Ibm Case Essay Example for Free

Ibm Case Essay History By the 1950’s, IBM became the dominant vendor in the computer industry with the release of the IBM 701 along with many other series of mainframes, which are large central processors. Then in the1960’s and 1970’s, the company had to diversify to get on the same level as smaller companies, such as Digital Equipment Corporation, who were introducing microprocessors. This threatened IBM’s position in the computer industry. Their response was coming put with a personal computer, software, and services. In 1981, IBM officially introduced the IBM PC with a compatible hardware platform. This was a large accomplishment for the company. A few years later, on May 1st, 2005, IBM sold its PC division to the Chinese company Lenovo for $655 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo stock. Then on January 25, 2007, IBM sold their printing systems division for $725 million to Ricoh and created a new Ricoh subsidiary called InfoPrint Solutions Company. Ricoh will now own a 51% share and IBM will own a 49% share. Also in 2007, IBM’s yearly revenue was $98. 8 billion and they had a net income of $10. 8 billion dollars. IBM is run by about 427,000 employees. There are three main people who keep the business running smoothly. The most important one is Samuel J. Palmisano, who is the Chairman, President, and CEO. Another important associate at IBM is Mark Loughridge, who is the SVP and CFO. And lastly, Douglas Elix, who is another SVP, a Group Executive, and is in charge of Sales and Distribution. These three men are vital to the company’s success. Besides them, most of the employees at IBM are IT Specialists, Application Services Consultants, and Managing Consultants. Every company has to have competitors. Competition makes a healthy industry. Some of the top competitors IBM runs against are EDS (Electronic Data Systems Corporation), Hewlett Packerd, and their biggest competitor, Microsoft, whom they are ranked right behind in second place in their industry. IBM has many recent accomplishments within that last few years. One of the major ones was the development of the world’s tiniest nanophotonic switch, which is a device for routing light on a chip scale. Another project they have completed wasweb 2. security concerns with â€Å"SMash,† which is one of their development tools. Another very large project they completed was the design of the microprocessor for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii. All three of those were a good addition to the list of products they already design. This opened up their age range of consumers as well since a lot of children play these video systems. Besides recent accomplishments in their elec tronic field, IBM also had many of their employees win multiple awards for their achievements. They have had three of their employees win Nobel Prizes, which are achievements in either physics, chemistry, literature, peace, economics, medicine and physiology; four have received a Turing Awards, which are awards for technology; five have National Medals of Technology; and five more have received National Medals of Science. These are all very big accomplishments that IBM is very proud of. IBM is currently working on many projects. One of its big ones is Eclipse, which is a platform-independent, Java based software framework. Another is developerWorks, which is a website run by IBM for software developers and IT professionals. It contains large numbers of how-to articles and tutorials, software downloads, code samples, discussion forums, podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other resources. Then there is alphaWorks which is IBM’s source for emerging software technologies. They are also working on more semiconductor designs and manufacturing for them. Open client offering is another project they are working on. It is to run on Windows, Linux and Apples. Used for word processing, presentations, Lotus Notes, instant messaging, blogging, etc†¦ UC2: Unified Communications and Collaboration is an IBM and Cisco joint project. It will offer numerous Eclipse applications developers a unified platform for an easier work environment. Examples of this would be click-to-call and voice mailing. SWOT on Management IBM holds more patentsthan any other U. S. based technology company. IBM’s Project Management Center of Excellence, or PM COE, is first-rate. PM COE is considered IBM’s â€Å"Think Tank†. It is a program that has been set up to define the steps needed to strengthen IBM’s project management capabilities. PM COE combines external industry trends and directions with IBM business, organizational, geographic requirements and insight. Using PM COE, IBM has developed project management policy, practices, methods, and tools (Wikipedia, 2008). For someone to be considered for a management position, they must complete IBM certification or accreditation. To be accepted in to the certification or accreditation process an individual must have done the following. Successfully passed PMI exam (i. e. be a certified PMP). Verifiable documentation and approval for mastery/expertise in a well-defined set of PM skills. Several years of PM experience spanning at least 3 verifiable projects within the immediate 5 years (including specific role, team size, and budget requirements). Verifiable documentation and proof of at least one area of specialty. Demonstrated the use of IBMs Worldwide Project Management Method (_WWPMM_). Completed extensive classroom and online education and testing. To become a Junior Project Manager, you must go through self assessment and get supervisors authorization to be accredited. Becoming a Senior Project Manager requires going through the rigorous IBM certification process, which involves Candidate preparing a detailed package with proof of above requirements. Package review, approval, and support by at least two levels of Senior Management. Package review and re-verification by PM COE expert. Personal interviews with the PM COE Certification board. Candidates whose experience, skills, knowledge and education are deemed valid, verifiable and accurate, are certified by the board as either Certified Senior Project Manager (CSPM) or Certified Executive Project Manager (CEPM). Senior Project managers must validate their skills and expertise against IBM’s worldwide standards. It is a deliberately long process with multiple checkpoints designed to ensure the integrity, fairness and legitimacy of the certification. This helps IBM maintain customer confidence in their products (Wikipedia, 2008). Since IBM is such a large, diversified, and established company they do not have many weaknesses. One weakness is they have a tendency to â€Å"strong arm† clients that are highly dependent on IBM products (Bradley, 2004). In the future this reputation could lead companies to be hesitant to rely on IBM’s merchandise. This reputation could also create bad enough relationships with current clients to make them transfer to a competitor’s product. IBM has also been known to â€Å"over promise† (Bradley, 2004). Since they are such a large corporation, with many capabilities, they tend to promise unrealistic deadlines to their customers. Businesses don’t like losing money, and opening later then planned is a good way to do that. These delays in their customers start-ups, could also lead to unfavorable relationships that could cause clients to move their business elsewhere. IBM is constantly looking for new opportunities to expand their share of the market, or start a new market. IBM is looking into revolutionizing the prevention of traditional and online fraud and Identity thefts. They are working on a comprehensive anti-fraud program that is going to help banks protect themselves and their customers, while continuing to offer their products and services (IBM, 2006). IBM is also conducting case studies for the automotive industry. The case studies are going to help them change the industry, and become more innovative (Lunani, 2006). Hopefully, the innovations will alleviate some of the stress the industry is under. Management Practices ; Theories SWOT analysis is a very important part of finding out a lot of information pertaining to current management functions within the company. However, it is what the management does after they find their strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats that are the most relevant part of determining a company’s success. The theories and practices the company uses to take advantage of their strengths, try to combat their weaknesses, use opportunities to their best interest, and to defend themselves from threats are the key determinant on what the company’s future looks like. IBM as one of the top companies in the world clearly knows what they are doing. They have taken into careful consideration their SWOT analysis and their management theories and practices are derived from their analysis. Being involved in competitive global competition, the company’s workforce is an essential part to IBM’s success. In knowing of this, IBM has created a list of seven key core workforce capabilities. These capabilities include: Understanding the demographics and capabilities of the workforce, predicting future labor supply and demand, utilizing social networks to increase the visibility and application of knowledge across the organization, enabling individuals to perform work regardless of location, facilitating collaboration across traditional organizational boundaries, driving the rapid development of skills and capabilities to meet changing business conditions, and evaluating employee performance and providing appropriate feedback. IBM has implemented these guidelines so their workforces can constantly adapt to the ever changing global business environment. In addition, workers are paid incentives for their input to keep the employees with a sense of involvement which is important to keeping them excited about IBM. At IBM, the managers believe and in a workforce that is diversified. According to Ron Glover, VP for Global Workforce Diversity at IBM, focuses on what it means to retain a true culture of diversity is IBM’s greatest competitive advantage. From all the way back to World War I, IBM has romoted workforce diversity when they hired disabled veterans to work for the company. Even when no one was using diversity IBM was. Way back in 1953, CEO at the time Thomas Watson sent out a very controversial stating that IBM needs to hire the best people, regardless of their race, ethnic origin, sex. In addition, the company added sexual orientation in 1984. He knew that this would give IBM a competitive advan tage because IBM would then be able to hire talented people the it’s competitors would turn down. (hrmreport. com, 2008) Another way IBM tries to get the best workers is using their program called Extreme Blue. This is an internship program for graduate and undergraduate students. This internationally known program is great for getting students prepared to work for IBM. IBM believes this will give students interested in working for a IBM a realistic perspective on what it would be like to work for them. IBM runs this diverse workforce under a classical management perspective. Money is assumed to be the primary motive and have a traditional compensation plan. The main forms of pay to employees are base pay and valuable other forms of benefits such as retirement plans and insurances. According to the company’s website, â€Å"cash compensation opportunities include base pay, commissions, performance bonuses, awards and other forms of earnings. † In addition to these forms of pay, IBM also offers generous paid vacation and holidays. There are also some benefits to relieve stress and just get away from the company for a little while. These benefits include reduced-prices, cooking lessons, and fitness centers. This management style has worked for them and we think they should stick with the classical approach to management and not move to a behavioral perspective. IBM uses an analyzer strategy which most large companies use. An analyzer strategy is a strategy in which the firm attempts to maintain its current businesses and to be somewhat innovative in new businesses. They use this strategy because they want to produce some new product opportunities while protecting their base of operations. (Griffen, 2007) Management Structure â€Å"The management structure that IBM maintains is an effective internal control structure. This structure has clearly defined lines of responsibility, as well as comprehensive systems and control procedures. This structure is beneficial because it assures customers that their transactions are put through correctly and efficiently. â€Å"(http://sec. edgar-online. com) An important part of IBM’s management structure is a good internal audit program. IBM takes a good amount of time to train its workers correctly. Each employee receives written policies and procedures to ensure that each employee knows exactly what to do under any circumstance or problem that may arise. By doing this everyone is on the same page and everything is done the way they want it done. IBM is now thinking about cutting 13,000 jobs most of which should be mostly in Europe and other headquarters around the world. Ethics With all of the diversity that exists within the company it would be hard for IBM to conduct any work without ethics on their minds. As in any large company there is some sort of unethical behavior going on, however these behaviors have not been detrimental to the company thus far. So far it is obvious that IBM wont make any large scale unethical decisions such as the like of Enron. The ethics are very important in the business process and will be discussed more in an interview with a former employee. Interview With a Former Employee Flat or tall management structure? â€Å"The structure tends to be taller than most companies, especially within the consulting group. † Management Style? â€Å"The managers take a very classical by the book style to their decisions. Everything that had happened before was documented and later considered protocol, if there was success. † What ethics does IBM use in decision making? â€Å"IBM has well defined guidelines on many ethical issues, and it is required that all new employees review these guidelines. Employees are also required to take an annual review test to comply with IBM corporate policy. In my experience IBM relies on individual managers to make judgment calls on grey areas, and the managers I worked with all took ethic approaches to handling the issue. † What are the areas for improvement? â€Å"IBM has had difficulties integrating its consulting division, since the acquisition of Price Waterhouse Coopers consulting in 2002. Much effort has been focused on getting full value from this acquisition, and at least initially the purchase was viewed as a misstep. With changes over the last few years, the consulting division has become the bulk of IBM revenue, but there are still opportunities to better leverage the consulting division in light of other IBM business units. IBM has also been severally criticized for its outsourcing practices, and has taken very proactive measures to combat this public criticism. † Any alliances? â€Å"IBM has numerous alliances with companies, all the way from suppliers to working with competitors. The number of alliances in likely in the thousands. † What makes IBM so successful? The ability to solve large scale business problems, especially in the IT sector, by combining various internal specialties and partnerships to create and implement end to end solutions. † Have you witnessed any unethical behavior throughout the company? â€Å"I have not personally witnessed any unethical behavior, but have spoken to a former VP who was put in a position to take an unethical action by someone who wa s very senior in the organization. † Hiring procedures? Promotions procedures? â€Å"Hiring is done at the group level, based upon target numbers that are established at the top of the organization. Final hiring decisions are made at the senior manager level. Promotion decisions occur annually with promotions and compensation based upon the outcome of the decision. Promotion is granted if the employee can show sufficient evidence that he/she is operating at the intended promotion level, and that the results are sustainable (ie. , results must be shown for a relatively long time and consistent time period, in various situations) . The implementation of the corresponding compensation typically occurs six months after promotion decisions are made. The timing of promotions and compensation increases are an area which many employees feel needs to be corrected, and IBM has stated it intends to reduce the total time of the process. † Relationship between managers and subordinates? â€Å"Varies greatly based upon individual relationships. IBM offers many channels to discuss issues, but the design of the promotion/compensation/staffing structure makes it imperative to have a successful working relationship with direct and next level management. † Is there a lot of management restructuring? Yes, at the lower levels, especially in consulting, management roles are very fluid and change frequently in comparison with other companies. Some of this is based on market changes, some on promotions/exits, and some on business results. † What kind of fringe benefits do workers receive? â€Å"Discounts with partner companies, cell and broadband reimbursement, 401k contribution, pension (eliminated in 2006), corporate educatio n, annual bonus (consulting division), extensive health care coverage at low rates. † Is there a lot of communication between the different headquarters? Conclusion It is obvious that IBM is successful because their values and the way they conduct business. This is a direct reflection upon their management structure, style, and practices. They will surely stay on the same track of success for many years to come. As they push forward in their business they are becoming one of the most well known businesses whether it be for technology or consulting around the world. No matter what kind of work a person is in one thing is for certain, everyone can learn from the way IBM conducts their business.

Midway Plaisance Essay example -- Architecture History

Midway Plaisance The Midway first came to being during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago as a bit of an accident. The world's fair scheduled for 1892 was pushed towards a higher standard than most others. The successes of the 1876 Philadelphia and 1889 Paris fairs drove the Chicago planners to produce something even greater. As stated by Richard Wilson, the Paris fair especially hit home for the Americans. The sheer magnificence of the buildings and exhibits made the United States look very backward indeed. While France and the rest of the Old World countries held their own with remarkable advances in art, architecture, and science, the U.S. appeared to be falling behind. America's relatively inferior showings didn't help to shake this harsh image. The U.S. was desperate for a new self-image. It needed an opportunity to establish itself as the superpower it felt it deserved to be. The Columbian Exposition gave the U.S. this chance. Fair organizers planned the fair on a grand scale. They gra vitated towards a solemn Neo-Classical style, as exemplified in the all-white Court of Honor, a style which represented order, tradition, purity, and grandeur -- all the things that America was trying to display. However, this new classical character impressed upon the fair's major buildings produced a conflict with a group of people that had already laid claim to the fair: the members of the entertainment industry. Even before the formal announcement of the Fair in 1890, requests for space from all sorts of vendors, musical and circus troupes, and restaurateurs. Amusement vendors had been set up at previous expositions, usually right outside the fairgrounds. There, they not only attracted more fairgoers than the regular exhibits... ...ighted crowds at Montreal in 1967. This endurance of the idea of the Midway is a testament to its charisma, its power, and the high place amusement holds in the eye of society. Bibliography Richard Wilson, "Challenge and Response: Americans and the Architecture of the 1889 Exhibition," in Annette Blaugrund (ed.) Paris 1889. American Artists at the Universal Exposition, Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1989, 93-110. Findling, John E. Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions: 1851-1988. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Meehan, Patrick. "The Big Wheel." Chicago's Great Ferris Wheel of 1893. Rydell, Robert W. Fair America: World's Fairs in the United States. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. Keefe, John Webster. Libbey Glass: A Tradition of 150 Years: 1918-1968. Toledo, Ohio: Toledo Museum of Art, 1968.

Kings philosophy Essay

The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate platos justification of rule by philosopher kings. First the essay will try and stress how plato understood the way the state has to be governed in conjunction with philosophy. In Platos most famous work Republic he puts forward the view that only the study of philosophy would allow man to see what was good and just. Therefore to cure the ills of society it would be necessary to either make kings philosophers or make philosophers kings. I intend to show how Plato justifies this view and then attempt to point out some possible problems with this justification . Platos starting point was his recognition that justice was one of four cardinal virtues, along with wisdom, courage and moderation, that when working harmoniously together in a high level of order – he felt equaled the elusive good life . Kahn and Charles (2004). Plato thought that the best way to discover what justice was, was to create a perfect soul – this he did by first creating a theoretical perfect city , which would have a good soul and all four virtues. Using the theory that the polis is the individual writ large he intended to compare his perfect city with a perfect person and subsequently evaluate justiceTarà ¡ (2001) Plato s perfect city was to be a model of order, efficiency and discipline. Above all it would be governed by the strict adherence to what White refers to as the natural division of labour . This was to take the form of vocational and social division within the city. Everyone had one job in order to specialise and become good at it. We forbade our shoemaker to try his hand at farming or weaving or building and told him to stick to his last, in order that our shoemaking should be well done. Kierkegaard, (1992). More fundamentally however the city was to be divided into three distinct social classes, in which pe ople would be raised from birth. These classes consisted of the producers, the guardians and the rulers. These correlated to a high degree with their microcosm in the individual soul in which they took the form of reason, spirit/emotion and appetite/desire. The producers were to be the farmers and artisans who were responsible for the supply of food, clothing and other such essential but basic needs. They would be highly specialized and allowed money and private property as their main incentive. In the individual soul the producers equated to desire as they were not governed by true reason. In the same way that ungoverned desire e.g. I must eat this cake even though it is not mine, created conflict in an individual that must  be controlled, the producers were susceptible to the temptation to take land with better soil or more area for example. Therefore a second class was necessary – to protect from both internal and external threats and keep both the city and the soul in order. The perfect city maintained order by using guardians, the guardians were the warrior class that protected the city. These warrior characteristics made them a potential internal threat, so Plato decided to neutralise volatile factors such as greed or envy by denying the guardians access to money or private property. The guardians equate to the spirited or emotional side of the soul, which was usually tamed by reason, but might spontaneously follow desire. Nails, (2006) The third class in the perfect city is by far the most important and complex. Rulers were chosen from the guardian class on the basis of aptitude (but with some degree of assumption of hereditary traits). Plato felt that as a pre-requisite to rule they must have a thorough understanding of the theory of forms including the essence of justice and the other virtues and ultimately the true essence of good by grasping which the philosopher will finally achieve a full understanding of all the rest. Vlastos,(2006) . Plato explains in his allegory of the cave, along with his theory of the line and the sun, how the philosophers who understand the theory of forms are the only ones with true objectivity and how the rest of society is merely staring at shadows – mistaking them for reality and so they would believe that the shadows of the objects we mentioned were in all respects real Therefore by the theory of forms a philosopher is able to release himself from the subjective world of the rest of humanity and enter the world of objective views. Salli (1999). The distinctive step which Plato has taken by the time of the republic is to suggest that forms which are the object of definition are entities in themselves, subsisting outside time and space, in which particular things come to share or which they imitate . The ruler class then is selected by aptitude and educated through a rigorous process until his understanding of the theory of forms is so complete that he understands the forms of the virtues of justice and even good, this then entitles him to rule. Plato connected the rulers with the reason aspect of soul. Just as the rulers were able to judge right or wrong for the city, the souls calculating part told a person the rational side of a situation. Plato  consolidated all of this with the myth of metals taught to all, whereby the rulers had gold in their veins, the guardians silver and the producers iron and bronze, but they were all brothers and should all be happy in their situation. For the perfect city all three classes must work in harmony – the producers making materials, the guardians protecting and ensuring stability from both above and below, and the rulers determining through their enlightened reason what was good or bad. The soul would work in a similarway. Melchert, (2002) Plato felt that he had now found justice through the concept of the ideal city and soul. If the soul was in order then the cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation and justice would exist in the person. The wisdom was present in the rulers of the city and the calculating part of the soul. The courage was present in the guardians of the city and the spirited part of the soul. Moderation was found when all three groups of the city and soul worked together, moderation was best seen in the soul when all three parts were equal, moderation showed harmony. Justice was created when every part was doing what it was supposed to do. With all of these different parts put together Plato created what he considered to be the ideal city and soul. Vlastos,(2006). It can be seen from his point of view, therefore, that philosophers must be rulers as they are the only ones with true objective understanding of justice and good as defined by Plato and are therefore the only ones competent to lead t he rest of the population towards them. There are however a number of problems with Platos argument. In his ideal city where philosophers are kings, it is necessary for order and efficiency that everybody sticks just to their own job – this is fine in theory but would soon lead to a lack of unity through a lack of understanding, empathy and therefore sympathy. Without these the obligation to help each other would soon be overrun by a lack of motivation. This would throw the whole system out of kilter. Plato may have argued that this may have been circumvented by education but he seems fairly a dam Anton a strict division of labour. This phenomenom would also spread to natural disaster, for example if the city was to burn down there may be insufficient carpenters to rebuild it, or insufficient doctors to treat disease. Plato himself admits that once philosophers gain the knowledge of the good they would usually prefer to reflect on it, rather than sully themselves in actual politics. To go back to the allegory of the cave, once they have discovered the real world, what motivation would they have to enter the dark world of the cave and participate in the pointless games? He argues that they will do it because they are just men and that their reluctance is not only a good thing but is actually necessary as it prevents dissension and strife over who shall rule. I think that in reality some would be unable to overcome their reluctance and that those who do enter face a very large chance of being corrupted by their superior knowledge. Plato makes the huge assumption that knowledge of the good is sufficient motivation to act in a just way, this, I feel , is a very dangerous assumption and the corrupting influence of power has been proved time and again throughout history. As Karl Popper quotes I think we must face the fact that behind the sovereignty of the philosopher king stands the quest for power. Argument can also be found in the works of Aristotle that dispute Plato s claim that philosophers should be king. Aristotle felt that Plato relied far too heavily on theory and disagreed with Plato s theory of forms, instead believing that actual instances in this world (rather than other-worldly forms) were the key to universals. This heavier reliance on experience allowed a more amateur approach, rather than years of formal training, to be acceptable. Another argument against Philosopher kings stems from the Christian influence. The core-belief of Christianity was that faith, rather than reason, held the key to salvation and so the good life , This created the need for a separate private and public sphere that would be unacceptable in Plato s ideal city. This would be compounded by the democratising effect of faith – which all can have, rather than reason which is restricted to the few. In modern times the faith aspect of the separation of public and private spheres has significantly diminished, however it has been replaced by a fierce belief in individualism that is underwritten by a nebulas concept of equality enshrined in individual rights and constitutional checks, perhaps based ultimately on the free-for-all concept of capitalism. Nails,(2006). In conclusion can be observed that even during platos days the philosopher king could have been difficult to achieve  because let alone any other since then given the nullifyi ng concepts from Aristotle to Christianity to Capitalism. I tend to agree to some extent with Karl Poppers view that Plato allowed himself to be seduced by the idea (as many others have since) that he (and his theoretical like in the philosopher-kings) were the only ones that could see objectively and so should rule. It is a trap more dangerous, possibly, than any other and democracy (in the modern, rather than Greek sense), its antithesis, is a far safer – if far less than perfect alternative. REFFERENCES Kahn, Charles H. (2004). â€Å"The Framework†. Plato and the socratic dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form. Cambridge University Press Kierkegaard, Sà ¸ren (1992). â€Å"Plato†. The Concept of Irony. Princeton University Press Nails, Debra (2006). â€Å"The Life of Plato of Athens†. A Companion to Plato edited by Hugh H. Benson. Blackwell Publishing Tarà ¡n, Leonardo (2001). Collected Papers 1962-1999. Brill Academic Publishers Kraut, Richard (Ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge University Press Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. McGraw Hill. Salli John (1999). Chorology: On Beginning in Plato’s â€Å"Timaeus†. Indiana University Press Vlastos, Gregory(2006). Plato’s Universe – with a new Introducution by Luc Brisson, Parmenides Publishing

Social Media And Its Impact On The Media - 977 Words

Godiva currently utilizes social media in the footer of each webpage; among the social media icons present are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube. Additionally, social media sharing and engagement icons are present on each product view. Users are able to â€Å"Like† an item on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter, pin it on Pinterest, or click on the G+ Share link. Website visitors that are already logged into any of these accounts on their computers will not have to log into social media again to engage in sharing. Godiva’s marketing team does a great job in collecting data from the customer reviews on products, Allowing users to rate the product anywhere from one to five stars, create a review, and add up to six photographs to it! Additionally, Godiva has optional fields to collect age, gender, reason for purchase, frequency of purchase, value of the purchase, and lastly, selectable options for the user to select where they purchased this product (Fig. 3). Fig. 3. Godiva.com website. An example of a product review rating form on the Godiva.com website. (Note that the form is one continuous piece, it has been broken into two here so that it would display on one page). (2015). Retrieved from http://www.godiva.com/chocolate-biscuit-tin/79041.html Godiva includes a link in their top navigation menu for â€Å"Experience Godiva†, upon clicking this link, site users will see a drop-down menu for options such as â€Å"Holiday Recipes† and â€Å"Holiday Entertaining† amongstShow MoreRelatedMedia Impact On Social Media1220 Words   |  5 PagesMan Kala Limbu Sherry Sharifian GOVT 2305-71013 10/29/17 Social Media and its impact on social media Social media is an important part of our life because greater impact on people today than ever before. It is not just used to share picture or connect with each other but it is also an important source of news, education as well as entertainment. 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One significant aspect of communication that has been drastically altered is the news media and their presence on social media sites such as Twitter—primarily as a result of our changing interactions with and procurement of the news. Over the course of the last semester, I worked as an Assistant Producer for b oth Unify and Activism Media, which are sister

4 Options for Converting Slides to Digital Format

Got stacks of slide carousels loaded up with old family photos? Unfortunately, the pictures on those slides are probably fading as you read this. Now is the time to save those memories for future generations by converting them to digital format.   There are  four  major options for digitizing 35mm  slides. Flatbed Scanner Many traditional flatbed scanners do a good job at slide scanning as well. Look for a scanner that is designed to scan negatives and slides in addition to traditional paper photos and documents. The optical (not digital) resolution should be at least 2400 dpi or greater. Many flatbed scanners require an extra transparency adapter attachment for scanning slides—sometimes it comes with the scanner, and sometimes you have to buy it separately. Good bundled scanning software is also a must, to give you control over the final results, although Hamricks VueScan offers an excellent alternative and works with most flatbed scanners. Read user and editorial reviews to find a flatbed scanner that handles slides well before you buy. Dedicated Film Scanner From an image quality standpoint, the best method for digitizing your slides is to use a high resolution dedicated film/slide scanner. They can be fairly expensive, so probably not the best option unless you literally have thousands of slides to scan. Dedicated film scanners do, however, offer excellent resolution, and the control they offer over the final images is something you generally dont have when you opt for a professional scanning service. Slide Duplicator If you own a good digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera, a slide duplicator, or  duper, offers a good, inexpensive option for digitizing your slides. A slide duplicator attaches to your DSLR cameras in place of the lens, using a T-mount adapter ring. The other end of the duper is a sliding gate that holds two slides. The duper also has an internal lens, with a fixed aperture and focusing distance, that focuses the slides image onto your DSLRs imaging plane so that you can then take a picture of the slide. While slide duplicators are  inexpensive and easy to use (they require no electricity or a computer since you can take the pictures directly onto your cameras flash card), dupers do not offer the digital quality you can get from a flatbed or film scanner. In most cases, youll find that some image cropping is unavoidable. Most digital cameras also dont offer the dynamic range (the amount of gradation between light and dark in the photo) of a scanner, which can affect the photos shadow detail. Scanners generally offer a better resolution (a 3200 optical dpi scanner is about equivalent to a 12-megapixel digital camera) as well, so if you want to print larger photos from your slides, this may be a deal breaker. Professional Photo Shop If you dont have too many slides, or if youre not very comfortable with computers and software, then your best bet is probably to opt for a professional service to scan your slides for you. Many such services can be found on the Internet, but you may find more peace of mind by checking with local photo labs. Definitely shop around because pricing and quality control vary widely. Do be sure to ask whether the photoshop cleans and scans each slide individually. If they batch scan, you probably wont be happy with the quality. Tips for Scanning Slides The trick to getting good digital scans of your slides is to start with clean slides. Dust both sides of each slide off with a quick hit of compressed air and be careful not to touch the emulsion. Make sure your computer is fairly new with a fast processor and plenty of memory and hard drive space to store all of the digital images. A plug-in external hard drive is a good option when scanning slides or photos. We highly recommend that you scan directly into a good photo organization/editing program such as Photoshop Elements, which can drastically cut down on the time spent scanning as you can save naming the files, cropping, rotating, etc for later once, the images are all on your computer in the organizer. After scanning, back up your new digital files onto DVDs - and make extra copies to share with your family members!

The Prospect Of Human Genetic Engineering - 3067 Words

Rafi Ebne Rafi Dr. McKinnis ENG 201 April 8th, 2015 On the Prospect of Human Genetic Engineering In the year of 2013 roughly 7.6 million people died of cancer, 1.5 million people died of AIDS, and another 70,000 of Cystic Fibrosis (â€Å"World Cancer Day†; â€Å"CF Foundation†). What do all these diseases have in common? Modern medicine has no guaranteed way of curing them. The fact of the matter is that we as a society don t know much about these, and some other life threatening diseases. As a result, more years of research need to be undergone in order develop unique drugs that may cure these, and other complex diseases . How long do you suppose it will take for a drug to come forth? Five, ten, thirty years? What if it doesn t even exist? How many people do you suppose will die in the meantime? Now my point is not to make one think that there is no method to curing diseases similar to those previously mentioned. As a matter of fact, my point is to shine light upon a promising method that has been showing results: genetic engineering. With the advancements of sci ence, genetic engineering is becoming a more and more developed procedure that has already saved the lives of those terminally ill. But where one problem is solved, another arises. With the ever growing social prominence of genetic engineering, ethical concerns are reaching a frenzied state. Many are weary of playing God, and the idea of changing one’s genetic makeup seems morally unjust. They see geneticShow MoreRelatedGenetically Modified Babies Essay887 Words   |  4 Pagesthat it could lead to. One pathway which proves very controversial, is the concept of human genetic engineering; involving the alteration of an individual’s genes with the aim of selecting and refining physical and mental characteristics. 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Creatine In Sport Essay Example For Students

Creatine In Sport Essay In todays society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how you look. Almosteverybody wants that perfect body. But with all the things peoplehave to do, not many are willing to put in the time to get it. So there must bean easy way to get it. Right? Not too long ago people were experimenting withanabolic steroids. They injected horse testosterone into their veins to increasethe amount of muscle mass produced from lifting. But after a while, someprofessional athletes and high profile people started showing the side effectsthat are associated with them. For example, Lyle Alzado, a popular star in theNFL, developed a brain tumor and died. This scared a lot of people and therecreational uses of steroids decreased. With the dangers of steroids well knownpeople started looking for other substances to give them an edge. Bee pollen,carnitine and chromium picolinate, were among the things people tried. Of coursenone of these worked. But now there is a product on the market that has beenproven to si gnificantly enhance athletic performance in the areas of power,strength, and muscle mass. This substance is Creatine Phosphate. ABOUT CREATINEWhen you exercise you obviously burn energy. There are many things involved inthis process. The energy that you burn is called Adenosine Triphosphate, ATP. This molecule has very high energy bonds between the phosphates and the rest ofthe molecule. Your body breaks these bonds releasing the energy for use andchanging the molecule to ADP (di-phosphate). Since the body has a relatively lowsupply of ATP, it needs to convert the ADP back into ATP. Creatine helps tospeed this process along. Creatine is an amino acid made in your liver andstored in your muscles. In the diet it is found in milk, steak, and some fish. Although scientists have known about it for about 160 years, studies on it havehave just started to be done. CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION *Picture* After thepublication of test results in 1990, the area of creatine supplementation hasexploded. Now almost everyone knows what it is and someone who is using it. Aswas stated earlier, creatine helps speed up the process of converting ADP backinto ATP. So it is logical that if you increase the amount of creatine youshould increase the conversion rate. The daily requirement of creatine is abouttwo grams. Most of the creatine supplement products recommend taking ten timesthat amount for the first week or so to saturate your muscles, and five grams aday to maintain it. In most published studies the logic is correct; if youincrease dietary creatine you increase stored creatine. DOES IT WORK? With theincrease of stored creatine there should be an increase in conversion time. Inmost of the studies that I have seen this is true. There is also a relat ionshipbetween the amount of hydration in a muscle cell and the amount of work it cando. Creatine makes the cell retain water and therefore should increase theamount of work individual cells can do. But this is not all that it does. Inmany studies, along with increased recovery time, creatine showed to increasemuscle mass, explosive power and strength. In one study groups of athletes puton five to seven pounds of lean muscle mass in a month. These results were farbetter than athletes receiving a placebo in the same study. Some critics statethat the increase in muscle mass is mostly water, but there are studies that saythere is an increase in the size of Type II muscle fibers. With the increase inmass there should be an increase in power. In the same study the athletes saw athirty percent increase in bench-press. With an increase in strength andrecovery time there is an increase in overall explosive power. IS IT FOR ME?Although creatine supplementation has shown results in particular areas, itdoesnt help everyone. The supplements are pretty expensive and with therecommended dosage, they go pretty fast. If you are not serious about trainingor are a weekend warrior you may see results but you will pay for them. But ifyou are seriously into bodybuilding, creatine will help you see gains. Also,athletes that perform short burst sprints with little recovery time will benefitfrom creatine. Basketball and football players in particular. But if you are anendurance athlete such as a marathoner or a sprinter there are studies that showthat creatine supplementation may slow you down. Some think it is from theweight gained. There are also people who are immune to its effects. They areofficially called nonresponders. These people are studied little andit is not known why they are immune or who these people are. IS IT SAFE? Sincestudies on creatine loading have only been going on for less than a decade, itis still unknown what long term effects the extra creatine will have. S omeresearchers fear that, with the amount of extra creatine contrived through thediet, the body might stop producing it. The only way we will find out thenegative effects of long term use is time. The sales of creatine supplements arevery strong, so a lot of people are using it. After a decade goes by we mightfind out the hard way that it is dangerous.