A Modified 2-D Logarithmic Search Technique for Video Coding

A Modified 2-D Logarithmic Search Technique for Video Coding With Reduced Search Points Tahmina Akhtar† , Rahima Akter† , Chhalma Sultana Chhaya † , Ashfaqur Rahman †¡ †  Military Institute of Science and Technology/Dept of CSE, Dhaka, Bangladesh, †¡ Central Queensland University/Centre for Intelligent and Networked Systems, QLD, Australia [email  protected] com, [email  protected] com, [email  protected] com, a. [email  protected] edu. au Abstract Video coding is a process for representing video sequences in a compact manner.A significant step in video coding is searching for similar segments in previous frames and use only the difference information for reconstruction thus reducing space requirement. Different search techniques including Full search and 2-D logarithmic search etc. are used in the current literature. Full search restricts its application because of its computational load. 2D logarithmic search is computationally less expensive a lthough there are some spaces for improvement. In this paper we propose a new search technique by modifying the 2-D logarithmic search that requires less search points with insignificant loss in visual quality.Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Keywords: video coding, 2-D logarithmic search. i. INTRODUCTION Video is a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. A video is created by capturing a numbers of still images in a short time interval. When these still images are displayed very quickly, it represents the motion of the object in the images. Video represent the huge amount of data. In order to transfer video data from one place to another efficiently it is required to compress the size of video data.One way to compress the size of video data is video coding [ [1] ] [ [2] ]. The principal goal in the design of a video-coding system is to reduce the transmission rate subject to some picture quality constraint. In transmissio n side, the first frame (normally called the reference frame) is transmitted as it is and the remaining frames are sent as a function of the reference frame. The frame to be sent is divided into a number of blocks and the best match for the block is looked for in the search window of the reference frame. This processing is called the search technique in video coding literature.There exist a number of video coding techniques including MPEG-1/2/4 [ [2] ] [ [7] ], H. 26X [ [8] ] etc. uses search techniques like Full search [ [1] ], 2-D logarithmic search [ [3] ], Coarse-Fine-Three-Step search [ [4] ], Conjugate Direction search [ [5] ], and Pyramid search [ [6] ]. Each of these search techniques has merits and demerits in their favor. Full search finds the best match for a block as it searches all the candidate positions in the search window. Full search however is computationally expensive and renders difficulty for real time implementation.Some variants exist that applies some heuris tics to reduce the candidate search points and reduce the computational complexity although compromising the image quality a bit. 2-D logarithmic search is one such search technique that reduces the search points to a subset of the search window (to be detailed in literature review) and finds the near-optimal best match with reduced computational complexity. Although computationally inexpensive it contains some redundancy in the search space. We aim to reduce this redundancy and aim to find a modified 2-D logarithmic search technique with even reduced computational load.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique reduces the number of search points and thus reduces search time with insignificant sacrifice of image quality. The paper is organized as follows. In Section II we elaborate some related works. In Section III we present our proposed search approach. Some experimental results to demonstrate the effective of the proposed approach is presented in Section IV. F inally Section V concludes the paper. II. Related works In this section we present full search technique and the logarithmic search technique.In both cases the frame to be coded is divided into a number of non-overlapping equal size blocks of size p? q. The best match is looked for in a search window of size (2d+1)? (2d+1) in the reference frame . Fig 1: Block matching process in video coding that uses search techniques. * A. Full Search In Full search [ [1] ] finds the best match by inspecting all the (2d+1)? (2d+1) candidate positions within the search window. Full search procedure is brute force in nature. The advantage of Full Search is that it delivers good accuracy in searching for the best match.The disadvantage is that it involves a large amount of computation. * B. 2-D Logarithmic Search Jain and Jain [ [3] ] developed a 2-D logarithmic search technique that successively reduces the search area, thus reducing the computational burden. The first step computes the similarity for five points in the search window. These five points are as follows: the central point of the search window and the four points surrounding it, with each being a midpoint between the central point and one of the four boundaries of the window. Among these five points, the one corresponding to the minimum dissimilarity is picked as the winner.In the next step, surrounding this winner, another set of five points are selected in a similar fashion to that in the first step, with the distances between the five points remaining unchanged. The exception takes place when either a central point of a set of five points or a boundary point of the search window gives a minimum dissimilarity. In these circumstances, the distances between the five points need to be reduced. The procedure continues until the final step, in which a set of candidate points are located in a 3Ãâ€"3 2-D grid.The steps in a 2-D logarithmic search technique are presented in Fig 2. Fig 2: The 2-D logarithmic search tec hnique. The circle numbered n is searched at the n-th step. The arrows indicate the points selected as the center of the search for the next pass. The 2-D logarithmic search hits a maximum of 18 points and a minimum of 13 search points. The advantage of this technique is that it successively reduces the search area, thus reducing the computational burden. One of the disadvantages is that some points are searched more than once thus leave some space for improvement.Moreover, it follows a greedy approach by selecting the minimum dissimilar point at each step thus posing a threat to follow a local minimum trend. Considering these facts we propose to modify the 2-D logarithmic search to overcome the local minimum problem and also eliminate the redundant computing as described in the following section. iii. proposed search technique We mainly modified the 2-D logarithmic search technique to eliminate the redundancy and local minimum problem associated with it. The search technique is ela borated next under the light of 2-D logarithmic search technique.Our proposed search technique starts with the five points in the search window where the one is at the center and other four surrounds center point (Fig 3(a)). Unlike 2-D logarithmic search, our proposed technique selects two points min1 and min2 (Fig 3(b)) that has dissimilarity scores lower than the other three points. We then select a point as the center of search for the next pass that lies on the line in between min1 and min2. This selection reduces the local minimum effect as it simply does not follow the minimum point.Moreover, the five points selected in the next pass does not match with any of the previous points thus eliminates the redundancy that exists in 2-D logarithmic search. Centered at the point selected at the next pass the search continues (Fig 3(d)-Fig 3(f)). The steps of the search are portrayed in Fig 3. Following are some of the merits of our proposed technique: * Successively reduces the search area with no point searched twice * Maximum search points are 12 and minimum search points are 5 – an improvement over 2-D logarithmic search. iv. Results and DiscussionWe have conducted a comparative analysis of Full Search, 2-D logarithmic Search and our proposed search technique as presented next. All the experiments were conducted on MPEG sequences using MATLAB. We used sequences like garden, Akiyo, Table Tennis, Car, and coastguard. Full search, 2-D logarithmic search and our proposed technique applied in these standard MPEG file and we computed the ASNR (Average Signal to Noise Ratio) and Computational load (i. e. number of search points). The results on different sequences are presented next. Akiyo Sequence: Each frame of the Akiyo sequence is of 352? 88 pixels, recorded at 25 frames per second and there are a total of 398 video frames. Fig 4 shows the reconstructed 20th frame of Akiyo sequence coded using Full search, 2D-logarithmic search and proposed search techniqu e. In this video only face portion is moving. Search point comparison for these three search techniques is presented in Fig 5 and ASNR is reported in Fig 6. ASNR achieved using the proposed search technique is almost equal 2D logarithmic search but at reduced number of search points (Fig 5). Number of search points remains almost similar over the different frames.ASNR value shown in Table 1. (a)| (b)| (c)| (d)| (e)| (f)| Fig 3: The different steps of our proposed 2-D logarithmic search technique. (a) five points of search window, (b) the direction of the search in between the direction offered by the two points min1 and min2. (c) Search at step 2, (d) min1 and min2 at step 2, (e) Search points at step 3, and (f) Search ends at the blue point. (a)| (b)| (c)| Fig 4: Reconstructed 20th frame of the Akiyo sequence using (a) Full search, (b) 2-D logarithmic search, and (c) Our proposed search technique.Fig 5: Comparison of # of search points for Akiyo sequence. Fig 6: Comparison of ASNR for Akiyo sequence. Table 1: ASNR value of different search for Akiyo sequence Frame No| Full Search| 2D logarithmic Search| Proposed Search| 1st| 25. 86188| 25. 55678| 25. 46245375| 5th| 24. 84504| 23. 77938883| 23. 57562323| 10th| 24. 37532| 23. 01043038| 22. 67351877| 15th| 24. 38495| 22. 98908004| 22. 5831958| 20th| 24. 4424| 22. 90227928| 22. 56886825| 25th| 24. 44956| 23. 03416597| 22. 51615637| Car Sequence: Each frame of the Car sequence is of 320? 240 pixels and ecorded at 25 frames per second and there are a total of 398 video frames. The reconstructed 20th frame of Car sequence using the three search techniques is presented in Fig 7. In this video sequence the car moves but background is still. Here each repeated two times. Average no of search point is almost 10. 46 for repeated frames and 11. 50 for new frames. Here number of search points vary significantly compared to Akiyo sequence. Overall the proposed technique has reduced search points (Fig 8) although the ASNR is bit low (Fig 9). ASNR value of some frames shown in Table 2. a)| (b)| (c)| Fig 7: Reconstructed 20th frame of the Car sequence using (a) Full search, (b) 2-D logarithmic search, and (c) Our proposed search technique. Fig 8: Comparison of # of search points for Car sequence. Fig 9: Comparison of ASNR for Car sequence. Table 2: ASNR value of different search for Car sequence Frame No| Full Search| 2D logarithmic Search| Proposed Search| 1st| 27. 13312| 26. 5682| 26. 08265| 5th| 26. 68718| 25. 75123| 25. 16904| 10th| 26. 10589| 25. 12647| 24. 27394| 15th| 26. 31185| 25. 16266| 24. 54981| 20th| 26. 28613| 25. 1915| 24. 61234| 25th| 25. 86261| 25. 02255| 24. 12599| Garden Sequence: Each frame of the Garden sequence is of 352? 240 pixels and recorded at 30 frames per second and there are a total of 59 video frames. Fig 10 represents the reconstructed 20th frame of this sequence coded using the three search techniques. In this video the motion is due to camera movement. Fig 11 and Fig 12 reveals that the new search technique reduces the number of search points with minor loss in ASNR. ASNR value of some frames shown in Table 3. Here Average no of search point for each frames required almost same.In frame 20th average no of search point is 11. 6053 and ASNR is 18. 22931. (a)| (b)| (c)| Fig 10: Reconstructed 20th frame of the Garden sequence using (a) Full search, (b) 2-D logarithmic search, and (c) Our proposed search technique. Fig 11: Comparison of # of search points for Garden sequence. Fig 12: Comparison of ASNR for Garden sequence. Table 3: ASNR value of different search for Garden sequence Frame No| Full Search| 2Dlogarithmic Search| Proposed Search| 1st| 24. 27663| 24. 27663| 23. 5971| 5th| 21. 6078| 21. 6078| 20. 49847| 0th| 20. 71779| 20. 71779| 19. 34323| 15th| 19. 9641| 19. 9641| 18. 69269| 20th| 19. 6754| 19. 6754| 18. 22931| 25th| 19. 39791| 19. 39791| 18. 05226| Coastguard Sequence: Each frame of the Coastguard sequence is of 320? 240 pixels and recorde d at 25 frames per second and there are a total of 378 video frames. Here the boat and the camera are moving. Fig 13 represents a reconstructed frame of this sequence coded using the three search techniques. Fig 14 represents the search point required by the three techniques. Our proposed technique shows periodic nature in terms of search points.This is due to the repetitive nature of motion in the video. Fig 15 represents a comparison of ASNR obtained using different techniques. Table 4 shown ASNR of some frames. (a)| (b)| (c)| Fig 13: Reconstructed frame of the Coastguard sequence using (a) Full search, (b) 2-D logarithmic search, and (c) Our proposed search technique. Fig 14: Comparison of # of search points for Coastguard seq. Fig 15: Comparison of ASNR for Coastguard sequence. Table 4: ASNR value of different search for Coastguard seq. Frame No| Full Search| 2D logarithmic Search| Proposed Search| 1st| 24. 8771| 24. 33338| 23. 61801| 5th| 24. 31753| 23. 35416| 22. 54516| 10th| 23. 90367| 23. 03317| 22. 07546| 15th| 24. 36529| 23. 44171| 22. 66604| 20th| 24. 38658| 23. 26823| 22. 50994| 25th| 24. 54524| 23. 91583| 22. 91885| Table tennis Sequence: Each frame of the Table tennis sequence is of 352? 240 pixels and recorded at 30 frames per second and there are a total of 9 video frames. Here ball is moving fast. The reconstructed frames, number of search points, and ASNR of the three search techniques are presented in Fie 16, Fig 17, and Fig 18. Some ASNR of Table tennis sequence shown in table 5. a)| (b)| (c)| Fig 16: Reconstructed frame of the Table tennis sequence using (a) Full search, (b) 2-D logarithmic search, and (c) Our proposed search technique. Fig 17: Comparison of # of search points for Table tennis sequence. Overall the result of ASNR for Full Search is best in all cases but number of search point is so high. The result of ASNR for 2-D logarithmic and our proposed search is almost same but the number of search point of our proposed search is sm aller than the 2-D logarithmic search and thus an improvement over the existing technique.Fig 18: Comparison of ASNR for Table tennis sequence. Table 5: ASNR value of different search for Table tennis seq Frame No| Full Search| 2D logarithmicSearch| ProposedSearch| 1st| 25. 2698| 24. 56416| 23. 90544| 3rd| 23. 60795| 22. 69326| 21. 81273| 5th| 23. 43996| 22. 35007| 21. 29301| 7th| 23. 71878| 22. 71607| 21. 58383| v. Conclusion In this paper we have presented a new search technique for video coding that is a modification of the existing 2-D logarithmic search. The proposed technique reduces the search time of 2-D logarithmic search by reducing the redundant search points.Although ASNR is sacrificed to some extent it had insignificant visual impact as observed from the experimental results. References [1] Shi and H. Sun, â€Å"Image and Video Compression for Multimedia Engineering†, Fundamentals, Algorithms and Standards, 2nd Edition. [2] P. N. Tudor, â€Å"MPEG-2 Video Compre ssion†, IEEE J Langham Thomson Prize, Electronics and Communication Engineering journal, December 1995. [3] J. R. Jain and A. K. Jain, â€Å"Displacement Measurement and Its Application in Interframe Image Coding†, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. com-29, no. 12, December 1981. [4] T. Koga, K. Linuma, A. Hirano, Y. Iijima, and T.Ishiguro, â€Å"Motion-compensated interframe coding for video conferencing,† Proc. NTC’81, G5. 3. 1-G5. 3. 5, New Orleans, LA, Dec. 1981. [5] R. Srinivasan and K. R. Rao, â€Å"Predictive coding based on efficient motion estimation,† Proc. of ICC, 521-526, May 1984. [6] D. Tzovaras, M. G. Strintzis, and H. Sahinolou, â€Å"Evaluation of multiresolution block matching techniques for motion and disparity estimation,† Signal Process. Image Commun. , 6, 56-67, 1994. [7] MPEG-4, http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/MPEG-4, last accessed in December 2008. [8] H. 264, http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/H. 264, last accessed in December 2008. *

Analysis of Class, Status and Power Essay

Karl Marx and Max Weber are among the famous theorist who formed the pillar of the study of society. This come about in their contradict theories the conflict and protestant ethic respectively. It is understood that these two people lived in different eras, Marx being exposed to conditions and perspectives of the eighteen century whilst Weber dwells in the nineteen century where noticeable changes on the fast emergence of innovative technology, and a path where modernity take its toll (the industrial revolution) (Tui, 2014). The theories of Marx and Weber were applicable in their times with regards to the type, functions and interactions existing within society. As follows is the discussion of their main arguments on the contrary of their perspectives on the basis of society. According to Karl Marx, society of all hitherto is the result of social stratification and conflict. The organized economic activities and mode of production, determined the division of labor which causes the fo rmation of two classes, the bourgeoisies and the proletariat (the rich and the poor) showing opposition (antagonistic interaction). The proletariat (working class) controlled the modes of production while the bourgeois owned the means of production (Brym & Lie, 2007). The conflict theory by Marx, argued that a position in a productive system is the basis of peoples conflict. The rich attained privilege of accessing revenue and surplus whilst the poor did not resist, but remained subordinate. The bourgeois also maintained their interest by suppressing and maintaining the subordination of the proletariat (Worsley, et al., 1970). A revolution originated on the fact that men realized how capitalism deprives them of self-independence and freedom. Capitalism also increased inequality within society and enhanced further subordination of the working class. Marx believed that in the future there will be classless societies ( (Worsley, et al., 1970)). Therefore modern society is the result of the breakdown of the feudal system; the proletariats were being absorbed by the bourgeois to work in their factory, hence bringing s ociety to the end of communism (Tui, 2014). But also a classless society still experienced antagonistic, a trend of dependency between these two class, that is the bourgeois depend on the manual labor and productivity of the proletariat and vice versa, for their stability and co-existence. In contrast, Weber, in his theory, the protestant ethics, believed in hard work, personal achievement and motivations. It focuses on  individual actions and most importantly an individual’s knowledge and skills to bring about transformation of new society. In other words people consciously making decision at important times or junctures (Tui, 2014). People whom abided to protestant ethics and maintain the spirit of capitalism succeeded economically. He emphasized the importance of the growth of the service sector of the economy, with its many non-manual workers and professionals. He also articulated that capitalist development was not just caused by favorable economic conditions but religious beliefs also plays an important role (aw areness to the society of values and virtues: right and wrong) of facilitating great capitalist growth. He argued that Marx, fails to see that people in society can improve their condition in terms of education, technology to attain a better standard of living. Weber, also showed the flaws of the Conflict theory whereby he said that a revolution is not necessarily the solution to dissatisfaction and grievances. There are medium of resolving matters peacefully whereby the government is required to improve such conditions (Weber, 2005). In light of the above arguments, there is also controversy and contradiction in their discussion of class (created by eligibility and accessing to product of economy), status (social honor or professional position) and power (the ability and opportunity to control) (Worsley, et al., 1970). According to Marx, in society, there are two distinct classes: the bourgeois and the proletariat. These classes were inherited and there is nothing that can be done apart from revolution that can make the differences. The revolution would result in a classless society w here the state come to own the means of production. According to Marx, whoever has a class will have a complimentary standard of status and power. For him class is the originator of all kinds of status in society and source of power. He also stated that traditional status ascribed was used to acquire power such as the members of the noble family were born and entitled to rule. This class of nobles subsequently has high social status (Brym & Lie, 2007). Weber strongly argued that class, status and power were three totally different categories. Status and power were achieved through ones commitment and successes. It favored the concept of meritocracy which allows people to rise or fall to a position that matches their talent and efforts ( (Brym & Lie, 2007)). All of these were independent of each other. It is not necessary of an individual  or group of people in high class to have a corresponding level(s) of status and power. In general, class is directly related to how people have access to part of the society’s resources. Class should be related to your ability to buy power or your market position (Tui, 2014). Such as a proletariat can become a very important figure in government just because of his/her qualification, oratory skills and achievement. For example a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), commissioner of police, captain. These people worked their way like every proletariat from scratch and because of their ambition and hard work they are able to become successful, even though they do not have a royal or ruling background After having compared the two theories of Karl Marx and Max Weber, the latter theory of protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism by Max Weber is considered the best and useful theory to understand and explain the dynamics of my local society. Kiribati society is an example of an egalitarian society whereby people are equal and have the same rights and opportunities. The decision making process and access to government’s resources and all opportunities are carried out following established processes and procedures. Everyone is given a chance to talk for themselves or by a representative (Teitiniman, 1993). As mentioned earlier, access to opportunities are open to everyone such as position in government and non-government organization through advertisement. Eligible candidates announced and a screening test is conducted to screen out best candidates. It takes one’s effort, hardship and commitment towards professional development in order to improve life conditioning, status and attainment of power for example people acquiring scholarship for higher qualification and to qualify a higher post with high salary in the government institution (Itaia, 1979). According to Koae (1993) and agreed by Macdonald (2001) there are existing mediums of solving any grievance and dissatisfaction. These are put up in writing to the concerned department and or are taken up to court. Communities’ views and perspectives are considered as a means of improvement to policing strategies such as that adopted by the Kiribati Police Services. Elections of leaders are conducted on the basis of the public vote towards candidates (Brechtefeld, 1993). As Weber highlighted, class, status and power are achieved which is correspondingly true of my Kiribati society.  Peoples’ hard work irrespective of religious beliefs and traditional social cl ass and status, have equal and equitable access to opportunities which determine social and economic standings in my society. Bibliography Brechtefeld, N., 1993. The Electoral System. In: H. V. Trease, ed. Atoll Politics. Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, pp. 43, 44, 45. Brym, R. J. & Lie, J., 2007. Sociology Your Compass for a New World. third ed. California: Thomson Wadsworth. Itaia, M., 1979. Rebirth Te Mauri, Te Raoi, ao Te Tabomoa. In: KIRIBATI Aspects of History. Suva: Institutes of Pacific Studies, The University of the South Pacific, pp. 123,124. Koae, T., 1993. Corrupt and Illegal Electoral Practices. In: H. V. Trease, ed. Atoll Politics. Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, pp. 105-110. Macdonald, B., 2001. Cinderellas of the Empire. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, The University of the South Pacific. Teitiniman, T., 1993. Serving the People. In: H. V. Trease, ed. Atoll Politics. Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, pp. 343, 344, 345. Tui, R., 2014. Social Structures in Modern/Contemporary Societies. Suva: s.n. Weber, M., 2005. The Protestan t Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library,. Worsley, P. et al., 1970. INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY. 1 ed. Victoria: Penguin Education.

Annotated Bibliography: Stress Management Essay

Throughout life stress is a common problem whether it’s at work, school or home. The many negative effects of stress in fact affect individuals differently varying from health issues to work performance. Therefore, all individuals have different views of stress and various ways of handling it or otherwise managing their stress. Stress is when any living thing feels endangered and its homeostasis is at risk (Varvogli & Darviri, 2011, p. 74). Ways of dealing with stress are efforts of cognitive, behavioral, and psychological nature that allows a person to manage stress. Although there are different causes of stress, there are also many techniques for relieving it. The following articles are intended for the reader to understand these different techniques for relieving stress, and coping with the effects that stress can cause. Stress Management Varvogli, L., & Darviri, C. (2011). Stress management techniques: evidence-based procedures that reduce stress and promote health. Health Science Journal, 5(2), 74-89 In this evidence-based study, numerous stress management techniques are used to help reduce the ill effects that stress can cause. The authors explain each technique as well as the benefits. The techniques include the following: Progressive Muscle Relaxation which consists of tensing and relaxing muscles in the abdomen, legs, arms, and face; Autogenic Training in which the person learns to instruct the body to relax and control otherwise autonomic body functions such as heartbeat and blood pressure; Relaxation Response is a repetition process that allows an individual to concentrate, and return to that repetition when other thoughts come to mind; Biofeedback uses instruments to measure physiological activity, which gives information to the user to utilize with changes in emotions and thinking to allow physiological changes; Guided imagery is audio, writing, or a professional using the person’s individualized images to reduce stress and promote health; Diaphragmatic breathing, or bell deep breathing, is thought to reset the autonomic nervous system, and promote relaxation; Transcendental meditation which is when the individual sits and repeats a chant with closed eyes; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy uses assessments, cognitive and behavioral treatments, along with physician and patient cooperation to help the patient become self-aware, and change their way of thinking; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction uses meditation to help those suffering from mental or physical ailments; and the Emotional Freedom Technique which encompasses the use of acupressure while speaking a phrase out loud. All of these techniques allow the individual to relax and alleviate stress, and improve his or her health. It also explained that these methods can help with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, pain management, and reduce anxiety due to chronic illness. Engel B . (2004). Are We Out of Our Minds With Nursing Stress? Creative Nursing 10(4), 4-6. The article was written about large amounts of stress occurring in the nursing community and the effect it has on us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It goes on to describe certain ways to approach stress and stress relief to include, taking certain actions to manage stress and be able to use that to better the profession. Stress is a part of our daily lives and even more so in nursing. The situations that a nurse is put in on a daily basis are not only physically demanding, but are emotionally draining as well and even tax our spirituality having to deal with death and dying, sickness and disease. The article goes on to talk about stress manifestations, or how we perceive stress in our lives and our own approaches to it. Stress can be harmful and even debilitating. Or it can help sharpen your skills and challenge you to get better, depending on how you plan on dealing with it. Understanding stress and what it can do will open us up to figuring out how to use it to our advantage. One of the ways the article describes a way to approach a stressful situation is â€Å"mindfulness.† This is the ability to realize where you are in the situation, to include your physical body and what is going on around you. This is described as knowing your body knowing what is going on inside and realizing where you are in the situation. Maloney, C. (2012). Critical incient stress debriefing and pediatric nurses: An approach to support the work enviroment and mitigate negative consequences. Pediatric Nursing, 38(2), 110-113. In this article Maloney covers stress debriefing for nurses involved in traumatic incidents in throughout the workplace, specifically paying close attention to critical incidents and pediatric nurses. Traumatic events are common in the nursing workplace and if not properly tended to, can result in physical and emotional distress. Although quantitative research cannot determine the efficacy of critical incient stress debriefing, the author used a great example of a study that had extremely positive results that cut down the turnover in one hospital by half. Maloney also used studies that supported that critical incident stress debriefing was found useful over 98% of the time, and helped nurses find meaning over 97% of the time. Stress in these work environments can cause many symptoms that would effect a person’s well being not only physically but also emotionally, this article offers a great tool that can be used to reduce stress levels, and shows that hospitals are also contributing to stress management in other ways. Furthermore, the article would be very relevant for research of stress management in nursing as well as for first responders (i.e. fire fighters, EMT’s and paramedics) and other agencies that respond to traumatic situations. The author points out those hospital administrators that are recognizing the needs for emotional support that goes beyond the responsibility of the individual, and those hospitals are implementing programs to provide all the support they can to help relieve the stress brought upon healthcare providers (nurses). Bento, W. (2012). Living with Stress as the New Norm of the Post Modern World its consequences and challenges. LILIPOH (LILIPOH), 17(66), 21-7. In this article, Bento states many different types of stresses that a person comes across on each and every day. He states that the â€Å"four main sources of stress are worth noting. The first is perceived threats of any kind, whether physical, social or financial. Stress due to threats is always related to needs either being denied or jeopardized. Whether rational or irrational, the feelings generated from such stress translate into existential angst. The level of existential angst is higher the more it is perceived that there is no way to control or reduce the threat.† (Bento, 2012, 24). He also states that fear, cognitive dissonance and anxiety towards the future are three additional stressors that tax on to a person’s life and affects their daily habits. Knowing and understanding the factors of stress will allow a person to further comprehend his or hers environment and surroundings. Once that understanding is further developed, an individual will be able to make steps into controlling and managing different types of stress. Thus, applying it into the real world and the world of nursing. Solowieg, K. (2010). Take it easy: how the cycle of stress and pain associated with wound care affects recovery. NURS RESIDENTIAL CARE, 12(9), 443-444. This Article explains how stress can be detrimental to the human body, especially in a health care facility. Pain is closely intertwined with stress being that when a person feels pain, their level of stress and anxiety can inhibit optimal immune system function. In Solowiej’s article, it shows a study that â€Å"wound cleansing is considered to be one of the most painful treatments associated with wounds. Pain itself can have a negative impact on wound healing, as it can contribute to stress and other negative emotional states including fear, anxiety and depression.† (Solowiej, 2010, 444). It is important to know how pain and stress are very similar because when combined the psychological effects is has on a person can slow down the process of healing. Furthermore, when initial pain is confronted right away with positive reinforcement, a negative reaction to a trauma, chronic wound or small damage can help a person or patient make a full recovery from a situation. Urban, A. (2010). Managing stress. SRNA NEWSBULLETIN, 10(4), 7. The Article written by Anne Marie Urban gives us insight to how we can manage and prevent stress. Stress is inevitable cannot be prevented. It is an integral part of our life and will always happen from time to time whether it is a positive or negative one. However, even though stress itself is impossible to prevent, management of it can provide a positive response to a person’s life. Urban states that there are four ways for a person to positive manage and analyze stress. In doing so can provide a good energy for a person to use for their everyday activities. The four steps to a positive mindset towards stress are called Stop, Breath, Reflect, and Choose. The first step, Stop, asks an individual to think and analyze what is going on in their surroundings, and asking to not let their emotions and thoughts escalate. The second step is to Breathe. When in a stressful situation, it is difficult to take a second to catch your breath, but taking those few extra moments can help a person gather themselves. Taking deep breaths, and inhaling and exhaling calmly can help trigger a relaxation response to the body. Reflect is the third step of management. Analyzing and thinking about the situation. This step asks to look from the outside and ask yourself internal questions. Asking these internal questions helps to see if an individual is being over reactive or if there are other alternatives. The last of the four steps is choosing your response to a situation. This is a person’s decision to act upon a situation and ask themselves if the stress is worth it or not. Knowing these techniques can help maintain manage stress at a low level. There are many forms and sources of stress that can affect an individual’s well-being or surroundings. Being able to manage stress properly and doing so in a positive way will allow a person to achieve their goals or make a memorable impact on the world. Davis, C. (2011). Forum to help staff deal with day-to-day Stress . Nursing Management – UK, 18(4) , 18-21. This article is based upon studies in hospitals in England. The study provided a program to help hospital staff deal with stress from patient care, coworkers, and everyday stress in a hospital environment. In order to reduce stress, the article encourages discussion and group interaction in order to talk about emotional and social stress and challenges. This article stresses the importance for â€Å"rounds† to be incorporated in all hospitals in order for the healthcare professional to verbally discuss a patient’s case, plan of care, and any concerns an individual may have. One weakness to this article is that it does not touch on individual support for stress. If an individual does not benefit from the rounds and their stress level is still high, there is no alternative listed. Also, being in a group setting may increase someone’s stress and may only make the individuals stress worse. This correlates to the topic of stress management because every day as a nurse, we will be faced with stress and may be emotionally stressed out due to a patient’s care or diagnosis. This article is promoting and advocating how rounds will help decrease stress in healthcare professional, which will ultimately improve patient care. I believe that this article is on point with the implication of rounds for healthcare professionals. It allows the healthcare team to come together as a group and talk about problems and patient care, which can reduce stress and anxiety in the healthcare professionals. Cox, T., & Griffiths, A. (2007). Work-related stress in nursing: controlling the risk to health. Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://ilo-mirror.library.cornell.edu/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/4stress.pdf This scholarly article was written to identify the causes of stress in hospital-based nurses as well as provide therapies and techniques in order to manage stress. This article states that stress in nursing is derived from three areas: work demands that are not matched to the level of knowledge of the nurse, work that does not fulfill their needs, level of co ntrol at work, and the lack of support a nurse may receive (Cox & Griffiths, 2007, p. 3). The article also touches on how stress affects the health of the nurse as well. This is the strength of this article because not only does it list the origin of stress, but it also states how overtime stress can affect the health of the nurse. This is helpful to readers because even though stress is a normal part of life, it must be controlled and managed otherwise it can negatively affect the health and wellness of the individual. One weakness of this article is that it only focuses on hospital-based nursing and neglects nurses that are working outside of the hospital. One way the article could be improved would be to research and comment on the profession of nursing as a whole rather than to only focused on nursing working inside the hospital. This article is directly related to the topic of stress management because it focuses on the origin of stress a nurse may face while working, the affects of stress on the nurse’s health, and tips to manage stress and promote health and wellness. This article is a great article for nurses to read because it provides tips and techniques to avoid and reduce stress as well as manage stress once present. Abraham, S. (2012). Relationship between stress and perceived self-efficacy among nurses in India. . Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://www.ictbm.org/ictbm12/ICTBM12CD/pdf/D2144-done.pdf This scholarly article focuses in on nurses in India and how stress affects not only the nurse but also the organization the nurse works for. This article states that the individual as well as the organization should manage the stress but the individual experiencing stress should be primarily in charge. The article lists techniques to manage stress but also touches on the how the individual’s capacity to cope with stress can affect the stress level. One strength of this article is that it emphasizes self-efficacy as a part of stress management. According to Abraham (2012), self-efficacy is defined as â€Å"beliefs in one’s own capacity to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations† (p. 611). This is important for coping with stress because multitudes of tips and techniques can be offered, but it is up to the individual and the capacity for a change in behavior to cope with stress. A weakness of this article is that the study was conducted only in India and does not include nurses from all different countries. This could be a weakness because nursing practices in India may differ from

Smart beta question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Smart beta question - Essay Example Throughout the time fund manages look forward for different ways to make the investment products effective. The new smart beta strategies works as passive equity investment assets for the market capitalization due to which most of the pension funds in the European countries like Netherlands, Scandinavia etc have shifted their equities portfolios towards smart beta strategies(Skypala). As the article of David highlights that the adoption of Smart beta strategies is one of the fastest growing investments as it tracks certain stock and asset in the index than emphasizing on the entire market. Smart beta has provided greater increase in the interest rate on the equity portfolio(Oakley). It has assessed providing greater and better returns on the equities than the passive or beta funds through taking in account the small company stocks(Skypala). I believe that the Smart Beta is one of the effective approaches that can provide a better combination of passive and active management approache s for the active managers to yields higher returns on the portfolios. In addition, the Smart beta can be an effective approach that lowers the risk for maintaining, enhancing long term returns. This is because the Smart Beta strategies allow multiple approaches for the managers to evaluate the fund management, as it is an alternative strategy that overcomes the risk parity, minimum variance and maximum diversification, value and growth and risk factors indices. However some of the active managers believe that the smart beta has the similar amount of risks involved that the previous approaches. Despite of the fact, the smart beta products still remain one of the most expensive portfolios to invest in than the other passive fund that have eventually decreased their fee to cut bones. This is because the smart beta products have higher and better returns than the other portfolios that provide a better opportunity for its investors to

Effective Time Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effective Time Management - Research Paper Example Productivity, delivery, and success of a project are aspects that are determined by earlier plans and management in the project resources, scope, and other factors. When the initiation, planning, and execution are successfully achieved and controlled, then the completion phase which gives the end product, quality delivery, and success in the general project is attained without crisis. There are many factors that influence all these activities, but with effective time management every crisis is managed and the positive factors are used to perfect the project accomplishment. Badiru identifies the eight functional areas that embody project management practice; scope, time, quality, cost, communication, human resources, contract, and the risk that have to be managed for their influence in project implementation, productivity, and successful delivery. Other factors affecting success are leadership and organization. With effective time management, the management allocates not only the acti vities the required time to be performed, but finds quality time to assess the project progress; this is because time management allows one to become flexible enough, being where or doing what one is required to do at the right time. Divakar and Subramanian classify the critical success factors as strategic and tactical (personnel selection and training, and client consultation). Basically, the effort, plans, and motivations set in the process of planning projects determine the final actions complete it.

Decision Making Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Decision Making Analysis - Essay Example This scenario creates a paradox that demanded quite holistic considerations before the decision could be made. This paper shall explore such considerations made by Pepsi and evaluate the ultimate decision made by the CEO. Pepsi is one of the leading Food and Beverage companies worldwide. The head quarter of this company is based in the United State of America. From the USA, Pepsi reaches out to over two hundred other countries of the world and has employed almost three hundred thousand workers in these various countries. This company specializes on the production of soft drinks of different brands. The company however diversifies its production to other related products such as bottled water, savory and even the whole-grain snacks. This diversification has tremendously increased the sale and consequently, the gross profit of the company across the globe (Pepsi, 2010). Moving to Africa was not a soft nut for the management of the company. There were several factors that posed threats to the operations in Africa. On the other hand, the optimistic CEO could discern abundant opportunities for making huge profit in the fallow land of Africa. For that matter, the pros and cons had to be weighed on the same beam balance. Infrastructure is always the key consideration made by any multinational companies before opening corporate businesses in foreign countries. In this case, the target location had poor infrastructure. Bad roads may deter the product distribution and sales especially in the remote areas. The company might have to spend more on vehicle repair and maintenance. Electricity distribution in some parts of Africa is unevenly. The electricity energy is needed to preserve and cool the soft drinks would be lacking in such locations, giving the products a bad taste thereby lowering the demand. Another big challenge to Pepsi Company would be its competitors, and in this case, the Coca cola company which has deeply established its roots in the

The Impact of Woodland Management Practices on Biodiversity Essay

The Impact of Woodland Management Practices on Biodiversity - Essay Example For humans, woodlands provide a valuable resource in terms of the wood from cutting down trees, and in some cases the use of cleared land for farmland. Both of these uses of woodland significant disrupt the species living within it, often displacing them or causing local extinction. The purpose of this essay is to examining practices of woodland management and to consider what impact these have on biodiversity and what the long-term outcomes of these approaches are likely to be. In addition, alternative approaches to current woodland management practices will be considered, as well as the underlying drivers that influence what woodland management practices are prevalent. It is argued that current woodland management practices place the biodiversity within the woodland environment at significant risk, and in the long-term will result in an unrecoverable loss of species, ultimately decreasing the usefulness of woodland as a resource. Importance of Biodiversity Biodiversity has become a buzzword of the modern political environment, and is a prominent topic among many different people and areas, including universities, politicians, schools and broadcasters. The current age is often referred to as having a biodiversity crisis, or that there are many threats to biodiversity which must be properly handled in order to conserve biodiversity. The term has become highly popular and politically centred in recent years, and humankind attempts to find ways of preserving biodiversity without compromising growth and human life. However, biodiversity itself is difficult to define, as the term is used by a wide range of people, many of whom do not define what they mean by the phrase. Throughout literature there are more than 80 different definitions of the term, which vary slightly or significantly from one another (Spicer, 2009). The definition of biodiversity that is arguably the most correct is that which was derived as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which wa s signed by 150 nations in 1992. This definition considers biodiversity to be variability among living organisms from all areas of the world, including diversity that occurs within ecosystems, between species and within species. Defining the term however, is only one aspect. To effectively address the problems surrounding biodiversity, there needs to be an effective method of measuring it. Finding consensus approaches to measuring biodiversity is an important approach to solving problems of biodiversity; however, this is not an easy task. For example, a forest ecosystem has a large amount of different species including the easily visible plants, animals and birds, the smaller organisms such as insects, and then microorganisms, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Counting all of these species would be a large task, and does not take into account another important aspect of biodiversity, specifically , how many of each species are present (Spicer, 2009). Because of these problems , different researchers make use of different approaches to attempt to provide an indication of the measure of biodiversity within an area, such as the number of species that are present or their abundance. Often, a specific type of species may be focused on, such as studies that examine the biodiversity of birds within forest communities (Aleixo, 1999). Other indicators

An examination of employee retention strategy in Ramsay Health Care UK Dissertation

An examination of employee retention strategy in Ramsay Health Care UK - Dissertation Example According to the studies of Lee (2006); Raub and Streit (2006); Stovel and Bontis (2002) have numerously linked employee turnover and also employee retention to recruitment source. The focus of the present study is to consider the efficacy of employee retention system in Ramsay health care. Employee Retention Practices of Employee Retention Employee Turnover: Theoretical Framework: Current Retention Strategy: The organization under investigation, which is Ramsay Health Care UK, has a retention strategy which includes rewards that mainly consists of non-financial rewards. These rewards includes 75% medical aid support, subsidized food, housing loans, educational support program, uniforms and transport allowances to the lower level employees. Ramsay Health Care UK offers 100% medical aid support, subsidized food, allowances for transport and housing, fuel, car of company, education and housing loans and cell phones of company as well as bonuses on holidays for high level employees. Apa rt from these all retention packages, Ramsay Health Care UK is offering a strategic recruitment program in which they are sponsoring students with an undertaking that students benefitted from the program will work for Ramsay Health Care UK after the completion of their studies for the number of years the sponsorship lasted. In case, a student who has received sponsorship for 5years then he will have to work for the organization for at least five years then he can look for an alternative job elsewhere. As a part of retention program of Ramsay Health Care UK, there is a promotion within Ramsay that foster decent succession proposal and also encourages the employees to form a life-long career in Ramsay Health Care UK. This act will also bring loyalty and constancy amongst the employees. Significance of the Study The significance of the study is that that the selected topic is not as popular in such type of the organizations. Usually we relate medical centers with surgeons, doctors, num ber of beds, facilities, operation theatres, etc. but this study moves around a neglected issue of a medical center that can eventually play a vital role in the performance of a medical center and whose enormous magnitude can move a performance graph from bottom to top or top to bottom. This issue is related with the ones who run the medical center i.e. the employees. This study goes deep into the issues of employee turnover and the employee retention strategy. The causes of employee turnover at Ramsay Health Care are explored; the current retention practices have been examined, the effectiveness of the retention practices have also been determined and the study is concluded on a workable retention strategy, that can reduce the rate of employee turnover in the Ramsay Health Care if applied. This study will help to improve the already existing strategies in the organization and will also facilitate other relevant fields and organizations to improve their employee retention strategies . This study will also help the administration of the organization to identify the causes of turnover rate of employees and provide them an insight to overcome those causes and factors which are creating hindrance in employee retention practices. This study may lend a hand to the organization to have a strong and healthy milieu, as the health care units need to have a calm and peaceful

One Work of Art from Michelangelo Buonarroti and One work of Art from Assignment

One Work of Art from Michelangelo Buonarroti and One work of Art from Leonardo da Vinci - Assignment Example Through the art we are able to see how they have dressed and also in the picture we see one person at the center representing the religious leaders also being involved (Meyer, 2011). It’s seen as the last judgment presented to people on the account of their evil deeds in church. In the Mona Lisa art Leonardo tried to put across the beauty by her curves on her long hair with the color on her face being toned bringing out her beauty. Her hands joined together showed her being calm or relaxed. The clothing can be seen as an ideal woman from her decency showing how mature she is. Her skin color is evenly distributed through da Vinci’s painting. Buonarroti picture symbolizes the kind of activities in the society. The nude picture represents the church followers back scenes which are not in line with Christianity. Michelangelo was a religious person and through his artistic talent he portrayed human anatomy and movements in most of his arts. He was able to blend the colors well the blue shade and the brown shade. The blue showing the sky and the white clouds with people around with actions like asking for a favor from someone (Meyer, 2011). Leonardo da Vinci used blurred and dark outlines contrast of light and dark bringing an ambiguous effect. It has been able to convey an ideal woman as she is conservative and the looks on her face cannot be really told as blank expression as you cannot really determine if she’s smiling or not. Leonardo da Vinci used the technique in framing, use of lighting and composition (Perry, 2009).He used observations and understanding in coming up with his art. Mona Lisa’s eyebrows and eyelashes are visible portraying her beauty. Through glazing technique to show realism achieved through variation in color and shading. He tried to portray her inner beauty by using the dull colors portraying calmness (Perry, 2009). He also used the oil layering on wooden palette. The brush strokes can be seen as

Effect of Greek Financial Crisis on the British Economy Essay

Effect of Greek Financial Crisis on the British Economy - Essay Example During the early days of 2010 sovereign debt was a subject of attention for the whole world. Sovereign debt is the total debt owed by a sovereign country like Greece to its creditors. As a result of this crisis, there was a panic in the financial market worldwide and euro suffered a huge decline in its value. Greece was helped by the EU and IMF to provide them with loans that could rescue the situation. This can be a short term solution to the problem but the obligations of long term debt will still persist or may even get worse (Abboushi, â€Å"Abstract†). David Cameron in one of his statements warned that British economy will suffer more due to this euro zone crisis. It remains a threat to the future of euro. There had been a decline in the growth rate of employment, especially in public sector of UK. The investors are losing confidence in the market and the financial market in UK suffered a setback. A deep recession is on the cards if the situation is not handled carefully. More support for the banking sector is needed and the Government should be forced to take some emergency steps to help improve the financial system, before the crisis worsens further. Even though Britain is not a part of euro zone, still budgetary deficit concerns of the country should be addressed immediately. British banks already hold a considerable amount of debt in Greece, which can be an area of major concern. Moreover, with Greece defaulting to pay their debts, the problem can spread over nations like Spain and Italy where UK has a much larger investment. In addition to this, euro zone is one of the biggest trading partners of UK, so obviously this crisis can have an impounding effect on UK’s economy if other big European economies falter (PRLog, â€Å"How the Greek economy can affect us all†). 2. Changes in the NHS led by the UK Government UK government took a bold step towards reforming National Health Services (NHS) in the country. There had been many major changes in NHS structure due to this decision of UK government and it is for the first time in the history of NHS that such radical changes are taking place. Hospitals are no longer under NHS. General Practitioners (GPs) and not the management bodies now have a huge role and responsibility and are in charge of major part of the budget. This move resulted in abolition of all the 10 strategic health authorities as well as 152 primary care trusts which are the management bodies of NHS. Most of the budget of NHS is now in the hands of GPs only and they have the authority to plan out things accordingly. The GPs are now to decide on the spending of NHS. This new re-structuring of NHS gives way to the development of a new board which is independent of any kind of political influence. It is completely an independent body now and has control over its own accountability. Health of public is now the responsibility of local authorities. NHS industry is now more of a top-down design with GPs sit ting at the top level. The patients are now being provided with more information through ‘HealthWatch’, a new type of body specially designed for the purpose. The patients now have the option to choose the GP according to their own wish and get registered with them. Since its inception in the year 1948, NHS has never experienced such drastic changes. Now the question remains as to what benefits these changes will bring to the people and the

Biometrics - Careers, Technology and Contribution to Business Competit Research Paper

Biometrics - Careers, Technology and Contribution to Business Competitive Advantage - Research Paper Example The acquisition device extracts a feature from the provided sample to produce a reference template which would undergo matching with a match- template to generate a score (Barcode.ro, 2014). There is always a predetermined threshold based on which the score of the biometric score gets measured to reach a decision; conclusion on the degree of match. Majors in the field of biometrics stand a chance of securing jobs in organizations such as police forces, government agencies and intelligence services, corporate investigation companies and forensic computing firms. Biometric specialists can be employed in these organizations for a range of job titles including cryptographers, who work towards hiding the kind of information that should be kept secret, for example, bank account PINs (Kent.ac.uk, 2014). Another job title in this profession is a software developer whose job description is to encrypt software and offer data compression services. Network software developers play the role of designing software for media companies. Biometrics as a technology is applied for different reasons that vary depending on the type of organization. The employability is however limited to verification of identification for either enterprise or document security (detection of fraud). Identification is essential to addressing loyalty and theft in a business environment (Opara, Rob & Etnyre, 2006). It is also widely applied in forensics, for instance, prison security and criminal identification. Many businesses are sluggish in the adoption of Biometric technologies into their operations. Reports show that the slow adoption is mainly attributed to the high financial costs associated with the installation and maintenance of biometric equipment. However, Biometrics is the most reliable option that any business will ever resolve. Its adoption is associated with plenty of competitive advantages in an increasingly competitive market.  Ã‚  

Bmw’s Dream Factory and Culture Essay Example for Free

Bmw’s Dream Factory and Culture Essay The culture at BMW is an entrepreneurial culture which emphasizes creativity, risk taking and the bottom-up system of freewheeling ideas. The top-down management style is popular in Germany but not at the BMW. As soon as associates start working at the BMW, they will have the sense of the place, history and the mission of the company. BMW creates a working environment that promotes easier communications between leaders and employees. Every employee can contribute his or her ideas and creations via either formal or informal ways. For example, an employee sees his or her supervisor by chance on the way to lunch, he/she can tell this person of the idea which has just happened in his/her mind. More importantly, their voices and their ideas are heard, welcomed and brought into discussions and consideration. As a result, a car from BMW is often a production of thousands of impromptu brainstorming sessions. Furthermore, BMW cares for the benefits of its employees. It includes all employees in profit sharing. It has a plan that distributes as much as one and a half months’ extra pay at the end of the year to employees. The company also provides a high level of job security for its employees. Lastly, BMW also focuses on high-quality but practical products which meet the demand of consumers and are highly competitive with other auto producers. The company’s near-failure from producing impractical and expensive cars during the postwar time in 1959 was a big lesson for them. This near-failure is always retold and mentioned in all new orientations for the new associates. It helps to remind all employees at BMW of a lesson learned for the company in developing its plans in the future and ensuring that kind of mistake should never happen again. 2. Discuss the model of leadership illustrated at BMW. The model of leadership illustrated at BMW is the consideration model of leadership. The leaders at BMW have close relationships with subordinates that are based on mutual trust, two-way and open communications, and respect for employees’ ideas. The managers at BMW must stay humble and work closely with subordinates and their peers. The Leipzig factory, which looks like an art museum, is a very creative working environment that can make the communications between managers and employees easier. Managers at BMW are the ones who know to make the right questions to ask their subordinates, not the ones who have all the right answers. They also emphasize the satisfaction of their employees’ needs and provide as many benefits to their employees as possible. They are approachable and always willing to listen to their employees. They think if the employees are well motivated, better cars will be produced. . Discuss how the leadership model contributes to the culture. The leadership model at BMW shortens the distance between leaders and subordinates. The relationships between them are built on mutual trust. Employees can feel free to raise their innovative ideas to their managers anytime and anywhere. When the employees see that their voice is heard, they are more encouraged to talk. Moreover, the company cares for the employees’ benefits. In return, the employees are very flexible to contribute their best for the company. The employees do not mind working temporarily for months in another work location which requires them to be far away from their family. They are willing to work for extra hours without being concerned about overtime. In summary, the leadership model at BMW has made it such a culture that is quite distinct from other German companies. 4. Discuss why employees derive high job satisfaction at BMW. The employees of BMW derive high job satisfaction because their benefits are well cared of, their voice is heard and their hard work is highly appreciated. Also, their job security at BMW is high. Any employees, regardless of what grade they are, can contribute their ideas and their innovations to the company’s managers easily. There are no complicated, formal processes or procedures required to send their ideas to their management teams. Furthermore, when the company gets more profits, the employees will also be more benefited. Good working environment is developed and paid attention to. In conclusion, BMW’s employees are highly motivated so they are satisfied and willing to contribute more to the development of the company.

Employee Performance in the Hotel Industry

Employee Performance in the Hotel Industry 1.1 Background Information: Employees are the assets for an organization. This is true because the success or failure of any organization depends upon its employee too. The importance of an employee in hospitality industry becomes more significant because of its nature- manpower intensive industry. In hospitality industry and hotel sector especially it is very important for organizations to stay focused on employee performance and so how to get enhancement in the employee performance. There are many reason of providing training to the employees. One basic reason is to fill the performance gap after having been identified the same. This gape can be known while having performance evaluation process. These days hotels have been taking continuous efforts to provide most practical and relevant training to the employees of all the functional area of the hotel concerned. These efforts of the hotels are more towards integration and getting more concrete results. Those hotels earning good profit have their well-developed training systems and they resort to a planned approach to training its employees. This level of hotel organization has regular training programmes regardless of its concrete tangible gains or not. There are many hotels where they have different approach to train the employees, that approach is intentional training, this includes providing training to all the employees irrespective of their deficiencies and strengths. This kind of approach of training goes on as one of the function of the organization. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K (2005) Employee performance is more important in this industry because employees are having direct interaction with the guest and secondly it is employee of the hotel industry that satisfies its guest. So it is very important for the manager concerned to know the factors that affects employee performance. There is a saying that perfection of work depends on pleasure at job. So pleasure and performance both can be achieved by quality education about the subject area and systematic training of the same. As far as Indian hospitality industry is concerned, a report commissioned by the department of tourism, Government of India, revealed that the annual demand for trained manpower in hotels and restaurants is likely to touch 29,000 by the year 2010. This figure is likely to increase to approximately 39,000 by the year 2020.And the actual supply of manpower? A total of approximately 18,000 students are being trained in hotel management and food craft annually in the country. Currently, in hotels, attrition rates are at 18-25 per cent per annum, and growing at an alarming rate of 10 per cent per annum. This, exacerbated by an escalating wage bill of 10-12 per annum with a five-year forecast pegged at a minimum increase of 40 per cent over current levels. Thus systematic training will play a life saving role in hospitality industry to counter with the current scenario. www.indiatoday/may2007/page24 After having basic information about systematic training and its significance to the hotel industry author would like to provide definitions of the key terms of this research. 1.2 Definitions: Training means learning some new things for increment or development of the working personnel. Training is becoming a necessary for having skills and attitudes as a part of each individuals working life for the higher performance. Performance Management: it is a process which is designed to improve organization, team and individual performance and which is owned and driven by line manager. Fool.M, Hock.C (2002). Training constitutes a systematic approach to training which includes taking the time to analyze what results the organization needs from its employees, if employees are accomplish those results. A systematic approach includes evaluating approaches before, during and after training to ensure employees truly benefited from the training in terms of enhanced results to the organization. www.managemertthelp.org/trng-dev/basics/sd.htm. Training is a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behavior through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Golssmith.A, Nickson.D, Solan.S, Wood.R.C,; (1997). Training is a systematic process through which an organizations human resources gain knowledge and develop skills by instructions and practical activities that result in improved corporate performance. Frank.M.G, Mary.L, Monchello, BaumJ (1996). 1.3 Aim and objectives / Research Questions / Hypothesis: 1.3.1 Aim and Objectives: Purpose of this research work is to explore systematic training as a major factor in enhancement of employee performance in service department of hotel Industry. To explore the term Systematic Training and employee performance in hotel Industry. To explore the determinants of employee performance To find out relation between systematic training and employee performance. To explore training as motivational tool that leads to employee satisfaction. To explore the process involved in systematic training 1.3.2 Research Question: R.Q.1: What are the factors that influence employee performance in hotel sector of hospitality Industry? R.Q.2: How systematic training will ensure employee performance in hotel Industry? R.Q.3: What is the mechanism (process or technique) of systematic training? Is training works as motivational factor? 1.4 Rationale behind choice of this research topic: Employee performance is key to success of hotel organizations. So this is a prime area of focus because employee performance leads to organizational success and especially in hotel industry because of its nature that is manpower intensive industry. This is the reason employee performance is always a matter of consideration. These are the reasons author felt to explore this area with the help of systematic training. 1.5 Structure of Dissertation: This section is about presentation of the dissertation. First chapter after this introduction section is LITERATURE REVIEW which is chapter No.2, in this section author has presented his secondary research. After that chapter No.3 is METHODOLOGY chapter where in author has explained the methodology used to achieve the aim and objectives of this research. After methodology section there is chapter No.4 which is basically ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS with the help of tables and graphs. And at last chapter is 5 which contains CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. After these there is BIBLIOGRAPHY section which is nothing but list of references, followed by APPENDIX section which contains sample questionnaire and other additional material related with this research. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction: Literature review section of this report is secondary research related to the topic area and aim and objectives established by the author. This section of the research has been proving the research related to the topic area with the help of secondary research. All the variables of this research has been taken into account and all possible factors are also explored which is statements and quotes and sayings of scholars. 2.2 Significance of performance management: Performance management requires a willingness and commitment to focus on improving performance at the level of individual or team everyday. It focuses on performance and potential appraisal, performance review and feedback, and 360-degree feedback. All these processes center round improvement of performance levels of the employees. Its main purpose is to improve performance at all three levels- individual, group and hotel. A direct application of performance management is raising competency levels and potential of employees through employee training and development. Training and development efforts need to be linked with performance and potential appraisal systems prevailing in the hotel to improve results from training. Concrete gains from such training efforts initiated for employees can be achieved. Where performance appraisal has indicated poor performance, training focused at improving needed performance levels can yield significant improvement of performance by initiating need based professional development programs. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Managing higher performance in a hotel is very much dependent on adopting a systematic training approach by which training gives better results and is more effective for both the individual as well as for the hotel. Training is a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behavior through learning experience to achieve effective performance in a activity or a range of activities. Goldsmith A, Nicleson D, Solan S, Wood RC: (1997) Training includes systematic training, which includes the different approaches like Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. Therefore systematic training means to analyze the needs and training goals of the organization with knowledge and skills to perform according to the hotel needs. Then a design of training system is there by which a training package is developed, which is inclusive of audio-visual, graphics, manuals etc. and at last implementing the package, which is developed. Simply approaches of systematic training provide a phase to next phase as it is a ongoing process. www.managementhelp.org/trng-dev/basics/sd.html. 2.3 Types of Training and Development: 2.3.1 Informal Training and Development Informal training and development is rather casual and incidental. Typically, there are no specified training goals as such, nor are their ways to evaluate if the training actually accomplished these goals or not. This type of training and development occurs so naturally that many people probably arent aware that theyre in a training experience at all. Probably the most prominent form of informal training is learning from experience on the job. Examples are informal discussions among employees about a certain topic, book discussion groups, and reading newspaper and journal articles about a topic. A more recent approach is sending employees to hear prominent speakers, sometimes affectionately called the parade of stars. Informal training is less effective than formal training if one should intentionally be learning a specific area of knowledge or skill in a timely fashion. Hardly any thought is put into what learning is to occur and whether that learning occurred or not. (However, thi s form of training often provides the deepest and richest learning because this form is what occurs naturally in life.) www.managementhelp.org/trng-dev/basics/sd.html. 2.3.2 Formal Training and Development: Formal training is based on some standard form. Formal training might include: Declaring certain learning objectives (or an extent of knowledge, skills or abilities that will be reached by learners at the end of the training), using a variety of learning methods to reach the objectives and then applying some kind(s) of evaluation activities at the end of the training. The methods and means of evaluation might closely associate with the learning objectives, or might not. For example, courses, seminars and workshops often have a form but its arguable whether or not their training methods and evaluation methods actually assess whether the objectives have been met or not.http:/ /www.managementhelp.org/trng_dev/methods/slf_drct.htm 2.3.3 Formal, Systematic Training and Development: Systematic, formal training involves carefully proceeding through the following phases: 1. Assessing what knowledge, skills and /or abilities are needed by learners; 2. Designing the training, including identifying learning goals and associated objectives, training methods to reach the objectives, and means to carefully evaluate whether the objectives have been reached or not; 3. Developing the training methods and materials; 4. Implementing the training; and 5. Evaluating whether objectives have been reached or not, in addition to the quality of the training methods and materials themselves www.managementhelp.org/trng-dev/basics/sd.html. A systematic approach is goal-oriented (hopefully, to produce results for the organization and/or learners), with the results of each phase being used by the next phase. Typically, each phase provides ongoing evaluation feedback to other phases in order to improve the overall systems process. Not all formal methods are systematic. Some courses, workshops, and other training sessions have goals, methods and evaluation, but they are not aligned, or even integrated. The methods, in total, do not guide the learner toward achieving the training goal. The evaluations are too often of how a learner feels about the learning experience, rather than of how well the learning experience achieved the goal of the training. http://www.managementhelp.org/trng_dev/rnethods/slf_drct.htrn 2.3.4 Self-Directed and Other-Directed Training: Self-Directed Training Self-directed training includes the learner making the decisions about what training and development experiences will occur and how. Self-directed training seems to be more popular of late. Note that one can pursue a self-directed approach to informal or formal training. For example, self-directed, informal training might include examples of informal training (book discussion groups, etc.), as long as the learner chose the activities and topics themselves, either for professional or personal reasons. Self-directed, formal training includes the learners selecting and carrying out their own learning goals, objectives, methods and means to verify that the goals were met. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com/ Other-Directed Learning This form, of course, is where someone other than the learner drives what training activities will occur. Other-directed, informal training includes, e.g., supervisors sending employees to training about diversity, policies, sexual harassment in the workplace. Other-directed, formal training includes where someone other than the learner specifies the training goals will be met in training, how those goals will be met and how evaluation will occur to verify that the goals were met. This form of learning is probably the most recognized because it includes the approach to learning as used in universities, colleges and training centers. This form of learning typically grants diplomas and certificates. Note that this form of training, although readily available in universities, etc., is usually somewhat generic, that is, the program is geared to accommodate the needs of the most learners and not be customized to any one learner. Therefore, a learner may pay tuition fees to learn knowledge and skills that he or she may not really need.Another form of other-directed, formal training is employee development plans. The plans identify performance goals, how the goals will be reached, by when and who will verify their accomplishment. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com/ Other-directed, formal training can be highly effective for helping learners gain desired areas of knowledge and skills in a timely fashion. A drawback is that learners can become somewhat passive, counting on the expert to show them when and what they should be doing. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com/ 2.4 Systematic Training Approach: Adopting a systematic approach to training helps ensure that supervisors are getting the most out of themselves and their employees. A systematic approach to training includes the time to analyze what results the hotel needs from its employees, if employees are accomplishing those results, and what training and what training and development approaches are needed by employees to better accomplish those results. A systematic approach includes evaluating approaches before, during and after training to ensure employees truly benefited from the training in terms of enhanced results to the organization. These also have to be linked with performance management. Effective training and development includes using sound principles of performance management and effective training techniques. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) 2.4.1 Steps: Analysis-: Analyze the hotel needs and identify training goals which, when reached, will equip learners with knowledge and skills to meet the hotels needs. Usually this phase also includes identifying when training should occur and who should attend as learners. Purpose of training analysis is identifying training goals. A training analysis is conducted ultimately to identify training areas and plans for learners to help them acquire higher competence levels and contribute to accomplishment of the hotels goals (usually in terms of a performance standard). Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Design:- Design a training system that learners and trainers can implement to meet the learning goals; typically includes identifying learning objectives, need facilities, necessary funding, course contents, lessons and sequence of lessons. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Designing the Training Programs-: The step requires listing of typical activities involved in designing training. During the design phase (which is usually closely integrated with the development phase), trainers work from learning goals to design a training system that learners and trainers can implement to meet the learning goals. This phase also typically includes identifying learning objectives, need facilities, necessary funding, course contents, lessons and sequence of lessons. The various training media are selected, e.g.: instructor-led, computer-based, worldwide web based, self-directed, interactive and computer-based, or multi ­media. Therefore this design phase can also include identifying evaluation criteria to evaluate if course content is understandable by learners. There are some points considered for the phase which are as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The nature and type of training that is to be imparted. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The anticipated that learners may take to learn the particular aspects desired to be imparted from the training. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The financial provisions that can be possible to be made for the particular type of training. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The level of participants group. Formulating Program Learning Objectives-: Training programs should be designed by the trainers and/or learners to achieve certain overall goals. Programmes should also include various learning objectives that will help in achieving the overall goals of the training programme. Care must be taken while designing a training programmers learning objectives. These should be designed and worded to the extent that others can clearly understand. These training objectives have to be clarified to the learners in the beginning of the programme so that they know from the beginning what specifically are the programme objective and whether the same have been achieved or not. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Develop : Programme development requires developing right from the programme outline to training manuals, trainers manuals, specific cases, so that programme objectives and learning goals can be achieved with optimum efforts for training made. It must be developed and implemented in a manner so that the best results from training are achieved. The way the entire programme is conceived and developed is also an important determinant for the success of the training effort. It contains the following main activities: Developing Programme Learning Activities-: Every programme must contain a set of learning activities consisting of a mix of role-plays, exercises, games, instruments, cases, etc. these learning activities have to be compiled theme and sub- theme wise. Training material must be systematically developed and finally each sub-theme, theme with the help of various learning activities must culminate in concrete learnings. Development requires documentation of all these and compiled a trainees and trainers manuals to use as resource material for conducting programmes systematically. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Develop System of Continuous Learning-: Programme can be developed in such a way that the process of continuous learning is in-built in the programme structure itself and learners continue to learn even after the programme is over. Therefore it is important that the process learning must continue. This can be possible through developing mechanisms for reinforcements by the learners superiors, post training follow-ups, and helping learners develop a plan of action for implementing in the place of work both in short term and long term. The techniques to help facilitate occurrence of continuous learning on the various programme themes, has to be planned and integrated into the programme development phase. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Implement-: This phase involves implementing the developed training package, which includes scheduling and delivering the training materials, and running the programme. This phase can include many administrative activities, such as copying, taken attendance data, billing participants, arrangements for program logistics and support facilities to create a favorable environment for learners. The major activities requiring care in this phase among others mentioned above are: Selecting a Trainer-: This activity is the most important activity. The appropriateness of the trainer will determine the effectiveness of the programme as well as the cost. The most important consideration when selecting a trainer is if they are well suited to the training design required to meet the learning goals. For e.g, if learners prefer computer-based instruction, then they will benefit most from a trainer only when he will have a thorough understanding of on-line/web enabled training technologies with a high level of personal mastery. Trainers may be chosen from among the following depending on needs, suitability and costs. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Evaluate-: Training evaluation is extremely important phase and preferably, must be done before, during and after implementation of training. Evaluation process must adopt approaches that are practical and relevant. Typically evaluation could be carried out at four distinct points of time. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Evaluating Before the Implementation Phase-: The evaluation at this point must find out whether: The planned training package will really result in enhancing the employees knowledge and skills needed to perform the task or carry out the assignment roles. The same has been attended by other employees in the hotel and that how useful have they found. The employees are/will be comfortable with the training pedagogy. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Evaluating During Implementation of Training Programme-: It requires finding out: How are the participants feeling about the relevance and usefulness of the programme, getting more and more interested or disinterested? Continuously undertake recapitulation before the next day and sum up before the close of the day. A short-programme evaluation could be structured and taken during the middle of the programme to take any corrective action required. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Evaluating Immediately After Completion of the Training-: The training programme must be evaluated properly after the same has been completed. This can be done by: Giving each participant a feedback form and taking a structured written feedback. Take the participants verbal feedback to check for anything that has not been covered up in the written feedback. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) Evaluation after completion of 3-4 Months of Training: This is generally done by an expert evaluator from inside or outside the hotel to evaluate what have been the concrete gains to both the learners knowledge and skills and to the hotel as well. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) 2.5 Advantages of Systematic Training: Training involves an expert working with the learners to transfer to them certain areas of knowledge or skills to improve in their current jobs. Development is a broad, ongoing multifaceted set of activities (training activities among them) to bring someone or an organization up to another threshold of performance, often to perform some job or new role in future. The typical benefits are as follows: Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees. Increased employee motivation. Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain. Increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods. Increased innovation in strategies and products. Reduced employee turnover. Enhanced hotel image. Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005) 2.6 Dimensions of Systematic Training and Development Processes: Systematic Training and development processes could be described using two dimensions one for the degree of formality and one for the balance between self-directed and other-directed learning. These two sets of choices result in four overall approaches. That is, one can take an informal approach to self-directed or other-directed learning. Similarly, one can take a formal approach to self-directed or other-directed learning. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com The decision about what approach to take to systematic training depends on several factors. These factors include the amount of funding available for training, specificity and complexity of the knowledge and skills needed, timeliness of training needed, and capacity and motivation of the learner. Other-directed, formal training is typically more expensive than other approaches, but is often the most reliable to use for the learner to achieve the desired knowledge and skills in a timely fashion. Self-directed, informal learning can be very low-cost; however the learner should have the capability and motivation to pursue their own training. Training may take longer than other-directed forms. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com Highly specific and routine tasks can often be trained without complete, formal approaches. On the other hand, highly complex and changing roles often require more complete and formal means of development, which can be very expensive as a result. If training is needed right away, then other-directed training is often very useful, e.g., to sign up for a training course at a local university, college or training center. Or, a training professional can be brought in. Again, other-directed training is usually faster and more reliable, but more expensive. Self-directed forms of training require that the learner be highly motivated and able to conceptualize their approach to training, particularly in formal training. htpp//:www.authenticityconsulting.com 2.6 Factors affecting systematic Training Programme: After having a series of discussions with the trainers/management consultants several factors were identified and grouped into which affect the training programmes negatively. Some of the factors which contributed to the negative results of training programmes are grouped as the reasons for failure of a training programme. Some reasons are identified for less effective training programmes and the responses were collected on a five point scale. All the reasons were listed in the questionnaire and the respondents were asked to rate the reasons for the less effective/ poor quality of a training programme. In the opinions of the respondents and the mean values of the reasons for less effective training programmes, the following are the factors, which affect the most of the training programme results: No follow up after the training programmes. Too much of individual difference among the trainees. Lack of motivation to trainees after the training. Inadequate opportunity to perform what the trainee has learned during the programme. Resistance to change due to uncertainty of outcomes. Communication gaps at the programmes. Too short duration. Lack of genuine support from top management. Very little planning or problems in the design itself. ( Srivastava.V.N, Shafiq.M, Ghosh.K; (2005)) Informations of this section have been taken from work of many scholars as a part of secondary research. Based on the secondary research author would like to conclude that to have enhancement in performance of hotel staff systematic training would be a vital factor. Now author will conduct primary research and discuss the concept based on his own experience after having interaction with the samples while conducting primary research. Author will replicate this conclusion based on secondary research, in the conclusion section of this report, while writing conclusion based on primary research. Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design: A research can be exploratory, descriptive or explanatory. The determination of a particular research (as whether it is exploratory, descriptive or explanatory) is based on the aims and objectives of the research. Exploratory research seeks to get new insights into the subject, answers the research questions and assesses a phenomena from a new perspective. In other words, such research attempts to understanding or clarifying a problem (Saunders et al, 2005). Further they add that exploratory research goes through the processes of reviewing literature and consulting to experts on the subject through selected methods of consultation. They further put that exploratory research is advantageous in the sense that it is flexible and adaptable to change. Thus while conducting exploratory research a researcher can change his/her direction considering the new data and new insights. On the other end, as according to Saunders et al. (2005), the purpose of descriptive research is to highlight an accurate profile of an event or situation. This research is also termed as an extension of exploratory research, where a clear picture of phenomena is required before collecting the data. Finally there comes explanatory research, which according to Saunders et al. (2005), establishes relationship between variables and in such type of research focus is given on studying a situation or a problem (through explaining relationship between variables). In such type of research various statistical tests are conducted in order to examine the relationship. The aim of this research is to examine five star hotels on the basis of systematic training to the staff of service department and staff performance point of views. 3.2 Research Method Business and management Research, like any other study, has evolved through years of theoretical foundations and conceptualisations. Research may be defined as something that people undertake in order to find out things in a systematic way, thereby increasing their knowledge (Saunders, Lewis Thornhill, 2003). Research would not be meaningful if it is not done in a systematic way i.e. it should have a clear purpose and data collection should be done accordingly followed by assembling of data collected along with interpretation without which it is not considered a resea

The Analysis of Antonio’s Character :: Antonio Sebastian Essays

The Analysis of Antonio’s Character The lines selected for analysis are Act II, Scene I, lines 277-291, when Antonio is trying to reassure Sebastian that killing his brother—the King of Naples—is a good idea and well worth the effort. As the reader knows, Antonio usurped his brother, Prospero, and became the Duke of Milan. This sets the stage for his attitude towards Sebastian’s wanting to kill his brother, King Alonso. Because of Antonio’s past actions he sees nothing wrong with getting rid of a family member for personal gain, but his reasons for doing so began at a young age and have been etched into his brain. Antonio’s psychological depth reveals that he is a man jealous of his brother’s rightful power, and stemming from that is his insecurity and lust for power wherever he may find it (in this case, having power over Sebastian). Antonio is not a good person, has few conscientious thoughts, and is now trying to convince his companion to follow his lead. If An tonio’s brother, Prospero, was to hear the selected lines, he would say that the only time Antonio thinks about performing acts that will get him power, by eliminating those who currently have it, is when it is to his advantage. He would say that Antonio devises plans to get rid of leaders when they are at a disadvantage, and he at an advantage, because he doesn’t feel that he could succeed otherwise—his insecurities kicking in. I don’t think Shakespeare agrees with Antonio, and there are two examples in the play to support that. In response to Sebastian’s question about whether his conscience would bother him after committing fratricide, Antonio replies, â€Å"Ay, sir, where lies that? If `twere a kibe / `Twould put me to my slipper†¦Ã¢â‚¬  meaning that if his conscience was a small sore on the heel of his foot (a kibe), it would drive him to wear comfortable shoes but it would certainly not disrupt his life or stop him from doing what he’s doing. This shows Antonio to be a cold-hearted man, one who is able to quiet that little voice inside his head and push it to the back of his brain and continue with his terrible acts. In the next thought, he says, â€Å"†¦but I feel not this deity in my bosom,† admitting he doesn’t feel the tug of a conscience in his heart. The Analysis of Antonio’s Character :: Antonio Sebastian Essays The Analysis of Antonio’s Character The lines selected for analysis are Act II, Scene I, lines 277-291, when Antonio is trying to reassure Sebastian that killing his brother—the King of Naples—is a good idea and well worth the effort. As the reader knows, Antonio usurped his brother, Prospero, and became the Duke of Milan. This sets the stage for his attitude towards Sebastian’s wanting to kill his brother, King Alonso. Because of Antonio’s past actions he sees nothing wrong with getting rid of a family member for personal gain, but his reasons for doing so began at a young age and have been etched into his brain. Antonio’s psychological depth reveals that he is a man jealous of his brother’s rightful power, and stemming from that is his insecurity and lust for power wherever he may find it (in this case, having power over Sebastian). Antonio is not a good person, has few conscientious thoughts, and is now trying to convince his companion to follow his lead. If An tonio’s brother, Prospero, was to hear the selected lines, he would say that the only time Antonio thinks about performing acts that will get him power, by eliminating those who currently have it, is when it is to his advantage. He would say that Antonio devises plans to get rid of leaders when they are at a disadvantage, and he at an advantage, because he doesn’t feel that he could succeed otherwise—his insecurities kicking in. I don’t think Shakespeare agrees with Antonio, and there are two examples in the play to support that. In response to Sebastian’s question about whether his conscience would bother him after committing fratricide, Antonio replies, â€Å"Ay, sir, where lies that? If `twere a kibe / `Twould put me to my slipper†¦Ã¢â‚¬  meaning that if his conscience was a small sore on the heel of his foot (a kibe), it would drive him to wear comfortable shoes but it would certainly not disrupt his life or stop him from doing what he’s doing. This shows Antonio to be a cold-hearted man, one who is able to quiet that little voice inside his head and push it to the back of his brain and continue with his terrible acts. In the next thought, he says, â€Å"†¦but I feel not this deity in my bosom,† admitting he doesn’t feel the tug of a conscience in his heart.