Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Reflecting On Practice in Professional Experience Essay

Reflecting On Practice in Professional Experience - Essay Example With lofty ideals, its vision is to produce thinking, articulate and enriched young adults through the facilitation of an excellent teaching staff and state of the art facilities and equipment. The school maintains harmonious relationships between the teachers, students, faculty and the parent community which is one key to stimulated learning in the students because stakeholders cooperate to provide students with productive learning experiences (from school website). Apart from delivering high quality education, students are encouraged to develop their potentials to optimum levels with several opportunities in various school events, clubs and other extra-curricular activities. Their learning is well-invested into, and on my first day, I was already impressed with the provisions for the students: â€Å"Overall, from what I have observed on the first day, this school seems to have more funding due to the large number of students they have here. The school were very multi-cultural due to the surge of the migrants to this area. There were too many students that some classes are being held in the library. There are many newly-built portable classrooms and most of which are the smart, eco-friendly classrooms. This is to cater for the booming population in this area. I could also see that they are installing some new LED TVs in a lot of classrooms too. They had also had a brand new VCE Centre for senior students to study there with some new computers, a tearoom equipped with oven, microwave, dishwasher as well as two BBQ stoves outside.† (Journal notes, Day 1). However, much of what the students will learn will greatly depend on the quality of the teachers and the education they provide. Teachers need to be adept in knowing the students as learners and how they learn and thrive within various social contexts. They also need to have an understanding of the subject matter which they teach and the skills that their students need to develop as well as an understand ing of how to teach the content and adapt it to the learners’ context. This, they learn from assessing the students and supported by a conducive learning environment (National Academy of Education Committee on Teacher Education, 2005). The specific learning context of the class I taught was for a Year 10 LOTE (Language Other Than English) – Chinese class. These students in this class were all from Asian backgrounds but learn Chinese as their second language. Most of them grew up in Australia and have limited opportunities to speak the Chinese language or Chinese dialects with their family. Most of the students come from middle-class families. Their parents’ occupation and attitude have great impact on the students’ personalities and behaviour. I have observed that some students with parents working in more corporate settings and exposed to multicultural workmates tend to be more eager to learn Chinese in order to survive in an increasingly globalized worl d. Table 3: Students as Learners. Section 2: Planning and Teaching Planning The tasks planned were for a Year 10 class of mostly sixteen year old adolescents, It was for a LOTE subject with Chinese language as the learning area. Veering away from more traditional strategies such as reliance on textbooks, recitation, quizzes and examinations, I have designed some learning tasks that incorporated the use of ICT and involved active learning experiences on

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Determining Ethanol in Fermented Glutinous Rice

Determining Ethanol in Fermented Glutinous Rice 1.0 Introduction Fermented glutinous rice is a popular dessert among Malaysian consumers. It consist of carbohydrate such as rice and it need to be fermented for a few days until the glucose have been converted into the ethanol, carbon dioxide and energy whereas it signs is when the taste is sweet flavor. Cassava also can be fermented. Both of dishes served mostly in Southeast Asia. When the processes are completed, commonly the fermented glutinous rice will be wrapped in banana leaves. During the fermentation process, it most often done by a product called ‘ragi’. However, the consumption of fermented glutinous rice had rise the halal issue among the Muslim community. It is because the ethanol content that is produced during the fermentation is 5% which is similar to the concentration of ethanol in alcoholic beverages such as beers. As we know, the value of alcohol can be contained in the food that had been stated by JAKIM is 0.01% only. As we know, when a lot of alcohol are consumed, i t can affect our health and can caused death. There are many analytical methods that had been studied by researchers to determine the alcohol contained in food. Thus, FTIR spectroscopic had been chosen based on the easiest, low time consuming and low cost for determination of alcohol in fermented glutinous rice. Thus, it can give a contribution by providing the alcohol content for the sake of Muslim. 2.0 Rice The staple food for nearly two-thirds of the world’s population is rice (Oriza sativa L.). According to Arendt (2013), in 2010, China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar alone provided more than 75% of the world’s total rice production. As we know, the lowest protein content of all the cereals is rice but it also highly nutritious among others. It is rich in carbohydrates. There are many ways that it can be consumed by the consumers. For instance, in the form of puffed rice, noodles, snack foods and fermented sweet rice. To make bakery products, sauces, infant foods, breakfast cereals, alcoholic beverages and vinegar, it also can be used. 2.1 Fermentation Fermentation is one of the natural processes. According to Theresa (2014), when organisms convert nutrients for example carbohydrate such as starch and sugar into an acid (lactic acid and acetic acid) or an alcohol, it is called as energy-yielding anaerobic metabolic process which is occurs in fermentation. For instances, to obtain energy, yeast will perform fermentation by converting the sugar into the alcohol. Many people all around the world use fermentation to produce products such as wines, cheese and beers. It is also known as one of the historical biotechnological processes. 2.2 Fermented Glutinous Rice Tapai or also known as fermented glutinous rice is one of the Malaysian favorite dessert. It is come from Indonesia and Malaysia. Actually it is sour and sweet alcoholic paste, have a very pleasant aroma and it also can be used directly as a food or in traditional recipe. Normally, it is wrapped with rubber tree leaves or banana leaves. It can be made from carbohydrate sources such as cassava, glutinous rice or white rice. It have to undergo fermentation process which is performed by many types of moulds including Rhizopus oryzae, Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae or Mucor species, and including yeast for example Saccharomycopsis fibuliger, Endomycopsis burtonii and others,along with the bacteria. Besides, tapai also can be used to produce alcoholic beverages. Figure 1: example of fermented glutinous rice 2.3 Preparation Of Fermented Glutinous Rice To produce fermented glutinous rice, the ingredient needed is glutinous rice, yeast and sugar. The procedures are as follow: The glutinous rice was washed and soaked it overnight Glutinous rice will be cooked . After it had been cooked well, we need to cool it. After it has cooled, the yeast was pounded and then sprinkled it on the top of cooked rice. sugar was mixed with water and sprinkle each layer of rice with water to start the fermentation The rice was packed in layers into a tight container. Each of the layer was sprinkled with some sugar water to allow the fermentation proces. It will take about 2 days for fermentation occurred. After 2 days, there will be a bit liquid in the bottom of the container. At this time, the fermentation is complete. The liquid which collects at the bottom of container is called brem (rice wine). Originally it have a low alcohol content after fermentation in a few days but if it continued fermented, the alcohol content will increase. Yeast will carried out both anaerobic respiration and aerobic respiration. In the fermentation in of yeast, anaerobic respiration is occurred which is the yeast will secrete the enzyme zymase (Ali et al, 2012). According to Ali et al (2012), this enzyme will hydrolyse glucose to form the ethanol, energy and carbon dioxide in the absence of the oxygen Glucose → Ethanol + Carbon Dioxide + Energy The enzyme can speed up the fermentatation process and only a small amount of enegy used. Therefore, in ethanol there is a large amount of energy stored as chemical energy due to the incomplete broken down of glucose in anerobic respiration. 3.0 The Importance of Determination of Alcohol In western countries, there are a lot of alcoholic beverages for example beers, wines and distilled spirit drinks. A drink that typically containing below 60% v/v of ethyl alcohol is known as an alcoholic beverage (Gallignani et al,2005). There are three main classes of alcoholic beverages which are wines, beers and distilled spirit. Ryan (2014) stated that the alcoholic beverages which are made from germinated barley (malt), water, yeast and hops are known as beers while alcoholic beverages that produced by the fermentation of fresh grapes and grains for example rice are called as wines. The distilled spirituous beverages that contained 15% of alcohol or above and made from tubers, grain, fruit or sugar cane are known as spirit. But it is clearly that it is forbidden for Muslims to consume it as we know the alcohol content that exist in the beverages. On the other hand, in Malaysia we are not consuming the alcohol in the alcoholic beverages but we are consuming alcohol in the food product without realized about it. As stated above, alcohol can be produced naturally in some product that we consumed in our daily life such as soy sauce, fermented cassava and fermented glutinous rice that also become the Malaysian favorite food especially during the celebrations. Besides, there are also laboratories or specialized factory that produced ethanol artificially for the processing of various consumer products. Generally, the issue of the existence of alcohol in food is still been debated until today in Malaysia. The confusion is not only faced by the society but it also faced by the academicians and scholars. Glutinous fermented rice seems to have ethanol content higher than had been stated by JAKIM. Compared to the others natural product like soy sauce, the alcohol content in the fermented glutinous rice is about 5% of ethanol. Table 1: Alcohol content (ethanol) in fermented glutinous rice and fermented cassava. (The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) , 1983) Alcohol content (ethanol) % Day Fermented glutinous rice Fermented cassava 0 3.0 3.4 1 3.4 2.8 2 5.2 3.3 Based on the table 1, the ethanol content on the day 3 of the fermentation showed that the ethanol content in the fermented glutinous rice is 5.2% which is higher than the fermented cassava which is 3.3%. The alcohol content in fermented glutinous rice is similar to the alcohol content in beers which is 5%. Thus it had raised the halal issues to the Muslim community in Malaysia. Apart from that, consuming too much alcohol can lead to the bad consequences to the consumers especially for the acute chronic consumer. It is the main reason why we need to study the alcohol contents in fermented glutinous rice. The information about the content of alcohol can be such a contribution to the people and for the sake of Muslims all around the world. It also can make them more aware about what they had consumed. The ethanol content in fermented glutinous rice can increase when we continuing kept it for a longer time. At the certain time, the liquid produced can be categorized as alcohol as it can make us drunk if over consumed. As we know, when we consumed alcohol in a large amount, it can give a bad consequence effect to the consumer. Besides having pervasive psychosocial and economic consequences, alcohol is one of the main contributors to morbidity and mortality (Acharjee et al, 2015). All around the world, the number of deaths and substantial disability from medical and psychiatric consequences of alcohol misuse is increases day by day. Clearly in term of health, it is not good for us to consume alcohol in our life. Alcohol has an adverse impact on human. It has been proven in science, psychology and sociology. Acharjee et al (2015) also stated that large amount of alcohol has harmful effects on our health. For instance, alcohol can effects our cardiovascular such as hypertension, sudden cardiac death, stroke, cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmias. In term of psychology, some crime and immorality in society happened due to the intake of alcohol. Often, drunks do not have a good attitude because when they get drunk, they were not aware of their behavior, which can cause discomfort to the community. This group also can apply chaos in a country because when alcohol addicts exist in a government or private sector, it can lead to abuse of power, property, embezzlement of state funds and breach of trust. 4.0 ANALYTICAL METHODS IN DETERMINATION OF ETHANOL A number of analytical methods have been employed with the aim of determination of alcohol. Commonly, there are combination of methods in order to achieved better result while analyze the sample. In western countries, various type of analytical method were developed to determine alcohol in alcoholic beverages. For example, Vonach et al (1998) had presented the coupling of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with Fourier –transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It can be used to determine the main component of wine such as glucose, fructose, citric, lactic, tartaric acid, glycerol, ethanol and so on. When it was about the sample preparation, it seems that the process was a little bit tedious because when using the internal standard, it need to be dissolved in distilled water and many more process need to carry out. The stationary phase and mobile phase that used in this study is ion-exchange resin based column and sulfuric acid. From the external reference data, an average deviation can be resulted which is 0.16mg/ml (Vonach et al, 1998). Yarita et al (2002) had proposed HPLC-FID to determine the ethanol content. Pure water had been chosen as a mobile phase in this study. When liquid water was introduced in FOD system, it changes into vapor. Due to limited flow rate of the HPLC eluent that introduced in FID system, capillary tube act as an alternative ways to control the flow rate of the HPLC eluent. Triacontylsylyl (C-30) silica gel is preferred because it show less decrease in the retention time compared with other. The ethanol concentration in the six sample can be detected around 10.2%-40.8% v/v at temperature 150C (Yarita et al, 2002). Gas chromatography also can be used as analytical tool to determine the alcohol in sample. Wang et al (2004) had proposed direct injection capillary gas chromatography that can be used to detect the methanol in beverages. Megapore capillary column with high polarity had been choosing to get the optimum condition for this study. It is because of it can used to separate the methanol in alcoholic beverages from the other components. At the stable baseline region, according to Wang et al (2004) when using acetonitrile as internal standard, it can perform clear separation from other constituents of sample. The samples studied were wine and whisky. Based on the obtained result, chromatogram give 3.06 min retention time for methanol while for the internal standard, it consumed about 4.21 min. Gas chromatography coupling with capillary column also has been proposed by Wang et al (2004). The aim was to determine both concentration of methanol and ethanol by using two internal standards which are acetonitrial for ethanol and 2- pentanol for methanol. Wang et al (2004) stated that for methanol, the retention time that revealed by this method was 2.87min while for ethanol, the retention time was 3.41 min. The analysis of both alcohol by using this method is 12 min. Apart from that, the limit of quantitation (LOQ) for methanol was 5 ÃŽ ¼g/mL and ethanol was 5 mg/mL (Wang, 2004). These methods are assumed to give contribution in order to determine the methanol content in industries due to high accuracy and precision. However, this method is time consuming and tedious. Vapour-phase FT-IR also can be used as analytical tool in determination of alcohol in beverages. In this experiment, there are aqueous solution of ethanol and methanol in the sample (Garrigues et al., 1997). The alcohol that contained in the sample had determined by using liquid-phase FTIR and vapour-phase FTIR. According to the Garrigues et al (1997), the result that obtained by the liquid-phase FTIR spectra, when pure water is used as a blank, there are a series of overlapping positive and negative peak (Garrigues et al., 1997). On the other hand, when discussing about FTIR spectra obtained by using vapour-phase FTIR after the injection of sample in heated plate, Garrigues et al (1997) stated that both ethanol and methanol provided a well-defined peak in the range of 1500 to 900 cm-1.The absorbance value for liquid-phase and vapour-phase are same but the spectrum for vapour-phase is clearer than spectrum for liquid-phase. Besides, the sensitivity and resolution of the alcohol band also high for vapour-phase FTIR (Garrigues et al., 1997). For the screening analysis of beverages, NIR can be used as a spectroscopic technique ( Barboza, 2003). The applications range was limited when using NIR because it has low sensitivity (Lanchemier, 2007). According to Chandley (1993), between NIR bitterness value and spectral data, the observation is it has a poor correlations and it needs the evaporation of water (dry extract spectroscopy) to make the determination of bitterness become possible. When mid-infrared combination with FTIR spectroscopy was used, it becomes such a development in the spectroscopic analysis compared with the using of NIR. Compared to the NIR, when using FTIR, we can get better result when analyzing the minor component such as lactic acid (Lanchenmier , 2007). Furhermore,it also can produce high resolution peak and the spectra also clearer when using FTIR ( Gallignani et al, 2003). Liquid Fourier transform-middle infrared spectrometry can be used to analyze wine in a 90 s (Patz et al., 2004). FTIR/PLS have b een developed for the multicomponent screening to analyze the alcohol in beverages (Neuwoudt et al, 2004).A lot of information can be obtained when using NMR rather than NIR and FTIR. According to Lanchenmier et al (2005), the distinct signals of the spectra can be produced if NMR was applied. In the calculation of cost-benefit for both NMR and FTIR, Lanchenmier (2007) also mentioned that in contrast with NMR, FTIR can give more advantage for screening method due to the less investment and operational costs. In this study, we want to determine the concentration of the ethanol in fermented glutinous rice with the use of FTIR and combination with Partial Least Square in the context of official food control. FTIR can give us advantages in order to determine and analyse the alcohol in alcoholic beverages because it can help us to reduce the time cost, and at the same time, it is also contribute for a good precision and accuracy when dealing with the parameters (Moreira et al., 2004). Fu rthermore, according to Lachenmeier (2007), a simple sample preparation is needed when dealing with FTIR spectroscopy compared to the other analytical methods. Problem Statement Recently the consumption of the fermented glutinous rice had rise the halal issue to the Muslim community since its alcohol content is similar to beer which is 5%. In order to determine the alcohol contained in the fermented glutinous rice, the government and private sector need the easiest, cheapest and low in cost analytical method for determination of alcohol. So we have come out with FTIR spectroscopy technique as this technique did not require the sample preparation like the other analytical method. Besides, it is not time consuming method and it has low cost compared to the other method. We also combine the FTIR with combination of Partial Least Square (PLS) in order to achieve better result. Objectives This study was conducted based on the objectives stated below: To develop method with the best accuracy To determine the lowest of detection limit To identified the ethanol contained in the sample

Friday, October 25, 2019

Are Parents the Best Teachers? :: Economics

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Parents are the best teachers because of the amount of influence they have over us, the amount of time we spend with them, and the morals they teach us. I agree with parents are the best teachers. In general, children must learn many things such as the way to treat people, to be polite and be respect, living skill, table manners, basic positive ideas toward things, what should be done or others should not be done, or others else that children do necessarily have in daily life. Also in terms of parents’ religion, their belief, and also political status as well, any thing that related to personal life are connected with parents closely. Parents who can influence children even more then teachers. Because the amount of time that spend with parents is much more then any others. By talking to them, by setting an example, and unconsciously, parents’ behaviors and thoughts influence them a lot, they are the best models for children, however, it’s because children in childhood are the most period that can be easily influenced, no matter they show them for purpose or children learn by themselves. Children observe how their parents treat people, how to handle things happened besides them and then learn it gradually. It can simply describe why lots of tragedies or some negative things news always happened from those people who don’t have complete family background or their parents are not good people. Because their parents didn’t teach them well and their parents affect them incorrectly. I believe that I influenced by my parents deeply as well. I can have my own idea, but according to them, I know lots of things positively, to be polite and be honest, and ethic value toward many things, even accustom doing things and my hobbies are connected with them. They introduced me to a correct way and to be a good person.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

My Math Difficulties began with Pre-Algebra and Fractions

It was the summer before college when I had the best vacation in my life. I never had enjoyed any vacation since the past years. Too bad I became so pre-occupied with take pleasure in this escapement that I lost my penchant for learning. Summer was fast ending and I had to pack-up hastily and drive back home. And schooldays are coming. I felt like a lonely cavalier on my college’s first math class. As everyone on the class each has varied high school backgrounds, I found it hard to cope up with the subjects pace. I got a very failing mark on my first quiz. And worse, it went on until the end of the semester. My young freshman mind found it tough to adapt to such a demanding subject. I always had to sleep late at night solving problems and forgetting them when I wake up in the morning. My mouth gaped at the sight of endless assignments and workbooks. Our teacher could see our agony, our pleading eyes hoping she would blow her whistle and let us take a break from the work. Twenty pages of reading and a worn out pencil erase keeps me awake every night. I sweated over those small numbers above and below the fraction line. How could I learn all this and still have time to watch Smallville? This wasn’t a freshman’s usual anxiety. I honestly thought I hated math. What is this subject anyway? Why would I have to really put much time and agony into it? Nightmares would come in numbers dancing across my room. It would torment me just thinking about how bad my day became because of that exasperating pre-algebra exam. It would send me down lurching on the sofa everyday when I get home. Nothing had been that much demoralizing, when the test papers were returned and what you got isn’t even enough to lift your aching pride, what more than to show it to your mom. A research paper, published Anna  Sierpinska, Georgeana  Bobos and Christine  Knipping of Concordia University in Canada(August  2007), tackles about the frustration in students of mathematical courses. Their paper summarizes the reactions of the students and instructors they interviewed. They identified numerous causes of frustration, such as the fast pace of the courses, inefficient learning strategies, the need to change previously acquired ways of thinking, difficult rapport with truth and reasoning in mathematics, being forced to take PMC, insufficient academic and moral support on the part of teachers, and poor achievement (Sierpinska, Bobos and Knipping, 2007). These sources of frustration are discussed from the point of view of their impact on the quality of the mathematical knowledge that students develop in mathematical subjects. All of us go through all of the learning stages but not always on the same timetable (Hood, 1997). Sometimes, other inclinations in us, like music and arts, develop much earlier than the others and we do not fully grasp many mathematical concepts until we reach adulthood. In our course of growing up, we learn through our environment and according to our level of maturity (Hood, 1997). The book â€Å"Taking the Frustration out of Math† by Mary Hood tells us about the three distinct learning styles (auditory, visual and kinesthetic). She relates them to math learning. Along her book, she reminds us that each kid is diverse and that the parent is truly the expert on his/her own child. If a child is not grasping a concept, she recommends putting it aside and working on it again at a later date. Frustrating the child will only make a child hate math. Just because a child should be in a particular stage, does not mean that the individual child is ready for certain concepts. Eventually, he or she will be. Some websites, such as â€Å"Coping with Math Anxiety† offers various ways on coping with math frustrations. It recommends that the primary pace is to identify that math anxiety is an emotional response. And since it is an emotional reaction, it can be in a constructive or unconstructive way. Unconstructive ways comprises rationalization, suppression, and denial. By rationalization, we mean finding reasons why it is okay and perhaps even inevitable, and therefore justified, for you to have this reaction. By suppression is meant having awareness of the anxiety, but trying very, very hard not to feel it. Finally, there is denial. People using this approach probably aren’t likely to see this essay, much less read it, for they carefully construct their lives so as to avoid all mathematics as much as possible (Coping with Math Anxiety, www.mathacademy.com/pr/ minitext/anxiety). The constructive way to manage math anxiety involves making as conscious as possible the sources of math anxiety in one’ own life, accepting those feelings without self-criticism, and then learning strategies for disarming math anxiety's influence on one’s future study of mathematics (Coping with Math Anxiety, www.mathacademy.com/pr/ minitext/anxiety). I never had much luck on my first college math subject. It took me countless sleepless nights before it dawned on me that I had much more things to prove and accomplish. One time or another, each of us will be haunted by math frustrations. We may take it as a frustration forever, or we could take it as a positive challenge to move on to much greater heights, where our past failure becomes too insignificant. References Printed References: Arem, Cynthia.   Conquering Math Anxiety: A Self-Help Workbook.   Pacific Grove, CA:   Brooks/Cole Publishing, 1993. Burns, Marilyn.   The I Hate Mathematics! Book.   Little, Brown ; Company, 1975. Buxton, Laurie.   Math Panic.   London: Heinemann, 1991. Mary Hood, PhD 1997, Taking the Frustration Out of Math, Elijah Company, January 1, 1997 Online References: Coping With Math Anxiety, (www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/anxiety) Professors Freedman's Math Help (http://www.mathpower.com/) Soloman/Felder's Learning Styles ;

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Payroll System

The solution has to take care of calculation of salary as per rules of the Company. This Payroll System is a full-featured system that manages financial information of every employee in an organization. It computes and processes the payroll in the certain payroll period. This Payroll System is also a flexible compensation administration solution. It is designed to help human resource professionals as well as finance and accounting personnel to manage employee compensation, deductions, allowances, and benefits in an organization.The system is integrated with the Employee’s information, offers efficient features and functionalities to manage company's expenses. Background of the Study Trends Asia Marketing and Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) provide superior corporate assistance and business solution by giving various services to the companies, business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals. Trends Asia Marketing and Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) offer solutions to help your b usiness succeed. They are committed to excellence in providing an effective, efficient support system for all phases of your business.They can assist you from start-up, taking care of the countless details that need to be handled, they can help with tasks relating to day-to day operations, and they can help formulate and implement effective business strategies to help your business grow and flourish. Because of these, Trends Asia Marketing and Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) grows immediately but Mrs. Agnes De Guzman Francia the owner realize that its hard to use the â€Å"Mano – Mano System† when she gives the salary and wages to her employees, since her business achieved the highly status recommendation around the Philippines.She decided to cooperate with a computer manufacturer in designing and analyzing the system. She request to the computer designer to do something that makes easier when she giving the salary of her employees. She adds some details like the log â €“ in form, because she said, she wants to personalize and to maintain the confidentiality of the information contains. She also added some details in the second form like employee’s name, and no. of hours worked and the other design and details are done by the computer designer. After 5 – 6 years working out with this system, Mrs.Agnes De Guzman Francia wants to update their Payroll System and change the other information. That‘s why we offer Mrs. Agnes De Guzman Francia a free system which conceptualized the information according to her wants. Problem Definition Last Friday December 11, 2009, we decided to start doing our system entitled Payroll System. To describe the system before we conceptualize it, it contains Employee’s Name, No. of hours worked, O. T. pay, Rate per hour, basic pay, and Gross pay. Now we added the deductions that typically reduced in the salary in a regular employee, it contains SSS, MED, Total Deductions and Net pay.Of course before we succeed in doing this system, we encounter a lot of problems and those are problems are not easy to solve like the calculation that we need to input to performed the right calculations in this system, we don’t know how much is the cost of the SSS, MED and the Other fees that we need to lessen in the salary of a employee. To solve these problems our group think some possibilities which help us to fulfil our project. First we asked some regular employees how much the cost of the SSS that their employer deducts in their salary.Our Second option is we search and surf the net to know the cost of following. Significance of the Study Payroll System is important to every company because any business that employed people will have to process those wages of the employee when they are due. In order to make sure that your payroll is processed correctly and accurately, you need a system which appropriate to your needs. That’s why this system exists. Payroll System is done by calculating how much each employee is owed, then making the appropriate deductions for tax, SSS pensions, etc. nd sending those to the relevant tax offices. Then payslips need to be printed and issued to employees and the duplicate copy will be given to the administration or to the accounting department to record the transaction. Scope and Delimitation CHAPTER 2 Existing systems overview Background of the Company Last quarter of 2004, four friends have conceptualized venturing into salon operations, since no one has knowledge in salon operations; they agreed to venture into salon franchise agreement.Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) was incorporated on October 4, 2004 to formally handle the franchise agreement with F Salon ; Body Spa. The franchise outlet was located in San Joaquin, Pasig Branch. First quarter of year 2005, the corporation engaged in various services aside from operating a salon franchise. The corporation engaged itself in providing manpower outsourcing and other allied services. Management of the franchise was left under Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO).Conflict on financing the manpower activities which remained solely on the part of its operations manager, Mrs. Agnes De Guzman Francia, prompted her to segregate the F Salon ; Body Spa Franchise from Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO), and pursue its manpower sourcing and allied services. The salon franchise is continuing to date with the original partners who established it and Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) was left under the management of Mrs. Agnes De Guzman Francia.Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) now was transformed as a family corporation. Having seen the viability and profitability of salon operation, the husband and wife team of Francia’s locate feasible locations for possible salon outlet. On September 2006, an existing salon outlet was being sold by its owner who is migrating abroad. Right there and then, the couple decided to buy out and pay for the existing salon and transform the salon outlet into what it is today. Yanna’s Salon ; Body Spa opened on September 24, 2006 till under the operation nd management of Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO). Yanna’s Salon was named from the spouse’s youngest daughter â€Å"Yanna†. The Salon from the initial opening date, continue to how brisk business and good sales performance. Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) at present is continuing its manpower sourcing and business set up and accounting services. The 1st Yanna’s Salon is situated in corner Village East, Cainta Rizal which commences its operations on September 18, 2006 and the 2nd outlet in Rosario, Pasig City commences on November 24, 2006.The company has a target of at least maintaining 6 company owned salon locations starting within Rizal Area and in the future a possib ility of offering salon franchises in any parts of the Metropolis and in nearby provinces. Yanna’s Salon ; Body Spa is a full – service beauty salon adhering to consistently provide high customer satisfaction by rendering excellent service, quality products, and furnishing an enjoyable atmosphere at an acceptable price/value relationship.They will also maintain a friendly, fair and creative work environment, which respects diversity, ideas, and hard work. Existing Systems Overview Existing Systems Overview | | |UTILITY EXPENSE | |   | Annual Expense | | |Monthly Expense | | |   |   |   | |   |   |   | |WATER |P 1,800. 0 |P 21, 600. 00 | |   |   |   | |   |   |   | |   |   |   | | |UTILITY EXPENSE | |   | |Annual Expense | | |Monthly Expense | | |   |   | | |   |   |   | |TELEPHONE |P 3, 300. 00 |P 39, 600. 0 | |   |   |   | |   |   |   | |   |   | | Data Flow Diagram CHAPTER 3 System findings System Findings A nalysis for Proposed System Cost CHAPTER 4 System implementation System Implementation Chart of Comparison for the Existing and Proposed System [pic] Statistical Computation Monthly Benefit (MB) |Annual Benefit (AB) | |MB = EC – PC |EC * 12 Months =? | |MB = 30,000 – 15,000 |PC * 12 Months =? | |MB = 15,000 |AB = EC – PC | |   |AB = 360,000 – 180,000 | |   |AB = 180,000 | Break Even Analysis [pic] Comparative Chart for Monthly and Annual Benefit Existing Monthly Cost |Existing Annual Cost | |Existing Monthly Cost = 30,000 |Existing Annual Cost = 360,000 | |After 5 months = 150,000 |After 5 years = 1,800,000 | |Monthly Benefit = 6,000 |Annual Benefit = 72,000 | | | | |Proposed Monthly Cost |Proposed Annual Cost | |Proposed Monthly Cost = 15,000 |Proposed Annual Cost = 180,000 | |After 5 months = 75,000 |After 5 years = 900,000 | |Monthly Benefit = 3,000 |Annual Benefit = 36,000 | Comparative Chart for Monthly and Annual BenefitComparative Chart for Mon thly and Annual Benefit CHAPTER 5 Summary Summary Conclusion Recommendation Objective of the Study The Primary objective of this study is to continuously operate the Payroll Department of Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) which held the salary and wages of their employees. Secondly, the Payroll Department of Trends Asia Marketing ; Services Corporation (TRAMSCO) make a payroll report easier rather than before. [pic] ———————– START NO YES LOGIN CALCULATE EXIT B. P = N. H. W * R. P/H O. T = R. P/H * -1. 25 GP = B. P + O. T D = SSS + MED + OTHERS FEES N. P = GP – D OUT PUT END END FLOW CHART Payroll System Title: A LAN- Based Attendance Monitoring System Using Biometric Device For Don Jesus Gonzales High School Brief Description of the Proposed Thesis Don Jesus Gonzales High School is located at Pandacaqui Resettlement Mexico Pampanga . At present, the school doesn’t have an automated system which can verify if the person entering the school is a bonified student . The school security guard just check the id of the students one by one before entering the school. Sometimes, some people were able to pass even without id when there are many students going in. The proposed system will allow the guard to be able to know by the biometric device if the person entering the school is a registered student or not. Another, the faculty members also takes time in writing the time when they arrived and/or go out to school. The system will record the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members . Upon scanning all their finger to the biometric device. It will also assure the safety of the students, staff and school. The system will use biometric device to verify all the finger if its registered on the database to ensure that the person entering the school is a bonified student. Also when the student entering the school has a violation, a notice will appear on the monitor screen. To keep record of the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members, same procedure also by the use of biometric device, the information will be saved on the database The system itself is secured. Before a person access the system, he/she would be asked to input a username and password then it will be processed if it is granted or decried. The authorized persons are the principal, guidance councilor, the head of the computer subjects and one school coordinator. Statement of objectives These are the objectives of the proposed study General Objective The main objective of the study is to create a LAN based student monitoring and faculty attendance. Monitoring System using biometric device for Don Jesus Gonzales High School that will identify if the person enters the school is a bonified student and to record the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members. Specific Objectives * To ensure the security of the school. * To increase the visibility of trespassers/intruders. * To have an accurate data about the attendance of the faculty. To automate the system that is efficient and user friendly. * To provide notification about student’s violation. Significance of Proposed Thesis Topic or Justification The study benefits its locale, Don Jesus Gonzales High School. The system is a good way in increasing the campus security. It will assure the safety of the students, faculty, staff and community. Also, it will incre ase the visibility of the intruders and avoid violence in the school.. The faculty members and students will also benefits on this study since the system will make the process faster and hassle free. Lastly, the system can also be a basis of other school in developing an students and faculty monitoring system. Review of Related Literature And Studies Fingerprint biometrics are used in a variety of applications including electronic door locks, smart cards, vehicle ignition control systems, USB sticks with fingerprint controlled access, and many others. Digital signal processing elements in fingerprint scanners perform complex DSP functions such as filters, transforms, feature extraction, matching operations and other algorithms. At the CARTES & IDentification 2011 conference in Paris, France, DigitalPersona, Inc. nnounced that the company has open sourced its new MINEX-certified FingerJetFX fingerprint feature extraction technology. FingerJetFX, Open Source Edition (OSE), is free, portable software that device manufacturers and application developers can use to convert bulky fingerprint images into small, mathematical representations called fingerprint â€Å"templates† for efficient storage or comparison. The software has been released under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL), giving developers the flexibility to adapt the extractor to their particular platforms and applications. DigitalPersona is also offering a separate commercially-licensed version that adds fast fingerprint matching for both identification and verification while still running in a small amount of memory. Once the image is captured the digital information is transferred to a digital signal processor to generate a match. The first step in the matching process is conditioning the scanned fingerprint. Finger print readers rarely use the full fingerprint for identification. Rather, DSPs use algorithms to extract the unique features and patterns of each print to generate a unique digital code. The second step in the software flow is to take the code generated from the scanned image and compare it to a database of potential matches. The compare step requires the system to have access to print information in a networked database or a non-volatile memory unit. Computer Hardware and Software to be Used The study will use several software and hardware for the development of the proposed system. Software * Visual studio * Visual Basic 2000- for the main design of the system interface of the system. * Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Access- for the database of the system. Hardware * Computer set * Processor Intel ® Pentium ® 4cpu 3. 00 GHz * Memory 1014MB RAM * Internet connection * Biometric device Detailed Features of the Proposed System These are the detailed features of the proposed system * Secured access of the system. * User Friendly interface. * Time-In time-Out of faculty using Biometric * Notification/Flash Message to students with violation * The system displays im age and other basic info about the students and faculty members * Biometric scanning to able to enter the school. Payroll System Telecommunications network is a combination of nodes and links which are arranged in a manner so that the message may pass from the one part of the network to the other by traveling over variable nodes. Essential Parts of the Network There are five basic segments of this type of network. These parts include terminals, channels, processors, computers and control softwares. The starting and ending point of the telecommunication networks is known as a network terminal. There are many input and output devices which are often placed under the heading of terminals. Telecommunication processors are often helpful in transferring data between the terminals of the network. These processors also provide variety of control and support functions. Telecommunication channels are the reception and transmission point for the data and messages. The network computers are arranged in a manner so that they establish a network connection using different media, these computer terminals help in communication. Telecommunication network software governs the control and functional activities with the help of software in a network. The structure of telecommunication network has three main components the control plane, the user plane and the management plane. As indicated by its name the control plane carries control information and data. The data plane or user plane monitors the user traffic in the network. The third and last component management plane carries the operation and administration traffic over the network. Types of Telecommunication Networks. Telecommunication network has many types like wide area network, metropolitan area network, local area network, campus area network, personal area network, virtual private networks, client server network, peer to peer network, network computing. The network which is spread over a large geographic area is known as wide area network. This network has helped businesses which are dispersed over different regions to communicate to the head office. Metropolitan area network covers the area of nearly one city or county. Its area and coverage is more than the local area network and less han the wide area network. The communication of computers in a very small geographical area is known as local area network. Campus area network is a network which is restricted to the small geographical area which is limited to the university campus or a building. Personal area network is a network which is limited to an individual. Virtual private network is built on the principle of secure encrypted network in order to provide complete security to the users. The client server network is network which is connected to the LAN at one end and the back up server at the other end. When a computer uses network browser to connect to the other computers in the network it is known as network computing. Microsoft office online is the good example of such kind of network. Peer to peer network is used for connecting only those computers which have copy rights to use each others resources. Examples of a Telecommunication Network The first example of the telecommunication network is computer networks . computer network is set of computers which are attached to each other for the purpose of resource sharing. The second example is the internet. Internet is the global network which allows the users in many dispersed areas to connect via web browsers and telecommunication technologies provide by internet services providers. Third example is of the public switched telephone networks, it is a circuit switched network which used to carry analog signals but now it carries digital signals mostly. The fourth example is the working of global telex; it is a set of machines which include teleprinters and tele typewriters. The last example is of the aircraft communication addressing Payroll System Title: A LAN- Based Attendance Monitoring System Using Biometric Device For Don Jesus Gonzales High School Brief Description of the Proposed Thesis Don Jesus Gonzales High School is located at Pandacaqui Resettlement Mexico Pampanga . At present, the school doesn’t have an automated system which can verify if the person entering the school is a bonified student . The school security guard just check the id of the students one by one before entering the school. Sometimes, some people were able to pass even without id when there are many students going in. The proposed system will allow the guard to be able to know by the biometric device if the person entering the school is a registered student or not. Another, the faculty members also takes time in writing the time when they arrived and/or go out to school. The system will record the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members . Upon scanning all their finger to the biometric device. It will also assure the safety of the students, staff and school. The system will use biometric device to verify all the finger if its registered on the database to ensure that the person entering the school is a bonified student. Also when the student entering the school has a violation, a notice will appear on the monitor screen. To keep record of the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members, same procedure also by the use of biometric device, the information will be saved on the database The system itself is secured. Before a person access the system, he/she would be asked to input a username and password then it will be processed if it is granted or decried. The authorized persons are the principal, guidance councilor, the head of the computer subjects and one school coordinator. Statement of objectives These are the objectives of the proposed study General Objective The main objective of the study is to create a LAN based student monitoring and faculty attendance. Monitoring System using biometric device for Don Jesus Gonzales High School that will identify if the person enters the school is a bonified student and to record the â€Å"time in† and â€Å"time out† of the faculty members. Specific Objectives * To ensure the security of the school. * To increase the visibility of trespassers/intruders. * To have an accurate data about the attendance of the faculty. To automate the system that is efficient and user friendly. * To provide notification about student’s violation. Significance of Proposed Thesis Topic or Justification The study benefits its locale, Don Jesus Gonzales High School. The system is a good way in increasing the campus security. It will assure the safety of the students, faculty, staff and community. Also, it will incre ase the visibility of the intruders and avoid violence in the school.. The faculty members and students will also benefits on this study since the system will make the process faster and hassle free. Lastly, the system can also be a basis of other school in developing an students and faculty monitoring system. Review of Related Literature And Studies Fingerprint biometrics are used in a variety of applications including electronic door locks, smart cards, vehicle ignition control systems, USB sticks with fingerprint controlled access, and many others. Digital signal processing elements in fingerprint scanners perform complex DSP functions such as filters, transforms, feature extraction, matching operations and other algorithms. At the CARTES & IDentification 2011 conference in Paris, France, DigitalPersona, Inc. nnounced that the company has open sourced its new MINEX-certified FingerJetFX fingerprint feature extraction technology. FingerJetFX, Open Source Edition (OSE), is free, portable software that device manufacturers and application developers can use to convert bulky fingerprint images into small, mathematical representations called fingerprint â€Å"templates† for efficient storage or comparison. The software has been released under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL), giving developers the flexibility to adapt the extractor to their particular platforms and applications. DigitalPersona is also offering a separate commercially-licensed version that adds fast fingerprint matching for both identification and verification while still running in a small amount of memory. Once the image is captured the digital information is transferred to a digital signal processor to generate a match. The first step in the matching process is conditioning the scanned fingerprint. Finger print readers rarely use the full fingerprint for identification. Rather, DSPs use algorithms to extract the unique features and patterns of each print to generate a unique digital code. The second step in the software flow is to take the code generated from the scanned image and compare it to a database of potential matches. The compare step requires the system to have access to print information in a networked database or a non-volatile memory unit. Computer Hardware and Software to be Used The study will use several software and hardware for the development of the proposed system. Software * Visual studio * Visual Basic 2000- for the main design of the system interface of the system. * Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Access- for the database of the system. Hardware * Computer set * Processor Intel ® Pentium ® 4cpu 3. 00 GHz * Memory 1014MB RAM * Internet connection * Biometric device Detailed Features of the Proposed System These are the detailed features of the proposed system * Secured access of the system. * User Friendly interface. * Time-In time-Out of faculty using Biometric * Notification/Flash Message to students with violation * The system displays im age and other basic info about the students and faculty members * Biometric scanning to able to enter the school. Payroll System Telecommunications network is a combination of nodes and links which are arranged in a manner so that the message may pass from the one part of the network to the other by traveling over variable nodes. Essential Parts of the Network There are five basic segments of this type of network. These parts include terminals, channels, processors, computers and control softwares. The starting and ending point of the telecommunication networks is known as a network terminal. There are many input and output devices which are often placed under the heading of terminals. Telecommunication processors are often helpful in transferring data between the terminals of the network. These processors also provide variety of control and support functions. Telecommunication channels are the reception and transmission point for the data and messages. The network computers are arranged in a manner so that they establish a network connection using different media, these computer terminals help in communication. Telecommunication network software governs the control and functional activities with the help of software in a network. The structure of telecommunication network has three main components the control plane, the user plane and the management plane. As indicated by its name the control plane carries control information and data. The data plane or user plane monitors the user traffic in the network. The third and last component management plane carries the operation and administration traffic over the network. Types of Telecommunication Networks. Telecommunication network has many types like wide area network, metropolitan area network, local area network, campus area network, personal area network, virtual private networks, client server network, peer to peer network, network computing. The network which is spread over a large geographic area is known as wide area network. This network has helped businesses which are dispersed over different regions to communicate to the head office. Metropolitan area network covers the area of nearly one city or county. Its area and coverage is more than the local area network and less han the wide area network. The communication of computers in a very small geographical area is known as local area network. Campus area network is a network which is restricted to the small geographical area which is limited to the university campus or a building. Personal area network is a network which is limited to an individual. Virtual private network is built on the principle of secure encrypted network in order to provide complete security to the users. The client server network is network which is connected to the LAN at one end and the back up server at the other end. When a computer uses network browser to connect to the other computers in the network it is known as network computing. Microsoft office online is the good example of such kind of network. Peer to peer network is used for connecting only those computers which have copy rights to use each others resources. Examples of a Telecommunication Network The first example of the telecommunication network is computer networks . computer network is set of computers which are attached to each other for the purpose of resource sharing. The second example is the internet. Internet is the global network which allows the users in many dispersed areas to connect via web browsers and telecommunication technologies provide by internet services providers. Third example is of the public switched telephone networks, it is a circuit switched network which used to carry analog signals but now it carries digital signals mostly. The fourth example is the working of global telex; it is a set of machines which include teleprinters and tele typewriters. The last example is of the aircraft communication addressing Payroll System Telecommunications network is a combination of nodes and links which are arranged in a manner so that the message may pass from the one part of the network to the other by traveling over variable nodes. Essential Parts of the Network There are five basic segments of this type of network. These parts include terminals, channels, processors, computers and control softwares. The starting and ending point of the telecommunication networks is known as a network terminal. There are many input and output devices which are often placed under the heading of terminals. Telecommunication processors are often helpful in transferring data between the terminals of the network. These processors also provide variety of control and support functions. Telecommunication channels are the reception and transmission point for the data and messages. The network computers are arranged in a manner so that they establish a network connection using different media, these computer terminals help in communication. Telecommunication network software governs the control and functional activities with the help of software in a network. The structure of telecommunication network has three main components the control plane, the user plane and the management plane. As indicated by its name the control plane carries control information and data. The data plane or user plane monitors the user traffic in the network. The third and last component management plane carries the operation and administration traffic over the network. Types of Telecommunication Networks. Telecommunication network has many types like wide area network, metropolitan area network, local area network, campus area network, personal area network, virtual private networks, client server network, peer to peer network, network computing. The network which is spread over a large geographic area is known as wide area network. This network has helped businesses which are dispersed over different regions to communicate to the head office. Metropolitan area network covers the area of nearly one city or county. Its area and coverage is more than the local area network and less han the wide area network. The communication of computers in a very small geographical area is known as local area network. Campus area network is a network which is restricted to the small geographical area which is limited to the university campus or a building. Personal area network is a network which is limited to an individual. Virtual private network is built on the principle of secure encrypted network in order to provide complete security to the users. The client server network is network which is connected to the LAN at one end and the back up server at the other end. When a computer uses network browser to connect to the other computers in the network it is known as network computing. Microsoft office online is the good example of such kind of network. Peer to peer network is used for connecting only those computers which have copy rights to use each others resources. Examples of a Telecommunication Network The first example of the telecommunication network is computer networks . computer network is set of computers which are attached to each other for the purpose of resource sharing. The second example is the internet. Internet is the global network which allows the users in many dispersed areas to connect via web browsers and telecommunication technologies provide by internet services providers. Third example is of the public switched telephone networks, it is a circuit switched network which used to carry analog signals but now it carries digital signals mostly. The fourth example is the working of global telex; it is a set of machines which include teleprinters and tele typewriters. The last example is of the aircraft communication addressing

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Nuclear Warfare

Nuclear Warfare: A Total Disaster â€Å"We have genuflected before the gods of science only to find that is has given us the atomic bomb, producing fear and anxieties that science can never mitigate† (Martin Luther King qtd. in The Columbia World of Quotations). August 6, 1945 was the day that World War II took a severe turn with the atomic bomb hitting Hiroshima. Three days later on the 9th, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a drastic decision made by the United States, which produced an aftermath that would devastate the two cities for years. The usage and repercussions of the atomic bomb has now resulted in anxiety with the thought that North Korea might possess nuclear power. I intend to show that the dropping of the atomic bomb was the beginning of world nuclear power struggle. When the atomic bomb went off over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a flash. When the atomic bomb went off in Nagasaki on August 9th, more then 60,000 people died (Hogan 1). To the American people who were weary from the long and brutal war, such a drastic measure seemed necessary, even righteous way to end the madness that was World War II. However, the madness had just begun. That August morning was the day that started the dawn of the Nuclear Age, and with it came more than just the loss of lives. The entire globe was now to live with the fear of total annihilation, the fear that drove the cold war, the fear that has forever changed world politics. The fear is real, more real today than ever. The stories and fears that followed the dropping of the bomb should had been the reason why the United States should have never took the war to a nuclear point. The story of Kwak Bok Soon is a story that would make anyone’s skin crawl. She was only 17 years old when the bomb was dropped. Her neighbor was waiting for her to come to the door, when Kwak heard a loud explosion a... Free Essays on Nuclear Warfare Free Essays on Nuclear Warfare Nuclear Warfare: A Total Disaster â€Å"We have genuflected before the gods of science only to find that is has given us the atomic bomb, producing fear and anxieties that science can never mitigate† (Martin Luther King qtd. in The Columbia World of Quotations). August 6, 1945 was the day that World War II took a severe turn with the atomic bomb hitting Hiroshima. Three days later on the 9th, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a drastic decision made by the United States, which produced an aftermath that would devastate the two cities for years. The usage and repercussions of the atomic bomb has now resulted in anxiety with the thought that North Korea might possess nuclear power. I intend to show that the dropping of the atomic bomb was the beginning of world nuclear power struggle. When the atomic bomb went off over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a flash. When the atomic bomb went off in Nagasaki on August 9th, more then 60,000 people died (Hogan 1). To the American people who were weary from the long and brutal war, such a drastic measure seemed necessary, even righteous way to end the madness that was World War II. However, the madness had just begun. That August morning was the day that started the dawn of the Nuclear Age, and with it came more than just the loss of lives. The entire globe was now to live with the fear of total annihilation, the fear that drove the cold war, the fear that has forever changed world politics. The fear is real, more real today than ever. The stories and fears that followed the dropping of the bomb should had been the reason why the United States should have never took the war to a nuclear point. The story of Kwak Bok Soon is a story that would make anyone’s skin crawl. She was only 17 years old when the bomb was dropped. Her neighbor was waiting for her to come to the door, when Kwak heard a loud explosion a...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Catcher in the ryedoes voice matter essays

Catcher in the ryedoes voice matter essays How important is the voice that tells a story? It seems almost trivial to claim that the same story can change because of the voice telling it to you. Does the voice and point of view of the narrator play a large enough role in a novel to change the attitude of the reader about the novel? J.D.. Salinger uses the dominant character of Holden Caulfield to be the first person narrator of his novel The Catcher in the Rye. The key to Holdens narrative voice is the fact that it added life and a connection to the character. This voice transforms an otherwise lifeless story to a jump start and electric novel. In order to find out how important this narrator was to the story we will compare the novel The Catcher in the Rye to the piece A Slight Rebellion of Madison(the summary of the very same novel as In looking at the importance of Holdens role we will first look at the summary of the novel. In Slight Rebellion off Madison the character of Holden Caulfield has been eliminated and an outside third person narrator replaces him. This version goes through the story explaining the basic outlining of The Catcher in the Rye. The outline is what the summary gives to the reader and thats all it gives. The basic plot is average, but with out the connection to the reader it keeps the reader on the outside through the whole thing. The plot tells the happenings of a young man named Holden Caulfield, but without really knowing to much about the character of Holden the plot line is lifeless and boring for the reader. We see the experiences that Holden goes through, but the reader doesnt get involved. It is hard for most readers to sympathize with Holden therefore Salinger relies on the connection Holden makes with the reader to get the reader involved in the life ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Bloggercise Your Writing

Bloggercise Your Writing Probably the best writing advice I ever received was this: Keep a Blog. Let me share with you a few reasons why and how my blog has helped me begin earning as a freelance writer. In my former life as a music teacher I found that the best musicians were those that didn’t just practise their scales and pieces the most; they were the ones that listened to music too. Both things are essential exercise for the musician. Writing is the same. Your ‘scales’ are the articles, books, stories and poems you write; your ‘listening’ is the literature you read. The old saying is true: a writer is a reader first. Keeping a blog helped me practise my ‘scales’ to develop my technique and my ‘listening’ was the hundreds of blog posts I’ve read as I mingled in the blogging community. I discovered what was popular, what was en vogue and what worked for me. Here’s a summary of just how my blog has helped develop my craft:   Ã‚     Experimentation Although my blog, kenthinksaloud, is primarily about Bangladesh where I work for a charity organisation as a teacher, I played with all sorts of ideas many of which have become lucrative for me. For instance, I started posting book reviews after enjoying some books with my kids. I had one accepted   Ã‚     Deadlines Keeping deadlines with editors is a big deal. For a while I made myself write three posts a week, each with a self-imposed word count, even when I didn’t feel like it just to practise meeting deadlines. Now I’m getting plenty of paying gigs, I’ve reduced it to once a week but after writing hundreds of posts, dashing off 500 words is a breeze now!   Ã‚     Finding an audience My main topic is something of a specialist interest, but as I explored ideas I was surprised which subjects were very popular. My son and I both have ADHD and writing about this provoked huge response. I am now submitting articles about ADHD to editors.   Ã‚     My blog sells me Several of my articles and stories, re-written from the blog, have been published So, I recommend bloggercising for you today. You can read what’s out there, try a variety of styles for yourself, practise meeting your own deadlines, build an audience as you learn what’s popular and then turn those winning ideas into paying articles and maybe even books that catch the eye of publishers. And if nothing else, bloggercise is fun and good for you. Give it a go – you never know where your posts might take you!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

W201 eTMA 03 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

W201 eTMA 03 - Essay Example awaiting trial, hence the matter is sub judice and publication of materials such as newspapers that have wide access to members of the public could compromise the course of justice, especially if the judges or jury also happen to read the article when the matter is yet to be decided. In this connection, Section 2(2) of the Contempt of Court Act of 1981 states as follows: where any publication creates a substantial risk that the course of justice in the proceedings in question will be seriously impeded or prejudiced, contempt of court will be found1. There are three separate elements that must be established before the issue of contempt of court arises. Firstly, there must be a publication, secondly this publication must be related to the court proceedings which are taking place and lastly, the nature of the publication must be such that it could seriously impede the course of justice through prejudice. The above mentioned article in the Grayton Gazette appears to substantiate all of the above. Firstly, it is a publication, i.e, an article in the local newspaper. Secondly, it is related to the court proceedings because Billy is awaiting trial in connection with the events of 15th April and the antics of Street Clear and the article is specifically about Billy and his earlier activities with Street Clear. This article also fulfils the third criterion because it does seriously prejudice the case, because it mentions that Billy has been involved in fights before – he has been involved in demonstrations which have turned nasty because he looks for trouble. Moreover the article specifically states: â€Å"let’s hope the jury sees sense†, which directly creates a substantial risk of serious prejudice, because being a news article, it is quite likely to come to the attention of a potential jury member and the timing of publication of the article coincides almost exactly with the trial procedures. On this basis, it appears that there would be excellent grounds for

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Possible Product and Service of Zappos com Case Study

The Possible Product and Service of Zappos com - Case Study Example It is essential to determine that such a strategy in any way contributed to the success in shoes or whether it would be able to replicate the success in other product lines. It is also fundamental to determine how the company could scale the business with revenues of tens of billions. Moreover, the major effort of the company was to â€Å"wow† its customers by providing with maximum customer satisfaction. The market faced a hard situation as the economic scenario varied dramatically in late 2008, together with financial market collapsing and recession. Unlike the other many websites selling at the lower price during the period, the service-intensive company’s business was based on sales at the little discount or no discount. Evaluating the competencies o the organization would enable us to understand the chain issues and other critical elements to company’s success. Zappos always strives to foster a culture that understands the impact of working capital on the profitability of the firm. The process of decision making and the daily activities of the firm must be carried out on the basis of working capital management analysis. The company manages the decision making through a cross-functional communication system. The decision making is used to drive and maximize the working capital performance of the firm. Zappos.com also has already developed a training program to impart working capital management principles into practice. The management team utilizes the decision-making process to integrate capital management into the fabric of organizational culture. In the same way, the process of decision making in the routine activities reveals the glowing significance of cash management. It helps the management in all forms of risk management within the firm. The organization takes record of the important decision and measures taken by the management team.  

Rabbit-Proof Fence and the Edge of Heaven - Movies Which Depict the Mi Essay

Rabbit-Proof Fence and the Edge of Heaven - Movies Which Depict the Minority Groups in Society - Essay Example In response to the growing fears, special and unique detention centres were built across Australia to keep the mixed-race children from the entire Australian community, which was the dominant culture. In addition, orders were issued to eradicate forcibly half-caste children from their paternal and maternal families. The movies especially the Edge of Heaven shows how prejudice and discrimination take centre stage in the Australian society. It is evident that being prejudiced simply implies holding preconceived attitudes and beliefs about certain cultural practices or group of people in society. The movie shows how people from dominant culture engage in discriminatory practices in order to guard opportunities for themselves by hindering access to those whom they tend to believe do not need or deserve the same treatment as others. As seen in the Rabbit-proof fence, it is evident that during this time, racism in Australian society looked like cancer in that it had no cure and it would have continued were it not for the effort of the three women to fight for justice. However, separation and exclusion are seen all around Australian aborigine children. It is clear that suspicion, fear, and ignorance parting away communities. At the same time, public figures, the media, and heads of states, who are the people supposed to fight and defend pluralist and inclusive societies, initiate attacks on multiculturalism. While this negative outlook may be so widely accepted challenging it seems to be a hard but important task. In the Edge of heaven movie, Ali Aksu thought he had found relief and happiness when he met Yeter a prostitute. He provided her with monthly payments to cease working as a city prostitute and marry him. Considering the fact that she (Yeter) was not from a dominant culture or group, she received threats from Muslims about either accepting the offer or facing the consequences. She decided to take the offer.  Ã‚  

Management accounting for Sustainable Development Essay

Management accounting for Sustainable Development - Essay Example In the fifties, the concept of growth came as an unexplored horizon in Economics. However when this theory failed to reconstruct the world under the Marshall plan, then economists like Arrow brought a new concept popularly identified as development. Development differs from growth in the way that growth only considers the economic variables of human life while development is more interested in socio economic factors. The concept of development seems to be more justified than growth particularly improving the third world countries. However, whether development can be sustained or not, considering the limited amount of resources in the world, remained unanswered till 1987. Again, development suffers not only from the resource constraint but human life is constantly leaving some permanent marks through some irreversible changes, which also constraints development. The concept of sustainable development put its first step in the human mindset through Brundtland report named as â€Å"Our Common Future† (1987). Under sustainable development the needs of the present generation gets satisfied without compromising the future generation’s ability to satisfy their requirements. Sustainable development can be called as a culmination of the decision making process towards sustainability with the internalization of environmental costs. With this cost concept comes the most important and touchy factor known as ‘pricing of environmental goods’.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

The three keys to success in retailing are location, location, Essay

The three keys to success in retailing are location, location, location - Essay Example This eventually led to symbolic representation, of these debts in the form of precious items like gemstones etc. and eventually the instrument 'Money' developed and is being exchanged. Ultimately, markets developed and shops became a permanent part of these markets. This was where the retail trade initiated. Retail trade in actual is embedded in two significant groups the Peddlers and the Producers. The peddlers would purchase the commodities they thought would sell in the market for a profit and the producers on the other hand were more interested in selling only the goods they were producing . This trend continues even today, with certain specific shops specializing in certain specific areas, these actually reflect their origins, as in a broad mix of producers. Such as a general store. Such as Casey's in the mid west of U.S.A .the general store has taken over the establishments of specialist shops. The customer's find this more convenient o visit, than to visit four different shops for their choice of goods. The term Convenience stores are also used for such stores. These have further developed into Super markets or super stores'1. 'It was Frank Woolworth who initiated his retail business also his career in 1873. He worked as a sales assistant in the Augusbury and Moore Dry goods store in Water Town New York. William Moore the co owner took pity on this young boy and accepted his plea of a three month free work trial at the store. The country (America) was still recuperating since after the civil war and the cash was surely tight. A brainwave occurred to Moore; he wanted to display all his surplus stock at a fixed price of 5 cents per piece. He then asked Frank to arrange for it. Back in 1877 this fixed price strategy for one whole day was quite new, and not a routine concept like today. In those days, the prices never used to be displayed along with the products instead the customers had to always ask the assistant for the prices. These prices in those times used to vary from individual buyer to another individual buyer majorly depending upon how they looked! An amazingly attractive display was setup by Frank, he used a red colored material and it had Gold lettering over it , this boosted sales and also developed a lot many peoples interest . Frank truly believed that a whole big Store could be filled up with five cent goods rather than just one single counter. And, so in 1879, he somehow was able to persuade Mr. William Moore to support him in the opening of a store of his own. He failed in his first attempt, which was at Utica in New York. His store was popular initially but gradually the sales declined. But at his first attempt frank had made enough money to clear all his debts and also along with all this he learnt a very valuable lesson , that he had to really make sure that his store should have been located at the heart of the town instead of some side street area . He gave it another try and this time around he, opened in Lancaster Pennsylvania, about 60 miles away. Franks' store opened on June 21st, 1879. It was a huge success from the start, taking $127.65 on its first day. Woolworth's Success Someone

The Comparison and Contrast of Marijuana and other Harder Drugs Essay - 5

The Comparison and Contrast of Marijuana and other Harder Drugs - Essay Example Marijuana is different from heroin and cocaine in that it is a ‘natural’ drug, not a derived drug. It is known by many names such as pot, weed, grass, and skunk; all terms, however, refer to the â€Å"dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the cannabis plant.† (NDIC, 2003a, p.2) Heroin, on the other hand, is derived from opium; although opium itself is a natural substance extracted from the â€Å"seedpod of the opium poppy’ (NDIC, 2003b, p.2) heroin is manufactured from morphine which is an element of opium. Cocaine is derived from the coca leaf in South America and has to go through a chemical process to become cocaine. (NDIC, 003c, p.2) There are clear evidence and statistics reporting on death by overdose of pure cocaine and heroin use but I was unable to locate any such evidence of death by pure marijuana use.1 Heroin and cocaine, being powders (other than heroin sold in solid form in the west of the US) can be mixed with other substances like sugar, powdered cleaning agents and strychnine before being sold and thus create the risk of death, whereas it is difficult to dilute marijuana in any way. Marijuana is not associated with violent behavior as is evidenced by heroin and cocaine. A study conducted at the University of Victoria in British Columbia found that the use of marijuana on its own is not related to violent injuries in need of hospital attention but that the use of cocaine on its own is related. (NORML, 2007) There are also differences in â€Å"long-term differential associations of cocaine use and marijuana use on decision making† according to a study undertaken by Verdejo-Garcia et al. 2007. They investigated the connection between prolonged marijuana and cocaine use and its effect on learning.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

The three keys to success in retailing are location, location, Essay

The three keys to success in retailing are location, location, location - Essay Example This eventually led to symbolic representation, of these debts in the form of precious items like gemstones etc. and eventually the instrument 'Money' developed and is being exchanged. Ultimately, markets developed and shops became a permanent part of these markets. This was where the retail trade initiated. Retail trade in actual is embedded in two significant groups the Peddlers and the Producers. The peddlers would purchase the commodities they thought would sell in the market for a profit and the producers on the other hand were more interested in selling only the goods they were producing . This trend continues even today, with certain specific shops specializing in certain specific areas, these actually reflect their origins, as in a broad mix of producers. Such as a general store. Such as Casey's in the mid west of U.S.A .the general store has taken over the establishments of specialist shops. The customer's find this more convenient o visit, than to visit four different shops for their choice of goods. The term Convenience stores are also used for such stores. These have further developed into Super markets or super stores'1. 'It was Frank Woolworth who initiated his retail business also his career in 1873. He worked as a sales assistant in the Augusbury and Moore Dry goods store in Water Town New York. William Moore the co owner took pity on this young boy and accepted his plea of a three month free work trial at the store. The country (America) was still recuperating since after the civil war and the cash was surely tight. A brainwave occurred to Moore; he wanted to display all his surplus stock at a fixed price of 5 cents per piece. He then asked Frank to arrange for it. Back in 1877 this fixed price strategy for one whole day was quite new, and not a routine concept like today. In those days, the prices never used to be displayed along with the products instead the customers had to always ask the assistant for the prices. These prices in those times used to vary from individual buyer to another individual buyer majorly depending upon how they looked! An amazingly attractive display was setup by Frank, he used a red colored material and it had Gold lettering over it , this boosted sales and also developed a lot many peoples interest . Frank truly believed that a whole big Store could be filled up with five cent goods rather than just one single counter. And, so in 1879, he somehow was able to persuade Mr. William Moore to support him in the opening of a store of his own. He failed in his first attempt, which was at Utica in New York. His store was popular initially but gradually the sales declined. But at his first attempt frank had made enough money to clear all his debts and also along with all this he learnt a very valuable lesson , that he had to really make sure that his store should have been located at the heart of the town instead of some side street area . He gave it another try and this time around he, opened in Lancaster Pennsylvania, about 60 miles away. Franks' store opened on June 21st, 1879. It was a huge success from the start, taking $127.65 on its first day. Woolworth's Success Someone

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Classical Music Concert Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Classical Music Concert Report - Essay Example Each of the pieces from the performance was composed in March 1941 by Benjamin Britten. Different pieces of the performance included symphony and orchestral pieces. Each of the pieces from the performance was written to provide entertainment to the audiences. In addition, the compositions also meant to portray the meaning of opera in the lives of the people (Boosey & Hawkes, â€Å"Benjamin Britten†). In terms of the composer’s background, it is observed that Benjamin Britten was one of the most broadly performed British 20th century composers who studied at Royal College of Music. He founded a new English-language opera convention. His major works comprise invaluable offerings related to opera and the various components that are associated with the creation of symphonic music. Benjamin Britten was born on 22nd November 1913. He passed away at the age of 63 on 4th December 1976. Benjamin Britten belonged to an era in which the concept of classical music was quite widespr ead and consequently he received much admiration. In the era, audiences were able obtain a number of classic pieces of compositions in numerous musical concerts (Boosey & Hawkes, â€Å"Benjamin Britten†). The composer i.e. Benjamin Britten represented a great source of influence on many contemporaries. He had been and still is regarded as one of the great sources of inspiration to many classical music artists namely Percy Grainger among others. His music also inspired the young audiences (Boosey & Hawkes, â€Å"Benjamin

Monday, October 14, 2019

Thomas Cook PESTEL Analysis

Thomas Cook PESTEL Analysis This report is going to analyse and evaluate the strategic fit of Thomas Cook plc and its critical success factors using analytical tools. The PESTEL Analysis is used to evaluate conditions in the Travel and Tourism market environment and how these conditions affect Thomas Cook plc and its competitors now and in the future. A porters five forces analysis will also be used to determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of the travel and tourism industry. Introduction Thomas Cook Travel Company was first started by its namesake in June of 1841 and has since become the worlds most recognisable name in the travel industry. The merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group plc on June 19th of 2007 produced Thomas Cook plc, making Thomas Cook the second largest leisure travel group in the UK behind TUI Travel plc its major competitor. Thomas Cook specialises in providing a wide range of package holidays to destinations. (Thomascook.com) INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (Task A) PESTEL ANALYSIS The PESTEL frame work categorises environmental influences into six main types which are political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal (see appendix A). The PESTEL framework helps managers understand the key drivers of change and also the differential impact of these external influences and drivers on the industry, markets and individual organisations. (Johnson, Gerry, 2005). Political factors According to CIPD, coalition governments spending cuts are going to result in 0.7million job losses in the public sector. The travel and tourism industry is in the public sector; therefore their employees are faced with fears of redundancy. Announcement of redundancies will invariably have an adverse impact on morale, motivation and productivity of remaining employees. The negative effects can be reduced by sensitive handling of redundant employees and those remaining and to be as honest as possible with the remaining staff to gain back their trust and confidence. (cipd.co.uk) Economic factors are of concern to travel and tourism, because they may influence demand, costs, prices and profits. Package holidays are an income elastic business, as income decreases or rises; it can have a significant effect on the demand. Therefore looking ahead, public sector cuts are likely to have a major consequence on the travel and tourism industry. Social Factors Redundancies and other government cuts will potentially result in limited disposable income for consumers. According to Mintel, some 12% of consumers are spending nothing on non-essentials, with 35% describing themselves as very cautious, 30% as quite cautious, and only 5% as not at all cautious. This is because of the decrease in disposable income. If income decreases, then spending will become more cautious, especially on income elastic items such as package holidays, therefore reducing profit  margins for the travel industry. With all the package holidays in the UK, supply will remain very high as demand decreases forcing companies to reduce their prices. The spending cuts will mean that business executives will have to cut their budgets and most likely use low-cost travel planes such as Easy Jet and Rynair. Video conferencing is improving all the time, and the price has fallen to zero using online systems such as yahoo messenger, business may be forced to use this method to communicate to reduce their costs. This going to affect the travel industry a lot, executives provide business anytime of the year whilst holidays are seasonal. This will reduce customers. If classy seats are either vacant or earning less revenue, this means less departures or soaring economy class fares. Companies will also be forced to provide bargains for leisure travelers willing to upgrade to business class. Technological Factors The most powerful example technology is the emergence and improvement of the internet, which led to reduced costs and increased operational efficiency within the tourism agencies and airports. Because the internet is becoming better every day, its causing intimacy between tour operators and clients and improving contentment for both parties. Aside the internet, other major technologies that support the continuous growth of the tourism industry are those implemented by transportation, which is becoming safer, quicker and more pleasing. The technological implementations within tourism operations have led to changes in working behaviour and will also result an increase of demand for labour force, implying as such that educational institutions place more emphasis on teaching tourism. Environmental Factors Protecting the environment is one of the most talked about and sensitive matters today, making environmental responsibility part of the factors that determine a tour operators success. According to global warming 2020, aviation which ferries hundreds of thousands of tourists across the globe is of great concern to those seeking to protect the environment. A major concern for the industry is  greenhouse  gas  emissions and their implication for climate change. Aviation produces at least two percent of emissions. One way the aviation industry is working on this problem is by rolling out newer planes that have fuel efficient engines which means less carbon emissions. However not all airlines especially in the poorer countries can afford buying new aircraft. PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Porters five forces analysis (see appendix B) was developed to as a way of assessing the attractiveness of different industries. The five forces constitute an industrys structure. (Johnson, Gerry, 2008) Threats of substitutes The lack of disposable income and the effect of coalition government spending cuts are likely to change consumer spending habits, as a result with a significant shift in demand from luxury goods to inferior goods which are much more affordable, consumers are likely to shift to local and cheaper holidays and may choose to use trains (eurostar) or their cars to local holidays. Terrorism has affected the mentality of travellers and has made travelling more difficult and uncomfortable. People have to think about security issues from when they start packing to when they reach their destination, this will convince more travellers to use trains or holiday locally. This is however a moderate threat because customers usually prefer airlines because they are much quicker. Competitive Rivalry The Travel and tourism industry occupies a big segment of the business market and therefore provides many opportunities for tour operators; however its a very competitive industry. To be successful a package holiday company needs to discover the best fit between their individual skills, competencies and resources and external market characteristics to make sure that they stay on top of their game. Brand recognition and strength also determine the success of a company against its competitors, especially if times are tough in the economy. Negotiating powers of buyers Demand in package holiday industry is extremely elastic; this means that buyers will not just accept a given price by a package holiday company. Customers will use any information sources available to them such as the internet to look for better and exclusive deals available around, and with so many package holidays available in the UK, they are likely to find one and use a different company. As discussed above about the effect of economy on the travel industry, the powers of buyers are that they have a huge influence on the setting of prices in accordance with the prices which are around in the market. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS Critical success factors are used to identify key factors that a business needs to focus on to ensure that their business is successful. To survive and prosper, all industry participants must use an emergent strategy. Emergent strategy is a way of action that develops over time in an industry without a specific mission, goals or long-term plans. Emergent approaches should be thoroughly analysed in the context of an increasingly active, highly competitive and global business market. Influential external forces mentioned in the PESTEL analysis are pushing companies to reduce costs, improve processes and identify new opportunities for growth and an emergent strategy will help companies cope with these factors. An emergent approach leads to more creative and responsive strategy making which is well suited to the hyper-competitive and unpredictable environments such as the package holiday industry. It is more suited to instigating positive, transformational organisational change such as diversification or restructuring. It also has the added benefit of helping to reduce resistance to change as it allows time to build employee support while the strategy is taking shape. (powerfulwords.co.uk)

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Essay --

The Third Phase of the war was the Danish intervention. Christian IV of Denmark had a strong interest in Germany. He was Lutheran so supported the Lutheran rulers of Lower Saxony. But he also had land in German. He was Duke of Holstein and the ruler of Hamburg, and his second son was made bishop. As a result Christian had himself appointed war leader and raised an army of 20,000-35,000 mercenaries, partly funded by France. The Protestants were suddenly inspired with fresh hope as Denmark became the first major European nation to enter the war (Thomas). In the 27 of August the Battle of Lutter-am-Bamberg began with a Catholic League army under Count Tilly. Tilly defeated the forces of Christian IV of Denmark at Lutter am Barenberge in the Imperial Circle Estate of Lower Saxony. Both armies had approximately 20,000 men. Three times the imperial infantry broke through the Danish line only to be driven back by a cavalry counter-attack. However, when the Catholics captured the Danish artillery, the Danes panicked and retreated. The Danish losses were roughly 4,000 dead, 2,000 wounded, and 2,500 prisoners (Richard). It was a significant loss of the protestant forces of Denmark. The Danish army had eventually been whittled away by catholic forces in further wars ending with a treaty binding Denmark to stop its support of the protestant German states, thus, ending the Danish intervention. The next phase, known as the Swedish intervention, began with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden; he was the next foreign ruler to come to the aid of the German Lutherans and to seek political and financial advantage in Germany. Both France and the Dutch sent subsidies. In 1630 Gustav landed 13,000 men at Peenemunde. From 1630 to 1634, Swedish-led armie... ...ear later the French government was distracted by a rebellion, and the Spanish saw an opportunity to retake the city. The Prince de Condà © rushed from Catalonia to Flanders and cobbled together an army of 16,000 men and 18 guns to face the Archduke’s 18,000 men and 38 guns. Cavalry dominated both armies, with more than half the troops being horse. The Spanish deployed on high ground so Condà © decided to withdraw. This encouraged the Spanish cavalry to skirmish with the French rear guard. The fighting escalated into a full battle. The Spanish infantry drove their French counterparts back, breaking the regiment. However, French cavalry re-routed and enveloped the Spanish center. The French lost 3.500 casualties, but inflicted 3,000 dead or wounded and took 5,000 prisoners (Thomas). The war ended in Prague after the swedes snuck in ransacked and looted the Prague castle.