Pros & Cons Essay Example for Free

Pros Cons Essay Most wireline phone companies charge more than what youd pay for most alternatives, and some are taxed more as well. There are some locations where getting new wired phone service is prohibitively expensive or even impossible. Long Distance and extra features like Call Waiting are normally included with alternative phones. More Features: Cellular and broadband phones normally include Long Distance, Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Forwarding and more, usually at no additional charge. They also have Text Messaging and various forms of data service which are unavailable with a landline. Portability: If you move your home more than average (or if its on wheels), your phone and your number can stay with you. There are no installation charges. Temporary Usage: You can have phone service for the season in a vacation home or cabin, or on an extended stay at a hotel or home of a friend or relative without installing a separate line. Unlimited Plans: Most alternatives offer a plan that includes Unlimited talk minutes and Long Distance, including cellular. Most cellular carriers have eliminated Unlimited Data plans, although there are some that include Data with some other restrictions. Anonymity: You can easily set up an account (especially prepaid cellular) with either no name or an alternative identity. Fewer Telemarketers: Nuisance calls are reduced because telemarketers want to target customers in certain geographic areas. They wont know where you are. Most telcos provide your landline number to telemarketers. With cellular its illegal for now. With broadband, it depends on the carrier who sets up your number. Internet Access: Your wireless phone can also be your connection to the Internet, either with an internal browser or tethered to your computer, and available wherever there is cellular coverage. Wireless broadband is also available separate from your cellular account. Wi-Fi for Multiple Devices: You can get a cellular modem that provides a wi-fi signal that can connect to up to 5 separate wi-fi devices. Its Green: Replace your fax with an Internet-based fax service like eFax or MyFax. com and stop wasting paper and ink. (Give your old fax to charity) Attitude: Some wired phone companies just treat their customers badly. Sometimes it feels better to leave at any price. Take your broadband wherever you go A mobile broadband connection is exactly that, which means that you can access your emails, check the sports results or watch YouTube videos no matter where you are, provided you have 3G reception. Stop paying for line rental Millions of people continue to pay for line rental on a home phone landline that they rarely use, just so that they can get broadband at home. With mobile broadband, theres no need to pay line rental potentially saving you over ? 100 a year. Plug and play technology All the software you need to connect to the internet is automatically installed when you first plug your USB modem into your laptop no need to set it up or call a technical support helpline. Flexible options available Mobile broadband customers can take advantage of some really great pay as you go tariffs from as little as ? 2 a day, or rolling one-month packages, meaning they only ever pay for what they actually need. Cons: Safety: If you need to call 911, public safety authorities wont automatically know where you are, youll have to tell them. Also, calls with alternative phones will not necessarily be routed to the closest agency. Also, you wont receive Reverse 911 calls alerting you to a public emergency in your neighborhood unless your local emergency center allows you to sign up your number and associate it with a local address. Security: Some businesses will not allow you to use their services without a traceable land line. This includes credit card companies, pizza shops and a few others, although this rule is slowly being relaxed. Satellite TV services want a landline-like plug for their equipment to call them each night. It does work with some broadband phone systems. Your satellite service can still work without it, but you will most likely pay an extra charge. Reliability: Wired telephone services have come as close to 100% reliable as is practical. Their network has substantial power backup, redundant circuits and years to get it right. Alternatives are improving but their networks can vary significantly. Cell sites and other communications nodes have a limited amount of backup power. In an extended power outage, such as after a hurricane or snowstorm, the service may not work, leaving you with no service. Corded phones work in power failures. Cable phones also have a lower level of reliability. Sound Quality: Some alternative phones dont sound the same or as good as a landline. While your alternative phone may sound fine to you, it may be difficult for others. Also, some broadband phone services just dump their audio into the Internet resulting in widely varying data travel times giving you significant sound delays. Lack of Service: You may be in a location where there are no wireless broadband alternatives or may have poor cellular coverage. This might be rectified by adding a cell site to your home. Broadband Speeds: While there are some fairly fast wireless broadband connections, it may be some time before they will compare to wired or cable connections. Malfunctions: Cell sites can stop working for various reasons. Repairs often need to be made on site and may take time. Broadband services require one or more pieces of equipment at your house which you will need to fix if it fails. Wireline equipment can normally be repaired at the central office. Murphys Law says breakdowns will happen at the worst possible time. You Have No Backup: Unless you have an extra cellular phone, if something happens to your main phone or its associated equipment, or your account, you cant just plug another phone into the wall. Inconvenience: Some alternative services only offer a single jack for one phone. If you want service throughout the house you either must go wi-fi or cellular. Otherwise, plan on using the phone near your computer or router. With a cell phone you need to keep it close to you if your home is large or on multiple floors. It Might be Difficult to Get a Job: Some employers require a Local number to consider you for a position. While you can change your out-of-town portable number to something local, there goes your Number For Life. Surprise Costs. Since you normally pay for cellular by the minute, you might talk a lot more than you think. Savings may be less than you expected when calculated long term. Broadband carriers are not regulated like wireline services and could make changes that you dont expect. You Wont Be Listed in the Phone Book. Some directories let you to pay for a personal listing, but others use that as a way to keep you as a landline customer. Alarm systems. Most existing dial-up alarm systems dont work with broadband phone connections. There are other alarm alternatives, including wireless. You May Not Be Able to Send or Receive Faxes. In some cases, faxing is not an issue. In others, you cant just plug in your fax machine. A better choice is to to use a paperless, web-based service like eFax or MyFax. com. Low download limits Even the most generous of mobile broadband tariffs only offer a download allowance of 15GB per month, and that could set you back ? AÂ  month on a two-year contract, while typical value packages offer less than 5GB a month. High costs for exceeding your limit Most mobile broadband providers charge a fee when you exceed your download limit. This is normally several pence per MB and costs can very quickly add up if youre not careful. Always keep an eye on your usage. Slower connections Although suppliers might advertise speeds of up to 10 or 12Mb, mobile broadband speeds rarely exceed the average of around 1Mb. This, combined with the tight usage limits, makes mobile broadband unsuitable for large downloads. Coverage Most of the UK is covered by the 3G mobile network, but coverage can be patchy in some rural areas, with speeds significantly slower in some parts of the country, so you should always check coverage in your area before signing up. PROS OF FIXED LINE NETWORK Reliability Land line/fix line phones can be more reliable than their cellular counterparts. Disconnected cables can disable land lines, but these problems are easily remedied. On the other hand, cellular phones are plagued by several different issues because they rely on a network of radio waves, cellular towers and satellites. In some areas, cellular service is plagued by dropped calls and fuzzy reception. Emergencies The reliability of land line phones makes them advantageous when it comes to emergencies. For example, if someone is hurt and needs immediate medical care, you do not have to worry about contending with poor reception. Land lines also provide a fixed location that emergency responders can rush to. On a cell phone, you must state your address or describe your location, which wastes precious time during a crisis. Sponsored Links

Performance Management at Steel Co

Performance Management at Steel Co Contents Structuring individual performance to maximize firm’s performance Expectancy theory has three underlying concepts: Performance management system used to improve employee development and communication Effectiveness of linking performance to financial reward Bibliography Structuring individual performance to maximize firm’s performance Individual performance is determined by the following factors: Motivation, the desire to do the job Ability, capability, know how to do the job (cognitive ability, reasoning ability, physical ability) Work environment, tool materials and information to do the job The energy to perform in an organization is directly influenced by the level of motivation and the expectancy. As long as the desire to do something is present, the mount of performance output is directly proportional with the level of energy exercised. Motivation is a function of expectancy, instrumentality and valance and expectancy, is used as a tool to explain the determinants of workplace attitudes and behavior. In other words try to perform and you will succeed. Expectancy theory has three underlying concepts: 1. The Concept of valence refers to anticipated satisfaction. While value represents the actual satisfaction that a person experience from an attained outcome. Potentially a discrepancy can occur between the anticipated satisfaction from an outcome (valence) and the actual satisfaction that it provides (its value). When such disparity occurs, the reward system implemented will lead to loss of the motivational value. 2. Instrumentality represents a person’s belief about the relationship between performing an action and experiencing an outcome. The high performance is most likely to occur when both the valence and instrumentality are perceived high. It is important to understand individual’s motivational behavior by not only identifying his/hers satisfaction expected as a result of attained particular outcome, but also what actually the person thinks that he /she needs to do or not, to achieve the outcome. 3. Expectancies, representing a link between making an effort an actual performing well. It is more like motivation based on desire and effort. Expectancy should be accompanied by specific goals setting and type of performance desired in quantitative terms. Goals should be difficult enough, to where the individual motivation will be driven by the values received from a job well done. The concept of self-efficacy is based on the individual ability to complete the task if he/she tried. Self -efficacy can increase by: emphasis on past accomplishments, observation of others, verbal persuasion (appealing to individual self image) Performance management system used to improve employee development and communication (McCaffery (2004) explains that a key competent of learning and development support in managing performance is guidance given by line managers to develop the knowledge or skill of their subordinates. (McCaffery,p139 (2004) believes that ‘performance management is a cyclical process centred on learning and development-not a fixed one-off event†¦performance management does not just happen, as is often(wrongly) assumed, at an annual event set up for the purpose. Formal appraisal is but a single process. The core foundation of performance management is learning and development. (Armstrong, p246 (2009) believes that performance management has a vital role in an organisation, by ‘specifically helping people to appreciate the need for developing their performance and where and how it should take place,’ and ensuring that people can learn from their experience. Performance management can help people find specific courses on or off the job or by e-learning which will satisfy their learning need. But performance management’s most essential role is the help it gives to the development of a climate for learning- a ‘growth culture’. This process helps people avoid obstacles that can arise when guiding them through work challenges. It ensures that the workers have the resources and time that they need to learn, also that management can advice and support them and give feedback that is vital for them to learn. (Foot, Cook (2008) comment on the fact that often organizations want to develop by improving performance. They want to meet their strategic objectives, or gain high-performance standards in the organization, and they wish to increase profits for shareholders, develop their market share or provide better services for their customers to avail of. (Foot, Cook (2008) explain that in order to achieve these ideals, they need to select, recruit, motivates, develop and retain the best people for the job. (Foot, Cook, p277(2008) highlight that ‘learning and development is one of the key aspects in performance management which can help them achieve these things and it is also a key factor in managing talent.’ Individuals in an organization have the drive to improve their performance in their job, or gain new skills perhaps to get a promotion or pay increase or even move on to a more challenging and fulfilling job. (Foot,Cook(2008) believes individuals can achieve these aims with help from learning and development . Learning and development can help organizations by attracting individuals and can engage their loyalty so the organization benefits by retaining new recruits, this in turns helps the organization to optimize its current and future objectives. (Foot,Cook (2008) emphasize the fact that learning and development has gain popularity over the past years, as organizations have realized that in order to stay competitive they need to develop and utilize the knowledge of their staff as much as possible, in order to do so they need to focus their activities from training to learning. (Foot,Cook) continues, by saying, people learn in different ways, some of these ways can be planned others, unplanned. In order for learning to occur organizations have to ensure that they create suitable environments, so that workers can clearly benefit from the learning and knowledge of their workforce. (Foot,Cook, p278 (2008) reveals that ‘the concept of individualized learning implies that this occurs in all sorts of situations, not just in the more traditional, formal training opportunities.’ Learning and development include mentoring, coaching, job swapping and work shadowing which are less formal and are more learner centered approaches to learning. (Wilton, p183 (2013) comments how ‘in human resource development, it is important to highlight the role of learning and development in performance management and in fostering a culture of continuous improvement.’ In a firm, (Wilton(2013) explains that employee development is considered a key mechanism through which organizational performance can be improved. Learning and development provides substantial linkages within the cycle, forming part of both the evaluation or review phrase and the planning phase. (Wilton (2013) emphasizes the fact that learning and development plays a vital role in relation to remedial action to resolve performance problems. Effectiveness of linking performance to financial reward In many organizations the HR function and the business will attempt to align individual performance to a bell curve of anticipated or actual required performance ratings. This approach is often positioned as being necessary to reward the highest individual performers appropriately, or to justify how the actual business and individual employee performance compares to other high performing organizations (or both). However, when attempting to manage performance distribution across the organization the HR function is often faced with some pretty difficult questions and issues, such as, How can we have so many high performance ratings when we arent achieving our organizational performance goals? Why are we paying our best performers pretty much the same as our worst performers? Are we rewarding the right people? What is actually happening in many organizations is that they believe they are paying for one thing (performance) when in actual fact they are paying for something else. For example, reward for promotion often exceeds annual pay increases for performance within any given level, no matter how much the employee has contributed. Therefore, employees have a much greater incentive to try to get promoted than to stay put and do an outstanding job. This issue can be exacerbated by the use of broad band’s (grades) and salary ranges; all too often, organizations implement a new approach to pay without considering how to communicate to their employees the principles of progression within a salary range. If we take another example, you may work in an organization which is results-oriented, and management is only interested in financial measures such as profit or revenue. Financial rewards are probably used as the major motivator for staff, as we have seen within the financial services sector. However, this approach may not be the right one for employees who are not motivated by financial reward and are perhaps already highly committed to the goals of the organization. In this situation, non-monetary rewards may be the way to go. For smaller organizations where promotion opportunities are limited, the opportunities for employees to reap financial rewards for moving up and for performing well are also limited. Linking performance and reward effectively relies on a good understanding of your organizational context, and the mix of employee motivating factors.   Bibliography Armstrong, Michael.(2009) Armstrong’s Handbook of Performance Management. Clifford, Jackie, Thorpe, Sara. (2007) Advantage for your organisation. http://www.talentmanagementtech.com/blog/learning-and-performance-management-converge-form-emerging-best-practice Dam, Van Nick, Marcus, Jos, Medhurst Keith.(2007) An International Approach to Organisation and Management. Finch, Erik(2010). A talent development approach that integrates learning and performance management is needed to retain staff. Retrieved on the 20th of March 2014. http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/Benefits_Services/Performance_Management/Chapter_1.pdf Margaret, Foot. Cook, Caroline. (2008) Introducing Human Resource Management. McCaffery, Peter (2004) The higher Education Manager’s Handbook; Effective leadership and Management. Wilton, Nick (2013) An Introduction to Human Resource Management.

Mother and Daughter Relationships Exposed in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Clu

Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters Exposed in The Joy Luck Club  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tan's novel, The Joy Luck Club is one that is truly amazing and a joy to read. There are a number of issues at work in the novel, the most obvious one is the exploration of relationships between mothers and daughters. Unfortunately, for these four sets of mothers and daughters, there is not only a generational gap between them, but a cultural one as well. Tan reveals these rifts, and their love for one another, in much the same way William Faulkner or Toni Morrison let us glimpse their characters lives instead of telling us their stories. This quality, along with the important generational/cultural gap make this somewhat autobiographical work of fiction one that people will be reading for years to come. In the second half of this century, it has become important for people to explore and get back in touch with their culture. We see the result of this in the popularity of writers such as Morrison and Tan. What makes Tan's work important is that it is not just for Asia n-American people, but that people of all ethnicities can enjoy it, finding pieces of themselves within. Also, I think this work helps bring a greater understanding of the Chinese culture, for both Asian-Americans and non-Asian people. And what could be better than that? While Tan is a creative and talented author in her own right, there are writers that have come before who have kind of paved the way for writers such as Tan through their own writing. Faulkner is one such writer, who focused many of his novels such as The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, on the family dynamic and are examples of books that have been written in a "decentered, multiple monologue mode" (S... ...n Writers. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997. 85-7. Schell, Orville. Critical Extract. Asian-American Women Writers. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997. 82-3. Shear, Walter. "Generational differences and the diaspora in The Joy Luck Club." Women Writers. 34.3 (Spring 1993): 193. Expanded Academic Index. Souris, Stephen. "'Only Two Kinds of Daughters:'" Inter- Monologue Dialogicity in The Joy Luck Club." Melus 19.2 (Summer 1994):99-123. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Ivy Books, 1989. Willard, Nancy. Critical Extract. Asian-American Women Writers. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997. 84-5. Xu, Ben. "Memory and the Ethnic Self: Reading Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club." Melus 19.1 (Spring 1994): 3-17.   

Standardized Test Essay examples -- Standardized Testing Essays

Standardized Test Standardized test have been a means measuring student performance. Some important questions that always come up regarding standardized test are what are the tests really measuring? Are they measuring a person’s intelligence? Their ability to perform well on standardized tests? Or just some random quantity of the person’s IQ? When examining the issues around which these tests are given and the content of the tests themselves, it becomes apparent that however useful the tests may be for standardizing a group’s intellectual ability, they are not a good indicator of intelligence. To issue a truly standardized test, the testing environment should be the same for everyone involved. A person’s environment has a great deal to do with their cognitive abilities. Is the light flickering? Is the paint on the walls an unsettling shade? Is the temperature too hot or too cold? Is the chair uncomfortable? Or in the worst case, do they have an illness that day? To test a person’s mind, it is necessary to utilize their body in the process. If everyone’s body is placed in different conditions during the testing, how is it possible to get standardized results across all the subjects? Because of this assumption that everyone will perform equally independent of their environment, intelligence test scores are skewed and cannot be viewed as standardized, and definitely not as an example of a person’s intelligence. A person’s intelligence stems from a variety...

Revealing Okonkwos Character Through Proverbs Essay -- essays researc

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ibo proverbs reveal Okonkwo’s character, especially his ambition, self-reliance, and respect for elders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the village of Umuofia, a belief the villagers have, is the belief in the earth, sun and rain gods. The villager’s religious values are very sacred. If one does not abide by a ritual such as bringing a little kota to an elder or friend, one does not respect. Other beliefs such as whistling at night, and creating violence in the village’s annual week of peace are meant to be a bad omen. The one who is at fault is believed to be cursed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During one harvest, Okonkwo has had a shortage of yam seedlings, so he looks to Nwakibie and older man of the village. Nwakibie says to Okonkwo the proverb,† Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.†(Achebe 22) Nwakibie was reluctant to give his seeds away before because the borrower would plant the seeds and watch them rot away. The moral of the proverb is that one must learn to adapt to its environment. Okonkwo is a man of honor, and stands for a model of a hard worker, so Nwakibie has no problem lending Okonkwo 800 yam seedlings. Okonkwo has to learn from the planting season, because the weather is the worst ever for raising crops. Okonkwo must learn to adapt and protect his crop. He must make rings of thick sisal leaves to place around the yams. Okonkwo shows...

My Sister’s Keeper Essay

In My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult weaves a gripping tale of pathos, humor, and love. As thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald struggles to define herself as a person apart from her sister Kate, Picoult exposes the universal truths of human relationships. Life is full of choices and consequences. Love demands risks and sacrifice; self-examination and sharing. As the characters unfold, in their own words, the importance of communication emerges as a unifying theme. Kate Fitzgerald is dying of acute promyelocytic leukemia. A kidney transplant is her only hope. Anna’s parents assume without question, that she will offer her kidney. Aware that she was conceived to be a genetic match, and ongoing donor for Kate, Anna wants a chance to live her own life. Though she loves her sister dearly, Anna retains Campbell Alexander, seeking medical emancipation, knowing that without the surgery Kate will die. Thus begins the saga of seven lives intertwined in ways none could ever have imagined. Anna forces a legal confrontation that compels each character to examine the relationships in their lives. Sara Fitzgerald has focused obsessively on Kate’s medical needs, unwittingly ignoring the needs of other family members. Brian, a firefighter, finds respite from his family’s ills on the job, and in the stars, which become a metaphor for life. Jesse, eighteen, is the family misfit. Unable to help Kate, he is wracked by guilt. A rebel, he becomes an unlikely healing force. As the court proceedings swirl around Anna, all involved are forced to reckon with the ghosts of their pasts and the paths they have chosen. Picoult addresses the ethics of the situation only tangentially. The ending is superbly crafted, literally pulling the reader into the text. This is a cosmic tale about relationships and endurance, and the ability of love to change lives forever.

Origin of Eukaryotes

* The origin of eukaryotes is important to understand the origin of modern complex cells. There are three main separate theories that hypothesize the origins: the three-domain system, eocyte theory, and endosymbiosis. Each one have there own merits and evidence supporting. These theories suggest the evolution of cells from the most primitive prokaryotes, unicellular organism having cells lacking membrane-bound nuclei, to the most complex eukaryotes, single or multicellular organisms with a membrane enclosed nucleolus and organelles. The Three Domain Hypothesis refers to the proposal by Carl Woese in 1990 that; archaebacteria form a monophyletic group, this clade is sufficiently different from all other prokaryotes to deserve elevation to a separate Domain called Archaea (the other two Domains are Bacteria and Eukarya each arising from a progenote), eukaryotes are more closely related to archaebacteria than to other prokaryotes, and the root of the universal tree of life lies in the branch leading to Bacteria. The three-domain system met with some opposition on the differences between archaea and bacteria. Research of large subunits of RNA polymerase, some aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aspartyl, leucyl, tryptophanyl, and tyrosyl), and outer membrane molecules distinctions indicated that Woese was right in the classification and that these organisms were so genetically distinct (in the 165rRNA genes and differences in cell structures) that they needed their own domains. * In the 1984 James Lake theorized eukaryotes evolved from a specific group of ancestrial archea, the eocyte. The idea that eukaryotes could have arisen from a lineage of prokaryotes, using expanded molecular sequence datasets and phylogenetic approaches. Using a matrix of amino acid sites, traditional methods such as maximum parsimony resulted in the 3-domains topology, but an eocyte tree was obtained when maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses were performed. In sum this analyses provide support for the eocyte tree, rather than the 3-domains tree. This is supported by the concept that eukaryotic nucleo-cytoplasm evolved from within archaebacteria. Eukaryotes would have had to replace their old lipid synthesis with a eubacterial-type system since the operational genes of eukaryotes are primarily eubacterial, not archaebacterial (National Academy of Science of the United states 2008). Eukaryotes are seen as an evolutionary marvel for they can pack hundreds of energy-generating mitochondria into a single cell. Hundreds of millions of years ago, eukaryotes formed permanent colonies in which certain cells dedicated themselves to different tasks, such as nutrition or excretion, and whose behavior was well coordinated. This specialization allows them to grow, and evolving into new elaborate purposes. These cells have a true nucleus, bound by a double membrane. Prokaryotic cells have no nucleus. The purpose of the nucleus is to sequester the DNA- functions of the eukaryotic cell into chamber for increased efficiency. This function is unnecessary for the prokaryotic cell, because it is much smaller in size; materials within the cell are close together. There is an area of nuclear DNA unbound by a membrane called a nucleoid. Eukaryotic cells are larger, more advanced and have a higher output of energy in comparison to Prokaryotes. Lynn Margulis (1970) defined the hypothesis of Endosymbiosis as the engulfment of one cell by another larger cell, with the engulfed cell evolving into an organelle. Margulis claimed that as a result of communal and parasitic lives, bacterial cells turned into plants and animals through endosymbiosis. In this theory, plant cells developed when a cyanobacteria (chloroplast) was swallowed by another bacterial cell and animal cells were formed through mitochondria being engulfed by host cell. Another example is between a termite and microorganisms in its gut. The termite consumes wood, but it cannot digest it, the protozoan’s in the termite's gut break down the cellulose into simple sugars which both organisms can digest. When the protozoa digest the wood cellulose, they release acetic acid and other acids that the host termite is able to metabolize. Thus, the termite and the protozoan uniquely supply food for each other (Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2005). The origin of the eukaryotic cell was important, since they include all complex cells and almost all multi-cellular organisms. The timing these events is hard to determine, each hypothesis have there own evidence that support itself. Until further evidence can be found scientists can only speculate on the origins of Eukaryotes.