Quality Management-Toyota Essay Example for Free

Quality Management-Toyota Essay This paper explores multiple published articles discussing Toyota Motor Company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A review of Toyota’s decisions to hide important information prior to recalls leads us to a discussion of where Toyota can go from here. The paper includes recommendations for Toyota Motor Company in order to move forward after their 2010 recalls. In addition, organizational changes will assist Toyota Motor Company in overcoming their recall problems. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 3 Quality Management within Toyota Motor Company After a number of discouraging recalls at Toyota Motor Company in 2010, a number of quality management techniques were implemented. Toyota Motor Company’s SWOT Analysis played into the newly implemented quality management techniques. Toyota’s strengths allowed them to fight back quickly against these recalls that could have ultimately led to Toyota’s fall from one of the top motor company’s. Toyota Motor Company’s strengths include dominant position in the marketplace, strong brand recognition, strong focus on research and development, and broad production and distribution network. In addition to Toyota’s strengths, their weaknesses were reviewed in order to find opportunities to capitalize upon. The recalls were obviously a large weakness at Toyota. Opportunities were reviewed which included the growth of the global automotive industry. Last, Toyota’s threats were reviewed. Here it was found that powerful competition is a worry for Toyota Motor Company. After the review of Toyota Motor Company’s SWOT Analysis, the issue of the recalls was assessed. Analysis shows the issue within Toyota Motor Company did not appear overnight. However, secretive management styles let the company astray. A diagram was created by functional area to summarize how Toyota has responded to these recall problems. The functional areas reviewed include management, production design and safety, quality, and manufacturing. Last, the analysis of Toyota Motor Company’s recall and quality management issues are discussed from a point of solving the problem. Recommendations are discussed that will help Toyota Motor Company to turn their weaknesses into strengths. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 4 Method Discussion SWOT Analysis Internal Factors Strengths Weaknesses Product †¢ Dominant position in the marketplace †¢ Strong brand recognition †¢ Strong focus on Research Development †¢ Broad production and distribution network. †¢ Product recalls have the ability to negatively affect brand image †¢ Declining sales in crucial geographic areas External Factors Opportunities Threats Competition †¢ Growth of the global automotive industry †¢ Potential benefit from partnering with BMW †¢The outlook for the new global car market is strong †¢ Powerful competition †¢ Appreciation of the Japanese Yen †¢ Environmental regulations †¢Natural disasters Strengths. Toyota has a number of internal product strengths as noted in the SWOT Analysis table above. Toyota’s market share in 2011 was 16. 5 percent, its highest market share in 4 years. This strong market share allowed Toyota to hold a competitive advantage against their competition. In addition to holding a dominant position in the marketplace, Toyota possesses strong brand recognition through a number of brands. These brands include Toyota, Lexus, Prius, Corolla, Yaris, Camry, Sequoia, 4Runner, Scion tC, Highlander, Land Cruiser, and a number of other brand names. These brands are some of the most desired premium brands in the world according to the Company Profile report for Toyota Motor Company documented by MarketLine. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 5 Another strength of Toyota is their strong attention to research and development. According to the Company Profile report, Toyota’s focus on research and development is pointed towards the creation of new and improved products. Research and development operations are conducted at 14 facilities located around the world. This strength has allowed Toyota to increase the technology included in existing products. One of these products, a Pre-collision System (PCS) helps drivers avoid collisions. Overall, the strong focus on research and development has been a big strength for Toyota. Last, Toyota’s production and distribution network has been a big strength for the company. Toyota produces automobiles, related parts, and other components through more than 50 manufacturing companies throughout 27 countries and regions, not including Japan. As mentioned on the Toyota Motor Company website, major locations include Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Thailand, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. As reported by Toyota Motor Company, during fiscal year 2013 the company had consolidated vehicle sales totals of 8. 871 million units (TCM, 2013). As reported by Toyota Motor Company, this was an increase of 1. 519 million units compared to the previous fiscal year. In addition to the widespread production of Toyota products, the company has a large distribution network. Toyota’s distribution network is one of the largest in Japan encompassing four sales channels (Toyota, Toyopet, Corolla, and Netz). In 2012 the distribution network of these channels was comprised of 283 dealers. In addition to this network, Toyota operates over 170 Lexus sales channels in Japan. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 6 As reported by Toyota Motor Company, in fiscal year 2013 these networks accounted for the following vehicle sales: †¢JAPAN SALES TOTALED 2. 279 MILLION UNITS †¢IN NORTH AMERICA VEHICLE SALES TOTALED 2. 469 MILLION UNITS †¢IN EUROPE VEHICLE SALES TOTALED 799,085 UNITS †¢ASIA CAME IN AT TOTAL VEHICLE SALES OF 1. 684 MILLION UNITS †¢CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA, OCEANIA AND AFRICA CAME IN AT 1. 640 MILLION UNITS As you can see, Toyota’s distribution network is widespread allowing for diversification and a wide reach of clientele, ultimately boosting revenues and sales. Weaknesses. A large focus of the case study focuses on the weakness of Toyota’s product recalls. As many are aware, Toyota has encountered a number of recalls in the recent past. It is a concern that these recalls could negatively affect Toyota’s brand imagine ultimately leading to decreased sales for the company. When searching for Toyota recalls it was easy to find a few recent recalls. The most recent is a recall of 700,000 Toyota Prius models which were recalled over electronic issues in the United States (csmonitor. com, 2014). Another very recent recall includes certain versions of the Lexus RX crossover. In this case, more than 261,000 vehicles are being recalled due to a brake issue (csmonitor. com, 2014). In addition to the many recalls, Toyota has been involved in a number of lawsuits. In December 2012, Toyota settled a suit by paying $17. 4 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to settle claims related to the June 2012 recall of potential accelerator pedal entrapment issues. This bad press will ultimately result in a negative effect on consumer’s confidence in Toyota’s brand. In addition, the settlement of suits ultimately decreases Toyota’s QUALITY MANAGEMENT 7 profits. As a result of this bad press Toyota saw a decline in 2012 sales in important geographic areas. Declining sales in fiscal year 2012 were seen across North America, Asia, and Europe. Opportunities. As reported by the article, Global automotive industry to experience modest growth in 2012, a number of opportunities exist in the global automotive industry (2012). The Japanese auto industry responded from natural disasters which had caused reduced inventories and production. It is forecasted that the industry will continue to grow increasing Toyota revenues. In June of 2012, BMW and Toyota signed a long-term partnership. The two companies are partnering on the developments that will help to increase market share and sales. This relationship is expected to increase technology between the two companies as well as result in new product development. In addition to these opportunities, the new car market is experiencing moderate growth which will assist in increased sales and profits. Threats. Intense competition in the worldwide car market has become very competitive. This competition will likely increase in the upcoming years as competitors add more technology and increase developments. In addition to the intense competition, the appreciating Japanese Yen has become a big concern for Toyota. Last, environment regulations have the potential to increase production costs. Emissions regulations that are updated periodically could cause issues in new car production. Evolvement of Quality Management Issues At first glance, it seems that Toyota’s gas pedal issue appeared overnight. However, upon further research, evidence was found to prove the opposite. As reported in the article Secretive Culture Let Toyota Astray, evidence that Toyota cars could suddenly speed up had been piling up for years (2010). At the time of the recalls, Toyota had known about this gas QUALITY MANAGEMENT 8 pedal problem for more than a year. The problem was stated to be Toyota’s secretive corporate culture in Japan which ultimately conflicted with United States requirements that auto makers disclose safety threats. New initiatives brought to the table by Toyota have attempted to correct the previous secretive culture of Toyota. Total quality management initiatives have been put in place to assist in better customer service and safety and repair issues. According to Jacobs and Chase, total quality management can be defined as managing the entire organization so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer (Chase and Jacobs, 2014, p. 296). The table following this discussion addresses the steps Toyota has taken in response to its recent quality recall problems. Functional Area Quality Management Steps Management †¢ Managing Director names to oversee any safety-related issues †¢ Top down management approach Product Design Safety †¢ Troubleshooting teams known as Swift Market Analysis Response Teams work to find any safety issues that need to be reported Quality †¢ TAQIC – Toyota Advanced Quality Information Center staffed by a group of employees who compile repair reports from dealerships worldwide †¢ 1000 engineers hired to spot-check quality Manufacturing †¢ No drastic changes to assembly lines QUALITY MANAGEMENT 9 Results/Discussion Problem Solution As discussed in the diagram above, there were many opportunities for Toyota after their encounter with the recall situation. Akio Toyoda, the head of the company, acted quickly by implementing a top down management approach instead of the more popular Japanese â€Å"bottom up† approach that slows down the decision making. In addition, Akio cut board of directors by fifty percent and cut out management layers. Akio also began meeting with his top five advisers on a weekly basis. In these meetings decisions were made quickly. Akio pushed his team to make â€Å"always better cars. † This change in the way the organization is managed helped Toyota to stay on top even through the recalls. Recommendations Many recommendations have been made to assist Toyota Motor Company in improving the recall situation they encountered in 2011. Some recommendations Toyota should follow include as recommended by the North American Quality Advisory Panel include the following: †¢GIVE NORTH AMERICAN OPERATIONS MORE INDEPENDENCE IN MAKING RECALL DECISIONS †¢STRENGTHEN QUALITY CONTROL PROCESSES †¢EXTEND DEVELOPMENT TIME OF NEW PRODUCTS TO INCLUDE MORE SAFETY TESTS †¢CREATE A ROLE OF CHIEF SAFETY TECHNOLOGY OFFICER. †¢CREATE AND LAUNCH A SAFETY RESEARCH CENTER FOCUSED ON PROTECTING THE MOST IMPORTANT clientele (children, teens, and seniors) QUALITY MANAGEMENT 10 These ideas follow the concept of total quality management which focuses on two fundamental goals: †¢CAREFUL DESIGN OF THE PRODUCT (IN THE CASE OF TOYOTA MOTOR COMPANY, THE VEHICLE) †¢ENSURE THAT TOYOTA MOTOR COMPANY SYSTEMS CAN PRODUCE THIS DESIGN IN A CONSISTENT manner Quality at the source seems to be a great way for Toyota Motor Company to proceed. Quality at the source means that the person who is doing the work is taking the responsibility for making sure the work meets specifications. As previously discussed, safety control will be a huge initiative for Toyota Motor Company going forward. If implemented, these recommendations can do a lot to help Toyota Motor Company increase their organizational effectiveness. As previously discussed, many organizational steps were taken by Akio Toyoda after these recalls. It seems that Toyota could greatly benefit from organizational learning. As stated by Operations and Supply Chain Management, â€Å"it has been argued that organizational learning is critical to sustaining a competitive advantage† (Chase and Jacobs, 2014, p. 138). Organizational realignment was important to Toyota Motor Company after the 2010 and 2011 recalls. According to a Toyota news release in December of 2008 organizational changes include the establishment of the below: QUALITY MANAGEMENT 11 †¢A GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP WHICH WAS FOCUSED ON QUICK RESPONSE TO inquiries from around the world while also unifying public affairs functions. †¢AN ACCOUNTING GROUP AIMED AT STRENGTHENING THE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL management system of Toyota Motor Company. †¢A EUROPE AND AFRICA OPERATIONS GROUP INTENDED TO ASSIST WITH BUSINESS PLANNING IN African and Central Asia. The group was also established to conduct business promotion events in both Europe and Africa. †¢A PRODUCTION ENGINEERING GROUP AIMED AT INCREASING THE STRENGTH OF THE QUALITY control system for semiconductors for hybrid vehicles. The recommendations made are important to Toyota’s future. Reorganization and creation of new groups within the organization will help Toyota to overcome these recalls. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 12 References Ingram, A. (2014, Feb 12). Toyota recall: 1. 9 million Prius vehicles recalled to fix software glitch. Retrieved from http://www. csmonitor. com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0212/Toyota-recall-1. 9-million-Prius-vehicles-recalled-to-fix-software-glitch Jacobs, F. R. , Chase, R. (2014). Operations and supply chain management. (14 ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Lassa, T. (Feb, 2012). U. s. market share for the top five automakers. Retrieved from http://www. motortrend. com/features/auto_news/2011/1202_u_s_markets_share_for_the_ top_five_automakers/ Linebaugh, K. , Searcey , D. , Shirouzu, N. (Feb, 2010 08). Secretive culture led toyota astray. Retrieved from http://online. wsj. com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704820904575055733096312238 ? mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollectionmg=reno64-wsjurl=http://online. wsj. com/artic le/SB10001424052748704820904575055733096312238. html? mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollection Marketline. (2013, Jan). Toyota motor corporation swot analysis. Retrieved from http://web. a. ebscohost. com. library3. webster. edu/ehost/detail? vid=4[emailprotected]hid=4212bdat a=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ== Ridley , G. (2012, Jan 06). Global automotive industry to experience modest growth in 2012. Retrieved from QUALITY MANAGEMENT 13 http://www. ey. com/GL/en/Newsroom/News-releases/Global-automotive-industry-to-exp erience-modest-growth-in-2012 Taylor, A. (2012, Feb 27). Toyotas comeback kid. Fortune, 165(3), 72-79. Retrieved from http://web. b. ebscohost. com. library3. webster. edu/ehost/detail? [emailprotected]vid=1hid=126bdata= JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ TMC. (2013, May 08). TMC announces year-end financial results for fiscal year ended march 31, 2013. Retrieved from http://www2. toyota. co. jp/en/news/13/05/0508_1. html Voss, M. (2011, May 23). Toyota receives recommendations from north american quality advisory panel. Retrieved from http://corporatenews. pressroom. toyota. com/releases/toyota receives recommendations north american quality advisory panel. htm.

Hewlett-Packard Swot Analysis Essay Example for Free

Hewlett-Packard Swot Analysis Essay Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational hardware and software corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. (from Wikipedia) And HP product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise servers, related storage devices, printers and imaging products. At the same time, HP markets products to household, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises. HP’s mission statement is that to provide product, services and solution of highest quality and deliver more value to our customers that earn their respect and loyalty. We can see that HP really concern about consumers’ satisfactions from their mission. On Fortune 500, HP ranks 10 in 2012 and ranked 11 in 2011. SWOT analysis tool provides a structure for analyzing the internal strengths and weaknesses of an organization, any external opportunities and threats it faces. Band name can be a strength for HP which will make people think good quality. Also , HP provides wide range of innovative products which attract many people to use their products. And HP don’t use other companies’ technologies, they develop their own hardware and software. It can benefit HP because HP will be not limited by other companies. At the same time, HP’s sales are very high. They use different kinds of ways to promote products, like web technology, advertisement and so on. In financial part, HP has robust financials which contains low debt. In addition, HP also has weaknesses. The first one is that no aggressive investment in research and development. No innovative technology and products will be developed. As a hardware and software corporation, HP must increase the investment in RD to keep pace with the development of technology. No good people retention policies and weak controls are taken by HP. Only with good managers, technicists and workers can a company succeed. The external environment consists of opportunities and threats. Firstly, we discuss the opportunities. With the development of the economy, HP has expended their retailed stores for customer convenience. Customers have easier access to the HP product. Also, the software and hardware of computer and cell phone are very popular and are developed quickly. The threats are very huge because many competitors are appearing, such as Dell, Lenovo and Acer. The competitor’s technology and pricing force HP to innovate their technologies and to take many measures to low price. HP also has less coverage than competitor and low compatibility with non-HP product..

Effectiveness of Racial Discrimination Act in the UK

Effectiveness of Racial Discrimination Act in the UK Discuss the relationship between opportunities and outcomes of how successful legislation against racial discrimination has been a failure in the UK As Blackstone et al. (1998, p247-249) have argued, there have been many legislative initiatives within Britain to deal with the problems associated with racial discrimination. The problem of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ has cropped up on numerous occasions in Britain since the problem of race discrimination was first recognised, officially, back in the 1960s. The progress of these initiatives can be discussed using the lexicon of opportunities and outcomes, a lexicon which has in many ways and often justifiably been regarded as failing to incorporate legislation which deals adequately with the problems relating to race discrimination in Britain. In historical terms discrimination against people of difference race, for example; Jews, Gypsies, Black People and Irish People had been a feature of everyday society prior to and during the 1960s. Speaking of racial difference in a discriminatory and disparaging way and the unequal treatment of foreigners was widely accepted in Britain during the 1960s, when this mentality first started to improve (Ifekwunigwe, J. (2004), p301). As Moore, R (2000, p1) acknowledges, migration to the UK was probably a catalyst for this problem, and in many ways this is still true today. Therefore the threads of racial discrimination, which existed years ago, exist today, giving momentum to the argument that the outcome of legislation in Britain regarding race discrimination has been a failure. The period immediately following the Second World War also saw huge numbers of foreigners coming into Britain. Even the British government of 1905 shared the prejudice which was rife within society, when it passed the 1905 Aliens Act, which made reducing the numbers of Jewish people in Britain a legislative objective (www.cre.gov.uk, 2006). These attitudes were encouraged by the presence of right wing groups and the fact that certain resources like hospital beds and housing provision among poor people were in high demand amongst both ethnic and British people. In assessing the background of how the forces of racial discrimination developed in Britain, it is possible to form an argument that the government did not do enough to use the opportunities of progress in other countries to try to ingrain more tolerance in British society, through the use of legislation. This too can be regarded as a failure on the part of the British government. But failure is a complicated matter and as more efforts were made by the British government to deal with racism, the idea of whether the outcome of their efforts was a failure becomes more complicated. The passage of legislation which prohibited racial discrimination has its main roots in 1965, when the first moves were made within Britain to accept racial discrimination as a problem that should be dealt with by the government. The move happened against the backdrop of a successful American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. 1965 saw the introduction of the first Race Relations Act, which included a definition of what racism was. This definition set down that it was unlawful to treat a person less favourably than another on the grounds of colour, race or either ethnic or national origins (www.cre.gov.uk, 2006). These steps have been criticised as being very limited, and some critics like Blackstone et al. (1998) have argued that the protections offered by the first Race Relations Act were hard for people to access as they were so difficult to prove. Therefore this piece of legislation can be described as in some ways a failure and in other ways, the somewhat successful outcome of an opportunity in which the government used a legislative tool to deal with problems associated with racial discrimination. 1968 saw the introduction of a new version of the Race Relations Act which made the parameters of making a claim of racial discrimination, broader in scope (www.cre.gov.uk, 2006). This is arguably an example of how Britain used a piece of legislation as an opportunity to address certain problems of race discrimination. However, one must look towards the outcome of this to measure the relative success of any legislation. This is a complicated task. The 1968 Act provided that it was unlawful for people to be discriminated against on the grounds of race in the areas of employment, goods and services, housing and trade unions (www.cre.gov.uk, 2006). The Race Relations Board which had been formed to ensure that the Race Discrimination Act was implemented appropriately had its membership increased during the late sixties, making the Board a more effective body. Although whether one accepts whether the Board was an effective body is a matter of opinion, indeed it can be argued here that the Board was successful in that it oversaw the implementation of the Race Relations Act, but it was limited in its mandate, as it could not oversee the functions of government or small businesses in its scope. The 1970s saw the introduction of the 1976 Race Relations Act which in still in operation today. This addressed the continuing problem of racial discrimination in Britain. How well the Act addressed the problem of race discrimination is the subject of much debate, and the answers to this question are rooted in subjectivity. The success of the Race Relations Act 1976 as the outcome of an opportunity is therefore a complex matter. The new Act defined two forms of discrimination, ‘Direct’ and ‘Indirect’. It also further defined the idea of victimisation, which was classified as a form of discrimination which was direct. On the more negative side many exceptions remained and this was not addressed by the Act; examples were, the recruitment process for certain types of jobs and certain roles within government were not covered by the legislation. Therefore a dichotomy exists relating to whether one can effectively argue how much of a success and/or a failure opportunities and outcomes associated with the problem of race discrimination in the UK have been. Blackstone et al. (1998, p247) have argued that much has been offered in terms of progress by the race relations legislation, yet Blackstone et al. (1998) have also argued; ‘Most of the problems that troubled the early 1980s are still with us. The political climate has, in a number of ways, remained unhelpful†¦.[1]’. It must be remembered however that the idea of failure is inherently linked with ideas of opportunities and outcomes in this discourse of racial discrimination provision and is also linked with how these processes have overlapped and complimented one another. Therefore, while it is easy to see the many failures of the British government to deal with the problems of racism, the outcomes of many of their attempts to deal with the problem of racial discrimination cannot be regarded as an abject failure, and equally cannot be regarded as a resounding success. The answer to this question, as is often the case, lies somewhere in between these two diametrically opposed positions. Bibliography Website: http://www.cre.gov.uk/40years/act_one.html >> Books and Articles Blackstone, T, Parekh, B and Sanders, P. (1998) Race Relations in Britain: A Developing Agenda. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: London. Ifekwunigwe, J. (2004) Mixed Race Studies: A Reader. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: New York. Moore, R. (2000) Race, Class and Struggle: Essays on Racism and Inequality in Britain, the US and Western Europe. Journal Title: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Volume: 26. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 2000. Page Number: 372. Footnotes [1] p247. Blackstone, T, Parekh, B and Sanders, P. (1998) Race Relations in Britain: A Developing Agenda. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: London.

Robert Aldrich :: essays papers

Robert Aldrich Robert Aldrich Robert Aldrich was born into an extremely wealthy family. He became an assistant director in Hollywood, working in the 1945 - 1952 period with many directors. A notably high percentage of these were in the extreme left: Jean Renoir, Lewis Milestone, Robert Rossen, Joseph Losey, Charles Chaplin. Kiss Me Deadly Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is Aldrich's most remarkable film. Aldrich began directing in 1953, and by then, the film noir cycle had run its course as a Hollywood phenomenon, peaking in the years 1942 - 1951. However, film noirs were still being made steadily through the 1950's, and many of these works were classics of the cycle. There is a remarkably detailed visual analysis of the film in "Kiss Me Deadly: Evidence of a Style" by Alain Silver, in Film Noir Reader (1996), edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini. The remarks below are simply intended to point out a few more things about this film, one of the most complex and creative of all film noirs. 3D Camera Tec hnique The staging in Kiss Me Deadly shows a three dimensional quality. Partly this is due to depth of field. Many scenes keep in focus far into the rear of the scene. This is a technique associated in Hollywood with Orson Welles. Aldrich is often considered to be a Welles disciple. There are other techniques that aid in the film's 3D quality: 1) The showing of an irregular wall along one side of the shot. When Mike Hammer's car pulls up to a gas station near the beginning of the film, we see the entire front of the gas station along the right side of the shot. The gas station facade is by no means smooth; it contains many projections. All of these are fully lit up. The gas station is shot as if it were an elaborate piece of sculpture, like one of Louise Nevelson's friezes. As the camera moves past it, it emphasizes the station's complex 3D qualities. The projections on the station all are "rectilinear": they are "box" like, with flat, perpendicular walls. A shot with even greater depth of field shows Mike Hammer knocking on a door in the Angel's Flight neighborhood. Behind him we see first a long narrow alleyway, then a huge depth of field showing a Los Angeles city scape.

Les Miserable Essay -- essays research papers

t  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Les Miserables   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables is one of the most captivating plays of our lifetime! It grabs the audience and pulls you in head first. You can't take out eyes off of the stage, and even if you can, the music will take your breath away! I have seen the play 3 times and I don't think I enjoy anything in this world more than watching that play!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables starts off on a chain gang in France. The sheriff comes out and gives one of the convicts his release papers. This convict is the lead role who name is Jeran Valjean, who has served 19 years on the chain gang for stealing a mouthful of bread. Jean Valjean leaves the prison and sets out to find work. But no one will give him work because of his tattoo which reads 24601, his prison ID number. Then in the time when he couldn't be more down a priest invites Valjean to stay with him. Despite the kind priest taking him in and feeding him, Valjean decides to take the silver from the table. In the run he gets captured be the police. But instead of telling the truth about Valjeans thievery, he gives the criminal more silver and sends the police away. He makes Jean Valjean promise that he will become an honest man with this silver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next scene in 10 years later set in a factory where we meat the other main character, Fantine. As she is reading a letter her perverted boss snatches it up with his hands and re... Les Miserable Essay -- essays research papers t  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Les Miserables   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables is one of the most captivating plays of our lifetime! It grabs the audience and pulls you in head first. You can't take out eyes off of the stage, and even if you can, the music will take your breath away! I have seen the play 3 times and I don't think I enjoy anything in this world more than watching that play!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables starts off on a chain gang in France. The sheriff comes out and gives one of the convicts his release papers. This convict is the lead role who name is Jeran Valjean, who has served 19 years on the chain gang for stealing a mouthful of bread. Jean Valjean leaves the prison and sets out to find work. But no one will give him work because of his tattoo which reads 24601, his prison ID number. Then in the time when he couldn't be more down a priest invites Valjean to stay with him. Despite the kind priest taking him in and feeding him, Valjean decides to take the silver from the table. In the run he gets captured be the police. But instead of telling the truth about Valjeans thievery, he gives the criminal more silver and sends the police away. He makes Jean Valjean promise that he will become an honest man with this silver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next scene in 10 years later set in a factory where we meat the other main character, Fantine. As she is reading a letter her perverted boss snatches it up with his hands and re...

Concealed Guns on Campus :: texas law, shootings

On May, 2011, a bill that allows college students to have concealed guns on campus has been approved by the Texas State Senate according to The Daily Texan news article. Even other states are also trying to pass the law about concealed weapons on campus. Although some might argue that students need to defend themselves by carrying a gun, the law should be abolished because carrying a gun by immature students may increase violence and tragic accidents whether or not it is intentional. Surprisingly, according to some research based on interviews for students, â€Å"a study of 119 four-year colleges found that 4% of college students reported having a firearm at college, approximately 700,000 firearms based on the size of the current college population.† (Fennell, 99) This report indicates that not a few students carry a gun without realizing that the weapon may kill numerous innocent people. College students, even if they are eligible for drinking alcohol or driving a car, are not mature enough to control themselves or react appropriately in a situation. A tragic shooting on Virginia Technological University did happen, which is called ‘Virginia Tech massacre’ among people. According to the New York Times, more than 30 students including a shooter, Seunghui Choi from South Korea, were shot and killed in a classroom. Dr. Fennell, a professor of health education in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, maintains that students can not handle the stressful college life and might have a chance to express their stress by using their weapons because they are not mature no matter how old they are (100). Therefore, each state needs to reconsider passing the bill of carrying concealed weapons on campus in order not to result in unfortunate tragic stories. A great deal of drugs which might cause critical damage to ordinary people has currently been traded in the United States. Concerning illegal drug use, Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States, mentioned the phrase â€Å"War on Drugs† during speech. This slogan has been used as main drug policy in the U.S. However, the drug policy is not currently operating well in reality. What does â€Å"War on Drugs† exactly mean? â€Å"The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade.† (Bullington and Alan) In other words, to eliminate the illegal drug trade in the U.

4gt Technique

2. 22 Fourth Generation Techniques The term â€Å"Fourth Generation Techniques† (4GT) encompasses a broad array of software tools that have one thing in common. Each enables the software engineer to specify some characteristic of software at a high level, the tool then automatically generates source code based on the developer's specification. The 4GT paradigm for software engineering focuses on the ability to specify software using specialized language forms or a graphic notation that describes the problem to be solved in terms that the customer can understand.Currently, a software development environment that supports the 4GT paradigm includes some or all of the following tools: nonprocedural languages for database query, report generation, data manipulation, screen interaction and definition & code generation; high-level graphics capability; and spreadsheet capability. Like other paradigms, 4GT begins with a requirements gathering step, the customer would describe requireme nts and these would be directly translated into an operational prototype.But this is unworkable, the customer may be ensure of what is required, may be ambiguous in specifying facts that are known, and may be unable or unwilling to specify information in a manner that a 4GT tool can consume. For small applications, it may possible to move directly from the requirements gathering step to implementation using a nonprocedural fourth generation language (4GL), for a larger efforts, it is necessary to develop a design strategy for the system, even if a 4GL is to be used.The use of 4GT without design (for large projects) will cause the same difficulties (poor quality, poor maintainability and poor customer acceptance). Implementation using 4GL enables the software developer to represent desired output in a manner that results in automatic generation of code to generate the output. Obviously, a data structure with relevant information must exist and be readily accessible by the 4GL.To tran sform a 4GT implementation into a product, the developer must conduct thorough testing, develop meaningful documentation, and perform all other solution integration activities that are required in other software engineering paradigms, the 4GT developed software must be built in a manner that enables maintenance to be performed expeditiously. The developers decided to use 4GT because it is the methodology that fits the system. The 4GT is a systematic approach to problem solving and is composed of several phases: