Reasons for bullying behaviour Essay

Olweus (1980) identified that bullying children are usually impulsive and have an aggressive temperament and children who are bullied have a shy or weak temperament. Some of the children who are bullied lack assertiveness skills. Also, being different in some way such as being from a different ethnic group increases the chances of being bullied. In addition, children with special educational needs, with a physical disability or mild or moderate learning difficulties are also at risk of getting bullied. Researches conducted by Petterson, DeBaryshe and Ramsay (1989) also identifies factors at home as reasons for bullying. Factors such as lack of warmth between the parents or among other members of the family, use of physical violence within the family or lack of clear guidance for behaviour to the children or even lack of monitoring of children’s activities. Study conducted by Olweus (1980) in Norvegia also indicated links of family background to bullying. For bullied children, Olweus (1993) found that over-protective parenting may increase the risk of being bullied. Children in over-protected family environments usually do not develop skills as much as children who are independent and hence become vulnerable by the bullies. Bowers, Smith and Binney (1992) conducted research on the children’s, who are either the bullies or the victims, perception of their families. They studied and compared the perceptions of bullies, victims, bully/victims and control children. The study indicated that many bullies and bully/victims perceived that their families were relatively lacking affection among the family members. The study also revealed that there were very poor monitoring procedures. The children who are only involved in bullying perceived that their families have power relationships between the siblings and the other members of the family. In this case of bully/victims the children perceived difficulties with the parental behaviour such as punitive ness and lack of involvement. The children perceived that their parents were more concerned about their own position in the family. (Smith, P. K. et al, 2007) Peer-level characteristics associated with bullying and victimisation Peers are considered to be the most influential group in issues related to bullying. Various studies such as Espelage et al (2003), Pellegrini & Long (2002), Rodkin et al (2000) have studied the influence of peers in how individuals take to aggression and bullying. Homophily Hypothesis This hypothesis is based on the similarity of individuals within a group. In the late childhood and early adolescence, the peer group becomes extremely important for the individuals. During this time, the peer group involves in similar behavioural dimensions such as smoking, academic achievements and so on. This similarity within the group is called homophily. In studies conducted on middle school students, homophily was found to be true in explaining the extent of how much the peer influenced each other in bullying their peers. The effect of peers was found to be higher for bullying than fighting. This provided evidence that peer influence plays an important role in low-level aggression than fighting. It was found that students generally hang out with the kids who bullied others. It was found that the students who bullied at similar frequency were found to hang out more. Dominance theory Dominance theory is based on the observation that during the early adolescence, children look to increase their dominance. Pellegrini (2002) observed that the transition to middle school requires children to renegotiate their dominance relationships. Bullying is found to be a deliberate strategy for attaining the dominance, especially in a newly formed peer groups. Studies indicate that bullying was used more frequently by boys who targeted their aggression towards other boys during this transition. This theory is structured around the complex interaction among the adolescent for the need of dominance, changes in the social surroundings and peer-group structure and the desire to interact with the opposite sex. Attraction Theory Attraction theory is based on the change in behaviour of young adolescents. It focuses on their need to establish a separation from their parents and also become attracted to other people in their age group who possess characteristics that is a reflection of independence. This independence can be interpreted as delinquency, aggression, disobedience and similar characteristics. In this period, these adolescents are less attracted to individuals who possess characteristics of childhood such as compliance and obedience. This makes these early adolescents attracted to peers who are aggressive. This was also found during a study of 217 boys and girls by Bukowski, who found that the girls and boys were more attracted to aggressive peers when they entered the middle school. The increase in attraction for aggressiveness was more for girls. The different theories, especially the homophily hypothesis, dominance theory and attraction theory demonstrate the complex nature of bullying during the early years of adolescence.

Healthcare Interview Essay

Introduction This paper is based on a conducted interview of a licensed employee of Larkin Community Hospital. This paper will include an overview of Larkin Community Hospital. It will describe the targeted department, type of work conducted in this department, and specific information that makes it unique. Furthermore, this paper will describe all responsibilities in care and will consist of questions answered by the interviewee. Overview of Larkin Community Hospital Larkin Community Hospital severed as a general hospital for those patients who in need of surgical and medical care. Larking Community is a physician-owned, acute care in bed hospital accredited by Joint Commissions. In this facility, patients will have safest and compressive care at its best quality. This facility offers a variety of services which include bariatric care, cardiology, dental care, emergency care, family practice, memory disorders, occupational health, outpatient and inpatient care, podiatry and foot, pulmonary care, mental health, surgery, and healing. It accommodates residential patients who suffer from physical or mental disabilities. As part of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, it teaches healthcare professionals of all aspects of care by monitoring and reviewing all healthcare decisions. The hospital will also implement and implement policies to ensure regulatory compliance is in order in regards to residents. Targeted Department The targeted department is the section where patients need more assistance; this is what makes facility different from the rest. In this section, resident assistance is available all hours of the day. All of the employees are trained to provide adequate care. All resident aids are first aid and CPR certified. Resident aids are available to provide ambulatory care when need for the patient. Because more care is provided in this section, there are more resident aids on the floor to make certain that all needs are fulfilled. Interviewee The person been interviewed is Ira Agastein, a resident supervisor of Larkin Hospital Community. His responsibilities is to make sure that residents are getting appropriate care by performance evaluations, make certain residents receive their medication when needed, and handling complaints by patients or their families. Agastein is in charge of enforcing implications of action plans that are developed to improve operation efficiency. As the resident aid supervisor it is his responsibility to ensure that employees (resident aids and resident aid manager) carry out their assigned duties. This will guaranteed that the department continues to improve and continue to provide the best quality of care to the patients. Career Path When asked what about his career path was, Agastein said it was to become a resident aid supervisor. Agastein began his career working as a combat medic in the Army National Guard. After a few years, he went to medical school to earn his bachelor degree in psychology. He began working shortly after his commissioning in the Army. After working in this position for 5 years, he began to shadow the resident manager learning the responsibilities of this position. A few months afterwards, he was promoted to resident manager. He knew that he wanted to go further so he began to learn the responsibilities as a resident aid supervisor. When the position was available he applied in hopes of getting the job. Because of his years of experience and acquired knowledge he was given the position. Although it can be overbearing at times, Agastein seems to love his job very much. Educational Requirements What are the educational requirements for the position? Agastein replied that there are some requirements for education where he had obtained a bachelor degree to get this position, which he did for psychology. While he was in medical school, he had to understand mental behaviors and theories relating to children and young teens. He had to deal with families suffering domestic violence and substance abuse. Also he had to working with people coming from socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. He needed to be able to withhold the knowledge of a resident supervisor, which got him in his current position today. Did your education adequately prepare you for your job? When asked this question Agastein said that without a doubt that his formal education in medical school had prepared him for this job. Since he had worked his way up through the ranks, from enlisted to commissioned he had seen all the aspects of leadership and he was well prepared to be put into a supervisor position. What would you say is the most important attribute for success in this position? Communication is the most important part of success in any position. Agastein said that from the janitor to the director if there is no communication everything will shut down and the business will not function. With his success in her current position he says that he has learned that throughout his entire career that communication was always what got his where he wanted to be. Another attribute that he attributes to his success is good old fashioned hard work. He says that he has always had to work hard and study a lot because good grades and success in education did not come as easy to him as it did for some of his colleagues. He had to study a lot and not sleep very much through medical school but he was able to pass in the top ten percent of his class. Hard work and dedication pays off well. Conclusion Ira Agastein a resident supervisor of Larkin Community Hospital, loves every aspect of his job and feels that he is right where he needs to be in his career path. He loves working with people and being able to make sure that they are all taken care of in a way that he says would make his grandfather proud. As a 18 year service veteran as a combat medic, he looks forward to retiring from the Army in the near future but he says he probably will never leave the health care field. He has done a lot of things in his 18 year career with the army and done other things, he has spent a lot of time on his education and says that here time in medical school was all worth it. Health care is something that he love and is very good at there is nothing else he would like to do more.

The differences between male and female leaders in approaches taken to Dissertation

The differences between male and female leaders in approaches taken to lead organizational change - Dissertation Example The purpose of the paper "The differences between male and female leaders in approaches taken to lead organizational change" is to further investigate and explore the behavioral side of male and female leaders when it comes to implementing organizational change. It helps managers map, evaluate, and overcome barriers that underlie the organizational improvement paradox. It is expected that organizational changes occur with change in leadership style and these lead to performance benefits for a unit as well as for the firm as a whole. Organizational improvement is often hindered by barriers to the change efforts and is more apparent in organizations where the firm has multiple units and levels. Although it is recognized that men and women are more similar than different, the differences that exist along the biological, neurological and psychological dimensions seem to affect both the genders in their performance and leadership in organizations. Thus, this study focuses on researching i f there are gender specific differences in leadership styles and management approaches and how do those differences affect the implementation of organizational change. The importance of this topic has increased due to the growth of female professionals and leaders in the workforce in recent years. The fundamental differences in the ways of thinking and behavior between male and female leaders stem from the nature of genetics, external environment, social and cultural experiences, history and trends, and government regulations.

(Can the writer help me decide) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

(Can the writer help me decide) - Essay Example In â€Å"Bad Weather: Planetary Crisis,† Masco (2010) studies the development of and competition between two kinds of planetary crises- the nuclear war and climate change. The security state is linked to the concept of the planetary crisis because, on the one hand, it uses the latter when it advances the former’s development and growth in reach and control; on the other hand, it disregards the latter if it contradicts or hinders its ends. Ironically, another important link is that the security state, in its desire to control planetary crises, is only creating more of them, which can potentially lead to new planetary crises with long-term negative impacts on living things and the biosphere. The security state exploits the planetary crisis for its own gains and disregards it if it hinders its overarching goal of a â€Å"U.S.-centric world† (Masco 2014: 1). The security state uses the planetary crisis if it can be a platform for greater control over and outside its national boundaries. Masco (2014) explains that the first kinds of planetary crises that were of interest to the security state were usually threats to national security, such as the Cold War and national and global terrorists. He argues that the state uses these threats to magnify imagined horrific futures, in order to generate fear and terror that could justify what Cheney (2001) called as the â€Å"new normalcy† (qtd. in Masco 2014: 8). This new normalcy refers to the public’s acceptance of the state’s ever increasing incursions on civil rights and freedoms. These are changes that have â€Å"institutional, technological, and affective levels, reordering domestic politics and geo politics in a startlingly economical gesture† (Masco 2014: 8). They include scientific studies that expand military technology, covert operations that collect intelligence about national and other

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis - Essay Example This saw down turn in small areas of financial systems, which ruined the structure entirely. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the recent European financial meltdown. According to some political economists, the European financial meltdown was bound to happen due to the trade policies adopted by the European Union (Jackson 1). In this regard, they argue that European Union is not proactive enough and act after the facts. This means that they provide response only after the situation has already occurred. The question that many people among them economist are asking is, why should the European countries care about the foreign debt crisis? This paper will explore the causes of the recent European sovereign debt crisis, what happened and why it is indispensable for the European countries to care about it. The foreign debt crisis in Europe occurred as a result of a number of factors. This include finance globalization, 2002-2008 easy credit condition which buoyant high-risk b orrowing and lending practices. Others include imbalance in international trade, bubbles of real estates, which have burst since then, slow growth in economy witnessed in 2008 and there after, government expense and revenue fiscal policy choices and bail out methods by nations for troubled banks and bondholders. Other notable causes include assuming private burdens of debts or socializing losses (Duthel 1). The crisis has had a lot of negative impacts to many countries in Europe. Jackson argues that initially, the crisis was viewed by European Union (EU) as a phenomenon of America. However, its devastating effects changed soon after the European countries saw its impact on the country. For instance, the crises led to a sharp decline in economic activities of European countries over a remarkably short time (Duthel 5). The worst being, it led to a sharp decline in global trade, eroding European prospects of trade. This in turn, provided safety regulator for local industries that are r educing their output. It is a mater of fact that many countries depend on trade for economic growth. This is one of the reasons as to why European countries should take stringent measures aimed at preventing such a recurrence in financial crisis. Economists still see sovereign debt crisis as something that is continuing in the European countries (Duthel 22). This has impact negatively on the countries affected since it makes it hard for some of the countries to be able to pay off their government debts without seeking third party assistance. This interferes with the smooth running of these countries and thus needs prevention and control measures to abate it. For instance, in 2009, there was growing fear of sovereign debt crisis among investors. This was because government debt levels were rising at an alarming rate across the globe coupled with government debt downgrading witnessed in some European countries (Jackson 4). The concerns grew from early 2010, calling on the finance mini ster of Europe to approve a package that could help rescue the nations. This culminated to approval of â‚ ¬750 billion for financial stability in Europe and establishing a European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The concerns also lead to leaders from euro zone signing an agreement in October 2011 and February 2012 aimed at designing measures to help mitigate collapse of European member economies. The agreement signed includes measures requiring banks to make up to 53.5 percent write-off of debts in Greece owed

Based on the criteria come up with a tittle Essay

Based on the criteria come up with a tittle - Essay Example After all, the company has been a favourite choice of many students seeking internships because it absorbs most of its interns looking for employment after the internship period. More so, the company ranks among the best insurance companies in the UK scooping numerous awards in the insurance industry particularly due to its role in training. Other than normal insurance business conducted in the company, employees engage themselves in value adding activities that do not necessarily require insurance skills. Among these include the production of the organisation’s quarterly newsletter. The third edition for 2010 was in pipeline when I joined the company for internship and I even attended the first brainstorming meeting. I happened to be training under the Assistant Manager, Product Development who doubles up as the chairperson of the newsletter committee. Interns are expected to simulate the roles of the trainer as they seek to gain experience, the reason I had to accompany my t hen trainer to the newsletter meeting. The committee reviewed the previous edition of their newsletter which struck my mind. While I was seeking for the internship at this company, I had gone through some magazines seeking information. This was one of those publications I read though it had not appeared interesting enough for me to read through; I just flipped through some few pages. I did not give this feedback though, but with wit, I hinted to them the lack of interest that the magazine would generate from a person without any interest in the company, bearing in mind that these are the target people when such publications go out. My creativity In the next meeting that was to happen in a week, I was charged to come up with some criticisms of the newsletter from the perspective of a youthful independent reader even if I would have to seek the opinion of my colleagues. Perhaps, this period gave me the chance to go through reflection cycle as suggested documented by Schon (1991) to en able the team learn from such an experience. Indeed, I not only pointed out at the weaknesses but also gave personal recommendations on how to make improvements come the next edition, negating the argument by Runco (2007) that creativity comes with expertise. Environmental factors have been attributed to triggering creativity though Shanteu and Dino (2009) argue that excessive stress could impair thinking ability, the basis for creativity, as maintained by common sense and psychological theory. The workers of the insurance company having to juggle between their duties and newsletter activities could be much stress on them leading to death of creativity and perhaps a fresher mind would trigger creative ideas. Environments that tend to undermine intrinsic motivation through deadlines, expectation of evaluation or surveillance leads to less creative products as opposed to organisations which promote intrinsic motivation. King and Gurland (2007) attribute creativity in practical setting s like work and school to extrinsically motivated activities. I had the idea of the company maintaining their logo and corporate look but make if a little more fancy. This involved change in the position of the logo and the design on the front page. Since the organisation could not reach everyone with the hard copies, I proposed the introduction of an online publication of the newsletter where visitors to the company’

Small Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Small Business Management - Essay Example If the company decided to open another online store it would not impact the cash position of the company. The firm will be able to absorb the additional cost of opening a new store without hurting the liquidity of the firm. 2. Is My Friend Bookstore a good candidate for franchising? I do not think that My Friend Bookstore is a good candidate for franchising. The firm is currently operating under special circumstances which may not be able to be replicated. The company has no fixed cost because it operates out of a dorm. The dorm location allows the firm to deliver books to the university students free of charge. The prime location also gives the company an advantage as far as having a great supply of used books since college students have so many books. The used book market is also very risky. Since publishers changed editions almost every year the used textbooks become obsolete very fast. Another disadvantage of franchising the business concept is that it is very easy to duplicate a n online bookstore. It might become hard to sell franchises of a product that has such a low barrier of entry. 3. Describe what the owners would have to do to prepare to franchise their business? There are different steps that must be taken to move a company from a single operation to a franchise. The first step is to determine whether the company is ready to take this huge step. The business concept must be evaluated to determine if the offering is unique and if there is a market for the product or service being offered. The company must be in a good financial condition to absorb the initial cost of the expansion plan such as added infrastructure and marketing expenses. Prior to making the step of choosing the franchise model management must evaluate all other expansion strategies such as joint venture, strategic alliances, licensing, and subsidiaries. The second big step in forming a franchise is to comply with legal requirements. A business prior to selling franchises in the Unit ed States must register a franchise disclosure document with the Federal Trade Commission (Tice, 2011). The firm has to create a plan on how to advertise to sell franchises either domestically or internationally. Once the franchises are sold the firm has to serve the franchises. This includes giving training, selling inventory, and providing advertising. 4. The three partners own the bookstore equally. What are some of the difficulties they may encounter in sharing management duties equally? It is not uncommon for a business venture to have more than one owner. In this case there are three partners in charge of My Friends Bookstore. The partners might face difficulties dividing the managerial work because there is not a clear division of labor among the partners. It is more ideal to have only one manager in charge of the operation. This way the employees will know exactly which instructions to follow. When there are several people serving the managerial role the employees might get mixed messages from the managerial staff. Another problem is that the partners might face conflict regarding how to divide the managerial functions. It is possible that under this scenario that one partner might want to take advantage of the other as far as passing on the managerial work to the next person. 5. What processes might the owners put in place to clarify their duties as equal partners? A way that the partners can divide work duties in a more orderly manner is to create

J.B Priestly's An Inspector Calls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

J.B Priestly's An Inspector Calls - Essay Example Priestly uses a number of dramatic devices to express these ideas, among others, to the audience, whilst still keeping them involved and interested in the plot. This play is very tightly structured as Priestly wanted to achieve a very quick and smooth running play where all the parts seemed to fit into one another. Therefore all the action takes place in the dining room and even when there is a break between acts the start of the next act takes us to the same point in time at which we had left the action. The play is structured as a series of episodes in which the focus is mainly on one particular character. In this way a picture is gradually built up of all the main characters in the play. The Play, 'An Inspector Calls' is all about the mystery surrounding the suicidal death of Eva Smith, a worker, and the moral values of a superior social class family, The Birlings. Each member of the Birling family has had a connection to the dead girl. No one has directly caused her death, nor even wished her dead, yet everyone present has contributed in some way to her demise. Patriarch Arthur Birling started it all when he fired the girl from his factory, but all the other family members contributed in their own ways to Eva's downfall. Birling's wife Sybil, future son-in-law Gerald Croft, son Eric and daughter Sheila: All contributed, independently of one another and without a second thought or remorse to Eva's demise. How is Tension created in the Play: During Act one, the playwright uses a lot of dramatic devices to change our opinions of the Birlings. We start off feeling happy for the Birlings as Shelia and Gerald are getting married. It is all quite relaxed but with the use of dramatic irony we start to think that actually the Birlings are quite foolish, stuck up and self obsessed, especially the character of Mr.Birling. The methods that Priestly uses to interest and involve the audience are the use of dramatic irony, tension and building up the story in chronological order, meaning he builds up the story in order, one person after another, in order of the times people that met Eva Smith which always keeps the audience on their toes. The build up of tension keeps the audience guessing, wondering who is involved in the death and who is really to blame. The use of dramatic irony is a key point to the play and without it Priestly wouldn't be able to get his point across. Priestly used the Lighting effects to cast a symbolic and expressive feel of the characters. This is reflected when the lights focus .Pink and intimate, until the inspector arrives. The pink and intimate setting/lighting show the relaxation the characters are feeling. Everyone is happy and there is romance in the air for Shelia and Gerald. But when the inspector arrives, the lighting changes from pink to hard and bright. This type of lighting wakes up the audience and shows something is about to happen. It is almost like an interrogation, being under the bright spotlight, it makes the audience

Reflection on the Development of a Nursing Teacher Essay

Reflection on the Development of a Nursing Teacher - Essay Example This paper describes the highlights from an individual analysis of my competence as a preceptor (Forest, 2004:77-78). Different students have varying learning styles and this gives me the impetus to assess whether I have been able to address the needs of each student (Black, 2004:68). I have to discern the abilities of the students carefully in order to determine whether they have gained the relevant skills. Using the John’s reflective model, I embarked on a reflection to identify my progress as a nurse playing the assessment role. Guided by this model, I related to experiences in the workplace, their consequences, and influencing factors and highlighted how such experiences have improved my learning process. Due to the varying learning needs of students, I have allocated different sessions for each student whom I should assess. I give attention to first year students who are new in the course and are taking their first clinical practice. Understanding their personality is ess ential as it helps me determine the best approaches to use to impart skills in each student. (Fleming, McKee, and Huntley-Moore, 2011:450-457). In addition, students need guidelines to help to help them run activities on their own. Understanding the different learning styles and designing appropriate assessment skills will help me become a better preceptor (McDonough and Osterbrink, 2005:89-90). In the future, I should be able to assess each student extensively and help him or her improve in learning the relevant nursing skills. From my own learning orientation, I can present concepts effectively and then advance to giving details of the concepts. However, I realize that this puts off analytic learners who expect a stepwise presentation of ideas so that they can construct the complete picture. I have to broaden my assessment methods and rise above the challenge. Experience has taught me how to address the different personality types in assessment. Endowed with characteristics of an introvert, it becomes demanding to design effective modules for students who are extroverts, as they need more interactive sessions (Li, Chen and Tsai, 2008:71-74). However, I have been trying to give students group work tasks on critical issues at times in order to address the needs of judging extroverts. Feelers need a more sensitive approach that will create a favorable learning environment. Understanding the varying needs prompts me to use a more integrative assessment approach. Through this understanding, it becomes easier for me to develop strategies and standards of assessment. A nurse preceptor has the responsibility of nurturing the traits of a good nurse in the learners. I realize the importance of this and I have been presenting them with tasks that build patience and compassion. Nurses should be able to nurture well and possession of this trait prompts many students to take up nursing after their personality type tests (Li, Chen and Tsai, 2008:71-74). As an assessor, I s hould complement this trait with a critical understanding of the nursing practice in the students. An efficient nurse should be able to make critical judgment on different occasions. In order to build this criticality in making judgment, i present my students with critical tasks each week in which they describe their actions and ethics and values that dictated their decisions in each task. The most important aspect I have learned as a nurse teacher is that facilitation of the learning process is more effective

An Online Business Expansion Proposal Essay Example for Free

An Online Business Expansion Proposal Essay Dancy’s Fancy Butter is a local, singly owned and operated butter/spread. This business is located in Jacksonville Michigan. The operation started out from a simple request from a friend who wanted to buy the Garlic butter for a party. It was then that Anna Dancy realized the family and friend’s favorite dinner addition was a possible money making venture. The actual business side was at first a bit taunting. Anna had never run her own business, nor had she worked in food service or distributing food. There was a lot to learn that went way beyond the product. She purchased a mobile kitchen unit, and started creating her butter spreads. It was not long before the Health inspector paid her a visit. She was fortunate that she was giving solid advice as to how to move forward with rules in running a food service business. The holdup was minimal and it gave her time to actually prepare for bring her product to a larger customer base then family and friends. Farmer’s markets are the primary selling place for Dancy Fancy Butter. The product is made and kept preserved in the mobile kitchen, and then Anna and family helpers travel thought out the Jacksonville region setting up at Farmers Markets. It has been a great success. Now that she has a year under her belt, and with family and friends living outside of Jacksonville and the state of Michigan Anna Dancy had decided that she wants to explore expanding her internet presences and move into selling and shipping her product to a wider market. The advantages in today’s market for placing access to your product and services online are numerous. For Dancy Fancy Butter being online will open up an opportunity for a larger population to see the products offered. There is an international customer base available into Canada with the location of the company in Michigan. The possible challenges to building an online presence for this company will be assuring there is up-keep for everything from the website through the social media outlets. The online presence is bound to bring in more clients, the significance will be made clear and the management of the online environment will align with the overall goal to be successful in this endeavor. Current Online Competition The online completers that come up in a basic search for butter, butter spread and organic are, Home Earth Balance (http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/), Melt Up! (http://www.meltdirectnow.com/), and Bryanna’s Vegan Butter (http://vegan.com/recipes/bryanna-clark-grogan/bryannas-vegan-butter/). Earth Balance is an off shoot of the Smart Balance products whose parent company is GFA Brands, Inc. so even though this is an natural butter spread, it is still a part of a large company. The website is well organized, and has several appealing features such as a Recipe section and Kitchen Tips. There is not a ecommerce or shopping cart, so the product is only available in stores. The next company Melt Up! is an organic butter spread. The website is very basic. It does have a shopping cart and ecommerce. The site offers a newsletter and runs and RSS syndication on its front page. This sight is a good set up if you are familiar with the product. The third website like or close as a competitor is Bryanna’s Vegan butter. This site is connected to Vegan.com (http://vegan.com). It is more of a blog site. If the site does allow you to buy products, however it takes you off to Amazon to complete your purchase. This websites do have similar products as Dancy Fancy butter, however they are not homegrown, home town products. The advantage to Dancy Fancy butter is it will carry a local feel to all who visit the website. Online Marketing Suggestions and Strategies Three online strategies that are planned for the rolling out Dancy Fancy Butter online expansion will be an email campaign, a Facebook group for the company and third will be content strategy of building Cooking Tips videos for the website.

Financial Analysis of Vodafone

Financial Analysis of Vodafone Vodafone group PLC is a British multinational mobile network operatorheadquarter in Newbury, England. It has formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of recal electronics PLC. It became an independent company in 1991 and changed its name to Vodafone group PLC on 2000.Vodafone is a world leading mobile telecommunications company. Vodafone provides a wide range of Communication services, including voice calls, SMS text messaging, MMS picture and video messaging, internet. Access and other data services Vodafone is the world largest telecommunication network company with 146 subsidiaries Vodafone directly own and manage about 2,200 stores around the world and they also have around 10,300 Vodafone-branded stores run through franchise and exclusive dealer arrangement, An industry with 5.6 billion customers with growth driven by increasing global demand for data services and rising mobile penetration in emerging markets. TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS An Organization is a group of people that working together towards a common goal. There are 2 types of Organizations. Private Sector Public Sector Private Sector It is the part of national economy that is not directly controlled by the government. It provides more job opportunities for the people. So they will give a good support to the government. Private Sector includes sole traders, partnerships, joint ventures, limited companies, Co-operatives, clubs and societies. Sole Trader ship It has no complexities, with minimum interference of statutes, which is run by a single individual with his own capital, the decisions too being taken by himself. The most common business unit of the world is these. The main reason for this is that, ability of this business to be carried on without the necessity for adherence to rules. Partnerships It is a legal relationship between two or more individuals who are working together to achieve a specific goal. They should have an intention to earn profits, Collective responsibilities and a common destiny or goal. Joint ventures It is a short term association of a few persons in order to accomplish a specific task. Generally they do not use a business name. The joint venture is dissolved when the specific task is accomplished. This is a short term business type. Incorporate Companies In Sri Lanka institution registered under the companies ACT NO.7 OF 2007 is considered as an incorporated company. It includes Limited Companies, Companies limited by guarantees, unlimited companies, Offshore Companies, Foreign Companies. Public Sector It is the part of an economy that is directly controlled by the government. Public Sector is the largest sector of any economy in the country. It provides basic goods or services that cannot be provided by the private sector. It includes Gov. Departments, Gov. Corporations, and Gov. Companies. It is also known as State Sector or the Government Sector. Responsibilities of stakeholders Stakeholders are individuals, groups or organizations that have an interest in the activities and behavior of a business. They can be internal stakeholders, like employees and partners, or external, such as customers, suppliers, government or the media for example. All stakeholders can influence as well as be influenced by Vodafone. Every Stakeholder has responsibilities towards the Vodafone to achieve vodafones goals and objectives. Owners and share holders As the owner of a business, it is the responsibility to pay for employees and provide them with proper benefits, including sick time and health insurance. Aside from payment and benefits, responsibilities of an entrepreneur include listening to employee concerns keeping employees in good working conditions, and hiring and firing employees when needed. Managers The manager must be able to ensure that all requirements of his department are met on time and motivate employees to perform at their highest capabilities. He must also know exactly what each of his staff is capable of and give them work that they can complete effectively while also challenging them to achieve more. Staff and employees They have to perform their tasks carefully, keep business and professional secrets confidential. They have to follow the supervisors instructions and improve their abilities and skills. They have to be honest and polite to the company. Customers After using goods or services they have a responsibility to give feedback to the company. Customers have to provide clear and correct information about their needs and wants. And they have to give the correct information required. They have to be loyal and honest to the company. Suppliers They have to supply the good quality products to the company at right place at right time. They have to be honest to the company. Have an effective communication process with the company. Government They provide rules, regulations, lows, and policies for business. They have to find weather the business is legal or not and they can provide licenses for the sensitive products. Identify Vodafone profile Mission statement; To enrich customers lives through the unique power of mobile communication Vision statement; To be the worlds mobile communication leader Goals Goals are the clearly stated objectives of the company, Vodafone has stated six global strategic goals Delight our customers Built the best global Vodafone team Leverageglobal scale and scope Expand market boundaries Be a responsible business Provide superior shareholder returns Values Values are the beliefs of an individual or a group. Vodafone has four core values described internally as passions For customers For results For Vodafone people For the world around Vodafone Vodafone growth Vodafones Key revenue performance indicators Vodafone group PLC has shown their growth of revenue in this table. We also aim to lead the tablet segment, which is growing rapidly. We were the first operator to launch an Android Honeycomb tablet with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v and we have started to distribute the Apple iPod 2. During the year we introduced the Vodafone K4605 USB stick which provides theoretical peak data download speeds of 42.2 Mbps using 3G/HSDPA technology and a 4G/LTE USB stick which has the potential for faster download speeds. We also launched Vodafone WebBox and Vodafone TV services (Annual report-2011 page23). Vodafone market share We can clearly identify the market share of the Vodafone group has increased rapidly year by year. The good will of the vodafone has increased by providing perfect service for thie customers and could have create loyal customers. Different types of economic systems Capitalism (market economy) Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and the firms mainly target profits, in competitive markets. it is known as market economy because it is seek to maximize satisfaction or profit through own decision regarding consumption or production. Characteristics all resources are owned by individuals The decisions about the allocation of those resources are made by individuals without government intervention No significant economic role for government is necessary. The concept of supply and demand plays a role in determining the pricing structure A market economy encourages competition. The U.S. is most commonly example for market economy which had many provisions that facilitated and protected the market economys characteristics.. Advantages: The market gives producers an incentive to produce goods that consumers want. The market provides an incentive to acquire useful skills. The price system encourages producers and consumers to conserve scarce resources. Disadvantages (1) A private market economy may be quite unstable (unemployment, inflation, growth) (2) Business may simply satisfy the wants they have created through advertising. (3) Prices may affect to the consumers (4) Markets just do not work in some areas such as public goods, and national defense Socialism (command economy) Characteristics The government creates a central economic plan for all sectors and regions of the country. The government allocates all resources according to the central plan. The goal is to use the nations capital, labor and natural resources in the most effective way possible The central plan sets the priorities for production of all goods and services. The goal is to supply enough food, housing and other basics to meet the needs of everyone in the country. Cuba, North Korea, China, Russia and Iran are the most commonly examples of command economies. Russias Go plan has been the most studied. It was also the longest running, lasting from the 1930s until the late 1980s. Advantages The govt. Will ensure a more equal distribution of income and wealth Essential goods/services will be provided to the community The govt. Can determine which goods are produced. 1. There is little consumer choice. 2. Little variety of goods and services 3. Loss of individual freedom 4. Leads to allocate and productive inefficiency 5. Subsidies on essential goods and services quickly lead to shortages. Mixed economy A mixed economy is an economic system that incorporates aspects of more than one economic system. This kind of economic system has both privately-owned and state-owned enterprises or that combines elements of capitalism and socialism, economic systems. Characteristics private sector business activity encouraged. taxes used to collect revenue to pay for state goods and services. The government also provides services such as education, health, military defense, legal and infrastructure to society. The government plays an important role in resolving economic problems faced by society advantages less inequality of income because intent of government is to have a balanced economic growth of an economy. allows individuals to run their business and make profits Goods and services are produced to benefit the society rather then to benefit the economy. Fiscal policy Fiscal policy is the use of taxes and government spending to control the economic activity of a country.the government uses this policy to continue, Economic growth Price stability Full employment Expansionary fiscal policy Before the government spending increase and before the tax rate reduction or both GDP is low because the price level of the economy is low. After increase G and reduction T, GDP is high because increase of the AD. Shifting the graph to the right. (AD to AD1 )This is accomplished by increasing aggregate expenditures and aggregate demand through an increase in government spending or a decrease in taxes. Expansionary fiscal policy leads to a larger government budget deficit or a smaller budget surplus. Crowding out effect C:Documents and SettingslankaDesktopquestion_24.gif Contractionary fiscal policy Before the tax increase and government spending decrease or both GDP is high because price level is high. After increase tax and decreased government expenditure increased AD is low, GDP is low and price level is low. Contractionary Fiscal Policy creates budget surplus shifting the graph to the left(AD1.to AD) . monetary Policy Monetary Policy consists of change in money supply to influence interest rates and thus the total level of spending in the economy. Monetary policy tools are, Open market operations This is the most important instrument to control the money supply and demand of the economy.FED buying bonds from banks and public to expand monetary policy by increasing bank reserves. FED selling the bonds to the bank and public to tight the monetary policy by reducing the bank reserves. Reserve ratio It is Designed to change the amount of required reserves. FED raises the ratios to cantrction the monetary policy. It means bank loose the reserves and reduce the ability of the creating money. FED lowers reserve ratios to expan the monetary policy, banks gain tha reserves and ability to create money. Discount rate Interest rate charge by FED on the loans they granted to commercial banks. Easy money policy (Contractionary monetary policy) It is the monetary policy that seeks to increase the size of the money supply by buying securities, lower the reserve rate and lower the discount rate. These all directly impact the interest rate.FED increase bank reserves by purchasing securities and at the lower rate bank can keep more money in the volute and create money. C:Documents and SettingslankaLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.Wordfig115.gif It is the monetary policy that FED seeks to reduce money supply in the market by selling securities, increasing the reserve rate, and rising the discount rate. It is causes to reduce bank reserves and volute money at banks. It is decrease money supply in the economy. In the curve shifted to the left (Ms1 to Ms2) Fiscal policy impact to the Vodafone UK Because of the UK statutory tax rate reduced to 26%, effective from 1 April 2011 and the impact on the year end tax balances. EBITDA increased by 8.0% with the EBITDA margin increasing by 0.7 percentage points, reflecting higher service revenue. A shareholder in the Company who is an individual resident for UK tax purposes in the United Kingdom is entitled, in calculating their liability to UK income tax, to a tax credit on cash dividends we pay on our shares and the tax credit is equal to one-ninth of the cash dividend. The tax free allowance all income earners are allowed to earn an amount of income before they start to pay tax., the personal tax free allowance in the UK for 2011-2012 was  £7,475. Monetary policy impact to the Vodafone UK According to the Vodafone annual report, 45.9bn revenue performs in 2011 and it is 3.2% growth in compared with 2010. It is because the UK government expands the monetary policy by buying Bonds from people and it caused to money supply increased. People has more money to spend on Vodafone services and products there for the demand of the mobile customers are increased by 14.5% to 370.9 m. International trade The economic interaction among different nations involving the exchange of goods and services, that is, exports and imports. The guiding principle of international trade is comparative advantage, which indicates that every country, no matter their level of development, can find something that it can produce cheaper than another country. As a multi national company, Vodafone Global Enterprise manages the communication needs of over 560 of our largest multinational corporate customers. It provides a range of managed services which bring together every aspect of a customers telecommunications infrastructure, both fixed and mobile,(Annual report Vodafone group-2011) Advantages by international trade for Vodafone Quality of the product has been increased because of high competition with foreign businesses Having an open economy Growth of high technologically methods using by Vodafone group Increased company reputation world wide Market share has been increased Disadvantages smart phones and the tablet market begins to take off. markets remain competitive and the economic environment, particularly across southern Europe, is challenging. Foreign Industry regulators continue to impose lower mobile termination rates and lower roaming prices. The combination of competition and regulatory pressures. Increase prices of the Vodafone products because of tariffs. Emerging markets Definition The term emerging markets is commonly used to describe an economy with a GDP per capita substantially below the advanced world average and typically with a growth potential above the global average. According to the World Banks definition an emerging markets country has a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita less than approximately USD 9,000.(growing markets) The most exciting emerging markets are, BRICs( Brazil, Russia, India, China), Mexico, South Africa, Clombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Turkey, Poland, Malaysia,Chile,peru, Thailand. Barriers to entering emerging markets for UK businesses Differences in language and culture are important barriers to entering fast-growing markets like the BRICs. Global trade has always been vital to the UK UK firms looking to export for the first time continue to face too many barriers that put them at a competitive disadvantage to their overseas competitors. capital is drives many businesses to take on the risks of doing business in emerging markets. Considering about the success of Vodafones in emerging markets, The number of customers using mobile services in emerging markets such as India and Africa has grown rapidly over the last ten years, increasing by over 17 times, compared to nearly 130% in more mature markets such as Europe. increased revenue market share in India and Turkey. Approximately 75% of mobile customers are in emerging markets such as India and China. EU crisis This week BCC met with a delegation from APEX, the Brazilian trade and investment promotion agency. It is clear that there are vast opportunities in the country, as indeed there are in the other emerging markets, which UK firms are yet to take full advantage of. BCCs latest research confirms that the EU remains the most popular destination for UK exports. Just under half of Chamber exporters see the large and faster-growing BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China as the best prospective markets for increasing business over the next twelve months. Unfortunately, exporters to the fast-growing BRIC markets are the most likely to encounter barriers that hold back sales.

Double and Triple Taxation Must be Eliminated :: Expository Exemplification Essays

Double and Triple Taxation Must be Eliminated President George Bush states that "it's unfair to tax money twice." This statement is actually an example of normative economics and only describes an opinion. It cannot be proven because the term "unfair" is relative to different people; however, not many people would dare to disagree. Especially if the double tax was not aimed only at the large corporations or the richest 10% of the nation but at every hardworking American who brings home a paycheck. Even worse, many of these Americans do not even realize the "double tax," and sometimes even "triple tax," that is imposed on them. Currently, large corporations are required to be taxed a certain percentage of all of their profits. This includes the money from which dividends are derived. When stock holders obtain the dividends from these corporations, the government counts this as individual income and is taxed once again. Six percent of the population would benefit from abolishment of this "double tax." However, the largest part of the income that is taxed twice is the income from the worker's paycheck. Opposed to the 6 percent of dividend holders, this affects every working American. The income is first taxed as a whole and then Social Security and Medicare tax is also deducted. The money that was for Medicare and Social Security is never seen but is counted as if the individual had an opportunity to spend it. What is worse is much of the Social Security money is received from retirees who are again taxed on the income, creating a "triple tax." For Social Security recipients, there is a fixed amount of income allowed to go untaxed but is taxed once exceeded. However, these base amounts do not change with inflation which creates more and more people who are "unfairly" taxed. Also, this "triple tax" is paid all by the same person whereas the dividend tax is shared by both corporations and stockholders. This double tax is imposed on far more people who make much less money than the di vidend holders. The Social Security tax on a worker's paycheck can only be implemented on a certain amount of income, creating a maximum base amount. This base amount does rise with inflation. Therefore, as income increases, the Social Security tax actually decreases. Those who make less money pay a larger percentage of their income to the government through the Social Security tax than the wealthy class does.

marketing pricing objectives :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pricing objectives are goals that describe what a firm wants to achieve through pricing. Pricing objectives must be stated explicitly, and the statement should include the time frame for accomplishing them. There are six stages of setting prices. They are developing pricing objective, assessing the target market’s evaluation of price, evaluating competitors’ prices, choosing a basis for pricing, selecting a pricing strategy, and determining a specific price.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cost-based pricing is adding a dollar amount or percentage to the cost of the product. Cost-plus pricing is adding a specified dollar amount or percentage to the seller’s cost. Markup pricing is adding to the cost of the product a predetermined percentage of that cost. Demand-based pricing if pricing based on the level of demand for the product. Competition-based pricing is pricing influenced primarily by competitors’ prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A pricing strategy is an approach of a course or action designed to achieve pricing and marketing objectives. Differential pricing is charging different prices to different buyers for the same quality and quantity of product. Negotiated pricing is establishing a final price through bargaining. Secondary-market pricing is setting one price for the primary target market and a different price for another market. Periodic discounting is temporary reduction of prices on a patterned or systematic basis. Random discounting is temporary reduction of prices on an unsystematic basis. Price skimming is charging the highest possible price that buyers who most desire the product will pay. Penetration pricing is setting prices below those of competing brands to penetrate a market and gain a significant market share quickly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Product-line pricing is establishing and adjusting prices of multiple products within a product line. Captive pricing is pricing the basic product in a product line low while pricing related items at a higher level. Premium pricing is pricing the highest-quality or most versatile products higher than other models in the product line. Bait pricing is pricing an item in the product line low with the intention of selling a higher-priced item in the line. Price lining is setting a limited number of prices for selected groups or lines of merchandise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychological pricing is pricing that attempts to influence a customer’s perception of price to make a product’s price more attractive. Reference pricing is pricing a product at a moderate level and positioning it next to a more expensive model or brand. Bundle pricing is packaging together two or more complementary products and selling them for a single price.

Business ethics Essay -- essays research papers

Current Trends and Implications: Achieving Organizational Goals Using A Systems Approach ( Information Technology as a part of Your Competitive Strategy) Introduction to Seminar Welcome ladies and gentlemen, there are many of you here today from great distances and backgrounds of all sorts. I would like to start off first by thanking you for your time. New technologies everyday are radically changing existing industrys and creating new ones. This seminar focuses on these changes and understanding how they can help you achieve success or failure in the marketplace. Soon you will learn that your time here will give you great insight into current emerging and leading edge information and trends in using IS and IT as your competive strategy and advantage in growing your business. Beyond that your employees and other attendees will be addressed with the challenges and issuses of the many different aspects of how these systems can help you implement strategys to make your existing systems more efficient. There are pros and cons with these technologys and systems, as is expected and everything here is not for everyone. What you can expect is that you will find some thing there for you and your firm to further explore and possibly implement into operations. The seminar is set up for everyone, there is insight and much more to gain from the knowledge that we have amassed for you. Following will be how our seminar will run, summarizing and giving you a preview with how we implement the information to you and your clients. The Seminar will take place Friday and Saturday. It will be structured with breaks, your clients can choose which sections to attend, although we encourage the whole seminar, we know you and your clients may be issue specific. We highly recommend the seminar section on VoIP and RFID technology. Friday: 10:00 a.m. – Meet and greet brunch, seminar attendees will be treated to a five star brunch to start the day off on a good foot. Here your clients can meet and mingle with business minds from all over the world. The experience and networking alone is wonderful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11:00 – Seminar will begin, attendees will receive seminar materials, phamplets and packets, to go along with the seminar. Also will be included is workbooks that provide material for the seminar and for practice and referecnce later. Go over schedule for t... ...bsp;How Stocks And The Stock Market Work You hear about Stocks on the news every day -- now you can understand what they are talking about! http://money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm D  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wal-Mart, DoD clarify RFID plans: suppliers begin race to present plans for RFID implementation. (RFID/ADC) Frontline Solutions, Jan, 2004, by Brian Albright http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0DIS/1_5/112563026/p1/article.jhtml Military Orders Suppliers to Use RFID Technology http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,85978,00.html E  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sidebar: Glossary http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,93615,00.html - Systems Approach / Systems model Hardware / Software / Communications Applying information systems for competitive advantage Information as a strategic resource that supports or shapes an organization’s competitive strategy. Socio-technical Change strategies Technology Competition  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legal Hardware/Software Productivity Ethics / Privacy Resource/Asset allocation Information systems development strategies (Outsourcing, prototyping, off-the-shelf, etc) Security / Ethics / Privacy Value Chain

Business Communication in Today’s World

INTRODUCTION Definition Communication is defined as the process of transferring information and meaning between senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual or electronic channels. Simply put, communication is the exchange of information between people. It is important to get feedback from your audience and vice versa for the process of communication to take place effectively. The feedback can be either positive or negative. Business communication is any communication used in an organisation with an intention to promote a product, improve service or with the intention to make a sale. This type of communication also occurs within the organisation between the management and employees. It has purpose and a lot of attention is given to detail. Business communication has undergone a lot of transformation as a result of the growth of information technology that has changed the whole concept of communication. In the past, businesses had a model of communication that left very little room for interaction and conversation with the receiver of the message. Currently the model that works and is now used by most organisations is one that gives room to both conversation and interaction with the receivers. BODY Communication is very vital in any organization. Like blood in our bodies, it is the channel that gives life to the organisation and without it, organisations would not be functional. There are two types of business communication in an organization 1. Internal Communication 2. External Communication Internal communication This defines communication that occurs within an organisation. It occurs between management and departments and between the employees of the organization. This type of communication may be formal or informal. Internal communication is vital because it helps in increasing job satisfaction, productivity and profits. It is also a platform for employees and management to air and address grievances. There are three types of communication under internal business communication a) Upward Communication b) Downward Communication c) Horizontal communication a) Upward communication Upward communication is the flow of information from subordinates to superiors or from employees to management. By definition, communication is a two-way affair. Yet for effective two-way organizational communication to occur, it must begin from the bottom. Upward Communication is a means for staff to: * Exchange vital information * Offer ideas Express enthusiasm * Achieve job satisfaction * Provide feedback Diagram showing upward communication in a bank b) Downward Communication This is the flow of information from the person or people who are at the top of the organisation to their subordinates. Downward communication generally provides information for direction and guidance e. g. Instructions on how to do a task. This type o f communication is needed in an organization to: * Transmit important information * Give instructions * Announce decisions * Seek cooperation * Provide motivation * Increase efficiency * Obtain feedback c) Horizontal communication Horizontal communication normally involves coordinating information, and allows people with the same or similar rank in an organization to co-operate or collaborate. Communication among employees at the same level is crucial for the accomplishment of work. Horizontal Communication is essential for: * Solving problems * Accomplishing tasks * Improving teamwork * Building goodwill * Boosting efficiency External Communication This type of communication occurs between the organisation and the public. This includes suppliers, clients or customers, shareholders or investors and with other organisations. Social networks have transformed external communication. The popularity of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks have made them effective tools for communication that organisations now use. External communication leads to: * Increased sales volume * Public credibility * Operational efficiency * Achievement of organisational goals * Customer satisfaction METHODS OF COMMUNICATION There are different communication methods that are used in business communication. We have verbal, written and visual methods that come in different forms. These forms of communication have undergone transformation with the introduction of information technology. For example verbal forms of communication like telephone calls have been improved to incorporate video conferencing. It is important to choose the right method and form of communication if you are to effectively pass information to your audience. The choice is determined by several factors: * Urgency – How important is the information to the recipient and what would be the effect of delay? * Security and privacy – Are the contents of the message classified? Nature and complexity – does the message contain detailed/ technically complex information that could be misunderstood? * Number of recipients – is the message intended for one person, a selected group or everyone? * Record – Will evidence/proof of communication be needed? * Distance – Is the message for internal use only or does it need to be transmitted further? * Impression/ appea rance – is the message required to create a favorable impression by its style/ quality/ appearance? If so, are the recipient’s taste known? * Feedback – will an instant response be needed from the message? Cost –How much will it cost you to pass this information and is it worth it? Forms of communication include: * Memos * Email * Letters * Newspapers/magazines * Television * Telephone * Meetings Information technology has transformed business technology and today there are several tools that are available for communication both internal and external communication. Some of these tools include: * Wireless network * Electronic presentations * Virtual meeting spaces * Wikis * Voice technology * Video conferencing CONCLUSION Business communication should be effective if the organization is to achieve its goals and desired results. The purpose of business communication is to pass information to the receiver and receive a response. Effective communication is communication that ensures that this happens in an efficient way. For information to be effective, it has to be able to: * Provide information that is practical – it should be able to give the receiver information that they can apply in their daily life. * It should give facts and avoid vague impressions – Language used should be strong and give clear and accurate information. In the case of an argument it should give evidence to support the conclusion reached. The presentation should be concise and efficient this can be achieved by summarizing and highlighting the main points Business communication is important because it helps in: * Decision making – business communication makes the process of decision making faster because reliable information has been received. * Solving problems – Effective communication ensures that problems are solved faster because the problems have already been understood. * Foreseeing potential problems that the business could experience * Developing stronger relationships business relationships * Developing exceptional marketing messages It is important to note that business communication is different from social communication with friends and family. Business communication is complicated and requires skill and attention. As result there are challenges that rise when trying to ensure that an organization has effective business communication. Some of these challenges include: Globalization in business and the diversity of the workforce – Businesses can presently be able to connect with the world and sell products across borders. Although, the opening up of the market is an advantage to the business, it presents new challenges in communication. The organization should find methods to be able to effectively communicate with the new market and diverse workforce that these new opportunities present. The escalation of value given to business communication – We are living in the Information age and competition in the marketplace is determined by how well business information is relayed by the organization. It is important to acquire information on competition, customer needs and the rules and regulations. Growth of technology – Business communication today is dependent on technology and technology is very dynamic. For an organization to be relevant it has to have the ability to transform at the same pace that technology is advancing. It is therefore important to use it productively. We should also remember that technology is just a tool for communication, not a replacement to think or communicate for an organization. Increasing reliance on teamwork – teams are vital in an organizational structure and for teams to produce results there is a need for them to have efficient communication. This sometimes presents challenges but developing great communication lines ensures that teamwork is successful. Business communication is growing; innovations are being made daily to make communication more efficient. Conventional ways are being transformed to incorporate technology or being discarded completely for lack of relevance. All this is done in an effort to improve business and increase productivity. REFERENCES Bove`e, L. , and Thill, V. (2010). Business Communication Today. Upper Saddle, NJ. Pearson Education Inc. Publishing.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig and William Moerner who, working separately, laid the foundation for SMLM. In essence, this method relies on the possibility to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. Scientists image the same area multiple times, allowing only a few interspersed molecules to glow each time. By superimposing these images, a dense super-image can be resolved at the nanolevel. With the development of this technique, Betzig and Moerner were able to overcome Abbe's diffraction limit, allowing for the production of high resolution images that, before SMLM, had not been possible. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ernst Abbe and Lord Rayleigh formulated what is commonly known as the â€Å"diffraction limit† for microscopy. Roughly speaking, this limit states that it is impossible to resolve two elements of a structure that are closer to each other than about half the wavelength (?) in the lateral (x, y) plane and even further apart in the longitudinal (z) plane. Another consequence of the same diffraction limit is that it is not possible to focus a laser beam to a spot of smaller dimension than about ?/2. In the case of light (optical) microscopy, an important tool for the imaging of biological structures, this means that two objects within a distance between 400/2 = 200 nm (far blue) and 700/2 = 350 nm (far red) cannot be resolved. Although this is no real limitation for electron microscopy, in which the wavelength is orders of magnitude smaller, this method is very difficult to use on living cells. For instance, the length-scale of the E. coli cell is about 1,000 nm (1 ?m) which is larger than, but of similar magnitude, as the diffraction limit. This explains why, prior to the development of SMLM, it was difficult to image details of the internal structures of living bacteria. Perhaps this may be the reason why bacteria are considered to be â€Å"primitive† organisms with little internal structure. With single-molecule localization, more precise structures of bacteria and other small-scale entities, e.g. individual viruses, can be resolved.In SMLM, the photochemical properties of fluorescent proteins are exploited to induce a weakly emissive or non-emissive â€Å"dark† state. From the dark state, very small populations of fluorophores are returned to an emissive state by shining a weak light pulse that activates only a fraction of the fluorophores present. These fluorophores are excited and detected by glowing until they are bleached, at which point the procedure is repeated on a new subgroup of fluorophores. In order to be identified, however, the emission profile must exhibit minimal overlap in each image. The centroid position of each identified molecule is statistically fitted, often to a Gaussian function, and with a level of precision scaling with the number of detected photons. By imaging and fitting single emitters to a sub-diffraction limited area over thousands of single images, enough data is generated to create a composite reconstruction of all identified emitters. Single-molecule localization is a broad category consisting of specific techniques, such as STORM, PALM, and GSDIM, that operate using the conceptually similar procedure outlined above. The main difference between these types is the exact fluorophore chemistry used to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. The real breakthrough in single-molecule localization occurred in 2006, when Betzig and colleagues coupled fluorescent proteins to the membrane enveloping the lysosome, the cell's recycling station. By activating only a fraction of the proteins at a time and superimposing the individual images, Betzig ended up with a super-resolution image of the lysosome membrane. Its resolution was far better than Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m, a barrier that previous microscopy techniques could not bypass. Since the ground-breaking discovery, SMLM has allowed organelles and single molecules to be resolved with an order of magnitude better resolution (with a localization accuracy of about 10 nm), in multiple color channels, and in 2D as well as 3D. Single-molecule microscopy allows quantification of the number of proteins within biological assemblies and characterization of protein spatial distribution, permitting the determination of protein stoichiometry and distribution in signaling complexes. For instance, for the ?2 adrenergic receptors, SMLM was used to show that the receptors are partially organized in mini-clusters only in cardiomyocytes but not in any other cell lines, and that these oligomers are not lipid raft related but rather depend on actin cytoskeleton integrity. Most importantly, the results of this study were different from those obtained from a similar report which used near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), demonstrating the better precision of SMLM over other techniques. An additional important aspect of SMLM is that it can be used with other imaging techniques to elucidate receptor complex structures. In one study by Nan et al. (2013), the powerful sensitivity of FRET imaging to detect receptor proximity was combined with the capability of SMLM to obtain direct visualization of receptor oligomers in studying RAF, a strategic protein involved in RAS signaling. By means of cluster analysis, Nan and colleagues were able to show how RAF exists between an inactive monomeric state in the cytosol and a multimeric condition at the cell membrane when activated. The results from single-molecule localization confirmed the importance of dimer and oligomer formation in RAF signaling, even though the precise biological role of these different multimeric states is yet to be determined.The better definition of biological structures in the nanometer range as a result of SMLM has had most relevance in the field of neuroscience, where the morphology of neurons composed of dendritic spines and synapses is not suitable for confocal microscopy. For example, Dani et al. (2010) used single-molecule microscopy to image presynaptic and postsynaptic scaffolding proteins in the glomeruli of the mouse olfactory bulb to show distinct punctate patterns that were not resolved by conventional fluorescence imaging. Lastly, the high resolution of SMLM has enabled a deeper understanding of chromosome organization and genome mapping. Wang et al. (2011) determined the distribution of nucleoid-associated proteins in live E. coli cells, while Baday et al. (2012) were able to label 91 out of a total of 107 reference sites on a 180 kb human BAC gene with a 100 bp resolution. DNA mapping with such resolution offers the potential to uncover genetic variance and to facilitate medical diagnosis in genetic diseases. Nonetheless, there are a few challenges that come with single-molecule microscopy, namely errors in detection efficiency and localization uncertainty. Since using fluorescent proteins as labels involves the complications associated with protein expression, errors in this step (e.g. misfolding, incomplete maturation, etc.) can lead to the production of label molecules that are not fluorescent. This can directly affect counting studies, as the number of counted molecules can be underestimated. However, it is possible to use the obtained count (after correcting for blinking artifacts) for the counting. In one study that involved identification of protein complex stoichiometry by counting photobleaching steps, Renz et al. (2012) accounted for errors in detection efficiency using a binomial model, which was found to provide accurate results. Incorporating detection efficiency into a model for the ratio between monomers and dimers can also rectify efficiency errors. In terms of localization uncertainty, each photon from the emitter molecule provides a sample of the point spread function (PSF) from the molecule. Based on these samples, single molecule localization algorithms provide an estimate for the position of the fluorescent molecule. This estimate is prone to uncertainties, especially due to limited sampling (i.e. the limited number of photons obtained from the molecule). By ensuring that the imaged molecules within a frame are spatially separated enough so that the localization algorithms can correctly identify them, however, it is possible to minimize the effect of localization uncertainty on counting measures. Despite its potential shortcomings, single-molecule localization enables high resolution imaging on the scale of nanometers, which defies Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m. SMLM has been used to elucidate specific cell structures, as in Betzig's visualization of the lysosome membrane, and receptor complexes, as in the case of RAF. The technique has also been used to refute results of similar studies that used different imaging protocols, as shown when determining the specific location of ?2 adrenergic receptors. Overall, SMLM has ushered in a new era of high resolution imaging that not only allows for accurate insight into individual cell and protein structure, but also enables identification of abnormalities in cellular processes that ultimately manifest as genetic diseases.

Pakistan Cng Industry

Compiled by: Mirza Rohail B http://economicpakistan. wordpress. com/2008/02/10/cng-industry/ Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. Argentina and Brazil are the two countries with the largest fleets of CNG vehicles. As of 2005, Pakistan is the largest user of CNG in Asia, and third largest in the world. The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector of Pakistan by end of 2007 has attracted over Rs 70 billion investments during the last few years as a result of liberal and encouraging policies of the government. Presently, more than 2,700 CNG stations are operating in the country in 85 cities and towns, and 1000 more would be setup in the next three years. It has provided employment to above 30,000 people in Pakistan. Over 2 million vehicles were converted to CNG as of march 2009, showing an increase of 35 percent yearly. On average 29,167 vehicles are being converted to CNG every month. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) Sana-ur-Rehman confirms that CNG stakeholders have invested Rs. 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. The CNG consumers had invested around Rs 60 billion in converting their vehicles to CNG. The CNG was replacing at least 6. 12 billion liters of petrol every year and saving foreign exchange to the tune of billions of dollars. The CNG sector pays 24 percent sales tax and 4 percent withholding tax to the government. Moreover, the CNG is contributing tremendously towards maintaining the air pollution level lower since it emits almost 85 percent less harmful gasses, zero lead and zero particulate matter. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an CNG has grown into one of the major fuel sources used in car engines in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The government of Punjab, Pakistan, the most populous province of that country, has mandated that all public-transport vehicles will use CNG by 2007. CNG conversion 3rd generation environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. It is stored and distributed in hard containers, usually cylinders. Conversion has been facilitated by a substantial price differential with liquid fuels, locally-produced conversion equipment and a growing CNG-delivery infrastructure. A ‘Blue-network’ of CNG stations is being developed on the major highways of the Southern Cone (including Chile and Bolivia) to allow for long-haul transportation fuelled by CNG. According to the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, Pakistan has the third-largest number of natural gas vehicles. In the Middle East and Africa, Egypt is a top ten country in the world with more than 63000 CNG vehicles and 95 fueling stations nationwide. Egypt was also the first nation in Africa and the Middle East to open a public CNG fuelling station in January 1996. Brisbane Transport and Trans-Perth in Australia have both adopted a policy of only purchasing CNG buses in future; the former purchasing 216 Scania L94UB and 180 MAN 18. 10 models, with the latter purchasing 451 Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses, including 58 articulated buses. Brisbane Transport has also ordered up to 30 articulated CNG buses on MAN chassis’. During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded. Technology CNG can easily be used in Otto-cycle (gasoline) and modified Diesel cycle engines. Lea n-burn Otto-cycle engines can achieve higher thermal efficiencies when compared with stoichiometric Otto-cycle engines at the expense of higher NOx and hydrocarbon emissions. Electronically-controlled stoichio-metric engines offer the lowest emissions across the board and the highest possible power output, especially when combined with EGR, turbo charging and inter-cooling, and three way catalytic converters. The octane rating of CNG is far greater than Petrol and if handled correctly it can produce same or more power output from an engine provided the Compressed Natural Gas is compressed properly and accurate amounts of BTU Figures attained. CNG cylinders can be made of steel, aluminum, or plastic. Lightweight composite (fiber-wrapped plastic) cylinders are especially beneficial for vehicular use because they offer significant weight reductions when compared with earlier generation steel and aluminum cylinders, which leads to lower fuel consumption. CNG may be refueled from low-pressure or high-pressure systems. The difference lies in the cost of the station vs. the refueling time. There are also some implementations to refuel out of a residential gas line during the night, but this is forbidden in some countries. CNG compared to LNG and LPG CNG is often confused with LNG. While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquefied form. CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling process and cryogenic tanks. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of natural gas and the use of high pressures. CNG is also often confused with LPG, which is a compressed blend of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). The Advantages of Compressed Natural Gas The Environmentally Clean Advantage Compressed natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel operating today. This means less vehicle maintenance and longer engine life. CNG vehicles produce the fewest emissions of any motor fuel. Dedicated Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) has little or no emissions during fueling. In gasoline vehicles, fueling emissions account for at least 50% of a vehicle’s total hydrocarbon emissions. CNG produces significantly less pollutants than gasoline. Tailpipe emissions from gasoline operated cars release carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. This is greatly reduced with natural gas. The Maintenance Advantage Some fleet operators have reduced maintenance costs by as much as 40% by converting their vehicles to CNG. Intervals between tune-ups for natural gas vehicles are extended 30,000 to 50,000 miles. Intervals between oil changes for natural gas vehicles are dramatically extended–anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 additional miles depending on how the vehicle is used. Natural gas does not react to metals the way gasoline does, so pipes and mufflers last much longer. The Performance Advantage Natural gas gives the same mileage as gasoline in a converted vehicle. Dedicated CNG engines are superior in performance to gasoline engines. CNG has an octane rating of 130 and has a slight efficiency advantage over gasoline. Because CNG is already in a gaseous state, NGV’s have superior starting and drivability, even under severe hot and cold weather conditions. NGV’s experience less knocking and no vapor locking. The CNG Cost Advantage Natural gas is cheaper per equivalent gallon than gasoline (an average of 15% to 50% less than gasoline). The Safety Advantage Surveys indicate that NGV’s are as safe or safer than those powered by other fuels. A 1992 AGA survey of more than 8,000 vehicles found that with more than 278 million miles traveled, NGV injury rates per vehicle mile traveled were 34% lower than the rate for gasoline vehicles. There were no fatalities reported–even though these vehicles were involved in over 1,800 collisions. The Financial Incentive Advantage Some States offers a 50% investment tax credit for each vehicle converted to natural gas. This 50% credit on state income tax features a three-year, carry-forward option. A federal tax deduction is also available for the cost of conversion. Apprehensions in Industry The CNG Stations Owners Association of Pakistan (CSOAP) in January 2009 demanded the government to introduce a separate tariff for CNG to protect the investment by CNG station owners. An executive committee members meeting of CSOAP Thursday urged the Ministry of Petroleum and OGRA to keep the CNG policy 1992 enforced. The recent steps by the government to increase gas price would damage the CNG industry and would put additional burden on the common man. The current increase of 10 percent in gas prices is unjustified and uncalled for when the fuel prices all over the world have plunged. The 33 percent steep increase of gas prices in July 2008 by SSGCL and SNGPL was fully absorbed by CNG station owners and dealers by reducing their profit margins. He said the CNG sector as a whole consumes less than 6 percent of total gas output from SSGCL and SNGPL. The investments of more than Rs 60 billion of middle and lower middle class people who converted their vehicles to use cheap and environmental friendly CNG would go waste if the government does not revert the recent increase of gas price immediately. The CNG industry’s efforts to reduce government’s burden of foreign exchange payments and huge savings of Forex reserves resulted from shift to CNG use in vehicles. He claimed CNG has resulted in savings of more than $250 million per annum of foreign exchange for Pakistan. The recent increase of gas prices would force the CNG vehicle owners to buy CNG at a higher rate forcing CNG stations to close down their businesses leaving 2. 1 million vehicle owners including rickshaws and taxis prone to inflation. He said if the government did not meet their genuine demands, they would be forced to shut down their businesses and would not be able to pay their leasing payments and other loans. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) in 2008 had also expressed resentment over the government’s plan to increase CNG prices equalizing petroleum prices so as to resolve ongoing gas crises in the country. The APA has contacted the planning division for holding a meeting on the issue but the concerned officials have refused to meet the stakeholders, he claimed. The APA chairman Sana-ur-Rehman claimed that there is an anti-CNG lobby in the planning division. He said that the CNG stakeholders have invested Rs 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. He expressed apprehensions that the industry would totally collapse if the CNG prices were equalized with petroleum prices. According to APA Chairman, the CNG sector accounts only for 6 percent of the national gross consumption of the natural gas, where as it is being portrayed as the cause for present gas shortage crisis. The domestic sector consumes 21 percent gas during summer, which rises to 69 percent in winter and that was actually responsible for the gas shortage every winter season. He informed journalists that gas was provided to industrial sector for a contract of 9 month in a year. The industries were required to arrange for alternate energy source during the remaining three months of winter, he maintained. However, he regretted that the government machinery wanted to provide supply of gas to industrial sector throughout the year for the last several years against the contractual obligations. CNG Conversions Converting a gasoline-powered car to CNG requires only minor engine modifications. To learn more about converting your car, please contact a certified CNG conversion company. (c) ECONOMIC PAKISTAN

Academia and Text Matching Software Essay

Critically evaluate the use of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice Introduction Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism has been a major factor in education that has affected students’ success and academic achievements in recent years. Plagiarism according to Park (2003) is the act of appropriating or copying another person’s work and passing them on as one’s idea without acknowledging the original source. Park (2003) noted that plagiarism is a growing problem and has been a misuse of the writings of another author, their ideas, hypothesis, theories, research findings and interpretations. Furthermore studies by Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) emphasised that the rising trend of plagiarism among students can be attributed to several factors such as academic literacy, language competence and the technological advancements in the world today in terms of high speed internet facility available in hostels and computer labs. These factors according to Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) has enhanced the ability of students to plagiarise a whole assignment by obtaining papers on the internet relating to their assignments which is as easy as copying and pasting. Park (2003) stated that students have different perceptions towards plagiarism. He noted that students view plagiarism as a minor offence which is different from cheating in exams. He further discovered that plagiarism could be unintentional (ibid). This is because some students possess a mental illusion in which they believe they have produced something from their own perspective while infact they are reproducing something which they have read from another author. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the effect of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice. This paper will begin by briefly describing what good scholarship practise is. In addition the use of text matching software for detecting good scholarship practice will be critically discussed and a conclusion will be made based on the evaluation. Good scholarship practice can be referred to as a formal study which involves academic learning and achievement. It involves acknowledging where information used to support ideas in a particular context is gotten and citing the sources (Locke and Latham, 2009). Britag and Mahmud (2009) pointed out that different strategies whichinclude the use of electronic software tools such as turnitin have been derived for detecting plagiarism with the intent of allowing students’ take responsibility of their learning and also work hand in hand with their tutors in the drafting stages of their assignments. According to Britag and Mahmud (2009) manual detection of plagiarism is difficult because it is time consuming and this is the reason why some tutors are reluctant in pursuing potential cases of plagiarism. However both the manual method of plagiarism detection and the electronic text matching method should be employed (Britag and Mahmud, 2009). Scaife (2007) argued that the electronic text matching software is not the solution to eliminating plagiarism because the software only focuses on text matching of paper under review with documents (journals, articles, e-books and conference papers) found on the internet or which has been previously submitted and this is a limitation because the only detection are focused on electronic materials without considering some non-electronic paper based documents which could still be plagiarised. Walker (2010) stated that with the development of text matching software such as the turnitin plagiarism detection was made easier, however he emphasised that the turnitin detection software is not 100 per cent efficient, it merely identifies and matches materials present in a document uploaded to turnitin website to materials available on the internet. Walker (2010) describes the electronic text matching software as a tool only suitable for detecting word for word or direct plagiarism in electronic form and the refined ones from the paper based sources are not easily detected. Moreover Carroll and Appleton (2001) argued that the turnitin is just an option for measuring plagiarism and that alone cannot be used as a basis for judging good scholarship practice. In addition Carroll and Appleton (2001) insist that the use of electronic software for detecting plagiarism requires human application and interpretation and that using turnitin alone as a medium for plagiarism detection is not proficient. According to Barrett and Malcolm (2006) the electronic text matching software (turnitin) only indicates possible plagiarism without any certainty, it is left to the tutor to determine the extent to which the writer has plagiarised or included some sources in the paper without acknowledging where they were acquired. In conclusion the concept of plagiarism cannot be overemphasised. It has become a factor that has affected good academic scholarship practice and has  created an avenue for educators to develop methods for detecting and dealing with plagiarism. The development of the electronic detection software such as the turnitin has enhanced the detection of plagiarism however it cannot be relied upon completely because it is not effective. In addition it is important to understand that the best way to detect plagiarism is to use both the manual method which involves educators and the use of electronic text matching software such as turnitin. Students could also be assisted in understanding the criteria for academic writing such as the code of conducts which requires them to acknowledge any source from where data is derived when writing academically. References Barrett, R. & Malcolm, J. (2006) ‘Embedding plagiarism education in the assessment process’, International Journal for Educational Integrity, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 38-45. Bretag, T. and Mahmud, S. (2009) ‘A model for determining student plagiarism: Electronic detection and academic judgement. ‘, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 50-60. Chao, C. , Wilhelm, W. J. , Neureuther, B. D. (2009. ) ‘A Study of Electronic Detection and Pedagogical Approaches for Reducing Plagiarism’, The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 31-42. Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001), Plagiarism: A good practice guide, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Locke, E. A, Latham, G. P (2009) ‘Has Goal Setting Gone Wild, or Have Its Attackers Abandoned Good Scholarship? ‘, The Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp.  17-23. Park, C. (2003). ‘In Other (People’s) Words: plagiarism by university students—literature and lessons’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 472-488. Scaife, B (2007) IT Consultancy Plagiarism Detection Software Report for JISC Advisory Service. [Online]. Retrieved from:www. plagiarismadvice. org/documents/resources/PDReview-Reportv1_5. pdf [Accessed 24th October 2012]. Walker, J. (2010) ‘Measuring plagiarism: researching what students do, not what they say they do’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 41-59.