My Lai †Culpability of Guilt

Series Vietnam: A Television History.   The solider was describing the reasons why the American soldiers turned on the civilians whom they were sent to protect during the Vietnam War. The same soldier would start sobbing uncontrollably as he would go on to state, â€Å"You don’t remember the enemy that you shot and killed. But you always remember the 58 year old woman you shot and killed because she was running away. And she was running away because you were threatening to shoot her.† The Vietnam War was no more ugly than any other war in history, but it was the first war that had aired uncensored on American television. This time, there would be no illusory tales of grandeur that would put mythic heroics onto the exploits after they war came to a close. The blood of the Vietnam War had been captured for eternity. â€Å"Although popular sentiment among the lower classes for the [North Vietnamese Army] was not strong, there was still a great desire for independence.† (Morrison 17) This is not to say there were no noble intentions or heroic actions. Many Americans served their country honorably and in a noble manner. Their deeds, however, would forever be overshadowed by the atrocities committed by American soldiers who assaulted a free fire zone in the town of My Lai, a town that was primarily occupied by civilian women and children. The soldiers that went to Vietnam were normal, everyday young adults. Some were volunteers and some were conscripted, but none were murderers before they went to Vietnam. Even under the conditions of war, they did not easily crack or lose their humanity, yet, for some reason they snapped under pressure and followed orders that resulted in the death of many innocent civilians. Were they entirely guilty for their actions or were their actions justifiable under the conditions of war? Did the directives of their superiors absolve them of guilt? Was the stress they were under a driving force behind their decisions? Or had the military’s policy of dehumanizing the enemy play the vital role in their decisions? Most of all, would these factors absolve them of guilt? In order to understand the culpability of guilt, one needs to clearly understand what actually occurred in the village of My Lai on the day of the incident. March 16th, 1968: A company of the 23rd Infantry Division commanded by Lt. William Calley slaughters 347 unarmed civilians (including a dozen babies as young as one month of age) at the hamlet of Song My (My Lai 4) in Vietnam’s southern zone. Although Calley’s superiors observe the massacre from helicopters and its true nature known to higher ups, it is falsely cast as an intense firefight in which 128 â€Å"enemy soldiers† were killed. Only when a former soldier forces the incident into public view a year later is an extremely limited official investigation initiated. (Churchill 141) Needless to say, this description hardly sounds as if there is a lack of guilt on the part of the soldiers. This description of the incident also points the finger at the higher ups in the military and places blame on those who were knowledgeable about the incident, as they not only did nothing to punish those who took part in the incident, but so  casually ignored the massacre, that it would appear that such an incident may not have been entirely out of the ordinary. What is it that would lead the soldiers to launch such a massive offensive against the civilians? What reduced the moral qualms about taking such violent action against noncombatants? Part of the reason is a issue that is endemic to all military conflicts. Throughout the history of warfare throughout the world, there needs to be a certain instillation of a psychological attitude into a soldier in order to make the soldier acceptable to taking part in such wide-scale slaughter. This psychological instillation involves the dehumanization of the enemy in the eyes of the soldier. That is, the enemy is never portrayed as a human being. Rather, the enemy is always presented in a derogatory manner so as to appear less than human. After all, it is much easier to kill someone who is not seen as â€Å"someone†, but rather seen as â€Å"something†. In Vietnam, the soldiers were generally referred to under the derogatory term as â€Å"gook†. (Davis) As such, they are not presented as a real person, but rather as an object of a subhuman animal. For years, this was considered necessary or the troops may have not taken full action when in a combat situation. However, such derogatory attitudes also remove a great deal of the moral qualms that soldiers may have during situations where moral qualms might be necessary in order to make the judgment calls that would be required in a situation that needs restraint. Further complicating the matter is the fact that as the Vietnam War dragged on, many of the members of the military were drafted. They were not â€Å"real† soldiers so they were far more prone to cracking under the pressure of the highly brutal Vietnam conflict. It was an ugly war and many â€Å"average† people off the street were rushed through boot-camp and then off to the jungles of Southeast Asia. Such inexperience and reservations to combat combined with an out of control war have all the elements for mental breakdowns and psychological behavior. â€Å"A complete lack of understanding of the terrain and the culture of the people who inhabited contributed to the chaos.†Ã‚   (Windrow 55) This, of course, leads to the very important question, â€Å"Does this absolve the individuals who committed the atrocities of guilt?† Under the letter of the law, the answer is absolutely not. The random slaughter of civilians is not justifiable under any circumstances. There simple is no â€Å"good excuse† or a deliberate act of genocide. This guilt, however, does not mean that one should not examine the reasons behind the creation of the environment that lead to the deliberate massacre. Military and international law (drawing from precedents derived from the Nuremberg trials) clearly states that â€Å"following orders† is not an acceptable defense for a war crime. Much of the problems with the war in Vietnam were directly related to the American populace’s total misunderstanding of Vietnam and its history. Vietnam had fought several centuries long war of independence with the Chinese. It also fought a hundred years war with French colonialists and also occupying Japanese forces. The country’s goals were to free itself from foreign rule. While the United States saw itself as liberating the nation from communism, the general population simply wanted self determination. While the communist regimes that ended up controlling Vietnam were as brutal, if not worse, than the foreign occupying forces, at the time, the â€Å"hearts and minds† of the people were not with the American forces so the war quickly became a situation that was not winnable for the US troops. As such, the war trudged on without any clear  goal or end in sight. Only two viable options existed to end US involvement: withdraw and surrender; or drop an atomic bomb of Hanoi. The third option, perpetual aerial and ground war, simply dragged on forever costing an incalculable number of lives on both sides. This aerial assault also included large amounts of napalm bombs that made the landscape of war even more vicious. (Franklin)   From this, the entire landscape of the Vietnam War was one of mayhem that led to unspeakable acts on both sides. Ultimately, however, no one truly faced punishment from the massacre at My Lai. Lt. Calley saw a mere 3  ½ years of house arrest before President Nixon pardoned him. The deaths of those civilians have never been justly punished. So, was there ever a lesson that comes from these deaths? There were many lessons that were learned from the Vietnam War, particularly lessons derived from the horror of the My Lai massacre. If anything, the My Lai massacre shows what will result from the evils of dehumanizing the enemy and not instilling a sense of clear moral guidelines in soldiers so they understand the difference between an act of war and an act of genocide. Clearly, the military brass and the officials in the government must realize that they are culpable for such actions and must be held accountable to the public. The United States never truly recovered from the disaster of the Vietnam War as its specter hangs over the military to this very day. Perhaps, it is haunted by the ghosts of My Lai. Works Cited The American Experience. Vietnam: A Television History. PBS DVD. 1983. Churchill, Ward. On The Justice of Roosting Chickens. Oakland: AK Press, 2004. Davis, Peter. Hearts and Minds. Criterion Collection DVD. 1974 Franklin, H. Bruce. Vietnam and other American Fantasies. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Morrison, Wilbur H. The Elephant & the Tiger: The Full Story of the Vietnam War. New York: Hippocrene, 1990. Windrow, Martin. The Last Valley. Cambridge: De Capo Press, 2005.      

Quality Service Literature

a. ) Local Literature b. ) Foreign |Literature Parasuraman et al. (1985) argued that evaluation of service quality is difficult as compared to physical goods. Physical existence of goods facilitates the customers to buy them due to its aesthetic characteristics. Services are considered as intangible because we are unable to see, touch or feel them (Hoffman and Bateson, 2002). Hanson (2000) suggested that service quality shows the organization's ability to meet customers' desires and needs.So organization must improve their services to meet the customers' wants and requirements. It is found that customers' perception of service quality is very important for managers to compete in the market (Hoffman and Bateson, 2002). Morre (1987) identified that concentration on service quality leads to differentiation that enhance the competitive position of the organization for long term benefits. Service quality and customer satisfaction became core issues for the successful survival of any servi ce organization.Service quality is considered very important indicator towards customer satisfaction (Spreng and Machoy, 1996). Service quality got popularity among professionals and academia due to increased competition. It contributes a lot to gain competitive advantage to maintain long-term relationship with customers (Zeithmal et al. 2000) Asubonteng et al. (1996) defined service quality as the difference between customers' expectations about the service before its use and their perceptions after receiving the service.Quality factors vary from one to another in reference to the importance and their impact on the satisfaction level of the customers. It was found that specific activities like increasing the speed of processing information have resulted in delighted customers. Similarly, improvement in the reliability of equipment lessened dissatisfaction (Johnston, 1997). However, it was reported that service quality is the subjective comparison between what the customers require and what they actually get (Gefan, 2002). . ) Local studies d. ) Foreign studies There are two perspectives regarding service quality i. e. one is European and other is Americans. European researchers concentrate on functional and technical aspects of services having a keen analysis of organization's image (Gronroos, 1982, 1984; Lehthinen and Lehthinen, 1982). They focus on three dimensions of service quality to measure the performance of any product by considering functional quality, technical quality and corporate image.Service quality is defined as a discrepancy between expected and perceived service. It is said that service quality is the outcome of customers' comparison between expectations and performance (Gronroos, 1982). The Americans' perspective is concentration on functional quality to measure the performance of services (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1988, 1991; Kang and James, 2004). They investigated the service quality of different industries by dividing the service qualit y into five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.Firstly, they identified ten dimensions but finally service quality is refined to five dimensions (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1991). Ibanez et al. (2006) investigated service quality dimensions and found a significant effect of service quality on satisfaction in Spain. In another study, a conceptual framework to measure service quality from the customer's perspective is empirically tested for convergent validity, uni-dimensionality and reliability (Saravanan and Rao, 2007). e. ) Relevance of the presence

The Future of Nigerian Advertising Industry Essay

The Future of Nigerian Advertising Industry - Essay Example Therefore, current researches and studies in the field of advertising are focused on different strategies and tactics of advertising campaigns. It can be said that in the future brands of Nigeria will look in a different manner. Why? Of course, because of globalization! Such phenomenon as globalization caused many changes even in the most developed and powerful countries. That is why the economy of the countries, which were not considered the powerful players on the global market before, was influenced much and this influence is considered as positive as it brought many new opportunities. The dynamic world of development and rapid changes and outcomes in the world of marketing can lead to shifted paradigms in Nigerian advertising. Thus, it was relevant for the advertising company in the past to develop brand promising name, to provide the process of advertising with control, stability and monopoly; to unite customers and markets etc. All these strategies of advertising could have bee n realized by means of printed media, TV or radio broadcasting. Now, look around and you will see outside billboards, sms informing, Tweet updates and other forms of instantaneous ads! Therefore, nowadays brand values should be considered from another perspective: brand fulfillment, interactivity and transparency, as well as trust, innovations and creative execution. There are different key issues in the concept of brand value. Modern Nigerian advertising companies find it necessary to offer new products and services as the only possible option for brand advancing. Moreover, their primary means of advertising is Internet, online media, social networks etc. Actually, these global innovative and technological changes are caused by an abundant excess of information technologies. Brand people and customers should realize numerous perspectives for outstanding rights for ownership new clothes, goods and services. Online media is a helpful tool to do this. Current strategies of advertising in Nigeria Social media of Nigeria do not provide the customers with relevant information about their firms and products. There is no total transparency and brands often need control. There are different aspects and possible solutions for the market changes in Nigeria. Democratization of technology is a favorable background for technological advancements and innovations realization in the context of advertising. Nigerian advertising market goes global and that is why, it is evident that this market has included some changes. Different technologies are well correlated with CD sales or YouTube promo video ads. Ethical concerns of Nigerian advertising have always meant much. A human-centered approach is one of the most important issues for the Nigerian advertising market. It can be claimed that branding of new services and products in the market of Nigeria are evoking numerous controversies for the products and services’ presentation both locally and internationally (Ekwelem, O kafor, Ukwoma, 2009). According to Jimi Awosika, "no matter what trends potters may have assigned to the shape of the future, the basic fabric of advertising will not change†¦" (Latest news, breaking news, business, finance analysis, comments and views from Nigeria). Brand distribution should be properly analyzed with respect to the current trends and tendencies. Moreover, many things depend on the users of the production themselves.

Automotive Industry Analysis According to Porter's Research Paper

Automotive Industry Analysis According to Porter's - Research Paper Example This factor therefore forces existing firms to compete to gain more market share in major and minor niche product markets. The overall intensity of the rivalry among firms is therefore on the higher side. (â€Å" Automotive Manufacturing in the United States† 20) Relative Power of other stakeholders- High Rating Automotive industry is an industry which is based upon different stakeholders such as manufacturers, dealers, banks and financial institutions as well as government. The linkages between the stakeholders therefore are relatively complex and problems with one stakeholder can really see significant impact on the automotive manufacturing firms. During recent economic downturns, automotive sector was hit hardly due to credit crunch. The involvement of government was on the higher side too as US and other governments made equity participation to help automotive manufacturing firms to survive. Environmental groups are also significant stakeholders and their relative power ma y bring fundamental shifts in the industry due to threats posed by carbon emission to the environment. Overall government regulations are stringent and need to be complied with. ("General Motors Corporation Company Profile.† 30) Threat of New Entrants- Moderate Rating New entrants are firms willing to enter into the industry to take advantage of available business opportunities. The overall market size of the Automotive manufacturing market in US is over $200 billion as per estimates made in 2010. Such large market size therefore makes this industry one of the lucrative opportunities for new entrants despite the fact that cost of entry and other entry barriers are high. Typically, automotive sector requires high capital expenditure along with a well developed network of dealers and financial institutions however; those firms which are already established in other markets may find US market a relatively lucrative market. (â€Å"Automotive Manufacturing in the United Statesâ₠¬  18). This factor therefore may seems to be a high rating factor considering the fact that firms like GM are increasingly facing product recalls due to production and design faults. Established brands at international level like Toyota, Mercedes, and Volkswagen may get good brand recognition due to their international repute and presence. Threats of Substitutes- Moderate Rating Substitutes are the alternatives available to the consumers to use in lieu of current product under use. One of the key threats is the increasing use of public transports by the passengers due to higher cost of maintaining the vehicles. The increasing costs associated with gasoline, taxes, carbon emission therefore may restrict the ability of average household income holders to go for new cars. (â€Å" Automotive Manufacturing in the United States† 19) Used cars are another substitute available to the consumers especially due to overall uncertainty prevailing into major markets. It has been suggeste d that overall consumer confidence is at lower levels and consumers do not prefer to make bigger purchases. This threat however may be of moderate nature as factors like brand loyalty and high switching cost may restrict buyers to go for substitutes. Supplier Power- Moderate Suppliers provide essential raw materials to firms to manufacture finished goods. The overall materials used in the production of automotives are diverse in nature

Critical Issues in Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical Issues in Design - Essay Example In ancient societies only a few stratums of society could afford consumerism while after the Industrial Revolution nearly everyone in affluent societies could afford to buy in excess of their needs. These changes in consumption are a direct result of technological progress as well as changes in human attitudes over the years. The focus of this text will be directed to the human factors responsible for consumption and the nature of those factors. While referring to either consumption or consumerism it must be kept in mind that the more affluent stratums of society define the standards of consumption. The trends and consumption patterns displayed by these groups tend to trickle down into the rest of society. For example, fashion in clothes and foot wear is defined by the affluent sections of society such as celebrities, designers, socialites etc. but all stratums of society tend to follow these patterns. The real issue to consider here is why these trends are followed and whether the c ausations are active or passive in nature. It is pertinent here to define active and passive so that their use in this text is clarified. Active engagement refers to the participation of members of society in a manner such that they define their own identities and the conglomeration of these identities forms social structures. In contrast passive engagement refers to the participation of members of society in a manner such that their choices and will are dictated by certain individuals and groups. The formed identities are a reflection of the affluent individuals’ and groups’ desires and the resulting social structure reflects this strongly. Consumption is also affected by active and passive engagement of the society’s members. The resulting consumption patterns can be taken as independent consumption decisions for active engagement and influenced consumption decisions for passive consumption. The state of consumption in contemporary society is important in deci phering if consumption is actually an active or a passive phenomenon. The start of the nineties signaled a new era of consumerism. More and more people began attending colleges to make more money rather than to become experts in their relevant fields or to help others out. This change can be related closely to the overbearing influence of materialism on people’s everyday lives. The advent of the digital age brought an array of new products as well as the reduction in cost to purchase them. This influence was also helped out by the expansion of communication that brought these new products into the focus of nearly all stratums of society. These changes in turn affected prevalent culture directly and Madeline Levine criticizes this change in cultural values by remarking that this was â€Å"a shift away from values of community, spirituality, and integrity, and towards competition, materialism and disconnection.†1 Sensing this change businesses have also realized that the best targets of marketing are wealthy and affluent consumers. The choices and preferences of the more affluent consumers tend to trickle down and become standards for other consumers. The less affluent consumers tend to purchase new commodities and services to provide instant gratification and to create symbols that speak of their affluence in respect to society. This also indicates that both active and passive

Exclusive interview with E. H. Sutherland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Exclusive interview with E. H. Sutherland - Essay Example The theory also had a structural element positing that conflict and social disorganization are the underlying causes of crime because they determine the patterns of people associated with. This latter element was dropped when the fourth edition was published in 1947. But he remained convinced that social class was a relevant factor, coining the phrase white-collar criminal in a speech to the American Sociological Association on December 27, 1939. In his 1949 monograph White-Collar Crime he defined a white-collar crime as approximately as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation. Sutherland's Response. Criminology is a fascinating field and because of my curious nature and natural passion for intrigue. I joined this profession and as you are already aware that the distinctive feature of criminology since the 1930s has been the dominance of sociology among the various disciplines studying crime and criminal justice. My humble contributions to the sociology of crime and delinquency came from his teaching, scholarship, and involvement in criminal justice policy and this field has helped me to pioneer, innovate and provide significant contributions to the study of organized crime, prisons, and criminological theory. I have also made central and lasting contributions to the sociology of criminal law and white collar crime and my ideas in each of these areas are reviewed to produce a portrait or profile of what he added to criminology, to remind those who know it already and also to those who have no knowledge about this field. Q2 Being an expert criminologist do you think that money and greed are the reasons w

Sex in the media (telecommunication) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sex in the media (telecommunication) - Essay Example The issue is a disturbing yet interesting phenomenon that coincides with the growing media expansion and the sexual sophistication of a younger audience who spend unending hours in front of the television. Probably the most divisive subjects when it comes to the media’s responsibility toward society is its powerful control over teens, who, according to a Neilson Study conducted in 2009, â€Å"spends 104 hours a month watching tv† (US Teens Spend...par 7). â€Å"That the media powerfully shapes teens sexual lives to generally deleterious effect is widely taken for granted by politicians, parents, religious leaders, journalists, and even teens themselves† (Carpenter par 2), and according to a Pew Study, â€Å"75% of the 1,505 adults polled...would like to see tighter enforcement of government rules on broadcast content...† (Facts and TV Statistics par 1). One of the major issues involves teen pregnancy and its relationship to sex on television. While there have been many studies done, no one can seem to agree whether the sexual content on television actually has the negative affect some insist. We and network officials can argue the point forever, however there are many who, working with children every day, see the effects in a very concrete way. One of them is Eileen Hart, in whose opinion it is not only true regarding pregnancy, but believes that as a society we should at minimum expect the educational system to counteract the damage. She suggests it be done through the teaching of rhetorical in English education to prepare students to critically evaluate media messages. She cites television as an especially damaging purveyor of inaccurate sexual images in an environment where â€Å"sensory stimuli [combined] with relaxed, non-critical viewing – strongly correlates with negative teen behaviors that result in teen pregnancy† (Hart 1). Along with how teens assess what they see in the media, most of the visual information

Research problem that facing some student in the univ Paper

Problem that facing some student in the univ - Research Paper Example They have simplified complex problems and tasks, and with the advent of internet the computer technology has literally shrank the whole world into a global village. Loads of information is accessible to a wide number of people due to the computer technology. The field of education has also changed a lot due to the advent of computers. The whole educational system is now dependant on computers. Whether uploading one’s assignments or whether communicating to other fellow students, computers have enhanced the educational standards of the pupils. The knowledge that is now at student’s disposal is vast and this aids in learning of students. With the advent of computer technologies, there is no doubt that our lives have become comfortable, but this is only one side of the picture. The issues that the world is facing now due to computer technology are also significant. This technology has brought with itself great amount of troubles for the society. These troubles are increasingly making people think whether this technology has some real benefit or not. The educational sector is also facing technology related problems and these problems are increasing day by day. University campus is the main area that is affected by computer technologies. New and better equipment is at the disposal of the people that makes life faster and easier. But the same universities are now encountering with technology issues and especially computer related issues on campuses. The increasing use of computer has made our lives dependant on the technology and any interruption or breakdown of this technology can be very disturbing for the university staffs as well as the students. It is therefore very important for us to identify the problems students and university staff is facing and provide a solution that will make lives easier for them. This is the main aim of this research. But for that purpose it is very important to identify the computer related

A Big Responsibility During Our Development Primarily in the Essay

A Big Responsibility During Our Development Primarily in the Intrauterine Life - Essay Example When a woman becomes pregnant it is of normal concern for her if she will become a good mother to her child. It particularly occurs to a woman being pregnant for the first time. There will be some queries of how she will handle her newborn. Stoppard states that â€Å" the most common anxiety is simply fear of parenthood – of whether you will be a good parent and of whether you can cope with bringing up a child, and on top of this will be the worry about your child’s happiness if you don’t make a good job of it† (11). Some men, on the other hand, also admit it is not easy to become a father. Men â€Å"have difficulty bonding with an infant until as late as three months after the birth, when the child can smile or coo and interact more directly with them. Parent’s ability to reach out can be strengthened by allowing them to touch and spend time with the new child in the first few hours of life† (Pillitteri 581). Parenting starts right after the baby is born. They should allocate enough time especially now that they have a new member of the family. Furthermore, there will be a lot of lifestyle changes that will happen in their life. Gone were those expensive holidays and the groovy night-outs and replaced with the time for the baby giving all the necessities needed. â€Å"It will almost be a complete reversal of lifestyle, and at first it may not be easy to accept† (Stoppard 13). Nothing can best describe how parents outlive the hardships they have encountered just to provide enough attention to their child. In other words, being a parent is a sacrificial responsibility not only for the benefit of his/her child but, including the whole family as well.

Changing Demographics Essay Example for Free

Changing Demographics Essay New demographic changes, economic globalization, high levels of workforce automation, and pressing health and security issues are intertwined instruments that seem to be changing the global polity. A high level of immigration into countries with a relatively stable economy has tremendous impacts on every facet of the host community. America has thus gradually become much more diverse and multiethnic than it was in past decades. The impacts of changing demographics also affect the education sector. In most American elementary schools, there have been tremendous changes from what was the usual status quo many decades ago. Changing demographics in elementary schools can have both many positive and many negative effects. The positive effects are desired, cherished and encouraged while the negative ones are regrettably unfortunate and measures should be put in place to reduce their severity. With the increasingly multi ethnic nature of elementary schools, the students are able to mingle with students from entirely different backgrounds and ethnic affiliations. This has the advantage of allowing intercultural interactions among students of various ethnic backgrounds. Difficult actions like the acquisition of foreign languages and cuisine are easily achieved. There are also many reasons to redesign our elementary schools so that they are more international in character. Part of the redesign process is focused on making it easier for foreign students to be fully integrated into the communities surrounding the schools. Since elementary schools currently have services that reaching far beyond their immediate geographical locality, many types of support services are being put together to help international students. The management and the faculty of many elementary schools are being forced to revise their curriculums with the aims of internationalizing them. This include the introduction of new foreign languages into the curriculum. It is now becoming very popular to see elementary schools teach Chinese and Arabic along with the more traditional French and Spanish. The curriculums that are inspired by changing demographics are set to make the students become more successful global citizens with adequate information about the world, its people and their traditions. The elementary school teaching profession should become more adept at teaching students of different backgrounds. This will involve professionalism and updated skills on the part of the teachers. Thus, teachers are being forced to go for re-training to be able to meet up with the millennial challenge of teaching elementary students. This is a good omen for the teachers and the schools in general because it could be totally absurd to use ancient teaching methods meant for Alaska born and based students in a class with mixed ethnicity. Due to the NCLB Act, the local educational bodies are now compelled to raise the standards of education in the various elementary schools to meet up with expectations of the parents that are bringing their children to the school. Some ethnic groups are considered to be protected minorities, and a school could face sanctions if it fails to achieve adequate performance among these groups. Studies have shown that quest for quality education is one of the driving forces in global migration. Most of the schools are now raising their standards to complete for the enrollment of students in the schools. The improved standard of education is also making it possible for investments in elementary education to be lucrative. With more foreign students admitted, more funds are being generated. This however, is a disadvantage on the side of the students both local residents and foreign that involved often have to pay exorbitant fees for the education. Like the wind, changing demographics blow students about. Sometimes exceptionally brilliant students are coughed in the wind. If blown to the right school, the skills, talents and abilities of such students could be discovered, polished and utilized to the fullest potential. Some skills are priceless in terms of the prestige that is bestowed on the students, the school and the society. A lot has been said in the positive ways that demographic changes have affected and are currently affecting elementary schools. It would be worthy be also note the problems that changing demographics can bring to the elementary schools. According to recent studies, a high influx of foreign students into elementary schools has caused an increase in the rate of ethnic intolerance. This is also evident in middle and high schools. More children are having divided feelings about belonging to the school over time. It is common to see students in their own ethnic groups rather than as a class. They tend to associate only with students for same background while these that are not are liberated and ostracized. The usual tradition of referring to the schools as a community may seem to have been long lost. The variable changes in the education system have greatly increased the worries of some students about their academic performance. Average students may be seen struggling to be in tune with the rhythm. This may be occurring because of the limitations of language barrier and totally different education methods that may lead to problems for them in class. An intense cloud of insecurity also seems to have enveloped the schools. Students of a particular background may feel threatened by students of other backgrounds. Children from Arabic backgrounds may be seen as potential terrorists. There is also a fear students being infected by an unknown disease that was carried by foreign students. In some countries of the world, most citizens are carriers of some types of parasites and possibly strange diseases or diseases such as tuberculosis. When children from that type of background mix with students with whom they don’t share close ties with, there is the possibility of them spreading communicable diseases. Competition for the limited available space in the elementary schools which are near by s is also creating problems when more students apply to schools, and various measures are employed to cut down the size. These can include exorbitant fees and overstressing the available academic resources. Being social with other people is the desire of must individuals. While having people thought of as strangers in one’s territory may bring suspicions, alienation should never be an option. Children at a delicate stage in their life deserve to be brought up in a loving and severe community and the elementary schools should not be expected to be failing in the provision of these. When the influx of immigrants seems to be going at a rate of is alarming, adjustment may be very difficult. The education system is expected to maintain standardized curriculums and it is expected to create a proper community that could facilitate qualitative education. Students in elementary schools deserve to be well educated and their satisfaction should not be taken for granted at the expense of anybody; everybody should be satisfied. Proper legislation should be put in place to check migration and adequate protection should be given so that elementary schools will not be caught unaware when bad wind blows!

Business E-solutions for Small Construction Companies

Business E-solutions for Small Construction Companies BUSINESS E-SOLUTIONS FOR SMALL CONSTRUCTION  COMPANIES AND FREELANCERS Sergiu Catinas Florin Matei Abstract.There is a direct correlation among number of employees who work in construction industry and the average productivity of the construction workers. A first notice when these two factors are compared simply resides from the annual charts that follow these two factors. It is quite obviously that the average productivity of the workers depends primarily on technologies used, but depends on some other factors as well. The link among technologies used and productivity is not a subject to discus in this paper. Even though it is well known that construction industry requires a big variety of skills it is well known that some of the construction jobs are completed by workers with multiple qualifications. Also a principle of productivity clearly states that productivity of a worker is grown once the area of qualification is restrained. Therefore, in order to create a better productivity of the construction workers it is necessary to create workers with super high qualification in one small area and allow movement of the working force among construction sites. Most of the construction company has a great deal of mobility, but the most sensitive problem remains the problem of getting together the needs of labor with the suppliers of labor services. The main purpose of this paper is to underline the needs of a better link among construction actors. Also the paper proposes an e-solution for a better connection of construction players through implementing/changing an internet based site and shows some of the proposed benefits. Keywords: e-solution for construction business G14 A12 E60, construction average productivity D61 B22, construction companies’ mobility M54 C12, publically provides goods H44 D60. 1. Introduction By definition the average productivity is defined as in (1). Please note that an average productivity can be expressed with respect to marginal productivity as Saari1 said and as seen in as in figure 1. Figure 1 average productivity and marginal productivity with respect to real output/input As expressed by Harris2 the main economical factors that influence the productivity in construction industry are mortgage and accountants, fraud, cash flow, estimators and the cost engineers. By analyzing these factors and the influence of these factors over the total cost of a construction project, a solution is to be created in order to address the influence of factors like fraud and cash flow as well as the other three factors. Out of statistics offered by US Department of Labor the average construction manager contractors and the number of construction output in 2012 in US are almost the same (450 000-number of construction managers and 480.000-number of output construction in US according to US Department of Construction). Also by considering the top 5 US contractors and the number of their projects ongoing over the number of the contractor’s company employers the rate is over 0.08 in all cases, according to ENR.Construction.statistics. This leads to the idea that the big general contractors don’t have more than 12 of their own employees on the site. More over the second observation is that the big general contractors use the working labor of the subcontractors in order to complete their jobs more than their own workers. An internet based solution in order to reduce the general cost of the construction project is the proposal introduced by the present paper. The solution presented tries to m inimize the importance of the general contractors by implementing an internet based program that will allow small contractors and freelancers to bid for their project with no respect the general contractors. This system will bring significant benefits for small contractors and freelancers and will increase the average productivity of construction labors. 2. Main Concept As expressed above, the main idea is to implement a system based on the internet application that allows creating a strong connection among actors from construction industry. As a historical data it is important to mention that similar attempts were made outside Romania, but this kind of projects are not very popular. Also a similar model was build for tracking industry in USA. The system proposed would generate business revenue for all three categories involved in the construction industry, being a â€Å"triple win† system. The winners would be the owner of the site through charging money for any contact established, the general contractor or owner of the construction site and the freelancers or contractors that execute jobs because they can find jobs for their own. Never the less a major winner for this system could be the government through a better control of the labor black market and the society in general because this system would develop very effective companies and fr eelancers with high standards of safety and quality. More over a quality control can be implemented through expressing a relevant history data of every participant and through offering solid warranties for executed projects. 3. Details about techniques of implementation The internet page should provide valuable information about potential contractors or subcontractors. First this page would provide references wit previous jobs done so far by the contractors. This can provide solid knowledge about the quality, timing and safety rules applied by the contractors. According to this it can be created a scale ranging from 1 to 100 that would give a good view about an opportunity to create business relation with a specific contractor/freelancer. The internet page proposed by this idea can create a good point of view about the payment conditions, contract forms and eventually any history data for the beneficiary institution/person. Very often the government has that data offered but the private entities are not capable of showing any data related to their capabilities of assuming contractual obligations. The owner of the internet page, which can be a private entity or the government can charge both the contractors/freelancers and the developers/private owners or government agencies. Due to a good administration of the internet page it is recommended for the government to create and own such a business. The charge can be enforced only when the contact is established and an extra charge can be enforced when a contract is signed through this internet connection. Once the need for a job is expressed in details by the developer an auction that can last for 10 days can be started in order to allow the contractors and freelancers to put their best offer online, similar with the e-bay system. The winner would have to make a written contract with the developer and enforce according to the terms established in the description provided by the developer and the applicable law. To mention that a similar system exists in Romania, but with no history data for none of the sides and not very popular. Also the actual system is not open for private jobs. More over the actual internet page called â€Å"www.licitatia.ro† is for contractors only and not for small enterprises or freelancers and sometimes the value of contracts is not affordable for small companies. The main idea for this site is to create opportunities for small companies to cooperate with big contractors. A great disadvantage for the internet page that already exists is that the winners of the auctions are most of the time big construction companies and the execution of the job is done through small contractors/freelancers by subcontracting the job. T he main idea of this site is to allow the investor to create a working plan and graphic and according to that graphic to connect directly to small contractors/freelancers and decrease the cost of the labor. 4. Technical motivation for the propose As expressed by Harris2 the main important economic factors for a construction project are: fraud, mortgage and accountants, cash flow, estimators and cost engineers. Figure 2 Labour productivity growth in US, measured by GDP per hour worked (indexed) Fraud can’t be expressed mathematically by any formula and can vary a lot from a project to another. The Romanian construction industry is marked by so called underground black market of workers/labors. The rate of construction workers in Romania that are not hired legally is over 28% according to INS Bucharest. Apparently these workers represents a cheaper work force for the employers, but the long term run shows a different situations when accidents on the site construction happened and in our country the percentage of workers injuries and fatalities is double among black market according to Business Inside Magazine statistics. Therefore is hard to deliver any precise formulas or data regarding fraud in Romanian construction industry or elsewhere but we surely know that black market in construction is significant. For the mortgage and account factor the situation is expressed in detail by Nigrini4. The problem comes from the underestimation of the project and the lack of money to complete the jobs contracted. One of the solutions is implemented by creating smaller jobs and that is a main source of inspiration for the present paper and the idea proposed. Cash flow can be defined5 as the movement of money into or out of a business/project and it has three aspects: operational cash flow, investment cash flow and financing cash flow. Also cash flow factor is one of the great advantages that can be obtained through introduction of the idea presented in this paper. Estimators can get greater attention through introduction of the present idea. The error introduced by estimators is as Amos6 said in (2) and (3). (2) (3) Where is the parameter being estimate and is the expected value of the estimator. Please note that the error, â€Å"e†, depends not only on the estimator (the estimation formula or procedure), but also on the sample. Estimator engineers are engineers in charge with an estimation of the projects to be executed. The estimator engineers will have a greater implication by applying the present idea and their contribution should be linked to the estimators through trying to eliminate the errors margins as Amos6 proposed in the mathematical formulation expressed by (4) that shows how far, on average, the collection of estimates are from the expected value of the estimates. (4) 5. Example of the benefits of implementing the present idea. Consider a large construction project in Romania, in the city of Cluj-Napoca of a total value 54.00 million euro. The general contractor that was award the contract was a big general contractor with good experience in similar jobs. The second bid offer was as big as 92.10 million euro and the beneficiary was the institution of prefecture. The project was to build a sport complex in the city of Cluj-Napoca. Due to a court decision the project was stopped in the construction phase for over 18 months. The court decision was issued as a complaint by the general contractor who made an offer of 92.10 million euro. The time spent from the moment of interruption due to the court decision and the moment of the re-awarding the job to a bidder involved big amount of financial losses for both of the general contractors. Not to mention the financial losses suffered by the contractors, but to mention the difference of the bids amount will result as a margin profit of 37.90 million euro. If the exa mple above is not relevant for the profit margins obtained by general contractors let’s take the revenues of the top general contractors from US in 2012 and divide it by number of contracts completed by the same amount of time. This would generate revenue of 1.08 million dollars per project and considering an average medium project of 1.78 million dollars. These data are obtained from US Department of Construction Statistics. By applying the dates in our specific case we would obtain revenue of 19.87 million dollars. By considering dollars to euro ratio as 0.76, the revenue for our specific case would be 15.1 million euro. And this calculus does not include any losses due to the court decision that put a brake on the project. If the estimator engineers made a mistake according to (2),(3),(4) that error can be estimated from statistics as an average of 17% of the total value of the project after the project is finished according to Corps of Civil Engineers from US. In our spec ific case the average error of the estimator engineers for the project from Cluj-Napoca is 9.18 million euro. The difference of 5.92 million euro can be estimated as profit margin that can be linked to the present paper idea by creating small jobs to be done and the saving of the 5.92 million euro could be achieved. Please note that in the example above the cost of implementing the idea was not mentioned but according Brynjolfsson7 in the current practice the cost of IT development could not be more than 5 % of the total amount of the project, so a profit margin is still available. 6. Conclusions As expressed above the main idea of this paper is to express the need and procedures of creating an internet page that allows the beneficiaries of the construction structures to create a working plan and implement this plan. This working plan is technically known as Gantt plan and contains dates regarding each article of work and labor needed and the time allocated for that process. The site would create an auction system for every job/article that needs to be done. This system would benefit the contractors and small freelancers, the beneficiary of the construction structures as well as the government agencies and the general welfare. This internet application would create a triple win situation for government, contractors and beneficiaries of the construction structures. Moreover, another benefit would be due to high specialization class of small contractors and freelancers and the safety measures that would be strongly estimated and evaluated. The internet page proposed is subject to have a special section reviews regarding safety measures enforced. Regarding the safety of the labors and workers the government can enforce in a more efficient manner the black market control. Obviously the government agencies would have a better idea in what specific areas of construction the number of accidents is bigger and can enforce better safety rules. Also by knowing the contracts signed the government can put a better hand on the quality of the work in the most sensitive areas and can control the construction sites on the exact time when the most sensitive work and companies are on the site. References [1] Saari, S., Productivity. Theory and Measurement in Business,: European Productivity Conference, Espoo, Finland, 2006, pp. 44-69. [2] Craig, C.; Harris, R., Total Productivity Measurement at the Firm Level, Sloan Management Review, Feb-March 1973, pp13–28. [3] Hollmann, John, K., Total Cost Management Framework, AACE International, Morgantown WV, 2006, pp113–147. [4]Nigrini, M., Forensic Analytics: Methods and Techniques for Forensic Accounting Investigations. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley Sons Inc., June 2011, pp 206-235. [5]Strong, R., Portfolio construction, management, and protection, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, Ohio, 2009 , pp.527-537. [6] Amos, S., Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering,-Fifth Edition, AACE International, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2004, pp 109-127. [7] Brynjolfsson, E., The productivity paradox of information technology.Communications of the ACM International, Mason, Ohio, 2003, pp 66–77.