Virtual Merchants

A Virtual merchant is any website which offers the sale of goods or services in a return for remuneration. [ (Tatum, 2010) ] Virtual merchants are essentially the same as a retail outlet, except they only operate online, example Amazon. They allow the consumer easy and instant access to view/purchase merchandise at the click of a button anytime and anywhere. Online stores are now being called e-tailers as they are highly popular with the general consumer. For example in 2008 Amazon had over ‘’76 million active customers accounts and order fulfilment to more than 200 countries’’. [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Amazons success and domination in the market place is well known. Customers tend to stay loyal to the e-tailer as they are extremely reliable on delivery, have an easy and user friendly online interface and are constantly learning and establishing trading relationships with its customer’s example possible likes e-mails. This loyalty aspect is one problem which most virtual merchants face and in Amazons case the customer orientated strategy they employ seems to be very effective at maintaining brand loyalty. ‘’Relentlessly focus on customer experience by offering our customers low prices, convenience, and a wide selection of merchandise’’ [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Many trading merchants offer the virtual trading aspect to their existing physical business to stay competitive and diverse within in the market place. This retail outlet coupled with the virtual merchant allows the business to appeal to a larger target market of potential customers, example the convenience shopper (online) and the physical shopper. This type of merchant can be referred to as bricks and clicks merchant example Wal-Mart. The value proposition defines how a company’s product or service fulfils the needs of customers (Kambil, Ginsberg and Bloch 1998). In Amazons case the value proposition is quiet simple as it aims to offer the world’s biggest choice of certain goods and be extremely customer focused and orientated. Amazon offers a personalised and customized service at a very competitive cost to their customers at the click of a mouse. According to Kambil 1997 and Bakos 1998, offering personalization, customization of product offerings and a reduction on product search costs are extremely important factors in developing a company’s value proposition. A company’s revenue model defines how they intend to generate profit and return on investment. In the virtual merchant market place there are several ways where profit can be generated. Firstly there is the direct sales profit margin and in amazons case they don’t have to rent retail outlets in busy high streets etc only merchandise warehousing storage etc, this accompanied with its online trading medium means that overheads, example direct contact with customer and reduction in sales support costs, are kept to a minimum allowing Amazon to offer an unrivalled selection and value for money. This places Amazon extremely competitive within the market place. Secondly they offer other businesses space to advertise on their webpage for example Hewlett pacard, Thompson holidays, Travel lodge etc. Virtual merchants are constantly looking to be dynamic and diverse in their service which they provide and different ways in targeting new customers. The e-tailer market is constantly growing as new users and accounts are set up every day. Amazon began in 1995 and have gained there competitive advantage within their market, they generated over 5 billion in sales in under a decade. When we compare this statistic with Wal-Mart (a bricks and clicks merchant) it took them twenty years to hit this sales figure. This is an indicator of how big and expanding the e-tailer market is.

Psychology †Pretty Little Liars Style Essay

Psychology The science of behavior and mental processes Nature vs. Nurture The controversy over the impact which genes and experiences have on psychological behaviors. Just like in the Bad Seed (performed at Rosewood High,) psychologists wonder if evil is something inherited or learned. Basic Research Science whose main goal is to increase the scientific knowledge base. Applied Research Scientific studies which aim to solve practical problems, like forensics being used to determine if the Liars’ evidence is real. Clinical Psychology A branch of Psychology which studies psychological disorders. Mona would have to have seen a clinical psychologist†¦ that chick cray. Psychiatry A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, with physicians who often give medicine to their patients. Empiricism The concept that knowledge comes from experience via the senses, while science comes from observation and experimentation. Jenna had lost the sense of sight, so in a strange, empirical sense, she could be less knowledgeable than the Liars†¦ if not, she certainly is more crazy. Hindsight Bias The tendency to believe that after a known outcome a person had known it all along. Reminiscent of people claiming they had known Toby is part of the A team†¦ It can’t be true!! False Consensus Effect The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors. Similar to how Spencer completely opened up to Toby, assuming that there was no way he was involved with A. Illusory Correlation Surely connected to the phrase â€Å"correlation is not causation,† this is the perception of a relationship where none exists. Similar to how Noel kept imagining a relationship between himself and Aria. Independent Variable The experimental factor which is being manipulated and whose effect is being studied†¦ ust like how A manipulates the Liars to watch them crack. Dependent Variable The experimental factor which is being measured. A manipulates the Liars to see how far she can get them to crack. Evolutionary Approach The study of psychology using the principles of natural selection. A seems to follow Darwin’s theories, eliminating the weakest of the NAT club one by one. Biological Approach The study of Psychology linking psychological progresses and biology, such as genetics. This is similar to A’s belief that Aria would have an affair with Ezra simply because her father had also had a student-teacher relationship. Behavior Genetics Approach A theory which determines how our environment influences our individual differences. The Liars all had secrets similar to the ones their parents had kept, be it lying, cheating, or stealing. Psychoanalytic Approach Studies using Freud’s theories on how the unconscious drives our behavior. Humanistic Approach Emphasize the growth potential of healthy people†¦. such as the ever beautiful Keegan Allen. Structuralism An early school of psychology which used introspection to explore the structure of the human mind. Similar to how Dr. Sullivan asked Hanna to think back about her relationship with Alison to help her move past her death. Functionalism A school of psychology which focused on how mental process allow an organism to adapt, survive, and flourish. In the movie Psycho (scenes from which were replicated in the episode â€Å"unmAsked†) Bates had become his mother in order to cope with his life and adapt to his condition. Human Factors Psychology The study of how people and machines interact. For instance, how the Liars are so reliant on their cellphones, even though that’s what brings them misery. Bottoms-Up Processing Perception, or analysis of sensory information, which begins with the sense receptor and works up to the brains integration of sensory information. Aria and Emily had first seen Caleb talking on the phone, and after listening to him talk, they then interpreted his conversation to mean that he was lying to Hanna. Top-Down Processing A form of higher level mental process which constructs perceptions based on experience and expectation, more similar to how Spencer learns information. Sensory Adaptation Diminished sensitivity in consequence of constant stimulation. Similar to Paige’s concern over the fact that Emily has become so used to â€Å"A† that she no longer realizes the danger she constantly is in. Associative Learning Learning that two events occur together, typically stimuli and a consequence. Similar to the Liars becoming convinced that every ad thing that happens to them is linked to â€Å"A†. Behaviorism The view that Psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Many people had believed that Mona was not truly sick because of her mental state, but merely because of her objective behavior. Classical Conditioning A learning style where an organism associates stimuli. Pavlov’s study of dogs salivating was a large factor. The Liars had received texts from â€Å"A† and got scared, now simply hearing their phone go off is enough to scare them. Unconditioned Response The unlearned response in classical conditioning, in this case, the fear behind the texts. Unconditioned Stimulus The stimulus which naturally triggers a response. In this case, â€Å"A†. Conditioned Response The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus. The Liars learned to fear their cellphones. Stimulus An irrelevant stimulus which eventually becomes a stimulus in classical conditioning. In this case the Liars’ cell phones. Conditioned Generalization The tendency once a response is conditioned, for similar stimuli to issue the same response. For instance, if the Liars were to then fear their computers and other technology as well. Acquisition The initial stage in classical conditioning where the stimulus first elicits a response. Like when the Liars first jumped after hearing Aria’s cell phone ring at Alison’s funeral. Extinction The diminishing of a conditioned response, such as after Mona was found to be â€Å"A. † Operant Conditioning A learning style where behavior is strengthened following reinforcement or diminished by punishment. Like â€Å"A† terrorizing the Liars to punish them for how they acted around Alison. Law of Effect Thordike’s principles that behavior followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely. For instance, Byron stopped having affairs after Alison blackmailed him in punishment for his actions. Operant Chamber The â€Å"Skinner Box† used to teach rats to hit a bar in order to obtain food or water. Shaping An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal, like guiding mice to a specific area of a cage. â€Å"A† does this to lure Spencer into the fun house at the founders day festival. Fixed-Interval Schedule In operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specific amount of time. Similar to having a paycheck and a specified pay day, which Ashley did have, but it just didn’t seem to be enough. Variable-Ratio Schedule A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at an unpredictable amount of responses. Similar to Lucas and his gambling problem. Latent Learning Subject matter which is learned but not demonstrated, such as Mona pretending to be less intelligent then she really is. Overjustification Act When you reward someone for doing something they already like to do, such as Emily winning anchor. They won’t see it as a reward, but that doesn’t mean former psychopaths like Paige won’t see it that way. Neuron A nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system. Just like how Alison was the main building block of the Liars. Dendrites The branching extensions of a neuron that receive impulses, such as the Liars receiving information from A. Axon The extension of a neuron through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands. Toby was an extension of Spencer who sent out messages as A. Myelin Sheath A layer of tissue that encases neurons. It enables faster transmission of neural impulses. The Liars’ families and their secrets protect the Liars, yet A uses them to get across their message more clearly. Threshold The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural response. After finding Toby was A, Spencer’s threshold for tolerating Mona sunk to an all-time low. Acetylcholine A neurotransmitter that triggers muscle contraction. Such as the neurotransmitter that makes Pretty Little Liars fans twitch every time Toby comes on screen. Central Nervous System The brain and the spinal cord, which are linked to survival†¦ something Alison was terrible at. Autonomic Nervous System The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the internal organs. Such as the gorgeous boys of the show who control the hearts of the Liars. Sympathetic Nervous System The part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body. Parasympathetic Nervous System The part of the autonomic nervous system which calms the body. Medulla The area of the brain that controls breathing and heart beats. Sensation The process of sensory receptors receiving stimulant energies from the environment. This can be analogous with the Liars gaining clues to A’s identity. Perception The process of interpreting sensory information to recognize objects and events. Analogous with interpreting clues to determine who A is. Psychophysics The study of the relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli, such as intensity, and the psychological experience of them. Absolute Threshold The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus half of the time. The absolute threshold for Pretty Little Liars fans is low considering the intensity of their cliffhangers. Subliminal Something below the absolute threshold for conscious awareness. The clues that are in the show are subliminal while being watched, but only make sense when considered with hindsight bias. Weber’s Law The principal that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be able to tell the difference. Apparently the difference between Alison and her twin are too minimal to pass the Liars’ threshold. Sensory Adaptation Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. After the blow of finding out Toby was A, it really shouldn’t surprise me that Spencer would join the A team as well. Optic Nerve The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain. Something Jenna lacks. Sensory Interaction The concept that senses influence each other. While Jenna was blind, her lack of vision altered her taste for food. Selective Attention Focusing attention on one stimulus, such as Spencer ignoring Alex at Homecoming to pay attention to Emily and Toby. Perspectives/Approaches Methods of Research Social Psychology Biological Bases of Behavior Development Learning, Cognition, Language, Intelligence Sensation/Perception Motivation/Emotion States of Consciousness Personality Theories Abnormal Psychology People Foot-In-The-Door Theory The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. This would make it easy for the A-Team to attract followers. As soon as they agree to send one taunting text to the Liars as revenge on Alison, the next thing you know they’re running over Hanna with a car. Social Facilitation Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others, often occurs with simple or well-learned tasks, but not with difficult or unmastered ones. When Toby and Spencer ran together, they probably ran faster and longer than if they had been alone.

A Report On Porters Five Forces English Language Essay

A Report On Porters Five Forces English Language Essay Conducting a strategic industry analysis is an informative method in understanding the mission and motivations underlying the for-profit sector and can result in additional industry insight (King, M. A., n.d.). Porter’s Five Forces are the most broadly used business tool for the strategic industry analysis. Diagram 1 was design by Michael Porter in defining the industry analysis. King’s studies (as cited in Porter, 2008) mentioned the Porter’s Five Forces contain the competitive rivalry within the industry, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of customers, threat of substitutes, and bargaining power of suppliers. Competitive Rivalry within the Industry Rivalry among competing firms is the most powerful of the five competitive forces. In gain the customer’s share to increase the firm’s revenues and profits, the firms have to endlessly compete with each other in the same industry. The competition is more intense if firm pursue strategies that gi ve competitive advantage over the strategies pursued by rivals. (Porter, 2008) Malaysia has a total of 690 private colleges, 14 private universities and university colleges and 4 foreign university branch campuses (Wong, P. W., 2003). In 2001, these private institutions had 270,900 students with 90% enrolled in private colleges (Wong, P. W., 2003). Though competition is intense throughout the private higher education industry, the bulk of the student enrolment in private colleges is concentrated within a few major players. Wong’s studies (as cited in SEGi investors website) mentioned the notable ones are SEGI, INTI Universal, Stamford, PTPL, Informatics, Olympia Colleges, Sedaya College, KDU, Taylors College, Sunway, KBU, and HELP Institute – â€Å"Big 12† Besides private, SEGI also faces competition form both listed, non-listed colleges or universities and also the college or university that located around the branches area. For example SEGI College Subang Jaya , their main competitors are those colleges or university that located around the Subang Jaya area such as INTI, Monash, Taylor’s, Sunway, Optima, Metrowealth, and Metropolitan college.. XXX, (2009, December 2). Head of Marketing Department, SEGi College Subang Jaya. Interview. Other SEGI competitors in the listed companies such as INTI and Stamford offer similar courses except that SEGI more emphasis on the adult market and vocational courses that gives good growth potential (Yaw, C. S., 2004). Formerly, SEGi was well-known for its professional and technical accountancy courses expanded its course structure with the reverse takeover of Prime Group by Systematic Education Group in 2001. Therefore, SEGi expanded its field of studies from pre-university to doctorate level and increased its tie-ups with foreign university. This reverse takeover lifted SEGI profile and in 2004, it listed as a largest private education provider with 18,500 students. (http://segi.investor.net.my/pd f%20files/TA_SEGi_040119.pdf) As the dominant competitor in the private education industry, SEGI stands apart from hundreds of small private institutions. Nevertheless, the competition is still intense between the top ranked education providers that estimated command for 30% of the total enrolled students in private college in 2001. The so-called â€Å"Big-12† which include listed competitors SEGI, INTI and Stamford. SEGI strength lies in the location of its colleges. In contrast to many notable colleges which operate on big campuses, SEGI’s colleges are scattered in residential areas across the country, from large urban areas to smaller towns and villages. For example, The Systematic Group of colleges has campuses in Georgetown, Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Johore Bahru, Subang Jaya, Serian, and Kuching in Sarawak, while the Prime Group has campuses in Alor Star, and Bukit Mertajam, Meanwhile, the new flagship campus in Kota Damansara is also expected to attrac t more students. The new campus can cater up to more than 12,000 students. (http://www.segi.edu.my/campus/sckd/)

End of Isolation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

End of Isolation - Essay Example Dorn and McClellan state in their work that society consisting of human beings has experienced numerous changes due to technology (McClellan, 1999, p.276). Changes in technology has even assisted America in several ways and has resulted in eliminating America’s social isolation, elevating economic growth, assisting in strategizing the military section and uniting the American people mentally and physically. Body The gap between the citizens of America has decreased due to increase in technological advancements since 1865. The new advancements have made various changes, these advancements have helped: in making research and development an easier task, sharing information and education, socializing with other and changed complex tasks into simple ones. These changes have assisted US in transferring and receiving information in both oral and written format. One of the major technological advancements experienced since 1875 was the creation of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, t his advancement was made as Graham Bell was quite motivated by the providing education to the deaf (Keenan, 2001, p.51). Other advancements that came to the forefront were the introduction of machines used to increase productivity, vehicles used for transportation of mass quantity of resources, and the typewriter. These advancements led to the research and development of much sophisticated technologies. The people of the United States were divided and had a conflict with each other during the period of Reconstruction. The American citizens were focused on and were very concerned about the disastrous effects of the Civil and the political wars that were being experienced by the nation during that era. The difference of opinion among the citizens and the wish to learn new things resulted in higher desire for technological advancements. During this period, the citizens felt the need for technology that could help them in moving from one end to another and to communicate their views to others. These needs led to the development of railroads and telegram during the 19th century, railroads accomplished the need for traveling and telegram led to the accomplishment of the need for communication (Bowles, 2011, p.47). During the period of the 1900s technological advancements were slow in speed to happen as compared to the technological advancements experienced by the Americans today. Technological advancements have even aided the students of America in gaining diverse amount of information and learn things in a better manner. Before computers came into existence, people in America were restricted to their libraries and educators for information purpose. Today, American students use internet and online sources to obtain information and with the aid of this information they develop themselves and gain acceptability throughout the world in different organizations. Politicians and people representing political arena use the means of technology to gain popularity in order to get elected in the higher rankings of the political arena. These advancements are used by interest groups and political personalities to change the perception of the citizens of the citizens and to gain support for the enactment of new practices and regulations. The telegram has been replaced by digital technology such as the mobile phones. The digital technolo0gy has been used by the President Obama, he used email to obtain support for his plan of generating economic growth

Build team effectiveness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Build team effectiveness - Research Paper Example characteristic of effective team is that it has clear and demanding performance goals and the atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable (DeRuvo 5-7). In effective teams, every individual carries his or her own weight and all decisions are democratically made. Generally, there is efficient use of ideas characterized with open communication. Team effectiveness requires loyalty to the team and believing in every individual’s contribution. Every team member’s contribution should be respected by others and open communication should be enhanced among members (Folkman 1-3). Strong communication and collaboration as well as trust and commitment are regarded as the building block of successful teams. However, ineffective teams are characterized with low unity of purpose and the group does not involve itself with discussions that maintain it. There are also low performance goals and the atmosphere tends to reflect indifference. Some group members do not carry their fare share and criticism is characterized with hostility. Ineffective teams also have dominant figure who seek to gain power and dominate the group and personal feelings are hidden. Team leaders are supposed to be patient and pay attention to every member’s details. Team leaders are not supposed to take sides when it comes to problem solving issues especially when there conflict among members. Leaders should give a listening ear to every member and encourage pursuance of a common goal (Folkman 1-3). Every team member should learn to respect each other’s opinion and avoid creating unnecessary conflicts. Team members should further avoid unhealthy competition among themselves. Team members should embrace diversity of skill and personality and have a meaningful common purpose (Martini Web). Team members who have never worked in a team should further be free to share their ideas and increase their commitment towards the common goal of the team. Goal setting and tend to inspire and motivate others at a

Marketing (branding) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing (branding) - Essay Example Firstly, branding is an elementary method of strategizing a firms’ position within the market that involves the entire aspects of the firms. Although branding is a task of the marketing department, it cannot be kept restrained to that department alone. Secondly, a brand has to be the carrier of a firm’s value and at the same time the value has to be explained in such terms which can be adapted by the consumers (Randall, G., â€Å"Branding: A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy†). Branding as a Business Policy â€Å"Functions, differences, image and source† are considered as the four dimensions of brand that eventually shapes the essence of brands. The brand identification becomes strong as a result of uniformity among the above mentioned dimensions. If it happens that cohesion among the dimensions is not strong and any one dimension among those is sending ambiguous indications to the market, then the essence of the brand gets hampered as the customer s perceive confusing notion about the brand (Randall, G., â€Å"Branding: A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy†). Source: (Randall, G., â€Å"Branding: A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy†).

TRANSPORT GROWTH & CHANGE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

TRANSPORT GROWTH & CHANGE - Essay Example A volatile economy and restructuring of the way in which commerce was conducted led to the necessity of legislation in the early 1930’s to promote the healthy growth of the transportation industry. The way in which growth would best be achieved was in the nationalization of the responsibility of transportation. Post World War I transportation issues were no minor detail within the urban landscape. The condition of the cities and the industrialization that had created jobs that might require travel promoted a stern need for a successful transportation system. Even more important, the railways were necessary in post-war reconstruction efforts and were a potential solution to the problem that some faced in imagining a system of â€Å"garden cities† that turned the squalor of the urban environments to a wealth of beauty for city dwellers (Lodge 2002, 35). The urgency in creating legislation to transfer the responsibility for the infrastructure of the railways to the state was defined by a need to ensure that improvements and investment was made so that the system could keep up with the needs of the cities in restructuring (Lodge 2002, 36). According to Lodge (2002), the 1919 Ministry of Transport Act is representative of two competing policies which resulted in a shift from the concept of nationalization that meant public ownership to a concept of nationalization towards government subsidies to corporation (39). The 1921 Railways Act was designed to put into place regulatory practices in regard to the railways. The Act provided that the corporations be forced to be regulated and standardized so that there was a public model from which the railways would practice (Callender 2008, 162). According to Grieves (1989), the Act was not intended to be a precursor for an intent for a nationalized railway system, but to help to stabilize the financial system. The central result of the Act stemmed from a recognition that

Experimental research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Experimental - Research Paper Example people see winking, where male to female winking is seen somewhat to highly offensive and somewhat uncomfortable, somewhat negative, and somewhat rude, as well as male to male winking. My findings showed that when a female is winking to a female, it did not make females uncomfortable and they felt highly comfortable instead (n=4). They found it unusual though (n=3), but not offensive (n=4). They also found the wink very friendly (n=4), compared to when a male winked at them. They also found the winking somewhat polite (n=3), as if a secret is being shared. These females thought that winking means that there is a â€Å"secret† or â€Å"joke† going on (n=3), soon to be revealed, or just plain â€Å"silly† (n=1). They did not feel the same when males wink at them. When a male winked at them, they found it somewhat normal (n=3), but somewhat offensive (n=4). They were also somewhat uncomfortable (n=4), but a very friendly wink made them feel less uncomfortable (n=4). They found the male who winked at them somewhat unfriendly (n=4), but a friendly wink perception made them see the male as somewhat friendly (n=4). The winking was also somewhat rude (n=3) to very rude (n=1). They think that the winker meant some rudeness or flirtation in one or two words (n=4). These outcomes suggest that gender is important in reading non-verbal communication practices. Male to female winking is generally usual, but it makes women altogether uncomfortable too. Males found females winking to them more acceptable than when males do it, and the friendlier it is, the more the winking was seen as uncomfortable. Males winking to males found it somewhat unusual and highly offensive (n=4), but when females do it, they found it somewhat unusual (n=4), but completely harmless (n=4). Males felt somewhat uncomfortable when males wink at them (n=3), though somewhat friendly (n=3) winks made the wink less harmless (n=3). Males winking at males found it somewhat negative (n=3) to highly negative (n=1),

Concert Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Concert - Assignment Example Diwali is celebrated differently in different regions of India. For example, in northern India, Diwali is a mean to celebrate the return of Rama from Ayodhya after suffering in exile for fourteen years. It is celebrated to honour Rama’s victory against the defeat of Ravana. Similarly, in Gujrat, Diwali is celebrated to welcome the goddess of wealth which is known as Lakshmi in Hindi. In other parts such as Nepal, people celebrate the festival to remind themselves the victory of Krishna who was known for defeating evil king Narakaasura. Also in Bengal, Dewali holds a significant importance for them as a celebration associated with the goddess of Kali Mata. Traditional Activities: The typical traditional activities include: The cleaning of houses, streets, shops and all the public places. Buying and wearing new attires. Decorating every corner of the city with beautiful lights especially the Diyas. Cooking traditional foods especially the real festive meals. Exchanging gifts suc h as traditional sweets, valuable gold items for women and dresses such as Sari, dried fruits, toys for children. And last but not the least, displaying the magnificent fireworks to celebrate the real essence and charisma of Diwali. Traditional Music: Music and dance are an essential part of any Hindu festival. Even during, Diwali people celebrate the joy and happiness on the beats of traditional festive music mixed with Holy songs and sometimes, songs from the famous Indian movies are also played. Any Hindu festival is considered without music especially without the beats of drums. Songs are played on all the public venues for people to dance and cherish the moments. Traditional Food: Diwali is incomplete without sweets and traditional food. Indians celebrate this event with the touch of their traditional sweets known as Mithai. Other traditional foods include Halwa, snacks made from chickpeas, rice and lentil and Chivda. Especially on the day of Diwali, women give a plenty of thei r time in cooking these traditional foods including drinks such as Chai, Sorbets and different frozen desserts. Their food is usually filled with spices and herbs cooked in special coconut oil (Source: The Guardian). Conclusion Diwali is the most celebrated event in the history of India and wherever Sikhs, Hindus and Jains live. It has remained the same during all those times and it is still celebrated in the same traditional and enthusiastic manner. Even today, people still decorate their surroundings with colourful lights, decorative items, exchange gifts and focus on sending traditional sweets to one another. Hindus know how to preserve their traditions and culture without changing them even a bit. Works Cited: BBC. Diwali- 3rd November. [Available Online]. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/hinduism/diwali.shtml accessed on 8th March, 2013 The Guardian. What’s eaten at Diwali. [Available Online]. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/25/whats-eate n-at-diwali accessed on 8th M

Billboard Influence On Social Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Billboard Influence On Social Issues - Essay Example Authorities shouldn’t let advertisers place a high pictorial advertisement in congested areas. This study hasn’t put significant light on billboard influence on social issues. For instance, billboards used to contain exaggerated content, which doesn’t have a possible existence. Such falsify practices often blow mistrust environment among people. The author of the study is failed to make logical arguments in the study. He expressed its soft feelings for the business community. Society shouldn’t be dumb on the name of the flourishing business activity. Whatsoever is containing an anoxic substance for society, it shouldn’t let allow proceeding. The structure of the essay isn’t well formulated. Hence, the author has been found with deprived thoughts regarding illustrating the significance of billboards. He attempted to give an edge billboard advertisement for a digital advertisement. The author of essay aimlessly attempted to highlight the existence of billboards nearby villages. African-American neighborhoods have a higher percentage of public service billboards dealing with issues such a dunked driving and school dropout. However, the billboard isn’t only serving to business entities. These have else usages including political promotion campaigns, maps, and addresses. Perception molds mind into a thought set those small business owners often us inexpensive methods to brandish their products. Similarly, the bombardment of billboards is from them. They want the customer to get eased in finding them. Reliability of source references is so important for writing a valuable study. Hence, Edquist, Jessica has significantly explored the impact of billboards during simulated driving.

Social Dimensions of Child Abuse in KSA Essay Example for Free

Social Dimensions of Child Abuse in KSA Essay First of all, I wish to laud you for having tackled these important aspects of the problem you wish to do research on: You have an excellent grasp of long-term outcomes, policy changes (p. 7) Acknowledging that some baseline research has already been done (p. 5) Difficulties (p. 6), really Limitations which you must address by recommending suitable methodology Research objectives (p. 6) May I suggest you restructure in this fashion? INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND One paragraph on â€Å"why should we be concerned about child abuse?† One long paragraph on historical prevalence (cite authoritative sources, including those that have parallels to the domestic/family/society practices in KSA). One (long) paragraph on the moral and policy framework espoused by international organizations (e.g. UNICEF?) The child abuse prevalence, social philosophy and policy framework in selected countries (It is good to cite the U.S. but are there others? Notably Muslim ones?) Please consider moving the sentence at the bottom of page 3 here. It’s an effective recap. REVIEW OF LITERATURE You have ten references lined up in the bibliography.   Why not do justice to your research by summarizing what you’ve found in them?   Perhaps in this sequence? Prevalence of child abuse in KSA and other Muslim societies Types of child abuse committed in KSA Why it may be under-reported. (This is where the current content of â€Å"Difficulties of the study† really belongs. Cite sources.) The social factors behind child abuse Social, religious and policy support for combating child abuse in KSA. What legal support is there for intervening in domestic cases of child abuse, for treating both abuser and victim?   In any society, physicians would be hamstrung if laws did not exist to mandate reporting of abuse and penalties for offenders.   Everybody would just sweep things under the rug. How victims are aided/helped and offenders treated What information gaps still exist? IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY Then you’d bring in the pioneering role of KFSHRC here to affirm that some organization is doing something about child abuse but (point G. above) there remain information gaps that must be addressed if effective remedial measures are to be proposed. RESEARCH PROPOSAL PROPER Research Objectives Revise, expand or tone down according to what you have already found in Review of Literature above. 4th bullet point: replace â€Å"volume† with â€Å"incidence† or â€Å"prevalence† 5th and 6th bullet points: move to â€Å"OUTCOMES† below Consider taking out the 7th point, this involves you in doing longitudinal studies. Last bullet point: please consider re-writing to make it more specific or measurable, e.g., â€Å"Formulating – via professional consensus – a structured process for resolution, therapy and general management of abuse patients and offenders†¦.† Type of Study Considering the ticklish social situation you speak about, please think about augmenting your methodology with qualitative methods, e.g., focus groups, depth interviews and projective techniques. Target Respondents The seven points you made at the top of page 6 work better here to help shape your considerations (or rationale) for tackling different types of respondents and the data-gathering approach suitable for each one. Consider adding educators to your sample.   Not all child abuse cases result in physical trauma and not all traumas are reported to pediatricians either.   Do you have something like social welfare workers in KSA?   They might be a good source, too. Study Instruments Under Questionnaire, â€Å"This questionnaire consists of several parts† I think what you really mean is that you plan to create different versions depending on whether you’re interviewing physicians, parents, abused children or adults who can tell you about having been maltreated as children.   I believe you want to tread carefully about promising to interview abused children, this is one of the most challenging â€Å"discovery/disclosure† type of sessions counselors have to undertake. OUTCOMES This is where your statements on pages 6 and 7 belong. Your situation strikes me as one of advocacy, i.e., you want to provide a firmer basis for recognizing the problem, for professionals to take action and for government to provide legislative support.   You might also co-opt Sharia, if Koranic law has anything to say about child abuse. A FINAL NOTE: I’m not sure what â€Å"missing paragraphs† you allude to, that’s why I sent the earlier message.   The way we work, in any case, supplemental writing would be covered by filing a second order of the â€Å"Edit† type.   This is a â€Å"Review† order.   Good luck.   Hope all the above have helped.

Subcultural Theories And Critiques

Subcultural Theories And Critiques Introduction In this assignment, I have been asked to evaluate the main points of subcultural theories and critiques of them. In order to answer this question put to me, I will go on to describing exactly what a subculture is, I will then go on to state the different theorists who have given theories as to what subculture is, why it happens and how they may evaluate and apprehend it, showing their opinions throughout. I will then evaluate each theory and show the strengths and weaknesses of each, and throughout my evaluation I will be using plenty of references throughout to back up any points made, and finally go on to a concluding summary. Firstly we must state what exactly culture is before we can delve in to any explanations of what exactly a subculture is. Williams suggests that there are many ways in which culture has been described and defined throughout history although the best way to define culture is that of ‘particular way of life which expressed certain meanings and values not only in art and learning, but also in institutions and ordinary behaviour (Williams 1961:pg 57). There can be said to be many different ways in which a selection of society can be seen as a subculture, the first is that of reactive subcultures in which people feel a direct oppression from mainstream society and react against all that is seen as the typical ‘norm. There are also independent subcultures which are said to have complete separate, and that of their own, norms, values and beliefs than that of mainstream society.ÂÂ   Brake also suggests that the best way to define a subculture is to suggest that it is like a ‘culture inside of a culture'(Brake 1985). Further into his book he then goes on to suggest that ‘Subcultures exist where there is some form of organised and recognised constellation of values, behaviour and actions which responded to as differing from the prevailing set of norms. (Brake 1985:pg 8). In some circumstances the norms and values we share in day to day life with all of society are followed but not in the same way by all, therefore creating these subcultures. From the day we are born, we are already surrounded by a subculture lead by class and the particular ways of life in which a working class family may have may be in complete comparison to that of an upper class family. We are all brought up with complete different values of life and some people may see it more as tradition within their family, which is to be followed religiously. One example of this can be seen with the subculture of gypsies, where it is tradition to get married mainly by the age of 16, they live in caravans, statics, shallays and it is tradition for gypsies to attend the Appleby fair every year and even though this is not seen as the norms and values of everyone, it is to them. You could say that there are so many subcultures out there that it is impossible to state every one. An example of this could be that of what type of person you see yourself as and you religiously wear certain clothes to ‘fit in with a particular group i.e. Chavs, Hippys, Goths, Emos, Punks, Geeks, Popular, Tom Boys etc the list goes on. Another way in which people could suggest to support different values are that of homosexuality and the religions which oppose it as a sin of God. Longhurst et al argues that subcultures also arose from hegemony and quotes Clarke et als statement that ‘hegemony refers to the moment when a ruling class is able, not only to coerce a subordinate class to conform to its interests, but to exert a hegemony or total social authority over subordinate classes. (Longhurst et al 2008:pg244). As this was due to the fact that after the second world war a lot of reconstruction of the country as well as the economy was going on and the government, who mainly consist of white middle and upper class men, where changing the ways in which the working class lived their live s, and they took into account Cohens view that labour was being polarised and this meant that the wealthy were getting ‘specialised, high tech, well paid jobs and the poor were being forced to stay poor as they were only able to secure themselves ‘dead-end, unskilled labour. (Longhurst et al 2008:pg 243). These quotes show and tell us that the wealthy could see their jobs as a job and a career, however the poorer people could only see themselves as labourers, which in some cases me be used as a more generous term for skivvy, lackey, slave etc where they earn less money for doing a ‘hard days graft as you will, but yet the highly paid jobs are more than likely to be quite an easy job to do. Society in those days needed hard workers to do the labour jobs as those were the areas which needed upkeep however the areas the wealthy seemed to have jobs in would more than likely have no effect on society if it were to keep going or stop all together and therefore many are m eaningless jobs but they are getting more money to do them. This is the kind of subjects in which set off the rebellions and therefore there was the creations of these subcultures in other areas than just class, but against governmental choices and the decisions they may have made which had an adverse affect on one class as it did on another, causing further friction between classes and we still see this going on today. One of the main theorists to evaluate subculture was that of Albert Cohen and he mainly shows his theory of the subculture functionalist through his book called Delinquent Boys : The culture of the gang. In this book, his main points are that it is the clashing between that of the middle class and the ‘delinquents which was a harsh term produced by middle classes to describe the poor in order to portray them as being non educated with no intelligence and no drive to have goals in their lives. His view was linked to that of Mertons Strain Theory and Cohen, as well as Merton, argue that everyone has the same goals in life however the working classes never get the opourtunity to actually go forward and achieve these goals. However where the two theorists differ, is how this revulsion of middle class culture leads to crime and law breaking behaviour. Merton has the view that because the working class do not get the chance to succeed in life, this then leads most down the path of cr ime and this is the main result of no success, suggesting that they have no choice in the matter, and that in order to survive they must turn to crim. Cohen on the other hand suggests that because the working class cannot have success in reaching goals in life, this then leads them to make up their own goals which involve crime and aggressive, law breaking behaviour (Cohen 1955 cite). Suggesting that they choose to break the law and commit crime and they see this as a way of life, and see nothing wrong with this. This subculture is reflected by Cohen to be the delinquent subculture with their own norms and values and their goals being to commit crime and it is seen as a positive thing to do, as if they reach their targets and goals by committing crime.ÂÂ   The main goal for this subculture which Cohen suggests is to gain that of status by any means necessary, whether that be good or bad publicity and they dont care which way they are portrayed by the media and other sources, as long as they are publicised and he suggests that these peoples key features are ‘malice, ‘negativisticbehaviourand ‘non-utilitarian behaviour (Cohen 1955 cite). ‘Malicious behaviours are committed out of spite.bullying of non delinquents.Negativistic by believing that their behaviour is right precisely because it is wrong according to the norms of society.Non-utilitarian as their activities do not produce a direct economic benefit. (Regoli et al 2009:pg192).He also suggests that they have traits such as being very ‘versatile, ‘hedonists andÂÂ   having great ‘group loyalty and autonomy never betraying one of the groups rules. ‘Versitility is shown in their tendancy to dabble in many delinquent activities stealing, vandalism, trespassing, truancy and so on.Hedonism as delinquents are often impatient and impulsiveout for fun and dont take kindly to rules, scheduals or organization, nor do they plan ahead, study or practice. Future gains and goals are of no importance to them.Group autonomy as they are close to other members of gang but hostile to outsiders. (Regoli et al 2009:pg192-193). This delinquent subculture was also separated not only from middle class society through social exclusion from the norm, but they were separated by sex as Cohen states in his book that ‘male delinquency is at least four times as common as female delinquency. (Cohen 1955:pg45). He also suggests that even though there is this subculture group which is apparent in order to try to gain a voice within the middle class society and to stand up for what they believe in and their rights as an English Citizen, there still never seems to be no resolution and that this battle will go on forever more ‘some groups, which may sometimes be counted excessive, sub-cultural solutions may not emerge, or particular individuals may not participate in them, Nonetheless, the problems of adjustment may be sufficiently intense and persistent that they still press for some kind of change. (Cohen 1955:pg 71).

Distance Measurement Using RSSI Method in WSN

Distance Measurement Using RSSI Method in WSN Distance Measurement Using RSSI Method in Wireless Sensor Networks Akhand Pratp Singh, Devesh Pratap Singh, Santosh Kumar Abstract. RSSI method gives distance measurement between beacon nodes and unknown node. RSSI is Range-based localization depends on the assumption that the absolute distance between a sender and a receiver can be estimated by one or more features of the communication signal from the sender to the receiver. RSSI measurement is not more relevant because the RF signal is affected by the environment, the exact distance between the nodes cannot obtain by RSSI measurement by RSSI. Keywords: Received Signal Strength Indicator method, RSSI method, Distance Measurement by RSSI. Introduction Wireless Sensor Networks can be generally defined as network of nodes that cooperatively sense and control the environment enabling interaction between persons or computers and the surrounding environment. WSNs are mostly used in military surveillance, industrial process control and environmental monitoring. Node localization is a big problem of wireless sensor networks applications [1].According to estimation of node localization [2][3], the localization algorithms[3] can be divided into two categories: range-based and range-free. Range-based method calculates the localization between neighboring sensors. Several ranging techniques are possible for range measurement, such as time of arrival, time difference of arrival, angle of arrival, or the receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) [3]. Range free techniques solution depends only on the contents of received messages, which does not estimate the distance or angle between the nodes. Typical range-free localization algorithms [7] inc luded Centroid, DV-Hop, Amorphous, MDS-MAP[14] and APIT, and so on [3]. Localization algorithm [7] based on range-based has higher accuracy but requires additional hardware on sensor nodes. Localization of Wireless Sensor Networks Localization [8] is the process by which sensor nodes determine their location. In simple terms, localization is a mechanism for discovering spatial relationships between objects. The various approaches taken in literature to solve this localization problem differ in the assumptions they make about their respective network and sensor capabilities. A detailed, but not exhaustive, list of assumptions made include assumptions about device hardware, signal propagation models, timing and energy requirements, composition of network via homogeneous vs. heterogeneous, operational environment via indoor vs. outdoor, beacon density, time synchronization, communication costs, error requirements, and node mobility [9]. Localization of WSNs is classified in two approaches [5]. Direct Approaches This is also known as absolute localization. The direct approach itself can be classified into two types: Manual configuration and 8GPS-based localization [5]. The manual configuration method is very cumbersome and expensive. It is neither practical nor scalable for large scale WSNs and in particular, does not adapt well for WSNs with node mobility. The GPS-based localization method, each sensor is equipped with a GPS receiver. This method adapts well for WSNs with node mobility [6]. However, there is a downside to this method. It is not economically feasible to equip each sensor with a GPS receiver since WSNs are deployed with 100 of 1000 of sensors. This also increases the size of each sensor, rendering them unfit for pervasive environments. Also, the GPS receivers only work well outdoors on earth and have line-of-sight requirement constraints. Such Wireless Sensor Networks can’t be used for underwater applications like habitat monitoring, water pollution level monitoring, t sunami monitoring [5], etc. Indirect Approaches The indirect approach [5] of localization is also known as relative localization [4] since nodes position themselves relative to other nodes in their vicinity. The indirect approaches of localization were introduced to overcome some of the drawbacks of the GPS-based direct localization techniques [9] while retaining some of its advantages, like accuracy of localization. In this approach, a small subset of nodes in the network, called the beacon nodes, are either equipped with GPS receivers to compute their location or are manually configured with their location. These beacon nodes then send beams of signals providing their location to all sensor nodes in their vicinity that don’t have a GPS receiver. Using the transmitted signal containing the location information[4], sensor nodes compute their location. This approach effectively reduces the overhead introduced by the GPS-based method. However, since the beacon nodes are also operating in the same hostile environment as the se nsor nodes, they too are vulnerable to various threats, including physical capture by adversaries. This introduces new security threats concerning the honesty of the beacon nodes in providing location information Since they could have been tampered by the adversary and misbehave by providing incorrect location information. Within the indirect approach, the localization process can be classified into the following two categories. A. Range-based In range-based [5] localization, the location of a node is computed relative to other nodes in its vicinity. Range-based localization depends on the assumption that the absolute distance between a sender and a receiver can be estimated by one or more features of the communication signal from the sender to the receiver. The accuracy of such estimation, however, is subject to the transmission medium and surrounding environment. Range based techniques usually rely on complex hardware which is not feasible for WSNs since sensor nodes are highly resource-constrained and have to be produced at throwaway prices as they are deployed in large numbers. Some range-based localization techniques are as follows Angle of Arrival, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Time of Arrival and Time Difference of Arrival. In this paper we are discussing about the RSSI technique [12][15], RSSI technique does need require additional hardware, which will not increase the hardware cost and the size of the nodes. However, due to RF signals influenced by the environment, the exact distance between the nodes cannot obtain by using RSSI [10][11], so the localization accuracy of nodes are not high. B. Range-free Range-free[5] localization never tries to estimate the absolute point to point distance based on received signal strength or other features of the received communication signal like time, angle, etc. This greatly simplifies the design of hardware, making range-free methods very appealing and a cost-effective alternative for localization in WSNs. Typical range-free localization algorithms[7] included Centroid ,DV-Hop, Amorphous, MDS-MAP[14] and APIT,etc. Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) Measurement Principles RSSI measurement [3] calculates the signal loss in the dissemination process with the theory or experience loss of signal propagation model and distance calculated between transceiver to receiver by path distance formulae. Some measure terms which are important role in RSSI measurement as follows: Path Loss Model Path loss models [3] are free space propagation model, the logarithmic distance path loss model, Hata model, etc. the logarithmic distance path loss model [3] is shown by formula (1): (1) Where d is distance from transmitter to receiver and its unit is km, n is path loss exponent that measures the rate at which the RSSI decreases with distance and the value of n depends on the specific propagation environment, XÏÆ' is a zero mean Gaussian distributed random variable whose mean value is 0 and it reflects the change of the received signal power in certain distance, d0 is reference distance and usually equals 1 meter, PL(d0) is a known reference power value in dBmilliwatts at a reference distance d0 from the transmitter. Received Signal Power at Reference distance Suppose A is the received signal power in the distance d0 between trans- mitter and receiver, the formula (2) can be generated. (2) Where Pt is power of transmitter and PL(d0) is a known reference power value in dBmilliwatts at a reference distance d0 from the transmitter. Distance Calculated by RSSI measurement The RSSI Value at the certain distance is calculated by the given formula. (3) Where RSSI is the received signal power. A is the received signal power in the sdistance of 1meter,n is the path loss index and relates to the environment. Then we select maximum RSSI value and then we convert it into distance by given formulae. After calculating the RSSI values we can obtain the maximum value of the RSSI which is known as RSSImax. (4) Where RSSImax is the maximum received signal power selected from all the RSSI values. A is the received signal power in the distance of 1meter,n is the path loss index and relates to the environment. RSSI Measurement Algorithms When we go through the RSSI method then we have to go through the following step of the algorithms as follows: Result and Analysis Our simulation is done in 10m x 10m two dimensional environment. Node deployment accuracy is very important. 9 nodes are deployed randomly we can get their coordinate and suppose one known node as unknown node and then we can find the distances, path loss, Gaussian distributed value [3]. Figure 1 Random deployed node Where +: unknown node *: Beacon node In the simulation we assume (x1,y1): (3.4855, 2.7068) as unknown Node and further we calculate the distance, maximum RSSI value in Scenario of 9 node where one node suppose to be mobile[6] by RSSI Method when n=2 ,A=8.4734 dBm and power loss at reference distance is 31.5266 dBm. Table1.Distance Calculation When we simulate we found that distance measure by RSSI principle is 1.5726 meter, but when we applied the distance formulae for the Coordinate we found that exact distance is 5.4825.So we found that there is measure margin of error. Figure2. Error in distance calculated by RSSI In figure1 we can see that the distance calculated by RSSI is not accurate, because the error percentage is 71.35. Conclusions Localization performance will depend on many things, including the localization algorithm used, the quantity of prior coordinate information, the method selected, and the accuracies possible from those measurements in the environment of interest[12]. The RSSI measurement is studied in this paper, but this method is not more accurate because the radio frequency signals is affected by the environment[12][13], the exact distance between the nodes cannot obtain by RSSI measurement. Experimental measurement and simulation results show that the distance is obtain, but measurement is not accurate. The proposed method is a good option in wireless sensor node localization, because of low cost and less complexity of the simulation. In future we can work on improving the RSSI method for the more accuracy because sometimes there is problem of accurate distance and it depends only on the measurement parameter model. The result shows that in future if we work through the RSSI method for the specif ic scenarios like war (soldier) and forest fire then the method may provide the specific result and maybe there is need of some more Improvement in this proposed method because some time the result shown by experiment is out of bound so there is need of some more improvement. References [1] Yick J., Mukherjee B. and Ghosal D., â€Å"Wireless Sensor Network survey†, Elsevier  Computer Network, vol.52, pp. 2292– 2330, 2008. [2] Mao G., BarÄ ±s F. and Anderson B.D.O.,â€Å"Wireless Sensor Network Localization Techniques†, Elsevier Computer Networks, vol.51,pp. 2529–2553, 2007. [3] Zheng J., Wu C., Chu H. and Xu Y., â€Å"An Improved RSSI Measurement In Wireless  Sensor Networks†, Elsevier Procedia Engineering, vol.15, pp. 876 – 880, 2011. [4] Patwari N., Aah J. N. and Kyperountas S., â€Å"Locating the nodes cooperative localization In Wireless Sensor Network†, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, vol.22, No.4,  pp. 54-69, 2005. [5] Srinivasan A. and Wu J., â€Å"A Survey on Secure Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks†, Florida Atlantic University, USA. [6] Amundson I. and Koutsoukos X.D., â€Å"A Survey on Localization for Mobile Wireless  Sensor Networks†,Computer Science,Springer,vol.5801, pp. 235-254, 2009. [7] Han G., Xu H.,Duong R.Q., Jiang J.,and Hara T., â€Å"Localization algorithms of Wireless  Sensor Networks: a survey†, Telecommunication Systems, Springer, vol. 52, Issue 4,  pp. 2419-2436, 2013. [8] Zeng Y., Cao J., Hong J, Zhang S. And Xie L., â€Å"Secure localization and location very  fication in wireless sensor networks: a survey†, Springer, vol. 64, Issue 3, pp. 685-701,  2013. [9] Wei X. and Qi Y., â€Å"Research on Some Key Techniques of Wireless Sensor Network†,  Electrical Engineering, Springer, vol. 127, pp. 255-260, 2012. [10] Heo J, Kim J. H. and Hong C.S., â€Å"A Logical Group Formation and Management  Mechanism Using RSSI for Wireless Sensor Networks†, Computer Science,   Springer, vol. 5297, pp. 207-216, 2008 . [11] Erdogan S.Z., â€Å"Mobility Monitoring by Using RSSI in Wireless Sensor Net  Works†,Computer and Information Science, Springer, vol. 90, pp. 572-580,  2010. [12] Adewumi O., Djouani K.,and Kurien A., â€Å"Performance Evaluation of RSSI  Based Distance Measurement for Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks†,  Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, Springer, vol.119,  pp. 74-83, 2013. [13] Ahn H., Lee Y.H., Cho H.J., Rhee S.B., and Lee J.H., â€Å"A RSSI-Based Approach for Localization of Wireless Sensor Network in Indoor†, Electrical   Engineering, Springer, vol. 120, pp. 123-127, 2012.   [14] Miao C., Dai G., Mao K., Li Y., and Chen Q., â€Å"RI-MDS: Multidimensional  Scaling Iterative Localization Algorithm Using RSSI in Wireless Sensor  Networks†, Computer and Information Science, Springer, vol. 501, pp. 164-  175, 2015. [15] Shen X., Wang Z., Jiang P., Lin R., and Sun Y., â€Å"Connectivity and RSSI  Based Localization Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks†, Computer Sci- ence, Springer, vol. 3645, pp. 578-587, 2005.

Chen Rongs The Nine Dragons :: Essays Papers

Chen Rong's The Nine Dragons Mysteries within mysteries, this is the gateway to understanding. -LaoZi (Harbaugh) Reading the Dao de Jing can be a daunting task for one who is unaccustomed to such simple riddles, as the Chinese language is so well designed to supply. The Dao de Jing itself is a collection of sayings, pearls of wisdom, which are intended to promote contemplation, an expanding of ones observational prowess, and eventually a total realization of the Dao. The Dao is the energy or being of the universe. To fully realize the Dao, is to become one with the universe, gaining immortality and absolute wisdom. Because the Dao cannot be described as it truly is, many artists have sought to allude to the Dao's true existence in painting and sculpture. One of the artists who has most successfully created a visual representation of the Dao is Chen Rong, the twelfth century literati artist. He is best known for his masterwork, The Nine Dragons. (Sullivan) Chinese Scholar artists like Chen Rong disapproved of the painting media of their professional contemporaries, opting to use black ink on paper, as opposed to the otherwise popular color on silk. The simplicity, of plain black over the simple backdrop of widely available paper, appealed to the Confucian and Daoist Scholars. As such, Chen Rong painted his Nine Dragons on a large paper scroll with black ink. (Little) Another common practice amongst Daoist scholars was the use of alcohol and other mood-altering substances, and often painting and composing poetry while intoxicated. Chen Rong was true to this practice, creating The Nine Dragons while drunk. This could very well account for the spontaneity of the work, which was first roughly outlined by Chen Rong painting with his hat; having dipped it in ink, with the fine detail work was then applied with a traditional calligraphy brush. (MFA) While these things alone may not set the Nine Dragons apart for any other Chinese literati painting, the work is truly unique and innovative. Most amazing in the work, is the illusion of motion. The waves swirl and crash, while the clouds softly shift through the sky, and the dragons fly playfully and spiritedly. No previous literati work has been able to match this fluid depiction of active movement of the dragons. Moreover, it is these dragons that hold the most significance in terms of the Daoist principles within the work. The dragon is a personification of the Dao, the realization of which is the goal of the Daoist practitioner.

The Tragedy of Ambition in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay -- GCSE English

The Tragedy of Ambition in Macbeth      Ã‚   Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth, shares common themes with many other stories and actual events. Many scandals, both historic and current, can be linked to greed, ambition, and abuse of power.   Typically, the key figures are motivated by, and are inevitably destroyed by, ambition.   This is also the case in Macbeth, where ambition leads to the downfall of the once great character, Macbeth.    William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, is a play about a man's ambition to become king.   Since the first part of the witches' prophecy, "All hail Macbeth! Thane of Glamis"(I.i.52-53)! was already a fact, and the second part was fulfilled almost as soon as the witches pronounced it, "All hail Macbeth! Thane of Cawdor"(I.i.54-55), Macbeth begins to think the part, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King, / hereafter"(I.i.56-57)! might also come true because, "supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good" (I.i.151-152).   Encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth murders King Duncan while he is a guest in Macbeth's castle.   As a result, Macbeth becomes king of Scotland.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to his critical essay on Macbeth, "Shakespeare and the Hazards of Ambition," Robert N. Watson comments asserts that ambition becomes the enemy of all life, especially that of the ambitious man himself, in this play (Watson 31).   Shakespeare puts on displays a man's lifelong aspiration that seems to be fulfilled, but at the cost of his mental and emotional well-being.   Macbeth's desire to gain wealth and status completely overpowers him, reducing him to something less than human.   Macbeth becomes ever more ambitious as his wife goads him and the witches tease him with more prophecie... ...them to walk away with a win.   Sometimes this is found out and the athletes are stripped of their honors; other times, the drugs are found in the athlete's corpse.   In either case, as with Macbeth, blind ambition can lead to a downfall, or even to death.    Works Cited and Consulted: Dominic, C. Catherine. Shakespeare's Characters for Students. Detroit - New York - Toronto - London: Gale Research, 1997. Garber, Marjorie. "Macbeth: The Male Medusa." Shakespeare's Late Tragedies, ed. Susan L. Wofford. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1996, 74-103. Scott, W. Mark, ed. Shakespeare for Students. Detroit - Washington, D.C.: Gale research, 1992. Staunton, Howard, ed. The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare. New York: Gramercy Books, 1979. Watson, Robert N. Shakespeare and the Hazards of Ambition. Cambidge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984

The Autobiography of Malcolm X :: Malcolm X Civil Rights American History Essays

The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of his birth, Malcolm's father was a Baptist Minister. His mom was a writer of Marcus Garvey. Before he was born, his father had 3 children with his previous marriage and 3 before him with his mom. Malcolm's father played a big role in scripting his life from early childhood by the beliefs that he carried and gave to the children by Garvey's teachings . He taught Malcolm to be a very strong man to be able to provide for himself without any help. Marcus Garvey was the founder of the U.N.I.A (Universal Negro Improvement Association) which was to raise the banner of black race purity and exhorting the negro masses to return to their ancestral African homeland. The Ku Klux Klan was a big threat to Malcolm's family so it forced them to move around quite a bit. Then suddenly one day, Malcolm's mother and father got into a big dispute that forced Malcolm's father to go out and take a walk to clear his head. Malcolm's mom felt very strange and uncomfortable about it. So before he had gone to far, she tried to catch up with him and tell him that she had a bad feeling and for him to come home. So later on that night two policemen came to their house to inform the family that Malcolm's father had been killed by an train cart. The accident was speculated because it was said that he was forced under the cart for it to hit him by the Klan. This whole ordeal had an very negative impact upon Malcolm's life growing up. After the father's death, the family was forced to be put on welfare. This was very hard for the kids and especially the mother to accept because they were use to the father being the provider, and it went against everything that they were taught by their father. They had welfare personnel coming by to check up on them very often. The mother felt so helpless and was unable to provide and care for the kids like she used to. It was even harder to try to discipline the kids without the father there to enforce the punishments.

Oniomania: Psychology and Higher Income Levels Essay

This condition generally interferes with the functioning of an individual where an individual is faced with an overwhelming urge to shop. Signs include; someone being overly preoccupied with shopping (shop till you drop), excessive shopping of especially items that are not used, which eventually leads to debts, marital problems with the spouse, or even other family members such as parents. Other signs include; thinking excessively about money, feeling a rush of euphoria and anxiety when shopping, and ultimately lying about purchases made.(Krueger 1988) How it starts Oniomania has no direct cause, since there is no specific pattern to the way of life of the people who have been diagnosed with as being shopoholics. Some Psychologists speculate that this condition might generate from developmental neurobiological and cultural influences, thus early life influences such as sexual abuse might be some of the cause. It should also be noted that this condition is mostly common in the developed world, probably because of higher income levels thus more of the disposable income and a higher ease of access to credit facilities. Oniomania is also higher in women as compared to men, with a survey in the USA revealing that of those people that were diagnosed with the condition 80% were women.(Lawrence 1990) Advantages The biggest beneficiaries of shopopholism are the retailers who benefit with increased sales especially during the festive seasons. Shopoholics on the other hand benefit to some extent by having a wide variety of items that they bought to choose. They also feel elated in the experience of shopping and hide from the problems in their lives, and some even feel more gratified than even being in a relationship. It should be noted however that these benefits ultimately lead to bigger problems. Disadvantages Advantages include; financial loss, incurring huge debts, family breakdown, loss of friendships and poor work performance caused by loss of time. One can also revamp into theft and psychological trauma. How to stop it Compulsive spending may come with a host of other disorders, which include; alcoholism and eating disorder. It is important for someone who bears the symptoms to seek counseling. Works cited Roberts JA, Tanner JF Jr. Compulsive buying and sexual attitudes, intentions, and activity among adolescents: an extension of Roberts and Tanner (2000). Aboujaoude E, Gamel N, Koran LM. A 1-year naturalistic following of patients with compulsive shopping disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2003

Eastern Stars Shining In The West Essay

To most people out there who do not speak Korean, † Gangnam Style†¦Yay,sexy lady†¦oh.oh.oh.† is basically the only words out of all lines that they can understand in the song Gangnam Style by Psy. However, this Korean song somehow has turned out to be a viral popular pop song even to non-Korean speakers with little understanding of what the lyrics mean. Apparently, Asian singers are gaining popularity around the globe and their appeal is no longer limited to Asian audiences only. Singers apart, movie stars are also gaining a place in the Western countries–Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Li Gong and Jet Li to name but a few. Generally speaking, technological advancement, trend of Asian cultures and change in music type are the major reasons why the stars from the East can survive and thrive in the West, where there is a cut-throat showbiz market. Technologically speaking, advancement in this aspect extenuates the significance of geographic restrictions. In the pas t, with fewer choices yet higher cost of transportations, it was nearly impossible to travel a long distance to different lands. In this regard, convenient transportation at present allows Asian artists to fly to Western countries for promotion with ease. What is also noteworthy is that the emergence of the Internet forms a platform where films and music videos can be shared from one place to the other side of the world in just a blink of an eye. Given the ever-evolving technology, it comes as no surprise that people in the West are exposed to and provided with countless Asian movies and songs through promotion in both the actual world and the digital one. Truth be told, who does not like refreshingly new things? That Asian songs and movies are right up their alley in terms of refreshingness is very likely. Culturally speaking, the rise in popularity of Asian culture in various aspects leads to more attention paid to Asian actors. Under the influence of globalization, cultures are passed from countries to countries. The most noticeable change or what I would call the trend is that people from the West have a great inclination for the cultures in Asia. For example, Kung Fu was introduced to the US and is now the type of exercise many A mericans try to and like to learn; cheongsam has become a type of formal clothing for Westerners and has stirred up a new retrograde fashion. With more people showing interest in Asian cultures, more focus is put onto the people who exhibit them, the Asian actors. Moreover, many Hollywood film  producers are riding on this Asian culture craze and make a lucrative business by incorporating Asian features into their new movies. For a case in point, the Karate Kid, although namely Karate, is Kung-Fu-themed and it makes a great box office. In other words, more chances are given to Asian actors to appear on world-class movies. Without a doubt, there is a subtle but solid correlation between the trend of Asian cultures and the rising popularity of Asian movie stars. Probably out of the need to adapt to a new place and a new kind of customers? Asian singers from time to time have made songs in English that are comprehendible to most people who speak this international language. In this way, with more understanding about the meaning of the lyrics, Western people can more easily recognize the talent of Asian singers and in turn more easily idolize them, or at least this could be the case for those who define good songs as the ones with a deep meaning . For others that do not seek a lesson from listening to songs, the fast rhythms and beats of some Asian songs can be a reason good enough for them to admire Asian singers. As aforementioned, Psy is now a sensation worldwide even though he sings in Korean. Music is a universal â€Å"language† everyone understands. While some people nowadays still insist on the importance of having an introspective message in a song for it to be good, some define good songs as those with catchy beats. Given the fact that some Asian singers are making songs in English or with exciting rhythm and beats, it is not hard to explain why they can get so popular in the West. In conclusion, the phenomenon of stars from the East gaining popuplarity in the West can be explained by technology advancement, trending Asian cultures and change in music type. By far, it is still a healthy phenomenon, but everything is a double-edged sword. Will this bring about any problems in the future? Only time could tell.

Terry Gouâ€the Founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co

In recently years, Apple’s products sweep the world. I think everyone only knows Steve Jobs, but not much people know Terry Gou who is the founder of Foxconn which is the supplier of Apple is a Taiwanese. Most of Apple’s products were assembled by his factories. He not only cooperates with Apple but also cooperates with many international companies such as DELL, Intel, COMPAQ, etc. In 1974, Terry Gou used around $7500 to create his first company which is â€Å"Hon Hai Plastic Products Co. †. Their master product was the buttons of televisions.Until 1981, he successfully created new product which is computers’ â€Å"connector†. The following year, he changed his company’s name to â€Å"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. † and he had around $530 thousand assets in that time. In 1985, he created a branch which is Foxconn in U. S. (MBAlib) In March 2012, Terry Gou was ranked as 184 of the world’s billionaires with $5. 5 billion by Forbe s. (Forbes) Terry Gou has three main business philosophies. 1. Daring to give For Terry Gou, he always remembers these words: â€Å"Thousand soldiers get easily, a will difficult beg. He trusts that hiring and cultivating employees is one of the most important things for a company. He has never niggard to cultivate their employees. On the other hand, he puts high value on hiring talents. (WIKIPEDIA) 2. Daring to invest He has never niggard to spend money on buying more advanced equipment or give more reward for his employees. He thought that long-term investment and development of talents is the only key for company to grow fast. Therefore, he had said, â€Å"Everyone thinks that spend money is a kind of enjoyment.I think spend money is a kind of pursuit. This is my philosophy. †(WIKIPEDIA) 3. Daring to face problems During Terry Gou created his Hon Hai Empire, he got a lot of huge problems. But every time when he faced those problems, he always thought if he is breakthrough , it can let him get the biggest rewards, have more and more strength. (WIKIPEDIA) He had said a sentence: â€Å"I like to work with those people who have no retreat. †(MBAlib) Because he thinks the people who don’t have retreat, they will do whatever they can do. He doesn’t have any high ducation degrees or wealthier background. All he has is his specific leadership. From $7500 to billions, Terry Gou successfully creates his â€Å"Hon Hai Empire†. Describe how your or a firm encourages innovation? It is important for company to keep innovating. For me, if I have a company, I will encourage my employees to keep innovating by following rules: 1. There is no useless idea. I trust there is no useless idea only have useless attitude. Some good ideas are always killed by those bad attitudes. People usually hate to have change because it wastes time and money.They think it is good enough to keep the same situation. Therefore, I will create a communication chann el in my company for all employees having a way to give me their ideas. 2. Never stop learning I will supply many opportunities for my employees to learn something is out of his professional area. Let their knowledge structure are more complete and much more creative. 3. Sweeping the â€Å"innovation killers† Some people don’t say anything in front of everyone, but they would criticize secretly. This kind of people is poisonous. They will impede company’s growth and innovation.I will try to find out this kind of people and sweep those people from company as soon as possible. ? How do you cope with accelerating change? Nowadays, economic and technology develop very fast. Many companies cannot follow the steps and easy to be eliminated in the fierce competition. For me, I will follow the following principles to cope with accelerating change. 1. Focus on the core competence Even everything changes very fast, all we need to do just focus on developing our core compe tence. Don’t blindly pursuing new technology.If we put more efforts on our core competence, we would not be eliminated easily. 2. Diversification When we focus on developing our core competence, we should also try to create new market. Basing on what we have and develop in different area. 3. There is always a better way Don’t settle for the status quo, keep innovation. If a company keeps developing in one way, it could not handle the accelerating change, and it would be eliminated. Therefore, try to keep finding a better way on development or solving problems. It would let whole company stay in a great condition and cope with accelerating change.

Effective Change Leader and Facilitator Essay

To prepare myself now for being an effective change leader and facilitator I can educate myself on the process of change initiatives and how other companies have successfully implemented radical change initiatives. It is important to have an understanding of change in business and one way of obtaining that understanding may be through higher education such and college or training. I would also try to read books and articles about strategic management. Radical change is typically when a business or organization is changing a lot like a merger with another company or changing the way they do business. Jackson (2009) said that â€Å"radical change is relatively infrequent and generally takes a long time to complete. It touches everyone and everything in the organization†. (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2008) I think that I would more often be expected to lead and facilitate Incremental change which is â€Å"an ongoing process of evolution over time, during which many small changes occur routinely. The cumulative effect of many small changes may be to transform the organization totally†. (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2008) It is important to be well informed about the organization and the environment in which the organization does business. Once the objectives and reasons for change are addressed, then a plan for change should be made. Before fully implementing change it is important to have an understanding of how the change will affect the organization. Employees should also be informed of the importance of the change, how it will affect them, and how it will occur. Through learning about other organizations that have implemented similar changes lessons can be learned to not make similar mistakes. Working with consultants that have gone through the change process with other companies could also be very beneficial because they have experience. There are many authors that have written about strategic change and how to effectively implement radical change. Reading about change before the process starts could make me more prepared for leading others through change. I have also taken a few classes about strategic management and organizational development and how changes can be facilitated. I think that the more educated about change and the more experience gained through participating in change the more comfortable I would be with leading and facilitating change. References Jackson , S., Schuler, R., & Werner, S. (2008).Managing human resources. (10 ed., pp. 27-31). Australia: Cengage Learning.

History and Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History and Art - Essay Example With other major concerns such as economic crisis, war between nations, and population growth, who would pay immediate notice to the fact that behind the aesthetic beauty of an art piece, a battle is being fought against sexism and racism for the sake of the underrepresented artists? While it may be too delicate an issue to dwell on surface as to draw public attention on a larger scale, strong advocates of gender and racial equality like the Guerrilla Girls, as they call themselves, apparently, could not but admit silence is shame and argue: â€Å"You don’t have to have a penis to be a genius† (Guerrilla Girls 202). Most of us may claim to possess different perspectives on the matter and plainly express that besides the problematic social and cultural structure which basically governs the manner by which inequality prevails among sexes and races, there are other deeper troubles that deserve a more adequate focus. However, our attitude of ignoring the issue that merely a bout ten percent of museums or galleries consist of art exhibitions by women and artists of color can be held accountable for the existence of all other chief worries that fail to be attended to in proper terms due to insights and ways of living that maintain their racist and patriarchal nature. As long as there lives lack of empowerment for women and non-whites, it is self-evident that equilibrium and harmony would not settle right where they ought to be unless a balance is struck somewhere for a significant realization that in professing to improve a nation, both sexes regardless of race must come in front to execute equal control of change and progress. Upon thorough examination of the article, I suppose this is the ultimate goal that sustains the principal reason of the Guerrilla Girls for continuing to be â€Å"the conscience of the art world (203).† I admire the Guerrilla Girls for their feminist and anti-racist stance since the 80s especially because despite the gorill a masks they wear for anonymity and the rather annoying taunting style of protest for the main cause, they demonstrate an unconventional approach of hurling insults at prominent sexist and racist figures alike. Having waved their banner with jest-filled pronouncements of deviation from what they perceive as sickening norms of injustice within race and gender, such female organization serves as a degree of innovation to radical feminist groups whose overly serious actions on meeting similar ends cost lives and immunity to the point of dormancy. This is widely evident via the controversial works which earned them huge critique via statements and efforts as â€Å"When Racism & Sexism Are No Longer Fashionable, What Will Your Art Collection Be Worth?† and the gradual transformation of the Whitney Museum Biennials which used to practise racial and sexual exclusion (204). By injecting a concept of provocative humor into ideals, the Guerrilla Girls manage to have weaved an object of interest to which art supporters become naturally drawn. Among the recent fruits of their endeavor I believe was Anya Kivarkis, the recipient of the Sienna Gallery Emerging Artist Award in 2007 for creations like ‘Blind Spot’, ‘Neo-Palatial: Objects of Virtue and Vice’, and ‘Extreme Beauty’. I feel that her projects reflect how the political struggle of the Guerrilla Girls has truly paid off for though female, her expertise in the field of

Philosophy of Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philosophy of Nursing - Essay Example -being of people, prevention of diseases, and caring for the sick, disabled, and dying, irrespective of where they are located and without any discrimination. There are four concepts that are usually accepted as the basis on which nursing is founded and these four concepts are person, environment, health and nursing. These four concepts make up the metaparadigm of nursing, which in simple terms means the overall frame work on which nursing is built. Since these four concepts are the basis of nursing, all theoretical models of nursing are constructed around them. The manner in which each of these concepts is defined within each model is fundamental to the design of the model and the differences between the models. It is these nursing models built on the metaparadigm of nursing that lays the guidelines for the nursing process, nursing curriculum, nursing research, and development of nursing (Anderson & MacFarlane, 2008). In my perspective the purpose of nursing is to help individuals enjoy the best quality of life through the best health possible over the maximum period in their lives. Nursing concentrates on developing a patient-nurse relationship. Through this relationship nursing is able to make unique contributions in patient care. In essence these contributions may be summed up as restoring the patient to the optimal level of wellness that is based on what the patient desires. In other words nursing contributes to achieving the outcomes as defined by the patient. In case death is the accepted outcome, then nursing accompanies the patient along this journey attempting for achieving a peaceful death (The AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care). In my philosophy of nursing, I believe that in each patient there are three elements of body, mind and spirit that need to be considered in providing them the best quality of life. In striving to achieve the best quality of life for the patient, as per their definition, all these three aspects of physical, psychological and

I need to support these results by theoretical and empirical Thesis

I need to support these results by theoretical and empirical discussion from the previous study - Thesis Example In practice also, an empirical study by Professor Michael R. Powers and Martin Shubik seems to suggest that for any given nation or region such as the GCC, the positional market should be approximated to be equated to the square-root of the number of primary insurers in that given active market (Bennaceur and Goaied, 2001). What this also seem to suggest is that the number of primary insurers in an active market is always instrumental to the reinsurance dependence that will bring about total returns, which includes stock returns. Whiles this remains a valid argument, the correspondence between reinsurance dependence and stock returns in GCC insurance companies can easily be judged as either being positive or negative and whether the relationship is significant or insignificant. Looking critically at the GCC as a regional market, it can be realized that the major motive behind ceding companies in their reinsurance bids have had to do with a need to exchange insurance risk for credit risk. Because of this, there is always much care in ensuring that the reinsurer has an optimistic financial rating. Meanwhile, the chat below shows that as far as the total gross written premiums of insurance companies for the past 4 years are concerned, there have been significant rise across the entire GCC. What this means is that ceding companies always have enough grounds to bid into reinsurance, knowing that there are favorable financial rating. On the part of the reinsurers however, they would certainly benefit from as much increased stock returns as there are increases in the premiums. This positive relation is however described to be insignificant as this has not led to growth in primary business (Judge, et al, 2000) as the backbone of the reinsuring trade deals. A well articulated discussion on the relationship that presently exists between affiliated investment and stock returns in GCC insurance companies could best be outlined if the discussion is taken from the

E-Government Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 17000 words

E-Government Literature Review - Essay Example g political combine, but the government has to take care of the interest of its citizens in other countries or regions, undertake infrastructure developmental activities and frame policies for effective control on the affairs. One understanding of government is a notion of public social control, logically related to responsiveness in handling the affairs of the state (McGarrell et al. 1997). Indeed, government exits in different forms depending upon the acceptability within the territory. In establishing a working definition, the research contained herein takes on a pragmatic understanding of government; in the contextual frame of working government definitions, this understanding is a broad reaching approach. Influenced by Drapeau (2009), government is ultimately understood in five different ways: iii. Government as a Partner: Government is supposed to work towards developing the municipality, the state or the country by soliciting active support and cooperation of its citizens, organizations and like-minded political affiliations As government is composed of citizens, it is necessary to consider the nature of citizenship. Someone who is an authorized resident of a territory, state or country is termed as the citizen of that particular region. Respective government makes efforts to ensure distinctive rights and privileges for their citizens in order to make them happy and seek their active cooperation in nation building. For example, the UK government came out with the attempts to propose an â€Å"entitlement card† for its authorized citizens in order to relate the rights and entitlements of their citizenship. This is being done with the help of standard biometric identification cards for British citizens (Beynon-Davies, 2007). This indicates the kind of importance attached with being a citizen of the country. Today, we are living in the era of globalization, which is marked by freer movement of people across boundaries, in different states and countries.

The strategic position of Thorntons PLC in 2003 Essay

The strategic position of Thorntons PLC in 2003 - Essay Example The internal performance of Thorntons Plc is multi-faceted, consisting of various aspects which are inherent in its operations. An internal analysis considers the company's culture, image, organizational culture, key staff, access to natural resources, position on the experience curve, operational efficiency, operational capacity, brand awareness, market share, financial resources, exclusive contracts, and patents and trade secrets. Simplifying all these generates three main considerations-resources, capabilities, and core competencies. Thus, for decision makers inside a firm, the main challenge is the identification, development, deployment, and protection of resources, capabilities, and core competencies (What Tools Are Useful in Assessing the Internal Environment n.d.). In business terms, resources refers to the inputs that goes into the firms production process such as capital equipment, skill, individual employees, patents, finance and talented managers (Dess, Taylor & Lumpkin 2005). Resource can be classified as tangible, intangible, or organization capabilities. The resource-based view of a firm emphasizes that a "firm can earn sustainable supra-normal returns if and only if they have superior resources and those resources are protected by some form of isolating mechanisms preventing their diffusion in the whole industry" (Resource-Based View of a Firm 2007). Furthermore, these supra-normal returns are possible only if resources are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable (Dess, Lumpkin, and Taylor 2005). Tangible resources are relatively easy to identify. This category typically includes the physical and financial assets used to create value for the customer. In order to fully identify the tangible resources of Thorntons Plc, this report will divide them into financial, physical, technological, and organizational resources. 1. Physical Maintaining its reputation as one of the classic makers of indulgent confectionery, Thorntons Plc continues to use a larger proportion of manual processes in its production system. In the industry where almost all the manufacturing processes are mechanized, Thorntons take charge of the quality of its products by being fully different from its competitors. In terms of physical resource, the company becomes remarkable because of its minimal automated processes (Jennings 2003). Thorntons business is also highly dependent on its distribution channels specially its own stores. It should be noted that the company is recognized because of the number of its outlets in the whole United Kingdom (Jennings 2003). These stores have become instrumental in consistency of the services received by each customer. 2. Financial During 2003, Thorntons Plc reports total assets of 114.108 million, 27% of which is in liquid assets. Cash comprises a meager 14% of the current assets or 4.5% of the total resources. In terms of capital structure, debt finances 62.30% of its total resources while equity financing accounts for the remaining 37.7% (Thorntons Plc Annual Report 2003). It should

Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory Essay

Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory - Essay Example Basic Instincts According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory (Lauretis, 2008), the two basic instincts that drive all behavior are sex and aggression. He believed that people are mostly ignorant towards these motivating forces in themselves (Lauretis, 2008). For example, a boy who was mistreated by a bully, adapted his manners by following his behavior. By copying the aggressor, the boy alters himself from the individual who is threatened to the individual who is threatening others. For Freud, the basis of all human action is â€Å"psychic energy† (Humberto, 1969). Freud believed that this energy is a restricted resource because â€Å"directing this energy into one activity prevented it from being used in another† (Loker, 2006). Therefore, a person who uses lots of energy venting anger on his or her spouse will have slight or no energy to spare for the wants of his or her kids. The two basic instincts that stimulate or boost psychic energy, Freud called ‘libi do’ and the ‘death instinct’ or the ‘drive to aggression’. In his initial work, Freud believed that the two basic instincts or drives were self-continuation (or continued existence) and species-continuation. The need to save the species was mentioned in the sex drive. Although, later on he combined these two views - continuation of self and of species - into ‘libido’ as the single source including both types of drive. Unconscious Motivation Unconscious motivation plays a major role in Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory. In accordance with this theory, most human behavior is the outcome of needs, wishes, and recollections that have been suppressed into an unconscious condition, however, it still control actions. Freud thought that the human psyche is made of a small, conscious part that is accessible for direct observation and a much bigger subconscious part that has an even more vital part in shaping behavior (Horney, 2000). The mind is similar to an iceberg and only a small portion is exposed to conscious understanding, whereas the bigger, deeper bases for human actions lie under the surface. Example of unconscious motivation is when someone is incapable to stay in a continuing relationship and always gets a basis to end his associations. He may claim that there is a normal reason for ending a relation, although his behavior may actually be the result of an â€Å"unconscious need for affection and belongingness, and an overpowering fear of rejection. In his heart, he wishes and wants to be in a caring bond; however, he finds reasons to end the relationship to avoid being rejected† (MacIntyre, 2004). The view of unconscious motivation was included into Freud’s psychoanalytic theory only after testing it technically as well as medically. He insistently stated that unconscious procedures, which direct human behavior, could be identified by special methods developed by psychoanalysts (Molino, 2004). P sychic Determinism Everything that takes place in someone’s mind and everything someone does has a particular, exclusive reason namely psychic determinism. Psychoanalysis has no space for wonders, upsets or independence. All apparent inconsistencies of psyche as well as behavior can be determined; nothing is unintentional, for example, it is not accidental when a person fails to remember someone’