Corporate Governance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Corporate Governance - Assignment Example suring proper corporate governance ensure that they operate in accordance with the existing business ethics and that they remain socially responsible (Goodman & Schwartz 2013, p. 67). The board of governors is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that all the systems of corporate governance are functional, and that all shareholders and the stakeholders are well protected. In addition, successful corporate governance is exhibited by the commitment of the board of governors in carrying out transparent transactions and ensuring that the company registers value and minimal risks. This high level of commitment ensures that the no stakeholder interest is compromised. Corporate governance is a concept that emerged in the early years when ownership and management of companies became separate entities. However, the concept was fully described in the 1990s because of numerous scandals that surrounded many companies. In the modern day, it is a critical concept in the business world (Bouba ker, Nguyen, & Nguyen 2012, p. 38). A close analysis of one of the global leading companies and its corporate governance strategies will serve to shed more light on the criticality of this concept. BP Plc is a multinational oil and gas company whose headquarters are in London United Kingdom. The company has been ranked in the top ten oil and gas companies and qualifies to be under the category of â€Å"super majors† in the industry. The company has existed for over a century since it was established in 1909. Over the years, the company has registered remarkable success extending its operations to about 80 countries according to the 2013 statistics (New Report Provides an In-depth Company Profile for Multinational Oil Company BP Plc 2007, n.p). BP Plc is one of the companies that can provide highlights on different aspects of the corporate governance. BP plc is an established company with evident business strategies, and diverse range of stakeholders that need its protection. Moreover,

History Of The Internet Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History Of The Internet - Assignment Example 263). The early traces of internet can be found towards the 1970s when it was primarily used for the defense purposes in United States. The concept of common man using it was a mere illusion and no one could have imagined it. Its primary function and usage for shifted to the satellites systems for navigating and communicating with the towers and equipment installed at a distance of thousands of miles from the surface of earth. The M.I.T, I.B.M and A.T.& T were few of the pioneers who provided assistance and support in the early days of internet becoming a common and relatively known concept. It was the commercialization of the concept and technology which soon led to the entailment of the technology of internet becoming public and commercial. This came about in the form of World Wide Web becoming a common concept where the slow transition was seen towards people using it. In the initial days the transmission of internet was relatively slow and limited to the analogue mode of communications. The speeds so offered were relatively slow in terms of Kilo bits per second and providing support and connectivity to the limited number of users. United States of America, its commercial enterprises, the telephony supporting systems and the students and the universities have a considerable role with regard to the overall progress the internet has made. The World Wide Web and the establishment of the T.C.P/ I.P layer support system under the name of I.T.U enabled gaining further progress with regard to bringing about a medium of wireless technology and communication which would enable people getting connected despite being at a large distance from one another. The major step of the world wide web came about in the year 1991-1992 when the venture was formally undertaken by set of students who through their own launched browser gave the technology a new touch in the form of Mosaic browser. This was the first step

A Study of Aristotelian tragedy in Oedipus Essay

A Study of Aristotelian tragedy in Oedipus - Essay Example One of Aristotle’s most influential works concerning literary theory is his Poetics. In it he articulates with eloquence and clarity various facets of good theatre. Tragedy is acknowledged as a powerful genre of drama. Aristotle goes on to set out various rules of thumb for making aesthetically and emotionally satisfying tragedies. His concise definition of tragedy is that it is â€Å"an imitation of an action that is serious ... with incidents arousing pity and fear, in order to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions." (Botton 20) He was in opposition to Plato’s critical and disparaging view of theater. Plato had earlier set the debate rolling in The Republic, stating that poets and other artists should be banned from civil society because they induced excessive emotional responses in audiences which countered calm reasoning. Aristotle rebutted this assertion in Poetics, stating that â€Å"although watching tragedies raised emotions, it also purged them. An audien ce would come away from Oedipus humbled, keen to be better and wiser.† (Botton 20) In many ways, Oedipus satisfies the Aristotelian conception of the tragic hero. For example, the tragic hero is someone who feels responsible for his actions and is conscious of ethical merits and demerits associated with them. In Sophocles’ Oedipus, we see that the author does not contemplate either the acknowledgement of guilt or the blinding. Instead, â€Å"awareness and blinding will be present in Aeschylus because his Oedipus must not see both 'what he suffered and the bad he did'. According to the author, the individual responsibility celebrated by tragedy is the expression of a people who do not tell history any more, but are aware of making it: a process that Plato could not-or did not want to-recognize, claiming to read tragedy like the continuation of old myths and of old stories, rather than like a new way to tell them again, to involve oneself and to involve us with them in a different way.† ... ould not-or did not want to-recognize, claiming to read tragedy like the continuation of old myths and of old stories, rather than like a new way to tell them again, to involve oneself and to involve us with them in a different way.† (Goretti 1305) What we also witness in Oedipus is a dimension of the tragic hero engaged in praxis. In Aristotle’s conception of tragedy there is an underlying conflict between ‘absolute necessity’ and ‘freedom’. This is amply evident in crucial life events of Oedipus, who, as the story progresses, is compelled to implement his own demise. For Aristotle, tragedy allows Greeks â€Å"to bear the unbearable contradiction that for thought would remain incomprehensible: 'the attestation, even in the loss of freedom, of this same freedom'†. (Goretti 1306)Though we do not find direct mention of concepts such as ‘will’ and ‘responsibility’ in the Poetics, â€Å"when Aristotle must indicate the ones who act the tragic action, for him 'hoi prattonese' is not sufficient, but he adds 'kai drontes'. The problem of freedom involves the problem of evil: the evil one does, the evil one suffers or the evil that is anyway committed.† (Goretti 1306) In the case of Oedipus, he is clearly aware of how evil forces are acting upon his life – some of which is caused by his own agency. To the coryphaeus who questions him on what a horrible action he has committed and on which god has induced him, Oedipus answers, â€Å"'It was Apollo', and then, a little afterwards, 'It was me, miserable, who did it'.† (Jones 45) According to Aristotle, a sense of foreboding and inevitability makes for effective tragedy. Throughout the story, there are numerous crucial decisions taken by Oedipus, which led up to his inevitable demise. Oedipus is not himself

CISCO Systems Inc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

CISCO Systems Inc - Research Paper Example The company operates through data center operations management services, which assists the customers in accelerating the operational success by employing new technologies and solves the problems that arise in the due course of time. The Data Center Services for Operations Enablement of CISCO includes many voluntary modules, which assist in accelerating the operational maturity of the Data Center management processes. The three main domains of operation such as plan, build and manage are significant in the company. The services aim at addressing the challenges that are associated with the operational processes and tools. This requires assessment of data effectively and efficiently in the data center. The business operation of CISCO has undergone huge changes and is also encountering modifications presently so that they can sell the bundles of solutions in high prices. The offered solution bundles need changes in credit selling, revenue attribution, supply chain and order processing (CISCO Systems Inc., 2014a; CISCO Systems Inc., 2014c). Analysis of operations transformation process of CISCO One of the main competitive advantages of CISCO is its ability to offer architectures of different products related to collaboration, mobility, borderless networks, and security. The transformation process of the service that is taken into account is Wireless LAN (CISCO Systems Inc. 2014b). The process considers the designing and sale of the solutions of the products that are developed by the units or partners of the unit.

Vermeers The Music Lesson and Rubens The Three Graces Essay

Vermeers The Music Lesson and Rubens The Three Graces - Essay Example The essay "Vermeer’s The Music Lesson and Ruben’s The Three Graces" discovers Baroque Painting in Relationship to Renaissance Aesthetics. The focus is on the Vermeer’s The Music Lesson and Ruben’s The Three Graces. The way in which light and colour were used emphasized the drama that was sought after during this time. In comparing the work of the Baroque period to the work of the Renaissance, one can see a heavier and richer use of colour, while sharper uses of light and shadow combine to emphasize a climactic point of drama. In order to examine the differences between the works that was done in the Renaissance in comparison to the work done in the Baroque period, pieces with the same theme allow for clear contrasts. The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens reveals that the fascination with mythological subjects that was observed during the Renaissance still provided subject matter for the painters of the Baroque period. Rubens’ work allows one to obse rve that there is an emphasis on the curves of the body, the heaviness of the form accentuated with more extreme chiaroscuro. The light and dark of the painting creates a more dramatic look to the work. As well, the tones that are used provide a higher level of drama to the moment of the embrace between the three deities. When you compare the work of Rubens to the earlier works of Botticelliand Raphael, there is a distinct difference in the tension within the composition. In the works of Botticelli and Raphael, the figures are light.... Botticelli, Primavera (1485-1487) interaction creates a higher level of drama in the Rubens work from the Baroque period than in the paintings from the Renaissance period. The Baroque period provided for a more painterly approach to the artwork that was generated. The dynamism of the work was created through a less controlled performance of the act of painting, while the Renaissance had work that was done in a more linear format. According to Beardsley, the linear work of the Renaissance in comparison to the more painterly work of the Baroque â€Å"is comparable to the shift of emphasis from rhythm to harmony† (218). Where linear painting is defined by carefully rendered images that are three dimensional due to the use of carefully controlled perspective, painterly work has an element of randomness that is Figure 3. Raphael, The Three Graces (1504-1505) created through the emotions of the act of painting. According to Staiger, â€Å"Linear perspective uses the artist’s viewpoint to figure out angles of things that recede into the distance† (104). In painterly work, however, the brush strokes are applied where they feel right, rather than through a perspective that is relevant to the position of the artist. The paint strokes are more visible and have a textural effect that is not present in a more linear work of art. Johannes Vermeer did work that embraced the aesthetics of light and shadow in combination with rich toned hues. He was greatly influenced by the changes that were being made away from the aesthetics of the Renaissance period. According to Gowing, â€Å"The baroque provided the example which dominated Vermeer’s beginnings. And while other Dutch painters could carry its rhythm as a

Should New Orleans be deploying a WiFi hookup citywide, or should this Essay

Should New Orleans be deploying a WiFi hookup citywide, or should this be left to the private sector - Essay Example In the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane Katrina, the infrastructure of New Orleans was completely wiped out. This meant that traditional wireline phone service and cellular networks stopped functioning. The only communication network that was still intact was the wireless mesh network mounted on electric poles that was used to support the city's crime surveillance cameras prior to the storm. (Greene, 2006). Once power was restored to the storm ravaged city, one of the first steps undertaken by the Chief Intelligence Officer of New Orleans (CIO), Greg Meffert, was to expand the Tropos-based mesh network, link it to the Internet and open access to citizens to make IP calls through VoIP, (Voice over Internet Protocol) software from companies like Skype and Vonage (Greene, 2006). And thus the idea of a WiFi network for the city took shape, and on November 29, 2005 (just 3 months after the disaster) City Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced the deployment of the country's first free municipa lly owned wireless internet system in the downtown area. (Krim, 2005). The public Wi-Fi service, was set up with $1.2 million worth of equipment donated by Tropos and Intel (Hamblen, 2006). The case of New Orleans brings to light the increasing trend of municipalities across America and the world to launch their own free or low cost wireless internet service over entire city areas. As in the case with New Orleans, the arguments for deploying a municipally owned wireless internet are 1) To reduce the digital divide; a term which refers to those (individuals and businesses) who are disadvantaged by the inability to access high-speed internet because of their failure to pay for high speed DSL/broadband or their geographic location (rural America, where low population density ) which makes it infeasible to lay down the infrastructure needed for traditional wireline internet services. 2) Low cost of deployment: A WiFi network makes use of existing infrastructure like electricity poles, lamp posts, municipal buildings etc. to transmit signals over a sufficiently large area. The proposed cost of the WiFi network for 1.5 m people of Philadelphia was projected at $10.5 million; conversely it cost $ 8.5 million to build the traditional broadband cable and internet network, in Lebanon (Ohio), which is a small town of only 17,000 people. Thus the cost per person would be much lower as compared to a wired network and the time taken for deployment is also comparatively faster (New Millennium Research, 2005). 3) Municipally owned wireless network will bring forth efficiency and increased productivity in the working of the city councils and law enforcement agencies. This was seen in the efficient working of the building inspectors in New Orleans who were able swiftly process paperwork for reconstruction permits without wasting time in travel from city office to site. WiFi networks can also in the future

Sports and animals Essay Example for Free

Sports and animals Essay This would explain the large quantity of participants remembering Uganda and chimpanzee, for example, as they are very infrequently used and may have stood out from the more generic words in the table. This may also account for why words like China, cow and swimming were frequently forgotten: they are neither very common nor uncommon in their usage in everyday life, nor are they stereotypical of their respective categories. What is meant by this is if the question was asked name a sport, it is unlikely that the answer swimming would be given, whereas football would be a more likely answer, despite swimming being a relatively common word to encounter. This builds on the idea of categories acting as recognition cues for subsequent words. Also interesting was the distribution of recalls by category: colours were recalled the most frequently (85/120), compared with sports and animals (both 77/120) and, least frequently, countries (64/120). There could be several explanations for this, but it appears to constitute primarily of two factors: the frequency of usage, and the size of the categories domains. For example, colours are frequently used words and there are relatively few words that fall under that category; sports and animals are also categories from which often-used words are drawn, but there are many more words that fit into them than there are for colours; and countries are less frequently-used words. Therefore, a decrease in common usage and an increase in size may lead to proactive interference, causing more confusion and, occasionally, incorrect words to be recalled. This is demonstrated, for example, in that the word America was recalled three times despite it not being on any of the lists (see Appendix 1). In the results from Condition B, there is also evidence that primacy and recency may have occurred. Respectively, green and dog are the first and last words on the grid, and they were recalled by 10 and 9, respectively, of the 10 participants in that condition. No such effect was found, however, in Condition A, suggesting that the order in which words are sequenced has little effect if there is a more significant method of organisation present (in this case, categories). These patterns indicate that organisation is the key factor in remembering information, but at any one time there may be several methods of organisation occurring simultaneously, such as the words semantic categories, the order that the words are written down, and the frequency of the words usage, among others.  This study did, however, have limitations; the most prominent of which is the potential lack of population validity as a result of the relatively small sample size used and the highly restricted age group from which participants were drawn. This could be overcome in future research by widening the target population and using a larger sample in order to identify trends in more detail. In terms of ecological validity, the study uses artificial stimuli to test memory, and naturally occurring stimuli could be used instead in order to observe the effects of organisation on learning in a natural setting and thus improve the ecological validity. There are implications of this study for many aspects of life which involve learning, but particularly education. It has shown that information is better learnt when organised, either upon presentation or as a mental process. The implication of this is that pupils and students may learn information more efficiently through teaching methods involving organising information into structures and providing tasks to do so if the information is not already organised. The former would provide explicit organisation, and the latter would allow individual pupils and students to find their own ways to learn greater amounts of information. Future research might aim to investigate further into the effects of categorisation. This could be done by using a larger list of words or by drawing words from more distinct categories, and observing if, how and how much participants categorise these words; and relating this to the amount of information they remember. A wider target population would also be beneficial. It is often cited that children learn information more efficiently than older adults, and giving participants from the two age groups the same task and comparing the results would provide insight into how the process of learning is different between them, if indeed it is different. To conclude, this study has found no significant effect of organisation of information upon the learning of this information, but organisation cannot be ruled out as a significant factor. It may be the case that organisation upon encoding, rather than presentation, is the factor that determines the storage of the information. This organisation may be in the form of categorisation, but individual differences exist with regard to how this information is organised. Other factors may be how commonly the information is experienced in the given context, and how many recognition cues are available for the information to be recalled. References BOUSFIELD, W.A. (1953). The occurrence of clustering in the recall of randomly arranged associates. Journal of General Psychology, 49, pp. 229-240.  BOWER, G.H., CLARK, M.C., LESGOLD, A.M. WINZENZ, D. (1969). Hierarchical retrieval schemes in recall of categorized word lists. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 8, pp. 323-343.