Monday, September 30, 2019

A Wrinkle in Time Chapters 1-2 Questions and Answers

Chapter 1 (Q)List all of Meg’s problems. Which one do you think is the most important? Why? (A) Meg has many problems such as she is too effusive. Another one of her problems is that she has much trouble at school. A few examples of this would be that her teachers threaten to hold her back for her poor academic grades, she is teased very often of acting like a baby at lunch, and she fights when she or a family member of hers is insulted all this lowering her position in school. Meg’s family is also gossiped about. She has a â€Å"dumb baby brother† who is actually very intelligent but considered insane. Her father is also talked about. Using context clues I can infer that Meg’s father is not home. Meg is also unpresentable, she has unattractive mouse brown hair and revolting braces stuck on her teeth. Another problem is the setting, Meg is in the attic at night-while everyone is sleeping and there have been several hurricane warnings. What makes the situation even worse is that there is a tramp (sometimes called hobos) out on the loose. Personally, I think that Meg’s most important problem is that she is too hard on herself. I feel this way because not only is she a poor student, with terrible facial looks, and overemotional she makes herself believe that she is all these things. She even tells her cat that she is a monster. The worse she feels the worse she acts around people and the more people talk bad about her. (Q) How is Charles Wallace different from most 5 year olds? (A) Charles Wallace is different from most five year olds in many ways. For starters, he is terribly shy and doesn’t talk around unfamiliar people-giving him the reputation as a â€Å"dumb baby brother†. His shyness is not the only reason he is considered unintelligent but his lack of language until he was 4. Charles is also different because he is very fluent in English and talks like an adult. He also has a gifted sixth sense to be able to read his sister’s and mother’s minds. For example, when Meg was getting up to have some cocoa he already knew and was warming some up for her. Chapter 2 (Q) What do you think happened to Meg’s father? What clues from the book support your opinion? (A) I think Meg’s father was working on an experiment or trying to create a medicine while something went wrong and he never came home. Using clues from the book I can also infer that he is alive and that some people are thinking that he has left the Murray family. My evidence from the book is that Mr. Jenkins is asking if they had head from his father. So that assures me that Mr. Murray is alive. Mr. Jenkins also makes it clear that Mr. Murray was a scientist rising my thoughts that he may have been working on something when

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Celebrity Role Models

Today’s teens are bombarded with images and activities that don't mirror their lives from hit teen-TV shows like â€Å"The OC† and â€Å"Gossip Girl† to the multitude of entertainment programs and features in magazines. Today's media obsessed society often leads students to believe all they need to ‘be cool' is be thin, blonde and wear the latest designer clothes. The UGLY program aims to help young adults self-esteem by using celebrities, as they know that young people look up to celebrities and their identity is reflected on them. Sometimes this is a good thing and other times it is a bad thing and this is why celebrities need to function as a role model to their audience because of today's celebrity-obsessed society. I plan to expand this theory and reasons behind the celebrity-obsessed society. Celebrities now know that they have a function as a role model to their fans if they want to keep their celebrity status. They have a responsibility now, that celebrities did not have many years ago. The mass media however, play a big part in this as, if the celebrity is not read about then society will loose interest in them and move on to the next influence. The media can make or break a celebrity and can form a celebrity out of nothing. They also play a big part in exposing celebrities and finding out ‘who they really are'. This is another reason our society is so interested in celebrities to show that they are ‘just like us'. And celebrities know that any exposure is good exposure and sometimes will try and get into the tabloid newspapers as much as possible as this then can improve their careers as a celebrity. Whereas other celebrity's like to rebel as they are uninterested in their celebrity status but all celebrities can function as role models and this can be bad for their young fans. Today's mass media society gives reasons why what we read or what we see on television has become our main influence into the world. We watch news and we read the news and we believe what we are told with no questions asked and this is how the media can choose what they discuss on television without the public questioning whether the information is correct or not. Luckily with the invention of the internet we can find alternative news stories discussing different opinions on the subjects if need be. Celebrities are also shown a lot in fashion and gossip magazine's but, instead of being ‘exposed' are shown at their best and informing the public what dress they are wearing or what designer they are sporting. This is also an influence in society but is good for the role model function of celebrities. There are good and bad role models in society. Some were once good role models turned bad and then from bad to good. This is all from the media exposure of their lifestyles. Certain celebrities that are recent high interest in the media are celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Amy Wine house. All these celebrities came about through music but are now just a common face in society and the media and are not so much discussed as their musical talents. A lot of these celebrities act as role models to children and young people and when the media influences them for instance Amy Wine house and drugs it can reflect bad on them. Charlotte Church has grown up in the media eye and children have modeled themselves on her but yet again the media try to portray her as someone bad. Children's presenters or child celebrities need to be very careful about the way they go about their everyday lives. Children and young adults influence themselves on celebrities so much and with the media exposing and being interested in their everyday lives it's harder to keep things secret if they do something bad or have a bad habit. In my essay I want to discuss certain news stories from children's role models that have changed perceptions and that may change the way their fans think as people. This can be very dangerous for future society. Celebrity Role Models Today’s teens are bombarded with images and activities that don't mirror their lives from hit teen-TV shows like â€Å"The OC† and â€Å"Gossip Girl† to the multitude of entertainment programs and features in magazines. Today's media obsessed society often leads students to believe all they need to ‘be cool' is be thin, blonde and wear the latest designer clothes. The UGLY program aims to help young adults self-esteem by using celebrities, as they know that young people look up to celebrities and their identity is reflected on them. Sometimes this is a good thing and other times it is a bad thing and this is why celebrities need to function as a role model to their audience because of today's celebrity-obsessed society. I plan to expand this theory and reasons behind the celebrity-obsessed society. Celebrities now know that they have a function as a role model to their fans if they want to keep their celebrity status. They have a responsibility now, that celebrities did not have many years ago. The mass media however, play a big part in this as, if the celebrity is not read about then society will loose interest in them and move on to the next influence. The media can make or break a celebrity and can form a celebrity out of nothing. They also play a big part in exposing celebrities and finding out ‘who they really are'. This is another reason our society is so interested in celebrities to show that they are ‘just like us'. And celebrities know that any exposure is good exposure and sometimes will try and get into the tabloid newspapers as much as possible as this then can improve their careers as a celebrity. Whereas other celebrity's like to rebel as they are uninterested in their celebrity status but all celebrities can function as role models and this can be bad for their young fans. Today's mass media society gives reasons why what we read or what we see on television has become our main influence into the world. We watch news and we read the news and we believe what we are told with no questions asked and this is how the media can choose what they discuss on television without the public questioning whether the information is correct or not. Luckily with the invention of the internet we can find alternative news stories discussing different opinions on the subjects if need be. Celebrities are also shown a lot in fashion and gossip magazine's but, instead of being ‘exposed' are shown at their best and informing the public what dress they are wearing or what designer they are sporting. This is also an influence in society but is good for the role model function of celebrities. There are good and bad role models in society. Some were once good role models turned bad and then from bad to good. This is all from the media exposure of their lifestyles. Certain celebrities that are recent high interest in the media are celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Amy Wine house. All these celebrities came about through music but are now just a common face in society and the media and are not so much discussed as their musical talents. A lot of these celebrities act as role models to children and young people and when the media influences them for instance Amy Wine house and drugs it can reflect bad on them. Charlotte Church has grown up in the media eye and children have modeled themselves on her but yet again the media try to portray her as someone bad. Children's presenters or child celebrities need to be very careful about the way they go about their everyday lives. Children and young adults influence themselves on celebrities so much and with the media exposing and being interested in their everyday lives it's harder to keep things secret if they do something bad or have a bad habit. In my essay I want to discuss certain news stories from children's role models that have changed perceptions and that may change the way their fans think as people. This can be very dangerous for future society.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Articles Of Confederation

Articles Of Confederation Essay Articles Of ConfederationIn the 1770’s, as America’s great thinkers and writers were declaring their desire for independence; they also established a committee to lay the foundation for the American form of government. These brilliant writers and philosophers hesitantly began designing the national level of government for use in America and named their final draft the Articles of Confederation . Out of their utter distrust of a centralized government, due to their association with the English monarchial system, the drafters deliberately established these articles as a loose confederation of states, rather than a firmly united nation. Life under the Articles of Confederation was filled with hardships and uncertainty, and the political scene was paralyzed with inability due to the lack of sovereignty in a central executive branch and the unanimous state consent required for the ratification of an amendment together with the lack of a taxation privilege . However, despite its inherent flaws, the Confederation government did prove capable to accomplish a few foreign and domestic achievements. Under the authority of the Confederation, the United States began to introduce itself in the global scene. The United States determined its place in the community of nations by establishing diplomatic relations and its participation in the world economy. The Confederation Congress also accomplished something many historians overlook. They successfully managed, organized, and eventually won the Revolutionary War . After winning the war, the Congress went on to successfully negotiate the Treaty of Paris and compelled the British to recognize American independence. On the domestic home front, the Congress began to effectively solve the land ordnance problem. The Confederation Congress established a procedure for governing the new territories and organized them into prospective states, giving each prospective state full and equal status with the original thirteen sta tes. Furthermore, they institutionalized systems of local government, and public education . Moreover, while accomplishing all this, the congress managed to keep the national economy afloat. This proved to be an enormous feat because the economy was suffering from the loss of colonial privileges. These major achievements were all accomplished despite the inherent flaws in the basic structure of the Confederation government. The Articles of Confederation created a unicameral Confederation Congress, with each state having only one vote. On most political matters this legislative body required the approval of 9 out of 13 states to ratify any proposed Congressional intention. In Article 13, the Articles declared that in order to ratify an amendment to the Articles the consent of all 13 states were required . This left the national government, running through the Confederation Congress, powerless and unable to proceed with the most trivial matters of politics. The Confederation Government, under the Articles, lacked an executive and judicial branch. This caused Congress to be severely handicapped when it came to the enforcement of her requests. This lack of an executive, coupled with the Congress’s negated power of taxation, caused a crippling financial difficulties. The Congress, having only enough power to request essential national funds from the states, found that many refused to pay, or were late in doing so. Due to the lack of an executive branch, Congress soon found itself facing a mounting national debt that it was unable to pay on its own or force states to assume their share of the burden. Since change was virtually impossible, due to the unanimous amendment process, the Articles remained unchanged and hardships continued to mount for many Americans. The major hardships of America in the period of Confederation rule were primarily between the debtor and the creditor . The economic downturn of the mid 1780’s, caused by the removal of the guaranteed English markets, left many farmers ruined and inundated with debt . These farmers pleaded with their state governments for help, but in most cases states refused to interfere, in one case in particular, these angered mobs of farmers rebelled against the government. This rebellion was known as Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 . Alarmed by the rebellion, other state governments agreed to help the angry farmers to thwart these rebellions. Their help came in the form of coining money to cause inflation, thus making the debt seem smaller and smaller. Under the Articles, this coinage was completely legal and it caused terrible interstate controversies. Congress, lacking the power to regulate interstate commerce, could only helplessly watch as rival states began a series of tariff wars o ver the inflation. These tariff wars, which devastated the national trade, coupled with Shays rebellion, seemed to be the culmination of all the downfalls and weaknesses of the fledgling government and change was deemed to be necessary . READ: Parts Of The Computer EssayBy 1887, some of the American leaders realized if the country was to survive a new plan of government needed to be considered. Thus, the Annapolis Convention of 1786 was held to address regional issues such as trade, but delegates were soon calling for a national convention . At this convention in Philadelphia 1787, the authors of a new plan proposed change of the loose confederation of states to a solid national union. They then changed the mode of representation in Article 1, section 3, as to better represent the people of America. In article 1, section 8, they empowered congress to regulate trade among states, raise revenue through taxation, coin national money, discontinue state coining, and enforce federal laws and treaties . The Constitution also imposed a federal executive and judicial branch to act directly on the individual citizens of America and to execute and interpret the laws of Congress. The Articles of Confederation, which were in for ce from 1781 to 1789, had many shortcomings and flaws, most due to the inherent distrust of a strong central power. These weaknesses caused many problems in America. Inflation grew, tariff wars between states commenced, and the uncertainty of a possible mob-rule lived in the minds of many. However, despite the flaws and setbacks imposed by the Articles, the fledgling Congress proved capable enough to establish mechanisms for westward expansion, establish the United States in the World Scene, and maintain a running economy . Still, a need for constitutional change was illustrated by the severe problems, and the Philadelphia convention answered the call. The drafters of the new constitution looked at all the mistakes created by the Articles, and to their great credit, successfully learned from them. They used the Articles as a foundation, and established the United States Constitution which today still stands as the greatest republic known to man. History Essays

Friday, September 27, 2019

Effects of Globalization in China Research Paper

Effects of Globalization in China - Research Paper Example Due to increased practice of globalization values, the interaction between the countries has significantly increased and strong. None of the country could survive and prosper today without following the trend of globalization. The countries with great realization about the importance of adopting globalization are progressing significantly and experiencing positive changes within their economic and social scenarios. Globalization allows the countries to enter the world of free market, liberalized trade and market oriented businesses marked with intensified competition and great interdependence. Changed Brought by Globalization Today each and every country is experiencing the strong impacts of globalization in some way or another. The increased and strong interaction between the countries is making the economies of the involved countries stronger because they exchange technology, goods and capital and flourish their economic developments with the help of FDI and advanced technologies a ttained from the other countries (Fung et al, p102). ... p54). In order to cope with the changes and challenges pose by globalization it has become imperative for the countries all over the world to foster coordination and cooperation so that they could survive in the highly competitive market place of today and keep them aligned with the new rules and regulations of the global economy (Nolan, p52). The countries succeed to proceed with the strategies, planning and policies of integrated economy flourish in the new situation whereas the countries fail to integrate with the word economy lag behind the other countries. The changing scenario created by globalization is full of opportunities as well as challenges for the countries across the globe (Guthrie, p54). The Chinese Experience Located in the Asian continent Chine is the highest populated country of the world. The country is experiencing the fastest pace of economic growth that is mainly backed by globalization. With no exception China has also experienced major changes within its econ omic landscape after the evolution of globalization. Cross border trade was practiced by China several centuries ago when trade took place between Han Chinese and their neighbours through the Silk Route. China opened its door for the European trade since the Portuguese established ports in Macao during th sixteenth century (Scupin, p325). The impacts of globalization upon China could be traced in accordance with different aspects of economic activities like foreign trade, finance, environment, lifestyles and quality of life (Guthrie, p54). Chine has shown great awareness towards the importance of globalization. It has learnt that the long history of isolation gave it nothing but backwardness and after this realization there are

Thursday, September 26, 2019

History up 1977 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

History up 1977 - Essay Example Though witchcraft was prevalent in England, the Church did not take part in it. However, the Salem area was place of the Puritans who believed in witchcraft, Satan and the world of spirits and so witchcraft was very much part of their lives. But since the Chesapeake colonies comprised mainly of entrepreneurs, there was no scare of witchcraft in that area. With regard to the Bacon’s Rebellion, New England did not have a large number of indentured servants for carrying on their work. Rebellions such as the Bacon Rebellion were caused by indentured servants who felt threatened of being suppressed or held down by their employers. However, such indentured workers were quite common in the Chesapeake colonies. Bacon’s Rebellion was a hallmark in the history of the English colonies because it contributed towards making the seed of independence burst open in the hearts of the people and kindled their desire for independence. References The 1692 Witchcraft Scare www.thehistoricpr esent.wordpress.com/.../the-1692-witch-scare-why-salem/

Educational Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Educational - Essay Example Re-design the space to â€Å"provide effective restoration breaks and allow them to return to their work cognitively refreshed†. Today I am discussing on the design redesigning proposal of one of the buildings at the Cities Hall. This is a compute room located within the area. The room needs to be redesigned in respect to the addresses of the students in the educational environment by adhering to the being away, extent, Fascination and compatibility properties in architecture. Since the students have a lot to do at the college, they need refreshment and the computer room will be one of the best places. This is because the room has got computers for the students to be using while resting. It is also one of the best places the students like to hang out at. When redesigning the room, the first thing to do is conceptualize the room fully and perform some testing assumptions. This will go hand in hand with the evaluation of the results then followed by refining the craft of the building. This will begin with the viewing of the placement by redesigning the building by leaving enough spaces for the students to have good indoor and outdoor movements. This includes leaving enough spaces in the building. The design will focus on the properties of Address which entails Being away, Extend, and compatibility. Being away entails a new routine to be used by the students. The extent entails designing the room in order to follow the coherence needed and make the students be familiar with the building. Compatibility will abide with the students’ requirement by fitting and supporting the students. Example is having a place for the students to put their luggages. Under the indoor and outdoor view plan, the design will be well analyzed by the interactions of the students and locating their specific locations likes. Testing of the results will be done by the use of ANOVA testing. The indoor and outdoor of the room will be well analyzed and

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Gay Marriage Is Nothing Different Than Straight Marriage Assignment

Gay Marriage Is Nothing Different Than Straight Marriage - Assignment Example The assignment "Gay Marriage Is Nothing Different Than Straight Marriage" analyzes gay marriages and proves that they are nothing different than straight marriages. Nowadays, homosexual marriages exist in 15 countries of the world, including most areas of the United States and several Mexican states, as well as Scotland, England and Wales. It is very important to distinguish between the notions of homosexual marriage and homosexual union. The second one presupposes mutual living and time spending, while the fact of registration of marriage provides various rights for a couple. It includes the right to joint property, inheritance rights, social and health insurance, tax rebates and credits, the right to a name, the right not to testify in court against a spouse. The other advantages include the right to speak on a trustee behalf of a spouse in case of his incapacity due to the health conditions, the right to share parenting and education of foster children and other advantages, unavai lable for unregistered couples. â€Å"Nine states and the District, encompassing about 15 percent of the U.S. population, have legalized gay marriage. This includes three states whose voters approved it on Nov. 6. Though it was opposed by a clear majority, 57 percent to 35 percent, in a 2001 Pew Research Center poll, gay marriage now enjoys a 48 percent plurality†. The legislation of the US refers the family law to the jurisdiction of the states, which put the issue of gay marriages entirely in the hands of state governments.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Trouble in Paradise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trouble in Paradise - Essay Example This is one of Lubitsch’s best and the most favorite film and had chosen the main character because he liked to ‘rehabilitate obscure European plays’. It was a great box office success and had won critical appreciations from the critics. The popular genre of screwball comedy of the 1930s in Hollywood was given a new dimension by Lubitsch in this film. While the normal screwball films were racy slapstick romantic comedies that just hinted subtly at sex and united the lovers only at the end, ‘Trouble in Paradise’ reveled in sexual innuendoes and larceny. The two main characters of the film were lovers as well as partners in crime whose dedication for their work was equaled only by their passion for each other. Throughout the film, with suggestive dialogues delivered with orchestrated grace and finesse, Lubitsch has not only expanded the idea of thievery into a glamorized activity, he has also shown that sexual exploits can also become intrinsic part of the overall plot. All the works of Lubitsch have his special signature ‘Lubitsch touch’ that never fails to keep his audience very firmly to the ground realities. This film too has its share. In fact, at the start of the film itself, the romantic gondola of Venice is shown as a carrier of garbage! Indeed, the juxtaposition of the extreme is the highlight of Lubitsch films which he carries with aplomb. The film is representative of the artifice that a man is forced to portray in order to accomplish his nefarious intentions. Posing as aristocratic Baron, made it easier for Gaston to fool his intended victim, Madame Mariette Colet and steal her riches. He was an honest thief because he had accepted the fact unlike ‘Giron’, accountant of Colet, who had been ripping his boss for years and yet always pretended to be her well wisher. He even wanted to report Gaston to the police for the same crime that he had been committing for years! The film

Monday, September 23, 2019

German Aesthetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

German Aesthetics - Essay Example These ideas pursue to estimate to a demonstration of cogent ideas (Makkreel, 1990). According to Makkreel (1990), by Critique of the Power of Judgment, he demanded that a work of art is a media by which an artist may express such an idea, a notion that may not immediately be intelligible. For Kant, a notion is an idea whose objective merely can’t be met in experience. He illustrated a difference between the notions of the understanding, which forge instincts into skills and the pure ideas of reason, the notions that won’t be mixed with any instinctive fundamentals and hence remain beyond the understanding of experience. He believed that the onset of beauty is a product of the contemplative judgement. The art philosophy can be explained by close analysis of its guiding principles. He intended to differentiate art as a source of desire from entertainment as a source of cordiality. An aesthetic judgement concerning a piece of art must be unbiased. The idea of functionality is also predominant in the second indicated objective of Kant’s philosophy of art that is to differentiate art from craft. After identifying the main features of these judgments, Kant then requires to ask the question of how such judgments are likely. And are such judgments in any manner valid (Kemal, 1986). In the development of his treatment of beautiful art, he confers fine art in relation to the fabrication of human relics. He Associates fine art to the arts and makes remarks about the relation amid the beauty of art and that of nature, demanding in specific that fine art resembles to us like nature in that it must appear free and genuine. He also gives a classification of the numerous fine arts and a contrast of their respective aesthetic value, with poetry topping and music. Of interest, within Kants explanation of fine art, is his argument of how beautiful

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Gillette Essay Example for Free

Gillette Essay Case Analysis for Gillette: Product and Marketing Innovation 9/11/2012 Abstract Gillette is seeking means to retain dominance in market share they have lead for the last century. Along with sustaining market share Gillette has continued focus on expanding worldwide into less saturated markets. In this analysis multiple alternatives will be explored in order to make a recommendation on steps that would favor Gillette’s organization in meeting their aspirations. Situation Analysis Product quality and efficient marketing are the core value propositions that set the pace for Gillette’s success. With continued innovation in both product development and marketing strategies Gillette has been able to retain a commanding worldwide market share in a highly competitive, but mature, razor and blade market. Strong market share allowed Gillette to sustain profits even through economic droughts in recent years. On the flip side, Gillette’s innovation success also posed challenges. In order to maintain their market share, a dependency on continuous product improvement formed over time. Now Gillette will need to determine how to balance investment in research and development along with other areas of the organization. At times their own innovation of new product lines impacted their leading product lines in the market. During the 1990s Gillette found themselves cannibalizing their own successful products when trying to out due the competition. Even though internal competition shifted sales from one product line to another, Gillette’s sales were able to re-coop development costs. Expanding market share around the world also revealed challenges with varying religious and culture beliefs. Western influences have started to generate growth with European woman as younger generations watch American movies and television that depict women with sleek underarms and legs. Gillette’s latest innovation, the Fusion 5(+1) blade, was back in 2006. Since then Schick, Gillette’s leading competitor has not responded with their own break through. Gillette should be wondering what Schick might do next. Problem As the market Gillette has lead for so long became mature, their growth ultimately declined due to market saturation and increase competition. Fluctuations occurred only when newer, more innovative products were introduced. This put more pressure on development advancements and marketing tactics. Many analysts believe that Gillette and Schick, leaders in razors and blades, have reached the end of meaningful product innovation [1]. In 2006 when the Fusion 5(+1) blade was introduced, it exploded off the shelves. Gillette sold more than 4 billion Fusion razors with in the first two months. The Fusion’s initial success was quickly fleeting as sales reports showed that razors were outselling the cartridge refills. This was very concerning to Gillette as it is well-known that razor manufacturers earn most of their profits from refills, not the initial razor purchase. Critics also questioned why five blades were needed to get the best shave when Gillette had touted its three-bladed Mach3 as †the best a man can get. † â€Å"Consumer reports conclude that there were no additional performance benefits provided by the five-bladed Fusion, especially when compared to the Mach3† [1 pg391]. Economic recession also impacted sales as Gillette’s products went up in price due to a need to re-coop development costs. How can Gillette continue to maintain or grow market share in a mature market and keep future strategies aligned with customer wants? Alternatives Continue product line and marketing without major change. No additional research and development costs would need to be spent, which in return reduces the need to raise prices for maintaining their profit margin. However the risk looming would be competitor innovation impacting current market share. Schick may produce a new innovative product that would sway consumers from purchasing Gillette’s products. As stated in the case Gillette must find new ways to innovatively out-produce or out-market the competition. Investing in research and development to create new product line or enhance current products adds considerable expenses. Development costs will need to be re-cooped. This will keep competitors in check, but will be challenging to keep pricing competitive. Compliment current leading product lines that keep consumers happy. Promoting Christmas, Father’s day and Mother’s day gift grooming kits that meets more of the consumer’s needs will also introduce consumers to other product lines Gillette has to offer. Focus marketing potential growth opportunities globally by challenging resistance in product awareness and interests. As a Gillette razor consumer, I have encountered an inconvenience that I think can be solved and build customer loyalty. I’ve been using Mach 3 razors for over fifteen years, and when purchasing refills I have found it difficult to find blades that are compatible with the razor handle that I own. Thinking out of the box, what if Gillette were to make razor handles that are compatible with any of Gillette’s product line of refills? This would then provide consumers the freedom to purchase from a variety of Gillette’s product lines without having to spend extra money on a handle that works with the particular product refill. Owning a Gillette universal handle would also encourage customers to stay with Gillette refills as converting to another brand would cost more with the initial required handle purchase. Implementation From the case I would assume Gillette will continue to â€Å"innovatively out-produce or out-market the competition† [1]. I believe moving forward with developing a universal handle with Gillette refills would accomplish this. This would require investment into developing a new handle and rollout of the product. Here is an approximate timeline to complete.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Exploring visions of capitalism exits

Exploring visions of capitalism exits What is capitalism? Based on (Fulcher J 2004), capitalism is en essentially investment of money in the expectation of making profit. Thus, capitalism is a special social structure where both the selling and buying of commodities organized by capital dominate human economic activities. Capitalism has expanded in social relations of production, distribution and consumption. In this essay, Im going to talk about the several visions and also the terms of capitalism, also not forget how has the global capitalist systemevolved over the two centuriesà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ There are several types of visions of capitalism exits. Liberal vision means an economy with self-regulating market with free trade and no state will step in to interference. Marxian vision which expand global system but based on exploitation of workers by capitalists and liable to crisis as result of gap between total wages and value of goods and services. Schumpeterian vision stresses the role of entrepreneur investment and saving in order to gain profit and also over-investment in the market. Polanyian vision which is stresses utopian nature of free market and dependence on state intervention, leading to social strains to generate demand for state regulation. Lastly, Keynesian vision which is try to reach equilibrium below full employment levels. In order to keep the full employment, state has to put money into the economy to restore confidence and boost demand. According to (Makoto Itoh1988) merchant capitalism has grown about two and half centuries until the middle of the eighteenth century for the explosive expansion of world trade with the invention of new continent and worldwide sea routes. It is a term described by economist that an earliest phase in the development of capitalism. Based on ((Randy Hodson,Teresa A.Sullivan 2008), merchant capitalism grew not as a way to organized production but as a way to organize trade. (Fulcher J 2004) stated that merchant capitalism is the investment in order to generate huge profit by risk and long-distance trading ventures , and the profit is the result of scarcity and distance. Merchants have to made money by investing in goods that they sold at profit. According (Makoto Itoh1988) the beginning of seventeen century mercantilism appeared as bullionism, where silver and gold was treated as treasure. Thus, the growth of wealth was measured by accumulation of these metals which served as money. So, m ercantilist known the importance of manufacturing industries and foreign trade was the source of national wealth and treasure. After that, based on (Makoto Itoh1988) mercantilism turned to a typical police balance of trade system where the total nation balance of trade rather than the balance of each individual bargain was underlined. There is argument about state should export more goods than imported in order to let foreigners pay the bullion, and only raw materials that cant extract at home should be imported. Thus, subsidies for export and creation of monopolies among the trading companies in order to encourage home production of manufactured goods. Capitalism production is specific in commercial supplied inputs and outputs of production through the market. The whole production process is restructured with the economic rationality of capitalism, which price is described the relationships between input and output. The profit depended ultimately on workers so production itself becomes directly a source of capital growth, based on the commercial exploitation of surplus labor. According to( Fulcher J 2004), capitalist production is based on wage labor and a clear line of division and conflict emerges between the owners of capital, who own what Karl Marx called the means of production and those who sell their labor in exchange for wages. Means of production are those factories, tools and the machinery to create a product. A worker can sell his labor to capitalist for a wage in any activity or investment that will bring profit to a capitalist. For the example of cotton mills, apart from heavy machinery cost, wages were the main cost o f the company. So, Wages costs were minimized by replace less skilled and cheaper labor as work together with invention of technology made this possible. On other hand, Industrial capitalism required continuous work , based on (Fulcher J 2004), workers had become, as Marx put it wage slaves. Anarchic capitalism also known as liberalization market was the stage in 18th and early 19thcenturies when industrial capitalism made its breakthrough. It was anarchic because participants can seize and defend resources without regulation. Economist Murray Rothbard defined the term of anarchy society as one where there is no legal possibility of coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. According to anarchic capitalism, the personal activities or economic activities would be regulated by private law rather than politics yet entrepreneurs competitors will provide law enforcement, courts rather than through taxation. Anarchic capitalism argued that society should based on the voluntary trade of private property and services which consists of money, consumer goods, capitals goods or land to maximize individual liberty and wealth. (Kaletsky ) stated that the ideology is clear that a capitalist system based on private property and profit was an elemental force of nature, governed by iron laws of economics that were as immune to human manipulation as a hurricane. The general beliefs of laissez-fair which dominant throughout this 150 year period is that economics and politics are two different areas in human activity and emotion that should remain different in the interest of economic and political progress. In anarchic capitalism what is important is the way of gain property without roadblock from the compulsory state and the most economically beneficial is through voluntary trade rather than government intervention. Government intervention extensively in the economy, essentially through high and var iable trade tariffs and excise taxes in order to raise revenues. Not only that, according to (Kaletsky) there were also used to favor influential industries or social interests such as textile manufacturers or yeoman farmers. Nevertheless, according to (Kaletsky), laissez-faire capitalism has been succumbed because of its internal contradictions just like what Marx had predicted before. Anarchist romantics repulsed, according to Keyness description suggested, one of the reason might be the revolutionary groups of 1880-1915 period that exceed achievements in their destructive political impact by terrorists of PLO or IRA. So, by 1914, free market capitalism was declining and the internal contradiction that identified by Marx were toward a systemic breakdown. In 1919, Keynes warning there will be an economic catastrophe foreshadowed. Then, financial earthquakes of hyperinflation in Weimar Germany and also Great Depression happened on 1930s. Based on (Kaletsky), during nineteenth-century politico-economic system was still in death throws and capitalism had become extinct so the system has to opt for reform. Managed capitalism which born out of the economic disaster in the interwar period was begin in second half of 19th century which thrived for roughly 40 years and came to its peak in 1970s. Thus, its the policies that Keynes had been recommending to British government. The (Fulcher J2004) stated that competition and market regulation declined as both sides of industry become more organized and as state management and control increased. One of the remarkable transformation occurred in the 1930s was the invention of government economist. According to (Kaletsky), the interactions between the government and market in anarchic capitalism has been consider incidental to economic activity and generally damaging to it as government need to raise revenues by tariffs and taxes for the main reason which is fighting war. So, landlord or manufacturers have to pay for tariffs to protect them for low-cost foreign competition. There is no one belief that the working of the market will be improved eve n there is intervention of Bank England in money market and also motivation of self-interests of City London or British finance to quell panics. According to (Kaletsky), Prime minister has described that the governments reaction to Keyness early proposal to lift the British economy out of Great Depression. The macroeconomic condition was transformed by collapse of global trade and industry in early 1930. As what stated in (Kaletsky), public outrage intensified over mass unemployment, the twin threats of socialist revolution and fascist dictatorship forced democratic politicians to engage with the economy in ways that classical economist had never imagined. Next, government been offered a freedom of action by the time gold standard has been breakdown. Then, based on economists and politicians that the upshot was that if unguided by government, capitalism was ruinously and unstable. The (Kaletsky) stated that a competent government will protect the public and also economy from unavoid able anarchy of free market. But from the 1960 onwards, economy crisis hit the world. Not only Britain but also other countries like Italy, France were facing inflation and even assassination from terrorism. Thus, breakdown of the international monetary system in 1971 leads a death blows and collapsed to manage capitalism. According to (Kaletsky), a lethal combination of high inflation and mass unemployment known as stagflation appeared in the economy. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, capitalism in this period was faced the same problem as the early one in 1930s, it had to transform itself to survive or choose to become extinct. Why did managed capitalism collapsed is probably caused of corporatist institution couldnt work in the end, government had failed to regulate prices and incomes because the cooperation wasnt been engineered between unions and employers. Remarketized capitalism period happened on 1980s after the collapsed of managed capitalism and its revival of market forces. Thus, in 1981-1982,based on (Kaletsky) monetarism has been applied to tame of inflation by revival of free or competitive markets, prevent distorted by state intervention, always keep a capitalist economy in balance, producing efficient and rational outside ,including economic stability and full employment. What causes the crisis of capitalism in 1970s? Its the consequence of errors in monetary policy. Additionally, another reason of the great inflation and breakdown of Keynesian capitalism was probably the private enterprise hard to afford the high taxes, the militant unions they empowered and especially the Increase of powerfu l labor movement brings class conflict and pressure for income redistribution. Next, Keynesian full-employment built a natural tensions over the distribution of wagers and profit between workers and capitalists in the economic system. By the late 1960s, the top priority of government policy was maintain full employment then the labor militancy intensified to achieve the escalate demand so a postwar generation of workers had grown up. Thus, according (Kaletsky), companies felt confident to pay offers that were needed to stave off labor militancy and strikes. So inflation was created as result. Government has to restore discipline into the labor market in order to stop the inflation. So, government has to abandon full employment policies and also create condition to millions workers who going to lose their jobs. In 1943, self-destruction of Keynesian full-employment was predicted by economist and he was argued that due to the labor militancy and inflation, the solution will create a new crisis of capitalism and force the capitalism system to reinvent itself again. Lastly, based on ( Kaletsky ) the thirty years epoch started with Thatcherism in 1979 and ended with the crisis of 2007-2009.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Summary of Slaughter House Five :: Novels Literature Slaughter House Five Essays

Summary of Slaughter House Five Chapter One: The first chapter serves as an introduction in which Vonnegut directly addresses the reader, pointing out that the book is based on events that really occurred. He experienced first-hand the destruction of Dresden, during WWII, an event that he has never been able to put out of his mind. For twenty-three years, he has wanted to write about it. Vonnegut's attitude towards war becomes clear in this first chapter. He sees it as a totally futile occurrence, but he is resigned to the fact that war will always exist. He feels that wars have taught people insensitivity towards death. He cites the detached attitude of a woman writer as she relayed the news of a young veteran's dying. He finds such a nonchalant, uncaring attitude repulsive in any human being. Vonnegut then points out the irony in the fact that war tries to fight violence with more violence. He also questions the American government's treatment of violence as a "top secret" affair that is not to be discussed. I took this as interesting it’s just the first chapter and yet the author is pointing out and beating you with multifaceted issues that he will hopefully find solutions to towards the end of the novel. The character displayed as the author of the story tells of how he writes it and the events which lead to publication. In one instance he meets with a fellow veteran, Bernard O’Hare. When faced with his wife, Mary O'Hare's anger about war, Vonnegut assures her that his book will not glorify violence. Her main concern is the death of "babies" who will grow up and die in war. Along with his assurance to her, he also considers calling the book, "The Children's Crusade." The author has tried to pass on his knowledge of the futility of destruction to his children. He wants the younger generation to understand what the older ones have always failed to. Mary seems bizarre but I understand her purpose and that is to set out the mindset that the book wants the reader to adhere. There is a lot of precautions Vonnegut is making before he even preludes the story. Vonnegut revisits Dresden with O'Hare, and this, along with the completion of this book, is of great importance to him. With these two things he has managed to free himself of his obsession.

Effects of Smoking :: Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The effects of smoking cigarettes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Smoking is involved in most of all lung cancer deaths. An individual with chronic bronchitis, which is caused by smoking, is more likely to get a bacterial infection if he or she is a smoker. A smoker gets more nose and throat infections, respiratory infections, and bronchitis. Cigarette smoking accounts for a third of all heart disease deaths. The carbon monoxide in the cigarette smoke increases the amount of cholesterol clogging the arteries. Smoking causes stiffness in the walls of the arteries, which are, is harmful to the artery and increases the risk for the artery to rupture. The nicotine in cigarettes can raise your blood pressure, heart rate, and the oxygen demand for muscles, especially the heart. Cigarette Smoking is the major cause of cancer of the lips, tongue, salivary glands, mouth, and esophagus. The development of stomach cancer can be directly associated with smoking. Smoking is known to cause bladder cancer. Quitting smoking will not result in a high reduction in the risk of getting bladder cancer. A strong association exists between smoking and leukemia. Women who smoke are at an increased risk of osteoporosis. Second Hand smoking can also be harmful. Infants and children have tender tissues and are more sensitive to second hand smoke. Many develop cancers when they get older. It is about 53,000 deaths per year as a result of passive smoking in the United States. 37,000 of these deaths come from cardiovascular disease.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Culver2 The effects of tobacco smoke are just as bad, if not worse, in nonsmokers as in smokers. All of the risks for smokers also hold true for exposure to second hand smoke. Tobacco smoke is made up of many hazardous vapors and particles that when inhaled are harmful to both the smoker and to others around.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Ben Franklin Essay -- Biography Biographies Benjamin Franklin Essays

Ben Franklin Benjamin Franklin was one of the most influential people in American history. Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in a small town in Boston. Benjamin was one of ten children. His father, Josiah was a candle and soap maker, and his mother Abiah Folger was a homemaker. When Benjamin was only twelve years old he signed his identures so that he could apprentice under his brother, working at a printing press. Here he worked for his brother James for over nine years. Benjamin had enormous talent, and after his apprenticeship was up, he got a job printing for the Boston Gazette. However this did not last very long, after only ten months Franklin’s contract was given to someone else. This prompted Ben to start his own newspaper called the New England Courant. This was the beginning of a long life of success for Ben Franklin. Franklin had outstanding writing talent. His new business had done very well, but Franklin wanted more. Ben wanted to take over Philadelphia’s biggest newspapers, The Pennsylvania Gazette. In the year 1729 Franklin bought this newspaper. He renamed it (Thank Heavens) The Pennsylvania Gazette. In the year 1730 Franklin had fathered a son. There were many rumors, as to whom the mother was, but Franklin never released her name. As a result of this Franklin wanted to get married. A woman named Deborah Read moved into his home, and became his common law wife. During this time Franklin had established himself as a leader in the Philadelphia community. He helped to establish Philadelphia’s first public library. Franklin is also accredited with publishing the first almanac in 1732. Its name was Poor Richard’s Almanack. Benjamin Franlkin’s political career began in 1736. ... ...emark is a perfect way to describe Franklin who was a rising sun well into his eighties. Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790. On April 21, the day of Franklin’s funeral over twenty thousand people came to say goodbye to a man they all looked up to and admired. Ben Franklin influenced many people during his life, and still does today. If it had not been for his intellectual, and scientific abilities our country may have been a different place than it is today. Works Cited Amacher, Richard. Benjamin Franklin. Twayne Publishers, New York. 1962 Franklin, Benjamin..Woolman, John. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. P. F. Collier & Son Corporation. 1937. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography and Other Writings. Mead & Company. New York. 1963 Computer Internet. http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/rotten.html. The World of Benjamin Franklin.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Comparison between Ancient China and Singapore Civilisations

Who am I? I am Aicirt, a time traveller. Recently I travelled to the view life in Ancient China. Was it interesting, you might ask? Indeed it was, which is why, I have decided to compare two aspects of life in the early civilisations with life in Singapore today. My first aspect would be Technology The main difference between the technology in the early civilisations and present day Singapore is that the technology in the early civilisations was not as highly advanced as in Singapore now. Singapore is very much highly advanced in technology than in the early civilisations. An example would be many Singaporeans depend a lot on electronics such as their handphones etc. Whereas in the early civilisations such as the Indus Valley civilisation and Shang civilisation, there was no such things as electronics. In fact, there was no electricity at all! The next example I am giving is that when making goods such as vases and other objects, we currently use machines to make them and design them. On the other hand in the early civilisations, all the objects were made by hand and were intricately designed using bones or sharp stones etc. However, the early civilisations and present day Singapore have something in common with reference to the aspect on technology. The technologies in both the early civilisation and life in Singapore today share the same things which include making tools, weapons and craft objects etc. Even cooking is present in both of them. In both times, the people have always tried to make life better for themselves by trying to different methods to complete their jobs efficiently. The next aspect I will compare is the Transportation. Transportation is a very important aspect to compare. Traveling to the early civilisations made me realise that the people there used little transportation (only small boats) for trading purposes. Other than that, they seldom used transport. In Singapore, transport is used widely. For example, we take buses, cars to work or attend school. Firstly, I have noticed a similarity when I travelled to different early civilisations such as the Shang civilisation. The similarity is that in both the early civilisation life and life in Singapore today, people transport by land and water. Even though, the time gap has a big difference, we both share the same type of transportations. This shows that over time, the type of transportation may have had modifications but the main idea of traveling by land or water did not change. Next, I shall point out a difference in the transportation between present day Singapore and early civilisations. The main difference is the modernization of the transports available in both times. Currently now, we have many different kinds of transportations to choose from. We can take the MRTs, buses, ferries or cars for short or long distances. For much further distances, we can take aeroplanes or ships. However, during the early civilisation life, the types of transport were less and much less modernized. You will probably ask what they are, then. Well, they differ a lot. In the early civilisations, transportation modes only consisted of small boats and perhaps carts driven by larger animals such as bulls or cows. What I admired about the people of the early civilisations I admired the people of the early civilisations for their ability to be open minded to new ideas and the ability of thinking of ideas to improve their lives. They often tried to improve their lives by using their limited technology to allow themselves to complete task with more efficiency. They had determination to complete and overcome everything, every obstacle faced. They always knew and wanted to improve in the way the live, their lifestyle. For example, in the Shang civilisation, the people introduced leisure activities to their lifestyle. They created board games such as chess using stone. I admire them for being resourceful too. The people were able to develop some sort of technology by being able to use harder materials such as stone and metal to create objects so that they were more durable. They could make inscriptions and inscribe or carve on hard objects. This showed that they planned whatever they were going to do before attempting to do this. This is a good skill-planning before embarking on doing. I think I would like to adopt this ability/skill to prevent rash decisions which may result in several mistakes. Planning goes a long way. A quote I heard several times is â€Å"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.† Therefore, the people of the early civilisation were successful as they had steadfast determination and well planning. An example of well planning would be the Indus Valley civilisation. In Mohenjo-daro, a main city of the Indus Valley Civilisation, it was a very well planned city with many public buildings and the world's first complex underground drainage system was there. The people of the early civilisation put in their best even if it seemed unlikely that they would succeed. In conclusion, I admire the early civilisation people for being determined and persevering in doing whatever they do, overcoming obstacles, finding solutions to their problems such as solving the irrigation flood problem etc.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Night World : Dark Angel Chapter 5

Actually, it wasn't the light she noticed first. It was an eerie feeling that some†¦ presence was in her room with her. She'd had the feeling before, waking up to feel that something had just left, maybe even in the instant it had taken her to open her eyes. And that while asleep, she'd been on the verge of some great discovery about the world, something that was lost as soon as she woke. But tonight, the feeling stayed. And as she stared around the room, feeling dazed and stupid and leaden, she slowly realized that the light was wrong. She'd forgotten to close the curtains, and moonlight was streaming into the room. It had the thin blue translucence of new snow. But in one corner of Gillian's room, by the gilded Italian chest of drawers, the light seemed to have pooled. Coalesced. Concentrated. As if reflecting off a mirror. There wasn't any mirror. Gillian sat up slowly. Her sinuses were stuffed up and her eyes felt like hard-boiled eggs. She breathed through her mouth and tried to make sense of what was in the corner. It looked like †¦ a pillar. A misty pillar of light. And instead of fading as she woke up, it seemed to be getting brighter. An ache had taken hold of Gillian's throat. The light was so beautiful†¦ and almost familiar. It reminded her of the tunnel and the meadow and †¦ Oh. She knew now. It was different to be seeing this when she wasn't dead. Then, she'd accepted strange things the way you accept them in dreams, without ordinary logic or disbelief interfering. But now she stared as the light got brighter and brighter, and felt her whole skin tingling and tears pooling in her eyes. She could hardly breathe. She didn't know what to do. How do you greet an angel in the ordinary world? The light continued to get brighter, just as it had in the meadow. And now she could see the shape in it, walking toward her and rushing at the same time. Still brighter-dazzling and pulsating-until she had to shut her eyes and saw red and gold after images like shooting stars. When she squinted her eyes back open, he was there. Awe caught at Gillian's throat again. He was so beautiful that it was frightening. Face pale, with traces of the light still lingering in his features. Hair like filaments of gold. Strong shoulders, tall but graceful body, every line pure and proud and different from any human. He looked more different now than he had in the meadow. Against the drab and ordinary background of Gillian's room, he burned like a torch. Gillian slid off her bed to kneel on the floor. It was an automatic reflex. â€Å"Don't do that.† The voice was like silver fire. And then-it changed. Became somehow more ordinary, like a normal human voice. â€Å"Here, does this help?† Gillian, staring at the carpet, saw the light that was glinting off a stray safety pin fade a bit. When she tilted her eyes up, the angel looked more ordinary, too. Not as luminous. More like just an impossibly beautiful teenage guy. â€Å"I don't want to scare you,† he said. He smiled. â€Å"Yeah,† Gillian whispered. It was all she could get out. â€Å"Are you scared?† â€Å"Yeah.† The angel made a frustrated circling motion with one arm. â€Å"I can go through all the gobbledygook: be not afraid, I mean you no harm, all that-but it's such a waste of time, don't you think?† He peered at her. â€Å"Aw, come on, kid, you died earlier today. Yesterday. This isn't really all that strange in comparison. You can deal.† â€Å"Yeah.† Gillian blinked. â€Å"Yeah,† she said with more conviction, nodding. â€Å"Take a deep breath, get up-â€Å" â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"-say something different†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gillian got up. She perched on the edge of her bed. He was right, she could deal. So it hadn't been a dream. She had really died, and there really were angels, and now one was in the room with her, looking almost solid except at the edges. And he had come to †¦ â€Å"Why did you come here?† she said. He made a noise that, if he hadn't been an angel, Gillian would have called a snort. â€Å"You don't think I ever really left, do you?† he said chidingly. â€Å"I mean, think about it. How did you manage to recover from freezing without even needing to go to the hospital? You were in severe hypothermia, you know. The worst. You were facing pulmonary edema, ventricular fibrillation, the loss of a few of your bits†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He wiggled his fingers and waggled his feet. That was when Gillian realized he was standing several inches off the floor. â€Å"You were in bad shape, kid. But you got out of it without even frostbite.† Gillian looked down at her own ten pink fingers. They were tinglingly over-sensitive, but she didn't have even one blood blister. â€Å"You saved me.† He gave a half grin and looked sheepish. â€Å"Well, it's my job.† â€Å"To help people.† â€Å"To help you.† A barely acknowledged hope was forming in Gillian's mind. He never really left her; it was his job to help her. That sounded like†¦ Could he be †¦ Oh, God, no, it was too corny. Not to mention presumptuous. He was looking sheepish again. â€Å"Yeah. I don't know how to put it, either. But it is true, actually. Did you know that most people think they have one even when they don't? Somebody did a poll, and ‘most people have an inner certainty that there is some particular, individual spirit watching over them.' The New Agers call us spirit guides. The Hawaiians call us aumakua†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You're a guardian angel,† Gillian whispered. â€Å"Yeah. Your guardian angel. And I'm here to help you find your heart's desire.† â€Å"I-† Gillian's throat dosed. It was too much to believe. She wasn't worthy. She should have been a better person so that she would deserve some of the happiness that suddenly spread out in front of her. But then a cold feeling of reality set in. She wasn't a better person, and although she was sure enlightenment and whatever else an angel thought your heart's desire was, was terrific, well †¦ in her case†¦ She swallowed. â€Å"Look,† she said grimly. â€Å"The things I need help with-well, they're not exactly the kinds of things angels are likely to know about.† â€Å"Heh.† He grinned. He leaned over in a position that would have unbalanced an ordinary person and waved an imaginary something over her head. â€Å"You shall go to the ball, Cinderella.† A wand. Gillian looked at him. â€Å"Now you're my fairy godmother?† â€Å"Yeah. But watch the sarcasm, kid.† He changed to a floating position, his arms clasping his knees, and looked her dead in the eye. â€Å"How about if I say I know your heart's desire is for David Blackburn to fall madly in love with you and for everyone at school to think you're totally hot?† Heat swept up Gillian's face. Her heart was beating out the slow, hard thumps of embarrassment- and excitement. When he said it out loud like that, it sounded extremely shallow†¦ and extremely, extremely desirable. â€Å"And you could help with that?† she choked out. â€Å"Believe it or not, Ripley.† â€Å"But you're an angel.† He templed his fingers. â€Å"The paths to enlightenment are many. Grasshopper. Grasshopper? Maybe I should call you Dragonfly. You are sort of iridescent. There're lots of other insects, but Dung-Beetle sounds sort of insulting. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I've got a guardian angel who sounds like Robin Williams, Gillian thought. It was wonderful. She started to giggle uncontrollably, on the edge of tears. â€Å"Of course, there's a condition,† the angel said, dropping his fingers. He looked at her seriously. His eyes were like the violet-blue at the bottom of a flame. Gillian gulped, took a scared breath. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You have to trust me.† â€Å"That's it?† â€Å"Sometimes it won't be so easy.† â€Å"Look.† Gillian laughed, gulped again, steadied herself. She looked away from his eyes, focusing on the graceful body that was floating in midair. â€Å"Look, after all I've seen†¦ after you saved my life-and my bits †¦ how could I not trust you?† She said it again quietly. â€Å"How could I ever not trust you?† He nodded. Winked. â€Å"Okay,† he said. â€Å"Let's prove it.† â€Å"Huh?† Slowly the feeling of awed incredulity was fading. It was beginning to seem almost normal to talk to this magical being. â€Å"Let's prove it. Get some scissors.† â€Å"Scissors?† Gillian stared at the angel. He stared back. â€Å"I don't even know where any scissors are.† â€Å"Drawer to the left of the silverware drawer in the kitchen. A big sharp pair.† He grinned like Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. Gillian wasn't afraid. She didn't decide not to be, she simply wasn't. â€Å"Okay,† she said and went down to get the scissors. The angel went with her, floating just behind her shoulder. At the bottom of the stairs were two Abyssinian cats, curled up head to toe like the Yin-Yang symbol. They were fast asleep. Gillian nudged one gently with one toe, and it opened sleepy crescents of eyes. And then it was off like a flash-both cats were. Streaking down the side hall, falling over each other, skidding on the hardwood floor. Gillian watched with her mouth open. â€Å"Balaam's ass,† the angel said wisely. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† For a moment Gillian thought she was being insulted. â€Å"I mean, animals can see us.† â€Å"But they were scared. All their fur-I've never seen them like that before.† â€Å"Well, they may not understand what I am. It happens sometimes. Come on, let's get the scissors.† Gillian stared down the side hall for a moment, then obeyed. â€Å"Now what?† she said as she brought the scissors back to her room. â€Å"Go in the bathroom.† Gillian went into the little bathroom that adjoined her bedroom and flicked on the light. She licked dry lips. â€Å"And now?† she said, trying to sound flippant. â€Å"Do I cut off a finger?† â€Å"No. Just your hair.† In the mirror over the sink, Gillian saw her own jaw drop. She couldn't see the angel, though, so she turned around. â€Å"Cut my hair? Off?† â€Å"Off. You hide behind it too much. You have to show the world that you're not hiding anymore.† â€Å"But-† Gillian raised protective hands, looking back in the mirror. She saw herself, pale, delicate boned, with eyes like wood violets-peering out from a curtain of hair. So maybe he had a point. But to go into the world naked, without anything to duck behind, with her face exposed†¦ â€Å"You said you trusted me,† the angel said quietly. Gillian chanced a look at him. His face was stem and there was something in his eyes that almost scared her. Something unknowable and cold, as if he were withdrawing from her. â€Å"It's the way to prove yourself,† he said. â€Å"It's like taking a vow. If you can do this part, you're brave enough to do what it takes to get your heart's desire.† He paused deliberately. â€Å"But, of course, if you're not brave enough, if you want me to go away †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No,† Gillian said. Most of what he was saying made sense, and as for what she didn't understand-well, she would have to have faith. I can do this. To show that she was serious, she took the open scissors, bracketed the pale blond curtain at a level with her ear, and squeezed them shut. Her hair just folded around the scissors. â€Å"Okay.† The angel was laughing. â€Å"Hold onto the hair at the bottom and pull. And try less hair.† He sounded like himself again: warm and teasing and loving-helpful. Gillian let out her breath, gave a wobbly smile, and devoted herself to the horrible and fascinating business of cutting off long blond chunks. When she was done, she had a silky blond cap. Short. It was shorter than Amy's hair, almost as short as J.Z. Oberlin's hair, the girl at school who worked as a model and looked like a Calvin Klein ad. It was really short. â€Å"Look in the mirror,† the angel said, although Gillian was already looking. â€Å"What do you see?† â€Å"Somebody with a bad haircut?† â€Å"Wrong. You see somebody who's brave. Strong. Out there. Unique. Individualist. And, incidentally, gorgeous.† â€Å"Oh, please.† But she did look different. Under the ragged St. Joan bob, her cheekbones seemed to stand out more; she looked older, more sophisticated. And there was color in her cheeks. â€Å"But it's still all uneven.† â€Å"We can get it smoothed out tomorrow. The important thing is that you took the first step yourself. By the way, you'd better learn to stop blushing. A girl as beautiful as you has to get used to compliments.† â€Å"You're a funny kind of angel.† â€Å"I told you, it's part of the job. Now let's see what you've got in your closet.† An hour later, Gillian was in bed again. This time, under the covers. She was tired, dazed, and very happy. â€Å"Sleep fast,† the angel said. â€Å"You've got a big day tomorrow.† â€Å"Yes. But wait.† Gillian tried to keep her eyes open. â€Å"There were some things I forgot to ask you.† â€Å"Ask.† â€Å"That crying I heard in the woods-the reason I went in. Was it a kid? And are they okay?† There was a brief pause before he answered. â€Å"That information is classified. But don't worry,† he added. â€Å"Nobody's hurt-now.† Gillian opened one eye at him, but it was dear he wasn't going to say any more. â€Å"Okay,† she said reluctantly. â€Å"And the other thing was-I still don't know what to call you.† â€Å"I told you. Angel.† Gillian smiled, and was immediately struck by a jaw-cracking yawn. â€Å"Okay. Angel.† She opened her eyes again. â€Å"Wait. One more thing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But she couldn't think of it. There had been some other mystery she'd wanted to ask about, something that had to do with Tanya, with Tanya and blood. But she couldn't summon it up. Oh, well. She'd remember later. â€Å"I just wanted to say-thank you.† He snorted. â€Å"You can say it anytime. Get this through your head, kid: I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here tomorrow morning.† He began to hum a Blind Melon song. † I'll always be there when you wake†¦ .' Yeah, yeah, yeah.† Gillian felt warm, protected†¦ loved. She fell asleep smiling. The next morning she woke early and spent a long time in the bathroom. She came down the stairs feeling self-conscious and lightheaded-literally. With her hair gone her neck felt as if it were floating. She braced herself as she walked into the kitchen. Neither of her parents was there, even though her father was usually having breakfast by now. Instead, a girl with dark hair was sitting at the kitchen table, bent closely over a calculus textbook. â€Å"Amy!† Amy glanced up and blinked. She squinted, blinked again, then jumped up, standing an inch taller than Gillian. She moved forward, her eyes huge. Then she screamed.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Higher Education and Nguyen Essay

Nowadays, education is a main concern of society. The government shows a lot of solutions to improve education and try to make it better and better. In the article ‘Time to expand our views on education’, published in Thanh Nien News in January 2012, Nguyen Thi Phuong Nguyen argues that the public university system in Vietnam needs to be improved and people should change their attitudes towards higher education. Nguyen presents some solutions to help Vietnamese education be improved and this essay will critically evaluate her main suggestions. Nguyen mentions two main problems that helps the government improve Vietnamese education. The first problem is there should be stricter penalties for law-breaking institutions. Many universities are doubted of their legality. They cheat students out of fees and earn a lot of money from students. The second problem mentions that the government needs to spend money more effectively on tertiary education. They do not know how to spend money usefully. The government needs to find the way of spending money effectively to improve their quality. Nguyen’s first argument, Nguyen makes a good points when she states that the laws against institutions need to be more severe. Many universities advertise that they have good service, high qualities and good teachers. But it is not true. They have poor qualities and teachers do not help students to study better. Students pay a lot of money to study in there, and they do not have good environment as advertisement. The worst penalty that can be expected is a small fine. The government should be stricter. Many cheating universities should be forced to close. Nguyen’s second argument, Nguyen is correct when she state that the government needs to spend money more effectively on tertiary education. They spend a lot of money for advertisement and marketing, which is ineffective. They can use this budget to equip modern equipments in class and find good teachers. For example, education accounts for 20% of all state budget expenditures and stands at 5.5% of GDP (MOET 2008). This is higher than many other countries in the region. Therefore, the problem is how the budget is spent more effectively. In conclusion, Nguyen’s article ‘Time to expand our views on education’ shows many suggestions and solutions for the development of Vietnam’s higher education system. Both of her arguments that the law-breaking institutions need to be sereve and the government should focus on tertiary education are acceptale. The government need to do them to develop the Vietnam’s higher education system. Although the article has both strong and weak arguments, overall message is effective for development of Vietnamese education.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 4

What a difference a day made. Somehow, in the hot, hazy August sunlight the -next morning, Mary-Lynnette couldn't get serious about checking on whether Mrs. Burdock was dead. It was just too ridiculous. Besides, she had a lot to do-school started in just over two weeks. At the beginning of June she had been sure summer would last forever, sure that she would neversay, â€Å"Wow, this summer has gone by so fast.† And now here she stood in mid-August, and she was saying, â€Å"Wow, it's gone by so fast.† I need clothes, Mary-Lynnette thought. And a new backpack, and notebooks, and some of those little purple felt-tip pens. And I need to make Mark get all those things, too, because he won't do it by himself and Claudine will never make him. Claudine was their stepmother. She was Belgian and very pretty, with curly dark hair and sparklingdark eyes. She was only ten years older than MaryLynnette, and she looked even younger. She'd been the family's housecleaning helper when Mary Lynnette's mom first got sick five years ago. MaryLynnette liked her, but she was hopeless as a substitute mother, and Mary-Lynnette usually ended up taking charge of Mark. So I don't have time to go over to Mrs. B.'s. She spent the day shopping. It wasn't until after dinner that she thought about Mrs. Burdock again. She was helping to dear dishes out of the family room, where dinner was traditionally eaten in front of the TV, when her father said, â€Å"I heard something today about Todd Akers and Vic Kimble.† â€Å"Those losers,† Mark muttered. Mary-Lynnette said, â€Å"What?† â€Å"They had some kind of accident over on Chiloquin Road-over between Hazel Green Creek and Beavercreek.† â€Å"A car accident?† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Well, this is the thing,† her father said. â€Å"Apparently there wasn't any damage to their car, but they both thought they'd been in an accident. They showed up at home after midnight and said that something had happened to them out there-but they didn'tknow what. They were missing a few hours.† He looked at Mark and Mary-Lynnette. â€Å"How about that, guys?† â€Å"It's the UFOs!† Mark shouted immediately, dropping into discus-throwing position and wiggling his plate. â€Å"UFOs are a crock,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Do youknow how far the little green men would have to travel-and there's no suchthing as warp speed. Whydo people have to make things up when the universe is just just blazing with incredible things that are real-â€Å"She stopped. Her family was looking at her oddly. â€Å"Actually Todd and Vic probably just got smashed,† she said, and put her plate and glass in the sink. Her father grimaced slightly. Claudine pursed her lips. Mark grinned. â€Å"In a very real and literal sense,† he said. â€Å"We hope.† It was as Mary-Lynnette was walking back to the family room that a thought struck her. Chiloquin Road was right off Kahneta, the road her own house was on. The road Mrs. B.'s house was on.It was only two miles from Burdock Farm to Chiloquin. There couldn't be any connection. Unless the girls were burying the little green man who'd abductedVic and Todd. But it bothered her. Two really strange things happening in the same night, in the same area. In a tiny, sleepy area that never saw any kind of excitement. I know, I'll call Mrs. B. And she'll be fine, and that'll prove everything's okay, and I'll be able to laugh about all this. But nobody answered at the Burdock house. The phone rang and rang. Nobody picked it up and the answering machine never came on. Mary-Lynnettehung up feeling grim but oddly calm. She knew what she had to do now. She snagged Mark as he was going up the stairs. â€Å"I need to talk to you.† â€Å"Look, if this is about your Walkman-â€Å" â€Å"Huh? It's about something we have to do tonight.† Mary-Lynnette looked at him. â€Å"What aboutmy Walkman?† â€Å"Uh, nothing. Nothing at all.† Mary-Lynnette groaned but let it go. â€Å"Listen, Ineed you to help me out. Last night I saw something weird when I was on the hill†¦.† She explained as succinctly as possible. â€Å"And now more weird stuff with Todd and Vic,† she said. Mark was shaking his head, looking at her in something like pity. â€Å"Mare, Mare,† he said kindly. â€Å"You really are crazy, you know.† â€Å"Yes,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"It doesn't matter. I'm still going over there tonight.† â€Å"To do what?† â€Å"To check things out. I just want toseeMrs. B. If I can talk to her, I'll feel better. And if I can find out what's buried in that garden, I'll feel a wholelotbetter.† â€Å"Maybe they were burying Sasquatch. That government study in the Klamaths never did find him, you know.† â€Å"Mark, you owe me for the Walkman. For whatever happened to the Walkman.† â€Å"Uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mark sighed, then muttered resignedly.†Okay, I owe you. But I'm telling you right now, I'm not going to talk to those girls.† â€Å"You don't have to talk to them. You don't evenhave to see them. There's something else I want youto do.† The sun was just setting. They'd walked this roada hundred times to get to Mary-Lynnette's hill-the only difference tonight was that Mark was carryinga pair of pruning shears and Mary-Lynnette had pulled the Rubylith filter off her flashlight. â€Å"You don't reallythink they offed the old lady.† â€Å"No,† Mary-Lynnette said candidly. â€Å"I just want to put the world back where it belongs.† â€Å"You want what?† â€Å"You know how you have a view of the way theworld is, but every so often you wonder, ‘Oh, myGod, what if it's really different?'Like, ‘What if I'm really adopted and the people I think are my parentsaren't my parents at all?' And if it were true, it would change everything, and for a minute you don't know what's real. Well, that's how I feel right now, and I want to get rid of it. I want my old world back.† â€Å"You know what's scary?† Mark said. â€Å"I think Iunderstand.† By the time they got to Burdock Farm, it was full dark. Ahead of them, in the west, the star Arcturus seemed to hang over the farmhouse, glittering faintly red. Mary-Lynnette didn't bother trying to deal withthe rickety gate. She went to the place behind the blackberry bushes where the picket fence had fallen flat. The farmhouse was like her own family's, but with lots of Victorian-style gingerbread added. MaryLynnette thought the spindles and scallops and fretwork gave it a whimsical air-eccentric, like Mrs. Burdock. Just now, as she was looking at one of the second-story windows, the shadow of a moving figure fell on the roller blind. Good, Mary-Lynnette thought. At least I know somebody's home. Mark began hanging back as they walked down the weedy path to the house. â€Å"You said I could hide.† â€Å"Okay. Right. Look, why don't you take thoseshears and sort of go around back-â€Å" â€Å"And look at the Sasquatch grave while I'm there? Maybe do a little digging? I don't think so.† â€Å"Fine,† Mary-Lynnette said calmly. â€Å"Then hidesomewhere out here and hope they don't see you when they come to the door. At least with the shears you have an excuse to be in the back.† Mark threw her a bitter glance and she knew she'dwon. As he started off, Mary-Lynnette said suddenly, â€Å"Mark, be careful.† Mark just waved a dismissive hand at her without turning around. When he was out of sight, Mary-Lynnette knockedon the front door. Then she rang the doorbellitwasn't a button but an actual bellpull. She could hear chimes inside, but nobody answered. She knocked and rang with greater authority. Every minute she kept expecting the door to open to reveal Mrs. B., petite, gravelly-voiced, blue-haired,dressed in an old cotton housedress. But it didn't happen. Nobody came. Mary-Lynnette stopped being polite and began knocking with one hand and ringing with the other. It was somewhere in the middle of this frenzy ofknocks and rings that she realized she was frightened. Really frightened. Her world view was wobbling.Mrs. Burdock hardly ever left the house. She always answered the door. And Mary-Lynnette had seenwith her own eyes that somebody was home here. So why weren't they answering? Mary-Lynnette's heart was beating very hard. She had an uncomfortable falling sensation in her stomach. I should get out of here and call Sheriff Akers. It's his job to know what to do about things like this.But it was hard to work up any feeling of confidence in Todd's father. She took her alarm and frustration out on the door. Which opened. Suddenly. Mary-Lynnette's fist hit air and for an instant she felt sheer panic, fear of the unknown. â€Å"What can I do for you?† The voice was soft and beautifully modulated. Thegirl was just plain beautiful. What Mary-Lynnette hadn't been able to see from the top of her hill was that the brown hair was aglow with rich chestnut highlights, the features were classically molded, the tall figure was graceful and willowy. â€Å"You're Rowan,† she said. â€Å"How did you know?† You couldn't be anything else; I've never seen anybody who looked so much like tree spirit. â€Å"Your aunt told me about you. I'm Mary-Lynnette Carter, Ilive just up Kahneta Road. You probably saw my house on your way here.† Rowan looked noncommittal. She had such a sweet,grave face-,and skin that looked like white orchid petals, Mary-Lynnette thought abstractedly. She said, â€Å"So, I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood, say hello, see if there's anything you need.† Rowan looked less grave; she almost smiled and her brown eyes grew warm. â€Å"How nice of you. Really. I almost wish we did need something †¦ but actually we're fine.† Mary-Lynnette realized that, with the utmost civility and good manners, Rowan was winding up the conversation. Hastily she threw a new subject into the pool. â€Å"There are three of you girls, right? Are you going to school here?† â€Å"My sisters are.† â€Å"That's great. I can help show them around. I'll be a senior this year.† Another subject, quick, MaryLynnette thought. â€Å"So, how do you like Briar Creek? It's probably quieter than you're used to.† â€Å"Oh, it was pretty quiet where we came from,†Rowan said. â€Å"But we love it here; it's such a wonderful place. The trees, the little animals. . .† She broke off. â€Å"Yeah, those cute little animals,† Mary-Lynnette said. Get to the point, her inner voices were telling her. Her tongue and the roof of her mouth felt like Velcro. Finally she blurted, â€Å"So-so, um, how is your aunt right now?† â€Å"She's-fine.† That instant's hesitation was all Mary-Lynnette needed. Her old suspicions, her old panic, surged up immediately. Making her feel bright and cold, like aknife made of ice. She found herself saying in a confident, almost chirpy voice, â€Å"Well, could I just talk to her for a minute? Would you mind? It's just that I have something sort of important to tellher†¦.† She made a move as if to step over the threshold. Rowan kept on blocking the door. â€Å"Oh, I'm sosorry. Butwell, that's not really possible rightnow.† â€Å"Oh, is it one of her headaches? I've seen her in bed before.† Mary-Lynnette gave a little tinkly laugh. â€Å"No, it's not a headache.† Rowan spoke gently, deliberately. â€Å"The truth is that she's gone for a few days.† â€Å"Gone?† â€Å"I know.† Rowan made a little grimace acknowledging that this was odd. â€Å"She just decided to take a few days off. A little vacation.† â€Å"But-gosh, with you girls just getting here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mary-Lynnette's voice was brittle. â€Å"Well, you see, she knew we'd take care of thehouse for her. That's why she waited until we came.† â€Å"But-gosh,† Mary-Lynnette said again. She felt aspasm in her throat. â€Å"Where-just where did she go?† â€Å"Up north, somewhere on the coast. I'm not sure of the name of the town.† â€Å"But . . .† Mary-Lynnette's voice trailed off. Back off, her inner voices warned.Now was the time to be polite, to be cautious. Pushing it meant showing this girl that Mary-Lynnette knew something was wrong with this story. And since somethingwas wrong, thisgirl might be dangerous†¦. It was hard to believe that while looking at Rowan'ssweet, grave face. She didn't look dangerous. But thenMary-Lynnette noticed something else. Rowan was barefoot. Her feet were as creamy-pale as the rest ofher, but sinewy. Something about them, the way they were placed or the clean definition of the toes, made Mary-Lynnette think of those feet running. Of savage, primal speed. When she looked up, there was another girl walking up behind Rowan. The one with dark golden hair. Her skin was milky instead of blossomy, and her eyes were yellow. â€Å"This is Kestrel,† Rowan said. â€Å"Yes,† Mary-Lynnette said. She realized she was staring. And realized, the moment after that, that shewas scared. Everything about Kestrel made her thinkof savage, primal movement. The girl walked as if she were flying. â€Å"What's going on?† Kestrel said. â€Å"This is Mary-Lynnette,† Rowan said, her, voice still pleasant. â€Å"She lives down the road. She came to see Aunt Opal.† â€Å"Really just to see if you needed anything,† MaryLynnette interjected quickly. â€Å"We're sort of your only neighbors.† Strategy change, she was thinking. About-face. Looking at Kestrel, she believed in danger. Now all she wanted was to keep these girls from guessing what she knew. â€Å"You're a friend of Aunt Opal's?† Kestrel asked silkily. Her yellow eyes swept Mary-Lynnette, first up, then down. â€Å"Yeah, I come over sometimes, help her withthe†-oh, God, don't say gardening-â€Å"goats. Um, I guess she told you that they need to be milked everytwelve hours.† Rowan's expression changed fractionally. MaryLynnette's heart gave a violent thud. Mrs. B. would never,everleave without giving instructions aboutthe goats. â€Å"Of course she told us,† Rowan said smoothly, justan instant too late. Mary-Lynnette's palms were sweating. Kestrelhadn't taken that keen, dispassionate, unblinkinggaze off her for a moment. Like the proverbial birdof prey staring down the proverbial rabbit. â€Å"Well, it'sgetting late and I bet you guys have things to do. I should let you go.† Rowan and Kestrel looked at each other. Then theyboth looked at Mary-Lynnette, cinnamon-brown eyes and golden eyes fixed intently on her face.Mary-Lynnette had the falling feeling in her stomach again. â€Å"Oh, don't goyet,† Kestrel said silkily. â€Å"Why don'tyou come inside?†

Friday, September 13, 2019

Investigation on the Influence of the Recession towards Online Retail Literature review

Investigation on the Influence of the Recession towards Online Retail Shopping - Literature review Example Retailing mainly aims at providing an innovative way of shopping experience for the consumers with due regards to their preferences to a large extent. The basic strategy of retailing intends to deliver the best quality service for a longer period of time. In the current era, the retailing industry plays a significant role as a major contributor to the GDP growth of any economy. It is further noted as one of the fastest growing and most promising industries in the global region (Purohit & Kavita, 2009). It was further stated by Chan (2007) that retailing is considered to be the ultimate connection between the end-users and the production of various goods. With the assumption that the end-consumers are not quite huge in number or population and are immobile as well as uninformed, the firms operating in the retail industry should focus on various attributes. These attributes to be considered by the retailing forms include the geographic regions of the targeted market, the price visibili ty of the consumers, quality assurance, and product portfolio among others. It is in this context that by considering these attributes, a retail firm is likely to gain better understanding of the market trends and consumer behaviour (Frieden & Roche, 2006). Difference between Traditional and Online Retail With due consideration to the development of the retail industry, its structure can be classified in two segments, such as the traditional retail industry and the contemporary retail industry. As stated by Frieden & Roche (2006), traditional retail is highly developed in small areas of towns and cities of various geographical regions which fundamentally concentrate on the physical distribution of commodities with minimum role to play by technology. Traditional retailing stores reduce the cost of shopping as it brings the products within the reach of the customers, mostly in their local residential area. Certain significant aspects such as assurance of the selected products, its pri ce, and promotional features among others are primarily taken into account by the traditional retailers. Traditional retail system also concentrated on direct selling channels which provided with bargaining opportunities to the customers but incurred considerable costs for the distributors (Chan, 2007). It is worth mentioning that in the contemporary retail marketing, various products are offered including the categories such as food and grocery, wet groceries, and apparel among others that increases the growth of modern retailing. It mainly aims at developing different types of strategies and selling the products as well as services by minimizing the cost of the product. This enables the contemporary retail channels to offer the consumers a vast and complete range of products as per their request and at a cheaper rate than that available through traditional stores. The supermarkets also bear same kind of strategies and are analyzed in an effective manner for an efficient developmen t of traditional retailers. Another advantage presented by the retail stores can be regarded as the accessibility of various national brands as well as internationally renowned brand in the particular market segment (Berni & et. al., n.d.). This increases the customer satisfaction to a large extent

Thursday, September 12, 2019

You can choose the title Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

You can choose the title - Essay Example re the ones that develop such simulations, the simulation is usually influenced by the knowledge and biasness of the designers which may lead to difficulties in learning. It has been observed that designers are the ones that are provided with frequent opportunities to learn rather than the users. By making constant change in the simulation, the designer may be able to understand the requirement and will eventually lead to the increase of their skills and experience. For a designer to develop a simulation can become quite easy if the designer have sufficient knowledge regarding the simulation along with the experience to understand the complexity and realism so that the objectives of the simulation could be met cost effectively. The designer must take into consideration that simulation should not be too simplified that it may disrupt the learning process of the students. On the other hand, experiential learning is an active learning process as it focuses on the theme ‘learning by doing’. Since this is an ongoing process, it requires constant facilitation through coaching and support along with personal interest to participate in the process. By such support, the learner may be provided with an opportunity to identify the reasons for failure through feedback by the expert couching the learner. For a business game simulation to be successful, motivation is required among participants. In order to motive the participants, certain theories were proposed. The theories proposed included goal setting theory, Maslow’s need theory, and Herzberg theory along with other theories of motivation. For an effective learning process, time is the most important factor for achieving the goals and objectives of learning. For the goals and objectives of the students to be accomplished, feedbacks and debriefings from the facilitator or expert is crucial as based on such feedbacks, participants become motivated and self-satisfied with the environment for learning. In order to

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Sex offenders in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sex offenders in Australia - Essay Example It is thus reasonable to expect society to consider and undertake all possible viable solutions against sex offenses. In the United States, the passage of Megan’s Law has is widely known for making legal the naming of sex offenders after they have been released from prison, as a means by which the community they are reintegrated in are made aware of the risks. In our country, Australia, there is the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR) targeting sex offenders of minor children, and monitoring them for a certain duration of time. However, this is altogether different from the â€Å"naming and shaming† of these individuals, which Australia has still not allowed. The issue of the naming of sex offenders has hit the headlines in recent months, with Melboune broadcaster Derryn Hinch lost his court battled against suppression orders to protect child abusters. Victoria’s Sex Abusers Monitoring Act, he said, was unconstitutional for not explicitly stating that court proceedings must be held publicly. He also said that suppression orders are unconstitutional. Deciding against him, the courts held that suppression orders are unconstitutional and he was guilty of contempt for divulging the names of the sex offenders. And yet, there is growing public support around the idea of naming and shaming, such support built upon populist sentiments condemning sexual offenses, demonizing sezual offenders and rousing fears that communities will not be safe in the presence of these sex offenders. In my paper, I will use two criminological theories to examine and critique this notion of naming of sex offenders. These are the conflict theory of criminology and the classical theory of criminology. A. Conflict Theory In order to discuss Conflict theory, it is incumbent to compare it with the consensus theory. The sociological theories that underpin our understanding of crime and punishment, as well as the justice system have long been the subject of deb ate by opposing ideological camps. The divergent approaches of â€Å"consensus† and â€Å"conflict† and what approach is the most appropriate lens with which to understand crimes remains to be discussed today, with the debates evolving to meet more modern and complex contemporary problems. It is imperative to begin by defining the concepts. Reid (119) defined the consensus approach as one that â€Å"views the emerging norms and laws of society as representative of the common feeling about what is right and proper; that is, they represent a consensus of views—a mechanism for maintaining social order.† It looks at society as a homogenous whole, without factions or frictions, and making a collective determination on what is right and what is wrong. For example, taking a very recent incident, the harsh punishments meted against the London street rioters might be deemed appropriate among proponents of the consensus theorists: indeed, the destruction of private property and petty larceny go against collective values and the State must bear down heavily upon those who seek to trample those values. In contrast, the proponents of the conflict theory look at society not as a homogenous whole, but as one wracked by class fault lines. Therefore, laws are not simply collectively-agreed upon rules that establish social order and ensure the efficient and harmonious functioning