When We Were Kings

â€Å"When We Were Kings† directed by Leon Gast is a documentary about the boxer Muhammad Ali and the culture of African-American people. The music is used as one of the ways to provide information for the audience about what is happening within the film. The music helps the audience establish what it was like back in the 1970’s. It also shows African-American singers and how they are proud of their heritage like BB King and James Brown. The music also functions as a symbol to get information across, for example â€Å"The Succubus. The documentary songs relate to the theme of racial relationships and African-American identity. Setting: The film is set in the 1970’s within Zaire, Africa when Mobutu Sese Seko was in charge. It shows that the village life is very poor and crowded as it was a 2nd world country because it was still developing. There were power struggles e. g. Belgian Congo and also Mobutu was ruthless as he killed 10% of the criminals in Zaire. Even though this was all happening within the country the people of Africa were proud to be African. They showed this through the 3 day musical festival, where they had there traditional singing and dancing. The film shows footages of the African children and women dancing to the beat of the drum in their traditional clothing. During the 1970’s it was an insult to call African-American people African, but when Muhammad Ali came to Africa he saw how African people were proud of their heritage and that Africans and Americans shared similar loves for things like music. Ali then realised he should be glad to be African and apart of this exciting new way of life. The documentary depicts Ali to be the â€Å"Hero† in Zaire as he is seen as someone standing up for the African people. Similarities between Africans and African-Americans: African-American people were seen unequal to white people. Their social status was seen as unworthy and below the standards of white people. The musical performances, from James Brown’s screaming, soul singing and dancing, to B. B. King’s sweat, smooth strumming on the Lucille, inspired both the African’s and American’s who travelled there. The music united and influenced the people within Zaire to watch the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Muhammad Ali started to realise that black and white people aren’t much different, they care and love similar things such as education and music, specifically, the drums. The drums provided a sense of communication and rhythm betw een the two different cultures. The drum was the oldest instrument that the Africans used and now the African-American singers like James Brown uses it in his songs. it in his songs. Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa: Throught-out the film Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) is singing the song â€Å"Am Am Pondo. † This is used to symbolise â€Å"Succubus. † Succubus is a women who has sexual intercourse with men in their sleep, until the tire out. This symbol was used since this is how Ali won agaist Foreman, as he let Foreman hit him until he became exhausted and then he striked with one punched and knocked him out. George Plimpton tells the story of the witch doctor who predicted that a â€Å"women with trembling hands† or a succubus in Zaire would take hold of George foreman and that he would not win the boxing match as the succubus will take all his strength and then bring Ali to victory. The filmmakers illustrate this by having Miriam Makeba perform the succubus. Everytime Foreman was shown on the documenty Miriam Makeba would be singing â€Å"Am Am Pondo† in the backgroud to indicate the Foreman does not belong in Africa and that he will get caught in Africa’s trap or being cursed by a female â€Å"Succubus. African children and women dancing to the beat of the drum in their traditional clothing. During the 1970’s it was an insult to call African-American people African, but when Muhammad Ali came to Africa he saw how African people were proud of their heritage and that Africans and Americans shared similar loves for things like music. Ali then realised he shoul d be glad to be African and apart of this exciting new way of life. The documentary depicts Ali to be the â€Å"Hero† in Zaire as he is seen as someone standing up for the African people. The film is he

Total Quality Management in Toyota

Introduction Toyota is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, selling over  9 million models in 2006 on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500 enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world’s leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker, an achievement the company believes stems from its dedication to customer satisfaction. Toyota has been shaped by a set of values and principles that have their roots in the company’s formative years in Japan. The Toyota story begins in the late 19th century, when Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan’s first power loom, which was to revolutionise the country’s textile industry. In January 1918, Sakichi founded the Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Company, and with the help of his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of building an automatic loom in 1924. Two years later, he established Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Like his father, Kiichiro was an innovator, and during his visits to Europe and the U. S. in the 1920s, he became deeply interested in the nascent automotive industry. Making the most of the ? 100,000 that Sakichi Toyoda received for selling the patent rights of his automatic loom, Kiichiro laid the foundations of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which was established in 1937. From looms to cars, the Toyota experience has been shaped by extending the boundaries of manufacturing. History When Toyota became the first Japanese car manufacturer to venture into motor sports in 1957, Shotaro Kamiya, then president of the Toyota Motor Sales Company, encouraged his team with his belief that, â€Å"There will be no progress if you fear failure. † The Toyota spirit For half a century this courageous spirit has guided these pioneers and their successors. Aware of the immense task ahead, Toyota approached motor sports with a mixture of patience and ambition. Over the decades, the company’s â€Å"kaizen† method of continuous improvement proved a winning strategy. Toyota eventually accumulating hard-won experience, professional respect and a long string of victories at tracks all around the world. The purpose of this project is to how Toyota analysis of effectiveness of Total Quality Management in the automobile industry. The reason is quality of a product or a service plays a key role in the current business environment. Total Quality Management is a philosophy that guides every activity within a business. It is concerned with developing and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement, which focuses customer’s expectation at a low cost. Providing the best product or service at the minimum price is the main challenge faced by the current competitive business environment. Toyota customers are price sensitive but at the same time they expect value for money, large companies have been able to gain the economies of scale therefore, they have been able to deliver low price products to the market. But the quality of that product cannot always be impressive as they mainly focus on the low cost. Traditionally the cost of quality is considered as an additional cost but at present cost of quality has taken a major role of a product costing. As the competition and business survival in modem organisations are intensifying, they need not only to increase their market share by improving the quality or products and services, but also improve the performance of their employees. In the early 1980s, the concept of total quality management was widely applied to manufacturing industries. The application of Total Quality Management has recently shown its significance in services industries for improving the quality of service and customers satisfaction, which has resulted in increased competitive advantage. In the UK, service automobile industry represents a dynamic and important sector, which occupies a major part of the economy. Rapid development of new levels of service capabilities would be the best solution to deliver high value- added service to satisfy the customer’s need in the UK automobile industry. The awareness of the important of quality in the survival and competitive advantage has recently started to spread in UK automobile industry (black 1999). Since the effective implementation of Total Quality Management hinges on the development of a business plan and providing value added customers focused processes, it is interesting to study the key drivers, which will make application of TQM successful in service companies such as hotels, banks and hospital etc. Research Objectives Outline of Toyota’s TQM system Analysis of the effectiveness of TQM in Toyota Critically evaluate how Toyota has benefit by adopting TQM principle An analysis of the current problems encountered by Toyota principle of TQM The main reason to choose this topic as my dissertation is my personal experience. Toyota is my main means of transportation. Toyota companies own a well-sophisticated technology; charge very expensive tickets fares, yet inefficient automobile industries had given me the interest to study about it for a long time. Train delays are the main problem that commuters face. The monopoly of train operating companies has made this situation worse. I always believed that Toyota could give a better service at a low rate than now. Also I am personally interested in TRANSPORT economics, which has given me an added reason to do research IN Toyota. Total Quality Management is all about the managing the quality at work on whatever we do and also it helps to reduce and service cost. So that I decide to do a research on application of Total Quality management in Toyota. Literature review Quality is the key to competitive advantage in today’s business environment. As more organisations for Total Quality Management (TQM), the choices open to those wanting to set up a quality system are becoming increasing varied. Good business, which in turn general prosperity and employment, is not something, which comes about by chance. It is result of the skills with which business in general is managed and business in general is only the sum of the activities of the business units. Through all the years that I have been in business I have never yet found our business bad as a result of any outside force. It has always been due to some defect in our own company, and whenever we located and repaired the defect our business become good again regardless of what anybody else may be doing. HENRY FORD According to the above remark done by Henry Ford, it implies that the success or failure of a company depends on the strength and weaknesses of that company. Once they can rectify their slip – ups then they can gain their success back. So by doing everything correctly, with zero defects the failure of a business is minimal. Total Quality Management can be practices in every department, in every activity in a company. It should be practices from senior management to the least level of the employee. Then any business can get success in the competitive business environment. The concept of Total Quality Management was developed by an American, W. Edward Deming, after World War II for improving the production quality of goods and service. The concept was not taken seriously by American until the Japanese, who adopting it in 1950 to resurrect their post war business and industry, used it to dominate world markets by 1980. By then most U. S. manufacturing had finally accepted that the nineteenth century assembly line factory model was outdated for the modern global economic markets (Mehrotra, 2005). Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organisation of a company that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspect of the company’s operations, with things being done right first time, and defects and waste eradicated from operations. What is Total Quality Management? The two key elements in this research are Total Quality Management and corporate strategy. The main aim is to conduct an inductive grounded theory study into the strategic impact of Total Quality Management and is to place corporate strategy and TQM in context. The seeks to inductively develop an understanding of the relationship between TQM and strategy, as opposed to testing existing theory. A brief strategic quality management literature review is given, followed by a description of the grounded theory research methodology involving 19 grounded case studies. The grounded results are discussed in the context, in which they were made, this allowing the grounded picture to emerge according to the (Eisenhardt, 1989, 1991). Even though Total Quality Management is all about the managing the quality at work on whatever we do, it has got a vast theoretical area as quality should be everywhere in an organisation. Total Quality Management applies from top to bottom of an organisation, from strategic decisions to final output. Total Quality Management can be studied from three different approaches. They are contribution from quality leaders, formal evaluation models and empirical research. Deming (1986) underlined the use of statistical techniques for quality control, and proposed has 14 principles to improve quality in organisation, based on the following ideas. Leadership, an improvement philosophy, the right production from the beginning, training for managers and employees, internal communication aimed at the elimination of obstacles for cooperation and the suppression of quantitative objective. Juran (1993) pointed out the importance of both technical and managerial aspects, and indentified the three basic function of the quality management process. They are planning, organisation and control, as the stages for quality improvement. He indicated that the aim of the management is to reduce the cost of mistakes, reaching a point where the total costs of quality are minimal according to (Juran and Gryna, 1993). Ishikawa (1985) emphasized the importance of training, the usage of cause effect diagrams for problem solving, and quality circles as a way to achieve continuous improvement. Crosby (1979) defined 14 steps for quality improvement, including top and intermediate management commitment, quality measurement, evaluation of quality costs, corrective action, and training, a zero defect philosophy, objective setting and employee recognition. Lastly, Feigenbaum (1991) described the notion of total quality, based mainly on leadership and an understanding of the aspects of quality improvement, a commitment to incorporate quality in the firm’s practices, and the participation of the entire workforce, the objective being the reduction of total costs. Some of the above mentioned theories have discussed in details in this chapter. Juran (1993) concluded that Total Quality Management is the set of management processes and system that create delighted customers through empowered employees, leading to higher revenue and lowest cost. According to that definition TQM is a combination of all functions and process within an organisation in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and service for the customer satisfaction. To accomplish this is need to involve every one and all activities of a continuous way of life for the purpose of managing the quality of the all activities. Total Quality Management is an interaction of number of ideas. In order to attain the quality of an organisation, in terms of all the functions, it is a start to finish process that integrates interrelated function at all levels. It is a systems approach that considers every contact between the various elements of the organisation. As a result of this interaction the overall performance of the organisation will be higher than total of the individual output from the subsystems. Those subsystems such as include organisational functions in the products life cycle such as design, planning, production, distribution and field service. It also needs to integrate management subsystems such as strategy with customers focus, the tools of quality and employee involvement that the linking process integrates whole. As a result of all those activities any product or service can be improved. This particular structure leads the organisation in to continuous improvement and finally customer satisfaction (PHS management training 2005). Continuous improvement of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. This is because customer satisfaction can only be achieved by providing a high quality products, continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. As well as recognising the link between product quality and customer satisfaction, TQM also recognises that product quality is the result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on continuous improvement of the companies’ processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality. In turn this will lead to an improvement in product quality, and to increase in customer satisfaction. Improvement cycles are encouraged for all activities from design and development of products, through routine support and administrative service, to customer relationship management. To achieve continuous improvement Toyota gas to measure and analyze its own performance and that of other companies. Top management commitment and involvement is required in creating and developing clear quality values and goals consistent with the objective of Toyota, and in creating and developing well defined systems, methods and performance measure for achieving those goals. Such systems and methods guide all quality activities and encourage participation by all employees. The development and use of performance indicators is linked, directly or indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and employee remuneration elimination of waste is a major component of the quality improvement approach. There is also a strong emphasis on prevention rather than detection, hence an emphasis on quality at the design stage. The customer driven process helps to prevent errors and get closer to defect free production. When problems do occur within the product development process, the aim is to identify and solve them rather than hide them; they are generally discovered and resolved before they can get to the next internal customer Benchmarking What is that organisation do that gets results so much better than ours? The answer to this question opens the door to benchmarking, an approach that is accelerating among U. S. firm that have adopted the total quality management (TQM) philosophy. The essence of benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing a company’s strategy, products and processes with those of the world leaders and best in class organisations in order to learn how the achieve excellence and then setting out match and even surpass it. For many organisations, benchmarking has become a key component of their TQM programs (Joel E. Ross) National and international quality awards place considering emphasis on the need to make inter firm comparisons on a spectrum of performance related criteria. This is called benchmarking. This comparison may be within the industrial sector or against â€Å"best practice† irrespective of the industry concerned. Such comparisons can be made in almost any measures which are not just industry specific. For instance, financial performance measurement such as return on capital employee, debtor and creditor ration, credit period or training levels, plan availability and efficiency. Joel E. Ross) concludes the real meaning of benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing a company’s strategy, products and processes with those of the world’s leader and best in class organisation in order to learn how they achieved excellence and then setting out to match and even surpass it. Nowadays benchmarking is a key component of TQM programs. There is currently some debate abo ut which TQM practices contribute most to superior performance outcomes. Several proponents argue that softer TQM practices such as leadership, human resource management, and customer focus have more impact than benchmarking, process analysis or performance measurement. The evidence for which TQM factors contribute most too improved performance is not yet conclusive, and sometimes contradictory. Using data from a longitudinal study of 67 TQM firms we contribute to this debate. Our central hypothesis is that measurement of key TQM practices and performance outcomes in essential for TQM success. We examine the measurement practise of this cohort of firms, and report on the changes in their measurement behaviour over time. Specifically, we analyse seven dimensions of measurement relating to customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and process performance, impact of TQM on costs, and sales, self assessment, and benchmarking. We calculate a measurement intensity score for each firm, based on how many of these seven parameters were being measured, and we show that increased measurement intensity is strongly associated with perceived TQM success. Finally, using multivariate discriminate analysis, we identify eight variables that explain the level of TQM success with a classification accuracy of almost 90 %. We conclude that to attain the highest levels of TQM success, firm need to engage in the measurement practices of self assessment and benchmarking, but our data suggest that an appropriate measurement framework needs to be in place beforehand ( Taylor 2006) One of the biggest mistake people make when beginning their benchmarking endeavour is that they only look to benchmark someone within their own industry. Although this doesn’t hurt, but obviously industries already know enough about their industry to know what works and what doesn’t. Some people think they must benchmark their competitor. But if the competitor is worse than your company, it can be a big waste of time and energy. And it will not give the favourable result for the company. Instead of benchmarking a company that is well known for being a good model will give a favourable result to the company. Benchmarking will help to find out, who performs the business process very well and gas process practices that are adaptable to your own organisation if you need to conduct a comprehensive benchmark study or if you can obtain 80 – 90 % of what you need from just using the telephone, email or any other electronic survey to communicate your needs with other member on the benchmarking exchange (Hing, 2001). The drive of customer satisfaction The benefit of having customers who are satisfied is well known. The issues in building customer satisfaction are to acquire satisfied customers, know when you have them, and keep. The obvious way to determine what makes customers satisfied is simply to ask them. (Joel E. Ross) Total quality management has a customer first orientation. The customer, not internal activities and constraints, comes first. Customer satisfaction is seen as the company’s highest priority. The company believes it will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM company is sensitive to customer requirements and responds rapidly to them. In the TQM context, being sensitive to customer requirement’s goes beyond defect and error reduction, and merely specification or reducing customer complaints (Black, 1999). The concept of requirement is expanded to take in not only product and service attributes that meet basic requirements, but also those that enhance and differentiate them for competitive advantage. Each part of the company is involved in Total Quality, operating as a customer to some function and as a supplier to others. The engineering department is a supplier to downstream functions such as manufacturing and field service, and has to treat these internal customers with the same sensitivity and responsiveness as it would external customers. This also helps to motivate employee’s activities as the conflicts are minimal as they treat each other as customers. TQM Components TQM has four basic components 1. Put customers first 2. Make Continuous Improvement 3. Aim for zero defects 4. Training and development Put Customers First A quality product or service satisfies customer’s needs and expectations. Whether a product or service is of high or low quality, will be decided by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded. See quality. If customers are not put first, then customer expectations will be difficult to satisfy and consequently quality will not be achieved. Customers can be put first through a variety of initiatives including †¢ Undertaking market research to discover consumer needs so that the organisation can develop products and services that exceed their consumer’s needs. †¢ Looking after all customers whether internal or external. Internal customers are employees of the organisation and are known as customers when they approach each other for a service. External customers are all non-employees (of the organisation) that approach the organisation in connection with a service or product. †¢ Effective customer care systems. †¢ Ensuring that all service standards are met. †¢ Listening to customer views and opinions. Responding to customer views including resolving customer complaints in a manner that satisfies their expectations. Once customer complaints are resolved they should be analysed to prevent future recurrence. Make Continuous Improvement The Japanese term â€Å"kaizen† has contributed to this component. Kaizen believes that there are no limits to continuous improvement. This means that a TQM organisation will continuously strive to improve their product/service and increase the quality standards. A TQM organisation will also view change positively whether the change involves a process change or a change in customer needs and expectations. This is because changes will enable the organisation to develop and explore quality. Aim for Zero Defects There are a number of reasons behind the aim to eradicate defects. Defects are expensive because they will lower the customer’s confidence in the product. Also it is more expensive to rectify defects than it is to prevent them occurring in the first place. Zero defects can be achieved through a combination of quality assurance and quality control. Training and Development An organisation will need to train their employees to ensure that they understand the principles of TQM. A TQM organisation employee will need to understand how TQM is to be achieved or maintained and how they as an employee will ensure that the organisation emulates TQM. Unless each employee accepts and believes in TQM it will be difficult for the organisation to practice TQM. QUALITY Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers. This is because quality products or services can and will secure consumer’s business. However do not equate quality with expensive, as price will not determine quality. Whether a product or service is of high or low quality, will be decided by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded. Adding Value Some writers such as Tom Peters (in his book â€Å"Thriving on Chaos†) believe that quality rather than price dictates demand for a product. Peters argues that customers will be prepared to pay for high quality. This means that value is added to a product by ensuring that products/services have the quality consumers require. Quality Control This is defined as the process of identifying which products/services do not meet the organisation’s standards. Once identified the products/services below standard will then be adapted (so that they meet the standards expected) or discontinued Quality Assurance The purpose of this is to ensure that products/services are not below standard when manufactured or used by the consumer. The aim of quality assurance is to make sure that all the goods produced or services offered have â€Å"zero defects†. Quality assurance should save costs as products below standard can not be sold. It should also protect the organisation’s reputation. Whilst quality control is about identification of low quality products, quality assurance is about prevention. In other words the aim of quality assurance is to ensure that products are not below standard. Quality Circles A quality circle is made up of a group of people at various levels within the organisation. These people will have meetings where they will discuss and attempt to solve problems within the organisation. Each of these problems will be real problems faced by the organisation and will require solutions that can be put into practice. Training To ensure that an organisation can offer the quality expected by their consumers, they will strive to continuously improve their product or service. This is because a constantly evolving market place will change consumer demands, needs and expectations with it. Continuous improvement will only take place if staff possesses the right skills and knowledge. Skills and knowledge are usually acquired by the staff through the organisation’s ongoing training and development programs. Fishbone Analysis A fishbone analysis is also known as a cause and effect analysis. The concept was thought up by Kaoru Ishikawa. The analysis suggests that in order to solve a problem an organization is going through, the firm should try to find out the causes. Only when the causes are discovered and understood can you prevent the problem from occurring again. The best way to view the cause and effect was to draw it out like a fish skeleton with the problem at the head of the fish and the bones, the causes. Causes of problems could be anything from: †¢ Manpower †¢ Machinery †¢ Materials the firm uses †¢ Methods of making the product Or it could be down to one or some of the elements of the in business (see below). If you look at this diagram the problem for the company is declining sales, the causes of declining sales when traced back can be from inefficient processes, to lack of training for staff. To address the problem of declining sales the causes need to be addressed. The benefit of a fishbone analysis is it enables the problem to be traced back to the root causes, with the aim of trying to find long term solutions. A cause and effect analysis is usually completed in teams, where the fishbone is drawn out and team member brainstorm possibilities of the problem. Total Quality Management is the set of management processes and systems that create delighted customers through empowered employees, leading to higher revenue and lower cost. Total Quality Management is the integration of all functions and processes within an organisation in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and services. The goal is customer’s satisfaction. Of all the management issues faced in the last decade, none has had the impact of or caused as much concern as in America products and services. A report The concept of Total Quality Management Total Quality Management is based of ideas. It means thinking about quality in terms of all functions of the enterprise and is a start to finish process that integrates interrelated functions at all levels. It is a systems approach that considers every interaction between the various elements of the organisation. This would means that, the overall effectiveness of the system is higher than the sum of the individual outputs from the subsystems. The subsystems include all the organisational functions in the life cycle of product, such as 1. Design 2. Planning 3. Production 4. Distribution 5. Field service The management subsystem also require integration, including 1. Strategy with a customer’s focus 2. The tools of quality 3. Employee involvement A corollary is that any product, process, or service can be improved, and a successful organisation is one that consciously seeks and exploits opportunities for improvement at all levels. The load bearing structure is customer’s satisfaction. The conference board has summarized the key issues and terminology relates to Total Quality Management: †¢ The cost of quality as the measure of non – quality not meeting customer requirements and a measure of how the quality process is progressing †¢ A cultural change that appreciate the primary need to meet customer requirements, implements a management philosophy that acknowledges this emphasis, encourages employee involvement, and embraces the ethic of continuous improvement. Enabling mechanisms of change, including training and education, communication, recognition, management behaviour, teamwork, and customer satisfaction programs. †¢ Implementing Total Quality Management by defining the mission, identifying the output, indentifying the customers, negotiating customer requirements, developing a â€Å"supplier’s specification† that details customer objective, and determining the act ivities required to fulfil those objectives. Management behaviour that includes acting as role models, use of quality process and tools, encouraging communication, sponsoring feedback activities, and fostering and providing a supporting environment. Continuous improvement Continuous improvement methods can be used to assists Toyota getting better their manufactured goods and services and via using continuous improvement in each week or month not matter what size the development is made but progress has to obtain place a model which be able to used is PDCA which stands for plan, do, act and check. The PDCA is a model of continuous improvement which be capable of being employed to get better Toyota goods and services and assisting them to expand new goods and services or even to get better the merit of their manufactured goods and services via preparation how the organisation will get better their manufactured goods and services and then how the Toyota will carry out to the plans and then using the plans and finally confirming if the tactics working and this stages will continues in anticipation of they contain makes new products or services or even better existing products and services. The cause of the effect looks like selected at the outcome of the subject which contain occur carry out via the Toyota for instance they had issues through the excellence of the manufactured goods and the effect of effect would show all the possible cause which are the issues and then they be able to employs the effecting of outcome within their organisation to perceive what issues the they have. By doing that it will helps them to undertake the issues in anticipation of no source of cause or it is reducing therefore, if there is still a issues then they will not be effecting by the results of it. The why why why analysis know how to assists them via status the issues and then asking them how is the issues has happen and once the why why why analysis recognise the issues afterwards in anticipation of the issues is not resolve the why why why analysis is maintains on creature continually to resolve all the issues which they has and after that once known see if they be able to remove all the problems. The six – sigma improvement model There are five fundamental phases or stages in applying the sic- sigma approach to improving performance in a process: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC). These from an improvement cycle grounded in Deming’s original Plan, Do, Check, Act. In the six- sigma approach, DMAIC provides breakthrough strategy and disciplined method of using rigorous data gathering and statistically based analysis to indentify source of errors and ways of eliminating them. It has become increasingly common in so – called six – sigma organisation, for people to refer to DMAIC projects these revolve around the three major strategies for processes to bring about rapid bottom – line achievements – design /redesign, management and improvement. DMAIC (Define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) this is a good problem solving tool to help improve manufacturing quality and productivity. ? Define This is the start of the of DMAIC technique were the team at hand need to try and look into the problem at hand. What is used to help understand the problem with the project would be a project charter which is information on the product. ? Measure The second phase of DMAIC is to grab as much information from the define process so that the improvement team can try to understand how the process operates but are not interested with the problem at this time. This phase is mainly to do with the understanding of the process. ? Analyze Once understanding the process the team now needs to analyze what is the main cause of the problem being studied. ? Improve Once the team have analyzed the problem they can now see what could be done to improve the problem, this is usually done by brainstorming solutions to help the problem. ? Control The last action to be taken would be taking control of the problem by issuing a plan on what to do and how to sort the problem out. These might include: 1. Review and update the process map 2. Update any affected work instructions 3. Develop training that describes the newly implemented methods 4. Determine new metrics to verify the effectiveness of new process 5. Determine if the process changes can be effectively implemented in other processes http://6sixsigma. com/index. php/DMAIC-Cycle. html The second assessment tool Toyota could adopt is called the Fishbone Analysis also known as the ishikawa diagram. This system is designed to identify and list all the factors that are conditioning the problem at hand. This technique helps understand the scale of a situation. It helps brainstorm information from different perspectives within a team or individually to help solve a problem. It is also known to be a very effective system to help people coming from different backgrounds or professional disciplines to working in a much easier business environment to solve problems. This system has a major advantage because usually teams initiate immediately into fixing a problem without taking the time to plan and understand the problem. This is not a good method because the end result usually ends with only parts of the problem having been resolved. The fishbone analysis has a more carful style into understand the problem with its careful planning brainstorming method. http://www. tda. gov. uk/upload/resources/pdf/f/fishbone_analysis_spring2007. pdf The main problem is written on the right hand side of the paper. On the bottom and top of the stems you type 5-6 key factors of the problems or issues that have to be resolved. http://www. tda. gov. k/upload/resources/pdf/f/fishbone_analysis_spring2007. pdf Now you can use the 5-6 key factors to break down into sub headings of other factors that need to be understood to help the solutions for the main development phase. This is a very good was of working as a team as well, you could have a certain team responsible for one main fish bone. The PDCA cycle is something that came around in the 1950’s and is still being used today on an international level weather it wo uld be in training facilities to business environments. It is a four stage check list that will help you get from problem faced to problem solved. It is a continuous cycle that starts with careful planning, must result in effective action, and must move on again to planning. The way PDCA is used: †¢ Plan to improve your operation you first need to understand what is going on with careful planning. †¢ Do To make the changes and try and solve the problem on a smaller scale. This minimises disruption and while testing weather the changes have taken affect or not. Check This method is to check if the changes are meeting the targets to ensure you know how the output is at all times to identity if any new problems are arising. †¢ Act The last stage is to make the changes that are required on a larger scale if the experiment has proven to be successful. In a business this could be getting other departments or even suppliers involved because maybe they may be affected by the changes. Or these people or departments could have been a dded in the Do stage. http://leadershipchamps. files. wordpress. com/2008/03/pdca. png

Polar Bears

The different adaptations of the Polar Bears and Brown Bears Polar Bears: Polar bears mainly eat seals Paw pads with rough surfaces help stop the Polar Bears from slipping on the ice Polar Bears don't swim The polar bear's fat layer, which is three to four inches thick, not only protects it from the cold A polar bear is so well insulated that it experiences no heat loss. The bear's blubber layer can measure 4. 5 inches thick. Polar bears have excellent underwater vision. They can spot food up to 15 feet away.They have sharp claws and teeth to eat prey Their ears have small surface area compared to body, reduces heat loss Thick white fur for camouflage and insulation Long legs for running to catch prey Brown Bears: They have thick insulating coats and tend to be large which helps them to keep their body heat They hibernate during winter. They have sharp claws and teeth which help them attack their prey. Adult brown bears are powerful; much of their diet consists of nuts, berries, frui t, leaves and oots.Bears also eat other animals. Brown bears can be recognized by their most distinctive feature, their shoulder hump. The shoulder muscle helps the bears to dig up roots and tear apart logs to find food. These muscles are located in the ‘hump' of the brown bear. Brown bears can move rocks and logs and dig through hard soil and rocky ground using their long sharp claws when making their dens. They eat grass, fruit, insects, roots and bulbs of plants.

Assignment about Servicing the Sale and Building the Partnership - 1

About Servicing the Sale and Building the Partnership - Assignment Example d be traced to a belief in significant brand management, investment in a first class customer service center, and innovations in marketing and sales strategies that enhance sales and distribution. In addition, the philosophy of the company remains mapped on a belief that quality could never be sacrificed. The company officers have made a decision to develop partnerships with a group of distributors who would employ salespeople to call on retailers trading in Body Glove products. In order to ensure that retail customers and retailers receive excellent service, the company would undertake some steps to achieve this objective. The company officers would select on distributors whose strategies would have an immediate effect on all elements of the marketing mix. Thus, steps to be considered would involve an analysis of the products, environment, customers, competitors, company, salespersons, and the desired level by the target market characteristics. In so doing, the company would evaluate alternatives for both distributors and salespersons against adaptive, control and economic factors (Vashisht 184-189). Body Glove salespersons may add value to the company through either full line or cross selling. First, salespersons could add value through an established better partnership between the company and the distributors in a full line selling. In addition, salespersons attain more knowledgeable and aggressive selling because of exclusive distribution grants from the company. Moreover, through exclusive distribution strategies or dealership, salespersons could add value to the company wetsuits product line. On the other hand, salespersons may add value to the company by establishing a better working relationship with the distributors that would give rise to adequate market coverage with less cost but more control. These would consequently add value to the company overall sales margin, and over its competitors (Vashisht 187). Moreover, conducting after sales service to

If industrial robots get cheap enough, they may replace almost all Essay

If industrial robots get cheap enough, they may replace almost all unskilled factory worker in the future. discuss the benefits and costs of this to society - Essay Example There are certain estimations, which indicate that, by year 2025, robots would have taken almost 50 percent of the total jobs in the United States. The impact of industrial robots on employment patterns would vary amongst different industries, and there are reasons to believe that the automotive industry, food services industry and the manufacturing industry would be amongst the ones that would be impacted the most. In these industries, robots would replace as much as 95 percent of the total workers (Skaar & Castillo, pp. 63-64, 2012). These three industries, combined, would replace more than 44 million workers. In fact, calculations also indicate that by the end of 2012, the number of industrial robots, within US alone, would increase to the level of 1.2 million. More importantly, despite the dismissal performance of economy and recessionary pressures, there has been a 20 percent average annual increase in the employment of industrial robots. By the year 2013, there would be one rob ot worker for every 6000 people living on this planet and there are reasons to believe that, within a few decades, the world would have more robots that people (Briggle, et al., pp. 104-106, 2011). Proponents of replacing human workers with robots believe that this would mark a new era in improving the quality of living of people. Life on this planet would become more comfortable, and industries would be able to reduce their costs, drastically, thus allowing consumers as well as industries to gain from the savings (Skaar & Castillo, pp. 63-64, 2012). On the other hand, proponents of these ideas believe that it will only increase the problems in developing and third world countries of the world, which are plagued, already, by problems of high inflation, poverty, and unemployment. In many of these countries, a significant chunk of people is employed in the manufacturing sector, performing

Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Education - Assignment Example Secondly, the college application process is something that students can be taught and student’s aid are available from different sources Yes it is meaningful and easily understandable by all the stakeholders that for students to continue with their college education they have to know more about college, they should know about the college application process, and they need to be sponsored Yes, because high school courses that prepare students for college education have always been in existence. Secondly, students are usually taught in high school how to write up college application and they are even informed the sources of college aid or scholarships. The program is known as College Success and it is set to run in the any years to come. The program mainly seeks to offer guidance, counseling, and mentorship for students before and after enrollment in colleges to ensure that they continue with their college education and graduate from

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morisson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morisson - Essay Example It depicts the sort of stereotypical communities we live in and the unconventional family settings that shape the fabrics of the modern society. Pecola, hailing from Ohio, sets to see the world through a different pair of eyes. Consequently, she plunges herself into the flaws of misguided perceptions that leads her down the road of failure. The new blue eyes that she dreams of helping us to see the norms and tradition of beauty without distraction in the lines of racial segregation. Morrison keeps the reader enchanted to the realization of the facts that form the core of our society for so many years. He uses the theme of beauty to focus on the consequences of the decision made by Pecola. Amazingly, it is the way that the society appreciates human dignity by in accordance with the allocation of favorable materials or acquisition. Supposedly, those deemed beautiful get better chances in life, and that is the primary driving force for Pecola (Mbalia 28). She believes that beauty lies in the possession of blonde hair and blue eyes. Toni Morrison captures the stigma that we embrace and questions its credibility as the only way of acceptance of some level of beauty in the society. Throughout the history, the society deems everyone as equal but that ideal case ceases to exist when in a real life situation. Its scripts shine boldly in the books of literature, state and federal laws. On the contrary, the practices of the society are entirely different from the writings in the books.  Pecola represents a section of the community that thrives to find a sense of belonging in a narrow-minded society. Conversely, Claudia was the antagonist in accordance with the story of her life (Mbalia 30). She grew to be fond of herself and proud of whom and what life made her. Clearly, she embraces her life and heritage that shows how powerful beauty besets upon someone that embraces it. Claudia

Global Warming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Global Warming - Research Paper Example Also, carbon dioxide has the tendency to stay in the atmosphere for long periods of time. Contrastingly, water vapor usually condenses easily or evaporate based on the prevailing weather situations. As such, water vapor can change faster to the current weather conditions in such a way that energy emitted from the sun and the heat radiated back into the atmosphere from the surface of the earth achieve an equilibrium. Carbon dioxide behaves like a controlling factor because its volume in the atmosphere stays relatively constant. Through emission of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the point at which equilibrium is attained is at much higher temperature and water vapor volume. Carbon dioxide emission is highly linked with human activities, thus the claim that human being contribute considerably to global warming (Maslin, 2002). It is believed that human beings have raised carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere by approximately thirty percent, which presents a very big in crease. The most common human activity that is related with this significant increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is burning of fossil fuels. Changes in the proportions of various carbon isotopes in atmospheric carbon dioxide that are related with anthropogenic discharges also points at human beings as major contributors of the global climate change (Bennett, 2010; Valsson, 2006). The burning of fossil fuels for electricity production, transport as well as from heating and cement production, all contribute to increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by approximately 22 billion tons per annum. Electricity generation and other sources contribute only a third of the... Global warming Global warming is a serious challenge for mankind as well as all creatures on earth. There have been changes in global climate in recent times posing huge concerns among many scientists. Global warming has mainly been attributed to human actions such as discharging excess CO2 into the atmosphere through combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and population explosion among others. However, global warming skeptics have disowned the idea of global warming and cited natural causes of the situation that is now attributed mainly to mankind. There are numerous effects of global warming such as rise in sea level, extreme weather change, intensified storms and hurricanes, health impacts and reduced food supply. Human beings can do a lot to stop global warming. People can use clean energy sources, reduce garbage accumulation and conserve water in order to prevent continued spread global warming. One of the most significant impacts of global warming is the increase in sea level. As temperature increases, ice melts. Global warming causes considerable amounts of ice to melt at the ice caps at the North and South poles. This feeds oceans with extra water. Increasing temperatures can cause massive melting of ice, thus causing dramatic rise in the level of sea water (Haldar, 2011). Scientist postulate that the level of sea water could increase by approximately 1.4 m. Consequently, coastal plains will be flooded or simply submerged in the surging water volume. A considerable portion of the global population lives along the coastline.

Cyberstalking Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cyberstalking - Term Paper Example This particular research report intends to demonstrate a deep analysis and understanding about a particular theory along with practice relating to cyberlaw. In this regard, the perception of cyberstalking has been taken into concern. Cyberstalking can be termed as the execution of internet and its associated components for the purpose of harassing or stalking a person or certain groups. The components might embrace instant messaging (IM) and Internet Protocols (IPs) among others. The practice of cyberstalking can be regarded as one of the critical aspects as it imposes unfavorable impact upon the society by a greater level. For the completion of this project, the factors relating to the discrepancies along with the advantageous points relating to cyberstalking will be highlighted upon. The laws that have been formulated against cyberstalking are duly set to punish the offenders or to penalize those individuals associated with the practice of cyberstalking (Milhorn, 2007). B) Backgrou nd The topic of the study focuses on cyberstalking and its effects on various users of internet. Cyberstalking has been viewed to be one of the most widely practiced activities in the world of internet nowadays. It is frequently practiced by different types of hackers and cyber criminals. However, there are numerous laws that have been formulated as well as exploited by national along with international laws for penalizing the offenders. It is to be affirmed that the concept of cyberstalking is a much broader concept as the whole of the internet medium is related with it. It may provide with a great deal of challenge to study the overall theories related to cyberstalking. There are numerous issues that are needed to be dealt with while dealing with the significant concern of cyberstalking. Facing these issues will lead to a source of learning and knowledge gathering which is quite important. For the completion of this project successfully, a deep analysis about the concept of cybers talking is needed to be conducted along with proper identification of the problems associated with it. However, the concept of cyber stalking is bound to derive many advantages to the internet world. The laws concerning cyberlaw should be widely supported as with the proper lawful measures, the rising problem concerning the increase of cyber stalking can be lowered. This would prove to be a great aid for minimizing the rates of cyber crimes. As cyber stalking represents conduct of several malicious practices, the laws are specially formed to disrupt such practices by a greater level (Bocij, 2004). C) Inadequacies There are various types of challenges that may arise while analyzing the current traits and practices of cyberstalking. Hacking specialists along with cyber criminals often play their roles in a very skillful manner. Investigating teams are required to trace their internet activities in an effective manner. A lot of technical expertise is demanded to have a clear understand ing of the various activities of the offenders. Highly trained professionals are required for checking all kinds of activities related to cyber crimes (Janczewski & Colarik, 2008). The internet age is designed in such a way that people tends to share their personal information very quickly. It can be affirmed from a broader outlook that sharing personal information eventually paves the way for the happening of the activities associated with cyberstalking. As the use of internet is becoming drastically popular in this present day context, it is becoming quite difficult for the people to stop themselves from exchanging personal information over the internet with unknown people. This particular trend is ultimately leading the way towards causing the activities relating to cyberstalking by a greater level. In order to determine the inadequacies relating to the context of cyberstalking, certain crucial factors can be recognized that imposes significant impact upon controlling the ill eff ects of cyberstalking.

Report of the Field Week at Wiston Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Report of the Field Week at Wiston - Coursework Example Surveys are very important while carrying out all types of construction and land planning. The various applications of surveys include the plotting of a land and marking of boundaries for planning and ownership purposes, the correct orientation of the building, the leveling of an unduly ground surface, for setting out gradient of a road or field, for marking the center line of the roads, railways and transmission lines, for setting out horizontal as well as vertical curves for various purpose etc. So surveying can be deemed of as the very first step of any type of construction work and it also defines the accuracy of the construction (Schofield and Breach, 2007). Incorrect surveys lead to various complications during the construction because the project drawings are made according to the surveys carried out. Moreover surveys are also very important in the economics of a project because the estimates of a project are based on the drawings prepared through surveying. The various differ ent branches and disciplines of science on which surveying is based include trigonometry, geometry, physics and mathematics (Ghilani and Wolf, 2008). With the technological advancements in all other fields of science, surveying has also been developed and various new surveying instruments have been developed which provide high level of accuracy in work. There are various surveying techniques which have been classified on the basis of the type of land where they can be adopted and also on the basis of the objective of survey. This report elaborates the various tasks carried out during surveying work at Wiston and also explains the use of various instruments which were used for carrying out the various tasks. The major tasks carried out at Wiston provided an idea about the basics of surveys and the use of surveying instruments like theodolite and auto level. The various techniques which were studied and practiced include traversing, which is one the very basic techniques of surveying and involves the measurement of the distances and angles between various points on a close traverse. The setting out of a curve using chords and offsets was also studied and practiced. Chapter 2: Theodolites and Levels The instruments used during the surveying included Theodolites and Levels. The functioning, use and applications of these two instruments is described in this chapter. Theodolite Theodolite is one of the most widely used instruments in land surveying because of

10 years from now Essay Example for Free

10 years from now Essay My primary goal over the next ten years is to graduate from the University of Florida. I will major in advertising and possibly minor in business administration. I will graduate with a Masters of Advertising (M.Adv.). In order to get this degree, I have to complete at least one hundred and twenty-four hours of credits. Some of the classes I will need to take for my major are Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Advertising, Advertising campaigns, and Media Planning. To earn a Masters of Advertising, at least thirty-three credits are required excluding undergraduate courses throughout the university. There are eighteen core credits out of the thirty-three. Some Classes unique to my degree are Advertising Planning, Advertising Theory, and Creative Advertising Strategies. Electives such as International communication and Advanced Media Planning are also required. A Business Administration minor at the University of Florida provides an overview of the major practical elements of business for non-business UF undergraduates. This minor can be completed on line, at UF or through a study abroad program. To earn a Business Administration minor, twenty four credits must be completed while maintaining a 2.0 or higher GPA in the minor. Obtaining a master’s degree would be beneficial in that a higher pay is earned and greater expertise in that subject is attained. The average tuition cost for undergraduates living either on or off campus at the University of Florida is $20,220. My schooling will be paid for by family savings and a Bright Futures scholarship. During my time at the Uni versity of Florida I would like to study abroad. My top locations are Madrid, London or Rome. Studying abroad would be a great experience. Through this program I could improve and increase my language skills, gain different perspectives on vital global issues, encounter new things and meet new people. The Department of Advertising at the University of Florida strongly encourages students to gain work experience through internships. Although internships are not required, they can have great benefit in the long run. Through internships, my interest, motivation and willingness to work hard could be noticed by future coworkers, clients and bosses. After completing  schooling and internships I hope to become a Director of Public Affairs in Tampa, Florida. Directors of public affairs are responsible for developing effective communication plans that strengthens brand promise, create and launch new media and marketing and to resolve public affairs issues. Qualifications for this position include a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations or Journalism. Strong media relations skills and strong relationships with key media outlets such as print, television, bloggers and radio are preferred. The ability to multi task and to take initiative in a fast paced environment is favorable. The median pay for a Director of public affairs in Florida is $58,000. The tax rate for that income is $7,929 or 14.74%. A Director of Public affairs works with the management and assigns tasks to the staff. To ensure and maintain the company’s good reputation, the Director of Public Affairs must supervise and review the activities of the staff. In ten years, my main form of transportation will be by car. One of the most important factors considered when buying a car is price. I lean towards bigger cars such as a GMC Tahoe or a Honda Pilot. The estimated average cost of either of these cars ranges from $18,000 to $30,000. One of the disadvantages of driving a larger car is the high cost of fueling. As a result of the low MPG, a larger sum of money will have to be budgeted for gas every month. Before I begin the search for a car, a target price should be determined. It’s important to also consider how much the car can be sold or traded for in the future. Another factor to consider is whether the car will be new or used. New cars are favorable because the car won’t have any unknown problems prior to purchasing it. Used cars are beneficial due to their lower prices and shorter financing periods. In my opinion, the benefits of a used car outweigh the disadvantages. The ability to travel will play a key role in my j ob selection. I would like to travel around the world to places I’ve never been including places such as New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and Spain. I would also love to be able to go back to Scotland to see my family and visit parts of the country I’ve never seen. Tampa, Florida would be my ideal city to live in. Downtown Tampa is the central business district of Tampa. Living in a two bedroom apartment with a  roommate would make the most sense, financially, when I am starting my career. Bell Channelside is an upscale apartment community that would be suitable to both my needs and wants. The average cost for a two bedroom apartment at Bell Channelside ranges from $1442 to $1750 with a down payment of $300. These apartments have an impressive walk score of 82. The Tampa Aquarium, Channelside Bay Plaza, nightlife, dining and shopping are all in walking distance of Bell Channelside apartments. They are also conveniently close to the I-275 and the Crosstown Expressway. The crime rate in Downtown Tampa is less than 42% of the cities in Florida. Contrary to what many may assume about Downtown Tampa, it is safer than 77.9% of the neighborhoods in Tampa. ï ¿ ¼ In order to stay out of debt and to maintain my funds, I will have to budget my spending. Ten years from now, student loans will likely still need to be paid off. Falling into debt would add unnecessary stress and would delay paying off my student loans and prevent me from investing for the future. The average yearly pay of a Director of Public affairs is $58,000 which calculates to an estimated $4,833 every month. A minimum of $750 will be paid each month for rent. Monthly utilities usually aren’t included in the rent so at least $50 should be set aside for groceries and $65 to $90 for gas. The pie chart in the figure above breaks down the cost of living expenses in Tampa based on a monthly income of $4,000. I will also put money into long-term investments. Long term investing will aid future purchases and savings for houses, education and funds for traveling. If I stick to my budget and follow my plan, you will be able to find me living in Downtoan Tampa, working as a Direct or of Public Affairs, and driving a slightly used Honda Pilot in 2023.

The story of Everyman Essay Example for Free

The story of Everyman Essay Every human being is destined to have something in their lives, as a matter of fact, there were great expectations in everyone’s existence here on earth and it is absolutely in the hands of an individual to excel in his own abilities. Doing what is good and what is bad is an unending chronicle as we grasp the path of life. Accordingly, the life that has been given by us should be well taken good care of and it is imperative to not waste time just juggling with the fuzz of life and that is just proliferating ourselves in material things alone. Uplifting a certain persona cannot quantify by having luxurious things at hand or achieving a great award or even have the position everyone else is dreaming of, it is about enlightenment of our inner self. To be able to make our lives lavish, we must coordinate with what our creator thought and expected of us. Indeed, it is not easy to perfectly follow his will but practically, in our own way, we can meet what is essential in our lives. In the story of Everyman, it was very open how life should be dealt. Parallel to this, the presence of challenges that God has given us was truly an eye opener to each and every one of us. Given death as the primary element of the challenges, it truly adds spice to the sleeping conscience that we have, â€Å"Death: Lord, I will in the world go run over all, and currently out search both great and small. Everyman will I beset that liveth beastly, out of God’s laws and dreadeth not folly†. The journey that we have to come across was not that easy but in everyman, it tremendously makes available all the possible outcomes of a person’s decision. The choices that he’ll wish to bear would reflect on what kind of future in store for him. It was also exemplified in the story of Everyman how our present life may change instantly and at the same all the things that we possess could easily flushed away, â€Å"God: I perceive here in my majesty, how that all the creatures be to me unkind. Living without dread in worldly prosperity, of ghostly sight the people so blind, drowned in sin, they know me not for their God, and in worldly riches are all in mind†. In one way or another, we fail to comprehend the very essence of prioritizing things and we come to the point wherein we value the most the goods that we have and what we possess at the moment. In this particular scenario, what was elucidated in Everyman was the central issue of choosing what is essential in our character. It is so important to value the life that God has given us. In addition to this, the very heartrending part of all this was the thought that when we are in our deepest part of hopelessness and despair, those we dearly expect to be with us would also be blown away by the unfortunate circumstance in our lives. What we perceived to be our friends would turn out to be just our acquaintances that in any moment they will perish. This was another note on Everyman, that every one should have the conviction to defend what we truly believed in as well as to stand with what we have despite the challenges that comes our way. These are the real essence of the story and this was what Everyman wanted to embark within us. On the other hand, Dante’s Inferno gives us the picture of what life after death may be if we did not convey the real meaning of living on earth, â€Å"Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost† (Dante). The detrimental factors in a person’s life would actually have an effect to the life after death. The presence of the evil forces would take effect in dealing with death and this was truly what Inferno put into words. The relation between the story of Everyman and Inferno truly depicts the essentiality of life. Differentiate what is good and evil is ultimately the focal point of both echelons. The journey of death helps us to visualize the very nature of living life to the fullest and acquiring all important facet of being good. The upshot of what we do will absolutely continue to our life after death. The presence of the core ideas of the circle of hell would enlighten us on the threats that it could bring in a person’s personality. The central values of medieval people revolve in the religion where they are being brought up to. The norms that they posses were truly in accordance to what they believed in. The centeredness in the church was intensely practiced in this age. It was very evident on how they adhere to what their creator bequeath on them. Thus, in this way, doing the good possible way was strictly their very nature. As regards to the creative manner of the medieval people, they still adhere to their religion. The music, the arts and even literature was purely intended to serve the church. We could clearly grasp the devotion that they have in their personalities which is extremely a positive note. The determination will be put into account as well given that they have strong adherence with their religion. On another note, The Roman Republic focuses on their Gods which have the most powerful element. Their ultimate role is to stipulate and protect. The uncompromising set of standards that they put into account truly creates discipline to its people. Since they were not focused on a church enthusiasm, there is no formal priesthood but there is a role for the aristocrats, thus, these are the ones who set the ground for policies. Without a doubt, the exaltation of intangible moral qualities rests a demarcation line apart from the medieval set of values.

Introduction To The Criminal Justice System

Introduction To The Criminal Justice System What do we mean by the Criminal Justice System (CJS)? This essay aims to answer the question What do we mean by the Criminal Justice System? In order to do this, we will start by looking at an introduction to the criminal justice system and briefing talking through the different agencies it is comprised of. We will then go on to look at the three main government departments and map out their responsibilities. This essay then intends to question whether or not the CJS is actually a system and to discuss conflict that may arise between the different agencies. In order to understand the system, it must be broken down into three stages. These stages include the police, the courts and the prisons. These can be evaluated to determine whether or not the CJS is effective. The Criminal Justice System is one of the main public services in the UK. It is made up of specific agencies that respond to the commission of offences. These work together and share similar aims and objectives. These agencies include the Police Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majestys Court Service, The National Offender Management Service and the Youth Justice Board (cjsonline.gov.uk march 2010). All of these agencies are directed by three main government departments. These are the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Attorney General. These departments work together and each of these is responsible for different services within the system. The Home Office was set up in the 18th century and although many changes have been made since this time, its key objective is to protect the public therefore it is responsible for areas such as policing and security. This makes it responsible for all 43 police forces within England and Wales. It is run by the Home Secretary who sets agendas and has management boards in order to make sure its aims and objectives are carried out and their services are being delivered to the public. The Ministry of Justice was established in 2007 and took over some of the responsibilities of the Home Office. It is in charge of the justice system with areas such as criminal law and sentencing. One of its departmental strategic objectives is to ensure a more effective, transparent and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public (http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/justice-annual-report-08-09ii.pdf p48). It is now headed by the Lord Chancellor which can also be known as the Secret ary of State for Justice and like the Home Office, it also has a management board. The Ministry of Justice now also carries out the duties for the Department for Constitutional Affairs which manages the Legal Services Commission and certain courts. The Office of the Attorney General was established to provide advice to law officials. One of its main responsibilities is to guard the rule of the law and of public interest (http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/default.aspx). It is accountable for the law offenders department which is made up of agencies like the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Fraud Authority. In order to certify that these three departments work together, Local Criminal Justice Boards were set up. There are 42 of these boards and ensure that all of the aims of the three boards are carried out in their local area. Ashworth (2010) claims that the CJS is not a system. It quotes that To refer to it as a system is merely a convenience and an aspiration (p71) although Newburn (2007) believes that there is evidence to show that they work in partnership and share similar goals (p549). Despite these similar goals overall, each stage of the CJS sometimes has different objectives which may result in conflict between the different agencies. For example, the courts may sentence a person to prison to be punished, while probation officers would attempt to rehabilitate them. With these differing objectives, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) was set up to ensure these agencies collaborated effectively and delivered the aims of the CJS. These aims are to prevent and detect more crime, to give victims and witnesses more support and to punish and rehabilitate more offenders http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/the_cjs/how_it_works/. These aims must be carried out in order for the criminal justice system to be effective. Each of these aims can be applied to the different stages within the CJS. These stages consist of the police, the courts and also the prisons. Each has a different role within the system with different objectives. The police are there to prevent and detect more crime; this can be done through arrests while the courts are there to sentence offenders and the prisons to punish. The police are the primary stage in the prevention of crime (Joyce p84). In most cases the agencies never respond at all as the CJS starts with the arrest of a suspect or with the reporting of a crime. The police have the authority to refer a person to the next stage of the CJS. This is done as they have to enforce the law with the intention to keep the peace. The courts have the power to sentence an offender and a custodial sentence is the toughest punishment the courts can impose while the prisons function is to punish an offender. From this it would appear that the CJS is based upon punishment, however this is not the case. Only specific agencies focus solely on the penal system. Once an offender is sentenced by the court, the offender enters the penal system (Cavadino p1). The penal system is a system that exists to punish and otherwise deal with those who have been convicted of criminal offences (Cavadino p408). The CJS in the UK is not only about punishment but also about the rehabilitation of offenders. Therefore, it protects the public in both the long and short term http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/downloads/application/pdf/CJS_Review.pdf. Rehabilitation believes that punishment can reduce the incidence of crime by taking a form which will improve the individual offenders character or behaviour and make him or her less likely to reoffend in future (Cavadino p41) The three stages mentioned earlier collaborate well as all three have the objective to protect the public. In order to find out whether or not each of these stages are effective, they can be measured by a number of different means. BCS Police statistics Clear up rates Sentencing has increased in recent years. This can be proved by the increase in prisoners. Since 1980 the prison population increased from 42,000 to 85,000 in 2009 (REF). Despite this increase, it cannot be proved that there is an increase in crime as it may be due to stricter and harsher sentences being imposed by the courts. Regardless of this, respondents to the BCS were asked whether they thought sentences were too tough, about right or too lenient, with over three quarters (76%) feeling that sentences were too lenient (Home Office Policing and criminal justice p12). Due to this increase in the prison population, it has been claimed that the conditions prisoners live in has made it difficult to rehabilitate offenders (Joyce p365) and that it is possible that the prisons may be violating Article three of the Convention (Ashworth p316). One of the problems that an increase in prison population has caused is overcrowding. This can lead to inmates being contained to their cells for l ong periods of time (Ashworth p316) and the denial to rehabilitative programmes (Joyce p377). These overcrowded prisons can lead to aggression and can damage a persons health and wellbeing. Other issues that are concerned with prison conditions include an increase in drug use, security problems and also the financing of the prisons. These conditions may also affect reoffending rates due to not being able to rehabilitate a person. Victimisation surveys is a survey which interviews a sample of the public and provide a relatively accurate measure of crime rates (Newburn p62) as they include crimes that have not been reported to or recorded by the police. Despite this, they still cannot be 100% accurate and reliable due to the fact that they exclude victimless crimes such as Punishment completions Self report surveys Issues influencing the CJSs ability to be effective Confidence levels/ satisfaction Reliability of stats The media can influence a persons perception of the CJS. GOOD The media presents information to the public of crimes. This can be done through new reporting and also television programmes such as Crimewatch which give the public accounts of events through real life footage and reconstructions (Newburn p104). BAD

Bird Imagery in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Essay -- essays

Bird Imagery in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The works of twentieth-century Irish writer James Joyce resound vividly with a unique humanity and genius. His novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is a convincing journey through the inner mind and spirit of Stephen Dedalus. Portrayed with incredible fluency and realism, imagery guides the reader through the swift current of growth tangible in the juvenile hero. Above all heavy imagery in the novel is the recurring bird motif. Joyce uses birds to ultimately relate Stephen to the Daedelus myth of the â€Å"hawklike man;† however, these images also exemplify Stephen’s daily experiences, and longing for true freedom . By using imagery of birds as threatening, images of beauty, and images of escape, the reader can unify the work and better understand Stephen’s tumultuous journey through life. The opening scene of Chapter one portrays a conversation between a very young Stephen and Dante, Stephen’s nanny. She scolds him for an unconventional thought, warning him that â€Å"the eagles will come and pull out [your] eyes†. This obviously graphic image suggests to Stephen the threatening presence of eagles that are minding all his thoughts. Joyce’s vividness with such gruesome imagery has a real effect on Stephen; he repeats Dante’s caution in his childish song, chanting: â€Å"Pull out his eyes, Apologize†. A playful, yet sensitive Stephen must immediately conformeven his innocent unorthodox actions in fear of the threatening phantom eagles to save the consequences they will bring. His thoughts are threatened again by birds when he meets an acquaintance named Heron when walking down a dark street. Stephen immediately notes the peculi... ...of how the creatures of the air have their knowledge and know their times and seasons because they, unlike man, are in the order of their life and have not perverted that order by reason†. In order to seek true emancipation, Stephen â€Å"must go away for they were birds ever going and coming...ever leaving the homes they had built to wander†. Stephen resolves to leave his Irish homeland; free and wild as his images of the birds. The attributes which mold Stephen Dedalus’ growing integrity and life decisions stem from the actions which surround him. The reader associates Stephen by the images he encounters and his reaction to them. In James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen’s connection with bird imagery helps to define his search for a role in his society, and helps readers define and identify with his quest.

Free Essays: Faith and the Other Works of Emily Dickinson :: Biography Biographies Essays

Faith and the Other Works of Emily Dickinson Many of Emily Dickinson's poems are short. Similar to Faith, they are full of delightful surprises and thought provoking twists. Faith is more provocative than usual. The words are plain. Literally, it says that the gentlemen only believe what he can see; for those are hard to see by the naked eye, they rely on science which is symbolized by "Microscopes." "Faith" is a fine invention when Gentlemen can see -- But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency. -- by Emily Dickinson As in all poems, the true meaning is always deeper than the meaning of the words. I try to grasp the poet's intention by study the images conjured by the words. Every time I read this poem, I see a picture of a girl in her cheerful voice reading the words. The voice reminds me of her own words -- "The old -- old sophistries of June." I carefully listen to every word and wrestle with every sound, but they all puzzle me. Is the "faith" an invention of man? Someone must have invented the word "faith" and associated a meaning to it. The Webster dictionary defines "faith" as a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." Did man invent the belief? Did he invent the objects of his belief? ... I have many questions, where to look for answers? Following Dr. Johnson's suggestion, I seek hints from other poems by Emily Dickinson. She lived in a religious family according to her own letter to Thomas Higginson, the editor of her work, but she is not a religious person. In one poem, she wrote: Some keep the Sabbath going to Church - I keep it, staying at Home - With a Bobolink for a Chorister - And a Orchard, for a Dome. In this poem, she compares nature with church. The bobolink and the orchard are her deities. Considering this information, I image there is a little bit of smirk in the girl's voice. Maybe she is laughing at her church-goer parents as many teenagers do. When I was that age, I used to think that going to church is mere formality and took notice of all the inconsistencies between my parents' words and their actions. Each time when I see an inconsistency, I say to myself "Talking about faith, the only thing they believe is what is in front of their eye.

Historys Eras Essay -- American History USA Essays

History's Eras Throughout the many changes in history and fluctuations in economy during times of war and times of rebuilding, there are several key people and events that have greatly affected America's path forever within the multiple Eras. Each abrupt turn in history is the result of someone's decision or some event that placed the power in someone else's hands. These sometimes critical and morally questioned times make up the guide not only to our history, but our future as well. They teach us which way not to go again, and what is, and what use to be extremely important in preserving the American culture that was founded not so long ago. By viewing these movements, wars and moral evolutions, we can see how far America has come so far and where it should go. Reconstruction took several different turns within the twelve year period of 1865-1877. Although President Lincoln revealed the rough road that lay ahead by presenting his Ten Percent Plan and the 13th Amendment, he would have little to do with what was to come due to his untimely assassination by John Wilkes Booth. Booth changed the course of history at that moment by handing the presidency to Vice President Andrew Johnson. Johnson rolled back several gains that Lincoln had in store. He had little to no sympathy for the enslaved blacks and blamed wealthy property owners and high ranking Confederate Officials for the South's poverty. With the now Union functioning governments of the former Confederate states, Republicans were "Sympathetic" to Johnson's decision to put the power of the freed men's civil and political rights into the hands of the individual states. This brought on the laws or "Black Codes" which gave them no choice but to live the slave life ... ...hip and programs, but overall the public saw him as a hero. He changed the connection between government and Americans forever. After reviewing the countless trials and successes America has gone through, it is clear that she has been mis-guided and set back on track several times. With our system of democracy that has been molded and shaped over several periods, it is clear that America is a powerful nation that is continuing to grow. Each president, advisor and citizen has shown their love for this country and its people in so many ways, and by this they have changed the path of history forever. One individual can change history forever, Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Rosa Parks and even Margaret Sanger are all people that dramatically influenced the way America is today and the way it might have been had they not had dreams and morals that fueled them.

Explore Shakespeare’s presentation Essay

When exploring the parental relationships in Hamlet, the focus will inevitability lead back to the character of Hamlet. His connection, in one way or another, to the other characters allows one to observe Hamlet’s behaviour and motives. The relationships between Polonius and his children, Leartes and Ophelia, are recognized, but Hamlet’s filial relationships carry more weight in terms of importance. The character of Hamlet is a key figure who plays a central role amongst the three parental relationships he is a part of. These relationships give rise to issues of obedience and parental responsibilities. Denmark being a Christian country, expects its countrymen to follow the guidelines of the religion. One of the Ten Commandments states that one must ‘honour thy mother and father’. Hamlet becomes increasingly rude towards his mother because of her recent marriage to his uncle Claudius, and openly states that she is her ‘husband’s brother’s wife’ (14;4;3). According to the laws at the time, as stated in The Book of Common Prayer, to marry one’s brother in law was forbidden. The audience echo Hamlet’s moral outrage but he comes to passionately loathe his mother, disgusted at her ‘incestuous’ desires. Hamlet’s disgust erupts at the fact that his mother re-married ‘but two months’ after his father’s death. As a loyal and loving son to his father, Hamlet is devastatingly crushed that his mother could so quickly and easily replace the man in both their lives he loves and respects with an undying awe. This leads Hamlet to regard his mother as a ‘pernicious woman’ showing that he believes her to be joyful of her husband’s death. His language amplifies a sense of assonance, sounding the hiss of a snake. A snake is considered to be a dangerous, life-threatening creature associated with agility and evil. The cold blooded reptile might be an image Hamlet associates with his mother, who he feels swiftly and cunningly conspired to murder his beloved father with a malevolent nature, rendering her incapable of any kind of remorse. Hamlet arrives to a point of such hatred that he cannot bear even to have any relation to his mother. For him ‘would it were not so, you are my mother’ (15;4;3) showing that he destroys the filial bond of mother and son. The monosyllabic words of his language here, give his speech pace, which could suggest Hamlet’s thoughts to be controlled by overwhelming emotion, making them irrational. However, the pause in mid-sentence reduces this pace and give his speech confidence, showing that he clearly has no value for his mother. The audience soon fail to continue to sympathise with Hamlet, as his continual lack of respect builds up to a point at which Gertrude fears for her life at the hands of her own son and terrified, questions whether ‘Thou wilt not murder me? ‘ (20;4;3). By now Hamlet’s behaviour has become intensely violent, so violent that Gertrude chooses to use the word ‘murder’ instead of ‘kill’. This suggests Hamlet has a clod blooded and sadistic nature, undoubtedly dishonouring his mother and failing to obey the duties of his religion. This sin projects Hamlet’s character into committing further sins. He pities and sympathises with the ‘o poor ghost’ of his father. His language reflects a deep and profound sorrow for which he must ‘hold’ his ‘heart’, causing his feelings to be repressed. As a result Hamlet believes that he ‘was born to set it right’ suggesting his eagerness for revenge. It shows that Hamlet believes it is his filial duty, which he intends to complete with utmost loyalty. Hamlet idolises his father finding no wrong whatsoever in him despite Denmark having died with ‘all my imperfections on my head’. The ghost is a representation of Denmark’s uncompleted life in the sense that he died without confessing his sins. This suggests that the ghost is suffering a great deal of pain and stress, which Hamlet indubitably suffers from too. The fact that his father died this way generates more sympathy from Hamlet and therefore adds to his craving for retribution. His sinful vengeance accumulates allowing his violence to be expelled through the murdering of Polonius, yet another sin. One parental duty is to watch over your child, protecting them from harm. Voyeuristically, Polonius watches Hamlet, in an effort to be whiteness to any inappropriate behaviour, so that he can protect his daughter from Hamlet. However, Hamlet sights ‘a rat’ who he kills without any consideration. Hamlet displays an immense amount of disrespect to Polonius, who is a potential father in law to him. He relates a possible father figure to an animal, drastically decreasing his status, furthermore, paralleling him to an animal detested by many because of its vermin infected reputation. Perhaps Polonius could be infected with the disease of evil, due to the aiding of Claudius’ conniving scheme to remove Hamlet from the country. With that in mind, as a justification for murdering Polonius, Hamlet refers to himself as a ‘scourge and minister’ (177;3;4) implying that he has carried out the Lord’s work. Now Hamlet believes his father to be ‘God like’ suggesting he believes himself to be the son of God, giving himself a religious pedestal upon which his actions can be justified. The impact of the atrocity committed is exceeded only by the colossal immorality of Hamlet’s character, resultant of his unethical relation to the holiest religious figure, revealing a disturbing amount of arrogance on his part. His rash behaviour means that his consideration for whom the ‘rat’ may be comes after he has killed him. It is only then that he questions, ‘is it the King? ‘. The fact that he does not ask exactly who it is, combined with the fact that it is Claudius who he asks of first, strongly shows his avid yearning for his uncle’s death. This then allows the audience to see Hamlet’s unshaken dedication to his father. Polonius’ covert presence gives a tangible sensation of claustrophobia. This reflects the suffocation Hamlet suffers from due to the many combined parental figures that exist in his past and present. Shakespeare would stage the play with the use of many soldiers to intensify the claustrophobia. Despite its added cost, it helped to create a sense of unease amongst the audience who then could relate to the way Hamlet felt trapped ‘for I must hold my tongue’. The audience observe the way his feelings have become ineffable. This does ‘break’ Hamlet’s heart causing him an immense amount of anguish, which is added to by his mounting frustration from his inaction towards his much greatly repulsed uncle. Hamlet is irate with himself for crying so many tears of mourning without any action, contrasted with The Player who ‘would drown the stage with tears’ in his situation. This suggests Hamlet feels inadequate which angers him. He chooses to relate The Player’s tears to drowning, which is to be consumed. As his own feelings are ineffable and so repressed, one can assume Hamlet relates The Player to his potential display of mourning. It can be said then that his grief has come to consume him. Yet for a consuming amount of grief, Hamlet remains ‘Like John-a-dreams’ increasing his fury. This suggests he regards his aspirations to be empty and without accomplishment. Although, at one stage he ‘Draws his sword’, and very nearly completes his vendetta, but decides against it, not wanting to ‘do this same villain send to heaven’, due to Claudius confessing his sins at this point. Understandably, to a certain degree, Hamlet desires the worst for Claudius. Yet to continually delay, and then finally reach a point at which he can satisfy his frustration as well as his aspiration, and then not, questions the depth of his feelings. Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis and invented the concept of the Oedipal complex. Based on the Greek mythological story of Oedipus, the complex explores the possible deep seeded sexual desires sons may have for their mother, resulting in jealousy and hatred towards their father. Despite his superficial eagerness for revenge, Hamlet remains inactive with regard to fulfilling it. This eagerness could in fact be a veil for his jealousy towards Denmark, his father. It could be said that in killing Denmark, Claudius satisfies Hamlet’s desires with regard to the Oedipal complex, therefore rendering Hamlet incapable of killing him, explaining his inaction. Hamlet’s sexual desires for his mother can also be interpreted from the immense jealousy he has for his uncle. Hamlet craves his uncle’s death for murdering his father and taking his crown, but surreptitiously for sleeping with his mother. Furthermore Hamlet displays a great sense of misogyny in appearing to loathe his mother. He believes she is subject to ‘frailty’ implying that she is weak for giving in to her sexual desires for Claudius. The irony, however, is that Hamlet’s frustration is rooted in the inability he suffers from, to admit his own incestuous weakness. So much so is his frustration that the ghost of Denmark must remind him to ‘leave her to heaven’ (86;5;1) and being that more than once, this indicates an intense abhorrence for his mother. With this in mind, it is therefore debateable as to who Hamlet is more enraged with – Gertrude or Claudius? In a natural order, children are obedient and loving towards their parents. Hamlet however detests his mother and dishonours her while at the same time, sinfully desires her sexually. This reflects the disorder of the whole play, much of which is related to the disorder in parental relationships. Hamlet calls Claudius his ‘Uncle Father’ which is sarcastic yet uncertain and leaves Hamlet confused. His sarcasm is disrespectful and dishonourable towards Claudius as he is acting as Hamlet’s father. Hamlet tells Claudius to find the corpse of Polonius ‘i’th’other place yourself’ referring to hell and therefore literally tells Claudius to go to hell. In retrospect, Shakespeare does not represent one single parental relationship to be happy and without disorder. It is Hamlet’s poignant sorrow that gives rise to the sinful disrespect he aggressively displays towards his mother. His sorrow comes from the untimely loss of his ‘so excellent a King’ father. The next best father figure, being his uncle, not only murdered his father, but also marries his mother. This deserts Hamlet, who is tragically left torn between whether to kill or thank Claudius. It could be said that Hamlet’s only reason to kill Claudius is for his crown and wife.

Michelle and the Wedding Essay

She had been drifting in and out of consciousness in the way only a working man – or woman – could. Spending most of her days tap-tap-tapping away on a keyboard had taken its toll on her, and her attention span was now at the point where she spent most of the afternoon doing the open-eyed sleep that most office workers have perfected. She snapped out of it in time to see the computer clock flick to 5:10. â€Å"Damn† she swore to herself. She knew she was going to be late at this rate. Hurriedly she threw her things into her bag, grabbing her keys and phone and hammering on the keyboard with a vague hope that it would shut the computer down faster. Sadly, the outburst of violence seemed only to annoy the computer, causing it to dot out a long series of beeps. Guiltily, Michelle stood back and calmed herself down, hoping nobody saw or heard what she did. After what felt like forever it finally shut down. Breathing a sigh of relief she grabbed her bag and in one deft movement swept her coat onto her back, exchanging the bag between hands in a fluent split second, finishing with the bag on her shoulder. She smiled to herself; she knew that Phil would have seen it, and knew how impressed he would be. How impressed he always was, in fact. She knew he had a crush on her, and he probably knew she was aware of that. She always took it lightly though. Everyone knew how happy she was with Jason. Not that anybody could blame him for liking her though. She was, when she wasn’t dozing, the life of the office; she knew everybody by first, last, and nickname, and was always chatting or making jokes. She was beautiful too, there was no denying that. With long brown hair contrasting with large blue eyes, she was a welcome change from the office bimbo. Her straight hair framed the side of her face, and added an accent to her sharp and well carved features. She was at the perfect height between tall enough to talk to properly, but small enough to avoid an awkward posture. She was slim with an athletic body, and always wore clothes that seemed plain yet pretty. Her skirt was never too short, her shirt never too low, and the effect of this was a feeling of wanting to see more. Nobody ever did though, she was far too attached to Jason. Or she would be, were she not running late. Fortunately, as she burst out onto the stairway, he seemed to be late too. She slowed down a bit as she always did on the stairs. Not for safety reasons – in fact, she always secretly hoped she’d fall so she could claim compensation – but because the stairs had enormous windows spanning two of the walls. She loved the view of the city at night. The far off street lights and headlamps glistened against the crystal-like windows, and the sky was a tranquil yellow with large dark clouds with glowing edges taking their mysterious formations for the night. No stars were out yet, but the moon was showing between the clouds, surrounded by light. She snapped out of her daydream again. Hurrying down the remaining steps, she was already fumbling for her keys. Stepping out of the building after saying goodbye to the security guard, she pulled her coat up around her neck. It was a bitter cold night, and the clouds above had given birth to a fine mist that hung over the car park, making it hard to breath and hard to see. She reached the car and unlocked it. It wasn’t hers; she never drove since her accident a few years back. She sat, tempted to turn on the heating, but she decided against it in favour of having rosy cheeks ready for Jason. Just as she was thinking that rosy was all very well and good, but blue and blotchy wasn’t, the door opened and in a swift movement he was in the car. She always felt out of breath when she saw him. He was tall, dark, and handsome. His eyes were deep and dark and his hair was short and rough looking. His face was well formed, giving him a huge smile that spread from his mouth to his ears. He was fairly tall at 6 foot, but he was well built and strong, with just a hint of muscle under his shirt. His lightly tanned skin glistened with condensation from the mist outside. He put out an arm and pulled Michelle close as he planted a kiss on her forehead. â€Å"Sorry I’m late†, he said meekly, as a grin flashed across his face again. â€Å"The boss held me back, refused to let me go!† â€Å"That’s fine† she responded, trying to fight back a similar smile. â€Å"I’ve been here since five, though. You need to tell your boss where to stick it!† She couldn’t hold the lie, and she laughed out loud with the last comment. She didn’t know why she was so giggly with him. It was as if she was a child again. Jason was the same though. He was very mature and patient, but he was very childish at heart. He was definitely the best of both worlds. She was the happiest she had ever been. When he had popped the big question four years ago, presenting a large diamond ring, she had almost fainted with joy. The wedding day was in a week’s time, and they were going to go see about renting a tuxedo for him. Sadly, that was cut short. Due to the pair of them being late, the city centre was brimming with people and the stores were doing their best to close on time. Feeling a little dismayed, they headed home. Michelle was cursing to herself. She had tried so many times to make this journey, as had Jason, but they never seemed to be able to get to the stores. Listening to â€Å"Men In Black† on the radio, she smiled to herself as she made a mental note that irony is a cruel thing. During next day’s lunch break she went to the smaller town centre to pick up her wedding dress. She had selected the perfect one before she had even been proposed to, shortly after her best friend’s wedding. It was a magnificent dress. The train was long and frilly, and the dress itself felt and looked silky. It was covered by a fine layer of lace, and the whiteness was so bright it was practically radiant. Michelle felt slightly disheartened when her name didn’t seem to be down for collection. Well, she was disheartened in a â€Å"shout and scream loud swear words and start tearfully stamping† kind of way. After the young shop assistant managed to calm her (by pointing her towards the coffee machine) the manager had sorted everything out. Her dress looked even more beautiful than before. She phoned her boss and told her she wouldn’t be in for the rest of the day. Well, she had to try the dress on, didn’t she? Indeed she did, and as she danced around the living room when she first got home the urge was getting stronger and stronger. She decided to make a drink first – it had been a tough day. She made up her cup of coffee and set it on the chest of drawers in the front room, and hurried into the bedroom to try the dress on. She looked fabulous. The whiteness of the dress blended immaculately with her pale complexion, and as she ran her fingers along the surface of the fabric it shimmered with a silky glow. She heard a knock on the door – that’d be Emily, her best friend, to see the dress. She ran excited out into the living room, having completely forgot that she set the mug up on the chest of drawers just outside the room†¦ She had booked the next day off of work to meet up with the wedding planner. She spent the best part of three hours sat in an unfriendly feeling office whilst having various cards and brochures thrown at her. The defense mechanism she had perfected throughout her professional life kicked in, and her eyes glazed over as she started to daydream. She started by wondering what the wedding planner was giving her all these things for. Surely the whole point of a wedding planner is to avoid the brochure flipping? Deep inside, she cursed all wedding planners into a large cage, which she then dropped off a large cliff. Unfortunately, there was one which had not been able to fit inside the cave, but this one quickly had his clothes torn off by a ferocious bear. He had a willy in the shape of a pig’s tail. She laughed, startling the wedding planner and herself so much that the two of them jumped out of their seats. The planner quickly replaced her look of shock with her familiar scowl, and said in a tone similar to that used to discipline young puppies said â€Å"Since you seem to find the fact that this churches graveyard is a funny thing, I suppose you won’t be put off by a feeling of death at your wedding.† Trying hard to hide her grin, now bought on merely by the adrenaline rush she had when she startled herself, she simply nodded. At this point, after something going wrong every single time she tried to arrange anything, she just wanted the wedding to go ahead and didn’t care how much death, tuxedos, or indeed people attended. She didn’t even care if Jason was in a cheap Tesco suit or that she had to hurriedly form a white bouquet of flowers to cover the large coffee stain on her dress. The waiting room was a small and grotty place. Michelle never enjoyed sitting there; the padding was thin on the seats, and her bum always felt sore. She also had a habit of going away on another daydream. Not that that was such a bad thing though; she would far rather be flying away with neon spaceships than sat with increasingly numbing buttocks. Sipping at a cup of lukewarm water, she tapped her feet on the floor, nodding her head along with the resulting rhythm. She was so caught up in her thoughts and tapping that she didn’t even notice the man run in and shoot the wedding planner, before setting fire to the office. She didn’t bat an eyelid when the sirens wailed, and the shocked bystanders looked in as she sat in a burning room, surrounded by flames, tapping her feet in time to nonexistent music. She didn’t even cast a glance towards the yelling policeman and fireman, whilst the flames climbed slowly up her arms and legs. She didn’t even flinch when a beam fell from the ceiling, exploding into a strangely attractive shower of sparks. She didn’t care, because she’d been there so many times before. Michelle woke up. She was sweating, she was breathing heavily and she was shaking, but she didn’t cry. She didn’t let out any screams. She sat up slowly, her head brimming. She had so many thoughts racing around, it was hard to make out what she was thinking. She walked slowly towards the room of her cell, and clawed weakly at the padding as she had done so many times before. Part of her was sobbing silently inside, mourning for Jason even though four years had passed since he was hurled through the windscreen of her car, bouncing like a rag doll down the rocky and hilly terrain of Norway. Outside, the workers at Dorsetshire County Asylum started preparing for the day shift.