Case Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Case Analysis - Assignment Example warrant of habitability that apartment leased is fit and habitable for human habitation (Implied Warranty of Habitability: http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/implied-warranty-of-habitability-lawyers.html). There has been a violation of this implied warrant when the roof started leaking and the Lessor made no effort to repair the same. 2. The action of Violet is justified. The tenant has a right under the doctrine of Constructive Eviction to terminate the lease contract for the apartment has become unsuitable for the purpose for which it was leased. â€Å"Under this doctrine the tenant is given the right to vacate the lease without further rent obligation, if she does so promptly after giving the landlord reasonable notice and opportunity to correct the problem.† (Mallor, Barnes. Brewers & Langvardt; Business Law: The Ethica, Global, and E- Commmerce Environment 13th ed. McGraw –Hill companies 2007 p.

Employment Laws and HRM Strategy Essay Example for Free

Employment Laws and HRM Strategy Essay Describe the scenario that you have selected and its corresponding employment laws. The human resource scenario the writer selected is the need for seasonal employees who may be from another country. Employment laws for the state of Mississippi will be a base used to solve this issue. Mississippi Wage and Hour Laws from the Employment Law Handbook insures that seasonal workers are provided with a minimum wage, meals and breaks, vacation, sick leave, severance and holidays. Mississippi currently does not have any state laws requiring or regulating these requests. Mississippi uses federal guidelines as a base for establishing employment laws. The federal law as of today requires a minimum wage of 7.25 dollars. The federal law for overtime is also followed by Mississippi. Meals and breaks according to federal law are not defined. Breaks taken by an employee that are less than twenty minutes must be paid and lunch breaks thirty minutes or more do not need to be paid as long as an employee can do whatever he or she likes during this period according to the Department of Labor. Vacation leave is determined to the employer since Mississippi legislature does not have any established guidelines on this matter. Sick leave, Severance pay and holidays are all determined by an employer in the state of Mississippi due to established laws in this state (Mississippi Wage and Hour Laws, 2012). In August of 2012 Mississippi held a committee meeting on immigration reform. Governor Phil Bryant wanted to reaffirm a law preventing undocumented immigrants from recovering public benefits. The Mississippi Senate will have to take into consideration the United States Supreme Court rulings and federal appeals when drafting Mississippi legislature for immigration laws. The Mississippi state immigration law would have to comply with E-Verify laws and constitutional laws are not violated. President Barack Obama passed a deportation deferral to immigrants earlier this year but states can pass their own immigration reform laws such as Arizona and Alabama (Cherry, 2012). The United States Department of Labor established an act called The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act or (MSPA) in order to protect these types of workers. The act protects employment related migrant and seasonal workers. The MSPA ensures that each nonexempt farm contractor and agricultural seasonal association disclose their terms and conditions of employment to each migrant worker. The terms and conditions of employment must be explained to the migrant and seasonal worker at the time of recruitment (Department of Labor, 2012). The job must description must also explain worker protection, amount of wages due to a migrant worker and provide an itemized statement of earnings and deductions (Department of Labor, 2012). The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act also guide housing and transportation. The federal guide line ensures that housing and transportation provided meets federal and state guidelines with proper licensure and insurance which is enforced by the wage and hour division. The federal guidelines require records must be kept for at least three years which includes name, permanent addresses and social security numbers (Department of Labor, 2012). The Fair Labor Standards Act or (FLSA) requires that workers on large farms are paid minimum wage but they are excluded from overtime premium pay. The FLSA prevents children under the age of sixteen from working during school hours and working certain jobs deemed too dangerous. Children that are employed on their families’ farm are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (Department of Labor, 2012). The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) require employers that want to use foreign temporary workers with H-2A visas get a labor certificate from the Employment and Training Administration. The certificate ensures that there are not enough able, willing and qualified United State workers available to do the work. The Immigration and Nationality Act standard of the H-2A program is enforced by the wage and hour division (Department of Labor, 2012). Recommend a plan to manage the HRM situation within the confines of the law. Justify your approach to your scenario to HR management. The human resource management plan the writer recommends would be based on performance. Job performance and task performance represents what an employee contributes to an organization that employs them. Migrant workers would benefit from this type of grading system if the work performance is factory based. Task performance is the product of employees performing actions leading to the production of raw materials into goods and services. Studies have been performed to show job performance management provides feedback and measurement improves employee performance leading to better organizational performance (Stewart, Brown, 2011). The writer believes migrant workers may show citizenship behavior. Employees often show citizenship behavior by going the extra mile for the company, volunteering for special projects, following organizational procedures even if they are not convenient for the employee and defending the business where the employee works (Stewart, Brown, 2012). The writer would focus on counterproductive behavior before it starts. Counterproductive behavior is behavior from an employee that is harmful to a business. An employee can exhibit two types of counterproductive behavior: 1) production deviance 2) property deviance occurs when employee sabotage equipment, destroys materials and products and misuse expense accounts. The counterproductive behavior can also be extended to gossiping about coworkers and showing favoritism. The writer would create a manual of policies and procedures explaining how this behavior is prohibited and have disciplinary consequences set in place if this behavior is exhibited. The writer would not use performance appraisals as much. The main goal would be to give feedback to an employee and listen to any problems they may be having. State how a competitive advantage may be gained by ensuring HRM practices meet the necessary employment laws. A competitive advantage can be gained by ensuring human resource strategies are followed. A company must have an employee handbook, benefits package, job descriptions and a payroll system in place to ensure human resource strategies are at an advantage to the company. The steps above can be followed also to keep in compliance with legal employment issues. Laws and regulations are important to ensure equal rights to disabled worker, employment eligibility for migrant workers with the use of an I-9 form, drug screening and work place harassment. A competitive strategy can lead to effective human resource department and a successful business (Managing Employees, 2012). Speculate what might happen if the situation was not handled in accordance with the appropriate employment laws. A business that does not follow employment laws can face state and federal criminal charges. A business can avoid costly law suits by following laws to ensure employees are treated fairly. A company’s compliance can save money that would be used to repair a damaged reputation. Specific laws protect employees from immutable characteristics such as sex, race, age and religion. Characteristics such as tattoos, nose piercings and long hair are not covered by federal and state laws. State laws can set a basis by not discriminating against marital status or sexual orientation and may not conflict with federal laws. The writer speculates that if state and federal discrimination laws are broken a company can face many damaging hardships (Stewart, Brown, 2012). References Cherry, Daniel (2012). Lawmakers Gearing Up for Immigrant Reform Battle Retrieved from http:www.mpbonline.org on November 18, 2012 Stewart, G., Brown, K. (2011). Human resource management (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Managing Employees (2012). Retrieved from http:www.mississippi.org on November 18, 2012 Mississippi Wage and Hour Laws (2012). Employment Law Handbook, Retrieved from http:www.employmenthandbook.com on November 18, 2012 The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection, (2012) Department of Labor Retrieved from http:www.dol.gov on November 18, 2012

The Effects Of Violence In Media On Society Today Essay -- essays rese

Is societies violence the media’s fault? This is the question that has been asked since before television was in every American’s house. Of course there are the different types of media today ranging from newspapers, to on-line reports and stories. There have been arguments upon arguments about this issue, and over 3,000 studies conducted. Unfortunately there isn’t one single result, there is only an array of supposed answers to this undying question. CBS president, Howard Stringer is pointing to a different scapegoat for society’s violence. â€Å"I come from a country †¦ that puts a lot of American movies on and has more graphic violence within it’s live drama on the BBC than anywhere else, and there is a lot less violence in the United Kingdom than there is here. There are 200 million guns in America, and that has a lot to do with violence.† He feels it has to do with gun control, which others have suggested. But there are so many violent acts, that one can’t focus on the guns, just like one can’t focus on the media. David Phillips, one of the men we discuss later put it perfectly, â€Å"It’s like watching rain fall on a pond and trying to figure out which drop causes which ripple.†There have been many studies conducted on the effects of violence on children, and on the effects on society as a whole. There have been about 3,000 studies performed on this topic. Two of the most prolific studies were the UCLA Television Violence Monitoring Report, and the Mediascope, Inc. test sponsored by the National Cable Television Association. Of course there were many other studies done, but these made headlines because of their results. The UCLA study focused on all of the television media, and discovered some interesting facts from their study. Prime Time Series raised the least concern. Theatrical films raised more concern and had a lot more violence. The Saturday morning cartoons had mixed reviews. 23% of the cartoons raised concern, but that was only rating the most popular cartoons: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men, etc. They termed the action in cartoons as â€Å"Sinister Combat Violence† which basically means the whole story line leads to violence.Mediascope, Inc. focused on the amount and context on cable, effectiveness of rating systems and parental advisories, and the success of anti-violent messages. They found that perpetrators go unpunished in 73% of all viole... ...ciety. And when we read about violence, it only reinforces what we know.† People have become used to seeing violence on television, but this has become somewhat surreal to them. They don’t think of it as reality until it happens to them. â€Å"When violence happens to people or their family, they become eyewitnesses to this violence. They have personal experiences – compassion sensitivity, fear. People haven’t lost that.†We have covered a huge amount of information about the effect of violence in media on society. Did we answer the question though? I don’t think we did, but I do think that the answer is making progress. We are also a lot more informed now of what exactly is in the media right now, and what studies have shown to be happening. There has always been an issue of something effecting society, and there will always be a plentitude of scapegoats. What is the actual answer though? No one seems to have it. There is a lot of gray area, but society seems to be making this more of a black and white issue. Will the government ever really take action? Does action need to be taken? Hopefully after reading this, one is more educated on the difficulty in answering these questions.

Brain Abnormalities and Schizophrenia

The real etiology of schizophrenia is still a dream despite massive studies on the involvement of the brain. Studies of the brain through neuroimaging have revealed that frontal cortex, temporal lobe, and sub cortical structures are involved. Some of abnormalities in the brain of schizophrenic patients include enlarged ventricles, reduced volume of frontal cortex, temporal lobe cortex, and sub cortical structures like com/psychology-exam-3/">hippocampus and amygdala. These abnormalities have been persistently reported in schizophrenic patients and this shows that they are not functioning inadequately.Some of these abnormalities are present at the start and some even before the onset of psychosis and this is in support of neurodevelopment of theory of schizophrenia. The key neurotransmitter in schizophrenia is dopamine; however, there are others such as serotonin and glutamate which are also thought to play a role. Schizophrenia is an inherited condition, although genetic research has not come up with a clear conclusion on this matter may be because of the complexity of genetic involvement.Despite the fact that brain abnormalities are still not very clear in schizophrenia, the evidence is continuously pilling and this is driving towards a complicated disease of the brain network that is affected by genetically mediated developmental abnormality. Introduction Neuropathologists have been involved in research on schizophrenia for about hundred years. Despite the length of the research, the neuropathogy of the disorder is still not clear.Although they have made some steps in their quest since the beginning when they believed that it was a functional psychosis without structural basis, the main cause of the chronic disorder is still illusive. With the technological advancement in science, researchers have come to a common finding in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and the common finding is brain abnormalities. These discoveries have made the researchers to wond er if the cause of schizophrenia is brain abnormalities and how the abnormalities arise.Despite recovery of some brain abnormalities in patients suffering from schizophrenia, most scientists maintained that some of the abnormalities realized are quite slight and some of them are not common in all schizophrenic patients and to occur exclusively in people with schizophrenia. Although these patients have structural pathologies in their brains, the developed abnormalities do not coincide with the disease duration. Some of the abnormalities realized remain the same throughout the development of the disease (Bhogal, 2002).Understanding of the abnormalities of the brain in schizophrenia is among the challenges currently facing the medical community. The numerous symptoms associated with schizophrenia points at the involvement of various regions of the brain or even a widespread of network or system. Conventional approaches of neurological disorders such as lesion studies or post mortem exa minations have defied efforts to understand the brain pathology in schizophrenia. Just like other fields of medicine, luck and destiny have help make major steps in discoveries like dopamine theory and anti psychotics which are used in the management of the disorder.Modern research in neuroscience such as neuroimaging has aided in improving the foundation knowledge of the disorder and has sustained the hope that complete understanding of the disorder will be realized in the future. In this paper, I am going to summarize the major brain abnormalities found in schizophrenia through neuroimaging (Haren, 2004). Just like other complicated diseases, there are numerous theories on schizophrenia as compared to facts. The initially neurodevelopment theory points at abnormalities in fetal brain development as the cause of the failure of brain functions in early adulthood.A series of information such as increased rate of obstetric complications, minor physical abnormalities, neurologic mild s igns, and slight behavioral abnormalities in children who later suffer from schizophrenia. This model is quite relevant to the development of schizophrenia in particular but also for other neuropsychiatric disorders (Bhogal, 2002). The major drawback of this model is that the prevalence of these signs in the non affected population is quite substantial therefore the positive predictive value in the development of schizophrenia is not convincing.The disease usually begins at adolescent or early childhood and early adulthood and this indicates brain maturational problem during that time or before the appearance of psychosis. Excessive synaptic or dendritic pruning during the time of onset of the disorder has been suggested as one of the potential mechanism explaining the onset of psychosis in adolescent or in early childhood, although the biology underlying this stage is still not very clear (Lawrie & Abukmeil, 1998).Neurodegenerative model is based on active biologic processes th at may be going on during the prodromal period or the usually prolonged period of untreated psychosis. Development of the disorder is also linked to environmental factors such as illicit drug use and psychosocial stress which are considered as potential secondary triggers which may be accompanying the beginning and the start of schizophrenia. The initial researchers believed that schizophrenia is associated with brain pathology.Emergence of imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography scanning (CTS) have seriously contributed to the detailed study of the brain. Through computed tomography brain abnormalities such as enlarged ventricles and reduced total brain volume have been reported in schizophrenic individuals and these findings were later confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (Bhogal, 2002). Studies of the brain structures have also been made easy through improvement in segmentation techniques coupled with the use of MRI.These techniques can be used to identify grey from white matter and measuring of their volume. These also contributed to a more focused investigations of specific regions of the brain such as temporal, frontal lobes, and subcortical structures. Some of the consistent findings in these regions include alteration in structures such as hippocampus, amygdala, superior temporal gyrus, and platinum temporale (Lawrie & Abukmeil, 1998).Lateral temporal neocortical areas where primary auditory and auditory associations are located are the places of interest in schizophrenia since they are involved in thought processes. Most of the studies in the superior temporal gyrus in schizophrenic patients have always discovered reduced volumes of grey matter in the initial stages of the disorder together with those individuals who are genetically at risk of developing schizophrenia such as offspring of schizophrenic patients.Other structures of the brain which have also been reported to be abnormally small in schiz ophrenic patients include medial temporal structures such as hippocampus, amygdala, and parahippocampus gyri. These structures are also reported to be altered in other psychiatric disorders like mood disorders and post traumatic stress disorder (Lawrie & Abukmeil, 1998). Injuries sustained at the time of birth such as anoxia may be associated to hippocampus reduction and this is possibly due to neurodevelopmental abnormality.The finding is also common among concordant twins who had birth injuries. Medial temporal volume reductions have been discovered in people who are genetically at risk of developing schizophrenia. Reductions in the grey matter in the temporal regions of the brain have also been observed in people who are classified as having prodromal features of schizophrenia who have later on developed psychotic symptoms during the follow up (Haren, 2004). The highly developed region of the brain in man is the frontal lobe.It is involved in the modulations of higher brain f unctions such as planning, attention, and working memory. Behavioral and cognitive deficits like lack of motivation, defects in executive functions, Wisconsin card score sorting test and spatial working memory points at frontal lobe functional abnormalities in schizophrenic patients (Lawrie, 1999). Decreased blood flow to the frontal lobe is a common finding in schizophrenia. Despite the fact that this finding is not consisted, it can also be attributed to the complex nature of the region, it has been observed though quite slight.Basal ganglia which contain caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus are involved in information processing in the cortical and subcortical networks involved in integration of cognition, emotion, and motor function. These structures have been reported to be enlarged in patients using the conventional antipsychotics and this can lead to a conclusion that dopamine blockades causes an increase in volume of the above structures. Psychosis patients who have not use d any antipsychotics are reported to have a smaller caudate volume which implies that caudate may be involved in the development of psychoses.Thalamus acts as the regulatory board for sensory signals and has reciprocal connections to the frontal lobe. It has been suggested that the connections between these two structures are associated with schizophrenia. Thalamus is a bit difficult to measure using MRI, although the findings are inconsistent, smaller thalamus have always been reported in schizophrenic patients. Other anatomic abnormalities in schizophrenia include corpus callosum which is altered both in shape and structure therefore disruption in the integration between the hemispheres.In most humans, brain functions are lateralized with the left cerebrum being dominantly involved in language. There are proposals that developmental abnormalities of language, peculiar functions of the human beings, and its lateralization which is genetically mediated may be one of the causes of sc hizophrenia (Bhogal, 2002). Temporal lobe findings of smaller superior temporal gyrus and hippocampus have been reported to be in the left cerebrum and loss of normal asymmetry of the left superior temporal gyrus being a bit larger that the right has been reported in patients suffering from schizophrenia (Staal et.al, 2000). In the meta analysis study of laterality in schizophrenia, the researchers who were involved in this study concluded that there is a strong proof for decreased cerebral lateralization in schizophrenia more so in the language cortex. We can therefore summarize that structural imaging studies have discovered evidence of extensive anatomic alterations in the brain regions of schizophrenic patients.The regions highly altered in these patients include those mediating higher mental functions like thought, cognition, effect, and language both early in the illness and those at risks of developing the disorder like children born to schizophrenic patients (Haren, 2004). S ynapses and susceptibility genes Neuroimaging studies are in support of the possibility of neurodevelopmental abnormality in schizophrenia, neuronal, molecular, and neurochemical mechanisms underlying these brain abnormalities are not conclusive.High profile neuropathologic studies have revealed losses in synapse density and relatively normal or elevated neuronal numbers in schizophrenia, which indicates that the main defect may be synapse integrity. This discovery has elicited search for genes that may be associated with synapse integrity by the use of DNA microarray techniques. Post mortem findings on the patients with schizophrenia revealed under expression of a family of synapse related genes (Bhogal, 2002). Genetic factors are the main factors listed as being associated with schizophrenia, however the exact genes involved in susceptibility is still a puzzle.Although the initial studies on finding these genes was not successful, current studies have implicated several genes in t he development of schizophrenia and some of the genes include dysbindin-1, neuregulin-1, d-amino acid oxidase, its activator DAOA, and the regulator of G protein signaling 4. Recent proposals indicated that synapses, especially glutamatergic ones might be the site of initial abnormalities in schizophrenia with downstream disruption of neural circuitry and subsequent effect on other neurotransmitters (Lawrie, 1999). ConclusionsIt has become clear that the early scientists were right in their suspicion that the brain is involved in schizophrenia. This evidence cannot be disputed despite the fact that there is no comprehensive information on the etiology and pathophysiology of the disorder. The brain abnormalities in schizophrenia appear to be distributed in extensive areas supporting the fact that schizophrenia is a disorder associated with brain connections. We are still very far from understanding some of the major neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.The mo lecular, physiologic, and neurochemical mechanisms underlying schizophrenia continues to evade our findings. Recent research on the disorder acts as the foundations for future fundamental discoveries on the nature of schizophrenia. References: Bhogal, B. (2002). Physical Brain Abnormality a Possible Cause of Schizophrenia. Retrieved on May 6, 2010 from http://serendip. brynmawr. edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web1/bbhogal. html Haren, N. E. M. (2004). Brain abnormalities in schizophrenia: longitudinal and genetic aspects.Quebec: s. n. Lawrie, S. (Jan. 4, 1999). â€Å"Risk Of Schizophrenia Onset Linked To Brain Abnormalities. † The Lancet. Lawrie, S. M. & Abukmeil, S. S. (1998). â€Å"Brain abnormality in schizophrenia. A systematic and quantitative review of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies. † The British Journal of Psychiatry 172. Staal, G. S. et. al. (2000). â€Å"Structural Brain Abnormalities in Patients With Schizophrenia and Their Healthy Siblings. † American Journal of Psychiatry, 157.

Marketing Executive Skills

Axiom steel (PVT) Ltd is a privately owned steel re-rolling firm which consists of three units and is located within the industrial zone at the outskirts of the city. Two of the firm’s units are automatic which produce wire rods & whose end users are the wire & electrode manufacturers. The third is a manually operated unit producing reinforced steel, the end use of which is for construction purposes. The Chief Executive Officer, who is also the owner of the firm, sits at the firm’s head office which is located 25 kilometers away from the production units in the heart of the city. Axiom Steel is currently facing all time huge losses, which the CEO thinks is due to the firm’s production planning deficiency, under /restricted use of the firm’s capacity and ability & poor marketing strategies.   The CEO thinks he needs a good marketing individual who can market his products and can bring business to the company and only then can the company survive, other wise the firm is heading for a shut out which can result in not only a dented reputation for the owner & business loss but also several individuals who are related to the firm, losing their jobs. After through screening and interviews,   the firm hires a new individual at the post of assistant manager marketing whose main goal is to identify the loop holes in the company’s marketing and planning infrastructure and boost sales by formulating proper strategies thus helping Axiom Steel mills, which now poses to be a sinking ship. The newly appointed Assistant Manager visits the various departments of the firm which includes all three units, their production technicians, marketing representatives, quality control and the firm’s ware house. A thorough marketing strategy discussion with the individuals and after discussing results in following points being put forward for analyses:- There is no proper marketing department of the firm, the individuals that are so-called marketing people are actually being used for follow up of the orders, which are netted by the company’s CEO and then transferred to the production floor. These individuals are being paid at price which is far below the prevailing market prices for individuals working under such capacities and are working for the firm since a very very long time. A through interview also reveals that most of the marketing individuals do not posses a recognized degree in Marketing and are working on bases of sheer experience. The production planning is being done in the head office without consulting the production capabilities with the production technicians. The production planning is carried out by the CEO himself with the team he calls his â€Å"marketing team†. Since the CEO seldom visits the production mills and depends purely on the information presented to him by the â€Å"marketing team†; he is un-aware of the ground realities; often, orders are being shipped out late, which are resulting in customer losing faith and looking for other vendor options. There is a communication gap between the head office and the Mill’s Production Management resulting in delay in production planning and preparation of the orders at mill’s end. This gap is also due to the fact that the CEO held the powers to make decisions and enforce to his management. The CEO belongs to an older generation which is reluctant to learn new methods of communications such as the internet (Although the facility is available for use). The fastest method of communication for the CEO is the communication via Fax and Telex. Sales of wire rods are restricted to wire and electrode manufacturers only and thus sometimes, there came a time when the units often faced shut downs due to lack of orders! The two Automatic units which are producing wire rods are also capable of producing reinforced steel for construction but this capability is not being utilized and the units are restricted to production of Wire rods only. This is also a reason for late shipments as bottle necks are being produced and the load is not shifted from one production unit to another which is capable but not being utilized of producing the same product. The CEO is therefore correct in pointing out this issue as one of the reasons for current losses. After looking at above problems, following strategies are being proposed: The company should adopt a proper marketing strategy for its firm. This includes injecting fresh blood in the marketing team, those individuals who are capable of taking the company beyond a certain level. This means certain over hauling of the marketing machinery. The CEO must realize that if he wants the business turn over to increase; he must then look after and take care of his people well†¦ In fact a policy of profit sharing should be introduced where the marketing individuals are given a certain %age of commission over their efforts to bring new business to the firm. If not, then the rate of payment must be increased for the individuals who have lost motivation in working for the company because of the poor compensation for their work. There should be a separate production planning department whose specialization should be the planning of order executions at mills. These individuals will provide the correct idea to the marketing individuals and the CEO regarding the timeline of orders from raw material stage to the shipment Ex-Factory. Each marketing individual should be provided with at-least a desktop computer work station with internet facility and designated individual email IDs which they lack today. This will help the marketing individuals to concentrate on marketing and transfer order execution information from their firm to the customer. Internet excess will also help the marketing people to search for new potential markets and fetching customers, also not to forget faster communication The CEO must realize that if he wants the business to grow, then he must delegate authorities to the individuals working under him as with the increase of business, a phase will come where he cannot handle things on his own. The CEO must introduce a layer of Management which includes Top Management consisting of himself and his reporting General Managers, Middle Management of Managers and Assistant Managers reporting to the GM and the work staff that will be reporting to the Middle Management. This delegation of authorities and creation of Management chain will not only help in quicker decision making but also in fluent transfer of orders from top level to down. These are the points which are basics for an improvement in the marketing structure and in the communication and centralized decision making problem which the marketing department is facing within the firm. These together with a few production related issues highlighted above, if addressed will result in better performance. If successful, more recommendations for improvement will be forwarded for perusal.         

Quiz Week 7 Essay Example

Quiz Week 7 Essay Example Quiz Week 7 Paper Quiz Week 7 Paper Essay Topic: Literature Question 1: Why does Scheherazade in The Thousand and One Nights tell her husband a story each night? Q1 Answer:To prevent execution the next morning Question 2: Why did the Spanish Jews welcome the Muslim invasion? Q2 Answer:The Visigoth rulers had persecuted them Question 3:Why did Mohammad allow Muslim men to have up to four wives? Q3 Answer: To provide protective charity Question 4: Why did Mohammad leave Mecca for Medina in 622? Q4 Answer: Meccas leadership was displeased with him Question 5: Why was the Kaaba significant to the Bedouins? Q5 Answer: It housed images of their gods Question 6: Why was Islam able to spread so quickly after Muhammads death? Q6 Answer: A long war had exhausted the Byzantine and the Persian empires Question 7: Why was Mecca important to the Bedouin traders? Q7 Answer: It had natural springs Question 8: Why does an author use a framing tale? Q8 Answer: To unite different stories Question 9: Why are practitioners of Islams mystical branch called Sufi (from the Arabic suf)? Q9 Answer: They write intense metaphorical poetry Question 10: Why do Muslims decorate their mosques without figurative images? Q10 Answer: Mohammad warned that image makers would face punishment at Judgment Question 11: Why did Hildegard of Bingen believe her plainchant brought heaven and earth together? A11 Answer: Her extremes of register created soaring arches Question 12: In the Song of Roland, why are the Saracens able to ambush Rolands army? Q12 Answer: Roland is betrayed by Ganelon Question 13: What was the main task of Christian missionaries in England? Q13 Answer: To transfer the peoples allegiance from their king to God Question 14: What medieval cult is connected to the courtly love literature? Q14 Answer: The Cult of the Virgin Question 15: Why was the Book of Kells moved from Iona off the Scottish coast to Kells in Ireland? Q15 Answer: To protect it from Vikings threatening the Scottish coast Question 16: What leads to Rolands death in the Song of Roland? Q16 Answer: His sense of pride Question 17: What pilgrimage destination was most difficult to reach? Q17 Answer: Jerusalem Question 18: What effect was the space created by the Romanesque churches barrel vaults designed to produce for the pilgrims? Q18 Answer: Raise their eyes and direct their thoughts toward heaven Question 19: Why was the wergeld (life-price) of a thane higher than that of a thrall? Q19 Answer: Thralls were slaves Question 20: Why does Beowulf travel from Denmark to Sweden? Q20 Answer: To kill the monster Grendel Question 21: Why is the Jesse tree a common stained-glass motif? Q21 Answer: It establishes Marys royal lineage from King David Question 22: On whose relationship was the popular poem the Roman de la Rose based? Q22 Answer: Peter Abelard and Heloise Question 23: Why was Jean, duke of Berry in the fifteenth century, the wealthiest man in Europe? Q23 Answer: His subjects paid the highest taxes in all of Europe Question 24: Why was Saint Denis not completed during Sugers lifetime? Q24 Answer: Louis VII left for the Crusades and withdrew funding Question 25: What two subjects did Scholasticism seek to reconcile? Q25 Answer: Christian faith and classical reason Question 26: What musical instrument became popular in the cathedrals? Q26 Answer: The organ Question 27: Who designed the Abbey of Saint-Deniss renovation and thus began the Gothic style? Q27 Answer: Abbot Suger Question 28: Why did Pisano sculpt his Mary, Sister of Moses, which sits on the Siena Cathedral, to lean forward? Q28 Answer: So the viewers below could see her face Question 29: According to the chapters Continuity and Change section, what exploration was a driving force in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries? Q29 Answer: The meaning of being human Question 30: On whose method did Peter Abelard base his teaching? Q30 Answer: Socrates Question 31: As reported in the chapters Continuity and Change section, whose 1804 Imperial Decree on Burials created the idea of a cemetery as a kind of landscape garden? Q31 Answer: Emperor Napoleon of France Question 32: Why was Dante Alighieri exiled from Florence? Q32 Answer: For failing to mend a political schism Question 33: Why does Virgil guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory? Q33 Answer: Virgil represented the embodiment of reason Question 34: According to the chapters Continuity and Change section, what was a positive effect of the bubonic plague? Q34 Answer: Per capita wealth increased Question 35: Why is the camel in Giottos Adoration of the Magi not exactly realistic? Q35 Answer: It has blue eyes Question 36: In what area of Italy are Siena and Florence located? Q36 Answer: Tuscany Question 37: What is an advantage of the buon fresco (paint on wet plaster) technique? Q37 Answer: The paint becomes part of the wall Question 38: What was the Florentine bankers most important invention? Q38 Answer: Europes first single currency Question 39: On what trade was Florences wealth based? Q39 Answer: Textiles Question 40: In the Arena Chapel frescoes, what is Giotto the first artist since antiquity to depict? Q40 Answer: People from behind

Strategic Procurement Management Essays

Strategic Procurement Management Essays Strategic Procurement Management Essay Strategic Procurement Management Essay The traditional purchasing methods of procuring materials and services have evolved over the last 20 years and to-day is often referred to as Supply Chain Management. The simple definition of supply chain management is the integration of all organisations involved in supporting the customer with a quality product utilising inventory in the most effective and efficient manner. This concept is vague because it embraces a number of procedures and policies within an organisational structure and senior executives in many corporations often fail to understand the important role of the supply chain function This paper will attempt to answer the questions posed by J.R. Electronics, a Scottish electronics company established in the 1980s who feel that that a new competitive advantage must be developed to maintain the companys position as a market leader. The management of the company have identified the four key strategic procurement activities of location and liaison with world class suppliers, global sourcing, E-commerce and a lean or agile approach to procurement as key initiatives that they believe will form the basis of their ongoing advantage. In writing this paper I have assumed that J.R. Electronics are a medium sized company with limited experience in strategic procurement activities. 1. Location and liaison with world class suppliers. J.R. Electronics must attempt to understand what the definition of a world-class supplier is before they begin to re-engineer their current procurement processes. The common answer to this question by both buyers and suppliers is that to attain world-class status a supplier will offer outstanding performance in price, quality and delivery (Tim Minahan, 1998). Terry A. Carlson, Vice President of Purchasing for the Maytag Corporation argues, that to be considered as world-class a supplier must possess the following 3 characteristics: 1. A formal (and demonstrable) company wide effort to continually improve products and processes. 2. The ability and willingness to align, products, processes and business strategies with customers for mutual success. 3. The proven ability to be an industry leader in developing new technologies and products. Genuine world-class suppliers share a common vision of continual improvement and a commitment to continually improve both their products and their processes. Continuous improvement is a way of life from the shop floor worker to the managing director. The senior management of J.R. Electronics should not underestimate the task of identifying world-class suppliers to compliment their supply base. The process of selection will require a number of meetings to determine if the potential supplier is genuine in its quest for customer excellence and is capable of meeting all of their clearly defined expectations. J.R Electronics will need to consider the following points during the selection of a prospective world-class supplier. 1. Is the supplier committed to continuous improvement? Do they have a formal process to achieve year on year improvements? 2. Are they a technology leader within their market sector? 3. How adaptable are they and are they willing to invest in new equipment as they develop new technologies? J.R. Electronics must also recognise the need to develop the relationship through mutual trust and respect. Working with a world-class supplier should be considered a long-term partnership as opposed to a short-term arrangement. They must clearly define their expectations and measure the performance to their targets and be prepared to offer assistance when required. More importantly J.R. Electronics must be prepared to reward good performance. This can be in the form of long-term contracts and the sharing of cost savings. 2. A move from international to global sourcing To maintain a competitive advantage in the market place J.R. Electronics need to consider supply management strategies that will include long-term global supplier partnerships that extend beyond the traditional buyer-seller relationships into a multi-tiered world wide network. The term international sourcing has largely been replaced with the broader philosophy global sourcing which has been defined by (Monczka and Trent, 1991) as the integration and coordination of procurement requirements across worldwide business units, looking at common items, processes, technologies and suppliers. They also distinguish international and global sourcing by recognising that international is lack of coordination of requirements between worldwide business units. The evolution to global supply management can be broken down into three distinct stages. * Stage One: International Purchasing J.R. Electronics will focus on increasing volumes, minimising prices and managing their inventory costs. These are key characteristics of an organisation first entering the global sourcing arena. * Stage Two: Global Sourcing At this stage J.R. Electronics will place more emphasis on supplier capability, supporting production strategies and servicing customer markets. * Stage Three: Global Supply Management J.R. Electronics will optimise their supply networks through effective logistics and capacity management. Risks are minimised at this point and suppliers can be considered strategic partners. Corporations at this stage are sourcing for technology leadership. The main benefits to be gained from adopting a global sourcing strategy are as follows: 1. By adopting a global sourcing policy buyers will be able to purchase parts cheaper in other parts of the world. This is as a result of cheaper labour rates, lower overheads, lower raw material costs, higher productivity and reduced transportation costs. 2. Sourcing on a global basis will increase the number of potential suppliers to select from. Increased competition will make it easier to form reliable long-term partnerships with suppliers of potentially low cost materials. 3. Improved lead times due to increased availability of parts. 4. Technology is often more advanced and it is quite possible to obtain the latest technology from a global source. 5. The quality of parts purchased globally is often higher than those bought on the domestic market. The main problems that J.R. Electronics may encounter with global sourcing are: 1. Cultural issues that can cause problems due to differences in business etiquette and spoken language. This can lead to misunderstandings that potentially hinder and prolong the negotiation process. 2. Legal systems differ from country to country and this can lead to considerable problems. Intellectual property theft is currently a major problem in The Far East particularly in countries such as China and Taiwan. 3. Global sourcing can lead to difficulties when dealing with foreign currencies. Exchange rate fluctuations often impact the actual price paid for parts, 4. Logistics and more importantly the transportation of parts due to the availability and reliability of freight forwarders although most major international freight companies including BAX Global, Danzas and Schenker have all established local offices and hubs on a worldwide basis. Many major corporations have successfully implemented global sourcing strategies and these include: Motorola, IBM, Volkswagen and Dell. 3. E-Commerce approach to procurement. Technological advancement in the field of information technology coupled with the growth of the Internet and particularly The World Wide Web has led to many companies shifting away from paper based, people intensive purchasing processes to electronic buying methods. It is assumed that J.R. Electronics have had little or no exposure to e-commerce and are not fully aware of the potential benefits to be gained by adopting this strategy. The benefits of e-commerce do not come without a cost. There is the initial investment required to purchase the necessary hardware and software. The implementation process requires substantial resource to revise the internal business processes that will include system integration and employee training. J.R. Electronics may wish to hire an I.T. consultant who is fully conversant in the installation of a web based system to ensure that every aspect of the project is planned thoroughly in advance of the implementation. It is also critical that senior management of the company communicate these changes effectively as employees generally feel threatened with the introduction of new technology. Advantages of E-commerce * Cost reduction is achieved as efficiency improves within the purchasing function. Order processing times and costs are reduced considerably. J.R. Electronics may chose to implement an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This system if implemented can integrate the company to specific suppliers and automate the parts ordering process, order status reporting and invoicing through electronic transmission. * Due to the transparency of e-commerce it is possible to consider a large number of different suppliers quickly taking into account both price and lead-time. New or alternative suppliers can be found quickly. E-commerce is available 7 days per week 24 hours a day. * There a number of parts brokers who utilise the world wide web to sell various parts and services. Goodrich Aerospace based at Prestwick frequently utilise e-commerce to source suppliers and are members of the Inventory Locator Service (I.L.S.), a favoured parts search medium for aerospace companies. * Competitive bidding or E-auctions on the Internet has become very popular over the last few years. Companies that adopt this approach to procurement effectively tender their requirement on the Internet and potential suppliers bid against each other to win the business. * Communication with suppliers is improved. Utilising electronic mail (e-mail) would enable J.R. Electronics to send and receive information from the supply chain quicker, eliminating the need for time consuming letters. Potential Disadvantages of E-commerce * Costs and benefits can be hard to quantify and therefore confusion can be created within the supply chain. * Purchasing professionals must be properly trained. This takes considerable effort, time and money. J.R. Electronics may have to recruit specialist procurement personnel who are already experienced in e-commerce. * Employees and current suppliers may be resistant to change, as they are often comfortable using their more traditional methods of phoning, faxing and meetings. * International e-commerce can be difficult due to currency differences, import and export restrictions and legal implications. As J.R. Electronics begin to realise the full potential of e-commerce their supply chain will become more efficient and integrated with both their suppliers and their customers. The positive implications will soon outweigh the negatives. Adopting a more lean or agile approach to procurement. Lean and agile procurement are two different yet related aspects to supply management. The Collins English dictionary defines lean as lacking fat; thin or meagre whereas agile is described as nimble or quick. Both lean and agile approaches to supply management require high levels of product quality. Lead times must be minimised from the point that a customer order is received until it is fulfilled. Lead-time reduction in a lean process must be achieved as by definition excessive lead-times is waste and a lean process demands the elimination of all waste. Agile supply chains seek to operate to customer demand as opposed to forecasting and promote the free flow of information with its partners.

Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Population Proportions

Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Population Proportions Confidence intervals are one part of inferential statistics.   The basic idea behind this topic is to estimate the value of an unknown population  parameter by using a statistical sample.   We can not only estimate the value of a parameter, but we can also adapt our methods to estimate the difference between two related parameters.   For example we may want to find the difference in the percentage of the male U.S. voting population who supports a particular piece of legislation compared to the female voting population. We will see how to do this type of calculation by constructing a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions.   In the process we will examine some of the theory behind this calculation.   We will see some similarities in how we construct a confidence interval for a single population proportion as well as a confidence interval for the difference of two population means. Generalities Before looking at the specific formula that we will use, lets consider the overall framework that this type of confidence interval fits into.   The form of the type of confidence interval that we will look at is given by the following formula: Estimate /- Margin of Error Many confidence intervals are of this type. There are two numbers that we need to calculate.   The first of these values is the estimate for the parameter.   The second value is the margin of error.   This margin of error accounts for the fact that we do have an estimate.   The confidence interval provides us with a range of possible values for our unknown parameter. Conditions We should make sure that all of the conditions are satisfied before doing any calculation. To find a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions, we need to make sure that the following hold: We have two simple random samples from large populations.   Here large means that the population is at least 20 times larger than the size of the sample. The sample sizes will be denoted by n1 and n2.Our individuals have been chosen independently of one another.There are at least ten successes and ten failures in each of our samples. If the last item in the list is not satisfied, then there may be a way around this.   We can modify the plus-four confidence interval construction and obtain robust results.   As we go forward we assume that all of the above conditions have been met. Samples and Population Proportions Now we are ready to construct our confidence interval.   We start with the estimate for the difference between our population proportions. Both of these population proportions are estimated by a sample proportion.   These sample proportions are statistics that are found by dividing the number of successes in each sample, and then dividing by the respective sample size. The first population proportion is denoted by p1.   If the number of successes in our sample from this population is k1, then we have a sample proportion of k1 / n1. We denote this statistic by  pÌ‚1.   We read this symbol as p1-hat because it looks like the symbol p1 with a hat on top. In a similar way we can calculate a sample proportion from our second population.   The parameter from this population is p2.   If the number of successes in our sample from this population is k2, and our sample proportion is   pÌ‚2 k2 / n2. These two statistics become the first part of our confidence interval. The estimate of p1 is pÌ‚1.   The estimate of p2 is pÌ‚2.   So the estimate for the difference p1 - p2 is pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2. Sampling Distribution of the Difference of Sample Proportions Next we need to obtain the formula for the margin of error.   To do this we will first consider the   sampling distribution of   pÌ‚1  . This is a binomial distribution with probability of success p1 and  n1 trials. The mean of this distribution is the proportion p1.   The standard deviation of this type of random variable has variance of p1  (1 - p1  )/n1. The sampling distribution of pÌ‚2 is similar to that of pÌ‚1  .   Simply change all of the indices from 1 to 2 and we have a binomial distribution with mean of p2 and variance of p2 (1 - p2 )/n2. We now need a few results from mathematical statistics in order to determine the sampling distribution of pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2.   The mean of this distribution is p1 - p2.   Due to the fact that the variances add together, we see that the variance of the sampling distribution is p1  (1 - p1  )/n1 p2 (1 - p2 )/n2.   The standard deviation of the distribution is the square root of this formula. There are a couple of adjustments that we need to make.   The first is that the formula for the standard deviation of pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2 uses the unknown parameters of p1 and p2.   Of course if we really knew these values, then it would not be an interesting statistical problem at all.   We would not need to estimate the difference between p1 and  p2..   Instead we could simply calculate the exact difference. This problem can be fixed by calculating a standard error rather than a standard deviation.   All that we need to do is to replace the population proportions by sample proportions.   Standard errors are calculated from upon statistics instead of parameters. A standard error is useful because it effectively estimates a   standard deviation.   What this means for us is that we no longer need to know the value of the parameters p1 and p2.   .Since these sample proportions are known, the standard error is given by the square root of the following expression: pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2. The second item that we need to address is the particular form of our sampling distribution.   It turns out that we can use a normal distribution to approximate the sampling distribution of  pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2.   The reason for this is somewhat technical, but is outlined in the next paragraph.   Both   pÌ‚1 and   pÌ‚2   have a sampling distribution that is binomial.   Each of these binomial distributions may be approximated quite well by a normal distribution.   Thus pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2 is a random variable.   It is formed as a linear combination of two random variables.   Each of these are approximated by a normal distribution.   Therefore the sampling distribution of pÌ‚1  - pÌ‚2 is also normally distributed. Confidence Interval Formula We now have everything we need to assemble our confidence interval.   The estimate is (pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2) and the margin of error is z* [ pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2.]0.5.   The value that we enter for z* is dictated by the level of confidence C.  Ã‚  Commonly used values for z* are 1.645 for 90% confidence and 1.96 for 95% confidence.   These values for  z* denote the portion of the standard normal distribution where exactly  C percent of the distribution is between -z* and z*.   The following formula gives us a confidence interval for the difference of two population proportions: (pÌ‚1 - pÌ‚2) /- z* [ pÌ‚1 (1 -  pÌ‚1 )/n1   pÌ‚2 (1 -  pÌ‚2 )/n2.]0.5

Pomegranate fruit Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Pomegranate fruit - Research Paper Example Interestingly in Europe and United States, the fruit is regarded more for its ornamental values more than its property as a fruit. However, increasing acknowledgement of the medicinal and horticultural value in other parts of the world will fetch popularity for this crop in Europe and United States as well. The derivation of the name Punica granatum is also interesting. Punica is the Roman name for the Carthage, an ancient Tunisian city (Morton, 1987). It is from this city the best quality pomegranates historically used to be exported to Italy. The common name for pomegranate in the United States is Seedy Apple. A very interesting connection with the name of the fruit is that the French version of its name ‘grenade’ refers to the ammunition, as both of these have similarities in their appearance. The importance of the crop The origin of the common names of pomegranate in Mediterranean explains the importance of the crop in this area. The origin of Arabic and Hebrew names of the fruit has the common root referring back to ‘fruit of paradise’ (Lansky et al, 2002). This suggests and confirms the appreciations for the crop in these cultures. The utility of the crop is varied in nature. The taste of the fruit is a unique blend of sweetness and sourness of the acidity. This makes it interesting in its culinary value. The fruit is used to add flavour to dishes like the Iranian dish, Fessenjan (Panthaky, 2006). Pomegranate is carried easily and provided to the early travellers of the desert a well-protected form of water. In religions like Zoroastrianism, this fruit is a symbol of both fertility and everlastingness; in other faiths like in the Old Testament of the Bible, it serves as an emblem of love and seduction (Panthaky, 2006). It has also been used to symbolize Aphrodite, the love goddess. Many Greek myths, ritualistic adornments and battle good luck charms centre around this sweet fruit – the pomegranate. Medicinal properties of the fruit All over the world the medicinal properties of the pomegranate plant are well established, it is for this reason that in the year 2005 alone 40 scientific journal publications were produced on this fruit (Schulman, 2006). In early 1550 BCE, it is studied that Egyptians used pomegranate root extracts to rid themselves of tapeworms. Hippocrates in 400 BCE is said to have used extracts from the fruit to treat a wide variety of ailments (Adams, 1849). Dioscorides in 90 BCE claimed that pomegranates were good for the stomach and recommended the use of its juice to treat ulcers, ear pain and nose infections. Different products of this plant have been boiled, dried, crushed, roasted and transformed in every way possible to treat illnesses like snakebite, leprosy, contraception, diarrhoea, bronchitis, mouth and throat inflammation, diabetes and haemorrhage (Lansky et al, 2002). Some of these treatments have found valid scientific backing while others still remain traditional wisdo ms, having been passed down from generations. Probably because of its association with love and seduction, many cultures have considered the fruit a love potion. Prophet Mohammed endorses this view since he advises in the Quran, â€Å"Eat the pomegranate, for it purges the system of envy and hatred† (Gunter, 1934). Scientific research in the 21st century have shown that the juice of this fruit contains the highest content of antioxidants than any other food,

The Affect of Nursing Shortage in U.S. Hospital Essay

The Affect of Nursing Shortage in U.S. Hospital - Essay Example According to the report findings the market for nursing jobs in the world is also very competitive leading the US to compete with other more stable economies. Thus, this would imply that the US needs to create a more competitive environment for nursing jobs. However, considering its present situation and problems with its health care system, the problem would become more complex leading nurses to perform more than just what is enough or required in order to meet the higher value paid for health care. In other words, more nurses would be willing to spend their time and invest their skills in countries where there is corresponding significant value for their professional service. This paper highlights that the U.S. economy is said to be on its way to resurgence. This is an indication that the country suffered economic problem and once again is about to take the plunge to create a vibrant dominance in the world economy. In the same way, this is about time to restore the great impact that the U.S. economy brought to other economies such as Asia-Pacific which has become dependent on its trade and financial linkages with the U.S. The U.S. is on the process of hiring and rehiring its manpower in order to help boost the economy. There is a major reason why there is a need to lay off some workers and to rehire them. A reported case about shortage of pediatric nurse educator in the U.S. was associated with competitive salaries, budget cut and other economic-related issues. (Leonard et al., 2008). In line with this, there is a clear emphasis how the U.S. economy creates a significant impact even on the level of education for nursing in the first place. In the U.S. the re is an advantage for clinical salaries. Thus, there is a great desire to go for clinical jobs compared to those careers only related to them. However, this is just a small part of the issue. The reported economic crisis in the U.S. is said to affect the healthy flow of economic condition in the country. In this reason, consumers are hesitant to spend more, bankers are cautious to lend and entrepreneurs are focusing on calculating risk (Brooks, 2009). In this kind of thinking, it is expected that the US has more than what the economic crisis could bring. Brook was right when he said that ‘the US is in psychological crisis.’ In whatever ways it could be said about the U.S. recent economic condition, everything is clear that it started with a simple declaration about its economic status in the world. The impact of the said move triggered beyond economic understanding because people are given with ambiguous information about the status of the U.S. economy. There is no exa ct information that could tell up to what level does the US economy is trying to

Football in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Football in America - Essay Example This means that soccer is in fifth place in popularity according to the American sports fans preferences. There could be a nationalistic reason behind this negative perception of soccer in the United States. 3.- Americans don't like games that can end up in draws and this is a cultural factor. The big 3 major team sports (basketball, baseball and American football) suffered different rules changes in the twentieth century to make them more popular. 4.- Sports fans from the United States would like to see a change of rules in soccer, but this could be controversial for the rest of the world. It wouldn't be soccer if only the Americans make a change of the rules; it would be a different game for the rest of the world. 1.- The most obvious marketing factor is the barriers to entry into the market. The four top team sports cover most of the space, and the space is limited. There cannot be too many sports in the consumer's minds. Too many options are not good from the marketing point of view. 2.- But the barriers to entry can also be explained as another kind of limit. It has to do with the motivation about watching soccer. It is about enjoying the game itself. It is about satisfying the needs of watching an easy game with easy rules. But basketball fills these needs already for the American sports fans as basketball and soccer are similar in several relevant ways as Mandelbaum pointed out in his article. 3.- Another reason related to this similarity is that basketball is a strong substitute. It has deep roots in the American sports fans. Its roots are very difficult to change through marketing efforts. It would cost a lot of money to advertise soccer in new ways to make it more appealing to the American audience. 4.- A change of the rules is needed in order to make soccer popular in the United States but this solution is very controversial even from the marketing point of view. We think that both reasons get combined together to make soccer a loser in the American market. Both cultural (or nationalistic) and marketing reasons play their role in making Americans indifferent towards the most popular game in the world. Mandelbaum states the following about the similarities between basketball and soccer: "Spectators see the same thing in the two games: episodes of spontaneous coordination, with players devising and implementing schemes for scoring. They see, that is, acts of creation. If architecture is, as is sometimes said, music set in concrete, then football and basketball may be said to be creativity embodied in team sports. () Football and basketball are therefore the team sports that most vividly evoke a common human fantasy: to leave the ground and fly through the air. () Their marked similarities, however, also mean that the two sports duplicate each other. They provide the same satisfactions. For spectators they are, in a sense, alternatives. North Americans don't need football because they already get what it has to offer from basketball."

Proposed Expansion to Develop Educational Materials for Psychologists Essay

Proposed Expansion to Develop Educational Materials for Psychologists - Essay Example In the following presentation, the highlights of the research findings are presented for your consideration. Abnormal behavior is defined as "a psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not a typical or culturally expected response" (Christodulu 2002, screen 1). Further according to the Department of Health and Human Services there are 88,491 clinical psychologists in the United States. With this broad base of potential customers development of this line of educational aids has the potential for wide spread appeal and will increase sales revenue. (2006) Stemming from the fact that there are multiple models of abnormal behavior: Medical and Psychological; ("Psychological disorders" undated, p. 2) our opportunity to develop multiple product groups is promising. The medical model attributes abnormal behavior to medical conditions and, therefore, a medical approach is used to treat the symptoms. However, the psychological models have various perspectives in regard to treatment: mental functioning, experiences and learning are causes of the behaviors manifested. These include the behavior model which focuses on environmental issues while cognitive models stress the reasons behind behaviors. Lastly, the sociocultural model explores the cultural and social issues that impact behavior.

Dubai VS tempe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dubai VS tempe - Essay Example In both cities there is freedom of worship; with Tempe’s dominant religion being Christianity and Dubai’s dominant religion being Islam. Both cities are important transit routes to various global destinations and are homes to various multinationals, modern shopping malls and numerous financial services providers. The system of government in Dubai is that of constitutional monarchy whereas Tempe is governed by County government of Maricopa. Dubai’s population is bigger than Tempe’s. Dubai has a total of 1,137,347 people whereas that of Tempe is 158,625.The official currency in Dubai is the dirham abbreviated as DH whereas the official currency in Tempe is the United States dollar, abbreviated as USD. Thus Dubai and Tempe are important economic hubs for their respective countries and are very crucial to the development of their local economies. The two cities are also important tourist resort cities and attract numerous visitors annually. Thus Dubai and Tempe are key strategic cities whose contribution to their countries’ economic development cannot be

Historic Preservation And the Imagined West Assignment

Historic Preservation And the Imagined West - Assignment Example The researcher states that the book Historic Preservation and the Imagined West by Judy Morley reviews these districts and what their effect may really be on the local public as well as the tourist business that is created. There was much pain in the development of these districts, as well as the gains for the cities themselves. Albuquerque is a vibrant city that is one of the fastest growing cities in the Southwest. It is in the high desert with mountains all around. There are many personalities to the city and it has grown in such a way, through planning, that it is easy to move around in and for tourists is very well marked. There are many things to do when visiting and one of those in Old Town. The Hispanic presence in Albuquerque is part of the history, as is the presence of the Pueblo Indian tribes of the Navajo, Apache, and Southern Utes, to name a few. Many of these cultural differences have affected the way the city feels when you visit. Old Town is on Central and 4th Street s in what was the heart of the city. The city has grown up around it so that is no longer true; however, As you walk into Old Town you are immediately reminded of an old Spanish village with its wrought iron fences and its covered patios. There are flower gardens everywhere and outside establishments to have a cool drink in the shade. The irony of this is that the Mexican people who established the area was evicted from there homes in order to renovate the area as Old Town. Yes, it draws many thousands of tourists every year and millions of dollars are spent on expensive jewelry and restaurants but the cost was high in human living standards. The poor that used to live there now live in the areas around Old Town. Many of them live in abject poverty and the level of crime there is tremendous. Navajo jewelry, the real stuff, used to be sold off Navajo blankets in the square but now you can only buy Navajo jewelry and rugs in the shops along the veranda. Morley has tried to explain thi s to us in her book. Go to the internet and see Old Town as it exists today. They want you to believe that is the way it has always been in Old Town and of course what you see is what you get. However, underlying all that beauty and fun is the cost of the loss of homes and pieces of a culture as the changes began. The poverty and gangs in Albuquerque is tremendous with Albuquerque having one of the largest ratings for drive-by shootings and gang activities in the nation. At what cost has Albuquerque gained the riches of their history. Denver Colorado and Larimer Street are famous on the tourist's tour. First of all Denver sits in the high desert among some of the most beautiful mountain vistas available anywhere. It is growing and urban sprawl has spread up the sides of those mountains. It still, by tourists, and some of the residents are seen as part of the Wild West and certainly if you ever watch a western on TV you will see why. Larimer Street is the center of old Denver. It sit s on 1st street within the city. This part of the city originally housed a dry goods store, the first bank in the west, a bookstore, and the first post office in the west. Today, you would never know it. All the buildings have been renovated and it is full of beautiful shops, restaurants and nightclubs. It is remarkable to note that prior to the renovation it was very much like the Wild West. This is where the homeless and prostitutes hung out.

Dubai VS tempe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dubai VS tempe - Essay Example In both cities there is freedom of worship; with Tempe’s dominant religion being Christianity and Dubai’s dominant religion being Islam. Both cities are important transit routes to various global destinations and are homes to various multinationals, modern shopping malls and numerous financial services providers. The system of government in Dubai is that of constitutional monarchy whereas Tempe is governed by County government of Maricopa. Dubai’s population is bigger than Tempe’s. Dubai has a total of 1,137,347 people whereas that of Tempe is 158,625.The official currency in Dubai is the dirham abbreviated as DH whereas the official currency in Tempe is the United States dollar, abbreviated as USD. Thus Dubai and Tempe are important economic hubs for their respective countries and are very crucial to the development of their local economies. The two cities are also important tourist resort cities and attract numerous visitors annually. Thus Dubai and Tempe are key strategic cities whose contribution to their countries’ economic development cannot be

Zipcar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Zipcar - Essay Example It can be apparently said that in the US car rental market, as per 2011 statistical records, revenue touched a record high with the process of generation of over $1000, per unit for the entire US market, thereby bringing into focus the various levels of efficiencies that has been achieved by the players in the particular market (Arn.com 2012). However, it can be said that the entire market for this business is highly vulnerable to various factors of macro and micro economic nature (IbisWorld.com 2012). Item 2. The young car rental company Zipcar has increasingly focused its forward approach on various strategies with regards to capitalizing on the various prospects that are associated with the growth of the company as well as its sustenance in the car rental market in the presence of big competitors and tremendous competition and market pressure in the long term. For the purpose of attaining significant growth and business edge, Zipcar focused on effective segmentation and targeting. By the focusing on the opportunity of targeting college crowd for its rental services, it developed a unique market to serve and thereby developing an edge over the others. It can be said that while this certainly provided an edge at the beginning, but it may not be sustainable in the long term as competitors may increasingly target the same market. Also, from the damage point of view, the cost of maintaining the resources while catering to the target market is also significantly high. The financial analysis a lso supports the fact of high operating expenses for the company. The evaluation of the financial performance over the 3 year period shows that thought the company had an increase in revenue yet the cost related to fleet operations also went up. It also revealed that the operating expenses also increased over the period. So, it can be said that servicing the college student are coming out as a little expensive over the years. Talking in terms of the company’s long term prospects, it can be said that the company is yet to get established in a secured manner. The reason behind that is because though the company has achieved a significant growth in revenue yet its operational expenses are also increasing. Despite the high growth rate, it is not very effective for a new company to have high operating costs as the chances of maintaining profits will gets reduced with the company’s attainment of capacity as well as market saturation by other car rental companies. Apart from this, it also has to be taken in to account that the company’s main competitive edge of servicing the college students can be targeted by well established rival companies, thereby reducing the company’s standalone advantages. The company should focus on increasing the efficiency in terms of economies of scale by reducing cost of operations for the purpose of securing itself over the long term. Item 3. It can be said t

Only in America Essay Example for Free

Only in America Essay â€Å"Only in America† was written by Leiber, Stoller, Weill, and Mann (1963) as a song to propagate the American dream. After more than four decades of American dream to own a house, a car, and to have a good-paying job one can see that it is not enough any longer for many ‘new’ Americans. Hard work and determination perhaps were good enough tools to â€Å"take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars†¦Ã¢â‚¬  four decades ago (that is if you were the right skin color) but not any longer. It does take a genius of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to become wealthy using their own talents as leverage. Or it takes a sheer luck and some intuition to participate in real estate speculations at exactly the right time. Either, that precludes honest working folks who work their given hours a week and get enough to pay the bills. More (2003) compared such to a drug â€Å"first prescribed to us as children in the form of a fairy tale. † Certainly, it happens for some, for a very few. It does seem that those very few knew exactly what they were doing – either investing into the right stock, buying properties when they still cost in low 100s in California, or get on the tip of the wave of progress, like Bill Gates did. Well, for the few it worked but not for the majority of us. It is not difficult to figure out the reasons. A rational thought would suggest that American government is able to render every citizen rich – not necessarily with the money distribution but with the controlling the purchase power of an average citizen. If to eliminate the political agenda and change the status quo to people-centered market, it is not difficult to see that one carrying President of the country can do so by a) eliminating unnecessary government agencies and departments and b) removing political and financial limitations to the free enterprise. The latter action by itself can be very powerful for business owners not having a need to compensate for the high rents and other costs to run a business will keep their products of low cost. Everything, from energy to communication services, to the infrastructure will cost less, much less as the result. Any business owner understands that selling products by the quantity will bring more financial result than doing so by higher cost and selling by the lesser numbers. As the result, people, even those with meager incomes, will have more purchase power by being able to afford much more than they can do today. That would raise the daily comfort of people. They would become content for their minds would not be preoccupied with the sheer necessities needed by their families. Material things and services, like houses, cars, food, clothes, education needs, health needs should not cost so much of a fortune that people must get into the life-time debt to be able to afford it. If the necessities are met and people do not have a difficult time to find an appropriate for them job, the content should become widespread. As of now, most people live in fear, in fear of loosing their jobs, in fear not being able to pay the mortgage and the car notes, for fear not being able to meet their responsibility to their families. People who live by such fear cannot experience content. I once knew a family, good solid one. He was a teacher working in the same district for over a decade. She worked at the bank. They had a nice house, two cars, good-looking furniture, but could not save enough to pay their financial obligations sooner. They lived a nice life, but in debt. And then, the tragedy stroke. He lost the purpose, feeling stagnated he left to his home country that he came from originally. Looking for happiness, he left his wife and children. To avoid gossip and talk in their community, she moved to another state with 50K dollars that came from his retirement plan. Because she could not afford to continue paying for the house, the house was foreclosed. The same happened with one of the cars. Her credit was in ruin, and now she had to start anew. She was afraid to touch the money, whatever left from moving and initial expenses. After three months, she found a job at the bank. The income was just enough to cover rent and monthly bills. What did happen to such a strong family who used to have everything: each other, nice house, cars, two wonderful kids, and ability to buy things they wanted†¦? One could say they lived American Dream, but did they? Does material things constitute the Dream most people strive to in their lives? It is apparent to me, that people who do not have material comfort around them, whose life is difficult because they have to calculate whether they have enough money to purchase oranges or grapes but cannot afford both, they would think that the end to their means would be living like that couple lived. And yet, my friend, being a nice and decent man felt trapped and not content. Once people obtain the material means around them they soon realize that their American Dream was not fancy cars or bigger homes – it is the opportunity to do what their heart desires: self-expression in the least amount. That would not happen if he had an opportunity to change a job that he was doing for 26 years, or at least to take a year of sabbatical. That would not happen if they were not in debt paying $ 2500 for the house and $ 1000 a month for their two cars. That would not happen if financial obligations did not overload him conflicting with his inner desires. Here, I believe I came to the root of the question whether this great country can give a feeling of being at home. Obviously, having enough income is not enough. Eliminating the need to obtain debts to rise economically perhaps would do for some. To my opinion, however, the concept of American Dream was neither of that: it had nothing to do with the financial part of it. If one looks deeper perhaps it can be seen that the fulfillment of personal dreams through the structure’s support to each family’s happiness can render people happier, and if happy they feel the more at home they would consider the country they live in. When people have to struggle thinking about their family economics and knowing that they cannot change their occupations because the discontinuation of income would bring their family to the financial ruin, they cannot think of their personal development through the change of direction in their life. They grow more and more discontent and discontented people are bitter people, people who can at the brink of a move quit their country and go looking for the happiness elsewhere. In conclusion, more and more people understand that described is not enough to be happy in life, that doing the job for the only purpose to get the money to buy the house and a nice car causes stagnation, and as the result unhappiness and discontent. An opportunity that was promised as a part of all American dream is waning and harder to grasp. That is because people understand more and more that to be called Home, the society must offer something else: as in the promise to personal fulfillment – whatever it be. The idea of a home can be different from different perspectives. Certainly, living in a house with the backyard, driving a brand new car, and having a respectable income can make characteristics of a home for many people who had never had such before. Yet, for others these are not enough for they seek something else, perhaps certain characteristics of the society that increase the degree of their satisfaction from living this life. Yet for others the dream is to become wealthy just to discover (in case if they achieve it) that even that was an illusion. The idea of a home cannot be objectified for it is unique to the subjective perception of every person who lives within the society. References More, M. (2003). Dude, where’s my country? (publisher? ) Jay and the Americans (1963). Only in America. Song written by Leiber, J. , Stoller, M. , Weill, C. , and Mann, B.

From Korea to Harvard :: College Admissions Essays

From Korea to Harvard My experience at the international science festival festival last summer was definitely one of the best times I've had. The ten days I spent in Seoul, South Korea, were not just about traveling to a foreign country or even about learning science. To me, the festival was more about meeting people and understanding their cultures. The opening ceremonies of the festival immediately ignited my excitement. I was surrounded on all sides by students from all over the Pacific Rim: Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, and of course, Korea. It's hard for me to describe how moved and amazed I was to see so many people of so many different backgrounds brought together in one place. All of us were so different and yet so similar. We were brought up and shaped by completely different forces and experiences, but all of us shared a common love-science. I was fascinated to observe in a group setting the contrast between the overly accommodating nature of the easterners and the stronger emphasis on individualism of the westerners. During a group project on creating a model city, I remember the easterners busy building police stations and apartment complexes. A couple of westerners, on the other hand, suggested including a sports stadium and a golf course-options obviously not on the agenda of the easterners, who, however, hesitated to say "No!" I suggested that we could replace the stadium with an airport, an idea quickly accepted by all. This experience showed me that different cultures don't have to conflict but rather can compliment other cultures in finding a better solution. The closing ceremonies were to me the best example of the cultural awareness fostered during the festival: on the first day, almost none of the Americans were brave enough to try the kimchi and mystery meat that was served to us; by the end of the festival, however, all 500 students were singing the APEC theme song together at the top of their lungs. I was completely immersed in culture, diversity, and new ideas for ten short yet extremely fulfilling days. From this experience, I realized that seeing other cultures allowed me to learn more about my own, as it enabled me to understand mine from a different perspective. My experience at the APEC festival helped broaden my perspective and showed me a glimpse of just how many possibilities and ideas there are in the world.

America Must Destroy the Terrorist Networks Essay -- Terrorism War Ter

America Must Destroy the Terrorist Networks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When one hears the word â€Å"terrorism,† a thought of a bombing, an explosion, a gunshot, or a hi-jacking comes to mind. How do individuals and organizations justify these acts of terror? These acts can be described as terrorist actions. Terrorism is defined as the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to achieve certain political, economical, or social aims.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I heard about terrorists hijacking airplanes full of civilians and flying them into the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon, and a rural field in Pennsylvania, I didn’t know what to think of all this. It came with no warning, no declaration of war, no goals or sense to these attacks. No one had the courage to claim responsibility for the attacks. But I knew the US would respond with great perseverance and endeavor to remove the scourge of such terror from the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I was overwhelmed with sadness and sorrow for the fallen and for their families. The terrorists took from their victims all that they have ever been and all that they ever will be. They left thousands of husbands and wives bereft of their spouse. They took away a parent or parents from thousands of children. They ended the hopes of families to have subsequent generations. They killed off family names, dreams, and futures. They have left parents and grandparents grieving to see their children and grandchildren die before them. They destroyed the lives and ...

Behaviorism: Classical Conditioning Essay

There are four primary conditioning theories of behaviorism. These four theories are Pavlov’s (1849-1936) classical conditioning, Thorndike’s (1874-1949) connectionism (also known as law of effect), Guthrie’s (1886-1959) contiguous conditioning, and Skinner’s (1904-1990) operant conditioning. According to the text (Shunk 2012) Classical conditioning was discovered around the beginning of the 20th century by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was studying digestive process in dogs when he discovered that the dogs salivated before they received their food. Pavlov utilized a tuning fork and meat powder. He hit the tuning fork and followed the sound with the meat powder. In the beginning, the dog salivated only to the meat powder, but after this was repeated, salivated at the sound of the tuning fork. In classical conditioning, a subject learns to associate one stimulus with another. The subject learns that the first stimulus is a cue for the second stimulus. In other words, the meat powder is an unconditioned stimulus and the salivation is the unconditioned response. The tuning fork is a neutral stimulus until the dog learns to associate the tuning fork with food. Then the tuning fork becomes a conditioned stimulus which produces the conditioned response of salivation after repeated pairings between the tuning fork and food. According to Guthrie’s Contiguous Conditioning the only condition necessary for the association of stimuli and responses is that there is a close chronological relationship between the stimuli. Guthrie states that punishment and reward have no significant role in the learning process because the reward and punishment occur after the association between the stimulus and the response has been made. He also believed that you can use sidetracking to change previous conditioning. Side tracking involves discovering the initial cues for the habit and associating other behavior with those cues. Thus sidetracking causes the internal associations to break up. In other words forgetting is due to interference rather than the passing of time. Operant conditioning was pioneered by B.F. Skinner and built on the classical conditioning work of Ivan Pavlov (McLeod 2007). It is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through these rewards and punishments, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. In operant conditioning, behavior occurs more frequently when followed by reinforcement, and happens less frequently when followed by punishment. The idea is that behavior is influenced by the consequences that follow. When you are rewarded for doing something, you are more likely to repeat that behavior. When you are punished for doing something you are less likely to repeat that behavior. According to the text (Shunk 2012) Thorndike’s connectionism has two parts. First when a particular behavior is followed by a reward, that behavior is more likely to happen again in the future. Second is that if a particular behavior is followed by a punishment that behavior is less likely to happen again in the future. Thus the rewarding behavior is learned and the punishing behavior is not learned. Connectionism emphasizes that the greater the reward or punishment, the greater the strengthening or weakening of the association. Behaviorism is based on the premise that behavior is a function of its environmental consequences or contingencies. Behaviorism was the primary paradigm in psychology between the 1920s through 1950 and is based on a number of underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis (McLeod 2007). Behaviorism deals with the consequences of behavior and those behaviors can be rewarded or punished. Reward reinforcements can strengthen behaviors or increase the behavior for example, giving praise promotes good behavior. Punishments goal is to decrease the behavior or likelihood of it happening again. A positive to behaviorism is that it tends to predict the behavior in certain circumstances. The possibilities to predict is the key to controlling behavior and thus avoid needless reactions. Another positive, is the notion of rewards and punishment in behaviorism can be very useful in order to adapt to the required behavior. In other words behaviorism suggests that one can predict and modify behavior by strategically controlling the consequences. In contrast the weakness of behaviorism is that it attempts to explain all the actions of a person only through visible occurrences, making it impossible to directly observe the occurrence of consciousness. So the main opposition is that the behavior of a person is always a learned association that was once supported or punished. Behaviorism in some ways neglects the individualism of every person by making the assumption that people are not responsible for what they do but rather implies that all of the behavioral acts of a person are based past rewards/consequences experienced. Behaviorism concepts can be applied to in home family counseling. First, weighing activities, projects and case plan objectives to correspond with the proportional amount of effort one would like for the family to put into these activities rewards and reinforces family effort, involvement and performance in those areas. Similarly, providing feedback during the development of the case plan and completion of case plan objectives rewards and reinforces learning over time, and should result in better retention and skill development. This later type of reinforcement frequently occurs with the parents but also can be used effectively adolescents as well in the form of things such as chore charts. The principles of behaviorism can be useful in facilitating learning within the in home counseling. However, they do not account for the motivation or thought behind actions taken because behaviorism focuses on behaviors that can be observed only. For example a family could be completing objectives in a case plan simply just to have the case closed rather than to actually progress in their parenting skills. According to the text (Shunk 2012) self-regulation involves behaviors, as individuals regulate their behaviors to keep themselves focused on goal attainment. Behaviorism states that behavior is learned, and new learning is a result of acquiring new behavior patterns by means of environmental conditioning. It can be argued that there is a correlation between the two, at least from a learner’s perspective. It can be said that self-regulation is reliant on goal setting and self-efficacy. Therefore unless learners have goals and feel that obtaining them is important, a learner may not activate the processes needed for self-regulation. Behaviorism could present itself in the form of classic conditioning that being learned behavior based on experience. A learner knows that in order to pass a class one must do well on assigned work. The learner would then make it a priority to work diligently on said work, through the process of self-regulation. The emphasis put on the work would be done so due to the learned behavior that if one does not do well one would receive a less than stellar grade and thus run the risk of not passing the class. References Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective, 6th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.Fields, H. (2011). Is Behaviorism Dead? Retrieved from http://www.scholarshub.wordpress.com McLeod, S. A. (2007).Behaviorism. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html

My Theory of Personality

Theory of Personality: Introducing Myself as a Theorist Kaila Stevens Bethel College Personality Theory: Introducing Myself as a Theorist BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH During high school I excelled at all aspects of her life. Bright student who was on the board for the National Honor Society. Leader of Student Athletes for PACT. Academics was not the only thing I excellent at; sports was a big part of my life. I was 3rd team all state in basketball by the time I got to my senior year. I placed 8th in state in the 400, and was top ten ranked all of my junior and senior years.I was offered countless scholarships spread across the board in terms of divisions of schools and for more than one sport. I was a well rounded individual ready for college. I moved into Grace College in the fall of 2008 on a full track scholarship and my life took a turn for the negative. School and sports were no longer important to me. I was so dependent on my parents I did not know how to make my own choices. I spend th e next three years rebelling against the authority of Grace College, because I did not know how to handle myself.In 2011, I realized my rebellion was due to all the attention my brother was receiving for being autistic, and I wanted â€Å"something wrong with me too† so my parents could worry about me. Also, around this time of insight, I volunteered at the Crossing, an alternative middle school where I developed relationships with some amazing kids stuck in horrible situations. My life outlook changed from needing attention to wanting to give all my attention to others. THE BASIC NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS My theory takes a humanistic approach in almost all aspects. I agree with Horney and Adler that our inherent nature is constructive. We strive to develop our healthy potential and pathological behavior occurs if this innate force toward positive growth is blocked by external social forces† (Introduction to theories of personality, 2010). However, unlike Horney and Adler I believe these social forces are of a sin nature. God's will for our lives is for us to spread his word and impact others with his teachings of love and truth. My definition of sinful nature is the inherited and deeply ingrained drive to rule our own lives by rebelling against God by meeting our own needs and our own wants apart from God.Our sinful nature is how we please ourselves and where our drive for superiority starts. Striving for superiority in my theory is established during the making of our sinful nature. We want to control ourselves and control others around us, we do this in sin by not following God's orders. My striving for superiority definition is not as complex as the sinful nature theory, because it is only a small part to our sinful nature. Our internal sinful nature mixes with our external actions to create blocked social forces. My opinions have come from my own understanding of Mark 7:21-23. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man† (Bible, ). Since people are born inherently good, their behavior becomes blocked by our sinful nature, we spend our life driving towards self-actualization. My definition of self-actualization is the ongoing process of establishing oneself as a whole person and gaining the abilities to understand oneself. When we understand our sinful nature and we realize how deeply sinful we are we can reach self-actualization.My time spent with teens at the Crossing seeded this concept. The Crossing is an alternative Christian Middle School that specializes in transforming teens' hearts and minds as well has teaching the Indiana State requirements of education. All the teens attending the Crossing have been expelled from their precious schools because of fighting, foul language towards other students and teachers, or for drug use. Most of the teens come f rom broken homes and many do not live with their actual parents due to custody battles. Along with these factors many of the teens come from homes that place a low value on education.Sadly most do not reach their goals in the classroom because of many reasons due to family troubles. Most of the children have a blocked self-actualization because of the negative society they live in but they initially set out to do well for themselves by working towards good grades. The sinful nature of wickedness and evil things, as spoken about from Mark 7:21-23, block their will to establishing their whole self. Honrey states, â€Å"man has the capacity as well as desire to develop his potential and become a decent human being, and due to relationships with others disturbers growth† (Horney, 1942).My theory, like Honrey's passage, states people can try to do well for themselves but if this is done within a sinful nature, they cannot reach their full potential. Since I believe self-actualizat ion is blocked by social forces, another aspect of my basic nature is that individuals are always trying to compensate and overcome. In my theory as people strive to become superior they do so in two ways; compensation and overcoming. The term overcoming is defined as conquering a fear or challenge presented in an individuals mind.While the term compensate is borrowed from Adler. Compensation is a strategy where a person covers up frustrations, desires or feelings in one aspect of their life to excel in another. Since people are striving for self-actualization, â€Å"if a child faces weakness with optimism and courage, and strives for superiority by making the necessary effort satisfactory to feel less superior† (Adler, 1933). I interpreted Adler and used his words to form my own opinion of compensation and related it to my own personal experience.I have had a stuttering problem all of my life. I went to many speech pathologist from prekindergarten all the way to my senior ye ar of high school. In high school I overcompensated my stuttering by being number one on the sports field. On the field no words were needed, I expressed my true self without words by being the best and showing everyone I could do something above and beyond others. I used sports to compensate for my lack of verbal skills. My faith and my theory have an explanation for compensation and why as humans we feel the need to compensate.Christianity tell us to love ourselves because God made us in his image. As part of our sinful nature, I believe we compensate because we do not fully believe yet that we are made perfectly in his image. As people we find tiny imperfections within us and on our bodies all the time. We believe if we were perfect we would not have our imperfections. We compensate to hide our imperfections from ourselves. This is a good example within my theory regarding our sinful nature and how we need to first discover our sinful nature to reach our self-actualization.THE ST RUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY I believe our unconscious is extremely important to the development of our personality within society. The unconscious consists of the processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available for the conscious to digest; that is it is outside of our understanding. My theory also states that a person does not wish to understand their unconscious because it holds their deepest darkest secrets they would not like shared with the social world in fear of being rejected. These deepest darkest secrets are called shades.Instead of using the term shadow like Jung I decided to make my own. Shade is an appropriate name for deepest darkest secrets, because shading is the blocking of the secrets and the shadows it has created. Shade is also consisted of the colors gray, black and white. These colors represent the blur of what we do not understand in our unconscious and the dark place it is. A person will use a number of defense mechanism like; r epression, projection and rationalization to cover up their sinful nature and to strive for superiority.A person does not want to face reality of their sins because they realize how much more deeply sinful they are than what they initially realized. I believe a person strives to be superiority in other aspects of their life to make up for their sinful nature and use defense mechanism to cope with the things that are unconscious. A persons shade is dark that a person must use defense mechanism to protect themselves. My definition of repression is a mental process of suppressing memories into the unconscious.My experience with stuttering at a young age was a traumatic experience and in order to protect myself I needed to repress those experiences. Elementary children do not understand why someone has a disability and making jokes about it is considered cool because at that age the understanding is not there. By repressing the memories I could move past the negative experience and try to have healthy relationships. Repression in my theory is not always a negative trait, sometimes a person needs to repress experiences to move on in their life to reach self actualization.A person uses projection has a means of an outlet to protect their unconscious emotions. My theory blends from Alders' definition of repression which is, â€Å"attributing one's feelings, shortcomings, or unacceptable impulses to others† (Adler, 1957). I interpreted this into my theory by stating projection is releasing tension without letting the conscious understand what is happening and my experiences at the Crossing furthermore proved my theory. The children at the Crossing would cuss and attempt to start physical fights with teachers because they were releasing their tension onto the teachers.A normal conversation could start a fight, because that's all it took for the projection to be triggered. The students would release their shortcomings in their lives onto others as a defense mecha nism. My theory realizes that a person does not comprehend they are even using projection. My theories last defensive mechanism is rationalization. This is the easiest defense to understand. A person unconsciously gives themselves a false explanation of their own behavior. Freud states, â€Å"rationalization was supposed to be an automatic self-protection reaction† (Feud). I agree with Freud but I explore the rationalization theory in more detail.Adler had another name for rationalization and that was private logic. â€Å"In the kind of erroneous and self-centered reasoning that supports what we want to do rather than what's good for us or for others† (Adler, 1957). My theory combines both definitions to create my own. A person thinks they understand what is good for them so they realization to self protect themselves only because they do not understand their potential. They rationalize because their self actualization is blocked by social forces therefore they only th ink something is good for them because they do not understand their potential.Therefore, a health person does not need to self rationalization their behavior because their self actualization is being meet and is not blocked. DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY Erik Erikson had the epigenetic psycho-sexual stages of man in his personality theory. My theory has a similar stages of man but mine does not focus on the psycho-sexual but rather the development of personality through stages of life. A person on one side of the spectrum could stay in one stage their whole life or move progressively through, a person can only move through the stages after mastering the crisis at that stage.My theory is designed this way because I always have considered myself a late bloomer compared to others. Every person is different and finding their niche in a stage is up to the development of that person and their state of self actualization. My first stage starts at the beginning at birth and ends in an individu als thirty's. My first stage is labeled the environment stage. This is the first stage after a child is born and ends around 18 months. A baby cannot speak or communicate in any way except for cry. In this stage a baby first becomes aware of their environment.Since they can do nothing for themselves, a baby learns early on if their environment is a positive or negative environment. Hence, the start of self actualization within their environment. In this stage a child also chooses to be a positive or negative contribution to society. My second stage is the trusting stage, similar to Erikson's oral-sensory stage. This builds after the environment stage because a baby learns to trust their environment or mistrust it. Erikson backs up my claim with, â€Å"the amount of trust is derived from earlier infantile experience depends on the quality of the maternal relationship† (Erikson,1964 ).The caregiver is the child's main environment. If caregiver does not feed children or hold whi le child is crying mistrust is created. If the child has more mistrust over trust self actualization has already been blocked. Social forces have already showed the child their environment is flawed. Proving rising above hard. The third stage is the power stage. This is usually the potty training stage and starts around 18 months and last till around age three. A child wishes to express their needs and wants and pushes their environment anyway they can.This is where a child begins to want to achieve and rise about their negative environment. They want to express their power over their caregivers who have provided for them. A child wants to show they can do things themselves. This is the beginnings of a child thinking of being superior over others. Superior in that this stage is the start of the striving for superiority. A child understands their limitations and tries to gain power in other ways. This idea of superior is a new concept and a child does not understand how to express it yet.The fourth stage is the curiosity stage and starts at age three and last till the child is about five years old. A child is becoming more involved within their environment. They want to contribute but since they have no knowledge base to contribute they explore the options presented in their environment. They learn and this is the beginning of understanding what is acceptable in society and what is not. A sense of pride when mastering a learned activity is a common trait in this stage. The four stages listed above happen early on in life, usually between 0 and 5 years.Most hit the stages when their peers do but some do fly through them while others take longer in some areas. My theory does not put set ages on stages because each person is different. My theory on developing personality does not put a set age on a stage because I know people can still be healthy and be slow in some stages and master others quickly. The fifth stage is labeled the character stage, like Erikson's st age of identity vs confusion and becomes around age five and seven. This is where the child needs to be a heard and an appreciated connection in their environment. Their self esteem is built and destroyed in this stage.I based this part of my theory on my interpretation of Erikson's passage of, â€Å"Like a trapeze artist, the young person in the middle of vigorous motion must let go of his safe hold on childhood and reach out for for a firm gasp on adulthood† (Erikson, 1964). The sinful nature of people can negatively affect self actualization and blocked a persons growth. This is also the stage a person picks what they want to try to excel in and go for their fit, triggering their beginning introduction to adulthood. The sixth stage is closely following the character stage and sometimes can happen at the same time.Usually this stage starts around seven years and lasts till around age 12. No matter if self actualization is happening or not this stage is where a person learns they cannot excel at everything better than everyone else. This is where compensation is developed. A person tried to compensate what they lack into something they are good at so they feel a sense of superiority. This is a very important stage for the developed of a person. When a person realizes their sinful nature is much more than what they original thought a child will try to make up for it by being superior in another area.A person driven by a sinful nature always has to feel superior over someone else in some aspect of their life. This stage is considered the compensation stage. A person cannot become fully self actualized t unless they realize they cannot be the best at everything and their sinful nature will always be present. If a person does not overcome this stage they cannot have developed lasting relationships with others. The later stages are harder to achieve if defense mechanisms are in place due to prior experiences. A person must work through some of their repress ion, projection, and realization to achieve the later stages of life.Not every shade has to be revealed but some has to come into light so a person can understand themselves well enough to grow into the next stages. The seventh stage is the acquaintance stage and starts around age twelve and lasts till early twenties. This stage resembles Erik's intimacy vs isolation stage. After the sixth stage a person begins to develop deeper feelings for others around them. Since they have felt superior over others a person feels they can gain recognition and support from significant others. This is where a person finally feels it is okay to be them because they have felt superior.My theory is important to understand that a person cannot maturely love another without feeling a sense of superiority over someone. The reason being because they have to first appreciate themselves before they can let others appreciate them. A person struggling at this stage can cause problems in their relationships f rom past broken relationships they watched as a child. The eighth stage involves another person and has an age around between twenty to thirty years. Intimacy is where two people have enough trust in each other to put aside their superiority complex.The two people enter into mature love. This is the stage people consider getting married and sharing their future with someone else. They realize their partner is going to be better at things then them and that is okay because they have trust that their significant other likes them for who they are in God's image. Signs of divorces happens in this stage due to the lack of putting aside their superior attitude and letting their own will dominate. Divorce can happen in any later stage but in this stage if superior attitudes are not put aside, the marriage could be marked for divorce.A person still believe they are better than their partner and nothing their partner does is ever good enough. This thinking can lead to fights, problems and bu ilt up of negative emotions. This is the result in lack of trust. This is where moving on from the trust stage correctly is key. If a person mistrust others they cannot fully give themselves to their partner. The mistrust leads to fear. Fear that the other person sees their true self and that self is not good enough. The Bible tells us in John 4:18, â€Å"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment.He that that fearth is not made prefect love† (Bible). The Bible points to mature love and fear as being opposites. When a person is confident in themselves they do not fear their partner loving them for their true self's. My theory states above that a better cannot become confident in themselves with feeling superior to someone. Thus stage seven and eight follow each other. The ninth stage in my theory is the stage of asserting themselves into their world and begins after marriage. This is a stage where that person is ready to accept full responsible of themselves and their significant other.Usually a person strives for a profession not just simply a job. They want to assert themselves and use their superiority to expand into their work. In this stage a person establishes themselves in the adult world. This is the largest stage in my theory because a person is always growing and changing to become who they wish to become. If self actualization is blocked a person cannot reach their full potential and they underachieve. A person will compensate in this stage to make their dreams come true. My last stage is the mature adult stage and is found somewhere in middle adult life.This stage is defined has understanding that as an adult taking care of significant others you will have to do unpleasant tasks that they know will have to be achieved. In this stage a person takes responsibility for their own life, even the parts they do not like or didn't particular choose to live. I believe in this stage a person understands their sinful nature and understand how they have been been made in God's perfect image. Everyone has heard of a midlife adult crisis, and my theory explains how a person can go through it.A midlife crisis is defined has an identity and self-confidence that can occur in the middle of life because a person is struggling to find who they are in God's image. Life stated above I believe we are all different and will all hit the stages at different times. I believe a person must complete all stages to achieve self-actualization. If a stage is not overcame correctly, it will affect the next stage. My theory is different in that I believe a person can fix previous stages while being in a different stage. I believe this because we can realize our past mistakes and correct them. God has made it clear that we are his sinful people.FUTHER APPLICATIONS Unlike most psychologists, I do not believe our dreams have much stock in our unconscious or our shades we store within it. I believe we are merely hu man and do not have all the answers but we try to pretend that we do. We try to base a decision largely on a piece of information only because we saw it pop up in our dream or we rationalize that we are supposed to do something but we dreamed about it. I believe dreams are only created from the last things we think about before we drift into sleep. The things we think about right before sleep are fresh in our minds so our brain continues to process them.I have come to this conclusion because of how I study. I study normal during day but right before going to sleep I can read over my notes and drift off to sleep rereading them to myself. Most likely than not I will dream about something I have studied. My theory is the opposite of Freud and his followers regarding dream interpretation. His dream interpretation is defined has the assigning of meaning to dreams. He has concepts of manifest content, latent dream-thoughts and dream work. He is also under the impression we remember our dr eams upon waking and dreams are supposed to be fulling.The only aspect of his theory that my theory agrees with is the symbolic nature of dreams. I cannot possible begin to describe every dream I have ever had. Nobody can remember each dream so his term of manifest content does not hold truth in my theory. I disagree with latent dream-thoughts concept as well, as stated above, psychologists cannot interpret symbols within dreams. But, my theory agrees somewhat with the symbolic nature of dreams. Like I said dreams are only the last thoughts we have before sleep. If a person has a thought of someone they do not like they could dream of punching that person in their dream.The act of negatively hurting the person shows how they dislike them. My theory does agree with the symbolic nature of dreams. With this being stated, symbolic dreams are defined has the dreams representing an action or thought you have hidden within a person's shade. The neurosis of a person is their sinful nature a nd how society alters a person from God's image. A Christian can only be free of the burden of their sinful nature by believing and understanding Christ sent his only son to the cross for us. A person has a negative neurosis when they have an excessive tension because of lack in trust of God's plan for them on this world.Tension is built when a persons sinful nature is overpowering and a person knows their nature is wrong. A person is only fulfilling their needs, not God's plan for them. Isiah 61:1-3 shows us what God planned to do with each of our lives. He knows we have problems but since he is God we can only overcome our sinful nature. To fix a persons neurosis they must obey God above their sinful nature and discipline themselves to read his word and understand our personal struggles have already been overcome by our Lord. My psychotherapy approach understands fixing a persons' neurosis is not always has simple has following God's words.If it was that easy everyone would live a life without sin; which is not possible. This is where a trained psychologists can have a positive impact in your life. Like many humanistic approaches, my theory called for a personal relationship between patient and therapist. A therapist can use their own life and experiences as an example of how a Christian life should be lived. A Christian is not perfect nor do they not make mistakes. By developing a personal relationship the therapist can show examples of their past mistakes and how with God's grace they have moved past that aspect of their sinful nature.The therapist can help a patient work through their sinful nature to come to self-actualization. If a person is not a Christian and they go to a therapist using my theory the therapist must bring the person to Christ or at least have the understanding of where my theory is based on. Without understanding how they can never really out live their sinful nature, but God loves us for who we are. EVALUTION There are strengths and weakness involved when dissusing any theory but for mine specifically s