A True Hero

Anonymous Prof. Smith 2 October 2011 A True Hero Soaring through fiery infernos, slaying dragons, rescuing the damsel in distress; heroes are stereotypically viewed as those who go through a heart-pounding adventure to save the love of their life. However, this does not always have to be the case, especially in real life. Although some may disagree, Gilgamesh is a hero is his own right because of his bravery, perseverance and loyalty. Just as Gilgamesh has these attributes of a hero, I believe my Grandfather contains these attributes too. My Grandfather, who is my mother’s father, went through a lot in his life to illustrate how he obtained my reverence towards him and why I believe he is a modern-day hero. Bravery is the key component that all heroes share. Without bravery, those defined as heroes would have been unable to overcome obstacles or take chances in their path of life. Determined to prove himself as the mightiest being, Gilgamesh showed his bravery by slaying Humbaba. While my grandfather failed to slay any massive beasts, he confirmed his bravery through other means. My grandfather first stunned me with his bravery when he shared his stories of being in the Navy. This is really impressive to me because I would never have the guts or strength to be able to handle the Navy and serve our country at the risk of sacrificing my life. Both Gilgamesh and my grandfather showed their bravery because they were able to stare death in the eye, and survive. It is also necessary that heroes maintain the ability to persevere or else heroes would be non-existent. Perseverance is the driving force that motivates heroes to keep going even in the face of adversity. If heroes lost perseverance, their journey would end when an obstacle blocked their path. It is a true hero who stands up in the face of adversity and continues to push forward to the finish line. Gilgamesh showed his perseverance after Enkidu died. Faced with adversity, Gilgamesh never took no for an answer as he searched for the key to immortality. Just as Gilgamesh showed perseverance, so too has my grandfather. My grandfather is an avid businessman and has been faced with many obstacles. In business, high risk equals high reward, but high risk can also induce high failure. My grandfather has always told me â€Å"Failures define who you are† because it tests your character. Throughout his career he has faced failure, understood how it felt to own nothing through bankruptcy, but he has never given up. His perseverance through failure made him stronger and led him the successes he was able to obtain. No matter the obstacle, Gilgamesh and my grandfather persevered through difficult times, never gave up, and came out on top. Finally, loyalty is another important trait heroes share. Loyalty is the fundamental reason as to why many heroes are brave and persevere. Whether it is loyalty to a loved one, family, a friend, or even their city, loyalty keeps heroes persevering and motivated. For Gilgamesh, Enkidu was his loyal companion. Their loyalty towards each other was un-measureable and their friendship was unbreakable. When Enkidu passed away, Enkidu inspired Gilgamesh to journey for immortality. My grandfather’s loyalty was persistent throughout his life towards my grandmother, his kids, and even his grandchildren. From the time he met my grandmother he was always completely loyal to her. Through good times and bad they were always at each other’s side. When he had kids it was the same way and even today he shows his loyalty to his grandkids by attending their sporting events or just being there for support. Bravery, perseverance, loyalty: three key components to be recognized as a hero. Each trait plays off the other, but a true hero exemplifies all three. While soaring though fiery infernos, slaying dragons, and rescuing the damsel in distress may be exciting, becoming a hero isn’t as difficult as fairytales make it seem. To be a true hero, ultimately all that is required is a strong and courageous heart, a never-give-up mentality, and faithfulness to all those important in your life. Acquiring these attributes is easy to do and make you a hero in anyone’s eyes, even if it’s just your grandson’s.

Mental Workload Assessment

We all feel stressed out and strained when we have work to do. Not only that, we experience situations like this even if we are just studying. More often, we feel pressured just by thinking the amount of exams to be prepared for, or for that next project that is necessary for a good promotion in the company. Mental workload is the right term for the stress and strain we experience, especially with regards to studying and working.   The Hanover College defines mental workload as â€Å"the feeling of mental effort or the level of use of the human operators limited resources† (n.d.).   In short, mental workload is a demand placed upon humans (Xiaoli, n.d.). When there is too much mental workload, it might lead to errors. Preventing this makes mental workload important to be understood. However, due to the many factors that must be considered in discussing mental workload, defining it becomes difficult. Mental workload is important in driving and aviation and design. In fact, most of the studies conducted about mental workload were about driving and aviation and task demands. This is perhaps due to the fact that a driver is required to do not just one but many tasks. Moreover, even though a driver is experienced, accidents still occur. De Waard (1996) conducted a study on mental workload among drivers. He said that driving a car looks like a pretty simple task for everyone. Driving schools provide comprehensive lessons and manuals on how to drive safely. But no matter how good a driver can be, accidents cannot be avoided. Moreover, these accidents are attributed to human failure. Human failure is still increased due to several factors. First is the increasing number of vehicles on the road. There is a demand on the human information processing system, and also increase in the likelihood of vehicles colliding. Second, people drive well into old age. However, older people tend to suffer from problems in terms of divided attention performance. It all started with the car radio, and then car phones and other technological devices. The driver must divide his attention to all these systems besides controlling the vehicle. Lastly, those drivers in a diminished state may endanger him. Most of the time, drivers set out at night for the longer journeys to avoid traffic. Driving at night can cause him sleepiness and fatigue. Aside from this, the driver can also be intoxicated (de Waard, 1996). Xiaoli (n.d.) presented the factors which affect driver workload, including the following: fatigue, monotony, sedative drugs and alcohol. Environmental factors also affect drivers, such as traffic demands, automation and road environment demands. There are different techniques in assessing mental workload, including the following: performance measures, physiological measures, and subjective task measures (or self-report measures) (Luximon & Goonetilleke, 2001). Primary and secondary task measures comprise the performance, or system output measures. An overview of each assessment technique will be discussed in the context of traffic research (driving or aviation). Performance Measures In Xiaoli’s (n.d.) slide presentation, he said that the measures usually belonging to this category are speed of performance, number of errors made and reaction time measures. Outside the laboratory, these become task-specific. De Waard (1996) said that most of primary-task measures include speed or accuracy measures. Aside from this, De Waard (1996) explained that primary-task performance establishes the efficiency of man-machine interaction. Not just the primary-task performance but also other workload measures must work together so that valid conclusions can be drawn about man-machine interaction. There are several approaches in the measurement of performance measures. First is the analytical approach (Meshkati, Hancock, Rahimi and Dawes, 1995). According to Welford (1978, cited in Meshkati, Hancock, Rahimi and Dawes, 1995), the analytical approach considers the detail at the actual performance of the task that will be assessed. Not only the overall achievement is examined but also the manner in which it is achieved. Another assessment technique is the synthetic methods. These start with a task analysis of the system. Task analytic procedures are then used to identify the specific performance demands placed on the operator. The third approach is the multiple measurement of primary task performance. This approach is very useful when individual measures of primary task performance do not show enough sensitivity to operator workload. On the other hand, Xiaoli (n.d.) indicated that secondary-task performance are about factors such as time estimation or time-interval production and memory-search tasks. The assumption associated with secondary task measure says that an upper limit exists on the ability of a human operator to gather and process information (Meshkati, Hancock, Rahimi & Dawes, 1995). The way to measure secondary-task performance is through another task included to the primary one. De Waard (1996) mentioned about the multiple-resource theory. The theory says that â€Å"the largest sensitivity in secondary-task measures can be achieved if the overlap in resources is high† (De Waard, 1996). According to Hancock, Vercruyssen and Rodenburg (1992), a person must have the ability to synchronize their actions with the dynamics of differing environmental demands so that he can survive and prosper in uncertain conditions. This means that the person must have some degree of autonomy with respect to space and time. However, secondary-task measures have disadvantages to consider. According to De Waard (1996), time sharing is not very efficient if the same resources are utilized. Moreover, additional instrumentation is required in secondary-task measures. Not only that, but there is lack of operator acceptance. There are also possible compromises to system safety. Subjective Task Measures There is much talk about the self-report measures, which is also called subjective measures. In fact, for De Waard (1996), self-report measures are advantageous because they can better show the real meaning of mental workload. These measures’ subjectivity is what makes self-report measures strong. Muckler and Seven (1992, as cited in De Waard, 1996) explained that self-report measures are strong because the awareness of the operator about the increasing effort used must give subjective measures an important role to play. Moreover, performance and effort are incorporated in self-report measures. Additionally, individual differences, operator state and attitude are also considered. Xiaoli (n.d.) said that the primary advantages of subjective task measures are high face validity, ease of application and low costs. However, there are also limitations in these measures. First is that there might be confusion of mental and physical load in rating. There might also be an exhibition of the operator’s inability to differentiate between external demands and actual effort or workload experienced. Second, limitations can be seen in the operator’s ability to introspect and rate expenditure correctly. Hancock, Brill, Mouloua and Gilson (2002) added that another disadvantage of self-report measures is that they cannot be used for online workload assessment. Physiological Measures According to De Waard (1996), physiological measures showed sensitivity to global arousal or activation level and in some stages in information processing. One advantage of this is that physiological responses do not need an obvious response by the operator. Additionally, most cognitive tasks do not need overt behavior. Moreover, some of the measures can be collected continuously. Kramer (1991, cited in De Waard, 1996) showed some of the disadvantages of these measures. First is that there must be specialized equipment and technical expertise to be able to utilize these measures. Second is the presence of signal-to-noise ratios. Kramer furthered that in operator-system performance, the operator’s physiology is not directly involved, unlike in primary-task performance. Other physiological measures involved in driving are pupil diameter, endogenous eye blinks, blood pressure, respiration, electrodermal activity, hormone levels, event related potentials, and electromyogram. De Waard (1996) furthered that not all measures are sensitive to workload when it comes to performance. There are instances when dissociation between these measures of different categories was reported. He said that dissociation occurs between measures when they do not correspond to changes in the workload, or if there is an increase in one measure and a decrease in another. Performance is thus affected by the amount of resources invested and the demands on working memory. Hancock, Brill, Mouloua and Gilson (2002) said that although physiological measures present global assessments of workload, they do little to balance the demands of tasks on sensory systems. In addition, physiological measures provide little or no information about what sensory systems are most taxed. To measure mental workload, two groups must be considered (Gopher & Donchin, 1986, cited in De Waard, 1996). Self-report measures, physiological measures and performance measures are included in the first group. This group supposes that it is probable to achieve a global measure of mental workload. The second group includes secondary-task measures and some of the physiological measures. This group is concerned about those diagnostic procedures and has something to do with the theories of multiple resources. References De Waard, Dick. (1996). The measurement of drivers’ mental workload. The Netherlands: The Traffic Research Center VSC. Hancock, P.A., Brill, J.C., Mouloua, M., & Gilson, R.D. (2002). M-SWAP: On-line workload assessment in aviation. Paper presented at the 12th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. Dayton, OH. Hancock, P.A., Vercruyssen, M., & Rodenburg, G.J. (1992). The effect of gender and time-of-day on time perception and mental workload. Current Psychology: Research and Review,. 11, 203-225. Hanover College. (n.d.). Mental Workload. Retrieved October 27, 2007 from http://psych.hanover.edu/classes/hfnotes3/tsld022.html Luximon, A. & Goonetilleke, R. (2001). Simplified subjective workload assessment technique. Ergonometrics, 44, 229-243. Meshkati, N., Hancock, P.A., Rahimi, M., & Dawes, S.M. (1995). Techniques of mental workload assessment. In J. Wilson and E.N. Corlett, (Eds.). Evaluation of human work: A practical ergonomics methodology. (Second Edition), London: Taylor and Francis. Xiaoli, Yi. (n.d.). Measurements of mental workload. [Slide presentation]. Available on http://www.slideshare.net/ESS/measurement-of-mental-workload/            

Instagram

Introduction to entrepreneurship Midterm assignment Kevin Systrom, founder and CEO of Instagram Introduction Kevin Systrom is an American entrepreneur most known as CEO and founder of Instagram, the most popular worldwide sharing application. This program has 85 million users and 4 billion photos were shared. So what makes it so special? It is a combination of passion for photography and weal to make it easy and available for everyone by just using your mobile. Kevin says â€Å"It’s one thing to share the photo but another for that photo to look gorgeous and be something you would like to keep forever. †(Systrom,2012)The reason why I decide to report Kevin Systrom is in my opinion he gives the best example how great idea can be transformed into successful company in very limited amount of time. Second after completing my research I realized that innovation made by him would have huge influence on social network in future. Last but not least his set of mind, values and p ersonal characteristics fulfill my vision of perfect entrepreneurial set of mind. Entrepreneurial path and mind-set Kevin Systrom was interested in entrepreneurship from very young age; his mother used to work for a monster. com back than and currently is an employee of Zip Car.Since that time technology was exiting for him, he took decision to go to private school that was an hour drive away in order to take computer science classes, as he considered them fun and useful. With the age of 12 he found the way to block his friend cursors and knock them offline. In his free time Kevin was creating websites for his friends and classmates, an example can be PhotoBox created in order to post pictures from latest keg party. He applied to Stanford with the intent to study computer science, but after taking the first course in advance programing he realized it was probably not a right thing for him.He used to spend 40 hours per week studying it and could barely get B. So he switched to manage ment science. He says, â€Å"It basically taught me how to be an investment banker. †(Systrom,2012) What really stands out for me is Kevin,he is really open minded and ready to explore new things. He is always looking for opportunity to get some experience even if it doesn’t seem applicable at the moment he believes it can be useful in long-term perspective as long as you do intellectual activities. During his junior years in Stanford he went to Florence, Italy in order to study Photography.Combing this experience with his technological background helped him to create open platform for visual media, which gained such a success. Being in Florence he also applied for a program created for young entrepreneurs, the core idea of it put students in groups of 12 people and paired them with successful entrepreneurs in order to share experience about structure of deals, fundraising and recruitment of people. The program’s co-director, Tina Seelig, says, â€Å"Systrom st ood out as an obvious  ­entrepreneur, he was always building things—always experimenting.It was in his nature to be looking at the world through the lens of ‘Where’s the opportunity here? ’† (Bertani, 2012) He completed his first summer internship at Odeo (that would later create Twitter), it was where he realized that he wanted to become and entrepreneur and got the first real feel of it. During this internship an important contact was made, he was working in a pair with Jack Dorsey, later the creator of Twitter. In future he will help Instagram to gain that popularity. Once Systrom was hired for a project manager position at Google.After about a year working there he realized his hunger for a start up. Soon after he came up with the idea of Instagram, called Burbn back than. In winter 2010 Stanford education and his ability to communicate helped him to make right connections for the future. It is important to meet people, communicate and keep in touch, that what in the end really makes difference. Steve Anderson, whom he met during his VC meet ups, got interested in his idea and agreed to invest $250,000 needed to start the company with the only condition, he wanted Systrom to bring in cofounder.He contacted Mike Krieger, another Stanford graduate with a majored degree in symbolic system, and proposed to join Burbn as cofounder. Mike got interested in this offer. It was the first check in service that he actually liked, so he accepted the offer. Systrom was able to identify a gap in a market place; it was decided to create photo- only, mobile-based service. He says, â€Å"It was an opportunity to create a new type of service, a social network that wasn’t based on a computer but computer in your hands†(Systrom,2012) His creativity and ability to come up with not obvious decision were crucial for the company development.Once during his holidays in Mexico, his girlfriend told him she wanted her pictures to look a s beautiful as pictures of their friend, who was a fan of photography and used different filters. It was a point where Kevin realized what Instagram was missing and spent the rest of the day working on this idea. Not long after first filter was added to program features and users loved. It helped to make even average mobile picture special. On the 6th of October 2010 Instagram became available in apple app, over the night it was downloaded by 25,000 users.With a help of Adam D’Angelo, whom he knew from flat party in Stanford they managed to get on Amazon com servers. In a meter of month 1 million users were using Instagram on regular bases. In April this year Mark Zuckenberg offered to purchase Instagram for $1 billion, with Systrom’s skake of 40% or $400 million. It is quite shocking as Instagram is a company with zero revenue and only 14 employees, however Facebook is highly interested in a mobile platform with 85 millions users. â€Å"This is the first thing I†™ve seen that feels like it’s truly native to mobile,† says Matt Cohler, the former VP of product management at Facebook. Bertani, 2012) It was decided that even after buying out, Kevin Systrom would run Instagram independently. The company is at the beginning stage of its growth. It’s currently working only with AOS, but Android and web will also be considered in future. Failure and actions As company activities are based on innovation the risk of is failure is quite high. There is a myth that successful startups based on single great idea Kevin however claims that there are only couple that entered and ended up doing exactly same thing.Idea is not something you can just wake up one day with, you have to take steps, find solutions and solve problems in order to create something valuable. In fact the idea of Instagram is based on another application created by Systrom, called Burbn. It was really simple and basic with only four different tabs, created as check in service, the innovative thing about it was like no other service Burbn gave people an option to attach their photos together with a location. It was discovered users are not checking in that much however they love to share their pictures.Burbn didn’t become successful. It was too hard to explain to people outside their friend group. Kevin and his team even joked that it didn’t pass the Bar test, meaning the idea was not clear enough to be explained in a noisy bar. It is important to present your product to customer as quickly as possible; it is a big mistake to wait for too long. The â€Å"right way to fail† is to fail early and often, in this way you don’t waste your recourses and you are able to identify if the direction in which you are working is right to fulfill people’s needs.Kevin believes that it’s totally normal to fail in the organization. Failure is required in order for right solution to be found. When Burbn was presented to p eople it turned out to be most Eye opening experience and he realized the idea has to be refined. The company was continuously failing with Burbn, so based on this experience the idea was changed. The check in was demoted and photos were promoted, in a new program (Instagram) you start with a photo and then optionally you can add a location and it turn out to make a huge difference.During the process of development filters were added and it was a break through for Instagram, as they realized they want to make photos better for people. Kevin states, â€Å"We were thinking how to encourage people to take more photos and we realized we want their photos to look better†. (Systrom,2012) Motivation The main drive and motivation for Kevin Systrom is a strong belief in what he is doing. The company Instagram didn’t want to build just a fun application, what it is aiming for is an application that solves problems and making people’s life better.The idea of Instagram in l ong term is a program that helps you to explore the world, your way to get news and experience events you were not able to attend. The ability to tune in any place in the world and see what is going on. They want to become world-changing company. It is first truly International network, as you don’t need to speak the same language in order to communicate through visual media. The obsession with his idea is highly beneficial for the company. As entrepreneur he works all the time, sometimes he skips birthday parties and has luck of sleep in order to solve the problem that may appear.He is exited about what he is doing and always looking for solutions and ways how to give world something it was asking for during a long period of time. Conclusion The goal of this report was to research and analyze the entrepreneurial path of Kevin Systrom. And to find an answer what is a key to his success. Through the report I have learnt few important lessons that can be useful for my future ca reer. The first of them is you can fail in order to find the right answer, it is completely normal to make mistakes, what is more important is to be able to find solutions and ways to improve.Usually the idea you will start with it’s not going to be exactly the same with your final idea. Second thing that I would like to keep in mind after finishing this report is its importance to hire right people. With the example of Instagram we can see that 14 really talented people can run a company in such a successful way. As well it is critical to find people who share passion for what you are doing.Reference Bertoni, S. (2012, August, 01). Instagram's Kevin Systrom: The Stanford Billionaire Machine Strikes Again. Retrieved October,10,2012, from http://www. forbes. com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/08/01/instagrams-kevin-systrom-the-stanford-millionaire-machine-strikes-again/4/ Kevin Systrom,Mike Krieger (2011,May 11). From Stanford to Startup [Video file] [Video file]. Retrieved October 10,2012, from http://ecorner. stanford. edu/authorMaterialInfo. html? mid=2735 Noer, M. (n. d. ). 30 under 30 [Video file] [Video file]. Retrieved from http://video. forbes. com/fvn/30-under-30/30-under-30-kevin-systrom/

Internal analysis of SLS Beverly Hills Research Paper

Internal analysis of SLS Beverly Hills - Research Paper Example The Albert Ballroom at this place can be converted into a wedding hall that can accommodate up to 400 people. This place is decorated with huge chandeliers and light boxes that boast of adaptable lighting and colors to reflect different moods. In addition, there is a beautiful foyer that provides a perfect transformation from cocktails to dinner followed by dancing. The furnishings are elegant and typical of the genius of Starck. The catering at this hotel is far superior to the ordinary banquet fare. The objective is to provide a personalized multisensory experience. The wedding menus tend to be unique and are crafted by the Chef Josà © Andrà ©s and his team. Moreover, handcrafted cocktails and custom wedding treats by Patisserie are available (SLS Hotel, 2015). The SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills boasts of 297 sleeping rooms, 27 meeting rooms, and a 13,000 square feet meeting room space (Cvent, 2015). The service provided is appropriate and outstanding, whether it is the parking by the valet, room service or poolside service. The staff and management of this hotel make every effort to provide the client with a highly enjoyable stay at the hotel. This client had resided at this place in March 2015, and had arrived at that place, in connection with a business trip (Trip Advisor, 2015). This hotel does not charge a rental fee for the reception. The ceremony fees varies from $1,500 to $2,600. The venue permits five hours of event time, and this is excluding the time taken for setting up the show and then dismantling the same. With regard to weddings, the average expenditure varies between $26,101 and $44,222 for a ceremony and reception to be attended by 100 guests (Wedding Spot, 2015). The SLS Hotel Beverly Hills, which is a block distant from the Beverly Center and in the vicinity of the glittering storefronts of Rodeo Drive and the Grove, is ideally located at the intersection of Los Angeles style and Beverly Hills luxury. The customers of SLS Hotels are

Hydraulic Fracturing For Natural Gas - Gasland Essay - 7

Hydraulic Fracturing For Natural Gas - Gasland - Essay Example One of the rhetorical strategies used in the documentary was the manner by which the narrator gathered pieces of evidence from people through verbal communication or speech. Through the journey, Josh Fox had interviewed an estimated number of about 20 individuals who were directly affected by the gas wells; and about 5 experts in the fields of environmental protection, public service, quality specialists, medical practitioner, and representative of the Environmental Protection Agency. The manner by which these individuals and experts provided testimonies to their verbal disclosures viably supported their arguments that since the oil and gas wells were drilled in their respective properties, their drinking water had been seriously contaminated. Aside from relaying the information verbally, most of the testimonies provided pieces of evidence in terms of showing the kind of water collected from their faucets; and even proving that when lit, water from the faucet ignites into flame. Like wise, some of the people who were interviewed explicitly indicated the negative impact of these wells; such as Debbie May who relayed that the drinking water initially tasted like metal and turned into murky brown. In addition, she also showed that her cat and horse exhibited shedding of their hair, as a result of being exposed to these gas wells. Thus, the people who provided verbal discourse were effective in appealing both through logic (through visual support) and emotions (by indicating health hazards and conditions which were experienced); as such, were effective in providing the needed proof to substantiate their allegations that the gas well was detrimental to their lives. Another rhetorical strategy used by Fox was the selection and choice of sound. It was evident that Fox was able to creatively incorporate background music, the sounds of machines, the sounds of the wind or water from the streams, the sound of children playing, and even an intermittent sound of silence. For instance, the documentary started with Fox playing the banjo and the end of the documentary also showed a man playing a musical instrument, which effectively integrates the whole creative work. Also, the sounds of the telephone ringing, the busy tone, and the background music of the answering machine were very effective in relaying the message that the narrator had been trying to collect different people and organizations to set the needed interviews for the documentary. These sounds and background music were all effective in appealing to the emotions of viewers. Sound and music provide an enhancing ability to emphasize an argument or a point being asserted. Likewise, background music, for instance, was instrumental in bridging one completed scene and used to transcend into a new issue or concern. The sounds actually enhanced and emphasized the arguments, as needed. Finally, the narrator also used the rhetorical strategy of visuals. Aside from the scenery and the people who were in terviewed, visuals also included graphics through stating relevant quotes, such as â€Å"water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink† (Moldovan) written in bold, white face and in all capital letters against a totally black background. In addition, graphics assisted in identifying the people who Fox interviewed, some with appropriate designations; such as Dr. Al Armerdariz, the Air Quality Specialist and Researcher at Southern Methodist University; Calvin Tillman, the Mayor of Dish, Texas; Wilma Subra, Chemist, First Responder, and MacArthur â€Å"Genius Award† Recipient; to name a few.        

Database Applications Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

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Corporate communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate communications - Essay Example The corporate communication should be a manifestation of the organization’s responsibility towards society. Let us analyze Nike example regarding the same. Nike has been attacked by NGOs constantly for its attitude for its manufacturing units overseas. Nike claims itself to be a marketing firm rather than a manufacturing one. It entirely out sources its manufacturing and contracts the work across the globe. However more than once it has been embarrassed by the attacks on its overseas operations. In the year 1996, there was a child labor issue when a major story in the Life magazine featured a photograph of a very young Pakistani boy sewing a Nike Soccer ball. In response the co announced that it will raise the minimum age of the factory workers. In the 1970s most Nike shoes were made in Taiwan and South Korea. When the labor in these countries started to organize themselves for better wages and working conditions the company shifted its activities to Indonesia, China and also Vietnam. It is analyzed that Nike preferred these countries due to their poor enforcement of labor laws and also cheap labor availability. However in October 2000 , the BBC exposed Nike factory in Cambodia which broke its own strict code of conduct and rules. Post this, Nike promised to remove all underage workers from its factories and assured to pay for their education till the age of 16. In 1997, Nike was exposed for its hazardous conditions in south-east Asian factories where the labor was subjected to toxic material and fumes. All this while Nike tried to avoid responsibility for factory conditions by saying that they are â€Å"just buyers†, but the anti-sweatshop movement has refused to accept the excuse. The movement also forced Nike to take responsibility for the workers who make their products. The company incorporated CSR into its overall business strategy, which was necessary for its survival. The question arises that did Nike have to wait for the

Statement of Individual Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Statement of Individual Rights - Essay Example According to Hatts (2005), the infusion is causing anxiety to the council of elders at the island. The growth is altering the social, economic and the political structure of the island. This implies that the elders who have had the autonomous rule in the island will have to adjust their style of leadership when devising laws for use in the island. They will no longer determine the values of the people in the island. However, they will influence the formulation of the statement of individual rights. Analysis of the legal and political philosophical principles at the Nation of Tagg The elders will find it difficult to continue with their administration using their â€Å"top down† approach because of growth in the population. They will have to acknowledge the changes that come with diversity. As such, the council of elders will no longer dictate to the people â€Å"the statement of their rights†. Instead, individual rights will be made through consensus as opposed to †Å"the top down approach†. The elders will loose the autonomy they had of formulating policies for governing the island. The island will be governed differently since the populace will be made of people from diverse backgrounds. A democratic approach will be preferred as the form of administration as asserted by Shweder (2002). Issues such as the right to property will be guaranteed to the citizens of the island. The discovery of oil in the island will diversify the economic activities of the people. According to Hatts (2005), oil exploration will affect the economies of the region. For instance, the legal philosophies will be aligned with the needs of the majority of the populations. Religion will be considered in devising laws for governing oil exploration. Legal institutions will come up with laws on taxation for people engaging in trade. Hence, democracy will be fundamental to enhancing mutual understanding in the island. It will be required upon every individual to respect the rights of one another. Everyone will be obligated to pay tax to the authorities. The diversity in cultures insinuates that there will be a difference in people values. Moreover, the administrative approach used in the island will no longer be effective. Therefore, it will be necessary to restructure the laws for delivering justice. This will ensure fairness and harmony exist among the populace in the island of Tagg. All laws should be objective and consistent logically (Peczenik, 2009). The council of elders will face resistance from different quarters of the population unless they embrace democracy. Therefore, it will not be easy for them to enforce laws to people of different philosophic ideologies. The statement of the individual rights will be made through consultations in the island to avoid conflicts in the island. After which, people living in the island will be respected. Meaning the authorities will recognize the difference in people’s culture and consider diver sity when implementing laws. The top down approach will no longer be used in governorship. Instead, the council of elders will embrace a participative approach in formulating laws in the island (Hatts, 2005). They will have to collaborate with all the individuals in the island in coming up with laws. The laws to be devised should ensure there is equity in distribution of oil resources. Moreover, religion and culture will be considered when coming up with l

Post Surgical Elderly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Post Surgical Elderly - Essay Example The primary aim shall be focused on the critical health issues affecting the ABC's (airway, breathing and circulation) of life, where wellness shall be promoted, discomfort be alleviated and complications be prevented with in the duration of her stay inside the hospital. As part of a nurse's care, an effective well comprehended discharge plan shall be discussed both to the patient's daughter as well as the patient herself for home treatment. One of the most important tasks that a nurse assumes in the medical industry is to make sure that the patient shows optimum if not maximum health conditions prior to discharge. It also her duty to provide health education unto the patient and the patients significant others for a thorough out patient care, one that is understood by both in terms of semantics, relevance and importance so as to be religiously followed. Admitted to my ward 3 days post surgery, 77 years old Patient Tee is currently in 2 litres oxygen therapy with 99% saturation via nasal prong. Chest x-ray indicates that the lower lobe of the lung has collapsed with a sputum microscopy that revealed a few gram positive Vancomycin resistant enterococcus. The patient also suffers from dysphagia characterized by post swallowing cough as well as dysphonia. Physical mobility is likewise restricted possibly due to fatigue and or fear of pain. While patients pre-hospitalization history already reveals poor nutrition, as verified by her daughter's statement that the patient refuses to eat her meals, this is much heightened with the presence of dysphagia (Medline and Mayo clinic home page. 2006). The patient's micro culture and sensitivity results tested positive on Enterococcus species, although there is no sign of elevated temperature as of the moment. The initial focused assessment that shall be made by interviewing patient Tee's of her present condition in order to gather information related to how and what she is feeling, taking into consideration dysphagia, pain (if any), breathing and communication ability, her appetite, urine and bowel movement, and the reasons for inability and her description of the intensity of pain/discomfort, as part of my acquisition of subjective data. As a nurse the observation that will take into account my own objective assessment will include, her breathing pattern, willingness to move about, range of movement, coherence and affect; her response to touch as well as the psychological manifestation of how she feels about her recent conditions and finally verifying this observations with laboratory results Nursing Diagnosis with rationale: Ineffective breathing pattern and impaired gas exchange secondary to collapse of the left lower lobe of the lung as evidenced by the decrease in oxygen saturation in the blood whenever oxygen pattern is removed (Orem, 1980. p.11). Activity intolerance related to shortness of breath as well as fatigue related to impaired oxygen exchange system. Anxiety related to feeling of suffocation and possible fear related to disabling respiratory deficiency. Impaired verbal communication secondary to dependence of prong/masked O2 inhalation and lastly chronic or situational low self esteem related to loss of normal

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - Essay Example Satrapi's focus is on her life from when she was eight to fourteen, covering this time period with the historical concepts in the background. She begins with a powerful idea; a school photo, and this photograph demonstrates many young girls in their veils. These girls would usually remove these holy veils to play on play breaks (Book Review). The author is finally able to leave the mess of the war, with her parents seeing her off at an airport, so that she can head to the safety of a school in Austria. However, the war did affect her for the rest of her life, and through adulthood we see the scars that are attributed to this experience. From the beginning to the end of her experience in Iran, the author's young life is veiled with the feelings of the oppressive, war-like life in Iran. (Book Review). It becomes quite apparent that like her own parents, many of the young children of this time were encouraged to leave the country in order to find safety. The country was in such an uphea val that even young, promising children of the next generation were not safe. Therefore, this had a profound effect on the author's life, and this effect would change her life forever. Growing up with a war at her doorstep, the author had to consider on a day to day basis how to survive, and had to also worry about her parents' survival. The emotional descriptions present in the book leave readers with a very strong sense of emotion in themselves. For example, I was quite affected by the knowledge that such a young child had to quickly grow up in order to understand the issues around her. Many of the terrible things Satrapi witnessed should never have to be witnessed by a young child. As a reader, I experienced a strong sense of a lost innocence, destroyed because of a war that the child did not necessarily understand. This certainly makes me, as a reader, feel sympathy and sadness toward the author, and this feeling continues for the narrator throughout the novel. The emotions are continually conjured up in the readers as the novel progresses. The book is presented in a very simple way, as small details are introduced to reflect on powerful concepts of emotion in the novel. By doing this, Satrapi shows how much the little things can matter, and how the slightest action can demonstrate a type of emotion (Book Review). The emotions present in all the characters, as they are all affected by the war going on in the background, is very obvious throughout the book. However, it takes some skill to be able to learn to read these small, simple, signs; as for many of us in secure western countries, we do not always see this kind of response in the individuals that surround us. Satrapi herself, as a young child during this time, often depicts the emotions of astonishment and confusion. She is chronically bewildered at having to wear a veil at only ten years old. She also becomes confused upon seeing the picture with her Uncle's former wife's head defam ed (Book Review). She is further confused by the notions of justice and God (Book Review). Because the war was going on for so long in the background of her life, it must have seemed to her that God was unjust, and this would have greatly confused a young girl. She has to deal with the change all around her demonstrated in politics, and it was noticeably difficult for a young girl to understand the

Why Evolution Is True by Jerry A. Coyne (Penguin Books) Published in Essay

Why Evolution Is True by Jerry A. Coyne (Penguin Books) Published in 2010 - Essay Example These evolution theories contradict with the concept of the creationists. The creation concept says that the human beings are not evolved rather they are created at once and that animals and the human beings are different from their origin. Both the concepts of evolution and the creation are very much opposite to each other. The subject of the book is very important to be clearly understood in our own life. In other words we can also say that â€Å"Why Evolution is true† is the summary of all the facts of Darwin’s evolution theory and also the natural selection process. Natural selection process is explained very well by the Darwin. This means that the one living organisms who strives for the life gets the chance to survive in the competitive environment. With the help of his arguments, Jerry Coyne has showed that the natural selection process do not destroy the beauty of life rather it enhances or give advancement to it in a gradual manner, because the nature itself selects the suitable living beings on its own behalf. The process of natural selection basically means to find out the proper resources to live the life. The one who find out the available resources would be included in the list of the naturally fittest organisms thus striving for saving the life. In other words we can also say that the natural selection means the struggle for the existence. For this struggle the living beings may change their traits and this would be called as the gene variation according to the environment. The changing of traits may help living organisms to grab the best possible resources. This gene variation would help them to survive according to the environmental conditions. Actually each and every individual is composed of different combinations of genes. Some of these genes traits are helpful or other might be less important in the survival. Therefore the individuals may change such kind of traits and also adapting to those which are more

Meaning of Life and Daffodils Essay Example for Free

Meaning of Life and Daffodils Essay The person who is saying the poem is a person who hardly admires nature for its true beauty. 2. Occasion: A trip to the lake inspired this poem because there he saw all these daffodils by the lake and compared them to stars. 3. Audience: The audience for this poem are all those who do not appreciate the beauty of nature and more so to the well-educated. 4. Purpose: The reason Wordsworth wrote this poem was to express the beauty of all nature and how we take its beauty for granted. He is wishing to convey that we should acknowledge nature because we are nature and nature is in all of use. Also that we should admire its beauty before the image is gone and it’s too late. 5. Subject: The poem is about a man who takes a trip to lake and wanders around without a care in the world, like a cloud. Then he sees all these daffodils and compares them to stars. Later he returns to his couch to then realize that the scene was beautiful and that all nature is beautiful. 6. Tone: The author’s attitude towards nature is that he loves the beauty of it and how should admire its beauty. That it should take a â€Å"pensive mood† (Line 20; Wordsworth) for us to realize the beauty of nature, because we should always admire its beauty. Poem Analysis TP-CASTT 1. Title: The title seems to give off a sense of relaxation and a worry free feeling. Floating through life with no worries, like a cloud. 2. Paraphrase: A person is wandering around like a cloud does when it floats high over vales and hills. At a glance he sees a host of golden daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing. He compares the daffodils to the stars and how the flowers remind him of the Milky Way. The flowers stretch endlessly along the margin of the bay. He saw just ten thousand in one glance. The waves besides the flowers danced but they could not outdo the sparkling waves of the daffodils. A poet could not be happy in such jocund company. He gazed at the show but thought little of what wealth the show to him had brought. It wasn’t until he lay on his couch in a pensive mood that the image flashes before is inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude. Then finally his heart is fills with pleasure and dances with the daffodils. 3. Connotation: The author uses personification to bring to life the daffodils and to connect them with humans. â€Å"dancing in the breeze. † (Line 6; Wordsworth) This imagery gives us a sense that the daffodils are trying to communicate with us through â€Å"dancing†, and tell us that we are really no different than them. The author gives off a relaxed tone by making the speaker wander like a cloud, and we can also tell that the author loves the beauty of nature and thinks that we are connected to it, by what he has the speaker do in the poem. The attitude that the speaker has toward nature is that at first he doesn’t really admire the beauty of the daffodils until he lies on his couch and thinks about what he saw. The speakers attitude towards himself is that he doesn’t really see what’s so important about nature, until he really thinks about it. . Shifts: The poem shifts when the speaker says, â€Å"but little thought,† (Line 17; Wordsworth). It also shifts when he lies on his couch to think about nature. It shifts from a sense of perspective, because at fist he just examined the lake and saw daffodils, but it wasn’t until later, after he left, that there was more to the daffodils than just being plants. 6. Title: Now when I see the title is see that it is saying that the speaker is wandering though life with no knowledge about nature and its connection with life. 7. Theme: The poem is about a man who takes a trip to lake and wanders around without a care in the world, like a cloud. Then he sees all these daffodils and compares them to stars. Later he returns to his couch to then realize that the scene was beautiful and that all nature is beautiful. The theme of the story is that we just see nature as plants and trees and we do not admire the true meaning of nature. Once we do see the true meaning of nature and how we are connected, we are not around to admire its beauty in person because it’s too late.

Reflection Paper On Hong Kong Tourism

Reflection Paper On Hong Kong Tourism Hong Kong tourism is one of the four pillars in its economy. With its image as a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong has attracted millions of tourists each year. However there are tourism issues that should not be overlooked by the government and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC) in order to develop strategies to maintain the long term sustainability of Hong Kong tourism. In this paper, a situation assessment is presented and key tourism issues are identified together with the problems associated and relevant strategies to overcome these problems identified. After the handover of Hong Kong back to the hands of China in 1997, Hong Kong developed its strong links with China. Tourism is with no exception. In 2010, Hong Kong recorded 36 million visitors with more than 60% of visitors coming from Mainland China (HKTB, 2011). This was the result of the extension of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) and the relaxation of visa arrangement that stimulate the demand. In the coming future, demand from Chinese tourists is still in a grow. Despite the stable demand from Chinese tourists, Hong Kong faces huge challenges from nearby destinations. Hong Kong is used to have being a shopping paradise and being a MICE destination as its competitive edges, however these edges seem to be narrowing down. Hainan province in China has launched a shopping tax refund program to attract non-residents to spend in shopping (Peoples Daily, 2011). Singapore and Macau have developed casino resorts together with MICE facilities to attract business tourism. Despite all these, Hong Kong still has its advantage on its geographic location to be a gateway to China which attracts millions of people in and out of Hong Kong as a hub. Besides, Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city and an Asias world city which contains characteristics of the West and the East, tradition and contemporary which is appealing to overseas tourists. Its financial position in Hong Kong has attracted many business travelers to come to Hong Kong for business purpose and its image of being a Shopping and Food Paradise has also attracted many leisure tourists. Though Hong Kong still has these advantages, these competitions should not be overlooked in order to strategically maintain its long term sustainability. Tourism Issue 1 Reliance on Chinese tourists In the light of the huge share of Chinese tourists in the mix of Hong Kong tourist arrivals, it is an issue of whether Hong Kong tourism should rely that much on the Chinese market. Some supporters would say the huge supply and spending of Chinese tourists has stabilized Hong Kong tourism demand. From the statistics obtained by HKTB (2011), while the numbers of short haul tourists from Taiwan and Japan and that of long haul tourists from Europe and USA declined in the past 10 years, the visitor number from Mainland China grew rapidly. It can be said that Chinese tourists have sustained Hong Kong tourism. Moreover, according to another statistics from HKTB (2011), Chinese tourists were big spenders that have accounted for 69% of the total visitors spending in 2010. All these reasons have led Hong Kong to develop tourism policy especially for this group of tourists. However, over reliance on the Chinese market would create problems as well. In case of external forces or simply the change of taste of Chinese tourist would pose difficulties for Hong Kong to maintain its visitors number. The 12th National 5-Year Plan released by the Chinese government is one of the external forces mentioned. It was the first time that Hong Kong tourism was not highlighted in the plan, instead the Chinese government intended to develop Macau as a world-class tourism and leisure center (Hong Kongs Information Services Department, 2011). With this aim, the Chinese government might be policies that favor that development of Macau tourism. In that case, more Chinese tourists would be encouraged to go to Macau instead of Hong Kong. Back to Hong Kong, cases like Ah Zhen incident that happened recently would discourage Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong. Ah Zhen has been accused to have damaged Hong Kongs reputation as Shopping Paradise by blaming Chinese tourists for not purchasing souvenirs from designated shops. Similar incidents have also happened after this (Wall Street Journal, 2010). These incidents would hinder more Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong for shopping. In the long run, this would pose challenges to Hong Kong tourism. China is a huge market that would supply sufficient demand for Hong Kong tourism, Hong Kong government should continue retaining this group of guests to come to Hong Kong. In order to achieve this, there are several recommendations to protect the interests of these guests. Firstly, the government could expand its Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours Programme to continue strengthening Hong Kongs image as a quality and value for money destination. At the moment, the programme has been carried out in 27 Mainland cities and also in the virtual world on the Internet. Participating travel agents in the scheme have to commit that their itineraries should not contain designated shopping stops and forced shopping and forced self-paid activities. In the new expansion of the programme, the government can promote these tours together with its benefits in more cities in China. Besides, the government can also promote them more extensively via different communication channels, e.g. TV advertisement, social media, etc. Moreover, secret shopper campaign should be continued and done more extensively to spot out illegal or unethical behaviors of travel guides to maintain a satisfactory level of services. This campaign can be used to facilitate the implementation of the Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours Programme as well to make sure the travel agencies in China and in Hong Kong if they are following the guidelines offered by Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC). It is hoped that by this campaign, travel agencies would self regulate themselves in service delivery and provision. Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) should develop a more regulatory system to warn and punish travel agencies or tourist guides once illegal or unethical behaviors have been spotted out. In the case of Ah Zhen, originally she was suspended from being a tour guide after the case discovered, however, after her appeal to TIC, she is now suspended for only half year. This indicates the ineffectiveness of the existing system which could allow similar incidents to happen in the future. TIC should be more careful in designing its regulatory system in order to exercise more regulatory power and punishment on Hong Kong tour operators and tour guides who have offended the rules and gives more confidence to Chinese tourists, thus remedy the bad reputation built. However, for the long term benefit of Hong Kong tourism, over focusing on one market segment could be dangerous, Hong Kong government should also find ways to attract other markets. Issue 2 Sustainability of cultural and heritage attractions In view of this and the keen competition from neighboring destinations, Hong Kong has tried its best to develop new tourism products to overcome these challenges. Cultural attractions are popular among these new attractions in recent years to improve Hong Kongs cultural image. Tsim Sha Tsui piazza and the West Kowloon Cultural District are two of the big projects that the government has under taken as new tourism attractions. Besides, the government has also emphasized in developing heritages to showcase Hong Kongs mixed culture. Examples are the former Marine Police Headquarter in Tsim Sha Tsui which has renovated to become a square 1881 Heritage and a boutique hotel named Hullett House. Another example would be the Central market which will be developed into Central Oasis and the project of revitalizing the Former Police Station is Central. One key issue that can be identified among all these projects is whether they could enhance sustainability. According to the Chief Executive in 1999 (Hong Kong Sustainable Department, 2008), the Hong Kong government would ensure a sustainable development to bring about full integration of economic and social development with conservation of environment. In order to achieve this, local participation is very important in leading to sustainable development which gives win-win situation to all parties of the society. However, one common key critics faced by the government in these big projects is lack of transparency. For example, in the case of Tsim Sha Tsui Piazza, a workshop that aims to gather opinions from different parties was subjected to question as these parties were mostly come from the government or government-related organizations (Tourism Commission, 2007). Another example is from another big project, the West Kowloon Cultural District. The management authority of the project is questioned as all of the 15 members from the authority were appointed by the government. Therefore, it is commonly believed that due to lack of transparency, the interest of the government might have affected the management. For heritage sites development, given that the Heritage Tourism Task Force was set up in 1998, it was blamed to be lack of leadership and lack of influence in the government bureaucracy (Chu and Uebegang, 2002). The essence of sustainable tourism development is how to balance different views from different parties which is actually a huge challenge that the government has to face in planning and developing tourist attractions. In order to fully implement sustainable tourism development, a bottom-up approach has to be adopted to collect more objective views from all sectors in Hong Kong so that specific needs could be satisfied and win-win situation for tourists and locals could be achieved. Cooperation with and involvement of locals or significant cultural group should be guaranteed and local community should be involved at the beginning stage of planning and operation to avoid these heritages to lose its original value, especially to the locals who have grown up with these heritage sites. It is hoped that by this approach, the integrity and authenticity of the heritage could be maintained while new elements like environmental friendly designs could be also involved in the new design. Another problem raised from sustainability is whether these new attractions could showcase the local elements. Perhaps due to the image of Hong Kong as being an international city, projecting an image of East-meet-West, attractions are often blamed to be lack of local characteristics. For example, in the case of West Kowloon Cultural District, even one of the advisory committees of the project criticized that the design is lack of local elements (HKheadline, 2011). This problem has to be dealt properly, or else every new attraction in Hong Kong would deliver similar image to tourists, especially for revitalized heritage attractions which are supposed to deliver a unique image and background knowledge of Hong Kong so that visitors could appreciate and understand more about Hong Kong. One of the solutions is to keep up with public consultations and gather opinions of the public about the kind of local culture to be included in the design of new attractions. By that, local culture could be incorporated into the design and would not be missed out. Conclusion With its strong link to China, Hong Kong relies on the supply of Chinese tourists to sustain tourism. Though the huge number of Chinese tourists remains a consistent supply, there are risks associated with it and as a government body, HKTC should develop measures to also attract other markets and diversify the profile of Hong Kong visitors. On the other hand, sustainable tourism development is often questioned due to lack of transparency and overlook of Hong Kong local elements in development new attractions. HKTC and the government should involve a more transparent public consultation and public engagement so as to guarantee a more sustainable tourism planning and development.

Essay on Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Sin in The Pardoners Tale :: Pardoners Tale

Importance of Sin in The Pardoner's Tale There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation. Gluttony is defined as the over-indulgence of food and drink. The pardoner said that gluttony was the sin that corrupted the world. The first form of gluttony is drunkenness. Drunkenness is sinful because man loses his ability to reason. The three men were guilty of gluttony when they over indulged in wine at the tavern that eventually led to swearing and lechery. The pardoner claimed that drunkenness played a big role when Lot committed incest with two of his daughters. Drunkenness had influenced Herod's decision when he ordered John, the Baptist beheaded. Gluttony was unknowingly committed in these two examples leading to incest and murder. The pardoner, however, did not practice what he preached. He couldn't proceed with his exemplum until he had something to drink. The pardoner was a proud man. While others were not as educated as he was, the pardoner spoke in Latin to show off his linguistic ability. His failure to practice what he preached made him a model of hypocrisy and deceit. The pardoner was such a bragger that he boasted of the sins that he had done. "I spit out my venom under the color of holiness, to seem holy and true"(page 343). The pardoner admitted to his astonishing behavior and confessed to his immorality. His shameless confession indicated that he was guilty of foolishness: I preach, as you have just heard, and tell a hundred other falsehoods...my intention is to win money, not at all to cast out sins (page 343).

Johnny Walker :: Johnny Walker Short Story Essays

Johnny Walker Sera walked into Circle K on fifth st. without noticing it had not been remodeled since 1986, and that someone from another, more financially kept city might actually find the convenience store to be disgusting, the dirt being so thick on the windows that you could only see blurry faces on the inside. Inside she saw five people in the store and believed that all of them were staring at her, looking through her like they knew more about herself than she did. The clerk, she thought, had even looked up from her monotonous duties at the cash register to glance her wrinkled leathery face in Sera's direction. An ugly bum in the beer section reached into the cooler with a calloused black hand as Sera walked through the candy aisle to pick up a case of Budweiser. "Ah yes, forty ounces to freedom." The black skinned bum grabbed a forty of old English malt liquor while he turned a decrepit smile toward Sera. She smiled back sheepishly without knowing why and took the Budweiser out of the fridge that Liza had sent for her to get. She thought of Liza as she stood in line behind the old bum. Her face, an illusion in her mind, made out of the back of the bums scraggily black afro. When she walked out the door the bum stood outside with his paper bagged forty in his hand. "Need any help with that tonight?" He grinned with a yellow and half tooth full mouth. "I tend to get pretty thirsty." He held up his forty as if to clarify his thought to Sera. Sera looked at the black man and saw how gross he looked, and then thought why not bring someone back to the apartment for Liza to fuck with. "Sure. I'm walking. It's just a couple of blocks down in the Kohler building." Her voice was firm but also curious. "Lets doer little woman." Sera rolled her eyes, turned around, and started walking. * * * When they passed the third floor on the way up to the Landlady's apartment Sera had glanced down the hall and seen that Luther's door lay wide open, and that some of his books had spilled out into the hallway toppled on top of each other. On the fourth floor, Liza's door lay open and Sera could hear her washing clothes while talking to Luther.

America Under Siege :: essays research papers

America under Siege†¦ One the greatest bastions of freedom and democracy in our world is now under siege by cowardly forces. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon is not only an attack against the US, but an attack against the entire Western civilised world. There is nothing more despised and cowardly then a terrorist attack on innocent bystanders, but yet it is still one of the most effective weapons in the world today. It has been used before and will probably be used again, as we see from the attacks in the US. This is the warfare of the new Millennium. No country can be prepared for terrorist attacks and defend against them, especially not for one in such scale as the attack on the US. When seeing the pictures on CNN for the first time, I first believed that this was a hoax, a movie or something like that, but soon the fearful truth hit me ; this was for real! I have read things like this in books and seen them in the movies, but I for one, did not believe that this would happen. In 1996, Tom Clancy wrote a book called â€Å"Executive orders†, where he described a scenario which is not so far from what happened on Tuesday ; a plane crashes into Capitol Hill, killing the entire Congress and the president of the USA. You can say that Clancy almost predicted that something like this would happen, and so did the intelligence community. Already in 1993 a secret Pentagon report called â€Å"Terror2000† described possible terrorist scenarios against American interests, and in fact, several of those scenarios have come true indeed. America under siege. I remember reading Tom Clancy’s number one seller ; â€Å"Executive orders†, and thinking that it would be so cool if I could experience something like that. Well, I did, and the rest of the world did on the 11. of September 2001. And I realised how wrong I was when thinking that something like that would be cool to experience. Tom Clancy starts his book with a poem written by Colleen C. Hitchcock, called â€Å"the Ascension†, and I think that it is very appropriate for this occasion : Ascension And if I go, while you’re still here†¦ Know that I live on, vibrating to a different measure -- behind a thin veil you cannot see through. You will not see me, so you must have faith.

IT Doesn’t Matter by Nicholas G. Carr Essay

Over the years the importance of IT has increased a lot. So much so that whole business processes revolve around the IT system. According to Nicholas Carr, the huge increases in investment in IT systems may be because of the assumption by companies that IT provides them with a strategic advantage. However, this assumption is flawed. A technology doesn’t give strategic advantage because of its ubiquity but because of its scarcity. As IT becomes cheaper and available to everyone, its strategic advantage vanishes. Secondly, IT being an infrastructural technology, it’s meant to be shared as it provides more value when shared than in isolation. Mangers believe that the innovations brought by infrastructural technology will last forever. However, this isn’t the case. As huge amount of investment pours in, competition increases and the technology becomes cheaper and commoditized. The same thing has happened with IT (Carr, 2003). After establishing that IT isn’t that important, Nicholas then proposes some recommendation for today’s managers. Firstly, managers should start spending less on IT. They should rigorously analyze alternatives before investing in a particular IT system. Moreover, managers should look for open source or cheaper alternatives. Furthermore, managers should focus on reducing waste. More than thirty percent of storage capacity is used to serve the customer – the rest is used to store Mp3s, video and emails (Carr, 2003). Secondly, companies should follow instead of leading. With every new technology becoming obsolete the next month, it’s better to wait and then make a move for the right kind of IT system (Carr, 2003). Finally, IT should now be seen as important to the competition but insignificant to the company’s strategy. Managers should now focus on sustaining the current IT system rather than upgrading it, as a small disruption can have a destructive effect on the company’s profitability and reputation but an upgrade doesn’t contribute much to profits (Carr, 2003).

Maritime Trade, Global Economies, and the Megaports Initiative

Maritime Trade, Global Economies, and the Megaports Initiative The purpose of this posting is two-fold. Part one is to describe the importance of maritime trade to global economies, and part two is to illustrate the importance of the Megaports Initiative to international trade. Part One: Obviously, global trade involves moving finished goods and heavy commodities over long distances. From both a tonnage perspective and value perspective, an overwhelming share of inter-hemispheric and trans-oceanic trade involves the use of maritime (as opposed to aviation) transportation. Therefore, as I composed this response, I considered â€Å"global trade† and â€Å"international trade† nearly synonymous with â€Å"maritime trade. † Rather than simply â€Å"describe† the importance of maritime global trade, I shall actually â€Å"emphasize† its importance so that you, the reader, know right away that I am a staunch and firm proponent of free trade. Free, unfettered, and unregulated global trade (with some notable exceptions below) is hugely beneficial to the aggregate welfare of the world at large. The explosion of global trade over the last 5 decades has lifted entire segments of populations throughout China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, and nearly ALL of Korea out of poverty and into a new working and stable middle class. Ancillary benefits include significant improvements in literacy, life expectancy, and gains in personal freedom and self determination, with China being a frustrating exception. Critics of global trade (a wily bunch ranging from thoughtful academics to concerned unions to undisciplined and uninformed â€Å"anarchists†) have all sorts of counter arguments against a global economy. Their protestations are far too numerous to address at length in this forum, but a quick review of some of the fallacious and unfounded concerns would include: global trade suppresses the â€Å"locally grown† movement; it enriches the wealthy at the expense of the world's poor; it â€Å"increases† global output of carbon dioxide, etc. These â€Å"fringe† concerns are fallacious because world trade allows the most efficient producer access to all markets. Efficiency, by definition, means the producer who uses the LEAST amount of ggregate raw material (be it feed-stocks, acreage, labor, energy per unit produced, scarce components, etc) will be rewarded with global business. A more valid concern, generally advanced by American unions, might be the loss of manufacturing and textile jobs in the United States. A painful reality of global trade is that the benefits are NOT pareto optimal: they are not distributed evenly, and there will be both winners and losers. In thi s context, trade unions and isolationists in the U. S. ave felt the economic pain as cost conscious manufacturers have moved production overseas. In some industries (automobiles, in particular) overseas competitors simply beat long dominant American producers at their own game. In response, American unions have sometimes confused protectionism with patriotism. There is nothing â€Å"patriotic† about preserving an uncompetitive and underperforming industry. On the contrary, protectionism denies the American consumer choices and it stifles American innovation. Global trade, which is realized by a robust maritime trade, encourages all producers to be innovative, and it elevates the real purchasing power of the world consumer. As promised, there are some brief caveats, however, to the argument I advanced above. Free, unfettered, and unregulated trade should strive to resemble â€Å"fair trade† to the maximum extent possible. The world economy should not benefit from the producer who achieves a competitive edge through the use of child labor, slave labor, indentured servitude, or a total disregard for the environmental effects of his production. The mechanisms to establish those standards (much less enforce them) is a topic for another paper, but it should be mentioned in light of the argument I have advanced above. Part Two: The exact statement we are being asked to consider is the following: â€Å"Illustrate the importance of the Mega Ports to International Trade. † Here's my contrarian assessment: The Megaports initiative is a SECURITY measure, NOT a trade measure. So I would argue that it has little â€Å"importance† to international trade, but very significant importance with respect to national security. The Megaports initiative is a U. S. lead, internationally coordinated effort to scan containerized cargo for radiation hazards and threats. Thus, Megaports WILL become an important concern to international trade only if it manages to DISRUPT it†¦ which it might, depending upon the capabilities of the screening equipment used and the rigidity of DHS/DOE's ambitious goal of screening 50% of containerized cargo by 2015. I have some reservations about the ability of the federal government to reach its stated goal of 50% screening, and I also am skeptical about the efficacy claims of the equipment that is to be deployed. The manufacturers of expensive, high tech screening equipment that cater to DHS have a pretty solid record of over-promising (or, at least exaggerating) the abilities of their wares. Radiological detectors can produce some impressive diagnostic results, but they are too slow to handle large volumes of cargo. Full spectrum scans can take several minutes for a 56 foot intermodal ITU (International Transport Unit). The larger U. S. ports handle upwards of 2000 imported containers per day. In layman's terms, there is simply not enough time in the day to screen 1000 TEU's per day with existing technology. I'm also concerned that the deployment of screening equipment (the most precise equipment is not mobile, but fixed) will create chokepoints around ports and may delay trade and interfere with the well choreographed transfers between railways, trucking companies, and shipping. My final concern deals with what is perhaps an unavoidable obstacle. Exactly what is the point of screening for radiological WMD's when those WMD's have already arrived at a U. S. port? If a nefarious group has the means to procure a nuclear device (either â€Å"dirty† or truly fissile), then we can safely assume those same bad actors could incorporate inertial navigation (which does not rely on GPS reception) to detonate the device at a desired location along the transport route. In conclusion, I am skeptical of the cost-benefit mix of this initiative. If it's going to be deployed, it should be deployed honestly: as a â€Å"spot check† mechanism of deterrence. The United States should also do everything in its power to screen U. S. A. bound cargo at the cargo's port of origin, rather than at the port of destination. References: The National Nuclear Security Administration, Megaports Initiative (October 2009), U. S. Department of Energy. (Retrieved from the AMU HLSS 645 course materials folder on 14 December 2009)

Collective Consensus Theory Essay

Social norms can be defined as – The rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to stick to the rules can result in severe punishments, the most feared of which is exclusion from the group. A common rule is that the some norms must frequently be displayed; neutrality is seldom an option. Here I include other norms, which are as follows: a. ) Injunctive Norms – These are behaviors, which are perceived as being approved of by other people. b. ) Descriptive Norms – The perceptions of how other people are actually behaving and whether their behavior is accepted or not. c. ) Explicit Norms – written or spoken openly. d. ) Implicit Norms – not openly stated (but you find out when you trespass them). e. ) Subjective Norms – How we will behave with others who valued us. f. ) Personal Norms – Knowing our standards about our own actions. By exploring social norms and inequalities, let me be more specific, about the Americans – Inequalities in American society have become so institutionalized that we rarely recognize most of them on a daily basis. Some are glaringly obvious: the privileges of the elite, the boss’ ability to come and go as he pleases- but these inequalities are sustaining, obvious, and don’t hurt as much because we are conditioned to accept them†¦ Some inequalities change as certain circumstances change. The type of social stratification I wish to discuss is ever changing, we’ve all experienced it, but have we all noticed it? We like to think we live in a classless, multicultural society where everyone is treated equally. Frankly we are deluded. Of course there are classes, and not everyone is treated equally. The classes in our world are based on race, ethnicity, education and politics. Of the phenomenons of social stratification is social inequality, which is the distribution of resources dividing society into rank, grades, family, religion and education. These divisions should not occur in our society, but it is the sad truth that it does. Ethnicity is different to race as ethnicity is a distinct cultural definition which people identify with as customs, family patterns and religion. The sociologist, Max Weber, defines ethnic groups as â€Å"human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of physical type or of customs or of both or because of memories of colonialisation or migration†. The biggest problem that arises in race and ethnic relations is prejudice, which is born out of pre-judgment and lack of knowledge. The Sociological causes of prejudice are: 1. It draws together people who share it; superiority is important. This is an element of Emile Durkheim’s Collective Consensus Theory. 2. Competing for resources. It is easier to get things if you can write others off as less deserving. 3. We can project onto others, who we think are lesser than us, those parts of ourselves that we don’t like. The prejudices against those we think are ‘different’ have negative consequences such as limiting our vision of the world. But far worse is its effect on society; it leads to discrimination and the consequence of discrimination is inequality. For Karl Marx, inequality was seen as a dichotomy based on the relations of production and the concept of class is the basic indicator of inequality. Weber saw inequality as three abstracted mechanisms of power; class (economic power), status (social prestige power) and party (political power). Whichever way it is described, inequality is found everywhere, between class, in education, health, occupations and power and within classes with sex, age, ethnicity and religion. However, there is hope in the end, for people can be socially mobile, which is the movement of people between social classes. Society’s idea is that if you work hard enough you will move up in society, but this is not always true. People can move downwards in the social scale, or may start on the bottom and stay there because they do not have the same access to education as others may have. These people have less opportunities than others yet they are looked down upon because they are not upwardly mobile. How can people move up socially if they are not on an equal playing field to begin with? As long as people continue acting the way they do, inequality and racism will exist. Education is the key, and while older people may be set in their ways and may not be willing to change their views, we must educate the children, who are are future. Children must be taught that all people are equal and that thinking otherwise is wrong. For it is wrong. We were all created equal. Man made us not so. As per my view, when we live in a society were abiding by social, personal, or subjective norms, which are laid out for social and societal living is of utmost significance; I tend to stick to those norms and also inculcate the same things to people who are not aware of them. Man is a social animal, who needs to be trained to adapt different changes in societal environment. He has to abide by the norms laid out by the society to be accepted socially and morally, or else he/she is treated as a aborigine or uncivilized.

Apple Case Study 1

Apple Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. Opening Case III. Competitor Analysis IV. Sales Analysis V. Profitability Analysis VI. Cross Elasticity of Demand: Competitors v/s iPhone VII. Demand, Cost and Pricing VIII. Pure competition, Monopolistic Competition & Oligopoly IX. Conclusion X. References I. Introduction Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets a range of personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, and sells a range of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. It's products and services include Macintosh (Mac) computers, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Xserve, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems, third-party digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, and a range of accessory, service and support offerings. The Company sells its products globally through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force and third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. As of September 25, 2010, the Company had opened a total of 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. II. Opening Case: Apple reveals the iPhone MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple ® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod ® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. Phone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones. â€Å"iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobi le phone,† said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. † iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac ® or Internet service such as Yahoo! , so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls. iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most. Phone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac. iPhone fea tures a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email. iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US. iPhone is a Widescreen iPod Phone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers â€Å"touch† their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display. iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position. Phone’s stunning 3. 5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes ® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TVâ„ ¢. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos. Phone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store. iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. Phone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background. Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free â€Å"push† IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple . Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services. iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safariâ„ ¢ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. Phone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer. iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get direct ions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface. iPhone’s Advanced Sensors Phone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio. iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. Phone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time. Pricing ; Availability iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802. 11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2. 0 EDR wireless technologies. iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2. 0 port, Mac OS ® X v10. 4. 8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2. 0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June. III. Competitor Analysis Market Share by OS Nokia still has a third of the overall mobile phone market. The average selling price of a Nokia Smartphone fell by 21% from 2009. Nokia is selling plenty of devices, but they are at the cheap end of the market. They lost what some in the industry refer to as â€Å"mindshare† to Apple's iPhone and the Google Android mobile software platform. Nokia wants to sell services – music, maps, and applications – as well as hardware but high-end phone users are looking elsewhere. The company says a new family of Smartphone’s, led by the N8 released in 2010, will revive its fortunes at the top end of the market. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop was forced to abandon the mobile phone giant's in September 2010. The news that the Finnish firm might only break even in the second quarter of this year slashed 25 per cent off its value in 24 hours. Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has announced it will shed 7,000 jobs from next year as part of a plan to refocus the company on Smartphone. The Finnish firm is moving from Symbian to Microsoft's Smartphone technology. The firm recently confirmed the deal with Microsoft last week to jointly develop Smartphone technology, which will cut costs by about 1bn Euros a year. Under the terms of that deal, Nokia agreed to start using the Microsoft's operating system on its Smartphone instead of its own Symbian platform. Nokia's response to the Smartphone threat from competitors such as Apple's iPhone and phones using Google's Android system has been long been a key investor concern. Prior to the iPhone, Nokia was the king of mobile handsets. Now its share of the Smartphone market has plunged from 47 per cent to 27 per cent. It has also lost its ranking as the largest handset maker in terms of revenue to Apple. Android When Google decided to get into the Smartphone business it decided that Android devices would be everything that the iPhone was not. Apple one or two handsets, Google on the other hand was laying out a great number of handsets. Manufacturers such as HTC, LG and Motorola could use the new operating system for free. It enabled Google to have phones for every section of the market – high powered and pricey, cheap and practical. Android's real selling point would be the apps. Here too, the policy was one of openness. Apple controlled its App store controlling every submission and rejecting those that contravened its rules. For Android anyone who had written an app could upload it. At first, users and app developers welcomed the free-and-easy approach. However, some have begun to question if Google's policy for the apps is the best way to manage the Market. Three years after its launch, hardware sales are booming. Yet sales of Android apps remain relatively poor. Estimates of Apple’s App store in 2010 were ? 1. billion. Android Market managed just ? 62 million. The figure was lower than both Blackberry App World (? 100m) and Nokia's Ovi store (? 64m). Research predicts massive improvements for Android by this time 2012 but it is still expected to lag far behind iOS. Finally Android's market share grew to surpass the Symbian platform used by Nokia making it the most sold Smartphone Microsoft Microsoft market share is declining in the Smartphone platf orm market. Windows Phone 7 lacks a number of features despite the innovation of its user interface. Microsoft hopes to gain market share once Nokia Windows Phones and its wide-ranging â€Å"Mango† software update get released later in 2011. Microsoft has unveiled the first major update to its Windows Phone 7 operating system it launched in 2010. The update, codenamed Mango, intdoduces more than 500 changes. Microsoft’s attempts to break into the Smartphone race have been mediocre at best. Currently, the company controls less than 4% of the market. Despite this, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform is forecasted to beat Android in 2013. Microsoft introduced Pocket PC in 2000, followed by Windows Mobile in 2003, prior to Apple and Android's release. However it still failed to compete in the market, or rival Symbian who controlled nearly 90% of the market share. Microsoft lacked the features and compatibility that Symbian was featuring at the time, and as a result, consumers refused to recognize its product or give Microsoft the opportunity to be a contender in the Smartphone industry. The platform was notoriously sluggish and the most difficult of any platform to use. Microsoft tried to solve some of these issues with minor tweaks and software updates over the years to little or no avail. As Windows Mobile market shares continued to decline, Microsoft had no other option than to overhaul the Microsoft platform and launch Windows Phone 7 in 2010. Windows Phone 7 was much improved. But Microsoft still failed to take control of the market, or garner any real significant attention from consumers. RIM Research In Motion has given up more ground to Apple and Google in the hypercompetitive Smartphone market, a report shows, while two brokerages cut their price targets for the BlackBerry maker on concerns it can no longer keep pace. The latest figures dropped RIM from second to third place. The Canadian company's struggle to compete is unlikely to get any easier, with Apple's upcoming iCloud service expected to hurt RIM. IV. Sales Analysis Apple  produced some stellar results: revenues up 48% year-on-year to $13. 5bn, and profits up. The process is confused because  Apple has begun restating its year-ago earnings, to take into account the fact that it now recognizes income and revenue from subscription-based products such as the  iPhone(which may be sold on an 18-month contract) as soon as it gets it, rather than deferring it over the life of the device/contract as it used to. It began doing that in the most recent quarter, covering Christmas, which – confusingly – is the first quarter of its financial year. So previously, the second-quarter revenues were $8. 16bn, not the newly-restated $9. 08bn; the profits were $1. 21bn, not the now-given figure of $1. 62bn. The numbers also don't include the iPad, because the quarter ended on March 31 – the iPad was launched three days later. According to MacJournals, which chewed over the numbers, â€Å"At $5. 445 billion, iPhone sales accounted for 40% of Apple's revenue. All Mac sales were 28%, all  iPod/Music sales were 24%. Mac sales are 2. 943m units, generating revenue of $3. 76bn – which Apple says was 33% year-on-year growth, compared to market growth of 24%. The company's market share of mobile subscribers has also taken a deep plunge. Market research firm comScore says that between October and January, Microsoft's share of the market fell from 19. 7% to 15. 7%. RIM, the maker o f the BlackBerry, remained the leader, growing from 41. 3% to 43%. Apple ‘s iPhone increased slightly, from 24. 8% to 25. 1%, and Google's Android grew by more than 250%, going from 2. 8% to 7. An interesting analysis comes from Tomi Ahonen, a former Nokia executive. â€Å"I am writing the first history of the once-iconic iPhone, written now in early April 2010, before Apple has released its first quarter earnings for 2010. This is literally the peak of the short reign that Apple's iPhone had as the most emulated Smartphone. [†¦] And mark my words, the numbers are now very clear, Apple's market share peak among smartphones, and among all handsets, on an annual basis, is being witnessed now. † V. Profitability Analysis Apple reported in the second quarter of 2011 that net income rose 95 percent, to $5. 9 billion, or $6. 40 a share, from $3. 07 billion, or $3. 33 a share, in 2010. Revenue climbed 83 percent, to $24. 67 billion, from $13. 5 billion. The profit margin in 2011 is 22. 36% of the sales which is an improvement over the level the company achieved in 2010. The company’s return of equity is 38. 78% while in 2010 it was 26. 2% which means that there is a 12. 58% increase on the return of equity. The gross margin is 39. 07% which is slightly better than the company achieved in 2010. VI. Cross Elasticity of Demand: Competitors V/s iPhone When the iphone 3GS was released on July 11, 2008 it cost $199 with the AT;T two year contract. In January 2011 Apple cut the iphone 3GS price to $50. cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for product A% ? in price for product B %? in price for iphone: Price of Iphone 3GS, 2010 + Price of Iphone 3GS, 2011? Price of Iphone = 199 + 5050-199 = -1. 671% With the Market share OS table above we can compute the % ? I demand for prodct competing with the iphone. %? in demand for Symbian = Symbian market share of Q1 2011 – Symbian market share of 2010 = 27. 4% – 37. 6% = -8. % Symbian-iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Symbian% ? in price for Iphone = -8. 6%-1. 671% = 5. 146 %? in demand for Android = Android market share of Q1 2011 – Android market share of 2010 = 36% – 22. 7% = 13. 3% Android -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Android% ? in price for Iphone = 13. 3%-1. 671% = -7. 959 %? in demand for R IM = RIM market share of Q1 2011 – RIM market share of 2010 = 12. 9% – 16. 0% = -3. 1% RIM -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for RIM% ? in price for Iphone = -3. 1%-1. 671% = 1. 855 ? in demand for Microsoft = Microsoft market share of Q1 2011 – Microsoft market share of 2010 = 3. 6% – 4. 2% = -0. 6% Microsoft -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Microsoft % ? in price for Iphone = -0. 6%-1. 671% = 0. 359 The price elasticity of demand is the responsiveness of quantity demanded by a change of 1 percent in price. It is calculated by dividing the percentage change in the demanded quantity by the corresponding percentage change in price. The iPhone was launched in the US roughly at the beginning of the second Quarter 2008, at a price of $599. In mid September Apple reduced the price for the iPhone by 33% from $599 to $434. According to the quarterly reports, Apple sold 270 000 iPhones in the second quarter and 1,119 000 iPhones in the third quarter. If calculated according to the equation for price elasticity of demand, the iPhone would have a price elasticity of 4. 7, which means that Apple would lose almost 4. 7 percent of iPhone sales for each corresponding 1 percent increase in price. Since elasticity is greater than 1 the price is inelastic so the iPhone is a luxury commodity. Many consumers wait until increased competition forces Apple to decrease prices. VII. Demand, Cost ; Pricing Demand Apple’s iPhone Supply and Demand Concept of Supply and Demand There is a general rule in economics that if the price of a certain good or service rises, then the demand for such good or service declines. If the price decreases, then potential demand also increases (inverse relationship). On the supply side, if the price of a good or service increases, then firms will be willing to supply the market with higher volume of such good or service. If the price decreases, then firms will cut their supply of the good or service (positive relationship. The market then adjusts the price of the good or service in order to satisfy both the consumers and the suppliers. This is called market equilibrium. Apple iPhone Demand Last July, Apple iPhone was able to outsell all smart phones in the United States. It almost equaled the sales of the most popular feature phone (LG chocolate), giving it a relatively stable position in the market. New Apple handset models accounted for almost 1 . of all phone handset sales in the US for about a month. It was estimated that the demand for Apple iPhone was rising at7 . 2 a month, equivalent to about 5 million units of quantity demanded. The market research firm iSuppli noted â€Å"This is a remarkable accomplishment for Apple, considering that July marked the first full month of sales for the iPhone. While iSuppli has not collected historical information on this topic, it’s likely that the s peed of the iPhone ‘s rise to competitive dominance in its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset market (Marsal ,2007 . In short , almost unexpected rise in demand of Apple iPhone was unaccounted by many experts , including of which are some of its competitors . The same research firm also noted that survey revealed that almost 57 of iPhones (bought in July ) were purchased by US consumers . Most of the consumers are aged 17-35. Almost 52 of the consumers of this product are male, and about 48 are female, revealing an almost equal propensity to consume for the product among the sexes. Added to that, iSuppli noted that 62 of the consumers of the product are actually college graduates or those with graduate courses . Nonetheless , the same research firm noted that â€Å"some of the iPhone ‘s success in July can be attributed to pent-up demand following months of hype (stagnant demand). Real proof of success will come in the coming months as demand patterns stabilize (Marsal, 2007). This prediction was almost accurate when the demand for iPhone was almost rising at 8 per month (month of June). Cost Apple's Iphone 4 smartphone, for which it's charging at least $500 at retail, is built of parts that cost $187. 51, according to market research firm Isuppli. According to the tear-down the most expensive part of the Iphone 4 is the 3. 5-inch LCD screen which costs $28. 50. Isuppli thinks that the Iphone 4 screen must be identical to one made by LG. It seems that Apple has managed to keep its parts cost at about $170 to $180 per unit. Isuppli's cost estimate doesn't include labour, shipping, advertising, software development or patent licensing. The cost is based on a 16GB version of the Iphone 4 but the low costs of each componant are fairly staggering. The Apple A4 processor reportedly is made by Samsung Electronics for $10. 75 per chip. Isuppli thinks that Geneva-based STMicroelectronics supplied the gyroscope chip at an estimated cost of $2. 60, as well as an accelerometer chip used in previous Iphone versions, which has an estimated cost of 65 cents. Other component suppliers named by Isuppli include Skyworks, a wireless chipmaker and TriQuint Semiconductor. In 2009, Isuppli estimated that the components and materials used in the iPhone 3GS cost about $179. Since then Isuppli thinks that the materials costs for that model have fallen to $134. Thus the Iphone 4 costs a bit more to make than the earlier model. Of course this means that Apple's gross margin on the hardware in Iphones is extremely high. The actual price margin gets obscured by the fact that AT&T heavily subsidises the phone in the US for about what it costs to manufacture. However the real winner is Apple, which does not have to pay for the cost of manufacture and still takes home about three times Iphone 4 production costs, on average. Pricing Because the iPhone price is entirely set by Apple, it makes an interesting case study on how much the price of technology drops over time. The official price of the iPhone periodically drops, as shown in the table below. But, there are no sales and a new iPhone is never sold for less than the official price. (There are occasionally sales on the refurbished iPhones for example on black Friday the refurbished 3GS was sold for $50. 00 instead of the usual $150. 00. )   Finding historical street price data is harder than historical MSRP data. For the iPhone both prices are the same. The table showing the historical price is included below. 1st Gen 4GB| 1st Gen 8GB| 3G| 3GS 16GB| 3GS 32GB| 29 June 2007| $499. 0*| $599*| N/A| N/A| N/A| 5 Sept 2007| Discontinued| $399| N/A| N/A| N/A| June 2008| N/A| N/A| $199| N/A| N/A| June 2009| N/A| N/A| $99| $199| $299| VIII. Pure competition, Monopolistic Competition & Oligopoly Apple Inc. planned to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U. S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company. The new iPhone would work on a type of wireless network called CDMA, these people said. CDMA is used by Verizon Wireless, AT&T's main competitor, as well as Sprint Nextel Corp. nd a handful of cellular operators in countries including South Korea and Japan. The vast majority of carriers world-wide, including AT;T, use another technology called GSM. With Apple developing a phone with CDMA capability, its exclusive U. S. arrangement with AT;T dating to 2007 appears set to end. Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, declined to comment. An AT;T spokesman said: â€Å"There has been lots of incorrect speculation on CDMA iPhones for a long time. We haven't seen one yet and only Apple knows when that might occur. † Apple declined to comment. For AT;T, the Apple relationship has been crucial, helping to make the carrier the U. S. leader in lucrative smart-phone market share. According to comScore Inc. , AT;T has over 43% of all U. S. smart-phone customers, compared with 23% for Verizon. These customers are especially attractive because they generally pay higher monthly rates for data plans. For several quarters, AT;T's growth has come almost single-handedly from the iPhone. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the carrier said it activated 3. 1 million new iPhones. In comparison, it counted only a net total of 2. million new subscribers as some customers moved from other phones to iPhones. Now that a new Verizon-compatible iPhone appears to be on the horizon, Digits looks at what Apple can do to win over mobile business users, particularly from RIMM's BlackBerry market. The people briefed on the matter said the upgraded GSM iPhone is being made by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , which produced A pple's previous iPhones. The CDMA iPhone model is being made by Pegatron Technology Corp. , the contract manufacturing subsidiary of Taiwan's ASUSTeK Computer Inc. said these people. One person familiar with the situation said Pegatron is scheduled to start mass producing CDMA iPhones in September. Other people said, however, that the schedule could change and the phone may not be available to consumers immediately after production begins. Representatives of Pegatron and Hon Hai declined to comment. Verizon has publicly stated its interest in the iPhone, but people familiar with the situation said Apple originally decided against developing a phone for Verizon to keep its development process simple, since the technologies are incompatible. Verizon also is upgrading its network to a higher-speed technology, so Apple has said it believed CDMA was a short-term technology. Apple later changed its mind as it realized Verizon's upgrade would take longer than expected, said people familiar with the situation. Making the iPhone available through Verizon, which has over 91 million customers, as well as potentially other CDMA carriers could open up a significant new market. In 2009, iPhone sales globally rose 83% to 25. million, far outpacing the 20% to 25% growth in smart phones sales overall, according to Bernstein. But since Apple already dominates smart-phone sales through existing partners, â€Å"sooner rather than later, Apple is going to have to look to find incremental distribution,† which implies a monopolistic competition between all smart phone sellers, said Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. He estimates Verizon could help Apple nearly double the number of iPhone users in the U. S. Some advantages that iPhone has comparing to other smart phones are: 1. Pod: iPhone is a not just a phone it is widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3. 5-inch widescreen display (Nokia N95 only has a 2. 6 inch screen). The N95 does have a good media player, however with all the iPod features and 4 GB / 8 GB space, it makes the iPhone the best music phone. 2. Advanced Safari browser: iPhone lets you see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, then easily zoom in by simply tapping on the multi-touch display with your finger which will change mobile browsing for the good. . OS X: All the power and sophistication of an advanced operating system that gives you access to true desktop-class applications and software, including rich HTML email, applications such as widgets, Safari, calendar, text messaging, Notes, and Address Book etc. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background. This software completely redefines what you can do with a mobile phone. 4. User Interface: iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It’s an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. 5. Visual Voicemail: The iPhone lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email using a revolutionary new feature called the visual voicemail. IX. Conclusion Analyzing as managerial economics students, we can conclude that although the current methods and techniques are serving us well in analyzing the current market situation, there will be new techniques emerging in the future with global changes occurring at leaping speeds. What is essential is for us to grasp is that the theory is flexible with these changes and that it can be shaped or rounded to be applied to any market situation analysis. The content and subjects we learned in this course are nothing but the bedrock tools that any manager needs to know and use in his daily life in order to forecast revenues and demand, analyze current markets and evaluate his company’s stance regarding his competitors. X. References ttp://theblogpaper. co. uk/article/business/31may09/price-elasticity-demand-iphone http://news. cnet. com/8301-13506_3-20064223-17. html http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-10725887 http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-13284156 http://m. ibtimes. com/microsoft-windows-phone7-google-android-apple-157595. html http://www. reuters. com/article/2011/06/03/us-rim-research-ubs-idUSTRE7523PP20110603 www. newyorktimes. com www. wallstreetjournal. com