Monday, September 30, 2019

The dramatic presentation of justice and morality in The Crucible Essay

Sin and Struggle is one of the most common things we can come across in our life. This concept of Sin and Struggle is presented very dramatically in the play of The Crucible. The play describes the fury mass hysteria, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and shows people’s self-centred attitude. The dictionary definition of sin is any serious offence, as against a religious or moral principle. As The Crucible is set in a very strict Puritan community, anything, which is done as an offence will be regarded as a sin against Christianity. In the play, there is verification that there are struggles within the community and within characters themselves. Examples of these characters are John Proctor. Proctor is unable to agree with Danforth or his inner self and is a character that will go to any extent to prove what he says is right. In the other case, Mary Warren is incapable of standing in opposition to Abigail in the courtroom. The other main sources of dispute are also land, money, and religion. For example, Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam have an argument over private land. In the play of The Crucible, the first sin we come across is dancing. The event occurs when Betty, Abigail, and her friends are dancing and conjuring up spirits in the wood with Tituba. According to Puritan Law, neither children nor anyone are admitted to dance. You can see that in the final court scene. DANFORTH: â€Å"What is this dancing? â€Å"(Act 3) You can see from this that dancing is a forbidden sin. The main event from the damnation is the sin of lechery between John Proctor and Abigail. We come to know this from Abigail and Proctor’s secret meeting. This is also the main sparking event for the witchcraft, which took place. You could say that this sin is the catalyst. The sin of lechery then triggers a lot of resentment between Elizabeth and Abigail. Therefore, many events after this are always to get rid of Elizabeth so she could fulfil her dreams with John Proctor. As this spell casting and witchcraft led to more and more dilemma, false accusations were starting to be made. The main cause of this complication is Betty Parris. She is in some sort of coma and that is when Parris calls for Reverend hale who is intellectual in witchcraft. Parris was not popular member in the community and he is a severe man who said that his ministry is much more important than his daughter’s life. Now that Abigail does not want the blame, false accusations were made. This is an advantage for Parris because this meant he was able to defend himself from other reverend’s fallacious talk. E

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Neurosurgery

Surgeons, one of the many Jobs that utilize chemistry skills in order to succeed in the field is a field of science that I am most interested in and I believe that taking AP Chemistry will only strengthen the skills I need in order to become a surgeon. The type of surgery that most interests me would be the surgery relating to the brain/ spinal cord named neurosurgery.Within the field of surgery, neurosurgery, which Is a branch of surgery that specializes In brain surgery/spinal cord surgery, Is relatively nouns and It has evolved Into an Independent surgical specialty only during the past century, developing from general surgery (Columbia Neurosurgeons). They are the highest paid of all surgeons, with Incomes that can reach as high as $800,000 annually.Average annual compensation: $765,321 according to the 201 3 MAGMA survey of 201 2 Income (Santiago). Also the Job outlook for surgeons Is 18%, which Is faster than average which Is a perk of becoming a surgeon as the demand for surge ons is growing at an exponential rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics). I also want to become a neurosurgeon because since the brain is the most unknown organ of the body, in fact it is believed that humans only use 10-25% of their brain (MS).In conclusion, the main reason I signed up for AP Chemistry is that medicine is an excellent career choice and careers in this area are often high paying, and there is a shortage (and a forecasted shortage) of candidates for these jobs. Works Cited Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Physicians and Surgeons, n. . Web. 26 June 2014. . Santiago, Andrea. â€Å"Surgeon Career Profile – Overview of Surgeons' Careers and Surgery Jobs. † About. Com Health Careers. About. Com, n. D.Web. 26 June 2014.. Columbia Neurosurgeons. Healthiness, n. D. Web. 26 June 2014.. Smelling, Robert. â€Å"How Much of the Brain Do We Really Use? † MS Healthy Long. Microsoft, n. D. Web. 26 June 2014.. Spinal cord named neurosurgery. Within the field of surgery, neurosurgery, which is a branch of surgery that specializes in brain surgery/spinal cord surgery, is relatively nouns and it has evolved into an independent surgical specialty only during the past highest paid of all surgeons, with incomes that can reach as high as annually.Average annual compensation: $765,321 according to the 2013 MAGMA survey of 2012 income (Santiago). Also the Job outlook for surgeons is 18%, which is faster than average which is a perk of becoming a surgeon as the is a shortage (and a forecasted shortage) of candidates for these Jobs. Works Cited Shimmering, Robert. â€Å"How Much of the Brain Do We Really Use? † MS Healthy Living.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Political Communication in the USA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Political Communication in the USA - Assignment Example The bailouts allowed the state to set more conditions for the corporate sector and as a result America has an extremely state regulated financial sector which endangers the freedom for innovation and creativity (â€Å"The Government Won† 2013). This calls for further reforms in the government regulation because in the current situation, the state’s power is making politicians more influential in the capital market, even in the private sector which is eroding the capitalist freedom that has enabled significant growth over the centuries. The status quo that exaggerates the power of the state should be regulated such that banks are less answerable to the government and by extension politicians. Instead, they should set rules that regulate risk taking and standards for deposits so that companies can have leeway for innovation with the knowledge that in case they mess up, they can expect no protection from the tax payers. The article which was written just before the 2010 elections is titled the â€Å"the first social media election†. It discusses the impact of social media in the UK elections in a backdrop of a system which only five years ago the platform was irrelevant and inapplicable (Arthur, 2010). People watching the lection debates from home were said to be doing it on two screen, the TV and the Facebook or tweeter one. The article implies that there is a real possibility of social media influencing the outcome of elections since citizens may react to the nature of the feedback they access on their respective parties from social media. The labour and Tory parties are trying hard to capitalise on â€Å"social media â€Å"capital which according to many was what got Barack Obama elected in 2008 in the US.   

Friday, September 27, 2019

US Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

US Foreign Policy - Essay Example The decision rejecting the protocol was accompanied by unmeasurable critic especially from European countries. Additionally, Bush’s regime saw withdrawal of United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with arguments that the treaty would hinder US’s ability to protect itself from external attacks such as terrorism. Moreover, US raised concerns over development of nuclear weapons by nations such as People’s Republic of China, Iran and North Korea. In 2003 China admitted to making nuclear weapons further straining the relations with US. In July 2002 the International Criminal Court was created with a mandate to ensure that perpetrators of international crimes such as heads of states are punished. This prompted creation of the American Service members Protection Act (ASPA) in August 2002 in a bid to protect its appointed and elected officials from being tried by an international criminal court whom US is not a member. In relation to trade, Bush signed the free trade agreements with countries such as Chile and Ukraine under the Central American Free Trade Agreement thereby improving trade relations in US. Matters relating to Iraq’s regime change had started earlier with the signing of Iraq Liberation Act by President Bill Clinton in 1998. After Bush took office he continued with the agenda going forth to publicly press for regime change in 2002. This was on grounds of poor cooperation from Iraq and claims that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction. In March 2003, Bush declared war on Iraq soon after notifying some allies such as Saudi Arabia on war imminence. The war however did not receive much support both from within US, other countries and agencies such as United Nations (UN) but this did not hinder Bush. Controversies surrounding the Iraq war arguably form the greatest criticism on Bush’s regime. Obama’s administration from its onset sought to bring the Iraq war to an end. However, there would

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Leadership and management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Leadership and management - Essay Example Palpably, Claire Fagin applies visionary leadership in her quest to research and establish a niche for the psychiatric nurse in the medical fraternity. She is an American academic, educator nurse and consultant who was born on 25 November 1926. Her academic credentials are a series of documents received from various universities in New York City including a Ph. D from the New York University, a Master’s degree in Nursing from the Columbia University and Bachelor’ s Degree in Science from the Wagner College. In her life, she has participated in programs involved in leading practice and thinking in education of nurses, geriatric nursing, policies of nursing and health, administration as well as leadership programs (Houser, Player and Sigma, 2004). Her career has involved covering major milestones and holding important posts. Between 1977 and 1992, Claire served on the University of Pennsylvania as the Dean of the School of Nursing before she joined the Institute of Medici ne, National Academy of Sciences as a scholar in Residence participating in geriatric nursing research (Houser et al 2004). The year 1993 was a good year for Fagin. She was Presidential Chair of the University of California, San Francisco, in the early weeks of the year. It was in the same year that she became the first woman Interim President in the Ivy League universities. She was the Interim President of University of Pennsylvania a post she held from July 1, 1993 until June 30 1994. In the same year that Claire held the office, she invested heavily on energy while contributing significantly to the University through program ms such as the Commission on Strengthening the Community (Houser et al 2004). A Democratic Leader Her leadership skills during the one-year term drew wide admiration and contributed to her being a Professor of leadership Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania. There are a number of styles incorporated by persons holding positions of leadership in group set tings of any scale. The ideas incorporated as well as the relationship between the leader and the members rely on the style applied by the leader. Claire Mintzer Fagin held a number of leadership posts in her long career (Houser et al 2004). The administration of her authority in these posts closely resembles the leadership style labeled democratic. According to Clark (2013), democratic style of leadership involves the participation and listening to the views of members of the group in the decision making process before the leader finally makes decisions. Clare encouraged the participation of the people in the organizations she managed. She believed and still does believe that communication using open channels is a key ingredient in the makeup of a successful leadership role administration (Houser et al 2004). Clare aimed to replace the atmosphere of distrust created by distance with a homely family-type environment in the university. Comparing Leadership Styles Based on the â€Å" Leadership Style Survey†, the delegate system of leadership scored highest in similarity to Claire Fagin’s leadership style. Participative leadership has been shown to increase employees’ motivation, feeling of power, and job performance in various countries and it has been reported as an effective leadership style for all cultures (Effects of participative, 2011). In contrast, delegate styles are the least effective of all three-leadership styles, which are authoritative,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

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

Global Warming - Essay Example conservatives whether the issue of global warming have been verified and concluded or were just all deception to route the issue to a rather more complicated picture of politics and economics. However, the issue that the Earth is heating up and that greenhouse gases should be immediately reduced have been the primary concerns for most environment advocates around the world, pointing out our responsibilities to eliminate those elements and be able to save our planet before anything else worse could happen. With the release of the documentary entitled An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, former Vice President Al Gore brilliantly showcased what he assumed to be the possible consequences of global warming if we, humans will not restrict ourselves in producing greenhouse gases. He furthered in his book An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, that â€Å"the world’s oceans are becoming more acidic due to enormous quantities of CO2† (p. 40) and that the most dramatic impact of global warming is the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic which will result to rising of sea level to up to 6 feet. However, Gregg Easterbrook, an environmental commentator rebutted that these were â€Å"realistic short-term prospect† and that even mild restriction in the use of greenhouse gases will immobilize the economy. He rather emphasized the use of technology and effective regulations of environmental laws to somehow lessen the use or productio n of greenhouse gases and eventually alter the immediate progress of climate change. He stayed optimistic that previous air-pollution problems have been reduced faster in a cheaper way added that added that â€Å"the basic pattern observed in all other forms of air-pollution control – rapid progress at low cost – should repeat for greenhouse-gas controls† (Some Convenient Truths, para.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The high speed 2 rail link from london to the north of England Essay

The high speed 2 rail link from london to the north of England. Critically evaluate by researching the arguments for and against high speed 2, ensuring you include up to five(5) for and five(5) against - Essay Example The second phase will comprise of stations at Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leads. It is expected to be complete by 2033 (Inderwildi and King 2012). According to research, the HS2 has received both approval and criticism by the public in equal measure. There are several reasons presented by either side, with environmental concerns and fiscal viability of the project raising the most debates. Having weighed the both sides of the arguments, I wish to present some of the major opinions for and against the HS2 project. HS2 is expected to create about 100,000 jobs opportunities in the construction industry once the entire line is running (High Speed Two (HS2) 2014). The line is expected to open up more transport connections which will minimize production and transport costs. This will stimulate higher productivity and consequently greater competition between various regions in UK. According to KPMG report, the UK productivity will rise by  £15 billion a year, which translates to 0.8 percent growth in the country’s GDP (KPMG 2013). The report also outlines that the project is more likely to benefit the Midlands and the North more as compared to London. The report suggests that more than 70 percent of the jobs opportunities will be created outside of London. The line has been described as one that bridges the north-south divide (Great Britain 2013). UK has had a raging debate for a long time regarding the future of the country’s airports. The major concern is their ability to provide sustained quality services even as the number of passengers continues to rise. The introduction of HS2 will certainly relieve some pressure from airports in the north of UK such as Birmingham Airport, which presently serves about 27 million passengers annually. With the addition of the rail line and the airport’s expansion in place, this figure could rise to about 70 million passenger traffic per year. The same effect is expected

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Role of Information Systems to Support an Organization Essay

The Role of Information Systems to Support an Organization - Essay Example These management systems are also termed as collaboration systems. In the days of the past, collaboration among peers or colleagues was not as easy as it has been made by the aid of collaboration systems. The well-known quote â€Å"Two heads are better than one† can be used to define the concept of collaboration systems. It is a common practice in organizations for people to work together and this collaboration usually achieves better results than working in isolation. Pinnadyne (2009) stated that collaboration might involve the activity of generation of an idea, creation of a new concept or implementation of a common goal. Therefore it can be defined as the joint venture to achieve a common goal with a shared direction. Collaboration Systems have the following tools: Content management involves the process of storing information for retrieval by users whenever the need arises. Hartland (2009) explained that it facilitates the workflow of a group of peers or colleagues that would be involved in accessing or adding content in the repository. It can be considered as a collection of processes that provide management of the workflows involved in the system. There might be many users involved in the process of adding data to the repositories therefore there needs to be a mechanism to handle such activities. The data in the content management systems might be of different types for example, documents, video clips, images, personal information etc. Content management system in an enterprise is considered to be their vital asset nowadays as it gives a structured look to their unstructured data, while catering to all the diversity of formats that might exist in the data. Another critical aspect of content management is the ability to keep versions of data as it evolves. The version number is a well-known mechanism to keep track of old and new data. Some organizations do not value older versions of data but it also has a

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Analyzing an Artist''''''''s Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analyzing an Artist''''''''s Process - Essay Example She re-sculpted her image through licking the chocolate and drew it from the mold. She licked the front up to the nose through the mouth, on the eye and back over the ears to the bun as well as around the neck and down the back. The creative process focuses on the scope of conceptual structure Antoni made. Licking the artistic piece covered in chocolate meant something. Further, washing herself in soap also has a meaning to art. She feels comfortable with the rigor engaged in developing the conceptual structure. In creating ‘Touch’, Antoni hooked up a wire onto a tractor’s backhoes. The goal was to use the shovel in motion to have the wire settle onto the horizon. She dug a positioning hole where the cameraperson would capture the shot in the camera line-up (Antoni, 2013). When she walked, Antoni could appear as though to touch the horizon. Antoni insists that the idea was developed from the thought about impacts of the horizon to the human

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Uncertainty & Sam Shepard Essay Example for Free

Uncertainty Sam Shepard Essay ‘Coalinga 1/2 way’ by Sam Shepard is an interesting portrayal of the nature of writing that is characteristic for this author. Part of a book that contains a series of similar stories, this short narrative is an emblem of the phenomena of uncertainty. It not only talks about this state for one person, but actually, for life in general. A feeling of intense solitude and pessimism is a distinguishing feature in the story. It primarily features the emotional state of a person, who has just left his wife and child for his lover; the latter on the other hand is to leave with her husband – something that is disclosed only at the end. The story depicts the immense emotional challenge of being at a crossroad in life, and having to choose between two ways that go completely opposite. Initially, the dilemma of the wife of the lead character is shown, accompanied by his unsure nature. He only resorts to telling her that he has left after he has left the house and is half way to his second destiny. This in turn tells us that not only he lacks sense of decision, but also the courage to disclose what he really feels. A similar trait is reflected when the wife insists that the child be told about this venture by the father himself. So it turns out that the gentlemen did not muster up the required nerves to disclose it to his family members in person. This also depicts the shallow and under confident nature of the person. Though it is a decision that he has taken which is anybody’s right, but he seems afraid of facing the consequences and hence he has restrained himself from explaining this to his wife on her face. He was uncertain about the reaction of the wife and hence he thought of doing it on the telephone. A hidden feeling of insecurity is also visible through this act. For if it were to be assumed that his act is the best way to go forward, then he should have not considered it right to do it in a sort of hideout. The story then takes its turn towards its end when we realize that the lady for whom he has left his family, is not willing to do the same with him; she already has plans with her husband. Here, he is left hanging, and asks the symbolic last question, â€Å"Where am I supposed to go? † The overall defeatist attitude, and the ultimate failure of this person speaks of how the author tends to portray the nature of his actions. It seems that the scriber does not agree with the decision that he has made, and thus ultimately punishes him to be left standing nowhere. With a negative impression overall, and dejected members of the story in total, the all encompassing picture presented in the story is that of not being sure as to which way life is going to turn the next moment. It seems that the author has projected his own feelings of uncertainty upon his main character, and has voiced through his emotions and words, his own question towards life; why do things not happen as per our plans? Though answers are not given for this question in the story, it is stated vehemently that our decisions can not be fulfilled as per our desires. Whether the wish is constructive or otherwise, what is important is that things did not turn out as were planned, leaving him at an unknown juncture in his life. With a mixture his lack of conviction, failure to decide convincingly and inability to face the music, the only grounds that he finds himself are uncertain ones. One is left with the feeling at the end, that if at such a crucial crossroad in life, things cannot go as we want them to, then what really is the true purpose and meaning of life. In all, nothing in life, seems for sure!

Friday, September 20, 2019

Global Contributions to Climate Change

Global Contributions to Climate Change Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In biology, it is the ability of our biosphere and lithosphere to continue their interactions through their different cycles. In ecology, it is how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For the human civilization, it is the ability to use the resources currently available for self-preservation while also allowing future generations to benefit from the same advantages. It is generally divided in three categories. The environmental dimension which dispute that a healthy ecosystem will always provide vital goods and services to humans and other organisms. The human population should be able to manage natural resources to remain sustainable. We also have the economic dimension which states that actions posed by the current human population should not reduce the potential wealth, advantages and quality of life of the next generation. The current generation should not be one to enjoy or consume all the resources available, the refore indirectly affect the next generations potential economic well-being. The last dimension is the social one. Life on earth is governed by social interactions between different civilizations which can lead to different potential outcomes. The social dimension advises us to maintain peace, security, and social justice to prevent social disruptions like war, crimes, and corruptions from staining human relationship and therefore potentially stop the creation of a next generation. Climate change is probably one of the most trending topic of the 21st century. How do we keep the earth sustainable if every action that we pose seems to decrease the lifespan of our biosphere? Kiribati is an island republic in the central pacific ocean comprised of 33 coral atolls and islet stretching along the Equator. Many of its island are inhabited, offering a remote setting for fishing, diving, and bird watching. The crowded capital south Tarawa made up of small islets retains remnants of world war two battle fought on its shores, and is known for its cultural folk dancing and handicrafts. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kr.html) Recently, it has been observed that the island is slowly drowning under the effects of climate change. The question was raised as to know if the United States should provide asylum to Loane Teitiota, a resident of this island. Residents of Kiribati islands have their own way of life. They are well known for their cultu re, their traditions, their folkloric dances, and their artisanal products. Providing asylum to Kiribati resident will not solve the issue at hand but only increase the dependence of its population slowly pushing them to their own demise. It is true that the earths climate has changed over the course of history and that we, as human species, are in part responsible for the current state of our environment, but we should be able to differentiate myths from facts. According to NASA, evidence for rapid climate change is compelling. Results from several of their researches have shown that sea level rose about 17 cm   in the last century this rate has doubled over just the last decade. They have also proved that earth temperature has warmed seen 1880 consequently warming the oceans. The arctic sea is declining and the ice sheets are shrinking. Oceans have acidified and several other natural events have occurred. The combined effect of all these single events have led to some extreme events with disastrous consequences. All those facts being true, it would be totally unreasonable to bestow responsibilities for these events to a single country. The United States should not be held responsible for the result of a joint effo rt of the human civilization. According to the Climate Central, the United States come second when it comes to contribution of climate change. China produced almost twice the amount of global CO2 emissions than what was produced by the United States. Also, countries such as India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Indonesia, and Germany also contributed to global CO2 emissions. Therefore, we can see that asking to the United States to provide asylum to residents of Kiribati islands is a responsibility that should fall upon all these countries. Unfortunately, we live in a complex society, with pre-established order and regulations. The United States and its citizens, recently have been shaken by the topic of war refugees. Immigrations regulations are really complex and do not allow anybody to enter the territory even under the worst circumstances. There are strict procedures and level of clearances that need to be passed before getting a right to stay. This show how providing asylum to Kiribatis resident could get quite comp licated if even approved. According to Friends of Science, humans are not the only cause of climate change. Global warming is also caused by some small deviations of earth from its orbital trajectory. In the past hundred years, no catastrophic warming has been recorded. In fact, earths temperature has not varied significantly enough to claim the global warming effects. It is true that significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout   geologic times but since the end of the 17th century, the average global temperature has been rising at a low steady rate, with cooling periods noted from 1940 to 1970. Carbon dioxide levels have in fact changed but also for other reasons than humans. Some geologic events also contributed to the increase of CO2 emissions such as the fluctuation of temperature due to solar radiation and galactic influences causing the surface layer of oceans to expelled more CO2. Moreover, CO2 only constitute about 0.04% of the atmosphere, therefore humans CO2 emissions could not possibly be the only factors that cause climate change. This prove that climate change at some point are no longer under human control. According to National Geographic, a language dies every two weeks. The world is diverse and our society has been built on cultures, religions, traditions, and past civilizations which defined the current human civilization. Geneticist Spencer Wells states in his speech on the human journey, that cultural extinction is the process by which a pre-established culture dies through accommodation of a migrating population to another population culture over time. Over generation, the migrating population lose its identity. As a human civilization, losing a culture is losing a part our own identity, a part of our knowledge, our history, and our potential gain for the future. It can be concluded that it is not the responsibility of the United States to grant asylum to any of the residents of Tarawa, Kiribati. Climate change is a global issue in which many countries contribute, and the downfall of the Republic of Kiribati should be the responsibility of all rather than just one. Global warming is the main concern regarding the atoll because as a result of warming, glaciers and ice sheets are melting and water is expanding causing sea-levels to rise at a dangerous rate for an island like this one.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Macbeth: Schizophrenic? Essay -- essays research papers

Macbeth’s tragic downfall into insanity could be modernly diagnosed as the mental disorder schizophrenia. Many of the actions carried out by Macbeth during the play lead the reader to believe that Macbeth is crazy. However, by today’s medical standards, Macbeth falls into several of the categories under the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as, "a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought, and conduct." In Act I Macbeth is very uneasy in his and Lady Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. He says, â€Å"We shall proceed no further in this business. For he hath honored me of late.† (I.7.31-32) This is an unmistakable example of how Macbeth is not fully confident in his decisions. He feels guilt and anguish, as does Lady Macbeth, for she will not commit the murder herself, due to the fact that King Duncan looks too much like her father. At this point in the play, it is quite questionable as to weather either of the conspirators will consummate to the killings. Duncan’s death can be identified as the turning point of Macbeth’s sanity. This is when Macbeth starts to clearly display numerous symptoms of schizophrenia. O One of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia is the inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Macbeth displays this characteristic as he speaks vehemently to an empty chair, which he believes is the ghost of his old friend Banquo, w ho he just recently had killed. He says, â€Å"Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel-houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites.† (III, 4) Macbeth is the only one to see the ghost, not even the audience is allowed by Shakespeare to see this apparition. After this, his mental stability begins to deteriorate throughout the course of the play. Guilt and obsession are also among the leading features associated with schizophrenia. After Macbeth is coaxed into killing Duncan, he is plagued by the blood, which he has spilt. However, he still manages to kill anyone who threatens his reign, even those who are very close to him. One could say that his obsession with maintaining his royal sta... ...s disorganized and fragmented, the ill person's speech is often muddled or unreasonable. Thought disorder is frequently accompanied by inappropriate emotional responses: which means words and mood do not appear in tune with each other. The result may be something like laughing when speaking of shady or frightening events. Early warning signs, such as Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, her irrational speech, and her loss of normal temperament were all reverberations of her mental instability. Extreme circumstances such as the ones presented in Macbeth are highly probable causes for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s development of schizophrenia. Their behavior, although seeming quite erratic and irrational, is quite common among patients with this disorder. The term â€Å"schizophrenic,† however, was not even brought to the public until 1911, by a Swiss psychologist, Eugen Bleuler, almost three decades after Shakespeare’s Macbeth was introduced to England. Citizens during the sixteen hundreds would have just thought Macbeth and his wife were insane and should be locked away. With today’s psychoanalytic sciences, though, it can be most likely predicted that schizophrenia was present in Macbeth.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

I Am Tolstoy, But Not A Tolstoyian :: essays research papers

In 1828, somewhere in the countryside north of Moscow, Leo Tolstoy was born into the Russian nobility. Count Tolstoy, although acquainted with the finer things that life had to offer, new that the Romantic view of the world was false early in his life. His mother left this world when he was two, and his father undoubtedly told horrific stories of the chaotic Napoleonic Wars. This, coupled with the consecutive deaths of not only his father, but his favorite aunts and grandmother, all before his twenty-first birthday, a three year stint in the military during the Crimean war, and the works of masters such as Rousseau, Voltaire, Hegel, Darwin, Dickens, Gogol, and the New Testament contributed to the literary genius which is Tolstoy. As a realist, Tolstoy was committed to truthfully representing reality in literature. As a founder of a socio-religious movement, aptly named Tolstoyism, his goal was to enlighten the masses. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a prime example of the merger of these two ideals. At first glance this is a simple tale of a "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" man’s life and death (1208). But upon closer scrutiny, we see that this is a stylized account of the Count’s own life. Much like Ivan, the Count married a younger wife, not so much out of love, as out of convenience. After a few years of marital bliss, problems arose. Both men tried to separate home and work, with the disastrous results of neglecting their wives. Although ideally matched socially, these two couple’s argued about everything from work and politics, to the children not eating their food fast, or slow enough. When Ivan dies, his wife wraps up his affairs, as best she can. Tolstoy, however, made out his will well before his death in 1910, and interestingly enough, leaves his wife of over 50 years relatively little of his possessions. Another similarity between the Count and the Judge is their deaths. Ivan’s "floating kidney," or "appendicitis," depending on the doctor, caused him great pain and discomfort for the last couple years of his life. Towards the end, he refused to see any doctors, and finally had a revelation. Tolstoy died the death of an eighty-two year old

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Ethics and Diversity Management Policies Essay -- Business Ethics

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to analyze best principles for implementing and support ethical behavior in an organization and diversity management. The researcher will recommend policies for ethics and diversity management. Furthermore, the researcher will identify policies for monitoring unethical behavior and injustice in an organization. Finally, the researcher will provide the rationale for selected policies. Ethics Policies According to Golja and Paulisic (2010) ethics is defined as a system of moral principles, the rule of conduct recognized in respects to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture and the moral principles of an individual. Camps and Majocchi (2010) defines ethics as rules of conduct, in other words ethics is treating others as you would want to be treated. According to the authors, the best principle for implementing and supporting ethical behavior in an organization is to first champion leadership to support and enforce ethics policies. Once leadership support is ascertained then an assessment should be done to determine what ethical policies are needed to meet the needs of the organization. After receiving the results from the assessment, managers should solicit employees for input and to volunteer with writing and reviewing policies. Throughout this process of establishing ethical policies, employees should be informed and made aware of how the policie s will affect behavior and business practices. Lastly, upon completion of the policies, employees should receive a copy through e-mail, as well as, for clear practice post the policies to the organization’s bulletin board and web-site (Camps & Majocchi, 2010; Mele, Debeljuh, & Arruda, 2006; Schnebel & Biener... ...nizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1/2), 203-211. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy. edmc.edu/docview/198047458?accountid=34899 Stoner, C. & Russell-Chapin, L. (1997). Creating a culture of diversity management: Moving from awareness to action. Business Forum, 22(2/3), 6-12. Retrieved from http:// search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/210208758?accountid=34899 Tsahuridu, E. & Vandekerckhove, W. (2008). Organisational whistleblowing policies: Making employees responsible or liable? Journal of Business Ethics, 82(1), 107-118. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/198214067?accountid= 34899 Weaver, G. (1993). Corporate codes of ethics: Purpose, process and content issues. Business and Society, 32(1), 44-58. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/ docview/199381185?accountid=34899 Ethics and Diversity Management Policies Essay -- Business Ethics Introduction The purpose of this paper is to analyze best principles for implementing and support ethical behavior in an organization and diversity management. The researcher will recommend policies for ethics and diversity management. Furthermore, the researcher will identify policies for monitoring unethical behavior and injustice in an organization. Finally, the researcher will provide the rationale for selected policies. Ethics Policies According to Golja and Paulisic (2010) ethics is defined as a system of moral principles, the rule of conduct recognized in respects to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture and the moral principles of an individual. Camps and Majocchi (2010) defines ethics as rules of conduct, in other words ethics is treating others as you would want to be treated. According to the authors, the best principle for implementing and supporting ethical behavior in an organization is to first champion leadership to support and enforce ethics policies. Once leadership support is ascertained then an assessment should be done to determine what ethical policies are needed to meet the needs of the organization. After receiving the results from the assessment, managers should solicit employees for input and to volunteer with writing and reviewing policies. Throughout this process of establishing ethical policies, employees should be informed and made aware of how the policie s will affect behavior and business practices. Lastly, upon completion of the policies, employees should receive a copy through e-mail, as well as, for clear practice post the policies to the organization’s bulletin board and web-site (Camps & Majocchi, 2010; Mele, Debeljuh, & Arruda, 2006; Schnebel & Biener... ...nizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1/2), 203-211. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy. edmc.edu/docview/198047458?accountid=34899 Stoner, C. & Russell-Chapin, L. (1997). Creating a culture of diversity management: Moving from awareness to action. Business Forum, 22(2/3), 6-12. Retrieved from http:// search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/210208758?accountid=34899 Tsahuridu, E. & Vandekerckhove, W. (2008). Organisational whistleblowing policies: Making employees responsible or liable? Journal of Business Ethics, 82(1), 107-118. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/198214067?accountid= 34899 Weaver, G. (1993). Corporate codes of ethics: Purpose, process and content issues. Business and Society, 32(1), 44-58. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/ docview/199381185?accountid=34899

Monday, September 16, 2019

Plato †Philosophy Essay

The Republic is one of Plato’s longer works (more than 450 pages in length). It is written in dialogue form (as are most of Plato’s books), & it addresses major issues in almost all of the branches of philosophy. The central theme in the book seems to be the nature of justice, a topic in political philosophy, but Plato also has his characters explore issues in ? philosophical cosmology, ? philosophical theology, ? philosophical anthropology, ? ethics, ? aesthetics, and ? epistemology. The parts of the Republic that are contained in our text (pp. 107-123) focus on Plato’s idea (ideal?) of the Philosopher Ruler. According to Plato, ? the best possible political system (state) ? will be ruled (governed) ? by PHILOSOPHERS! (Is he kidding? ) Our reading selection contains the following themes/sections: ? ? Introduction on the unifying of philosophy & politics (107) Why â€Å"true philosophers† would make the best rulers (108-12) †¢ What is â€Å"true philosophy†? (108-11) †¢ Love of wisdom (108) †¢ Knowledge of true reality (108-9) †¢ The distinctions between knowledge, ignorance and opinion (109-11) †¢ How is a â€Å"true philosopher† different from a â€Å"lover of opinion†? (111-12) †¢ Who is best suited to rule the state – lovers of opinion or â€Å"true philosophers†? (112) ? ? Political leadership and knowledge of the Good (112-13) The ascent of the mind to knowledge of the Good (113-123) †¢ The analogy between the Good and the sun (113-15) †¢ The image of the divided line (115-18) †¢ The allegory of the cave (118-123) The selection in the text begins at a point in the Republic after Socrates, Glaucon, & other characters have been discussing the nature of justice and the marks of a just political system for some time. So we are coming into the middle of the conversation where Glaucon is pressing Socrates to state whether it is possible for a really just political system to come into existence. Before answering Glaucon’s question, Socrates wonders whether it is worthwhile to What does he say construct a theoretical model of a good political system even if such a system could about this? Do you agree? Why not actually exist. or why not? Back to Glaucon’s original question: Can a really just (or at least approximately just) political system exist? What would make it possible? (It is the separation of philosophy & political power. ) And this leads to . . . . unless political power & philosophy are brought together & those who now pursue either the one or the other exclusively are prevented from doing so -neither our political problems nor our human troubles in general can be ended . . . . † (Text, pp. 108-111) True Philosophy & True Philosophers What are the characteristics of a person who is naturally suited to practice philosophy? According to Socrates (Plato), a true philosopher ? loves the whole of wisdom and is satisfied with nothing less; ? recognizes the difference between particular things and the essences (or forms) of which particular things are likenesses (e.g. , beautiful things vs. Beauty itself); and ? knows the differences between knowledge, ignorance, and opinion. Plato argues that someone who really loves something must love that thing as a whole and not just some aspects of it. On that basis, he concludes that a true philosopher (lover of wisdom) must desire wisdom as a whole and not be content with having just some wisdom. Do you agree with this? Do wine-lovers really love all wines? A true philosopher recognizes the difference between particular things and the essences (or forms) of which particular things are likenesses (e. g. , beautiful things vs.Beauty itself). One of Plato’s major metaphysical theories is known as the â€Å"Theory of Forms. † According to that theory, ultimate reality is a realm of forms (essences) not accessible to the senses but only to the mind (intellect). He calls that level of reality the â€Å"intelligible realm† (because it is accessible only to the intellect). The perceptible world (i. e. , the world we perceive through our senses) is a reflection or copy of that higher intelligible world. (The Greek word for â€Å"form† or â€Å"essence† is eidos. ) Do you think it is possible for one thing to be really more beautiful than another thing? Well, how is that possible if Absolute Beauty does not exist? How can â€Å"A† be more beautiful than â€Å"B†? Doesn’t â€Å"A† have to be closer to Absolute Beauty than â€Å"B† is? But how can â€Å"A† be closer to (or â€Å"B† be further away from) Absolute Beauty if Absolute Beauty does not exist? A true philosopher knows the differences between ? Knowledge, ? ignorance, & ? opinion. Plato’s view of knowledge, ignorance, and opinion (Text, pp. 109-111) State of Mind Knowledge Opinion Ignorance Object What is (Being, Reality) What is & is not (Becoming) What is not (Nothingness, Unreality) Access Intellect Perception ? (Do you agree with this setup/theory?) Is Plato right about knowledge, ignorance, and opinion? Here’s a different view†¦. What about knowledge? The three basic questions in epistemology ? ? What is knowledge? How does it differ from opinion? How do we acquire knowledge? What are its sources? Rationalism vs. Empiricism. (What about Intuitionism and Revelationism? ) ? What are the extent and limits of knowledge? What can be known, and what cannot be known? A (fairly) standard definition of knowledge (and opinion) ? Knowledge is â€Å"justified (i. e. , verified) true belief. â€Å" †¢ To know is to believe. †¢ The belief must, in fact, be true. †¢ The belief must be â€Å"justified† (i.e. , verified, proved) by some standard and generally recognized means. ? Opinion is belief that may be true or may be false but that has not been or cannot be â€Å"justified† (i. e. , verified, proved) by any standard and generally recognized means. Of course, some opinions that are rationally defensible in the weak sense are â€Å"justified† in a limited way. And what about ignorance? Isn’t ignorance basically an absence of knowledge? Of course, opinion is also an absence of knowledge. So perhaps ignorance is a certain or special kind of opinion that is in some sense groundless (in a way based on nothing, as Plato says). ? There seem to be various types of ignorance, including unintelligent ignorance, as when someone asserts dogmatically that a false proposition is true or that a true proposition is false. There is also intelligent ignorance, as when someone does not know X and acknowledges forthrightly that he does not know it, etc. More thought is needed on this matter†¦. ? However, Plato’s view of ignorance as having non-being (nothingness) as its object does not seem correct (or at least not completely correct). ? ? ? Lovers of wisdom (philosophers) — they recognize the existence of absolute, transcendental essences such as Beauty & Justice in themselves, and they seek knowledge of such absolutes. ? Lovers of opinion -they recognize only particular perceptible things & do not believe in the existence of absolute essences such as Beauty itself. So what is the nature of the Absolute Good? (Text, p. 112-113) In approaching the problem of defining the nature of the Absolute Good, Socrates (Plato) sets forth three very famous illustrations of his overall perspective on knowledge & reality. These are I The Good & the Sun The Good is to the mind as the sun is to the eye, i.e. , just as the sun’s light enables the eye to see in the perceptible realm, so the Good illuminates the mind and enables it to â€Å"see† in the intelligible realm. (See text, pp. 113-115) 2 The divided line (Text, pp. 115-118) States of Consciousness Philosophical Wisdom E Objects of Consciousness The Good & Other Forms Knowledge D Intelligible Realm Scientific Knowledge Informed Opinion Delusion C B Mathematical & Scientific Objects Opinion Perceptible Objects Images Perceptible Realm A (Text, pp. 118-123) Can you link the images on the following slide to Plato’s depiction of the cave world on pp. 118-121 in the text? Now that the prisoner has â€Å"seen the light,† ? What might happen to him if he were to go back down into the cave-world? (pp. 119-121) ? How does he feel when he looks back down into the cave-world? (pp. 119) ? How does the allegory of the cave illustrate Plato’s overall view of knowledge and reality? (p. 121) More questions: ? What’s the philosophical difference between coming into the darkness from the light & coming into the light from the darkness? (p. 121) ? What, according to Plato, does the allegory of the cave tell us about what the process of education should be? (pp. 121-122) there are the big questions: Why should we want philosophers to rule? How are we going to get them to rule? Since we are asking them to come back down into the cave-world, won’t we be doing them harm by making their lives worse rather than better? (Text, pp. 122-123) What do you think of the following statements by Plato (Socrates)? â€Å"The best rulers of the state are those who know the Good, who don’t look to politics for their happiness, & who live a higher life than the political life. † â€Å"Political power should be held by those who do not want it. † The End (for now).

Business: It’s Nature and Environment Essay

Offering a unique look at interior design, Materials and Components of Interior Architecture, Seventh Edition fully covers the nonstructural materials available to interior designers. With an eye on the environment, it provides a firm understanding of the products, properties, and uses of all materials, from floors, walls and ceilings to installation, and recycling. Going beyond paint and carpet, it explores over 27 different floorings and devotes separate chapters to kitchens and baths. Filled with  the latest information provided directly from the suppliers, it helps readers think knowledgably and creatively about the â€Å"nuts and bolts† of interior design—both in terms of structure and style. With an eye on the environment, it provides a firm understanding of the products, properties, and uses of all materials, covering everything from floors, walls and ceiling to installation, and recycling. Progressing from the ground up—literally—it looks beyond the more decorative aspects of design to study the properties and uses of both finishing materials in the design field and structural materials in the architectural field. For interior designers and specifiers. Book Description The fourth edition of STRATEGIC LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT is an excellent balance of theory and practical application and continues to include state-of-the-art logistics information and technology. This is one of the few books to have a view of logistics from a marketing perspective. In  addition, it integrates the areas of logistics, marketing, finance, accounting, technology and manufacturing. Extensive coverage of customer satisfaction, global issues, and accounting/finance issues are incorporated throughout the text as well as in separate chapters. Examples of â€Å"real world† illustrations of concepts are also included in each chapter. This book has been extensively revised and updated in the areas of technology, global coverage, and transportation. From the Author A number of important topics not covered in many other logistics texts, or covered only superficially, are given significant treatment in this book, including: supply chain management, measuring and selling the value of logistics, order processing and management information systems; e-commerce and the Internet; reverse logistics and packaging; financial control of logistics performance; logistics organizations; and global logistics. Our goal in covering these topics in addition to the traditional activities is to provide readers with a grasp of the total picture of logistics within the context of supply chain management processes. There are a number of worthwhile improvements in the fourth edition. We have included many more references and examples from general business and other literature because of the impact of logistics on a variety of business processes. This edition covers the academic and trade literature in the area of logistics extensively, and includes the most up-to-date information and examples. Readers will notice the significant number of citations from the year 2000. We have retained those elements that are â€Å"timeless† and those that made the previous editions successful. About the Author James R. Stock  is Professor of Marketing and Logistics at the College of Business Administration, University of South Florida. Dr. Stock held previous faculty appointments at Michigan State University, University of Oklahoma, and the University of Notre Dame. From 1986 to 1988 he held the position of Distinguished Visiting Professor of Logistics Management, School of Systems and Logistics, at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson  Air Force Base. Dr. Stock is the author or co-author of over 90 publications including books, monographs, articles, and proceedings papers. He is author of Development and Implementation of Reverse Logistics Programs and Reverse Logistics; co-author of Distribution Consultants: A Managerial Guide to Their Identification, Selection, and Use; and co-author of Fundamentals of Logistics Management. He currently serves as editor of the International journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. He received the Armitage Medal (1988) f! rom the SOLE—The International Society of Logistics in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the discipline. His areas of expertise include reverse logistics, supply chain management, and the marketing-logistics interface. He has lectured on various logistics topics throughout Europe and Africa. Dr. Stock holds BS and MBA degrees from the University of Miami (Florida) and the Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Douglas M. Lambert  is the the Raymond E. Mason Professor of Transportation and Logistics and Director of The Global Supply Chain Forum, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University. He is also the Prime F. Osborn III Eminent Scholar Chair in Transportation, Professor of Marketing and Logistics, and Director of The International Center for Competitive Excellence at the College of Business Administrati on, University of North Florida. From 1983 to 1985 he was PepsiCo Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University. Dr. Lambert has served as a faculty member for over 500 executive development programs in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia and he has given more than 100 presentations to professional associations around the world. He is the author of The Development of an Inventory Costing Methodology, The Distribution Channels Decision, The Product Abandonment Decision and co-author of Management in Marketing Channels, Fundamentals of Logistics Management, Str! ategic Logistics Management, and Supply Chain Directions for a New North America. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications. In 1986 Dr. Lambert received the Council of Logistics Management’s Distinguished Service Award, â€Å"the highest honor that can be bestowed on an individual for achievement in the physical distribution/logistics industry,† for his contributions to logistics management and has also received CLM’s Founders Award (1997) and Doctoral  Research Grant (1975). He holds an honors BA and MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Dr. Lambert is co-editor of The International Journal of Logistics Management.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Ethical Issues Report Essay

SeaWorld is a public company that is facing a significant ethical issue right now, mostly in part to the release of the documentary Blackfish. This documentary takes viewers inside the capture, training and marketing of these Killer Whales for the sole profit of the company. It also highlights the breeding, training and housing of these magnificent mammals. It brings many ethical issues to the table. 1) Should any wild animal be taken from its natural home and forced to live in captivity? 2) Should these animals then be forced to â€Å"perform† for our entertainment purposed? And finally 3) Should these animals be treated as objects and put thru artificial insemination, separated from family members and subject to inbreeding all while SeaWorld knows that this is making the whales lives beyond inadequate and causing not only death to the animal but to numerous trainers involved as well. Blackfish is a documentary made in 2013 by director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It focuses on Tilikum (Tili), an orca forced by SeaWorld to live in captivity. It highlights the health issues, the whale-on-whale and whale-on-trainer aggression as well as the compromised lives and social experiences of SeaWorld’s killer whales. Tili is involved in deaths of 3 individuals and is a direct result of keeping killer whales in captivity. The film covers the captivity of Tili in 1983 off the coast of Iceland where he was torn away from his family. It then goes on to show the lack of social interaction these whales receive in captivity; causing grief, stress and anxiety all while being forced to perform. It makes an effort to show that although SeaWorld tried to promote their whales â€Å"wonderfully social and fulfilling† lives it is fact doing just the opposite. Not only that, but only .06% of all revenues SeaWorld actually puts towards conservation. Should wild animals be held in captivity at all? â€Å"Animals are often prevented from doing most of the things that are natural and important to  them, like running, roaming, flying, climbing, foraging, choosing a partner, and being with others of their own kind,† PETA writes in a web fact sheet. â€Å"Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to interfere with animals and keep them locked up in captivity, where they are bored, cramped, lonely, deprived of all control over their lives and far from their natural homes.† True, not all animals in captivity have been ripped from their natural habitat and placed into a cage to be used as a spectacle for human entertainment, but when there is not environmental reason or risk to the animal, why do we do so? Whales are by no means lacking in ocean to swim in. Why, just because we think they look â€Å"cool† should they be subjected to living as we say they should? Former SeaWorld senior trainer John Hasgrove, who appeared in Blackfish, asked: â€Å"If animal care in captivity is truly the goal, why are SeaWorld’s killer whales still â€Å"in the same sterile concrete pools† the park has kept them in for decades? SeaWorld has since said it has spent $70 million into upgrading those killer whale habitats in recent years. Should these animals be forced to perform solely for our entertainment purposes? Humans are generally fonder of critters that seem to have more dynamic personalities and pronounced social attachments. Killer whales are just that. In the wild the stay with their families for generations and have their own communication sounds of clicks and whistles individualized to their pod. SeaWorld has long benefited from promoting this idea. Its killer whale shows, marketing and displays have made the company money for years. For a time, the park even ran a Shamu Twitter account. Lori Marino, a neuroscience lecturer at Emory University in Atlanta who appeared in Blackfish, has said killer whales are among the world’s most intelligent animals. Almost a decade ago, Nova Scotia based biologist Hal Whitehead claimed orcas the second more â€Å"cultural† species. â€Å"They have their way of doing things, which they’ve learned from their mother and their other relatives,† Whitehead told the newspaper. The documentary states that the orcas suffer from broken teeth because they rub and ram equipment in their tanks and that they sometimes regurgitate their food all out of boredom. It also points out that captivity leads to violence and shortened live spans. Finally, are these animals’ just objects and are we under obligation not to  encourage and support this abuse? Is keeping these whales in captivity overshadowing any good that SeaWorld is doing? Is there a moral obligation that we have to protect these creatures from artificial insemination that is often the result of inbreeding? Do we have a right to separate the calves from their mothers just to allow another park, sometimes half way across the globe, a chance to showcase a killer whale? Should be â€Å"training† these whales to do human decided tricks for profit? Where does money no matter hold importance to the damage that we are doing to our environment ethically? How can one say that we have a right to remove an animal from its family and its lifestyle and then tell our children not bring a wild rabbit into the house? These animals, once raised in captivity cannot be returned to the wild, but how can we justify continuing to force breeding and incest? What does it stay about our intelligence and our ethical moral if we do not put an end to this mistreatment of such creatures?

Saturday, September 14, 2019

How is sociology important in your family Essay

John J. Macionis explains the importance of sociology in family in the thirteenth chapter, ‘Family and Religion’ of his book ‘Society, The Basics’. When the analysis is done on micro-level we learn that individuals get formed up and learn a lot through the experience of family life. Members of the family especially children build emotional bonds, become intimate with one another and above all are taught about their culture and values. Family gives an ideal picture of marriage and it is seen that matured individuals in United States find great pleasure in upbringing their own children. The structural functional approach of importance of family for society at macro level according to Macionis is, The family performs vital tasks, including socializing the young and providing emotional and functional support for members. The family helps regulate sexual activity. The social conflict approach is, The family perpetuates social inequality by handing down wealth from one generation to the next. The family supports patriarchy as well as racial and ethnic inequality. The symbolic interaction approach is, The reality of family life is constructed by members in their interaction. Courtship typically brings together people who offer the same level of advantages. (Society, The Basics, Chapter Thirteen, Family and Religion, Page- 24) Macionis explains how is sociology important to your family and family is also equally important to the society. In fact, describing the basic concepts of the family, Macionis explains that Family- a social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children. (Society, The Basics, Chapter Thirteen, Family and Religion, Page- 2) As there have been development and changes in the society, family structure as well as cultural norms have also changed and modified. There have been both pros and cons of the development and they need to be understood in order to prevent the dark effects of progress on society and families as well. The family performs a lot of duties, which includes mainly of providing material and emotional security to its members and socialization. Due to increase in divorce rates and broken families these duties are not completely performed. Society depends upon families in many aspects and family on the other hand plays a role in social classification based on values and ethics. Macionis writes that every marriage consists of two dissimilar relationships in which one is that of men and the other of women. The expectations and anticipations of both the genders are different but marriage stays on the pillars of mutual understanding. People’s thinking have changed regarding having babies through new technologies of reproduction which help reduce the rate of birth defects and also help those couples have their own children who suffer with some deficiency or so. There has been stress on the importance of religion on society and individuals and history depicts that there have been many social reform movements that have been promoted due to religiosity. It is believed that outbreak of industrial revolution was because of religious principles and doctrine of Calvinism. There have been lots of problems and transitions in family life because history portrays women as property of men and domestic violence as a private concern and these concepts are changing with time. These are the points of discussion and detailed information found in this chapter, ‘Family and Religion’ from the book, ‘Society, The Basics’ by Macionis that I appreciate and like the most.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Group Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Group Decision Making - Essay Example Various factors like the number of people in the group, group structure and purpose affect the functioning of group decision making process. Over the years, research has revealed that group decision making is an integral part of organizational life which has certain advantages and disadvantages. However one should be very careful during the group decision making process because it creates an environment in which fears and weaknesses of individual members can be overshadowed by the effects of group cohesiveness, causing the group to agree on extreme solutions to the given problem. Five Major Categories of Group Decision Making In the following pages, I will discuss the five major categories of group decision making as described in the text book and assess how two subcomponents, within each category, may help or hinder the value of an effective decision. Individual vs. Group Decision Making Over the years, research has proved that groups are far superior to individuals when it comes to problem solving and decision making (Blinder & Morgan 2005). The interaction among group members have been found to generate better ideas, insights and strategies that are unique to the group decision making process. ... The presence of other officers would have a positive impact on his performance and he would execute his work well. However, if this new recruit is placed in a board room where an army commander is developing a battle plan with senior officers, the presence of other officers would have a negative impact on his performance. This is so because of his lack of adequate training, expertise and inability to contribute to the task at hand. In this case, the presence of this new recruit may also turn out to be a hindrance to making an effective battle plan. Involvement and Commitment Involvement of group members in the decision making process has been found to have a positive and potentially strong relation with performance (Black & Gregersen, 1997). It not only gives an opportunity to explore knowledge but also helps identify innovative ways to find a solution to the problem (Black & Gregersen, 1997). As part of my role as a manager of a linguist program in Afghanistan, I recently called for an internal meeting in my organization with about 15 local national linguists (LNL) so that I can assign them to military units where their services can be utilized. I presented a situation and then asked each LNL to respond with their thoughts on the issue. This exercise helped us to improve the quality of the decision as each member was involved in the analysis of the situation and presented their view of how they would address the issue. This was helpful for us as a group to identify the skills and talents of each LNL and place him in a unit where he can be most effective. This process also helped each LNL to feel committed to the mission and goals of the organization. In this situation, involvement of LNLs in the decision

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Role of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Current Banking Crisis Essay

Role of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Current Banking Crisis - Essay Example Innovation and entrepreneurship have played a significant role in the current banking crisis. Innovation is a change in product, service or the method of production and marketing, with the aim of improving competitiveness of a business in the market. It can be done continuously in the production process, involving introducing minor changes in the product so as to ensure the business is always ahead of other competitors in the market. (Feldman, 2001:21-24). Entrepreneurship on the other hand is the process of undertaking the risk of obtaining goods and services at a particular cost and selling them at predicted prices. It is the process of combining many factors of production in the creation of new enterprises. Innovation and entrepreneurship are very important for human existence. They have made humans to advance to the current state whereby life has been made easier and essential commodities have been made available. Technological advancements through innovation assist in production of goods and services in a more effective and well-organized manner. Innovations in communic ation and information technology have made the world to be a global village, making international business a haven for entrepreneurs. The research process involved collection of theories and concepts in entrepreneurship and innovation from various academic materials such as books, journals, online articles and magazines. The information was carefully analyzed and its relevance to entrepreneurship and innovation assessed. A critique of different approaches in entrepreneurship and innovation provided definition, importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in general as well as the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in oligopolies. Conclusions were drawn from the results of the analysis of the information gathered. Â  

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Symbolism and Theme in William Faulkners A Rose for Emily Research Paper

Symbolism and Theme in William Faulkners A Rose for Emily - Research Paper Example While containing southern gothic tendencies, the story is characteristic of Faulkner’s style in terms of theme and symbolism. This essay considers these symbolic and thematic elements in terms of Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’. Perhaps the most pervasive theme in ‘A Rose for Emily’ is the power and exploration of death. This is perhaps one of the most important elements in articulating the story as an element of southern gothic literature, and it gives the tale a sort of surreal touch. Faulkner begins the narrative in reverse, already stating that Emily Grierson, the main focus of the story is deceased. Faulkner writes, â€Å"When Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to the funeral† (Faulkner, web). While this is only a narrative element, it’s position as the first sentence of the story is notable as it sets the general thematic tone for the tale. While Emily’s death represents perhaps the most significant, it is only on e among many deaths in the story. In addition to Emily’s death the story also indicates that Emily’s father died. Faulkner advances the thematic power of death in this instance by demonstrating that it extremely impacted Emily’s existence. Faulkner writes, â€Å"When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized† (Faulkner, web). Here, Faulkner is demonstrating that with Emily’s father’s death she began to live a solitary and confined existence. Emily’s reaction to her father’s death, namely the denial she faces, also demonstrates the thematic concern with the power of death. While actual death is a prominent theme, Faulkner also implements death imagery in advancing this theme; for instance, referring to Emily Faulkner writes, â€Å"Her skeleton was small and spare† (F aulkner, web). Here it’s clear that a gothic and macabre theme is being articulated. Another major thematic concern of the story is the nature of tradition vs. change. As Faulkner relays the story in a narrative that jumps a number of years, the structure presents particular insight into the nature of change and tradition. While tradition vs. change is articulated through a number of elements in the story, it is perhaps seen most clearly in terms of Emily herself. Faulkner even writes, â€Å"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town† (Faulkner, web). While the story explores Emily’s life from a number of periods, she is always articulated as a sort of traditional aspect of the town, a sort of portal into the past. Even as Emily’s funeral occurs at the end of the story Faulkner links her to the older members of the community. He writes that they linked their lives in with Emily’s, †Å"?'...confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road, but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottleneck of the most recent decade of years† (Faulkner, web). While this is a masterful piece of writing, it also demonstrates Faulkner’s thematic linking with the traditional order. Faulkner explores the clash of the traditional and modern world perhaps most acutely when the city attempts to gain taxes from Emily. Emily had

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

The Stag Hunt Game Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Stag Hunt Game Models - Essay Example Mainly, games such as Battle of Sexes, Prisoners Dilemma, and so on have been investigated by researchers. However, there have been very few mentions and applications of the Stag Hunt game. The Star Hunt game was a story told briefly by Rousseau. In its sense, it represents a social contract prototype (Skyrms, 2004). According to Rousseau’s story, the Star Hunt Game raises many questions such as an individual’s share of a successful deer hunt and values of a hare, will the hunt be successful if all those participating in the deer hunt remained faithful, and is there a chance that two hunters would opt to chase the hare? (Skyrms, 2004). In this paper, we look at the choices provided by the Stag Hunt game where each player can either choose to act on their own, or, to collaborate with the other party. This being an example of the games in game theory, we will try to find out whether it would be possible, through game theory, to predict a unique result of which everybody w ould choose. Discussion Game theory represents a very good way of analyzing the type of interdependence and relationship between firms in an oligopoly market. This type of market contains various small numbers of large enterprises practicing competition. Normally, when one firm in this market setting undertakes an action, other firms may be prompted to counter. For instance, if one firm rebrands its packaging and lowers it price, a competing firm is also prompted to do the same (Amos Web LLC, 2012). If one of the firms in the market decides to advertise a given product and launches an advertising campaign, the other firms in the market also prompted to make plans of stepping up their advertising campaigns. Game theory tries to explain these kinds of moves, and the counter moves that firms in an oligopolistic market make in trying to outdo each other for financial and market share gains. John Nash, the person who came up with game theory, was a Nobel Prize winning mathematician and e conomist (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). In the application of game theory in the moves and counter moves of firms in an oligopolistic market, analysis of standard game theory is on the basis of the alternative outcomes which arise when offered the choices that every one of the two players in the game face. It is worthy to note that when a player makes a choice, it definitely affects the result that the other or both of the players get in the end (Colman, 1995). In a game theory, if a player decides to cooperate with another player, the results they get form the endeavor definitely favors both of them (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). The rewards of cooperation are good. Nonetheless, there are times when cooperation is part of the game yet the individual interests are not the same as those of the team or the cooperating unit, like in the case of a soccer match. People form a team to get a favorable result at the end of the game. However, an individual may agree to be part of the team to get the resul ts but at the same time aim for personal glory. These are some of the choices that game theory offers the players or the playing teams as in the case of a soccer match (Bacharach, 1987). Experts have suggested that, it might be in the best interests of the players, in a game like the stag hunt to agree to cooperate with each other and go for the stag; as it gives more rewards in the end. However, there are times when the players wish to have outcomes that favor each of them in their own right without the

Monday, September 9, 2019

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Organisations Essay

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Organisations - Essay Example Explanations of corporate growth and development, and of the organization's ability to maximise profitability over time have increasingly relied on the entrepreneurial function (Greiner, 1972). Simply defined, an entrepreneur is someone who organizes and assumes the risk of a business in return for the profits. Entrepreneurial success depends on the ability to think strategically, have a clear strategic vision, and achieve quick results. The meaning of entrepreneurship is bound up with the concept of uncertainty. Entrepreneurs create value by acting in the context of uncertainty. As Knight (1921) puts it, the entrepreneur is the "organizer of uncertainties," which means he possesses the ability to creatively reorganize the relationships between factors of production and market opportunities in ways that create value which otherwise would not have been generated. The ability to organize wealth-generating relationships between factors of production presupposes that a market opportunity exists for the entrepreneur to capture. This gives rise to the concept of the entrepreneur as being "noticer of opportunity" (Kirzner, 1973). Entrepreneurial behaviour is, thus, described as action taken on noticed opportunities. Markets are almost always in disequilibrium and based on price disparity and information asymmetry, there always exists opportunity for arbitrage. This opportunity, however, only generates value for the noticing entrepreneur. It can be deduced that value is generated not only by an entrepreneur who is "organizer of uncertainties", but also by the entrepreneur who is "noticer of opportunities" (Jones & Butler, 1992). In entrepreneurship, once an opportunity has been acted upon, a series of internal forces begin to interfere in the entrepreneurial process. A distinction arises between entrepreneurship and management in the firm, leading to agency problems. The agency problem occurs when it is difficult for one party to evaluate the performance of the other due to uncertainty in environmental, organizational, or task conditions. Moreover, the motives of the parties to an exchange may be different giving rise to opportunism and, in turn, agency problem (Jones & Butler, 1992). In the entrepreneurial context, risk preferences cause an agency problem because the principal and agent have different risk preferences. Agency theory elaborates on the different risk preferences by discussing risk aversion of agents stating that the agents are only rewarded normal salary even though they have to bear the uncertainty of entrepreneurial activities. On the other hand, the principal is the residual claimant of all net revenues of the activities. The reward to the principal is the entrepreneurial profit for undertaking uncertainty whereas the reward to the agent is normal salary for risk taking. This disparity in reward structure gives rise to agency problem where agents have no incentive to behave entrepreneurial (Jones & Butler, 1992). Agents face an additional problem if they have injected any capital in the organization. This is because if the organization engages in a risky venture and faces bankruptcy, the agents lose their capital and have difficulty in securing equivalent alternative employment. Therefore, there is no incentive for agents to invest in the organization. This causes a misalignment of interests of principals or entrepreneurs and agents or managers and results in a loss in a firm's

Sunday, September 8, 2019

During the interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

During the interview - Essay Example In this speech, I will explicate what happens during an interview. I would like to bring to your attention that an interview starts immediately the candidate enters the facility hosting the interview. In this regard, it is fundamental to arrive early and be in good behavior both at the waiting room and inside the interview room. As explicated by San Francisco State University Student Involvement and Career Center, the receptionist may also be a part of the recruitment team and may therefore be asked to elucidate a candidates behavior in the waiting room (para. 2). Another point to remember relates to first impressions. Ensuring eye contact with the interviewer confirms a candidates self confidence. Other than eye contact, dressing code helps the panel form an impression about the candidate (Time 118). Since an interview is an official event, interviewees are expected to dress formally. For men, presenting themselves in tucked-in shirts and neat hair gives a positive impression. Conversely, wearing a formal dress or suit as well as plaiting ones hair also gives a positive impression for women. In reference to the interview process, Das, in his book Business Communication, asserts the importance of giving a firm and brief handshake to the panel as introductions are being conducted (154). In essence, a handshake is a sign of respect and etiquette. According to San Francisco State University Student Involvement and Career Center, shaking hands with the panel is a sign of self confidence (para. 2). To begin the interview, the panel in most cases starts the process with reflective language posited by San Francisco State University Student Involvement and Career Center as small talk (para. 3). This is geared towards helping the candidate relieve his or her nervousness. For instance, small talk may revolve around topics such as current news or weather. In other words, small talk is intended to make

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Criminal Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Criminal Evidence - Essay Example When prosecuting a case at trial, you must be ready to defend it as admissible since according to the law the rule of co-conspirator exists, so long as there is independent evidence showing that the conspiracy exist and the two conspirators was present. In child sexual abuse case, some hearsay exceptions are relevant during the trial; courts normally but into consideration excited utterances said by an individual immediately after the bad experience as reliable hearsay. Individual statements or actions made to medical practitioners for reasons of treatment are allowed as reliable hearsay. It is believed that children seeking for treatment see the doctors hence they tell them the truth about their problem (Utah bar journal, 2002). Child sexual abuse cases sometimes take years to go for trial and by then the child might have forgotten or she might no longer remember clearly the details of what happened since she might have made tremendous progress in recovering from the trauma and may be she no longer wants to be reminded. Sometimes even parents may not want the children to be reminded about the bad situation they encountered

The Impact of the Iom Report on Nursing Education Essay Example for Free

The Impact of the Iom Report on Nursing Education Essay The Impact of the IOM report on nursing education With an estimated 64 million people having seen the Institute of Medicine’s reccomendations on the future of nursing within the first year of its release, it is arguably one of the most influential pieces of medical literature of the 21st century, leaving a lasting impact on healthcare and paving an innovative path forward for the nursing profession. The institute of Medicine (IOM) is a nonprofit, unaffiliated orginazition. Its purpose is to provide advice to the government and private sector in order to make an informed health decision. The IOM was established in 1970, and for the past 40 years, the organization has been answering the nation’s most pressing questions about healthcare. â€Å"On October 5, 2010, the IOM released its reccomendations on nursing in the United States. According to the IOM report, it is crucial that nurses achieve higher levels of education and training in order to prepare themselves for the dynamic work environment in which they will participate (IOM Forum on Future of Nursing Summary, 2010, para 1. ) Higher nursing degrees provide nurses with more critical thinking skills; this will create efficiency and improved quality of care for the patient. In order to increase nursing competence, it is paramount that there is an improved education system that promotes continuous academic progression as opposed to the current disjointed system that is both archaic and ineffective. As well as increasing the percentage of nurses who attain a Baccalaureate in the Science of Nursing (BSN) to 80% by 2020, having at least 10% of BSN nurses to enter a master or doctoral program, and doubling the number of nurses who pursue doctoral degrees, the profession should institute residency training in addition to currently instrumented internship programs for novice nurses. It is not enough that nurses simply attain a BSN before heading directly into the nursing workforce; it is imperative that newly graduated nurses participate in a residency program. This provides inexperienced nurses with the opportunity to gain familiarity with leadership and collaboration, conflict resolution, and ethical decision making. This will provide nurses with the confidence and skills required to become successful, competent healthcare providers who will become future leaders and advocates of the nursing profession. The impact of iom report on nursing practice particularly on primary care and how you would change your practice to meet the iom report. Scope of practice barriers are particularly problematic for advance practice registered nurses (APRN’s) aprn’s and the expansion of healthcare organization that have increased the roles and responsibilities of nurses in patient care- such as veterans, health, administration/ remove scope of practice barriers, particularly for aprn’s. How I can change to meet the IOM reccomendations. I have taken the first step by enrolling in an ADN to BSN program. I recently got a certification in my specialty- maternal newborn nursing. With these skills, I will be able to not only advance my personal career, but also apply my knowledge to make the environment more efficient and beneficial for the patient. By incorporating research and evidence based practices in patient care, I will be able to assist the patient to the best of my abilities. A pivotal IOM recommendation was the expansion of opportunities for nurses to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts with physicians and other healthcare members (The Future of Nursing Leading Change, Advancing Health Report Recommendations, 2010, pg. . ) It is an unrealistic goal to reach an improved quality of healthcare nationwide without the wholehearted cooperation and support of nurses. It is not enough for nurses to sit back and watch the changes occur; we must be proactive in the redesigning of national healthcare. By contributing the unique perspective of the healthcare providers who interact with the patients the most, the system can be improved to be more efficient and beneficial for patients, healthcare providers, and management. However, in order to achieve this level of active communication with industry leaders, nurses need strong leadership skills (The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, 2010, 5-1. ) The IOM report essentially underscores this vital need for nursing innovators. Going forward, nursing programs and employers will further encourage leadership and teamwork development in addendum to conventional nursing courses. As a result, nurse leaders will be able to effectively convey their concerns and reccomendations and with the help of physicians and management, implement ideas into innovative and insightful policies.

Friday, September 6, 2019

IMC Plan Essay Example for Free

IMC Plan Essay Executive summary The strategy of this IMC plan is to extend Abercrombie Fitch target audience, young generation, to the senior segment; the reason by doing this strategy is because there are more potential customer that haven’t been discover yet, so if we can reach to those people, the brand can expand its market and gain more profit. Furthermore, the current image that AF holds in people mind might be a brand that provides casual luxury products or a brand that is only for young people, but if the brand can have the opportunity to upgrade its image to compare with those high-end brands, the brand value will increase dramatically. And so by, we must add the element of maturity into our brand image and appeal senior customer to purchase our product. In order to carry out this strategy, this IMC plan will use different marketing communication tools such as product placement, event marketing, advertising and public relationship to accomplish this goal. Eventually, after execute this new strategy for AF, more and more senior will consider AF is a brand not just for teens but also for them. Business situation review * Brand introduction: Abercrombie Fitch, also known as AF, is a renowned worldwide fashion brand that provides people the sense of causal luxury; it has a variety of product from the shoes that you wear on foot to the hat wear on the top, even fragrance and those exquisite accessories you can buy one at the store as well. Nowadays, AF has more than 300 branches within the U.S, and several stores around the world. The reason why AF is so popular recently is because the style of the product is unique and modern; furthermore, the products also possess high quality as well. Additionally, another reason that AF has such high popularity is because the affordable price, take the T-shit for instance, the average price is 25 to 30 dollars, if we compare AF to those famous brand such as Armani, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, we can find out the price that AF stands is much friendly than the others. * Target market: The main market of AF is target at those young adults, from the age 18 to 25, different nationalities, color and characteristic, and those people who love fancy stuff but can’t afford extremely expensive brand. One of the things that AF attract people is the image that displays the personality of vivid, young but a great sense of mature. Many people might consider a brand that is for young population as premature, the massage that, however, convey from AF is the sense of fashion and the high-class feeling. Furthermore, due to the affordable price, young adult Can have the ability to buy such a brand that provides the sense of fashion and distinguish themselves among others. * Competitive Among the retail-clothing industry, there are various of brand that possess almost the same brand image as AF, but the reason why AF still can distinguish from those brand is because the unique brand equity that it stands. Therefore, although there are some attributes that similar with AF, we still can scrutinize into those nuance and seek out some different between each others, and that’s quite important to execute before doing our own IMC plan. Therefore, those brand listed below are similar with AF, and all in the same category. 1. HM HM (Hennes Mauritz AB) is an international fashion brand, which comes from Swedish. The target market of HM is for men, women, teenagers and children, and those people who love fashion products. The feature of this retail-clothing company is to provide fast-produce product that provides consumer the fast pace of trend, it means that the time from the design process to the product been displayed in the store is short. Because of that, consumer can enjoy those fashion products at the very first hand. The company has more than two thousand chain store around the world. Meanwhile, HM often co-branding with other fashion designer such as MARNI, VERSACEï ¼Å' LANVINï ¼Å'JIMMY CHOOï ¼Å'ROBERTO CAVALLI, etc. This strategy makes the product more valuable than before, and triggers the collecting enthusiasm among those consumers. 2. ZARA ZARA is one of the most famous fast-fashion brands in the world now, it owns by Inditex Group, a giant Spanish closing retail company. The company claims it only takes two week from producing a new product to any chain store. One of the marketing strategies that ZARA possess is that they don’t execute any commercial advertisement, instead of doing that; they transfer the capital to set up another branch. The target audience is those people prefer enjoying fast pace fashion product, and want to be distinguishes from other people. 3. Forever 21 Forever 21 is a fashion brand that from the U.S., and it has many branches in major cities around the world. The brand offers trendy clothing and accessories to those people who love exquisite product, especially the female market. The price position that the brand stands is quite friendly compare with those high-end fashion brands such as Armani, Gucci, LV, etc. 4. GAP GAP is a brand that owned by The Gap, Inc., an American clothing and accessories retailer. The target market that the brand focus at the first place is only on blue jeans and T-shit, but later the brand expands its product category to suit the needs of men, women and children. The personality of GAP is more general than those others brand such as HF, AF, Forever 21, and the spectrum of age for using GAP’s product is much broader as well. * SWOT analysis for AF STRENGTHS: 1. Acceptable price The price strategy is a very essential factor that determines the brand position. One thing that makes AF so popular is the affordable price; more people can enjoy certain level of luxury or fashion based on a friendly price. Because of the affordable price, fashion is not a privilege hold by those rich people. Take the price of a pair of jeans for instance; compare with a 190 dollars jean that DIESEL sale, the price of the jeans that AF is only around 70 dollars. Therefore, the friendly price is a factor that can strengthen this brand, and make more people interest in it. 2. Specific market audience Abercrombie Fitch creates a very specific target segment that helps the brand to focus on certain consume. The target audience consists of various people, but the most important factor is all about the young generation. Meanwhile, due to the specific marketing segment, the brand can come out with more specific strategy that makes them easier to reach through the consumer. 3. Strong distribution strategy There are several ways for AF to distribute its product; the first one is the brick and mortar store, such as those stores inside Macy’s. Second, the consumer can purchase the product online due to its own online store, allowing those busy people to shop instead going to the store. Meanwhile, some times there are some special promotion only carries out on the online store. 4. Unique atmosphere for shopping in store The atmosphere within the store provides consumer a really pleasant circumstance to shop, moreover, the unique decoration and the aura makes the brand distinguish from the others. 5. Stylish design The image that shows on AF’s product is simple but stylish. However, maybe there are fewer picture or character on the product, but the design that shows on all product convey a sense of modern and fashion, and that’s the reason so many people get appeal on this amazing brand. WEAKNESS: 1. Few branch chain store in the Asia and Europe market The number of the chain store within Asia and Europe market is way below the number in the U.S. First of all, during the past ten years, the closing market in Asia has growing extremely, and due to AF is an international fashion brand, the distribution strategy should emphasize on this booming area more in order to generate more profit and enhance the brand awareness and loyalty. Furthermore, when talk to fashion; the first place that pops out in your mind will definitely be Europe, such as London, Milan, Paris, etc. Thus, in order to strengthen AF fashion image, letting more people aware of this brand is necessary. 2. Provoking image In order to make the advertisement more attractable; AF usually use the idea of sex to appeal consumer. Lots of advertisement or picture imply some kind of sexual implication that some times makes people feel unpleasant especially those conservative. 3. Untruthful information via on-line advertising When AF is doing some kind of promotion via the on-line store, some time the information is not clear and not congruent with the information that they promoted in the brick and mortar store. 4. Similar design concept with the competitor Some time is a little bit hard to distinguish AF’s product from those competitor, not because the design but also the attributes of the brans parity, especially when the target audience is similar with each other THREATS: 1. Losing senior market Because the target market that AF holds is focus on the young generation, therefore, senior might not consider AF as the brand when they want to shop for garment. 2. Generate negative brand image The advertisement that AF usually conduct is by using sexual appeals to attract people, or using macho male or sexy female to enamor consumer. This, however, tactic might creates some negative feeling among the brand, the consumer; especially those parents might deems AF as a bran which is not ethical. 3. Losing market share due to brand parity There are several brands that possess similar product or design with AF. Therefore, how to distinguish each other will be the most important things that the brand needs to take into consider. Otherwise, the consumer can’t recognize the difference between AF and the others. 4. Losing market share due to few chain store oversea There are over 300 stores within the U.S, but just couple branches in the international market. In comparison with AF, many brand expand their chain store all over the world, letting more people enjoy the pleasure of shopping their products, such as HM, ZARA, GAP, etc. The sake of setting branches around the world is not just generate company’s revenue but also build up brand awareness in people’s mind, forcing people to familiar with the brand image and strengthen the brand loyalty. OPPORTUNITIES: There are many possible opportunities that AF can deal with, and each opportunity can set up different positive consequence that will provides somewhat benefit to AF and give the brand various direction to manage their strategy and fulfill the mission they possess such as adding the â€Å"Green† concept to the product, offer free modification among all pants, enhance the on-line system that gives more access for customer to shop or some special event like Issuing limited products. However, within this IMC plan for Abercrombie Fitch, the main idea that I want to express the most is the target market exist some certain possibility to generate more profit or brand awareness by playing more attention on those seniors. Based upon this idea, there are several opportunities that we can follow: 1. Make AF more suitable to senior by redesign the products The reason that redesign the product can appeal more senior customer is due to the style or graphic that display on the product might be deemed premature by those senior. Therefore, if the brand can place more effort on designing the right style senior likes, the brand can expand its target market to a higher level. 2. Change the stereotype that AF is a brand for young generation In the mind of people who love fashion product, AF always be considered as a brand for young people, not because the product itself, but also the image that the commercial present to the public. Thus, AF should dedicate more on the image, the image that convey more maturity. As a result, it will attract more senior customer to purchase AF’s product. 3. Positioning AF as a brand to senior Abercrombie Fitch can be the brand that provides not just the casual feeling but also the high level of exquisite perception. Expanding the product category to more mature product might be a way to strengthen the image of maturity. Meanwhile, AF can make itself be seemed as the level of those high level fashion brand such as Gucci, LV, PRADA, etc. This move will give the massage to the consumer that AF can also suit the need of their desire for the product that is fashion and also possess the personality of mature. Marketing objective According to the 2010 Form 10-k, Abercrombie Fitch Co. provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the revenue of AF is $ 3.469 billion, and it’s getting better compare with those previous years. In order to, however, make the company generate more profit and brand loyalty, we must scrutinize into those potential opportunities and carry out the best one, therefore, the marketing objective within this IMC plan is that Abercrombie Fitch will increase the revenue and develop more potential customer from expand the target market which is from the young generation to those senior consumer, by three years later. As we know, the target customer for AF is focus on those young generations, especially from the age 18 to 25. Thus, by extending the target audience, AF can attract more potential customer and gain more profit. 1. Product Within this IMC plan, we are not selling any particular products or item but rather the brand or any products that associated with AF. The idea of this plan is to expand the age segment in order to attract more senior customer than before. Therefore, how to make the products appealed to those older customers is the concept that me need to take into account, in addition, putting more mature element in the design process will give the final product a sense of maturity and a bit more fashion. Thus, the marketing objective at this part will be adding more mature flavor to the product and strengthen the product image to a high level that indicate the sense of maturity. After the fulfillment of this objective, Abercrombie Fitch will not just the brand only focus on young people but also justify the reason why the brand suit the senior as well. 2. Price Sometimes the price is the hardest part to decide in the process of setting objectives. Different brand price range from cheap to outrageous high, one of the reason that why AF is so popular is due to the affordable price, the price that most of the people can afford it. However, affordable price is not equal with the normal quality, adding value to the price, make the price value beyond the price itself. There is several ways to accomplish this concept such as providing a higher quality of customer service in order to enhance the relationship between both sides, or strengthen the brand image by making people believe AF is a brand that provides high quality merchandise. Eventually, the goal is to convince consumer the value of the price is way beyond the actual one. 3. Place Most of the time when shopping in the store, it’s obviously that the majority of customers are teenager, and one of the reason might be the environment is designed to attract the target market (young people), therefore, all the decoration or the aura inside the store is more like a young generation style, such as the picture on the wall usually are those macho men and sexy female; the perfume inside the store is so strong that you can smell it after you leave the store and the light is a little bit gloomy that some time make people feel dizzy. As a result, all the reason that I mentioned above might be the causes that hesitate senior to shop in the store. Therefore, the marketing object of this part is to create a better and comfortable environment for senior. Meanwhile, it’s important not just to provide a suitable circumstance to shop but also an understandable way to reach through. 4. Promotion One of the problem that we need to solve with the promotion is to break through the generation gap, this gap might seems nothing seemingly, but it sure does matter the way that the promotion take place. The reason that I mention it is because the way senior see through the promotion process is totally different than young people, therefore, the marketing objective is to concentrate on the meaning of the promotion, providing information that will attract senior customer to the store and also form the knowledge that AF is a brand not just for kids but also for adult. As a result, by using the proper promotion, AF can attract more people to generate more reputation, and boost the revenue as well. The central strategic idea Among those fashion brands, AF is the one that focus on the casual luxury segment, many people willing to buy its product due to the quality product and the fashion brand image, because of that, AF become one of the most popular apparel brand among the world nowadays. However, when talking about the position that AF stands, most of the people will consider AF as a brand that only suit for young people, most of the product that display in the store are hoody, T-shirt or jeans, those product usually deem as for children, but that is only the stereotype among all of us, if AF can attract more people that is older to purchase the product, the image will eventually change, and the brand will be widely consider as a mature brand such as Ralph Lauran, Tommy or Calvin Klein. As far as I’m concerned, the reason why I think expand the target market from young people to senior is a proper strategy for Abercrombie Fitch is because there still exist a great amount of potential customer th at can bring a huge profit to AF; having a bunch of young loyalty customer is not enough, the best way to build up a phenomenal reputation is to provide service to both junior and senior, make the brand broadly acceptable. Furthermore, when talk to those renowned brands such as LV, Gucci, Armani, we won’t consider them as a premature brand or a bran that is only suit for young generation or some certain group but a brand that provides high quality of exquisite product. The purpose of this strategic idea is not putting Abercrombie Fitch at the same position as those fashion brands that I mentioned above. The reason of this strategy is to elevate the brand to a higher level that provide the mature feeling that can attract senior customer, meanwhile, when more and more senior customer enjoy AF’s products, the brand image will become more solid and convince people that AF is a brand that not only suit for teens but also for adults. However, before starting this strategic idea, there are several thing that we need to reconsider, such as the communication situation, how’s the current communication channel looks like? What’s the tactic that Abercrombie Fitch utilized to reach through customer? Is the current tactic suit for our new customer? Those questions are the one we need to elaborated, and come out with a more specific plan that can appeal more people, especially senior, to purchase our product. Furthermore, we have to redefine our customer, make sure me know the attributes of their shopping behavior or even the style that those senior prefer, this effort will give us the knowledge to know our customer deeper and better. Communication situation analysis According to this strategic plan for Abercrombie Fitch, the main problem for senior to shop for AF’s product is the wrong cognition that the brand is only suit for young people, and because of this reason, most of the senior will rather choice other brand that will provides them the sense of maturity and possess the fashion feeling at the same time. Therefore, based on this obstacle, we need to convey the right information to the right person. Thus, the information must be via the right channel and the massage must be tailor to match what seniors needs. Nowadays, most of the information exposed through different media, and it’s easy for people to see. However, there is no such a No.1 option, different media has its own function, it can’t just apply to every one’s need. For AF, we can grab the message from various ways, such as the commercial lunched on the TV, the picture issued inside the magazines, the image display on the giant billboard, the store that we shop on-line or even the massage within the store. Those channels all can make a very well impression on us; therefore, the detail inside those channels will be the key factor to change people’s attitude. Take the magazine for example, in order to appeal senior customer, the picture inside the magazine can’t just use young people as model, it has to show some grownup that is mature enough to bring out the specific feeling. Target audience analysis When speak to Abercrombie Fitch, the first image or feeling that pop out consumers’ mind is the perception of vitality and youth, thus, the target audience for AF is focus on those young generations from the age18 to 25. Meanwhile, except the age, there are several attributes that possessed by those people, such as the tendency of collecting fashion products, or owning the ability to purchase fashion items to make themselves looks better. However, based upon the new marketing strategy, the final goal is to extend the age segment and bring more senior customer to this market, therefore, the new target audience among this marketing plan is the age from 30 to 50 and possess the following characteristics: 1. Self-Independent on the economic status Generally speaking, most of the young customers can’t afford to purchase a great amount of products at the same time because they are not self-independent on the economic status; they still rely on parents’ income to supply their daily cost, and subject to parents’ order. However, if the target audience is focus on those seniors who have a greater power of consumption than those youth, they can purchase more products and make the purchase decision by their own. Moreover, due to this customer characteristic, there will be more consumption either inside the store or the on-line purchase, and the revenue will have a sharp increase as well. 2. Live in the urban area There are several good parts that benefits the customer that live in the urban area, the first one is the people can have more access to purchase AF’s product. Although the Internet is so popular now, we can even purchase the product at the on-line store just for a click, but we still can’t have the virtual contact with the products. For customers, sometime is better for them to see the product by itself and give the product a try to make sure whether the item fits the person or not. Furthermore, most of the population lives in the urban area, and the majority of AF’s store locates at the central of the city. Therefore, the people lives in the city can have more opportunity and convenience to reach its products. Second, the latest trend and fashion info often starts from the urban area; the people lives inside the city can gain the first-hand information about the latest fashion trend. 3. Care about personal image No matter male or female, the target audience must have somewhat narcissism in her or his personality. They believe that wearing good-looking cloth and the right brand can creates the sense of confidence, and that’s the reason why they choice AF to be the brand they want. 4. Interesting in the fashion domain People who love fashion tend to pay more focus on the apparel industry, because there is a strong connection between each other. Every time there is a new product release or a product co-branding with a famous designer, the person will follow the news and try to participate in the event, and there’s a high percentage that the person will purchase the product. Positioning strategy analysis Positioning Statement: Among all the people from age 30 to 50, who love fashion products and enjoy wearing casual luxury apparel (Target audience) Abercrombie Fitch (Product/Service name) Is one of the most famous causal-luxury apparel brands in the fashion industry (Competitive set) That performs confidence, vitality and uniqueness to customer (Benefits proposition) Because of the high quality product and the stylish design (Product support) 1. Target audience In the positioning statement, the target audience is not just for those young people but also focus more on the senior market. Based on the Strategic idea of this IMC plan, the perfect age group is from 30 to 50, because they possess several preponderance such as having a job and a more stable income than those young people, thus, they have more opportunity to purchase AF’s products. Moreover, seniors usually have a better taste on closing than juniors, therefore, if AF can make those seniors become its loyalty customer, it can transfer the image that the brand is not just for young people but also for those mature adults. 2. Product/Service name According to this IMC plan, there are no specific products that the company wants to promote or use as a strategy to boost the sale. Our mission is to promote Abercrombie Fitch ‘s name and appeal senior customer to use our product. Therefore, the goal of this plan is to redress the image and promote the concept that the bran is more likely for senior. 3. Competitive set For Abercrombie Fitch, our competitive set is not just in the apparel business, but also the whole fashion industry. The products for AF are miscellaneous, so that’s the reason why AF can compete with different kinds of fashion brands. Furthermore, because the brand has already well known by the public, so they don’t have to put extra effort on creating brand awareness. 4. Benefits proposition The people who wear AF cloth or use any of its products can feel a sense of fashion and confidence due to its unique position in the market. The feeling that elicit from the product can be somewhat energetic and mature, and that’s the feeling, which appeal to most of the consumer to purchase its product. Meanwhile, based on the new strategy, we want customers to have a different experience than before by means of a much mature image that can persuade senior to get involve in it. 5. Product support The reason why AF is so popular around the word is because the stylish design and the unique image that convey to the world. Those apparels or products that design by AF are usually simple but modern; there is no fancy figure or glary color on it. Therefore, the brand is easy to distinguished from the other competitors, and also that’s the reason why I think the strategy to expand the age segment to a higher level is feasible, because usually the more simple trait that the product possess, the more easy for the product to be considered mature, and that’s the thing our new potential customer wants. Communication objectives and strategies Although there are various brands within the fashion industry, different people choice the brand that suit them the most, sometime is based on status, some time is based on personal taste; however, the reason why so many people, especially teenagers, appealed by AF is owing to its stylish design and vigorous image. However, the problem of this IMC plan is how to get seniors involve in this brand and turn them to up hold AF’s products. Thus, the communication object is to send the massage to the target audience and boost the revenue by convincing people that the brand is not just for teens but also will be the best choice for seniors to purchase when they need closing. In order to accomplish the communication objective, there are several strategies that listed below: 1. To create a suitable environment for senior to visit AF stores In order to fulfill this strategy, we must conduct some research to realize what’s the key element that triggers senior to shop and what’s the condition that make them feel comfortable while they doing purchase. The reason for doing this strategy is because the current environment is designed to attract young consumer, therefore, in order to attract senior customer, the company must figure out the best shopping environment to appeal them to come. 2. Promote the idea that Abercrombie Fitch is a brand for senior Refresh the original image of AF and put the sense of maturity into the brand whereby senior feels like this special brand is for them. In order to execute this strategy, we must use different marketing tools and various mediums to accomplish this mission. More details will be illustrated in the last part of this IMC plan. 3. Move Abercrombie Fitch’s image up to those high-end fashion brand such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauran. The purpose of this strategy is to let people build the connection for AF to those high-end brands in order to increase the brand value. By strengthen the brand value, more people, especially senior, will consider AF as a phenomenal brand to purchase. Program of tactics and executions With regard to this IMC plan, there are various tools to accomplish this mission; different tactic has its own advantage so we need to slice them together then maximize the great amount of benefit from it. There are so many disciplines such as advertising, personal selling, PR, etc. Therefore, sometimes we just can’t use them all; we have to select some of the most effective ways to conduct the strategy that we came out with. And so by, according to this plan, several tactics will be elaborated in the following paragraph: 1. Product placement The reason why this alternative marketing tactic is a great choice for this strategy is because by using this method, not just the product of A F can expose to the customer but also the image. When the products display inside a movie or commercial, the audience will have a chance to see and have the perception of it. Meanwhile, this tactic has been so popular for quite a long time and most of the company considers this tactic as a great ways to promote their brand or product, so the potential influence on customer is quite huge. Therefore, based on our strategy, we will expose our product or our brand image to the public, but we need to place it in the right place and person. We will execute our plan by putting AF’s products or logo on senior who take part in the movie or commercial, the reason why we are doing this is because we want the customer who is in front of the TV or computer to deem the brand is looking good on those people. Generally, we seldom saw A F’s product wearing on senior among any program, so that’s the notion we want to convey to people. Furthermore, in order to illustrate more specifically, we will choice certain people or program to expose our brand image, take the actor for instance, when choosing the people to wear our product, we might consider senior more than young guys, the actor such as Gorge Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker will be the best candidate for translate the new image of maturity to people. In addition, we must pick the right movie or TV program to place our brand into it, because some time if the movie or program is for teens or children, the purpose of this action will be not successfully accomplished. 2. Advertising There are various ways in advertising, each of one has it own advantage, however, in this case, there will be only few channel that appropriate to accomplish this goal, such as: * Television In nowadays, people can get a slew of information from TV, and it is also the best way to create awareness. According to this channel, the best way to convey the information that the brans is not only suit for young people but also adults as well is to launch a commercial that carry the image of senior wearing A F product and shows how confidence they can be just because the brand can bring the sense of fashion and maturity. When people, especially seniors, see the commercial frequently, they will gradually change the original brand image in their mind. * Magazine There are tons of different magazine in the field now and it has possess several advantage such as high marketing segment, longer attention to ads, high color quality, etc. We, however, can’t put our advertisement in all of them, we must be specific, choosing the right one that can reach the right person, therefore, according to the strategy, the target magazine will definitely be those fashion one such as Elle, Ebony, Vogue, People and FHM. Furthermore, in order to promote the perception of mature and professional, those famous magazine such as TIME, Economist, ADWEEK will also be taken into consider. Take TIME for example; in order to give the audience an explicit impression, we might consider buying a whole page for our ad, thus, once the reader start to read, the image of our brand will unfold in front of them. * Outdoor The place that can display the ads are not just in the TV or magazine, there are many places we can use in the public area to show our brand image and product advertisement, such as the giant billboard out side, the bus stop next to your house, even on the public transportation can have a space to make advertising. Therefore, we will display our brand image in those places that people gather the most; make sure our exposure can reach people as much as possible. To make this tactic more specific, A F will runs this method by putting out senior celebrity image such as Gorge Clooney; the image of him will mostly convince people that AF is a brand that fits on senior and it looks good as well. 3. Public Relations In the tactic of PR, our goal is to build the right image we want, and let people feel positive that this new brand image is positive. Therefore, by using all the tools of PR such as the news release, annual report, news conference etc. we want people to know the brand is extending its image to a higher level, and will provides customer a better feeling that will appeals to those senior customer. To execute this strategy by using PR, we might have to combine different tactic to maximize the outcome. For instance, in order to spread the new image out, we might need to set up some event or co-branding with the others. And so by, we might need to set up a news conference or launch a press release to run our story to the public. In addition, one of the functions of PR is to create positive image and strengthen company’s reputation, so by sponsoring special event such as the Oscar ceremony, LPG golf tour and the Grand slam series; the image of AF will be seen not just a brand that provides causal luxury apparel, but also a brand that possess high-end perception and the sense of maturity. Furthermore, in order to let people understand the reason why the company comes up with this idea, and to convince senior to use its product; the company can release some article that is relevant to this topic, getting people familiar with the new idea. 4. Celebrity Endorsement By using well-known people to promote its product can make the brand image more clear and gain more attention. In order to make our brand shine and bright among the public, the company is imperative to choose the right person for endorse its product, several condition such as the person need to have a positive image that well accepted by the public, the person’s personality needs to match with the brand or the product; otherwise, people will think the brand has no connection with the person, and that will make the credibility decline. So, in order to fulfill the condition and match the strategy we set up, we will invite celebrity such as Gorge Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Robert Downey Jr. to be our spokesman; and by using their mature charisma, more people will convert their first image of AF and turn in to the perception as the strategy we wanted. 5. Event marketing In order to promote the strategy and boost the sale, we can create several events to accomplish this goal; more detail will be elaborated in the following paragraph: * The â€Å"A† membership To create loyalty customer and reward them for their purchase, we will conduct a membership program that give them the benefit as a return. The program will run first with applying our membership card and join the AF club; after applying, every time when they purchase a certain amount of money, they can get some credit, and after collecting enough credit, the person can enjoy a perpetual 30% discount on every purchase afterward. Moreover, the person who gets a perpetual membership can receive a 100 dollars gift card on his or her every birthday. * The â€Å" I want to fly fashion† event In order to strengthen the function of our perpetual membership, we will co-brand with United Airline and American Express; every time when you take a flight with United Airline or purchase product from AF by using American Express, the person can receive bonus from it, and can use the bonus to purchase flight ticket or products within A F store. Conclusion Nowadays, Abercrombie Fitch is one of the most famous fashion brand in the world, the brand has it own unique image and special value, the trend of buying its product is not just happen in the State but also around the world. However, besides the current situation, the company has more opportunity to enhance its brand equity by expanding the customer segment to a higher level. In order to make the brand more accepted by senior, we must create another image that can appeal to them, make them feel the brand is not just for cool teenagers but also for mature adults. Therefore, the strategy of extending target customer to the senior segment can bring more profit to the company and form a new brand image, providing customer another high- end brand to shop and make them feel special.