Monday, December 30, 2019

Every Child Has the Right to Go to School and Learn - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1365 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/06/14 Category Education Essay Level High school Topics: Philosophy Of Education Essay Did you like this example? My philosophy of education has been that every child should be entitled with the right to learn and acquire better and quality education. This is in line with my current classroom objective which has been to challenge my students with real-life situations as I watch them reach their full potentials. My aim is to take my students through different levels of their personal growth that will ensure their individual benefits and betterment of the future society in general. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Every Child Has the Right to Go to School and Learn" essay for you Create order In this connection, I have realized that group work is detrimental towards having and establishing a successful class that ensures the involvement of all students. This is in consideration that through group work, students get to help one another in their points of weaknesses and hence can bring greater transformations and significant changes in the learning atmosphere and even to the entire classroom. I want every student in my classroom to enjoy a sense of freedom that can allow them to freely express themselves and further enhance their creativity. Having freedom can enable students to realize their strengths and weaknesses by experimenting on some of their likes and dislikes. After developing this foundation, I teach the curriculum in a manner that ties and connects to the learning styles of every student in my class. I encourage my students to being straightforward to instruction, however, I also provide them with an opportunity of growing and expanding on their individual levels. At the start of every year, it is only fair that my students commence their discussions in my presence as I guide them through, nevertheless, as time progresses I encourage them to be pose their own questions and provide answers to them independently with less reliance on my assistance. This is because I strongly feel that it is sometimes beneficial to allow students at times to work for the answers on their own instead of giving them everything as this can greatly stretch and expand their knowledge in different ways. This also enables them to work together thereby building their teamwork capability which is a key factor in their completion of different class projects and even in their future lives as society members. It is therefore essential that as an educator, I should not only be of help to my students by teaching them but also through giving them direction and further encouraging them to be of help to others. My past classroom, training as well as life experiences over the past years has significantly shaped my position and life as an educator. These experiences have greatly influenced my philosophy of education in quite a number of ways that have contributed to the establishments of a solid foundation of my philosophy of teaching. Following this, I often focus on the three most significant factors that act as drivers to my instructions to my students on a daily basis. These fundamental factors include creating a safe and conducive classroom environment that is essential for learning; the necessity of thoughtful planning and preparation of lessons; as well as self-reflection and student evaluation which I believe contribute to an ideal learning environment. My fundamental obligation as an educator involves creating a safer, nurturing and loving environment where all students feel respected and valued thus prompting them to strive to do their best. Apart from guiding my students through discussions during the first few weeks of school starting, I believe that creating an environment or classroom climate that enables students to spend a greater portion of their day learning is essential and significant. This I achieve through establishing daily routines that guide the students throughout the day since they will be aware of what is expected of them at all levels. Some of the activities that are entailed in these daily routines include morning greetings, clean up or sitting down songs, language arts or math rotations as well as dismissal among others. These routine activities can make students comfortable and have the feeling of safety and calmness in conditions which at times may be chaotic. Besides I further intend to enforce the norm and sense of community, family and mutual respect among my students so that they can be reflective of their daily actions thus being more careful in whatever they do. I teach my students quite a number of virtues and morals such as loyalty, integrity, respect, and empathy as well as being compassionate and taking care of one another. I am strongly convinced that this kind of classroom environment will enable my students to not only learn and excel academically but also develop into responsible and caring individuals in society. I encourage my students to know one another through developing strong bonds amongst them not only for the shorter period they will be learning but also for longer-term associations where they will be of greater help to one another in different situations apart from their academic journey. This is in line with my personal objective of ensuring that my students love, care for, and respect one another including their peers. I believe that creating a loving and nurturing classroom environment can enable students to feel safe and more comfortable learning especially when they know they will receive support instead of judgment for any form of mistake that may arise. During planning and developing of my lesson schedules, I often consider and make up for 19 learners after which I take a review of the District curriculum. In my lessons, I incorporate quite a number of activities which includes class discussions, music moments, exercise sessions, higher level thinking sessions as well as individual activities among others. I am a strong believer that students can grasp concepts through movements, practices and critical reflections on what has been taught in the classroom. My students get time to learn and share amongst themselves and as a result, their confidence levels improve thus enabling even the shy students to share their views without fear. I plan several activities at the end of every unit which gives my students an opportunity to further explore the topic. I often encourage my students to explore through various activities and student-centered games considering that learning is best achieved when students’ conduct further research an d explore more on their own. Furthermore, I believe that technology can greatly play an important role in the field of education and thus I try as much as possible to incorporate technology in the learning process through daily routines. In light to this, I consider the use of technology, especially during math and language arts. I often ensure that I get updated with the latest technological trends in the contemporary world. This enables me to provide my students with many technological resources as possible so that they are not left behind. Nevertheless, regardless of the difficulties associated with planning of lessons, I consider every student as unique on their own and have differences in terms of knowledge acquisition thus I often make accommodative lessons that can fit all my students. Moreover, I have learned that self-reflection is an important and fundamental part of growing and learning as an educator. In this connection, I often reflect after every lesson on a daily basis where I think about how certain situations or lessons can be handled differently to ensure their improvement. During this reflection, I evaluate myself through examining several questions, especially on areas that in need to improve on. These reflections are often very essential considering that they usually help me realize some of the areas where my students need improvement and hence calling for necessary changes. As an educator, I have learned that self-reflection can be an important tool of professional growth since it enables one to identify the points of weakness, strengths, and opportunities that can guide in better resolution and framework for drafting the necessary changes that can lead to success. In addition, I have learned that assessing and evaluating students is a significant fa ctor towards ensuring success and helping the leaners excel academically. I normally apply different assessment methods for my students which includes the application of district and unit assessment which in turn help me in ensuring that the course objectives are successfully met and that every student realizes their full potentials.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Issue Of Animal Experimentation Essay - 3299 Words

Nicholas Elias Maximilian Grieser Jae Lee Christopher Odanaka Mrs. Gross (Rotondi) AP Language 2 April 2015 â€Å"Something Cool† The issue of animal experimentation has been hotly debated in regards to many aspects of the problem, such as the rights of the animals and the beneficial results that come from animal experimentation. In the year of 1989, the United States Supreme Court ruled the first victory for pro-animal welfare in the Silver Spring Monkey case when seventeen monkeys had been held captive under inadequate living conditions, and were subject to experimentation that was deemed animal abuse (peta.org). For several decades, animal experimentation has been a controversial issue in the medical world and has made little progress to either side of the spectrum. Although animal testing has developed cures and treatments for several different illnesses that once wreaked havoc across nations worldwide, the animals involved in these tests to produce the medicines may not have been treated humanely. These concerns revolve around the animals environment in the lab, how often they are fed and given water, whet her they are enduring any form of physical pain, and if the animal is suffering any serious psychological effects from experimentation (peta.org). Many scientist differ, however, by claiming that animal lives in the laboratory are much healthier and humane than they used to be in the past. These statements are backed by laws that have been made to create standard healthShow MoreRelatedAnimal Experimentation Issues and Alternatives Essay2264 Words   |  10 Pages1. INTRODUCTION Currently, Animals experimentation is becoming a controversial topic. As millions of creatures have been tested to benefit human life. A simple definition of this procedure is observing scientific laboratory examinations on live animals. There are many campaigns around the world which reject these tests and request the alternatives. They believe that this kind of experimentation is harmful for people as much as it is cruel to animals while others argue these experiments are substantialRead MoreEssay on Save the Animals: Say No to Animal Experimentation!1218 Words   |  5 Pagesfor animals before prescribing them to human beings. However, would it feel good to know that every year, hundreds of thousands of animals are captured from the wild and die just because of these said experiments? For many years now, scientists have been using animals for their laboratory experiments to produce new medicines. Although scientists have been using this process for many decades in the field of medicine, it is still a controversial issue for those who are pro animal experimentation andRead MoreEssay about The Good, the Bad and Ugly of Animal Experimentation1197 Words   |  5 PagesThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Animal Experimentation Animal experimentation plays an important role in today’s medical and pharmaceutical advances, but many question the morality of such a use of animal life. Whether one argues that testing different products and drugs on animals is necessary or not, this has become an integral part of developing products. From that Tylenol we pop to get rid of our headache to that perfect shade of pink lip gloss, animal testing is used in order to produceRead MoreAnimal Experimentation And Animal Experiments1619 Words   |  7 PagesYou can’t even decide when the lights go on and off. (Cruelty to Animals in Laboratories.)† This is the horrifying reality that animals used in animal experiments have to face. Animal experimentation is the use of animals in scientific research. Animals help scientists learn more about diseases that occur in humans and animals. Scientists also use animals to test new treatments, medicines, surgical techniques, and more. Different animals can be used fo r these experiments and the experiments can sometimesRead MoreArgument Against Animal Experimentation : Peter Singer And Tom Regan1035 Words   |  5 PagesExperimentation on animals has been a controversial issue for hundreds of years and is still a major issue today. However, we have continued to experiment on animals to test the effects of products such as makeup. Both Peter Singer and Tom Regan would have strong opinions against this experimentation, but they would also have different ways of expressing their view on the topic. They have expressed that animals should be considered to a certain extent that humans and other animals should be treatedRead MoreShould Animals Be Used For Scientific Experiments?1189 Words   |  5 Pagesjustifying the use of animals for scientific research to benefit man, to giving them the right to live life alongside man? This brings up the debate: should animals be used in scientific experiments (â€Å"†¦procedures performed on living ani mals for purposes of research into basic biology and diseases, assessing the effectiveness of..† Humane Society International)? This debate has been going on for centuries, and still very prevalent in today’s society. Especially with the rise of animal activist groups suchRead MoreAnimals for Research and Experimentation678 Words   |  3 Pages100 million animals are used for research and experimentation on around the world every year. Apart from all the benefits of animal testing there are many good reasons which support banning the experimentations on animals such as: animal cruelty, selfishness, and danger of using the experiments result. Therefore animal experimentation should be banned. These days, animal testing has brought a lot of issues in the society. The first and foremost argument that is presented against animal testing dealsRead MoreAnimal Experimentation Is Fundamental For Medical Advancement And Cancer Research909 Words   |  4 PagesAnimal experimentation has been a controversial issue amongst scientists and animal activists since the early 1600s (Animal Testing - ProCon.org). When it comes to the topic of animal experimentation, most of us will readily agree that it’s necessary for medical research. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of morality. Whereas some are convinced that it’s unethical and scientifically unnecessary, others maintain that it’s needed for medical progress. My stance on the subjectRead MoreEssay about We Must Search for Alternatives to Animal Testing1223 Words   |  5 PagesSalk was the one who discovered a cure for this disease thanks to animal research but is animal research al ways beneficial? â€Å"Treat others as you would want to be treated,† is what the Golden Rule has taught us for many years. Should we not treat animals the same way we want to be treated in return? The topic of animals being used in medical research has been controversial for many years. One side of the argument says that using animals is the only way to safely test a product before it reaches the publicRead MoreReasons Why Testing Products On Animals1119 Words   |  5 PagesTesting Products on Animals is Wrong Don’t we all have rights? Believe it or not animals have rights, just like humans. It is inhumane to tamper with the lives of animals. Animals have no idea what’s going on when experimentation is happening. We should nurture and care for the animals, not pick and poke, and inject substances into them. It’s not right. No one should want to harm a poor helpless bunny, just see if the mascara is perfect enough for the human eyes. Animal experimentation is a selfish act

Friday, December 13, 2019

Exam Free Essays

Which methods would you use to conduct a study? Be specific. Compare (qualitative) ethnographic interviews with (quantitative) survey research. Be aware of research ethics. We will write a custom essay sample on Exam or any similar topic only for you Order Now What is informed consent? What does the American Anthropological Association recommend regarding ethics (read about this in Cotta)? What practical problems can emerge during research? Examples include housing, personal safety, language, and access to research subjects. Contemplate this for your proposal. Recognize the major theoretical trends and how each trend approaches analyzing data. If I provide a description of a study, you should be able to determine which trend the author(s) used to help Interpret their data. (Understand how these trends helped formulate Ideas about culture. ) What Is a â€Å"reflexive† or â€Å"postmodern† ethnography (see Cotta, p. 4749, and Small)? For Smalls Voyages: From Tong Villages to American Suburbs, lectures and video clips: How did Cathy Smalls subject position affect her relationships with Tongs and the results of her research? What kinds of research techniques did she use? What dilemmas did she face? What was daily life like in Tong in the asses? Housing conditions? Daily activities of men and women? What changes had already taken place in tap and mat making, uses of cash? What changes had taken place in ‘Lounge and tap and mat making by the asses and then by 2010? What was Tong’s social structure O. E. , social divisions among people) before Europeans arrived? What were some major changes Introduced during and after contact with Europeans? How id the social structure, land tenure and politics change from the asses to asses to 2010? Why were Tong people migrating to the U. S. , Australia and New Zealand? How did life and their social status change? What was their life like in the U. S.? What kinds of Jobs did they have? How did they feel about all of this? Compare the experiences and views of Seta and Mann, their daughters, Mali and Tat, Paul/ Emma, and Final. What did being Tong mean to each of them? How did Seta and Mann help other relatives? How did Tong migrants try to maintain the â€Å"Tong ay†? How did migration and remittances affect life and politics in Tong? In particular, how did migration and remittances affect family and religious celebrations? How did migration affect the migrant’s social status (in the U. S. And In Tong)? Make sure you understand the following about Tong culture: organization of families (multiple generations In one household, children being adopted or moving between households, lots of visiting and long-term stays by relatives, separation of brothers and sisters after puberty, roles of eldest sister and eldest brother, and How to cite Exam, Papers Exam Free Essays They are already living in an expensive environment cause by the inflation. Are they also have o pay extra tex for the weste levy? Which Is very unfair to the poor families pay for the levy. Besides the SMEs are also affected by waste levy, especially those in the catering industry. We will write a custom essay sample on Exam or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some of the investigations, found out that about one-third of the disposal Is the food waste, so the catering Industry has to bear the brunt of waste levy. To those small restaurants, waste levy is increased their economic burden, and they will probably turn this tex burden to d third party, so they may Increase the price ot their tood. As a result, the citizens and customers will take up the additional ost of levy for the restaurants, so it doesn’t help the Hong Kong econornic as well. Beside the problems to the SMEs and domestic families, the efficiency of waste levy is judging by the people, some of the people think this levy Is useless and wasting money. About the waste levy, there are two wap to implement this levy, one is the equal-share system. and one is collected individually on household basis. The equal- share system which means the levy Is charged by building, the levy Is shared between the residents. And this system may cause some unfair situations because of the residents have different amount of disposal. BLit f the levy Is based on household inefficient, besides there are many unsolved problems, for examples, should the levy be charged by volume or by weight of the waste? How to cite Exam, Papers Exam Free Essays Himachal Pradesh University Journal, July 2011 Automated Integrated University Examination System Mohini Bhardwaj*1 Amar Jeet Singh** INTRODUCTION Information   and   Communication   Technology   (ICT)   has   become   a   valuable,   decisive   and   critical   resource   for   individuals,   communities,   enterprises   and   organisations. ICT   has   reached   at   every   door   step,   but   its   protenctial  has  not  been  fully  utilised. ICT  is  a  very  helpful  tool  for  providing  good  governance  by  bringing   a   sea? hange   in   the   working   of   organisations   and   institutions. We will write a custom essay sample on Exam or any similar topic only for you Order Now Most   of   the   developing   countries   now   understand  the  importance  of  ICT  and  have  been  adopting  it  as  a  basic  tool  for  good  governance. The  new   ICT   mediated   good   governance   is   also   called   e? governance. In   most   of   the   government   run   Indian   Universities,   examination   system   is   managed   manually. The   manual   examination   system   is   facing   many   problems   such   as   not   declaring   examination   results   in   time   and   accurately. ICT   is   an   effective   tool   for   integrating  and  automating   various  activities  of  examination  system  at  different  administrative  levels  to   bring  reliable,  efficient,  scalable,  transparent  and  robust  e? governance  solutions. NEED OF ICT IN EXAMINATION SYSTEM In   Indian   higher   education   system,   there   has   been   many   fold   increase   in   its   institutional   capacity   since   independence. As  per  University  Grants  Commission  (2008)  report  titled  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Higher  Education  in  India? Issues   related  to  expansion,  inclusiveness,  quality  and  finance†,  the  number  of  universities  in  India  has  increased   from   20   in   1950   to   about   431   in   2008,   colleges   from   500   in   1950   to   20,677   in   2008   and   enrolment   of   students   has   increased   from   mere   100,000   in   1950   to   11,612,000   in   2008. The   Gross   Enrolment   Ratio   (GER)  i. e. which  is  a  ratio  of   persons  enrolled  in  higher  education  institutions  to  total  population  of  the   persons  in  age  group  of  18  to  23,  rose  from  0. 7%  in  1950  to  about  11%  in  2007   Still  the  fact  remains  that   the  GER  in  India  is  quite  low  compared  to  that  of  the  developed  countries  and  world  average  ha ving  GERs   54. 6   %   and   23. 2%   respectively. Indian   government   aims   to   bring   GER   to   15   %   by   2012. India’s   higher   education  system  is  the  third  largest  in  the  world  next  to  China  and  United  States. Student  enrolment  at   university  level  and  at  collegiate  level  is  increasing  manifold. The  management  of  examination  data  of  the *Research  Scholar,  Department  of  Computer  Science,  H. P. University,  Shimla   **Associate  Professor,  Department  of  Computer  Science,  H. P. University,  Shimla 1 Himachal Pradesh University Journal, July 2011 large   number   of   students   is   a   very   tiresome   and   a   complex   job   involving   different   types   of   data   by   different  administrative  line   branches. According   to   Sofield   (2000),   many  developing   countries  have   not   taken  up  ICT  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  as  a  means  of  reaching  increased  socio? economic  development. Educational   institutions   are   also   increasingly   recognizing   the   importance   of   ICT   in   education   and   examination  reforms. ICT,  as  an  assortment  of  new  computing  and  communication  artifacts,  is  a  rapidly  advancing  technology. ICT  has  provided  means  for  faster  and  better  communication,  efficient  storage,  retrieval  and  processing  of   data   and   exchange   and   utilization   of   information   to   its   users,   be   they   individuals,   groups,   businesses,   organizations  or  governments. ICT  has  the  potential  to  provide  better  services  to  the  citizens,  interaction   with  business  enterprises  and  communication  and  exchange  of  information  between  different  agencies  of   the  government  in  a  speedy,  convenient,  efficient  and  transparent  manner. If  optimum  potential  of  ICT  is utilised,  it  can  definitely  increase  efficiency  and  effectiveness  of  the  system. The  cases  of  Indian  railway   computerization  and  online  banking  are  the  candidate  examples  demonstrating  the  benefits  of  ICT. Thus,   ICT  has  become  indispensable  and  an  effective  tool  of  growth  in  any  society. The  nature  of  technology  is   that   everything   becomes   almost   transparent   once   it   is   ingrained   in   everyday   life. In   his   2004   Independence   Day   speech,   Dr. A. P. J. Abdul   Kalam,   the   then   President   of   India,   said   that   â€Å"there   is   a   demand  for  a  more  transparent  and  reliable  system  of  examination,  evaluation  and  reporting†. EXAMINATION SYSTEM IN INDIAN UNIVERSITIES Examination  occupies  a  very  significant  place  in  a  university  system. Examination  is  an  instrument  to  test   what   the   student   has   learned   and   retained   in   his   mind   during   course   of   study. University   examinations   have  stimulating  effect  on  both  students  and  teachers. To  the  Student,  it  gives  a  goal  toward  which  he  is   directed  and  impels  him  to  attain  that  goal  with  in  specified  period  of  time. Examination  may  be  used  as  a   means   to   organize   and   integrate   knowledge,   it   encourages   student   to   go   through   various   books   and   integrate  ideas  to  respond  to  a  given  problem. For  a  teacher  too,  examination  gives  a  stimulus  and  goal   orientation  to  his  work. In  a  nutshell,  we  may  say  that  examinations  are  inevitable,  without  examination   the  work  of  students  and  teachers  will  neither  have  precision  and  any  direction. Examination  is  always  an   effective  instrument  to  evaluate  the  quality  and  quantity  of  knowledge  or  say  learning  in  a  specific  field   Mishra  (1988). University  examinations  are  conducted  for  each  stage  at  the  end  of  the  academic  session. There  is  hardly  any  month  for  which  there  is  no  exam. Examinations  continue  for  months  causing  physical   and   mental   stress   both   for   students   as   well   as   for   university   administration. Declaration   of   results   also   takes  very  long  time  owing  to  which  students  remain  ideal  for  months  together. Moreover,  the  dates  of   examinations   and   those   of   declaration   of How to cite Exam, Essay examples Exam Free Essays

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Different Approaches For Organizations To Build Their Corporate Brand

Question: Describe about the Different Approaches For Organizations To Build Their Corporate Brand? Answer: Introduction Different approaches regarding the branding of the products as well as of the entire business are considered to be of more important for many of the well-known companies. The concept of the corporate branding, as well as the product branding, needs to be very clear for the development and growth of the concerned organizations. The corporate branding involves different types of marketing of the various services as well as the concerned products of the organization under its name. The product branding involves the branding of the product by marketing and promoting a particular product having the name of the product in the middle and the product is marketed with the help of different types of the campaigns. This research will help in evaluating the desired facts related to the different approach of the different organizations related to the corporate branding (Armstrong, 2014). There are different companies who use the product branding as well as the corporate branding. Moreover, the re search paper will help in highlighting the importance of the corporate branding to the different organizations. The corporate branding helps to build trust among the customers and it increases the effectiveness and the efficiency of the concerned organizations. The stakeholder plays the most crucial role in making the brand name of the organization and they help in the corporate branding of the company (Balmer, Illia GonzaÃÅ' lez del Valle Brena, 2013). The building of the trust within the consumers helps in the development of the corporate branding. Therefore, it must be ensured that the company is working as per the satisfaction of the customers as well as providing the products as promised to the consumers. Main context Importance of corporate branding to various organizations Branding of the entire organization creates a positive impact on the minds of the customers and it helps in increasing the selling of the different types of the products available within the organization. The corporate branding helps the customers to identify a wide range of the different types of the products and different offers over the time. Effective branding is considered to be important for minimizing the marketing initiatives for the different products and the customers had their own perception regarding the quality purpose and reliability of the concerned products (Carroll, 2013). There are certain important factors that highlight the importance of the corporate branding, they are as follows: Personality of the company Effective corporate branding helps in the development of the desired and repudiated personality of the entire organization. The identity critically dictates the different types of the employees, the appearances and the desired quality of the products, packaging of the products and the physical storing characteristics (Entrekin Scott-Ladd, 2013). The branding reflects the uniqueness of the entire organization as compared with that of the other organizations within the market segments. The above attributes help the concerned customers to build trust on the employees as well as on the entire organization regarding the quality of the products and the services offered by the organization (HaÃÅ'ˆrtel Fujimoto, 2010). Therefore, it becomes very important for the different organizations to focus more on the corporate branding instead of the product branding. The companies can be made more compassionate, reliable and energizing (HaÃÅ'ˆrtel Fujimoto, 2010). The customers then deve lop a strong relationship with the employees through emotional attachment and the development of the strong relationship between the customers and the employees increases the loyalty level which finally increase the profitability of the organization. Long-term planning Establishment of the corporate branding needs a desired commitment for the long-term planning as for increasing the consistency of the different products ("Impact of latest NICE guidelines on CRT and ICD implant rates", 2015). The long-term planning related to the branding of the entire organization helps in increasing the overall productivity and profitability of the organization. Having the desired focus on future and the management of the every day's activities helps in improving the overall quality of the products that are been offered by the organization ("Ingenious latest model", 2011). This is considered to be very important for the development of the corporate branding. The mission and the vision of the company play the most significant role in creating the desired positive impact on the minds of the customers related to the quality and the pricing of the products from the company. Identification The color logo, imagery posters or the color scheme helps the customers as well as the employees of the concerned organization to identify the products and the information of the company. The different image helps in maintaining the consistency between the services and the products lines, different markets and the version changes (KIMISHIMA, 2012). Therefore, it becomes very important for the employees to enhance the desired image of the entire organization. The characteristics and the physical identification help the customers to recognize the companys products even in the crowded places. The effective means of the corporate branding makes the image of the stick in the minds of the different customers. Targeting The corporate branding critically allows the different types of the marketing efforts for targeting the most suitable market segments for the launching and selling of the products. The corporate branding is considered to be more important as it distinguishes the lifestyle of the company by geographic conditions and the social-economic factors ("Latest step in implant evolution launched", 2014). Moreover, the branding helps the customers to select the desired products according to their needs. The branding also supports the different pricing strategy of the companies. The high pricing strategies reveal the desired high and the best quality of the products within the concerned market segments. Market share It is very important for the organizations to capture the entire market segments in which they execute their business process and this can easily be done with the help of the corporate branding (Matten, Visser, Tolhurst Pohl, 2013). This helps to increase the footprints of the companies by providing the desired high quality of the products and services to the customers. Contrast alternative approaches to building corporate brands Branding helps in creating the desired perception that helps the customers to purchase the concerned products of the organization. In order to build the corporate brands, it becomes very important to understand the desired requirements of the customers as this helps in evaluation of the growth of the organization to a large extent. The manager plays the most important role in formulating strategies that creates a crucial impact on the minds of the customers (Ottman, 2011). There are different types of the approaches adopted by many of the well-known organizations regarding the corporate branding. Construction of the companys logo with the different color schemes and promoting the companys logo with the help of the different campaigns helps in creating the desired impact on the minds of the customers related to the quality and the services offered by the organization. The competition level has significantly increased throughout the market segments in order to deliver the best quality of the products with appropriate prices. There are different promotion methods adopted by several organizations throughout the world in order to increase the selling of the desired products. Moreover, it is very important for the different organizations to understand the difference between the product branding and the corporate branding as these two brings out different results for the concerned organization (Ottman, 2011). The truth is that businesses may no longer depend on services/ goods differentiation strategy due to their foundation for sustainable aggressive benefit to be the desired rapid speed of the service simulation starting with the competitors in addition to the rising sophistication of the customers in esteem of concerned drivers of utilization. The trend of the Corporate Branding, the desired values as well as the passion imitated by the association itself which will increase the major keys to spirited differentiation with the desired corporate brand and it moves fa ce plus centre along with client notice which shifts from the manufactured goods to the firm itself. The different approaches of the branding reveal different methods such as the employer branding, Co-branding, community branding, cultural branding and spirit branding. There are different promotional strategies that are been adopted by several organizations such with the help of the different social networking websites. As the branding attempt for goods has become the desired area of marketing section of a corporation, corporate branding need organization-wide sustain (Perrey, Spillecke Armstrong, 2011). The entire association is concerned in realizing the achievement of the company brand by means of the spectators the brand name is destined to magnetize as well as engage. In captivating the product proposal authors emerge as well as Shultz quarrel that winning corporate variety is shaped by the interaction among strategic vision, organizational traditions as well as the business i mages detained by its respective stakeholders. winning corporate brand engage in sync labors of all the department. Additional to this, winning corporate branding necessitate the position of interior as well as external contact to make an only obvious image crossways numerous channels along with media. The role of stakeholders in building corporate brand The stakeholders play the most vital role in creating the brand name of the company as they reflect the desired quality of the materials for the development of the products. The stakeholder is that particular person who is exaggerated by or the people who may influence a plan result. Stakeholders figure project in the untimely stages, ensure capital are obtainable to add to project achievement, and give imminent concerning the likely response to a project result, which makes possible project alteration when essential to succeed managerial support (Plunkett, 2011). The role of the different stakeholders alters all through a mission life cycle. Though, the enthusiasm of the stakeholders to execute the actions assigned to them throughout the assignment planning procedure really contributes to the achievement or breakdown of the plan. Project preparation actions comprise the recognition of the plan objective; the requirement of compulsory assignment capital along with their portion; and the willpower of the technique to be use to bring the planned end manufactured goods, react to significant proceedings and assess actions and outcome. The profit of stakeholder participation within the preparation procedure comprise a decrease in disbelieve of the mission method or result, and the boost in a promise to the assignment objectives as well as processes, along with the heightened reliability of the assignment result. Internal stakeholders are responsible for or detained accountable for exacting project development actions furthermore are necessary to contribute indefinite activities, while external stakeholders usually aren't. Similar to exterior stakeholders, interior stakeholders are too incidentally occupied in or checked with concerning other actions on behalf of which they contain no straight responsibility (Powerful social media, branding, PR practices, 2011). scheduling actions in which interior stakeholders contribute with conflicting levels of participation comp rise scheme scope view; meaning of work merchandise, job attributes as well as job life cycle; bulge of attempt as well as cost; formation of budget along with project timetable; recognition of scheme risks; preparation for information supervision, project capital, workers, stakeholder participation and preparation; formation and appraisal of assignment plan; settlement of labor and source necessities; as well as gaining stakeholder promise to the assignment plan. Scheme preparations activities in those exterior stakeholders contribute are often the same to persons of interior stakeholders ("See all the latest innovations", 2015). Though, roles of outside stakeholders are incomplete as compared with that of the advisor quite than squad members straight responsible for personality project development actions. Therefore, it becomes very important for the stakeholders of the organizations to understand the desired requirements of the customers and provide them the desired quality of th e products. Branding helps in evaluating the pricing rates but the organization needs to deliver them the high quality of the products. The impact of co-creation and engagement theory on building corporate Brand The co-creational, as well as the engagement theory, provides a great impact on the corporate brands. Everybody within the organization plays the vital role in bringing out the desired positive results for the entire organization. Relationships among workers with an organization are of the considerable worth in several workplaces ("The latest in LED technology", 2010). Human relations are the procedure of preparation employees; attend to their wants, development a place of work culture along with resolve conflict among diverse employees or among workers and organization. Sympathetic several of the behavior that person relations be able to impact on the operating cost, competitiveness as well as lasting financial sustainability of the concerned company helps to underline their significance. These theories reveal the different aspects of the branding within an organization to evaluate the desired profitability as well as productivity of the entire organization. The excellence of place of work relationships is significant to worker retention ("The latest in treatment centers", 2014). Each new member of staff requires a considerable asset of the occasion as well as liveliness in their staffing and guidance. Making definite excellence employees stay involved along with engaged in the company requires endurance, sympathy, and suppleness, other than can, in fact, create the company more monetarily sound. Workplace relations offer a basis of worker motivation, and this is significant to maintain efficiency ("The latest intraoral sensors", 2013). People who remain involved in their job along with happiness of extra employees be likely to be added creative than persons who merely are not. This output pays a clear monetary dividend to the corporation, as it may get extra finished in the fewer instance with fewer costs. Development of the desired relationship with the employees helps in increasing the efficiency and the effectiveness of the entire organization; furthermore , it provides reliability to the concerned customers of the organization (Varma Budhwar, 2013). The current business surroundings frequently reward business that is capable to fast expand goods that meet up altering customer needs. In a number of businesses such as skill, for instance, workers ability to approach up with effective new ideas is often the difference between the entire company's success and failure. As per the marketplace investigate show that originality is a base to a big amount of communal interaction. With no excellence place of work relations, workers are fewer probable to be clever to expand and split the solution that a commerce wants to endure. It is very important to recruit new employees and the employees needs to be provided the desired platform to bring up their creative ideas regarding the development of the product in order to create a great impact regarding the corporate branding of the organization. Co-creation is an advertising plan base on customer e thics. Consumers use dissimilar opportunity to divide ideas plus difficulty faced along with their awareness for merchandise improvement. This brings and creates an extra worth to the manufactured goods. Modified knowledge and faithfulness to the merchandise increase its price. Some customers do not purchase any merchandise nor employ some service, except being still addition assessment to them. The competition level has significantly increased throughout the market segments in order to deliver the best quality of the products with appropriate prices. There are different promotion methods adopted by several organizations throughout the world in order to increase the selling of the desired products (White Druker, 2013). On a variety of social network sites, customers contain shared experience of goods as well as services they particularly use. Moreover, they also offer the solution to the difficulty faced by customers. This way, customers add price to manufactured goods along with s ervices with no being in contact with corporations. Therefore, it becomes very important to understand the desired between the co-relational and the engagement theory in the development of the corporate branding for the various other companies. The product branding provides the branding of a particular product only. Whereas the corporate branding reflects the branding of the entire organization and this seems to be more important for the execution of the business processes. Recommendations Therefore, it is important for the organizations to focus more on he corporate branding as it helps in increasing the selling of wide number off the products of the concerned organization. There needs to be effective strategies in order to enhance the desired growth and development of the entire organization. Workplace relations offer a basis of worker motivation, and this is significant to maintain efficiency, and thus, in order to develop perfect corporate branding organizations should increase the efficiency of the respective workplaces. Workers imagination is often needy on their aptitude to converse with other workers and split ideas. The corporate branding critically allows the different types of the marketing efforts for targeting the most suitable market segments for the launching and selling of the products. The enthusiasm of the stakeholders to execute the actions assigned to them throughout the assignment planning procedure really contributes to the achievement or breakdow n of the plan. Therefore, the stakeholder plays the vital role in evaluating the desired growth of the organization to a large extent. Conclusion This research paper helps in evaluating the desired approaches needed for the development of the corporate branding within the different organization. It becomes very crucial for the different organizations to understand the difference between the product branding and corporate branding along with the importance of the two. Corporate branding helps the customers to identify a wide range of the different types of the products and different offers over the time. Effective branding is considered to be important for minimizing the marketing initiatives for the different products and the customers had their own perception. The characteristics and the physical identification help the customers to recognize the companys products even in the crowded places. The corporate branding is considered to be more important as it distinguishes the lifestyle of the company by geographic conditions and the social-economic factors. It helps the customers to select the desired products according to their needs. The corporate branding also supports the different pricing strategy of the companies. The research paper supports the importance of the corporate branding for the development of the organizations. Moreover, there are different methods adopted for corporate branding and it creates a crucial impact on the business process of various organizations. References Armstrong, M. (2014).Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page. Balmer, J., Elia, L., GonzaÃÅ' lez del Valle Brena, A. (2013).Corporate Marketing. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Carroll, C. (2013).The handbook of communication and corporate reputation. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Entrekin, L., Scott-Ladd, B. (2013).Human Resource Management and Change. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Gambetti, R., Quigley, S. (2013).Managing corporate communication. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. HaÃÅ'ˆrtel, C., Fujimoto, Y. (2010).Human resource management. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia. The impact of latest NICE guidelines on CRT and ICD implant rates. (2015).Br J Cardiol. https://dx.doi.org/10.5837/bjc.2015.039 Ingenious latest model. (2011).BDJ,210(11), 545-545. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.473 KIMISHIMA, M. (2012). Introduction to Latest RF ATE with Low Test Cost Solutions.IEICE Transactions On Electronics,E95.C(7), 1147-1153. https://dx.doi.org/10.1587/transele.e95.c.1147 The latest step in implant evolution launched. (2014).BDJ,216(6), 369-369. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.228 The latest step in implant evolution launched. (2014).BDJ,216(6), 369-369. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.228 Matten, D., Visser, W., Tolhurst, N., Pohl, M. (2013).The a to z of corporate social responsibility. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Ottman, J. (2011).The new rules of green marketing. San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Ottman, J. (2011).The new rules of green marketing. San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Perrey, J., Spillecke, D., Armstrong, B. (2011).Retail marketing and branding. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley. Plunkett, J. (2011).Plunkett's Advertising Branding Industry Almanac 2011. Plunkett Research, Ltd. Powerful social media, branding, PR practices. (2011). Upper Saddle River, N.J. See all the latest innovations. (2015).BDJ,219(7), 366-366. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2015.784 The latest in LED technology. (2010).BDJ,209(3), 146-146. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2010.714 The latest in treatment centers. (2014).BDJ,217(9), 545-545. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.989 The latest instrument wetting agent. (2014).BDJ,217(7), 385-385. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.895 The latest intraoral sensors. (2013).BDJ,215(12), 629-629. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2013.1220 Varma, A., Budhwar, P. (2013).Managing human resources in Asia-Pacific. Hoboken: Routledge, Taylor, and Francis Group. White, G., Druker, J. (2013).Reward Management. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Illuminate by Shawn Mendes free essay sample

A few years ago, a group of boys that called themselves â€Å"magcon† came about, and the world of teenage girls was changed forever. I was personally not in the slightest bit into these seemingly vain boys attempting to be funny and having girls everywhere fawn all over them, but I was one of the only ones. When Magcon broke up, most of them went into modelling or rapping, but one of them ventured on to be one of the most popular names in music right now. I have never been into pop music, i’ve always enjoyed classic rock or alternative, but my sister would not stop raving about a particular new pop artist, named Shawn Mendes. Intrigued as to what the big deal with him was, I took my sister to see him in concert for her birthday in late August. He uttered one note, and I was sucked in immediately. We will write a custom essay sample on Illuminate by Shawn Mendes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was a small venue, and he wore a navy blue longsleeve tee-shirt, blue jeans, a mic on his cheek, and an acoustic guitar. The lighting and scenery and clothing were all simplistic, without any need to hide Shawn’s talent. There really was no need to hide his voice or guitar-playing, as he sang soft low notes, belted beautiful high notes, and played his guitar until it lost it’s tuning. This morning, his new album, illuminate, came out, and I was beyond eager to listen to it. The first song on the album is titled â€Å"ruin†, and it starts of with a jazz beat, which is different from Mendes’ usual style. He keeps up with his usual song theme by singing another song about a girl, this song in particular being a question of how her feelings about him relate to his feelings of her. The song is boring, slow, repetitive, and definitely not one of his best songs, or anything even remotely special. The next song on the album is quite possibly my favorite song, titled â€Å"Mercy†. It starts off with Shawn humming a gentle melody alongside gentle piano playing, which glides into soft singing. The song builds up to the chorus, where other instruments are introduced, and Mendes sings in a raspy tone begging for mercy to be released from having feelings for someone. He includes that the person does not intend to hurt him, but he needs them to set him free, and have â€Å"mercy† on him. This song has a perfect mix of soft, beautiful humming and singing, and soulful, passionate, raspy singing. The song has a mix of many instruments on many different parts as well, and has beautiful, powerful lyrics that make the person listening feel as if they themselves are experiencing Shawn’s pain alongside him. The next song on his album is titled â€Å"treat you better†, and is a commentary on domestic violence. The song begins with guitar plucking, and Shawn saying to someone that he knows that the guy that they are with is ju st not right for them. This song is similar to â€Å"mercy† in the sense that it starts off gentle and calm and builds up in the chorus to a raspy/hurting tone. This song is different in the sense that anger is introduced too, both in the sense that the guy that the girl is with is hurting her, and that the girl is unable to see this, and get out of her bad situation, and let Shawn treat her better. The music video shows Shawn and the girl sitting on opposite sides of a wall crying and in pain. This song is definitely much darker than any of the other ones, and also comments on a very serious matter, that I think he does a very good job of explaining.Shawn promises that he can treat the girl better, and be a gentleman for her, unlike the other guy who has no respect for her. This song and â€Å"mercy† are my favorite songs, both for their diverse tones and passion. The next song is â€Å"Three empty words†. The song begins with upbeat guitar strumming and light humming, and then Shawn saying that he will pick someone up at the same time and the same place, and that they’ll just talk to fill up the awkward space. He says that they’ll play the songs they love before they try to fall in love again, and that they don’t know who’s wrong or right, but they don’t care enough to fight. He says that they’re just going through the motions because they can’t fix what’s broken. Shawn says that he won’t keep on saying those â€Å"three empty words†, which most likely are â€Å"I Love You.† He says that he’s running out of things to say, and that it’s going to break his heart to tell her little brother and that even if they stayed together, it would never be the same. This song is different from his other songs because it’s almost entirely just acoustic guitar, has almost no buildup, and is about an event that has happened in a relationship, whereas most of his other songs are about him missing a relationship or hoping for a relationship, but never about being in one. His next song is titled â€Å"Don’t Be A Fool†. It starts with another slow, acoustic melody with a slight blues twang. He tells a girl to not be a fool by waiting for him, because he’s always on the move. This seems to reflect Mendes’ life, in the sense that as an artist, he is always on the move, and most likely is too busy to be in a strong, steady relationship. There is background singing in this song unlike â€Å"Three Empty Words†, and Shawn pursues extremely high notes to accompany the blues-tune of the song.This song has beautiful notes, a catchy beat, and a personal message, but isn’t anything special compared to many of his other songs. The next song on his new album is titled â€Å"Like This†, and it starts off with piano playing, and Shawn singing softly about trying to go on without someone. A few bars in, bac kground voices and guitar add into the song as Mendes picks up the beat of his singing, and begins to pick up a raspy tone. Shawn remarks that the girl he is going without isn’t even â€Å"drop-dead gorgeous†, but is honest and kills him everyday. This is an important line because it remarks on this girl’s personality being more important than her looks, which is very hard to find in music nowadays. Overall, this song sounds like most of his other songs, with a little bit of a twist with the soulful piano playing and different tune at the end of certain lines. His next song, â€Å"No Promises†, begins with guitar picking. The singing begins with a darker tone, as Shawn explains that he is â€Å"staring out my hotel window, with too much on my mind,† A girl accompanies Shawn’s singing in the third line he sings and an echoing goes on in the background, and then the song has almost a beat drop, going into his raspy singing with an echoing â₠¬Å"woah-oh-woah-oh-oh† in the background. The beat is now upbeat and very pop, which is very different from Mendes’ usual acoustic style. He sings about not keeping promises, because he knows that â€Å"they† won’t be able to keep them. The song then fades back into Mendes’ typical acoustic style, but with a firm drum beat in the background. The girl begins to sing again, and another beat drop signals the chorus again, with the echoes of â€Å"woah-oh-woah-oh-oh† being the background again. The song then segways into a faster acoustic pace, the drum back again at a much faster pace. The chorus repeats again with another beat drop, but with no girl’s voice leading into it this time. This song is a refreshing change from Shawn’s repetitive style, but the song itself is very repetitive, and could be much better if it was shortened by at least a chorus. The 8th song in his album is titled â€Å"Lights On†, andit starts (again ) with guitar picking and Shawn softly singing about yet another beautiful girl, and how he wants her body, but he’s a gentleman so he vows to take it slow. He says that he wants to love her with the lights on, so that he can love every part of her. This song is extremely uncomfortable to listen to , as Shawn sings about there being so much â€Å"left to see† and getting to know each other under the â€Å"sheets of a hotel room with a good vibe†. The song is catchy, but the melody is forgettable, and the lyrics are extremely uncomfortable. The next song is titledhonest, and begins with even more guitar picking and gentle singing. The song has a nice beat, as he asks a girl to meet him on a street, where he needs to talk to her about something. He sings in broken-up sentences, he sings that he needs to be honest with this girl because he hates to hurt her, but he knows that he can’t give her what she needs. The next song in the lineup is titled â€Å"pati ence†. The song starts off with upbeat guitar strumming, as he talks about a girl who hits him up at night on a daily basis, and how her friends should take her phone away. He talks about a girl that drives him crazy with her constant indecisiveness, and that she’s making him lose his patience. This song is very similar to the other songs in this album, and nothing special, easily forgettable with boring lyrics, a boring melody, and a repetitive tune. â€Å"Bad reputation† continues Shawn’s attitude of always being a gentleman, as he sings about a girl who had a bad reputation, and who he assures he will love no matter what her reputation is, and that he hopes he can prove her reputation wrong, and love her in the way that he thinks she deserves. The song begins with a slow, almost haunting melody played on piano. The third time the chorus is repeated, it speeds up, and becomes more of a grungy/rock tune to accompany the same words. This is definitely a ne w type of song for Shawn, who almost always sings acoustic, calm songs, and never really acknowledges a girl as anything other than perfect in the eyes of everyone else as well as him. The next song, â€Å"understand†, begins with piano playing, as Shawn sings about his fear of losing who he is in the midst of his fame. It’s refreshing to hear a song that’s not about a girl, and the song presents a very valid fear that an incredibly famous teenager has to deal with. This song provides insight into Shawn’s belief system and values, which makes him very admirable to the listener, not only for his music, but for him as a person as well. He has a talking interlude in the middle of the song, which is also a very nice change. The 13th song is titled â€Å"hold on†, which starts off with guitar strumming, and with Shawn talking about stopping and just admiring what’s going on, and him being alone, and missing his dad. His dad tells him that althoug h he doesn’t know what he’s going though, he just needs Shawn to know that there’s so much life ahead of him, and to always hold on. This song has so so so much passion, seeming to breakthrough every word. The lyrics make it sound as if Shawn is going through a rough part of life, and his dad is telling him to always hold on to life, no matter how bad the situation is. This is also much more serious than most of Shawn’s songs, and very very very personal. This song is moving, with great lyrics, a great tune and a catchy melody, and an extremely important message. The next song is titled â€Å"roses†, and begins with piano playing, and a beat unlike most of his other songs. He’s back to singing about girls, about how he gives a girl a rose, and the option to either die or let it grow. Considering Mendes is almost always completely blunt about what he has to say, this use of metaphor is refreshing and interesting. The girl he gives the rose to seems to be with another guy, but Shawn thinks that he loves this girl much more than this other guy. The acoustic version of Mercy is only on the deluxe version, and honestly sounds exactly like the original. Overall, this album is somewhat forgettable with only a few standout songs, and is a huge disappointment in comparison to his last album, â€Å"Handwritten†.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Scientifically Proven Ways to Start Thinking Creatively

Scientifically Proven Ways to Start Thinking Creatively There are lots of articles out there with advice on how to improve creativity. But how much of it is actually backed by scientific research? The following methods for boosting the imagination are all supported by published studies: Stop Organizing Your Workspace Apparently, keeping a messy desk serves as greater creative inspiration than keeping an organized one, according to a study published in Psychological Science. It kind of goes with the image of the mad genius who doesn’t know what color socks he’s wearing because he’s too busy inventing the internet. So, stop tidying up, sit down in your mess, and create. Paint Your Walls Blue The color blue has the ability to stimulate the brain’s creative synapses by reminding it of â€Å"the sky, the ocean and water, most people associate blue with openness, peace and tranquility† according to Juliet Zhu, a psychologist who conducted a study on color association and brain activity. This sense of peacefulness also allows people to feel supported enough to risk creative exploration. Turn Your Lights Down Low Dim lighting also helps stimulate creativity. It makes people feel â€Å"freedom, self-determination and reduced inhibition.† A study that asked students to solve creative problems found that those in the dimly lit rooms (150 lux) performed much better than those in a brightly lit room (1,500 lux). Buy low-wattage light bulbs for your room to help activate your imagination. Cultivate a Diverse Social Circle A study of Stanford Business School alumni revealed that the graduates with the highest level of creative thinking were those who networked extensively with groups of people outside their business colleagues. This exposed them to new ideas and allowed them to take more risks in thinking than if they were restricted to their normal social group. Hang Out in a Coffee Shop This has nothing to do with the intellectual tradition that coffee shops have or with the drink itself. It turns out that most coffee shops have a level of noise that supports creative thinking, as stated by The Journal of Consumer Research. Many coffee shops tend to have about 70 decibels of background noise. Extremely quiet environments like that of a library are good places to work if you need to concentrate and focus. But they don’t stimulate creativity. Travel According to the article in the Scientific American heading into the unknown can also spark the creative fires. A different setting where anything could happen and your routine hasn’t worn a groove into your brain can help create new pathways in the brain and inspire the imagination. It also creates â€Å"psychological distance† from the rest of your life, which allows you to be more open to new thoughts and solutions. Learn a New Language Along with travel comes multilingualism the ability to communicate in more than two languages. Whether you learn a new language in a foreign setting or at home, it doesn’t matter. The skill itself challenges the brain to refine its cognitive and problem-solving skills, leading to enhanced creative thinking. Meditate Adopting a meditative practice into your daily routine could help you improve creatively. A study from Cornell University observed the creative skills of a group of new meditators over the course of five months. The results were heightened mental flexibility and enhanced figurative skills. Exercise A little aerobic exercise is an incredibly useful habit to adopt. It not only ensures general overall health, but it improves mood and supplies the brain with fresh oxygen, thus enhancing your brain’s cognitive function and imaginative prowess. Next time you want to amp up your creativity, go for a short jog or bike ride, play tennis or go for a swim. Engage in the exercise of your choice to enhance your innovative abilities. Who wouldn’t want to be more creative if they could? Here’s your chance to make use any or all of these methods to improve your creative abilities and see a difference in your imaginative skills. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

How does nano technology play a role in communication, design, and Research Paper

How does nano technology play a role in communication, design, and information technology - Research Paper Example Experts define nanotechnology as the visualization or measurement at the 1-100 nanometer scale. However, there is an increased acceptance of the idea that reorganization and control of matter at the nanometer scale is an essential element of nanotechnology. Communication, design and information technology are the highly innovative industrial sectors that are quickly growing. Massive progress have resulted due to the transition to nanotechnology electronics from the traditional electronics. Nanotechnology has led to an incredible change in communication, design, and information. Advancement in communication, design, and information technology as a result of nanotechnology can take place in two steps. The first step is the miniaturization top-down approach that takes microstructures that are conventional across the border to nanotechnology. The second step entails the emergence of the bottom-up nanosystem engineering and nano-electronics through technologies such as the process of self-organization to bring together systems and circuits. Nanotechnology has several roles in communication and has immensely impacted the development of wireless communication technologies. In mid-1990’s, micromechanical sensors were developed. They become a critical element of automotive technologies. Approximately ten years later, micromechanical sensors that are more miniaturized are now ensuring features that are novel for mobile devices and consumer electronics. In the present day, the development of sensors that are embedded and based on the nanostructures has become part of the communications industry. Nanotechnologies has augmented the human sensory skills. It is based on integrated sensors and the ability to aggregate this enormous worldwide sensory data into information that is meaningful to people every day (Ermolov et al. 1). Nanotechnology can assist in the development of

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Family communication class journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Family communication class journal - Essay Example The modern days are faced with technological advancement that simplifies the family way of life. People communicate via modern technologies such as emails, cell phones and other social media appliances. This alters family communication time. Members lack enough time to communicate with each other (Walsh, 1983). The technology is also very important because it helps people connect with their relatives who live in far places. Modern family plans on how to overcome all the obstacles hindering communication. For instance, a family may plan a lunch date together or plan a gathering to talk about issues affecting the family. There are those families that set ritual or events that bring all the family members together weekly or on a monthly basis. They set the events in several dimensions including creating time to talk, work, or relax together (Walsh, 1983). Research indicates that many families are failing to meet the needs of their members. Less attention is paid to strong, healthy families, and the values that make families successful. It is important for families to seek information on how to improve communication and live a healthy family life. Researchers use two methods to carrying out studies on successful communication methods in a family. They study family strengths per se as the first method (Walsh, 1983). The assumption underlying this method is that there must be things that families with strong communication do in order to enhance good communication. The second method is studying healthy or normal families to evaluate the characteristics that distinguish them from their dysfunctional counterparts (Walsh, 1983). In most instances, communication of feelings and attitudes is done through words or physical gestures. Communication is built by several key factors. Among these factors is tone of voice, body language and listening. The tone of a family member’s voice will create

Monday, November 18, 2019

Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Culture - Essay Example The pregnant women are also prohibited from touching anything with glue to avoid the child being born with birthmarks (Community College, 2005). About foods, the Chinese also believe that if the expectant woman eats too much the baby will be too large making the labor harder. The mothers are advised to take coconut milk, so that the baby will have a good quality skin. On sex determination, the Chinese believe that if the belly is pointed the baby will be a boy and if rounded, it will be a girl. When the baby is finally born, it is the role of the father to give it the first bath. The placenta must be kept near the birth place so that in death, it is used as a sign of atonement and humility of the life on earth. The placenta can as well be used to make medicines cure various diseases (Simpson et al., 2008). Post-partum care involves taking of hot foods, including ginger, pig’s feet, and high protein meats, to rebuild the lost blood supply. Cold foods are believed to cause headache or arthritis in old age. To prevent complications, the mothers should avoid showering, washing hair, or exposing themselves to cold conditions. Before handling the baby, they are required to purify their hands using ginger. To increase milk production, the mothers are required to take papaya soup and fish. The first milk, colostrum, is considered dirty and should be discarded (Community College, 2005). In conclusion, Chinese people have a strong belief in their culture as long as the pregnancy is concerned. They observe the practices right from the pre-natal stage to post-partum care and the way the child is raised. Women are more inclined to the

Friday, November 15, 2019

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Methods

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Methods INTRODUCTION Autoimmunity is the inability of an organism in recognizing its own parts as  self, which triggers an abnormal immune response against its own cells or tissues. Due to such a response, autoimmune diseases occur. Autoimmune diseases are broadly divided into the following: Systemic autoimmune diseases: The symptoms and damage occurs throughout the body, i.e the antigen is not tissue-specific. Localized autoimmune diseases: The damage is localized, i.e., the antigen is tissue specific. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic  inflammatory, systemic autoimmune disorderthat may affect many tissues and organs, but mainly attacks the flexible (synovial) joints. 75% of the reported cases of RA occur in women, especially at age: 30 and 40 years and between 50 and 60 years (Bach, 1982). It can be a disabling and  painful  condition, which can lead to consequential loss of mobility and function if not treated adequately. But it is still unclear whether T-cells primarily respond to a microbial antigen, or a self-constituent antigen (Chiniet al., 2002). Lesions developed in RA appear to be involved in both cell-mediated and humoral responses. Prior research work focused on identifying the cells present in the affected synovium, and has been concluded that CD4+ T lymphocytes, active B lymphocytes, and plasma cells, combined with well-formed lymphoid follicles having germinal centers (in more serious cases), are present in the synovium of the patients (Abbas et al., 1994). Major cells present in the synovial filtrate of patients are T-cells, and a partial therapeutic effect was observed due to depletion of T-cells in these patients (Berneret al., 2000). Present understanding of RA conveys that TH1 cells which are specific for a particular antigen (which hasn’t been identified yet) are present in the joints of the patients. Pathogenesis and symptoms Fig1.1: Release of cytokines due to T-cell activation causing an inflamed synovium and pannus. Cytokines released in the synovium are Interleukin(IL)-1, IL-8, Interferon-gamma (INF-gamma), and Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha(TNF-alpha). But the clinically important ones are IL-1 and TNF-alpha. These cytokines stimulate increase in collaginases, IL-6, chemokines, nitric oxide and Cyclo-oxigenase-2(COX-2) production. The combined action of these and a few others like IL-2 and IL-4 lead to the pathogenesis of the disease. Other than antigens, RA also involves antibodies- this is most likely due to formation of immune complexes. The auto-antibodies produced are called ‘rheumatoid factors’ and are specific to the Fc region of IgG. This rheumatoid factor is an IgM antibody and hence the immune complex consists of IgG-IgM which cause the damage (Janeway et al., 2001). Symptoms include stiffness, pain, swelling, and erythema, joints become tender, swollen, and warm. As it progresses, multiple joints would be affected (polyarthritis). The clinical manifestations are collection of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages at the inflamed region, cartilage damage, and, destruction of the joint Synovitis (inflammation of the synovium) can lead to  tethering  of tissue, lack of movement and erosion of the surface leading to deformity and loss of function. Systemic complexities are damage to various other organs like lungs, myocardia, pericardia pleura, eyes, and Central Nervous System as a result of inflammatory reactions (fig-1.1). Many agents are now available to treat RA, and many of them are monoclonal antibodies. Several new monoclonal antibodies are currently under development and hopefully will be available as other alternatives The focus of this paper is to state the latest therapeutic monoclonal antibodies being used for RA treatment, to state their merits and demerits and whether they are better than normal drugs/medication. Monoclonal antibodies with different mechanisms of action and route of administration are discussed and whether they pose as good therapeutic agents with an acceptable safety profile. 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1  Treatment of Rhematoid Arthritis Some of the treatments for RA are: Anti-TNF-alphaTreatments Medications Therapeutic monoclonal antibody treatment Earlier it was believed that if one cytokine signal cascade was blocked then another cytokine would takeover. It was hypothesized that IL-1 caused the cartilage and bone damage.Through a study(at Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology), it was found that IL-1 bioactivity had stopped due to TNF-alpha blocking. This led to the development of anti-TNF-alpha treatments like- cyotokine antibodies and soluble-receptor antagonists (Feldmann et al., 1999). There are mainly four types of medications being used- Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immuno-suppressants, and corticosteroids (glucocorticoids).(Rang et al.,1995). DMARDs include pencillamines (Cuprimine ®, Depen ®), gold compounds (Myochrysine ®, Ridaura ®) and chloroquine (Plaquenil ®). Although their mechanism of action is not properly understood, they have a very significant effect on RA patients. NSAIDs like asprin, ibuprofen (Advil  ®), ketoprofen (Orudis ®), naproxen (Naprosyn ®), etc.. have a variety of effects like anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, and analgesic effects.Immuno-suppressants like cyclosporine and cytotoxic agents like azathioprine suppress both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Corticosteroids like prednisone, hydrocortisone, etc., have immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects (Rang et al.,1995). 2.1.1 Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies: Each B-cell synthesizes only one kind of antibody and every organism has various populations of B-cells which secrete various antibodies specific to various antigens being recognized. But in order to turn this function into a helpful tool, we need huge amounts of a same antibody. So we need to culture a B-cell population originating from the same ancestral B-cell and hence obtaining the same kind of antibodies.Such a population of cells are called ‘monoclonal’ and the antibodies are‘monoclonal antibodies’(mAbs).Such monoclonal antibodies used for various therapeutic purposes are referred to as ‘therapeutic monoclonal antibodies’. If a specific antibody of a B-lymphocyte is needed, that B-cell should be secreted in an organism. So the antigen for which the antibody is needed is injected into a mouse and it secretes the B-cell antibodies against the antigen. Such B-cells are isolated from the spleen and fused with myeloma cells (using Poly Ethylene glycol, or electroporation), forming hybridomas. To selectively isolate the hybridoma cells, they are grown in HAT(Hypoxanthine AminopterinThyamidine) medium. (Fig 2.1.1) The cancer cells are HGPRT- and the B-cells are HGPRT+(HGPRT is an enzyme Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase which helps in the synthesis of nucleotides from hypoxanthine). Therefore, all the unfused myeloma cells die in the HAT medium and all the unfused B-cells can’t divide for long and only the hybridoma cells survive indefinitely. It is from these cells that the antigen-specific antibodies are labelled and isolated using radioactivity or immunofluorescence. Fig 2.1.1- A summary of the process of monoclonal antibody production. Types Till date there are four types of therapeutic mAbs- Murine Chimeric Humanized Human Murine antibodies (suffix omab)refer tomAbs made from any mammal of the family muridae (like mouse, rat). These mAbs were produced using hybridoma technology and were analogous to murine antibodies. But these were not a success because immune complexes formed due to which they only had a short half-life in vivo and caused cytotoxicity resulting in allergies and anaphylactic shocks .Hence these were replaced by chimeric and humanizedmAbs.Chimeric mAbs (suffix ximab) has variable regions of murine and constant region of humans fused together (they are 65% human). This decreases immunogenicity. Humanized antibodies (suffix –zumab) are made by grafting murine hyper-variable region onto the amino acid region of the human Abs (they are 85% human). However, these antibodies lacked the specificity of their parent murine mAbsso, affinity was increased by introducing mutations in the CDR (complementarity determining region). Phage display libraries or transgenic mice are use to produce human mAbs (suffix –umab). In this the murine genome is injected with the human immunoglobulin genes due to which it becomes transgenic. This mouse is injected with the desired antigen to yield the subsequent mAbs(Hudson PJ, Souriau C., 2003). 2.1.1.1 Monoclonal Antibodies Directed Against TNF-ÃŽ ± TNF-ÃŽ ± is a key mediator of the inflammation-induced joint damage that is a hallmark of this disease. Monoclonal antibodies to TNF bind soluble and transmembrane TNF, thereby down-regulating TNF-induced immune responses including adhesion molecule expression, cytokine production, matrix metalloproteinase production, neutrophil activities, dendritic cell function and osteoclast differentiaion. (Blumi S, Jet al.,2012) Monoclonal antibodies to TNF, except for certolizumab have the ability to lyse TNF-expressing cells in the presence of complement. (Kukar M, et al.,2009). Currently there are four mAbs approved for the treatment of RA Infliximab This is a chimeric IgG1 mAb and has human constant region with murine variable regions.(Perdriger A., 2009). This is best used with methotextrate(MTX) and is available only in the intravenus form. In 2001, it was approved by the FDA in combination with MTX to treat moderate to severe RA. Effectiveness and improvement in the disease compared to placebo was shown in multiple, randomized trials(Elliott MJ, et al., 1993) ,( Lipsky PE, et al., 2000), (MainiRN, et al., 2004). It was proven to be effective in early stages of the disease (et al., 2004).Given that influximab is comprised of a significant proportion of murine protein it was anticipated that patients would develop antichimeric antibodies that could impair the efficacy and increase the risk of infusion reactions. The combination of infliximab and MTX results in a substantial reduction in antichimeric antibody and increased serum infliximab levels.. Adalimumab Adalimumab is a human recombinant IgG1 mAb that has no murine component and is produced by phage display technology. It was FDA/EMA approved in, or soon after, 2002 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA as monotherapy or in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). It is available in the subcutaneous form at a dose of 40 mg every 2 weeks. Despite adalimumab being a fully human antibody, anti-adalimumab antibodies have been detected in a significant number of patients(Vincent FB, Morland EF, Murphy Ket al.2013). Adalimumab responses and long-term sustainability may be reduced by anti-adalimumab antibodies, but adalimumab generally has good sustainability similar to that of etanercept and generally better than infliximab. Golimumab Golimumab is a fully human IgG1 anti-TNF-ÃŽ ± antibody that was generated and affinity matured in an in vivo system. It is very similar in structure to infliximab without the mouse protein. It was approved by the FDA/EMA in or soon after 2009 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in combination with MTX(Kremer J, et al,2010). Certolizumab Certolizumabpegol is a humanized Fab fragment (Fc free) fused to a 40-kd polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety. It was FDA/EMA approved in 2009 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA as monotherapy or in combination with MTX. It is available in the subcutaneous form at a dose of 400 mg at 0, 2 and 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks or 400 mg every 4 weeks. 2.1.1.2 Antibodies against B Cells B cells are critical to the pathogenesis of RA. Mature B cells may evolve into antibody producing plasma cells. Although the precise role of B-cell-producing autoantibodies in RA remains unclear, B cell and plasma cell infiltration into synovium has consistently been found.In addition to their role as precursors to antibody producing plasma cells, B cells may function as antigen-presenting cells and may also produce inflammatory cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules important for T-cell function.(TngYKO,et al., 2007). Rituximab As rituximab is a B-cell-depleting agent, chimeric/IgG1 monoclonal antibody which binds to the CD20 cell surface marker found on several maturation stages of B lymphocytes. It gained FDA/EMA approval in 2006 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in combination with MTX in patients with inadequate response to anti-TNF. Rituximab is given via the intravenous route at a dose of 1000 mg for two doses 2 weeks apart for each cycle. The first study evaluated rituximab in RA was reported by Edwardset al., 2004.Four treatment groups consisting of MTX monotherapy, rituximab monotherapy, rituximab plus cyclophosphamide and rituximab plus MTX were compared, and all rituximab groups had a better ACR20 response compared with MTX monotherapy, with a comparable safety profile. 2.1.1.3 Antibodies That Interfere With IL-6 Function IL-6 is a cytokine produced by immunologically important cells that has an important role in T-cell activation and immunoglobulin secretion.It also stimulates synovial fibroblast differentiation and osteoclast activation.Dysregulation of IL-6 is also, in part, responsible for many of the generalized systemic effects of RA, including anemia of chronic disease as well as the acute phase reactants seen in this disease(Tanaka.Tet al. , 2010). Tocilizumab Previously called MRA, tocilizumab is a humanized/IgG1 mAb directed against IL-6 receptor in its soluble and transmembrane form. It was approved by the FDA/EMA in early 2010, or slightly before, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in patients with an inadequate response to DMARDs and/or anti-TNF. A subcutaneous form of tocilizumab is currently under study. It is also indicated in patients with anemia of chronic disease since it dramatically increases hemoglobin as a consequence of reduction in hepcidin – the protein that inhibits iron utilization in RA. 2.1.1.4 Antibodies That Interfere With IL-1 Function IL-1 is produced by many cell types in response to myriad inflammatory stimuli and mediates multiple immunologic and inflammatory pathways. In patients with RA, the levels of naturally produced IL-1 receptor antagonist in the synovium is thought to be insufficient to counteract the increased levels of IL-1 produced in this disease (Arend WP., 2002) Anakinra Anakinra is the recombinant form of a human receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), and was approved by the FDA/EMA in, or slightly after, 2002 at a daily dose of 100 mg subcutaneously for moderate-to-severe RA that has been unresponsive to initial disease DMARD therapy. It has been studied in RA in several trials. (Fleischmann RM.et al,  2003) 2.1.1.5 Safety Infections Infections are the most common adverse event associated with the use of all biologics. Infection risks with anakinra and tocilizumab are probably similar to the TNF inhibitors, with rituximab perhaps having slightly less risk.Infection risk may be higher with the use of increased doses of infliximab and anakinra.Respiratory tract infections are most commonly reported. The risk of granulomatous infections, such as tuberculosis, is also increased in patients using monoclonal antibody TNF inhibitors. Malignancies The use of TNF inhibitors in patients with RA has not been associated with an increased risk of solid cancers, with the exception of cutaneous malignancies.. Malignancies have been reported with anakinra, tocilizumab and rituximab, but the risk does not seem higher than predicted in RA patients.(Ding T et al., 2010)Longer-term follow-up is required to more clearly understand the risk of malignancies with these drugs. Demyelinating diseases Symptoms of demyelinating neurologic dysfunction have been associated with TNF inhibitors. Resolution of these symptoms with drug withdrawal is common. TNF inhibitors should be withdrawn immediately if neurologic symptoms occur with use, and probably should be avoided in patients with pre-existing demylelinating symptoms(Ding T, Ledinghamet al., 2010).   3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 3.1 Drugs vs mAbs Just as monoclonal antibodies have various side effects the medication used for RA also have various complications There have been many news reports about how pain-killing drugs known as COX-2 blockers increase heart attack and stroke risks. Additional studies suggested that older non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen could also elevate heart risks.One of the culprits: methotrexate. It’s the most commonly prescribed disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, orDMARD, for rheumatoid arthritis. It’s also responsible for hair loss in about 1 to 3 percent of people. The hair loss happens because methotrexate is doing what it’s supposed to do – stop cells from growing, including cells causing inflammation and, unfortunately, hair follicles. Folic acid, which is commonly prescribed with methotrexate to mitigate some of its side effects, is a synthetic form of folate, a B-complex vitamin. It can help keep hair healthy, but it has not been fou nd to promote hair growth.Generally as a drug-related side effect, the hair loss is not drastic and the hair does not fall out in patches. And it usually grows back once the patients stop taking the drug.So as of now, most of thesuccesful treatments for RA using monoclonal antibodies are in combination with methotrexate. 3.2 Conclusion and future prospects Monoclonal antibodies with different mechanisms of action and route of administration are highly effective therapeutic agents in the treatment of RA with an acceptable safety profile. Choosing the appropriate treatment is a complex decision that is affected by clinical data, physician and patient preference, and payers. Almost undoubtedly, these types of agents will continue to be important agents in the rheumatologists armamentarium. How to use these agents more selectively, particularly regarding which agents are best for which patients, hopefully will be better established in the future with new biomarkers. Prediction as to what agent to use in the right patient at the right time is clearly a research priority. Monoclonal antibodies as new agents are expensive, and the cost/benefit analysis justifying their use is also critical to practitioners. . Many aspects regarding the efficacy and safety of the supposedly cheaper biologics need to be evaluated before they are available for w idespread use, but their availability and the emergence of new agents in the future may substantially change the RA treatment landscape. Although current therapies can reduce the signs and symptoms of RA for many patients, the quest for a cure (or a more complete blockade of the structural damage) in RA is still ongoing and will need treatment approaches, which are not exclusively confined to blocking a particular cytokine, receptor, or auto-reactive B or T cell involved in disease progression. To this end exciting treatment alternatives and drug targets are on the horizon that may become available to patients in the future.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Medias Role in the Escalation of Palmer Raids and the Red Scare in

Newspapers are supposed to give us an unbiased factual report of important events, but that isn’t always the case.   Newspapers can make certain events seem more important and more consequential than other events.   This happened during the Palmer Raids of the early 1920’s.   Newspapers made the Palmer Raids more prevalent and Anti-Communist feelings stronger among the American public during the 1920’s. To understand how the media escalated the Red Scare and Palmer Raids it helps to have a brief history of them.   After World War I there was a Red Scare among many Americans.   There are many explanations for this: rampant inflation, a tough job market, strikes, race riots, and the public’s need for a scapegoat (Duminel 218).   When Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home was bombed he immediately believed it was the Communists and went after all of them.   In November of 1919, and December of 1920 the U.S. Department of Justice under Palmer’s direction conducted raids in a number of prominent cities (Remelgas 3).   Many persons were arrested without warrants, and without being given proper rights.   Over five thousand people were arrested, and a total of two hundred and forty nine people were deported (Remelgas 4).   After these raids and unlawful arrests, Palmer was called before the House Rules Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee and conv icted of using Government funds in an improper way causing the end of the first Red Scare. In journalism there are certain standards used to draw attention to certain articles.   Alexandra Remelgas states: The standards of responsible journalism are useful in examining the press coverage of the Palmer Raids.   Standards of responsible journalism are limited by the selection of and emphas... ..., Edward A.   â€Å"Heaven On Earth.†Ã‚   Detroit Free Press Magazine 11 Jan. 1920: 2 Hoyt, Edwin.   The Palmer Raids, 1919-1920 An Attempt to Suppress Dissent. New York:   The Seabury Press. Murray, Robert. Red Scare: A Study In National Hysteria, 1919-1920. Minnesota: North   Central Publishing, 1955. â€Å"Reds Plotted Country Wide Strike Arrests Exceeded 5,000, 2,635 Held; 3 Transports Ready For Them† New York Times 4 Jan 1920: 1 Remelgas, Alexandra. â€Å"News Reporting And Editorial Interpretation Of The Palmer Raids 1919-1920 By Three Detroit Newspapers: A Study† Thesis For Degree Of M.A. MSU, 1970,       Shulam, Alix.   To the Barricades: The anarchist Life Of Emma Goldman. New York.  Ã‚   Thomas and Crowell Company, 1971. Who Built America, v. II. â€Å"Between to Wars – The Palmer Raids.† CD Rom. 25 January  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2000.   http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/red.html   

Monday, November 11, 2019

Marketing: video game console and shoppers stop Essay

Ask the company top brass what ‘almost there’ means. The answer: a premier Indian retail company that has come to be known as a specialty chain of apparel and accessories. With 52 product categories under one roof, Shoppers’ Stop has a line-up of 350 brands. Set up and headed by former Corona employee, B. S. Nagesh, Shoppers’ Stop is India’s answer to Selfridges and Printemps. As it proudly announces, ‘We don’t sell, we help you buy. ’ Back in 1991, there was the question of what to retail. Should it be a supermarket or a departmental store? Even an electronics store was considered. Finally, common senseand understanding won out. The safest bet, for the all-male team was to retail men’s wear. They knew the male psyche and felt that they had discerning taste in men’s clothing. The concept would be that of a lifestyle store in a luxurious space, which would make for a great shopping experience. The first Shoppers’ Stop store took shape in Andheri, Mumbai, in October 1991, with an investment of nearly Rs. 20 lakh. The original concept that formed the basis of a successful marketing campaign for seven years is here to stay. And the result is an annual turnover of Rs. 160 crores and five stores, nine years later. Everything went right from the beginning, except for one strange happening. More than 60 per cent of the customers who walked into Shoppers’ Stop in Mumbai were women. This gave rise to ideas. Soon, the store set up its women’s section. Later, it expanded to include children’s wear and then, household accessories. The second store in Bangalore came in 1995. The store at Hyderabad followed in 1998 with the largest area of 60,000 sq. ft. The New Delhi and Jaipur stores were inaugurated in 1999. All this while, the product range kept increasing to suit customer needs. The most recent experiment was home furnishings. Secure in the knowledge that organised retailing in global brands was still in its infancy in India, Shoppers’ Stop laid the ground rules which the competition followed. The biggest advantage for Shoppers’ Stop is that it knows how the Indian consumer thinks and feels while shopping. Yes, feeling – for in India, shopping remains an outing. And how does it compare itself to foreign stores? While it is not modeled on any one foreign retailer, the ‘basic construct’ is taken from the experience of a number of successfully managed retail companies. It has leveraged expertise for a critical component like technology from all over the world, going as far as hiring expatriates from Littlewoods and using state-of-the-art ERP models. Shoppers’ Stop went a step further by even integrating its financial system with the ERP model. Expertise was imported wherever it felt that expertise available in-house was inadequate. But the store felt there was one acute problem. A shortage of the most important resource of them all was trained humans . Since Indian business institutes did not have professional courses in retail management, people were hired from different walks of life and the training programme was internalized. By 1994, the senior executives at Shoppers’ Stop were taking lectures at management institutes in Mumbai. The Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) even restructured its course to include retail management as a subject. Getting the company access to the latest global retail trends and exchange of information with business greats was an exclusive membership to the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS). It allows membership by invitation to one company from a country and Shoppers’ Stop rubs shoulders with 29 of the hottest names in retailing – Selfridges from the UK, C. K. Tang from Singapore, Lamcy Plaza from Dubai and the like. With logistics I in place, the accent moved to the customer. Shoppers’ Stop conducted surveys with ORG-MARG and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) and undertook in-house wardrobe audits. The studies confirmed what it already knew. The Indian customer is still evolving and is very different from, say, a European customer, who knows exactly what he wants to purchase, walks up to a shelf, picks up the merchandise, pays and walks out. In India, customers like to touch and feel the merchandise, and scout for options. Also, the majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to pay in cash. So, transactions must be in cash as against plastic money used the world over. Additionally, the Indian customer likes being served – whether it is food, or otherwise. The company’s customer profile includes people who want the same salesperson each time they came to the store to walk them through the shop floors and assist in the purchase. Others came with families, kids and maids in tow and expected to be suitably attended to. Still others wanted someone to carry the bags. So, the shops have self-help counters with an assistant at hand for queries or help. The in-house wardrobe audit also helped with another facet of the business. It enabled Shoppers’ Stop to work out which brands to stock, based on customer preferences. In fact, the USP of Shoppers’ Stop lies in judiciously selected global brands, displayed alongside an in-house range of affordable designer wear. The line-up includes Levi’s, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Walt Disney, Ray Ban and Reebok, besides in-house labels STOP and I. Brand selection is the same across the five locations, though the product mix may be somewhat city-based to accommodate cuts and styles in women’s wear, as well as allowing for seasonal variations (winter in Delhi, for instance, is a case in point). Stocking of brands is based on popular demand – recently, Provogue, MTV Style, and Benetton have been added. In-house labels are available at competitive prices and target the value-formoney customer and make up around 12 per cent of Shoppers’ Stop’s business. Sometimes in-house brands plug the price gap in certain product categories. To cash in on this, the company has big plans for its in-house brands: from re-branding to repositioning, to homing in on product categories where existing brands are not strong. Competition between brands is not an issue, because being a trading house, all brands get equal emphasis. The in-house brand shopper is one who places immense trust in the company and the quality of its goods and returns for repeat buys. And the company reposed its faith in regular customers by including them in a concept called the First Citizen’s Club (FCC). With 60,000 odd members, FCC customers account for 10 per cent of entries and for 34 per cent of the turnover. It was the sheer appeal of the experience that kept pulling these people back. Not one to let such an opportunity pass, the company ran a successful ad campaign (that talks about just this factor) in print for more than eight years. The theme is still the same. In 1999, a TV spot, which liked the shopping experience to the slowing down of one’s internal clock and the beauty of the whole experience, was aired. More recently, ads that spell out the store’s benefits (in a highly oblique manner) are being aired. The campaign is based on entries entered in the Visitors’ Book. None of the ads has a visual or text – or any heavy handedly direct reference to the store or the merchandise. The ads only show shoppers having the time of their lives in calm and serene locales, or elements that make shopping at the store a pleasure – quite the perfect getaway for a cosmopolitan shopper aged between 25 and 45. The brief to the agency, Contract, ensured that brand recall came in terms of the shopping experience, not the product. And it has worked wonders. Value-addition at each store also comes in the form of special care with car parks, power backup, customer paging, alteration service and gift-wrapping. To top it all, cafes and coffee bars make sure that the customer does not step out of the store. In Hyderabad, it has even created a Food Court. Although the food counter was not planned, it came about as there was extra space of 67,000 sq. ft. Carrying the perfect experience to the shop floor is an attempt to stack goods in vast open spaces neatly. Every store has a generic structure, though regional customer variances are accounted for. Each store is on lease, and this is clearly Shoppers’ Stop’s most expensive resource proposition – renting huge spaces in prime properties across metros, so far totaling 210,000 sq. ft of retail space. Getting that space was easy enough for Shoppers’ Stop, since its promoter is the Mumbai-based Raheja Group, which also owns 62 per cent of the share capital. Questions 1. What are the significant factors that have led to the success of Shoppers’ Stop? 2. Draw the typical profile(s) of Shoppers’ Stop customer segments. 3. How are Indian customers visiting Shoppers’ Stop any different from customers of developed western countries? 4. How should Shoppers’ Stop develop its demand forecasts? Case let 2 The rise of personal computers in the mid 1980s spurred interest in computer games. This caused a crash in home Video game market. Interest in Video games was rekindled when a number of different companies developed hardware consoles that provided graphics superior to the capabilities of computer games. By 1990, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the product category. Sega surpassed Nintendo when it introduced its Genesis System. By 1993, Sega commanded almost 60 per cent of Video game market and was one of the most recognized brand names among the children. Sega’s success was short lived. In 1995, Saturn (a division of General Motors) launched a new 32-bit system. The product was a miserable failure for a number of reasons. Sega was the primary software developer for Saturn and it did not support efforts by outside game developers to design compatible games. In addition, Sega’s games were often delivered quite late to retailers. Finally, the price of the Saturn system was greater than other comparable game consoles. This situation of Saturn’s misstep benefited Nintendo and Sony greatly. Sony’s Play Station was unveiled in 1994 and was available in 70 million homes worldwide by the end of 1999. Its â€Å"Open design† encouraged the efforts of outside developers, resulting in almost 3,000 different games that were compatible with the PlayStation. It too featured 32-bit graphics that appealed to older audience. As a result, at one time, more than 30 per cent of PlayStation owners were over 30 years old. Nintendo 64 was introduced in 1996 and had eye-popping 64-bit graphics and entered in more than 28 million homes by 1999. Its primary users were between the age of 6 and 13 as a result of Nintendo’s efforts to limit the amount of violent and adult-oriented material featured on games that can be played on its systems. Because the company exercised considerable control over software development, Nintendo 64 had only one-tenth the number of compatible games as Sony’s PlayStation did. By 1999, Sony had captured 56 per cent of the video game market, followed by Nintendo with 42 per cent. Sega’s share had fallen to a low of 1%. Hence, Sega had two options, either to concede defeat or introduce an innovative video machine that would bring in huge sales. And Sega had to do so before either Nintendo or Sony could bring their next-generation console to market. The Sega Dreamcast arrived in stores in September 1999 with an initial price tag of $199. Anxious gamers placed 300,000 advance orders, and initial sales were quite encouraging. A total of 1. 5 million Dreamcast machines were bought within the first four months, and initial reviews were positive. The 128-bit system was capable of generating 3-D visuals, and 40 different games were available within three months of Dream cast’s introduction. By the end of the year, Sega had captured a market share to 15 per cent. But the Dreamcast could not sustain its momentum. Although its game capabilities were impressive, the system did not deliver all the functionality Sega had promised. A 56K modem (which used a home phone line) and a Web browser were meant to allow access to the Internet so that gamers could play each other online, surf the Web, and visit the Dreamcast Network for product information and playing tips. Unfortunately, these features either were not immediately available or were disappointing in their execution. Sega was not the only one in having the strategy of adding functionality beyond games. Sony and Nintendo followed the same approach for their machines introduced in 1999. Both Nintendo’s Neptune and Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) were built on a DVD platform and featured a 128-bit processor. Analysts applauded the move to DVD because it is less expensive to produce and allows more storage than CDs. It also gives buyers the ability to use the machine as CD music player and DVD movie player. As Sony marketing director commented, â€Å"The full entertainment offering from Play Station 2 definitely appeals to a much broader audience. I have friends in their 30s who bought it not only because it’s a gaming system for their kids , but also a DVD for them. † In addition, PlayStation 2 is able to play games developed for its earlier model that was CD-based. This gives the PS2 an enormous advantage in the number of compatible game titles that were immediately available to gamers. Further enhancing the PS2’s appeal is its high-speed modem and allows the user’s easy access to the Internet through digital cable as well as over telephone lines. This gives Sony the ability to distribute movies, music, and games directly to PS2 consoles. â€Å"We are positioning this as an all-round entertainment player,† commented Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment. However, some prospective customers were put off by the console’s initial price of $360. Shortly after the introduction of Neptune, Nintendo changed its strategies and announced the impending release of its newest game console, The GameCube. However, unlike the Neptune, the GameCube would not run on a DVD platform and also would not initially offer any online capabilities. It would be more attractively priced at $199. A marketing vice president for Nintendo explained the company’s change in direction, â€Å"We are the only competitor whose business is video games. We want to create the best gaming system. † Nintendo also made the GameCube friendly for outside developers and started adding games that included sports titles to attract an older audience. Best known for its extra ordinary successes with games aimed at the younger set, such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and Pokemon, Nintendo sought to attract older users, especially because the average video game player is 28. Youthful Nintendo users were particularly pleased to hear that they could use their handheld Game Boy Advance systems as controllers for the GameCube. Nintendo scrambled to ensure there would be an adequate supply of Game Cubes on the date in November 2001, when they were scheduled to be available to customers. It also budgeted $450 million to market its new product, as it anticipated stiff competition during the holiday shopping season. With more than 20 million PlayStation 2 sold worldwide, the GameCube as a new entry in the video game market would make the battle for market share even more intense. For almost a decade, the video game industry had only Sega, Nintendo, and Sony; just three players. Because of strong brand loyalty and high product development costs, newcomers faced a daunting task in entering this race and being competitive. In November 2001, Microsoft began selling its new Xbox, just three days before the GameCube made its debut. Some observers felt the Xbox was aimed to rival PlayStation 2, which has similar functions that rival Microsoft’s Web TV system and even some lower level PCs. Like the Sony’s PlayStation 2, Xbox was also built using a DVD platform, but it used anIntel processor in its construction. This open design allowed Microsoft to develop the Xbox in just twoyears, and gave developers the option of using standard PC tool for creating compatible games. In addition, Microsoft also sought the advice of successful game developers and even incorporated some of their feedback into the design of the console and its controllers. As a result of developers’ efforts, Microsoft had about 20 games ready when the Xbox became available. By contrast, the GameCube had only eight games available. Microsoft online strategy was another feature that differentiated of the Xbox from the GameCube. Whereas Nintendo had no immediate plans for Web-based play, the Xbox came equipped with an Ethernet port for broadband access to Internet. Microsoft also announced its own Web-based network on which gamers can come together for online head-to head play and for organised online matches and tournaments. Subscribers to this service were to pay a small monthly fee and must have high-speed access to the Internet. This is a potential drawback considering that a very low percentage of households world over currently have broadband connections. By contrast Sony promoted an open network, which allows software developers to manage their own games, including associated fees charged to users. However, interested players must purchase a network adapter for an additional $39. 99. Although game companies are not keen on the prospect of submitting to the control of a Microsoft-controlled network, it would require a significant investment for them to manage their own service on the Sony based network. Initially the price of Microsoft’s Xbox was $299. Prior to the introduction of Xbox, in a competitive move Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 2 to $299. Nintendo’s GameCube already enjoyed a significant price advantage, as it was selling for $100 less than either Microsoft or Sony products. Gamers eagerly snapped up the new consoles and made 2001 the best year ever for video game sales. For the first time, consumers spent $9. 4 billion on video game equipment, which was more than they did at the box office. By the end of 2001 holiday season, 6. 6 million PlayStation 2 consoles had been sold in North America alone, followed by 1. 5 million Xbox units and 1. 2 million Game Cubes. What ensued was an all out price war. This started when Sony decided to put even more pressure on the Microsoft’s Xbox by cutting the PlayStation 2 price to $199. Microsoft quickly matched that price. Wanting to maintain its low-price status, Nintendo in turn responded by reducing the price of its the GameCube by $50, to $149. By mid 2002, Microsoft Xbox had sold between 3. 5 and 4 million units worldwide. However, Nintendo had surpassed Xbox sales by selling 4. 5 million Game Cubes. Sony had the benefit of healthy head start, and had shipped 32 million PlayStation 2s. However, seven years after the introduction of original PlayStation, it was being sold in retail outlets for a mere $49. It had a significant lead in terms of numbers of units in homes around the world with a 43 per cent share. Nintendo 64 was second with 30 per cent, followed by Sony PlayStation 2 with 14 per cent The Xbox and GameCube each claimed about 3 per cent of the market, with Sega Dreamcast comprising the last and least market share of 4. 7 per cent. Sega, once an industry leader, announced in 2001 that it had decided to stop producing the Dreamcast and other video game hardware components. The company said it would develop games for its competitors’ consoles. Thus Sega slashed the price of the Dreamcast to just $99 in an effort to liquidate its piled up inventory of more than 2 million units and immediately began developing 11 new games for the Xbox, four for PlayStation 2, and three for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. As the prices of video game consoles have dropped, consoles and games have become the equivalent of razors and blades. This means the consoles generate little if any profit, but the games are a highly profitable proposition. The profit margins on games are highly attractive, affected to some degree by whether the content is developed by the console maker (such as Sony) or by an independent game publisher (such as Electronic Arts). Thus, the competition to develop appealing, or perhaps even addictive, games may be even more intense than the battle among players to produce the best console. In particular, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft want games that are exclusive to their own systems. With that in mind, they not only rely on large in-house staffs that design games but they also pay added fees to independent publishers for exclusive rights to new games. The sales of video games in 2001 rose to 43 per cent, compared to just 4 per cent increase for computer-based games. But computer game players are believed to be a loyal bunch, as they see many advantages in playing games on their computers rather than consoles. For one thing, they have a big advantage of having access to a mouse and a keyboard that allow them to play far more sophisticated games. In addition, they have been utilizing the Internet for years to receive game updates and modifications and to play each other over the Web. Sony and Microsoft are intent on capturing a portion of the online gaming opportunity. Even Nintendo has decided to make available a modem that will allow GameCube users to play online. As prices continue to fall and technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, it remains to be seen whether these three companies can keep their names on the industry’s list of â€Å"high scorers†. Questions 1. Considering the concept of product life cycle, where would you put video games in their life cycle? 2. Should video game companies continue to alter their products to include other functions, such as e-mail? END OF SECTION B Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks). 1. What is meant by sales promotion? Describe briefly the various methods of sales promotional tools used by business organizations to boost the sales. Explain any four methods of sales promotion? 2. Write notes on the fowling : a) Explain right to safety. b) What is right to consumer protection? END OF SECTION C.