JITT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

JITT - Assignment Example It is wrong to hoard food while others are starving. And for the benefit of the whole society, the person should release the food. The utilitarianism shows that the society should pursue maximum happiness. A journalist should aim to minimize the harm caused to the people. The case of Thompson should not be reported since apart from ruining the chances of him winning, there is no other good that will accrue to the society. The SPJ principle of minimizing harm should be applied (â€Å"SPJ Code of Ethics | Society of Professional Journalists | Improving and Protecting Journalism since 1909† 1). Some decisions depend on whether we can apply the choice made universally. If a cancer patient is allowed to take away her life due to pain, what will happen if we apply this principle to all such cases? The Kant, categorical imperative principle shows that the decision will not be desirable. It will be vital for the doctor to reduce the pain but not necessarily help the patient to hasten death. In the Kohlberg’s model of moral development, I am on the stage four. I view law as an important invention and will in most cases abide by the rules and regulation. I will not be comfortable breaking the accepted social order or going against the established legitimate authority. I believe this is right since anytime, I a break a rule it disrupts the balance in the society, and there is high likelihood someone else will suffer because of my actions. Thus maintaining law and order helps the society that I live in to have harmony and

Downtown East Swot Analysis Essay Example for Free

Downtown East Swot Analysis Essay Downtown East was well-known in Singapore as an entertainment hub as it provides a variety of services. Food, Drinks, Shopping and Entertainment, all under one roof. However, in every business or organization, it will certainly have its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, therefore, our group would give a detail explanation on each of these aspects, helping the company to focus on activities where it is strong in, and where the greatest opportunity lies. We would first start off with strength. Basically, strength refers to the good qualities or the strong points of the business. Downtown East is situated around many places of interest, therefore being able to create packages which will attract customers. Furthermore, it is currently the only theme park in Singapore where there is both water activities (Wild Wild Wet) and outdoor rides (Escape Theme Park). As Downtown East homes the only theme park in Singapore, Downtown East would definitely be the first choice that comes into the mind of people seeking for both thrills and entertainment. Not only that, it also have many indoor activities such as arcades for children, teenagers and even adults. Therefore, Downtown East not only have outdoor entertainment, it also have indoor entertainment as well, thus, even on rainy days, people going to Downtown East could also have fun. Weakness is an aspect where the business should spend time studying on it and then work out for solutions to overcome it. The limited land area is a weakness to Downtown East. As land in Singapore is expensive, Downtown East would find it hard to expand their land area to provide more entertainment for customers. Other than that, Downtown East is quite inaccessible. It is troublesome to get there because the only public transport to get there is by bus, thus, making it hard for the people in the west side of Singapore to go to Downtown east. Not only that, it is also expensive to maintain. For example, if equipment in the Escape Theme Park is faulty or spoilt, quite a large sum of money would be needed to either repair or even buy a new one. People might get bored if the attractions are not change constantly and changing the attraction would mean the requirement of new equipments and this would in turn increase the expense of the business. Opportunity refers to the chances available for the business to grow. The government is promoting Singapore as a city of entertainment which will help attract tourists. For instance, launching the F1 grand prix is a move by the government to â€Å"broadcast† Singapore worldwide, thus, attracting people from other countries to visit Singapore. As Downtown East had many facilities and is entertaining, investors may be interested to work together with them. Furthermore, more and more places of interest are being built (e.g Integrated Resort) to attract tourists to Singapore. Although this may be seen as an act to steal customers from Downtown East, the tourists coming to Singapore would not only come for Singapore for a specific area of interest but the various kind of places of entertainment Singapore offers and Downtown East may be one of them, thus, this could be seen as an opportunity. Other than that, Downtown east is located at the east near the coast and the area there could be used to expand their business so as to introduce more facilities and entertainment so as to attract customers. Lastly, it is the threats. Threats would normally be seen as a pressure to the decrease of sales or revenue. Economic downturn is one of the threats which may result in people not willing to splurge on entertainment. As the economy is doing badly, salaries of the workers may be reduced and retrenchment would be common. Reduced salary or no salary (retrenchment) would mean that less money would be available for living expenses, thus, people would save money and visit such entertainment places less frequently. Also, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, more places of interest are built to attract the tourists. Although it can be an opportunity, it can also be a threat to Downtown East if the tourists choose to go to other places of interests rather than Downtown East.

Automobile’s Contribution to Identity in America Essay -- Automobile C

The Automobile’s Contribution to Identity in America: Nostalgia, Nationalism and Status Introduction Over one billion cars have been manufactured world-wide in the past century, with nearly 700 million on the road today (Urry, 2006). As important as flight, computers, and mass communication, the automobile has been a key contributor to the growth and globalization of our world (Sheller, 2000). While the automobile is rarely the topic of sociological discussion and cultural study, this article will discuss the iconicism of the automobile and how it contributes to an individual’s identity. For some this is the Volkswagen Beetle – a car that embodies nostalgia and the by-gone era of the 60’s (Wilson, 2005). For others, the identity is the nationalism and pride invoked by owning a car that typifies a true red-blooded American (Edensor, 2004). And for others identity is defined by the status or image a car provides (Belk, 1988). These three aspects of identity will be used to discuss and answer my research question: â€Å"How does the automobile contribute to identity in America?† As the owner of a vintage 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle, I have always been curious about the bond of nostalgia that is common amongst Volkswagen owners, prior owners and admirers. This infectious enthusiasm for the Volkswagen between owners combined with a general interest in the themes of how icons are born and the perceived societal status bestowed upon their owners have prompted me to write this article. 2 The Volkswagen Beetle is an iconic automobile that for many, imparts nostalgia (Wilson, 2005). The camaraderie and coming-of-age that is personified by the Volkswagen is a common, underlying characteristic amongst those who strongly identify with ... ...rica. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. * Levinson, H. (2004). Highways, People, and Places: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 130 (4), 406 – 412. Macworld. (2003). Volkswagen, Apple Team Up In 'Pods Unite' Promotion. http://www.macworld.com/news/2003/07/15/vw/, Accessed December 9, 2006. * Sheller, M. (2000). The City and the Car. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 24 (4), 737 – 757. * Sheller, M. (2004). Automotive Emotions: Feeling the Car. Theory, Culture & Society, 21 (4/5), 221–242. * Urry, J. (2006). Inhabiting the Car. The Editorial Board of the Sociological Review, 54 (1), 17 – 31. Vanden Bergh, B. (1992). Volkswagen as â€Å"Little Man.† Journal of American Culture, 15 (4), 95 – 119. * Wilson, J. (2005). Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. * Denotes scholarly source. 10

Bureaucratic Management Theory Essay

Weber’s theory of bureaucratic management has two essential elements. First, it entails structuring an organization into a hierarchy. Secondly, the organization and its members are governed by clearly defined rational-legal decision-making rules. Each element helps an organization to achieve its goals. An organizational hierarchy is the arrangement of the organization by level of authority in reference to the levels above and below it. For example, a vice-president of marketing is below the company’s president, at the same level as the company’s vice president of sales, and above the supervisor of the company’s social media department. Each level answers to the level above it with the ultimate leader of the organization at the top. The easiest way to understand the term rational-legal decision making rules is to think of it as a set of explicit and objective policies and procedures that governs how an organization functions. Examples of rational-legal decision-making rules include human resources rules and policies or the regulations governing who is entitled to unemployment insurance. Bureaucracies are all around us – this form of organization, which is comprised of non-elected officials who implement rules, is not only common in the public sector but in the business world as well. Examples of bureaucracies in the public sector include the Social Security Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and public universities. Among the oldest bureaucratic structures in the country is the United States Military. In the private sector, most large business firms have a bureaucratic organization. Examples of private sector firms with a bureaucratic structure include IBM, GM and the Union Pacific Railroad. Knowing how bureaucratic management works can lead to a better understanding of how government agencies and large business firms operate – it can assist you in interacting with complex organizations, whether it be seeking social security benefits or working for a large corporation. Max Weber Max Weber. Published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the US. Max Weber – Father of Modern Organizational Theory One of the most important thinkers in modern organizational theory, Max Weber (1864-1920), is the father of the bureaucratic management theory. Weber was a German sociologist and political economist that viewed bureaucracy in a positive light, believing it to be more rational and efficient than its historical predecessors.

Free Essays on Legacy Of James Earl Rudder

The Legacy of James Earl Rudder James Earl Rudder, soldier, land commissioner, and president of Texas A however, the most memorable description would undoubtedly be as lieutenant colonel commander and trainer of the Second Ranger Battalion during World War II. It was this part of Rudder that established his name as one of America’s greatest leaders and war heroes. In a search for the perfect leader, few would make a list lacking his name, and when looking for a model for future leaders, who better than the man who successfully led the most important mission in World War II. The story, in short, happened as such: At approximately 4:30 a.m. on the morning of 6 June 1944 the Rangers set out for their objective. The small flotilla of British assault landing craft, loaded down with 225 men of the U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion, approached the cliffs of Normandy. Fifteen Rangers were killed or wounded during the struggle through the rough surf, and the dash across the heavily cratered narrow beach. The fighting, the bleeding, and the dying on the Normandy beaches had begun. The D-Day Ranger Force of two battalions, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder, a former football coach and rancher of Brady, Texas, had a special mission on the right flank (western anchor) of Omaha Beach. Three companies of the 2nd Ranger Battalion were to scale the 100 foot high cliffs in an isolated action three miles west of the main landings, and take a heavily fortified battery position at the "Pointe du Hoc". One compan... Free Essays on Legacy Of James Earl Rudder Free Essays on Legacy Of James Earl Rudder The Legacy of James Earl Rudder James Earl Rudder, soldier, land commissioner, and president of Texas A however, the most memorable description would undoubtedly be as lieutenant colonel commander and trainer of the Second Ranger Battalion during World War II. It was this part of Rudder that established his name as one of America’s greatest leaders and war heroes. In a search for the perfect leader, few would make a list lacking his name, and when looking for a model for future leaders, who better than the man who successfully led the most important mission in World War II. The story, in short, happened as such: At approximately 4:30 a.m. on the morning of 6 June 1944 the Rangers set out for their objective. The small flotilla of British assault landing craft, loaded down with 225 men of the U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion, approached the cliffs of Normandy. Fifteen Rangers were killed or wounded during the struggle through the rough surf, and the dash across the heavily cratered narrow beach. The fighting, the bleeding, and the dying on the Normandy beaches had begun. The D-Day Ranger Force of two battalions, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder, a former football coach and rancher of Brady, Texas, had a special mission on the right flank (western anchor) of Omaha Beach. Three companies of the 2nd Ranger Battalion were to scale the 100 foot high cliffs in an isolated action three miles west of the main landings, and take a heavily fortified battery position at the "Pointe du Hoc". One compan...

Week 1 - Discussion 1 Example

Week 1 Week 1 Human Resource Alignment Strategy Affiliation Introduction Business managers acknowledge that the workforce is critical towards success yet most organizations continue treating human resources (HR) as an administrative function instead of a major competitive advantage and shareholder value driver. The disconnection is often due to lack of tangible connection between the specific business and HR activities (Dreher & Dougherty, 2002). Therefore, why is it important to align HRM activities with the key business initiatives?When HR is properly or strategically aligned, it contributes to a financial bottom line and successful strategy. HR requires maintaining a strong administrative foundation to earn a place at the strategy table. The main advantage of the alignment is to close the gap. It gives a visual link between the key business objectives and HR activities. Closing the gap helps in improving the alignment between the business and HR strategy and assist HR group in operating more ef fectively and credibly. A strategic approach aligned with HR ensures that the company’s employees, abilities, and skills contribute to the business’ goals achievement. Thus, alignment is a powerful tool for prioritizing, focusing and communicating improvement initiatives, which can lead to increased shareholder value (Johnason, 2009).The main challenges that can face the alignment process include the nature of strategy and organizational culture (Collings & Wood, 2009). The nature of strategy impacts the process when there is uncertainty and complexity of objectives in the strategy. The organizational values and culture shape the human resource management practices. Therefore, the influence of bad cultural values mainly gets reflected in how good or quick the strategy can emerge in the HR practices that can be compatible with the proposed strategy.ReferencesCollings, D., & Wood, G. (2009). Human resource management: A critical approach.London: Routledge.Dreher, G., & D ougherty, T. (2002). Human resource strategy: A behavioral perspective for thegeneral manager. Boston, MA : McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Johnason, P. (2009). HRM in changing organizational contexts. In D. G. Collings & G. Wood(Eds.), Human resource management: A critical approach (pp. 19-37). London: Routledge.

The Link Between Racism and Depression

The Link Between Racism and Depression Several studies have shown a link between racial discrimination and depression. Racism victims not only suffer from bouts of depression but from suicide attempts as well. The fact that psychiatric treatment remains taboo in many communities of color and that the healthcare industry is itself perceived to be racist exacerbates the problem. As awareness is raised about the link between racism and depression, members of marginalized groups can take action to prevent discrimination from taking a toll on their mental health. Racism and Depression: A Causal Effect â€Å"Racial Discrimination and the Stress Process,† a 2009 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that a clear link exists between racism and depression. For the study, a group of researchers gathered the daily journal entries of 174 African Americans who’d earned doctorate degrees or were pursuing such degrees. Each day, the blacks who took part in the study were asked to record instances of racism, negative life events generally and signs of anxiety and depression, according to the Pacific-Standard magazine. Study participants reported incidences of racial discrimination during 26 percent of the total study days, such as being ignored, denied service or overlooked. Researchers found that when participants endured episodes of perceived racism â€Å"they reported higher levels of negative affect, anxiety, and depression.† The 2009 study is far from the only study to establish a link between racism and depression. Studies conducted in 1993 and 1996 found that when members of ethnic minority groups make up small portions of a population in an area they are more likely to suffer from mental illness. This is true not only in the United States but in the United Kingdom as well. Two British studies released in 2001 found that minorities living in majority-white London neighborhoods were twice as likely to suffer from psychosis as their counterparts in diverse communities. Another British study found that minorities were more likely to attempt suicide if they lived in areas lacking ethnic diversity. These studies were referred to in the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities in the UK, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2002. The national survey measured the experiences that 5,196 persons of Caribbean, African and Asian origin had with racial discrimination in the past year. Researchers found that study participants who had endured verbal abuse were three times more likely to suffer from depression or psychosis. Meanwhile, participants who’d endured a racist attack were almost three times as likely to suffer from depression and five times more likely to suffer from psychosis. Individuals who reported having racist employers were 1.6 times more likely to suffer from a psychosis. High Suicide Rates Among Asian-American Women Asian-American women are particularly prone to depression and suicide. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has listed depression as the second leading cause of death for Asian American and Pacific Islander women between the ages of 15 and 24, PBS reported. What’s more, Asian American women have long had the highest suicide rate of other women that age. Asian American women age 65 and older also have the highest suicide rates for elderly women. For immigrants in particular, cultural isolation, language barriers and discrimination add to the problem, mental health experts told the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2013. Moreover, Aileen Duldulao, lead author of a study about suicide rates among Asian Americans, has said that Western culture hyper-sexualizes Asian American women. Hispanics and Depression A 2005 Brigham Young University study of 168 Hispanic immigrants living in the United States for an average of five years found that those Latinos who perceived that they were targets of racism had sleep disturbances, a precursor to depression. â€Å"Individuals who have experienced racism could be thinking about what happened the previous day, feeling stressed about their ability to succeed when being judged by something other than merit,† said Dr. Patrick Steffen, lead study author. â€Å"Sleep is the pathway through which racism affects depression.† Steffen also conducted a 2003 study that linked perceived episodes of racial discrimination to a chronic rise in blood pressure.

Letter Response to Customer Complaint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter Response to Customer Complaint - Essay Example Pursuant to your rights as enunciated in the DPA and in accordance with our commitment to provide you with the best service we can give, upon receiving your letter, the customer support department has immediately processed your request. Rest assured that we do not intent to contravene nor circumvent the clear mandate of the law. We have endeavored to process and comply with your request within 40 days as you requested, and we apologize for whatever unforeseen delay that may have occurred. In any case, we are attaching with this letter your financial statements for the past six years in case you haven't received them yet. We understand from your letter that there is discrepancy in the financial statements between the actual charges for the period of April 2001- April 2002 period totals 1,571.09 and the estimated charges which amount to 5,000. We assure you that the discrepancy will be resolved at the soonest possible time.

Great Expectations Custom Alternate Ending Assignment

Great Expectations Custom Alternate Ending - Assignment Example The next day, I walked with Pip, and we took time to know each other. He showed to me the trail that will lead to â€Å"an enchanted house, where a mysterious lady and a snob fairy is† as young Pip referred to. I saw the trail, which earth is covered with dried leaves brought by autumn. It is the trail that is going to the site location of the old house of Ms. Havisham. I was worried at first for the young Pip’s sake for seeing a mysterious lady and a snob fairy in this abandoned place. If he is referring to the beauty of someone when I first saw Estella, perhaps I could understand the boy. I scanned around the familiar place, no one in sight. I rested my eyes to the abandoned wall that is now covered with moss and crawling ivy. I remembered Estella; she had leaned on that wall when Ms. Havisham had her portrait taken by an artist. Her hair was flowing down and it shone strikingly when a streak of sunlight had escaped from the heavily covered window of near the wall. Ms. Havisham immediately ran to the window to pull the draperies and cover the gap. I have heard that Estella’s husband died two years ago from a freak accident involving a horse and his cruelty in it. Someone had said that her beauty had somehow taken its toll with age. I have heard also that she went off and secluded herself from everyone, shut herself from the world. In the deepest part inside me, sleeping, desiring to seek for her. Young Pip had wandered around and settled down by the lake. He sat at the bedrock and joyously watched the flock of geese floating in the water. I walked past beyond the garden wall and got surprised when I saw the tip of the what seems to be a tiny brick roof of a tiny house that were covered by tall bushes and low trees, it was positioned where the brewery was positioned before. Its chimney is fuming faintly with white smoke that is almost unnoticeable. Joe did not tell me anything about this site’s

Global Perspectives. Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Global Perspectives. Portfolio - Essay Example Activity Section 3 - Once you have completed this task take one global issue and one global process and undertake some further research on the internet. Write a brief summary of your research (retain for your portfolio) and then share with others in your respective Group Discussion Forum. On completion of the forum discussion write a brief summary of what you have learned from the discussion. Brief summaries of research and what you have learned from the discussion: Put here what you retained for the portfolio: a brief summary of your research (approx. 200 words) and a brief summary of what you have learned from the discussion (approx. 200 words). Activity Section 4 (part 1) - On the basis of your reading and experience what is your view of globalisation and how does it impact upon your experience? What are the benefits (of globalisation) and from whose perspective, and what are the negative consequences? Prepare a summary of your responses Task Section 5 - Chose one global issue that particularly interests you. Conduct your own research on your chosen issue and evaluate how knowledge varies depending on its source. Consider why there are discrepancies in opinion in your chosen issue and what the implications are in terms of the importance of who says what and when and most importantly why (what interests are at stake? Formal or informal, explicit or implicit). (maximum 1 page) Activity Section 6 (part 1) - Search the internet to learn about sustainable development. You are asked to consider two questions: If the economic model is based on continual growth is this at odds with sustainability and why? What is the role of business with regard to sustainable development and what does your organisation do with regard to sustainability? In this section you have been asked to note a number of responses as you have gone through the material. Scenario for UNEP Representative - Imagine you are a representative of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and have been

History of steroid abuse in sports Research Paper

History of steroid abuse in sports - Research Paper Example es that are observed in boys during puberty were initially unexplained resulting in vigorous research by scientists to find out the major cause behind the changes. Testosterone was discovered to be the cause; consequently it was closely studied, isolated, and developed. The 1930s saw the laboratory manufacturing of AAS. Initially they were used to raise the aggression of Nazi soldiers and to enhance performance of elite athletes (Rogak 24). In major sporting events, the use of steroids was observed in the 1954 world weightlifting championships. Although the soviets had been dominant in the 1952 Olympic debut in weightlifting, their dominance was much more in 1954. They dominated in all categories scooping all the medals, something that got the attention of the American team doctor. He approached his soviet counterpart, who revealed to him that his team had been receiving testosterone injections, which marked the first documented use of anabolic steroids. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that the Germany Olympic team in 1936 had used testosterone to enhance their performance in the Berlin Olympics. Steroid use gained momentum with the German authorities administering steroids to the Olympic team of the 1960s so that the nation’s pride would receive major boost by winning more medals (Taylor 45). In the US sports, steroids were not common and in fact, in the whole world, steroids were not used to enhance performance in many sports. They were used only in the Olympics. However, the use of steroids in the Olympic made the International Olympic Council to ban their use. This ban was out of ethical and moral concerns rather than health or safety concerns. After their ban, the first athlete caught using the banned substance was an American swimmer in 1972. Prior to this, Arnold Schwarzenegger had won Mr. Olympia title reportedly aided by steroids. In the subsequent years, there emerged a kind of Cat and Mouse game between athletes and the International Olympic

Fundamentals of Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fundamentals of Finance - Essay Example Fundamentals of Finance Retained earnings means the amount of profit held by an organization, and that should be utilized for meeting the several requirements, except the payment of dividend. Break even point is a point at which the total cost and income equals, so at this point there should not be the question of profit or loss arises. So, the exhaustion of retained earnings also strongly related to the fundamental financing decisions and its implications. Break Even Point (BEP Output) in Units= Fixed Expenses/Contribution per unit.(C) Assume, fixed expenses (F) costs  £60000; selling price per unit  £15; variable cost per unit  £10. Therefore, BEP= F/C per unit. Contribution (in unit) = Selling price per unit_ Variable cost per unit. i.e.  £15_ £10=5 BEP=  £60000/5= 12000 Units. The composite of overall cost of capital of a firm is considered as the weighted average cost of several sources of funds. Weights are taken as the proportion of each source of funds in the overall capital structure of an enterprise. WACC is computed through a step by step process, such as Calculating the cost of specific sources of funds, then multiplying the cost of each source by its proportion in capital structure, and adding the weighted component costs. That is, K0= K1 W1 + K2 W2+†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦; here, K1, K2 etc. are component costs and W1, W2 etc. are weights. Assume total number of equity shares is 1000 shares,  £35/share,  £35000 is the equity capital or NP. While Dividend is  £1750, i.e. 5% of  £35000, and the cash dividend is  £3.25/ share, i.e. 1000 shares @ £3.25/ share is amounted to  £3250.

History of steroid abuse in sports Research Paper

History of steroid abuse in sports - Research Paper Example es that are observed in boys during puberty were initially unexplained resulting in vigorous research by scientists to find out the major cause behind the changes. Testosterone was discovered to be the cause; consequently it was closely studied, isolated, and developed. The 1930s saw the laboratory manufacturing of AAS. Initially they were used to raise the aggression of Nazi soldiers and to enhance performance of elite athletes (Rogak 24). In major sporting events, the use of steroids was observed in the 1954 world weightlifting championships. Although the soviets had been dominant in the 1952 Olympic debut in weightlifting, their dominance was much more in 1954. They dominated in all categories scooping all the medals, something that got the attention of the American team doctor. He approached his soviet counterpart, who revealed to him that his team had been receiving testosterone injections, which marked the first documented use of anabolic steroids. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that the Germany Olympic team in 1936 had used testosterone to enhance their performance in the Berlin Olympics. Steroid use gained momentum with the German authorities administering steroids to the Olympic team of the 1960s so that the nation’s pride would receive major boost by winning more medals (Taylor 45). In the US sports, steroids were not common and in fact, in the whole world, steroids were not used to enhance performance in many sports. They were used only in the Olympics. However, the use of steroids in the Olympic made the International Olympic Council to ban their use. This ban was out of ethical and moral concerns rather than health or safety concerns. After their ban, the first athlete caught using the banned substance was an American swimmer in 1972. Prior to this, Arnold Schwarzenegger had won Mr. Olympia title reportedly aided by steroids. In the subsequent years, there emerged a kind of Cat and Mouse game between athletes and the International Olympic

Products and Services Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Products and Services - Assignment Example From this paper it is clear that MSC was going to make profits since they were going to focus mainly on the product that would satisfy their customer needs. They relocated their markets to areas where they knew that the prices they had placed would favor the residents. As an organization MSC did the right thing by forming the alliance since it closed down all the branches that were making little profit. They should move to areas where there is ready market. The products that MSC produced were to be advertised. This task was to be carried out by 3B, this will help MSC do away with promotion costs.This discussion highlights that  the benefits of going ahead with the plan are many for example some of the operation costs will be reduced. PLS employees will lead, but 3B will help with materials. There will be some advertising as part of this deal. This will be done by 3B and  PLS. Since it is an alliance, they will be holding meetings to discuss on new strategies and the way forward. This will be a major boost since there will be exchange of ideas by different people who have different skills, and they are from different companies.  MSC county government has been looking forward to support both private and public partnerships so that they get national attention.  3B also has a good public reputation in their community since its employees contribute to the growth of the economy. By forming an alliance with them, MSC is more likely to succeed.

Mexicans on the Usa Essay Example for Free

Mexicans on the Usa Essay By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mexican American migrant workers played an increasingly important role in the growing American economy, an estimated 11. 7 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U. S. in March 2012, and American people want to solve this problem. In this essay am going to answer this question Should North American Companies hire illegal immigrants? I will answer this by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of hiring illegal immigrants. People in the USA don’t want that illegal aliens work in their country because they use the jobs that Americans can work in, they are angry because they are illegal and just legal people deserve to work in the USA. Illegal aliens (Mexican Workers) are a benefit to the USA companies because they work more time for less pay and they do the hard works that Americans will do for less time and more money. Mexican immigrants are vital to the U. S. economy, contributing about 4 % to GDP. Mexican Workers are not respecting the USA law and The Authorities can?t do anything this create a big problem between the USA communities and the government because they say that the illegal aliens are invading them This is called ? La Reconquista?. Mexican Illegals go only to find work and do it because they are force to do that, they have a family in very bad conditions that it’s believing that his familiar that pass the border could get a work and send them money so they cans survive. Mexicans Pass the border illegally because they don? t have money to buy a Visa even a Mexican passport so they go and work hard to get a better life that they couldn?t get at their country. The USA families are worried of their families because they can? t be relaxed just because some illegal people are in the street breaking the law, they are annoyed of Mexican illegal in every corner of their town, they have to take care of their children because they are dangerous. Mexicans just try to get a job and live better they are trying to became part of the community but the USA people are acting on a racist way, They don? t want to even see Mexicans and know them. There are been attacks to Mexican from the Americans sometimes they were close to kill them. A good example is that on a Mexican restaurant the employees have to use a t-shirt that says how to catch an illegal Mexican. Mexican illegal are increasing USA population and that is not a real problem but when there is more people, they use more services as foo health care, etc. The USA citizens that pay taxes make these services happen, if there are more people to serve the taxes will be more expensive and illegal Mexicans don? t pay these services. Mexicans help the community they buil houses, clean the streets and fix the public places such as gardens and parks.

Comparison of Join algorithms in MapReduce Framework

Comparison of Join algorithms in MapReduce Framework Mani Bhushan, Balaraj J, Oinam Martina Devi Abstract: In the current technological world, there is generation of enormous data each and every day by different media and social networks. The MapReduce framework is increasingly being used widely to analyse large volumes of data. One of the techniques that framework is join algorithm. Join algorithms can be divided into two groups: Reduce-side join and Map-side join. The aim of our work is to compare existing join algorithms which are used by the MapReduce framework. We have compared Reducer-side merge join and Map-side replication-join in terms of pre-processing, the number of phases involved, whether it is sensitive to data skew, whether there is need for distributed Cache, memory overflow. The objective is to determine which algorithm holds well in given scenario. I INTRODUCTION Data-intensive applications include large-scale data warehouse systems, cloud computing, data-intensive analysis. Applications for large-scale data analysis use MapReduce (MR) paradigm [6]. MAPREDUCE is a programming model for processing and generating large data sets. Users specify a map function that processes a key/value pair to generate a set of intermediate key/value pairs and a reduce function that merges all intermediate values associated with the same intermediate key [5]. Let us look upon the execution of MapReduce execution. MapReduce Execution: The Map/Reduce framework consists of two operations, â€Å"map† and â€Å"reduce†, which are executed on a cluster of shared-nothing commodity nodes. In a map operation, the input data available through a distributed file system, is distributed among a number of nodes in the cluster in the form of key-value pairs. Each of these mapper nodes transforms a key-value pair into a list of intermediate key-value pairs [1]. The intermediate key-value pairs are propagated to the reducer nodes such that each reduce process receives values related to one key. The values are processed and the result is written to the file system [1]. Figure 1.1: MR execution in detail [7]. In [3], the authors have described crucial implementation details of a number of well-known join strategies in MapReduce, and present a comprehensive experimental comparison of these join techniques on a 100-node Hadoop cluster. The authors have provided the overview of MapReduce overall. They have described how to implement several equijoin algorithms for log processing in MapReduce. They have used the MapReduce framework as it is, without any modification. Therefore, the support for fault tolerance and load balancing in MapReduce is preserved. They have worked on Repartition Join, Broadcast Join, Semi-Join, and Per-Split Semi-Join. The authors have revealed many details that make the implementation more efficient. We have evaluated the join methods on a 100-node system and shown the unique tradeoffs of these join algorithms in the context of MapReduce. We have also explored how our join algorithms can benefit from certain types of practical preprocessing techniques. In [4], the authors have examined the algorithms for performing equi-joins between datasets over Map/Reduce and have provided a comparative analysis. The results indicate that all join algorithms are significantly affected by certain properties of the input datasets (size, selectivity factor, etc.) and that each algorithm performs better under certain circumstances. Our cost model manages to capture these factors and estimates fairly accurately the performance of each algorithm. II COMPARISON OF ALGORITHMS Data-intensive applications required to process multiple data sets. This implies the need to perform several join operation. Its known join operation is one of the most expensive operations in terms both I / O and CPU costs [6]. Now let us see two of the join algorithms analysed in the earlier work: 2.1 Reducer-side merge join: It is the most straightforward way to join two datasets over the Hadoop framework. It can be considered as the Hadoop version of the parallel sort-merge join algorithm. The main idea is to sort the input splits on the join column, forward them to the appropriate reducer and then merge them during the reduce phase. The performance of the algorithm is dominated by two main factors. The first is the communication overhead required to shuffle the datasets through the network from mapper to reducer. The second one is the time required to sort and write the datasets to disk before forwarding them to the reducers. However, the drawback of the the Reduce-side merge join is that the map function does not apply any filter and the output size remains at the same size with the input and also the reducer loads in memory all the tuples of each split. Figure 1.2 Reducer-side merge join [4] 2.2 Map-side replication-join The Map-Side Replication join tries to address the drawbacks of the previous approach. The concept was initially conceived in the database literature [2]. The implementation is much simpler compared to the previous algorithm. We start by replicating the small table to all nodes by using the distributed cache facility. Then, during the setup2 of the mapper we load the table into a hash table. For each value of the hash table we nest an array list for storing multiple rows with the same join attribute. Hence, for each row of the bigger table we search over only the unique keys of the small table. In the case we have many rows per join attribute it results in substantial performance gain. The hash table provides constant time search for a key value. During the execution of the mapper for each key-value pair of the input split we extract the join attribute and probe the hash table. If the value exists we combine the tuples of the matching keys and submit the new tuple. The algorithm is i llustrated in figure 1.3. The main disadvantage of this algorithm is that it is restricted by the memory size of the nodes. If the small table does not fit in memory we cannot use the algorithm at all. Figure 2.2 Map-side replication-join. III CONCLUSION IV REFERENCES [1] Fariha Atta. Implementation and analysis of join algorithms to handle skew for the hadoop mapreduce framework. Master’s thesis, MSc Informatics, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2010. [2] Shivnath Babu. Towards automatic optimization of mapreduce programs. In Proceedings of the 1st ACM symposium on Cloud computing, SoCC ’10, pages 137–142, New York, NY, USA, 2010. ACM. [3] Spyros Blanas, Jignesh M. Patel, Vuk Ercegovac, Jun Rao, Eugene J. Shekita, and Yuanyuan Tian. A comparison of join algorithms for log processing in mapreduce. In Proceedings of the 2010 international conference on Management of data, SIGMOD ’10, pages 975–986, New York, NY, USA, 2010. ACM. [4] A Chatzistergiou. Designing a parallel query engine over map/reduce. Master’s thesis, MSc Informatics, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2010. [5] Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat. Mapreduce: a flexible data processing tool. Commun. ACM, 53:72–77, January 2010. [6] A. Pigul. Comparative Study Parallel Join Algorithms for MapReduce environment. Saint Petersburg State University. [7] S. Blanas, J. M. Patel, V. Ercegovac, J. Rao, E. J. Shekita, and Y. Tian. A comparison of join algorithms for log processing in mapreduce. In SIGMOD ’10: Proceedings of the 2010 international conference on Management of data, pages 975–986, New York, NY, USA, 2010. ACM. [8] Shivnath Babu. Towards automatic optimization of MapReduce programs. In SIGMOD ’10: Proceedings of the 2010 international conference on Management of data. Pages 137-142. New York, NY, USA, 2010. ACM.

South Africa :: History Essays

South Africa South African landscapes provide us with the lush greens of the jungle, the dry grass of the savanna, the majesty of the mountains, the eroded clay of the desert and the high-rise mortar of the city. A filmmaker can find there any background desired as the scenery for his motion picture, but variety is not the only true value of the African landscape. Here we find the lush, well tended greens that represent the wealth and control of the Europeans who have invaded the country; the dry savannas where the animals roam freely, but the native peoples are restricted; the eroded clay that somehow manages to sustain life and reminds us of the outlying township slums that somehow sustain oppressed lives; and the stifling city where a restrictive government and looming skyscrapers bear down to oppress the human spirit. According to Hugo Munsterberg, "the photoplay tells us the human story by overcoming the forms of the outer world, namely, space, time and causality, and by adjusting the events to the forms of the inner world, namely attention, memory, imagination, and emotion" (104). The South African landscape reflects its country’s history and the struggle of its people, and when a director chooses it carefully for background in his film, it can add emotional and symbolic depth to his message. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company came from Europe to South African soil to set up a fort for the purpose of replenishing their ships with supplies. The Europeans, in their high and mighty way, saw South Africa as land for the taking complete with savages and rugged landscapes to be tamed and civilized, and so begin the colonization of the country. When Cy Enfield’s Zulu (1964) opens, Lieutenant John Chard is attempting to tame a piece of that landscape as he is trying to build a bridge across the river at Rourke’s Drift. Ironically, the mountains surrounding Rourke’s Drift present an untamable foe to the one hundred forty British soldiers camped there. The soldiers have been informed that the Zulu are coming, and the audience is drawn into the soldiers’ world while together they watch for the destined attack along the elevated landscape. The soldiers find themselves facing thousands of skillful and determined native warriors who seem to appear from nowhere with the help of the natural mountain formations and the dry grass that hides them.

The Sanctity Of Oaths In Medea :: essays research papers

Medea The Sanctity of Oaths Through the play Medea, Euripides shows us the importance of keeping a promise given. At the beginning of the story, we see the play's two opposing views of promise keeping represented by the Nurse and the Tutor. As she stands outside of Medea's house and laments the way Jason has slighted Medea by taking another wife, the Nurse speaks of the 'eternal promise'; Jason and Medea made to each other on their wedding day (17-21). The Nurse wishes Jason were dead for the way he has abandoned his wife and children, so strongly does she feel vows should not be broken (83). When the Tutor enters the scene, he expresses a much more cynical view regarding Jason's decision to leave his wife. He asks the nurse, 'Have you only just discovered / That everyone loves himself more than his neighbor? / Some have good reason, others get something out of it. / So Jason neglects his children for the new bride'; (85-88). The Tutor feels that Jason's leaving Medea is only a part of life, as 'Old ties give place to new ones';. Jason "No longer has a feeling'; for his family with Medea, so he leaves her to marry the princess who will bring him greater power (76-77). Medea is outraged that she sacrificed so much to help Jason, only to have him revoke his pledge to her for his own selfish gain. She asks him whether he thinks the gods whose names he swore by have ceased to rule, thereby allowing him to break his promise to her. Medea vows to avenge her suffering by destroying Jason's new family and his children. When Jason curses his wife for her murdering at the end of the play, she says to him, 'What heavenly power lends an ear / To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?

Beginning the Audit Process

Beginning the Audit Report Peter Serunjoji ACC546 January 15, 2012 Arlette Peoples Beginning the Audit Report MEMORANDUM TO: Larry Lancaster, Chairman, President, and CEO of Apollo Shoes, Inc. FROM: Matrix Certified Public Accountants (MCPA) Inc. , DATE: January 15 2012 SUBJECT: Beginning the Audit Report (Engagement letter, Engagement checklist, Outline of timeframes and milestones of the audit) Dear Mr. Lancaster, This letter is to confirm the understanding of the arrangements for the objectives and terms of the upcoming auditing procedure for Apollo Shoes, Inc. Our firm is pleased to continue to work with your company and perform the audit of the year ending on December 31, 2011. Our PCA staff members would like to confirm the audit objectives, terms, limitations, and nature of the services provided for this engagement. The highlight of our services will cover auditing financial statements that include the income statement, balance sheets, statement of retained earnings, and the statement of cash flows. The financial audits will make sure that financial statements are presented according to General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Since investors, creditors, managers, and government agencies use these statements, it is very important for the auditor to ensure all financial statements conform to GAAP (Arens, Elder, & Beasley, 2006). The audit team will also examine and measure the operational performance by studying specific parts of the organization and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of operation activities on the financial statements. Our firm will gladly provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance services that are performed by professional auditors to enhance the credibility of nternal controls, IT systems, financial statements, compliance with regulation and human resource practices. Our auditors will express conclusion reports that will enhance the confidence of users, creditors, bankers, and management. One of the assurance services provided by our firm is attestation services. â€Å"An attestation service is a type of assurance service in which the CPA firm issues a report about the reli ability of an assertion that is made by another party. Attestation services fall in to four categories: audit of historical financial statements, effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, review of historical financial statements, and other attestation services that may be applied to a broad range of subject matter† (Arens, Elder,    & Beasley, 2006, p. 9). Our team will help to define material weaknesses in the internal controls that can occasionally create material misstatements in the financial statements. With the experience of our team, it is possible to determine whether deficiencies in the reports are significant enough to be considered material weaknesses. The team will first work with the high-risk areas that require additional attention. These areas are sales and sales allowances, accounts receivable, inventory, expenses, property and equipment purchases. We will report our opinion after we are done with all the tests. We will discuss our opinion with you if the result is qualified opinion or if we have any concerns with continuing this engagement. Auditors will obtain documentary evidence to support their testing for the internal control and the examination of all transactions to verify the sufficiency of the information. Our team will need to gain an understanding of your control structure and perform assessments to determine any control risks. However, auditors are not responsible for providing assurance on internal control or identifying significant deficiencies. In addition, auditors are not responsible for detecting errors or frauds that are immaterial to the financial statements. Auditors can provide a detailed examination of all transactions that are performed under a high risk of material errors and can notify the audit committee if any significant deficiencies are deducted. Apollo’s management is responsible to maintain effective internal control over financial reports and make sure the company complies with the laws and regulations. Our team demands that the management provide us with all financial records and related information. We will require that your management team provide us with a letter to confirm management responsibility for the preparation of a financial statement in conformity with GAAP and provide all information necessary in a timely basis for our audit process. The timing of the auditing process and the schedules are listed below for your review. The timely completion of this work will be at the end of our audit work. Our firm’s fees of the auditing process are to be estimated on a base of hourly rates. Our initial estimate of total fees, $250,000. 00, will be billed as work progresses. In the case of unusual circumstances, the fees may be adjusted to the new expansion of the engagement. Unless terminated, amended or otherwise superseded, this letter remains effective for the future years. If your company agrees to the terms and conditions of this engagement, we would like to ask you to sign this letter and return it to us and keep a copy for your references. We appreciate providing you with our services. Accepted: Sincerely Acknowledged on behalf of Apollo shoes Company By: ________________ Name and title Date: ______________                                                                                        Audit/Engagement Checklist | Processes | Yes | No | Initial | Date | Deciding    to accept the new client, Apollo | | | | | Find out why the client wants or needs an audit | | | | | Make sure that the client understands the terms of the engagement to avoid misunderstandings | | | | | Selecting the required audit specialists staff for the engagement | | | | | Deciding on a time for a meeting with the client to explain the objectives of the auditing process | | | | | Perform    investigation about the company to determine if there is any potential liability to work with them | | | | | Specify the service that is provided by the firm to the company | | | | | Assigning the appropriate staff to the engagement to meet the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards | | | | | The staff that are assigned to the engagement must have a good Understanding the client's business and industry | | | | | Make a visit to the client’s facilities to gain more understanding of its business | | | | | Find out if there is a related party to the client which has a combined business transactions | | | | | Request for the official record of the meetings of the board of directors and stockholders | | | | | Assess the risk that the business can face in the future | | | | | Make analyses and compare all the ratios to compare the client    to industry | | | | | Prepare all documents and paper work for all the steps and procedures that was done by the auditing team | | | | | Prepare final audit reports | | | | | Outline of Timeframes and Milestones for the Audit | | | | Start Date | Expected Completion date | Activity | | | | 1/17/2012 | 1/18/2012 | Meeting with the company board and discus the engagement objectives | 1/21/2012 | 1/23/2012 | Visit the facility | /25/20 12 | 1/31/2012 | Collecting information about the company’ structure including internal control | 2/2/2012 | 02/08/2012 | Requesting management report | 02/10/2012 | 02/15/2012 | Assess client business risk | 02/17/2012 | 02/27/2012 | Perform preliminary analytical procedures | 02/29/2012 | 03/115/2012 | Prepare audit reports | The 90 days time period may be adjusted to offset any delays beyond a contracting officer’s control. Some examples of these delays are delays in receiving the results of technical evaluation and delays in receiving reports from DCAA Reference Arens, A. A. , Elder, R. J. , & Beasley, M. S. (2006). Auditing and Assurance Services (11th Ed. ). Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prestice Hall.

PR and HER professional

How to evaluated and chose several selection devices such as interview or ability tests to reject or accept applicants. To evaluated and chose whether or not to utilize integrity testing and drug jesting. Introduction The human resources department will go through a number of steps of selection of candidates for the new office. There will be important process and procedure for recruitment and selection by the help of interviews and other techniques.In any business process the steps for formal selection and recruitment are based on the important motive. It ensures that the candidates are put in the right place for particular roles and responsibilities in an organization. Legal Aspects Here are the following laws legislation impacting the recruitment and election process that are to be taken care before a person can be recruited for the new facility.Equal Pay Act 1970 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 Race Relations Act 1976/Amendment Act 2000 Parental Leave Regulations 1 999 The Disability Discrimination Act 1 996, 2005, 2006 EX. Directive 1000/78/SEC on Equal Treatment in Employment Equal Act 2006 work and Families Act 2006 The general philosophy of equality legislation is that individuals are treated right and not judged on the basis of their external characteristics such as age, gender but on individual merit; that is the general rule and violation of it institutes discrimination.Equality legislation does not prevent selection on the basis of merit (Purcell, 2003). Preliminary screening This step will be carried out in three stages because the preliminary screening should only filter out the candidates who cannot become part of the company even after the required training and mentoring because they lack the basic aptitude level required to imbibe the functional expertise along with the organizational behavior of the company.These candidates whose career and personal goals are not in line with the organizational goals need to be laminated at this stage (Purcell, 200 3). Resume shortening The first step pertains to the resume shortening which will be done to see if the candidate has any inclination towards the products offerings of the company and is dynamic enough to become part of the company. It depends on the functional expertise and the job description whether the candidate fulfills the required prerequisites like education, extracurricular, professional courses etc.This stage is crucial as it will enlist the qualify set of the prospective candidates (sermon, 2007). Written test The next step is to conduct the written test which will be designed to test the candidate basic knowledge regarding the recent trends in the technological products. This will be aimed at eliminating the students who look good on paper but lack the practical knowledge about the industry. This stage would enlist the consideration set of candidates that are to be considered for the later stage.Group discussion This stage will aim at weeding out the candidates who do no t have group communication skills which is required for inter-functional interactions and negotiations. This company is a geographically diverse organization; the products are a result Of the massive inter-functional conflicts and resolutions. Any individual who become a part of the company should have the ability to put across his or her thoughts effectively and clearly to avoid confusions.This stage will make sure that the candidate can work in a dynamic work environment to go to the next stage because they will be able to manage the inter-personal conflicts arising out the difference in the expertise and functional aspects of an individual (Purcell, 2003). Group interview Candidates who go through group interview process will be pitted against each other to bring out the best in them and see how they perform in peer pressure situations.This will make them bring out all the knowledge which can be further used to judge if they have enough technical knowledge. This stage will bring out the best in an individual and make the recruiter understand the inner skills of the candidate and the ability to perform under extreme completive forces in and outside the company (Keeps and Delver, 2007). Persona interview This stage of the selection process is the most crucial as this will understand the innermost drives and ambitions of the candidate.This will determine if the candidate fits well with the goals of the organizational culture of the company. This stage is the most crucial of all stages as this will let the recruiter know the goals, aspirations, abilities and the manner that is not possible with any other methods. The interview should be both functional, which will judge the technical expertise required to carry out the roles and responsibilities of the candidate and HER interview will judge the overall resonantly of the candidates (Armstrong 2008). Functional The first personal intent. IEEE is aimed at understanding the technical knowledge in depth and cross qu estioning in order to make sure if the candidate is theoretically driven and understand the concepts as well. This round will be more rigorous for product development, logistics, operations, R and D less for sales and marketing, PR and HER professional. The interview should be unstructured in order to provide maximum control to the candidate because this is not an elimination round but a selection round. This will ensure that anxiety is reduced and the candidate performs at his or her best (Allen and White 2007).HER This round of interview will play a deciding role in the hiring of the candidate as it will decide further if the candidate fits well in the job description. This round can be considered as a formality for some candidate as they fit to the requirement of the company as judged in the previous rounds. It is essential to finally ask the perspective employees about their long term goals and short term goals and how they are going to fulfill them by working for the organizati on (Allen and White 2007). References Allen, M. R. ND White, p. (2007) Strategic management and HARM, in Oxford Handbook of Human Resources Management, deed Peter Boxful, John Purcell and Patrick Wright, Oxford University Press, Oxford Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic Human Resources Management: A Guide to Action Fourth edition, United Kingdom, Kananga Page Limited Keeps, S. , & Delver,J. E. (2007). HARM systems and the problem of internal fit. In p. Boxful, J. Purcell & P. M. Wright (DES. ), the handbook of human resources management (up. 385-404). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Disability Does Not Mean Inability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Disability Does Not Mean Inability - Essay Example e, disabled people may need more commitment and determination to pursue goals since they may lack certain physical or mental characteristics to perform well in this or that sphere (Wasserman & Asch, 2013). Nonetheless, they have courage and strength to go beyond any possible limits. Paralympics can be regarded as one of the brightest examples of this determination and people’s desire to prove that disability is not inability. For me, the phrase â€Å"Disability is not inability† is associated with unprecedented but inherent quality of a human being. Humans can adjust to any environment and any condition. More so, they may benefit from any condition. Disability often touches only one or a few spheres of the human life. If a person cannot hear, it does not mean that he/she cannot write beautiful stories, paint marvelous pictures, build houses, save people’s lives (being a scientist) and so on. People have a variety of opportunities to make a difference. Hence, disability puts certain limits to certain spheres only. It is also important to remember that the development of technology opens up new horizons. Thus, people whose limbs were amputated participate in sport competitions and show remarkable results. Surgeons often perform outstanding surgeries and people start hearing or seeing again. Healthcare has improved the quality of people’s lives significantly. Personally, I do not have any impairments and I can only imagine what it feels like to be different. However, I know some people who have to live with it. Notably, these people are also examples of determination and capability. Thus, Alex does not walk and is confined to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, he has never complained or drawn people’s attention to his impairment. He works for a multinational as a translator and he is highly valued in his organization. He is punctual and hard-working. What impresses me most is that Alex does sports and has a hobby. He is a great photographer and he is thinking of

Compare and contrast the civil rights movement with the harlem Essay

Compare and contrast the civil rights movement with the harlem rennaisance, - Essay Example ly-built suburb of Harlem.† Most of these people were educated, nonetheless, to their white neighbors they were just †Negroes.† At this time Harlem was still a predominantly white neighborhood. You guessed it, yes, the whites left Harlem making it vacant for more blacks to occupy. Blacks in the south, especially the educated ones, realized that they were not really freed; what was given to them was a pseudo-emancipation. Accepting this plight, most of them immigrated to the northern cities, mostly Harlem. And, Harlem became the most populated black city in America, and the most populated city in the north. ..steady deterioration of the races social and political position in America.... Although in the half century following emancipation a number of blacks successfully accumulated property and acquired an education, most remained poorly educated and mired in rural poverty. Even those who had achieved some material success saw these accomplishments threatened by the growth of segregation and racial violence. Supreme Court reinterpretations of the fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments left blacks defenseless against the segregationist enactments of southern legislatures (6). Black writers from all over the country began writing about their oppression. By the middle of the 1920s they had began to meet in Harlem, and was known as the new black literary movement. This movement later become the Harlem Renaissance. Chief promoters of this movement were James Walden Johnson, Alan Locke, and Charles Johnson. Fortunately for these writers, owners of white magazines and newspapers were ready to publish their work. Their cry for justice was not only within the realm of writing, but in music and acting (Wintz, 64). Between the 1950s and 1960s Georgia gave birth to a new movement, the most successful and the most publicized event in the history of modern America. The civil rights movement, unlike the Harlem Renaissance, this was very organized; its goals

Human Trafficking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Trafficking - Assignment Example Under the federal rule, coerced work is a harsh outline of trafficking people. Most victims of human trafficking are taken for labor purposes. For example, some could be recruited to run errands in construction sites. Others, especially children could be taken for home servitude, sexual use or labor. Human trafficking for sexual purpose is common and most children, close to 70% are trafficked for sexual exploitation (Gozdziak & Bump, 2008, 6). The stern types of trafficking individuals are distinct. One, sex trafficking: in this case a profitable sex act is induced by power, coercion and fraud in which the individual is pressurized to perform such act. The other form human trafficking is through the recruitment, transportation, provision, or getting the person for work via the use of fraud or pressure with the aim of subjecting him to involuntary servitude. In addition, a person is also subjected to peonage or slavery (Armaline et al. 2013). However, human trafficking can also happen in work circumstances such as home servitude, immigrant farming and labor in a person-like plant. Whether an action falls in the description of trafficking is based on the kind of labor for the victim and the use of force and coercion to get or retain the work. The exception is that the human trafficking covers the utilization of small children for profitable sexual actions even when there is no fraud or force (Armaline et al. 2013). Human trafficking also involves individuals who are detained against their will to pay off arrears. A victim’s original accord to tour or do the work does not permit the boss later limit the individual’s liberty. In addition, the agreement should not also let the employer restrict the worker’s liberty by use of threats or force to get refunds. In the United States, the full measurements of the challenge of human trafficking are hard to gauge. However, it is clear that human trafficking is a key basis

Parenting Styles and the Chinese Tiger Mother. Why Chinese Mothers Are Essay

Parenting Styles and the Chinese Tiger Mother. Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior - Essay Example The authoritarian style is characterized by parents who may be depicted as being absolutely in control mode in dealing with their children. Orders are to be carried out unquestioningly, and no explanations are given. The child has no freedom to make any choices. The parents set the bar for performance exceptionally high, and insist that the child meets those standards. Any failure in rising to these expectations is met with harsh criticism. In the case of authoritative, or democratic, parents, control is tempered with affection. The emphasis is on firm guidance and not on punishment. The child is encouraged to share the responsibility for the decisions taken, and is given reasons and explanations for any behavioral expectations. On the other hand, permissive parents grant the child unlimited freedom of choice. This involves a very hands-off approach, in which the parents set no rules, have no expectations, and make no effort to discipline the child. This style is based on uncondition al acceptance. Amy Chua’s parenting style, as evidenced by her article Why Chinese Mothers are Superior, is obviously based on authoritarianism. Chua is in absolute control of her daughters lives.

How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests both in and Essay

How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests both in and out of the classroom - Essay Example I could separate the toy parts and resemble them perfectly. Moreover, fixing things has always been a part of me. I once bought a second-hand Apple laptop that was not efficiently operational. Interestingly, I replaced all the parts with new ones and ensured proper maintenance for my machine. Indeed, I have always been up to such challenges. My mum’s vacuum cleaner functions at its best courtesy of my fixative interests. I fixed it. I took a gap year in high school to enhance my practical skills. During that year, I worked in a BMW dealership enterprise. I was an apprentice. Performing general maintenance, fluids and parts replacement and general repair were my primary tasks. During the ten months of my service in the enterprise, my practice was above par. Besides working for ten hours a day and six days a week, I enhanced my handwork skills. I adopted a high-speed operation technique that enables me to perform any practical task in time. Such an experience was an explicit preparation for a course and future career in mechanical

Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Relation to Organic Foods Essay Example for Free

Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Relation to Organic Foods Essay Abstract The aim of this study is to find out the three (3) significant variables forming the positive attitude towards the buying the organic food in Peninsula Malaysia, which eventually lead to the ultimate intention in buying the organically-produced food. The different variables are focused on demographic characteristics on household income, product attributes and lastly the perceived value to the customers. This study shows that the household income is seemingly appeared to be an important predictor among the targeted segmentation in consuming organic food. Organic food attributes such as pricing, availability and environmentally friendliness of such organic food may influence consumer buying decision. Lastly, the perceived value from the customers towards organic food on its health effects, sensory appeal, nutrition-worth and belief of perceived benefits, often play an important role in cultivating the intention towards buying organic food. Introduction and Background of the Study Over the last two decades, there has been a remarkable increase in demand for organic-produced food or products. Organic food is often seen and marketed as health-conscious food which contains fewer contaminants, more nutrients and most importantly having a positive effect on the environment. It is known that some of these attributes are difficult to quantify, with the contrary that some of researcher has proved that they may cause such potential harm during the organic production. The organic market back in 80’s, while remaining a niche sector, has grown to be able to grab a share from the total spending on food in some countries in the recent years. Organic fruit and vegetables are amongst the products which have been expanding in the rapid production. The demand for organically-produced meat and dairy products has undergone the same rapid progress, with a corresponding increase in the need for organically grown forage and feed crops. This has led to a fast growth in consumer demand whereby the organic food sales have managed to gain a significant market share in the conventional food industry. The market for organically produced crops and commodities has become more structured, looking at the increased number of countries which have adopted uniform standards for organic food production. The standardization has also applied in the organic certification and labelling. While both the production and the marketing of the organic cultivation of temperate crops have developed, there is a trend to be seen whereby the developing country’s farmers are actively involved in the organic farming. Problem Statement and Importance of the Research Organic agriculture industry, no doubt, has offers most of the developing countries a wide range of economic, environment, social and cultural benefits. Certifies organic products have now been growing fast and in the mist of entering the global market. Malaysia, on the other hand, is still in the starting spark-point in adapting the organic-food consumption while the developed countries such as North America and Europe have already gained the biggest market share in this newest industry. Due to expanding markets and attractive price premiums, Malaysia should invent and invest in organically-produced food, taking into consideration of various significant variables which may form the consumer behaviour towards organic food. We would like to highlight that the ultimate goal of this study is to understand consumer’s motivations behind organic food products purchases in order to enable organic producers to develop a more effective strategic marketing plan. The results could be used for the marketing planning of organic food products to enable proper marketing strategies, a proper sales channel and promotion to be targeted to these groups of consumers. Research Questions The present study aims to answer the following questions: †¢ What are demographic characteristics of organic food buyers? †¢ How do demographic characteristics affect consumer attitudes towards organic foods? †¢ How product attributes effect consumer attitudes towards organic foods? †¢ How consumer perceived values influence consumer attitudes towards organic foods? †¢ What is the relationship between consumers’ attitudes towards organic foods and their intentions to purchase? †¢ How can results of the study be applied by managers and marketers? Research Objectives. Regarding to the significance of the growing market of organic foods in the world, and to the previous studies on consumer attitudes towards organic foods and its effects on purchase intentions in several countries (e. g. Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and Denmark) we intend to carry out such similar studies in Peninsula Malaysia with objectives as the following: †¢ To report the descriptive analysis on the organic buyers’ demographic characteristics †¢ To identify the effects of demographic characteristics (specifically level of households income) on consumer attitudes towards organic foods. †¢ To determine effects of product attributes on consumer attitudes towards organic foods †¢ To investigate the relation of consumer perceived values to consumer attitudes towards organic foods †¢ To determine the relationship between consumers’ attitudes towards organic foods and their intentions to purchase †¢ To clarify implications for managers and marketers Literature Review Demographics Based on findings from previous research, demographic characteristics were evaluated as one of the major predictors in gaining intention to purchase the organic food in Peninsula Malaysia. According to Robinson R. and Smith C. (2002), the demographic of consumers consist of various characteristics namely the gender, age, household income and education level. Each element has been contributed in forming the valued attitudes towards buying the organic products. Hence, the demographic characteristics, especially on household income is seemingly significant and being the focus in this research. This will eventually lead to the desired intention in buying such products for daily consumption. Level of Household Income. Whilst referring to the studies done in the US, it is seemingly apparent that the demographic variables which herby refer as the income distribution, is significant predictors (Bartels Reinders, 2009). The research on this particular subject has proven that income positively influenced buying behaviour which in turn may cause the perceived buying behaviour towards the organic food. A same result has shown in Germany as well (Bartels Reinders, 2009). In Germany, demographic variables such as household income distribution have played an important role in developing significant effect on organic buying behaviour. However, the overall inevitability of the demographic characteristics was relatively different, taking into consideration of research carried in various Western countries. These findings verify the results of earlier studies by Clark Goldsmith (2006) and Im et al. (2003) proven that the intellectual practice on using the demographic characteristics such as household income distribution and domain specific innovativeness will be seen as strategic tools for market segmentation. In the Western countries, research has identified that the demand and willingness in expenditure on organic goods often affiliated closely with various socioeconomic and demographic variables (Wier et al. , 2008). In addition, Menghi (1997) found that the majority households with middle and higher income levels showed a greater tendency in purchase and consuming organic foods. However, it is shown that almost all of these studies are based upon hypothesized future behaviour rather than observed behaviour in both Denmark and UK. Hence, studies have been carried out by researchers to further invent on the influences of demographic characteristics especially in household income in guiding the intention of buying the organic goods. Through the research it is revealed that higher disposable household income (approximated by total food expenditure) will lead to higher positive intention in purchasing the organic food. Consumers with a lower household income alongside with lower level of education are found to be least likely to have heard of organic agriculture (Roitner-Schobesberger et al. , 2008). On a contrary, those who have a higher income and hold an academic degree are more likely to be the target segmentation in purchasing organic products (Roitner-Schobesberger et al. , 2008). It is also mentioned that the correlation between the household income level is very much linked to the level of education as well. As mentioned by Robinson R. and Smith C. (2002), intended purchases of sustainably produced foods did not differ for demographic characteristics such as household annual income educational attainment. Through the research carried out by Ross NJ.et al. (2000), they have suggested that consumers with a higher earning incomes were more likely to have purchased locally produced food, mainly focus on the organic consumption by various segmentations. Their research and findings were supported earlier by Govindasamy R. and Italia J. (1998) whereby the same results applied. Groups with a higher household income tend to have purchased foods produced with reduced pesticides. In UK particularly, social group is employed as an indicator of income brackets (Wier et al. , 2008). Research has revealed that the tendency in purchase the organic goods seem to increase in accordance to the given social status. However, the highest organic budget shares are observed for middle class households whilst shares in the upper middle class being in fact lower. Quite captivatingly, a similar phenomenon is observed to be happened in Denmark as well. Organic Food Attributes Organic food attributes influence consumer buying decision. Several empirical studies have been performed on customer perceptions of organic food attributes and how they formed the consumer attitudes towards food. In the present research, among different product attributes, we have selected: price of organic food, environmentally friendliness of organic food and organic food availability. Price of Organic Food Organic foods are often of a price premium above conventional products. According to Roitner-Schobesberger et. al (2008) in Thailand the price difference between organic and non-labeled conventional vegetables in Bangkok varied between 50 percent and 170 percent and in some cases even 400 percent. However, in some countries such as Finland there were not significant premium prices for organic foods (Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005). As Roitner-Schobesberger et. al (2008) pointed out that despite the price difference of organic and non-organic food, nearly 60% of the ‘organic buyers’ said that the price of organic products was not a problem. In addition, ‘non-organic buyers’ ranked some other items as a reason of not purchasing organic food rather than higher prices. Chryssohoidis Krystallis (2005) claimed that while 100 percent of people would prefer organic to conventional products with the assumption of similar price, this percentages dropped by only 20 percent when the same question was posed regardless the higher price of organic food. In other words, higher price is an important obstacle for a limited percentage of consumers. Roitner-Schobesberger et. al (2008) found out that in Bangkok men were more likely to purchase organic foods than women and concluded that it might be due to the reason of men being willing to pay a higher price premium for organic products than women. Similarly, a study in Klang Valey, Malaysia showed that women werre more likely than men to agree that they would purchase more organic foods if they were less expensive (Ahmed, 2010). Additionally, heavy users were on average stage whereby they are willing to pay higher price premiums than medium and light users (Wier et. al, 2008). Environmentally friendliness of organic food Consumers are getting more conscious and concerned with the consumption of chemical substance used in farming and preserving environment is becoming a strong attitude among consumers. According to Tarkiainen and Sundqvist (2005), subjective norms’ effect on attitudes has been mainly found in behaviors, that involved some kind of ethical decision, and also buying organic food can be seen as ethical decision reflecting environmental concern. In addition, perceived quality is associated with environmentally friendly practices (Ness et. al, 2009). The perception of organic food products as environmentally friendly was a common intuition and has been examined in several studies (Ahmed, 2010; Honkanen et. al, 2006). It is believed that when the consumers have more concern about their health and environmental protection, they will be more likely to have a positive attitude to organic foods (Ness et. al, 2010). Honkanen et. al (2006) found that ecologically oriented consumers were more likely to form intentions to purchase and consume organic food. In other words, the more people are concerned about environment, the more positive attitude they have towards organic food. Organic Food Availability Lack of organic food availability and variety in store is considered as one of the barriers to consumer purchase. Fresh vegetables (which include fresh herbs) were considered the most widely available organic product group rather than other organic foods (Roitner-Schobesberger et. al, 2008). Chryssohoidis Krystallis (2005) stated that limited availability was the main factor that hinders organic purchasing. Although according to Roitner-Schobesberger et. al (2008), in Thailand, majority of organic buyers were satisfied with availability of organic products. Most of them reported that they would like to buy more organic products, especially a wider range of vegetables. Value to the Customer. In every product that consumer purchased and used, they in turn are expecting value from it. Value can be defined as a benefit that consumer is receiving by using a product. Benefits here mean sensory appeal of the product, taste, fun, freshness, quality and healthiness of the products. These are some main reasons that encouraged consumer to purchase the organic food. The value may vary from one consumer to another; however there will definitely be one value that effect the buying attitude which motivate the buying intention of consumers. Health Effect of Organic Food Several perceptions contributed to health attribute include the reason of being good for health, good for children, not containing pesticides, high in fiber, natural and nutritious and safer to eat (Roitner-Schobesberger, et. al, 2008; Saher et. al 2006; Lockie et. al, 2002; Ness et. al, 2009). The perceived potential hazards of modern agricultural practices such as the use of pesticides and their residues in food were perceived to be associated with long term and unknown effects on health (Miles and Frewer, 2001;Wilkins Hillers, 1994; Williams Hammit, 2001). Saher et. al (2006) revealed that there is very little scientific support for the common beliefs that organic food would be more healthy or nutritious than regular foods, but the belief that they have these properties remains quite strong in consumer’s mindset. The claim is debatable whether marketers can use the health claim for marketing purposes because most of the research concluded that there was no evidence that organic food was healthier or more nutritious than conventional food (Honkanen et. al, 2006). However, most studies in this area suggested that consumer’s perception of organic food as a healthy nutrition is one the most significant motives for buyers. Lockie et al. (2002) pointed out that health was the one aspect consumers are least willing to compromise. Roitner-Schobesberger et. al (2008) in Bangkok, Thailand, examined the motives behind organic food purchase and pointed out that the most important motive was the expected positive health effects. Similarly in Malaysia, organic buyers believed that organic food was healthier compared to conventional grown food (Ahmed, 2010). In Thailand, the health aspect was closely associated with the residues from synthetic chemicals used in agriculture (Roitner-Schobesberger et. al, 2008). In fact, organic products often have a lower level of pesticide residues (Baker et al. , 2002). Lockie et. al (2002) revealed that although price was an important factor, organic consumers consider health has appeared as a more significant factor for purchasing organic food in Australia. These organic food consumers also believed that industrial methods of food processing constitute a threat to customer’s health. Another research by Schifferstein Oude Ophuis (1997) illustrated that well-being was rated among all other motives by organic food buyers. On the other hand, Tarkiainen and Sundqvist (2005) by examining specific organic products (bread and flour) claimed that health consciousness did not explained the general attitudes towards organic food, although they believed this results might be different by examining different organic products. Sensory Appeals Sensory appeals of organic food are part of the factors that provides value to customer. Sensory appeals include the taste, odor and also the texture of the organic product (Prescott et. al, 2002). Sometimes sensory appeals of the organic food need to be combined with the non-sensory factors such as organic food related expectations to create a value to customer which will affect their attitude towards buying organic food (Prescott et. al, 2002). Sensory factors are also influenced by cultures and background of consumers. For example, consumers from Western countries eat less spicy food compared to those from Asia. Spicy organic food might produce high value to consumers in Asian countries compared to Western. Intrinsic cues or sensory appeal that are associated with physical characteristics of the product such as taste, size, color, appearance, smell, feel and flavor were commonly used as indicators of quality on the organic food (Schifferstein et. al,1997). Quality is also value that consumers experiencing by consuming an organic food. Better sensory appeal of organic food will portray a better quality which will influence the attitude of purchasing an organic food and later increase the intention of buying the organic food. One of the most prominent sensory appeals that yield more value to consumer is taste. According to Roitner-Schobesbergeris et. al (2008), taste was the third important motives that consumers purchase organic food (Roitner-Schobesbergeris et. al, 2008). Others studies also emphasized that many organic food buyers believed that organic food products taste better than conventional food even if sensory evaluations have yielded inconsistent results (Fillion and Arazi,2002; McEachern and McClean,2002; Zhao et al. ,2007). Perceived Value. One of the studies conducted in eight countries concluded that individual attitudes towards buying organic food are primarily based on the belief about the benefits (Thogersen, 2000). Benefits or value to consumers such as healthy, taste better and environment friendly supersede all the other factors such as belief about the cost. The same proven in one of the study conducted in Klang Valley. Most of the respondents reported that they choose to buy organic food products because they perceived organic food as very healthy, fresher and natural (Bayaah Ahmad et.all, 2010). As such, value of organic food towards customers’ effect their attitudes towards buying which will motivates their intention of purchasing the organic product. Consumers also value organic food as nutritional food since it is produced using traditional method whereby the original nutrition from the food is preserved. Nutrition belief was one of the reasons that made people appeared to have different food styles and often express themselves as having food adventurousness or pickiness (Chen, 2007). Organic food adds value to consumers who has such belief and it will influence their intention of consuming it by affecting the buying behavior. Besides, Chen (2007) points out that an individual’s personal interests or traits act a part in establishing personal food choice criteria through the values held by the individual. These values comprise nutrition beliefs, weight control concerns, and so on. For instance, people seem to have different food-styles and often express themselves as having food adventurousness or pickiness. Another important motive to purchase organic food as reported by Roitner-Schobesbergeris et. al (2008) is the consumer’s search for new, trendy and attractive food products. Attitudes towards Organic food and Intention to purchase Basically, consumer attitudes are found to be the most important predictor of intention to buy (Honkanen et. al, 2006). Several studies have found that higher perceived product quality leads to more positive re-purchase intentions (Bou-Llusar et. al, 2001; Hult, Kandemir 2004; Tarkiainen Sundqvist, 2005). Chen (7007) highlighted that if the consumer’s attitude towards organic foods is positive, the consumer’s attitude to purchase organic food will be more likely to be positive. This is also consistent with another study performed by Honkanen et. al (2006) indicating that relation between attitude and intention is positive and quite strong, indicating that consumers with positive attitudes towards consumption of organic food are more likely to form intentions to consume such food, therefore converting positive attitudes to intentions. Methodology Theoretical Research Framework [pic] Figure1. Theoretical Research Framework Hypothesis Development: Hypothesis 1: There is a relationship between demographic characteristics of consumers and their attitudes towards organic foods. Hypothesis 2: There is a relationship between organic food attributes and consumer’s attitudes towards the organic food. Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between values of organic food to customer with attitudes towards buying organic foods. Hypothesis 4: When the consumer’s attitude towards organic foods is positive, the consumer’s intentions to purchase organic foods will be more likely to be positive. Research Design. The questionnaires are only designed in English; since the respondents are assumed to be relatively high educated they will be able to answer the questions without any difficulties. Furthermore it will help to keep the original meaning and understanding that respondents perceived to have towards the questions. Types of questions in questionnaires are mostly closed ended question and only two open ended question. This will only consume little time for the respondent to complete the questionnaire which will encourage them to participate in this study. There are three main categories in the prepared questionnaires. The questions in the first category are more towards understanding demographic details of the respondent such as on the age, income level, ethnicity, religion and educational level. This is useful to confirm the background of the organic food consumers. There are also questions on the product attributes which the respondents are asked to identify what are the main attributes that attract the purchase and also to determine whether this factor have a positive effect towards consumer attitude on organic food. Last part in the questionnaires is designed to understand the value of organic food to customers. All these questions are to test four hypotheses of this study. Data Collection The target population consists of organic food buyers in Peninsula Malaysia. In order to carry out the sampling Peninsula Malaysia is divided in to 3 major regions namely Northern, Central and Southern region. Northern region will be represented by Penang, Central region will be Klang Valley and Southern region of Peninsula Malaysia is represented by Johor Bahru. These three areas are chosen based on the economic development and availability of the organic products. From each region shopping complexes and supermarkets that provide organic products are identified. By using random sampling, three shopping complexes and supermarkets in urban areas are selected. Since target respondent with higher educational level and purchasing power are scattered around these urban areas, these will be perfect places to conduct this research. Those three supermarkets and shopping complexes are ensured to be far from each other so that the collected samples will be more accurate in representing the population in each region. Total sample size comprises of 540 individual respondents is collected using convenience sampling and respondents will be approached randomly. Since this study is conducted in large scale, convenient sampling will be more cost effective compared to other types of sampling. Furthermore conducting other types of sampling will be time consuming and the accuracy of the collected samples to represent the actual population will be questionable. In order to collect the data, 60 self-administered consumer questionnaire surveys are distributed in each shopping complexes which will result in 180 questionnaires from each region. Considering the validity of the data, we are expecting a total of about 500 questionnaires to be usable in the later part of data analysis. Although there is no way of knowing if those included are representative of the overall population, the survey is still expected to give a first overview of relevant issues and to allow to derive insights into the perception of organic food buyers in Peninsula Malaysia. Data Analysis After data is collected, data will be edited and coded. Editing data is very essential part of data analysis especially when researches involve open ended questions. Editing is done immediately after data is collected so that the respondent can be contacted if any clarification needed. The edited data are identified through usage of different fond and colors. Coding is done before data processing is conducted. Since most of the data collected involve ordinal scale, coding becomes prudent. By doing this data accurately keyed in and avoid wrong interpretation of data. Base on the three sections in the questionnaire, data is also coded in three main groups. Data processing is done using a software program called SPSS version 17. First of all the edited and coded data is checked and scanned through. Wrongly entered and coded data will be identified using the software through methods like identification of the maximum value. Values like variance, standard deviation, mean and range are used to understand the effectiveness of the questions asked in the questionnaire and how respondents reacted to the questions. The reliability and validity test is done to check the credibility of the data. The reliability test also conducted to test the relationship of the variables through the reliability coefficient. 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