Hit or Misled Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hit or Misled - Essay Example There are vague areas in the law and the requirements can vary widely, especially when marketing in other countries. To further complicate the process, states may have state laws that may restrict certain brand names. Petty points this out by noting that "[] roughly half the U.S. states" recognize the right of a celebrity to control their name and likeness when used in product promotion (47). The legal requirements for branding and promoting a product often lie in the ability of the consumer to discern fact from fiction. The example of Bermuda shorts is an instance where no reasonable consumer would believe they are actually from Bermuda (46). However, the term Idaho potato may have less legal foundation as consumers may reasonably assume they are from Idaho. Processes that have become more generically accepted into the market, such as Swiss cheese, may be allowed by the courts. Adding to the complicated process of using endorsements is the legal requirement that any claims by a celebrity of expert must be factual. The expert must have the credentials to make the claim and the celebrity can only testify to their actual experience. This places the marketer in a position where they must carefully weigh what a court might consider truthful.

Techniques Used By Advertisers To Influence Consumer Behaviours Media Essay

Techniques Used By Advertisers To Influence Consumer Behaviours Media Essay The development of modern advertising from the late 19th Century was driven and heavily influenced by psychological advertising and the technological changes of the time. Inspired by World War I propaganda and behavioural psychology, psychological advertising aimed to build upon consumer fears, needs and desires to promote and sell goods. It is fundamentally the grounds from which modern advertising was built upon. Technologically, The Depression had ended and with it saw the beginning of mechanised production. This led to the introduction of corporate manufacturers who turned to advertising to create a demand for their products and services. Other influences that advertisers used to promote consumerism were the use of the breakdown of social barriers, building on and creating needs for consumers (whether this be material or social), creating images and ideals related to products and market targeting. It was a time of social change influenced by these new technologies and forms of ad vertising which saw traditionalistic standards and morals be replaced by a materialistic and consumer driven culture particularly in womens role in society. Of all the forms of advertising the insurgences of nationally branded goods have had the most impact in shaping a consumer driven culture. After the depression, which spanned between 1870 the late 1890s production became mechanised which inturn allowed for the mass production of goods. The changing nature and significance of consumption grew not from the autonomous changes in the life of the citizen or the family but from the intersection of such changes with the emergence of large scale consumer goods industries.  [1]  However, the industry began to overproduce and therefore advertising was required to encourage consumers to buy the products the manufacturers began creating their own demand for their products. They were the first to have large scale national campaigns with a strong emphasis on branding and product identification and many of the enterprises still maintain strong market domination (in the United States) and continue large-scale advertising campaigns. These inc lude: Proctor and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Campbell Soups and H.J Heinz.  [2]  With this influx of branding came a new style of advertising, there was less emphasis put on informing the consumer it was now about grabbing their attention making them feel like they need your companies product over the competition. As Schudson states eye catching appeal became a more vital attribute of a product, examples of which are; Good morning! Have you used Pears Soap? And National Biscuits, Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit. Slogans lead to the differentiation of almost identical products, creating a synonymous relationship in consumers minds. The late nineteenth century saw the introduction of the department store, this was a turning point for consumer industry as people were now shopping in a setting driven by choice and competition -one simply did not enter a shop and askà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for an item. In the department stores, things were displayed and the shopper had a range of things to observe.  [3]  Due to this increase in consumer choice it fuelled an influx of advertising in newspapers as the department stores competed for the consumers attention. The need for product differentiation and therefore the advertising industry was evident. From the late 1880s techniques in advertising began to change. Editorial space in newspapers was dropped from seventy percent to fifty percent to allow more space for adverts and of this, twenty three was department store advertising  [4]  . Department store advertising was also responsible for pressuring newspapers to adopt new techniques in printing processes drawn from the poster. From 1867 large lithograph could be printed, allowing for larger type, illustrations and colour to be used in advertisements. Eventually they gave in and at the turn of the nineteenth century newspapers began dropping their column limitations allowing for the introduction of pictorial advertisements. This caused traditionalistic standards of advertising to disappear and give way to the vigorous inventiveness of advertisers as they sought new ways to promote goods and services.  [5]   One of these new ways of promotion was that of radio advertising. Radio had a strong presence in Britain due to the popularity of the BBC. However advertising through this medium had a negative stigma attached to it due to radio being viewed as a fundamentally cultural and entertaining medium. Radio advertising in Britain had begun with subliminal or sponsorship advertising in its cultural and entertaining programs with products and services being introduced through its radio dramas and entertainment (much like product placement in modern day television and films.)  [6]  Advertisers feared that there would be a negative reaction by the radio listeners for intruding in a medium that provided cultural, entertaining and educational resources. However once radio gained national coverage in the United States advertisers could not resist in the new medium to grab consumers attention. One of the main persuasions was radios ability to override consumers choice in viewing an advertisement , in comparison to print media if the consumer were tuned in to the radio they would hear the advertisement regardless of their interest in the product or service. The other persuasion was its ability to reach women during daytime programs. During this time, in the early 20th Century women were the decision makers when it came to consumer choices, they carried out the household shopping, and so there was an influx of advertisements appealing to the typical housewife. Radio as an advertising medium began to flourish during the 1920s and many of the large companies assisted their print ads with radio advertisements. Once advertising in radio was established there was now no media that was free of advertisings influence driving the notion of the 1920s as a consumer driven culture. Advertising techniques also included the endorsements of products by industry professionals. These advertisements normally featured some kind of medical professional or ministers testimony and they played on the idea of influencing the consumers emotions, creating an idea in their mind of the need for the product. At the turn of the 19th century patent medicine, like department stores were a fundamental part of the advertising. Essentially patent medicine advertising sought out to establish a comprehensible and memorable name for their product one which the consumer could remember and feel comfortable with. Secondly was the promise that the medicine was intended for, for example they promised to cure womens illnesses, colds and flues and various sexual ailments.  [7]  However, almost all of these products were unreliable and did not follow through with their promise and so advertising was needed in order for the products to be successful. Transportation, particularly the introduction of intraurban rail lines changed the spatial possibilities of daily life  [8]  . It allowed for people to work and shop further away than walking distance. It was an inexpensive and reliable transportation method and it caused a breakdown of social barriers the rich and the poor began travelling together.  [9]  These social barriers were also broken down through the portrayal of America as an affluent, classless society  [10]  in the advertisements of the early 1900s. The ads strived to convey the message that equality could be achieved as the middle-class could purchase the same product or service as that of the very rich. This was emphasised through slogans such as any woman can and every home can afford.  [11]  Domestic products were portrayed in a luxurious fashion and they borrowed characters and images from that of royalty in Europe. After the establishment of the mechanisation of production and new technologies were being supported, an influx of new inventions was released onto the market. Manufacturers identified that extensive advertising was required in order to create a demand for the products. These advertisements not only had to inform the consumer of the new technologies but they played upon new social standards particularly that of the modern day woman as many of the new inventions were electronic domestic appliances, for example; sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and electronic stoves and ovens. The manufacturers aimed to demonstrate that by using these appliances more time would be left for the most fulfilling reward leisure time.  [12]  And so, advertisers placed less emphasis on the actual product and portrayed the housewife carrying out leisurely activities, as reinstated by Marchand The desirability of the depicted substitute activity was the very essence of the ads appeal.à ‚  [13]  In most of these types of advertisements the actual product was absent or inferior to the activity that resulted due to the use of the product or service. Evidence of this can be seen in the advertising campaign during the 1920s of the American Laundry Machinery Company. This campaign, which was printed throughout numerous mass-circulation magazines, accentuated the pleasures that would arise from sending the family washing to a commercial laundry service. These ads showed women enjoying sociable and entertaining activities as opposed to slaving away with the washing. A quote from an advertisement published by the Association of the Laundry Owners National asks women the question Does the weekly washday take its heavy toll of hours that you could spend so joyously, so profitably in other ways?  [14]  Apart from the associations logo, the actual task of washing is not illustrated in the advertisement. The advertisements of this time, in comparison to those prior to th e turn of the nineteenth century, emphasised less on factual information and more on the actual consumer. This emphasis on the consumer led to, what academics refer to as a consumer culture. Traditionalistic values of the morals and ethics of hard work and self-denial were being replaced by an emphasis on materialism and individual pleasures as the way of leading a happy and fulfilling life and many conservative critics believe that advertising was responsible for this new consumer driven culture.  [15]  In 1890 Weber wrote material goods have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history.  [16]  Evidence of this can be noted from the success of the Listerine advertisements of the early 1920s where consumers were persuaded to use Listerine mouthwash to combat the so-called disorder of halitosis. At the time of these ads going to press sales of Listerine dramatically increased. The advertisements drove the consumer to discover a new need  [17]   something that without the advertisements the consumer would not ha ve strived to fulfil. Therefore it can be concluded that the success of these types of advertisements, whether it be creating a new disorder, as in the Listerine ads, or telling women that wash day will steal their youth and beauty play upon influencing the emotions of the consumer and creating in their minds a false need.  [18]   There are many arguments regarding advertisings influence on the society and culture during the first half of the twentieth century. Changes in the market due to new technologies and the increase in production created a need for advertising that prior to the time was not required by manufacturers. Techniques used to sell this influx of merchandise were effective and somewhat immoral in cases. There is no argument however to ignore that on a whole, particularly in the United States that the society of the time had become more material dominated and traditional standards of living were becoming less dominant. However there is not enough evidence to suggest that advertising caused a consumer culture but rather both the technological advancements and the influence of advertising and other mediums of the time drove the social change.

National Culture and Its Relation to Media Essay -- Media Culture

Introduction American writer Gertrude Stein uses â€Å"There is no there there† in the book Everybody’s Autobiography to describe Oakland. She spent her girlhood in Oakland, but she perceived that Oakland was inauthentic. When she mentioned France, where she lived most of her life, she said: â€Å"It is not real but it is really there† (Stein 1970: 2). France is more tangible to her than her nation. What does the nation mean to Stein? What is the essence of nation? Watson posits that â€Å"a nation is a community of people, whose members are bound together by a sense of solidarity, a common culture, a national consciousness† (Watson 1997: 1). A more familiar definition was coined by Anderson: â€Å"It is an imagined political community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign† (Anderson 1991: 6). If Anderson’s definition is rigorous, why did Stein fail to perceive the intimate connection with America? Stein could not maintain the identificati on of the US according to the memory of her girlhood. On the contrary, her real life is in France, it is not the imagination. Robins regards the people like Stein as the â€Å"empirical people† (Robins 2003: 196) in his book. The imagined community is not distinct to them because it is far away from the real life. The imagined community cannot surpass the reality all the time. Thus it can be postulated that the nation bases on a sense of belonging to an imagined community, but it is not a compulsive ideology; the sense of belonging may become vague when the individual lack the interaction with the nation. Then how to maintain the sense of belonging of the population becomes a pivotal question to the nation. This is the reason why the nation has been aiming at building an intimate relationship with medi... ... Ruigrok, Nel and Atteveldt, Wouter van, Global Angling with a Local Angle: How U.S., British, and Dutch Newspapers Frame Global and Local Terrorist Attacks , the Harvard International Journal of Press, Politics 2007, volume:12. Robins, Kevin, Beyond Imagined Community? Transnational media and Turkish Immigrants in Europe, Media in a Globalized Society, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2003. Stein, Gertrude, Paris, France, New York: liver light, 1970. Volkmer, I, Journalism and Political Crises: In Journalism after September 11, London, New York: Routledge, 2002. Watson, Hugh Seton, Nations and states: an enquiry into the origins of nations and the politics and nationalism, Methuen young books, 1977. Zakaria, Fareed, How to invest jobs for America, November 1, 2010. (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/29/zakaria.create.jobs/index.html?iref=allsearch)

Managerial Concepts Used in Ocean’s Eleven

Shawn Lienemann Management 301 Test #1 Ocean’s Eleven In Ocean’s Eleven, there are many management techniques throughout the entire movie, during which they rob $160 million dollars from three casinos in Las Vegas. If you look at the movie in general, this is a great movie to choose and reflect on management concepts because there is a wide-range of concepts used in the movie. Some of the management concepts that I found in the movie were strategic thinking, personality, task groups, group development, risk, creativity and innovation, Type A & B personalities, organizational change, decision implementation, and expectancy theory.Chapter 4 Module 1 1. Strategic thinking is the process to create a vision and blueprint for that vision, creative thinking includes being creative, disruptive, and future focused. The scene from the movie that demonstrates strategic thinking is after Danny beats Rusty and other people in poker, Danny and Rusty go out for what appears to be a cu p of coffee. This scene is when Danny reveals what he wants to rob and is telling Rusty about it. The very next scene you see Rusty and Danny looking at a blueprint of the vault for the Bellagio.At this is the point when strategic thinking begins to kick in. As they are looking and studying the vault, Rusty says, this is quite possibly the least accessible vault in the world. But in his head he is beginning to create a vision on how they would even imagine pulling this off. Strategic thinking comes before strategic planning. Strategic planning is implementing a vision and the details of getting from point A to point B for the vision, but during this scene they haven’t started planning yet, just thinking of what it is going to take to pull off this heist.Rusty then starts naming off people that they would need to start pulling on these cons. At this point they start developing a vision of how this heist is going to be pulled off, but first they need to go talk to Rueben, one b ecause he has money, and second, because he knows more about casino security than anybody they know. Strategic planning and thinking can easily get confused, but to dumb it down and explain it the easiest, thinking is a broad idea of how and who will be used in a vision before you start planning and working out the details needed to carry out that vision. Chapter 9 Module 3 2.Group development is a process that consists of five separate stages; forming, storming, norming, performing and finally adjourning. All five of these stages have a particular scene during the movie that demonstrates what occurs in that stage. The first stage, forming, is the development in which people join the group and define the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership. All this occurs during the recruitment process by Danny and Rusty, they bring in and recruit all the member’s and while during so the purpose and structure are passed onto them. The second stage, storming, is characterized by intragroup conflict.This occurs when Danny and Rusty bring all the members to Rueben’s home and bring them all inside. Danny starts explaining what they must do to get into the vault, and minor conflict arises when a few of the members, like Yen and Saul start to ask questions about the job at hand, and question the possibility of them being able to do it. The third stage, norming, is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. I think this occurs before all the members go into the house in the prior example. They are standing outside socializing while having a few drinks and the members start talking and getting to know each other.The fourth stage, performing, is when the group is fully functional and works on the group task. This occurs immediately after Danny explains the plan to them and they start performing by doing surveillance on the casinos. Basher does his duty and begins to check how he can cut the power and the plan is put into action. The final stage, adjourning, is during which the groups prepares to disband. This happens after they successful rob the casino and all the members are standing at the fountain and slowly each member leaves. Group development is something every group is going to go through.You may not be sitting there and thinking to yourself that now you’re going through the storming phase, but for a successful group to get together and perform a task you will go through all of these stages inevitably, and subconsciously without even realizing it. Each stage must be completed before the next is started. If you gather a group of people together and right when they show up you tell them to make my house look better. It wouldn’t work. They couldn’t go straight from the forming stage, to the performing stage. There would be necessary steps between that for it to be a successful task.They would most likely look the house over and start making suggestions on how to make it look better and define role ’s or tasks to each person (storming). And as they come to an agreement on what needs to be done (norming), they can start fixing up the house. (performing). Chapter 8 Module 2 3. Personality is a unique combination of emotional, thought, and behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others. In the movie, every person has a distinct personality but the part that I like the most is when Linus and Saul have to take on or fake, a certain personality to do their job.Saul pretended to be a wealthy foreigner who was staying at the hotel Benedict owned. He acted in a way that he had something very valuable to him that he needed to be put into the vault. Linus took on the character and personality of a Nevada Gaming Commission agent. Both Linus and Saul had to play a different character in the movie than what they actually were. When you act or â€Å"pretend† you have to change your personality to one that would match the character yo u are trying to be.Saul comes off as a calm, confident, and wise old man from another country and if he had taken a different personality Benedict may not have trusted him and put this case into the vault. Linus on the other hand, came off as someone that was simply trying to do his job. When him, Benedict and Frank were in a conference room, Linus interacted with Frank and Benedict as if he really was a real NGC agent, and if you had failed to fulfill the personality change, the plan would have failed because he wouldn’t have been able to get access to the elevator shaft.Chapter 7 Module 5 4. Organizational change is any altercation of an organization’s people, structure, or technology. This movie provides to two great examples of organizational change. The first example is a people and structure change; Rusty, Linus and Danny leave the elevator and are welcomed by Livingston saying â€Å"We got a problem†. This is something that if you ever hear, they is most likely going to be some sort of change. The group learns that Danny has been red flagged by the casino and will be watching him like a hawk.A people change is made, and Linus is nominated to being the person that needs to activate the vault. Danny can no longer be a part of the plan because of his liability now of getting everyone caught, and Rusty removes Danny from the group leader position and takes his place. People are usually very resistant to change because of the fear of the unknown and uncertainty that may result from the change. In this case, Linus is very nervous and anxiety ridden because of the new role and responsibility being promoted into. Rusty uses a facilitation and support technique to help reduce Linus’ fear.He lectures Linus on how to act, stand, and calls out his weaknesses, and told Linus of the adjustments that he needed to make before he would be able to do the job. Rusty was very supportive of Linus and believed in him, but he needed Linus to believ e in himself. The only major disadvantage to this change was that the guarantee of success had lowered, because now a less experienced person was now doing an important job. Turns out Linus does a successful job and everything goes as planned. The second example of organizational change occurs when all the members are watching a trial run of the safe infiltration.Rusty barges in and is obviously in a panic and starts speaking jargon, which no one can understand what he is trying to say. He then explains to the group that their plan is going to have to change because the power grid workers found the weakness to the electrical system and were in the process of fixing it, so that plan was no longer an option. And for the overall plan to work, they needed to shut down all the power to the casinos for a short period of time. This results in a structure change because the original plan that was completely laid out had to change.Rusty is able to come up with an alternative solution, which involved a technology change as well. Something I will touch more on later in another concept. Chapter 7 Module 5 5. Creativity is the ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make unusual associations between ideas. Innovation is the process of taking a creative idea and turning it into a useful product, service or method of operation. These two concepts complement each other, and it is hard to define and explain one without using the other. There are two parts in this movie that I can give examples of these concepts.The first is when Basher first discovers that the casinos are working to fix the weakness in the power grid. And he has to come up with an alternative idea to take out the power in the casino. The second part is the process of getting a person inside the vault undetected. Cutting the power was essential and had to be done for the plan to be a success, and Basher thought they were going to have to cancel the job. But Basher knew of another way that could be used t o cut the power to the casino, and actually to the entire city. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) was the only other option to cut the power.So the crew had to steal the â€Å"pinch† in order to fulfill the process of cutting the power. They used innovation to take Basher’s creative idea of using an EMP as an alternative to the power outage and implemented it into their operation. The process of getting into the vault was a rather lengthy one, possibly the hardest part sneaking Yen into the vault unnoticed. They took the facts they knew about the vault and used it to their advantage. From surveillance they knew that Benedict’s money was stored in the vault and understood the process by which the money was handled to get into the vault.The Ocean’s crew came up with the creative idea of sneaking Yen into the vault by concealing him inside of a container that appeared to be holding money; They used a container that looked identical to the rest inside the vault so it did not look suspicious. Since they knew the process by which the guards handled and placed money into the vault they used a creative idea of the Malloy brothers faking that they had forgot their card, and told the guard it was Benedict’s money and needed to go to the vault.The guard took it to the vault immediately because he knew that Benedict’s money was placed there. Chapter 9 Module 3 6. A task group is a group of individuals brought together to complete a specific job task; their existence is often temporary because when the task is completed, the group disbands. There isn’t one particular scene or part of this movie that describes this concept besides the definition itself. The best way to describe it is by breaking the definition down into three parts and giving the examples from the movie.Danny and Rusty recruited all the individuals they needed and brought them together to work as a team, their job was to help them rob the casino, which was the s pecific task. And finally, the job was only temporary and they disbanded at the end of the movie when the entire crew was standing and staring at the fountain. The reflection and application of this concept is pretty simple and explains itself, but in reality the movie doesn’t define what it is in any better way. Their mere purpose for being there was to get the job done, and they all get paid.There were no talks about doing another job or seeing each other after the job, it was a pure task group. Another important key to this concept is bringing INDIVIDUALS together, not bringing groups of people together to complete a task. The first thing that came to mind when I read this term, was that it was like a contracting job, when building a house. Yes you may be able to build a house with one group of people. In my eyes I see it that you would bring in a landscaper for the foundation and digging of basement, a framer to build the house and do the framing, a plumbing for the plumb ing, and electrician for all the wiring, etc.You bring in an individual with a specific skill to fulfill his job duties and when the entire group of individuals do and finish their job, you have a house. This is a pretty vague example and may not be entirely realistic because usually in some cases you bring in a group of people for one job on the house, but I think you get my point. In this movie they do the same thing. Danny and Rusty pick individuals based on their skill sets and expertise in a given field. And all the individuals bring a skill and contribute to the specific task of robbing Mr. Benedict, and as a task group, are successful in doing so.Chapter 3 Module 4 7. Decision Implementation is putting a decision/plan into action; this includes conveying the decision to the people who will be affected by it and getting their full commitment to the decision and plan. An example of decision implementation is when the whole team first gets together over at Rueben’s house. All the members are standing around the pool and Mr. Ocean comes out and welcomes everyone and states that this job is both â€Å"highly lucrative and highly dangerous†, and if that is something they don’t want to be a part of they can leave now, and no hard feelings with be taken.Everyone decides that they want to be involved with this job and Mr. Ocean takes them inside and starts to describe the plan to the other members. This is decision implementation because Mr. Ocean explains to all of the members that this job will be very dangerous and he wants their full commitment to him and his plan. After this scene, their plan is put into action. They start by doing reconnaissance on all the casinos. Mr. Ocean wants to know everything about the casinos. He wants to know every cart route, learn everything about all the guards, workers, and dealers.He wants to know where they are from, their nicknames and even what they put into their coffee. Every member is put in differe nt positions around the casinos and the reconnaissance phase begins. All this begins with the decision implementation and getting all the members to commit to the plan and then they put their plan into action by doing their reconnaissance inside of the casinos. Chapter 3 Module 4 8. Risk is a situation in which a decision maker is able to estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes. The job they are planning on doing is an extremely risky job.The likelihood of them stealing the money is relatively low because of the level of security and risk involved. After Danny and Rusty begin to create a vision of how they want to rob the casinos. They first consult with Rueben who is a wealthy man and also very knowledgeable about casino security. In this scene, the first line to come out of Rueben’s mouth is â€Å"Are you out of your god damn minds? Are you listening to me? Your both nuts†. Ruben proceeds to tell them, it is impossible to rob a casino because, they have guards, c ameras, watches, locks, and vaults.He then tells them three examples of people who tried to rob a bank, none of which were successful and only one was even able to make it out of a casino. This whole movie is based on risk, in every scene or every part of the plan you can see and estimate the risk involved. But this scene is where the whole plan in general is viewed to be very risky, and Rueben lays it on the line to Dusty and Danny by pretty much telling them it is impossible to do. A risk is a probability that a negative occurrence will happen to you and you have to suffer from the consequences.Ultimately in this movie, the risk is extremely high with the consequences involved. Robbing a casino means jail time, and I’m no lawyer or anything but I would probably guess 5+ years. Another reason this scene is a good example of risk is not because it is a â€Å"risky† scene, but because Danny and Dusty want to minimize their risk in this job as much as possible. In this c onversation with Rueben you can tell that he knows a lot about casino security. His knowledge is valuable and Dusty and Danny know they may not be able to pull it off without Rueben, so they recruit him.Chapter 7 Module 5 9. Type A personalities are people who have a chronic sense of urgency and an excessive competitive drive. Type B personalities are people who are relaxed, easygoing and accept change easily. There are 3 characters in this movie that portray the differences in personalities perfectly. The Malloy brothers, Virgil and Turk, have a type A personality. Early on when they are recruiting for the team, there is a scene where the brothers are racing against each other, one with a remote control car, and the other in a real car, and they are constantly yelling at each other.Later during reconnaissance there is a scene where the two of them are doing surveillance in the casino and they start arguing over whose watch is correct, and they were only two minutes off. Rusty on th e other hand has a type B personality. He portrays this personality throughout the entire movie and to use a different example than from anything else I have used so far; Linus and Rusty during reconnaissance are trying to figure out Terry’s schedule. Linus mentions that everyday about this time a woman comes walking down the stairs.When the woman comes walking down, Rusty immediately knows who is it, and tells Linus her name is, Tess, Danny’s ex-wife. He remains calm in this situation knowing that Tess being involved now changes the situation. These are examples of both the type A and type B personalities. For the Malloy brothers, it is in their nature to excessively compete with one another, they are constantly bickering at one another and strive to prove the other one wrong no matter the costs. Virgil was willing to drive and smash his brother’s remote control car just so he could win. Rusty is the exact opposite of the Malloy brothers.He always remains calm and relaxed even when something goes wrong with their plan, or there needs to be a change. It is in his personality to accept the change of events and react to the change rather than to resist or reject it. When he discovers Tess is the girl seeing Terry, he knows what is going on, and he remains relaxed and calm when he tells Danny that he can no longer be a part of this project. One further comment I would like to add to this concept is that I don’t believe that just because a person may have a type A personality doesn’t mean that is dominant personality.I’m saying this based on the Malloy brothers, they are a type A personality in the film toward one another; I would define myself as a type B personality, BUT the moment you put me and my younger brother together, I would shift more to a competitive and urgent type A personality. Only because he’s my brother, it’s in our nature to be competitive with one another, just like the Malloy brothers are to each other. I still would have the type B personality as my dominant one, but that could change if I was around either of my brothers.And that is why I feel that the Malloy brothers have a type A personality, because they are BROTHERS, I have done the exact same thing they did in this movie with my own brother Jared. We had a pointless excessive argument on whose phone had the correct time. I have Sprint and he has Verizon, anytime I talk to my brother and we arrange a time to meet somewhere, I’ll say â€Å"Meet me at 5:15 sprint time â€Å". This is only something I would argue over with my brother, no one else. So I feel that a person could change their personality type depending on the people they are around.Chapter 10 Module 4 10. Expectancy Theory says that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. Benedict and Tess are leaving the b oxing match when a phone rings from Tess’s pocket. She answers the phone and Rusty is on the other side, and asked to talk to Benedict. Rusty tells Benedict that he is being robbed, and wants to make a deal on getting the money out of the hotel.Benedict immediately goes to the camera room to see what is going on. Rusty tells Benedict that both stashes are rigged with explosives and tells Benedict to carry half the bags out to an unmarked van out front. Benedict follows Rusty’s commands and puts half of the money in the van. Benedict then calls the cops, and the SWAT team arrives and Benedict hopes to reclaim his stash of money in the vault and also in the van. As we both know, this does not go how Benedict foresaw it going and he loses all $160 million.This is an example of expectancy theory because the Ocean’s Eleven crew expected that once Benedict knew he was getting robbed, he would call the cops. The crew’s act was robbing Benedict and the given outc ome would be Benedict calling the cops and ultimately the outcome of them stealing all is his money. There were three major things that had to go right before this outcome would play out, first the phone placed in Tess’s wallet had to be answered by someone, second, Benedict had to believe that the â€Å"false vault robbery† was real and true, and finally that he would call the cops when given the opportunity.If any one of these three steps would not have gone as planned, the whole job could have been a failure. But that is what expectancy theory is about, they looked at the situation and planned it out exactly how they thought Benedict would act in that situation. Finally, the money was the attractive outcome for the Ocean crew; they simply planned the entire job based on what they â€Å"expected† Benedict’s reactions would be.

Evidence Based Practice in Mental Health Nursing Essay

One of the most common and disabling psychological disorders encountered within mental health and general medical settings is that of an anxiety disorder (Dattilio & Kendall 2000). Research has indicated that people with learning disabilities are more prevalent to psychological disorders than the general population (Hassiotis et al 2000) consequently it could be hypothesised that prevalence rates of anxiety disorders are similar if not greater within the learning disabled population. Professional literature suggests that cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) has been an effective treatment against anxiety disorder (Beck 1995) however; this literature has predominately concentrated its focus to within the confines of mental health and general medical settings (Dattilio & Kendall 2000). The ability of people with learning disabilities to identify, evaluate and respond to their dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs, fundamentals of CBT (Beck 1995) have put into question the very use of this treatment programme for this particular client group (Kroese et al 1997). From a professional and personal perspective and through the utilisation of the Seedhouse (1998) ‘Ethical Grid’ responding to an anxiety disorder by way of CBT could be considered an ethically acceptable clinical intervention. Nationally and locally through government directives, ‘Valuing People’ (Department of Health 2001) and initiatives such as Health Action Plans (Department of Health 2002) services have recognised that they need to be more responsive to the mental health needs of people with learning disabilities. As a learning disability nurse wishing to ascertain the effectiveness of CBT as a practical intervention when presented with the dual-diagnosis of anxiety disorder and l earning disability, is through the use of ‘evidence-based practice’. When deciding on the best possible clinical intervention for an identified practice problem it seams logical to convert the issue into a single answerable question (Colyer & Kamath 1999). Several authors have identified that the use of frameworks to inform the development of the clinical question provide the practitioner with a systematic process of formulating an answerable question (Sackett et al 1997 Ridsdale1998). One such framework as described by Sackett et al (1997) is a four- stage process, known by the acronym PICO: Patient or Population Intervention or Indicator Comparison or Control Outcome The construction of an answerable question is the basis of evidence-based practice and should guide the practitioner to how to find an answer (Ridsdale 1998). It is important that each variable under the PICO framework is clearly defined, being as detailed and explicit as possible in order to extend clarification to the question. Working through PICO methodically the practitioner would instigate the process by defining the ‘Patient or Population’. Characteristics such age, gender and diagnosis would need to be deliberated and whilst the aforementioned were easily recognised in the practice area as adult male, identifying appropriate terminology for diagnosis can prove problematic. The term ‘Learning Disability’ is often used interchangeably in literature with terms such as, Mental Retardation and Intellectual Disabilities. ‘Learning Disability’ is a term with contemporary usage within the United Kingdom to describe a client group with significant development delays (Gates 1996). Whilst the idiom ‘Learning Disability’ is the preferred terminology for the question due to its contemporary usage it must be accepted that it’s a term not internationally recognised nor is it a term used for long in the United Kingdom (Gates 1996). Anxiety disorder comes in many facets and can be described as severe psychological disorders in which abnormal or chronic anxiety interferes with daily living (Adams & Bromley 1998). The client in the practice area had described psychological and physiological symptoms that were diagnosed as a social anxiety disorder through rating scales and self-report measures. It is crucial that the practitioner is aware that the term identified for the question as ‘social anxiety’ is often recognised by the synonyms, social phobia or panic disorder (Dattilio & Kendall 2000). The recognition of this inconsistent terminology will enable an evaluation to  take place between the relationships of the chosen term to symptoms displayed by the client. The identification of existing clinical interventions is a valuable part of the process of developing evidenced-based interventions (Meijel 2003). Literature suggests that CBT is an effective treatment for a number of psychological disorders (Embling 2002 Hatton 2002). Central to the model of CBT is that distorted or dysfunctional thinking is prevalent in all psychological disorders (Beck 1995). Analysis of accumulated experience of existing interventions and the aforementioned evidence of its validity led to the application of CBT as the ‘question intervention’. It is not imperative for the question to have a comparison intervention and this was the situation in the clinical problem described, therefore the conclusive element utilising the PICO framework was ‘outcome’. The outcome should be measurable (Sackett et al 1997) and after initially trivialising with the term ‘used’ it became evident that this would not develop into something that could be measured. Discussing whether or not an intervention is ‘effective’ however would provide the question with a measurable outcome. Revision of the terminology identified through the PICO framework would consequently translate the question as – Is cognitive-behaviour therapy an effective intervention for adult males with learning disabilities diagnosed as suffering from social anxiety? A well-formulated search strategy is an essential component in gathering appropriate evidence (Hewitt-Taylor 2002). Ridsdale (1998) discusses a four-stage search strategy that helps to translate the question into a meaningful search – a) Identify the subject elements of the question b) Define the relationship between the subject elements c) Convert the subject elements into search themes d) Decide on the scope of the search Assistance to define the subject elements can be found within the PICO framework – Patient – Learning Disability, Social Anxiety Intervention – CBT Outcome – Effectiveness Once identified an effective means of linking the subject elements of a question for the search process is through the use of ‘operators’. Operators such as: And – Or – Not, form a logical link between the elements of the question and can be used collectively or individually in any electronic database search (Ridsdale 1998). All of the subject elements of the question were required in order provide a conclusive answer therefore the operator required for the search strategy could be identified as ‘And’. The subject elements then require conversion into terms by which references can be retrieved (Ridsdale 1998). A keyword search would apply the terms identified as the subject elements, however making a list of the known synonyms of the subject elements such as Intellectual Disability and Mental Retardation, for inclusion, would substantially develop the search process. Finally the scope of the search decides what is wanted from the search. In order to identify the most appropriate type of evidence that is required for the practice problem the type of question asked must be identified (Sackett et al 1997). The question developed through the PICO framework can be readily identified as questioning, ‘the effectiveness of a therapy’. Sackett et al (1997) proposes that the best available evidence to answer this type of question is comparative / prospective studies and ideally random controlled trials (RCTs) which in turn determine the choice of database (Ridsdale 1998). Sackett et al (1997) provides a comprehensive catalogue of information resources such as databases, journals and web sites along with descriptions  of the type of evidence that can be found within these resources. It was established previously that the best type of evidence for the question would be RCTs and comparative / prospective studies. From the descriptions supplied by Sackett et al (1997) it could be identified that the Cochrane Library supplies the user with full text systematic reviews of effects of health-care interventions along with bibliographies of controlled trials. Further electronic databases identified through Salford University library information services were PsycINFO that contains citations and summaries of journal articles and books in the field of psychology chosen for its congruity with the clinical intervention. ‘Swetswise’ an electronic journal aggregator that provides access to full text publications from several major health care related academic publishers and ‘IngentaConnect’ which offers full text availability for all core Blackwell science and medical journals were chosen due to familiarity of use and extensive subject matter. Other databases considered were CINAHL, EMBASE and AMED however all were discounted due to their general nursing bias. Despite the recognition of Ridsdale’s (1998) four-stage search strategy and its systematic approach the initial search were completed exploiting familiar strategies through the IngentaConnect database. Preconceptions from previous endeavours searching for relevant evidence furnished the belief that a similar strategy would provide sufficient evidence to answer the question. A number of the subject elements were used through keyword searches whilst the operator ‘And’ was used to link each in turn (See Appendix). This easy to use search strategy produced a number of hits however none matched the criteria identified as being the most appropriate type of evidence to answer the question. The search revealed that almost all of the evidence found belonged in either mental health (Heimberg 2002) or general medical settings (Scholing & Emmelkamp 1999). Whenever the term learning disability or mental retardation was utilised they invariable appeared indiscriminately amidst the title or abstract of the article providing no specific relevance to the question. The frustration born out of this strategy led to further searches of electronic databases firstly through another familiar database, Swetswise. Ridsdale (1998) identifies that too many hits will be recovered if the subject element is to general  and this was evident in the first keyword search. The term learning disabilities produced 548 hits (See Appendix) far too many to feasibly scan. The subsequent four searches failed to produce a single hit a possibility also recognised by Ridsdale (1998) who suggests alternative synonyms are utilised in this circumstance. Due to the inability to find any relevant material of value towards answering the question Ridsdale’s (1998) four-stage strategy was then conscientiously adopted in conjunction with the knowledge acquired through lectures received at Salford University. A further search of Swetswise database was completed (See Appendix) which revealed significantly less hits than previously achieved but produced a literature review (Hatton 2002) specifically aimed at the use of CBT and people with learning disabilities. Whilst this evidence did not fulfil previous identified criteria it established that pursuing Ridsdale’s (1998) strategy could provide some success. A similar approach was undertaken while searching the Cochrane Library database which allows the user to restrict the search to the acquisition of systematic reviews and controlled trials whilst using a simple keyword option. Again the subject elements were utilised along with the recognised operator and despite new found co nfidence and knowledge the search strategy revealed no evidence of systematic reviews or RCTs with regards to the question (See Appendix). All systematic reviews or RCTs retrieved belonged within general and mental health settings. The final electronic database to be utilised was PsycINFO (via Ovid) where again Ridsdale’s (1998) four-stage strategy was conscientiously adopted. PsycINFO requires the user to have some prior knowledge of how to use electronic databases and their search strategies, which initially can prove bewildering to the novice. Once familiar with the database and its ability to combine search strategies either through keyword, journal or author the user should find it a practical resource (See Appendix). No systematic reviews or RCTs were found within the results however a further literature review (Feldman & Rivas-Vazquez 2003) aimed at psychosocial interventions and people with intellectual disabilities was unearthed along with evidence from child and adolescence services (Dadds & Spence 1997) and psychiatric services (Carmin & Albano 2003). Hatton (2002) suggests that research evidence on the effects of psychosocial interventions  for people with learning disabilities is sparse, whilst Kroese (1998) adds that therapists are reluctant to engage into therapy with this client group due to their dislike of having to relate to them. In an attempt to discover any type of evidence relating to people with learning disabilities and CBT the Salford University library catalogue was searched (See Appendix). A simple keyword search revealed one book (Kroese et al 1997) attaining the subject elements however again it did not produce the type of evidence recognised as the most appropriate to answer the question. Sackett et al (1997 p.2) defines evidence based practice as: â€Å"†¦the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients†. With this definition in mind it should be established as to what constitutes ‘current best evidence’ and its implications for the practitioner wishing to implement ‘evidence based practice’. Belsey & Snell (2001 p.2) states that, â€Å"†¦evidence is presented in many forms†¦ and the value of evidence can be ranked according to the following classification in descending order of credibility†: I. Strong evidence from at least one systematic review of multiple well-designed randomised controlled trials II. Strong evidence from at least one properly designed randomised controlled trial of appropriate size III. Evidence from well-designed trials such as non-randomised trials, cohort studies, time series or matched case-controlled studies IV. Evidence from well-designed non-experimental studies from more than one centre or research group V. Opinions of respected authorities, based on clinical evidence, descriptive studies or reports of expert committees In accepting this hierarchy of evidence practitioners should concede that the systematic review of multiple well-designed RCTs constitutes ‘best available evidence’ (Colyer & Kamath 1999). Sullivan (1998) adds weight to this argument when he states that RCTs constitute the strongest source of evidence and that the scientific community prefer the quantitative research technique that makes use of empirical data following a systematic process. Whilst a number of RCTs were found (Dadds & Spence 1997 Scholing & Emmelkamp 1999) whilst undertaking the search strategy none belonged within learning disability settings. The only evidence found specific to the original question were literature reviews and a specialist book (Kroese et al 1997) aimed at CBT and learning disabilities. The literature reviews (Hatton 2002 Kroese 1998) revealed that a number of case studies and a case series had demonstrated the potential feasibility of CBT reducing anxiety amongst people with learning disabilities. Whilst the specialist book (Kroese et al 1997) discussed conceptual and contextual issues of CBT and people with learning disabilities suffering anxiety disorders. This type of evidence appears in the lower reaches of the hierarchy of evidence and as such its subjectivity, reliability and validity can be disputed (Sullivan 1998). Whilst acknowledging the hierarchy of evidence and the proposal that comparative / prospective studies and ideally RCTs were the best forms of evidence to answer this type of question (Sackett et al 1997) it appears that in their absence the evidence revealed is the ‘best available’. RCTs are widely acknowledged as the gold standard of evidence-based practice (Rowland & Goss 2000) however it is suggested that they bear little resemblance to day-to-day reality (McInnes et al 2001). RCTs can be pragmatic or explanatory the former is concerned with the overall effectiveness of an intervention whilst the latter examines the impact of specific treatment elements on outcome (Parry 2000) however neither considers the perspectives and uniqueness of the respondents. The evidence recovered for the question (Hatton 2002 Kroese 1998) albeit in the lower reaches of the hierarchy acknowledges the feelings of the respondents due to its qualitative nature (patient centred, holistic and humanistic) therefore making it extremely suitable for the study of nursing phenomena (Parahoo  1997) along with its relevance as regards answering a therapy question (Parry 2000). Kroese (1997) offers a number of reasons why there is this lack of quantitative research evidence surrounding the subject elements in the question. He suggests that people with a learning disability are a devalued population, it is impossible to ensure that changes are due to clinical manipulations if individuals (learning disabled) do not have stable cognitions. Finally there is a conjecture that anxiety in people with learning disabilities is the same as in the general population consequently there is no need for specifically focused research. It emerges that learning disability services continue to adapt research evidence from general and mental health settings (Finlay & Lyons 2001) a similar approach with the RCTs recovered from the search strategy could make them a valued resource however it would take a skilled clinician to make this a feasible option. Reflection is a necessary component of Continuing Professional Development and is a legitimate method for questioning personal effectiveness and responsibility in all aspects of health care (Driscoll & Teh 2001). Through the process of reflection the practitioner recognised his own limitations in identifying appropriate evidence for his clinical problems, along with the often inconclusive, time consuming and frustrating strategies undertaken in the search of evidence in support of his clinical practice. The structured frameworks utilised throughout the process described earlier gave the practitioner a systematic approach to formulating a question, developing a search strategy and identifying appropriate evidence to answer his practice problem. The ability to systematically approach future clinical problems will enable the practitioner to offer his clients a holistic, client centred practice from the best external evidence available. Adams, B. Bromley, B. (1998) Psychology for Health Care Key Terms and Concepts, London, Macmillan Press Beck, J.S. (1995) Cognitive Therapy Basics and Beyond, London, Guildford Press. Belsey, J. Snell, T. (2001) What is Evidence-Based Medicine? [Internet] Available from www.jr2.ox.uk/bandolier (Accessed 7th December 2004) Carmin, C.N. Albano, A.M. (2003) Clinical Management of Anxiety Disorder in Psychiatric Settings: Psychology’s Impact on Evidence-Based Treatment of Children and Adults, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Vol. 34, No. 2 pp 170-176. Colyer, H. Kamath, P. (1999) Evidence-based practice A philosophical and political analysis: some matters for consideration by professional practitioners, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp 188-193 Dadds, M.R. Spence, S.H. (1997) Prevention and Early Intervention for Anxiety Disorders: A Controlled Trial, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Vol. 65, No. 4, pp 627-635. Dattilio, F.M. Kendall, P.C. (2000) Panic Disorder In: Dattilio, F.M. Freeman, A. Cognitive Behavioural Strategies in Crisis Interventions 2nd Edition, London, The Guildford Press. Driscoll, J. Teh, B. (2001) The potential of reflective practice to develop individual orthopaedic nurse practitioners and their practice, Journal of Orthopaedic Nursing, Vol. 5, pp 95-103 Embling, S. (2002) The effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy in depression, Nursing Standard, Vol. 17, Nos. 14-15, pp 33-41 Feldman, L.B. Rivas-Vazquez, R.A. (2003) Assessment and Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Vol. 34, No. 4, pp 396-405. Gates, B. (1996) Learning Disability In: Kenworthy, N. Snowley, G. Gilling, C. (Eds) Common Foundations Studies in Nursing Second Edition, London, Churchill Livingston. Hassiotis, A. Barron, P. O’Hara, J. (2000) Mental Health Services for People with Learning Disabilities, British Medical Journal, Vol. 321, Issue 7261, pp 583-584 Hatton, C. (2002) Psychosocial interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems: A review, Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp 357-373. Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2002) Evidence-based practice, Nursing Standard, Vol. 17, Nos. 14-15, pp 47-52. Department of Health (2001) Valuing People A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, A White Paper, London, HMSO. Department of Health (2002) Health Action Plans and Health Facilitation Good Practice Guidance for Learning Disability Partnership Boards, London, Department of Health. Heimberg, R.G. (2002) Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions, Society of Biomedical Psychiatry, Vol. 51, pp 101-108. Kroese, B.S. Dagnan, D. Loumidis, K. (1997) (Eds) Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy for People with Learning Disabilities, London, Brunner-Routledge. Kroese, B.S. (1998) Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for People with Learning Disabilities, Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Vol. 26, pp 315-322. McInnes, E. Harvey, G. Fennessy, G. Clark, E. (2001) Implementing evidence-based practice in clinical situations, Nursing Standard, Vol. 15, No. 41, pp 40-44. Meijel, van B. Game, C. Swieten-Duijfjes, van B. Grypdonck, M.H.F. (2003) The development of evidence-based nursing interventions: methodological considerations, Journal of Advance Nursing, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp 84-92. Parry, G. (2000) Evidence-based psychotherapy In: Rowland N. Goss S. (Eds) Evidence-Based Counselling and Psychological Therapies Research and Applications, London, Routledge. Ridsdale, L (1998) (Ed) Evidence-based Practice in Primary Care, London, Churchill Livingston. Rowland, N. Goss, S. (2000) (Eds) Evidence-Based Counselling and Psychological Therapies Research and Applications, London, Routledge. Sackett, D.L. Richardson, W.S. Rosenberg, W. Hayes, R.B. (1997) Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM, London, Churchill Livingston. Scholing, A. Emmelkamp, P.M.G. (1999) Prediction of treatment outcomes in social phobia: a cross-validation, Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 37, pp 659-670 Seedhouse, D. (1998) Ethics The Heart of Health Care 2nd Edition, Chichester, Wiley. Sullivan, P. (1998) Developing evidence-based care in mental health nursing, Nursing Standard, Vol. 12, No. 31, pp 35-38

Citibank Organisational Structure Essay Example

Citibank Organisational Structure Essay Example Citibank Organisational Structure Paper Citibank Organisational Structure Paper Citigroups Corporate and Investment Banking provides a comprehensive range of world-class investment and banking services to corporates, governments and institutional investors in more than 100 countries around the world. We have significant operations in the worlds most important financial and investment centres including London, New York, Boston, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Milan, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo among many others. In Australia and New Zealand, Citigroup has been an industry leader for over thirty years and today offers the broadest range of financial products, the most in-depth local and global industry expertise and the most comprehensive coverage of the worlds financial markets. We are consistently ranked as the largest underwriter of equity and debt, and in the top tier of providers for MA advice and securities trading. We are a leader in the provision of commercial banking services including cash management, foreign exchange, trade and treasury services. Citigroups unmatched level of products, services, and geographic presence, combined with the worlds largest bank balance sheet, makes us the premier financial organization for corporate and institutional clients in Australia and New Zealand. 10Organizational Structure Chairman CEO Audit Committee* Risk Management and Finance Committee Personnel and Compensation Committee* Nomination and Governance Committee* Public Affairs Committee Citi Holdings Oversight Committee Ad Hoc Committees as necessary* Each member of these Committees must be Independent. â€Å"Quality-Loyalty† Award for the Latin America Operations Center of Excellence On May 24th, the Norwegian Embassy in Mexico City presented the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000-27000 â€Å"Quality-Loyalty† award to the Latin America Operations Center of Excellence (COE) group reflecting Banamex’s long term commitment with the ISO strategy. This commitment started ten years ago with a continuous follow up by the people involved in the Banamex Operations group, which eventually evolved into the Latin America COE group created in 2007. The ISO discipline has been embedded into the day to day activities of the Operations group, allowing them to revalidate the ISO certification year after year during this period. Alejandro Villalpando, a member of the Latin America Operations COE group, says they are aiming for a new goal, which is to include secondary processes in the scope of the certification. Other areas that have participated in the ISO certification besides the Latin America COE Operations are Operations Mexico and Latin America Customer Service.

The Missing Article

The Missing Article The Missing Article The Missing Article By Mark Nichol Omitting the article the from before the proper name of an organization or a location is a common error- even, surprisingly, in content produced by such entities. In each of the following sentences, the article is awkwardly absent. Discussion and revision of each sentence shows how to resolve the problem (unless there is no problem because of how the name is treated). 1. Young people are increasingly accessing news sources on their phones, according to Pew Research Center. To test whether an article belongs before a proper name, change the name to a generic reference, such as center in place of â€Å"Pew Research Center.† â€Å"According to center† does not make sense, so, just as it would be appropriate to insert the before center, insert it before the proper name: â€Å"Young people are increasingly accessing news sources on their phones, according to the Pew Research Center.† If the proper name modified a following noun, however, as in the following sentence, no article is required: â€Å"Young people are increasingly accessing news sources on their phones, according to Pew Research Center staff.† (The is optional if the staff have already been referred to.) 2. Heavens Gate cult committed mass suicides in California in 1997. The same test is appropriate in a reference such as this one. â€Å"Cult committed mass suicide in California in 1997† works as a headline (where articles are often omitted) but not as a sentence, so insert the before the proper name: â€Å"The Heavens Gate cult committed mass suicide in California in 1997.† However, in this case, strictly speaking, the cult members, not the cult, committed suicide, so this revision is better: â€Å"Heavens Gate cult members committed mass suicide in California in 1997.† (Here, because the subject refers to individuals, not a single entity, the test isn’t required, but the article should be included if the members have already been mentioned earlier.) 3. Spice Girls topped the music charts seven times. References to groups of performers should be treated the same way, but only if the name refers to the individuals: â€Å"The Spice Girls topped the music charts seven times.† Again, the article is not required if the name modifies a plural noun, as in â€Å"Spice Girls songs topped the music charts seven times.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating Conjunctions10 Types of TransitionsTitled versus Entitled

4 Things That Define Minerals

4 Things That Define Minerals In the field of geology, you will often hear a variety of terms including the word mineral. What are minerals, exactly? They are any substance that meets these four specific qualities: Minerals are natural: These substances that form without any human help.Minerals are solid: They dont droop or melt or evaporate.Minerals are inorganic: They arent carbon compounds like those found in living things.Minerals are crystalline: They have a distinct recipe and arrangement of atoms. Despite that, though, there are still some exceptions to these criteria. Unnatural Minerals Until the 1990s, mineralogists could propose names for chemical compounds that formed during the breakdown of artificial substances...things found in places like industrial sludge pits and rusting cars. That loophole is now closed, but there are minerals on the books that arent truly natural. Soft Minerals Traditionally and officially, native mercury is considered a mineral, even though the metal is liquid at room temperature. At about -40 C, though, it solidifies and forms crystals like other metals. So there are parts of Antarctica where mercury is unimpeachably a mineral. For a less extreme example, consider the mineral ikaite, a hydrated calcium carbonate that forms only in cold water. It degrades into calcite and water above 8 C. It is significant in the polar regions, the ocean floor, and other cold places, but you cant bring it into the lab except in a freezer. Ice is a mineral, even though it isnt listed in the mineral field guide. When ice collects in large enough bodies, it flows in its solid state thats what glaciers are. And salt (halite) behaves similarly, rising underground in broad domes and sometimes spilling out in salt glaciers. Indeed, all minerals, and the rocks they are part of, slowly deform given enough heat and pressure. Thats what makes plate tectonics possible. So in a sense, no minerals are really solid except maybe diamonds. Other minerals that arent quite solid are instead flexible. The mica minerals are the best-known example, but molybdenite is another. Its metallic flakes can be crumpled like aluminum foil. The asbestos mineral chrysotile  is stringy enough to weave into cloth. Organic Minerals The rule that minerals must be inorganic may be the strictest one. The substances that make up coal, for instance, are different kinds of hydrocarbon compounds derived from cell walls, wood, pollen, and so on. These are called macerals instead of minerals. If coal is squeezed hard enough for long enough, the carbon sheds all its other elements and becomes graphite. Even though it is of organic origin, graphite is a true mineral with carbon atoms arranged in sheets. Diamonds, similarly, are carbon atoms arranged in a rigid framework. After some four billion years of life on Earth, its safe to say that all the worlds diamonds and graphite are of organic origin even if they arent strictly speaking organic. Amorphous Minerals A few things fall short in crystallinity, hard as we try. Many minerals form crystals that are too small to see under the microscope. But even these can be shown to be crystalline at the nanoscale using the technique of X-ray powder diffraction, though, because X-rays are a super-shortwave type of light that can image extremely small things. Having a crystal form means that the substance has a chemical formula. It might be as simple as halites (NaCl) or complex like  epidotes (Ca2Al2(Fe3, Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH)), but if you were shrunk to an atoms size, you could tell what mineral you were seeing by its molecular makeup and arrangement. A few substances fail the X-ray test. They are truly glasses or colloids, with a fully random structure at the atomic scale. They are amorphous, scientific Latin for formless. These get the honorary name mineraloid. Mineraloids are a small club of about eight members, and thats stretching things by including some organic substances (violating criterion 3 as well as 4).

Reynoldss Views of Ise Shrine Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reynoldss Views of Ise Shrine - Assignment Example One of the biggest arguments in their favor is that the continual destruction and rebuilding of the shrine is part of the modernist aesthetic (324). The strong points of Reynolds’s organization are that the long historical introduction builds up well to his claim so that by the time Reynolds makes it seems logical. However, at the same time, that long historical introduction makes the essay somewhat difficult to read. It seems like Reynolds could have spent a lot less time on historical facts or at least applied them more directly to his main argument. Reynolds validates his authority throughout the essay. On the one hand, he continually cites Japanese sources, which makes it clear that he is very familiar with his topic and able to make statements about it. On the other, he writes at great length about many aspects of both Ise Shrine’s history and the aesthetics of Japanese modernism. Reynolds clearly has authority to write about modernist views of Ise Shrine.

What Is Omitted in the Controversy Surrounding the Issue of Drugs Lega Essay

What Is Omitted in the Controversy Surrounding the Issue of Drugs Legalization - Essay Example For the United States, the drugs problem today has assumed the shape of the controversy about whether drugs use should be legalized. In this debate emotions often rule, when appeals to the conservative values of the nation are made by the adherents of the continuation of the current "War on Drugs" (Inciardi, 1999, p.128). However, we will see that significant benefits can be obtained from the legalization of drugs and from the shift from the drugs-related prosecutions to harm-reduction policies. Let us explore this issue in detail and try to see why this is the case. One of the strong arguments for legalization of drugs stems from the inadmissibility of the continuation of the current state of affairs, when hundreds of thousands of people are arrested every year and kept behind bars for possession of illegal substances for personal usage, and not for sale (Inciardi, 1999, p.133). At the same time, realistically looking at things we have to confess that even under such a harsh regime there has not occurred a significant reduction in drugs use, and there seems to be no perspective for such reduction at all. Indeed, the real problem with drugs is that for many people they have a unique ability to satisfy one of the fundamental human aspirations that lies in the need to escape from the numerous unpleasant aspects of our reality, even though doing so in a perverse way that may finally only aggravate the problems that we are trying to get rid of. If we understand this then we have to concede that drugs, in one form or another, are to stay with us perhaps forever. In this light, the disputable successes that proponents of the maintenance of the criminal status of drugs use to allude to when they defend their position may be misleading. Indeed, the measures of prosecution and compulsory rehabilitation of drug addicts substitutes one evil for another as they only add to the unhappiness of people who depend on drugs by intensifying in them an atmosphere of psychological tension that may actually contribute to the drug-oriented behavior and addiction.  Ã‚  

Trade relations between India and China from the beginning to 1500 AD Essay

Trade relations between India and China from the beginning to 1500 AD - Essay Example The aim of this research paper is to investigate the history of India-China trade relations from ancient times till sixteenth century. There were several trade centers which served as essential commercial transactions between the two countries. The important trade centers in India were Puskalavati, Taxila, Tamralipti, Kanchi, etc. Puskalavati is considered to be the first gateway of ancient India and was the most significant commercial mart because it contributed actively in commercial transaction between India and China in the first century A.D. During the period of Sakas and Kusanas, trade between India and China was done through Puskalavati. Taxila was the hub of international trade and was essential trade route between India and Central Asia (Shaffer, 123). It also assisted western traders in their trade with China. Chinese merchants used to come to Kanchi through foreign ships to buy pearls, glass, precious stones and other Indian products and exchanged gold and silver. Tamralipti was another important port in Bengal which carried trade links with China (Shaffer, 129). Canton was the essential Chinese city whi ch had established trade links in India. Other important trade links between China and India included Ping-Yang and Kwi-Yang. Trade relations between the two countries existed during the Madagh-Maurya era of fifth and sixth centuries B.C. The Gupta period further proves it. Sixth Century BC indicates the fundamental period in Chinese history because the State of Tsin had introduced important amendments in economic and political fields (Eberhard, 34). This had increased the commercial relationship between India through land routes. During sixth century B.C, India and China took advantage of the trade opportunities that existed. The Indian muslin silk cloth had captured the international market which also helped to popularize the Chinese silk. Great demands for Chinese silk from all over the world came and

Arab Societies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Arab Societies - Essay Example l-Ziyy Al-Islami or Islamic dress is something that distinguishes them from others because such dress should reflect the cornerstones of the Islamic belief system of privacy, humility, piety and moderation. Such simplicity of dress reminds them that luxury and leisure await them in the next world. Thus, embellishment of one’s dress or body is not seen positively unlike in other cultures. The qur’an, it says that the Prophet Muhammad admonished men’s clothing should be modest especially during worship and women’s clothing, not attracting any attention and men’s lustful desire to themselves. The Qur’an gives specific rules as to socio-moral behaviour of Islamic believers. It tells men and women to â€Å"lower their gaze and cover their genitals† when they interact so that any sexual tension will not build up. Islam accepts sexuality as normal for humans but it restricts it to matrimony. Outside marriage, behaviour between men and women in interaction should be desexualized. There should be control and regulation body and interactive space and all interactions should be in public. The Islamic dress is one kind of desexualizing control. In more contemporary times, the Islamic dress code for men and women were full-length opaque and austere-colored gallabiyyas which are loose-fitting clothes that conceal the body. In addition, men wore trousers and sandals and grew beards and women wore al-khimars, headcovers which cover the hair and extends low to the forehead, goes under the chin to conceal the neck and falls down over the chest and back. In some Arabic societies, wearing of such traditional garb has become quite controversial. The government has discouraged the wearing of such clothes in an effort to westernize their culture. However, some Islamic revolutionists want to keep the tradition going and insist on wearing it. It came to a point where the wearing of â€Å"the veil† which represents Islamic dress was seen to be a rebellious action. It

Consumer-brand relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Consumer-brand relationships - Essay Example When the concept of branding is applied in the marketing strategies, there is a huge possibility that an effective consumer-brand relationship is created. The marketing experts have realised that the customers have become more informed and have easy access to a wide range of choices and the only way to get competitive advantage in the respective market is to strengthen the consumer-brand relationship which means getting the customers emotionally involved with the brand (Bengtsson, Bardhi & Venkatramann, 2010). It is stated by Frank et al. (2010) that the companies that will ensure that they create a highly gripping, pleasurable, consistent and compelling experience of brand for their customers which will enable it to get the top ranking in the market. However, the companies that strive to strengthen their brand just to obtain monetary benefits or don’t take account of the customer’s preferences are often unable to create a healthy relationship with their customers. ... Theoretical perspectives of Consumer-brand relationships Brand has been defined by many researchers in different ways as there is no concrete definition for this terminology. The most easiest and raw description of a brand is â€Å"awareness about a product or service offering† (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005). According to Carlson, Donavan and Cumiskey (2009), a firm has to promote its brand which comprises of creating a name, broadcasting it to the target market and then implementing it on its corporate identity or the set of service or product offerings; the brand is the key element that highlights the presence of a company and its product or service in the market. Every organisation has to market its brand so that it can create a brand identity which is the set of associations that consumers develop about a certain brand (Bauer, Heinrich & Martin, 2007). For instance, Disney World is considered to be the best place for fun, adventure and enjoyment; it is the destination th at everyone wants to go to have the spectacular experience of their lives with family and friends. Disney World has further strengthened its brand image by making valuable additions in its service offerings so that it can meet the changing demands of its consumers. In order to create a good and effective consumer-brand relationship, the marketing managers of a company have to use the logos, taglines, product attributes and other aspects in the marketing activities to differentiate the brand from its competitors (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). The basic requirement of strengthening the brand-consumer relationship is to give the most sensational brand experience to the customers by using all available sources such as promotional events, advertising, Websites and Customer Relationship

Women's Role in the Fields of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Essay

Women's Role in the Fields of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering - Essay Example Until the mid of the 19th century, many women were discriminated in terms of the kind of education they could receive (Klein 45). It was belived that learned women were likely to engage in deviant behavior, not acceptable to the society. People believed that educating females would have a negative effect on their children and their personal health as they are said to weak. By the mid 19th century, supporters of women’s education noted that women were not able to do their natural duties properly and effectively without having the knowledge to do so (Klein 45). In the late 19th century, scientists came up with different studies showing how upper middle class women’s health was affected by strain due to education. The studies also suggested that the strain caused to women in the process of learning mathematics drew blood from their reproductive organs to their brains. Education was therefore viewed to threaten women’s fertility. Despite the restriction on women†™s education, women made several contributions to scientific knowledge. Their contribution was through carrying out research and writing. For instance, Jane Colden who was taught by her father, a botanist, identified over three hundred plant species and classified them. She also identified and classified different works with the gardenia of which she is today identified with. The establishment of female academies meant for upper-class women in the US increased their literacy levels. Most women engaged in writing scientific texts. These texts were used or educating the public about basic science. In 1796 a text entitled Introduction to Botany in a Series of Familiar Letters was published by Priscilla Bell. The book was printed in the US and England for almost fifty years. Some years later, Jane Marcet made a publication of a text titled Conversations on Chemistry. Maria Mitchell is regarded as the first lady to be a professional scientist in America. According to Wyer (96), at twen ty-eight that is in 1847, she discovered a new comet. The earlier belief that it was unwise to educate women began to fade gradually in the latter part of the 1800s. This belief gave way to the argument that women education improved their knowledge making it more beneficial. By the end of the 19th century, around twenty-five women had been awarded doctorate degrees with six of them being in science (Wyer 56). The following year the number of women awarded doctorate degrees in science went up to thirty-six. This led to the increasing need to provide more job opportunities for women. When focusing on the history women in the field of engineering in America, there has been a great evolution. Early in the 19th century, technology was viewed in the perspective of science. It was viewed as a filed meant for men. It was due to the masculinity associated with the combination of science and technology. In those days the women’s contribution in science and other related fields such as mathematics and engineering was undermined. The only women who succeeded in the field worked in line with their husbands or fathers. The society of women engineers in America has done a lot in promoting engineering to be career choice to women. The society was formed in 1950 and was involved in introducing young females in the field of engineering. It has initiated career guidance and counseling for women. Earlier women engaged in the field of engineering of practiced the career through information distribution. By the start of the 20th century, engineering programs were only known by a small number of women. They started

Consumer-brand relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Consumer-brand relationships - Essay Example When the concept of branding is applied in the marketing strategies, there is a huge possibility that an effective consumer-brand relationship is created. The marketing experts have realised that the customers have become more informed and have easy access to a wide range of choices and the only way to get competitive advantage in the respective market is to strengthen the consumer-brand relationship which means getting the customers emotionally involved with the brand (Bengtsson, Bardhi & Venkatramann, 2010). It is stated by Frank et al. (2010) that the companies that will ensure that they create a highly gripping, pleasurable, consistent and compelling experience of brand for their customers which will enable it to get the top ranking in the market. However, the companies that strive to strengthen their brand just to obtain monetary benefits or don’t take account of the customer’s preferences are often unable to create a healthy relationship with their customers. ... Theoretical perspectives of Consumer-brand relationships Brand has been defined by many researchers in different ways as there is no concrete definition for this terminology. The most easiest and raw description of a brand is â€Å"awareness about a product or service offering† (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005). According to Carlson, Donavan and Cumiskey (2009), a firm has to promote its brand which comprises of creating a name, broadcasting it to the target market and then implementing it on its corporate identity or the set of service or product offerings; the brand is the key element that highlights the presence of a company and its product or service in the market. Every organisation has to market its brand so that it can create a brand identity which is the set of associations that consumers develop about a certain brand (Bauer, Heinrich & Martin, 2007). For instance, Disney World is considered to be the best place for fun, adventure and enjoyment; it is the destination th at everyone wants to go to have the spectacular experience of their lives with family and friends. Disney World has further strengthened its brand image by making valuable additions in its service offerings so that it can meet the changing demands of its consumers. In order to create a good and effective consumer-brand relationship, the marketing managers of a company have to use the logos, taglines, product attributes and other aspects in the marketing activities to differentiate the brand from its competitors (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). The basic requirement of strengthening the brand-consumer relationship is to give the most sensational brand experience to the customers by using all available sources such as promotional events, advertising, Websites and Customer Relationship

Pre contract cost planning and pre contract cost controlling Essay

Pre contract cost planning and pre contract cost controlling - Essay Example James Nisbet was the first who conceived and developed the technique of elemental cost analysis for construction projects. Nisbet technique demanded the architects to ‘design to cost’ in opposition to the approximate quantities’ method of estimating, which basically involved costing a design: with very little control. Thus, the elemental costing approach facilitated the client to get a more consistent pre-tender estimate, and offered the design team a model so as to control cost at the design development stage itself. As per Nisbet, the cost planning should be developed jointly by the quantity surveyor and the architect and postulated that such close cooperation could, in the long run, result in the integration of the profession of quantity surveyors and the architects as one-stop supply of consultancy firms. In 1962, the cost research panel of RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) established the Building Cost Information Services (BCIS) mainly to gather cost data for the introduction of such cost plans. Now, BCIS has developed a national database in excess of 16,000 element cost analysis, which is available online now. Such data can be utilized to prepare the pre-contract approximating process in the construction sector together to make sure the value for money by assisting the designer to make certain about the most proper distribution of costs well within the concerned project. Thus, cost management is the process of assisting the design team to design to cost instead of the quantity surveyor costing a design (Potts & Ankrah 2013:59). Cost management is a complete process, which make certain that the contract amount is within the approved budget or cost limit of the client. The modus of the design cost control is that by employing the cost planning method which is the evaluation of existing projects into various functional elements so as to offer a means of evaluation between

Online social networking industry

Online social networking industry Online Social Networking Industry The concept of social networking as a platform for engaging a community is distinctly not novel. What is novel is how technology has facilitated the evolution of virtual social platforms that broaden the reach, ability and latent of community (Web 2.0 in Social Networking sites Industry Analysis, 2009). The new emerging technologies are invariably altering the means through that consumers can interact with each other. Previously, the main technology used by consumers for communicating was telephone but throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, personal computers and the Internet vastly broadened the choices accessible for consumers to intercommunicate with each other with services like email, chat rooms, online bulletin boards, instant messaging etc. The Online Social Networking Industry constitutes companies that are attempting to navigate, analyze, or display social associations of friends, co-workers and acquaintances. The online social networking industry is developing quickly with a kind of both personal and business tailored applications rising tapping into the global marketplace (Web 2.0 in Social Networking sites Industry Analysis, 2009). The more advanced features of the industry players allow weak links and friend-of-a friend links to be tapped for social or business networking aims. Porters Five Force Analysis of Social Networking Industry Online Social Networking firms extend quite a few variations of the products on the basis of their target audience and the aim of the product. Some firms concentrate primarily on one aspect whereas other firms may incorporate all of these offerings and some of these offerings: Business Network Building Business Network Searching Social Network Building Social Network Searching (George, 2003). Usually, the Network Building firms of the industry offer a search potential, whereas the Network Searching firms have concentrated on assembling Internet-based information from public informants or clients. The position and the attractiveness of the industry would be considered effectively with the help of its porters five force analysis that is as follows; Threat of New Entrants: A number of players are entering the industry with an aim to grow and attain a prominent position but still the industry is dominated by few social networking players. The network effects of the companies are not assisting them in retaining their market share. More and more companies are entering but only some of them are able to attain a specific position and in this way, it could be said that the threat of new entrants in the industry is moderate. Buyer Power The prominent buyers of the social networking industry players are advertising companies and the subscribers of â€Å"premium services†. The power of industry service buyers is high as the advertisers and the premium users may also get the same services from other social networking sites at more effective prices (Yang, Kim Dhalwani, n.d.). The switching costs are very low and due to this the buyers easily get switch to different providers. Supplier Power In the online social networking industry, the main supplier to a social networking site is the visitors who visit social networks. The importance of visitors as suppliers is due to the determination of visitors that how attractive the site is to likely advertisers. In contrast, other kinds of suppliers that provide the server hardware, software, or network bandwidth to the site play a comparatively less important role. In this way, it could be said that the power of suppliers in the industry is low. Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitute products or services is moderate in the industry as in present all are trying to come up with something new and innovative. The prominent players in the industry are few and due to this the threat of substitute products and services is not so high (Yang, Kim Dhalwani, n.d.). Industry Rivalry A number of online social networking sites have been launched, since the concept had emerged and employed. More and more companies are trying these products and services that demonstrate that the rivalry in the industry is very high. Assessment of Industrys Overall Attractiveness Key Success Factors With the Porters five force analysis of the industry, it could be stated that the overall attractiveness of the industry is moderate and as soon as the technology will be developed more and more industry players will become more lucrative. The attractiveness of the industry could be analyzed with the example of some famous social networking sites like MySpace, Face book, Orkut and Twitter. All these social networking companies had attained their position in the global market place with the help of effective strategies and continuous improvement and innovation with their sites. The most effective key success factors for a social networking website are as follows: People-to-people interaction Speed of innovation Network effects Availability of Applications User engagement (Web 2.0 in Social Networking sites Industry Analysis, 2009) Competitive Environment of Industry Company Long-term Goals With this detailed analysis of the industry, the determination regarding the companys long-term goals can be made easily. The long-term goals of the company in concern to social networking web sites should be the continuous improvement and innovation with its social sites so that users can get benefits of latest technology and effective intercommunication (Xu, Tjoa Chaudhry, 2007). Only with these long-term goals, the company can attain a significant position in the industry as the competition is increasing day by day in the industry. More and more companies are trying to offer new and innovative features to its users with the help of their social networking sites. In the end of the discussion, it could be said that the company should operate in the industry with the overall objective of be creative and engaging more and more users with effective network effects and applications.

Contrasting Ralph and Jack in Lord of the Flies Essay -- comparison co

Contrasting Ralph and Jack in Lord of the Flies Ralph and Jack are both powerful and meaningful characters in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Ralph is an excellent leader; responsible, and stands for all that is good. Jack is a destructive hunter, selfish, and represents evil. These two main characters can be compared by the actions they take as leaders, their personalities, and what they symbolize in the story. Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief. He carries this position until Jack and his fellow hunters break away from the group. Ralph makes it his job to set out the rules to organize a society. Ralph always thinks of what is best for everyone and how they will all benefit from his decisions. Rules and standards are set when Ralph is the chief. He orders the group to build the basic necessities of civilization, shelters, and most importantly to keep the fire going, in hope that they will be rescued and return to humanity. "But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (Golding 75). Jack, on the other hand, takes on the idea of every man for himself. He does not care about making homes, only about hunting. When Jack is the leader, evil takes over and all good is destroyed. Under Jack's power both Simon and Piggy are killed. Not only do the two character's decisions clash so do their personalities. Ralph is caring and considerate, being kinder... ...nclusion. 2. While the body of your paper sticks to your thesis statement, it could be better organized. Since your organize your paper into three paragraphs, one concerning the boys' leadership, another their personalities and another their symbolism, each paragraph should be organized in the same manner. If you discuss Ralph first in the first paragraph then you should begin with Ralph in the other two paragraphs. Also you should fully discuss each character before moving on to the other. Switching back and forth can become confusing. 3. The correct method for quoting is "The conch is gone" (Golding 200). Instead of, "The conch is gone (Golding 200)." The parentheses are considered a part of the last sentence but not a part of the quote itself, so it should be included into the punctuation but not the quotation marks.