Curriculum Planning-Alignment Assignment Research Paper

Curriculum Planning-Alignment Assignment - Research Paper Example Mathematics presents low records in successive tests for the 9th, 10th and 11th. For instance, the subject recorded the lowest scores of 3% and 17% in the Grade 9 and 10 respectively (USA, 2012). As such, this plan observes that in terms of subjects, improvement strategies should target Mathematics. In terms of grades, the 11th grade presented the best performance followed by the 10th grade and the 9th grade comes last with the lowest performance. This states that the 9th grade demand improvements; thus, the action plan should focus on such a group. According to the TAKS statistics, the performance increases up the grade levels. An objective that seems not to be met includes the need for students to comprehend the functional relationships. This means that students may get the answer but fail to highlight the procedures, which were instrumental in obtaining such answers. The objective 10 equally seems not to have been met since students show lessening knowledge in understanding and ut ilization of mathematical tools and processes. Students’ Problems on TAKS A major problem associated with the TAKS is the requirement that demands students to show how they arrived at each answer; thus, meeting the objective of comprehending functional relationships. Most students find this challenging since putting such an explanation on the paper is strenuous. As such, a student who obtains an answer but fails to justify his procedure scores poorly. According to Perna & Davis (2007), most TAKS tests provide vague questions with authentic answers not provided as one of the alternative of the multiple answers. Interestingly, students who fail such tests cannot proceed to the next grade level. Such questions come as a surprise and disappointment to most students who fail to comprehend the context of the test (Parkay, Anctil & Hass, 2006). Indeed, the test does not have an effective way of measuring students’ ability; hence, students who have sufficient knowledge may fai l the test. Notably, most students find the broad curriculum provided by the TAKS quite challenging since they fail to comprehend the objective of the subject clearly. This indicates that objective 10, which necessitates persons to utilize tools and methodologies, has not been addressed. In fact, the program outlines numerous objectives, which confuse the students in the end (Perna & Davis, 2007). Subpopulation that has poor performance According to Statistics, the subpopulation of males performs poorly in Social Studies, and the subpopulation performance varies with subjects. The performance of males in the social studies subject may be attributable to the attitude of the group. Perna & Davis (2007) observes that most males have low interests on the subject. Indeed, males’ interest tends to decline towards science subjects. Importantly, the female subpopulation presents considerable interest on social subjects hence grasp social concepts easily. In fact, this position is sup ported by the high performances realized in mathematics and science subjects by the male subpopulations (USA, 2012). An Action Plan for improving student scores Addressing objective 1: Improving the understanding of functional relationships Initially, the structure should entail examination of the lesson plans and program

Gender Communication Essay Example for Free

Gender Communication Essay Women are continually hammering against a glass ceiling and also their advancement is usually hindered by a promotion bottleneck in the middle management and a sticky floor. According to a recent research on an analysis of careers from a number of employees, it was found out that the rates of promotion for men from the start of their careers to senior management was higher as compared to women who started at the same level. Majority of men were promoted as compared to women who had equivalent experience and education. This has adversely affected gender communication by way of intimidation whereby the women are left feeling inferior (Ivy, 28). I picked this topic so that I can comprehend deeply on the effects of glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication, and how it is related to gender communication. Knowledge about this topic would adequately prepare me for the world since I would be knowledgeable on how to handle various aspects of my life which include my workplace and my relationships. I came to discover that the glass ceiling and sticky floors issues had only been studied at a high level especially at the top of the management. Women are only promoted to very top positions only if they have successfully made it through at the middle management level (Wood, 157). From my conclusive research I discovered that there is usually a floor that is men dominated by the men in regards to promotions. Unfortunately for women, it is extremely difficult to penetrate through this floor due to the fact that there is a lot biases towards women promotions. Men are easily promoted whereas for women, they have to demonstrate capabilities beyond reasonable doubt that they deserve a promotion. I learnt that there is also the challenge of a mid- level bottleneck towards women which ideally favored men. This concept ensured that few women were promoted from the mid-level management to senior management. This meant that a lot of women were stuck at the mid-level management and they did not progress further from this level. However, this was not same case with men who had similar credentials to the women regardless of both sexes having similar qualifications academically and  experience (Krolokke and Ann, 58). I was deeply surprised by the aforementioned findings and I had to ask myself various questions about the topic. I still have not understood where there should be that prejudice towards women yet there is an affirmative action regarding women. I am yet to establish effective solutions to the link between challenges of gender communication in relation to the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication. A number of areas need to be researched thoroughly so that the relation of the two aspects are understood and practice to the letter. Challenges that face the two aspects should be dealt with through consensus so that there can be a win- win solution where both parties, that is the male and female live and work in harmony (Wood, 159). In conclusion, I wish to strongly suggest that the gender equality aspect should be practiced and women should effectively be given equal opportunities like their male counterparts. Gender communication needs to be a two way traffic and both the male and female should have equal opportunities to express themselves. The barriers that create the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication should be eradicated. Everyone should be given equal opportunities for harmony between both sexes to prevail. Works Citied Ivy, Diana K. Genderspeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print. Krolà ¸kke, Charlotte, and Ann S. Sà ¸rensen. Gender Communication Theories Analyses: From Silence to Performance. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.: SAGE, 2006. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage, 2013. Print.

At the end of the novel, Scout says He was really nice. Atticus replies :: Free Essay Writer

At the end of the novel, Scout says He was really nice. Atticus replies Most people are Scout, when you finally see them. Discuss the importance of this as indicating a major theme in the novel. GCSE English Coursework: To Kill A Mockingbird: At the end of the novel, Scout says â€Å"He was really nice.† Atticus replies â€Å"Most people are Scout, when you finally see them†. Discuss the importance of this as indicating a major theme in the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1962 by Harper Lee, but set in the 1930s just after the Wall Street crash, which consequently led to the great depression. It is a novel, read by a lot of people as a moral parable. The novel deals with such things as prejudice, poverty and parental education. This novel is set in a small quiet town called Maycomb County, in Alabama, a Southern State of America. The people in the town are represented in a pyramid of hierarchy, with middle class, white professionals, at the summit of this hierarchical structure. The quote in the title of this essay title shows how Atticus educated his children on how bad prejudice was and he tries to repel them from the majority of racist thoughts of Maycomb. When he replies to Scout in the novel, â€Å"Most people are Scout when you finally see them†, he is trying to put across the fact that all people have their faults and their good attributes, but many people are clouded with other people’s gossip and follow the crowd. I think he is trying to say that if people think about someone deep down who they hate, they realise they don’t have much of a reason to. He is teaching the children to get to know people before they place a judgement on them, not to judge a book by its cover. Atticus’ reply to Scout was said in a moral sense. To see the real decency of a person you need to be able to analyse everything about them, not their skin colour but their true personalities as a person. "You never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Once you discover who they really are you can then place your own justified judgement. This quote relates closely to the quote in the title as you need to consider people from their point of view, then you can â€Å"Finally see them†. This separated Atticus apart from the rest of the characters in the novel as he surpasses face value and sees people for who they really are.

Bread Riots as a cause of the French Revolution Essay

Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man banned; Paine condemned in absentia (he is in France) for high treason. The British government, headed by Prime Minister Pitt, begins to arrest anyone publishing anything criticizing the government. William Godwin publishes Political Justice, a huge philosophical tract that argues Paine’s case from a theoretical point of view. Godwin is not imprisoned largely because his book’s price (forty times the price of Paine’s) means it is not read by the wrong people. Wordsworth writes the â€Å"Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff,† in which he declares himself â€Å"one of those odious people called democrats,† but never publishes it (likely because he feared prosecution). 1793 also sees the passage of the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, which empowered the state to open and read the Royal Mail. While some peasants could at least hope that they would grow enough grain to cover the money owed to their landlords and the government and provide food for their family, the urban poor– who, if not unemployed, worked primarily in factories and shops–were dependent on the affordability and availability of pre-baked bread. In the summer of 1787, a four-pound loaf, two of which were required daily to feed a family of four, cost eight sous. Due in large part to poor weather and low crop yields, by February 1789 the price had nearly doubled to fifteen sous. In his book Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama notes: â€Å"The average [daily] wage of a manual laborer was between twenty and thirty sous, of a journeyman mason at most forty. The doubling of bread prices–and of firewood–spelled destitution.† Urban workers, especially those in Paris, started to protest the price of bread. When two Parisian manufacturers, Rà ©veillon and Henriot, suggested in late April 1789 that the distribution of bread should be deregulated, thereby lowering prices and reducing both wages and costs of production, riots ensued. Laborers–not only those who worked for bakers–took violent action against Rà ©veillon and Henriot because they feared that other employers would use reduced bread prices as an excuse to cut their own workers’ wages. For some women, however, gathering together to discuss politics with leading philosophers or writing revolutionary pamphlets was hardly practical. To the  poorer women in Paris, access to affordable bread was the most important right. In October 1789 a large group of poor women marched to Versailles, the royal palace situated twelve miles beyond the capital, to demand bread, as supplies were limited within the city. Upon reaching the palace, a small delegation of women was granted an audience with King Louis XVI. The women eventually convinced the monarch to sign decrees agreeing to provide Paris with sufficient stores of affordable bread. The modest gains by the urban poor also proved short-lived. The decade-long revolution, which coincided with several wars against European foes, wracked France’s already vulnerable economy. Affordable foodstuffs continued to be a problem for urban families. Despite the riots and the efforts of the Convention to guarantee adequate provisions for the urban poor, the high cost of bread remained a problem. In 1792 hoarding caused a rise in the cost of sugar. Levy, Applewhite, and Johnson explain, â€Å"Speculators hoarded vast stores of colonial products such as sugar, coffee, and tea in expectation of future profits from depleted sup- plies.† Concerns over unequal allocations of eggs and butter led to riots in 1793. Urban workers lost the economic power they had gained when the National Assembly passed the Le Chapelier law in 1791, which prohibited all workers’ coalitions and assemblies. A September 1793 law placed limits on wages. Freedom from hunger and want had b een the right sought most fervently by the urban poor, but it was a right they were unable to enjoy. For peasants, change came swiftly and violently. In July 1789 France was wracked by what became known as the â€Å"Great Fear.† On the fourteenth of that month, a riot at the Bastille, a Paris prison and armory, had resulted in the death of more than one hundred people. The riot began when the citizens of Paris–fearful that troops recently sent to the city by King Louis XVI might decide to attack the populace–began collecting weapons at the Bastille. Similar uprisings against the government followed. Rural citizens began hearing rumors that King Louis XVI was ordering his troops into the French countryside to stanch peasant rebellions. Fearful peasants began burning and pillaging manors, destroying feudal records, and reclaiming what had previously been common land. On August 4, 1789, worried that these  demonstrations would not cease, the nation’s nobles agreed to give up most of their feudal rights. This decision was codified one week later by the National Assembly. Peasants were now free to earn their own wages, unencumbered by feudal tithes; the economic element of human rights was becoming a reality for the nation’s rural poor. The economic freedoms for urban laborers also widened during the revolution. The abolishment of guilds allowed artisans more oppor- tunities to find jobs, unburdened by a complicated hierarchical system. Workshops established throughout cities were sources of employment for poor women. Urban laborers frequently went on strike, with higher wages a common result. Bread became more affordable; in 1793, the price of a loaf was six sous. The urban and rural poor were also affected under Napoleon’s rule. Napoleon continued the ban on trade unions and introduced passbooks, which limited the ability of urban workers to move freely about the nation. However, he did set maximum prices for bread and flour, thus reducing the threat of either hunger or bread riots. According to Robert B. Holtman, author of The Napoleonic Revolution, peasants did not necessarily fare badly under Napoleon, as he maintained the work the revolutionaries had done (namely, abolishing feudalism). However, other scholars have asserted that Napoleon was largely uninterested in social and economic reforms that would improve the quality of life for his poorer subjects.

A World Without Computer

I have once believed that the world would not change much because I’m not interested in computers at all, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. When I got up early in the morning, I found the sun still shining in the sky, the streets were still congested with cars. â€Å" Oh, I have said that, nothing will happen! † I murmured to myself. On my way to my school, everything was going in order. â€Å"Ha!It,s peculiar that there are still a lot of people living on computers while I cannot find the change they have brought to the society, you see, nothing changed at all!† A few minutes later, I arrived at the school safe and sound. Oh!†I was surprised by the new utensil in my familiar classroom when I took the first pave into the classroom. The place where the big computer in our classroom should have been is now put a new blackboard in. And the teacher stepped into the classroom with a thick pile of books instead of a laptop. â€Å"Oh, yes. †I began to realize that the computers have disappeared in our life. At 12 o,clock, when I finished my lunch ,I walked into the library as usual to go to translate the English book with a PC . To my surprise, I found several students looking up some words from the dictionary . They were sitting on wooden chairs in the room where computers used to be placed in. â€Å"God!†I uttered,â€Å" I will come to know it soon. † After spending the whole computerless day in the school, I went home with the feeling of something’s lose. I was not surprised to see the empty table where the computer had been putting for so long a time . when I entered my room, suddenly I realized that I should hand in some paper about the physic experiments. Soon, I was in a dreadful mass. For piles of books were placed in front of me, and I was buring my head into the paper. I was obliged to check it up all the books I had. Because I couldn’t click the mouse and browse through the ?any more. Finally, I managed to finish the papers and lay in the soft sofa. â€Å"Oh,I felt that I cannot stay alive without a computer ,Hope that it will show up tomorrow. †I was so tired that I quickly fall asleep. I dreamed of various kinds of computers. Oh, a world without computers is terrible!

10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume

10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume 10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume 10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume By Ali Hale If you read my post of resume tips a few weeks ago, you’ll already be familiar with best practice for writing a great resume. While there’s nothing wrong with hand-crafting your resume in Microsoft Word (or your word processor of choice), there are plenty of online tools that can save you lots of time by formatting your resume in seconds. Plus, if you’re still struggling with exactly what to put on your resume in the first place – there’s lots of great advice out there. Before we get into the list of great tools and resources, there are a couple of crucial things to keep in mind: Whatever tools you use, employers will expect a resume that conforms to a standard format. There are some nifty tools out there that let you create a resume that looks like, say, an infographic: unless you’re very certain that’ll go down well with your potential employer, stick to something a little more conventional. Tools can be hugely helpful but they can only do so much. If there are major issues with your resume (like a huge unexplained gap in your work history, or a total mismatch between your listed skills and what an employer wants), you’ll want to fix those problems before trying to format your resume beautifully. With those caveats out of the way, here’s the list: Online Advice and Support on Creating Your Resume #1: â€Å"Resume† Category (free), Ask a Manager I love the blog â€Å"Ask a Manager† by Allison Green (though be warned, it’s an easy place to spend a little too much time reading about other people’s weirdly dysfunctional workplaces). There’s a whole category of advice about â€Å"Resumes†, which is well worth a read. (Allison Green is a manager who’s been extensively involved in hiring and really knows her stuff. You can submit your own questions to her, if you have a resume query that hasn’t already been covered on the blog.) #2: Resume Samples (free), Resume Genius If you’re writing a resume for the first time – or after a long time away from employment – then you might feel quite unclear on how a resume should even look. Going through some resume samples can be really helpful, because it gives you a good feel for what potential employers will expect. There are plenty of sites out there offering sample resumes, but Resume Genius is a particularly easy-to-use one, with samples categorised by industry, and with related samples like cover letters, plus additional tips. You can click to download a sample as a Microsoft Word document without having to sign up or put in your email address. Tip: Don’t assume that the wording or layout of a sample is perfect (or that it’s perfect for the role you have in mind): it won’t necessarily be appropriate to copy a particular phrase that a sample resume or cover letter uses, for instance. In any case, you should be very careful about using wording from any sample unless it’s something very standard (like â€Å"I am interested in applying† or â€Å"Thank you for your consideration†), unless you have express permission – otherwise, copying the sample is plagiarism. #3: CV Tips: this is what a recruiter can see after 30 seconds with your resume (free), The Independent This is a single article, but one I wanted to link to because it provides a very honest and valuable perspective from the other side of the fence. It’s easy to end up agonising over things on your resume that don’t really matter – or giving too much importance to areas that employers simply aren’t that interested in (like your educational history). Tip: Although published by a UK newspaper, the author of the piece (Ambra Benjamin) is American, so the advice here applies fairly well on either side of the Atlantic. #4: 43 Resume Tips That Will Help You Get Hired (free), The Muse This is another single article, but one that’s packed with practical tips and lots of links to further information, from the big picture (focusing on recent, relevant jobs) to the little details (avoiding using the same words repeatedly). Note that the article is aimed at US readers, so if you’re in a different country, you may find that some of the advice doesn’t necessarily apply – and even if you are in the US, don’t feel that you have to follow every single point slavishly. Give this a skim-read when you’re first putting together your resume; you can then go through it point by point as you edit and polish your resume, following the links to further information if there’s a particular area where you need extra help or want more details. Tip: There’s some particularly good advice towards the end of the article about saving and sending your resume – do make sure that it displays correctly once emailed (you can send it to yourself and check it on another computer), and make sure you include your name in the file name, not just â€Å"Resume† or â€Å"CV†. #5: 103 Resume Writing Tips, Resume Genius This piece, like the one from The Muse, collects together lots of practical tips – with links to further help when needed. It’s a little different, though, in that it’s a collection of common mistakes – things that the team at Rescue Genius see on a daily basis when reviewing people’s resumes (like â€Å"forgot to use action verbs† or, worryingly, â€Å"misspelled own name†). Some of the mistakes might seem like obvious ones to avoid, but others are ones you might never have thought about before – like â€Å"weak bullet points displayed before strong ones† and â€Å"not bringing multiple copies of it to interview†. Tip: The article is US-focused, but a lot of these tips will apply wherever you are in the world.   There might be cases where standard practice in your own country is different, though – so do seek local advice as well, and ignore the tips/mistakes that don’t apply to you. Tools to Create Your Resume #6: Canva Resume Builder (free) Canva offers a wide range of design tools and resources, and it has a great resume building tool. You start by writing your name and then you will be able to pick the style you are looking for. For example, you can go with corporate style, acting resume, high school, creative professional and so on. The next step is to pick the templates you like from a list of available ones. Finally, you will be able to input your resume information and to edit any design aspects you want. Overall the process is very simple and will produce a professional looking resume in a very short time. #7: Google Docs templates (free), various creators If you want a straightforward way to create a resume, why not use Google Docs’s templates? Click on the link above to go straight to the â€Å"Template gallery†, then click â€Å"General† to view them. You should see a whole series of different templates: scroll down to get to the resumes. Click your chosen template to load it up, then simply fill in the details. Keep in mind that once you’ve chosen a template to edit, you can’t switch your text to a different template – so you might want to try a few before you settle on one. Tip: Most of the resume templates have a corresponding â€Å"letter† template that uses the same colours and fonts. You might want to use this for your cover letter (if you’re not simply including the cover letter in the body of an email). #7: Kickresume (free/paid), Kickresume SRO Kickresume is a free and straightforward site that lets you create a standard resume, providing templates for both resumes and cover letters (plus websites). It’s simple to use, though you will need to create an account (or you can login via Google, Facebook or LinkedIn). To save time, you can import your LinkedIn profile, by downloading a .zip file from LinkedIn and uploading it to Kickresume – full instructions are provided. You can change the template you’re using at any time, without losing any of the text you’ve uploaded or inputted. There are only three basic, free templates though – if you want to use the â€Å"pro† options, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid plan ($15/month or $48/year). Tip: Some of the resume templates include space to put a photograph of yourself. This isn’t standard practice in the US or UK for resumes, so if you’re in those countries, you may want to choose a template that only has text content. #9: Enhancv (paid, has free trial) Enhancv is a complete platform for those looking to create a modern and effective resume. After signing up you will be prompted to choose one of the many existing templates. you will then be able to edit all the sections with your personal information and experience. One interesting feature the platform offers are the automated suggestions to improve the wording of specific parts of your resume. This is a paid product, but it comes with a free 7-day trial. On top of that the website offers a wide range of resources and articles you can use to improve your resume without paying anything. #10: CV Maker (free, paid), CV Maker CV maker offers several basic templates for creating a resume. You fill in your information in a form, and you can then switch between different templates if you want to. While it’s possible to create your resume without logging in, you’ll need to create an account if you want to save your CV and edit it in the future. It’s free to create an account, and you’ll get full access to the basic templates and to the save/download features. The premium level (which gives you lots of advanced options) only costs $16/year, too – so you might decide it’s worth upgrading. Tip: CV Maker’s site is available in a wide range of different languages: if English isn’t your native language, you can easily change this from the drop-down menu at the top of the site or the list in the footer. #11: Standard Resume (free, paid), Minimum Works Standard Resume has a very straightforward LinkedIn import – you can bring in all your information from LinkedIn, then edit or add anything you need to. As with Kickresume and CV Maker, the basic templates are free; you can pay for a premium account ($5/month or $20/year) to tailor your resume further. Unlike some other sites, Standard Resume keeps the templates simple and straightforward: you won’t find profile photos or odd infographic elements here. If you’re applying to a fairly traditional industry, or if you just want to keep things as simple as possible, that could make Standard Resume a great option for you. Tip: The pro level also lets you see when your resumes have been viewed and/or downloaded, which you might find useful. #12: Slick Write (free), RussTek LLC In Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay, I covered the popular spelling and grammar checking tools Grammarly and Hemingway. Slick Write is similar: you can paste in a passage of writing (or use a Chrome or Firefox extension) and it will automatically flag up potential problems. You could use it on your cover letter or any emails you need to send, as well as on your resume. While I don’t think any tool can replace careful proofreading – and ideally, a second pair of eyes on your resume – Slick Write can help you to edit your work. It’s completely free, so well worth a try. (It is, however, funded by ads, which you may find slightly intrusive or annoying.) Tip: As with any grammar checker, don’t feel that you have to follow every single recommendation. You might decide that your phrasing is fine as it is! Whatever tools you use to help, writing a resume can be tough. You need to convey, clearly and concisely, exactly why you’ll be a good fit for a particular role – in a standard format that supplies potential employers with all the information they’ll expect. For further help on knowing what to include in your resume, take a look at my article Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018. Best of luck with your job-hunting. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Social vs. SocietalMood vs. Tense

Ethics and Southwest Airlines

Ethics and Southwest Airlines Free Online Research Papers Southwest Airlines has always been devoted to each and every community that we serve. Our Employees, Customers, and neighbors make the Southwest Family the LUVing place that it is, and we are proud to offer our cities more than just friendly and affordable air service. We offer our hearts! Thousands of times each year, Southwest Airlines and its Employees reach out to individuals, families, and entire communities providing help where it is needed. (Southwest 1) This statement is the declaration Southwest makes about its social responsibility for all to read on their corporate website. Southwest also earns the distinction of having been listed as one of the top 100 Best Corporate Citizens (Kostigen 2) since the inception of the list by KLD Research and Analytics, INC. Southwest Airlines started in 1971 when Rollin King and Herb Kelleher joined forces to start an airline and began services between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas. By the end of 1976, Southwest had carried its one millionth and the company was given the opportunity to extend its routes across the southwest. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1977. â€Å"In 1984, Southwest was ranked the number one airline in terms of customer satisfaction for the fourth consecutive year (Marketline 3)†. In 1995, Southwest became the first major airline to introduce a ticket-less travel, eliminating the need to print a paper ticket and in 1996, the airline began offering internet ticket-less travel sales. Southwest became the fifth largest major airline in the US in 1999 after 28 years in service. With respect to its stakeholders, Southwest Airlines acts in an ethical and socially responsible manner. Company stakeholders include stockholders, passengers, communities, emplo yees and business partners (suppliers, airports). It does this through a variety of means. To determine how Southwest Airlines acts ethically one only need to look at what ethics is and how modern business ethics has developed. â€Å"ethics in business is simply the application of everyday moral or ethical norms to business†. (De George 4) In the United States ethics seems to focus on the ethical actions of individuals. Most people when discussing business ethics raise examples of immoral or unethical activity by individuals. Included with this is the criticism of multinational corporations that use child labor, pay pitifully low wages to employees in less developed countries and might use suppliers that run sweat shops. â€Å"Many business persons are strongly influenced by their religious beliefs and the ethical norms that they have been taught as part of their religion, and apply these norms in their business activities.† (De George 4) Much of the history of ethics can be found in religious contexts. Not only do many historians say the ten commandments of the bible are part of the foundation of ethics but they also reference the writings of Aristotle and other theologians and philosophers throughout the ages. Some historians go as far as to ascribe ethics to very specific groups. â€Å"Protestantism made business ethics possible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Vogel 5) The religious beliefs during the time of ST Thomas Aquinas was that any sort of money making and profit taking was morally suspect and surely damned the merchant to the fires of hell. In more modern times there is less correlation between what is considered ethical and the thoughts or â€Å"concepts of sin, evil or divine judgment. Nevertheless, we remain no less preoccupied with the relationship.† (Vogel 5) There are still people today that think monetary success must be directly related to unethical acts or behavior. Is just doing the right thing for you stakeholders the only part of business ethics? No, not at all, being socially responsible as well as ethical is something m ost companies including Southwest Airlines strive for. â€Å"Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment†¦However, being socially responsible does not mean that a company must abandon its other missions.† (Lawrence 6) When it comes to corporate social responsibility, â€Å"CSR has many different manifestations. In one way or another, however, its common thread is the goal of integrating the public interest into the corporation’s mission.† (Senser 7) Robert Sensor a activist and frequent author on the topic of human rights and the rights of workers in developing nations asks the questions it corporate social responsibility just a tool for large corporations to circumvent governments and for governments to abdicate their duties and responsibilities to its citizens to the global corporation? Another point of view was expressed at the 2002 World Summit. â€Å"†¦its key message: Th e private sector has a duty to contribute to the evolution of equitable and sustainable communities and societies.† (Blake 8) Blake also goes on to describe that it is in the best interest of a business to practice corporate social responsibility. â€Å"Few companies can succeed in a society- or indeed, a global economy- that fails. By generating economic growth, creating jobs, behaving with integrity, and paying taxes, businesses can contribute to societys development and play a full role as corporate citizens.† Blake describes a three step process or phase, starting with the first step/phase that is the most basic and may or may not reap immediate benefits but sets the foundation on which a business can build the rest of its programs. Basic issues such as safety, the effect on the environment and standard employee relations fall into this first phase. Part two, the businesses process pushes the basics to beyond what is regulatory and is a company doing better on its own accord. The company would take initiative to strive to be better than just meeting the standard. This could mean anything from a company going green before government regulations require them to or advancing employee relations with liberal flex time for mothers or offering day care in the work place. The third phase is that of â€Å"the innovator† and because of all the previous efforts the company becomes the one that others want to be involved with. At this level a company’s reputation is secure, in fact a company with excellent social responsibility would be more likely to receive sympathy and the benefit of the doubt should trouble or scandal strike. Though great economists and business men of the past felt profit was the only re sponsibility a company had to its stakeholders, corporate responsibility is here and likely here to stay. The challenge for companies is not just taking care of the people at home but being good global citizens as well. The definition of global citizenship is different depending on where you are on the globe. The culture of where you are definitely effects the definition of what is a good global citizen. In the case of a U.S. based corporations that â€Å"Corporate citizenship in the United State reflects a peculiar mix of U.S. values and ideologies that are both its strengths and its vulnerabilities. â€Å" (Googins 9) According to the U. S. Chamber of Commerce: Corporate citizenship programs have tended to follow economic investments, not precede them. Increasingly, companies and chambers of commerce are studying how signify-cant social investments may lead to economic benefits. While some companies take great pains to separate their philanthropic activities from their business, other companies find that programs that are related to their company’s competencies, assets, values, and interests are generally more sustainable. (BCLC 10) Corporate citizenship is putting corporate social responsibility to work (Lawrence 6). The focus is on a total company concept instead of just focusing on profits. While any company worth their salt will always ensure the social and philanthropic avenues they pursue will also benefit them, the benefits are not always tangible but can be seen in improved reputation and customer loyalty which are invaluable to any business in this age of dramatic change and upheaval in all markets. How does Southwest Airlines embody these concepts, enabling them to be recognized as a top corporate citizen? In regards to Southwest’s treatment of its shareholders you could say the bottom line has always been good. The first quarter of fiscal year 2008 was the one hundred and twenty fifth quarterly dividends that Southwest has distributed. This is over thirty years of quarterly dividends, if that alone is not taking care of shareholders I am not sure what is. On the other end of the spectrum is how Southwest treats those that enable the shareholders the chance of those quarterly dividends, the passengers. The fact that they are the only major carrier to remain profitable in every quarter since September 11, 2001. â€Å"In an industry plagued with struggles to make profits and to keep employees and customers happy, Southwest Airlines has been profitable for an industry-record 33 continuous years. It enjoys a total market value that exceeds that of the other Fortune 500 air lines combined.† (BCLC 11) The airline industry has been going through a tough phase over the past few years and some airlines have had to declare bankruptcy. Southwest keeps on generating profits. There is clear evidence that Southwest acts ethically, socially responsibly and as a good citizen with its passengers. Southwest was so confident of this; they allowed television cameras to record its daily activities and broadcast footage which aired on cable television as the show Airline. Southwest has the passengers in mind when moving to a new airport. â€Å"Before Southwest, travelers flying out of Norfolk were paying some of the highest fares in the nation. Norfolks average fare was the 18th highest of 83 airports surveyed by federal transportation officials.† (AP 12) Southwest moved in and offered a more affordable product forcing competitors to match it or move out. Providing it passengers a quality product at the very core of what Southwest chooses to do. For those who have ever ridden with Southwest they do not find the usual stuffy navy uniforms of the other major carriers but casual (but nice) clothed attendants that like to smile, joke and generally make the fly ing experience as positive as possible. Southwest is committed to provide its customers great service with a twenty eight page â€Å"Customer Service Commitment† that details all the services Southwest promises to provide to each and every customer. It encourages customers to ask questions and promises that Southwest will attempt to provide each passenger with a positive experience. The way Southwest shows ethics, corporate social responsibility and global citizenship in regards to its passengers is in the way every patron is treated with respect and that while Southwest makes a profit it is not on the backs of its customers but through smart business acumen. In reference to how Southwest shows ethical behavior, corporate social responsibility and global citizenship in regards to the communities it operates in is fairly simple. Southwest is usually welcomed with open arms in each community that it moves to. Not only does Southwest bring competition and lower air fares but jobs and community service. Southwest employees participate in numerous charitable drives. Southwest employees build teams and participate in the â€Å"Walk for the Cure† nationwide, they support the Sacramento, CA Ronald McDonald House, and paint over graffiti in Dallas, TX. Their efforts are not just limited to the cities they call home. Southwest employees donated over fifty thousand dollars towards Share the Spirit, an initiative to donate thousands of phone cards to deploying U.S. troops so they could stay in touch with loved ones at home. This is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to Southwest giving back to the community. They assist children that ar e burn victims attend the annual Parkland Burn Camp. (Southwest 13) Their generosity and willingness to help others show the social responsibility and citizenship that all companies strive to achieve. This is a fantastic symbiotic relationship for Southwest. They have a fantastic reputation that has been built on great service and good works. Southwest attributes much of its success to its employees. The current president of Southwest Airlines, Colleen Barrett started at Southwest as a secretary and moved her way up through the ranks. Southwest currently employees more than thirty three thousand employees across the United States with new hubs and jobs opening almost every month. The Southwest mission statement to employees is as follows We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer. (Southwest 14) Southwest Airlines engenders â€Å"fanatically loyal customers who regularly write letters to CEO Herb Kelleher to say Wow! Im impressed!?† By putting its employees first, according to Kathy Pettit, director of customers. By making them feel appreciated and valued†¦Each employee gets a birthday card from Herb Kelleher on his or her birthday. (HMS 15) Southwest also rewards employees monthly for their hard work and ensures the employees have a vested interest in the companies success. â€Å"15 percent of Southwests pretax operating income is invested in profit-sharing, and 25 percent of each employees account is invested in Southwest stock.† (HMS 15) When the airline does well, so do the employees. The last but not leased stakeholder in Southwest Airlines is its business partners. Those that do business with Southwest on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. Southwest has worked with smaller airports and increase the local business ten fold. In Chicago, IL instead of taking on the overcrowded O’Hare airport it struck a deal with Midway, a smaller in airport. They offered consumers an alternative that resulted in less wait time and an easier commute to and from the airport. They do the same thing in Dallas, TX. Instead of fighting the traffic to the main airport, Southwest is located in the city at Love field and provides a much easier travel experience than the busy Dallas International Airport. This helps all involved with Southwest while also helping to revive or maintain small local airports. Southwest also wants to help its suppliers. It does not just do business with the large brand names like Coke. The Supplier diversity program â€Å"†¦was designed to enable Southwest to extend opportunities to qualified Small, Disadvantaged, HUBZone, Minority, Women, Veteran and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (Diverse Businesses). It is the goal of this program to assist Diverse Businesses in their development as competitive suppliers of products and services.† (Southwest 16) Southwest is known for approaching it partners slightly differently. With a make unions your partners, not your enemies and build relationships with your suppliers how could a business not want to deal with Southwest? â€Å"The Southwest Airlines Way that success stems from the ability to build and sustain strong relationships among everyone involved in the airline†¦ also unions and suppliers† (Gittell 17) Southwest Airlines deserves to be on the best corporate citizen list and I believe it will be there for many years to come. Southwest is not about the big showmanship that has sent so many other competitors to bankruptcy. Smart business choices, great relationships with the employees, communities, shareholders and business partners has propelled Southwest into a very profitable enterprise. As the only airline that has made a profit for the past thirty four years I surmise that they are on the right track. One future obstacle that is looming over Southwest and has its competitors ready to pounce is the impending retirement of one of the founders and its president. The challenge for Southwest will be to keep up the good works while still providing a sound product. While it seems simple the act of balancing the desires for profit of the shareholders with being a good corporate steward and citizen can be daunting during times of change and upheaval. I wish Southwest the best of luck and look forward to 2008 when they begin to provide service to Honolulu, HI. WORKS CITED Southwest Airlines Co. 30 November 2007. southwest.com/about_swa/share_the_spirit/share_the_spirit.htmlkld.com/research/socrates/businessethics100/2007/company_spotlight.html Kostigen,Thomas. â€Å"The 100 best corporate citizens†. 23 February 2007. Market Watch marketwatch.com/news/story/100-best-corporate-citizens/story.aspx?guid={AD745A51-8B9B-47DB-91BA-E1BBCFC1C6F5}dist=morenews MarketLine. 30 November 2007. marketlineinfo.com/company_analysis.htm/#southwest De George, Richard T. â€Å"A History of Business Ethics†. 19 February 2005. Santa Clara University. scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/conference/presentations/business-ethics-history.html Vogel, David. â€Å"The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics.† Business Ethics Quarterly; (1991) Vol. 1 Issue 1. p101-120. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5hid=8sid=b78c7d8f-b485-4bc4-8b5c-4c1cfabd4299%40sessionmgr3 Lawrence, Anne T. and Weber, James. Business in Society. 2008. 12th edition. pg 45-46. Senser, Robert A. â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility: A Fledgling Movement Faces a Crucial Test†. Dissent Magazine. Winter 2007. dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=738 Blake, Janet. â€Å"Caring for the Bottom Line.† Human Resources Planning; 2007. vol. 30 Issue 1: 36-44. Hawaii Pacific University. 1 December 2007. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4hid=4sid=fc80a0c5-b062-4e86-b4dc-1b9ce4dbebd7%40sessionmgr9 Googins, Bradley. T. â€Å"The Journey towards Corporate Citizenship in the United States†. Journal of Corporate Citizenship. Spring 2002. aktive-buergerschaft.de/cci/resourcen/jcc5goog.pdf Business Civic Leadership Center. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. â€Å"Global Corporate Citizenship: Corporate Citizenship in Emerging Markets. 2007. uschamber.com/bclc/resources/0709emergingmarketsreport.htm Business Civic Leadership Center. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. â€Å"Southwest’s Secret to a Positive Corporate Culture: Its Employees†. uschamber.com/bclc/profiles/southwest.htm Associated Press. â€Å"Fares down. passengers up after Southwests arrival† USA Today. 28 November 2003. usatoday.com/travel/news/2003-11-28-swa-norfolk_x.htm Southwest Airlines Co. 30 November 2007. southwest.com/about_swa/share_the_spirit/events1.html#troops Southwest Airlines Co. 30 November 2007. southwest.com/about_swa/mission.html HMS Group. â€Å"How Southwest Airlines Creates Loyal Customers†. Loyalty Line Newsletter. January 1997hsmgroup.com/nuts/index.html Southwest Airlines Co. 30 November 2007. southwest.com/about_swa/supplier_information.html Gittell, Jody. The Southwest Airlines Way McGraw-Hill. April 2005. http://web.mit.edu/airlines/www/news-articles/articles/news-Gitell-04-09-2003.pdf Research Papers on Ethics and Southwest AirlinesNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceTwilight of the UAWResearch Process Part OneAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)The Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseGenetic EngineeringPETSTEL analysis of India

Become a Networking Expert by Following This 5 Step Plan

Become a Networking Expert by Following This 5 Step Plan It would be great if we could get a job from the safety of our couches, in our pajamas, without having to leave the house. Unfortunately, almost no one actually gets hired from online applications. Networking is still the best way to get your foot in the door. And networking requires both wearing pants- and social skills. Here are five things you absolutely have to do to be one step closer to becoming a networking expert. Prepare in advanceHave a plan before you walk up to the big fish and try to reel them in. Figure out whom you might have the opportunity to meet at any particular event, then learn as much as you can about them. Figure out what you should emphasize to each, and how best to frame yourself. Practice your pitch. Bring plenty of business cards.Ease UpThis isn’t the same as selling used cars. You’re not the Avon lady. Most sentient humans will appreciate a little more sincerity. Remember- you don’t have to be in sales mode all the time in every encou nter. Try connecting on a personal level first and letting the conversation evolve naturally before you start thrusting your business cards in people’s faces.Show upAs great as it would be to send somebody to network for us, this just doesn’t work. Don’t send a friend or colleague- or your sister- to shake hands with that particular hiring manager if you can’t attend yourself. Send a professionally worded email explaining how much you’d like to meet and see if you can’t find another opportunity instead.Expand your reachDon’t play it safe. Your contacts, no matter how many you have, are not enough. It will always be beneficial to keep growing your network and making more connections. You never know when you will need them. Get out there and mingle!Follow upThis is perhaps the most important step in the whole process. Whether you send a handwritten note or an email, it’s absolutely crucial to follow up. It shows your interest and your professionalism, and has the added benefit of reminding that connection you exist!

Strategic Management and the Health Care Facility Essay

Strategic Management and the Health Care Facility - Essay Example In order to build a template for interview, it was necessary to conduct preliminary research into certain strategic issues which might be present in a variety of health care settings. Two health care professionals identify that the hands of health care workers can spread â€Å"both normal and pathological microorganisms† and is the â€Å"main route of infection spread† (Green-McKenzie and Caruso, 2006, p.57). This led to the development of interview questions dealing with the potential risks of worker-to-patient infection spreads to induce discussion from the participant about this aspect of health care delivery and patient liability.  The Senior Risk Manager advised that these types of problems are present in most health care settings, with the hospital administration continuously having to work within guidelines from multiple regulatory forces (such as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention). With there always being a risk of transmitting dangerous infections or diseases from worker to patient, part of the risk manager’s role is to procure literature on the subject, coordinate the distribution of alcohol-based hand rubs, and ensure compliance to certain individual staff guidelines on clean health care delivery. In this role, the risk manager also works on various informative programs for community citizens regarding better hygiene in the home and professional environment as part of the hospital’s growing focus on sending the public image of a socially-conscious organization. Thus, at the senior level, it would seem that in-house sanitation and community hygiene and the promotion of better health care are regular concerns and considerations.  It is not only disease transmission concerns at the strategic level which cause concern, it is also the safe and accurate administration of medication to patients. It was identified that there have been several instances of patients receiving incorrect dosages due to illegible documen ts which were translated incorrectly. This represents a problem with physician quality-of-service. As part of this risk assessment, it was decided at this facility that sloppy physician writing was a reality of patient care, thus instead of reprimanding physicians, the hospital installed a new, touch-screen system for patient care. This was designed to improve the communications between physicians and support staff and also ensure that the hospital was reducing its potential liability for accurate medication dosing. â€Å"For many years, medication errors have been a source of serious concern within the health care community† (Skiba, 2006, p.70).

Critical Commentary on National Trust Annual Report 2011-2012 Essay

Critical Commentary on National Trust Annual Report 2011-2012 - Essay Example By looking at the Trust Report it is brought out in by the diversity of the priority programs that National Trust has. They have been developed to meet the strategy set by the Trust to achieve its goals mentioned before. The priority programmes include bringing places to life. This strategy can be equated with the social aspect of the model as argued by Brent (2010, pg 218) that,† A flat notion of social implies that all ‘being’ is interactive. And that all actors are simultaneously produced by other actor.† This means that all perspective of bringing places to life is codependent on the all the other factors in which all of the priorities are in a chain that each depends on the other to work failure in which all the other structures will suffer. With the improving conservation and environmental performance being one of the main model of heritage the Trust ensures that all the goals concerning the environment is covered in each of the strategies they have so that the environmental conservation is not only left to function on its own but rather it is made in a state that it works in all the strategies spread out case in point is the properties section where they have to adhere to a set of policies governing the environmental and this can be implemented by the improving conservation and environmental performance section. This is mainly governed by the overall energy reduction and also by conservation performance indicator which checks the activities done that enhances conservation of the environment. By staff satisfaction in their works, operational management satisfaction and volunteer recommendation will propel investing in people as an objective. The fourth objective which is financing the future the sustainability in the long term and not being wasteful is guaranteed and this can be achieved through an increased net gain, members’ numbers getting high, efficiency which will cut down the costs and also investing in properties th at beat the baseline target. The political aspect is related to the financial aspect of the Trust priorities as it relates with the politics of running the Trust with the finance made from all the respective sections and in return it is what will be used for expenditure of the Trust even as it makes the return as the income made. The data captured by the National Trust performance index indicates the overall target by the Trust and the expectation from each of the objectives set and this will explain how each department is related to one another and whenever each section underperforms, the other section will have to play catch up or try to recover the revenue lost from one section. A good example is the Visitors enjoyment score, net promoter score and relevance to the local community. All the said sections performed poorly mainly because the visitors did not play their part in recommending the Trust to their peers as this was shown by the high number of membership and good income bu t low scores when it comes to the visitors and members’ part. Also the other areas indicate the level of which the members partake in relation to tourism as not many of them have fully participated in visiting the areas managed by the Trust. Some of the unique milestone programmes for the company

Finance Policies and Strategies of Multinational Enterprise Essay

Finance Policies and Strategies of Multinational Enterprise - Essay Example Actively managing financial risks allows us to continue doing what we do best – designing and selling great products – instead of just reacting to problems linked to events beyond our control. These risks arise due to the unavoidable effects that some political and natural events have on currency exchange and interest rates. When one of the countries where we operate slides into an economic crisis, for example, a government might impose exchange or currency controls, affecting our cash flow, profits, and funds transfer mechanisms and creating potentially adverse effects on our finances and stock price. These risks arise both from the likelihood that something good will not happen or that something bad will happen (Read and Kaufman, 1997, p. 112). Financial risks are those that threaten the efficiency of the worldwide movement of money and profits amongst our affiliated companies through internal transfer mechanisms (Shapiro, 2003, p. 26). We are exposed to this risk that has several types, amongst which the most relevant given the events just outlined are currency, credit, inflation, and market risks. Although most of the critical events are non-political in nature, their effects on the respective national economies may cause political risks that we must address. Our cost of capital and debt is affected by fluctuations in exchange and interest rates, inflation, and stock market volatility. We also need to manage transaction exposures, the possibility of incurring gains or losses on sales, purchases, and investment decisions entered into and denominated in foreign currencies (Eiteman et al., 2004, p. 155-176). International Finance Strategies Risks are uncertainties and sources of anxiety we need to deal with. Most business and financial risks are caused by outside events and changes in economic variables (GDP growth, commodity prices, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and stock prices) over which we have virtually no control (Froot et al., 1994). Our inability to control these events, however, does not mean we cannot manage their effects.We manage the consequences of financial risks by adjusting our operational, financial, and investment strategies. Some risks we can take and others we cannot.

How is the internet and social media changing the way we learn in work Coursework

How is the internet and social media changing the way we learn in work place - Coursework Example The advent of internet and social media has drastically changed the way we interact with people and the way we gather information. The gradual rise of internet usage has made it easier for us to have access to critical information, which otherwise would take much longer to gather (Vitez, 2015). The internet and social media has also influenced our work culture and workplace learning. The research question pertaining to this research work is stated below. The aims and objectives concerning this research work are to unearth the influence of internet and social media on work place learning. This research work also try and find out the determining factors behind the changing trend of organizational behaviour under the influence of internet and social media along with the future trends of the work culture relating to internet and social media. It will also find out how the employees respond to the changing trend of learning in work place and whether or not there are any changes that need to be made within the organizational practices. The aims also include providing a generic recommendation for the firms on how to redirect the usage of internet and social media in favour of the organization and its employees. According to the reports of Internet World Stats (2015), the global internet usage has increased drastically over the last decade. This as a result has changed the way people used to access information and connect to peers. The way we interact with others has also been influenced largely by the advent of the internet and social media. It has virtually reduced the distance between people and has made the world a more open place. These evolutions in technology have also influenced the way we work. Internet has drastically changed the organizational policies and the way the activities are conducted. According to (Manyika and Charles Roxburgh, 2011), the internet is widely used among almost all the

Models of Institutional Control Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Models of Institutional Control - Coursework Example This paper discusses the three models and explains their effectiveness as forms of institutionalization. Under this model, the prison administration has the authority in its hands. The administrators are uncompromising and apply stringent control measures over inmates’ lives. Under this model, official channel utilizing a chain of command binds communication between administrators and staff (Dilulio, 1987). The control model is an effective tool in sustaining internal order within a prison system (Stojkovic, 2004). The responsibility model allows inmates to have some control and as a result, there is less disorder. Here, prison administrators rely on maintaining order by placing restrictions on institutional control and letting prisoners to self-govern within a security setting. The communication between staff and prison administrators is casual and all staff members communicate on daily basis without following a chain of command (Dilulio, 1987). This model is effective in preventing tension and disorder within the prison (Stojkovic, 2004). The consensual model is a blend of responsibility and control models. This model shadows the responsibility model in that inmates have some control within the prison system and as such, there is less disorder. This model disregards both the control and the responsibility models. The model argues for a less restrictive prison environment and is liberal concerning policies governing prisoners’ welfare. Communication between staff and prison administrators is both informal and formal (Dilulio, 1987). This model is effective in fostering inmates’ participation in decision making process and choice of prison policies such as grooming and property rights (Brydensholt,

Critically assess the role of the contaminated land regime in cleaning Essay

Critically assess the role of the contaminated land regime in cleaning up contaminated land in the UK and how the planning syste - Essay Example The land has to be in a condition such that noteworthy damage is arising or/and, there is a noteworthy probability of the said damage being caused. Additionally, the land has to be in a condition such that controlled waters are being polluted or there is a probability that contamination is likely to occur. The water Act defines contaminated controlled waters as a situation where significant effluence of restricted waters is occurring, and/or there is a noteworthy probability of the said contamination occurring. Polluted land must fall within part 2A definition for it to be said to cause significant damage to people’s wellbeing or other specified receptors. Land development has to incorporate part 2A since a change in land use might bring the development inside the mandatory definition of contaminated land by creating a pollutant linkage (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2002). Other regimes that interact with management of land affected by contamination include the IPC, PPC, WML and WRA. Integrated pollution control (IPC) controls the management of large industrial buildings to lessen the danger of contamination arising. The body is also responsible for remediating the danger resulting from of the authorization. The waste management licensing (WML) controls the way in which waste management facilities are managed, as well as controls the disposal and recovery of controlled waste. Water resource act takes actions to safeguard or remedy the contamination of proscribed waters. The United Kingdom government has instituted and put in place a proactive regime and legal framework to handle land that has been previously contaminated. The new regime offers a means to put in force remediation where the IPC and WML may not apply. For new freeways, the prerequisite for handling the contaminated land will be agreed with the Environment Agency during the planned development. New development may also involve the Integrated Pollution Controls and the Waste Management Licensing. Contaminated land regime or WML might apply depending on the degree of contamination on existing sites that contain contaminated land. The remediation of polluted site is taken to be a waste management operation, and thus falls under the WML regime (Wolf& Stanley, 2010). For a number of remedial techniques, the specialized remediation contractor will need a mobile plant license and waste management site license incase contaminated material remains in the site. The regulatory framework now exists to put in force remediation and cleanup of contaminated land in any state of affairs. In instances where WML and IPC are in force on a specific land site, they will go on being used. The contaminated land administration acts to clean up areas that are not covered under IPC and WML, and initiate the remediation of static land that is polluted. Static land refers to land that is not undergoing redevelopment. Risk evaluation principles are employed to evaluate wh ether a site is contaminated under the meaning of the Environmental Act. Pollution linkage Before land may be defined as contaminated, the risk evaluation process has first to establish that noteworthy damage is being caused, or that there is a considerable likelihood of damage being caused by the presence of a pollutant linkage. Three elements have to be set out for there to be an existence of a noteworthy pollutant. These elements are 1. A

Models of Institutional Control Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Models of Institutional Control - Coursework Example This paper discusses the three models and explains their effectiveness as forms of institutionalization. Under this model, the prison administration has the authority in its hands. The administrators are uncompromising and apply stringent control measures over inmates’ lives. Under this model, official channel utilizing a chain of command binds communication between administrators and staff (Dilulio, 1987). The control model is an effective tool in sustaining internal order within a prison system (Stojkovic, 2004). The responsibility model allows inmates to have some control and as a result, there is less disorder. Here, prison administrators rely on maintaining order by placing restrictions on institutional control and letting prisoners to self-govern within a security setting. The communication between staff and prison administrators is casual and all staff members communicate on daily basis without following a chain of command (Dilulio, 1987). This model is effective in preventing tension and disorder within the prison (Stojkovic, 2004). The consensual model is a blend of responsibility and control models. This model shadows the responsibility model in that inmates have some control within the prison system and as such, there is less disorder. This model disregards both the control and the responsibility models. The model argues for a less restrictive prison environment and is liberal concerning policies governing prisoners’ welfare. Communication between staff and prison administrators is both informal and formal (Dilulio, 1987). This model is effective in fostering inmates’ participation in decision making process and choice of prison policies such as grooming and property rights (Brydensholt,

Benefits of artificial intelligence to the society Research Paper

Benefits of artificial intelligence to the society - Research Paper Example Artificial intelligence can be defined as the intelligence that machines have. Artificial intelligence is also a scientific discipline in which, scientists try to develop machines with intelligence that is based on human intelligence (Boden, 2006). The intelligence that is provided to artificial beings such as computerized machineries is based on human development. This concept gain reputation on the basis of an ideal world in which, people’s jobs can be eased out with the help of machineries. With artificial intelligence, it is perceived that machines can perform better than humans and within much less time. According to John McCarthy, artificial intelligence is â€Å"the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs†. The history of computers is divided into generations and the concept of artificial intelligence comes under the heading of fifth generation. The fifth generation computers have artificial intelligence an d they are able to imitate common human functions like vision, natural language, comprehension, speech synthesis, usage of more specialized knowledge like human experts and many others. In other words, it can be said that computers with artificial intelligence are like artificial humans or robotics that are able to perform functions that human beings can perform. With artificial intelligence, many benefits can be achieved and these benefits are unlike simple computer systems as computerized machineries with artificial intelligence are much more efficient than simple computers. ... agents in form of artificial intelligent machines, which can do the works of humans such as in industrial setups where heavy works are required, machineries are installed to perform the work of many humans (Russell and Norvig, 2003). An artificially intelligent machine can perform the work of many humans with its intelligence and working expertise. However, human hand is required to make the machine continue working in the same manner. Because of machines involvement in business environment, where human effort is less required, the jobs of human beings are also not needed as the machine is able to perform the tasks of many people (Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 1986). The administration feels that there is no need to pay a large number of people when a single machine can do what many people are doing. It can deprive people of their employment and compensation, which can be counted as a disadvantage associated with the artificial intelligence technology. The artificial intelligent machines can be used in healthcare sector for the provision of medical facilities to people in a manageable time. Again the machines keep the capacity of depriving people of their jobs in medical sector as they can handle the tasks of many doctors at one time. Less hospital staff will be required for handling patients as the efficient machines will be there to make available medical services to patients (Boden, 2006). According to John McCarthy (2007), there are many applications of artificial intelligence that can also be counted as benefits attached with the field of artificial intelligence such as speech recognition, understanding natural language, computer vision, expert systems and heuristic classification. The artificial intelligent systems can recognize speech, can understand natural language and

The Loss of a Loved One Essay Example for Free

The Loss of a Loved One Essay The loss of a loved one will leave you feeling empty inside as if the world will never be the same again and nothing will ever be able to heal your pain. The truth is that time heal all wounds and the world keeps going on as if nothing ever happened.When my gran passed away the last thing I really wanted to hear from anyone was that it would get better at time continued, but they were right. Life is too short and you should live everyday as if it was your last because you never know when it could end. June 3rd 2010. Was possibly the worst day of my life. I had found out my gran had died. I felt like my whole world had come crashing down. My gran and I were extremely close. I told her absolutely everything, knowing that she was only ever a phonecall away. After I received the call, I cried a bit. I sat in a daze for a while, thinking about my gran, trying to come to terms with what I had just heard but also trying to stay strong for my little brother who didn’t really know what was going on. Other family members dealt with it in different ways: tears, humour, eating, cooking, cleaning. Some wanted to talk about her. Some wanted to talk about anything else. Some wanted to talk about nothing at all. I had learned that the best thing you can do is take a deep breath and realize that everyone around you is dealing with the same thing you are, in their own way. You just need to be there when others want to talk and back off when they don’t. Also letting go of the bad memor ies is vital. When people pass away, there is a window of opportunity there to let lots of little,petty things go and let the bad memories take a back seat, at least for a little while and just remember the good things, so that you can remember them for the good things and not the bad which helps with the grieving process. And through this ordeal I learnt that people grieve in different ways. I remember waking up on the day of the funeral and feeling slightly odd, not in a bad way because I was sad, but I was happy. Some people may say that I was being selfish for feeling happy but the truth is, I didnt care. I felt as if my gran was in a better place now and watching over my family and I. When the funeral came around, we sat in the church hall listening to everyone’s memories about her and tears came flooding back. But it was amazing to hear that she had changed so many peoples lives and even though she was gone, she would always be in everyones heart forever. As her coffin moved slowly into the blast furnace the hall fell silent, I could hear small weeps from every direction. I managed to choke back my tears. I wanted to stay strong. To show my family that I was coping with my grans sudden death. A few days after the funeral I started feeling depressed, knowing that when I went to visit my granda my gran wouldnt be there. I remember visiting my granda one day after school and sitting in silence, the house was so quiet that you could here a pin drop. When my gran was alive there was never a moments silence, she was always so cheerful no matter how bad her day had been. My granda had asked me if I could get his inhaler from his bedside cabinet in his bedroom. I hesitated before walking into the bedroom, the bedroom which my gran had slept in. The room was as cold as ice, the bed looked as if it hadnt been slept in for a good few days. I threw myself onto their bed and saw a picture of my gran and I on her cabinet and burst into tears. I just missed her so much. I felt as if someone had ripped my heart out, but I know I wasnt the only person feeling like this.I constantly felt like this for weeks like my life wasnt worth living anymore. I just missed her so much, I was always down and rarely ever happy. One day everything got worse, Khloe my cousin had told me that she had actually considered suicide, my 17 year old cousin was thinking about taking her own life because she missed my gran so much. I had tried to talk to my cousin and persuade her to think otherwise and she agreed. I didnt know if she was being genuinely serious or she was just agreeing with me to shut me up. There was something that made me think she was lying. I started getting worried about her, phoning and texting her everyday and night to make sure she was feeling okay. It got to a point where I couldnt handle it anymore I felt as if I had to tell someone, anyone I just had to get it off my chest. I decided that I had to tell my dad. My dad was shocked when I told him what Khloe was considering to do. My dad and I decided to talk to her, luckily we did eventually manage to talk her out of it. My dad had told her that our gran would not have wanted her to be silly and take your her life she would have wanted her to live life to the fullest and enjoy each day as it comes and now when my cousin looks back she realizes just how silly she was to even think of such a thing. From my grans death, our family have grew closer. The family members that I might have only seen at family occasions, I now see them once or twice a month. I personally feel as if I have grown stronger as an individual by this experience.

Leo :: essays research papers

Leonardo sped from one creative experience to another his reach as for his grasp. His career was vagrant and unfocused; in fact, he never had a career. He seemed to have had no civic loyalty. Nor devotion to church or Christ. He willingly accepted commissions from the popes or their enemies. He lacked the sensual worldliness of a Boccaccio or a Chaucer, the recklessness of a Rabelais, the piety of a Dante or the religious passion of a Michelangelo. The vast disorderly notebooks in his own hand mystify as much as they explain. No other artist bequeathed so copious a record of his thoughts and yet told us so little of himself. The 3,500 closely written pages that have survived of his notebooks may be only a quarter of those left at his death. Whole notebooks have been lost or broken up, and single sheets now turn up around the world. Some of the 19 existing notebooks were small enough to be carried about on Leonardo's belt for occasional jottings, some were large folios. While most of the script is clear, and legible if viewed in a mirror, it is almost all in "mirror writing," written "backwards." Since Leonardo was probably left-handed, this way of writing might have come quite naturally to him. It could hardly have kept the contents secret or deceived the censors since his texts were copiously illustrated. Perhaps Leonardo only wished to make trouble for any who dared to read his private jottings. The vast disorderly notebooks in his own hand mystify as much as they explain. No other artist bequeathed so copious a record of his thoughts and yet told us so little of himself. The 3,500 closely written pages that have survived of his notebooks may be only a quarter of those left at his death. Whole notebooks have been lost or broken up, and single sheets now turn up around the world. Some of the 19 existing notebooks were small enough to be carried about on Leonardo's belt for occasional jottings, some were large folios. Leo :: essays research papers Leonardo sped from one creative experience to another his reach as for his grasp. His career was vagrant and unfocused; in fact, he never had a career. He seemed to have had no civic loyalty. Nor devotion to church or Christ. He willingly accepted commissions from the popes or their enemies. He lacked the sensual worldliness of a Boccaccio or a Chaucer, the recklessness of a Rabelais, the piety of a Dante or the religious passion of a Michelangelo. The vast disorderly notebooks in his own hand mystify as much as they explain. No other artist bequeathed so copious a record of his thoughts and yet told us so little of himself. The 3,500 closely written pages that have survived of his notebooks may be only a quarter of those left at his death. Whole notebooks have been lost or broken up, and single sheets now turn up around the world. Some of the 19 existing notebooks were small enough to be carried about on Leonardo's belt for occasional jottings, some were large folios. While most of the script is clear, and legible if viewed in a mirror, it is almost all in "mirror writing," written "backwards." Since Leonardo was probably left-handed, this way of writing might have come quite naturally to him. It could hardly have kept the contents secret or deceived the censors since his texts were copiously illustrated. Perhaps Leonardo only wished to make trouble for any who dared to read his private jottings. The vast disorderly notebooks in his own hand mystify as much as they explain. No other artist bequeathed so copious a record of his thoughts and yet told us so little of himself. The 3,500 closely written pages that have survived of his notebooks may be only a quarter of those left at his death. Whole notebooks have been lost or broken up, and single sheets now turn up around the world. Some of the 19 existing notebooks were small enough to be carried about on Leonardo's belt for occasional jottings, some were large folios.

Setting in Tess of DUbervilles by Thomas Hardy :: essays research papers

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, uses setting as a main source to establish meaning and atmosphere, and contribute to themes. The d'Urberville estate is a place of dishonor and deceit, whereas the Talbothays dairy farm is a place of hope and new beginnings. Tess's home is the false refuge from the disapproving society. The d'Urberville estate is perfectly described by the clichà © ?looks can be deceiving.? Although the mansion is beautiful, deception and trickery loom within. Alec d?Urberville deceives Tess and takes advantage of her naivety, proving the societal significance of ?Man over Woman.? His desire for Tess ultimately triumphs over her resistance to him, resulting in Tess?s tragic ruin. Moreover, it proves society?s double standard in viewing men and women. It is socially acceptable for d?Urberville to have affairs, but when Tess is seduced, she is considered unclean and an improper lady. In addition, it is at this estate that d?Urberville falsely discloses to Tess that she is not of d?Urberville blood because of her family?s poor industrial status and, therefore, not of a noble class. At Talbothays, Tess begins a new life. The atmosphere is fresh and the people are warm and friendly, deceit is undetectable. Tess and Angel Clare take many walks through the woods in the brisk morning air, and it is there that Clare teaches Tess intellectual knowledge as well as his rejection of Christianity. Gradually, the couple?s attraction for each other grows into true love and they are soon married, despite Clare?s parents? disapproval because Tess is a lowly dairymaid and not of an aristocratic class as they are. Tess is greatly attracted to Clare, as are three other dairymaids at the farm, Marian, Izz, and Retty. Their love for him controls their emotions and actions, such as Retty attempting suicide and Marian?s digression into alcoholism after Tess and Clare?s marriage. Tess?s home is her place of refuge, but it does not always function as a solitary place for her. She returns home after her stay at the d?Urberville estate, but is shunned by society because of her out-of-wedlock child. When she returns home once again from her stay at Talbothays, she is looked upon with suspicion because her husband, Clare, is absent. During each visit, Tess made an attempt to retreat from the harsh world, but she could never fully hide from society. Setting in Tess of D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy :: essays research papers Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, uses setting as a main source to establish meaning and atmosphere, and contribute to themes. The d'Urberville estate is a place of dishonor and deceit, whereas the Talbothays dairy farm is a place of hope and new beginnings. Tess's home is the false refuge from the disapproving society. The d'Urberville estate is perfectly described by the clichà © ?looks can be deceiving.? Although the mansion is beautiful, deception and trickery loom within. Alec d?Urberville deceives Tess and takes advantage of her naivety, proving the societal significance of ?Man over Woman.? His desire for Tess ultimately triumphs over her resistance to him, resulting in Tess?s tragic ruin. Moreover, it proves society?s double standard in viewing men and women. It is socially acceptable for d?Urberville to have affairs, but when Tess is seduced, she is considered unclean and an improper lady. In addition, it is at this estate that d?Urberville falsely discloses to Tess that she is not of d?Urberville blood because of her family?s poor industrial status and, therefore, not of a noble class. At Talbothays, Tess begins a new life. The atmosphere is fresh and the people are warm and friendly, deceit is undetectable. Tess and Angel Clare take many walks through the woods in the brisk morning air, and it is there that Clare teaches Tess intellectual knowledge as well as his rejection of Christianity. Gradually, the couple?s attraction for each other grows into true love and they are soon married, despite Clare?s parents? disapproval because Tess is a lowly dairymaid and not of an aristocratic class as they are. Tess is greatly attracted to Clare, as are three other dairymaids at the farm, Marian, Izz, and Retty. Their love for him controls their emotions and actions, such as Retty attempting suicide and Marian?s digression into alcoholism after Tess and Clare?s marriage. Tess?s home is her place of refuge, but it does not always function as a solitary place for her. She returns home after her stay at the d?Urberville estate, but is shunned by society because of her out-of-wedlock child. When she returns home once again from her stay at Talbothays, she is looked upon with suspicion because her husband, Clare, is absent. During each visit, Tess made an attempt to retreat from the harsh world, but she could never fully hide from society.

Is Vincent the Hero in Gattaca Essay

The film Gattaca fails to provide us with a character that can be clearly defined as a hero. By definition a hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability and is admired for their noble qualities and exhibits certain traits that are deemed to be heroic. In Andrew Niccol’s film the character Vincent freeman at times display heroic qualities but they do not consistently show them to prove to us that he is a heroes. Vincent takes on a whole new identity changing from an in-valid to a valid which makes it difficult to distinguish his true identity from the borrowed one he has become. Throughout the film it is hard to see Vincent’s true personality through the facade he displays to the outside world. And there are many cases where Vincent shows quite admirable qualities like when he is with Irene and he lets go of the strand of hair saying â€Å"the wind caught it†. At first this may seem a very heart felt gesture but for Vincent this could be a form of insurance gaining Irene’s trust and if she was ever in a position to protect Vincent’s identity she might do so. Up until the point where Vincent decides to infiltrate Gattaca, he is just an average person, an outcast of society, a lonely person with no life who’s survived on nothing but a dream. Up until this point there are no characteristics being shown by Vincent which show that he deserves to be classified as a hero. The character Vincent Freeman from the moment he was born was seen as weak and genetically imperfect but he is able to overcome these constraints. Vincent was labelled as an in-valid, a label which determined how long he would live to what he could be able to do. Vincent’s strong character, determination and desire to achieve his dreams displays his true heroic qualities. He refuses to abide by the rules of Gattaca and with little hesitation finds a way to make his dreams come true no matter what the cost. â€Å"They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don’t say that anymore. This leads us to believe that Vincent is someone who can defy the odds and have enough determination to achieve his dreams in a world where individuality is eradicated and unwanted and all you need is good DNA to succeed. Although Vincent is showing lots of courage and determination, in reality in order to achieve his dreams Vincent has had to become a criminal and resort to illegal measures and deceive many people to achieve his goals. This then challenges Vincent to whether he is worthy of a hero status. Vincent has gone through many hardships to get to the position he is in. By becoming a borrowed Ladder he gained entry to Gattaca to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. He is so determined that he has gone to such extreme measures that he has totally abandoned his own identity and in part is own personality and abandoned his family leaving them to believe that he was dead. Anton telling Vincent that â€Å"our parents both died thinking they’d outlived you†. This is not the behaviour or characteristics that are looked respectably upon as heroic. As Anton begins to put the pieces of the murder at Gattaca together, he gets closer to revealing Vincent as the fraud he really is. â€Å"You committed fraud. You’re in a lot of trouble. † Anton tries to help out his brother and follows the rules but even though Vincent has accomplished so much he is not content and still has to beat down his brother. Is this envious quality something we look for in a hero? No heroes are modest and humble unlike Vincent. Like many of the people in Gattaca Vincent has something to hide. When Anton and Hugo perform the raid at the Cavendish club everyone flees and no one even knows what they want yet meaning that everyone is hiding something and there are many people just like Vincent hiding in the society of Gattaca. When Vincent hides his identity he becomes a criminal, buying an identity illegally on the black market and becoming like all the other borrowed Ladders. Vincent is no different from anyone else. He has committed a crime and is far from being called a hero. He is daring but not courageous and seems superior knowing that he has outsmarted Gattaca. Qualities which are not heroic. â€Å"Just remember, Lamar, I could have gone up and back and nobody would have been the wiser† Vincent says this to Lamar just after Lamar reveals that he has known Vincent’s secret all along. All Vincent has achieved is getting away with a crime. â€Å"We shed 500 million cells a day† says Vincent it only takes one to show Vincent’s true identity.

Social Network Marketing & Its Effectiveness

Introduction The objective of this review is to explore what the research says about social network marketing and its effectiveness. The first wave of internet revolution (web 1. 0) brought consumers e-commerce. The second wave, Web 2. 0 evolved into a much robust and interactive experience, allowing consumers to participate and share information effectively, Social network media such as Facebook, Tweeters, etc. have grown rapidly. Users are not only teens but also adults. The popularity of smartphones, hand-held tablet computers, computer notebooks also help the increase in popularity of using these sites.For instance, social net work media have replaced e-mails to become the most popular communication tools. To marketing practitioners, this wave of digital revolution cannot be ignored. More than that Web 2. 0 enable consumers to generate content and share. This change is totally different from conventional marketing, in which firms generate content or messages to bombard users and potential users (such as advertising). It is now not a question of whether a company should use digital media, but how they can maximize the benefit from the rise of these new media network.It may not mean that conventional marketing tools such as advertising will be replaced overnight, but social network media should be able to synergize conventional promotional tools. Thus, naturally the question of tracking and measuring social network media and its ROI will be asked, which will be addressed in this paper. The use of social network media in consumer marketing is well established. Its application in education, healthcare, and also in pharmaceutical promotion are also explored. Word of Mouth Marketing To begin with, the concept of word of mouth marketing is explored.Marketers recognized that the conversations among customers are powerful influence of product adoptions (Ryan and Gross 1943; Rogers 1962). Traditionally, marketers develop message to influence selective consumers (who may be early users) and these consumers help propagate the product message to other consumers. More sophisticated marketers will identify influencers in the group of potential consumers (or opinion leaders) and influence them. Thereafter, these opinion leaders can help propagate marketers' message to other consumers.In web 2. 0 err, consumers will participate in the whole marketing communication process. They will coproduce content to be shared in their chosen network. Hence, Word of Mouth model has evolved from a consumer-to-consumer process in the past to a opinion leader to consumer model, and most recently, a network coproduction model (Figure 1. ) Marketers do not only influence the selective consumers (opinion leaders) in the launch phase, but also have to monitor the process of consumer to consumer messaging.The coproduction model of word of mouth marketing is further depicted by Adrian Palmer and Nicole Koenig-Lewis. In their article â€Å"An experiential, social network-ba sed approach to direct marketing†, the authors proposed a framework of 3 elements of the social network environment – the seller, the customer and the community (Figure 2). In this model, the traditional interface for direct marketings has been between the seller and the customers, represented by the hatched area. With the introduction of the community element, the customer interacts with self-selected communities.Sellers need to interact with selected communities to achieve a variety of benefits, including spreading of positive word of mouth and gathering information about buyers' needs and preferences. The challenge is how to balance the interest of the sellers, the customers and the community, and this is represented in the overlapping area of the 3 circles. Figure 2. Direct marketing in a social network Success Factors for Social Network Sites Shu-Chuan Chu and Yoojung Kim studied the determinants of consumer engagement in social networking sites (Chu & Kim 2011).Ba sed on literature review, the authors identifies 5 determinants – tie strength, homophily, trust, normative and informational interpersonal influence as important antecedent to eWOM behavior in SNSs. Tie Strength Tie strength refers to â€Å"the potency of the bond between members of a network† (Mittal et al. 2008, p. 196). Example of strong tie strength is family members, whereas weak tie strength is colleagues. Strong tie were more likely to be activated for the flow of referral behavior. The hypothesis is that SNS users' perceived tie strength with their contacts is positively related to their engagement n eWOM behaviors in SNSs.Homophily Homophily refers to the degree to which individuals who interact with one another are congruent or similar in certain attributes (Rogers & Bhowmik 1970). The assumption is that people with simailar characteristics, such as age & character may come together to form community. Hence, the hypothesis is that SNS users' perceived homoph ily with their contacts is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviours in SNSs. Trust Trust is defined as ‘a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence' (Moorman et al. 1993, p. 82).In todays popular SNS, users share information with their own real network and thus, significantly increase the level of trust. Therefore, the hypothesis is SNS users' perceived trust in their contacts is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. Normative influence Normative influence refers to the tendency to conform to the expectations of others. It affects attitudes, norms and values (Burnkrant & Cousineau 1975). The hypothesis is that SNS users' susceptibility to normative influences is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. Informational influenceInformational influences, on the other and, denote the tendency to accept information from knowledgeable others and be guided in product, brand and store sear ch (Bearden et al. 1989; Deutsch & Gerard 1955). The hypothesis is that SNS users' susceptibility to informational influences is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. These factors were tested in an on-line survey of the college students on their 3 operationalized engagement: opinion seeking, opinion giving and opinion passing. The findings of the study are: Tie strength is positively associated with eWOM behavior.On the other hand, a negative relationship was found between homophily and eWOM in SNSs. Trust is found to be positively impact engagement with eWOM. Normative and informational influences are important for the engagement, but informational influence in opinion giving is not determined. Implications: The results from this study suggest that advertisers must take social relationship factors into account and develop personalized marketing communications strategies to fulfil SNS users' needs. Insight into Network Co-production of Product Messaging That marketers may not have full control in the product messaging in social etwork marketing, Kozinets, de Valck, Woinicki & Wilner studied a mobile phone launch campaign using social network media (blogs) (Kozinets, de Valck, Woinicki & Wilner 2010). 83 bloggers were seeded with a new mobile phone and their blogs were monitored for 6 months. The bloggers were selected based on their traffic on their blogs. There is no obligation for the bloggers to write or not write. This study gave detailed analysis of the posts and provide good insight and lessons learnt from a commercial program used in social network media. The study found that bloggers can be categorized based on their character style.For instance, in the study at least 4 types are identified, 1. citizen journalist, 2. loving mother, 3. satirical exhibitionist, and 4. the making-ends-meet professional blogger. Four narrative strategies are identified (Figure 3) – evaluation, embracing, endorsement and explanation. Whic h strategy to be adopted depends on the blogger's character, the governing norm in the community and the commercial element in the WOMM. The study found that the motivation for consumers to participate in the co-production of WOM are more complex and culturally embeded, shaped by communal interests and communicative orientations and charged with moral hazard.WOM communicators demonstrate their need to balance inherent commercial-communal tensions while being consistent with the character elements of their ongoing narratives. It is also found that WOMM message and their attendant meanings will be altered by communicators in ways taht are attuned to a range of different individual and communal factors. The managerial implications from the study are the followings. Firstly, managers should pay attention to not only the quantity (so-called amplification by advertising professional), but also quality of the consumer-generated messages.Secondly, consumers that play the role of communicato rs should be further explored, classified and devloped. Thirdly, managers should proactively explore the norms assococaited with the communication network. Marketer also need to rethink whether some degree of control must be imposed in a WOM campaign. For instance, in the current study, that bloggers are free to write and even disclose their relationship with the firm can generate negative WOM and distrust in the community. More important this study also suggests that managers have an opportunity to encoruage particular narrative stategies that may be ideal for their product.Figure 3 Social Network Marketing vs Traditional Marketing? Studies shown that social network marketing (word of mouth marketing) and traditional marketing work synergistically (Onishi & Manchanda 2012; Trusov, Bucklin & Pauwels 2008). In a Japanese study, how blogs and advertising interact during product launch in movie and cell phone categories were studied. The study found that advertising will stimulate blog ging activities during product pre-launch, and effect is less apparent post launch (Onishi & Manchanda 2012).In another study (Trusov, Bucklin & Pauwels 2008), electronic word of mouth (eWOM) programs of a social network site were compared with PR programs (media appearance and Events) in terms of the effectiveness in generating new sign-ups. The founding is that eWOM is more effective than media appearance and events. However, it is also observed that eWOM and PR work synergistically. The studies also showed that blogging and eWOM effects are more long-lasting. The effectiveness of Social Media MarketingIn the article by Hoffman and Fodor (Hoffman & Fodor 2010), the authors attempted to address the ROI metric of social network marketing. As social network sites are now easily measured by search of your brand's blogs or data mining, quantative measurement seems to be ppssible. Some people may want a simple direct short term sales against direct costs. The authors caution whether thi s is a suitabke measurement of social network effectiveness. Nevertheless, we know that Social network marketing can substituted traditional marketing.As traditional marketing such as TV advertising is expensive, by allocating a certain amount of promotional budget to digital marketing can definitely reduce cost and achieve more or less same results. Another benefit of social network marketing is the improvement of market research by direct communicating with users and thus, significantly saving the amount of market research costs. To meaningfully measure ROI of social media marketing, the authors suggest to begin with identifying the objectives of a particular social marketing campaign in order to take into consideration of different nature of social network media (figure 4).In short, brand awareness, brand engagement and word of mouth effect can be measured. Figure 4 References: Donna L. Hoffman, Marek Fodor 2010. Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing? MIT Sloan M anagement Review 52,1(Fall): 41-49. Fue Zeng, Li Huang, Wenyu Dou 2009. Journal of Interactive Advertising 10,1: 1-13. Hirishi Onishi, Puneet Manchanda 2012. Marketing activity, blogging and sales. Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 29: 221-234.Shu-Chuan Chu, Yoojung Kim 2011, Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites, International Journal of Advertising 30,1: 47-75. Robert V Kozinets, Kristine de Valck, Andrea C Wojnick and Sarah JS Wilner 2010, Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities, Journal of Marketing, 74 (March): 71-89. Louise Kelly, Garyle and Judy Drennan 2010, Avoidance of Advertising in Social Networking sites: the Teenage Perspective, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10, 25(Spring): pp. 16-27.