Gender inequality in Russia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gender inequality in Russia - Essay Example It is generally agreed that Russian women are not equal to men and that they undergo oppression. Vovk indicates that in national home interviews carried out in the year 2005 (February 25 to 27) in a hundred residencies in forty-four regions, 24 percent of respondents held the opinion that the world treats women and men in the same way. On the other hand, 61 percent of respondents believed that Russian women’s life is harder compared to men, while 8 percent believed that women live an easier life. Generally, the same is true for promotion and self-actualization. Of the year 2005 respondents 51 percent concur that in the present day, men have more opportunities for the realization of their potential, while in national home interviews carried out in the year 2004 (February 28-29), 58 percent of the respondents concur that the `double standard' that Russian institutions and companies practice provides men with better career opportunities. According to 30 percent and 37 percent, re spectively, though, Russian women have equal chances with men for promotion and self-actualization. Gender inequality in Russia manifests itself in different spheres, the first one being access to education. While the traditionally ‘male’ professions have been free/no-fee, the Russian government-introduced for-fee education has predominantly affected women or the ‘female’ professions making it hard for them to learn. This implies that the expenditure of budget money that the federal government allocates for education has progressively become gender asymmetric, and not in women’s favour. As far as higher education is concerned, the mounting discrimination policy on the part of educational institutions themselves is a crucial factor that makes it difficult for women to access education. In the 1960s, the gender factor only decreased the female applicants’ chances of enrolment in higher educational establishments by 2.4 percent. In the 1980s, it decreased their chances by 6.2 percent while by 1990s, it had reduced them by 12 percent (Mezentseva, 1). Another vital area in which women in Russia are discriminated against has to do with wage levels/material gains from education. Mezentseva notes that although women trail behind men concerning wage levels in all countries, the rise educational levels is narrowing this gap in virtually all countries. However, to date, this trend is the reverse in Russia. A study from the RLMS5 in 1998 revealed that the average wage of a woman varies from 53-66 percent of that of a man for the seven recognized educational levels (from ‘no secondary education’ to ‘higher education’). On the average, females with postgraduate education receive lower wages compared to men with secondary education. Women with university education only earn more compared to men with incomplete university education (Roshchin, 11). The least material return from education was observed in profess ional groups where women are in the majority, while the biggest the biggest material gain from education w

Second Hand Bags and Shoes Essay Example for Free

Second Hand Bags and Shoes Essay We are one of the largest sellers of second-hand shoes in Germany, are within the top ten in Europe and a major world player.We sell second-hand shoes worldwide.We have sold shoes for many years, the present owners being the second generation to continue the business, and sell second-hand shoes of different kinds to satisfy the needs of the market. Working closely with charities, local authorities and waste reclamation companies Boex has challenged old ideas and practices and developed new systems in the fields of collection, sorting, marketing and distribution. The state-of-the-art manufacturing unit is ideally positioned in Frankfurt/Main within a 20-minute drive of the Frankfurt/Main International Airport.Boex are genuinely committed to contributing to your charitable goals and providing you with the exceptional shoe collection service you deserve. Our mission: to supply consistently graded used shoes that enhance people’s lives and improve their self-esteem.| Description of franchise systemWhat all girls wantShoes Glorious Shoes is the shoe party business featured in glossy fashion magazines like the famous Vogue. We offer shoes, handbags, and boots from Italy and Spain in a relaxed and glamorous party atmosphere. Our shoe parties are the perfect event for a ladies night at home , for a fund raising event, for a company party, or for a fashion show.Shoes Glorious Shoes brings a whole shoe boutique to our customers homes, offering an unrivalled shopping experience. The ladies simply lean back with their girlfriends in the comfort of their sofa, having a glass of wine or champagne, and enjoy the unique customer service of Shoes Glorious Shoes. Everything we offer can be taken home on the night.Payment is accepted by credit or debit cards, checks and of course cash. Shoes Glorious Shoes parties are available during daytime or in the evening . Women with a love for fashion have already recognized that most High Street shoes look all the same. Shoes Glorious Shoes offers fresh designs, which are offered nowhere else.Everything we sell is of premium quality without costing the earth. The enormous success of Shoes Glorious Shoes demonstrates the huge demand for our glamorous shoe parties.Franchise conceptTo all shoe-lovers out thereShoes Glorious Shoes is a flexible franchise opportunity, which is operated from home, thus requiring only low overheads. Its up to you to fit your business schedule around your personal lifestyle and to decide whether you want to run it full or part-time.The earning potential of a Shoes Glorious Shoes franchise is unlimited. We put our collection together from trade fairs in Madrid, Milan, and Paris to guarantee that we offer only exclusive products which cant be found on the High Street. Our combined buying power ensures that we receive maximum discounts and the best rates.We regularly add new items to our collection to attract existing customers for repeated buys. We offer two different franchise packages, depending on your business goals. If you want to run a fulltime business, we recommend you to choose our Gold Level Franchise. The Silver Level Franchise suites best women who want to run a part-time opportunity.As a Gold Level franchisee, youll receive a protected geographical area as your franchise territory. Silver Level franchisees operate in one single town.Franchise partner profileStart working the glamorous way!Shoes Glorious Shoes is and this shouldnt come as a surprise the ideal franchise opportunity for shoe-manic women. If you are an entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for great shoes, then this could be the perfect opportunity for you.To run a successful Shoes Glorious Shoes franchise, you need to be communicative, open, friendly, and totally convinced of your business. If you are interested in joining the successful Shoes Glorious Shoes female franchise network and start a business thats all about girls true best friends, get in touch with us!

Pros And Cons Of Mcdonalds Essay -- essays research papers

McDonalds: Welcome sign in the high street or a place to avoid? In this essay I will be discussing the pros and cons of fast foods. Now a day every body will recognize the golden arches of McDonalds, it is hard not to. McDonalds has restaurants everywhere, beside major roads and in almost every high street. Their commercials are on television at least once a day. They became popular within a couple of years. Teenagers especially like McDonalds because of the relaxed atmosphere, cheap prizes and the fact that all over the world you know what you are buying. In restaurants I find that the waiter there look at me and think that I might not be able to pay for the meal. With McDonalds I find that every person is welcome to come in and eat, no matter what you look like or how much money you have. There is also not a certain dress code that you have to oblige to. Fast food is easy to eat food that requires no cutlery. The fast food industry is not only good. The foods contain too much fat, salt and sugars. The food is not always what is said to be and uses a lot of packaging. Packaging that will be thrown on the ground, if the food is not eaten within the restaurant. People usually don’t take the time to throw the packaging in the dustbins. The high streets usually have a whole carpet with litter of fast food restaurants. I think that the restaurants can’t be responsible for the litter but the restaurants can do every thing to make their packaging as environmental friendly. Peo...

Facebook in Academic Institutions Essay

1. Summary. Whilst the majority of students have Facebook profiles, potential to support academic institutions was seen in its features. This paper provides a generalization of several case studies about the utilisation of Facebook in several universities. It offers an overview of the advantages, constraints and limitations of the suggested practices. The report shows that although Facebook implementation faced partial success, most of the respondents strongly believed that it should remain a forum only for social networking, not a platform for formal academic information. 2. Terms of reference. Social networking sites, especially Facebook, have gained wide popularity in the last few years. They provide a variety of options such as group setting, live chat and online discussion forum. This structure made it possible to expand and go beyond the boundaries of being tools utilised only for marketing and social interaction. Bearing in mind that their main users are individuals at the age of 18-24, they offer a good potential for academic and educational purposes. Owing to the growing interest to the topic, I have been commissioned by the Senior Management Group of the University to investigate whether academic institutions use them in order to interact with students. The purpose of this report is to find out evidence and outcomes of such implementation in the academic community. Although the collected results appear to be somehow contradictory, the dilemma whether Facebook can be both a social and academic forum seems to have a straightforward answer. 3. Procedure. To analyse the university strategies regarding social platforms, a review of library evidence and instances was conducted. In order to retrieve materials of high quality and authority, the search was conducted in Google Scholar and Library Catalogue Plus. Since much more research is done on the social aspects and privacy issues regarding Facebook, advanced searching was used in order to ignore the irrelevant information. Due to the recent nature of the topic, the scope of the articles and journals was limited to publications from the past five years, 2007-2012. The findings are overviews of case studies based on the practices in USA, Italy and South Africa with  prevailing number of undergraduates as main respondents. Because of the variety of social networking sites, the study is primarily focused on Facebook since it has its roots in the academic environment and in this way it is distinctive from the rest of its kind (Bosh 2009, p.191). 4. Findings. Academic institutions realised that Facebook is a pervasive element in every student’s life (Roodt et al. 2009, 16). Adopting this new approach of getting in touch with their target audiences was a challenging way to increase engagement. The literature review shows that the official presence of universities on Facebook has recently increased. Not only is the presence on Facebook important for attracting potential students, but it also provides advantages for enrolled ones. They already have the experience and the knowledge how to use it, which leads to easy incorporation for the purpose of distributing academic information (Bosh 2009, p.191). Apart from being a powerful marketing tool, Facebook is used as a mechanism for: * Online discussion on topics covered in lectures * Administrative and departmental arrangements * Module information 4.1 Online discussion forum. Overall, no empirical evidence was found about Facebook used as a sole platform for academic interaction. It was used as a complement to the existing learning management systems (LMS) – web sites, Blackboard, etc. The established Blackboards have proved to be successful tools for information retrieval. Most of them have a discussion forum, but it has rarely been used for communication (Hrastinski & Aghaee 2011, p.453). Case studies in a Comprehensive Disease Management course and at University of Cape Town reveal that the respondents seldom have a look at the discussion board. Due to its features allowing immediate responses, Facebook offers potential to overcome the lack of dialogue among students. However, there were opponents to this idea who strongly believed that the existing LMS was useful and were unwilling to have discussions in a separate forum (Wang et al. 2012, p.431). This was not an impediment since participation was optional. As a result, learners became more engaged since formulating thoughts online was easier and topics could be discussed more in depth (Cain & Policastri 2011,  p.7). Many students struggle to raise questions and participate actively during lectures and tutorials. Therefore, social platforms facilitate and promote the development of analytical skills allowing everyone to take part. The improved level of communication had impact on the classroom climate leading to higher motivation (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.129). This transition from passive learner to active participant is beneficial (Selwyn 2009, p.158). It raises student motivation and engagement. Nevertheless, many like Bosh (2009) argue that it does not promote critical thinking since the so-called â€Å"Google generation† assumes social platforms primarily as a way of entertainment. Another drawback of online discussions is that responds are listed in a chronological order, not in threads, which makes it difficult to follow the logical links between comments (Wang et al. 2012, p.436). 4.2 Administrative and departmental arrangements. According to Malesky & Peters (2011), given the large number of students on social networks, multiple university departments and faculties use social platforms to disseminate information to learners. A large number of youngsters have permanent Internet connection on their smartphones and checks their profiles quite often. Therefore, Facebook is utilised for relaying last-minute information about schedules and venues because students are more likely to be on Facebook rather than to check their email (Selwyn 2009, p.163). Important issue to be taken into account here is the authority of the information. It will be assumed as reliable only if it is posted by a member of the academic staff. In addition, departmental pages are good way to get in touch with students, especially during holidays when the existing LMS is rarely visited (Bosh 2009, p. p.187). For example, at Northeastern University of Boston the initial skepticism of viewing course-related posts in a platform primarily used for social interaction faded away and at the end 57% of the respondents were convinced it was useful (DiVall & Kirwin 2012, p.4). Another important implication of faculty pages is that they create a virtual campus environment where all students can communicate and learn from each other (Bosh 2009, p.195). It is beneficial especially for current students who have the chance to talk and exchange experience with the alumni and graduates they will never meet. Maintaining good  student-faculty relationship through Facebook also reflects on student satisfaction about the quality of the service provided. However, time-constraints and costs of such implementation should be carefully considered before integration since the staff is already maintaining the other course management software (DiVall & Kirwin 2012, p.2). It is a powerful tool for small institutions which cannot afford to purchase a Blackboard (Wang et al. 2012, p.434), but its limitations such as safety and partial participation prevent it from being used as a main tool for information dissemination. 4.3 Information about modules. Module information was posted in a specially established Facebook groups. This format was chosen instead of a page because of the option to set up a closed community. It was perceived as controlled environment since the lecturer was the one who could add and remove members (Wang et al. 2012, p.436). Generally, feedback about this practice was positive. Apart from communication about assignments, research findings and current affairs, the group wall was a suitable platform for resource and materials sharing – videos, photos, links to external articles were uploaded which were useful for those willing to extend their knowledge beyond the lecture material (Estus 2010, p.3). However, it was not considered as a complete success due to the inability to support resources in other formats (Wang et al. 2012, p.434). To overcome this problem, additional applications such as Google Docs were used in order to extend Facebook capabilities. Despite this, lectures preferred the traditional Blackboard due to the ease of use. Another advantage of this practice was the positive impact on student-lecturer communication. The virtual office hours allowed learners to contact tutors and lecturers in a less pressured environment (Bosh 2009, p.195). This is important for the better understanding of the matter since learners felt more comfortable to raise their questions on the platform. In addition, lectures’ profiles could enhance their credibility because students see the similarities between the lecturer and themselves (Wang et al. 2012, p.437). Taking into account that it is a dual-side communication process, the other party (students) revealed that they did not want to be contacted by tutors because it is a social forum for getting in touch with peers and they try to separate social life from education (Madge et al.  2009, 150). Friendship with lecturers was possible but it seldom happened because students were cautious that this could affect their ability to be objective (Malesky & Peters 2012, p.138). Further weaknesses of Facebook here were the inability to support grade notification, assignment uploading and online testing (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.129). 5. Conclusion and recommendation. Although literature provides not enough empirical evidence, it is clear that students prefer to keep the divide between their social and academic space. Facebook has suitable affordances, which allow its utilisation as an educational platform as well. Successful practices were found where it has been used as supplement to the existing learning management system for resource sharing and module and academic information dissemination. However, further research has to be done to investigate the links and synergies between both in order to find the best way they could successfully work together. When it comes to the implementation of Facebook practices in a particular university, it should be carefully considered whether weaknesses are outweighted by potential advantages. Since the literature review shows that Facebook brings a little contribution to the functions of the existing Blackboard, Loughborough University should not invest time and efforts into setting up pages and groups. It is perceived as an intrusive invasion into a place students feel as â€Å"theirs† (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.124). LEARN and student emails already successfully execute the functions Facebook could be used for. Lectures, tutors and academic staff could be contacted at any time and the discussion forum is well-developed. Therefore, a possible integration of Facebook is not worth efforts. Even though it has a potential, it should remain a place for social interaction and not for formal university practices. 6. Word count. The report contains 1504 words. 7. References. Bosch, T., 2009. Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the University of Cape Town. South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research[online], 35(2), 185-200. , [accessed 21.05.12]. Cain, J. & Policastri, A., 2011. Using Facebook as an informal learning environment. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 75(10), 1-8. , [accessed 18.05.12]. DiVall, M. & Kirwin, J., 2012. Using Facebook to facilitate course-related discussion between students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 76(2), 1-5. , [accessed 18.05.12]. Estus, E., 2010. Using Facebook within a Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Course. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 74(8), 1-5. , [accessed 21.05.12] Hrastinski, S. & Aghaee, N., 2011. How are campus students using social media to support their studies?. Education and Information Technologies[online], 17(4), 451-464. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Loving, M. & Ochoa, M., 2011. Facebook as a classroom management solution. New Library World[online], 113(3), 121-130. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Madge, C. et al., 2009. Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: â€Å"It is more for socializing and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work†. Learning, Media and Technology[online], 34(2), 141-155. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Malesky, L. & Peters, C., 2011. Defining appropriate professional behavior for faculty and university students on social networking websites. Higher Education[online], 63(1), 131-151. , [accessed 21.05.12]. Mazman, S. & Usluel,Y., 2010. Modeling educational usage of Facebook. Computers & Education[online], 55(2), 444-453. , [accessed 18.05.2012]. Roodt, S., Cloete, S. & De Villiers, C., 2009. Facebook as an academic tool for ICT lecturers. Annual conference of Southern African Computer Lecturers’ Association[online], 29 June-1 July. Eastern Cape: SACLA, 16-22. , [accessed 22.05.12]. Selwyn, N., 2009. Faceworking: exploring students’ education†related use of Facebook. Learning, Media and Technology[online], 34(2), 157-174.< http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439880902923622>, [accessed 21.05.12]. Wang, Q. et al., 2012. Using the Facebook group as a learning management system: an exploratory study. British Journal of Educational Technology [online], 43(3), 428–438. , [accessed 19.05.12]. Appendix 1Search strategy Existing literature about Facebook is focused more on social networking and privacy issues. Since the study needed more education-oriented materials, the initial search in Google and Wikipedia was not useful enough because it led to more general results. The main information retrieval tools used during the investigation were Google Scholar, Library Catalogue Plus and some additional databases found through the Select Database option. In order to avoid a large amount of inappropriate materials, only databases from the â€Å"Education† category were selected. The most useful of them was ScienceDirect. In addition to the materials which exactly fitted the search criteria, a number of related articles was suggested, which was very helpful. In all of the information retrieval tools advanced searching strategies were applied in order to narrow the results and sift out the most relevant ones.

The Paradox of Morgan le Fay

In Arthurian legend and Celtic myths, Morgan le Fay takes on a wide range of identities and personas – she is sister, sorceress, wise mother, implacable nemesis, and later, grieving goddess – making her one of the most paradoxical and dynamic characters in lore and literature. Charlotte Spivack notes in Popular Arthurian Traditions that Morgana le Fay, beautiful and nurturing, first appears in the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, as one of â€Å"the nine sisters of the holy isle of Avalon† (18). In some texts, she is sister or half-sister to the King Arthur, and in other literature, it is he with whom she begets a child, Morgan (Joe). She is a benevolent figure in the earlier British romantic verses, and it is her remarkable healing powers that make her so. In The Grail from Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol, Arthurian scholar Roger Looms notes that â€Å"There is no attribute of Morgan's better authenticated than her power of healing† (161). In later literature, her identity starts to change and she is portrayed as â€Å"a malicious master of the black arts† (Spivack 18). Maureen Fries notes, in â€Å"Female Heroes, Heroines and Counter-Heroes: Images of Women in Arthurian Tradition† that her degeneration in the later retellings of the myths stems from society’s changing outlook, as her traits start as noble skills of a goddess, and then morphs into the destructive magic of witches and sorceresses (13). Her powers and her role center towards the destruction of King Arthur, and she comes up with several elaborate ploys to kill him, all of which fail, not for want of clever and diabolic planning, but of fate, as in the case of the assassin she sent, whose horse trips on a hole (Spivack 31). However, she reverts to her nurturing goddess role, again playing the role of healer and protector to King Arthur, whose fate ultimately leads him, in his final moments, to her grieving care in the isle of Avalon (Fries 13). Although portraying a range of roles and intentions, it is the contradictions of Morgan le Fay that make her resonate in the Arthurian legends. Works Cited Fries, Maureen. â€Å"Female Heroes, Heroines and Counter-Heroes: Images of Women in Arthurian Tradition.† Popular Arthurian Traditions. Ed. Sally K. Slocum. Bowling Green, OH: Popular Press, 1992. Joe, Jimmy. â€Å"Morgan Le Fay.† Timeless Myths: Arthurian Women. 24 June 1999. 03 May 2008. ;http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/women.html#Morgan;. Loomis Roger Sherman. The Grail from Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol. New York: Columbia University Library, 1965. Spivack, Charlotte. â€Å"Morgan le Fay: Goddess or Witch?† The Company of Camelot: Arthurian Characters in Romance and Fantasy. Eds. Charlotte Spivack and Roberta Lynne Staples. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

Detailed Review of Ethical Identity Of IBs Essay Example

Detailed Review of Ethical Identity Of IBs Essay Example Detailed Review of Ethical Identity Of IBs Essay Detailed Review of Ethical Identity Of IBs Essay Identity, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is (1) absolute sameness; oneness; equality of two expressions for all values of the literal quantities, equation expressing this; (2) condition or fact that person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality (The Oxford Dictionary 1984). In terms of corporate identity, the consistent visual symbols of the corporation fit the first linguistic definition, while the distinct attributes of the corporation (Balmer 1998, Bernstein 1984) or the reality and uniqueness of the organization (Gray and Balmer 2001 p. 1) fit the second definition. Hence, corporate identity can be the same and yet different (Bernstein 2003). Reviews of the literature on corporate identity indicate a plethora of definitions for the term, ranging from the tangible to intangible, and from the tactical to strategic (see Allessandri 2001, Melewar and Jenkins 2002 for a compilation of the various definitions). However, there is some agreement among researchers that the term is related to answering the questions what are we? And who are we? (Balmer and Greyser 2003) or what the firm is (Hawn, 1998, Portugal and Halloran 1986), hence referring to the distinct attributes of the organisation. Birkigt and Stadler (1986, as cited in Balmer 2001) suggest four elements of corporate identity: personality, behaviour, communication and symbolism, while van Rekom (1997) identifies three elements: essence features of the firm, features that set it apart from others and continuity of the features over time. According to Balmer and Soenen (1999) corporate identity encompasses three elements: the mind (the expressed organisational ethos, vision, strategy and product performance), the soul (distinctive corporate values of the firm) and the voice (the various ways of communicating to key stakeholder groups). In short, corporate identity is the bonding of strategy, structure, communication and culture, embracing both tangible (e. g. name, logo and colour) and intangible (e. g. firms behaviour and reputation) elements that make it distinctive (Balmer 2001, p. 280). Balmer and Soenen (1999) further operationalised four distinctive features of corporate identity using the mnemonic ACID, each letter representing a distinct identity type: actual, communicated, ideal and desired. Actual identity encompasses the business strategy, values and philosophy, corporate culture and structure (Gray and Balmer 1998) while communicated identity is closely linked to image and reputation, which in turn leads to the realisation of desired (what corporate management wants it to be) and ideal identities (what stakeholders see as optimal). Since their exists an explicit covenant or a promise (Johansson and Hirano 1999, Mitchell 1999) between an organisation and its key stakeholders, corporate identity must be managed so as to ensure alignment between the various identities suggested by Balmer and Soenen (1999). This entails communicating and behaving in a manner that leaves a pleasant impression with key stakeholders (Cornellisson and Elving 2003). One of the avenues through which information about corporate identity (e. g. its ideology, management philosophy, products, commitments to society, etc. ) is communicated is the corporate annual report. Hence, managing information disclosure in corporate annual reports in a consistent and pleasing manner will produce a positive corporate image an over time will produce a positive corporate reputation (Allesandri 2001). In other words, through proper communication management, companies can build their reputation, which may lead to competitive advantage (see the operational model for managing corporate identity by Gray and Balmer 1998) and will pay off in both operational and financial ways (Dowling 2001), as well as ensure business survival (Balmer and Stotvig 1997, van Riel and Balmer 1997). Islamic banks are representative of a new wave of corporations whose social goals are at least (if not more) as important as making profit. Based on the definition by Gray and Balmer (2001), such corporations fit what they described as having ethical identity. They studied two such corporations. Migros and Patagonia to find commonalities that exist between them. Berrone et al. (2005) assessed the impact of corporate ethical identity on the firms financial performance and their results indicate that revealed ethics (aspects of communication of the ethical identity) have informational worth and enhance shareholder value, while applied ethics (all actions and policies considered as ethical and beyond communication of ethical values) have a positive impact through the improvement of stakeholder satisfaction. Since commonalities already exist between Islamic banks, as they are based on the Islamic ethical business framework drawn from the Shariah (Islamic law, often referred to as ethics in action), it would be interesting to assess whether an ethical identity gap exists and its implications on corporate branding and corporate image and reputation. Hence, in this article, we attempt to assess the degree of variation of communicated ethical identity (as disclosed in the corporate annual report) against a benchmark of ideal ethical identity (checklist constructed based on Islamic precepts) for the Islamic banking sector where trust is vital. Specifically, we measure the degree of ethical identity of seven Islamic banks in the Arabian Gulf region based on their corporate annual reports for the years 2002-2004 inclusive, using what we term an Ethical Identity Index (EII). The reason for confining our scope to Islamic banks in the Arabian Gulf region is because these countries share a similar socio-economic structure, which as such enables us to control for macro and cultural effects and make comparison and interpretations more meaningful. We chose corporate annual reports rather than other media of communication in assessing communicated ethical identity because they offer a snapshot of managements mindset in a particular period (Neimark 1992), have greater potential to influence due to widespread distribution (Adams and Harte 1998), are more accessible for research purposes and are used by a number of stakeholders as the sole source of certain corporate information (Deegan and Rankin 1997). The results of our survey, analysis and discussion constitute a further contribution to corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate social responsibility and Islamic banking literature. The article proceeds as follows. The next section presents a literature review on various aspects of Islamic banking and discusses what constitutes the ideal ethical identity based on the Islamic precepts. The third section describes the research method. The fourth section presents our results and discussion, followed by the conclusions, implications and avenues for further research in the final section.

Indian Woman and the Tipi essays

Indian Woman and the Tipi essays Tipis were a way of living for the Plains Indians; they provided shelter, warmth and protection. Most think that construction of a shelter is a mans job, but not for the Indians. The woman got the materials and constructed the tipi. Without the women to do all of this the Indians would not have shelter. There were any complicated tasks to do besides constructing the tipi, such as decorating the inside of the tipi. The Indian women were treated with a great deal of respect for building the tipi; this is unlike the European settlers who treated the women in their culture with little respect. The Indian women chose many of the men to be their wise men and chose many other men for respected jobs. Without women doing all of these jobs it would have been hard for the Indians to live. There Plains Indians were the group of Indians that used the tipis as shelter. This group included the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Dakota and many other. The name tipi means "used to dwell in". Though no one knows how or where these tipis were created, they were so much help for the Indians. We do know that tipis weren't in use until the 1600's, when horses became available to the Indians. Before Tipis were available to the Plains Indians would sleep under the stars on nice nights and resort to sleeping in rock caves when the weather got bad. Once horses became available, the Indians placed their household articles, the tipi hides and poles on a travois and dragged it behind a horse. The tipi had spiritual meaning to the Indians, such as the circle being the symbol of the earth. The four sides of the tipi stood for the sun, moon, earth and sky. The tipi helped the Plains Indians improve their way of living and make it easier for them to hunt. The Plains Indians were nomadic hunters of buffalo. If they wanted to follow the herd of buffalo and still live they had to find a way to have a shelter and have it be portable, durable and water-r...

Illogical Comparisons The Weirdest Topic on SAT Writing

Illogical Comparisons The Weirdest Topic on SAT Writing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Oftentimes, if I make an outlandish comparison, someone will turn to me and say, "You can't compare apples and oranges, Alex." Grammatically speaking, however, you absolutely can compare apples and oranges- they're both fruits! However,it's true that some comparisons are nonsensical, like a comparison between apples and eating apples. This kind of construction is called an illogical comparison, and it's one of the most unusual concepts on SAT Writing. Though essentially simple to spot, illogical comparisons are unfamiliar for most students becausethey rarely come up elsewhere. Feature image credit:MicroAssist/Flickr You Can Only Compare Equivalent Things An illogical comparison occurs when a sentence compares two things that aren't of the same type: Jimmy’s restaurant has more customers than Bob does. Even though it might seem fine, this sentence is comparing "Jimmy's restaurant"with "Bob," which makes no sense. In order to correct it, we have to alter the wordingso that the two things being compared are the same type of thing: Jimmy’s restaurant has more customers than Bob's restaurant does. This sentence, though correct, sounds pretty repetitive. To streamline it, we can drop the second "restaurant": Jimmy’s restaurant has more customers than Bob's does. It's still clear that we're comparing Jimmy and Bob's restaurants, but in a way that's not as redundant sounding. Depending on the sentence's construction, it mayalso be correct to substitute "that" or "those" for the second noun (as long as it's the same as the first one): I prefer the novels of J.K. Rowling to those of Stephenie Meyer. ("Those" takes the place of "the novels.") Though they look the same on most maps, the sizeof Alaska is actually twice that of Texas. ("That" takes the place of "the size.") There are two main types of illogical comparison errors that appear on the SAT writing: comparisons between people and things and comparisons between The first key rule is that you must compare people to people and things to things. So to return to our first example, it's correct to compare Bob's restaurant and Jimmy's restaurant because they're both things or to compare Bob and Jimmy because they're both people but you can't compare Jimmy's restaurant and Bob or Bob's restaurant and Jimmy. The second rule is that you can't compare something of specific type to all things of that type. This rule may sound strange, but it doesn't make sense to compare one person with everyone- you would compare them with everyone else. You can't compare something with a group that includes that thing without specifying that you're talking about everything else in the group. Let's look at an example: Incorrect: A cheetah is faster than any land mammal. Correct:A cheetah is faster than any other land mammal. Although most illogical comparisons questions on the SAT test one of these rules, you may see some that don't. In those cases, you'll have to use common sense to determine if a comparison is logical. For example, it makes sense to compare a train and a car, it doesn't make sense to compare a train and the length of a car. Pay attention to exactly what the sentence is saying- it's easy to extrapolate the intendedpointand miss the error in the wording. Keep this SAT writing strategy in mind! You can compare authors to authors and books to books but not books to authors. (Image credits: far left, Daniel Ogren; left, Gage Skidmore) How to Approach Illogical Comparisons on the SAT Illogical comparisons questions appear relatively frequently on the SAT writing: you are likely to see one or twoof them, especially since they can appear inboth Identifying Sentence Errors and Improving Sentences questions. Luckily, illogical comparisons generally appear in very similar ways, sothere are just a couple of clues that you need to watch outfor because they will often signal a comparison issue: Comparison key words- the words "like," "unlike," "as," and especially "than" almost always indicate a comparison and thus the chance for an illogicalone Full names- this is a slightly weird point, but if a question includes the full name of a person it often involves an illogical comparison. These names usually belong toartists or writers, and the sentence will set up a faulty equivalencebetween the individual and her work. Practicelooking for these clues on every SAT writing question until it becomes second nature. Identifying Sentence Errors Unlike most of the grammatical issues that show up in Identifying Sentence Errors (ISE) questions, illogical comparisons are hard to spot by just checking underlined words. Instead, as I mentioned above, you’ll need to keep an eye out for words that signal a comparison (like/unlike, as, than) and full names of individuals. If you see a comparison that you think might be faulty there are threesteps you need to take: Check for underlined nouns. Generally speaking, if there is an illogical comparison, one of the mismatched nouns will be underlined. Determine what the comparison is between. What two things isthe sentence, as written, comparing? Circle the nouns in the text. Decide whether the two things are equivalent. Is there a person vs. thing conflict? Are the two words being compared not equivalent in some other way? Let’s go through this process on a real SAT question: As with all ISE questions, the first step is to read the sentence. In this case, you should notice the clues "writer Sigrid Undset" and "like," which indicate that there may be an incorrect comparison. Are there any underlined nouns? Yes, both C and D include a noun. It's not immediately obvious which is involved in a comparison, so let's move on. What is being compared? Nowthe questions gets a bit trickier- the first part of the sentence, "Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset is like the novelist Sir Walter Scott," includes a comparison, but neither of our two underlined nouns. Plus, it's definitely correct, since it compares two people. However, there's another comparison in this sentence, "unlike his books," which does include an underlined phrase. So what's being compared with "his books"? "Unlike his books" is a modifier describing "she," which refers to Sigrid Undset. Are the two things equivalent?The comparison is between Sigrid Undset, a person, and SirWalter Scott'sbooks, things, so this is an illogical comparison. C is the correct answer- "his books" should be replaced with "him." This is an especially tricky question because of itscomplicated sentence structure (C is actually a faulty modifier as well), but following these steps will allow you to break down even the most complicated constructions. Let's move on to illogical comparisons in Improving Sentences. Improving Sentences Illogical comparisons appear in much the same way in Improving Sentences as they do in ISE, so you'll need to keep an eye out for the same clues: full names of people and comparison words. Once you've determined that there's likely an illogical comparison, follow these steps: Understand the error. The first step is to determine, what, if anything, is wrong with the comparison. Why are the two items being compared not equivalent? Rememberthat the most common issues are comparing people to things and something to all things of its type. Rule out answers that make the same mistake. Once you understand why the comparison is illogical, you can rule out all the answers that don't fix the problem. Pick between remaining choices.If there's more than one answer left, choose between the remaining answers. Watch for extra words that make the sentence ungrammatical and issues with plural vs. singular. This process may seem confusing, but it's actually quite simple in practice. Let's try it out on an official SAT question: After reading the sentence, you should notice the clue word "than," which indicates that this likely an illogical comparisons question. What, if anything, is wrong with the comparison?The sentence is comparing "the mass of its tiny body" with "humans." This is an illogical comparison- you can't equate the mass of something with a human. Thecomparison should be between the mass of an insect and the mass of a human.We can eliminateA. Rule out answers that make the same mistake.Answer choices C and D contain the same error: C merelytweaks the word order and D replaces the singular "human" with the plural "humans," which is actually even more wrong since the comparison is with a singular insect's body mass. Answer E seems to fix the problem by adding "body," but it's still not correct to compare a human body with the mass of an insect body. Pick between the remaining choices. The only answer that's left is B, which correctly compares "the mass of its tiny body" and "that of a human's body." B is the right answer. Comparing the size of an Allosaurus and the size of a human makes sense! (Image credit:Dropzink) Overview:Key Rules and SAT Writing Tips As a review, the list below includes the main ideas we've covered in this article and some helpfultips for using them on the SAT Writing. Clues to watch for: Comparative constructions: than, as, like/unlike Full names, especially of artists and authors Underlined nouns Key rules: Comparisons must be between equivalent things Compare people to people and things to things Don't compare something to a group it's part of SAT writing strategies: Practice watching for the clues and checking whethercomparisons are illogical. This type of error is initially difficult to spot, but once you've gotten familiar withthem, they tend to jump out at you. When dealing with illogical comparisons, don’t assume shortest is best. Though this rule often works for other types of errors, for these questions it will almost always give you the wrong answer. Remember that "that" is singular and "those" is plural. Test Your Knowledge! I've created some SAT Writing practice questions to help you get the hang of recognizing and understanding illogical comparison questions. Checkthem out below and send any questions my way in the comments! 1. Michel Foucault's theories about(A) the function ofpower in society are(B)radically(C) different than most philosophers(D).No error(E) 2. The British Library has more books than the books in all of the world's libraries. A.the books in all of the world's libraries. B. all of the world's libraries. C.the books in anyof the world's other libraries. D. the world's libraries. E. any other library in the world. 3. Throughout(A) history, many artists have been(B) more famous for their life stories than(C) for their work (D). No error. (E) 4. Although we often think of cheetahs as the fastest animals in the world, the speed of a peregrine falcon is actually greater than it. A.the speed of a peregrine falcon is actually greater than it. B. peregrine falcons are actually faster than them. C. the speed of a peregrine falcon is actually greater. D. peregrine falcons are more fast than those other animals. E. greater yet is the speed of the peregrine falcon. Answers: 1. D, 2. E, 3. E, 4. B What's Next? Since illogical comparisons are errorsin sentence structure, they're similar to issues with parallelism and faulty modifiers (coming soon). Consider taking a look atour grammar guides on those topics. If you're planning to take the SAT next year, make sure to check out our guide to the redesigned SAT. Maybe you're more concerned about the essay? In that case, take a look atour guides onhow to score a perfect 12, how to plan your examples in advance, and 15 ways to improve your score. For more big picture strategies, try these 8key tipsor check outour guide to reaching an 800 on the SAT Writing. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Knowledge, Innovation, and Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Knowledge, Innovation, and Learning - Essay Example The aim of our project was to highlight how 3M is capable of sharing knowledge across social networks, as well as sharing it within social networks to create new innovations. As a participant in this process, I gained experiences researching and understanding complex business resource issues as well as investigating and rating how one company implements these ideas. Our process was mainly twofold. First, we conducted a literature review. We investigated knowledge management, innovation as a competitive advantage, types of data, information and knowledge as well as how the cycle of knowledge works. Next, we analyzed how 3M applies these principals to the business world and made certain recommendations. As well as our project went, there is still room for improvement. There were pros and cons to the process, however. They are expressed as strong and weak points of the process, positive and negative experiences as well as positive and negative feelings. The process was strong in that we all had great ideas to proffer to our project, but weak in that we had a difficult time discerning which ideas to implement. Furthermore, the positive experience was that we were able to bring it all together in the end. The negative experience was that often times some of the group was hearing the other members but not really listening to them. His elicited some negative feelings along the way. When waves off the opinions of others as unimportant, it creates feelings of opposition instead of cooperation. In the end,  however,  the completion of our project made everyone feel accomplished. These are some of the dualistic challenges one meets while working with others.

Flower Girl in Holland George Hitchock 1887 Term Paper

Flower Girl in Holland George Hitchock 1887 - Term Paper Example Hitchock uses unique materials in designing his works making his works to be presentable in the field of artistry. For instance, in the design of this work, he exploits the vast landscape as shown by the thick and firm brushwork, which he uses as the main apparatus in his work. The thick and firm brushwork indicates constant flow of motion in the painting. This illustrates the working routine of the flower girl in an evoking way. The painter illustrates the authenticity of his work in using something that everybody could have thought as having no use. Work of arts mainly depends on the authenticity of the artist that off course is an attribute of in this work. Hitchock also had a strong relationship with the women suggesting the inclusion of a flower girl as the protagonist of his work. His work is full of decorations making the sculpture to look even presentable. The work above is an exceptional for study because it provides a form of cleverly orchestrated tableaux. The painter uses the technique of gouache as shown by the squares and isosceles triangles. The squares and isosceles triangles depicts a sign of stability. A keen look at this painting shows that there is a deep meaning and reason to the idea of the painter. The motion depicted between the girl and the building conveys the exhausting rhythm which serves in showing the state of the subject. There are trees on the outside of the building making the setting seem remarkably peaceful. This is a representation of the human mind.

Whether Online-Only Degrees Would Be as Effective as Campus-Based Research Paper

Whether Online-Only Degrees Would Be as Effective as Campus-Based University Education - Research Paper Example Online enrolment has grown over the years by almost one million students as compared to previous years. Surveys made in about 2500 colleges have revealed that approximately 5.6 million students were enrolled in online courses in the year 2009 and by 2010 the number went on to 6.1million students. However there might exit some clouds but the sluggish economy continues to drive the growth of enrolment (The Sloan Consortium, 2012). While the growth of online enrolment is substantial but since 2006 the increase in an online course has increased only by 9.7% as compared to 21.1% in 2009. The report by Sloan Survey of Online learning acknowledges that the dip in the growth rate speculates that the increase in online education may lead to ultimate slowing. However, the growth of online enrolment exceeds the growth of overall higher education. Certain disciplines in online education system experienced gains and losses between 2010 and 2011. A major proportion of psychology and education prog rams saw a major decline in enrolment whereas engineering which had the highest proportion of declining enrolment in the year 2010 experienced improvement in the previous year. Online education has become an integral part of most of the education system, colleges, and universities (Lytle, 2011). However, it is true that online programs are flexible and also provides various kinds of benefits but all courses in the education system cannot be enrolled for online courses. Thus the online system education has both benefits as well as drawbacks for the students and the education system as a whole. Power/Knowledge Campus-based education has always had an edge over online education system because of the power it had and the knowledge that it aimed to provide its students. As stated above, everything cannot get online; there still exists subjects which require training and knowledge from the professors and practical training made available by campus-based learning. Although with the rise of internet campus-based education system has not been completely transformed but it is definitely going to have an immense impact in the near future (Scagnoli, 2005).  

Is Work life balance an unrealistic dream or something that Essay

Is Work life balance an unrealistic dream or something that organisations should pay attention to - Essay Example A work life balance is important because work life and life systems, although very different, are intertwined together in a firm manner. It has been proven through current theories that emotional spillovers from one side can affect the other. Such that, a disappointment at the job may translate in to a disappointment at the family level, and vice versa. One of the theories that are used to explain the relationship between the balance of work and life is the Work/family border theory. Border Theory The border theory divests upon the interactions between the life and work of an individual and how he may attempt to balance them (Poelmans 2005). According to the theory, as Clark (2000) relates, the primary connection between the work and family systems is not emotional but it is human. So ‘people’ in the theory are regarded as daily border-crossers who have to make daily transitions between the two worlds- the world of work and the world of family. People are important here because they are considered responsible for shaping the worlds, for defining the borders between the two worlds and for determining their relation to each of the worlds. Although people are the primary agents at work here, to change the environments, they can themselves be affected in turn, giving rise to a work-family spillover (Hislop 2008). It is this concept that makes keeping a balance between the two worlds the most challenging thing. The border theory seeks to explain the complex interaction between the border crossers and their work and family systems and henceforth, attempts to attain a certain degree of balance between life and work. Psychological contract The psychological contract is also an important concept when it comes to the study of work/life studies and refers to the exchange occurring between the employee and the employer (Andrae 2008). Through the psychological contract, one can attempt to understand what employees and employers expect from a job and work enviro nment. According to Smithson & Lewis (2000), these expectations may not just be confined to tenures or promotions, but, may also include other things like a sense of entitlement to work/ life benefits and flexible working hours. It has been argued recently that a better integration of the worlds of ‘work’ and ‘life’ lead to a positive psychological contract. The psychological contract explains that meeting or breaking of promises has a greater influence than practices and policies (Cooper, Quick & Schabracq 2009). According to Roehling, Roehling and Moen (2001), work/life policies, such as the flexible working hours and informal support, are directly linked to employee satisfaction and loyalty which get translated in the form of a positive psychological contract. The met and unmet expectations have a significant impact on the attitudes and behaviours of the employees (Naswall, Hellgren & Sverke 2008). Recent research in UK also shows that employees tend to look for the awards that their psychological contract promises to deliver and to consider it their right to have an entitlement of flexible working hours, the lack of which is believed to be a violation of the psychological contract (Leat 2007). The psychological contract is an important tool because it considers the individual expectations of employees and employers. The approach is also important to shift the focus from policies and instead concentrate on the different settings of work and life systems for both the employees and emp

Family nurse practitioner program Personal Statement

Family nurse practitioner program - Personal Statement Example The education would be tailored on encouragement of healthy lifestyles in order to prevent the chronic illnesses such as cancer and other serious diseases and this I would do using my own real life example as I have experience with chronic illness. I have a background undergraduate degree in psychology as well as an AND. This is an indicator that I am dedicated to my education and would love to expand it and acquire more knowledge. The future of nursing practitioners is bright what with the passing of the Affordable Care Act and I would like to be on the forefront of providing the necessary services and especially through leadership and community support as a way of aiming for the quality health care needed. Having worked at various health facilities such as Bogarts Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital as well as Cedars Sinai as a neurosurgery nurse among others, I have come to value the opinion of the senior nurses because they have not only the knowledge but experience and this is something I envy in them and would like to have as well. I am also a very strong believer in advancing one’s level of education as education provides knowledge which is power and I want to attain that power to change the future lives of my patients however much I can. I have the potential of working as an advanced nurse not only based on my background education in nursing but because of my personal experiences of how nurses can help patients and their families during sickness. My father was diagnosed with brain cancer and this was a difficult time in our lives. The nurses in the cancer centers and hospitals were very supportive offering shoulders to cry on and hope to live even after he passed away. This experience combined with my candy striper passion and participation volunteer provides a strong motivation and determination to help the patients through their suffering. I would lie to be more involved on a one on one

How does the Film 'North by Northwest' Convey Espionage from the Essay

How does the Film 'North by Northwest' Convey Espionage from the 1950's - Essay Example The two powers never had direct military action, but the period contained sets of high tension crises and race for supremacy. The Cold War era affected the culture of the US. Soldiers who served in the World War II returned home and started new lives and families. They started new businesses and the trade expanded along with job opportunities. The 1950s witnessed major events that was a huge leap and changed our culture and lifestyle. President Harry Truman approved production of the Hydrogen Bomb. 1951 saw the introduction of television and in 1958 the US launched its first satellite Explorer I. National Airlines started domestic passenger flights in 1958. These are major developments in a decade and have affected our culture and society. These were baby steps and foundation of events that led US to supremacy in culture, economy and military as well. The atomic explosions in the 1950s demonstrated power of the US and the Soviet Union and the events were the cause of escalation of th e Cold War. The decade included the Korean War and the beginning of the space race. Along with these developments intelligence gathering accelerated and espionage activities increased. The decade was very active and it had profound effects on the culture as well. The culture of the time is fairly represented by the films. The paper, however, is aimed at studying the culture of the decade along with examination of Alfred Hitchcock’s film North by Northwest in context with the espionage activities at the time. Before examining the film in detail, it is necessary to give a brief plot along with introduction to characters. Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock was an English born film director. His films usually centered on murder or espionage, with deception and chase sequences. Mistaken identity was common in his films. An innocent man wrongly accused of crime or espionage was a theme in many of his films. His greatest strength was his expertise in building and maintaining suspense . He used very elaborate with editing techniques and used camera viewpoints for his visual effects. The soundtracks were carefully chosen and edited.1 His thrillers maintained reality and believability which was different than other spy films of the time. Alfred Hitchcock was the main spy film director who made this genre popular in the 1930s. The Cold War era increased desire of audiences to see spy thrillers and the 1950s saw a major growth in this genre. Alfred Hitchcock made many of the spy films in the decade and depicted the espionage activities along with culture. Government operations along with operational style and activities of intelligence agencies were shown in the films. Spies and their work were mostly fiction but the films gave audiences an insight into the profession. Furthermore, the Cold War saw an increase in real world espionage activities and the intelligence agencies were very active at the time. The films, especially by Alfred Hitchcock came close to depictin g real world scenarios in espionage and were liked by audience for being suspense spy thrillers. North by Northwest â€Å"North by Northwest† was a Cold War spy story released in the year 1959 by Alfred Hitchcock. The cast included Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The film’s theme is of mistaken identity with an innocent man chased by an unknown organization. The main theme of this motion picture is espionage activity and shows some insight into government intelligence agen

Family nurse practitioner program Personal Statement

Family nurse practitioner program - Personal Statement Example The education would be tailored on encouragement of healthy lifestyles in order to prevent the chronic illnesses such as cancer and other serious diseases and this I would do using my own real life example as I have experience with chronic illness. I have a background undergraduate degree in psychology as well as an AND. This is an indicator that I am dedicated to my education and would love to expand it and acquire more knowledge. The future of nursing practitioners is bright what with the passing of the Affordable Care Act and I would like to be on the forefront of providing the necessary services and especially through leadership and community support as a way of aiming for the quality health care needed. Having worked at various health facilities such as Bogarts Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital as well as Cedars Sinai as a neurosurgery nurse among others, I have come to value the opinion of the senior nurses because they have not only the knowledge but experience and this is something I envy in them and would like to have as well. I am also a very strong believer in advancing one’s level of education as education provides knowledge which is power and I want to attain that power to change the future lives of my patients however much I can. I have the potential of working as an advanced nurse not only based on my background education in nursing but because of my personal experiences of how nurses can help patients and their families during sickness. My father was diagnosed with brain cancer and this was a difficult time in our lives. The nurses in the cancer centers and hospitals were very supportive offering shoulders to cry on and hope to live even after he passed away. This experience combined with my candy striper passion and participation volunteer provides a strong motivation and determination to help the patients through their suffering. I would lie to be more involved on a one on one

Summary of Intervierw Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of Intervierw - Assignment Example Riffle, noted that she had to carry out her roles in a certain way. As a coordinator, one has to ensure that they have a Master’s of Science, Development and cognitive disabilities and a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. In addition, it is necessary to have eight years of experience as a teacher teaching special education students. Like most Special Needs Coordinators in campuses, getting one year training as a NISD special Education Coordinator is critical. As a coordinator with such qualification, it is easier to manage special needs students if a coordinator has the skills and the qualifications (Wearmouth, 2013). In addition, parents are more likely to trust experienced professionals with their special needs children (Westwood, 2010). It is not only any special needs children that qualify for the programs, but those who are visually and emotionally impaired. Additionally, those with orthopedic, speech and auditory impairments are also included. Students with traumatic brain injuries and learning and intellectual disabilities are also qual ified. To admit these students into the special needs programs in the school, they have to do tests to check their adaptive behavior, cognitive and language skills (Wearmouth, 2008). Earlier tests used in special education schools were not suitable when it came to testing students with special needs (Frederickson & Cline, 2009). However, today, it is the work of the General Education Teacher to refer the students to the tests, but a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP) carries out the testing. For the school district to get the testing process done, they have to follow the Federal timelines. The Full Individual Evaluation (FIE) or The Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) meetings where the parents of the students, special and general education teachers are present are a requirement. Without these meetings, it would not be possible to admit students without allowing the Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARDC) to

Edward taylor and Metaphor Essay Example for Free

Edward taylor and Metaphor Essay The Beauty of Metaphor A Metaphor is defined as a grammatical device that â€Å"compares two different ideas by speaking of one in terms of the other. It asserts that one thing is another thing.† One of the best poets at using the metaphor is Edward Taylor, an intellectual New English Puritan. In his â€Å"Meditation One,† Taylor compares â€Å"God’s Matchless Love† to water, saying that it fills â€Å"Heaven to the Brim!† Then, in his â€Å"The Reflection,† Taylor says â€Å"Earth† was once a â€Å"Paradise of Heaven. † In both instances, Edward Taylor calls one thing something to help emphasize the message he is trying to portray, but ultimately, his metaphor in â€Å"Meditation One† is more effective as it reflects a greater idea. Edward Taylor’s use of metaphor in â€Å"Meditation One† and â€Å"The Reflection† shows how he used metaphors to compare an important topic in his poem to something more relatable, but his metaphor in â€Å"Meditation One† is more effective as it portrays a greater message. Edward Taylor’s use of Metaphor in â€Å"Meditation One† helps portray his message of Gods never ending love for us. In Line 7, Edward Taylor starts the sentence of by saying â€Å"Oh, Matchless Love!filling Heaven to the Brim!† Taylor compares the incomparable love of God to water, as he says it will fill heaven â€Å"to the brim.† By using the verb â€Å"filling,† the reader automatically thinks of something more relatable to his knowledge, water in context to a drink. When one pours water in, the water fills the cup. Ultimately, through his diction choice and use of metaphor, Taylor considers God’s love to be something that fills humanities’ needs. Since it can fill â€Å"Heaven,† it can fill our souls with a never ending joy. This is why Edward Taylor’s use of metaphor is so effective, it ulaitmely leads to a bigger, more important conclusion that can be easily derived through his relatable examples. This metaphor, in comparison to the one in â€Å"The Reflection†, is more effective as it plays a vital role in the establishment of a major theme in the poem. Edward Taylor’s use of metaphor in â€Å"The Reflection† helps portray his message that Earth was once a heavenly place until it was corrupted with sin. In Line 19, Edward Taylor starts the sentence off by saying â€Å"Earth once  was Paradise of Heaven Below.† 1Divine life, living and dead, whatever the case may be, existed on Earth at one period of time, until the corruptness of sin took over the Godly world. In this metaphor, Edward Taylor says that Earth once â€Å"was† a Paradise of Heaven Below, or, in other words, that Earth was once a Heavenly place. In this case, Taylor’s metaphor is much more simple, he calls one thing something else. The metaphor’s main puropose in this case is to call earth, in a past time, a Godly place, until the sinful nature of Adam and Eve led to the abolishment of Earth’s divineness Due to its simplistic nature, and the message that it emphasizes, this metaphor is not as effective as the previous me taphor. In conclusion, Edward Taylor uses metaphor to perfection.2 To think brillianty and to write brilliantly are two completely different things, and Edward Taylor does both. In both cases, Edward Taylor uses metaphor to call one thing something else. In â€Å"Meditation One,† He calls God’s love water, and in â€Å"The Reflection,† calls Earth a once Divine place. Ultimately, in â€Å"Meditation One,† his use of Metaphor is more effective because it conveys a more important message of God’s undeniable love for us.

Mechanically agitated fermenters

Mechanically agitated fermenters Abstract Traditional mechanical agitation fermenters have dominated the industry since the antibiotic era as needs changed new fermenter designs were created. As a result air lift agitated fermenters were created and have many merits in comparison to mechanical agitation fermenters. In this essay we will go through both systems merits in regards to mixing, aeration, practicality and energy costs Introduction Agitators are mechanical instruments used to mix substances, Fermentation is an age old art in which organic substances are broken down and reassembled into other substances. Fermenters are large bioreactors in which fermentation occurs, fermenters are the instruments employed to manufacture economically viable biological products. Their basic function is to provide a controlled environment in order to achieve optimal growth and product formation of the particular biological product required. For biotech and pharmaceutical purposes the products from fermentation are microbial cells or biomass, enzymes, and microbial metabolites such as antibiotics and ethanol. The basic desired functional properties of all Fermenters are that they can create gas liquid interfaces without making foam a problem. They should sufficiently hold up dispersed phases and allow reasonable heat transfer. They should also be able to control bulk flow so no dead zones can form. In league with these functional re quirements they should be cheap, robust and have a simple mechanical design additionally they should have low power consumption and be easy to scale up. In this essay we will compare two different types of Fermenters, airlift Fermenters and mechanically agitated Fermenters. Both types of mixers within Fermenters results in the intermingling of two or more dissimilar portions of material resulting in the acquirement of either physical or chemical uniformity in the final product. In industrial fermentation reactions there is a basic requirement of substrate, organism, water and oxygen. Mixing within Fermenters usually causes equilibrium between, rate, purity and production yield. Mechanical agitators are used in traditional Fermenters for mixing they maintain optimum substrate biomass concentration everywhere, keeps solid suspended, disperse oxygen, and allow an upkeep of total bubble surface area and the recycling of air bubbles (figure 1). Mechanically agitated Fermenters Mechanically agitated Fermenters require a relatively high input of energy per unit volume. In these systems a large variety of impeller shapes and sizes are available to produce different flow patterns inside the Fermenter. The use of multiple impellers produces better mixing that works in addition with baffles that are normally used to reduce vortexing. Approximately 70-80% of the volume of stirred reactors is filled with liquid. Foaming may be a problem with this type of Fermenter. Foam breakers, may be necessary. It is better to use mechanical anti foamers over chemical anti foamers because the chemicals often reduce oxygen transfer rate. One of the limits of this system is the use of high speed impellers can damage and even destroy cells. Aspect ratios of these Fermenters vary over a wide range. For aeration to be increased a higher aspect ratio is needed (H/D rates). Increased aeration results in greater contact times between liquid and rising bubbles and produces hydrostatic p ressure at the bottom of the Fermenter. Bubble column /Air Lift Fermenters In these systems aeration and mixing are achieved by gas sparging. Gas is sparged only into the riser. Decreased liquid fluid density and gas accumulation cause the liquid in the riser to mover upwards. Gas disengages at the top of the vessel leaving heavier bubble-free liquid to recirculate through the downcomer. This process needs less energy than mechanical stirring. This mixing, method is used in the production of beer and bakers yeast. The advantages of this method over mechanical agitation are, lack of moving parts, low capital costs satisfactory mass and heat transfer. Air lifted Fermenters produce heterogeneous and homogenous medium flows. In heterogeneous flow, Bubbles and liquids tend to rise up in the center of the column while a corresponding down flow of liquid occurs near the walls. In Homogenous flow, bubbles rise with the same upward velocity with no back-mixing of the gas phase. Foaming may also be a problem with these Fermenters. There are two kinds of air lift Ferm enters internal loop and external loop Fermenters. Mixing is better in external loop Fermenters because the riser and downcomers are further apart in external loop vessels which cause the density difference between fluids in the downcomer and riser to be greater meaning circulation of the liquid vessel is faster due to fewer bubbles being carried to the downcomer. Airlift Fermenter are normally used for the culture of immobilized catalyst and the culture of plant and animal cells because of their low sheer level. Mixing Stirred Fermenters and air lifted Fermenters both offer adequate mixing and mass transfer. However when a large Fermenter is required (50-500M3) for a low viscosity medium air lift vessels may be a better choice due to their advantages. These being they are cheap to install and operate. When scale up is required large mechanical agitators are impractical as the power required to achieve adequate mixing becomes very high. Mechanical agitators are used for high viscosity cultures. Mass transfer rates decline at viscosities greater than 50-100 cP. Mechanical agitation creates much more heat than sparging of compressed gas. This can become a problem when the reaction temperature is high for example when trying to produce single celled proteins from methanol, removal of frictional stirrer heat can be problematic this is where air-lift agitation is preferred. Comparison In brief the conventional, stirred tank bioreactor has dominated the industry since its successful application in the antibiotic era and most fermentation processes today use Fermenters of this type because of this. However due to change in the industry in regards to products in demand. Such as the growth of hydrodomas cell and recombinant DNA technologies of genetically modified cells of plant, microbial and mammalian origin imposed new demands that traditional agitators could not provide at an economically viable level. For this reason new novel Fermenters where designed and put into use. The air lift Fermenter being one of them. The air lift Fermenter has no movable parts or motors the only power requirement comes from the air compressors that provide air through the sparging system. No mechanical agitation occurs, the air bubbles forced through the sparger cause induced turbulent liquid mixing and mass transfer in which mixing rates and aeration rates are coupled together. Their main advantage is low sheer and energy requirement along with aseptic seals not being required around the shaft which makes them highly suitable for producing single celled protein. Additionally in air lift Fermenters mixing is improved by the inclusion of a draught tube to impart a circulation loop which produces a higher oxygen mass coefficient (KLA). The Air lift Fermenters are ideal when there is need for gentle agitation. Whereas the conventional mechanical agitated Fermenters have a broader range of application but they have a poorly defined mixing pattern in comparison to airlift Fermenters. Additionally they cannot be aerated at a high enough rate due to impeller flooding. Practicality wise they have a long life, the mechanical agitation configuration has become too established in processes for new methodologies to replace them. It would be too expensive to do. Aeration To provide aeration into a vessel means to supply or expose the medium to the circulation of air. Airlifted Fermenters provide a much greater aeration than mechanical agitators as gas is constantly pumped into the medium and consequently causes fluid circulation. Aeration within a mechanically agitated Fermenter is controlled by the type of impeller and baffle system. For example Turbines, propellers and paddles are generally used in low viscosity systems and operate at high rotational speed inside the Fermenter. Turbines are normally used for dispersion of gases in liquids. There are many types angled-blade turbines and retreating-blade turbines, the rushton/inclined six blade impeller. Similarly for large vessels with high aspect ratios it is common practice to mount more than one impeller of the same shaft. Baffles are of particular importance as they prevent gross vortexing which is detrimental to mixing/ aeration they are normally fitted on the walls of a vessel. Practicality Depending on the product being produced in the Fermenter and the viscosity of the medium practicality of mechanical and airlift agitators differ. Mechanical agitators are very practical when it comes to mixing highly viscous non Newtonian mediums however the power for this can be very high and subsequently this increases the costs. Additionally the practicality of the Fermenter being used in regards to merits is determined by the type of product being produced, the microbiology of particular cell systems in use coupled with the morphology and nutritional requirements needed for optimal growth. The geometric configuration of the Fermenter play an important role. Effective mixing to minimise temperature, PH concentration gradient are very important particularly with mechanically agitated Fermenters especially when a process is scaled up. Additionally the viscosity of the medium plays an important role, does the medium behave in a Newton or non Newton manner is it a solid or liquid sta te fermentation. The sheering effect of a particular agitation system dictates whether sheer sensitive cells can be cultivated. All of this is taken into account keeping in mind what is best for economic performance. For example large mechanical agitators have better Practical use than air lift agitators for use with the following cell systems, these are immobilised Bacteria, yeast and plant cells and are used for the for the production of products such as ethanol, monoclonal antibodies, growth factors and medicinal products. This is because they can tolerate sheer at a level best for productivity. Resulting in large quantities of moderate quality products with good profit costs. Alternatively air lift agitators are generally used for the cell systems of bacteria yeast and other fungi producing products such as single celled proteins E.G. Quorn, enzymes, secondary metabolites and biosurfactants. This is because they are more economically practical due to them having low sheer values meaning they do not damage the cells, they have much lower running costs and they can produce higher value sheer sensitive GM pr oducts. Furthermore when it comes to scale up with airlifted Fermenters it can be difficult to alter stirring rates making it difficult to deal with important rheological changes and foaming. This is where mechanically agitated Fermenters are favoured. Also air lifted Fermenters are less flexible than mechanically agitated systems as Aeration is responsible for homogenization. Energy use and Cost Mechanical agitators use more energy have moving parts, seals and are more expensive to run than airlift fermenters. The main benefit of air-lift Fermenters over mechanical agitators is that they can be constructed at much greater reactor volumes air-lift Fermenters can be built at volumes of several thousands cubic meters while mechanical operated agitators can be scaled up to a maximum of 800-1500 m3 (Ruitenberg et al 2001) As a consequence of this the investment costs of air-lift Fermenters is significantly lower when compared to mechanically operated agitators of the same capacity. At higher volumes mechanical agitators cause mechanical problems because of the large power requirements of the impeller. Furthermore, scale-up of air-lift Fermenters is much more straight forward than that of mechanical agitated fermenters. Scale-up from a 5 m3 pilot to 1500 m3 and larger is well defined. (Ruitenberg et al 2001) Figure 3 shows the Capital cost comparison of air-lift Fermenters vs. mechanical agitated fermenters. The cost for a mechanically agitated fermenter is defined as 1 for a 1500 m3 tank. The c ost of a 1500 m3 air-lift fermenter is a bit lower than that of the equivalent mechanically agitated fermenter. However, the investment cost follows the 0.6 rule until 6000 m3 is reached. Above 6000 m3, more than one air lift fermenter may need to be used. Another advantage of air-lift fementers over mechanical agitated fermenters is that the oxygen input efficiency is the same or better at considerably lower shear. Additionally Because no moving parts are present in air-lift Fermenters, the costs for maintenance will be lower as compared to mechanically agitated fermenters. The combination of high oxygen input efficiencies and low maintenance costs results in lower operational costs. Shear rates are much lower in air-lift Fermenters than in mechanically agitated fermenters. Low shear rates facilitate growth of biofilms, which can increase the reaction rate. This advantage is thought to be greatest when thermophilic bacteria are used. Because a three-phase settler can be integrated on top of an air-lift fermenter, the solids retention time can be separated from the hydraulic retention time causing biomass retention, (Ruitenberg et al 2001) Conclusion Mechanically agitated Fermenters have been in use since the beginning of the industry however due to changes in demand that comes with time in regards to technology and products needed novel Fermenter ideals were designed and put into fruition the air lift Fermenter is but one. In many ways this air lift agitators have many advantages as was just discussed. References Barker, T. W. and J. T. Worgan (1981). The Application of Air-Lift Fermenters to the Cultivation of Filamentous Fungi. European Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 13(2): 77-83. Chisti, Y. and U. J. Jauregui-Haza (2002). Oxygen transfer and mixing in mechanically agitated airlift bioreactors. Biochemical Engineering Journal 10(2): 143-153. Fontana, R. C., T. A. Polidoro, et al. (2009). Comparison of stirred tank and airlift bioreactors in the production of polygalacturonases by Aspergillus oryzae. Bioresource Technology 100(19): 4493-4498. Margaritis, A. and J. B. Wallace (1984). Novel Bioreactor Systems and Their Applications. Bio-Technology 2(5): 447-453. Ruitenberg, R., C. E. Schultz, et al. (2001). Bio-oxidation of minerals in air-lift loop bioreactors. International Journal of Mineral Processing 62(1-4): 271-278. Williams, J. A. (2002). Keys to bioreactor selections. Chemical Engineering Progress 98(3): 34-41.

Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution :: essays research papers

Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution You know about the Vermeer story right? Never heard of Vermeer? Really? So the story goes, as I am usually lounging around with others who have migrated into the vast world of the web, these questions generally come up†¦ Vermeer was the company who silently pioneered FrontPage, and was quietly and expeditiously merged into â€Å"the empire† at Microsoft. It evolved into two key MS technologies, the Personal Web Server (PWS) and FrontPage, now widely utilized at homes worldwide as a key component of Office 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alas the story continues, as I tread the waters deeper and find other so-called web developers around Cebu creating pages and sites for the vastness of the net. I usually silently snicker inside as they tell me how they learned FrontPage at â€Å"so and so† institution and have been a professional web developer ever since. Rest assured, I think to myself, they’ll be attending a class or two of mine soon†¦ However, not for nothing, us professional developers (you know these guys, the ones who are making integrated solutions for the guy next down AND several [er, thousand] kilometers away.) usually have little to do with FrontPage nowadays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  FrontPage, long ago the â€Å"cream of the crop† silently sits in wait as we tear away with apps such as Ultradev 4, 1st Page, Flash 5, Adobe PhotoShop, XML-Spy, and the Top Style CSS editor. Us â€Å"big boys† are playing with such things as .asp, .php, ColdFusion, ActionScript, XSLT, and a myriad of other acronyms that will leave your head spinning. On top of that, we’re all scrambling to learn more Java (for server pages and COM building), PowerBuilder, and of course, XHTML. This is not to the fault of FrontPage , it still is functional, but has lost it’s functionality as we deal with interactive web sites and most (over 85%) of the servers in Cebu can’t run FrontPage’s Server Extensions (That’s what JavaScript is for anyway you say†¦). But don’t fret, they have just breathed life into this ailing creature, redirecting it’s path from the tangent path of obsolescence. Enter the next generation o f FrontPage, a powerhouse of fury packed under the soon-to-be-released Windows OfficeXP umbrella. XP standing for experience, something we’re all going to have to sit down and do ourselves†¦ but for now, here’s the primer†¦. What’s OfficeXP all about? Here’s the marketing pitch: Whether you are a small business user, a user in a larger organization, an IT administrator, or a user working from home, Office XP is the essential tool to maximize your productivity. Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution :: essays research papers Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution You know about the Vermeer story right? Never heard of Vermeer? Really? So the story goes, as I am usually lounging around with others who have migrated into the vast world of the web, these questions generally come up†¦ Vermeer was the company who silently pioneered FrontPage, and was quietly and expeditiously merged into â€Å"the empire† at Microsoft. It evolved into two key MS technologies, the Personal Web Server (PWS) and FrontPage, now widely utilized at homes worldwide as a key component of Office 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alas the story continues, as I tread the waters deeper and find other so-called web developers around Cebu creating pages and sites for the vastness of the net. I usually silently snicker inside as they tell me how they learned FrontPage at â€Å"so and so† institution and have been a professional web developer ever since. Rest assured, I think to myself, they’ll be attending a class or two of mine soon†¦ However, not for nothing, us professional developers (you know these guys, the ones who are making integrated solutions for the guy next down AND several [er, thousand] kilometers away.) usually have little to do with FrontPage nowadays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  FrontPage, long ago the â€Å"cream of the crop† silently sits in wait as we tear away with apps such as Ultradev 4, 1st Page, Flash 5, Adobe PhotoShop, XML-Spy, and the Top Style CSS editor. Us â€Å"big boys† are playing with such things as .asp, .php, ColdFusion, ActionScript, XSLT, and a myriad of other acronyms that will leave your head spinning. On top of that, we’re all scrambling to learn more Java (for server pages and COM building), PowerBuilder, and of course, XHTML. This is not to the fault of FrontPage , it still is functional, but has lost it’s functionality as we deal with interactive web sites and most (over 85%) of the servers in Cebu can’t run FrontPage’s Server Extensions (That’s what JavaScript is for anyway you say†¦). But don’t fret, they have just breathed life into this ailing creature, redirecting it’s path from the tangent path of obsolescence. Enter the next generation o f FrontPage, a powerhouse of fury packed under the soon-to-be-released Windows OfficeXP umbrella. XP standing for experience, something we’re all going to have to sit down and do ourselves†¦ but for now, here’s the primer†¦. What’s OfficeXP all about? Here’s the marketing pitch: Whether you are a small business user, a user in a larger organization, an IT administrator, or a user working from home, Office XP is the essential tool to maximize your productivity.

“Good Old Country People”-Pride Is Stronger Than You Think Essay

â€Å"Good Old Country People† –Pride is Stronger Than Most Think Pride throughout literature has been to a great extent manipulated by writers in positive and negative visible radiations to reflect their intended intent. In the bulk of Flannery O’Conner‘s narratives. characters who have pride exude more haughtiness than they do assurance. and as a consequence these characters condescend towards those of lower criterions. In â€Å"Good Country People. † O’Conner onslaughts pride to be a negative influence on society in which the cardinal character Hulga has so much pride that she condescends towards others. Here. Hulga condescends towards her female parent. Mrs. Freeman. and the bible salesman by handling them as idiots and is finally punished for it by losing her leg. O’Conner defines Hulga’s pride but lets the reader determine and assail how negative it is and hence how appropriate her penalty is for her actions. A clear illustration of the pride in herself that Hulga ( besides known as Joy ) displays is seen by the manner that she believes she is better than the state. â€Å"Joy had made it kick that if it had non been this status. she would be far from these ruddy hills and good state people. She would be in a university talking to people who knew what she was speaking about† ( 175 ) . Hulga clearly indicates in this statement that she would instead non hold to cover with naif state people. and would instead speak to those which are every bit smart as she is. O’Conner merely describes Hulga’s feelings about the state but leaves it up to the readers to make up one's mind whether such feelings are the right 1s to hold. The natural reaction of the reader that O’Conner would be seeking to bring on is one that rejects the feelings. Ideally the reader would see that Hulga is non handling the state people as peers to university pupils and hence see that Hulga is condescending in a manner that makes her experience superior while exudating negative pride. Another illustration of the manner O’Conner lets the reader make up one's mind how negative Hulga’s pride is can be shown when she talks to the bible salesman. When Hulga is confronted by the salesman about non believing in God. the salesman claims that she isn’t â€Å"saved† because of it. Hulga so pompously replies that â€Å"I’m saved and you are damned† ( 182 ) . This statement entirely clearly shows how much better Hulga thinks she is than the naif bible salesman. She thinks that although she doesn’t believe in God she is much smarter than the salesman. and therefore she is blessed for being smart and the salesman is damned for being dense. The reader is so one time once more enticed to dislike Hulga’s personality and the pride that goes along with it. In the terminal she is punished for her iniquitous self-importance when she loses her leg. O’Conner so lets the reader non merely make up one's mind whether the penalty is right after seeing Hulga’s disdainful nature. but besides to what extent Hulga should be punished. Should she stop up acquiring aid back to her place or merely creep her manner back? Throughout â€Å"Good Country People† . Flannery O’Conner finally is assailing pride. and she does do it clear that she is making so. However she does this through the emotional and mental rejection of such pride from the reader.

Isolation in The Great Gatsby Essay

Hundreds of people are gathered around dancing, drinking, and having a good time. People are causally talking and laughing. Men and women from all around are having the â€Å"time of their life. † However, the lifestyle of the city, money, and connections don’t always create fulfilled, happy lives. For Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby, they are never alone but always isolated. Daisy Buchanan uses her need for attention and people to adore her most likely to cover up her fear of isolation. From the beginning Daisy has virtually been alone. Her husband Tom was not even there for the birth of their only daughter. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling†¦ † (21). She was very isolated from Tom at that point of time in their marriage. This stems her fear of being alone leads to the suspicion of Tom and Myrtle’s affair. She doesn’t have the strength to step away from Tom’s money or her fear and confront him though. She uses attention to cope with his affair. For example, she kisses Gatsby in her own husband’s house. She needs to know that someone will give and receive her attention. She lets her fear of isolation run her life. Nick Carraway is the one of the most isolated characters in The Great Gatsby. He once said that, â€Å"At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness †¦ sometimes (61-62). † Through this quote Nick expresses his overwhelming loneliness of city life. He is originally from the Midwest and doesn’t know many people in West or East Egg. He feels alone in the â€Å"crowd† especially at Gatsby’s famous parties when â€Å"introductions (are) forgotten on the spot† (44) and enthusiastic meeting occur between people who don’t even know each other’s names. Nick also feels alone when he realizes he had turned thirty already. He fears growing old because he sees isolation within old age. He sees the people around him and notices that no one is truly happy and as they age life doesn’t get any better. Jay Gatsby’s death confirmed his fears of isolation. Gatsby was the most well known man in West Egg and hundreds of well known, famous people showed up at his parties every night, yet â€Å"Nobody came† (143) to his funeral. Nick was just an average person just trying to work his way up to the American dream. If no one came to say goodbye to Jay Gatsby after his death, what was in store for him when he died. This mphasized his fear of growing older and being isolated. Jay Gatsby seemed like he was on top of the world from the outside looking in. He was extremely wealthy and had hundreds of people at his house at all times; however, on the inside he was just like everyone else, lonely. The love of his life married a different man when he went off to war. He had never gotten over her and always longed for her to come back to him. He isolated himself from everything that didn’t have to do with her. He made his money, bought his house, and threw his parties in hopes to impress and get her back into his arms. He was still in need of company though. He asked Nick Carraway to go to Coney Island in his car late one night. Then, when Nick said it was too late, Gatsby asked if he’d like to go swimming. Nick turned down his offer yet again. Gatsby had all the toys, money, and people in the world to interact with yet he was still lonely because he had isolated himself so much from the outside world. Even into his death, Gatsby didn’t have anyone but a few people at his funeral. He had isolated himself so much; he never made any true relationships. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, and Jay suffer from the fear or isolation of the outside world. The dream life of knowing people, being wealthy and living in the city with the upper class is as glamorous as it seemed to be for these characters. They are always around people, but always alone. It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about – things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl.

Boost Juice Essay

Background Boost Juice Bars (Boost, 2014) is an Australian food and beverage brand, which was formed in 2000 with the first store located in the capital city in the South part of Australia- Adelaide. This food and beverage business has been done well since the business has been expanded globally in Asia, Europe, and Russia and even in Middle East. Unfortunately, Boost Juice Bars stopped part of business in New Zealand in 2006 after the franchiser due to liquidation. The stores in New Zealand are sold to Tank Juice. After a year reflection, Boost Juice Bars signed an agreement to re-start the brand in the UK. Nestlà © began a range of fruit smoothies in co-operating with Boost Juice Bars since 2008 as so to expand internationally. From this time onward until July 2009, there have been stores operating in Australia, and some places in Asia. The Franchising contracts have been confirmed in Asia and Europe as part of a global expansion plan. Following by the next  four years, Boost Juice got into a franchise agreement for providing the major supply to the whole India. By the end of 2013, the company had expanded into South America and some places in Asia. Literature Review The marketing strategy (Lusch, 1987) is collected from market research and product mix, in order to maximize the largest profit and maintain the stability of the business. The marketing strategy is basic cornerstone of a marketing plan. The marketing plan (Lusch, 1987) focuses on the idea of innovation by using brand new marketing mix to target the potential customers in the market. Most competitors are vending alike products. Between Competitors have strong competitions. One of the key competences is the innovative idea about new juice. The image of Boost Juice is the design of creating fresh, juvenile and healthy theme, so as to tempt more young people. Competitor may duplicate Boost Juice Bar’s goods and plan; however, the royalty of brand is important. Even if Boost Juice Bar is glad with its present marketing campaign to hold its customers for instance the Vibe club program which the purchaser could obtain a cup of free of charge drink on their birthday. It is intelligent to make sure if customers have less interest in Boost Juice or their awareness regarding to the weak brand image. The life cycle in different stage or timeline is necessary to estimate the correct marketing mix to strengthen some customer’s insight. It is necessary to ensure to stay in customer’s mind. Boost Juice Bar has a youthful and health picture, the market segment set on the young generation. Unfortunately, it is prudent to go back over its market segments. Inspecting the possibility on attraction from people age 18 until 25 is the most significant, as this group of people far more concerned their health and nutrition, in order to have a longer life expectancy. Young people sometimes are fascinated because of Boost cup’s design and even Vibe club Program (Boost Juice, 2014). Yet, fully grown customers tend to consider more on royalty of products whether benefits can be gained. Fresh and nutrition can offer vital benefit for body. Executive Summary The advertising and promotion are fundamental with product differentiation. Modernization is a key strategy that Boost Juice should across into its cup’s design and marketing promotion. Boost utilized a brand new method to connect fresh squeezed juice and nutrition together for the young generation. For the young people, they prefer to try new and special product; boost Juice has done excellence. Luckily until now, Boost has been using the same type of marketing tools more than five years, including publicity, media coverage and interactive website to represent the brand. One of the potential troubles of Boost Juice Bar may be facing is its old marketing message to its target audience or customers. This is the main issue if customers still have strong tackiness to stick the old message to Boost Juice Bar’s brand. Hence, Boost Juice Bar re-think about its goal customers. Boost also re-plans its marketing tools to the objective customers. However now, Boost is necessary to pay more attentions by using a popular marketing method, known as E- Marketing, such as Facebook and Twitters. The social media have been acting a considerable function in many companies, including small and large firms. The marketing mix is now very useful for understanding Boost Juice’s target customer, young generations. Product Range According to the survey I collected in a store at Macquarie Shopping Centre, the products of Boost Juice Bar mainly focus on health and nutrition. The following categories are the product range. 1. Smooth – Low fat smoothies. 2. Juice – squeeze from fresh fruit. 3. Complementary Product – healthy snacks (Fresh yoghurt and muesli bar). 4. Product in supermarket – juice, frozen yoghurt, and ready- to- eat snack (such as Low fat crunchy) Situation Analysis International Environment Analysis The main purpose of Boost doing this analysis is to figure out the flaw and and strength. Boost Juice Bar has established a questionnaire on its website to find out the acumen and insight factors, in order to maximise the profit. Marketing Situation When started the investment of Boost Juice Bar (Boost Juice, 2014), the founder and Managing Director Janine Allis targets an innovative way of offering juice in the Australian market. The new kind of juice bars have to be unlike from the long-established grocery store style juice, as well as the idea of juice bars in the US existed for more than 15 years. Earlier than Boost Juice existed, there were over 2000 juice bars in the US. Janine had an insight to believe that Boost Juice would have the capacity to have more than 500 branches. According to an interview with one of the store managers of Macquarie Shopping, since 2000, Boost Juice Bar was the only one brand that had the most and biggest expansion in Australia. Boost has had around 90 stores in 2004. At the same year they qualified the number 2 leading brand VIV A Juice, which means keeping the fresh and good quality fruits. After the combination in 2000, Boost had total about 124 stores. Nowadays, Boost Juice Bar has further 300 stores worldwide. Boost Juice Bar is successful on its inventive concepts with healthy and good taste. The fruits are squeezed into juice and smoothie for being a particular product. The original and normal styles of red and green colour give customer the thought of the product which is good for health. This is very strong brand recognition. Positive and energetic staffs serve the juice with bright smile; even speak out customer’s name loudly. These can force Boost to be particular with the other competitors. The product and sales are vastly generated to form a young and create active mood to attract younger. Aside from the customer’s royalty program (Boost Juice, 2104), Vibe Club card can keep hold as many as customers Boost can, for instance the members of Vibe club card could get a cup of unpaid drink on their birthdays. Management Situation Before the development of Boost Juice, Janine Allis was a Journalist; the work experience offered precious acquaintance on business practice, in particular management. Moreover, her husband, Jeff Allis worked in a radio station that a platform enables Janine to have better understanding on Boost’s target audiences. The background of Jeff has in radio industry enables them to use marketing tools for promotion (WR,1956). Boost Juice acquired VIV A Juice Bar in 2004, they employed VIVA Juice Bar’s creator Simon McNamarra being CEO, from another juice industry (Boost Juice, 2014). An extra factor could not be uncared is franchise system for expanding its stores. The franchising system allowed Boost to enlarge at a relative small cost whereas franchisees had to invest for installation for each shop. Actually, this helped Boost with the economic stress; meanwhile the joint fee of each shop has to shell out to the head office each year so that Boost has earnings by supply the material and charge shops from administration fees. This is a steady capital from the head office that could pay out on the promotion and advertising. Branding Branding position The theme of Boost Juice Bar was healthy and nutrition food (Boost Juice, 2014), provided to customers. Boost has to deliver this message to people that health is very important now. The mainly focus is not only taste and healthy drink, but also forms an active and fresh image. By various campaign, included off-lines or even online through the entire year, Boost Juice received strong attentiveness in the public such as Poster and advertisement on TV. External Environment Analysis In fact, the old juice industry has been at the maturity stage, since many juice shops had to convent into grocery stores for stay alive. Even though Boost created innovative idea of healthy juice drinks, happened from its first shop in south side of Australia- Adelaide, the smoothies juice bar are about to arrive at the stage of maturity. The external situation analysis concerned the external opportunity and threats that might influence the juice business. The threats included changing in society, demography and culture, change in economy and technology, competitor’s activities, and rule and regulatory. For the time being, the direct competitors of Boost have less action against to its market share. Actually, competitors could duplicate any of Boost’s products, but they are not enough to handle Boost Juice’s branding positioning. The problems may be arisen from the main location in the business areas that the district of Boost Juice’s retail shop could not attain. This provides an opportunity for the small competitors. For the change influence in cultural and society, people are far more anxiety on their health, they care about the amount of nutrition. SWOT Analysis Strengths: 1. Product’s development. 2. Strong spotlight on promotion (advertising campaign) 3. High customer royalty 4. Innovations 5. well-built ability to link with customers Weaknesses: 1. Heavy concentrate on promotional activities lead to high marketing cost 2. Sales decline obviously in winter time 3. Lack of further development in product in recent year Opportunity: 1. Without robust competitors directly 2. Health conscious Threats: 1. Many roundabout competitors started selling smoothies products. 2. Customers may have less interest over the time changed. Marketing Segmentation According to the survey I collected from Macquarie Shopping Centre store, there are some possibilities of target customers of Boost Juice, including regular households market, young, teenager, and healthy diet eaters. Boost need to analyse and develop products to meet the stratification from various customers’s needs and wants. Housewives in regular household market purchase juice for their families weekly or monthly. The juice product is necessary to be healthy, high in vitamin and fresh for the family. For the young people with age approximately between from 18 until 25, some of them prefer good-looking packaging to meet their idea that â€Å"perfect and exciting eat†. Some of them would begin to think of relatively healthy way, which is supportive to their bodies. The cup’s design of Boost is completely fit for those two above types of people. For teenager with age between 15 and 18, they expected the juice drink not just tasty but also fun and attractive. They are likely to buy the prestige other than the actual product. The good taste smoothies drink and nice-looking package of product is the important keys to this group of customers. For healthy diet eaters, they would look  deeply to the ingredients of products. They will look at the quality of product more than the design and appearance of the product. Marketing Objectives The marketing objectives are integrating marketing communication campaign, the marketing objectives of Boost Juice Bars could are target customers with aged between 25 and 35, which has higher ability of income to consume better quality products, as well as engage with new customer and retain the current ones by the social network. Strategies The marketing schedule of Boost consisted promotion and advertising, braining new ideas regularly, and seeking new customers through interactive program to connect with customers. Marketing Mix Marketing Mix is about what to use unlike marketing tools to meet the goal (WR, 1956). Normally, Marketing Mix is the mix of 4Ps (Lee, 2009). 4Ps are about the features of products; Price is how to set up the price strategy; promotion, such as advertising and public relationship; and place such as locations which is very critical in retail business. Product differentiation was very significant (WR, 1956), so innovative needs can be frequently carried out. Those factors were fraction of a general scheme of competitiveness. Being the most accepted smoothies in the market for over 11 years, customers who love trying new things; innovation could hold customers. In order to create a centre of attention of the new age level of customers from 24-35, TV commercial is significant to make awareness to people. The alternative factor is social Network, such as Facebook. None of people deny such social media became the most popular marketing tool for companies to interact with their target audien ces. Boost Juice should post more posts on Facebook and uploading up the â€Å"Today’s specials† on Twitter account. By not only utilizing those as a stage to keep contact with customers, but Boost also update customer’s needs for improvement. Boost’s target market are chiefly young people within 15 and 25, the rate of using social media is extremely high. The cost should be demonstrated effectively by using free media source, such as Facebook’s Page and writing blog. One of  the 4Ps – place, this can also be location. As mention before, Boosts are mostly residing in the high quantity of customers in business areas. These absolutely make attention more on customers; however, the cost of problem is very high. Hence, this do not fulfill as many customer’s wishes as possible. The potential approach in the place is special designon public transport, such as mini bus and taxi, which is like concept to Munch Lunch Van. Customers have to give a call for service in advance. The mobile van can go to the place where shop is not nearby. Doing the juice business, Boost should treat each product’s price as a standard. A price cut may cause low quality for ensuring the quality of product offered. On the other hand, the cause of Boost Juice has pretty high proportion of marketing expenditure and leasing cost. Hence, Boost tried to provide more benefits to customers. For example, free drink to allocate on street for promotion. The price discount could be offered in the alterative way. Something like buy 2 gets 1 free or jumbo size can enlarge the sales for profit margin. Product Differentiation and the Product Life Cycle In a market, there are many companies are all making related products; product differentiation is a real approach to analyse (WR, 1956). Refer to an academic journal (GS, 1981), extensive reference have been made; Armstrong, Brown and Adam had pointed out references detailed points. The product life cycle illustrates the alteration of a product from development and popularity, follow by maturity and even decline (GS, 1981). Boost illustrates the outlook of its business through product life cycle, in order to keep the position in the market and maximise the profit. The 4Ps comprise (Internal Marketing, 2004) the Product to understand product’s special and exclusive features, Price is referring to pricing plan), Promotion is about how to let people know the product, such as advertising and public relation, and Place is about distribution that the quality product allocated to different branches. The branch with more customers should have more sources to produce more products. Measures of Success According to an interview with a brand manager, the marketing research company called ACNielsen, which has been working in the area of media, entertainment, finance, and hospitality, revealed Boost Juice operated  several countries and served variety of industries, adjust Boost’s needs to measure its marketing outcome. The professional research of companies provided definite view of what is going to be happened. It has a leading of role in sharing of information in TV commercial. The methods of collecting data consisted retail forecast, consumer panels, and marketing investigate. Also common work included merchandising in goods, modeling and analytics, decision marking, and merchandising goods. Recommendation Social media is now being a new marketing tool to hold with customers preferably. Boost Juice maintain innovation as the main type of competence. A qualitative study is necessary to move toward with Boost Juice that the audience is necessary to recognize the right view. Conclusion For being successful, Boost Juice can not be described as lucky. When it comes to the founder Janine Allis’ passion in providing healthy and nutritious drink to this country, she is smart to target on the brand positioning to the right target customers by using the correct marketing tools. In overall, Boost is still having large room for growing, unfortunately, over the time passed by, the external environment, such as target customers are changing. Parts of fans have already become mature. Boost Juice Bar have to be more innovative deal with the problem of market change to preserve existing customers and attract more new customers. Reference Boost Juice, 2014, < http://www.boostjuice.com.au/> GS Day, 1981, â€Å"The product life cycle: analysis and applications issues.† The Journal of Marketing, vol.45, no.4 Internal Marketing website, 2004, Lee Goi, Chai, 2009, â€Å"A Review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?† International Journal of Marketing Studies, vol.1, no.1 Lusch, R.F., and V.N. Lusch, 1987, Principles of Marketing, Kent Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts WR Smith, 1956, â€Å"Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies.† The Journal of Marketing, vol.21, no.1