ELP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ELP - Assignment Example y helps the students to improve their skills, but also provides them with lot of informations about themselves so that in such a way they can identify, rectify and enrich their qualities and overall increase their personality. In this way, ELP becomes a PDP (Personal Development Planning) tool. Once a student is out of the academic field, he becomes a total stranger in the competitive world, and by all means he has to improve every inch of his talents in order to be successful in his life. This is where ELP comes to them as an aid that would help and support them in all their progressions. Many students out there are not at all bothered about their lack of skills. They think that is something which they need not worry about, but the truth is that once they come to realize the need, it would be too late. Such students are left aside from excellent opportunities. It is the sole duty of the students to be careful about their steps, they should use the opportunity properly only then they will have a good future. Employability learning programme educates the students about their role in the future, teaches and trains them about the employability skills they need to have, makes them understand their own talents and last but not the least it gives them strength to face the world skillfully. In all ways, we should understand and use the opportunity of this programme to improve and shine in the society. This programme acts like an identifier bringing out the language, communication problems in the individuals and then creates a good impact on it through motivation and encouragement finally resulting in excellent performance. Through this innovative approach students will be able to master their talents and use them in a fruitful way making them stand out from the crowd. This is how the programme works on every individual considering lot of things from the learner side. As it focuses on what mainly the employers look at, the programme is of great use for the students.

Odyssey- Odysseuss Behavior Essay Example for Free

Odyssey- Odysseuss Behavior Essay Odysseus’s behavior was ironic when he deliberately concealed part of Circe’s prophecy from his men because when Odysseus and his men went through Scylla, all of the men were scared and some of the men were killed. In the Odyssey it said that: â€Å"My men all blanched against the gloom our eyes were fixed upon that yawning mouth in fear of being devoured† (Homer886) This quote showed that Odysseus’s behavior was ironic because since he did not tell his men that they were going through Scylla so they were terrified. The men just saw this huge whirlpool in the middle of the sea and were not really pleased to hear that they were going through that and not knowing the outcome. They were very scared because the outcome could result in them dying. When the Odyssey was talking about when Odysseus’ men were getting killed The Odyssey said: â€Å"Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the shop. It happened to glace aft at ship and oarsmen and caught sight of their arms and legs, dangling high overhead† (Homer886). This quote is showing that Scylla ate six of Odysseus’ best men while they were traveling by her. This was the aftershock of Odysseus not telling his men that they were going to see Scylla in this journey and most likely get eaten. Yet again all of the me were ate only because Odysseus did not tell his men about the ending that they could of all been dead in the end. In conclusion, Odysseus’ behavior was ironic when he deliberately concealed part of Circe’s prophecy from his men because Odysseus did not tell his men that they would travel though her and get scared and eaten.

Strategies for Consumer Research

Strategies for Consumer Research Consumer research is a type of applied sociology that attempts to map and understand the way in which consumers behave and make decisions about the products that they purchase. This is absolutely fundamental to those managing marketing processes for an organisation. Understanding how consumers make the decision to purchase a particular item of goods or service is vital to the setting out of marketing plans for products. The research will also discover which marketing approaches are the most successful and, therefore, which ones should be repeated to attract attention[1]. Typically, this type of research is statistical in nature, pulling together all of the decision inputs that consumers will look at, before making decisions[2]. For example, factors such as availability, price, likely value growth and functionality will all play an important role in terms of consumer decision making. Traditional consumer research aims to be entirely objective in nature and is undertaken in an impartia l manner, attempting to form an understanding of the actual state of affairs in the given product market. However, more recently, there has been recognition that many consumers will simply make impulse purchases and that one specific set of inputs will not always produce the same result, as human perceptions and decision making processes vary considerably from individual to individual, depending on a range of factors that cannot be neatly placed into a scientific analysis[3]. Essentially, there are two key approaches to consumer research which are recognised and discussed in the research paper by Isabelle Szmigin and Gordon Foxall. Traditionally, consumer research theorists have argued that consumer research must naturally either centre on the interpretive approach or the positivist approach[4]. Szmigin and Foxall argued that a combination of the two approaches will produce the best approach. Critically, Szmigin and Foxall recognise that the real value in consumer research comes from the quality of the information that the research gives to the managers making the ongoing marketing decisions. This has arguably been a massively overlooked factor in consumer research. The ultimate goal for consumer research should surely be to give a definitive course of action for a marketing department to follow in order to gain the maximum possible consumer penetration. By arguing this point, Szmigin and Foxall successfully demonstrate that the ideal form of consumer res earch must take account of both scientific, objective decision making factors as well as the subjective and emotional decision making factors, if it is to gain a detailed and inclusive understanding of consumer behaviour[5]. There are arguably inherent positives and negatives to both approaches and these are discussed by Szmigin and Foxall, with varying degrees of conviction. Ultimately, however, the authors failed to reach a final conclusion as to which method offered the better approach and instead opted to conclude that a middle ground would be the best approach. In this paper, the question as to whether this conclusion is a true reflection of the position or whether the authors simply failed to find conclusive evidence and were thus forced to reach this conclusion due to the absence of any convincing suggestions to the contrary is evident[6]. Interpretive v Positivism The two different approaches under discussion are interpretative and positivistic, although it could also be seen as a debate between science and art[7]. Similarly, positivistic consumer research is more commonly referred to as quantitative research and interpretative research is referred to as qualitative research. This is a direct reflection of the statistical importance of the positivistic approach. With the positivist approach, a large group of individuals is studied with an attempt to draw one conclusive set of statistics that explain all consumer behaviour. The focus is very much on the four Ps, namely product, price, place or location and promotion. In the positivist approach, the basis for the research is that the four Ps will be the underlying factors that will make up the decision making process for consumers. These are all objective factors and take little or no account of dealing with personal preferences as displayed by individual consumers. During this process, a hypoth esis is drawn up which essentially sets out the claims which the research aims either to prove or disprove. This positivist approach is heavily statistically based and the questioning of consumers will aim towards gaining figure based results that can be displayed in the form of graphs. Similarly, the reliability of the findings is tested by statistical methods including ascertaining the significance level of the data. Whilst this method is seen as being potentially conclusive and providing statistical data that can be used in marketing techniques, it fundamentally misses the fact that humans behave in different ways even when faced with the same raw data. Different consumers will make different decisions and will place different relative values on the input factors detailed above. Interpretative research aims to take this factor into account. Research is focussed on a smaller group of individuals with the aim of mapping out consumer behaviour based on a range of more subjective factors such as those relating to cultural and sociological impacts[8]. With this approach, however, the personality and subjective beliefs of the researcher are much more likely to have an impact on the results of the research. Personalities and subjective thoughts will naturally vary depending on the consumer’s values and, with this in mind, there is a serious question as to what value this type of research can off er to marketing professionals within a company. Without any statistical patterns of behaviour, it can be very difficult for marketing professionals to determine a set of trends that can be accurately relied upon[9]. Interpretative Approach Analysis Based on Szmigin and Foxall’s Research Szmigin and Foxall spent a large amount of their analysis considering whether the interpretative value has any merit and what it can offer in terms of additional value that this method offers the process of consumer research. Szmigin and Foxall recognised that papers relating to interpretative research are often seen as peripheral to positivistic research, offering little in the way of added value. This is, however, rightly discarded by the authors. The paper explains the concepts that have been developed surrounding the use of interpretative research. One of the most formative of these concepts is that indicated by Thompson[10], that interpretative research will come up with multiple possible worldviews rather than one individual ‘way of the world’, which was distinct from the positivistic approach. One of the central points determined by Szmigin and Foxall was that the interpretative approach accurately represented the complexities of human nature and that failure to consider this was a fatal flaw in the traditional positivistic approach[11]. Interestingly, the approach taken by Szmigin and Foxall, on the one hand, recognised the absolutely vital elements that the interpretative approach bring to the phenomenon that is essential for the complete understanding of consumer behaviour, but also gives credence to the way in which this approach is too value laden and thus not entirely reliable as a source of information for marketing professionals. The weakness of allowing subjective and internal states of the consumers to be taken into account is widely accepted by Szmigin and Foxall, yet despite this, there is a refusal to write off this approach, entirely[12]. One possible way of reconciling these opposing thoughts is that of considering the interpretative research methods as a way of ascertaining a range of several possible causes of action based on the range of potential consumer thought patterns from which positivistic research approaches can be used to narrow down the data into a more useful set of conclusions. It is this combination of the two approaches that Szmigin and Foxall focus on in reaching their conclusion. The approach, on the face of it, appears to be entirely logical given the data available. A Further Look at Interpretative Research Before simply accepting the proposition that the interpretative research approach offers additional supporting information to the more traditional approach, a greater analysis of the potential added value that can be obtained through the use of interpretative research is required. Klein Myers[13] argued that interpretative research is simply a way by which knowledge is obtained through consumer research. Rather than seeing interpretative research as a distinct method of conducting consumer research, it may be viewed as a way of filtering the information gathered through a set of cultural and social parameters. Interpretative research does not involve the pre-setting of parameters or any other variables; instead, it lets the social context influence the phenomenon. It seems that the approach of combing the two theories is powerful, but not in the way that Szmigin and Foxall identified. A paper by Bruce Rowlands[14] also explored the issue of the relative use of interpretative and positivistic approaches. However, in this case, it was concluded that the combination of the two approaches would be valuable but not simply because no conclusive conclusion relating to the choice of one over the other could be reached, but rather due to the fact that combining the two approaches can achieve the best of both worlds, in certain circumstances. In this case, it was held that the two approaches worked well together where the non constrained interpretative approach can be used within at least a certain set of boundaries (albeit loosely defined)[15]. Critically, this paper recognised that the problem with interpretative research is that reaching a meaningful conclusion can be virtually impossible, in many situations. This is down to the potential width of results that such an untargeted approach can cause. However, in this paper it was concluded by Bruce Rowlands that this difficulty could largely be overcome by setting at least basic parameters to guide the research in the first instance to ensure a degree of control in the research process[16]. By combining the findings of the Bruce Rowlands paper and that of the paper under current discussion, it is clear to see that there is at least some merit in the argument that the two methods can be successfully combined to offer rounded consumer research[17]. Positivistic Approach Analysis Based on Szmigin and Foxall’s Research It seems, from considering both the research as conducted by Szmigin and Foxall and other related research in the area, that it is generally thought that interpretative research methods have been developed to fill in the gaps of the positivistic approach. In order to explore this theory fully, the perceived weaknesses of the positivistic approach from the perspective of Szmigin and Foxall requires further consideration, as this will give a clear indication of the anticipated role of interpretative research methods. By establishing the weaknesses of the positivistic approach, it will then be possible to ascertain whether the use of interpretative research would indeed fill this gap and should, therefore, be considered as a means of offering a more complete consumer behaviour analysis[18]. Szmigin and Foxall saw that there were several inherent weaknesses in the positivistic approach. Firstly, it was identified that the underlying assumption that there is one reality that does not change; this is clearly unrealistic with consumers in a constant state of flux with ever changing external and internal decision factors. True positivism also works on the assumption that all consumers will make purchasing decision based on entirely reasoned factors with absolutely no input from irrational desires and impulse purchases. This is an over-simplistic view of the way in which consumers actually make decisions. It is well recognised that consumers will often make purchasing decision based on entirely irrational desires and, therefore, certain data patterns will be entirely meaningless, if only rational decision factors are considered. Szmigin and Foxall also recognised that in taking this concept of a single reality as encouraged by the positivistic approach, there is a danger that all other possible realities are excluded, thus potentially missing out other possibly valuable data sets. These main weaknesses in the positivistic approach are argued by Szmigin and Foxall to be the reason that interpretative research methods are necessary in order to fill in these gaps. These weaknesses are so substantial that it is accepted by Szmigin and Foxall that a positivistic approach is so fundamentally flawed that it alone cannot produce any meaningful data for the eventual users, namely the marketing manager in the relevant organisation. A Wider Look at the Positivistic Approach The positivistic or quantitative approach to consumer research is regarded as the traditional approach to consumer research; therefore, there is considerably more research available on the potential weaknesses to this area of research. Martin Callingham[19] stated that the main weakness in the use of qualitative approach is that, although input factors can be analysed against the actual outcome, there is no way, through using this direct data to ascertain whether the input factor was the actual cause of the witnessed outcome[20]. For example, if a company runs an advertising campaign and sees sales increase, the positivistic approach will show the statistical increase in sales, but will not show that it was the advertising campaign that drove this increase. The rise in sales will not necessarily be down to the advertising campaign; it could be down to a range of other cultural or social factors[21]. This failure to link cause and effect is the cited reason for the need to enhance the traditional positivistic approach[22]. Quantitative research is entirely science based with the emphasis on objectivity reliability and generalisations. Whilst this is clearly desirable in the field of research, consumer behaviour simply does not fall neatly within this scientific approach. There is positive value to be had in this approach, particularly when the aim of the research is to link directly some factor with base line results; it is both unbiased and objective with no values being derived from the researcher themselves. Despite this, the positivistic approach is clearly limited. Any variable that is not part of the model is totally disregarded and, as such, it is limited in its findings to the variables that are laid out in the original model[23]. Any fluidity of consumer behaviour will not be captured, which is an essential part of any consumer research project. It is this weakness that the use of interpretative research aims to manage and deal with by adding value to the overall research project[24]. Summary of Findings The need to expand upon the traditional positivistic approach has been clearly recognised by Szmigin and Foxall. The paper recognises that there are inherent weaknesses in both approaches to consumer research which render the use of one research method to the exclusion of the other, ineffective[25]. However the paper has been slightly unsatisfactory in the way in which it reaches this conclusion. The approach taken by Szmigin and Foxall involved the consideration of the weakness of both methods and, having concluded that both methods have fundamental flaws, it was then decided that the only possible solution was to use a combination of the two. This conclusion is agreed with; however, a slightly more positive approach to reaching this conclusion would have been welcome[26]. Other research papers have taken a more pragmatic approach by considering the difficulties and weaknesses with the traditional approach and then looking positively at whether or not the interpretative approach can suitably fill the gaps in a way that would improve the nature of the consumer research[27]. The weaknesses in the traditional approach of failing to consider discarded variables and of failing to link the cause and effect of behaviour have been duly noted by Szmigin and Foxall. Where the analysis falls down is that they do not then go on to consider fully how the interpretative approach could deal with these issues. It would seem, therefore, that by pulling together all of the relevant research in this area using an interpretative approach predominately yet with at least the basic controls such as those suggested by the positivistic approach, the best of both worlds will be achieved and the most comprehensive consumer research can be undertaken[28]. In summary, therefore, Szmigin and Foxall have reached the correct conclusion as to the importance of combining the two approaches, but the way in which this conclusion was reached could have been achieved in a more positive fashion rather than it being a default position which is what appears to have been the case with Szmigin and Foxall. Bibliography Anderson, Paul F., On method in consumer research: a critical relativist perspective, Journal of Consumer Research, 13 (Sept), 1986, 155-173. Belk, Russell W., Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006. Blumer, Herbert,, Symbolic Interactionsim, Englewood Cliffs: NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967. Brown, Stephen, Marketing and literature: the anxiety of academic influence, Journal of Marketing, 63 (Jan), 1999, 1-15. Calder, Bobby J., Tybout, Alice M., Interpretive, qualitative , and traditional scientific empirical consumer behaviour research, in Hirschman, Elizabeth. C. (ed.), Interpretive Consumer Research, Provo, UT: Association of Consumer Research, 1989, 199-208. Callingham, Martin, Market Intelligence: How and why Organizations Use Market Research, Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. Charmaz, Kathy, Between positivism and postmodernism: implications for methods, Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 17, 1995, 43-72. Cova, Bernard, Elliott , Richard, Everything you always wanted to know about interpretive consumer research but were afraid to ask, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11, 2, 2008. Davies, Andrea, Fitchett, James A.,An Empirical Exposition of Paradigm Incommesurability in Consumer Research: Two Museum Studies Revisited, Proceedings of the EIASM Interpretive Consumer Research Conference, Brussels, May 2000. Firat, A. Fuat, Venkateash, Alladi, Liberatory postmodernism and the re-enachtment of consumption, Journal of Consumer Research, 22 (3), 1995, 239-67. Goulding, Christina, Consumer research, interpretive paradigms and methodological ambiguities, European Journal of Marketing, 33, 9/10, 1999, 859-873. Goulding, Christina, Grounded theory: the missing methodology on the interpretivist agenda, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 1(1), 1998, 50-57. Hackley, Christopher E., Doing Research Projects in Marketing, Management and Consumer Research, Routledge, 2003. Heath, Timothy B., The reconciliation of humanism and positivism in the practice of consumer research: a view from the trenches, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences, 20 (2), 1992, 107-118. Hirschman, Elizabeth. C., Scientific style and the conduct of consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (Sept), 1985. 225-239. Hirschman, Elizabeth C., Postmodern Consumer Research. The Study of Consumption as Text, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992. Hoffman, Donna, Holbrook, Morris B., The intellectual structure of consumer research: a bibliographic study of author cocitations in the first 15 years of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (March), 1993,505-517. Hogg, Margaret K., Maclaran, Pauline, Rhetorical issues in writing interpretivist consumer research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11, 2, 2008. Hudson, Laurel A., Ozanne, Julie L., Alternative ways of seeking knowledge in consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (March), 1988, 508-521. Hunt, Shelby. D., Positivism and paradigm dominance in consumer research: towards critical pluralism and rapprochement, Journal of Consumer Research, 18 (June), 1991, 32-44. Klein, H., Myers, M., A Set of Principals for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 23, 1, 1999, 67-94. Leong, Siew M., Sheth, Jagdish N., Tan, Ching T., An empirical study of the scientific styles of marketing academics, European Journal of Marketing, 28 (8/9), 1994, 12-26. Lutz, Richard J., Positivism, naturalism and pluralism in consumer research: paradigms in paradise, in Advances in Consumer Research,16 ed. Srull, Thomas, Provo:UT: Association of Consumer Research, 1989, 1-7. McQuarrie, Edward F. Glen-Mick, David, On resonance : a critical pluralistic inquiry into advertising rhetoric, Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (Sept), 1992, 180-197. Nancarrow, Clive, Moskvin, Alexander, Shankar, Avi, Bridging the great divide the transfer of techniques (qualitative and quantitative techniques), Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 14 (6), 1996, 27-37. Rowlands, Bruce H., Grounded in Practice: Using Interpretive Research to Build Theory, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 3, 1, 2005, 81-92. Schiffman, Leon G., Hansen, Havard, Kanuk, Leslie Lazar, Consumer Behaviour: A European Outlook, Pearson Education, 2008. Silverman, David , Qualitative Research, Theory, Methods and Practice, London: Sage, 1997. Solomon, Michael R., Bamossy, Gary, Askergaard, Soren, Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. The VOICE Group, Reflections on collaboration in interpretive consumer research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11, 2, 2008. Thompson, Craig J., Eureka! and other tests of significance: a new look at evaluating interpretive research, Advances in Consumer Research, 17, eds. Goldberg, Marvin, Gorn, Gerald, Pollay, Richard, 1990, 25-30. Footnotes [1] Nancarrow, Clive, Moskvin, Alexander, Shankar, Avi, Bridging the great divide the transfer of techniques (qualitative and quantitative techniques), Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 14 (6), 1996, 27-37. [2] Hackley, Christopher E., Doing Research Projects in Marketing, Management and Consumer Research, Routledge, 2003 [3] Silverman, David, Qualitative Research, Theory, Methods and Practice, London: Sage, 1997 [4] Schiffman, Leon G., Hansen, Havard, Kanuk, Leslie Lazar, Consumer Behaviour: A European Outlook, Pearson Education, 2008 [5] Hogg, Margaret K., Maclaran, Pauline, Rhetorical issues in writing interpretivist consumer research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11, 2, 2008 [6] Hudson, Laurel A., Ozanne, Julie L., Alternative ways of seeking knowledge in consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (March), 508-521, 1988 [7] Hirschman, Elizabeth. C., Scientific style and the conduct of consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (Sept), 1985, 225-239, 18 [8] Solomon, Michael R., Bamossy, Gary, Askergaard, Soren,, Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999 [9] Calder, Bobby J., Tybout, Alice M., Interpretive, qualitative, and traditional scientific empirical consumer behaviour research in Hirschman, Elizabeth. C. (ed.), Interpretive Consumer Research, Provo, UT: Association of Consumer Research, 1989, 199-208 [10] Thompson, Craig J., Eureka! and other tests of significance: a new look at evaluating interpretive research, Advances in Consumer Research, 17, eds. Goldberg, Marvin, Gorn, Gerald, Pollay, Richard, 25-30, 1990. [11] The VOICE Group, Reflections on collaboration in interpretive consumer research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11, 2, 2008 [12] Davies, Andrea, Fitchett, James A., An Empirical Exposition of Paradigm Incommesurability in Consumer Research: Two Museum Studies Revisited, Proceedings of the EIASM Interpretive Consumer Research Conference, Brussels, May 2000. [13] Klein, H., Myers, M., A Set of Principals for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 23, 1,,1999, 67-94 [14] Rowlands, Bruce H., Grounded in Practice: Using Interpretive Research to Build Theory, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 3, 1, 2005 (81-92) [15] Brown, Stephen, Marketing and literature: the anxiety of academic influence, Journal of Marketing, 63 (Jan), 1-15, 1999 [16] Hoffman, Donna, Holbrook, Morris B.,The intellectual structure of consumer research: a bibliographic study of author cocitations in the first 15 years of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (March),1993, 505-517. [17] Cova, Bernard, Elliott, Richard, Everything you always wanted to know about interpretive consumer research but were afraid to ask, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11,2, 2008 [18] Hirschman, Elizabeth C., Postmodern Consumer Research. The Study of Consumption as Text, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992. [19] Callingham, Martin, Market Intelligence: How and why Organizations Use Market Research, Kogan Page Publishers, 2004 [20] Hunt, Shelby. D., Positivism and paradigm dominance in consumer research: towards critical pluralism and rapprochement, Journal of Consumer Research, 18 (June), 1991, 32-44. [21] McQuarrie, Edward F., Glen-Mick, David , 1992, On resonance : a critical pluralistic inquiry into advertising rhetoric, Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (Sept), 1992, 180-197. [22] Anderson, Paul F.,On method in consumer research: a critical relativist perspective, Journal of Consumer Research, 13 (Sept), 1986, 155-173. [23] Heath, Timothy B.,The reconciliation of humanism and positivism in the practice of consumer research: a view from the trenches, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences, 20 (2), 1992, 107-118. [24] Leong, Siew M., Sheth, Jagdish N., Tan, Ching T., An empirical study of the scientific styles of marketing academics, European Journal of Marketing, 28 (8/9), 1994, 12-26. [25] Goulding, Christina, Consumer research, interpretive paradigms and methodological ambiguities, European Journal of Marketing, 33, 9/10, 1999, 859-873. [26] Belk, Russell W., Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006 [27] Charmaz, Kathy, Between positivism and postmodernism: implications for methods, Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 17, 1995, 43-72. [28] Lutz, Richard J., â€Å"Positivism, naturalism and pluralism in consumer research: paradigms in paradise, in Advances in Consumer Research, 16, ed. Srull, Thomas, Provo:UT: Association of Consumer Research, 1-7, 1989

Assault on Precinct 13 Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Assault on Precinct 13† marks the return of the R-rated action movie. It is the dark and savvy remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 cult classic of the same name, which in turn was inspired by Howard Hawks’ 1959 Rio Bravo. French Director Francois Richet’s American filmmaking debut has done right by the cult favorite about a ragtag group of cops and criminals trapped in a police station. The thrill of this dark action flick is rightly focused on the characters, eerie setting, and tons of stripped down action and gunplay that truly brings this old school throw-down to life. The driving force of the film lies within the chemistry of the ensemble cast. In â€Å"Precinct 13† there is a fine line between the good-guys and the bad-guys, as the cops and criminals have to team up against more cops who are in fact, the bad-guys. Ethan Hawke plays Jake Roenick, a young sergeant battling the demons of his past, who is forced to team up with Bishop, a local crime lord and cop killer who is masterfully portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. Also, John Leguizamo gives a scene-stealing performance as Beck, the paranoid but articulate junkie. Platinum selling rapper Ja Rule adds a few laughs as Smiley, the counterfeiter; and actress Drea de Matteo adds a touch of sexiness to the dark film. As for the antagonist, Gabriel Byrne gives his usual grim performance as Marcus Duvall, the crooked head of Detroit’s racketeering and organized crime department out to kill everyone inside of Precinct 13. Although, ...

How important does the coal trade appear to have been in the development of the port of Whitehaven from 1700 until 1900?

To do this part of the assignment I visited Whitehaven harbour to try and find evidence to answer this question. On this visit we went to many different places around the harbour that we thought would have a connection to the coal trade and the harbour. First, we visited the lime tongue, the name tells us that they imported lime for the iron industry and unloaded it on this pier. There is also another pier called the Sugar tongue, the name tells me that they imported sugar and unloaded it onto this pier. From this we can tell that goods were also imported into the port of Whitehaven. I know that from my background knowledge of coal that it would not have been possible to unload the coal onto either of these piers because they are too thin to unload heavy, bulky coal. To support the evidence further of having other exports and imports, we found drawings and inscriptions on benches down the lime tongue. These drawings included coal that we know was exported, tobacco that was imported from Virginia, timber which was imported from North America for the coal industry to be used as pit props and fish were exported. We also found the old Custom House, pictured right, which tells us that goods did come in to the port of Whitehaven and people had to pay custom duties on them. From all this evidence I can deduce that not only was coal exported from Whitehaven Harbour but other goods were also exported and imported into the port. By looking down at the harbour I could see that it was a very suitable place to have an inlet. The harbour has a big headland to protect it from prevailing winds and the size of the harbour would be very good for small boats. Another reason that it was a good place for an inlet is because it would have been a way of bringing business and money to the town of Whitehaven so they would get something back in return for building the harbour. From looking at the harbour I could see that it was quite small, not very wide, not very deep and wouldn't be suitable for bigger boats. This would be a problem for Whitehaven harbour, as by the 1870's steam ships were replacing the sailing ships. These steam ships were longer, wider, deeper and could carry more than the sailing ships which would mean that they wouldn't be able to get into the harbour so they wouldn't be able to load up the coal. By looking across the sea and from my background knowledge I think that most of the coal from Whitehaven went across the sea to Ireland. This could be especially to Dublin since this was Britain's second largest city in the eighteenth century. It could have also been taken to the Isle of Man since this is also only across the sea. Whitehaven harbour has only had the lock gates for about ten years, so before this boats could only come in and out of the harbour at high tide. As you can see from the picture, on the left, which I found in an old newspaper, the harbour would have been mud at low tide, so the boats would have been unable to move. From this I can tell that the Harbour must have stopped developing for the lock gates not to have been installed earlier, because the lock gates have been a big improvement to the harbour meaning boats can leave and enter the harbour when they wish. Whitehaven's hinterland extended to surrounding places like Egremont and most of West Cumbria because the roads were so bad this made more people want to transport the coal by boat. Before we went on the trip to Whitehaven we watched a video called ‘Sail to Steam' which showed the port of Liverpool and showed how its hinterland grew especially after the coming of the railways. Having watched this video I think one reason why Whitehaven's hinterland stopped growing was because Liverpool was taking trade away from Whitehaven. This was because it was a more accessible port for the bigger ships and also because Liverpool had lock gates, which meant ships, could go in and out of the harbour when they needed to. By looking at the map of the ‘building of the harbour' I can see that most of the harbour developed between 1693 and 1833 which is just about the period we are looking at. I think coal could have played a big part in the development of the harbour because this was about the time when coal mining was becoming popular in Whitehaven. They also needed a way to transport the coal from Whitehaven to places where they needed it, so they kept developing the harbour as the coal industry was developing and growing. The extra piers were built for the loading of coal when extra space was needed around the harbour for the various ships to land and wait to be loaded. This must have seemed an extremely good idea because then they could transport the coal to Ireland, which had little or no coal and was only over the channel. When we were walking around the harbour we found an old canon, which must have once been used to defend the port, this is pictured on the right. This tells me that Whitehaven's coal trade must have been very valuable for it to have been protected.e found some models linked to the story of John Paul Jones, which aren't really relevant to this assignment because they have nothing to do with the coal We also had an extract of John Paul Jones' diary to look at, in this extract it said about all the ships in the harbour (over one hundred) at low tide were unable to move because of the mud. This shows that in 1778 the harbour was very busy but there was a problem with low tides making boats unable to move. We also went to look for any evidence of warehouses and railway lines around the harbour but couldn't find any. We know they were once there because we have seen an old photograph of them. This suggests that Whitehaven's port has declined in industry because otherwise the warehouses would still be there but I wouldn't have expected any evidence of the railway lines. This is because the railways would not have been needed anymore once the coal mining had stopped. This then suggests to me that as the coal mining industry declined so did the amount of industry going in and out of the port. This tells me that coal mining had a big effect on Whitehaven's port and was also very important to it. From the graph I drew on the rise and fall of Whitehaven port I can see that the peak of the coal exported was in 1835, when the amount of coal exported was 459 thousand tons. After this date the amount of coal exported began to fall. This tells me that either the coal was being transported by another means of transport, such as the railways, or not as much coal was being mined in Whitehaven. Either way this tells me that the coal exports out of the port of Whitehaven was decreasing. On the visit we looked for evidence of drift mines (or adits), which are mines cut into the side of a hill held up by pit props, but we couldn't see any. This will have been because drift mines weren't very deep because of faulting, the risk of flooding and the danger of a roof fall so many of the drift mines will have collapsed and will have been flattened over. Also quite a few of the drift mines were on Mount Pleasant which is where later they built the houses for the coal miners to live. I also looked for evidence of straithes but couldn't find any. Straithes were used to load coal from trucks onto boats quickly, they were particularly important to the port of Whitehaven, which was tidal, because they needed to load the boats quickly to get them in and out on the same tide. The straithes will have been removed because they will have been no longer needed because there is no coal trade in Whitehaven now. We also went to look at Mount Pleasant, which is where all the miners lived but now there are no houses there. This would be because they would be no longer needed, because as the coal trade decreased fewer people would be employed so they didn't need the housing facilities. Mount Pleasant used to have 200 terraced houses, which were homes to 1825 people. Mount Pleasant was not far away from any of the mines so this would have made it very convenient for the workers to get to work. On the visit we went to look at the Duke pit fan house. We know this is connected to coal mining because Duke pit means there is coal. The job of the fan house was very important, it was to circulate the air down the mine. By looking at this picture of the fan house I have calculated that the actual size of the fan wheel would have been about 20-25ft wide. This tells me that it was a big pit, which would have had lots of coal to mine and would have had lots of employee's. As we were walking along I noticed evidence of an old railway incline, as you can see from the pictures the railway line would have ran from Haig pit down to the harbour for the coal to be loaded onto ships. This would have made it very easy to transport the coal. Although Haig pit operated after the period that I am investigating, it leads me to believe that other pits will have had railways or wagon ways down to the harbour. This will be because the harbour is not very far away from any of the mines and it would cost too much to transport the heavy coal on land especially since the roads were so bad. As we walked towards the Wellington pit entrance I found lots of covered over air vents. These air vents will have been used to get fresh air into the mines, which is a very important thing to have in a mine. We visited the entrance to Wellington pit, where I noticed a plaque on the wall telling me that the pit operated between 1840-1933. These dates during the pit was working are significant because it worked for nearly one hundred years. This is a very long time for a mine to work, so this tells me that the mine must have been big, and must have lots of coal to mine. Also to back up this evidence is the diagram ‘Underneath Wellington Pit', this shows that the pit was very deep and had lots of coal seams, which were quite wide. Wellington pit is very close to the harbour (about 100 yards) this tells me that this would have been the most convenient and cost effective way of transporting the coal to wherever it had to go. Wellington pit is also very close to Duke pit, which suggests that they could have been linked. I also went to look at the candlestick chimney, which is called this because it looks like a candlestick. If you look at the picture you can see that the chimney is very tall, this suggests to me that it is not only an air vent but also it was an exit for poisonous gases. This is so that the gases went higher than Mount Pleasant, which is where all the miners lived so that the miners did not get poisoned. I also found evidence that there were mining disasters on a plaque on the wall near Wellington pit. It told me that in 1910, 136 people died in the Wellington Pit disaster. This tells me that coal mining was very dangerous. Also, other evidence that shows us mining was dangerous is the building called the mission which used to be the hospital. This suggests that there must have been a number of accidents for a hospital to have been this close to the mines. If I had time then it would have been interesting to look for some of the remains of other pits that have something significant about them. The King Pit is interesting because in 1793 it was the deepest coal mine, as it was about 960ft deep. The Haig pit would have been interesting because it was the last pit to have been operating in the area and it went 7 miles under the sea. The Saltom pit would have been interesting because it was the first mine to mine coal under the sea. From all of this evidence I have come to a number of conclusions. I have concluded that coal was the main export and was exported in large quantities. There were also different imports at different times between 1700 and 1900. The evidence that proves this is the old customhouse where the imports had to pay custom duties on the goods imported also the lime and sugar tongues, tell us that sugar and lime, were imported. The graph on the rise and fall of Whitehaven shows that a lot of coal was exported. I have come to the conclusion that Whitehaven was perfect for the transportation of coal up until the late 1800's.The size and shape of the harbour and headland was just right for the small sailing boats, the headland protected these boats from prevailing winds. In the 1870's steam ships became popular, this would cause problems for Whitehaven as the harbour would have been too small for these big steam ships. The harbour was also perfect for transporting coal because it was close to all the mines in Whitehaven so this would mean that the coal would not have to travel far to be loaded onto the ships. I have also come to the conclusion that Whitehaven harbour was more important in 1700 and 1800 than it was in 1900. To support this is the graph the rise and fall of Whitehaven that shows us that the amount of coal that was exported. The amount of coal exported began to decline about the time of the railways and steam ships becoming popular, which could mean that the harbour wasn't being used as much for the export of coal and also because of the railways and steam ships Whitehaven's hinterland began to decrease. My final conclusion is that coal helped the harbour grow. Most of the evidence points to this, such as the building of the harbour at the time when coal mining was becoming popular. Also, when they stopped mining as much coal and they found other ways of transporting it, the harbour stopped growing and went into decline, this is why the lock gates were only just recently added to the harbour. From this I can tell that the industrial revolution must have also played a very important part in the development of Whitehaven Harbour. This is because if the industrial revolution hadn't happened then there would have not been a big demand for coal. So therefore the coal industry in Whitehaven might have never got as big and they might not have opened as many mines, which would mean that there would have been little point in developing the harbour for such a small amount of coal. This answers the objective of the whole assignment that the coal trade appears to have been very important in the development of the port of Whitehaven between 1700 and 1900 How useful were the site and other sources in helping you to the answer the question which is part 1? In part one of my assignment I considered what I could learn by visiting the harbour itself about why the port of Whitehaven had changed and developed up to the 20th century. The conclusion that I reached at the end of part 1 was briefly this: The coal trade had a very important part in the development of the harbour but there were other imports as well. Coal was not the only reason that the harbour stopped developing because things like the steam ships, which weren't accessible into the port of Whitehaven and the railways, stopped it developing. Also because of Whitehaven had no lock gates, which put it at a disadvantage. This meant that Whitehaven harbour was more important in 1700 and in 1800 than in 1900. I am now going to select some other sources to do with the port of Whitehaven and judge each one according to how useful it is in explaining the development of the harbour compared with the evidence of the harbour itself. The sources I have chosen to consider are: 1) The Beacon centre 2) John Paul Jones feature film 3) John Paul Jones diary 4) Census Results 5) Sail to Steam video The first source I will be considering is the beacon centre, which is a museum about the history of Whitehaven. The Beacon centre is relevant to the question because it does give information about the coal mining. The Beacon centre also contains information about the John Paul Jones raid, the slave trade, railways, ships, the Lowther family and much more. The Beacon centre is typical because it tells us about the history of Whitehaven and surrounding areas. It was opened in 1996 to inform people about the history of West Cumbria. I think that the Beacon centre was put there for tourism rather than for historians to find evidence. My evidence for this is because the Beacon centre has a rather big section on John Paul Jones compared to a relatively small section on coal mining. Even though the raid of John Paul Jones only lasted a few hours in the history of Whitehaven and the coal mining industry lasted over 200 years. So this tells me that the Beacon centre is trying to attract American tourists by having a large section on John Paul Jones, since this is why most American tourists come to Whitehaven to see where John Paul Jones raided. Other evidence of it being there for tourism is because when we went it was a free week so this means that it is trying to attract locals to visit it and see how good it is. This is so that when the summer season starts and tourists ask locals where to go to look around Whitehaven they will tell them to go to the Beacon Centre. This would mean that the Beacon centre would make more money. I think that this source is reliable because they wouldn't tell people about subjects that weren't true. Compared to the harbour, the beacon centre is not very useful in explaining the development of the harbour because it doesn't contain enough evidence since it is just there for tourism so it puts information in to it that people will be interested in and want to find out about. Now I will be judging an extract from the John Paul Jones feature film. This source is relevant because it does mention Whitehaven harbour. We saw an attack on Whitehaven harbour; the men in the attack burnt shipping to frighten British merchants so that they got British troops to guard the port. This was so that they got some of the troops away from America, so they had more chance of winning the war. This film was produced to make money because John Paul Jones would be popular with Americans so that would encourage more people to go and watch it therefore making more money. It was made in Hollywood and not even the raid on Whitehaven was actually filmed in Whitehaven. This tells me that the film was produced to make money because if it were for any other use than they would have spent the time and money to reconstruct the event in Whitehaven for the film. This source is reliable in one way in that the raid in Whitehaven did happen by John Paul Jones but we don't know the actual words that he said so the words on the film are unreliable. The film extract isn't typical because it isn't every night that Whitehaven would have had a big raid. Compared to the harbour, I don't think that this source was very useful because it was produced to make money rather than to inform us. The film extract didn't contain enough information about the development of the harbour like the size and shape of it and it didn't mention the coal trade. I am now going to judge an extract from John Paul Jones diary. It says that over one hundred ships were in the port on that night. The diary extract is relevant because it tells us what a typical night in Whitehaven Port was like. We know that it was typical because Whitehaven was not expecting a raid so it was just a normal night until it happened. John Paul Jones produced this diary and it was produced for his own purposes to write down about the day's events. And because it was a diary we can say that it is reliable because you wouldn't expect anyone to read your diary, so it was just written for his own purposes although he could have been bias towards his own country. I don't think that the diary extract was as useful at answering the question from part one than the harbour was. This is because although the extract gave us valuable information about the harbour at the time it didn't tell us about the coal trade or about the development of the harbour. All it tells us is that the harbour was busy and that it was low tide because the harbour was just mud. We watched a video called Sail to Steam, which I am now going to judge. This video was a documentary and although it didn't even mention Whitehaven it gave us information about the development and growth of Liverpool port which we can relate to the port of Whitehaven so it is relevant. It told us that the coming of the railways increased Liverpool's hinterland and that the lock gates improved the port because they no longer had to wait for the high tides to come in and out of the port. It also told us about the change from sailboats to steam ships that could carry more and were bigger. From this I could tell that Whitehaven was at a disadvantage because it didn't have lock gates, the port would have been to small for the big steam ships and the coming of the railways decreased Whitehaven harbours growth and hinterland. This documentary was produced to inform people about the changes from sail to steam especially in the port of Liverpool. From this I can tell that the information given is accurate and reliable because they wouldn't produce a documentary with inaccurate information. This source is typical because it shows how the port of Liverpool grew over the years. I think that although this source was useful in telling us why Whitehaven port might have stopped growing that it is not as useful as the harbour itself. This is because it doesn't contain information about Whitehaven port and its development and it doesn't tell us about Whitehaven's coal trade. I am now going to analyse the census results. The census results are relevant to the question in part one because they show us how many people lived on Mount Pleasant and it shows the different jobs they had. This then gives us an idea of how many people work down the mines and this then tells us how important the coal mining industry was to the people of Whitehaven. The census was produced in 1851 for the government, to inform them of how many people there were in the country. A census is an official count of the population so this tells me that the census is accurate and reliable because they wouldn't produce a census that was wrong because it would have been a waste of money. Although the census results are useful I don't think that they are as useful as the harbour itself because it doesn't give us enough information about the coal trade and it doesn't tell us anything about the harbour. If we could have had the resources I would have also liked to have had the figures for the amount of coal mined in the area between 1700 and 1900. This would have been useful because I could have compared it to the amount of coal exported from the port and then I could have seen just how much the harbour became more useful for the exportation and coal. Also I would have been able to look for a decline in the amount of coal exported compared to the amount mined when the railways became popular, to see if railways did take some of Whitehaven's hinterland away from it. I would also have liked to have had a diary extract from a person who worked down the mines. This would have been useful to find out the day to day workings of the mines. In part 1 I found that coal was very important to the port of Whitehaven but other things were imported as well but as steam ships became popular the harbour was at a disadvantage because the harbour was too small for these big steam ships. Also Whitehaven didn't have lock gates so this put it at a disadvantage because it meant the boats had to wait until high tide to come in and out of the harbour. This meant that Whitehaven harbour was more important in 1700 and 1800 than in 1900. I have concluded for this part of the assignment that the beacon centre is only there to attract tourists and to make money. I have also concluded that the John Paul Jones video is also just a way of making money and not about informing historians about the raid on Whitehaven harbour. My conclusion of John Paul Jones diary extract is that although it was useful in telling me about a typical night in the harbour it does not contain enough information about the harbour or about the coal trade. I have also concluded that the sail to steam video was useful in telling me about the development from sail boats to steam ships but it did not contain any information about Whitehaven. I have come to the conclusion that although the census results tell us a lot of information about the amount of people living on Mount Pleasant and the amount of people working down the mine it doesn't give us sufficient evidence to answer the question that is part 1. My conclusion that the visit to Whitehaven harbour was much more useful to me in answering the question that is part 1 than any of the other sources. Whitehaven harbour contained lots of unwitting evidence about the harbour and how it developed between 1700 and 1900. It also gave me a lot of information about the coal trade and how it relied on the harbour to be exported. This source contained information about both the harbour and the coal trade so this makes it very useful and also reliable because we can see the evidence. This source is also typical because it contains the remains of things (like the mines) that were actually there between 1700 and 1900

Proposal of Student Jnformation System

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Proposed Research Topic: Shortcoming of IFM Student Management System Meaning of Student information system Student information system is a software application for education establishments to manage student data. Also known as student information management system(SIMS),student record system(SRS), student management system(SMS). Objective of proposal: IFM’s students claim that student management system is very inconvenient to them as the end users of the system during day to day operations.Due to this fact, we will concentrate on enhancing the system functionalities that have proved to have weakness such as to enable the system to calculate GPA at the end of each semester and make the system reliable and available for student to view their results and fee payment. Background: The background of student information system starts from manual management of information like the result to be provided to the notes board where as the area of student to access t he result.This were difficult for the student to access the information due to increase number of student, and the system were moved to computerized that start with SARIS and now SIS but there are a sort of problem. Not only student but also management increased their performance due to shifting from manual operations to computerized operations. Therefore, this project shall be conducted in team work by four members in the IFM (The Institute Of Finance Management)premises which I located at city center opposite to national Museum.The first member is a team leader and he is specialized in projects management, the second member is specialized in research and data analysis, the rest two members are specialized in system development and maintenance process. Shortcoming of Student Management System IFM student management system has proved to have a several problems (shortcoming) regarding to the user who are students. The system seems to be very inconvenient to the users as it is viewed from its different functionalities as demonstrated below: Lack of relevance informationLack of relevance information such as in the module section, because it contains non-relevant subject for example for Bsc. IT module, Audit has been indicated as one of the subject to be selected during second year study where as it not part of subject to be selected or studied by IT student so it lead to confusion and inconvenience during selection of module. It also has poor organization of necessary information, module should be divided based on semester and not year.It should enable user to see the overview/content of each subject for example in case of† IS project† it should shoe the content of this subject so as student should get a picture of what is going to cover regarding to the subject, this will enable student to be aware when selecting an option subject. In case of GPA The system should calculate the students’ GPA at the end of each semester. This shall make student aware of his academic performance so helping him/her to make strategic plan on how to improve his/her performance and enhance seriousness of the student System reliabilityThe system is not reliable because when maintenance or updating information in one of its functionality negatively affect the other functionality for example during uploading of result, student may not even be able to access other functions such as fee payment, home as well as student profile despite the fact that only function that deal with result is maintained. Instead message that says †system is undergoing maintenance† appear and no any function can be accessed. Poor interfaceSystem interface should not require user to scroll down or up so as to access some information instead all information should be arranged in a manner that all features appear to fit to the screen width and height. In results and payment link Information are not integrity, this problem show that the data can be changed at any time when the system used or accessed, for example on result you can look the result on this time are not the same when you will check again it can be good result or bad result but that does not matter, it needed to get expected result.Also in payment link you can check the payment status on this time you are not debt but any time the status will show you are debt. In the student profile link The update of information to the student profile are not reliable, for example the timetable it can be better when a particular student check the timetable in his/her profile to avoid disturbance or any information are needed to be uploaded in student profile to show the accuracy of student to get new or particular information.Also there is problem when you editing information in your profile are not accuracy because you can edit and the system are not respond to make changes or sometime the changes are accepted. In the communication link In case of communication link there is no feedback/notif ication which can make you to know you request are sent or fail. For example you can send the email to the lecture, when you send the email have no notification which show you the email now is sent and there is no feedback from the lecturer to you, from example to tell you your request is on processed wait for a hour or a day.CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Literature review refers to the survey of important articles, books and other sources pertaining to your research topic. This review of the professional literature relevant to your research question will help to contextualize, or frame, your research. It will also give readers the necessary background to understand your research (Joffrey hoffer ). According to Student Management System of IFM we reviewed the whole system, the system tried to accomplish some of the need of the students and management but other task where not ell introduced. The system should be integrate means that the accuracy and consistency of stored data, indicate d by any absence of any alteration in data between two updates of data record (joffrey Hoffer). now the student management system of IFM not integrated due to the reason that the available information are not consistent. User friendly refers as application, equipment, facility, process, or system that is compatible with its intended user’s ability to use it easily and successfully (Balasubramanian,D 2001).According to IFM student management the system failed to maintain user friendly because there is a lot of scrolling in order for the user to see the other information which can reduce user intention. Feedback refers as the process in which the effect or output of an action is ‘returned’ (fed-back) to modify the next action. Feedback is essential to the working and survival of all regulatory mechanisms found living and non-living nature, and in man-made system such as education system (www. businessdictionary. com).In case of IFM student management system, the sy stem does not provide any information when the student provides the communication to the management. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY According to the problem or shortcoming demonstrated above, there are various ways that can be followed to investigate the real solution to the above problems but for this case â€Å"Rapid Application Development† and Conduct a literature review are the best methodologies to be used to accomplish the proposed project due to the following reasons * Methodologies radically decrease design and implementation time. Close collaboration between users, analysts and managers. System Development Methodology is a standard process followed in an organization to conduct all the steps necessary to analyze, design, implement, and maintain information systems. We suggest using Rapid Application Development (RAD) Methodology RAD is a software development methodology, which involves iterative development and the construction of prototypes. It involves extensive user invol vement, prototyping, JAD sessions, integrated CASE tools, and code generators.Joint Application Design (JAD) is structured process involving users, analysts, and managers. Several-day intensive workgroup sessions. It uses customer involvement and group dynamics to accurately depict the user's view of the business need and to jointly develop a solution. REFERENCES * Modern system analysis and design sixth edition by Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Joey F. George, Joseph S. Valacich. * www. businessdictionary. com * IFM Student Management System * Computer installation and servicing Balasubramanian,D 2001