Project Management Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Project Management Principles - Essay Example A typical project goes through a cycle. The standard cycle involves four phases – initiation, planning, execution and closure. In most cases changes are required to the initial plan and this involves a process of adaptation (See diagram of a six phase cycle in Appendix 2). The cycle starts with the initiation of the project during which time the scope and objectives of the project are determined. The Planning stage sets out the human resource plan, the financing plan, the communication plan, the risk management plan. After all the activities are determined and a schedule is prepared the project is implemented. If monitoring indicates that things are not going as planned then project manager needs to adapt, adjust the plan and implement the changes. The results are then checked against the project plan and if every thing is satisfactory and the objectives have been achieved then the project can be closed (RDI 2009). 1.1 Analysis of project phases This project involves the redesign of office space to accommodate new members of staff. Wysocki (2009) indicates that effective project management is not the product of a fixed set of steps to be followed in every project. However, effective project management requires that projects go through a series of steps that are clearly defined (RDI 2009). According to PM4DEV (2007) projects operate as part of a system and they involve a high level of uncertainty. Project phases are divisions within a project where additional controls are needed to effectively manage the completion of a major deliverable (PMI 2008, p. 18). By dividing the projects in several phases the project manager is able to integrate both internal and external factors in the planning process. It allows for proper control of the project and ensures that each phase is completed before moving to the next. The five major phases of a project are: identification of needs; formation of objectives and project definition; detaile d planning and scheduling; project activity management; and closure and feedback (RDI 2009). 1.1.1 Identification of n

Effects of speech and language difficulties in children Essay Example for Free

Effects of speech and language difficulties in children Essay Speech, communication and language development are always at the heart of each and every child’s learning as well as the link to other areas of the child’s development. Without these skills in speech, language and communication, a child will not reach their full potentials. According to a report by the Charity ICAN, one out of ten children, about three children in every classroom have difficulties in communication that may require a help from a specialist (http://www.ican.org.uk). With this number of children with communication difficulties, it is very vital to have practitioners who are more knowledgeable to support these kids in speech, language and communication skills. It is very evident that there is an increasing number of children who are entering the education environment with language and speech problems. This speech will highlight some of the main causes of language and speech difficulties along with the effects this can have on the other areas of the child’s development. It will also highlight on the major measures to be taken to effectively boost the children’s communication skills. The effects of language and speech difficulties There are many factors that can cause difficulties in language and speech in children, these include: Childhood illness- a child with chronic ear infection can have a lot of difficulties in language and speech development. In this infection persist, there will be fluids in the ear and this will impact on the child’s hearing. This affects how a child will process the language and hence result in delayed language and speech skills acquisition. Use of bottles and dummies- A prolonged use of bottles and dummies by kids can adversely affect their language, speech and communication skills. Before kids learn to say a word or a sentence, they explore their voices through producing different sounds and noises. So, with a prolonged use of bottles and dummies will make the children adapt the sounds of these bottles and they will hence be using their voices less often. The teat from the dummy or bottle can also disrupt the tongue and lips movement at the front of the mouth and this leads to a distorted speech. Complications in using the oral muscles-children communications skills can also be affected by oral motor disorders. A kid with a oral motor disorder will find it very difficult in using their tongue, jaw and lips’ muscles. This will result in much difficulty in speaking as well as feeding. Developmental difficulties- this will affect the kids with Autistic Spectrum because they will find it very difficult to understand verbal or non-verbal skills. Birth difficulties- Dysathria is a condition that affects the muscles that are used for speech and hence leading to language and speech difficulties. This is mostly caused by changes to the brain during pregnancy and also at birth. Lack of simulation-kids learns through watching others. They copy language by observing the behavior and actions of the others around them. If the kids do not receive adequate simulation, they will end up having difficulties in communication skills. The literacy runs an initiative that is titled, â€Å"talk to your baby† so as to support early language simulation. They state that, â€Å"lack of early language stimulation can lead to language delay, and sometimes literacy and learning difficulties that then extend well beyond early literacy development and can be extremely costly or difficult to remedy.† Impacts of language, speech and communication skills Language, speech and communication skills are very vital for promoting other areas of learning. A child’s with communication difficulties, their overall development will be affected. The impacts of child’s language and communication difficulties vary depending on the individual needs of the child along with the severity of these difficulties. The following areas could be adversely affected. Play- play is vital for children’s development, structuring their confidence as they learn to think about problems, to explore and also to relate to others. When a child gets older, they start using languages to relate to others in the games. The other children start incorporating rules to the games. For a child to play the game he/she must follow the rules, but if they had difficulties in communication, they will obviously be left out and hence this would lead to low self esteem and loss of confidence. This will also affect the child’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Friendships- a child with difficulties in communication will find it very difficult in mingling with the others and hence their friendship with other children will be much compromised and this will lead to losing a lot from the others. Literacy- difficulty in understanding and processing language can lead to delays in acquisition of phonic and reading skills. Adapting the communication methods for these kids Since different children will have varying level of severity, there are different methods that can be employed to individual children to support their problems. Praise the childeren’s efforts- praising a child on what they have done well will raise the child’s self esteem and confidence, hence boosting their participation. Guided activity-Every time you talk with a child with this difficulty, always use a simple language or phrases. Slow down communication- give the child time to listen, think and work on what has been said. Rushing a child may make them think that they have failed. Children will be more likely to answer questions if they feel comfortable and are given the opportunity to participate. Use of visual aids-this could be a very successful strategy for training children with communication difficulties. In everyday’s communication, hand actions and gestures could support a conversation and also engage a child. Visual aids could be used to help children in understanding the day to day routine and making decisions. Conclusion To conclude, I would say it would be important for us to adapt the communication methods for the kids that are well suited for them to develop their good language, speech and the overall communication skills. Adaptation paper Effects of speech and language difficulties in children The choices made The main reason that I chose this topic is because everyone here has come into contact with a child with language, speech or overall communication skills difficulties. So it is very vital for us to understand the difficulties that these kids pass through so that we could be able to help them out of this problem. This is so because we are now the adults that these young ones are looking for help. Hence, it is very vital if we understood these difficulties so that we shall be able to help these children. Through this, I was sure that we shall understand how the language and speech difficulties can really impact on the young one’s overall development. Through this we shall be able to identify the extent of the problem and administer the best possible solutions. Also, one day we were all kids. We have seen many kids grow and hence through this we know the many requirements of a child in learning and the acquisition of communication skills. So I decided to choose on this topic to boost our knowledge on caring for these kids and also to be responsible adults. This is a topic that people think that they know everything that should be done but I had to dig out to come up with facts about it so as to substantiate on what others knew. For instance, on how language, speech and communication will impact on the overall development of the child, one could point out the social, personal and emotional development. This looks at how a child will develop self esteem and confidence and also at how children make decisions and choices. It is really important to learn the ways in which these communication problems could be modified because a kid with a communication and language difficulty may find it vey difficulty to express their preference and needs, and this makes it very difficulty to make their own choices and decisions. So the development of acceptable communication skills is very reliant on the help from the adults like most of my audience. Children may refrain from engaging or entering social institutions where they have difficulties in interacting and participating to the fullest this can adversely affect the their social and emotional difficulties. So it is very vital that I could address this issue. References http://www.ican.org.ukhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talk_to_your_baby/about(http://media.education.gov.uk/MediaFiles/B/1/5/%7BB15EFF0D-A4DF-4294-93A1-1E1B88C13F68%7DTickell%20review.pdf) http://www.istockphoto.com Source document

A Future Teacher’s Philosophy of Education Essay -- Teaching Careers E

A Future Teacher’s Philosophy of Education Education and children have always been a big part of my life. Education was always stressed upon in my house by both parents. It has never been an issue whether or not my brother and I would go to college; it has been a known fact that we would both attend college. With both of my parents being educators, education and children have always been very important in my upbringing. All my life, I have been around children, whether it has been babysitting, tutoring, working at a daycare, or just interacting with the children at my mother’s elementary school. Since I have spent so much of my life around people who work with children, it has become more and more evident to me, that I really want to become a teacher. After I complete my undergraduate degree in elementary education, I plan to start teaching right away and start working on my master’s degree during the summer. I plan to receive a master’s degree in school counseling at a college or university in the northeastern part of the US, since that is where I would like to teach. I personally believe that having an education is very important. For this reason, and since I like to help children, I think that I would make a good teacher and eventually a good school counselor. As a teacher, I want all my students to know that they can succeed and they can do anything they aspire to do. I want my students to know they are each unique in their own ways. I think that it is important for me to give all my students an equal opportunity to learn. I hope to promote better self-esteem in my students. I hope that my students see me as a person who really cares about them and about t... ...believe. As for an overview of what I hope my classroom will look like, since I will be teaching in the lower grades, I would like my classroom to be visually entertaining (fun and colorful) so that my students will be eager to enter my classroom. I want my classroom to be visually entertaining; however, I do not want it so visually entertaining that it will distract my students from the learning process. My students will not sit at individual desks but rather at tables of four or five. Children have always been a major part of my life and through teaching they always will be. I feel the philosophies that I will bring to my classroom will help me to leave a lasting impression on those I teach, just as my parents have done. The only difference from my parents will be that I will be using modern knowledge and techniques in my endeavors.

Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth Essay

Japan achieved sustained growth in per capita income between the 1880s and 1970 through industrialization. Moving along an income growth trajectory through expansion of manufacturing is hardly unique. Indeed Western Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States all attained high levels of income per capita by shifting from agrarian-based production to manufacturing and technologically sophisticated service sector activity. Still, there are four distinctive features of Japan’s development through industrialization that merit discussion: The proto-industrial base Japan’s agricultural productivity was high enough to sustain substantial craft (proto-industrial) production in both rural and urban areas of the country prior to industrialization. Investment-led growth Domestic investment in industry and infrastructure was the driving force behind growth in Japanese output. Both private and public sectors invested in infrastructure, national and local governments serving as coordinating agents for infrastructure build-up. * Investment in manufacturing capacity was largely left to the private sector. * Rising domestic savings made increasing capital accumulation possible. * Japanese growth was investment-led, not export-led. Total factor productivity growth — achieving more output per unit of input — was rapid. On the supply side, total factor productivity growth was extremely important. Scale economies — the reduction in per unit costs due to increased levels of output — contributed to total factor productivity growth. Scale economies existed due to geographic concentration, to growth of the national economy, and to growth in the output of individual companies. In addition, companies moved down the â€Å"learning curve,† reducing unit costs as their cumulative output rose and demand for their product soared. The social capacity for importing and adapting foreign technology improved and this contributed to total factor productivity growth: * At the household level, investing in education of children improved social capability. * At the firm level, creating internalized labor markets that bound firms to workers and workers to firms, thereby giving workers a strong incentive to flexibly adapt to new technology, improved social capability. * At the government level, industrial policy that reduced the cost to private firms of securing foreign technology enhanced social capacity. Shifting out of low-productivity agriculture into high productivity manufacturing, mining, and construction contributed to total factor productivity growth. Dualism Sharply segmented labor and capital markets emerged in Japan after the 1910s. The capital intensive sector enjoying high ratios of capital to labor paid relatively high wages, and the labor intensive sector paid relatively low wages. Dualism contributed to income inequality and therefore to domestic social unrest. After 1945 a series of public policy reforms addressed inequality and erased much of the social bitterness around dualism that ravaged Japan prior to World War II. The remainder of this article will expand on a number of the themes mentioned above. The appendix reviews quantitative evidence concerning these points. The conclusion of the article lists references that provide a wealth of detailed evidence supporting the points above, which this article can only begin to explore. The Legacy of Autarky and the Proto-Industrial Economy: Achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) Why Japan? Given the relatively poor record of countries outside the European cultural area — few achieving the kind of â€Å"catch-up† growth Japan managed between 1880 and 1970 – the question naturally arises: why Japan? After all, when the United States forcibly â€Å"opened Japan† in the 1850s and Japan was forced to cede extra-territorial rights to a number of Western nations as had China earlier in the 1840s, many Westerners and Japanese alike thought Japan’s prospects seemed dim indeed. Tokugawa achievements: urbanization, road networks, rice cultivation, craft production In answering this question, Mosk (2001), Minami (1994) and Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) emphasize the achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) during a long period of â€Å"closed country† autarky between the mid-seventeenth century and the 1850s: a high level of urbanization; well developed road networks; the channeling of river water flow with embankments and the extensive elaboration of irrigation ditches that supported and encouraged the refinement of rice cultivation based upon improving seed varieties, fertilizers and planting methods especially in the Southwest with its relatively long growing season; the development of proto-industrial (craft) production by merchant houses in the major cities like Osaka and Edo (now called Tokyo) and its diffusion to rural areas after 1700; and the promotion of education and population control among both the military elite (the samurai) and the well- to-do peasantry in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Tokugawa political economy: daimyo and shogun These developments were inseparable from the political economy of Japan. The system of confederation government introduced at the end of the fifteenth century placed certain powers in the hands of feudal warlords, daimyo, and certain powers in the hands of the shogun, the most powerful of the warlords. Each daimyo — and the shogun — was assigned a geographic region, a domain, being given taxation authority over the peasants residing in the villages of the domain. Intercourse with foreign powers was monopolized by the shogun, thereby preventing daimyo from cementing alliances with other countries in an effort to overthrow the central government. The samurai military retainers of thedaimyo were forced to abandon rice farming and reside in the castle town headquarters of their daimyo overlord. In exchange, samurai received rice stipends from the rice taxes collected from the villages of their domain. By removingsamurai from the countryside — by demilitarizing rural areas — conflicts over local water rights were largely made a thing of the past. As a result irrigation ditches were extended throughout the valleys, and riverbanks were shored up with stone embankments, facilitating transport and preventing flooding. The sustained growth of proto-industrialization in urban Japan, and its widespread diffusion to villages after 1700 was also inseparable from the productivity growth in paddy rice production and the growing of industrial crops like tea, fruit, mulberry plant growing (that sustained the raising of silk cocoons) and cotton. Indeed, Smith (1988) has given pride of place to these â€Å"domestic sources† of Japan’s future industrial success. Readiness to emulate the West As a result of these domestic advances, Japan was well positioned to take up the Western challenge. It harnessed its infrastructure, its high level of literacy, and its proto-industrial distribution networks to the task of emulating Western organizational forms and Western techniques in energy production, first and foremost enlisting inorganic energy sources like coal and the other fossil fuels to generate steam power. Having intensively developed the organic economy depending upon natural energy flows like wind, water and fire, Japanese were quite prepared to master inorganic production after the Black Ships of the Americans forced Japan to jettison its long-standing autarky. From Balanced to Dualistic Growth, 1887-1938: Infrastructure and Manufacturing Expand Fukoku Kyohei After the Tokugawa government collapsed in 1868, a new Meiji government committed to the twin policies of fukoku kyohei (wealthy country/strong military) took up the challenge of renegotiating its treaties with the Western powers. It created infrastructure that facilitated industrialization. It built a modern navy and army that could keep the Western powers at bay and establish a protective buffer zone in North East Asia that eventually formed the basis for a burgeoning Japanese empire in Asia and the Pacific. Central government reforms in education, finance and transportation Jettisoning the confederation style government of the Tokugawa era, the new leaders of the new Meiji government fashioned a unitary state with powerful ministries consolidating authority in the capital, Tokyo. The freshly minted Ministry of Education promoted compulsory primary schooling for the masses and elite university education aimed at deepening engineering and scientific knowledge. The Ministry of Finance created the Bank of Japan in 1882, laying the foundations for a private banking system backed up a lender of last resort. The government began building a steam railroad trunk line girding the four major islands, encouraging private companies to participate in the project. In particular, the national government committed itself to constructing a Tokaido line connecting the Tokyo/Yokohama region to the Osaka/Kobe conurbation along the Pacific coastline of the main island of Honshu, and to creating deepwater harbors at Yokohama and Kobe that could accommodate deep-hulled steamships. Not surprisingly, the merchants in Osaka, the merchant capital of Tokugawa Japan, already well versed in proto-industrial production, turned to harnessing steam and coal, investing heavily in integrated sp inning and weaving steam-driven textile mills during the 1880s. Diffusion of best-practice agriculture At the same time, the abolition of the three hundred or so feudal fiefs that were the backbone of confederation style-Tokugawa rule and their consolidation into politically weak prefectures, under a strong national government that virtually monopolized taxation authority, gave a strong push to the diffusion of best practice agricultural technique. The nationwide diffusion of seed varieties developed in the Southwest fiefs of Tokugawa Japan spearheaded a substantial improvement in agricultural productivity especially in the Northeast. Simultaneously, expansion of agriculture using traditional Japanese technology agriculture and manufacturing using imported Western technology resulted. Balanced growth Growth at the close of the nineteenth century was balanced in the sense that traditional and modern technology using sectors grew at roughly equal rates, and labor — especially young girls recruited out of farm households to labor in the steam using textile mills — flowed back and forth between rural and urban Japan at wages that were roughly equal in industrial and agricultural pursuits. Geographic economies of scale in the Tokaido belt Concentration of industrial production first in Osaka and subsequently throughout the Tokaido belt fostered powerful geographic scale economies (the ability to reduce per unit costs as output levels increase), reducing the costs of securing energy, raw materials and access to global markets for enterprises located in the great harbor metropolises stretching from the massive Osaka/Kobe complex northward to the teeming Tokyo/Yokohama conurbation. Between 1904 and 1911, electrification mainly due to the proliferation of intercity electrical railroads created economies of scale in the nascent industrial belt facing outward onto the Pacific. The consolidation of two huge hydroelectric power grids during the 1920s — one servicing Tokyo/Yokohama, the other Osaka and Kobe — further solidified the comparative advantage of the Tokaido industrial belt in factory production. Finally, the widening and paving during the 1920s of roads that could handle buses and trucks was also pione ered by the great metropolises of the Tokaido, which further bolstered their relative advantage in per capita infrastructure. Organizational economies of scale — zaibatsu In addition to geographic scale economies, organizational scale economies also became increasingly important in the late nineteenth centuries. The formation of the zaibatsu (â€Å"financial cliques†), which gradually evolved into diversified industrial combines tied together through central holding companies, is a case in point. By the 1910s these had evolved into highly diversified combines, binding together enterprises in banking and insurance, trading companies, mining concerns, textiles, iron and steel plants, and machinery manufactures. By channeling profits from older industries into new lines of activity like electrical machinery manufacturing, the zaibatsu form of organization generated scale economies in finance, trade and manufacturing, drastically reducing information-gathering and transactions costs. By attracting relatively scare managerial and entrepreneurial talent, the zaibatsu format economized on human resources. Electrification The push into electrical machinery production during the 1920s had a revolutionary impact on manufacturing. Effective exploitation of steam power required the use of large central steam engines simultaneously driving a large number of machines — power looms and mules in a spinning/weaving plant for instance – throughout a factory. Small enterprises did not mechanize in the steam era. But with electrification the â€Å"unit drive† system of mechanization spread. Each machine could be powered up independently of one another. Mechanization spread rapidly to the smallest factory. Emergence of the dualistic economy With the drive into heavy industries — chemicals, iron and steel, machinery — the demand for skilled labor that would flexibly respond to rapid changes in technique soared. Large firms in these industries began offering premium wages and guarantees of employment in good times and bad as a way of motivating and holding onto valuable workers. A dualistic economy emerged during the 1910s. Small firms, light industry and agriculture offered relatively low wages. Large enterprises in the heavy industries offered much more favorable remuneration, extending paternalistic benefits like company housing and company welfare programs to their â€Å"internal labor markets.† As a result a widening gulf opened up between the great metropolitan centers of the Tokaido and rural Japan. Income per head was far higher in the great industrial centers than in the hinterland. Clashing urban/rural and landlord/tenant interests The economic strains of emergent dualism were amplified by the slowing down of technological progress in the agricultural sector, which had exhaustively reaped the benefits due to regional diffusion from the Southwest to the Northeast of best practice Tokugawa rice cultivation. Landlords — around 45% of the cultivable rice paddy land in Japan was held in some form of tenancy at the beginning of the twentieth century — who had played a crucial role in promoting the diffusion of traditional best practice techniques now lost interest in rural affairs and turned their attention to industrial activities. Tenants also found their interests disregarded by the national authorities in Tokyo, who were increasingly focused on supplying cheap foodstuffs to the burgeoning industrial belt by promoting agricultural production within the empire that it was assembling through military victories. Japan secured Taiwan from China in 1895, and formally brought Korea under its imperial rule in 1910 upon the heels of its successful war against Russia in 1904-05. Tenant unions reacted to this callous disrespect of their needs through violence. Landlord/tenant disputes broke out in the early 1920s, and continued to plague Japan politically throughout the 1930s, calls for land reform and bureaucratic proposals for reform being rejected by a Diet (Japan’s legislature) politically dominated by landlords. Japan’s military expansion Japan’s thrust to imperial expansion was inflamed by the growing instability of the geopolitical and international trade regime of the later 1920s and early 1930s. The relative decline of the United Kingdom as an economic power doomed a gold standard regime tied to the British pound. The United States was becoming a potential contender to the United Kingdom as the backer of a gold standard regime but its long history of high tariffs and isolationism deterred it from taking over leadership in promoting global trade openness. Germany and the Soviet Union were increasingly becoming industrial and military giants on the Eurasian land mass committed to ideologies hostile to the liberal democracy championed by the United Kingdom and the United States. It was against this international backdrop that Japan began aggressively staking out its claim to being the dominant military power in East Asia and the Pacific, thereby bringing it into conflict with the United States and the United K ingdom in the Asian and Pacific theaters after the world slipped into global warfare in 1939. Reform and Reconstruction in a New International Economic Order, Japan after World War II Postwar occupation: economic and institutional restructuring Surrendering to the United States and its allies in 1945, Japan’s economy and infrastructure was revamped under the S.C.A.P (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) Occupation lasting through 1951. As Nakamura (1995) points out, a variety of Occupation-sponsored reforms transformed the institutional environment conditioning economic performance in Japan. The major zaibatsu were liquidated by the Holding Company Liquidation Commission set up under the Occupation (they were revamped as keiretsu corporate groups mainly tied together through cross-shareholding of stock in the aftermath of the Occupation); land reform wiped out landlordism and gave a strong push to agricultural productivity through mechanization of rice cultivation; and collective bargaining, largely illegal under the Peace Preservation Act that was used to suppress union organizing during the interwar period, was given the imprimatur of constitutional legality. Finally, education was opened up, partly through making middle school compulsory, partly through the creation of national universities in each of Japan’s forty-six prefectures. Improvement in the social capability for economic growth In short, from a domestic point of view, the social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology was improved with the reforms in education and the fillip to competition given by the dissolution of the zaibatsu. Resolving tension between rural and urban Japan through land reform and the establishment of a rice price support program — that guaranteed farmers incomes comparable to blue collar industrial workers — also contributed to the social capacity to absorb foreign technology by suppressing the political divisions between metropolitan and hinterland Japan that plagued the nation during the interwar years. Japan and the postwar international order The revamped international economic order contributed to the social capability of importing and adapting foreign technology. The instability of the 1920s and 1930s was replaced with replaced with a relatively predictable bipolar world in which the United States and the Soviet Union opposed each other in both geopolitical and ideological arenas. The United States became an architect of multilateral architecture designed to encourage trade through its sponsorship of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the predecessor to the World Trade Organization). Under the logic of building military alliances to contain Eurasian Communism, the United States brought Japan under its â€Å"nuclear umbrella† with a bilateral security treaty. American companies were encouraged to license technology to Japanese companies in the new international environment. Japan redirected its trade away from the areas that had been incorporated into the Japanese Empire before 1945, and towards the huge and expanding American market. Miracle Growth: Soaring Domestic Investment and Export Growth, 1953-1970 Its infrastructure revitalized through the Occupation period reforms, its capacity to import and export enhanced by the new international economic order, and its access to American technology bolstered through its security pact with the United States, Japan experienced the dramatic â€Å"Miracle Growth† between 1953 and the early 1970s whose sources have been cogently analyzed by Denison and Chung (1976). Especially striking in the Miracle Growth period was the remarkable increase in the rate of domestic fixed capital formation, the rise in the investment proportion being matched by a rising savings rate whose secular increase — especially that of private household savings – has been well documented and analyzed by Horioka (1991). While Japan continued to close the gap in income per capita between itself and the United States after the early 1970s, most scholars believe that large Japanese m anufacturing enterprises had by and large become internationally competitive by the early 1970s. In this sense it can be said that Japan had completed its nine decade long convergence to international competitiveness through industrialization by the early 1970s. MITI There is little doubt that the social capacity to import and adapt foreign technology was vastly improved in the aftermath of the Pacific War. Creating social consensus with Land Reform and agricultural subsidies reduced political divisiveness, extending compulsory education and breaking up the zaibatsu had a positive impact. Fashioning the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (M.I.T.I.) that took responsibility for overseeing industrial policy is also viewed as facilitating Japan’s social capability. There is no doubt that M.I.T.I. drove down the cost of securing foreign technology. By intervening between Japanese firms and foreign companies, it acted as a single buyer of technology, playing off competing American and European enterprises in order to reduce the royalties Japanese concerns had to pay on technology licenses. By keeping domestic patent periods short, M.I.T.I. encouraged rapid diffusion of technology. And in some cases — the experience of International Business Machines (I.B.M.), enjoying a virtual monopoly in global mainframe computer markets during the 1950s and early 1960s, is a classical case — M.I.T.I. made it a condition of entry into the Japanese market (through the creation of a subsidiary Japan I.B.M. in the case of I.B.M.) that foreign companies share many of their technological secrets with potential Japanese competitors. How important industrial policy was for Miracle Growth remains controversial, however. The view of Johnson (1982), who hails industrial policy as a pillar of the Japanese Development State (government promoting economic growth through state policies) has been criticized and revised by subsequent scholars. The book by Uriu (1996) is a case in point. Internal labor markets, just-in-time inventory and quality control circles Furthering the internalization of labor markets — the premium wages and long-term employment guarantees largely restricted to white collar workers were extended to blue collar workers with the legalization of unions and collective bargaining after 1945 — also raised the social capability of adapting foreign technology. Internalizing labor created a highly flexible labor force in post-1950 Japan. As a result, Japanese workers embraced many of the key ideas of Just-in-Time inventory control and Quality Control circles in assembly industries, learning how to do rapid machine setups as part and parcel of an effort to produce components â€Å"just-in-time† and without defect. Ironically, the concepts of just-in-time and quality control were originally developed in the United States, just-in-time methods being pioneered by supermarkets and quality control by efficiency experts like W. Edwards Deming. Yet it was in Japan that these concepts were relentlessly pursued to revolutionize assembly line industries during the 1950s and 1960s. Ultimate causes of the Japanese economic â€Å"miracle† Miracle Growth was the completion of a protracted historical process involving enhancing human capital, massive accumulation of physical capital including infrastructure and private manufacturing capacity, the importation and adaptation of foreign technology, and the creation of scale economies, which took decades and decades to realize. Dubbed a miracle, it is best seen as the reaping of a bountiful harvest whose seeds were painstakingly planted in the six decades between 1880 and 1938. In the course of the nine decades between the 1880s and 1970, Japan amassed and lost a sprawling empire, reorienting its trade and geopolitical stance through the twists and turns of history. While the ultimate sources of growth can be ferreted out through some form of statistical accounting, the specific way these sources were marshaled in practice is inseparable from the history of Japan itself and of the global environment within which it has realized its industrial destiny. Appendix: Sources of Growth Accounting and Quantitative Aspects of Japan’s Modern Economic Development One of the attractions of studying Japan’s post-1880 economic development is the abundance of quantitative data documenting Japan’s growth. Estimates of Japanese income and output by sector, capital stock and labor force extend back to the 1880s, a period when Japanese income per capita was low. Consequently statistical probing of Japan’s long-run growth from relative poverty to abundance is possible. The remainder of this appendix is devoted to introducing the reader to the vast literature on quantitative analysis of Japan’s economic development from the 1880s until 1970, a nine decade period during which Japanese income per capita converged towards income per capita levels in Western Europe. As the reader will see, this discussion confirms the importance of factors discussed at the outset of this article. Our initial touchstone is the excellent â€Å"sources of growth† accounting analysis carried out by Denison and Chung (1976) on Japan’s growth between 1953 and 1971. Attributing growth in national income in growth of inputs, the factors of production — capital and labor — and growth in output per unit of the two inputs combined (total factor productivity) along the following lines: G(Y) = { a G(K) + [1-a] G(L) } + G (A) where G(Y) is the (annual) growth of national output, g(K) is the growth rate of capital services, G(L) is the growth rate of labor services, a is capital’s share in national income (the share of income accruing to owners of capital), and G(A) is the growth of total factor productivity, is a standard approach used to approximate the sources of growth of income. Using a variant of this type of decomposition that takes into account improvements in the quality of capital and labor, estimates of scale economies and adjustments for structural change (shifting labor out of agriculture helps explain why total factor productivity grows), Denison and Chung (1976) generate a useful set of estimates for Japan’s Miracle Growth era. Operating with this â€Å"sources of growth† approach and proceeding under a variety of plausible assumptions, Denison and Chung (1976) estimate that of Japan’s average annual real national income growth of 8.77 % over 1953-71, input growth accounted for 3.95% (accounting for 45% of total growth) and growth in output per unit of input contributed 4.82% (accounting for 55% of total growth). To be sure, the precise assumptions and techniques they use can be criticized. The precise numerical results they arrive at can be argued over. Still, their general point — that Japan’s growth was the result of improvements in the quality of factor inputs — health and education for workers, for instance — and improvements in the way these inputs are utilized in production — due to technological and organizational change, reallocation of resources from agriculture to non-agriculture, and scale economies, is defensible. Notes: [a] Maddison (2000) provides estimates of real income that take into account the purchasing power of national currencies. [b] Ohkawa (1979) gives estimates for the â€Å"N† sector that is defined as manufacturing and mining (Ma) plus construction plus facilitating industry (transport, communications and utilities). It should be noted that the concept of an â€Å"N† sector is not standard in the field of economics. [c] The estimates of trade are obtained by adding merchandise imports to merchandise exports. Trade openness is estimated by taking the ratio of total (merchandise) trade to national output, the latter defined as Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.). The trade figures include trade with Japan’s empire (Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, etc.); the income figures for Japan exclude income generated in the empire. [d] The Human Development Index is a composite variable formed by adding together indices for educational attainment, for health (using life expectancy that is inversely related to the level of the infant mortality rate, the IMR), and for real per capita income. For a detailed discussion of this index see United Nations Development Programme (2000). [e] Electrical generation is measured in million kilowatts generated and supplied. For 1970, the figures on NHK subscribers are for television subscribers. The symbol n.a. = not available. Sources: The figures in this table are taken from various pages and tables in Japan Statistical Association (1987), Maddison (2000), Minami (1994), and Ohkawa (1979). Flowing from this table are a number of points that bear lessons of the Denison and Chung (1976) decomposition. One cluster of points bears upon the timing of Japan’s income per capita growth and the relationship of manufacturing expansion to income growth. Another highlights improvements in the quality of the labor input. Yet another points to the overriding importance of domestic investment in manufacturing and the lesser significance of trade demand. A fourth group suggests that infrastructure has been important to economic growth and industrial expansion in Japan, as exemplified by the figures on electricity generating capacity and the mass diffusion of communications in the form of radio and television broadcasting. Several parts of Table 1 point to industrialization, defined as an increase in the proportion of output (and labor force) attributable to manufacturing and mining, as the driving force in explaining Japan’s income per capita growth. Notable in Panels A and B of the table is that the gap between Japanese and American income per capita closed most decisively during the 1910s, the 1930s, and the 1960s, precisely the periods when manufacturing expansion was the most vigorous. Equally noteworthy of the spurts of the 1910s, 1930s and the 1960s is the overriding importance of gross domestic fixed capital formation, that is investment, for growth in demand. By contrast, trade seems much less important to growth in demand during these critical decades, a point emphasized by both Minami (1994) and by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973). The notion that Japanese growth was â€Å"export led† during the nine decades between 1880 and 1970 when Japan caught up technologically with the leading Western nations is not defensible. Rather, domestic capital investment seems to be the driving force behind aggregate demand expansion. The periods of especially intense capital formation were also the periods when manufacturing production soared. Capital formation in manufacturing, or in infrastructure supporting manufacturing expansion, is the main agent pushing long-run income per capita growth. Why? As Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) argue, spurts in manufacturing capital formation were associated with the import and adaptation of foreign technology, especially from the United States These investment spurts were also associated with shifts of labor force out of agriculture and into manufacturing, construction and facilitating sectors where labor productivity was far higher than it was in labor-intensive farming centered around labor-intensive rice cultivation. The logic of productivity gain due to more efficient allocation of labor resources is apparent from the right hand column of Panel A in Table 1. Finally, Panel C of Table 1 suggests that infrastructure investment that facilitated health and educational attainment (combined public and private expenditure on sanitation, schools and research laboratories), and public/private investment in physical infrastructure including dams and hydroelectric power grids helped fuel the expansion of manufacturing by improving human capital and by reducing the costs of transportation, communications and energy supply faced by private factories. Mosk (2001) argues that investments in human-capital-enhancing (medicine, public health and education), financial (banking) and physical infrastructure (harbors, roads, power grids, railroads and communications) laid the groundwork for industrial expansions. Indeed, the â€Å"social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology† emphasized by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) can be largely explained by an infrastructure-driven growth hypothesis like that given by Mosk (2001). In sum, Denison and Chung (1976) argue that a combination of input factor improvement and growth in output per combined factor inputs account for Japan’s most rapid spurt of economic growth. Table 1 suggests that labor quality improved because health was enhanced and educational attainment increased; that investment in manufacturing was important not only because it increased capital stock itself but also because it reduced dependence on agriculture and went hand in glove with improvements in knowledge; and that the social capacity to absorb and adapt Western technology that fueled improvements in knowledge was associated with infrastructure investment. References Denison, Edward and William Chung. â€Å"Economic Growth and Its Sources.† In Asia’s Next Giant: How the Japanese Economy Works, edited by Hugh Patrick and Henry Rosovsky, 63-151. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1976. Horioka, Charles Y. â€Å"Future Trends in Japan’s Savings Rate and the Implications Thereof for Japan’s External Imbalance.†Japan and the World Economy 3 (1991): 307-330. Japan Statistical Association. Historical Statistics of Japan [Five Volumes]. Tokyo: Japan Statistical Association, 1987. Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982. Maddison, Angus. Monitoring the World Economy, 1820-1992. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2000. Minami, Ryoshin. Economic Development of Japan: A Quantitative Study. [Second edition]. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press, 1994. Mitchell, Brian. International Hi storical Statistics: Africa and Asia. New York: New York University Press, 1982. Mosk, Carl. Japanese Industrial History: Technology, Urbanization, and Economic Growth. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. Nakamura, Takafusa. The Postwar Japanese Economy: Its Development and Structure, 1937-1994. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1995. Ohkawa, Kazushi. â€Å"Production Structure.† In Patterns of Japanese Economic Development: A Quantitative Appraisal, edited by Kazushi Ohkawa and Miyohei Shinohara with Larry Meissner, 34-58. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Ohkawa, Kazushi and Henry Rosovsky. Japanese Economic Growth: Trend Acceleration in the Twentieth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973. Smith, Thomas. Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization, 1750-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Uriu, Robert. Troubled Industries: Confronting Economic Challenge in Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Report, 2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Citation: Mosk, Carl. â€Å"Japan, Industrialization and Economic Growth†. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. January 18, 2004. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/mosk.japan.final

Letter Opinion and Suggestions to Restaurant

I am writing to commend on your new opened McDonald's restaurant in Rzeszow, which I recently had opportunity to visit. I am a regular guest in your chain of restaurants so it was pleasure for me to hear that the new one is situated near my living place. Moreover, standard of this branch did not disappointed my expectations. I was positively surprised that the staff was very friendly and helpful. They serve food as quick as it is possible with a smile and nice attitude. I truly appreciate the fact that meals are hot, fresh and in available prices. Additionaly, I noticed many tills which makes ordering easier and helps to avoid queues. Arrangement of sits supposed to be highlighted as well. In my opinion there is a lot of space with many tables. That enables customers to enjoy their meals in comfortable and calm atmosphere. I may say that colours and decoration appeal to me and help to relax during the visit. I think all these aspects are worth minding becouse they make people come back again. However, there are few minor details which might be done in slightly different way. I would feel much more satisfied when my order would be brought to the table by a staff member. It does not require much effort but would make a visit more pleasing. Moreover, I noticed that some tables were not cleaned, this is definitely duty of a staff. Finally, I would like to mention one more issue: when I had to go to the toilet I found that it is needed to enter a code from a receipt to get in. It seems quite strange to me and should be changed. I hope these suggestions will be taken into consideration and help you to improve standard of your restaurant. I am sure that I will be your regular customer and I hope that every next visit will be as pleasant as the last one. I wish you great success and many customers in this place.

buy custom Effects of Administration Failure on Torture essay

buy custom Effects of Administration Failure on Torture essay Introduction There have been a lot of humans being abused in Iraq after its invasion by the US. These human tortures were being committed by the US military in conjunction with other intelligence agencies. There was wide spread of torture with the Iraq interior ministry subjecting the prisoners to torture. There are circumstanced under which the countries involved in the invasion must be held accountable for the immoral acts that were inflicted to the Iraq prisoners. The military were using torture as a method of obtaining intelligent information from the prisoners, and they would routinely inflict physical and mental injuries to the prisoners. The acts of tortures were known by the various department of the command. These departments never took any steps in preventing the abuses by the military to the prisoners. The account of the soldiers is a clear indication of how there was the failure by the administration to insist on the adherence of law to its military personnel, which may have been the contributor to the prisoners torture by the US soldiers. The individuals cognitive moral development is the stage that determines how ethical dilemmas are thought by individuals in deciding what is right or wrong in a situation (Trevino, 1986). The military effort to conduct investigation is seen as to target the junior officers not regarding the upper chain of command. There were several reason why there was a wide spread of abuse of prisoners in Iraq as there was no leadership guidance to these prison camps. These abuses to the Iraq prisoners were emanating far up the chain of command of the US administration, and the refusal to a dhere to the international convection on the proper treatment of war prisoners (UniversalPeriodicReview, 2010). The most damaging violation of human right is torture which, has been declared by the UN to be inherent violator of human right. There has been a tremendous use of torture to prisoners around the world. The physical and mental sufferings are usually inflicted with the purpose of obtaining information or confession by the victims. The aftermath of torture is suffering from the psychological trauma, though there are instances by which some victims prove to be better off in coping with the trauma (Gamble, 2011). The torture victims with positive attitudes of recovery from torture, become less anxious, and thus they are perfect in adjusting to the society. The psychological effects also have the tendency of affecting those who commit these acts, although it is not well known the psychological effects to those who commit torture. The torture acts that were committed to the Iraq prisoners of war were propagated by the fact that; the governments that were involved in the invasion of Iraq failed to prevent the prisoners from inhuman treatment by their soldiers. This was due to the extent of the job which has an impact to the individual moral development (Trevino, 1986). Under the CAT regulation, US government was under obligation to prevent these abuses. The breach of the CAT regulations by the US government indicates that it was responsible for allowing the torturing of these prisoners. The requirement of the international laws, in respect to the human rights provides that, the occupying country has the responsbility to the country occupied of which, the US and its allies failed to provide (Carayon, 2007). The Iraq prisoners were subjecte d to violation by the US troops, describing it to be plans of enhancing security to the forces. The situations that the prisoners were subjected were intolerable and inhuman, as the arrests were unwarranted for (UniversalPeriodicReview, 2010). The prisoners were not allowed to access counsel at the times of interrogations, which were conducted by the same units of arresting. There was an increase in involvement of intelligence personnel in cases of murder, which was as a result of torture, with a phenomenon of bodies scattered in the country, with signs of torture. There was a continued deteriorating of the camps conditions and inhuman treatment of these prisoners. There was the lack of the camps administration involvement which had an effect of delaying the prisoners cases, thus extending the review of their cases. The increasing number of the judicial authorities and the personnel did not have an effect that could facilitate the completion of the detainees cases. This did not aid in solving the problem due to the continued arrests by the authorities (UniversalPeriodicReview, 2010). The US occupational forces were using the ugliest methods of interrogation to the prisoners, and yet they were not able to charge them of any crime, thus handing them to the next cycle of suffering under the Iraq authority. The victims released by the occupational forces were then rearrested by the Iraq authority, rendering them again to torture. There was a wide spread phenomenon of the systematic abuses of the prisoners that included torture and inhuman degrading treatment by the US interrogators. The behaviors of the soldiers were with a particular cognitive level, but their morals in the social context were influenced by the situation. this led to them committing act that were unethical though it was not an individual character (Trevino, 1986).This was a revelation of how the US administration had established a camp for Iraq prisoners mistreatment, and deaths that were as a result of torture. There was an indicator that these illegal means were perpetrated by the US administration through the military forces. The feature of impunity was dominant, as all the perpetrators of the abuses were immune which they received in advance by the officials of the US administration, to adopt a variety of methods to the prisoners. The procedures that were taken by the US regarding their accountability to the abuses, was propagated to abs orb the peoples anger, and later the charges were either dropped or lighter sentences were handed, which hardly matched the crimes of atrocities that were committed. There were no efforts by the military to conduct investigations that were broader; that would focus how the command chain involved in perpetrating the reported abuses. The abuses were even committed by the US best trained, and respected units and this describes how the techniques of interrogating were known to the officers in higher offices, as they were ordered by the military intelligence (HumanRightWatch, 2005). Guidance on how the military was supposed to treat the prisoners was not effective as it lacked the key elements to guide the soldiers relations with the prisoners. The administration of the US did not insist on its military personnel on the recognized, lawful and standards that are well defined, and this contributed to the torturing of the prisoners. The confusion of the ranks due to legal sanctions that exposed the soldiers when there was an occurrence of abuses. This changed the way and positions of those who wished to act honorably, due to the betrayal by the policies in place to soldiers (HumanRightWatch, 2005). The US administration had decided not to apply the Geneva Convention, even though it was stating that the convention was in effect. The prisoners torture was used as a mean of releasing stress by the military personnel as they would visit the prisoners camp while off duty to torture them. The treatment of the detainees was directed by the military intelligence and the officers that were in charge of the guards. This would in turn change the good people to become bad due to the situations they are subjected at the camps (Zimbardo). The safeguarding of the prisoners wads supposed to be undertaken by the military police, as it was accorded by the army field manual, and the maintaining of these captives. The repression of the soldiers by their command made them to turn to inhuman acts. The use of soldiers to safeguard the prisoners and preparation of them for interrogation was indeed a violation of the manual, instead of them being looked after by the military police. Failure of the leadership to provide good had led the soldiers themselves to deve4lop policies that they adopted in preparation of the prisoners for interrogation, as anything that was allowed to, happen had to happen, and this entire trend were acceptable (Carayon, 2007). Most of the military personnel used the aspect of human nature when torturing the prisoners, as they had gained the authority in handling the prisoners. The soldiers in Iraq were not interacting with the intelligent agencies on the various methods employed in stressing prisoners. Subjection to this situation enhanced the military learn on stressing changing their moral behaviors. The interrogation ugly, but the military became accustomed. This was due to lack of moral resources as there were no preventive measures for immoral behavi or thus, lack of respect and sympathy to others leading to committing of atrocities. This had an adverse effect to soldiers as they turned to the prison camps to drain their frustration on the prisoners. Conclusion The US administration was thus responsible for not preventing these acts of abuse by its military as it had disregarded the Geneva Convention, arguing that they convention was not effective in pursuance of the terrorists. This decision was the main influence to inhumane treatment of the prisoners in Iraq by the US forces. There was no adherence to the rule of law that concerned treatment of prisoners of war. The disregard of the Geneva Convention precisely, led the US forces in Iraq to apply basic rules while handling the prisoners, which in essence lacked ethic as this was a form of dehumanization. The influence of behavior and control are enhanced by the situation, and this helps in understanding and recognition of the social structure and situations. Buy custom Effects of Administration Failure on Torture essay

The Legend of the Chevy Nova That Wouldnt Go

The Legend of the Chevy Nova That Wouldn't Go If youve ever taken a class in marketing, chances are youve heard how Chevrolet had problems selling the Chevy Nova automobile in Latin America. Since no va means it doesnt go in Spanish, the oft-repeated story goes, Latin American car buyers shunned the car, forcing Chevrolet to embarrassingly pull the car out of the market. But the Problem With the Story Is... Chevrolets woes are often cited as an example of how good intentions can go wrong when it comes to translation. There are literally thousands of references to the incident on the Internet, and the Nova example has been mentioned in textbooks and often comes up during presentations on cultural differences and advertising. But theres one major problem with the story: It never happened. As a matter of fact, Chevrolet did reasonably well with the Nova in Latin America, even exceeding its sales projections in Venezuela. The story of the Chevy Nova is a classic example of an urban legend, a story that is told and retold so often that it is believed to be true even though it isnt. Like most other urban legends, there is some element of truth in the story (no va indeed means it doesnt go), enough truth to keep the story alive. Like many urban legends, the story has the appeal of showing how the high and mighty can be humiliated by stupid mistakes. Even if you couldnt confirm or reject the story by looking into history, you might notice some problems with it if you understand Spanish. For starters, nova and no va dont sound alike and are unlikely to be confused, just as carpet and car pet are unlikely to be confused in English. Additionally, no va would be an awkward way in Spanish to describe a nonfunctioning car (no funciona, among others, would do better). Additionally, as in English, nova, when used in a brand name, can convey a sense of newness. Theres even a Mexican gasoline that goes by that brand name, so it seems unlikely such a name alone could doom a car. Other Spanish Mistranslation Legends GM, of course, isnt the only company to be cited as making advertising blunders in the Spanish language. But upon closer examination, many of these tales of mistranslation prove to be as unlikely  as the one involving GM. Here are some of those stories. The Tale  of the Vulgar Pen Story: Parker Pen intended to use the slogan it wont stain your pocket and embarrass you, to emphasize how its pens wouldnt leak, translating it as no manchar tu bolsillo, ni te embarazar. But embarazar  means to be pregnant rather than to embarrass. So the slogan was understood as it wont stain your pocket and get you pregnant. Comment: Anyone who learns much about Spanish learns quickly about such common mistakes as confusing embarazada (pregnant) for embarrassed. For a professional to make this translating mistake seems highly unlikely. Wrong Kind of Milk Story: A Spanish version of the Got Milk? campaign used  ¿Tienes leche?, which can be understood as Are you lactating? Comment: This might have happened, but no verification has been found. Many such promotional campaigns are locally run, making it more likely this understandable mistake could have been made. Wrong Kind of Loose Story: Coors translated the slogan turn it loose in a beer ad in such a way that it was understood as slang for suffer from diarrhea. Comment: Reports differ on whether Coors used the phrase suà ©ltalo con Coors (literally, let it go loose with Coors) or suà ©ltate con Coors (literally, set yourself free with Coors). The fact that accounts dont agree with each other make it seem unlikely that the mistake actually happened. No-Coffee Coffee Story: Nestlà © was unable to sell Nescafà © instant coffee in Latin America because the name is understood as No es cafà © or It isnt coffee. Comment: Unlike most of the other accounts, this story is demonstrably false. Nestlà © not only sells instant coffee under that name in Spain and Latin America, but it also operates coffee shops with that name. Also, while consonants are often softened in Spanish, vowels are usually distinct, so nes is unlikely to be confused for no es. Misplaced Affection Story: A slogan for Frank Perdue chicken, it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken, was translated as the equivalent of it takes a sexually aroused man to make a chicken affectionate. Comment: Like tender, tierno can mean either soft or affectionate. The accounts differ on the phrase used to translate a strong man. One account uses the phrase un tipo duro (literally, a hard chap), which seems extremely unlikely.