Free College Essay

President Obama has outlined his proposal to offer the first two years of community college free for students, or as he has said in his speech â€Å"to lower the cost of community college — to zero. † Obama believes that whether young or old, just starting out, or simply looking for a better job, this could benefit millions of Americans. The program would provide tuition-free classes for students going to school at least half time who maintain a GPA of 2. 5 or higher and are trying to obtain a higher degree or are transferring to a four-year institution. The proposal would require federal government to cover 75 percent of the average cost of community college, and the program calls for states to pick up the remaining quarter of the tab. Overall, this proposal could benefit the American population and thus better the American nation. The most crucial reason why this proposal will succeed is that more people in America will attend college. This will all around have a positive have an effect on American society, and economy. Lowering the unemployment rate can help to reduce many factors such as, crime rate, well-fare, and overall national debt. On the other hand, community colleges may become over crowded due to the increased number of students. Despite this minor complication, having more people attend college is in America would be phenomenal. A majority of Americans believe the cost of a college education at a state university, or community college is unaffordable. Having the first two years of community college free will open up opportunities to many. This will allow students first starting out to begin their educational course debt free. College debt is a major problem in todays society, and holds back many from achieving higher goals. However, passage of a bill making community college free could have a dramatic effect on the cost of higher education. If community college is free, many other schools will have to lower their prices in order to stay competitive. Free higher education, even if only for two years, could be a game-changer. Passage of Obama’s proposal is far from a sure thing. If it does pass, at this point the best we can do is speculate about the different possible  outcomes. However, we do know one thing for sure. Obama’s proposal is a bold approach to fixing a broken higher education system. Student loan borrowers are reminded of how badly broken the system is each month they pay huge student loan bills. The more that can be done to fix this system, the better. Overall, this bill will benefit most Americans. If Obama’s proposal is given passage it will create an abundance of opportunities for American citizens. These opportunities include: more job positions, a thriving economy, expansion, etc. In spite of the endless benefits, at the end of the day someone is responsible for paying the two-year â€Å"free† tuition. This causes question to tax payers and the state on the tab they are left to pick up. Although, taxes may increase, the decrease in student loans will greatly outweigh the cost. In conclusion, this bill can aid anyone from past generations to new, young to old, starting out or going back. This could change the entire way of American society for the better and continually push American as a nation in the right direction.

The Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility on Strategic Alignment and Applications Implementation

The Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility on Strategic Alignment and Applications Implementation Sock H. Chung Department of Computer Information Systems College of Business Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197 sock. [email  protected] emich. edu R. Kelly Rainer, Jr. ** Department of Management College of Business Auburn University Auburn, Alabama 36849 (334) 844-6527 [email  protected] auburn. edu Bruce R. Lewis Calloway School of Business Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC 27109 (336) 758-7195 [email  protected] edu ** Corresponding Author: Kelly Rainer The Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility on Strategic Alignment and Applications Implementation Abstract IT infrastructure flexibility is now being viewed as an organizational core competency that is necessary for organizations to survive and prosper in rapidly-changing, competitive, business environments. Utilizing data from 200 U. S. and Canadian companies, this study examines the impact of the four components of IT infrastructure flexibility (compatibility, connectivity, modularity, and IT personnel) on strategic IT-business alignment and the extent of applications implementation within an organization. The findings from analysis of a structural model provide evidence that connectivity, modularity, and IT personnel have significant, positive impacts on strategic alignment and that all four components have significant, positive impacts on the extent of applications implementation. The study reinforces the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility to organizations as one source for sustainable competitive advantage. Key Words: IT infrastructure flexibility, strategic IT-business alignment I. INTRODUCTION In the early 1990s, Johnson & Johnson faced new business pressures when large customers, such as Wal-Mart and K-mart, made new demands on the company, such as cost savings and just-in-time stock replenishment. Johnson & Johnson’s business and IT managers acted in partnership to develop a new set of information technology (IT) infrastructure capabilities which enabled the company to provide the necessary services for its large customers while at the same time reducing costs at Johnson & Johnson [Weill & Broadbent, 1998]. In the late 1990s, Charles Schwab focused on delivering customized information to its investors in a timely manner. Using the company's IT infrastructure and applications aligned with its business focus, Schwab became a full service brokerage firm. The firm was able to provide information and process transactions in meeting its business objectives. Customers could retrieve stock quotes and place orders via Schwab's Web site. As a result, the corporation continues to be an industry leader. These two examples demonstrate that an organization’s IT infrastructure can provide tangible benefits and a continuity of business practices [Kettinger, Grover, Subanish, & Segars, 1994]. A particularly important characteristic of IT infrastructure is flexibility [Byrd & Turner, 2000]. Researchers have stated that IT infrastructure flexibility should be viewed as an organizational core competency and that IT infrastructure flexibility is necessary to handle increased customer demands without increased costs [Davenport & Linder, 1994; Weill, 1993]. As we discuss next in developing the theoretical framework for our study, two important aspects of IT infrastructure flexibility emerge from previous research: the core business applications of an organization and the strategic IT-business alignment. That is, an organization’s IT infrastructure flexibility should be reflected in its implementation of core business applications and the extent of its strategic IT-business alignment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility and the extent of applications implementation in the organization and the relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility and strategic IT-business alignment. II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK We develop our theoretical framework by first reviewing definitions of IT infrastructure and its components. We then define the concept of IT infrastructure flexibility and its relationship to strategic IT-business alignment and to applications implementation in the organization. Information Technology Infrastructure The topic of IT infrastructure has been a key issue for both researchers and practicing managers for some time [see e. g. , Brancheau, Janz, & Wetherbe, 1996]. The organization’s IT infrastructure basically integrates technology components to support business needs but the IT infrastructure concept is more complicated. The definition of IT infrastructure encompasses a variety of components. Based on previous studies, Duncan [1995] stated that IT infrastructure includes a group of shared, tangible IT resources that provide a foundation to enable present and future business applications [Broadbent & Weill, 1997; Davenport & Linder, 1994; Earl, 1989; Keen, 1991; McKay & Brockway, 1989; Niederman, Brancheau, & Wetherbe, 1991; Weill, 1993]. These resources include: (1) computer hardware and software (e. g. , operating systems); (2) network and telecommunications technologies; (3) key data; (4) core data-processing applications; 5) shared IT services. Duncan [1995] also stated that IT infrastructure includes the alignment of IT plans to business objectives, the IT architecture, and the skills of IT personnel. Broadbent and Weill [1997] noted that IT infrastructure capabilities enable the various types of IT applications required to support current and future business objectives, and enable the competitive positioning of business initiatives. McKay and Brockway [1989] describe d IT infrastructure as the enabling foundation of shared IT capabilities upon which the entire business depends. This foundation is standardized and shared by business functions within the organization, and typically used by different organizational applications. Byrd and Turner [2000, p. 172] provided a thorough definition of IT infrastructure as: â€Å"†¦ the shared IT resources consisting of a technical physical base of hardware, software, communications technologies, data, and core applications and a human component of skills, expertise, competencies, commitments, values, norms, and knowledge that combine to create IT services that are typically unique to an organization. These IT services provide a foundation for communications interchange across the entire organization and for the development and implementation of present and future business applications. † As can be seen from these definitions, the IT infrastructure is composed of two components: a technical IT infrastructure and a human IT infrastructure. The technical infrastructure consists of the applications, data, and technology [Broadbent & Weill, 1997; Broadbent, Weill, O'Brien & Neo, 1996; Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993]. The human IT infrastructure consists of the knowledge and capabilities required to manage organizational IT resources [Broadbent & Weill, 1997; Lee, Trauth & Farwell, 1995]. Davenport and Linder [1994] suggested that a robust IT infrastructure enables employees to be able to perform their respective jobs, both from having the available technology and the necessary technological skills. Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility Early work on IT infrastructure flexibility described the concept without actually defining it. Weill [1993] asserted that an IT infrastructure should be flexible to be able to handle increased customer demands without increased costs. Davenport and Linder [1994] stated that IT infrastructure flexibility should be viewed as a core competency of the organization and suggested that an effective IT infrastructure is flexible and robust. Duncan [1995] observed that one organization’s IT infrastructure may enable strategic innovations in business processes, while another’s IT infrastructure may limit such innovations. She referred to this characteristic as IT infrastructure flexibility and suggested that both business and IT application development capabilities reflect the flexibility of infrastructure components. She suggested that infrastructure flexibility improves systems developers' ability to design and build systems to meet organizational business objectives. She described IT infrastructure flexibility through the characteristics of connectivity, compatibility, and modularity. She maintained that an organization with high modularity, compatibility, and connectivity would have high technical IT infrastructure flexibility. Compatibility is the ability to share any type of information across any technology component throughout the organization [Duncan, 1995; Keen, 1991]. Tapscott and Caston [1993] noted that IT compatibility helps span organizational boundaries, empower employees, and make data, information, and knowledge readily available in the organization. Connectivity is the ability of any technology component to communicate with any of the other components inside and outside of the organizational environment [Duncan, 1995]. Tapscott and Caston [1993] emphasized that IT connectivity enables seamless and transparent organizations that are independent of time and space. Connectivity facilitates the sharability of IT resources at the platform level. Modularity is the ability to easily reconfigure (add, modify, or remove) technology components [Duncan, 1995]. She also stated that modularity is the standardization of business processes for sharability and reusability (e. g. , structured programming and component-based software architectures). Schilling [2000] suggested that modularity is a continuum describing the degree to which a system's components can be separated and recombined. Byrd and Turner [2000, p. 172] defined IT infrastructure flexibility as â€Å"†¦the ability to easily and readily diffuse or support a wide variety of hardware, software, communications technologies, data, core applications, skills and competencies, commitments, and values within the technical physical base and the human component of the existing IT infrastructure. Historically, the flexibility of the IT infrastructure has been viewed as necessary to accommodate a rapidly changing business environment [Byrd & Turner, 2001]. This flexibility enables businesses to effectively use IT to prosper in dynamic environments. The literature review points out that strategic IT-business alignment and core business applications are embedded in the definitions of IT infrastructure and IT infrastructure flexibility. However, the actual relationships between IT infrastructure flexibility and strategic IT-business alignment and between IT infrastructure flexibility and business applications have not been empirically tested. We test these relationships through our conceptual model. III. CONCEPTUAL MODEL IT Infrastructure Flexibility and Strategic IT-Business Alignment Strategic IT-business alignment refers to the extent to which the IT mission, objectives, and plans support, and are supported by, the organization’s mission, objectives, and plans [Hirscheim & Sabherwal, 2000]. This alignment creates an integrated organization in which every function, unit, and person are focused on the organization's competitiveness. Sambamurthy and Zmud [1992] suggested that IT management is a problem of aligning the relationship between the business and the IT infrastructure to take advantage of IT opportunities and capabilities. Duncan [1995] first included the alignment of IT plans to business objectives in her description of IT infrastructure. She continued by noting that an organization’s IT infrastructure could be considered flexible if it enabled strategic innovations in business processes. Broadbent and Weill [1997] stated that IT infrastructure capabilities provide the foundation for â€Å"†¦competitive positioning of business initiatives. † From this discussion, we propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: Each component of an organization's IT infrastructure flexibility will positively affect the organization's strategic IT-business alignment. IT Infrastructure Flexibility and Applications Implementation Today, IT applications not only process data and provide management information reports. Corporations now use IT applications to gain competitive advantage [Earl, 1989; Porter & Millar, 1985; Powell, 1992; Saunders & Jones, 1992; Smith & McKeen, 1993]; to create new business opportunities [Earl, 1989; Rockart & Scott-Morton, 1984; Smith & McKeen ,1993]; to improve customer service; to enhance product and service quality; and to integrate supplier and customer operations [Luftman, Lewis, & Oldach, 1993]. Several studies have included business applications as part of IT infrastructure [see e. . , Broadbent & Weill, 1997; Byrd & Turner, 2000; Duncan, 1995]. Duncan [1995] addressed business applications when she asserted that IT infrastructure flexibility enabled organizations to build applications that more closely satisfy business objectives. Broadbent and Weill [1997] stated that IT infrastructure capabilities are the â€Å"base for computer applications. † Byrd and Turner [2000] noted that IT infrastructure flexibility enabled organizations to â€Å"†¦easily diffuse and support†¦core applications. For this study, we use the extent to which organizations have implemented a variety of business applications to examine the concept of â€Å"applications implementation. † These eleven business applications in our study include transaction processing systems, management information systems, executive information systems, decision support systems, expert systems, data warehousing, data mining, interorganizational information systems (e. g. , electronic data interchange), knowledge management, network management, and disaster recovery. From this discussion, we propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 2: Each component of an organization's IT infrastructure flexibility will positively affect the organization's extent of applications implementation. Conceptual Model This study utilizes four previously identified measures of IT infrastructure flexibility: the technical components of modularity, compatibility, connectivity, and IT personnel skills [see Duncan, 1995; Byrd & Turner, 2000]. The conceptual model representing the relationships addressed in this study is presented in Figure 1. [pic]* p

A brief History about football Essay Example for Free

A brief History about football Essay ? Argyle has 69 sponsors this season that all helps the club in one way or another by sponsoring them money witch helps the everyday running of the club from security to help pay the team wages and transport to away games and keeping home park looking clean and tidy. scale and econmic importance Plymouth Argyle is of a great econmic importance to the city of Plymouth, the scale of with is involving people with jobs locally within the club to helping company sponsors like ginsters who takes on more staff as need to keep up with demans and getting their lines of food to the ground on time. There is many people that benifit from the club like on match days there is over fifty security staff working keeping everyone safe,also catering staff selling the drinks and food threw out the game and staff taking tickets and money on the turnstiles leading up to the game. When the football season starts Plymouyh Argyle helps bring money into Plymouth and everyone locally benifits from this as every home game, home and away fans travel to Plymouth some spending the nite or more others just spending the day in Plymouth but during the duration of their visit they will spend money in our shops,pubs,clubs,food outlets and other places. Role of education in the sport Plymouth Argyle play a big role locally to show people from all walks of life that there is plenty of jobs at a football club even if u can’t play football, from being a cleaner or doing ground maintenance all the way up to being a member on the board. there are plenty of opportunies of all different kinds of jobs that may interest people to getting involved with there local team. Plymouth Argyle runs many different kinds of clubs to educate people with day to day running that happens at the club. They ran a programme last year called kick off that helped people get back on track in life and do good and give a little back to the community. During this programme they taught them basic computer skills, built their confidence up and taught them other skills that may help them get a job in the future and keep out of trouble and not go back to old addictions. Plymouth Argyle also educates children and adults on why they should keep to a healthy diet and the positives they will get from it, and why junk food is no good for them in many ways. Influence from media and sponsorship P1. 5. There is lots of influence from media to do with Plymouth Argyle. It can be good our bad for the club or the person or players involved, for example our local newspaper the herald does a write up about the club and how they did or what’s going on. It can be good to attracts people to come watch the teams next home game when the team is doing good or they have signed new players but it also has its down side when the team is not doing as good as expected and negative things are put in the paper or they get on at one player. Plymouth argyle has there own website run by the fans for the fans where they can get all the latest gossip speak to other people online watch clips of the latest games and managers comments on how the team preformed last. This site is also first to get any breaking news to do with Plymouth argyle. Televised games has a big influence on the income profit for the club each season so the better the team does in the cup and the league the more chance there is to be televised by either sky sports or bbc what pays for the rights to televise the teams and helps both teams that our playing out and they get better national publicity and also get paid for there team being televised. Plymouth Argyle has over 70 sponsors this season including coca cola who sponsors the league that Argyle plays in. The money that the sponsors pay to sponsors Plymouth Argyle gets used in many different ways from helping with the everyday running of the club to team transport, players wages, ground maintenance, and better facilities within the club for the fans and the players. The sponsors get a board around the ground advertising there company and some times get a mention at half time and some times get a few free tickets to a selected home game. p3. Employment Plymouth Argyle has many people employed behind the scenes that helps keep the club day to day running run smoothly. There is over 70 members of staff that do there part thought-out the week without including the squad of players and the extra staff that is needed for the home games like security, police, catering staff and turnstile staff. Here our a few of the names and the job that they do for Plymouth argyle football club. Paul Stapleton who is the chairman, Robert Dennerly who is the vice chairman, Tony Wrathall & Phill Gill who are directors, Michael Dunford who is chief executive, Ian Holloway who is team manager. All these People and many more play important roles within Plymouth Argyle football club. Without each Person playing there role then the club would not run smoothly and would struggle. p. 3. 4 Level of participants Plymouth Argyle play there football in the second tier of English football know now as the coca cola championship, it use to be known as the first division until coca cola sponsored the old division one ,two and three changing the name of all three leagues. Plymouth Argyle is a well established team within the championship with this being there third season and been playing there football in the coca cola championship since it changed its name from division 1. Plymouth Argyles best position in the league and in the clubs history was last year where they ended up finishing 11th in the table. Financial turnover of the club. Here below is a table showing how the club as developed financially since 1994, and how the club itself as made a high percentage in profits and is still climbing. (www. footballeconomy. com/stats2/eng_plymouth. htm) A brief History about football. (2017, Aug 08).

Aristotle's Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Aristotle's Responsibility - Essay Example If a person put his hand up and another one comes along and pulls it down that act could be described as an involuntary action. Conversely, if a person gave another food or drink that resulted in killing him unknowingly then, that could be said to be an involuntary action. Thus, an involuntary action does not shape the quality of a person as it is not an action that is done out of will (Höffe 97). Voluntary actions practiced by human beings shape their character, and how they deal with others, thus making some of them appear just, and others unjust depending on the situation that they are associated with. Apparently, actions shape peoples’ character and define them as who they are with regard to what they do. For instance, a harpist is a character that is associated with playing the harp, not by just theoretically being a harpist. The constant practicing and perfecting of playing the harp are what causes someone to be a harpist. None of the human being’s virtues of character come naturally. If anything, human beings are born with the ability to acquire them, and then use them through habits (Höffe 107). Never the less, habits allow us to perform virtues, but habituation cannot bring something by nature from one condition into another. According to Aristotle, the objection made at 1114B denotes that no one is answerable for their deeds because they feel their actions are the best for them. Any person who has the normal character to perform what is best for him or she automatically becomes a good person. Coincidentally, how a conclusion appears to someone is natural. This means that the purpose for everything someone does primarily appears as a good idea to them. People do not understand the impact of their actions but are more interested in attaining their means (Höffe 103).

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 15

Philosophy - Essay Example Prudential knowledge is nothing more but sense, faculty, and memory and absolute knowledge. And by ‘absolute’, Hobbes meant reality that a person knows as truth with ‘absolute’ certainty (Hobbes 53). For instance, childhood memories, or knowledge that scissors could cut paper, or that burger patties are made from pork or beef meat are examples of absolute knowledge because these are knowledge that a person knows with absolute certainty as truths because he has experience it personally or has remember witnessing it being done. Either way, it requires a witness. The other knowledge, scientific knowledge is conditional knowledge. This is because it requires a condition for a person to know something for him to be able to know that something is indeed a fact (Hobbes 53). For instance, he needs to know that by grounding meat and seasoning it could produce patties and by putting a patty in between two breads would create a burger. Or that two metal blades with handles could be bolted and joined together so that it could create cutting motion and this would form a whole new tool called scissors. For a more ‘philosophical’ example, scientific knowledge is conditional because it will require knowledge for a person to know that when you draw any line on a circle that passes through the middle, that would divide the circle equally in half. The person who knows this technical knowledge Hobbes called philosophers. Hobbes further added that the registry of scientific knowledge is recorded in history and that there are two types of history—natural and civil. Natural is anything that concerns those that are independent of man’s will while civil history is the â€Å"voluntary actions of men in Commonwealths† (Hobbes 53). Now these philosophers are people in the society who are able to successfully fuse together both their prudential knowledge and scientific knowledge. They were able to use scientific knowledge and combine it

Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court Essay

Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court - Essay Example It has been a very critical issue to decide what should be taught in schools and what should not be. While selecting the course content, according to the American constitution, it must be kept in view that the school kids must not effect because of the course content. The religious context is critical in a sense that it must need to take in the view as secularism. A very famous legal case which was heard at US Supreme Court against the propaganda of teaching the creation science in public schools; the both of the issues are close enough because the critique is based upon religion and needs a back from constitution and needs logical pro constitution arguments in order to support or dis-support the teaching of intelligent design theory (Mauro, 2006). Before coming to any of the concrete or solid point of logic, let us get an idea about a brief introduction of intelligent design theory. It is defined by the discovery institute and it is the answer to some creationism (creation sciences). By the institute it was defined as the causal effect of intelligence while the universe was being assembled; for instance, it describes that the certain factors and aspects of the universe were not emerged due to naturalism (Shanks, 2004). It is a question (in other words) on the presence of God, it supports to the intelligence and logic. It is because the institute and supporters of the theory reveal it as evidence-based theory rather than a religious critique (or religious based) (Idea center). In the legal hearing which was heard in 1987 and well known as Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) which barred the teaching of creation science in public schools. It was a decision which was taken by the Supreme Courts of the United States.  

In the majority of the population there are stigmata surrounding the Research Paper

In the majority of the population there are stigmata surrounding the nature of a motorcyclist or Biker - Research Paper Example This made many veterans to access the urban centers and taste every bit of bliss in the cities including drinking and partying. A bike rally in Hollister culminated in the formation of bike gangs. This was the first incident of bike gang which took part in a bloody riot. This riot led to the destruction of property and other valuable in various restaurants and buildings, by drunken motorcyclists. This group caused mayhem without recourse and this has been replicated ever since. This sub-culture is prevalent in the use of cruiser motorcycles. According to Guardians of the Children, the sub-culture thrives in various ideologies like resistance to the mainstream culture of motorcycles (47). In fact, most of the biker gang indulges in malpractices in order to satisfy their daily needs. These groups have their operation in deviance and anarchy given that they do not conform to any set rules and regulation. The gangs use their organizations in propagating their criminal activities. In this regard, their criminality is camouflaged, hence it becomes difficult to apprehend and completely eliminate this sub-culture. The gang is usually structured and has broad networks, which enhances its operations over large geographical regions. The criminal activities the gangs indulge in include drug-trafficking, violence, arms trafficking, abduction and piracy. There are many of these gangs in America, which usually constitute of various numbers of individuals. The most common of these gangs include the Bandidos, Sons of silence and the Hells angels. These biker gangs pose a threat to peace and order among the citizens. Goodman asserts that the outlawed group manages to operate drug and weapon smuggling due to the broad network it has across the globe (41). In fact, there is interlinking of their activities with international drug trafficking organizations. The other motorcycle club is the riding club which is less associated with the intrigues of the biggest gang clubs. The vintag e group of motorcycle clubs is concerned with the ferrying of higher social class people including clergies, emergence blood runners and courier clubs. It is difficult to pursue the criminal gangs because they are friendly like anybody else and they have a broad social and criminal network. Even the intelligence services cannot yield much in pursuit of theses outlawed criminal bike gangs. Furthermore, the freedom they have enhanced the commission of many criminal activities under cover. In addition, they are feared, hence many people lack the guts of daring them. According to The New York Times, legally registered motorcycle clubs like the British motorcycle Federation have great influence in the civil society (23). They also abate the criminal activities of the gang groups under cover. Therefore, it had been hard to reform the motorcycle industry and get rid of the criminal activities propagated by the ill-minded motorcyclists. It has proofed impossible to destroy and discontinue t he biker gang sub-culture. For instance, the federation was created with an aim of protecting the welfare often motorcyclists. The biker gangs are part of the industry, hence they have always been protected even when they have been on the wrong side of the law. Such legally recognized motorcycle organizations have posed a greater threat to the peace and harmony with regard to abatement of criminal activities. Bribery cannot be ruled out in such circumstances