Econ Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Econ Assignment - Essay Example This article states example of China, India etc where the local demand has grown steadily and to a vast amount-as pointed out by a global strategist ;Andrew Milligan, who believes that these changes may be sufficient enough to outset the negative repercussions of the US economy. Some economies are recovering on the belief pointed above. China is being touted as the next Dynamo while the emerging economies are being heavily focused on as being the next to replace the US. They hold a quarter of the world’s GDP-same as the US. However, despite all the positive notes going around-there is still skepticism over whether the US can be actually replaced by these economies. Another important thing that has to be noted is the credit crunch-the recent downfall in the global economy has been due to the credit tightening activities which are not in sync with the infrastructure development and demand for energy and commodities-cause of the emerging markets success. If one was to analyze the global scenario, it could be seen that there are two economies which are primarily responsible for either producing or consuming most of the world’s products and services. One is the Asian giant; China and the other is the eternal giant; the United States of America. However, both show a very different picture as while one has been amassing increasingly large sized account deficits, the other has been increasing its expenditures in order to increase its current account surpluses. In the present times, it can be seen that the US economy has suffered intensely due to its collapsing stock markets, decreasing consumer demand, falling housing sector, auto sector, and decreasing durable goods consumption which all resulted in one of the worse recessions which the US economy has ever suffered. This time the usual economy savers are also not in a position

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Essay Example for Free

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Essay â€Å"Many people called her the American Queen. † (Mattern) Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was by far the most iconic fashion figure of the 1960’s. She shaped fashion especially for women in her own time, but more than just being a significant influence on how women dressed in the 1960’s her style has transcended the boundaries of time and the modern women even looks to her on matters of fashion. Jackie, as she was fondly called, did not remain as a potent fashion figure only in the 60’s but continued to shape the fashion industry worldwide, even after her days of glory as the First Lady of America. The influence of Jackies style can still be seen now on the catwalks, every designer shows a look inspired by her. She was very classic, but with a modern twist. (Reuters) Nevertheless, it would be presumptuous to just make this conclusion without looking at how this lady was able to change the way women dress. Jackie was highly instrumental in the fashion scene of the 60’s as well as in modern eras because she instilled a sense of courage into fashion, she equated fashion with personality, and she pioneered the concept that simplicity was in fact stylish, elegant and fashionable. The baroque and almost boisterous fashion sense of women in the 60’s were a basis for Jackie’s influence in making women bolder and more unique in their choice of clothing. Note that during this period discreet strain between American and French relations, and despite of this, Jackie rose above the rest and refused to be influenced by this. Oleg Cassini, Jackie’s designer, â€Å"created her wardrobe for the 1961 inauguration. Jackie told him she wanted to dress as if Jack were President of France. Jacobs) While this remark may be considered as un-patriotic at that time, it simply shows how Jackie chose to ignore political and social constructs in delivering her message of fashion. She was also known for quite radical fashion decisions such as when she â€Å"kicked off a craze for the one-shoulder dress, encouraged women to ditch their high, pointy heels, endorsed chain belts, oversized sunglasses, and YSL midi skirts. † (Mathai) All these changes in the way women dress all speak of the boldness Jackie which was what women of the time wanted to acquire. Fashion was almost secondary to women of this period; what were more important to them were the decisiveness, innovation, and courage that riddled decision making among the feminine gender. For instance, â€Å"Jackie had been forced by her public role into wearing hats, as called for by formal protocol†¦She made fashion history, however, by choosing to wear the hat tipped to the back of her head rather than straight on top. (CAVF) This is an illustration of how Jackie set the example for women to remain undaunted by male dominated policies and so take flight; she did this in a language that all women would easily understand – fashion. Jackie was never one to follow what was ‘in’ during the moment because she believed in the value of individualism and unique style. Her penchant for seeking what was most comfortable to her was the best indication that she was not about to sacrifice her comfort for trendiness, and this worked for her as a result. â€Å"Trends and fads never dictated Jackies fashion choices†¦she had the courage of her convictions to reject it if she didnt feel it was right for her. Flaherty) Her courage in fashion rubbed off on all women of the time and even on the modern woman and to this day, people will remember how she breathed new life into the American fashion scene even making the industry more competitive when compared to its global rivals. â€Å"At that time, most high fashion clothes were made in Europe. However, the first lady decided to promote American designers. † (Mattern) Jackie also exercised her influence over women of the 60’s and on today’s fashionable female by showing that clothing was not everything and that what one wore was in fact a reflection of one’s personality. Jackie understood the power of clothing and image and used it to reflect the internationalism of the Kennedy Administration and the promise of the 1960s. † (Leight) So, Jackie always made sure that what she wore made a statement, if not about her, at least about the country she was in. Nevertheless, she also insisted that it was not really the clothing that one wore that made the person, rather, this was just the extension of the ideals and principles that a particular person stood for. As much as Jackie loved fashion, she was much more than the clothes she wore. Although appearances clearly counted, how she lived her life mattered most. † (Flaherty) Jackie was not the kind of person who would as she pleased while compromising the image of her family and of her husband’s administration. Through her many women all around the world realized how important it was for a person to use fashion as a means of conveying a message either about oneself or about the society that he/she was in, but more importantly about one’s beliefs and convictions. Jackie chose clothes that played to both her athletic sensibility and her Vassar-educated, Francophile refinement, notes Bowles. †(Tauber) This meant that Jackie was always on top of her style, that her outfit almost usually reflected not the designer, not the luxury of the attire, but the sensibilities and the principles of the wearer. This had to mean wearing clothes that were not only practical but also simple and Jackie did not destroy the concept of simplicity in the process, in fact, she even re-invented simplicity at a time when artistic expression was at its noisiest. Jackie had left her legacy on the woman of the 60’s as well as on contemporary fashion trends by making women see that simplicity can in fact be fashionable, stylish and elegant. Her passion for simplicity â€Å"took America out of the staid and conservative 1950s and into the world of classy international elegance. † (Leight) Jackie knew what it meant to make an impression and she believed that a lasting impression was possible even with the simplest white dress. She knew that she did not have to be overly verbose about her dressing styles to make people want to turn and have a second look. Her clothes were informed with an understated modern elegance, characterized by cleanliness, solid colors, and ease of movement. † (Leight) So again, one sees here that Jackie found convenience in simplicity in that other than being overly numbered, her fashion sense was fluid and responsive to the needs of the contemporary woman. Nothing went wrong with fashion when Jackie was in the limelight because her style was almost a nude expression of the feminine psyche. â€Å"Years before she became Jackie O, Kennedy was a first lady with impeccable style. (Shih) Simplicity, however, did not come without a price because appearing simple meant that she had to carefully plan her wardrobe so that she achieved the kind of impression that she wanted to get; and so for Jackie, fashion was never unintentional, it was always a conscious effort like poetry and literature; â€Å"Jackie put an enormous amount of work into appearing effortlessly elegant. † We look at her and think, How simple! â€Å"says Hubert de Givenchy†¦But it was deliberate. She was very conscious of her style, her body, her face. (Tauber) A woman of the 90’s can look at Jackie and like the woman of the 60’s still say that she was in fact right in deciding to look simple amid the fame and glory that she was in because it was this simplicity in her fashion sense that gave her authority over the world of fashion and a healthy appreciation for the elegance that came with a piece of clothing. Jackie was nevertheless quite innovative as she always believed that simplicity could be expressed in a thousand different ways, and even with this ironic contradiction, women of the 60’s were able to identify with the effortlessness of Jackie’s fashion. It is this that transcended the trends of the 60’s and began a whole new movement in contemporary dressing, now even known as Jackie O fashion. Jackie was aware that she was changing the world of fashion little by little and building a monument to the element of feminism that is almost non-existent to the opposite sex. So, to date, the world fondly recalls â€Å"the elegant simplicity of Jacqueline Kennedys style that would come to influence fashion all over the world. † (CAVF) It is not always that a woman is able to change the world by being herself; but the fact remains that Jackie sparked a revolution or more appropriately a renaissance in how women dressed in the 60’s and in the new millennia. Of course, some would say that fashion is just a small piece of the bigger picture depicting world shattering issues but how comforting it is to have someone slink back once in a while and remember that there is nothing that one does not have that one can give to the world. Making a difference means having that difference initiated within oneself and through fashion Jackie was able to make this bold and courageous statement. History will forever remember Jackie as the woman who was able to put policy into fashion; as the women who through her humility and respect for the female persona was able to take the fashion of the 60’s and the contemporary era and mold it to perfection by making women understand that fashion meant courage and conviction, that fashion was an extension of oneself, and that fashion does not need to be loud and un-moderated for it to be elegant, fashionable, and more importantly, stylish.

Spiritual Healing :: essays research papers fc

An Exploration of Spiritual Healing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout time, mankind has constantly been seeking ways to maintain their health and to cure those that had not been so fortunate in that task. Just about everything has been experimented with as a cure for some type of illness; whether physical or mental. There is also a third type of illness that can and is addressed, which is healing on the spiritual plan. According to research, most of the spiritual healers are concentrated in primitive societies and undeveloped areas of the world. However, there are still undertones of reliance on spiritual healing in modern medicine today and there are some in civilized, well developed parts of the world that have rejected modern medicine all together and adopted alternative healing methods. Even a person who does not believe in a higher being actually takes part in this type cure simply by allowing the chemical medicines in his/her body to mend what is wrong. No matter what class of society a person is in, no matter how a dvanced that particular country is, there will always be traces of spiritual healing if not all-out practicing of it; and it is and will continue to be a significant part of any healing process, large or small.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are numerous names for spiritual healers, but for simplicity’s sake and the fact that the concentration is on American Indian Medicine, all spiritual healers will be lumped together as ‘Shaman’ unless otherwise specified. This does not mean that all healers will hold the same beliefs, or that a particular belief is not even held by a group known as Shamans, but rather a different type of healer. The grouping is just so that a detailed and confusing explaination of all the subsections of healers. If necessary, there will be specifications. Again , for clarification, definitions are provided to clear up any confusion. A Shaman is a person anchored securely in both the physical world and the spiritual realm-- a mediator if you will(Shamanism 1). Therefore, Shamanism is a way of life revolving around interaction of the spiritual and physical worlds(Shamanism). The Shaman does not solely exist as other humans do; they lead a totally different life in conjunction with their earthly duties within their tribe. The two are not separate by any means; one has direct impact on the other, or so it is believed by those who study this form of healing.

How to build a computer Essay

Every fully functioning computer is made of the same basic components and here I’ll walk through the basic hardware you’ll need for your first build. There are several components a computer. However, it’s important to first understand what each component does. The processor (CPU) is like the brain of a computer, the thing that carries out the tasks you give it. Better CPUs can perform more tasks at once, and perform them faster. Not everyone takes full advantage of their processor’s full speed, so the high-end processers are only really needed if you’re performing intensive things like gaming or video editing. It’s also one of the most expensive parts of a computer, so if you aren’t doing these types of things, you don’t need to buy the latest and greatest. Another expensive part is the motherboard connects all the other components to each other, and is the physical base that you build everything else onto. It contains a lot of your machine’s core features, like the number of USB ports, the number of expansion cards you can put in (like video, sound, and Wi-Fi), and also determines how big your computer will be. The motherboard you buy will depend on the type of user you are. The case holds all of your computer’s parts together. For the most part, a case is less about features that affect how your computer runs and more about features that affect you and your home. Still, it’s an important consideration that is dependent on your other choices, so you might want to think about everything before buying one. Make sure the case buy will hold motherboard. RAM, or Random Access Memory, is like your computer’s short-term memory. It stores data your computer needs quick access to help your programs run faster, and help you run more programs at one time. That basically means the more you want to do at once the more RAM you’ll need. The graphics card, or GPU, is a processor designed to handle graphics. It’s what you hook your monitor up to, and it’s what draws your desktop and your windows on the screen. Some motherboards come with a GPU already integrated, which is enough to manage your desktop, but not enough for watching high definition video or playing games. Your hard drives are what store all of your data, ranging from your operating system to your documents, music, and movies. If the RAM is your computer’s short-term memory, your hard drive is the long-term memory. It stores the things you want to keep around for a while. An optical drive, more commonly known as a CD or DVD drive is what you’ll use to read CDs, DVDs, and even Blu-Ray discs. Not everyone needs an optical drive in his/her computer, but you’ll need one to install anything from a disc. The final major component you’ll need is the power supply. This does just as the name implies, it powers the computer. Depending on what you plan on using the computer for will determine the â€Å"size† of power supply you’ll need. Just as I said with picking the case, wait to pick this out until you figure out how much power you’ll need. Now that I’ve told you about all the components that make up a computer it’s time to start deciding which to use. While deciding make sure you read everything because you’ll need to make sure everything is compatible. Now that you’ve bought all your components, it’s time for the moment of truth: You’re ready to actually put together the machine. Assembling your computer can seem daunting, but it’s actually pretty easy. Here’s what you need to do. To start, open up your case’s box, take out the case, and open it up. Usually this involves unscrewing a few thumb screws on the back of your case and sliding the side panels off. Take a good look around your case and get acquainted; note where the hard drive bays are, where your CD drive will go, whether the power supply mounts on the top or the bottom, and so on. There should also be a bag of screws inside your case; grab that now and set it aside because we’ll need it in a few minutes. Open up your motherboard box and take out the I/O shield, which is the metal plate that protects the ports on the back of your motherboard. You should see a rectangular space in the back of your case where this should go. Snap it into place. This takes quite a bit of force, so make sure all four sides are snapped in securely. Next, pull out your motherboard and line up the ports on the back with the I/O shield. You should see that the holes on your motherboard line up with screw holes on the bottom of your case. There are probably more holes on your case than there are on your motherboard, so note which ones these are, and grab your motherboard standoffs from your bag of screws (they have a male screw end on one side, and a female screw hole on the other side). Screw the standoffs into those holes, and set your motherboard on top of them. Screw your motherboard screws into the standoffs so the motherboard is snugly mounted. Open up your processor’s box and gently take it out. Your processor is one of the more breakable parts, so this is one step in which you’ll want to be careful. Find the corner of your processor that has a gold arrow on it, and then look at your motherboard’s processor socket for a similar arrowed corner. Line these two arrows up; this is the direction your processor will go into the socket. Lift up the lever on the processor socket and put your processor in (Intel motherboards might also have a cover you have to lift up first). Pull the lever down to lock it into place. Again, do this gently—it shouldn’t require any feats of strength on your part, so if it isn’t falling into place easily, something’s wrong. Take it out and try re-setting it, make sure your two arrows are lined up, and of course, double check that your motherboard and processor are of the same socket type. Once your processor’s in, grab the cooler that came with your processor (remember, if you got an OEM processor you have to buy a cooler separately). It should already have some silver thermal paste on the bottom. If not, you’ll need to pick some up from the computer store and put a very thin line on your processor. Installing RAM is very simple. Find the RAM sockets on your motherboard, and pull the two clips on the side down. Line up the notch in your RAM stick with the notch in the socket, and press the RAM down into place. This might take a bit of pressure, so don’t worry about being overly gentle. The clips should snap back into place when the RAM is fully in the socket. For your video card (or any other PCI expansion card), find the topmost slot that fits your card and match that up with its plate on the back of the case. Remove that plate and slide the PCI card’s bracket in its place. The card should then be sitting on top of the socket, and all you need to do is press down to lock it into place. Then screw the bracket onto the case. Every case is a little bit different in how they install hard drives. Generally, there are two methods: on some cases, you have to pull out a hard drive tray, put the drive in, screw it in securely, and then slide the tray back in. Other motherboards just require you to slide the bare drive into the bay and then screw it in snug after the fact. Check your case’s manual for more detailed instructions on this case. The optical drive should be pretty self-explanatory. Just pull out the plastic cover on one of your 5. 25†³ drive bays and slide in your optical drive. Screw it into place if necessary. Once everything else is in, it’s time to install your power supply and plug everything in. (Note that if your case came with a power supply, you can skip this step, as it’ll already be installed). It should be pretty obvious where your power supply goes, as there will be a big rectangular hole on the back of your case. Some power supplies mount on the top, while some sit on the bottom of the case. Generally, they mount with the fan facing away from the edge of the case, unless that case has enough space in between the power supply mount and the end of the case to allow for airflow. Now that you have built your computer it’s time to plug it in and power it. From here it’s time to install an operating system (OS). There are several OS to pick from. The more common are Microsoft Windows and Linux. Each OS installs differently and each user has their own preference. Once you pick an OS read the instructions provided to install it. Now that you have installed the OS you now have a fully functioning computer that you’ve built.

Education and Weekly Response

|AP/HREQ 3964 3. 00A – Equity in Schooling & Human Rights | |Tentative Syllabus | January 7 |Overview of the course, Introductory |group formation | | |Lecture | | |January 14 & 21 |Theory and Practice |Video, Class Discussion | |Readings: Levine-Rasky, 1-50 and Ghosh, pp. Video | | |1-12 |21 Jan â€Å"Who Am I† Due | | |January 28 & Feb 4 | Construction of knowledge, culture, |Feb 4, | |Readings: Levine-Rasky, pp. 1-80 and |differences, anti-racist education |1. Group Project on Classism and education | |Ghosh, pp. 13-90 |Multiculturalism |by: Satnam,   Raj, Roshan, & Janelle | |Feb 11 & Feb 25 | Lecture on First Nations Education. |Feb 25: | |Readings: Levine-Rasky, pp. 42-182 |Feb 11, |1-Group Project on Sexism at school by: | |Weekly response 1 due: Feb 11 |2- Group Project on schooling and First |Erica, Amie, Monique, Rozina & Kailie | | |Nations by: |3- Group Project on Schools, hijab and | | |Thajiniah, Chris, |niqab by: Ashana, Victor, Sukhjbet, | | |Aphiraa and Brittany |Harkamal & Nancy | |March 4 & 11 |Lecture on Different Sexual orientation |March 11, | |Readings: Levine-Rasky, pp. 82-212 and | |4- Group Project on Inclusive Curriculum | |Ghosh, pp. 90-164 | |by: | |Weekly response 2 due: March 4 | |Caini Csak, Jewel Perez, Courtney Crumb and| | | |myself Nicole Pereira. | | | |5-Group Project on Homophobia at schools | |March 18 & 25 |Lecture on Educational policies, Human |March 25: Study Guide for Final exam, | |Readings: Levine-Rasky, pp. 255-274 and pp. Rights and Equity |Course Evaluation | |307-338 |6-Group Project: The experience of Sikhs |7-Group Project on schooling and African | |Ghosh: pp. 165-180 |by: Krystian, Ahmed and Lisa |students by: Rajbir, Jonathan, Dora & | |Weekly response 3 due: March 18 | |Jessica | |Essay DUE 25 March | | | |April 1 |Final in-class exam | |

Free Essays on Beouwulf

Title Beowulf, an epic poem, was written around the ninth century A.D., and was also written in Old English. Beowulf was authorized by a Roman Catholic Priest, which is acknowledged due to numerous references to the Bible. Beowulf, the main character is a mighty warrior with great pride and concern for his fellow comrades and The Land of the Geats. Throughout the poem there are several challenges that Beowulf has to confront. The first is the battle with Grendel, a horrific monster, because he has been terrorizing the Geats. Beowulf defeats Grendel in the battle but has to face another one with Grendel’s mother who wants to get revenge for the death of her son. Beowulf finally defeats Grendel’s mother. In the third battle Beowulf has to fight a dragon that has wreaked havoc on the Geats society due to a servant that had stolen a golden goblet from his home. The dragon was defeated with the help of a young kinsman, Wiglaf, but not before biting Beowulf in the neck and eventua lly destroying him. Although dying, Beowulf was glad that he had won the treasure for his people. The second poem is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is a romance written about six hundred years ago. The author is known as the Pearl Poet. This poem is a moral allegory, which means that the poem is glorified in a way, but also represents a moral idea. This poem is about a knight that has to go and find the Green Chapel where a Green Knight lives and respectfully get his head cut off just like he did to him. This called the ‘Beheading Game†. Both of these poems characters illustrate right living, the consequences of failing to live rightly, and the rewards of it. In the poem â€Å"Beowulf†, Beowulf illustrates various ways of how to live rightly. The first is when he went out by himself to conquer Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Beowulf went out to fight Grendel and his mother because he knew that he had to do a favor for Hrothgar. When Beowulf was yo... Free Essays on Beouwulf Free Essays on Beouwulf Title Beowulf, an epic poem, was written around the ninth century A.D., and was also written in Old English. Beowulf was authorized by a Roman Catholic Priest, which is acknowledged due to numerous references to the Bible. Beowulf, the main character is a mighty warrior with great pride and concern for his fellow comrades and The Land of the Geats. Throughout the poem there are several challenges that Beowulf has to confront. The first is the battle with Grendel, a horrific monster, because he has been terrorizing the Geats. Beowulf defeats Grendel in the battle but has to face another one with Grendel’s mother who wants to get revenge for the death of her son. Beowulf finally defeats Grendel’s mother. In the third battle Beowulf has to fight a dragon that has wreaked havoc on the Geats society due to a servant that had stolen a golden goblet from his home. The dragon was defeated with the help of a young kinsman, Wiglaf, but not before biting Beowulf in the neck and eventua lly destroying him. Although dying, Beowulf was glad that he had won the treasure for his people. The second poem is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is a romance written about six hundred years ago. The author is known as the Pearl Poet. This poem is a moral allegory, which means that the poem is glorified in a way, but also represents a moral idea. This poem is about a knight that has to go and find the Green Chapel where a Green Knight lives and respectfully get his head cut off just like he did to him. This called the ‘Beheading Game†. Both of these poems characters illustrate right living, the consequences of failing to live rightly, and the rewards of it. In the poem â€Å"Beowulf†, Beowulf illustrates various ways of how to live rightly. The first is when he went out by himself to conquer Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Beowulf went out to fight Grendel and his mother because he knew that he had to do a favor for Hrothgar. When Beowulf was yo...

the civil war1 essays

the civil war1 essays During the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, over 620,000 accounted soldiers were killed. Known as the "the first modern war", historians generally agree that the reason for this was because this was a time of transition for the military. Armies and Navies were still using tactics where they would gather large forces of firepower to bear on the enemy. At the same time, weapons were being developed which were accurate and lethal well beyond any arms of the earlier conflicts. As a result of these two conditions many more casualties were sustained. Add to that the lack of medical knowledge of disease and infection and the numbers truly began to grow. This paper is an overview of the types of weaponry that was used during this time. Artillery generally falls into three basic categories; guns, howitzers and mortars. The main difference between them being the trajectory of the round fire. A gun has a high muzzle velocity and a very flat trajectory. Normally a gun is used in a direct fire mode where the target can be seen and penetration is desirable. Good targets for a gun would be things like brick or earth forts, ships, buildings, and targets in tree lines. Howitzers have a somewhat lower muzzle velocity and arc their shells onto a target. They are used in both a direct fire and indirect fire mode. Keep in mind with the limited range of the pieces available during the Civil War there was no indirect fire such as we know it today. Targets were generally always within the line of sight of the artillery men. This is especially useful when an enemy is concealed behind a prepared position or the artillery men desire to have a shell explode over an enemy's head. The air-burst does less damage to hardened targets such as masonry walls, and redoubts, but causes many more human casualties due to the shrapnel covering a large area. Mortars have a very pronounced arc of flight. They h...

Anyone Can Learn to Play This Guitar in Minutes

Anyone Can Learn to Play This Guitar in Minutes Practice, practice, practice. If you want to become good at anything, theres no getting  around those three words. Musicians, of course, know this all too well. Research has shown that trained violinists and pianists typically put in an average of 10,000 hours before they can be considered elite performers. For the rest of us with far less lofty aspirations, there are popular rhythm-based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band that are much easier to pick up. The games also allow players to quickly get accustomed to rhythmic timing, notes as well as some of the dexterity necessary to play drums, bass, and other instruments. Still, making the leap over to, say, actually playing the guitar, is entirely different. There’s just simply no substitute for the hours upon hours of practice necessary to master the finer subtleties of things like finger positioning and different picking techniques. The learning curve can often feel so steep that about 90 percent of beginners quit within the first year, according to Fender, a leading guitar brand.    That’s where technologically-enhanced instruments such as the MI Guitar comes in. Pitched as the guitar anyone can learn to play in mere minutes, the rhythmic guitar is something of a novice’s dream. Similar to Guitar Hero, it features a tactile electronic interface along the fretboard but is capable of expressing a wide range of chords. At the top, the guitar’s force-sensitive strings also allow users to generate chords with varying degrees of loudness, much like a real guitar. The Crowdfunding Project That Could Originally launched as a crowdfunding project on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, the campaign raised a total of $412,286. The final product isn’t due to ship until late 2017, but early hands-on reviews of the latest prototype have generally been positive. A reviewer at Wired magazine praised the guitar as â€Å"totally fun and shockingly simple to use.† The Next Web echoed a similar sentiment, describing it as â€Å"great for quick jam sessions with friends, or using it to master the strumming portion first.† Brian Fan, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based startup Magic Instruments, came up with the idea after spending an entire summer trying to learn the guitar, with little progress. This despite having played the piano as a child and all the way through his musical training at The Juilliard School, one of the world’s most prestigious music conservatories. â€Å"I tried everything [to learn the guitar]. YouTube videos, learning guitars, gimmicks you name it,† he said. â€Å"The thing is you have to develop the motor skills and muscle memory for that particular instrument, which takes a lot of time. A lot of the time it felt like playing hand twister.† The first thing to know about the rhythmic guitar is that it bears only a superficial resemblance to a traditional string instrument. Like other sampler devices, users are limited to a series of pre-recorded digital sounds that play through the speaker. You won’t be able to perform hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato, string bending, slides and other advanced techniques that are used to shape the sound and give it that distinction. â€Å"Intentionally, it’s geared towards people like me with limited or no experience and who want to just play, rather than guitar players,† Fan said. â€Å"So it behaves nothing like a guitar, but it’s still so much easier to play music since it’s not bound by the physics of vibrating strings.† Review of the MI Guitar Cradling the latest version on my lap, it did have the look and feel of an actual guitar, though lighter and admittedly much less intimidating. Despite not having much of a musical background beyond a piano class in high school, it still lends the player an air of confidence with its buttons in addition to strings considering we all press buttons on a computer keyboard every day, how can it not be intuitive? It also comes with an iOS app that displays the lyrics and chords to various songs. Sync it with the guitar and it’ll carefully guide you along Karaoke-style, scrolling forth as you play each chord. Its not hard to flub my first couple attempts at a Green Day song, either by pressing the wrong cord button or hesitating a beat too many. But by the third go around, its easier to pick up the pace a bit, stringing them together until lo and behold music. Joe Gore, a guitar player, music software developer and former editor for Guitar Player magazine, who has yet to try out the technology says that while he likes the notion of a guitar for that anyone can play, he doesn’t expect it to be well-received by those who’ve long put in their dues. â€Å"The guitar community is very conservative,† he explained. â€Å"And because theres a certain work ethic that goes into honing your craft, it’s natural to feel a bit scorned when they see someone cheat and take a shortcut instead of investing the time into something their completely passionate about.† And while Fan says he understands where the criticism comes from, particularly the barrage of â€Å"hate posts† his team has received on social media, he doesn’t see any reason for guitar purists to feel threatened. â€Å"We are not replacing the guitar, especially the expressiveness and sound,† Fan said. â€Å"But for those who’ve never learned it when they were young and have less time now, we’re saying here’s something that you can pick up and enjoy playing right away.† Where to Purchase Anyone interested in pricing information and purchasing the Rhythmic Guitar on pre-order can do so  by visiting ​Magic Instruments website.​

Nature and Meditation in Romantic Poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nature and Meditation in Romantic Poetry - Essay Example Thus poetry is the vehicle for the spiritual elevation of humankind. In the Western world, the Romantic Poets express their spiritual feelings through descriptions of nature .Although deeply religious, they see God through nature , unlike their predecessors for whom religion was a stern affair. English Romanticism ,in particular, presented a break with the tradition by its individualism and encouragement of the imagination .The Romantic poets experienced the most sublime through nature. Romanticism emerged in the late eighteenth century as an inevitable reaction against the empirical thinking and stern reasoning that was in vogue earlier. Philosophers like Rousseau(1712-1778)urged that only in nature that mankind could find freedom of spirit. The American Revolution and the French Revolution acted as catalysts for the Romantic Movement .William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and John Keats(1795-1821)were two of the greatest English Romantic poets who found inspiration in nature . In their poetry they use descriptions of nature to raise the mind to mystic heights. William Wordsworth, one of the foremost Romantic poets, brings out the feeling of "passionate meditation" in his famous poem, Tintern Abbey. The poem conveys a feeling of deep silence and meditation attained through connecting with nature. That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky. (6,7,8) (Wordsworth 1798) According to Geoffrey Hartman, for Wordsworth nature is "not something to be worshipped and consumed, but always a guide, leading beyond itself."(Hartman,290)We see this even when he is at his most exuberant, describing daffodils in "I wandered lonely as a cloud" I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (1-6)(Wordsworth 1803) The poet's heart sings at the eternal spectacle of nature "Lonely as a cloud" suggests the solitude needed for meditation, while,in contrast, "crowd, a host " expresses the feeling of multitudes. .He experiences a feeling akin to meditation which recurs whenever he is "in a pensive mood" , when the multitude of daffodils "flash upon the inward eye" with the ensuing "Bliss of solitude". "Tintern Abbey" is the outstanding work of Wordsworth published in 1798,and it shows how he developed a vivid and personal approach which connects meditation to sensation in a unique way. In this poem, the brilliant lyric is transcendental; the theme is exalted by the underlying love for his sister. The emotions compliment the visual scene, the memories enrich the moral ideas. Here he feels the presence which encourages him to meditate on the oneness of all things in nature. He rhapsodizes, And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; A motion and a spirit that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.

Architectural and Environmental Constraints of Vendor Support Essay

Architectural and Environmental Constraints of Vendor Support - Essay Example Few of the key factors that should influence vendor selection for short and long term projects in a hiring organisation (Parent Organisation) are:Few of the key factors that should influence vendor selection for short and long term projects in a hiring organisation (Parent Organisation) are:1. Alignment of parent organisation’s policies with vendor organisation policies.2. Reach of vendor services (Geographical)3. Future business development plans of vendor organisation should be in line with Parent Organisation4. Thorough understanding and agreement on common service level agreements and service level objects (SLAs and SLOs)5. Auditing and Controlling Procedures should be mutually exclusive in order to avoid fraudulent evaluation6. The long term plan of Parent Organisation with a work are outsourced to a vendor or delegated to a separate workforce within the organisation should facilitate the cohabitation and sustenance of both partnering organisation.(Halse, 2003)To summariz e, successful outsourcing begins with a clear-cut understanding of why it is required at all, and a clear understanding of when outsourcing is, and when it is not, a smart business practice. (Dominguez 2006)Evaluation of Vendor Selection on Enterprise Networks:The choice of a vendor should be done on the basis of several factors as discussed above. It should also take into account the nature of the parent and vendor business. Vendor selection, if done improperly may lead to failure in enterprise networks.  

Insight in Australian ancient Aboriginal Rock- Art Essay

Insight in Australian ancient Aboriginal Rock- Art - Essay Example The essay "Insight in Australian ancient Aboriginal Rock- Art" discovers what is rock art and analyzes evaluation of its relevance in a broader context of Aboriginal Art. Pictographs are the ones, which are applied on the rock like paintings, drawings, stencils, daubing, and beeswax motifs. The ones, made by engravings, incisings, peckings, etchings etc, are known as petroglyphs. Rock here is a geological surface that is as soft as mud on which painting or engraving is done. Art however is a substitute word for image/picture/marking etc. Put together it would represent the art or visual images on the rock left or made by our pre-historic ancestors. It’s a form of visual, illustrated history of human race. Our pre-historic ancestors have represented themselves and their cultural and individual identities through the most durable medium of stone or rock. The paintings in the Arnhem Land, central north coast of Australia portray the ecological changes. These are seen from the cha nging depiction of flowers and animals. Aboriginals from Arnhem say that the Mimi spirits have done the Rock-Art paintings. Mimis are graceful sticky figures, red ochre in colour and live in the crevices of the rocks, to come alive in the night. They have created self-portraits and are also known as dreaming ancestors who have passed on the traditions of painting, hunting, dancing, and composing music to generations. The birds, which were eaten, the weapons used for hunting are also seen. Paintings on Australia’s northern shore.

The Role of the Exchange Rate Regime in Contributing to the 2001 Essay

The Role of the Exchange Rate Regime in Contributing to the 2001 Crisis in Argentina - Essay Example Argentina underwent structural changes in the 1990’s. In the late 1980’s, Argentina suffered high levels of inflation. Thus, in the 1990’s, the administration of president Menem implemented several reforms to overcome the country’s macroeconomic instability through the Convertibility Plan (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Inflation dropped to single digits, whereas economy remained stable (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Moreover, the country underwent privatization, deregulation, and trade liberalization (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Until the crisis in 1998, Argentina was viewed as a success story and a role model. The currency board was created to conquer inflation and create deflationary expectations among the general populace. As part of the Convertibility Plan, the board was created to enhance confidence among investors, population, and anyone in power to set prices in the Argentinean market (IMF 2003, p.4). To stabilize the economy, the board pegged the Argentine peso to the US dollar at 1:1 (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.307). Moreover, it linked the supply of pesos to the quantity of US dollars held in Central Bank reserves (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.307). Money supply depended on the US dollar reserves. Since the Argentinean peso was pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, the money supply was determined in the same way. For example, assume there was only one dollar in the Central Bank’s reserves. Then the money supply would be one Argentinean peso times the money multiplier. Now assume that an additional dollar is bought by the Central Bank and put in reserves. This increase in reserves translates into an increase in money supply. Namely, one additional peso is put into circulation. However, this is not the end of the analysis. In every economy, a stock of value changes hands several times within a given time period. Thus, this additional peso needs to also be multiplied by the money multiplier. This relationship is described in equation (1) below, where is money supply, is monetary base and is the money multiplier (Gokbudak 1995, p.111). (1) Money multiplier, in return, is determined by the required reserve ratio (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.308). This definition can be seen in equation (2), where is the money multiplier, and is the required reserve ratio determined by the Central Bank. (2) The board eliminated previously available options. Monetary policy was no longer an option. Under a floating regime, the central bank can sell or buy securities and so through open market operations control the interest rate, which in turn determines the cost of money and can offset inflation. Since this policy was not an option, only fiscal policy remained. The labor market also needed to become flexible in order to absorb some of the possible shocks (IMF 2003, p.8, 26). However, with 70 percent of federal budget going to social security and provinces, little maneuve ring space was left for the fiscal policy (IMF 2003, p. 13). There are several causes of the crisis. The IMF (2003) considers this crisis to have been caused by the interaction between fiscal policy and the currency board arrangement. The crisis is also seen as an outgrowth of fragile balance sheets in the undeveloped banking sector and lack of political strength to implement a reform. Public sector debt is seen as a trigger which, coupled with previous history of economic slumps, led to the above causes (IMF 2003, p. 4). Following

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (520) Case Study

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (520) - Case Study Example 171). In order to foster good relationship with the customers, it is imperative that the employees know how the customers form perceptions, what factors play a role in affecting their perceptions about the salespersons or the company’s products for the better and worse, and what behaviors in the salespersons are appreciated by the customers. Since statistics are available that reflect that the employees who have had good terms with the customers have outperformed their coworkers in terms of sales, understanding the process of formation of perceptions and development of attributed by the customers becomes very important for Joe’s employees. Suitability of Leaning Theories Several learning theories are suitable for Joe to apply in this situation that include but are not limited to operant conditioning learning theory and social learning theory. While there are certain theories that apply more in the case under consideration as compared to others, none can be completely re futed as most learning theories apply at least to some extent. ... Employees come in the company and try their fortune by executing their individualistic behaviors; for some, it works whereas for others, it does not. Employees are only able to find out the impact of their behaviors on their ability to make sales after they have executed their behaviors as part of the company’s workforce. Likewise, since the employees are provided with the opportunity to earn certain commission on the list price, they are motivated to make more sales to make more commission which makes it obvious that the reward is tied to the performance, thus justifying the suitability of the operant conditioning theory for Joe in this case. On the other hand, the social learning theory is also suitable for application in this case because many behaviors are learnt by the employees in the workplace. For example, employees can witness that their coworkers who have fostered good relations with the customers are able to make more sales as compared to other employees who do not manage to develop as good relations with the customers. Having observed this, employees feel intrinsically motivated to take steps to develop good relations and association with the customers. However, certain end up achieving this successfully whereas others fail to develop good relations with the customers, and the social learning theory provides rationale for this difference. According to social learning theory, while people may observe what behaviors lead to success in a particular setting, it is not imperative that this learning brings a change in their behavior. Although the employees know the importance of fostering good relationships with the employees, yet they fail to enhance their sales because this learning did not cause them to

The Role of the Exchange Rate Regime in Contributing to the 2001 Essay

The Role of the Exchange Rate Regime in Contributing to the 2001 Crisis in Argentina - Essay Example Argentina underwent structural changes in the 1990’s. In the late 1980’s, Argentina suffered high levels of inflation. Thus, in the 1990’s, the administration of president Menem implemented several reforms to overcome the country’s macroeconomic instability through the Convertibility Plan (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Inflation dropped to single digits, whereas economy remained stable (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Moreover, the country underwent privatization, deregulation, and trade liberalization (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.302). Until the crisis in 1998, Argentina was viewed as a success story and a role model. The currency board was created to conquer inflation and create deflationary expectations among the general populace. As part of the Convertibility Plan, the board was created to enhance confidence among investors, population, and anyone in power to set prices in the Argentinean market (IMF 2003, p.4). To stabilize the economy, the board pegged the Argentine peso to the US dollar at 1:1 (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.307). Moreover, it linked the supply of pesos to the quantity of US dollars held in Central Bank reserves (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.307). Money supply depended on the US dollar reserves. Since the Argentinean peso was pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, the money supply was determined in the same way. For example, assume there was only one dollar in the Central Bank’s reserves. Then the money supply would be one Argentinean peso times the money multiplier. Now assume that an additional dollar is bought by the Central Bank and put in reserves. This increase in reserves translates into an increase in money supply. Namely, one additional peso is put into circulation. However, this is not the end of the analysis. In every economy, a stock of value changes hands several times within a given time period. Thus, this additional peso needs to also be multiplied by the money multiplier. This relationship is described in equation (1) below, where is money supply, is monetary base and is the money multiplier (Gokbudak 1995, p.111). (1) Money multiplier, in return, is determined by the required reserve ratio (Rodriguez – Boetsch 2005, p.308). This definition can be seen in equation (2), where is the money multiplier, and is the required reserve ratio determined by the Central Bank. (2) The board eliminated previously available options. Monetary policy was no longer an option. Under a floating regime, the central bank can sell or buy securities and so through open market operations control the interest rate, which in turn determines the cost of money and can offset inflation. Since this policy was not an option, only fiscal policy remained. The labor market also needed to become flexible in order to absorb some of the possible shocks (IMF 2003, p.8, 26). However, with 70 percent of federal budget going to social security and provinces, little maneuve ring space was left for the fiscal policy (IMF 2003, p. 13). There are several causes of the crisis. The IMF (2003) considers this crisis to have been caused by the interaction between fiscal policy and the currency board arrangement. The crisis is also seen as an outgrowth of fragile balance sheets in the undeveloped banking sector and lack of political strength to implement a reform. Public sector debt is seen as a trigger which, coupled with previous history of economic slumps, led to the above causes (IMF 2003, p. 4). Following

Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Changes - Essay Example However, the question on which of these factors will have the greatest influence remains unanswered. This paper outlines three of the changes expected in criminal justice in the next fifty years. Like any other system or discipline, criminal justice is expected to evolve. This evolution will be apparent in both crime and justice. In fact, as criminal evolve; their potential victims will also evolve in the preventive strategies they will use against the perpetrators. For instance, criminals are expected to use devices that would counter or unlock the more advanced devices and technologies such as alarm systems and locks that potential victims are expected to use to protect themselves (Ritter, 2006). As is currently the case, crime fighting strategies will however continue to focus on the reduction of crime opportunities, removing criminal-motivators, and altering peoples’ basic values by nurturing positive values, more so in the youth so that their propensity to commit crimes is reduced (Ritter, 2006). Population experts believe that in the next three to five decades there is a likely increase in the percentage of the over-30 population, particularly those over 65 year s of age. The implication of these demographic changes on criminal justice is that more people will be highly likely to become victims and criminals. The other change expected in the next fifty years in criminal justice is the increased use of technological advances in fighting crimes. In this regard, there is an expected increase in the development and use of more sophisticated biometric devices, surveillance equipment, identification microchips, and DNA analysis in preventing, detecting and reducing crime (Ritter, 2006). These technological devices will be quite effective in enhancing crime prevention and crime solving in the future. Technologically, more complex and effective intelligence databases for policing and analysis of crime trends by experts and the public will be exploited

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Example for Free

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay Background The news about the â€Å"New Economy† has triggered many entrepreneurial ventures to exploit on the electronic commerce (e-commerce) opportunities. Ventures such as Amazon and eBay have received significant media attention and investor optimism about the potential of e-commerce. Now that the smoke has settled, both management and academic research have become interested on the impact of e-commerce on those companies that have supplemented their brick-and-mortar outlets with e-commerce initiatives. Several researches have emerged on effect of e-commerce on organisational strategy. Tapscott et al (1998) discusses the organisational changes created by B2B e-commerce and the benefits of deploying e-commerce within the organisation. O’Connell (2000) discusses the effect of e-commerce in the organisational structure in light of the resource-based view and transaction cost theory. E-commerce has been seen as improving efficiency, communication and lowering costs across business processes (O’Connell, 2000; Krovi et al., 2003; Garicano and Kaplan, 2001). In addition, researches have also shown the influence of e-commerce on brand management. Wind Mahajan (2001). discuss how the competitive environment is changing with the increasing number of Internet users and how the new technology is redefining the marketplace. The research presented a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in both physical and electronic marketplace. Part of the emergence of electronic marketplace is the ability of organisations to offer highly customized products to consumers, and the capability to build and to manage customer relationships (Brown, 2000). The aim of the research is to investigate the way in which an organisation develops its electronic commerce strategy over time in light of existing strategic approaches and development found within related literature. The research particularly looks into Marks Spencer e-commerce strategy as the case study for the research. The research looks into how Marks Spencer has developed and implemented its e-commerce strategy. Drawing from strategic management theories, the research specifically focuses on the how an e-commerce strategy is grounded on reducing transaction cost within the organisation and across the value chain. Furthermore, the research also looks into the importance of relationship marketing and how e-commerce is providing organisations with the necessary technology to achieve seamless exchange of information and reduced costs. Strategically, the adoption of e-commerce within an organisation hinges on these two important strategic management theories. In addition, the research is confined within the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, since business-to-business (B2B) relations are frequently characterized by a small number of customers and a strong emphasis on personal contacts between customers and salespeople as their means of marketing communication. Therefore, the research focuses on how consumers view their shopping experience within an e-commerce site, particularly Marks Spencer. The Overview of the Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The remainder of this study is as following statement:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chapter 2, Literature Review, will provide a concise concept and explanation of electronic commerce within retail organisation. The review of related literature discusses the concept and application areas of e-commerce within organisation. The review will also tackle the important strategic management concepts such as transaction cost theory and relationship marketing and how e-commerce is enabling organisations achieve increased efficiency, improved communication, and lower costs across its value chain. Chapter 3, Methodology, will describe the research design of this study. The research design of this study is empirical research method using secondary data for quantitative analysis. Chapter 4, Results, will demonstrate the results of this study.   At first, the descriptive statistical data such as maximum, minimum and mean, on the consumer’s perspective on the different service attributes of e-commerce site for Marks and Spencer. Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, the â€Å"Summary† section will first provide a comprehensive summary of the major findings of this study. The â€Å"Conclusion† section will highlight the implications of the research findings. Finally, â€Å"Recommendations† will be proposed to help companies to utilize the importance of electronic commerce in their strategic assessment.   In next chapter, related researches in electronic commerce will be reviewed CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Commerce According to the International Engineering Forum, e-commerce is â€Å"an emerging model of new selling and merchandising tools in which buyers are able to participate in all phases of a purchase decision, while stepping through those processes electronically rather than in a physical store or by phone (with a physical catalog). (online International Engineering Forum)† E-commerce enables a customer to access product information, select items to purchase, purchase items securely and have the purchase settled financially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While the notion of e-commerce as the ability of organisations or a person to sell over the Internet is very popular, the research paper will adopt the definition of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). E-commerce can be defined as â€Å"the total of all applications that pertain to online communications and transaction (OECD, 2000).† The definition better suit our purpose of discussing e-commerce in the context of strategic management. The research views e-commerce holistically, which encompasses the communication between organisations and customer over the Internet, the completion of one-time or on-going online transactions, and e-CRM systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The emergence of e-commerce in the retail sector is one of the most widely adopted and anticipated development in the industry. Following the success of Amazon, many brick-and-mortar retailers jumped into the dot com bandwagon and established their online presence in the World Wide Web. Many have adopted e-commerce capabilities out of a fear of falling behind competitors or as a result of the general momentum to expand the use of an existing Internet presence. Nonetheless, the main value proposition for organisations adopting an online presence is the prospect of increasing revenue from new markets and using a lower-cost, electronic-distribution channel (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a strong demand from organisations in creating an online presence, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun to offer electronic-commerce hosting services. ISPs often position as a outsourced service provider of the customers’ electronic-commerce capabilities, managing the networking and server aspects of the initiatives. Such services are important consideration for the roll-out e-commerce sites as it allows organisations to leverage on the expertise of ISPs and allows organisations to concentrate on their core businesses (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the customer’s perspective, the main benefit of an e-commerce system is the convenience it brings to consumers, who are constrained by busy schedule and numerous activities. The e-commerce system enables a customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is ready to make the purchase. Its function is synonymous to a virtual store (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the merchant’s perspective, the e-commerce system enables the organisation to take advantage of the strengths of online store and increase revenues. One of the key benefits of implementing an online store is the capability to cover greater market reach and a complementary distribution channel to its existing brick-and-mortar stores. However, in order to effectively implement an e-commerce strategy, the e-commerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. The merchant must recreate the same shopping experience in its online store providing in-store assistance, secure payment process, catalogs and prices about the products and services, inventory management, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping) (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, e-commerce not only allows merchants to take advantage of market reach, but it also enables merchants to redefine and enhance an enterprise’s brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain efficiency. An e-commerce site is one of the areas of an enterprise infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it is linked with other information system of the enterprise value chain (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In implementing an e-commerce site, provision of the basic system requires an Internet connection, a Web-application server and e-commerce application software, and a personal computer for the shopper. Figure 1 illustrates the basic economic drivers and application requirements of an e-commerce marketplace. On the buyers side, consumers are driven to the online retail store through advertisements, interesting features, needed information, and directory. On the sellers side, merchants are driven to the online space because of its ease of entry, increasing website traffic, ability to sell and integrate marketing messages (online International Engineering Forum). Figure 1. Business Drivers in e-commerce strategy E-Commerce Strategies and Business Drivers A number of initiatives implemented within an organisation are driven by a market need. All industries are characterized by trends and new developments that gradually or speedily produce changes important enough to require a strategic response from participating firms. The popular hypothesis about industries going through a life cycle helps explain industry changes but is still incomplete (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). The life-cycle stages are strongly keyed to changes in the overall industry growth rate (which is why such terms as rapid growth, early maturity, saturation, and decline are used to describe the stages). Yet there are more causes of industry change than an industry’s position in the life cycle (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). While it is important to judge what growth stage an industry is in, there’s more analytical value in identifying the specific factors causing fundamental industry and competitive adjustments. Industry and competitive conditions change because forces are in motion that create incentives and pressures for change (Porter, 1980 p. 162). The most dominant forces are called driving forces because they have the biggest influence on what kinds of changes will take place in the industry’s structure and competitive environment. The Internet and e-commerce opportunities are unquestionably spawning a sweeping business revolution that altered industry boundaries, opens up all kinds of new business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market opportunities and threats, sparks competition from new and entirely different breed of enterprises and mandates fundamental changes in business practices (Thompson and Strickland 2001).   In his book The Business of E-Commerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Paul May discusses four business drivers for adopting an e-commerce strategy. First, organisations have the compulsion to catch up with competitors or to gain competitive advantage by being early adopters of the new technology. Organisation’s constant pursuit to gain competitive edge in the marketplace is a primary concern and part of a survival component in the business strategy. Second, organisations need to develop a credible e-commerce channel from its current online portfolio. Third, organisations are constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency within its value chain. E-commerce can be a creative force in delivering reduced transaction cost, increased communication and coordination, and improve business processes. Fourth, e-commerce enables organisations to improve its value chain by creating strategic supplier partnership and delivering customized customer solutions. It allows organisations improve business’ infrastructural capabilities to play as an extended enterprise and not merely a single business entity delivering greater value to its customers (May, 2000). Each of these drivers can be harnessed as a propulsive force for the business, rather than a deflective or immobilizing one (May, 2000). Application areas of E-commerce Six key emerging application areas in electronic commerce can be identified. It can be organized into two important domains: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). The application areas include categories in consumer retailing to real-time business-to-business collaboration (May, 2000).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retailers were the first adopters of the business-to-consumer e-commerce. Retailers found selling products and services online as a promising channel of distribution for its products and reaching new markets. Nonetheless, B2C e-commerce is now more diversified and classified into three application areas which include retail, auction, and advice (May, 2000). The three application areas of B2C e-commerce are retail, auctions, and advice. Although each has its own distinguishing characteristics, and dynamics, a consistent theme underlies the development of all three. This is the increasing â€Å"busy-ness† of consumer lifestyles: the extension from work life into private life of a culture of ever-decreasing time-frames and ever-increasing obligations. Lack of time and complexity of choice drive the growth of products and services in each of these areas (May, 2000). Business-to-consumer is a term that stresses the direction of delivery: B2C e-commerce is supposedly something done by business to consumers. Yet this domain is founded on intense customer focus. Insight into the conflicting desires and pressures affecting consumers is a powerful ally in building successful strategies in this highly competitive area (May, 2000). Business-to-business, on the other hand, is the umbrella term used to refer to transactions between businesses conducted online, and the business networks and supply chains that make these transactions possible. While B2B activity has always, taken place, the Internet brings with it a new framework, B2B companies no longer need to depend on the traditional one-to-one model for business transactions (Michel, 2003). Procurement, inventory exchange, and real-time collaboration are relatively obscure categories of application, which have the potential to flip many businesses inside-out. Procurement introduces process improvements in the buying functions of organisations and also points the way to a more competitive environment in inter-company trading. Inventory exchange introduces the mechanism of the market to smooth out supply and demand inefficiencies across entire value chain, potentially lowers transaction and carrying costs, and focuses on improving exchange of supplier information. Real-time collaboration allows organisations to cooperate as fluid colonies of actors, undermining the stability of companies who prefer hands-off relationships or who prefer their reality-checks to be presented monthly (May, 2000). e-Commerce application in Retail Industry Retailers are now increasingly adopting electronic commerce as another distribution means of selling products and services. Online channels have also proved increasingly popular amongst retail companies within other formats such as hypermarkets or catalog retailers, who have attempted to expand into the sector to escape from stale growth within their respective markets (Datamonitor 2006). Datamonitor estimates the global Internet retail sector valued at $656.4 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.3% over the 2001-2005 period. The estimate is based on the total revenues generated through the sale of retail goods via online channels, valued at retail selling price, with any currency conversions calculated using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates (Datamonitor 2006). With the number of Internet users increasing exponentially year-on-year, the industry has experienced strong global growth within the global Internet retail sector. Much of the demand for online purchases is due to the escalating number of working mothers and time-starved consumers who are conveniently seeking ways of shopping without the hassle of driving to a retail store and falling in-line (Datamonitor 2006). At present, drugs and health beauty aids are the sector’s most lucrative segment in 2005, accounting for a total of $154 billion in total revenues or 23.5% of the retail sector’s total value. Computer, hardware, software, and supplies contributed significant revenues in 2005, generating $114.9 billion in revenues or 17.5% of the sector’s total value (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While analyst do not see a similar spectacular growth in the global Internet retail industry, experts still is optimistic the pace of revenue expansion for the next four years. Industry experts project to the expansion of industry to remain strong valuing the industry at $1.169 trillion by 2010. This translates to 12.2% CAGR over the 2005-2010 period (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In terms of revenues generated per region, Datamonitor reports that Europe has the largest market share in the global Internet retail sector with 44.4% of total value, followed by the United States and the Asia Pacific with 22.5% and 21.7% respectively (Datamonitor, 2006).

Pricing And Distribution Strategies

Pricing And Distribution Strategies According to Christian Louboutin Shoes are a mirror of what you want, what you are or what youre missing (Time, 179, page 68); these words has inspired the launch of a new footwear brand -LKS. The concept of this new product is to bring forth a new generation for womens footwear. LKS is to launch a pair of shoes that will be the missing piece of the puzzle. It will encompass the comfort factor but will also have the creative element for the fashion conscious. The inspiration for this product is that it can be worn from day to night, all day every day. This is because the product will have a detachable heel system which will allow the person to interchange the height, the design of the heel or just wearing the shoes as they are. The diagram below will illustrate the concept: Detachable heel clips into place Studies show that wearing high heels can cause Lower Back Disorders (Work, Volume 41, 2012) and can also affect posture whilst at work (Teller Vision, 2013). This is one of the reasons why LKS is launching the detachable heel to tackle these claims. Further to the detachable heel concept; each heel will have its unique design whether it is a metallic stiletto heel or it is a chunky Perspex one. Every one of the designs will reflect the persons personality or styles which are interchangeable. In addition, the idea of the detachable heel is so that an ordinary pair of flat ballerina pumps for example can transform into a pair of glamorous six inch heels; that not only looks chic and fashionable but is also suited to the consumers personal taste. Part A: The Brand Name LKS Love Killer ShoesThe brand name LKS was originally made up of initials from the group as like most footwear brands: Kurt Geiger, Russell Bromley and Jimmy Choo. The initials of the brand can be interpreted as a paradox to our original concept of comfort Love Killer Shoes. The fact that the brand strap line uses the word Killer is humorous as it is a play on the idea that the product is comfortable but it can also mean that the product can be transformed into something amazing. It displays that the brand is quirky, unique and creative. However, the brands logo will depict simplicity. Please refer to the below design: The logo is simply LKS written in a white font in a black background; which includes the strap line Love Killer Shoes underneath also in a white font on a black background. The reason for the choice in colours is because it is minimal and classic like the luxury brand Chanel or Alexander Wang. It can also be compared to the hair straighteners brand GHD with their strap line of Good hair day, every day. LKS vision is to aid the 21st century woman in balancing ones working life with their leisure time. As the population of women in the UK is greater ((51%), Home Office) than mens, the brand aims to sell to women. These women will be working professionals ((Social Grading of A C1), NRS (n.d), Keynote (2012)). People of Social grading A C1 make up a large proportion of consumers in the UK who purchases shoes (Keynote 2012). Statistics in June 2011 shows that (73.1%) women were more likely to purchase shoes much more than men (51.3%). It has also been decided that the brand intends to sell to women between the ages 20 and 34 as Part A: The brand name (contd) these ages showed one of the highest consumer purchases in 2011. (Keynote, Footwear, 2012). Despite the economic climate the footwear industrys growth in 2012 showed a growth of 3.7% (Mintel, July 2012) and as footwear is now seen as a fashion essential many consumer especially women are always looking to buy shoes. Statistics shows that 27% (Mintel, Footwear Retailing July 2012) of consumers buy shoes because they want to find something comfortable; which is one of the reasons why LKS is to launch this unique footwear where comfort and style are put into one package. Part B: Promotion (Please refer to Mood Board) Part B: Promotion, Mood Board justification LKS sole focus is the design of the heel, rather than the entire shoe. LKS product will be trendy, quirky and innovative; therefore a range of materials, colours and patterns will be used in its production. The product will also be catwalk-esque, and high street oriented thus catering to fashionistas. LKS detachable heels will each have its own distinctive design and colour (refer to mood board). Jewel colours (greens/yellows/blues/reds) will be incorporated to make the heel vibrant, depicting their glamorous and gem like nature. For example a green will signify the colour of an emerald. Metallic colours gold and silver will bring edginess and incorporates the rock image instantaneously to the shoe. Different materials in addition to the colours will create texture to the heel and emphasise the difference of LKS heels compared to other normal heels. The brand will be willing to mix and match a variety of fabrics with different colours and patterns. This will become the basis for all the heel designs. The diversity of the designs means that LKS can create heels to correlate with the seasons trends. When considering the marketing strategy, it is crucial to consider the promotional mix. According to Jobber (2009) there are six main components that make up the promotional mix, these include: Advertising, Direct sales, E-commerce, Personal selling, Sales promotion and Public Relations. It is essential to relate to the target audience of young professionals when choosing the most relevant and wide reaching promotional tools. LKS has chosen to utilise Advertising, E-commerce and Public Relations. A push strategy (Jobber, 2009) will be used to stimulate consumer demand for the product. It has been estimated that 1107 million (TfL statistics, n.d) people utilise the underground every year; this means that there will always be a consistent high footfall especially during peak commuting hours. Therefore, part of LKS advertising will take the form of advertisements on the London Underground. These advertisements will capture commuting young professionals interests. In addition, advertisements will also be placed on buses, both inside and outside. This will ensure that LKS maximises the use of all methods of commuting. Part B: Promotion, Mood Board justification (contd) Magazines and newspapers will also form a basis for LKS advertising. LKS will focus on high end glossy magazines such as Elle which has a combined readership of around 1 million (National Readership Survey, April 2012) for print and website compared to Vogue which has an estimated 1.4 million (National Readership Survey, April 2012) combined readership. Limiting the print in only high end glossy magazines will aid LKS to develop a prestigious image and also to show the young stylish professionals that LKS products are of high quality and are the latest must-haves. To further aid with the advertising of LKS; it is important to ensure that the brand gets acknowledgement from these high end magazines. LKS will send out sample products to fashion bloggers and magazine companies for them to review the products and therefore extend brand recognition. Social media is currently becoming an essential part of the daily life; hence the brand will strongly focus on E-commerce which will be social media websites such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram. Statistics shows that on Instagram alone there are 90 million monthly active users and 1000 comments are posted every second (Instagram Press Centre, n.d); LKS will launch with an Instagram account allowing consumers to access new product launches including exclusive insider photos of all aspects of LKS; offering their feedback to ensure the consumer feels valued and connected to LKS. Further to Instagram; Facebook itself has 1 billion monthly active users since October 2012 (Facebook Newsroom, n.d) and twitter (Tweetstats, n.d) who has nearly 1 million users and will indefinitely support the advertising of the brand through competitions and limited sneak peek photos and information. The use of Public Relations will develop the relationship between both consumers and the media. LKS clever stunt will capture both consumer and media attention; taking influence from Lanvin for HM who used Marble Arch in London as a giant billboard by projecting images onto it (Popscreen, n.d). For example, LKS can place a giant shoe, highlighting the detachable heel in Trafalgar Square. Part C: Pricing and Distribution Strategies There are three pricing methods (Jobber, 2009); Cost, Competition, and Marketing Orientated Pricing. LKS will be focusing on the Marketing Orientated Pricing which means that it takes into account a wide range of factors; that aids in price setting. LKS product is of a unique nature therefore the price of the product will be higher than a conventional pair of high heels. The brand wants to be perceived as a high quality luxury brand on the high street and so a premium pricing strategy will be used. Reports on Keynote (2012) shows that consumers highest spending on footwear in the year ending June 2011 is between  £20  £149. As mentioned, LKS will be targeting young professionals in the social grading A C1 so it was essential to set a price that is both affordable for this target group yet will also provide the basis for LKS to be seen as a high end brand. Although LKS product is different from any other products on the market; the competition aspects are still considered to play a vital role in the pricing strategy. It is important to be able to identify the various types of competition in the market, shown in Figure 1. To define LKS Immediate Competitors, the brand has looked at other parts of the footwear industry; what other brands offered on the high street. Kurt Geiger is at present one of the leading footwear brands in the UK and is a retailer that supplies luxury and fashionable shoes. It has been estimated that at the end of January 2011 the company had a turnover of  £185 million (Keynote, 2012). This is one of the main direct competitors of LKS, as both brands are targeting the stylish, young professionals. As shown on the table for Kurt Geiger the pricing range is from  £55  £410 which is a large variation compared to Russell Bromley and CJG. LKS Recommended Retail Price will be starting at  £100 which is competitive against the lowest price point of the main competitors and does not make LKS to be perceived as a cheap brand but a premium one. There are three aspects of channel strategies LKS must consider: Channel Selection, Distribution Intensity and Channel Integration (Jobber, 2009) Distribution (place) To allow for greater consumption and transparency (Jobber, 2009) the main route of distribution will be through online sales and concessions within the well established department stores. The use of an intermediary is essential to distribute to concession as this will assist to improve efficiency and accessibility for consumers (Blythe, 2009) as the products will be dispersed in smaller batches allowing measurement of stock and an even distribution. However, with online commerce; direct producer to consumer channels are the most effective as young working professionals may not have the time to shop in LKS concessions; online shopping will be the most efficient way. Distribution Contd (Intensity) There are three types of distribution intensity. LKS has reviewed all three types: Figure 2 (Source: Jobber, 2009) LKS has opted with Selective distribution into high end concession stores. This will create brand prestige along with brand loyalty. The use of department stores offers a guaranteed footfall compared to a stand-alone store. Harrods for example has over 1.3 million customers every year from more than 134 countries (Chamber Cocktail, 2011). Using Selfridges, Harrods and Libertys as a platform for the product will allow well established customers the chance to try something refreshing, but from a trustworthy and recognised shop. E-commerce has provided consumers with the ability to shop from home; especially when people work all day and have no time to browse around in shops. Online shopping has grown rapidly throughout the years; an approximate value on average for weekly internet sales is  £466.1 million in August 2012 (Office for National Statistics, 2012) which is a growth of 7.5% compared to the previous year. Alongside online website a mobile application will be launched allowing for increased accessibility for shopping on the go.

College Sports - Todays Athletes are Privileged Perverts, Rapists, Thie

College Athletes - Privileged Perverts, Rapists, Thieves, Frauds, and Liars    In America today athletic events play an important role in the reflective perception and financial standing of any given community. It is for this reason that the individuals involved in these events are also of significance to the community. Due to the esteemed and very influential role placed on athletes they are often times given privileges that would not normally be given to them if they were not athletes. These privileges are given in order to recruit the athletes, and once recruited to maintain their status on the team so that, in turn, the team's status is not adversely affected. To understand the importance of the role of an athlete one must first examine the role of the athletic event in which the athlete participates and the level of importance placed on this event. Many communities see the local college athletic teams as a reflection of their society. It is therefore important to the community members that their team represents them in the best way possible. Due to American society being of a competitive nature, the basis on which democracy is built, the way a team's representation is judged is by its level of play. If a team is successful in its competitive meetings with other teams it asserts itself into a superior position over those teams. This in turn creates a sense of pride in the community because the team that represents them has beaten the teams that represent other communities. This develops a greater fan base and more support than if a team was to lose "because people aren't going to come watch a losing team" (qtd. in Suggs A42). This support is important to the team because this is where the team receives the majority o... ...ic ability and performance is based primarily on the athletes that participate in the athletic programs. In order to recruit and retain the best athletes for their college athletic programs coaches and colleges alike have made many exceptions and broken many rules. The preferential treatment of athletes is just one of the areas where these exceptions have been made. No matter the area where the exceptions are made these variances from the societal norm are brought about by the high demands and expectations placed on athletic teams to represent their community through success in competitive endeavors. Again, a team's level of success determines its level of community support and therefore determines its survival due to its need to be self-sufficient. Unfortunately the exceptions made and privileges given are often at the expense of the average student, the non-athlete.

Henritta Lacks Paper

The â€Å"immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks† tells a fascinating story of a sample of cells that forever changed the landscape of scientific research. The book tells the story of the family related to Henrietta Lacks. The book touches on the doctor and patient relationship. Henrietta Lacks cells (â€Å"also known as HeLa†) became involved in bringing informed consent to the research field. The patient didn’t always know what the doctor was doing to them. The doctor should always inform the subject of what they are doing and the purpose before the subject can consent.Informed consent is a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment. Up to 1947, the thought of informed consent hadn’t even crossed anyone’s mind. In 1947, the Nuremberg trials were held wherein 7 Nazi scientist were convicted of conducting unthinkable tests on Jewish subjects. This marked the first time informed consent enter ed anyone’s conscience. It still wasn’t law. It was just an ethical code which had no legal bindings.Then ten years later, when scientist Southman was injecting HeLa into patients’ bodies without telling them how dangerous it was and some of them died and an investigation ensued. This caused a division between people and doctors. Some doctors decided against informed consent because it would interfere with their research practices. There was great fear amongst the African American community about doctors kidnapping them and doing all sorts of wild tests on them. There was some truth to these apprehensions.Doctors would regularly test on African Americans with consent. In the book, when the doctors ask Day if they can do an autopsy they didn’t give him the whole details. But that wasn’t the rule back in those times. The problem with explaining the details to people is that they simply wouldn’t understand what the doctor was talking about. The patient had no clue what a cell was. So rather than explain what they were doing in detail they would just tell that it would benefit their children. This is wrong, doctors shouldn’t take the easy way out.They should inform their patients of the extent of their intentions. The doctors would prey on the black community’s ignorance in the medical field. The doctors should have just told them their intentions. In today’s atmosphere, the rights of patients are more protected than they were in the 1950s. Doctors now have a legal and ethical duty to inform patients in all areas. Therefore, more information is available to patients so they are able to make intelligent and informed decisions on their medical treatment and use of their tissue, cells or organs.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is a platform that was established by the government as a set of laws and policies for preventing discrimination against individuals. It was for the purpose of offering equal opportunities for employment, education, and business. Several of our formal Presidents has signed executive orders that was meant for all hiring to be equal regardless of race, color, or national origin with all government contractors and the other specifically for associations which received federal contracts and subcontracts eliminating discrimination within the workforce towards individuals centered on their race, color, religion, and national origin. Later the affirmative action was modified to include no discriminating against one's sex. Affirmative action also established preferential handling for minorities and women in the hiring process and the chance to receive a higher education. Affirmative action holds private employers accountable as well.During the Civil Rights movement, affirmation action was a tool that proposed opportunities for women and minorities and to provide equality for them. There are noted changes in how colleges recruit and enroll students, housing and also how using public transportation where now blacks can sit anywhere since Rosa Parks. Since affirmative action was primarily intended on improving chances for African Americans in employment and education, but there is still a low percentage of improvement that is why an executive order was signed and it required all government and private industry jobs to increase the number of women, disable individuals and minorities to either receive employment or to have the ability to gain an education or have additional training for work enhancement. There are numerous organization that uses affirmative action and equal employment opportunity policies within their business structure there is still a controversy today surrounding these issues. Are the equal employment opportunity and affirmative action policies have the same meaning? Let's talk about equal employment opportunity first, the definition is that it bans all types of discrimination. This means that no matter the race, or gender everyone has the same chance of obtaining and getting promotions as well as training within the workforce. Whereas, affirmative action focus on past discrimination acts which were meant to give women, disabled individuals, and the minorities an equal footing in gaining employment and a higher education.It was to create equality between the workers and employers however it has caused extra adversity in the workforce. Because many believed that jobs held by whites were being jeopardized. Has affirmative action been consistently and effectively used to create a more robust and productive workforce? I would say yes; affirmative action has made it possible for many to see and earn their desired goals such as their life dreams. I feel that there are still many obstacles but if one applies themselves there are no limitations. Barak Obama was our nation's first black President and there are many who hold prominent leadership roles that also includes women. Recently in the news, it was announced that the FBI, for the first time in history that there may be a woman heading this department.Though affirmative action has come along way there are those who still discriminate and don't offer equal chances for others to succeed. Affirmative action has allowed the workforce to become more diverse in races, genders, and cultures. We must remember that the affirmative action is not about letting minorities to get into college or to get a job, but it's about giving qualified individuals no matter their race a chance that they may not get otherwise.In conclusion has affirmative action been consistently and effectively used to create a more robust and productive workforce? I would say yes it has worked extremely well. I hope to see it continue because there are many more who could benefit from this program. Affirmative Action â€Å"An action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education† – affirmative action, also commonly referred to as the paradox positive discrimination. 1 Affirmative action was designed as a temporary measure to insure a â€Å"leveled playing field† for all Americans specifically minorities and women. The affirmative action measure was created to be a catalyst in ending racial and gender discrimination in the workplace and was to be retracted once the presumable â€Å"playing field† was leveled. However, through various flaws and shortcomings in the policy, it grew into a form of reverse discrimination where individuals that were well qualified for positions were turned down in lieu of minorities. When it was created, the affirmative action policy was a necessary step in insuring equality for all, but twenty-first century America has many restrictions and guidelines to prevent employers from discriminating against someone based on their race, gender, religion and national origin, proving affirmative action to be irrelevant. The essayist chose this topic because of her interest in the diversity of America’s current workforce. After various courses in economics as well as a course on public policy she became interested in programs designed to enhance social welfare in the United States of America. Also with growing concerns of immigration and the dwindling of whites as a majority in the United States, the topic of changes in the American workforce are sure to arise. The idea of affirmative action has drawn many supporting and opposing views since President John F. Kennedy first introduced it 1961 with the Executive Order number 10925. The order commanded all federal contractors (the public sector) to take â€Å"affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 2 As years went on, the progressive Civil Rights’ movement evolved the idea of affirmative action and called for it to encompass all public and private sectors in the United States. Affirmative action had many supporters including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was created to insure equal opportunity in the workplace for all Americans. The idea of positive discrimination was rejected in the 1978 landmark court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, where the United States Supreme Court ruled that race could not be used as an admission standard to a university and â€Å"disadvantaged minority students† were not permitted to have admission spots reserved for them. Supporters of affirmative action believe that aiding those who have been historically disadvantage will insure the end of the cycle of poverty and call for a justified wealth distribution throughout the United States. It is statically proven that on average, minorities are less wealthy than whites. 4 Statistics also prove that individuals in low-income households are less likely to receive a college education therefore making them unqualified for most jobs in America’s current workforce. This cycle continues as these unqualified workers who were not able to get high paying jobs have children who are subsequently born into low-income households. In order for this cycle to discontinue, a policy should be put in place that will provide them an advantage over the wealthy white job seekers; the affirmative action policy provides this advantage. Sacrificing the well being of white males for a short period of time in order to catapult minorities and women into becoming qualified employees is a belief that many supporters of affirmative action hope for. Although the affirmative action policy was meant to be a temporary aid, a decade after it was created it morphed into a hypocritical attempt to fix a solution. College students from St. Norbert College, believe that â€Å"[it‘s] really justifying racism by it's own actions. Its policies totally judge people solely on skin color and gender. That is discrimination in itself. †6 Those in opposition of affirmative action believe that it is not fair to discriminate against someone that has worked hard to become qualified for a job position. They believe that other programs such as scholarships and extra tutoring programs for the underprivileged are better solutions to solving inequality in the workplace. Once minorities become equally educated and acquire skills for jobs in today’s workforce, they will inherently level the playing field on their own. The issue of affirmative action has acquired many praises and oppositions. From when it was enacted over fifty years ago, it has transformed into a controversial subject. Although this topic was more relevant during the period of the Civil Right’s Movement, it has recently gained momentum with the growing minority population. Affirmative Action Affirmative action is a practice that is intended to promote opportunities for the â€Å"protected class† which includes minorities, woman, and people with disabilities or any disadvantaged group for that matter. With affirmative action in place people of this protected class are given an even playing field in terms of hiring, promotion, as well as compensation. Historically, affirmative action is only known to have protected African Americans and woman; however that is not the case. Affirmative action protects a variety of people and without this statute many people included in this protected class would be unfairly discriminated against.There are many reasons why affirmative action should continue to be a part of workplace such as: †¢Fosters diversity. †¢Educates our workforce on diversity. †¢Equips employees to achieve their highest contribution to the mission. †¢Challenges employees to make their maximum contribution to the mission. †¢Encourages em ployees to offer differing views and suggestions toward achieving organizational goals. †¢Respects and appreciates individual differences. †¢Provides equitable treatment and opportunities. †¢Creates and maintains an inclusive approach to all systems, policies, and practices (i. . , promotions, performance ratings, awards, training, assignments, and access to services). †¢Facilitates culture change to support wider diversity. People who are opposed to affirmative action often argue that it gives an unfair advantage to any member of this protected class; however that is far from the case. Affirmative action programs do not give racial preferences nor create quotas. In fact affirmative action programs are flexible therefore creating a legitimate selection process in the hiring aspect of the workplace.Although not in the workplace, an example of a flexible affirmative action program was seen at Ohio State University where they adopted the 10 percent rule. This rule a dmits students who are in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. Doing so allows colleges to take minorities who excel in marginal urban schools. This is a very legal way in ensuring minorities an even playing field (Campus that Looks like America). Because of the effectiveness of affirmative action other statues have been put into place to ensure that other members of this protected class are not getting discriminated against such as the Rehabilitation Act.The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which makes it unlawful for certain employers to discriminate against a qualified individual exclusively by reason of her or his disability. The Rehabilitation Act does not specifically address medical inquiries, although it provides that the judicial standards used to determine whether an employer has unlawfully discriminated shall be the standards applied under the ADA. This is merely one of many statutes that were created as a part of affirmative action to promote equal employment.Cl early, with all of the mandates that were branched off of affirmative action the need for this program in the workplace is vital. Affirmative action promotes diversity which is known to be a vital part of any company’s success. Many companies even the U. S Government pride their selves on diversity and use various affirmative action programs to achieve such a company culture. For example the U. S. Census Bureau recently conducted a case study regarding the issue of diversity. The Census Bureau defines adversity as the all of the ways in which we differ.Among these dimensions are race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and child/elder care responsibilities. The United States Government in acted a program within the Census Bureau in 1994 under the leadership of President Clinton, in hopes that he could build â€Å"a government that looks like America. † Further, he stated that: â€Å"Diversity transcends race and gender, affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity. It must encompass a fundamental appreciation of one another and a respect for both our similarities and our differences.It must include a heartfelt respect in attitude and in behavior towards those of different race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity and those with disabilities — all the facets that make each individual the unique and precious resource that each of us is. † In conclusion affirmative action is a vital part of society because it gives everyone a fair opportunity succeed regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or background. It also provides diversity in the workplace which will accurately reflects the community. . â€Å" Works Cited Merritt, J. (2002, March 10). Wanted: A Campus That Looks Like America – Businessweek.Businessweek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Retrieved September 4, 2012, from http://www. businessweek. com/stories/2002-03-10/wanted-a-campus-that-looks-like-america Jacobs, Ro ger. â€Å"Disability Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodation, and the Modified Commute. † 36. 4 (2011): 59-68. Print. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): Policy Statements. (n. d. ). Census Bureau Homepage. Retrieved September 10, 2012, from http://www. census. gov/eeo/policy_statements/ Why Affirmative Action is Necessary in the Workplace Lawrence Smith James Lee Andrea Willis Affirmative Action â€Å"An action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education† – affirmative action, also commonly referred to as the paradox positive discrimination. 1 Affirmative action was designed as a temporary measure to insure a â€Å"leveled playing field† for all Americans specifically minorities and women. The affirmative action measure was created to be a catalyst in ending racial and gender discrimination in the workplace and was to be retracted once the presumable â€Å"playing field† was leveled. However, through various flaws and shortcomings in the policy, it grew into a form of reverse discrimination where individuals that were well qualified for positions were turned down in lieu of minorities. When it was created, the affirmative action policy was a necessary step in insuring equality for all, but twenty-first century America has many restrictions and guidelines to prevent employers from discriminating against someone based on their race, gender, religion and national origin, proving affirmative action to be irrelevant. The essayist chose this topic because of her interest in the diversity of America’s current workforce. After various courses in economics as well as a course on public policy she became interested in programs designed to enhance social welfare in the United States of America. Also with growing concerns of immigration and the dwindling of whites as a majority in the United States, the topic of changes in the American workforce are sure to arise. The idea of affirmative action has drawn many supporting and opposing views since President John F. Kennedy first introduced it 1961 with the Executive Order number 10925. The order commanded all federal contractors (the public sector) to take â€Å"affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 2 As years went on, the progressive Civil Rights’ movement evolved the idea of affirmative action and called for it to encompass all public and private sectors in the United States. Affirmative action had many supporters including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was created to insure equal opportunity in the workplace for all Americans. The idea of positive discrimination was rejected in the 1978 landmark court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, where the United States Supreme Court ruled that race could not be used as an admission standard to a university and â€Å"disadvantaged minority students† were not permitted to have admission spots reserved for them. Supporters of affirmative action believe that aiding those who have been historically disadvantage will insure the end of the cycle of poverty and call for a justified wealth distribution throughout the United States. It is statically proven that on average, minorities are less wealthy than whites. 4 Statistics also prove that individuals in low-income households are less likely to receive a college education therefore making them unqualified for most jobs in America’s current workforce. This cycle continues as these unqualified workers who were not able to get high paying jobs have children who are subsequently born into low-income households. In order for this cycle to discontinue, a policy should be put in place that will provide them an advantage over the wealthy white job seekers; the affirmative action policy provides this advantage. Sacrificing the well being of white males for a short period of time in order to catapult minorities and women into becoming qualified employees is a belief that many supporters of affirmative action hope for. Although the affirmative action policy was meant to be a temporary aid, a decade after it was created it morphed into a hypocritical attempt to fix a solution. College students from St. Norbert College, believe that â€Å"[it‘s] really justifying racism by it's own actions. Its policies totally judge people solely on skin color and gender. That is discrimination in itself. †6 Those in opposition of affirmative action believe that it is not fair to discriminate against someone that has worked hard to become qualified for a job position. They believe that other programs such as scholarships and extra tutoring programs for the underprivileged are better solutions to solving inequality in the workplace. Once minorities become equally educated and acquire skills for jobs in today’s workforce, they will inherently level the playing field on their own. The issue of affirmative action has acquired many praises and oppositions. From when it was enacted over fifty years ago, it has transformed into a controversial subject. Although this topic was more relevant during the period of the Civil Right’s Movement, it has recently gained momentum with the growing minority population. Affirmative Action Affirmative action is a practice that is intended to promote opportunities for the â€Å"protected class† which includes minorities, woman, and people with disabilities or any disadvantaged group for that matter. With affirmative action in place people of this protected class are given an even playing field in terms of hiring, promotion, as well as compensation. Historically, affirmative action is only known to have protected African Americans and woman; however that is not the case. Affirmative action protects a variety of people and without this statute many people included in this protected class would be unfairly discriminated against.There are many reasons why affirmative action should continue to be a part of workplace such as: †¢Fosters diversity. †¢Educates our workforce on diversity. †¢Equips employees to achieve their highest contribution to the mission. †¢Challenges employees to make their maximum contribution to the mission. †¢Encourages em ployees to offer differing views and suggestions toward achieving organizational goals. †¢Respects and appreciates individual differences. †¢Provides equitable treatment and opportunities. †¢Creates and maintains an inclusive approach to all systems, policies, and practices (i. . , promotions, performance ratings, awards, training, assignments, and access to services). †¢Facilitates culture change to support wider diversity. People who are opposed to affirmative action often argue that it gives an unfair advantage to any member of this protected class; however that is far from the case. Affirmative action programs do not give racial preferences nor create quotas. In fact affirmative action programs are flexible therefore creating a legitimate selection process in the hiring aspect of the workplace.Although not in the workplace, an example of a flexible affirmative action program was seen at Ohio State University where they adopted the 10 percent rule. This rule a dmits students who are in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. Doing so allows colleges to take minorities who excel in marginal urban schools. This is a very legal way in ensuring minorities an even playing field (Campus that Looks like America). Because of the effectiveness of affirmative action other statues have been put into place to ensure that other members of this protected class are not getting discriminated against such as the Rehabilitation Act.The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which makes it unlawful for certain employers to discriminate against a qualified individual exclusively by reason of her or his disability. The Rehabilitation Act does not specifically address medical inquiries, although it provides that the judicial standards used to determine whether an employer has unlawfully discriminated shall be the standards applied under the ADA. This is merely one of many statutes that were created as a part of affirmative action to promote equal employment.Cl early, with all of the mandates that were branched off of affirmative action the need for this program in the workplace is vital. Affirmative action promotes diversity which is known to be a vital part of any company’s success. Many companies even the U. S Government pride their selves on diversity and use various affirmative action programs to achieve such a company culture. For example the U. S. Census Bureau recently conducted a case study regarding the issue of diversity. The Census Bureau defines adversity as the all of the ways in which we differ.Among these dimensions are race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and child/elder care responsibilities. The United States Government in acted a program within the Census Bureau in 1994 under the leadership of President Clinton, in hopes that he could build â€Å"a government that looks like America. † Further, he stated that: â€Å"Diversity transcends race and gender, affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity. It must encompass a fundamental appreciation of one another and a respect for both our similarities and our differences.It must include a heartfelt respect in attitude and in behavior towards those of different race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity and those with disabilities — all the facets that make each individual the unique and precious resource that each of us is. † In conclusion affirmative action is a vital part of society because it gives everyone a fair opportunity succeed regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or background. It also provides diversity in the workplace which will accurately reflects the community. . â€Å" Works Cited Merritt, J. (2002, March 10). Wanted: A Campus That Looks Like America – Businessweek.Businessweek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Retrieved September 4, 2012, from http://www. businessweek. com/stories/2002-03-10/wanted-a-campus-that-looks-like-america Jacobs, Ro ger. â€Å"Disability Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodation, and the Modified Commute. † 36. 4 (2011): 59-68. Print. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): Policy Statements. (n. d. ). Census Bureau Homepage. Retrieved September 10, 2012, from http://www. census. gov/eeo/policy_statements/ Why Affirmative Action is Necessary in the Workplace Lawrence Smith James Lee Andrea Willis