Saturday, August 31, 2019

History, strength of provisional government Essay

How far was the provisional government responsible for its own downfall? During the brief period of rule by The Provisional Government, Russia was troubled by several domestic issues that the provisional Government failed to sufficiently deal with when eventually led to their down fall in 1917. Their failure to fulfil the needs of the peasants, which was a big domestic issue, was a factor that led to their loss of support and in addition their failure to suppress the opposition led to their downfall. The instantaneous cause for their collapse was the fierce take over from the Bolsheviks led by Lenin. However the main factors that led to their downfall was their decision to continue in the war because it has worsened the issues that The Provisional Government failed to tackle which then led to loss of support from the bulk of the population and more importantly the army which they relied upon to defend The Provisional Government such as the July Days. In addition their decision to delay the elections gave the Bolsheviks a chance to take power. As a result, Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to increase their support rapidly and take over so therefore The Provisional Government can be largely held responsible for their own downfall. Russia’s continuation in the war after the abdication of the tsar was the main reason for the down fall of The Provisional Government because it increased the issues that Russia faced already which worsened their respect and support as it was their decision to do so. As a result of this, they lost support of the army because they were losing in the war as they lost territory, soldiers and unprepared to go to battle. This decreased the soldier’s moral which eventually led to the breakdown of military discipline. This eventually led to radical parties having an increase of support because they were against the continuation of the war such as the Bolsheviks because they promised to end Russia’s involvement in the war. In addition, the continuation of the war meant that the issue of food shortages caused unrest amongst the population towards The Provisional Government. The Provisional Government also had little control over the countryside and also lacked the ability to impose their authority in its outside cities and towns. As a result the peasants took action which therefore undermined The  Provisional Governments authority. Many peasants took land from landowner’s whilst some engaged in violence. The Provisional Government was losing its authority in parts of Russia. The main reason for the lack of control was because The provisional Government lacked in legitimacy and due to this the public turned away and went to more radical parties such as the Bolsheviks. The peasants turned to the Bolsheviks because in the April Thesis, Lenin promised to address the land issue which The Provisional Government failed to do. And due to his, The Provisional Government support decreased and Bolsheviks support increased. The authority of The Provisional Government significantly weakened in June when they launched an attack on the Austro-Hungarian army. This was a utter failure and led to the breakdown of the Russian army. The soldiers leaving the front lines met and formed an Anti-Government rally in which they demanded all political power should be handed to the soviets. Furthermore other troops formed a Provisional Revolutionary Committee to campaign against the government. In addition only the government can be blamed for the events of the â€Å"July Days† because it was them who’s idea it was of the June offensive and therefore as a result, the July Days. By August 1917 Russia seemed on the verge of chaos because peasants were seizing land, industrial production was failing and soldiers were rebelling. Although the Provisional Government had survived, the demonstrations of the July Days brought a fatal blow to the position of The Provisional Government. Kornilov had feared a â€Å"coup d’à ©tat† and released imprisoned Bolsheviks and armed them to help the government. This was a blow as Bolsheviks membership increased and now they were given weapons, they did not give them back. The Kornilov Affair made the Bolsheviks look like the â€Å"defenders of Petrograd† so their numbers increased. As a result of The Provisional Government continuing in the war, opposition towards them grew. They also failed to suppress the opposition which led to opposition (Bolshevik) increase support. The Provisional Government also failed to meet the demands of the public so therefore making them turn to more extreme parties. The Bolsheviks were the biggest threat to the government because of their popularity, aims, guidance and methods. Overall, although The provisional Government had face many problems, it was the Bolsheviks that caused the eventual downfall of the government. It is not wholly The Provisional Governments fault for their own downfall because some of the problems they had inherited and as soon as they came into power they were already un-liked despite them playing a major part in it. The country side was already in chaos so that was not their fault and the April Thesis, Lenin’s speech, they could not be held responsible for that either. On the other hand, The Kornilov Affair, The June Offensive and the domestic issues were their fault as they did not address the issue leading to the radicalisation of the public. The Provisional Government did have a huge part to play in their own downfall because of their decision t continue in the war which enhanced/intensified the present issues.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Novel Analysis: Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the greatest authors in world literature.   This Nobel Laureate came from Latin America, but his novels have been acclaimed all over the world.   One of those novels is Love in the Time of Cholera.   Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a remarkable novel that renders love as an illness.   In addition, the story reaffirms the presence of love through romanticism, and declares its absence through a rational point of view. Love in the Time of Cholera is about the enduring love story between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza.   Florentino first encountered Fermina when he delivered a telegram to Lorenzo Daza, Fermina’s father (Trainor).   Florentino fell in love with her and soon the young lovers were exchanging love letters (Trainor).   However, the discovery of their relationship brought the couple apart.   Fermina was expelled from school because she was found writing love letters, and her father also saw love letters in her room that prompted him to take Fermina on a long trip to forget about Florentino (Trainor). After a long absence, Fermina returns as a beautiful, full-grown woman.   She has forgotten about Florentino, and at their encounter upon her arrival, she asks him to â€Å"forget it† (qtd. in Couteau).   In turn, he tries to win her back, but his efforts were futile (Trainor).   In time, Fermina marries renowned Dr. Juvenal Urbino.   This deeply affected Florentino, and he vowed to win Fermina back no matter how long it takes. Indeed, after fifty-one years, nine months and four days, Florentino got his opportunity (Couteau).   Dr. Urbino died when he fell from a ladder in an attempt to save his parrot (Trainor).   At the doctor's funeral, Florentino wasted no time in telling Fermina his feelings toward her (Trainor).   This angered Fermina, and she tells him to leave (Trainor).   The funeral incident was soon followed by the exchange of letters, and the two lovers resume their romantic relationship (Trainor).   In the end, Florentino and Fermina go on a river voyage (Trainor). Cholera may be the implied disease in the title, but the story presents love as the real illness.   The manifestation of love as a sickness is best embodied by the character of Florentino.   He is so engrossed with his love for Fermina that it eventually proves detrimental to his health.   In the second chapter of the novel, Florentino's homeopath godfather mistakenly assessed his sickness as cholera, when he was merely exhibiting symptoms of love sickness (Trainor). In the same chapter, Florentino also consumed flowers and cologne which made him vomit (Trainor).   The emotional anguish he feels over his unrequited love for Fermina is translated into physical suffering (Trainor).   Therefore, love is an illness because its effects prove to be harmful to one's physical and emotional state, as exemplified by Florentino. The story also shows the presence and absence of love, as personified by the two men in Fermina's life: Florentino and Dr. Urbino.   Florentino is the romantic, as he is possessed with so much love for Fermina that he spends his entire life in winning her affection.   On the other hand, Dr. Urbino, is the rational.   He may be Fermina's husband, but their relationship was founded on respect, instead of love. Florentino fell in love with Fermina at a young age, and remained preoccupied with that love throughout his life.   The extremity of his love for her even left him unable to write a decent business letter; this is because all he could write were letters for her (Trainor).   Moreover, when he is sent to jail because of his violin serenade, he feels a sense of martyrdom (Trainor).   Lastly, when Lorenzo attempts to kill him, Florentino declares that it is a noble thing to die for love. Despite his claim that he had saved his virginity for her, Florentino had 622 sexual relations with numerous women (Couteau).   However, sex was only a means to deal with his longing for Fermina (Trainor).   He may have been physically disloyal, but he was emotionally faithful to her. In contrast, Dr. Juvenal Urbino is the rational.   He is not overcome with emotions like Florentino, and everything he does follows logic.   He marries Fermina, even though he acknowledges the absurdity of such union (Penguin Group).   His notion of love is logical, and rejects love as â€Å"unruly passion† (qtd. in Penguin Group).  Ã‚   For him, love is a mere â€Å"invention,† a feeling that one can evoke on purpose (Penguin Group).   It is therefore no surprise that theirs was not happy marriage, which Dr. Urbino did not mind at all.   This is because instead of happiness, he values stability in marriage (Penguin Group). As opposed to the affectionate and emotional character of Florentino, Dr. Urbino is rigid and passionless.   The two men may be extremely different in terms of characteristics, but both were disloyal to Fermina.   Dr. Urbino had an affair with a woman named Barbara Lynch during his marriage to Fermina (Trainor). Fermina strikes the balance between the two men.   As a young lady, she reciprocates Florentino's affections with equal enthusiasm.   However, after the trip, she assumed a more mature stance in life which made her reject him.   Her marriage to Dr. Urbino is a logical step, since she married for convenience instead of love (Couteau).   After her husband dies, she again honors her emotions and embarks on a river cruise with Florentino. Gabriel Garcia Marquez artfully depicted love as an illness in his novel.   He described how love's intensity can affect one's own physical and mental state.   Moreover, he renders love through romanticism, and shows how rationality is devoid of it.   Indeed, Love in the Time of Cholera is a great novel, as it reveals love and its many aspects. Works Cited Couteau, Rob. â€Å"Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.† Arete December 1988. Penguin Group USA. 19 February 2008 . Trainor, Katherine. Sparknote on Love in the Time of Cholera. 19 February 2008 .

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Black Friday

Marketing strategies, paired with consumers’ need to locate the best deals on Christmas gifts has led to Black Friday being celebrated as a consumption ritual comparable in importance to Thanksgiving Day. (Thomas and Peters, 2011) How has Black Friday become the largest retail sales day of the year? What is it that drives people to artificially induced hyper consumption, almost like an annual ritual? Many scientist and psychologists have many different theories and conclusions of why Black Friday has become the biggest shopping day of the year. In this paper, I will take your through the research and conclusions that many psychologists have produced and the advantages and disadvantages of Black Friday. Dr. Stephanie Sarkis, Ph. D. explored the work of Jane Boyd Thomas and Cara Peters, professors at South Carolina’s Winthrop University, who spent two years in research trying to find common traits in Black Friday shoppers. They conducted thirty-eight extensive interviews with â€Å"experienced† Black Friday shoppers and found four recurring themes: 1. Familial bonding (multiple generations and close friends) 2. Strategic planning . The great race 4. Mission accomplished But how do the four themes they came up with relate to one another? Thomas and Peters figured that all the traits when analyzed together showed one commonality. They wrote, â€Å"the traits are coalesced around a military metaphor, and is a bonding activity Shoppers prepare for the ritual by scanning Black Friday ads, and they map out their stra tegy. † (Sarkis 2011) In essence, the family is a type of team that scans adds, plans their route and potential purchases, executes their plans by buying products, and rejoices in their accomplishments. When all of these traits are analyzed individually, they mean little to main the main outcome, bonding. But when all the traits are looked at collectively, they all contribute to the overall success and goal of bonding. Besides giving us a breakdown of bonding activities, the analysis also shows how the average consumer plan for Black Friday. Just as Sarkis found themes that make up this military metaphor, Byun, professor of consumer affairs at Auburn University came up with her own theory on why people react the way they do on Black Friday. Crowds create a sense of competition — such as when hundreds of shoppers are rushing to collect marked-down goods — they generate a different feeling entirely. Competition creates what’s called hedonic shopping value, or a sense of enjoyment from the mere process of buying goods. At certain levels, consumers enjoy arousal and challenges during the shopping process. † (Khazan 2011) In essence what Byun is saying is consu mers get more enjoyment because the crowds create an obstacle, which hinders the execution of the plans and preparations made. The crowds make getting what they want harder, which creates more value for the goods purchased. Just as Byun noted that crowds contribute to the Black Friday Craze, Kelly McGonigal, Ph. D. describes another factors that plays a big part in the â€Å"Black Friday frenzy†. Retailers, she notes, use innovative designs to lure customers into their stores and keep them there. McGonigal says â€Å"time pressure sales on limited products or scarce resources† triggers a negative physiological affect on the consumer. Scarcity for a certain commodity creates a sense of urgency to act now, a natural instinct to survive. This survival instinct can be related to hunting for some people. Black Friday is â€Å"hunting for women,† said Leisa Reinecke Flynn, professor of marketing and fashion merchandising at the University of Southern Mississippi. â€Å"It’s so much like deer hunting it’s hard to tell the two apart. † (Khazan 2011) Unfortunately, shopping on Black Friday is not motivated by survival instincts or a life in death situation. This paradox stimulates unusual behavior in consumers that creates disadvantages and potential dangers for those that are not necessarily into the hunt. The concept of Black Friday creates a â€Å"perfect storm† for consumer misbehavior. Misbehavior, as defined by Lennon, Johnson, and Lee is, â€Å"acts that violate accepted norms of conduct in consumption contexts. † (Lennon, Johnson, Lee, 2011) This compulsive behavior, or compulsive consumption, feeds off of the idea of scarcity. It induces people to act inappropriately harming others and often themselves. â€Å"For many, if not most compulsive purchasers, buying is a reaction to stress or unpleasant situations. Compulsive consumption is a type of consumer behavior which is inappropriate, typically excessive, and clearly disruptive to the lives of other individuals. (Ronald, Thomas, and Raymond 1987) Both hunting and shopping hinge on long-standing traditions and generally involve pursuing a goal as a group. Whether the group actually hits its target is secondary to the fun of the chase. Hunting and shopping as shown above are very closely linked and motivated by the idea of scarcity. Just like there are limited deer in the forest, there are limited goods in the stores. The result is paradoxical in nature. People are fraudulently deceived into acting compulsively. (Herpen, Pieters and Zeelenberg 2005) Just as Ronald, Thomas, and Raymond concluded that compulsive behavior negatively affects the lives of others, Peter McGraw, Ph. D. drew a similar connection. He focuses more on social trends and pressures being the root of the problem. In The Link between Thanksgiving Gluttony and Black Friday Insanity, McGraw makes a connection between Black Friday shopping and Thanksgiving Dinner. He explores the idea that once a year, people will consume more calories in one meal, than the average person consumes on a normal day. The next day they wake up, or sometimes not sleeping at all, and go shopping for hours on end. (McGraw and Warner 2011) Dr. McGraw’s research shows us that in a short period of forty eights hour there is over consumption of food on Thanksgiving and the hyper consumption or shopping on Black Friday. McGraw believes that the cause of this phenomenon is social influence and pressure. He writes, â€Å"One of the hallmarks of psychological science is that we are influenced by the actions of others—often more so than we’d like to admit. Sometimes we’re impelled to take positive actions, such as switching to reusable bags or cutting down on littering. Other times, social influence can be quite negative. When it comes to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, unfortunately, the influences skew more toward bad than good. † (McGraw and Warner 2011) In other words McGraw places responsibility of hyper consumption on social trends, pressures, and even perhaps familial rituals for the ever-popular Black Friday. Another concept of Black Friday is one of mutual benefit for both consumer and retailer. Consumers’ benefit from large discounts on all sorts of items including clothing, electronics, furniture, and literally any other commodity available on the market. Retailers’ benefit by getting out of the red zone, finally making a profit for the fiscal year. The opportunities available on Black Friday is what drove 212 million shoppers to stores during Black Friday weekend in 2011. (Wilson, 2010) Retailers experience surging sales during Black Friday and the days that follow. This monetary benefit is what drives their extensive promotion and deal offerings, further influencing the consumer’s willingness to partake in the shopping frenzy. In a society where a corporation or business’s main purpose is to grow profits for the benefit of its shareholders, a company’s number one purpose is to increase sales, in order to increase profits. According to a New York Times article written by Adam Davidson, approximately one fifth of retailer’s total annual sales are made during the holiday shopping season. (Davidson, 2011) In conclusion, we can see that shopping on Black Friday brings people together in one way or another. For some, it brings people together in a positive way. Families and friends are able to work as a team who plan, prepare and execute their plans to achieve their goals. For others, Black Friday shoppers experience the negative affects of other people’s behavior. There are also advantages and disadvantages for both the consumer and retailer. Consumers get amazingly cheap prices on products while retailers experience a massive surge in sales. However one may look at Black Friday, it is a day that cannot be ignored. It’s influence and popularity are ever growing and expanding. Reference Page Davidson, Adam. The Black Friday Effect: Let’s Stimulate the Economy with Inflation. † The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Herpen, Erica van, Rik Pieters, and Marcel Zeelenberg (2005) ,†How Product Scarcity Impacts on Choice: Snob and Bandwagon Effects†, in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32, eds. Geeta Menon and Akshay R. Rao, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32 : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 623-624. Faber, J. Ronald, O’Guinn, C Thomas, and Krych, Raymond. (1987) â€Å"Compulsive Consumption†, in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 14, eds. Melanie Wallendorf and Paul Anderson, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 14: Association for Sonsumer Research, Pages: 132-135. McGonigal, Kelly, Ph. D. â€Å"The Science of Willpower. † Comments on â€Å"Black Friday Shopping: How Stores Use Psychology to Fill Your Cart† N. p. , 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . McGraw, Peter, Ph. D. , and Warner, Joel. â€Å"The Humor Code. † The Link between Thanksgiving Gluttony and Black Friday Insanity. N. p. , 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . Ridgwar, Nicole, â€Å"Black Friday Sales Hit Record. † CNNMoney. Cable News Netwrok, 26 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Sarkis, Stephanie, Ph. D. â€Å"Here, There, and Everywhere. † Black Friday: A Collective Consumption Ritual. N. p. , 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . Thomas, Jane Boyd, and Peters, Cara. (2011) â€Å"An exploratory investigation of Black Friday consumption rituals†, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Vol. 39 Iss: 7, pp. 522 – 537 Wallendorf, M. , Arnould, E. â€Å"We gather together: consumption rituals of Thanksgiving Day†, in Journal of Consumer Research, (1991) Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 13-31. Wilson, April. â€Å"By the Numbers: Black Friday Shoppers and Their Impact on the Economy. † The Luckie ReTink Tank. 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct 2012. . Black Friday Marketing strategies, paired with consumers’ need to locate the best deals on Christmas gifts has led to Black Friday being celebrated as a consumption ritual comparable in importance to Thanksgiving Day. (Thomas and Peters, 2011) How has Black Friday become the largest retail sales day of the year? What is it that drives people to artificially induced hyper consumption, almost like an annual ritual? Many scientist and psychologists have many different theories and conclusions of why Black Friday has become the biggest shopping day of the year. In this paper, I will take your through the research and conclusions that many psychologists have produced and the advantages and disadvantages of Black Friday. Dr. Stephanie Sarkis, Ph. D. explored the work of Jane Boyd Thomas and Cara Peters, professors at South Carolina’s Winthrop University, who spent two years in research trying to find common traits in Black Friday shoppers. They conducted thirty-eight extensive interviews with â€Å"experienced† Black Friday shoppers and found four recurring themes: 1. Familial bonding (multiple generations and close friends) 2. Strategic planning . The great race 4. Mission accomplished But how do the four themes they came up with relate to one another? Thomas and Peters figured that all the traits when analyzed together showed one commonality. They wrote, â€Å"the traits are coalesced around a military metaphor, and is a bonding activity Shoppers prepare for the ritual by scanning Black Friday ads, and they map out their stra tegy. † (Sarkis 2011) In essence, the family is a type of team that scans adds, plans their route and potential purchases, executes their plans by buying products, and rejoices in their accomplishments. When all of these traits are analyzed individually, they mean little to main the main outcome, bonding. But when all the traits are looked at collectively, they all contribute to the overall success and goal of bonding. Besides giving us a breakdown of bonding activities, the analysis also shows how the average consumer plan for Black Friday. Just as Sarkis found themes that make up this military metaphor, Byun, professor of consumer affairs at Auburn University came up with her own theory on why people react the way they do on Black Friday. Crowds create a sense of competition — such as when hundreds of shoppers are rushing to collect marked-down goods — they generate a different feeling entirely. Competition creates what’s called hedonic shopping value, or a sense of enjoyment from the mere process of buying goods. At certain levels, consumers enjoy arousal and challenges during the shopping process. † (Khazan 2011) In essence what Byun is saying is consu mers get more enjoyment because the crowds create an obstacle, which hinders the execution of the plans and preparations made. The crowds make getting what they want harder, which creates more value for the goods purchased. Just as Byun noted that crowds contribute to the Black Friday Craze, Kelly McGonigal, Ph. D. describes another factors that plays a big part in the â€Å"Black Friday frenzy†. Retailers, she notes, use innovative designs to lure customers into their stores and keep them there. McGonigal says â€Å"time pressure sales on limited products or scarce resources† triggers a negative physiological affect on the consumer. Scarcity for a certain commodity creates a sense of urgency to act now, a natural instinct to survive. This survival instinct can be related to hunting for some people. Black Friday is â€Å"hunting for women,† said Leisa Reinecke Flynn, professor of marketing and fashion merchandising at the University of Southern Mississippi. â€Å"It’s so much like deer hunting it’s hard to tell the two apart. † (Khazan 2011) Unfortunately, shopping on Black Friday is not motivated by survival instincts or a life in death situation. This paradox stimulates unusual behavior in consumers that creates disadvantages and potential dangers for those that are not necessarily into the hunt. The concept of Black Friday creates a â€Å"perfect storm† for consumer misbehavior. Misbehavior, as defined by Lennon, Johnson, and Lee is, â€Å"acts that violate accepted norms of conduct in consumption contexts. † (Lennon, Johnson, Lee, 2011) This compulsive behavior, or compulsive consumption, feeds off of the idea of scarcity. It induces people to act inappropriately harming others and often themselves. â€Å"For many, if not most compulsive purchasers, buying is a reaction to stress or unpleasant situations. Compulsive consumption is a type of consumer behavior which is inappropriate, typically excessive, and clearly disruptive to the lives of other individuals. (Ronald, Thomas, and Raymond 1987) Both hunting and shopping hinge on long-standing traditions and generally involve pursuing a goal as a group. Whether the group actually hits its target is secondary to the fun of the chase. Hunting and shopping as shown above are very closely linked and motivated by the idea of scarcity. Just like there are limited deer in the forest, there are limited goods in the stores. The result is paradoxical in nature. People are fraudulently deceived into acting compulsively. (Herpen, Pieters and Zeelenberg 2005) Just as Ronald, Thomas, and Raymond concluded that compulsive behavior negatively affects the lives of others, Peter McGraw, Ph. D. drew a similar connection. He focuses more on social trends and pressures being the root of the problem. In The Link between Thanksgiving Gluttony and Black Friday Insanity, McGraw makes a connection between Black Friday shopping and Thanksgiving Dinner. He explores the idea that once a year, people will consume more calories in one meal, than the average person consumes on a normal day. The next day they wake up, or sometimes not sleeping at all, and go shopping for hours on end. (McGraw and Warner 2011) Dr. McGraw’s research shows us that in a short period of forty eights hour there is over consumption of food on Thanksgiving and the hyper consumption or shopping on Black Friday. McGraw believes that the cause of this phenomenon is social influence and pressure. He writes, â€Å"One of the hallmarks of psychological science is that we are influenced by the actions of others—often more so than we’d like to admit. Sometimes we’re impelled to take positive actions, such as switching to reusable bags or cutting down on littering. Other times, social influence can be quite negative. When it comes to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, unfortunately, the influences skew more toward bad than good. † (McGraw and Warner 2011) In other words McGraw places responsibility of hyper consumption on social trends, pressures, and even perhaps familial rituals for the ever-popular Black Friday. Another concept of Black Friday is one of mutual benefit for both consumer and retailer. Consumers’ benefit from large discounts on all sorts of items including clothing, electronics, furniture, and literally any other commodity available on the market. Retailers’ benefit by getting out of the red zone, finally making a profit for the fiscal year. The opportunities available on Black Friday is what drove 212 million shoppers to stores during Black Friday weekend in 2011. (Wilson, 2010) Retailers experience surging sales during Black Friday and the days that follow. This monetary benefit is what drives their extensive promotion and deal offerings, further influencing the consumer’s willingness to partake in the shopping frenzy. In a society where a corporation or business’s main purpose is to grow profits for the benefit of its shareholders, a company’s number one purpose is to increase sales, in order to increase profits. According to a New York Times article written by Adam Davidson, approximately one fifth of retailer’s total annual sales are made during the holiday shopping season. (Davidson, 2011) In conclusion, we can see that shopping on Black Friday brings people together in one way or another. For some, it brings people together in a positive way. Families and friends are able to work as a team who plan, prepare and execute their plans to achieve their goals. For others, Black Friday shoppers experience the negative affects of other people’s behavior. There are also advantages and disadvantages for both the consumer and retailer. Consumers get amazingly cheap prices on products while retailers experience a massive surge in sales. However one may look at Black Friday, it is a day that cannot be ignored. It’s influence and popularity are ever growing and expanding. Reference Page Davidson, Adam. The Black Friday Effect: Let’s Stimulate the Economy with Inflation. † The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Herpen, Erica van, Rik Pieters, and Marcel Zeelenberg (2005) ,†How Product Scarcity Impacts on Choice: Snob and Bandwagon Effects†, in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32, eds. Geeta Menon and Akshay R. Rao, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32 : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 623-624. Faber, J. Ronald, O’Guinn, C Thomas, and Krych, Raymond. (1987) â€Å"Compulsive Consumption†, in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 14, eds. Melanie Wallendorf and Paul Anderson, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 14: Association for Sonsumer Research, Pages: 132-135. McGonigal, Kelly, Ph. D. â€Å"The Science of Willpower. † Comments on â€Å"Black Friday Shopping: How Stores Use Psychology to Fill Your Cart† N. p. , 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . McGraw, Peter, Ph. D. , and Warner, Joel. â€Å"The Humor Code. † The Link between Thanksgiving Gluttony and Black Friday Insanity. N. p. , 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . Ridgwar, Nicole, â€Å"Black Friday Sales Hit Record. † CNNMoney. Cable News Netwrok, 26 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Sarkis, Stephanie, Ph. D. â€Å"Here, There, and Everywhere. † Black Friday: A Collective Consumption Ritual. N. p. , 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . Thomas, Jane Boyd, and Peters, Cara. (2011) â€Å"An exploratory investigation of Black Friday consumption rituals†, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Vol. 39 Iss: 7, pp. 522 – 537 Wallendorf, M. , Arnould, E. â€Å"We gather together: consumption rituals of Thanksgiving Day†, in Journal of Consumer Research, (1991) Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 13-31. Wilson, April. â€Å"By the Numbers: Black Friday Shoppers and Their Impact on the Economy. † The Luckie ReTink Tank. 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Oct 2012. . Black Friday

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Homeland security major Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homeland security major - Essay Example importantly, it anticipates, preempts, detects and deters threats to the homeland and its people from terrorist attacks, natural disasters or any other emergency and helps create linkages in crisis times. The degree equips students with strong ability to think critical and respond efficiently during crisis time. It also equips them with necessary knowledge and skills related to security, intelligence and state of the art technology to safeguard the lives of people and protect our country from terrorist attack. 9/11 has been left an indelible mark that has motivated me to work in this field. I have always wanted to be involved in the rescue missions and have also been a regular volunteer for the Red Cross. I therefore believe that the pursuing degree from ERAU would be the ideal choice that would able me to make solid contribution to make my country safe. The core areas of ERAU HS program comprise of 11 courses: Principles of management; Micro economics; Introduction to GSIS; Introduction to US legal system; studies in global intelligence; History of terrorism; Introduction to geography; Personality and profiling; Government of US; International relations; and US Foreign policy. Twelve credits are required for foreign language for degree. I am already proficient in French and Spanish and love learning new languages so it is yet another way where I would be able to utilize my multi-lingual abilities. The degree would offer plethora of job opportunities, both in the federal government agencies like intelligence, diplomatic, security and law enforcement, department of homeland security, coastal guard, airport security etc. At the same time, jobs in private sector like domestic and international corporations in their security department, risk management agencies, non government organizations like Red Cross, IMF, World Bank etc. The university program in Homeland Security is the right field for me as I have always been interested in the area of intelligence and

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The touristic developments in Libya Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The touristic developments in Libya - Essay Example Despite being the second largest oil producer in the world, Libya continues to be underdeveloped even though the UN embargo was lifted in 2003. To understand the prospects of tourism in Libya, it is necessary to know the economic situation, the political condition, the natural resources, the local culture and the people, and the infrastructure in Libya. Libya’s economic progress has been very slow and it has been dependent on overseas technology, expertise for expansion and modernization, and upgradation of the vital infrastructure (Infrastructure Libya, 2009). However, even after two decades of isolation and sanction, Libya continues to be Africas second largest oil producer after Nigeria (Gearon, 2007). It has an authoritative form of government as the government has total control over the oil resources which accounts for approximately 97% of the export earnings, 75% of the government receipts and 54% of the GDP (BNEA, 2007a). It is believed the economy has been mismanaged and the income of the country has mostly been used to increase personal influence of the bureaucrats. This has resulted in high inflation and increase import prices. As a consequence, the standard of living continued to decline up to 2003. Because of the bureaucratic form of government privatization and growth were constrained. There was excessive contro l over prices, credit, trade and foreign exchange. The country also experienced periodic shortage of food and other resources. The country is however endowed with natural resources such as Petroleum, natural gas, gypsum. Wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts, soybeans are the agricultural produce of Libya but almost 75% of the food required in Libya is imported (BNEA, 2007). The country has business relations with different for different products. While it exports crude oil and major petroleum products to Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and France, it

Monday, August 26, 2019

Feasibility of Using Linux in both the Server and Workstation Research Paper

Feasibility of Using Linux in both the Server and Workstation Environments - Research Paper Example It is also available in source codes as well as binary forms. However, most of its applications are created by governments and organizations from across the world. Notably, the Linux OS is free to be used by individual as well as industrial users playing an active role in contributing to its overall system development. Linux is also termed as open source software which offers various benefits to individual users as well as organizational users in terms of security, speed and stability (Negus, â€Å"Linux Bible 2010 Edition: Boot Up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, openSUSE, and 13 Other Distributions†). In the current day context, its distributors can be observed to have much in similarities, possessing minor differences in their application forms. Contextually, some of the major distributors offering Linux server and workstation facilities currently active can be identified as Red Hat, Debain, SUSE, Ubuntu, Slackware and Mandriva. Irrespective of their high degree of similarities, each distributor has been examined to comprise their unique strengths and weaknesses when compared with other players or their rivals. Thesis Statement The paper intends to compare and contrast Linux workstation and Linux server emphasizing on the operations performed by three different vendors namely Red Hat, SUSE, and Debain. The factors to be considered when evaluating the similarities and differences based on this context can be accounted as the total cost of ownership, training, support, performance, reliability and application availability. Linux Server and Linux Workstation and the Three Vendors A Linux server can be termed as a ‘high-power variant’ of the Linux open source operating system. The Linux server has been designed with a fundamental intention to deal with the needs of modern day business applications which is becoming majorly depended on networking and systems administration, virtual database management and web services. Linux servers are often selected over available other server operating systems due to its benefits in relation to stability, flexibility and security aspects. Similar ly, workstation is commonly regarded as a high performance desktop computer used for various purposes such as for business and trade as well as for personal and educational uses. To be specific, the Linux workstation can be noted as a computer system installed with Linux server and other Linux Operating System (OS) packages (Negus, â€Å"Linux Bible 2010 Edition: Boot Up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, openSUSE, and 13 Other Distributions†). Red Hat Red Hat was established in the year 1993 which has headquartered at Raleigh, NC. Currently, Red Hay has more than 60 offices located in different parts of the world. Essentially Red Hat is considered to be the largest publicly traded technology company that is fully committed to open source. Red Hat Enterprise Linux server can be identified as a high scalable system which can effectively manage the underlying systems complexities. One of the competitive features possessed by Red Hat Enterprise Linux server products over its su bstitutes can be identified as its tendency to reduce data bottlenecks. Its mechanism which allows lower power consumption can also be considered as another competitive feature. This particular Linux server system tends to improve application performance and further ensure end to end data integrity. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux server products also provide a complete portfolio of security technologies with solution to various security challenges. Red Hat

Critique the paper 'Are the women in Management victims of the male Essay

Critique the paper 'Are the women in Management victims of the male norm' (Billing, 2011) - Essay Example Before the critical review, a summary of the article will be drawn, based on the main points and conclusion of the article. The effectiveness of the structure of article will be analysed in the next stage. These sections will also investigation about the setting of information and the ease of availability. After that, the essay will critically examine the article, giving thrust to its major points and its relevance in the current environment. The critique will also include article’s authority, objectivity, accuracy, currency and coverage (Centre for Academic Excellence, 2008). Accessibility as well as credibility of the article will be judged on the basis of the various criteria discussed above. Overall the article was clear, well written and relevant. Article summary The purpose of the article is to explore work practise norms and gender issues that influence and affect women in workplace. The article has given special attention to women working in managerial position. Accord ing to the author, most of the managerial positions in workplace are expected to be filled by men. As a result, women find it difficult while holding or accepting a position. In order to further this investigation, the author has used a primary research method, doing a survey with 20 women in managerial positions. ... Article structure In order to provide a thesis or stance to the developed article, it was introduced with a short abstract. This abstract provided a brief overview of the critical points in the article. The rationale was included for the article as well as the research. The article contained short paragraphs and access to information was easy. However, only 3 headings were provided for the main body thus segregating a lot of information in each heading. Most of the information provided in the article was conventional. For example, a proper review of the literature and post works was done before doing the survey. And the results were analysed using the similarity between what has been said and what was found through the survey (Armstrong, Henson and Savage, 2009). However, the conclusion formed at the end of the article was too short to come to a final decisive argument. There was no comprehensive summary of the crucial points in order to review the findings. At the end, links to jour nals, subjects, references, authors were provided to allow better evaluation of the author’s work (Craswell, 2005). However, providing links at each heading world have made the evaluation process much faster and easier. Article critique In the article the main argument which the author has put is the relevance of using male as the general norm which explains the difficulties of women in management. According to the author, the idea that women do not belong to the managerial place and they are basically ‘others’ in this managerial place is based on few rigid ideas pertaining to male norms (Acker, 2006). But given the fact that these norms have generated from ideas which are ages old, the credibility of these male norms are in question. The sections of

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Philosophy ethical theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Philosophy ethical theory - Essay Example But recently, there has been a renewal of the interest in virtue ethics to the point where today it is one of the main ways that are employed in dealing with substantive philosophical ethics. This new interest has been generated from the dissatisfaction with the manner in which moral philosophy has been done in the contemporary time and particularly recently. This is because the contemporary and modern philosophy has insisted on moral responsibility and moral law while it ignored the sources of morality in the inner life and the character of the individual (Crisp & Slote, 1997). As is the case in many other areas in philosophy, precise definitions are hard to arrive at but the main contrast comes in the forms of ethics that are based on moral laws, rules and principles. In the case of virtue ethics, the focus is mainly on individual that is supposed to have these virtues and the inner traits that the individual possesses, their dispositions and motive that make the person eligible to be virtuous. Philosophers in the contemporary world perceive moral life as a matter of connecting properly to moral rules as opposed to the traditional virtue ethics where the understanding of moral or ethical life generally needs requires the understanding of what it is to be a virtuous person, or what it entails to have a particular virtue. This is considered to be an inner trait or a disposition that is associated with the individual (Crisp & Slote, 1997). There is a widespread conviction that is associated with virtue ethics that it does dictate what to do. In some instances, this conviction is seen only in the expressed theory that virtue ethics in being agent-centered rather than art-centered is more direct at â€Å"being† rather â€Å"doing†, with good and bad character rather than right and wrong action. Taking this supposition, virtue ethics doesn’t therefore come out as a normative opponent of practical and deontological morals. In

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Teamwork in companies and corporate change Research Paper

Teamwork in companies and corporate change - Research Paper Example In short, individuals will get more freedom and flexibility in their works in organizations where team work prevails. â€Å"The main characteristic feature of the team is synergy through which team members act together and achieve better results than if they perform alone or in other organizational forms†(Petrov, 2010, p.91). While working in a team, individuals get more support from his team members and therefore his jobs stress will be considerably reduced. Reduced job stress will increases his performances and productivity. Another major advantage of team work is the â€Å"creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, because synergy pools individual talents and efforts to create extraordinary results† (Judeh, 2011, p.203). 1+1 = 2 is correct in Mathematics; but in business 1+1>2 because of the possibility of extraordinary results teamwork can generate in an organization. While working as part of a team, the members may deliver more than 100% of their efficiency. Sheng & Tinag (2010) have pointed out that â€Å"employees would have more loyalty and ties to those in groups working with them as a team because they could have immediate feedback from these people† (Sheng & Tinag, 2010, p.1297). Man is a social animal and he dislikes individual work. Nobody wants to work in a lonely atmosphere in which no communication occurs or no support received. While working in groups or teams, he gets enough opportunities for communication and therefore his capabilities will come out automatically. In this article, Bob Frisch point out some of the major drawbacks of teamwork along with the benefits of teamwork. In his opinion, even though the employees in a team will get more freedom and flexibility in their works, the chances of increased blaming of the individual employees cannot be ruled out. Team work also helps to have assertive conversations, give and receive feedback, and

Friday, August 23, 2019

Italian Political Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Italian Political Violence - Essay Example ship (1922-1943), Italian history, before and after Mussolini, has been characterized by an enormous volume of political violence† (Leonard & Lee, 1987, p.34). Major violent events have been recorded as occurring at pace of about one every two years from the 1860s until the advent of Fascist rule and then resuming at only a slightly reduced rate in the years. After the World War II, Many of these violent activities came up as a result of workers and peasant strikes, land seizures and factory occupations. Others included bread riots, anti-tax riots and anti-war demonstration. While some events were aimed at the government others were between private groups fighting among themselves. Some scholars have never the less downplayed this past event as being non terrorist and argued that real terrorist activities began in the 1960’s with the bombing of the National Agricultural Bank at Piazza Fontana in Milan and to have subsided with the arrest and eventual prosecution of large numbers of terrorists, after General James Dozier was liberated from the Red Brigade in 1982. Never the less the timeline between these two occurrences saw terrorist organizations (claiming inspiration from either anarchist, communist or neo-fascist doctrines) commit several acts of violence. These activities caused hundreds of deaths, some of which included that of a former prime minister. Thousands of people were reported injured including a pope, and in retrospect, more thousands were sent to prison for committing the violence. All this occurred in a country governed by a democratic political regime, no less and probably somewhat more democratic in 19132 than it was in 1969, with an advanced industrialized economy and having a population noted justifiably for its cultural sophistication and social tolerance. Each of the countrys 94 provinces is said to have been a venue for political violence. For example: Turin, Milan, and Rome. But what were the reasons for this renewed trend of

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Most Disturbing Place I Have Ever Been to Essay Example for Free

The Most Disturbing Place I Have Ever Been to Essay Going to jail was no fun. It started off with a police officer placing me in handcuffs. The handcuffs were so tight that my hands went numb. Then I took a long ride in the back of a police car. I had to lean to the side so that I could ease the pressure of the handcuffs on my wrists. Next I arrived at the inmate-processing center. From the moment the door closed behind me, I was treated like inventory. I was photographed. I was fingerprinted. My money and car keys were taken. I was assigned a number so that I could be tracked and identified. I was placed in a cold cell made of concrete. I sat and waited for hours. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I lost track of time because there were no clocks on the wall. I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. Jail is the most disturbing place I have ever been to. Then my name was called. An officer ordered me to line up against a wall along with eight other inmates. This became one of the worst times in my life. I was strip-searched. A group of officers ordered all inmates on the wall to get completely naked. One officer approached me and searched my clothes and shoes. Then he looked in my mouth and ears. He made me lift my private parts so that he could see down there. He ordered me to turn around and bend over. He took a quick look at my anal area. It seemed like minutes to me. I was totally embarrassed. Next I had to go through the rest of the inmate processing procedure. I was taken to a medical room to talk to a nurse and inform her of any problems I had. Then I was moved to a room where I could be classified according to my charge. Next I had to go to the shower room to clean up. I was only allowed a two minute shower. My clothes, including underwear, were taken. My underwear had color in them. I was not allowed to have colored underwear or colored socks. I was given a jail uniform that was too small. Then I was given one bologna and cheese sandwich. The guards didn’t care. Finally I was assigned to a permanent floor and tank. The tank held about twenty-five inmates. There was no privacy. It was overcrowded. Some inmates had to sleep on the floor, including me. There was one pay phone. Inmates argued over phone time. There were three toilets sitting out in the open. If I had to use the restroom, I had to use it in front of the other inmates. There was only one television. The guards controlled what I watched on television and when I watched it. I didnt get to make any decisions at all. Absolutely everything was decided for me. The guards told me when to get up, when to eat, when to exercise, when to shower, and when to sleep. I was in jail for three days. Jail is still the most disturbing place I have ever been to.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Soap Operas Essay Example for Free

Soap Operas Essay The following piece of writing is based on the history and background of Soap Operas. Commencing with where, when and why they were started. Who was the target audience. Finishing with the key conventions of the genre giving examples. Soaps first burst on the scene in America in the 1920s to the 1930s. This was when Radio stations sprang up all over the U. S. A. At that time they solely relied on advertising revenue to stay on air. Companies would sponsor whole programmes as well as using short burst adverts during breaks. This practice would also be used by television companies later on when the first Soap Opera was shown on T. V in 1964. This method of advertising has continued to be used to this day by both forms of media. The main target audience for these up and coming radio programmes was identified as being housewives. The reason for this is that back in the 1920s very few women once married, ever went out to work. Instead they were expected to stay at home raise families and look after the house and all the responsibilities that went along with it. One of these responsibilities was shopping. This audience was classed as the ideal one and companies took advantage of this in an attempt to supply household goods such as soap and detergents. Basically, the companies used the radio for commercial and consumer uses. The companies selling the goods needed the radio stations to produce a specific type of programme, which would attract a large amount of listeners from their ideal target audience. This was so that they could get as many housewives as possible to buy their product, enabling them to make vast profits. They succeeded by making the programme a drama serial based on the home and various domestic situations within it. The serials were made to be melodramatic with touches of romance, tragedy and also with a touch of comedy thrown in for good measure. The title Soap Opera came about because of the fact that a Soap company sponsored the programmes. Opera was used because the programmes were very dramatic and larger than life. They became very popular in a short space of time. Two popular radio soap operas in the early years were Ma Perkins and One Man Family. The success continued for quite a while. Then after the war in the 1950s radio soaps lost their appeal. Television had arrived and people turned their attention to this form of media for entertainment and information. As the soaps had been so popular on the radio, it was decided that they should be transferred to the television screen. The first television soap was aired on screen in 1964, the title Peyton Place. The audience yet again was housewives. It became so popular it ran until 1969, which was well beyond its life expectancy. Britains first Soap was on radio which went on air just after the, 2nd World. It was called The Robinsons. However the most famous radio soap in England, which is still on air today is the Archers an every day tale of Farming Folk. It started in 1950 and has been listened to by generations. Reservations by companies about the cost of setting up the first T. V. Soaps were soon allayed because they were very cheap to run. There have been several T. V. Soaps of different genres come and go over time, some more successful than others. Emergency Ward Ten a Medical soap lasted only three years. United, was about a football club, which lasted two years. And, everyone will remember the disastrous Eldorado! This was about the lives of ex-patriots who lived in Spain. This was one of the B. B. Cs shortest run soaps ever. The most famous and longest running soaps are Coronation Street made by Granada television company, Eastenders made by the B. B. C. and Emmerdale which made the transfer from its original early daytime slot to its current 7pm peak viewing slot. Good decision by the Yorkshire T. V Company who makes the soap. There are various key conventions used in the common Soap Opera, for example the very successful Eastenders, Emmerdale, Brooksideand Coronation Street. The first major convention is that there is a continuous storyline. This enables the viewer who regularly watchs the soap to miss a couple of episodes, then, easily rejoin whilst still knowing what is going on. This rule also applies with the characters; there should be a regular cast. One of the old favorites characters in Coronation Street was Ena Sharples who was in The Street for 20 years. The continuous storylines are usually helped to last by having Cliffhangers at the end of every episode. A Cliffhanger is a final moment that leaves the audience in suspense, wondering what will happen next? Current affairs are reflected in many of the Soaps story lines some more controversial than others, for example Brookside (a soap based in Liverpool) showed the first lesbian kiss years ago. But, it took Coronation Street until the year 2003 to show a kiss between two men. In reality The Soaps deal with realist issues. Issues, dealt with on a day- to- day basis by normal people. For example people celebrating the birth of a child, birthday celebrations, marriages even deaths. Other storylines sometime aim specifically at the younger generation by dealing with drugs, alcohol and teenage pregnancies. Also major storylines, which involve climatic events and deal with the aftermath. Spectacular events used are things like shootings, robberies, falls, car or train crashes, these events were added when soaps were transferred to the evening time. Thus pulling in the male viewers at the same time because this added action. Writers of Soaps often create conflicts between characters. A good example of this was between Little Mo and her ex- husband, who used to verbally and physically abuse her. This storyline lasted for several months with lots of cliffhangers and the nation was gripped with its finale and his death in a fire. It was filmed in one small room with just those two characters amongst the flames, screaming and crying at the same time, wondering how it all came to this. After all they had loved each other at one time! Soaps are still the lifeblood of regionally based independent television stations as well as the commercial television stations such as Granada, Tyne Tees and Yorkshire. They need to make profits to stay in business and pay their shareholders. Because after all that is what they are, businesss. So they continue to use advertising breaks during the good quality Soaps to keep the revenue coming in. This does not affect the B. B. C because it is a Public Service Channel and receives their money via the television License. What about the future? Who knows when the bubble might burst? But for now, the viewers, television stations and the companies who advertise are all winners.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Therapeutic Relationships In Mental Health

Therapeutic Relationships In Mental Health The remit of this essay is to explore and discuss the concept of therapeutic relationships in mental health and what is involved in building these relationships. The question is in two parts, so in the first part of the essay, the author wishes to explore the meaning of a therapeutic relationship and discuss what is needed from the nurse and service user to maintain this. In the second part, the author will choose two key elements that contribute to a therapeutic relationship in mental health nursing and discuss the importance they have. The two key elements that have been chosen is communication, both verbal and non verbal, and the importance of these elements in a relationship between a nurse and a service user. To achieve this goal the author will use various resources available, for example the internet, literature from class and appropriate reading materials. Main Body Building relationships is central to nursing work, (Nursing Times) and extremely important in mental health nursing. A therapeutic relationship involves respect, empathy and genuineness (Callaghan and Waldock 2006). Both the nurse and service user should show respect for each other and the nurse should respect the beliefs of the service user, even if they do not agree with these. The relationship should be person centred, allowing the service user to be at the core of their care plans etc, their beliefs and wishes must be respected at all times. Service users must be at the centre of their care and recovery. Choices and decisions should be made by them. If there are any changes to be made to a care package, the service user must be informed and have their say. In a therapeutic relationship the nurse will support the service user in all aspects of their care and recovery. With reference to the quote in question, did it at my level and pace all the time, (Brown and Kandirkirira 2007) t his is vital in recovery and for a therapeutic relationship. The nurse must work alongside the service user and support them in aiming for the goals that the service user has made and not what the nurse expects them to be able to do. The service user should always remain at the centre of their recovery and to develop such a relationship, the nurse should share their knowledge of the illness, which gives the service user an understanding of what they are experiencing and some control on the situation and both will be able to take an active role in the management of the illness, (Owen 2004).The nurse should be able to show empathy, being able to put themselves in the service users position and imagine how they would feel and how they would wish to be treated, accurate empathy is always empowering, since it represents an understanding and acceptance of the speakers feelings (Millenson 1995). This skill shows the service user that the nurse has taken on board what has been said and that they can put themselves in the individuals situation. Those involved in the therapeutic relationship should always show genuineness and hold non judgmental attitudes towards each other. Genuineness is based on the ability of the practitioner to be open with his patientIt will help to reassert the patient as the centre of the treatment and promote the patients trust in the practitioner and his treatments, (Owen 2004). The nurse should want to work alongside the service user and offer support when needed to achieve and maintain this relationship. The people have the right and the duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care, (World Health Organisation 1978). A therapeutic relationship does not occur overnight, it takes time and a great deal of trust is essential between the nurse and the service user. Trust is very important for the relationship to develop and if this is achieved the service user will accept the nurses support and advice on treatments available and also work alongside each other instead of the nurse suggesting that they know best as they are the professional. patients themselves value therapeutic relationships which offer respect, trust and care and it seems that such relationships may in themselves prove to be healing in the broadest sense. (Mitchell and Cormack 1998). If trust is maintained throughout the development of the relationship the service user will begin to realise that the nurse does in fact care about their situation and does wish to support them on their road to recovery offering support and advice when necessary. The trust gained from both people should help each other to begin feel at ease the more they meet with each other and the service user may slowly begin to open up to the nurse and enable them to talk about how they are really feeling, what may scare them and accept their advice and support. It will also show the service user that they are at the centre of their care and that they will work at their own pace and when they are ready to take that one step further down their path to recovery, they will. A key element that contributes to a therapeutic relationship in mental health nursing is the use of verbal communication. One very important aspect of this is asking open questions, which the service user is unable to reply with a simple yes or no answer. This will allow the nurse to gain a deeper understanding of how the service user really feels (Burnard 1992). This also shows the service user is at the centre of their care and maybe they will begin to talk openly and freely about their true feelings as this type of questions show the nurse does care for them and wants to support them in the best possible way, it allows the nurse to empathise, if they can get a true account of the feelings the service user has. The empathy shown may encourage the service user to talk openly more often as they know that they will not be judged for having some of these feelings and thoughts. Another important aspect of verbal communication is reflecting and clarifying what has been said by the service user. Reflection requires the nurse to say back to the service user what they have said to ensure they understand fully. Clarifying is required by both the nurse and service user. The nurse may ask a closed question, which allows the service user to answer simply yes or no, or a single answer to be definite, to ensure they get the true meaning of what the service user is saying and in turn the nurse can explain their understanding of the illness or situation that the individual finds themselves in and what support and services are available and how they can go about setting these up, together, enabling the service user to make decisions after being given the choice to do so. When the nurse gives their views to the service user, any specialist language, for example jargon, should be avoided as this may act as a barrier within the therapeutic relationship as the nurse is not taking into account if the service user understands what is being said to them. This binds in with the core elements of a therapeutic relationship as the nurse will show empathy, genuineness and trust will increase working at the level and pace of the service user. The nurse must be aware of their tone of voice, (Stickley and Freshwater 2006) when speaking to the service user, to make sure they dont come across as patronising or uncaring. This may create a challenge in maintaining the relationship as the service user may feel belittled by the nurse and in turn may close up and not speak about how they are truly feeling therefore the relationship will not develop and there wont be any trust. Another element of verbal communication is the nurse should not be quick to problem solve, (Stickley and Freshwater 2006). Allowing the service user to think of approaches of overcoming the problems that may occur during their recovery process highlights that they are at the centre of their care and shows that they have the final decision in their care and or treatment. If the nurse moves in quickly to try and help the service user, it may come across as patronising and that they are trying to take control of the situation as they have not took the time to a sk what the service user wants and may cause a barrier between the nurse and the service user. The second key element that contributes to therapeutic relationships in mental health is the use of non verbal communication. This element is extremely important in maintaining a therapeutic relationship and being aware of the skill involved is vital. The most important skill is sitting in a mirrored position, not sitting face on in front of the patient but to the side and leaning slightly in showing they are ready and willing to listen (Stickley and Freshwater 2006), sitting behind a desk can act as a barrier and come across as authoritative (Burnard 1992) and may cause the service user to feel uneasy, deterring them from opening up and feeling unable to trust the nurse. The nurse should be sitting comfortably and in a way that does not make the service user feel uncomfortable in any way. The use of eye contact is paramount in maintaining a therapeutic relationship but knowing when and how to use the skill is the key. Too much eye contact may cause the situation to intensify and bot h the nurse and service user may feel uncomfortable. Not enough eye contact may convey a lack of interest in what the service user is trying to tell them and may cause the therapeutic relationship to come to an end and the service user may not show what they are truly feeling or thinking at this time. Another important aspect of non verbal communication is listening, The role of the listener therefore is a privileged one and one that can promote healing, (Stickley and Freshwater 2006). Listening is probably one of the greatest skills a nurse can achieve. Listening is, the nurse hearing what the service user is saying and understanding what is being said, not what the nurse thinks they are saying. effectiveness largely depends on the nurses ability to listen and detect cues for therapeutic enquiry, (Stickley and Freshwater 2006). Thus again shows the nurse has picked up on the detail of the statement from the service user and can reflect back to the service user what has been said to clarify their understanding and to reassure the service user that they are being listened to. This will help the service user to build trust in the nurse as they will have a feeling of acceptance and that someone is listening to them. Conclusion It can now be seen that there are many key elements that contribute to a therapeutic relationship and the list is endless. A therapeutic relationship requires a lot of time and trust on both parts and the core skills required from a nurse is empathy, trust and genuineness. As the author stated she was only looking at two key elements that contribute to this relationship and feels further investigation may be required into other elements to fully understand the importance and why such skills are acquired to build a relationship with a service user and the difficulties they may come across in maintaining a therapeutic relationship. One thing the author has achieved is the importance of person centred care and how essential it is to involve and listen to the service user in all aspects of their care.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Essay --

Every relationship that we have shapes who we are. As children we had many friends and took advantage of the friendships, not realizing how wonderful they were until we grow up and have to look back at what may have been, had we not taken those relationships for granted. Liesel Meminger has many important relationships throughout the novel The Book Thief. The most significant of these relationships is the one she has with Rudy Steiner, which is like one of our many friendships as children. The narrator of the novel, Death, shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other. When Liesel first arrives on Himmel Street, she has no friends. However, her quick friendship with Rudy grows strong and fast. Shortly after they become friends, Rudy begins to have romantic feelings for Liesel when he states hopefully, â€Å"If I beat you, I get to kiss you† (53). Unfortunately, she does not see him as anything other than a friend in the beginning. Their relationship is beautiful because it is so filled with love. Liesel learns from a young age what it is like to have someone you love taken away by Death and so it is hard for her to find love for a while in her life. Her relationship with Rudy, in addition to her relationship with Hans, helps her to â€Å"relearn† what love is. She only sees Rudy as the child who covered himself in dirt and called himself Jesse Owens, not a teenager who has always been there for her with love that blossomed early and endured forever. It was only until it was too late that she realizes that â€Å"He was her best frien d.† (518) and she truly loved him. Love comes in... ...ret from him. This helps her to see that she loves him and allows her to further analyze their amazing relationship. Overall Liesel and Rudy’s relationship is so significant because, in a way, it has us rethink own relationships in retrospect. Through their relationship we learn about our own, and their relationship teaches us to have no regrets in love. Their relationship is special in The Book Thief and it is one thing that remains constant in Liesel’s crazy life after her mom leaves her. Death shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other. Rudy and Liesel have been through many ups, and few downs in their relationship, but it has affected her for the better because Rudy retaught Liesel how to love.

Catcher In The Rye :: Essays Papers

Catcher In The Rye â€Å"Oh literature, oh the glorious Art, how it preys upon the marrow in our bones. It scoops the stuffing out of us and chucks us aside† (David Herbert Lawrence). Well-written works of literature have the undeniable ability to kidnap readers, carry them away into the story’s imaginary world, and hold the reader for ransom, away from a world where they may not be anticipating the return. This type of literary escape is scarce in today’s fast-paced society. One is submitted into a fantasy, in which opinions and ideas about the characters and situations expand beyond all possibilities. Literature acts as a valuable aid for self-growth; it nourishes intellect, cheers one up, or relaxes mind and spirit. Nikki Giovanni asks the question, â€Å"ever been kidnaped/by a poet† (Giovanni 346). If one has not yet been enriched by this feeling, the mystery must be unveiled. To say that I have experienced this feeling from only one piece of literature would prove a great injustice to my literary history. There have been countless moments in my life where I have left time and place to enter a world created by the author, but perfected by my own interpretations and impressions. The literary work that stands out most my mind is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. This is one of the most absorbing novels I had the privilege to read. The plot of this story concerns a young man, Holden Caulfield, being expelled from one of a long list of schools. The intriguing part of this story is how he perceives and understands his own human condition. He experiences unexplained depression and erratic behavior, which leads to an eventual nervous breakdown in a world he views as invaded by â€Å"phony† adults who corrupt innocent children. The title is justified when Holden is talking to his little sister. She asks what he wants to be when he grows up. He asks her if she’s ever heard the song â€Å"If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye.† He continues: I keep picturing these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Does th FAA over regulate the aviation industry :: Essays Papers

Does th FAA over regulate the aviation industry The roots of today’s aviation regulations extend back to December 17, 1903 when the Wright Brothers first took to the skies in North Carolina. The Wright Brothers set the stage for aviation regulation. After World War I returning pilots bought some surplus war airplanes and went into business. These pilots were known as the barnstormers. These barnstormers performed acrobatic shows and gave local people rides. During this period of time the public perception of the aviation industry was that of a daredevil or reckless. Aviation took off very slowly because it was too expensive for most consumers. Primarily the wealthy were able to take trips to the East Coast. Uses of aviation included advertising, aerial photography, crop dusting and carrying illegal shipments of alcohol during the prohibition. Growth of commercial aviation was greatly influenced when the U.S. Air Mail Service was created in the early 1920’s. The Post Office was one of the first to impose aviation regulations. It required its pilots to be tested, pass medical exams and have at least 500 hours of flying experience. The Post Office set up aircraft inspection schedules and preventive maintenance programs for the pilots to have a safe airplane to fly. These early regulatory requirements improved air carrier safety. During the infancy of aviation no federal safety program existed. Some states passed legislation that required aircraft licensing and registration. Local governments passed ordinances that regulated flight operations and pilots. What this created was a patchwork of safety related requirements. In 1926 Congress passed the Air Commerce Act, which created the Department of Commerce. Historically the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) dates from the Air Commerce Act of 1926. This was the first federal legislation of the government in aviation safety. The government finally realized that by regulating aviation a safer aviation industry could be attained. For example the Post Office suffered one fatality for 463,000 hours of flying versus non-regulated flying there was one fatality per 13,500 hours. As seen by regulating aviation safety is vastly increased. The Department of Commerce had the regulatory authority over commercial aviation. They began by regulating aircraft and pilots in interstate and the foreign commerce.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Importance of Tolerance Essay

In the society that I have been raised in, I have always been taught to be accepting of others and not pass judgment on their race, culture or religion. I was told to leave my prejudice at home. In other societies, has this been the case as well? Through the close analysis and reading of four texts, I believe that this wasn’t the case and that intolerance and prejudicial attitudes were common. The four texts that I have chosen that show this is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. These texts have made the themes of intolerance and prejudice apparent and have also shown myself and other readers why it is important to have tolerance within a community, without prejudicial attitudes. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee explores the importance of tolerance through the character of Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie says, â€Å"Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.† The Mockingbird is like an innocent person, it doesn’t harm anyone. The author wants to show the reader that people who hurt or judge peaceful creatures show their lack of tolerance and compassion for humanity. The Mockingbird is an appropriate symbol for both Tom and Boo, they are both innocent, harmless creatures but have been subjected to false accusations from the community. Miss Maudie, like Atticus, believes that it is essential to accept people as they are. Judging people through prejudice eyes only marginalizes vulnerable individuals, creating a divided community. The close relationship between lack of tolerance and racism is shown by Tom’s trial. Harper Lee has effectively communicated the intolerance throughout the novel, mainly through the people of Maycomb. They believe Tom is guilty, without giving him a second look. This is based on the setting of the book which was during the 1940’s and as in The Help, white citizens blamed everything on coloured people, and believed that no one who was coloured would be innocent of crimes. The lack of tolerance and racial division in the community is similar to The Help by Kathryn Stockett, where the importance of tolerance is shown through the character of Skeeter. Skeeter says â€Å"I am neither thrilled nor disappointed by the news that they might let a coloured man  into Ole Miss, just surprised.† Skeeter is a white woman and most women of the time would be offended that a coloured man would even be considered entrance to university. In contrast with To Kill A Mockingbird, Stockett is communicating that coloured people are innocent and there is nothing wrong with them, much to another character Hilly’s beliefs that they have â€Å"diseases.† The author wants readers to think deep into tolerance in this time and how many coloured people were discriminated on purely because they were different and how White supremacists thought coloured people would hurt or harm them, because they were different and like many did towards Tom and Boo in To Kill A Mockingbird, many did this towards the maids in The Help. These two texts relate as both Harper Lee and Kathryn Stockett have both established very intolerant divided communities, and this consequently makes the reader think more into their society. Do we discriminate against races such as those from Asia because they have trouble speaking English? This text also intensifies the already questions within the readers minds about the people of that time and readers then compare the people in To Kill A Mockingbird and The Help to themselves. Are we fully tolerant of the differences in our bicultural environment? The lack of tolerance of individuals is established on not only a fictional level but also a historical level in The Book Thief. Through the narration of Death, we learn about tolerance and how one character, Hans Hubermann shows his tolerance of others. It is also through Death’s narration that we learn those who are intolerant of the Jewish race, such as the Nazi Party. What is very important to note is that Hans is German, and the Book Thief is set in the period of Nazism, and as history tells us, men such as Hans would despise Jews and believe all of Hitler’s anti-Semitism policies, and in general would be very intolerant of those who are not the â€Å"pure race.† Death says â€Å"In 1933, 90 percent of German’s showed unflinching support for Adolf Hitler. That leaves ten percent that didn’t. Hans Hubermann belonged to that ten percent.† The reason Zusak has chosen to use these words is to establish Hans as a character- who he is and how he is tolerant. Hans immediately connects with Miss Maudie and Skeeter as all three are people who we would expect to be intolerant but all share the same value: that everyone is the same and should be treated equally. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne also communicates how important tolerance is within a community.  This text centres on a woman who was convicted of adultery, and the text is set in Puritan times. This text is particularly important as it is not relevant to today’s society, as the three other texts are. The prejudice and intolerance towards a woman who committed adultery would be different in the 21st century. This is shown as the main character Hester Pryn ne was forced away from her loved ones when her sin came to light. She was a member of â€Å"as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical†¦that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful†. The community of her time was very highly based upon religion which is yet again, much like racism and intolerance, is not as common in today’s society. The circumstances that take place with Hester in the novel are not applicable today. In today’s society, we have more of an open society in which one is given more support from their family, government and the community in general when placed in a position such as Hester’s. We realize that adultery is a common occurrence and, therefore, the authority does not place punishment upon adulteresses. This connects strongly with the three other texts as people are more accepting of others in today’s society- we accept coloured people. The United States president is a coloured man, so we also respect them. W e look back at German history and feel remorse for the Jewish race, as we learn they did nothing. They were simply scapegoats. I strongly believe that over the time that the novels are set in, society has changed its values on prejudicial attitudes and as a whole, society is far more tolerant than ever before. After reading my texts and thinking more laterally about them, I strongly believe that today’s society has changed in a big way. These four texts have shown readers how society used to be and although they are merely fiction, they communicate real ideas. In both To Kill A Mockingbird, we think of America in the 1950’s and the racial disparities and the prejudice and intolerance that people such as Boo, Tom and Aibileen would have faced. Markus Zusak takes us straight back to Hitler’s autocratic fascist reign in The Book Thief and we learn even more about intolerance attitudes, but also learn about tolerant characters like Hans, and like Miss Maudie in To Kill A Mockingbird. In the final book, The Scarlet Letter, we see yet again how society has changed. We no longer discriminate against people because of their personal choices or who they are. Through these texts, readers have  learnt this and apply it to their real life and are also thankful that we are tolerant. Thankful that we aren’t killing innocent people, hating on others because of their skin colour or because they simply made a mistake. I am personally glad that society has experienced this change because who knows of what consequences we as a societal whole would be facing today.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Finance Midterm

FINA300 Fall 2011 Benedictine University 100 points Name: ___________________________________________________ 1) Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The New York Stock Exchange is an auction market, and it has a physical location. b. Home mortgage loans are traded in the money market. c. If an investor sells shares of stock through a broker, then it would be a primary market transaction. d. Capital markets deal only with common stocks and other equity securities. e. While the distinctions are blurring, investment banks generally specialize in lending money, whereas commercial banks generally help companies raise capital from other parties. (2) Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. A hostile takeover is the main method of transferring ownership interest in a corporation. b. A corporation is a legal entity created by a state, and it has a life and existence that is separate from the lives and existence of its owners and managers. c. Unlimited liability and limited life are two key advantages of the corporate form over other forms of business organization. . Limited liability is an advantage of the corporate form of organization to its owners (stockholders), but corporations have more trouble raising money in financial markets because of the complexity of this form of organization. e. Although the stockholders of the corporation are insulated by limited legal liability, the legal status of the corporation does not protect the firmâ€℠¢s managers in the same way, i. e. , bondholders can sue its managers if the firm defaults on its debt. 3) The retained earnings account on the balance sheet does not represent cash. Rather, it represents part of the stockholders' claim against the firm's existing assets. Put another way retained earnings are stockholders' reinvested earnings. a. True b. False (4) In finance, we are generally more interested in cash flows than in accounting profits. Free cash flow (FCF) is calculated as after-tax operating income plus depreciation less the sum of capital expenditures and changes in net working capital. a. True b. False 5) Other things held constant, which of the following actions would increase the amount of cash on a company’s balance sheet? a. The company repurchases common stock. b. The company pays a dividend. c. The company issues new common stock. d. The company gives customers more time to pay their bills. e. The company purchases a new piece of equipment 6) Ryngard Corp's sales last year were $38,000, and its total assets were $16,000. What was its total assets turnover ratio (TATO)? a. 2. 04 b. 2. 14 c. 2. 26 d. 2. 38 e. 2. 49 7) A new firm is developing its business plan. It will require $615,000 of assets, and it projects $450,000 of sales and $355,000 of operating costs for the first year. Management is reasonably sure of these numbers because of contracts with its customers and suppliers. It can borrow at a rate of 7. 5%, but the bank requires it to have a TIE of at least 4. 0, and if the TIE falls below this level the bank will call in the loan and the firm will go bankrupt. What is the maximum debt ratio the firm can use? (Hint: Find the maximum dollars of interest, then the debt that produces that interest, and then the related debt ratio. ) a. 41. 94% b. 44. 15% c. 46. 47% d. 48. 92% e. 51. 49% 8) Which of the following could explain why a business might choose to operate as a corporation rather than as a sole proprietorship or a partnership? a. Corporations generally face fewer regulations. b. Less of a corporation’s income is generally subject to federal taxes. c. Corporate shareholders are exposed to unlimited liability, but this factor is offset by the tax advantages of incorporation. d. Corporate investors are exposed to unlimited liability. e. Corporations generally find it easier to raise large amounts of capital. (9) You recently sold 200 shares of Disney stock, and the transfer was made through a broker. This is an example of: a. A money market transaction. b. A primary market transaction. c. A secondary market transaction. d. A futures market transaction. e. An over-the-counter market transaction 10) Below are the 2007 and 2008 year-end balance sheets for Tran Enterprises: Assets:20082007 Cash$ 200,000$ 170,000 Accounts receivable864,000700,000 Inventories 2,000,000 1,400,000 Total current assets$3,064,000$2,270,000 Net fixed assets 6,000,000 5,600,000 Total assets$9,064,000$7,870,000 Liabilities and equity: Accounts payable$1,400,000$1,090,000 Notes payable 1,600,000 1,800,000 Total current liabilities$3,000,000$2,890,000 Long-term debt 2,400,000 2,400,000 Common stock 3,000,000 2,000,000 Retained earnings 664,000 580,000 Total common equity$3,664,000$2,580,000 Total liabilities and equity$9,064,000$7,870,000 The firm has never paid a dividend on its common stock, and it issued $2,400,000 of 10-year, non-callable, long-term debt in 2007. As of the end of 2008, none of the principal on this debt had been repaid. Assume that the company’s sales in 2007 and 2008 were the same. Which of the following statements must be CORRECT? a. The firm increased its short-term bank debt in 2008. b. The firm issued long-term debt in 2008. . The firm issued new common stock in 2008. d. The firm repurchased some common stock in 2008. e. The firm had negative net income in 2008. (11) Chang Corp. has $375,000 of assets, and it uses only common equity capital (zero debt). Its sales for the last year were $595,000, and its net income was $25,000. Stockholders recently voted in a new management team that has promised to lower costs and get the return on equity up to 15. 0%. What profit margin would the firm need in order to achieve the 15% ROE, holding everything else constant? a. 9. 45% b. . 93% c. 10. 42% d. 10. 94% e. 11. 49% 11) Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. Most rapidly growing companies have positive free cash flows because cash flows from existing operations generally exceed fixed asset purchases and changes to net working capital. b. Changes in working capital have no effect on free cash flow. c. Free cash flow (FCF) is defined as follows: FCF =EBIT(1 – T) + Depreciation – Capital expenditures required to sustain operations – Required changes in net working capital. d. Free cash flow (FCF) is defined as follows: FCF = EBIT(1 – T) + Capital expenditures. e. Managers should be less concerned with free cash flow than with accounting net income. Accounting net income is the â€Å"bottom line† and represents how much the firm can distribute to all its investors- both creditors and stockholders. (12) Last year Harrington Inc. had sales of $325,000 and a net income of $19,000, and its year-end assets were $250,000. The firm's total-debt-to-total-assets ratio was 45. 0%. Based on the DuPont equation, what was the ROE? a. 13. 82% b. 14. 51% c. 15. 23% d. 16. 00% e. 16. 80%

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Varsha

REPORT WRITING ABCD ABCD, the technical symposium, held true to its tagline- The best there was, the best there is, the best there ever will be. A throng of students from various colleges flocking the campus. The able coordinators led them through registration and to the paper presentation event which kicked off the day long extravaganza. The quizzing event had numerous students attending the preliminary event but only a few reached the final. The final was a nail-biting experience with cut-throat competition and a tie break win.Being from the computer science department, the students proved their mettle in the code debugging event, which was lauded by all the participants as an out of the ordinary approach to the competition. Mobile app development and digital art gave an opportunity for non-programmers. We also had non-technical events like Dumb charades and Adzap where students channelled their inner actor. Shipwreck and JAM events attracted many. The greatest hit however was full toss, an indoor version of cricket, the surprise event of the day.The success that we saw was not without reason. So, it would only be befitting to mention the long but rewarding journey behind it. The planning started out small, with the class representatives drawing up the budgets. Soon, all the students were pitching in with the organization of Kranti. Procuring sponsorship for the event was a revelation of sorts. We learnt a hard lesson that every rupee has to be earned and nothing comes free. Despite the scoffs, refusals, doors shut on our faces, we managed to get a whooping amount of two lakhs.The event brought out a whole new creative side of the students hidden behind a facade` of technical expertise. The walls were laced with authentic Indian art like warli and madhubani paintings. The boys erected a look-alike model of the Vivekananda memorial- a fitting centrepiece. The official website of abcd was built from scratch by our in-house technocrats. The state of the art crea tion showcased our theme beautifully and enabled students to register online. The experience taught us to work as a team and we came to respect each other.We played off each other’s strengths while respecting our own shortcomings. This resulted in an efficient and organised event that went along without a hitch right up to the valedictory function. Participants filing out, the charts pulled down, furniture restored to their normal arrangement- the day was coming to an end. We were swarmed with a multitude of emotions. Relieved the event was over, euphoric the event was a success, sore to our every last bone, a little sad that life was back to normal, one thought unified us all- the day was going to be etched in our minds forever as the epitome of our college life.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Quasi-experimental research designs Essay

Introduction             A quasi experiment is the kind of experiment that seeks to evaluate conditions in non-profit making organizations. Examples of non-profit making organizations include the Red Cross, YMCA, and The Hospice, among many others (Thyer, 2012).  A hospice is a special hospital, mostly sponsored by the government of a country, where the practical, emotional, and medical needs of dying patients are met. A hospice is the kind of organization where emergency is the norm and is the least among other non-profit making organizations. A number of questions would be viable in this case. For instance, what are the working conditions? Does the station operate 24 hours in a day? But the kind of question that would give more and better information according to research would be; how many (dying) people are ministered to in a month? Such a question would give the research party broader perspective in the whole process compared to the others. The kind of data that I would gather would most likely dwell on such factors as, employee number, whether all the employees are professionally trained and the budget range. The three nuggets would be the primary areas of data collection considering the depth and width of information they would gather (Thyer, 2012). In the data collection process, it would be prudent to employ the services offered by employees. Therefore, I would use an employee of high proficiency in getting down to the process. This would, most likely promote the quality and quantity of the final findings, having in mind the experience of the employee. According to Thyer (2012), limitation would be inevitable, especially in this kind of process. Some of the limitations likely to be faced by employees in the field would involve: the time of emergency (uncertainty on when to send an employee), lack of total co-operation from the management and inadequate capital. There are a number of challenges but the above mentioned would be the most likely. Reference Thyer, B. A. (2012).  Quasi-experimental research designs. New York: Oxford University Press. Source document

Assess the practical usefulness and the relevance of game theory in Essay

Assess the practical usefulness and the relevance of game theory in light of the demanding assumptions behind the concept of the - Essay Example On e would be able to find out the importance and demerit of using Nash equilibrium in the real world. Introduction Game theory refers to the study of the techniques of decision making. The study gives calculated methods of giving a strategic decision in an economic issue. It puts related disciplines of philosophy, mathematics and psychology in making strategic decision making. Since its invention in 1944 by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, it has undergone severall improvement and applications. The Nash equilibrium is a concept in game theory that gives solutions to games that involves more than one player. In Nash equilibrium, every player makes the best decision considering that the opponent would make their own best decision too. Jon Nash realized that one has no capabilities to tell and predict others’ decisions by only viewing one case. Isolation prevents proper analysis of decisions. In addition, every player knows that there is nothing to gain by changing their strategy. Therefore, the only option left for a player is to get know what one player would do by considering the others’ decisions in the process. Game theory uses the concepts of Nash equilibrium when making an analysis of strategic interaction that occurs between the decision makers. Throughout history, Nash’s equilibrium concept has been useful with practical application in times of war and arms races. Some of the practical applications of Nash equilibrium include; mitigation of members in conflict by use of repeated interactions, determining the point in which people of different preferences may agree to cooperate, occurrence of currency crises, the flow of traffic on busy roads, setting up regulatory regulations and during soccer when kicking penalties (Myerson 2013, p56). In Nash equilibrium, everybody gets involved in a game the moment their fate is a point where the decision depends on the other person playing the game. The game does not have all the practical conditions that exist in the real world. Some of the unrealistic assumption that the game assumes are as follows; the concepts operate in the assumption that the players possess powerful computing techniques, through which, they analyze every situation giving no chance to any faults. Human beings operate under situations that may involve a lot of unforeseen situations. Thus, humans are prone to making incorrect decisions during the period. In addition, the concepts call for radical decisions that raise a lot of questions (Zhao 2007, p89). Another unrealistic nature is that it gives either the optimum or a value at equilibrium. It does not give a true value. In pratically, the scenarios are true and would require two choices giving true results. That is; the results of the prisoner’s dilemma are not as optimum as the theory tends to show. In some of the cases, the concept could be unreliable and misleading the practical user. However, such cases are limited since the Nash equ ilibrium has registered many instances of positive feedback. Nash equilibrium sets up a base in which other theories and practical scenarios can base their applications for success in the real world (Zhao 2007, p77). Conditions that exist in the real world seem to be more complicated that in examples. For example, if an event that two competing companies set their market price at say, $10, one company would attempt to set a slightly lower price to increase its sales, as long