”Bon Voyage, Mr President” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Essay

Bon Voyage, Mr President is a short story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This is a tale of a South American President in exile. Nearing the end of his days, we are given an insight into the life of a man with injured pride, reminiscing the days that went by and so fast, where the President had lost everything he had worked for and knew. Quotes Bon Voyage, Mr. President ‘Resting on the silver handle of his cane’ This quotation emphasises the Presidents elegance and importance. His importance is enforced by the fact he carries a cane and not a common walking stick. A cane being the common tool of intimidation used by the military and by those who feel they are superior to the average civilian. The silver handle on the cane illustrates his elegance. He had style, elegance and capital, as well as authority, his overall effect being a man of status. ‘He was one more incognito in the city of illustrious incognitos’ This quotation is a contradiction. Incognito means in disguise, while illustrious means to stand out. This paradox sums up the President; he wants to not be noticed, but still wants fame. So while wearing clothes everyone else was wearing, something would make him stand out. He wants fame and power, but not for being the President in exile. ‘Only the weariness of his skin betrayed the state of his health’ Where the president dressed stylishly, with fine clothes, and his hair did not give away hints of age, with strands of grey hair, his skin was haggard and wrinkled that of an old man. The quotation shows that the president looked young and acted young, and if it were not for his skin he could have passed for a younger man. ‘On his first visit to Geneva the lake had been calm and clear and there were tame gulls that would eat of one’s hand’ This is a good example of Rhetoric. It uses sub textual language and Marquez uses persuasive writing. This statement implies that the president was very powerful and using the gulls as an analogy, compares them to civilians and how, once, they were at his beck and call. Reconstruction ‘When arriving in Trinidad he became one more poor man in a country full of powerful poor men’ This quotation is a contradiction; the stereo-typical poor person would not be powerful. This paradox expresses how the President must have felt. Opposed to his power and wealth from running a country, he was now somewhat inferior. In exile in a foreign country, he was surrounded by men that were raised in this milieu. Powerful, by the means, that they knew and almost dictated how everything worked. ‘Only the slight problem of not being a legal citizen in Trinidad deceived the actual situation of his affairs’ This quotation is a pejorative fact. The President might feel it a positive situation, as he could not be tied emotionally to any one place, so he cannot be hurt if he is, once more, thrown out, as in the case of Columbia. However it could also be a negative factor because things that will be a necessity for a comfortable life, e.g. a job, would be almost impossible to achieve. Free Choice; the Perplexing Simplicity of a Lack of Nothing ‘One never can see the thing in itself, because the mind does not transcend phenomena’ This statement has sub textual meaning. On the surface it means, you cannot see something if the mind does not believe that it can out do the extra-ordinary. But underneath that, I feel that this quotation almost has a moralistic sub textual meaning, this being if you think that within yourself, you can’t do something and you don’t attempt to, you will never be able to. Once convinced it is impossible, it is. ‘My vision began to diminish in both scope and clarity, and I prayed despondently for the message that I had left to be procured by those to whom I had intended it, and not by those to whom the exorbitant value was exceeded only by their macabre predilections’ This quotation is a fine example of the stereo-typical religious belief that praying in a difficult situation, you will be relieved of all problems. The character looks towards G-d to firstly protect him and secondly protect the information he has been entrusted with being recounted to the wrong people. The character believes that g-d will help him and this is a very good illustration of idolism. There are many comparisons to make between the above eight quotes, as well as between the three extracts, all being entirely individual pieces. Bon Voyage, Mr. President and the Reconstruction are both somewhat related in the means that they have the same story line and background, the similarities very evident. But, however, The Perplexing Simplicity of a Lack of Nothing is a very diverse piece of writing, expressing confusion, desperation and obscurity opposed to Bon Voyage, Mr. President and the Reconstruction, which was full of prosperity and understanding. All three of these extracts were well written and individual; however there are criticisms to be made. The President, in Bon Voyage, Mr. President, is a stereo-typical, military based, authoritarian figure. Things like ‘†¦stiff hat of a retired magistrate.’ Or ‘†¦arrogant moustache of a musketeer.’ all present the image of man in control, who would not commit a crime. In this description, nothing gives away any shrewdness or a clue that would reflect the offence he committed to be exiled. Marquez keeps some key information that would allow the reader to be more gripped by the short story, secret, and that, I feel, almost ruins the whole tale. By using a more Rhetoric type of writing the reader would find Marquez’s writing more intriguing. The Reconstruction is meant to be linked to Bon Voyage, Mr. President, however the author portrayed Mr. President as quite a different character. The author implied that the President was a laid back man, with much hope and little regret; he was looking towards the future and not at the past by saying ‘He now had a bounce in his step and he changed into a silk shirt with cotton shorts’. This Rhetoric gives the opposite impression to which Bon Voyage, Mr. President was trying to bestow. This is an easy mistake, but if read together would confuse the reader. The Perplexing Simplicity of a Lack of Nothing is a very difficult piece to understand, with maybe hidden meaning. There was hardly any significance that could be drawn from it. A huge failure, of the author, was that, there did not seem to be any constant story line, there was a base, but the majority jumped from idea to idea. Also, the words used were difficult to comprehend in a short story and too many used too close together. This material was more novel quality rather than an extract or short story, the author should have kept in mind what type of story they were asked to compose and not trail from it.

Definition of love Essay

Is there a specific and accurate definition of love? The true meaning of love is very difficult to find for adults. Do adolescents mature enough to manage love? It is too complex to define love in one word. Even though adolescents are physically matured like adults, they still need to develop mentally because they are still insecure. Teenagers are like thin glass cups; their appearance and mind seem clean and transparent, but they are delicate and can be broken easily.. I have observed closely from SAT preparation academy called Honors Review Learning Center in Tenafly, New Jersey. I was in 10th grade geometry class and pre-calculus class to survey, and I also tutor students for extra help. With these I was able to gather that there were seven to eight students in a class room, but they were mostly Asians. There was only one white boy in that class, this was because of the low population of this town; Tenafly has large population of Korean. When I observed geometry class, I was not able to ask questions from each and every one of them, but I noticed that boys tend to seat with boys while girls seat close to one another. They are all from same high school, so during the break time, they will gather and hang out together in a classroom. However, in Pre-calculus class, students are from different school, so they seat together without forming any groups or clique. They tend to do things separately even during the break time, like talking on the cell phone, texting with friends, or doing their works. However, after few days, students get to know one another and they started to seat by genders again. Having noted all this, I decided to focus my observation on gender of adolescents. After two hours of class, I tutored Jason Moon for extra help. I explained the materials that he did not understand in class. Although, I attended this academy during my high school year, it was only for private tutoring. However, the tradition of intense focus on secondary school education continues to be strong and seems to endure more, than my high school years. Jason is fifteen years old and he is a student of Tenafly High school. Jason’s parent work together, therefore he has to remain in this academy until his mother is done with her job. However, after two hours of class, Jason seems to lose concentration when he studies with me, so we spend more time talking to each other than studying. Jason is an Asian American student, but his parents are both Asian Asians. When I told him that I attended New York University, he was more interested in parties and girls in the city, instead of the college life in the city. He has very outspoken personality and likes hanging out with friends. He told me he is in a relationship with two girls, although both relationships are not a serious type. However, one of the girls wants him to be committed. Then, I asked if he had had any sexual relationship with any of them, but he said no. The girl was not born in the United States; she came from Korea several years ago. So, I tried to enlighten him that there are cultural differences in dating. I also told him that Asian women devote themselves to their boyfriends or husbands, and they very serious about commitment issues. However, in America, dating tends to be much less formal. Adolescent boys and girls still go together to events, and they spent more time together informally. The second girl that Jason was dating was born in the United States. She tends to date less formerly than the other girl, so, she does not want to commit herself to Jason. American adolescents begin dating earlier today than before, and their dating behavior tends to follow a sequence. First, same gender looks for place where they can meet other groups of different gender, mixed gender group arranged to go to the same events together, and adolescent couples begin to date as pairs. It has also been noted that biological maturity has slight effects on the timing of dating for different individual. Adolescents date for recreation, companionship, intimacy and courtship, but these reasons change along with people’s age. As emerging adulthood, people tend to seek something different apart from their romantic partners. However, dating is usually and generally related to positive development of adolescents. Robert J. Sternberg, a cognitive psychologist, stated that three fundamental qualities of love are passion, intimacy, and commitment. These can be merged into seven different forms of love, which are liking, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love. Jason’s relationship with the Asian American girl does not have long term commitment, which means that there are two principal types of love being practice by Jason; infatuation and empty love. However, the first girl was looking for romantic love and companionate love. Feelings of passion appear to be virtually universal characteristic of adolescents’ love, and romantic love is more based on marriage, which is the characteristics of adults, but it is also related to cultural differences of dating behaviors. Jason told me that he feels more comfortable dating the Asian American girl than the other girl. People of all ages tend to have romantic relationships with people who are similar to them. I inquired from Jason if he feels comfortable talking about their sexual relationship, and he told me, he has not have any sexual relationships with of them yet, but he told me that he has practice other sexual behaviors, but not the sexual intercourse. Kissing and necking are the first sexual experiences most adolescents have with their sexual partner. The next sequential step would be petting. Therefore, dating and having sexual relationships would vary based on cultural differences. First, sexual intercourse has shown distinct ethnic differences. Recently, it has been noted that African American adolescents are more likely to move quickly to intercourse while Asian Americans are less likely to engage in sexual activity in their adolescences. It would be more accurate and effective if I was able to ask these kinds of questions from girls, but teenagers seem more comfortable discussing these kinds of information to someone of their gender and age group. I was born in Korea and lived in Korea for more than 15 years; this makes me more conservative about dating and sexual behavior than American students. In South Korea, boys and girls tend to separate themselves more than teenagers in the United States. Basic concepts of having relationship vary from culture to culture. Dating is even less formal in European societies, and also in non-western societies dating is fairly rare. In the United States, hugging and kissing is very common for greeting, but in Korea, the friendliest way of greeting other people is shaking hands. I was extremely surprised when I first came to America; I saw how they were very open-minded in terms of greeting others. Woman sitting on man’s lap in public is easily seen in America, but in Korea or any other Asian countries this is extremely rare. Moreover, the meaning of dating and having relationship varies in different cultures, but due to the development of technology, such as internet and media, the spread of American and European cultures of dating is fast spreading to Asia. Asian people today have become more aggressive and open-minded. There are three types of cultural approaches to adolescent sexuality: these are restrictive, semi restrictive, and permissive. American majority culture is probably best classified as semi restrictive. However this is shaded with ambivalence. For instance, the spread of internet had caused teenagers to adapt pornography earlier than before. Spreading of internet and media helps people to live better and comfortable lives, but it can also cause other teenage problems, such as teenage pregnancy and date rape. Sexual harassment includes mild harassment like name-calling, jokes, while severe harassment involves unwanted touching or sexual contact. Rates of sexual harassment in adolescence are strikingly high and it is often the continuation of patterns of bullying established before adolescence. In addition, females are more likely to be the victims while males are the harassers. Date rape takes place when a person is forced by a romantic partner, date, or has sexual intercourse against the partner’s will. Although there are no such occurrences of these inappropriate sexual conceptions in my observational place, however, it is more common in urban areas. Dating and relationship is constantly or more rapidly changing over time, not only from cultural differences, but also from advancement in technology. However, it is almost impossible to stop those two components. Based on my observation and my personal experience, the best way to lead the teenagers in right and appropriate manners is keep them active, make them do lots of healthy and productive activities. Also, by opening up this kind of conversation in the public, it will reduce teenage pregnancy and date rape. Forcing them and keeping them in-door might help at the initial stage, but it will cause even more terrible situations. If we know that our children will eventually date and have sexual relationship with someone, it would be better to teach them how to have a responsible relationship and safe sex before hand. This will reduce the teenage and unwanted pregnancy in our society. Therefore, we should come up with how to create more interesting and entertaining sex education to enlighten our teenagers in public.

The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay

If you are looking for a way to kill the American Dream, you should call a man named Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, New York. I think he's found it. Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who lives in one of the  ¨Eggs ¨ in New York. Jay Gatsby's real name is James Gatz, and was originally born in North Dakota on a farm. While he was a young boy he had always thought that he was meant to become something more than a farmer from North Dakota. Because of this he leaves his home and meets a man named Dan Cody.They meet while he is working on the beach of Lake Superior he see's a yacht and warned them about a storm that was coming. Dan cody was grateful and hired James Gatz to work for him. Dan Cody asked James Gatz what was his name and at that moment James Gatz became Jay Gatsby. While Jay was working for Dan Cody he figured out how to act rich. Dan Cody dies and tries to leave Gatsby $25,000, but Cody’s mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance. Then Gatsby dedicated himself to become a wealthy man.Gatsby joins the Army and does his training in Louisville, Kentucky and meets a girl named Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy end up falling in love and then Gatsby is shipped off to the war. When Gatsby comes back from the war 5 years later he finds out that Daisy is married to another man. Gatsby becomes very wealthy and moves across from Daisy just to be close to her. Gatsby never intended to leave her for so long and always regrets it. Because of this Gatsbys main dream is to marry Daisy, also part of this dream is that Daisy has to tell her husband Tom that she never loved him.After Daisy tells Tom that she never loved him both Gatsby and Daisy can move back to louisville and live out their past together. Gatsbys main driving force to get this dream is so that he and daisy can live in the past again and forget all of the bad things that happened to them in the that they were away from each other. Gatsby has many qualities that could make this dream a reality. For example, when Gatsby was with dan Cody he learned how to play the part of a rich man, because of this he can go to social events to get closer to Daisy.Another example is the amount of hope that Gatsby has when it is about him and Daisy being together, he never gives up on her and never lets go. But these qualities don't help him too much because Gatsby fails to get Daisy. He failed because Gatsby,Daisy,Daisy's husband Tom, and their friends Nick and Jordan was at the Plaza hotel, then Gatsby and Tom fought for who was going to take Daisy. Soon Tom started to bring up facts about Gatsby being involved in illegal activities. Daisy did not like that Gatsby was into these illegal activities so she leaves and Gatsby goes with her.on their way home Daisy is driving Gatsbys car and in her fury she hit and killed a lady and never stops. As a result Tom told the lady's husband that Gatsby hit his wife. So the lady's husband went to Gatsby house and he shot Gatsby while he wa s swimming in his pool, then the lady's husband choose to commit suicide. Gatsby died as a man whose dream was to be with the love of his life but came short and died for her. There is always a chance that your dream could never happen so don't be disappointed if it does not. The Great Gatsby American Dream Essay If you are looking for a way to kill the American Dream, you should call a man named Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, New York. I think he's found it. Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who lives in one of the â€Å"Eggs† in New York. Jay Gatsby's real name is James Gatz, and was originally born in North Dakota on a farm. While he was a young boy he had always thought that he was meant to become something more than a farmer from North Dakota. Because of this he leaves his home and meets a man named Dan Cody.They meet while he is working on the beach of Lake Superior he see's a yacht and warned them about a storm that was coming. Dan cody was grateful and hired James Gatz to work for him. Dan Cody asked James Gatz what was his name and at that moment James Gatz became Jay Gatsby. While Jay was working for Dan Cody he figured out how to act rich. Dan Cody dies and tries to leave Gatsby $25,000, but Cody’s mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance. Then Gatsby dedi cated himself to become a wealthy man.Gatsby joins the Army and does his training in Louisville, Kentucky and meets a girl named Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy end up falling in love and then Gatsby is shipped off to the war. When Gatsby comes back from the war 5 years later he finds out that Daisy is married to another man. Gatsby becomes very wealthy and moves across from Daisy just to be close to her. Gatsby never intended to leave her for so long and always regrets it. Because of this Gatsbys main dream is to marry Daisy, also part of this dream is that Daisy has to tell her husband Tom that she never loved him.After Daisy tells Tom that she never loved him both Gatsby and Daisy can move back to louisville and live out their past together. Gatsbys main driving force to get this dream is so that he and daisy can live in the past again and forget all of the bad things that happened to them in the that they were away from each other. Gatsby has many qualities that could make this dream a reality. For example, when Gatsby was with dan Cody he learned how to play the part of a rich man, because of this he can go to social events to get closer to Daisy.Another example is the amount of hope that Gatsby has when it is about him and Daisy being together, he never gives up on her and never lets go. But these qualities don't help him too much because Gatsby fails to get Daisy. He failed because Gatsby,Daisy,Daisy's husband Tom, and their friends Nick and Jordan was at the Plaza hotel, then Gatsby and Tom fought for who was going to take Daisy. Soon Tom started to bring up facts about Gatsby being involved in illegal activities. Daisy did not like that Gatsby was into these illegal activities so she leaves and Gatsby goes with her.On their way home Daisy is driving Gatsbys car and in her fury she hit and killed a lady and never stops. As a result Tom told the lady's husband that Gatsby hit his wife. So the lady's husband went to Gatsby house and he shot Gatsby while he was swimming in his pool, then the lady's husband choose to commit suicide. Gatsby died as a man whose dream was to be with the love of his life but came short and died for her. There is always a chance that your dream could never happen so don't be disappointed if it does not.

Pathophosiology of sepsis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pathophosiology of sepsis - Essay Example Thus, it is relevant to take control over body temperature, heartbeat and other indicators of a potential threat of sepsis. A presence of two of the following four factors can indicate sepsis: Nowadays the scientists are persuaded by the fact that inflammatory response of septic patients is the result of either immuno-stimulation or immune-suppression. Such kind of cells, as neutrophils remains activated, though other changes in cells can be accelerated in a negative way (Sibbald, Neviere, 2000). Consequently, it is relevant to look for effective means of sepsis treatment. Metabolic changes are present, though they require a scrutinized and detailed monitoring. From this perspective, medical literature outlines that there is no a single mediator/system/pathway/pathogen, triggering the pathophysiology of sepsis. Sepsis is a vicious disease, because it cannot be properly controlled and it is really hard to regulate it or sustain a process of medical treatment of it. The most challenging aspect of the disease is that there is a direct interaction between the cells and infection is transferred from one cell to another. Organ injury is essential and patients suffer much from e xcessive skin inury, immunosuppression and anergy. Moreover, sepsis can lead to the multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS) (Sibbald, Neviere, 2000). Therefore, it is relevant to take control over inflammatory processes, when different tissues are subjected to

Buyer behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Buyer behaviour - Assignment Example The report has been prepared to focus the purchasing behaviour of the user for the Samsung products. Samsung is an international conglomerate company, which was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The product portfolio of the company comprise of apparel, medical equipments, electronic components, telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, ships and semiconductors. Samsung also provides wide range of services such as financial services, advertising, health care and medical services, retail, hospitality, entertainment and construction services (Samsung, 2015). The psychological and sociological drivers of consumer behaviour will be assessed through the marketing analysis of Samsung by using different theories and models. Further, the impact of the marketing mix components on the decision-making process of the consumers will also be taken into consideration for the purpose of this report. The customers of Samsung are grouped on the basis of geographic, demographic and psychographic segmentation. According to geographic segmentation, Samsung is targeting the Chinese and Indian market as a priority and then focusing on other regions. According to demographic segmentation, age does not really matter for the Samsung products and it offers its services and goods for all the family sizes. The company targets the customers of middle, upper middle as well as higher class individuals. The company has segmented the customer into three different categories such as teachers and students, self employed and businessman. On the psychographic segmentation basis, Samsung is targeting the users based on their personality as well as lifestyle (Clow and Baack, 2011). Exposure: Mainly perception starts with exposure towards stimuli. Exposure occurs when stimuli come within any of the following senses such as touch, smell, vision, taste and hearing. It has been

Management - Southwest Airlines Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management - Southwest Airlines - Term Paper Example Southwest Airline is one of the most popular low cost American domestic airlines which was incorporated in Texas and commenced operation in 1971 with three Boeing 737 aircrafts serving 3 cities. Today it has nearly 400 Boeing 737 series of aircrafts and operates in more than 59 cities across America. In 2011, it completes 40 years of its existence. Its mission is to provide the customers with highest quality of personal services (company). It has been able to sustain its profitability through the turbulent phase of post 9/11 period and current recessive economy even though the rest of the important airlines like Pan Am, Eastern etc. were struggling to survive. Situation analysisAfter deregulation in 1978, the airline business had become highly competitive. It had used various mechanisms to enhance its operational efficiency. While its human resource strategy was its major organizational coup to maintain its customer centric image, its efficient use of air routes, cost effective strat egy in operation became critical to its success. As such main reasons that have contributed to its continued success are: human resource; customer service; and innovative cost effective strategy of operation. Schwenk (1997: 4) claims that ‘employee’s absolute commitment to a shared vision of change is seen by many leaders/ change agents as so important for their organization’s continued survival’. The organizational culture of the company is highly encouraging which believes in empowering its workforce. It also provides a facilitating environment of continuous learning and most importantly it encourages share in profits through stock ownership. After the 9/11 tragedy, the operations cost of SW Airlines as well as other airlines had considerably increased. The key reasons being: tighter security had required more rigorous screening; increase of overheads expenses vis-a-vis security screening, changes and reprogramming of its tracking of passenger informatio n details and management strategy etc; drastic reduction in the number of passengers due to terrorist threat. These were major challenges that required highly creative inputs to not only maintain trust of the customers but also the confidence level of the employees. In the tough times, Southwest airline maintained high degree of employees’ morale by not laying off any employee. Most importantly, the management initiative was able to inculcate tremendous confidence amongst its workers by ensuring that there was no cut back in the number of flights also. This was a hugely important factor which sent a positive feedback to the public and greatly boosted the confidence of employees. Addressing the problem Maintaining the confidence of the customer was major problem which was mainly met by its human resource policy and organizational culture. It was also a key element that led to the firm’s continues success. It retained its policy of non attrition and did not lay off any s taff. The company’s strategic plan was to improve customer service by increasing the number of customer service agents. This helped the passengers to get more personalized service. The empathetic attitude of staff, emotional

Tele Vision as an Advertisement Media Research Proposal

Tele Vision as an Advertisement Media - Research Proposal Example Regardless of the media or method selected, the main aim of advertisement is to convince the target audience that they have a need for the product. Through advertisement, the suppliers/marketers are trying to create an image about the product with the help of linguistic and artistic elements. The present research paper looks on how an advertisement campaign for an expensive chocolate be planned and implemented effectively through television channels to reach its target audience. The target audience consists of women in the age group of 20 to 40. The paper takes a narrative approach for explaining the various aspects of advertisement campaign and its effectiveness to the business. Everything in business demands planning for effective implementation and controlling. In advertisement also, a well planned campaign can do a better job than one which is not. Advertisement Planning gives a detailed blue print of what and how it is done at various stages of campaign. The present campaign is planned to be conducted through television to reach the target audience comprising of women in the age group of 20 to 40. A popular channel such as entertainment or sports channel is suggested for selection. The company is a chocolate manufacturing firm in the U.K. which has been in existence for some time in the market doing similar business. The new product is an addition to company's product lines, all of which have a sound customer support and brand equity. The new product which focuses on the customers, who are in the age group of 20 to 40, uses an innovative imported technology and it is going to capture the market in the next six months. The product and Brand name The product is an expensive chocolate, which has exceptional features than that available in the market. The company claims that the content of chocolate is highly recommended for the health of women in the age group of 20 to 40. The brand name decided for the product is Enclate. The brand name 'Enclate' is registered and trade mark for the same has already been sanctioned by the authority concerned. The word 'Enclate' is written using special letters, which the company developed in consultation with the advertisement agency. Objectives of Advertisement Campaign The objectives of advertisement campaign are inseparably connected with that of marketing strategy of the firm, which in turn is associated with the overall corporate strategy. To achieve and maintain the target market within the desired time frame, the firm has set the following specific objectives: 1. To disseminate knowledge about the company, its values etc to its customers and to the general public. 2. To convey about the brand, price, other promotions and distributions (Setting the advertising objective, p.2) 3. To create awareness about chocolates in general and Enclate in particular 4. To create a distinct brand image apart from other similar brands 5. To stimulate the customers to purchase the product Target Audience The company has already fixed the target audience for Enclate. Women in the age group of 20 to 40 constitute the target group for the product. Normally, this group does not take chocolates as a habit. But, the

Benjamin Franklin's Speech on the Constitution Essay

Benjamin Franklin's Speech on the Constitution - Essay Example The speech, more than a politician’s oratorical musing (he did not even delivered it, he was too frail to personally deliver the speech) served several purpose during the Constitutional Convention.†First, the delegates' signatin-es would function as a marketing device, highlighting important pro-Constitution selling points to the people who would ultimately determine its fate. Second, the signatures would function as a constraining device, preventing the Constitution's signatories —all of whom carried considerable local influence —from publicly opposing the document once the ratification battles began† (Coenen 971) . Obviously, the speech served its purpose because we are now a constitutional government. Without that speech, United States may not be the America that we know today. It may have been still fragmented and undemocratic. It must be understood that along with the speech, was Benjamin Franklin’s statemanship that brought the benefit of pragmatic compromise for America to unite. Franklin as can be reflected in his 1787 speech after the Constitutional Convention, was a great power broker because he made the representative’s to sign the proposed constitution. Corollary to the speech is its democratic implication. During the representation of individuals to the Constitutional Convention , representation was made not on the basis of landownership nor a prerequisite for the right to vote because Franklin was vehemently against it. He also sought for a simple government and government that is guarded from despotism by limiting the power of a president and recommended corrective measures such as impeachment to remove an erring president. Perhaps the byproducts of Benjamin Franklin efforts to have the Constitution signed by the representatives, from his speech, to the mode of representation, voting and governance set the backbone of American democracy. Benjamin Franklin made this possible because he saw the task of creating a government to be not an impossible endeavor. He believed that creating American government only required that people so what was â€Å"useful and right for themselves, and they could easily do that without interfering with what useful and right for others â€Å"(Morgan 148). Thus, with only few days of lobbying for the passage of the Constitution, had the lasting effect that influenced American government and way of life for the next 250 years. Imagine what America would be without the speech and efforts of Franklin. Considering Franklin’s contribution not only in framing the Constitution but also in lobbying to have it passed, we may be inclined to believe that Benajmin Franklin was a revolutionary and wanted a revolutionary government. His idea might be, in a way revolutionary during his time but Benjamin Franklin was never considered as a radical as a politician. He can be classified rather as a moderate and even a conservative by today’s standard. Smi th elaborated that â€Å"Benjamin Franklin should not, however, be classed with the revolutionary radicals who saw government as only a necessary evil that a society should minimze as much as possible. . . it would be accurate to say that government: government with strictly curtailed ends, powers fully adequate to meet those ends, and lines of responsibilities of maximum directness and clarity† (128). Examining the speech closely, we could also infer that later politicians cribbed some of Franklin’s idea. This only manifests that Benjamin Frankli

Using a company as an example, explain the advantages and risks of Essay

Using a company as an example, explain the advantages and risks of green branding a product or service - Essay Example Green branding sometimes act as the unique selling proposition for a particular company or product. Green brands are actually the ones which are amongst the most sold products in the world and enjoy a better brand position (Fahey, 2007). Automobiles are considered as one of the major source of environmental pollution in the world. Therefore it has been the need of the hour to deliver something new to the customers that will be attractive as well as eco-friendly. Toyota is one company which has tried its best to be on the greener side. For instance, the launch of the first generation of hybrid car named Toyota Prius back in 1998 was a great effort made by the company to reduce carbon emission and even Camry, Estima, Alphard etc is considered among the green sub brands of Toyota and are the models of hybrid synergy drive technologies. Though, Toyota in itself is not environment friendly and all their cars are not among the green band wagons as the likes of Avensis and Celica. But a conscious effort on the part of Toyota is made to change their image. The change has been highly appreciable among the people, which reflect in their sales records (Bruner, n.d.). Toyota started thinking of the environmental concerns way back in the year 1993 when it first drafted its action plan. In recent times, one of the major steps taken by Toyota towards the green branding of their company is by the formation of the Fourth Environmental Action Plan in the year of 2005. It was a vision of Toyota for the year 2006 to the year 2010 to develop a recycling based society. It was a long term oriented goal which emphasised more on the action plans which need to be undertaken for five years, so that it can bring about a considerable change in the year 2020 or at least by 2030. The company also aimed at becoming the global leader and the initiators of the total environmental change process.

Project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project 2 - Essay Example The second step is for the temperature to be allocated in various topological areas, using a model through which a single cell affects the next cell’s temperature. Alterations in the temperature of the whole plate goes on to the last spot when it attains equilibrium point. There are various tools to be used when plotting temperatures on a given scale. In this context, the contour plotting tool will be used to determine temperature distribution across diversified topologies in cases where different basic temperatures are utilized for the walls of a specified grid. In order to avoid too much theoretical work, tables and figures will be used to summarize some points in this assignment, and to clarify complex explanations. Four instance, the four types of topologies that have been used to explore temperature distribution are represented in the figure below and the table shows their matching details. This is simply to ease understanding and guide the

Christianity subscribes to the notion of God being all-good and Essay

Christianity subscribes to the notion of God being all-good and all-powerful, whereas Hinduism envisions Brahman as encompassing both good and evil - Essay Example He is the creator of the universe, the one who takes care of all that surrounds us. He may be worshipped as a single entity as in Christianity, Judaism or Islam, or He may be worshipped in various different forms, as in Hinduism and Buddhism. Theologians and philosophers have long argued as to how ‘God’ can be defined. Every religion defines God according to its own perspectives, and also according to what the religious scriptures dictate. So, to understand the concept of God and what the word means to any religion, we will have to study in detail about that particular religion. A brief look at Christianity will tell us that here God is looked upon as the ‘Almighty- Omniscient’ being, who is all-good and all-powerful, while Hinduism envisions Brahman as encompassing both good and evil. This article will explore Christianity and Hinduism as two separate religions, and will try to decipher what God means to both these religions. The concept of religion: Before we try to understand the meaning of ‘God’ we will have to know what religion actually is. It may be defined as â€Å"  an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioners experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God or gods, or ultimate truth ( Geertz, 89). So, religion is the way one may expedite, to reach God. The theistic forms of religion that include Christianity, Judaism and Islam, demand that the worshipper bow in complete genuflection in front of God. The religions of the ancient world, like that of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Chinese Taoism and Confucianism do not believe in complete fealty to God to get enlightenment. According to these religions, enlightenment is self sought, achieved when the soul or atman becomes one with

Virgils like a Roman leader. Aeneid Essay Example for Free

Virgils like a Roman leader. Aeneid Essay Virgils Aeneid Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Virgil’s was the son of Publius Vergilius Maro and Magia Polla. Virgil’s father was a miniature freeholder in Andes. Virgil’s father was a farmer who practised bee-keeping and forestry, and he progressively accrued enough competence to enable him give superior education to their only son, Virgil’s. Virgils went to school at Cremona which was neighboring town and later he went to Milan which was the capital city of the province. At the age of 17 years Virgil’s went to Rome where he studied philosophy and oratory under the preeminent masters of the era. This paper seeks to explain the occurrences that took place during Augustan age. Augustan age had a remarkable impact to the Aeneid because Aeneid is a clear-cut approval of Augustus’ personal consolidation of authority after countless years of atrocious civil war. The foremost part of his approach was the use of auctoritas and exploitation of pietas, two ideals were well-regarded in Roman society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is a heated debate concerning the stance of Virgil’s in the Augustan era. Some people propose that the Virgil’s epic about Augustus’ ancestors as misinformation directed by Augustus’ political device. Other people identify creepy influence in Virgil’s artistic work where they argue that Virgil’s had an intention of undermining the new political order. The Aeneid is a public epic, adoration and veneration of Rome and its citizens. Virgil had an optimistic and spiritualized and inspiring notion of Rome, which he saw as sacred and majestic, predestined by providence to rule the humanity. Virgil’s saw a golden era of humanity rising during Augustus’s reign, the golden era was brought by the gods. The Aeneid was ordained to exalt this new-fangled, structured society and to elevate its merits and superior distinctiveness by their representation in Aeneas. Aeneas was an epic champion w ho would represent the classic Roman. Aeneas had the most reputable characteristics of an ideal Roman leader, which included Roman sense of responsibility and duty. He also had excellent personal attributes and qualities. According to Virgil’s these features would enable Aeneas to build adorable Rome (McCrorie, 356).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There were a series of civil wars before Augustan reign which led to large financial and human losses. The state became unified under Augustan reign. Peace and order was restored, and the government took active interest in various diverse schemes of social and economic life thus Rome regained its happiness and prosperity. The Augustan reign brought peace and order through development of imperial government. Unfortunately, the Romans abandoned most liberty that they had accustomed in earlier periods. This had a serious impact in the minds of many citizens including Virgil’s. In the Aeneid, Virgil describes the new-fangled approach under which Romans lived. In his epic Aeneid, Virgil treats the most significant features of imperial and republican Rome as distinct, entangled whole. This notion was interpreted that the splendor of one government resembled the brilliance of the other government. This argument weakened the conviction that Augustus’s empire was a new and unfamiliar political unit. In addition, Virgil revealed in many aspects that the imperial period was intended to be a fresh golden period for Rome. It was only the Augustan age that all Roman citizen’s noblest ambitions and wishes could be accomplished (Bloom, 284). http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-010.html.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aeneas the hero of Aeneid had the most adorable features of a Roman leader. Augustus was a descendant of Aeneas. In Aeneid the implication of the association between Augustus and Aeneas was very clear. It can be noed that Augustus shares a lot of his ancestor Aeneas superior qualities. People gained a lot of confidence with Augustan reign and could never think of condemning Augustus’s new government. Aeneas underwent various hardship incidents during his ruling period. However, Aeneas consoled himself by keeping in mind the predestined future of the empire. The notion of the predestined future of the empire strengthened him to dedicate his ambitions of establishing new Rome. This approach set an example to the Roman people. The personal sacrifices that Aeneas made taught people that their personal and complaints and doubts about imperial government were of less significant as compared to the needs of the society. People submerged th eir personal grievances for the welfare of all individuals. In Aeneid, Romans came to learn that it was only through a solid and centralized government t that they would be able to be peaceful and united (Retrieved from http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-010.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Romans would also be encouraged if they came to learn that Aeneid gods and goddesses were deeply concerned with the Rome’s future. People became convinced by the Virgil’s argument in Aeneid epic since various parts were all about unending series of successes. These epics aimed at demonstrated the success path to convince the public that Rome and its domain had enduringly won celestial favor. The epics convinced many educated class people in Rome such that they abandoned their opposition to Augustus’s new government and became used to their emperor’s regime. The Aeneid became a customary school text. Every generation in Rome passed through Virgil’s epic poem whereby they developed a selfless allegiance to the Roman imperial government. Aeneid became a literary masterpiece as well as the strongest intellectual barricade in the Roman kingdom. Augustan age was very significant to the Aeneid since it set up a solid foundation that enabled the empire to be organized (Retrieved from http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-010.html).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Maecenas, Augustus’ chief consultant secured several potential poets in his era. Augustus had acknowledged a powerful machine for his propaganda in these young poets. These writers had a distinct and powerful influence through their writing through the attitude of the public. During the writing of the Aeneid, Vigil had to consider the desires of his patrons. It reveals the momentous effect that Augustan auctoritas in the Virgil’s occupation, as the poet makes an unswerving suggestion to the ultimate accomplishment of his patron. Virgil used to judge against the performance of the celebrated hero to those of Augustus. Virgil’s Aeneid clearly reveal the auctoritas as he narrates the glorious history of Rome under Augustan regime. â€Å"Look there, focus your eyes now on our people, your own Romans: Caesar and all of Iulus’ lineage under the great tree of the heavens. And this man, a man you’ve heard promised so often, Caesar Augustus: a God’s own son who will settle a Golden Age once more on Latium’s meadows, ruled by Saturn before. He’ll open the empire to India, Africa, lands lying beyond the ecliptic, beyond the sun’s annual journey†¦ (Virgil, 1995, Bk. VI- ll. 788-796)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This consequence of Augustan auctoritas on Virgil’s Aeneid delegates the inclination in the Augustan period of literacy in favor of Augustan regime.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, it is clear that the Roman leaders used to glorify themselves and create superior history and reinforced these principles to the legends of their forefathers. Thorough scrutiny of Golden age works such as Aeneid reveals the outcome of Augustan auctoritas. Augustus made a purposeful and flourishing attempt to swing the focus of Roman writing to the indefatigable support of his imperial misinformation. This substantiation highlights the cognizant, persistent pressure Augustus asserted, using his supremacy to control the Romans and to generate an age of writing in his own representation. References Bloom, Harold. Virgils Aeneid. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Print. McCrorie, Edward. The Aeneid. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. Print. Patron Augustus—Client Rome. Patron Augustus—Client Rome. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-010.html. Source document

Organisational Change And Development In Royal Mail

Organisational Change And Development In Royal Mail This assignment has been undertaken in order to examine and evaluate the modernisation of the Royal Mail. It will begin with identifying the reason for change within the company, and how the need for change was detected. After which the implementation of planned change in the Royal Mail will be discussed and its effectiveness will be evaluated. The resistant factors they met whilst trying to implement this modernisations programme will also be discussed. An evaluation of the planned change will be conducted in order to assess the extent of its effectiveness. The report will conclude will an analysis of the Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond National Agreement between Royal Mail the Communication Workers Union, implications for failure will be assessed from this agreement; theory will be linked throughout the report with evidence and discussion. Table of contents Introduction (p. 4-5) Main Findings Reasons for modernising the Royal Mail (p. 6-7) How change was planned in the Royal Mail (p. 8-10) Types of change (p. 11) Resistance to change in the Royal Mail (p. 12-13) Kurt Lewins 5 Force analysis applied to the Royal Mail (p. 14) Kotters 8 step plan applied to the Royal Mail (p. 15) Effectiveness of the Planned change in the Royal Mail (p. 16) Implications of failure (p. 16) Reference/Bibliography (p. 17-) Introduction The Royal Mail is part of the fabric of the country and the lives of the millions of people who use it every day. Uniquely it has the network of people and sorting offices spanning the country that can deliver to every household and business at one price, six days a week. But the future of this network is under threat as people increasingly switch to digital technology as their preferred way of communicating (Mandelson, 2009). Rollinson (2005) identified the term change refers to an organisation having to move from one situation to another, in the modern world being able to change can also be the dividing factor of an organisations failure or success, Beer and Nohria (2000) also identified that 70% of all change initiatives fail. Martinez et al (1997) identified five change objectives set out by Royal Mail in the 1980s as: privatization, modernization, commercialization, separation and automation, of these modernisation, which is the main focus of this report, automation and privatisation are still not finalised, thirteen years after this article was written. The Labour government has been pushing for privatisation of the Royal Mail for years ever since the Thatcher government, it believed the move would aid in financing part of the pension deficit and also make the company more competitive in this liberalised market, which was introduced in 2006. Lord Mandelson was pushing legislation up to 2009 in the hope of selling parts of the nationalised company (Hooper et al, 2008; Porter and Griffiths, 2008; Porter, 2009; Datamonitor, 2008). Hooper (2009) states that modernisations without privatisation would be very difficult due to the constant intervention from government, Private postal companies throughout the world have identified this constant intervention as the major factor in union disputes (Hooper et al, 2008). Resistance from the CWU on modernisation has been a constant topic as they believe that modernisation will bring about job losses, such resistance has especially been seen in the last two years by way of two massive strikes by postal workers (Poulter, 2009; Hooper et al, 2008). These strikes came at one of the worst times in UK history, a recession was in full force for the second in 2009, however after recording loses over many years the Royal Mail made a 4% profit in 2009 of  £184 million compared to 2008 figured of  £177 million, unfortunately this profit was overshadowed with the overall drop in group revenue due to a decline in mail volumes because of the downturn and a rise in digital media, this has led to a 5-7% yearly drop in sales since 2005, during this time staff were informed there would be pay freezes which inflamed already tense relations with the union (Royal Mail, 2009; Prince, 2009; Hooper et al, 2008). In 2000 the postal services act which governs the postal industry within the UK was introduced, the act provided for the Post Office to be converted to a PLC, set in place a new licensing system, gave the postal services commission (Postcomm) powers to protect the universal service, promote greater competition within the UK market and offer more protection to consumers with the introduction of Postwatch (Hooper et al, 2008). Main Findings Reasons for modernising the Royal Mail Hooper et al (2008) has stated for the Royal Mail to become competitive in this it must first become more efficient, in order to become more efficient it must modernise. It must be noted that even though the country is in a recession which had a major impact on the company, this was not a reason for the company to modernise (Hooper et al, 2008). There are eight reasons for modernisation of the Royal Mail listed below: Universal Postal Service (UPS): The main reason for change which the CWU also agreed upon is the survival of the UPS, which is the collection of mail six-days a week from 28 million homes and business across the UK, at prices which remain independent and set at a tariff no matter the distance up and covers five areas: up to 2kg for letters and packets (priority and non-priority), up to 20kg for parcels (non-priority), registered and insured service, international outbound services and offering services which support the security of mail (Hooper et al, 2008; POSTCOMM, 2010). Pricing: The introduction of a 5% weighted average increases by Royal Mail in 2007-2008 led to a reduction in revenues, sales volumes fell as customers increased their use of electronic media, business switched to competitors and there was an increased use of second class mail. It is known that the UK offers some of the lowest postal costs compared too many other European countries so increases are justify but the implementation must be able to offset lost revenue. As volumes fall due to digital media the better choice may be to implement price decreases instead to stimulate growth (Hooper et al, 2008). Pension deficit: This is one of the largest within the UK currently standing at  £4 billion; also until recently it was still possible to sign up for this pension. Figures in 2008 showed it had risen by  £2.5 billion since 2006 (75% increase). Due to the costs in paying the deficit, which is currently  £280 million per year and will continue for the next 15 years, competing within Europes liberalised market is made very difficult. The deficit is almost six times larger than the cash generated by Royal Mail making it a very volatile problem (Hooper et al, 2008). Improved efficiency: The Royal Mail is 40% less efficient compared to its competitors. Its network of mail centres and delivery offices have not been upgraded in years, Automation is severely inefficient with 70% of mail being sorted by machine compared to 95% in European companies, also all mail is hand delivered compared to 15% hand deliveries in Europe with walking sequence machines cover the remaining 85% (Hooper et al, 2008). Working practices: Certain working practices such as early finishes restrict Royal Mails efficiency to provide a better service, upon finishing rounds postal workers are eligible to return home no matter how early, they can also claim overtime on extra hours worked to finish a round or can decide to simply not finishing the round. Covering for absence only when receiving overtime, not using equipment at the instruction of the CWU and demarcation, employees refusing to work in other areas of the same site (Hooper et al, 2008). New technology: The volume of mail sent has been on a decline even since 2005, this is due to the rising use of digital media, this is being felt across the world with the UK showing one of the highest fall off figures, -3.2% in 2006-2007, however the internet also provides opportunities by way of the online shopping market as home deliveries have jumped in recent years making this a highly profitable market, also the Royal Mails use of machines to sort letters covers 70% while the some of the leading European companies are hitting 95% (Hooper et al, 2008; Warner, 2009). Competition: 2006 saw the Royal Mail lose its 350 year monopoly on the UK postal market, going forward any licensed operator can deliver mail to residential and business customers in the liberalised market of which Royal Mail controls 99% , although the Royal Mail still is required to provide a universal postal service (BBC, 2005), research conducted by Lawson (2010) indicates that the national operators in countries such as Germany and Sweden continued to hold onto the majority share of the market years after it became liberalised. Electronic media such as email is also a threat to the company as it become more popular. Transportation net working costs: The rising costs of fuel is having a hugely negative impact on the Royal Mail, employees uses over 30,000 vehicles to deliver mail (Hooper et al, 2008), the Royal Mail (2008) has identified a loss in revenue due to higher costs of fuel. However, Attwood (2010) states the Royal Mail is set to trial new Ford Transit vans powered by hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines in an effort to reduce fuel costs, plus they are also environmentally friendly as they only emit water vapour. How change was planned in the Royal Mail Planned change was a term first coined by Kurt Lewin to distinguish change that was consciously embarked upon and planned by an organisation, as averse to types of change that might come about by accident, by impulse or that might be forced on an organisation (Burnes, 2004). Hooper et al (2008) had reported that the universal postal service cannot continue under present policies, problem areas have been identified as the pension deficit, performance and relations between the Royal Mail, unions and the regulator. The BERR report of 2009 includes recommendation made by the Modernise or Decline report compiled by Hooper et al (2008), in which it identifies three main areas for the Postal Services Bill to address: Regulation: Transferring responsibility of regulation which Postcomm currently holds to Ofcom, providing for future financial support for the UPS, extending competition law powers to the postal market and providing for a new access regime (BERR, 2009). Pensions: Provide powers to establish a new government scheme, rights to move members to the new scheme, amend the existing scheme, set out a new division for Post Office Ltd employees and the ability to transfer assets from the scheme to government (BERR, 2009). Partnership: Royal Mail companies providing the UPS will remain in the public sector, part- privatisation of the Royal Mail, Hooper et al (2008) has identifies this as being a necessity if the company is to achieve modernisation and additional legislation being obligatory for a Government to sell more than a minority stake in the company (BERR, 2009). Planned change is more related to the Royal Mail compared to Emergent change as it involves strategically thought-out and planned objectives/goals, which are used to change the environment of an organisation, whereas emergent change is unpredictable and dynamic, does not work off plans compared to planned change and is continuous (Burnes, 2004) Although these changes were planned and most were implemented in the 2010 National Agreement, part-privatisation of the Royal Mail received alot of criticism from other party members and the CWU. due to the currently climate Peter Mandelson admitted he was unable to find a suitable candidate for the investment so ended the proposed privatisation plans from the postal services bill (Wintour and Webb, 2009). To fully understand planned change it is necessary to look at the works of Kurt Lewin who is regarded as being the father of planned change, he believed that only through learning and the understanding of the environment in which an individual is based, could a resolution to social conflicts be achieved and improved. Lewin developed four methods which were necessary in reaching planned change; three-step model, field theory, group dynamics and action research (Burnes, 2004). The Three-Step model: This is praised as being Lewins contribution to the study of organisational change, although the three-step model was not intended to stand alone but be part of his over-all Planned approach to change, which also included the field theory, group dynamics and action research (Burnes, 2004). The three step model is based on Lewins belief that successful change is brought about by using three steps moving from one fixed state (Unfreezing) through an advanced shift (Moving), to another fixed state (Refreezing). Unfreezing involves the creation of the right conditions in which change can occur, people create a sense of familiarity with their surroundings and any change no matter how minor will cause resistance (Burnes, 2004). The goal is to move a person to a change ready/unfrozen state. This was accomplished between the Royal Mail and the CWU through the 2010 National Agreement in which both parties, after years of bitter disputes have agreed to improve their relationship for the better of the company, employees and customers (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Burnes (2004) identifies the next stage in Lewins model as Moving, which he describes as being on a journey taking people to the Unfrozen state, old ways are in the past and the new are in the development stage of being implemented, it is here that support should be given to employees to assist with the changes being introduced (Burnes, 2004). The Royal Mail is in the Moving stage of the 2010 National Agreement as they try to implement new modern and efficient changes to the company by way of automation, technology and industrial relationships. This will take time to fully execute, Lewins model states that without reinforcement change is short lived, both sides must begin to agree soon on the changes otherwise relationships will begin to break down once again (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Refreeze is the final step in which the environment is stabilised, its sometimes difficult to separate from moving, many organisations dont fully implement the whole extent of the change as another form of change is usually on the rise. This stage cannot be evaluated as the 2010 National Agreement between the Royal Mail and the CWU is still being implemented at this time (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Types of change Due to outside influences driving change organisations are forced to keep up to speed, if change is required the appropriate changes are implements to reflect these external environmental factors in a timely and smoothly manner so to avoid putting added pressure on the company (Price, 2009). Grundy stated that many managers viewed change as being the same whilst others viewed it as having a negative impact, he identified three types of change as smooth and incremental, bumpy incremental and discontinuous, the Royal Mail uses none of these types (Senior, 2002; Price, 2009). Incremental change Continuous Change Punctuated Equilibrium Burnes (2004) identifies two other type of change as continuous transformation, which identifies the need for regular dramatic adjustments in organisations change like regular training of staff, and punctuated equilibrium, this recognises that change can occur at erratic and explosive periods of time (Senior, 2002; Price, 2009). Punctuated equilibrium is the type of change more associated with the Royal Mail, one outlining factor is the company has not changed in many years but in 2010 reached a groundbreaking agreement with the CWU for implementation for such things as a 6.9% pay rise plus working hours reduced to 39 (Hooley et al, 2008; National Agreement, 2010). Resistance to change in the Royal Mail Resistance doesnt necessarily surface in standardised ways. Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate, or deferred. It is easiest for management to deal with resistance with it is overt or immediate. The greater challenge is managing resistance that is implicit or deferred (Robbins, 2001) Burnes (2004) identified resistance to change as the obstacles created by others to stop change; some forces will be more resistant than others such as the actions taken when people feel change to be a threatening factor, such as the modernisations planned by the Royal Mail, this has received huge resistance from employees and their union through planned strikes throughout the last two years, as they perceived the modernisation process would reduce staff numbers. The report identifies four main forces against the change process at the Royal Mail: Union resistance: The CWU also known as the Communications Workers Union is the largest union for the communications industry in the UK; it has 250,000 members most of which are Royal Mail employees, and was formed in 1995 (CWU, 2010). The sheer size of union makes it a very powerful force to be reckoned with, its also well documented throughout the years that the CWU and management at Royal Mail have very different views on what is best for the company, resulting in strikes against the modernised plan proposed by the Royal Mail, this was because the CWU felt its members were at risk from new technological advancements that they felt would result in staff numbers being reduced (Hooper et al, 2008). This could also be a result of the CWU using this tactic as a means of living up to a unions reputation with Warner (2009) adding that the chronic union militancy that once characterised shipbuilding, steel, car making and coal industries lives on in Royal Mail. Management and employee relations is poor: There is a long history of poor industrial relations between the Royal Mail management and CWU which continues to this day, this has impacted severely on the company to the extent that it has prevented the Royal Mail from modernising and expanding which has led to a high level of inefficiency (Hooper et al, 2008). However, with the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 and beyond agreement Both parties agree that central to success is the need to fundamentally transform relationships and quickly build a culture of mutual interest between managers, union and employees. Reluctance in staff to use new technology: Staff in the Royal Mail believes that through the use of new technology certain position within the company will become redundant, and due to advice from the CWU they have refused to use this modern machinery which would aid in the efficiency of the Royal Mail (Hooper et al, 2008). Employees disliking the modernisation plan: Adam Crozier who was the chief executive of Royal Mail from 2003 to 2010 is quoted as saying: Change is difficult for everyone, but Royal Mail has no alternative but to change and modernise if it is to compete in todays highly competitive communications market. This is against the wave of criticism from employees and unions against the proposed modernisation plan due to uncertainty felt for their position (Thomas, 2009). Management at Royal Mail have declared that the plan is already seeing results with operating profits up  £7 million in 2009 compared to the year previous, however employees and the CWU have stated that they believe they deserve to be rewarded for the success they have brought to this change process, which has delivered a 4% increase in half-year profits. A pay freeze is no way to thank staff who have seen colleagues leave and workloads rise (Thomas, 2009). This pay freeze was proposed due to the recession in a bid to counter its affects; it only resulted in already strained industrial relations becoming more intense (Prince, 2009). A gradual introduction of more work due to reduced staff numbers would have been a better plan when engaging with staff. Kurt Lewins 5 Force Field Analyses This analysis by Lewin was developed in the 1960s, its based on the assumption that when the need for change arises there will be forces for and against change; the theory states that when two forces are equal change can only happen if the force for change is strengthened and the force against change weakened (Senior and Fleming, 2006). The forces for and against change within the Royal Mail Group are listed below: Driving Forces: Restraining forces: Universal service Pricing Pension deficit Improved efficiency Working practices New technology Competition Transportation net working costs Modernisation process Union resistance Management and employee relations is poor Reluctance in staff to use new technology Employees disliking the modernisation plan The restraining force of staff reluctance to use new technology is in direct contrast to the driving force of new technology, the driving force of new technology can only be accomplished if the restraining force to use new technology is weakened. This was accomplished with the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond agreement which states, Royal Mails investment in new equipment and technology is a fundamental part of transforming the operation, this was accomplished by introducing new ways of working, including workload measurement, compliance to standard, engineering team coach, maintenance of equipment outside of the mail centre and technical operators (National Agreement, 2010). A new development plan for training and professional development plus apprenticeships in line with standards applying to Engineers based at HWDC. This was agreed by CWU which meant the restraining force was weakened so the driving force for new technology was strengthened and is in the process of being implemented (National Agreement, 2010). Kotters Eight-Step Plan Burnes (2004) identified that in order for change to be successful all of the eight stages in Kotters plan must be completed in sequence, any deviation from these steps will result in problems for the organisation. The Royal Mail did manage to achieve some steps but many more have still to come as the company finally embraces modernisation. Step 1 Create urgency: May 1997, deciding that modernisation was required, March 2010, finally implementing it. Step 2 Form coalition: Management and unions agreeing to work on a modernisation plan. Step 3 Create new visions discussions on the Business Transformation 2010. Step 4 Communicate the vision (Unfreezing): Introduction of the Business Transformation 2010. Step 5 Empower others Step 6 Reward wins (Movement) Step 7 Consolidate improvements Step 8 Reinforce the change (Refreezing) Effectiveness of the Planned change in the Royal Mail With the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 it gives hope to the belief that harmony has finally been reached between the Royal Mail, CWU and employees. Adam Crozier, commented: This agreement is good for the business as it allows Royal Mail to get on with its modernisation, its a good and fair deal for our people, and its a good deal for our customers as it ensures stability over the next three years (ICM, 2010). The main points of the agreement will be the introduction of a 39 hour working week, 6.9% pay rise, more job security for employees, CWU to be involved in all change matters going-forward, and the Royal Mail to remain a 75% full-time industry (CWU, 2010). These changes have been agreed on the basis that employees will embrace the Royal Mails  £2 billion modernisation plan which includes the introduction of new automated machinery and delivery equipment (ICM, 2010). Dave Ward, CWU Deputy General Secretary, said: Its been a long time coming, but this deal delivers on the major issues which postal workers have fought for. Theres a balance of pay and operational changes which will help offset job losses and ensure our members are fairly rewarded for change. Both sides seem to be in agreement for the first time is years that modernisation is the way forward for the Royal Mail, but has this planned change been implemented too late, will the refusal of employees to let modernisation be implemented sooner be the downfall of the Royal Mail, rival companies such as Deutsche Post and TNT have still managed to make substantial profits even with the added downturn in the postal market due to the recession and the explosion of the digital era (BERR, 2009). There is also the added concern of the pension deficit which stands at  £4 billion, one of the largest in the UK, which the Royal Mail is required to make contribution into every year. It begs the question of how can a company who has such a huge cost output every year make proper investments into the future and still manage to return a profit (BERR, 2009), and will these investment in new technology and automation bring the rewards that Royal Mail believes it will, even with many people moving to digital media (BERR, 2009). Implications of failure The universal postal service is important. The ability to deliver items to all 28 million business and residential addresses in the UK is part of our economic and social glue (Hooper et al, 2008). As agreements listed in the Business Transformation 2010 for the organization have finally been reached, the implication for failure for the Royal Mail would be the loss of the universal postal service. It has been mentioned many times in this report the importance of the UPS to the UK and its people, also the loss of a public service that so many have fought to keep in the public domain, against recommendations made by the Hopper et al (2008) and BERR (2009) reports to part privatise the company. Without modernisation eventually the Royal Mail will decline taking with it masses amounts of tax payers money that was used to keep the company afloat, leaving many unemployed which would be a tragedy for the UK who are still suffering the effects of a world-wide economic recession.

Analysis of QoS Parameters

Analysis of QoS Parameters Chapter 3 3. Analysis of QoS Parameters 3.1 Introduction A Number of QoS [11] of parameters can be measured and monitored to determine whether a service level offered or received is being achieved. These parameters consist of the following 1. Network availability 2. Bandwidth 3. Delay 4. Jitter 5. Loss 3.1.1 Network Availability Network availability can have a consequential effect on QoS. Simply put, if the network is not available, even during short periods of time, the user or application may achieve unpredictable or undesirable performance (QoS) [11]. Network availability is the summation of the availability of many items that are used to create a network. These include network device redundancy, e.g. redundant interfaces, processor cards or power supplies in routers and switches, resilient networking protocols, multiple physical connections, e.g. fiber or copper, backup power sources etc. Network operators can increase their networks availability by implementing varying degrees of each item. 3.1.2 Bandwidth Bandwidth is one of the most important QoS parameter. It can be divided in to two types 1. Guaranteed bandwidth 2. Available bandwidth 3.1.2.1 Guaranteed bandwidth Network operators offer a service that provides minimum BW and burst BW in the SLA. Because the guaranteed BW the service costs higher as compare to the available BW service. So the service providers must ensure the special treatment to the subscribers who have got the guaranteed BW service. The network operator separates the subscribers by different physical or logical networks in some cases, e.g., VLANs, Virtual Circuits, etc. In some cases, the guaranteed BW service traffic may share the same network infrastructure with available BW service traffic. We often use to see the case at location where network connections are expensive or the bandwidth is leased from another service provider. When subscribers share the same network infrastructure, the subscribers of the guaranteed BW service must get the priority over the available BW subscribers traffic so that in times of networks congestion the guaranteed BW subscribers SLAs are met. Burst BW can be specified in terms of amount and du ration of excess BW (burst) above the guaranteed minimum. QoS mechanism may be activated to avoid or discard traffic that use consistently above the guaranteed minimum BW that the subscriber agreed to in the SLA. 3.1.2.2 Available bandwidth As we know network operators have fixed Bandwidth, but to get more return on the investment of their network infrastructure, they oversubscribe the BW. By oversubscribing the BW a user is subscribed to be no always available to them. This allows users to compete for available BW. They get more or less BW it depends upon the amount of traffic form other users on the network at any given time. Available bandwidth is a technique commonly used over consumer ADSL networks, e.g., a customer signs up for a 384-kbps service that provides no QoS (BW) guarantee in the SLA. The SLA points out that the 384-kbps is standard but does not make any guarantees. Under lightly loaded conditions, the 384-kbps BW will be available to the users but upon network loaded condition, this BW will not be available consistently. It can be noticed during certain times of the day when number of users access the network. 3.1.3 Delay Network delay is the transit time an application experiences from the ingress (entering) point to the egress (exit) point of the network. Delay can cause significant QoS issues with application such as Video conferencing and fax transmission that simply time-out and final under excessive delay conditions. Some applications can compensate for small amounts of delay but once a certain amount is exceeded, the QoS becomes compromised. For example some networking equipment can spoof an SNA session on a host by providing local acknowledgements when the network delay would cause the SNA session to time out. Similarly, VoIP gateways and phones provide some local buffering to compensate for network delay. There can be both fixed and variable delays. Examples of fixed delays are: Application based delay, e.g., voice codec processing time and IP packet creation time by the TCP/IP software stack Data transmission (queuing delay) over the physical network media at each network hop. Propagation delay across the network based on transmission distance Examples of variable delays are: †¢ Ingress queuing delay for traffic entering a network node †¢ Contention with other traffic at each network node †¢ Egress queuing delay for traffic exiting a network node 3.1.4 Jitter (Delay Variation) Jitter is the difference in delay presented by different packets that are part of the same traffic flow. High frequency delay variation is known as jitter and the low frequency delay variation is known as wander. Primary cause of jitter is basically the differences in queue wait times for consecutive packets in a flow and this is the most significant issue for QoS. Traffic types especially real time traffic such as video conferencing can not tolerate jitter. Differences in packet arrival times cause in the voice. All transport system exhibit some jitter. As long as jitter limits below the defined tolerance level, it does not affect service quality. 3.1.5 Loss Loss either bit errors or packet drops has a significant impact on VoIP services as compare to the data services. During the transmission of the voice, loss of multiple packets may cause an audible pop that will become irritating to the user. Now as compare to the voice transmission, in data transmission loss of single bit or multiple packets of information will not effect the whole communication and is almost never noticed by users. In case of real time video conferencing, consecutive packet loss may cause a momentary glitch (defect) on the screen, but the video then proceeds as before. However, if packet drops get increase, then the quality of the transmission degrades. For minimum quality rate of packet loss must be less than 5% and less then 1% for toll quality. When the network node will be congested, it will drop the packets and by this the loss will occur. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is one of the networking protocols that offer packets loss protection by the retransmission of packets that may have been dropped by the network. When network congestion will be increased, more packets will be dropped and hence there will be more TCP transmission. If congestion continues the network performance will obviously degrade because much of the BW is being used for the retransmission of dropped packets. TCP will eventually reduce its transmission window size, due to this reduction in window size smaller packets will be transmitted; this will eventually reduce congestion, resulting in fewer packets being dropped. Because congestion has a direct influence on packet loss, congestion avoidance mechanism is often deployed. One such mechanism is called Random Early Discard (RED). RED algorithms randomly and intentionally drop packets once the traff ic reaches one or more configured threshold. RED provides more efficient congestion management for TCP-based flows. 3.1.5.1 Emission priorities It determines the order in which traffic is transmitted as it exits a network node. Traffic with higher emission priority is transmitted a head of traffic with a lower emission priority. Emission priorities also determine the amount of latency introduced to the traffic by the network nodes queuing mechanism. For example, email which is a delay tolerant application will get the lower emission priority as compare to the delay sensitive real time applications such as voice or video. These delay sensitive applications can not be buffered but are being transmitted while the delay tolerant applications may be buffered. In a simple way we can say that emission priorities use a simple transmit priority scheme whereby higher emission priority traffic is always transmitted ahead of lower emission priority traffic. This is typically accomplished using strict priority scheduling (queuing) the downside of this approach is that low emission priority queues may never get services (starved) it there is always higher emission priority traffic with no BW rate limiting. A more detailed scheme provides a weighted scheduling approach to the transmission of the traffic to improve fairness, i.e., the lower emission priority traffic is transmitted. Finally, some emission priority schemes provide a mixture of both priority and weighted schedulers. 3.1.5.2 Discarded priorities Are used to determine the order in which traffic gets discarded. Due to the network congestion packets may be get dropped i.e., the traffic exceeds its prescribed amount of BW for some period of time. When the network will be congested, traffic with a higher discard priority will get drop as compare to the traffic with a lower discard priority. Traffic with similar QoS performance can be sub divided using discard priorities. This allows the traffic to receive the same performance when the network node is not congested. However, when the network node gets congested, the discard priority is used to drop the more suitable traffic first. Discard priorities also allow traffic with the same emission priority to be discarded when the traffic is out of profile. With out discard priorities traffic would need to be separated into different queues in a network node to provide service differentiation. This can be expensive since only a limited number of hardware queues (typically eight or less) are available on networking devices. Some devices may have software based queues but as these are increasingly used, network node performance is typically reduced. With discard priorities, traffic can be placed in the same queue but in effect the queue is sub divided into virtual queues, each with a different discard priority. For example if a product supports three discard priorities, then one hardware queues in effect provides three QoS Levels. Performance Dimension Application Bandwidth Sensitivity to Delay Jitter Loss VoIP Low High High Medium Video Conf High High High Medium Streaming Video on Demand High Medium Medium Medium Streaming Audio Low Medium Medium Medium Client Server Transaction Medium Medium Low High Email Low Low Low High File Transfer Medium Low Low High Table 3.1: Application performance dimensions (use histogram) Table 3.1 illustrates the QoS performance dimensions required by some common applications. Applications can have very different QoS requirements. As these are mixed over a common IP transport network, without applying QoS the network traffic will experience unpredictable behavior. 3.2 Categorizing Applications Networked applications can be categorized based on end user application requirements. Some applications are between people while other applications are a person and a networked device application, e.g., a PC and web server. Finally, some networking devices, e.g., router-to-router. Table 3.2 categorizes applications into four different traffic categories: 1. Network Control 2. Responsive 3. Interactive 4. Timely Traffic Category Example Application Network Control Critical Alarm, routing, billing ETC. Responsive Streaming Audio/Video, Client/Server Transaction Interactive VoIP, Interactive gaming, Video Conferencing Timely Email, Non Critical Table 3.2: Application Categorization 3.2.1 Network Control Applications Some applications are used to control the operations and administration of the network. Such application include network routing protocols, billing applications and QoS monitoring and measuring for SLAs. These applications can be subdivided into those required for critical and standard network operating conditions. To create high availability networks, network control applications require priority over end user applications because if the network is not operating properly, end user application performance will suffer. 3.2.2 Responsive applications Some applications are between a person and networked devices applications to be responsive so a quick response back to the sender (source) is required when the request is being sent to the networking device. Sometimes these applications are referred to as being near real time. These near real time applications require relatively low packet delay, jitter and loss. However QoS requirements for the responsive applications are not as stringent as real time, interactive application requirements. This category includes streaming media and client server web based applications. Streaming media application includes Internet radio and audio / video broadcasts (news, training, education and motion pictures). Streaming applications e.g. videos require the network to be responsive when they are initiated so the user doesnt wait for long time before the media begins playing. For certain types of signaling these applications require the network to be responsive also. For example with movie on deman d when a user changes channels or forward, rewinds or pause the media user expects the application to react similarly to the response time of there remote control. The Client / server web applications typically involve the user selecting a hyperlink to jump from one page to another or submit a request etc. These applications also require the network to be responsive such that once the hyperlink to be responsive such that once the hyperlink is selected, a response. This can be achieved over a best effort network with the help of broadband internet connection as compare to dial up. Financial transaction may be included in these types of application, e.g., place credit card order and quickly provide feedback to the user indicating that either the transaction has completed or not. Otherwise the user may be unsure to initiate a duplicate order. Alternatively the user may assume that the order was placed correctly but it may not have. In either case the user will not be satisfied with the network or applications performance. Responsive applications can use either UDP or TCP based transport. Streaming media applications typically use UDP because in UDP it would not be fruitful to retransmit the data. Web based applications are based on the hypertext transport protocol and always use TCP, for web based application packet loss can be managed by transmission control protocol (TCP) which retransmit lost packets. In case of retransmission of lost streaming media is sufficiently buffered. If not then the lost packets are discarded. This results in the form of distortion in media. 3.2.3 Interactive Applications Some applications are interactive whereby two or more people communicate or participate actively. The participants expect the real time response from the networked applications. In this context real time means that there is minimal delay (latency) and delay variations (jitter) between the sender and receiver. Some interactive applications, such as a telephone call, have operated in real time over the telephone companies circuit switched networks for over 100 years. The QoS expectations for voice applications have been set and therefore must also be achieved for packetized voice such as VoIP. Other interactive applications include video conferencing and interactive gaming. Since the interactive applications operate in real time, packet loss must be minimized. Interactive applications typically are UDP based (Universal Datagram Protocol) and hence cannot retransmit lost or dropped packets as with TCP based applications. However it would not be beneficial to retransmit the packets because interactive applications are time based. For example if a voice packet was lost. It doesnt make sense to retransmit the packet because the conservations between the sender and receiver have already progressed and the lost packet might be from part of the conversation that has already passed in time. 3.2.4 Timely Applications There are some applications which do not require real time performance between a person and networked devices application but do require the information to be delivered in a timely manner. Such example includes save and send or forward email applications and file transfer. The relative importance of these applications is based on their business priorities. These applications require that packets arrive with abounded amount of delay. For example, if an email takes few minutes to arrive at its destination, this is acceptable. However if we consider it in a business environment, if an email takes 10 minutes to arrive at its destination, this will often not acceptable. The same bounded delay applies to file transfer. Once a file transfer is initiated, delay and jitter are illogical because file transfer often take minutes to complete. It is important to note that timely applications use TCP based transport instead of UDP based transport and therefore packet loss is managed by TCP which r etransmit any lost packets resulting in no packet loss. By summarizing above paragraph we can say that timely applications expect the network QoS to provide packets with a bounded amount of delay not more than that. Jitter has a negligible effect on these types of applications. Loss is reduced to zero due to TCPs retransmission mechanism. 3.3 QoS Management Architecture We can divide QoS management architecture of VoIP into two planes: data plane and control plane. Packet classification, shaping, policing, buffer management, scheduling, loss recovery, and error concealment are involved in the mechanism of data plane. They implement the actions the network needs to take on user packets, in order to enforce different class services. Mechanisms which come in control plane are resource provisioning, traffic engineering, admission control, resource reservation and connection management etc. 3.3.1 Data Plane 3.3.1.1 Packet Forwarding It consists of Classifier, Marker, Meter, Shaper / Dropper. When a packet is received, a packet classifier is used to determine which flow or class the packet belongs to. Those packets belong to the same flow/class obey a predefined rule and are processed in an alike manner. The basic criteria of classification for VoIP applications could be IP address, TCP/UDP port, IP precedence, protocol, input port, DiffServ code points (DSCP), or Ethernet 802.1p class of service (CoS). Cisco supports several additional criteria such as access list and traffic profile. The purpose of the meter is to decide whether the packet is in traffic profile or not. The Shaper/Dropper drops the packets which crossed the limits of traffic profile to bring in conformance to current network load. A marker is used to mark the certain field in the packet, such as DS field, to label the packet type for differential treatment later. After the traffic conditioner, buffer is used for packet storage that waits for transmission. 3.3.1.2 Buffer Management and Scheduling Active queue management (RED) drops packets before the repletion of the queue can avoid the problem of unfair resource usage. Predictable queuing delay and bandwidth sharing can be achieved by putting the flows into different queues and treating individually. Schedulers of this type can not be scaled as overhead increases as the number of on-going traffic increases. Solution is class-based schedulers such as Constraint Based WFQ and static Priority which schedule traffic in a class-basis fashion. But for the individual flow it would be difficult to get the predictable delay and bandwidth sharing. So care must be taken to apply this to voice application which has strict delay requirements. 3.3.1.3 Loss Recovery We can classify loss recovery into two ways one is Active recovery and the other is Passive recovery. We have retransmission in Active recovery and Forward Error Correction (Adding redundancy) in passive recovery. Retransmission may not be suitable for VoIP because of it latency of packets increases. 3.3.2 Control Plane 3.3.2.1 Resource provisioning and Traffic Engineering Refers to the configuration of resources for applications in the network. In industry, main approach of resource provisioning is over provisioning, abundantly providing resources. Factors that make this attractive are cost of bandwidth and network planning, cost of bandwidth in the backbone is decreasing day by day and network planning is becoming simpler. 3.3.2.2Traffic Engineering It mainly focuses to keep the control on network means to minimize the over-utilization of a particular portion of the network while the capacity is available elsewhere in the network. The two methods used to provide powerful tools for traffic engineering are Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Constraint Based Routing (CBR). These are the mechanisms through which a certain amount of network resources can be reserved for the potential voice traffic along the paths which are determined by Constraint Based Routing or other shortest path routing algorithms. 3.3.2.3 Admission Control Admission control is used to limit the resource usage of voice traffic within the amount of the specified resources. There is no provision of admission control in IP networks so it can offer only best effort service. Parameter based Admission Control provides delay guaranteed service to applications which can be accurately described, such as VoIP. In case of bursty traffic, it is difficult to describe traffic characteristics which makes this type to overbook network resources and therefore lowers network utilization. To limit the amount of traffic over any period it uses explicit traffic descriptors (typical example is token bucket). Different algorithms used in parameter based admission control are: Æ’ËÅ" Ciscos resource reservation based (RSVP). Æ’ËÅ" Utilization based (compares with a threshold, based on utilization value at runtime it decides to admit or reject). Æ’ËÅ" Per-flow end-to-end guaranteed delay service (Computes bandwidth requirements and compares with available resource to make decision). Æ’ËÅ" Class-based admission control. 3.4 Performance Evaluation in VoIP applications 3.4.1 End-To-End Delay When End to End delay exceeds a certain value, the interactive ness becomes more like a half-duplex communication. There can be of two type of delay: 1) Delays due to processing and transmission of speech 2) Network delay (delay that is the result of processing with in the system) Network delay = Fixed part + variable part Fixed part depends upon the performance of the network nodes on the transmission path, transmission and propagation delay and the capacity of links between the nodes. Variable part is the time spent in the queues which depends on the network load. Queuing delay can be minimized by using the advanced scheduling mechanisms e.g. Priority queuing. IP packet delay can be reduced by sending shorter packets instead of longer packets. Useful technique for voice delay reduction on WAN is link fragmentation and interleaving. Fragment the lower packet into smaller packets and between those small packets VOICE packets are sent. 3.4.2 Delay Jitter Delay variation, also known as jitter, creates hurdle in the proper reconstruction of voice packets in their original sequential form. It is defined as difference in total end-to-end delay of two consecutive packets in the flow. In order to remove jitter, it requires collecting and storing packets long enough to permit the slowest packets to arrive in order to be played in the correct sequence. Solution is to employ a play out buffer at the receiver to absorb the jitter before outputting the audio stream. Packets are buffered until their scheduled play out time arrives. Scheduling a later deadline increases the possibility of playing out more packets and results in lower loss rate, but at the cost of higher buffering delay. Techniques for Jitter Absorption †¢ Setting the same play out time for all the packets for entire session or for the duration of each session. †¢ Adaptive adjusting of play out time during silence periods regarding to current network †¢ Constantly adapting the play out time for each packet, this requires the scaling of voice packets to maintain continued play out. 3.4.3 Frame Eraser (F.E) It actually happens at that time when the IP packet carrying speech frame does not arrive at the receiver side in time. There may be loss of single frame or a block of frames. Techniques used to encounter the frame erasure †¢ Forward Error Correction (requires additional processing) depends on the rate and distribution of the losses. †¢ Loss concealment (replaces lost frames by playing the last successfully received frame) effective only at low loss rate of a single frame. High F.E and delays can become troublesome because it can lead to a longer period of corrupt voice. The speech quality perceived by the listener is based on F.E levels that occur on the exit from the jitter buffer after the Forward Error Correction has been employed. To reduce levels of frame loss, Assured forwarding service helps to reduce network packet loss that occur because of full queues in network nodes. 3.4.4 Out of Order Packet Delivery This type of problem occurs in the complex topology where number of paths exists between the sender and the receiver. At the receiving end the receiving system must rearrange received packets in the correct order to reconstruct the original speech signal. Techniques for OUT-OF-ORDER PACKET DELIVERY It is also done by Jitter buffer whose functionality now became †¢ Re-ordering out of order packets ( based on sequence number) †¢ Elimination of Jitter Analysis of QoS Parameters Analysis of QoS Parameters Chapter 3 3. Analysis of QoS Parameters 3.1 Introduction A Number of QoS [11] of parameters can be measured and monitored to determine whether a service level offered or received is being achieved. These parameters consist of the following 1. Network availability 2. Bandwidth 3. Delay 4. Jitter 5. Loss 3.1.1 Network Availability Network availability can have a consequential effect on QoS. Simply put, if the network is not available, even during short periods of time, the user or application may achieve unpredictable or undesirable performance (QoS) [11]. Network availability is the summation of the availability of many items that are used to create a network. These include network device redundancy, e.g. redundant interfaces, processor cards or power supplies in routers and switches, resilient networking protocols, multiple physical connections, e.g. fiber or copper, backup power sources etc. Network operators can increase their networks availability by implementing varying degrees of each item. 3.1.2 Bandwidth Bandwidth is one of the most important QoS parameter. It can be divided in to two types 1. Guaranteed bandwidth 2. Available bandwidth 3.1.2.1 Guaranteed bandwidth Network operators offer a service that provides minimum BW and burst BW in the SLA. Because the guaranteed BW the service costs higher as compare to the available BW service. So the service providers must ensure the special treatment to the subscribers who have got the guaranteed BW service. The network operator separates the subscribers by different physical or logical networks in some cases, e.g., VLANs, Virtual Circuits, etc. In some cases, the guaranteed BW service traffic may share the same network infrastructure with available BW service traffic. We often use to see the case at location where network connections are expensive or the bandwidth is leased from another service provider. When subscribers share the same network infrastructure, the subscribers of the guaranteed BW service must get the priority over the available BW subscribers traffic so that in times of networks congestion the guaranteed BW subscribers SLAs are met. Burst BW can be specified in terms of amount and du ration of excess BW (burst) above the guaranteed minimum. QoS mechanism may be activated to avoid or discard traffic that use consistently above the guaranteed minimum BW that the subscriber agreed to in the SLA. 3.1.2.2 Available bandwidth As we know network operators have fixed Bandwidth, but to get more return on the investment of their network infrastructure, they oversubscribe the BW. By oversubscribing the BW a user is subscribed to be no always available to them. This allows users to compete for available BW. They get more or less BW it depends upon the amount of traffic form other users on the network at any given time. Available bandwidth is a technique commonly used over consumer ADSL networks, e.g., a customer signs up for a 384-kbps service that provides no QoS (BW) guarantee in the SLA. The SLA points out that the 384-kbps is standard but does not make any guarantees. Under lightly loaded conditions, the 384-kbps BW will be available to the users but upon network loaded condition, this BW will not be available consistently. It can be noticed during certain times of the day when number of users access the network. 3.1.3 Delay Network delay is the transit time an application experiences from the ingress (entering) point to the egress (exit) point of the network. Delay can cause significant QoS issues with application such as Video conferencing and fax transmission that simply time-out and final under excessive delay conditions. Some applications can compensate for small amounts of delay but once a certain amount is exceeded, the QoS becomes compromised. For example some networking equipment can spoof an SNA session on a host by providing local acknowledgements when the network delay would cause the SNA session to time out. Similarly, VoIP gateways and phones provide some local buffering to compensate for network delay. There can be both fixed and variable delays. Examples of fixed delays are: Application based delay, e.g., voice codec processing time and IP packet creation time by the TCP/IP software stack Data transmission (queuing delay) over the physical network media at each network hop. Propagation delay across the network based on transmission distance Examples of variable delays are: †¢ Ingress queuing delay for traffic entering a network node †¢ Contention with other traffic at each network node †¢ Egress queuing delay for traffic exiting a network node 3.1.4 Jitter (Delay Variation) Jitter is the difference in delay presented by different packets that are part of the same traffic flow. High frequency delay variation is known as jitter and the low frequency delay variation is known as wander. Primary cause of jitter is basically the differences in queue wait times for consecutive packets in a flow and this is the most significant issue for QoS. Traffic types especially real time traffic such as video conferencing can not tolerate jitter. Differences in packet arrival times cause in the voice. All transport system exhibit some jitter. As long as jitter limits below the defined tolerance level, it does not affect service quality. 3.1.5 Loss Loss either bit errors or packet drops has a significant impact on VoIP services as compare to the data services. During the transmission of the voice, loss of multiple packets may cause an audible pop that will become irritating to the user. Now as compare to the voice transmission, in data transmission loss of single bit or multiple packets of information will not effect the whole communication and is almost never noticed by users. In case of real time video conferencing, consecutive packet loss may cause a momentary glitch (defect) on the screen, but the video then proceeds as before. However, if packet drops get increase, then the quality of the transmission degrades. For minimum quality rate of packet loss must be less than 5% and less then 1% for toll quality. When the network node will be congested, it will drop the packets and by this the loss will occur. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is one of the networking protocols that offer packets loss protection by the retransmission of packets that may have been dropped by the network. When network congestion will be increased, more packets will be dropped and hence there will be more TCP transmission. If congestion continues the network performance will obviously degrade because much of the BW is being used for the retransmission of dropped packets. TCP will eventually reduce its transmission window size, due to this reduction in window size smaller packets will be transmitted; this will eventually reduce congestion, resulting in fewer packets being dropped. Because congestion has a direct influence on packet loss, congestion avoidance mechanism is often deployed. One such mechanism is called Random Early Discard (RED). RED algorithms randomly and intentionally drop packets once the traff ic reaches one or more configured threshold. RED provides more efficient congestion management for TCP-based flows. 3.1.5.1 Emission priorities It determines the order in which traffic is transmitted as it exits a network node. Traffic with higher emission priority is transmitted a head of traffic with a lower emission priority. Emission priorities also determine the amount of latency introduced to the traffic by the network nodes queuing mechanism. For example, email which is a delay tolerant application will get the lower emission priority as compare to the delay sensitive real time applications such as voice or video. These delay sensitive applications can not be buffered but are being transmitted while the delay tolerant applications may be buffered. In a simple way we can say that emission priorities use a simple transmit priority scheme whereby higher emission priority traffic is always transmitted ahead of lower emission priority traffic. This is typically accomplished using strict priority scheduling (queuing) the downside of this approach is that low emission priority queues may never get services (starved) it there is always higher emission priority traffic with no BW rate limiting. A more detailed scheme provides a weighted scheduling approach to the transmission of the traffic to improve fairness, i.e., the lower emission priority traffic is transmitted. Finally, some emission priority schemes provide a mixture of both priority and weighted schedulers. 3.1.5.2 Discarded priorities Are used to determine the order in which traffic gets discarded. Due to the network congestion packets may be get dropped i.e., the traffic exceeds its prescribed amount of BW for some period of time. When the network will be congested, traffic with a higher discard priority will get drop as compare to the traffic with a lower discard priority. Traffic with similar QoS performance can be sub divided using discard priorities. This allows the traffic to receive the same performance when the network node is not congested. However, when the network node gets congested, the discard priority is used to drop the more suitable traffic first. Discard priorities also allow traffic with the same emission priority to be discarded when the traffic is out of profile. With out discard priorities traffic would need to be separated into different queues in a network node to provide service differentiation. This can be expensive since only a limited number of hardware queues (typically eight or less) are available on networking devices. Some devices may have software based queues but as these are increasingly used, network node performance is typically reduced. With discard priorities, traffic can be placed in the same queue but in effect the queue is sub divided into virtual queues, each with a different discard priority. For example if a product supports three discard priorities, then one hardware queues in effect provides three QoS Levels. Performance Dimension Application Bandwidth Sensitivity to Delay Jitter Loss VoIP Low High High Medium Video Conf High High High Medium Streaming Video on Demand High Medium Medium Medium Streaming Audio Low Medium Medium Medium Client Server Transaction Medium Medium Low High Email Low Low Low High File Transfer Medium Low Low High Table 3.1: Application performance dimensions (use histogram) Table 3.1 illustrates the QoS performance dimensions required by some common applications. Applications can have very different QoS requirements. As these are mixed over a common IP transport network, without applying QoS the network traffic will experience unpredictable behavior. 3.2 Categorizing Applications Networked applications can be categorized based on end user application requirements. Some applications are between people while other applications are a person and a networked device application, e.g., a PC and web server. Finally, some networking devices, e.g., router-to-router. Table 3.2 categorizes applications into four different traffic categories: 1. Network Control 2. Responsive 3. Interactive 4. Timely Traffic Category Example Application Network Control Critical Alarm, routing, billing ETC. Responsive Streaming Audio/Video, Client/Server Transaction Interactive VoIP, Interactive gaming, Video Conferencing Timely Email, Non Critical Table 3.2: Application Categorization 3.2.1 Network Control Applications Some applications are used to control the operations and administration of the network. Such application include network routing protocols, billing applications and QoS monitoring and measuring for SLAs. These applications can be subdivided into those required for critical and standard network operating conditions. To create high availability networks, network control applications require priority over end user applications because if the network is not operating properly, end user application performance will suffer. 3.2.2 Responsive applications Some applications are between a person and networked devices applications to be responsive so a quick response back to the sender (source) is required when the request is being sent to the networking device. Sometimes these applications are referred to as being near real time. These near real time applications require relatively low packet delay, jitter and loss. However QoS requirements for the responsive applications are not as stringent as real time, interactive application requirements. This category includes streaming media and client server web based applications. Streaming media application includes Internet radio and audio / video broadcasts (news, training, education and motion pictures). Streaming applications e.g. videos require the network to be responsive when they are initiated so the user doesnt wait for long time before the media begins playing. For certain types of signaling these applications require the network to be responsive also. For example with movie on deman d when a user changes channels or forward, rewinds or pause the media user expects the application to react similarly to the response time of there remote control. The Client / server web applications typically involve the user selecting a hyperlink to jump from one page to another or submit a request etc. These applications also require the network to be responsive such that once the hyperlink to be responsive such that once the hyperlink is selected, a response. This can be achieved over a best effort network with the help of broadband internet connection as compare to dial up. Financial transaction may be included in these types of application, e.g., place credit card order and quickly provide feedback to the user indicating that either the transaction has completed or not. Otherwise the user may be unsure to initiate a duplicate order. Alternatively the user may assume that the order was placed correctly but it may not have. In either case the user will not be satisfied with the network or applications performance. Responsive applications can use either UDP or TCP based transport. Streaming media applications typically use UDP because in UDP it would not be fruitful to retransmit the data. Web based applications are based on the hypertext transport protocol and always use TCP, for web based application packet loss can be managed by transmission control protocol (TCP) which retransmit lost packets. In case of retransmission of lost streaming media is sufficiently buffered. If not then the lost packets are discarded. This results in the form of distortion in media. 3.2.3 Interactive Applications Some applications are interactive whereby two or more people communicate or participate actively. The participants expect the real time response from the networked applications. In this context real time means that there is minimal delay (latency) and delay variations (jitter) between the sender and receiver. Some interactive applications, such as a telephone call, have operated in real time over the telephone companies circuit switched networks for over 100 years. The QoS expectations for voice applications have been set and therefore must also be achieved for packetized voice such as VoIP. Other interactive applications include video conferencing and interactive gaming. Since the interactive applications operate in real time, packet loss must be minimized. Interactive applications typically are UDP based (Universal Datagram Protocol) and hence cannot retransmit lost or dropped packets as with TCP based applications. However it would not be beneficial to retransmit the packets because interactive applications are time based. For example if a voice packet was lost. It doesnt make sense to retransmit the packet because the conservations between the sender and receiver have already progressed and the lost packet might be from part of the conversation that has already passed in time. 3.2.4 Timely Applications There are some applications which do not require real time performance between a person and networked devices application but do require the information to be delivered in a timely manner. Such example includes save and send or forward email applications and file transfer. The relative importance of these applications is based on their business priorities. These applications require that packets arrive with abounded amount of delay. For example, if an email takes few minutes to arrive at its destination, this is acceptable. However if we consider it in a business environment, if an email takes 10 minutes to arrive at its destination, this will often not acceptable. The same bounded delay applies to file transfer. Once a file transfer is initiated, delay and jitter are illogical because file transfer often take minutes to complete. It is important to note that timely applications use TCP based transport instead of UDP based transport and therefore packet loss is managed by TCP which r etransmit any lost packets resulting in no packet loss. By summarizing above paragraph we can say that timely applications expect the network QoS to provide packets with a bounded amount of delay not more than that. Jitter has a negligible effect on these types of applications. Loss is reduced to zero due to TCPs retransmission mechanism. 3.3 QoS Management Architecture We can divide QoS management architecture of VoIP into two planes: data plane and control plane. Packet classification, shaping, policing, buffer management, scheduling, loss recovery, and error concealment are involved in the mechanism of data plane. They implement the actions the network needs to take on user packets, in order to enforce different class services. Mechanisms which come in control plane are resource provisioning, traffic engineering, admission control, resource reservation and connection management etc. 3.3.1 Data Plane 3.3.1.1 Packet Forwarding It consists of Classifier, Marker, Meter, Shaper / Dropper. When a packet is received, a packet classifier is used to determine which flow or class the packet belongs to. Those packets belong to the same flow/class obey a predefined rule and are processed in an alike manner. The basic criteria of classification for VoIP applications could be IP address, TCP/UDP port, IP precedence, protocol, input port, DiffServ code points (DSCP), or Ethernet 802.1p class of service (CoS). Cisco supports several additional criteria such as access list and traffic profile. The purpose of the meter is to decide whether the packet is in traffic profile or not. The Shaper/Dropper drops the packets which crossed the limits of traffic profile to bring in conformance to current network load. A marker is used to mark the certain field in the packet, such as DS field, to label the packet type for differential treatment later. After the traffic conditioner, buffer is used for packet storage that waits for transmission. 3.3.1.2 Buffer Management and Scheduling Active queue management (RED) drops packets before the repletion of the queue can avoid the problem of unfair resource usage. Predictable queuing delay and bandwidth sharing can be achieved by putting the flows into different queues and treating individually. Schedulers of this type can not be scaled as overhead increases as the number of on-going traffic increases. Solution is class-based schedulers such as Constraint Based WFQ and static Priority which schedule traffic in a class-basis fashion. But for the individual flow it would be difficult to get the predictable delay and bandwidth sharing. So care must be taken to apply this to voice application which has strict delay requirements. 3.3.1.3 Loss Recovery We can classify loss recovery into two ways one is Active recovery and the other is Passive recovery. We have retransmission in Active recovery and Forward Error Correction (Adding redundancy) in passive recovery. Retransmission may not be suitable for VoIP because of it latency of packets increases. 3.3.2 Control Plane 3.3.2.1 Resource provisioning and Traffic Engineering Refers to the configuration of resources for applications in the network. In industry, main approach of resource provisioning is over provisioning, abundantly providing resources. Factors that make this attractive are cost of bandwidth and network planning, cost of bandwidth in the backbone is decreasing day by day and network planning is becoming simpler. 3.3.2.2Traffic Engineering It mainly focuses to keep the control on network means to minimize the over-utilization of a particular portion of the network while the capacity is available elsewhere in the network. The two methods used to provide powerful tools for traffic engineering are Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Constraint Based Routing (CBR). These are the mechanisms through which a certain amount of network resources can be reserved for the potential voice traffic along the paths which are determined by Constraint Based Routing or other shortest path routing algorithms. 3.3.2.3 Admission Control Admission control is used to limit the resource usage of voice traffic within the amount of the specified resources. There is no provision of admission control in IP networks so it can offer only best effort service. Parameter based Admission Control provides delay guaranteed service to applications which can be accurately described, such as VoIP. In case of bursty traffic, it is difficult to describe traffic characteristics which makes this type to overbook network resources and therefore lowers network utilization. To limit the amount of traffic over any period it uses explicit traffic descriptors (typical example is token bucket). Different algorithms used in parameter based admission control are: Æ’ËÅ" Ciscos resource reservation based (RSVP). Æ’ËÅ" Utilization based (compares with a threshold, based on utilization value at runtime it decides to admit or reject). Æ’ËÅ" Per-flow end-to-end guaranteed delay service (Computes bandwidth requirements and compares with available resource to make decision). Æ’ËÅ" Class-based admission control. 3.4 Performance Evaluation in VoIP applications 3.4.1 End-To-End Delay When End to End delay exceeds a certain value, the interactive ness becomes more like a half-duplex communication. There can be of two type of delay: 1) Delays due to processing and transmission of speech 2) Network delay (delay that is the result of processing with in the system) Network delay = Fixed part + variable part Fixed part depends upon the performance of the network nodes on the transmission path, transmission and propagation delay and the capacity of links between the nodes. Variable part is the time spent in the queues which depends on the network load. Queuing delay can be minimized by using the advanced scheduling mechanisms e.g. Priority queuing. IP packet delay can be reduced by sending shorter packets instead of longer packets. Useful technique for voice delay reduction on WAN is link fragmentation and interleaving. Fragment the lower packet into smaller packets and between those small packets VOICE packets are sent. 3.4.2 Delay Jitter Delay variation, also known as jitter, creates hurdle in the proper reconstruction of voice packets in their original sequential form. It is defined as difference in total end-to-end delay of two consecutive packets in the flow. In order to remove jitter, it requires collecting and storing packets long enough to permit the slowest packets to arrive in order to be played in the correct sequence. Solution is to employ a play out buffer at the receiver to absorb the jitter before outputting the audio stream. Packets are buffered until their scheduled play out time arrives. Scheduling a later deadline increases the possibility of playing out more packets and results in lower loss rate, but at the cost of higher buffering delay. Techniques for Jitter Absorption †¢ Setting the same play out time for all the packets for entire session or for the duration of each session. †¢ Adaptive adjusting of play out time during silence periods regarding to current network †¢ Constantly adapting the play out time for each packet, this requires the scaling of voice packets to maintain continued play out. 3.4.3 Frame Eraser (F.E) It actually happens at that time when the IP packet carrying speech frame does not arrive at the receiver side in time. There may be loss of single frame or a block of frames. Techniques used to encounter the frame erasure †¢ Forward Error Correction (requires additional processing) depends on the rate and distribution of the losses. †¢ Loss concealment (replaces lost frames by playing the last successfully received frame) effective only at low loss rate of a single frame. High F.E and delays can become troublesome because it can lead to a longer period of corrupt voice. The speech quality perceived by the listener is based on F.E levels that occur on the exit from the jitter buffer after the Forward Error Correction has been employed. To reduce levels of frame loss, Assured forwarding service helps to reduce network packet loss that occur because of full queues in network nodes. 3.4.4 Out of Order Packet Delivery This type of problem occurs in the complex topology where number of paths exists between the sender and the receiver. At the receiving end the receiving system must rearrange received packets in the correct order to reconstruct the original speech signal. Techniques for OUT-OF-ORDER PACKET DELIVERY It is also done by Jitter buffer whose functionality now became †¢ Re-ordering out of order packets ( based on sequence number) †¢ Elimination of Jitter