Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application

Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application In Discipline and Punish (1977) Foucault comments that a stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly with the chains of their own ideas. How is this comment relevant for a discussion of work in contemporary organisations? French philosopher, Foucaults analysis and ideas are equally used in the contemporary management of companies and organisations. In this essay, I will analyse how his ideas in relation to the changes in the western can be used in the contemporary management of institutions and other managerial positions. Throughout the essay, the research will majorly focus on how autocrats treat their slaves by subjecting them to iron chains. Enchaining by the iron would, in this case, mean how the current leaders and managers subject their juniors to duties and implementation of policies and strategies that were not agreed upon by the employees without considering their contributions towards the formulation od the duties, therefore, considered as imposed by the leaders and managers. Equally, this essay will also evaluate how true politicians, competent and good managers, binds their junior in the chains of their ideas., The chains of their ideas would be taken to refer to either the policies, strat egies and terms and conditions that are passed upon the agreement of all the stakeholders or the ideas that would be proposed to the firm by the junior employees. Michel Foucault in his Discipline and Punish book used the term despot to refer to a person who dictates how things would be done without taking into account the contributions of his or her subjects. A despot, in this case, is more than just a dictator, rather, a person who does not respect the opinions of others. In his context, Foucault posited his ideas in relation to his analysis of mechanical and social changes that were behind the changes that were posed to the Western disciplinary system majorly based on the historical French documents that were accessed (Foucault, 1977). His analysis was majorly based in the hospital, school, camps and prisons through an in-depth evaluation of how torture, punishment, imprisonment and discipline. In his evaluation, the concept of torture is subjected to the suspects in two ways; one of the major incidents where torture was applied was during the process of investigating the suspect. During the investigation, the suspect was subjected to tortu re. Inflicting torture to the suspects compelled him or her to provide evidence. In case, torture failed to compel the suspect to produce evidence ascertaining his or her guilty; innocence was pronounced. The second incident where torture was applied was during the punishment of a crime offender with the aim of correcting him or her (Foucault, 1977). To begin with, in the contemporary organisational management, despotic leadership is bound to reduce the organisations productivity. In the operation of an organisation, an autocratic manager may not have strategic ideas and insights on how to manage the organisation (Howard, 2007). The employees under him or her may have these strategic ideas on how to operate the organisation in a manner that would increase the productivity and therefore, growth in the long run. To the disadvantage of the firms growth and productivity, the despotic manager does not take into consideration the proposals of the junior employees, in fact, he or she discourages them from challenging his ideas at all costs. As a result, he or she imposes the ideas and proposals to his or her junior employees for implementation regardless of the consideration of the impacts, both positive and negative; they would pose to the firm (Howard, 2007). The failure of the manager to count on the ideas and the opinions of the jun ior members of staff may amounts to the implementation of wrong strategies on account that they are not subjected to scrutiny by the implementation team. For instance, for a marketing organisation, the manager may impose old-fashioned marketing ideas for implementation by the junior employees. Based on the fact that the strategies were not subject to questioning or assessment by the necessary stakeholder, the junior members of staff would implement the imposed strategy which would serve no purpose for the firm. The manager should put into consideration the emerging trends in management, such as a rise of technology. His junior members of staff may be conversant with the technology-based ideas. Thus, their contribution would be beneficial to the organisation. As commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, refer to an autocratic manager constrains his slaves in iron chains. In this case, imposing foreign ideas to the team of implementation without their stake in deciding on which strategy serves better for the organisations goals and objectives would be likened by the act of constraining the slaves in iron chains which, they have no knowledge on how to unchain themselves. Constraining the slaves into iron chains would serve no better reason for the despot because they iron chain would weaken their effort and ability towards serving their master. Second, autocratic management lowers the morale of the employees in the organisation. In this case, there are two types of employees. To begin with, the employees who are ready and willing to conform to the directives issued or imposed by the management. To this type of employees, it does not matter how beneficial the policies or strategies may be to the firm, therefore; they are loyal to the organisation regardless of the direction of may be taking concerning growth. The second type of employees are the employees who are concerned with the operations of the firm. Despite working for pay, these types of employees are concerned about the impacts of the strategies that are imposed by the management may pose to the organisation. Therefore, in a situation where the management has proposed strategies that may hurt the reputation and the performance of the organisation, they would challenge the strategies and propose the alternative strategies that would help the organisation regarding inc reasing the productivity and the growth of the firm. In the context of an autocratic leadership, the concerned employees would try to challenge the policies and strategies to the management and perhaps propose the alternative following their analysis of the situation. As usual, a dictatorial manager would reject their challenge and proposal and in fact, discourage them from challenging his or her in the future (Depaul, 2008). In some cases, the manager may issue sacking or dismissal threats to them. In such a case, the concerned employees morale would be lowered. In some cases, they may even resign to seek a better workplaces that would appreciate their contribution to the firm through encouraging their opinions whether challenging or supporting the proposed strategies. Working with the employees whose morale is lowered by the organisational culture significantly reduces the productivity and the reputation of the firm. Employees whose morale is low would have no motivation of workin g towards the organisational goals and objectives, rather, they would only conform to the imposed strategies (Depaul, 2008). In this case, the employee with low morale would be working for the organisation just because they need to earn a living. As commented by the Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his slaves to the iron chains which serves him to his disadvantage. The slaves are likely to be demotivated in serving their master, owing to the harsh working conditions. Third, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his or her slaves to the iron chains. In this case, the slaves are not encouraged to make a proposal on the best ways of enchaining. Communication is thus, is a one-way type in disseminating information. In the contemporary organisational management. The employees and the employer are two important stakeholders that determine the success of the firm. The communication between the two levels ensures that the employees are presented with a platform to air their feedback towards the policies or strategies proposed to them by the management. In the context of a dictatorial management, communication is in a one-way structure. Communication applies only when the manager wants to impose or to give directives to the junior employees. The structure of communication, does not allow the employees to give their feeling, opinions, and feedbacks towards the implementation of the strategies that have been proposed and mostly, the feedback th at may appear to challenge the decision made by the management. Therefore, the management loses touch with the junior level or management (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The management may never learn about the negative impacts of the strategies and possible occurrence of a failure in the management in the future. In case, the employees may need to something from the management as an additional requirement for the implementation of the policy or strategy; the management may appear either reluctant or directly reject the request. There lacks a mutual relationship between the employees and the management. Instead, the organisation faces a power relation problem that in, this case, skewed towards the management. Unfortunately, the management works towards discouraging a possible equilibrium of the power relation between the two levels. In the long run, the organisation is bound to perpetually suffer from management challenges and perhaps a collapse in the future resulting from perpetual losses . Contrary to a stupid despot, Foucault commented on how a true politician should behave. In his comment, he posited that a true politician binds his slaves more strongly with the chains that come with their ideas. In this case, enchaining the slaves in their ideas would contemporarily mean managing the slaves, according to the management and ideas that they propose. Instead of grilling them with iron chains, a true politician should enchain them with their ideas to ensure that they are beneficial to him. Logically, if one manage people according to their ideas, despite being their boss, he or she will benefit from their labour owing to the increment in their morale based on the appreciation of their ideas in managing various situations. Therefore, both the organisation and the employees would equally benefit. Managing people according to their ideas reduces the communication gap. Through managing the people according to their proposals and ideas in the contemporary organisational management, the organisational manager creates a working environment that encourages the contributions of the employees at any point in the course of management (Iqbal, Anwar Haider, 2015). Therefore, the employees feel free with the management to contribute their ideas in the firm management whether it opposes or supports the strategies proposes by the management. Logically, the proposals may not necessarily be the best in the organisational management regardless of the position of the proposer. The reduction of the communication gap thus, creates a platform that encourages the discussions from all the stakeholder on what is the best for the firm (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The input of all the stakeholders is likely to come up with the best strategy that would ensure organisational growth and increase the reputati on and the productivity of the firm. Additionally, the reduction of the communication gap creates a platform where all the employees can easily communicate with their manager regardless of their job position. In this case, the management levels would easily learn about the challenges that are faced by the junior level employees, thus, resolving them as soon as they arise. Managing employees in the context of the organisational management, according to their ideas and opinions is, hence, beneficial for the organisational growth. Similarly, the management that appreciates the contribution of all employees in an organisation significantly reduces the employee turnover. In an organisation, most employees despite working with the aim of earning a living, they also work to develop their career (Valcour, 2014). An organisation that appreciates the contributions of the employees regardless of their position at the organisation motivates the employees towards working to develop their careers. Employees would feel motivated if the organisation has implemented his idea as part of the solution to a certain problem or as a strategy to maximise their output and minimising the inputs. In the long run, appreciating the contributions of the employees and the act of involving them in making critical decisions for the organisation enables them develop loyalty towards their employer. For an employee who has been hardworking and has been contributing positively regarding the strategy, formulation may be promoted from one job po sition to another. In this regard, the employees will have advanced his careers at the firm. The loyalty reduces the extents of employees resigning and dismissals due to a mutual relationship between the two levels of operation. Notably, managing the employees in their ideas creates a concept of teamwork. One of the ideas in which organisations should strive to achieve is the culture of teamwork. Through teamwork, the organisation is in a position to solve complex managerial situations. Through teamwork, the employees can combine their knowledge, skills, techniques regardless of their positions in the organisation and come up with the best strategy that would enable the organisation to solve the problems that are faced. In the context where management encourages works within the principles of democracy, employee develop loyalty towards the organisation; therefore, they are ready to work with other employees regardless of their level in the rank of job positions to contribute to the ultimate success of the organisation (Rosen, 2014). Unlike in the management context where the manager has the final say, the democratic organisational management encourages the employees to contribute to the ideas to the manageme nt or hold discussions within themselves or together with the levels of management to come up with the best ways of managing certain situations. It should be noted that in the context of a dictatorial leadership, there is often a cycle of a dictatorial level of management. For instance, most of the levels of management receive directives from the senior management for implementation. Therefore, even if the junior level employees who are expected to implement that strategy report negative impacts to their immediate boss, he or she cannot report back to the senior manager because he or she would not take the challenge. Therefore, organisational management should encourage democratic leadership that creates an enabling environment for teamwork. In conclusion, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, is the organisational manager enchains his slaves with the iron chains, therefore, barring them from serving him efficiently. On the other hand, a true politician chains his or her employees with their ideas and opinions which, hence mean that he manages them according to their ideas. In the contemporary organisational management, there are two types of organisational leader just as posited by Foucault in his stupid despots and true politicians analogy. The two types of organisational managers are dictatorial and democratic. Majorly, democratic management is advantageous to dictatorial management. Through democratic management, the employees are empowered to make their contributions to the management on how they believe the firm would achieve the goals and objectives. In this case, the management creates a platform of contribution, therefore, it is an inclusive type of management. Dictatorial management, on t he other hand, is a scenario where one man runs the show. Most of the employees are discouraged from making their contributions which to a larger extents affects their morale negatively, thus, reducing the productivity of the organisation in the long run. (Word count:2502) References (Sr), B. H., 2007. A Study of Teacher-perceived Differences in the Leadership Styles of African-American and Caucasian Principals. 2nd ed. ProQuest: Michigan. DePaul, V. C., 2008. Creating the Intrapreneur: The Search for Leadership Excellence. 1st ed. Texas: BookPros, LLC. Foucault, M., 1977. Discipline and Punish. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books. N, I. N, A. S. . H., 2015. Effect of Leadership Style on Employee Performance. Arabian J Bus Manag Review open access journal, 5( 5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 1000146), pp. 1-6. Rosen, N., 2014. Teamwork and the Bottom Line: Groups Make A Difference. 1st ed. Abingdon-on-Thames: Psychology Press. Tatnall, A. Davey, B., 2015. Reflections on the History of Computers in Education: Early Use of Computers and Teaching about Computing in Schools. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer Science and Business management. Valcour, M., 2014. If Youre Not Helping People Develop, Youre Not Management Material. [Online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/01/if-youre-not-helping-people-develop-youre-not-management-material[Accessed 22 March 2017]. Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman INTRODUCTION At 7:00 he his awoke by the sound of his alarm clock. It was time to get his children ready for school. Richard Kuklinski walks down the staircase and sees his lovely family around the kitchen table. He kisses his wife Barbara on the check and continues to say good morning to his three children Merrick, Christin, and Dwayne. After getting ready, he drops his children off at their prestigious private schools and is off to work. To an outsider, it may seem that Richard has always lived an ordinary life. But little did they know, he was a deadly and notorious murderer. He thought of killing as a hobby and had absolutely no remorse for the horrible and cruel deaths he caused. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Early Life Richard had a horrific childhood. He was born at 222 Third Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a Polish family and was destined to live a hard and lonely life. His family was poor and highly dysfunctional. His father, Stanley Kuklinski, was a horrible, abusive father that Richard would only grow to hate. His mother, Anna, had no emotional attachment to any of her children at all. Violence was a daily occurrence in the Kuklinski household. Stanley would beat Anna and her children until they bled, and the gangs of the neighborhood were always causing fights with Richard. When Richard was just five years old, Stanley beat his older brother, Florian, to death. Richard vowed that he would one day kill his father and make him suffer the way he had suffered his whole life. Richard’s life was an uphill battle as he grew older. He was constantly teased at school and beaten up by boys in the town. He was forced to steal for food and many nights he went to bed hungry. He began stealing cars at the age of thirteen and found his only joy in life by reading crime magazines that he stole weekly. Inside, he was very lonely and grew up never knowing what love and friendship really meant. He was constantly tormented by a gang called â€Å"the project boys† and never had the courage to fight back, till one day when the fire in his eyes took over. Richard decided to go for the head of the gang, Charley Lane. He hated Charley almost as much as he hated his father and decided to grab a bat and hunt him down. When Richard finally found Charley he struck him in the head without hesitation. He went down like a ton of bricks and Richard became nervous. He checked for a pulse and there was none. He decided to throw Charley’s dead body in a pond under the Pulaski Skyway. Richard had killed for the first time at age thirteen. He felt powerful and invincible. He realized he liked killing. B. The Coming Up Roses Richard then developed vicious pastimes. He took great joy in the killing of animals. He would tie two cat’s tails together and hang them over a telephone wire and watch them claw each other to death. He also liked to put stray cats in the incinerator and watch them burn to death. A strong rage grew inside Richard and he yearned to kill more and more. He went from a weak, little boy to a dangerous man in just a few days. Richard was very eager to fight and often picked violent fights with men in bars. He was dangerous, willing to stab or beat anyone in his way. Word spread about his fearlessness and a gang called the Coming Up Roses was looking to invite him in. Richard gladly accepted and the five boys began to terrorize the city’s streets. The second man Richard killed was a cop named Doyle. He was very rowdy and a â€Å"loud-mouth,† Richard’s two least favorite qualities. The two men began fighting and Richard decided to leave the bar and wait for Doyle outside. Richard unnoticeably followed him to his car, where Doyle passed out drunk. This was Richard’s golden opportunity. He bought a quart of gasoline and poured in all over the car. Then, he lit a match from a safe distance and threw it on Doyle’s lap. Richard laughed as the car exploded and Doyle burned to death. The police investigated Doyle’s murder but found no suspects. The Coming Up Roses gang began committing more and more crimes and had accumulated a variety of guns, knives, and explosives. They began to receive attention from the De Cavalcantes, the most notorious mob family in New Jersey. A â€Å"made man† in the family, Carmine Genovese (also known as ‘Meatball’) decided to approach the gang. He had them over for dinner and asked them if they would be interested in killing a man for him. The gang agreed and gang member John Wheeler decided to be the gunman. The gang drove to Lincoln Park where the mark lived and saw him getting into his car. When it was time to shoot John became nervous and froze. Richard immediately took the gun and shot the mark in the head, driving away as if nothing happened. Meatball was impressed and began to give the gang a lot of work. They received a lot of money and began killing more and more. Richard decided to move out of his mother’s house and live with his new girlfriend Linda. Richard had grown to become very handsome and was towering over six feet tall. Linda was twenty five years old and liked Richard until he began beating her. Then she just began to fear him. Richard began to love killing people and the idea of â€Å"being able to decide when a man’s life ends.† He would walk through Manhattan and shoot the homeless men for fun. He killed them brutally: knives jammed into the brain, slitting the throat, tying a rope around their neck and hanging them off of his shoulder as if he was a tree. The police never suspected him of anything, and thought these bums were just killing each other. Richard was now a serial killer at only eighteen years old. One day, Albert Parenti, another made man in the mob and a friend of Carmine Genovese, approached Richard. He told him that two of his gang members, John Wheeler and Jack Dubrowsi, held up a mafia poker game and now had to die. He wanted Richard to do the job. Richard knew if he did not kill his two friends he would be killed himself, so he accepted the job and killed his two best friends. Linda became pregnant and Richard decided to marry her at City Hall, but Richard knew he did not love her. He had no emotional attachment to her or their child at all. Though he continued to commit various crimes, Richard’s business was slow. His boss, Genovese, was sent to jail and Richard was forced to search for new contracts. He contemplated killing his father, but Richard says â€Å"he could never find him.† On strange detail in all of Richard’s killings was that he would take any contract except killing a woman or a child. He said that â€Å"anyone who does doesn’t deserve to live.† III. KUKLINSKI’S KILLINGS A. A Contract Killer After he was released from jail, Genovese became Richard’s mentor. Richard was now a genuine mafia contract killer, making a living by killing â€Å"marks† for the mafia. Genovese gave him many brutal jobs and paid Richard to commit several murders. His first few killings from Genovese included a man in Chicago named Anthony De Peti for not being on time with his payments, a Cop named Jim O’Brian for tricking Richard into delivering heroine, and a mob boss named Arthur De Gillio. Genovese also asked for some special requests during the killings, for example, he specifically told Richard that after killing Arthur De Gillio he must â€Å"take all of his credit cards and shove them up his a**.† He was also told to break bones one by one to ensure the most pain in the victims. Richard’s killing empire expanded and he became affiliated with other mob families, such as the Ponti family from New Jersey, and the New York crime families. Because of his Polish ancestry, he was never able to become a made man in he mob, so he worked as an independent contact killer for all mob families. He was well-connected through Genovese and was raking in the money. Until one day, Genovese was shot. The murder remained unsolved and Richard was left to fend for himself. B. Barbara The contracts were no longer â€Å"rolling in† and he was forced to take a job at a trucking company. There, he met Barbara Pedrici, a beautiful Italian woman. She was 18 years old and Richard was now 26. They began talking and their boss became angry, knowing Richard was dangerous. He decided to fire him to protect Barbara. Unfortunately, his plan backfired. Richard asked Barbara out on a date and immediately fell in love with her, but he was still married to Linda. Fond of Richard, Barbara was angry that he was still married and he decided to get a divorce. They began seeing each other everyday and Barbara began feeling trapped by their relationship. Richard became violent and she was too afraid to break-up with him because she thought he would kill her. She soon became pregnant and Richard and Barbara married. Barbara knew he was violent but had no idea of his many brutal killings. He deiced to try and stay away from crime, in order to protect his family. But for Richard, this proved too difficult. Barbara’s uncle gave Richard a job in film lab, where he began pirating videos and eventually got into the pornography industry. He teamed up with his co-workers Paul Rothenburg and Anthony Argrila, who were supposedly â€Å"connected† to the mob. Richard owed them a lot of money and it didn’t seem as if he would pay it back soon. Argrila and Rothenburg became angry and decided to call their friend Roy DeMeo. Roy DeMeo was a â€Å"murder machine† and a picciotto in the Gambino crime family. C. Roy DeMeo One August day in 1973, DeMeo found Richard and confronted him about the money he owed his two partners. Richard, unaware of who DeMeo was and his mafia connections, gave him an attitude and told him to mind his own business. DeMeo left and returned minutes later with his â€Å"killing team,† Joe Guglielmo, Anthony Senter, and Joey Testa. Richard was surrounded with guns pointing at his head. He was armed of course but knew these men were for real. If he killed them, the mafia would kill him and his family. The four men knocked Richard down almost to a state of unconsciousness. Richard said, â€Å"they beat me good, but I knew if I fought back they’d kill me in an instant, so I just took it.† DeMeo realized Richard had a gun and admired that he didn’t use it. He took it as a sign of respect and courage. DeMeo and Richard talked over dinner at the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn, a popular mafia hotspot. Both apologized and DeMeo said he would like to do business with Richard. In essence, this event was Richard’s rebirth. He was able to quit his job at the film lab and survive on killing. He was making up to $40,000 for each mark he murdered. He would also enjoy making them suffer before their death and being able to kill them up close, so he could see the look in their eyes as they died. DeMeo and Richard were a murder dream team and they made the leader of the Gambino family, Paul Castellano, very happy. Paul also promoted DeMeo to a sgarrista, and gave him more and more power in the family. As DeMeo’s premiere killer, this in turn gave Richard more power. His deaths were notorious in the mafia families, and his methods of killing were brilliant and gruesome. He always knew where to hide the bodies and was never a suspect in any case. By this time, Richard had three children: Merrick, Christian, and Dwayne. No one knew about his business and he was well liked around the neighborhood. He seemed like an ordinary family man that would never hurt a fly. In most of the murders he committed, Richard never even knew the victims name. He only knew one thing – that they must die, and this was a good enough reason for Richard. Some of his most famous murders were: Richard Hoffman, Gary Smith, Paul Rothenburg, and Henry Marino. He also started to use poison to kill his victims and always carried around his favorite poison with him, cyanide. Through his business, Richard met another contract killer, Robert Pronge. Richard said, â€Å"The two most dangerous men I ever met in my life were Roy DeMeo and Bob Pronge. Pronge was a complete psychopath. At least Roy had some semblance of being normal, but Pronge was way out there†¦dangerous beyond belief far more dangerous than Roy.† Robert Pronge drove a Mister Softee truck, which according to Richard was â€Å"purely brilliant.† They became good friends and acted as if they had known each other for years. Together, they came up with diabolical ways of committing murders and making their victims suffer. This led Richard to his next murder. He had stalked the mark for weeks and finally attacked. He used a tazer gun and then continued to tie his hands and feet. He took the man and headed to the woods in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He took the mark to a cave filled with vicious rats and secured him to the floor. He took his knife out of his sock and began to cut his face, arms, and legs – just enough for the rats to smell the blood. Richard set up a video camera and left as if nothing ever happened. Two days later he returned to the cave and saw only stained leaves where the man was. He picked up his video camera and watched the video. He saw the rats flock to the victim and cover his entire body. He watched them rip off his flesh and eat them alive. He felt no remorse for the victim and decided to take the tape to DeMeo and the DeCavalcante captain who had ordered the job. They loved it and praised Richard for his work. They told him â€Å"if he was Italian they would sponsor him [to be inducted into the mafia] in a minute.† D. â€Å"The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall† Shortly After, Richard received the most important murder contract of his life – the killing of Carmine Galante, the head of the Bonanno family. He was â€Å"out of control† and killed nine Genovese sggaristas. Every mafia family plotted and worked together to plan his downfall. DeMeo knew this would be a great opportunity for himself and Richard so he made sure the plot was flawless. Of course, everything went perfectly as planned and Galante had two bullets in his head thanks to Richard. This infamous murder introduced Richard to more and more connections. He was now receiving contracts from Sammy â€Å"the Bull† Gravano, underboss of the Gambino family and original friend to John Gotti. Gravano now had a special piece of work to do and he knew Richard Kuklinski was the man for the job. They met in a small parking lot and Gravano told him the mark’s name was Peter Calabro from Saddle River, New Jersey. For Richard this was just another day another job and he completed the murder successfully on March 14, 1980. Afterwards, Richard found out Peter was cop and never trusted Gravano again. Richard became well respected in the Gambino family and became friends with the Gotti family. On March 18, John Gotti’s youngest son, Frank, was killed by a car driven by John Favara. Nervous, John kept driving and went to his home shocked and afraid. He knew his life was now over. He had just dug his own grave. Richard, the Gotti family, and a few other accomplices were sent to capture Favara and tortured him to death. They then stuffed his dead body into a Fifty-five gallon drum. IV. THE POLICE INVESTIGATION A. The Iceman Richard longed to create his own mafia and started his own breaking and entering gang. His partners consisted of Al Rinke, Gary Smith, Danny Deppner, and Percy House. This gang became a very important part of Richard’s life and ultimately would help cause his downfall. With the help of his gang, Richard received his nickname – The Iceman. Richard called his only life-long friend Phil Solimene to help him with murder of Louis Masgay. He had come up with the brilliant plan of freezing the body to slow the decomposition. By preserving the body it would then be impossible to trace back to the actual time of death. Solimene and Richard took his body and dumped it in an ice cold well in North Bergen. Though this seemed like a normal murder to Richard, it would have severe consequences. Solimemene had a big mouth and told Richard’s gang about the murder. They in turn told their wives and friends who told their wives and friends. Richard’s secrets had finally leaked out after almost 40 years. Pat Kane was a young state trooper and was deeply devoted to his new job. He was honest, forthright, and willing to put anyone behind bars who deserved it. In October of 1982, his boss called him to his office. There were over a hundred burglaries in northern New Jersey and one burglar in the gang had been captured. It was now Kane’s job to talk to him and see if his information is true. The captured burglar was Al Rinke, and he gladly named all of his accomplices in order to save himself. He told them his accomplices were Danny, Deppner, Gary Smith, Percy House, and Big Rich. He was not sure of Richard’s last name and did not know where he lived. Richard had always made it a point to keep all of his information a secret. Kane asked Rink to point out all the homes they robbed and Rinke willingly obeyed. By the end of their conversation, Kane had completed an indictment with 153 charges against the gang members. He watched the homes of Deppner and Smith but they had never returned. He realized this hunt for the gang would be very difficult and devoted all his time to finding them. Meanwhile, Richard was still doing well. He had completed fifteen murder contracts in the last month and his record was still as clear as crystal. He bough a garage-warehouse in North Bergen and an entire truckload of fifty-five gallon drums to store his victims. He started dismembering the bodies and tearing them apart at the joints. He liked this method and enjoyed leaving traces of a body all around New Jersey.

The Fourth Law Of Robotics :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Sigmund Freud said that we have an uncanny reaction to the inanimate. This is probably because we know that - despite pretensions and layers of philosophizing - we are nothing but recursive, self aware, introspective, conscious machines. Special machines, no doubt, but machines althesame. The series of James bond movies constitutes a decades-spanning gallery of human paranoia. Villains change: communists, neo-nazis, media moguls. But one kind of villain is a fixture in this psychodrama, in this parade of human phobias: the machine. James Bond always finds himself confronted with hideous, vicious, malicious machines and automata. It was precisely to counter this wave of unease, even terror, irrational but all-pervasive, that Isaac Asimov, the late Sci-fi writer (and scientist) invented the Three Laws of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws Many have noticed the lack of consistency and the virtual inapplicability of these laws put together. First, they are not the derivative of any coherent worldview and background. To be properly implemented and to avoid a potentially dangerous interpretation of them - the robots in which they are embedded must be also equipped with a reasonably full model of the physical and of the human spheres of existence. Devoid of such a context, these laws soon lead to intractable paradoxes (experiences as a nervous breakdown by one of Asimov's robots). Conflicts are ruinous in automata based on recursive functions (Turing machines) as all robots must be. Godel pointed at one such self destructive paradox in the "Principia Mathematica" ostensibly comprehensive and self consistent logical system. It was enough to discredit the whole magnificent edifice constructed by Russel and Whitehead over a decade. Some will argue against this and say that robots need not be automata in the classical, Church-Turing, sense. That they could act according to heuristic, probabilistic rules of decision making. There are many other types of functions (non-recursive) that can be incorporated in a robot. True, but then, how can one guarantee full predictability of behaviour? How can one be certain that the robots will fully and always implement the three laws?

Harmonizing Research, Practice

Harmonizing Research, Practice, and Policy in Early Childhood Music: A Chorus of International Voices (Part 2) Lori A. Custodero & Lily Chen-Hafteck a b a b Music and Music Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University Music Department, Kean University, New Jersey Version of record first published: 07 Aug 2010. To cite this article: Lori A. Custodero & Lily Chen-Hafteck (2008): Harmonizing Research, Practice, and Policy in Early Childhood Music: A Chorus of International Voices (Part 2), Arts Education Policy Review, 109:3, 3-8 To link to this article: http://dx. doi. org/10. 3200/AEPR. 109. 3. 3-8PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www. tandfonline. com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publis her does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources.The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Copyright  © 2008 Heldref Publications Harmonizing Research, Practice, and Policy in Early Childhood Music: A Chorus of International Voices (Part 2) LORI A. CUSTODERO and LILY CHEN-HAFTECK Editor’s note. Lori A. Custodero and Lily Chen-Hafteck served as guest editors for both Part 1 and Part 2 of the special issue International Policies on Early Childhood Music Education: Local and Global IssuesRevealed. n the November/December 2007 issue of Arts Education Policy Review, readers were introduced to e arly childhood music policies in Brazil, England, Kenya, Puerto Rico, South Africa, and the United States. In this collection, a second ensemble of experts from Australia, China, Denmark, Korea, Israel, and Taiwan joins them. Like the previous issue, these authors presented papers or workshops at an International Society for Music Education, Early Childhood Music Education Seminar in Taipei in 2006 and wrote new articles for inclusion here.They responded to the same charge as the previous authors to answer the following questions: †¢ What policies currently exist in your country for early childhood music education? †¢ To what extent do these policies meet the needs of children in your country? †¢ How are teachers prepared to teach early childhood music in your country? †¢ In what ways do local and global cultures figure into the policies and practices of early childhood music in your country? Additionally, we offered the following questions, to be addressed at th e author’s discretion: †¢ Do different musical cultures require different instructional approaches?And, conversely, are certain music instructional approaches culture specific? How does this impact policy and practice of early childhood music in your country? †¢ What are the potential risks and rewards of mandating multicultural musical experiences for young children? Finally, we asked authors to address any issues specific to their regions and to make concrete suggestions regarding policy for their countries. Salient themes emerged addressing what was taught and who was responsible for that content.In many ways these two conditions are inseparable, interrelated through the social nature of musical experiences. In these accounts, we also see ways in which content and delivery shape reception and how that process, in turn, defines and is defined by culture. Examining these geographical contexts raises questions about atti- I tudes, practices, and policies concerning early childhood music education that have significance for many of us. We chose three threads of inquiry from the many that weave these single texts into a textual fugue: (a) ensions between child and adult culture; (b) competing influences by global, regional, and local agencies on standards and curricula; and (c) expectations for teacher knowledge and preparation. Competing Cultures: Child and Adult The existence of a musical culture in early childhood, which is distinctly different from the adult culture, is based on studies showing similarities of vocal contours used in communication between infants and mothers across cultures (Papousek 1996), as well as research regarding the differences between music made by children and adults (e. . , Bjorkvold 1992; Campbell 2007; Littleton 1998; Marsh 1995; Moorhead and Pond 1941). Sven-Erik Holgersen’s article on early childhood music in Scandinavia describes practices in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway that are sensitive to the childâ €™s culture. The cultural clash in those regional systems exists between programs that favor an elemental or natural approach to education for the young based on the free play aesthetic and those that see music Vol. 109, No. 3, January/February 2008 3 as a mode of artistic expression requiring learned skills.Lily Chen-Hafteck and Zhoyua Xu and, separately, Jennifer Chau-Ying Leu found preschools in Chinesespeaking countries to have a strong sense of adult culture. Most parents and teachers believe school should stress academic learning rather than play, so that children can achieve high scores on tests and examinations. Chinese culture also stresses study and hard work as important for academic success. In Korea, Nam-Hee Lim and Shunah Chung found that adults believe young children need close supervision and guidance from teachers and parents in their development.Therefore, children’s natural tendency to be playful and creative is not recognized as a core value in school; potential for future success drives decisions. These cultural differences are interactive with and reflective of current conditions and regional history. In China, for example, books were printed with movable type as early as the eighth century, whereas in Europe copies were still drawn by hand until the 1400s. Such a long history of text accessibility elevated reading and writing to a valued skill that was recognizable and sought (Smith 1991).Societal values may offer another lens to interpret early academic emphasis, such as those espoused by Confucius, for whom morality and caring for others, especially family, were primary. In terms of contemporary conditions, Louie Suthers of Australia notes that in her varied country one can see differences in starting ages of pre-primary education. In Denmark, the children start at three years of age and continue for four years. In China, pre-primary education starts at four years of age and continues for three years, although care is availa ble in each country mentioned from birth.Also of note, the average student teacher ratio in China is 28:1, differing from Hong Kong’s average ratio of 16:1. The older starting age in China may perpetuate (or reflect interest in) the schooling culture. Leu’s discussion of the importance of family context is relevant to this point, inasmuch as it may provide the space for child culture 4 Arts Education Policy Review to flourish while adult culture is operating at school. Claudia Gluschankof writes about the purposeful creation of materials for the child culture with the development of the New Hebrew Culture in the Israeli territories during the early 1900s.Preschools were created based on the Froebel playcentered model and provide an unusual case in the concentrated production of children’s music in a language that had no such repertoire prior to the kindergartens establishment. The conscious choice to provide young children with cultural tools for understanding a t the earliest stages of a community is reminiscent of Sheila Woodward’s discussion concerning the importance of children in nation building in South Africa, featured in the previous issue of this journal.In her conclusion, Gluschankof raises important questions concerning this created canon of songs and the lack of repertoire for Arab-speaking children. Using the idea of child culture as a lens for viewing cultural and educational policies provides a useful way to understand differences and similarities in political systems that define the worlds in which we teach, research, and cohabitate. Such understanding may lead to more focused and meaningful questions that may reveal inequities or alternative directions in music education worthy of exploration.Considerations of these policies regarding conceptions of adulthood and childhood lead directly to curricular influences that we view from a related dialectic: the local and global. Local and Global Influences: Child and World I n the first part of this symposium, we focused on the tension between small and large scaled views of what should be taught, each serving a different societal need. In the second part, we speak more specifically to the notion of a national curriculum because it is mentioned in each of the articles collected here.We are interested in questions dealing with how these personal and collective influences affect children’s music education: â€Å"Does governmentmandated standardized curriculum limit possibilities or insure access of quality to all children? † and â€Å"What is the exemplar to which music education should be standardized? † The first question is meant to generate critical thinking regarding what and how policymakers might send messages about music education in the early years; the second is meant to question assumptions we might have surrounding best practice and the cultural nuances that shape it.Suthers, discussing Australia’s situation, is min dful that there is no national music curriculum for pre-primary school and points to a recent reform movement in music education that excluded early childhood experiences. She notes that this leaves teachers feeling isolated and that their work is undervalued. Alternatively, Gluschankoff discusses the children’s music written in Hebrew as somewhat ideological and makes suggestions for addressing the inclusion of additional materials to meet the needs of a multicultural society.One of the ways in which the national curriculum may become nationalistic is in the mandates or recommendations around singing repertoire. The role played by singing in socialization is significant and has been used for centuries to transmit cultural values, to teach language, and to establish qualities of rhythmic energy that typify a way of being; Dissanayake (2000) makes the case for mutuality and belonging as ways the arts are meaningful to us.Inasmuch as collective singing creates a sense of belong ing, we have a responsibility to monitor the ways in which we look at the child and the world (see Leu’s article describing ecological systems and Lim and Chung on the supportive role of adults). Chen-Hafteck and Xu also write about the importance of family singing and the differing role of school music. When local knowledge is replaced by chauvinism, music can be decontextualized. Because musicality is deeply rooted in shared experience, (Trevarthen 1999) we need to guard the personal and not expose children’s vulnerability to politicization.Our concern regarding global trends also involves the perception that globalization means movement toward Downloaded by [Macquarie University] at 14:58 28 March 2013 Western ideals. Attention to the local, once again, is necessary to adequately implement any change. In China, for example, although the new educational policies follow the global trends rhetorically, espousing learning through play and stressing personal expression a nd creativity, its usefulness is severely hampered by conflicting views in the local tradition regarding a deep belief in academic success as the consummate benchmark.Holgerson considers a similar dissonance between local needs and governmental responsibility to all children through the philosophical lens of Bildung, a generative model that keeps the questions about such disconnections at the forefront of practice. Downloaded by [Macquarie University] at 14:58 28 March 2013 Teacher Knowledge: Child and Music Practice policies are perhaps best viewed vis-a-vis teacher preparation— what do we value as knowledge? For most of us, early childhood musical practice involves understanding as much as we can about children while keeping the cultural context in mind.This might include individual experiences that contribute to their uniqueness and developmental trends that might give indications about what to expect in terms of maturation. What knowledge do we need of music? In this issu e, the authors discuss the importance of a diverse and culturally responsive repertoire, singing range, quality of recordings, appropriate use of instruments, and sound sensitivity. In this collection of articles, the authors suggest that these two knowledge areas are rarely considered together and that they exist in bifurcation, at least conceptually.Across the globe, there are those who are considered to have knowledge of the child in context (families or generalist teachers) and those who have knowledge of the child in music (specialists). Holgersen describes this dichotomy in practical terms—music activities and music teaching. The goals of using music are indeed varied and the complexity of music leads to multiple possibilities worthy of exploration. Among the authors there is a consensus concerning the need for collaboration between the two areas of expertise with several concrete recommendations.Reasons for this common phenomenon center on the systems in place for teac her preparation and the institutional divisions of disciplines; authors advocate for more carefully structured professional development to help bridge the disciplinary divide. Knowing the body of work of these authors, we are familiar with their efforts to form partnerships with local child care specialists and have been involved with such partnerships at our universities. Child and Adult It is noteworthy that many of the responses are about memories of musical adults who were influential in their music education.Graham Welch (pers. comm. ) offers: I was educated in a Church of England Primary school in London . . . where we sang, often with the local Vicar leading on the piano. I can remember his enthusiasm, quick tempo and intensity of keyboard playing. F or most of us, early childhood musical practice involves understanding as much as we can about children while keeping the cultural context in mind. We believe them to be some of the most meaningful opportunities for our own teach er knowledge.Policy and Personal Voice In addition to the authors featured here, to inform our sense of the historical significance of current situations regarding early childhood music and the breadth to which our profession defines policy, we asked our colleagues involved in international musical education about their memories of early childhood music education and their relationship to policy with the following questions: 1. Reflecting on your childhood before age eight, what were the influences of policy on your music education? . How does this compare with today’s situation for young children? Responses were varied and provided insight through a self-reflective lens. We looked at the seven responses regarding their relatedness to our three topics and to how policy can reach us as individuals in a long-lasting way. Alda Oliveira (pers. comm. ) from Brazil also reflected on a teacher: The first time I went to school I was seven years old. At this age I choose to take piano lessons with a private piano teacher.She was a marvelous teacher since her method included not only playing by reading and singing the notes, but also playing by ear and some popular songs. Family members had a strong musical presence in June Boyce Tillman’s (pers. comm. ) childhood in England: â€Å"My music was regularly singing with and listening to the playing of my paternal grandfather who was the village dance band pianist. † Margre van Gestel (pers. comm. ) of The Netherlands also wrote of related experiences: I had the privilege to be surrounded by a musical family.We had a piano in our home and I spent lots of time behind the piano in my grandmother’s house. My uncles and aunts could play the piano and as a child I enjoyed listening to them. One of my aunts was the ballet teacher in the village and from the age of four I was in her dancing classes. It was normal in my family to sing and play. My father had a good voice and was a soloist in the church c hoir when he was young; he played the clarinet and was a folkdance Vol. 109, No. 3, January/February 2008 5 teacher during scouting activities.I guess my days were filled with (live) music, not in courses but just all day long. Van Gestel shared a record of family influence: In my baby dairy, when I was 8 months old, my mother wrote: â€Å"Today she clapped her hands. She probably learned that from her grandmother! When you sing Clap your hands she reacts immediately. † One year old: â€Å"When we sing Oh my daddy (a popular song in the sixties) she sings along, ‘daddy, daddy. ’† In South Africa, apartheid led to decisions about schooling for Caroline Van Niekerk (pers. omm. ) that indirectly influenced her musical education by removing her from the direct influences of the national educational system of that time. She also spoke of a contemporary situation in which fighting governmental policies was necessary and of the strength we have to overcome questi onable decisions: I had a desperate call just yesterday from someone with a story of how their education faculty, in training teachers for the Foundation Phase, wants to remove music as an optional area of specialization for students.We are now all doing everything in our power to protest such a prospect loudly. But I have also seen what I regard as a promising development, and similar to the situation I witnessed in California when we lived there, more than twenty years ago—as parents of young children realize that the formal education system is not necessarily going to provide their children with what they believe is important, and especially as regards the arts, including music, they start to take responsibility for those things themselves. ntil I was about [age] five) could not get my lessons paid for. Had the place still be in that county I would have been entitled to a bursary to pay for lessons and I would have been able to learn a second instrument. But without that m y parents could only afford piano lessons. I am still sad about this, which was simply a matter of geography and the local control of resources. Child and Music The same issues featured authors raised are apparent in the additional professionals’ responses: the lack of resources and teachers. Gary McPherson (pers. comm. links personal memories with policies, of which he sees little change, from his Australian childhood: I have a vague memory of singing in a school choir that was [led] by a general classroom teacher when I was about six or seven, but the group was nothing special so it had no impact on my subsequent musical development. . . . I went back some years ago and had a look at the way music was described in the school curriculum (particularly primary school curriculum). There were all sorts of aids and resources for general primary teachers to use but music wasn’t typically taught well in schools.To be honest, I’m not sure the status of music in the cur riculum is any different. Downloaded by [Macquarie University] at 14:58 28 March 2013 These testimonies to strong and positive adult influence suggest that family education is important, as Leu and others advocate in this symposium, with the caveat that the experiences described are with adults perceived as musicians. This suggests we need to exercise caution in defining people in terms of limited musicality and that music education of our children means their children will be better educated.It is interesting that teachers were remembered for the affective qualities they conveyed and through a curricular stance that was relevant to the child. Child and World The relationships among local, state, and global influences are also reflected in these personal accounts. Many of these music professionals took private music lessons and considered their experiences to be nonpolicy driven. Oliveira (pers. comm. ) mentioned the involvement of musicians in music education policy—specific ally, the Canto Orfeonico policy under the leadership of composer Villa-Lobos.She recalls that this policy influenced her school education, which included â€Å"group singing and elementary level music theory. † As already discussed, group singing is a common vehicle for politicization. Like Gluschonkof’s report of Israeli songs contributing to nation-building, Boyce Tillman (pers. comm. ) noted that: At [age] seven I went to a school where we had massed singing in the Hall when we sang British folksongs, many of which I still know by heart. We had a book called the New National Song book, which was a deliberate attempt after the war to restore a sense of nationhood.This was used throughout my school career. 6 Arts Education Policy Review Welch wrote of intersecting influences of church and state: I discovered later that the London County Council was very supportive of music in schools generally, although my local experiences as a child were as much to do with the link to the Church and the established ethos of including singing as a natural part of the school day. Ana Lucia Frega (pers. comm. ) describes a similar situation in her native Argentina. Early childhood music courses were not always taught by a specialist . . . his means that some problems arose: some of the K-general teachers [choose materials that] do not really fit the [appropriate] children range of voices, and which tend to create vocal difficulties. He notes the longevity of such a workable match: â€Å"On returning to the school many years later for my first teaching post, I discovered that the school’s policy toward music had continued, with the same range of events and activities in place. † In the previous issue, Young discussed the unprecedented commitment England has made to the arts—specifically music, a commitment Welch reiterates.Boyce Tillman recalls a time when the resources from the national government were in local hands, resulting in inequitabl e opportunity: At [age] seven I started piano lessons but because the place we lived in was then in Southampton and not in the County of Hampshire (to which we are very close and in which we had been Although our policymaking systems move slowly, and are not always moving in the direction we would like, there is hope in the growing numbers of people who care about music education. Oliviera writes: â€Å"at least we can feel the difference between my generation and today’s generation. Perhaps our aim is to prepare children who grow up to be like von Gestel, with the same rich resources at hand for creating meaningful experiences: Music (and especially making and teaching music) was and is a part of my everyday life, and really I can’t imagine a life without singing together and making music. It makes my life worth living. References Bjorkvold, J. R. 1992. The muse within: Creativity and communication, song and play from childhood through maturity. Trans. W. H. Halverso n, New York: HarperCollins. Campbell, P. S. 2007. Musical meaning in children’s cultures. In International handbook of research in arts education, ed.L. Bresler, 881–94. Dorderecht, The Netherlands: Springer. Dissanayake, E. 2000. Art and intimacy. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Littleton, D. 1998. Music learning and child’s play. General Music Today 12 (1): 8–15. Marsh, K. 1995. Children’s singing games: Composition in the playground? Research Studies in Music Education 4:2–11. Moorhead, G. E. , and D. Pond. 1941. Music of young children. 1 Chant. Santa Barbara, CA: Pillsbury Foundation for the Advancement of Music Education. Papousek, H. 1996. Musicality in infancy research: Biological and cultural origins of early musicality.In Musical beginnings: Origins and development of musical competence, ed. I. Deliege and J. Sloboda, 37–55. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Smith, D. C. 1991. Foundations of modern Chinese e ducation. In The Confucian continuum, ed. D. C. Smith, 1–64. New York: Praeger. Trevarthen, C. 1999. Musicality and the intrinsic motive pulse: Evidence from psychobiology and human communication. Musicae Scientiae (Special Issue: Rhythm, Musical Narrative, and Origins of Human Communication), 155–211. Lori A. Custodero is an associate professor and program coordinator of the MusicDownloaded by [Macquarie University] at 14:58 28 March 2013 and Music Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has established an early childhood music concentration that integrates pedagogy and research through both theory and practice. She served on the International Society for Music Education’s Commission for Early Childhood for six years and is involved in research and teaching projects in a variety of countries. Lily Chen-Hafteck is an associate professor of music education and assistant chair of the Music Department at Kean University, New Jersey.Ori ginally from Hong Kong, she has held teaching and research positions at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, the University of Surrey Roehampton in England, and Hong Kong Baptist University. She serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Music Education, Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education and Music Education Research International. She is the chair of the International Society for Music Education Young Professionals Focus Group. Vol. 109, No. 3, January/February 2008 7 Downloaded by [Macquarie University] at 14:58 28 March 2013 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Porsche Essays - Sports Cars, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 911

Porsche Essays - Sports Cars, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 911 Porsche I have narrowed down my project to just Porsche vehicles. I am not going to talk about the man behind the car to much. I have found several web sites that have criteria about Porsche and their different models and their performance. I will discuss these subjects along with others. The history of Porsche will be discussed. I will also talk about some different models such as the 911 GT3. I will also discuss the GT1 and GT3 race seriesI will also discuss Porches latest press releases. History The early years (the 40's & 50's) 1948: The very first Porsche. The very first Porsche 356/1 developed by Ferry Porsche and his proven team is completed in the Austrian town of Gm?nd and receives technical homologation on June 8,1949: Presentation of the Cisitalia racing car.The Cisitalia racing car is presented at the Torino Motor Show, featuring a 12-cylinder dual-compressor boxer engine in mid ship arrangement, 1493 cc, 385 bhp at 10600 rpm, top speed 300 km/h (186 mph), four-wheel drive with individual drive activation of the front wheels. 1950: Porsche returns to Zuffenhausen Porsche returns to Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart. Thus begins a new chapter in Porsche's history. In rooms rented from the Reutter car body factory, production facilities are set up. Porsche becomes an independent automobile factory. 1951: Porsche's first international success in Le Mans Professor Ferdinand Porsche Sr. dies, aged 75. The Porsche 356 scores its first international success in motor racing, winning the 1100-cc category in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1953: Porsche 550 Spyder Presentation of the Fuhrmann engine for the Porsche 550 Spyder: 1.5 liter four-cylinder, four camshafts, 110 bhp 1956: the 10,000th Porsche 356 Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Company, the 10,000th Porsche 356 leaves the production hall. Porsche has already scored 400 victories in motor racing. The 1.5 liter 550 Spyder, driven here by Richard von Frankenberg, becomes the "shark in the pool of perch" in major races, where it competed against cars with more horsepower. 1958: Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Company, the 10,000th Porsche 356 leaves the production hall. Porsche has already scored 400 victories in motor racing. The 60's and 70's 1961: Work starts on a new six cylinder engine Behind closed doors, work starts on a new Porsche with a six cylinder engine. The body is designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, Ferry Porsche's son. 1963: Porsche 911.At the Frankfurt International Automobile Show, Porsche presents the 911. The underlying concept of an air-cooled flat engine in the rear is retained.1964: Production start of the Porsche 911.1969: Porsche 914-4 and 914-6. Presentation of the 914-4 and 914-6 mid-engine sports cars at the Frankfurt Motor Show.Porsche for the second time wins the World Championships for works cars. For the second consecutive year, the 911 wins the Monte Carlo Rallye. 1970:The Porsche 917 (4.5-litre 12-cylinder boxer engine) shown to the public for the first time in Geneva wins virtually all races the world over, including the World Championship of Makes and the Endurance World Championship. Work starts at the Weissach Research and Development Centre. 1972: Porsche goes public. Under the guidance of Ferry Porsche as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Porsche goes public. 1974: The first 911 Turbo With the 911 Turbo a new era begins: exhaust: exhaust turbo charged autos. 1975: The first Transaxle sports car. Porsche introduces the 924, the first Transaxle sports car with the engine at the front, the transmission and drive wheels at the rear. Production of the "big Porsche", the 928, starts in Stuttgart: V8 light-alloy engine, Transaxle configuration, Weissach axle. To this day the only sports car in the world ever to win the title of Sports Car of the Year. The 80's & 90's 1982: The Porsche 956, the most successful racing/sports car of all times, begins its victorious career. 1985: Launch of the Porsche 959, a spearhead in new technology. A limited number are built. In 1986, it is the first sports car to win the Paris-Dakar Rally. 1988: Launch of the new 911 Carrera 4.1989: Introduction of Tiptronic four-speed automatic transmission operated either manually (as a function of load) or serving as a fully automatic transmission. Featured for the first time in the new 911 Carrera 2. 1993: Presentation of the first Boxster concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. Launch of

Free Essays on Digital Watermarking

DIGITAL WATERMARKING Technology is rapidly changing the way we conduct our daily lives both on a personal level and on a business level. Transactions conducted online are growing every year creating the need for methods of protecting electronic assets within the electronic commerce systems. One of the byproducts of technology is that infringement of copyright laws is now easier and less expensive to achieve. Digital watermarking is one method to provide some level of protection and accountability for copyrights held on digital works on the Web. Both national and international organizations are interested in the use of watermarking for protecting intellectual property. Digital watermarking is an identification code, permanently embedded into digital data, carrying information pertaining to copyright protection and data authentication. Although, this method is not perfect it does offer many benefits. In the long run, improvements and advancements in watermarking will establish this method as a relia ble way to protect digital intellectual property and hold violators accountable. As a result, of technology today’s modern digital networks make it easier and less expensive to violate copyright laws, used to protect traditional intellectual property. In the past, infringement with copyrighted documents was limited by the difficulties of large-scale photocopying and distribution. Traditional intellectual properties, includes written works, music, and art. Intellectual properties, such as these, receive protection under national and international copyright laws. Although, digital intellectual properties on the Web, receive the same protection, they act as a mere deterrent. Digital intellectual properties such as logos, art, and music, require a completely different approach from those traditional methods. Digital watermarking goes beyond mere deterrent and aids in prevention. A watermark is used to communicate copyright informa... Free Essays on Digital Watermarking Free Essays on Digital Watermarking DIGITAL WATERMARKING Technology is rapidly changing the way we conduct our daily lives both on a personal level and on a business level. Transactions conducted online are growing every year creating the need for methods of protecting electronic assets within the electronic commerce systems. One of the byproducts of technology is that infringement of copyright laws is now easier and less expensive to achieve. Digital watermarking is one method to provide some level of protection and accountability for copyrights held on digital works on the Web. Both national and international organizations are interested in the use of watermarking for protecting intellectual property. Digital watermarking is an identification code, permanently embedded into digital data, carrying information pertaining to copyright protection and data authentication. Although, this method is not perfect it does offer many benefits. In the long run, improvements and advancements in watermarking will establish this method as a relia ble way to protect digital intellectual property and hold violators accountable. As a result, of technology today’s modern digital networks make it easier and less expensive to violate copyright laws, used to protect traditional intellectual property. In the past, infringement with copyrighted documents was limited by the difficulties of large-scale photocopying and distribution. Traditional intellectual properties, includes written works, music, and art. Intellectual properties, such as these, receive protection under national and international copyright laws. Although, digital intellectual properties on the Web, receive the same protection, they act as a mere deterrent. Digital intellectual properties such as logos, art, and music, require a completely different approach from those traditional methods. Digital watermarking goes beyond mere deterrent and aids in prevention. A watermark is used to communicate copyright informa...

How does the internet affect the international strategy Use Porter's 5 Essay

How does the internet affect the international strategy Use Porter's 5 Forces and tell how internet shape and change the busine - Essay Example Most companies in the modern business environment have executed some or the other form of Internet machinery into their business operations. While some enterprises faced a major conversion when emerging into an e-business function, others may have enjoyed an edge of this technology before the use of the Internet became pervasive to the present extent. (Kotler, 1997; Rainer, 2009) Internet creates economic value for business either by creating new industries such as online auctions and digital marketplaces, or by reconfiguring existing industries through reduced communication costs, easier transactions and faster information dissemination. Though catalogue retailers and toll free numbers have been always there, the internet provides a more efficient mode to order products and services. For instance, distance learning has been prevalent in the education sector for decades with almost a million students enrolling annually for various correspondence courses. But a modified and improvised version of distance learning is E-College. It is a full-service provider that works in collaboration with many universities and publishes their courses over the internet and operates the delivery network for a fee. The profitability of a business is influenced by the internet based on two main factors- industry structure and competitive advantage. While the former determines the profitability of an average competitor, the latter imparts the capacity to outperform an average competitor. (Castells, 2003; Chadwick, 2009) In today’s rapid pace of technological change in business environment, industrial analysis becomes all the more important. The structural attractiveness of an industry, whether old or new, is governed by five forces of competition. These forces, alternately known as Porter’s Five Forces, are existing rivalry among competitors, threat of substitutes, barriers to new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers and bargaining power of buyers. Though the nature of the five forces varies across industries, the profitability of an enterprise still depends of these. Due to the variable nature of the five forces, it is difficult to draw any general conclusion about the impact of the internet o business environment. But some dominant trends can be inferred through an inspection of a wide range of industries where the internet plays a vital role. Most of the industries show a positive trend owing to the expansion of markets, improved position compared to rivals and new channels to reach out to customers. (Porter, 1979; 2008; Karagiannopoulos, 2005) However some negative impacts of internet on businesses have also been in picture. It enables the buyers to have an easy access to information about products and services, thus strengthening their bargaining power. It helps in growth of new substitutes due to birth of new approaches to meets costumers’ needs. By reducing the need for an established sales force or affiliation to existing channel s, it removes barriers to entry. It dissolves geographical borders and expands the geographical market, bringing more companies into competition with each other. The increase in fixed costs, accompanying the favourable decline in variable costs, leads to the promotion of destructive price competition amongst the existing industry rivals. (Seybold, 1998; Angell, 1994) The inherent paradox is that the benefits offered by the internet expand the market through reduced operational costs, enhanced

Describe a Friend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe a Friend - Essay Example The Simpsons is, of course, the very famous American cartoon show. I understand that the show is very popular with adults in America, especially with college students. But back home when a twenty year old watches cartoons as much as Arence, most people think he did not have a fulfilled childhood. I asked him why he still watches the show and he answered, "I just enjoy it." But I think it goes more deeply than that. Arence actually arranges his scheduled around the show so that he can watch it both times it airs each day. Not only that, but he even leaves off his homework for the commercial break. And he doesn't just watch it when it comes on, but he also tapes the show so that he can watch it over and over again. He has seen the episodes so much that he will quote along with the show, speaking in a voice like Homer Simpson or Mr. Burns. The lobby where the television is located is intended for 100 students to share. Every night Arence makes his way down from the third floor, places a chair right in front of the TV and prepares to watch his show. The lobby has two couches and tables and chairs where students sit down to study. Every night everyone in the lobby kind of waits for Arence to come down for his nightly ritual.