Response Paper Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response Paper Guidelines - Essay Example In the opening section of the article, Fitzhugh maintains that he established a quarterly journal in 1987 in order to help other students and teachers measure the outcomes of education. Thus, the journal, The Concord Review, offers the students a chance to publish the exemplary high school history essays. Another forum founded by Fitzhugh, the National Writing Board was concerned with providing an independent assessment of high school research papers and he maintains that the students of history have made good use of it. In the following sections of the article, the author recounts the nature of students’ term papers, and the significance and consequences of writing such papers, etc. He also suggests the various ‘forces’ or hazards that dumb down writing and nonfiction reading in the high schools. According to Fitzhugh, the encouragement and publicity given to serious nonfiction academic writing are not sufficient and the endeavors such as The Concord Review are n ot able to survive due to ‘very little money and few subscribers’.

Deception in Psychological research Essay Example for Free

Deception in Psychological research Essay Deception in psychological research usually entails tricking people so that the researchers can get the answers they need or ascertain why things happen the way they do. There are many controversial topics in psychology and all of them seek to explain the things in our environment and people’s behavior. One of these controversial topics is hypnosis usage under cognitive psychology. Hypnosis is a good way of assisting in repressed memories. It has assisted many people in therapeutic procedures but its effectiveness is sometimes questionable by others. Hypnosis as a way of facilitating repressed memories Hypnosis is a form of Recovered Memory Therapy that helps a person with memory relapse to recall information that they cannot remember. A person does not necessarily mean that someone is asleep. Therefore it is a state between being awake and asleep. Trances serve as an example of hypnotic functions. Though they serve similar purposes, trances need to be differentiated from hypnosis because they are done deliberately as used in clinical procedures to help people with memory loss or lapses to regain them. The sympathetic nervous system controls arousals while the parasympathetic nervous system relaxation. These two systems do not function at the same time. When people are in the hypnotic state, they give up their consciousness and accept the inner truth (Richard, 1998). A person can undergo a deep trance where a person or the hypnotist facilitates the process or a lighter trance referred to as self hypnosis which individuals can create by themselves. This is where a person creates their own visual memory via meditation, listening to soft music or some other ways while maintaining a certain level of consciousness. Negative hypnosis occurs when people are easily influenced by what others say and the things they are exposed to. If people are told that they are not able to do certain things and they believe in such comments, then there is a likely hood that they will not accomplish they thing they have been discouraged. This is what constitutes the negative hypnotic state. Therefore, hypnosis is about expectations. If a person has positive expectations, then they can achieve any thing that they set for themselves but if they are negative, they are more likely to fail at whatever they decide on. Health care practitioners can therefore enhance the well being of their patients by assisting them in increasing their positive expectations. Hypnosis is important in helping sick with psychogenic amnesia or people who have lost their blocked certain memories as a result of traumatic experiences. It has been seen to work well for such patients. Research has shown some cases like child sexual as well as physical abuse can be forgotten. Likewise, evidence of recovery of the memories has also been shown (APA, 2001). At first, when the memory is being got, it presents itself in bits and pieces therefore more sessions with the person have to be conducted so as to help in recovering the memory. Traumatic memories often present themselves in a different manner than ordinary experiences. This is because this form of extreme information can interfere with other brain functions. Studies have suggested that traumatic memories that have been recalled are just as accurate as the traumatic memories that have been forgotten. Case study To examine whether hypnosis is an effective way of facilitating repressed memories, a study was conducted by Widom and Morris in 1998. The study included 23 adults; 12 females and 11 males who had been exposed to childhood abuse experiences and had repressed memory lapse in over 15 years. This group underwent hypnotic therapy for a period of three months (Widom Morris, 1998). From the study, it was seen that the there is a difference in the way of recalling events between the women and the men. The women were willing to share the little pieces of information that they could recall but the men were not. This influenced the hypnotic procedures because little memory was collected on most of the males as compared to the women. As the sessions progressed, there were slight improvements in memory and this can be attributed to the intense impact of the traumatic experiences on the victims as was seem from those who managed to get some of their memory back. At the end of the study period, 53% of the women and 42% of the men had recovered their memory and were satisfied that it as true. A quarter of those studied who managed to get their memory back had rejected their results saying that they may be false while the remaining never really got their memory back but said that so far they were pleased with their lives and would not engage in any other tests. From the study, we can say that hypnosis does work and can help people regain the memory they have lost. As the process was underway, most of the patients had a positive change in their personality as they said that they were more engaged in community activities as they were encouraged by the test takers. At the end of the study period, approximately half of the patients had got their memory back and this shows that if the procedures are done well and for a longer period, then people with previous traumatic incidents that need recovery can gain their memory back. About 25% of the individuals said that they usually kept to them selves and this can be a contributing factor as they do not trust the therapists to help them recover the memory. Various studies have also shown that events in a person’s life influence their behavior as well as interpersonal relations with others. From the above case, the unwillingness of some clients to share basic information limited the process. Some of those who refused said that as much as they wanted to get their memories back, said that it would probably affect them in a negative way. If they did, the numbers would have definitely increased. â€Å"There is conflict between the in formation a person wants to know and what they would like to forget all together. Some people may remember too much too little and this may be good or bad depending on the context they are presented (Herman, 1995). † Nowadays, some people feel that there are not enough scientific research studies to back up the credibility of the various research memories. Others continue to say that one cannot completely tell whether the results got are true or of they are based on what the hypnotist has been telling them. Even when the patient who agrees that the memory that they got was false, their condition can be worse when they suffer Post traumatic Stress Disorder. Some fear the use of hypnotic procedures on children because it would affect them psychologically and this is not helping in improving their situation. †This kind of therapy confuses the mind as a person cannot tell the difference between what is real and imaginative and this has further contributed to the destruction of families (Rivera, 1993). † In addition, they can deny certain memories because of guilt, the need to protect their families or may be reacting according to the stress levels they have been exposed to. The False Memory syndrome Association says that they have a lot of cases that are taken to court have shown that that some therapists are liars as they implant false memories on their patients (Thierry Spence, 2004). With the increase in such cases, some judges refuse getting evidence that has been recovered through hypnotic procedures. â€Å"Such methods of treatment have therefore also not been fully accepted in science as well as psychology (Schacter, 1996). † In 1997, according to the U. S bureau of Justice statistics report on a survey of female inmates in jail, it was found that 36% of them had been abused when they were young and one third of them has been raped they were imprisoned. And further 16 case studies on child abused individuals for comparison was undertaken and it showed that about 15% of them were abused as children. This shows that as much as the experiences can be traumatic, not all of them are forgotten and if, they have been suppressed by the individual but they can be retrieved if proper therapy is used. Individuals can recollect a few things and these bits are necessary in the formation of the bigger picture. The few loopholes in research should not be a foundation for dismissing hypnosis in retrieving repressed memories. People have had serious accidents and this form of therapy has helped some who medication did not help in regaining their memories back. Hypnosis therapy is a powerful mechanism as it enables people to regain memories that they thought they could never regain as well as achieve certain goals they have set for themselves. â€Å"This power and acceptance of hypnosis as a form of therapy is due to the fact that it deals with capabilities which appear to be beyond normal activities (Hopper van der Kolk, 2001). † Moreover, it gives people power to discover their inner being and stop actions such as smoking, drinking and other forms if addictions. Hypnosis also serves as a motivation for people’s engagement in physical activities and aids in reducing stress. This kind of therapy is helping in treating illnesses and certain disorders (De Vos Louw, 2008). Hypnosis is also used as a form of therapy in children as a form of helping in changing their behavior and assisting in improving their health. In addition, hypnosis enhances personality enrichment by improving people’s self esteems, self confidence such that they get the courage to speak out in public when initially they could not. â€Å"Weight loss motivation, healthy eating and exercise, better sleep for people with seeing disorders, controlling anger, and controlling peoples fears among other things (Thierry Spence, 2004). † Reliability and Validity of Research The study was reliable because the results indicated the specific responses of the individuals and since the study sample was small, it was easier to monitor individual progress. This would not have been the case if it were a larger number. Those individuals who were found out to have been sexually abused when they were young said that that was a possibility and most knew the individuals further proving that the results were reliable and valid. In addition, the individuals all showed up for the sessions as required therefore the lack of memory recovery could not be attributed to not attending the sessions. On top of these, no form of biasness was seen as the procedures were made as standard as possible and all variables that needed to be controlled were checked. Conclusion Hypnosis therapy usage is acceptable in society has it has helped a lot of people in more than one way especially in facilitating repressed memories. After all, the main goal of the procedure is to assist in the well being of a person. These form of therapy needs to be supported in increasing its evidentiary weight such that these memories can be used as evidence in the courts of law. Clinicians as well as psychotherapists therefore need to be skilled in this area for them to be able to properly guide the procedure so that the clients can get true memories which are part o their whole being and without them they are not complete. References American Psychological Association (APA) 2001. Understanding Child Sexual Abuse Rivera, Joseph. Trauma searches plant the seed of imagined misery, The Sacramento Bee, May 18, 1993. Herman, J. L. (1995). Crime and memory. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 23, 5-17. H. M. De Vos and D. A. Louw (2008). Hypnosis-induced mental training programmes as a strategy to improve the self-concept of students Vol. 57, No. 2, Higher education journal 2008 Hopper, J. W. , van der Kolk, B. A. (2001). Retrieving, Assessing, and Classifying Traumatic Memories. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, Trauma, 4, 33-71; and Freyd, J. F. , DePrince, A. P. (Editors). Trauma and Cognitive Science (pp. 33-71). Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Richard, S. C. July 1, (1998). The magic of hypnosis: is it childs play? The Journal of Psychology Schacter, Daniel L. (1996). Searching for Memory the brain, the mind, and the past. New York, Basic Books. Thierry, KL, Spence MJ (2004). Contemporary hypnosis Widom, C. S. Morris, S. (1998). Adult recollections of childhood victimization: Childhood sexual abuse. Psychological Assessment, 8, 412-421.

Asian American Essay -- essays research papers

The American Community in the 1900’s to the 1920’s was in fact a totally different generation than its successor not only because of cultural and economic reasons but also because of world events and the rise of technology. Americans in the early 1900’s were a closely knit generation with a sense of community, morals, and obligations. They had an "instilled" set of ideals and values and their lives were very much affected by the rise of technology. Living in America in the early part of the 1900’s was a hard and trying era through such turbulent times as the Great Depression, World War I, and the Industrial Revolution. Such profound and important events happened in a relatively short amount of time. Americans were searching for an identity for their country which was still only less than 200 years old. Big Industry was on the rise slowly and Americans were starting to contend in the growing world market. Throughout American history, people have fought for equality in any shape or form and the mid 1900’s was no exception. Having gone through leaps and bounds in terms of civil rights. The 1920’s to the 1940’s was a transitional period for all Americans and minority groups. During this period of American history, America was one of the most modern countries in the world but still...

Einstein- A Life in Science

This critical account, addresses the life of Albert Einstein, surrounding his remarkable scientific discoveries, unwrapped by the authors Michael White and John Gribbin in a book published in 1993. The book has evoked and attracted great interest from magazines and newspapers. If you have ever wondered what `E=mcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½` means, this is definitely the book for you. The book elaborates one of Einstein's most renowned theories, that of Quantum physics for which he received the infamous Nobel Prize. Einstein used to be a Patent Officer, which he enjoyed because he had a great deal of spare time to accomplish his scientific work. He died on the eighteenth of April 1955. His brain was removed for medical research, which you would find astonishing as it makes one think, would Einstein have really wanted his brain removed? The book explains the theory of relativity (E=mc2), extremely well. The theory was based on two subsequent variables: Firstly, `echoing` which as explained by Newton, was that the speed of light is the same for all observers, irrespective of what their relative speed is. If an American rocket, for example, had a physics lab on board and was launched in one direction, and the same was done with a Japanese rocket, sent off in the opposite direction, any experiments carried out on either rocket would be exactly the same. The second postulate uses Maxwell's equations, which conclude that light is constant so it is written as `c`. This led to Einstein's predictions, which were not `commonsensical.` He predicted that a moving ruler and everything around it shrinks and gets heavier, while a moving clock runs slow. If an observer sees a spaceship going past him at three-quarters of the speed of light, and another one flies in the opposite direction at the same speed, observers in either spaceship will measure the relative speed of the other spaceship as 0.96c, not 1.5c as the time slows down. This shows that the closer a person travels to the speed of light, the slower the time will get. If someone travels at the speed of light, time will stop. `E=mcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½` means that energy is equal to mass at rest. When mass disappears, for example in a nuclear fission process, this amount of energy must appear in some other form. This also tells us the total energy of a particle of mass, `m`, sitting at rest. Einstein formed part of the team working on the atomic bomb. It was calculated that a vast amount of energy released in a fission reaction would be used in an atomic bomb. Einstein agreed to be the spokesman for the scientific community and sign a letter persuading Roosevelt to take action. He was later known as the father of the atomic bomb because of this. The result was devastating. This was against Einstein's pacifist views but he had no choice as the Nazis could build the bomb if the allies did not. Since then, the Americans and Russians have been racing in warfare. The atomic bomb was built by the USA. The Russians followed. It was an arms race between the Democratic and Communist world. The USA made the hydrogen bomb, Russia eventually caught up. Then the USA built the nuclear bomb. Several other countries built the nuclear bomb too. His strong pacifist views and political views also made him a marvellous person with the public. Einstein A Life in Science is an excellent book and is worth recommending to those who are curious about what `E=mcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½` means. It is fascinating to learn that Einstein based his work on the remarkable achievements made by other scientists such as Newton and Maxwell. I would recommend this book to the older audience, particularly to those who have an interest in relativity and quantum physics. This is a very interesting book, which I enjoyed reading because there is a lot to learn about Einstein's life and his incredible work. One should not get put off by looking at the thickness of the book and the small print writing. Once you get into this book, you will not want to stop reading. Overall, I do not think this book explains the science very clearly. I had to read through the special theory of relativity twice before I understood the concept clearly. This book needs to be more concise so the reader can understand the concept more easily because it can be confusing at times. The language used in this book is at a high level, so the younger audience will find it hard to understand the concept. On the other hand, the variety of sentence structures stops the reader from getting bored. This book is a great example to people as the message is that if one works to their utmost potential, they can achieve a lot.

Comm essay

The council members consist of Mayor Adam Sanchez, Mayor Pro Tem Russell Beets and council members, Joe McKee, Jan Rye, and Scott Mats. Eric Johnson s a consultant with Revenue Cost Specialist; he discusses his company and matches costs with revenue. Within twenty-five years he's worked in over two hundred agencies and five different states. It started with two city managers after the passage of proposition 4 and 13, in which they saw the need for cities to be able to match up the cost with their revenues.Proposition 13 limits what can be done with taxes, compared to Proposition 4, which allows fees. â€Å"You are not going to stay in business very long if you don't know what revenues you are bringing in verses what cost you are bringing' said Johnson ruing his brief presentation. In his introduction, Eric mentioned questions such as ‘What services are being provided to the public? † Who's providing those services? † and â€Å"What does that cost? † With tha t being said he went through and made adjustments to public fees and some have gone up as well as down.Although, I am not too aware of what exactly was being discussed, these questions definitely made me think about how money is being spent. I may not be familiar with certain topics, however I do pay taxes and I should make it a priority to be involved and know exactly where my money is being invested. It's up to the city council to decide how fees are paid, but it is our tax money that is being used so it is important to be aware of these decisions. Another topic that was brought up was the mural; the public does not agree that it takes eight hours to approve a mural.The city manager Martin States the benefits, salaries, and overhead cost are included, then a staff report along with an agenda that is published by the adman assistant is sent to the commission. The city council claims it is the true cost for the current staffing that they have to process one application to go to the commission. Larry Ken has complained several times about the meeting taking to long to process a mural, as he is talking he is cut off and does not appreciate that he is being rushed as he states his concerns.The council uses the â€Å"save a pet mural† to demonstrate the steps that take place, for example sometimes a meeting with the chair is necessary and furthermore the artist themselves to discuss numbers etc. Another topic that was brought up was the cost of business license, so many people work out of their homes and many are complaining that they are not being paid due to high prices. Currently, if you do not have a business location in the city and your business is in Palm Springs and your doing landscaping in Desert Hot Springs it is double the business license fee.A city council member is concerned to whether this is reasonable and how it is being monitored. Some cities do not even require a business license, however DISH has a business license tax per ordinance. In closing, it was brought up amongst the council that city matters are better off handling administratively to avoid public hearings. As council members or mayors they eve a tendency to get over involved in city business instead of referring to staff, which would make it much easier to conduct city business.Council member McKee feels it is necessary to be friendly to the people that live there as well as the businesses. There are several things that need to be reduced such as the event fee, mural fees, and possibly get rid of the garage sales fee. However it is argued that if the garage sales fee is removed perhaps residents will try to make it and everyday event, then again it should not be a fee everyone has to pay. Business licenses need to be simplified and made a lot heaper so it will encourage people actually to get them rather than avoid them.As a city council, a policy should be made every three years compared to seven years, this is for good management and to be aware Of whe re money is being spent due to current budget issues. I'm glad we had this assignment it gave me a different perspective to how important I am as a resident. I pay taxes yet I am not even aware fatwa they are being used for, that alone is a main concern of mine. I've become more interested in what goes on in my own city, and plan to go to the next council meeting that is held.Some of the arguments that were brought up were reasonable but some also did not have enough evidence to back up their statement. It is important to do research before you speak because council members are not afraid to cut you off based on how much information that must be covered in such a short period of time. It is not in a sense to be rude, however with so much to discuss it is important to Stay on track and take more time on the bigger issues going on. As a city we should all be more involved and voice our opinions that is one of the reasons why these meetings are held to begin with.

Types of Tone in Writing Help to Set the Right Mood in Your Paper

Types of Tone in Writing Help to Set the Right Mood in Your Paper Nine Types of Tone in Writing The question if there a tone in writing and how to choose the right one may seem to be easy but the answers van be rather complex. Speaking in simple language, tone in writing is the way writer chooses particular words or word combinations in order to convey observations relevant to the discussed subject in a non-verbal manner. Tone helps to provide facts with a certain attitude using emotions and writer’s personal perspective. It helps to create a unique atmosphere. Usually writer uses the tone interchangeably. Types of tone in writing are different. The voice of a writer refers to their personality perspective. Writers use the tone with an aim to convey their personal attitude regarding the topic they write about. In case a writer combines the tone together with the voice, it can be considered a particular writing style; and the writer has a full right to call it his own unique style. Popular Nine Types of Tone in Writing Any attitude, emotion, or perspective can be considered a basis for a particular writing tone. If a writer is willing to come up with an adjective, it can be considered a tone. In other words, if you perceive the tone as something specific, you will be willing to use an infinite number of them. Of course it seems too complex to start creating your own types of tone. That is why writing tones have been divided into nine main types. Below you will be able to get to know about them in more detail. Joyful tome. When you choose it, you need to focus on good emotions. When you drink or eat something that you enjoy, you feel happy. When you are overwhelmed with love, you feel happy. Writers apply this writing tone In order to describe the happy feelings and create positive experience between their characters and readers. Serious tone. Writers create a certain level of suspense within their reader when they use this tone. It helps to increase readers’ focus and perceive the text with all seriousness. Humorous tone. This tone does more than just making readers laugh. Sometimes, humorous tone is use to make people contemplate about complex subjects in a safe way. Usually writers draw their readers into a particular story with the aim of engaging them with facts or points of view that seem to be important for the writer. Sad writing tone. People feel sad sometime. This feeling is inevitable for us. Most often, sad moments help to define who you are. Sad tone in writing helps readers to remain engaged with the story because of the felling of sympathy. Formal tone.It is used in academic writing in most case. Structural language as well as facts are used in this tone. Usually personal opinion is not required in format tone. Informal tone. The main objective of this tone is to remain informal. This tone can be conversational. Optimistic tone. Despite of all bad things that occur on a daily basis some people tend to think positive. The above statement can be an example of positive writing tone. Pessimistic tone. All bad things that people experience in their life do not make them think that something will change for better. This statement is a good example of pessimistic tone in writing. Horror tone. It is threatening in its very nature. It addresses all people’s fears and makes them face their scariest thoughts. Now you know everything about nine writing tones. However, it does not mean that you need to use only them. You are free to create your own tones and develop them. You cannot describe a character who is optimistic all the time because it will not look realistic. Remain flexible and use different tones in writing. You should also remember that the book, the narrative or a short story should have its general tone. If you overuse different tones in one writing, the reader may get confused and he/she will simply fail to understand what you want to explain. So, be careful with the writing tones. That is why it is crucial to get acquainted with writing tones prior you decide to start writing your story or novel. When you choose the appropriate style and tone of writing, it will be easier for you to communicate with the potential reader. You will convey everything you want with ease and the reader will feel the connection with the characters.

Cash payment made on quarterly or semi-annual basic by company to its shareholders. The WritePass Journal

Cash payment made on quarterly or semi-annual basic by company to its shareholders. Cash payment made on quarterly or semi-annual basic by company to its shareholders. IntroductionIs the company’s dividend policy irrelevant to its market value?Bird-in-the-handReferenceRelated Introduction A dividend is a distribution of after-tax profit. It is a cash payment made on quarterly or semi-annual basic by company to its shareholders. At the end of the each financial year every company has to decide (dividend decision) how much amount of earning to be retained by the company and how much amount to be distributed to shareholders. The dividend decision is important because it affects the amount of internally sourced finance available and also affects the return received by shareholders on the shares.  Once the company decided to pay dividends, they may establish a somewhat permanent dividend policy, which may show the impact of the investors and the financial markets. Establishing a specific  dividend  policy  is to the advantage of both the company and the shareholder. The distribution of dividends requires the approval of the board of directors and paid out to shareholders a few weeks later. There are several dates between the times the board declares the dividend un til the dividend is actually paid. The first date of note is the declaration date which the board of director declares the time or date is announced. The next date of note is ex-dividend date which time investors must have bought the stock to receive the dividend. The investor, who buying the stock after ex-dividend date is not receiving any dividend, record date, is a few days after the ex-dividend date the company close its stock transfer books and make up a list of the shareholder, who will receive the dividend. The final step is payment date which the checks of dividend will send to the shareholders. There are different types of dividend, which are cash or as additional stock which increase the number of shares outstanding and generally reduce the price per share, regular dividend which is paid at regular intervals, or a special dividend which is paid in addition to regular dividend and liquidating dividend which are excess of the retained earning they show on their book. There exist four main types of dividend policy theories Modigliani and Miller (1961) dividend Irrelevancy theory, Linter and Gordon (bird-in-the-hand) Theory, Signalling properties of dividend and clientele effect. Is the company’s dividend policy irrelevant to its market value? One of the financial theorists (Miller and Modigliani, 1961) provides a proposition for dividend policy irrelevance. They assume that perfect capital markets, meaning no taxes or transaction costs exist, the market price has many buyer or seller, and there is costless and feely access to information. Modigliani and Miller state that dividend policy was not one of the determinants of share price .Share value is independent of the level of dividend paid. A firm pay dividend is irrelevant and those stockholders are indifferent about receiving dividend. For example, from the aspect of investor, that the company paid too big dividend, investor could buy more share with the dividend that is over the investor’s expectations. Similarly if the company paid too little dividend, an investor could sell some of the company’s share to reflect the cash flow their expected. Market value of company its cost of capital is independent of its capital structure. According to their argument dividend policy is unaffected and irrelevance of market share price .Should the company pay out to its shareholders or retain that money to make new project. Modigliani and Millers dividend-irrelevance theory says that investors can affect their return on a stock regardless of the stocks dividend Residual Policy Modigliani and Miller argued that financial objective is maximise shareholder wealth when the share price is maximised. Shareholders are indifferent between dividends and capital gain. Company is used M M Residual dividend policy when a company undertake all positive NPV project and paid out the residual as dividend. Alternatively a company with not enough funds to invest new project, paid no dividend and the additional funds can obtain from outside sources. They were arguing that if company followed the best investment policy the value of company is irrelevance to its dividend policy. They also argue that shareholders are also indifferent to the timing of dividend payment because if there were no dividends the market value of company would increase to reflect as future dividend and share price is also increasing resulting from the returns of investment. A dividend policy is irrelevant because shareholders have the ability to create â€Å"homemade† dividends that mean that ca pital gain is not perfect suitable for dividend in cash flow terms. This income is achieved by individuals adjusting their personal portfolios to reflect their own preferences. For example some shareholders prefer to get steady of income are more likely to invest in bonds, which interest payment don’t change ,rather than dividend –paying stock, which value can fluctuate. Bird-in-the-hand On the other hands, Lintner (1962) and Gordon (1963) believe that company dividend policies are relevant to their share price. Under conditions of uncertainty and imperfect capital market ,he argued â€Å"bird-in-the-hand† theory that investor can reduce the financial risk associated with their investment if the return is received in the form of dividend earlier, rather than capital gain or higher dividends later. On this analysis, current dividend represent less risky than future capital gain. Therefore, company paying higher dividend will be more worth than company paying lower dividend. Dividend policy is one of the importance factors of determining share price. Gorden argued that the payment of current dividends â€Å"determine investor uncertainty†. The key assumption, as argued by Lintner and Gordon, is that because of the less risky nature dividends, shareholders and investors will discount the firm’s dividend stream at a lower rate of return, â€Å"râ₠¬ , thus increasing the value of the firm’s shares. According to dividend growth model, the value of an ordinary share, Po is given by: Po=D1/(r-g) Where the constant dividend growth rate is denoted by g, r is the investor’s required rate of return and D1, represent the next dividend payments. Thus the lower r is in relation to the value of dividend payment D1, the greater the share’s value. In the investor’s view, according to Linter and Gordon, r the return from the dividend, is less risky than the future growth rate g. oppapers.com/eassys/Bird-In-Hand/536314 Signalling effect of dividend This theory argued that financial information is asymmetric and managers will always know more than shareholders about the future financial prospects of the company. The dividend declared can be interpreted as a signal from directors to shareholders about the strength of underlying project cash flows. Increasing dividend is usually seen as good news, indicating that the company has positive prospects. The theory of dividend signalling has usually refers to a cash distribution of retain earnings. jstor.org/pss/2328393 Reference Watson, D. and Head, A. (2010) Corporate finance Principles Practice.5th edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Overview of Alice Munros The Turkey Season

Overview of Alice Munros The Turkey Season Alice Munros The Turkey Season was first published in the December 29, 1980, issue of The New Yorker. It was later included in Munros 1982 collection, The Moons of Jupiter, and in 1996s Selected Stories. The Globe and Mail calls The Turkey Season one of Munros very best stories. Plot In the story, the adult narrator looks back at a time in the late 1940s when, at age 14, she took a job as a turkey gutter for the Christmas season. The story goes into great detail about the various other workers at the Turkey Barn Herb Abbott, the mysterious and alluring supervisor; two middle-aged sisters, Lily and Marjorie, skillful gutters who take pride in never letting their husbands come near them; cheerful Irene, young, pregnant, and belatedly married; Henry, who periodically drinks whisky from his thermos and who, at age 86, is still a devil for work; Morgan, the rough-edged owner; Morgy, his teenage son; Gladys, Morgans fragile sister, who brings her own soap to prevent allergies, frequently calls in sick, and is   rumored to have suffered a nervous breakdown. Finally, there is Brian, a crass, lazy newcomer. Eventually, Brians rude behavior goes too far. Munro never tells us exactly what his offense is, but the narrator enters the barn after school one day to find Morgan screaming at Brian not only to leave the barn but also to leave town entirely. Morgan calls him filthy and a pervert and a maniac. Meanwhile, Gladys is said to be recuperating. The story concludes some days later with the strange camaraderie of the Turkey Barn crew celebrating their last delivery on Christmas Eve. They are all drinking rye whiskey even Morgy and the narrator. Morgan presents everyone with a bonus turkey the deformed ones that are missing a wing or a leg and thus cant be sold but at least hes taking one home himself, too. When the party is over, snow is falling. Everyone heads home, with Marjorie, Lily, and the narrator linking arms as if we were old comrades, singing, Im Dreaming of a White Christmas. Thematic Threads As we might expect from an Alice Munro story, The Turkey Season yields new layers of meaning with every reading. One particularly interesting theme in the story involves, quite simply, work. Munro spares us no details of the raw job at hand, describing the turkeys, plucked and stiffened, pale and cold, with the heads and necks limp, the eyes and nostrils clotted with blood. She also highlights the conflict between manual labor and intellectual labor. The narrator explains that she took the job to prove she was capable of manual work because thats what the people around her valued, as opposed to the things I was good at, like schoolwork, which were suspect or held in plain contempt. This conflict mirrors the tension between Lily and Marjorie, comfortable with the work of gutting, and Gladys, who used to work in a bank and who seems to find manual labor beneath her. Another intriguing theme in the story involves the definition and enforcement of gender roles. The women in the story have clear ideas about the ways in which women should behave, though their opinions often contradict each other. They openly disapprove of each others perceived transgressions, and when they do agree on standards, they become almost competitive about whos better fulfilling them. All of the women seem uniformly drawn to the character of Herb Abbott precisely because of his ambiguous sexuality. He doesnt meet any of their gender stereotypes, and thus he becomes an endless source of fascination for them, a puzzle to be solved. (You can read more about the way Munro establishes Herbs elusive character in Ambiguity in Alice Munros The Turkey Season.) Though it would be possible to read The Turkey Season as a story about Herbs sexual orientation, I think its really a story about the other characters fixation on Herbs sexuality, their discomfort with ambiguity, and their obsessive need to fix the label.

Land Use Element in San Marcos Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Land Use Element in San Marcos - Research Paper Example Long term goals influence short term goals for example, in the private investment or specific plans. There are many advantages of this plan of San Marcos in that land use has considered the type of location. San Marcos location is a proximity away from good neighborhoods. Land use will ensure economic growth as San Marcos will have inhabitants who will conduct business or promote one. In addition, with new inhabitants so does need of education creep in, making San Marco an educational hub. However, this close proximity to a lot of neighborhoods enhnaces lack of privacy and a high population which comes with competition of resources. San Marcos modern areas are full of natural habitat like wildlife, agriculture and vernal pools. This is advantageous in that the sigh provides aesthetic relief, attracts rainfall and is thus encouraged and maintained. The main significant reason for leaving an open space and conservation are in san Marcos is that it makes it easy for individuals living there to identify the natural habitat, historical background of the area and the culture of the people. San Marco’s suburbs are intentionally packed with open space which has natural habitat. This is to set aside the rich and mighty from the rest of the town giving them the needed privacy. Moreover, the open space ensures a high quality of air away from polluted air of the cities. Open space and conservation will enhance the quality of living by staring with the air that residents breathe whci is qu;laity air. Its aesthetic beauty is also amazing Convesresely, even though the space is good for air and beauty open space widens the gap between the rich and the poor. This further drives the peole in different ways thus lack of unity. San Marco housing strives to deliver secure, but cheap housing for the community.

H.W Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

H.W - Essay Example At least, security glasses, scientists jacket, long jeans, shut toe shoes, and gloves are obliged when working with particularly risky substances. Business mixtures, trademarked items and so forth should be joined by a part of the Office of Environmental and Occupational Safety if the compound constituents are not promptly identifiable from the name of the item or from the data on the items bundling label. Contaminated Personal Protective Equipment and garments must be discarded or disinfected before expulsion from the assigned work territory. While little spots of sullying may be cleaned in the lab, horribly sullied protective outer layers might need to be discarded as dry risky waste. Quick measures must be accessible to keep the conceivable spread of sullying in the occasion of a little spill of an Particularly perilous substance. Permeable materials and clean up materials ought to be accessible in all research facilities sufficient to hold and clean people and supplies and zones. Any known spills must be held and disinfected at the earliest opportunity. In the occasion of a substantial spill that is past a lab bunches prompt reaction abilities, the accompanying strategies ought to be taken after: Specifically risky substances must be put away in an assigned range and utilized as a part of a way that will minimize the danger of unintentional discharge (e.g., topped firmly, utilization of concoction safe optional regulation, at whatever point conceivable). Lab staff ought to expel chemicals from capacity just as required and return them to capacity when handy. Extra prerequisites for the safe stockpiling of a particular synthetic may be found in the makers directions. At the point when transporting chemicals past the quick the earth, compartments ought to be secured from breakage by utilizing a jug transporter or other compelling regulation. Research centers and rooms

What are Innovation management critical success factors Research Paper

What are Innovation management critical success factors - Research Paper Example Breakthroughs rarely survive without a strong and working decision making model. This model should differ with the model used in incremental innovation (Soni, 2009). It has become increasingly clear that old models rarely work (Trott, 2005). Technology dependent decision making systems have the weakness of failing to engage the vital stakeholders. Automation in decision making causes consensus to be hard to obtain (Aledda, 2010). Therefore, a health decision making system seldom works without a champion who can engage teams and make decisions to enhance mutual progress. Successful organizations that are known to drive innovation in their projects have a blind commitment to the consumer tastes and preferences (Aledda, 2010). They are known to have a slave like dedication to the concerns of the consumers. Innovation management demands that high quality marketing plans and action to be taken with an aim have a higher rate of success with it come to consumer response (Albers, 2004). Market studies show that such products are blessed with double success rates and over 70 per cent high share in the market than those with poor marketing strategies (Palthe, 2006). Therefore, marketing has a place in the management of innovation (Afuah, 2003). A strong customer focus and marketing orientation is noticeably lacking in the modern business conduct what new products launch. Delivering a differentiated product with unique customer benefit with a strong appeal to clients is one of the success factors in innovation. Superior products have a significant influence i n the management of innovation (Morel & Hosni, 2005). It is said to meet customer need in a better way compared to ordinary non competitive products. Superior products have a high success rate and stronger appeal to customers unlike products that lack this ingredient. Not many firms can point to the facets of the new products that show uniqueness of their new products

Internet Marketing College Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Internet Marketing College - Article Example The Internet is a global network for many networks connecting millions and millions of computers together. Today, the internet has become an integral part of business, of our environment, and even of our personal life. The article speaks about marketing in the internet environment and ways to improve internet marketing during peak seasons of sales in a world of competitive environment where everybody would want to lead the race. As this is the festive season, most of the shopping for the season has already started and consumers would like to order gifts online due to the ease of shopping and at the same lack of time to go out and do shopping in the real world. In such a scenario, most of the online shopping website owners would start dressing up their web pages in the most attractive way to attract the maximum number of customers. Internet marketing, if properly exploited can be an effective marketing tool. Strategies which suit the e-business environment need to be framed and implemented. As stated in the article, in order to increase web traffic online marketers need to change the presentation of their website on par with other competitors. Instead of using the traditional methods of designing the home page of the website, they need to innovative in their approach. They also need to introduce special offers like free shipping, combo products, bog off sales etc. Such attempts will definitely help increase we traffic. E-business can create value for organizations if they continuously use new technology to improve their marketing system and if customer expectations are continuously met. The Internet can be used to build long-term relationships with customers. With the evolution of the Internet, the customer today has become more knowledgeable. Companies must recognize the fact that most consumers can compare prices of products from various companies within minutes on the Internet. Therefore, the companies can either compete on price or convince the user of superior quality, but under all circumstances, they must aim to deliver what they promise. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the website is the first thing that is to be done in order to get more traffic to the website. It is not a kind of rocket science to advance search engine optimization. However, it is not something which can be achieved just by repeating key words or key phrases constantly. An optimum balance is required in order to achieve the optimization. A major advantage of free or paid submission of websites to search engines is available these days. Websites or blogs can be submitted to search engines. Marking the presence into as many possible search engines is always better. This helps to get noticed by the maximum number of visitors as possible in various search engines. The higher one gets noticed, the higher is the scope of increased traffic. Taking advantage of the social media websites is another method of attracting customers which in turn may lead to increased sales. With the advent of Information Technology over the recent past, the way online business is developing has drastically changed. Currently, many internet marketers have started using social media as one of their important marketing tools in order to promote their online businesses in competition with other players in the e-market. The efforts of online marketing not only influence the service quality and the quality of the product but

Billy Budd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Billy Budd - Essay Example As a result, he becomes popular at the main and sub-areas within the ship. Not known to many, this becomes a pivotal point for the problems. Despite Melville presenting an array of ideas about Billy Bud, the paper focuses on his intent to portray Melville as an influenced innocent person. The hindsight shows how Melville tries to guide readers into resolving the paradox. Arguably, Billy is affable, and the striking good look opens his doors for association with different people. He has not traversed the world, but can control the surrounding environment by attracting people with different looks. Based on the novel, he has never confronted evil at twenty-one years of age making him a saint rather than a sinner (Melville 25). The disturbing perception attracts reader’s attention. Nevertheless, in ordinary circumstances, nobody in the real world has failed to confront sin even at ten years. Many people kill small animals, hull abuses or even disregard their parent’s advice to do contrary things. Therefore, this prompts readers on how one remains innocent from a tender age to middle youth positions. It is unimaginable how one can reach the peak of his youthful age without making any wrong. From this perspective, Billy’s background raises many questions; however, this stops with Melville’s details. Apart from the perception that Billy Bud is innocent and has never done anything to affect his life. He also brings on board the good looks as a factor contributing to his problems. As a result of the charming and good look, many people around him like him. In this regards, Melville paints him as a good person who does not cause any problem except for the good looks. Because of the naivety, he believes everybody likes him and always him wish the best. Evidently, this perception remains adamant in a major part of the story where, Melville uses his knowledge to portray the good looks as a virtue (Melville 29). Certainly, the turn of events is imminent when Billy

Internet Marketing College Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Internet Marketing College - Article Example The Internet is a global network for many networks connecting millions and millions of computers together. Today, the internet has become an integral part of business, of our environment, and even of our personal life. The article speaks about marketing in the internet environment and ways to improve internet marketing during peak seasons of sales in a world of competitive environment where everybody would want to lead the race. As this is the festive season, most of the shopping for the season has already started and consumers would like to order gifts online due to the ease of shopping and at the same lack of time to go out and do shopping in the real world. In such a scenario, most of the online shopping website owners would start dressing up their web pages in the most attractive way to attract the maximum number of customers. Internet marketing, if properly exploited can be an effective marketing tool. Strategies which suit the e-business environment need to be framed and implemented. As stated in the article, in order to increase web traffic online marketers need to change the presentation of their website on par with other competitors. Instead of using the traditional methods of designing the home page of the website, they need to innovative in their approach. They also need to introduce special offers like free shipping, combo products, bog off sales etc. Such attempts will definitely help increase we traffic. E-business can create value for organizations if they continuously use new technology to improve their marketing system and if customer expectations are continuously met. The Internet can be used to build long-term relationships with customers. With the evolution of the Internet, the customer today has become more knowledgeable. Companies must recognize the fact that most consumers can compare prices of products from various companies within minutes on the Internet. Therefore, the companies can either compete on price or convince the user of superior quality, but under all circumstances, they must aim to deliver what they promise. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the website is the first thing that is to be done in order to get more traffic to the website. It is not a kind of rocket science to advance search engine optimization. However, it is not something which can be achieved just by repeating key words or key phrases constantly. An optimum balance is required in order to achieve the optimization. A major advantage of free or paid submission of websites to search engines is available these days. Websites or blogs can be submitted to search engines. Marking the presence into as many possible search engines is always better. This helps to get noticed by the maximum number of visitors as possible in various search engines. The higher one gets noticed, the higher is the scope of increased traffic. Taking advantage of the social media websites is another method of attracting customers which in turn may lead to increased sales. With the advent of Information Technology over the recent past, the way online business is developing has drastically changed. Currently, many internet marketers have started using social media as one of their important marketing tools in order to promote their online businesses in competition with other players in the e-market. The efforts of online marketing not only influence the service quality and the quality of the product but

Factors influencing students' choice towards private universities Research Paper

Factors influencing students' choice towards private universities - Research Paper Example Malaysian universities offered similar facilities in their colleges at a much lower cost with the sole aim of luring in the students going to Australia and New Zealand for higher studies. The Klang Valley region in Malaysia, also known as the Kaula Lumpur Metropolitan, became the hub many foreign students visiting the country for higher studies. There are nearly 7.5 million people in this region with ample number of students. At present there are over 8000 foreign students in the area. The Klang valley is connected to its neighbouring suburbs and cities through well structured RapidKL Light Rail Transit (LRT) and various other road and rail services. The infrastructure of the area is highly responsible for its flourishing trade and increasing number of HEIs in the area. Klang Valley can be reached easily from any part of Kaula Lampur and the adjoining cities. Malaysia has over 16 private universities and more than 4 foreign collaboration universities. Most of them are situated in the Klang Valley region of the Selangor state. The number of foreign students in the country increase from just hundreds in 1990’s to more than 12500 in 1999 after the introduction of the Higher Education Act in 1996. The Malaysian government’s liberalization policy in education attracted both foreign students and local students equally. However, foreign students who had more choices were targeted specifically by the HEI's in Malaysia. The private universities in Malaysia were mostly small self-financing colleges until the early 1990's. They grew massively like mushrooms in a rainy season only by mid-1990. The IT revolution which transformed the economy of many eastern countries was partly responsible for this. The...From the student perspective they are wide variety of technology oriented courses starting from 6 months duration to full-fledged management courses ranging for nearly three years or more. They feel the courses offered in the Malaysian universities are much e asier to complete as the teaching method is more or less similar to the Korean education system. Whereas the western universities offer only selected courses and limited time to complete the same in student visa. Further, the academic standards expected by the Western universities are also very high. Obtaining a degree from the foreign collaboration university in Malaysia is much easier than studying directly in the western countries and it still gives them a competitive edge over others having degrees from domestic universities. Culture, cost and the chances to win better jobs easily are the three main push factors attracting high number of Korean students towards the Malaysian HEIs.

Small Basic and Programming Essay Example for Free

Small Basic and Programming Essay Computer Programming is defined as the process of creating computer software using programming languages. Just like we speak and understand English or Spanish or French, computers can understand programs written in certain languages. These are called programming languages. In the beginning there were just a few programming languages and they were really easy to learn and comprehend. But as computers and software became more and more sophisticated, programming languages evolved fast, gathering more complex concepts along the way. As a result most modern programming languages and their concepts are pretty challenging to grasp by a beginner. This fact has started discouraging people from learning or attempting computer programming. Small Basic is a programming language that is designed to make programming extremely easy, approachable and fun for beginners. Small Basic’s intention is to bring down the barrier and serve as a stepping stone to the amazing world of computer programming. The Small Basic Environment Let us start with a quick introduction to the Small Basic Environment. When you first launch SmallBasic, you will see a window that looks like the following figure. Figure 1 The Small Basic Environment This is the Small Basic Environment, where we’ll write and run our Small Basic programs. This environment has several distinct elements which are identified by numbers. The Editor, identified by [1] is where we will write our Small Basic programs. When you open a sample program or a previously saved program, it will show up on this editor. You can then modify it and save if for later use. You can also open and work with more than one program at one time. Each program you are working with will be displayed in a separate editor. The editor that contains the program you are currently working with is called the active editor. The Toolbar, identified by [2] is used to issue commands either to the active editor or the environment. We’ll learn about the various commands in the toolbar as we go. The Surface, identified by [3] is the place where all the editor windows go. Our First Program Now that you are familiar with the Small Basic Environment, we will go ahead and start programming in it. Like we just noted above, the editor is the place where we write our programs. So let’s go ahead and type the following line in the editor. TextWindow.WriteLine(Hello World) This is our first Small Basic program. And if you have typed it correctly, you should see something similar to the figure below. Figure 2 First Program Now that we have typed our new program, let’s go ahead and run it to see what happens. We can run our program either by clicking on the Run button on the toolbar or by using the shortcut key, F5 on the keyboard. If everything goes well, our program should run with the result as shown below. Figure 3 First Program Output Congratulations! You have just written and run the first Small Basic program. A very small and simple program, but nevertheless a big step towards becoming a real computer programmer! Now, there’s just one more detail to cover before we go on to create bigger programs. We have to understand what just happened – what exactly did we tell the computer and how did the computer know what to do? In the next chapter, we’ll analyze the program we just wrote, so we can gain that understanding. As you typed your first program, you might have noticed that a popup appeared with a list of items (Figure 4). This is called â€Å"intellisense† and it helps you type your program faster. You can traverse that list by pressing the Up/Down arrow keys, and when you find something you want, you can hit the Enter key to insert the selected item in your program. Figure 4 Intellisense Saving our program If you want to close Small Basic and come back later to work on the program you just typed, you can save the program. It is in fact a good practice to save programs from time to time, so that you don’t lose information in the event of an accidental shutdown or a power failure. You can save the current program by either clicking on the â€Å"save† icon on the toolbar or by using the shortcut â€Å"Ctrl+S† (press the S key while holding down the Ctrl key). Chapter 2 Understanding Our First Program What really is a computer program? A program is a set of instructions for the computer. These instructions tell the computer precisely what to do, and the computer always follows these instructions. Just like people, computers can only follow instructions if specified in a language they can understand. These are called programming languages. There are very many languages that the computer can understand and Small Basic is one. Imagine a conversation happening between you and your friend. You and your friends would use words, organized as sentences to convey information back and forth. Similarly, programming languages contain collections of words that can be organized into sentences that convey information to the computer. And programs are basically sets of sentences (sometimes just a few and sometimes many thousands) that together make sense to both the There are many languages that the computer programmer and the computer alike. can understand. Java, C++, Python, VB, etc. are all powerful modern computer languages that Small Basic Programs are used to develop simple to complex software A typical Small Basic program consists of a bunch programs. of statements. Every line of the program represents a statement and every statement is an instruction for the computer. When we ask the computer to execute a Small Basic program, it takes the program and reads the first statement. It understands what we’re trying to say and then executes our instruction. Once it’s done executing our first statement, it comes back to the program and reads and executes the second line. It continues to do so until it reaches the end of the program. That is when our program finishes. Back to Our First Program Here is the first program we wrote: TextWindow.WriteLine(Hello World) This is a very simple program that consists of one statement. That statement tells the computer to write a line of text which is Hello World, into the Text Window. It literally translates in the computer’s mind to: Write Hello World You might have already noticed that the statement can in turn be split into smaller segments much like sentences can be split into words. In the first statement we have 3 distinct segments: a) TextWindow b) WriteLine c) â€Å"Hello World† The dot, parentheses and the quotes are all punctuations that have to be placed at appropriate positions in the statement, for the computer to understand our intent. You might remember the black window that appeared when we ran our first program. That black window is called the TextWindow or sometimes referred to as the Console. That is where the result of this program goes. TextWindow, in our program, is called an object. There are a number of such objects available for us to use in our programs. We can perform several different operations on these objects. We’ve already used theWriteLine operation in our program. You might also have noticed that the WriteLine operation is followed by Hello World inside quotes. This text is passed as input Punctuations such as quotes, spaces and to the WriteLine operation, which it then prints parenthesis are very important in a computer out to the user. This is called an input to the program. Based on their position and count, operation. Some operations take one or more they can change the meaning of what is being inputs while others don’t take any expressed. Our Second Program Now that you have understood our first program, let’s go ahead and make it fancier by adding some colors. TextWindow.ForegroundColor = Yellow TextWindow.WriteLine(Hello World) Figure 5 Adding Colors When you run the above program, you’ll notice that it prints out the same â€Å"Hello World† phrase inside TextWindow, but this time it prints it out in yellow instead of the gray that it did earlier. Figure 6 Hello World in Yellow Notice the new statement we added to our original program. It uses a new word, ForegroundColor which we equated to a value of â€Å"Yellow.† This means we’ve assigned â€Å"Yellow† to ForegroundColor. Now, the difference between ForegroundColor and the operation WriteLine is that ForegroundColor did not take any inputs nor did it need any parenthesis. Instead it was followed by an equals to symbol and a word. We define ForegroundColor as a Property of TextWindow. Here is a list of values that are valid for the ForegroundColor property. Try replacing â€Å"Yellow† with one of these and see the results – don’t forget the quotes, they are required punctuations.

Leadership Style Of Richard Branson And Steve Jobs Commerce Essay

Leadership Style Of Richard Branson And Steve Jobs Commerce Essay This essay is required to conduct a better understanding of leadership styles (transactional and transformational leadership styles) from researching on Richard Branson and Steve Jobs success, and discuss about different types of changes (incremental and radical changes) may occur in an organisation in order to learn change management methods can be applied to a real case (Virgin Group). Although both of the excellent leaders exhibit characteristics of both transactional and transformational leadership styles, this essay will identify Steve Jobs as a transactional leader and Richard Branson as a transformational leader with three reasons for each statement. Changes are inevitable for all kinds of organizations and business. This essay will share and identify six examples (incremental and radical) of changes for each leader (three examples each type). At last, this essay will discuss the concepts of change management and explain Kotters 8-Step Change Model by applying to a real case (Virgin Group). Transactional Leadership VS Transformational Leadership Good leadership is the key to the success of an organization. Transactional leadership is performance-oriented and transformational leadership is people-oriented. To be more specific, transactional leadership involves contingent reinforcement to monitor and justify followers performances by using reward and punishment, while transformational leadership tends to inspire and motivate the followers loyalty and concentration by leaders charisma. Steve Jobs as Transactional Leader Transactional leaders characteristic behaviours are: (Barbuto, 2005) Contingent Reward Contingent reward is actually a usual way that most of the managers use to motivate teams, create positive competition and improve effectiveness. Steve Jobs had the impressive ability to notice talent and active employees and allocate them to the right place within the company. Each year, Jobs took his top 100 people on a retreat. It is not only a reward as a vacation, but also an acknowledgement from STEVE JOBS! In my opinion, acknowledgements from successful genius would be the best reward for my hard working. Management by exception Transactional leaders take actions based on the exceptions (performance) of the employees. Steve Jobs categorised his followers as either geniuses or bozos, and quickly firing those who fall in the latter camp (Greene-Blose, 2012). Another characteristic of transactional leadership would be the desire for control which is typical Steve Jobs style. His favourite presentation tools were a whiteboard and a Magic Marker, which gives him fully control in the conference. After his reinventing Apple, Jobs had several weeks of product review sessions. Finally he run out of patience and shouted the team to stop, grabbed a Magic Marker to the white board and wrote down four words: Consumer, Pro., Desktop and Portable. Then he said:Here is what we need! (Isaacson, 2012) This is Steve Jobs, full of power and passion, who gave clear incentives and strategies to his followers with his wisdom and visions. Richard Branson as Transformational Leader Transformational leaders characteristic behaviours are: (Barbuto, 2005) Idealized influence Richard Branson has become a role model for his followers inside or outside of his Virgin Empire by his own passionate and fearless life style. With his own words, You want to create something you are proud ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ That has always been my philosophy of business (Branson), Richard Branson broke many world records such as the fastest recorded Atlantic crossing by boat, the first Atlantic crossing by hot-air balloon, etc. He proved that anything is possible to his followers and the rest of the world with real examples. (Ocker, 2008) Inspiration motivation Richard Branson is a visionary leader with dreams and relentless work attitude which make those dreams come true. At the early stage of Virgin Group business, he once said:I want Virgin to be as well-known around the world as Coca-Cola. (Branson) After decades of time, the brand of Virgin have become world well-known, and covers many different areas of business which Coca-Cola wound not dare to try. Those kinds of ambitions and courage ties his group together and close, and leads him to keep on improving Virgin Group services and productions. Individualized consideration Richard Branson business maxim is staff first, customers second and shareholders third (Locke, 2009). One of his most famous and interesting story would be the lawsuit against British Airways for its protracted libel actions and ended with a settlement of about  £600,000 total. After Richard Branson got the money, he divided it to all his employees for their hard working. On the other hand, the major reason of Richard Bransons business success is that he takes care of customers needs with innovations and consideration, such as placing a rubber ducky in each bathroom of Virgin-owned hotels in order to make guests feel ate home, putting Listening Posts in their record stores and allowing customers to listen to entire CDs before purchasing. (Richard Branson Virgin) In general, transformational leadership is considered more friendly and flexible way to organize a company, while transactional leadership is considered more tough and efficient. It is hard to say which one is better. All the good leaders all over the world (include the two above) have the characteristics of the both leadership styles., such as Steve Jobs charismatic characteristics and spiritual motivating speech skills (Transformational), and Richard Branson strict management ways on the lower level position in the organisation (Transactional). Transformational leadership does not replace transactional leadership but improves the effectiveness of transactional leadership from a different angle. (Bernard, Bass, Riggio, 2005) Incremental Changes VS Radical Changes Changes are inevitable in human lives as well as in business operations. Incremental change takes place over a long time period for development purposes, while radical change is more often triggered by a crisis or a business opportunity. There are several differences listed in the following table. Incremental Changes Radical Changes Reasons Business development Expansion Dealing with crisis Seizing a significant business opportunity Period Long period of time Short period of time Examples Improvement Such as TQM, new system implementation Revolutionary changes Such as restructuring, merger, take-over Approaches types May be small, slow, on-going May be onetime events, quick Respond and effect Hardly noticed by the management level Immediately adapt May cause resistance to changes Steve Jobs Incremental Changes Example1: Pixar In 1986, Steve Jobs bought The Graphics Group from Lucasfilm for $10 millions, changed the name to Pixar and started his career in animation manufacturing. With his visionary plans and technology support from his computer company NeXT, Pixar developed a software package called RenderMan (which has been widely accepted and used in filmmaking industry). RenderMan was implemented into the existing Pixar production line slowly. After ten years time, Pixar finally achieved an amazing success in the animation filming industry. It kept producing a series of animation films, beginning with Toy Story (1995), which led Pixars worth to over $1.5 billion. It took 10 years to implementing and perfecting the new software into production and transferring Steve Jobs leadership style into Pixars existing operation, and achieves a remarkable improvement at the end. This is an incremental change made by Steve Jobs. Example2: Digital hub strategy After Steve Jobs returning to Apple in 1997 as an interim CEO, he successfully brought Apple back to profitability with a amazing consumer desktop computer iMac. By facing negative predictions about proclaiming PCS would disappear within a couple of years, Steve Jobs continuously led Apple to keep on perfecting i products with the meaning of internet, individual, instruct, inform and inspire as the same way Apple always do. (Steve Jobs introductory 1998 iMac slide show) In 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled the Digital Hub Strategy to the public and in the next 10 years time he kept on launching a series of new products which extremely changed and led the trade of the whole world. (Kurian, 2012) There was an interesting event that Steve Jobs called himself as the iCEO of Apple instead of interim CEO humorously which entertained the public very much (Macworld San Francisco 2000). It was also a smart way to promoting i products while teasing with the board of Apple for rehiring him with the temporary executive position. This huge successful change took 10 years to be accomplished followed by Steve Jobs leadership piece by piece. It was a long period on-going process of implementing Jobs wisdom into Apple Company. Example3: Retirement from Apple Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but he kept on denying any serious problem. That is why everyone was surprised when Apple announced that Steve Jobs would not go on stage for the Macworld keynote in 2009, and he took six months off at the same year. Jobs finally resigned as CEO of Apple in 2011 but remained as the Chairman of the companys board, and he passed away after 6 weeks. (Kurian, 2012) There may be some radical changes involved fro restructuring purpose, but in general, Steve Jobs took care of his retirement carefully to avoid negative impact slowly for 3 years time. For instance, he distributed his responsibilities to other executives step by step, and before his final resign, he strongly recommended Tim Cook in written, that letter was released to the public lately. The whole process was carefully planned and implemented in a long time. In my opinion, it can be an incremental change. Steve Jobs Radical Changes Example1: Macintosh VS Lisa In the early 80s, Apple was creating a business-oriented computer named Lisa under Steve Jobs supervising, but later after that, Steve Jobs thrown out of the Lisa project because of his bad temper. He was so angry and decided to take revenge by developing a small project called Macintosh in order to destroy the sales of Lisa. (Kurian, 2012) It was a radical strategy. Macintosh had user-friendly interface (point-and -click) which inspired other computer manufactories and changed the direction of computer industry since then, but it was not welcome to the market then. At that time, IBMs PC was more compatible with its cheaper price. Because this action was taken rapidly without well planning and careful market researching, Macintosh project failed. Example2: Staging a Coup There was another revenge taken by Steve Jobs after his removal from Lisa project, he tried to stage a coup. As we all know, he failed again. (Kurian, 2012) It was a restructuring plan, and he took actions rapidly. But without endorsement from Apple board of directors and support from other colleagues, he got fired from his own company. Example3: Reinventing Apple By 1996, Apple rehired Steve Jobs as an informal adviser to the CEO. At that time, Apple was keeping on losing money and Steve Jobs staged another coup. He successes this time and became an interim CEO in 1997.The first thing he had done after his promotion is cutting off the production lines and focused on four products. This effective decision brought the lost confidence back to the Apple community (Kurian, 2012). In the meantime, Jobs took other actions such as announcing a new slogan Think Different and launched an amazing project which brought Apples resurgence lately, the iMac. (Edwards, 2008) Those actions and decisions above are radical changes (restructuring and redesigning the production processes). They were new strategies to the company for solving a financial crisis in a short time period. Richard Branson Incremental Changes Example1: Virgin Atlantic There are some unique features Virgin Atlantic has while other airways may not have can be considered as incremental changes. Such as, serving a cup of ice cream while passengers watching movies during travelling in order to provide a better service. Virgin Atlantic does not provide meals for short distance flight in order to reduce ticket price. This kind of services is provided for improving quality of service. Example2: Virgin Group Because Richard Branson received a lot of support from his family and friends during hi early period of business stage (borrowed money from his auntie and supported by John Lennon), the whole Virgin Group services can be considered as a long term process for implementing Richard Bransons plan of giving back to the society and helping those people who has ambitious but doesnt have opportunities. Such as, Virgin Money provides a set of formalised documentations help people who need loans. Example3: Eco-friendly efforts In 2007, Richard Branson launched Virgin Earth Challenge dedicating in to environmental issues. He made several decisions that supervised the whole world, such as a $25 millions prize for inventors who comes up with a viable solution for scrubbing carbon gases from atmosphere. He also pledged to reinvest all profits from Virgin transportation business over the decade into developing ecologically benign fuels. This kind of actions may not affect other Virgin companies, but it will improve Virgin Groups reputation, it is also a long time period project. Richard Branson Radical Changes Example1: Virgin Records Shop At the beginning, Richard Branson started his records business as mail ordering company in London, and it went well. After a postal strike, the mail order business was crippled. Richard Branson was forced to seek new outlets and he opened his first retail store in Oxford Street in 1971. This was a strategy for dealing with a crisis situation, and operated immediately. It changed Virgin Records business process and structure. Example2: Selling Virgin Music Group Selling Virgin Music probably would be the hardest decision Richard Branson has made in his whole lifetime. This decision was made in order to get money to take Virgin Atlantic back into private ownership. (Vinnedge, 2009) This change was forced by a financial crisis and included restructuring process. Example3: Closing Virgin Money U.S. Richard Branson launched a loan servicing company called Virgin Money U.S. in America in 2007, and began its withdrawal after 2 years (Lepro, 2010). Its social loans were transferred to Graystone Solutions. This time, Richard Branson misjudged the market and had to make the decision in order to limit the damage. Other reasons of this collapse might be the bad economy and different culture in America. This change included restructuring and take-over in a short time. Change Management in Virgin Group Story In 2007, Virgin Group announced the completion of its biggest challenge which brought over 10 million customers and 13,000 employees merger of NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile under the Virgin Media brand. It is known as the largest Virgin Company in the world. This operation took more than two years to complete the merger, and Virgin Group handled it carefully, especially on employees resistance. Reasons of employees resistance to this change Fear Mostly, employees fear comes from uncertainty about their career: whether they are going to loss their job, will they fit the new way or follow the new process probably? No faith in new process Comfort personal preference Lack of knowledge Lack of trust Strategies for overcoming barriers to changes Involving employees during the managing changes Establishing clear processes and procedures Establishing Clear Strategies Effective Communication with Employees Efficient Leadership Application Kotters Change Model Conclusion

What Is An Education? :: essays research papers

What is an Education? According to the Oxford English Dictionary one of the definitions of the word "education" is: "The systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young in preparation for the work of life; by extension, similar instruction or training obtained in adult age. Also, the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received. Often with limiting words denoting the nature of the predominant subject of the instruction or kind of life it prepares, as classical, legal, medical, technical, commercial, art education." Although this is an accurate description of what an actual education may be, there is a great deal more to the process of becoming educated than the actual instruction and schooling one may receive. If you asked a person in high school or college exactly why he is in school his response would probably have something to do with "getting an education." Is that really why he is there? The next question you may ask is "what are you going to do with your education?" The response would undoubtedly include something about "getting a good job" or perhaps "to make a lot of money." Most of the people in the United States have been brainwashed to think that unless one has at least a high school diploma there is no future anywhere for him. This is completely untrue. There is no guarantee that getting a high school "education" is going to get you anywhere. A student may spend eight years between high school and college getting an "education." He can graduate from college with A's in every class, but still, this "education" means nothing. For example, suppose this "Straight A" student goes for a job interview. Obviously one of the first things to be looked at is the college diploma. Good grades, which by today's standards are an indication of an educated individual, are usually very helpful in getting a good job. But alone, good grades are a completely unfair indication of how a person will perform under the pressures of the real world. Instead of looking at a person's grades during a job interview and deciding whether that person is eligible for a particular position, why not try something realistic? To determine a particular person's "education" why not allow the individual to apply what he knows to his position in the workplace. This is the true test of what an education is. The application of knowledge acquired is a much better determinant of true education than whether or not a person got an A in Wood Shop or World History. A good percentage of people in the United States graduated from high school.

ModMeters Case Essay

I believe that ModMeters Company understands their IT value. Each department should realize how IT can minimize their workload and would help benefit the company as a whole. ModMeters should look at where is IT valued; mainly, it is valued through their employees, customer satisfaction, revenue, cash flow, and order process. Each department would be required to go through training, so they would know benefits of technology, adapt to new ways of working, and be able to inform customers of new products and services that ModMeters are offering. This will help ModMeters move forward to the next level in expanding internationally to other countries. ModMeters had identified opportunities for the company IT system to reengineer the infrastructure of their current system and PC’s. CIO Brian Smith should create a portfolio approach for other programs, resources, and funding for different type of projects (systems) enabling different types of opportunities that could reengineer or repl ace the current system. I think that ModMeters would go a long way in formalizing where and how they will choose to invest their IT funds. The executive board at ModMeters are would like to see a conversion in IT, this will give them access to training in what their business goals and processes are, emphasis on organizational and knowledge barriers, and multifunctional change management. Brian Smith should plan a value-realization phase for the IT project, measure outcomes against any expected or unexpected results, have provisions for acting on new opportunities to leverage value, and look to eliminate root causes of problems when implementing the IT value. When Brain Smith presents his ideas to the executive board he should have a clear and defined portfolio that will give an overall view of ModMeters IT department. Brian will identify and prioritize IT opportunities by its value, track projects as they are being developed. The mechanisms would optimize enterprise value through tactical, strategic, and infrastructure project. Next, the organization should look at the chunks of value that has a significant transformational and strategic impact on the organization. ModMeters also should adopt a holistic orientation to technology value. Upon implementing  this principle ModMeters would adopt a systemic approach to value, contribute to perceived business value, where technology is not view as isolation, interactions, and impacts. ModMeters as a whole should indulge in a joint ownership of the technology initiatives, meaning all employees will develop a business support for IT and its staff. Finally, experiment more often with the company; however, I don’t think that ModMeters executive staff would approve, because of the lack of funding for the IT department. I do recommend that they keep their systems current and up to date with the latest technology. In the past ModMeters didn’t have a fancy website that was appealing to consumers but they had automated systems for every aspect of the business. Presently, ModMeters have punch cards and computers from every era. Surprisingly, Brain Smith hasn’t tried to sway the executive staff of improving the IT department; instead, all have is layered systems on top of each other, a diagram of all the interactions among their systems that makes them look unorganized. Going along to the future I think that ModMeters should invest in new equipment for their employees with updated technology. Also, ModMeters are to use one system for all departments and a company as a whole locally and globally. For the future I th ink every executive would see a difference in when reports for auditors, this system would be acceptable for all departments making their workload much easier. This would be a challenge to ModMeters CIO Brain Smith when implementing these strategies. In Brain portfolio he will discuss the critical success factors for ModMeters which would be the best way to expand globally. The first factor would be to revisit the company’s business model which could have changed over the years. This would provide a broader understanding how the business as whole works, and how the company strategies can be developed to articulate how the company would deliver that value in a unique way. The second factor would be to have strategic themes, this how programs are crafted that focuses on developing specific business capabilities. The third factor is getting the right people involved, meaning every member in the organization getting on board to participate, bringing in new ideas, and giving negative or positive feedback. The final factor is working in partnership with the business, combining both IT and business together to work closely together to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. ModMeters business improvement is what the co mpany needs when reengineering  initiative to help streamline their processes and save substantial amounts of money by eliminating unnecessary or duplicate activities. I suggest that Brain Smith scrounge money for skunkworks, which would show growing recognition of potential value of experiments in helping the company prepare for the future. Our goal is to plan and budget cycles more frequently than once a year or have the funds available on a needed basis. The challenge for ModMeters CIO would be poorly integrated processes for developing IT and business strategies, unbalanced strategic/tactical initiatives, and weak strategizing skills in the workplace. The ModMeters Company will be required to attend training sessions, to ensure each employee understand the important elements of effective communication. I believe that communication is the key to a healthy and long-term relationship. I feel that the executive staffs are overseeing their departments but they really don’t know the issues they are having compared to the front line workers. That why I would recommend that ModMeters use The Virtuous Communication Cycle to reinforce interpersonal communication. The obstacles to effective communication would help of every department but will benefit human resources and marketing more so than others. Lastly, ModMeters would have their own way of improving business-it communication. In closing, my opinion is to replace the current syste m with an SAP system that has enterprise resource planning which would benefit to ModMeters success.

Hot Cheetos

How flamin’ hot Cheetos affect the body The topic of my research project is â€Å"How Flamin’ Hot Cheetos affect the body†. There are many ways flamin’ hot Cheetos can affect your body. Basically my research explains ways that flamin’ hot Cheetos could possibly affect you, but not necessarily happen. Flamin’ hot Cheetos are categorized as any other junk food, but is said to be very addictive and can cause ulcers and inflammation in your body. Everyone loves flamin’ hot Cheetos right?But have we ever once stopped to wonder how Cheetos affect our body? Because children and teens have taken such a strong liking to the high-caloric snack, nutritionists and other health professionals are concerned about the unhealthy habit. One ounce of Flamin' Hot Cheetos — about 21 pieces — is about 160 calories, including 17 percent of the daily suggested serving for fat and 8 percent of serving for saturated fat. It also contains 250 mg â €” or 10 percent of the daily value — of sodium. That doesn't sound so bad.However, the snack often comes in bags that offer two or more serving sizes of Cheetos, which offer almost no dietary fiber or protein. The â€Å"new bigger size† bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos contains 3 3/4 oz. , or nearly 680 calories, 44 grams of fat, and 40 percent of days recommended sodium, according to the package nutritional label. Hot Cheetos are very spicy and stain your lips and fingers red. The spice increases stomach acidity, so children get stomach aches, sometimes so terrible they're doubled over in pain.Because the spicy snack contains a lot of red food dye, it can turn the stools of people who eat large amounts of Cheetos red or orange. So even though we might eat some foods with red food dye in them regularly, our stool doesn't usually become discolored unless you eat huge amounts of it. Flamin' Hot Cheetos is one food that people will eat enormous amounts of and will see a ch ange in their stool color. On top of the artificial coloring and flavoring, some experts say the Cheetosare â€Å"hyperpalatable,† meaning they’re highly addictive.Additionally, scientists, researchers, and nutritionists all fear that, because it is a processed food, the â€Å"hyper-palatable† combination of the Flamin' Hot Cheetos' fat, salt, and spiciness could potentially make it hard for people to stop eating the snack. Some research suggests foods high in fat and salt trigger areas in the brain linked to addiction. Our brain is really hardwired to find things like fat and salt really rewarding and now we have foods that have them in such high levels that it can trigger an addictive process.Why do we crave fatty foods you ask? Many people choose fatty foods as comfort foods when bored, stressed or upset. Comfort eaters may reach for familiar fatty foods or foods that remind them of better times. Eating fatty foods may become a distraction from your problems. Fatty food cravings may be largely a matter of habit. People often experience food cravings because they're accustomed to eating certain types of food in certain situations or in response to certain emotional cues.If you have the habit of eating fatty foods, then when you get hungry you'll start to crave fatty foods out of habit. Kids are particularly susceptible because they are still developing, and some researchers are finding craving levels in Cheetos-lovers similar to those of people addicted to drugs. To tell patients to stop eating the snacks is almost like talking to smokers about quitting smoking. The patients really don't want to hear that. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are being outlawed in some schools because they’re â€Å"highly addictive†.Hot Cheetos are bad because in the long run it can cause gastritis, inflammation of the stomach, it can cause ulcers. Some kids even ten or eleven years old have ulcers in their stomach because of this snack. Flamin' Hot Cheetos have an aura of danger which fuels their wild popularity  with kids. When it comes to addictiveness and poor nutritional quality, Flaming Hot Cheetos is your snack. I’m not saying Flamin’ Hot Cheetos is the worst snack ever, but it definitely isn’t the healthiest. A serving or two is okay every now and again, but don’t eat them every day.They affect your body more than you think. You might not see it now, but you will. I would recommend this snack to others to eat every once in a while, but I don’t think anyone should eat them all the time. The calories and salt in this snack is outrageous. Watch out because it is a delicious and addictive snack. It might make you a victim of its tricky and surprising addiction. How do flamin’ hot Cheetos affect the body? Sierra branch 1st period December 17, 2012 Work cited page www. cbsnews. com/†¦ flamin-hot-cheetos-under-fire-from-schools/ fox4kc. com/†¦ /report-flamin-hot-Cheetos-cau sing-some-panicked www. huffingtonpost. com/†¦ /flamin-hot-cheetos-banned-california www. girlslife. com/†¦ /Hands-off-Schools-ban-Flamin-Hot-Cheetos abcnews. go. com/†¦ /schools-take-aim-at-popular-flamin-hot-cheetos/ www. webpronews. com/flamin-hot-cheetos-banned-from-schools-20 www. gurl. com/2012/10/18/flamin-hot-cheetos-addictive/ www. businessinsider. com/flamin-hot-cheetos-2012-10 www. foodfacts. com/NutritionFacts/†¦ /Cheetos-Flamin-Hot

Film Review of Apocalypto

1. Make a film review of the film focusing on the major aspects of Maya culture: a) Major characters in the film: * Jaguar Paw- son of Flint Sky * Flint Sky- leader of the village * Seven- wife of Jaguar Paw * Turtles Run- little son of Jaguar Paw * Zero Wolf- leader of the Mayan tribe who ravaged the village of Jaguar Paw * Middle Eye- son of Zero Wolf, he is almost killed by Jaguar Paw b) Aspects of Maya culture -Mayans practice human sacrifice for their gods to hear their prayers.Mayans capture other royalties from other tribes for them to sacrifice. The high priests cut the breasts of the captives to get the beating heart before beheading them. They offer the beating heart to their gods. The Mayans also practice slavery. c) Factors that brought the downfall of Mayan civilization. -The first possibility that brought the downfall of the civilization is drought, due to lack of water; they cannot plant crops including their main crop, the maize.The second possibility is that rulers f elt that their power is failing so they offer more and more human sacrifices to the point that they get captives from their own tribe. 2. Try to explain the following: a) The opening quote at the start of the film: â€Å"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within† —W. Durant -For me, the quote states that a great civilization or tribe can only be conquered if people from within will destroy it.People that are settling in that certain tribe will always be the one who can destroy a prosperous tribe because they know what is the strength and the weakness of their place. b) The message relayed/conveyed by the arrival of Spanish ships in the end of the film. -I think Spanish conquistadors will use the â€Å"spread of Christianity† because they carry a cross. They will befriend the Mayans and they will let them be treated by them as their friends.