Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Dystopian Literature The Dark Sides Of Our Dreams

Using the text as a frame of reference, how does dystopian literature demonstrate the power of fear? Dystopian fiction shows what happens if people don t fear for what s to come. Fear influences people very substantially, changing the actions they make. As it says in the text, â€Å"Dystopias are the dark sides of our dreams. There are common themes and stylistic choices because all of the distorted mirrors that authors are holding up are trying to show us the same things. They are trying to give us the same warnings - what the world might look like if we take our quest for perfection too far.† Authors want us to be fearful of the future, so we do not have to go down the path of a dystopian future. Fear can be seen as a tool, and it can be†¦show more content†¦Using the text as a frame of reference, what are the expenses and benefits of technology? Technology can be fought over and also requires money, lots of money. Research for better technology costs a ton of mone y. Benefits would be technology making life easier, and longer, which are the overall goals for humanity. More technology also leads into two different directions, a utopia, or a dystopia. More technology could either cause more fighting, or more peace. When a country or such has technology that another country doesn’t, and that country wants it, the other country would try to get that technology. A good way to get around that would be sharing technology, but when you can have an advantage over your enemies, you wouldn’t want to give up that advantage. That’s one of the reasons a utopia could never exist. As the text explains, â€Å"However, throughout the 1900s, no matter how much humanity progressed, perfection was never achieved. The promises of technology and sociopolitical theory only resulted in war, poverty, famine, and chaos. â€Å" To put it simply, technology is a blessing and a curse. Why do you believe dystopian literature focuses on the expenses of technology? The expenses are worth worrying about. The benefits may be great, but the expenses can make technology a bad thing. Dystopias are an example of what happens if technology is not put to use correctly. As it says in the text, â€Å"The truth is, dystopian fiction presents a funhouse mirror of ourShow MoreRelatedThe Dystopian Novel Of Literature2214 Words   |  9 Pagescan warn the people of a dark future to come, and make the general population aware of large problems that need to be fixed. This genre of course is the Dystopian one. Every single dystopian piece of literature is not just a book with a lesson in it, but a warning. Almost all dystopian books pick at flaws that the author has seen in their society, and the book just is an alternate universe in some sorts where those flaws were never fixed. And of course with these dystopian books their needs to beRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s Montag s Faces1269 Words   |  6 Pagesis bobbing up and down in the darkne ss, in what seems to be a helicopter not unlike one already hunting him down. Words could not seem to form in his mouth, and instead, his gaping face fills with the dark water of the river. Perhaps the technological advancements of this helicopter are on his side, considering that seconds later a mechanical claw was lifting him out of the murky abyss. A relieving thought among all of the confusion, that this must have been the helicopter he saw flying ahead, ratherRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Maze Runner 1738 Words   |  7 Pagesliterary works that are important from a specific period of time or location? This is the definition of a literary canon; but first let’s break it down to figure out what this canon is. A canon according to the Cambridge dictionaries in the sense of literature is: â€Å"all the writings or other works known to be by a particular person.† (Cambridge). The term, â€Å"canon† can refer to the works of more than one person as well. I n order for a book to fall into the literary canon it has to obtain a certain officialRead MoreWar Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength2328 Words   |  10 Pagesvarious types of governance have been the topic for many authors. The late novelist Ayn Rand wrote many books on the trouble that a socialist government could bring and espoused the virtue of individualism. She felt that by allowing government to limit our individual freedoms, we were sentencing ourselves to a certain death. She wrote that â€Å"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only byRead MoreCritics of Novel 1984 by George Orwell14914 Words   |  60 PagesBROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Written by: George Orwell Type of Work: novel Genres: utopian literature; social criticism First Published: 1949 Setting: Oceania Main Characters: Winston Smith; Julia; OBrien; Big Brother/Emmanuel Goldstein Major Thematic Topics: mutability of the past; the existence of fact through memory; memory; history; language; oppression of writers Motifs: repressed sexuality; dreams Major Symbols: Newspeak; prole woman; birds; telescreens; glass paperweight The three mostRead MoreRomanticism and Modernism as Strange Bedfellows: A Fresh Look at Jack Kerouacs On the Road12240 Words   |  49 Pagesmotheaten overcoat† (306) without a car, walking alone in the frigid New York night. The next subject is the west, the American symbol of autonomy and freedom. The west and its wild, unbridled spirit have been celebrated as an American utopia in literature, lore, song and cinema. Paradise states early on â€Å"the stars seemed to get brighter the more we climbed the High Plains. We were in Wyoming. Flat on my back, I stared straight up at the magnificent firmament, glorying in the time I was making† (30)Read MorePolitics and The English Language: George Orwell ´s Literature3705 Words   |  15 Pagesissues which had once been hidden. No matter what side of the social spectrum one categorises themselves in, it is undeniable that Orwell’s essays resonate a certain quality of genuine concern for society which is echoed throughout his formulaic journey of writing in â€Å"Why I Write†,   the prophetic piece depicting politic’s influence on a writer’s conscience in â€Å"Writers and Leviathan† and in Orwell’s emphasis on the duality of politics and literature in â€Å"Politics and the English Language† which reverberatesRead MoreA Marxist Approach Of Orwell s 1984 Essay7236 Words   |  29 Pagesobjective of Marxist Literary Theory is explained: ?Despite their diversity, all Marxist theories of literature have a simple premise in common: that literature can only be properly understood within a larger framework of social reality? (Jefferson, Robey 135). In other words, throughout the many different schools of Marxist Criticism, Marxist critics agree that in order to understand literature, one must place literary works in the context of social reality: It [social reality] has a definite shapeRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagescoherence of the chronological twentieth century. And the reunification of Germany and the reemergence of international terrorism, which were powerfully symptomatic of the unprecedented reach and intensity of the processes of globalization on either side of the otherwise unremarkable last and first years of the old and new millennia, represented both a return to trends reminiscent of the opening decades of the twentieth century and a major break from the prevailing dynamics of the cold war. In addition

Monday, December 16, 2019

Bob chuck close Free Essays

Bob is a piece of artwork created by chuck close in 1970 in the united states. A synthetic polymer white and black painting on canvas. Let is one of the one of series of eight large black and white portraits that Close painted between 1967 and 1970. We will write a custom essay sample on Bob chuck close or any similar topic only for you Order Now THe subject if this painting is Robert Israel one of the CLose’s friend, a new York based opera designer Chuck Close uses a girding technique . THe effect of this technique Is that the artwork almost looks exactly as the original. He took a photo of Robert and then grid the Image to then copy on the canvas. He uses black planting applied with an allures to lulled up dark tones. The airbrushing helped to blend two or more colors on the planting In a seamless way. IT makes softly define edge colors I will be using the formal analytical frame work to analyze the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close created In 1970. I will be analyzing the artwork using the elements and principles of design, looking at the techniques he has used to create the artwork, exploring what type of style he has used and any metaphors and symbols he may have used in his artwork. The elements and principles have been applied to this artwork by using elements ND principles like tone, emphasis, contrast, form, texture and focal point. Close uses tone to create a dark shade in his artwork, this helps make the artwork seem more realistic. Contrast is a large part of this artwork; it shows the realism in the artwork by having the black on white in different parts of the artwork. The texture of the artwork seems smooth; we can easily see the smoothness of the skin because of the tone and emphasis of the lines in the artwork. The focal point of the image is around his eyes and glasses. The technique that Close uses is a girding technique. The way Close goes about with his technique is that he will find a photo that he has taken and then will grid the image and then transfer that over to another piece of paper or whatever he chooses to work on. The effect of this technique is that the artwork almost looks exactly the same as the original photo. The artist was trying to portray a general image of himself. The processes the artist has used to create the artwork are using a camera to capture the image he wants to draw and then grinding the image to blow it up and draw it. The Influence of Close’s work is to make photo realistic artworks. The artwork Is realistic. What the artist has done with his technique Is that he has taken photography to the next step by actually drawing the Image In an exact copy of what he had with the image. The artist hasn’t used any symbols or metaphors In this Image, the only symbol that I could figure that would be classed as a symbol would be the fact that the artwork Is photo realistic. In the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close, we see a range of elements and principles of art, such as tone, emphasis and texture. Due to his grinding technique, It has allowed him to make his artwork to seem realistic. HIS style of photo realism allows him to use the elements and principles to create this type of artwork. Bob chuck close By karakas Chuck Close uses a girding technique . THe effect of this technique is that the artwork image to then copy on the canvas. He uses black painting applied with an airbus to build up dark tones. The airbrushing helped to blend two or more colors on the painting in a seamless way. IT makes softly define edge colors I will be using the formal analytical frame work to analyze the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close created in The influence of Close’s work is to make photo realistic artworks. How to cite Bob chuck close, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Essay Paper For Romeo And Juliet Example For Students

Essay Paper For Romeo And Juliet Passions make great drama, but in life they can have terrible consequences. Discuss the above statement with reference to Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet. As the title suggests, Shakespeares famous play Romeo and Juliet, centres around the protagonists, Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in beautiful Verona in Italy. Two families of equal, noble rank (the Montagues and the Capulets); have a long standing vendetta, which has recently flared up: their followers have killed each other in single strife. The children of these mortal enemies were fated to fall in love; their tragic deaths ended their parents feud. Passion is one of the central themes in Shakespeares tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Through Shakespeares characterisation and narrative, the audience learns about different kinds of passion. For example I have chosen 3 scenes to discuss and show how the passion evolved, I will also look at the story and how it add tension with passion. Act 1 scene 5 I have chosen the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet in Act one, Scene five in which Romeo goes to the Capulet party and first sees Juliet. When Romeo sees Juliet for the first time he is infatuated and finally realises that this is his first and true love. Shakespeare shows this by having Romeo and Juliet take it in turns to speak the lines of a sonnet, this shows how in tune they are with each other. Romeos words when he first sees Juliet are a complete contrast to the chatter and noise of the rest of the party. He speaks in poetry, using rhyming couplets. Within Romeos speech he uses a lot of soft letters and sounds which has the effect of slowing down and softening the lines. Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet was set over a period of five days which means that their love is raw and intense and the two characters just want to act upon it I think that this is because they have a sexual lust for one another and they are blocking out the outside world which is causing destruction for the both of them and that is one of the things that makes this scene memorable because they are so quick to fall in love and are completely besotted with each other so fast. In the play, to show that they are both infatuated with each other they have to move in a certain way to show their feelings as body language explains just as much as words can sometimes. I think that to show that you are obsessed by another person you would have to move around them and try to be as close to them as possible. In this scene in which they first meet they recite a sonnet to one another which shows that they are in love. It does this because it shows how in tune the two people are with one another, due to the fact that they both take it in turns to recite the lines of the sonnet. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers sake Then move not while my prayers effect I take. These lines are the last two of Romeos sonnet about Juliet when he falls in love with her; Shakespeare has created poetry as the language of love. I would instruct the actor playing Romeo to seem amazed in his mind as Rosaline is now in the past and he has fallen madly in love with Juliet, I would also ask him to be bold and not want to let go of Juliet. I would like the lights low and a romantic, slow song going on in the background. Juliet is in the party mood due to being at a major social convention, until she meets Romeo, from then on she is confused because she is due to be married to Paris, and she has fallen in love with someone else. When she finds out that Romeo is a Montague she is very mindful because she knows the trouble between the different family names. Act 3 scene 1 The second scene that I have chosen is Act 3 Scene 1 because the fight scene is probably the most influential point in the play, as it is the turning point from bad to good, all seems well until this scene. At the beginning of the fight scene in which we see Mercutio, Benvolio, and some Montague servants, talking of how they want to go home after the day has been a long one; their minds soon change when the Capulets arrive. The Montagues seemed worried, they fear that maybe the Capulets are mad that they sneaked into the Capulets party, but it seems that is not the reason. Try to show clearly the steps whereby Olivia; a veiled lady in mourning falls in love so quickly EssayShakespeare often set the action of his plays in foreign countries and/or in the past, yet they are nevertheless very much concerned with the contemporary Elizabethan/Jacobean society in which he lived. Similarly Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, Italy and yet it still represented the contemporary Elizabethan/Jacobean in which he lived. It was four hundred years ago, William Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, it is a popular play that continues to capture the imagination and emotions of people around the world. The drama portrays the passionate, violent and often desperate lives of the youth of Verona. Even today, the tragedy resembles a blueprint of the problems that the adolescents of the twentieth century must face each day. In this play, Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of young love and the consequences they receive from their actions. They explained their love to be true love and they knew that they had to be together, even though their families were enemies and it was truly forbidden for the two of them to marry. Romeo and Juliet kept their relationship secret from the start, in fear that their love affair would be rejected by their feuding families. That is what led to the death of both lovers. Had they held a more open relationship, eventually, both families would have accepted it. However, considering the circumstances, the street brawl and the later death of Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet felt that their parents would not have been able to understand the love between the two youths. In todays society, youth are constantly advocating the change from total dependence on family, to their own independence. Young people often think they know better than their parents, often believing that instead of helping them, they are only punishing them. Romeo and Juliet thought that they new better than their parents, but after re alizing the wrong they caused when both committing suicide. Romeo was too young to realize that he had to take responsibility for his actions and he had to accept the consequences. This is one of the pitfalls that Shakespeare portrayed in his play for young love. Romeo did not understand the outcomes of his actions. He never realized this until the damage was done. He was too involved in and self obsessed with his love for Juliet that he didnt devote himself to any other circumstances. Young love is often an ever-changing emotion that enthrals adolescents. When a boy sees a beautiful girl, he often thinks that he is in love. That is similar to the emotion Romeo experienced: To call hers, exquisite, in question more.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Stalin’s Reign of Terror Essay Example

Stalin’s Reign of Terror Essay Stalin’s Reign of Terror Name: Course: Date: We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Stalin’s Reign of Terror The book, Journey into the Whirlwind, by Eugenia Ginzburg is a memoir based on the 1917 Russian Revolution. The memoir descriptively illustrates a personal account of the author’s life and incarceration in the Soviet Union throughout the government of Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Throughout the novel, Ginzburg recounts numerous experiences directly related with Stalin’s reign of terror that witnessed millions of civilians suffer. The book, divided into two parts, provides the reader with an opportunity to glance and delve deeply into circumstances encompassing the author’s tribulations and concurrently, gain knowledge based on one of history’s most controversial leaders, Joseph Stalin. Part 1 The first part of the novel, Journey into the Whirlwind, provides a detailed account of Ginzburg’s arrest, court trial and the two years of solitary internment that she experienced. The first part begins on December 1, 1934 when Ginzburg receives a phone call. Through the phone call, Ginzburg is informed that the secretary to the General Committee of the Communist Party, Kirov is dead. Apparently, Kirov’s death was through a planned assassination. The murder of Kirov engenders paranoia regarding the rebellious political elements in the party, which causes the current government to tauten its grasp on society. Consequently, an innocent and unaware Ginzburg is individually tossed into the tussle when Professor Elvov, her old friend, is detained in 1935 (Ginzburg, 1995). The reason for his arrest was due to his authoring of a chapter that advocated Trotskyist connotations. Ginzburg’s association with Elvov puts her under extreme suspicion. Consequently, the officials of the party in her hometown, Kazan, quickly indict her of failing to denounce Elvov’s treachery to the party. Ginzburg repudiates the accusations, which forces her to be questioned by Comrade Beylin. Beylin and his partner Malyuta originally release Ginzburg with a minor indictment of inadequate vigilance. However, events turn around for Ginzburg when she finds herself being at the mercy of cruel interrogators. In 1936, Ginzburg, an intensely dedicated Communist, witnesses Stalin, the leader of the Communists for the first and last time. Despite Stalin sharing the same ideals as Ginzburg, Ginzburg views Stalin as ugly and a personification of evil. Later, Ginzburg travels to Moscow to appeal her case to the court located at IIyinka Street, where numerous accused persons are queuing in line (Ginzburg, 1995). A political commissar, Sidorov, listens to Ginzburg’s plight and is sympathetic towards her. However, Ginzburg is forced to avail her party card, which eventually leads to her arrest, by Captain Vevers eight days afterward. In the prison crypts at Black Lake Street, Ginzburg is imprisoned together with Lyama, an attractive young woman. The prison food proves to be foul for Ginzburg, so Lyama eats both portions. Lyama also explains to Ginzburg that it is vital to communicate with other inmates. Later, Ginzburg is called in for inquiry by interrogators. They interrogate her using sadistic methods such as starvation and sleep deprivation. However, Ginzburg refuses to confess guilt or turn in others. Consequently, Ginzburg is able to establish communication using the prison alphabet, which involved a series of tapping and translating taps (Ginzburg, 1995). Ginzburg and Lyama gain a new cellmate, Ira. In the interrogation, Ginzburg’s former partners from the periodical, Red Tartary, are summoned to contradict her. She is disappointed when she discovers that two of her counterparts, Volodya Dyakanov and Nayla Kozlova, have consented to sign the interrogators’ papers. Afterwards, Ginzburg is relocated to another prison, which is filthier but less stringent. She develops new relationships and devices a novel communication system that enables her to spread the news all over the prison through singing and opera tunes. However, Ginzburg is relocated again to Moscow. In Butkryki Prison, she hears the screams of cellmates being tortured. Eventually, Ginzburg faces the military tribunal expecting a death sentence. To her surprise, she is sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. After staying briefly at the Pugachev Tower, Ginzburg is transported to Yaroslavl by train. After the end of her two years at Yaroslavl, her sentence is revi sed, and she is reassigned to a remedial labor camp. Part 2 The second part of the novel starts with a clique of 76 female inmates boarding Car Number 7, in a compartment labeled â€Å"Special Equipment† (Ginzburg, 1995). In Car Number 7, among the female prisoners transported together with Ginzburg, another prisoner who later becomes Ginzburg’s friend is in the compartment. Tanya Stankovskaya is happy to possess a bunk in the train. Regardless of the discomfort of traveling in a cattle car, the train is filled with happy voices of female inmates according to Ginzburg because none of the prisoners had seen any other person in over two years. Later on, Ginzburg meets Zinaida Tulub in the train. Zinaida was a historical novelist from Ukraine. Ginzburg tells Zinaida about herself and her life story while discovering the unease of talking due to her long years of forced silence (Ginzburg, 1995). After an upsetting journey that lasted for a month in a cattle car, the inmates pull in at a transfer camp in close proximity to Vladivostok. At the transit camp, the female prisoners intermingle, through a fence, with male inmates, ravening themselves on romantic emotions and probing for recognizable faces. At the camp, Ginzburg stays for a month before being transported to Kolyma, Siberia through ship. Ginzburg and her fellow inmates are transferred through the ship known as SS Dzhurma. In the ship, Ginzburg is shown to be sick from a bout of fever. However, irrespective of the effect of illness on her, Ginzburg decides to conceal her ailment at all costs. She subjected herself to harsh conditions coupled by her illness in order to avoid from being separated from her fellow prisoners. The last batch of female prisoners to be brought into SS Dzhurma was comprised of criminals indicted with crimes ranging from sexual deviance to murder (Ginzburg, 1995). The journey within the ship was significantly uneventful. Life on the ship, SS Dzhurma, was considerably wretched than in Car 7 and Yaroslavl. The hatches within the ship were unfastened throughout the journey in order to allow for the entrance of air into the ship. However, this propagated even terrible conditions throughout the journey. Due to the harsh conditions, Ginzburg becomes terribly ill. At one point, Ginzburg attempts to use the bathroom on the deck only to lose consciousness and pass out for two days due to exhaustion and sickness. After her tumultuous stay at the SS Dzhurma, Ginzburg and the prisoners eventually reach Kolyma, located in the northern Siberia region. In Kolyma, the prisoners are transported to Magadan Camp. However, Ginzburg falls sick again at the camp. Eventually, she is transported to the sick ward. She is brought to the sick ward, where sick men and women are clustered together in taut quarters. The sick ward at Magadan Infirmary allows Ginzburg to bathe and receive treated. Eventually, she is treated by Dr. Klimenko who is the wife of a police investigator. Dr. Klimenko allows Ginzburg to stay in the hospital for one month in order to recover fully. Additionally, Klimenko does this because she believes that Ginzburg has experienced death much greater than the other prisoners have (Ginzburg, 1995). After a month in recovery, Ginzburg returns to Magadan Camp. At the camp, Ginzburg was assigned to Hut 8. Regardless of recovering completely, Ginzburg feels that she has betrayed her fellow inmates. Her reason for feeling this way is attributed to her fair treatment at hospital. She alleges that while she was being treated well in hospital, her friends were suffering in prison. Throughout the trip to the sick ward, her consciousness wavers but she is immediately restored when the doctor prescribes a warm pine bath for her. Her stay at the infirmary in Magadan Camp under the care of a nurse enables Ginzburg to reclaim her health. Eventually, she is put to work with other inmates after she is deemed well. Soon after, Ginzburg bribes the leader of the team, who is responsible for allocating jobs to prisoners, and ends up doing housework in a guesthouse. Later, she works in the kitchen but eventually she is deported to a camp at Elgen. At the camp, she was forced to fell trees in glacial temperatures. Moreover, the overseer, Keyzin was harsh to the prisoners and demanded a high output in the snow, which equaled their food earnings (Ginzburg, 1995). However, tree felling proved to be dangerous especially when in snow. Irrespective of this, Ginzburg and her counterparts were forced to maintain high output but it was impossible due to Ginzburg’s poor health. However, Ginzburg escapes death when a doctor from Leningrad, Vasily Petukhov, carrying out routine medical inspections on her recognizes her and claims that he is familiar with her son (Ginzburg, 1995). The doctor assists Ginzburg in evading the fatal conditions at Elgen by securing her with a medical attendant’s job at a children’s hospital. The Journey into the Whirlwind is indeed an engaging and interesting book. Irrespective of the experiences that the author goes through, Ginzburg manages to induce optimism at the end of the book. Irrespective of the few ills documented in the novel, Ginzburg does not reiterate on the Soviet tactics used against prisoners and innocent civilians but rather on the psychological abuse, that she went underwent in the interrogations and prison life. Regardless of the raw details of Ginzburg’s life under the Soviet government, the author presents an emotional depiction that leaves the reader completely engaged and engrossed. References Ginzburg, E. S. (1995). Journey into the Whirlwind. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Co.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Comparison Essay on Football and Basketball

Comparison Essay on Football and Basketball Comparison Essay on Football and Basketball Football and basketball are two of the most common sports that are played in many parts of the world. For an individual who is torn between selecting which of the two sports he should play, it can be very helpful to know the characteristics of the two sports and compare these qualities in order to select the one that interests a particular person the most. One of the most obvious differences between the two sports lies in the way they are played. While football is in most cases played outdoors in areas that may not necessarily have artificial lighting or controlled temperatures, basketball is mostly played in indoor fields that have both artificial lighting and temperature control. The size of the football field is also several times bigger than that of basketball. The other difference lies in the way the players interact with the ball. In football, the ball is played by fumbling, while in basketball, the ball is played by bouncing the ball up and down on the floor repeatedly in an action known as dribbling. In football, the main objective of the game is to capture the territory of the opposing team in ten yard segments, eventually driving the ball to the opposing team’s end zone. In basketball, the main aim is to throw the ball as many ways as possible into the opposing team’s basket, given that the more baskets a team makes, the higher the score. Another major difference is that physical contact between basketball players of opposing teams is highly discouraged and may actually result in a foul. This is especially the case when a player knocks another player of the opposing team to the floor. In football, contact is highly encouraged. Contact in football is referred to as a tackle. Another difference between the two sports is way players dress. While basketball players adorn vests as the uniform of the game, football players are usually dressed in long sleeved t-shirts and trousers. They also wear helmets to protect their heads during tough tackles. Another notable difference between the two sports is why a player may be suspended from the game. The most common reason behind players being ruled out of a basketball game is the fouls that they cause, but in football, injuries are the most common reasons that remove players from the game. The kind of scores in each of the games also differs greatly. In football, 3 is the least number of points that the opposing team can score at a single time, while in basketball, 3 is the most a player can score at a time. Finally, the origin of each of the games also differs. While football is thought to have originated in the early 1900s as a violent collegiate sport for men, bask etball is believed to have originated from a gymnastics practice for women. You can enjoy our professional essay service which can help with writing your comparison essay on Football and Basketball. Get 100% original custom compare and contrast essay written from scratch!

Friday, November 22, 2019

How to Petition the Government Online

How to Petition the Government Online Got a gripe with the government? Exercise your rights. Congress is prohibited from restricting the right of American citizens to petition the government under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791. â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† - The First Amendment, United States Constitution. The authors of the amendment surely had no idea just how easy it would become to petition the government in the age of the Internet more than 200 years later. President Barack Obama, whose White House was the first to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook, launched the first online tool allowing citizens to petition the government through the White House website in 2011. The program, called We the People, allows users to create and sign petitions on any topic. When he announced the program in September 2011, President Obama said, â€Å"When I ran for this office, I pledged to make government more open and accountable to its citizens. Thats what the new We the People feature on WhiteHouse.gov is all about - giving Americans a direct line to the White House on the issues and concerns that matter most to them.† The Obama White House often portrayed itself as one of the most transparent to the public in modern history. Obamas first executive order, for example, directed the Obama White House to shed more light on presidential records. Obama, however, eventually came under fire for operating behind closed doors. We the People Petitions Under President Trump When Republican President Donald Trump took over the White House in 2017, the future of the We the People online petition system looked doubtful. On January 20, 2017 - Inauguration Day - the Trump administration deactivated all existing petitions on the We the People website. While new petitions could be created, signatures to them were not being counted. While the website was later fixed and is currently fully functional, the Trump administration has not responded to any of the petitions. Under the Obama administration’s control, any petition that collected 100,000 signatures within 30 days was to receive an official response. Petitions that gathered 5,000 signatures would be sent to the â€Å"appropriate policymakers.†Ã‚   The Obama White House said any official response would be not only by emailed to all petition-signers but posted on its website as well.   While the 100,000 signature requirement and White House response promises remain the same under the Trump administration, as of November 7, 2017, the administration had not officially responded to any of the 13 petitions that had reached the 100,000 signature goal, nor has it stated that it  intends to respond in the future. How to Petition the Government Online No matter the White House’s response to them, if any, the We the People tool allows Americans over the age of 13 to create and sign petitions on www.whitehouse.gov asking the Trump administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. All that is required is a valid email address. People who wish to create a petition are required to create a free Whitehouse.gov account. To sign an existing petition, users need only enter their name and their email address. For identity verification, they will receive an email with a web link that they must click to confirm their signature. A Whitehouse.gov account is not needed to sign petitions. The We the People website calls creating or signing a petition as â€Å"just the first step,† suggesting that concerned citizens build support for a petition and gather even more signatures. â€Å"Use email, Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth to tell your friends, family and coworkers about the petitions you care about, the White House states. As was the case under the Obama administration, petitions involving ongoing criminal investigations or criminal justice court proceedings in the United States and certain other internal processes of the federal government are not subject to petitions created on the We the People website. What It Means to Petition the Government The right of Americans to petition the government is guaranteed under the Constitutions First Amendment. The Obama administration, acknowledging the importance of the right, said: Throughout our nations history, petitions have served as a way for Americans to organize around issues that matter to them, and tell their representatives in government where they stand. Petitions played important roles, for example, in ending slavery and guaranteeing women the right to vote. Other Ways to Petition the Government Though the Obama administration was the first to allow Americans to petition the government through an official U.S. government website, other countries had already allowed such activities online. The United Kingdom, for example, operates a similar system called e-petitions. That countrys system requires citizens to collect at least 100,000 signatures on their petition on their online petitions before they can be debated in the House of Commons. The major political parties in the United States also allow Internet users to submit suggestions that are directed to members of Congress. There are also many privately run website that allow Americans to sign petitions that are then forwarded to members of the House of Representatives and Senate. Of course, Americans can still write letters to their representatives in Congress, send them email or meet with them face-to-face. Updated by Robert Longley

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Networking Assignment Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Networking Assignment Reflection Paper - Essay Example e is really passionate about market research, has a strong sense of responsibility, and very much knowledgeable about the situation of the different industries in the market. I believe that her professionalism enables her to generate interviewees from industry players and trade associations. Her innate passion for market research coupled with her strong sense of responsibility allows her to finish each project to the best of her ability. These values also encourage her to work amidst the difficulties in data gathering. Her interest in the market and knowledge on how it operates makes her as a credible source and enables her to giver accurate reports. Written skill is a very important requirement for her job because it enables her to communicate her knowledge about the market. The ability to make rational forecast on the market will perform is also important as it is a very crucial part of the industry reports. The capability of gathering data and analyzing them are keys to having accurate results. Compared to the interviewee, I am more comfortable in verbal communication than writing out my ideas. Being inexperienced, I am not adept in making forecasts about industries. However, I am also confident of my skills in gathering data and analyzing them. I love to do researches even though I know that I still need to learn more about judging the quality of the data and how they can be used in order to come up with rational results. I have always been interested in market research yet I am not really motivated to pursue this profession when given a chance. What I really want when I choose this interviewee is how various think-tanks like AC Nielsen come up with the market reports which they present to business organizations. Also, interviewing a market research analyst enabled me to understand her work and the important characteristics needed to excel in her career. The primary challenge when approaching an unknown professional is the fear of being rejected. Noting

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Organisational Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organisational Culture - Essay Example In human resource management, most people assume that people can be measured on personality and IQ tests, and computing the resultant set of numbers to define these people. This is often not so, because efficiency is not an economic concept, but a political concept involving cost, and quality of process time. Also some people see inefficiency to be a "sin" in modern terms, which is very much in contrast with the 20th century efficiency of the Nazis, for example. The east neaden dietary department is run by a team of 6 nurses, three dieticians and one doctor. "There is also a consultant who is available 3 times a week and a clinical psychologist who visits twice a week." (Marlow, Nigel). The type of culture that existed in the east neasden dietory department before the change was one of familiarity and friendly worker relationships. This is evident in the fact that the staff called each other by their first names, and the doctors were called by their first names, except in the presence of patients. However there was a change in the organizational structure and this brought about a change in the culture in East Neasden Dietary department. After the organizational change which was accomplished by using the handy theory a... There are indeed, various reasons for change. Some factors that can trigger change in an organization, like competition and the need to be commercially realistic or viable. Allen, Madison, Porter, Renwick and Mayes noted that "organizational politics involves intentional acts of influence to enhance or protect the self interest of groups, or individuals in a group" (Allen, Madison, Porter, Renwick and Mayes 1979) In the Interflora case, there was a need to be commercially viable and realistic, hence the need for organizational change, and the dynamics involved in such a change. An Analysis of corporate types Corporate culture is the key to organizational performance, and when effectively managed, can lead to an improvement in a company's competitive advantage. Going by Michael Maccoby's analysis of corporate types, there are four main types of corporate personality. These are the company man, the Jungle Hunter, the craftsman, and the Gamesman. The company man defers to authority in the company, while the jungle hunter tends to be coercive in temperament, and strives to acquire power within the company. For the craftsman, his identity is his craft as an engineer, accountant, I.T. personnel or other craft. The gamesman operates with a lot of politicking and uses stealth and subtlety to achieve power. REFERENCES Allen, R. W., Madison, D. L., Porter, L. W., Renwick, P. A. and Mayes, B. T. (1979)Organizational politics: Tactics and characteristics of its actors. Californiamanagement review Maccoby, Michael. (1976) Michael Maccoby's Analysis of Corporate Types Marlow, Nigel. East

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Harriet Ann Jacobs Essay Example for Free

Harriet Ann Jacobs Essay In the autobiography, â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl†, it tells the story of a female slave named Harriet Ann Jacobs. Losing her mother and father at such a young age, she experienced firsthand the account of a slave life. She deliberates in great detail the humiliation, sacrifice, and struggle specific to female slaves of the late nineteenth century. Though she understood the risks involved in publishing an account of her life, she moved forward with the idea and published her story under the pseudonym Linda Brent. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina to Delilah and Elijah. While growing up she enjoyed a relatively cheerful life until she was six years old when her parents died. After the death of her parents, Harriet and her younger brother John were left to be raised by their grandmother, Molly Horniblow. Molly was an older woman who was well respected in the slave community, as well as by the slave owners. She was never mistreated, and she frequently baked goods for the people in her community. Harriet Jacobs gained the knowledge for all of her educational essentials from her first mistress, Margaret Horniblow. She taught Harriet how to read, write, and sew which gave her advantage over the rest of the slaves. It also would attract some unwanted attention. Margaret would later on will Harriet to her twelve year old niece whose father would subject Harriet to aggressive and unrelenting sexual harassment. Dr. Flint sexually harassed and physically abused the teenaged Harriet for as long as she was a servant in his household. Afraid that one day Dr. Flint would make his antics reality, she began to have an affair with a prominent white lawyer named Samuel Tredwell, whom she later on beared two children for. Instead of discouraging Flint, she enraged him. He then sent Harriet away to a life of hard labor on a plantation he owned, threatening to break in her young children as field hands, seeing that they legally belonged to him. She soon ran away from the plantation and spent seven years hiding in a tiny attic crawl space in her grandmother’s house. During those seven years she put to use the skills that her first mistress had taught her, and watched over her children through a small chink in the roof. Being cramped in the attic for so long, left her permanently physically disabled. In 1842, Harriet was finally able to escape to the north, and found work as a nanny in the household of a prominent abolitionist writer, Nathaniel Parker Willis. She later on is reunited with her children in New York, and farther down the line her employer purchases her freedom from Dr. Flint. While reading this autobiography you acquire a feeling that is very unusual. Most slaves that you hear about usually have harsh lives and are extremely unhappy, but in this particular case it was the complete opposite. Harriet’s life wasn’t hard not one bit. She was never mistreated because her father’s mistress found her to be very appealing, and she didn’t have to do any hard labor. But, she also wasn’t allowed her freedom which is what she anxiously longed for. That particular entity is what places everything into perspective. At the end of the day whether she liked it or not, she was still a slave. She could not walk away from her situation, she could not undertake everything that she wanted to do, and she definitely could not enjoy her life to the fullest because she belonged to someone, and that someone was a jealous, aggressive man named Dr. Flint. Harriet Jacobs insisted on telling her story honestly and completely, determined to make white Americans aware of the sexual victimization that slave women commonly faced and to dramatize the fact that they often had no choice but to surrender their virtue. Jacobs knew that her contemporaries would see her not as a virtuous woman but as a fallen one, yet she published the story anyway. She wanted to bring light to a situation that slave women faced every day. She was an incredibly strong woman for doing so, and by directly confronting the cruel realities that plagued African American women in the late nineteenth century, Harriet’s work occupies a significant place in African American literary tradition.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Pain for Pleasure Endured Essay -- Literature Pain Pleasure Essays

Pain for Pleasure Endured The intricate and complex nature of the relationship between pain and pleasure has been a source of contention and diversity of opinion for people of all eras. Shakespeare’s character Othello claims that "tis happiness to die." (Act 5 ln 295). In his situation the painful experience of dying is what he considers pleasure, he later verifies his belief in his statement by choosing to stab himself. Sir Philip Sidney, in his poem Astrophil and Stella states that "in my woes for thee thou art my joy" (108 ln 14). Astrophil finds his pleasure in the pain of his unrequited love for Stella. The complex relationship between pleasure and pain is reflected in the twenty-first century in addition to the Renaissance era. The Amish people choose to live in a world without modern conveniences and pleasures as they are acknowledged in the twentieth-first century. People who are taught from a very young age the dangers and health hazards contained in smoking continue and "Tobacco use remains t he leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 400,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $50 billion in direct medical costs" (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/issue.htm). In Wither’s emblem pain and pleasure are presented in a paradoxically coexisting relationship. Thomas More’s Utopia portrays pleasure as an entity unblemished by the experience of pain. Wither’s emblem entitled "By Pain on pleasures we do seize and we by sufferance purchase ease" (http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe023.htm) expresses views on pain and pleasure which are the antithesis of those found in More’s "Utopia." The divergence in the authors’ viewpoints on the relationship between pain and pleasu... ...ous views. If the Utopians believed Wither to be a "heaven-sent" prophet then perhaps his words, which completely contradict all their views, could be accepted. Wither uses the image of a rose to reflect the essential idea of pain and pleasure in his poem. He claims that "her sweetness fast is closed in with many thornes." The Utopians would find a violet sweeter without the necessity of fighting thorns to enjoy the beauty. More’s ideal society conflicts strongly with ideals that have permeated society for generations. If pleasure is received without any pain can it be as great as the pleasure that contains the knowledge of the pain? Works Cited: Damrosch, David; The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Volume 1. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc: 1999. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/issue.htm) http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe023.htm)

Monday, November 11, 2019

Conflicts in the Godfather Essay

The Godfather is an insightful sociological study of violence, power, honor and obligation, corruption, justice and crime in America. Part I of The Godfather Trilogy centers on the Corleone crime â€Å"family† in the boroughs of New York City in the mid 1940s, dominated at first by the aging godfather/patriarch â€Å"Don† Vito Corleone. As a turn-of-the-century Silician immigrant, he is the head of one of the five Italian-American â€Å"families† that operates a crime syndicate. The ‘honorable’ crime â€Å"family,† working outside the system due to exclusion by social prejudice, serves as a metaphor for the way business (the pursuit of the American dream) is conducted in capitalistic, profit-making corporations and governmental circles. Although conflict in life may seem unpleasant, literature readers find it to be quite exciting. The characters involved within a conflict clearly stand out as to what they truly believe in and who they are as a person. In Mario Puzo’s, â€Å"The Godfather†, a number of conflicts are revealed through the Mafia underworld. The first, and most important conflict that is demonstrated in â€Å"The Godfather†, is revealed right away through â€Å"The Assassination Attempt on Don Corleone†. The Don shows the conflict of man vs. society by first refusing to enter the drug business. This decision, will ultimately effect the future conflicts that are revealed throughout the story. By refusing to participate in the drug business, the Corleone Family becomes outcasts of the five major crime families in New York. By doing so, the Don sparks the war between his family and the other five families. This war ends up lasting for several years and costs many lives. The second conflict that is present in â€Å"The Godfather†, is the conflict of divergent ideas vs. his father’s ideas. Santino, â€Å"Sonny†, Corleone, demostrates this conflict by deciding to go against his father’s beliefs. Sonny feels that drugs are the thing of the future and he decides that if his father dies, he will make the deal of entering the narcotics business. Tom Hagen, the adopted son of Vito Corleone, also believes that by entering the drug business, the Family will become much more successful later down  the road. A third conflict that is present in â€Å"The Godfather†, is the conflict of man vs. himself. This conflict is demonstrates through the character of Michael Corleone, the youngest son of the Don. Michael’s conscience is at war with his with his desire. After the assassination attempt on his father, Michael feels that he needs to get involved and help his father continue the Family business. However, his mind also feels that it is wrong to enter the criminal business. In conclusion, it is clear that many conflicts exist in Mario Puzo’s, â€Å"The Godfather†. They include, man vs. society, divergent ideas vs. father’s, and man vs. himself. Together, these conflicts create an intriguing plot that captures the viewer’s attention to the Mafia Underworld during the 1940’s and 1950’s in New York. Mario Puzo’s materpiece studies the power of conflicts that involve violence, power, honor, obligation, justice, and corruption.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Explain the Different Types of Discrimination Essay

Discrimination has many meaning and many different ways people can discriminate against others. Discriminations can be as simple as a person making a judgment against someone else by the way they dress or the way they speak or it can be the people are discriminated against (out casted/left out) because they choose to be different or have a disability or different colour of skin or even religion. Discrimination is unfair treatment of a person action based on prejudice which someone has of that individual and it can affect the targeted individual physically, this could be self-harm or eating disorders, intellectually, the individual won’t want to go to work because of how they are being treated, emotionally, which could be depression, anxiety, aggression, stress or fear, and finally, it can also affect them socially, because they might isolate themselves from the people around them which could result in the loss of friends and it may make some of their relationships with others strained because they think that everyone they know is going to treat them in the same way. The types of discrimination are: culture, disability, age, social class, gender, sexuality, health status and cognitive ability. The first type of discrimination is culture. This can be very important to some individuals because it shows their identity to other people and it is also the way in which they lead their life no matter what country they’re living in. Cultural discrimination means that when an individual from a different background or culture follows their cultures rules strictly; they are disliked by some people because they have a different lifestyle, following and they do not follow the same rules because of how they’ve been raised by their family. It is developed within the social group which they have been raised in; and it can change when they become mature enough to decide for themselves which culture best suited for them. In a profession in Health and Social Care it is important for everyone who is concerned to respect other people’s cultures. It is important for the individual because it gives them a sense of understanding and support, promotes their well-being and can also help their health. Also it is important to health and social care professionals because they see the benefits of their care value base and it underlines the importance of respecting an individual’s culture. Sometimes people see this as if the individual is receiving special treatment because they are different; which can make them feel angry or strong jealousy and as a result they will make the individual from a different culture feel isolated; which might make any relationships which the individual has strained and it can make them feel like they have no respect from anyone around them because of how they look or behave. In health and social care a lot of people work with and support people with varying degrees of disabilities. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone who has a disability. The act covers employment, access to goods, facilities and services of organisations, education, buying and renting a property and transportation services. There has to be full access ability for anyone with a disability. However, people who are part of the same establishment might discriminate against a disabled person in a wheel chair or with a severe disability; by calling them disrespectful names and say that they don’t deserve to be a part of the establishment just because they are disabled in some way; and this can make the disabled person feel depressed and suffer from anxiety problems because if the same thing has been said enough times then they will believe that they don’t deserve an education or have the right to same things which a non-disabled person has the right to. Age discrimination occurs â€Å"when someone is treated unfavourably because of their age, without justification, or is harassed or victimised because of their age†. There have been some controversies regarding the dispensing of certain very expensive drugs to older people because of their shorter life expectancy due to their age. And as a result some people have argued that the money would be better spent on drugs for younger people. However, this would be denying a drug due to their age and would open the health service to considerable legal risk, and legal advice would be needed before discussions like this could happen. Also, sometimes when there are a lot of elderly people and only a few teenagers waiting to get on a bus and when the bus arrives at their stop the teenagers get onto the bus before the elderly people; the elderly people may decide to talk aggressively to the teenagers just because they are older and they feel that they are more important because they might have a disability. Social discrimination is the actual behaviour of those who treat others differently depending on their social situation, to pigeon-hole someone socially, such that someone on benefits is treated unfairly compared to that of someone who works for a living. Invariably it’s a dysfunctional psychology re-enforced by peer pressure to gear an individual’s thought processes to fail to take into account or assess another individuals sole circumstances before passing judgement. It is not really seen as a problem by the bearer of the discrimination unless the bearer directly experiences some similar discrimination. The social class of an individual is apparent from the area in which they live with their family; the higher the social class, the better the place is kept and maintained. This form of inequality has also infiltrated health and social care. In the foreword to a Department of Health education, the former Secretary of State for Health stated that the poor are more likely to get cancer than the rich, and their chances of survival are lower too; this letter carries on to say that health care is essentially a postcode lottery, which means that having access to health care is often determined by where an individual lives. However, in the Equality and Human Rights Commission it states â€Å"At the heart of human rights is the belief everybody should be treated equally and with dignity – no matter what their circumstances†. An individual cannot be discriminated against because of their gender; if they are however it refers to a bias towards one gender. In the vast majority of careers, this bias means that women do not obtain the same opportunities as men for everything from their initial health care education right through to the hiring process and workplace environment. Their career advancement is also smaller and slower in comparison with career advancement for men. On top of that, women and men may perform the same jobs, but women will receive fewer benefits and less pay than men. Under the Gender Equality Duty 2007, all organisations, including health and social care services, cannot discriminate unfairly due to a person’s gender. Equal rights of access, health care and rights must be adhered to. Sexuality is a very individual thing; although most people are ‘straight’, heterosexual, a significant percentage of the population are gay, bisexual, celibate or asexual. Unfair treatment on the basis of someone’s sexuality – or assumptions about their sexuality – is discrimination and has no place in the sport’s environment. Sexuality discrimination happens when someone is treated unfairly compared with others, because of their sexuality. It can also occur because someone makes assumptions about someone else’s sexuality. Under the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (the Act), it can be unlawful to do this. Under federal legislation, it can also be unlawful. The Act says it is against the law to treat people unfairly because of their sexuality, whether they are gay, lesbian, heterosexual or bisexual. The law also protects a person who identifies, or has identified, as a member of the opposite sex by living or seeking to live as a member of that sex. The law also protects sex workers working lawfully. Health status discrimination often occurs when an individual is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Sources of stigma include fear of illness, fear of contagion, and fear of death. Fear of illness and fear of contagion is a common reaction among health workers, co-workers, and caregivers, as well as the general population. Stigma is one means of coping with the fear that contact with a member of an affected group; by caring for or sharing utensils with a PLHA will result in contracting the disease. HIV-stigma is often layered on top of many other stigmas associated with such specific groups as homosexuals and commercial sex workers and such behaviours as drug abuse by using needles and casual sex. These behaviours are perceived as controllable and are therefore assigned more blame, receive less sympathy, but instead, more anger and are less likely to receive assistance as opposed to people with AIDS who were infected through circumstances where there was no control, such as receiving a blood transfusion. However, sometimes it can be difficult to make decisions regarding a person’s medical treatment; their expected quality of life after the treatment has been given and their overall life expectancy have to be seriously considered. And the people who are making these decisions for someone should always keep questioning their own assumptions and prejudices; and also do their best to balance the welfare of individual patients with broader funding considerations. Under section 2 of the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (â€Å"FSDO†), family status means the status of a person who has the responsibility for the care of an immediate family member. An immediate family member is a person who is related by blood, marriage, adoption or affinity. However, this can lead to a variety of discriminations against members of the family; they can be against gay or lesbian parents, single parents, parents of different genders, parents of different races with mixed-race children and other family groupings. It can either direct or indirect discrimination, direct discrimination means that a person is treated unfavorably because of their family status and indirect discrimination means when a condition or requirement, that is not justifiable, is applied to everyone but in practice adversely affects persons who have family status; an example of this would be a company insists that all its employees work overtime and a widower who has responsibility for care of his young children cannot comply with that condition. The company then dismisses him. The complainant feels aggrieved because as a single parent he cannot comply with that condition. If the company cannot justify why each and every employee must meet that condition, it could be a case of indirect discrimination on the ground of family status. Cognitive disability is defined by some as bellow average intellectual function that adversely affects educational and adaptive performance. There are a broad range of disabilities that fit into this criterion. Cognition is the mental process of understanding and acquiring knowledge through the senses, thought and perception. A person with a cognitive disability may have difficulty with some or all of the following cognitive areas: memory formation or retrieval; attention span; reading and comprehension; problem solving; and visual input. Discriminating against someone because of their cognitive ability might arise because of a brain injury, a learning disability or difficulty or a person’s social class or education. It can be easy to determinate against people with cognitive disabilities but care must be taken not to do so. Valuing People Now is a government strategy which aims to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and those of their families and carers.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Fiat cultural clash Essays

Fiat cultural clash Essays Fiat cultural clash Essay Fiat cultural clash Essay FIAT (Fabrica Italiana Automobili Torino), was established by the Italian government in 1899, and in 1907 was bought by Giovanni Agnelli. Fiat is an automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial and industrial group based in Turin, in the Piedmont region. The company flourished under Agnellis leadership, in large part due to his innovative ideas concerning the structure of production as well as his experience in mass marketing strategies, particularly in foreign sales. After the World War II, in March 1945, the local court of the national liberation committee Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale accused Agnelli of collaboration with the Nazis and removed him from the firm. He died seven months later. It was a family owned business until September 2010 when shareholders approved a plan to split Fiats industrial business from the group. Fiat operates in 61 countries with 1,063 companies that employ 223,000 people, 111,000 of whom are outside Italy. As of 2009, Fiat is the worlds 9th largest carmaker. In order to keep that place and even grow Fiat needs to become part of the fastest growing market in the World, China. The Italian carmaker wants not only to manufacture his cars in China, but also to sell them to the Chinese. Forming a joint-venture company seemed to be the quickest and most effective way of developing good quality relations in a country such as China. Fiat made an attempt to introduce in China with a joint-venture with a local firm: Nanjing. : Unfortunately, the joint-venture failed. The aim of this assignment is to analyze the cultural reasons and differences in Fiats joint ventures and to analyse what are the cultural reasons for the failure of this business. Corporate culture- Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. (Williams, 1958). Culture is the whole way of life of a people. Culture seves as a lens through which we perceive the other. Corporate culture is something that managers have to establish and run all the way through a business, with clear values and beliefs, successful business principles and operations, and a suitable emphasis on human resources and customer satisfaction. Fiats corporate culture will be strongly influenced by the Italian culture. According to Huntington: A civilization is a cultural entity. European communities will share cultural features that distinguish them from Arab or Chinese communities. Arabs, Chinese and Westerns, however, are not part of any other broader cultural entity. They constitute civilizations. Therefore Fiats culture will be influenced not only by the Italian, but also by the European culture, too. Before embarking on any important business projects, Italians feel the need to really know the people; they are going to do business with on a personnel level. According to Fung (1998), Chinese customs, religion, and health practices are rich and complex and have stood the test of time over many millennia. China has one of the four oldest civilizations in the world and a written history of 4,000 years. The Chinese are very proud of their culture and history. They value their own culture and religion, but they are open and pragmatic toward the religion and cultures of others. Chinese people in general are peaceful, hard-working, and easily contented. They follow norms of social order. For example, they respect authority figures and elders, and they are patient with their peers. The Chinese value modesty, reserved behaviour, and humility. They believe in harmony and tend to avoid confrontation. They will, however, push and sacrifice for their children. The roles of members of a Chinese family are highly interdependent ( Ong, 1993). Traditionally, the family has been the most fundamental and important unit of society among the Chinese, and this is still true. The family is also an important economic unit. In todays China, it is still very common for three generations to live under one roof. C. Lam (1992) noted that Confucian philosophy advocates the virtue of sacrificing individual needs for the good of the group.

Monday, November 4, 2019

And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None Agatha Christie was born on September 15th, 1890 in Torquay, England. Her name at birth was Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, and her parents were Clarissa Boehmer of Belfast, Ireland and Frederick Miller, an American. Agatha was the youngest of three children, and grew up very alone because of the age gap of over ten years between her siblings. Her father passed away when she was only eleven years old, leaving her to grow up with her mother’s care. In 1906 Agatha traveled to Paris where she studied singing and piano (Www.sfu.ca). She didn’t discover her talent for writing until she was older. Years later on Christmas Eve (Www.sfu.ca) 1914, the Miller girl became Agatha Christie after marrying war Captain Archibald Christie. The two became parents in 1919 when they had their daughter, Rosalind. Before then, throughout 1914 to 1918, Agatha worked as a hospital and dispensary nurse during World War I. That was where she developed her vast knowledge involving poisons, drugs an d medicines (Www.sfu.ca). In 1920, Christie published her first book, â€Å"The Mysterious Affair at Styles†, in America. The book introduced her most famous character, Hercule Poirot, who would later appear in more than forty more books (Winks 12). After the book was published, Agatha wrote five more mysteries (Www.nd.edu) before publishing the novel that began her huge success; â€Å"The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd† (Winks 2). Seven months after the book was published, Agatha disappeared. Suspects claimed that she was murdered, and others believed her missing case was an act for publicity while the nation searched for her (Winks 3). Her whereabouts were discovered ten days after her disappearance when some people found out that she had registered in a local hotel under the name of the women with whom she had found out her husband was cheating with (Winks 3). In 1928, Agatha and Archibald divorced, which opened up a new door for Agatha’s characters when she develo ped the now famous Miss Marple. Two years later, after a couple more successful books had been published, she met Max Mallowan in Baghdad. Agatha and the archaeologist were soon married and Christie began to approach her highest point as an author. In 1930, Agatha Christie began writing and publishing romance novels under the pen name of Mary Westmacott. Robin Winks said, â€Å"These noncrime novels are not taken seriously today†. Christie was thought to put into play her feelings toward her ex-husband throughout the Westmacott novels (Winks 18). After years of fame, Agatha was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956. She also became President of the Detection Club in 1957 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Exeter University in 1961. Perhaps her most elite recognition was when she was named a Dame of the British Empire by the Queen of England in 1971. Her nickname was in fact the â€Å"Queen of Crime†. On January 12th, 1976, Agatha Christ ie passed away from old age. The author was only exceeded by Shakespeare and the Bible. Her 1940’s novel â€Å"Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case† was published after her death.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Monitor and improve customer service Assignment

Monitor and improve customer service - Assignment Example The firm is expecting at least twice the number of waiting calls in relation to the calls that are active (Tugnoli ). The indicator will focus on the number of calls that will lead to the resolving of a particular problem as put forward by the customers. The institution will need at least ten calls from the consumers in order to look into a particular problem (Parmenter). The number will eliminate any doubts in the existence of the problem. The perspective will focus on registering the opinions by customers about the provision of the services by the agents of the business entity (Kerzner). The feedbacks will ensure the apprehension of consumer needs and the upgrade as per the consumer satisfaction. The aspect will register the time that elapses when an agent attends to the client. The information will evaluate the efficiency of the workforce. The time measure will also register the ability of the institution in handling complaints. Every employee objective has a link with at least one KPI. The fact will make sure that the evaluation of the performance is simple and efficient. To be more specific, the institution will employ the unit team key performance indicator. The indicator will illustrate the ratio of the difference between the complaints that an agent handles that result to customer satisfaction against the number of the customers that are not satisfied. The KPI illustrates the performance of the human resource. The following questionnaire will focus on acquiring customer feedback as well as registering the performance from the consumers’ perspective. Any information henceforth will be confidential and shall not be available to the public. The title of the essay illustrates the possible upgrades that the customers suggest about the prevailing customer service exercises. The propositions here in also concentrate on the possible weaknesses of the program. Consequently, goes a

Thursday, October 31, 2019

EMPLOYERS DO NOT ADOPT HR POLICIES IN AN INTEGRATED AND PLANNED WAY, Essay

EMPLOYERS DO NOT ADOPT HR POLICIES IN AN INTEGRATED AND PLANNED WAY, AND THEREFORE LOSE OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE - Essay Example There has been a change of approach in the way that labour is reviews in the organisation and the modern perception emphasize on viewing labour as an investment and not as a commodity or resources. In this regard, labours has stared to be seen as a made of creative and innovative social being who are able to give the organisation a competitive edge. (Michael 2006, p. 42) The term human resource has been changing to broader management and the concept of human capital has been applied more often in place of human resource. Therefore the modern perception of human labour has been changing the way organisation have been handling their human capital to a more liberalized way. It has been realised that having a competitive workforce can be an important way which can ensure that an organization creates a competitive edge that other organisation may find difficult to replicate. Therefore the focus of modern human resource management has been looking at the ways in which the workforce can be motivated in order to have a more competent and motivated workforce. This has been shown to translate to a more productive workforce who increases the productivity of the organisation. This is because intellectual capital has been shown to be more important that financial capital that an organisation invests in its operation. The modern focus of human resource management

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Use of omputer in academic development of children during their Essay

Use of omputer in academic development of children during their primary years - Essay Example Computers have become a standard feature in preschool, kindergarten and primary grades as a teaching aide. In the competitive age that we live in with strong emphasis on achievement, many educators see computer use as a way to accelerate progress in education.At home too, most parents feel compelled to follow this trend and purchase personal computers for their children in order to make them better prepared for their technology exposure at school and outside. Market researchers tracking software trends have identified that the largest software growth recently has been in new titles and companies serving the early childhood educational market. Even as early as 1996, SPA consumer market report found that of the people who own home computers and have young children, 70% had purchased educational software for their children to use .An estimated $50 million was spent on software programs for young children in 2001. The percentage today could only have increased judging by the omnipresence of computers in schools and homes. Parents and educators seem to be so eager to incorporate technology in education that many of them are introducing computers to children at younger ages to not only motivate them to get a head start on academics but also for their careers in later life. For example, lapware, a software program intended for children under 18 months of age was first introduced in the late 1990s ,to stimulate the brains of children as young as 6 months while they sit on the lap of their parent. Understandably, not all psychologists and educators are thrilled at the idea of using computers as an introduction to academic concepts and have raised questions about its effectiveness and also emotional and physical side effects. Abstract: The literature review that is done in this paper attempts to address several issues related to the academic use of computers with young children. We will study existing articles and research already done on the subject to achieve a better understanding and evaluate the different aspects related to the topic. They are: (1) the integration of technology into the typical learning environment and the potential benefits of appropriate use of technology in early childhood programs (2) the essential role of adults in evaluating appropriate uses of technology; (3) Appropriate Computer activities (4) The concerns of different organizations and educators who are opposed to the academic incorporation of computers. . Literature Review: Learning through computers and evidence of their benefits: The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), an organization that sets standards of excellence for programs for children from birth through age eight, recommends the use of computers with children ages three and older. In fact, the association claims that computers can have important benefits for even very young children, including language development, literacy development, social development, and the development of important problem-solving skills. Computers are intrinsically compelling for young children. The sounds and graphics gain children's attention. Increasingly, young children observe adults and older children working on computers, and they want to do it, too. Children get interested because they can make things happen with computers. Developmentally appropriate software engages children in creative play, mastery learning, problem solving, and conversation. The children control the pacing and the action. They can repeat a process or activity as oft en as they like and experiment with variations. They can collaborate in making decisions and share their discoveries and creations (Haugland & Shade 1990). When used appropriately, technology can support and extend traditional materials in valuable ways. Research points to the positive effects of technology in children's learning and development, both cognitive

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Obesity: Causes, Effects and Treatments

Obesity: Causes, Effects and Treatments Obesity , is one of the common and serious disease over the world. There must be cases of obesity no matter in urban or rural area, as it is a widespread and escalating concern. It does not just happen in adults as children also may have the possibility because they are less concern about their health nowadays. Obesity is actually a condition whereby abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health and also the genetic and environmental factors that are difficult to control when dieting. For the rate of obesity has been increasing in both adults and children. Obesity has twice increment around the world since 1980 and more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older were overweight. From these overweight adults, it has over 200 million men and approximately 300 million women were obese. According to a hefty new analysis from the Global Burden Of Disease Study 2013, it is stated that the number of overweight and obese people rising from 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion in 201 3. However, the rate change greatly throughout the world . More than half of the world’s 671 million obese individuals living in only ten countries, which is 15% combined at China and India, more than 13% at USA, Egypt, Brazil, Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Germany and Indonesia. USA, one of the high-salary countries, has the highest increases in adult obesity, where approximately one third of the adult population are obese. In Australia, it is estimated around 28% of men and 30% of women are obese, and in UK is about a quarter of the population are obese. [ Refrence 1,2 ] There are mainly many risk factors of obesity. Obesity is mainly due to the overindulging unhealthy diet and eating habits. Many people just eat whatever they like without concern about the value of nutritious. Nowadays, many fast food outlets are opened and it is getting more and more all around the corner of the world. Those fast foods are a diet which is high in calories and the trans fats contained may raise the LDL cholesterol, or known as bad cholesterol and leads to heart attack or any other cardiovascular diseases. Examples of such food high in trans fats include French fries and cheese. Eating canned food and drinking too much sugary drinks or alcohol will also cause obesity, as the food and drinks contain high value in fat and sugar. Eating in a large portion and habits of comfort eating are also not good, since forcing yourself to eat much will cause an incomplete digestion. In order to reduce this risk, a healthy and balanced diet must be well-planned daily. A healthy and balanced diet should be consist of 7 main classes of food and the most important thing is to eat more vegetables and fruits. Reduce the intake on foods that are high in sugar and fat and you can also try replace kilojoule heavy desserts with fruits. Eat in a proper portion too to maintain a healthy body and weight. Other than that, lack of physical activity is also the vital factor leads to obesity. Nowadays, many people have jobs that involve sitting at a desk for most a day and also hectic lifestyle. They also rely on transportation such as bus or car rather than walking or cycling. Sometimes, even when the peoples have stress, the ways they choose to relax is by watching TV, playing computer games, and also surfing the internet. This kind of lifestyle can be known as sedentary lifestyle and so did not burn the calories in their body. Besides, if the energy provided by food is not used, the extra energy intake will be stored as fat in the body. Hence, regular exercise must be don e because it helps in burning away the calories in human’s body. To maintain a good health, moderate intensity exercise should be done for at least 1 hour most days of the week. During the day, simple exercise such as take the stairs and also get up often from your chair or sofa may helps too. [ Refrence 3,4,5] Obesity normally occurs when adipose cells, which adipose cells are cells that provide storage for extra energy, are increasing absurdly in size and also the number (hyperplasia). An increase in the size of adipose cell is called hypertrophic, while an increase in number of fat cell is known as hyperplastic. Thus, an increase in hypertrophic or hyperplastic resulting in obesity. Besides, adipose cells also follow a normal pattern of growth and development. For infance, adipose cells more developed and each cell grows greatly, which resulting in hypertrophic or hyperplastic obesity. While for adulthood, a person usually has a normal number of adipose cells, but there is large amount of fat in each cell. In certain extreme cases, adult-onset obesity can be both hypertrophic or hyperplastic. Then, the fat cells do not disappear in adult state once it developed. Furthermore, obesity also develops regularly as weight is gained over a period of time. When amount of energy which also means calories consumed in food and drinks exceed the energy used for exercise and metabolic processes in body, weight gain will occur. This is also known as positive energy balance. The excess energy will be stored as fat. Each kilogram of fat stores around 9000 kcal. When body needs more energy than available from food, the fat can be lost or reduced from the energy stores. This is well known as negative energy balance. So, a lack of energy balance may eventually cause obesity. [ Refrence 6,7 ] Obesity has significant effects for health and it is linked to a wide range of diseases. One of the disease that is normally caused by obesity is coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is usually caused by a build-up of fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries around the heart. This layer of build-up acid is normally accumulated from the food that we eat daily. Foods contain high fat value will eventually build up the fatty deposit called atheroma. It is also made up of cholesterol and other waste substances. Once the atheroma build-up on the walls of the coronary arteries, this will make the arteries become narrower and reduce the blood flow to the heart muscle. This process is called atherosclerosis. If more severe, obesity can lead to heart failure which your heart cannot pump enough blood to meet your body requirement. In addition, type 2 diabetes is also one of the health problem caused by obesity. Those who are obese are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes disease . Being overweights will add more pressure on body’s ability to control blood sugar using insulin and so makes it much more likely to develop diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, body produces insulin but its insulin cannot be used properly. The body overproduce insulin at first to keep the blood sugar normal. But overtime, this cause the body to lose ability to produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar level at a normal rate, and will eventually lead to kidney failure and heart disease. Furthermore, obesity may also lead to high blood pressure, which is known as silent killer.The blood wessels need to circulate more blood to the fat tissue, as the extra fat tissue in the body needs nutrient and oxygen to survive. Due to this, the workload of the heart will be increasing because more blood is needed to pump through the additional blood vessels. The more the circulating blood, then there is more pressure on the wall of the artery. Consequently, the higher pressure on the artery wall will increase the blood pressure. [ Refrences 8,9,10] There are actually several ways to treat obesity. Obesity can be cured either by drug therapy or bariatric surgery, as it is a more effective treatment. For drug therapy treatment, there are two types of drug which are recommended as it can be used for long-term, which is orlistat and sibutramine. Orlistat is a gastrointestinal lipase inhibitor which helps to reduce patient’s weight around 3 kg on average and also decrease patients to be high risk in diabetes. It will be effective if low-calorie diet is alongside the treatment. In orlistat way of treatment, the fat is absorbed and digested into body. It then works on small intestine and stomach to avoid the action of two enzymes found in digestive juices. The enzyme is normally to break down the fat which consumed in meal. So, orlistat block the fat from being digested as it will passed out as faeces instead of being absorbed into body. Another drug, sibutramine which is known as a monoamine-reuptake inhibitor, can help to red uce weight and the mean of weight losses is around 4-5 kg, but is related to increase of pulse rate and blood pressure. Sibutramine is called as appetite suppressants in medication class and it works to decrease appetite by acting on appetite control centers in the brain. Furthermore, bariatric surgery , also known as gastrointestinal surgery helps to reduce weight in a rapid way, by altering the digestive process. The operation can be divided into two that is malabsorptive and restrictive. Malabsorptive weight loss surgery exclude almost all of the nutrients of small intestine from digestive tract to decrease amount of nutrients and calories absorbed. For restrictive weight loss surgery, it creates a narrow passage from the upper part stomach to larger lower part to reduce the intake of food and also slowing the passage of food to stomach. [ Refrence 11,12,13 ] In conclusion, obesity disease should be more concerned and awared by everyone in the society as this disease increasingly on the rise nowadays. So, everyone must have well-planned for a health-enhancing lifestyle. Bad habit must be quited as fast as possible to save own life for a good health. There is a saying that healthy food is not tasty but however this is the golden phrase which leads everyone to a long-life span. References Obesity and overweight http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ [ Accessed 1 October 2014 ] Obesity rates climbing worldwide, most comprehensive global study to date shows. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 May 2014. Available at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140528204215.htm [ Accessed 1 October 2014 ] Causes of obesity. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/basics/causes/con-20014834 [ Accessed 2 October 2014 ] Mahshia Dehgan, Noori Akthar-Danesh, Anwar T Merchant. 2005. Childhood obesity, prevalence and prevention. Available from http://www.nutritionj.com/content/4/1/24 [ Accessed 2 October 2014 ] Causes of obesity. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obesity/Pages/Causes.aspx [ Accessed 2 October 2014 ] David Jone. Development Of Obesity. Available from http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Development_Of_Obesity.html [ Accessed 3 October 2014 ] Obesity. How Obesity Develop. http://www.acumedic.com/onestophealth/obesity.htm#article [ Accessed 3 October 2014 ] Health Risk Of Overweight And Obesity. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/risks.html [ Accessed 3 October 2014 ] Coronary Heart Disease. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coronary-heart-disease/Pages/Causes.aspx [ Accessed 3 October 2014 ] Health Effects Of Obesity. http://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/healthy-living/obesity/symptoms.html [ Accessed 3 October 2014 ] Paul E O’Brien, Wendy A Brown and John B Dixon.2005. Obesity, weight loss and bariatric surgery. Available from https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/183/6/obesity-weight-loss-and-bariatric-surgery [ Accessed 7 October 2014 ] Orlistat. http://www.patient.co.uk/medicine/Orlistat.htm [ Accessed 7 October 2014 ] Weight loss surgery. http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html [ Accessed 8 October 2014 ]

Friday, October 25, 2019

Person Essay On Charles :: essays research papers

Person Essay on Charles As a handsome 5' 10" male with dark hair spiked in the front, and the most engaging smile approached my desk , I knew I would be laughing shortly. Charles walked up to my desk in Human Biology while we were dissecting eyeballs and commented on my eyeball. "You seem to have a better eyeball than I do." Many people wouldn't have taken this situation so lightly but because of Charles's sense of humor being around him was guaranteed to be fun. With his feigned itching disease, his crazy antics, or his practical jokes my friend Charles's sense of humor has taught me not to take life so seriously and have fun anywhere and everywhere. I first met Charles at Dans, a mutual friends, party, where he told me he had an I itching disease. He was drinking beer and I had cranberry juice with vodka, and since we drove we had to spend the night. So around 3:30am we got tired and went to lie down. As soon as we laid down Charles asked if he could take his shirt off and if I would scratch his back. I told him sure. So he did and that's when he told me he had an itching disease and I wouldn't be able to stop scratching his back until it stopped itching him. Well, with a little alcohol in me I believed him. I laid there for 2 Â ½ hours before I realized he had fallen asleep and went to sleep myself. On Monday on school I saw Charles and asked him how his itching disease was. He just looked at me grinned and chuckled. That's when I realized he had pulled a fast one on me. It didn't take me long to realize that Charles had some crazy antics up his sleeve. At another party Charles, Lisa , Dan and I sat in a room talking. Lisa and Dan were drinking and were drunk. Charles and I were not. Dan started flipping out by yelling and screaming that the radio, which was on 2 at the most, was to loud. Charles knew that Dan was drunk and decided to play with his head. So Charles whispered into my ear that I should tell him I turned it down. So I did and Dan was ok with it. Charles and I were laughing hysterically because it was so much fun playing with these drunk friends. Charles didn't care what other people thought about him as long as he made people laugh. At a chorus concert one night our friend Lisa brought in her

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Pregnancy and Mother Hood Essay

For my narrative/descriptive essay I chose to write about becoming a mother. There are positives and negatives about being a teenage mother but I choose to always look at the good. My son wasn’t planned but he isn’t a mistake either. I only have one child for the moment but from this experience I’m still debating on having more. This had been one long and challenging journey but it was all worth it in the end. Childbirth is a Powerful & Exciting experience all at the same time. The way I found out that I was expecting was a challenge alone. Once I noticed I was loosing an extensive amout of weight, confused and clueless I went to the doctor to get answers. While in the doctors office I had blood work done as well as a pregnancy test. The test came back negative as I expected being that I was on birth control. Ring Ring. About thirty minutes later, I received a phone call from the doctors office asking me to come back because my pregnancy test changed to positive. Once I get back to the doctors office, the nurse took a blood sample. Fifteen to thirty minutes passed and then my life changed. It was confirmed that I was two months pregnant. Young and scared, I’m now about to be a teenage mother. I just graduated and was trying to go off to college and within fifteen to thirty minutes that dream was taken away. The next seven months were challenging and educational. Over the next seven months, I was going to doctor appointments and gaining more and more weight. The time has now come to meet my beautiful baby boy. I was admitted to the Baptist Memorial Hospital at 5:00 a.m. on Febuary 14,2011. While at the hospital there is so much going on around you the you sometimes get side tracked on what’s really going on and go into a zone of your own. While laying there waiting to see what happens next there is the sound of the nurses feet constantly coming in and out your room along with visitors. Once the contractions start to come then the journey to motherhood begins. After dialating to about 7-8 centimeters I then have a choice of getting an epidural. (a drug used to numb your body from waist down). I had signed up for one but didn’t plan on using it. Once the epidural Is given then most or sometimes all the pain is gone. After I was at about five centimeters my labor stood still. I had the choice of an c-section or getting an epidual to speed the process up the process. I chose the epidural to keep from being left with a permanent scar. Now is time to start pushing and once I started the beeping of machines, sounds of voices, phones ringing, and all other activity around your is tuned out. All that matters to me now is delivering my healthy baby boy. Three long, entensive push and Bray’lon lamar jones enters the world. He arrived Febuary 25,2011 @ 7:44 weighting 6lbs and 6 ozs. During the whole journey through all ups and downs in the end it was all worth it because of my son.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Efficient Pricing of Geomarketing Internet Services Essay

Abstract Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. The main source of information are geographic, demographic, and statistic data. These data are usually collected and maintained by several institutions and come in a variety of forms and formats. The final integrators acquire datasets, sort, filter and organize them, and offer in advance defined analyses. In this paper we focus on geomarketing services offered on the Internet where usually no physical good is exchanged. The subject of trade is geomarketing information the user is able to extract from the datasets. The main issue is how to set a Pareto efficient price for geomarketing information. The situation is Pareto efficient when the sum of user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We investigate nonlinear pricing strategies and their efficiency to serve mass markets and attract users with different willingness to pay. Nonlinear pricing is used in a broader sense to include the practice of selling the same information product on various vertical markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. The market research for the GISMO project (Krek et al. 2000) showed that the US market differs substantially from the European. It has characteristics of a commodity market, where providers offer very similar or equal products at similar prices. This is feasible only if the prices for raw datasets, which represent the main barrier to enter the market, are low or zero. Competition among service providers drives prices down and enables them to successfully serve a mass market. The European approach is mostly determined by the high prices of datasets and restrictions on the copyright forced by the National Mapping Agencies. This prevents further production and creation of information products and serves only a narrow group of users with high willingness to pay. We list the most i mportant conditions for Pareto efficient nonlinear pricing of geoinformation services. 1 Introduction Price is a very important element of trade. It can only be discussed in relation to what is offered, how much value the potential user attaches to the product and how much he is willing to pay for it. A geomarketing service in this paper serves as an example for a geoinformation service in general where a Geoinformation product is traded. A Geoinformation product is defined as a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The provider of a geoinformation service has to select the medium of delivery and the price for the service. We concentrate on geomarketing services provided online through the Internet. The service is mostly done automatically, and not by a human. Usually no physical good is exchanged. Gathering information about the product, placing the order, and payment is done over electronic network. In the sections 5 and 6 we analyze different pricing strategies for geographic information and their Pareto efficiency. The s ituation is called to be Pareto efficient when the user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing and explain in which cases they conform to the Pareto efficiency. Setting a price equal to marginal cost is not economically viable since such a price does not cover fixed cost. Some examples of nonlinear pricing, such as quantity discounts, term-volume commitments, and list of price options satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if certain conditions are satisfied. We conclude with the list of the most important conditions for the Pareto efficient pricing of geomarketing service. They can be applied to geoinformation services in general. 2 Geomarketing Services A geomarketing service is a service of providing geomarketing information to the user. Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. This information can be delivered to the user in a different form, format and through different media. Geomarketing information is gathered from internal company’s data, which are combined with external demographic, statistic and geographic data. A geoinformation that satisfies a particular information need in a specific decision making situation is called a Geoinformation product. 2.1 Geomarketing Data Geomarketing data consists of internal company’s data and external data. Internal data (the rate of sale, current customers profiles, etc.) is collected and maintained by the company itself. External data comes in a variety of formats and forms, as a collection of numbers, reports, maps, etc., and is gathered by different institutions. Demographic and statistic data is collected and maintained by Statistical Offices and aggregated to a certain extent. Geographic data is provided in Europe mostly by National Mapping Agencies, in USA by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Because of this broad variety of data, their structure, content and formats, they cannot be easily integrated and are not straightforward usable by a non-technical user. 2.2. Geomarketing Information: a Product The source of geomarketing information is geomarketing data. Specialized companies collect the data from different sources, combine them, sort and filter them. For example, the statistical and demographic data have spatial dimension, which is usually given by the street name and house number. This data has to be geocoded in order to link the attributes (purchasing power, age, educational structure, etc.) with geographic data. The providers identify dimensions of data that are valuable for a certain group of users, package them and offer them as a Geoinformation product. A Geoinformation product is a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The answer to the question can come in many different forms; as a selected dataset, combination of datasets, a report, a map, etc. To make the geomarketing service feasible, some in advance designed steps and analyses are offered to the user. The most common are customer profile, site selection, and market penetration. 3 Internet as a Medium of Delivery The Internet changes the way transactions are done. User and seller can enter an electronic relationship without personal contact. The buyer can place an order any time (from the seat at home, late in the evening) and can take as much time as he wants or needs to take the decision about the purchase. Searching for the right product over e-network, he can get comparable information about similar products from other companies, their characteristics and prices. Cooperation with potential and current users of geoinformation services is important. In the Internet world, the gap between service-consumers and services-providers blurs. â€Å"Consumers become involved in the actual production process, their ideas, knowledge, information become part of the product specification process† (Tapscott 1996). In a geomarketing service, usually no physical good is exchanged. The user gets o the result of nly the analysis, the answer to his question. Even more advanced geomarketing services offer the possibility of uploading the data of the user on the provider’s server and combining these data with the collection of the data on the server. A service offered via Internet involves less administration, paper work, and less human resources, which reduces transaction costs. Direct connection to the computer accounting system can provide systematic and efficient registration of the transactions. Security and protection mechanisms enable the service provider to follow and control transactions. Selecting a proper pricing policy in order to attract widespread use of the service is of great importance. In the next sections, we review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing, and analyze their Pareto efficiency. 4 Pareto Efficiency The situation is Pareto efficient if there is no way to make both the user and the service provider better off. The sum of the user’s and provider’s surplus is maximized. It can be a understood lso as maximizing the difference between economic benefits and costs which appear on the user’s as well as on the provider’s side. The economic benefits are the benefits of using the product on the product has to him with his willingness to pay for the marginal unit of the product. If he expects high benefits, he will be willing to pay a high price for the product. Cost incurred on the provider side is mostly high fixed cost of designing and creating the Geoinformation product and enabling the service, and low marginal cost of providing an incremental unit of the product. The user’s cost is the price he pays for the product, the transaction cost and the cost associated with acquiring the information about the product. 5 Marginal Cost Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Marginal cost pricing is pricing where the price equals the marginal cost. The cost of an economic good is an important determinant of how much the producer will be willing to produce. The concept of â€Å"marginal† or â€Å"extra† cost is crucial for the situation on the market of economic goods. It has an important role in appraising how efficient or inefficient any particular price and production pattern is (Samuelson 1967). This observation is valuable for the standard economic good where the total cost of producing the product depends on the quantity produced. The cost structure a Geoinformation product substantially differs from the cost structure of the standard economic good. The total cost of producing the product is mostly a high fixed cost of collecting the data and designing the product, and is not recoverable if the production is halted (sunk cost). The marginal cost of producing t e second and each additional copy of the product is h very low or zero, mostly the cost of disseminating the product. The share of the marginal cost in the total cost of production is negligible. Marginal cost pricing of a Geoinformation product would according to the marginal cost pricing scheme imply very low or zero price. â€Å"Pricing at marginal cost may or may not be efficient: it depends on how the consumers’ total willingness to pay relates to the total cost of providing the good† (Varian 1999). At the first stage of the production, the datasets have low value to most users and they have low willingness to pay for them. The high cost of producing the datasets cannot be recovered. M arginal cost pricing does not imply efficiency because it does not cover the total costs of producing a Geoinformation product. 6 Nonlinear Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Pricing is nonlinear when it is not strictly proportional to the quantity purchas ed. Different prices are charged to different groups of buyers or the same product. Nonlinear pricing is also used in a f broader sense to include the practice of selling the same product on different markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. Good examples are phone rates, frequent flyer programs, and electricity (Wilson 1993). The first notion about charging different users differently for the same product was called price discrimination (Pigou 1920) and distinguished among three different forms of discrimination. 6.1 Price Discrimination Pigou (Pigou 1920) first used the term price discrimination and he described the following forms of nonlinear pricing: †¢ First-degree price discrimination The first-degree price discrimination is sometimes known as perfect price discrimination. The producer sells different units of output at different prices and these prices may differ from buyer to buyer. The buyer pays the maximum price that he is willing to pay, irrespective of the cost of production and supply. Usually it is difficult to determine what is the maximum price someone is willing to pay for the product. †¢ Second-degree price discrimination The producer sells different units of output at different prices, but every individual who buys t e h same amount of the good pays the same price. Second-degree price discrimination is much more common in practice. Good examples of this discrimination are volume discounts and coupons. †¢ Third-degree price discrimination The producer sells the output to different people at different prices, but every unit of output sold to a given person sells at the same price. Customers are divided into more groups, which have different demand curves and different price elasticity. The highest price is charged to the groups with the lowest elasticity. Examples of this discrimination are student discounts. 6.2 Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff is an example of a nonlinear pricing and consists of two parts. The first part of the tariff usually comes in the form of a membership, an annual or monthly license and is supposed to cover fixed cost. The second part of the tariff is related to the usage (number of reports transferred, number of bits, layers, etc.) and covers the incremental cost. This pricing scheme is often used in telecommunication. Users are charged for the connection to the network and additionally for the usage. Two-part tariff pricing scheme can be very naturally applied to a geomarketing service. The first part of the tariff represents a membership fee, an annual or monthly licence for access to the data, reports and maps; the second part is a n additional fee usually based on the volume transferred. Price P for a geoinformation service is then P = p0 + p v.q where p0 pv q fixed fee (annual, monthly, membership, etc.) price set for a volume transferred quantity transferred. The revenue collected from the first part of the tariff (p0 ) is supposed to cover the fixed cost of producing the first copy of the Geoinformation product. The price of u sage (pv ) should cover the incremental cost and the cost of transaction. The combination of the membership and usage constructed for the predicted demand is set so that the company’s total cost is recovered. How high the fixed fee and the price of usage s hould be is an important question. Availability of the raw data at low price will change the nature of the market. The price for both parts of the tariff (p0 and pv ) will form according to the equilibrium rules of supply and demand. 6.3 Pareto Efficiency of the Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff can disadvantage a certain segment of the users. Imagine a geomarketing service company offering geographic data over the Internet. For the simplicity of reasoning, imagine there exist two segments of users; those who use data on a regular basis and have a high willingness to pay (governmental institutions, ministries, utilities, etc.), and those who seldom need data (students, individuals, small and medium companies, etc.) and have low willingness to pay. In this case, a high fixed fee excludes the users with low willingness to pay, occasional users who need only a small volume of the data and are not willing to pay an annual membership fee or a license. The necessary condition for Pareto efficiency is not satisfied. 6.4 Quantity Discounts Quantity discounts are a form of a nonlinear price where the provider charges a lower price for a higher volume purchased. The opportunity of selling high volumes at a low price is often neglected in geoinformation business. Increased revenue from the higher volume at lower price enables the provider to improve the service and reduce prices for all users. The quantity discounts are usually designed in order to stimulate sales, but can complicate the billing and accounting system. Pareto efficiency of quantity discounts depends on the volume-price categories offered by the service provider. This pricing strategy might disadvantage users with low willingness to pay, not being able to pay nor interested in purchasing higher volumes. 6.5 Term-Volume Commitments According to this strategy the user agrees with the service provider to pay a certain amount of money for the service in advance. The payment is set according to the predicted demand for the service. This kind of agreement usually involves some discounts, because the whole payment is done at once and at the beginning of the period. Short-term contracts involve lower reduction in price than longer contracts. This strategy reduces billing and accounting cost and is often used by Internet providers. For example, â€Å"a one-year-term commitment to spend $2000/month obtains a discount of 18%â€Å" (Gong and Srinagesh 1998), for the 5 -year contracts the Internet providers use up to 60% discount. Term-volume commitments satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if the user can choose among different schemes and are designed indiscriminately. 6.6 List of Price Options Different pricing options can be combined and offered as a list of price options. In geomarketing services, the two-part tariff is often combined with an additional pricing option, the uniform pricing scheme. Under the uniform pricing scheme, the user pays the price (p2 ), which is proportional to the data transferred. Usually the tariff per volume purchased (p2 ) is higher in the uniform pricing scheme than the price (p1 ) proposed in the two-part tariff scheme, but the user need not pay an annual membership fee or license. The user profits if he is an occasional user, who needs a small volume of data. The sum he is willing to pay in this case is lower than the annual membership or license fee plus the cost of the data transferred.