Consumer Buying Behavior Comparison in Marketing Strategies Essay

In order to help creating new offerings, improving communication, organizing delivery and, eventually, increasing the sale. It is important to understand the consumer buying behavior from situational, personality and social aspects. This paper will briefly discuss the marketing strategies of two giant retail department stores, Walmart and Macy’s, in terms of customer buying behaviors. Macy’s atmospheric settings provide strong stimuli for its customers. First, every season, Macy’s puts up different window showcases to demonstrate its classic and artistic tastes. Also, different ambient colors are used in its shopping environment. These seasonal changes should be able to boost the sale of the fashion apparel. Secondly, Macy’s decorates different themes for different holidays, such as Easter, Mother’s day, Halloween, Christmas, etc. the gift shopping behaviors are likely induced by these themes. Thirdly, Macy’s always plays a comfort and light background music, customers would spend more time into shopping with a good mood as the text points out:† People’s moods temporarily affect their spending patterns† (Tanner, J., Raymond, M. & Schuster, C, 2001) On the other hand, it seems that Walmart pays a lot of attention to the shoppers’ personality factors. First, Walmart concentrates on the idea of â€Å"money saving†. Walking into a Walmart, the â€Å"Rollback† tags with two comparing prices are everywhere. The economical shoppers would compare more on the prices. Secondly, customers who prefer one stop shopping might find that Walmart, with its stock of food, toy, auto parts, etc, is more convenient than other shopping centers. Thirdly, Walmart shelves â€Å"as seen on TV† items and dollar items along the cashier to affect the shopping decisions. While waiting in the checkout line, customers are likely to pick up these items as they are categorized as low-involvement products. Moreover, social factors are also well considered by these two retail giants. In terms of social class, Macy’s focuses more on the middle-class families whereas Walmart targets on the customers with standard income. Wal-Mart exclusives have a mean household income of about $57K (Scarborough Research, 2005). Also, the products, Walmart is selling, represent the main stream of a geographical culture whereas Macy’s might satisfy some groups with special subculture interests such as high-end golf clubs or perfumes. In sum, consumer buying behavior is a very important element in the marketing strategies of a company. Situational, personality and social factors will influence the consumer buying behavior dramatically.

Martin Luther King`s Persuasion Techniques

The remarkable feature of Martin Luther King’s rhetorical style is emotional appeal and dramatic descriptions. In his essay, â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† he uses argumentation and persuasion techniques in order to convince readers in his position and ideas. King possesses intelligence and ana ­lytical interest raising the audience to high emotional level. The main techniques selected for analysis are emotional appeal, logic, historical and current examples, testimonials, and fact and figure.Testimonials help King to give some recommendation to readers based on his own experience and life situations. King directly addresses his opponents: â€Å"MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN† (King). He uses testimonials to make his point and persuade listeners to agree with him. Using â€Å"fact and figure† technique, King persuades readers in rightfulness of his views supported by real facts: â€Å"the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound† (King).The audience feels that it is not a voice of the author, but a voice of the leader who really bears enormous burden of segregation trying to help millions of people to become equal with majority. Logic is another technique used by King to appeal to the audience and their mind. Following Walton, â€Å"The problem then is to understand generally how argumentation schemes can be seen as being a part of some framework of logical reasoning† (1996, 10). Logic means clearly expressed ideas and facts which allow the audience to follow thoughts and notions explained by the author. In the Letter, every argument forestalls the next one. â€Å"In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps †¦ â€Å" (King).   Vivid arguments and personal examples are logically connected which helps the audience to grasp the idea of the essay.Control of powerful feeling intensifies emotional appeal and adds dramatic effects. To give dramatic descriptions with intensity, to make the imagined picture of reality glow with more than a dim light, requires the author’s finest compositional powers. In the Letter, King creates a vivid image of racial segregation as â€Å"a burden† with deprives many racial minorities a chance to be free from oppression and humiliation. â€Å"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by oppressor† (King). There is intensity of illusion because the author is pres ­ent, constantly reminding readers of his unnatural wisdom. Values are universal norms of behavior and conduct followed by all people in spite of their racial or ethical background.King uses eternal human values in order to join different nationalities and minority groups. â€Å"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you†(King).   The moral quality depends not on the validity of doctrines, but on the mora l sense and arguments presented in the work. In both books, a certain amount of plot is based on emotional response. Exclamation marks, rhetorical question and parallel structure of sentences add emotional coloring. He appeals to such human values as tolerance and morals. Idiom and metaphors create sense of reality (How to Be Persuasive. 2001). King deals with his personal sufferings and expresses the effects of the segregation on his fellow friends on a scale of universal significance. Historical and current examples create a sense of reality which helps the audience to grasp the idea of equality and its role in historical process.The main feature of this essay is that King uses historical information based on reason and expiations of the events which attract attention of the audience. Historical examples include: St. Thomas Aquinas, Socrates, Adolf Hitler. King expects that his letter helps many people to â€Å"awake† from long sleeping and start fighting, because the new s ocial order and ideas, and no doubt that in his society the main role is featured to democracy and freedom. â€Å"If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (King).Personal tone is an important element of his rhetoric, because it creates a certain vision of segregation and inequality from the author’s point of view (Arguments and Persuasion Techniques in Writing, 1999). His language is logic and accurate, concise and creative. King’s rhetoric has strength, depth and delicacy of feeling.In sum, in this essay King uses traditional rhetoric techniques which help him to persuade the audience and appeal to their emotions and mind. More obvious rhetoric effects are achieved by explicitly controlling the reader's expectations with the hopes and fears held by a common citizen. Works Cited Page 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   King, M.L. Letter from Birmingham Jail. 1963, n.d.   http://www.nobelprizes.co m/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Arguments and Persuasion Techniques in Writing. 1999. http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/argpers.htm3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How to Be Persuasive. 2001. http://www.rinkworks.com/persuasive/4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Walton, D.N. Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996.

Approaches of New Criticism Essay Example for Free

Approaches of New Criticism Essay A literary movement that started in the late 1920s and 1930s and originated in reaction to traditional criticism that new critics saw as largely concerned with matters extraneous to the text, e.g., with the biography or psychology of the author or the work’s relationship to literary history. New Criticism proposed that a work of literary art should be regarded as autonomous, and so should not be judged by reference to considerations beyond itself. A poem consists less of a series of referential and verifiable statements about the ‘real’ world beyond it, than of the presentation and sophisticated organization of a set of complex experiences in a verbal form (Hawkes, pp. 150-151). Major figures of New Criticism include I. A. Richards, T. S. Eliot, Cleanth Brooks, David Daiches, William Empson, Murray Krieger, John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, F. R. Leavis, Robert Penn Warren, W. K. Wimsatt, R. P. Blackmur, Rene Wellek, Ausin Warren, and Ivor Winters. A form of criticism based largely on the works of C. G. Jung (YOONG) and Joseph Campbell (and myth itself). Some of the school’s major figures include Robert Graves, Francis Fergusson, Philip Wheelwright, Leslie Fiedler, Northrop Frye, Maud Bodkin, and G. Wilson Knight. These critics view the genres and individual plot patterns of literature, including highly sophisticated and realistic works, as recurrences of certain archetypes and essential mythic formulae. Archetypes, according to Jung, are â€Å"primordial images†; the â€Å"psychic residue† of repeated types of experience in the lives of very ancient ancestors which are inherited in the â€Å"collective unconscious† of the human race and are expressed in myths, religion, dreams, and private fantasies, as well as in the works of literature (Abrams, p. 10, 112). Some common examples of archetypes include water, sun, moon, colors, circles, the Great Mother, Wise Old Man, etc. In terms of archetypal crit icism, the color white might be associated with innocence or could signify death or the supernatural. The application of specific psychological principles (particularly those of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan [zhawk lawk-KAWN]) to the study of literature. Psychoanalytic criticism may focus on the writer’s psyche, the study of the creative process, the study of psychological types and principles present within works of literature, or the effects of literature upon its readers (Wellek and Warren, p. 81). In addition to Freud and Lacan, major figures include Shoshona Felman, Jane Gallop, Norman Holland, George Klein, Elizabeth Wright, Frederick Hoffman, and, Simon Lesser. A sociological approach to literature that viewed works of literature or art as the products of historical forces that can be analyzed by looking at the material conditions in which they were formed. In Marxist ideology, what we often classify as a world view (such as the Victorian age) is actually the articulations of the dominant class. Marxism generally focuses on the clash between the dominant and repressed classes in any given age and also may encourage art to imitate what is often termed an â€Å"objective† reality. Contemporary Marxism is much broader in its focus, and views art as simultaneously reflective and autonomous to the age in which it was produced. The Frankfurt School is also associated with Marxism (Abrams, p. 178, Childers and Hentzi, pp. 175-179). Major figures include Karl Marx, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Louis Althusser (ALT-whos-sair), Walter Benjamin (ben-yeh-MEEN), Antonio Gramsci (GRAWM-shee), Georg Lukacs (lou-KOTCH), and Friedrich Engels, Theordor Adorno (a-DOR-no), Edward Ahern, Gilles Deleuze (DAY-looz) and Felix Guattari (GUAT-eh-ree Literally, postcolonialism refers to the period following the decline of colonialism, e.g., the end or lessening of domination by European empires. Although the term postcolonialism generally refers to the period after colonialism, the distinction is not always made. In its use as a critical approach, postcolonialism refers to â€Å"a collection of theoretical and critical strategies used to examine the culture (literature, politics, history, and so forth) of former colonies of the European empires, and their relation to the rest of the world† (Makaryk 155 – see General Resources below). Among the many challenges facing postcolonial writers are the attempt both to resurrect their culture and to combat preconceptions about their culture. Edward Said, for example, uses the word Orientalism to describe the discourse about the East constructed by the West. Major figures include Edward Said (sah-EED), Homi Bhabha (bah-bah), Frantz Fanon (fah-NAWN), Gayatri Spivak, Chinua Ach ebe (ah-CHAY-bay) , Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Jamaica Kincaid, and Buchi Emecheta Existentialism is a philosophy (promoted especially by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus) that views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe, and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value, or meaning. A person’s life, then, as it moves from the nothingness from which it came toward the nothingness where it must end, defines an existence which is both anguished and absurd (Guerin). In a world without sense, all choices are possible, a situation which Sartre viewed as human beings central dilemma: â€Å"Man [woman] is condemned to be free.† In contrast to atheist existentialism, Sà ¸ren Kierkegaard theorized that belief in God (given that we are provided with no proof or assurance) required a conscious choice or â€Å"leap of faith.† The major figures include Sà ¸ren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre (sart or SAR-treh), Albert Camus (kah-MUE or ka-MOO) , Simone de Beauvoir (bohv -WAHR) , Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers (YASS-pers), and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (mer-LOH pawn-TEE). Structuralism is a way of thinking about the world which is predominantly concerned with the perceptions and description of structures. At its simplest, structuralism claims that the nature of every element in any given situation has no significance by itself, and in fact is determined by all the other elements involved in that situation. The full significance of any entity cannot be perceived unless and until it is integrated into the structure of which it forms a part (Hawkes, p. 11). Structuralists believe that all human activity is constructed, not natural or â€Å"essential.† Consequently, it is the systems of organization that are important (what we do is always a matter of selection within a given construct). By this formulation, â€Å"any activity, from the actions of a narrative to not eating one’s peas with a knife, takes place within a system of differences and has meaning only in its relation to other possible activities within that system, not to some mean ing that emanates from nature or the divine† (Childers & Hentzi, p. 286.). Major figures include Claude Là ©vi-Strauss (LAY-vee-strows), A. J. Greimas (GREE-mahs), Jonathan Culler, Roland Barthes (bart), Ferdinand de Saussure (soh-SURR or soh-ZHOR), Roman Jakobson (YAH-keb-sen), Vladimir Propp, and Terence Hawkes. Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction Post-Structuralism (which is often used synonymously with Deconstruction or Postmodernism) is a reaction to structuralism and works against seeing language as a stable, closed system. â€Å"It is a shift from seeing the poem or novel as a closed entity, equipped with definite meanings which it is the critic’s task to decipher, to seeing literature as irreducibly plural, an endless play of signifiers which can never be finally nailed down to a single center, essence, or meaning† (Eagleton 120 – see reference below under â€Å"General References†). Jacques Derrida’s (dair-ree-DAH) paper on â€Å"Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences† (delivered in 1966) proved particularly influential in the creation of post-structuralism. Derrida argued against, in essence, the notion of a knowable center (the Western ideal of logocentrism), a structure that could organize the differential play of language or thought but somehow rema in immune to the same â€Å"play† it depicts (Abrams, 258-9). Derrida’s critique of structuralism also heralded the advent of deconstruction that–like post-structuralism–critiques the notion of â€Å"origin† built into structuralism. In negative terms, deconstruction–particularly as articulated by Derrida–has often come to be interpreted as â€Å"anything goes† since nothing has any real meaning or truth. More positively, it may posited that Derrida, like Paul de Man (de-MAHN) and other post-structuralists, really asks for rigor, that is, a type of interpretation that is constantly and ruthlessly self-conscious and on guard. Similarly, Christopher Norris (in â€Å"What’s Wrong with Postmodernism?†) launches a cogent argument against simplistic attacks of Derrida’s theories: Approaches of New Criticism. (2016, Dec 24).

Child device Safety Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Child device Safety - Research Paper Example To save the parents the pressure that comes with not knowing where a child is, a child-tracking device becomes one of the remedies. This project therefore sorts to provide a solution by developing software for parents to track their children with a GPS and SMS capable smart watch. The project will involve writing software for a server and a smartphone application. The software will aim at exploring the child’s day-to-day movements. When the child, for example, strays from his usual route on his way from school, the server will send requests to the smart watch through an SMS gateway, which will respond with a GPS data point. By analyzing this information, the server will use data analytic techniques to categories those data points as safe or non-safe places for children. The parent will then receive a notification from the smartphone application on the specific danger, and the exact position where the child is. With such innovation, the parent will need not worry when at work of their children where about. This project adopted GPS tracking over GSM and WiFi due to it know record on accuracy of 88% (Mun, et al 1). GPS is also known for energy efficiency in less congested places. In poor GPS signal data zones, the ephemeris downloads may prolong download time hence leading to GPS receiver systems consuming more energy (Evanczuk 1). This issue is well handled by installing GPS in areas where mobile networks provide coverage. To reduce ephemeris download time, this project explores the usefulness of SMS alerts as a way of reducing energy consumption. One challenge in creating this system will be in how to decide when to trigger a notification. We will do this by extracting semantically significant â€Å"safe regions† and â€Å"safe routes† from the tracking data and detecting when the child has strayed from these patterns. Due to the fact that coordinates will vary

What is Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is Success - Essay Example Third, one can achieve success by describing success blatantly. It is impossible to achieve true success if one does not know its true meaning. This is because everybody defines success in a different manner. After looking up the word success, I learned that success is only important if it has a personal meaning to an individual. Establishing objectives that correspond with this meaning of success is the next method for realizing it. Struggling to succeed in keeping with another individual’s standards or meaning of success is not a good idea. One may achieve such success and earn admiration and respect from society when in fact he or she lacks a sense of personal fulfillment. According to William Sumner, one can only define success in either the context of public view or one’s idea of the world. As a result, what one thinks is important in life shapes our definition of success. There are numerous criteria for determining and measuring success. As a result, Sumner created â€Å"The Inevitable You† model for achieving success. â€Å"The Inevitable You† is supposed to help people come up ideas of success through psychological and â€Å"neural pattern† software (Sumner 2013). This software defines reality. I do not entirely agree with this program for achieving because of its extremely far-fetched basis. As a result, I do not think people should pay attention to what Sumner says about success. According to Jessica Hamilton, success is a modest and local livelihood that is thrilling skillfully and links or motivates an individual physically and spiritually (TEDx Talks 2013). Hamilton clarifies that success should entail repeated and fixed notions and images. Success should be capable of establishing a social benchmark. Irrespective of one’s salary, their plans for success should have a feeling of growth and purpose. Hamilton says that her children â€Å"are emotionally empowered† because she teaches them these aspects

Website Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Website Review - Essay Example The next section discusses the various chronological events discussed in the life of E.E. Cummings with all dates included. It provides various links to his works and related materials like poems, essays, paintings, other forms of work. The following are the contents and its evaluation: It takes in as input the date of birth, a month of birth, year of birth, sex, mode, BMI, smoking status and then calculates one death day and date. It is a tool which works on primary inputs and makes sure that BMI can be calculated and also lets the user know to calculate the death date, thereby calling it the death clock. It demonstrates itself into â€Å"Obituaries† which mention that all the people may how beautiful and famous they are they would perish away from this earth one day. The page â€Å"Your Will† is a FAQ page which lists the very questions one may have or usually do on an average. All the probable answers are written here to let the users know what they are thinking. The page â€Å"Dead letter office’ would make sure that all the user comments and archives The page â€Å"Testament† details the likes and dislikes of the site owner in accordance to various topics like â€Å"A game†, â€Å"Death Clock 2†, â€Å"Planet of the Apes†, â€Å"911†, â€Å"I hate my Cd burner† and much more. The last page â€Å"Your Prayer† details out the various communication techniques to reach the site owner for ay communication. The website would make sure that all the various compliances are met for the site owner and all the objectives are achieved through the website.

In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Essay

In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - Essay Example He then, in the early paragraphs of the book, subjects a series of doctrines of the Tractacus to sustained criticisms. Although the Tractacus is only occasionally mentioned explicitly, the critiques in the Philosophical Investigations certainly read like a dismantling of the most characteristic ideas of the earlier opus. Because of this, the attitude arose that the Tractacus should be regarded as of largely historical interest and that many of its deepest insights were in danger of being completely overlooked and lost. In light of these, the differences in the Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus can be seen in the discourse of concepts such as ‘confusion† and â€Å"consciousness† as well as in terms of the issue of continuity of Wittgenstein’s philosophies. There was also a radical shift in his conception of language. The Tractacus is considered to be a classic of Western philosophy. In a sense it can be seen as representing both the zenith and the nadir of certain philosophies. It was taken up by the logical positivists as representative of their work. The Tractacus, wrote, Milbank, Pickstock and Graham (1998), embodies the philosophical desire to explain the world, to be able to break it down into analytical parts, whether non-composite simple objects, elementary propositions (elementals), or logical structures. (p. 66) The Philosophical Investigations meanwhile is usually viewed as radically altering Western analytical philosophy, ushering in the â€Å"linguistic turn.† In an attempt to present a synopsis of the thought, Milbank, Pickstock and Ward point to the usual suggestion that it refutes the picture theory of language and its metaphysical explanation while examining various metaphysical problems by dissolving them through an examination of the language used to generate them rather than trying to resolve any of them. (p. 68) The Tractacus is a carefully constructed set of short propositions

Lola Alvarez Bravo and the photography of an era Essay

Lola Alvarez Bravo and the photography of an era - Essay Example The photograph provides the landscape of the city in 1954. In the photograph, there is a tall skyscraper standing tall at the middle of the picture. To the left of the skyscraper is a structure that resembles a mosque, which sets against the dense foliage. At the middle of the picture and in front of the skyscraper is a structure that resembles a pyramid. To the middle left of the picture there is a distinct building structure that has a traditional outlook by its thatched roof. The photo image provides a variety of elements that make up the composition of the photo. My initial reaction to the photograph was that of awe. The photo captures an excellent view of man-made structures together with nature. The photo shows varied man-made structures and varied natural matter. The artist captures perfectly the advancements made by man and its effects to the environment. Through the picture, the artist presents the face of urbanization, tradition, culture, and the environment (Bravo). Throug h urbanization, the picture provides structures such as the skyscraper located at the middle of the picture. The skyscraper represents the modern face of the city in the picture. The pyramid at the front of the skyscraper provides a glimpse of the culture and religious traditions of the people of the city. The mosque that covers the right of the picture also provides a view of the religious traditions of the city’s people.... I chose the photograph as it provides a multi-faceted view of the city in the picture. The photo has varied subject matter to it. The picture presents varied elements that make up the subject matter of the photo. The photo combines different subject matter that all get unified into one to make up the piece of artwork (Bravo). The photo provides the interaction between the natural elements of the environment and man-made structures. The landmark man-made structures in the photograph are set at the backdrop of the mountains and vegetation which surround the photo. The photo also provides a multi-faceted view of the architecture of the city. The skyscraper at the middle of the picture shows the modern look of the city. The pyramid situated at the center of the photo in front of the skyscraper provides a traditional view of the city. The boundary created within the photo between the mountains, vegetation, and the man-made structures provide another angle to viewing the picture (Bravo). T he mosque situated to the left of the skyscraper also provides a look at the culture and religion of the city’s inhabitants. So too does the pyramid located towards the center of the photo tell about the culture of the city’s inhabitants. The multi-faceted view of subjects that the photo provides led me to choose the photo. Through the wide variety of subject in the photo, the picture ‘speaks’ volumes about the architecture and landscape of the city to the viewer. The elements in the photo form a wide array of subject matter to discuss about for the viewer. The variety in color and texture of the photo makes it eye catching and hence a choice for me. The photo captures the different colors of the environment and the man-made structures

Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Accounting - Essay Example A company that has low long term debt can abtain cheaper prices as far as interest rates from lenders. The disadvantage is that the company is leading idle potential opportunities to grow. c) A large cash balance allows a company to obtain interest revenue. A large cash fund gives a firm stability and reduces business risk. A disadvantege is the cost of opportunity of using that cash asset on some other projects that can generate a larger return on investment. 6. The change in methodoly from FIFO to average inventory created a price that is more realistic and better adjuted to market changes. The effects in the accounting books of such a change could be either an understatement or overstanment of the inventory total. 7. a) The mission of the FASB is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information (Fasb, 2009). c) The procurement plan utilizes a framework of the following factors: pervasive of the issue, alternative solutionsk, technical feasability, practical consequence, covergence possibilities, cooperative opportunities, and

Justice, Crime and Ethics Essay Example for Free

Justice, Crime and Ethics Essay Justice is mainly concerned with the appropriate ordering of persons and things within the society. Thus when one is aggrieved by another person, he or she is supposed to seek justice to be administered on the person who has violated the rights of the other. Thus the person whose rights are violated is not supposed to take law on his hands and punish the person who has violated his rights but is supposed to seek justice from competent bodies in the land which have the mandate of administering justice. This is very important to the society as it enables the members of the society to live in harmony and to have standard means by which they can seek legal redress (McCarthy, McCarthy, 2001). Crime can be regarded as actions that lead to the violation of the set rules and regulations which have been set by the government. A crime can also arise as a result of a person’s behavior deviating from the prevailing norms as set by cultural standards which stipulate the manner in which the behavior of human being ought to be. When a crime is committed to a person in respect to personal or private rights a civil crime is said to have taken place whereas when the nature of the crime is that which violates public law then a criminal offence is said to have taken place. For the society to live in an orderly manner there is need for existence of laws that govern the conduct of its members so that no member of the society has his rights violated and in case they are violated then there should be competent means by which they are addressed (McCarthy, McCarthy, 2001). Read more:Â  Justice Denied is Justice Delayed Ethics basically refers to a situation where one feels under duty to behave morally, in so doing a person avoids acting in a manner that is likely to cause harm to other people within the society. Actions which are ethically motivated results into a situation where majority of the society members are affected by such decisions in positive way. Ethics addresses the determination of moral values, how it is possible to attain the desired moral outcomes, how moral agency or capacity develops in certain situations and the kind of moral values that members of the society should abide by (McCarthy, McCarthy, 2001). The criminal justice process is a procedure through which the person who is responsible for violating the laws of the land is actually sued in order to determine whether the alleged person actually committed the offence as claimed by the plaintiff. This is usually done in a court of law where the defendant is given a chance to defend himself. The court then determines whether the defendant is guilty or not before passing its judgment (McCarthy, McCarthy, 2001).

Summary Of Looking For Alibrandi English Literature Essay

Summary Of Looking For Alibrandi English Literature Essay Melina Marchetta s novel of Looking for Alibrandi tells a story of a ordinary but typical 17- year-old girl Josie Alibrandi who is an Australian of Italian descent. She is an illegitimate child brought up by her solo mother hardly. Therefore as a passionate teenage, she confronts and resolves a number of problems of reconciling her familys past with her futures, after experience these, Josie learns to accept her cultural heritage, and get an banlance between the demands of her Italian heritage and her ambitions in Australia. Josephine is on the road of growing. Josie accepts her cultural heritage through understanding her grandmother Katias past. At the first part of the novel, Katia seems to be a stereotypical Italian woman, and a guardian of culture. She doesnt allow Josie to go to camp, and often criticizes her about anything. Josephine disagrees with her and argues with her,Its not the youth of today, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Its you and people like you, always worrying what other people think.' (Melina,1992, p.37). However, as the novel develops, nanon told a lot of things about her past to Josie, As a beautiful young girl who was interested in boys, she was married off her family to an older man and then moved to Australia where she knew no one and had to manage alone in the hut while her husband was away working. She became pregnant to an Australia man who loved her, yet stayed with her unloving husband because of the child. After her husband died, Christina was brought up by nonna alone. Without telling her daughter the truth, she sacrificed her whole life for Christina, but never ever told her daughter what she gave up. Josie begins to agree with her after know these and is conscious of the important cultural heritage, and then refers to her grandmother asthe strongest women'(Melina,1992,p.226). She becomes an obedient girl and a dutiful daughter, so when Jocob wants to have sex with her, she refuses, she would not want to break the tradition that not to have sex before marriage. The love experiences with two very different boys ¼Ã…’John Barton and Jacob Coote, makes Josie accept her family background and help her to find herself. Josie has always been attracted to John Barton, At first, Josie thinks john is the man of her dream, and with good reason, from a rich family, bound for law school, and good-looking, what just like josie wanted to own by herself,The world of sleek haircuts and upper-class privileges (Melina,1992,p.32). The cultural differences between Josie and John is the cultural differences between the poor and the rich. In josies eyes, John seems to have everything going for him. John barton is a son of a wealthy MP. However,despite his privileged social status, he cannot find happiness. His father wished he turned excellent politician. He finds it impossible to escape the pressures from his family, so he chooses suicide. And this give josie a great shock and provides her with a tragic perspective for her own life and problems I remembered w hen we spoke about our emancipation. The horror is that he had to die to achieve his. The beauty is that Im living to achieve mine.(Melina,1992,p.240), the suicide of her unrequited sweetheart makes her resilience. Despite being emotionally hurt, Josephine discovers to value her identity, and chang her approach towards life. Through the assistance of john Barton she successfully finds her true self, and then she gets the liberation. The other boy is Jacob Coote whom Josie loves. They have many fights, but eventually things turn out for the best. Jacob Coote is working-class bad boy, the cultural differences between Josie and Jacob is the cultural differences between Australian-Italians and other Australians(Tran, Udomsak, Stale,2009)At the beginning of the novel, Jacobs wonderful speech attracts Josie and makes her interested in him, but later his casual dresses and his behaviour astonishes her. Just like this, Josie always has conflicting feelings towards Jacob. When John died, Jocob lends a shoulder to her, and he saves her from the bad man on her way home, she finds he is considerate and always able to find ways to let her calm down. Josie takes Jacobs advice, Break away from those rules, Josie. Make your own.'(Melina,1992,p.206). At the same time, Jacob teaches her to own dream forever, promise me youll never stop dreaming. (Melina,1992,p.239)andyou wont have to put up with some cultureless Aussie with no h eart and soul. (Melina,1992,p.208). Jacob is special to Josie, because of the same class, Josie can learn to get rid of bias of identity under his help and better to answer the question of what I am(E ´lise, Pierre, JeanPierre, et al..2007). The recognition of Josie and her father Michael appears Josie get ou of the obsession of illegitimacy identity, accepting her whole family. From the beginning, she wants her father along with her, and then is angry for his absence in her life, has never seen her father and has always had life long dream of meeting him. Seventeen-year-olds dont need a father.'(Melina,1992,P.66); So when she first is aware of her fathers exist, she doesnt know how to face him. Until one day she hits Carlys nose heavily by book and is forced to shout out her fathers phone number, she realizes her strong feelings of having a father in her mind. Simultaneously, as the father rejects her at first but, with Josies persistence her father finally accepts her. Michael tells Josie,A person doesnt necessarily have to be happy just because they have social standing and material wealth, Josie. (Melina,1992,p.235), and let her know not judge people by their appearance alone. When John was dead, Michael tells her li ving is the challenge, dying is so easy(Melina,1992,p.236) to make her strong, and from the words People change. Circumstances change them. (Melina,1992,p.243), Josie learns to accept all the changes. From the above all, josie feels the support from a father and wants a whole family. In conclusion, Josie learns to accept her cultural heritage, her family, and everything around her in the life. She doesnt feel ashamed on National Wog Day and likes to invite her friends to enjoy it. She is pretty sure about her destiny now. the Alibrandi women are not cursed, but blessed! Ultimately, the most important thing is that she finds that she must be true to herself, her beliefs and her dreams.

Brown vs. Board Of Education :: Teaching Education

Brown vs. Board Of Education As the Civil War ended and Slavery did, too, the question of African American’s freedom did not. African Americans had been given their freedom from slavery but not their freedom from segregation. In 1896 after the Plessy vs. Ferguson court case, the Supreme Court found that segregation, â€Å"separate but equal†, in public facilities was not against the Constitution. â€Å"Separate schools for blacks and whites became a basic rule in southern society.† All that was about to change. In Topeka, Kansas there was a little girl by the name of Linda Brown. She had to be driven five and a half miles to a black school when she lived four blocks from a public school. â€Å"The school was not full and she met all of the requirements to attend – all but one that is. Linda Brown was black. And blacks weren’t allowed to go to white children’s schools.† That was a controversial issue among blacks. In 1954 thirteen parents filed a class action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka in hope for equal education opportunities for their children. That and the desegregation period was the idea behind the case. It was the first challenge of the â€Å"separate but equal† ruling had been challenged. The thirteen parents were backed by many African American community leaders, the NAACP, and the NAACP’s lawyer Thurgood Marshall. However, against them were pretty much the whole south, many elected officials of Congress, and the Governor of Alabama - George Wallace. On May 7, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against segregation and was unconstitutional because it violated the fourteenth amendment by separating them because of the color of their skin. The decision a victory proved of significant importance. Few blacks and eventually many started attending non-segregated public schools. It proved to be Thurgood Marshall’s greatest victory and in 1967 he was appointed as the first black member of the Supreme Court.

Essay --

The Best Four Wheelchair Vans We Have Seen In 2013 It is hard to live with disability, because everyday things become a challenge. U.S. Census Bureau report from 2008 states that 3.3 million non-institutionalized Americans over age 15 years use wheelchairs. The reason why there are so many people with disabilities is that U.S. spent decades at war. This is why mobility industry is rethinking the products it provides to support a growing demographic. Vantage Mobility International (VMI) and Braun Ability are two leading industry players that spent decades converting wheelchair vans from companies such as Chrysler , Toyota , and Honda into wheelchair-accessible modes of transportation. VMI Toyota Sienna (Base MSRP: up to $25,000 + cost of van) Toyota Sienna is the most selling model of VMI and they work directly with Toyota in the conversion process. In order for everything to fit properly, integration of VMI’s mobility specific features was performed with Toyota as a consultant. Rear axle and seats of the VMI Sienna are moved rearward by 12 inches to extend the amount of usable passenger space inside the minivan. Also, the floorpan is dropped 12.75 inches with the goal to get more headroom and a lower ramp angle for easier entry and exit. The vans that have gone through the modifications have been crash tested to ensure that they maintain at least the same safety rating as they did before the conversion. Toyota Sienna comes with â€Å"in-floor† system that VMI is known for. In opposed to "fold-out"-style ramp, the in-floor unit is placed between the passenger floor and the bottom of the vehicle. The main advantage of an in-floor ramp is that it doesn't intrude into the passenger area of the van when stowed, which leaves more room for ... ... How To Choose A Van For You? Since there are so many options on the market, take several options in consideration and choose the best one according to you specific requirements. Gather all information, so you can compare in-floor with fold-out ramps and choose one according to the conditions you will be using it. If you're based in an area where it rains and snows a lot, an in-floor lift may be solution to helping you keep your interior clean. Fold-out lift may be a better option if you live in area with lots of curbs and hills. All wheelchair accessible vans described above could be found in Better Life Mobility Centers in Riverside , La Mesa , California and Las Vegas , Nevada. Our friendly staff will help you look for a handicap wheelchair van that you will enjoy! Visit our showrooms to get all needed info about mobility vans or see online our vehicle inventory.

Prospect of Democracy in Burma Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Prospect of Democracy in Burma The prospect for the development of a democratic state in Burma has recently become a remote possibility. Burma’s military leaders have been holding talks with the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The dialogue started while Aung San Suu Kyi was still under house arrest. When she was released in 2002, the international community and the people of Burma expected the process to evolve to the next stage – substantive political negotiations. However, the whole process has stalled. Burma’s military remain in control. In justifying the hiatus, the Burmese military leaders engage in various forms of platitudinous rhetoric, carefully designed to obfuscate their totalitarian intent. The theme of this rhetoric is that the country is undergoing a transition toward a multi-party democracy. Burma’s influential intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt, has warned that â€Å"such a transition cannot be done in haste or in a haphazard manner. The world is full of examples where hasty transition from one system to another led to unrest, instability and even failed states† . However, this linguistic charade is not consistently maintained. Burma’s generals have made disturbing pronouncements that overtly envision a highly compromised, paternalistic democracy. They assert that any democracy in Burma must incorporate ‘Asian values’, and is therefore incompatible with Western models of democracy. The generals have proved recalcitrant in the face of international pressure, and persist with their particularly Burmese variant of democracy. Nyunt recently said that â€Å"The democracy we seek to build may not be identical to the West but it will surely be based on universal principles of liberty, justice and equality†. It is more than likely that Burma’s military rulers are now looking at the Chinese political model as the basis of their new constitution. This rhetoric, centered around various abstractions and elaborations of political vision, is calculated to distract from the decidedly non-democratic Burmese political reality. What has actually been happening is that the country’s top military leader – Senior General Than Shwe – has strengthened his control over both the army and the administrative structure. Ever since the arrest of four members of the former military dictator General Ne Win’s famil... ...ase against the government - without provoking violence - while at the same time cooperating with the generals in a dialogue which recognizes the limitations of its current political potency. Bibliography Evans, George, ‘Human rights in Burma’, Contemporary Review, Oct, 1994, v265, n1545, p178 Jagan, Larry, Burma's opposition slowly rises from ashes http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1885565.stm BBC News. 2002 Jagan, Larry, Junta has little to celebrate http://www.rebound88.net/sp/junta/s14junta-thanshwe.html Bangkok Post, 2002. Jagan, Larry, Deadlock in Burma http://www.himalmag.com/2002/october/burma.htm 2002. Lintner, Bertil, ‘Divide and rule: peace treaties marginalise democracy groups.’ Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 27, 1994, v157, n4, p20 Linter, Bertil, ‘New camouflage: army maintains tight controls despite election pledge’, Far Eastern Economic Review, May 11, 1989, v144, n19, p32 Maidment, Richard. Goldblatt, David. Mitchell, Jeremy. Governance in the Asia Pacific. Routlage, London, 1998. Seth, Mydans, Burmese General Says Transition to Democracy Will Be Slow. http://www.burmaforumla.org/burmese_general_says_transition_.htm New York Times, 2002.

Challenges of Raising a Disabled Child Essay

Caring for a child with a disability can be challenging due to parenting responsibilities and the difficulties they encounter when interacting with an often unreceptive environment. Consequently, parents can be at increased risk for excessive levels of personal distress which in turn can adversely affect the well being of the child and the entire family unit (Plant & Sanders, 2007). Parents of children with disabilities can be at an increased risk for psychosocial distress (Parish, Rose, Grinstein-Weiss, Richman & Andrews, 2008; Plant & Sanders, 2007). The parenting responsibilities for parents of children with disabilities often require a significant amount of time to complete, can be physically demanding, can disrupt family and social relationships, and can adversely affect caregiver employment (Brannen & Heflinger, 2006; Seller & Heller, 1997). Perhaps as a consequence of these additional impacts, family caregivers of children with disabilities can be at increased risk to experience depression, physical health problems, and decreased quality of life (Feldman, et al. , 2007; Ones, Yilmaz, Cetinkaya, & Calgar, 2002). The added challenges of caring for a child with a disability may lead to more stress and greater physical and emotional health risks for parents and their families (e. g. , increased conflict with spouse; Murphy, Christian, Caplin & Young, 2006) compared to families without a child with a disability (Feldman et al. , 2007). This topic is particularly personal for me because I know first hand the psychological affects and challenges that a handicap child could have on parents, family members, and friends. My son was two months when I notice that something just wasn’t right with him. I noticed him favoring one side instead of looking straight ahead. I mentioned my concerns to our family doctor. His doctor didn’t see it as a problem. She said to just continue to watch him. Two months passed and still no change, so at his next appointment I expressed my concern again. I insisted that she run tests on my son immediately. I knew something seemed different; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I had already had two other boys so something just didn’t sit right with me. The doctor sent my son to be tested at University of Maryland Hospital and my son was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus Dandywalker Malformation with Palsy. He had to have surgery at six months to have a shunt placement to drain the water from his brain. I was devastated. My husband and I went through several defense mechanisms. The first I believe was denial. We didn’t want to face the fact that something was wrong with our child, our baby. He seemed so perfect when he was born just a few months ago. We went through repression, rationalization and intellectualization. We couldn’t wrap our minds around the fact that our child would be different from other children. Nobody wants to believe that something is wrong with their child. I felt a little embarrassed for fear of what people might think about our child or what someone would say. So many things raced around my mind. We wanted to blame the doctors; maybe they did something wrong in my prenatal care. I went over in my mind again and again of every little thing I did when pregnant to ensure that I had did everything I was supposed to do. I didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. What happened? We tried to search our family history genetics. We just came up empty. My husband and I became depressed, frustrated, and angry. I felt helpless about my son’s condition. I wasn’t sure what to do. Finally, I began to investigate my son’s condition. I read all I could get my hands on. I searched for schools and other medical resources to help me address my son’s needs. In the back of my mind I was still trying to make sense of the fact that my son had a developmental and neurological problem that would affect him for the rest of his life. I wondered what restrictions we would face now and in the future. I still wasn’t sure if I could cope with his lack of development neurologically, physically, mentally or emotionally. I began to question God. I wondered why me. I wasn’t sure if I would have to stop working. I wondered how we as a family would work together to stay a family. I had so many questions, but no answers. I prayed asking God for help and guidance. Later, I began to realize that I had to be strong. I had to accept what the reality was with my son and his disability. It hasn’t been easy. We faced many financial problems, medical issues, several hospitalizations for my son, divorce; daycare issues especially since my son needed twenty four hour daycare. Day care is very expensive as well as diapers and wipes for disabled children. Insurance covers some things but not enough. A person has to be making next to nothing in order to get any assistance from the government; we needed assistance regardless of what we made monetary. I would have never known what disabled families went through to get their voice heard and children’s needs assisted unless I had to face these great challenges myself. So much goes into raising a child with disabilities. There are many variables that factor into taking care of a disabled child. Financial hardships are another important factor that influences parents’ wellbeing. In general families with children with disabilities experience much higher expenditures than other families (Newacheck and Kim, 2005) found that, on average, the total annual health care expenditures for children with disabilities were more than three times as much compared to children without disabilities. The financial strain incurred by families of children with disabilities is likely due to increased expenses related to the child’s needs as well as loss of employment or inability to work because of parenting responsibilities (Murphy et al. , 2006; Parish et al. 2008; Worcester et al. , 2008). Inability to engage in employment can also lead to feelings of isolation, a lack of fulfillment and low self-esteem (Shearn & Todd, 2000). Families of children with disabilities often report feeling isolated from the community (Freedman& Boyer, 2000; Worcester et al. , 2008). What I’ve learned from researching the challenges of raising a child with disabilities; as well as bein g a parent of a disabled child is that there is still so much more to be done. There is still research that hasn’t been touched regarding parents and their disable children. We the parents have to be the voices for our disable children. We have to be better informed about what our disabled children rights are. We have to be willing and ready to fight on behalf of our disable children. Parents and state officials have to work to get better laws passed to accommodate disabled children. Disabled children need better health care programs, better schools; a place for them to be themselves. Parents need a place to relax and not have to worry about dirty looks that people who don’t have disabled children give them. Parents shouldn’t have to feel ashamed that they have disabled children. We shouldn’t be looked down upon because our children are different. Our children shouldn’t be bullied or treated like they are worthless. Our children are special. They deserve the best that we can help them to achieve in life. They deserve a chance like the rest of us. We’ve got to come together and help each other to provide a better life for all! The questions we should ask researchers to study are many. One could be what’s being done to assist parents with disabled children? Are there programs to assist parents in child care for disabled children? Normal daycare centers are for infants through 12 years of age. As of today my disabled son is 16 years old and there’s really no day care for children his age. Another question is why do they go according to parents’ income in order to assist with social security disability? A parent shouldn’t have to be jobless in order to obtain assistance from social security disability. Yet a person who walks into social security disability and say my back hurt or that they have a condition can obtain money; work the system while the truly disabled suffer. There are so many people working the disability system and really aren’t disabled. We have to help the programs we have for our disabled children actually help the disabled children. In conclusion caring for a child with a disability can be challenging, but many of these challenges are likely due to a lack of necessary environmental supports. Future research should expand on these findings and policy makers, scientists and providers should give particular attention to the environmental support needs of parents in order to create policies and interventions that are more family centered.

Summary of the Poem

Explore the ways in which Hopkins conveys the beauty of the nature in Pied Beauty? Hopkins creates a prayer like poem in praise of the beauty and design of nature that God has created. He chooses unusual descriptions to encapsulated the variety of beautiful sights and sounds that can be found in the world and celebrates the astonishing complexity of God's creation in this pared down sonnet. He creates a reverent and worshipful tone that epitomizes his feelings of awe and wonder when confronted with the natural world. Firstly ‘Pied Beauty' is a prayer like poem.We can see this at the beginning and end Of the poem when it says ‘Glory be to God for dappled things' and ‘Praise him'. This reminds us a lot of a prayer as we start a prayer with God and end with God this is a simple message from the poet that is he is writing about nature he is writing about god. Also it is a short poem, which makes a simple point. Secondly this poems design has a range of nature, which sta rts of big a gets smaller for example it starts of with the sky to cow to trout to chestnuts then finally with ‘finches wings'.So he really shows us the range of nature from the massive sky to tiny little, delicate finches wings. Thirdly ‘Pied Beauty has some unusual descriptions for example to describe the sky he says ‘For skies of -couple color as a branded cow' now here we can see that what he means is brindle but the author has change it to either fit the poem or because he thinks it sounds better. He means brindle as in striped with different colors this is unusual but a very good way to describe the sky. Fourthly Gerald Manly Hopkins uses a variety of beauty in his poem.He uses sights and sounds to his advantage we can see this when he says ‘swift, slow' and ‘sweet, sour he make these very opposite comparisons with nature. Fifthly the poem has astonishing complexity this has happened because he has made up his own words up for example ‘brand ed cow' and ‘couple-color' this makes him very individual. This also makes sounds very effective and makes us think more about the poem and what it is about. He makes words that are very similar to that actual one but he either changes them or edits hem for example ‘branded' which is actually ‘brindle'.Sixthly the pared down sonnet is very irregular as a normal sonnet has 14 lines here the sonnet has only eleven. However the poem has regular meter beats of ‘A, B, C, A, B, C, D, B, C, D, C' so it is regular apart from the last five lines which make their own meter. Seventh the worshipful tone this is a very religious poem and they have to make that impression by the time you have finished the poem. They achieve this by the last line it is very short and says ‘Praise him' this is a very simple one which makes it more affective.It also it very memorable as it is very short and to the point. It reminds us of a prayer as in a prayer you end with amen and her e it is ‘Praise him' they are both really short and to the point. Awe and wonder, in conclusion, In this way, we can see how Hopkins creates a powerful poem that skillfully describes and praises the beauty of nature. He achieves this through carefully chosen images that economically portray natural images whilst structuring a reverent piece of almost religious quality.

Select and explain the most important factors that led to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933

In the early 1930's around 5 million Germans were unemployed, in the public's opinion the Weimar republic was to blame. The majority of the public believed that Germany had not lost the war but in fact were winning it before they were â€Å"stabbed in the back† by the â€Å"November Criminals,† the politicians who signed the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles had been criticised for causing the continual economic depression in Germany Before 1929, the majority of the German public were content with their democratic government, and did not have these views; this was when Germany was enjoying a period of relative economic prosperity, fuelled by loans from the United States. The period quickly ended with the Wall Street crash, which was a huge blow to Germany. America recalled all the loans that had helped to rebuild Germany's economy, which in addition to Germany's existing unemployment problems caused the operation of German industry to cease increasing unemployment even further. In addition, Germany's trading relations with America were severely damaged. Without the American market, the number of exports from Germany decreased dramatically. As in the depression of 1923, the Weimar Republic was held responsible, people became angry, and the â€Å"stab in the back† theory, which was a popular idea during the 1923 depression, returned. The German public had completely lost faith in their democratic government. Germans began to turn to more extreme parties such as the communists and the Nazis. Statistics showed that as unemployment went up, support for the Nazi's grew. In 1928, there were 1. million people unemployed; the figure had risen to 6 million by 1932, the year of the enabling act. The public's growing support for the Nazi party was further strengthened by the death of Gustav Stresemann who died on the 3rd of October 1929; Stresemann was considered one of Germany's most able politicians, well known for bringing Germany out of depression. This death was of huge benefit to the Nazis as, before the event, the successes of Stresemann's policies had prevented them from gaining popularity, because the policies had always been successful in reducing unemployment, and other economic problems. Stresemann's death meant, in the eyes of the public, that the Weimar Republic was now incapable of bringing Germany out of depression. After this event, the German's support for extreme parties, including the Nazis grew even further. It was not only the unemployed who were attracted to the Nazi party because of this, but also people suffering from the increasing worry of job losses, caused by the depression. If it had not been for the Wall Street crash and Stresemann's death, the German public would have been content with the Weimar Republic, and would have not have supported the Nazi's. Once Hitler had gained popularity, he would not have been able to become chancellor without the help of Franz Von Papen, the existing chancellor in 1932. Von Papen felt that a connection with Hitler and the Nazi party would help him gain support for his own party. In December 1932, President Hindenburg made General Schleicher chancellor of Germany. Von Papen wanted a return to power so he struck a deal with the Nazis. The agreement was that Hitler would be given complete unconditional control of Germany. A constitutional change this great needed ? majority vote. The Nazi private army surrounded the Kroll opera house where the voting took place shouting, â€Å"we want the bill or fire or murder† and communist mps were not allowed into the building. After five years, Hitler used his power to extend it. It is argued however that this was just a natural succession from Hitler becoming popular after the depression and not a reason for him coming into power in itself.

Mobile Device Application Essay

Java ME, in particular MIDP and CLDC specifications and Mobile device hardware Java is also referred to as a programming environment oriented to the server and it is based on a number of technologies which constitutes the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). Such technologies include servlets, JavaServer pages (JSPs), and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). Nowadays, Java is officially known as Java 2 platform and it is divided into three distinct editions: Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE), and Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) has three concepts, namely profiles, configurations, and optional packages. All of them determine Java features applicable, available application programming interfaces, and the form in which applications are packaged. J2ME has two configurations: Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and Connected Device Configuration (CDC). CLDC is designed for mobile devices with slow processors (Enrique & Eric 2001 pp. 28- 45). There are two versions of CLDC: versions 1. 0 and 1. 1. CLDC specifies the ability of Java virtual machine, a small subset of J2SE 1. 3 classes, and a set of application programming interfaces for output/input which is also called Generic Connection Framework. However, CLDC is limiting programming platform as it does not specify the user interface classes. Hence, alternative classes that are defined by J2ME profile are required and such include MIDP to accomplish anything substantial. Java runtime environments for devices such as pagers, resource-challenged handheld devices, and cell phones is defined by Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP). MIDP target devices are characterized by ample memory to run its applications, bit-addressable display (96*56 pixels), touch screen, and two-way wireless enhanced networking. There exist two versions of MIDP which are defined by Java Community Process and include Java Specification Request 37 (MIDP 1. 0) and Java Specification Request 118 (MIDP 2. 0). Nevertheless, most of the devices in the market apply MIDP 1. Besides, MIDP 1 does not provide standards for interfacing to the phonebook in a device and synchronization of data. In particular, MIDP specifications are silent in one area: ‘how MIDP applications are loaded onto a device and how they are activated or deactivated’ (Enrique & Eric 2001 pp. 40-68). Record Management System and MIDlet methods Record management system is a key subsystem of the Mobile Information Device Profile and is an application programming interface. Besides, Record Management system provides a persistence on-device data. Therefore, Record Management System acts as the sole facility for storing data locally –record store. Reason being only a couple of mobile devices sustains a conventional system of files. The MIDP Record Management System facilitates a way in which application data is stored to ensure that it persists across MIDlet. Record Management System is a simp0le database with a row comprised of two columns. One is a unique row identifier while the other contains a sequence of bytes that represents record data. Record stores are identified by a special name which consists of 32 characters in every MIDlet suite. There are a number of MIDlets applicable in the record store. First, ReadWrite MIDlet is creates record store, write down records into persistent storage and reads them, and deletes the record store while exiting. This MIDlet has convenience methods which opens, closes, and deletes record stores. Secondly, IntegerSort MIDlet is used to retrieve records and sort them on basis of their integer value within each record. Nevertheless, its codes do not have a distinct difference from the previous MIDlets. The only additional features are ways of ‘extracting appropriate fields, real sorting, and the comparator image class’. Integer Class MIDlet establishes a sort order by different integers and every record passed through has various Java data. Lastly, is the StringSearch MIDlet which enables searching for records in the Record Management System and it also beefs-up the User Interface. In creating a UI, a text filed, form, and two commands are established. Upon activation, all tasks are executed within the CommandAction ( ) method. Consequently, upon request of CmFind command, SearchRecordstore ( ) initiates searching and it involves assigning SearchFilter ( ) class instance which associates it with record enumeration object Enrique & Eric 2001). Sprites basics (Image Sets and Tools Class) and package classes (Graphics class) Spites basics animation in Java can be written in frame animation, sprite animation, and/or both of the two. Mostly, these are used to write mobile enabled application games. There are a number of classes which are important to learn in order to understand Java programming and in particular the sprite animation. These include the Toolkit, Image, Graphics, Random, and Media Tracker. Image class is regarded as the super class when compared with the others and it represents graphical images. Besides, images have to be obtained in a platform specific manner (Richard, 2001). The fact that image is an abstract class makes it impossible to instantiate objects in this class, and besides objects of type image are obtained by applying a roundabout approach. Hence, it makes use of tool kit class. In regard to tool toolkit class, it is probable access system-dependent resources by making use of system their unique codes. In the Graphics class [cite page 8] there are two variables but of particular importance is the Graphics reference type as shown below. Figure 1. The Graphics class. private Graphics offScreenGraphicsCtx; private Thread animationThread; Listing 2 Note: Richard, GB, 2001, Fun with Java: Sprite Animation, Part 1 It refers to an object that serves as an off-screen graphics context and ‘is an area of memory that serves as a stand-in for the computer screen’. It facilitates to rapidly blast pictures from the off-screen Graphics context onto the actual computer screen. As this process does not interfere with the visible image when creating pictures, it renders a ‘smoother animation which can be achieved by creating and drawing the pictures directly on the computer screen’. Thus, it does away with possible distractions and flashing. Graphics class makes provisions for methods which can be applied to draw pictures on a graphics context (Richard, 2001). Development environments for the Windows phone, the Apple iPhone, the Google Android platforms and Location Based Services (LBC). Mobile application development involves a process in which in-built and downloaded applications are developed for hand-held devices suh as cell phones and personal digital assistants. The windows mobile development requires C/ C++ programming language. Visual Studio is nevertheless the most reliable development environment for creating testing, and deploying applications in the Microsoft Windows platform. Besides, this Visual Studio facilitates ample support for the development of Windows Mobile applications. To develop mobile applications, Visual Studio 2005 Edition and Visual Studio Professional Edition are required. Mobile Software Development Kits are freely available but they are dependent on device format and platform. Besides, these Software Development Kits are unique for every every family of Windows Mobile Phone (Enrique & Eric 2001). Google Android is an operating system that serves as a platform for mobile applications. The necessary programming language for Android is Java although it is important for the developer to be knowledgeable in XML. In addition one requires Eclipse IDE and to work in Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux environments. Android Software Development Kit comprises of: Developer tools such Android Asset Packaging Tool, Android Debug Bridge, Dalvik Debug Monitor Service; Emulator and system images that represents Android operating system; Documentation Sample Code that contains API programming guidelines; Integrated Development environment Support which uses Eclipse IDE as it has special plug-ins (Android Development Tool –speeds up testing process, enables User Interface, application description, and graphical representations). Location Based Services offers mobile phone users a personalized service in order to establish their current physical location. Location API for J2ME (JSR179) is a generic API used to develop Location Based Services. J2ME Location API specification identifies javax. microedition. location which is a discretionary package that facilitates software developers to write wireless Local Based applications for resource-limited mobile devices. JSR179 entails Connected Device Configuration or CLDC version 1. 1 and the type of hardware platform determines applicable location methods (Enrique & Eric 2001 PP. 20-39). To develop operating system for iphone, one requires working on a Mac OSX computer that runs X code tools. X code is suite that provides support for project management, building executables, code editing, source-level debugging, and performance tuning others. X-code application provides the foundation source-code development environment and besides x-code is the only probable tool to use in creating iphone applications. As mentioned earlier, iphone Software Development Kit runs only on Mac environment that have installed Intel processors (Enrique & Eric 2001 PP. 40-50). Bibliography Enrique, O & Eric, G 2001, Mobile information device profile for Java 2 micro edition: The ultimate guide to creating applications for wireless devices, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Richard, GB, 2001, Fun with Java: Sprite Animation, Part 1, viewed 17 May 2010,

Financial Costs of Diabetes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Financial Costs of Diabetes - Research Paper Example Though the structure of the health expenditure survey is not useful for approximating nationwide complications and costs of diabetes, it can however give details of how diabetes has affected individual patients and their families economically. Diabetic patients have been using medical services more than other individuals diagnosed with another disease which makes their medical expense higher. This is especially with their medication where in some circumstances they are forced to use out of pocket expenses. In the year 2007, the economic cost of diabetes was estimated to be $174 billion in the United States of America (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). 116 billion dollars was the estimate of direct medical costs while 58 billion dollars was due to other expenses such as disability brought by diabetes, lost workdays and restricted activities in the health center. At an average, people diagnosed with diabetes use $11,744 annually, with $6649 being attributed to diabetes (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). Approximately 1/5 of health care dollars in the United States is used to care for individuals diagnosed with diabetes while 1/10 of health dollars is contributed to diabetes. People diagnosed with diabetes have higher medical expenditure compared to the rest of the population from health care statistics over the years (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). Diabetic patients and their families are not the only people who are affected economically by the disease but also the community or the society at large. Though they are affected indirectly, the impact is felt even at minimal. When patients are diagnosed with diabetes extra costs are required to cover for their medical care which means a percentage of health care for those who are not diabetic will have to reduce (Javitt and Chiang, 2001).

Handling the Different Creative Thinking Obstacles in Life Personal Statement

Handling the Different Creative Thinking Obstacles in Life Successfully - Personal Statement Example I realized this particular matter when I joined several group activities that required me to utilize creative thinking as a major skill that would display the fact that I am indeed learning from all the lessons that I receive from school. Being in an educational group, the author of this paper particularly felt the need to be a major contributor to the progress of the major discussions of the class as well as to the success of every activity that is being managed by the educator. It could be observed that through this grouping, the author learns how to improve the way that he listens, how he observes and how he interacts as well as participate within the group discussions. It could be noted that it is through this that the author learns how to establish camaraderie with his group mates and thus be able to be of good use and contributor to the progress of the entire class. Learning has been a great part of this particular progress on the part of the author. It is undeniable that being a part of this group made the author a more reliable individual in terms of group project implementations. Aside from this, it is undeniable that the author too has understood the importance of team work. Humans are significantly made with personal and innate characteristics in them that are completely different and apart from the others. This idea is mainly because of the certain fact that human beings have their own characteristics of uniqueness and individuality. Thus, human beings become existent in their own personal sense with their own identity differing them from others at some point in their innate qualities. In same manner, cultures and social values are also created and develop with likeness to the concept of individuality and uniqueness since they are created by human beings themselves. Social groups of relative similarities functioned and develop them own system of values and accordance making them united in their own concept and apart from the other social groups. Thus with this concept, cultural diversity has predominantly existed as how society themselves strive and develop to the point of their current state. However, this innate and basically natural concept in the society has been always a massive hindrance for the establishment of social unity and uniformity especially on the principal level of a team. Since the team-building concept's main agenda is the establishment of a uniting factor and bond among its members, their own personal and cultural diversity has always been a challenge for the said aim. Common problems and challenges such as uniqueness in the dominant language, dissimilarities with social norms and acceptable principles, differences concerning perception and opinions, and others often become a problem in the team-building aspect. In general, diversity produces stratification and division thus unification is being hindered. Indeed, cultural diversity in the aspect of team building is one of its main weaknesses. However, cultural diversity in a certain team can also serves as its potential strength producing advantages apart from its common

Business Service Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Service Operations - Essay Example The assignment also portrays the layout of services and service delivery network of Tesco. Furthermore, it also illustrates certain important suggestions for developing the service concept and the delivery system of the organisation. Services can generally appear on the basis of different shapes and forms. For instance, in business to consumer organisation, service can arrive in the form of retail services. Moreover, in business to business organisation, services can arrive from consulting services and in non-profit organisations, services can arrive from charity services. Any kind of service can produce additional value for the customer’s at large (Berry, 1995). With this concern, the assignment is based on understanding the service concept of an UK based supermarket retailer named Tesco and recommending effective strategies to develop its various services. Service is fundamentally considered to be an activity or set of procedures that is used for maintaining smooth interrelation with the customers and enhancing the overall business performance. Service concept is a vital method of apprehending the nature of services so that the customers comprehend about what they are receiving and employees also understand about what they are delivering. It is a shared understanding of nature of service which encapsulates information about classifying thoughts, customers’ experience and service outcomes. Service concept is a core task in managing different service operations. It can be used as a central tool in the design, distribution and improvement of services of a particular organisation. Service concept concentrates on a particular market segment and provides limited range of services for both customers and business operations (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2000). In order to be effective, service concept must deliver adequate information in order to make

Competition law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Competition law - Essay Example An exclusive distribution system is whereby a company, (manufacturer) grants exclusive rights of its products and/or services, to another company1. The most common form is when a single distributor acquires exclusive rights to market a product in a specific territory. Exclusive distribution limits sales to one dealer or to one distributor in a given market. Take the example of Sealy, a company that manufactures high quality mattresses and beddings products. In 1967 entered into an agreement to have its products distributed under the Sealy name and trademark, however the condition was that the companies to take up the distribution of the products were not to; 1. Be engaged, in contract, to any other company and not to distribute any other products whether beddings or not. 2. Sticking to a precise territory of sale and not to out of their allocated and agreed upon jurisdiction. The courts in the USA agreed to the terms that were being offered to the distributing companies by the manufa cturing company Sealy and termed then ‘horizontally correct’. This is because they looked at the substance rather than the form. This is the same as that of the Lolo Cars PLC and a hypothetical car distribution company called Zeek in Germany’s capital city Berlin2. The two decide to come to an exclusive distribution agreement of the sports cars. Zeek is located in Berlin, and it is limited to the boundaries of the city. The following will be the nature of the agreement; Lolo Cars PLC shall not be involved directly or indirectly in the sale, or even offer to sell its sports cars in Berlin. This is because it is an area exclusively under the authority of Zeek. This is evident in the American-Japan agreement on the sale of laser printers manufactured in Japan and sold in the USA. The Canon LPC laser printer is manufactured by a Japanese company but is distributed by Eastman Kodak Company in USA and is even rebranded as Hewlett-Packard and Corona data Systems. Zeek i s not allowed to sell the sports cars from Lolo Cars to any other part outside Berlin, and this is because it is aregion that has been demarcated for it. Advertisement of the sports cars outside Berlin is also not allowed. Zeek is also not to supply other products within Berlin that are assumed to be competing with the products of Lolo Cars. That means that Zeek cannot sign another agreement contract with another sports cars manufacturing company, especially if it should supply those cars within Berlin.Zeek should place a written order of the number of the cars that they would like (Roger & Culloch 314). This not only brings about transparency in the activities between the two firms but also gets rid of any form of fraud, and hence brings about responsibility. Lolo CarsCompany can change the price list of its sports cars only once in a year, and should give a written notice of sixty days to Zeek. This is because Zeek needs time to be able to inform their already established clientel e about the changes in the prices. Zeek shall use commercially reasonable efforts to promote the sale. Lolo Cars Company should first pass these efforts. If Lolo Cars does not agree with the methods of marketing and advertisement, then Zeek will not use it. These efforts also mean that they will train their own personnel that will be used tomarket and

How does social reproduction relate to our understanding of the global Essay

How does social reproduction relate to our understanding of the global political economy How is it defined in the context of IPE - Essay Example From an overarching perspective there is the recognition that social reproduction has been situated within the global political economy in hierarchical ways. For instance, Bakker noted, â€Å"social reproduction is not confined to the household, but forms the foundation of Braudel’s hierarchical model of the economy† (Bakker, p. 542). This hierarchical structure is then view in terms of systematic interaction between the different levels. Notably, this view of social reproduction views it as necessarily in a conflicting relationship with the demands or processes of capitalism. One example of such systematic interaction is given in terms of witch hunts. In this way hundreds of women were executed on the grounds that they were witches. Within the context of the political economy this is viewed as a means of the capitalist apparatus reclaiming power. The fundamental recognition in this sense is that as ‘witches’ demonstrated alternative forms of morality, it w as necessary to execute them to reclaim the power of reproduction. Ultimately the extent this systematic interaction is dependent on conscious or unconscious perspectives is contingent on a variety of notions of social reproduction in the political economy. In the context of international political economy social reproduction takes on another mode of interpretation. Social reproduction not only involves the processes of human reproduction, but also the moral and cultural implications tied into these processes. An extensive array of research has examined this in the context of the international economy. Steans & Tepe consider the ways that international political organizations have worked to change the policy regarding specific groups or demographics. Considering one study they note it examines, â€Å"social reproduction, especially through the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) development

Definition of the Word Courage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definition of the Word Courage - Essay Example The average person derives an image of a superhero when thinking about courage. However, that a limited view of what courage means. This is because it can be applied to so many other aspects of life. The second half of the definition in regards to negative forces is what allows for individual perspective on the word. For example, courage can pertain to a person stopping a gunman from shooting another victim despite the immense danger he or she faces in possibly getting maimed or dying in the process. On the other hand, courage can be reflected in the depths of an individual who recently became crippled and has to face the pain, difficulty, and fear of starting life in a new way with new challenges. Both situations involve a form of evil to some extent and to be courageous is appropriately applied to the people involved.   As the discussion highlights  the situation also does not have to be a severe one that radically changes peoples’ lives. There is no indication in the definition of courage that there has to be a big or massive negative situation that happens to someone for it to maintain its context. Courage can be applied to as little a situation as giving a successful speech in front of a classroom of students or having the courage to try something new whether it is a type of food or physical activity.

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Ethics - Essay Example This is because the topic is a sensitive on among certain communities present in the campus the paper is situated. Advertisements are hypothetically expected to have a positive impact on the audience. They are also expected to be sensitive to the issues affecting the community (Sheehan 178). Therefore, it is wrong for the university to run the advertisement on holocaust. The holocaust was an infamous historical period, which affected the Jewish community in Europe adversely. Therefore, the event is bound to raise strong emotions predominantly from the Jewish community in the campus. Since the period had grave consequences for the community, there should be sensitivity when approaching the issue (Shimp 319). This is because, as a journalist, it is imperative to consider the impact of the communication on the community. Therefore, it is morally incorrect to run this advertisement judging from the reaction that may be experienced from the community. Not running the advertisement will avert eliciting negative reactions from the community (Tyagi and Kumar 328). Advertisements are powerful tools for persuading the public to adopt certain mindsets. Therefore, it is imperative that journalists appreciate the significance of these communications among the community. If this is the case, moral considerations should be key in advertisements to avoid eliciting negative reactions from the

Modern dance Essay Example for Free

Modern dance Essay 1. What are the innovations of Isadora Duncan, Denishawn, Martha Graham, and Cunningham. Discuss these in relation to style, technique and theory. Many Historians say that Isadora Duncan was the first dancer to present modern dancing to the public. Duncan felt that the pointe shoes and costumes that ballerinas wore were to restrictive. She began to dance in a way that seemed to be more natural to her. Her inspirations came from the movements of the tress, the ocean and other forms from nature. Her techniques included hopping, swaying, skipping and running. She felt these type of movements were natural and expressive. Also, the history of the Greeks inspired her to dance barefoot and wear tunics similar to those of Greek style. Isadora Duncan paved the way for all modern dancers and choreographers who were to follow her. Learning About Dance pg. 61-62 Denishawn was a dance school created in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Denis and Shawn were greatly inspired by different cultures, especially the Asian cultures. Although the dances Denishawn performed werent authentic, they were still able to bring other countries dance views to American audiences. The purpose of Denishawn was to educate the total dancer. Meaning to bring together the body , mind and spirit. Learning About Dance pg. 62-63 Martha Graham developed a technique known as contracting and releasing through the center of the body. This technique can be seen throughout many of her dances. Graham would create dances that dealt with psychological issues. She would use themes relating to American life, Greek Mythology, American Pioneers and American Indians. Learning About Dance pg. 6371 Merce Cunningham was the first choreographer to not use traditional choreographic methods. He developed a new style of choreography. He did not believe dance had to have a certain storyline or theme. His theory of dance revolved around the idea of movement for movements sake. He felt that any part of the body can be used and the music, costumes design, lighting and the movements all have their own identity. He thought a dance can be about anything , just as long the main idea is about the human body moving.. In his dances he uses chance and indeterminacy methods. He uses these methods because he feels it helps him to break old habits and create exciting and new movements in dances. By using these methods what a dance is one night might be something else by the next night. Learnig About Dance pg. 65-66 2. In depth discuss one of these artistic personas (one of four). Include the art themes, and society of the time, as well as the particular contribution to dance history. Modern dance began in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It came directly as a revolt,what was understood as the restrictions of ballet. Isadora Duncan, (1877-1927), is given the credit of being the first dancer to present modern dancing. Other dancers, such as Loie Fuller and Maud Allan did perform dances that were new and different also. But, Duncans reasons for creating and moving were different to those of Allans and Fullers. Duncan began to feel that the costumes and pointe shoes were to restricting, after years of ballet training. She left technical training and began to dance in her way. She felt her new way of dancing was more natural. These natural movements came to her from different forces of nature. Like the swaying of trees and the ocean. Her technique included movements such as skipping, running, hopping and swaying. These movements were not only natural, but also expressed her. Her inspiration dancing barefoot and wearing tunics came from the history of the Greeks. The tunics did not confine her movements and they also showed the beauty of the female body. Duncan was also known as a rebel to many Americans. She found fame in parts of Europe and Russia, from 1907-1927. You could call Isadora Duncan the mother of modern dance. Isadora went out to free the body from the restrictions of ballet and created a truly modern form of dance. She began to show dance as the art of liberation. Learning About Dance pg. 61-62 pg. 70

Personal Development Essay Example for Free

Personal Development Essay I have been employed as care worker with my Company, for the last 4 years. Upon joining the Company, I received an induction, which covered guidance and training, in areas applicable for my role. I also received a job description, which informed me of what I was expected to do within my role. When I first started working here, I had no previous experience as a carer, so I found the induction very informative, to support my role, and responsibilities. It informed me of the organisational policies and procedures, which I had to sign, to say I had read and understood their contents. My induction training also made me aware of the legislation that relates to my role, and the GSCC code of practice, that all social care workers must work to. The General Social Care Council,(GSCC) is the social care workforce regulator in England and their job is to regulate the conduct and training of the care workforce. As a care employee, I am required to abide by the code of practice as defined by the GSCC. see more:explain what reflective practice is This code states that I should: * Protect the rights and promote the interests of service users and carers * Strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers * Promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible form danger and harm * Respect the rights of service users while seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or other people * Uphold public trust and confidence in social care services * Be accountable for their practice and take responsibility for maintaining and improving their knowledge and skills. During my induction period with the company, I received regular supervision with my line- manager, who assessed my progress, and competence to perform my role. When my induction period ended, my supervision then took/takes place every 3 months. My supervision covers:- * All aspects of my practice * My career development needs * My reflections on training I have attended recently, progress with my NVQ or other qualifications * Information about the policy and procedures in my organisation. * Constructive feedback on my service delivery. My supervision is always held in a confidential setting, between myself and my Manager. My Manager records details of what has been discussed, targets identified, and achievement target dates to be met by me and my Manager. This is my personal development plan, and helps me to record training received, training identified, and knowledge gained. My supervision is my opportunity to discuss issues I am concerned about. Sometimes prior to my supervision, I write down notes on issues I want to raise, so that I do not forget whilst in my supervision. I also receive appraisal (performance review), meetings with my manager, these are usually once a year. This is a review of my performance, summarising what I think I have achieved, and what my manager thinks I have achieved over the last 12 months. I discuss my training record and identify what my Personal Development Plan will be for the next 12 months. I also agree some personal objectives or targets for me to achieve before my next appraisal. Other colleagues I work with may have been asked for their opinions on my work as well. As a care worker I must be accountable for the quality of my work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving my knowledge and skills. This means I identify mandatory training I may need, and refresher courses, to keep my knowledge up to date, and so meet the current care standards. I also receive training from observing more experienced colleagues, who can teach me ‘on the job’ techniques. This is ‘informal’ training, but is most beneficial, along with ‘formal’ training courses I attend. All training helps to improve my service delivery, and enables me to use recommended safe practice in my working role. I can develop my knowledge, skills, and understanding by: * Identifying the knowledge, skills and standards required for my job role. * Reflecting on my practice, and making improvements on previous practice. * Receiving constructive feedback from my manager, and colleagues. * Undertake learning activities that inform my working practice. * Put new skills that I have learned into practice. I attend regular staff meetings, where staff members can discuss service users in a confidential setting. This is good practice as it provides a platform for staff to share their experiences, and gain moral support and advice from colleagues. My employer also provides a counselling service for staff members, due to the ‘pressures’, of the role. I can ask my Manager for this service if I feel work pressures are too much, and my Manager and organisation will support me. If I have a work related problem, I can approach my supervisor, and line manager for support. I feel comfortable in doing this, as I am confident that they will address my issues, and help me to resolve them. I have the opportunity to develop in my role, as my employer arranges regular ‘in-house’, training opportunities. My employer has also encouraged me to undertake my NVQ qualification, and has allowed me ‘paid’ time for study. My employer advertises job vacancies internally, and I have been encouraged to apply for more ‘senior’ positions, for my career progression.

Social Enterprise Challenge Assessment

Social Enterprise Challenge Assessment I was one of several students who volunteered to grade a number of business plans that had made it to the third and final stage in the Teach a Man to Fish Social Enterprise Challenge (SEC). Stage three involved each school running of an enterprise for at least one term based on their original business idea, backed up by business and financial plan. Final reports were graded on the narrative final reports submitted and marked on Business Implementation, Challenges and Solutions, Outcomes, People, Planet, Profit, Development and Sustainability, Financial Reporting. In addition, we had discretion to award a maximum of 10 Bonus Points where schools had demonstrated a high level of student involvement or a high level on innovation. In total, there were 100 points to award to each school. Of the nine schools I was given, all were from India except for one New Zealand school. Enterprises included; tree hangers, plants and crafts, jewellery and food products. It was clear students and teachers had invested considerable time and effort in taking part in the challenge. The SEC allowed students develop practical business skills and helped schools generate extra income for their school, or a social cause of their choice. I chose this POD because I hope to lecture in business or accounting in the future and enterprise development is relevant in both disciplines. I was also intrigued to see what school children in different and often underdeveloped countries would chose to do when given the support and opportunity to develop an enterprise. Enterprise development particularly in the curriculum provides students with a great way to develop hard and soft skills like critical-thinking, communication and teamwork skills and could potentially help them invent their own career in the future. Support for entrepreneurship such as that given by the SEC is important, it has the potential to have a positive impact on the entrepreneurial dynamism of our economies. Not only does it create business start-ups and social enterprises like the micro enterprises in each school reaching the final but it also makes students more employable by developing hard and soft skills. Economic growth is at the heart of addressing societal issues like; unemployment, gender equality, poverty and other health related issues worldwide, and enterprise development (ED) is a key tool to enable growth. Enterprise development is defined as the act of investing time and capital in helping people establish, expand or improve businesses. Enterprise development helps people to earn a living; it helps them out of poverty; and it leads to long-term economic growth for themselves, their families and their communities (Miemiec, 2013). Entrepreneurship and innovation are considered to be crucial to sustainable economic development and competitive advantage (EC, 2012). The objective of ED is to help create a viable business that has the ability to grow, this leads to job creation and promotes economic growth. It is much easier to develop and grow a small business than it is to attract a large company to a community, therefore, small businesses often lead to economic growth within the communities they operate in. The significance of micro firms, defined as businesses with less than ten employees by European Union (EC, 2009) has been widely recognised. These firms from the backbone of many countries economies, as they represent the large majority of existing businesses (Heshmati, 2001). Micro businesses employ locals and this in turn causes cash to move through the communitys economy. Successful local businesses allow owners to remain in place and generate more opportunities for other entrepreneurs (Muske et al., 2007). Small enterprises make substantial contributions to employment, income and output within the world economy. Within OECD member countries over 95% of organisations are SMEs and micro-enterprises, they account for 55% of GDP. In developing countries, with the exception of agriculture over 90% of organisations are SMEs or micro-enterprises, making significant contributions to GDP (Edinburgh Group, 2013). Small enterprises tend to be labour intensive, this in turn leads to job creation, which can benefit developing economies and economies where unemployment levels are high. In addition, smaller enterprises tend to be in rural areas, thus providing much-needed local employment. SMEs are considered an engine for economic growth as well as for economic development especially in the developing countries (Subhan, Mehmood, and Sattar, 2013). As growth strengthens, smaller enterprises assume a key role in development and restructuring. They can satisfy the increasing local demand for services, which allows increasing specialisation, and furthermore support larger enterprises with services and inputs (Fjose et al. 2010). Smaller enterprises encourage healthy competition in competitive markets. They shall encourage competition in terms of price, product design and efficiency (Johnson and Soenen, 2003).Larger enterprises would have a monopoly in some areas but for their existence. Small and medium enterprises represent a factor of balance at the micro and macroeconomic level. Having as correspondent the middle class in the society, the small and medium enterprises counter-balance the monopoles and oligopolies, reducing the capacity of the big companies of controlling the market (Savlovsch and Robu, 2011). Every young person should have a practical entrepreneurial experience before leaving compulsory education (EU Commission). The modern global economic business environment requires flexible, adaptable and innovative graduates. Now more than ever there should be more emphasis placed on enterprise development and entrepreneurship in education at all levels. Enterprise education is defined as the process of equipping students (or graduates) with an enhanced capacity to generate ideas and the skills, in addition to enterprise capability supported by better financial capability and economic and business understanding (DCFS, 2010 and QAA, 2012). Entrepreneurship education equips students with the additional knowledge, attributes and capabilities required to apply these abilities in the context of setting up a new venture or business (QAA, 2012). Enterprise education and the skills gained through it can offer students further skills to deal with lifes challenges and uncertain future prospects. Skills like; problem solving, self-reliance, creativity and the ability to adapt to change. In addition, it open students minds to the idea of self-employment as a viable career option. Garavan et al. (1997) concluded that enterprise education in third level universities and colleges in Ireland encouraged graduates to look creatively at their future opportunities and resulted in higher levels of entrepreneurial activity. A business plan is a risk management instrument, through which both internal and external benefits can be derived (Barringer, 2009). Externally, it provides potential investors with an overview of the business opportunity and potential ways to exploit it. From the internal perspective, it provides the entrepreneur with a road map to follow. To quote Confucius A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door. By writing business plans entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs improve their chances of getting there. By participating in the SEC challenge I have improved my knowledge of business planning from a difference perspective, having previously compiled a business plan as a student during my undergraduate studies. Participating in the SEC challenge has raised my awareness of the benefits of enterprise education for both the student and society as a whole. Students develop hard and soft skills in addition to a better understanding and knowledge of business and working life. Society gains due to improved competitiveness of the businesses developed by entrepreneurs. Without exception, each final report I corrected showed that students had gained an understanding of the following; Generating new ideas Gathering and managing resources Taking advantage of local opportunities Identifying, assessing and managing risk Interpersonal communication and influencing skills Monitoring and evaluating personal performance Using initiative The benefits of enterprise education include; Improved education outcomes for students through experiential learning Increases co-operation between academic institutions, local business and the community Improved career and business awareness among students Highlights more careers pathways for students In the future I hope to put the knowledge learned from taking part in this POD to use in teaching. I feel programmes like the Teach a Man to Fish SEC and others like it provide students with a better understanding of business and entrepreneurship as they bring a taste of real life business into the classroom through experiential learning. Students get to experience the reality of entrepreneurship. It encompasses all aspects of starting a business from coming up with a viable business idea, developing a business plan, producing a product, carrying out the necessary market research, promoting the business and the financial aspects like bookkeeping and calculating ROI. As previously stated the objectives of enterprise education are: To give students practical real life experience of setting up and running their own business To encourage students to think about entrepreneurship and self-employment as a viable career choice To enhance the teaching of business and entrepreneurship in schools by combining classroom learning with real life experience. References Barringer, B.R. (2009), Preparing Effective Business Plans: An Entrepreneurial Approach, Pearson Education, London. Fjose, S., Grà ¼nfeld, L. A. and Green, C. (2010), SMEs and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa Identifying SME Roles and Obstacles to SME Growth, MENON Business Economics publication no. 14/2010. Garavan, T., Fleming, P. and Ó Cinnà ©ide, B. (1997), Entrepreneurship and Business Startà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ups in Ireland, Oak Tree Press, Dublin.