Strategic Rationale, Masters Objectivity and Self Analysis Essay

Strategic Rationale, Masters Objectivity and Self Analysis - Essay Example The influence came from the observation that without furthering my education, there wouldn’t be the ability to advance in any career field or set the pace for the desires which I had and the goals which were set into place for my future. The rationale and objectivity for studying the Masters Degree and positioning this into longer term strategies began with overall goals which I had toward a career field and the skills required for movement further forward in my desired area of knowledge. The main approach was to gain business knowledge that was associated with the degree and the associations which related to this. My long term goals were based on business development and moving forward within a career and workspace. There was an understanding that this couldn’t be done without the proper business knowledge. After beginning to study, the personal and career ambitions began to change with personal needs that required altering for my desired field. The personal and career ambitions that were developed were based on gaining business knowledge for a future career. The new expectations which I have are now based on advancing into managerial and high – end executive positions based on my own skills and desires. I believe that the success factors and career ambitions which I now hold are based on beginning to move into the practical applications of the knowledge which I have gained and to continue to practice each of the skills to advance within the career field. The more in which I can gain insight and practical applications to the knowledge from the Masters Degree, the easier it will be to move into the higher positions that are a part of the business field of my choice. Strategic Analysis of your Masters Abilities   The ability to perform with a future international business is one which is dependent on both personal and interpersonal skills. There are a variety of expectations that are a part of functioning with a multinational business, inc luding time management, organization, research, critical thinking, writing and communicating with others. Each of these skills alters the ability to work within different fields and allow an individual to propel forward with their career (Davies, 2011: 51). I found that, while I had the ability to have a strong personality and desire for a future with an international business, most of the basic skills were not allowing me to move forward with specific needs. The need to move into stronger communication and management skills is the main focus which I have found that I need to focus on. The academic and intellectual business knowledge that is combined with the personal Mastership objectives is based on furthering the skills which I did not have when beginning the Masters program. This concept moves into in – depth practices that I have learned, specifically with communication. The basis begins with writing skills that are associated with the academic knowledge needed. This com bines with skills that pertain to listening, responding appropriately and communicating in the proper manner. The interviewing and questioning that is associated with this combines with the ability to work in teams and to have better academic and intellectual understanding of organization and concepts such as IT skills. Developing these and continuing to practice with different needs

Tube Feeding Question and Obituary Research Paper

Tube Feeding Question and Obituary - Research Paper Example The research paper "Tube Feeding Question and Obituary" talks about the educated response to the tube-feeding question. The patient’s condition is terminal and she has not shown any sign of relieving symptoms. Even though feeding tube is able to prolong the patient’s life, you should not put the patient on the artificial feeding because of the involved risks of using feeding tube and benefits of allowing the patient to die a natural death. Moral and clinical factors inform this position. Ethically and as the authority over the patient who is already confused and disoriented, you need to minimize pain to the patient, to yourself, and to the children. The death of the patient is evident and the associated pain will be felt, regardless of the time at which the patient dies. Life of the patient should not be the primary factor in the decision. Deciding not to use the feeding tube only amounts to allowing the natural death process and not contributing to the patient’s death. A legal consideration also allows for the withholding of feeding tube and this also justifies the proposed decision. Even though failure to use feeding tube may induce pain to the patient, owing to the fact that she is able to respond to her environment, the level of pain can be managed. Using the tube may prolong the patient’s life but it has many disadvantages, some of which could end the patient’s life and render the tube effort useless. The patient will likely suffer from chest congestion and fluid buildup in her throat.

Theology paper1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theology paper1 - Essay Example It is Jehovah versus the gods of Egypt (Sperling 66). The ten Plagues - Jehovah vs. gods of the Egyptians and the 10 Plagues - Jehovah versus the Gods of Egypt (Sperling 66). For the first plague, there was the khnum who was the guardian of the rivers source hap that was the spirit of the Nile and Osiris of which the Nile was his bloodstream. On the second plague, there was the frog where hapi was the frog goddess to Egypt and heqt and both were related to fertility. In the case of the lice seb, the earth goddess of Egypt was being tested. Then next was the flies on all the people of Egypt and the Egyptians still had a god named the uatchit. Ptah mnevis were the Egyptian gods associated with bulls and cows, and so were heather and Amon. Next was the boils where from now on the Israelites were not affected at all by the next epidemic. The boils have been associated with the Sekhmet the Egyptian goddess of epidemics serapes and imhoteb who were considered the Egyptian gods of healing The next plague of the locusts was associated with serapia which was the Egyptian deity protector from locusts. Following was the plague of darkness and these was associated to re, Amon re,Aten, atum Horus and Thoth who were the Egyptian sun gods (Glazerson). The next exegetical by zony zevit is they were natural disasters and a demonstration of impotence among the Egyptian gods or an undoing of creation. When the Israelites wanted to leave Egypt the pharaoh who ruled at the time refused to release them until the last plague. It is considered that some of the plagues were a natural event and could be explained logically for instance hailstorms and locusts according to another explanation it could be explained using atmospheric and climatic conditions in Egypt. A hailstorm that is the second plague came out of nowhere and although it is not common, t occurs nonetheless. In the construction, the locusts, a more common occurrence and darkness, which can be said to

Raped and Pregnant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Raped and Pregnant - Essay Example The story that was shared by my friend made me realized that being raped is something you feel as self-degrading, since the person who was raped feels like her right for being respected was taken away. One of my friends told me a story about a girl she knew who was once having a normal life, but then she became a victim. She was raped. This girl just graduated from law school. She had a perfect job, as well as a perfect family, who supports her all the way. She is also a Christian who regularly attends mass. She is a person who has a good foundation with what she believes in. Since she was raised by her parents with Christian faith and practices, she planned to wait until she gets married to do things that only married couples do. This girl has been very successful and even has high hopes for her future which includes having a family of her own. While she was doing a great job on her career, she decided to be a volunteer for a pro-life program at her place. She listens to different s tories with relation to Women’s Policy. She often hears stories from women who got abused and raped. However, she insisted and made a stand on her own that abortion as an answer from any violence should not be considered as an option. With her stand, she met new friends and few enemies. While having a vacation for a few months on her cousin’s place. ... One thing she noticed though, every time she drinks the mixture, she often loses her focus and just got tired all the time. However, she trusted the guy so she never questioned him. According to my friend, the girl eventually became close with the guy, and that is the time that her beliefs were tested. There were times when she allowed the guy to stay at her apartment. This was when she realized that there is something wrong every time she fell asleep. She woke up the next morning having a bad feeling. The doctor did confirm to her that she was drugged for months by her boyfriend. On the other hand, the doctor also explained that she was pregnant. Now, she realized that she was raped. The doctor informed her that she does not need to keep the baby and promoted abortion as an option. When the girl knew that she was pregnant, she went directly to her family and informed what happened. Some of her friends and colleagues who attend mass regularly with her advised that she needs to have a n abortion because she does not want the child in the first place. When she seeks for an advise from her parents, her parents just assured her that no matter what her decisions may be, they will be there to support her. Hence, giving her the confusion and total freedom to make the decision of aborting the baby or having the baby. Abortion was an easy answer for many people since she was raped. After hearing advices, she could not believe what other people were saying because those people are the ones who consider themselves as pro-life. While the girl is suffering and got physically sick because of body changes due to being pregnant, she decided to continue the pregnancy. She could not imagine herself killing her own child. She accepted the fact that she will be a

Swaggie Essay Example for Free

Swaggie Essay Which Italian city-state dominated the renaissance until the 15th century? Florence 2. A major difference between Italian and Northern Renaissance was that the Italian renaissance was more secular. 3. The characteristics of Italian Renaissance art are curvilinear rhythms, rich color, and detail. 4. Upper class women during the Italian Renaissance declined in status. 5. A major difference between European society in the Renaissance compared to society in the later middle ages was that the renaissance society experienced a sense of self separate and greater than their predecessors 6. Identify characteristics of the 16th century work of art, Toledo, by El Greco: showed a rejection of Renaissance ideals 7. Who was Niccolo Machiavelli and how did he believe a ruler should act? He was a civil servant of the Florentine republic and believed a ruler should be efficient in maintaining and gaining power and to not be limited my moral principles 8. An important characteristic of â€Å"new monarchs† of the late 15th and 16th centuries was their strong sense of royal authority and national purpose. 9. How does Thomas More in Utopia describe the conditions of 16th century England? Flawed social institutions/greed were responsible for human corruption 10. In the period 1450 to 1550—how would you explain the major differences between society in Renaissance Italy and the societies of France and England? France and England were more religious and the Renaissance was a development of broad social reform based on Christian ideals. Identify the following 16th century Catholic figures: [only need to know that Teresa of Avila promoted emotionalism and a personal relationship with God] 2. The ideas of Martin Luther and John Calvin were similar that: they maintained the sacraments of communion and baptism. 3. The art entitled the Passional of Christ and Antichrist reflect: the Lutheran movement rejected corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic church 4. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) is significant because it ended pluralism and absenteeism, raised the standards of the clergy, and reaffirmed Catholic practices. 5. What European ruler posed the biggest obstacle to the spread of Protestantism in the 16th century? Charles V 6. Ignatius Loyola: created Society of Jesus and helped convert much of Europe back to Catholicism 7. Discuss the doctrine of the Anglican Church under Henry VIII: the king is the head of the church, was a permanent break with Rome, dissolved English monasteries for their wealth, and was between Catholicism and Protestantism 8. Identify the results of the Treaty of Westphalia: ended conflict over religious faiths and recognized the sovereignty of German princes CHAPTER 15: EXPLORATION 1. The first European explorer to find an all-water route to India by rounding the southern tip of Africa was Vasco de Gama. 2. Given information about each of these explorers, look at those who may have been opposed to the cruel treatment of American Indians in the 16th century New World: a) Francisco pizarro- conquered Incans, and landed in Peru b) Christopher Columbus- discovered Caribbean, cruel to the natives c) Bartolome de Las Casas- Spanish missionary, wanted to end Indian slavery, started black slavery d) Tomas de Torquemada- headed Spanish Inquisition e) Philip II- not an explorer, funded the voyages  21. Identify technological innovations and advancements used in navigation during the 16th century: ship cannon, astrolabe, caravel, magnetic compass 22. What country was the first to introduce African slavery to the New World? Portugal 23. Identify some immediate causes of the Thirty Years’ War. Defenestration of Prague [act of throwing someone out a window] 24. Explain the impact of the commercial revolution had on Western European Society: more developed towns, powerful nation-states, age of competition for overseas colonies, inflation, bourgeoisie influence increased, and increase in standard of living 25. Explain the role the Dutch Republic played in trade and finance during the first half of the 17th century: started taking control of Portuguese and Spanish holdings in the New World, controlling overseas trade, and one of the largest powers in trade 26. Explain the role that Henry IV of France played in politics: ended France’s civil war and used practical compromises to solve political issues [sacrificed religion for political necessity Identify causes of the English civil war: personality of King Charles I, decline of power of the English monarchy, broadening the ship tax, clashes with Scots, and a response to threats made against Parliament 28. Explain the political theories of Jacques-Benign Bossuet: strongly believed in the divine right of kings and political absolutism 29. Identify the results of the glorious Revolution in England: bill of rights including religious freedom for Catholics, sole power of Parliament [on test: did not reject mercantilism] 30. Explain the important consequences of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713): set the limits where one power could expand and completed the decline of Spain 31. Explain the major difference between the societies of eastern and western Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries: the extent of control the nobility had over the peasantry (Eastern Europe’s peasants suffered a downward shift in rights compared to Western Europe’s peasants gaining rights). Identify and explain the role the Fredrick William the â€Å"Great Elector† had in the 1640s to 1680s: duke of Prussia—promoted trade and domestic reforms that helped turn Prussia into a European power 33, Explain some of the accomplishments of Peter the Great: a ruler that brought many Western influences to modernize Russia, increase serfdom, and developed the Baltic region of Russia 34. How did the Ottoman Empire maintain control of southeastern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries? Forced Christian children into the military [conscription] 35. Identify some of Catherine the Great’s achievements: defeated the Ottoman Turks, gained land in Poland, abolished torture, established religious toleration, education for girls, and established the Legislative commission. 36. What was King Louis XIV’s Edict of Fontainebleau? What did it replace? Revoked the edict of Nantes and replaced the Peace of Augsburg 37. The key to economic prosperity of the Dutch Republic in the early 16th century was: religious toleration and cosmopolitan culture CHAPTER 18: ENLIGHTENMENT 38. Explain who Voltaire is and his role in politics. French enlightenment writer that promoted civil liberties such as religious toleration and was a great philosopher 39. Explain who Cardinal Richelieu is and his role in politics: reshuffled the royal council, divided France into 32 districts, executed and controlled aristocrats 40. Explain what deism is: a belief based on a more secular view of the universe 41. Isaac Newton’s Principia (1687) was very important in science because it demonstrated how the world worked though explainable, natural forces 42. Francis bacon is also an important person during the Scientific Revolution because he started the scientific method and thought to reject everything unless you could prove it 43. Vesalius is also an important person during the scientific revolution because he founded modern anatomy and wrote the most influential book on human anatomy. 44. Explain the Catholic Church’s response to Copernicus’s heliocentric theory:   the church responded slowly but generally did not support it as it was contradictory to the previous beliefs 45. Explain the Catholic Church’s response to Galileo: the Church tried him for heresy, forced him to recant, and spend the rest of his life in house arrest 46. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his political (government) beliefs: the ruler is determined by the general will of the people (which may not be the majority) and must serve it or the people will rebel 47. Identify the â€Å"Enlightened Rulers† and the countries they ruled: Fredrick the Great- Prussia; Catherine the Great- Russia; Joseph II and Maria Theresa- Austria 48. What was the persistent foreign policy that threatened the Austrian Hapsburgs between 1525 and 1700? Turkish advances into Eastern and Central Europe CHAPTER 19: EXPANSION OF EUROPE 49. Explain some of the consequences of the agricultural revolution in the 18th century: rotation of crops 50. Explain Adam Smith’s political and economic viewpoints: he was critical of mercantilism and the government’s role in economics; he wanted a free market economy [laizee faire economics] and wanted a system of natural liberty CHAPTER 20: CHANGING LIFE OF THE PEOPLE What disease were Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Edward Jenner able to control? Small pox 52. During the 18th century, how were children treated, or reared? [On test: middle class families became more child centered and nurturing] CHAPTER 21: FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON 53. Napoleon’s acceptance of the Concordat of 1801 resulted in: improved relations between the French Government and Roman Catholic Church 54. What social group was able to maintain most of its gains during the French Revolution and Napoleonic era? The peasantry 55. Explain the Tennis Court Oath. Who was involved, who was this about, and the end result. The 3 French estates were in a deadlock over a National Assembly; the 3rd estate broke off and created their own National Assembly, vowing to not disband their National Assembly until a constitution was created 56. Explain the Continental System under Napoleon Bonaparte: was meant to exclude British goods in trade but was not successful 57. Explain what French society was prior to the French Revolution: the bourgeoisie had financial wealth and power, but few legal rights because they were excluded from the other classes 58. Explain how the English Civil War and the French Revolution were similar: after the revolts, the ruling classes in power previous to the revolt returned to power afterwards 59. The most radical phase of the French Revolution occurred during the National Convention 60. What was Olympe de Gouges role during the French Revolution? Worked with women during the revolution—spokesperson for women’s rights CHAPTER 22: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 61. What were the conditions that allowed England to industrialize? Expanding Atlantic economy, strong position in Latin America, colonization in the Americas, involvement in slave trade 62. The following inventions were necessary for the development of the industrial Revolution.

Operations management is very important

Operations management is very important Operations management is concerned with managing inputs through transformation processes to deliver outputs eg: people, materials, technology. It is concerned with managing the resources that directly produce the organizations service or product. It is an important part of any organization. Operations management is very important in business operations since if forms the heart of the organisation by controlling the system of operation. Also it deals with design, operation and improvement of systems that create and deliver a firms primary products and services. Role of Implementer, Operations manager and Drivers: Implementers role is implementing new ideas, finding opportunities, designing, they have dreams and the Operations managers job is to workout their dreams come true. Role of managing operations involves five specific tasks. The operations managers must know overall objectives of the operations like quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. Improving quality can improve performance against any other objectives. Speed refers to the time it takes to deliver what is required of it. Means doing things quickly this can be achieved through rapid suppliers and effective control of work. Dependability covers how reliable the organization keeps promises to its customers. This can be achieved through an efficient scheduling system, reliable equipment and motivation. Flexibility concerns how quick the operation can change to meet demands and the finances consumed refers cost. Cost involves doing things cheaply by getting the right mix of resources and facilities providing good produc ts and services at low cost which can be achieved through increased capacity utilization, reduced overheads and higher productivity. It is the responsibilities of operations manager to undertake responsibility for begin involved in design, inventory management, customer service and the delivery processes. Thus operations managers have to know how the operations activities fare under this calculation. Managers have to understand what operation has to be go at in their particular environment. What operations has to be good at is usually delivering to the right quality, at the right speed, keeping its promises, providing appropriate flexibility and incurring the lowest feasible costs. Managers have to understand what their operation has to be good at in their particular environment. Drivers role is to workout the calculations of managers. They are involved in manufacturing products, loading it from warehouses to retailers, distributing. Infact they are making money for the organisation and the benefits company gains from these are good reputation and remuneration in the industry. A good communication between operations and these functions will help to make the organisation run smoothly. Importance of effective operations management is that it is able to produce professional managers capable of fulfilling strategic roles within business and government enterprises. Like marketing and finance, operations management is a functional field of business with clear management responsibilities. Reliance Communications Limited(RCOM) founded by the late Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani is the leading company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, listed in the National Stock Exchange(NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE), and is now ranked among the top ten Asian Telecom companies. Reliance Communications is one of Indias foremost telecommunication service providers with more than 85 million customers. Services including national and international long distance calls and broadband services along with a wide range of value-added services and other applications. Companies Vision is to execute projects to facilitate leading edge communication and services affordable to all individual consumers and to offer value to create more customer satisfaction and to improve entire business of the enterprises and individuals whom they serve. Having achieved immense growth, the main challenge of RCOM is to improve quality of service and also its enterprise business is also not in a position to competate with the global giants. Keeping cost in mind, RCOM targets rural customers with new and latest services and cheap prices for mobile Internet access and also BharatNet, Wireless internet service High speed. For this, RCOM had offered internet access for just Rs 98/- per week with up to 350MB of downloads. Keeping dependability and flexibility in mind, they started expanding rural services with new Grameen VAS. Grameen VAS services met the local needs of rural mobile consumers in over 500,000 Indian villages. All these shows companies thrust into the vast po tential. Grameen VAS will be an essential part of their daily lives. It covers several specialised services including Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Weather Forecast, Local info, mHealth, mCommerce and Community Messaging. These services can be accessed via different modes i.e. Voice Portais, SMS, Data(R-World) etc. Just Rs.15/- is charged per month for Grameen VAS inorder to increase its adoption. Machine to Machine Applications (M2M), which are some mobile applications used for surveillance, automation, data gathering and remote monitoring. Its role for rural market includes Irrigation Automation services, monitoring water level, data gathering for agriculture co-operatives milk, soil analysis, fisheries and poultry. Reliance communications, as per its expansion plan has aimed to become one of the single largest wireless networks in the world, covering 1000 million Indians or more than 20% of the worlds population. Also it has a plan to cover 25,000 towns and every single Indian with a population of over 1,000. â€Å"Driving Internet penetration across the country beyond cities is the main priority of Reliance Communications† Reliance Communications, Indias biggest dual network operator and one of the largest telecom operators has won in introducing major techniques aimed at growing the mobile telecom and internet penetration almost everywhere in Rural India. For this they had introduced three initiatives i.e. BharatNet plan, Grameen VAS M2M (Machine-to-Machine) solutions. RCOM achieved this exponential growth through innovative planning and through ground breaking services and offerings in tariffs. The company was the pioneer one to break the Rs 1,000/- entry-barrier with the launch of the lowest cost handset at Rs 777. With this range of price, they plan to appeal with both, heavy and casual users. One India- One tariff plan helped millions to connect across any where in India at just one rupee per minute and Grameen VAS with just Rs 15/- a month. In six years, the company has achieved that much success in making mobile telephone affordable to millions of Indians which was the key driver of Indias enhanced rural tele-density from 1.5% in March 2003 to 15% in May 2009. Reliance communications network has already covered almost 100% of rail routes, providing clear radio, voice and video and internet connectivity to 14mn commuters each day. Recently covered mostly 100% of all highways, national and 84% of all state, helping millions of consumers the strength to talk, sms, surf net, play, chat stay in touch with the whole length of Indias 2 lakh km road networks. RCOM, introduced a new generation, integrated wire line and also wireless, voice, data and video digital network which is able for providing best services, covering over 20 thousand towns and 500 thousand villages. Company operates and owns the worlds largest next generation infrastructure of IP enabled connectivity, comprising over 1lakh 75 thousand kilometers of optic cable systems (fibre) in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group currently has a worth in excess of Rs. 64,000 crore, cash flows of Rs. 13,000 crore and profit of Rs. 8,400 crore. The company, which has a customer base of over 85 million including over 2.2 million overseas customers, ranks among the Top 5 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. On rural basis, the Indian telecom wireless rural subscriber base is now over 125 million. The next wave of telecom growth is emerging from rural parts of India, with a rural base which is expec ted to be double in preceding years. MICROSOFT: Resources, tools and systems are essential part of any business process which when work co-related paves the way to success of any company. Resources: The term ‘resources refer to a group of systems organised together in a proper manner. Various elements which comes together and also which comes to an end. For eg: Management resources, Planning resources. Business resources are usually grouped under several categories like Financial Resources which concerns the ability of the business to finance its strategy. Human resources, which include assessment of factors like existing staffing resources, changes required resources. Physical resources include information technology, production and marketing facilities. Intangible resources that include intellectual property, good will, brands, reputation. A business process can be divided into sub processes which are concerned with customer satisfaction. Tools: An Organization of functionally interactive units for the achievement of a common goal, a group of interacting, interrelated, social, economic, political, organizational form or interdependent elements forming a complex whole or a set of objects. The phenomenon grouped together for classification or analysis, an organized and coordinated method, a procedure or a set of interrelated ideas or principles. Tools are all objectives of systems. Analytic tools, system tools, diagrammatic tools eg: word, excel, power point, Internet explorer are all tools of Microsoft. Design tools of Microsoft include Deep Zoom Composer, Expression studio. Development tools and languages includes visual studio, visual FoxPro, Microsoft Robotics, Windows SDK. System: A system which can be used to find the facts how good you are in meeting standard and keeping everyone happy, an organized way to find how good you are in satisfying the customers meeting the quality and customers satisfaction. Production or Technical systems are concerned with the accomplishment of the basic tasks of the organization like production of goods and services etc. Supportive systems are the systems which obtains the inputs and dispose of the outputs of the production subsystem. For eg: The supervisor program or OS on a computer. A network of related computer software, hardware and data transmission devices. All systems have inputs, outputs and feedback and maintain a basic level of equilibrium. For eg: in the human body the heart functions to support the circulatory system, the type of traffic system which prevails in India. Microsoft Office System delivers a powerful collection of integrated programs, tools, servers, technologies and services that will help its developers build business solutions and connect people one another and to information. Microsoft Office System, Office 2003, 2007 is some of them. Quality audit systems: A good management system cant function without adequate audits and reviews. The system reviews, needed to be carried out periodically and systematically, to ensure that the system achieves the required effect, audits are carried out to make sure that actual methods are adhering to the documented procedures. Auditing means checking the standards. A quality management system review should be instituted every twelve months, with the aims of ensuring that the system is achieving the desired results or not, revealing defects or irregularities in the system, checking on all levels of management, uncovering danger area, to verify that corrective action procedures are effective. Guidance on quality management system audits is given in the international standard ISO 10011. The assessment of a quality system against a particular standard or set of requirements by internal audit and review is known as a first-party assessment or approval scheme. If an external customer ma kes the assessment of a supplier against either its own or a national or international standard, a second-party scheme is in operation. The assessment by an independent organization, not connected with any contract between customer and supplier, but acceptable to them both, is known as an independent third-party assessment scheme. Implementation of System Quality in Microsoft: When we implement system quality, its best to start with a plan. Software quality, by definition, is the degree to which software possesses a desired combination of attributes [IEEE 1992]. Therefore, to improve system quality, we must focus our attention on software-quality attributes. Ultimately, there are only a few system quality attribute primitives to which all system qualities can map. It includes Agility, Flexibility, Interoperability, Maintainability, Reliability, Performance, Reusability, Scalability, Testability and Usability. We must come up with our own set, so that we can clearly communicate with the stakeholders how system quality will affect our architecture decisions. There are a few system qualities that contributed to this positive experience, such as maintainability and testability, but there is one system quality that stands out, System flexibility. Quality culture is basically in corporation of quality in the overall system of an organization which leads to a positive internal environment and creation of delighted customers. A changed mindset at all the levels of management is the basic tool for implementation of such a culture. As the process of starting quality culture begins with managers who know the value of the systems view and also its believe in its implications. In order to create such a culture a changed mindset is essential and it is achieved through self realization at the top or through workshops and trainings. In other words, a quality culture is the organizational capability, its habits and benefits that enable it to deliver and design services and products that can meet customer needs and be successful in the market place for a long term. Microsoft awoken to the realization that its customers would be better served by actually being able to use their computers without having to pay for extra third party software to protect them. Punctuality is a must as all know in every organisation. We have to identify key perform indicates eg: employing good employees, Communicate with the employees, taulk with them, check if they accept that quality culture. Monitoring System-Quality Attributes: According to the plan to define the metrics of system quality and to monitor and track them throughout the software-development life cycle. The purpose of using metrics is to reduce subjectivity during monitoring activities and providing quantitative data for analysis. Any good system architecture has quality requirements, so this is a good place to start. For explaining this, consider flexibility, which is a specific system-quality attribute that consider very important in delivering agility to the business and IT stakeholders. Quality of service (QoS) System requirements; the solution architect is responsible for the integrity of the solution, and poorly defined system requirements can lead to confusion and it will result in a poor quality solution. To mitigate this, ensure that system requirements include QoS requirements specifically for those which are correlated to the prioritized system quality attributes. First build high quality software. Secondly, leverage the industry practice that guide solution architects to build high quality software systems. Last, build a plan for implementing system quality into the solution and avoid optimizing for all quality attributes. Prioritizing the quality attributes and focus attention on the top three. Ideally, it will improve the chances of software which will last and can reap long term benefits by improving customers. Reference: Les Galloway, Frank Rowbotham, and Masoud Azhashemi, 2000, Operations Management in context. First edition by (ISBN: 0750642807). Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000. From given notes. http://www.scribd.com http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Media/press_release_detail.jsp?id=349 http://www.answers.com/topic/system http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409094.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb402962.aspx http://www.blurtit.com/q165042.html http://www.asqlongisland.org/seminars/The_New_Quality_Culture.pdf http://www.cafeid.com/art-newms.shtml

Review of hierarchical theories of intelligence

Review of hierarchical theories of intelligence The theories of cognitive abilities have been advanced through the conglomeration of two similar theories on the structure of human cognitive abilities which have provided a trend in intelligence theories. In particular, Cattell (1941) and Horn (1965) theoretical frameworks on unitary traits that reflects certain basic aspect of cognitive functioning (Fogerty Stankov, 1988) along with the seminal work of Carrolls (1993) three stratum theory that proposed cognitive abilities was an expansion and extension of previous theories, notably Spearman (1927) concept of general intelligence (g) have influenced the advancement in understanding the concept of general abilities. McGrew (2004) article emphasizes the theory based assessment, specifically CHC theory based assessment in human cognitive abilities. The article focuses on the history of cognitive abilities theory particularly test development, operationalisation and interpretation and outlines salient points of the model along with evidence review in support of the model. Thus, McGrew (2004) provided an outline describing the conglomeration of these models in particular, the initial works of Cattell (1941) and Horn (1965) Gf Gc theory which proposed Gf (fluid intelligence) of individual differences in cognitive ability were the influences of two major classes of factors, educational-cultural opportunity, genetic factors and physiological neurological functioning (Ferrer McArdle, 2004) that affected the normal development of cognitive abilities and further postulating that Gc (crystallised intelligence) primarily consisted of representation of measurable outcome of additional environmentally infl uenced factors such as experience and acculturation (Alfonso, Flanagan Radwan, 2005. Cited in: Flanagan Harrison (Eds)). According to McGrew (2004), the theory was further expanded by Horn to include various aspects of human cognitive abilities that comprised of eight broad abilities: Fluid Intelligence (Gf), Crystallized Intelligence (Gc), Short-Term Acquisition and Retrieval (SAR or Gsm), Visual Intelligence (Gv), Auditory Intelligence (Ga), Long-Term Storage and Retrieval (TSR or Glr), Cognitive Processing Speed (Gs), Correct Decision Speed (CDS), and Quantitative Knowledge (Gq). (Horn, 1991. Cited in McGrew, Werder Woodcock (Eds)) proposing that the correlation between Gf -Gc is the result of an individuals investment in Gf through the acquisitioning of the variety of information and cognitive skills that represents Gc (Jensen, 2002. Cited in Sternberg Grigorenko (Eds)) as well as suggesting that over the period of interaction with the total environment, individuals who are more highly endowed with Gf attain a higher level of Gc (Fogerty Stankov, 1988) . Evidence in further support of the model relates to Carrolls (1993) seminal work Human Cognitive Abilities: A Survey of Factor-Analytic Studies, which implied that a distinct number of individual differences in cognitive abilities exist and the relationship amongst these factors can be obtained through classification into three different strata (Alfonso, Flanagan Radwan, 2005. Cited in Flanagan Harrison (Eds)). As such, Carroll (1993) represented the structure of intelligence as a pyramid where general intelligence (g) formed the apex as conceptualised by Spearman (Berk, 2000). He believed that g was the most important factor when determining intelligence and that general intelligence could be divided into many more sub-factors, thus he organised these sub-factors into domains of intellectual abilities representing three separate levels and listing these abilities in descending order of predominance (Carroll, 1993). Stratum III general intelligence factor, Stratum II included the a bilities of Fluid Intelligence (Gf), Crystallized Intelligence (Gc), General Memory and Learning (Gy), Broad Visual Perception(Gv), Broad Auditory Perception (Ga), Broad Retrieval Ability (Glr), Broad Cognitive CHC Theory of cognitive abilities Speediness (Gs), and Reaction Time/Decision Speed (Gt), including 69 narrow abilities within Stratum I that are subsumed by stratum II abilities (McGrew, 2004). Similarly, there is evidence to indicate that CHC has since been recognised as being the most thorough and well researched multiple view of intelligence to date ( McGrew, 2005; Evans, McGrew, Leforgee. 2001). More specifically, McGrew (2004) argues that contemporary psychometric approaches have resulted in an effort to present a comprehensive conceptualisation of human cognitive abilities based on factor analytic studies. However, McGrew (2004) concede that although psychometrics had been highly recognised within the field of applied intelligence research it had been a much slower acceptance within the field of intelligence testing. Noting, diversity in test measures as the disparity in the advancement of the CHC theory particularly in defining and interpreting cognitive abilities construct, as well as the non inclusion of fluid and crystallised intelligence along with the exclusion of corresponding research base as a means to the development of intelligent testing (Alfonso, Flanaga n Radwan, 2005). The author argued that the impetus of change within this sphere was due to the revise model of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (WJ-R) based on Horn-Cattell Gf Gc theory as a cognitive model for test development which included two measure of each eight abilities. Moreover, that the amelioration of the WJ-R resulted in the foundation for the first major theory-to-practice bridging with major impact being on the applied measurement of intelligence. This approach of Woodcock (1990) became a blueprint for future intelligence test development thus, substantially influencing narrowing the contemporary psychometric theory and applied practice gap (Alfonso, Flanagan Radwan, 2005). CHC Theory of cognitive abilities McGrew (2004) postulated that as a result of Woodcock (1990) confirmatory factor analyses findings of major intelligences test sparked by the amelioration of the WJ-R permitted the freeing up of practitioners from constraints of most single intelligence batteries. The realisation by practitioners of the provision of a set of principles and procedures consequently from a cross battery approach as suggested by Woodcock (1990), allowed for greater measurement of a wider range of abilities by way of, systematically traversing amongst test batteries that were considered sufficient both in breath and depth in assessing various aspect of the broad range of cognitive abilities (Alfonso, Flanagan Radwan, 2005). The assumption of McGrew (2004) of Woodcocks (1990) work provided a transition in intelligence testing has had ample evidence in the literature (see McGrew Flanagan, 1998; Messick, 1992; Sternberg Kaufman, 1998) to support such a postulation. In the cross batteries approach McGrew Flanagan (1998) proposed the present of the provision of empirically based set of terms that is a standard nomenclature may significantly reduce or eliminate data misinterpretation generally through the combination of cognitive test. Accordingly, Messick (1998) implied that the utilisation of cross batteries approach would safe guards against two ubiquitous sources of invalidity in assessment- construct irrelevant variance and construct under representation. Furthermore, the attributes of cross batteries approach has typically focused on organise assessment that generate and test hypotheses that pertains to an individuals functioning by which reliable and valid conclusions are draw in a systematic mann er (Alfonso, Flanagan Radwan, 2005). It was therefore logical that focus on the structure of human cognitive abilities was of a critical importance given that there were diverse interpretations and understandings of the CHC Theory of cognitive abilities   With the changes in intelligence test development a systematic taxonomic structure was required in the field of intelligence, McGrew (2004) claims Carrolls (1993) seminal work Human Cognitive Abilities: A Survey of Factor-Analytic Studies provided the development of a common nomenclature that is a common set of terms and definition for describing broad and narrow cognitive abilities above and beyond the effect of g (McGrew, 2009). In doing so, Carroll (1993) was able to further the understanding of communication and intelligence measurement amongst scholars and practitioners, integrate and compare individual test across an array of intelligence batteries (McGrew, 2004). Moreover, Carrolls (1993) taxonomy on the structure of human cognitive abilities is grounded by exploratory factor analysis of 461 selected human cognitive abilities datasets, drawn from decades of research by various array of dedicated researchers in the field of intelligence (McGrew, 2004). The influence of the CHC taxonomic framework in the use of applied individual batteries of intelligence had ignited the search for common ground between cognitive and psychometric developments; hence, in McGrew (2004) article he had introduced the term spreading of the assessment gospel suggesting in order to study individual differences in cognitive abilities there needed to be a single broad and narrow ability taxonomy by which the constructs of abilities could be measured in the individually administered intelligence batteries. For this reason, McGrew (2004) is further suggesting that broad abilities should be considered as clusters in the construct of intelligent behaviour and therefore should be considered separately, thus, a move from the concept of single unitary constructs. CHC Theory of cognitive abilities The CHC model in the past decade has seen a series of exploratory and/or confirmatory factor analysis studies investigating the validity of a wide range of CHC constructs indicators. McGrew (2004) claims since Woodcocks (1990) series of joint factor analyses the majority of intelligence test prior to this only measured two or three broad cognitive abilities sufficiently, conceding that Carrolls (1993) was amongst the array of studies. However, it seems clear that although such representations are evident, the CHC theory has had major impact on intelligence test development due to exploratory and/or confirmatory factor analysis investigations that substantially increases research base to provide empirical support for the broad strokes of contemporary CHC theory (McGrew, 2004). McGrews (2004) article elucidate studies findings that support the CHC frame work through a comprehensive depiction of the general and broad abilities and their interrelationship in determining human cognitive abilities, for example multiple group confirmatory factor analysis methodological framework (see Bickley, Keith and Wolf, 1995) found support for the developmental invariance , whilst Taub McGrew ( in press) findings were consistent with that of Bickley et.al (1995) in providing additional support for validity of the broad and general stratum abilities of CHC theory, moreover, small sample structural studies provided a strong support for distinct CHC cognitive factors, however, a depiction is also clear that no single intelligence battery effectively measures all the broad abilities delineated in the framework of CHC (see Kaufman Kaufman, 1993; Pallier and Stankov, 1996). Research using cross batteries intelligence test such as WJ-R and Woodcock -Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery Third Edition (WJ-III) has demonstrated the importance of broad cognitive abilities in explaining domain specific knowledge for generalisation and correlations CHC Theory of cognitive abilities between construct indicators (McGrew, 2004). In his article, McGrew (2004) provides evidence based on major studies and it is easy to conclude from these findings the existence of these broad abilities. For instance, related cognitive abilities in which learning mediates the influence of fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallised intelligence (Gc) with cognitive constructs such as general sequential, reasoning (RG), language development (LD), listening ability (LS) with other broad abilities; processing speed (Gs) and basic skills (Grw) (reading and spelling, reading comprehension). A central point in much research interest in intelligence theories has been whether general intelligence is embedded in every cognitive task. The CHC theory represents one of the best examples of collective science in applied psychology (McGrew, 2009), with its core origin being able to be pinpointed back to Spearmans (1927) presentation of the g factor of intelligence. The seminal work of Carrolls (1993) three stratum theory has been a major influence in the framework of CHC theory based on factor analysis of 461 datasets. As previously mentioned in this paper, Carroll (1993) believed that g was the most important factor when determining intelligence, evidence of g is able to be obtained when 60 narrow factor abilities (visualization, visual memory, deductive reasoning) of the first stratum are correlated producing a set of eight second stratum factors (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, general memory and learning, broad visual perception, broad auditory perception, bro ad retrieval ability, broad cognitive speediness, and processing speed) which are positively inter-correlated. When these second stratum factors are analysed, a single third factor stratum of general intelligence emerges, whereas, in the two stratum model of Cattle-Horn the second broad order factors constitute the apex and are based on over 40 first-order factors (primary mental abilities) that forms the lower stratum denoting that there is only two general factors (fluid intelligence, CHC Theory of cognitive abilities crystallized intelligence) hence, it does not support a third order g factor to account for correlations among the broad sector order factors (Jensen, 2002). Guided by structural and empirical evidence the CHC theory arbitrate well in relation to general intelligence that is, g is measured depending upon the statistical analysis of measures of human cognitive abilities in determining cognitive strength and weaknesses of an individual. This is evident in McGrew (2004) assertion that working memory (MW) is a source of complex cognitive activities and is a critical issue in future studies (see McGrew Woodcock, 2001) for postulation of constancy of relations of MW to exert a large causal effect on complex performance, particularly in understanding the rise and decline over the life span. Furthermore, McGrew (2004) argues that measurement of specific abilities within the CHC framework is mainly due to disparity of the CHC theory in describing a relatively complete taxonomy of cognitive function, however, excludes other processes, such as directly testing sensory modalities. In doing so, CHC theory neglect other abilities that have found to be important in the construct of intelligent behaviour and achievement. Support for contemporary CHC theory is grounded in the extent of factor analytic research that produced the Gf Gc model and the three stratum model with the necessity of further research (heritability, neurocognitive, outcome criterion) to continue the validation, refinement and extension of the CHC taxonomy being evident in McGrew (2004) article suggesting human cognitive abilities is clearly multidimensional. As such, McGrew (2004) makes clear that Carrolls (1994, cited in McGrew) approach of open-ended empirical theory is a pathway to which future research are able to provide yet unknown and unmeasured factor abilities upon one or more levels of the CHC model. CHC Theory of cognitive abilities