Jfk Cuban Missile Crisis Essay Example for Free

Jfk Cuban Missile Crisis Essay The speech made people aware that action was being taken to prevent any unexpected attacks and that every aspect of the crisis was being looked into. The speech itself upset many Americans and put them into a state of fear, but it also reassured them that Kennedy was aware and ready to take control to protect his country. Kennedy’s impact on the United States was not as remembered for what he did, but more for what he could have done. This particular speech helps illustrate the greater aspects of American history and shows why we are still a united nation. The Kennedy family had a passion for success. The public attention and fame that the family possessed came from â€Å"personal wealth and politics. † (Gale, 1994. Biography In Context) John Kennedy’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was ambassador of the United States and the United Kingdom. His wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was an American philanthropist. The couple had nine children together, John F. Kennedy being the second oldest son. He was born on May 29, 1917. His father put a great deal of his faith into his first born, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. , his goal being to make him president of the United States. With the family’s competitive nature, this caused a lot of rivalry between the two brothers. This issue followed them into their adult lives where â€Å"Jack,† as John was called, and his older brother both went to Choate and Harvard. Kennedy had not had a set plan for pursuing a career, but he was â€Å"certain of eventual American involvement in the expanding war. † (Gale, 1994. Biography In Context) He was assigned to Naval Intelligence in Washington when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was reassigned to sea duty on PT boats. On August 2, 1943, after a Japanese destroyer crashed into Kennedy’s PT-109, he was declared a â€Å"hero† by The New York Times for rescuing the surviving crew members. This story was circulated in each of Kennedy’s campaigns helping him move up as a politician. A year later his older brother, Joseph was killed while on a dangerous volunteer mission in Europe. He died instantly do to the explosion of an aircraft carrying dynamite. Kennedy’s political career really started up around this time because of his feelings of an â€Å"unnamed responsibility† to his parents, brothers, and sisters. In 1946, his father felt it was necessary to have John Kennedy take his brothers place and run for the same seat in Congress John’s grandfather â€Å"Honey Fitz† held nearly five decades earlier. (Gale, 1994. Biography In Context) Kennedy went into politics with no plan or philosophy. Even without direction in his campaign he still did win. People looked at him indifferently due to the fact that he wasn’t very involved in the debates. His health started depleting and it was obvious to the public that he was suffering from illness. He was diagnosed with Addison’s disease in 1947. It is a disease that occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones. He was then given only a few years to live, but when he started his cortisone treatments in 1950, his health improved along with his spirits. In the 1960 Presidential election, Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon by 12,000 votes. Kennedy began his presidency with grace and huge expectations for the nation. His inaugural speech focused on what America’s role was with the rest of the world and his obligations as â€Å"Leader of the Free World. † The Cuban Missile Crisis came about when Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced that Soviets plan to support â€Å"wars of national liberation† against noncommunist regimes around the globe. Kennedy sharpened the American military’s watch on communist rebellion against the government. In April, 1961 he authorized a CIA plan to invade Cuba. The invasion failed horribly at the Bay of Pigs and the U. S. was on the edge of war when President Kennedy confronted Khrushchev about the presence of missile sites in Cuba. After two weeks they had reached a compromise: Soviets would withdraw their missiles in Cuba and the U. S. would withdraw its missiles in Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis speech was given on October 22, 1962 at the White House. It addressed our nation’s allies and enemies along with all American citizens. Kennedy used logos, pathos, and ethos in his address. He used logos by stating â€Å"unmistakable evidence that a series of offensive missile sites are in preparation. He let everybody know that the evidence was proven true and that no lies are coming from the address.

An Introduction To Diabetes Mellitus

An Introduction To Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes mellitus was recognized as early as 1500 B.C. by Egyptian Physicians, who described it as a disease associated with the passage of much urine. The term diabetes (the Greek for Siphon) was coined by the Greek Physician Aretaeus the Cappadocian around A.D.2. In 1674 a physician named Willis coined the term Diabetes Mellitus (from the Greek word for Honey).1, 2 Diabetes mellitus is a complex syndrome that affects multiple organ systems. It is now clear that diabetes is a heterogeneous group of disorders that are elicited secondary to various genetic predispositions and precipitating factors.3 Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that is characterized by disorders in carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. Its central disturbance appears to involve an abnormality either in the secretion of or effects produced by insulin although other factors also may be involved.4 Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which carbohydrate metabolism is reduced while that of proteins and lipids is increased.5 The external secretion of the pancreas is digestive in function and the intestinal secretions play a major role in the regulation of metabolism. The hormones which regulate the level of blood sugar are mainly two; glucagon from the alpha-cells and insulin from the beta-cells of the islets of langerhans.6 Glipizide is 200 times more potent than tolbutamide in evoking pancreatic secretion of insulin. It differs from other oral hypoglycemic drugs where in tolerance to this action apparently does not occur.9 It also upregulates insulin receptors in the periphery, which seems to be the primary action. It has a special status in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus because it is effective in many cases which are resistant to all other oral hypoglycemic drugs. It differs from other oral hypoglycemic drugs ie more effective during eating than during fasting. Over the year controlled drug delivery technology has a wide advances. Due to its high potential a bioadhesive system place a major role in controlling drug release. Mucoadhesive system prolong the residence time of the dosage form at the site of application or absorption and facilitate an therapeutic performance of the drug. Recent interest has been expressed in the delivery of drug via mucus membrane by the use of adhesive materials on which studies are been intensively undertaken.58 Glipizide is an oral antidiabetic drug, belonging to the sulphonylurea group. Presently the drug is marketed in conventional dosage form of tablet in usual strength of 2.5 to 20 mg. When the drug is administered by this route, about 50% of drug is metabolized in the liver to the several inactive metabolites. Hence there is need of the alternative route administration to avoid first pass hepatic metabolism.7 More over the combination of anti-diabetic drugs with NSAIDS are not available in market. Physicochemical properties of this drug like small dose, lipophilicity, stability at buccal pH, odourlessness, tastelessness, low molecular weight etc. makes it an ideal candidate for administration by buccal route. For hydrophilic substances, the rate of absorption is a function of the molecular size. Small molecules (

The Impact Of ECommerce On Tesco Plc Information Technology Essay

The Impact Of ECommerce On Tesco Plc Information Technology Essay In 1919, Jack Cohen founded Tesco as he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London. On his first day, his profit was  £1 with total sales of  £4. In 1924, Jack sold his first own-brand product which was Tesco Tea and this was before the company was called Tesco. The name comes from the initials of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the firm of tea suppliers, and CO from Jacks surname. In 1929 Jack Cohen opens his first Tesco store in Burnt Oak, Edgware, North London. 1932 and Tesco Stores Limited became a private limited company. Two years later in 1934, Jack Cohen bought a plot of land at Angel Road, Edmonton, North London to build a new headquarters and warehouse. It was the first modern food warehouse in the country and introduced new ideas for central stock control. Furthermore, in 1947, Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd floats on the Stock Exchange with a share price of 25p, and in 1956, the first Tesco self-service supermarket opens in a converted cine ma in Maldon. The list below shows further expansion by Tesco PLC within the subsequent years; Annual sales exceed  £2 billion Computerised checkouts introduced into the first Tesco stores 1983 Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd becomes Tesco PLC 1995 Would I Buy It initiative is launched to ensure that products are always of the highest quality for customers Tesco becomes the market-leading food retailer Tesco Clubcard is launched 1996 Tesco launches 24 hour trading 1999 Tesco enters South Korea Tesco launches a new on-line bookstore and on-line banking Tesco publishes supermarket price comparisons on the internet 2000 Tesco.com is launched 2004 Tesco enters China Tesco launches own-brand Fair-trade range Tesco Broadband is launched Tesco.com becomes first major British supermarket to enter music download market 2005 Tesco exits the Taiwanese market in an asset swap deal with Carrefour involving stores and operations in the Czech Republic Tesco Homeplus launches Tesco announces annual profits of  £2 billion 2006 Tesco Direct launches 2009 Tesco launches  www.tesco.com/clothing Clubcard re-launched in the UK with  £150 million investment offering customers the opportunity to double up their vouchers 2010 Tesco opens the worlds first zero-carbon supermarket in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire Tesco opens its first Lifespace mall in Qingdao, China. More information on the history and progress of the company throughout the years can be seen on the companys corporate website. Here are some common Tesco logos that can be seen around; http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaFF1G-B2Pd3iXLWuhEoxiXI2BfXEPatERE12y9CX7VSkScZ http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS9vEIPDWGJMiMAThPnTWaTjp_LHes8YvMuQ5z_T6EhEzgSlyix http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqpNKamt2FQnmOZthlHgFaRLyzlO_oRZDKWZ72QS6agwBy811Jhttp://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTGdVEEIbImv3nFiGQSkonLltz7w77rmlXaaTEEPeMovbxd5iBM http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMe4aTQ6V4FOR4f6ULiORWC8nlEBcjLYJ-wu4ATwiFA8VpNt61 HOW TESCO USED TO DO BUSINESS. In Tescos early days, as seen from the original operations, grocery products were sold from market stalls until the first Tesco store was opened in North London in 1929. Then in 1934, the owner bought a plot of land to build a new headquarters and a warehouse and introduced new ideas for central stock control. In 1956 Tesco opened a self service supermarket in a converted cinema in Maldon which meant that people could go in and pick their own items of interest from the shelves and make their way to checkout points or tills for payment. Initially, Tescos marketing operations would have involved the use of TVs, Radio, newspapers, mail shots and billboards. Then in 1982, computerised checkouts were introduced into the first Tesco stores and the companys annual sales exceeded  £2 billion. Here we can see the integration of computerised operations including the centralised stock control to get a picture of the early stages of e-commerce making its way into the business operations. HOW E-COMMERCE HAS TRANSFORMED TESCOS METHOD OF WORKING. With the integration of computerised systems in operations both at stock control levels, database and checkout levels, Tesco launched the Tesco clubcard which allowed customers to earn points from every purchase they made. This involved a brief registration of the customers name, phone number and address details and the issuance of a personal card but this also meant that the company now had a database of loyal customers and every time these cards were used by a customer, Tesco could tell what had been purchased in order to calculate the points but in the process, the company could make predictions about certain goods and items and they could also send in offers and coupons to customers based on what they thought each individual customer would be interested in, either based on a previous purchase or based on a new product. This greatly allowed customers who had the clubcard to relate to Tesco on an almost personal shopping experience, but the underlying factor here was in the use of this particular e-commerce application amongst others. Then the company launched of the 24 hour trading in 1996, which at that stage had a lot to do with the application of computerised and electronic methods of operation, in ways that could maximise the efficiency of the companys operations from the warehouses to the tills. This involved electronic methods of stock control to assist with constant replenishment when necessary, time management, use of barcodes, Television and radio commercials, coupons and printed flyers promoting the organic range, etc. All this time, Tesco was also busy expanding their International branches to as far as Asia and in 1999, the company launched a new on-line bookstore and on-line banking and also published supermarket price comparisons on the internet. Here again we can see that the companys use of e-commerce is expanding at such a rate that competitors would have had to have their seatbelts well tight in order to catch up with this giant retailer. In the year 2000, Tesco launched Tesco.com which basically began the whole Tesco/internet revolution of shopping online with Tesco for almost every household product that the customers needed. With an online platform to advertise and sell products, Tesco.com had made a way for the company to deliver its grocery goods and some other services to customers in the comfort of their own homes and without the need to go to the stores. This was the closest to maximum convenience both for the customers who could now shop anytime and have their goods delivered at conveniently agreed times, and also for the company who could now reach a wider range of people both socially and geographically while at the same time reducing traffic in the stores. Customers could pick from all sorts of products including the free from products designed for customers with special dietary needs and there was just a wide range of flexibility for the customer regarding the whole shopping experience. Nowadays, the comp any can be accessed instantaneously via the World Wide Web on computers, laptops and even the mobile phone. Internally, the use of email, fax, databases, computer programmes, intranet and internet has enabled Tesco to maximise its operational capabilities as information can be accessed, processed and sent around important divisions within a short period of time. I.e. functions of purchasing, supply, accounts, management, marketing, sales, etc. Below are some Advantages and disadvantages of E-commerce to TESCO. THE ADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE. Elderly and disabled customers can shop within the comfort of their homes and all customers have access to a wider range of providers to choose from thereby enabling customer empowerment. Heightened customer service as customers are enabled to find detailed information online, and intelligent agents can also answer standard e-mail questions in seconds. Also, reviews posted by other customers about the products purchased on a website can help with decision making for the customer. The use of phone and e-mail has also improved communications between the company and the customer as queries and enquiries are usually made directly via these mediums. Customers also have a wider product range to choose from as they can view the contents of an entire store without physically walking around it, plus round the clock operations online which makes shopping accessible to customers on 24/7 basis. Reduces Time and money spent as travel time and cost, to and from the store, is eliminated, and with online vendors selling different product ranges at different prices, customers can find a product that best suits their financial and qualitative demands. In some cases, companies will often offer the same products for less if it is purchased online. E-commerce benefits for the company. Globalisation in terms of product promotion and sales to reach a wider range of consumers. More efficient inventory management and stock control to maximise product availability. Just in Time (JIT) warehousing to eliminate Location and availability restrictions thus saving costs for both the company and the customer. Corporate image to establish identity and trust which is necessary for direct sales and to affirm the brand image. The use of computerised databases, fax, email, computer-aided designs, intranet and the internet as a whole has also equipped Tesco with some necessary tools for maximising operations and communications. From sourcing and dealing with suppliers of products via email, phone and fax, through to marketing towards in-store and online sales and promotions via Television, radio, electronic billboards, internet sites , and finally for customer support via phone, email, etc, e-commerce has completely transformed how Tesco works today. THE DISADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE. Security and privacy of personal information as a lot of people are still quite sceptical about using their personal bank details for shopping online. Programmes like viruses could cause a website to shut down and could also affect customers computers as a result of using the website. Product quality and delivery of items could be different from what the customer might be expecting. Internet speed and bandwidth in certain areas may make it difficult for customers to use the website hassle free. Staffing. The more e-commerce improves, the less human labour that is required to carry out certain tasks and this can cause a lot of human positions to become downsized or rendered totally obsolete which is not favourable to the workers. This has also led to the addition of new skill sets (to cope with new operations) which could mean new staff, new job roles and titles, and in some cases also involves retraining current staff in order to keep up with technological changes and all these have had its financial costs to the company coupled with the financial costs of implementing the hardware needed for particular e-commerce- related upgrades. There have also been some social costs as a result of e-commerce as there are now new job roles and titles which people have to adapt to via a cultural change. Also, since most items can be sold online to a much wider audience while cutting the costs of traditional retailing methods, a company does not have to spend so much on an expensive High Street presence and this in turn means that the traditional social gathering of shoppers is gradually fading away. RISKS INCURRED IN INTRODUCING E-COMMERCE TO THE ORGANISATION Social Risks. In addition to the potential loss of revenue that declines in employee productivity can create due to certain applications of e-commerce, an inappropriate use of the companys resources can also put a strain on business infrastructure and therefore result in performance and availability issues, causing users who are participating in work-related activities to experience a slow down. Information risk is another social risk that is impacted by employee use of company resources for personal reasons. Protecting information assets from destruction, loss and corruption is an important preventative measure. As employees use the internet for activities such as shopping, social networking and web surfing, the threats to the company information assets are greatly increased. If employees are using these devices to access personal e-mail accounts or shop online, or are using their work e-mail accounts in relation to shopping, phishing becomes more likely. Phishing can result in many damaging scenarios for enterprises such as loss of customer data, loss of enterprise intellectual property and damage to enterprise data. Social risks on the part of the customers can involve trust for a company in using their services online, putting out their personal information for transactions on-line, and even a change from the old tradition of shopping to a completely new system of doing things. Unregulated on-line buying could become a significant social problem as e-commerce spreads. The compulsive buying tendencies of certain consumers coupled with their affinity for the Internet is cause for special concern. Beyond inefficiency in markets, there will be social costs from reduced productivity, personal bankruptcies, disrupted families and ruined lives. Chasing the problem with credit and psychiatric counselling will be expensive both in terms of tax dollars and human lives. By way of prevention, existing fair trade practices prohibiting deceptive promotions and pricing should be extended to e-commerce. Fortunately, many people recover from addictions on their own and many more can learn the self-control required to avoid them, with a little help. Software developed within the Internet community could help on-line consumers maintain self-regulation. It could extend bundling by automatically totalling purchases across sites and sessions and provide a running on-screen meter of expenditures and time spent shopping, to promote self-observation. Automatic filtering of sites, types of products, or product stimuli (e.g., jpg files with product images) that foster excessive purchases would reduce exposure to shopping stimuli. To bolster the judgmental sub-function, shoppers could be prompted to make a shopping list before entering e-commerce sites and receive on-screen warnings when they surpassed referential norms or family budgets. Self-reactions could be prompted by forcing shoppers to re-allocate budgets, relate unplanned purchases to initial shopping objectives or respond to remonstrative e-mails from significant others before completing a purchase. Financial Risks. All companies face financial risk, even if they only operate via the Internet. E-Commerce companies may face a harder time securing external financing because they may not have a lot of physical assets to use as collateral or indicate their long-term viability as a company. Banks and other lenders may require a higher level of personal capital involvement by owners and officers before lending money to the company. Generating a positive daily cash flow may also be difficult because of the fees involved with website protection, hosting, electronic shopping carts and credit card companies. These fees are required by vendors of E-Commerce companies and cannot be avoided. To mitigate these risks, E-Commerce companies must employ accountants or use a public accounting firm to ensure that no internal waste of cash is going on and all expenses are relevant to the operation of the company. Since there are regulations surrounding data protection, consumer protection, distance selling regulations, etc, the company faces a huge financial risk if any of these security measures are breached, and such measures could potentially cause the business to go bankrupt. In general, the security systems needed in place to ensure safety of customer information as well as physical infrastructure of setting up an entire e-commerce system, failure of the hardware and/or software, attack via virus or computer hacker, fire and flooding all poses serious financial risks to the company if the revenue does not meet up with the expenditure used to secure these factors. THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE ON ITS CONSUMERS. E-commerce has completely changed the way people look at making purchases and spending their money. It has certainly had some positive as well as negative impacts on the consumers. The Tesco system has been active in making sure that the consumers experience the positives while almost making the negatives non-existent. This system of commerce has affected consumers in the way that many people can now do most or all of their shopping on-line and within the comfort of their homes or anywhere with a computer and internet connection. This can especially come handy for people with very busy lifestyles, the aged or disabled people. This has translated as a kind of empowerment as people can make purchases round the clock and even have their goods delivered at suitable times as well. Also, customer service with e-commerce has enabled consumers to have access to a wide range of specific and detailed information about their goods and purchases online. Intelligent agents can answer standard e-mail queries in record time and the use of help desk software allows human expert services to be expedited with minimal stress. Consumers can now also make use of a service that allows them to fully customise their products and services in contrast to buying in a store where products are usually merely standard. E-commerce has also allowed people who would otherwise not be interested in the physical side of technology to have somewhat basic ideas of the systems they need to operate in order to make use of the e-commerce systems which in turn is a kind of education in terms of having that new knowledge of how things work. In the case of the Tesco club card, consumers have been greatly impacted as they feel a personal connection with their retailer of choice that seems to give something back in the way of points and also make relevant offers based on previous purchases or potentially relevant products. All in all, from the stores using electronic check-outs, centralised stock control, etc to the website where consumers just place their orders and wait for delivery to their doorsteps, e-commerce has had a generally positive impact on its consumers. HOW TESCO MET THE CHALLENGE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY. IT systems have played a key role in helping Tesco deliver strong profits. The Tesco website, in which it has invested heavily in during recent years, saw profits leap by 21 per cent to  £48 million, on the back of an almost equal percentage sales rise. Online grocery orders have lifted by 10 per cent to  £7.5 million. The company has always been ahead in embracing and implementing new technology with an open-minded and optimistic approach despite the social and financial challenges. Advanced in-store queuing systems had improved shopping for 26 million of its customers by reducing checkout lines, Tesco said. The supermarket chain is using heat-sensing technology to monitor lines at tills. It also said improved scanners, better self service tills, and checkout cameras were helping it reduce queues. Self-service checkouts now account for a fifth of all of Tesco transactions. The supermarket took steps in 2008 to ready its technology for the Christmas sales peak, implementing ExpeT une performance management software from Macro 4 to manage its mainframe servers. Tesco has invested heavily in IT over the years, and this has played a strong role in improving sales, the supply chain, and efficiency across the company. The company has an in-house designed supply chain application, running on IBM system p servers based on UNIX. The companys five-year old warehouse in Croydon, which serves south-east London customers only and was also the companys first dedicated online hub, became profitable in 2008. The warehouse handles orders with a value of over  £1 million per week. Sales in non-food business Tesco Direct increased to  £180 million from a virtual standing start. The business, which is part of Tescos general merchandise division and has 11,000 items for sale online, had start-up costs and initial operating losses totalling around  £25m this year. Tesco said it is aiming to absorb these losses. Launched in 2006, Tesco Direct experienced IT problems that re portedly delayed its opening. The supermarket giant has 3,000 staff working at its offshore site in India, providing IT and administrative support around the world, including the recently launched US operation Fresh n Easy. The Indian site provides software development, as well as accounting and payroll services. Tesco also has a long running application development deal with Steria-owned outsourcer Xansa, targeted at ensuring its systems are up to date and in line with business needs. In store, Tesco continued to benefit from thermal imaging technology at checkouts, which speeds up queues and helps the store manage the flow of people and direct them to other tills. The company has a one in front policy, meaning that if more than one customer is in front of anyone at a checkout; it aims to open another till if one is available. Outsourcing and partnerships are other ways in which Tesco has been able to meet new technological challenges. In the case of their energy consumption, Tesco has outsourced the monitoring and regulation of this function to the HSE group to achieve the targeted reduced energy and carbon emissions by monitoring the plant and systems installed to ensure that they run and operate at their optimum. Their scope of services include: Energy monitoring, Plant performance, Management information, System improvement, Minor works and Maintenance. Their key objectives were To monitor the performance of new technologies, To provide feedback on plant and system performance, Management information is provided in a usable format and on a timely basis, Incremental improvements that will contribute to ongoing savings are identified and implemented, To be able to share findings from system performance, technologies and innovations. We have learned from our experience that there is often a frustrating gap between being able to identify the technology that is needed whether on low-energy lighting or lower-emissions refrigeration and being able to purchase and apply that technology commercially. We will work with our suppliers to reduce and hopefully eliminate this gap. Sir Terry Leahy (former CE0 of Tesco Plc). With the pace of consumer technology rapidly developing, Tesco now stocks an increased range of electrical products in-store and online. Responding to consumer demand, the retailer introduced Tesco Tech Support in 2008, making friendly faces available to expertly answer consumer technology queries, guiding them to choose the right product. Continuing to grow, the service now has more than 1000 expert advisors across the UK at 200 Tesco Extra stores and a dedicated UK call centre. The new http:///www.tescotechsupport.com website was created by an in-house team at FuturePlus. The site supplements dedicated online editorial content with all-new how-to tech videos fronted by Tesco Tech Support employees. THE SECURITY ISSUES IT ENCOUNTERED. TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES. Some of the technological security issues the company encountered include the following which could have had disastrous effects on the organisation; User authentication: A user name and password combination, where the password can vary in length and include numbers and characters. Remember to include a system that prompts employees to change their passwords at regular intervals. Viruses: A computer virus is a bug that affects your computer in many ways, it can come from almost any source like disks but mostly from the internet or emails, it can copy itself and manipulate a computers files. It can alter or even destroy company computers and also the computers of users who log on to such services. By installing anti-virus protection, the company can protect against viruses from affecting the computer. Firewalls and performance: Effectively, installing a firewall can slow down the computer depending on what it does, and where it came from. Firewalls are programs that monitor traffic, which is the incoming and outgoing data communication that takes place when the user is online. The software needs to be configured to permit or deny communication with websites, as chosen by the user. In general, once configured, there is no real impact on the performance of websites, but it can take time to set up the relevant permissions between the site and the users computer. SSL (secure sockets layer) and HTTPS: A popular implementation of public-key encryption is the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Originally developed by Netscape, SSL is an Internet security protocol used by Internet browsers and Web servers to transmit sensitive information. SSL has become part of an overall security protocol known as Transport Layer Security (TLS). Https is not a separate protocol, but refers to the combination of a normal HTTP interaction over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection. This ensures reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks. RSA Certificates: A digital signature is basically a way to ensure that an electronic document (e-mail, spreadsheet, text file, etc.) is authentic. Authentic means that the user knows who created the document and you know that it has not been altered in any way since that person created it. Digital signatures rely on certain types of encryption to ensure authentication. Encryption is the process of taking all the data that one computer is sending to another and encoding it into a form that only the other computer will be able to decode. Authentication is the process of verifying that information is coming from a trusted source. These two processes work hand in hand for digital signatures. FINANCIAL ISSUES. Prevention of Hacking and Identity Theft: Identity theft is when a hacker gets through to a users computer via a virus and acquires their personal credit card details, and then uses the details for their own personal use. Hackers get in to the computer system through ports, when the ports are open the hacker can get in, this may be with viruses or other means, users can stop hackers by installing a firewall onto the computer which blocks off the ports so hackers cant get through. Payment systems: using payment cards online has always given cause for concern as the information contained in them is quite delicate. The introduction of services like PayPal have ensure that consumers have a reasonable amount of confidence in using online service that require some sort of payment for products or services. PHYSICAL ISSUES Physical issues include factors like access to both company and customer information by employees through mediums that make it all too easy to tamper with, destroy, or steal such sensitive information. HOW THE COMPANY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF NEW DISTRIBUTION AND SALES CHANNELS. With the integration of computerised systems of data processing and communications, the company had expanded their capabilities in the area of sales and distribution. Products could be sold through channels like the Television, on radio, on billboards, via email, via the internet and affiliate websites, flyers, coupons and even by text on mobile phones. Tesco used all their available resources and avenues to make sure their products were available to a large consumer base both locally and internationally. The application of call centres which made use of numerous phone and computer systems meant that the process from marketing to sales could be run by a unit of dedicated employees. Tescos distribution network in the UK was among the best in the world. The company emphasized the importance of putting resources to the maximum use. Tesco stores in the UK received two deliveries a day one a fill up delivery and the other, a top up delivery. To keep the things simple for customers as well as for employees, Tesco adopted several new systems such as electronic shelf edge labelling all across the store, through which prices could be changed from a single central point; self scanning tills; self service pre-packaged products, coffee shop on mezzanine floor and also merchandising of fresh produce. Things like next day delivery and named day delivery have also been effective in maximising the use of these new sales channels. For existing customers, email marketing and direct mail marketing to provide special offers and promotions to customers is important. According to Humby (2003), e-retailer Tesco.com use what he describes as a commitment-based segmentation or loyalty l adder which is based on time of purchase, frequency of purchase and value which is used to identify 6 lifecycle categories which are then further divided to target communications: Logged-on Cautionary Developing Established Dedicated Logged-off (the aim here is to win back) Tesco then use automated event-triggered messaging can be created to encourage continued purchase. For example, Tesco.com has a touch strategy which includes a sequence of follow-up communications triggered after different events in the customer lifecycle. In the example given below, communications after event 1 are intended to achieve the objective of converting a web site visitor to action; communications after event 2 are intended to move the customer from a first time purchaser to a regular purchaser and for event 3 to reactivate lapsed purchasers. THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE ON THE BUSINESS. Selling through websites is the fastest growing method of trading worldwide. There are two main forms of e-commerce: Business to business (B2B) trading where companies trade and exchange information using the World Wide Web. Business to consumer (B2C) trading where companies deal directly with customers through web pages, and ordering is carried out online. Trading online enables businesses to reach much wider audiences while cutting the costs of traditional retailing methods. For example, an e-tailer does not have to spend so much on an expensive High Street presence. Although the outlay on developing a good website is substantial the potential benefits can be enormous. There have been impacts on direct marketing where promotion of products and services have been enhanced through direct, information rich, detailed and interactive contact with consumers. The cost of delivering relevant information and digitized products to customers over the internet is results in substantial savings to the company when compared with traditional methods of delivery. The process of delivery, cycle times, administrative work and time spent on other fu

I like It like That :: essays research papers

I Like it Like That is a commentary on the struggles of a Latino family trying to survive in a Bronx community in New York City. It tells the story of Lisette Linares, a young black Latina who lives with her bicycle-messenger husband Chino and their three children Li'l C, Minnie, and Pee Wee in a perpetually cramped walkup on Findlay and 167th in the Bronx. The story begins with a bleak existence for our main character Lisette. Although the streets of the inner city constantly boil with activity and her husband leaves her wanting for nothing in the bedroom she is stifled and bored. Chino is the sole provider for the family and insists that his wife stay in her proper place at home with the children. The children are terrors and the oldest is experimenting with drug trafficking. Lisette feels helpless to change or rectify the situation. The struggles of this family are a direct response to the gender roles seen in Lisette and Chino. There are two questions in this film concerning gender roles, what is a man and what is a woman. In the Latino community the definitions of man and woman are clearly defined. The man is the provider and leader of his family. The man works and makes sure that the family has enough of the material things they need. The man clearly defines the rules of the household including the way the woman and children should behave. The woman is responsible for the home and the children’s emotional needs. The woman organizes the household responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, budgeting where the money is absolutely necessary and making sure the house runs in the regulations laid out by the man. This may include things like dinner on the table when he gets home from work or pleasing the man’s sexual desire on his time schedule. The woman is also responsible for the emotional well being of the children. It is the woman’s duty to make sure that her children are happy, health y and not leading morally reprehensible lifestyles. The first question, what is a man, can be clearly seen in the character of Chino. Chino begins the film as a true â€Å"machismo.† He is arrogant, demanding and obsessive. He expects his wife to fulfill his very need. Chino treats Lisette like she is a possession demanding she be subservient to him.

The History of the Coffeehouse :: essays research papers

The first coffeehouse the world had ever seen was founded in Constantinople, just becoming Istanbul in 1475. It was such a huge success that right after it opened, two more appeared. So began a fascination with coffee that would last 300 more years. The reason the first coffeehouse did not open in, say, England, was location. Since Turkey was only a quick sail away from the original brewer of coffee, Arabia, traders could get the coffee to the city with minimal effort. The Europeans were completely out of the coffee trading loop until coffee began to make it’s way into the hands of Venetian traders, leading the Italians to be the first Europeans to found coffeehouses. Slowly, coffeehouses came to open in England as well, the first opening in 1652. However, there was still the problem of transporting all that coffee from Turkey or the Middle East, a costly business. This problem was solved when the Turks, defeated in battle, left sacks upon sacks of the flavorful beans behind i n parts of Europe. This created an abundance of coffee houses in Vienna, where there was large amounts of this left-behind coffee. Eventually, the storehouses began to run low on coffee, now very much in demand with the Europeans. You may be wondering, why didn’t they just grow some coffee? First of all, the merchants who sold the beans knew this, and sold the beans in non growing conditions (such as already ground up.) Secondly, people did try to grow coffee- but on European soil, the beans that were usable floundered and died. If they managed to get usable coffee beans at all, (it was illegal to get them) you wouldn’t have nearly enough to support even the smallest coffeehouse for a week. The Dutch trading companies knew all this, but they came up with a new, radical notion- why not get some beans, but grow them not in Europe but in the East Indies! So the Dutch smuggled a small amount of un ground or processed coffee beans out of the Arabian port of Mocha, then shipped them to Ceylon and the East Indies for cultivation. 30 years later, a French naval officer named Gabriel De Clieu sailed for the Caribbean island of Martinique. When he arrived, he happened to be carrying some un cultivated coff ee beans. (We’ll never know how those got there.) He casually sold it to the locals, unwittingly starting one of the world’s largest coffee producers.

Modernism: A Critical Analysis

T. S. Eliot did not invent modernism in literature, but his poem The Waste Land (1922) expresses more distinctly than anyone else what the modernist endeavor really was. More than a poem, it was an occasion, a cry that defined a moment in time, and which it is not possible to repeat. Eliot himself declared that he had moved on from the style of The Waste Land immediately after. Shortly after its publication he expressed in a private correspondence, â€Å"As for The Waste Land, that is a thing of the past so far as I am concerned and I am now feeling toward a new form and style† (qtd. in Chinitz 69).The Hollow Men (1926) is nothing as fragmentary, chaotic and nihilistic as is the 1922 poem. In The Waste Land we seem he hear an unalloyed expression of despair; the despair that purposeful art in no more possible in â€Å"the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history† (qtd. in Sigg 182). Yet the poem is not a complete negation of art. It manages a sort of coherence towards the end, in which we may read a suggestion that art may still be possible amidst desolate meaninglessness of the modern age.The First World War is the event that finally shattered the cozy certainties of the Victorian age. At a more protean level, it annulled the optimism of the humanist endeavor which gave rise to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the scientific world view. It is significant that the major part of this endeavor was carried out in art and literature. In the aftermath to the Great War came disillusionment, because it was widely perceived that progress did not bring peace but war – the most brutal and mindless sort. It was not just corpses and rubble that littered Europe, but the Western psyche too was littered with rubble.The Waste Land is essentially a collection of fragments from the tradition of literature. The ultimate statement made by Eliot is that there is no more meaning in which the artist can take his tradition and f urther it. Yet he cannot abandon the past either, for his identity is still contained within those fragments. â€Å"These fragments I have shored against my ruins,† says the Fisher King, who is not able to redeem the wasteland that stretches before him (Eliot 69). This expresses the core sentiment of the poem, which is in the end a mere collection of literary fragments. It is a demonstration of what the function of the artist has become, for the message of Eliot is that the artist is indeed reduced to gathering debris from his cultural past.Eliot’s poem is not meant to be imitated. Its function is to locate the spirit of the age and give it voice. So successful was it in this latter role that many of its literary features began to be adopted, especially so in the novel form, towards the creation of the modernist novel. The most common feature of this fiction is the dysfunctional and alienated protagonist in an urban setting who struggles against encroaching meaningless ness. Of this fiction Federman says, â€Å"The creatures of the new fiction will be as changeable, as illusory, as nameless, as unnamable, as fraudulent, as unpredictable as the discourse that makes them† (12).To render such a narrative effective novelists were soon employing a device known as â€Å"stream of consciousness†. It sacrifices coherence for an effect which seems to suggest that we are privy to the unexpurgated thoughts and impressions of the protagonist. Ulysses by James Joyce is composed entirely I this mode, and another novelist who use this method effectively is Virginia Woolf. Most often it is used for effect in novels which retain some meaningfulness, therefore are not entirely nihilistic. In such novels we identify the contining search for possibilities in art which Eliot had instigated.The novels of Franz Kafka use the conventional narrative voice, yet depict a world that is fragmented and devoid of meaning. The protagonist in The Trial wakes up one morning to discover that he is under arrest, subject to trial, but free to move about in the meantime. There is no immediate explanation of his wrong-doing, and none is forthcoming as the trial grinds on. Not only self-preservation, the protagonist is also seeking for meaning. But the only meaning that emerges is that ‘the system’ has decided that he is â€Å"the accused†, which has set into motion a process whose eventual and inevitable outcome is a brutal execution.Everybody seems to be helpless before the system, both friend and foe. They cannot effect its course, and neither can they extract meaning from it. The state embodies logic, of which Kafka says, â€Å"Logic is doubtless unshakable, but it cannot withstand a man who wants to go on living† (Kafka 263). Instead of war, Kafka’s focus is on the bureaucratization of the modern state, but evokes the same sense of despair and the helplessness of the individual before greater and inexplicable fo rces, the unmistakable stamp of modernism.The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is also considered a modernist novel. Though more famed for his hard-edged realism, in this last effort before his death Hemingway has created a powerful parable of futility. Santiago is a Cuban fisherman who has met bad luck, having not caught a fish for 84 days. On the 85th day he becomes reckless and ventures further into the sea than anyone else before. He hooks a marlin of such tremendous size that it hauls Santiago and his boat around sea for and entire day.The old fisherman is soon locked in an epic battle of strength, guile and wits with the marlin, and expends every last bit of himself for over three days of struggle. Bloodied and drained, he has his catch in the end, which he begins to drag shoreward. But sharks then fall upon the marlin, and the old man cannot battle them off with his harpoon. Though futile, Hemingway suggests that the old man’s struggle has transcendental value.H e makes frequent comparisons between the old man and Christ, and describes the old man in awe of the nobility of the marlin, even while locked in a life and death battle with it. He is described as musing, â€Å"But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers† (Hemingway 75). In its tenor of unremitting futility the novel is modernist. The meaning discovered in the end is transcendental and religious, in which â€Å"the spirit of the individual† is pitched against â€Å"his biological limitations† (Walcutt 275). This is significant when we recall that Eliot too discovered religion later in life.In conclusion, in his poem The Waste Land Eliot expressed a feeling that conventional motivation of the artist was no longer relevant in the modern age, because the aspirations of the previous age, that which had motivated writers and artists in the Victorian era, had been rende red null and void. But at the same time it initiated a new quest in literature, which became a movement known as modernism, and especially employed by novelists. In their novels, which mostly emphasized the meaninglessness of modern existence, the modernist novelist nevertheless tends to dicover transcendental or religious meaning.Works CitedChinitz, David. T.S. Eliot and the Cultural Divide. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.Eliot, Thomas Stearns. The Waste Land and Other Poems. New York: Penguin Classics, 1998.Federman, Raymond. Surfiction: Fiction Now and Tomorrow. Athens OH: Swallow Press, 1975.Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Trans. Willa Muir, Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.Sigg, Eric Whitman. The American T. S. Eliot: A Study of the Early Writings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989.Walcutt, Charles Child. American Literary Naturalism, A Divided Stream. Minneapolis: Universi ty of Minnesota Press, 1974.

A Child’s Voice as Reflected in Victorian and Romantic Poems Essay

Child labor is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues today, as it is association with child maltreatment. Nowadays, children are entitled to several rights and privileges like the rest of a country’s population, which secure and protect them from all the possible abuses and maltreatments that they may experience. Today, people’s resentment and disagreement towards child abuse and child labor can be observed in campaigns, advocacies, television programs, and other kinds of promotional advertisements. Yet, considering this, one may ask, did this societal issue exist during the medieval times, or is it a relatively young societal dilemma? If this issue indeed existed during the earlier times, how did people react to this and what did they do in order to fight this issue? In trying to address these questions, it may be very helpful to understand find out the answers within the messages of the early Victorian and Romantic poets who talked about issues like child labor during their time. The best examples of these Victorian and Romantic poems which reflect messages about child labor and abuse would be Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s The Cry of Children and William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper. â€Å"The Cry of the Children† by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a Victorian poet who has been once known for her very emotional and moving poem entitled, The Cry of the Children. The Cry of the Children expresses the poet’s resentment and bitterness towards the fact that there were children of her time who were exposed to such very grueling and physically challenging tasks and jobs that can only be done efficiently by adults. The most predominant idea which covers Browning’s poem is the weeping of the distressed and miserable children. She describes in detail how painful, dark, and negative these children’s view of life has become because of the sufferings and pains they experience as they complete each day’s work. She also reveals the insensitivity and cruelty of â€Å"tyrants† who never cared about these children’s rights and privileges, as reflected in these lines: â€Å"Our blood splashes upward, O our tyrants / And your purple shews your path; / But the child’s sob curseth deeper in the silence / Than the strong man in his wrath! † (157-160). She expresses her hatred towards seeing these children weep out of exasperation and hopelessness in life. Comparing Browning’s work with that of Blake, her words appear to be more compassionate towards the feelings of abused children. Her words also sound like she is attempting to debunk everything which tolerates and allows the forceful child labor acts which put the children of the society in such a very demoralized and downgraded situation. This is also one factor which makes her work more heartrending and emotionally-moving compared to Blake’s work. ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ by William Blake The Chimney Sweeper by the Romantic poet William Blake primarily talks about the life of children who are required by their life and economic status to work as chimney sweepers. In a short and very simply-written prose, Blake reveals the feelings and perceptions of children towards an activity which adults consider as work but which they regard as their life. Comparing Blake’s work with that of Browning’s, it can be said that his poem appears to be a mere representation and reflection of the realities of these children’s lives as juvenile workers. He presents how such children consider hard-work and perseverance as the essential values they must possess in order to live. This idea can clearly be observed in these lines: â€Å"And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark / And got with our bags & our brushes to work. / Tho’ the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; / So if all do their duty they need not fear harm† (20-24). In a lot of ways, Blake’s poem does not reveal and expound much on the emotional pains and sufferings the children felt as much as how Browning’s poem does. Blake’s The Chimney Sweepers provides the impression that it only depicts what chimney sweepers do and how they feel about working hard, unlike Browning’s explicit emphasis on the maltreatment and abuse aspect of child labor. Comparing Victorian and Romantic Poems’ Sympathy on Child Labor Cause Although Browning represents the Victorian genre of literature and Blake, on the other hand, the Romantic field, the entirety of both genres cannot be judged and evaluated by looking at the works of these two poets alone. However, if the works of Browning and Blake would be used as the basis of comparison, it can be said that the Victorian genre of literature, as represented by Browning, appears to express more sympathy towards children in the issue of child labor as compared to the Romantics, as portrayed in Blake’s poetry. Also, based on the strength and dynamics of the words used, it can be observed that Browning’s stanzas are undeniably more sympathetic and compassionate towards children. Her poem also shows more concern and empathy to what children experience and go through everyday which they do not actually deserve. However, although Blake’s poem does not appear to be as much sympathetic and compassionate towards working children, it at least provides a good picture and representation of the kind of life that working children of his time led. Works Cited Blake, William. â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper. † The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 2. 8th Ed. Eds. Meyer Howard Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. Pennsylvania: W. W. Norton and Co. , Inc. , 2005. 85 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. â€Å"The Cry of the Children. † The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 2. 8th Ed. Eds. Meyer Howard Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. Pennsylvania: W. W. Norton and Co. , Inc. , 2005. 1079.