Corporate real estate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Corporate real estate - Essay Example The real estate market has largely adopted the concept of out-tasking as indicated by numerous research studies. Some of the common tasks related to real estate that are commonly out-tasked include real estate brokerage, market analysis, site selection, transaction management, project management as well as construction management. In the case of real estate, out-tasking basically involves assigning the work involved in specialized real estate tasks as opposed to assigning the all the responsibilities involved in real estate as an enterprise. The rationale behind managers selecting out-tasking as opposed to outsourcing is that they want to retain control over the corporate processes (Zeffane, 2005, p. 30). Out-tasking is often used as a strategic catalyst that managers use to rationalize the processes of the business. For instance, executive in the real estate market carry out a comprehensive analysis of the overall real estate strategy when making the decision to out-task. Some of the decisions are assigned to a trusted advisor who determines the parts of the real estate process that will be out-tasked and the ones that will be handled inhouse. This is to ensure that there is the proper allocation of resources and talent relative to the business and professional stakeholders. In most cases, out-tasking is used as a tactical implementation of strategies that are consistent with the corporate objectives of facilities management (Williamson, 2004, p. 119). Research studies indicate that the real estate market is one of the industries that have adopted the concept of out-tasking. This has been majorly influenced by the growing needs of corporate users. This means that professionals in the real estate market have the responsibility of creating value in addition to reducing costs. Cost reduction has been the main driver for large enterprises to outsource their business

The Oval Portrait Essay Example for Free

The Oval Portrait Essay As one of the shortest of Poes stories, The Oval Portrait consists of a brief one-paragraph story framed within a larger vignette whose main purpose is to establish the romantic Gothic mood in which the story occurs. The setting and basis of the plot are shrouded in mystery; the narrator does not explain how or where he is wounded, and with his servant, he enters an abandoned, decaying chateau that offers no more answers than the narrator. The dark gloom of a deserted house is a classic background for a Gothic story, and the tapestries and strange architecture of the building give the narrators choice of apartment a feeling of removal from the contemporary world. Nothing of consequence occurs during the night, but the details provide a romantic feeling of loss that serves as an introduction to the story of the oval portrait. The oval portrait indicates the tension between the impermanence of life and the intransience of art. The portraits subject is full of life when she marries the painter, but the as the guide book says, The tints which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him. With his artistic powers, he has created a double of his wife, but as in William Wilson, both cannot simultaneously subsist for long without one defeating the other. The history of the painting suggests that although the metamorphosis from life to eternal art may create a masterful work of beauty that simulates life, the narrator is only deceived by his dreamy stupor and by the sudden reveal of the painting from the dark. A second, more intense look at the painting reveals the illusion, and similarly, the painter of the story ends by giving up his wife for a mere image. The destruction of loved ones is a common theme in many of Poes short stories, but unlike in Poes other stories, the painter does not cause his wifes death because of hate or any negative emotions. Instead, his passion for his art simply overwhelms him to the point where he can no longer see his wife except though the lens of his painting. Thus, the story associates art and creativity with decay, not only within the story of the painting but in the juxtaposition of spirited modern paintings with rich, yet tattered and antique decorations within the narrators room. In the stories of C. Auguste Dupin, Poe praises the power of creativity tempered by the ability to maintain emotional removal, but the passion of the painter in The Oval Portrait is unrestricted and hence ultimately  harmful in his search to immortalize his wifes image. The association of beautiful women with death is prevalent in Poes works, and is especially prominent in The Oval Portrait. The painters wife is a beautiful woman even before she agrees to model for her husbands portrait, but as she begins to fade away under the influence of the tower, she becomes pale and wan and as a result could easily fit the Romantic and Gothic ideal of the ethereal woman. Finally, as she dies, the process of transfer between life and art completes, and her portrait captures her immortal beauty before it can fade away in old age and memory. Art and aesthetics are intrinsically connected, and the relationship between art and death places the painters wife next to other Poe characters such as Ligeia from the eponymous story, who also become beautiful as they approach death. Although The Oval Portrait centers on the painting of a woman, the painters wife is essentially a passive figure within the story. Docile and loving, she is akin to the canvas of the portrait in that both are manipulated by the male painter, whose passion and drive make him the active figure in the history of the painting. Furthermore, the wife is never the active, observing character. She is only observed, both by her husband, who in the throes of his art sees her only as a model, and by the narrator, who peers at her image in order to while away the night (we know that the narrator is male because his servant is described as a valet, a term commonly used for the male servant of a man). The wifes fate acts as a criticism of the male domination of art, but her compliance and submissiveness prevent her from serving as more than a silent warning.

Four Powerful Women in Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Essay

One of the most important attributes seldom attributed to women is the innate ability to keep the family as a cohesive whole. Women are the rock in the midst of familial turmoil, the solid foundation on which a husband or head of a household can stand firm. Fully assured that womanhood will stand back of the ranks and take care of domestic needs. Women have qualities that keep the family strong, these unique attributes can divided into several standards. One being the physical aspect of â€Å"mother† nature, two virginity representing the religious type of the standard, three is the young bitch who represent the physical state while four is the old bitch who also has a spiritual side of the woman standard. In the Grapes of Wrath by J. Steinbeck these four standards are possessed by the characters which take on responsibility and eventually help the family succeed in achieving the American dream. The rock of the family, Ma Joad is a woman of hope and strength. Ma represents the â€Å"mother† nature archetype and also has the characteristic of staying strong when depended on by her family and also guiding her family that is attributed to this standard. The sentence structure used to describe Ma by Steinbeck proves the importance of Ma’s character. â€Å". " Ma was heavy, but not fat; thick with child-bearing and work...her ankles, and her strong, broad, bare feet moved quickly and deftly over the floor", by Steinbeck using these features to describe her as a mom he shows that Ma has the ability to thrive and survive in hard situations as well as that she has control of her family (95). Steinbeck’s later goes on to describe in detail her feet being one with the earth, showing her â€Å"mother† nature standard. Mother Nature produces, births, sustain... ... of the trials and hardship endured along the road to get to the Promised Land (California), the Joad’s survive as a family. It may not have been the perfect expedition and migration which was intended but when all hope was lost Ma was there to lead and comfort. The need to push on and reassurance that things would be ok was prevalent after the deaths. When one life ended another was started, and when situations were at their worst, there came a helping hand and were saved. These women are the foundation to the Joad family and help them successfully live their dream to make it to California. Without these four women possessing these archetypes they may have never made it as a family, with such hope and dreams as they did. Work Cited Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Web. 25 September 2014.

Anorexia Nervosa Essay -- Health, Eating Disorders

Davis 1 Anorexia nervosa is defined as a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight, in addition to a disturbance in perception of body shape and weight( DSM-IV-TR, 2000). In this paper we will examine Carolyn Costin’s battle with anorexia nervosa from a biopsychosocial perspective and what reinforced her disorder. This will be followed by diagnostically using the DSM-IV-TR in Carolyn’s case and conceptually using the sociocultural dimension. The implications for both Carolyn, her social and cultural context, as well as society at large will be addressed. The paper will then conclude with the successful treatments of anorexia nervosa and why we should care about the disorder. The biological dimension of Carolyn’s eating disorder includes looking at her first-degree relatives, more specifically females for a pattern of abnormal eating behaviors. In Carolyn’s family perhaps a genetic contribution made her vulnerable plus the changes her body was going through during puberty may have all contributed to her developing anorexia nervosa. Other factors to consider is maybe Carolyn’s hypothalamus which controls her eating behavior had contributed to her abnormal eating patterns, in addition to the high levels of dopamine in her brain that may have decreased her desire to eat. Research has shown perhaps there is a relationship between people with eating disorders having a shorter dopamine transporter train versus people who do not. In Carolyn’s case, she may have a shorter dopamine transporter train and because of this she has a less appetizing reaction towards food versus someone who does not have an eating disorder. Lastly, Carolyn’s changing eating patterns may have changed the amount o... .... Lastly, the impact the eating disorder has on the individual, family, and friends are another reason why we should care. Davis 6 One of my best friends struggled with anorexia nervosa and after getting treatment at the Remuda Ranch in Arizona, she was able to recover from her eating disorder and now maintains a healthy weight and lifestyle. In this paper we discussed Carolyn Costin’s struggle with anorexia nervosa from a biopsychosocial perspective and what reinforced her disorder. We then explored Carolyn’s battle with her eating disorder using the DSM-IV-TR criteria and conceptually using the sociocultural dimension. The implications for both Carolyn, her social and cultural context, as well as society at large were discussed. Lastly, we covered the successful treatments of the anorexia nervosa and why should we care about the disorder.

Learning in a Group Essay

1. What do you learn from working in a group? I learnt that by working in a group, we work towards a shared purpose and common goals in doing so shared our varied experiences and skills and in the cooperation with each other. Students are much likely to perform well when they work effectively in a group. This is because good group work creates synergy – where it combine effect of the group is greater than the sum of individual effort. Working together as a group can apply individual perspectives, experiences and skills to solve complex problems, creating new solutions and ideas that, and be beyond the scope of any one individual. As well as enhancing class performance. Good group work benefits individual too. It enables mutual support and learning, can generate a sense of belonging and commitment. I also learnt the following benefits on working in groups: †¢Apply a mix of skills that go beyond the scope of one individual. †¢Solve complex problems that take more than one mud. †¢Generates new ideas. †¢Provide support and help group members. †¢Give students a sense of belonging. †¢Enhance communication. †¢Help students to learn from each other and develop. †¢Generate commitment. Q.2 what do you think can be done to make this course (Lifelong Education/ more interesting. INTRODUCTION Lifelong learning skills are wide concern in tertiary education. Fostering these skills requires reconsideration and changes to traditional approaches to teaching and learning. We are living in a time of knowledge explosion. University or colleges are unlikely to be able to teach all the essential knowledge a student needs for their whole career within a four-year period. Moreover, much of the knowledge student learn in the university will be out of date when they leave, because of the rapid technical developments. This means student and have to master a self-learning method and a set of lifelong learning skills in order to meet the demand of their future, professional lives. Quality teaching and learning in tertiary education should aim to develop student’s lifelong learning skills. Each teacher  should make a contribution in developing these skills when teaching a certain course. How to make the course (lifelong Education) more interesting includes †¢Group working tutorials; workshop tutorial classes are aimed at developing student’s self directed leaving, group work and interpersonal skill the classroom for intervals should have movable desk and class. Each interval class should contain about 15 student and last one hour. The tutor will ask question to guide students to think and to work together to determine potential solutions to a problem. Some questions will challenging and relevant to real world, while some are from previous lectures and assignments. Student in each group are expected to work with each other, to share their ideas to discuss, and to debate and convince each other, thus creating an active and interactive learning environment. One student in each group will be asked to give a short presentation to the whole class. †¢Interaction in lectures Whatever the similarities and differences in learning styles and intelligence among your student, you can help your entire student by employing a range of active learning approaches (talking and listening, writing, reading, reflecting) and by using varied teaching techniques and strategies. †¢ The course lifelong education is suppose to be handle by a professional lecturers, people like Prof .M.B Shitu, Mal. Sani Bala Hassan, those who during the lectures will give students the opportunity to think and talk, and set some time during lectures for asking question or encouraging student to answer and ask question: In this way student understanding can be assess and make them engage with the activity. There is also need to introduce hardware demonstration in lectures. Although software demonstration are cheap and convenient, it is a virtual world . When doing demonstration let student predict what will happen next, and ask them to observe things going on and explain the theory behind it .Some question may follow to make the student learn interactively and to establish connections between pre-existing knowledge and new information. In this way student are expected to develop observational skills and thinking and these will make the course more interesting. †¢The lecturer supposes to use two o three case studies in the course. Case studies tell real and complete story, usually interdisciplinary and set in a real world context, and have academic and  professional significance and social implications. With case studies, students can develop problem solving skills for seeking and assessing information and interdisciplinary knowledge. †¢Students should be taught according to their aptitude. Give excellent student’s additional training. For example, a few exemplary students will be encouraged to give mini lectures to review material or less important sections. Thus, they develop oral and leadership skills from the process of searching for information and inquiry about classmates understanding. †¢Lecturers for the course must consider the features of their courses and the characteristics of their learners before they think about what kind of knowledge and skills students will learn from the course. Then they must decide which teaching strategies are suited to their course. They should try and adapt contemporary teaching strategies to create a more student – centred teaching and learning climate for developing students’ lifelong learning skills. Students are expected to develop problem solving skills, lateral thinking skills, group work ability, self-directed learning skills, and communication skills in the cause of lifelong education. †¢Lecturers’ must adopt student-centred approaches in teaching and learning. The so called student-centred approach means that teachers should think about how the learners learn and make the student actively involved in the teaching process. In most cases, a combination of several teaching outcomes. Lectures in this course should work out the suitable strategies for themselves, the students and the course content. CONCLUSION Teaching and learning is a cooperative process between teachers and students. Before a lecturer tries to teach in a different way, he/she needs to introduce students to new teaching and learning theories. And also need to seek colleagues support and finds to implement appropriate changes. The work may be challenging and time consuming. Hopefully, opportunities will coexist with challenges. A good lecturer motivates him/her self in pursing quality teaching.

A Vacation Industry Analysis Of Edinburgh Tourism Essays

A Vacation Industry Analysis Of Edinburgh Tourism Essays A Vacation Industry Analysis Of Edinburgh Tourism Essay A Vacation Industry Analysis Of Edinburgh Tourism Essay Edinburgh is the Capital of Scotland, a really beautiful, vivacious metropolis situated in the eastern portion of the state on the Forth of Firth, near the North Sea. It is chiefly within the historic county of Midlothian. It was ab initio grown around a Castle built by the King Malcolm 111. It became Scots Capital in 1437. ( www.aboutscotland.co.uk ) The metropolis is dearly nicknamed Auld Reekie, ( Middle Scots for Old Smoky ) , Athens of the North, Aneda or Edina, Edinensis, Dunedin, Ben Jonson described it as Britain s other oculus, etc. etc. ( www.rampantscotland.com ) Features: Edinburgh is celebrated for many grounds and that screens from traditional national costume to its literature and civilization and it hosts the international Humanistic disciplines Festival every twelvemonth. Edinburgh is glorious metropolis with its rugged and big aggregation of Medieval and Georgian Architecture it s frequently regarded as one of the most Picturesque metropoliss in Europe. The Old Town and New Town territories of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.Edinburgh is the first metropolis of Designated Literature City in the universe. ( www.cithyofliterature.com ) Demographics: Edinburgh is the seventh most thickly settled metropolis in the UK and its 2nd Largest in Scotland after Glasgow. In the 2009 mid twelvemonth population estimations, Edinburgh had a entire resident population of 477,660. ( www.edinburghguide.com ) A pie chart explicating farther about the figure of the tourers coming from the different parts of the universe. The part of the Tourism towards the Local Edinburgh Economy: It is estimated that in 2009, UK occupants made 2.46m trips to Edinburgh and Lothians ( E A ; L ) , remaining for 6.6m darks and disbursement ?562m. Those sing Edinburgh City made 2.14m trips, remaining for 5.58m darks and disbursement ?526m. Abroad visitants made around 1.33m trips to the capital and environing country, remaining for 7.44m darks and disbursement ?458m. ( www.visitscotland.org ) Domestic Tourism: This is data release earlier this twelvemonth United Kingdom Tourism Survey, shows the Some Facts and Figures of Scots Tourism, 2009: In 2009, around 15 million tourers took nightlong trips to Scotland. The one-year spend, was over ?4 billion. Scots Tourism contributes 11 % of the Scottish service sector Economy compared to 8-9 % for the UK as a whole. The UK histories for 83 % of touristry trips to Scotland. Abroad touristry histories for 17 % of touristry trips to Scotland. Average spend per dark is ?62 for abroad tourers, ?60 for English tourers and Harmonizing to the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education ( ATLAS ) , the motion of individuals to cultural attractive forces off from the normal topographic point of abode, with the purpose to garner new information and experiences to fulfill their cultural demands . ( books.google.co.uk ) Cultural touristry is the portion of the touristry concerned with a state or part s civilization, specifically the life style of the people, the history of those peoples, their art, architecture, faith ( s ) , and other elements that helped determine their manner. Examples: Peoples come to see Edinburgh chiefly from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, because people in those states portion the same civilization and values. i.e. same linguistic communication, populating manners, history, traditions, and other activities. Scots Gastronomy: Scotland has got its unique and typical formulas but because of migration, Scotland s natural larder of game, dairy, fish, fruit, and veggies these are of import factors of Scots cookery and it s mostly without spices.i.e. Scotch stock. In most towns, Chinese and Indian take-away eating houses exist along with traditional fish and bit stores. Larger towns and metropoliss offer cuisine runing from Thai and Nipponese to Mexican, Pakistani, Polish or Turkish. ( www.visitscotland.com ) Languages Relegions: There are chief three linguistic communications spoken in Scotland, English, Gaelic, Scots. The major faiths are Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Rasta and Neo Paganism. Etc.etc. ( www.rampantscotland.com ) Scots National Dress: The term Scottish frock describes the traditional frock of Scotland. It is frequently characterized by the visual aspect of plaid ( tartan ) patterns in some signifier. Male dress includes kilt ( or trews ) , sporran, sgian dubh and gillies. Gillies, or Gillie Brogues are traditional midst soled places with no linguas and long lacings. ( www.visitscotland.com ) Scots Music: The Scots music is universe celebrated, the universe of music has changed drastically but Scots common people music has held its traditional roots more tightly. The Scots music dates back to 6th century. ( www.musicscotland.com ) Celebrated New Year Theme Song: With the name of Edinburgh a really celebrated melody ever comes into head which is sung in many states on the Eve of every New Year, Auld Lang Syne is a vocal written by the celebrated Scottish Poet Rabbie Burns, nick name Roberts. Social Tourism: DefinitionA : There is as yet no in agreement definition of societal touristry ; there has been considerable survey on the topic. Dr.W.Hunziker at the 2nd Congress of Social Tourism held at Vienna and Salzburg in Austria in May 1959, proposed the undermentioned definition: Social touristry is a type of touristry practiced by low income groups and which is rendered possible and facilitated by wholly separate and hence easy recognizable service . Examples: Peoples come to see Edinburgh to see Exhibitions, attractive forces, instruction system, host population. ( www.bangladesh.com ) Festivals: The Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama, held every summer since 1947, and its larger, more eclectic and far-out outgrowth, the Edinburgh Fringe, are universe celebrated ; the festival s 1,900-seat theatre opened in 1994. ( www.visitscotland.org ) Physical Tourism: Physical touristry is that kind of touristry which takes topographic point when people visit some state or metropolis or any topographic point to see its landscapes, architecture, rivers, edifices, mountains, clime, natural environment, vegetations and zoologies, beaches, etc. etc. Example: Holyrood Park and Arthur s Seat, Edinburgh Castle, Palace of Holyroodhouse etc. etc. During the eighteenth century Scotland experienced a cultural and rational renaissance.. ( www.brittanica.com ) Unique Tourist Attractions In Edinburgh: The noteworthy characteristics of Edinburgh are The New Parliament house Building, National War Museum, Collection of Royal Scottish Academy, The National Art Gallery of Scotland, The Royal Scottish Museum, Museum of Scotland, The National Library, The Royal Botanic Gardens, the house of the Protestant reformist John Knox, he Real Mary King s Close. ( www.rsc.org ) Scots Universities: The instruction system in Scotland is different than that of England, Wales and Ireland, as ancient Scots Universities offer a 4 Year Degree as comparison to the above. Edinburgh University is the host of many surveies and experiments of on traveling issues such as clime alteration. Etc. Undertaking 3: Investigate the influence of economic, physical, societal and political features on the entreaty of the finish to tourers. Introduction: In the travel and touristry sector the function of economic, societal, physical and political features is really critical ; it can make up ones mind the destiny of touristry in any state. Because these are the factors which are straight linked with the tourers around the universe. Influence of Economic Features: when the economic conditions are stable the touristry industry goes above the ladder. Harmonizing to BBC, Edinburgh has far more strong economic system than that of London a study claims. ( www.bbc.co.uk ) Economy of Edinburgh: Edinburgh contributes about ?14.1 billion a twelvemonth to the Scots economic system, approximately 15 per cent of national GDP, harmonizing to the Office for National Statistics. Banks, insurance companies, plus directors and other finance houses employ 34,781 people in Edinburgh, or 11.3 per cent of working population. Due to the recent recession the un-employment rate is running a 10 twelvemonth which is 3.2 % but its still below the national rate which is 4.3 % . ( www.business.timesonline.co.uk ) Banking Hub: Besides Tourism Edinburgh s wealth has been chiefly profoundly rooted in the fiscal sector such banking sector and therefore the metropolis of Edinburgh is the place of Royal Bank of Scotland, the former HBOS, soon as Lloyds Banking Group. ( www.business.timesonline.co.uk ) Tourism Contribution towards Economy: Scots Tourism contributes 11 % of the Scottish service sector Economy compared to 8-9 % for the UK as a whole. ( www.visitscotland.org ) Tax Refunds for Tourists: The Tourist from outside EU A ; UK can claim back ( VAT ) Value Added Tax paid on things bought from Scotland when they go back to their states, its another attractive force for tourers. Influence of Physical Features: Edinburgh, the UK s most of import, and popular, metropoliss, pulling over a million visitants every twelvemonth. Its traditionally peaceable, unagitated and relaxed topographic point. Climate Conditionss: Edinburgh clime is comparatively mild, in winter it seldom goes down below to stop deading. Summer is mild as good and seldom goes above than 22A AÂ °C. ( www.worldweather.com ) Architecture: Edinburgh has the assortment of edifices from antediluvian to Georgian manner to modern architecture so metropolis s diverseness in the architecture besides beacons around the universe to pull tourers. Fringe Festival: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it s an art festival started in 1946, its 4 hebdomad festival during August every twelvemonth and it attracts enormous sum of tourers from around the universe. ( www.edfringe.com ) Mountains: Arthur s place mountain is the one of most beautiful topographic point in Scotland and chief tourer attractive force in Edinburgh. Scott Memorial: The memorial is bases in prince street garden. It has sing deck and 61.11 metre high. The Scott Monument is built 1840. ( www.stuckonscotland.co.uk ) National Gallery of Scotland: It has greatest aggregation of picture, European drawing and prints. it was Opened to the visitants in 1859. ( www.natonalgalleries.org ) Edinburgh Castle: Edinburgh Castle dominate the whole Scotland because its so outstanding figure. Its visited by One Million every twelvemonth. ( www.geo.ed.ac.uk ) It s the most visited memorial in UK after The Tower Bridge. It was built by Malcolm III ( 1058-1093 ) ( www.scotland-calling.com ) Influence of Social Features: For any topographic point in the universe societal features of a topographic point drama of import function. Edinburgh is the seventh most thickly settled metropolis in the UK and its 2nd Largest in Scotland after Glasgow. In the 2009 mid twelvemonth population estimations, Edinburgh had a entire resident population of 477,660. ( www.visitscotland.org ) Tourism Tolerant State: Scottishs are by and large non xenophobic, alternatively they are really tolerant and celebrated for their welcoming attitude towards the tourers. Influence of Political Features: Political features got a existent clip influence on all the sectors of the economic system. If the authorities of the state is stable, the province is being run swimmingly, evidently the concern, industry, corporate sector will boom and it will ensue an economic roar. Recent Un-employment Rate In UK: The UK s unemployment rate bases at 7.7 % , the un-employment rate in Edinburgh is running a 10 twelvemonth which is 3.2 % but its still below the national rate which is 4.3 % . ( www.hrmguide.co.uk ) , Undertaking 4: Identify and explicate the external factors that may impact on the popularity of the finish. Detail recommendations that may get the better of the negative external impacts that may impact on the popularity of the finish. External Factors: The external factors in touristry industry for any state are really critical, Negative External factors can endanger the touristry industry if they are negative. Socio economic Crisiss between states Laws, ordinances, and Legal Factors. Credit crunch Technology Climate Avalanches Earthquakes Lahars Vents Water Disasters such as Floods, Tsunami, Blizzards, Storms, Droughts, Heat waves, Tornadoes. Political Conflicts: For illustration if one state has got some struggles or crises traveling on with another state due to some political or any issue so evidently both the states are prone to endure because of this problem so they are extremely likely to pull less tourers. Socio Economic Conditionss: A state is enduring from recognition crunch, high rising prices rate, technological retardation so evidently its traveling to endure from set dorsums in the touristry sector. In the economic downswing people have less disposable incomes, less consumer assurance, unemployment rate goes higher. Credit Crunch: When there is a recognition crunch traveling on around the universe these yearss, its doing a batch problem around the universe because people have got less money and less consumer assurance. Technology: This is the universe of engineering, so the tourer finish has to be up to day of the month while holding the latest engineering such as agencies of communicating, means of transit. Rules and Regulations: By and large rigorous in-migration and visa regulations and ordinances, not friendly footings with other states, doest injury tourer finish entreaty. Recommendations: Search for New Markets: I would propose that Edinburgh lacks a spot of selling in Asia, because they have non yet reached Asiatic Market to that degree, and Latin America every bit good. So selling will assist the cause. Decrease in The Monetary values: To pull more tourers in times of bad economic conditions Hotels, Restaurants, Transports can cut down monetary values, inexpensive bundles can be offered. Freshnesss: Harmonizing to the UNWTO the tourers fell by an estimated 4 % in 2009. ( www.unwto.org ) , Chiefly it was the consequence of recession but Edinburgh can still bring forth touristry to the maximal degree by offering freshnesss and new attractive forces alongside the old attractive forces. Positive External Factors: International Linkss: Edinburgh enjoys strong links with EU, WTO and UNESCO. It became UNESCO City of Literature in 2008. The celebrated Edinburgh Castle, is given the position of World Heritage Site under the flagship of UNESCO. EU links make Edinburgh more accessible because there are no visa limitations within the EU so people come to see Edinburgh without any legalities etc. WTO supports and promote Edinburgh in order to put high criterions of codification of moralss for the touristry industry. Linguistic A ; Ancestry Help Board: Large Numberss of tourers come from English talking USA, Australia, Canada etc. merely to happen out their household history and household roots so what Edinburgh can make is to develop and proper Ancestry Board or Department where people can be help out. So it can besides be a manner to pull more tourers. Sports Linkss: The lone athleticss we will hear is High Land Games or Rugby etc. it does bring forth a batch of touristry but at the same it merely targets merely a peculiar type of people whereas if Scotland organize athleticss like Football universe cup. Olympics, Cricket World Cup or Paralympics etc. so it can interrupt the barrier in the universe of Sports and that s the manner can be to acquire big sums of tourers.

African Diaspora Essay Example

African Diaspora Essay Example African Diaspora Essay African Diaspora Essay The Pan African movement was dedicated to establishing independence for African nations and cultivating unity among black people throughout the world. During this time leaders across the nation held conferences in which they discussed the de-colonization process in Africa. The primary leader during this movement was W. E. B Dubois. He attended many conferences where many people believed him and followed in his direction. The first conference was held in London in 1900 and was convened by Henry Sylvester- Williams. This conference brought people from African decent together where they discussed their common fate and unity amongst the African community. The next conferences were organized by W. E. B Dubois which took place in 1919 and 1927. The conference in 1919 discussed W. E. B Dubois trip to Paris where he reported discrimination amongst black soldiers in the US army who were station in France. Also he spoke at the Versailles Peace Conference where he ensured African interests were addressed. The Manchester conference of 1945 won the reputation of a pace-maker for decolonization in Africa and in the British West Indies. It marked a significant advance in the participation of workers in the Pan African cause. It demanded an end to colonial rule and an end to racial discrimination, while it carried forward the broad struggle against imperialism, for human rights and equality of economic opportunity. The Pan-African Congress strategy positioned the political and economic demands of the Congress within a new world context of international co-operation. 2. When W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey had their first contact in May 1915, Du Bois already was a Black leader in the US, while Garvey had just the month before established his UNIA in Jamaica. Du Bois was on a visit in Jamaica, and received a very friendly welcomeletter by Garvey. Soon afterwards they met in person, shook hands and Garvey told Du Bois briefly of his plans, eager to find a supporter in him. Almost one year later, Garvey came to the US for a speaking tour through the country to raise money for a project in Jamaica. Garvey wanted to invite Du Bois in person to his first lecture and therefore visited the NAACP headquarters. As Du Bois was not there, he left an invitation that was declined in a polite way by Du Bois, but nevertheless Du Bois announced Garveys tour in his magazine the Crisis. During his tour Garvey decided, that the US was the place for his ideas and that he should therefore stay in the United States. He started speaking weekly in Harlem, soon found a huge amount of followers, officially founded the US branch of the UNIA end of July 1918 and short afterwards established the UNIA newspaper The Negro World 3. The African response to slavery was divided into three instances in which slaves which successful in freeing themselves. The first instance was the maroons of Jamaica. From 1494 to 1655 Jamaica was a Spanish colony. Spain established the plantation system and started to grow and export agricultural crops. In 1655 Great Britain challenged Spanish occupation of the island and captured it. During the war between Spain and Great Britain slaves on the plantation took the opportunity and escaped into the mountains. When the war was over the British demanded that the slaves return but the slaves argued that they were slaves of the Spanish and since the Spanish were no longer there, they were now free. Great Britain insisted that they were still slaves. The slaves reaction was â€Å"if you think we are slaves come and get us†. Due to the slaves reaction war ensued between the maroons and the British soldiers from 1655 to 1738. In 1738 the British governor of Jamaica believed that in the interest of the security of planters and the stability of the island it would be wise to make peace with the maroons. Based on his decision the British government did an unprecedented agreement. At the press conference they wrote out a peace treaty with the maroons. In the peace treaty Great Britain agreed to recognize the freedom and independence of the maroons. They decided to give them land in Jamaica where they could establish their own communities, governor themselves, and they would be free of taxation. The British government created a state within a state. The maroons promised that they would not allow runaway slaves to use maroon settlements as sanctuaries. Runaway slaves that were found on maroon land would be returned to his owners. The British governor believed that the maroons were not upholding the second part of their agreement because they were not returning runaway slaves. The maroon argument was that if they seen any runaway slaves they would return them but so far they have not seen any. As a consequence a second war broke out between the maroons and the British government in 1795. During this war large numbers of maroons were captured and deported to Canada as punishment and eventually transported to the west coast of Africa. This was the first instance were a group of slaves freed themselves. Next, the second group of slaves that freed themselves was the Republic of Palmers in Brazil. During the slavery period the Portuguese had the right to trade in slaves from the time of the Treaty of Tordisellas in 1494 between Spain and Portugal. Portugal and Brazil transported more African to be enslaved in Brazil than the rest of the country combine. There were vast areas in Brazil suited to the plantation system. Most plantations were in Bahia and Pernambuco. At the beginning of the 17th century slaves escaped in mass from these providences. These slaves escaped into the interior of Brazil and establish their own communities and government. Slaves in other parts of Brazil knew their only was to be freed was to find their way to palmers. The Republic of Palmers grew by leaps and boundaries. By the end of the 17th century the planters of Brazil complained to the government that the existence of the Republic of Palmers was destabilizing through the plantation system in those providences. The government sent troops against the Republic of Palmers at the end of the 17th century which caused slaves to escape further into the interior where they lived. The last instances of slaves freeing themselves were the Haitian Revolution were the Haitian people abolished slavery. The coming of free trade forced planters to sell their products on world markets. Secondly, the decline in productivity caused farmers to lose products. Next, investors in Europe where reluctant to give planters loans because of all the money they lost in Haiti. Finally, the impact of public opinion in Europe government forced them to end slavery in America. They feared that if slavery continued the same thing that happened in Haiti would happen elsewhere. This pressure caused the British to abolition the slave trade in 1807.

What happened when we left an error in an email to 7,000 people - Emphasis

What happened when we left an error in an email to 7,000 people What happened when we left an error in an email to 7,000 people I love my job, on most days. We help people with a task that millions find very stressful and problematic. So its incredibly rewarding to be able to relieve that pain. For me, its the best job in the world. Most days. Then there are the other (thankfully) much rarer days, when things don’t quite go according to plan. I had one of those days last Tuesday. That was the day we sent out our e-bulletin, complete with a howling typo, to seven thousand subscribers. Now, dear reader, if you’re ever looking for a guaranteed way to show up every mistake in a piece of writing, that method takes some beating. I can’t honestly say its one Id recommend though. We spotted the mistake in the email as soon as we’d sent it (and before we sent it, in fact – see below). You probably did, too. But in case you missed it, here it is again (because we’re nothing if not gluttons for punishment): While your on that page, don’t forget to sign up to Jacob’s free, seven-part grammar and punctuation course. I know: it’s awful. So awful that I could barely bring myself to type those words. (It should, of course, have read you’re.) Other people may be able to get away with a slip of the fingers, but not us. We obviously need to be squeaky clean in these matters, simply because of what we do. Nor was the irony of such a basic mistake in a sentence advertising a grammar course lost on us. Believe me, a typo like that really is the stuff of nightmares for us. The response from our enthusiastic subscriber base was as swift and uncompromising as it was understandable. My email inbox quickly filled up with messages from loyal readers wondering what on earth we were playing at. Initially, I was blissfully unaware of the grammar firestorm that had erupted back at Emphasis HQ. I was on a half-term holiday with my family, and my WiFi connection was relaxed at best. When I did finally get a connection, I almost wished I’d stayed offline a little longer. The first thing that came through was an instant message from one of my team, warning me of the error. I spent the next hour on the phone to them, trying to piece together just how the mistake had slipped through the net. Then I started working my way through sending a personal email of apology and explanation to every person who’d emailed me. (It was the digital equivalent of putting on a hair shirt.) I also promised them free access to our new e-learning course, Writing better email, to thank them for their trouble. (If you were one of those people, Ill be emailing you a link today.) Ill tell you how they reacted in a minute. But first, what exactly did go wrong? Well, as I mentioned, my initial slip of the fingers had been spotted during our proofreading process and duly corrected. But the correction had been made in the HTML code. Then, somehow, it was an older version of the code that our mailing system sent out. Now, our proofreading methods are pretty good (as you would hope). But any process is only as good as its weakest link, which in this case was making the final corrections in the code. Needless to say, we won’t be doing that again. (We’ve since changed mailing systems, so that we don’t have to.) Im sorry, and I hope you can forgive us this one. Please rest assured that, whatever effect it’s had on your view of us, it’s nothing compared with the soul-searching that’s still going on at Emphasis HQ. However, there is what may be a helpful postscript to this story: the reactions I received to my emails of apology. More than two-thirds of the people I personally emailed took the trouble to write back (in most cases immediately) to say that no harm had been done and that, if anything, our reaction to what were already calling Yourgate had enhanced their view of Emphasis. Im not so vain or naà ¯ve to think that leaving in the error was a good thing. But that feedback suggests that, should you ever mess up, you could do worse than adopt a similar approach. As one correspondent put it, ‘These things happen in business. But, as you’ve proved, it’s how you respond to them that counts.’ That was from the MD of a large investment bank, no less, who took time out from his evening to write me that email. (I was – and still am – so grateful for his response and the many others I got over the next few days.) Unfortunately, the only certain way to avoid mistakes in what you write is never to write anything at all. Weve got no intention of doing that and well continue to provide our free advice for as long as we can. Realistically, at some point, another error will eventually slip through the net, no matter how hard we try to stop that happening. For us, its a terrifying prospect. So, the next time you have writer’s block, perhaps you can draw comfort from the fact that you don’t have to put ‘business-writing adviser’ at the end of every email. Because, believe me, that is the best way I know to paralyse even the most fluent of writers. Image credit: Guilhem Vellut

It is often said that a country's corporate legal framework is a Essay

It is often said that a country's corporate legal framework is a reflection of its socio-economic and political values. To wha - Essay Example In this case, corporate governance may favour certain people because they can afford to pay hefty bribes to government officials. Comparing corporate governance in the developed and developing countries, the former are accountable but the later are not. Digging deeper into the political and social-economic situations, people in the developing countries face unprecedented oppression from the very government they choose. It is therefore evident the corporate legal framework of a country reflect its social economic and political values. History of corporate governance Interest in corporate governance started after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Edwin Dodd, and Gardiner C and Adolf Augustus Berle, Jr. Gor very concerned with the Wall Street crash. These scholars were wondered the changes to introduce to modern corporations to protect the stakeholders and the employees. Another scholar, Ronald Coarse from the University of Chicago tried to understand how corporations operated. The main wa s to introduce measures to prevent corporation collapse.1 However, these concerned scholars could not do anything to change the corporations of the time. The American government introduced a set of rules but did nothing much at that time. After the world war two, a class of scholars in management, business and organizational behaviour continued studying modern corporations to come up with ways to make them better and accountable. At that time, some corporations in United States, United Kingdom and other developed countries started establishing branches in other countries. This made the companies complex in that accountability would become challenging. Like before, the scholars in the third quarter of the twentieth century did not do much regarding corporate governance.2 Corporate governance got the attention of the government and the public in the 1990s. In early 1990s, boards of large companies dismissed Chief Executive Officers. Some of the companies involved were Kodak, IBM and H oneywell. Around the same time, it emerged that companies were not accountable in any way. There was a belief that Chief Executive Officers had good relationships with the board of directors. As such, each of the two covered the other in the times of accountability. Emergence of these issues led to a wave of activism, initiated in California by the California Public Employees Retirement system (calPERS). The primary concern for this organization was stakeholders’ protection. The campaigns were making sense but the government did not do much regarding the case. However, this outcry made the government to be more cautious with corporations.3 In the United Kingdom, Steps towards corporate governance started in 1992 when the Financial Reporting Council set up a committee chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury. The report recommended many things in relation to corporate governance. Some of the recommendations gained acceptance from the beginning but others got amendments along the way. The amendment of the company executives’ compensation clause in 1995 is a good example. Another report on corporate governance came up after the Hampell Report in 1998. Hampell reported evaluated the Cadbury and Greenburg reports and provide recommendations.4 Action on corporate governance became a serious issue in The United States in the early 21st century. Enron and WorldCom became bankrupt and other major companies including Tyco, Arthur Andersen, AOL, Global

Are the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences suffient for a Essay

Are the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences suffient for a good life - Essay Example Secondly, it leads people to become biased to the attitudes and interests of the society rather than helping them to act impartially with all human beings. Lastly, the view of Adam Smith is unclearly justified. This essay will analyse Adam Smith’s views about living a good life and its criticisms. First, the essay examines Adam Smith’s view on the issue and its strengths and weaknesses. The essay will also highlight the criticisms of Smith’s view and their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, it will provide my position about the issue. In this essay I will conclude that the virtues of justice, prudence, and beneficences are very essential; but they are not sufficient for a good life. Other considerations that need to be observed include rationality, human development and scientific approach of solving problems. These additional factors work with the moral virtues suggested by Adam Smith to enable the society achieve good life while meeting the interests of human beings without bias. Being happy is enhanced by living morally and having enough resources to support individuals and societies to solve their problems and resources. Therefore, human development in terms of soci al, economic and political advancement supports human life and enables people to live morally and happily. In the book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith attempts to explain the source of morality, and why people exhibit virtues and decency even if they may conflict with their self-interest (Roberts, 2014). In the opening sentence of the book, Smith argues that even though human beings may be selfish, they still care about the happiness of other people (Roberts, 2014). Although one may not benefit from the happiness of others, they are usually pleased to see that they are happy. Smith argues that a human being should be totally virtuous in order for the economic system to function in such a way that it can maximize wealth. As a philosopher, Smith argues that there

Self-Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Self-Reflection Paper - Essay Example I was experienced just as much as he and therefore, I expected the company to offer me no less than $65,000. The manager said that he would let me know after consultation with the owner of the company. I agreed. The next day, I received the offer letter via an email that showed that my annual salary would be $60,000. I was disappointed, but since it was a period of financial crisis and there were not many jobs out there, I decided to take a chance if the manager agrees to increase my salary to $65,000 once the probation period of 3 months would be over. I talked to the manager about it and he agreed. I joined the company. From day one, I worked very hard. I wanted to impress the manager and the owner so much with my performance that they would feel obliged to reward me by increasing my salary by the end of the probation period. I started off by studying the organizational culture and identifying loopholes in it, so that the obstacles in the way of organizational progress can be found and eradicated. My focus was on improving the workers’ productivity by facilitating them with everything as part of my duty as the HR Generalist. I was new in the organization and had a spark in me to do something to bring a positive change in the organization. ... He often talked to me and discussed work-related matters with me. One day, he called me and said that he was afraid he might be fired because the branch manager was not very satisfied with his performance. Compared to him, my bosses were very satisfied with me. The productivity of our branch was more than the branch in which my cousin worked. I was very happy and I could almost see my salary being increased by the end of the probation period. Day after day, time passed and we reached the end of the probation period. On the first day of the fourth month of my job, I received an email that read that considering my outstanding performance, I had been made a permanent employee from a temporary employee and that my salary would be $55,000. I was startled to find that my salary had not been increased. What to talk of that the owner had instead decreased my salary. The next day, the first thing I did was ask the manager what was wrong. The manager told me that in order to cope with the fina ncial crisis; the branch manager has decided to cut down the salary of the key staff members. He congratulated me on becoming the permanent employee, but it felt very out of place for the moment. I called my cousin and asked him if his salary had been affected by the company’s efforts to survive through the financial crisis. He said that it had remained the same. When I discussed this issue with the branch manager, he said that the company had a decentralized system and that every branch served liked a distinct company with distinct principles, but I was not convinced anyway. I knew that I had set my foot in the wrong place where people did not care how hard I tried to get there. What was more shocking for me was that the branch manager had broken his

Service Marketing ( Organization that you have chosen ) Essay

Service Marketing ( Organization that you have chosen ) - Essay Example The remainder represents the amount of money that a customer is prepared to spend for the ambience of the restaurant, including the decor, furniture and furnishing , the music ( and the atmosphere) and the brand experience in general. The Flowchart on front stage and back stage operations helps explain this concept. The Flowchart is given in Appendix 1. The service operations of Mc Donald’s can be defined as the ‘restaurant drama’ which comprises of various acts, both front stage and back stage (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007). These acts are further separated by the order in which they are executed: activities prior to the encounter of the product, activities involved in the actual delivery of the product and the post-delivery activities (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007). The front stage activities of Mc Donald’s comprise of the ambience of the restaurant, including the logo-design (the Golden arches that symbolize the brand), the tag line ( Iâ₠¬â„¢m lovin’ it), the attire of the waiters/ waitresses, the decor, lighting, as well as the way tables and chairs are set along with the famous Mc Donald’s character- the clown. ... This is essentially the first encounter. The second encounter occurs when the customer arrives and is escorted to the table that is reserved for him/her. These front stage operations are supported by back stage operations at Mc Donald’s such as recording the customer’s reservations, handling his/her belongings, greeting him/her, preparation and delivery of the meal and use of IT for storing valuable customer information such as the name, address, telephone number and other order details for future use (a key ingredient of customer relationship management). Customers with Mc Donald’s are then exposed to the final product; that is the meal, when the curtains are raised (Act II). The menu card is given to the customer, along with any recommendations such as Mc Donald’s specialties (provided upon the customer’s request). Another approach is that the customer proceeds to the order counter himself/herself and by visualizing the orders on the electronic sc reen, place the order with the Mc Donald’s salesman. The skills of the person taking the order are crucial here and any mistakes in taking the order can lead to breakdown of quality in organizations. Thus, the person in contact with the customers giving the order is highly trained and has excellent communication skills to avoid such failures. In the next stage, customers at Mc Donald’s evaluate the quality of service and it is extremely important that the order is delivered on time. However, caution must be exercised here as too speedy delivery can lead to the perception that the meal was frozen and has just been re-cooked in the microwave. This was, in fact, one of the insights I got from one of the customers when I brought them the order in less than 10 minutes. Thus,

Homeland Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Homeland Security - Essay Example As is always the case, individual rights cede way to national security concerns and not vice versa. While public order advocates argue that this should be the case, civil rights advocates gainsay this standpoint. The tension has been aggravated following September 11 Terrorist Attacks. As already stated, September 11 Terrorist Attacks serve as a watershed in the development of the tension between national security policy and the protection of civil liberties. As a way of responding to the September 11 Attacks, the US Congress passed the US Patriot Act 2001 on October 26, 2001. While the Patriot Act 2001 would serve as a strong instrument for waging the War on Terror, there were concerns that it was also a harbinger for mass violations of individual or civil rights. Particularly, Section 206 of the US Patriot Act 2001 allows Homeland Security officials and other security officers to use roving wire taps to provide law enforcement agencies with surveillance and intelligence. This move is a violation of the right to privacy which is well protected in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution (White, 2003). Again, Section 215 of the Patriot Act 2001 gives law enforcement agencies the legal authority to access tangible pieces of details of American citizens and the rest of inhabitants in the United States. This is in violation to some civil rights that are enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. The Fourth Amendment accords US Citizens the right to be secure or safe in their person, areas of residence, papers and personal effects from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment continues that these rights shall not be violated unless there is an issuance of the arrest or search warrant and/ or probable cause. This probable cause had to be in turn confirmed by the Oath of Affirmation. Section 215 of the Patriot Act 2001 is an affront to the right to privacy and the freedom from unlawful arrest. As if the foregoing is

Service Marketing ( Organization that you have chosen ) Essay

Service Marketing ( Organization that you have chosen ) - Essay Example The remainder represents the amount of money that a customer is prepared to spend for the ambience of the restaurant, including the decor, furniture and furnishing , the music ( and the atmosphere) and the brand experience in general. The Flowchart on front stage and back stage operations helps explain this concept. The Flowchart is given in Appendix 1. The service operations of Mc Donald’s can be defined as the ‘restaurant drama’ which comprises of various acts, both front stage and back stage (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007). These acts are further separated by the order in which they are executed: activities prior to the encounter of the product, activities involved in the actual delivery of the product and the post-delivery activities (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chatterjee, 2007). The front stage activities of Mc Donald’s comprise of the ambience of the restaurant, including the logo-design (the Golden arches that symbolize the brand), the tag line ( Iâ₠¬â„¢m lovin’ it), the attire of the waiters/ waitresses, the decor, lighting, as well as the way tables and chairs are set along with the famous Mc Donald’s character- the clown. ... This is essentially the first encounter. The second encounter occurs when the customer arrives and is escorted to the table that is reserved for him/her. These front stage operations are supported by back stage operations at Mc Donald’s such as recording the customer’s reservations, handling his/her belongings, greeting him/her, preparation and delivery of the meal and use of IT for storing valuable customer information such as the name, address, telephone number and other order details for future use (a key ingredient of customer relationship management). Customers with Mc Donald’s are then exposed to the final product; that is the meal, when the curtains are raised (Act II). The menu card is given to the customer, along with any recommendations such as Mc Donald’s specialties (provided upon the customer’s request). Another approach is that the customer proceeds to the order counter himself/herself and by visualizing the orders on the electronic sc reen, place the order with the Mc Donald’s salesman. The skills of the person taking the order are crucial here and any mistakes in taking the order can lead to breakdown of quality in organizations. Thus, the person in contact with the customers giving the order is highly trained and has excellent communication skills to avoid such failures. In the next stage, customers at Mc Donald’s evaluate the quality of service and it is extremely important that the order is delivered on time. However, caution must be exercised here as too speedy delivery can lead to the perception that the meal was frozen and has just been re-cooked in the microwave. This was, in fact, one of the insights I got from one of the customers when I brought them the order in less than 10 minutes. Thus,

Argumentive Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argumentive Summary - Essay Example Therefore, the household in which a child spends their preschool years can have a major impact on their success and educational development for many years to come. We might consider the extent Brice’s thesis is convincing, and to what extent the evidence she offers to support it is comprehensive. It seems to me that Heath’s work is extremely convincing, and offers a helpful analysis of a hugely important issue, that is, giving children the best start possible in their education. Heath makes an important contribution to academic work on the importance of the preschool environment for a child’s subsequent, formal education. As well as dealing with the very particular examples of the three neighborhoods she selects for analysis, Heath also provokes the reader’s thoughts on more general issues, for example in commenting that teachers and researchers ‘have not recognized that ways of taking from books are as much a part of learned behavior as are ways of eating, sitting, playing games, and building houses’ (97). ... Of course, the implications of this statement are central to the essay and its arguments. Heath’s essay is based on the assumption that a child will imitate practices they learn in the household, and these will either facilitate or obstruct the schooling process later on. Heath is therefore positing the notion that due to their acquisition from the home environment, literary skills can be acquired as naturally as any others. Heath states that adults provide their children with ways ‘taking from books’, which will come to seem natural in schools, businesses, or offices (97). Given that we live in a highly literate society, where reading and writing are needed for even basic tasks, and having established that the basics of literacy can be taken from adults in the home environment, as discussed above, it is striking that Heath approaches a field on which little work has been done. Little is known about the functioning of these processes in practice. Heath therefore p erforms a valuable task for the extension of our knowledge when she chooses to survey the importance of ‘literary events’, in which ‘participants follow socially established rules for verbalizing what they know about the written material’ (98). As the title of the essay indicates, one such event might be the bedtime story, and this theme is carried throughout Heath’s analysis. Heath’s approach is also interesting in that she does not just work on patterns detected in ‘mainstream’ households, but also on those she finds in alternative styles of household (98). She chooses three communities in the Southeastern United States – a middle-income area called Maintown, where the households surveyed have a mother who has taught in local public schools (100); Roadville – a

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Essay Example for Free

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Essay There are different research methods that have been guided by different philosophy of science that were developed by philosopher, researcher and sociologist at their time of era. The well-known research methods are quantitative research methods. Quantitative are numerical methods associated with deductive approaches. Quantitative research methods are usually guided by the principles of positivism as it takes on objective reality and accepts single reality. Quantitative methods are usually used to measure size, observe numerical change over time, audience segmentation, testing hypothesis, and, quantifying attitudes, behaviors and opinions. The main importance of quantitative research is on deductive reasoning which tends to move from the general to the specific. The validity of conclusions is shown to be dependent on one or more premises being valid. For example, All students who study MBA in Kathmandu University works in a bank. Seema studies in MBA in Kathmandu University. Based on the premises, we can say that Seema works in a bank. Premises used in deductive reasoning are important because faulty premises can lead to wrong conclusions. Another popular method is qualitative method, which are usually associated with inductive approaches. Qualitative research methods are used on subjective matter, as in-depth study to explore subject matter. Qualitative research methods are guided by philosophies as post-positivism, critical theory, and constructivism. Qualitative research methods offer different kinds of ways to investigate on research problems as interview methods, focused group discussions,case studies and many others to understand the certain circumstances or culture in the society. The approach adopted by qualitative researchers tends to be inductive which means that they develop a theory or look for a pattern of meaning on the basis of the data that they have collected. This involves a move from the specific to the general and is sometimes called a bottom-up approach. However, most research projects also involve a certain degree of deductive reasoning (Trochim, 2005). Quantitative Research is more about collecting numerical data to study about certain phenomena. For example, what percentage of Nepalese student who go to US for foreign degree complete graduate course in United States? Other examples may be what percentage of Nepalese students who are studying in TU have negative attitude towards TU administrations. One usually has to use quantitative research when one wants answer in numbers. However, one has to study about complex situations and go with in-depth studies then qualitative methods should be used. For example, researcher wants to know how people view politics in Nepal? Similarly, a researcher wants to do ethnographic study of the culture of Tharus of Nepal and lives with Tharu for some years, immerse himself/herself in that environment to discover the meanings, convention of behavior, and ways of thinking important in tharu cultures. Similarly, even though the selection of research methods are based upon the problem selected, resource available, the skills of researcher and audience of the research, both the methodologies are also used together in a research which is known as mixed methods. â€Å"Mixed methods often combine nomothetic and idiographic approaches in an attempt to serve the dual purposes of generalization and in-depth understanding—to gain an overview of social regularities from a larger sample while understanding the other through detailed study of a smaller sample. Full integration of these approaches is difficult, hence the predominance of component studies†(Pat Bazeley, 2004) References (Bazeley, 2004) Social Research Methods. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2012, from www.socialresearchmethods. net: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positivism (2005). In W. M. Trochium, Research Methods (2nd ed.).

The Computer Mediated Communication Media Essay

The Computer Mediated Communication Media Essay Computer-mediated communication is defined by Metz as cited in Miller Brunner, 2008 as any communication patterns mediated by a computer. The notion of CMC was first discussed in Licklider and Taylor (1968), which posits men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine (i.e., a computer) than face to face. After almost two decades of studies, researchers have found it increasingly useful to regard computers, through which communication is mediated, as a mass medium (Morris Ogan, 1996). With changes taking place in various aspects of life today due to proliferation of communication, Miller Brunner (2008) hold that research into CMC has become increasingly prominent. CMC studies in both education and business domains have been concerned about the effects of computer as a medium of mass communication (Morris Ogan, 1996). This is largely due to the following characteristics of CMC that Morris (as cited in Chen, 2009) has identified: ubiquity, transparency, asynchronism, hyper-reality, and interactivity. Contrary to its actual potential, earlier ideas about CMC advocated a lack of capacity to deliver rich social information due to text-based and visually anonymous environment (Yao Flanagin, 2004). CMC had been criticised to have inherently prevented interpersonal communication and encouraged impersonal interactions such as bashings on the Internet (Kiesler, Siegel, McGuire, 1984). Siegel, Dubrovsky, Kiesler, and McGuire (1986) find that computer-mediated groups tend to demonstrate more aggressive behavior such as name-calling and swearings, as compared to groups that use face-to-face interactions. Nevertheless, such a deterministic view was challenged in subsequent studies. For instance, it is claimed the email plays a positive role by deconstructing organisational structures, allowing for greater information exchange among more people, and improving socialisation (Spence, 2002). Besides, CMC users are found to be able to adapt to the virtual environment and develop interpersonal relationships that resemble relationships formed face-to-face (Yao Flanagin, 2004). It is also found that group collaboration in CMC has contributed to group processing outcomes deemed innovative and democratic (Miller Brunner, 2008). 2.2 A shift on the Internet The Internet is evolving into a PeopleWeb, which indicates a shift from a web comprised of pages to one populated by people and their artifacts and interactions (Ramakrishnan Tomkin, 2007). In that regard, social networking sites such as Facebook and Friendster that allow information sharing and sourcing, have become extremely popular in the new media (Lipsman, as cited in Pfeil et al., 2009), and according to Bausch and Han (2006), will continue to attract users in a large number. Users are moving away from a state of anonymity on the Internet (McKenna Bargh, 2000) with the evolvement of computer technologies. For instance, popular Chinese social networking site RenRen is concluded to be an extension of users real life as self-disclosure phenomenon elicited by reality rather than anonymity is found present on the site (Yu Wu, 2010). While web 1.0 is getting replaced by applications in the web 2.0 era such as blogs, wikis, and collaborative projects (Kaplan Haenlein, 2009), content now can be modified by all users in a participatory and collaborative manner rather than on an individual basis (Kaplan Haenlein, 2009; Cheung, Chiu, Lee, 2010). With the rise of the social networking sites, their popularity is gauged not only by the size of the user base, but also the ability to provide users with the most significant amount of interaction (Cheung et al., 2010). It is reported in Bausch and Han (2006) that users of the top ten social networking sites in the U.S. had grown from 46.8 million in 2006 to 68.8 million in the following year. The growth of social media has influenced social interaction among people and contributed to a new meaning of the interaction, where scholars have begun looking into (as cited in Lipsman, Pfeil et al., 2009). The ramification of the new media is, as Grossman (2006) puts it, a community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. The web 2.0 a revolution is as if a new version of some old software (Grossman, 2006). Papacharissi and Rubin (2000) have identified online empowerment of individuals linking to instrumentality, interactivity, activity, and involvement as the causes of influence of the new web. On the other hand, Jacobs et al. (2009) attribute the rapid growth of social media to its ability to allow users to produce and share content. While the active audience theory has been shunned as far as traditional media is concerned, Livingstone (1999) highlights the importance of audience activity in both the design and use of interactive media. In fact, the shift in media user activity has been discussed since as early as 1963, when Klapper (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008) put forth the idea that UG focuses on what people do with mass media, rather than what mass media does to people. Shin (2009) calls the UG approach a paradigm shift from traditional media research, where focus was placed on media effects (e.g., what media does to people). A review of the UG theory can be found after this sub-chapter. 2.3 Uses and gratifications (UG) theory The UG theory, otherwise known as the needs and gratifications theory (Roy, 2009, revolves around why and how people use certain media (Lo Leung, 2009). The term gratifications was coined by psychologist Herta Herzogto in 1944 to illustrate specific dimensions of radio audiences usage satisfaction, following which mass communication theorists had adopted and adapted the concept to study various mass media such as TV and electronic bulletins (Luo, 2002). The UG theory is built upon the basic assumption that audience has their own agenda and is deemed as active and goal-oriented rather than passive consumers of information (McQuail, Blumler, Brown, as cited in Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch, 1974). By assuming the audience to be active and goal-directed, the UG perspective posits that they opt for and consume certain media and content that would satisfy their psychological needs, which explains the motivation of their media use (Katz, Gurevitch, Hass, 1973; Rubin, as cited in Roy, 2009; Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch, as cited in Kim, Sohn, Choi, 2010). Such fulfillment of needs as a source of motivation, is proposed to be affecting user gratification of media use (Sangwan, 2005). The UG theory has been adopted and adapted over the years to study the use of various media ranging from the more conventional mass media to the new media and later to mobile technology (Stafford et al., 2004; Chigona et al., 2008; Roy, 2009; Shin, 2009; Liu et al., 2010). Although some scholars have questioned UGs utility in studying the digital media, Ruggiero (as cited in Quan-Haase, 2012) posits the need to seriously include the UG approach in any attempt to speculate on the future direction of mass communication theory. Besides, it is contended that whenever a new technology makes its way into the arena of mass communication, users underlying motivations and decisions to use the new communication tool could be explained by applying the UG paradigm (Elliott Rosenberg, Liu, Cheung Lee, 2010). However, in order to effectively study and measure the new media by using the UG scales intended for traditional media research, Lin (as cited in Shin, 2009) holds that a revision to the scales will be required. Consistent with Lins idea is Angleman (as cited in Shin, 2009), who believes existing theories require amendments in order to fit new media studies. Application of the UG theory in various new media studies has been reviewed and an overview of those studies with their respective motivations is presented in Table 1. Table 2.1: Overview of Prior Studies on New Media UG Author and year Research area Motivations identified James, Wotring, Forrest (1995) Electronic bulletin board (i.e., forums) Transmission of information and education, socialising, medium appeal, computer or other business, entertainment Korgaonkar Wolin (1999) Internet Social escapism, transaction, privacy, information, interaction, socialization, economic motivations Papacharissi (2002) Personal home pages Passing time, entertainment, information, self-expression, professional advancement, communication with friends and family Stafford et al. (2004) Internet Process: resources, search engines, searching, surfing, technology, web sites Content: education, information, knowledge, learning, research Social: chatting, friends, interactions, people Ko, Cho, Roberts (2005) Internet Information, convenience, entertainment, social-interaction Diddi LaRose (2006) Internet news Surveillance, escapism, pass time, entertainment, habit Cheung Lee (2009) Virtual comminity Purposive value, self-discovery, entertainment value, social enhancement, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity Haridakis Hanson (2009) YouTube Convenient entertainment, convenient information seeking, co-viewing, social interaction Mendes-Filho Tan (2009) User-generated content Content: information consistency, source credibility, argument quality, information framing Process: medium; entertainment Social: recommendation consistency, recommendation rating Liu, Cheung Lee (2010) Twitter Content: disconfirmation of self-documentation, disconfirmation of information sharing Process: disconfirmation of entertainment, disconfirmation of passing time, disconfirmation of self-expression Social: disconfirmation of social interaction Technology: disconfirmation of medium appeal, disconfirmation of convenience 2.4 Media user gratifications Katz et al. (1974) suggest research on gratifications has revolved around media-related needs that serve to satisfy media consumers at least in part who are deemed active and goal-oriented. Despite having a problem with ambiguity as far as definition is concerned, Weiss (1976) asserts that related key terms like uses, needs, satisfactions, gratifications, and motives are being used interchangeably across different papers and within single papers. Stafford et al. (2004) define gratifications as some aspects of user-reported satisfaction. It has been found that satisfaction of user motivations is positively correlated with future internet usage (Papacharissi Rubin, 2000). Before resorting to a certain behavior of media use, past experiences of individuals and whether or not their motivations can be satisfied by certain behaviors will be evaluated (McLeod Becker, as cited in Johnson Yang, 2008). Sangwan (2005) puts forth the idea that gratification can be used as a proxy measure to evaluate the success or failure of a virtual community, which is similar to that used in information systems. He proposes that gratification of media users will be affected by fulfillment of media needs that acts as a motivator. In this research, a total of 22 questions on social media use are employed as the instrument to evaluate and explain users motivations. By taking up the proposal by Sangwan (2005), the research outcome will tell if users motivations have an effect on the gratifications or satisfaction of media users. Detailed information on the research instrument can be referred to in Chapter 3. 2.5 Categorisations of needs and gratifications The UG theory proposes five categories of needs, namely cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative and tension release needs (Katz et al., 1973). Over the years, researchers appropriating the UG theory to study various media have discovered a plethora of different needs. While some of these needs are rather consistent with one of the earliest classifications of needs by Katz et al. (1973), others are not. In a study that examines the relations between web usage and satisfaction, Luo (2002) employs three constructs drawn from previous traditional media UG research, namely informativeness, entertainment, and irritation, in order to assess how each of them affects user attitude towards the web. Research results have confirmed the said constructs were what determine users attitude towards the web. Also employs similar constructs include such researchers as Eighmey (1997), Eighmey and McCord (1998), as well as Kargaonkar and Wolin (1999). Livaditi, Vassilopoulou, Lougos, and Chorianopoulos (2003), in their interactive TV applications UG study, catogorise media needs into the two basic constructs of ritualised and instrumental. Other researchers who have adopted such a classification of needs are Metzger and Flanagin, as well as Rubin (as cited in Ran, 2008), who have found that gratifications, as motivations, do lead to both ritualised and instrumental use of media. In Sangwan (2005), several types of needs have been identified to explain the motivations behind the use of virtual community platforms, such as forums: functional, emotive, and contextual needs. However, it is posited that although the research sample has been assumed to be active participants of virtual communities, there are also passive participants whose latent needs have yet to be identified (Sangwan, 2005). Cutler and Danowski, as well as Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008) divide motivations into the categories of process and content. Later, an additional category known as social motivations has been identified and included (Stafford Stafford, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008). Stafford et al. (2004) describe this additional social dimension as unique to Internet use. Although found to be the weakest variable among others, social motivations serves as a vital construct in the Internet-specific UG research (Stafford et al., 2004). Chigona et al. (2008), who appropriate the motivation categories verified in Stafford et al. (2004) to study mobile Internet UG, have confirmed the presence of all three constructs. Peters, Amato, and Hollenbeck (2007), as well as Mendes-Filho and Tan (2009) are among other researchers who have adopted the three constructs in their respectively studies of wireless advertising and user-generated content. Also adopting the instruments is Shin (2009), who, on top of the three motivation types, has added embedded gratifications to study wireless Internet use. Besides, Liu et al. (2010) also employ the three motivations types on top of an additional technology gratification to study Twitter use. 2.6 Process, content, and social motivations This study bases its main framework on one developed by Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), and later verified by Stafford et al. (2004): the three motivation types of process, content, and social. The rationale behind this choice has been explained in Chapter 1 under Statement of problem (p.zz). What is defined by each of the process, content, and social motivations, is illustrated in the next few paragraphs. Content gratifications from the UG theory are characterised by their relation to information content, such as product or store information (Stafford Stafford, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004) and place concern on messages carried by the medium (Stafford et al., 2004). Such motivations are stemmed from the use of mediated messages for the receivers intrinsic value (Cutler Danowski, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008). Content motivations take consideration into to the messages that a medium carries (Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009), which may be informative or entertaining (Stafford, 2009). Roy (2009) asserts that content is normally skewed towards entertainment and dispersion in UG studies of non-Internet media, as compared to informativeness in those of Internet. Nevertheless, certain Internet users may be motivated by such usage process as random browsing and site navigation (Hoffman and Danowski, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004). Process motivations are driven by the actual use of the medium per se (Cutler Danowski, as cited in Chigona et al., 2008; Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009), such as enjoyment of the process of using the Internet (Hoffman Novak, as cited in Stafford et al., 2004; Stafford, 2009). On the other hand, social motivations include such aspects as chatting, friendship, interactions, and people (Chigona et al., 2008). 2.7 Social dimension and the rising impact Social contacts and interactions have shifted from offline to online realms (Boyd, as cited in Smeele, 2010) and this social dimension defines what users understand about themselves and their relation to the communities (Dyson; McMillan Chavis, as cited in Jacobs et al., 2009). Stafford et al. (2004) posit the importance of looking into the potential UG of the Internet as a social environment, as researchers may be expected to discover emergent social gratifications for Internet use. Research by Jacobs et al. (2009) shows a majority of the students utilise social media in a manner that resembles the social friends and family setting. Besides, Ellison, Steinfield, ande Lampe (as cited in Ross, Orr, Sisic, Arseneault, Simmering, Orr, 2009) also assert that maintenance of pre-existing social relationships has been made possible and may be stronger through online platforms. Users now turn to the Internet more frequently to socialise with people they know and expand their circle of friends (Jones, as cited in Correa, Hinsley Zà ºÃƒ ±iga, 2010). Active participation on sites like Facebook, communication via texting and chat programmes, as well as creation of blogs have become a way of life for the new generation according to Jacobs et al. (2009). Correa et al. (2010) are of the opinion that individuals who choose not to engage online may be limiting their ability to advance socially as it is an increasingly user-generated environment. 2.8 The need to quantify social dimension Stafford et al. (2004) concede that there is limited evidence in support of the distinct social aspect to Internet use. Following the identification of social motivations in Stafford and Stafford (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), researchers are trying to validate this emerging motivation type, which eventually has been found present in studies by such researchers as Chigona et al. (2008), Haridakis and Hanson (2009), as well as Norway Brandtzà ¦g and Heim (as cited in Kim et al., 2010). Miller and Brunner (2008) hold that studies that focus specifically on the social aspect of online communicators and its theoretical foundations are lacking. For instance, although the social dimension is found present in a mobile Internet UG study by Chigona et al. (2008), the researchers merely confirm its existence without providing much elaboration into how it fares in contrast to content and process motivations the latter of which according to Aoki Downe; Leung Wei; Rubin; Stafford Gillenson; Stafford et al. (as cited in Chigona et al., 2008), are the most pronounced motivation types found on traditional Internet use. Besides, several social media studies also show that the social dimension does not live up to the medias supposedly social nature (e.g., Liu et al., 2010; Smeele, 2010; Xu, Ryan, Prybutok, Wen, 2012). 2.9 Genders and UG Gender differences have been identified as an important aspect in computer-related research (Gunawardena McIsaac, as cited in Kim Chang, 2007). The issue of limited women in the fields of technology and ICT remains a topic of interest for both the scientific community and decision-makers today (Sà ¡inz Là ³pez-Sà ¡ez, 2010). Some studies have suggested that females may be more inclined to have computer anxiety and lower self-efficacy due to the socio-cultural background of gender (Halder, Ray, Chakrabarty, 2010). Gutek and Bikson (as cited in Harrison Rainer, 1992) also find that men tend to demonstrate computer-related skills at workplace. In another instance, Wilder, Mackie, and Cooper (as cited in Harrison Rainer, 1992) find that males show greater interest in using a computer compared to females. In more recent research, Leung (2003) finds socioeconomic status such as gender, with the exception of age, to be predictive of Internet use, and that heavy users of the web are usually males. Although Okazaki (2006) asserts that effect of gender on mobile Internet service adoption is uncertain, married women indicate more negative perceptions than married men. Besides, a study on mobile phone UG by Ran (2008) reveals that males are significantly skewed towards a certain news-seeking need. Roy (2009) also discovers gender-related differences in perceived Internet use. In terms of social media UG, gender-related differences have also been found in a slew of studies such as Sveningsson Elm (2007), Joinson (2008), Jones, Millermaier, Goya-Martinez, and Schuler (2008), Thelwall (2009), as well as Thelwall, Wilkinson, and Uppal (2010). Volman, van Eck, Heemskerk, and Kuiper (2005) contend that the development of software, websites, and even teaching materials needs to have gender sensitivities taken into consideration in order to facilitate better learning among male and female pupils, who demonstrate very different preferences and attitudes towards ICT. Also in line with their idea are Halder, Ray, and Chakrabarty (2010), who suggest the importance of studying behavioral differences between people with respect to information processing and searching as such behaviors have to be more holistically understood and generalised before information retrieval systems and user support services are designed. Those are some implications of how gender differences could impact human behavior associated with the acceptance of information and technologies. With gender being neglected as a significant variable, studying human information behavior will remain incomplete (Nahl Harada; Roy, Taylor, Chi, as cited in Halder, Ray, and Chakrabarty, 2010). It is, therefore, of the essence to find out if the influence of gender is valid in this social media UG study. If valid, which aspect of motivations is users social media experience influenced the most?

Insomnia Essay -- essays research papers

INTRODUCTION  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stephen King’s Number One Best-Seller, Insomnia, is a book about an elderly man named Ralph Roberts who begins to suffer from early waking. This form of insomnia grows into a terrible problem for Ralph as he begins to awaken earlier and earlier each morning. People begin to comment about his health and sickly appearance. Many take it upon themselves to recommend old-fashioned home remedies that aren’t supposed to fail. Ralph attempted everything from staying up all night (much to his dismay, he found himself growing more and more awake as the early morning hours passed) to sucking on honeycomb. None of the-tried-and true remedies work and by the time Ralph is getting only about an hour of sleep each night, Ralph begins to see auras around people. Naturally, Ralph begins to think that he is becoming senile because of his old age of 70, even one of his best friends tells him that he has lost it. When Ralph meets two little men from another realm of consciousness and they reveal that they caused him to lose sleep. They explained to him that losing sleep enable him to see the auras that he had begun to see, he is quite relieved to find that he isn‘t insane. This story progresses to its climax in which Ralph must take on a man who is unknowingly helping the king of the dark side, known as the Random in this thriller, kill two thousand people. There is a little boy amongst these people who will save two men in the future, these men are destined to help the light side, known as the Purpose. During the fight, Ralph takes on the king of the Random himself and wins. This saves the little boy and according to the two little men, the universe is balanced once again. As promised by the two little otherworldly men, life returns to normal for Ralph and he can once again sleep.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What happened to Ralph in this work is a very imaginative look at what happens to a person suffering from insomnia. In scientific reports, there isn’t evidence of the patient seeing auras, being capable of rising to other levels of consciousness at will, or even entering levels which make them invisible to the human eye, as Ralph did in the book. Sufferers of insomnia in the real world will experience difficulties such as: da... ...oncentration; stress, anxiety, irritability, sleepiness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This loss of sleep comes in many different flavours such as difficulty falling asleep, not having a problem falling asleep but a problem staying asleep (many awakenings), and waking up too early. This can lead to many problems in a person’s life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of the three forms of insomnia, chronic insomnia is the most serious and can last for a month or longer. This form is usually more complex and may be caused by a number of factors, including underlying physical or mental disorders. One of the most common causes of chronic insomnia is depression. Physical causes include arthritis and sleep apnea. Other causes are related to behaviors such as the misuse of caffeine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Insomnia can be cured with proper treatments. Popular treatments for this difficulty sleeping include relaxation therapy and reconditioning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though insomnia may be glamorized by some authors, this problem is nothing to fantasize about, it is a serious problem if it is chronic and should be attended to if it lasts as long as a month.

Music and Religion in African-American Slave Culture

The buying, selling, and trading of human beings for personal labor, slavery, Is often thought to be singlehandedly the most atrocious thing that mankind as a whole has created. The horrors these innocent men, women, and children faced on a day to day basis was parallelled perhaps only by the soldiers fighting the war over their freedom. Though slavery was full of negatives, it also blossomed with positives as a means to cope.African-American slaves used several aspects of their native African ulture to cope, two primary components being music and religion. Slaves worked under constant watch by their owners, constantly fearing punishment for a slip-up. Enslaved African-Americans obviously resented the way they were being treated, end devised ways to rebel against their owners right under their noses.Reaching back to their African roots, slaves sang seemingly harmless songs to one another as they worked under the sweltering sum Little did their owners know that the slaves had eaved in tricate secret messages into their lyrical pieces, such as metaphors intended to ridicule their masters or to send signals to other slaves. Their music was a mix of tribal African rhythms and American religious music, as they relied heavily on their religion to cope from day to day.Even though their outlook was bleak, Slaves stayed positive in the face of sheer adversity through their faith. The most common faith emong slaves was that of christlanlty. he christlan doctrine being passed down from fathers to sons and so on, Initially, some slaves were not chrlstlan. and held fast to their old polytheistic beliefs from their home, Africa. Asslmllatlon was inevitable however, and nearly all negro slaves were converted Their native religion did not cease to exist, but rather lived on through a stylized take on christianity.They incorporated several aspects of the African religion with christianity, such as rituals and vocalization. Sometimes both religion and music came hand in hand to t he slaves, who praised their Lord through song and dance. Slaves kept their heads high in hopes of being freed someday. Even today, the Influences of slave music and religion can be seen In modern religion, gospel music, hip-hop, rap. and the like. Even though slavery Is a memory many try to forget, It can still be remembered positively through the culture that emerged through the confinement

Collusion

Collusion is an agreement between two or more parties, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage. [citation needed] It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities. [1] It can involve â€Å"wage fixing, kickbacks, or misrepresenting the independence of the relationship between the colluding parties†. 2] In legal terms, all acts affected by collusion are considered void. [3] | In the study of economics and market competition, collusion takes place within an industry when rival companies cooperate for their mutual benefit. Collusion most often takes place within the market structure of oligopoly, where the decision of a few firms to collude can significantly impact the market as a whole. Cartels are a special case of e xplicit collusion. Collusion which is not overt, on the other hand, is known as tacit collusion. How is OPEC a collusive oligopoly? Answer:OPEC is a collection of oil exporting countries. Oligopoly – Industry that is controlled by a few major players (firms or countries) Collusion – When industry leaders secretly agree to limit quantities of production. This will guarantee the colluders a higher price for their product OPEC meet to discuss the quantity of oil they will allow onto the world market. This is collusion. Because the OPEC members are the main suppliers of oil they are said to be an Collusion and Cartels by David A. Mayer One of the blessings of competition is that it leads to lower prices for consumers.For the producer, however, this blessing is a curse. Low prices often mean low profits. Given a choice between competition and cooperation, profit-maximizing firms would more often than not prefer cooperation. Regardless of what you learned in kindergarten, yo u do not want the businesses you buy from to cooperate. You want them to compete. Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, warned that nothing beneficial comes from the heads of business getting together. In the United States, firms are forbidden from cooperating to set prices or production.The abuses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century trusts were the impetus for the â€Å"trust-busting† of President Theodore Roosevelt. With the Sherman Antitrust Act and later the Clayton Antitrust Act, the government prohibited outright collusion and other business practices that reduced competition. Prior to OPEC, world oil prices were mainly under the control of the Texas Railroad Commission. With the rise of OPEC came a shift in power from U. S. producers to the oil states of the Middle East. Even though it violates the law, businesses from time to time will collude in order to set prices.Colluding firms can divide up the market in a way that is beneficial for them. Th e firms avoid competition, set higher prices, and reduce their operating costs. Because collusion is illegal and punishable by fine and prison, executives at firms are reluctant to engage in the practice. The meetings of business leaders are almost always in the presence of attorneys in order to avoid the accusation of collusion. Forming Cartels Businesses that collude may form cartels. A cartel is a group of businesses that effectively function as a single producer or monopoly able to charge whatever price the market will bear.Probably the best-known modern cartel is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. OPEC is made up of thirteen oil-exporting countries and is thus not subject to the antitrust laws of the United States. OPEC seeks to maintain high oil prices and profits for their members by restricting output. Each member of the cartel agrees to a production quota that will eventually reduce overall output and increase prices. OPEC is bad news for anyone that enjoys cheap gasoline. Fortunately for consumers, cartels have an Achilles heel.The individual members of a cartel have an incentive to cheat on their agreement. Cartels go through periods of cooperation and competition. When prices and profits are low, the members of the cartel have an incentive to cooperate and limit production. It is the cartel's success that brings the incentive to cheat. If the cartel is successful, the market price of the commodity will rise. Individual members driven by their own self-interest will have an incentive, the law of supply, to ever-so-slightly exceed their production quota and sell the excess at the now higher price.The problem is that all members have this incentive and the result is that eventually prices will fall as they collectively cheat on the production quota. Cartels must find ways to discourage cheating. Drug cartels use assassination and kidnapping, but OPEC uses something a little more civilized. The single largest producer in th e cartel is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia also has the lowest cost of production. If a member or members cheat on the cartel, then Saudi Arabia can discipline the group by unleashing its vast oil reserves, undercutting other countries' prices, and still remain profitable.After a few months or even years of losses, the other countries would then have an incentive to cooperate and limit production once again. * Definition: OPEC stands for The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is an organization of 12 oil-producing countries that effectively control the world's oil. OPEC members pump out 42% of the world's annual supply, controlling 61% of exports. This situation isn't likely to change, since these 12 countries hold 80% of the world's proven oil reserves. For these reasons, OPEC's decisions are critical to countries that depend on oil imports.What Does OPEC Do? OPEC states quite plainly that its goal is to manage the world's supply of oil. It does this to make sure its mem bers get what they consider a good price for their oil. Since oil is a fairly uniform commodity, most of its consumers base their buying decisions on nothing other than price. What's a good price? In the past, OPEC said it was around $70-$80 per barrel. If prices drop below that target, OPEC members agree to restrict supply to send prices higher. Otherwise, they would wind up increasing the supply to make more national revenue.By competing with each other, they would drive prices even lower. This would stimulate even more demand, and OPEC countries will run out of their most precious resource that much faster. When prices are higher than $80 a barrel, oil-producing countries would naturally want to produce more to bring in extra national revenue. However, if they did that, they increase supply, lowering the price. Instead, OPEC members agree to produce only enough to keep the price high for all members. Furthermore, if prices are too much higher than $80 a barrel, then other countri es have the incentive to drill more expensive oil fields.Sure enough, now that oil prices are closer to $100 a barrel, it's become cost effective for Canada to explore its shale oil fields, and for the U. S. to use fracking. As a result, non-OPEC supply has increased. OPEC's second goal is to reduce oil price volatility. That's because, at current prices and rates of production, OPEC countries have enough oil to last for 113 years. In addition, oil is expensive to produce. For maximum efficiency, oil extraction must run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, closing facilities could physically damage oil installations and even the fields themselves.Ocean drilling is especially difficult and expensive to shut down. Therefore, it's in OPEC's best interests to keep world prices stable. For example, in June 2008, prices spiked to $143/barrel. OPEC responded by agreeing to produce a little more oil, which brought prices down. However, the global financial crisis brought oil pric es down to $33. 73/barrel in December. OPEC responded by reducing the supply, helping prices to again stabilize. A slight modification is usually enough to restore price stability. OPEC also adjusts the world's oil supply in response to crises and shortages.For example, it replaced the oil lost during the Gulf Crisis in 1990. Several million barrels of oil per day were cut off when Saddam Hussein armies destroyed refineries in Kuwait. OPEC alos increased production in 2011 during the crisis in Libya. The Oil and Energy Ministers from the OPEC members meet twice a year, or more if needed, to coordinate their oil production policies. Each member country abides by an honor system, agreeing to only produce a certain amount. However, if a country winds up producing more, there really is no sanction or penalty.Furthermore, each country is responsible for reporting its own production. Therefore, there is room for â€Å"cheating. † On the other hand, a country won't go too far over i ts quota, since it doesn't want to risk being kicked out of OPEC. Despite its power, OPEC cannot completely control the price of oil. In some countries, additional taxes are imposed on gasoline and other oil-based end products to promote conservation. More importantly, oil prices are actually set by the oil futures market. Much of the oil price is determined by these commodities traders. For more on this, see Why Are Oil Prices So High?OPEC Members OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia alone produces enough oil to materially impact the world's supply. For this reason, it really has more authority and influence than the other countries. Here's a ranking of production by member: 1. Saudi Arabia – 9. 311 million barrels/day. 2. Iran – 3. 576 mb/d. 3. Venezuela – 2. 881 mb/d. 4. Kuwait – 2. 659 mb/d. 5. Iraq – 2. 653 mb/d. 6. UAE – 2. 565 mb/d. 7. Niger ia – 1. 975 mb/d. 8. Angola – 1. 618 mb/d. 9. Algeria – 1. 162 mb/d. 10. Qatar – . 734 mb/d. 11.Ecuador – . 5 mb/d. 12. Libya – . 489 mb/d. (Source: OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2012) Many non-OPEC members also voluntarily adjust their oil production in response to OPEC's decisions. In the 1990s, they learned that increasing their own production to take advantage of OPEC's restraints meant oil prices stayed low, restricting profits for everyone. These cooperating non-OPEC members include Mexico, Norway, Oman and Russia. OPEC History In 1960, five OPEC countries formed an alliance to regulate the supply, and to some extent, the price of oil. These countries realized they had a non-renewable resource.If they competed with each other, the price of oil would be so low that they would run out sooner than if oil prices were higher. This first meeting was held September 10-14 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq. The five founding members were Iran, Iraq, Kuw ait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. OPEC was registered with the UN on November 6, 1962. (Source: OPEC Frequently Asked Questions) Article updated March 13, 2013 The acronym OPEC is short for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Through its 12 member countries, the group controls nearly 80% of the world’s crude oil reserves and about 45% of its worldwide production.This makes it extremely influential in the market for crude oil and its derivatives, like gasoline and diesel fuels. OPEC member countries include: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Most of these countries rely on oil prices to sustain their 408 million combined inhabitants. Consequently, OPEC was designed to unify petroleum policies, ensure price stability and facilitate market efficiency. The Origins of OPEC OPEC was originally started by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in the 1960s.While their initial o bjectives were reasonable, OPEC was soon labeled a cartel by many Western countries, given its practice of adopting output rationing in order to maintain certain price levels. Similarly, its political motivations have also contributed to its image. In 1973, OPEC became infamous for its oil embargo that punished the United States and Western Europe for its support of Israel against Arab nations in the Yom Kippur War. The resulting shortage led to limits on gas available at gas stations and eventually a worldwide economic recession that saw high unemployment and inflation.OPEC’s Declining Influence In the 1980s, OPEC suffered from a six-year decline in oil prices due to reduced demand and over-supply that led to a glut in the world market. While OPEC lost its unity during the 1980s and early 1990s during the Gulf War, oil prices recovered after the September 11th attacks against the United States and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. As of 2011, OPEC continues to publish recommended production quotas designed to increase the price of oil, but member countries aren’t as keen as they used to be on compliance.For instance, one Saudi Arabian official told the New York Times that the country would meet the market’s demand, presumably despite any quotas from OPEC. OPEC Finally Reaches an Agreement In December of 2011, OPEC reached a new agreement on production quotas for the first time in three years. Output from the 12 member states was set at 30 million barrels per day, which was roughly in-line with the supply at the time. The result in the financial markets after the announcement was a muted 1. 8% decline in crude oil futures.OPEC leaders also discussed how to handle the decreased production from Libya after the fall of Moammar Qaddhafi. Shortly after the supply cut, Saudi Arabia stepped in and increased production, which was met with distaste from Iran and Venezuela. The matter was resolved by temporarily eliminating country-specific qu otas until a June 2012 meeting. OPEC’s Influence on Investors While OPEC hadn’t agreed on production targets for some time, primarily due to Saudi Arabia’s opposition, the organization did manage to set a new production target in late-2011 of 30 million barrels per day, which was largely in-line with current production.The agreement could mean more cohesion among its membership and additional quotas imposed down the line. Those trading in the crude oil or derivative markets since the 1970s are very familiar with OPEC’s influence on pricing. If the organization can agree on set prices, their control over a large portion of the market enables them to significantly influence prices. Until 2011, this was largely a non-issue given Saudi Arabia’s opposition to any limits. Key Takeaway Points * OPEC began in the 1960s as a way to control oil prices in countries where oil was a primary source of livelihood for citizens. OPEC turned political in the 1970s a fter the oil embargo and member disagreements hurt its power throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. * While OPEC has struggled with member cohesion, the organization has managed to strike an agreement in late-2011 and will meet again in June of 2012. Definition Collusion occurs when firms in a market chose an optimal level of output for that market in order to maximize total industry profits (Baye, 2006). Collusion typically occurs in the oligopoly market model when the number of firms are few as opposed to many.This can simply be explained by the fact that when firms are working together, the more firms that have to work together the harder it is to make everyone happy. See Wiki page about oligopoly for further information: http://mbaecon. wikispaces. com/oligopoly%26nbsp%3B. See Wiki page about monopolistic competition to see why collusion is more difficult with many firms: http://mbaecon. wikispaces. com/monopolistic+competition. Monitoring the agreement This can be seen in that f irms must monitor one another such that their collusion agreement is kept.This can be accomplished by monitoring the other firms in the collusion agreement. There comes a point at which because there are so many firms in the agreement that the costs of monitoring the other firms outweighs the benefits from the collusion agreement. This monitoring can be seen by the formula n*(n-1) where n is the number of firms in the agreement. If there are six firms in agreement there must be 30 (6*(6-1)=30) monitors to keep everyone aware that all the firms in the agreement are holding to the terms. As the number of firms increase in the market the number of monitors increases dramatically.How collusion occurs The first way collusion occurs is that firms will meet and agree not to steal each others customers, and if one firm tries to steal anothers customers there will be retaliation. This form of collusion is called explicit collusion. Another way firms collude may not involve physically meeting or talking at all. Overtime firms may reach a nonverbal understanding that they will leave each other alone, but if one firms tries to steal customers there are consequences. The second form of collusion just discussed is called tacit collusion.Tacit collusion occurs when the behaviors of the players in the market are learned. If you try to steal customers and get attacked back, eventually your firm will probably stop trying to steal customers. On the other hand if you lower prices in order to steal customers and there is no retaliation, or the retaliation is not effective, tacit collusion will not occur. Legality Collusion is considered illegal within the United States, European Union, and Canada. Collusion falls within the category of antitrust laws/competition laws. These are laws that prohibit anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices.These laws make certain practices illegal because they hurt the businesses, consumers, or both, typically violating standards of et hical behavior (wikipedia-antitrust, 2006). Tacit collusion because of the fact that it is the learned behaviors of the players in the market is much more difficult to enforce, because specifically there has been no formal agreement, because of this tacit collusion can and does occur today. Questions: Which is not a form of collusion? A. ) The behaviors of a competing firm in the same market of a second firm are learned. B. Two firms meet and agree not to steal one another's customers. C. ) If an agreement has been reached to not steal one another's customer has been breached, retaliation will occur. D. ) One firm lowers prices to compete against another when there was no agreement against it. Answer: D. ) This is just the normal game of business that occurs every day. There is no collusion because one firm is lowering a price without specific knowledge or an understanding that there will be repercussions or action taken or not taken because of this action. In a finite number of gam es collusion will be more likely to occur: A. On the second to last turn. B. ) From the beginning. C. ) Once a tacit understanding of business practices has been reached. D. ) Will not occur because there is no effective punishment method that can be used. Answer: D. ) Will not occur because there is no effective punishment method that can be used. This is because of the ending nature of the finite number of games to be played. Each period the players in the game know what the last period will hold, and because they know the last periods outcome, the second to last game is the last game.It is because the second to last game is now the last game that once again the players know how each member of the collusion will act because there is no punishment that can be effective. This continues on until the first game being played, and each member of the collusion knows that each member will cheat, so collusion will not occur. Sustained collusion is more likely to occur when firms know: A. ) their rivals. B. ) who their rivals customers are. C. ) when their rivals deviate from the agreement. D. ) All the above. Answer: D. ) All the above.This are all reasons why a sustained collusion is more likely to occur. The last reason not listed is that firms must be able to successfully punish rivals for deviating from the agreement. A small firm with 1 outlet and a large firm with 10 outlets decide to collude, the small firm: A. ) is at an advantage because they only have to focus on the big competitor. B. ) is at an advantage because they are now â€Å"safe† from the big competitor. C. ) is at a disadvantage because they have to monitor more locations then the larger firm does. D. is at a disadvantage because they have less bargaining power when the â€Å"contract† needs to be renegotiated. Answer: C. ) is at a disadvantage because they have to monitor more locations then the larger firm does. This is because economies of scale exist within the monitoring act. Th e larger firm only has to monitor the one outlet of its collusive partner. The smaller firm has to monitor the larger firms 10 outlets, which most likely will cost more and be a larger percentage of the â€Å"savings† associated with the collusive agreement.