., 2011) There has also been multiple probation periods served and several fines and bail fees paid. Lohan’s face crying at a heari ng or sitting inside a courtroom with her attorney has been on newspapers, TV and the Internet. Indeed, a celebrity who gets himself or herself tied up with the law makes the newspapers sell. When she played the role of twins in The Parent Trap, Lohan was â€Å"the adorable redhead... who won a Young Artist Award† (James) for the movie. She was a smart, bubbly and talented girl who would have been a very good and influential role model to young people. Most of her characters in her movies are that of a sweet and responsible teenager who always did the right things or learned from her mistakes. Her audience used to adore her. They felt good after watching her movies. Sadly, this has not been the case since 2007. According to Sherry Gaba (2011), a life coach, â€Å"teens not only mimic the clothes, jewelry, and cosmetics celebrities use, but now increasingly see addiction as glamorous.† Because they are celebrities, the media grabs at any opportunity to feature stars lik e Lohan, thinking the hot news will sell more newspapers, etc. What it is actually doing is telling the younger audience, especially those who are very impressionable, that doing drugs or driving under the influence will get you on a TV show or will make people talk about you. Social media has such a powerful effect on the public. Indeed, it is only prudent that when celebrities such as Lohan commit an offense, the media show them being rightly punished and made to serve the punishment, not just have the option to pay fines or bail fees. Another important reason why stricter penalties would be advisable for celebrities is because they themselves do not seem to take existing rules very seriously. Whenever a celebrity is caught committing illegalities, the celebrity’s lawyer is quick to negotiate a way out for his/her client. Because of this, celebrities feel they can just pay their way every time they are caught. Lohan, for example, has appeared in court 20 times, violated her probation 4 times and was allowed to just spend 35 days at her home to relieve jail overcrowding. (Duke) Lohan had been fitted with an electronic bracelet to monitor her movements while on probation, gone to rehab numerous times, failed drug tests several times and had also posted bail, totalling to a $475,000. (Duke) The public has questioned why

The Strategic Importance of the Battle of Fort Donelson Research Paper

The Strategic Importance of the Battle of Fort Donelson - Research Paper Example John Thayer became the leader of the Nebraska regiment. The regiment spent time in Missouri with General John Fremont in preparation for the war. The regiment marched directly through St. Louis where it was reported that several people thronged by the road to witness their hero. In December, the troops were under a constabulary duty to defend their state. The State had experienced some defeats earlier in August and this had caused many fears to the State. To defend them, the State waged a tactical guerilla war and bushwalking to counter their enemies. Major General Sterling Price had managed to confide all the southern in Missouri State with the aid of union forces (Cooling 2003). This force joined another union under the control of Major Brig and Gen. John Pope who struggled to restore peace and order in the northern part. As a trial, the Nebraska participated in a skirmish at Shawnee mound on the Black River. The union managed to capture other hundreds of confederates and the warmo ngers were appreciated for their efforts. By this time, the troupe now was ready for the campaign in 1862. In January 1862, Gen. Ulysses Grant commanded a garrison at Kentucky and convinced the commander of Missouri Gen. Henry Halleck that they were to break the western defense force in order to conquer that State. In this regard, first Donelson, which was near River Tennessee were the weakest and most attractive link between Mississippi and Cumberland Gap. Grant won the support from Andrew Foote and the two launched a strong army, which were determined to win this confederate and bring it under their control. Grant had fears that his troop had few men and thus he had to strengthen his army before he made any move (Palagruto 2010). He used two methods to reinforce his troops as he first stripped his department and eliminated any regiment that could arise as opponent to his mission and secondly, Hallenick made orders that could forward the zealous and untested the Nebraska in order t o test the strength of Nebraska. The Nebraskans boarded a train to St. Louis while the regiment group opted for a steamer train to transport them to join Grant’s troop. Several groups started to arrive at fort Henry and Grant immediately ordered these boats to move further to Cumberland where they could carry out their operations. This was meant to reinforce grant’s operations in fort Donelson. The heavy February rains in the area dismantled transportation along the rivers and at the same time Grant’s troop were facing opposition from stubborn defenders at fort Donelson. The port was not easily conquered as it had several creeks, heavy woods, ravines, and the current floods. The Tennessean fighters were out to defend their land and they managed to guard their guard (Palagruto, 2010). The confederates understood that Tennessee, Mississippi, and Cumberland River were the vital targets by the rebel forces. Thus, they could not allow them to access this area for it linked the North and the South. In addition, the rivers were a major means of transport between the two states that is the South and the North. The Southerners struggled all their best to defend these rivers as the North could easily attack them. The confederate prepared well by constructing Fort Henry along River Tennessee and fort Donelson along river Cumberland to act as protection against their enemies. The two ports