Vodafone Group Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Vodafone Group - Case Study Example Vodafone Group Plc is the world largest telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Far East through the Company’s subsidiary undertakings and investments. It provides an extensive range of mobile telecommunications services, including voice and data communications. The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During the last two financial years, the Group has also entered into arrangements with network operators in countries where the Group does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Network Agreements, the Group and its partner networks co-operate in the development and marketing of global services under dual brand logos. Aims & Objectives: -> Vodafone’s vision is to be the world’s communication leader – enriching customer’s life, helpi ng individuals, businesses and communities be more connected in a mobile world. -> Enhance the customer services being provided. -> Enhance the relationships with the stakeholders and deliver value. -> Increase the net profit – expansion of international business.... The eight markets where it has more than ten million proportionate customers are the United Kingdom, Germany,India,Italy, Spain, Turkey, Egypt and the United States. In the U.S., these customers come via its minority stake in Verizon Wireless, and in the other seven markets Vodafone has majority-controlled subsidiaries. Organization structure of Vodafone Group The type of structure adopted by an organization depends on several factorsincluding: the size and complexity of the organization the diversity of the products and services produced or provided the geographical spread of the organization the activities performed by the organization and the objectives and goals which are set out by the organization. Vodafone follows the hierarchical structure model. The communication flow takes the form of top-bottom approach. Every unit or department works as an entity and have its own significance and importance. Given below is a critical approach to the Finance, Marketing and HRM departments of Vodafone Group. Finance: The year 2007 had been so far a successful year for Vodafone, a comparative approach reveals an excellent progress in reducing costs across the business, and clear signs of sustainable revenue growth was also indicated. The year indicated an increase in the market share of new business. A comparative approach taken on the financial condition of the group for the last three years clearly indicates that there had been a significant increase in the finance sector of the firm. This is reflected in the figure below: The key highlights of the profit performance for the six months - Sep 2007 are - - Group revenue of 17.0 billion, an increase of 9.0%, with

Diasability challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Diasability challenges - Essay Example Normally, it does not even take me a second to peel a banana. In case there was anyone observing me; he/she would undoubtedly think I had lost my mind. They could see the frustration and the struggle that I went through. It was extremely devastating. Therefore, I have learnt to appreciate all friends and workmates with disabilities after realizing how hard it can be for them to do what we use no effort to do (Workers with Disabilities, Challenges, and Solutions, n.d). I will mobilize others in supporting them; giving them necessary aid and making them feel wanted in order to offer them a favorable working environment. Under the vision challenges, I chose to thread a needle blindfolded. I could not locate the needle hole putting in mind that it is so tiny to be felt. After almost thirty minutes of futile attempts, I gave up. My eyes were even paining. This is something that I have been doing on almost a daily basis, and it had never crossed my mind that I could barely do it without my sight. I have learnt just how beneficial it is to see. I had never considered how hard it always is for my blind peers to handle most tasks. It requires patience and the strong will to do it. Therefore, I will not look down upon them and will learn to appreciate them for their efforts, accept them and treat them like normal peers. This will keep them encouraged and give them a sense of belonging. Finally, I tried to watch Oprah’s TV show, my favorite, without sound to try figure out what was happening. I could barely tell what was going on, all I could see were pictures; people laughing or maybe sad. I could not tell why the laughter or sad looks at all. I just could not comprehend a thing. Therefore, I learnt that having the ability to hear is a gift that we should not just take for granted. I will share this with other peers at work and help others in understanding how sad it could feel to be ignored, jeered or even

Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition

Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition and Music Mood Classification 1Shlok Gilda, 2Husain Zafar, 3Chintan Soni, 4Kshitija Waghurdekar Department of Computer Engineering, Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune, India Abstract Songs, as a medium, have always been a popular choice to depict human emotions. Reliable emotion based classification systems can go a long way in facilitating this. However, research in the field of emotion based music classification has not yielded optimal results. In this paper, we present an affective cross-platform music player, EMP, which recommends music based on the real-time mood of the user. EMP provides smart mood based music recommendation by incorporating the capabilities of emotion context reasoning within our adaptive music recommendation system. Our music player contains three modules: Emotion Module, Music Classification Module and Recommendation Module. The Emotion Module takes an image of the user as an input and makes use of deep learning algorithms to identify the mood of the user with an accuracy of 90.23%. The Music Classification Module makes use of audio features to achieve a remarkable result of 97.69% while classifying songs into 4 different mood c lasses. The Recommendation Module suggests songs to the user by mapping the emotion of the user to the mood of the song, taking into consideration the preferences of the user. Keywords-Recommender systems, Emotion recognition, Music information retrieval, Artificial neural networks, Multi-layer neural network. I. Introduction Current research in the field of music psychology has shown that music induces a clear emotional response in its listeners[1]. Musical preferences have been demonstrated to be highly correlated with personality traits and moods. The meter, timber, rhythm and pitch of music are managed in areas of the brain that deal with emotions and mood[2]. Undoubtedly, a users affective response to a music fragment depends on a large set of external factors, such as gender, age[3], culture[4], preferences, emotion and context[5] (e.g. time of day or location). However, these external variables set aside, humans are able to consistently categorize songs as being happy, sad, enthusiastic or relaxed. Current research in emotion based recommender systems focuses on two main aspects, lyrics[6][12] and audio features[7]. Acknowledging the language barrier, we focus on audio feature extraction and analysis in order to map those features to four basic moods. Automatic music classification using some mood categories yields promising results. Expressions are the most ancient and natural way of conveying emotions, moods and feelings. The facial expression would categorize in 4 different emotions, viz. happy, sad, angry and neutral. The main objective of this paper is to design a cost-effective music player which automatically generates a sentiment aware playlist based on the emotional state of the user. The application designed requires less memory and less computational time. The emotion module determines the emotion of the user. Relevant and critical audio information from a song is extracted by the music classification module. The recommendation module combines the results of the emotion module and the music classification module to recommend songs to the user. This system provides significantly better accuracy and performance than existing systems. II. Related Works Various methodologies have been proposed to classify the behaviour and emotional state of the user. Mase et al. focused on using movements of facial muscles[8] while Tian et al.[9] attempted to recognize Actions Units (AU) developed by Ekman and Friesen in 1978[10] using permanent and transient facial features. With evolving methodologies, the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for emotion recognition has become increasingly popular[11]. Music has been classified using lyrical analysis[6][12]. While this tokenized method is relatively easier to implement, on its own, it is not suitable to classify songs accurately. Another obvious concern with this method is the language barrier which restricts classification to a single language. Another method for music mood classification is using acoustic features like tempo, pitch and rhythm to identify the sentiment conveyed by the song. This method involves extracting a set of features and using those feature vectors to find patterns characteristic to a specific mood. III. Emotion Module In this section, we study the usage of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to emotion recognition[13][14]. CNNs are known to simulate the human brain when analyzing visuals; however, given the computational requirements and complexity of a CNN, optimizing a network for efficient computation is necessary. Thus, a CNN is implemented to construct a computational model which successfully classifies emotion in 4 moods, namely, happy, sad, angry and neutral, with an accuracy of 90.23%. A.   Dataset Description The dataset we used for training the model is from a Kaggle Facial Expression Recognition Challenge, FER2013[15]. The data consists of 4848 pixel grayscale images of faces. Each of the faces are organized into one of the 7 emotion classes: angry, disgust, fear, happy, sad, surprise, and neutral. For this research, we have made use of 4 emotions: angry, happy, sad and neutral. There is a total of 26,217 images corresponding to these emotions. The breakdown of the images is as follows: happy with 8989 samples, sad with 6077 samples, neutral with 6198 samples, angry with 4953 samples. B. Model Description A multi-layered convolutional neural network is programmed to evaluate the features of the user image[16][17]. The convolutional neural network contains an input layer, some convolutional layers, ReLU layers, pooling layers, and some dense layers (aka. fully-connected layers), and an output layer. These layers are linearly stacked in sequence. 1) Input Layer: The input layer has fixed and predetermined dimensions. So, for pre-processing the image, we used OpenCV for face detection in the image before feeding the image into the layer. Pre-trained filters from Haar Cascades along with Adaboost are used to quickly find and crop the face. The cropped face is then converted into grayscale and resized to 48-by-48 pixels. This step greatly reduces the dimensions from (3, 48, 48) (RGB) to (1, 48, 48) (grayscale) which can be easily fed into the input layer as a numpy array. 2) Convolutional Layers:A set of unique kernels (or feature detectors), with randomly generated weights, are specified as one of the hyperparameters in the Convolution2D layer. Each feature detector is a (3, 3) receptive field, which slides across the original image and computes a feature map. Convolution generates different feature maps for the same input image. Distinct filters are used to perform operations that represent how pixel values are enhanced, for example, blur and edge detection. Filters are applied successively over the entire image, creating a set of feature maps. In our neural network, each convolutional layer generates 128 feature maps. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) has been used after every convolution operation. After a set of convolutional layers, a popular pooling method, MaxPooling, was used to reduce the dimensionality of each feature map, all the while retaining the critical information. We used (2, 2) windows which consider only the maximum pixel values within the window from the feature map. The pooled pixels form an image with dimensions reduced by 4. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) has been used after every convolution operation. 3) Dense Layers:The output from the convolutional and pooling layers represent high-level features of the input image. The dense layer uses these features for classifying the input image into various classes. The features are transformed through the layers which are connected with trainable weights. The network is trained by forward propagation of training data and then backward propagation of its errors. Our model uses 2 sequential fully connected layers. The network generalizes well to new images and is able to gradually make adjustments until the errors are minimized. A dropout of 20% was applied in order to prevent overfitting of the training data. This helped us control the models sensitivity to noise during training while maintaining the necessary complexity of the architecture. 4) Output Layer:We used softmax as the activation function at the output layer of the dense layer. Thus, the output is represented as a probability distribution for each emotion class. Models with various combinations of hyper-parameters were trained and evaluated utilizing a 4 GiB DDR3 NVIDIA 840M graphics card using the NVIDIA CUDA ® Deep Neural Network library (cuDNN). This greatly reduced training time and increased efficiency in tuning the model. Ultimately, our network architecture consisted of 9 convolutional layers with one max-pooling after every three convolution layers followed by 2 dense layers, as seen in Figure 1. C. Results The final network was trained on 20973 images and tested on 5244 images. At the end, the model achieved an accuracy of 90.23%. Table 1 displays the confusion matrix for the module. Evidently, the system performs very well in classifying images belonging to the angry category. We also note interesting results under happy and sad category owing to the remarkable differences in Action Units as mentioned by Ekman[11]. The F-measure of this system comes out to be 90.12%. IV. Music Classification Module In this section, we describe the procedure that was used to identify the mapping of each song with its mood. We extracted the acoustic features of the songs using LibROSA[18], aubiopitch[19] and other state-of-the art audio extraction algorithms. Based on these features, we trained an artificial neural network which successfully classifies the songs in 4 classes with an accuracy of 92.05%. The classification process is described in Figure 2. A.Dataset Description The dataset comprises of 390 songs spread across four moods. The distribution of the songs is as follows: class A with 100 songs, class B with 93 songs, class C with 100 songs and class D with 97 songs. The songs were manually labelled and the class labels were verified by 10 paid subjects. Class A comprises of exciting and energetic songs, class B has happy and joyful songs, class C consists of sad and melancholy songs, and class D has calm and relaxed songs. 1) Preprocessing: All the songs were down sampled to a uniform bit-rate of 128 kbps, a mono audio channel and resampled at a sampling frequency of 44100 Hz. We further split each song to obtain clips that contained the most meaningful parts of the song. The feature vectors were then standardized so that it had zero mean and a unit variance. 2) Feature Description: We identified several mood sensitive audio features by reading current works[20] and the results from the 2007 MIREX Audio Mood Classification task[21][22]. The candidate features for the extraction process belonged to different classes: spectral (RMSE, centroid, rolloff, MFCC, kurtosis, etc.), rhythmic (tempo, beat spectrum, etc.), tonal mode and pitch. All these descriptions are standard. All the features were extracted using Python 2.7 and relevant packages[18][19]. After identifying all the features, we used Recursive Feature Elimination (or RFE) to select those features that best contribute to the accuracy of the model. RFE works by recursively removing attributes and building a model on those attributes that remain. It uses the model accuracy to identify which attributes (and combination of attributes) contribute the most to predicting the target attribute. The selected features were pitch, spectral rolloff, mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, tempo, root mean square energy, spectral centroid, beat spectrum, zero-cross rate, short-time Fourier transform and kurtosis of the songs. B. Model Description A multi-layered neural network was trained to evaluate the mood associated with the song. The network contains an input layer, multiple hidden layers and a dense output layer. The input layer has fixed and predetermined dimensions. It takes the 10 feature vectors as input and uses ReLU operation to provide non-linearity to the dataset. This ensured that the model performs well in real-world scenarios as well. The hidden layer is a traditional multi-layer perceptron, which allowed us to make combination of features which led to a better classification accuracy. The output layer used a softmax activation function which produces the output as a probability for each mood class. C. Results We achieved an overall classification accuracy of 97.69% and F1 score of 97.692% after 10-fold cross-validation using our neural network. Table 2 displays the confusion matrix. Undoubtedly, the level of performance of the music classification module is exceptionally high. V. Recommendation Module This module is responsible for generating a playlist of relevant songs for the user. It allows the user to modify the playlist based on her/his preferences and modify the class labels of the songs as well. The working of the recommendation module is explained in Figure 3. A. Mapping and Playlist Generation Classified songs are mapped to the users mood. This mapping is as shown in figure 1. The system was developed after referring to the Russell 2-D Valence-Arousal Model and Geneva Emotion Wheel.After the mapping procedure is complete, a playlist of relevant songs is generated. Similar songs are grouped together while generating the playlist. Similarity between songs was calculated by comparing songs over 50ms intervals, centered on each 10ms time window. After empirical observations, we found that the duration of these intervals is on the order of magnitude of a typical song note. Cosine distance function was used to determine the similarity between audio files. Feature values corresponding to an audio file were compared to the values (for the same features) corresponding to audio files belonging to the same class label. The recommendation engine has a twofold mechanism; it recommends songs based on: 1. Users perceived mood. 2. Users preference. Initially, a playlist of all songs belonging to the particular class is generated. The user can mark a song as favorite depending on her/his choice. A favorite song will be assigned a higher priority value in the playlist. Also, the interpretation of the mood of a song can vary from person to person. Understanding this, the user is allowed to change the class label of the songs according to their taste of music. B. Adaptive Music Player We were able to implement an adaptive music player by the use of a very popular online machine learning algorithm, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD)[23]. If the user wants to change the class of a particular song, SGD is implemented considering the new label for that specific user only. Multiple single-pass algorithms were analyzed for their performance with our system but SGD performed most efficiently considering the real-time nature of the music player. Parameter updates in SGD occur after processing of every training example from the dataset. This approach yields two advantages over the batch gradient descent algorithm. Firstly, time required for calculating the cost and gradient for large datasets is reduced. Secondly, integration of new data or amendment of existing data is easier. The frequent, highly variant updates demand the learning rate ÃŽÂ ± to be smaller as compared to that of batch gradient descent[23]. VI. Conclusion The results obtained above are very promising. The high accuracy of the application and quick response time makes it suitable for most practical purposes. The music classification module in particular, performs significantly well. Remarkably, it achieves high accuracy in the angry category; it also performs specifically well for the happy and calm categories. Thus, EMP reduces user efforts for generating playlists. It efficiently maps the user emotion to the song class with an excellent overall accuracy, thus achieving optimistic results for 4 moods. References [1] Swathi Swaminathan, E. Glenn Schellenberg. Current Emotion Research in Music Psychology, Emotion Review Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 189 ­-197, April 2015 [2] How music changes your mood, Examined Existence. [Online]. Available: http://examinedexistence.com/how-music-changes-your-mood/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017 [3] Kyogu Lee and Minsu Cho. Mood Classification from Musical Audio Using User Group-dependent Models. [4] Daniel Wolff, Tillman Weyde and Andrew MacFarlane. Culture-aware Music Recommendation [5] Mirim Lee, Jun-Dong Cho. Logmusic: Context-Based Social Music Recommendation Service on Mobile Device, Ubicomp 14 Adjunct, September 13-17, 2014, Seattle, WA, USA. [6] D. Gossi and M. H. Gunes, Lyric-based music recommendation, in Studies in Computational Intelligence. Springer Nature, 2016, pp. 301-310. [7] Bo Shao, Dingding Wang, Tao Li, and Mitsunori Ogihara. Music Recommendation Based on Acoustic Features and User Access Patterns, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUDIO, SPEECH, AND LANGUAGE PROCESSING, VOL. 17, NO. 8, NOVEMBER 2009 [8] Mase K. Recognition of facial expression from optical flow. IEICE Transc., E. 74(10):3474-3483, 0ctober 1991. [9] Tian, Ying-li, Kanade, T. and Cohn, J. Recognizing Lower. Face Action Units for Facial Expression Analysis. Proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG00), March, 2000, pp. 484 490. [10] Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V. Facial Action Coding System: A Technique for Measurement of Facial Movement. Consulting Psychologists Press Palo Alto, California, 1978. [11] Gil Levi and Tal Hassner, Emotion Recognition in the Wild via Convolutional Neural Networks and Mapped Binary Patterns [12] E. E. P. Myint and M. Pwint, An approach for mulit-label music mood classification, 2010 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing Systems, Dalian, 2010, pp. V1-290-V1-294. [13] Peter Burkert, Felix Trier, Muhammad Zeshan Afzal, Andreas Dengel and Marcus Liwicki. DeXpression: Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Expression Recognition [14] Ujjwalkarn, An intuitive explanation of Convolutional neural networks, the data science blog, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://ujjwalkarn.me/2016/08/11/intuitive-explanation-convnets/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017. [15] Ian J. Goodfellow et al., Challenges in Representation Learning: A report on three machine learning contests [16] S. Lawrence, C. L. Giles, Ah Chung Tsoi and A. D. Back, Face recognition: a convolutional neural-network approach, in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 98-113, Jan 1997. [17] A. KoÅ‚akowska, A. Landowska, M. Szwoch, W. Szwoch, and M. R. WrÃÅ' obel, Human-Computer Systems Interaction: Back-grounds and Applications 3, ch. Emotion Recognition and Its Applications, pp. 51-62. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2014. [18] Brian McFee, ., Matt McVicar, ., Colin Raffel, ., Dawen Liang, ., Oriol Nieto, ., Eric Battenberg, ., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Adrian Holovaty, . (2015). librosa: 0.4.1 [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.32193 [19] The aubio team, Aubio, a library for audio labelling, 2003. [Online]. Available: http://aubio.org/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017. [20] E. E. P. Myint and M. Pwint, An approach for mulit-label music mood classification, 2010 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing Systems, Dalian, 2010, pp. V1-290-V1-294. [21] J. S. Downie. The music information retrieval evaluation exchange  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   (mirex). D-Lib Magazine, 12(12), 2006. [22]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Cyril Laurier, Perfecto Herrera, M Mandel and D Ellis,Audio music mood classification using support vector machine [23] Unsupervised feature learning and deep learning Tutorial, [Online]. Available: http://ufldl.stanford.edu/tutorial/supervised/OptimizationStochasticGradientDescent/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017

Television in the Information Age Essay -- TV Media Technology Essays

Television in the Information Age Introduction Television. Most Americans today cannot imagine life without it. It is how we relax, laugh, learn, and stay up to date on current events. The inventors of television may not have realized the impact of combining sound with moving pictures. For the first time in the history of the world we were and are able to peek into the lives of people we will never meet and visit places we will never go. It has even changed the way we communicate with each other in our everyday lives! Who has not heard or used the phrase coined by the sitcom, Seinfield, â€Å"†¦not that there’s anything wrong with that†¦.†? This analysis will first examine the origins of television and the evolution of television technology throughout the years. Next, it will examine the current trends within the industry, and how our government has shaped these trends, the companies that are involved in the industry, and finally, the future of television in the new sub-age of the Infor mation Age, the Digital Age. History The Information Age has its origins in the late nineteenth century when people began to see a need for ways to communicate large amounts of information to large numbers of people over a large geographical area quickly and accurately. Each Information Age invention acted as a catalyst for the next innovation, which without fail was an improvement upon its predecessor. This continuous improvement was made possible by constant research and discovery in the sciences, which enabled the development of new technologies crucial to the advancement of the objectives of the Information Age. The invention of the radio caused scientists to begin thinking about a way to develop an infor... ...result in the inseparable linkage of the two technologies. In the process of this linkage the TV in the traditional sense will start looking more and more like a computer. When this process is complete, the analog TV may have to step down from its position as the most influential Information Age invention to date and hand its â€Å"title† on to the computer. Forty years from now children may not even know what an analog TV is or how they work save what they read in a school history textbook. Computers have infiltrated nearly every area of life in general including medicine, transportation, art, music, -the list is endless, and therefore, its infiltration of TV is not surprising. For more information about the history, evolution, mechanisms, technology, marketplace, or future of TV and current trends in the industry please see this analysis’ supplemental links. Television in the Information Age Essay -- TV Media Technology Essays Television in the Information Age Introduction Television. Most Americans today cannot imagine life without it. It is how we relax, laugh, learn, and stay up to date on current events. The inventors of television may not have realized the impact of combining sound with moving pictures. For the first time in the history of the world we were and are able to peek into the lives of people we will never meet and visit places we will never go. It has even changed the way we communicate with each other in our everyday lives! Who has not heard or used the phrase coined by the sitcom, Seinfield, â€Å"†¦not that there’s anything wrong with that†¦.†? This analysis will first examine the origins of television and the evolution of television technology throughout the years. Next, it will examine the current trends within the industry, and how our government has shaped these trends, the companies that are involved in the industry, and finally, the future of television in the new sub-age of the Infor mation Age, the Digital Age. History The Information Age has its origins in the late nineteenth century when people began to see a need for ways to communicate large amounts of information to large numbers of people over a large geographical area quickly and accurately. Each Information Age invention acted as a catalyst for the next innovation, which without fail was an improvement upon its predecessor. This continuous improvement was made possible by constant research and discovery in the sciences, which enabled the development of new technologies crucial to the advancement of the objectives of the Information Age. The invention of the radio caused scientists to begin thinking about a way to develop an infor... ...result in the inseparable linkage of the two technologies. In the process of this linkage the TV in the traditional sense will start looking more and more like a computer. When this process is complete, the analog TV may have to step down from its position as the most influential Information Age invention to date and hand its â€Å"title† on to the computer. Forty years from now children may not even know what an analog TV is or how they work save what they read in a school history textbook. Computers have infiltrated nearly every area of life in general including medicine, transportation, art, music, -the list is endless, and therefore, its infiltration of TV is not surprising. For more information about the history, evolution, mechanisms, technology, marketplace, or future of TV and current trends in the industry please see this analysis’ supplemental links.

Racine’s Phaedra

Phaedra, a tragic play created and popularized by Jean B. Racine is an account of the possible pros, cons, and eminent ills or frailty experienced by love-stricken people depicting their own strength and weaknesses. The play implicitly showed different types of love that are prevalent in reality where there could be a kind of self-giving and sacrificial love that makes a person stronger and pushes the lover to exert one’s best and do good in life (that love of Hippolytus to Aricia); the self-centered, selfish, and possessive love (the kind of avenging love showed by Phaedra with respect to his unfaithful husband, Theseus; and her incest love for her stepson, Hippolytus); and last but not the least, the disloyal and unfaithful love of Theseus to his wife, Phaedra. Body Racine presented in this play the different attitudes of men when under the spell of love: it is implied as that â€Å"it makes or breaks a person†. At best, love could not only make a person (the lover) to attain one’s full potential of doing good due to the inspiration attained from the object of love; but also, at worst, love can lead to hatred and vengeance once the expected love is not returned or is abused by pain-crashing disloyalty. Moreover, as love’s pros and cons are demonstrated by the author in this literary piece, good and evil was also portrayed by effects and consequences of each kind of love discussed in the aforementioned statement. Conclusion Love thus, follows the principle that â€Å"You reap what you sow†; if used as a weapon to avenge the painful sorrow, it may bring and lead to one’s own destruction and further injury (bad karma). Once love is used and treated as inspiration, it has good results and it motivates (good karma). However, if one feigned against love, treachery would be its same cost.

Project Audit of the Ottawa-Carleton Water Park Essay

  I have audited the Ottawa-Carleton water park project and analyzed the various stages of the project, the methodologies, techniques and tools of project management that were utilized. The project managers, that are KLSJ Consulting, who had been contracted by the owners Carlington Aquatic park were very effective in the management of the project. They displayed competence and understanding of the key issues that are essential for management of large scale high risk projects like the Ottawa-Carleton water park project. The project was a big success and was completed without major cost overrun and scope creep. The project managers had made very adequate preparation and detailed plans on how to carry out the project. This included different strategies of managing the key aspects of the project like quality, risk and time schedule. Part 1: Case Study Description   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project to be audited is called Ottawa-Carleton Water Park. It is a project that involves putting up of a full size water park in Ottawa area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The design and building of the Ottawa-Carleton water park project will be managed by KLSJ consulting on behalf of the owners Carlington Aquatic Parks. The owners will retain all authority concerning financing, marketing and critical designing of the water park. After the construction the water park was efficiently passed over to an operations management team (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ottawa is the capital city of Canada with a population of over one million. It is a destination for many summer tourists as it has very fine tourist attraction which includes galleries and recreational facilities among others. According the Ottawa-Carleton water park project concept, during summers, about two million visitors come to Ottawa (KLSJ consulting, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Water parks which mostly operate during the summers are very profitable and represent a mature industry. There are many water parks offering recreational services to people in different parts of the world with United States having more than nine hundreds (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Ottawa-Carleton water park will be a full size water park offering a range of recreational facilities to its visitors. It will be situated in the Ottawa area and will consist of facilities like sport court, rock climbing wall, children center, a wave pool, a river, slides, towers, group area with picnic facilities plus other attractions (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the project proposal, the project started in 2003 and will took two years with completion in 2005 (KLSJ consulting, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The challenge facing the Ottawa area is that there is no full size water park in the area, and with the rising popularity of water parks in North America it was a lucrative idea to take the first move to create one for the Ottawa area market. The need for one site that will offer visitors a big range of recreational facilities in the Ottawa area initiated this project to construct a full size water park in the Ottawa area in an easily accessible area. The land will be leased from National Capital Commission Public lands and the water park will be built by a prime contractor with owners and investors acting as supervising agents. The project will take 2 years and is expected to be completed by May 21. 2005. (KLSJ consulting, 2002). The project was completed effectively and successful and the water park was opened on June 2005.   The handing over was very effective though the project completion had delayed with four weeks. The project is considered a big success. According to bi-weekly status report the project started two weeks behind schedule. This time was to be recovered by sourcing the environmental study to the one consultant who had offered the initial environmental feasibility study services. Thus, the project was expected to be complete as scheduled (KLSJ Consulting 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The approximate budget for the whole project was set at twelve million four hundreds and forty eight thousands Canadian dollars. The project completed with a small cost overrun of 2.7% (KLSJ Consulting 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the project communication plan the project managers had the responsibility of making all the communications to the external parties including politicians, regulators and media. The team leader made all routine project communication and his responsibility which included preparation and delivery of all project performance report (KLSJ consulting 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As stipulated in KLSJ consulting communication plan (KLSJ consulting 2003) the main communication objective was to encourage a positive image for KLSJ and the project to garner support and to generate local interest in the water park. All communications were to be aimed at posing a positive publicity and were to be identified in their work breakdown structure. The team leader was the communication coordinator. The project communication plan was to be evaluated quarterly and at the start of each phase, feedback collected from all stakeholder and improvement done in order to improve the communication plan (KLSJ consulting 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project manager of Ottawa Carleton Water Park was Karen Dhanraj and his primary responsibility as cited in KLSJ consulting Ottawa-Carleton water park project proposal (KLSJ 2002) included: Coordination and communication with outside agencies Interfacing with community groups, the capital district, and municipal, regional and provincial governments. Providing direction and guidance to other team members Maintaining the overall project plan (schedule, cost and resources) Coordinates and producing all project documentation. Coordination and oversight of the market’s agency Membership in the Risk management working group (KLSJ consulting 2002) The project team included three team leaders. Scott Kennedy was the team leader concerned with Design and construction and was responsible for all activities concerned with design and construction. Lavern Fleck was the legal team leader whose responsibilities included legal counsel, contract management and handling the regulatory authorities on legal issues. Steve Jackson was the team leader concerned with Finance. His role was to manage all finance issues related with the project. Jim Harris was the Risk manager whose role was to coordinate the Risk management program. Project marketing was done by an outside contractor (KLSJ consulting 2002) Part 2: Scope, cost and Time management Analysis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project was successful in terms of attainment of the required scope. The water park was completed with all the facilities that were intended. No major compromise were made on quality of the facilities and attractions. This means the objectives of the project were realized.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the post project report 311, 650 Canadian dollars were used in-excess of the budget for the project to be complete. This represented a 2.7% cost overrun. This was contributed by several factors that included: mitigation of an environmental problem, traffic and road upgrades, higher costs for the water park design, and a series of variances in construction (KLSJ Consulting 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project was completed four weeks behind schedule. The opening of the water park had been scheduled to take place on 21 May 2005 but it did not until June 15. The major cause for this delay was the late delivery of the water slides and the unfavorable weather condition in early spring of 2005. Hiring of the operations manager and conformation of investors took more time than had been expected but these activities did not affect the overall time frame of the project (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The management of the Ottawa-Carleton water park project used different project management tools and technique to ensure the project was a success.   One thing that worked for the projects success was the good and efficient management of the three major constraints of a project that include scope, time and cost. The project management ensured that proper measures were put forward that helped the project to succeed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Different techniques and tool were used to make the scope of the project to succeed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first strength for the project was that the scope was well defined. The overall objective of the project was well outlined complete with details and estimates of what was needed. The owners wanted a full size water park of a total cost of 12, 450,000 Canadian dollars that will provide recreational facilities to about 7000 visitors in a day (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project management used different techniques and tools to manage scope. The project management strategy was well designed with a very well functioning project management team. The team was of manageable size and represented the functions that were core to the success of the project. The project management team was led by the project manager who lead three team leaders and a Risk manager. The marketing function was contracted from outside. This team was able to handle all the issues that concerned the project hence helping the project come to achieve its objectives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The other technique utilized was good risk management. The Risk manager had a Risk management program that ensured a problem area was identified and acted upon before it became a loss to the project.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Communication was also well structured ensuring that all external and internal communication were carried out appropriately. This had been well planned for and duties allocated thus ensuring no obstacles came up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cost management was a major factor for the success of the Ottawa-Carleton water park project. Different techniques and tools were utilized in order to effectively manage costs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first step was having a team leader who was to be concerned with financial issues of the project. His responsibilities included development and monitoring of business plans/s and project cash flows among other responsibilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The cost was well estimated using a class B estimate which provided a variance of between -10% to +25%. The overall cost estimate was can $12448, 250. A 10% contingency had been provided to cater for expected price variation. The total cost had been analyzed using both functions and phases. The total cost had been divided by project function that included management, contract management, financing, political/legal, marketing and construction. The total cost had also been divided per project phases. The phases included phase 1 to phase 5. These analysis of cost enabled the managers to ensure they had enough finances before undertaking a task or contract in order to avoid stoppage or legal action against them (KLSJ Consulting 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The cost was also analyzed by use of tables, graphs and Gantt charts to help in management. The project management also adopted a cost control strategy that was aimed at avoiding cost overruns. This strategy involved issuing fixed price contractors, including penalty clauses for non-performance in contract and taking insurance for specific perils.   All these efforts were geared toward operation within the budget.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Time was another constraint that was well managed in the Ottawa-Carleton water park project. The management team used a work Breakdown schedule to analyze the duration of the project. The project duration was divided into fine phases. Key milestones were identified in each phase of which some were in critical path and others were non-critical. Deadlines and reviews were done and a schedule change management plan was adopted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The work Breakdown schedule was further divided into tasks thus facilitating easier management of these activities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A tradeoff strategy in some instances was utilized in order to manage competing priorities of scope cost and time. This strategy involved, in some cases allowing tradeoff compromises between scope, cost and time management. However no major compromise was done in term of number or quality of attraction to be installed in the water park. All the structures and facilities that were installed in the water park met the quality and standard that was expected.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Different techniques were used for corrective action in the different aspects of the project. One correction action that was adopted was the institution of a deadline for every phase and the end of phase reviews and approvals. Performance report had to be submitted at every end of a phase and change request had to be reported before the deadline. These actions made sure that no activities led to delay of subsequent activities and thus maintaining the whole program on schedule.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cost correction action involved analysis of the cost requirement using charts and tables. Cost was also anticipated in order to make sure enough preparation were done before the time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In assessing the strategies that the Ottawa-Carleton water park project management team utilized we can be able to see some of them went wrong while other worked well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the strategies that never worked well was the security of investment funding. There was a major delay in securing investment funding causing a delay of six weeks and an over expenditure of can$12,000 as a result. This strategy did not work well and more care should have been applied to curb such delays. Only that there was sufficient slack, else this delay could have caused the overall project to delay (KLSJ Consulting 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There was also wrong estimation of time to be taken in hiring a suitable operation manager forcing the use of extra resources totaling to can&14000 to recruit the officers before the overall timing of the project was affected.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the delay in delivery of the waterslides as not the responsibility of the project management inclusion of a clause imposing a penalty on late deliveries by contraction could have solved that problem by offering the manufacturer an incentive to deliver on time (KLSJ Consulting 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There was a floe in scheduling in that the bad weather of spring could have been anticipated and provided for to avoid delays in the overall project schedule.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some of the well utilized strategies were cost estimation, project management, quality controls and Risk management. Time was also relatively managed well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The strategy of utilizing budget and cost analysis techniques and tools served the project well to avoid major cost overruns. Proper management was provided with a well functioning project management team and structure that enable efficient operations. The project management was also able to outsource for services outside as well as utilizing their internal resources optimally. Time schedule had been planned well with work Breakdown schedules being utilized and the project being divided into phases to facilitate easier management (KLSJ Consulting 2005). The combination of all these strategies, the ones which worked well and those that had some flaws led to the success of the project. There was no major scope creep and the cost overruns were very low (2.7%). The objectives that had bee envisioned by the initiation were realized though the project was completed four weeks behind schedule. Some of the project management techniques and tools learnt where well applied in the Ottawa-Carleton water park project. Some of these techniques include project schedule setting and breakdown, analysis and good management of the triple constraints factor, outline of the critical and not critical activities, setting and analysis of budgets, use of work breakdown schedule, good management team and clear communication guidelines.   Other analysis tool like Gantt Charts, graphs and tables were used.   There were also measures to manage risk and quality. Management of the three major constraints is always a major factor for success of any project. Proper management will work to avoid scope creep and or cost overruns (Hormozi, Dube 1999). I could recommend that such techniques be used more keenly and fully so as to manage the project more effectively. Part 3:   Project Schedule and Baseline Assessment The Ottawa-Carleton water park project schedule was managed using a work   breakdown schedule.   This was a plan that could take the project through five phases in 32 months.   The project was also divided according to function each function with a team leader.   Besides the manner work breakdown schedule which contained 200 items there were six subordinate work breakdown schedules which were used for clarity in the tasks to be performed. Despite of this superb plan the project closed behind schedule by four weeks because of several other reasons that the project management could not be able to avoid (KLSJ Consulting 2005). Baseline assessment was well planned for with the work breakdown schedules to illustrate how progress was taking place and tables to show the sequence of events and functions.   Budgets had been done to show the funds need by phases, functions and cost category.   This worked to ensure the intended objectives were met.   There was also a clear plan on how change was to b managed. Ottawa-Carleton water park project management utilized several techniques and tools to manage the project schedule and baselines.   One of the critical tool used was a work breakdown structure and schedule.  Ã‚   The team utilized a 200 item master work breakdown structure and six subordinate work breakdown structures.   These subordinate structures were to divide the tasks into shorter and clearer activities so as to ease monitoring and management of the tasks.   The activities had a clear sequence of how they were to take place.   The happening of some activities was to take place only after another activity place.   AT a certain point the construction of the water park had to continue only after assurance of investors support. A critical path was identified and milestone events were established both critical and non critical tables were used to analyze these milestone activities for easier clarity. Financial analysis was well carried out by use of financial estimates.   The financial estimates had been well planned with analysis estimates of cost per phase, cost   per function, cost per project category and cost per cost category well done.   Ã‚  This was meant to act as the baselines and so to avoid cost over runs and to manage variations in prices effectively (KLSJ Consulting 2005). There was also a plan on how to manage change.   This was geared toward management of all constraints to ensure there was no great variation from the baselines. Ottawa Carleton water park utilized the critical path method   to manage schedules and cost.   Some of the techniques and tools used include charts, Gant /charts, tables and work breakdown structures and schedules. The projects management team used different methods to estimate the task duration.   This was most logical consideration of time such activities take including time allowances for any anticipated factor that will affect the tasks duration.   The work breakdown structure and schedule was very important in this aspect.   The Ottawa Carleton water park project had a complete communication plan with communication objectives, plan and manage themes to be passed across to the various audiences. It had also it priorities and constraints identified. The team leader who was reporting to the project manager was responsible for the communication especially internal communication.   The project manager had the sole authority to communicate with external parties which included regulation, government authorities, the public and the media. The team leader was also responsible for all communication regarding the program of the project.   Hew was to report all performance progress to the project manager. This communication plan served a big role to ensure that the project was a success.   Its main objective was to pose a positive image of the project managers that is KLSJ consulting the project and the upcoming water park.   Consequently, the themes of the messages passed were concurrent with this objective.   Thus the communication plan helped KLSJ to get support of the government authorities, the media , the public and more so the investors and the enabled the project to succeed (KLSJ Consulting 2003). The Ottawa-Carleton water park project management team used several methodologies and techniques to carry out corrective action in different situation.   One of the strategy utilized was trade-off between the various major contracts of the projects.   This was utilized when there was delay in securing investors.   More resources were applied to the task in order to speed up the process and so save time (KLSJ Consulting 2005). Another strategy utilized was negotiation.   This was utilized when there was an environmental mitigation.   The manager negotiated with the region and agreed on a cost sharing arrangement and on a program to was aimed at avoid delays in continuation of the constructions.   This served to save both time and cost. Another corrective action taken by the project manager involved sole sourcing environmental studies consultant.   After the delays in the initial stages of the project, the management sole sources the consultant thus saving a lot of time that could have been used up in the recruiting. Different strategies were used by the project management to manage aspects related with project schedule and baseline.   On strategy that was so effective was the change plan.   The plan offered a guideline on how change was to be managed and this ensured that the project was processing according to plan. Other strategy utilized was the closes monitoring of the main constraints, that is time, cost and scope. This enabled the project to proceed well with much delays, scope creep, cost overruns or compromise on quality.   The project management utilized and followed that plan well and utilized took like work breakdown structures, financial estimates and the critical path method. Part 4:   Risk Assessment Quality Assurance and Change Control Management Risk management was a critical issue in the management of success of th Ottawa-Carleton water park project.     This was well done by instituting a Risk management working group early in the project.   This group met monthly to discuss risk-related issues.   Besides that there was a comprehensive risk management plan and assessments of the risk of the different parts of the project.   These measures enabled all risks to be handled before they developed into loss for the project.   The major risks that were dealt with included: Environmental assessment mitigation, delay in hiring of operation manager, delay in securing investment funding, inclement weather, and delay in delivery of the water slide (KLSJ 2005). Change was also well managed during the project performance and this enabled effective changes in order to bring the project to success as expected.   A change plan was set for early in the project and these offered guidelines on how change was to be done if tit was needed. The project management used qualitative and quantitative measures to ensure quality was upheld in the project (KLSJ Consulting 2003).   This was geared towards ensuring that the project met the intended quality.   This was done effectively and no any quality compromise resulted (KLSJ Consulting 2005). The project management different techniques and tools to manage the risks that were inherent to the project.   This techniques and tools were included in a comprehensive Risk control plan.   The technique used included risk assessment before the project began and all through the project.   Tools that were used included a risk evaluation criteria table, impact criteria table, and risk summary tables.   Risk matrixes were also used to assess the various risks (KLSJ Consulting 2003). A risk management working group which was headed by the Risk manger analyzed all the risks facing the project throughout the project duration.   This function grouped managed the risks as they appeared and provided mitigation strategies that enabled the risks to be managed. Ottawa-Carleton water park project had an efficient change control system that used formal scope control processes.   The plan had change cutoff dates schedules in each phase A tracking system was used.   The change plan was aimed at avoid disruptions of events as they had been planned in the work breakdown structure.   Each request for change had to evaluate in order to establish its impact on other variables. One of the changes that was effected in the Ottawa-Carleton water park project was the change of decision on recruiting the environmental study consultant.   The change was effected and KLSJ sole sourced the consultant who had done the initial environmental feasibility to carry out the job.   This was carried out effectively and it resulted to saving of two weeks and one thousand Canadian dollars. The change management plan adopted by Ottawa-Carleton water park project team ensured that it integrated scope management.   This was aimed at making sue that all changes were made within the overall objectives of the project.   The tracking system used also worked to make sure that all the changes that were effected fitted in the overall plan of the project.   Assessment of the impact of the changes on cost and schedule had to be done before any change was effected and this was aimed at making sure that the changes did not have an adverse effect on the other operations o the project. The requirements that on change requests had to written facilitated later reference and tracking of the changes in order to maintain the project on the intended plan.   All this measures worked to ensure there was no scope creep and even cost overrun (KLSJ Consulting 2005). Quality was a key consideration in all the stages of the Ottawa Carleton water park project.   Because of the nature of work and construction that were done, quality was planned for and closely monitored to ensure safety of all facilities.   KLSJ uses 1SO 9001: 200 standards for the project management.   The firm had also to comply with other standards that affected the project which included standards set up by the region and the local authority (KLSJ Consulting 2003). KLSJ consulting had a group of experts on quality management who offered their expertise to the project on an on-call basis.   Within the project team the team leader (finance) was concerned with all matters on quality. Besides that, quality was a responsibility of all people concerned with the project. The ISO 9000: 2000 quality assurance procedures were followed throughout the construction and regular quality status reports were provided.   The planning was well done by the help of a manual of project procedures and a quality management plan.   Verification of all certification of contractors was done as well as auditing of all construction activities in order to maintain high quality in all facilities.   Quality control was done by taking up action immediately as issues of concern arised (KLSJ Consulting 2004). Ottawa Carleton water park project management team used several techniques as corrective actions in aspects of risk, quality and change in the projects.   One technique used over all was constant monitoring, assessment or evaluation. Issues of risks, quality or changes were monitored and evaluated throughout the project life. Another way was having a contingency plan. This enabled the team to contain all the variations within the scope of the project and thus ensuring t6he project objectives were achieved.   The project team was also well prepared with detailed plans on how all the things were to be handled and this helped to manage change effectively.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project management team used various strategies to manage these aspects of the project effectively. The first strategy that was used was adequate planning. Enough planning had been done on all aspects related with risk management, quality and change control management. The plans helped the team to prepare all round for the various occurrences that were expected. The plans also provided clear guidelines on how the operations were to be done. This also ensured that all the resources required, in terms of human resource or funding, were ready before the project got into a phase where they were to be used.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The other strategy was the constant evaluation and assessment of the different aspects of the project that were related with risk, quality and change. There was also a risk management program that was carried out all through the project by risk management working group. This ensured that all the inherent risks were identified and dealt with before they resulted to a loss to the project. Quality was assessed through out the project life and one team leader, among other roles, was concerned with ensuring quality was maintained. There were also audit teams that assessed the quality of the various structures that were put up in the water park. The different activities were also continually evaluated in order to handle any change effectively without compromising on quality of the facilities to be put up. Another technique that was well utilized was change management. Change management was well planned for and this facilitated its effective execution. Control was also another strategy technique that was effectively carried out. The project team was able to effectively control the three major constraints namely scope, cost and time. This enabled the project to be completed successfully. There were many tools that were used to manage the aspects of risk, quality and change in the project. These tools include risk matrix, contingency plan, change management plan, quality management plan plus many tables, structures and analysis summaries. According to the strategies that were applied, some were very effective while others had some flaws. The strategies that went very well include the change management plan and the quality management. The different changes that were done within the project were very effective and did not lead to scope creep or major cost overruns. Quality management was very effective and did not result to any quality or quantity compromise. Risk management had been good but things did not go very well leading to delay of deliver of the water slides (KLSJ Consulting 2005). This showed that risk management despite of all the plans had a flaw. Otherwise the planning of the whole project had been well done. Part 5: Conclusion The Ottawa-Carleton water park project was a success and the managers, KLSJ consulting displayed good project management skills and expertise. Many of the techniques, tools and strategies learnt in class were applied effectively in the management of this project. This project represents a perfect example of good use of the techniques and tools of project management that are always taught theoretically in class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The project management team was effective and was able to manage the project processes efficiently without any problem arising. The processes were handled with the maximum professionalism expected and the law was followed to the later. The legal team leader was able to handle all issues that concerned legal contracts and regulations. The strength of the project team always determines the success of a project as this is the team that manages the aspects that matter in a project (Larson, Gobeli, Gray 1991)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Management of a project to success is always a combination of use of expertise and practices that bring control to the operations of a project (Reiss 1995)From the various project management methodologies, techniques used in the management of the Ottawa-Carleton water park project I can be able to point out three best practices that enhanced the success of this project. The first practice was the adequate preparation that had been done. Before the project began the managing firm prepared a project charter that outlined the objectives, scope, management plan, financial analysis and the stakeholders of the project. There was also a project plan that outlined how the various aspects of the project were to be managed in the course of the project life. Then there were several other plans that dealt with how the specific aspects of the project were to be managed. For example there was a quality management plan, a risk management plan and a change management plan. The second practice that was well adopted was schedule management. The time concept of a project is usually a critical factor of a project and unless adequate care is given to this aspect from the planning stage of a project a delay of completion is likely to occur. (May, Gueldenzoph 2006) Though the overall project schedule was exceeded with four weeks enough measures had been instituted to manage the project duration. Work breakdown structures and many other analysis tables had been used all in the effort to make the project run in the stipulated time frame. The third practice that was very well done was the approach to risk management. Risk management is a sensitive aspect of any project especially the high risk projects and this requires adequate planning and care in the implementation of the risk management plan. (Hannigan, Browne 2000) The project was considered a high risk project and so to start with a detailed risk management plan had been laid. The risk management plan included a risk management program that was carried out throughout the project duration led by a risk management working group that was headed by the risk manager. The project transition from the operations manager to the team that was to continue managing the water park was well prepared for and was very effective. This is an area which brings problems in some projects and is an important factor that should not be taken for granted (Frame 2002). Another important area of importance to a project is the management of corrective actions. (Hormozi, McMinn, Nzeogwu 2000) I recommend that necessary measures be put up before the project begins on how to carry out corrective action and how to carry out corrective action and how to manage schedules and baselines in order to achieve the project objective.   I recommend that in future projects more care to be given the management of risks especially concerning honoring of contracts by those contracted. Proper management of contracts will ensure that the contract is effected in time and in the condition that was intended. Also other tools and techniques that were not utilized in this project could be of great use to other projects. Reference: Frame J; (2002). The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, Hannigan C. Browne M. (2000) Project Management: Going the Distance: International Journal of Instructional Media, Vol. 27, Hormozi A.Dube L; (1999) Establishing Project Control: Schedule, Cost, and Quality: SAM Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 64, Hormozi A. McMinn R.Nzeogwu O; (2000). The Project Life Cycle: The Termination Phase: SAM Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 65, KLSJ Consulting, (2002). Project Charter: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2002). Project Concept: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2002). Project Proposal: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2003). Communication Plan: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2003). Quality Management plan: Ottawa-Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2004). Quality Assurance Report: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2005). Post-Project Report: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2005). Risk control report: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. KLSJ Consulting, (2003). Risk management plan: Ottawa Carleton Water Park Project. Ottawa. Larson E.Gobeli D. Gray C. (1991) Application of Project Management by Small Businesses to Develop New Products and Services: Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 29, May G. Gueldenzoph L; (2006).The Effect of Social Style on Peer Evaluation Ratings in Project Teams: The Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 43, Reiss G; (1995). Project Management Demystified: Today’s Tools and Techniques. London. E & FN Spon.

Ozraptor - Facts and Figures

Ozraptor - Facts and Figures Name: Ozraptor (Greek for lizard from Oz): pronounced OZ-rap-tore Habitat: Woodlands of Australia Historical Period: Middle Jurassic (175 million years ago) Size and Weight: About nine feet long and 100 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Moderate size; bipedal posture About Ozraptor Sometimes, a single leg bone can be enough to shed light on a creature that lived 175 million years ago. Thats the case with the Australian Ozraptor, the partial tibia of which was first identified as belonging to a Jurassic turtle, and then reassigned to a new (and relatively early) genus of theropod (meat-eating dinosaur) closely related to the South American Abelisaurus. Until more fossil specimens are identified, though, thats all we may ever know about this distinctively named dinosaurand you should know that many experts are extremely skeptical about the existence of various dinosaur families, such as tyrannosaurs and ornithomimids (bird mimics), in the lands Down Under. One thing you we can definitely say about Ozraptor is that it was not technically a raptor, the family of dinosaurs typified by the North American Deinonychus and the central Asian Velociraptor (somewhat confusingly, paleontologists love to attach the raptor root to non-raptor dinosaurs, such as Gigantoraptor and Megaraptor). Raptors were a distinctive family of theropods that lived during the middle to late Cretaceous period, and were characterized, among other things, by their presumed coats of feathers and single, oversized, curving claws on each of their hind feetthus ruling out the middle Jurassic Ozraptor, whatever type of dinosaur it turns out to be!

The Science of Escherichia Coli essays

The Science of Escherichia Coli essays Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae along with Shigella, Yersenia, Klebsiella, Salmonella, and Proteus spp. These are microbes that are normally seen worldwide in soil, water, vegetation, and even as normal flora of the gastrointestinal tract (Cohen, Powderly, Opal, Berkley, Calandra, Clumeck, Finch, Hammer, Holland, Kiehn, McAdam, Maki, Norby, Holland, Solberg, and Verhoef, 2004). The commensal E. coli normally inhabits the human intestines and may even be beneficial to man by participating in digestive processes. However, commensally and pathogenic E. coli strains can cause illnesses that manifest with mild to severe symptoms such as diarrhea, meningitis, urinary tract infections (UTI), or fatal septicemia. E. coli is a gram-negative, non-spore forming short to ovoid, rod-shaped bacteria. Like other enterobacters, its cell wall has several components: an inner cytoplasmic membrane, a peptidoglycan layer, an outer membrane that consists of an inner phospholipids protein layer and an outer lipopolysaccaharide (LPS) layer, and an additional capsule. The integrity of the cell wall is necessary to keep the organism alive. The cytoplasmic membrane regulates nutrient and metabolic products coming in and out of the organism. One should be familiar with these cellular wall components because they have antigens that distinguish E. coli from others. The O-antigen is specific for E. coli's LPS. The O-antigen may possess adhesive factors that make pathogenic E. coli cause diseases such as UTI, while other O serogroups allow for colonization factors and toxins to be released for it to cause diarrhea (Cohen et al., 2004). Other identifying antigens are the capsular (K), flagellar (H), and fimbriae (F) antigens. K1 antigen of E. coli is associated with neonatal meningitis and UTI. E. coli can live without oxygen, making it a facultative anaerobe. It is capable of fermenting lactose which is the sugar found...

A Study on the Worlds Educational System

A Study on the Worlds Educational System A number of similarities as well as differences exist between the K-12 education system in the United States and the 8-4-4 system in Kenya. The similarities are such as the age at which children enter into school. In both countries children enter school approximately at the age of five or six. Also, the initial grade of commencing education is termed as kindergarten in both countries. In addition, one has to spend twelve years both in primary and high school education level before qualifying for tertiary education which may be in the universities or colleges despite the difference in the grading system within the twelve years. Another similarity between both systems is that one can access the K-12 or 8-4-4 education from both private institutions as well as public institutions. Moreover both systems enjoy funding from the state governments as well as federal and local government but those attending private institutions are self- sponsored that is they have the responsibility of payi ng their tuition fees to the institutions. Also in both systems one has to perform at a certain set average standard at the examinations provided in each level in order to qualify for the next level. In both systems students traditionally proceed from one level to the subsequent one as a â€Å"class† upon the completion of each academic year. In both countries it is compulsory to enroll in to the education systems after attaining the minimum required age and the parents or guardians who fail to abide by this law risk been prosecuted in accordance to the laws of the countries. However these laws are much more strict and effective in the United States as compared to Kenya where laxity has been observed in the enforcement of the compulsory education laws leading to a very dismal enrolment of children in schools especially in the parts of the country inhabited by the pastoralists’ communities. Nevertheless, in both countries there is no a compulsory level of the education system which one should go up to before leaving the education system. One is free to undertake his or her studies up to primary level, high school level or even college or university level in accordance to his intellectual capabilities as well as financial strength. In both countries student loans and scholarships are provided in the university level to enable students meet their tuition costs as well as other related costs such as those incurred while undertaking research projects (Brint in the primary and high school level the school year usually starts immediately after the customary summer recess that is in August and sometimes in September while in Kenya the school year commences in January immediately after the New Year festivities. In the U.S, students have only six hours of schooling per day while in Kenya students spend almost ten hours in school on a daily basis. In the 8-4-4 system, students in primary and high school level break for holidays three times per year while i n the K-12 system students have only one long holiday which is slated during the summer season. Another difference between the systems is that in the K-12 system, primary education takes only five years while in the 8-4-4 system it takes eight years. In the K-12 system; upon graduating from primary school, one proceeds to middle school before proceeding to high school while in the 8-4-4 system one directly joins high school upon completing primary education. In the U.S each state governs the public education unlike in Kenya where the public education system is governed by the central government. In Kenya, one is free to obtain admission to any public school of his or her choice within the country while in the U.S the right of entry to a certain public school is mostly granted on the residential basis. Also the grading scale used in the 8-4-4 system is quite different from the one applied in the K-12 system. The rate of enrollment into the K-12 system is quite high as compared to the 8-4-4 system. Besides, teacher employed in the primary level in the K-12 system are graduates of early childhood development degree program while in the 8-4-4 system majority of primary school teachers possess only a certificate from a teachers training college (Herbst, 1996)

Multicultural Education Issues Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Multicultural Education Issues - Term Paper Example James continues to assert that despite the different scholars differing on how they understand multicultural education they all share the concept of change that provides a clearer understanding of the term. Multicultural education is an idea that encompasses the approach of school reform to promote equality, social justice and democracy amongst students. All students have an equal opportunity to utilize their full potential in class; every student must be prepared to compete with the others in the diverse cultural society; teachers are responsible for facilitating the learning of all students despite their ethnic group and culture, thus, schools should actively participate in ending oppression and the view that teachers or students are different. Moreover, educationists and activists must be concerned with assessing the educational practices and how they affect the learning of students (Glenn, 1989). The main aim of multicultural education is its potential capacity to generate social change. Students and teachers should not feel different despite their cultural background. In order to achieve this goal, multicultural education brings together aspects of change, change of schools, the way curriculum is prepared and the change of society as a whole. Multicultural education ensures that all aspects of school practices and policies are followed to ensure that students perform well in their academics. Moreover, students have positive concepts about their cultures, histories and contributions of diverse groups. This is only possible if the school curriculum addresses issues of racism, gender imbalance, languages, age difference and religion. Thus, students feel themselves being a part of the school society when their life experiences and cultures are incorporated in the school curriculum (Will, 2011). Will (2011) continues to say that the issue of ethnicity has been a great problem in many countries around the globe, and it should be addressed in the most efficient w ay. This issue is brought mainly by the teachers and parents as students are not born with it. It is, therefore, the sole responsibility of schools to address the issue so that it would be dealt with. Thus, to achieve this calls for a school staff that is culturally competent and to the greatest extent possible be racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Research shows that students with high ethnic diversity in schools perform poorly as compared to those schools with a homogenous student population. Moreover, this applies to student immigrants who perform better if they find a fellow student immigrant from the same region in the country of origin (Kofi, 1989). This shows that ethnicity is a problem for the society, which schools must fight to eradicate if the students are to perform better. However, the performance of pupils cannot be based only on ethnicity in schools; factors, such as the socioeconomic, are a major concern as they also affect a student’s performan ce. Linde (2001) believes that immigrant parents, mostly those from third world countries, are less educated as compared to more developed countries, work in lower status jobs, earn less and are not as wealthy as the native born parents. It is not out of their will but due to ethnicity and economic status of immigrant parents that they make a choice to take their children to ethnic schools with fewer resources. In majority of ethnic

Marketing Plan Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Plan Critique - Essay Example However, these marketing plans have some shortcomings that should be identified and corrected if greater success is to be achieved. This essay is a critique of some marketing plans of Colgate-Palmolive Company. It seeks to provide some recommendations that address the solutions to the issues identified. The Marketing Plan of this company is structured to focus on promoting the brand in overseas market as well as ensuring product differentiation and positioning in order to best serve its customers and at the same time beat both its local and regional competitors. To meet these objectives, the company has used the technique of market segmentation in which it has sectioned its products as oral, personal care and household items. Although the company has made efforts to diversify, its major competitors such as Unilever have trimmed their products much more giving them greater advantages over Colgate. Consequently, Colgate has sought to promote its brand through advertisements. Unfortunately, the company does not do these adverts in local languages, unlike its competitors. Advertising in local languages makes the companies identify themselves with the target audiences (Cadogan, 2009, p. 112). Its geographic segmentation strategy in which it has sought to extend its operations to more th an two hundred nations has not been so beneficial because it has adopted a style in which it restricts sales of the same commodity in every country. Every country has a distinct product. This creates a gap as most customers are cut off from accessing products they could have seen or heard of in other countries. Colgate-Palmolive is a distinct profit-making organization that has got most of its plans and strategies right except a few that needs to be reconsidered. With such an incredible market share in top economies, the company can achieve more than what it has if the following recommendations are taken into consideration. First, the company should

Fingerprint Identification: Three Latent Print Scenario's Assignment

Opinions about Different Homicide Scenarios - Assignment Example In such a case, it is possible that the perpetrator had planned their activities wisely. They may have used protection on their hands, for example, high quality gloves that do not allow for fingerprints to be left on the weapon. In typical cases, fingerprints are left on a weapon even when using surgical gloves that cling tightly to the hand. It is also possible that the murderer used another weapon to commit the offense and left with it. Another possibility is that the material used to make the weapon is one that does not retain prints. At times the prints may be too faint for proper identification. Fortunately, fingerprints can be collected from the surfaces in the scene of the crime. Glass, for example, retains prints that are highly detectable especially if the hands of the perpetrator were wet, bloody or greasy. On the hand, lean surfaces are more likely to retain fingerprints compared to dirty ones as the dirt may inhibit latent prints from being visible on the weapon. A case like this may mean that a different person committed the crime. It may also be that another person touched the weapon with bare hands after the murder, for example, an investigator hence interfering with the evidence. It may also be that the perpetrator used the weapon that had previously been touched by another person and used material that does not allow their prints to be left on the weapon. There may also be the possibility that a different person touched the weapon leaving their prints but the murder used a soiled hand on the weapon thus inhibiting the formation of their fingerprints. Such a situation is tricky and may mean different things. While it is possible for the suspect to be guilty, it is not always so. In some cases, the prints ay offer direct evidence that the suspect was responsible for the murder.  

Listening Journals 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Listening Journals 5 - Essay Example This recording brought together famous and renowned musicians form America and they formed what has over the years been called a super group. The producers behind the song are Quincy jones and Michael Omartian. It has sold well over 20 million copies worldwide since May 7th 1985 (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 25). The song was written in a very unique style. It was meant to accommodate all the artists who would participate in its recording. The song is sung from a first person viewpoint, which gives the audience to comprehend the message of the song, especially behind the singing of the word â€Å"we† in unison (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 67). The first verse is sung by Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina turner and Billy Joel. Michael Jackson and Diana Ross come in to sing out the first chorus as a duo, followed by Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau who bring out the words of the second stanza. The second chorus is sung by Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall. The bridge of the song is done by Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 56). The song concludes with Ray Charles and Bob Dylan singing the chorus, Wonder and Springsteen singing out a duo while Charles and Ingram performs an ad lib. The main reason for giving these artists specific parts in the song is to create a sense of unending surprise and an emotive build up for the listeners. ‘We are the World’ became a hit single within no time after its recording. It was termed as one of the most popular pop songs at that time. It received good air play and very high sales were recorded immediately after its release. In the history of pop music at that time, the song was said to top the American as well as the world charts. Its success was attributed to the contribution of Michael Jackson, an all-time award winning pop artist. The song required many instruments for its recording. This includ es; cymbals, bass drums, electric bass, trumpets, trombone, clarinet, flute, xylophone, snare drum, tuba, vibes and multiple bass drums. All these instruments are synthesized to bring out a melodious flow of the song from the beginning to the end. The producers were able to harmonize these instruments with the voices of all artists to come up with unique sound effects. Listeners of this song have been quoted saying that the song is well harmonized. Even with the use of all these instruments, the words of the song are heard clearly, which of course was the main aim of the producers. The social drive behind the production of this song was to help aid the Africans who were famine driven. In one of the recording sessions one of the artists, Bob Geldof, addressed the rest (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 23). He said that what was happening in Africa was tragic and it was important that the world got together to help the continent. He described the catastrophic scene in Africa; 15 bags of fl our for 270,000 people, dead bodies piling up one on top of the other and airborne diseases been felt everywhere as the main reason as to why the artists were gathered in the recording studio in the middle of the night. The song gained worldwide recognition, not only because it sounded good but majorly because of the reason for its production. People were happy to buy the album knowing that the money would go to help out the hunger stricken parts of

A Reflection on Dads Old Cottage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Reflection on Dads Old Cottage - Essay Example The few daffodils at the entrance smile at me. The leaves and the remaining trees, as well as everything in the surrounding, would have probably loved to be heard as to the events that have often taken place. At the same time, I felt it was also the time for everything in the surrounding to listen to me pour out the nostalgic feelings that filled me; how just the other day we lived in the structure with dad, mommy and my sisters and how things have changed beyond the point of no return. At the door, I am welcome by the woodpecker, which takes a flight. As the door opens, it seems to it cannot mince the joy of meeting one of its masters again, as evidenced by the production of screech sounds by the hinges. As I get in, I find the building inclusions smiling at me. The pictures on the wall, the furniture, the falling ceiling seem to be saying ‘son, welcome back. We have never missed you’. It is a place that one would love to stay in. I take a walk around to explore the ful l feelings. I rediscover the other part of this world. I discern that the structure stands isolated at the end of the ranch. The structure is now old seems to be on the final stages of its life. By looking at the structure, one can derive a lot of unpleasant memories. The remaining trees and few stumps do not seem to be moved by the unfolding events. As walk, my feet interact with the dried leaves that seem to give unwelcoming sound. Even the few daffodils at the entrance can only be described as lonely and displaced. The woodpecker has taken over the cottage door and takes a scary flight. As I open the door, it is apparent the hinges were hardly prepared to see me again. As I come to face with what is in the building, everything, including the pictures on the wall, the furniture and the falling ceiling seem to be lamenting on why I had forsaken them. The only smell is that of the decomposing woods and memories.

Practicum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Practicum - Essay Example Therefore, governments take great steps to enhance the GDP of their country. Money flowing into different industries of a country eventually translates into an increased GDP and higher economic results. One of the industries of a country that needs to flourish is the Tourism Industry. The reason is that this industry attracts the money of foreign investors or residents, and it flows in the financial system of the country that is providing tourism opportunities. This rule is not an exception in the case of Australia. Australia’s tourism activities range from accommodations and car hires to cruise operation and theme parks and major attraction operations. In the year 2005-2006, private businesses spent $840 million on the marketing of tourism related activities; this was a 9.9% increase over year 2003-2004 marketing expenditure. Among this, most of the expenses were accounted to marketing targeted at the domestic travelers (74%), compared to international travelers which accumulated up to 26%1. In the year ended 2009, the industry experienced an Internal Consumption of $92,003 Million, comprising primarily of International consumption of $23,546 Million and a domestic consumpt ion of $68,456 Million. The figures also show that more focus is given to domestic travelers relative to international holiday makers. The total direct tourism inflow to the GDP in the system came out to be $32,828 Million in 20092. The tourism contributed a total of 2.6% of the GDP in the year ended 2009; which was a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year. The reason behind this was that the Australian economy boosted up, and more people travelled overseas rather than internally, which created a plunge in the value of Tourism industry. Australian economy basically measures the effect of tourism activities by the demand that is created by the travelers and the tourism products and services by the domestic producers. The biggest

A Reflection on Dads Old Cottage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Reflection on Dads Old Cottage - Essay Example The few daffodils at the entrance smile at me. The leaves and the remaining trees, as well as everything in the surrounding, would have probably loved to be heard as to the events that have often taken place. At the same time, I felt it was also the time for everything in the surrounding to listen to me pour out the nostalgic feelings that filled me; how just the other day we lived in the structure with dad, mommy and my sisters and how things have changed beyond the point of no return. At the door, I am welcome by the woodpecker, which takes a flight. As the door opens, it seems to it cannot mince the joy of meeting one of its masters again, as evidenced by the production of screech sounds by the hinges. As I get in, I find the building inclusions smiling at me. The pictures on the wall, the furniture, the falling ceiling seem to be saying ‘son, welcome back. We have never missed you’. It is a place that one would love to stay in. I take a walk around to explore the ful l feelings. I rediscover the other part of this world. I discern that the structure stands isolated at the end of the ranch. The structure is now old seems to be on the final stages of its life. By looking at the structure, one can derive a lot of unpleasant memories. The remaining trees and few stumps do not seem to be moved by the unfolding events. As walk, my feet interact with the dried leaves that seem to give unwelcoming sound. Even the few daffodils at the entrance can only be described as lonely and displaced. The woodpecker has taken over the cottage door and takes a scary flight. As I open the door, it is apparent the hinges were hardly prepared to see me again. As I come to face with what is in the building, everything, including the pictures on the wall, the furniture and the falling ceiling seem to be lamenting on why I had forsaken them. The only smell is that of the decomposing woods and memories.

Quinte Magnetic resonance imaging Essay Example for Free

Quinte Magnetic resonance imaging Essay Brenton-Cooper Medical Centre (BCMC) has outsourced its MRI operations to Quinte MRI, a seasoned and highly recognized MRI service provider. Unfortunately, after six weeks of operations Quinte MRI’s leased MRI machine is not meeting its expected outputs as projected and is causing concern to both Quinte MRI and BCMC which has begun to lose revenue via referrals away from its clinic. Further, BCMC’s reputation is now at risk which could result in additional loses to the centre. The root cause of the problem appears to lie with the scheduling of the scanning operations. Dr. Syed Haider, the owner of Quinte MRI, has tasked his business development coordinators with finding a solution to this problem and to report back within 2-days. Acting as David Wright and Kevin Saskiw, the business development coordinators, my solution to these issues are to regain control of the scheduling process as this is an integral part of the operations. Streamline the scheduling process to reduce variability and improve reliability. Introduce the use of technology to remove manual processes, improve process efficiencies, minimise errors and improve communication across the business lines of operation. I would also hire a new employee to support the scanning operations as there is no backup or adequately trained support for the only Technologist running the operations. Issues Identification Brenton-Cooper Medical Centre (BCMC) has outsourced its MRI operations to Quinte MRI, a seasoned and highly recognized MRI service provider. Unfortunately, after six weeks of operations Quinte MRI has not lived up to expectations and is not fulfilling its contractual obligations. Quinte MRI’s leased MRI machine is not meeting its expected outputs as projected and is causing concern to both Quinte MRI and BCMC which has begun to lose revenue via referrals away from its clinic. Further, BCMC’s reputation is now at risk which could result in additional loses to the centre. Quinte MRI is well aware of this as it stands to lose in both areas as well. If the firm cannot meets its contractual obligations and have its leased machine produce its expected output the loss of revenue would surely spell business failure and a subsequent loss of reputation. As well, the firm would probably be sued for breach of contract. On another level Quinte MRI has also identified potential issues with a stressed out, overworked employee whom is critical to the success of their business. Potentially, this employee could actually be one of the reasons of the problem that the firm is experiencing. He has identified issues surrounding the scheduling of patients for scanning and has indicated that the process needs to be fixed as it is not working. He further went on to indicate that the expectations from the radiologist for speedy delivery cannot be met due to the time it takes for him to process the patients’ MRI films. Environmental and Root Cause Analysis In my opinion there are several operational issues causing problems in the MRI scanning process. First, I believe that there is a problem with the scheduling of patients in that it lacks accuracy, consistency and clarity. Since this operation is being handled by BCMC, Quinte MRI is finding itself at a disadvantage in terms of being able to control this part of the operation. The operation appears to be purely manual, handled by several persons and is prone to input and interpretive errors. Since patients can be sent for scanning via two means (scheduled and same day(unscheduled)) some amount of variability will result. It is therefore imperative that the scheduling function be properly controlled and managed to reduce variability to minimum possible levels. Variability and uncertainty in the scheduling operation is negatively impacting capacity utilization resulting in an overall reduction of efficiency in the scanning process. Quinte MRI must balance the flow and increase capacity for greater efficiencies and to remain competitive. The bottleneck of the scanning process is the MRI machine and the time it takes to do each scan. Each scan may have different times associated with it depending on the type to be performed, limiting the capacity of the overall process. Each step in the scanning process is dependent upon the previous one therefore improvements need to start at the beginning. The objective here is to improve the process flow up to the point that the actual scan will take place. I also believe that patients are not being properly screened prior to arrival which is causing Quinte MRI losses in revenue and time. If a patient turns up and has to be turned away, or rescheduled for misdiagnosis there is a resulting disruption in the flow of patients which will impact the schedule and process and ultimately the pocket and reputation of the company. Further, it appears that the technologist is engaged in performing pre-screening services and this is a highly paid employee who should not be pre-screening patients. This tasked could best be left to a lower paid trained staff. From an operational perspective it appears that the initial implementation process of the new machine had a learning curve. This resulted in longer lead times for processing patients during the first few weeks until Jeff had found a rhythm. It appears that Jeff was either not properly trained or did not have sufficient experience in the use of that model machine. Communication, and barriers to, seems to be a fundamental problem in the whole scanning process. People and processes are not talking to each other in an efficient and effective manner. The patients are unsure of the process and what is expected of them resulting in missed dates, tardiness, improper attire, rescheduling, lost revenue, lack of confidence, etc. Responsibilities appear not to be clearly defined, or assigned, leading to inefficiencies in the process. As well, expectations of persons are not clearly defined and communicated ahead of time leading to missed schedules, frustrations and delays. Alternative and Options In my opinion Quinte MRI could request the transfer of the responsibilities of the scheduling process over to their firm. This could benefit the firm in that they would now have ultimate control of the scheduling process from start to finish. As it is the firm has to rely on BCMC to manage this function and this is causing many issues. I believe that an MR Technician could be hired to perform the scheduling tasks and also provide support to Jeff Sinclair. Quinte MRI is already paying for these services but not receiving value. Revenue loss from turn-aways alone (1.2 p/day) could adequately cover the costs of hiring someone to provide these services. Additional benefit would be backup support for Jeff during vacation or other away days. Training would be provided on the job to support Jeff and add additional new skills to the technician. Screening could be done well ahead of time before the patient arrives because someone with the knowledge and expertise is handling this. Quinte MRI could invest some capital in technology to support the scheduling and communication functions. The technology would be able to support scheduling combinations for more efficient processing of patients in the scanning process. Many persons (from BCMC and Quinte MRI) could have visibility into the system with relevant authority to administer or make changes. This technology would be able to eliminate some amount of confusion and errors based on interpretation as is currently happening. Savings from a smooth flowing process with no disruptions would easily cover upfront costs as well as any operating costs.