The film Great Expectations Essay Example For Students

The film Great Expectations Essay The film Great Expectations has a more interesting beginning and has more effect on the reader, than the opening chapter in the novel. The film starts by Mr. Pirrip (Pip as an older gentleman) reading to us the first few lines of the novel. You can only see his hands on the book, when it fades out and re-opens into the story with the camera panning on and around a young Pip. He is running across a bleak, desolate moor with an old wooden gibbet in the background. It is quiet dark and miserable, which also adds to the tense atmosphere. We will write a custom essay on The film Great Expectations specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The camera then moves into a murky, overgrown graveyard, which is full of nettles and thorns. It shows you a tree creaking which looks like a giant hand, which again also adds to the eerie atmosphere. The graves are untidy, crooked and very disorganized. Pip is standing by his parents grave (but not the ones of his five small brothers which strangely dont appear in the film) weeping when Magwitch (the convict) comes from nowhere and shouts, Hold your noise. Keep still you little devil, or Ill cut your throat! Pip replies quickly and begs for the convict not to. The convict is wearing brownish grey rags and a band around his shaven head. He has no shoes, is very dirty and has a ball and chain around his legs. He didnt seem to play the part very well and I think he talked much too posh for a convict as did Pip for a young boy. Their speech wasnt very enthusiastic either and there facial expressions were very wooden. In my opinion the convict could have looked more intimidating. In the novel Charles Dickens describes the convict in great detail to try and convince us that he looks and sounds very menacing. I personally like the way Dickens describes Magwitch and what way each incident has happened to him. He says: A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped and shivered and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head

Purchasing Your First Small Chainsaw

Purchasing Your First Small Chainsaw Chainsaw manufacturers are using newer and lighter materials to build more powerful but durable machines. Inspired by an article in Arbor Age magazine, I ask you to consider six chainsaw brands for potential purchase. These chainsaw manufacturers were selected for their small model compactness and reviewed for use by arborists who work in an urban environment but need plenty of sawing power. These companies have smaller saws that would also be the perfect fit for a tree owner or occasional woodcutter or limb trimmer. An important first note: Reviewer Tom Bernosky, owner of Green Thumb Power and Equipment Corporation, suggests you always remember when buying any machine to buy from a dealer who can service. Your chances go up that you may hurt yourself and your business by buying something at a mart-type store. I am not saying you cant buy mail order, just make sure there is a repair shop in your area for service work. If the saw cant be serviced locally, your warranty isnt worth the paper its printed on.† 6 Great Companies That Make Small Chainsaws This list represents great picks from a broad array of small chainsaws who provide excellent dealer service. Obviously, there are many others you can choose that are not on this list. But these saws are arguably the best for all but the professional woodcutter as a first saw around the yard and woodlot. This review is based on company reliability, professional arborist popularity, and one chainsaw shop experts opinion. Any of these chainsaws manufacturers make great first small saws for purchase. All quotes are from Arbor Age. Ive tried to include links to lists of branded saws available for purchase on the Internet. Echo Small Chainsaws - It truly packed a wallop when it came time to do limb and trim work. - Available in 14 and 16 guide bars - Retail cost range: $190 to $300 US    Note: my personal favorite is the Echo CS 310. Stihl Small Chainsaws- â€Å"This particular unit cuts extremely smooth and had plenty of power in reserve† - Available in 14 and 16 guide bars - Retail cost range: $180 to $250 US  Ã‚   ​Note: this saw is an arborists favorite due to minimal weight, adequate power and bang for the buck. Husqvarna Small Chainsaws- My first impression of this was wow, what a little powerhouse. - Husqvarna saws are available in small guide bars - Retail cost range: $210 to $350 US Craftsman Small Chainsaws - I picked this chainsaw because of its quality and service availability. A Sears Craftsman chainsaw is an economical alternative to the more expensive saws and a growing favorite!- Available in 14 and 16 guide bars - Retail cost range: $150 to $200 US Jonsered Small Chainsaws- â€Å"Known for its reliability and durability, this little saw has that and more.- Available in 16 guide bars - Retail cost range: $250 to $300 US Solo Small Chainsaws- â€Å"This is quite a nice saw with plenty of power.† - Available in 14 and 16 guide bars - Retail cost range: $250 to $450 US

The Price Of Freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Price Of Freedom - Essay Example I thought that the contract was one of the many contacts that I had lost over time. I went on to pick the call and an elderly voice called out my name in a friendly tone. The man summoned me to meet him outside the club so that he could make clear his intentions. I walked out of a small room that served as a pub and at the same time as the dancing room. Immediately I walked out of the club, and three men were standing adjacent to the door and met me as if they knew me well. One of the men spontaneously offered to buy me a drink that I agreed to. We entered the club and one of my friends held my beer from afar. I signaled him to give me a couple of minutes before I could join them. As we approached the bar, the man who had offered to buy a drink told me to order any drink of my choice. I went ahead and ordered a soft drink since I thought that the men were friends of my father or at least one of my uncles. As the bartender fetched my order, I took a quick look at one of the men. He was dark, tall and well built. His blazer’s size appeared to be bigger near the waist, and the thought of a gun crept into my mind. The other man tapped my shoulder and requested to see my phone. I asked him what intentions were since I did not have an idea of who he was. The other man went on to ask for a physical evidence of my phones receipt. I told them that I had no obligation of doing what they asked, and I had used my phone for some time thus there’s no way I could have stolen it. One of the men told me that it was true that my phone had been stolen and that he had evidence to back his statement. My friends had already come nearer and were listening carefully. They also reassured the men that the phone was mine since I had possessed it for some time. Suddenly, one of the men drew out a gun from his waist. In a fraction of a second, the other man showed me some pictures that depicted all my dealings in the past two months.

Death and Dying, Rituals and Afterlife, Beliefs of the Ancient Greeks Dissertation

Death and Dying, Rituals and Afterlife, Beliefs of the Ancient Greeks - Dissertation Example The ancient Greek had several beliefs related to the dead and dying, they had strong beliefs and rites which reflected the role of human soul, location and actions believed to have occurred after death and as a result they formulated strict rituals which were to be performed after a person died and their beliefs: which were interconnected with death played a fundamental role during the death rituals (Taylor 39-51). The funerals of the ancient Greek consisted of three acts which were observed to the minute detail. These acts comprised of the procedures of laying down the deceased’s body, the procession to the grave yard, and the actual burial of the cremated remains of the dead. Similar to most funerals in today’s civilized world; the ancient Greek displayed family wealth and kinship ties. It was both a ceremony and much like a social event to bid farewell to the dead as well as an act of consolation to the family of the deceased. However, this was a function that displa yed the family’s wealth and kinship, it was further a rite of passage from the living soul to the afterlife and the main purpose was to support the soul along its journey to afterlife. (Taylor 83-109). The ancient Greek strongly believed that if the soul was not buried; then its entrance into the Hades would be compromised and thus the fundamental purpose of these rituals was extremely important to the future of the soul after death. Most of the ancient Greeks believe that; if the soul was not allowed to enter into the Hades then it was not be able to gain peace for it was to be disembodied. This created great fear among the Greeks and the denial of proper burial rites was often used as a punishment for those who had committed serious crimes during their lifetime. The most feared type of death was at sea since the body could not be retrieved to be accorded proper burial (Robben 61-75). Death Deities in Greek Legend and Myth Like in most religions, there were deities in Ancien t Greek which were accorded roles and responsibilities during the personification of the deceased. There are various deities, who are either related to or are offered to the personification of the deceased and some of the most common deities that existed are as discussed below: Hades Hades was known as the underworld Greek god, it was the destination of the soul after the death of an individual. This god presided over the punishment of the deceased after he/she died. The name of the god was also the synonym of the underworld and it is similar to the Christian belief of the existence of Hell (Robben 93-117). Thanatos Thanatos was the brother of Hypnos and the son of Nyx; the god of sleep and also the goddess of night. Further, he was also the Greek death personification. When an individual passed away, it would be his responsibility to direct the soul to the underworld (Obayashi 24-33). The Fates Under Greek mythology, the Fates were three sisters which were responsible for the desti ny of the soul. They were also associated with death as they determined for how long an individual was supposed to live before he died. The three sisters were: Clotho who spinned and individuals thread of life, Lachesis who determined the lifespan of a person, and Atropos who after the others had made their decisions, she would eventually cut the thread of life of an individual hence ending his life (Taylor 113-148). Greek Concept of

You are the Consultant Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

You are the Consultant - Research Paper Example I therefore, in response to your questions, offer strategies that you can apply to increase job satisfaction, improve motivation, and increase performance, cultural issues that must be considered when dealing with a multicultural workforce, and possible mistakes to avoid when dealing with the type of workforce. I also explain ethical issues that the company might face and successful approaches to communicating to employees the importance of building and maintaining a sustainable global business. Strategies to increasing job satisfaction, improving motivation, and increasing performance across departments Job satisfaction is fundamental to successful human resource management. Its significance is even more important in a globalized environment because of the involved diversity. Deployment, the ability to obtain the desired skills for specific tasks in an organization’s diversified locations, is one of the applicable strategies to attaining employee satisfaction. It facilitates employee satisfaction by ensuring that employees work in environments that they are comfortable with and that they undertake tasks with which they are familiar, factors that identify interest in employees’ tasks and potentials that eliminate strains and boredom in the course of duty and instead increase satisfaction (Roberts, Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). Developing a level of understanding with employees in the globalized environment is another successful strategy to improving their job utility. Spending time with the employees, offering your time to listen to them, and reacting appropriately to their needs are instrumental in developing their sense of worth to you as their manager and to the organization. This further develops a strong bond between the employees and the organization and increases their satisfaction in working towards, and meeting, the organization’s objectives. Empowering the employees through enhancing their â€Å"knowledge, skill, and ability† to meet the organization’s objectives is another strategy to increasing their satisfaction by making their work easier through improved efficiency (Friedman, 2007, p. 160). Developing the employees’ potentials through seminars and mentorship roles also improves their efficiency and therefore interest in their jobs to enhance utility in their tasks (Friedman, 2007). Motivating employees in the global environment can similarly be achieved through psychological approaches that focus on each employee’s need. Cultural sensitivity will therefore play an important role in determining employees’ motivational factors in the diversified set up because successful motivational factors to American employees may not apply to Spanish employees. It will therefore be necessary to, besides understanding possible factors that can improve employees’ motivation, be able to understand and respond to employees cultural needs and attitudes (Osula, 2009). The developed cultu ral sensitivity, together with cultural awareness will further help in understanding the extent to which employees can be motivated by different factors because employees from different cultural set ups and different regions respond differently to environmental factors. Compensation and other rewards for example induce different levels of motivation across nations and cultural values are instrumental to understanding their relative effectiveness (Bloom, Milkovich and Mitra, 2003). You can also improve employees’ motivation by developing their potentials are in the organization. Training facilitates emplo

Business process management (BPM)

Business process management (BPM) Literature Review 2.1 Definitions 2.1.1 What is Business Process Management? Business Process Management (BPM) was influenced by concepts and technologies from business administration and computer science. BPM had its root in process-oriented trends and was treated as a management philosophy since mid 1990s (James F. Chang, 2006; Mathias Weske, 2007). Studies investigating BPM had been carried out several management principles and practices were associated. Most of these concepts were identical to Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Total Quality Management (TQM) concepts. In the book Business Process Management: Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Mathias Weske had quoted from Davenport, who defined business process as: a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome for a particular customer or market. And a specific ordering of work activities across time and place, with a beginning, an end, and clearly identified inputs and outputs. However, Mathias Weske (2007) had adopted definition as: A business process consists of a set of activities that are performed in coordination in an organizational and technical environment. These activities come together to make a business goal became achievable. Every single business process is performed by a single company, but it may interact with business processes performed by other companies. From the business process definition, Mathias Weske (2007) had defined the concept of BPM as: Business process management includes concepts, methods, and techniques to support the design, administration, configuration, enactment, and analysis of business processes. The basis of BPM had explicit representation of business process with their activities and execution constraints between them. When BPM defined, people could analysis, improvement and enactment with BPM. In traditionally, business process had manually executed as usual by knowledge personnel, regulations of company, and installed procedures. Nowadays, company had more additional benefits by apply Information Technology like Business Process Management System (BPMS) when coordinating activities involved by business process. 2.1.2 What is Business Process Management System (BPMS)? According to definition of James F. Chang (2006), BPMS is a new class of software that allows organizations to devise process-centric information technology solutions. Process-centric means BPMS solutions are able to integrate people, systems, and data. BPM fills the gap between the wide-open, unstructured world of collaboration and the precise transaction processing of enterprise applications. It has become widely realized that important enterprise processes routinely cross the boundaries of enterprise applications. Processes like order-to-cash or procure-to-pay may involve several enterprise applications such as taking orders in CRM, ERP creating invoices and purchase orders, and managing production and fulfilment in SCM. BPM, especially in combination with services that can move data in and out of enterprise applications and other information sources provide a way to clear define, manage, and automate processes that span enterprise applications. BPM also allows processes that bring in people and systems from outside the company to the defined process. In this way, BPM supports processes that take place across an extended business network. The personalities of processes currently automated by BPM are as follows: They are more structured than the loose collaboration based on email and other such mechanisms They are more flexible than the transactional processes in enterprise applications They are wider in scope than processes in enterprise applications, crossing both application and company boundaries Their flow is explicitly defined, managed, and automated 2.1.3 What enabling standards and technology support BPMS? When evaluating and adopting BPM technology, two standards are referenced over and over: BPMN and BPEL. To fully understand what BPM technology does, it is important to understand the role of these and other standards, which provide a common infrastructure for process modeling and automation. Business process modeling notation (BPMN) is a standard for the visual definition of business processes. Most of the modern tools for business process modeling support BPMN or are based on it. BPMN defines the primitive constructs that are used to represent business processes, such as starting points, ending points, process steps, decision points, and so on. Business process execution language (BPEL) is a standard for expressing the steps required to execute a business process by invoking a series of web services. BPEL is more like a programming language for carrying out a business process than a modeling system for describing the process flow. Web services technology standards are vital to BPM because they enable web services to communicate with enterprise applications and other systems using appropriate mechanisms for security, self-discovery, versioning, and other important matters. Industry standards for web services define specific sets of services that are used to automate communication between two companies in a particular industry. BPMS frequently makes use of such web services when creating systems that cross company boundaries and incorporate partner companies into a process. 2.1.4 What is Business Process Modelling? Business process modelling is the art of describing how work is done in a company at the appropriate level to achieve the desired communication. The typical goals of business process modelling are to capture a process so that it can be better understood and improved or to describe a process in detail and associate it with technology so that it can be automated. A business process model in general is simply a description of a business process. Visual business models are description of the steps that take place during a process and frequently represent in flowcharts such as the one shown in Figure 3, although other forms of models such as numerical equations or systematic procedures are also sometimes used. 2.2 Main functions of BPMS Here is a list of the most common components and management mechanisms that are involved in application assembly. Web services. BPM needs SOA. The act of creating executable business process models is the start of creating new applications to help automate and support business processes. To allow each business process step to interact with the world, web services are needed to create a two-way communication with enterprise applications and to reach out to other sources of information and functionality on the Web. Business rules. Process steps can involve the application of sets of business rules that determine some sort of result, based on the inputs passed in and the rules in effect. Rules could be used to determine the routing of a document, the credit score of an individual, or a suggestion for a product to upsell. User interfaces. When process steps need to interact with people to collect information or to define a task that must be performed manually, a user interface is needed. In this way, a user interface is a component that is included in the set of parts that are assembled into a working application by the BPM process automation technology. User interface components can be generated automatically, based on interactions implied by web services, business rules, or data required by process steps. User interface components can also be created by users and developers using a variety of tools. Modeling and orchestration tools. Modeling and orchestration tools are used at many different levels of a BPMS. The center of a BPMS is usually an environment for modeling used to define business process models or the orchestration of services. Modeling can be used to create services and user interfaces. Modeling also can be used to define the integration and mapping of data from one source to another. Simulation tools. In order to understand the flow of work through a proposed business process, simulation tools may be employed. Assumptions are made about the amount of inputs to each process and the amount of time it takes to perform each process step. In this way bottlenecks or key areas for optimization can be found. These key areas can be closely monitored to find problems early on in implementations or to confirm the validity of assumptions. Model and process repositories. When models are created, they must be stored in repositories, which allow them to be accessed and shared by large groups of people. In any large program of BPM adoption, some processes are used over and over. These process components must be stored in a central location and reused in other business process models. Web services repositories. To link business process steps and user interfaces to the invocation of services, it is important to be able to find services, understand what they do, and identify the data sent and retrieved through them. Web services repositories contain information about the interfaces and functionality of the services and the underlying applications the services are connected to at runtime. Integration tools. It is not uncommon for a business process to require two systems to work together in specific ways. Perhaps a purchase order must be transferred from the CRM application to ERP. Frequently, the BPMS does not contain the capability to perform such integration and so other integration tools must be used to create the needed functionality. The BPM tools then invoke a service that performs the integration defined by the integration tools. In this way, specific integrations become components used by BPM technology. Centralized task management. One of the most important transitions in a business process model occurs when a software application asks a person to perform a task. It is vital that the task to be performed be adequately described and that the results of performing the task be recorded. A single user may be getting requests to perform tasks from many different business process applications. Centralized task management components create a single inbox into which all requests from business process applications are sent, which streamlines monitoring and executing those tasks. Process and activity monitoring tools. Once an application has been created using a BPMS, it is important to monitor the business process model during execution. By monitoring the activity of specific steps, it is possible to monitor not only the technological activity of the system such as database reads and writes or network traffic, but also the progress of the business process, that is, number of purchase orders created or customer service requests handled. Systems created based on business process models take a large step toward achieving the promise of the field of business activity monitoring, complex event processing, predictive analytics, and simulations. These main functions would provide the basis for evaluation of BPMS platforms. 2.3 BPMS platforms evaluation From the main functions of BPMS, the author has evaluated four platforms to support the implementation stage. These four platforms were Drools 5, jBPM 4.3, OSWorkflow 2.8, and ARIS. The critical evaluation framework has been discussed in the main functions of BPMS within this chapter. The evaluation framework included: Web services Business rules User Interface Widgets Modelling and Orchestration tools Simulation tools Model and process repositories Web service repositories Integration tools Centralized task management Process and activity monitor tools The marking guidance has included at appendices. The guidance provided descriptions for each mark from 0 to 10.The investigation of BPMS has marked these platforms base on the evaluation framework and marking guidance then ploted to charts. 2.3.1 Drools 5 Business Logic Integration Platform Drools was a open-source business rule management system (BRMS) with a forward chaining inference based rules engine, more correctly known as a production rule system, using an enhanced implementation of the Rete algorithm. Adapting Rete to an object-oriented interface allows for more natural expression of business rules with regards to business objects. Drools is written in Java, but able to run on Java and .NET. Drools has been supported by JBoss since 2005 and renamed to JBoss Rules. Drools 5 have been released on May 2009. The main goals of this release were introducing Complex Event Processing (CEP) engine (in Fusion module) and workflow capabilities (in Flow module). On the release of Drools 5, it has changed name from Business Rule Management System (BRMS) to Business Logic integration Platform (BLiP) with modules: Drools Guvnor (BRMS/BPMS) Drools Expert (rule engine) Drools Flow (process/workflow) Drools Fusion (event processing/temporal reasoning) Advantages: The platforms had Drools Expert; it was an excellent rule engine, developed as the first-class module in mind. The platform received ten marks for business rule function because it had long time development and matured enough for production environment. Drools Guvnor combined with Drools plug-in on Eclipse were outstanding at BRMS and editor. The combination help user easily draw; manage models on both Web and desktop IDE (integrated develop environment). It helped the platform received eight marks for modelling tools, nine marks for model repository, and eight marks for centralized task management. Disadvantages: The documentation of platform did not have any mention about web service on whole platform. That meant the platform did not support web service either BPEL standard. According to the official user guide at Drools website, the integration ability with OpenBravo ERP and OSWorkflow were still under developing at time this report conducted. The platform received one mark for integration function. 2.3.2 jBPM 4.3 jBPM is a platform for executable process languages ranging from business process management (BPM) over workflow to service orchestration. jBPM supports three different process languages. Each one is targeted towards a specific function and environment. *jBDL*BPEL*Pageflow jBPM builds all these process languages natively on top of a single technology: the Process Virtual Machine (PVM). Even as the BPM industry converges towards new standards, the investment in jBPM is protected; the PVM foundation will remain stable. Advantages: The supporting of BPEL has gave jBPM a good marks (eight) at web service function. Support BPEL has also meant this platform good in integration with legacy systems. The ability of generate form for human interaction workflow was the good function that included in jBPM. This ability contributed seven marks for user interface widget function. Modelling, repositories, and centralized task management were the advantages of jBPM. This platform developed some plug-in for Eclipse to create the Graphical Process Designer. This approach gave the power of Eclipse to business process on both graphical modelling and debugging. Disadvantages: The investigation shown the weakness of jBPM was the lacking of simulation tools. Simulation tools helped process designer in bottle-neck solving. The simulation function of jBPM was under developing at time of this report conducted. 2.3.3 OSWorkflow 2.8 OSWorkflow is a mature open-source Java workflow engine. It is mainly aimed at the programmer and not an end user or business analyst. For the end user or business analyst, it includes a user-friendly visual workflow modeller designed only for basic usage. Advantages: The strength of OSWorkflow showed at modelling tools and Disadvantages: 2.3.4 ARIS Advantages: Disadvantages: 2.3.5 Conclusion 2.4 Summary

Cyberspace and Internet Censorship Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive E

Cyberspace and Internet Censorship "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace [the Internet], the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather" (Barlow 18). The Internet is a vast network of computers, both public and private, which spans the globe. Recently, there has been a movement by governments worldwide, and the United States government in particular, to remove content deemed inappropriate from the Internet. However, numerous factors such as: the abundance of less restrictive alternatives, the impossibility of applying American law and community standards to an international communications medium, the active choice required to access the Internet's resources, the violation of our constitutional rights which it entails, and the fact that it is the parent's and not the government's responsibility to protect children contradict this rash and poorly thought out idea. While censorship is intolerable in all its forms, it is especially odious, inappropriate, and unworkable when applied to the Internet, an international medium of free speech, information, and communication. The Internet began as a link between major universities and government computer centers to facilitate the sharing of information and allow certain universities to utilize the few existing supercomputing centers. With the advent and popularization of the personal computer and the increased use and development of modems, the size and capabilities of the Internet have exploded. The nature of the Internet is such that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine its size at a given mo... ...because they may inadvertently happen upon objectionable material. The resources of the Internet deserve the same treatment. Censorship is unnecessary and inappropriate with regards to the Internet. Numerous less-restrictive means of protecting the public, the global nature of the Internet, the active choice required to access the resources of the Internet, the fact that Internet censorship violates the First amendment, and the parental and personal nature of regulating the Internet all contradict the idea of Internet censorship. The Internet has the potential to revolutionize our society and bring us full into the information age. The information superhighway is not centuries or decades away, but just around the corner. Let us attempt to aid the growth of this technology and its respective culture in any way possible, and thus propel ourselves into the future.