Classmates and Influences

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Classmates are a more important influence than parents on a child’s success in school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. I can not completely agree with the statement that classmates are a more important influence than parents on a child's success in school. In this essay I will first focus on the reasons why I agree with this statement and then list a few points why from my opinion in some cases is not true.From the one side, classmates have a significant influence on child's behavior and his or her success in school. First of all, children spend much time at school. Classmates have many things in common such as age, interests, homework and classes after all. So, they discuss their impressions about a new teacher, solve problems together, learn their homework, gain new knowledge and experience and even make their own discoveries. Sharing all these makes them closer. Some of them become friends and they spend after-school time together.In addition friends tend to copy each other's habits and manners. For instance, my little sister became friends with the girl who did not have good grades at school at that time. It does not mean she could not have better grades; she just had many friends who did not care about their grades. So, when they started to spend their time together and share their interests, girl's grades improved. They did their homework together, shared their dreams and exciting moments. From this point I must agree that classmates can change child’s attitude towards school.From the other side, parents have a great influence on children' success in school too. For example if parents show an interest in their child's progress and talk to him or her about the importance of learning I think their child will listen to them and do his or her best. Personally, I believe that relationships between parents and a child play an essential role in child's success in schoo l. If these relationships are close and wholehearted I am sure that parents should not be afraid of bad influence from the outside.

How to Write a Reflective Essay Essay

This type of essay is aimed to reflect a personal event or experience of the essay author. The main condition is that it has to be a certain personal experience on which the author has his very own perception. This experience or even is revealed in the essay in order to demonstrate its importance for understanding social relations and the essence of people. It may be said that a reflective essay possess the traits of a philosophical analysis of different experiences we face in our everyday life. This type of essay reveals the creativity of the students and their ability to change standard perception to a unique one, to their own unique perception of social issues. Writing a Reflective essay In order to produce an excellent reflective essay it is vital to remember that the reflective is to have a personal character and to relate to certain philosophic categories. This implies a wide range of possible understanding of the topic of the essay. One of the widespread topics for a reflective essay is â€Å"What is love?† in which the author shares his own reflective of this term through the prism of his experience and the common attitude to this social phenomenon. The majority of the questions in such essays are rhetoric Reflective essay structure Reflective essay do not have a certain structure because cannot be written according to a standard essay scheme. This is due to the fact that the thesis statements and the conclusions of reflective essays are often blurry. Here is a probable scheme of a reflective essay: * The aim of the opening paragraph is to get the reader involved in the author’s story including interesting details, personal experiences. The style must be very vivid and therefore to appeal to the reader as if it was a tete-a-tete conversation on the meaning of life or love. * The middle part reveals a good variety of the author’s ideas on the topic. * The concluding sentences summarize the main ideas and experiences of the essay. The author makes a reflective of his general perception of the given topic. Reflective essays topics and ideas. Reflective essays can be written on many different topics which base on the reflection of a personal event or experience of the essay author. Delicate approach to the choice of a topic or keen understanding of the one topic is the key element of good essay writing. If you hesitate either on choosing the essay topic or the idea for Reflective essay please feel free to contact us and we gladly help you any time you need assistance. What is a reflective essay? Think of the word â€Å"reflection†. It means to look back upon a situation and present your findings. It is all about your perspective, post-experience. Whether you are writing a reflective essay about an event in your life, or you are reflecting on a poem that you were assigned to read for your high school english class, reflective essay writing is all about composing your thoughts on the subject. It is different than an informative essay, for which you may research a topic, or have to come up with ways to support your conclusions. Instead, reflective essay writing is unique to the individual. There is really no wrong answer. In fact, this is the kind of essay in which your teacher wants you to explore your creative thoughts and really think outside of the box. What is the format for writing a reflective essay? If you are writing a reflective essay as a school assignment, your teacher may have provided specific guidelines as to how it should be constructed. Before you get started writing, it is important to make sure you read over any information your teacher has provided about the assignment. In general, reflective essay writing should follow the typical format of introduction, body, and conclusion. It is important to keep up the technical aspects of your writing when constructing a reflective essay because it is so easy to ramble and get off topic. The introduction should give the reader an idea of what your essay is about as well as hint at the conclusion. Brainstorming and prewriting This is a very important step that often goes overlooked when writing a reflective essay. Because of the nature of the assignment, it is often not very hard to gather thoughts and begin writing. However, one of the biggest mistakes that writers often make is feeling confident about an assignment and therefore skipping the prewriting and brainstorming process. Prewriting is not just designed to help you come up with things to write about- it is also plays a very important part in providing structure and framework so that your great thoughts are well connected. Choosing a great prewriting activity depends on your personal style as writer. Some prefer bubble maps to connect thoughts, while others enjoy creating an entire first draft and going back in to edit. Whatever your style, prewriting for a reflective essay should be all about finding structure and creating a backbone for your assignment. Some questions to consider If you are having trouble reflecting on a particular event or literary work, here are some questions that will be helpful in getting you going. Remember, do not be afraid to be bold and have confidence in your thoughts. 1. How did this make me feel? What emotions were evoked? (happy, sad, scared, excited) 2. What did this remind me of? Something in my past? Another story Ive read? 3. How was it different from what I thought it would be? Did I have any ideas going into it? Did it live up to my expectations? 4. How could it have gone differently?

Aristotle View on Happiness Essay

People have defined happiness as some kind of good of a human being. In Nicomachean Ethics: Book I, Aristotle defines happiness as the activity of living well, which in the Greek word is called eudaimonia. He tends to think that happiness is how we balance and moderate our lives to seek the highest pleasures, which he calls maintaining the mean. In the following excerpt from Book I, Aristotle talks about how happiness presumably consists in attaining some good or set of goods. â€Å"Now goods have been divided into three classes, and some are described as external, others as relating to soul or to body; we call those that relate to soul most properly and truly goods, and psychical actions and activities we class as relating to soul† (Book I pg. 7). He is saying that since happiness consists in attaining some good that there are three different types of goods that you can attain; an external goods, which consists of wealth or honor, goods of the body, which is health or physical strength, and lastly goods of the soul, which consists of knowledge, education, and friendship. Aristotle goes on to say how only certain goods are necessary for happiness. â€Å"It is correct also in that we identify the end with certain actions and activities; for thus it falls among goods of the soul and not among external goods. Another belief which harmonizes with our account is that the happy man lives well and does well; for we have practically defined happiness as a sort of good life and good action† (Book I pg. 7). He is saying that only certain goods such as health are the necessary preconditions for happiness and that other goods such as wealth is just something extra that help fill out a good life for a virtuous person, but the possession of virtue or excellence is the element of happiness. Aristotle also adds that humans seek different goods that make them happy compared to animals because humans have a rational capacity that when exercised perfects our natures as human beings. â€Å"It is natural, then, that we call neither ox nor horse nor any other of the animals happy; for none of them is capable of sharing in such activity† (Book I pg. 9). To obtain happiness, humans need to acquire certain necessary goods and external goods to reach happiness. For Aristotle, happiness is a final end or goal that encompasses the totality of one’s life. He claims that happiness is the end which meets all requirements of life. In the end, happiness awaits for those who go out and take it.

Entrepreneurship and Business Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurship and Business Creation - Essay Example Business models are the details that a company uses to work on its product and operations. The segments that compose of the business model focus on all aspects of the business which even go into the depth of the financial activities and managing operations. (Tatum). When working on developing a business model, six major components are mostly the key instruments to the development. The value proposition is a description of the customers’ problem and how the product addresses that problem. It bases itself on the value that customers’ perceive out of it. Market segment is the group of customers that the company has to target. Adding an innovative edge in the product is what builds on to make the product a potential hit in another segment of the market. The value chain structure also needs to be considered as an important part on how the firm will capture a section of its value. The financial activities are an important segment as well along with understanding the position that the competition has. The last segment that a business model focuses on is building a competitive strategy which will have its core focus on the competitive advantage. (The Business Model). ... nufacturing facilities, the defining production process and allowing for the labor to produce the products all sum up the parts of the business model. (Tatum). The business model also needs to pay emphasis to the external factors. An identification of the target market influences the effort that the firm focuses on its marketing and sales efforts of the company; these too need to be strategically managed so that the cost of production of an individual product does that increase too much. Basing the operations of the firm on this model helps them maintain a focus on their core mission and objective. (Tatum). Proper evolution of the business model after experience shows that the company has gained experience is implementing it into the operations. In simple words, the business model describes a rationale of how an organization decides to create, deliver and capture and maintain its value. (Osterwalder). 2. As An Entrepreneur, What Do You Understand By The Seven Domains Model? Please Ex plain How You Will Apply The Seven Domains When Evaluating A Viable Business Opportunity? The seven domains model are discussed and acted upon everyday by entrepreneurs and managers unconsciously. These domains are all connected to each other and every domain makes the other even more valuable. Frequently, the understanding of these domains revolves around the human resource section of a company and how they implement them. The seven domains model mainly composes of understanding the information available and how to improve on it. (Corporation). Seven domains model can be used in all aspects of businesses and designs. They involve synergy between all the resources so that the project completion objectives are not compromised. What the seven domains tend to seek together what they generally

Discrimination Towards Minorities within the United StatsJudicial Research Paper

Discrimination Towards Minorities within the United StatsJudicial System - Research Paper Example This paper will discuss the practice of discrimination towards minorities, discrimination which lead towards unlawful criminal procedures. It shall particularly discuss the civil liberties which are violated due to race and or class status. This paper is being carried out in order to establish a clear and comprehensive picture of the criminal justice system and its actual applications in the United States. Body Discrimination in the application of criminal justice is sometimes apparent in the legal practice, and in most instances, ethnic, racial, or economic considerations are the reasons why such discriminations exist. Various suggestions from different sources seem to point to the presence of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. In the aftermath of the Rodney King case, an independent commission of the Los Angeles Police Department established that the LAPD used force excessively, and this unnecessary force was largely attributed to the officer’s racial prej udice (Banks, 2004). A review of police officers in the Los Angeles area revealed that about a quarter of them were racists towards the minorities, and that their racial bias has sometimes led to the inappropriate use of force in their arrests and apprehension of these criminals. In assessing radio communications among LAPD police officers, the content of their remarks reflected a significant number of racially discriminatory remarks and attitudes against minorities (Banks, 2004). Witnesses also claim that police officers often tolerated discriminatory actions against minorities; they also claim that these officers often verbally harassed these minorities for as long as they fit their usual suspects – the blacks and the Latin men (Banks, 2004). Police officers who also belonged to the minority ethnic groups were also discriminated against, and they were treated to biased comments and subjected to racial slurs. A report from New York established that there are double standards which are being applied – one for the whites and another one for the minorities and the poor (New York State Judicial Commission on Minorities, 1991). This report was able to establish the presence of biased treatment as well as injustice in the criminal justice system. The report also pointed out that various minorities were subjected to basement justice with their cases being relegated to facilities which were infested with rats and cockroaches (Banks, 2004). These minorities were also disrespected and not given the proper personnel to handle their complaints and court processes. In some instances, the cases involving minorities were often quickly dispensed, with atleast four or five minutes in court (Banks, 2004). This represents an assembly line in the dispensation of justice. Moreover, black defendants were often made to face their fate in the justice system before a purely white jury. This hardly represents the defendant’s peers. In order to establish whether or not racial discrimination is seen in the criminal justice system, various criminal theorists have carried out research assessing the major decision points in the criminal justice system in the US (Wilbanks, 1987). Most of these reports pointed out that even as racial discrimination exists in the criminal system, the system is not wholly defined by racial discrimination; in effect, discrimination is not extensive (Russell, 1998). However, there are

Gender and Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Gender and Work - Essay Example been expected to find work and earn for the livelihood of the family, and the women have stayed home, bearing children, caring for the immediate needs of the family. From the 1950s onwards, new trends were observed as women have been prompted by financial constraints to find work and also help sustain family needs. Such trends grew to more significant proportions, to the current trends which have now been observed in society. Men and women are now equally expected to find work, have careers, or simply work for themselves, not necessarily for their families. Regardless of the seeming egalitarian situation such work conditions have created, issues on discrimination have still been observed. Moreover, such issues have also been very much apparent as far as leadership or managerial positions are concerned. The male: female ratio for managers in organizations very much favours more men occupying leadership roles. However, organizations are often quick to dismiss such trend, arguing that t he difference is mainly caused by the fact that men are more interested in gaining managerial roles, and that women can have as much chance to be leaders much as men. This argumentative essay shall analyse the issue or contention that: Women are being discriminated in the workplace in relation to leadership or managerial roles and positions. This essay shall first provide facts relating to statistical figures on women versus male leadership ratio in organizations. Next, it shall argue on one hand how women are still being discriminated against for leadership roles. A different perspective on the argument will also be presented. Also, both sides of the argument will be considered in order to indicate a logical and well-evidenced position on the issue. A conclusion will summarize the arguments and provide a clear and logical answer to the issue raised. A reflective analysis will also provide a personal perspective on the issue. Although women are already making up a huge proportion of

Weight Loss Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Weight Loss Programs - Essay Example t quickly, but, as seen in many follow up studies on a diet’s success rate, the long-term results are further weight gain and possible health side effects. In essence, the very word ‘diet’ implies a short-term effort rather than a long-term commitment. In this case, the program that will be discussed today should not be thought of as a diet, but a lifestyle plan that is easy to follow, realistic in its requirements and expectations, and accessible to all people regardless of their income levels. The program is the Zone Diet. This program is in the category of â€Å"right-food-combination† diets that base their eating plan on the belief that, in certain healthy combinations, the body will lose extra fat and return to a health body weight (Nathan & Delahanty, 150). The Zone Diet, created by Dr. Barry Sears, was introduced in 1995. Dr. Sears is a certified biochemist who argues that people gain weight due to unstable blood sugar levels and hormonal imbalances. The type of food and the quantities in which we eat certain foods contribute significantly to these issues. Unlike other low-carbohydrate diets, the Zone Diet is not as restrictive as the Atkin diet that prohibits the consumption of carbohydrates. Our body needs carbohydrates like our cars need gasoline; carbohydrates are the fuel for our bodies that provide us energy. However, what Dr. Sears highlights is that people’s daily diets are too high in carbohydrates, which is causing weight gain. The best example for why we keep gaining weig ht is to compare our high-carbohydrate diets to the high-carbohydrate diets of livestock. Cows fed on a diet rich in grass, food they are meant to eat, stay relatively thin; however, cows fed on a diet rich in carbohydrates, such as corn, become much fatter and in a shorter amount of time (DrSears.com). This example clearly demonstrates that, if consuming the proper foods in the proper quantities, all living things will return to and remain at a health body

GEL 101 Research project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GEL 101 project - Research Paper Example Discrimination can be based on somebody’s gender, sex, income, and so on whereas, racism is also a kind of discrimination, but it is based mainly on a person’s skin color. When a person is trying to be a racist actually what he is doing is to compare others with himself on the basis of their skin color or their material possessions. One must never forget that comparing people based on such things, which they do not get by choice, is actually a false comparison. A white guy is not white because he wanted to be so, likewise a black guy is not black by his own choice rather they both are the way they are, because that is how they were meant to be. Therefore, racism or discrimination is a very unrealistic approach on behalf of individuals. A realist would never be a racist at all because he knows the philosophy of life. There is another approach, which sounds pretty much unrealistic as well, is of considering others as inferior based on their material possessions. Material possessions are worldly things, which can be earned or which can be lost, somebody who lacks something today is only for today. No one knows for surety where he will be the coming day. Then why bother and waste time in judging people which does not help one in anything but simply gives birth to hatred. Famous People who have experienced racism/discrimination: Oprah Winfrey, a famous TV artist, says that she has been a victim of racial discrimination, when she went to a store in Switzerland to buy a bag, which was designed by Tom Ford and named after Jennifer Aniston. According to her, when she asked for this bag, the sales girl showed some other bags and refused indirectly to show that particular bag saying it was too expensive for her. Oprah says that it was because of racial discrimination that the bag she demanded was not showed to her and she felt embarrassed. While acknowledging the apology of the owner of the store and sales girl Winfrey said â€Å"Discrimination is there, an ywhere around the world, every day† (Hall). The other celebrity that faced racial discrimination is Gabby Douglas, who is a star athlete and won two gold medals at London Olympic Games. According to her, she endured racism and discrimination while she was training in London. She says,† One of my teammates was like, 'Can you scrape the bar?' And they were like, 'Why doesn't Gabby do it, she's our slave?' I definitely felt isolated; I felt 'why am I deserving this? Is it because I'm black?† (Hersha). By reading the statements of these two famous personalities, it becomes obvious that not only common people face such situations, but celebrities also happen to face this. Each human being is worthy of being respected and is not supposed to be treated as such. The color discrimination in America is increasing rapidly, recently some violent activities that took place in the name of racism and discrimination, include; Christopher Lane, who is an Australian baseball player, became the victim of three wannabe gang-gangers. A 20-year-old guy named Javon Tyrek from New York, who has been charged with the first-degree murder and burglary, murdered a 99-year-old Fannie Gumbinger. These are merely accidents that are turning back the clock on racial discrimination, and have acted as a basis for the rebirth of this issue. Furthermore two black teens, Demetrius Glenn and Kenan D. Adams-Kinard, took the life of a World War II

Case C Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

C - Case Study Example But the final decision of Jami is to file lawsuit before the federal or state court. The acts committed against Jami undoubtedly falls within the context of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), which â€Å"prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin with respect to compensation, terms, conditions and privileges of employment† (Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1991). In the instant case, several indicators manifest forms of sexual harassment in the work place. Her colleagues who commented on her physical attributes and the offensive gestures of Mr. Clark, who is the Vice-President of the company, by staring at her body parts in a provocative manner, constitutes immoral behaviors that create a sexually hostile atmosphere from the moment she started working. The unbecoming conduct of Mr. Clark carried on as he offered Jami invitations for lunch and spending an out-of-town weekend at his cabin. Even if Jami accepted the invitations on these two instances, her refusal to give in to his sexual demands such as kissing the boss in order to maintain her present position in the company is an indication that she is being subjected to a sexually aggressive and antagonistic work atmosphere. However, since her current financial situation forced her to reconsider giving in to the sexual favors of her boss in exchange for her current job, which she later on rejected, makes her a victim of a sexual harassment case. Her decision to turn down the offer of her boss resulted to her demotion, reduction of half of her pay per year, earned her a poor evaluation performance report and was forced to resign from her job. Clearly, the actions of her employer constitute as intimidation and coercion which subjected Jami in a sexually hostile and intimidating environment. The following twin requirements shall give rise to a sexually hostile environment based on gender: First, the acts(s) must be subjecti vely abusive to the victim(s) affected, and; Second, the act(s) committed must be objectively severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment, that a reasonable person would find abusive. Jami can file a tort claims based on sexual harassment. â€Å"The tort law has been recognized as a proper remedy for a sexually harassed victim(s). These causes of action have been brought under the theories of assault and battery, intention infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, tortios interference with contractual relations, and other tort theories† (Conte 646). Jami can file a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as the basis for a tort claim in relation to the sexual harassment case. It can even be proven based on facts that might not even support finding of sex discrimination under Title VII. Sexual harassment victims like Jami experience stress-related ailments including high-blood pressure, chest pains, insomnia or sleepless night, headaches , nausea, dizziness and nervous tics. Due to the sexual harassment initiated by her employer, she suffered from severe emotional distress which forced her to seek medical and psychiatric treatment to help her recover from the traumatic experience. In Retherford v. AT & T Communications, 844 P.2d 949 (1992), the Supreme Court held that â€Å"the act of the employer and co-workers who intimidated her with threatening looks and remarks, and manipulated

The Goya Painting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Goya Painting - Essay Example The essay "The Goya Painting" explores the painting of Goya. Goya has brought more attention to the central figure whereas the other figures are crouched down and small. The last way that Goya brought attention to the central figure is through light and shadow. The use of light and shadow is very important in that Goya used bright light to bring the central figure to the viewers attention while the other figures and the building are in shadow pushing them into the background. Light and shadow is also used to get the feeling or message of the painting across to the viewer. In this case, the gunmen are darker and dangerous looking because they are in the shadows more. The feeling is that the gunmen have a dark intent and the man in the light is innocent and does not deserve to be in the current circumstance and the light cast on the slaughtered gentleman also creates a feeling that the killing was unnecessary. I feel sad and horrified when viewing Goya’s work because the paining gives me a feeling that any armed conflict between anyone is horrifying and unnecessary. It is clear from this painting that Goya is against war, armed conflict, and, in particular, violence. Goya obviously does not care for violence and the death associated with violence the violence of war. This is clear by the feelings this paining portrays and by the depiction of the gunmen as apposed to those on the opposite side of the guns. The people being shot at look distraught and innocent as show no reason why they should be.

Illustrate The Causes if Inflation And Deflation Essay Example for Free

Illustrate The Causes if Inflation And Deflation Essay With the aid of diagrams, illustrate the causes if inflation and deflation, and by comparing their economic effects consider how both can effect the corporate sector This essay will aim to cover the causes of inflation and deflation and see how their economic effects influence the corporate sector. By first defining any key terms, then looking at the causes of inflation and deflation, looking at their different effects on the economy and in turn analysing how those effects shape the corporate sector. Before this can be done the terms inflation, deflation and corporate sector must first be defined. Inflation is a rise in the average price of goods over time. (Begg, D., Fischer, S. and Dorndusch, R., 2000, p462) and The most usual measure is that of retail prices (Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, P533) (this information being gathered from the retail price index [RPI]) and A rise in inflation means a faster increase in pricesfall in inflation means a lower rise in prices (Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, p533). To illustrate the importance of inflation The COS (Central Statistical Office) says it gets more queries from the public about the RPI than any other statistic, a refection of the influence inflation has on every ones life. (Vaitilingam, R., 1994, p132). Now deflation must be defined. Deflation is the mirror image on inflation (McAleese, D., 2004, p285) and is defined by the Collins English dictionary as reduction in economic activity resulting in lower output and investment (Anon, 1998, p140). Corporate means relating to a business corporation (Oxford University Press, 2006) so the corporate sector is all profit making businesses. This report will now examine the main causes of inflation. There are two main types of inflation: demand pull and cost push. Demand pull inflation occurs when a rise in aggregate demand leads to an increase in overall prices (Begg, D. and Ward, D., 2004, p237). Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., (2001, p537) represented this graphically stating The AD curve shirts to the right and continue to do so. Firms will respond to a rise in aggregate demand partly by raising prices and partly by increasing output (a move up the AS curve) and this is illustrated in the following diagram: This new, higher level of demand my happen for many reasons Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., (1998, p378) tell us that The high level of demand may originate from consumers, from firms, from overseas or from the government. The other main cause of inflation is cost push inflation. Cost push inflation occurs when a reduction in supply leads to an increase in overall prices (Begg, D. and Ward, D., 2004, p237) or when costs of production rise independently from the level of demand (Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, p378). This can be denoted graphically as: Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., (2001, p357) describe this graph as Cost-push inflation is associated with continuing rises in cost and hence continually leftward (upward) shifts in the AS curve. If the firm face a rise in cost, they will respond partly in raising prices and passing the costs onto the consumer and partly by cutting back on production (there is a movement along the AD curve) Monetarists believe that inflation is caused solely by the supply of money in circulation. The monetarist view of inflation, encapsulated in Milton Friedmans dictum, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenonInflation occurs when the growth of the money supply persistently exceeds the growth of real output (McAleese, D., 2004, p281). This can also be shown graphically as: McAleese, D., (2004, p281) goes on to say that A rise in money supply from M0 to M1 shifts the AD curve outwards from AD (M0) to AD (M1). The eventual equilibrium will move from E0 to E1 and prices will rise from P0 to P1In the short runthe AS curve may be positively slopedIn that event a rise in money stock will cause higher prices, but will also lead to more outputIn the longer term, pay levels will catch up on inflation and, over time The economy then approximates more and more closely to the vertical AS. This theory is backed by much evidence including this from the US Department of Commerce As deflation is the opposite inflation it can be caused by the same factors. McAleese, D. (2004, p285) stated it can be caused by supply or demand shocks. Supply shocks includesustained productivity improvements and technological innovation that lowers prices of inputs and outputsDemand shocks can arise for several reasons: a collapse in the stock market or property prices, a sustained strengthening of the exchange rate, warsthat undermined business confidence. From a monetary perspective deflation is caused by a reduction in the velocity of money and/or the amount of money supply per person. (Wikipedia contributors, 2006). Kai, V., L. (2004) showed this graphically as Know we how inflation and deflation is caused we must examine their effects on the economy as a whole and their effects on the corporate sector. Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., (2001, p534) believe that If you could accurately predict inflation and adjust incomes and prices to meet it then it would not be problem. And Griffiths, A. and Wall, S., (2004, p463) reinforce this by stating if we have an economy in which inflation is proceeding at a steady and perfectly foreseen rate, and in which all possible adjustments for the existence of inflation have been madethe main cost of inflation would arise from the fact that interest is not normally paid on currency in circulation, so individuals would make more trips to the bank in order to collect interest on their money. These extra trips to the bank are often called shoe-leather costs of inflation. (Griffiths, A. and Wall, S., 2004, p463) The other cost of anticipated inflation is menu costs. Menu costs are costs from having to update catalogues, menus, vending machines, etc (Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, p384). These costs are very minute so would not greatly effect the corporate sector as a whole. Businesses such as restuants, catalouge based comapies and those who produce vending machines would incounter minor expenses. This forseen inflation econany can be represented graphically as: But normally high inflation is not accurately predicted so other economic costs arise. There are four main, other, expenses: redistribution, uncertainty, balance of payments and resources. This report will now look at these factors in turn. Firstly high inflation redistributes wealth to those with assets (e.g. property) and away from those with savings that pay rates of interest below the rate of inflation and hence whos value is eroded by inflation (Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, p534). This may include people on fixed pensions. Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., (1998 p384) show redistribution also effects creditors , those who are owed money, will also suffer, since when they are paid back, the value of money will be worth less, while debtors, those who owe money, will benefit. So Firms can also borrow more for investment as real value of debt decreases (Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, p386). This will be a benefit to firms to wishing to borrow money but bad for those who offer long term credit options on their products. Secondly inflation tends to cause uncertainty and firms may be reluctant to plan ahead and take long term decisions regarding investment as they are unable to predict future costs and revenues. (Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, p384) This will reduce the rate of economic growth. (Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, p534). So the corporate sector will suffer from poor planning and low investment. Furthermore inflation is likely to worsen the balance of paymentsits exports will become relatively less competitive in the world markets. At the same time imports will become relatively cheaper than home produces goods. Thus exports will fall and imports will rise. As a result the balance of payments will deteriorate and/or the exchange rate will fall. (Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, p534). This will, therefore, affect companies who rely on the global economy. They will face difficulties to exporting products and selling them abroad. They will also face increased competition from imports so may even struggle to sell their products to the home market. Finally extra resources are likely to be used to cope with the effects of inflation. Accountants and other financial experts may have to be employed by companies to help cope with the uncertainties caused by inflation. This will then increase a firms costs. With higher costs, firms are less able to make profit. Some firms exit the market and, as a result, aggregate supply is lesswith national output falling and inflation increasing. (Begg, D. and Ward, D., 2004, p238) firms are forced to pass on increasing costs onto the consumer which may result in reduced sales. This could result in being fatal to a firm in a high inflationary economy. So the economy as a whole will suffer from high inflation, firms will find new obstacles in the way of maximising profits and the individual in the economy will each face new difficulties as a result. Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., (2001, p536) report The costs of inflation are likely to be relatively mild if kept to the single figure problems arise if inflation turns into hyperinflation (where inflation accelerates out of control) and go onto say If inflation develops into hyperinflation Firms constantly raise prices in attempt to cover their rocketing costs. Workers demand huge pay increase in an attempt to stay ahead of the rocketing cost of living. Thus prices and wages chase each other in an ever rising inflationary spiral. Even though the effects of hyperinflation, and even inflation, can be devastating to an economy and the corporate sector, most economist fear deflation more. This section will now examine the effects of deflation on the economy and businesses. McAleese, D., (2004, p286) reported In assessing the economic effects of deflation the problem stems less from the shock itself than from the sequence of events that follow and magnify its initial impact. Price declines become self reinforcing. This means if deflation is affecting an economy, consumers will expect prices to fall as they have been. This will mean they will postpone buying a certain product now as they believe that in the future it will be cheaper or as they become more concerned about their future economic security, particularly if unemployment is rising. The prolonged economic slowdown in Japan has raised concerns about future income prospects among its aging labour force, which may well be one reason for its deflation of the last few years (Brooks, D. H. and Quisingp P., F., 2002). This all means demand will fall. Weakening consumer demand passes into investment. Investors begin to loose nerve. Sales forecasts are cut back. The appetite for risk weakens. Faced with declining sales, corporate debt that once looked rock solid now looks less secure firms cut back on the number of employees (McAleese, D., 2004, p286). So not only does the corporate sector suffer from declining sales, they are forced to reduce their prices even more. They have reduced investment opportunities as capital becomes extremely hard to raise. Deflation has opposing influences on creditors and debtors Consequently, the real value of debt and debt servicing rises. There is thus a potential benefit for creditorsBy itself; this redistribution of real net wealth is not necessarily negative for the economy as a whole. (Brooks, D. H. and Quisingp P., F., 2002). For firms with a high level of debt this means decreased security as the cost of their debt is increasing. This will also have negative implications on investment as another route of raising capital becomes increasingly more difficult to peruse. Firms that offer credit options will benefit as the real value of they owed increases. The effects of deflation are seen more server in todays economy as McAleese, D., (2004, p286) believes In an open world economy, there is an added fear that deflationary impulses in a large economy could be transmitted across countries through trade and investment linkages. Inflation and deflation both affect the corporate sector in various ways. Constantly low inflation should bring increased stability. Businesses seeking to invest millions of pounds over many years will be assured by increases price stability. Predictions regarding costs and revenues are much easier to make and firms face less uncertainty when assessing investment risk. (Begg, D. and Ward, D., 2004, p286) and low inflation is likely to increase the turnover and profit levels of a firm. Workers may also feel happier with pay increase therefore more productive under the illusion they are better off even though their real wage has not increased. So in conclusion low inflation can be beneficial to the corporate sector but higher inflation can have many negative affects but It is generally better to have mild inflation than deflation. Deflationcan create a potentially dangerous situation, as occurred during the depression of the 1930s. (Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, p386). Biblography Anon, 1998, Collins Gem English dictionary (Nineteenth Edition), HarperCollins Publishing, Glasgow Atkinson, B. and Miller, R., 1998, Business economics, Pearson Education Limited, Essex Begg, D., Fischer, S. and Dorndusch, R., 2000, Economics (Sixth Edition), McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Berkshire. Begg, D. and Ward, D., 2004, Economics for business, McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire Brooks, D. H. and Quisingp P., F., 2002, Dangers of Deflation, [online], Available from: http://adb.org/Documents/EDRC/Policy_Briefs/PB012.pdf [access 8th March 2006] Griffiths, A. and Wall, S., 2004, Applied economics (Tenth Edition), Pearson Education, London Kai, V., W., 2004, The Causes and Effects of Deflation in Macao, [online], Available from: http://www.amcm.gov.mo/publication/quarterly/Jul2004/causes_en.pdf [access 8th March 2006] McAleese, D., 2004, Economics for business competition, macro-stability and globalisation, (3rd Edition), Prentice Hall Europe, London Oxford University Press, 2006, Corporate, [online], Available from: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/corporate?view=uk [Accessed 8th March 2006] Parkin, Powell and Matthews, 2005, Economics (Sixth Edition), Pearson Education Limited, Essex Sloman, J. and Sutcliffe, M., 2001, Economics for business (Second Edition), Prentice Hall, London Vaitilingam, R., 1994, The financial times guide to using economics and economic indicators, Pitman Publishing, London Wikipedia contributors, 2006, Deflation (economics), [online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deflation_(economics)oldid=42742256 [accessed 8th March, 2006] Wikipedia contributors, 2006, Inflation [online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation [Accessed 22nd February 2006]

South Africa Essay Example for Free

South Africa Essay In South Africa, civil disobedience was also strongly practiced. By simply looking back at South Africas history, it is indeed safe to say that civil disobedience is justifiable. Apartheid in South Africa is a fact, and is also a part of world history. Apartheid is the main reason why civil disobedience, also considered â€Å"passive resistance in South Africa, was practiced. Apartheid in South Africa was brought about by the settlement of the whites in the country. The term â€Å"separate development† was then used to categorize South Africans into three racial categories. These three categories included the Bantu, White and Colored. Bantu were the black Africans, White were the Americans and Colored were the people with mixed race. The laws under the apartheid system were harsh – black Africans were not allowed to own land even when they were the natives of the country. The members of the White had power over more than 80% of the total land area of South Africa even when the whites were a minority during that time. What makes civil disobedience justifiable in South Africa was when black Africans were not allowed to come in contact with other races. The prohibition of social contact brought about other social injustice like race-specific jobs, separation of education standards, restricted powers and participation in social events (Robinson, 1999). The role of civil disobedience in the given examples is to save people from extreme hardship. It functioned as the first step towards resistance to social injustice. Civil disobedience is then preferred by a lot of people all over the world because it is a form of peaceful rebellion. Given that some of the laws and platforms of a country are repressive and encouraging of violence, what kind of world will this world be if this is fought with armed rebellion? That said, civil disobedience is a step towards a fair revolution and a just society. References: Africa Action. (2006). Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Guide. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://www. africaaction. org/campaign_new/page. php? op=readdocumentid. DuBrin, D. (2008). What is the Role of Civil Disobedience Today? Retrieved March 7, 2008  from www. pbs. org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/socialstudies/htm. Gandhi, M. (1921). Civil Disobedience. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://www. gandhimanibhavan. org/eduresources/article8. htm. Kamat, J. (2005). Indias Freedom Struggle: Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://www. kamat. com/kalranga/freedom/movements. htm. Robinson, J. (1999). Africa. Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://www. africanaencyclopedia. com/apartheid/apartheid. html.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of KFC

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of KFC 1. Introduction KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the worlds largest chains of fast food restaurants, serving more than 12 million customers daily in 109 countries and territories around the world. KFC is part of multi-brand operator Yum, which is the worlds largest restaurant company, owns more than 36,000 locations around the world. During a year around placement, my time at KFC was in a position of casher and then I got a promotion to a restaurant team leader, overseeing the daily shop operations as well as selling product. This placement offers me a great opportunity to observe the corporation and think about the CSR of KFC. A year placement has made me have a great view of KFC and also gives me an opportunity to analysis the corporate social responsibilities of KFC. This paper starts by briefly reviewing the literature on corporate social responsibility and then continues by providing some background on the fast food context. It is followed by the four kinds of social responsibilities constitute total CSR: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Furthermore, this paper will introduce how KFC apply these four categories into practise. In the end of this report, it will state that the benefit of CSR and give the suggestion of how to improve the CSR to improve the whole brand of KFC. 2. The concept of CSR Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a welcomed business strategy, which is a commitment of a company to behave in an ethical and responsible manner, to minimise the negative impacts and maximise the positive impacts (Maignan, et. al, 2005) on both the business interests and stakeholders of company. In recent years, Zadek (2001) has noted that CSR is based on the concept of stakeholder democracy, which is stated that the business organisations are made up of a number of different stakeholders with a multiplicity of interests; all of the stakeholders have an influence over the companys interests. There are many definitions of CSR from different standpoints. In the last 30 years, CSR has been widely discussed. While Keith Davis in 1960 argued that CSR refers to businesses decisions and actions taken for reasons at least partially beyond the firms direct economic or technical interest, the other researches (Eells and Walton, 1961) thought that the CSR refers to the problem that arise when corporate enterprise casts its shadow on the social scene, and the ethical principles that ought to govern the relationship between the corporation and society. It is a trend that organizations pay more attention on every aspect of their performance than before; they are not only considering about the economic interest but also caring the social commentary and environmental protection. Also, in 2008, the economists report state that CSR is made up of three board layers, one on top of other, devoted respectively to CSR as traditional corporate philanthropyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. In the 21st centuryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Openness and transparency become the key slogan for organizations. More and more organizations recognize the important of social responsibility and they are trying to practice these concepts. The authors prefer the use of the term corporate social responsibility and present the following definition. Corporate social responsibility is a committal that made by the company to contribute to the society through the business practices and combining the corporate resources, that may includes improving the quality of life of humans and focusing on the environmental issues (Philip, K and Nancy, L, 2005). The CSR also includes the two kinds, one is instrumental CSR, which is pursued for business profitability, the other is intrinsic CSR, which is ignored the business profitability. These two clues are very important to the stakeholders. 3. Corporate social responsibility of KFC Carroll (1991) indicates that corporation should develop on both side: the economic side and social side. The he definite the CSR into four parts, therefore, the corporation should not only have the economic and legal obligations, but also they have the responsibility on the ethical and philanthropic sides. The main point for this concept is the company has to take all the four parts responsibilities to the society, not only economic responsibility which is the most fundamental responsibility. As mentioned, the four major responsibilities include economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic components (Carroll, 1991). As it can be seen, table 1 summarizes some important statements of these four major responsibilities. And a detailed description of each social responsibility follows. Table 1 Economic, legal, ethics and philanthropic components of CSR Economic components(responsibilities) Legal components (responsibilities) 1. It is important to perform in a manner consistent with maximizing earnings per share. 1. It is important to perform in a manner consistent with expectations of government and law. 2. It is important to be committed to being as profitable as possible. 2. It is important to comply with various federal, state, and local regulations. 3. It is important to maintain a strong competitive position. 3. It is important to be law-abiding corporate citizen. 4. It is important to maintain a high level of operating efficiency. 4. It is important that a successful firm be defined as one that fulfills its legal obligations. 5. It is important that a successful firm be defined as one that is consistently profitable. 5. It is important to provide goods and services that at least meet minimal legal requirements. Ethical components( responsibilities) Philanthropic components ( responsibilities) 1. It is important to perform in a manner consistent with expectations of societal mores and ethical norms. 1. It is important to perform in a manner consistent with the philanthropic and charitable expectations of society. 2. It is important to recognize and respect new or evolving ethical moral norms adopted by society. 2. It is important to assist the fine and performing arts. 3. It is important to prevent ethical norms being compromised in order to achieve corporate goals. 3. It is important that managers and employees participate in voluntary and charitable activities within their local communities. 4. It is important that good corporate citizenship be defined as dong what is expected morally or ethically. 4. It is important to provide assistance to private and public educational institutions. 5. It is important to recognize that corporate integrity and ethical behavior go beyond mere compliance with laws and regulations. 5. It is important to assist voluntarily those projects that enhance a communitys quality of life. (Source: Carroll, A.,2007. The Pyramid of corporate social responsibility) These responsibilities must be performed in order to benefit not only the company operators but also their stakeholders, including the local communities and the general public (Maignan et al.2005; MoIR,2001). As noted by Carroll (1979), the corporate social responsibilities push the companies should run the business in a way that enhances the well-being of their customers as well as the society. 3.1. Economic responsibility 3.1.1 The definition of economic responsibility Historically, the company was created as economic entities designed to provide goods and services that customers needed. The primary incentive for the corporation is to maximum profit for the shareholder. Therefore, the principle role for the corporation was to produce goods and services that customers needed and wanted and to make a proper profit during the business. It is the basic goal for the business organization. Without this economic responsibility, all other social responsibilities are become moot considerations (Carroll, 1991). Therefore, KFCs economic responsibility will be fully present in their annual report and finance report of 2009. 3.1.2 International market of KFC According to the 2009 annual report of Yum!, the parent company of KFC, which is stated that in last five years, their investments in high potential markets which included France, Russian, India, Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam are paying off(Yum! Annual report, 2009). Definitely, they are expanded the international market to satisfy more multinational customers needs while earning more profit as possible as they could. From a financial standpoint, Yum! had run a multi-year program to reduce their company ownership to around 5% at KFC, down from 18% at when they started at the end of 2007. This will have more significant and more predictable stream of franchise revenue. And also the company reducing the general and administrative expenses from company operations, they expect to generate at least as much profit with no capital expenditures by putting these restaurants in the hands of good franchise operators. 3.1.3 The financial performance of KFC Also, in their 2009 financial report, KFCs international sales revenue increased from $7394 in 2007 to $8230 in 2009, three years growth is 3 %( Yum financial data, 2010). Overall, KFC are satisfied with the economic responsibilities by increasing the profit in three years. However, there also have some problems of that. Due to my observation, KFC have increased its sales price, for example, in UK, the selling price of each meal are increased by 30p to 40p. There is no doubt that this price policy will increase the total profit as well. Even though KFC claimed that they will offer customers better service, it cannot depend on the increase the selling price to increase the profit. 3.2 Legal responsibilities 3.2.1 The definition of legal responsibilities Companies run the business according to the profit motive, at the same time, business also have to followed the laws and regulations promulgated by local governments. Corporations are expected to pursue their economic missions within the framework of the law (Carroll, 1991). Legal responsibilities reflect a view of codified ethics, which are enacted by local courts, such as working hours, wage and salary, equal opportunity, food safety etc. KFC have to follow the standards and legal requirements. 3.2.2 Employment practice According to the employment standards that KFC published on the website, employment practice include working hours conditions, non-discrimination, child labour, forced and indentured labour and notification to employees. The details can be seen in Appendix 1. During my placement, I found that our branch are basically applied the employment practice, however, it also need to focus on details. For example, since the KFCs employees are nearly all decided by the manager of each branch and each manager are from different country, they like to hire the employee from their own country. This may cause the indirect discrimination. Moreover, workers in the KFC are paid low wages. In UK, the employees wage rate just meets the lowest requirement of UK. KFC do not pay overtime rates even when employees work very long hours. Pressure to keep profits high and wage costs low results in understaffing, so staff have to work harder and faster. Not surprisingly staff turnover at KFC is high, making it virtually impossible to unionize and fight for a better deal (Royle, 2005). 3.2.3 Hygiene requirement As a fast food restaurant, KFC, need to pay more attention on the hygiene condition. It is not only to meet the legal hygiene requirement, but also to improve the corporate image. However, in 2009, one of the KFC outlet, which is in Leicester Square, London, was charged with 13 food hygiene charges by officials from Westminster Council, which is claiming a mouse was seen running across the floor and flies buzzed around their hands at the premises (caterersearch.com, 2009). Therefore, the manager of KFC should learn the lesson from the cases and KFC need more transparency on the food quality. According to my observation, actually, KFC management do care the hygiene requirement, but they cannot manage it in detail. Some employees ignore the hygiene requirement, this is the problem. 3.2.4 Animal welfare program KFC responded that by saying the chickens used in its products are brought from the suppliers like Perdue Farms, Tyson Foods, and Pilgrims Pride, and that these suppliers are routinely monitored for animal welfare violations. Headquarters of KFC also claimed that they are working at the animal conservation in order to build good brand image. In fact, KFC as the buyer of food products has responsibility to make sure animals have well treatment before they buy them. KFC pay more attention on the animal welfare than before, for instance, they use efficient system to ensure our suppliers are treating the animals humanely which supply to us. It is a necessary deal between KFC and suppliers that they have to agree with the commitment of animal welfare (kfc.com, 2010). However, since 2003, animal rights and welfare organizations, led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have been protesting KFCs treatment of the animals used for its product. This organisation claims that the recommendations of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council have been ignored. And several PETA do the investigations and videos of these and other KFC suppliers purporting to show chicken being beaten, ripped apart and thrown against walls contradict KFCs claims. PETA has criticized some of the practices of chicken breeders, such as beak trimming and overcrowding, but the headquarters of KFC says its suppliers meets UK legal requirement. Due to the situation, the KFC animal Welfare Advisory Council is composed of  industrial experts, which offers the organization information and suggestion according to scientific data and study. Meanwhile, this council plays an important role in motivating the animal welfare plan (kfc.com, 2010). Under the councils proposal, KFC develops guidelines and audit plans for suppliers. In the meantime, according to the advice of National Council of Chain Restaurants and the Food Marketing Institute, KFC pays attention to the guiding principles for animals (kfc.com, 2010). 3.3. Ethics responsibilities 3.3.1 The definition of ethics responsibilities The economic and legal responsibilities have the ethical norms about fairness and justice, ethical responsibilities embrace those activities and practices that are expected or prohibited by the societal members even though they are not codified into law. Ethical responsibilities reflect those standards, norms, or expectations that reflect a concern for what customers, employees, shareholders, and the community regard as fair, keeping with the respect or protection of stakeholders moral rights. (Carroll, 2007) In one way, the current ethics and value may becoming the driving force to precede the establishment of law or regulations. For instance, the environmental, human rights and customer movements reflected basic alterations in societal values and therefore may be seen in the later legislations (Carroll, 2007). 3.3.2Food quality and customer service The product attributes of fast food could be broken up into several categories, such as nutritional, sensory and hygienic quality. Although these aspects could not be verified by foods actual consumption, it is very necessary for organizations to pay more attention on food production and processing (Baltas, 2001; Bredahl et al., 1998). In terms of environmental protection, the ethical production of human and animal welfare are key problems (Harper and Makatouni, 2002; Wier and Calverley, 2002; Grankvist et al., 2004). Holbrooks (1999) typology could be used as a tool which can measure generic costumer value. For instance, it could measure functional costumers value and ethics. A major driver of ethical trading practices within the retail marketplace is the growing phenomenon of ethical consumerism (Brinkman and Brinkman, 2002; Hosmer, 2002), equating to a UK market value of  £6.8 billion in 2001 (Co-operative Bank, 2003; cited Morven, G. and Monika.J.A. 2005). Organizations ethical behaviors could influence production distribution and customer satisfaction (Mohr et al., 2001; Morven, G. and Monika.J.A. 2005). Organizations always use branding as an effective tool to increase their reputation, add supplying meaning of consumer goods (De Chernatony, 2001, McCracken, 1993). Positive and negative perspectives have influences on brand value. As a social responsible organization, branding could affect the investment on production quality management and reduce customer disappointment. According to Bacon (2004), organizations have to pay more attention on product value and market behavior, because the customer trust not only the information provided by organizations but also the good performances of them. In the Yum! Annual report of 2009, it stated that KFC is going to improve the operations particularly around product availability and speed of service. KFC have actively raised their game by more aggressively pushing for higher standards by investing in more franchise field support, increasing operational audits and racking and stacking operating performance of both company and franchise stores. During the placement year, I found the KFC is better prepared to offer the consumer more choice, better value and better service, but KFC still have more to do. The goal of KFC is to stay focused on building the business back the right way and expect steady progress. 3.3.3Environment concerns KFC also should take environmental protection as important as food quality and customer service. In their annual report, the company claimed that we try our best to reduce environmental pollution and we will pay more attention on it in the future. It is very important for us to keep our customers protecting the environment. According to the facts which we are doing, people could understand and support environmental friendly. KFC commit that all paper packaging bags are 100% recycled content, all napkins and serviettes (does not include pre-packaged napkins) are 100% recycled content, and 30% of KFC bucket lid is made by recycled content. Also, more than 90% of KFC paperboard packaging would be certified by Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) in May of 2010(kfc.com, 2010). And also, for all KFC restaurants use more efficient lighting system, which reduce the Carbon emission obviously, and use Energy Star appliances, for instance, the highest energy efficient oven be used generally in these restaurants. KFC also use high-performance air conditioners. Additionally, these restaurants all install programmable thermostats which could reduce the Carbon emission. Moreover, KFCs first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) restaurant was opened by KFC-Taco Bell in Northampton and achieved one of LEEDs highest certifications. More and more franchisees are trying their best to use energy efficient lighting and programmable thermostats (kfc.com, 2010). However, it is very difficult for companies like KFC to recycle waste at the moment. Hence, many recycling contractors refuse to take waste which did not remove food completely, Steve Easterbrook point out, chief executive of waste contractor Veolia Environmental Services (Paton, 2007). Therefore, there are many fast food company have to send the waste to landfill. It is an alternative method of disposal for the environment and local community. From a business point of view, not only benefit for company that saving money, but also benefit for company that being a good citizen. Clearly, it is a great help with morale. In KFC, it would take some staff doing the waste recycling activities, like waste sorting, which helped them feel more involved in the decision-making. 3.4 Philanthropic responsibilities 3.4.1 The definition of philanthropic responsibilities Philanthropic responsibilities reflect those corporate actions that are in response to societys expectation that businesses be corporate citizens. This includes actively engaging in acts or programs to promote human welfare and goodwill. For example, the corporation is giving the financial resources and executive time to the arts, education, or the community (Carroll,1991). 3.4.2 The community KFC takes the issues of litter very seriously. KFC is committed to tackling the litter challenge through a number of initiatives such as litter patrols, packaging reductions, and bins. During my placement, our restaurant sent out patrols every say to pick up litter and empty bins, these patrols go out four times a day in the summer months and three times a day in the winter months., and to make sure the area surrounding the restaurant are as clean as possible. Moreover, KFC are aimed to reduce litter by reducing packaging volumes. According to the KFC website (2010), they cut packaging by 1,400 tonnes, the equivalent of approximately 127 double -ducker buses. This included switching the Fillet and Zinger burgers from cardboard clamshells to paper wrappers. In 2010, KFC are aimed to reduce the packaging in the boxed meals. 3.4.3 World Hunger Relief To celebrate World Hunger Relief week 2010, KFC and its parent company YUM! will co-operate again. As a hunger is a big issue problem of all over the world, make an effort to raise awareness of this, the Yum!s partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme have set up aim will mobilise staff, franchisees and customers to help with it. Many employees from more than 720 KFC restaurants in the UK will be arranging a number of fundraising activities in store, from sponsored silences to KFC car washes. In UK, every branch of KFC have the donate box which out in front of the cashiers, customers can donate their extra change to that box. KFC UK raised more than  £365,000 which helped fund a school food project in Africa last year. Yum!s global efforts spurred unparalleled global awareness, including four million volunteer hours and $20 million in overall donations. This year, KFC hope with customers help they will beat the target (kfc.com, 2010). In summary, the total corporate social responsibility of business entails the simultaneous fulfilment of the firms economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. Negative: Employee hire standards and overtime rates; animal welfare programme Table 2 the positive and negative point of each responsibilities of KFC As it can be seen in table 2, even though KFC has done lots of things on CSR, there are still have more to do. Overall, according to my observation, should do more things on these four responsibilities. On economic part, even though KFC has increased its profit, at same time, they also increase the selling price on each meal; it seems that giving this economic responsibility to the customer and not in themselves. On legal responsibility side, KFC are claimed they are strictly following the supplier code, however, they still have to improve their standard which not just basically satisfy the supplier code. KFC should improve the employee hire standards and overtime rates, moreover, invest more resources on the animal welfare programme. Eventually, they should care about the food quality, not only to product more healthy food; it also has to do more contribution in the future. 4. Benefits that corporate social responsibility can bring As Kotler and Lee (2005) have already clearly indicated that corporations which participation in corporate social initiatives could get many potential benefits. It can be see in the Appendix 2, the benefits of CSR can give a good impression to potential customers, investors, financial analysts, business colleagues; also, companies will have a great image in annual report, in the media, even in the courtroom. It is also state that the CSR is good for the employees, current customers, stockholders, and board members. Kotler and Lee (2005) also conclude that companies have experienced a range of bottom-line benefits, they have summarized six points, and each point will be explained as follows. Increased sales and market value Drumwright (1994) already mentioned that CSR will have a great effect on the customer purchase behaviour. A survey which made by Klein (1990), have stated that 75% of customers have said their purchasing decisions are influenced by a companys reputation with respect to the environment, and eight in ten have said they would pay more for products that are environmentally friendly.Therefore, it is obviously that more social responsibility that corporations taken, more sales of the product. Strengthened brand positioning Pringle and Marjorie (2001) make a statement that a company or brands contribution which links to a relevant charity or cause can make to the spirit of the brand. In their book Brand Spirit, they concluded that customers are going beyond the practical issues of functional product performance or rational product benefits and future than the emotional and psychological aspects of brand personality and image. As mentioned above in each responsibility of KFC, the spirit that participation in corporate social initiatives has given to the KFC, the brand itself. Enhanced corporate image and clout The company will gain a good image and clout from the CSR, for example, the positive press from reports, and also with a strong reputation in the community can be a real asset in times of crisis. Companies that demonstrate they are engaging in practices that satisfy and go beyond regulatory compliance requirements are being given less scrutiny and more free rein by both national and local government entities (Kotler and Lee, 2005). Increased ability to attract, motivate, and retain employees The studies that made by Cone and Roper (2000) indicate that a company that contribute to the society can have a positive influence on their current employees, as well as citizens and executives. According to their survey in 2001, there are 38% of employees who in the CSR programme are proud of their companys value which is much better than the employees who are not involved in the CSR program. Decreased operating costs Most of the companies want to decrease operating costs and increased the revenue from several corporate social initiatives. The obvious thing for the companies to do is to adopt environmental initiatives to reduce waste, reuse materials, recycle, and conserve water and electricity (Kotler and Lee, 2005). And as mentioned above, all KFC restaurants use more efficient lighting system which not only reducing the Carbon emission, but also reducing the operating costs. Increased appeal to investors and financial analysts. There also have some argue that involvement in corporate social initiatives can increase the stock value. The company who involved in corporate social initiatives could have the ability to attract new investors and reduce exposure to risk in the event of corporate or management crises (Kotler and Lee, 2005). 5. The Recommendation for KFC Kotler and Lee (2005) has mentioned six major initiatives of the corporate social responsibilities, which will be cause promotions, cause-related marketing, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy community volunteering and socially responsible business practices. For KFC, they have done many of them. As it can be seen in table 3, it is a list of each initiative of KFC. Table 3 KFCs Corporate Social Initiatives Description Example Cause Promotions Supporting social causes through promotional sponsorships Yum! Sponsored the USA National Pavilion at 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Cause-Related Marketing Making a contribution or donating a percentage of revenues to a specific cause based on product sales or usage Animal Welfare Program Corporate Social Marketing Supporting behaviour change campaigns Food Quality Corporate Philanthropy Making direct contributions to a charity or cause World Hunger Relief Community Volunteering Providing volunteer services in the community KFC is committed to tackling the little challenge Socially Responsible Business Practices Adopting and conducting discretionary business practices and investments that support social causes Recycled Materials and efficient lighting system. (Source: Kotler, P Lee N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: doing the most good for your company and your course.1st ed. John Wiley Sons, Inc: Hoboken, New Jersey. ) Even though it is seems that KFC have done most of the activities of CSR, it is also has some shortage. The most oblivious one is in the cause promotions part. Cause promotion is a corporation provides funds, in-kind contributions, or other corporate resources to increase awareness and concern about a social cause or to support fundraising, participation, or volunteer recruitment for a cause (Kotler LEE,2005). However, most activities in society are sponsored by KFCs parent company YUM!, not KFC itself. The biggest shortage of that is if the customers do not know KFC is belong to the YUM!, then the awareness of KFC do not exist. KFC should do more promotions and sponsored the event itself, not just relay on the YUM!. And this problem is happened on the corporate philanthropy part. 6. Conclusion Even though different authors have indicated different kinds of definition and elements about corporate social responsibility, eventually, the main part of CSR does not change. The public will also keep eyes on the environmental, social issues and ethical issues, especially for a company with an outstanding reputation. During the course of this paper the reader will come across several findings of the corporate social responsibility pose to the Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC has held a successful presence in UK retail industry for many years, with high levels of brand image. Kentucky Fried Chicken takes responsibility that protecting environment and involving social measures instead of waiting the government imposes particular laws. KFC should realize the important of corporate social responsibility and choose the appropriate way to carry out those measures. My placement at KFC has been a valuable experience, being able to observe how to run a restaurant in regard to its social responsibility. Clearly, it is useful for my future career and reward for my whole life. Not only broad my horizon but also enrich my life. 7. Appendix 7.1 Appendix 1 Employment Practices: Working Hours Conditions: according to the relevant laws, code and regulations, suppliers should make sure their employees safety and healthy working conditions in everyday and every week; meanwhile, they could not ask employees for overtime work. Non-Discrimination: suppliers should follow the local laws which illuminate the organizations should not take color, religion, sex, age, physical and national origin as the reasons why they employ workers. Child Labor: suppliers should not hire the employees under the legal age. For instance, YUM! dose not hire the employees who under 14 years of age. Forced and Indentured Labor: According to the existing law status, any Suppliers should not use workers in servitude for working or producing goods for Yum. Also, the labor should be physically and legally free from any physical, psychological, confinement, or sexual harassment under the Suppliers control. Notification to Employees:

Exploring Amanda of The Glass Menagerie Essay -- Glass Menagerie essay

Exploring Amanda of The Glass Menagerie      Ã‚  Ã‚   Tennessee Williams has a gift for character. Not many playwrights do, and even fewer possess the unique ability to craft a character as paradoxical and complex as Amanda Wingfield. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda is a very difficult character to understand because of her psychological disposition. Williams realizes this and provides the reader with a character description in hopes of making the character more accessible to meticulous analysis.    AMANDA WINGFIELD the mother. A little woman of great but confused vitality clinging frantically to another time and place. Her characterization must be carefully created, not copied from type. She is not paranoiac, but her life is paranoia. There is much to admire in Amanda, and as much to love and pity as there is to laugh at. Certainly she has endurance and a kind of heroism, and though her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel at times, there is tenderness in her slight person. (Williams 781)    â€Å"Before the first lines are spoken Amanda's complexity is established†(Falk 126) by the nuances a... ...4. Falk, Signi. "The Southern Gentlewoman." Modern Critical Interpretations Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie. ed. Harold Bloom. NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Jackson, Esther Merle. The Broken World of Tennessee Williams. Madison: & of Wisconsin P, 1965. Parker, R.B., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Glass Menagerie. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1983. Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Masterpieces of the Drama. Ed. Alexander W. Allison, Arthus J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman. 5th ed. NY: Macmillan, 1986. 779- 814.

Essay examples --

Harley-Davidson has a very strong social-cultural force. Harley-Davidson has a traditional customer base of Caucasian men in the age range of 35-74 years-old. In 2012, nearly half of the sales of a new Harley-Davidson were to new customers who have never previously owned a Harley-Davidson. A unique aspect of Harley-Davidson is that they consider their employees to be their â€Å"only long-term competitive advantage.† A quote from their website states, â€Å"To us, our culture is as strong as the iron and steel we put into our bikes, and shines as bright as the chrome.† Some recent changes in the culture include a change in age demographic. Harley-Davidson sales have increased to selling almost half of their motorcycles to new customers. Sales to â€Å"young adults 18-34, women, African-Americans and Hispanics – grew overall at more than twice the rate as sales to [the] traditional U.S. customer base of Caucasian men, ages 35-plus† (Harley-Davidson). The customer base for Harley-Davidson is estimated at 50 million people and Harley-Davidson expects this to remain â€Å"stable and strong.† In the last five years, Harley-Davidson considers international dealers like India, China, and Brazil to be emerging markets. Additional, in that time frame international sales have increased over 5%. Lastly, Harley-Davidson has another quote: â€Å"All roads lead home.† Riders are usually encouraged to be involved in their communities and neighborhoods. The company engages in partnership activities with companies such as Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club, and the YMCA. Economic Changes Harley Davidson, Inc. has had a consistent increase in net income for the last three years per the consolidated Statement of Operations filed in February of 2013. Despite this... ...on in any material product liability claim against us could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition. Polaris mentions a risk of reliance upon intangibles. Beneficial to Polaris, however, is their cultural environment of innovation. They have the potential to continually keep ahead of this risk. Additionally, Polaris mentions the potential for product liability. Like motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles can be risky to users when not used properly and maintained. Technological Changes Polaris does not actually mention any specific technological changes or risks in their financial statements apart from the reliance on intangibles. However, Polaris has similar risks to technological changes that Harley-Davidson does. Polaris offers unique apps and has a website that encourages an interactive usage between the user and the company.

How Memory and Hearing are Linked and thus Influence Emotions Essays

Specific emotions, registered through previous experiences and thoughts, are triggered when a situation or atmosphere resembles or is akin to a memory from the past. Hearing is saved in one’s memory mostly together with the linked setting and happening. When a certain sound is heard, it can directly relate to what one has experienced or seen with that sound in the past and can bring up certain feelings. Childhood is a time of life that represents innocence and happiness. Composed of lively rhythms, most people have memories of singing children’s songs at kindergartens or child cares with peers they first start calling friends. Children’s songs, as well as educational purposes, aims to teach kids how to integrate with other children, which is what most people went through. Hence when one hears a familiar children’s song, he or she will think of their childhood, singing the songs with others they may and may not know, but still altogether. Therefore, the happiness in memory of their childhood will bring up their social open-mindedness. Patriotic songs are a different case. The lyri...

Electronic Voting Machine

International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013 A Preview on Microcontroller Based Electronic Voting Machine Diponkar Paul and Sobuj Kumar Ray, Member, IACSIT Abstract—Voting is most pivotal process of democratic society through which people determine it’s government. Governments around the world are increasingly considering the replacement of traditional paper-based voting schemes with electronic voting systems.Elections of Bangladesh are conducted most exclusively using electronic voting machines developed over the past three years. In this paper we describe the design, construction and operation of a digital voting machine using a microcontroller profoundly. Again we also portray counting system of votes, market survey and cost analysis. Index Terms—Voting system, atmega16l microcontroller, voting analysis, security of EVM. I. INTRODUCTION Voting is a crucial device to reveal the opinion of a group on an issue that i s under consideration. Based on the promise of greater e? iency, better scalability, faster speed, lower cost, and more convenience, voting is currently shifting from manual paper-based processing to automate electronic-based processing. The term â€Å"electronic voting† characteristically depicts to the use of some electronic means in voting and ensure the security, reliability, guarantee and transferency[1],[2]. Now a day the wide range of application of voting include its use in reality student body elections, shareholder meetings, and the passing of legislation in parliament. Perhaps the most important, in? ential, publicised, and widespread use of voting is its use in national elections. Compared to its traditional paper-based counterpart, electronic voting is considered to have many greater potential bene? ts. These bene? ts include better accuracy by eliminating the negative factor of human error, better coverage for remote locations, increased speed for tally computat ion, lower operational cost through automated means, and the convenience of voting from any location Whether or not electronic voting is a necessary replacement for the traditional paper-based method, it is irrefutable that the conduct of voting as been shifting to the use of electronic medium. To date, electronic databases are used to record voter information, computers are used to count the votes and produce voting results, mobile devices are used for voting in interactive television shows, and electronic voting machines have been used in some national elections. Generally, the term â€Å"electronic voting† refers to the de? nition, collection, and dissemination of people’s opinions with the help of some machinery that is more or less computer supported. Despite Manuscript received August 15, 2012; revised October 12, 2012.The authors are with the Department Electrical and Electronic Engineering, World University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh (e-mail: [email  pr otected] com, [email  protected] edu. sg) the transition from traditional paper-based systems to electronic medium, the purpose and requirements for voting remain. Voting is a decision making mechanism in a consensus-based society and security is indeed an essential part of voting. The critical role in determining the outcome of an election, electronic voting systems should be designed and developed with the greatest care.However, a number of recent studies have shown that most of the electronic voting systems being used today are fatally defective [3], [4], [5] and that their quality does not match the importance of the task that they are supposed to carry out. Flaws in current voting systems, which were discovered through testing and other analysis techniques, have stimulated a number of research efforts to mitigate the problems in deployed voting systems. These efforts focused on ameliorating security primitives, such as the storage of votes [6], [7] and auditing [8], and on fo rmally assessing and making procedures more effective [9], [10].Finally, the standards that set the functional and performance requirements against which the systems are developed, tested, and operated have often been found to be inadequate [11], [12], [13]. Among the reasons for concern, critics include vague and incomplete security guidelines, insufficient documentation requirements, and inadequate descriptions of the configuration of commercial software. An electronic voting machine has been designed by a microcontroller for which the code is written in assembly language.Various code protection schemes specified by the manufacturer of the microcontroller are used to prevent inadvertent or deliberate reading and reproduction of the code contained in the microcontroller. The election data contained in the EEPROM of the microcontroller can download into a central computer for tabulations. The security of data in this computer is enforced by generating digital signatures for each dat a file created. This process makes it impossible for anyone to substitute wrong or deliberately altered data files at any intermediate stage between the capturing of voter’s intent by the machine and the final results tabulations.Prior to the election, all con? guration data is set up on the counting server. The con? guration is then transferred to the ballot-box server. Con? guration data include: candidate names, polling station identity, and a list of barcodes. During the voting period, voters are authenticated as per the traditional paper-based voting, and asked whether they wish to vote electronically or use the traditional paper-based method. A voter choosing to use the traditional paper-based method proceeds by being given a ballot paper, casting the vote on the ballot paper, and placing the ballot paper in a ballot-box.On the other hand, a barcode is chosen at random and is given to the voter choosing to use eVACS. Voter authorisation on the electronic voting booth co mputer is by 185 DOI: 10. 7763/IJIEE. 2013. V3. 295 International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013 using the barcode. The electronic voting booth computer communicates the barcode to the ballot-box server for validation and to inform that the voting process is initiating. Upon validation of an invalid barcode, the ballot-box server returns an error message to the voting booth computer.Otherwise, the ballot-box server returns the equivalent of a ballot-paper containing the names of candidates to the voting booth computer. The voter may select the candidates in a particular preference ordering, and restart or complete their selection afterwards. The selection is displayed on the screen forcon? rmation, and the voter is allowed to change or con? rm their selection. The voting booth computer returns a warning given invalid selection or informal vote, however casting invalid or informal vote is allowed. The voter con? ms the selection by using the barcode, and both the vote and a log of key sequence pressed are then communicated to the ballot-box server. The ballot-box server checks that the same barcode is used to initiate the server counts the votes, and produces a voting result. II. HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE Fig. 1. Block diagram of digital voting system Fig 2. Circuit diagram of the digital voting system A. Circuit Description The high level digital voting machine built with ATmega16 Micro controller. The Micro controller port D uses for LCD display and port C. (pin 22) uses for voting power or presiding officers button. The candided button input from Port C. 1 – C. 4 (pin 23 to 26; 4 candided). The output LED and buzzer uses Micro controller port C. 5 and C. 6. The LCD backlight also connected to port C. 7 via a transistor. At the starting of voting the election commission offices setup the machine at the centre. Then power on the switch and sealed it that nobody can power off. The pre siding officer identifies the original voter of that particular area and pushes the voting power button. The voting power LED glow then and continue it until once press the candided buttons.The voter then goes to the secret room where Voting unit placed and press button beside his candided symbol. Voter can watch success of voting by glowing confirmation LED and beep indication. The presiding officer can also hear beep sound watch a confirmation LED. Same time the voting power goes down and nobody can vote again. Mainly when presiding officer press voting power button, Micro controller start scanning from pin 23 to pin 26. When get response from a specific pin, increase the counter one of that candided and stop scanning. So it is not possible to voting twice or more.All the counter result store at Micro controller EEPROM. When the voting is under process it will showed at display â€Å"Voting under Process†. At the end of voting we need to know result. Then election commissio n or presiding officer presses the secret key (password). Now the Micro controller shows the result and supply the power to LCD backlight that it illuminated. If it needs to return voting process again one should press another secret key. There uses a transistor to operate buzzer and confirmation LED with proper current. There also uses a voltage regulator (7805) to supply 5v continuously.Here uses a dry cell 9V battery as power source. The power consumption of the system is very low (50mW150mW varying). After collected data and need erase recorded data from EEPROM just broken the sealed on power button and power off the system. Now the system is ready for next election. This measurement System includes the following components: †¢ Voting Unit †¢ Control Unit †¢ Confirmation Unit †¢ Display Unit (LCD) †¢ Power Supply Unit B. Voting Unit Fig. 3. Output circuit diagram of the digital voting system Fig. 4. Voting 186 International Journal of Information and Ele ctronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013Fig. 5. Confirmation unit In this Voting unit we have been used five button switch and five 2. 2K? resister which connected to the five button switches. C. Buzzer A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling device, which may be mechanical, electromechanical or piezoelectric. Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices. These devices are output transducers converting electrical energy. As power is applied this mechanical device will energize and by doing so interrupt the power source and the cycle continue until the power is removed. The frequency of oscillation is strictly dependent on mechanical inertia.The piezo buzzer produces sound based on reverse of the piezoelectric effect. The generation of pressure variation or strain by the application of electric potential across a piezoelectric material is the underlying principle. These buzzers can be used alert a user of an event corresponding to a switching action, counter sign al or sensor input. They are also used in alarm circuits. The buzzer produces a same noisy sound irrespective of the voltage variation applied to it. It consists of piezo crystals between two conductors. When a potential is applied across these crystals, they push on one conductor and pull on the other.This, push and pull action, results in a sound wave. Most buzzers produce sound in the range of 2 to 4 kHz. The Red lead is connected to the Input and the Black lead is connected to Ground. D. Light Emitting Diode (LED) A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962, early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.When a light-emitting diode is forward-biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern. LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, 187 mproved robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively expensive and require more precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as replacements for aviation lighting, automotive lighting (in particular brake lamps, turn signals, and indicators) as well as in traffic signals. LEDs have allowed new text, video displays, and sensors to be developed , while their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology.Infrared LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including televisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances E. Controller Unit A control unit in general is a central part of the machinery that controls its operation, provided that a piece of machinery is complex and organized enough to contain any such unit. One domain in which the term is specifically used is the area of computer design. In this work Microcontroller ATMEGA 16L is used as the controller unit which controls the sensed signal.A single highly integrated chip that contains all the components comprising a controller. Typically this includes a CPU, RAM, some form of ROM, I/O ports, and timers. Unlike a general-purpose computer, which also includes all of these components, a microcontroller is designed for a very specific task — to control a particular system. As a result, the parts can be simplified and reduced, which cuts down on production costs. Microcontrollers are sometimes called embedded microcontrollers, which just mean that they are part of an embedded system that is, one part of a larger device or system.F. Power Supply Unit Power supply is a very important part of electronic circuit this circuit required fixed +5 V supply so to fix this voltage we needed voltage regulator. In this work used 7805 Voltage regulator which output fixed +5 volt. A voltage regulator generates a fixed output voltage of a preset magnitude that remains constant regardless of changes to its input voltage or load conditions. There are two types of voltage regulators: linear and switching. A linear regulator employs an active (BJT or MOSFET) pass device (series or shunt) controlled by a high gain differential amplifier.It compares the output voltage with a precise reference voltage and adjusts the pass device to maintain a constant output voltage. G. Display Unit Display device sho wn the result of the measuring instrument. A observer can see the result and observe the temperature of electrical machine. In this work we used a 2Ãâ€"16 character LCD (LM016L) display. A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat electronic visual display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals. H. Printed Circuit Board A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanicallyInternational Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013 support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board (PWB) or etched wiring board. A PCB populated with electronic components is a printed circuit assembly (PCA), also known as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). Printed circuit boards are used in virtually all but the implest commercially produced electronic devices. PCBs ar e inexpensive, and can be highly reliable. They require much more layout effort and higher initial cost than either wire wrap or point-to-point construction, but are much cheaper and faster for high-volume production; the production and soldering of PCBs can be done by automated equipment. Much of the electronics industry's PCB design, assembly, and quality control needs are set by standards that are published by the IPC organization. Pin descriptions of ATmaga16L Microcontroller VCC: Digital supply voltage.GND: Ground. Port B (PB7†¦ PB0) Port B is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port with internal pull-up resistors (selected for each bit). The Port B output buffers have symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability. As inputs, Port B pins that are externally pulled low will source current if the pull-up resistors are activated. The Port B pins are tri-stated when a reset condition becomes active, even if the clock is not running. Port B also serves th e unction’s of various special features of the ATmega16. Port C (PC7†¦PC0) Port C is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port with internal pull-up resistors (selected for each bit). The Port C output buffers have symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability. As inputs, Port C pins that are externally pulled low will source current if the pull-up resistors are activated. The Port C pins are tri-stated when a reset condition becomes active, even if the clock is not running. If the JTAG interface is enabled, the pull-up resistors on pins PC5 (TDI), PC3 (TMS) and PC2 (TCK) will be activated even if a reset occurs.Port C also serves the functions of the JTAG interface and other special features of the ATmega16. Port D (PD7†¦ PD0) Port D is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port with internal pull-up resistors (selected for each bit). The Port D output buffers have symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability. As inputs, Po rt D pins that are externally pulled low will source current if the pull-up resistors are activated. The Port D pins are tri-stated when a reset condition becomes active, even if the clock is not running. Port D also serves the functions of various special features of the ATmega16.Port A (PA7†¦ PA0) Port A serves as the analog inputs to the A/D Converter. Port A also serves as an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port, if the A/D Converter is not used. Port pins can provide internal pull-up resistors (selected for each bit). The Port A output buffers have symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability. When pins PA0 to PA7 are used as inputs and are externally pulled low, they will source current if the internal pull-up resistors are activated. The Port A pins are tri-stated when a reset condition becomes active, even if the clock is not running.RESET Reset Input. A low level on this pin for longer than the minimum pulse length will generate a reset, even if the clock is not running. Shorter pulses are not guaranteed to generate a reset. AVCC Fig. 6. Printed circuit board (pcb) of this voting system I. Pin Configurations Discription Fig. 7. Pin configuration of Atmega16L microcontroller[14] AVCC is the supply voltage pin for Port A and the A/D Converter. It should be externally connected to VCC, even if 188 International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013 he ADC is not used. If the ADC is used, it should be connected to VCC through a low-pass filter AREF AREF is the analog reference pin for the A/D Converter. III. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE Flowchart of Program: user. In both of the systems that we analyzed, we found major security vulnerabilities that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the voting process. The results of our study suggest that there is a need for a drastic change in the way in which electronic systems are designed, deve loped, and tested.Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers need to define novel testing approaches that take into account the peculiar information flow of these systems, as well as the combination of computer security mechanisms and physical procedures necessary to provide a high level of assurance. Electronic voting software is not immune from security concerned. Here we describe Hack-a-vote, a simplified DRE voting system that we initially developed to demonstrate how easy it might be to insert a Trojan horse into a voting system.In case of a discrepancy, there either must be a row with the fresh random number. But without a mark of the voter or the alignment information on the ballot and on the receipt must differ. The proof consists either of a row containing the fresh random number but no mark without revealing which row this is or the proof consists of the two differing alignment bar codes without showing the mark at all. After the publication of the receipts the situatio n is analogous to the paper based schemes above as the voter possesses a correct receipt as electronic evidence.In addition to using unforgivable receipts with a special paper one can assume a trusted printer containing a chip card this printer could have the chip card and print the signature to the receipt. Having two in dependent ways to proved receipt to be not a forgery is a big advantage. REFERENCES D. Balzarotti, G. Banks, M. Cova, V. Felmetsger, R. A. Kemmerer, W. Robertson, F. Valeur, and G. Vigna, â€Å"An Experience in Testing the Security of Real-World Electronic Voting Systems,† IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 36, no. 4, 2010. [2] A. Villa? orita and K. Weldemariam, and R. Tiella, â€Å"Development, Formal Veri? ation, and Evaluation of an E-Voting System with VVPAT,† IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, vol. 4, no. 4, 2009. [3] Y. D. Wagner, M. Bishop, T. Baker, B. D. Medeiros, G. Tyson, M. Shamos, and M. Burmester, â₠¬Å"Software Review and Security Analysis of the ES I Votronic 8. 0. 1. 2 Voting Machine Firmware,† Technical report, Security and Assurance in Information Technology Laboratory, 2007. [4] T. Kohno, A. Stubblefield, A. Rubin, and D. Wallach, â€Å"Analysis of an Electronic Voting System,† in Proc. of IEEE Symp. Security and Privacy, pp. 27-40, 2004. [5] E. Proebstel, S. Riddle, F. Hsu, J.Cummins, F. Oakley, T. Stanionis, and M. Bishop, â€Å"An Analysis of the Hart Intercivic DAU eSlate,† in Proc. of Usenix/Accurate Electronic Voting Technology Workshop, 2007. [6] D. Molnar, T. Kohno, N. Sastry, and D. Wagner, â€Å"Tamper-Evident, History Independent, Subliminal-Free Data Structures on PROM Storage-or-How to Store Ballots on a Voting Machine (Extended Abstract),† in Proc. of IEEE Symp. Security and Privacy, pp. 365-370, 2006. [7] J. Bethencourt, D. Boneh, and B. Waters, â€Å"Cryptographic Methods for Storing Ballots on a Voting Machine,† in Proc. o f Network and Distributed System Security Symp, 2007. 8] S. Garera and A. Rubin, â€Å"An Independent Audit Framework for Software Dependent Voting Systems,† in Proc. of ACM conf. Computer and Comm. Security, pp. 256-265, 2007. [9] J. Hall, â€Å"Improving the Security, Transparency and Efficiency of California’s 1 Percent Manual Tally Procedures,† in Proc. of Usenix/ Accurate Electronic Voting Technology Workshop, 2008. [10] K. Weldemariam and A. Villafiorita, â€Å"Modeling and Analysis of Procedural Security in (e) Voting: The Trentino’s Approach and Experiences,† in Proc. of Usenix/Accurate Electronic Voting Technology Workshop, 2008. [11] R.Hite, â€Å"All Levels of Government are needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges,† Technical report, GAO, 2007. [1] Fig. 8. Flowchart of program IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS This work contributed to three very basic research questions arising: in the context of verifiable elections. First, we discussed the problem of keeping ballot secrecy to a certain extent in the case of a corrupted doting machine or voting authority. Our contribution to this is an approach where all secret information is encapsulated in the voting machine. Second, we considered the attack of receipt stealing and manipulation of the corresponding votes.Here we proposed a novel approach of linking all receipts by a hash chain such that each single receipt guards the integrity of all receipts issued previously. Together with a display in the polling place this approach shortens the time window in which an adversary can perform the ballot stealing attack without almost zero risk. Third, we discussed in detail the possibility of contesting an election based on the evidence provided by the verifiable election scheme. We compared the situation for Bingo Voting to the evidence provided by paper based schemes.We shortly sketched an approach to prove an error or a manipulation in the voting booth without vi olating ballot secrecy. However, this was only a proof of concept and for a practical application the usability of this approach needs to be further improved. V. CONCLUSION As part of these exercises, we devised a testing methodology, developed new tools that are specifically tailored to the security analysis of these systems, and learned a number of lessons, all of which should be of use to other 189 International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2013 [12] M. Gondree, P. Wheeler, and D. D.Figueiredo, â€Å"A Critique of the 2002 FEC VSPT E-Voting Standards,† Technical report, Univ. of California, 2005. [13] R. Mercuri. Voting System Guidelines Comments. [Online]. Available: http:// www. wheresthepaper. org/VVSGComment. pdf, 2005. [Online]. Available: [14] Atmel. http://www. atmel. com/Images/doc2466. pdf Mr. Diponkar Paul is currently working as Assistant Professor in the department of Electrical and Electronic engineering at World Uni versity of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh (www. wub. edu. bd ). After passing his master degree from March 2008 he was serving as Assistant Professor, EEE at Bangladesh University upto July 2010.He is having qualifications: B. Sc. Engg. , DISM (software engineering), M. Sc. Engg. His research interests are in the area of energy conversions, power system modeling and advanced control theories covering the application of IT. From 0ct 2004 to July 2006, he was working as Lecturer in department of computer science and engineering at Pundra University of science & technology, Bogra. In Singapore during his master dgree at Nanyang technological university, he was involved in financial service operation integrated to IT system administration jobs from Dec 2006 to February 2008.Mr. Sobuj Kumar Ray was born in 1987, Bogra, Bangladesh. Mr. Ray received his Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET), Rajshahi, Bangl adesh in April 2010. He is now Assistant Manager (Technical) in DESCO. Mr. Ray worked at Internal University of Business Agriculture and Technology in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh (www. iubat. edu) from 12th July 2010 to 1st October, 2012. He is enthusiastic on researcher on control system and Power System. 190 Electronic Voting Machine Project Outline In general the EVM consists of two units that can be inter linked. A ballot unit, which a voter uses to exercise his vote. And the other, a control unit used by the polling officials. But the EVM prepared by us is totally automated. MCU is acting as the Polling Officer in this EVM. Ballot Unit It consists of a 16Ãâ€"2 LCD and IR LEDs. LCD displays the name of the post and candidate for which voting is going on IR LEDs are used as touch switches. For anything which you have to select, put your figure just above the option where it is being displayed on the LCD. Control UnitIt consists of a MCU and a 7 keys keypad. MCU stores the program, run it and also stores the data given by voters. We have made keypad, which can be used to input the name of Posts and the Candidates. By using this we will not have to program the machine each time before any election. One can enter the name of posts and candidates just before the election. This can also prevent programming the EVM t o favour any particular candidate. 1. 1 The Electronic Voting Mach ine – An Electronic Marvel. Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) retains all the characteristics of voting by ballot papers, while making polling a lot more expedient.Being fast and absolutely reliable, the EVM saves considerable time, money and manpower. And, of course, helps maintain total voting secrecy without the use of ballot papers. The EVM is 100 per cent tamper proof. And, at the end of the polling, just press a button and there you have the results. 1. 2Description: Electronic voting machine has now days become an effective tool for voting. It ensures flawless voting and thus has become more widespread. It ensures people about their vote being secured. It avoids any kind of malpractice and invalid votes.Also such kind of system becomes more economical as consequent expenditure incurred on manpower is saved. It is also convenient on the part of voter, as he has to just press one key whichever belongsto his candidates. Voting machinesare the total combination ofmechanical,electromechanical, or electronic equipment (includingsoftware,firmware, and documentation required to program control, and supportequipment), that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information.The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines. A voting system includes the practices and associated documentation used to identify system components and versions of such components; to test the system during its development and maintenance; to maintain records of system errors or defects; to determine specific changes made after initial certification; and to make available any materials to the voter (such as notices, instructions, forms, or paper ballots).Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by the mechanism the system uses to cast votes and further ca tegorized by the location where the system tabulates the votes. Voting machines have different levels of usability, security,efficiency and accuracy. Certain systems may be more or less accessible to all voters, or not accessible to those voters with certain types of disabilities. They can also have an effect on the public's ability to oversee elections. SUMMARY Electronic voting machine has now replaced the traditional mechanism of voting due to several advantages like security, automatic counting etc.This project presents a way to develop an electronic voting machine which displays the count of votes on a 16Ãâ€"2 LCD interface. A user can get his/her vote register through a set of switches (one for each candidate). After every cast of vote, the subsequent count can be seen on LCD. The circuit uses AT89C51 microcontroller and the code for the project has been written in C. DESCRIPTION This LCD based electronic voting machine is designed for four candidates. The input part consists of a set of six tactile switches. The switches and 16Ãâ€"2 LCD are interfaced to microcontroller AT89C51 for various operations and displays.The provision of casting votes for the candidates has been provided through four of these switches. These switches are made active high and connected to pins 2-5 (P1^1 – P1^4) of the controller. The remaining two switches (both active low) are to start and stop the voting procedure. They are connected to pins 1 and 6 (P1^0 and P1^5) respectively. The Init (start) switch initializes the voting system when pressed, while the Stop switch ends the voting and displays the poll results on LCD screen. For more details on working with LCD, refer LCD interfacing with 8051.The data pins of the LCD (pins 7-14) are connected to the output port P2 of the microcontroller. The control pins (RS, R/W and EN) are connected to port P3 pins P3^0, P3^1 ; P3^6 respectively. Working: The voting is started by pressing the Init switch after which the user is p rompted to vote. The count of votes is stored in four different variables. As soon as the user votes for a candidate by pressing one of the switches, the value of the corresponding variable is increased by one. After this a Thank you message is displayed on LCD to acknowledge the registration of user’s vote.The message stays on the screen until the next user either presses the Init button to cast another vote or Stop switch is pressed get the poll results. When the stop button is pressed, the names of the candidates are displayed along with their vote counts. After some delay, the result is displayed which could be either declaration of the winner candidate or the candidates with a clash of their number of votes. PRESET | | A preset is a three legged electronic component which can be made to offer varying resistance in a circuit.The resistance is varied by adjusting the rotary control over it. The adjustment can be done by using a small screw driver or a similar tool. The res istance does not vary linearly but rather varies in exponential or logarithmic manner. Such variable resistors are commonly used for adjusting sensitivity along with a sensor. The variable resistance is obtained across the single terminal at front and one of the two other terminals. The two legs at back offer fixed resistance which is divided by the front leg. So whenever only the back terminals are used, a preset acts as a fixed resistor.Presets are specified by their fixed value resistance. | | AT89C51 MCAT89C51 is an 8-bit microcontroller and belongs to Atmel's 8051 family. ATMEL 89C51 has 4KB of Flash programmable and erasable read only memory (PEROM) and 128 bytes of RAM. It can be erased and program to a maximum of 1000 times. In 40 pin AT89C51, there are four ports designated as P1, P2, P3 and P0. All these ports are 8-bit bi-directional ports, i. e. , they can be used as both input and output ports. Except P0 which needs external pull-ups, rest of the ports have internal pul l-ups.When 1s are written to these port pins, they are pulled high by the internal pull-ups and can be used as inputs. These ports are also bit addressable and so their bits can also be accessed individually. Port P0 and P2 are also used to provide low byte and high byte addresses, respectively, when connected to an external memory. Port 3 has multiplexed pins for special functions like serial communication, hardware interrupts, timer inputs and read/write operation from external memory. AT89C51 has an inbuilt UART for serial communication.It can be programmed to operate at different baud rates. Including two timers & hardware interrupts, it has a total of six interrupts. Pin Diagram:  Pin Description:     Pin No|   Function|   Name| 1| 8 bit input/output port (P1) pins| P1. 0| 2| | P1. 1| 3| | P1. 2| 4| | P1. 3| 5| | P1. 4| 6| | P1. 5| 7| | P1. 6| 8| | P1. 7| 9| Reset pin; Active high| Reset| 10| Input (receiver) for serial communication| RxD| 8 bit input/output port (P3) pins| P3. 0| 11| Output (transmitter) for serial communication| TxD| | P3. 1| 12| External interrupt 1| Int0| | P3. 2| 3| External interrupt 2| Int1| | P3. 3| 14| Timer1 external input| T0| | P3. 4| 15| Timer2 external input| T1| | P3. 5| 16| Write to external data memory| Write| | P3. 6| 17| Read from external data memory| Read| | P3. 7| 18| Quartz crystal oscillator (up to 24 MHz)| Crystal 2| 19| | Crystal 1| 20| Ground (0V)| Ground| 21| 8 bit input/output port (P2) pins/High-order address bits when interfacing with external memory  |   P2. 0/ A8| 22| |   P2. 1/ A9| 23| |   P2. 2/ A10| 24| |   P2. 3/ A11| 25| |   P2. 4/ A12| 26| |   P2. 5/ A13| 27| |   P2. 6/ A14| 28| |   P2. 7/ A15| 9| Program store enable;  Read from external program memory| PSEN| 30| Address Latch Enable | ALE| | Program pulse input during Flash programming| Prog| 31| External Access Enable;   Vcc for internal program executions| EA| | Programming enable voltage; 12V (during Flash program ming)| Vpp| 32| 8 bit input/output port (P0) pins  Low-order address bits when interfacing with external memory  |   P0. 7/ AD7| 33| |   P0. 6/ AD6| 34| |   P0. 5/ AD5| 35| |   P0. 4/ AD4| 36| |   P0. 3/ AD3| 37| |   P0. 2/ AD2| 38| |   P0. 1/ AD1| 39| |   P0. 0/ AD0| 40| Supply voltage; 5V (up to 6. V)| Vcc| | | LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen is an electronic display module and find a wide range of applications. A 16Ãâ€"2 LCD display is very basic module and is very commonly used in various devices and circuits. These modules are preferred over seven segments and other multi segment LEDs. The reasons being: LCDs are economical; easily programmable; have no limitation of displaying special & even custom characters (unlike in seven segments), animations and so on. A 16Ãâ€"2 LCD means it can display 16 characters per line and there are 2 such lines.In this LCD each character is displayed in 5Ãâ€"7 pixel matrix. This LCD has two registers, namely, Command an d Data. The command register stores the command instructions given to the LCD. A command is an instruction given to LCD to do a predefined task like initializing it, clearing its screen, setting the cursor position, controlling display etc. The data register stores the data to be displayed on the LCD. The data is the ASCII value of the character to be displayed on the LCD. Click to learn more about internal structure of a LCD.Pin Diagram:  Pin Description:     Pin No|   Function|   Name| 1| Ground (0V)| Ground| 2| Supply voltage; 5V (4. 7V – 5. 3V)|   Vcc| 3| Contrast adjustment; through a variable resistor|   VEE| 4| Selects command register when low; and data register when high| Register Select| 5| Low to write to the register; High to read from the register| Read/write| 6| Sends data to data pins when a high to low pulse is given| Enable| 7| 8-bit data pins| DB0| 8| | DB1| 9| | DB2| 10| | DB3| 11| | DB4| 12| | DB5| 13| | DB6| 14| | DB7| 15| Backlight VCC (5V) | Led+| 6| Backlight Ground (0V)| Led-| | | APPLICATIONS & ADVANTAGES Fast track voting which could be used in small scale elections, like resident welfare association, panchayat level election and other society level elections. It could also be used to conduct opinion polls during annual share holders meeting. It could also be used to conduct general assembly elections where number of candidates are less than or equal to eight in the current situation. It could be used at places where there is no electricity as the thing is operational with the help of a simple 5 volt battery.It could well become a fine example of using environment friendly resources as there is no need for having lakhs of ballot papers as was used in older system of voting. It involves very less time for a voter to actually cast its vote unlike conventional method where it becomes very cumbersome to handle ballot papers. It is more fast and reliable. FUTURE SCOPE Number of candidates could be increased by using ot her microcontroller or an 8255 IC. It could be interfaced with printer to get the hard copy of the result almost instantly from the machine itself.It could also be interfaced with the personal computer and result could be stored in the central server and its backup could be taken on the other backend servers. Again, once the result is on the server it could be relayed on the network to various offices of the election conducting authority. Thus our project could make the result available any corner of the world in a matter of seconds In days of using nonpolluting and environment friendly resources of energy,it could pose a very good example.REFRENCES AND BIBLOGRAPHY 1. Muhammad Ali Mazidi , Janice Gillispie Mazidi, Rolin D. Mckinlay. Second edition, THE 8051 MICROCONTROLLER AND EMBEDDED SYSTEM 2. K. J. Ayala. Third edition, The 8051 MICROCONTROLLER 3. Millman & Halkias. INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS. 4. http://www. wikipedia. com 5. http://www. 8051microcontrollerprojects. com 6. www. datas heet4u. com 7. www. rickeya„? sworld. com Reference: http://seminarprojects. com/Thread-electronic-voting-machine-project-full-report#ixzz2RD8Xd1cO