Monday, September 30, 2019

Twist and Shout

The way companies are now packaging their products, makes me think, their ideas must have come straight from the mind of a second grade twelve year old. A senior with arthritis; the person for whom the drug was bottled, needs to have a pair of pliers, a flat head screwdriver, and plenty of muscle to open a bottle of pain medication. By the way, shouldn’t that be anti-pain medicine? But then why do we call the little candies that relief our cough, cough drops and not, anti-cough drops? Getting back to safety caps on medicine bottles, It is next to impossible to open one of those lids. One medicine bottle says, follow the arrows to open, press down and turn. This sounds easy enough if you are built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. The problem with easy open bottles is the person in need of the medication is probably built more like Kermit the frog with Typhoid Fever. It’s ridiculous when you need to purchase TNT to blow off the cap of the pain medication container. The â€Å"safety† cap is designed to keep kids from opening the bottle and swallowing the meds. The problem is a child can open them much easier than a senior citizen under the best of conditions. I can see it now. â€Å"Grampa, give me the bottle, I’ll open it for you. † â€Å"But, you are only five†¦ and this cap is attached to the bottle with super glue. † I guarantee you; the five year old will have that top off before you can pronounce the name of the medication. The list of side effects on some of these meds is multitudinous. These bottles site every contraindication known to man, including, the inability to move, or think clearly, which may provoke, one to think; maybe it would be better if I laid down and died. This medication, the label states, may cause dizziness, light headedness, Vertigo, cramps, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, ear aches, Gingivitis, Gout, fainting spells, stomach pains, thoughts of suicide, and even death. For goodness sake, I’m only taking it for a headache, not preparing for cremation. I guess we can’t blame the drug companies for listing everything that can happen to a person if they take their medicine. People today, through all media, are urged to sue for everything. The advent of television advertising has branched out in these last few years allowing lawyers to advertise their services. Television advertising has become a haven for ambulance chasers and their ilk. I heard the story of a man who sued a motor coach company for damages caused when his vehicle crashed. He claimed he was driving down a stretch of road, in his new motor coach, when he decided he’d go back to the kitchen area and brew a pot of coffee. He put the vehicle on cruise control. The coach crashed, and he was injured, the vehicle demolished. He sued the company for not writing in their brochures that you couldn’t leave the driver’s seat while the vehicle was in motion. He won the case and was awarded a sum of money and a new coach. You are advised to think before you buy any product, read the label; However, the print is so small, you need a magnifying glass the size of a manhole cover to read the instructions on the bottle. Some meds have the side effects written on four sheets of paper inside the box in which the medicine came. All of this inane nonsense is due to sue happy people looking to make a quick buck. Some people play the lottery while others sue companies; the odds in winning are about the same. If you do win in court, the attorney takes his share off the top, probably around sixty percent, and you get the rest after court costs and taxes. Don’t give up your day job. Oh, not you, I’m talking to you, the plaintiff, not your lawyer. Mr Attorney, you are doing just fine in the finance department. That ad on TV has really paid off, hasn’t it? Here’s my idea for packaging medicine. Put a paper seal on the medicine bottle with a written three number code (not in succession). Break the seal, dial the number and open the bottle. As for side effects simply write: Take at your own risk, may cause a myriad of diseases and possibly death. Talk to your physician. Don’t sue us, we told you what could happen. As for manufacturers of motor coaches, all they need to write is; â€Å"Hey stupid if you want a cup of coffee stop at a roadside diner. † This is one I love as I recall going to the drug store for my mother. She had, over the years, adopted a poor sleeping habit, and needed a medication to help her sleep. As the pharmacist passed me the bottle of sleeping medication, I read the label that had been attached to the little brown bottle. It read; ‘may cause dizziness, restlessness, insomnia and drowsiness. If it causes insomnia, why would anyone want to use the drug in the first place? And one can only hope it does cause drowsiness, after all, that’s why you bought it in the first place, isn’t it? There are other stumbling blocks to the senior population; with a skull and crossbones emblem emblazoned on the label; a universal sign denoting it is a dangerous material. We should look und er the emblem, there we will find, in small print, ‘for external use only. ’ What makes the manufacturer of a product with enough chemicals to start World War III write ‘for external use only’ on their bottle. Are they afraid someone is going to use it as a mixer at their cocktail party? If it’s ammonia, you won’t be able to get it past your nose in the first place. Speaking of dangerous things. How many of you have swallowed a capful of mouthwash? Did you know it is unhealthy? The label says do not swallow. Why on earth are you gargling with a product, that if you swallow it by mistake it could kill you, or at the very least make you sick? That’s like putting dynamite, on which is written, beware dangerous material, in your back pocket and then backing up to a campfire to warm your backsides. It’s the same thing you know†¦ too close for comfort either way. What makes a citizen a senior? Answer: age. Though some of us don’t want people to know we are getting along in years, the wrinkles belie our vanity. Face lifts make the recipient look like a monster out of a 1950’s horror movie. I am not ashamed I have made it to three quarters of a century. I thank God my eyes are still the same color as they were when I was twenty, only slightly dimmer. The hair on my head is moving south at a quickening pace, but it has only transferred from the top of my head to my ears and nose. I can’t run any more; my walking pace has slowed almost to a crawl, but inside I am still twenty years old. Until I was forty I didn’t know what a doctor was, or what they did for work. After I had reached fifty, I was asked to become an associate member of the American Medical Association’s Who’s Who of most frequent doctor’s visits list. My mind hasn’t grasped the fact my body has aged. It says to me at times; ‘get up†¦ go for a four mile run, come home take a shower, ride a bike for sixty minutes, eat lunch, skip rope and climb a small mountain. My body answers for me; ‘you have got to be kidding me. ’ There are two fellows whose job it is to see that I remain idle; The Ritis Brothers, of which Artha is the outspoken one, and then there is always Mr Meniere. Mr Meniere’s contribution affects my inner ear; my balance. I reel like a drunken pirate with a pine log peg leg†¦ teetering back and forth with a dizzying gait; But I guess old age is the better of the two alternatives; I always say. As long as you are able to get up in the morning and get out of bed; you are still this side of the dirt. I have God to thank for my being able to get up in the morning, for it is by His grace that I live and move, and have my being. Without His help, I would be nothing but dust and dirt, present, but useless to anyone or anything. These are the golden years, and gold does not tarnish; it is always bright and shiny. Our smiles should be the reflection of our souls. As the little girl said to the grumpy old church deacon. â€Å"Are you happy to be a Christian? † He replied, â€Å"yes I am. † â€Å"Then tell your face. †

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Suicide Bombers: Psychopaths or Not?

Psychopath or not? Are suicide bombers crazy? Do you think their way of thinking is rational? At first, the answer anyone would give seems obvious: they must be crazy and have irrational thoughts to blow themselves up and kill innocent people in the process. However, terrorism experts have proposed several rational motives for their actions. Some political scientists believe that terrorists make a tactical choice to use suicide bombings against a stronger enemy. Other experts argue that suicide terrorism is part of a â€Å"cycle of humiliation† fueled by a suicide bombers’ desire to strike back at those who have mistreated or shamed them.Some psychologists have concluded that suicide bombers are ordinary, everyday people who are unlikely to commit violent acts until they identify with and join a terrorist group which manipulates and pressures them to commit these violent acts. Suicide bombing attacks have become a weapon of choice among terrorist groups because of their lethality and ability to cause mayhem and fear. Though depressing, the almost daily news reports of deaths caused by suicide attacks rarely explain what motivates the attackers.Between 1981 and 2006, 1200 suicide attacks constituted 4 percent of all terrorist attacks in the world and killed 14,599 people or 32 percent of all terrorism related deaths. The question is why? Between 1981 and 2006, 1200 suicide attacks constituted 4 percent of all terrorist attacks in the world and killed 14,599 people or 32 percent of all terrorism related deaths. (figure 1) Despite everyone’s stereotype belief that suicide bombers â€Å"are both sociopathic and irrational people, many political scientists believe that most terrorists are rational people with tactical goals.Evans (a political scientist), for example, argues that terrorism is a strategy. Those who use it want to expose their cause, draw the enemy into a costly conflict, and provoke an overreaction that will make the enemy look f oolish or evil, recruit supporters, and prevent finding the middle ground. Robert Pape also believes that suicide terrorism has an essential strategic logic. It is politics more than religious passion that has led terrorists to blow themselves up.In Roberts view, â€Å"Suicide-terrorist attacks are not encouraged by religion but more as a clear strategic objective: to force modern democracies to remove military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. † While terrorism can be seen as a rational strategy, feelings of shame and embarrassment may make suicide the weapon of choice because they can get their revenge as well as just end their miserable life, Interviews of failed bombers or bombers-in-training reveal that they are striking back at those who humiliated or injured them.On October 4, 2003, 29 year old Palestinian lawyer Hanadi Jaradat exploded her suicide belt in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa killing 20 people and wounding many more. Accord ing to her family, her suicide mission was in revenge for the killing of her brother and her fiance by the Israeli security forces and in revenge for all the crimes Israel had perpetrated in the West Bank by killing Palestinians and confiscating their lands. The main motive for many suicide bombings in Israel is revenge for acts committed by Israelis. The bombers want to send a message: their enemies are responsible for their humiliation and ultimately for their death.In September 2007 when American forces raided an Iraqi insurgent camp in the desert town of Singar near the Syrian border they discovered biographies of more than seven hundred foreign fighters. The Americans were surprised to find that 137 were Libyans and 52 of them were from a small Libyan town of Darnah. The reason why so many of Darnah’s young men had gone to Iraq for suicide missions was not the global jihadi ideology, but an explosive mix of desperation, pride, anger, sense of powerlessness, local traditi on of resistance and religious fervor.A similar mix of factors is now motivating young Pashtuns to volunteer for suicide missions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Further evidence that suicide bombers are responding to humiliation is found in the 430 recorded biographies of suicide bombers which were carefully analyzed by terrorist experts Haqqani and Kimmage. Professor Riaz Hassan, author of a forthcoming book on suicide bombing, tells us. For one, the conventional wisdom that bombers are insane or religious fanatics is wrong.Typically, most suicide bombers are psychologically normal and are deeply integrated into social networks and emotionally attached to their national communities. Individual bombers show no personality disorders and the attacks themselves are often politically motivated, aimed at achieving specific strategic goals such as forcing concessions or generating greater support. Moreover, the motivations are complex: â€Å"humiliation, revenge, and altruism† all dr ive the individual to engage in, and the community to overlook, suicide bombing. Indeed, as Hassan notes, articipating in suicide bombing can fulfill a range of meanings from the â€Å"personal to communal. † Without understanding these motivations and addressing them, it would appear the governments or organizations that seek to end suicide bombings are likely to be disappointed. Humiliation, revenge and altruism play a key role at the organizational and individual levels in shaping the sub-culture that promotes suicide bombings. Humiliation is an emotional process that seeks to discipline the target party’s behavior by attacking and lowering their own and others’ opinions of whether they deserve respect.Revenge is also a response to the continuous suffering of an aggrieved community. At the heart of the whole process are perceptions of personal harm, unfairness and injustice, and the anger, indignation, and hatred associated with such perceptions. The motivati on for jihad is almost always . . . the dilemma of the humiliated Muslim nation, victimized by the joint evil forces of kufr (unbelief, embodied by the United States as the enemy bent on the destruction of Islam) and tawaghit (tyrants who have set themselves up, or are propped up, as gods on earth).Although Americans tend to think of suicide bombers as â€Å"individual people taking individual decisions to kill people† says Timothy Spengler, they usually operate as members of highly structured terrorist groups. For bombers-in-training, feelings of shame and humiliation—even their individual identities—are replaced by identification with the group, as psychiatrist Vamik Volkan explains: â€Å"In normal life, a person who wants to kill themself has low self-esteem. For the suicide bombers it was the opposite—by killing yourself, you gain self-esteem.These were people with cracks in their personality that could be filled up, as if with cement, with the larg e group identity. So their individuality was erased. † Once recruits have identified with a terrorist group, they are willing to do anything asked by the group and take extreme risks because they feel invincible. Their individual motives and values are replaced by the motives and values of the terrorist group, and disagreement or questioning of the group’s norms is not encouraged.Men attach more value to vengeance than women; and young people are more prepared to act in a vengeful manner than older individuals. It is not surprising, then, to find that most suicide bombers are both young and male. The key to understanding suicide bombers, then, is to understand the organizations and groups that recruit and train them to be the people you know them as. Understanding the terrorist organization’s logic is more important than understanding individual motivations in explaining suicide attacks.Suicide bombings have high symbolic value because the willingness of the comm itters to die signals high resolve and dedication to their cause. They serve as symbols of a just struggle, stimulate popular support, generate financial support for the organization and become a source of new recruits for future suicide missions. As Cronin concludes, â€Å"Although . . . individual suicide attackers . . . are not technically ‘crazy,’ . . . they are often manipulated by the pressures and belief structures of the group†. The causes of suicide bombings lie not in individual psychopathology but in broader social conditions.Understanding and knowledge of these conditions is vital for developing appropriate public policies and responses to protect the public. Suicide bombings are carried out by motivated individuals associated with community based organizations. Strategies aimed at finding ways to induce communities to abandon such support would curtail support for terrorist organizations. Strategies for eliminating or at least addressing collective g rievances in concrete and effective ways would have a significant, and, in many cases, immediate impact on easing the conditions that nurture the subcultures of suicide bombings.Support for suicide bombing attacks is unlikely to diminish without tangible progress in achieving at least some of the fundamental goals that suicide bombers and those sponsoring and supporting them share. The most important choice a suicide attacker makes is not when to press the trigger, but whether or not to join a terrorist group. (figure 2) Figure1 [pic] Figure 2 References Altman, N. (2005, March/April). On the psychology of suicide bombing. Tikkun, 20(2). Retrieved November 20 2012, from Academic Search Elite database. Atran, S. (2004, Summer).Mishandling suicide terrorism. The Washington Quarterly, 27(3), 67–90. Retrieved November 20 from the Center for Strategic and International Studies Web site: www. twq. com/04summer/docs/04summer_atran. pdf Cronin, A. K. (2003, August 28). Terrorists and suicide attacks. CRS Report RL32058. Washington, D. C. : Congressional Research Service. Retrieved November 21, 2012, from Federation of American Scientists Web site: www. fas. org/irp/crs/RL32058. pdf Evans, E. (2005, Spring). The mind of a terrorist: How terrorists see strategy and morality.World Affairs, 167(4), 175–179. Haqqani, H. , & Kimmage, D. (2005, October 3). Suicidology: The online bios of Iraq’s â€Å"martyrs. † New Republic, 233(14), 14–16. Retrieved November 21 2012, from Academic Search Elite database. Hudson, R. A. (1999, September) The sociology and psychology of terrorism: Who becomes a terrorist and why? Retrieved November 22 2012, from Library of Congress Web site: http://www. loc. gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Soc_Psych_of_Terrorism. pdf McConnell, S. (2005, July 18). The logic of suicide terrorism [interview with Robert Pape]. The American Conservative.Retrieved November 22 2012, from http://amconmag. com/2005_07_18/article. html Solow, B. (2004, May 26). The â€Å"patient is regressing†: A distinguished psychiatrist visits the Triangle to lecture on the mindset of the U. S. war on terror. Independent Weekly. Retrieved November 22 2012, from http://www. indyweek. com/durham/2004-05-26/election. html Volkan, V. D. (n. d. ) Suicide bombers. Retrieved November 22 2012, from http://www. healthsystem. virginia. edu/internet/csmhi/suicide-bomber-psychology. pdf ———————– Anthony Leach 11/22/12 D’Amato College writing

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Early Twentieth Century, continued Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Early Twentieth Century, continued - Essay Example The manner in which Mine Okubo was treated is perhaps the worst I would expect to come across in a country that I proudly identify with. Placed in her position, I would interpret such form of treatment as betrayal from a country that I expected to protect my rights and freedoms as an American citizen. After undergoing the evacuation and confinement experience, I would relinquish the American citizenship and seek citizenship in my ancestral land rather than continuing living in a country that would turn against its own people on grounds of race in times of trouble. Today, the experiences of Mine Okubo can probably be traced in people belonging to minority or marginalized groups such as the American Indians, African Americans, the Mexican immigrants and people with the Arabic identity (Cadge-Moore 157). Despite being American citizens, Native Americans continue to face discrimination in all aspects of life including education, employment, political participation and health care. Discrimination partially explains why these groups continue to be marginalized and leveraged in poverty in a global economic power base. Terrorism threats currently experienced in America have exposed people with the Arabic identity and other immigrants to similar treatment including confinement in camps and incarceration as terrorism suspects. The war on terror has seen the U.S. Government establish stringent measures at its main entry points to avert illegal immigration. This has indeed contributed to harassment of American citizens in the detention camps as they await verification, a phenomenon experienced by Okubo and other immigrants (Cadge-Moore 146). Therefore, it is clear that some American citizens continue to suffer at the hands of their very own country. Mine Okubo’s art in â€Å"Citizen 13660† serves to depict some of the historical injustices faced by minority groups such as the Japanese Americans and Indian

Friday, September 27, 2019

Cahokia and Moundville Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cahokia and Moundville - Essay Example The early human interaction is very minimal to most people today, yet many experts and historians suggest that there was no outside contact with the Natchez until around the spring of 1682 when an expedition descended the famous Mississippi River where shortly after the Natchez Indians met with a Frenchman, La Salle. Even though these strange outsiders were weary of these white faces, they still allowed them to pass on their territory under conditions they had worked out with in some of the first meetings with La Salle and his militants, and it was not too long after that that the white men had built and found Fort Rosalie in 1716 which was the center of the society. As the French and the military and other civilian population continue to grow so did the infrequent to often unsettled issues between the Indians and the French which lead to some unfortunate battles in the end. Yet, it was not until the tribe ended up in the middle of the melee among England and France as they pushed to control American lands which made the Natchez show their true hate for the French and knew what they were up to and wanted to fight for what was rightfully theirs. After four years of hostility the Natchez worried daily about their fate in their vast lands of goods, fields of crops, waters, plenty of harvesting, hunting, lumber, cooking, families, and a normal peaceful camp life along with other closely related Indians within some of the same parts of the lower part of Mississippi. By this time, English soldiers had most of the Natchez natives convinced that the French were out to take what was theirs and they began looking at the French as their enemy. After nine years in the late fall 0f November 1729, was the first time this tribe went against the French’s wishes and war broke out immediately and within no time so many unprepared, unarmed, unequipped, and outnumber Natchez were dead, and what ancestors were left of the tribe ended up migrating to a different land to start rebuilding with what little resources and family that was left from the ancestors. As a result of such loss, the Natchez exiles decided to unite with other local tribes to build the native power to save their homes with Indian tribes like the Cherokee and the Chickasaw Creek Indians. Archeological aspects are recognized of the Natchez who were the last Indians were the last tribe of Mississippi, and began to decline increasingly in number when the war with the French nearly did them in to be lost forever. However, the tribe stretched as far as parts of Louisiana all the way through Mississippi on in to Alabama, up to Oklahoma, on to North and South Carolina and up in to some parts of Tennessee. Yet, there are very few native Natchez ancestors that still live around the southeastern part of the United States who became known for several reasons including they were the biggest and by far the sturdiest tribe of Indians of lower Mississippi, who knew how to live off the land extremely well because they grew a multitude of vegetation which included the essentials to most native Americans including: corn, beans, cabbage, sage, onion, flour, oats, squash, and other wild plants for medicine men. This culture were plentiful hunters as they were farmers mostly living off of stream and

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Business Continuity Planning - Program Initiation, Risk Management Research Paper

Business Continuity Planning - Program Initiation, Risk Management (Risk Evaluation) & Incident Management - Research Paper Example In this paper, the three areas of DRI professional practices will be discussed. NBC’s priority is to satisfy its stakeholders through an enhanced system of governance and risk management. To guarantee that their products and services will be available during disruptive events/ hazards, NBC provides this Business Continuity Planning Policy. This policy will enable the company to continue its banking operations and help in reducing losses in the midst of crisis. For instance, NBC has risk management policies, which are proposed, implemented, and reviewed by the Risk Management Group. These policies are approved by the Global Risk Committee under the authority of the Board of Directors. â€Å"These policies cover all the main risks defined in the Bank’s risk management approach and are reviewed on a regular basis...to ensure that they are still relevant given changes in the markets...† (National Bank of Canada 62). All the governance structures of NBC must adhere to these policies including the Office of the President, bank’s management , and business units (i.e. financial markets, wealth management, & personal & commercial banking). 1. Jean Douville, Chairman of the Board of Directors. He and the other corporate directors will approve risk policies for the bank as recommended by the Risk Management Board or the Global Risk Committee. 2. Louis Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer. The Office of the President and the senior management will approve any credit facilities, but those credit applications (personal & commercial) that are beyond their limitations are endorsed to the BOD for final approval. 3. Business Unit/Division Managers (i.e. human resource, marketing, operations, risk management). This group has bigger responsibilities in terms of policy implementation and should regularly report to the senior management for the effectiveness of the policy. See appendix 1 for the names of the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

American Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Women - Essay Example The wishes and desires of women are one of the aspects that have been significantly the least bothered and taken care emotions and feelings (Hewitt, 2002). However, by having a glance at the vogue and drift of the American history, it can come under observation that social norms and culture of United States of America has undergone a radical change in the latter half of the last century. With this change, American women experienced revolutionary variations in the behavior and approach of the general population towards women in an array of problems that includes their freedom powers and liberties (Hewitt, 2002). Family came under contemplation as the most important aspect of the American society in the early years of the twentieth century where matrimony and parenthood were the primary and fundamental elements for the American civilization. During this time, the men in the society played a strong dominant role and reached their zenith in bulldozing the women only to underscore their f amily and children as their top-most priority (Hewitt, 2002). The trend of marriage at a very early age without finishing the education came under surveillance also became an essential component of their customs and norms. In addition, the women came under coercing that husband and home is the only imperative and vital facets of life and the governing subjects did not consented women to have their dreams, desires, and objectives. The family was an essential component in the American society but large families with many children was another conventional and emblematic component of it (Kendall, 2001). The era of twentieth century portrayed and depicted a single woman in American society as a very abominable woman, while looking at the broader side of the continuum; a single and pregnant woman came under deliberation as utterly and entirely a contemptible and deplorable person by the society where nobody from the common people residing in the neighborhood welcomed her. Nevertheless, du e to increasing methods of birth control gave the initiation and rise for the need to develop the proper birth prevention medicines (Kendall, 2001). With the growing necessitate of the American women for the pregnancy prevention medicines in conjunction to the growth, expansion and innovation in the field of science, quite a lot of ways and methods have come under development that can prevent the birth control or contraception in women. Birth control pill is one of the oral or the articulated form of counteracting the birth prevention or averting the pregnancy (Kendall, 2001). The interest and the origination of the birth control methods date backs to several decades with a group of scientists’ experiment of discovering the knowledge about how to prevent the women from being pregnant when she is already having a fetus inside her. However, few years later after the development of these contraceptive pills, the authoritative body responsible for the approval of such activities granted them the permission to launch and bring into play into the market. These pregnancy prevention measures soon became accepted, admired and endorsed amongst women with the passage of time and gave rise to the women’s right of freedom (Zonderman & Shader, 2006).

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Research essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research - Essay Example This article discusses whether the drinking age of alcohol in the US should be lowered from 21 to 18 years. Alcohol is made when fruits, grains or vegetables are fermented. This process uses yeast or certain types of bacteria to convert the sugars used in the foods into alcohol. This process means that alcohol is a natural product that should not raise concern on the need for its use to the people. Alcohol that is taken is absorbed in the bloodstream of the individual and thus affects the central nervous system that includes the brain, and the spinal cord. The central nervous system is important since it controls practically all body functions. At 18 years, the human brain of the teenager is still in the developing stage, which means that drinking at this stage can have severe effects in the future of the individual. Alcohol is a known depressant and at the age of 18 years, it slows the functioning of the central nervous system. At 18 years, alcohol consumed actually blocks some of t he messages trying to get to the brain. This in turn changes an individual's perceptions, sentiments, movement, hallucination and hearing (Cima 2). United States recognizes 18 as the official adult age. At this age, people should be allowed to make their own decision about alcohol consumption. When an individual turns 18 years, they are allowed to receive the rights and responsibilities of an adult such as voting, smoking cigarettes, serve on adjudicators, marry or get married, sign legal contracts, can be prosecuted as grown person, and are allowed to join the military that takes into account risking an individual’s life. Lowering the recommended drinking age from 21 to 18 years would allow more people especially those between the ages of 18 to 20 years to take alcohol in a safer manner in regulated environments without supervision. When the government prohibits this age group from drinking in public places such as restaurants, bars, and other licensed locations, they will d rink in unrestricted places such as fraternity houses or house parties, places where they may be exposed to binge drinking and other unsafe behaviors. Taking alcohol in fraternity houses is dangerous since people in these social places tend to engage in games such as excessive alcohol drinking games, speedy drinking of alcohol that puts persons at risk of acquiring alcohol poisoning which can be fatal (Cochran 2). Most road accidents occur during the first few years of legal drinking regardless of the drinking age. According to the traffic act of the United States and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the age bracket between the ages of 21-24 years had the most number of involvements in road accidents while drunk. Majority of the victims had blood alcohol concentrations of more than 0.08, comprising of more than 35%. In order to offset these traffic accident fraternities by 21%, the legal age for drinking alcohol should be lowered from the ages of 21 to 18years. Comparative research shows that countries with the recommended drinking age of 18 years have lower number of traffic accidents caused by drunken driving (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University 1). If the recommended alcohol drinking age were lowered from 21 to 18 years, it would make consumption of alcohol less of a taboo for grownups’ that are newly joining college and the workforce. Moreover,

Monday, September 23, 2019

Evaluate how the Media Affects Children Psychologically Essay

Evaluate how the Media Affects Children Psychologically - Essay Example they see at a greater rate than elders, when they watch good educational programs on media like television or the internet, they develop problem-solving, mathematical, reading and language proficiency. They learn to be social (Fisch, 2004, p. 191). Their interest in continuing to watch informative television shows increases as they grow older which helps them get higher grades in English, math and science and encourages them to read informative books. They learn to do well in reading and develop language abilities as many shows include simplified speech, repetitions and elaborations of meanings of words. Negative media effects are that children face problems in maintaining long attention span. They face difficulties in concentrating. They do not learn to think on their own. When watched in excess, television viewing becomes an undesirable activity. Excessively watching television shows other than educational ones gets them poor grades in academic achievement tests. Thus, moderation is necessary. Violent media tends to be harmful in developing good behavior and makes children aggressive and violent (Tompkins, 2003). To sum up, media has both positive and negative effects on children. The parents should feel the responsibility to keep a check on their children and teach them to watch any sort of media in moderation so as to reduce any bad effects media may cause on the developing

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Cause of Extinction - Global Warming Research Paper

Cause of Extinction - Global Warming - Research Paper Example Many of the species have become extinct so far. These include animals as well as plants. There are various reasons for extinction. The word extinction is used to describe a situation when the last living member of any species dies. This is a kind of situation where there is no other member of that lives in the planet. In other sense the particular species becomes obsolete. This is the situation where the concerned species is called â€Å"extinct†. Functional extinction of a species happens when only few members of that species survive but they are completely unable to reproduce due to many biotic reasons, such as age, poor health etc. There are various reasons behind extinction of any species. Most of those reasons are natural reasons, which are beyond any human control. But many of those reasons include direct or indirect human intervention into the natural system. The extinction of Dinosaur was entirely due to the natural reasons. Many of the big species became extinction du e to unexpected natural phenomena. All of those phenomena were beyond human control. Recently most of the species are getting extinct also because of the natural reasons, but those phenomena have direct or indirect human intervention into the society. ... Again these species are becoming extinct because of some other factors also. Human beings are getting much more conscious about their current direct consumption of natural resource. To accomplish this, they are degrading the nature in a way that is creating threats to those species. This phenomenon is also directly or indirectly affecting the ecology of the planet the earth. And those are again directly or indirectly affecting the lives of those species and also the lives of humans (Sodhi, Bradshaw, & Brook, 514). But among all these reasons global warming is a key factor causing the extinction of different species around the whole world. Global Warming and Extinction: Global Warming or the problem of global climate change is the most important reasons for extinction of many of the known species around the whole world. These two reasons are basically interrelated. A recent study suggests that by 2050 almost 37% of well-known plants and animal species will be extinct (Climate Change H eadlines from 2000 to 2009). The human-intervened global warming has caused the first known mammal in 2008. In some of the parts of the world, such as northern Queensland, many of the species cannot survive because the temperature has gone up to 30  Ã‚ °C (Climate Change Headlines from 2000 to 2009). This kind of scenario is also the same in the northern regions and in other southern regions of the world. One of the most fascinating studies reveals that before 2100 there will be complete human extinction. And again the reason is global warming and the world climate change. In that time, the temperature of the world will be 29  °F or 16  °C and in the atmosphere the carbon dioxide levels will reach to a

Saturday, September 21, 2019

A Closer Look at Watchmens Dr Manhattan Essay Example for Free

A Closer Look at Watchmens Dr Manhattan Essay Neil Armstrong, Clark Kent, John F. Kennedy, Professor Charles Xavier, Gandhi, Chuck Norris, Master Yoda. The men mentioned above are fictional or real characters with quite a few things in common. They are all heroes in their respective universes, they fight for what is good, and they are all experts in their fields of profession. In fact, they are the supposed best or the most renowned at what they do. Neil Armstrong has to be the most famous Astronaut of all time while Clark Kent’s alter ego, Superman is arguably the greatest superhero there is and if not, he is definitely the most famous. Chuck Norris is the best ass-kicker in the world while Professor X is the greatest telepath in the Marvel Universe. JFK was a great president, Gandhi changed revolution, and Master Yoda taught nine hundred years’ worth of Jedi Knights. Yes, these men are all very talented and very powerful. However, these outstanding heroes have one more thing in Common: they all fall nothing short of insignificant to the power, intelligence, and capabilities of Dr. Manhattan. Dr Manhattan’s powers and abilities include immortality, shapeshifting to any form he chooses, seeing the future, reading minds, teleportation, and bending matter to his will. He practically has no physical weaknesses. Superman and Yoda could possibly put up a fight but that’s another story. In the world of Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan made human life appear insignificant. Yes, insignificant. Can you imagine? The supposed dominant species in the world could have been a clump of dirt on Dr. Manhattan’s shoe compared to his Godlike persona. This became the aggravating external conflict Dr. Manhattan had with humans. In fact, Dr. Manhattan ended up believing that Humans had become irrelevant and mattered little to him, thus, resulted in him eventually leaving Earth and living on Mars. This caused momentous discomfort and major uproar in Earth, namely, The United States. Dr. Manhattan may have lost his purpose of necessity for human beings but The United States needed him as if their lives depended on it. In fact, The United States practically worshipped him as a God. In the Watchmen storyline, The Cold War between the Russians and the Americans was at the brink of becoming nuclear warfare and either side was very close to opening fire and sending all their nuclear warheads at each other. If both sides fired every missile they had, they would destroy all human life on Earth. Dr. Manhattan, being America’s greatest weapon and greatest defence, was expected to use his power and eliminate every Russian warhead that he could and give the United States a chance to fire back at Russia and ultimately win the Cold War. What the Americans hadn’t counted on was Dr. Manhattan leaving Earth after losing his temper during a live-on-television interview. The Russians took this once in a lifetime opportunity of an AWOL Dr. Manhattan to ready their missiles to fire at the United States. Of course, that is not what happened. But we will get back to that later. You may be wondering, â€Å"Okay what’s your point? Why are you mentioning all of Dr. Manhattan’s capabilities and how he serves the United Sates? † Well to answer your question, let me restate what I pointed out earlier: In the world of watchmen, Dr. Manhattan makes human achievements and ultimately being human, almost completely irrelevant. Imagine, the nuclear warhead is possibly the most powerful weapon humankind has to offer and Dr. Manhattan can make them disappear with a wink of an eye. Man’s mission to the moon took billions of dollars, a rocket ship, and years of planning and preparation for this life-changing project to become a reality. However, as seen in the opening credits of the film version, Neil Armstrong was not the first person to arrive on the moon. When Armstrong first set foot onto the moon’s surface, what does he find? He finds nothing other than Dr. Manhattan in his, blue, naked form with no spacesuit, no spacecraft, and no artificial aid whatsoever. What does this tell us? Whatever humans can do, Dr.  Manhattan can do it much better. And if humans are ever to make a new life-changing discovery, Dr. Manhattan has already discovered it. However, Dr. Manhattan does have some personal, noteworthy, and very human limitations. In his eyes, he would even call them â€Å"Flaws†. Let’s take a closer look at some of these flaws. For one thing, Dr. Manhattan may be all-powerful and superior to humans but he still experiences human emotions. Namely, love. To expound on the significance of Dr. Manhattan’s ability to love, let me first talk about another flaw of his. Dr. Manhattan is the most powerful being in the Watchmen Universe and he knows it. Soon, his Godlike power eventually causes him to lose all respect for humanity and he begins to question their significance in his life. Getting drunk with power and losing respect for anyone under your power is indeed a very human imperfection. Now, going back to his ability to love, the only reason Dr. Manhattan has not given up on humans and abandon Earth completely was because of one person, Laurie, better known as The Silk Spectre. Dr. Manhattan was in love with her. He even tells her that she had become his only link to humans and without her, he would have no longer cared and simply let the United States and Russia destroy each other. It can even be inferred that if it wasn’t for Dr. Manhattan’s ability to love, Veidt would not have gotten his way and the Russians and Americans would have still caused nuclear war. In the Watchmen storyline, Adrian Veidt, also known as Ozymandias, was meant to appear as the villain. Readers and the audience would be quick to assume that since he was not on the side of Dr.  Manhattan, NiteOwl, Rorschach, and Silk Spectre, and the fact that he killed The Comedian, he was automatically the villain. However, in the end, and to everyone’s surprise, Ozymandias ironically turned out to be the unconventional hero. Veidt’s subtitle of â€Å"World’s Smartest Man† suited him because he knew that the solution to preventing the nuclear war was to direct both superpowers against a common enemy. And that enemy had to be none other than Dr. Manhattan. Somehow, Veidt just knew that the only way to prevent global destruction via nuclear war was to make the United States fear Dr.  Manhattan just as much as The Soviets feared him. Veidt tricked Dr. Manhattan into helping him make generators that could replicate the energy that gave Dr. Manhattan his power. When Dr. Manhattan left the planet and exiled on Mars, Veidt seized the opportunity to attack a number of major cities in the world using energy from the generators he and Dr. Manhattan made. Because of these attacks, thousands of people were killed and the areas affected by the blasts endured colossal damage. Yes, Veidt had killed thousands of people but he believed that sacrifices had to be made if we truly wanted to save the world. After the attacks from Ozymandias, scientists examined the affected areas and the energy readings led the humans to conclude that Dr. Manhattan himself had caused these global crimes. Thus, causing the Americans and Soviets to turn their weapons away from each other and point them towards an even greater threat: Dr. Manhattan. Dr. Manhattan knew that Veidt was right and he also knew that if he stayed on Earth, it would cause even more destruction and more unnecessary deaths. Without hesitation, he left the planet once again.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Cogeneration And Trigeneration Methods Engineering Essay

Cogeneration And Trigeneration Methods Engineering Essay Cogeneration and trigeneration are methods used for producing more than one useful form of energy from only one energy source. These two methods in todays world are very important because efficiency, fuel prices and emissions are a great a concern. Both methods give the opportunity to increase efficiency drastically up to 60% to 80% which is much more than the conventional power plant which has an efficiency of about 30%.  [1]   The 60% to 80% efficiencies that both methods present have a great effect on cost savings, reduced air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, increased power reliability and quality, reduced grid congestion and avoided distribution losses.  [2]  All these factors mentioned, as discussed before are all important and cogeneration and trigeneration help achieve this. Both systems are normally combined but I will explain both cogeneration and trigeneration separately and then give examples were these systems are used in real life. Cogeneration Cogeneration is also known as combined heat and power (CHP). Plants using a cogeneration system use the exhaust of for example a reciprocating engine to heat the premises. This means that instead of throwing away the exhaust, it is being reused but this time as heat energy. This is done by using a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the exhaust gas to process heat. Cogeneration produces a given amount of electric power and process heat with 10% to 30% less fuel than it takes to produce the electricity and process heat separately.  [3]   Cogeneration Combined Heat and Power Figure 1: Cogeneration diesel engine generator plant  [4]   Figure 1 above shows a diesel engine driving a generator. Fuel in the form of natural gas, bio gas or bio diesel is used to run the engine. The engine is coupled to a generator which produces electricity. The plant above shows two heat exchangers, one for cooling the engine and raising the used cold water coming from process heat and the other is an exhaust gas heat exchanger only to raise again the temperature of the water for process heat. The water cooling the engine which is normally at around 90oC enters the heat exchanger (bottom one) which by heat transfers and the second law of thermodynamics is cooled but the cold waters temperature is raised. In the exhaust gas heat exchanger the temperature of the water already heated in the bottom heat exchanger is heated again and sent for process heat. A simple example is, imagine a hotel having a generator to produce electricity and at the moment its full of guests and the ambient temperature outside is around 2oC below zero. This means that the central heating needs to be running constantly to keep the guests in a comfortable environment. Therefore a lot of fuel is being used to heat up the boilers to produce steam for central heating. Imagine the hotel employs the plant shown in figure 1. No fuel will be used for heating because the fuel used to run the engine is also being used (indirectly) for process heat. There exist two main types of cogeneration techniques which are topping cycle and bottoming cycle plants. Topping cycle cogeneration plant Topping cycle plants generate electricity or mechanical power first. Some facilities may generate the electricity for themselves only and some may even sell any power that is not being used. There exist four types of topping cycle cogeneration plants. Combined cycle topping system The first type burns fuel in a gas turbine as shown in figure 2 or diesel engine to produce electrical or mechanical power. Process heat, or steam that then drives the secondary steam turbine is produced by the exhaust entering a heat recovery boiler.  [5]   Figure 2: Combined cycle topping system  [6]   Steam turbine topping system The second type of system burns fuel which can be any type to produce high-pressure steam that then passes through a steam turbine to produce power. The exhaust provides low-pressure process steam as shown in figure 3.  [7]   Figure 3: Steam turbine topping system  [8]   Heat recovery topping system This type burns a fuel such as natural gas, diesel etc. The cooling system (engine coolant) goes to a heat recovery boiler, where it is converted to process steam and hot water for space heating. Figure 4: Heat recovery topping system Therefore this type produces electricity, process steam, hot water supply and heating as shown above in figure 4.  [9]   Gas turbine topping system This type of system uses a natural gas turbine to drive a generator. The exhaust gas goes to a heat recovery boiler that makes process steam and process heat as shown in figure 5.  [10]   Figure 5: Gas turbine topping system  [11]   Bottoming cycle plants These type of plants are less common then topping cycle plants. Normally this type of plant is used in heavy industries where high temperature furnaces are used. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQC1NY0K1kAhtnMFAHE_V8EdgHsuek7QHTQgv8gtyoiMQvA36efzL8VU0TzEdisDWh1CGrhjNmG5yI0NvP7iuVyD0b4P_vfb-XyEJFv_VrWUKA4-LdRTjNteQwNtVBNoiCvqs77sK9qI0/s1600/bottoming-cycle-system-cogeneration.jpg Figure 6: Bottoming cycle system  [12]   After heating the furnace or any manufacturing heating process the waste heat is then passed through a recovery boiler. The waste heat is used to produce heat which then drives a steam turbine to produce electricity. Trigeneration Trigeneration also referred to combined heating, cooling and power (CHCP) is a system where this time three types of energies are produced from one energy source. The difference between cogeneration and trigeneration is that in trigeneration chilled water for air conditioning or process use is produced. This is done by using an absorption or adsorption chiller. Just as a cogeneration power plant captures and makes use of the waste heat, absorption or adsorption chillers capture the waste (or rejected) heat and produce chilled water.  [13]   Therefore the major advantage over cogeneration is that now if a plant works using trigeneration, hot water, air conditioning (using chilled water) and power generation. Therefore an industry having this system will spend less money due to having a more efficient plant when compared to cogeneration and especially when compared to conventional plants. Adsorption Chiller An adsorption chiller works purely using hot water. It uses the principle of using solid sorption materials such as silica gel and zeolites. http://www.raee.org/climatisationsolaire/graph/new/adsorption_sh.gif Figure 7: Schematic for an adsorption chiller  [14]   These type of chillers have a strong structure and are easy to install. There are no possibilities of crystallization, corrosion, hazardous leaks, and the electricity consumption is minimal  [15]  . They are commonly used in a commercial environment. Absorption Chiller An absorption chiller works by using hot water, steam or combustion. The solution used contains water and lithium bromide salt to absorb heat from the surroundings. No refrigerant is used which means no harm is done to the environment. http://www.raee.org/climatisationsolaire/graph/new/absorption.gif Figure 8: Schematic for an absorption chiller  [16]   Absorption chillers are the most distributed worldwide and they are more efficient. Their lifetime is much longer than adsorption chillers. Moreover they have high maintenance time and low corrosion protection.  [17]   Say something small about trigenerators and put schematic of plant.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Phone Booth Essay -- essays research papers

Phone Booth, a sort of Speed-meets-Twelve Angry Men, is kept basically within the confines of a single "room" and focuses on a life-or-death dynamic between two men, one of whom is a psychopath with a dangerous weapon. At 84 minutes, the premise of Phone Booth just reaches the stress breaking point at its climax. In other words, you can suspend disbelief only so long, and about 75 minutes is it for this one. Still, it ¡Ã‚ ¯s a tense, taut thriller while it lasts. Colin Farrell plays Stu Shepard, a fast-talking, fast-pulling publicist who wants everyone who ¡Ã‚ ¯s anyone to think he's on top of the world. Wearing Italian suits and a knock-off designer watch, he struts down the sidewalks of Manhattan (somewhat reminiscent of the Saturday Night Fever scene), talking on two cell phones and a payphone. The payphone is to call his sweetie-on-the-side so that a record of her number doesn ¡Ã‚ ¯t show up on his cell bill and alert his wife to his deception. Stu ¡Ã‚ ¯s daily routine, unbeknownst to him, has caught the attention of a psychotic sniper with a God complex. The sniper calls Stu in the phone booth, and tells him that he is "guilty of inhumanity to your fellow man" and the "sin of spin." Parties guilty of such grievances may not leave the phone booth, under any circumstances. The mental game of cat-and-mouse unfolds amidst the murder of a pimp who wants to use the phone, the showdown with police (Forest Whitaker as the captain is excellent), and the sho...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Essay on the Angel of a Woman in The Birthmark -- Birthmark Essays

Angel of a Woman in â€Å"The Birthmark†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, â€Å"The Birthmark,† contains a wonderful example of the perfect wife. This essay will develop that theme.    In the opening paragraph of â€Å"The Birthmark† the narrator introduces Aylmer as a scientist who â€Å"had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one.† Hawthorne’s description of the scientist’s love for Georgiana is apt, for love is just that – spiritual. And the theme of this tale is a spiritual one. Through the course of the story Aylmer declines spiritually, while Georgiana advances spiritually.    Even after Aylmer has â€Å"persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife,† he is not capable of loving her properly, unselfishly, because he â€Å"had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weaned from them by any second passion.† The narrator seeks to justify this error or lack in Aylmer by explaining that â€Å"it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy.† Already at the outset of the tale, the reader perceives that Georgiana is going to be shortchanged in this marriage. She is exposed to the problem initially when her husband asks whether â€Å"it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?'' Aylmer is in quest of physical perfection in his wife; unfortunately he discounts her inner, spiritual value so clearly manifested in her comment: ``To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it mi ght be so.'' In using the word â€Å"simple† she is being honest and not sarcastic; she is being humble and respectful of others’ (parents?) evaluation of herself. T... ...dab: â€Å"Laugh, thing of the senses! You have earned the right to laugh.'' But there is no success, for with great tenderness and concern for her husband’s happiness, Georgiana softly says, â€Å"I am dying!† The narrator’s beautifully poetic way of expressing the demise of the wife is memorable: â€Å"The fatal hand had grappled with the mystery of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame.† The soul of this angelic, loving woman, â€Å"lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight.† A true angel of womankind is ascending to heaven.    WORKS CITED    Hawthorne, Nathaniel . The Birthmark Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HawBirt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1      

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Professional Products Essay

Case Study 1 1. How does Accenture People site help Accenture better serve its customers? a. It helps in the sense that it makes the other people who are working in other countries to help with getting information easier. They are able to share information easily of different projects and are able to communicate directly rather than waiting. This will help consumers with their output and they will receive things on time or even early. 2. How successful do you think Accenture will be at getting its employees to create their profiles? b. I think Accenture will be very successful in getting their employees to create their profiles. This social network will be an easy use for all employees and will play a major role in communication between all the employees in all the different countries. 3. Can you see any drawbacks related to employees creating their own profiles? c. One drawback that I see with employees creating profiles is lack of time. They will spend a lot of time just like people spend on Facebook and that can take time away from doing important things. This can delay production and projects. Case Study 2 1. How would you describe Professional Products’ growth strategy? a. I think that there strategy is very good. They hire enough people to get the job done and don’t have to deal with the hardship of laying people off. They work enough so they don’t overwork their employees. 2. Why would Professional Products’ commit to no layoffs in its expansion? Is this a positive move, or could it be detrimental to the company? b. Because if the company is expanding in other countries then there needs to be workers that can look after the work of those workers and make sure the work is being done right. It will not be detrimental to the company because if they layoff employees and they are loaded with more work then they will let go of experienced employees which can be harmful to them 3. In addition to training employees for other jobs, what other HR strategies might the firm employ to maintain its relationship with its domestic employees? c. They might try and send trained employees from the U.S.A. to the other countries; outsource them and work with them to make domestic employees more comfortable at what they do and need to be doing. They can also try holding annual meetings at a center location and doing focus groups in order for all the employees around the world communicate with one another and learn everything together.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Mathematics essay

In Wikipedia (2007), Mathematics is defined as â€Å"the body of knowledge centered on concepts such as quantity, structure, space, and change, and also the academic discipline that studies them.† In general, mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, science, computers, abstracts, etc. Often comparing mathematics to music and poetry, it is an interesting fact that many mathematicians find aesthetic beauty in studying math, even describing it as an â€Å"art form.† Quoting the famous philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, â€Å"mathematics possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty†¦.†Mathematics is all around the world we live in. The day we came into this world, we were born into a world of numbers — from our birthday to our APGAR scores, the exact time we were born to the number of our toes. Growing up, we were introduced to math when we started counting the ten little Indians with our fingers, eventually leading u s to its more complex nature by solving logarithms with the command of our scientific calculators. Studying math and living with it day in and out oftentimes makes this subject taken for granted. But come to think of it, math makes one think in a way no other field can stimulate one’s intellect.Because of math, we have acquired, if not mastered, the application of logical thinking in all things practical. Mathematics in our century has a very minute, if at all, margin for error. What’s ten is ten, and an apple plus an apple equals two apples. It’s this or that, no grey areas in between. Although contrary to the opinion that math is not a closed intellectual system, in which everything has already been worked out, the mere existence of math compels us to have a black and white perspective of the world. The notion of grey areas is an area that to this day the learned are constantly exploring.Looking at history, the British mathematician Charles Babbage who origina ted the idea of a programmable computer was said to have spent his family fortune in search of the answer to mechanize computation. He was quoted as â€Å"obsessed† with the pursuit of eliminating the inaccuracy of human calculation. The discontent that he had with the probability of human error to a large extent shows that great thinkers predominately believe that the exact explanation of things we want to understand in this world is within math’s reach. Great intellects like Babbage and other legendary mathematicians of our time prove that there is a possibility of defining all empirical things in mathematical terms.Even symbols used in math can be described as a language unique in itself. Mathematical notation in the modern world consists of strict syntax and encoded information that will otherwise be difficult to write in another way. These are only few of many examples illustrating the black and white perspective that math gives us. As with science, math makes you think logically, seeking out precise explanations for possibly everything calculable. What makes it remarkably unique though is that the rationale behind the accuracy of findings in math is not as easy to disprove as those in other fields.The myriad of disciplines that have stemmed from mathematics such as applied mathematics, statistics, and mathematical economics, among others, serve as the different venues for utilizing math as a means of solving real-world problems. But I believe that I need not be a brilliant mathematician to know that one-half of four is two, nor would I need software to count the exact number of days left before Christmas. Needless to say, the basic use of mathematics is an integral part of our life. It enables us to calculate not only the definite answers to complicated mathematical problems, but it also teaches us that in every problem, there is a right and wrong answer.There are no maybes. Unlike essays, there are no half-point systems in your math test a nswers, it’s either your answer is correct or it is wrong. That’s why in approaching things in real life, we do not content ourselves dealing with half-baked questions and half-hearted answers, nor are we satisfied with â€Å"what-could-have-beens.† In our efforts to strike a balance in our existence, we hardly accommodate room for unanswered questions. Just as a toddler naturally asks us with the never ending why, so is our infinite obsession for seeking the right answers to our questions inherent in our nature as humans. After all, despite the clichà © that it is, we don’t want to leave room for grey areas.REFERENCE:Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics (25 Feb. 2007).

Sunday, September 15, 2019

The Sixth Sense Film Analysis

With a close up of the award, the clip begins with our view of the couple only in reflection of Malcolm’s recent award, which is made to seem meaningless as we can’t read the writing despite it being in centre of the frame. The award is in a red frame. This already seems to be warning to both Malcolm and Anna that danger could be heading their way, especially during the reflected close-up shot of the two. It also makes us wonder why this prop appears slanted on the chair.This suggests that the award is a symbol of danger. Also, the red lighting on the couple from the fire leads us to believe that they are now the central target of a dangerous presence. Which we see in upcoming events. The only sound we hear is diegetic, though its very quiet which gives off a calm atmosphere but may also suggest we should be listening for something. In the shot where the couple are reflected in the frame, we see that she is lower down than him showing the characters importance.00:06:08 A wide shot is used to show the scenery and expensive objects. We can see that they are a wealthy couple through the setting. The large living room has what looks to be expensive furnishings and an ornate fireplace as well as a grandfather clock and chandelier in the equally big hallway. We also can assume this as Malcolm is wearing a jumper with a rowing club logo, something we often associate with richer people. The couple then head upstairs and discover the house has been broken into.The setting suddenly becomes dark and we see Anna’s shadow on the wall, She’s positioned to the right in front of the open window showing a dangerous situation, this is also hinted as her back is turned on the dark room insinuating there may be something lurking in the shadows, which is why the lighting is very low key and dull. We hear some diegetic sound though its rather quiet which helps to change the atmosphere from relaxing to a tense and suspicious one.00:06:41 Malcolm approaches his wife to see what the problem is, with this we get a point of view shot, the camera examines the floor before tracking up to the smashed window, the shot lasts approximately 8 seconds and allows us to take in the situation. The phone on the ground makes a beeping noise similar to the sound of a warning alarm which should be seen as a warning in its self. The noise then dies out which links to Malcolm’s life later in the scene.We can assume this scene is centred around Malcolm as it’s his view we’re seeing from, it’s also his bag we see on the floor sprinkled with shattered glass as well as earlier the winning of the award. 00:06:54 A mid-shot Is used to show Malcolm being protective of his wife. As the couple have now taken off there expensive jackets/cover ups it seems they also lost the power that comes with it. 00:07:08 The camera slowly zooms towards Malcolm and straight cuts back to a point of view shot, as this happens we hear the non- diegetic music increasing the tension.As we see Malcolm begin to move we also hear the faint noise of movement from the intruder, this (as well as the camera shot) is allowing the audience to capture that the intruder is standing in the bathroom. We see in a point of view shot to add tension as well as close ups so the audience can see the expression on Malcolm’s face. Though the distance from the bathroom and the position of Malcolm isn’t far at all 13 seconds pass before we discover who is in the room, the time has been stretched out to cause more tension.00:07:13 The first view we get of the bathroom is of the floor as the shot is still from Malcolm’s point of view, the fact we see the floor before the camera moves up shows that he isn’t confident enough to look straight ahead, the shot then is then zoomed out to create a full body shot. it’s obvious the man we see (Vincent) isn’t mentally stable due to the break in, his body language and the fact he’s took the majority of his clothes off, knowing this Malcolm speaks quietly trying to keep a clam atmosphere.As Vincent moves towards the door we hear the diagetic sound return, we also see Malcolm and his wife are aware of the danger, when Vincent moves closer and Malcolm steps back. 00:09:10 A mid-shot frame is used when Vincent starts to become angry and upset making him unpredictable and therefore more of a risk, the pan across Vincent’s face to allow us to see the emotions and then does the same to Malcolm. Vincents body language also tells the audience how unstable he is, one arm  is ‘protecting’ him throughout, he’s also very closed and shrugged which also gives off the sense of fear.The scene becomes very quiet with the only sound being whispers and crying. 00:09:51 A mid-shot is used as Vincent shoots the gun. High key lighting has been used to show whats going on as it’s done very quickly. The loud gunshot comes as a shock to the audience as it’s been very quiet which adds more shock, within seconds Vincent turns the gun on himself.The camera pans while this happens. Malcolm was shot in his rowing jumper, making it ironic that he was shot right in front of his rowing photo in which they all look happy and full of life. 00:10:27 A crane movement is used to end the scene, the screen then fades black and remains silent for a moment before playing the same non-diegetic music as earlier in the scene. The lighting is very dark and the room is a mess which represents the current situation The sixth sense film analysis With a close up of the award, the clip begins with our view of the couple only in reflection of Malcolm’s recent award, which is made to seem meaningless as we can’t read the writing despite it being in centre of the frame. The award is in a red frame. This already seems to be warning to both Malcolm and Anna that danger could be heading their way, especially during the reflected close-up shot of the two. It also makes us wonder why this prop appears slanted on the chair.This suggests that the award is a symbol of danger. Also, the red lighting on the couple from the fire leads us to believe that they are now the central target of a dangerous presence. Which we see in upcoming events. The only sound we hear is diegetic, though its very quiet which gives off a calm atmosphere but may also suggest we should be listening for something. In the shot where the couple are reflected in the frame, we see that she is lower down than him showing the characters importance.A wide sh ot is used to show the scenery and expensive objects. We can see that they are a wealthy couple through the setting. The large living room has what looks to be expensive furnishings and an ornate fireplace as well as a grandfather clock and chandelier in the equally big hallway. We also can assume this as Malcolm is wearing a jumper with a rowing club logo, something we often associate with richer people. The couple then head upstairs and discover the house has been broken into.The setting suddenly becomes dark and we see Anna’s shadow on the wall, She’s positioned to the right in front of the open window showing a dangerous situation, this is also hinted as her back is turned on the dark room insinuating there may be something lurking in the shadows, which is why the lighting is very low key and dull. We hear some diegetic sound though its rather quiet which helps to change the atmosphere from relaxing to a tense and suspicious one.Malcolm approaches his wife to see w hat the problem is, with this we get a point of view shot, the camera examines the floor before tracking up to the smashed window, the shot lasts approximately 8 seconds and allows us to take in the situation. The phone on the ground makes a beeping noise similar to the sound of a warning alarm which should be seen as a warning in its self. The noise then dies out which links to Malcolm’s life later in the scene.We can assume this scene is centred around Malcolm as it’s his view we’re seeing from, it’s also his bag we see on the floor sprinkled with shattered glass as well as earlier the winning of the award. A mid-shot Is used to show Malcolm being protective of his wife. As the couple have now taken off there expensive jackets/cover ups it seems they also lost the power that comes with it. 00:07:08 The camera slowly zooms towards Malcolm and straight cuts back to a point of view shot, as this happens we hear the non- diegetic music increasing the tensio n.As we see Malcolm begin to move we also hear the faint noise of movement from the intruder, this (as well as the camera shot) is allowing the audience to capture that the intruder is standing in the bathroom. We see in a point of view shot to add tension as well as close ups so the audience can see the expression on Malcolm’s face. Though the distance from the bathroom and the position of Malcolm isn’t far at all 13 seconds pass before we discover who is in the room, the time has been stretched out to cause more tension.The first view we get of the bathroom is of the floor as the shot is still from Malcolm’s point of view, the fact we see the floor before the camera moves up shows that he isn’t confident enough to look straight ahead, the shot then is then zoomed out to create a full body shot. it’s obvious the man we see (Vincent) isn’t mentally stable due to the break in, his body language and the fact he’s took the majority of hi s clothes off, knowing this Malcolm speaks quietly trying to keep a clam atmosphere.As Vincent moves towards the door we hear the diagetic sound return, we also see Malcolm and his wife are aware of the danger, when Vincent moves closer and Malcolm steps back. A mid-shot frame is used when Vincent starts to become angry and upset making him unpredictable and therefore more of a risk, the pan across Vincent’s face to allow us to see the emotions and then does the same to Malcolm. Vincents body language also tells the audience how unstable he is, one armis ‘protecting’ him throughout, he’s also very closed and shrugged which also gives off the sense of fear. The scene becomes very quiet with the only sound being whispers and crying. A mid-shot is used as Vincent shoots the gun. High key lighting has been used to show whats going on as it’s done very quickly. The loud gunshot comes as a shock to the audience as it’s been very quiet which adds mo re shock, within seconds Vincent turns the gun on himself.The camera pans while this happens. Malcolm was shot in his rowing jumper, making it ironic that he was shot right in front of his rowing photo in which they all look happy and full of life. 00:10:27 A crane movement is used to end the scene, the screen then fades black and remains silent for a moment before playing the same non-diegetic music as earlier in the scene. The lighting is very dark and the room is a mess which represents the current situation

What Are the Strengths and Challenges of Teams at Work

What are the strengths and challenges of teams at work? Team work has been the biggest development In management of human resources for organizations In the past few decades (Norman, Cohen and Norman, 1995). It has been implemented in a wide variety of spheres and the growth of the popularity is still ongoing. It is obvious that these changes have not happened without a reason, there is something to team work that is attracting every manager like kids to an ice- cream car. Before I continue, I want to state some things so there would not be any misunderstanding further on the essay.First, I do not want any confusion when it comes to defining a team and a group, because I understand that there is not much of a difference (Ouzo, 1996) between these terms. The only thing that I want to state is that team always has an interdependent nature; they perceive themselves as a whole unit. Second, as the topic is about teams In general, the evaluation Is quite superficial and It will not be val id for every team. The way team performs depends on the size of the team, the management of It and of course the working environment It Is In.So every team has to be evaluated Independently to give an objective report. I will describe aspects that stand out amongst the others and are present for most of the teams. My goal in this essay is to evaluate teams at work environment drawing on theory and research. I am going to point out the strengths of a team-based work from member's point of view and challenges that team members have to face. Eventually, what I am trying to state is that people (managers, leaders etc. Who are leaning towards team work as the best way of getting things done have made this assumption based on feelings they have towards team-work rather than researching hurry and experiments made on the approach to get the bagger picture of what team-work consists from and what are the actual drawbacks. I am basing my work on the paper about ‘romance of teams' (Allen and Yecch, AAA) taking some Ideas from the paper, but putting them Into my own perspective. I am going to start with the most obvious strengths that teams has, because those are the ones that people are most aware of.Followed by additional strengths, that according to researches lies in our sub consciousness. After that I will describe the biggest challenges teams have to face. Strengths A team consists of several people and each one of them has their own skills, characteristics, gender, age and perception of things in general (Britton et al. , 2010). There are several definitions of a team, but this one serves the best for my purposes – ‘A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, Job, or project' (Chicken, 2009).Indeed each one of us Is unique and by coming together and supplementing each other we form a living organism called ‘team'. Knowledge, opinion, experience and personal views can be shared in this living mind', in this way implying additional strengths. Maybe these are not the strengths that people will mention the most when speaking about pros of teams, but they exist and they do form our feelings towards teams. I would like to continue by focusing on strengths of teams that people are unaware of or they are aware of them subconsciously.Every team is a social formation; accordingly it includes interaction with others, whether it is Just a chat that started with â€Å"how are you doing? † or a discussion about the subjective they are trying to achieve or a social evening to bring he team closer together, it does not matter. The thing that matters is that team gives you a wide range of opportunities to satisfy your social needs; it gives you a feeling of belonging (Godard, 2001 a).Alongside, comes the feeling that overtakes you, that gives you the idea that you want to be a part of a team, which is natural, because people are creatures that has been living in groups since the beginn ing of time and social desires has developed naturally and is a part of our lives. The thing is that, not everyone is aware of this phenomenon, so this is where unconscious strengths appear. To continue, I would like to introduce a research made by Diddle and Strobe, 1991.This research states that individuals perceive working in group activities to be more fun and enjoyable than working alone and that time is perceived as passing more quickly when working in a group (Allen and Yecch, Bibb). Moreover, some researches shows that working in a team can increase your mental well-being and state of mind in general (Carter, 2000). Teams provide a benefit like reduction of stress (Godard, 2001 b) which mostly comes from the fact that teams reduces uncertainty about particular situations and verifies member's beliefs and ideas (Hog and Mulling, 1999).As all the facts that are mentioned before comes together, it is only obvious that teams do paint a really nice picture about themselves in our minds. Additionally, the way how people actually perceive themselves in a group is different from the way they do outside of one. Researches have shown that people tend to take less responsibility for failures of the team and in the same time more responsibility for success of the team (Schlesinger, 1975), which is kind of illogical, but in the nature f any human being.It is much easier to assign blame to others in that way preserving your own feeling of competence, rather than admitting that you are the one to blame, and when being in a team you have the opportunity to do that, because who will possibly forbid you, except yourself. The perception of team as a unit working together plays a big role here, because in your mind you do understand that you are not the only one who is in the team, so if the team fails or succeeds then the whole team does that.To add to this idea, people tend to evaluate their own reference higher when working in a team rather than working alone, both, th eir actual expectations and conclusions, of their performance in the team has been recorded to be of a higher value (Phallus et al. , 1993). This all can be very misleading, but as long as we – human beings – will not change our nature and start seeing things as they actually are, these will be some of the most mind impacting benefits towards teamwork.Challenges The point about the diversity of a team and different people coming together that When people with different ideas and different views on life come together and has o work as one and unbreakable unit, arguments between them are inevitable. That is why certain roles have to be assigned and a specific structure formed, so the team would manage to work productively. Size and composition of a team has an influence on individual behavior, on decision making (Kooks-De Bode et al. 2008), if these aspects are not sorted out in a timely manner then one of the biggest strengths of a team can turn into a drawback and then it is Just matter of time when the team will collapse. Another challenge for a team is goal setting, which is a really important aspect when it comes to whether the work is going to be smooth and whether it is going to be without misunderstandings. Goals has to be set at the very beginning and they have to be defined very clearly to everyone in the team, so everyone would really understand what the team is trying to achieve.If this is not done, then there is a possibility that team members start to head in different directions. An equally significant set of challenges comes from too much of dependence on your teams decisions. Researches made by Stanley Amalgam, 1973 shows that when decision has o be made, team members tend to follow the point of view that is presented by others or by most members of the team, that way actually not expressing their own thoughts. Besides that, these researches shows that people tend to follow the leader of a team even if the things that are being don e are against their principles and are morally wrong.Justification to these kinds of decisions comes from the fact that any decision made in a group actually is a group decision and therefore made by several people, accordingly the responsibility is being shared amongst all of the group embers. This results in poor decision-making process, which can further result in serious damage made to the work-group itself or to the possibility of achieving the goal that has been set out. Hence, the challenge for a team is to set certain norms.Norms about how the work has to be led, to what extent members should follow their leader and what are the social, moral, ethical and physical norms that should not be crossed. To sum up the challenges, team work has to be well balanced and well organized; it has to be like a machine that does not work if one of the parts is broken. To do that you have to take in consideration a lot of aspects, starting with leaders role and importance, ending with team m embers moral and physical needs. Everything has to be balanced and managed smartly and efficiently (Allen, 1996).That is the hardest challenge to deal with in team-work and it becomes even harder if the person who is in charge of the team does not know about these elements. Before I draw the conclusion I would like to remind the fact that the Judgments being made in this essay is superficial and regards the general population of people included in teams. Therefore, I am not stating that it is true for every person. To summarize, I have stated the strengths that in my mind form the feeling towards team-work inside a person's mind. I hope that others reading these points will be able to relate to them as well.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Concept of Present Value

WHY IS THE CONCEPT OF PRESENT VALUE SO IMPORTANT FOR CORPORATE FINANCE? The importance of concept of present value to the world of corporate finance is that present value calculations are widely used in business and economics to provide a means to compare cash flows at different times. Present Value’s definition and simplistic formula used for normal purchases, the concept’s importance to corporate finance and why present value is the very first topic taught in finance classes explain that present value is an essential knowledgeable tool to ensure we make the best decisions with our money. However, first, What Does Present Value – PV Mean? Present value is â€Å"the current worth of a future sum of money or stream of cash flows given a specified rate of return. Future cash flows are discounted at the discount rate, and the higher the discount rate, the lower the present value of the future cash flows. Determining the appropriate discount rate is the key to properly valuing future cash flows, whether they are earnings or obligations. † Through the definition itself, an importance to corporate finance is explained as well as why professors begin a finance course with a basis explanation in the time value of money – discounting and investment risk included. In more detail, capital investment decisions are long-term corporate finance decisions relating to fixed assets and capital structure. Decisions are made with several criteria to consider, and where corporate management seeks to maximize value in the firm by the correctly calculated net present value when valued using an appropriate discount rate. It would be beneficial on a personal level for the following reasons; â€Å"Learning how to use a financial calculator to make present value calculations can help you decide whether you should accept a cash rebate, 0% financing on the purchase of a car or to pay points on a mortgage. Present value could often the first topic taught in any finance class, due to the fact that knowledge of this formula can be used for basic financial planning that will lead to larger level strategy – making the best company investment decisions. Now, on to the fun stuff that is so anxiously taught in class – the problems and formulas. 2a. $500 i f invested for five years at a 4% interest rate: FV = 500 (1 + . 04)^1) = 500 (1. 04) = $520. 00 FV = 520 (1 + . 04)^2) = 520 (1. 0816) = $540. 80 FV = 540. 80 (1 + . 04)^3) = 540. 80 (1. 124864) = $562. 43 FV = 562. 43(1 + . 04)^4) = 562. 43(1. 169859) = $584. 3 FV = 584. 93(1 + . 04)^5) = 584. 93 (1. 216653) = $608. 33 End of Year12345 Principal$500. 00$520. 00$540. 80$562. 43$584. 93 Interest$20. 00$20. 80$21. 63$22. 50$23. 40 Total$520. 00$540. 80$562. 43$584. 93$608. 33 2b. $150 if invested for three years at a 9% interest rate: FV = 150 (1 + . 09)^1) = 150 (1. 09) = $163. 50 FV = 163. 50(1 + . 09)^2) = 163. 50(1. 1881) = $178. 22 FV = 178. 22 (1 + . 09)^3) = 178. 22 (1. 295029) = $194. 25 End of Year123 Principal$150. 00$163. 50$178. 22 Interest$13. 50$14. 72$16. 04 Total$163. 50$178. 22$194. 25 2c. $9100 if invested for seven years at a 3% interest rate: FV = 9100 (1 + . 03)^1) = 9100 (1. 03) = $9373 FV = 9373 (1 + . 03)^2) = 9373 (1. 0609) = $9654. 19 FV = 9654. 19 (1 + . 03)^3) = 9654. 19 (1. 092727) = $9943. 82 FV = 9943. 82 (1 + . 03)^4) = 9943. 82 (1. 12550881) = $10242. 13 FV = 10242. 13 (1 + . 03)^5) = 10242. 13 (1. 15927407) = $10549. 39 FV = 10549. 39 (1 + . 03)^6) = 10549. 39(1. 1940523) = $10865. 88 FV = 10865. 88(1 + . 03)^7) = 10865. 88 (1. 22987387) = $11191. 85 End of Year1234567 Principal$9,100. 00$9,373. 00$9,654. 19$9,943. 82$10,242. 13$10,549. 39$10,865. 88 Interest$273. 00$281. 19$289. 63$298. 31$307. 26$316. 48$325. 8 Total$9,373. 00$9,654. 19$9,943. 82$10,242. 13$10,549. 39$10,865. 88$11,191. 85 2d. $1000 if invested for ten years at a 0. 5% interest rate: FV = 1000 (1 + . 005)^1) = 1000 (1. 005) = $1005 FV = 1005 (1 + . 005)^2) = 1005 (1. 010025) = $1010. 03 FV = 1010. 03 (1 + . 005)^3) = 1010. 03 (1. 01507513) = $1015. 08 FV = 1015. 08 (1 + . 005)^4) = 1015. 08 (1. 020150501) = $1020. 15 FV = 1020. 15 (1 + . 0 05)^5) = 1020. 15 (1. 02525125) = $1025. 25 FV = 1025. 25 (1 + . 005)^6) = 1025. 25(1. 03037751) = $1030. 38 FV = 1030. 38(1 + . 005)^7) = 1030. 38 (1. 0355294) = $1035. 53 FV = 1035. 53 (1 + . 05)^8) = 1035. 53 (1. 040707) = $1040. 71 FV = 1040. 71 (1 + . 005)^9) = 1040. 71(1. 0459106) = $1045. 91 FV = 1045. 91(1 + . 005)^10) = 1045. 91 (1. 0511401) = $1051. 14 End of Year12345 Principal$1,000. 00$1,005. 00$1,010. 03$1,015. 08$1,020. 15 Interest$5. 00$5. 02$5. 05$5. 08$5. 10 Total$1,005. 00$1,010. 03$1,015. 08$1,020. 15$1,025. 25 End of Year678910 Principal$1,025. 25$1,030. 38$1,035. 53$1,040. 71$1,045. 91 Interest$5. 13$5. 15$5. 18$5. 20$5. 23 Total$1,030. 38$1,035. 53$1,040. 71$1,045. 91$1,051. 14 Present Value – 3a. $7700 to be received three years from now with a 5% interest rate PV = 7700 / (1 + . 05) ^ 3 = 7700 / (1. 157625) = $6651. 55 3b. $1500 to be received five years from now with a 7% interest rate PV = 1500 / (1 + . 07) ^ 5 = 1500 / (1. 4025517) = $1069. 48 3c. $7200 to received two years from now with an 11% interest rate PV = 7200 / (1 + . 11) ^ 2 = 7200 / (1. 2321) = $ 5843. 68 3d. $ 680,000 to be received eight years from now with a 9% interest rate. PV = 680000 / (1 + . 09) ^ 8 = 680000 / (1. 9925626) = $341269. 07 Time Value of Money – Annuities 4. Present Value – Annuity / Suppose you are to receive an annuity of $3000 every year for 3 years @ 3% interest rate. PV = PVAF(r,n)*CF PVAF(r,n) = 1/r – 1/[r*(1+r)^n] (33. 33 – 30. 50472 = 2. 828611) PV = 2. 828611*3000 PV = $ 8485. 83 5. Future Value – Annuity / Suppose you receive a payment of $5000 every year for 3 years, depositing into a bank that pays 2% interest. FV = CF * FVAF (r,n) FVAF(r,n) = 1/r – 1/[r*(1+r)^n] (50 – 47. 11612 = 2. 883883) FV = 5000 * 2. 883883 FV = $14419. 42 REFERENCES Anonymous (2010). Investopedia. com. Present Value. Retrieved on 5 Apr 2010 @ http://www. investopedia. com/terms/p/presentvalue. asp 2 Megginson, William (2008). Corporate Finance. Stamford: Thomson Learning. P. 86. Anonymous (2010). Investopedia. com. Explaining Present Value-PV. Retrieved on 5 Apr 2010 @ http://www. investopedia. com/terms/p/presentvalue. asp 4 Anonymous (n. d). FinanceProfessor. com. Future Value. Retrieved on 3 Apr 2010 from http://www. financeprofessor. com/fiancnenotes/introductoryfin/presentvalue. htm 5 Anonymous (n. d). FinanceProfessor. com. P resent Value. Retrieved on 3 Apr 2010 from http://www. financeprofessor. com/fiancnenotes/introductoryfin/presentvalue. htm 6 Anonymous (2008). The Time Value of Money. Retrieved on 4 Apr 2010 from http://www. econedlink. org/lessons/index. cfm? lesson=EM37

Friday, September 13, 2019

Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Marketing - Assignment Example The next format is EPUB which was developed by the â€Å"International Digital Publishing Forum† and is a variant of XML, ZIP and HTML format. Finally is the broadband eBooks which uses the .lrf file extension and are accessed by Sony corporation readers (Jaebi, â€Å"Types of Ebooks†). Ebooks can be regarded as an experience derived by the reader. After several years of development and expectation, eBooks have begun to strengthen its place and formed a central part of information experience for the readers. Most of the users are aware of the eBook concept and said that they are useful and would incorporate eBooks into information experience (White Paper 2). Description of New Product Service industry is making use of new product development to the most and is trying to provide quality service with the new form of products to its customers. For example in the hotel industry most of the hotels have been introducing new products in the form of classier, elegant rooms, sui ts to fit the needs and wants of the customers. In addition most of the hotels have developed their own applications which are made available to iphones and other phones to keep the customer updated about any new offers, schemes and other related items in the hotel. This way the hotels are able to create an experience for the customers and customers seems to stay loyal with the hotels. The airline industry The airline industry uses the pricing strategy as a competitive tool and tends to increase and decrease the price which tends to affect the consumers perception on air travel. While there are consumers who are completely insensitive towards price but other set of consumers pay attention towards change in price and it affect their assessment on travel experience. With dynamic price level as well as structure is decided by the airlines the notion of price perception should be taken as one of the important tool in order to influence the consumer’s perception of booking and pur chasing of tickets. Consumers who are highly exposed to fluctuating price tend to become less sensitive towards change in price. Thus it can be concluded that frequent change in price by airline affect the sensitive consumers of the travel experience on an airline as compared to consumers who are insensitive towards price change. Progressive Group Progressive Group has grown over the years and has become the third largest auto insurance group and has achieved competitive advantage through innovation mainly in its channel of distribution. Progressive has adopted a direct model of distribution channel and directly distributes to the consumers without any intermediaries. The direct channel also helped the insurance company to reduce the cost which is paid to the agents. Thus catering directly to the customer segment has helped it to achieve a competitive advantage and introduce innovate product for the consumers auto vehicles. IMC IMC is a process of communication that entails the crea tion, planning, integration and also implementation of various forms of communication such as promotion, advertisement, publicity, events and others (Shimp 10). IMC is being used by almost every organization and it forms an integral part of promotions and communication. Brands such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, P&G, Yum Brands, BMW, Dell Computers, Intel and other brands have made extensive use of IMC. The use of IMC has proved to be effective for all the brands in communicating the message for

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Effective Performance Management System for enhancing employees Essay

Effective Performance Management System for enhancing employees motivation - Essay Example The paper tells that in order to enhance the performance of employees, it is important for Human Resource (HR) department to address the needs of every employee so that he/she is motivated to make valuable contributions in the organization. Motivated employees tend to work harder and also at times come up with an immense amount of creativity in their job performance. There are many motivational theories that can be implemented in the organizations for enhancing the employee’s performance but the best way is to identify each employee’s expectations from the job and to develop a performance plan that is compatible with their requirements. Some of the popular motivational theories are Taylor’s Theory, Maslow’ Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two-factor theory, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, McGregor Theory X and Theory Y and etc.; the central crux of each of the theory is that employees’ performance can be enhanced only by identifying their req uirements from the job and providing them the opportunities of demonstrating their intellectual capabilities. The management of the organization needs to carefully review the resources required by the employee to perform the task in an effective manner and hence the management needs to ensure that the resources are provided to the employees. One of the integral processes or systems of HR department is Performance Management System (PMS). This is a system that ensures that employees’ performance is evaluated on an ongoing basis so that they can be provided guidance on managing their jobs effectively. With the help of an effective PMS, an organization can ensure that the employees are well-aware about the tasks that they have to perform, year-end goals that have to be achieved, factors on which their performance will be evaluated and the rewards and recognition that will be given to them for doing exceptional work. For the management, the performance management system allows th em to monitor the performances and accordingly work on the need and requirements of improving employee performances.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Birth control Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Birth control - Movie Review Example The cost of sustaining the use of contraceptives is clearly evident and younger women, especially those in colleges cannot afford it. This can be a barrier to the women’s choice of contraceptive method. Given the extent to which contraceptives are important to women, more so college women, the government has an obligation to fund the low-cost birth control for college women. This will enable most women to access to birth control services at relatively low costs. As a result, there will be a reduction in the cases of unplanned pregnancies which often lead to abortions. In response to the post by the student, I agree with her that women need to embrace the use of contraceptives. The benefits of using contraceptives are very evident for those who choose to use it. However, it is also very true that the cost of sustaining contraceptives limits many women to adopt its usage. For this reason, the government needs to come with other options to ensure that most women are able to access this critical health care. Including approved contraceptive methods in most health insurance cover is one step in the right direction to ensure that women have access to contraceptive methods that are suitable for them. I strongly agree with her that there should be no politics around such a critical subject as contraception since it is a matter that touches on the health of