Technology Sector Privite Equity and a New Speculative Bubble Term Paper - 1

Technology Sector Privite Equity and a New Speculative Bubble - Term Paper Example According to US securities law, a private company is not permitted to have more than 500 individual investors without making its financial information public. Being a private company, Facebook is not required by the SEC to share financial information with investors at this time. In this paper, we will take a look at the history and features of speculative bubbles including the technology bubble of the late nineties (dot com bust) in an attempt to use economic data to analyze today’s environment to detect the presence of a bubble and its potential impacts. Speculative bubbles have long fascinated and puzzled economists across many time periods. From the original Tulip Mania of the 1630’s to the Dot- Com bubble of the late nineties, these phenomena have kept economists on their toes for centuries, in trying to pin down substantive causative agents that are responsible for the swift increase in the market values of particular assets. Till today, experts have been unable to chalk down exact reasons for the emergence of such bubbles as they can rise up even in the most predictable markets; where the market participants can very accurately calculate the intrinsic value of the assets and where speculation plays no part in the actual valuation process. What is the origin of bubbles? Simply put, speculative bubbles are caused by â€Å"precipitating factors† that have the ability to bring about a change in the public’s perception about the value of an asset and about the future prospects of that asset, which can have an im mediate impact on demand (Shiller , 2000) One of the most famous economists of all time, John Maynard Keynes pointed out in his book â€Å"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money†, that abrupt and immediate stock price changes have their roots in the â€Å"collective crowd behavior† of the various market agents more than anything else and that in almost all such scenarios, these rises in prices have

Introduction to Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Introduction to Banking - Essay Example Despite the fact that the borrower was pursuing a professional course which needed the inputs of expensive photographic equipments; the borrower had never ever approached the bank even for a student loan. (ii) A prime factor responsible for the borrower not approaching the bank for even a student loan is the financial resourcefulness and entrepreneurship skills exhibited by the borrower as a freelance photographer even while she was a student. She was able to sell her work as a freelancer. This implies that she had developed substantial trade contacts over all these years which are now going to stand in good stead for the sale of photographs from her current project. Case facts go on to reveal that she is on the threshold of some category of fame in photography circles. Her entrepreneurial abilities provide further comfort to the banker. (iii) Case facts reveal that her parents are generous and thereby affluent () and have supported their daughter liberally in the past. They have been cited as one of the reasons that she was not required to obtain loan during her student days. For the purpose of the present project it may be good idea to accept collateral securities from such parents. They can also be utilized as guarantors for the present loan. Her background check thus reveals no factor which would be an inhibiting factor in extending her the loan. However following specific questions may be asked to her during her loan interview to complete the appraisal process: (a) She may be asked to furnish a firm and complete itinerary of her project in Africa. She may be asked to indicate clearly the number of days she intends to stay in Africa, the number of locations she would visit, her boarding and lodging arrangements at each such location, her local conveyance and other expenditures. Case facts reveal that borrower has sought the loan for air tickets and photographic equipment; it is apparent that most of the above expenditure she wishes to put in through her own sources as margin. It is important to estimate this margin available with her as otherwise rest of the project and bank lent funds would be of no specific use. Thus bank must estimate all such expenditures and probe her sources and their availability at the project start date. These sources could include her own savings, her parents support, support from any other photograpy association, magazine or institution or even any grant or fellowship. (b) The next pertinent set of questions would be on specific items she is seeking loan for viz.air tickets and photographic equipment and accessories. Borrower may be asked to furnish the names of the specific airlines she would be traveling on to Africa along with her assistant. In case enquiries reveal that the airlines she proposes to use is expensive or that other airlines are offering more economical round tickets then the borrower would be asked the reason for preferring the chosen airlines. She may also be advised to avail of the cheaper airlines. Coming to her other need viz of photographic equipment and accessories queries may be framed on the specific equipment she proposes to buy for her project and why she thinks that such equipment is more suitable both in terms of price and performance, from amongst other same genre equipment. The banker may like the borrower to show the process of narrowing down

My Favourite Car

My Favourite Car My favourite car If I had to choose a car I liked the most, I would definitely pick Cadillac Escalade. SUVs are my favourite cars in general, but no SUV is more stylish than the Cadillac Escalade. Even though it has all of the roomy features that make SUVs a popular choice for families, its design, chrome trim and wheels and overall style make it attractive to the youth as well. The design elements of the Cadillac Escalade are all made with style in mind. The mirrors are angled and blend into the curves of the vehicle. The windshield angle flows into the roof line seamlessly. The tall headlights have standard High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting with an option to add the â€Å"IntelliBeam† system, which automatically adjusts the brightness of the headlight beams. The Cadillac Escalade comes standard with 18 inch wheels, but also has the option to add 22 inch chrome wheels to the vehicle. The interior of the vehicle continues the theme of comfort combined with a highly stylized design. The dashboard and consoles are made of high quality vinyl, with instrument panel displays located in perfect vision lines for the driver. Seams for the assembly of the dashboard are constructed tightly and barely visible. The true beauty of the Cadillac Escalade, however, comes in its power. It features a standard 6.2 litre V-8 engine that allows for quick acceleration. Traction control, four wheel drive and four wheel disc brakes allow for a comfortable and powerful driving experience. The Cadillac Escalade is well equipped to handle driving off road but versatile enough to be an effective city driving vehicle as well. The Cadillac Escalade is also versatile in its capacity. A third row seat allows the vehicle to transport up to seven passengers. The seat is also removable, maximizing the vehicles cargo space. The Cadillac Escalade has also earned a four star safety rating from the U.S. government. Safety features include anti-lock brakes, front side airbags, side curtain airbags, stability control, rear parking sensors, a rear view camera and a blind spot warning system. The Cadillac Escalade is superior to other SUVs because it combines all of the practicality of a traditional SUV with the style of a luxury car.

Fear and Tension in The Landlady and A Terribly Strange Bed :: Landlady Strange Bed Essays

Fear and Tension in The Landlady and A Terribly Strange Bed The two short stories 'The Landlady' and 'A Terribly Strange Bed' create fear and tension in two very separate ways. For example, A Terribly Strange Bed is a detective story where a man wins money at a gambling house, spends the night somewhere and when he lies in bed the canopy lowers trying to suffocate him. But he gets away and wants to find out why the people have made up such a machine when they could just smother him themselves and throw him in the river with no complications. Whereas The Landlady is more of a horror story because this lady seems perfectly normal and then as more evidence builds Billy Weaver then realises that the parrot, Daschund and possible recent guests have been murdered and stuffed by this friendly landlady. There are also similarities between the two stories 'The Landlady' and 'A Terribly Strange Bed' because they are both about male narrators staying away from home. Both stories have conclusions built up to that both main characters in the stories could possibly be murdered and stuffed or thrown in the river. Also both narrators in the two stories got to the guesthouse or gambling house because it is cheap and they wish to try something new. Both main characters in the stories should be suspicious of what is happening because Billy Weaver is staying at a bed and Breakfast at such a good price and seems to be the only guest there. The character in A Terribly Strange Bed should be wary because of the amount of money he has to look after from winning at the game 'Rouge et Noir'. In the Landlady the things that should be inanimate are now animate for example the bed lowers which creates tension to the short story. In The Landlady Billy has every right to be suspicious because who wouldn't be with The Landlady saying how selective she is with her guests as he is only her third, because she has also had the guests Mr Temple and Mr Mulholland. Another piece of evidence that should create tension to Billy Weaver in The Landlady is that she said 'there wasn't a blemish on Mr Temple's body' and how would she know? In my opinion this is an unusual and a scary thing to say, as it doesn't seem to make sense and sounds like she has had a relationship with Mr Temple. She also says to Billy a lot, how perfect his teeth are and how good looking she found him to be. As the plot thickens more evidence suggests that she is in fact a Fear and Tension in The Landlady and A Terribly Strange Bed :: Landlady Strange Bed Essays Fear and Tension in The Landlady and A Terribly Strange Bed The two short stories 'The Landlady' and 'A Terribly Strange Bed' create fear and tension in two very separate ways. For example, A Terribly Strange Bed is a detective story where a man wins money at a gambling house, spends the night somewhere and when he lies in bed the canopy lowers trying to suffocate him. But he gets away and wants to find out why the people have made up such a machine when they could just smother him themselves and throw him in the river with no complications. Whereas The Landlady is more of a horror story because this lady seems perfectly normal and then as more evidence builds Billy Weaver then realises that the parrot, Daschund and possible recent guests have been murdered and stuffed by this friendly landlady. There are also similarities between the two stories 'The Landlady' and 'A Terribly Strange Bed' because they are both about male narrators staying away from home. Both stories have conclusions built up to that both main characters in the stories could possibly be murdered and stuffed or thrown in the river. Also both narrators in the two stories got to the guesthouse or gambling house because it is cheap and they wish to try something new. Both main characters in the stories should be suspicious of what is happening because Billy Weaver is staying at a bed and Breakfast at such a good price and seems to be the only guest there. The character in A Terribly Strange Bed should be wary because of the amount of money he has to look after from winning at the game 'Rouge et Noir'. In the Landlady the things that should be inanimate are now animate for example the bed lowers which creates tension to the short story. In The Landlady Billy has every right to be suspicious because who wouldn't be with The Landlady saying how selective she is with her guests as he is only her third, because she has also had the guests Mr Temple and Mr Mulholland. Another piece of evidence that should create tension to Billy Weaver in The Landlady is that she said 'there wasn't a blemish on Mr Temple's body' and how would she know? In my opinion this is an unusual and a scary thing to say, as it doesn't seem to make sense and sounds like she has had a relationship with Mr Temple. She also says to Billy a lot, how perfect his teeth are and how good looking she found him to be. As the plot thickens more evidence suggests that she is in fact a

Agricultural Equipment Business Essay

Agricultural Equipment Business Manufacturing, export and distribution opportunities in post-harvest equipment beckon entrepreneurs even as other farm products also hold great promise In the last decade, Buhler, a global manufacturer of grain milling, sorting and handling products, has been witnessing a geographical shift in demand for its products. While the US and Europe remained the mainstay for long, it is China and India that are now the demand hubs for its products. The company, which launched its India operations in 1992, has since expanded its facility in India and ramped up the workforce. Another equipment firm, Satake, a Japanese major, has been witnessing similar trend. But the presence of big firms such as Satake and Buhler has not had much effect on local manufacturing. Many small and medium enterprises operate at full capacity across the country. Take for instance, S P Khandelwal of S S Milling and Engineering. He sells grain cleaning and sorting equipment to flour mills, energy foods producers and snacks companies. He boasts of clients such as Bikanerwala, Priya Gold and Modi Flour Mill. It is the price factor that helps entrepreneurs such as Khandelwal survive the onslaught of the global majors. â€Å"Products sold by organized players are expensive while my products are low-cost,† he says. Farm equipment companies, both big and small, are fighting tooth and nail to grab the larger share of the lucrative India market, despite the fact that the agriculture sector’s share in the GDP has fallen over the years. This notwithstanding, the farm equipment sector, that is a key support for agriculture, has been growing at a brisk pace and is projected to touch $7. 9 billion by 2012, according to The Freedonia Group, a US-based market research firm. [pic] Growth Drivers A couple of factors are driving the growth of this sector. These are mechanization of agriculture, increase in contract farming, easy availability of farm loans at low interest rates, and migration of laborers from villages to cities. Mechanization of Indian agricultural has been a major booster. The continuous increase in the consumption of power for farm sector and the corresponding reduction in the use of animal and human power is a clear indication that more and more machines are being deployed. A study by KPMG, done for India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) throws up some interesting observations. It says the share of animals as the source of power for the agriculture sector declined sharply from 45% in 1971-72 to less than 10% in 2005-06.

Stephen Colbert on American Jobs

Stephen Colbert on American Jobs In Stephen Colbert’s book, America Again, Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t, he talks about a wide range of problems in American society. They range from jobs to energy to healthcare, and of course, they are all written in a satirical sense. In the second chapter, Colbert and his writers talk about jobs in America. They discuss the problem of jobs being shipped overseas to countries like India and China and Colbert puts forth his â€Å"solutions† to the problems, which mostly include setting up sweatshops in America.He also talks about job interviews and how to be successful at them. Colbert and his staff of writers use a wide range of comic techniques in the book as a whole and in the chapter on jobs to satirize the American culture and government. One comic technique Colbert uses in the jobs chapter is reduction. Reduction is essentially belittling or degrading someone. Near the beginning of the chapter, there is a pict ure of Barack Obama being captioned as Jimmy Carter.While Jimmy Carter was a decent president and many historians agree that he didn’t do anything bad, he is widely remembered for not doing much of anything during his one term as president except failing to get the Americans that were being held hostage in Iran out safely. Barack Obama has a similar record of inactivity in his first term, so the book captions Obama as Carter to essentially say that Obama didn’t do much in his first term as president.Throughout the chapter and the whole book, Colbert and his writers use pictures to their advantage. This is a common technique in satire because it’s easy to get your message across using pictures. They are usually fairly simple, quick to look at, and easy to understand the meaning of. Colbert also uses caricatures to his advantage in the chapter on jobs. A caricature is usually some sort of picture of the person or group being satirized with their more unsightly fea tures being greatly exaggerated. It is a common technique used by satirists.Near the beginning of the chapter, there is a picture of an Indian woman going through the Kama Sutra exercises, a very old series of exercises used to strengthen the body and mind, while working at a call center. Through this picture, Colbert is talking about the problem of American jobs being shipped overseas. He also has a picture of a howler monkey named Bobo running a human resources department at a company. There is a common stereotype against human resources departments for not doing much work and making the employees’ lives difficult.The howler monkey is supposed to represent the HR department because it would be impossible to work with a monkey. Bobo even goes so far as to eat an employee’s paperwork, the equivalent of an HR department losing your paperwork. While pictures are of great use in satire, words can be just as effective if used properly. One technique Colbert and his writers use is burlesque, or the treating of a serious matter in a joking or flippant way. Burlesque is used throughout the chapter, but is used the most in the part about job interviews.Job interviews are extremely important, for they can make the difference between being hired for a job and not getting a job. In our current economy, interviews have become even more important because people are often in dire need of employment. Colbert devotes several pages to telling readers how to conduct a good interview. He tells the reader how many handshakes they should give, proper dress, and even how to appeal to the interviewer. Colbert also says to repeat the interviewer’s name many times.He says â€Å"Make a point of repeating your interviewer’s name as many times as possible as soon as you hear it† (Colbert 44). Colbert is essentially saying that by repeating the interviewer’s name, you’re flattering them, a common technique used by job seekers in interviews. Colbert satirizes the interview process as whole because he sees it as a joke and formality. He believes, and many will agree with him, that getting a job depends on flattery and connections with the interviewer. A fourth technique used by Colbert in the jobs chapter is reductio ad absurdum.This technique involves the satirist pretending to take the side of the person or group he or she is mocking in an attempt to further humiliate their subject. In the chapter, Colbert pretends to support sweatshops and shipping jobs overseas. He even goes so far as to suggest putting sweatshops in America and disbanding unions. In one of Colbert’s â€Å"truth punches† he says â€Å"The minimum wage ruined the proud American tradition of the sweatshop. You start paying American workers a minimum wage, the next thing you know they’re demanding air-conditioning and less flammable shirtwaist materials† (Colbert 30).The conditions he describes are very common in sweatshops around the world and are obviously a huge health and safety hazard. However, they make manufacturing cheaper and the lack of labor laws allows them to force their employees to work in the aforementioned conditions. Colbert pretends to support these views because by doing so he can make fun of them more effectively. Also, he highlights the extreme working conditions because by doing so, he can show the absurdity of both sweatshops and the argument for them.He can pretend to support horrible working conditions and still be viewed as humorous because everyone knows that those conditions are inhumane. One characteristic of satire that Colbert and his writers use in the jobs chapter is obscenity. At the beginning, he makes fun of the Rosie the Riveter, a common figure for female empowerment during World War II. He describes Rosie as â€Å"History’s most thinly veiled lesbian-I have worked hard to remain ignorant of whatever depraved act ‘riveting’ is† (Colbert 21).He also talks about Alan Greenspan’s scrotum and puts in a picture of it. The obscenity does not really have any purpose in satirizing Americans and their jobs. It’s there mostly for the sake of making the reader laugh and want to continue. Exaggeration is easily one of the most common, if not the most common, characteristics of satire. The chapter and the book as a whole are filled with exaggerations of varying amounts. He uses a â€Å"quote† of Ayn Rand’s, which says â€Å"Any man using the words of another is an unthinkable parasite worthy of contempt and death† (Colbert 25).Obviously Ayn Rand never said this; it’s a rather extreme thing to say and would have damaged her credibility. Colbert uses exaggeration in this instance to satirize Rand’s views of the working American. She is widely known for being a conservative and scorning Americans who don’t work and live off of the benefits of society. Colbert also uses this q uote as an opportunity to take another swing at the Republicans. By making fun of a popular conservative, he is, by association, making fun of conservatives as a whole.The style of satire that Colbert and his writers use is a monologue. In a monologue, the satirist speaks from behind a mask. In America Again, Colbert is the narrator, and he uses this position to satirize more freely. By staying as himself, he can use the persona he has on his tv show, and he doesn’t need to spend time creating a character to speak through. This is also advantageous when using the reductio ad absurdum technique because most readers will already know that he doesn’t really support the side he’s pretending to be on, and they can appreciate the comedy more.The chapter on jobs was very amusing and did a good job of satirizing American jobs and American’s views on jobs. He satirizes how Americans preach the need to bring jobs back to America from countries like India and China, but no one is willing to lose money by investing in more expensive American workers. Works Cited Colbert, Stephen, Michael C. Brumm, and Andrew Matheson. â€Å"Jobs. † America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't. New York: Grand Central Pub. , 2012. 16-47. Print.

Pride and Prejudice †Discourses

Pride and Prejudice – Discourses Free Online Research Papers â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.† (Pride and Prejudice p.1) â€Å"A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, dancing, and the modern languages to deserve the word.† (Pride and Prejudice p.3) The definitions of masculinity and femininity, the roles of males and females and the relevance to todays culture all need to be considered, in relation to the text, Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen defines males and females very differently from how they are defined today in 2007. Males are considered to be wealthy, self-sufficient and the providers of women. Women are defined as being dependent on men. This is the case with Mrs Bennet, whose goal was to marry off all five of her daughters. Mr Bennet was the sole provider for Mrs Bennet and their daughters. If Mr Bennet was to die, his fortune would then be passed on to his nearest male relative, not to his wife. Women were considered to be ‘protagonists.’ They were mostly dependent on their fathers and husbands to provide them with economic livelihood. Their life was much the same after marriage, except for the extra household duties. Their happiness was based on a fortunate marriage. Women were often forced to partake in semi-arranged matrimony to be promised a home and social status as somebody’s wife. A woman’s knowledge of attributes such as music, singing, dancing would show how accomplished she was. Music was an accomplishment that was greatly prized, as not may women were gifted with it. Men were considered to have a great deal of time on their hands. Some did riding and driving. These men were rather proud of their achievements, as they appealed to the feminine eye. A mans wealth was dependent on what class the pertained to. A man, who was part of the gentry, could earn his fortune through inheritance, rent from lands, investments in stocks and the government. Mr Bennet was one such example. A man who was part of the trading class could earn his fortune being anything from a banker to a merchant. Mr Gardiner was in this class, as he was a banker. The representations of masculinity and femininity in Pride and Prejudice, in relation to today’s culture in 2007, could be considered as contradictory. The idea of women like Mrs Bennet, being totally dependent on men, is rarely seen in today’s society. Many women who are mothers have a job, whether it is full or part time, which earns them money to help support them and their family financially. Most modern young single women are not out looking for a husband they are either attending university, or have a career of some kind, they are independent. Men gaining their fortune from hereditary means, and not having to work hard are yet another example of the change in modern culture. Most men are a part of the working class, consisting of physical labour. Men hardly have any spare time on their hands, as the men do in Pride and Prejudice. Most jobs consist of 10 to 12 hours of work a day. Then there is also work that needs to be done at home. Men and women today donâ€℠¢t get married out of convenience, they get married out of mutual love and respect of one another. Research Papers on Pride and Prejudice - DiscoursesInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesHip-Hop is ArtAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Fifth HorsemanResearch Process Part One19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionQuebec and Canada

Little Picture Questions in ACT Reading Find the Detail

Little Picture Questions in ACT Reading Find the Detail SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Little picture questions account for a huge amount of the questions on ACT Reading. Of the 4 publicly available ACTs I surveyed, between 25% and 50% of ALL Reading questions were little picture questions. So what does this mean for you and your ACT test prep? It means that it is well worth your time to make sure you can consistently answer little picture questions accurately and in a reasonable amount of time (what "reasonable" is will depend on the score you're aiming for). In this article, I’ll provide examples of the different ways ACT Reading will ask you to use little picture skills and explain the strategies you can use to help with these questions. I'll end with a walkthrough of a sample question as well as practice questions for you try out on your own. First, however, I’ll explain what exactly I mean by â€Å"little picture† questions tiny books by kelly taylor, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. What Are Little Picture Questions? Little picture questions are questions that ask you to find specific details from a passage. It's not like when my class was reading Great Gatsby in school, and I cared approximately ZERO about the different colors of Daisy’s dress and the green light and all that stuff that we had quizzes on â€Å"to make sure we did the reading.† The ACT asks you about details that are vital to understanding the passage (even though you don’t necessarily have to read the whole passage to find these details). For example, you might be asked what the milky blue that appears around the edges of older dogs’ eyes signifies (cataracts), but you will not be asked what color it is, all on its own. Out of the list of skills ACT lists you as needing to have (more on this here), little picture questions require you to... locate details within a passage and interpret them (although for little picture questions, the only interpretation you have to do is some paraphrasing) interpret sequence of events and flow of ideas (although again, for little picture questions, it's mostly just sequence of events, rather than flow of ideas) make comparisons understand cause-effect relationships Because little picture questions use so many of the skills the ACT sets out to test with its Reading section, if you can master little picture questions, you’re well on your way to mastering many of the other question types as well. I’ve divided up little picture questions into two levels. Level one questions only involve going back to the passage in order to identify the correct detail/fact. Level two questions, on the other hand, require you to gather multiple details/facts and then take that information a step further. Level One: Detail Hunting Questions on this level are the most basic the ACT gets: you basically have to go search out the information that answers the question. These questions can be further subdivided into two categories. 1. Find The Information In A Specific Place For these questions, you're given a line number and asked to find the detail to answer the question. Depending on how complicated the passage is, some vocabulary knowledge may prove necessary (more about vocab-in-context here); if there is a word you don't know, however, context clues can often be helpful. Here are a few of examples of the ways these sorts of questions might be phrased (all taken from official ACT practice tests): "Lines 42-44 indicate that another composer took over Mozart’s work in order to:" "Information in the second paragraph (lines 37-42) establishes that a change of one semitone translates into a frequency difference of..." "Information in lines 33-42 reveals that the public’s response to the conductor’s errors in the performance was to..." "The author indicates that the common factor in the events and periods listed in lines 50-54 is that they" "By his statement in lines 41-45, the author most nearly means that during the Classic period:" 2. Find The Information In An Unspecified Place For these level one questions, the information needed to answer them is somewhere in the passage. Sometimes the location is narrowed down to a few paragraphs or general areas like â€Å"the end of the passage,† but on occasion even that information is not given. Because these questions require you to do more searching than questions for which you are given specific location information, "Find the information in an unspecified place" questions are often relatively simple. You may need to do a little paraphrasing from text to answer choices, or you may be looking for the exact same words in the text. How can you be sure that questions asking you about information in a non-specific place are little picture questions, not inference or big picture questions? Because of the way the questions are phrased. Inference or big picture questions will have the phrases "It can be inferred from the passage" or "The passage suggests," whereas little picture questions will be more direct. See below for some examples of how little picture questions have been phrased on past ACT Reading sections. "According to the narrator, which of the following organizations is relatively new to her hometown?" "According to the passage, one of the woman’s worries about her present situation is that she..." "According to the passage, news reports attribute the flugelhorn player’s knees buckling to..." "The passage states that Leonard Bernstein believed the relationship between an orchestra and their section leaders should be:" "Which of the following statements about the galant style is best supported by the passage?" Rather than "It can be inferred from the passage," little picture detail questions will include phrases like "According to the passage" or "The passage states." You're not being asked to make assumptions based on the text - you're being asked to look for answers that are directly in the text. Level One Strategies I almost always do these level one little picture questions first when I start working on a passage. For me, hunting for the details gets me acquainted with the passage without having to read (and are easy points!). How you go about it, however, will depend on your reading strategy and, above all, on what works best for YOU. 1. Start by figuring out what the key information the ACT is looking for in the question. Take the following sample question. â€Å"The passage indicates that at the time Frank and Sigwarth presented new evidence supporting the small-comet theory, Frank most nearly felt...† The key information in this question: the names Sigwarth, Frank; â€Å"new evidence† or synonyms of that phrase; the phrase â€Å"small comet theory.† 2. Next, figure out where in the passage that information is (if you aren’t told outright) and read the relevant section slowly. You can try to quickly answer the question in your own words as well, even though the answer choices are sometimes taken word-for-word from the text. Putting the answers in your own words helps prevent you from falling into â€Å"I recognized the general phrasing so I’ll just choose it† trap (when in fact the ACT has sneakily reversed the meaning on you). 3a. If you tend to read the passage thoroughly first, I would recommend answering big picture questions before moving on to little picture questions. That way, you can answer questions about the whole passage before getting lost in the details. 3b. If you read the questions first, and don't think it will disorient you and make it harder for you to answer other types of questions, absolutely start with these questions and knock ‘em out of the way. World's best batsman and his mommy by joiseyshowaa, used under CC BY-SA/Cropped from original. Knock those questions out of the way like you are a small child playing cricket, and those questions are the ball. Look, it's...it's not a PERFECT analogy. Let's go back to the previous sample question for a moment. â€Å"The passage indicates that at the time Frank and Sigwarth presented new evidence supporting the small-comet theory, Frank most nearly felt...† To answer this question, you can scan the article for the words â€Å"Sigwarth† and â€Å"new comet theory† (either mentally or with your finger on the paper as you read, whichever is more effective for you). There's no need to read the entire article first. 3c. If you skim the passage, then answer questions, it could go either way. Skimming a passage can help you form a mental map of where certain details are more likely to show up, making it easier to answer detail questions; on the other hand, it can also give you enough info to get the big picture questions out of the way (just as if you'd read the passage all the way through). You'll need to experiment to figure out which way works best for you. Level Two: Using knowledge of multiple details, answer the question These questions will ask you to find multiple details across a passage or within a specified series of lines, then compare these details in one of two ways. 1. â€Å"EXCEPT† and â€Å"NOT† questions These types of little picture questions ask you to find the thing that is NOT true/NOT specifically described in the passage. They will typically appear at least once a test. Some examples (modified from ACTual ACT questions): "According to the passage, Aaron Copland believed that â€Å"American music† should include all of the following EXCEPT" "The author cites all of the following as causes of the unified musical style during the Classic period EXCEPT" "Which of the following is NOT listed in the passage as an element of the Classic period?" 2. Ordering or List questions These (relatively rare) questions ask you to choose the answer choice that lists a series of details in a particular order, or that match a particular criteria. The skill set you need to answer these types of questions is similar to that needed for "EXCEPT" and "NOT" questions; the main difference is that ordering and list questions are actually a little easier, because their answer choices tend to be more lengthy, and you only need to know that part of an answer choice is incorrect to be able to eliminate the whole thing. Here are a few examples of how ordering or list questions might be worded (all questions modified from real ACT questions): "According to the passage, which of the following cities is the last one Armstrong is said to have lived in?" "Which of the following most fully lists solutions considered by the author to the problem that the list of beloved women conductors is not nearly as long as the list of beloved men conductors?" "According to the frequency data presented in the passage, the audible ranges, from largest to smallest, of the following instruments is..." Level Two Strategies 1. Just like the strategies for answering level one little picture questions, the strategies for answering level two little picture questions involve finding the key words in the question, finding where the information is in the text, and reading the question carefully. 2. The process of elimination is also hugely helpful with these questions – if the text directly contradicts an answer choice, you can cross it out with no worries. 3. In general, I find it helpful to answer level two questions after you’ve already answered level one little picture questions or big picture/inference questions. Why? Because sometimes you end up covering the same ground as earlier questions with these level two questions. Here's an example of this: The sentence below is excerpted from an official ACT practice test and includes line 76-beginning of line 80. "Consider, for instance, the food crises that engulfed Europe during the Little Ice Age – the great hunger of 1315 to 1319, the food dearths of 1741, and 1816, â€Å"the year without a summer† – to mention only a few." The first question is level one (you’re given lines and asked to paraphrase), while the second is level two (an "EXCEPT" question). If you’ve already answered the first question, you’ve been focusing on the part of the passage that will help you with the information you need to answer the second question, which will then make that question easier to answer. Of course, these sorts of companion questions are not always right next to each other/in order, so don’t assume that answering questions in order will help. If you don’t remember exactly where you read the relevant information, however, you can always refer back to the first question, which may (as it does in this case) give a specific line number. 4a. If you read the passage thoroughly first, you might find it easier to start with these level TWO detail questions. Your memory will be fresh, so it will be easier to confirm that the â€Å"except† or â€Å"not† answer did not appear in the passage, or in what order events occurred. Once you've got those out of the way, you can move on to level one detail questions. 4b. If you read the questions first, then look at the passage, I’d suggest doing level ONE little picture questions first. As I said above, this can give you a better picture (har har) of the way the passage is laid out. Once you have a mental map of the passage's structure, you'll have a better idea of where to look for the details mentioned in the answer choices (whether you need to put them in order of occurrence or figure out which answer choice is NOT present in the text). 4c. If you skim first, then answer questions, it can go either way. The mental map you create as you skim the passage might help with confirming some details to be true/knowing where to look for the details...but it also might get you bogged down in detail too quickly and make it harder to answer big picture questions. 5. Ultimately, you need to do some trial and error on your own to figure out which way of reading the passage is most effective for you, and which questions you should answer first. This includes completing full ACT Reading sections as well as full length practice ACTs. The strategy you get the most points with is the one to go with. Little Picture Questions: A Walkthrough To finish, I wanted to do a brief walkthrough of my thought process (in italics) for answering a question from an official ACT practice test. Question: In the last paragraph, a comparison is made between â€Å"diminished excellence† and â€Å"flawed competence.† From the narrator’s point of view, the conditions are different because the one is: a source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride. based in the family while the other is based in the self. inherent in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual. a sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can’t. Key words in this question: â€Å"diminished excellence† and â€Å"flawed competence.† And â€Å"difference† (since I need to figure out how they’re different). I’ll search for those in the last paragraph of the passage. Okay, time to go to the last paragraph. "The whole time I work I wait to see where the screw-up is going to come. I imagine what my colleagues will be saying about me in the hallways. Did you know that Bryant built his shelves so they tilt? Did you know that Bryant’s books rejected the color he painted his shelves? But the screw-up doesn’t appear. I paint the shelves red, and they look O.K. (Granddaddy Bryant once painted yellow a whole row of company houses he built.) I paint a chair blue and red, and it’s a little silly-looking, but it picks up the blue of the carpet and the red of the shelves. The vision isn’t nearly as impressive as I thought it would be, but then what vision ever is? We plan-makers are accustomed to things turning out not-quite-as-good-as-we-had- in-mind. Our world view includes the â€Å"diminished excellence† component. Diminished excellence is a condition of the world and therefore never an occasion for sorrow, whereas flawed competence comes out of character and therefore is frequently the reason for the bowed head, the furrowed brow. Three months later, when I try to turn the heat off in my office, I discover that I have placed one of the shelf uprights too close to the radiator to be able to work the valve. The screw-up was there all along, but in this case I am relieved to find it. I am my grandfather’s grandson after all." So I see the phrase â€Å"diminished excellence† twice and â€Å"flawed competence† once nearby†¦I’ll read that section closely. "Our world view includes the â€Å"diminished excellence† component. Diminished excellence is a condition of the world and therefore never an occasion for sorrow, whereas flawed competence comes out of character and therefore is frequently the reason for the bowed head, the furrowed brow." How are they different? Well, for starters, â€Å"diminished excellence† is external (a condition of the world) and so you shouldn’t be sad, while â€Å"flawed competence† is something different (uses the word â€Å"whereas† to indicate a contrast) that makes you sad (bowed head, furrowed brow). What are the answers again? a source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride. One is a source of sadness, but there’s a difference between â€Å"never an occasion for sorrow† and pride, so probably not based in the family while the other is based in the self. Says nothing about family – it’s either based in â€Å"world† or â€Å"character,† neither of which is â€Å"family† in this context. So eliminate. inherent in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual. That sounds like it could be right – based in the world = inherent in environment, contrast to that = based in character = inherent in the individual a sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can’t. There’s stuff about the world but nothing about improving it, so no. Best answer is H. Review: It certainly helped that I knew the definition of inherent, but it was not critical; even if I couldn’t positively identify H as correct, I would have been able to show that F, G, and J were incorrect, which would have left me with H in any case. And now†¦it's your turn! Little Picture Practice Questions Just in case you hadn’t gotten enough of little picture questions, I’ve compiled a couple of different passages with some questions to answer. The answer key is up here, so you can scroll back up after you’ve finished the questions to check your answers. 1. J 2. C 3. J 4. H 5. D 1. Which of the following questions is NOT answered by the information in the passage? F. Has the narrator ever walked around inside Eugene’s house? G. What hobby or interest do Eugene and the narrator share? H. What makes Eugene’s house different from other houses on the block? J. What careers other than teaching has the narrator considered pursuing? 2. The narrator draws which of the following comparisons between the old couple and Eugene’s parents? A. The old couple were more socially outgoing and had many more friends than Eugene’s parents. B. Eugene’s parents are just as interested in tending the lawn and flowers as the old couple were. C. Eugene’s parents are less nurturing of each other and spend less time together than the old couple did. D. Just like the old man and old woman, both of Eugene’s parents appear to have jobs outside the home 3. According to the narrator, which of the following statements was true about Eugene at the moment when she first talked to him? F. Due to the size of the school, he had not even noticed the narrator until she started talking to him. G. He had searched unsuccessfully for the narrator’s locker several different times and had been too shy to ask someone where it was. H. He had first noticed the narrator in study hall but had been uninterested in her until she introduced herself. J. He had apparently taken notice of the narrator at school and had come to like her but felt nervous about introducing himself. 4. The narrator most nearly portrays her parents’ dreams as: F. close to being realized because of her father’s good job. G. somewhat uncommon among the other residents of the family’s building. H. ones she has heard about many times but that seem far off and remote to her. J. ones she shares with her parents and longs to fulfill. 5. The narrator claims that she felt close to the old couple because she had: A. listened in on so many of their conversations over the years. B. helped take care of the old woman’s flowers after the woman’s husband had died. C. been able to watch them as they moved through their entire house. D. regularly observed them during their mealtimes. What’s Next? Want more ACT Reading skills articles like this one? Start with our vocab-in-context article - more will follow over the next few weeks. Not sure what the best way to approach ACT Reading passages is? Read our article and figure out which one is right for you. Where can you find official ACT practice tests to hone your newly-acquired knowledge on? We can help you – go to our complete list of official ACT tests. Thinking you need more structured help to master little picture questions? Maybe a test prep platform customized to you is the answer for you. Try PrepScholar risk-free for five days! Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Amazon Self-Publishing How to Publish on Amazon Step-by-Step

Amazon Self-Publishing How to Publish on Amazon Step-by-Step Amazon Self-Publishing: How to Publish on Amazon Step-by-Step Amazon self-publishing is on the rise. With it being the #1 retailer for books worldwide, that makes sense.But if you wind up making some errors in publishing on Amazonlets just say your results as an author will be less than satisfactory.After all, the self-publishing industry is pretty sensitive to those making mistakes.But Amazon self-publishing is the best option to self-publish and weve made it even easier for you with this guide for  doing it with Kindle Direct Publishing.You no longer need to go through painstaking efforts to land a book deal which locks you into unrealistic deadlines and cuts you out of most of the earnings.You can now have complete control of your book and its revenues by Amazon self-publishing.But many writers get overwhelmed by the abundance of information about self-publishing. It can be intimidating for first-time publishers. We get it we were just like you!So to ease some anxiety and uncertainty, we created this step-by-step comprehensive self-publ ishing guide for you to follow in order to get your book published on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Network.Here is your full guide for Amazon Self-Publishing:Creating a Kindle Direct Publishing AccountCrafting Your Book Title SubtitleWriting Your Book DescriptionChoosing the Right KeywordsSelecting the Right CategoriesUploading Your ManuscriptCreating a Book CoverPricing Your BookLet’s get started!NOTE: We cover everything in this blog post and much more about the writing, marketing, and publishing process broken down with videos in our VIP Self-Publishing Program.If you are ready to publish your book NOW then make sure to check out our comprehensive, step-by-step guide to becoming a bestseller. Learn more about it hereAmazon Self-Publishing Why its the Best OptionTraditional publishing is on the way out. This has been the reality for some time now and for good reason.While traditional publishing had its time and was once theonly option for publishing a book, th e system in place right now is one made for the next Stephen Kings not for those who have value to share with the world.Why Amazon Self-Publishing is the Best OptionThough traditional publishing is still a viable option for some, Amazon self-publishing is the best option and heres why:Over 70% of books are sold on Amazon310 million book buyers through Amazon last yearThose buyers accounted for over $178billion in salesIts easier and faster with Amazon self-publishingThere are major differences between traditional vs self-publishing with the majority of authors opting to take their talents to Amazon instead of through one of the Big 5 publishing houses.And you should too. What is Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)?Throughout this guide, youll read the term Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP. It might sound self-explanatory but well cover some basics.This is an Amazon self-publishing platform that allows you to create and manage your Kindle eBook, paperback, and even audiobooks in a single place. It’s widely used to build books from the ground up.And fortunately, setting up your KDP account is easy, and should be the first step you complete.Your Guide for Amazon Self-PublishingSure, anyone can technically self-publish on Amazon, but that doesnt mean it will do well and actually sell. You have to know the specifics, from setting up your KDP account to the pricing of your book.If done correctly, you can expect a successful launch and a substantial amount of passive income. Here are our steps for Amazon self-publishing.#1 Create a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) AccountBefore you can start with Amazon publishing, you first have to have an account set up with them.Heres how to set up your Kindle Direct Publishing account:Go to https://kdp.amazon.com and register with either your Amazon account or with your email address.Next, click â€Å"Update† in your account information and fill in your tax information. It’s important to note that you need to compl ete your tax information BEFORE you can publish your first book. So don’t skip this step!Once your tax information is complete, click â€Å"Finished† and return to the main page.Your profile is complete!With your KDP account setup, proceed to setting up the details of your book, as seen in the areas below.#2 Choose a Book Title and SubtitleIn your Kindle Direct Publishing profile, you need to fill in the title and subtitle of your book. While a subtitle is optional, having a good subtitle is something you should definitely consider to bring in more views and create stronger intrigue and help people find your book when searching.Here are a couple tips to crafting a great book title:Use a Book Hook: Your book hook should speak to the reader in a unique voice that grabs their attention and feeds into what they are looking for.List the Benefits: Your potential readers want to know what they will get from reading your book. One technique is to deliver the benefits in the s ubtitle, providing enough tantalizing information to further attract readers.Think about what you would be attracted to in a book title. Keep it simple, clear, and unique. Research the title you want to use and make sure it hasnt been scooped up by a high-performing book already.You dont want to make competition for yourself.#3 Write Your Book Description for AmazonYou need a powerful book description in order for potential buyers to read what its about. Even though the cover and subtitle should do a great job of this, we all want more information when it comes to putting money toward something.Here’s what people notice first when seeing a new book:TitleCoverBook DescriptionA book description is essentially a short written narrative that illustrates what your book is about. It should be written like a sales page to capture the interest of your reader.This is crucial because the description, in many cases, is the final factor that determines whether the reader will read your book or not. That, and great Amazon reviews.When done correctly, a well-written book description can practically sell a book on its own.Here are some strategies to help craft your perfect description:Make your first sentence as enticing as possibleWrite your description like a sales page or advertisement, not a dry summary of your bookHave the description feel personal and empatheticDetail the benefits your reader will gain by reading your bookHeres a great example of a full book description on Amazon:You can find more amazing description examples with these books:Champion Mindset: Tactics to Maximize Potential, Execute Effectively, Perform at Your Peak – Knockout Mediocrity!By Patrick KingNovice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills by S.J. ScottSpend some time crafting your eye-catching book description. It will make your book stand out to your readers and motivate them to purchase your book.For the best results, we recommend using the Free Amazon Book Description generator at kindlepreneur.com#4 Choose Your Amazon KeywordsIf you want your book to show up in Amazon and Google search engines, you’ll need the right mix of keywords. Since Amazon allows only seven keywords per book, keyword selection requires strategy.But whatare keywords exactly?Keywords are specific words or phrases used to describe your book. If someone was looking for a book on your topic, they might type one of those keywords into Amazon or Google in order to find it.For example, if your book is about perseverance, you might find keywords like this useful:how to have perseverancewhat is perseveranceperseverance examplesperseveringpersevering when its hardThese are all phrases or words people looking to better themselves with perseverance would type into search engines in order to find what theyre looking for, like in the image below.You can research the right keyword phrases by using search tools such as:KDP Rocket: This is a gr eat tool for comparing Google search results to Amazon. It gives you a competitive score from 1-99, keyword results from both Google and Amazon, and how much money other books are making.KW Finder: This tool gives an analytical view of the keyword popularity using a competitive ranking. You can search for five keywords for free per day.Amazon’s Autofill Function: Take advantage of Amazon’s search box to find good keywords. Amazon’s suggestions are based on search history so you want to search for words that are high in demand with little competition.Make a list of possible keywords for your book, then leverage the tools above to test your keywords. Putting in the time to get keywords right will have your book rank higher and appear more frequently to readers.#5 Select Your Amazon CategoriesAmazon provides a collection of categories and subcategories to choose from. Like keyword selecting, your goal is to look for trending areas that don’t have tons of co mpetition.If you visit your book page, these categories will appear partway down the page, displaying the rank like in the image example below.These categories are what you will rank as a bestseller in, which is why you want to make sure you pick fitting categories that are specific, but also not super competitive. You want to stand out.You can also check the rankings of the top three books on the first page of each category.Amazon sales ranking measures how well a product is selling compared to its competitors. All books that are ranked 2,000 or less are considered to be highly purchased products in that particular category.Here are a few tips when publishing on Amazon in order to rank in more categories:Research your competitors keywordsChoose trending categories with lower competitionAcquire additional categories by contacting Amazon and asking for keyword placementUnless you have an established audience with significant downloads and reviews, try to aim for categories with books that rank between 10,000-30,000.Do you want to know how to rank for ten categories? Check out our blog post that detailshow to get approved for more categories on Amazon.#6 Upload Your Manuscript to AmazonTo upload your manuscript, it first must be saved in a supported kindle format.Heres how to upload your book to Amazon:In your Kindle Direct Publishing account, go to â€Å"Your Bookshelf†.Locate and click on â€Å"Kindle eBook Actions† next to the title of yourbook.Locate and click on Edit eBook Content†.Click on â€Å"Upload eBook manuscript†.Upload your manuscript file on your computer.Upload complete!Once Amazon finishes uploading your file, a confirmation message will be sent and you can preview the uploaded file to check for any errors.You can upload the manuscript as many times as you want and the new version will override the existing.It’s important to check how your book looks using the â€Å"Look Inside† feature once the book is live on Amazon. This feature is often the first thing your prospective readers will click on when checking out your book.If the formatting is off here, it can deter readers from picking up your book. Take this extra step to make sure your formatting looks good here too.#7 Create Your Book CoverWhen it comes to publishing a successful book on Amazon, having a perfect book cover design is one of the most important aspects to get right. Contrary to what we were told growing up, people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover. Its actually one of the biggest deterrents.Your cover is exactly how your book will be judged at first glance.So you must make sure that it is created professionally and that it will stand apart from the rest of the books in your genre or category.You can find cover creators on freelancing sites such as:99 DesignsHappy Self Publishing100 CoversPrices will depend on the level of service, but these sites will give you plenty of amazing graphic designers to choose fro m! It’s a great investment that will make your book stand out perfectly.If youre a Self-Publishing School student, we will actually provide a list of qualified, trusted book cover designers you can work with in order to get a worthy cover.Make sure to do your research regarding what type of book cover does best in your genre. Fantasy books, for example, will be a lot different than a memoir or even a historical fiction.#8 Price Your BookA question often asked is: â€Å"How much should I be pricing my book at after the initial launch is over?†This is up to the author, but generally, the best range to have your book priced is between $2.99 to $9.99.The royalty payments vary depending on the country, but you can learn more on KDP Select pricing page.One popular strategy for beginners is to price your book at $2.99 and gradually increase it by $1 per week. At some point, your sales will begin to dip. And while that’s normally a negative statistic, for this case, it confidently tells you the perfect price of your book that guarantees a profit.Here are the 4 main pricing strategies to consider in order to be competitive and sell books:Know the price of your competitors. Compare the list price of your book to the books around you and determine if you would be able to sell your book for a higher price.Know the size of your followers. Famous authors can charge a lot for their books because they have a big following. If you’re not in this category, your book should be priced lower to encourage new readers to buy your work.Determine price based on the size of your book. Size does matter when it comes to books. Don’t charge $20 for a 75-page book. Customers will immediately be turned off with the lack of content at that price point.Measure price based on reviews. Reviews carry a big weight on influence, and is social proof that your book has been read and well received. Therefore, a book with higher reviews (1000+ reviews) can be priced higher compared to a book with fewer reviews (30+ reviews).You can get legitimate and honest reviews from:Your personal launch teamAmazon’s top reviewersFans of your social media pagePersonal email listAdding a note to leave a review in your bookExperiment with these strategies to pinpoint the price for your book, it will drive long-term success.Your Next Steps for Amazon Self-PublishingIf you want to become a self-published author, you must be fluent with platforms such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and more. For that reason, you must take actionnow because you can never have too much knowledge when it comes to self-publishing your book.#1 Utilize your FREE training!Thats right. We have some free training all ready to go for you. Chandler Bolt put together this video training guide that will help you learn what it takes to go from blank page to self-published author in as little as 90 days!

The Problem of Induction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Problem of Induction - Assignment Example The argument is valid because the sun has never failed to rise. However, critics may argue that the usual observations that the sun has always risen cannot be a claim to justify that it would rise the following day. The claim that a particular vegetable is green does not validate the assertion that future vegetables of a similar kind would be green. The claim becomes untrue if there is a significant change in nature that affects the vegetables’ genetic pattern to alter the green color to another. The problem of induction has raised concerns in the field of philosophy with some scholars supporting the claim while opposing it. The article herein will analyze the various aspects of the inductive methods and the different justifications set forth by scholars. The article will further determine the appropriateness of the method and attempt to justify solutions to the problems associated with the inductive methods. Philosopher Hume formulated an inquiry to the problem of induction and claimed that it is insoluble. John Stewart Mill responded and gave a more explicit formulation of another important class of inductive problems. J.S. Mill inquired why some methods just required a single inference to be true while others could not prove as true after numerous inferences (Ladyman 35). For instance, meteorologists have used the inductive methods to forecast the weather in some regions of the world, and it worked. Scientific research has enabled an improvement of technology. The medics have invented new drugs that treat diseases that could otherwise killed many individuals. In this respect, the inductive methods are valid and useful in human reasoning. However, the method lacks rational justification. The successful conclusions justify the methods. Furthermore, it is not always necessary to prove a method or belief to validate its applicability to be accepted as evident in the religious domain. Â  

Gay Relationship in the Wedding Banquet Movie Review

Gay Relationship in the Wedding Banquet - Movie Review Example The movie is an intense comedy in the first half, and then it reveals the complexities of the relationship burdened on each other. The character Winston Chao, and Simon his lover were living a convenient lifestyle until his parents demand a marriage in an expectation of an offspring. This movie displays very intense emotional sequences as well as riotously funny movements every audience will expect in a movie.   The movie being the debut of actor Winston Chao, does not depict any flaws or chinks in his acting skill. â€Å"The Wedding Banquet never becomes bogged down by its own seriousness. Lee manages to keep the production buoyant by including scenes that are often riotously funny† (Berardinelli.1993). Interestingly, in this movie all the characters possess their own unique worthiness, which gives the audience a splendid visual treat. The plot of the movie The plot of the movie is the life of a Taiwanese immigrant Winston Chao who is a gay. He is in a stable relationship w ith an American man Simon, and defers his parents about his sexuality and agrees to marry Wei – Wei a Chinese woman. ... e in the initial stage looks like a full-blown comedy but later comes out different when the perception of the sexual and cultural choices of the young generation is portrayed dominantly. This movie seems like a romantic comedy in the beginning, but there is a strong dramatic undertone surrounding this movie which the audience finds out towards the other half unravels. The main highlight of the deceptive marriage is the sumptuous banquet after which the Wei - Wei seduces the intoxicated Winston and get herself pregnant. On a finding of pregnancy, Simon gets upset and fights with Winston, and eventually, their relationship starts to deteriorate. In the moment of tension and rage, Winston let his mother know about his sexual identity and his mother knowing this request her son to hide this from his father. Later in the movie, Winston’s father finds out about his son’s relationship with Simon and with half mind go forward to have an amicable relationship with Simon. In the end the father and mother of Winston leave for their homeland leaving Winston, Wei – Wei and Simon to sort out things by themselves. Background and theme of the story The movie â€Å"The Wedding Banquet† is written by three writers namely; Ang Lee, Neil Peng and James Schamus. Ang Lee is the writer and director of the movie and is a Taiwanese American movie director with versatility and dynamic talent. He has directed this movie with a varied nature for which has won Academy Award and lot of acclamation worldwide. Neil Peng is another writer who contributed efficiently to the movie as a screenplay writer. James Schamus is also a screenwriter with numerous acclamations and awards and is also a producer and CEO of Motion Picture Company called Focus Features.  

Reading Responses to a Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reading Responses to a Poem - Essay Example Brooks’ poetic style and substance complement each other in producing realist literary wonders, resulting in her being granted the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. It was possible that Brooks herself was influenced by her contemporaries when it comes to form and content (Hacker, n.d.). The point, however, is that when The Pool Players is detached from the consequence of such possibility or not, it is indeed a poem that could only come from poet laureate such as Brooks. Typical of modern poetry, The Pool Players does not use the classical poetic forms that can be attributed to the style of Romanticists. Instead, its form and language is basically colloquial in nature. In just reading the poem, one would have the impression of youths who are just expressing themselves in the simplest language that they are accustomed to; no flowery descriptions, no use of symbolisms, and no adjectives to clarify further what they mean. However, the effectiveness of the poem in delivering its message is d efinitely achieved through the use of such language, coarse or crude it may sound for those whose usual impression of poetry is highly influenced by Romanticist ideals. Brooks herself explained in an interview that the form or language used for the poem was not prompted by an objective related to literary aesthetics, such as colloquial rhythm. Therefore, it could not be attributed to any possible influence of modernist poets, such as Ezra Pound or T.S. Eliot (Stavros, 1970). Instead, it represented how Brooks actually felt about the subjects of her poem, young men or boys who did not believe in the importance of education in their lives and who would rather play pool or stay on the streets until death comes. The effect of the poem on the reader is more profound though primarily because of the simplicity in the language used. The reader would easily get a picture of the scene that the poet wishes to portray. The language is very direct, allowing the reader to immediately get the imag e that poet wants to impart on the reader. However, it is also because of such characteristic that there is a tendency for the reader not to comprehend the deeper meaning behind the conversational verbiage applied. Ironically, this is the main problem with such kind of language and form. Because it appears too simple, it may not encourage the reader to reflect on the meaning. The power of the poem lies in its informality; its simplicity is â€Å"stark to the point of elaborateness†¦ it is virtually coded† (Spillers, 1987, p.225). By using the very language that the pool players themselves use, the reader is taken into the world that Brooks wants to portray. It is apparent that the poet believes that it is only through such method that reader is able to analyze the message and come up with his own impression on the issue being tackled. The poem has eight lines but it is only on the last that the message is made clear but even this would not be understood without the prior seven lines. If the poem had been arranged in a non-lyrical manner, it would have appeared as commonplace as any conversation would be. However, Brooks made sure that even as she used simple language, The Pool Players is still able to uphold its aesthetic value as a literary work. Because of this,

Human circadian rhythms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human circadian rhythms - Essay Example The circadian cycle includes 24 hrs of the day. A person usually sleeps approximately 8 hrs and is awake for 16 hrs. Throughout the wakeful hours, mental and physical functions are most active and growth increases but during sleep, voluntary muscle activities fade away and metabolic rate, respiration, heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure are reduced. The actions of the digestive system rise during the resting period, the activity of the urinary system decreases. It is evident that hormones secreted by the body, such as the stimulant epinephrine (adrenaline), are released to its maximum just two hours before awakening to prepare the body for activity (Encyclopedia Britannica). Hypothalamus is the chief control centre especially the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), part of the hypothalamus; it receives signals about light and dark from the retina of the eye. Cyclical fluctuations of melatonin are essential for maintaining a normal circadian rhythm. Induction of sleep is gener ated when melatonin binds to receptors in the SCN (Encyclopedia Britannica). An understanding for the biological rhythms is fundamental part towards the perception of all aspects of life including death (Edery, 2000). Physiologic diurnal variation in cardiovascular system, heart rate and cardiac output plays an imperative role in finding the epidemiology of fatal cardiovascular events in the early hours of morning (Dunlap, 1999). It is manifested that diurnal variations are attributed to environmental stimuli or any kind of increase in sympathetic activity (Dunlap, 1999). It is evident that many features of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology involve alterations in the expression of genes regulating metabolic and contractile function of the heart and vasculature (Edery, 2000). In order to maintain homogeneous conditions of the body, all the biological processes must be maintained within physiologic boundaries. Failure to achieve a specific

Reading Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Reading - Assignment Example The Philadelphia women bath painting depicts Renoir’s innovative power. The bathers in Philadelphia are aesthetically incongruous because all of the women are doing different things. Two women are resting under a tree near a riverbank while another girl is threatening to splash water on them (White 110). Additionally, the other women are seen wading in the river away from the rest of the women. Renoir recalls the Moulin de la Galette  of 1876, the  Luncheon of the Boating Party  of 1881, and the  Reclining Bathers  of 1918 (White 111). The works of art were hilarious and novel that the 1887 work of art, the Philadelphia Museum Bathers. The painting borrowed Boucher’s techniques of art in order to make the painting interesting. The split among the impressionist group led to the development of the Philadelphia Museum Bathers paint. According to White, the impressionists’ split made Renoir to develop a new form of painting, which could be appealing to the public (114). In this regard, he took three years to develop the paint. Renoir’s relationship with Aline and the birth of their son affected the Bathers painting in the sense that the painting took a longer time to paint than was anticipated. The proof of this is the fact that the Philadelphia Museum Bathers painting took three years to complete while the rest of the artiste’s painting took one year (White 114). Renoir sought to get progressively through his unique paintings and originality in painting work. Additionally, his irregularity with regard to the techniques applied also added to his novelty in the artwork. White posits that Renoir’s relationship with great artists like Boucher led to his development, especially in the impressionism development (115). Boucher prompted Renoir’s divergence from naturalism to new classicism. The legend positively inspired Renoir to explore classicism in a new perspective (White 118). Additionally, Boucher also gave Renoir insight pertaining to

Que Onda Urban Youth Culture and Border Identity Essay - 1

Que Onda Urban Youth Culture and Border Identity - Essay Example There are also the issues of changing economic conditions where Mexicans are seen as the main economic contributors yet; they do menial and inferior jobs. There is also lack of upward mobility by the inferior ethnic groups, who immigrate across the border. The history and geopolitics of the groups determine the social capital each group is going to enjoy, and whether the group is going to assimilate easily. For instance, Chicanas/os are adapted to youth experimentation and popular culture in the United States and their parents put â€Å"fewer restrictions to them† than the Mexicanas/os parents do to their youths (45). The other lines of politics are projected along the legal and policy context of their immigration status (14). This way, the Mexicanas/os and Chicanas/os are made to feel inferior based on their ethnic grouping and social hierarchies (46). These politics is also perpetrated by the issue of whiteness as the top hierarchy and the fact that â€Å"without the social capital and social networks and English skills, immigrant youths cannot succeed in the United States education† (14). This also triggers identity politics where Chicanos use English, the language of America, while Mexicans use Spanish but at their own detriment. The teaching of different languages leads to a division in these two ethnic groups, which share the same ethnicity. In this case, the politics are too heavy for them as students from both sides â€Å"harbor ill feeling towards each other† because of border politics as â€Å"bantering over each other’s style, language, class, and gender and citizens status† (119). The political Chicano movement does not bar the youths from identifying themselves with inferior ascriptions, as opposed to the perpetrated positive proscriptions (46). Therefore, the book bounds all these issues among others to show the value of each aspect in the lives of Mexicanas/os and Chicanas/os in a way that can be viewed non-hege monically. It is because of the bonder politics and race wars that saturate our society that Mexicanas and Chicanas experience discriminations from one another and others (45). What factors influence identity development for Latinas/os along the border region? Many factors have been established, by the book, as influencing identity development for Latinos along the border region. For instance, Latino youths use â€Å"aspects of Mexicana/os, Chicana/os and American culture to create their alternative youth cultures† (96). In this case, the identity of Latinas/os is influenced by the Mexicana/o and Chicana/o youth who share many characteristics. There is also the factor of language where English is considered to be the dominant class language. For this case, the Latinos are influenced to identify with American culture by learning English language. Even though the American pop culture has appropriated Latino culture, this does not bar it from identifying itself with top social c lass in the hierarchies (96). There is also the issue of boundary or geographical position of the Latinos. This is closely linked to their immigration status and proximity to the Mexican border. Those who are close to the border experience extreme discrimination and less social property than those who are far away. On the other hand, those who migrated to the United States earlier have

Reading Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Reading - Assignment Example The Philadelphia women bath painting depicts Renoir’s innovative power. The bathers in Philadelphia are aesthetically incongruous because all of the women are doing different things. Two women are resting under a tree near a riverbank while another girl is threatening to splash water on them (White 110). Additionally, the other women are seen wading in the river away from the rest of the women. Renoir recalls the Moulin de la Galette  of 1876, the  Luncheon of the Boating Party  of 1881, and the  Reclining Bathers  of 1918 (White 111). The works of art were hilarious and novel that the 1887 work of art, the Philadelphia Museum Bathers. The painting borrowed Boucher’s techniques of art in order to make the painting interesting. The split among the impressionist group led to the development of the Philadelphia Museum Bathers paint. According to White, the impressionists’ split made Renoir to develop a new form of painting, which could be appealing to the public (114). In this regard, he took three years to develop the paint. Renoir’s relationship with Aline and the birth of their son affected the Bathers painting in the sense that the painting took a longer time to paint than was anticipated. The proof of this is the fact that the Philadelphia Museum Bathers painting took three years to complete while the rest of the artiste’s painting took one year (White 114). Renoir sought to get progressively through his unique paintings and originality in painting work. Additionally, his irregularity with regard to the techniques applied also added to his novelty in the artwork. White posits that Renoir’s relationship with great artists like Boucher led to his development, especially in the impressionism development (115). Boucher prompted Renoir’s divergence from naturalism to new classicism. The legend positively inspired Renoir to explore classicism in a new perspective (White 118). Additionally, Boucher also gave Renoir insight pertaining to

The Matthew Effect Essay Example for Free

The Matthew Effect Essay The Matthew Effect chapter of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell states that a person’s success s attributed to the timing of their birth date as it relates to the cut-off dates of sports and education. He believes that this one random date is the start of a series of advantages that can ultimately lead to success. Although timing of a birth date and opportunities can play a significant factor in one’s success, they are not the sole determination of success. Gladwell fails to acknowledge the vital role an individual’s ambition and natural born talent play in creating success or the crucial impact family influences can have on one’s success. Over-Simplified Since Biblical times, groups of people were separated by the haves and the have not’s. Matthew 25:29 states â€Å"For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. † (Gladwell, 2008, p. 15) In chapter 1, of the Outliers (2008), Malcolm Gladwell has a similar argument in â€Å"The Matthew Effect†. He argues that personal success is attributed to hidden advantages, such as someone’s birth date, which in turn, creates opportunity through accumulative advantages. (pg. 19) Gladwell calls these successful people â€Å"outliers† which he defines as â€Å"men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary† (pg. 17). Although timing of a birth date and opportunities play a significant factor in one’s success, Gladwell’s theory that those are the sole determination of success is over simplified because it does not take into consideration the impact of one’s individual ambition, talent, and family influences. Ambition In Outliers, Gladwell states that â€Å"people don’t rise from nothing† (pg. 19) and completely discounts the role an individual’s ambition plays in achieving success. When a student, or an athlete, possesses a strong desire for success, regardless of their age or birth date, it drives them to excel beyond the normal range. A perfect example of this would be a young girl named Stephanie Bradley. She wanted to be a doctor. Stephanie grew up in a small blue collar community in rural Texas. Her parents were not college educated and lived just slightly above the poverty line. She attended a small, public, 2A high school, with average teachers. In addition, she was the youngest in her class, in cases, by more than a year because of a mid-July birthday. What set her apart from the other students was her desire for success and her passion for medicine. This ambition drove her to work hard and smart, stay focused, and never take her eye off her ultimate goal. Along the way, she made sacrifices, but never veered off course. She didn’t have any opportunities above and beyond ones she created on her own. Born With It Sheer talent is another key factor responsible for success and lies with the group of athletes that achieve success without the benefit accumulative advantages. These are the athletes who are born with a talent that supersedes the skill of other athletes. There is a difference between skill and talent. Skill is something that requires training and experience to do well, whereas, talent is a natural ability to compete with exceptional ability. (Bing dictionary, 2014) While this talent is rare to find, when it exist, these athletes can find success regardless of where their birthday falls on a calendar. One such athlete exists right now on a local high school swim team. Taylor is a high school freshman who didn’t compete in little league sports, since his parents were more artsy than athletic and they never had the financial resources to pay for extracurricular activities. In his freshman year, a friend asked him to join the swim team. Having never competed athletically, Taylor was hesitant but agreed. To everyone’s amazement, he medaled at his first swim meet. Not just in one event, but two. The next week, more success, more wins. His very first year swimming, he won at district, regional’s and is ranked 4th in the state. There is now talk of Olympic trials. He has competed and won against athletes who have been swimming since the age of four, have logged thousands of hours in the pool, and whose parents have spend enormous amounts of money on private coaches. However, Taylor wins having never received those types of opportunities. He wins because of his natural born talent. Family An individual’s family influences can also have a crucial impact on one’s success. While Gladwell acknowledges that heritage and culture plan a role in success or failure as illustrated in the Harlan, Kentucky and The Ethic Theory of Plane Crashes chapters, he doesn’t credit directly, the parents, grandparents, as well as, siblings that can provide a fundamental element in creating success. For example, if a parent has a strong desire to pass along their knowledge or skills in a particular sport, they are likely to start that process at a very early age which results in increased practice time developing the child’s skill. This parent might also supply additional training above and beyond what a typical coach would provide. The family could also have connections with coaches or teachers that allow for added instruction. Siblings can also push individuals to a higher level of performance. For example, having an older brother who plays baseball with a younger sibling will be providing further exposure that can develop their skills. All this additional training and experience can develop a child ahead of the curve, regardless of their birth date. The Other 32% Gladwell’s example of the roster of hockey players on the Medicine Hat team showed that â€Å"seventeen of the twenty-five players on the team† (pg. 23) had the perfect birth month for the sport. He credited their January, February, March and April birthdays for their success. However, that means that eight out of the twenty-five players (32%) on the team were successful, without the benefit of the perfect birth month. This group isn’t the largest percentage of players on the team but it does show that success isn’t based on just one factor. Gladwell’s argument that success stems from hidden advantages and opportunities created by those advantages is true in some cases; successful people are not created from one formula, such as what month their birthday falls. That is just one piece of the picture of success. There are a multitude of factors i. e. ambition, talent and family that play a role in determining why someone is successful and they all need to be encouraged and promoted.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Benefits to Employees

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Benefits to Employees Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Your business doesnt exist in isolated way making money. Your employees always depend on your business. So customers, suppliers, local community all are affected by your business. Corporate social responsibility (in short CSR) is about understanding your business impact on the world and considering how you can use this impact in a positive way or keep well control on it. CSR can also be good for your attitude, going beyond to minimum legal requirement for the following straightforward principle is apply whatever the size of your business. Corporate social responsibility can cut across almost everything you do and everyone you deal with. You should think about the: The suppliers those you choose and the way how we deal with them. For example, trading with suppliers those who pollute the environment it could be as irresponsible as doing it so yourself. How we treat our employees. To make the responsible business, this means doing more than simple complying with legal requirements. How your business affecting local community and whether and how we should be actively involved. How do we affect the environment and what we can do to use resources more efficiently to reduce pollution and waste. This doesnt mean that you cant run a profitable business. In fact, corporate social responsibility can help you improve your business performance. By looking ahead, youre ready to cope with new laws and restrictions. We avoid costs such as wasted energy, paying unnecessary waste fees. In fact most importantly, we can keep winning business by increasingly demanding customers. Corporate social responsibility isnt just about doing the right thing. It means behave responsibly and also dealing with suppliers that do the same. It also offers benefits to direct business. Companies so often favour suppliers those who demonstrate responsible policies, as this could have a positive impact on it that how they are perceived by customers. Some customers dont just prefer to deal with responsible companies, but insist on it. The Co-operative Groups, for instance, places a strong emphasis on its corporate social responsibility and publishes detailed warts and all report on its performance on the wide range of criteria   from animal welfare to salt levels in its pizzas. Reducing resource use, waste and emissions doesnt just help the environment it saves you money too. Its not difficult to cut utility bills and waste disposal costs and you can bring immediate cash benefits. There are some other benefits too; Good reputation makes it easier to recruit the employees. Employees could stay longer by reducing the costs and disruption of recruitment and re-training. Employees are more motivated for better productive. Corporate social responsibility helps ensure you comply with regulatory requirements. Activities and involvement with local community are ideal opportunities to generate positive press coverage. Good relationships with local authorities make it easier doing business. By Understanding the wider impact of business can helps develop new products and services. Corporate social responsibility can make you more competitive and reduces the risk of sudden damage to your reputation and sales. Investors may recognise this and will be more willing to finance you. Understanding the environmental impact on business Your business affects many different people (employees, customers, suppliers and local community). It also has a wider impact on environment as well. Even the simplest step like energy efficiency measures by switching off lights and equipment when they arent needed, makes a real difference. By reducing the usage of water could also directly cuts your costs. Reducing waste also can make a big difference. Simple step like reducing the amount of the papers you waste could cut costs. You can even save more by planning about waste implications before you design new products and production processes. Doing Care about the environment can attract more customers too. Mostly customers prefer to do purchasing from responsible companies. There are many sorts of ways by you can reduce the environmental impact of business. e.g. making recyclable products sourcing responsibly (For example, using recycled materials and sustainable timber) minimising the packaging for products buying locally to save energy/fuel costs creating an efficient and fuel-efficient distribution network working with responsible suppliers and distributors who take steps to minimise their environmental impact We could reduce the environmental impact of our business by using environmental techniques assessment like lifecycle assessment and setting up an environmental management system. See our guides on environmental assessment techniques an overview and environmental management systems (EMS) the basics. Dealing responsibly with suppliers and customers By working with our suppliers and customers in a responsible way our business can reap substantial rewards. Customers We can take some actions when dealing with customers are: Make sure brochures  are in plain and simple English, telling the truth without hiding anything in the small print. Be honest about your products and services. Tell the customers what they want to know, including all steps you take to be socially responsible. If anything goes wrong, you should acknowledge the problem responsibly and deal with it. In returns you achieve the loyalty of customers in reward. Listening to consumers intentionally can also help you improve the products and services you offer them. Suppliers Choose your suppliers carefully as it is an important part of your approach to corporate social responsibility. For example, you may try to use local suppliers as many as possible. This helps you support the community and also reduces the waste, energy and carbon emissions from deliveries. When choosing suppliers you should also examine their environmental practices, health and safety and their employment. Customers are concerned increasingly about the wider impact of supply chains. Your business reputation can be damaged by being associated with others those abuse the rights of their employees or their local environment. Big organisations often audit their suppliers to ensure that they practise the responsible work. You could do something similar simply asking them about their attitudes to corporate social responsibility might be revealing. You should treat your suppliers fair way as particularly smaller business rely on you. For example, getting pay on time could make a big difference to employees. Working with local community Working with local community brings you a wide range of benefits. Local customers are an important source of sales for many businesses. By improving reputation of your business, you will find it easier to recruit the employees. A good relationship with local authorities can help your business run smoother. For example, mostly local authorities prefer to award contracts to businesses with a record of involvement with communities. There are different ways to get involved with local communities. Some businesses choose to support local charities, or sponsor charity/community a local event. It makes a commercial sense to get involved in activity related to your product. This will let you use your expertise as well as showing the human face of your business. For example, some restaurants provide foods to local homeless groups, and while builders can give free labour and materials to community projects. Look for opportunities that will directly benefits you, for example, by publicity, or improvement in neighbourhood around your premises. Many businesses involve their employees to work in directly or indirectly with the local communities. For example, you might support the charities chosen by employees. Some businesses encourage their employees to volunteer for the community activities and also offer them paid time off for the involvement in community activity. As well as by improving your community relationships can help motivating their employees and can help developing their interpersonal and team participation skills. You could also give your employees the option of making regular donations which are deduced at from their pay. Business in the Community (BITC)  has  developed  the Community Mark standard to help businesses get the most of our community involvement. Communities Justice Project The governments community justice initiative helps businesses work with local agencies to make improvement in the quality of life in their local area. This can benefit the business in different ways. For example, if your business suffers because of damage in your property or the surrounding area, the community justice team will work with you to address this. Your business could take a prominent approach to dealing with local crimes by supporting recent offender or your local community justice team. You could: provide financial and practical resources to help the local community justice team get involved with local projects support staff who volunteer in the criminal justice system, for example, as mentors, special constables, youth offender panel members, or in victim and witness support Corporate social responsibility can help you cut costs and boost sales. However, there are some other significant benefits which businesses forget about as they are harder to measure. Identify and measuring indicators of success You can benchmark business against others. Some of the UKs largest companies publish corporate social responsibility reports online. You can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your environmental performance.   The Community Mark  standard lets you measure community involvement. Its worth remembering that measurements will probably only show the immediate impact of CSR. The biggest benefit can be the long term improvement in your businesss reputation. Benefits of corporate social responsibility Make the most of your corporate social responsibility activities by publicising them. Ensure the customers, suppliers and the local community that they know what you are doing. Corporate social responsibility lends itself to bring good news stories. Publicity can be a key part of using corporate social responsibility to successfully qualify for contracts. People want to get involve with businesses they respect. Corporate social responsibility can be particularly effective for targeting ethical companies, the public sector and not-for-profit organisations. At the same time, you should see corporate social responsibility as part of a continuing process of building long-term value. Everything and all good steps you do should help improve your businesss reputation and encourage customers to  stay involved with you for long time. A business that buys recycled paper, but exploits its customers and ignores the community, has missed the point. You can consider working towards a management standards which you can then use to publicise your ethical, social responsibility or environmental. For example, many businesses have achieved the environmental management standard ISO 14001. Images from: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/vcs.html Effective corporate social responsibility like this helps you continue to differentiate yourself. Even with dozens of competitors, a real commitment to corporate social responsibility lets you stand out.  For  example, John Lewis department stores  are well known for a business that owned by its employees.  Its commitment to corporate social responsibility feeds through into customer service, sales and profits. As well as affecting the way you behave, corporate social responsibility can lead to new product and service that reflect your values and those of your stakeholders. Over time can add up to powerful brand and winning business. How a corporate social responsibility initiative benefitted business The Venus Company is an award winning shop and a cafe operator with several outlets based in Cornwall and Devonshire. Established in 1995 by Michael Smith, the firm has strong environmental and ethical principles, and sells food that has been produced using local suppliers. And Michael explains how developing corporate social responsibility policies have helped him to run the business successfully. What Michael did to help the environment and support the local community Our mission is to be the greenest beach shop and cafe operator in the UK, and our attitude to almost every business decision flows from this. For us, CSR covers a number of elements. We support local producers, having spent more than  £300,000 on local food and drink from the immediate area around our cafes, and use local businesses for other goods and services. Over 80 per cent of our food and drink comes from Devon and Cornwall. We also work hard to minimise our impact on the environment, from using solar panels to recycling, carrying out regular litter collection and buying non-toxic cleaning products. Weve also focused on things like packaging to make sure its as biodegradable as possible. One scheme were really proud of is the SAM Beach Wildlife Fund, which raises money to educate local schoolchildren about their environment, and we also go into schools to do talks. Any business can engage in the local education system, and its very rewarding. Build a customer base and attract staff Building a positive image of a company that gives back to the community has undoubtedly created a number of business benefits. Over the past couple of years, we have been able to open two of our beach cafes year-round, rather than just through the summer months, as we have built up a loyal, local customer base and trade isnt simply seasonal. Recruitment is another area in which the business has benefited. Many of our staff are young, and they are really keen to work with a company that has a responsible and ethical approach, so attracting people to come and work for us has become easier. Generate PR Developing our CSR policies has also boosted our profile. Weve won quite a few awards, which have been good for us in PR terms, and weve also been able to use the award logos on our website and van. These have become part of our visual identity that people hopefully recognise. Entering awards can be a time commitment, but they can also be a fantastic way to audit and benchmark your business against others. What Id do differently Raise awareness about environmental protection earlier Id have got involved with the education side of things earlier. I think weve achieved a lot when it comes to teaching local kids how they can look after the environment, but if wed started ten years ago, wed be much further down the line by now. Heres how my business benefited from corporate social responsibility (Flash video) Bailey Partnership, established in 1971, is a progressive multi-disciplinary property and construction consultancy with five offices covering the South of England. Through their practices as a business, and role within community, they aim to support local causes, foundations, charities, schools, initiatives and people less fortunate than themselves. Here, Chartered Architectural Technologist Paul Chapple talks about how partaking in corporate social responsibility (CSR) work has benefited Bailey Partnership. References Link:- www.wikipedia.com http://www.carbonfootprint.com/vcs.html Change Management in Coca Cola | Case Study Change Management in Coca Cola | Case Study According to a Greek philosopher Heraclitus there is nothing permanent than change. He believed that change is the core of universe. This quote describes the importance of managing change in human as well as organizational life. A structured approach to transfer organization, its people and processes from current state to a desired future state is called change management. This process gives employees the ability to accept changes in the existing environment of the business. Change can be of different type for example, change in technology, operations or strategies etc. company needs to implement individual strategies to cope with each type of change. Organizations need to change and adopt dynamic survival strategies to stay alive in uncertain political, social and economic environment (Hiatt and Creasy, 2003). All environmental factors present in the nature experience change on continuous basis. Human nature resists change, so managing that resistance requires well planned change management strategies. This report is aimed at describing the importance of change management for organization its motives and objectives, change management processes, how company can involve all the stakeholders for successful implantation of change management and the strategies that an organization can adopt to implement the successful change. Reasons for adopting change Organizations need change for the following reasons: To respond to the rapidly changing environment To improve the overall performance of the company To rapidly respond to the customers demands To improve the effectiveness and efficiency To increase the employee performance To create the best practices inside the organization and setting standards for the industry To improve profitability and return on overall investment Change management is needed for organizational survival. So the company should adopt to change management techniques in order to maintain its worth in the industry. Importance of change management In a study 327 project managers had responded to the question that if you had a chance to do it again, what would you do differently? Most of them responded that we will implement an effective change management program planned way before starting the project. This study highlights the importance of change management in an organizational perspective. Change management moderates the risks that can cause failure (Jeff and Creasey, 2003). The change management process Change management is being studied by the philosophers, researchers and business experts for many years. A number of change management theories, approaches and philosophies are developed by psychologists and management professionals to implement successful change in the organization (Paton and MacCalman, 2008). There are three phases of change management i.e. preparing for change, managing change and reinforcing change. Preparation for change phase includes assessment of change capabilities and capacity and developing a strategy that fit to those capabilities. Second phase i.e. managing change phase includes processes like planning and implementation of strategies made in the first phase. Last phase which is the reinforcement of change includes the processes like collection and analyzing of feedback data, finding out gaps and coping with determined degree of resistance from inside and outside the organization and taking corrective actions to successfully conclude the change managemen t process (change management learning center, 1996-2011). According to Lewins 3 step model, change is episodic i.e. it can be easily planned into three stages: Unfreezing Changing Freezing Managers at Coca Cola Company can motivate workforce in the unfreezing stage by informing them about the vitality of change being planned in context of organization benefits. Training to the staff members can make them more adept at accepting the transformational stage. In the changing phase the company can initiate practical steps with regard to the strategic plan for change. It can be achieved by developing strong relationships and offering rewards. Refreezing phase allows Coca Cola Corporation to make recently innovated change a part of their strategy so that workforce does not get back to the previously used operational methods of the organization (Robbins and Coulter, 2008). Change managementA case of Coca Cola Corporation Coca Cola is a retailer, marketer and manufacturer of non-alcoholic drinks and is known worldwide for it coca cola beverage. In addition to its coca cola brand, Coca Cola Company offers 500 beverages and non beverages brands in about two hundred countries. The company was founded by Asa Candler in year 1892. Its headquarter is located in Atlanta, Georgia of United States of America. The company had total net income of approximately 11.8 billion US dollars in year 2010 with total number of employees 139,600 worldwide. Companys brand i.e. Coca Cola stands number one in the list of most well known brands of the world (Coca Cola company, 2006-2011). Coca Cola is a type of company that requires making changes in its products and business strategies according to the consumer expectations and external environment. Here in this study we would quote different examples from coca cola corporations history and will examine that what were the triggering events for opting the change and what strategies the company developed and implemented in order to successfully going through the transitioning process. The need for change in an organization is often created by external and internal factors, where external ones encompass governmental laws, labor markets, market conditions, economin scenario etc. and internal factors are the workforce, resources, attitudes of workers and strategy adopted by the organization (Robbins and Coulter, 2008). Coca Cola Corporation is among one of the oldest corporations of the world. It has gone through many internal and external changes since it has been in existence. The company has used techniques of change management in order to survive from the consequences of those events. The company has faced a lot of external changes, for example in world war II, the company was able to manage its existing position at that time and also entered in many new markets and discovered new niches (Coca Cola company, 2006-2011). The company also provided free drinks to soldiers which were the part of its strategy to become a patriotic symbol for the people of the country. Also it boosted the sales, so the company achieved two objectives by carefully planning to respond to that external environmental change. The plants developed by the company in war era helped its expansion after the war. Barton et al (2002) reported that Coca Cola Corporation adopted acquisition strategy in time of Asian financial crisis. The company acquired bottling, coffee and tea shop businesses in Korea and Malaysia. Beverage is a type of industry where tastes and preferences of the consumers change on continuous basis. Coca Cola Company also responded to such consumer changing behaviors in an effective way by developing new products like Diet Coke and Coca Cola Zero. The company also committed a marketing blender when a rival company launched a black beverage with comparatively sweet and smooth taste. The product was named as new Coke. But the sales gradually went down and company faced severe consumer critics and protests. The company managed this situation very commendably by restoring the old formula and naming the bottle as diet coke (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). As people are becoming more health conscious and willing to invest on health based products, coca cola is developing juices and v arious energy drinks as well. This shows the companys strategy to responding varying consumer tastes and expectations and changing itself according to it. The coco cola company used theory of organization change presented by Kotler (1996) which elaborated the procedure to manage change on the people dimension of the organization. In addition to making operational and strategic changes, the company also changed its advertising strategy by targeting various groups of consumers like American consumers, African consumers, Middle and far eastern consumers and European consumers. The company altered the packaging of its coca cola brand and developed more product lines and broadened them globally (The Coca-Cola company case. n.d.). The present condition of Coca cola Company worldwide is very good. The company is selling its beverages throughout the world successfully. But in some countries, coca cola stores are not as according to the companys main marketing, inventory and efficiency theme. The company is planning to align its performance standards according to its own corporate culture and strategies with the help of a comprehensive change management plan. These changes will be implemented within the business operations and management of the company. Change Management at Coca Cola Organizational change might be referred to as any change brought about in structure technology or people of an organization. Change in structure is maintaining the span of control, specifying different work roles, redesigning job scenarios etc. Change in technology could be an introduction to new innovative methods for improving the products quality launched by the organization. While change in people is to bring about alterations in the way people think and act. It means to modify their behavior towards the betterment of organization (Robbins and Coulter, 2008, p.364). Employee engagement The recent change management at coca cola is directed towards the intrinsic values and motivations of the employees and can be referred to as employee engagement. The change management process, together with internal branding programs is expected to bring about ideal behaviors in employees, which would align the operations of coca cola worldwide, and bring about efficiency throughout coca cola across all its business segments. Coca cola hopes to bring about a thoroughly integrated system of communications, and focus on creating brand relationships with their employees. This would enhance the operations of Coca cola, as an integrated approach would mean all employees believe in engaging fully in the values, and this would become an inherent part of the employees at a personal level. Coca-cola is actively seeking to incorporate the change into its company for building capability in engagement, maintaining engagement momentum and ensuring that engagement is integrated into CCRs people practices (Samdahl,2011). For this purpose, employee engagement surveys are conducted twice every year for all the coca cola associates, which serve to highlight the areas where action is required, and further actions and implementations can henceforth be executed. Coca-cola believes that their business results hinge on the dedication of their employees to operational excellence. The company truly recognizes the importance of the people to the business, and knows that to continue to bring about tremendous results it is bringing in, employees throughout the world should believe in the values intrinsically, and therefore the employee engagement is being focused on all the countries the company serves to align, thoroughly integrate and align the company so that operational efficiency can be achieved. Importance of change to coca cola Employee engagement is very significant to all segments of operations at coca-cola and has translated into performance in areas where employee engagement is higher. For coca-cola, an engaged workforce means: A more committed workforce Employee performance aligned with organizational objectives Employees have a clear idea of what is expected of them and what are the deliverables Customer experience focuses an inherent part of employees values, who strives to provide a better experience to the customers. Customer focus was identified as a central tenant of the multi-year engagement strategy to be implemented in 2011(Gee,2011) When employees are aligned with company goals, they themselves adopt a proactive approach towards issues such as waste elimination Employees awareness gives them a voice which helps to influence legislations at local levels An integrated system of communication is very helpful in the volatile and dynamic markets of today, where conditions change very often and the company has to be responsive at all times Therefore, for all the business segment of coca-cola wherever they are located across the world, the change towards employee engagement is justified if they have to reap the fruits gained by an effective system of integration. Ensuring the Involvement of Required Stakeholders Coca Cola Company can use two change management tools to make sure that all people who are required to be the part of change management process. These tools are Force Field analysis and AKADAR model. Force field analysis is a technique developed by Kurt Lewin to scrutinize the forces that are causing an opposition to change process (Bass, 2009). By doing Force Field Analysis, Coca Cola Company will be able to induct people who are in need of appropriate training. Another useful tool is AKADAR model which stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Through AKDAR model, firm creates awareness about the need of change, generate desire in the people to help in transitioning process, give knowledge to the people that how they can help the change process, develop an ability in the people to go through the change and provide them with continuous reinforcement to withstand the change (CMLR, 2011). Ensuring that change is successful Some considerations that will facilitate the change management process include: productive and consequential dialogues and talks with employee representatives Online and paper surveys from all the stakeholders involved in the change throughout the world, and with associates to gain an insight on their perceptions Effective communication at this stage for informing the stakeholders the reasons for change and the benefits it would bring Overcoming the inertia by taking all stakeholders in confidence. The surveys can serve as a pre requisite to gain an insight on the stakeholder perspective Details of the action planning process communicated to all those who would initiate the change Recommendations for Coca Cola Company In the volatile dynamics with which companies operate today, change is inevitable. Therefore, the focus should not be on avoiding change, rather bringing about a smooth transition towards the new change by communicating about the change, and ensuring all parties of the change that it is for the best of all those involved. To successfully implement organizational change of any nature, a specific regards to organizational structure, design, culture, management and leadership is required to see whether the change would make a best fit with the organizational goals and objectives. First of all the company should ascertain the core problems exist in the company for the change management. The company may develop a change management program for responding to financially uncertain environment of the world. It can also develop change management programs for better operations and logistics. The company can introduce new procedures and technological systems to carry out operations. Programs can be introduced in forms changing companys mission and corporate culture enhancements. For all that, the most essential thing is to train upper management to provide them with specific skills necessary to effectively going through the transitioning process. Following is the brief expression of plans that the company can adopt. Systems thinking Systems thinking can be used to guide the successful change in the organization. The model is based on an integrative and interactive open system which consists of the variables, attributes, internal relations and environment. The system is based on characteristics like wholeness, interdependence, chain of influence, need for balance and adaptability etc in an open system where communication is seen as an integrated process that facilitates change within the organization. Several system characteristics are: wholeness and interdependence (the whole is more than the sum of all parts), correlations, perceiving causes, chain of influence, hierarchy, supra-systems and subsystems, self-regulation and control, goal-oriented interchange with the environment, inputs/outputs, the need for balance/homeostasis, change and adaptability (morphogenesis) and equifinality: there are various ways to achieve goals. Different types of networks are: line, commune, hierarchy and dictator networks. Communication in this perspective can be seen as an integrated process not as an isolated event. Establishing new structure It is a well known fact that Coca Cola Corporation was an entrepreneurial venture started by one person who bought the formula from another firm and laid foundations of that beverages manufacturing firm. Current structure of the coca cola company is simple with minimal labor and management division. New system that can be adopted by the company may be the machine bureaucracy which Henry Mintzberg (1992) defined as an organization with clearly defined hierarchy, well defined area of operations, standard operating procedures, proper rules and regulations, well division of labor, formal relationships among the member of organization, centralized decision making, technical competence and standardization of work. Reducing employee defiance Opposition of change is a common human behavior. Particularly, in the workplace people resist the change in organizational culture, structure and policies. But in order to successfully and effectively implement the change management program, it is important for Coca Cola Company that it should develop strategies to reduce employee defiance to change. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) explained six strategies which can be useful for coca cola Company in employee defiance management. First strategy is to involve the employee in change process and make them participate as far as they can. Second strategy is to communicate the change management programs to the people effectively to educate them about the benefits the programs would bring. This will make them comfortable in adopting the change. Third strategy is negotiation and agreement. The company should create a consensus on important change issues and with the agreement of all important stakeholders; it should launch the change management program. The resistance level will be zero on change programs that are being launched with the mutual agreement of all relevant stakeholders. Fourth strategy is that to support the employees who are due to some disability or emotional or psychological issue or some other threat unable to adapt to the change. If the company develops proper channel for such people, they would adjust gradually to the change management program. In case of failure of above mentioned four strategies, company can manipulate the employees by calling union leader other than relevant ones as fifth strategy. Sixth strategy is to force the employees with articulate or non-articulate methods but this is not a very good approach. Conclusion To conclude, it may be said that communication can be a key element to successful change management. Communicate the changes to the employees; tell them why the change was inevitable and how they will benefit from the change. The management should itself adopt a positive attitude towards the change so that employees can follow their lead and welcome the change. Coca-cola as a company has a heritage of embracing change rather than resist it and it should translate into their future endeavors towards change management to ensure that the organization is best poised to market under all sorts of environmental conditions.