Early marriage Essay

Early marriages are marriages that happen between people under the age of eighteen. Such marriages are spread all over Palestine. In particular, they occur in Palestinian rural rather than urban areas. These practices take place for several reasons. One very important cause is the religious definition of adulthood which is more related to physical and biological aspects rather than psychological and behavioral. Another essential purpose for this practice is the lack of adequate education. Moreover, sometimes it is caused by the negative social point of view that links between fertility and age for women. However, governments, nowadays, are working to decrease the practice of early marriage as it deprives girls from their major rights and causes many health consequences for them. One effect of the early marriage is that it takes away many of the girls’ major rights. Firstly, it deprives them from the right to continue their education. As an illustration, the majority of girls, especially those who live in rural areas, are forced to get married instead of persisting their education. Furthermore, this deprivation results in lack of knowledge on how to raise the children well. Secondly, being forced to marry at an early age does not allow the girls to choose their lifelong partner. Thus, it makes her more of a follower instead of taking her decisions by herself. Finally, girls who marry at a young age are often isolated from their society and friends. This means, most of the young wives do not have the right to communicate freely with their family and friends since the responsibilities does not allow them to do so. On my point of view, forcing young women to marry before they reach eighteen years old is a violation against basic human rights. Another possible effect of the early marriage is that it leads to some bad health consequences on the woman herself and on her children too. For example, young brides are expected to become pregnant at an early age and there is a strong connection between the age of a mother and affectionate mortality. To be specific, Girls ages l0-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24 and girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die .additionally, young mothers live greater risks during their pregnancies and suffer from many complications. For instance, they go through many dangerous conditions such as heavy bleeding, fistula, infection, anemia, and eclampsia which contribute to higher mortality rates  of both mother and child. In addition, early marriages may also lead to vulnerability to HIV/AIDS among young wives. To be particular, in Africa, Being young and female is a major risk factor for infection and young girls are being infected at a considerably disproportional rate to that of boys. Despite the fact that early marriages are sometimes seen by parents as a mechanism for protecting their daughters from HIV/AIDS, future husbands may already be infected from previous sexual encounters; so, it is a risk which is particularly serious for girls with older husbands. The lake of major rights and the physical consequences are some of the effects of early marriage that leads to a poor life to an innocent child. Therefore, there has to be more emphasis on the governments to convince people against it .However, families, nowadays, have recognized that young marriages are not good for children especially for girls. In addition, some concerned groups have actually tried to make new laws in countries so that the legal age of marriage will be raised to eighteen or more in order to save lives and create a better world for females.

An Environmental Analysis Essay

An environmental analysis of the constraints in both the host and home countries is of primary significance in determining the conditions of the host market, thus giving the home country the option to adjust according to the conditions in the host country. There are several important factors that should be considered in the environmental analysis, specifically of the host country, Turkey, and of the home country, the United States of America. The factors for both the host and home countries include but are not limited to the political environment, the judicial and legal environments and the economic environment. The current political environment in the United States is primarily led by the Republican Party headed by President George W. Bush. However, the presidential elections are scheduled November this year where Senators Barack Obama and John McCain from the democratic and republican parties respectively will represent their political affiliations and seek office in White House. America’s structure of government is a representative democracy and the system of government is a federal republic where there are contiguous states. On the other hand, the legal environment in America is basically pegged on the country’s system of governance. That is, the laws of the country are created by the bicameral Congress composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, apart from the state and local laws created by the state and local levels of the government. The judicial system is basically comprised of the lower federal courts and Supreme Court which is the ultimate arbiter of the American laws. There are also appellate courts where cases can be filed for appeal and where decisions can be overturned depending on the merit of the case filed. In general, business in the United States in the context of the legal and judicial systems is healthy as there is a very minimal government control of the market, key private players in the economy are given the freedom to decide for themselves on a micro level as far as the market is concerned, and some of the laws are created to actually foster foreign and local trades. The United States economy has recently encountered a major setback primarily in the stock market, thus becoming a major cause of concern for the local corporations operating in the local economy. Nevertheless, the U. S. Federal Reserve System has been consistent in adjusting the interest rates so as to resolve the problem and bring the economy back on its feet (Guha, 2008, p. 9). On the other hand, the host country, Turkey, is nonetheless a regional power with influence reaching Europe, the Caucasus and beyond, and whose membership in the European Parliament is a key step towards becoming a full member of the European Union (Mooradian, 1995, p. 3). But even though there have been significant advancements in the economy of Turkey in more recent years, the country â€Å"cannot consider itself a true democracy† since it â€Å"does not tolerate the freedoms of speech and expression (Angacian, 2004, p. 3). † The country has been under military rule, and that there have been previous business threats from the ruling government aimed at France and Canada after the two latter countries recognized the Armenian Genocide. After both countries recognized the genocide, the Turkish government implemented a boycott in French wines and textiles as well as a boycott on Canadian products and enforced changes in the business contracts entered into by Canada with Turkey. Two of these changed contracts are contracts worth approximately $335 million and one that is close to a billion dollars worth of investments (Angacian, 2004, p. 3). But even though there are negative sides to the history of Turkey, it can hardly be denied that the country’s economy has been on the rise in more recent times. In 2004, Turkey’s economy has posted an eight percent growth with inflation rates dropping down to single digits. However, the recent developments in the country have substantially diminished its chances of joining the European Union as Turkey has become the â€Å"primary culprit† in the Union’s livelihood as Turkey has become a nation â€Å"stealing manufacturing work while delivering an influx of indigent job-seekers (Goodman, 2005, p. D. 01). † on the positive side, the home country, United States, can opt to venture into the rising industries in Turkey given the fact that the production costs in Turkey such as manpower is lower than its neighboring countries. Since the goods of the country primarily find their way to the rest of Western Europe, the advantage is that the investing foreign company has little to worry about production cost and market reach. On the other hand, the negative side of the market environment in Turkey is that the interest rates in credit are high, thereby resulting to higher prices of products which also results to limited exportation and new investments. Thus, it is significant for the company to consider relying on its capital resources rather than investing by financial borrowing as doing the opposite will most certainly result to higher prices of products manufactured. Moreover, it appears that the business environment in Turkey is not entirely friendly when the context of military rule is solely considered. In more recent years, Turkey has also experienced a steady growth in its technology sector although a large par of the country remains agricultural. The apparent diversity in culture, especially the Kurds and Turks, has resulted to differences in access in technology among the population as most Kurds are situated in the outskirts of the country. Some cultural considerations that should be addressed are the variations in the local purchases of goods depending on the financial capabilities of the local residents as well as the prospect of export in Western Europe where more cultural varieties are present, the strategies molded from the cultural context in Turkey and the leadership style of the company needed to address the economic and political concerns faced by the country and its people. References Angacian, S.(2004). The Undemocratic Democracy of Turkey. Armenian Reporter International, 36(48): 3. Goodman, P. S. (2005). Turkey’s Evolving Economy: Country Ties its Fortune Closer to Global Trade, Putting Pressure on Western Europe. The Washington Post: D. 01. Guha, K. (2008). Blowing in the Wind: America Braces Itself for the Risk of a Second Dip. Financial Times: 9. Mooradian, M. (1995). Political Analysis—Turkey: A Regional Power. Armenian Reporter International, 29(12): 3

An Analysis Of Liberal Democracy In Russia Politics Essay

An Analysis Of Liberal Democracy In Russia Politics Essay Russia is one of the important countries and the largest country in the world, which established worldwide power and influence in the international politics. The arguable question, in which interested a lot of knowledgeable people, is what the regime has the Russian Federation after the death of Communism and how it works. The majority of Western Europe and USA has very critical opinion about Russian politics and definitely argue that Russia has not liberal democracy. They also believe that it is unlikely to thrive in post-Communist Russia. In my essay I will debate if liberal democracy could thrive or not in Russian Federation, giving the arguments and facts of both sides. Firstly I will argue that liberal democracy cannot thrive in Russia because of many arguments. The first is the high level of corruption. The second is the siloviki and oligarchs, who have enormous political power. The third is absence of media freedom. The fourth is lack of civil society. The fifth is Constituti on, which give a lot of power to the president and no strong opposition. It means that Russia has a one-party system. However, there is some soil for liberal democracy. The first argument is democratic experience. The second argument is a right to create political parties. The third is a right to practise citizens’ culture and religious. The fourth is a freedom of speech, belief and discussion. I argue that liberal democracy could thrive in Russia, only if the barriers to liberal democracy will pass, such as corruption, siloviki, absence of media freedom. I will argue that to make more suitable soil for liberal democracy Russia should change a Constitution, to create a strong opposition, and emphasis for reforms, which protect individual rights, increase civil liberties, improve the well-being of citizens; develop society to pursue their interests and develop own talents. But, when these criteria would not be achieved, liberal democracy is unlikely to thrive in post-communist Russia. Criteria of liberal democracy Firstly, I would like to define democracy and describe the criteria of liberal democracy, looking which of them Russia has. According to McFaul, democracy is the institutional arrangement where the individuals have the power to make political decisions by means of competitive struggle. According to this minimal definition and implicit in ‘analysis of the rule of law, civil society and the party system in Russia is an ideal type of liberal democracy rather than a minimal standard of electoral democracy’ (McFaul, 2004: 2-3). However, liberal democracy has the criteria, by which we could judge Russian regime. The first is the control of the state by elected civilian officials; the military is subordinate to the government. The second is a right to form a party and contest the elections by any group, which adheres to constitutional principles. Thirdly, a right for different ethnic, religious or different minority groups should exist fo r practicing their culture or express their interests in the political process. Fourthly, the freedom of belief, opinions, discussion and speech should exist. The last is that the citizens are equal under the law.

Markets and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Markets and Society - Essay Example But who is Smith? Adam Smith contributes to the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. He was born in born in 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland and later enjoyed scholarship at the University of Glasgow (Smith, 1994). At 14, he continued his studies at Balliol College at Oxford (Smith, 1994). He became a professor at the University of Glasgow teaching logic course in 1751 and extolled later as the chair of moral philosophy in 1752 (Smith, 1994). Some of Smith’s academic studies were inked in his work of Theory of Moral Sentiments publicized in 1759 (Smith, 1994). In 1764, Smith decided to leave the academe and tutor the Duke of Buccleuch. Only after he retired whence he started writing the book on Wealth of Nations. Smith remained single all his life and died in Edinburgh in 1790 (Henderson, 2007). Although Smith was considered as economist by heart, he was primarily a philosopher and his teachings are inspired by philosophy. Since the theory is philosophically explicated , the contemporary economic disciplined remained applicable up to these days (Smith, 1994). Smith is considered by economists worldwide as the â€Å"father of economics†. He wrote the most integrated and influential book â€Å"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations† in 1776 (Smith, 1994). ... 1).† Smith was the first author who viewed the significance of the specialization and division of labor as primary source of productivity and the principle of â€Å"invisible hand† to illustrate the potential tendency of self-interest-motivated individuals to be directed to undertake works and collaborative activities in accordance to free market system and based on legislated economic and market policies (Smith, 1994; Henderson, 2007). Division of Labor & Contemporary Implications The increase of population, peoples’ migration, and increasing needs of urbanization found division of labor as mechanism to address problems on scarcity of goods and needs for trading. With labor being categorized based on their expertise and skills, companies created branches or divisions to meet its peculiar production needs with the use of technology. For instance, in the production of microSD chips, the ten persons are expected to produce at least a specific number per day. Hence, the division of labor remained significant up to these days because companies are still bound by targeted results with the highest level of industry as desired consequence. This is also true to agro-industrial company. For example, in a pineapple company, the farm-workers are divided into managers, ploughman, harrower, sower, reaper or harvester, pealer, cutter, canning, and labeling. The work forcers will also have that in-charge for marketing, distribution, and accountants. All of these functions are technologically assisted to keep pace with the improvement of trading relations; supply-demand factors; and by the drive for profit. Modern economists call this systematization of labor forces as optimization of performance management. In this theory, workers are

The Worldliness of English in Saudi Arabia Dissertation

The Worldliness of English in Saudi Arabia - Dissertation Example Researchers who look at the spread of English as mere linguistic imperialism question the enterprise of learning and teaching of the English language. This is because, from their viewpoint, it has the cultural integrity of the non-native speaker compromised. In order for a language instructor to come into terms with the imposition of English language learning culturally is to utilize the practices of ELT that define and position English as an international language (EIL). In my point of view, the alternative perpetuates the negative impact that learning a foreign language can pose to the cultural integrity of the learner. Linguistic imperialism is a concept of linguistics involving a transfer, to other people, of a dominant language. This transfer is often associated with power demonstration. This could be military power or even economic power. Dominant cultures are often transferred together with the language. According to Brutt-Griffler (2002), the theory of linguistic imperialism has magnetized much attention among applied linguistic scholars. This has resulted in much debate especially on the shortcomings and merits of the theory. Brutt-Griffler stated linguistic imperialism denunciations to the analyses of English as the language of world domination and world capitalism. Generally, linguistic imperialism is usually viewed in the perspective of cultural imperialism.  

Traditional clothes in Japan and Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Traditional clothes in Japan and Germany - Essay Example Culture is expressed by a range of values that are special and unique for a country or a region – these are history, language, cuisine, traditions. Clothes are a distinctive national peculiarity. Traditional clothes have evolved, as culture has evolved during the ages, influenced by historical developments, religious beliefs, regional and class subcultures.The Japanese traditional clothing today has become to represent Japan’s cultural identity. The word kimono or wafuku means simply â€Å"Japanese style clothing†, and is used to differentiate this style of attire from yofuku, which is the Western-style clothing Japanese prefer to wear today Traditional clothes have specific attributes like form or color that make them distinctive to the national culture. The thought here is that clothes’ elements and style in the past have developed for a reason, conveying meaningful messages to other people as part of the nonverbal communication process. The kimono is a universal symbol of Japan. It represents the traditional beauty and simplicity, having a single basic pattern in size and shape. Originally the kimono was worn in multiple layers of different colors. The symbolism behind this variety of colors is that during the Heian period women had to be protected by multi-layered clothes, whereby the different colors of the layers revealed the character of those who wore them. (Chiu, 2001). Elements of the clothing were indicative of woman's character - her skill in matching colors and even the smallest details in the kimono were highly valued as artistic sensibility. Other symbolic elements in the

SEXUAL ABUSE Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SEXUAL ABUSE - Coursework Example 2009). The personalities and behaviors of the involved persons often provide important information to the investigators. In order to determine the validity of a sexual abuse report, the available information and evidence is often evaluated. The best source of information is often evidence from sources like statements from eye witnesses, confessions, pictures or videos that depict the abuse. Additionally, conclusive medical and forensic evidence often make the process of case validation very easy. However, this kind of evidence is very rare in child abuse cases, hence the need to derive other means of validation. Hersen & Gross (2008), claim that the majority of child cases often have the statements from the child and other evidence that may be consistent with abuse but does not prove that the abuse actually occurred. The other evidence includes the child’s emotional and behavioral characteristics, indirect medical findings, known contact with the offender, suspect seen by othe rs and objects similar to the descriptions given by the child. In case there is no other evidence, then it becomes very important to examine the statements given by the child in order to validate an abuse report. ... Sexual knowledge or behavior that is developmentally unusual: This suggests that the child has been sexually abused repeatedly and has become used to it Developmentally appropriate language: The language used by the child must be consistent with his or her age to ensure that there is no coaching. Play and gesture indicative of abuse Idiosyncratic detail: The child should be able to recount highly personalized details to add credibility to his or her statement Content of the statement: The details of the child’s statement should be thoroughly analyzed in order to establish consistency The child’s manner and emotional response: The child’s emotions must be captured to establish whether they are real or coached The existence of a motive to fabricate: The assessment should consider the factors that may be behind the child’s motive to fabricate information or be coached to lie The child corrects the interviewer: The instances where the child corrected or failed to agree with the interviewer implies that he or she is paying attention to the session The statement of the offender should be examined for validity 2 Discuss, in detail, the various charging considerations, options, and statutory schemes. In the cases of sexual abuse, the most serious potential charge is often chosen although the prosecutor must prove all the elements of the crime beyond reasonable doubt (Myers, 1997). The nature of the conduct is often significant as it determines whether the offender did it once or repeatedly. The following considerations are often made: Intentional homicide: In the event that the child is murdered, the prosecutor must prove that the perpetrator intended to kill the victim. Knowing

Interoffice memorandum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interoffice memorandum - Essay Example In this regard, I just need to pay about $24000 tuition fee for my next two semesters till July 2015. After I graduate, the first five years I am setting three goals for myself. First, I plan to buy a car, second get married and third to get insurance. Meanwhile, if I find a full-time job, it shall me achieve these three goals by utilizing half of my salary for this purpose. I plan to save $300 per month for marriage, $200 for health and retirement insurances and the rest I plan to buy a car. If my salary comes about $4000/per month, I shall save $18000 for marriage (2012 average $28000 in USA), and I will be able to buy a car of ($90000) worth. Coming to my long term goals, I wish to focus for the real estate and find investment opportunities. In my opinion, my job shall help me save an amount which would be enough to pay down payment for my house. Moreover, I plan to invest for finance production. The two projects shall cost me 60% of my salary. In crux, I shall need to save above $2000 each month to achieve these goals. I also need to fill my expense planning charts. This shall entitle me to generate an understanding of my goals in detail. The first chart shall help me calculate the total amount to set aside each month for my fixed expenses. It is important to note that I have plans to invest $1500 into savings blank when I set in the target to save $2000 every month. In the second chart, it shall show the total monthly expenses that are flexible. The final budget will constitute the total amount of fixed and flexible expenses. As per my goal, if my first salary as $4000, so I expect to save at least $705 per month. In order to save my receipts and I shall provide all the details of my flexible daily expenses in the chart for June. My expenses shall include food, housing, transportation and others. As per my calculation, my food expense is $56.52 than my budget. However, I have been travelling for

Computer Sciences and Information Technology Essay - 1

Computer Sciences and Information Technology - Essay Example EHRs are very quick as there is no need for any paper-work for documenting and sharing of the information and images. Thus, an EHR plays a vital role in evidence based treatment and decision-making without having to go through the manual process (Williams, 2010). These enable access to the records even from distant areas by means of online networking. The drawback with EHRs is that they are quite expensive but once implemented, they tend to be very cost-effective. Carter (2008) studied that the concept of EHRs began in 1960s â€Å"with the COSTAR system, developed by Barnett at the Laboratory of Computer Science at Massachusetts General Hospital† (p.7). According to him, the earlier efforts provided models and pseudo types on which current â€Å"hospital-based and ambulatory† EHRs are based upon. EHRs can be used as tools for continuity of care and for collaborative performance of healthcare providers. EHRs are a significant contribution to the medical industry since th ese have modernized the way patients’ data are stored. Disadvantages Research has it that despite significant advantages of EHRs, their adoption rates are progressing rather slowly. Gans et al. (2005) conducted a research on the use of EHRs and IT based tools in the health industry and concluded that most health professionals were not incorporating EHRs, especially in smaller practices. Their findings suggested that the adoption of EHRs was making progress at a snail's pace; however, the physicians planned to incorporate them in the coming years. They found that this happened because the practitioners found it difficult to choose and implement EHRs. What kept physicians from implementing EHRs in their settings was the knowledge gap. Jha et al. (2009) conducted a significant survey of a number of acute care hospitals to find out the EHR functionality and implementation. They found that out of the 63% hospitals in the US that were surveyed, only 1.5% had integrated the use of c omprehensive EHRs and 7.6% were following a basic model of EHRs. They suggested that the lower adoption rate was due to higher maintenance costs. Linder et al. (2007) conducted a retrospective cross-sectional survey to determine the relation between the use of EHRs in health centers and the quality of ambulatory heath care which they referred to as ambulatory quality indicators. They found that there was no significant performance difference between the centers that used EHRs and those which did not. Major Competitors in the Marketplace Gold (2011) writes in his updated guide about EHRs about major competitors in the marketplace that are promoting this technology. According to him, seeing the performance of EHRs, it is very likely that EHRs will be implemented in all health organizations in near future taking the place of paper documentation that has been in place for years. At present, the market leaders for EHRs include Cerner, iSoft and Emis. Cerner Cerner is the US based product and â€Å"has so far been installed across 16 trusts and more than 70 hospitals since being launched in 2004, as the preferred NPfIT software for London†, writes Gold (2011). The health organizations that have, at present, employed Cerner EHRs include Kingston Hospital, Homerton Hospital in London, Newham University Hospital trust, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital foundation trust. iSoft iSoft is an Australian company. The US IT firm, CSC, is buying it for implementation. Th

Research methods (surveys of work on exit strategies for business Essay

Research methods (surveys of work on exit strategies for business tenants) - Essay Example Different set of questionnaire were sent to tenants, landlords, solicitors and letting agents. The survey of the landlords, letting agents and solicitors were framed as representing an investigation into their overall activity rather than transaction specific questions. In the case of property research a mixed method of analysis of secondary data and survey and questionnaire method is often employed to conduct the research. Through the analysis of the secondary data the research would be able to get the numerical data for the completion of the empirical studies relating to the study, while the interviews and surveys bring out the qualitative aspects of the subject under study. In property researches meaningful results can be obtained only when the researcher combines quantitative data and qualitative information in his studies. In order to achieve the research objectives of ascertaining the impact of quantitative variations and to identify the salient features of different market mechanisms on the impact of the subject under study the adoption of mixed research methods is the appropriate suggestion. For instance in the study Corsby et al (2006) the interviews and surveys combined with the data provided by IPD made the research meaningful and gave precise answers to the research questions. Property Research Studies are not only used for Instrumental purposes to Underpin policy, but should also have a Normative Purpose Basically a clear and concise knowledge of the ontological and epistemological assumptions that explain the research studies and the process of research is necessary to (i) understand the interrelationship of research methodology and methods, (ii) avoid the resulting confusion on discussions relating to theoretical debates and approaches to social phenomena and (iii) be able to have a complete recognition of one's own and also others' position with respect to the issues related to the study (Jonathan Grix). The achieving of the above objectives along with the other objective of fully grasping the directional relationship of key components of the research process logically substantiates the view that the research studies are to have a normative purpose in addition to the instrumental purpose. It is important that the research studies encompass a normative approach so that the logical, directional relationship between the key components of research is clearly understood. Unless the normative purpose is taken into account, the quantitative data may not show the impact and influence of the questions the researcher is asking and also the type of project the research has undertaken to study. It is also not possible that a research may begin with the inference on any of the quantitative data at any stage. The researcher cannot first choose the research method and work backwards through the methodology to achieve his/her research objectives. By taking into account the normative purpose the researcher is allowed to follow a method-led approach to the research study than a question-led research. This makes the research questions point towards the most fitting research method. Unless a normative approach is followed the logic of interconnectedness between the key

L4 Reading Essay Example for Free

L4 Reading Essay What do listening and reading comprehension skills have in common? ?BOTH ARE RECEPTIVE SKILLS ?THEY PROVIDE INPUT FOR LLS (LLS NEED TO BE EXPOSED TO THE LANGUAGE THEY LEARN AS much as possible) ?LLS LISTEN AND READ BOTH EXTENSIVELY AND INTENSIVELY ?INPUT HYPOTHESIS (KRASHEN) – LLS ARE ABLE TO ACQUIRE LANGUAGE THAT IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE their level (i+1) ? GOALS OF LISTENING AND READING – SIMILAR ?IT IS NECESSARY TO FOCUS ON THE PROCESS, NOT ON THE PRODUCT ?THREE STAGES: PRE-, DURING-, AFTER- ?IN COMPARISON WITH LISTENING AND SPEAKING, READING IS A RELATIVELY EASIER SKILL. ?REASONS: ? THE READER HAS TIME TO PROCESS THE WRITTEN TEXT (HELP OF A DICTIONARY) ? WRITTEN TEXT CAN BE USED REPEATEDLY Bottom-up view of Reading ?PROCESSING IN READING FROM LETTERS TO SOUNDS, TO WORDS, TO MEANING (DATA-DRIVEN) ?COMPREHENSION TO PROCEED LINEARLY FROM THE ISOLATED UNITS (LETTERS, WORDS) TO HIGHER units of comprehension. Top-down view of Reading Reading texts 1. Literary texts (novels, short stories, plays, essays) 2. Specialized or technical texts (reports, reviews, textbooks) 3. Correspondence (letters, e-mails, postcards) 4. Journalistic literature (articles from newspapers and magazines, weather reports). 5. Information texts (dictionaries, timetables, signs) 6. Realia (tickets, menus, recipes) Different kinds of reading 1. Scanning – looking for a particular piece of information. 2. Skimming – looking for the main idea or the general gist of a passage. 3. Extensive reading – longer texts for pleasure, needing global understanding 4. Intensive reading – shorter texts, extracting specific info, detail Decide: skimming, scanning, extensive reading or intensive reading ?THE ‘WHAT’S ON’ SECTION OF THE LOCAL PAPER ?A NOVEL ?AN ARMCHAIR TRAVEL BOOK ABOUT A COUNTRY YOU HAVE ENJOYED VISITING ?A NEWSPAPER  ? A TEXT IN CLASS ?A SERIES OF ARTICLES, ONLY SOME OF WHICH WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU, FOR A REPORT YOU’RE writing ?A POEM ?THE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY ?A POSTCARD ?INSTRUCTIONS FOR KITSET FURNITURE YOU’RE ASSEMBLING (YOU’RE USUALLY NOT VERY GOOD AT doing this) ?A TRAIN TIMETABLE ?A RECIPE ?A TRAVEL BROCHURE WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO DECIDE ON A HOLIDAY DESTINATION Reading aloud ?FOR PRACTISING PRONUNCIATION AND INTONATION (CHILDREN) ?SHADOW READING: ? LLS FIRST LISTEN TO THE WHOLE TEXT (NOT BE VERY LONG, ONE PARAGRAPH) ?LLS LISTEN TO ONE SENTENCE, THE TEACHER STOPS THE CD AND LLS READ THE SENTENCE OUT,  paying attention to correct pronunciation and intonation ?WHEN THEY CAN DO IT WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS, THEY ARE ASKED TO READ THE TEXT TOGETHER with the CD ?AFTERWARDS, INDIVIDUAL LLS MAY BE ASKED TO READ THE TEXT OUT. Feedback on during-reading activities ?AFTER LLS HAVE READ THE READING COMPREHENSION TEXT AND WRITTEN THEIR ANSWERS, THEN check the answers in pairs ? LLS UNDERLINE THOSE SENTENCES – THE EVIDENCE FOR THEIR DECISIONS ?AFTER THE ANSWERS AND THE EVIDENCE HAVE BEEN CHECKED IN PAIRS OR SMALL GROUPS, THE T elicits the answers from the LLs ?ELICITATION – T KNOWS WHICH PASSAGES CAUSED PROBLEMS AND CAN HELP LEARNERS TO  analyse the particular section ? IF LLS’ ANSWERS DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER, T SHOULD NOT TELL THEM THE CORRECT ANSWER, BUT let LLs discuss their decisions and evidence and come to a conclusion Reading Strategies for Efficient Reading ?BE PREPARED FOR READING THE TEXT (ASK QUESTIONS FOR YOURSELF WHICH YOU THINK THE TEXT may answer; read the title, subtitles; look at pictures and other visuals to predict the content of the text) ? READ THE TEXT QUICKLY FOR THE GIST; ?YOU MAY HIGHLIGHT KEY VOCABULARY AND LOOK THE KEY WORDS UP; ?TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE MAIN IDEAS AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM; ?TRY TO FIND THE LINKING WORDS; THEY INDICATE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IDEAS AND MAKE the text coherent; ?IGNORE UNKNOWN WORDS OR TRY TO GUESS THEIR MEANING FROM THE TEXT; ?USE DIFFERENT READING STRATEGIES TO READ DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS (SKIMMING, SCANNING, reading for detail) ? READ WIDELY Don’t!!! ?TRANSLATE THE TEXT; IT REQUIRES VERY CAREFUL READING WHICH IS NOT NECESSARY FOR understanding the main ideas and doing the tasks; ?TRY TO UNDERSTAND EVERY WORD, IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF THE text; ?READ ALOUD; IT SLOWS YOU DOWN AND IT MAKES YOU LOOK UP THE WORDS YOU CANNOT pronounce.

Determination of Adulterants in Honey Using HPLC Method

Determination of Adulterants in Honey Using HPLC Method Determination of adulterants such as hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in honey using HPLC method 2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Materials Standard of hydroxymethylfurfural was purchased from sigma Aldrich. All the samples and standards were diluted using distilled deionised water. Methanol, sodium hydroxide,diphenyl-1-pikryl, ascorbic acid, 2,2- hydrochloric acid and acetic acid were of analytical reagent grade and purchased from Techno PharmChem, Avonchem and Alpha Chemika Ltd. Most glassware used are stainless steel dish, porcelain crucible, beakers (5, 25, 100 and 250 mL), pipettes (1, 10 and 50 mL), burette (10 and 25 mL), measuring cylinders (10, 100, 250 and 500 mL) and volumetric flasks (10, 100, 200, 1000 mL) were of grade A. All the glasswares were rinsed with distilled deionised water to remove surface contaminants prior to use. Oven, Incubator and furnace used were of make Gallenkamp, Memmert and respectively The absorbance was recorded on a Perlong DNM-9602 Microplate Reader. 2.2 Description of honey sample 13 Honey samples of different brands (Wescobee, Elodie, EL BREZAL, Hosen, Tropic, Lune de miel, Mc Mahon’s, ALSHIFA, Casino, Sunny, Gitto’s, Rodrigues Honey, and Natural Honey) were bought from Intermart Hypermarket, Jumbo Hypermarket and Monoprix Hypermarket. Brief details of different honey analysed, highlighting the manufacturing and expiry date, lot no, country of origin, and ingredients (if specified) are given in table 5. Table 5: Description of honey samples Sample code Sample Brand/ Name Details SP1 (a) Wescobee 100% Pure Honey Manufacturing date: May 2014 Expiry date: May 2017 Lot no:4107A Origin: Australia Ingredient: Pure honey SP9 (b) Elodie Miel Fruità © Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: 28.08.15 Lot no: 4059ID Origin: France Ingredient: NA SP3 (c) EL BREZAL Eucalyptus Honey Manufacturing date: February 2014 Expiry date: February 2017 Lot no: 2247 Origin: Spain Ingredient: 100% pure natural honey SP8 (d) Hosen Pure Honey Manufacturing date: 25.10.13 Expiry date: 24.10.15 Lot no: NA Origin: China Ingredient: 100% honey SP6 (e) Tropic Lychee Honey Manufacturing date: September 2012 Expiry date: August 2014 Lot no: TP-002 Origin: India Ingredient: Pure honey SP10 (f) Lune de miel Miel de fleur Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: 01.05.16 Lot no:L28663A Origin: France Ingredient: 100% pure honey SP5 (g) Mc Mahon’s Pure Honey Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: March 2016 Lot no: B140813 Origin: Australia Ingredient: NA SP7 (h) ALSHIFA Natural Honey Manufacturing date: November 2013 Expiry date: October 2018 Lot no: NA Origin: Saudi Arabia Ingredient: 100% natural SP4 (i) Casino Miel de fleur Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: 10.03.16 Lot no: 206354 Origin: France Ingredient: NA SP12 (j) Sunny Pure Honey Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: 24.01.16 Lot no: NA Origin: Mauritius Ingredient: Honey SP11 (k) Gitto’s Special Honey Manufacturing date: 27.06.14 Expiry date: 26.06.15 Lot no: NA Origin: Mauritius Ingredient: Cane sugar syrup 85%, pure honey 15% SP2 (l) Rodrigues Honey Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: NA Lot no: NA Origin: Rodrigues Ingredient: NA SP13 (m) Natural Honey Manufacturing date: NA Expiry date: NA Lot no: NA Origin: Mauritius Ingredient: NA 2.3 Methods 2.3.1 Sample preparation prior to physicochemical analysis 2.3.1.1 Moisture Moisture was determined according to AOAC method (925.45D) (Appendix I). Stainless steel dish with 25g sand and a glass rod were dried in an oven for 1 hour, cooled in a desiccator then weighed. 1g of homogenised honey sample was added and mixed thoroughly with the sand by means of the rod. The latter was then heated on steam bath for 15 min and dried in an oven for 2 hours at 60 °C, removed, allowed to cool in desiccator and weighed to a constant mass. 2.3.1.2 Ash Ash was determined according to AOAC method (920.181) (Appendix II) such that 5g of homogenized honey samples were added to pre-weighed empty porcelain. The samples were then allowed to dry on a water bath and heated on a hot plate until carbonized. The resulting carbonized samples were place in furnace at 600 °C for 6 hours, removed, allowed to cool in desiccator and weighed. 2.3.1.3 pH pH was measured at 25 °C by preparing a 10% (w/v) solution (dry weight basis) in distilled deionised water by a Delta Ohm HD 8706 pH meter. 2.3.1.4 Total Acidity Free acids, lactones, total acidity and pH were measured using a Mettler Toledo MP 220 pH meter according to the AOAC method 962.19 (Appendix III) as follows: 10g of honey samples were weighed in a 250 mL beaker and dissolved in 75 mL of CO2 free distilled deionised water (obtained by cooling freshly boiled deionised water). The mixtures were stirred using magnetic stirrer and titrated against 0.05M sodium hydroxide at a rate of 5 mL/min until the pH reached 8.50. 10 mL of 0.05M sodium hydroxide was pipetted and back-titrated with 0.05M hydrochloric acid to pH 8.30. A blank titration was also performed using similar procedure. Acidity of honey samples were calculated as follows: 2.3.1.6 Electrical conductivity The electrical conductivity was determined based on a method derived from Apiservices from the ash content of the honey samples according to the equation: 2.3.2 Sample preparation for HMF determination prior to HPLC analysis Aliquots of honey samples were prepared by weighing 1g of honey and were diluted to 10 ml with distilled water, filtered on 0.45 mm filter and injected into an HPLC equipped with a UV detector. The HPLC column was an Agilent, C18, 5 µm, 125 x 4 mm. The HPLC conditions were the following: isocratic mobile phase, 1% of acetic acid and methanol in the ratio (80:20); flow rate, 0.25 ml/min; injection volume, 2  µl, temperature; 30 °C. All the solvents were of HPLC grade. The chromatograms were monitored at 285 nm. All the samples were analysed in triplicates and after every 6 samples, a standard check was analysed. HMF was identified by analysing the peak in honey with a standard HMF, and by comparison of the spectra of the HMF standard with that of one honey samples. The amount of HMF in the honey samples was determined using a calibration curve and by comparing the peak area of the standard and the resulting samples. All honey samples were stored at room temperature (25–30 °C) in a well closed container and the HMF content of each sample was analysed on a monthly basis throughout a period of four months. To determine HMF progress during heat treatment, honey samples were subjected to heat treatment by placing 1g honey sample in a glass container, and heat in a water bath at 40 ºC, 60  ºC, 80 ºC, and 100 ºC for 5 min. The time was calculated when temperature reached the required degree. The honey samples were then cooled rapidly to room temperature (25 °C) and proceed as above to determine the HMF content. 2.3.2.1 Calibration curve for HMF for HPLC analysis A 100 ppm stock solution of HMF standard was prepared by dissolving 0.0101 g of HMF standard in 100 mL of distilled deionised water in a 100 mL volumetric flask. From the 100 ppm stock solution, 10 ppm, 20 ppm, 30 ppm, 40 ppm and 50 ppm standard solution were prepared separately in 10 mL volumetric flasks. The different volumes of the stock solutions which were diluted to 10 mL are given in Table 4. The resulting standards were analysed on a HPLC UV detector at 285 nm and a calibration curve was plotted. Table 6: Volume of 100 ppm stock to prepare different concentration of HMF Concentration/ppm Volume of 100 ppm stock used/mL 10 1.00 20 2.00 30 3.00 40 4.00 50 5.00 A 10 ppm spike sample of HMF was prepared by pipetting 200  µL of 100 ppm stock solution of HMF standard and transferred to the 2 g sample of honey and diluted to 20 mL with distilled deionised water. 2.3.2.2 Limit of detection and quantification The limit of detection and quantification of HMF was calculated according to EPA method SW-846 (Appendix V). LOD is defined to be the minimum level at which the analyte can be detected reliably with signal-to noise 3:1. Different standards of HMF was analysed namely 0.1, 0.05 and 0.04ppm such that detection limit of HMF was thus then established by analysing a 0.05ppm HMF standard solution seven times and the standard deviation of the repeats for the analyse was multiplied by a factor 3.14 based on student t-statistics. The limit of quantification with signal-to noise ratio 10:1 was calculated by multiplying the obtained standard deviation by 10. 2.3.3 Anti-oxidative property using DPPH radical scavenging activity 4.5mg of DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) was dissolved in 100 mL methanol and wrapped in aluminium foil to prevent light from entering. For the assay, a 96 wells Elisa plate was used. 100 µL of test sample was placed in the first well using micropipette. 50 µL methanol was added to all other wells and serial dilution was done. 50 µL of sample from the first well was pipette and transferred to the second well previously containing 50 µL methanol and the solution was mixed to ensure homogeneity. The 50 µL of the resulting solution was pipette and transferred to the third well and so on. Each well now contained 100 µL of solution after the dilution. 100 µL DPPH (4.5mg/100ml) solution was then added to every well. The solutions were incubated for 30 minutes at 37 °C in an incubator and the absorbances of the resulting solutions were read at 492nm on a Perlong DNM-9602 Microplate Reader. The % scavenging activity of the samples was calculated as follows: Antioxidative property of the samples; firstly with no heating of the honeys and secondly with a heating temperature of 100 °C for five minutes were performed and proceed similarly to that of control ascorbic acid. Note: A yellowish change in colour indicates the presence of ascorbic acid activity. 1311

Impact of Economy on Low Income Communities

Impact of Economy on Low Income Communities 1. Introduction This assignment is about increasing inequality and its impact on low income communities. Measurement of the distribution of income that between individuals or households, making most of the income in a given country and those making very little. I will give out the real example and real cases refer to the Malaysia. Answer the entire assignment question. Question 1 1.1 Opinion According to the scenario income inequality increasing in US due to the various variations particularly the high impact of technology involvement in different sectors. The sudden technological development brings the big gap between high income communities and low income communities. According to the census reports income inequality is decreased during 1947 to 1968 by7 .5%. Whereas during 1969 to 1009 the trend is different so this is the big trend due to the technology growth in various sectors (Bligh, Philip, 2004) On this aspect organizations are looking high knowledge and high skill people and providing high income so the educated with high skill are achieving high income. So that the organization growth also increasing. To avoid the above situations the organization authorities as well as governments introduce schemes, policies to reduce the gap between high income community and low income community (Gentle, Michael, 2011) So the government must provide proper educational support, trainings to motivate the low income communities to reach better position. The other opinion the government also implements schemes to provide household items to satisfy the low income communities so that it will reduce the differences from high income communities (Wilkinson, Harry, 2010) 1.2 Real Causes Labor market situation is one of the cause because products producing with high technology so that organizations provided high wages opportunities. This technological change trend is due to global competition affect so there is a big variation in wage systems in Malaysia (Peel, Jeffrey, 2008) The second cause is due to the social issues impacted towards income inequality influenced low income communities. The Malaysia social issues also influence organization developments and growth so that the organization authorities emphasize on technological change to produce products according to the international standards. The income inequality along with social causes translates life styles of individuals in low income communities at Malaysia is a big impact because the low income communities not affordable the household things as per living system (Stephen, Robbins Neil Barnwell, 2006) The third cause is due to the race issue, wealth, identity and location influencing the income inequality impacts on low income communities Malaysia. The race discrimination impact is more so that there is a big gap between high income communities and low income communities at Malaysia. The income inequality with its economic variations due to gender is the major cost (David, 2009) 1.3 Real examples Figure 1 shows the Malaysia income inequality stands at 46.21%, this indicates the income inequality is an issue because of race issue. Malaysia is strong in tourism and manufacturing sectors but still due the race discrimination influencing the income inequality so it’s a big impact on low income communities (Bligh, Philip, 2004) Figure 1: Malaysia inequality Source: www.economic Planning.pdf Figure 2 sows the income inequality due to different race situations at its effects. The income inequality is also creating the social balance in Malaysia. This is also affecting the economic condition in Malaysia (Wilkinson, Harry, 2010) Figure 2: Coefficient of Malaysia Source: www.economic Planning.pdf The Malaysia income inequality towards low income community must solve because to controls the social impacts labor market issues and low income community wealth point of view so the government authorities to take action with proper budget allocate to provide education, training to low income community. So it is understands that the gap must be solve because to reduce social problems among low income communities. It also helps the low income community wealth and health of living styles and environment. Muziliza, (2012) Malaysia putrajaya must stop being in denial about wealth inequality and realise that hardship and poverty are also fuelling corruption, said the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, he said the low earnings of a vast majority of households and noted that those struggling to make ends meet were exposed to petty corruption. Farhana R (2013)Coloured discourse on inequality in Malaysia, It was quite a clever title putting the right undertone to a heavily coloured discourse on inequality in Malaysia. Imbalances and inequality that have resulted in the past, persisted over time, or even taken different shapes and sizes, is very much felt on the ground, even if we don’t know enough to call it inequality the same way inequality is studied by academics and policy makers across the globe. Question 2 2.1 Community Organizers Importance The community organizers role is important to understand (Wilkinson, Harry, 2010) growing issues. Because the organizers must be supports to the governments to organize a schemes, programs and other method to supports the low income community groups. (Stephen, Robbins Neil Barnwell, 2006) The organizers collect the proper information from the industrial authorities to encourage the low income communities towards improving skills and knowledge so that the low income group differences will be reduced form high income groups communities. (Bligh, Philip, 2004) Community organizers also change the environment by understanding individually, group so that it brings big changes with support of government policies and regulations. So the major requirement is education as a prime development for low income group (Peel, Jeffrey, 2008) Question 3 3.1 To know about the impact of these changes? As per the scenario the community organizers identify the issue clearly develop proper plan to solve the impact on the changes. Even though the manufacturer provided proper resource to retailing the workforce but the wage impact is an issue so the agencies as well as organizational authorities must be implement to support work force in terms of cost of living by providing subsidy system.(Wilkinson, Harry, 2010) The manufacture authorities are the responsible to support workforce wage imbalance for living style so that must provide proper discount price products for workforce. In addition to that encourage the workforce to increase production by issuing incentives (Gentle, Michael, 2011) 3.2 what is being done to address? Address towards community organizers are also responsible to identify the issues as method above impacts on low income communities such as gender discrimination. The gender discrimination also brings a big wage gap between the groups. So the community organizers identify the issues to organize tops with government authorities, organization authorities to simplify the issues. Community organizer also identify the current situation in U.S on the gap to solve by proper organization authorizes implementing support systems through organizing a special trainings to improve towards technological skills so that it will helps to the low income community groups. 3.3 Who would you talk? U.S government are the major responsible to raise of income inequality, so the authorities must identify the strategy of income distribution, identify the labor mobility, identify the technology change like skills based approach identify the high income group inequalities and inequality geographically as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3: Inequality status globally Source:http://www. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-income-inequality The governments are the responsible to measure the differences at various levels in income distribution and its weakness for example gender differences in inequalities is affected towards women community. So the governments are the responsible to argue with organization on minimum wage affects towards women services at different levels. 4. Conclusion In this assignment conclusion community organizer approach must understands that the income inequality impacts low income community is due to various factors such as political , economic, technological , social and ethical issues, so the community organizers request authorities are to identify the issues such as technological must support to the low income community to bring up better position in wealth. 5. References Foss, M Bryan, M (2012), International Global Services, London; Milford, CT: Kogan Page,pp12-325. Gentle, K Michael, G (2011), Globalization Behavior Principles handbook: building realistic expectations and managing Risk. London: Kogan Page, pp45-121. David, C (2009), Introduction Global Environment Boston, MA: Springer, pp9-126. BusinessDictionary.com, (2014). What is income inequality? definition and meaning. [online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/income-inequality.html [Accessed 6 Oct. 2014]. Stephen P Robbins and Neil Barnwell, R (2006), Global Environment Theory, Australia: Pearson Education, pp12-276 Bligh, B Philip. U (2004), Global Environment Policies, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, pp23-62. Muziliza, (2012) Malaysia putrajaya must stop being in denial about wealth inequality and realise that hardship and poverty are also fuelling corruption, from: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article. Farhana R (2013). Coloured discourse on inequality in Malaysia, It was quite a clever title putting the right undertone to a heavily coloured (racial) discourse on inequality in Malaysia. From http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/books/article/coloured-discourse-on-inequality-in-malaysia

Scarlet Letter Diary Entries Essay -- The Scarlet Letter Diary Hester

Scarlet Letter Diary Entries Entry 1 I have arrived at my new home. The boat trip was very rough, even to the extent of making me lose track of time. That unclean, floating mass of death was merciful enough to let me be. Too many children have suffered and died on the way to America. I miss Roger a little bit, and hope he comes soon. I'm very lonely and I don't know what I'll do to keep myself busy. Roger was nice enough to give me money to live off of until he comes to be with me. There are a lot of handsome men around here. A single woman could have a lot of fun, and never be by herself. Entry 2 Well, it's been a few weeks since I came ashore on this new land, but I think I'm getting used to the people and their customs. I have a house that's very comfortable and cozy. It's small, but just the right size for Roger and I. The church here is very nice. The minister is young and full of life, and kind of cute too. They welcomed me in with open arms, and I've been invited to attend every Sunday. They all make me feel so at home, I was immediately attached to the people here. I have sewn a new dress for myself for special occasions only. I've worn it to church once and got dozens of compliments on it. I've even got some offers from some of the 'better off' folk, to make dresses for them, but I declined. I'm fine just enjoying life right now. Everything is perfect, except Roger isn't here. It's funny; I don't miss him that much anymore. I keep wondering when he'll a...

Irony Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Irony is the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning. The book Great Expectation is all about the irony in the situations that a boy named Pip brings into the entire story. Pip is on a search through life to reach high expectations of what he wants from life, this leads him to having different relationships with the different characters. Each character leads him to an understanding of himself an ironic situation, which he doesn’t expect.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main character Philip Pirip also known as Pip, goes through many learning experience with the other characters that he interacts with. Joe Gargery, and Pip had a unique relationship with each other. Joe gives Pip unconditional love that he lacks in his life. Joe is the only person who shows any kind of love to Pip, yet, when Pip is starting to move up in life he finds that Joe is an embarrassment to him because he is not of high class. He sacraficed himself just to be able to help out Pip when he needed him and he suffered silently for him. The ironic situation is that with all that Joe does, Pip does not realize that Joe is the one of few people who truely care about him and would sacrafice on his behalf, he cared and always looked out for Pip. Joe took care of him and gave him love, comfort and warmth, while Pip treated him coldly and hurt the one person who truely cared about him just beca...

Does Shakespeare matter? :: essays research papers

In today’s world the quality of the art form called writing is said to be somewhat diminishing, it is important for English literature to keep some studies of classic literature, such as Shakespeare. I think well rounded education must have a strong foundation in both modern and classical literature, for the foundation in classical literature, an in-depth study of Shakespeare’s works would be more than sufficient. Not only was Shakespeare so skilled in his writing that he has become a significant point in the history of literature, but a majority of his works were written on such basic human themes that they will last for all time and must not be forgotten. William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings. Another sign of a truly dominant writer is one who finds even the entire existing vocabulary of the language limiting to his creativity. Shakespeare often did, and so on occasion created his own form of grammar and vocabulary, much of which has since become commonly used. Few modern writers have the skill to make new words which stick in the language, or to write in such a way that their words become used centuries later. By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy. Therefore there can be no doubt that knowledge of the works of Shakespeare is needed for any education of English literature to be considered complete and well rounded.

Mobile ESPN response questions

(1)  Ã‚   Mobile ESPN’s launch into the wireless market was definitely the innovative, out-of-the-box idea that the marketing executives at ESPN are known for, and the principle behind it—one more way in which to deliver up-to-the-minute sports information to sports fans anywhere, anytime—was very much on the right track.   I think what Mobile ESPN suffered from the most was the fact that it was basically nothing more than a shadow service provider. Without having a wireless infrastructure of its own, Mobile ESPN found itself dependent on Sprint for all of the technological and logistical implementation of the product.   Whatever may or may not have been going on within Sprint internally, for Mobile ESPN to launch without any real autonomy of its own, completely dependent on its host carrier, and with no real knowledge or experience in the wireless world, Mobile ESPN was a good idea at a good time that was perhaps not thought through entirely.   Also, there is a lot to be said of consumers’ reluctance to switch wireless carriers due to high penalties, and many phones have Internet access which allow people to have access to ESPN’s website for that same up-to-the-minute information, making it unnecessary for them to have the special phone. (2)  Ã‚   When Mobile ESPN was launched, in order to attract a greater number of users it would have been helpful if they had offered a great deal of incentives for switching over to the Sprint service, host of Mobile ESPN. Perhaps they could have partnered up with Sprint and offered some sort of contract buy-out option, where they would pay for the pre-existing contract termination of new subscribers (at the cost of a 2-year agreement with Sprint and an astronomical cancellation penalty, to ensure that there would not be a great deal of money lost).   This is probably one of the biggest reasons why there wasn’t an initial mass attraction to the product because of the stringent rules of wireless carriers, and so to offer some incentive to attract these people and make it worth their time and money to make that switch would be beneficial. ESPN right now just needs to focus on its various television, print, and Internet presence for people to access its branded content, and really spend a great deal of time formulating a well-thought-out strategy to re-launch Mobile ESPN, something that not only appeals to the customers who want all sports all the time but who also want a great deal with wireless service. (3)  Ã‚   I don’t believe Mobile ESPN affected the image or brand of ESPN in either direction.   Presumably the 50,000 subscribers to Mobile ESPN were upset at the decision to cancel the program, but out of the millions of ESPN viewers that number is largely insignificant.   Mobile ESPN was simply an example of a company breeching into territory it wasn’t yet quite ready to break into—something which happens all the time, not all creative ideas are successful.   Because the presence of Mobile ESPN was so small, the repercussions of its failure simply could not be on a large scale. (4)  Ã‚   Honestly, I still believe Mobile ESPN was a great idea, just perhaps at the wrong time or poorly planned and executed.   If I worked with one of ESPN’s competitors, I would have viewed Mobile ESPN as a highly unique, creative, out-of-the-box idea that would be a threat to my own company, and demand from my Marketing team that they provide me with ideas as cutting-edge as that.   Despite its failure, Mobile ESPN is still a great example of how ESPN constantly strives to be on top, the best of the best, offering the most content with the most accessibility.   Mobile ESPN further demonstrated that, and as a competitor I would want to do something that would allow me to reach the same audience base.

Police officer Essay

Inspector Goole has an air of mystery around him from the start. Mr. Birling is on the bench and knows all the police officers but has never seen Inspector Goole. The Inspector tells him that he is new â€Å"Only recently transferred.† This makes us wonder, is it a coincidence that he has just started working in Brumley at the same time as this investigation is going on? Or maybe he knew Eva Smith personally and wanted to find out more about what drove her to suicide. We don’t really know who he is and there is no evidence that he is a real Inspector so the audience are confused whether to believe him or not. We do not know enough about his character to trust him. He also has a very mysterious nature for example the way he talks to people. â€Å"He chooses his words carefully and speaks weightily.† He does this so that he makes sure that he is saying what he wants to say and means it. Everything he says has a rather matter of fact tome to it making the other characters think that he is always right and knows what he is talking about. Also he has a disconcerting habit of looking at the person that he is talking to. This makes them uneasy. It is like the Inspector is searching them internally and can see what they are thinking. The name of the Inspector â€Å"Inspector Goole† adds to the dramatic tension of the play. The name Goole is a homophone to the word ghoul which is often related to a ghost. A ghost is a disembodied spirit of a dead person i.e. it is not really there. Ghosts and ghouls are thought to be fictional to scare children. Therefore is the Inspector real or not? Is â€Å"Goole† his real name or is he just using the name to scare the Birlings? These questions remain unanswered throughout the play. Inspector Goole has a very awkward yet methodical way of questioning each member of the family. He concentrates on one person at a time and does not let them go until he is satisfied with the information that he has gained. When he is questioning one person he does not like to disturbed. He has a photograph in his pocket which he says is of Eva Smith and he says he found it in her lodgings. He only shows it to one person at a time and makes sure that no one else can see it. When he shows Mr. Birling the photograph Gerald and Eric are eager to see it as well but he blocks their view. When they ask him why they can’t see the photograph he replies â€Å"It’s the way I like to go to work. One person and one line of enquiry at a time. Otherwise there is a muddle.† This shows the methodical side to his questioning. Throughout his enquiries, the Inspector has remained in control. At times he has massively taken charge.† In social status, the Inspector is lower than the Birlings although throughout most of the play the Birlings are inferior to the Inspector as they do not know all the information like he does. What we do not know is how much the inspector already knows before arriving at the house. Whenever he asks a question, he already seems to know the otherwise he would not be questioning them. The information he has gathered before coming to the house is by reading the diary that Eva Smith left. Maybe some pages of the diary were missing, hence the lack of information in the Inspector. There is not really any evidence that what the inspector says is true apart from everyone admitting to what they did to Eva Smith. He doesn’t even show the Birlings so called diary. Therefore we aren’t sure if there even was a diary or if he made it all up. We are force to believe that he is telling the truth because how else would he have got that information? The audience answer to it â€Å"Anyhow I already knew.† He obviously has bits of the puzzle missing do not learn a great about Inspector Goole in the play. All they learn about is his character and personality; he is imposing and intimidating. We do not know any background information on him e.g. where he is from. All this does not matter because even though he is the main character the play is not about him it is about Eva Smith. The audience probably do feel a bit curious about the mysterious Inspector but their curiosity soon subsides as they try to keep up with the fast pace of the play. Before the Inspector goes he says â€Å"One Eva Smith has gone but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths left with us.† From this, the family learn that they might have led someone to suicide but there are plenty more vulnerable people like Eva Smith left in the world that needs their help.  John Priestley was born on September 13th 1894. He grew up into a family who enjoyed debates. At a very young age he was caught up in debates with his friends. They all discussed politics from a socialist point of view. He expresses these ideas and beliefs in the play. In the play his socialist ideas are expressed through the characters and by exploiting some techniques and devices. Now I am going to write about the social and political climate of the day. Priestley wrote this play ‘An Inspector Calls’ in 1944, but the play was set in 1912. Priestley took into account the political and social climate of not just 1944 but also when the play was set in 1912. Because of the time in between the two periods Priestley could use historical events and facts for his own use in the play. An example of this is when Birling says, â€Å"I’m talking as a hard headed, practical man of business. And I say there isn’t a chance of war. â€Å"And in the Inspectors final speech when he talks about everyone being responsible for each other’s actions and the world is a whole and people shouldn’t be divided up into classes and social groups. â€Å"I tell you that the time will come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish.† In both these quotes Priestley touches on the subject of war. This would have attracted the audience to what Birling was saying and they would have started to dislike him and his ideas, since the Second World War would have just finished the audience would have been upset about their lost ones and would have been interested in peoples opinions and views leading up to the start of World War One.

Aggressive in behaviour Essay

I will use this as my title for the purposes of planning. In 1998, 47% of female prisoners had dependent children (Flynn, 1998:75). In 1999 this was estimated to be more like 55% – based on those with children sixteen or under. With the female prison population numbering around 3,250, the number of women estimated to have young children is 1788 (Harris, 2000:iv). So I feel it would be useful to try and locate around 10% of this number and ask for permission to interview and study their children. This figure would still mean a lot of work for the researchers – and there would need to be several – as not all of those approached would give permission for the research to involve their children. As a result, I have determined that the best methods of research will be interviews and observations. The reason I have chosen these methodologies is because they are more informal, and when working with children, it is more likely to yield results than questionnaires. Questionnaires are problematical for younger children, who may be unable to write and face to face techniques are more likely to obtain information – questionnaires are not always filled in or returned to the researchers (Bell, 1999:130). The benefits of interviewing and observation preclude the use of questionnaires, in part because they allow a certain flexibility for the researcher to further investigate any new ideas which may become apparent (Browne, 1997:406, 414). Observation is beneficial to the researcher because it can allow for additional details to be noted which the child might be unable or unwilling to express. Interviews permit a degree of familiarity between the researcher and the subject, and in turn may present opportunity to further discuss any points which the researcher feel are relevant. In questioning children, the ethics are complex. Permission to interview the child has to be obtained, and it might be unclear from whom it should be procured. The British Psychological Society in 1996 set down a code of ethics and conduct in which it was stipulated that if the research affects someone not able to give valid consent, i.e. a child under the age of eighteen, then it needs to be obtained from whomever has legal authority to give it (Lindsay, 2000:14-15). The first people deemed to be those with parental responsibility are the natural parents. Exceptions to this include a carer who has a resident order under the 1989 Children Act, anyone holding a temporary emergency protection order or the local authority if the child is in care (Masson, 2000:37). If the mother is in prison, as is necessary for his research, obtaining information regarding their children might be a contentious point. It will involve the co-operation of the prison management in addition to the parents, children, and the child’s’ place of education. There being only sixteen prisons in England and Wales which house female prisoners (Flynn, 1998:57), I feel it would be easier to gain the information from a women-only establishment as the administration may be more familiar with the inmates and perhaps will be in a position to assist the research. This would require asking the prison to identify those prisoners with children, which I believe is a detail which would perhaps already be on a database. If this is not the case, it would then involve asking the women in the prison to come forward. This would undoubtedly cause difficulties, as they may not wish to do so, perhaps through disinterest in the research or an unwillingness to be set part from the others as a result of it. Women who have been separated from their children, for whatever reason, may be emotional as a result, and therefore sensitivity is an absolute necessity. The disruption to the prison is also something which needs to be taken into consideration, but:  Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¦most prisoners find it a welcome change to talk to outsiders†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‚  (King, 2000:303). Once women with children between the ages of two and seventeen years have been identified and approached, their permission to interview their children must be obtained. Authorisation should also be secured from the person caring for the child away from the prison, as it is actually ethically wrong to ask permission for such things from the parent not currently the full-time carer (Masson, 2000:38). I do not know the ethics on continuing on the sole permission of the carer rather than the mother. This is the only clear means of getting access to the information required, as it would be too difficult to poll schools for the information. They would not be able to divulge the data on the children without parental permission anyway. If permission is not given by the mother or the carer, the child will not be contacted in any way. It might be interesting, however, to ask why the parents did not want to take part. Once permission has been gained, the next step is to decide where would be best for the child to hold the interviews. The parents may have suggestions themselves, as they may prefer to have the interview conducted in their presence. This is something which will have to be taken into consideration in the conduct of the project, as it may have a bearing on the behaviour of the child. The presence of a parent, teacher or carer may influence the way the child acts, albeit perhaps indirectly, so affecting their responses to the questions. It would undoubtedly be better to interview all the children under the same conditions, but this might not be possible so it would be advisable to be prepared to be flexible. The best place would be somewhere neutral to the child perhaps a local community centre, preferably interviewing the child twice – once with a parent, carer or teacher in the room, then once without them there. I believe this might show a variance in the child’s attitude and behaviour towards the researcher and their questions, as they will have ‘an audience to play to’ when someone they know well is in the room. It is essential, however, to interview the child in a setting in which they are comfortable. If the parents feel it would be best to interview at their home, then places such as the garden or even the stairs may provide a sense of security for the child (Masson, 2000:43). Otherwise another place to carry out an interview might be the child’s school. If the child is hostile to their school-life however, this may introduce elements of bias into their interview compared to other children who may have been interviewed at home or at a community centre. The practicality of eliciting reliable information from a child (under eighteen years of age), is a point which quickly becomes clouded with other issues. The words of an adult may be too complex or the sentence structure poorly formed, so that a child become confused. This has been proven to be the case by several authors (Walker, 1994, Dockrell, Lewis & Lindsay, 2000), and includes children up to the age of eighteen. Minors, even those nearly eighteen, are not always proficient in language skills, and may have difficulty understanding the wording of questions or in formulating their own answers (Walker, 1994:4). There is a need to be sure of how a child is answering a question put to them, as they could be responding to a part of a question rather than the whole question.

Fate and Destiny Essay

The Epic of Sundiata is meaningless without the concepts of fate and destiny. When the Mandinka king receives the divine hunter at the royal court, and the hunter predicts that the king’s marriage to an ugly woman would grant him a mighty king for a son; the Mandinka king must honor the prophecy. It is for this reason that the king, before his death, gives to Sundiata – his son born of an ugly woman – a griot. When Sundiata is older, he too believes in the importance of harnessing powers of a supernatural nature (Niane). Prophecies are, of course, made through supernatural powers. Seeing that the kings of the Mandinka people believe in supernatural powers, their subjects must also be believers in the same. Moreover, fate and destiny appear real to the Mandinka people, which is the reason why the prophecy is honored by the king. But, even if most of the Mandinka people do not believe in supernatural powers, the belief system of the king is expected to be superior to that of his people. Belief in prophecy entails that one’s fate is determined, and there is nothing that one can do to change his or her destiny. Prophets are believed because they know the fate and destiny of others. By informing people about their respective fates and destinies, they save their people from being misled. At the same time, however, the concepts of fate and destiny entail that the Mandinka king would have married an ugly woman, with or without the prophecy of the hunter. The king would have had Sundiata, too, regardless of the prophecy. The only useful part about the prophecy was that the king gifted Sundiata with a griot because he knew that Sundiata would be a mighty king in the future. Just as the Epic of Sundiata cannot be understood without reference to fate or destiny, Things Fall Apart focuses on a hero and his community, unable to change circumstances in the face of destiny. Things Fall Apart makes repeated references to chi, a concept that refers to a personal deity that is available to all people to guide them to fulfill their individual destinies. It is impossible for a human being to struggle against the chi, or his or her spirit force. This is the reason why Okonkwo, a courageous and intelligent individual, cannot change his circumstances or that of his community even as things fall apart for everybody except the colonialists (Achebe). In other words, the human being is powerless against the decisions of the chi or his or her personal deity who establishes the fate and destiny of every soul. The personal deity of all people has determined that Okonkwo and his people would suffer, and there is nothing they can do about it (Achebe). Okonkwo is a distinguished leader of a village in Nigeria. He is rich, powerful, brave as well as wise. He has worked hard to achieve his high status in his village. Thus, the village elders choose him to be the guardian of a boy named Ikemefuna, who has been made prisoner by Achebe’s tribe. Okonkwo must keep the boy with him until the Oracle decides otherwise (Achebe). This shows that man has no free will, and that, in fact, fate and destiny are determined by another. Human beings are not even allowed to make decisions by themselves. If they attempt to make decisions by themselves, they must be severely punished, as Okonkwo was. When the village elders decided that Ikemefuna must be killed, Okonkwo went against the advice of the oldest man of the village by killing the boy himself. Subsequently, things started to fall apart for Okonkwo. He accidentally killed another individual at a funeral ceremony. For this act he had to be sent into exile with his family for a period of seven years. After all, he had offended the deities by committing the murder (Achebe). When Okonkwo returned to his village, he struggled for his people against the colonialists. In the end, however, he had to kill himself (Achebe). The forces of change were too strong for him to resist. This reveals that man’s determination, intelligence, and courage have no power over destiny and fate. Even though I believe in fate and destiny, I do not agree with this grim vision of the same. Neither do I trust the fact that man has been rendered powerless by fate and destiny. In my understanding of these concepts, God, who is all-knowing, has written the fate and destiny of all people. His knowledge of all people’s past, present and future is their fate and destiny, in fact. At the same time, He has given unto human beings the power to make decisions for themselves. The Bible confirms this view. Although there is nothing that a human being can do to fight destiny and fate, individuals are free to use their intelligence in the best possible ways. Our use of intelligence – in my belief – is also determined by God. He allows some people to prosper at the expense of others. All the same, in the Biblical sense, such circumstances are a trial from God. He cannot be blamed for giving one man a life of riches, happiness and peace while his brother is poor and living in a violent neighborhood. In the Biblical view, both men are loved by God. However, by severely testing the homeless man, He would like the man to turn to Him in prayer. The rich man, on the other hand, is required to be of help to the poor man. If he does not help his brother, however, God would continue giving him opportunities to do so in future. In this view of fate and destiny, God also knows the people who would go to Heaven as opposed to those who would enter Hellfire for eternity. Even so, I know that people have free will to choose what they would like to do with themselves and where they would like to go. God does not stop us from using our minds to do as we please. But, as I have already mentioned, it is He who ultimately decides what we would think. So, while one man concentrates on spirituality, another spends his entire lifetime thinking about the theory of relativity. It is our personal destiny to think, do, and wish as God pleases. Of course, my understanding of fate and destiny is not the same as that of the Mandinka king or the people of Okonkwo. I do not visit soothsayers, and neither would I believe in all of them. Furthermore, even if it is unfashionable in our times to believe in God and supernatural powers, I continue to believe in fate and destiny. Works Cited Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart. New York: Doubleday & Co. , Inc. , 1994. Niane, D. T. (trans. ). Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Harlow: Longman, 2006.

Business Statistics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Statistics - Term Paper Example Business statistics is used in all the functional departments of an organization – finance, human resource, marketing, operations and management and accounting. In the finance function, it is normally used to make decisions relating to measuring risk using variances, investments in stock markets using means, acquisition of assets and valuations (Keller, pp. 7). In marketing, it allows the managers to make decisions on the four Ps based on the identified consumer patterns and buying behavior using histograms, means and inferences (Keller, pp. 8). It also plays a vital in the company’s operations and management. It allows the managers to decide on the reorder points using histograms, waiting for lines using Poisson distribution, location analysis using regression and quality using variance.Linear Regression is an important statistical technique that compares the change in one variable with respect to another variable(s). It is most commonly used a tool in the business env ironment for various purposes including decision making. This is considered the best method for the estimation of the line of best fit which minimizes the chances of error.Linear regression is being used in a wide variety of business functions across the organizations. In the accounting function, it is used to project the costs based on the level of activity as well as separate the fixed and the variable costs. In another scenario, it allows the analysis to separate the fixed and variable costs from the total costs.  

Haven't decide it yet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Haven't decide it yet - Essay Example Convergence in the world of media is about having a collusion between two or more businesses that uses the Internet as a medium in order to attract more consumers to patronize their products and services. By increasing the scope of the services a telecommunication is offering its target consumers, the company is creating competitive advantages against its competetitors. relationship into the practice of franchising within the same company. In the book of Henry Jenkins entitled â€Å"Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide†, the author discussed convergence as a cultural process that integrates the use of images, sounds, brands, and business relationship among the different media system. Considering the fact that the business relationship among the different types of media system is being integrated, this study will conduct a primary and secondary research to examine and determine how it is possible to franchise media in a telecommunication company. The total number of Internet users in the United States has reached 427,569,939 or 46.1% of America’s total population as of 2009 (Internet World Stats). Because of the continuously increasing number of Internet users all over the world, the existence of the Internet has been classified by Jenkins as an â€Å"active medium† (Jenkins, Confessions of an Aca-Fan). In the absence of integrating the telecommunication services with the access to the Internet, the presence of the mobile phones are considered a â€Å"passive medium† (ibid). Based on the recent Internet World Stats report, the total number of Internet mobile broadband subscribers in the U.S. market has reached a total of 69,902,289 as of the end of second quarter of 2009 (Internet World Stats). In line with this, the 0.92% increase in the total number of mobile broadband users signifies the need for telecommunication companies to keep on improving the mobile services they render to the public. Convergence in media is referring to the

What factors influencing Chinese parents tosend their children to Literature review

What factors influencing Chinese parents tosend their children to study abroad - Literature review Example China’s system and policies for education have a number of weaknesses and areas for development for likely investment that cause parents to send their children overseas for better studies. Author Ryan discusses reforms on higher learning in China and compares them to those of international economies. According to Ryan, the influential hand of economic and political realities overwhelms modern relative and overseas studies of higher learning reforms (Ryan, 2011). Ryan’s text tries to provide an alternative cultural standpoint to explore the development and conversion of China’s higher learning system. The book argues that China’s culture philosophies affect the development of higher learning (Ryan, 2011). Even so, Ryan notes that current scientific literature does not offer his argument adequate attention. Researchers Li, Liu and Zhang, approximated returns made in the education sector in urban China in 2012. In this study, Li et al experientially approximated the return to learning through a twins model of data. The research’s regular least-squares model approximated that a single year of learning raised a Chinese student’s income by 8.4% (Li, Liu and Zhang 2012). When Li et al used the twins model, this return decreased to 2.7%, but increased to 3.8% after the adjustment of measurement error. These findings indicated that a huge part of the approximated returns to learning occurred because of absent ability or the family impact (Li et al., 2012). According to Li et al, this was proof that the return of education was low in urban China because of its current education system. In 2012, Li et al studied the medical learning system in China in an attempt to understand the country’s national education system. According to Li et al, China is undergoing a crisis of poor and ruined doctor-patient relationships, which officials deny openly. Li et al says there are multiple reasons for the distrust

What Is So Important About Jerusalem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What Is So Important About Jerusalem - Essay Example At the beginning of the twentieth century, British forces captured Jerusalem from the Turks. Following this capture, the British troops pledged that they would conserve all religious sites and places of worship in the holy city. In the same era, Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist purchased the area surrounding the wall in order to make it accessible to other Jews. This event shows that the Jews were willing and able to sacrifice their wealth in order to gain access to the western wall. Christianity: Church of the Holy Sepulchre is an ancient church in Old City of Jerusalem. The church is believed to be the site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. The church has an extensive history that stretches all the way from the 4 century AD. Currently, the church serves as the control center for Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The control of the church and adjacent land is under the control of several Christian churches around the world. The church is believed to be the center of key phenom enon and sites in the Christian faith that include Golgotha, the hill of Calvary, and the original cross of Jesus. The church is of immense significance to Christian of all ages. Being the main Christian establishment in the holy land, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is of interest to many world leaders. Moreover, the church was the target of crusaders who travelled from Europe to the holy land6. The church was an important symbol in ancient early civilization and it was destroyed and reconstructed many times. For example, the churchy was demolished by the Persians in 614 AD under the command Khosrau II. The church underwent numerous demolitions and reconstructions under various authorities. In the 7th century, the Persians invaded Jerusalem and removed the Cross-from Church of the Holy...Recent archeological evidence has revealed that the wall was not completed during Herod’s reign. The studies have revealed that constructions may have been completed at the end of the seven the century. The wall and the temple courtyard that it encloses have been a pilgrimage site for the Jews over the centuries. Since the establishment of the Zionist movement, the wall has been a major cause of conflict between Jews and Muslims3. Both the Muslims and the Jews claim right of ownership including the right to worship and pilgrimage to the wall and the temple. Indeed the wall is a fundamental aspect of the Jewish religion. According to the Jews, King Solomon constructed the western wall and it serves as the only remnant of the first temple. The Jews regard the wall as the only accessible spot of the holy land. The site is the closest to even ha-shetiya (the foundation stone) located in the temple mountain4. The foundation stone is regarded ans the holy of holies and no one is allowed to set foot upon it. The Jews used to pray by the walls during the time of tribulation and it is believed that God heard their prayers. Through the ages, Jews of all age gathered and prayed beside the western wall.Certainly, there are many unknown facts about the holy lands and their significance to the future of humanity. Therefore, modern religions cannot be based on these holy lands.

Target Corporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Target Corporation - Research Paper Example Upon this foundation, Target is expanding its business operations internationally. It hopes to start retail chains in Canada by 2013. By moving across borders, Target will follow and provide competition for Wal-Mart. Consequently, it will continue to grow and fund additional projects such as expansion through acquisitions. The success of Target is largely attributable to the culture of the organization, which stresses honesty and community (Rowley 145). In this examination of Target Corporation, we hope to accomplish a comprehensive look at the company’s history, financials, capital, reputation, marketing, and future. This all-inclusive view of the company can thus be evaluated in terms of how Target would like to perceive and how the public actually sees Target Corporation as an asset (or a liability) in their communities. Human Capital Target Corporation employs roughly 355,000 employees throughout the United States, who take part in a variety of operational functions such as managing stores, marketing, and customer service (SEC). Employees at Target are generally happy; however, there is some criticism of compensation and benefit packages offered by the company. For instance, it is alleged by labor groups and current employees that Target, based out of Minneapolis, pays less in some cases than their competitor Wal-Mart. does According to a recent survey by UFCW, Target pays entry-level positions a salary of about $6.25 per hour to $8 per hour, depending on qualifications (Serres). This is below- or at-the-market in terms of large retail chains. Therefore, even though Wal-Mart is often the subject of criticisms and community rejection, it seems that Target has a similar pay scheme for low-level employees to their competitor. In terms of benefits, union groups see Target as less equitable than its competitors do. In the early 2000s, Target dropped all health care insurance coverage for part-time workers, while Wal-Mart has maintained its medical plan available to all workers (Serres). However, many employees still agree that it is a better place to work than some other large retail chains, despite the weaknesses in the health care insurance pr ogram. Target’s benefits packages rate high in terms of flexibility for higher-level employees. The 401(k) plans offered by Target considered some of the best in the industry insofar as it matches dollar for dollar up to five percent of contributions made by employees. In addition, Target offers many other programs including the â€Å"Take Charge of Education† program that allows Target credit-card holders to donate 1 percent a year of their purchases to a school of their choice. This is in line with Target’s explicit commitment to the value of family (Rowley 146). Union Involvement Target Corporation is like Wal-Mart in the fact that they are not unionized. In fact, Target sees unionization as a potential threat to their corporate success (Rowley 141). For that reason, the company has published anti-video literature and videos in order to warn their employees about the dangers of a union. Deborah Weinswig, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, said that,  "Target is not a union, so it can charge lower prices than other food retailers. In the Northeast, SuperTargets have done extremely well† (Rowley 174). This lends credence to the view that Target would be negatively affected by a unionization of its employees. These efforts were increased in 2009 in response to

Stochastic finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Stochastic finance - Assignment Example (a) The data used in this question has been obtained from Yahoo Finance (EODData.com.) and the companies considered are; AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC, RADIAN GROUP INC and PHARMATHENE INC. These three companies trade in stocks and are listed in National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASQAD), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and American Stock Exchange (AMEX) respectively. To analyze the changing trend in stock prices, I have considered daily closing stock prices for each of the three companies listed above and extracted a 30 day information ending 12th May 2015 (see excel work book; sheet 1) (b) Sheet 1 of the excel work book shows the calculations for the logarithmic changes in the daily closing stock prices for each of the three listed companies in their respective stock markets. The table in the appendix section has the results to these calculations. A 30 day result is considered. The curve shown in the graph above clearly indicates the performance in the stock markets for the American company. The daily closing stock prices for American Airlines Group Inc, a company in the NASQAD markets tends to be stable by showing a regular drop in stock prices over the first few weeks. The growth rate however tends to shoot and hitting its maximum of $52.71 after which the drop is drastic and reaches its minimum of $47.01 before picking up gradually towards the end of the six week period. These changes in daily closing stock prices for American Airlines Group Inc are concentrated around its mean stock price of $49.13 and hence a normal distribution. Compared to the American Airlines Group Inc, the trend in Radian Group Inc, listed in NYSE, is a steady upward growth for stock prices for the first days within the analysis period. The price then changes the growth pattern suddenly and hits its highest of $18.45 before reducing to $16.7; the least price during the period. Stability in growth around the mean price of