Saturday, August 31, 2019

Importance of Sales Promotion Essay

Sales promotion is one of the seven aspects of the promotional mix, which are advertising personal selling, direct marketing publicity/ public relations, corporate image and exhibitions. Sales promotions are short-term incentives that are done to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service [P.DALOK 200]. Sales promotion can be used to inform, persuade, and remind target customers about the business and its market mix. Some common types of sale promotion include: Samples, Coupons, Sweepstakes, Contest, In-store display, Tradeshows, Price off deals, Premium and rebates. There are many reasons why companies opt for sales promotions other than advertising. Some of the reasons include increasing competition and products becoming more standardized, build brand awareness, create interest, provide information, stimulate demand and also reinforce the brand. In this essay I have briefly described sales promotion, and comprehensively discussed the reasons for sales promotion. Definit ion of sales promotion Sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. C. Mitchell 1999 defines sales promotion as a process of persuading a potential customer to buy the product And it includes several communications activities that attempt to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales. These efforts can attempt to stimulate product interest, trial, or purchase. Below are reasons for sales promotion. Reasons for sales promotion 1. Increasing Competition The air of change is gaining momentum after the introduction of economic liberalization. Due to increase in competition, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to compete on quality. They are therefore resorting to more innovative methods of sales promotion (Du Toit and Erasmes 2008:347). 2. Customers Have Become More Price Sensitive This increased price sensitivity is a direct result of existing inflation. Economic recession is likely to fuel this trend further, as consumers and dealers become more sensitive towards prices. If the customers get branded jeans at half the actual price, then they are definitely going to make huge purchases of Spykar Jeans because they want value for their money, as they are price sensitive. 3. Sales Promotions Generally Create an Immediate Positive Impact on Sales Advertising, personal selling and other methods of promotion produce slower sales response compared to sales promotion. Sales promotions are mostly for short duration, for a specified period, leading to a sense of urgency in consumers to buy now. This creates an immediate positive impact on sales. 4. Products have become more standardized In many product categories, there is a proliferation of brands; many of them are line extensions and me-too brands. Most brands are being perceived by consumers to be more or less similar within a given price range because of the inability of manufacturers to develop truly differentiated products. Under these circumstances, advertising messages are unable to strongly influence the consumers’ perceptions and create brand franchise. As a result of these perceptions of similarity among brands, marketers have no way but to compete on the basis of extra benefit offered through sales promotion. Competing companies struggle to capture market share by using every tool likely to bring sales success. There are many unbranded jeans sold at shopping malls and places like Mr Price, bandra which are bought at half the price of actual branded jeans. People who are money conscious buy such jeans. Therefore, Spykar Jeans comes up with such discounts, which helps them in increasing their sales and also in stock clearance. 5. Consumer Acceptance As competition intensifies and promotions proliferate, consumers have learnt to earn the rewards of being smart shoppers. Over a period of time, they have also learnt that brands on promotion are not necessarily of lower quality. 6. Advertising Has Become More Expensive And Less Effective All the advertising media have become quite expensive. Audio-visual medium, which is considered as the most effective for short-duration ads, may cost in excess of K5000 for a 10 second exposure during prime time (Kambwir 2013). In many cases, consumers have reached a point of boredom due to excessive advertising on TV. Some consumers even consider advertising as an intrusion into their privacy, leading to zapping (surfing channels). Firms with small budgets cannot compete with big companies, which spend huge sums of money on advertising. For these small budget firms, sales promotion is a more cost-effective promotion method to produce sales results. 7.Trade Has Become More Powerful Retailers and wholesalers have become powerful and find themselves in a position to demand extra facilities from the companies. They Channel members demand more incentives to get the desired results. Manufacturers do not seem to have any alternatives but to concede to their demands, keeping in view the competitive market conditions. In shopping malls like Globus and Lifestyle, decent margins have to be paid to them in order to have shelf visibility for your brand. 8. Emphasis On Sales Volumes Towards achieving the long-term profit goals, manufacturers try to attain high sales volume. Brand managers and product managers find themselves under pressure to achieve short-term sales results for the sake of their careers. Compared to any other promotional method, sales promotion is a more effective method to generate short-term sales volume. 9. Sales Promotions Maximise Profits A number of economic theories conclude that a company can maximise profits by using sales promotion. Such promotions can permit price discrimination by allowing the brand to compete in 2 or more different market segments. Sales promotion may allow a premium brand to compete with a lower tier brand among price sensitive consumers. For example, a premium brand of toilet soap may be on promotion in some price sensitive markets, while in the remaining markets it is sold at its normal price. 10. Introducing An Element Of Interest: There are a number of promotions, which are often called interest promotions. Some of the more popular interest promotion techniques are samples, contests, and sweepstakes, free premiums and mail-in premiums. These promotions create an element of interest and excitement, and consumers enjoy these and response enthusiastically to such contests and sweepstakes, etc. 11. Build Brand awareness No company can survey without building awareness for itself and its brands. Companies may use all forms of advertising be it on Television, radio, direct marketing and on line to build awareness. The specific promotional objective may be to gain additional market share or to make a roads into a specific market segment. Another objective may be to replace the market leader in top-of-mind. 12. Sales Promotion Specialists Are Available As a result of economic liberalization, the number of management institutions has increased. This has lead to the availability of specialists, who are not only well paid but can handle this specialized work more efficiently in the current market conditions, where sales promotion has become more important. 13. Excess Stocks Because of increasing number of brands, it is difficult for manufacturers and dealers to anticipate future sales. This, at times, leads to excessive inventories, and the quickest way to clear that is to go for sales promotion.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Case Study: The Privatization of Water Essay

World leaders at the Evian Summit have resolved to decrease the number of people who are without access to safe drinking water by half by the year 2015. Critics fear that this may lead to privatization, arguing that private companies are not motivated to provide water to the poor. Those who favor privatization on the other hand argue that only the private sector can make the investment in place of the state, saying that because of the state’s failure, the poor are in fact already paying more. What then is the effective solution for solving this access to water problem? Should the private companies do it or should the responsibility remain with the state? What is the best way to do this? How can the water shortage problem be managed and what are the pros and cons to the issue of privatization? Privatization as an Effective Solution According to Michael Klein, Vice-President for Private Sector Development at the World Bank in Washington, the issue is not whether it is the private sector or the government that should serve as the entity to increase accessibility to water. The realization is that somebody has to pay for water and the real issue lies in who pays? Governments face the fiscal and political difficulty of raising consumer tariffs and providing subsidies. And if nobody pays at the end of the day, even the private sector will not want to invest. The solution then lies in solving the problem of user fees, on who bears the responsibility of paying for water, the government through subsidies or the consumers through service provided by the private companies. The challenges to this standpoint and the corresponding responses by Mr. Klein are the following: Are there any specific Third World countries that have benefited from privatization without corresponding large charges? Examples are Ivory Coast, Guinea, several cities in Colombia, Argentina, two cities in Bolivia and the Philippines (Manila). In the 90’s, the average increase was about 30% of the cost of water systems and in countries where the government provided subsidies like Manila and Buenos Aires, the price levels remained low. But whether public or private, the prices really rise over time. How can it be assured that the cost of water especially in Third World countries will be affordable? Focus should not on those who have access already but to providing access to those who do not have good modern water systems because they are the ones who pay more (by drilling wells, paying private water vendors, among others). Providing access to these people using better services will lower prices and make water more affordable to them. And both for those who have access already and those who really cannot afford to pay, focus should be given to the subsidies to be given by government. The issues here are how much subsidy is available and what kind of subsidy system should be used, and further assuring that these subsidies really go to the poor. How about cases like Tanzania where government has privatized water but entered it into an agreement with the World Bank? In most cases, privatizations are not full privatizations, it is still the state that bears the investment and the private sector just enters into a management contract with the state. It will only work if the private sector has the technical and management capability. Since experience shows the lack of interest of international private firms to invest in the least developed countries, should not the focus be on World Bank supporting public utilities to improve their services instead? That is why the real issue is not public versus private but who pays at the end of the day. In many concession agreements and privatization arrangements where subsidies are given and incentives given to private companies, services expanded. Examples are Bolivia (La Paz), Philippines (Manila), Buenos Aires. The involvement of domestic water companies may also help in expanding water access in remote areas. How can corruption in privatization be avoided? It is commonly known that there is corruption in the public sector that in private companies especially in equipment supply. Privatization does not mean corruption will disappear, it only means that there will be better services. The Case Against Privatization From the Anti-Privatization Forum in Johannesburg, Trevor Ngwane asserts that water is a basic need and as such it is the government that is mandated to ensure it provides all basic needs and services which is in the public interest. If it is the private sector that will do this, profit will become the objective. The clash is between need and profit and in the case of water, the priority is the need which every government should provide the means for. The challenges to this standpoint and the corresponding responses by Mr. Ngwane are the following: Are there any specific Third World countries that have benefited from privatization without corresponding large charges? As to the examples of success cases, they are not really successes and the example that can be given is Cochacamba in Bolivia where privatization caused the loss of access to water, which led to a civil war. In South Africa, even the moves to privatize already brings social conflict, dissatisfied trade unions, more people losing access to water, the outbreak of a waterborne disease cholera, which eventually meant loss of peoples’ lives. People need to realize that water cannot be provided for free. What then is the concrete plan to help government do this? Is the solution in the form of taxation, from payments of consumers, fro m subsidies from other consumers, etc.? In South Africa, the proposal is based on the premise that water is every citizen’s right. The recommendation is cross-subsidization, where high volume users like companies and industries subsidize low volume users like end users and the poor. The pricing system recommended is the block tariff system where the more water you use the higher charges you pay. This will prevent wastage of water. How can corruption in privatization be avoided? How long will the poor wait to have water? Corruption is brought more by privatization with businesses needing to bribe politicians, etc. Instead of expanding or rolling out to remote areas as they should, private companies choose the most profitable areas to operate and these are not the poor areas. Reference http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/bwi-wto/wbank/2004/01waterpriv.htm http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=317924 http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/11/01/water.shortage.reut/ http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/2/63

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Question

Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion As our society progressed, people are placing more emphasis on education. This is because many feel that education is the key for higher standard of living. With such belief in mind, many dependent on school to give their children best education and expect children to be more rounded people.Thus, many blamed schools and our ducational system when a educated person turns to be harmful and destructive to society. Whereas, others hold the view that parents should be responsible for such cases. In my view, both family and schools are important in enforcing the right moral concept in children. There is no doubt that schools should be a place where to teach children moral concepts while naturing talents. Ideally, schools have the responsibility to guide children what is right and wrong.Thi s is because children are usually too young to understand the consequences of being wrong, they always go according to their curiosity. Hence, schools should play a role as guidance or supervisor to constantly remind them what to do and not to do. Moreover, the fundamental and original purpose of school is establishing a constitution to guide and teach youths not only to be more knowledgeable, but more importantly to be a better man who is useful and responsible to society. Therefore, schools have the responsibility to guide children and pull them back if they are on the wrong track.However, with increasing competitiveness among all the schools, more and more schools only emphasis on academic achievement of children in nowadays. This led to lack of moral education for children. Hence, schools should have the responsibility to instill moral senses in children, but it is increasingly neglected by our educators in nowadays. However, we should not fully blame schools for the responsibil ity of not teaching children the right moral senses, parents is equally important factor in developing one's character and moral.As a famous saying goes, parents are children's first teacher. It is true that parents' influences are much more powerful than schools. According to a report, two third of the criminals are from broken or brutal family. From psychological point of view, it is also more likely for a child to become a violent person if his parents are brutal. It is also possible for this child to hatred or resent towards society. Hence, it is clearly demonstrated that parents should hold the responsibility to teach children how to be good member of the society.Thus, it is undeniable that parents play a significant role in developing one's moral concept. Question: nowadays the way people interact with each other has changed because of technology. In what ways has technology affected the types of relationships people make? Has this become a positive or negative development? Wi th the invention of communication technology, our daily life has been greatly reshaped in many aspects. People seem to be more dependent on communication technology such as telephones, internet.Many was then questioned that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. However, the supporters of technology development defend that technology has benefited us in many ways. In my view, technology has enabled us to have a closer relationship than before. Critics often argue that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. It is observed there s less face to face interaction between people. This is because people see little needs for them to communicate face to face with the presence of communication technology.Communication technology allows us to send our messages instantaneously and conveniently. Thus, many people, especially the youths are afraid of communicate with strangers or speak up in public. Therefore, it seems that people become less friendly towards their nei ghbour. Hence, communication technology indeed changed our relationship among neighbors. The communication technology does not only changed our neighborhood relationship, but also our family elationship. It is not uncommon for one to heard complains that children are less engaging in family interaction from parents.Many parents complained that children always play computer game instead of spending time with them. Many youths like to express their feelings or tell their secrets to online strangers rather than their family members. Hence, it appears that the relationship between family members is weakening. This can be further supported by a new report which conveyed a Japanese mother left her 5 moths old child starve to death as she was so indulged in computer games. This clearly demonstrated how technology has indeed affect the relationship we have now.However, it is undeniable that communication technology does improve our social relationship in one way or another. Communication te chnology such as internet enables us to keep in touch with our family and friends even from far distant. Web camera enables us to meet with our friends oversea and which in turn strengthens our friendships. Moreover, with presence of social networks such as Facebook and Twitters, we are now able to find more new friends within our social groups like schoolmates. It also allows us to find old friends whom e have previously lost contact.Thus, technology provide a platform for us to make more friends and widen our social cycles. Therefore, communication technology strengths and provide new opportunity for our relationships. In conclusion, without and the friends we make. Technology is like a coin which has two sides. However, it is merely a tool for us communicate. Hence, we should not blamed technology for changing our social life, but , in fact, it is the way we use it which changes our lifestyle. Question In an essay I read titled â€Å"To What End Military Power?† by Robert J. Art he looks at how and when force should be used. He suggests that there are four purposes of using forces: defensive, deterrent, compellent, and swaggering. Considering their usefulness today. What do you think Art means by his final quote that `The best way to keep the peace is first to prepare for war`? Military power or military assistance is not relevant to America’s policy. Rather military action is secondary even third to military assistance policy. This is due to internal administrative problems such as demilitarization or the commercialization of the military, political subversion, and not direct military attack is not in the official agenda of American military after its experience during Korean War. Globalization, in turn, opens up the door for the American to become vulnerable toward attacks from the global nations. Hence, our defense must be powerful. America is being put into a containment policy and is elevated to its commitment to defend other countries. It is compelling the military use in foreign policy. This policy increases the defense budget because it requires, besides military or defense equipment and accessories, administrative strategic and alliances in the forms of military commitments and military intervention. Question#2 (145 words) What is redundancy and why is it necessary when looking at transformation of the military. Redundancy is to simulate the military administrative structure and functional concepts which was established early in the previous American warfare but with some modification. Some of the redundancies, with a transformation strategy, may include forcible entry of mounted forces, establishment and enhancement of battle command, enhancement of soldiers, platforms, and forces protection capabilities, enhancement of theatre support capabilities, deployment and support infrastructure. In addition, the key functional concepts of the military are the creation of modularity, tailored and multifunction forces that can be rapidly deployed; increasing special operation forces; enhancing explosive ordinance disposal capabilities; enhancing security and protection capabilities; enhancing comprehensive medical diagnostic, prevention and treatment capabilities to the soldiers; increasing effort of counter-terrorism; and deploying support infrastructure as just-in-time soldiers inventory. As part of joint functional concepts, the redundancies require inter-dependencies in terms such as joint battle command, joint fires and effects, joint air and missile defense, joint force projection, and joint containment. Question In an essay I read titled â€Å"To What End Military Power?† by Robert J. Art he looks at how and when force should be used. He suggests that there are four purposes of using forces: defensive, deterrent, compellent, and swaggering. Considering their usefulness today. What do you think Art means by his final quote that `The best way to keep the peace is first to prepare for war`? Military power or military assistance is not relevant to America’s policy. Rather military action is secondary even third to military assistance policy. This is due to internal administrative problems such as demilitarization or the commercialization of the military, political subversion, and not direct military attack is not in the official agenda of American military after its experience during Korean War. Globalization, in turn, opens up the door for the American to become vulnerable toward attacks from the global nations. Hence, our defense must be powerful. America is being put into a containment policy and is elevated to its commitment to defend other countries. It is compelling the military use in foreign policy. This policy increases the defense budget because it requires, besides military or defense equipment and accessories, administrative strategic and alliances in the forms of military commitments and military intervention. Question#2 (145 words) What is redundancy and why is it necessary when looking at transformation of the military. Redundancy is to simulate the military administrative structure and functional concepts which was established early in the previous American warfare but with some modification. Some of the redundancies, with a transformation strategy, may include forcible entry of mounted forces, establishment and enhancement of battle command, enhancement of soldiers, platforms, and forces protection capabilities, enhancement of theatre support capabilities, deployment and support infrastructure. In addition, the key functional concepts of the military are the creation of modularity, tailored and multifunction forces that can be rapidly deployed; increasing special operation forces; enhancing explosive ordinance disposal capabilities; enhancing security and protection capabilities; enhancing comprehensive medical diagnostic, prevention and treatment capabilities to the soldiers; increasing effort of counter-terrorism; and deploying support infrastructure as just-in-time soldiers inventory. As part of joint functional concepts, the redundancies require inter-dependencies in terms such as joint battle command, joint fires and effects, joint air and missile defense, joint force projection, and joint containment. Question Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion As our society progressed, people are placing more emphasis on education. This is because many feel that education is the key for higher standard of living. With such belief in mind, many dependent on school to give their children best education and expect children to be more rounded people.Thus, many blamed schools and our ducational system when a educated person turns to be harmful and destructive to society. Whereas, others hold the view that parents should be responsible for such cases. In my view, both family and schools are important in enforcing the right moral concept in children. There is no doubt that schools should be a place where to teach children moral concepts while naturing talents. Ideally, schools have the responsibility to guide children what is right and wrong.Thi s is because children are usually too young to understand the consequences of being wrong, they always go according to their curiosity. Hence, schools should play a role as guidance or supervisor to constantly remind them what to do and not to do. Moreover, the fundamental and original purpose of school is establishing a constitution to guide and teach youths not only to be more knowledgeable, but more importantly to be a better man who is useful and responsible to society. Therefore, schools have the responsibility to guide children and pull them back if they are on the wrong track.However, with increasing competitiveness among all the schools, more and more schools only emphasis on academic achievement of children in nowadays. This led to lack of moral education for children. Hence, schools should have the responsibility to instill moral senses in children, but it is increasingly neglected by our educators in nowadays. However, we should not fully blame schools for the responsibil ity of not teaching children the right moral senses, parents is equally important factor in developing one's character and moral.As a famous saying goes, parents are children's first teacher. It is true that parents' influences are much more powerful than schools. According to a report, two third of the criminals are from broken or brutal family. From psychological point of view, it is also more likely for a child to become a violent person if his parents are brutal. It is also possible for this child to hatred or resent towards society. Hence, it is clearly demonstrated that parents should hold the responsibility to teach children how to be good member of the society.Thus, it is undeniable that parents play a significant role in developing one's moral concept. Question: nowadays the way people interact with each other has changed because of technology. In what ways has technology affected the types of relationships people make? Has this become a positive or negative development? Wi th the invention of communication technology, our daily life has been greatly reshaped in many aspects. People seem to be more dependent on communication technology such as telephones, internet.Many was then questioned that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. However, the supporters of technology development defend that technology has benefited us in many ways. In my view, technology has enabled us to have a closer relationship than before. Critics often argue that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. It is observed there s less face to face interaction between people. This is because people see little needs for them to communicate face to face with the presence of communication technology.Communication technology allows us to send our messages instantaneously and conveniently. Thus, many people, especially the youths are afraid of communicate with strangers or speak up in public. Therefore, it seems that people become less friendly towards their nei ghbour. Hence, communication technology indeed changed our relationship among neighbors. The communication technology does not only changed our neighborhood relationship, but also our family elationship. It is not uncommon for one to heard complains that children are less engaging in family interaction from parents.Many parents complained that children always play computer game instead of spending time with them. Many youths like to express their feelings or tell their secrets to online strangers rather than their family members. Hence, it appears that the relationship between family members is weakening. This can be further supported by a new report which conveyed a Japanese mother left her 5 moths old child starve to death as she was so indulged in computer games. This clearly demonstrated how technology has indeed affect the relationship we have now.However, it is undeniable that communication technology does improve our social relationship in one way or another. Communication te chnology such as internet enables us to keep in touch with our family and friends even from far distant. Web camera enables us to meet with our friends oversea and which in turn strengthens our friendships. Moreover, with presence of social networks such as Facebook and Twitters, we are now able to find more new friends within our social groups like schoolmates. It also allows us to find old friends whom e have previously lost contact.Thus, technology provide a platform for us to make more friends and widen our social cycles. Therefore, communication technology strengths and provide new opportunity for our relationships. In conclusion, without and the friends we make. Technology is like a coin which has two sides. However, it is merely a tool for us communicate. Hence, we should not blamed technology for changing our social life, but , in fact, it is the way we use it which changes our lifestyle. Question Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion As our society progressed, people are placing more emphasis on education. This is because many feel that education is the key for higher standard of living. With such belief in mind, many dependent on school to give their children best education and expect children to be more rounded people.Thus, many blamed schools and our ducational system when a educated person turns to be harmful and destructive to society. Whereas, others hold the view that parents should be responsible for such cases. In my view, both family and schools are important in enforcing the right moral concept in children. There is no doubt that schools should be a place where to teach children moral concepts while naturing talents. Ideally, schools have the responsibility to guide children what is right and wrong.Thi s is because children are usually too young to understand the consequences of being wrong, they always go according to their curiosity. Hence, schools should play a role as guidance or supervisor to constantly remind them what to do and not to do. Moreover, the fundamental and original purpose of school is establishing a constitution to guide and teach youths not only to be more knowledgeable, but more importantly to be a better man who is useful and responsible to society. Therefore, schools have the responsibility to guide children and pull them back if they are on the wrong track.However, with increasing competitiveness among all the schools, more and more schools only emphasis on academic achievement of children in nowadays. This led to lack of moral education for children. Hence, schools should have the responsibility to instill moral senses in children, but it is increasingly neglected by our educators in nowadays. However, we should not fully blame schools for the responsibil ity of not teaching children the right moral senses, parents is equally important factor in developing one's character and moral.As a famous saying goes, parents are children's first teacher. It is true that parents' influences are much more powerful than schools. According to a report, two third of the criminals are from broken or brutal family. From psychological point of view, it is also more likely for a child to become a violent person if his parents are brutal. It is also possible for this child to hatred or resent towards society. Hence, it is clearly demonstrated that parents should hold the responsibility to teach children how to be good member of the society.Thus, it is undeniable that parents play a significant role in developing one's moral concept. Question: nowadays the way people interact with each other has changed because of technology. In what ways has technology affected the types of relationships people make? Has this become a positive or negative development? Wi th the invention of communication technology, our daily life has been greatly reshaped in many aspects. People seem to be more dependent on communication technology such as telephones, internet.Many was then questioned that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. However, the supporters of technology development defend that technology has benefited us in many ways. In my view, technology has enabled us to have a closer relationship than before. Critics often argue that technology has made us to be stranger to each other. It is observed there s less face to face interaction between people. This is because people see little needs for them to communicate face to face with the presence of communication technology.Communication technology allows us to send our messages instantaneously and conveniently. Thus, many people, especially the youths are afraid of communicate with strangers or speak up in public. Therefore, it seems that people become less friendly towards their nei ghbour. Hence, communication technology indeed changed our relationship among neighbors. The communication technology does not only changed our neighborhood relationship, but also our family elationship. It is not uncommon for one to heard complains that children are less engaging in family interaction from parents.Many parents complained that children always play computer game instead of spending time with them. Many youths like to express their feelings or tell their secrets to online strangers rather than their family members. Hence, it appears that the relationship between family members is weakening. This can be further supported by a new report which conveyed a Japanese mother left her 5 moths old child starve to death as she was so indulged in computer games. This clearly demonstrated how technology has indeed affect the relationship we have now.However, it is undeniable that communication technology does improve our social relationship in one way or another. Communication te chnology such as internet enables us to keep in touch with our family and friends even from far distant. Web camera enables us to meet with our friends oversea and which in turn strengthens our friendships. Moreover, with presence of social networks such as Facebook and Twitters, we are now able to find more new friends within our social groups like schoolmates. It also allows us to find old friends whom e have previously lost contact.Thus, technology provide a platform for us to make more friends and widen our social cycles. Therefore, communication technology strengths and provide new opportunity for our relationships. In conclusion, without and the friends we make. Technology is like a coin which has two sides. However, it is merely a tool for us communicate. Hence, we should not blamed technology for changing our social life, but , in fact, it is the way we use it which changes our lifestyle.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Seminar 1 bio nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Seminar 1 bio nutrition - Essay Example - Shredded Wheat), and one that is NOT nutritious (e.g. – Oreos). Compare the following areas: Ingredient List, Daily Values, Nutrition Facts, and Health Messages. What would be the consequences of daily consumption of each of these cereals for a lifetime? Let us cite the most obvious ingredient between a cereal and an Oreo which is carbohydrates, protein, sugar and fiber content per serving. Oreo has 160 calories, 1g fiber, 14g sugar and 1 protein while shredded wheat has 128.6 calories, 3.5 fiber and 5.3 protein and 0 sugar. At least Oreo has no pretension to be a healthy food and rather capitalize on its taste and experience (evident with the gimmickry of its advertisements). Shredded Wheat on the other hand conveys the message that it is good for your heart and digestion and makes you lose weight. This is true when taken regularly because shredded wheat is fortified with omega 3 which reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The high fiber content of shredded wheat can improve digestion because it â€Å"mops out† dirt in the intestine as well as oil in our system. The protein will build muscle provided a person will exercise. The net effect to person’s body with this diet is reduced weight and free from hypertens ion and cardiovascular disease. Oreo on the other hand when taken as diet, will make a person fat, diabetic and susceptible to cardiovascular disease. Phytochemicals are compounds produced by plants. They are chemicals produced by vegetables, fruits, grains and other plants. The most commonly known phytochemicals are beta carotene, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), folic acid, and vitamin E (American Cancer Society, 2008). The good sources of phytochemicals are polyphenols and carotenoids. Polyphenols are plant chemicals found in a wide of fruits, grains and vegetables such as cabbage, eggplants, grapes etch. Carotenoids on the other hand are those plants and fruits that contain

Global Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Global Marketing - Essay Example Thanks to his established brand, his company managed to establish and maintain a standard marketing mix within which he operated. It is to be noted that the lack of significant competition at the time made him survive. However, with increased competition, variations became distinct, and his approach was no longer appropriate. b. The strategy currently in use by Levi Straus is rather a complex mix, whereby managers have the authority to standardize the marketing mix in respect to their specific local markets. Elements of marketing that Levi Straus changed are decentralizing the marketing responsibility to the local managers. He also introduced new styles for satisfying a variety of style preferences for the customers (Levitt, 1983). c. His new strategy has a high potential for profitability fostering growth of the company. Although the autonomy of managers is at the expense of economies of scale for advertising for instance, consumers’ needs are addressed more efficiently. d. The story shows deep insights on the effects of globalization. The assumption that standardization will result in a perfect market mix has been proved wrong. Rather the customization of styles to suit the customers is preferred. Well, the student shows comprehension of the subject in question. However, it is clear that they miss the point when answering the question of the elements of the marketing mix as used in different nations. A straightforward answer would have been more appropriate in that case. At that, the student fails to identify the most important information as required by the question. The student attempts to hit the bottom line of the questions, but their ways of supporting their notion falls short. Despite sharing deep insights in the questions asked, the student fails to support their arguments in a convincing manner. The result is that, although showing great potential of knowledge in the questions, the student lacks the ability to

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Aristotle - Essay Example e confronts new situations and develops innovative responses and those spontaneous overflows of powerful feelings energise his creative channels through art forms. An artist is born, but the process of his excellence goes on by continuous application. The unstoppable urge in the inner world of a human being is the inspirational fountain of art. What one thinks as artist’s imitation is in reality is his inner urge, not an exercise of trying to just copy what one sees and experiences. His contribution to the process of creating art is active and his inspiration to imitate is the pivotal point. He articulates three explicit methods for categorising art as an imitation of life. The first method relates to the art known in the most popular form, like a creation of color on canvas relating to a particular scenic beauty. Music also falls in this category. Acting is an important aspect of imitation of human moods and activities. Literature, both prose and poetry, are considered as a f orm of art. Aristotle provides particular definitions for these forms of art. He sees unity and harmony in these diverse forms of art. In the second method he mentions about the particular type of excellence of the art from in discussion. He terms this as virtue. For example, a comedy drama needs to highlight happiness and love and the tragedy must relate to the dark incidents of human life. The third method is to discuss art on the basis of theories. While articulating about the attributes of art, Socrates emerges as a philosopher with profound thinking and mentions about the essential traits of a thing and the method of distinguishing them from each other. Trait in this context has a comprehensive meaning and demands analysis and he shows his fondness for definitions to enable one to arrive at appropriate meanings. Some of the attributes in literature are: Genre and gender attributes: Aristotle tries to evolve and defend his definitions on the basis of some of the famous epics. For

Monday, August 26, 2019

International Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Law - Assignment Example States may also uphold the principle of international law, even when national interests do not benefit from it, in order to protect universal and common human values. Treaties and their effectiveness can be measured using their success in ensuring all parties abide by the agreement (Chayes & Chayes, 2008). Nations enter into international treaties with other states because of the need. Nation states enter into treaties for political and military alliances, territorial exchanges, international violence control, creation of new states, and peacemaking. Treaties set out the rules  in a clear version, compared to other forms of international law. Nation states also find it to be easier to achieve the consent with treaties, as compared to other international laws. Question # 2 2. With regard to the 2009 military coup in Honduras, it appears that the national Congress, Supreme Court, attorney-general and military supported the detention or removal of an elected leader on constitutional g rounds. In such a case, does the "international community†, or outside States have the right to condemn the coup? How does UN Charter Article 2(7) fit into the picture? No foreign authority or power recognized the coup leader’s presidency. ... Despite the widespread condemnation of the Honduran coup, and suspension of the country from receiving aid from the EU and the US, efforts to reinstate Zelaya to power have failed. President Zelaya’s removal and replacement was an interruption of the country's constitutional democratic order (Halperin, 2011). If this coup were to stand, it would portend a dangerous democratic precedent for other countries. Thus, the international community needed to act to protect themselves from the possibility of a recurrence in their own country. Article 2(7) of the UN charter states that the UN can not intervene in matters within an individual state’s domestic jurisdiction. Since the Honduran coup did not breach chapter Vii of the UN charter, the article stands. Despite the precedent the coup set, the international community could not intervene in the matter. Question # 3 3. What sorts of reservations do signatories insist on in, for example, an agreement such as CEDAW? A reservatio n is a unilateral statement made by a nation state when ratifying or approving a treaty, whereby they purport to vary or exclude certain provisions and their legal effects in that state’s application (Blanchfield, 2009). The reservation must be rejected or accepted by other states for it to be valid. In the case of the reservation's rejection, that the state must first withdraw its reservation to be part of the treaty. Article 19 of the Vienna Convention allows reservations unless the treaty impliedly or expressly prohibits reservations. If the reservations requested are not compatible with the purpose and object of the treaty, then the reservation is invalid. In CEDAW, the United States signed, but did not ratify the multilateral convention. CEDAW defines women discrimination as: Any

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Case study/ final paper Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

/ final paper - Case Study Example Integrative approach however involves parties to a conflict in developing solution to a problem rather than seeking a decision while attitudinal structuring is a social based approach that aims at changing people’s behaviors in a set up and intraoganizational bargaining defines extensive discussion within an organizational framework. Either aspect of the theory therefore undermines summery dismissal without a defense opportunity. Another applicable theory to both parties is the contract theory that provides for legality of relationships based on terms and actions rather than intentions of parties to an agreement. It therefore has a legal basis for protecting parties interests (Miller and Jents 497; Denisi and Griffin 330). Initial jurisdiction of the case rests with the industrial court. The contract theory will prevail over the Behavioral theory of labor negotiations because of its foundations from common law that is a recognized source of law while the Behavioral theory of labor negotiations is a secondary approach to the judicial system. I would advise Fred that his action has legal consequences and recommend a favorable resolution outside court before Wilma seeks a legal address. His reference to payback and the mode of expression that communicated intense anger together with slamming of the door identifies apprehension to danger, amounting to tort of assault. A resolution outside the legal framework may therefore reduce or mitigate the possible consequences of Fred’s action if Wilma agrees to forgive him (Miller and Jentz 87). We are interested in recruiting Mr./Mrs. X (Name of applicant) for an important position in our organization, he/she has named you as a referee and we would wish gain the following information from you. The additional information on the applicant’s alcoholism does not change the proposed plan because the condition can be managed by a strong organizational culture. The search committee should be keen on

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Rachel Carson and the Enviromental Movement Research Paper

Rachel Carson and the Enviromental Movement - Research Paper Example She continued her personal research and writings about the environment and ecological issues during her federal service and subsequently published two books Under the Sea Wind (1941) and The Sea around Us (1951). Carson was conferred with two doctorate degrees; national book award and a national science writing prize and excerpts from her later book were reprinted in famous magazines like Science Digest, The Yale Review and The New Yorker. Later she left her federal employment and started to focus on third book The Edge of the Sea (1955). In early 1957, a letter from an old friend from Duxbury, Massachusetts described declining rates of bird population in her private sanctuary after the authorities’ sprayed fuel oil and DDT. Immediately, Carson researched DDT and other chemicals toxic effects and this became the basis of her next book Silent Spring (1962) (Mahoney, 2009). Silent Spring was initially published in serialized magazine form, later it was released in the form of a book (Clapp, 2000). The book became an instant bestseller and was widely covered by media. More than 250,000 copies of her book were sold in the first four months of its release making it a bestseller (Lantier, 2009). Back then, forest and crop lands were extensively sprayed with pesticides such as DDT to eradicate insect pests. However, unexpected consequences were witnessed due to spraying against fire ants in South and mosquitoes along the coastal line from New York to Maine. The result was successful eradication of insect pests and disease vectors but at the cost of immense damage to local fauna, wild life and environment. Scientists documented decline in fish, birds and animal population along with water and soil contamination. Also, alarming variations in the reproductive patterns and egg shells of various birds that primarily fed on fish were noticed. These changes not only indicated hormonal and reproductive changes but also a steep decline in avian population that could end anger the existence of certain species (Lear, 2001). Specifically, three unrelated events were extremely vital in providing evidence to Carson for the detrimental effects of pesticides, chemicals and toxic wastes on human health and environment. First one, involved the USDA campaign to eradicate fire ant from Southern states by spraying with dieldrin and heptachlor. These two pesticides accumulated in water ways and soil causing wildlife damage (Lear, 1993). As a consequence of fire ant control program heavy invertebrate immortality, population decline, slow recovery rate and residual traces of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide was witnessed in majority of fauna in treated area (Dunlap, 2008). Carson (2002) labeled the fire ant eradication program as â€Å"ill-conceived, badly executed and thoroughly detrimental experiment in destruction of animal life†. Secondly, the aerial spraying of DDT mixed with fuel oil for mosquito control caused decline in bird population in coastal areas (Lear, 1993). Thirdly, DDT was sprayed on elm trees in Michigan State University campus aiming to eliminate bark beetle that was responsible for spreading the Dutch elm disease. However, along with pest elimination large population of robin died as a result of feeding on earthworms; that fed on DDT infested leaves (Lear, 1993). Other primary events that justified Carson’s claims was banning of cranberry product sale for three years (1957-59) as high levels of toxic chemicals known to cause cancer in rats was discovered

Friday, August 23, 2019

Identify the pathways and stores of water, sediment and nutrients from Essay

Identify the pathways and stores of water, sediment and nutrients from the uplands to the coast in typical northwest England - Essay Example As water flows naturally to the sea, it forms various features as it interacts with various factors on its way. In some cases, the water gets stored temporarily in reservoirs, most of the time moving at various speeds. Depending on the speed of movement, the water collects, transports and deposits objects including soil, rocks, and wood. Using these objects, the water at high speed can create new features as the objects brush against other objects in the water path. Water also dissolves nutrients and minerals while suspending tiny particles which are later deposited as sediments at lower speeds. This paper is dedicated to discussing the water pathways from the typical northwest England catchments and its flow to the sea. 2). Definition of terms Pathways: In the context of this essay, pathways refers to the routes of flow traveled by water, nutrients and sediments as they move from the uplands to the coast. ... Sediments: These are materials broken down by the processes of erosion and weathering and are subsequently transported through the actions of wind and liquid water and glaziers. These materials are naturally occurring. Nutrients: These are chemicals required by organisms for them to live and grow well or a substance required for the process of metabolism and must be taken from the organism’s environment. Uplands: Refers to areas of higher altitudes Coast: Refers to a strip of land bordering the sea and as such, it is an area of low lower altitude. Catchments: Refers to a main source, the region from where a substance or material is supplied to the rest of the areas that form part of the material’s or substance pathway. 3). The pathways and stores of water, sediment and nutrients from the uplands to the coast in typical northwest England catchments a) Pathways and stores of water from the uplands to the coast in typical northwest England catchments The pathway of water i n any particular region typically begins with the hydrological cycle. At the beginning of this cycle, water is changed from liquid into its gaseous, vapour, which ascends to the higher altitudes. Here, it is cooled and falls down as rain, which falls either directly as into the various rivers, lakes and man-made reservoirs or flow into them as surface runoff. Vegetation are important in making this water to sip into the ground from where they flow as underground water till they join rivers, lakes or man-made reservoirs. In typical northwest England catchments, the water moves along various pathways. These include fast ways for example overland flow, or drain ?ow, shallow sub-surface ?ow and slower pathways. The slower

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Home-Style Cookies Essay Example for Free

Home-Style Cookies Essay In this case study, the focus revolves around the Lew Mark Baking Company. The Lew-Mark Baking Company according to the case study is from a small town in western New York. Lew-mark Baking company operates in New York and New Jersey. It employs around 200 workers in a mainly blue collar, informal atmosphere. In my paper, I will answer several questions about operations for this company The Cookie Production Process When describing the cookie production process for Lew-mark baking, it is best described as using the batch processing system. The batch processing system can best be described as the execution of a series of programs (jobs) on a computer without human interaction. â€Å"Batch Processing is used when a moderate value of goods or services is desired, and it can handle a moderate variety of products and services† (Stevenson 2009, P 239). This method helps with quantity management because Lew mark only makes cookies according to demand. What are two ways that the company has increased productivity? Why did increasing the length of the ovens result in a faster output? One obvious way the company is increasing productivity is that it only makes cookies according to the demand. What ever order it receives from its distributor is what is made in the factory. This ensures that productivity is centered on the demand and time is not wasted baking products that might or might not sell. This is return, makes productivity quicker and more efficient. As mentioned above, the Batch processing system is a huge contributor to increasing productivity. Having two ovens also helps in speeding up productivity. Lengthen the ovens by 25 feet, increased the rate of production by allowing more cookies to be baked at the same time. Automating the Packing Although automating the packing of the cookies in normally a quicker and more efficient way of doing business, it is my opinion the Lew-mark baking Company is doing the right thing by employing local workers to do this job. It is vitally important to create good relationship within the community. This allows a company to have a stake in the community and thus foster good relationships with the local government, political officials and members of the community. Fostering these types of relationships can also be beneficial when it comes to future plans or expansions. Plus, the company has an obligation to the workers once they are employed with the company. As longs as profits and the bottom line are healthy, it should keep its commitment to the community. This would hold true in a small or large community. It is the obligation of industry to keep workforce engagement in tact. As long as industry is alive, some sort of human engagement is needed. What factors cause Lew-mark to carry minimal amounts of certain inventories? What benefits results from this policy? Obviously, the shelf life of perishables (cookies) keeps companies like Lew-Mark from storing big quantities of cookies in the warehouse. The longer these cookies stay in the warehouse, the lower the possibility of being sold. In reading the text, Stevenson’s goes into great detail about the Single Period Model of Inventory Management. This Model is used for ordering perishables and other items with limited useful life. It is interesting how Lew mark keeps a smaller inventory of labels. Their rationale is that the FDA label requirements change frequently and they do not wan to get stuck with labels they cannot use. Most of their inventory is ordered in small silos two or three times a week to save on ordering cost. This type of inventory control favors smaller businesses as long as they can forecast their production with accuracy. This allows Lew-mark to only buy what they use and use what they buy. If production decreases, they buy less. If production increases, they buy more. In the case of Lew-Mark Baking Company, this type of inventory control makes sense. Quality There are advantageous and disadvantages in using a non additive and non preservative approach to selling products. The advantage is that you can target a more health conscious audience to your product. With all the health disparities facing the country, you can carve out a specific audience for these types of products. On the flip side, you have to race against the clock because these non additives and non preservative shorten the life of these perishable items. In other words, your selling approach needs to be more progressive in its nature Conclusion In conclusion, the Lew-Mark Baking Company has an excellent product available to its consumers. Its pitch to sell non additive non preservative cookies targets and audience that is looking for this type of product. Because of its size, Lew-mark capitalizes in efficiency by using very tight inventory controls and production processes that keeps the company financially conscious and fiscally responsible. Its sensitivity to the community also brings morale responsibility that is noted by many members of the community and abroad. The Companies Strategy is to create a product that is desirable to the consumer and delivering that product in a way that makes the best business sense to its owners. As a consumer, I prefer quality in the form of a soft cookie. Understanding that the cookie has non and non preservatives is a plus.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Table Manners in China Essay Example for Free

Table Manners in China Essay China is a country with 5000-years-long civilization and a long and rich history, so Chinese like to pay more attention to the etiquette, especially in the table manners. Most foreigners do not know table manners when they join in Chinese dinner party because Western dining is different with Chinese. Chinese table manners have three important parts, including place setting, taboos, and toast. Firstly, the seating arrangement is one of the important parts of dinning etiquette because the order of seating symbolizes the power, and status, the highest status which in the center facing east or facing the entrance. Furthermore, elders, leaders and hosts always sit on the highest status, while children, subordinate staff and other participant seating near the entrance. The second important consideration is table taboos. Most foreigners know chopsticks are the main table utensils in China, but they do not know more strict rules about how to use and set the chopsticks. For example, people should avoid sticking chopsticks straight down into the rice bowl. The reason for this is that Chinese use the incense to stick into a bowl of sand or rice to mourn dead, therefore, the behavior that puts the chopsticks stick into the rice looks like a funeral ritual. Thirdly, everyone must participate in a toast. Chinese often use the right hand to hold the body of glass and the left hand to hold the bottom of glass. Another allowable behavior is many people to propose a toast together to one person, but one person should not propose a toast to many people at a time. Therefore, foreigners joining a Chinese dinner party should consider and follow these rules as respect differences.

Self Efficacy In Writing Performance Psychology Essay

Self Efficacy In Writing Performance Psychology Essay Writing, is a complex process and competent writing is frequently accepted as being the last language skill to be acquired. Al-Mekhlafi, 2011 Due to its complex process, writing is regarded as a challenging task not only for native speakers of a language but also for second language learners. As it is the case for any other acquired skill, writing skill also evolves continuously until the product, a piece of writing, meets the expectations of both the writer and reader. However, when it comes to learning how to apply certain conventions of writing in a formal learning environment, the role and responsibility of the learner becomes even more important. As cited in Sheila Matoti and Almon Shumba (2011), writing problems identified by previous studies are grammar, spelling, punctuation, expression, and the ability to explain, structure and interpret facts as well as vocabulary and referencing. Although it can be claimed that the problems listed above can be fixed, to a certain extent, through formal instruction and learners effort, it is a fact that having some sort of knowledge about ones capabilities and skills can indeed play an important role in motivating human behaviours. (Bandura,1986) According to Banduras Social Cognitive Theory, individuals possess a system of self-beliefs that enables them to exercise control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions. (as cited in Garcia Fidalgo,2008, Rahimpour Jahan, 2010, Al-Mekhlafi, 2011, Shah et al. 2011, Galligan ,2011, Alexander Schmidt, 2012). Broaddus (2012) explained that social cognitive theory forms the roots of both writing self-efficacy and motivation both of which change from course to course, depending on students interest, efficacy for performing tasks in the course, and other social and environmental factors. In other words, learners may create their own path of learning through engaging themselves in tasks. Therefore, students set their goals for learning a specific subject. Self-efficacy is a construct proposed by Bandura (1977) and has been tested in a variety of fields, focusing on a variety of topics. Broaddus (2012) and Bong (1999) define self-efficacy as peoples convictions about their own capability for successfully executing a course of action that leads to a desired outcome. Schmidt and Alexander (2012) argued that self efficacy is not only a current but also future disposition requiring learners or participants in a research to evaluate their beliefs in their future abilities. Therefore, self-efficacy requires self-evaluation, about what one can do and what can be improved. As well as self-evaluation, there are two more factors affecting self-efficacy: modeling (coaching) such as coding the information for retention, being capable of producing the presented patterns, and maintaining a certain level of motivation; goal setting, such as acquiring skills and knowledge or making good grades. (Schunk, 2003). When considered specifically for the writing ability, writing self-efficacy translates into a strong sense of confidence for the task of writing.( Pajares Valiante,1997). In other words, once learners have sufficient self-belief in their ability to write in their second language, their interest in writing may increase, they may display constant efforts, and great eagerness and resiliency when they are working on a writing task. In his study conducted in 2012, Broaddus concluded that journalism course students who hold high self-efficacy for grammar have put more effort into their time management and environmental resources while studying and it was found that these high efficacy attitude towards grammar resulted in better grammar skills. This was interpreted as these students determine where the challenge or obstacle related to the task lies and they develop strategies so as to succeed in their writing assignments. Garcia and Fidalgo stated in their 2008 study that in difficult tasks such as writing which includes many recursively employed cognitive processes, self-efficacy plays a the key role. While acquiring writing skills, students need to use their cognitive, behavioral and motivational engagement and learning. Recently, an enormous amount of research has been done on the writing composition proceses that student writers undertake(Erkan Saban, 2011). Although writing instruction has gone through numerous changes, according to an action research carried out by Yavuz and Genà § ( 1998), students tend to display negative attitudes towards writing. Yavuz and Genà § (1998) concluded their research findings as, for students writing is an obligation in order to pass final exam. Erkan and Saban (2004) suggest that this attitude can be interpreted as students apprehension and lack of self-efficacy in writing. The reason for students apprehension and lack of self efficacy may be due to limited time allocated for writing practice in classes. As cited in Leki and Carson (1994), according to the results of structured interviews of a study, university students who completed language courses in intensive English program at five different university reported that they only spent 10 % of their time on writing assignments across the curriculum. However, it should be noted that in order to succeed in their academic studies, second language learners, especially the students at universities are required to gain a certain ability to write well since writing is integral to academic success.Although the time spared for writing practice may not always be possible, the use of a variety of writing assignments, with clear, concise evalution criteria, could help student writers in the development of their self-efficacy while dealing with a writing task. (Broaddus, 2012) When examined specifically, Turkish students practising the conventions of writing in English, even students who are proficient at other language skills share the same problems with writing: they are afraid to make writing errors; they lack self-efficacy in writing.(Erkan Saban, 2011)In her study, Erkan concluded , similar to previous research findings, it was confirmed that the degree of students negative attitude, writing apprehension, does affect Turkish Tertiary level students writing performance. In other words, the higher the apprehension, the weaker the writing skills / performance. This aspect of Erkans study, one that specifically looks at relationships between writing apprehension and writing performance, is an expansion in the research area since the number of studies conducted to investigate second language learners wiriting apprehension is very few. However, as cited in Garcia and Fidalgo (2008), Bandura maintained that misjudgement in ones beliefs about potential performance may be detrimental, which is proved by some research that it can be prevalent in writing classes. Although there is a great number of research examining the relationship between self-efficacy,to the best knowledge of the researchers Rahimpour and Jahan, there is no research on relationship between general self-efficacy and writing (Rahimpour and Jahan, 2010). Rahimpour and Jahan claimed that all the previous research mainly focused on the investigation of self-efficacy among groups with a very limited range of proficiency. Therefore, Rahimpour and Jahan determined their research area as the impact of self-efficacy and proficiency on EFL learners written task performance regarding load, fluency, complexity, and accuracy. The participants chosen were low-proficiency and high-proficiency learners of English aged between 18-25. In addition to completing three separate tasks, the participants were asked to fill out the General Perceived Self-Efficacy questionnaire, through which the participants level of confidence was aimed to rate. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy and personal tasks in terms of concept load in high proficieny participants; however, there was not a significant relationship when it came to fluency, complexity, and accuracy only for low but also high proficieny participants performance. Another area of research on self-efficacy is related to help seeking which is recognized as a component of self-efficacy. Help seeking is comprised of two types of behaviour: adaptive and nonadaptive behaviours. (as cited in Williams Takaku, 2011) Various studies yielded significant correlations between self-efficacy and help seeking. Williams and Takaku cited that while high self-efficacy students tend to express high help seeking behaviour, low self-efficacy students, despite being under similar circumstances, less willing to seek help. It is commonly accepted by researchers in the field that just as help seeking, self-efficacy belief has been found to be a predictor of academic success. In addition to their teachers, most students may seek help at writing centers remedial courses in the institutions they attend. Writing centers have been proved to be helpful when it comes to improving students writing performance. Williams and Takaku (2011) hypothesized that writing self-efficacy would influence writing performance. The participants of the study were both native and nonnative university students who attended a one semester intensive writing course for all content areas. In contrast to the researchers anticipation, the analysis showed that the frequent visitors to writing center in order to receive professional assistance from the writng center staff, managed to get higher grades than the ones who did not. What makes the results of the study more noteworthy is the fact that these results apply for both ESL learners and native-English- speakers. When the results are generalized, it can be argued that when appropriate assistance is provided, every student practising the conventions of writing can improve himself or herself. A study carried out ,by Shah,Wan Mahmoud, Din,Yusof, Pardi in 2011 with Malaysian secondary school learners in order to determine the students self-efficacy in writing. The results indicated that there is ,indeed, a large, significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and writing performance. That is, it was,again, confirmed that learners with high self-efficacy tend to pursue opportunities to write, put more effort into writing, and be more persistent in seeking writing competence. Another research conducted by Early and De Costa-Smith, in 2011, confirmed Banduras social cognitive theory. To put it differently, self-efficacy beliefs can be developed by mastery experience, social models and lived experiences, and social persuasion. The impact of multiple opportunities to practice any genre, along with peer and teacher feedback and interaction during the intervention may play a key role on the increase in students self-efficacy beliefs related to the genre. All in all, while strong efficacy leads to success, overly high or low efficacy can undermine the proper development of cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral skills. (Broaddus, 2012) On the other hand, Igo (2002) asserted that the students overestimated their self-efficacy because of several reasons, namely, high school teachers failure to provide appropiate and correctional feedback, the teachers negligence of promoting the importance of producing good work, and teachers overappraisal of mere student participation in the writing process. Conversely, when individuals see that another person, in our context a classmate, performing a desired task, self efficacy believes are positively affected. To pplace this into the context of university English preparatory school classrooms, when a student witnesses that a friend of his or her succeeds in writing a well-organized essay, he or she may be more willing to try writing an essay on his own. As Broaddus (2012) cited observers self-efficacy beliefs would be reduced if they see their peers repeatedly fail to accomplish a required task. Whether high or low, self-efficacy in writing has a crucial role in students writing performance. Broaddus (2012) cites from Bandura (1997) and draws our attention to environmental context and says that it often affects efficacy. In a formal language learning environment where there is only limited time can be allocated to writing, it is an undeniable fact that determining students with low self-efficacy and assisting these students while they are developing their writing skills is highly important. Instructors should not only provide the standard techniques of writing and provide corrective feedback on vocabulary and grammar but also provide one-to-one assistance whenever their students seek help. The amount of assistance provided by teachers should also have limits. As cited in Broaddus (2012), Bandura (1997) says Successes achieved with external assistance carry little efficacy value because they are likely to be credited to external aids rather than to personal capabilities METHOD Participants Participants were 20 Turkish learners of English at a preparatory school of an English medium university, Turkey. The participants initially took a standard language proficiency test prepared by the preparatory school testing office. The proficiency test consisted of 80 four-option multiple choice questions before the semester started. The multiple choice items aimed to test the students level of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension abilities, The passing grade for the proficiency test was determined as 60.The students who got lower than 60 took the placement test consisting of 80 questions. The students were also required to write an essay on a topic provided by the testing office after completing the multiple choice section. According to the placement test scores, the students were placed in three different levels-A, B, and C levels. The intermediate level students were placed in A level classes. In other words, the participants can understand and speak English with some confidence and they have the grammar and the vocabulary to talk and read about a wide number of subjects. Moreover, they can assess and consciously improve their own pronunciation. They have studied all the main tenses and can confidently make sentences, question forms and clauses in all of them. However, intermediate students are only in the beginning phase of improving their use of phrasal verbs and modal verbs. On the other hand, intermediate level is equivalent to IELTS score 4.5 5.5, TOEFL IBT score 55, TOEIC score 450 650, Cambridge PET. Out of 20 participants, there were only 3 students who were private high school graduates. In Turkey, private high schools English curriculum is more intense when compared to state schools English curriculum. Both males and females were involved in the study. They ranged in age from 18 to 20. Instrument The questionnaire administered in the study was developed for the purpose of assessing international students in Marquette University, U.S.A. Marquette University is a private university in Milwaukee, U.S.A. The development of the questionnaire was one of the four assessment areas that Marquette university aimed to assess the four advanced ESL academic bridge courses, one of which focused on international students efficacy in their writing performance. The original questionnaire is a 36-item self-assessment scale to grade the strength of participants belief, or self-efficacy, in their writing performance. However, the questionnaire used to investigate the relationship between students self-report on their writing efficacy and their writing performance is a 20-item questionnaire. The reason why the original questionnaire was not used in the current study was the fact that some of the items did not serve the purpose of the study. The adopted writing efficacy questionnaire features 20 i tems with positive polarity (I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦).The instrument of 20 item questionnaire was used to assess students self- efficacy beliefs related to the skills needed in different essay organizations and other factors that determine students writing performance as successful or unsuccessful. Some of the investigated factors through the questionnaire are brainstorming, outlining, as well as their self- efficacy in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. Level of efficacy in writing ability was measured on a five point- likert scale included the responses (usually not true of me, somewhat true of me, usually true of me, always or almost always true of me). The questionnaire will be used as the independent variable when the relationship between self-efficacy and writing scores is investigated. Procedure Questionnaire is distributed to participants at the beginning of the semester as a self-completing questioonnaire. Since they were not received any writing instructions before the semester, it is assumed that this questionnaire served to measure their self-efficacy without any intervention of teacher. During the semester, they learned basics of essay writing such as paragraph organization, thesis statement and some grammar backup. Quiz scores which will be used as the dependent variable in my essay are based on the Second Quiz, took after XXXXXXX which constitutes 20% percent of the midterm grade. Findings Self-Efficacy of Participants Table 1. Mean Standard Deviation Coefficient of Variation item3 topic sentence 3,75 0,64 0,17 item11 clear thesis statement 3,75 0,79 0,21 item20 using my independent thinking 3,70 0,66 0,18 item14 effectively brainstorm 3,65 0,81 0,22 item9 support /develop main point 3,60 0,60 0,17 item1 summary 3,50 0,61 0,17 item8 spell, capital, punctuation 3,45 0,83 0,24 item13 a good conclusion 3,45 0,76 0,22 item17 wording, gram., pun,spelling 3,40 0,88 0,26 item15 outline to logically organize 3,40 0,75 0,22 item10 a good introduction 3,40 0,82 0,24 item7 various sent.structures 3,35 0,59 0,18 item6 vocab/ word forms 3,25 0,55 0,17 item4 paragraph organization 3,15 0,67 0,21 item18 effectively write under time constraints 3,13 0,56 0,18 item16 revise to improve dev. org. 3,05 0,69 0,23 item19 write quickly in English 2,95 1,03 0,35 item2 paragraph 2,95 0,51 0,17 item12 different types of organization 2,85 0,93 0,33 item5 academic style tone 2,58 0,67 0,26 Above table shows descriptive statistics of items used in the questionnaire. Since the questionnaire is composed of Likert scale questions, 1 stands for the lowest score and 5 is the highest possible score. According to this table, participants self-efficacy is relatively high in items like topic sentence, clear thesis statement, using my independent thinking, effectively brainstorm and support/develop main point where average scores are above 3,50 over 5. Their weakest points are stated as academic styletone, different types of organization, paragraph and write quickly in English, where averages are below 3 over 5. Generally speaking, participants seem to be confident in idea development and they feel themselves relatively weaker in the structural aspects such as academic style and tone. Coefficient of variations, calculated by dividing standard deviation to mean for each items show how responses are dispersed in each item. Highest dispersion is observed on item19, write quickly in English and on item12, which measures self-perception about the ability to use different types of organization, both coefficient of variations are above 0,34. Lowest scores are observed on these items topic sentence, support/develop main point, summary, vocab/word forms and paragraph, all of them are 0,17. Descriptive statistics give some hints about overall level of self-efficacy of participants, and it is almost sure that this is not something uni-dimensional. However a multivariate analysis is beyond the limits of this essay and number of cases is very small to conduct further analyses. Consequently remaining parts of this essay will be based on the assumption that self-efficacy is uni-dimensional, something possible to measure in a single dimension. Efficacy scores of respondents are calculated on their raw scores obtained by using above described self-efficacy questionnaire. Total efficacy score is calculated by using a simple summation of responses. Theoretical maximum score is 100 showing the highest self-efficacy score, and minimum theoretical score is 20, indicating that respondent stated him/herself on the lowest end in each question. Table . Descriptives of Self Efficacy Scores Average Std. Dev. Min. Max. Efficacy 66,15 7,34 53 86 Descriptive statistics are presented above. Mean self-efficacy score is 66,15 with a standard deviation of 7,34. Coefficient of variation (V) is 0,11, indicating a low level of variation. Minimum score is 53, which is above theoretical minimum and observed maximum 86 is below theoretical maximum. These findings show that scores are located between 60 and 90. In order to facilitate interpretation of analyses, all raw scores are transformed to standardized (Z) scores. Newly created self-efficacy scores have a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1. Distribution of this new scores are presented in the below histogram. Although number of participants is limited (we have only 20 cases), this distribution is very close to be normally distributed. Figure . Histogram of Standardized Self Efficacy Scores Measurement of Academic Performance: Quiz Scores It is so far argued that quiz scores are used to measure academic performance of participants. Quiz scores are graded over 100. Table . Descriptives of Quiz Scores Average Std. Dev. Min. Max. Cause and Effect Quiz Scores 60,05 7,78 52 83 Above table shows that average quiz score is 60, and standard deviation is 7,78. If we consider that range between minimum and maximum scores is only 31, it is possible to conclude that quiz scores are relatively less dispersed. Correlation Analysis Our expectation is that academic performance of students is correlated with their self efficacy. As one students is more confident about his/her efficacy, it is expected that he/she performs better in courses; and as he/she performas better academically; his/her self efficacy increases. Since direction of causality is not clear; correlation analysis is the best tool to present the nature of the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance. In our cases, self-efficacy of participants are measured by using a self completed questionnaire and their self efficacy scores are calculated based on their answers; meanwhile their quiz scores are accepted as indicators of their academic performance. Table . Correlation Analysis Compare and Contrast Quiz Self Efficacy 0,60 Above table shows that correlation coefficient between self efficacy and compare and contrast quiz scores is 0.60. Correlation coefficient is a score located between -1 and 1, where -1 stands for perfect negative correlation and 1 stands for perfect positive correlation. As this coefficient comes closer to 0, it shows that power of relationship is relatively week, if it is 0, it means that there is no relationship between examined variables. A correlation coefficient of 0.60 means that there is a positive correlation between self efficacy of participants and their academic performance, a finding not falsifying our expectations. If we emphasize on the strength of this relationship, 0.60 shows a more than moderate relationship between our two variables. This finding shows that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy of participants and their academic performance. As ones self efficacy increases, his/her academic performance also increases; and since correlation coefficient is a symmetrical measure; this finding also shows that as ones academic performance increases; his/her self-efficacy also increases. Although the measurement of self-efficacy precedes the measurement of academic performance; it is not sufficient to talk about a causal relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance; because self-efficacy of participants most probably affected by their previous academic performance, such as their performance in the high school or other exams they attended. Consequently accepting self-efficacy scores as an indicator of academic performance is a less risky choice compared to using them to forecast future academic success. In order to make such a forecasting, we need much more detailed measurement of academic performance and self-efficacy and higher number of respondents. Anova Test A further analysis is conducted to see whether there is a significant difference between students, based on their self-efficacy scores. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is preferred because it allows us to test statistical significance of an intervening factor on a dependent variable. We expect that students having high level of self-efficacy are more successful in academic terms. Above discussed measurement of self-efficacy is accepted as the independent variable and Quiz Scores are dependent. Since self-efficacy is an interval level variable, recoding these scores to a nominal level variable is needed. It is preferred to use standardized self-efficacy scores to facilitate interpretation. Standardized self-efficacy scores are recoded as follows: Those having a score less than 0 are recoded as low efficacy and those having a score less than or equal to 0 are accepted as high efficacy. 12 students are categorized as low-efficacy students and 8 are grouped as high efficacy students. Table . Descriptives of Quiz Scores according to the Level of Self Efficacy Average Std. Dev. Std. Error N Low Self Efficacy 57.33 3.45 0.995 12 High Self Efficacy 64.13 10.7 3.772 8 Total 60.05 7.78 1.739 20 Descriptive statistics of both groups are presented above. It is known that overall average of quiz scores is 60.05 with a standard deviation of 7.78. Students with low self-efficacy scores have an average of 57.33 and standard deviation of this group is 3.45. Meanwhile, students having high self-efficacy scores are also more successful in quizzes, their average is 64.13. At this point, we need to consider that standard deviation of these students is very high, 10.7; compared to other students. Table . ANOVA Results Sum of Squares Df. Mean Square F. Sig. Low Self Efficacy 221.41 1 221.41 4.30 0.05 High Self Efficacy 927.54 18 51.53 Total 1148.95 19 Above presented results of ANOVA shows that difference between average quiz scores of low self-efficacy and high self-efficacy students is statistically significant. F score is 4.3 and this score is statistically significant at 0.05 level. Thus, we can falsify our hypothesis that group means are equal, meaning that students with high self-efficacy scores have higher scores in the Quiz, than students with low self-efficacy scores. Similar to correlation analysis, ANOVA analysis does not allow us to make generalizations about the causal relationship between self-efficacy of students and their academic performance. However, it is clear that there is a statistically significant difference between these two groups of students. I believe that causal relationship has to elaborated by using more sophisticated data analysis tools and using these instruments with higher number of participants. DISCUSSION This essay targeted to discover whether there is a relationship between students perceptions about their efficacy in the English language and their academic performance. Literature review led us to think that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy scores of students and their academic performance. There are a lot of reasons of this relationship discussed in details in literature review section of the essay. Our hypothetical expectation is that as self-efficacy scores of students increase, their academic performance in writing also increases. Since this relationship is recursive, meaning that self- efficacy leads to better performance in exams and better performance may also lead to higher self-efficacy, causal relationship wont be tested in this essay. In order to measure self-efficacy of students, an adopted version of the questionnaire developed by the Marquette University has been used with 20 students at the beginning of semester. Original questionnaire was shortened to limit it with writing related items. By using these questionnaires, an index of self-efficacy is calculated and standardized. Meanwhile academic performance of students are measured with their grades in a Quiz held on XXXth week of the semester. Correlation analysis showed that there is a positive correlation between self-efficacy of students and their academic performance. With a coefficient of 0.60, this relationship seems to be moderately powerful. As a result of restrictions of correlation analysis, it is not possible to understand direction of causality between these two variables. My second analysis also showed that difference between mean quiz scores of students with high and low level of self-efficacy is statistically significant. Standardized self-efficacy scores are transformed to a binary variable. ANOVA showed that these two groups have different mean quiz scores and this difference is statistically significant. While correlation analysis showed that there is a positive relationship between self-efficacy scores and academic performance; ANOVA results presented that students having high and low level self-efficacy scores have different quiz scores. Both findings indicate that self-efficacy scores matter. It is so far argued that these findings cannot give any idea about direction of causality, since relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance is recursive. However, my analyses presented the existence of a relationship and it deserves further discussion. It is possible to repeat this exercise with a larger sample and to prevent a possible falsification of hypotheses as a result of small sample size. Questionnaire revised to measure self-efficacy may be refined and developed to make a better measurement of this concept. Fu

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Role of Gene Mutation in Human Evolution Essay -- Exploratory Essa

The Role of Gene Mutation in Human Evolution Have you ever looked at a gorilla or a monkey and considered it to be your ancestor? Probably not, but, if you have had that thought then it was probably just because that is what has been taught in our school systems for decades, and probably will be for a long time to come unless proven otherwise. Sure, humans and primates have similar features: facial expressions and structures; fingers; toes; breasts; hair; etc., but there has been no evidence that proves that we are, undoubtedly, a product of natural selection evolving from ape-like species. Ever since the first mentioning of our evolution from such species was introduced, it has been primarily theory, and nothing more. Scientists have been struggling for years to find the scientific evidence linking humans to primates. Recently, though, in the study of such a theory, there has been a remarkable finding suggesting just that – Humans are descendants from ape-like species. Anthropologists have long debated how humans evolved from a species with larger jaw muscles and smaller cranial capacities (smaller brains). The new finding may be the answer they’ve been searching for. Although it is not definite proof linking the two species, it is very convincing. Perhaps with more research, it can become factual proof that links humans to primates. Mysosin is the major contractile protein that makes up muscle tissue, and it is this gene that is thought to be responsible for the appearance of the genus Homo in the evolutionary aspect of the hominid species. â€Å"Myosin Heavy Chains are a critical protein component of the sarcomeres, the engine room of skeletal muscle, from which contractile force is derived† (Currie, 373). ... ...nd unpredictable, and this goes for everything in science which is why it is so intriguing to so many people. You and I are both able to read and comprehend the words on this page, along with being able to do hundreds of other tasks that no other species is able to do, thanks to a small, muscular genetic mutation that occurred in primates 2.4 million years ago, giving rise to the genus Homo, and eventually Homo sapiens. Works Cited 1. Currie, Pete, 2004, Muscling in on Hominid Evolution. Nature, v. 428, p351-450. Macmillan Building, London, UK. p373-374. 2. Stedman et al, 2004, Myosin Gene Mutation Correlates with Anatomical Changes in the Human Lineage. Nature, v. 428, p351-450. Macmillan Building, London UK. p415-418 3. University of Pennsylvania Medical Center http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040325074128.htm

Monday, August 19, 2019

Society, Gender Roles and Gender-Conflict Essay -- Research Papers

Society, Gender Roles and Gender-Conflict Time and time again gender-conflict is brought to the attention of the public in various forms. In our time someone who wants to make a point about gender-conflict and the inequality that is present will be more likely to use television or song to reach their audience. This however is a fairly new technology. Books or some form of writing on the other hand have been around for thousands of years. Gender-conflict is nothing new. It is not as though one day it just came out of no where. It has been around since the dawn of time. What is a man’s place and what is a woman’s place in society or is there really a specific place at all; further more are we even really that different to begin with? Two classic novels To the Lighthouse and Lady Oracle are perfect examples of how gender-conflict is viewed and present in our society, but what is it that they are trying to teach us? One of the central motif’s in To the Lighthouse is the conflict between the feminine and masc uline principles at work in pretty much the entire universe. Mrs. Ramsay, with her emotional, poetical frame of mind, represents the female principle, while Mr. Ramsay, a self-centered philosopher, expresses the male principle in his rational point of view. Both of which are flawed by their restricted and somewhat ignorant perspectives. A painter and friend of the family, Lily Briscoe, is Woolf's vision of the ideal blending of male and female qualities. When looked at more deeply Lily does not only personifies the ideal male/female role in society but she is also representation of Woolf herself (Fokkema, 14). Growing up as a female little alone trying to fit into the stereotypical role a women is expected to fill in a mal... ...and ignorant. We all know what must be done to overcome the stereotypes placed in the society. It is just a matter of time. The two novels give us a better look into humanity and what it means to be human, not make or female, but human. Basically what these novels teach us is that it is fatal to be a man or a woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. Lady Oracle.Toronto: Seal Books, 1999. Cooke, Nathalie. Margaret Atwood: A biography. ECW Press, 1988. Dworkin, Andrea. Woman Hating. New York: Dutton, 1974. Fokkema, Douwe W. An Interpretation of To the Lighthouse: With Reference to the Code of Modernism. Tel Aviv, Israel, 1979. Ruddick, Lisa. The Seen and the Unseen: Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Cambridge: Harvard, 1977. Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Oxford, 1999.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Performance Practice of Baroque Vocal Technique Essay -- Music Voice M

Performance Practice of Baroque Vocal Technique When approaching a performance, accomplished musicians often consider the historical context from which a piece originates. They most often think of such considerations in the application of that context as it pertains to early music that is, the Baroque era or earlier. For any era, such historical considerations are called performance practice, and may include the use of vibrato, ornamentation, dynamic levels, tempi, instrumental timbres, performance setting, and balance. Vibrato and ornamentation are two important areas of consideration that vocalists must explore when aiming to give an authentically Baroque performance. 'Ideal' Baroque Vocal Technique: The Assumed Ideas Over the past several years, some amateur musicians have developed specific ideas about 'correct' performance practice of Baroque music. In an essay concerning the issues of Baroque music performance, Michael Sartorius notes that: performance to a major degree reflects the spirit of the times, and some of today's 'authentic' performances have less to do with historical accuracy, attempting rather to produce a performance which, in John Eliot Gardiner's words, will 'excite modern listeners.' (Sartorius) As a result, audiences today want a sound that contrasts with the full, constant vibrato used in singing today, such as is found in straight-tone singing, and a sound that contrasts with twentieth century minimalism, such as is found in ornamented melodies. Amateur voice teachers, amateur singers, and amateur listeners often associate straight-tone singing with correct Baroque performance practice (Almirena). This idea is probably an outgrowth of the way scholars understand correct d... ..., Barbara [Valler, Barbara]." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. 2001. Roseman, Ronald. "Baroque Ornamentation." The Journal of the International Double Reed Society Number 3. 1975. IDRS. [17 October 2003] . Sartorius, Michael. Baroque Music Perormance: "Authentic" or "Traditional": A discussion of the essential issues involved. Ed. Micahel Sartorius. n.dat. Baroque Music Pages. [17 October 2003] . Seaton, Douglass. Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1991. 153. Strozzi, Barbara. Cantate, ariete a una, doce, e tre voci, Opus 3. Ed. Gail Archer. In Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. vol. 83. Ed. Christoph Wolff. Madisono: A-R Editions, Inc., 1997. Wulstan, David. Tudor Music. University of Iowa Press, 1986. 174-180. Classical Vocal Techniqe. .