Classification of Japan Essay Example for Free

Classification of Japan Essay Nowadays, in Japan, the number of traveler from abroad is increasing, although there was a big earthquake in Fukushima in Japan. When you come to Japan, there are three places you have to visit then: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. If you visit these places, you would see Japanese culture, food, and historical building. First of all, I think most traveler is coming to Tokyo at first. Tokyo is one of the biggest cities if comparing by other countries. Tokyo is also central of Fashion in the world. You can see unique fashion’s people. In Tokyo, there are a lot of good towns, such as Shibuya, Harajyuku, and Asakusa. The course to explore the city of the Harajuku and Shibuya are two youthful and energetic cities. There is Takeshita Street, which is excursion from raw always stop by school trip in Japan, and there are many sights to be able to touch Koen-dori fashion trend, not boring the young. It is also fun to see the young people come and go. Next, in the attractive atmosphere of old-fashioned streets are left, there are many venerable in Asakusa, which is always crowded with many tourists. Raimon, a large lantern of Senso-ji Temple has become a landmark of the town. Asakusa is also an exciting city because they have various events, such as Asakusa Samba Carnival (May 8), and Sumida River Fireworks Festival (July). Second, when you visit to Kyoto, you can visit a lot of temples, and there are a lot of world heritage sites. Kiyomizu Temple is one of the world heritage sites. Every year, a lot of people, who is traveler from abroad, and student for school trip have visited there. You can see beautiful view from Kiyomizu temple. It is also difference from each season. When it is spring season, you can see a lot of blossom tree. When it is fall season, there are a lot of autumn leaves, which shows nice color. You can enjoy by just walkin around the city because the streets has not changed since many years ago, so you can see Streets of old-fashioned. You can walk the city as seeing history. I mean, there are lot of historical buildings remained since many years ago, so you can see the way people who is from many years ago have been making as history in Kyoto. Last of all, especially people, who live in America, I think they have to visit Hiroshima because you can see A-bomb dorm. There is also Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which is telling the history of the war since then. You can learn a lot of things and have a lot of feeling when you go. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has continued to appeal the wishes of the Hiroshima seek the realization of lasting world peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Divided into main building and East Wing, in the East Wing has photo panel exhibit clarity of exposure before and after exposure was based on historical facts, History of Hiroshima, the video, due to model. In the main building, we have the materials exhibit convey the devastation of the bombing. In addition, the Peace Memorial Park with a museum,and in the spring season, is known as cherry blossoms. In conclusion, Japan is smaller than United States very much; however, there are values to visit. I mean, if you can came to Japan, you can not only enjoy eating delicious, going to sightseeing, and going to theme park, but you can learn a lot of things because in Japan a lot of historical building remain as world heritage sites now, such as Kiyomzu temple and A-bomb Dorm. Also, you would enjoy wherever you visit in Japan because people live there is kind, and every city has very good things, such as food, historical building, special events, and theme park.

cause of world war Essay -- essays research papers

Cause of World War I Unlike World War II, the causes of World War I are not as clear cut. Historians say the war had been building up for some time prior to 1914. The "Great War" was not caused by megalomaniacs hungry for power as in the case of Mussolini and Hitler during World War II. The origins are more complex. First one is the alliance Systems The causes can be explained, more in political terms than human terms. From the end of the Franco-Prussian War, a system of secret alliances developed in Europe. This eventually split the continent into two hostile sides. Because so many different powers were involved in mutual defense agreements, when the war did happen, it involved nearly every country of Europe. Due to the alliances, some powers were forced to support policies followed by their partners, which they didn't really condone. Lastly, the secret alliances led to suspicion and the belief that far more secret agreements existed, then was in fact, the case. Secondly competition The competition for colonies was another source of international antagonism. The great powers sectioned off Africa among them, established spheres of influence in China and sought protectorates elsewhere. Sooner or later this rush to appropriate new territories was bound to spark disagreements over boundaries of control. Thirdly, militarism All the countries within the hostile camps were building large armies and navies during the pre-war ...

Introduction Technology Enhanced Learning In Education Education Essay

â€Å" The Internet is a timely tool for pedagogues who are reforming instruction. If we believe information is the bedrock of cognition, understanding and power, so cosmopolitan entree, to worldwide databases and latest, planetary information and people-to-people networking, is important to supplying pupils with educational challenges. † Children and striplings in modern societies are turning up in a universe where engineering is present everyplace. The extended usage of Information and Communication Technologies ( ICT ) by striplings in their day-to-day life for leisure, amusement and societal interaction is doing a great impact on their acquisition demands, demands and outlooks. They need to larn accomplishments and competencies, for self-development, engagement in society every bit good as for future occupations. Furthermore, they are besides progressively utilizing ICT for any learning intents, frequently outside the schoolroom. This gives rise to new ways of acquisition, including informal 1s which are shaped by new ICT tools, offering exciting larning chances that are basically different than earlier tools. This is the ground why instruction is sing a major invention and the instrument in this development is the computing machine. Computers and cyberspace installations are nowadays available in all our province schools: from primary to secondary and besides at the third degree. It is expected that instruction will see ICT as a major instruction and larning tool across all educational establishments. With its power of interactivity, multimedia and communicating, the computing machine proves an first-class tool for instruction. Psychologists believe that the best feedback is that which comes instantly after the event. What can be more immediate than ‘surfing ‘ the cyberspace and acquiring the consequences wished for within seconds? Of class, the usage of ICT in instruction brings along the demand to larn how to utilize this medium decently because there are legion ways in which the computing machine can be integrated within the learning procedure. Therefore new learning methods need to be explored, equipment has to be purchased, installed, on a regular basis maintained and instructors require preparation. This finally leads to consequences which decidedly need to be evaluated and reviewed for farther betterment.1.1.1 Virtual Learning EnvironmentRecent old ages have seen a considerable scope of tools and programmes that support online acquisition. One such type is a practical acquisition environment which is a web-based information-rich acquisition environment that provides a scope of tools and installations for scholars and instructors to work together. INSPIRAL, a undertaking in the United Kingdom, defined practical acquisition environments as follows: â€Å" VLEs are web-based toolkits that facilitate larning through the proviso and integrating of online instruction and acquisition stuffs and tools. † INSPIRAL ( 2001 ) This brings about a displacement in the important function of the instructor, from that of ‘gatekeeper ‘ of cognition to that of ‘facilitator ‘ and ‘manager ‘ of the acquisition environment, in order to run into the demands of the pupils. Therefore, the pupil, through the counsel of the instructor, sets precedences and accomplishable ends and takes on the duty for making the set ends. Students have the chance to prosecute in autonomous acquisition experiences and activities that promote self-expression, co-operative acquisition and interaction non merely with their immediate environment but with the outside universe every bit good.Aims of the ProbeThere is a sense of urgency for instruction establishments to happen ways to move in favor of the new larning coevals in order to enable new ways of larning guaranting that the accomplishments for future occupations are acquired. It is indispensable to do certain that 21st century acquisition in Europe, p articularly in Malta, becomes more efficient, just and advanced than it of all time was in the yesteryear. The European 2020 scheme high spots of import tendencies, which will take to a extremist transmutation in instruction taking up new accomplishments needed for new occupations. In this regard, e-learning has many assets to offer so as to reenforce and do more accessible educational facets. Teachers hence need to go go-betweens between pupils, cognition and engineering while internet-based societal networking will be a complimentary characteristic to practical acquisition. This scheme aims at sharing best patterns on e-learning undertakings across Europe with a peculiar accent on mobility, quality criterions, instructors ‘ preparation and games. At the European Council held in Lisbon in March 2000, 15 European Heads of Government set a end for Europe to go the most competitory knowledge-based economic system in the universe, capable of sustainable economic growing with more and better occupations and greater societal coherence. Due to the fact that ICT and other related policies play a cardinal function in accomplishing the ends of the Lisbon scheme, the renewed Lisbon ends of 2005 included programs to ease invention through the execution of ICT and higher investing in human capital. Brian Restall, ( 2008 ) in the study ‘The Development of eServices in an Hypertrophied Europium: eLearning in Malta ‘ , presents the consequences of a research on e-learning in Malta. The authorities invested well in ICT in public schools in the last decennary. This has allowed the Maltese instruction sector to be ranked as one of the most technologically connected in the universe. All province schools are networked, connected to broadband cyberspace with a computing machine and an enterprise has been launched to utilize ICT across the course of study. However it is worthy of note that the deficiency of expertness and practical support in seting into pattern e-learning in the course of study, together with appropriate preparation both for instructors and pupils, is still lending significantly to the restrictions of consumption. In fact, most of the attempts that have been noted locally were in most instances consequences of independent attempts at the integrating of ICT in instruction. E-learning is non about taking classroom-based acquisition and forcing it down a wire. Rather, e-learning nowadayss a new position on how engineering can be applied to heighten what instructors do good now, and to present new advanced ways to maximize the handiness, enjoyment and the effectivity of larning for the person. Indeed, online acquisition can besides let educational experiences to be tailored to the demands of persons or groups of persons. Other societal groups, such as scholars with household committednesss and with disablements, can besides profit if the physical and temporal obstructions to instruction are removed with the aid of engineering. â€Å" A major challenge which the present instruction system faces is the effectual and efficient operation of the different educational services in order to supply quality instruction ‘for all kids to win ‘ , a taking aim of the Ministry of Education. The educational substructure and system has grown to such an extent that it requires a more timely and effectual bringing of services and support. † Although the research carried out in this peculiar country has non been conclusive, the ‘laptop for instructors ‘ enterprise, and other similar attempts[ 1 ]hold proven to lend to instructors ‘ betterment of ICT literacy. In secondary schools particularly, holistic attacks to ICT integrating should go the norm instead than the exclusion. The ICT accomplishments that Maltese pupils are geting during their ICT lessons need to be used in other topics in order to implant the accomplishments gained. Some schools are already trying inter-disciplinary and cross-curricular classs and are gaining the potency of ICT ; nevertheless more schools need to do such a measure. On the other manus, a recent â€Å" cognition function † exercising conducted by the World Bank ‘s Information for Development Programme ( InfoDev ) ( Trucano, 2005 ) revealed that, despite decennaries of big investings in ICT to profit instruction in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) states, information to back up the theoretical benefits from ICT are limited. After gaining the job that occurred within the past old ages where merely classroom-based acquisition was taking topographic point without instructors doing usage of ICT tools, as described in this subdivision and as summarised below, the chief aims that this thesis will try to make are: How to outdo integrate the usage of ICT with the acquisition of Mathematics, viz. the subject of Algebra Derive an penetration and hence compare the interactions that happen in the schoolroom and on-lineStructure of the ProbeThe first portion of this thesis gives a reappraisal of different literatures and surveies that have taken topographic point global. Emphasis is put on those coming from the United Kingdom, besides those from Malta. This is because, Maltese instruction has invariably moved, someway, in conformity with British instruction. The method of how the research was carried out will so be explained in item and eventually the informations and consequences obtained will be analysed and compared. The thesis will reason with some recommendations given to instructors who would wish to better, with the aid of ICT, the mathematical acquisition experience offered in Maltese schools.

Oscar Triplett Case Analysis

Triplett had been in insane asylums before and was released but still considered mentally unstable, which reflects poorly upon the Canadian justice system at that time. At the inquest, various people admitted that they knew he was a danger in the days before he died yet only one person attempted anything and that strikes me as odd. The third discrepancy is why Mrs.. Temple was not punished in any way after having killed Triplett. She admitted that her shot took his life, the coroner's report corroborated with this admission of guilt and yet, she was not punished.Again, there re various reasons that could explain this and I will briefly look at each one. The fourth discrepancy Is how the police force and the detectives appear so uninterested In this case. A proper Investigation did not start until December 17th, 4 days after the death of Triplett. Even after the investigation had begun, there was no urgency to come to the bottom of what really happened. On December 13th 1918 Mrs.. Loi s May Temple shot, and killed, James Oscar Triplett in defense of her honor, her life and her daughter's life.That afternoon Jacob Statesman went to the Temples' house to make sure that Triplett had not harmed Mrs.. Temple or her daughter in any way. Shortly after Statesman had arrived they became aware that Triplett was at the house. Triplett kept threatening Mrs.. Temple and her young daughter, using obscene language, so both Statesman and Temple pointed guns at Triplett until he exited the house. Triplett began killing chickens in the hen house, throwing them around, until he finally went down to the river. When Triplett returned he climbed on top of the roof and sat there, yelling threats and random nonsense. On her way to the barn Mrs..Temple shot at Triplett, and both Statesman and Temple thought she had killed him then but they were incorrect. While Temple was at the barn Statesman tried to coax Triplett off the roof, firing four shots in his direction in the process. He even tually succeeded and then began chasing Triplett around the house while Mrs.. Temple was inside. Triplett tried entering the house through the back door but during his attempt both Statesman and Temple shot at him, Temple firing through the door and Statesman firing directly at him. They both agreed that it was Mrs.. Temple's shot that had killed him, and not Statesman's shot.For the most part, the statements of Jacob Statesman and Lois May Temple regarding the death of Oscar Triplett were identical. However, there were slight differences that were peculiar. The first noticeable difference was when they were describing when Mrs.. Temple first saw Triplett on the porch. She claimed that she had seen him before she reached the top of the hill and that he had opened the cellar door before Statesman reached the top of the hill. However, Statesman claimed that she had reached the top of the hill Detour seen screamed Tanat Earliest was on near porch, Ana Tanat en Ana wellness's t opening of the cellar door.The simplest explanation for this difference is that Statesman is smaller than Mrs.. Temple in height and that gives him a different view of the world than she has. Another explanation could be that during traumatic events, small details sometimes become trivial and are forgotten by the person in question. The second peculiarity is the issue of the guns. In both his statements Statesman recalled Mrs.. Temple asking him for help with loading the magazines; in the statement he gave at the inquest he claimed that had to show her how the guns worked and how to fill the magazine.The claim he made during his inquest statement is curious because Temple had already fired a shot before asking him for elf. Another reason it is curious is that Temple never mentioned needing help with how to work the guns in either of her statements. One explanation for this is that Statesman felt emasculated by the whole affair because he was unable to properly protect Mrs.. Temple and her c hild. Therefore, in his statements he tried to make himself appear more manly and helpful than he really was during the ordeal. The third difference in their statements is how many shots Statesman really fired.In his initial statement, he claimed that he had shot six in total – four whilst he was on the of, one discharge whilst chasing Triplett, and one when Triplett was trying to enter the house. However, during the inquest he only mentioned the last two shots; he said that he had never made it onto the roof, but in his initial statement he claimed he had made it onto the roof and that he had fired four shots at Triplett. Again, this could have been Statesman's way of fighting the emasculation he felt he had suffered. It is odd that he felt the need to make this claim in his first statement, when Mrs..Temple never mentioned it in either of her statements. Every person in the community agreed that Oscar Triplett was not a sane man. He had been an inmate in the Insane Asylum a t Pomona, but had been released for unknown reasons. It is unusual that every member of the community thought he was insane, and yet only one person admitted to having made any type of inquiry into the reasons behind his release. Dry James Miller bore witness that Triplett was â€Å"a man of unbalanced mind. † He felt that Triplett should never have been released from the asylum because he was a danger to himself and to the community.At the inquest, Dry Miller said that immediately after hearing that Triplett had been released from the asylum, he annotated the Provincial Police to discuss Triplet's liberty. According to Dry Miller, they told him that nothing could be done unless Triplett performed some act that would make another arrest possible. Despite Dry. Miller's personal inquiry into Triplet's liberty, the authorities did nothing until after his death and after the inquest. Attached to the verdict was a rider that stated that a full inquiry should be made into Triplet's release from Pomona, and his apparent rehabilitation when he was so obviously insane.James Chalmers had spent 36 hours with Triplett in the days leading up to his death. During this time, he noticed that Triplett was acting in an odd manner; he was restless and talkative, quite unlike himself. Chalmers admitted that after his last interaction with Triplett he was convinced that Triplett was insane, again, but he neglected to inform anyone on the basis that Triplet had done nothing to Justify an arrest. Levi Spangle encountered Oscar Triplett at his (Spangle) residence on the day before Triplet's death.He claimed that Triplett had walked Insane Ana Immolate Degas teenager toners Ana acting strange . HIS octagons caused Spangle to assume that Triplett was not of sane mind; Spangle left for own immediately after Triplett had departed and reported to the police, but they were unable to locate Triplett. Mrs.. Spangle concurred with her husband's opinion of Triplet's sanity. She alleged that Triplet's actions made her fearful for her life and the life of her daughter. Of all the people who gave testimony at the inquest, Mr.. Spangle was the only one who had notified the police of Triplet's insanity.It is peculiar that only one person had enough sense to notify the authorities that Triplett could possibly be a danger to others or himself. This is especially peculiar because everyone seemed to agree that he was insane and that he would end up in the asylum again. Triplet's liberty shows obvious error in the Canadian Justice system at this time, because he should not have been released from the asylum at Pomona. It also shows the misplaced faith that people had in the Justice system, since everyone assumed that the law would eventually step in and apprehend Triplett again, recommitting him to the insane asylum.When Mrs.. Temple was tried for Oscar Triplet's death, the Jury only took fifteen minutes to reach a verdict. Temple had admitted to killing Triplett and all th e physical evidence seemed to corroborate her Tory, yet the Jury verdict was that of â€Å"Justifiable homicide. † The Jury felt that Mrs.. Temple should have been commended for her actions because Triplett was assaulting her in her own home. It is possible that the Jury looked at this case and saw a poor, defenseless woman trying to protect herself and her daughter from a known lunatic.The Jury could have taken pity on her, because she basically had to decide between life and death. Her gender had to have swayed the Jury verdict because it is doubtful that they would have come to the same conclusion if a man had fired the fatal shot. This is so because not only Mrs.. Temple's life was at stake, but also the honor and the life of her infant daughter. This is very likely because the society at that time was an inherently chauvinistic society; women and men were not seen as equals, and women were considered to have less rights than men.Another possible reason for the lack of pu nishment is that most people felt that Mrs.. Temple did them a favor by ridding the world of a lunatic like Triplett. Therefore, why should she be punished for making the community a safer, more ordinary area to live in? The police who investigated the death of Oscar Triplett appeared to have little or no interest in the case, and arriving at the truth. A proper investigation into Triplet's death was not launched until 16 December 1918, three days after his death. Neither the coroner nor the investigating detective from Install arrived until early morning on 17 December 1918.There was no apparent urgency by anyone to come to the bottom of what happened: indeed the detective often took breaks to satiate his hunger and he took his time in pursuing the truth. Constable Marks received a wire on 13 December that notified him of Triplet's lunacy, but he did not leave for Horrors until the following day. He claimed this was because he required assistance in handling Oscar Triplett, yet he arrived in Horrors alone. Constable Marks alleged that even if he had left for Horrors immediately after receiving the wire, he would not have reached the Temples' residence before Triplet's death.It is possible that he felt compelled to mention this because he felt slightly guilty that the case transpired this way; however it shows the town people's disinterest in everything concerning I reelect – no one put too much effort In along Walt ml. A possible reason Deanna the authorities' disinterest in this case was because they saw little point in investigating the death of a lunatic. It would be interesting to know whether they would have acted in the same manner if Triplett had been a sane man, even though it is unlikely that they would have been so lax about investigating the case.This lack of interest shows the Canadian Justice system's predisposition to Judging the importance of various cases based on the character of the victim. Mrs.. Lois May Temple admitted to having kil led Oscar James Triplett, and the evidence and eyewitness testimony of Jacob Statesman did not disagree with her. However, the case document of Oscar Triplet's death had various peculiarities that made the hole affair seem quite unusual. The document shows human error – that of eyewitness testimony; this is a result of the human brain working in mysterious ways.In the event of a trauma some details will remain engraved in one's memory, no matter how insignificant they are; other details will be blocked by one's memory as being too traumatic. This was most likely the case concerning Mrs.. Temple and Jacob Statesman. The case document also shows how life worked in remote communities of Canada in the early 20th century. In those years, people were less apprehensive of the criminally insane than people today. If a known lunatic, such as Oscar Triplett, were allowed to roam free in a 21st century society there would be a colossal outcry by the members of society.They would be more outspoken about their fears and trepidation as a result of his liberty than people in 1918 would be. The case document also gives some insight into how the Canadian Justice system worked, especially in remote areas of the country. The Justice system was more lax in those times than they are today, as were the police. They were also more inclined to be biased about issues such as gender when looking at various cases unlike the system n place today, which is generally not allowed to be biased on such things. This is a result of early 20th century societies being more sexist than societies in the 21st century.

Parallelism in Writing for English Learners

Parallelism in Writing for English Learners Parallelism takes place when two similar phrases are joined to make just one sentence. For example: Tom plays the piano.Tom plays the violin.Parallelism Tom plays the piano and the violin. This is just a simple example. There are many types of parallelism and the important point to remember is that both forms must be the same. In other words, if you have two parallel verb structures the tenses must be the same. For example: Peter works hard and plays hard. NOT Peter works hard and play hard. Single Word Parallel Structures Both of the previous examples are single word parallel structures. Here is an overview of single word parallel structures: Nouns Jack eats fish and chicken.Sarah writes poetry and short stories. Verbs Our neighbors have moved and have sold their house.My sister walks or rides her bike to work. Adjectives The class is not only fun but also helpful.She is not only strong but also fast. Adverbs Peter drives quickly and aggressively.They work carefully and effectively. Phrase Parallel Structures Parallelism can also take place with phrases. This type of parallel structure can be more difficult to recognize as the sentences are more complex. Here are some examples: Having fun is as important as working hard.She advised me to get some sleep and take some time off work. Here are phrase parallel structures. Each type of structure includes a note about important points/problems to take into consideration. Noun Phrases Work is as necessary as play.Apples are as good for you as oranges. NOTE: Noun phrases are either singular or plural in nature and impersonal (it or they). Verb Phrases As soon as I arrive home, I put on my shoes and go for a run.Before she leaves for work, she usually eats breakfast and has a cup of coffee. NOTE: All verbs in a verb phrase with parallel structure have the same conjugation. Adverbial Phrases Peter and Tim will probably arrive in less than an hour and in time for the meeting.They want more time off in the summer and on weekends. (at weekends in British English) NOTE: An adverbial phrase is made up of more than one word which functions as an adverb. In this case, in less than an hour and in time expresses when something is going to happen. Gerund Phrases He enjoys playing tennis and working out.They dont mind waiting and talking while you get ready. NOTE: Make sure not to mix the infinitive (to do) and the gerund (doing) in parallel structures! Infinitive Phrases Jackson hopes to visit his parents and see his old friends when he goes home.She advised me to find some new friends and forget about the event. NOTE: Make sure not to mix the infinitive (to do) and the gerund (doing) in parallel structures! Participial Phrases Discovering her financial losses and not knowing enough about the current market, she decided to stop investing.Driving through the German countryside and speaking to the people, Mark began to understand the culture better. NOTE: This is a rather complex structure. Notice how a comma is placed after the parallel structure participial phrases that introduce the sentences. Clause Parallel Structures Finally, clauses can also be used to make parallel structures. In this case, remember that you must use full clause structure (subject verb objects) and that the subjects of BOTH clauses will be the same. This causes the verb conjugation to remain the same in both clauses. Noun Clauses She said that she was having fun but not that she was meeting people.Peter felt that he had made an excellent deal and that he had bought a masterpiece. Adjective Clauses She is a woman who is intelligent and, at the same time, who seems distracted.This is a product that is easy to use and that is simple to clean. Adverb Clauses As he didnt understand and because he refused to try, they let him go.Since it was easy to use and because it was cheap, it sold very well.

Big Data and Supply Chain Management Essay

Big Data and Supply Chain Management Essay Introduction Big data has become one of the most important aspects of supply chain management. The concept of big data refers to the massive data sets that are generated when millions of individual activities are tracked. These data sets are processed to yield insights that help inform managerial decision-making. Supply chains in particular have leveraged big data because companies have been able to develop technology to not only capture hundreds of millions of data points, but to process them in meaningful ways to eliminate waste and promote efficiency in the supply chain systems. This paper will examine the concept of big data, how it has arisen and come to dominate supply chain management, and look at the different ways big data is transforming the supply chain function. Lastly, the paper will take a closer look at the future for big data with respect to supply chain management. As it becomes easier to gather data, and as there are diminishing returns to statistical robustness as the number of data points increases, are the competitive advantages of big data going to diminish? The Evolution of Supply Chain Management The field of logistics management was focused on controlling the flow of materials, in-process inventory and finished goods through a companys system from the time that it enters the system until the time that it leaves the system (Cooper, Lambert Pagh, 1997). As the field became more strategic in nature, it came to encompass other issues, such as sourcing materials and building in redundancy (Cooper Ellram,1993). More than simply moving things from point A to point B, the field became holistic in nature, where the quality and price of goods were factored into purchasing decisions as well as the logistics of getting those goods to the right place at the right time. Driving this change was the move towards a globalized marketplace. Globalization increased the complexity of the supply chain, adding longer transportation routes, border wait times, currency exchange, duties and tariffs, and a host of other variables that now had to be taken into consideration – logistics has rem ained important but it always viewed in context with the rest of the supply chain. Big Data The concept of big data really began to arise in the 1990s but has become increasingly important since that point. Big Data refers to the use of very large data sets to enhance managerial decision-making. The concept of big data arose as technology has developed to allow businesses to capture enormous data sets, and process them relatively easily (Boyd Crawford, 2012). Companies have long collected data at a rudimentary level. Loyalty programs and credit cards represented an evolution in the ability of companies to collect data and distill that data into consumer spending habits. This information is then made actionable by letting companies understand more about buying patterns. Big data is similar, but with a lot more data. One of the major advantages of big data is that it allows for complex problems to be solved. A modern supply chain can be exceptionally complex, and one of the important things about this complexity is that no one person can effectively make all the decisions â €“ decision-making tools are needed that can ensure not only consistent decision-making across the company but coordinated decision-making as well (Hult, Ketchen Slater, 2004). It is these coordinating mechanisms where the true power of big data lies – being able to identify things and make decisions that an entire team of humans working without big data would probably never be able to identify (Fugate, Sahin Mentzer,2005). Once big data gets to that point, a company can generate true competitive advantage. And when a company is large enough that is has a data advantage, it will be able to sustain that advantage, which is why there has been such a rush in recent years with respect to big data. As the concept was being fleshed out in academia, businesses were just starting to learn what they could do with all of the information that they were collecting – and one of the applications was to move away from marketing and use data to make decisions about the supply chain (McAfee Bryjolfsson, 2012). One of the first steps that companies needed to make was to hire data scientists – the sort of people who could process these data sets and derive useful information about them. Data scientists suddenly became popular, for their ability to take vast quantities of data, and derive actionable findings from that data (Provost Fawcett, 2013). At the heart of the drive to adopt big data is competitive advantage. Companies have invested in their data programs because they can derive significant advantage from big data under two conditions. The first is that larger companies have access to more data than smaller companies. The incremental cost of data acquisition is lower, and the companys ability to use that data in decision-making is theoretically better. The second is that even among larger companies, there are first-mover advantages to be had. This is evident in the supply chain, especially among companies that are competing on price. Using the classic example of Wal-Mart, one o f the leaders of data-driven supply chains, the company competes on offering the lowest prices, as do most of its competitors. Thus, if it can lower the cost of getting goods to its stores, it can pass those savings along to customers. There is opportunity for competitive advantage under that scenario, if cost leadership is the chosen strategy. Even when cost leadership is not the strategy, making the groundbreaking decision early puts a company in a better competitive position than its competitors (LaValle, et al, 2010). Big Data in the Supply Chain As the largest non-oil company in the world, Wal-Mart is looked to as a leader, so the fact that they were first movers on the use of big data in supply chain management has ensured that the rest of retail – and other industries as well – have followed. Some of the technologies that Wal-Mart has adopted allow the company to track its inventory from when it leaves the supplier –if not before – all the way through the logistics channel. Once Wal-Mart takes possession of the good, that good is scanned regularly through the process. The companys trucks are tracked via satellite. Stores use automatic re-ordering triggers to ensure that goods can be received as soon as they are needed. The goals of all this are to lower inventory holding costs by reducing the amount of inventory that stores have. Goods are turned over more quickly, because Wal-Mart receives them only days before it expects to sell them. Big data plays a significant role in ensuring that this pro cess can be achieved. There are a couple of key areas highlighted for big data in supply chain management. Demirkan Delen (2013) note that data, and how a company uses its data, is one of the ways it can truly differentiate from its competitors. It can be difficult to truly and consistently attract superior talent, and it can take time to move the needle on brand image, but data has become a popular means of finding competitive advantage largely because it is new, and firms in many industries are basically in a data arms race to find innovative ways to use their data to extract competitive advantage. The first is predictive analytics. Data science often focuses on using past events to predict future ones, and that is one of the main uses for big data in supply chain management. For example, if Wal-Mart in Smalltown, OH is running out of shovels at the end of February, and it takes twenty days to order new ones from China, including manufacturing and shipping times, three things can happen. The company can order a lot of shovels and ensure that they have supply. If spring comes, those shovels will sit in a warehouse until next November. They could also run out of shovels, but a late-season snow could leave demand on the table if the store lacks inventory. Modelling both weather patterns and local buying patterns can help the company to settle on demand. Even when weather is not a factor, the company can examine past purchasing patterns to set order quantities. The earlier it can set these quantities, the better response it can get from suppliers. Wal-Mart knows already what the no rmal amount of hot dogs it sells on the 4th of July, for example, so it can feed that information to its suppliers to ensure that they have those dogs at the Wal-Mart warehouse, exactly in the quantity Wal-Mart needs. Predictive analytics is used in supply chain management to take the variability out of the system as much as possible. Inventory usage is reduced, as is the potential for waste, especially with perishable goods. The chances of disappointed customers is also reduced. It is almost impossible – and certainly it is impossible for a company like Wal-Mart – to have exactly everything delivered exactly when the customer needs it. That means that there is always room for improvement. The pathway to improvement lies with bigger data sets, better analytics, and at scale even small incremental gains in the robustness of data or the ability of the company to analyze the data can yield meaningful financial gains (Waller Fawcett, 2013). But using data for something like predictive analytics – managerial decision-making, essentially – requires having good data, lots of it, and the means by which to process it. This is where larger companies enjoy scale advantages in big data. First, the technology to track events is not necessarily cheap. It can involve scanners, and certain involves large amounts of servers, routers, cloud storage – a lot of hardware. Larger companies are at an advantage in buying this hardware but they also have advantage in that they have many more data points. Wal-Mart can estimate sales because it has several years worth of sales, and can break these down by product, store, day, or even time of day. And instead of guessing for decision-making, the companys managers can look at the data and make the decision that on average delivers the greatest outcome. Data replaces decision-making heuristics when the data is sufficiently robust. Because the transference of big data relies on the Internet and communications technology infrastructure, that ICT infrastructure becomes a risk point for many companies but it also becomes a critical point of investment for companies that work with big data – how fast can the data collected on-site make its way to the decision-making tools matters in many businesses where time is of the essence in decision-making (Lu, et al, 2013). Predictive analytics has more than just value in ordering; it can help businesses to identify trends more quickly. This can be critical to advantage in some industries. Think of a fast fashion retailer – it needs to identify trends as soon as possible to get its knock-off clothes onto the market while the fashions are still fresh. Instead of anticipating, which is fraught with error, it can react to trends that have been verified with data. By understanding buying patterns and market cycles, companies can make better choices about what they make and when. This, in turn, is important to the supply chain, because companies also need to know what they need to produce their goods, and when. If there are fluctuations in availability, of if there is any variability among suppliers, then big data has the ability to point these factors out, and give the company an opportunity to deal with them proactively (Wang et al, 2016). Impact of Big Data When the concept of big data was first being elaborated, it promised major impact on business. Instead of guessing, firms would be able to make data-driven decisions that would reduce error, reduce waste and improve speed. As firms understand how to gather the data that they need, and to process it, they become more adept at this, big data has a bigger impact. Some leading firms have used the predictive powers of big data to help with their marketing. Amazon, for example, will recommend products to its customers based on what they have viewed and what they have purchased. Netflix does the same thing – and thereby encourages binge-watching of its shows. Both of these companies have become leaders in their respective businesses, and Netflix has done this specifically in the era of big data, by using that data to foster brand loyalty (Chen, Chiang Storey, 2012). If a company ends up as a first mover in big data, it will be able to gain advantage, and in many cases will make market share gains. Amazon faced a challenge from Wal-Mart a few years, ago, but has made use of big data to driver a high level of brand loyalty, while Wal-Mart fell short on its ability to use big data on the marketing side of its business. Netflix faced threat when major studios wanted to charge more for their content – so it created its own content and even more importantly used big data to improve the information architecture of its platform, allowing people to find content they want to consume. This increased the value of Netflix for many customers, thereby driving business value. Google uses data to target ads better, and charge its customers a premium. Customers are willing to pay more for a Google ad because they know that they will get more traction. So it is important that companies understand data on a conceptual level. One of the reasons that this is so important is that data today comes from a variety of different sources. This ties back to the concept of supply chain management, where the supply chain is a highly-integrated system with many parts from one end to the other. Understanding how the different variables within this system interact so that supply chain systems can be redesign in a more optimal way. Consider the way FedEx used the hub-and-spoke model before passenger airlines thought to do so. Consider how Wal-Mart designed its entire logistics network around lowering the amount of time that it takes for stores to restock. There are different approaches, but the innovations should derive from analysis of the data that identifies areas where the company might potentially perform better. Maybe sourcing goods from a certain country is no longer the lowest cost method, given how long it takes to get those goods to marke t. There are different ways of conceptualizing a supply chain, and now that companies are able to use data analytics to make those decisions, it is likely that many firms will start to restructure their supply chain (Tan et al, 2015). Total cost will become more important, but so too will overall responsiveness. Sourcing locally might provide a company with the responsiveness it needs for certain products that have higher variability in demand, for example. Future Directions While there is presently a shortage of people who have strong data analysis skills, these skills are becoming increasingly in demand, and schools are starting to train more students in the use of big data. One of the important factors here is that data has become much cheaper – big data arises because the cost of acquiring any given data point is very small, and continuing to shrink. Retailers in particular have been able to reduce their cost of data acquisition dramatically (Chen, Chiang Storey, 2012). Key to learning about the use of data is how to identify the problems that can be solved with data, how to match the data you have with the problems that you want to solve, and then developing systems to acquire the data that you do not have. At this high level of understanding, a company that thinks a good data game is in a much better position because having the right data matters just as much as knowing what to do with that data (Hazen, et al, 2014). The cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) are driving a lot of changes in the way companies do business, and big data is playing a significant role in this restructuring of business. Zaslavsky, Perera and Georgakopoulos (n.d.) note that data is becoming a service function, with companies preparing to offer the means by which data can be acquired as a service, and the same for data analytics. We know that data is cheap to acquire, but combine that with lowering costs of processing data and there is a business model here, as well as one that focuses on using data to enhance business. The IoT will be more engaged in the data gathering process. For example, while convention supply chain data gathering might involve devices at the store level, the IoT might drill down further, to the individual level. Ovens could know how many people are cooking a frozen pizza and this information could be sold to frozen pizza makers, so that they can get a better sense of not only the performance of the ir products but of their competitors as well. This is the example a hungry person thinks up, but with more devices having some internet capability, it seems likely that type of application will emerge. Tesla is already a leader in gathering data about driving from its cars (Edelstein, 2016 Hull, 2016). Another progressive idea is that of big data benchmarking. If it is possible to buy and sell data to the point where a company can learn about the best practices at all levels for multiple companies in an industry, that would be incredibly valuable information to any firm in that industry. With the data explosion has come a rapid pace of innovation in the gathering and use of data. With this will come firms that buy and sell data, without actually gathering their own. Until now, data has largely been proprietary in nature, as a key source of sustainable competitive advantage, but as the cost of data acquisition declines, this might not be the case much longer. Secondary markets for data are already emerging and ultimately data will become commoditized – this process might take many years but it will happen and that will make for interesting analysis about the future of data , in particular the extent to which data can continue to be a driver of competitive advantage going forw ard (Ghazal et al, 2013). Finally, big data is also becoming a competitive weapon, which makes security of big data a major issue. Companies that gather and own data sets, and in particular the usable intelligence that has been gathered from those data sets, are increasingly going to be targeted with hacks. Security of big data is going to be an issue going forward. This is especially true of supply chain data, because that is powerful business intelligence. So it will be necessary, especially when using remote or cloud solutions, that data security is paid attention to, as the more that data becomes a source of competitive advantage the more at risk it will likely be. Conclusion Supply chain management had already emerged as a force in business, a holistic view of the supply chain that started with logistics but incorporated purchasing, product design and marketing as well, in order that supply chain decisions were not just based on a simply understanding of cost, but a complex one that took into account a number of different variables. Ultimately, supply chain management required significant amounts of data to be effective, and this realization occurred at just the time that managers realized they had the ability to gather, store and process data much more cheaply and easily than before. The transactional value of data grew at precisely the time that the acquisition cost declined. Data is typically used to aid in managerial decision making. Some companies have focused on the low-level decision where they seek out incremental gains on repeatable processes, knowing that those processes and other companies have sought insight that will allow them to completely transform their supply chains. Big data has become so important because the companies that are using it tend to be the market leaders. It is apparent that there is a scale value to data, which means that the largest companies, ones that have more data and lower data acquisition costs, are going to have sustainable competitive advantage. This has driven demand for data experts, such that there is a shortage of such individuals. Big data is going to continue to influence supply chain decision-making. There will be more points at which data is gathered, and the cost of processing data will continue to drop. There will still be a strong need, however, for talent that can conceptualize how that data should be used – after all, companies need to ask the right questions to get the most out of their data. If they can do that, they can sustain competitive advantage. In addition to there being an increasing ability to gather data, another reality is that many companies are going to be in the business of selling data. A company like Google sells data by proxy with its advertising, but as data becomes commoditized, the market for data will become more developed. An interesting aspect of this is that competitive benchmarking will be more common with respect to data practices. Firms will need to be careful to ensure that their proprietary data is secure so that they can maintain the competitive advantages that their data is giving them. If they can, then they can gain first mover advantage for tactics that deliver incremental gains, or the complete overhaul of a system to take advantage of something gleaned from the data. References / Works Cited Boyd, D. Crawford, K. (2012). Critical questions for big data: Provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon. Information, Communication and Society. 15 (5) 662-679. Chen, H., Chiang, R. Storey, V. (2012) Business intelligence and analytics: From big data to big impact. MIS Quarterly 36 (4) 1165-1188. Cooper, M. Ellram, L. (1993). Characteristics of supply chain management and the implications for purchasing and logistics strategy. International Journal of Logistics Management 4 (2) 13-24. Cooper, M., Lambert, D., Pagh, J. (1997). Supply chain management: More than a new name for logistics. The International Journal of Logistics Management. 8 (1) 1-14. Demirkan, H. Delen, D. (2013) Leveraging the capabilities of service-oriented decision support systems: Putting analytics and big data in cloud. Decision Support Systems. 55 (2013) 412-421. Edelstein, S. (2016) Teslas autonomous-car efforts use big data no other carmaker has. Green Car Reports. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108065_teslas-autonomous-car-efforts-use-big-data-no-other-carmaker-has Fugate, B, Sahin, F. Mentzer, J. (2005) Supply chain management coordination mechanisms. University of Tennessee. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian_Fugate/publication/228349679_Supply_Chain_Management_Coordination_Mechanisms/links/0c96051e3eaaa0280f000000/Supply-Chain-Management-Coordination-Mechanisms.pdf Hull, D. (2016) The Tesla advantage: 1.3 billion miles of data. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/the-tesla-advantage-1-3-billion-miles-of-data Hult, G., Ketchen, D. Slater, S. (2004). Information processing, knowledge development and strategic supply chain performance. Academy of Management Journal. 47 (2) 241-253. LaValle, S., Lesser, E., Shockley, R., Hopkins, M. Kruschwitz, N. (2010). Big data, analytics and the path from insights to value. MIT Sloan Management Review. http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/big-data-analytics-and-the-path-from-insights-to-value/ Lu, T., Guo, X., Xu, B., Zhao, L., Peng, Y., Yang, H. (2013). Next big thing in big data: The security of the ICT supply chain. IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from http://diyhpl.us/~nmz787/pdf/Next_Big_Think_in_Big_Data__the_Security_of_the_ICT_Supply_Chain.pdf McAfee, A. Brynjolfsson, E. (2012). Big data: The management revolution. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from http://www.rosebt.com/uploads/8/1/8/1/8181762/big_data_the_management_revolution.pdf Provost, F. Fawcett, T. (2013) Data science and its relationship to big data and data-driven decision-making. Big Data. 1 (1) 51-59. Tan, K., Zhan, Y., Ji, G., Ye, F. Chang, C. (2015) Harvesting big data to enhance supply chain innovation capabilities: An analytic infrastructure based on deduction graph. International Journal of Economics. 165 (2015) 223-233. Waller, M. Fawcett, S. (2013). Data science, predictive analytics, and big data: A revolution that will transform supply chain design and management. Journal of Business Logistics. 34 (2) 77-84. Wang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Big data analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations for research and applications. International Journal of Production Economics. 176 (June 2016) 98-110. Zaslavsky, A., Perera, C. Georgakopoulos, D. (no date). Sensing as a service and big data. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1301/1301.0159.pdf

Affects of Interest Rates on Consumption in the UK Dissertation

Affects of Interest Rates on Consumption in the UK - Dissertation Example Government has so far used interest rate effectively for enhancing the consumption pattern of the consumers in the retail sector. But at present, it seems that lowering the interest rates has become ineffective in the economy. Thus, the objective of the research has been set to find the actual effect of the interest rate changes on the consumption pattern of the people during the period from the year 2004 to 2009. Based on the entire research problem, comprehensive research question has been developed and respective research has been conducted. The section of literature review has provided findings of previous research conducted on the topic. The review findings has added value to the entire research situation. Qualitative research approach has been applied to the research with the aim that the scope can be broadened up. Survey has been conducted on the sample selected from the entire population which is the retailers and consumers of the UK nation. Findings of the survey suggest res ults complacent to the literature review. Along with the answer to research question, few more aspects of the economic nature have also been dealt with in the research paper. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Chapter 1: Introduction 6 1.1 Research Problem 7 1.2 Background of the Problem 8 1.3 Research Questions 9 1.4 Significance of the Research Study 10 1.5 Method of Solving the Research Problem 10 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation 11 Chapter 2: Literature Review 13 2.1 Interest Rate Fluctuation 13 ... of Marketing in Retail Sector in the Year 2008 and 2009 25 2.11 Interest Rates Effect on the UK Consumption with Respect to Inflation 27 2.12 Summary of the Literature Review 28 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 29 3.1 Research Philosophy 29 3.2 Research Approach 31 3.2.1 Qualitative or Quantitative 31 3.2.2 Deductive or Inductive 32 3.2.3 Subjective or Objective 33 3.3 Research Tradition 33 3.3.1 Ethnography 34 3.3.2 Grounded Theory 34 3.3.3 Ethnomethodology 35 3.3.4 Action Research 35 3.4 Research Strategy 36 3.4.1 Purpose 36 3.4.2 Design 37 Figure 3: Planned Research Design 38 3.4.3 Data Collection 39 39 3.4.4 Validity and Reliability of the Data 40 3.4.5 Data Analysis 41 3.5 Ethical Issues 41 3.5.1 Protection 42 3.5.2 Consent 42 3.5.3 Authenticity 42 3.5.4 Unbiased 43 Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis 45 4.1 Analysis of the Retailers’ Questionnaire 46 4.1.1 Retailers’ Question 1 46 4.1.2 Retailers’ Question 2 49 4.1.3 Retailers’ Question 3 51 4.1.4 Retail ers’ Question 4 52 4.1.5 Retailers’ Question 5 55 4.1.6 Retailers’ Question 6 56 4.1.7 Retailers’ Question 7 59 Figure 10: Percentage of Respondents 60 4.1.8 Retailers’ Question 8 60 4.2 Analysis of the Consumers’ Questionnaire 63 4.2.1 Consumers’ Question 1 63 4.2.2 Consumers’ Question 2 64 4.2.3 Consumers’ Question 3 66 4.2.4 Consumers’ Question 4 67 4.2.5 Consumers’ Question 5 68 4.2.6 Consumers’ Question 6 69 4.2.7 Consumers’ Question 7 70 Chapter 5: Conclusion 72 5.1 Research Question 72 5.2 Limitations 73 5.3 Final Words 73 5.4 Future Prospects 74 75 References 76 Bibliography 80 Annexure 1: Questionnaire for the Retailers 81 Annexure 2: Questions for the Consumers 85 Chapter 1: Introduction The research paper has been framed to discuss the present scenario in the UK economy