Thursday, October 31, 2019

Critically discuss what is meant with open innovation With reference Essay - 1

Critically discuss what is meant with open innovation With reference to a specific firm, discuss the extent to which open innovation plays a role in this firms innovation process - Essay Example ges, entrepreneurs and investors are seeking to restructure and adopt new strategies that can overcome barriers to entrance into a marketplace for their products/services. Prior to acceptance of open innovation, companies were focused on self-reliance and methods of internalized research and development (R&D), which characterize the idea of closed innovation. This centralized approach in the current era has proved challenging for most businesses who need to meet consumers need and thrive in the market. It is the current strategy that SMEs and LSC/MC have adopted to stay abreast and competitive in the market. According to Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke and West, open innovation is â€Å"the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively† (2014, p. 4). It emphasizes that useful ideas and knowledge are not limited within an organization, but distributed across other organization as well as in the market labour force. Clearly, it’s true there exist smarter people who are not the organization’s employees, but with innovative ideas that give a firm its competitive advantage. Similarly, a company’s internal R&D expertise may be insufficient and may require to be harnessed through external knowledge if the organization needs to be successful. The concept stresses on the need for individuals firms to appreciate and leverage external knowledge and incorporate it w ith their internal capability. Open innovation (OI) is concerned with creation of knowledge through pooling of ideas and information that create value and give superiority to organizations. One, an organization’s R&D discoveries is fundamental to each organizations, hence cannot be disregarded. It is part of the knowledge/idea that an organization own. Second, other sources of knowledge/idea are in the labour force (some of who are sole proprietors or in partnership) or external firms with smart employees.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Critically Discuss Standing in Actions for Annulment and the Dissertation

Critically Discuss Standing in Actions for Annulment and the Development of Legal Protection in EU Courts - Article 263-267 Trea - Dissertation Example The analysis this paper presents does not imply a conclusive rejoinder to the debate on standing under Article 263 TFEU. Rather, it attempts to approach the discussion through a different angle. Chapter 3: Direct Concern Technically, the narrow and restrictive approach to direct concern by the Court of Justice limits the success of the applicants. Additionally, if the applicant can show that the measure of personal concern, they are still required to demonstrate that the decision is of direct concern. For instance, the applicant can only establish direct concern in relation to a measure if it was maintained by ECJ that the measure directly affects the applicant’s legal situation and discloses its addressees charged with the task of implementing it. Other restrictions include, even though the applicant can establish direct concern, it must be dependent on whether the action that affects the applicant was with discretion of the Member State (Usher, 2005). On the other hand, citi zens can only challenge decisions that are only addressed to them, and even though addressed to them, it must have a direct impact on them. The Court of Justice views this to be the case if a person is clearly affected in a distinct way in a way that affects him with the UE undertakings or other individuals. Ultimately, it can be argued that the Member States may face a major barrier from their role of taking all suitable measures to ensure the fulfillment of the objectives or obligations of the EU as they face major opposition from the citizens who perceive the union as being â€Å"super-state† and inaccessible. The restrictive nature inhibits the Member States from facilitating the achievement of the Union’s objectives (Abaquense de Parfouru, 2007). Firstly, the interested parties cannot start direction actions by any interested party other than the EU institutions or member states in pending cases before the Court of Justice as such. This is discernible through a pr ocedure where only that party that can demonstrate direct or indirect interest that determine the outcome of the case. In this case, the intervener is restricted from supporting the conclusions of one of the parties, and in that case cannot raise new ground to on which either of the parties has used. This recalls the case in Stichting Greenpeace Council (Greenpeace International) v. Commission, where Fisherman, farmers and environmental groups wished to challenge a decision by the commission, to grant financial assistance to the European Regional Development Fund, to construct new power stations on the Canary Islands. Stichting Greenpeace illustrates that even those who may suffer from hazards resulting from an activity will not have standing if the activity poses a threat to an entire population rather than specific parts of it. A similar conclusion was reached in Danielson concerning the equivalent of Article 263 in Euratom. Initially, where the application an abstract terminology test found that the measure used was without doubt a regulation, the court would stop the proceedings then. However, in current jurisprudence, it appears the European Union Court of Justice (EUCJ) is showing willingness to recognize that some regulations have the potential to cause direct and individual concern. Accordingly, a plaintiff must have enough locus standi to take legal action. Such as in the case of Codorniu SA V Council (Case: C-309/89 [1994] ECR

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Diagnosis and Management of Bronchopleural Fistula

Diagnosis and Management of Bronchopleural Fistula Introduction A bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is a communication between the bronchial tree and the pleural space. More than two thirds of BPFs are postresectional, with an incidence ranging from 1.5-28 % after pneumonectomy, and 0.5% after lobectomy. Postresectional BPF is associated with mortality of 20-50 %.[1] BPFs can present early (1-7 days), intermediate (8-30 days), or late (more than 30 days) after pulmonary resection. Early fistulas are usually associated with dehiscence of the bronchial stump, while late fistulas are usually associated with failed healing or infection.[2] Besides postresectional etiology, BPFs may be idiopathic, or secondary to necrotizing lung infections, persistent spontaneous pneumothorax, thoracic trauma, Adult respiratory distress syndrome, Tuberculosis, or postprocedural e.g. lung biopsy or bronchoscopy.[3] Diagnosis and management of BPF is a major challenge for clinicians. Diagnosis and localization of BPF may require multiple chest computed tomography (CT) imaging and bronchoscopies.[4] A BPF is usually a manifestation of the underlying lung disease, therefore, measures to reduce the air leak are generally unsuccessful until the patients underlying lung disease has improved. Once there is diminished need for mechanical ventilation, the BPF almost always resolves without specific therapy, apart from controlling active infection and draining the pleural space adequately. Definitive repair using surgery or various bronchoscopic methods has been used to close BPF if either conservative management fails, or is not expected to succeed.[5] Case Description A 69 year old male with squamous cell carcinoma of the right lower lobe (RLL) of the lung underwent thoracotomy and RLL resection. The patient was discharged home on the 6th postoperative day after an uneventful hospital course. The patient presented to the emergency department of an outside hospital ten days later with fever and respiratory distress. Chest X-ray showed a large pneumothorax, and a right sided chest tube was placed. Pleural fluid was sent for culture and sensitivity, and later grew staphylococcus aureus. The patient’s breathing continued to be labored, and was intubated urgently after failing a short trial of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (PPV). A large air leak was observed through the chest tube with each positive pressure breath, even after placing the chest tube on continuous suction. Placement of an endobronchial valve to minimize air leak was attempted in the interventional bronchoscopy suite, but failed and was reported to be technically dif ficult. The patient was subsequently transferred to our hospital for further management. On admission, ventilatory management in the intensive care unit (ICU) was geared towards lowering the tidal volume and plateau airway pressure to minimize the air leak. This was accomplished by providing partial ventilatory support using low rate synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) and a high inspiratory flow rate, as well as decreasing PEEP, inspiratory to expiratory (I/E) ratio, and the tidal volume of each ventilator delivered breath. We used the least amount of chest tube suction that maintains lung inflation, treated bronchospasm aggressively, and continued appropriate antibiotics. We suspected that the patient had a RLL airway stump dehiscence resulting in a BPF, and complicated with staphylococcus aureus empyema. Chest CT (Figure 1) showed a properly placed right sided chest tube surrounded by residual hydropneumothorax. Bronchoscopy showed a defect in the suture line of the RLL airway stump. The patient was taken to the operating room (OR) to close the BPF through a right thoracotomy after switching the single lumen endotracheal tube to a left sided double lumen tube. The abscess cavity was cleaned revealing a 0.6 cm airway stump opening at its base. The stump opening was sutured and mattressed with intercostal muscle pedicle. A Clagett window was created, the cavity was packed tightly, and a vacuum assisted closure dressing was applied. The patient was extubated in the OR to minimize PPV. Antibiotics and dressing changes were done until the patient was discharged from the hospital on the 6th postoperative day. The wound was ultimately closed five months later when the Clagett window decreased in size and healed appropriately. Diagnosis Signs and symptoms of BPF include fever, productive cough, hemoptysis, subcutaneous emphysema, and persistent air leak or purulent drainage from a chest tube. Late fistulas with empyema may be associated with nonspecific symptoms e.g. fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Chest radiographs usually demonstrate a new air-fluid level (hydropneumothorax) in the pleural space.[6] Both chest CT and bronchoscopy are useful in establishing diagnosis, identifying the cause and localizing the bronchopleural fistulous track.[4] Chest CT can also define the empyema cavity and assess the severity of coexisting lung disease. Bronchoscopy can also be used to inspect the bronchial stump, obtain cultures, and assess the contralateral airway. In addition to direct visualization of central BPFs, bronchoscopy can localize peripheral ones by passing a balloon into suspected bronchial segments separately and then inflating for 30-120 seconds. A reduction in air leak through chest tubes would identify the bronchial segment communicating with the BPF.[7] Management Management of BPF is difficult and depends on the underlying cardiopulmonary reserve, nutritional status, fitness to undergo a major surgical procedure, surgical expertise available, and the size and location of the fistula. Conservative management: The primary goals of BPF management include treating the underlying lung disease, reducing the air leak through ventilator adjustments to minimize the tidal volume and plateau airway pressure, and avoiding contamination of the contralateral lung by either positioning the patient with the affected side down or controlling the airway with a double lumen endotracheal tube if needed. Small fistulas can be managed conservatively if the patients clinical condition is stable and the pleural space is well drained. This is achieved by insertion of a chest tube in the pleural cavity, with either minimal or no suction to allow the lung to expand without encouraging air leak through the fistula. Conservative management is safe as long as empyema is drained promptly, but might not be suitable for patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation.[8] The chest tube can be connected to a one-way valve and the patient can be treated as an outpatient.[9] Ventilatory management: [9,10] Ventilatory management of BPF is geared towards keeping airway pressures below the critical opening pressure of the fistula by reducing the respiratory rate, tidal volume, inspiratory time, PEEP, plateau airway pressure, and transpulmonary pressure gradient. This can be achieved by implementing the following measures: Provide partial ventilatory support e.g. low rate SIMV or Pressure Support. Decrease the tidal volume of each ventilator-delivered breath (5 to 8 mL/kg) Use a high inspiratory flow rate e.g. 70 to 100 L/min. Decrease I/E ratio. Minimize inspiratory time to decrease mean airway pressure, avoid end-inspiratory pause and inverse-ratio ventilation. Minimize PEEP (both dialed-in and auto-PEEP). If previous adjustments are not possible or insufficient, a strategy of permissive hypercapnia is appropriate (decrease minute ventilation and allow arterial PCO2 to rise). Use the least amount of chest tube suction that maintains lung inflation. Avoid patient positions that increase the leak, and keep patient heavily sedated (and paralyzed if needed) if spontaneous movement exacerbates air leak. Treat bronchospasm and other causes of expiratory airflow obstruction. Wean and extubate patients as soon as possible. If the measures mentioned above failed, consider unconventional ventilatory measures e.g. independent lung ventilation,[11] high-frequency jet ventilation,[12] or airway pressure release ventilation.[13] If ventilation continues to be problematic, veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can be used temporarily until further bronchoscopic or surgical control of BPF is done.[14] Bronchoscopic Management: Interventional bronchoscopy is usually reserved for BPF in patients with high surgical risk and poor general condition, or small fistulas in stable patients after drainage of the pleural space has been achieved and infection is controlled.[15] These procedures are limited to isolated case reports or short case series; the current literature does not allow adequate comparison of different bronchoscopic techniques. Peripheral fistulas (post-lobectomy) tend to be more amenable to this family of techniques compared with more centrally located fistulas (post-pneumonectomy). Bronchoscopic management of BPF is based on the delivery of different materials and small devices into the BPF sites.[16] Examples include: A plug composed of Gel Foam, fibrin, autologous clot, or tissue glue. An endobronchial one-way valve. (Figure 2 3) An expandable endobronchial stent. Local application of silver nitrate. Coagulation of the injured site with the Nd:YAG laser. Antibiotics e.g. Doxycycline, or tetracycline injections. Silicone fillers, coils, and amplatzer devices. Surgical Management: Surgical management has a success rate of 80-95 %, but it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Surgery can be performed as a one or two stage procedure. A one stage procedure is indicated when the BPF occurs within the first few days after surgery. Management usually includes closure of the BPF by reclosure of the bronchial stump reinforced with omental or pedicled flaps, and obliteration of the residual pleural space.[2,17] Management of late occurring fistulas or if an empyema is present involves a two-stage approach. Drainage of the pleural space and debridement of empyema cavity is followed by repair of the air leak once the pleural space is sterile (e.g. Modified Clagett Technique).[18,19] Chronic empyema may need thoracoplasty with removal of a part of the chest wall.[5] If the BPF cannot be identified, open window thoracotomy and daily dressing may be helpful. Success of surgical management is improved by ensuring appropriate antibiotic therapy, adequate nutritional support, and proper care of chest tubes, as inadvertent occlusion can be complicated by tension pneumothorax.[8] Conclusion BPFs offer many management challenges in a complex patient population. The aforementioned case report demonstrates the spectrum of morbidity associated with this serious problem. A post-resection occurrence is the most common etiology, and the diagnosis is usually confirmed with chest CT and bronchoscopy. BPFs require a multimodal management strategy and should be handled in centers with experience with this complex problem. Management includes control of infection, pleural drainage, proper pain control, nutritional support, and ventilatory management tailored to minimize air leak. Both surgical and non-surgical options can be utilized for management of BPFs. Bronchoscopic procedures such as endobronchial valves are emerging as viable treatment options but should be used on a case-by-case basis. Figure 1: Chest CT: Panel A shows a residual hydropneumothorax around a right sided chest tube. Panel B represents a coronal reconstruction that shows the BPF (The arrow points to the communication between the right lower lobe airway and the right pleural space). Image courtesy of Dr. Ahmed El-Sherief. Figure 2: A bronchoscopic image from another patient with right upper lobe BPF. The image shows 2 endobronchial valves seated in the anterior and posterior segments of the right upper lobe. Image courtesy of Dr. Thomas Gildea. Figure 3: The Spiration Valve System (SVS) is self expanding and conforms to the airway. During inspiration (A), the valve blocks distal airflow. During expiration (B), the valve allows trapped air and secretions to escape. Reduction in airflow may accelerate resolution of an air leak. Copyright  © 2013 Spiration, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Rudyard Kiplings Kim Essay -- Rudyard Kipling Kim Book Report Essays

Rudyard Kipling's Kim Kim gives a vivid picture of the complexities in India under British rule. It shows the life of the bazaar mystics, of the natives, of the British military. There is a great deal of action and movement, for Kipling's vast canvas painted in full detail. The dialogue in the novel makes use of Indian phrases translated by the author, they give the flavor of native speech in India. They are also touches of the native behavior and shrewdness. Setting: The time the novel took place was around the late nineteenth century. The story takes place in a hot and dry location of British India. Most of the scenes either take place in the wilderness or the streets of India. Plot: Kim grew up on the streets of Lahore. His Irish mother had died when he was born. His father, a former colorsergeant of an Irish regiment called the Mavericks, died eventually from doing drugs and having too much to drink, and left his son in care of a half-caste woman. So young Kimball O'hara became Kim, and under the hot Indian sun his skin grew so dark that one good not tell that he was of the Caucasian race. One day a Tibetan lama, in search of the Holy River of the Arrow that would wash away all sin, came to Lahore. Struck by all possibility for an exciting adventure, Kim attached himself to the lama as his chela. His adventures began almost at once. That night, at the edge of Lahore, Mahubub Ali, a horse trader, gave Kim a cryptic message to deliver to a British author in Umballa. What Kim did not know was that Mahbub was a member of the British Secret Service. He delivered the message as directed, and then lay in the grass and watched and listened until he learned that his message meant that eight thousand men would go to war. Out on the big road the lama and Kim encountered many people of all sorts. Conversation was easy. One group in particular interested Kim, an old lady traveling in a family bullcock cart attended by a retinue of eight men. Kim and the Lama attached themselves to her party. Towards the evening they saw a group of soldiers making camp. It was the Maverick regiment. Kim, whose horoscope said that his life would be changed at the sign of a red bull in a field of green, was fascinated by the regimental flag, which was just that red bull against a background of bright green. Caught by a chaplain, the Revere... ...nally distinguishes himself as a member of the British Secret Service. 2. A Tibetan Lama- Becomes Kim's instructor and whose ambition is to find the holy River of the Arrow which would wash away all sin. After Kim's education is complete he accompanies the lama on his wanderings, though he is really a member of the secret service. In the end he finds the river he is looking or, it ends up being a brook attached to an old woman's house. 3. Mahbub Ali- A horse trader who is really a member of the secret service. He is largely responsible for Kim's becoming a member of the British secret service. 4. Colonel Creighton- The director of the British Secret Service, who permits Kim to resume the dress of a street boy and do secret service work. 5. Hurre Chunder Mookerjee- A babu, and also a member of the Secret Service. He is Kim's confederate in securing some valuable documents brought into by spies for the Russians. Personal Evaluation and Conclusion: I personally liked the novel "Kim". The reason I liked the novel is because I love adventure stories. The story line of "Kim" was very exciting and kept me in suspense.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Individual Subjectivity in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

According to Max Weber in his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the individual cannot be studied without taking into account the social context in which the individual lives. By studying the personal influences on the individual in question, sociologists gain insight into thoughts, feelings, and actions. Toni Morrison exploits this theory in her novel, The Bluest Eye. Published in 1970, Morrison first novel did not open to much praise. Reprinted many times over the years, the novel rekindled interest when it was named to the Oprah’s Book club. The themes within the novel broke the mold on black literature. Drawing from her own experiences growing up in Ohio, Morrison paints a picture of inner torment and self-destruction as seen through brown eyes. Pecola Breedlove takes the stage as the main character. Narrated through many points of view, the story takes the reader on a journey through the lives of many of the influences on Pecola’s life. One such major influence is Polly, Pecola’s mother. Polly stepped on a nail at two years old and this accident completely frames her life. Useless in terms of entertainment or beauty, Polly finds comfort in watching films. Each film further concretes her view of black as ugly and inane. â€Å"It was really a simple pleasure, but she learned all there was to love and all there was to hate,† (95). Polly eventually finds herself needing the volatile atmosphere of her marriage to give her life purpose. She has become a martyr – the woman who stands by her man with a damaged foot and sense of purpose. This influence on Pecola only furthers her self-image of ugliness. When combined with the story of her father, Cholly, Pecola’s external circle of family doomed her from the onset. Cholly’s story stems completely from the onset of puberty. A ruthless group of white boys discovered Cholly during his first sexual act. The boys made him continue in the act while they stood and watched, taunting him with foul language and racial slurs. His slow transformation into a chaotic hater of women begins in that moment. â€Å"Cholly wanted to strangle her, but instead he touched her leg with his foot,† (117). According to Freud in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, this humiliation at the onset of the ‘oedipal stage’ solidifies Cholly’s sense of individualism. His loss of power and dignity will stay with him forever, and the novel presents that exact scenario. This humiliation forms the entire basis for Cholly’s anger and sense of helplessness throughout the novel. During his younger years, Cholly searches for a sense of his personal identity outside of that incident. Soon enough, he finds himself in the hometown of Pauline (Polly). Inspired in those brief moments to make his life better, Cholly asks Polly to marry him. The decision will haunt Cholly for the rest of his life. He is not a man made for the family life. When Polly is pregnant with their first child, Cholly changes his ways and begins to drink less. Unfortunately, this change is short lived and he is, once again, back to his old self. Cholly’s complete defeat essentially stems from that single act of utter humiliation as a boy. The married life has worn him thin. There is no sense of value or kindred spirits within the ugly storefront house. Cholly is as lost as Pecola and her mother. These happenings all have a great influence on the livelihood of Sammy, Pecola’s brother. Sammy runs away from home frequently, only returning to the family when absolutely necessary. â€Å"That boy is off somewhere every minute,† (148). The effect on Pecola herself spells the end of her normal life, if one can call it normal to begin with. Cholly continues to lose himself in liquor and self-degradation. In the exact opposite of the Freudian theory for the ‘oedipus complex’, Cholly begins to see his daughter as the saving thing he has been searching for. The ugliness is repeated in the act, with Cholly not having a normal encounter. She tells her mother, who rather than being outraged at the injustice done her daughter, sees the loss of her status in life. The very existence of her cheating husband and disconnected family gives her a standard for misery. She can accurately gauge her unhappiness when everything Polly knows is dark and gloomy. In Pecola trying to take away the husband in the picture, Polly stands to lose her framework. She beats Pecola for the admission. Pecola discovers she is pregnant by her father and begins to lose her tenuous grasp on reality here. All her life she has lived in ugliness and filth. Her mother prefers the attentions of the white child belonging to her employers, with her own children calling her Mrs. Breedlove rather than mama. Cholly prefers the bottle to bettering the family’s status or even health. The family home is one of a derelict storefront, no comforts or stability. Cholly at one point even tries to burn the place down, beginning the history of Pecola and the MacTeer girls. The atmosphere Pecola grows in revolves in ugliness and distain – distain for herself, her race, her parents and even her own eyes. â€Å"Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs – all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured,† (14). Even gifts bring a sense of dirtiness to the girls’ self-image. The MacTeer girls have come to love Pecola as she presents no direct confrontation for them. When they learn of the baby, the girls spend their own money on marigold seeds and plant them in the backyard, figuring if the marigolds make it, so will the baby. The ugliness of the situation is lost to them. In their simple world, the baby may turn out to be the baby doll they have always received at Christmas, only far better. In the end the marigolds die, as does the baby. These girls are the only ones who see the situation as all right. â€Å"More strongly than my fondness for Pecola, I felt a need for someone to ant the black baby to live – just to counteract the universal love of white baby dolls, Shirley Temples and Maureen Peals,† (149). This powerful statement shows that at least someone recognizes a value in the black skin of the community. The MacTeers value something that holds no value in their small town. Whiteness is a prized possession. The lighter the skin, the better off the person is. As with the case of Maureen Peal and Rosemary Villanucci. Pecola goes to a local magic man, Soaphead Church, to ask him for blue eyes. She knows if she can only have blue eyes, her world will be a better place. Blue eyes see beautiful things, they are beautiful things, and everyone knows it. The dishonest magician steps all over the purity of her request. Soapchurch tells her if she gives his nuisance of a dog a piece of meat as an offering, he will change her eyes to blue. He poisons the meat, using the girl to kill the dog, who is at her wit’s end. She gives the dog the meat and when it falls down dead, she runs off truly changed forever. Pecola loses all sense of herself in the end. She speaks to her imaginary friend about the blueness of her eyes, arguing over the depth of the color. The baby is soon lost and her father is long gone. Alone with her mother now, Pecola is moved to the other side of town. She has not found her sense of self, a belonging to the community. She is completely on the outside. This shunning by the community offers each one of them a chance to have a miserable person to point at and say – at least that isn’t me. In coming to understand Pecola within the context of her community, the reader can visualize their need for her. She offers everyone a chance to point at something uglier than themselves and find relief. In terms of grasping the finer points of Pecola, one must look to her family to grasp the need for beauty in her life. Shirley Temple represents all that Pecola can never have or be. Even when she finds the opportunity to do a simple task such as buy herself some penny candy, she is shunned because the storeowner, Mr. Yacobowski, hesitates in touching her black skin. His distaste for her is almost a physical object Pecola can feel and see. â€Å"She has seen it lurking in the eyes of all white people. So. The distaste must be for her, her blackness. All things in her are flux and anticipation. But her blackness is static and dread. And it is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distaste in white eyes,† (37). There is no peace offering for her, no single moment of acceptance or celebration. As Max Weber implies, this shunning and constant invisibility has a direct impact on Pecola’s sense of self. She is a non-human in the eyes of many of the townfolk. Her darkness of skin puts her in the darkness of shadow – people simply do not see Pecola most of the time. Her skin is too dark to touch, her family is to nasty to visit and her words are too childish to bear. Regarding Cholly, the context of his own adolescence is vital in at least viewing the foundation for his actions. Without the background on his character, the reader would quickly find his actions murderous and grotesque. However, one is offered a unique opportunity to understand the story from his angle, one of destitution and consistent loss of dignity. His rape of Pecola is not excusable, but his motivations in searching for comfort and normalcy shed light on his chaotic actions. Cholly’s obvious connection to the Freudian ideas of sexuality and self-image are obvious. This man seeks sexual encounters whenever he can, and women become his vehicle for hate. Again, he is the opposite of Freud’s ‘oedipal complex’, but in being so, the reader sees his influences on his family, and the world’s influence on him. The white boys’ ridicule made him who is in this novel. Finally, in trying to see the world from Polly mindset, the reader sees she has vilified herself so far, the reality is all but gone from her as well. The severity of her situation is important to her, giving her a sense of the ugliness as being innate and uncontrollable – simply how things are. Mimicked in her acceptance of her employer’s daughter, Polly accepts the white goodness as equally as she accepts her own race’s badness. The MacTeer girls internalize the sentiment of the novel. The vilification of black skin affects everyone in the town. The Breedloves are seen as nasty people, blackest of black. When the world has offered only sparse living conditions and unequal opportunities, the community in question derives its own sense of purpose from the given construct. Much as Weber’s contention that one must consider the whole in order to grasp the part, the community is ugly and mean. Their direct influence on the story of the entire cast of characters is obvious and true. Without such a negative stage, perhaps Cholly would have gone on to be a good father figure, Sammy may have stabilized and Pecola could have married for love and raised her babies in a loving home. Separated from the first introduction, the reader senses the desperation in their story, one without hope. In accepting their fate as the downtrodden from the very beginning, the people of Lorain, Ohio found salvation for themselves in the Breedloves.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Call Center Manager

The BCG matrix method is based on the product life cycle theory that can be used to determine what priorities should be given in the product portfolio of a business unit. To ensure long-term value creation, a company should have a portfolio of products that contains both high-growth products in need of cash inputs and low-growth products that generate a lot of cash. It has 2 dimensions: market share and market growth. The basic idea behind it is that the bigger the market share a product has or the faster the product's market grows, the better it is for the company. Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company: †¢ Cash Cow – a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be used to invest in other business units. †¢ Star – a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry. Stars may generate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they require investment to maintain their lead. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when its industry matures. Question Mark (or Problem Child) – a business unit that has a small market share in a high growth market. These business units require resources to grow market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown. †¢ Dog – a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry. A dog may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be deployed elsewhere. Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should be liquidated if there is little prospect for it to gain market share. pic] Some limitations of the Boston Consulting Group Matrix include: †¢ High market share is not the only success factor †¢ Market growth is not the only indicator for attractiveness of a market †¢ Sometimes Dogs can earn even more cash as Cash Cows The BCG Matrix method can help understand a frequently made strategy mistake: having a one-size-fits-all-approach to strategy, such as a generic growth target (9 percent per year) or a generic return on capital of say 9. % for an entire corporation. In such a scenario: A. Cash Cows Business Units will beat their profit target easily; their management have an easy job and are often praised anyhow. Even worse, they are often allowed to reinvest substantial cash amounts in their businesses which are mature and not growing anymore. B. Dogs Business Units fight an impossible battle and, even worse, investments are made now and then in hopeless attempts to ‘turn the business around'. C. As a result (all) Question Marks and Stars Business Units get mediocre size investment funds. In this way they are unable to ever become cash cows. These inadequate invested sums of money are a waste of money. Either these SBUs should receive enough investment funds to enable them to achieve a real market dominance and become a cash cow (or star), or otherwise companies are advised to disinvest and try to get whatever possible cash out of the question marks that were not selected.