Monday, September 30, 2019

Small Cell Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is life threatening due to the fact that y the time you can see it, it is too late. To define lung cancer more there are TV'0 ma jar types: Small cell lung cancer and monsoonal cell lung cancer. This paper will be go MO re indented on the study of small cell lung cancer. (1) Small cell lung cancer, also known as CLC, is 15% of all lung cancers. Men are more suitable to it than women and is almost always is a smoker. CLC cancel known to be very aggressive due to the speed of redevelopment of cells and TTS ability to spread.Although the tumors start in the lungs they usually migrate to the bra in, liver, ND bones. (2) The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines small cell lung cancer ‘cancer of a highly malignant form that affects the lungs, tends to metastasis to other Small Cell Lung Cancer Essay 2 parts of the body, and is characterized by small round or oval cells which Reese amble oat grains and have little cytoplasm'. (3) Doctors use several methods to test someone a nd stage their CLC. The stags Eng tactics help show where the cancer has spread and how to treat it.MR., CAT, PET, and Bone scans are used in his staging process. Each scan gives a new look and all of hem put together determine if there is spreading and more tumors. Spreads Eng can be caused by getting into the blood, lymph, or tissue and moving around. Two SST ages of the cancer are Limited stage CLC and Extensiveness's CLC. When it is limited it means it has either stayed in the lungs or spread to under the collarbone, but once t he cancer spreads above the collarbone and other places in the body it becomes extents eve. (4) It is difficult to treat CLC due to the lateness of the diagnostic.Doctors use chemotherapy pills that must be either swallowed or injected into the body. Most patients can not use surgery due to how many tumors they have and so they rely on radiation therapy and chemotherapy. These therapies usually only lessen the symptoms. (2) The Chemotherapy uses drug comb inations of Capitalist and EOT upside, Carbonization and Topside, Capitalist and Orientation, and Carbonization and ARIN toecap. If this first round does not work drugs will be modified. (5) With all the technology humans have still can't cure cancer. We can stage it an d we can prolong death, but we can't cure it.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Shangri-La Hotel

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts – Overview Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts are renowned hotel management companies operating prominently in the Middle East. The hotel is considered as a status symbol for upper class people reflecting the privilege and honorable status in the society. The hotel provides facility of services which is suitable for both business travelers as well as for people traveling for leisure and on vacation.The first of Shangri-La hotels was found in Singapore in the year 1971 and now this Hong Kong based hotel chain has grown as one of the largest hotel management companies getting a number of awards and accolades. The hotel chain operates more than 49 high class hotels and resorts in key cities of Asia and the Middle East. The first venture of the hotel chain was established in Singapore by the Kuok Group which is a multinational conglomerate managed by Westin until the year 1983. The name of the chain was changed to Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited in the year 1983.In the year 1989, the Company established a sister concern Traders Hotels in Beijing with the objective of meeting the demand from the business travelers at affordable prices. Shangri-La Asia bought the hotel chain in 1997, at which time the group was called Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts. The hotel chain is owned by Shangri-La Asia Limited, a Hong Kong based company. Shangri-La hotels and resorts is the subsidiary of Shangri-La Asia Limited and the shares of Shangri-La are listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Kuok Group continues to hold the controlling interest in Shangri-La Asia Limited

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Example of an Ethnolect Based Essay

The speech of an individual is a linguistic map of their identity and an indication of how they would like to be perceived. Migrants who come to Australia already possess the linguistic structures of their mother tongue, and these will affect the way they speak English, forming an ethnolect. Consequently, a person’s language is a clear indicator of their past ethnic origins, and the English they choose to speak will also indicate how they would like others to perceive them. This latter is true for everyone, as we all vary our language according to context. Bill is a young Chinese student who has come to Australia two years ago from China to further his education. His lexical field is wide and varied, he is able to use complex syntactic structures and his accent and prosodic features show a good familiarity with standard Australian English. However, it is still possible to find linguistic features which demonstrates that he is from a Chinese background, that he is male, that he has travelled, can appreciate humour, and that he would like to be perceived as an educated person with further academic goals. The phonological features of a person’s speech are the most obvious signposts to his or her origins or mother tongue. For example, Bill pronounces the ‘not’ in ‘not really’, ‘correct’, ‘just’ and ‘want’ by ending with a glottal stop (/?/), rather than the voiceless consonant (/t/). This occurs as final consonants are much less frequent in Mandarin than in English and thus they are normally dropped or replaced by a glottal stop. This could give linguists a clue on his origins or mother tongue. Bill also values the Australian accent, but there are also traces of American English in his speech, notably his pronunciation of ‘currently’, with the sound ‘ker’ (American) rather than ‘kar’ (Australian). This shows the subtle ways that every experience can affect a person’s identity as Bill has stayed in America for a short period of time, making his English slightly different from another Chinese student that has not had that experience. Local idioms and foreign borrowed words are also used in a non standard way by Bill. An example would be the way he pronounces ‘gourmet’, by analogy; he assumes that all letters are pronounced in English. However, since this word is of French origin, its final‘t’ should not be pronounced. Through the way a subject speaks, we could pinpoint his ethnic group. Although Bill has a wide and varied lexical field, he does not use many idiomatic Australian expressions. This could mean that he is either still a newcomer and has not become familiar with colloquial language, or he may not value these expressions (such as Aussie, veggie, mate†¦etc) as he might view them as low status words. This could show that he wants to be perceived as an educated, cultured person, instead of a rough Aussie. Even though English is not the subject’s mother tongue, he still has a fairy large lexicon, using lexemes such as â€Å"lucrative†, â€Å"environment† and â€Å"gourmet†, this could show that he has been exposed to English even before he migrated to Australia. Bill also uses the word â€Å"reckon† and â€Å"heaps† which shows that he has tried to fit into his peer group and that he has a good grasp of the type of language used by the people around him. A subject’s syntactic structures are another indication of his ethnic origins. The use of modal verbs is sometimes difficult for Chinese learners as there aren’t any tenses in Mandarin, and this is evident in Bill’s speech. For example, in his sentence ‘Basically, I can choose from a lot of country’/ The lack of plural is evident here ( country/countries), but also the verb ‘can’ is used in a non-standard way, it is used in its base form rather than the more accepted past tense, as in ‘I could choose from a lot of countries’. Leaving verbs in their base form is a feature of many Mandarin speakers, as in Mandarin, tenses are indicated by other means†¦. Another syntactic feature is the plural, which is sometimes not formed as shown before. For example, ‘my family member’, ‘at those stage’, ‘a lot of country’ and ‘different background’. Such non-standard usage also pinpoints Bill’s identity as a Chinese speaker as there are no plurals for nouns in Mandarin. Bill’s word order too is sometimes non standard, especially when expressing more complex ideas. For example, ‘aging population faces in Japan’ rather than ‘Japan too faces an aging population’. All these syntactic features contribute to his identity as a young Chinese student still in the process of mastering the English language. A subject’s attitude can also show what kind of speaker he or she would like to be perceived. For example, Bill states that he prefers the Australian accent over the Singaporean accent. This would show that he puts a high value on the Australian English and would like to be perceived as a English speaker From this, it can be seen that many features contribute to a person’s ethnolect, and from it we can deduce the subject’s identity and the way he or she wants to be perceived. Furthermore, migrants who come to Australia know that they must learn English, as ‘Nothing unites a country more than its common language. ‘(John Howard). However, each migrant, such as Bill, brings his own variation of English which is linked to his first mother tongue (in this case Mandarin). In this way, each person contributes to the rich tapestry of sounds, words and syntactic structures which make up Australia's history, culture and identity. ‘

Friday, September 27, 2019

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Proper operations management offers the management of any organization the chance to put in place proper operation strategies that provide the overall direction, which serves the framework for conducting all the functions of the organization (Clay 2007, 27). It is essential that every organization sets a pattern of decisions that shape its long term capabilities in any type of operations and positively affect the contribution of the overall strategy. This is through reconciliation of market requirements with the available operations resources. This task looks into how firms in the travel industry in Park Place (Cardiff) compete through their operations. The task looks dissects the significance of operations management for new firms in beating existing competition through operations of existing firms in the market. It takes a case study of Comfy Zone Travelers Corporation that intends to have a new branch in Park Place, Cardiff. In order to understand the operation strategies that companies in the Travelling Sector in Cardiff have put in place to counter competition, the research takes both qualitative and quantitative approach. The survey acknowledges that while the actual market share of each of the competing firms in the sector is a good indicator of well-thought operation strategies, it also appreciates that there are several factors of the market that may not be quantified. In this realization, the researchers conducted a market survey to determine both the market share of the existing firms in the traveling industry as well as understanding the thoughts of the market on the operations strategies the companies use. The survey concentrated on a sample of the target market. Since Comfy Zone Corporation intends to introduce its services in all sectors of transport in the town, the interrogation covered all users of public transport from roads to air. Given that a majority of

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Characteristics of Millennial Generation Research Paper

Characteristics of Millennial Generation - Research Paper Example These children grew up in a period of increasing safety measures such as school lockdowns, car seats, and signs of body on board. These children are rarely left unattended to and are sheltered from taking care of their conflicts. Their parents advocate for them and spare them from experiences regarded unpleasant. American history movement on youth safety has focused on the millennial generation. Millennial are goal-oriented, confident and motivated in the future and in themselves. Millennial expect education institutions to push them to greatness. This group brags about their potential and power (Haugen 34). They are optimistic and feel connected to their guardian. They sacrifice their identities to be inside the team. Millennial prefers leadership of egalitarian but not hierarchies. This generation has formed a generation that is tight-knight. Millennial dislike standing out among their age mate, they prefer being part of the group. They are against selfishness and are directed towards volunteerism and learning. Grade point of this generation has risen and crime is falling. This group is oriented to hard work, getting good grades and involvement in co-curricular activities. They portray education as the key to a higher paying job and success (Haugen 44). Millennial always focus on their career since their grade school. They also focus more on the achievement of the world t han their personal development. Millennial generation are pressured; filled with activities that are structures. Additionally, they have problems of time management despite having more time for homework. Consequently, the millennial have pressure to make it in life. They have been pushed to succeed, avoid risks, and maximize on opportunities. Millennial are respectful and conventional; do not question authority. They believe on the nation to handle their issues and fear being seen as non-conformist. Their music, cultural marking, and clothing are

Research in Motion Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research in Motion - Coursework Example The Blackberry phones pioneered the era of smart-phones although the competition has grown in the recent years from other platforms such as Android, iPhone and Windows. The demand for Blackberry phone has significantly increased because most businesses have adopted enterprise technologies and there is a growing concern of employees who want to gain access to corporate data securely while out of office. Most cellular networks provide data services hence the Blackberry phone fits perfectly in the ecosystem. Demand has also been fuelled by the growing changes in buyers’ preferences. The smart-phone market is now majorly based on platform rather than hardware and this has increased the applications available to the buyer hence increasing the demand for the smart-phones. The mobile phones have become a central part of an individual’s life hence buyers require a device that can offer extra features (Baumol & Blinder, 2011). The customer base has also grown significantly due t o an increasing middle class who are attracted to buy the Blackberry phones. The increased demand has resulted in the exponential increase in sales and profits. The supply of smart-phones has also increased due to technological advancements that have made it easier and cheaper to produce them. They are many companies producing smart-phones and as such the numbers of phones manufactured is high. From the aforementioned, we realize that the supply has increased over time. Therefore, it is evident that more units have to be sold to attain profit. Smartphone demand growth The market structure of Blackberry phones can be described as a oligopoly. The main players in the smart-phone market are Apple (iPhone), Nokia (Symbian), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows Phone). The product offered by these competitors is differentiated through various tweaks to the operating system. The barriers to entry in the smart-phone market are very high. Infact, a company has to lay a huge capital inves tment and extremely aggressive marketing tactics in order to start off in this market. The pricing in this segment is fairly uniform and high. The smart-phone market is characterized by constant innovation if only to remain competitive. The turnover of clients is high since buyers would wish to try out the new and fancy applications in the different smart-phone platforms. Market Share Comparison (January 2012) In order for Blackberry to continue prospering in this market, there is need for continuous innovation and launching of new product. The market of smartphones is very dynamic and this requires that a company stays on the forefront of innovation. The other trend that has a promising future is the applications (apps) market. The buyers need applications in their phones that make their lives easier and full of fun. To prosper in this segment, Blackberry should seek to have a robust community of developers through giving of incentives. The recent data outages experienced should be a thing of the past as this may lead to mass exodus of current users of the services (Redo, 2008). The core datacenters should be backed up and multiple fail-over mechanisms put in place to guarantee subscribers service availability. Blackberry phones have very low price elasticity. This implies that even if the price changes, it has very little influence on demand. With more income, there is a likelihood of more buyers of the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Buddhism and Hinduism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Buddhism and Hinduism - Essay Example Even though there are countless religions, they all and each and every one of them serve the same purpose, i.e. they answer questions which interest all human beings at certain point of their lives - Why are we here How should I live my life What happens when I die Not only that, religion also helps people transmit their values from generation to generation and can influence the way people interact with their natural environment. Religion is there for us to teach us "how to see ourselves in light of the universe and gives purpose and meaning to life." (Wenner) Today's global society gives very good chances that within the lifetime of a person, he can very well meet people from all around the world, from every corner of our planet. So, understanding and tolerance to the religious beliefs of other people is one of the most important steps that mankind should make in order to "someday prosper together in peace." (Wenner) Hinduism is considered to be the oldest and most complex religion of the world. Trying to provide an adequate background and history of the development of Hinduism is a very difficult task, due to the fact that it has neither specific founder nor theology; it originated "in the religious practices of Aryan tribes who moved to India from central Asia more than three thousand years ago." (Wenner) Aryan tribes attacked and conquered the Harappan people who occupied the territories of modern India around 1500 BC. Eventually, through adaptation and assimilation of the religious beliefs of both groups, they created and developed similar systems of religious practices that were founded on both, polytheism of the Aryans and the sacredness and worship of fertility of the Harappan people. The mostly Aryan society soon developed the caste system, which divided society according to people's occupational class. The caste system ranked people in the following way: the highest caste was that of Brahmins (priests), then went Kshatriyas (class of warriors, soldiers and kings, who often fought wars, were also referred to this caste), third caste was for Vaishyas (merchants, laborers, farmers, craftsmen), the lowest caste was Harijahns, "the untouchables" (beggars; it is thought that people belonging to this caste descended from the aboriginal Harappans who were extremely poor and experienced discrimination). (Wenner) "The higher a person's caste, the more that person is blessed with the benefits and luxuries life has to offer. Although the caste system was outlawed in 1948, it is still important to the Hindu people of India and is still recognized as the proper way to stratify society. Since the early days of Hinduism, it has branched and now encompasses a wide variety of religious beliefs and religious organizations. Not only is it the primary religion of the region around India, but portions of Hindu beliefs have found their way across oceans to other countries and have been influential in the foundations of other religions, such as Transcendental Meditation and Buddhism." (Wenner) Perhaps, two qualities that distinguish Hinduism from all other religions of the world are, first, that being a Hindu you have absolute freedom what you believe in and whether you believe in anything at all or no will not prevent you from belonging to Hinduism. Indeed, in order to survive, Hinduism has to and does

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Introduction to Quality Assurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Introduction to Quality Assurance - Essay Example It is also responsible for coordinating and monitoring access to care, developing programs, and evaluating the quality of healthcare services in accordance with guidelines from the Department of Defense, Lead Agent, Regional 12, and Health Affairs. Specialist Referrals– The Primary Care Physician (PCP) may request a consultation from a participating specialist physician at any time.  The PCP determines the number of visits authorized.  Specialists may include – Gynecologist, Radiation Oncologists, Ophthalmologists, Pediatric Ophthalmologists, Retinologists and Allergists etc. Emergency Room Services –An emergency medical condition is defined as a condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) that a prudent layperson with an average knowledge of health and medicine could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: Out-of-Plan Referrals– All out-of-Plan referrals require Plan prior authorization at Guam.   These requests are reviewed on an individual basis.   Determinations are made based on the patients medical needs and the availability of services to meet these needs within the provider. Tertiary Care Services– All referrals to plan tertiary care centers are reviewed on an individual basis.  The members medical needs and the availability of requested services within the non-tertiary care network are taken into consideration. Discharge Planning – Patients who require continuing care after release from the hospital are identified and the appropriate services are arranged through participating home care, medical equipment and other providers. The facility’s Utilization Management Program may need continued review on a periodic basis in order to keep it on par with the model Utilization Management Program as described by the HealthCare Advisory Council. In keeping with these lines, the program is

Monday, September 23, 2019

Market rearch business plan with payback Assignment

Market rearch business plan with payback - Assignment Example Additionally, they are able to execute and provide accurate results and industry specific data that is important to their customers even before a proper deal is designed. The table below shows a list of leading competitors, rank, price, and their performance. At the beginning, the company will have 5 employees. I Dennis James will be the director; mandated to oversee the operations of the company. Other positions will include Mr. John Musapere as the marketing person, Kevin Bright as the Finance Officer, Carl Mix as the Personnel Director, Fred Martins as the Logistics Officer, and Mr. John Mark as the Chief Executive Officer. The future plan for the company is to develop and new marketing people by the second year. Upon the beginning of the company, the primary marketing person will be Mr. John Musapere, but will change when the revenue ascends, and the firm will be in a position to cash in human capital. Consequently, the company will have a marketing strategy that will be focussed on the prior needs analysis. The aim of the process will be to identify the needs of the client. After mapping out this, MemaTech Company will determine mechanisms to implement these

Sunday, September 22, 2019

To live outside Essay Example for Free

To live outside Essay As I stand still in the traffic filled New York City Street attempting to crawl as if I were a turtle trying to cross the road, I begin to contemplate the true beauty of living in the city. It is now the month where everything should be glooming, pleasing, and living, however it is not. In the Waste Land by Thomas Sterns Eliot, he states, April is the cruellest month. This is a metaphor which in my situation reflects the truth. There are many reasons as to why people prefer to live outside of the city but work in the heart of it. I look forward and try to imagine what T.S. Eliot would think if he saw these city streets. In his book, the Waste Land, it is forced into our imagination that the world is dead; the earth is a waste land. He calls the city an Unreal City, making the reader think of the city that is referred to as a place worse than any nightmares can ever imagine. When imagining a city that I do not want to live in, first thing that comes to mind is a city thats always dirty and cold. If one was to analyze New York City, it can easily be found that most of the time it is cold; cold enough to need someone there with you if you do not have a home. Just as in the book you would read in the first story that you can only be kept warm in the winter with someone next to you. It is written, Winter kept us warm. It is also dirty to the extent that the street cleaning trucks that are made to clean the streets cannot handle the amount of filth the ground holds. The Waste Land takes on the degraded mess that Eliot considered modern culture to constitute, particularly after the First World War had ravaged Europe. April is the month that everything should be regenerating. Regeneration, though, is painful, for it brings back reminders of a more fertile and happier past. In the modern world, winter, the time of forgetfulness and numbness, is indeed preferable. Maries childhood recollections are also painful: the simple world of cousins, sledding, and coffee in the park has been replaced by a complex set of emotional and political consequences resulting from the war. The topic of memory, particularly when it involves remembering the dead, is of critical importance in The Waste Land. Memory creates a confrontation of the past with the present, a combination that points out just how badly things have  decayed. The final episode of the Waste Land allows Eliot to finally establish the true wasteland of the poem, the modern city. Eliots London references Baudelaires Paris (Unreal City), Dickenss London (the brown fog of a winter dawn) and Dantes hell (the flowing crowd of the dead). The city is desolate and depopulated, inhabited only by ghosts from the past. Stetson, the spirit of the speaker recognizes, is a fallen war comrade. The speaker pesters him with a series of ghoulish questions about a corpse buried in his garden: again, with the garden, we return to the theme of regeneration and fertility. This encounter can be read as a quest for a meaning behind the tremendous slaughter of the First World War; however, it can also be read as an exercise in ultimate futility: as we see in Stetsons failure to respond to the speakers inquiries, the dead offer few answers. The great respective weights of history, tradition, and the poets dead predecessors combine to create an oppressive burden. In conclusion, there are many reasons as to why people prefer to live outside of the city, yet work in the center of it. In the first episode of the Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, the city that is described is one that is regenerating because as it is beaten into your mind, the city is dead. Eliot speaks about the land and how dust filled it is and how nothing is alive. He then explains that everything is reviving, but that means that at the current time, after the First World War, everything is dead and life totally different then it was earlier. Even though he talks about the city and how unreal it is, he explains that Marie has recollections of sledding and family life. Usually family life and things like sledding are pastimes in a more countryside based area. Therefore, it is as if he is saying that city life is no longer good, while Marie remembers the good times she had sledding in the countryside. In the last episode, we, the readers, can see even more about how Eliot perceives the city. He refers to other stories to explain this city. He uses Dantes Hell as well as Dickenss London to explain the dead streets and the ghost roaming them. He uses a fallen soldier as the main character and shows  that the streets are full of ghost and no one living. If you would look at the city in the modern times, you can imagine people having nothing on their mind but work. They wander the city streets going nowhere but to their place of work, being worried of getting fired and not being human to the extent that they are forced to do something. It is if they are roaming the streets just like the ghosts, however, these people dont think that they are dead. Just like the saying goes, I come alive on the weekends. Then you can imagine that the soldiers that did return breathing would want to live in a place where it is peaceful and quiet. The countryside is where they would most likely find this. Therefore, it can be seen that the ghost or the workers work in the city, while the living stay home in the countryside.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Introduction Applied Performance Practices Business Essay

Introduction Applied Performance Practices Business Essay Financial Rewards is the most fundamental applied performance practice in organizational settings. Pay has multiple meanings, such as symbol of success, reinforcer and motivator, reflection of performance, reduce anxiety and so on. The meaning of money also varied. There are four types of rewards in the workplace: Membership and Seniority Based Rewards -Represent the largest part of most pay checks and fixed wages, seniority increases. Job Status-Based Rewards -Include job evaluation and status perks. Competency-Based Rewards -Pay increases with competencies acquired and demonstrated. Performance-Based Rewards -An overview of some of the most popular individual, team, and organizational performance based rewards. Besides that, company will have their own way to increase the job effectiveness and improving the company performances. Below are the type of way: Job Design- The process of assigning tasks to a job, including the interdependency of those tasks with other jobs. Job Specialization The result of division of labor in which work is subdivided into separate jobs assigned to different people. Job Rotation- The practice of moving employees from one job to another. Background of the Coca-Cola Company Soft drinks are getting popular nowadays. There are so many soft drinks company around the world. One of the most popular beverage company is Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company, produces a variety of soft drinks and consumer products. Coca-Cola was founded in May 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia, a pharmacist. There was a time when Pemberton actually trying to concoct a headache remedy, but once he mixed his special syrup with carbonated water, a brand new taste drink is created. He let some of his customers tasted the result, and they praised for the awesomeness of the drink. He realized that he has successfully created something new and it is the popular soda fountain beverage. The name of Coca-Cola was coined by his bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. Later on, a businessman, Asa Griggs Candler has purchased it and introduced it as a carbonated soft drink in the market. Then Coca-Cola dominated the market of carbonated soft drinks throughout the 20 century. Coca-Cola has also became one of the global market leaders in the beverage industry. The branch of Coca-Cola has spread all over the world, such as North America, Eurasia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Pacific. There are approximate more than 500 non-alcoholic beverage brands owned or licensed by the Coca-Cola company, mainly sparkling beverages but also a variety of still beverages, such as waters, enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, and energy and sports drinks. Being the worlds largest beverage distribution system, there are more than 200 consumers enjoy their beverages at a rate of more than 1.8 billion servings a day. Coca-Cola also rank among the worlds top 10 private employees with more than 700,000 system employees. The Company competes with PepsiCo, Inc., Nestle, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., Groupe Danone, Kraft Foods Inc. and Unilever. Mission Vision There are many challenges faced by the company. Competitors are making brand new strategies to defeat the company. Therefore, the company need to clear and understand the direction of the business in the market and predict the future. Their vision for next ten years is about to create a long term destination program for their business which will also provide them a Roadmap for winning from their bottling competitors. Mission Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. To refresh the world To inspire moments of optimism and happiness To create value and make a difference. Vision Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable,  quality growth. People:  Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be. Portfolio:  Bring to the world a portfolio of  quality  beverage  brands  that anticipate and satisfy peoples desires and needs. Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value. Planet:  Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities. Profit:  Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities. Productivity:  Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization. Content Part Theory and Concept Coca-Cola Company relies on prudent systems, offers employee jobs with high motivation potential, expects staff to manage themselves, and delegates power to branches, resulting in high levels of employee empowerment and performance. The most common elements of reward using by Coca-Cola Company are based on long term incentives reward, annual incentives reward and base salary reward. All the rewards given to the employees based on membership and seniority -based rewards, competency-based rewards and Job status based-rewards. All middle and senior management, excluding our executive team, participate in the CocaCola Hellenic Long- Term Incentive Plan. Starting from the 2011-2013 Long-Term Incentive Plan, they operate under a new format aimed at linking employee performance to short- and long-business priorities and rewarding employees accordingly. Incentive payouts are based on business performance against three-year objectives which are set on an annual basis. Exceptional business performance may result in awards in excess of individual target payouts. The performance of the plan will be measured against selected KPI performance over a three-year period; that KPI s includes volume market share, net sales revenue per unit case and Group ROIC. The target payout for the plan is determined for each individual based on their performance, potential and level of responsibility and the plan payout takes places at the third anniversary of the plan. Coca-Cola Company awards the employees by using performance-based rewards. The employees will receive their reward based on their performance. Besides, Coca-Cola Company also using types of reward like annual incentive reward. The reward will be given to the employees based on the Job-status-based reward. While their goal is long-term sustainable growth, the Compensation Committee chooses annual incentives to pay to reward Named Executive Officers for individual performance and operational results for an operating group and/or overall Company performance on an annual basis. The annual objectives are carefully chosen to ensure integration and alignment with our overall long-term objectives. At the start of the incentive period, Compensation Committee designs the target amount, based on a percentage of base salary. Total benefits package is highly regarded and is designed to meet employees basic and life-changing  benefits  needs. As market dynamics evolve, the Company regularly assesses our benefits programs to ensure employees receive those benefits they value and are provided with diverse options that address the issues of individuals and families and promote healthy lifestyles. As  to fetch information on the part of employees problems, Cola-Cola Company makes  close collaborative  or communication  system  with them to satisfy them all to increases their efficiency and effectiveness. Because need and wants of employees are changing day by day to satisfy meaningful needs and wants are very important in the behalf of organization so as to use best potential of both physical and mental competencies is very important. Thats why defining criteria of rewarding them have a significant importance for the mutual  benefits  of  both  employees  and  organization.  Rewards  have  greater  importance  and effectiveness in Pakistani cultures, because people have more demand of them. What do you think is the most important emerging issue in the design of work? Diversity and limitlessness are the factors that stand out in the case study about the Coca-Cola Company.    With Coca-Cola being a worldwide company that offers such an array of products, they must hire flexible and diverse employees to support the needs of the still-growing company.    The employees reviews reaffirmed that by hiring a diverse group of employees and task them with different challenges in different countries; their choice to staff the company in this way has been successful.    By working with other unique individuals, they are enlightened by new methods of thinking and working.   The work specialization of Coca-Cola Company is high, as each Manager is made responsible for only a particular function, which is his expertise. There is no boredom or monotony as each salesman is meeting the different sort of person and the work is challenging and promotions are based on performance there is no monotony and boredom. Real Life Example The Coca-Cola Company rewards programs are regularly benchmarked against a select peer group of the major competitors and key players in the local market. The rewards management teams are based on the rewards programs that set by the company to give rewards. There are many ways to rewards the employees and one of the rewards ways that the company rewards the employees is based on the performance-based rewards. First the Coca Colas management team prefers grade for defining pay. Before there prepare the performance reward level there will do the research by conducting survey for the top five companies. There will conduct minimum three year rewards ranges of those top five companies and take average of them. Then there will decide their performance rewards system according to their management grades. The each year inflation rate has to be included no matter the employees individual performance increase or not. The Coca Cola human resource management also looking forward to performance ratings has mentioned. It will help the team to define a system in an organization systematic from to remove biases and ambiguity. Besides that the examples of the company use the competency-based rewards. The Coca Cola Company is a beverage industry which is focus more on the product with high quality, sell more and also get more customer satisfaction. So the management team creates more opportunities for the sales people to sell more and get more. By generating high work performance and make more profits, the company are able to utilize full potential of sales people. Because of that rewards system, the sales people have more opportunities to get rewards of both intrinsic and extrinsic ones. The table below is the example of the competency based rewards. Ares under consideration Sales% H.R% Account% Analysis Performance to organization goals 60-70 65-75 50-60 Average Performance of workers A achieve 40-55 50-60 40-50 Unsatisfied Performance of workers B achieve 75-85 60-70 60-70 Good Acceptance Thus, the Coca Cola Company also have use the job status based rewards. There are many country Coca Cola Company is providing such rewards likes Great Britain, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Belgium. Those countrys company are depending on the job and grade the employees could be offered a company car, mobile phone, laptop, private health insurance, financial planning or free internet at home. Besides those countries, Norway and Sweden are offering the company car with free fuel. Furthermore, different job status of employees can choose different type of rewards, perks or benefits. Beside the reward, The Coca Cola Company also has a different way of conducting business than most companies. There has used the job design for the work or job management. There start with looking for secret ingredients that potential employees may have that will help grow the recipe for success for the individual and the company. At the each level and location, The Coca Cola Company will use the best combination of diverse individuals to fill the different positions in a way that benefits the team at the location. The main objective there focus which is on diversity of their employees as well as their products and markets can continues being successful. By using the diversity, it has great success as one of the main criteria for employee searches. Besides that, there also dont limit their employees position in the company in order to allow them to grow within the organization as well as personally, which allows them to take the job as far as they want it to go. The Coca Cola Company also will think about or consider the idea and suggestions from all level, again can using their diversity to improve the company and also the individual. The mutual respect and appreciation within the workplace nurtures the individuals so that there grow within the company and that in turn reduces turnover, boosted employee morale, productivity, teams work and company loyalty. Lastly, because of that, the Coca Cola Company is still growing more every year. Disadvantages of Coca-Cola Company rewards system We all know the concept of nothing is perfect and same goes to Coca-Cola Company. It sounds so sweet on what rewards Coca-Cola Company has given to the employees, but there is a lot of weaknesses hidden and left unseen. First and for most, Coca-Cola Company rewards the employees based on their performance. However, using the performance based reward may only reward those who apparently contributed to company and neglected the others employees that contributed silently. This may pop-up the feeling of jealousy among the employees. The discrimination or dissatisfaction among employees may affects their morale and companys reputation. Besides, performance based reward system may bring out the problem that the employees will have focusing on individual rewards and abandoned the teamwork. Competition can be good but if its too aggressive it can be detrimental. The employees may lose sight of their customers needs and allow service or satisfaction to suffer in lieu of achieving good performance. Unity is strength, there are works that couldnt be done individually. Therefore, performance based reward should paying attention on team reward but not individual reward. Due to the reason of humans judgment might be bias, a system is necessary to evaluate the employees job performance. The KPI is one of the system generally used by the company. However, there are some disadvantages when measure the employees performance based on KPI. KPI couldnt measure long term performance of the employees. As if the appraisal is only measure the recent performance, hence it is not conducted fairly. It may cause animosity in the office. In addition, KPI only focus on the outcome and it lose the creativity from the employees. This may discourage employees from experimenting with innovative solutions that might produce a better result. Moreover, the employees loyalty couldnt be measured. Employees loyalty represented how much can he scarified for the company which is also a main point to lead company to success. Aside from that, the annual or monthly incentives given by the company shouldnt be equal to everyone, because it might demotivated the employees from working hard. They might have a thought that nor matter they did anything right or wrong they will still rewarded the same by the company. Giving different base rewards may motivate the employees from working harder. Coca-Cola Company rewarding their customers based on monthly too. A company giving rewards too often might leads to huge expectation of employees. The employees may expect to receive same value of rewards in future, then any potential motivation of reward will be lost. The gift will act as a regular compensation but not an additional bonus for motivation. When a bigger pay-out doesnt happen, employees can become disgruntled, which can hinder work performance or, in a worst-case scenario, leave the company. Therefore, there must be a good balance of incentives for these admin/support staff or else they will not feel appreciated. Last but not least, Coca-Cola Company should have paying greater reward to those who hardworking and overtime always. Some of the employees are dissatisfied on the pay of overtime since the half hour of working is not counted. It shows that Coca-Cola Company is not treating fair to their employees. While talking about job specialization, one of the key disadvantages of specialization is that jobs often become monotonous. Employees do not like to focus on one specific job because it may increase employees boredom and they will become tedious, empty and unsatisfying. With specialization, people rarely meet the final product and  are merely selling their labor for a price as if it were a commodity. Their job satisfaction decreases and the quality of job performance will fall. At the same time, it may cause unemployment. This happen when there is no similar job offered if you are fired. Also it limit the freedom of the choice of work. Lesser flexibility; in the absence of a worker, it is hard to shift workload to any of the available workers because they do not have variety of skills. Greater chances of workers getting local muscular fatigue because the same muscles are used in doing the task. As job rotation promote employees to perform different task, if they discover it as a weakness, the task would not be performed well as those is specialize is stronger at it. Another disadvantage is that staff could be rotated away from a task that they enjoy, or perform very well to a high standard which could lead to other staff members not performing the same tasks as well. Furthermore, a huge amount of money is needed to train the employees, to make sure the employees able to handle the task given through job rotation strategy. When the employees are moving around into multiple positions, you must invest time and money into training the workers in all those positions. Not only cost, but also the time of the managers  and others who must train the employees in each area. Recommendation For the performance-based reward use by the Coca-Cola company, our team share the same thoughts that performance-based reward does not fully motivate employees to enhance their best performance practices, which doesnt flexible enough to cover all kind of peoples motivation. Peoples have different values, beliefs or motivation. Some doesnt seek for monetary rewards only, but they also looking for higher job satisfaction, the relationship with the people together and participation in value creation. Besides that, different cultures can influence the meaning and value of money. After go through the disadvantages of current reward system, we suggest Coca-Cola to evaluate their own reward system effectiveness rather than giving more reward to ensure performance and rewards can reach the balance level. First of all Coca-Cola company must ensure their rewards given are valued by the employees. Delivered rewards have to drive the specific employee behaviors to achieve business strategies. Every rewards given will be appreciate by employees and push themselves to achieve higher productivity and performance. Make sure the company and staffs alike understand the value of each reward to ensure transparency. Therefore it is better to have combination of reward system to provide the workforce from different races and cultures can gain their values. Secondly, Coca-Cola must ensure rewards are relevant to attract and retain the staff who can contribute well to the company either way in intrinsic rewards or extrinsic rewards. Last but not least, watch out for unintended consequences too. Some employees may take rewards for granted and company have to make confirmation on rewards given must be make good use by them. For multinational company like Coca-Cola, although they had decentralized the management decision making, job analysis and designing follows the same international structure. Although some deviations may be found on some regions, the company adapts a similar job description and analysis structure. Therefore, Coca-Cola should encourage employees to have self-leadership to perform better in every task. It helps to apply self-motivation and self-direction to accomplish task and cope with company business strategies. The elements of self-leadership included with setting personal direction, construct thoughts pattern, design natural rewards, self-monitoring and self-reinforcement. It trains employee to have higher levels of conscientiousness and extroversion, and positive self-evaluation too. In organizational factor, it turns to more job autonomy, employees tend to have participative leadership and able to build measurement-oriented culture. When employees capable of doing their jobs wel l, organization will require less man power and save more cost on human resources. Well-trained employees will be more productive when theyre more directly involved in decision making process, rather than closely supervised by many layers of management. Empowerment also recommended in Coca-Cola. Empowerment is based on the idea that giving employees  skills,  resources,  authority,  opportunity,  motivation, as well  holding  them responsible and  accountable  for outcomes of their  actions that will  contribute  to their  competence  and  satisfaction. When employees believe they have the authority to make decision, it can improve task significance and task identity. They feel that they have more freedom and discretion and their action influence the companys success. They dont have much excuse to escape from their responsibilities. They know more options, limits, or have experience that helps them make good decisions for the company and the customer.  Ã‚  They have been trained.  Ã‚  That same training can easily be delivered to the frontline employees so they can make better decisions, quickly, and accurately. In a nut shell, if Cola-cola wants to be more competitive in the market, they need to keep up with the changes in management. They need to concern about the organization directions and business strategies. Employees run the company and Coca-Cola must know how to reward his employees and restructure their organization structure whenever the time has come.

Friday, September 20, 2019

How have Cell Phones Changed Us Socially?

How have Cell Phones Changed Us Socially? Cell phones: How have they changed us socially? Cell Phone is a device through which people can call anyone and they can receive anyone’s call through a geographical area. It can also perform various functions such as Internet browsing, playing music and many more. Can anyone believe right now that there was a time when cell phones didn’t exist? Cell Phones have changed their identity from luxury good to a necessity. This study hence examined how usage of cell phones has impacted people’s life thereby changing their attitude and their behavior. Technology over the past few years has boomed a lot. People nowadays are very much addicted to their mobile phones and that’s affecting their relationship with their friends, family and their closed ones. Remembering that people used letters to get messages back and forth from one person to another. Thereby we added cell phones to our society knowingly or unknowingly. In the beginning telephones were just a mean to contact people whether they were at home when we called or not. Then was the evolution of cell phones. With them we can make and receive calls or send and receive messages in almost any part of the world. Usage of cell phones has subsequently increased in the past decade as it’s lot convenient to message anyone through cellphones rather than sending that person a handwritten note which takes time as well. Year into year cellphones are getting a lot of innovation from one level to the other. Manufacturers keeps on making cell phones that are way better than the old ones. High level of competition even gave a boom and high amount of innovation to this industry. Each And Everyone Is Connected: Around two decades ago if you didn’t answer anyone’s phone call then the most likely reason is that you were not at home but now if you don’t pick up anyone’s phone call then you must be ignoring that person or screening your phone calls or there may be number of other reasons. Cell phones have obviously changed us socially as it’s very easy to connect with anyone we want and that too instantly. Innovations keep on happening in the world in which we live. But it’s upon us how we treat those innovations, positively or negatively. However most of them are double edged and bring with them positives as well as negatives. Cell phones are no different in this case as it brings both the cases alongside. There are many benefits, which emerged with the existence of cell phones, which made life easier and better for the humans. Some of these include increase in knowledge with the help of mobile Internet, better communication with the help of its mobility. There are various negative impacts of cell phones that include death due to talking on cell phones while driving and addiction towards it. Positive Changes in the Society due to Cell Phones: One of the most innovative items of the previous century was telephone and it revolutionized the meaning of the word communication. Earlier than that people used to trust on cumbersome processes to transmit data and information, which was very slow, and it was ineffective as well. If one wanted to send messages urgently it was not possible and other consequences, which gave a boost for inventing something, which was reliable, fast and effective. Therefore it gave a rise for the invention of Telephone. With the invention of telephone people can communicate with each other irrespective of the distance. Telephones exist as they are globally accepted as a mode of communication and because of its uniformity as well. Addition to this, telephones opened up the room for further innovations as well. With Cellphones came the most important invention of modern era, which was Internet. The Internet is a great tool as it allows anyone to find information on any of the imaginable topic in seconds. The Internet allows us to purchase or sell any product anywhere across the globe. It has really changed us socially as nowadays we shop through Internet rather than going to any mall and purchasing the products because we find that to be convenient as well. E-Banking and money transfer could be done with the help of cell phones. As we know, it used to take time and money during the period of traditional mail, which is not the case now as it has been replaced by e-mail. Internet helps us to communicate orally and can make video calls as well, which are cheaper than telephone calls. People can transact business anywhere in the world with the help of cell phones. Students can study for their exams even when they don’t have books with the help of e-books available and by other means as w ell. People can conveniently send their money even when they cannot go to banks and cannot use computers; it is possible with the help of cell phones. It allowed many innovations and it even changed the way people interact in schooling, business and when they communicate personally. We need to deeply examine the advantages we receive from cell phones, which makes our life better. Social Networking is even possible with the help of cell phones; with the help of it people can interact with one another and can create new bonds. There are different kind of people in the world including shy, anti social and various others. Cell phones have many features, which allow shy people to interact with someone on Internet without hesitation and increase their confidence. This way boosts their confidence up and then they can interact with the people outside and meet new people. Moreover no person should feel himself as he is out of the community, social networks with the help of cell phone clears it off. Everyone has the right to talk through any means and they can feel like they are a part of the community. This increases the amount of happiness amongst the people and depressing thoughts about suicides and various negative thoughts stay far away. Some people would suggest that increasing amount of technology might reduce the personal interactions but the case is quite diff erent as people can meet new people with the help of cell phones and it makes social relations stronger. Portability of cell phones even added to the cause, as two people can talk anywhere through the device no matter what the location is. Security could even be enhanced with the help of cell phones since it is not easy to cut down the communication, which is the case with landlines. Parents could communicate with their children under any situations whether there’s an emergency or the other, with the help of it they can get a swift response and escalation of the situation could be prevented. When the Burglars attack the houses can raise the alarm but since they couldn’t control the mobile networks cellphones could come handy during that time. Due to easy acquisition and no maintenance almost each and every house has a cell phone through which they can call ambulance under health crisis and lives can be saved. Adding to this, fire cases could be prevented with calling fire fighters thereby saving the lives and someone’s property. Once computers were used for doing research and other work but now they are used for playing games, Facebook, twitter, online shopping and various other things. Virtually one can do whatever he wants to or buy anything that he wants to with the help of computer. Cell Phones have now became computers on the tips of your hands. One can use many applications through their cell phones, which are very useful for each and every individual. Nowadays one can watch live cricket matches on their cell phones so people don’t tend to watch sitting in a group which really hampers the social relations. Instead of meeting one another nowadays people video chat amongst them through various applications termed Skype, Face Time and various other applications. Applications like Whatsapp, Snapchat, Viber and many more applications has been very helpful to the people who use these through their cell phones and it makes the social relations between people more strong. Negative effects of Cell phone usage: Here are some of the tweets: @Mackin__Hangin: But im out tho somebody snitched at work so now we cant have cell phones on the sales floor smh. @AnotherHollyDay: The awesome power if cell phones: when you need toilet paper so you text someone to bring you a roll. #whycellphoneswereinvented @DangerrrNick: Cell phones let me be in peoples pockets at all times. @sophianguyen_: Yesyes cell phones in class :) All the above tweets suggests that nowadays people rely too much and too heavily on their cell phones. As we see the first and the last tweet are the ones, which are really sad. First off the employees should not be on their cell phones while they are working, as it’s a sign of disrespect towards the customers. It is the case for the last tweet; Students should not be using their cell phones anyways or getting happy about it. Secondly, there is less verbal communication between friends. E.g.: The person cannot yell at his friend who is near him rather he’ll text him for the toilet paper, #whycellphoneswereinvented was not the reason why cell phones were invented but it was for useful reasons. Even the third tweet is pretty much sad, for the beginning there shouldn’t be a thought process and thereafter cell phones shouldn’t be in one’s pocket all the time. Desperation at its heights: How do these things work srsly. #smart #gloves #phone #finger #touch #fashion #knit #hand #simple friction I know but what from?! The above photograph depicts those hand gloves that were specially designed to use cell phones during cold. These gloves were specifically designed to use the touchscreen through the tips with the help of some magical frictional technology. It more apparent that people are dependent on their phones to that point where they cannot choose between having frozen fingers or texting their friends about how cold it is today. It is quite evident that society feels to be connected at all the times and they can go to a far extent for it as well. Desperation is at its finest point. The above photograph proves that how cell phone gives us new ideas to create that kind of technology through which we are always connected. The above-mentioned source helps to specify my topic as it shows the eagerness of the people to use cell phones by any means of technology even when it’s cold. This source is interesting because it proves that people do not even know about the technology they use it because it works. This research is obviously related to those people who live in cold regions. Forbes: The Forbes article gives us very shocking data that says worldwide 3 billion people have mobile service. Just in the U.S around 84% of people have a mobile service. In 2012 around 51% of people said it would be very difficult to give up their cell phones. But in 2002 only 38% of people said it would be difficult. This source takes me to a direction that says maybe cell phones are much of a good thing. However, some businessmen such as Mehtani says, His Phone has not made him happier but has improved his business. This source is connected to those people with mobile phones who spend much of their time, even businessmen that smart phones have really helped too. Psychology Today: This Psychology today article is a study at Baylor and Seton Hall Universities, researchers studied cell phone and text messaging among college aged women and men. College students are the maximum users and most addicted. On an average they send and receive about 109 text messages per day. Ironically there are heavy numbers of chances for social isolation when most of your social life is connected through a cell phone. This information from Psychology today is very sad. However, with this source it helps to take me into a direction where I can really focus on the negatives with cell phone use. Other Bad Sides: Cell phones are also used for kidnapping and blackmailing, capturing blue films or explicit content. There are times when children most importantly youngsters ignore food, parents, relations while texting or sending a message which drastically affects their personal life. On the other hand there are many health issues, which affects the children and they become the direct target. Cell Phones popularity, demand and less security has made them best target for the attackers. Cell phones and Tablets gives users access to e-mail’s, the Internet, GPS Navigation and many more applications but cell phone security has not been up to the mark as it was in computers. High security measures such as Firewall, antivirus and encryption are not present in cell phones and OS of mobile are not as frequently updated as that of computers. Socially as well hackers hack the account thereby sending unwanted messages through our account and then reputation getting spoilt. Most people nowadays cannot function without having their cell phone with them. If a person leaves or forgets his cell phone at home they usually feel â€Å"naked† without it. A cell phone does not only take over learning environments and social events but they are also accused of brain cancer. Cell Phones have gone from just being a means to talk, incase of emergencies or questions to causing fatal car accidents due to people sending a text message with the content ‘LOL’. In todays society with texting and cell phone games, people rarely every spend quality family time anymore, and many accidents and problems are caused because of Cell Phones. If one is more engaged in his cell phone most of the time then sooner or later he will become less socially active and start losing on his relations. Recent advancements in communication technology have enabled billions of people to connect over great distances using mobile phones, yet little is known about how the frequent presence of these devices in social settings influences face-to-face interactions. Studies show that homework is interrupted and children become distracted when they receive notifications of a new chat messages, texts, or emails. Studies have shown that it makes it tough for students who rely so deeply on knowledge to truly converse to adults in person because they don’t quite develop all of the vital skills to grasp or even onset a face-to-face conversation. Though, these skills are a critical instrument in the workforce. If you desire a elevated paying, stable job, or perhaps even to be confessed to a university, you have to have good face-to-face contact skills. If you lack these specific skills you most probable won’t even make it across the interview. Research from www.accuconference.com states that in 2012: †¢53% of adults owns a smartphone. †¢42% of people has utilized their phone for entertainment after they are bored. †¢51% of users utilized their cell phone at least after to receive information. †¢27% said they had concern acting something because they did not have their phone. †¢29% turns off their phones to seize a break from their digital existence at night. Conclusion: We have come to a society that is completely reliant on our knowledge to converse alongside others. It’s nearly impossible for us to uphold our communal existence lacking employing a little sort of modern-day knowledge to communicate. This article is not to say that mobile phones ought to be barred due to their countless negative aspects. It depends on us whether we use this knowledge for our progress and prosperity or for our destruction. No mistrust, mobile phone is the best change of this period but people ought to use it in a positive sense.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Baroque music Essay examples -- essays research papers fc

The Music of the Baroque Era The style of polyphonic music containing elaborate ornamentation and contrasting elements, that is how Baroque music is defined. The Baroque era was a kind of transitional era in art and music. The Renaissance means rebirth and is typically regarded as such. The Baroque era in music is not a set style in music but many diverse styles which may be broken down into at least three distinct periods. A renewed interest in art and music was experienced throughout the Renaissance which then led to the Baroque era which was more of a transitional stage leading up to the maturity of classical music in the Classical era which began as Baroque ended. (Howard n. pag.) The origins of the word Baroque itself is as obscure as the melodies contained in its music. Many people believe that the word baroque came from two different places. Some believe that it came from the word barocco, which is Italian and means bizarre or strange. Others believe that it is Portuguese and it came from the word barroco meaning distorted or irregularly shaped pearl. The barroco was considered more beautiful because of its uniqueness. Either way the name stuck. The era began in 1600 and ended with Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) death in 1750. Bach is likely the best known and most widely appreciated composer of the era, although Antonio Vivaldi and George Fridiric Handel were certainly very important composers of the time as well. The music of the Baroque itself is very colorfu...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

An Inspirationally Destructive Red Pen Essay -- Essays Papers

An Inspirationally Destructive Red Pen When children first start school they begin a new extensive journey, first meeting all new people and then having to learn a broad array of new things. One of those new things is how to read and also write. Teachers start out slow by having students write in big capital letters on funny looking red and green striped paper, next moving on to cursive letters with still that same silly paper. After a short while the students are on their own, writing notes for classes, notes to friends and family, along with research papers and stories for their teachers in school. And that is where my story begins, room 216 on the second floor of Pottsville Area High School. School had just started; it was the fall of my sophomore year. I was excited about having new teachers and being able to boss around those little freshmen since I had finally lost that ridiculous title of â€Å"freshy.† Although one class did turn all that excitement right into knots in my stomach, it was English 10. Ugh I hated English, partially because I could never remember all those rules of writing, which I had just thought of as â€Å"dumb.† I figured, â€Å"Why would I ever need to know all them? Computers will be able to fix all my mistakes for me!† As I would soon find out, boy was I ever wrong. Surprisingly, class was going good; our teacher Mr. Mieckowski seemed to be a little weird and quite boring at times but all in all not too bad I mean who isn’t boring occasionally? He had a shiny head with very little hair and never wore long sleeves to class. He was also quite tall and skinny, so everyone had his or her own conclusion about Mr. Mie ckowski’s personal life. A lot of the time this ended up being the topic of conversation for his students, along with his hatred towards icicle lights, white reindeer, and especially technology; the thing I loved most. We spent most of the first month in Mr. M.’s class just going over â€Å"the infamous page one† as he liked to call it and just reading some great pieces of literature, including Of Mice and Men and Julius Caesar. Then one winter day, we all came into his cool green room and sat down, chatting with our neighbors as usual until the bell rang to signify the start of class. When the bell rang, our teacher began talking about our upcoming assignments; he told us we would be writing 3 essays during the next ... .... My faced turned pale, I knew for sure I was one of those exceptions. He began to discretely pass our papers back to us. Everyone was getting his or her papers except me. Sure enough I was on the bottom of the pile. I didn’t even want to look at it. While everyone was asking their friends how they had done, I just sat there. Griff then asked me how I did and I replied, â€Å"I dunno, you tell me† and handed him my paper. He looked at it and said, â€Å"Damn you beat me† I was shocked I looked at it; I had received a 97%. I just felt as though I wanted to jump out of my seat and scream. I would have had a 100 except for a few spelling errors, probably due to how fast I had written the final copy. Disregarding those lost 3 points, I was ecstatic. My paper was a work of art to me I wanted to frame it and hang it on my wall at that point. As time went on that excitement wore off and I realized it just wasn’t a paper I had written, it was a story along wit h an instructional guide I had written in my mind on how to write a paper. From that point on I knew I could tackle any paper those teachers could throw at me and it was all thanks to Mr. Mieckowski and his inspirationally destructive red pen. An Inspirationally Destructive Red Pen Essay -- Essays Papers An Inspirationally Destructive Red Pen When children first start school they begin a new extensive journey, first meeting all new people and then having to learn a broad array of new things. One of those new things is how to read and also write. Teachers start out slow by having students write in big capital letters on funny looking red and green striped paper, next moving on to cursive letters with still that same silly paper. After a short while the students are on their own, writing notes for classes, notes to friends and family, along with research papers and stories for their teachers in school. And that is where my story begins, room 216 on the second floor of Pottsville Area High School. School had just started; it was the fall of my sophomore year. I was excited about having new teachers and being able to boss around those little freshmen since I had finally lost that ridiculous title of â€Å"freshy.† Although one class did turn all that excitement right into knots in my stomach, it was English 10. Ugh I hated English, partially because I could never remember all those rules of writing, which I had just thought of as â€Å"dumb.† I figured, â€Å"Why would I ever need to know all them? Computers will be able to fix all my mistakes for me!† As I would soon find out, boy was I ever wrong. Surprisingly, class was going good; our teacher Mr. Mieckowski seemed to be a little weird and quite boring at times but all in all not too bad I mean who isn’t boring occasionally? He had a shiny head with very little hair and never wore long sleeves to class. He was also quite tall and skinny, so everyone had his or her own conclusion about Mr. Mie ckowski’s personal life. A lot of the time this ended up being the topic of conversation for his students, along with his hatred towards icicle lights, white reindeer, and especially technology; the thing I loved most. We spent most of the first month in Mr. M.’s class just going over â€Å"the infamous page one† as he liked to call it and just reading some great pieces of literature, including Of Mice and Men and Julius Caesar. Then one winter day, we all came into his cool green room and sat down, chatting with our neighbors as usual until the bell rang to signify the start of class. When the bell rang, our teacher began talking about our upcoming assignments; he told us we would be writing 3 essays during the next ... .... My faced turned pale, I knew for sure I was one of those exceptions. He began to discretely pass our papers back to us. Everyone was getting his or her papers except me. Sure enough I was on the bottom of the pile. I didn’t even want to look at it. While everyone was asking their friends how they had done, I just sat there. Griff then asked me how I did and I replied, â€Å"I dunno, you tell me† and handed him my paper. He looked at it and said, â€Å"Damn you beat me† I was shocked I looked at it; I had received a 97%. I just felt as though I wanted to jump out of my seat and scream. I would have had a 100 except for a few spelling errors, probably due to how fast I had written the final copy. Disregarding those lost 3 points, I was ecstatic. My paper was a work of art to me I wanted to frame it and hang it on my wall at that point. As time went on that excitement wore off and I realized it just wasn’t a paper I had written, it was a story along wit h an instructional guide I had written in my mind on how to write a paper. From that point on I knew I could tackle any paper those teachers could throw at me and it was all thanks to Mr. Mieckowski and his inspirationally destructive red pen.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Persuasive Study: Why We Vote Essay

America has been the land of the free and the home of the brave since 1776. America has been free from the monarchy of Great Britain. Over 200 years later, American citizens still fight for freedom and to uphold a strong democracy. Voting is important in America because the opinions and the results of voters reflect America’s morals and ethic, and the right to vote is a privilege. Also, every vote counts. Because America has the opportunity to vote, the overall view of America is not formed of what she truly is, but what the citizens are. What a person’s character is consists of what their values and beliefs are. When voting is accessible, those who do vote, vote for what represents them most accurately. If the voters don’t vote, the only representation of this country is of those who did vote. America is one of the only countries that have the freedom to vote with a democracy government in the world. Many countries do not have an option of whether or not they wish to vote. Monarchies or dictatorships, for example, have one ruler that enforces and makes all the laws and rules of that specific country; the citizens do not have a say about what they think is wrong or right. Because America has the opportunity to vote, the privilege should be expressed as much as possible. With the dilemma of not all citizens voting, the democracy can be far from a success. Those citizens that do vote present strong patriotism. Although patriotism is a praised emotion, not all patriotic people have the same ideas for this country. For example, a recent controversy is the problems with abortion. If majority of citizens that vote are not against abortion but a few others are against voting, they will lose all possibilities of opposing abortion simply because they gave up. Ever since 1776, America has been a democracy and a free country. Having a government that is a democracy, the right to vote accompanies it. Voting is crucial to the system of democracy for various reasons: the laws and representatives exemplify not only the government but the whole country, voting can be taken for granted and should be appreciated more, and if a citizen does not vote, they have no say in what happens in this country.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Customer Perception Essay

ABSTRACT Recent advancements in technology have facilitated commerce around the globe. The online medium of commerce has provided and will continue to provide great opportunities for consumers and businesses. However, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed before the advantages of online shopping can be fully realized. One significant aspect is consumer perception of online shopping. The purpose of this paper is to examine the online shopping perception of consumers who shop from traditional stores. A survey was conducted in shopping malls in the southeastern region of the United States. The results show a positive perception of offline consumers toward online shopping. In addition, the results coincide with national trends for online shopping which show many traditional shoppers gather information on products and services online, but still make the purchase onsite in a traditional setting by visiting a store. Keywords: Perception of shopping, Offline shopping consumers, Online increasing numbers of customers. Many traditional businesses are reacting by going online to remain competitive (Schoenbachler and Gordon 2002). Advancements in technology enable apparel stores, for instance, to improve their online services by using personalized virtual models allowing consumers to visualize the product on the model to determine correct sizing and fit (Kim and Kim 2004; for a trend forecast of the online apparel industry, see: Newbery 2004). In general, online businesses such as Dell are able to mass customize because of current technology and offer customers basically a build-to-order service. Retail based e-commerce sites also try to serve customers by providing a personal shopper. As the shopper searches for an item of interest online, similar or complementing products are suggested. This personal one-on-one customized assistance might require more knowledgeable staff in a traditional store and might require an increase in the costs of products to compensate for the increased staffing costs. The internet has influenced the life of everyone in the recent years and has impacted behavior of consumers (Garrett and Parrott 2005). In general, three types of consumers in regard to their shopping habits can be classified (Lepkowska-White 2004): Online shoppers, i.e. those who purchase regularly online Online browsers, who mainly use the internet as a source of information but prefer to conduct their transactions in traditional stores Hard core offline shoppers, comprised of the continuously diminishing group of individuals, who do not use the resources of the internet either for information gathering or for shopping purposes These different groups show different characteristics and will need to be addressed differently to optimize or initiate online shopping behavior. This study focuses on the traditional consumers who prefer shopping onsite. It is important to know their perception toward online shopping and their classifications of online browsers or hard core offline shoppers. In addition, the factors preventing them from shopping online are important to understand. INTRODUCTION The rise in internet access and online commerce possibilities in recent years has made online shopping a major opportunity for businesses and has changed the way that consumers go about acquiring goods and services (Garrett and Parrott 2005; Schoenbachler and Gordon 2002). For consumers, online shopping provides more flexibility and opportunity (Stafford, Turan, and Raisinghani 2004). For example, consumers can shop with increased knowledge of products through online research and place less reliance on salespersons. If they wish to make a purchase, consumers are not restricted by time, distance, or location (Kim and Kim 2004; Schoenbachler and Gordon 2002). Furthermore, online stores do not incur costs such as store staffing, maintenance, and inventory and might be able to specialize in items and extreme sizes that would not be practical for traditional stores to carry. Amazon and eBay are examples of successful online retailers that use low-priced items and large stocks to attract and retain customers. Online commerce is expanding and is attracting Online Shopping Perceptions of Offline Shoppers The findings of this study should help motivating and encouraging more people to shop online. Reasons for not shopping online might include a lack of interest and knowledge about computers or the internet or going online for research purposes only. The foregoing discussion therefore suggests the following research questions (RQs): RQ1: Are offline shoppers computer and internet literate? RQ2: Do offline shoppers go online? RQ3: Do offline shoppers access the internet for purposes other than purchasing? RQ4: Are there certain distinguishing characteristics between online and traditional shoppers (defined as online browsers and offline shoppers) in regard to online shopping? In order to answer the above RQs the following two major hypotheses are tested. H01: Offline shoppers are computer and internet illiterate H02: Offline shoppers do not go online RELATED LITERATURE The number of internet users and online shoppers are increasing significantly every year. U.S. consumers are spending billions of dollars online each year (Preston-Hubbard, 2004). The internet retail sale is increasing rapidly to the extent that this increase is realized and measured by quarter and not year. (Tamini, Sebastianelli, and Rajan 2005). Currently, many Americans have internet access and the number of households to have access to internet will increase significantly in the years to come (Lepkowska-White 2004). An increasing percentage of those who are currently connected, shop online, i.e. use the internet to complete at least one purchase per month (Lepkowska-White 2004). Similar numbers are available for the European market, where, a significant number of internet users are shopping online (Monsuwe, Dellaert, and Ruyter 2004). For example, in Germany, retail sales of textiles, electronic products and durables via the internet has increased significantly in recent years (Reinhardt 2004). A significantly higher number of individuals, sometimes referred to as online browsers in the literature (e.g. Lepkowska-White 2004), avail themselves of the resources provided by the internet to check products or compare prices (Jaillet 2003). A study by Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests that most online browsers need about one to Volume X, No. 2, 2009 23 three years to become online shoppers (LepkowskaWhite 2004). Depending on how many of those individuals can be turned into online shoppers, predictions for online sales vary widely from $81 billion in 2005 (Bellman, Lohse, and Johnson 1999; Monsuwe, Dellaert, and Ruyter 2004) to as much as $269 billion in 2006 (Lepkowska-White 2004). Consequently, there is a huge market to be explored. However, businesses must be aware of perceptions and concerns regarding online shopping of traditional shoppers, and the online browsers. In order to capitalize on this potential in the best possible way, various models and frameworks for analysis have been presented in the recent literature on the topic (Chiang, Dholakia 2003; Zhou, Chiang, Zhang 2004). Monsuwe, Dellaert, and Ruyter (2004) have suggested a framework for consumers’ intentions to shop online which draws on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), popular in the field of Information Systems. According to this framework, utilitarian dimensions such as usefulness and ease of use of the site and hedonic dimensions such as enjoyment together with the consumer’s traits shape the consumer’s attitude towards online shopping. Situational factors trust in online shopping, product characteristics and previous online shopping experience affect the final decision to conclude the transaction online or not. Lepkowska-White (2004) divides variables for the analysis of online shopping behavior into supply and demand factors, with supply factors meaning web design and technical aspects and demand factors referring to consumer factors, such as social interaction, and product/service determinants, such as selection of products available online. Despite different naming conventions, the literature on the topic agrees that the 24/7 availability of products and information about products have changed the retail industry and consumer shopping. Most stores feel they cannot afford not to be online, even if for information purposes only (Schoenbachler and Gordon 2002). Generally, time and location constraints, convenience, availability of products, incentive programs and easy comparison of product information induce shoppers to shop online (Huang, Schrank, Dubinsky 2004; Kim and Kim 2004; Levin, Levin, and Heath 2003). Shoppers are looking for hassle free, accurate transactions, proper display of sufficient information and efficient download times for sites in their online experience (Tamini, Sebastianelli, and Rajan 2005). Regarding price, the literature cites both lower prices as incentives for shopping online (GfK 2004; Girard, Silverblatt, and Korgaonkar 2002; Kim and Kim 2004) as well as a lesser degree of price sensitivity of online shoppers Issues in Information Systems due to the added convenience. In addition, online browsers display a higher degree of price sensitivity compared to online shoppers but lesser degree of time sensitivity (Lepkowska-White 2004). The demographic information on online shoppers is inconsistent in the literature. For example, Kim & Kim (2004), report 43% of their respondents held graduate degrees while 12.41% of respondents in Tamini, Sebastianelli, and Rajan’s (2005) study held graduate degrees. It seems, however, that most online shoppers have a higher level of education and higher incomes, with the average household income of online shoppers expected to be $65,000 by 2006 (Kim and Kim 2004). While currently the majority of online shoppers is aged 44 or under (Kim & Kim 2004), shoppers aged 50 years and over are expected to become a more significant portion of the online shopping population, increasing to 30% by 2006 (Anonymous 2002). Regarding gender, research suggests that while men were early adopters of online shopping behavior, women have caught up and online shopping is starting to display the same gender proportion as offline shopping does (Kim and Kim 2004; Lepkowska-White 2004; Stafford, Turan and Raisinghani 2004; Tamini, Sebastianelli and Rajan 2005; Van Slyke, Comunale, and Belanger 2002). Previous positive experience with online shopping, trust in the company shopped from, and sufficient customer service enhance positive attitudes towards online shopping as well as conviction of one’s ability in one’s computer skills and access to computers and the internet (Levin, Levin, and Heath 2003). Generally, the greatest obstacles to getting individuals to shop online are hedonic dimensions of the shopping experience, security concerns and a lack of confidence in their computer skills (Swinyard and Smith 2003). The majority of those, who value the social components of the traditional shopping experience, such as interaction with sales people, window shopping, meeting up with peers and friends or the benefit of obtaining the product immediately, spend less time engaging in online shopping (Lepkowska-White 2004). Similarly, despite increased attempts at better security, credit card and personal information security are still a main concern for most shoppers: approximately 500 emails per day report online fraud to the Securities and Exchange Commission and average losses from online fraud have risen from $318 per person in 2000 to $638 in 2001 (Sager and Green 2002; Lepkowska-White 2004). Finally, individuals who do not complete transactions online indicated a lower level of confidence in their computer skills (LepkowskaWhite 2004). Volume X, No. 2, 2009 24 In order to retain current and attract new online customers, online stores should ensure sufficient product information, such as displaying price and the product details as well as a well operational, current, user friendly and easy to download web sites (Chiang and Dholakis 2003). Security and accurate and comprehensive cost information positively skew the customer perception of the online shopping experience as well as good customer service and hassle free return policies (Tamimi, Sebastianelli, and Rajan 2005). Providing free shipping might prove a powerful incentive to increase the number of persons who complete an online purchase: a 2002 study found that shipping costs were the deterrent for 53% of individuals in the US who decided against an online purchase in the last steps of the process (Kim and Kim 2004). METHODOLOGY A survey was randomly administered at shopping malls in the southeastern region of the United States. A survey instrument was developed to determine the perception of consumers who enjoy shopping from traditional stores about online shopping. The survey was not conducted online to better target the offline shoppers. 264 surveys were used for the purpose of data analysis. Fourteen surveys had to be discarded since they were incomplete or instructions had not been followed. The survey consisted of components such as demographics, computer and internet literacy, perception which included attitude and behavior. FINDINGS The largest group of respondents was aged 18-30 (35.7%), and the next largest group was individuals aged 61 and over (28.3%). Of the 264 respondents, 32.6% were male. The most common response, given by slightly less than 30% of the respondents, indicated they were shopping online one to five times per year which further confirms the respondents of this study to be primarily offline shoppers. Online shoppers are assumed to shop online more than once a month (Lepkowska-White 2004). The consumers of this study were overwhelmingly computer literate and had access to the internet (84.5%). However, they were shopping in shopping malls (RQ1). Therefore, H01 is rejected and there is evidence that the offline shoppers of this study are in fact computer and internet literate. Many of them indicated they were going online (RQ2) to collect information and do research on products to be better prepared shoppers before purchasing items in Issues in Information Systems Online Shopping Perceptions of Offline Shoppers traditional stores (72.4%) (RQ3). Only a small number of these consumers purchased the product online (1 to 5 times a year) after they found the searched product (32.3%) (RQ4). Therefore, H02 is also rejected and the contention offline shoppers of this study do in fact go online is supported. It is clear that the consumers of this study shop offline. However, a small number of them 32.3% while searching for information on different products online ended up purchasing the product online one to five times per year (29.7%). These individual cited the following reasons for completing the transaction online and purchasing the product they were researching for online: Familiarity with the online stores, No brick-and-mortar alternative (e-Bay, Amazon), Low-ticketed items. In addition, they considered ease of return the online-purchased item, and they thought the design of website was influential in their decision of finalizing the transaction and purchasing the product online. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS Online shopping has already influenced shopping patterns and is expected to influence even more in the future with improvements in technology. Online shopping has made shoppers more knowledgeable than ever before. Consumers are becoming more efficient by shopping online and more effective because of ease of information accessibility online. Many shoppers go online for research purpose rather than purchase purpose. Prices and features of products can easily be compared to make an informed purchase decision. Information on products can be obtained from anywhere at anytime. The purchase is then made online or from a more tradition store. Especially for more expensive purchases, shoppers tend to take advantage of the availability of information online, replacing traditional methods of going from store to store in order to compare prices and look for the best buy. Consumers in this study as expected were mainly offline shoppers who were browsing the internet for information. They were computer literate and had access to the internet. This study reveals a positive attitude toward online shopping by those consumers who still like traditional stores. The consumers of this study are mostly in low and high age groups. It is possible that these consumer groups place a stronger emphasis on the social aspects of offline shopping and have more time to spend in traditional stores and malls and value the offline shopping experience for social reasons, such as meeting with friends. These consumers are technology oriented and take advantage of technology and the inter net to educate themselves about products of interest and then purchase them from traditional stores. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE WORKS Online shopping is a relatively new experience and has greatly impacted the lives of consumers in its short time of existence (Garrett & Parrott 2005). It is expected to grow constantly in years to come with more advancement in technology. Online shopping has made consumers more effective and efficient in their shopping behavior and has driven businesses to a new level, forcing many to make the necessary adjustments and changes to reach the new market of knowledgeable consumers (Lepkowska-White 2004; Schaupp and BÃ ©langer 2005). Tomorrow’s consumers include today’s elementary and secondary school students who grow up using browsers and search tools in order to retrieve information from global resources. The offline shoppers of this study indicated a positive perception of online shopping. These offline shoppers collected the necessary information online to facilitate their offline shopping, and it seems they are not too far away from completing the transaction and making the purchase online. It is important for businesses to find the online analogy of factors that make customers buy in a brick-and-mortar setting (Lepkowska-White 2004). Future studies should look into the factors preventing the current offline shoppers and online browsers from completing the transaction online after they have gained more knowledge about the product of interest. Factors encouraging individuals to complete a transaction online should be investigated. Future studies should also focus on what needs to be done in order to make the idea of online shopping in general more appealing to offline shoppers to turn more offline shoppers into online shoppers. In addition, perception of online shoppers toward traditional stores and onsite shopping should be considered. A perception comparison of online and offline shoppers on the internet and online shopping in general would facilitate understanding of restraining and motivational factors in online shopping. This survey was conducted in one region and future works should focus on different regions and classifications of consumers based on demographic make up such as age, income, and occupation. 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