(consumer behavior) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

(consumer behavior) - Essay Example Questionnaires with appropriate scales were used to randomly collect data from people in different areas in an undisclosed city in the UK. After testing for validity and reliability, the collected data were quantitatively analysed using the structural equation modelling together with invariant tests with age and gender as moderators; those aged between 17 and 40 were considered as young while those above 40 were taken to be old (Aroean 72). It was found out that innovativeness could be a predictor of playful consumption and brand consumption though the latter does not predict playful consumption. This is an important article in understanding the role that consumers and behavioural perspectives play with regard to playful consumption. Organisations would find this research important in satisfying â€Å"innovative, playful consumers† thus the need for playful product brands (Aroean 70). As such, brand managers could retrieve relevant information to boost brand loyalty and share. Interestingly, the research reveals that switching brands does not pass as a predictor of playful consumption which means that marketers should not be concerned with their innovative customers who find varied play brands. But even so, these consumers would need to be constantly supplied with new playful rewards in form of new products so as to avoid adaptation. Nonetheless, the use of random sampling makes this study less desirable to marketers seeking to penetrate specific target markets with specific products. Eckhardt, G. M. and Houston, M. J. â€Å"On the Malleable Nature of Product Meaning in China.† Journal of Consumer Behaviour 7.6 (2008): 484 – 495. Wiley Online Library. Web. 29 October 2012 It is known that customers attach various meanings to products guided by context. But little research has been done to determine the source of this variation. Just like the other consumers, Chinese consumers hold multiple meanings

A Reflection of the Cyborg’s Manifesto Essay Example for Free

A Reflection of the Cyborg’s Manifesto Essay The Cyborg Manifesto’s general idea is that under different definitions, all of us could be considered cyborgs. A universal theory is not going to work because in reality, â€Å"cyborg is our ontology; it gives us our politics. † The manifesto was made for a â€Å"powerful infidel heteroglossia. † The manifesto is intended for people in the academe – students, instructors and professionals. The way that it is written is definitely not the style the common people would identify with. The writer’s playful use of words makes it very difficult to comprehend. Figurative languages were used many times in the essay; even its main subject – the cyborg – is a metaphor. I see myself as being one of the target audience but knowing it did not add to my interest on the essay. The essay anticipated and responded to possible objections. For example, Haraway stated that â€Å"the main trouble with cyborgs†¦is that they are the illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism, not to mention state socialism†. However, she suggested that it might not be something to worry about. Haraway identified two main arguments in her manifesto. First, â€Å"the production of universal, totalizing theory is a major mistake that misses most of reality. † Second, â€Å"taking responsibility for the social relations of science and technology means refusing an anti-science metaphysics, a demonology of technology, and so means embracing the skilful task of reconstructing the boundaries of daily life, in partial connection with others, in communication with all of our parts. † These two arguments exhibit post-modernity and critic Marxism at the same time. She refused to accept a grand narrative, or what she calls a â€Å"totalizing theory†, which is a main concept of Marxism. She further contested the materialist dialectics theory by refusing the relation between society and science and technology. Clearly speaking, the arguments were made to suggest acceptable compromises between contending positions. Haraway stated that irony, the main argumentative style she used, â€Å"is about contradictions that do not resolve into larger wholes, even dialectically, about the tension of holding incompatible things together because both or all are necessary and true†. She adapted concepts from materialism, socialism, and feminism and post-modernized them to form an alternative that she deems not â€Å"totalizing† and does not miss â€Å"most of reality†. Nevertheless, to arrive at this alternative, she had to debunk certain theories or to call â€Å"assumptions† like Marxism into question. I can see in the essay that it does not have an explicit thesis. I think the essay is all about post-modernity, of adapting varying concepts and meanings. Moreover, it attempted to discuss a wide range of issues from religion to sexuality. Being a post-modern, the struggle for change is fragmented which means it can be done through a variety of perspectives and means. The thesis statement could be cyborg politics will make way for a â€Å"powerful infidel heteroglossia. † Cyborgs do not come to existence through human reproduction, it is post-modern and is â€Å"outside the salvation history†. It is a suitable term to use to when creating a post-gender world; this is why it was used as a metaphor to support the author’s proposal. As mentioned above, irony was used as an argumentative style because since it is a product of contradictions that were not resolved, it supports Haraway’s manifesto in compromising contradicting ideas. The term â€Å"cyborg† has been mentioned many times in the piece and it has been used in 4 different ways, it â€Å"is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction (p. 149). † There are many suggested meanings of the word cyborg in the essay. It was used differently on various parts of the manifesto. Haraway had implied different meaning of cyborgs in the essay aside from the ones she specified. She implied vagueness to word. She referred to it as something we could only see in the distant future but she also considered all of us as cyborgs. Reference: Haraway, Donna. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp. 149-181.

Impact of Dumping and Agricultural Subsidies on Developing Countries

Impact of Dumping and Agricultural Subsidies on Developing Countries The term subsidy is often used in the economic context, but the concept behind it fails to have been defined appropriately for all practical purposes. The term is most often used synonymously with governmental transfer of money to an entity in the private sector, or it may refer to the provision of a good or service at a price below what a private entity would otherwise have had to pay for it. Moreover, it may also refer to various government policies that may favorably affect the competitive position of private entities, in the form of procurement policies or programs to educate workers. Ambiguity continues to prevail with respect to the aforementioned measures as subsidies in the meaningful sense of the term.  [1]   Governments engage in a wide range of tax and expenditure policies that impose costs and confer benefits on entities belonging to the private sector. To an economist, perhaps a natural phenomenon for identifying subsidization is a hypothetical market equilibrium without governmental activity. The classic economic models of general competitive equilibrium, for example, are entirely decentralized and embody no government sector.  [2]  The government makes an entry by way of taxation and expenditure policies, this alters equilibrium prices and output. Activities for which the net returns are reduced are discouraged to some degree, and those activities are then subject to be taxed. Activities for which the net returns are enhanced will be encouraged to a degree, and they may be said to be subsidized. The difficulty with this concept of subsidization is that it is exceedingly difficult to apply as a practical matter. The hypothetical market equilibrium without government cannot be observed, and indeed is not clear that the concept is coherent. Implicit in the classic general equilibrium models is a capacity for actors to engage in transactions, yet it is difficult to see how such a capacity can arise in a large economy without a government to create property rights. Further, the deviations from any benchmark equilibrium that result from government activity are exceedingly complex. Governments engage in a wide variety of taxation practice, not only are the number of tax instruments large in number, but the incidence of the various taxes is often quite uncertain. Governments also engage in innumerable regulatory programs that impose costs on private entities of various sorts; in the form of occupational health and safety programs, environmental quality programs, programs to transfer resources to certain disadvantaged groups, and untold others. Finally, government expenditure programs provide vast benefits to private sector entities in direct and indirect ways, including public education, highways, research and development funding, low cost insurance, fire and security services, a legal system, and on and on. Against this backdrop, it is surely impossible in practice to ascertain the precise impact of governmental activity on any entity according to the sort of benchmark put forth above. The simplest alternative is to look at each government program in isolation, and to ignore the question of whether any benefits conferred may be offset by costs in another form. If a particular program confers benefits on a private entity, a subsidy is declared to exist without further inquiry. Further it is plausible to assume that generally applicable tax, expenditure and regulatory policies affect most enterprises almost in equal standards and thus do not confer any form of subsidy. Programs of narrow applicability that target benefits at particular industries, by contrast, might be assumed to confer benefits that encourage production in that industry. To illustrate, a government might make an investment tax credit available to all industries that use durable goods, on the premise that all industries benefit about equally and that any affects on international competitiveness wash out through exchange rates, such a program might be ignored for purposes of identifying subsidies. By contrast, if the automobile industry is the beneficiary of a special tax credit program for investment in automobile manufacturing, a subsidy might be found as to that industry. Yet another alternative is to focus on the impact of government on private activities relative to the impact of other governments on similarly situated entities elsewhere. In the international context, one might look for programs that seem to confer particularly large benefits on particular entities relative to the benefits that governments confer on similar entities in other countries. The presumption would be that most governments tax and regulate in somewhat similar fashion, resulting in similar effects on the competitive position of most private entities only when a program for a particular group of private entities stands out as especially generous relative to such other programs would a subsidy be present. Thus, for example, if most governments provide a certain range of benefits to their farmers, those programs might be presumed to have a cancelation affect in international trade more or less, and no subsidy would be found. Each of these alternatives have obvious deficiencies. The first has the virtue of simplicity, but its essential failing has been noted above by ignoring the offsetting costs imposed by government on private actors it raises a great danger that subsidization will be found where a private entity has not been meaningfully advantaged by government programs. Indeed, because so many government programs are funded out of general revenues, a narrow focus on particular government expenditure programs without any offset for various forms of taxation would lead to the conclusion that there is rampant subsidization. The second alternative deals with the insuperable complexities of calculating the net impact of national governments on domestic industries which are avoided by assuming that generally applicable programs have a neutral impact while targeted programs do not. But there is no reason to believe that this assumption is correct. Many broadly applicable programs have widely disparate effects on different industries. The third alternative brings out another dimension, and treats subsidization as an alteration in the competitive position of private entities relative to similar entities elsewhere. This shift in emphasis perhaps captures the notion that subsidization involves tilting the playing field, and might be defended on that basis. This assumption has inherent practical problems the presumption that most governments tax and regulate similarly with respect to background factors that affect the competitive position of private entities is highly suspect, and the mere fact that a particular type of program exists in one country and not another, or is more generous in one country than in another, is at best a weak marker for a program that shifts the competitive balance overall. In sum, it is far easier to conceptualize a subsidy in simple economic models that it is to identify a subsidy in practice. Any administrative rule for determining whether a particular government program is in relation to subsidy or not will result in serious errors of over-inclusion and under-inclusion. The OECD, which estimates agricultural subsidies, uses a broad definition that includes any government policy that distorts the market such that prices do not reflect marginal costs. So a tariff on imports, which taxes consumers by raising the price of imported agricultural products to benefit producers, is a subsidy, just like a direct payment to a farmer. That however is not the common understanding of a subsidy. Their definition is narrower, referring only to government payments that allow prices to remain below marginal costs. Some are direct, such as payments to farmers; others are indirect, such as government support for irrigation infrastructure, which allows producers to exclude that cost from their prices. The OECDs Producer Support Estimate (herein after PSE) is the most widely used estimate of the agricultural subsidies provided to the farmers on the developed countries. The PSE has been challenged by the developed nations on the grounds that the two-thirds of the estimate is comprised of not the direct support provided to the farmers but rather what is referred to as the non-subsidy support. This component of the PSE includes the market price support which is essentially the tariffs, price support and quotas. Despite the fact that none of these are subsidies per se yet he OECD figure tries to calculate the dollar estimate of this figure and incorporate it in the PSE.  [3]   Dumping An Overview In economics, dumping can refer to any form of predatory pricing, and is by most definitions a form of price discrimination. However, the word is now generally used only in the context of international trade law, where dumping is defined as the act of a manufacturer in one country exporting a product to another country at what may be perceived as an unreasonably low price, usually meaning below the costs of production. The term has a negative connotation, but advocates that free markets see dumping as beneficial for consumers. When these subsidized goods are exported to foreign markets it can be referred to as dumping.  [4]   More than 40 members of the World Trade Organization (herein after WTO) are now active users of antidumping policy, and developing countries are the newest and most frequent users. However many developing countries have started using antidumping to limit imports, thereby having given up other forms of flexibility in trade policy by adopting WTO disciplines and agreeing to bind their tariffs. Despite antidumping policys escalating use by developing countries, relatively little is known about which industries within developing countries are using antidumping and how they are using it. Under the WTO Antidumping Agreement, any member that uses the policy must create an administrative procedure to investigate demands for antidumping protection. Firms in an industry that seek this form of import protection must overcome the organizational challenges of free riding in order to initiate and successfully pursue an antidumping legal proceeding. Before a government can impose a definitive antidumping import restriction, the Agreement also requires that its administrating authority solicit and collect substantial economic evidence to confirm that market conditions and behavior of foreign exporters satisfy technical, WTO mandated legal criteria. Nevertheless, given that antidumping has become many WTO member governments protectionist instrument, the resulting pattern of antidumping import protection across industries may be an increasingly important indicator of these countries overall patterns of import protection. While the four historical developed-country users of antidumping the US, EU, Canada and Australia have continued to be active users under the WTO, they are no longer the dominant users as they were during the prior decade (1985-1994) under the GATT regime. A sizable share of the global use of antidumping, at least as measured by the frequency of initiated cases and imposed measures, is now made up of new user developing countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Turkey and Venezuela, the nine developing countries forming the sample of our formal empirical investigation.  [5]   WTO and the Agreement on Agriculture An attempt to regulate the protection afforded to the farmers in the developed countries and the tariff rates in the developing countries through the Agreement on Agriculture which is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (herein after GATT), and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO on January 1, 1995. This AoA is based on three concepts or pillars which are domestic support, market access and export subsidies. However not much has changed since the AoA was implemented. The document hinged precariously on eliminating agriculture subsidies as a basic step in getting the fiscal house in order. Knowing well that any reduction in subsidies would be politically suicidal, the developed countries managed to not only maintain the level of subsidies but in fact succeeded in increasing it manifold. At the same time, they continue to arm-twist the developing countries to reduce tariffs and open up markets for farm goods from the industrialized countries. As already stated, the developed nations often believe that the PSE is not an accurate indicator of the amount of the protection afforded by them and have repeatedly challenged this statistic. In this paper the researcher will analyze the subsidies granted to the agricultural sector in the developed nations, its impact on the developing nations and the role played by the WTO in negotiations between these two blocs. C h a p t e r 1 : A g r i c u l t u r a l S u b s i d i e s a n d D u m p i ng in t h e D e v e l o p e d N a t i o n s Widespread dumping by the Developed Nations: The WTO Antidumping Agreement and the Theory of Endogenous Trade Policy January 1, 2005 marked the 10-year anniversary of the World Trade Organizations Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). When governments launched the agreement, they hailed it as a victory for farmers around the world: farmers were to benefit from more trade, greater access to markets and higher prices. A decade later, there is unquestionably more trade in agricultural products. However, higher and fair prices for farmers seem further away than ever. It is hard to make the case that the Agreement on Agriculture has done anything to benefit farmers anywhere in the world. Since the WTOs inception, widespread agricultural dumping, the selling of products at below their cost of production, by global agribusiness companies based in the United States and European Union has wreaked havoc on global agricultural markets. Hit hardest are the farmers in the developing and the least devel oped nations who have been forced to go out of business because of these policies. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has documented export dumping from U.S.-based multinational corporations onto world agricultural markets for the last 14 years. The U.S. is one of the worlds largest sources of dumped agricultural commodities. The latest update shows that the US still undertakes large scale dumping the five most commonly exported products namely; wheat, soybean, corn, cotton and rice. Though the statistic shows that the amount of dumping has gone down as compared to the previous statistic but this is perceived to be largely as a result of the reduced supply because of bad weather and pest infestation than as a change in policy.  [6]   The proliferation of WTO-authorized antidumping laws and the global increase in use of this form of administered import protection has been widely recognized (Miranda, Torres and Ruiz 1998; Prusa, 2001; Zanardi, 2004). While antidumping was once a policy instrument used primarily by the US, Canada, EU and Australia, it is now used actively by over 40 WTO member countries. To develop a theoretical motivation for our empirical analysis of the determinants of antidumping use by industries in developing countries, we proceed in two steps. In the next section we describe the WTO Antidumping Agreement, which sets out the general rules for national administration of antidumping law as well as the technical evidence necessary for a government to justify imposition of any new antidumping measure. Given the political-economic environment created by the WTO Antidumping Agreement, in section we use the theory of endogenous trade policy to generate additional testable predictions for the economet ric analysis. The WTOs evidentiary requirements for national use of antidumping Since the 1947 GATT, the rules of the international trading system have authorized countries to establish national antidumping statutes and to implement antidumping trade restrictions.  [7]  During the Kennedy and Tokyo Rounds in the 1960s and 1970s, negotiators attempted to put more structure on the GATT antidumping rules, but countries adopted the resulting Antidumping Codes only on a plurilateral basis. The 1995 inception of the WTO and its Antidumping Agreement (WTO, 1995) provided more detailed guidance for countries to implement and administer antidumping laws.  [8]  First, because the Antidumping Agreement was part of the Single Undertaking, it established a common set of basic rules that would apply to all WTO members and be subject to the enforcement provisions of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).  [9]  Second, relative to the GATT, the WTO Antidumping Agreement did impose more structure on the evidentiary requirements for a government to implement a new antidumping measure, although those requirements still allow for substantial government discretion and are at best questionable from the perspective of economic welfare. Under the Antidumping Agreement, a national government must undertake an investigation and consider substantial economic evidence before it can impose a definitive antidumping measure that restricts imports. The investigating authority is instructed to consider a number of factors when making its decision, but most critical among them are whether two important legal criteria have been met: that a domestic industry suffers material injury and that this injury is the result of dumped imports. The domestic industry provides evidence of dumping to the national governments antidumping authority by showing that prices of competing products sold by foreign exporters in the domestic market were lower than the normal value of the product (WTO, 1995; Article 2.1). The national government authority has substantial discretion in calculating the normal value benchmark with which to compare the export price. The benchmark can be determined by any of three methods: i) the price for sales of the same good in the exporters home market, ii) the price for export sales of the same good in a third market, or iii) a constructed measure of the exporters average cost.  [10]   Dumping in the United states: Dumping by U.S.-based corporations is possible because commodity production is badly managed. The 1996 and 2002 U.S. Farm Bills have produced a vast structural, price-depressing oversupply of most major agricultural commodities. This oversupply has driven prices down. Both the 1996 and 2002 Farm Bills were driven by efforts to make them compliant with WTO rules. The result has been the institutionalization of agricultural dumping by U.S. farm policy. U.S. farm subsidies are frequently blamed for agricultural dumping, yet they are only a symptom of a much deeper market failure. The sharp increases in agricultural dumping in the U.S. can be traced to the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, which stripped away already weakened programs that were designed to manage supply. These supply management programs helped to balance supply with demand, ensuring a fair return to farmers from the marketplace. The pre-1996 commodity programs in effect set a floor price that commodity b uyers had to pay farmers. Given the structural imbalance in market power between farmers and agribusiness corporations, the government traditionally intervened to ensure competitive markets and prevent anticompetitive business practices.  [11]   In 1996, the U.S. government abandoned intervention mechanisms at the behest of agribusiness lobbyists, supported by free trade economists. The result: U.S. agricultural prices went into freefall. Without the supply control programs and other interventions, commodity buyers were able to drive prices below the costs of production and leave them there. To prevent the collapse of U.S. agriculture, Congress then set up counter-cyclical payments to make up part of the losses resulting from the Farm Bill reforms. The U.S. now has very expensive farm programs that distort market signals while doing nothing to correct the deeper distortion inherent in the unbalanced market power between farmers and commodity buyers and processors.  [12]   The event of dumping in itself does not pose a major problem for the international community but what has been a constant source of concern is the widespread damage that has caused to the developing countries.  [13]  The researcher shall devote the next two chapters of this project to discuss the damage that have been caused all around the world because of dumping by the developed countries and the mechanism employed by the WTO to counter this problem and how far that has been successful. C h a p t e r 2 : T h e I m p a c t o f D u m p i n g a n d A g r i c u l t u r a l S u b s i d i e s o n D e v e l o p i n g C o u n t r i e s. Ten years after the World Trade Organization (WTO) came into existence, and some 20 years after the holy grail of economic liberalization for more open markets and less government intervention in the developing world based on the idea that economies must grow if poor people are to reap the benefits of globalization, the tragedy is that the process of economic liberalization may already have set poor communities back a generation.  [14]  No where has the impact been more severely felt than in the agricultural sector. Conventional wisdom has it that the agricultural sector is heavily subsidized in most developed nations. Whatever difficulties may arise in determining the net impact of government on industries in general, most observers seem to agree that agriculture is a net beneficiary of government largesse. It is ironic that the one sector considered to be the most subsidized is subject to the least degree of discipline on subsidies (among goods markets). As noted, both export and domestic subsidies are generally permissible under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, though subject to negotiated ceilings and some reduction over time. The absence of tight discipline on export subsidies is unfortunate for the reasons discussed at length earlier. Export subsidies are almost certainly a source of economic distortion, and indeed the agricultural sector affords a case study of how pressures for competitive subsidization have led trading nations down the road of mutually wasteful expenditures. The resistance to the elimination of domestic farm programs is likely a source of economic waste as well, for much the same reason that any form of protectionism is a source of waste. But as indicated in the discussion of protective subsidies, it is hardly clear that protection through subsidization is any worse from an economic standpoint than other forms of protection. Thus, if the political equilibrium is such that agriculture must be protected, domestic farm programs may be no more troublesome that border measures. One objection that might be tabled to the continued coexistence of domestic farm programs and protective border measures for the same commodities (assuming that protection is inevitable) is that multiple protective measures complicate trade negotiations. If country A wishes to bargain for access to the agricultural markets of country B, it is harder to evaluate the benefits of a tariff concession from country B in the face of a subsidy program that also protects farmers in country B. The added transaction costs of negotiation in the face of multiple instruments of protection can be avoided by channeling all protection into a single, transparent policy instrument-this is the essential rationale for efforts in the WTO/GATT system toward tariffication of all trade barriers. Yet, the prevalence of domestic farm programs suggests that border measures alone are inadequate to the task of achieving the anticompetitive purposes compelled by current politics. One need only look at the United States, which is a net exporter of many agricultural commodities, to realize that import restrictions may do little to ensure politically acceptable prices or rates of return to the producers of certain commodities. Thus, perhaps the best that can be done is to schedule all the protective policies, both subsidies and tariffs, and bargain over both simultaneously to achieve limits on their magnitude. This is the approach of the Agriculture Agreement, and one might reasonably hope that sequential rounds of negotiations over these protective instruments in the agricultural area will produce gradual liberalization, much as the sequence of negotiating rounds under GATT brought great reductions in the tariffs applicable elsewhere. There is also something to be said for the effort in Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement to favor subsidies that do not encourage output. To the degree that subsidies are being granted for reasons that do not relate to the correction of an externality, programs that confer financial benefits on the intended recipients without inducing an expansion of their output may create fewer distortions. The caveat, of course, relates to the fundamental problem of identifying subsidies in the first instance-an output-expanding subsidy might counteract some distortion associated with other tax and regulatory policies. But in the agriculture sector, where most observers believe that net subsidies are present at the outset, efforts to channel farm aid into programs that do not stimulate agricultural production may make good sense. Subsidies to the producers of goods and services lower the producers costs of production, other things being equal. This reduction in their costs of production can lead to an expansion of their output in two ways, depending on the nature of the subsidy. First, some subsidies depend directly on output-the subsidy program may provide a producer with $1 for each widget that it produces, for example (or $1 for each widget that it exports, the classic export subsidy discussed below). Subsidies that increase with output in this fashion are economically equivalent to a reduction in the short-run marginal costs of production for the producer that receives them. In general, producers will respond to a reduction in short-run marginal costs by lowering price. Of course, when price falls, the quantity demanded by buyers will rise and output will expand to meet the increased demand. Second, even where the amount of the subsidy is not contingent on output and does not affect short-run marginal costs of production, subsidies can affect long-run marginal costs in a way that causes additional productive capacity to come on line or to remain on line. For example, imagine an unprofitable company that is unable to cover its variable costs of production at any level of output, and would thus shut down its operations under ordinary circumstances. A subsidy to that company that is contingent on it remaining in business can avert a shut-down in operations-it must simply be enough to allow the company to cover its variable costs at some level of output. Likewise, a subsidy can induce a company to build new capacity to enter a market when the expected returns to entry absent the subsidy would not be high enough to induce entry. It is also possible, to be sure, that a subsidy will have no impact on the output of recipients. Imagine, for example, that a government simply sends a company an unexpected check for $1 million. The money is in no way contingent on the companys output, or on it remaining in business. The owners of the company will be pleased to receive this subsidy, of course, but there is no reason for them to change their operations in any way-whatever level of output was most profitable without the subsidy will also be most profitable with the subsidy. These observations suggest another important issue that must be confronted in conceptualizing subsidies. For a government program to confer a subsidy, must it encourage an increase in output by the recipient? If it does not, then it cannot tilt the playing field in a way that causes detriment to competing producers. But if this question is answered affirmatively, it becomes necessary to inquire whether the government program in question affects marginal costs in the short run, or has an effect on long-run marginal cost that is sufficient to cause capacity to remain in production when it would exit otherwise, or to enter when it would not otherwise. Such issues are not always easily resolved.  [15]   The adverse effect of Dumping: Dumping in amongst the most harmful of all price distortions; developing country agriculture, vital for food security, rural livelihoods, poverty reduction and generating foreign exchange, is crippled by the competition from major commodities sold at well below cost of production prices in world markets. The structural price depression associated with agricultural dumping and a dual effect on the agricultural structure of the developing countries. Firstly, as a result of the below cost imports the farmers are driven out of their domestic markets. If the farmers do not have access to a safety net of subsidies and credit, they have to abandon their land. When this happens, the farm economy shrinks, in turn shrinking the rural economy as a whole and sending rural people into trade-related migration. Second, developing country farmers who sell their products to exporters find their global market share undermined by the policy of a depressed global price. Th e cascading effects of dumping are felt around the world in places as far apart as Jamaica, Burkina Faso and the Philippines.  [16]   The effect of Dumping on Indian Agriculture: The liberalization of the Indian economy initiated during the early 1990s was launched with a view to accelerating agricultural growth by ending discrimination against agriculture. The idea was to turn the terms of trade in favor of agriculture through a large, real devaluation of the currency and increase in output prices of agriculture. An exponential growth was expected which was to have a significant impact on poverty reduction and thereby have a positive impact on livelihood security of hundreds

Computer Networks :: essays research papers

Computer Networks Computers by themselves are useful tools. But once they are interconnected, they surge in usefulness and suddenly become media. One computer is connected into a network which is then patched into a network of networks. Computer networks have the potential to break the monopolies of media institutions. With networks, there is a shift from centralized, one-way media to dispersed, infinite-way communication. Every audience member in the world can at the same time be an information provider. Channels of information creation and distribution become cheaper and broader until we have limitless bandwidth and storage capacity. This technology comes with a cautionary note. Every emergent media technology has been hailed as the harbinger of popular expression. Yet each new media is used for commercial ends by those in control of power. Newspapers, radios, and television have become institutionalized and continue to institutionalize as they are purchased by larger and larger conglomerates. Adver tiser-supported media has become a top-down business. The audience is, after all, not the consumer in television. That role lies with the sponsor. The sponsor purchases advertising time and decides what it is they want to support. Television, and other media forms, are dominated by these sponsors supporting what they perceive is what their consumers want, or what they want their particular product to be associated with. The question is whether computer networks will go this route. Computer networks are prone to some of the same problems as traditional media. Though anyone can place something on the World Wide Web, it becomes increasingly difficult to make that web page known to the general Internet audience. Large media-entities are able to create flashy, innovative sites that make personal sites look frumpy, and quickly passed over. An analogy can be drawn between television and the Internet. Anyone can videotape a subject, and with a little time, edit it into a program. But compare the quality of what the private individual can make within their budget (an 8mm video camera, perhaps two VCRs for dubbing) versus television companies with hundreds of thousands of dollars. But computer networks have several saving graces. Distribution becomes limitless. Television, radio, and even newspapers (due to high publishing costs) have limited bandwidth. Computer networks can carry virtually limitless amounts of data at piddling costs, "the electromagnetic spectrum is not scarce but nearly limitless" (Gilder 129). That private videomaker can not distribute his video independently unless he is very wealthy.

Newspapers : A thing of the past

Good Morning, My name is Mohana Soman and I am going to talk about Newspapers. Initially, when we hear ‘Newspapers’, you envision stuffy politicians on the front page, juicy reports of the latest scandal or even a grisly murder case. That, is what the Newspaper has become. From being the one source of true information being passed around as common knowledge, it has become a kind of daily entertainment. Mum may read about some old actress, while Dad mutters about how the country is down in the dumps.I think that Newspapers are a thing of the past. They are because: We can simply get all the information and news we need faster and cheaper from the internet than waiting for the newspaper. Plus if we stop printing newspaper we will be able to save a lot more trees which will help us in the fight against global warming. Nowadays sitting and reading the whole newspaper consumes a lot of time which is a waste of precious time, it is better if we just sit on the internet and typ e what we want and have it in front of us.Therefore the internet is a better and more popular thing than newspapers. Obviously newspapers are not completely ‘a thing of the past' because they still provide news for the elderly and those traditionalists, yet it is inevitable that their death will occur due to the technological progression. Purely for convenience, an hourly publication is more accessible than a daily one. In this day and age, people enjoy ‘being in the know', and they are able to do this by checking for live updates rather than waiting for the newspaper the next day.

Tips to Make Learning German Easier

Tips to Make Learning German Easier The first time most of us come in touch with a foreign language or at least with the need to study it, is in school. But learning a language in school is like learning to swim in one of those Japanese public swimming pools. It is simply an artificial situation and all efforts to make learning a language in a group worth everyone’s while are pretty much bound to fail. They call it the conversational or interactive approach. But isn’t using a language always interactive? And is a classroom really the right place to practice a language? Wouldn’t it suffice to instruct learners on how to learn it own their own and how to find a way to put it to good use? Overhaul your Learning Techniques Most of us get by in school as our brains are learning and survival machines. But only rarely have I come across someone who has actually learned how to learn a language. We all still often rely on those techniques that we have acquired or developed on our own in those times because they simply worked well enough. And it is these learning strategies that you might still use to learn German nowadays. But with the difference that nowadays it is not to improve your grades or to make your parents proud, but to deal with a real live situation. There are but there are two elemental factors that make a significant difference when you are learning German. The Main Keys to Success in German Language Learning The first thing that I demand from every learner is that they will take an exam at the end of our cooperation. And although this goal is just part of their success, it sets a very clear direction, enables us to develop a structure for our actions and sets a measurable time limit to our efforts. Without a clear goal and structure, any language will simply be overwhelming. There are thousands of words to learn, the grammar, and German grammar, in particular, seems impenetrable. When we try to speak we feel like there’s goo coming out of our mouths.   Setting up an exam date right away  does wonders for your learning. The problem is that we usually have no idea how long it will take us to reach a certain level. And that’s why I always recommend†¦ Get a Guide You are not the first to learn another language and there have been many men and women pulling their hair out over the question of how we can learn a new language the most efficient way. Some pulled a bit stronger and came up with miraculous methods which very often claim to teach you a language with very little effort and/or in very little time. Needless to say, you’d better refer to your gesunder menschenverstand, your common sense, when you come across anything that seems too good to be true. Good teachers are among the most undervalued people in this world. If you find a good teacher, you have an invaluable companion by your side. She will fight off the wolves, pick up the pebbles and thorns from your barefoot path and get you to just go a few meters farther when you waver and doubt whether you can reach your goal which still seems so far away. She is your walking cane, the whistled tune on your lips and the umbrella when it rains.   Of course one could also learn German on one’s own with ones proven techniques but I can state that from my experience, learning German with a tutor and with a clear goal makes a big difference. You will still have a lot of work to do but you will suffer significantly less.

National Governing Body for football in Great Britain Essay Example

National Governing Body for football in Great Britain Essay Example National Governing Body for football in Great Britain Essay National Governing Body for football in Great Britain Essay Football is the national sport for Britain. It is played at all levels from amateur to semi pro to professional. In the past it has been a mainly male dominated sport with very few womens teams and less importance being put on female football in schools.  Grassroots development  There are many schemes run by the National Governing Body for football in Great Britain.  90 clubs in England were granted official FA Community Club awards, a certificate that will help English amateur football for years to come.  These certificates of excellence show those nominated football clubs are run safely and well. The FAs partners, McDonalds, are currently helping to recruit an extra 8,000 coaches to ensure that clubs across all of Great Britain are organised properly at all levels. The County Youth Cup, originally known as the County Minor Championship, was launched in 1944-45 by FA to provide football for the best young players who have not signed up with professional clubs.  Nowadays, any player under written contract, including Trainee/Scholarship players, or those registered at Academies or Centres of Excellence are not eligible to compete in the competition.  Players under the age of 18, at school or playing in leagues affiliated to County Football Associations, are eligible. There are also many local teams which have youth teams ranging form under 5s to under 17s and senior teams. Many local teams, such as Sutton United have many teams for each age group, with many different standards for each team. There are also many Little Leagues such as Morden Little League and Raynes Park. These play at the same place every week and allow young players who were not that gifted in football to still enjoy the game and not have to get through trials to play. There are also better standards of youth football. For example, West Surrey Football League contains many youth teams of semi pro teams. These contain some players who play at academy level for professional clubs. Most secondary schools have a football team for each year, with the best players from each school playing for the district teams against other districts.These are mainly amateur or semi professional clubs that are governed by the Surrey FA. There are also clubs such as Crystal Palace and Fulham in this area who are professional and obviously play at a much higher level of football.  Sponsorship  Nationwide, the worlds largest building society and previous sponsor of the England football team, has renewed its sponsorship with The Football Association. The multi-million pound deal is first ever specific sponsors of national womens football in England.  Although it can be seen that the FA and other elite teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal do not have any problem in finding big-money sponsors, smaller non-league teams like Sutton United struggle to find an appropriate sponsor. Schools can also not find appropriate sponsors and rely on local businesses to supply funds to successfully support teams. Some youth teams ask their players for money at the start of the season to pay for pitches, referees or even kits. Governing Bodies FIFA is the governing body for the whole of world football and was founded on May 21st 1904. The aim of FIFA is to promote Football at all levels and to control every type of association football by taking steps as shall be deemed necessary or advisable. The FA is the governing body for British football and there are county bodies such as the Surrey FA.  The English Schools FA , manages all of the national school competitions as well as the regional events such as county cups. LFA, the London FA contols more than 80 leagues, 50,000 players and managers and 1,200 referees in Greater London. Competitions including the London Challenge, Senior, Intermediate, Junior, Ladies and Sunday Cup are controlled by the LFA.London Football Association is directed by the LFA Council, comprised of 5 Divisions of representatives from Londons 12 Professional Clubs.  The RA, the referees association, oversees the refereeing of thousands of football matches, with thousands of members. Each national association has its own management team elected by the members, a Board in England and Councils in Wales and Northern Ireland that runs the day-to-day affairs representing the interests of its members.  The Referees Association itself now becomes a purely commercial and administrational resource that is shared between and jointly owned by the three national associations.  The PFA, the players football association, acts as a union for the players. This has power in the FA whic h can defend players in the event of any disputes, such as discipline.

Free Essays on The Witches Children

In the summer of 1692, nineteen men and women were hanged after having been convicted of witchcraft. The hysteria began the previous winter and was over by early autumn of 1692. To pass the cold winter days of 1692, several girls began meeting at Rev. Parris’ home. Tituba, the Parris’ slave from Barbados, entertained the girls with her stories of witchcraft and demons. Tituba also told the girls’ fortunes. Soon, Rev. Parris’ daughter, Betty, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, became frightened by the stories and fortunes, and they began to act strangely. They had terrible fits, darting around the house, screaming and crying and writhing as if they were in pain. Rev. Parris called Salem Village’s doctor, Willam Griggs because he thought the girls’ behavior might be an illness. The doctor failed to find any medical cause for their fits, so he concluded that the girls must be bewitched. During that time period, most people believed one could make an agreement with the devil in exchange for evil powers. This was considered a great sin, and the girls didn’t speak out immediately. At the end of February, they began to accuse Tituba and other women in Salem Village of conspiring with the devil and practicing witchcraft. Other girls in the village, including Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary Warren, began to have similar fits, and they joined in the accusations. Soon, many villagers were arrested and jailed on charges of witchcraft. Trials for the accused began in March. In order to receive a lesser sentence, some of the accused confessed their guilt and also spoke out against others. Because there were so many accused witches in jail, the governor set up a new court, the â€Å"court of oyer and terminer," specifically for the witchcraft cases. In the cases against the accused, â€Å"spectral evidence† (testimony that one was afflicted by someone’s specter, or ghost) was admitted, as wer... Free Essays on The Witches Children Free Essays on The Witches Children In the summer of 1692, nineteen men and women were hanged after having been convicted of witchcraft. The hysteria began the previous winter and was over by early autumn of 1692. To pass the cold winter days of 1692, several girls began meeting at Rev. Parris’ home. Tituba, the Parris’ slave from Barbados, entertained the girls with her stories of witchcraft and demons. Tituba also told the girls’ fortunes. Soon, Rev. Parris’ daughter, Betty, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, became frightened by the stories and fortunes, and they began to act strangely. They had terrible fits, darting around the house, screaming and crying and writhing as if they were in pain. Rev. Parris called Salem Village’s doctor, Willam Griggs because he thought the girls’ behavior might be an illness. The doctor failed to find any medical cause for their fits, so he concluded that the girls must be bewitched. During that time period, most people believed one could make an agreement with the devil in exchange for evil powers. This was considered a great sin, and the girls didn’t speak out immediately. At the end of February, they began to accuse Tituba and other women in Salem Village of conspiring with the devil and practicing witchcraft. Other girls in the village, including Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary Warren, began to have similar fits, and they joined in the accusations. Soon, many villagers were arrested and jailed on charges of witchcraft. Trials for the accused began in March. In order to receive a lesser sentence, some of the accused confessed their guilt and also spoke out against others. Because there were so many accused witches in jail, the governor set up a new court, the â€Å"court of oyer and terminer," specifically for the witchcraft cases. In the cases against the accused, â€Å"spectral evidence† (testimony that one was afflicted by someone’s specter, or ghost) was admitted, as wer...

Coaching Log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Coaching Log - Essay Example The coaching session began with motivational interviewing that would allow the coach to assess the client's needs as well as make the client aware of what her problem is. Motivational interviewing was again used to help the client realize the solution to the problem. Activity scheduling was then used to help the client create an action plan. In order to remove emotional obstacles like fear of failure or fear of rejection, the client was given problem-solving skills training before the session ended. The subject is a woman named Anne, who has graduated from college and has been working for a consulting company for almost two years now. She has been undergoing a lot of mood changes as well as sleeping disorders. At the beginning of the interview, motivational interviewing (MI) was used to draw out the client's problems and needs. Below, the coach asked some open questions and leading questions in order to help the client verbalize her problems and needs. When I was in college, I tried out a lot of sports. And, there was this one time when I got really hooked with judo. I loved the struggle and the challenge. I loved the way I set myself up for success by doing the right technique at the right time. And, I love the way I can find ways of turning things around when I am about to lose. And, I remember the first time I won a tournament. It was something that I worked hard on and succeeded in. I don't really know. ... And, I love the way I can find ways of turning things around when I am about to lose. And, I remember the first time I won a tournament. It was something that I worked hard on and succeeded in. What do you think would make you feel that way again I don't know. That is what I'm trying to look for. It's frustrating. I want to have some changes in my life but I don't know where to start. When do you usually feel this "emptiness" I don't really know. It just happens. It just hits me. Sometimes, it gets to me at work. It's like my days are always the same. And, I feel that there should be more to my life than this. And, when I get home, I come to an empty place. And, I feel afraid that this is what it's going to be like forever. And, I can't stand it. I want to have something more. Let's start with your workplace. Have you always felt this way about your work Of course not! I was excited. I couldn't wait to interact with the clients. And, I liked the fact that every single client was different. And, the projects I worked on were never the same. But then, after some time, I started feeling that I was saying the same lines and working on the same things. And, somehow, I felt that every day was the same. Why did you suddenly feel that way I don't really know. But, I guess, it's because I have the same approach for each client. The accounts that I'm assigned to are very different but my means of evaluating them and presenting my ideas to them are always the same. Somehow, I found myself doing the saying the same lines everyday. And, it has become very tiring. How can you change the way you see your job I don't know. Do you think you should quit your job No. I do love my job. It has

What are the major arguments for both the advantages and disadvantages Essay

What are the major arguments for both the advantages and disadvantages of(1) division of powers and checks and balances and (2) federalism - Essay Example ecutive branch had the complete power of the United States vested in its care then a significant amount of individuals could potentially feel alienated or oppressed by the decision-making (Joe). Similarly, the short time period of congressional representatives, and the life period of judicial representatives allows for differing perspectives to be thrown into the political mix. Still theorists recognize that there are many disadvantages. The United States operates under what has been termed Federalism. One of the primary tenants of Federalism is that there is a national government, but states that fall within the auspices of this governmental structure. There is then a further division of powers between the states and the national government. Just as with the branches of government, the checks and balances between state and national powers guard against corruption and allow for multiple perspectives. Still, the disadvantages with both the divisions of the branches and Federalism are that they create layers of bureaucratic government structure. These added layers hinder the quick passage of laws that could directly contribute to the betterment of society (Rice). Joe, Chris. "Drawbacks of Checks and Balances." . N.p., 2011. Web. 26 Mar 2012.

The man they called Mahatma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The man they called Mahatma - Essay Example The class teacher seeing this asked Mohandas to copy from his neighbour's slate. Mohandas refused and was rebuked by the teacher for his attitude. Mohandas married Kasturbai at the young age of thirteen, a marriage that lasted for sixty-two years. Mohandas set sail for England from Bombay on September 4th 1888 and enrolled for studies in law at Inner Temple Inns of Court. He was called to the bar on June 10th 1890, and set sail for India on 12th of June. From a barrister-at-law to a Mahatma, a leader of millions of Indians was a transformation unparalleled in history. On return to India, Mohandas had an uneventful and mediocre practice that lasted two years. Fallout with a British Political Agent had made Mohandas view things differently. He wanted to leave India. Opportunity came to him in the form of a business firm in Porbandar that wanted him to represent them in South Africa. Gandhi's experience in South Africa transformed him and he came back a different man and went on to become the man they called Mahatma. After landing in Durban, Natal, the lawsuit required Mohandas Gandhi to travel to Pretoria. He was given a first class ticket for the travel. During the overnight journey at a place called Maritzburg, Gandhi was manhandled and removed from the train. South Africa was at that time under Apartheid. On that bitter night at Maritzburg the germ of social protest was born in Mohandas Gandhi1. It dawned on Gandhi that he as an individual should fight for his rights against adversities and that through his actions; others will follow and win freedom. In 1901 when Gandhi decided to return to India, the Indian community got together and honored him and his family with a party. The congregation showered Gandhi and his family with gold, silver and diamonds for their contribution to confront the white minority government on their behalf. Gandhi had earlier received gifts in 1896, but they were inconsequential and Gandhi took them out of kindness. This time around the gifts were very precious and this began to haunt Gandhi. He was torn between the yearning for financial freedom and worldly freedom2. He decided to do away with the worldly pleasures and gifted the precious metals for community service, and he followed the same principle when leading a simple life in India. The pledge at the Imperial Theatre in Johannesburg on September 11th 1906 was a critical date in Gandhi's life. This day, Gandhi pledged before God not to obey the proposed anti-Indian ordinance if it became law3 thus was born "Satyagraha", Satya for truth, and agraha for firmness or force. Gandhi followed this path in his disobedience movement act against the British later in India. The Satyagraha was "the vindication of truth not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but on one's self"4 The Salt Satyagraha, also known as the Dandi March on March 12th 1930, is an event that shook the entire British Empire. Gandhi and 78 volunteers walked from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi defying the orders of the British Government to pay tax on salt that was easily available from the sea. They walked 241 miles to reach Dandi to produce salt on their own. Analysis Though Gandhi was an unsuccessful lawyer, destiny had other things in store for him. A business firm offered to send Gandhi as their legal advisor to

Tom's Shoes Link to Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tom's Shoes Link to Society - Essay Example He was hurt by this condition and felt the need to do good and help those children he saw in the streets. He promised himself that he was to do anything possible to help these children hence Blake and his team decided to take a financial risk and started shoes manufacturing company. He decided that, for every pair of shoes purchased, a pair is donated to the needy child in the society (Schermerhorn 148). Furthermore, children not only in Argentina, but also across the world that many live under poverty life and cannot even afford even the basic needs. These children walk barefoot hence get infected by soil diseases, which go through their bare foot. Most children are likely to get sores, cuts and other injuries that later become serious wounds increasing the infections of diseases to their bodies. In order to avoid these shoes play an essential role in preventing children and even adults in poor rural areas from getting infected from these diseases. On the other hand, children from poor families do not go to school due to lack of shoes, which is part of school dress code. Meaning these children will not go to school to get the education that will help them better their future. Therefore, TOMS has promoted education since many children who never went to school because they lacked shoes now can go to school and there is a reduction in the high spread of soil diseases that infect the p oor in society. The company dispersed ten thousand pairs of shoes to needy children in Argentina in the year 2006. It has also distributed shoes to needy children in over 40 countries across the world among them Rwanda, USA, Argentina, South Africa, Rwanda, Haiti among many other developing countries. As a result, the organization has attracted many donors and has received grants and funds from them. This made the company expand its business and

Vial filling and terminal sterilisation for drug in pharmacology FDA Essay

Vial filling and terminal sterilisation for drug in pharmacology FDA - Essay Example The main sterilization processes relate to terminal sterilization and aseptic filing process which incorporates the vial filling and syringe filling. The Closed Vial Filling System (CVFS) is composed of containers that are sterile and closed and are filled through their stoppers, then resealed again immediately to avoid entry of bacteria. The main characteristics of the process relate to a surrounding environment of ISO 8 minimum operation, an enclosure system, sanitization and prevention of material entry. The enclosure system includes a rig was to separate the operation from operators, HEPA-filtered air flow supplied from the ceiling with air exit, locked doors, with alarms, glove ports for area access entry of product to be filled and through aseptic connector. The entry of material is through closed vials that have been pre-sterilized by gamma rays, through rapid transfer ports (RTP) and through VHP airlock using PE wrapped vial. Entry can also be through caps which are sterilized earlier and a fluid path sterilized by gamma rays. Sanitation is through disinfection of all contact places, bags for fluid path and within the vials using an agent with spores. High quality and design are observed in the terminal sterilization

Module project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Module project - Assignment Example The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. Shell has branches in 100 countries, and operates an approximate number of 44000 service stations. The company producing more than 3 million barrels of oil per day, and this makes it second to Exxon Mobil. Due to its massive size, and huge capital base, the company is an important player in the international system. It has the capability of influencing world leaders to enact policies that will encourage capitalism, and liberalization of their economies (Carroll, 1999). Due to its s ize, and the complex business activities the company engages in, the company operates under four main divisions. These are projects and technology, upstream international, upstream Americas, and downstream (Bruijn et al, 2002). The role of upstream international is to manage business operations of shell that are outside the American continent. The division is responsible for identifying new oil and gas fields. It refines crude oil, liquefies it and transports the gas. The division creates the necessary infrastructure required to supply and deliver the oil products of the company to the target market. The division operates through geographic locations, and each location has its own CEO. In some instances, the upstream international unit collaborates with all its geographic units to deliver a service considered essential and important (Bruijn et al, 2002). This only applies when the geographic unit of the company does not have the necessary skills to deliver the service. The Projects and Technology department is responsible for developing new and technological innovative systems, for purposes of improving the efficiency of the organization. The Unit concerns itself with the distribution of the organizations major projects, and it is not restricted to regions (Carroll, 1999). It supplements the technological innovations of Upstream and Downstream divisions of Shell, and it is responsible for providing leadership and advice on the areas of environmental conservation, health, safety, and procurements and contracting. The downstream division is responsible for the production, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of the products and services of Shell Company. The unit refines, distributes and transports crude oil products (Green, 1985). The upstream America is responsible for the business activities of the organization in North and South America. In this region, the organization looks for new sources of oil, and gas. It also creates an infrastructure that has the capability of efficiently transporting the products of the company to its target markets (Jordan, 2001). The division is responsible for extracting bitumen from oil sand. It converts them to crude oil, and thereafter refines them to produce energy. The main objective of the company is to search for oil and gas, and thereafter produce the product, manufacture it’s, and deliver the product to the market. The company also explores for gas, refines it, and transports

Tom's Shoes Link to Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tom's Shoes Link to Society - Essay Example He was hurt by this condition and felt the need to do good and help those children he saw in the streets. He promised himself that he was to do anything possible to help these children hence Blake and his team decided to take a financial risk and started shoes manufacturing company. He decided that, for every pair of shoes purchased, a pair is donated to the needy child in the society (Schermerhorn 148). Furthermore, children not only in Argentina, but also across the world that many live under poverty life and cannot even afford even the basic needs. These children walk barefoot hence get infected by soil diseases, which go through their bare foot. Most children are likely to get sores, cuts and other injuries that later become serious wounds increasing the infections of diseases to their bodies. In order to avoid these shoes play an essential role in preventing children and even adults in poor rural areas from getting infected from these diseases. On the other hand, children from poor families do not go to school due to lack of shoes, which is part of school dress code. Meaning these children will not go to school to get the education that will help them better their future. Therefore, TOMS has promoted education since many children who never went to school because they lacked shoes now can go to school and there is a reduction in the high spread of soil diseases that infect the p oor in society. The company dispersed ten thousand pairs of shoes to needy children in Argentina in the year 2006. It has also distributed shoes to needy children in over 40 countries across the world among them Rwanda, USA, Argentina, South Africa, Rwanda, Haiti among many other developing countries. As a result, the organization has attracted many donors and has received grants and funds from them. This made the company expand its business and

Module project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Module project - Assignment Example The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. Shell has branches in 100 countries, and operates an approximate number of 44000 service stations. The company producing more than 3 million barrels of oil per day, and this makes it second to Exxon Mobil. Due to its massive size, and huge capital base, the company is an important player in the international system. It has the capability of influencing world leaders to enact policies that will encourage capitalism, and liberalization of their economies (Carroll, 1999). Due to its s ize, and the complex business activities the company engages in, the company operates under four main divisions. These are projects and technology, upstream international, upstream Americas, and downstream (Bruijn et al, 2002). The role of upstream international is to manage business operations of shell that are outside the American continent. The division is responsible for identifying new oil and gas fields. It refines crude oil, liquefies it and transports the gas. The division creates the necessary infrastructure required to supply and deliver the oil products of the company to the target market. The division operates through geographic locations, and each location has its own CEO. In some instances, the upstream international unit collaborates with all its geographic units to deliver a service considered essential and important (Bruijn et al, 2002). This only applies when the geographic unit of the company does not have the necessary skills to deliver the service. The Projects and Technology department is responsible for developing new and technological innovative systems, for purposes of improving the efficiency of the organization. The Unit concerns itself with the distribution of the organizations major projects, and it is not restricted to regions (Carroll, 1999). It supplements the technological innovations of Upstream and Downstream divisions of Shell, and it is responsible for providing leadership and advice on the areas of environmental conservation, health, safety, and procurements and contracting. The downstream division is responsible for the production, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of the products and services of Shell Company. The unit refines, distributes and transports crude oil products (Green, 1985). The upstream America is responsible for the business activities of the organization in North and South America. In this region, the organization looks for new sources of oil, and gas. It also creates an infrastructure that has the capability of efficiently transporting the products of the company to its target markets (Jordan, 2001). The division is responsible for extracting bitumen from oil sand. It converts them to crude oil, and thereafter refines them to produce energy. The main objective of the company is to search for oil and gas, and thereafter produce the product, manufacture it’s, and deliver the product to the market. The company also explores for gas, refines it, and transports

Reading Reflection Essay Example for Free

Reading Reflection Essay At first, I think literacy has two meanings. The first meaning is culture or civilization and the second meaning is the ability to write and read. Both meaning are very similar, they are related to cultural knowledge. But in today’s society, literacy not only means culture. The concept of information literacy is people can effectively use and recognize the information. Besides, people can redefining and evaluate themselves in today’s information society. By reading Nunberg’s Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea, I think the concept of literacy is the discerning ability of people. Nowadays, much knowledge is deriving from Internet. These are second hand materials, not the primary sources. Some resources are not true. The way every people think of the Web is very different. It tests their discerning abilities. Like most people judge the credibility of a website by its outward. The information literacy means to be able to effectively identify, evaluate, and use the information. Also, the information literacy is expanding to include the map, media, and some electronic text. The information literacy has a deeper meaning. Students are highly familiar about website and search engine. They are effectively integrating the concept of information literacy into their learning programs. For me, I think the information literacy is good for college students. Because it can help them recognize when the information is needed, they have the ability to use the information. Literacy information is increasingly important in college life. Students faced with diverse, rich information every day. It was a big challenge for them.

Creating Items and Response Scales

Creating Items and Response Scales The major issues in creating items and response scales are to determine the types of survey scales to use. The primary function of the survey scale is to allocate weight and to provide significance to the answers collected. If a scale does not exist than there’s no means to qualify the answers on any particular survey and the entire process becomes like calculating calories without a food weight calculator (different measurement units) next to the number. Creating scales, indexes or any instrument that may perhaps be identified as a test is a component of the investigating process that is related to calibration. Calibration is a speedy and effortless way to attain precision and accuracy, in which are essential goals of measurement. In order to best estimate the reliability and validity of a study or investigation, is to ask questions about the items fitting together or overlapping or if the responses can improve a measuring instrument used.  A scale is a cluster of items tha t taps into a single domain of behavior, attitudes, or feelings. The word scale has been known to be called composites, subtests, agenda, or supplies. On a measuring instrument the following are found on a scale: aptitude, attitude, interest, performance, and personality tests. A scale is always one-dimensional, which means it has construct and content validity. The first key to understanding the meaning of a construct is to define construct validity. A psychological construct is a characteristic, proficiency, aptitude, or skills that have an effect in the human brain and is described by well-known theories. For example, the computer proficiency test is a construct. It exists and observed during the day to day operations. Construct validity usually is defined as unproven demonstration that the test was assessing the construct it asserts to be measuring. The experiment could take the appearance of a differential group study, in which the processes on the test are compared to two groups: one that illustrates construct and the other one that does not illustrate a construct. If the group with the construct functions better than the group without the construct, then the outcome is said to offer proof of the construct validity regarding the test. An unconventional strategy is called an intervention study. The intervention study is a group that is fragile in the construct that is measured utilizing the test, then studied the construct and measured again. If an underlying pattern is found involving the pretest and posttest, the difference can support the construct validity of the test. There have been many other strategies which can investigate the construct validity of the test. The philosophy of construct validity is when known in psychology and sociology research community. Educational measurements involved three types of validity such as content, criterion-related and construct validity. Nevertheless, there is no single way to study construct validity. Construct validity should be illustrated from several different perspectives. When various approaches are used to demonstrate the validity of the test, the test users become more confident but only if the evidence proven by those strategies are convincing. The construct valid ity test should demonstrate an accumulation of evidence. Currently, there are at least four construct scales, Thurston scales, Likert scales, Guttman scaling and semantic differential scale. For example, the Likert scale asks people to indicate how much they agree or disagree, accept as true or false and approve or disapprove. There are no correct or incorrect way to develop a Likert scale, but one thing is important is that the Likert scale must have five response categories. However, individuals frequently confuse scales and response scales. A response scale is the methods that are collected from individuals on an instrument. A dichotomous question has only two different answers which can be found on Political surveys. On this sort of survey the response scale is to measure opinions on issues, such as if he or she Agree/Disagree, True/False, or has Yes/No responses. Moreover, a researcher may use an interval response scale like a one to five or one to seven rating sale of measurin g just how negative or how positive a person’s opinion of an issue is. However, if all the researcher is doing is attaching a response scale to an object or statement, than the researcher cannot call it scaling. Scaling include procedures that are done independently of the respondent so it is able to come up with a numerical value for the object. In true scaling studies, an individual uses a scaling procedure to develop ones instrument (scale) and also use a response scale to gather the responses from participants. Yet, to just allocate a one to five response scale for an item is not considered scaling. The Snyder Evaluation Model is an evaluation process regarded as a systems-based and participative approach involving participants as co-evaluators. In this model a three-stage process of evaluation is incorporated such as process, outcome, and a short-cycle evaluation. The method is mostly qualitative in its approach; however quantitative measures can be used when appropriate. Each evaluation stage builds upon a systems model or previous phases of how the project is carried out. Synder et al. (1997) research concerned the self-fulfilling influences of social stereotypes on two social interactions. This study approached attribution theory from several different angles, such as an individual cognitive and behavioral impression of other people. Each of the three steps methods called process, outcome and the short-cycle evaluation illustrates a systems model of how a group or project operates. The principal elements of the model are resources, activities, outcomes, goals and vision. Resources consist of any activities that produce immediate results in the pursuit of goals and objectives, in order to improve a particular situation. These include such resources such as money, equipment, physical materials, skills, time and goodwill. Activities are the day-by-day events carried out by individuals. The objectives are different goals that are specific for him or her to follow over a particular time frame. Moreover, goals are usually developed through a planning proce ss and revised during each treatment planning stage. As a result, the timeframe of the targeted problems or activities can either last a year or less than that. The first phase of Snyder evaluation is process evaluation. Process evaluation assists participants to understand the process and how their activities contribute to their goal. The participants learn the associations between the fundamentals of the model and discover how certain economic or productive resources and activities can contribute to goals and ideals. Therefore, these step by step breakdowns of the phases use to articulate the contributions, outputs, and processes that take place during each phase. A process evaluation can be utilized by improve understanding of how the process is carried out, and to ascertain possible targets for process improvement through removing problems and progression efficiency. The second phase is outcome evaluations. Outcome evaluations use the results of the activity, method, process or program and their contrast with the intended or projected results. Building on this understanding, participants can identify reasonable and applicable indicators of their accomplishments. These indicators can be used to review the overall achievement of the target or ideas, or results of the activity, effort, or process expressed in quantitative numbers. The outcome evaluation also can demonstrate the effectiveness of the process evaluation, receive ongoing feedback and monitoring. The outgoing evaluation of the process can be demonstrated by annotating the following: assessable targets, measurable immediate effects; measurable activities; assessable resources; create monitoring activities and evaluate progress. The third phase is short cycle evaluations. Short-cycle evaluation uses the indicators to build from the outcome evaluation in order to utilize useful feedback. The short-cycle evaluation examines if the targeting task is making progress by obtaining continuous feedback so that improvements obtained. These short cycle evaluations can take on several forms, such as identifying evaluations criteria and identifying evaluation information. The Snyder Evaluation Model is an evaluation process regarded as a systems-based and participative approach involving participants as co-evaluators. In this model a three-stage process of evaluation is incorporated such as process, outcome, and a short-cycle evaluation. The method is mostly qualitative in its approach; however quantitative measures can be used when appropriate. Each evaluation stage builds upon a systems model or previous phases of how the project is carried out. Synder et al. (1997) research concerned the self-fulfilling influences of social stereotypes on two social interactions. This study approached attribution theory from several different angles, such as an individual cognitive and behavioral impression of other people. Each of the three steps methods called process, outcome and the short-cycle evaluation illustrates a systems model of how a group or project operates. The principal elements of the model are resources, activities, outcomes, goals and vision. Resources consist of any activities that produce immediate results in the pursuit of goals and objectives, in order to improve the individual situation. These include such resources such as money, equipment, physical materials, skills, time and goodwill. Activities are the day-by-day events carried out by individuals. The objectives are individual goals that are specific for him or her to follow over a particular time frame. Moreover, goals are usually developed through a planning pr ocess and revised during each treatment planning stage. As a result, the timeframe of the targeted problems or activities can either last a year or less than that. The first phase of Snyder evaluation is process evaluation. Process evaluation assists participants to understand the process and how their activities contribute to their goal. The participants understand the associations between the fundamentals of the model and discover how certain economic or productive resources and activities can contribute to targets and ideals. Therefore, these step by step breakdowns of the phases use to articulate the contributions, outputs, and processes that take place during each phase. A process evaluation can be utilized by improve understanding of how the process is carried out, and to determine potential targets for process improvement through removing waste and increasing efficiency. The second phase is outcome evaluations. Outcome evaluations use the results of an activity, plan, method, or program and their comparison with the intended or projected results. Building on this understanding, participants can identify reasonable and applicable indicators of their accomplishments. The indicators can be utilized to evaluate the overall achievement of the target or ideas, or results of an activity, effort, or process that can be expressed in quantitative numbers. The outcome evaluation also can demonstrate the effectiveness of the process evaluation, receive ongoing feedback and monitoring. The outgoing evaluation of the process can be demonstrated by annotating the following: assessable targets, measurable immediate effects; measurable activities; assessable resources; create monitoring activities and evaluate achievement. The third phase is short cycle evaluations. Short-cycle evaluation uses the indicators to build from the outcome evaluation in order to utilize useful feedback. The short-cycle evaluation examines if the targeting task is making progress by obtaining continuous feedback so that improvements can be obtained. Furthermore, short cycle evaluation develops a self-improving project, such as: identifying evaluation criteria; identify assessment information; distinguish sources of information; create information systems; assess process and outcome evaluations; and generate review mechanisms. A step-by-step  breakdown  of the  phases  of a  process, used to  convey  the inputs,  outputs, and  operations  that take place during each phase. A process analysis can be used to  improve  understanding of how the process  operates, and to determine potential  targets  for  process improvement  through removing  waste  and increasing  efficiency. Read more:  http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/process-analysis.html#ixzz3GcBqWvJ0

Artemis :: essays research papers fc

The Goddess Artemis Those who invated Artemis’s privacy, her goals, or restricted her freedom where paid dearly. When the hunter, Actaeon, accidentally came upon Artemis while she was bathing, she turned him into a stag and then his own hunting dogs attacked him and tore him to pieces. Artemis is the goddess of hunting and the moon. Her Roman name is Diana, and Greek name is Artemis. Artemis’ symbols are a crescent, a stag, and arrows. Artemis has many characteristics and is connected to today’s society in many ways. She has a big family and lots of stories behind them, and there are many myths about her. First of all, Artemis had many different characteristics. Many people call Artemis wonder women, because she can do almost anything. She is brave as any man, as strong as any man, and can hunt and kill any beast. She can be described as an environmentalist. Artemis was not know to have a satisfying relationship with men, not including her brother. She always was responsive to the needs or the vulnerable and the suffering. Artemis was the most independent of the goddesses, and one who lived for new challenges. In today’s society many people get the wonder women character from her and place them on the more recent wonder women. She is seen as a feminist goddess to many people in this society. When people in today’s society use the bow and arrow as a symbol for hunter they get it from Artemis. Not only did she have many characteristics, but she had a very loving family. Artemis’s twin brother is Apollo. She loved her brother and was very close to him. Artemis’s mother was Leto, Artemis and Apollo both adored there mother. No one could ever say anything bad about Leto with Artemis and Apollo doing something about it. Artemis caused her mother no pain during childbirth. Artemis’s father was Zeus king of the gods. When Zeus asked Artemis what she wanted for her third birthday, she told him that she just wanted six simple gifts and Zeus gave them to her. Finally there are many myths about Artemis. The only time Artemis ever loved a man, Apollo got jealous and tricked her. One day, Apollo bet that Artemis couldn’t hit the object swimming in the distant water with an arrow. She was filled with confidence in her skill with her archery, and accepted his challenge.

Genocide in Sudan Essay -- Africa Political History

Since gaining its independence in 1956 from the United Kingdom and Egypt, Sudan has been a country stricken with violence. This violence continues on even today in the form of genocide. The genocide committed in this country has horrified the international community for the last 15 years. According to the Washington Post, over 450,000 Sudanese have died as a result of fighting, famine, or disease since 2003 alone. There are several factors that contribute to the all out violence between the Sudanese people. The first factor is the multicultural make up of the Sudan. Sudan is a country with hundreds of tribes that do not see themselves in a nationalistic light. This is a major cause of the internal fight of Sudan. The second is China’s influence over Sudan. China is currently the largest importer of Sudan’s natural resources, and has supplied North Sudan with arms and finances. China has also ignored most of the UN sanctions placed against Sudan. The third is Sudan’s neighboring countries. Most of these countries have experienced some sort of turmoil themselves over the last 20 years, and contribute to a good portion of displaced persons found in Sudan. Unless the Sudanese can address these factors, violence will continue in the Sudan. Firstly, one must consider the multicultural composition of Sudan. Being the largest country in Africa, Sedan has approximately 600 tribes within their borders. Tribes in the North are considered Arab tribes, and tribes in the South are considered African or non-Arab. Many of these tribes have unique cultures of their own. Take South Sudan for example, according to Peter Gatluak of the Sudan Vision Daily, â€Å"They do not see themselves as South Sudanese... ...nter for Transitional Justice , 1. Deeb, S. E. (2011). North Sudan faces its likely truncated future. Associate Press , 1. Gatluak, P. C. (2011). Focus on the South. Sudan Vision Daily , 1. noted, N. a. (2008, Feb 22). China defends arms sales to Sudan. BBC News , p. 1. Noted, N. A. (2007, May 9). Darfour watch: China, Russia still supplying weapons used in attacks. The World Tribune , p. 1. Noted, N. A. (2011, Jan 15). South Sudan referendum wraps up. Bloomberg News , p. 1. Noted, N. (2010, Decmber 1). South Sudan’s secession will rid the country from 3 "lousy neighbors": official. Sudan Tribune , p. 1. Solomon, L. (2010, Dec 09). Lawrence Solomon: To Islam’s dismay, a new oil nation is born. Financial Post , p. 1. State, U. D. (2010). Travel Warning, Chad. US Department of State. Walker, R. (2010, Nov 20). Hello country number 193. The Economist , p. 1.

Conforming to the Majority Research Proposal Essay

Previous Research The subject of conformity is one that has not been extensively researched over the years. There are very few famous studies concerning conformity but of them Soloman E. Asch’s stands out. In Asch’s experiments, students were told that they were participating in a ‘vision test.’ While unaware to the subject, the other participants in the experiment were all confederates, or assistants of the experimenter. Seated in a room with the other participants, you are shown a line segment and then asked to choose the matching line from a group three segments of different lengths. The experimenter asks each participant individually to select the matching line segment. Confederates are asked first and on some occasions everyone in the group chooses the correct line, but occasionally, they unanimously state that a different line is actually the correct match. While the subject knows for a fact that they are wrong, it is then that you find out whether or not they will conform to the unanimous answer or state what they know to be true. The results in Asch’s experiment rang true to my own hypothesis. Close to 75 percent of the subjects in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least once. After combining all of the trials, the results showed that participants conformed to the incorrect group answer roughly one-third of the time. To ensure that participants were capable of knowing which lines were correct in the first place they were asked to write down there answers privately on a sheet of paper. According to these results, participants chose the correct answer 98 percent of the time. The next study this researcher gathered information from was interested in the consideration of age in the conformity experiments. Considering most theories of conformity do not consider adult development. This study examined age differences and their responses for two types of tests: judging geometric shapes and facial expressions. Participants were 21 younger women (18-35 years old) and 20 elderly women (63-85 years old). Researchers told the subjects to sit in one of four soundproof booths that were stocked with a desk, chair, headphones, and a microphone. They were told that the purpose of the experiment was to study how differently people judge slides of shapes and faces. The participants were given the code name ‘blue’ and when called on would give their answer but previous to that the code names â€Å"red,† â€Å"green,† and â€Å"yellow† were called out and a recording of incorrect answers was played. Thus, the participants believed the other four participants were giving the incorrect answer. As predicted, older people, compared with their younger counterparts, displayed lower rates of social conformity. The next study this researcher divulged in was about the inhibitions of people whose opinion is not shared by the majority. The experiment involved 246 students of the University of Toronto and 348 residents of Toronto. The researcher created surveys that were administered over the phone by a team of interviewers. Of the many questions asked several were what you could consider politically incorrect. For example, â€Å"This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are. True or False?† Once the question had been asked the interviewer started a timer and once the participant had answered stopped the timer. The results were as follows; minority opinions took significantly longer to respond than that of majority opinions. Meaning that those who decided to answer with an opinion knowingly opposite of that of their fellow country took a longer time to admit their answer. In the next study, children at a preschool; ages 4-6 years old were put in a similar situation as Asch’s subjects. In the classroom, there would be one â€Å"minority student† and the rest of the students would be told to give a wrong answer while the â€Å"minority student† was not in on it. They showed the students a book portraying a picture of an animal in size order: small, medium and large. Once the picture had been shown they took it away and showed them several other books with different animals and students had to choose which animal they had previously seen. The confederates were given the correct answer to say out loud several times then randomly given the wrong answer. The results were as follows; minority students gave a correct answer almost 100 percent of the time when there was no conflict with the majority but when conflicted with the majority’s incorrect answers the minority only answered correctly 50 percent of the time. Proposed Methods The researcher in this study wants to experiment the ideas of social conformity. They will use the structure set forth by Asch’s (1956) original experimental design. This will test how people of a given age conform to peer pressure or stand against the majority and form the minority opinion. When put in a situation where the majority of a group is answering incorrectly and the minority knows the true answer as a 100 percent fact, will they show independence? Hypothesis. Given the previous research and Asch’s experiment on conformity the researcher would have to presume that the minority will not show independence during this experiment. The majority will sway the minority to answer the way they have and will intimidate the minority. Social influences play a large role in this experiment and even larger role in our world today. Participants. The researcher in this experiment will use 60 volunteer students from the College of Staten Island (aged 18-22). This particular age group was specifically chosen, as it is believed that young adults of this age are already susceptible to peer pressure. The volunteers will be told that they will be participating in an eye exam testing the vision of college students. Participants will be separated into 4 gender-mixed groups of 15 students. The groups will be split as equally as possible between male and female. Within the group there will be 2 minority students and 13 majority students. The minority students will consist of 1 girl and 1 boy. The researcher will try to ensure that participants are not acquaintances. Methods. To begin this study the researcher will divide the subjects into their respective groups. Once the students are divided they will take 13 of the 15 students and inform them of the true meaning of this experiment. They will be told that signals will be given when they are to give the wrong answer and a different signal when they are to give the correct answer. This is when the experiment will begin. Subjects will be seated in a classroom with a research assistant standing in the back with a projector. When the experiment begins another research assistant will explain to the subjects the purpose of the experiment. They will say that they are part of a vision test and that there will be 1 line projecte d onto the board with 3 other lines adjacent to it. Of these 3 other lines 1 will be identical to the example line while 1 is only inches different and 1 is clearly an incorrect answer. They subjects must identify the identical line. They research assistant will have each student write down their answer but before doing so go around the classroom and have each subject say their answer out loud. The confederates will answer first. They will know whether to say the correct answer or incorrect answer by how the research assistant asks them to begin. If the researcher says, â€Å"Please give me your answer now† the confederates will give a false answer. If the researcher says, â€Å"And your answer is?† then the confederates will give the correct answer. When the answer is very obvious and all of the confederates say the wrong answer it is then we will find out if the subject will defy the group and not give into the social pressure.