Geographic Information Systems essays

Geographic Information Systems essays The rapid development of technology has led to advancements that have had a direct impact on the improvement of our military. Weapons have become more effective and the use of satellite imagery has helped reduce the amount of lives lost during conventional warfare. Although not often contemplated, geography and its subcomponents are a critical element of any successful military campaign. U.S. military personnel must plan for environmental factors as well as enemy tactics to ensure a successful campaign. In light of the recent events that have placed our country on the inevitable brink of war, the United States military must continue to implement systems and standards that maximize effectiveness while minimizing casualties. Should the United States military use Geographic Information Systems? The military uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to help understand terrain and its effect on battlefield support ("In Search of Military GIS" 1). By becoming more cognizant of terrain conditions, the United States military has become the most lethal and efficient military in the world. Understanding terrain has been important to military operations for roughly 1000 years ("The Role of Geographic Information Systems on the Electronic Battlefield" 1). Many great battles have been won and lost due to geography. Elements such as terrain, weather and soil can have a major impact on the outcome of a battle. Napoleon's attempt to enter Russia just before the Russian winter is probably the most glaring example of what can happen if geography is not weighed in military plans. The world is constantly changing but a map cannot. Once it is created it starts to become out of date ("GIS for Defense" 2). Areas that were once heavily forested can be destroyed by fire. Floods can destroy roads that serve as major thoroughfares. Should these disasters or any other natural or man-made occurrences take place, the map created suddenly become...

Review/Summary of the movie Born on the 4th of July Review

/Summary of the Born on the 4th of July - Movie Review Example (Special references to the protagonist Ron Kovic and the problems faced by him during and after his involvement in the Vietnam War). Brief plot summary: The film focuses upon the protagonist’s life during and after the Vietnam War. As a normal individual, his life was with full of peace and happiness. But his involvement in Vietnam War undertaken by his motherland (America) forced him to be in the warfront. Meanwhile, he did realize the problems faced by the marines during war. During an attack, Ron Kovic became permanently paralyzed and it forced him to shrink into his personal domain. This alienation from his public domain and family helped him to realize the futility of war and the importance of international peace. So, he decided to react and was fully immersed in the propaganda against war. Review: One can easily identify that the film is based upon the life history of the Vietnam War veteran, Ron Kovic. The director tries to unveil the futility of war, the psychological trauma created by war and the need of international cooperation to regain peace. The director makes use of the protagonist as an innovative tool to unleash his ideas upon the futility of war.

Moral Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Moral Management - Research Paper Example This paper discuses the concept of moral management in the current business world. Vogel (2005: 51) argues that the objective of management â€Å"is to offer direction, develop commitment, facilitate change and achieve results through creative, effective and responsible use of people and other resources†. Morals on the other hand deal with personal or organizational behavior or a belief regarding what is acceptable or not suitable to do or engage in. In this case, moral management in business organizations and in the society entails the deliberate engagement of people to perform particular tasks that are morally acceptable in the organization. Morals and ethical standing of an organization determines how the public perceives it (Vogel, 2005). For long period, the public gauges the moral standards of an organization using honesty and ethical elements of its management. In this regard, businesspersons are ranked differently depending of there area of specialization or engagement . Aguilar (1994) lists several business professionals that have consistently been ranked low by the public in the last four decades. These include stockbrokers, contractors, car salespersons, advertisement practitioners, insurance agents in addition to real estate agents. The moral and ethical standings of the practitioners who engage in these lines of business in the public view have lower ethical standings compared with other professions including teaching or medicine. Irrespective of the line of the business, that a person or an organization is engaged in, it is important to entrench pragmatic moral practices in order to gain public confidence in the organization that would in turn enhance its performance. In the current competitive and challenging business environment, Baron (2001) notes that customers are more aware of their rights and loyalty to a particular brand or an organization is not enough to maintain them. In view of the current highly globalized world, the issue of bu siness ethics and morality is no longer confined in a particular geographical region. The widespread application of information technology, World Wide Web, electronic commerce, in addition to social networking sites have suddenly exposed small and large enterprises to global scrutiny and this trend underlies the importance of moral management. Similarly, the emerging technology in other aspects of human existence, such as medicine and biotechnology continues to elicit many ethical and moral issues in respect to their application, regardless of the benefits that they offer to humanity. To address these issues in view of globalization and developing technologies, it is important to look at the enduring management practices, their challenges in the business environment and how they need to change to address the merging business moral management issues. In this regard, it is important to investigate moral, immoral and amoral management in order to make a clear distinction among them. Ba ron (2001) argues that immoral management established the foundation of the business ethics discipline. According to Brekke and Karine (2003), unethical and immoral practices in an organization are identical. In this regard, they define immoral management as an organizational practice that not only lacks ethical principles but also in opposition to what is just or right. Therefore, immoral management

Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Software Essay

Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Software - Essay Example Some of these advantages include; It is quite interesting in the manner the company has recognized the behavior of most technology-savvy people of the present age. As the world continues to face new realities in the wake of technological advancement, young people tend to develop the urge to dress casually. Most organizations however have failed to realize this growing need and have not thereby relaxed the dress code. This is not so for SAS. Here, employees are free to dress casually and are therefore made to feel as part of the organization. The modern employee needs to grow and advance in their career. However, the opportunities for growth are normally very limited due to financial implications and time input. As such, most organizations do not provide these opportunities for their employees. At SAS, such opportunities are certainly abundant. Employees are greatly encouraged to enroll for further training courses at the institute or elsewhere in a bid to enable their advancement and organizational growth. The company has greatly invested in bettering the working conditions for its employees. The availability of plenty of recreational facilities and the well-tended and serene environment provide a very wonderful working environment that encourages creativity and innovation. Moreover, the employees are encouraged to work 35 hours per week. Above all, the company recognizes a good pay as one of the greatest employee motivators. The employees are therefore rewarded with very competitive salaries that greatly encourage them to give their maximum output. Moreover, a good salary scale ensures that the company attracts some of the best brains in the industry so that its mission and vision are better enhanced. In a world troubled by healthcare challenges, SAS recognizes the need to ensure that its employees are least worried by healthcare issues. As such, it has developed a very comprehensive healthcare

My Neighbor Has Guns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

My Neighbor Has Guns - Essay Example Based on these statistics, there has been an intention of reducing violence by restricting guns. However, the issue generates immense controversy in the country. For example, some opines that there should be control on guns as they lead to increased rate of violence. On the other hand, others believe that the increased rate of violence calls for increased gun ownership in the society as it will help give protection. In United States, most of the private citizens own handguns. For example, statistics shows that, in 1990, there were over 200 million guns in private hands of which a third were handguns (Kleck 1). Various reasons resulted to increased gun ownership in the 1960s to 80s. First, there was increased gun ownership in the country was the formation of new households and growing wealth enabling gun owners to get more guns (Kleck 1). Second, there was increased rate of crime among people who previously had no title for guns. Ownership of guns in the neighborhood and homes should be regulated as it leads to unintended accident, intimidation, increased rate of violence, and abuse by weak in society. Guns promote weaker adversaries to attack stronger ones (Kleck 1). Therefore, there should be tight restriction on gun ownership and operation. This occurs as the weak and vulnerable finds it easier to commit a crime that would have been dangerous difficult to carry out, or physically or emotionally difficult (Kleck 1). In fact, guns make the individuals involved having impression that they wield considerable influence that cannot be matched by anyone else. The attacker feels having greater power as compared to the victim. Moreover, gun might make it possible for the aggressor to feel that the planned attack will be advantageous to the points that the victim would not be able to counteract its effect (Kleck 1). Furthermore, the aggressor may have a feel that the victims accumulate enough fear that would make it impossible for them to strike back even if they have physically capability (Kleck 1). Therefore, this relates to the statistics that show that women attack men mainly by use guns (Kleck 1). Moreover, there is more likely that an individual will attack a group rather than a group attacking an individual. Likewise, the immense courage to attack is gained from the fact that one attack from a distance. Moreover, guns lead to unintentional accidents in both homes and neighborhood. Some of the accidents may lead to death or injury of an individual with disastrous consequences. For example, a gun may go off and shoot a family member, and this may lead to guilt and emotional breakdown. A survey carried out from 3003 to 2007 showed that over 500 Americans were killed per year unintentionally with firearms (Hemenway 2). In fact, more of the deaths occurred in homes. Moreover, most of the victims were below 25 years and family or friends accidentally shot the victims (Miller, Hemenway and Barber 1). Consequently, most of the accidental shootings deaths in the homes are due to guns kept in the home. There appears that accidental gun deaths are more vulnerable in areas with more guns (Miller, Hemenway and Barber 1). The result correlates with the statistics that show that accidental firearms deaths are high in states with a high level of guns ownership (Hemenway 2). Moreover, increased access to guns by children leads to

Business Life Cycle Characteristics And Strategies

Business Life Cycle Characteristics And Strategies Every business has its life cycle starting with conception of the idea for a business, then the start up, implementation, growth, maturity and decline. There are a lot of different terms being used for business life cycles parallel, which is also in parallel to the product life cycle. Some of ideas involve only four stages which are the start-up, growth, maturity and decline. Others involve seven stages from start-up, growth, maturity, saturation, decline, renewal and withdrawal. In general, they are practically the same. One is just a more detailed outlook of a business cycle. With time, a business will definitely pass through different stages of development. The 7 Stages of the Business Life Cycle 7 Stages of Business Life Cycle SEED How do you develop your idea into something that may turn into a business? 1: The idea: Whats your idea? What will your product or service that youll offer? Will your business be built from scratch, or do you plan on buying an existing business? 2: Is it feasible? Do you have the skills or experience to be successful at this business? Do you know how much money it will take to start? What are your plans for financing the business? What are your own strengths and weaknesses? Be honest with yourself. 3: Whos your market? Who will be your market? Who will your competition be and what are their strengths and weaknesses? If you dont think you have competition, are you sure? If thats true, is the product or service really wanted? Whats unique about your business that will make people want to buy from you instead of this competition? http://aksbdc.org/small-business-life-cycle/think/ **The seed stage of your business life cycle is when your business is just a thought or an idea. This is the very conception or birth of a new business. Challenge: Most seed stage companies will have to overcome the challenge of market acceptance and pursue one niche opportunity. Do not spread money and time resources too thin. Focus: At this stage of the business the focus is on matching the business opportunity with your skills, experience and passions. Other focal points include: deciding on a business ownership structure, finding professional advisors, and business planning. Money Sources: Early in the business life cycle with no proven market or customers the business will rely on cash from owners, friends and family. Other potential sources include suppliers, customers, government grants and banks. http://www.winonanationalbank.com/BusinessBanking/BusinessLifeCycle.aspx START-UP Initially, a small business owner think about the kind of business he/she wants to make. Then he does a feasibility study about the risks involved, the costs, the demand for the product or services, the potential clients, the marketability of the offering all these things are considered at the seed phase. He also thinks about where to get funding, what other products and services to offer, the pricing and how people would react or require the product or service or both. During this seed phase, he also thinks about probable resources where to find finding such as family, friends and financiers, venture capitalist or even the bank. Once he finally realised that there might be a need for it, then he moves to the start-up phase. Once it has been decided that there is a huge potential for the business, then he start implementing the ideas of the business. These could finding a suitable location for the business, sourcing suppliers, finding business partners, making the business plan and marketing plan, have focused on the products and service to initially offer, and also to register the business into a legal entity, whether a sole proprietorship, partnership or a corporation or a limited liability company. The small business owner would have also determined the location to best open shop, with the target clients also in mind. Most small business owner opening a business, opt for a home business start-up SOHO small office home office set-up. This is often the choice because it is more cost efficient, facing the challenge of limited financial resources. This would enable them to maintain the least overhead possible, where normally, the lease or office rent eats up a huge percentage of operational costs. It is another challenge for a start-up company to be aware of its spending/budget. The challenge lies in making sure not to over-estimate or overshoot the budget/funds, at worse prematurely. The small business owner should also determine if he can start the business on his/her own, a one woman/man-show, or should it be better to employ a minimal number of employees and what skills would they need to posses. One option is to look into operating as a family business, especially if the business owner has adult children, a spouse or other family members that are trustworthy and reliable. Otherwise, hiring employees would be limited to two or three, everyone must be multi-skilled and able to multi-task. At start up, focus will be on having the business fully operations which involves identifying and building clientele and developing the products and services being offered based on what the clients require. This is also where you establish partnership and nurture relationships with suppliers. Money source would be family, friends, sometimes it could involve borrowing from ones personal savings or getting a loan from the bank. Grants are also something to look into. It is also wise to make arrangements with suppliers regarding terms of payment, determining how many days is required to pay whether it is a 30 day to 90 day payment arrangement (i.e.) . This is also where he small business owner needs to strategise on how to enter and compete in the market, being aware of competitors and their standing in the market place or industry. Knowing this will determine the course of attack or entry. There are also other legalities that need to be taken care of such as insurances, liabilities, adhering to rules and regulations of the locality where you are operating, Taxes where to register a s GST company or not. Evaluating the reasons for going into business is also crucial. If the small business owner has proof (feasibility study) that the offering is in demand and can be successful, then this could be good enough. However some would also need to ask themselves if this is more than just money, if the business can give a sense of fulfilment or its success could be left as a legacy to the children/family. A small business owner need to know his motivation behind the business, this will give him a clear focus for success. Launching the business is part of the start-up which needs to focus on effective marketing strategies. This is to make sure that people know what the business offers, or stands for, its location and contact details, and who to deal with. This also needs to cover areas of competitive the pricing and encouraging terms for doing business. Starting the implementation of the marketing plans and strategies is like a test run during the start-up phase. Listed below are some tasks that should be completed in the start-up phase. Evaluate your personal reasons for going into business Decide what type of business you want to start Set up the legal structure of the business Obtain necessary licenses Conduct market research Research and obtain financing Research and obtain necessary business insurance Create a business plan Plan the strategy for growing the business Find an accountant and lawyer Open a bank account for the business http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpsm/osb/start_up.htm **Your business is born and now exists legally. Products or services are in production and you have your first customers. Challenge: If your business is in the start-up life cycle stage, it is likely you have overestimated money needs and the time to market. The main challenge is not to burn through what little cash you have. You need to learn what profitable needs your clients have and do a reality check to see if your business is on the right track. Focus: Start-ups requires establishing a customer base and market presence along with tracking and conserving cash flow. Money Sources: Owner, friends, family, suppliers, customers, or grants. http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/marketing/a/a040603.htm GROWTH After a successful start-up comes the growth of the business. During growth the business needs to maintain good relationships with everyone, both internal and external, such as: clients, suppliers, and government and private agencies it deals with. Also, by this time, the business is expected to be earning and not just covering the overhead. The business, at this stage is starting to win and build its market share. The challenges here would still be the usual issues of time and money. Time and money is crucial especially of the business is focused on finding and providing a better way of service delivery, and consistently strives to improve its offering. Clients will know the quality of work provided and word goes around. Clients recommend and there will be more clients coming as a consequence. The business then starts to build its reputation for excellence and reliability. Relationships not only with clients but also with suppliers must be nurtured. Prompt payment, for materials or services, based on term arranged, is crucial. This way, the business comes as a reputable and trustworthy company to deal with. This will help the business in finding and establishing business relationships with new suppliers and partners. As a growing business, standardisation or standard operational procedure which is crucial in the delivery of consistent excellent service should have been established and running smoothly, albeit still open for tweaking and modifications as the need arises. . This is also the time to consider adding a staff for sales and marketing, or business development. This person is supposed to duplicate the process already in place and bring his own skills and experience to contribute to the growth of the business. S hiring a highly skilled and experiences staff is crucial. Background checks are also necessary to make sure employee has integrity and is professional. Having a highly skilled employee can help maximise time and value for money for the company, as there will be no need for training or re-training in the short term. The business also has to make sure that at this stage of growth, finances are running smoothly. Financial resource would be coming from new partnerships, through the profits, by having a higher credit line from the bank. It is still a good idea to check availability of grants. The business could still be home based or if moving a better or bigger place is considered, leasing/renting would be wise. Remember during the growth stage, market share are being defined, the brand is getting recognised, a very good track record in reliability and excellence is being put in place, there is growth in business partnerships and the business network is expanding. Perhaps the small business is even getting into a position where it can influence the market place better business practices and innovative. During the growth stage, sales/business forecasts are being achieved. Very capable and reliable accountant and lawyer are also very much needed by a growing company making sure that finances are healthy and that rules and regulations by the government and the industry are always followed. . It is best for the business to be on its toes, keep assessing the marketing plans, and changing it when necessary, in order to keep up with the changing market. Once the infrastructure of the company is established, the focus is to develop the business. There will probably be some sales, but there is still much to do. The hard work is just starting. This may include many of the following: Refine market niche Branding the company Establish a track record Identify business partners Networking to expand customer/client base Match staff to volatile needs Increase operational financing Forecast sales Automate payroll processing Review insurance requirements Revisit your business plan Recruiting the right employees Find an accountant and lawyer http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpsm/osb/growth.htm Your business has made it through the toddler years and is now a child. Revenues and customers are increasing with many new opportunities and issues. Profits are strong, but competition is surfacing. Challenge: The biggest challenge growth companies face is dealing with the constant range of issues bidding for more time and money. Effective management is required and a possible new business plan. Learn how to train and delegate to conquer this stage of development. Focus: Growth life cycle businesses are focused on running the business in a more formal fashion to deal with the increased sales and customers. Better accounting and management systems will have to be set-up. New employees will have to be hired to deal with the influx of business. Money Sources: Banks, profits, partnerships, grants and leasing options. http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/marketing/a/a040603.htm Helpful questions to ask during the growth period 1: Increasing Market Awareness What is the market potential for growth? What is your promotional strategy to reach your target market? Have you defined a marketing budget? Do you have a marketing plan? 2: Your Operational Plan Do you have the capacity to meet current and future sales levels? Do you need new equipment, more personnel and/or additional working capital to increase capacity? Do you need to increase efficiencies and effectiveness through better production processes, less waste and increased quality? Do you need more space and bigger facilities to meet capacity needs? 3: Your team Do you have the right people on board? Do you have a plan for attracting future personnel? Do you have defined duties, responsibilities, skill and experience needed for each position? 4: Your Financial Plan How much capital (cash) will you need for business expansion? How will you raise this capital (cash)? Do you have a business plan for investors/lenders to review? What are your anticipated sales, profits and cash flow based your expansion plan? 5: Plan to Grow Have you revisited your plan to address opportunity for growth? http://aksbdc.org/small-business-life-cycle/grow/ MATURITY After the growth stage come the maturity of the business, where everything has been founded solidly, you have established clientele, partners, a bigger business entwork and may be eying expansion. Opening another office branch locally or another city or get into partnership in another city, depending on what area of focus the expansion would aim to achieve. However, upon growth some companies fall into the trap of sitting on theri laurels and stagnate. Companies need to be in theri toes, to be abreast of the changes in teh industry and their competitors, and the changing customer needs or requirements. All of these need to be considered. Aotumation is also another avenue to consider in terms of growth, outsourcing could also be considered to improve profit and productivity. After maturity, there are different phases that csmall busness fall into. Some companies reach the point of saturation. When this happens other consider to expand, sell of close shop. The saturation phase can trigger the next step for the small business. Which can be renewal, expansion, or decline and eventually withdrawal (closing shop). The challenge for established companies is to keep on their toes and deliver the same kind of service. As a company grows, customer satisfaction can sometimes get affected as personalised service has to give way to automation or standardisation. Companies also have the challenge of expansion in the ssense that the new products and services must be complementary or related to the existing offerings. It is risky to delve into a totally different product/service line. Unless a company has very good financial background, a new partner, a solid plan, then it can still be an avenue for expansion for the company. SATURATION How do we manage saturation point? Reinvention, innovation is a very good strategy, you change the marketing plan, improve the services and products, analyse the current market base and position. You also analyse the changing requirements of the clients and address them. SO the products and services are offered based on the clients needs. Decline Renewal / Innovation If after the saturation period a business owner finds himself with no intention to continue, then he has a choice between selling the business and closing shop. Selling the business would be more profitable, as the clientele, suppliers and partners have been establish and the eventual owner will be going away with everything set in place. It will save the new owner years of establishing the business. All he/she needs to do is maintain and improve what exists. Normally small business owners decide to sell when they feel that they do not have the energy or ability to continue with the business anymore or they are actually having some financial difficulties and are unable to find funding from different source, Withdrawal Instead of losing money and closing shop, selling the business is still a better alternative. However, for some businesses the situation might really be worse and there will be no other alternative but to close shop and try to cut loses. Another exit options is to franchise the business and just administer and transfer the technology or process to the franchisee. Franchising is exiting through expansion. The successful process is sold including the processes and partnerships. The Franchisee can then just focus on building their own clientele. The original owner still earns from royalties or percentages of sales and from supplying materials, ingredients or whatever is required depending on the nature of the business. http://aksbdc.org/small-business-life-cycle/exit/ http://www.dws.net.au/tools/the-prosperity-cycle.html http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/biz-life-cycle/ http://www.legacee.com/FastGrowth/OrgLifeCycle.html http://www.enotes.com/small-business-encyclopedia/industry-life-cycle http://smallbusiness.chron.com/brands-product-life-cycle-785.html characteristics and strategies of each life cycle Exit Strategy http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_sep-oct_2007_issue_exit-strategy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_%28marketing%29 http://university-essays.tripod.com/product_life_cycle.html http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/cuttingedge/lifeCycle/11.htm http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Oli-Per/Organizational-Life-Cycle.html short- and long-range plans to implement strategies http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Bo-Co/Business-Planning.html http://www.arnoldit.com/articles/PDF_Web/article1988/chap6_MarPlan.pdf http://managementhelp.org/fp_progs/sp_mod/str_plan.htm http://nett.com.au/finance/business-credit/small-business-lifecycle-reaping-the-rewards/11181.html http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/marketing/a/a040603.htm http://www.winonanationalbank.com/BusinessBanking/BusinessLifeCycle.aspx http://www.dws.net.au/tools/the-prosperity-cycle.html http://www.ajfoligno.co.uk/business_cycle.php http://www.manyworlds.com/logContent.aspx?to=coViewURLLinkcoid=CO1290216533092

Plato and Aristotle: Their Contributions to the Development of Western

The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and their contributions to the development of western philosophy. Plato was a classical Greek philosopher and one of the top 5 contributors to Western philosophy, educator after his mentor, Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. His sophistication as a writer started while under the tutelage of Socrates, continued through his establishing of his own academy, (The Academy of Athens which has been labeled as the first institution of higher learning in the Western World) and throughout his many years as an open minded author. Many of his works in early adulthood displayed his willingness to ask questions of any type, no preference to scope, difficulty withstanding, political and intellectual current issues. Plato had such an authentic feature to his writings that made him so much more distinctive among any other of the great philosophers and that literary way stands alone but has been referred to many of his contemporaries and close followers through the centuries. That specific style is the â€Å"dialogue† form, not as many of the other brilliant ...