Guide to Leonardo and Art in The Da Vinci Code

Building Buzz to Beat the Big Boys by Steve OLeary and Kim Sheehan Book Report/Review

Essays on Building Buzz to Beat the Big Boys by Steve O'Leary and Kim Sheehan Book Report/Review The paper "Building Buzz to Beat the Big Boys by Steve O'Leary and Kim Sheehan" is a good example of a book review on marketing. The internet has brought about a redefinition of systems of business and how they interrelate and dialogue with consumers. This is mainly true for small businesses, which come across challenges marketing their goods and services and contending with large and often global competitors. O'Leary and Sheehan productively take on the challenge of addressing these important "how-to" issues for small businesses. They create a basic road map-customers-conversations-community-commitment-as the organizational structure for this useful work.The purpose is to help small businesses use customers to talk about their stores and services with others to help construct a growing community of clientele and increase sales. As a method, this is word-of-mouth on steroids. This well-ordered logical book sets forth this operating approach with sensible marketing proposals and ideas that make budget sense and can be quickly implemented and measured.A very good number of small, retail stores open every year, but approximately 80 percent of them close within five years. A lot is done in by the big box and Internet retailers who squash competition with low prices and convenience. However, smaller retail stores and service providers have distinctive competitive advantages: They are local. They can connect on a personal level with customers in a manner that the big guys can’t.Moreover, they can add gigantic value to the customer experience. To get the most out of on these advantages, marketing experts Steve O’Leary and Kim Sheehan offer dozens of low-priced Word of Mouth marketing techniques small businesses can use right away. If done well, these efforts will facilitate smaller merchants to do more than survive, they’ll prosper.For sovereign retailers to succeed, it is no longer enough to create a loyal customer foundation. Local store markete rs have to put their loyal customers to work, persuade them to talk about the store to their acquaintances, family members and others in their social networks. When they do, the outcome is Word of Mouth (or Buzz) marketing, an influential tool that creates an army of advocates who turn out to be even more loyal and help attract new customers (O'Leary Sheehan, 2008).Above and beyond learning how to leverage the power of word of mouth marketing, readers will become skilled at: How to understand their customers better, How to amplify customer loyalty to their store, How to communicate with customers to maintain loyalty, How to persuade loyal customers to talk to others about their goods, How to build a customer community, both in the store and online and definitely how to measure results.The book also comprises several examples from current businesses, as well as thought-provoking ideas and models to help readers come up with their own successful buzz marketing plans.

How Volvo Evolve in the Changing Market Free Essays

string(51) " in order to compete with Toyota for market share\." BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 1: PESTEL Answer: Political One of the macro-environment factors which influencing Volvo’s strategy is the large taxation toward automotive trade by the government. Government is putting in place taxation structures that penalize large cars, with large CO2 emission. According to the case, Volvo’s biggest seller was its XC range, now being particularly successful in America, where big cars typically equated to big success. We will write a custom essay sample on How Volvo Evolve in the Changing Market or any similar topic only for you Order Now This government acts is encouraging consumers to move to hybrid or fuel efficient cars from big cars because the selling price of big cars would be more expensive when governments impose larger taxation on large vehicles. Consequently, the demand for big cars would drop significantly as consumers would prefer smaller cars due to high price sensitivity level and benefits gained from the government on smaller cars (Yoon and Tran, 2011). Therefore, large taxation on large cars will affect the sales and revenues of Volvo who mostly sells big cars. Legal The enforcement of US government toward the safer initiatives for automobile industry has challenged most of the automobile manufacturer which included Volvo. Therefore recently, Volvo invested heavily in safety research and development; its Goteberg Safety centre is world-renowned. Hence, Rudall (2011) emphasizes that the cost per unit of car has increased as research and development require a lot of experiments and tests to assure the performance. Besides that, research and development in new products involves a risk of whether the consumers will like the new features that have been added to the new or existing product. The more Volvo invests in research and development, the less cash flow they have in hand, thereby affecting the smooth running of daily operations. Economic Oil is the major ingredient in the production of tires. According to Li and Zhao (2011), increase in oil prices means that the cost to make the tires also increases. These tire production affects the Volvo as the increase in the price in tire production affects their profit margin. Additionally, rising commodity prices also affects Volvo’s strategy as 1 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing he raw materials for automotive industry are basically rubber and steel. Since, the prices of these commodities have gone up; Volvo would have to spend more money to purchase the auto component to make the entire cars. The higher the price Volvo purchases these commodities, the higher the selling price that Volvo would have to charge their customers. If they were to transfer the cost to their customers, there is a possibility that customers would shift to Volvo’s competitors as customers are very price sensitive (Lee and Cheong, 2011). Hence, the sales and profits of Volvo will decline and they might lose market share. Moreover, with the rising price of oil in the American market, sales and revenues of Volvo has dropped dramatically because their main business comes from fuel grueling SUV’s. With the increasing fuel prices, the trend has shifted from bulky cars to smaller and fuel efficient cars, thus, Volvo will be faced with many competitors such as Toyota while dealing with satisfying their customer demand (Hilmola, 2011), and hence, it affects the profit margins of Volvo. Moreover, increased oil prices is affecting the type of vehicles demanded by the customer and the way those vehicles are designed. According to Xia and Tang (2011), since there is a big shift from SUVs to fuel efficient or hybrid cars due to the rise of fuel prices, the problem of manufacturing overcapacity has incurred, where supply is more than demand, thereby, sharply dropping the SUV price. Additionally, when Volvo lowers down the selling price of SUVs, the profit margins of each car will become smaller, as their selling price might just be sufficient to cover the total cost of the production. Besides, when supply is more than demand, they would need more space or bigger warehouse to store the cars, and hence, higher cost of storage would incurred. Consequently, it forces Volvo to change their strategy to produce fuel efficient cars instead of SUVs. Environmental Furthermore, the community realizes that the transportation sector is becoming increasingly linked to environmental problems. With a technology relying heavily on the combustion of hydrocarbons, notably with the internal combustion engine, the impacts of transportation over environmental systems has increased with motorization (Bernon, et al. 2011). According to case study, Volvo’s main strategy is to produce SUVs but the consumers are engaging with environmental concerns where they are 2 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing demanding from fuel-efficient cars that release less pollution and absorb lesser fuel. Hence, this forces Volvo to offer Flexi-Fuel (combination of Petrol and Ethanol) in certain geographic mark ets in order to catch up the latest trend. Due to this reason, Volvo has to spend vast amount of money to purchase new raw materials and develop the technology to produce fuel-efficient cars to meet the current demand. Under such conditions maintaining market share and customers is difficult as the selling price needs to be lower to beat the competition, thereby, forcing Volvo to absorb the production costs (Needles, et al. , 2010). Social On the other hand, the changing social culture is affecting Volvo’s strategy as well. There are declining birth rates in Europe, smaller families and more couples choosing to remain childless. This demographic change has influenced Volvo significantly as their main product, SUVs, as it is suited well for big-size families. However, due to the increase of nuclear families consumers are willing to purchase smaller cars because of their small family size and smaller cars consume less petrol, thus it saves cost (Gwartney, et al. , 2008). In addition, many cars on the road today are used by just single occupants, commuting to work. Hence, the socio-cultural changes affect Volvo business strategy as the demand for SUVs is declining but demand for smaller and fuel-efficient cars is increasing. Besides that, they have to invest a big amount of money to do research and development for fuel-efficient cars in order to compete with Toyota for market share. You read "How Volvo Evolve in the Changing Market" in category "Essay examples" Baumol and Blinder (2011) emphasizes that heavy RD will lead Volvo to incur higher cost of production and profit margin will decline as they cannot sell the cars at a high price since to their competitor (Toyota) is offering reasonable price for fuel-efficient cars. Technological Technological factor plays an important role in automotive industry because consumers always demand for better and higher quality technologies in their cars so that the technologies can help consumers to save petrol, bring greater convenience to them, and ensure their safety (Hage, 2011). Based on the case study, Volvo took the first step as the pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags. As the first mover, Volvo is able to 3 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing enjoy great profits before their competitors come out with the similar technologies but with lower prices or better quality (Aswathappa, 2005). Hence, Volvo would have to invest heavier in RD to develop innovative technologies that create the safest most exciting car experience to customers. Additionally, Volvo also needs to invest in RD for fuel-efficient cars as it is the current of the market. If Volvo fails to produce hybrid or fuel-efficient cars with a reasonable price, they will lose market share due to competitors are offering customers with the demanded products (fuel-efficient cars) (Schwartz, et al. , 2010). Heavy RD is required from Volvo and at the same time they cannot charge higher prices, and hence, the profit margin of Volvo will be smaller. 4 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 2: Five Forces framework Answer: Five Forces framework included the bargaining power of supplier and buyer, threat of substitute, threat of new entrants and power of rivalry. Any changes from any of the forces will bring huge impact to an industry. As the world is going to global, competition arise and it make the five forces framework even more competitive and it affect the global automobile market directly. Bargaining power of buyer Bargaining power of buyer are referring to the negotiation power or influencing power of the buyers toward the prices charge by a company (Jones and Hill, 2010), the buyer of the automobile company may refer to the end user of the automobile. As year by year, there are more and more new players joining the market of automobile. One of the reason contributes to high bargaining power of buyer is low switching (Jones and Hill, 2010). As times past, there are more and more players join to the automobile industry. For example, U. S’s automobile market shares which used to dominate by the Big Three (Ford Motor Company (Ford), General Motors Corporation (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DC)) had been taken over by foreign brands such as Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi in 2005 (Gopal, n. d. ). Hence, this provides larger range of choices for the consumers and this makes the buyers have high bargaining power toward the industry. Since there are more choices in the market, consumers’ dependency toward the particular brands will decrease, as the product does not fulfil the customers’ expectation, they might switch to another brand with low or even non switching cost. For example, as according to research, the sale of new car in U. S market has increase, as people are willing to pay for better quality cars (Gopal, n. d. ). The world now is moving to the environmental friendly site, thus, most of the automobile firms are facing challenge by switching their focus from big car, large engine to fuel-efficient engine. Beside, due to the availability of information, buyers nowadays are more educated and they are very concerning about the effect of the automobile to the environment and this has relatively increase their bargaining power as buyer. For example, there are more than 100 type of motor magazine in the market 5 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing which provides reliable and sufficient information for consumers (Gopal, n. d). Since the switching cost of the buyers is low due to the fierce competition, buyers’ brand loyalties have decrease. Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of supplier is referring to the negotiation power of the supplier for the business which may include supplier of human resource, supplier of raw material, and other outsourcing partners (Jones and Hill, 2010). For the auto component supply industry, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relatively low, as there are many available suppliers of raw materials in the market, the switching cost of the cars manufacturer to other suppliers are low or even none. For example, large automobile manufacturers such as GM, Ford and Toyota have strong bargaining power as they always purchase the raw material in large quantities (Jones and Hill, 2010). The sizes of auto components are typically small (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997), meanwhile the big players are able to use the threat of manufacturing a component themselves rather than buying it from auto component suppliers to played off suppliers against each other, forcing them to lower down the price and increase the quality (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997). Hence, we can say that the bargaining powers of auto component suppliers are relatively low. Unlike air line industry, which the air line are highly depend toward the suppliers, automobile manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda or Volvo, it has own research and development department (RD) which helps in exploring all the latest technology. It contributes in lowering down the dependency toward the suppliers as suppliers merely involve in supplying raw material instead of important technologies as like Boeing (air plane manufacturer) and other air line. Hence, in short, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relative low as the low dependency toward the suppliers and the threat of switching to other suppliers always work as a strong bargaining tool for the automobile manufacturers. Threat of Substitution This refers to the product of different businesses or industry that can satisfy similar customer needs (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, due to the increasing 6 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing number of public transport and other way of transportation, the demand toward automobile has gone down. For example, as according to research, nowadays people might choose to take public transport as their daily transport instead of own private car due to cost and environmental issues (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008). Beside as government is placing pressure toward the environmental issue, public transports are being well develop day by day (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008), and it actually decrease the dependency of owing a private car. In addition, as the social-culture has changed, people nowadays are reluctant to give birth and hence it decreases the willingness of consumer to own a car. As according to research, the birth rate of developed countries such as Japan, Korea and State are relatively low and it actually affected the several industries and this included automobile industry (Powell and Hendricks, 2009). In this case we can justify that only small part of the automobile industry are highly affected by the substitution, however, for those luxury brands such as Volvo, BMW or Audi, their target markets are hardly affect by the improvement toward the public transport (Svensson and Wagner, 2011). In short, the threat of substitution toward the automobile industry is not high as it merely affected those below middle-income. Threat of New entrant New entrant may refer to potential competitors that are not currently competing in an industry but have the capability to do so if they choose so (Jones and Hill, 2010). As refer back to the case, the automobile industry has facing increasing deregulation; this had broken down the entry barrier for new entrance. For example, Volvo needs to compete with not only the local market players but also the Asia market player such as Toyota since there entry barrier of foreign brands to the local market had been broken down. As more new entrance coming into the market, the switching cost of the consumer from one brand to another brand is even lower than before (Che and Seethu, 2008). Hence, there deregulation may affect partly of the industry but not whole. Firstly, setting up a new automobile manufacturing company requires huge capital injection which decreases the willingness of new player to enter the industry. This may due to the high risk of huge capital injection and hence potential companies dare not to grab the opportunity. Beside there are already few strong players in the automobile manufacturer industry such as GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda, which have 7 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing already gain certain economic of scale in term of buying large quantity of auto components (Xia and Tang, 2011), and this had build barrier of entry for potential players. In short, the threat of new entrant is low as it is high risk business. Rivalry among established companies It refers to the current struggle between companies in an industry to gain market share from each other (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, the rivalry is intensified due to the high exit cost and the industry demand. As mentioned earlier, the set up cost of an automobile manufacturer is relatively high and hence this has created exit barrier. Hence, even the business of an automobile manufacturer is bad; it will still lock into the industry where overall demand is static or declining (Jones and Hill, 2010). For example, GM, had struggled in the industry for more than 8 years due to declined sale, because of the high exit cost, it had been locked within the industry (Terlep, 2011). Besides, the declining demand from customers as mentioned earlier had contributed to intensify the rivalry as well. As consumers are reluctant to buy a new car due to environmental issue or declining birthrate, it actually forcing the automobile manufacturers to play off against each other for larger market shares (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008). Hence, we can conclude that the rivalry among the established companies of automobile industry is intensified due to the declining demand and high exit cost. 8 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 3: Answer: There are many different brands of vehicles. As to stand with one foot crossed in front of the other competitors, Volvo has adopted the focused differentiation strategy (Dinitzen, 2010). A focused differentiation strategy is aimed at a niche group of customers with unique tastes (Schermerhorn, 2010). The cars produced by Volvo are targeted at a niche market of safety conscious upscale families. These upscale buyers of Volvo are those who value Volvo’s reputation for durability, and are willing to pay high dollars for this Swedish brand of luxury. Volvo has differentiated their cars by adding additional features that are not available on other cars. Their cars are known as extremely safe cars for families due to the design, which its innovation in car safety enhancements, being pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags, as stated in the case. One primary means of differentiating Volvo’s cars is through its research and development department to produce cars model that exude quality, performance and safety which emphasize on creating luxury automotive brand for family sector. This can be seen from the case that the model of XC90 is well-designed with a large SUV and the price range from ? 33,000 to ? 54,000. However, Volvo continually develops and adds new features that increase values to customers. Some recent innovation of Volvo’s that differentiates their products is Volvo’s sporty hatchback S30 which the engine and brake system of the S30 is designed differently from any compact executive hatch class cars in existence and is destined to compete against high-end versions of VW’s Golf. This shows Volvo attempted to broaden their target market by attracting younger drivers to their car marque (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007) and Volvo sees their future as delivering safe, premium and exciting driving suitable for families. At the same time, Volvo has reached a level of maturity, by providing a better balance between sportiness and comfort, and also achieved high level of safety. Besides using focus differentiation strategy, Volvo should use differentiation strategy with a little of expansion strategy. A differentiation strategy depends on developing resources that set the company’s offer apart in a way that is meaningful and difficult 9 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing to duplicate (Lowy and Hood, 2004). This can be achieved through keeping ahead of competition, satisfying customer’s wants and also expectations better than business rivals (Moynihan and Titley, 2001). Volvo’s cars consist of those attractive features which meet customers’ exact demands in terms of passenger comfort, driving safety and total economy. This enables Volvo to sell their cars at a premium price and satisfy the unique needs or preferences of customers (Hills and Jones, 2007). Furthermore, people are becoming more conscious about what they are buying, and are more environmentally and safety conscious too in today’s trends (Aarts, 2010). This means that quality work is a crucial part of all areas in their global organisation from product development and design to purchasing, manufacturing, sales and service. Therefore, Volvo should expand their products and focus on product innovation that developing product features that customer value to prevent eroding the current market and increase overall sales and profits (Hunt, 2003). This is to ensure that in case the existing market for the type of product that Volvo offers is already saturated and there are convenient ties to other product types. This strategy helps reduce overall business risk by offering products in a variety of customer categories. With this, Volvo may build up a brand name that evokes the feeling of safety and luxury in an expanding market base. The uniqueness of Volvo may insulate the company from competitive rivalry and reduce customer sensitivity toward price increases. Consequently, these will increasingly affluent public and they will become more famous and trusting of automotive industry. 10 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Reference List Aarts, L. (2010) Feeding People. United Kingdom: Academy Press. Aswathappa, A. (2005) International Business. nd ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Baumol, W. J. and Blinder, A. S. (2011) Economics: Principles and Policy. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Bernon, M. , Rossi, S. and Cullen, J. (2011) ‘Retail reverse logistics: A call and grounding framework for research’, International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 484-510. Dinitzen, H. B. (2010) Organisational Theory: A Practical Approach. Denmark: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Eboli, L. and Mazzulla, G. (2008) ‘Willingness to pay of public transport users for improvement in service quality’, European Transport. Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 107-118. Gwartney, J. D. , Stroup, R. L. , Sobel, R. S. and MacPherson, D. (2008) Economics: Private and Public Choice. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Hage, J. (2011) Restoring the Innovation Edge: Driving the Evolution of Science and Technology. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hills, C. W. L. and Jones, G. R. (2007) Strategic management: an integrated approach. USA: Cengage Learning. Hilmola, O. P. (2011) ‘Benchmarking efficiency of public passenger transport in larger cities’, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 23-41. Hunt, B. 2003) The Timid Corporation: Why Business is Terrified of Taking Risk. England: John Wiley and Sons. Jones, G. and Hill, C. (2010) Theory of Strategic Management. 9th eds. South-Western Cengage Learning. Lee, K. H. and Cheong, I. M. (2011) ‘Measuring a carbon footprint and environmental practice: The case of Hyundai Motors Co. (HMC)’, Industrial Management Data Systems, Vol. 111, No. 6, pp. 961-978. Li, Z. and Zhao, H. (2011) ‘Not all demand oil shocks are alike: Disentangling demand oild shocks in the crude oil market’, Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies, Vol. , No. 1, pp. 28-44. Lowy, A. and Hood, P. (2004) The power of the 2Ãâ€"2 matrix: using 2Ãâ€"2 thinking to solve business problems and make better decisions. United States: John Wiley and Sons. 11 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Moynihan, D. and Titley, B. (2001) Advanced business. New York: Oxford University Press. Needles, B. E. , Powers, M. and Crosson, S. V. (2010) Financial and Managerial Accounting. 9th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Powell, J. and Hendricks, J. (2009) The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society: A Global Perspective. London: Springer. Rudall, B. H. (2011) ‘Research and development: Current impact and future potential’, Kybernetes, Vol. 40, No. 3/4, pp. 581-584. Schermerhorn, J. R. (2010) Management. United States: John Wiley and Sons. Schwartz, R. A. , Carew, M. G. and Maksimenko, T. (2010) Micro Markets: A Market Structure Approach to Microeconomic Analysis. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Svensson, G. and Wagner, B. (2011) ‘Transformative business sustainability: Multilayer model and network of e-footprint sources’, European Business Review, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 334-352. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2007) Smallest, cheapest Volvo targets younger customers. [Online]. Available from: http://www. smh. com. au/news/news/new-targetmarket-forvolvo/2007/03/20/1174153023503. html%20Achieved%2013%20July%202011 [Accessed 13th July 2011]. Xia, Y. and Tang, L. P. Thomas. (2011) ‘Sustainability in supply chain management: Suggestions for the auto industry’, Management Decision, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 4955 12. Yoon, K. and Tran, T. V. (2011) ‘Capturing consumer heterogeneity in loyalty evolution patterns’, Management Research Review, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 649-662. 12 How to cite How Volvo Evolve in the Changing Market, Essay examples

Contact and Consumer Law Insensitive External Market

Question: Describe about the Contact and Consumer Law for Insensitive External Market. Answer: Unconscionable conduct Meaning When a business conduct is too harsh or insensitive to external market forces in a manner that it goes against ethical code of conduct, then, that particular action of an organization is declared as unconscionable conduct. It is mandatory for the business enterprises to avoid such conduct so as to get exempted from any disciplinary actions underneath Australian Consumer Law. The concept is not defined in a specific manner since it is a result of amendments and up gradation of regulations regarding business conduct. When certain cases appeared in front of the court, new laws and jurisdictions have been passed to give effect to such issues. However, it has been referred to as a conduct which is oppressive to customers or competitors of an organization. It is also said to be unfair, but a business action to be declared as unconscionable, it should be more than unfair. As per the jurisdictions from Australian courts, those business operations which involve deliberate misconduct against c onscience are declared as unconscionable conducts (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2015). Media release: Lux was ordered to pay $ 370,000 penalty for unconscionable conduct Summary of the facts Lux Distributors Pty. Ltd. found to be engaged in unconscionable conduct during the period between 2009 and 2011. It was caught to operate against the section 21 of the Australian Consumer Law. Its conduct also broke the legislations of section 51AB of the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The company was found to be involved in an unconscionable conduct in the facet of dealing with five aged people regarding sale of vacuum cleaners. One of the companys sales people called some women in their premises by saying that the company is providing free service to its customers. In this scheme, they will give free maintenance service for their vacuum cleaners. The women were pressurised to purchase new vacuum cleaners by unfair sales tactics (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2015). Results of the prosecution The company was prosecuted by ACCC in May 2012. But in February 2013, the company was exempted from the case since Justice Jessup declared the company to be innocent. But the case was further presented in Federal Court by ACCC for three customers. Then, in August 2013, the company was declared to be engaged in unconscionable conduct in context of those three customers. The court ordered the company to pay penalty for this misconduct worth $370,000. The amount comprises of fines imposed regarding breach of all the various Acts and laws. The court declared that customers should be entertained via ethical code of conduct, honesty and a fair business should be conducted without deceiving them. It also restricted the company to engage in such activities in future. It asked Lux Distributors Pty. Ltd. to introduce a training and education program for its employees so that they can understand the necessity of compliance to ethics (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2015). Comments The facts found in this media release, in addition to its results and implications on the company found to be indulged in unconscionable conduct are likely to coincide with the findings given in chapter 3 and chapter 10 of textbook. Hence, the above given facts and results support the sections of textbook. Role of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is responsible for checking fair trade practices and conscionable conduct of business operations in the market. It also keeps a check on competition prevailing in the market and make sure that healthy competition prevails among market players so that consumers, business enterprises and the entire community at large can be benefitted. They also hold accountability to impose regulations on services related to national infrastructure. The most critical responsibility of ACCC is to make sure that business enterprise, their employees and even other associates must strictly comply with all the laws given by Australian legislation regarding competitive strategies, fair trading practices and consumer protection regulations. The ethical norms regarding such conduct are listed in the Competition and Consumer Act, 2010. ACCC is a statutory organization of Australia which also assumes the role of regulator in following areas. First of all, it checks that business firms comply with all the norms of Part IV, IVA, V, VA of the Trade Practices Act and the Prices Surveillance Act. It also has some complementary roles in compliance of various other legislations like Broadcasting Services Act, 1992; Australian Postal Corporation Act, 1989; Telecommunications Act, 1991. The Commission mainly oversees the issues related to fair trade practices, competitive strategies detrimental to customers or market, price fixing, market sharing, boycotts, misuse of market power, exclusive dealings, resale price maintenance, refusal to supply, authorisation, unconscionable conduct, anti- competitive mergers, consumer protection and enforcement of penalties (Spier, 2005). Hence, it can be concluded that ACCC carries a regulatory role and is quite significant for the Australian economy. Its role is critical in industries like telecommunications and energy and keeps a check on their competition policies. The Commission promotes competition and regulations hand in hand(Spier, 2005). Article review: Mobile Phones- misleading and deceptive conduct Summary of the facts This media release is about an Australian company named Moore Talk communications Pty. Ltd. which is in the business of telecommunications and mobile phones from the city of Brisbane. The company is listed in Australian Stock exchange with the name of MT Marketing. It conducted a national campaigning program outside Brisbane for telemarketing during the period between February 1999 and October 1999. This marketing campaign had an underlying survey for which potential customers of the companys products were contacted via telephone. They were asked to take part in a survey. To attract a handsome amount of gathering, they offered free digital mobile phones to the lucky customers who will be selected at the end of the survey. While talking with the customers at phone, they were asked to give their consent immediately to attend the campaigning and survey process. If any customer shows interest, he/ she will have a call from another salesman of MT Marketing Campaign. The customer will be t old that he/ she is the lucky client of the company to receive a mobile phone free of cost as a gift from the companys premises. The details will be given to them via fax and a plan for how to access their gift from nearby stores. But the twist was that the customer will receive the receipt of mobile phone only if he agrees to sign up with an access plan of the company. If customer gives his consent to sign up for the plan, a document will be sent to him/ her via fax to be signed. But the company officials did not provide any terms and conditions regarding the plan before signing. This was suspected by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. They intuited that the company is involved in misleading and deceptive activities against customers and may adversely impact 2000 of them. Results of the prosecution This misleading and deceptive plan of the company compelled Federal Court to order it to receive consent orders from the court before further continuing the plan. Consequently, the Federal Court ordered the company to stop their conduct of misleading customers to an immediate effect. It also added that if MT Marketing wants to continue their campaign they must issue a proper draft to its clients clearly stating all the terms and conditions of the access plan before asking the customers to sign the contract. Section 87B of the Act also enforced certain requirements for the company. It asked the company to have an internal review of all of its activities and processes. It also enforced ethical trade practice compliance for the company. These regulations and investigation against the company show that rules are very stringent in context of telemarketers that all the information, terms and conditions regarding contract should be communicated to client upfront (Enright, 2001). Comments Considering the above stated summary of the facts and the results regarding misconduct and deceptive activities of companies, it appears to support the explanation given in chapter 10 of the textbook. Case study of an Australian company- Computershare Limited The underlying company of this case study is from information technology industry named as Computershare Limited which is a public company in Australia. It operates in various countries offering services in the areas of corporate trust (it acts as a fiduciary entity for its corporate clients and works in their best interest), transferring stocks of customers to other clients and preparing employees stock option plans for other companies. Currently, the company is having its operations in 20 countries which include Australia, UK, US, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, etc. Potential legal disputes of the company Frauds and dishonest conduct: The Company under study acts as a fiduciary body, which means acting in best interest of the client. If it involves in frauds and provide false information to its clients, it will be very harmful for them. Hence, it will be declared as unconscionable conduct. Gift giving scams: In a marketing program, offering gifts to customers and deceiving them to enter into contracts without communicating the terms of the contract. Bribery: Offering some advantages to clients to give them business or to government officials asking for certain permissions and grants. Courts and tribunals that can hear appeal and have jurisdictions on such matters For unconscionable conduct, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is held responsible and is required to present such cases in front of the law. Other tribunals will include the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit court (Brennan, 2006). References Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2015. Full Federal Court declares Lux conduct unconscionable. [Online] Available at: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/full-federal-court-declares-lux-conduct-unconscionable [Accessed 7 September 2016]. Brennan, S., 2006. Court and Tribunal Decisions Australia. Enright, M.L., 2001. Mobile phones: Misleading and deceptive conduct. [Online] Available at: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/mobile-phones-misleading-and-deceptive-conduct [Accessed 7 September 2016]. Spier, H., 2005. The Role of the ACCC. [Online] Available at: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/The%20Role%20of%20the%20ACCC.pdf [Accessed 7 August 2016].

The Reconstruction Era and Its Effects free essay sample

The war, which was aimed at confronting the national dilemma of slavery, only led to subsequent problems over emancipation and an undefined condition of freedom. Some, who had naively assumed that ending slavery would resolve the problem Of racial inequality, overlooked the prejudice and unpleasant leaning towards blacks. Noons plan for reconstruction was aimed at reuniting southern states with the union and to strengthen the Republican Party in the South; which were his main supporters. One of the main purposes of Lincoln plan for Reconstruction was that all slaves be freed. In Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation, he stated that all slaves would be declared free in those states still in rebellion against the United States (Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation: January 1, 1863). However, this only pertained to those states which, after that date, came under the military control of the Union Army. It did not concern slaves in states such as Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and parts of Virginia and Louisiana, that were already occupied by Northern troops. We will write a custom essay sample on The Reconstruction Era and Its Effects or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This illustrates Lincoln agenda to have as many African Americans as possible enlist in the Union Army. Under Lincoln plan, for a state to be permitted back in the union, voters had to take an oath of loyalty. If 10% of voters took the oath, statehood would be re-established. Fonder comments that Lincoln did not recognize emancipation as a social revolution or believe that Reconstruction would bring about social ND political changes outside of abolishing of slavery (36).Lincoln main objective was political and although he is given credit for freeing the slaves, African Americans earned and fought for this right during the Civil War. President Lincoln was assassinated in April 1 865 for what was a direct correlation to his freeing of slaves. President Lincoln was a very smart man in that he knew by freeing the slaves, it would further his cause to get the nation under his control. Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln for the Presidency after Lincoln unfortunate assassination.Joy moons continued Lincoln moderate policies after Lincoln assassination, but ratification in the South of the Black Codes and demand in the North for stricter legislation, resulted in victories for Radical Republicans in the congressional elections of 1 866 (Senate and Mattson 1 10-111). The Black Codes were a new form of slavery that forced restrictions on freed slaves such as barring their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against whites, carrying weapons in public and working in certain jobs. President Johnson vetoed numerous bills in reference to equality for freed slaves.These bills included he Freedmans Bureau and Civil Rights which he vetoed in April 1866 (Fonder 247-251). Radical Republicans appro ved the Civil Rights Bill after Johnnys veto and were also able to get the Reconstruction Acts passed in 1 867 and 1868. Despite these acts, control over Southern state governments was steadily restored when organizations such as the UK Klux Klan were able to terrify blacks from voting in elections (Senate and Mattson 122). Once Lincoln was out of the way, Radicals believed they could shape Johnnys policy. When he disregarded their input they attempted to impeach him in 1968 but failed by one vote.Not condoning President Johnnys actions but attempting to remove Secretary of War and replaced him someone else was grounds for impeachment. Deeper reasons for his impeachment would be that Johnson was working out in hopes of rectifying the Reconstruction effort and you cant simply assassinate two Presidents in a row. Radicals such as Ben Butler even endeavored to make a connection between Johnson and the murder of Lincoln (Bowers 164). The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments had been added to the Constitution by the end of 1870 and resulted in the promises of abolishing slavery made by Lincoln in Emancipation Pr oclamation. In his 2nd Inaugural address, Lincoln advocated that the Civil War was Gods punishment of a nation having human beings kept in bondage (Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address: March 4, 1865). Just for a slight moment was Lincoln goal realized before the acts of then President Johnson attempted to strip away Lincoln foundation for freedom. Before Lincoln was assassinated he managed to get the thirteenth amendment passed in House after it failed to do so in 1864. This was important for Lincoln with elections coming up and he knew that if this wasnt eased his chances of reelection would be doubtful.The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude and was the first grant of civil rights given to African Americans (thirteenth Amendment: January 31, 1865). The 14th Amendment was passed into law and protects the rights against state infringements, defines citizenship, prohibits States from interfering with privileges and immunities, requires due process and equal prote ction, punishes states for denying vote, and disqualifies Confederate officials and debts (Fourteenth Amendment: June 16, 1866).For the first time the word equal was established into the Constitution. As a result of the Civil Rights Bill and the Fourteenth Amendment, permitted African Americans the power to make their own labor contracts and commence lawsuits, and delegated upon the federal government the power to protect equal rights and citizenship to all its citizens. The 1 5th Amendment was added to the Constitution which forbids states from refusing citizens the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (Fifteenth Amendment: December 7, 1968).These three bills that were deed to the Bill of Rights and laid the groundwork for equality were African Americans would be treated fairly and equally in society; something that simply didnt occur during Reconstruction. Beginning in 1 867, Congress passed Reconstruction Acts that permitted Black males who had been slaves the right to vote and hold public office. Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction bill when it reached his desk on March 2, 1867, but Congress was swiftly overrode his veto and passed it into law (Bowers 155). John W.Meaner was elected to the House of Representatives from Louisiana UT was barred from assuming his seat in Congress by white members. Meaner made history by becoming the first Black American to ever address Congress while defending his claim for the seated he rightfully deserved (Dray 70). Joseph Haynes Rained was the first Black seated member in the House of Representatives. Rained a native of South Carolina, momentarily owned a slave and served in the Confederate Army (Dray 55). Hiram Revels became the nations first Black senator in 1870 by represented Mississippi in the U. S. Senate.He was a minister and newly appointed senator that like Meaner, had o fight for his seat in Congress (Dray 70). Revels was admired for his overestimated skills and he used those skills to fight efforts to keep Washington D. C. Schools segregated and to assist black workers from being barred from working in the Washington D. C. Navy yard. Radical Republicans such as Senator Charles Sumner of Massacre guests and Congressman Thatched Stevens of Pennsylvania fought for bills that would help the freed slaves assimilate into the American society and achieve equal rights with their white citizens (Dray 53).Stevens was largely known for his role in engineering he impeachment of President Johnson. These capitol mens thirty-one years of occupancy in Congress came to a halt on March 4, 1 901 , when both houses of North Carolina legislation passed resolutions denied blacks the right to vote (Dray 351 As soon as the Union Army withdrew its troops from the South, life and liberty were at risk for African Americans.Southern states werent intimidated by the Fifteenth Amendment which gave African Americans the right to vote and led by Mississippi and South Carolina conceived ways to stop their citizenship and voting rights (Senate and Mattson 126). There were three static integrated to eradicate African American voters from the polls; criminal convictions, poll taxes and literacy tests. Although these devices were absurd, if someone has committed a criminal offense, then they dont deserve the right to vote.Of course this law still applies today to criminals but when you look at the times these devices were put into place and the racist people who judge these men, you have to wonder i f some had committed any crimes at all. The main issue with this tactic is that whites that had committed the same crimes were permitted the right to vote which goes directly against the Fifteenth Amendment. The poll taxes was a very clever idea in that if you African Americans wanted to vote, they had to pay the tax nine months earlier and keep the receipt when they came to the polls. If a person lost their receipt they couldnt vote and were turned away. This tactic was the most unjust out of the three; why the Southern states would chose a timeshare Of nine months in advance to pay the poll tax but who is going to be able to keep a receipt in excellent condition let alone still have possession after nine months. The last ploy used was that a potential voter had to exhibit that he could read ND understand sections of the state constitution (Senate and Mattson 126-127). This makes sense because if someone sins familiar with the state constitution they are voting on, then why are they voting.The problem with this is that the registrar was the only judge which left room for discrimination. All southern states had passed laws to keep African Americans from voting. These laws were renowned as the Grandfather Clauses and resulted in whites who may had lost the right to vote, the right to vote. These Grandfather Clauses enforced a law passed in Louisiana that prevented African Americans from voting. The law stated that No male person who was on January 1st, 1867 or at any date prior thereto, entitled to vote And no son or grandson of any such person Hall be denied the right to register or vote (Senate and Mattson 127). Now this one was over the top because African Americans werent given the right to vote until after March 2, 1867. With this in mind, the law is biased to practically every African American in the state. The government sat back and allow this to occur, knowing that the Southern states are deceptive is one thing button put it into law is another. In conclusion, if President Lincoln wasnt assassinated, most of these horrendous acts may have been avoided in African Americans struggle to oppose inequality.

The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson essays

The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson essays On March 04, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated president of the United States of America in the new capital of Washington D.C. He was a simple, frugal, and unconventional president. He started the precedent of sending messages to Congress to be ready by a clerk, and some believe that it was he who truly set the two-term precedent for the presidency. Thomas Jefferson instilled his democratic ideals and liberal principles into the forming of the United States of America, and he served Her extensively and faithfully. Through his faithful terms as President of the United States of America he added on to the list of legacies that would survive him through history. His three most important legacies during his presidency were: The peaceful Revolution that took place during his first term; the purchase of the Louisiana Territory; and authorization of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson won the 1800 presidential election after the House of Representatives settled the electoral-vote tie with his Federalist opponent, Aaron Burr. During his first term, Jefferson attempted to win the allegiance and trust of Federalists by maintaining the national debt and debt-repayment plan of Hamilton, as well as carrying on neutrality policies. He retained the loyalty of republicans by adhering to their guiding principle of limited central government (reduced military size, eliminated the number of federal jobs, repealed excise taxes, and lowered national debt). He also pardoned those serving time under the Sedition Act and enacted a new naturalization law that returned the years needed for immigrants to gain citizenship from fourteen to five. Most importantly, however, Jefferson led a revolution with the peaceful transfer of power from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans, which showed that a change of administration did not have to involve a disastrous outcome. In 1802 the Spaniards at New Orleans ...

Target Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Target Company - Case Study Example The primary business units of Target are Target Financial Services (Target Sourcing Services/The Associated Merchandising Corporation and Target stores. Target is a privately owned company headed by Greg Steinhafel, and Bob Ulrich, a chairman. The main products are clothing, housewares and food (Target. Corporation 2008). At Target, consumers also hold images of institutions. Images of retail-store characteristics or personalities affect shopping behavior. Sensory impressions result in consumers' attributing distinct personality characteristics to retail units. Some stores reflect the bargain basement, discount atmosphere, whereas others reflect an atmosphere of elegance, luxury, affluence, and sophistication. The store image stems from such diverse factors as advertisements, sales personnel, merchandise, services, pricing strategies, physical plant, and layout. Research findings seem to indicate that consumers choose to shop at stores and purchase brands consistent with their own pe rsonalities. Since 1971, Target has provided huge acquisition policy which helps it to expend and grow as a leading US retailer. Suring 1982-2000, target organized its new campaign and opened new stores in the West and East coast. In 2006, target opened its store in India (Target. Corporation 2008). Currently, Target employs 366,000 (2008) people. ... Globalization changes the nature of demand and preferences of potential customers (www.target.com). The main internal factor include organizational goals and strategic intent of Target based on current market situation. The revenue of the company is $63.367 billion and net income is 2.849 billion (2007) (Target. Corporation 2008). The customer based of target consists of low and middle class citizens who value good quality but low price. This fact, combined with shared universal wants, needs, desires, and fantasies (for name brands, novelty, entertainment, trendy, and image-oriented products), make it possible to reach the global teen segment with a unified marketing program. In Target's price competition takes form of branding, advertising, promotion, and additional services to customers and product innovation. In relation to minor competitors, the Target provides comparable buyer value but perform the activities more efficiently so as to attain a cost advantage, or perform the activities in a unique way which raises the value to the consumer and thus allows them to command a premium price - the concept of low cost. I want to work for Target Corporation because it proposes great opportunities for employees and develops personal skills and knowledge of every employee. For me, target is a chance to apply my professional knowledge and skills into practice and grow with the company. Target employs excellent managers and experts I would like to work with. This function is concerned with dividing work and allocating it among employees and determining their responsibilities and relations. At Target, all employees come from different cultural and social environment;

Paralegal Class Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Paralegal Class - Assignment Example Since it is a legal firm, they are also required to have excellent communication skills. Since the law firm is a very busy environment, they should also have the ability to multi-task, meet strict deadlines and also have to be flexible to work at odd hours. I find this job advertisement interesting because they place emphasis on fresh graduates with hardly any experience in order to mold them to be what the company needs. The notice was found in an easy internet search. Checks and balances are put in place to make sure that each of the three arms of the government, the legislature, the judiciary and the executive, does not have too much power. For instance, article two section 4 states that the president, the vice president and other civil officials shall be removed from power if they are proven guilty of any acts of corruption. The president or the civil servants do not have the power to absolve themselves of the acts of crime should the congress decide to impeach them (Article 2 Section 2). Article three Section one states that judicial power shall be decided upon by the Supreme Court or any other court as deemed fit by the Congress (Article 3, Section 1). Article one Section one says that the Congress has the right to decide upon how much power the legislation has (Article Section

Graduate admission essay (career in forensic science)

Graduate admission (career in forensic science) - Essay Example The way in which Forensic Science is spreading its branches into legal and criminal fields, aided by new inventions and tools fascinates me. I keep updating my knowledge in forensic science by reading books, journals and research papers. The ever-evolving nature of the subject is very attractive to me. With the crime rate shooting up in all bigger cities, I am sure there would be tremendous amount of openings in the forensic area. Forensic and DNA analysis have proved to be a boon to solving criminal cases. Now cases are getting solved beyond doubt and ambiguity due to developments in both the fields. Taking this view into consideration, I do not think that my future plans are too ambitious to materialize. With this career in view, I have taken almost all available short courses in the last four years. I have taken a lot of care to be in touch with recent advancement in the field. It is extremely important for me to get this admission, as I have not thought of any other career for myself. I have been focusing for a long time only on Forensic Science and this is the only field that inspires me. I also feel that I could be of good use to society by helping police or FBI to solve murders.

The Decrease Leg Shaking Psychology Essay

The Decrease Leg Shaking Psychology Essay Anxiety is a normal emotion, and we all encounter anxiety in certain situations that causes us be anxious. When we are anxious, we would experience physical symptoms arising in response to anxiety ( Ginsburg, Riddle, Davies, 2006; Roth, Antony, Swinson, 1999), such as muscle tension and stomachache which affect our everyday lives, known as somatic symptoms (Ginsburg et al., 2006). Social anxiety is a disorder that happens when a person faces a social situation and reacts in response to fear or distress due to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth (Bà ¶gels, 2006; Hofmann, 2007; Purdon, Antony, Monterio, Swinson, 2001). This happens to me when I am in certain social situation, I get social anxiety that I tend to shake my legs. For this behaviour modification program, I have chosen to decrease and control my leg-shaking behaviour. It has been bothering me and it has been causing irritation to certain people who were and are in my presence. The operational definition of leg-shaking is that for this program, I tested the effect of leg-shaking on my performance during the times when I was sitting down (which was when the leg-shaking behaviour almost always occurred). I needed to know exactly what sort of leg-shaking behaviour I was performing and how I should measure it. I needed to know what type of performance I am suggesting that leg-shaking behaviour affected, and how I should measure that. Furthermore, I needed to know the underlying causes and triggers of my leg-shaking behaviour, which I believe is triggered by anxiety that I usually experience, but not as much as before, in social situations. First and foremost, behaviour modification is defined as a technique of behaviour change that is based on the procedures of the principles of learning psychology to evaluate and determine a persons or any other organisms private and public actions and reactions in order to assist in improving ones everyday lifestyle (Martin Pear, 2011). Basically, behaviour modification is founded on the concepts of operant conditioning. It is a technique to improve an individuals behavior by changing the way a person acts to a particular situation or stimuli using positive and negative reinforcement. In result, it replaces an undesirable behavior to a more desirable behavior. There are rules to follow and that are critical when planning and engaging in a behaviour modification program. These includes rules of such as positive and negative reinforcement, ratio schedule, extinction, shaping, and schedules of reinforcement (Martin Pear, 2011). The following are brief definitions of some of the terms mentioned above: Positive reinforcement means that a particular stimulus that is given on the spot increases the likelihood of a particular response to occur another time (Martin Pear, 2011). Negative reinforcement means that a particular stimulus is being removed to increase a particular response or to keep a particular response in a current desired state (Martin Pear, 2011). Extinction is applied in operant conditioning, and it refers to the process of changing the state of a learned response by ensuring to no longer reinforcing that particular response (Martin Pear, 2011). There are pitfalls that occurs in the process of extinction which I discussed later in this paper. The process of shaping is the reinforcement of altering and controlling a learned response through the process of changing that response much closer to desired response, but not exactly (Martin Pear, 2011). In this program, I would be shaping my behaviour by alternating my leg-shaking behaviour to a more desired behaviour, which is sitting down with my feet firmly on the ground without shaking my legs. A schedule of reinforcement is a program that determines how and when the frequency of a response happening will be followed by a reinforcer (Martin Pear, 2011). The delivery of a reinforcer could depend on the frequency of a certain number of responses, the passage of time, the presence of certain stimuli, the occurrence of other responses of the animal, or any number of other things occurring (Martin Pear, 2011). There are different schedules of reinforcement, I will discuss very briefly about the important ones that I implemented in this behaviour modification program. One of the different schedules of reinforcement are the schedules of intermittent reinforcement. There are four different schedules of intermittent reinforcement which are differential reinforcement of low rates (abbreviated as DRL), differential reinforcement of zero responding (abbreviated as DRO), differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (abbreviated as DRI), and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour (abbreviated as DRA) (Martin Pear, 2011). In this program, I used the DRO intervention. DRO means that reinforcement only occurs when a particular response does not happen at a time (Martin Pear, 2011). This particular response is being modified to another behaviour, and that behaviour would be reinforced instead (Martin Pear, 2011). Another schedule of reinforcement is ratio schedule which is defined as that reinforcement depends only on the number of responses a person or any other living thing has performed (Martin Pear, 2011). Reinforcement that depends on only some of the time are said to involve partial or intermittent reinforcement (Martin Pear, 2011). In interval schedules, responses are reinforced only if the responses occur after a certain amount of time has passed (Martin Pear, 2011). In fixed interval schedule (abbreviated FI), the set time is constant from one occasion to the next (Martin Pear, 2011). With a variable interval schedule (abbreviated VI), responses are reinforced if they occur after a variable interval since the beginning of the schedule cycle (Martin Pear, 2011).These are the rules of psychology of behaviour modification that I employed in the program. Since I applied the intermittent schedule, I did not use the continuous schedule as this involves reinforcing a response or a beha viour every time it happens (Martin Pear, 2011). Not many research have been done on the effects of leg-shaking behaviour on an individuals well-being and/or on the effects it may have on other individuals surrounding a person with leg-shaking behaviour. Not only the literature on leg-shaking behaviour is very limited, but case studies centering on the effects of this behaviour and on controlling or modifying the behaviour are limited as well. The following research can be used to identify early emotional and behavioural development, providing an opportunity for treatments for not only individuals my age, but for younger age groups as well- particularly in the early stage of emotional and behavioural development that are disruptive such as the leg-shaking behaviour. Bà ¶gels (2006) stated that individuals with social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder) tend to have distressing feelings of not being accepted by others who are aware of the physical symptoms these individuals have. These physical symptoms, such as trembling, which closely relates to my leg-shaking behaviour, that these individuals present on account of distressing and unpleasant thoughts about themselves are causing difficulties for them and to others around them (Bà ¶gels, 2006). In Bà ¶gelss (2006) research, participants with social phobia, and who were within the age group of 17 to 65 were tested for their ability to decrease their tendency of attentive to their physical symptoms of anxiety. The purpose of this research was to determine whether if participants turn their attention to a task-oriented activity called task concentration training, would lessen their anxiety and diminish their physical symptoms of anxiety (Bà ¶gels, 2006). The results showed that the e xperiment was successful as participants diverted attention from their physical symptoms of anxiety to a task-oriented activity. The study of participants who were afraid of exhibiting the physical symptoms of anxiety support the notion that individuals from a wide range of age group, can modify these types of behaviour by focusing on work. However, it did not show whether individuals under the age of 17 can. In another study, a male participant who was 26 years at that time, and who suffered from mental developmental disability was studied (LeBlanc, Hagopian, Maglieri, 2000). It was made clear that even though this is a person with a mental developmental disability at adult age, (a person) can adapt ones behaviour by using or participating in a token economy (LeBlanc et al., 2000). The researchers employed the DRO intervals and schedule to reduce this mans socially unacceptable and undesirable behaviours (LeBlanc et al., 2006). The results showed that the treatment was effective as it decreased the occurrence of the participants socially unacceptable behaviour. The problems with LeBlanc et al.s (2000) research were not only there was one participant recruited for this study and that he had developmental disabilities; but the behaviour that has been modified had to do with his inappropriate social interactions. Even though this may not precisely relates to my topic, I chose for my literature review in research because my leg-shaking behaviour has been affecting the way I interact with others who has been noticing this. This may continue to affect me and others if I did not attempt to change this. Thus, this leg-shaking behaviour is considered socially inappropriate. In addition to this note, I also used the same reinforcement in my program. The first purpose of this research was to investigate whether when a persons leg-shaking behaviour caused by anxiety creates difficulties in ones lifestyle and/or get in the way of others around this person. The second purpose was to investigate whether if and when a person learns how to control and decrease the occurrence of this leg-shaking behaviour by alleviating and improving the internalizing and externalizing state of a person aids in overall well-being and aids in not causing disturbance to others. How I Selected My Target Behaviour and Why its Appropriate for this Assignment Two other behaviours I was considering working on, but decided to work on my leg-shaking behavior instead were to increase my piano playing practice, and to exercise more. They were appropriate for the assignment, but they were not realistic for me to work on this semester. I am rarely home, therefore the probability of cooking and healthier food was very slim during the time. However, the probability of exercising during the time was moderately likely to occur, but I did not perceive this behaviour to be as vital to change as my leg-shaking behavior. I wanted to work to change a behaviour that is not only affecting me and others, but that it is also more simple and more doable to work on during the past months. Moreover, these other two behaviors are both common behaviour that I believe most people use for a project similar to this behaviour modification program. Controlling Antecedents of Pre-Program Behaviour The root of my habit most likely started and had to do with a social situation I was facing when I was very young. I was extremely shy. I had social anxiety. My fear of being in any social situations or interactions made me so nervous that it could be the main trigger of my shaking legs. Pre-Program Behaviour Level In this section, I will describe how I observed my behaviour. During the process of this observation, I found that I had habitual thoughts that momentarily flash through my mind. Here my task was to replace these habitual thoughts or bad thinking habits with good thinking habits. By doing so, I would create new thoughts that became my new habitual thoughts. These thoughts came from my feelings of anxiety, particularly in social situation or stressed situation. I counted to keep anxiety in check so that it would not encourage my old habitual negative thoughts. The reason is that my habitual thoughts affected the way I saw myself in a significant way in situation, and still do a little. If I did not change my thinking, my old habitual thoughts will continue to perpetuate my leg-shaking behaviour. Controlling Consequences of Pre-Program Behaviour Not controlling my leg- shaking behaviour is rewarded with being able to only concentrate while studying or listening to lectures or doing other things when sitting down. This allows me to not think about monitoring my leg-shaking constantly and to freely express my inner feelings of anxiety by letting my subconscious behaviour takes over. By detaching myself from observing and being mindless of my leg-shaking behaviour elicited by feelings of anxiety and overgeneralizing. In psychological terms this process is called positive reinforcement for a behaviour such as leg-shaking. I shake my leg and in return get rewarded by getting away with behaving any way I want when I am feeling anxious, stressed, or nervous. The way positive reinforcement works is that once I get rewarded for my leg-shaking behaviour I am more likely to do it again. My Self-Modification Program For my self-modification program, since I planned on changing my thinking patterns in order to prevent me at least from shaking my legs too often, then I rewarded myself with a sensible reward. The sensible reward was that once I have controlled my leg-shaking behavior, I could listen to music. I had to earn a privilege to be able to listen to a song or songs longer as listening to music is very rewarding for me. This applied to the token economy as I was using minutes of listening to music as a reward for not shaking my legs when I am anxious in a social situation. I kept track of minutes on a sheet. I started with two hours of listening to music per day. I normally did not listen to 2 hours of music straight, but this was doable. I cannot really hear the music without headphone so I asked one of my family members to take away my headphone from me for the day and then give it back to me sometime after 10 at night. I lost a minute of listening to music when I failed to control my leg-shaking behaviour. At the end of the day, I listened to the amount of time I have earned to listen to music provided that I have any minutes left. Whenever I got sidetracked by my work and other distractions, then for every leg-shaking behaviour I do, I subtracted one minute of listening to music. In addition to this note, l laid out a plan, including making notes of the crucial moments that I was less likely and most likely to shake my legs unconsciously on account of feeling anxious, stressed, or nervous. I prepared for my crucial moments by turning to helpful sources of influence, a friend and a family member. Then I planned on beginning deliberate practice by placing myself to a tempting situation. In short, my goal was to experience the desire but not to give in shaking my leg to express my feelings of anxiety outwardly. My Program in Action This was the part when I employed deliberate practice especially practice for crucial moments. I broke the steps into small pieces, and practice each step in short intervals. I also got immediate feedback at times against a clear standard, and evaluated my progress. I learned to be prepare for setbacks and I was also prepared for them some of the times. As mentioned earlier, the specific and measurable behaviour I have been monitoring was to attempt to eliminate my leg-shaking behaviour. From the start of the program, I measured the occurrence to anxiety, as well as the intensity and frequency of anxiety as my anxiety have been triggering my leg-shaking behaviour to be present. Moreover, I have been observing and keeping track of my thinking errors that normally preceded my leg-shaking behaviour. I also have been monitoring my improvement in controlling and diminishing my leg-shaking behaviour by engaging in how often I subconsciously performed leg-shaking behaviour and by decreasing the frequency and intensity of my anxiety so that my leg-shaking behaviour will dissolve after the program ends. I have been employing intermittent reinforcement in my program. Continuous reinforcement would not work as I found that I had not always been aware of when I shook my legs in certain situations. The unexpected surprise I learned was that I even shook my legs when I was not in social situation. I shook my legs when I worked on my school assignments. Because of this, I started to encounter pitfalls. The pitfalls I have encountered throughout this program were that I frequently thought of excuses to avoid treating my leg-shaking behaviour. At times in class or in any social situation, I fell into my thinking traps and engaged in these thinking patterns which resulted in my habitual leg-shaking behaviour. Evaluation of My Program Referring to the level of the behaviour pre-program and during the program (see Figure 1 in the Appendix), my attempt to decrease my tendency to shake my leg did not work in the beginning of the program due to the effects of delay of reward. But it did worked later on after the first month I started the program. When it came to the use of reward in the program, the important component in the reward is the interval between the behaviour and the reward. I found that when the delay of receiving reward increased, it did not reward the desired behaviour as much as I wanted it to. Therefore, such delays in receiving rewards was not effective in altering a behaviour. This kind of applied to the use of punishment to decrease a behaviour. If the interval between the undesirable behaviour and punishment is delayed, then the punishment would not be effective in suppressing such behaviour (Martin Pear). Therefore, I should make notes that in the future my desired behaviour should be rewarded immediately. If this does not work, then another change I might make is to use punishment instead when I shake my legs. Ending the Program; Future Plans Although I am done with the behaviour modification program, I plan on continuing to manage my leg-shaking behaviour, which, again, happens when I get anxious. I will try to slowly stop myself from depending on the program to keep my leg-shaking behaviour under control. I will keep a long-term perspective to improve my behaviour and to improve myself. I plan on practising not only self control, but self-care as I tend to encounter stress or period of anxiety in the face of difficult situations such as speaking up in class as I am shy. I will help myself feel at ease during periods of stress by attempting to use what I learned from the behaviour techniques and exercises this semester. Even though I will not depend on the exercises and techniques I have applied in my program, I believe I still need regular exposure to anxiety-provoking situations in order to stay in condition. I believe this will help me over the long term to keep myself habituated to the experiences that I learned from in situations I found were and still are a little anxiety-provoking. Discussion and Conclusion What I learned from this experience was that my obsessive thoughts and compulsive leg-shaking behaviour did not make sense. These thinking patterns that I fell into when I am nervous, stressed, sad, or depressed were generally believable, and negative, and they made my life more challenging than they needed to be. Even though I did not fully believe my obsessive thoughts, I found that I frequently engaged in my leg-shaking behaviour to get the obsessive thoughts to stop. I overestimated the probability of risk that if something could go wrong, it will go wrong. I am guilty of overgeneralizing things. So I held back many times from putting myself in certain situation that meant no harm to me or anyone, and naturally I slipped into my leg-shaking behaviour. When I triggered one of my old habitual thoughts, I corrected it with the positive one so that these positive thoughts became my new habitual thoughts. Even though I am done with this behavioural modification program for the course, I still need to thoroughly weave this fact into my memory whenever my leg-shaking behaviour strikes. This way, I will be able to weave this fact into my conscious control to pull the plug on my tendency to worry and to overgeneralize which triggers leg-shaking behaviour. I know that the more I practice this new behaviour, the more likely I will do it in the future so that I do not return to my former state of leg-shaking behaviour. A higher decrease in behaviour level as shown in the appendix results when I held back from overgeneralizing or from inviting pessimistic thoughts that triggered my leg-shaking in social situation. My new behaviour improved significantly after I was concentrating on changing thought patterns. This supports the notion that focusing on another activity (such as partaking in token economy or that is task-oriented) can aid in decreasing a behaviour that is bothersome (Bà ¶gels, 2006; LeBlanc et al., 2000). References Bà ¶gels, S. M. (2006). Task concentration training versus applied relaxation, in combination with cognitive therapy, for social phobia patients with fear of blushing, trembling, and sweating. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(8), 1199-1210. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2005.08.010 Ginsburg, G. S., Riddle, M. A., Davies, M. (2006). Somatic symptoms in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry,  45(10), 1179-1187. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000231974.43966.6e Hofmann, S. G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: A comprehensive model and its treatment implications.  Cognitive Behaviour Therapy,  36(4), 193-209. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16506070701421313 LeBlanc, L. A., Hagopian, L. P., Maglieri, K. A. (2000). Use of a token economy to eliminate excessive inappropriate social behavior in an adult with developmental disabilities. Behavioral Interventions, 15(2), 135-143. doi: 3.0.CO;2-3 TARGET=_blank>http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-078X(200004/06)15:23.0.CO;2-3 Purdon, C., Antony, M., Monteiro, S., Swinson, R. P. (2001). Social anxiety in college students.  Journal of Anxiety Disorders,15(3), 203-215. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(01)00059-7 Roth, D., Antony, M. M., Swinson, R. P. (2001). Interpretations for anxiety symptoms in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(2), 129-138. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00159-X

George Orwells 1984 Essay -- George Orwell 1984 Essays

George Orwell's 1984 There is, in every person, a secret part of one's self that is kept completely secret. Most often than not, it is a place of solitude, where no one else is admitted entry. Logic does not rule here; pure instinct, the drive for survival, is what reigns supreme in this realm. However, there are those chosen few who are allowed in, and it is they who are most dangerous; they alone know how to best maul, injure, and in the end, betray. Orwell created such a relationship in 1984 between Winston and Julia. Though the idea is never directly stated, the likelihood that Julia is a member of the Thought-Police grows increasingly more evident and obvious as the story progresses through her words, actions, and in the end, her betrayal of Winston. When Winston and Julia run off to their little grove of ash saplings, Julia makes a few statements that are startlingly suspicious to a quick and clever mind. When Winston explains that he first supposed her to be a member of the Thought Police, she laughs giddily, and asks, ?And you thought that if I had a quarter of a chance I?d denounce you as a thought-criminal and get you killed off (101) Such a comment Stated so bluntly and forceful, it seems as though only the truth could be announced in this manner. The natural instinct of humans is to soften the blow, to make the truth easier to bear, not pointing out the worst case scenario and leaving no room hope, yet this is exactly what Julia does. The fact that she does so laughingly merely is cover, so that Winston cannot suspect the truth of her identity, and it works. The next comment she makes that sheds a sliver of light into her shadowy character comes after Winston?s inquiry of her choosi... ...r girl gave him the impression of being more dangerous than most.? Such is the truth behind the mask of lies and deceit that Julia has worn until now. Her words, actions, and betrayal of Winston made it possible for Big Brother to actually survive, made it possible for Winston to be broken and destroyed. They made it possible for Julia to trick Winston into believing there was hope, believing they still had a chance for a free democracy?a false hope. Had Winston stuck with his first impression of Julia, his gut reaction of fear and hatred, he might have survived. After all, that?s what instincts are for?procuring the best means for survival. Instinct could have saved him, at least for the time being. But he didn?t heed its urgent warning, and with that choice, his fate was sealed. Works Cited: Orwell, George. 1984. London: Secker and Warburg, 1949.

Typhus: Infectious Disease and South America

Pandemics are disease that spread over a country or the world. Typhus is an example of a pandemic. Typhus is a bacterial disease that is spread by lice and fleas. Brill Zinsser is the discoverer of the disease and typhus is also known as â€Å"Brill Zinsser Disease†. Two types of most common typhus are endemic and murine. Endemic typhus is usually seen in places with cold temperature, endemic typhus are sometimes called â€Å"jail fever† or â€Å"camp fever† because typhus killed hundreds of thousands of people of prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp in World War II.The other type of typhus is murine. Murine typhus is mostly seen during summer or fall. It mostly occurs in southern part of U. S and areas around the equator because the temperature is hot. Typhus is first recorded typhus epidemic was the Plague of Athens in 420 B. C. This epidemic killed a lot of people because so many people were infected. It had killed thousands of people during the Plague of Athens because of typhus. It was spreading throughout places because of the infected rat and mice. It was later spread to South America afterward.Some of the symptoms of typhus are backache, headache, muscle pain, and it also causes a red rash at the center of the chest few hours after infection. It also causes low blood pressure. There are also ways to prevent getting typhus. One way is to avoid areas with fleas and lice, another way is to just be clean, and use insecticide to kill lice. If people really have lice, they can boil their clothes for around 5 days to kill lice. There are few antibiotics treatments for typhus, doxycycline, tetracycline, and Chloramphenicol, which is the less common.Typhus had impacted society in many ways. It had changed many things in the society. Typhus had killed a lot of people throughout the history. It also led to many development of medicine. The medicines are still used in the society today to cure other disease. Since typhus mostly occur in pla ces that have poor hygiene and dirty areas, now people aware more about their cleanness. This makes people keep their houses, areas clean so they can prevent typhus from affecting them.

Politics Of Displacement Essays - Guggenheim Fellows, Free Essays

Politics Of Displacement Essays - Guggenheim Fellows, Free Essays Politics Of Displacement Jean Elshtain, Chp.2 Democracy and the Politics of Displacement Response to Question 1: In the excerpted chapter titled Democracy and the Politics of Displacement, Jean Elshtain discusses the concept of politics of identity'. In discussing the politics of identity', Elshtain argues there is an emerging social phenomenon, wherein society is turning the private affairs of our lives into public discourse. The Western World has become a public pool, in which the information mediums and venues of society are overflowing with confessions and apologies. We have made the private affairs of our lives, into a booming business. Society has witnessed a proliferation of self - help groups, twelve- step' programs, anger management programs, television shows broadcasting a tell all' theme and Internet chat groups designed for people to post the confession and/or apology of the day. Inherently, it has not only become socially acceptable, but socially encouraged to air our dirty laundry. We are actively creating an Apologizing Society.' Elshtain argues that as the boundary separating the private and the public becomes increasingly hazed, a new social identity emerges. Elshtain argues that as this new social identity emerges, there arises a politics of identity.'Our social identity is no longer composed of differentiated spheres of human activity, but rather it has become a dichotomous social relationship involving those who are victims and those who are victimizers. Moreover, it is the quality or character of being a victim' that becomes public discourse. In turn, this quality of being a victim becomes an individual's primary or dominant identity: it defines their entire being. Through the process of class discussion, it was realized, that as the quality of being a victim enters the public lime- light, there emerges a social accumulation of victims and victimizers. The social accumulation of victims emerges as a result of two factors: 1) as the quality of being a victim becomes more public, it's definition and defining characteristics begin to broaden. Thereby, accumulating and embracing a variety of victims,'that otherwise, may never have come to view themselves as having been victimized; 2) as the definition of being a victim becomes more broad in the public sphere, it simultaneously becomes glorified and popularized. That is to say, society begins to credit a great deal of sympathy to, and focus a lot of attention on, those who have been victimized. As a result, a social phenomenon emerges, wherein everyone wants to be a victim.'As a final note, the social accumulation of victims continues, as some victims feel compelled to engage in the public service o f sharing their experience with the world. For example, we often hear victims injecting society with notions of victimization through injunctions such as, My experience will have served a purpose, if I can help one person to understand that they are not alone. Essentially, there is a collective engagement among victims, to accumulate' more victims. Response to Question #2: Elshtain argues that the politics of displacement' are essentially bound up in the politics of identity, as the private self become increasingly more public, and therefore, the public begins to displace' the private self within society. Moreover, Elshtain argues that the politics of displacement are circumvented by two paradoxical connections, wherein: 1) everything private becomes public and 2) everything public becomes private. Through the course of class discussion, it was realized, that although Elshtain argues that everything public become private, she does not mean this, in its literal sense. Elshtain, merely presents the paradox to create the necessary juxtaposition, in which her politics of displacement can be clearly articulated. For Elshtain, the politics of displacement remain emphatic of the increasing disappearance of the boundary separating the private from the public spheres of social life. Elshtain further argues, that the politics of displacement are increasingly cutting away the social space necessary for society to maintain conventional politics. Elshtain concedes, that conventional politics have now become bound up in the politics of displacement and inherently, the politics of identity. Hence, this new social identity of being a victim,'which was discussed in the above response, has increasingly billowed over into conventional politics. For example, conventional or traditional politics did not encourage politicians to disclose information and details about their personal life, in contemporary society, telling all'

School Supplies List for College Students

School Supplies List for College Students Heading to college? Youll soon find that your work  is a little more intense compared to high school, so you will need the right supplies to help meet the challenge. A basic list that includes  lined paper, folders, pens, and pencils, is a given. But to get the most out of  your study time, youll need a few extras. The items listed here should cover most all your bases, although your professors will likely hand out a  syllabus  during the first week of class that will list additional items specific to that particular course. To Keep With You Whether you use a backpack or a tote bag to carry your stuff around, make sure these items are always inside, along with the basics listed above: Post-Itâ„ ¢ Flags: Dont ever read an academic book without sticky note flags! These little wonders are great for keeping track of important passages when reading a book. Theyre also handy for marking pages when writing book reviews and research papers.  Student Planner: Every professor will supply students with a syllabus that lists assignment due dates and test dates. Youll want to record these dates right away! As soon as you receive that syllabus, start recording your due dates. You should also consider using the sticky note flags for test days or due dates. From day one, the planner will become your new best friend when it comes to staying on top of your studies.Tiny Stapler: To make sure you dont lose important information, keep a stapler on hand for those times when professors hand out stacks of papers for you to read, and for assembling and turning in assignments of your own. Your friends will love you if youre always equipped with this essential tool.Highlighters: Highli ghters are useful for pointing out important terms and definitions in workbooks and articles. You can also use different colors of highlighter to create a code for different topics when conducting research. Calculator: If you sign up for any kind of math class, expect to invest in the right calculator for the job.MLA Style Guide: Most freshman-year classes require writing essays- and, depending on your major, you might write essays for the majority of your classes until you graduate. In any event, most professors will expect you to use MLA guidelines. Theyll be looking for very specific formatting on title pages, essays, and bibliographies. The style guide will show you how to format citations, page numbers, and more.Index Cards: Youll go through hundreds of index cards in college. Nothing can compete with them  when it comes to memorizing terms and definitions, and  flashcards are essential for studying for tests.Memory Stick: These little devices are sometimes called flash drives or jump drives, but the name is not important. Youll need a portable storage device  of some kind for backing up copies of your work.Blue Book: These small, blue-colored booklets  are used for essay-t ype exams and are available for purchase at your university bookstore. You should keep one on hand at all times since test dates can sneak up on you. For YourStudy Space Carve out a spot in your dorm room, bedroom, or other space, and devote it specifically to your studies. It should hold a bright lamp, a desk large enough to work on with your computer or tablet, and a printer if you choose to buy one instead of using those in the computer lab. It should also have enough blank wall space to hold a large calendar and a bulletin board. Here are our suggestions on how to stock this space: Big Wall Calendar: Record all due dates on a big wall calendar that you can see when you enter your room.Colored Stickers: Use color-coded stickers on your big wall calendar, like blue dots for test days and yellow dots for assignment due dates.Printer paper: Keep a stock of paper on hand for printing out assignments. Dont be late turning in a paper because you couldnt print it out!Post-It Cover-Up Tape: This tape is great for studying for a test.  Use it to cover up keywords in your notes, a textbook, or a study guide, and voil, you have a fill-in-the-blank test. It sticks lightly to the paper to cover up words or definitions, so you can cover up a word, print on the tape, and peel it off to see if your answer matches the answer underneath the tape.Glue, Scissors, and Tape: You may not need these items very often, but when you need them, you really need them.Bulletin Board and Pins: Organize your life and keep family photos close at hand with a bulletin board. Luxury Items These are by no means necessary, and they can be expensive, but they will make your study time much more productive. Smartpen by Livescribe:  This is a favorite tool for math students, who always seem to get it when the teacher lectures and works out problems, but then lose it when they sit down to work the problems on their own. The Smartpen  will allow you to  record a lecture while taking notes, and then afterward  place the pen tip on any word or drawing and listen to the part of the lecture that was taking place when those notes were recorded.  Post-Itâ„ ¢ Easel Pads:  This item is useful for brainstorming, especially in a study-group setting. Its basically a pad of giant sticky notes that you can cover with a mind-dump of notes, list items, ideas, etc., and then stick to the  wall or any other surface.Notebook Computer:  You will have access to computer labs on campus, but a notebook computer will free you up to do your work anywhere. If you have a laptop already, great, but you may find a notebook to be easier to use, more compact, and lighter to carry.  Printer/Scanner: Youll  be able to print your work out on your schools printers, but having your own is much more convenient- and it will allow you to check your work more easily. Make sure to get one with scanning capabilities. Scanners can be used to  create study guides from your books, which will help you in everything from preparing for tests to  writing a research paper. Laptop or Computer Notebook:  Again, youll have access to computer labs on campus, but owning a laptop or computer notebook with a click-on keyboard will free you up to do your work anywhere.Smartphone:  While your professors  will likely not allow phones in their classrooms, having access to a smartphone will enable you to use a wealth of education-specific apps once you are away from the classroom.

Design and Evaluation of a Wind Turbine in Urban environment Assignment

Design and Evaluation of a Wind Turbine in Urban environment - Assignment Example Although the concept of wind turbines is old a large – scale development of a new generation of turbines for power generation began in the world. Winds contribution in the fight of global warming, the total carbon dioxide emissions avoided by wind power in 2009 is 1.93% of the worlds total emission from power generation. Even if a home wind turbine does not provide significant savings, it is more preferable when it comes to treating planet earth with more respect. In this project, we try to use this clean power in charging different devices such as cell phones and laptops among others. Calculating the power needed to charge such devices the turbine will be designed, and connected by a network providing power for such devices at home. The use of an alternative energy option is very helpful since it facilitates rural and local area electricity connection. For the case of the cost of the turbine tower, although the initial cost of purchase and installing of a turbine can be expensive in all ways but it saving money, and environmental resources. When such kind of projects are used widely, there will be a database for all the areas including the wind direction, wind speed and the suitable kind of turbine that may be used for each region. Study the wind atlas map for my home area in Egypt , " the new and renewable energy authority in Egypt " site provide reliable and accurate wind atlas data sets for evaluating the wind power output for any place in Egypt , studying the wind atlas will help with the data for the wind direction and the speed variation all the year. Blades are sensitive, and the most breakable part of the system, they are creating mechanical stress caused by centrifugal forces and fatigue, so designing the blades correctly is very important or else they will break or not function efficiently. The tower supports the parts and holds them

AMOURETTE SPOTLIGHT Hipster Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

AMOURETTE SPOTLIGHT Hipster - Assignment Example A lot of governing bodies have made companies responsible towards emission norms and set standards for declaration of their environmental compliances. Importance of corporate social responsibility is also reflected in the gaining momentum of mergers and acquisition dealings considering investments in socially responsible activities. Despite such rise in the value of CSR, the question remains as to why the companies find it important to engage and socially responsible behaviour when it actually does not add any financially visible value to the firm. Also, it is questionable whether these firms actually believe in acting socially or is it simply a means to gaining stakeholder support and shareholder (Font et al., 2012). The business world is plagued with multitude of problems ranging from accounting frauds, environmental issues and social concerns to corporate irregularities. In this scenario, importance of CSR reporting cannot be eliminated. This paper aims to examine whether the issu ing such CSR reports actually engage in socially responsible behaviour or merely try to convince stakeholders and gain investor support. It therefore highlights the role of business ethics and highlights the importance of CSR reporting. CSR for Increased profitability It is undoubted that companies operate in an environment where existence is subject to free play of competition between major players within any industry. In such unregulated attempt towards achieving greater market share, it is essential that government and media become aware of their role to act as controllers of social consequence of these activities. Their role has become significant and influential in today’s times. These groups of people have high power to put extreme pressure of major companies to adhere to environmental and social standards. This has resulted in the fact that CSR has emerged to be one of the inescapable priorities of businesses. Research has also shown that when managers and directors ta ke concern for employees and consumer welfare, they gain better support of their work staff in terms of productivity and loyalty than firms who have no consideration apart from earning profits. CSR in contemporary organizations There has been a sharp rise in CSR reporting in the recent decade. KPMG international has reported that about 95% of the largest 250 companies in the world issue standalone CSR reports as of 2011 data (Mahoney, 2012). This calls for a need to assess as to why companies have started reporting for CSR activities in such large numbers over their issues and sustainability efforts. The prime reason observed behind such rise in voluntary CSR reporting is the increasing pressure from various internal as well as external stakeholders on companies to emerge as good corporate citizens. It is known that engagement in CSR initiative has costs associated with it which might tax its competitive market position. Alternatively, the firm can benefit from the profits that accr ue to companies for being responsible corporate citizens like retention of employees, positive consumer behaviour and investments and higher profits. CSR reports are issued with a view that such information apart from other information that is available to stakeholders, shall act towards the benefit of the company. The major benefit arising out of this is believed to be good company reputation. KPMG reported that the major reason behind CSR reporting is brand building and reputation enhancement. It is also likely that