Southern United States

Miss Kriz Abby Mayo AP U. S. History 14 March 2013 New England and the South History has shown explicitly the differences between the colonies in the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. These differences were determined in the way that the east coast of the United States was settled by colonists. The colonists developed the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies separately. The most influential factor in determining what life in each region would be like was the geography of each region.The geography then determined the economy of each region, which led to political and social developments. The differences between the New England colonies and the Southern colonies were often drastic enough that one might consider them better off as completely different nations. This possibility resulted in America’s devastating Civil War in the first half of the 19th century. However, there were inevitably at least a few similarities between the North and the South; after a ll, both were governed by the same federal administration.Though they shared a few similar aspects, the New England colonies and the Southern colonies were unmistakably different, whether one examined their political, religious, economic, or social aspects. Politically, there were not as many noticeable differences between the North and the South as there were economically. The Northern colonies of New England developed from their conservative Puritan roots, which came from their original colonizers. The essential values of New Englanders were decency, equal rights, and moral duty.The Northern political sphere has typically been more influential in the federal government than Southern politicians, though things have never been â€Å"easy† for Northerners. Obviously Southern representatives and senators fought to make sure that southern values were not disregarded. From a Southern perspective, politics are about hierarchy, racial superiority (particularly white Protestant male s). They supported greater power for individual states, while Northerners wanted a stronger central, federal government. The two factions are essentially opposites, and proved fatally polarizing in the federal legislature throughout history.These differing values were most conflicting in the years before and during the Civil War, when they reached a climax. Religion is the reason that European colonists first came to America. The Pilgrims of the Mayflower sought religious freedom in the exotic, uncharted â€Å"new world. † From there, America blossomed into a very valuable breeding ground for colonies. The first American settlers in Massachusetts were strict Puritans. Their religion was the center of their lives. Their religious views influenced their political actions greatly.In the South, religion was much less important in daily life, though it still had a presence. Over time, it came to be known that Southerners were typically Protestant or Anglican. They depended on and advocated for slavery, because their economy depended it, but also because unlike the New England colonists, their religion did not discourage it or promote equal rights. It is commonly claimed that the real religion of the South was their plantations. Religion often determined certain political views, playing a major part as a contributor to American society as a whole.However, these contributions took many different forms in the Northern colonies versus the Southern colonies. Geographical advantages and disadvantages ultimately governed the development of the individual economies in the North and the South, despite the fact that both comprised a single nation. The diverse geographical nature of the continental United States helped define factions of political and social opinion, particularly in the 19th century. In New England, as it is today, the soil was rocky and difficult to farm. Therefore, New England colonists looked to other sources of economic prosperity.They are known fo r having used many of the abundant natural resources surrounding them, such as granite, coal, and iron ore. They used these raw materials and used them to create products such as steel, and in doing so, made the New England colonies known for an industrial economy. The industrialist Northerners then developed more business-like political views. In the thoroughly agricultural South, the economy depended completely on cotton and other agricultural products. The plantation owners needed slaves to work their land, and slaves became a vital part of Southern economy.When Northerners challenged the ethics of slavery, the Southerners fought back in order to conserve their global economic success. This conflict developed into the bloody American Civil War. However, soon, America became known as one of the world’s foremost economic powers, permitted by the cooperation of the New Englanders and the Southerners. Political, religious, and economic views created American social society in the colonies. Inevitably, social classes developed, and they did so differently in each region. The entirety of Northern society was based on religion.Therefore, social developments were also based on religion. Their industrialism combined with their strong religious devotion caused them to place high value on literacy and education. Schools began to develop in New York and soon spread out across the colonies. Some of the prominent Northern ideals were equality, ethics, morality, and equal treatment of all people. The South could not have been more different. Rather than religion, which was a relatively insignificant part of Southern society, the South developed a typical system of social classes. At the bottom, of course, were the slaves.Middle class whites followed, and the wealthy upper class of white plantation owners were at the top of the food chain. Americans typically supported the beliefs of the region in which they lived. To them, it was just their nature to think the way they did. The dramatic differences between the â€Å"nature† of the North and the â€Å"nature† of the South caused huge problems for America as one unified nation. There were a few similarities that the North and the South shared. After all, they were part of the same country, though many of the Southerners liked to believe otherwise.Both the North and the South relied on imports for many of their manufactured goods. The Northern colonies’ industry was blossoming, but had not reached the level that many European nations were at. Additionally, they each relied on exports to finance their economic development. Finally, American colonists from both regions had trouble with Indian relations at times. The settlers believed themselves better than Native Americansin general and didn’t hesitate to show the natives what they thought of them. They also shared a common hatred for the English during the very early days of colonization and during the Revolutionary Wa r.Though undeniable similarities existed between the Northern colonies of New England and the Southern Colonies, it is clear that the list of differences between them is much more extensive. These differences really did prove fatal for the 600,000+ Americans that died fighting for them during the Civil War. Today, it is taken for granted that all Americans share an equal nationalistic pride. There is no more division between North and South, after decades of arguing, fighting, and war trying to rescue it.

Is drug addiction a disease or a choice Essay

Is drug addiction a disease or a choice? Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Have you in any way contemplated whether drug addiction is a disease or a choice? This topic has been very controversial and has brought about many debates to ascertain the whole thing. Many researchers have taken a stand that being a drug addict is completely a disease that only can be cured by taking drugs. On other side, there are other researchers who are for it not being a disease but just a matter of choice. Having considered and carried a lot of research on this controversial issue, my stand remains that drug abuse or drug addict is wholly a matter of choice and not a disease.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The time one is born, he/she does not know anything. You are introduced into the new world with your own will. The things that one chooses to do at any age are solely his or her own choice. There are many things that happen in this world that may directly or indirectly involve oneself. Everybody has the will to make his or her own decision, to say yes or no to indulgent into some activities. In whatever case, any time that these boundaries are crossed, it becomes a choice that has been made.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the world of today, it is very impossible for someone to say that they have never come across or know anybody who is in one way or the other involved in drug abuse or addiction. One could know a person who is a drug abuser, addict or is even contemplating usage of drugs. Though, nobody at any point gets involved with drugs when he/she has not chosen to do so at the startup. When the first decision to either test or use drugs, the decision leads to severe drug addiction or abuse. There are many people who do not know that there is a difference between being a drug addict and a drug abuser. The only fact is that neither of the two is better than the other. Drug addiction is when somebody uses any kind of a substance that is deemed to be dangerous or comes with many dangerous and negative effects. Carl L. et al. on the other hand, Drug abuse is when someone uses a substance or a drug excessively or when they apply it into the purposes that it was not medically intended to. (Hart, Ksir, Ray). According to the researches that have been carried, it is true that one can abuse drugs and he/she has not been addicted to the same but one cannot be addicted to drugs without being an abuser of the same. When a person makes a decision to first use a drug substance, the spiral downward trend begins to take effect on one’s life unless the involved person makes a decision to stop being an addict because also quitting drug usage is also another choice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like all the other choices, drug addiction or abuse is influenced by goals and preference. Drug addiction is not gender based and can affect anybody regardless of his/her economic status. The first decision that is made to first start abusing drugs leads to a direction of making decisions that are not right according to other people who are not drug addicts. These decision could involve making a decision to drive a car sometimes even in uncontrollable speed, indulging into unprotected sex, or even take part in some activities that one would not have done normally if they were not under the influence of drugs. The ones who are completely addicted fail to fulfill their obligations at work, home, at school and even to his/her friends. To cite an example of this I shall use a woman who indulged into drug addict only because she had a small fight with her husband. The woman has been a drug addict but now she has fully quitted to be one for more than twenty five years. In an interview, she recalls the time that she firstly made a decision to try cocaine. She states that because of the feeling that resulted from her and her husband she easily made a decision to let someone convince her to take cocaine. From that time, she wanted to try the drug again and again so that she could feel the highness that she had felt the first time she took the drug. For five years, she constantly chased the high feeling. For another one year, she was struggling with the idea of wanting to quit drug but still the high feeling drove her back into the trap. The woman remembers getting some money from her family member and blowing more than two thousand dollars on one day. She became very neglectful towards her kids and also the other family members. Due the circumstances she passed through, ranging from being involved in a drug raid many times, the fear that her kids were going through hard times, she decided to go for a rehab. This is a decision that she also made to herself without being forced by anyone to do so. In the interview with the woman, she was asked whether she believed that drug addiction was a matter of choice or a disease. She responded by saying that it was solely a matter of choice because on her case nobody had forced her to became an addict each time that she used the drug she knew of the adverse effect that comes with the same and also she realized how her family were being affected yet continued taking cocaine. When she was asked if she accepted the full responsibility for all her actions, she responded â€Å"yes†. She said that it could be wrong to blame other for her own choices and she put it clear that it was her choice to start using the drugs as it was in quitting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The drug addiction support group suggests that no matter the drug of choice, counseling, treatments and other kind of intervention are necessary for any addict to return to their normal and healthy lifestyles. It is clear that there are some other factors that need to be considered by the drug addicts so that they can not only remain clean but also drug free. One should make it clear to choose on the friends that he/she hanged up with, the places that one spends his/her leisure time, and the things that one does that could lead them to become drug users or rather abusers and addicts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, drug use is a willful commitment or a choice just like choosing or dedicating oneself to complete a college education or choosing to join a certain club. Even though heavy consumption of drug is self destructive and foolish, it is a matter of choice. The addiction has no specific people who are affected, no matter whether a person is nice, weak, educated, rich or poor they can all be tempted to make the choice of becoming drug addicts by merely being convinced by what they may think is a high and good feeling but undermining the fact that they are destructing their bodies. When some individuals try to label the drug addict as the ones who have some kind of a brain disease, it is a big insult to the ones who truly have the disease but have not chosen to indulge in drug abusing activities. All the people that are drug abusers should accept the responsibility for their own choices. Every time that a person decides whether to ac quire the drugs for money or by use of other means, they have not been forced by anybody, it is xjust their own choice and no one else should be blamed for this. The ones that have decided to stop drug addiction; they have done so because they chose to do so. Owing to all these arguments, my stand remains that drug addiction is a matter of choice and not a disease. Reference Hart, Ksir, Ray (2013) Drug, society, and Human Behavior: McGraw-Hill Source document

Marketing Strategy of a new energy drinks Essay

All around the world drinking beverage is like an entertainment for everyone. Millions of people have beverages everyday for refreshment. Our report is about the Energy Drinks of Bangladesh. In this report we have explained and analyzed how some of the five top selling energy drink companies are operating in Bangladesh. Energy drinks are becoming a major part of the beverage industry due to the rapid increase of their market competition and consumer awareness. In Bangladesh, Tiger and Speed are the most famous amongst all other energy drinks. Most of the energy drink companies act and carry out their marketing strategies in similar ways. More innovative steps are required to improve their market share. The goal of this report is to find out about the present condition of energy drink market in Bangladesh, major competitors we are likely going to face and how we are going to overcome the challenges in the market when we will launch a new energy drink named ‘Spirit’. With the use of effective marketing mix and other strategies we are going to target the young people of Bangladesh to sell our product. We have done a clear competitive analysis to take advantage of the weaknesses of our competitors and opportunities of the market. We are likely going to invest hugely in the beginning of launching our product to inform our customers about our product. As a new product company we are promising our customers to offer a unique product which will give them energy along with the excitement to enjoy their lives. Section 1: Current Market Analysis 1. 1: Top 5 brands in the market (how we find it) –We have surveyed in some of the areas of Dhaka city, like – Farmgate, Motijheel,Uttara, Gulshan; to find out the names of five most top selling energy drinks. According to the survey we have seen – Tiger, Speed, Shark, Sting and Boost are most popular in the energy drink industry of Bangladesh. We went to different departmental stores as mystery shoppers and randomly asked about the drinks each shop offers and found out the names of the energy drinks customers tend to buy more. 1. 2:Product Analysis -Product Level – Product leveling is the first and most important step taken by product planners to add more customer value to their products. It includes 3 main levels: Core Customer Value, Actual Product and Augmented Product. Core Customer Value – The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind when they talk about energy drink is ‘source of power’. In Bangladesh, all of the energy drink companies basically have the same core customer value, which is mainly about replenishing the energy of their customers through providing them with their energy drinks. However, different brands use different mottos to establish their customer value. For example: Shark’s motto says, â€Å"Real Energy, Real Power†; in other case Speed’s motto says, â€Å"Heavy Energy†. This way each products motto varies from each other and creates a different view about the product in their customers mind. Actual Product – This level includes Brand name, Packaging and Product Attributes. Under Product Attribute comes: Product Features, Design and Quality of the product. i. Brand name: A brand name is an identity of a product, without it no product will even exist. Each brand name establishes their uniqueness with their different names, signs and logos. All of the energy drink companies have a brand name of their products, which differentiates each of them from their competitors. The names ‘Royal Tiger’, ‘Boost Energy Drink’, ‘Speed’, ‘Shark’ and ‘Sting’ – each of them stands as a brand name for their product, marketed by different producers. ii. Packaging: Packaging describes the way a product is protected using a container or wrapper and at the same time provides all the required information regarding a product. The energy drinks – Sting, Speed, Shark and Tiger are all available in both cans and bottles. Only Boost is available in steel can in the market. iii. Product Features and Designs: Features explain the tools which enable a particular energy drink to gain competitive advantage over other energy drinks. The tools include – design, smell, taste and color of each energy drink. The designs of Sting, Speed, Shark, Boost and Tiger energy drinks are more or less the same. They are mostly available in two forms and in two shapes, one in a round shaped plastic bottle (250 ml) and another in cylindrical steel can (250/270 ml). They all taste sweet, expect from Tiger and Boost; which tastes sour as well. iv. Quality: Speed, Tiger, Shark, Boost and Sting have been maintaining a good standard of quality by providing the adequate amount of energy to their customers and helping them to deal with strenuous activity. However, no matter what the quality level is; over consumption of energy drinks can always prove harmful for human beings (even though they might be alcohol free). Augmented Product– There is no after-sales service, delivery service or product support for these perishable products (like – energy drinks). Labeling– Labeling is the most important part of every energy drinks. It informs about the ingredients of the product, who made the product, safety issues regarding the product and the web address of the company. Speed, Tiger, Shark, Sting and Boost all maintain an informative and trendy labeling to help their customers to make the right choice. Their ingredients contain Carbonated Water, Carbonated Sugar, Vitamins, Preservatives, Colors, Antioxidant, Sodium Benzoate, Ca-D-Pentothenate, Citric acid, Tartrazine Yellow and many other things according to the standard or permissible level. They even mention on their labeling that, it can be harmful for children and pregnant women. However, they are manufactured by different companies. ‘Speed’ is manufactured by Food And Beverage Limited, ‘Shark’ is manufactured by Global Beverage Company Limited, ‘Sting’ is manufactured by Transcom Beverage Limited, ‘Tiger’ is manufactured by AST Beverage Limited and ‘Boost’ is manufactured by Boost Drinks Limited. Brand Positioning – One of the challenging things for the energy drink companies to do is, to create a permanent place in the customers mind about a particular brand. To do this, all of these energy drink companies need to locate their brands at 3 levels – i. Product attributes ii. Benefits iii. Beliefs and Values. i. Product Attributes: Even though Tiger, Speed, Shark, Boost and Sting all have the common color of the drink – yellow; their smell is very different from each other. Boost tastes sour, Tiger tastes both sour and sweet, Sting tastes like strawberry and both the Shark and Speed taste sweet. ii. Benefits: The common benefit any consumer can gain from having an energy drink is, ‘spiritual force’ – which will make them more active in their daily life. Still, every energy drink has it’s own way to inform about their benefits to their loyal customers. ‘Royal Tiger’ benefits their customers by recharging their energy physically, ‘Boost’ helps their customers with being more efficient, ‘Sting’ provides their customers with vitamins and other nutrients, ‘Shark’ strengthens the stamina of their customers and ‘Speed’ increases the concentration and performance level of the individuals who are consuming it. iii. Beliefs and Values: Satisfaction comes from the core belief that consumers hold in their minds about a certain product. Customers believe – ‘Sting’ and ‘Tiger’ will give them satisfaction with better taste, ‘Boost’ will boost their energy, ‘Shark’ will give them real power and ‘Speed’ will help them gain extra speed. This way customers share their different beliefs and value for each energy drinks differently. 1. 3: Price Analysis– Size of the Bottle Product Name 250 ml 270 ml 330ml Speed 25 BDT Shark 25 BDT – – Sting 25 BDT – – Boost – – – Tiger – 25 BDT – Size of the Can Product name 250 ml 270 ml 330 ml Speed 30 BDT – – Shark 35 BDT – – Sting – -Boost 170 BDT – – Tiger 30 BDT – – 1. 4: Promotion Analysis – Promotion : Advertising is the most crucial part of a company’s marketing mix. It is the first step to inform and aware the general public or the target group of customers about a product a particular company is offering. The five energy drink companies – Speed, Tiger, Shark, Sting and Boost; all of them are between the introduction and growth stage of their product life cycle. At this stage they are only informing the customers about their product including their benefits. Basically all the companies are following the same way to promote their products and these are some of the most common media channels used by them for doing promotion – television, radio, newspapers, magazines and internet. Target Group: Energy drink companies mainly target the major districts of Bangladesh. The local companies, like – Speed, Tiger have distributed their products in rural areas as well to attract a huge number of customers. Energy drinks are mainly used by the people who are between the age group of 16-30, because they comparatively need more energy in every step of their lives. So all of the companies aim to target them and make the product according to their needs to deliver complete satisfaction through their energy drinks. Their product is priced quite cheaply, so that people of different classes can buy them. Most of the energy drinks are claimed to be halal while considering the religious and social issues of Bangladesh. Message and Effect of the advertisements: Message (Add Story) – Each company make their advertisements differently even though their motive remains the same, which is to inform the customers about the product. Here are some of the advertisement stories of the five energy drink companies – 1. Speed – In one of Speed’s advertisements, they have shown some guys were trying to get up on a bamboo for the whole day without getting tired. Their motto is ‘Heavy Energy’. In other words, they are using emotional appeal. In newspapers, they post a picture from the screen shot of their advertisements and use the same motto, so that people can get a clear brand knowledge. They do not have any brand ambassador for their product and they are constantly sending out the notion to their consumers how Speed can let them gain unlimited energy. 2. Shark – There is an advertisement of Shark ‘20 takay Dhaka’, they showed a guy kicked another person from Chittagong and sent him to Dhaka after having Shark energy drink. They are using the motto ‘Real Energy, Real Power’. In their advertisements they use the rational appeal to attract customers. They have no brand ambassador, because they are not still going for intensive or aggressive promotion. 3. Sting -. In the television advertisement there was one young boy who went to a shooting spot with the hope of being a superstar. On that time one director was taking the shot of riding a motor cycle on that spot. Showing that the young boy moved forward to do that shot but the director did not allow him and insulted him that made the young boy very frustrated. After that the director was supposed to make that shot with the hero but unfortunately the hero failed to ride the motor cycle. Then the director asked the crowd who could do the shot. The first young boy showed up the courage and did that shot in a fantastic way. Everybody praised him a lot. They started celebrating the happiness together by dancing with sting energy drink. They were singing â€Å"Sting, Sting, Sting –Ullasher Shuru Ekhanei†. They are using rational appeal in their advertisements In the radio advertisement they play the same jingle. In newspaper the marketers use the picture of 250ml bottle of sting energy drink and write their jingle. They give the same ad in magazines too. In billboards and posters, the marketers add the picture in a big way that they use for newspaper and magazine. 4. Boost – In one ad they have shown that a young guy, probably of age 20 was walking along the roadside, on the background rap music is going on (sign of young generation). The lyrics was talking about getting energy, confidence and success. The guy had his neck tattoed and wore a sunglass, showing the style of recent youth fashion. He went into a departmental store, went to the refrigerator, there were other drinks (e. g. red rooster and red bull); but he picked up BOOST, then he paid for it, got out, drank it and got himself recharged and the soundtrack was saying as if he could fly now. So this is one example of their rational advertisements. They have not used any brand ambassador yet for their product in Bangladesh, and these two advertisements are not even shown in Bangladeshi channels, they are only available in You tube. 5. Tiger – The tiger energy drink has only one advertisement which is very popular. The brand ambassador Aiyub bachchu is the model for the advertisement. The advertisement showed that, when the popular singer Aiyub Bacchu attended a party, the audience requested him to sing a song. But at that time Aiyub Bacchu felt tired and bored. So he needed to recharge himself to get energy. So he took tiger and then sang a song with more power and energetic voice. In this way they try to attract customers by using the rational approach. They also do radio advertisement with the song of Aiyub Bacchu. In billboard advertisement they promote their motto ‘Recharge Yourself’. Effect – Different advertisements effect’s consumers differently. In general, all of these advertisements encourage people to buy their products. When people get satisfied with one product, they talk positive things about it, this way companies can enjoy the benefits of -word of mouth. Customers get to know through these advertisements how their everyday lives are going to be benefitted if they have these energy drinks. Personal selling: Personal selling is no longer considered as giving door to door service. It is a much wider concept nowadays. Companies not only their sell their product to the customers, they also build a loyal relationship with them. To keep on and for maintaining such a relation, companies must be ready to deal with different problems their customers have regarding their product. Unfortunately, none of these five energy drink companies do these in Bangladesh. They are more focused on advertising only. Sales promotion: In general, energy drink companies do not give any special discount on their product to boost their sales. Companies give incentives to their channel members to keep their product in the front line of their shelves, so that customers choose to have it by first looking at it. Sometimes they give energy drink on their own to the customers, because it make the customers feel the product is of high quality and that is why the salesman is offering it to them. Besides people generally do not look out for products those are kept behind the shelves, as it will be very time consuming. Advertisements do even contribute to generate the sales level sometimes. Though there are many other ways to promote sales, the energy drink companies mainly follow these two ways to carry out their sales promotion activity. Public Relation: To operate in this digital world it is very important for companies to maintain a good relation with both their internal and external publics, example – shareholders, customers. Some of the energy drink companies arranges concerts and sponsors television shows to interact closely with their customers. Example – last year Tiger organized one concert in Doha. Each of the five companies uses different and unique logos for their product. None of them are involved in doing conferences or giving press release. Buzz marketing is also a tool used by these companies to improve their relations with the general public and promote their product as well. Direct Marketing: Energy drink companies have their official websites, but their use is not very effective in Bangladesh. In huge shopping malls or in other areas, none of the energy drinks are available in vending machines. These products are not even sold by the companies directly over online or by using telephone. The only way they carry out direct marketing is through placing the advertisement videos in You Tube. The energy drink companies still lack good customer service, example – no service or facilities provided to give complaints or to share ideas about the product face to face with the customers. Promotion Mix Strategy: The demand for energy drink is not yet very high in Bangladesh. So all the manufacturers of these five energy drink companies use the push strategy. Manufacturers contract with wholesalers or retailers to pass down their products to their final consumers and also to encourage customers to buy the products. Sometimes manufacturers give incentives to the channel members to promote their product as well. Section 02: Marketing strategy for a new brand Figure: Spirit Energy Drink Figure: Logo of Spirit Energy Drink 2. 1: Introducing a new brand for energy drink – After analyzing the present market condition of energy drinks in Bangladesh, we have come up with a new idea of introducing a new brand for energy drink. The name of our energy drink will be ‘SPIRIT Energy Drink’. This new energy drink will hopefully win the hearts of our target customers and please them with the new taste and value of our product that we going to offer. This energy drink will not only make people active physically, it will also motivate them spiritually to move ahead in their lives with confidence. The motto of our energy drink is – ‘ignites you from inside’. With this motto we will give our customers the idea of how Spirit energy drink can add more liveliness in their lives. The name of our company is Spirit Beverage Limited and we are using ‘Spirit Energy Drink’ as our product’s logo. We have used picture of a guy inside the logo to show our customers what we are trying to say through the motto.roduct’inkurny is gy of Shark and make them more active. customers tend to buy more. 20202020202020202020202020202020. 2. 2: Design marketing strategy for the new brand – i. Segmentation We will segment the market of Spirit energy drink on the basis of geography, demography, psychography and behavior. Geographic Segmentation: We are going to serve Spirit energy drink mainly for the people of Bangladesh. We will offer Spirit energy drink within the different territories of Bangladesh, like- Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet, Rangpur and Comilla. We will be selecting these territories because these are the biggest district of Bangladesh and most of the people live in these places. We will offer our product throughout every individual district, starting from the departmental stores to the small local and street stalls. We are offering Spirit both in urban and rural areas as well. Demographic Segmentation: Our market will be divided into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family life cycle, occupation and education. We are going to offer our product to both male and female who are between the ages of 15 to 30. We are especially offering the product to the university going students, corporate persons and athletes too. Our product will be for the people of all religion as it will be product is 100% halal. Psychographic Segmentation: Spirit energy drink is for the classes of people who fall under – upper lowers, working class, middle class and upper middles. We are going to use personality variables to segment market like the gregarious and ambitious people. Behavioral Segmentation: We will be segmenting the market of Spirit energy drink on the basis of occasions and benefits. In summer it remains very hot in the middle of the day and for that time we will give a special offer to the customers called â€Å"Make Your Mind Cool†. People will get the same energy drink at a lower price during this time. We will give people other benefits like- we are not using preservatives in our product and our product will be convenient for the customers. ii. Targeting We will target our market within the segmentation. We are mainly targeting Dhaka because, it is the capital city of Bangladesh and highly populated and urbanized. Within Dhaka, we are targeting mostly the teenagers and adults – who are the university students. Female students are going to be a part of it too, because the size and growth rate of this segment is high. As there is going to be other substitute products and tough competitors of Spirit energy drink in the market, we will offer our product directly by setting some temporary stores of Spirit energy drink inside the campus of some big and renowned universities. This will help us gain competitive advantage over our rivals and make people aware of our product. We will explain about the benefits about our product and give other information’s regarding our product. Making people believe that our product is different will be our main target. We will offer the same product at the same price to all our segmented customers. iii. Positioning Our product’s motto is â€Å"Ignites you from inside†, by this motto we are trying to make people believe that, Spirit energy drink encourages people to move on no matter whatever situation they face in their lives. Our product will always remove the frustration from both their body and soul. Spirit is alcohol free and will be made and designed attractively to attract our customers. In this way we will differentiate and create a unique image of our product in our consumer’s mind. iv. Marketing Mix (4p) ? Design and description of the product – Customer Value and Brand Name: The first thing that we are considering about our product before we place it in the market is, it’s core benefit or core values. Customers always seek out for the benefit and the reason behind buying a product. They always value the experience they get after using it. In order to enter the market and establishing our brand successfully, we are going to provide the most refreshing and unique energy drink; which will spread liveliness and create more excitement in our customers life. They will not only buy one Spirit energy drink, they will buy one reason to hold on to being strong and face everything with more spirit in their lives. The brand name of our product is–‘Spirit Energy Drink’. We have named our product Spirit because it is easy to remember and meaningful at the same time. It will help the customers to distinguish and compare our product from others. Product Features and Design: Our energy bottle will be made in the shape of a space shuttle, with a combination of red and black color to give the igniting image. We will design our can just like other energy drink cans, which is made up of steel body with a cylindrical shape. In the middle of both the can and bottle, the name of our product will be written horizontally. The whole bottle and can will be black in color and the name written in pearl white. The shining stars above the name will give it a glowing and sparkling image. The guy standing in the middle of the name will exhibit the idea that Spirit energy drink has the ability to bring back everyone from darkness and add new value to their lives. Like all other energy drink, Spirit’s taste will be sweet and sour and the color of the drink will be red wine color. Packaging and Labeling: We plan to do very careful and colorful packaging to attract our target customers. The products are going to be well packaged and covered so that it stays protected in every condition. All the necessary information’s will be written on the body of bottle and can. Packaging will be done in two ways: 1. Plastic bottle – 300ml (Normal Packaging) 2. Steel Can – 270ml (Prestigious Packaging). Necessary warnings will be provided, like –it might be harmful for pregnant women and children. Manufacturing and Expiring dates will be written on the covers to warn the consumers about the product’s validity. Most importantly, the ingredients we are going to use are – Carbonated water, Refined sugar, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, Touraine, Citric Acid, Preservatives, Antioxidant, Ca-D-Pentothenate, Tartrazine, Mixed Fruit Flavor, Food Grade Flavor, Food Colors. There will be a Nutrition Fact chart too, describing the nutritious contents. Energy80 cal. Proteino gm Saturated fato gm Total fat o gm Sodium 20mg Sugar20 gm Carbohydrate 20. 5 gm Cholesterol0 gm Dietary Fibero gm Product Quality: Providing our customers with the best quality of energy drink is our prime purpose. We have made sure that our energy drink does not contain any harmful substances. It is alcohol free and free from every possible harmful effects. With the amazing taste and other attributes, we assure that our customers will be satisfied and buy Spirit more frequently. Design of pricing policy. Spirit is at the introduction stage of it’s product life cycle and we know the competition of energy drink companies is rising day by day in Bangladesh. We will use cost-plus pricing for Spirit energy drink, considering the present market and demand for energy drink. Though the demand of energy drink in our country is increasing with time, our product is still under pure competition, as there are already some other energy drinks in our local market. We will also consider competitors strategies and prices, how they set their prices and how much they charge from the intermediaries and consumers. We will focus on our target customers willingness and ability to pay for an energy drink. After considering the above issues we are charging 35tk for 270ml can and 30tk for 300ml bottle from our customers. For the 270ml can, our production is 30tk and after setting a standard markup to the cost we will be charging 32tk from our wholesalers, wholesalers will charge 33. 5tk to the retailers and finally the retailers are sell the drink at 35tk o the customers. For 300ml bottle, our production cost per bottle is 25tk and after setting a standard markup to the cost the wholesalers will buy each bottle at 27tk from the us. Wholesalers will charge 28. 5tk to the retailers and finally the retailers will sell it at 30tk each bottle to the customers. In short, we are charging the price for our product moderately to attract huge number of customers to buy it. It will help us to maintain a minimum level of profits for operating and keep running our business. Design of promotional activities – Advertising: For creating awareness and informing the consumers about our product we are going to advertise in more than one media. Our target is to do mass promotion to cover the maximum number of people in Bangladesh. Some of the major media channels through which we will be advertising are –television, radio, newspapers, online media and billboards. Television and internet are the most fastest and effective media channels to promote product, as most of the people spend their time on these. Newspapers though have high believability, do not last for a long period of time. Starting from the poor uneducated people of our society to the educated ones, everyone listens to radio. Therefore radio is also a very effective way to reach a huge number of customers at the same time. Add story – While broadcasting on television, we will show a random university student is sitting on a chair and lost deep inside at the sheer thoughts of failing in exam. Then suddenly one of his friends will come to him and give him a Spirit energy drink. After having the energy drink the boy will jump off and scream energetically that he is not going to give up. He will get motivated and feel more energized while doing his studies. He will realize that he can study longer and give more concentration in his studies after drinking the Spirit energy drink. Then finally when the results come out, he will do the top result in his university. He will then become extremely happy and appreciate how Spirit energy drink has helped him to achieve this success in life. This way we will draw conclusion to the add. In newspapers and billboards we will use the same boy, who will be smiling and holding a Spirit energy drink; conveying the same message about our product’s motto. In radio channels we use the same jingle which we will show in television. As we are launching a new product in the market, we want to deliver the same message to our target customers. It will help them to get a clear and specific idea of our brand and what we intend to provide. Our advertisement is designed in both emotional and rational way. Emotionally we are showing the customer, they can move on in their lives with the help of Spirit and rationally we are giving them the idea that Spirit energy drink is good for their health, as it increases concentration and strength. Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is another major step we will carry out to encourage our customers to purchase our product more frequently. Sales promotion can be done in many ways – giving discounts, giving lotteries, pop-up adds, etc. We will give incentives to the people of our channels to keep our energy drink in front of the shelves in all the stores we are going to supply. Consumers buys the product that are kept in front side, because people have an idea that good quality things are always kept at the front and they will not want to search for other product as that would be time consuming. In times of special occasions like Eid, we will announce special discounts or extra offers. We will sell our products in front of colleges, universities and major shopping malls. Therefore we will be exposing our product more to the public and will gain higher chances of selling our product, thus making more profits. Besides, none of our competitors are doing these things, so we can gain competitive advantage over them as well. Personal selling: Energy drink is a convenience product, and it is quite impossible to reach the mass people by employing thousands of employees for selling our product. This process is very slow and expensive. So we will not be selling our products personally. We will employ experts in offices, who will deal with customer’s view’s and problems. This way we will personally provide/sell our service them beside selling our product. Public relations: At the very first stage we will arrange a press conference to inform everyone about our product. Press media is very crucial, as interacting with them positively will encourage them to promote our product more creatively and positively to our customers. This way we can also have competitive advantage over our competitors. We will organize different concerts and sponsor television shows, this will give us an open platform to interact more closely with our customers and build a strong relation with them. Direct marketing: We are planning to open a Facebook page along with our official website where we will encourage people to share their views about our product. This will help us to keep track of our customers reaction towards our product. None of the other energy drink companies are doing much of these activities, so it is an easier way to grab a huge number of customers and market share this way. Online marketing is therefore more efficient and fast way of direct marketing in terms of receiving our customers reactions, complaints and comments and adapting to those changes to keep surviving and growing. Promotion Mix strategy: We will use push strategy for Spirit energy drink. Contracting with different wholesalers and retailers will help us to provide adequate supplies in every convenient and targeted locations. We will give them incentives to promote and supply our product more frequently to the customers. Design of distribution activities- We will go for intensive distribution for Spirit energy drink, because we want to provide stock our product in as many outlets as possible. We want to ensure that our products must be available where and when consumers want them. As our product is new in the market, we will directly offer our product to the target customers. We will be offering our Spirit energy drink to the customers through wholesalers and retailers. Within our limited resources we cannot afford to have our own distribution facilities, like – warehouses and showrooms and to hire sales people and support stuffs. We would rather contract with the wholesalers, so that they will take those extra costs and risks. Our target customers are the young university students, that is why we are contracting with retailers.

Applied Mathematics in Music Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Applied Mathematics in Music Technology - Essay Example In the production and amplification of sound, mathematical formulas with the aid of electrical machinery come in handy. Such electronics are majorly made up of electrical circuits that form a closed pathway followed by electrons whose principal motion is propelled by the gradient difference of current in the positive and negative terminals. There are two types of currents namely direct current and alternating current. Most electrical circuits use direct current, DC, sources because it has a low voltage that is the change of the electrical potential of two oppositions and it can only flow in one direction (Calle 2001). A simple electrical circuit contains several resistors, capacitors and probably a bell or a lamp all connected to a power source say a battery using wires. The pictorial way of presenting a circuit is known as a circuit diagram (Sherlock 2010). Resistance, measured in ohm (â„ ¦) is the property of a conducting material to oppose the flow of electrons within the mater ial when a voltage charge is applied. It is represented by quantity symbol R (Malley 1982, p17). Ohm’s law which is the foundation of electronics and electricity was named after Mr. George Ohm who was a mathematician and a physicist defines the relationship between voltage, power, current and resistance. It states that for a given temperature, a current passing through a given conductor that obeys Ohm's law is directly proportional to the varying ranges of applied voltages with a constant proportionality of the specific conductor’s resistance.  

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

Railroad - Essay Example By the early 1850's the Harlem Line had revenues of one million dollars a year and transported nearly three million passengers at a fare of two and a half cents per mile (Drury 54-57, 61). In 1853, the New York Central Railroad was organized to consolidate 10 railroads that paralleled the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo. Cornelius Vanderbilt won control of the New York Central in 1867 and combined it with his New York and Hudson railroads running from Manhattan to Albany. The railroad helped boost population and travel to this region. The freight trains carried mainly iron ore, animals, and dairy products. Dairy, lumber, mining, and circus businesses in Putnam County benefited from the new mode of transportation. Trains helped carry heavy material for these businesses including both raw and processed materials. The railroad also dispersed large quantities of material that could not be used locally. Initially, farmers were against the development of the railroad as the train tracks frequently ran through their property.

Career Zone Interest Profiler Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Career Zone Interest Profiler - Assignment Example Managers, education programs or rather career related programs must never use the results as a screening process for training or jobs. Generally, from the Interest Profiler results I obtained, I can comment that most of the jobs I have an interest on have the code EC. This code often implies personalities who in most instances have an interest on Enterprising. In addition, it also implies people with a higher preference on Convectional environments. Furthermore, this code implies individuals who value independence a lot with inclusion of proper working conditions for their occupations (Career Zone California). Actually, a keen evaluation of my results provides various other codes such as the ERI, CES, and ESC among others. These codes relate a lot to the most common code (the EC) particularly with regards to having a greater value on independence. Further, my results portray that I have I great interest on managerial positions, for instance, Architectural and Engineering Managers, Loan Officers, Information Technology Project Managers, Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Directors, Supply Chain Managers, etc. This is particularly because of the fact that most of my job preferences have established that I have a greater Convectional interest and most of my preferences relate to Enterprising, Investigative, Social or Realistic environments (Career Zone California). Moreover, the results show that most of my interests are business oriented, particularly with regards to controlling, coordinating as well as the managing of business

Business Discussion Advise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Discussion Advise - Essay Example This road map aims to answer questions relative to the growth potential and objectives of the business as well as the feasibility of financial projections. Apart from this, the purpose of business plan may also hinge on its analysis of current global market conditions and business risks inherent in other countries as well as the proposed capital structure that would maximize the value of the business (Chan, n.d.). In terms of the marketing aspect, the business plan also contains the key issues in connection with market identification in order to link the demand and marketing program for the product manufactured or service provided by the firm to its existing and potential customers across countries ("MoneyGlossary," n.d.). As mentioned, an entrepreneur should carefully consider the capital structure of the business in light of the substantial working capital requirement of a global investment. With this, he/she should take into account the sources of finance to fund business operations. For instance, he/she may opt for a global offering of the firm's stocks in order to raise capital. On the other hand, an entrepreneur may also consider issuing foreign bonds, the issuer being a foreigner in a particular domestic market, in the bond markets of various countries ("Investopedia,"n.d.).

New Technology of Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 54

New Technology of Management - Case Study Example Various parts of the system are obsolete or redundant. The process at Double B Builders, for instance, entails double functions of creating information in Excel before keying the same in Microsoft Word. The management at Double B Builders recognizes the need for a new system based on ineffectiveness of the current system. Manual preparation of reports within the company remains in tandem with external demands. Organizations have to automate the entire process of managing expenses as well as accounting(Mackey &Sisodia, 2013).It is common for companies and other institutions to get significant inefficiencies because of increased costs of processing information. The high cost also includes efforts aimed at the gathering; recording, coordinating and disseminating information often undertake manually (Simmons, 2012). Therefore, top-level executives at Double B Builders placed enhancing housing processes as a top strategic priority with the aim of enhancing efficiency. The new system uses various elements of modern Information and communication technology. The process entails using web-based applications, submission, approving, and reporting of information. With the help of the new software system, Builders B moves away from paper-based solutions to electronic channels. Applications in the new software system addresses company questions in many areas including utilization, billing, compliance the company policy on entertainment and travel, client profitability, as well as aspects of rebilling expenses. The new software system increases efficiency at Builders B in many ways. The system centralizes the management of times of reporting by employees and other workers in addition to entertainment and travel expenses. The systems will improve safekeeping of policies for Builders B. The new system also helps in close monitoring to improve compliance (Simmons, 2012).

Justice and Home Affairs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Justice and Home Affairs - Essay Example An intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 democratic countries , the European Union was founded under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). Nevertheless, several aspects of the Union did exist prior to that date through a series of predecessor relationships, which dates back to 1951. Today, the Union has a common single market, which consist of a customs union, a single currency (the euro) managed by the European Central Bank (adopted by 12 of the 25 member states), a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, a Common Fisheries Policy, and a Common Foreign and Security Policy. Passport and customs checks were done away with at most of the EU's internal borders, creating a single space of mobility for EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest. Justice ministers and Interior ministers are brought together by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and Interior ministers almost once every two months to talk about the development and enforcement of cooperation and common policies in this area. The creation of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, is a main objective of the EU Treaty. Majority of the things in this field are unanimously decided with a consultation of the European Parliament. ... In 1990, Germany, France and the Benelux countries signed the Schengen Agreement, which was a major step toward cooperation among the Member States in this area. In the years that followed, many Member States acceded to the Schengen Agreement. The objective of the agreement was to introduce genuine freedom of movement of persons without being controlled at internal borders, while providing for desperate measures in the areas of external border controls, visa policy, police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal affairs. The Treaty on European Union, enforced in November 1993, took a further step by including Justice and Home Affairs in its institutional framework, thus adding a further dimension to the construction of Europe. In May 1999 the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty included the Schengen rules into the institutional framework of the European Union. One of the major aims of the Treaty is to retain and develop the Union as an area of freedom, security and justice, in which there would be free movement for individuals coupled with appropriate measures relating to the control of external borders, asylum, immigration, as well as the prevention and fight against crime. The Maastricht Treaty on European Union, which was enforced in 1993, came up with a new legal basis for police and judicial cooperation as well as cooperation in home affairs by completing the Community structure with a third pillar. Cooperation encompasses seven areas of common interest: asylum, the crossing of external borders, immigration, fight against drugs and drug addiction, battling international scam, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal affairs and police and customs cooperation. Because these are often extremely sensitive spheres,

Causes and Effects in Zeitoun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Causes and Effects in Zeitoun - Essay Example Zeitoun, as Abdulrahman is addressed in the novel, remains in the city during the storm away from his family. His experience at sea gives him an insight into his present and he knows he has been chosen for this task. The Hurricane Katrina in particular plays a vital role as it affects the lives of many characters especially Zeitoun’s. Being away from family Zeitoun struggles in the sunken city with his canoe helping people out of the mess the storm had caused and checking on his properties. Kathy meanwhile is under great pressure from her relatives who show no respect for her religious practices such as her â€Å"hijab† and urge her to have pork. Without Zeitoun she is all alone with her children in what may seem to be a hurricane, much greater than Katrina. Zeitoun continues working hard making himself available as much as he could, feeding abandoned dogs and helping the others in need. He feels that this is a task that God has deliberately put him in so he should give it his best shot. If the storm did not occur, he would have been united with his family trying to cope with their personal issues. The hurricane brought with it a test for the people of New Orleans and exposed the brutalities of the government. Kathy manages to escape from her relatives and goes to live with her Muslim friends in Phoenix with her children. Kathy and Zeitoun talk to each other through a phone connection that is still working in one of their properties. The calls suddenly stop to Kathy’s surprise and she does not hear from her husband for many days thinking he has died. Then she learns that Zeitoun and three of his friends have been arrested. Unfortunately they were accused of being terrorists. Zeitoun receives this favor from the government for helping people in the hard time during the hurricane and the brutality which follows leaves the readers to wonder what wrong Zeitoun had done to deserve such a treatment. â€Å"The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. There were political realities there, then and now, that precluded blind faith†¦ always, would work out fairly and equitably. But he had come to believe such things in the United States. Things had worked out. Difficulties had been overcome. He had worked hard and achieved success. The machinery of government functioned. †¦--the policy, the military, the prisons--that was meant to protect people like him was devouring anyone who got close.† (Egger 2010) The politics and nature seem to be working so closely in the novel that one wonders if both were part of the same plot. The hurricane and the war on terror coincided in the United States so much so that both took the lives of the innocents some way or the other. Zeitoun is forced to stay in a Guantanamo-style jail behind a bus station where he is suspected and informed by the guards that he is a terrorist; a piece of information that he himself is surprised to hear. On being returned to hi s family he looks like â€Å"a sad old man† who has lost nearly twenty pounds of weight. Zeitoun still believes that God had His way of testing him (Egger 2010). The test seems to be a two-way deal. It did not only test a random Syrian painting contractor who lived in New Orleans, it also tested the nation’s ability to protect its own people. The story of Zeitoun spells the sorry state of affairs that the nation was undergoing. What remains a mystery

Comparing poems. william blake the little black boy and john agard Essay

Comparing poems. william blake the little black boy and john agard half-caste - Essay Example ### ########################################################################### ###!###"#######$###ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½&######(###)###*###ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½##ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½# ###[###########b###ï ¿ ½##b#####D#e#f#a#u#l#t########$#a$#1$#*$#A$##/#B*#OJ##QJ##CJ##mH #sH #PJ##nHï ¿ ½#^J##aJ##_Hï ¿ ½#tHï ¿ ½####################B#A@ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½#B#####A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#############B#ï ¿ ½#ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½#B#####A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#####H#ï ¿ ½#ï ¿ ½##H#####W#W#-#A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#####J#ï ¿ ½#ï ¿ ½##J#####W#W#-#A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#1#####L#ï ¿ ½#ï ¿ ½!#L#####W#W#-#A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#1#1#####N#ï ¿ ½#ï ¿ ½1#N#####W#W#-#A#b#s#a#t#z#-#S#t#a#n#d#a#r#d#s#c#h#r#i#f#t#a#r#t#1#1#1#####6#U#ï ¿ ½A#6### #I#n#t#e#r#n#e#t#

Obama and the Environment Essay Example for Free

Obama and the Environment Essay This paper would seek to evaluate the Environmental policy of one of the most important figures in this regard; the President of the United States of America Barack Obama. The United States is currently facing criticism and is caught in a controversy as a result of the fact that it has not signed the Kyoto Protocol as yet. Since the USA is one of the largest producers of carbon emissions, that decision has made the other participants quite reluctant about signing the agreement beyond 2012 when the current agreement expires. The Bush administration was heavily criticized for its decision to not sign the Protocol but the current administration has come up with its own environmental policy in order to deal more aptly with the issue of environment and specially the carbon emissions. The environmental policy of the Obama administration is two pronged as it not only deals with the long term environmental solutions but also analyses the intermediate or short term solutions. The policy outlined by the current administration criticized its predecessors ‘â€Å"gimmicks† instead of actual solutions to an issue which is one of the biggest concerns in terms of its economic and environmental detrimental effects. The plan looks at some of the most pressing needs of the American nation such as the â€Å"dependence on foreign oil, addressing the moral, economic and environmental challenge of the global climate change, and building a clean, energy future that would benefit all Americans. â€Å"http://www. barackobama. com/pdf/issues/EnvironmentFactSheet. pdf The plan is comprehensive as it not analyses the effects on the locals but also looks at the global impact of the USA’s economic activities. The short term solutions are a way of countering the immediate effects that the activities of the US economy have in terms of the environment. This includes the emergency rebate for energy purposes, crackdown on excessive energy speculation, exchange light and heavy crude, and lastly, release oil from the strategic petroleum reserves in order to cut the oil prices. If these short term effects were to be looked at in detail and what in effect they entail, it would mean relief for millions of middle class Americans as their energy costs would be partially borne by the energy rebate particularly at times of rocketing oil and gas prices. As for the rest, it entails a reversal of all previous environmental policies as it would mean releasing the strategic petroleum reserves as according to the current regime, the current situation is serious for these reserves to be touched upon. Hence, the current administration is taking the short term measures to a level which has never been touched upon earlier having understood the gravity of the case in terms of the lasting detrimental effects on the local population. The strategic plan of providing five million jobs through a five year steady investment of 150 billion USD means a revamping of the federal budget as this time instead of merely taxing the taxpayers, they are being provided some form of relief in order to initiate a cleaner future. However, the fact still remains that much more needs to be done in order to prove the USA’s commitment to the international goals of reducing the carbon emissions levels and adhering to the principles of the Kyoto protocol. In a landmark address to the American nation, the President made clear his stance on the Kyoto protocol by reviving the agreement in a solid attempt to bring the USA back on the global platform for the purposes of global climate change. In the words of Barack Obama himself: â€Å"We cannot afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake. Global warming is not asomeday problem, it is now. We are already breaking records with the intensity of our storms, the number of forest fires,the periods of drought. By 2050 famine could force more than 250 million from their homes . . . . The polar ice caps are now melting faster than science had ever predicted. . . . This is not the future I want for my daughters. Its not the future any of us want for our children. And if we act now and we act boldly, it doesnt have to be. † [Barack Obama, Portsmouth, NH, 10/8/07] Source: http://www. barackobama. com/pdf/issues/EnvironmentFactSheet. pdf The plan to reduce carbon emissions by eight percent by 2050 does seem a formidable task indeed but according to the strategy outlined by Obama; this would be carried out through a market cap buy and sell system in which caps would be kept on the carbon emissions. And the companies would be allowed to buy and sell the allowances amongst themselves depending on the supply and demand levels of each. Hence, in a way creating a competitive market for the amount of total carbon emissions created which would have been limited by the government. The 150 billion dollars investment programme outlined above would allow entail the research and development facilities created for the purposes of having advanced energy technologies. Such research would allow the USA to gain a competitive edge in the economic markets by being environmentally safe and having efficient production processes at the same time. The policy of having energy efficient infrastructure along with the more usage of renewable source s of energy would go a long way in safeguarding the interests of the environmentalists. If one was to look at the above proposals in greater detail what would come across would be the fact that the Obama administration has shown true commitment to the environmental causes by having a clearly defined environmental policy. In this regard, there are several areas which have been covered especially the biggest concern being that of the Kyoto protocol and America’s commitment to ensuring that the global climate change process does show true effect. The queries of the rest of the Protocol committee have been handled quite aptly by Obama who from the day one has ensured that environmental policy would remain an important part and parcel of his political policies. Added to that is the fact that Al Gore, one of the true environmental leaders that the US has seen, has been a prominent figure in the Obama entourage highlighting the interest that the current regime truly has in the environmental concerns and policies. The idea of providing incentives for energy utilized and provision of greater federal granst along with grants for early adopters is in themselves ideas which portray true business acumen and sense as they would act as persuasive tactics for the profit-keen businessmen. Hence, what this paper has shown and highlighted has been that the current administration is an aware and environmentally conscious government which realizes the potential gains and losses from endorsing environmental practices. References G-20. ` Home G20. 01 Apr. 2009 http://www. g20. org/. `The Kyoto Protocol: AN Update. ` U. S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 11 July 2007. 01 Apr. 2009 http://www. internationalrelations. house. gov/110/36724. pdf. Jones, Van. â€Å"â€Å"Green collar economy. 1st Ed. New York: Haper Collins, 2008. Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded. New York: Farrar, 2008. http://www. independent. co. uk/environment/climate-change/obama-brings-us-in-from-the-cold-1026303. html http://www. barackobama. com/pdf/issues/EnvironmentFactSheet

Public Speaking Anxiety for ESL Students

Public Speaking Anxiety for ESL Students Findings The purpose of this research is to determine the primary factors of public speaking anxiety and speaking English as a second language amongst students from LG221 and LG241. Besides that, to check upon the gender differences between these students when it comes to public speaking anxiety, whether gender differences have an impact towards the level of public speaking anxiety. Last but not least to find out the relationship between students’ public speaking anxiety as well as fears for negative evaluation by their peers and educators. Upon completion of both the questionnaires, the data was tabulated and analyzed by calculating the mean values in order to obtain needed information. In addition to finding the connection between students’ public speaking anxiety together with their fears for negative evaluation, Karl Pearson’s correlation method is used. Result Figure 4.0 illustrate the demographic data of this research. Samples for this research consist of students of Bachelor of Applied Language Studies (Hons.) Malay Language for Professional Communication, also known as LG221 and LG241 of MARA University of Technology (UiTM), Shah Alam. Participants are at the ranging of 20 to 24 years old. The total numbers of participants are 50 students consisting of 27 male and 23 female. Figure 4.0 Factors of Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) To determine the underlying factors behind both male and female students public speaking anxiety, factor analysis was accomplished on the of the 34 item in the PRPSA questionnaires. All 34 items are then characterized onto six different factors that are related to making public speaking. These six factors are as followed: Positive speaking perceptions. Emotional effects of speech anxiety. Physical effects of speech anxiety. Lack of preparation. Feeling vulnerable. Perfectionist. Out of 34 items in PRPSA, 12 items are put into the first factor which was labelled positive speaking perception (Factor 1). Items loading on this factor pertained to the positive feeling a person has during the preparation and actual speech presentation. Students with this kind of attitude tend to have little or no problem when giving a speech. Besides that, six items are put into the second factor which was labelled emotional effect of speech anxiety (Factor 2). Items loading on this factor pertained to the supposed emotional consequences a person feels during the preparation of the speech, as well as when asked to give a speech. The third factor is labelled physical effects of speech anxiety (Factor 3) with six items loaded into it that pertained to the supposed physical consequences a person feels during the preparation of the speech. The fourth factor is labelled lack of preparation (Factor 4) and is loaded with three items from PRPSA. These three items pertained to the perceived consequences of insufficient speech preparation. Meanwhile, the fifth factor is labelled vulnerability (Factor 5) with four items put into it. Items loading on this factor pertained to the perceived feeling of helplessness during the preparation of the speech. Lastly, the sixth factor is labelled perfectionist (Factor 6) with three items from the PRPSA that pertained to the supposed consequences of being perfectionist. The mean value of each items scored by both male and female students as well as the total mean value were calculated to check upon the real reason to the occurrence of public speaking anxiety amongst students as well as to distinguish the differences in public speaking anxiety between the two gender as shown in Table 4.0. Table 4.0 Within these six factors of the PRPSA that has been characterized, the factor Emotional effects of speech anxiety scored the highest with a mean of 3.52. Although the result is moderate, it still shows that most students tend to have public speaking anxiety because they have a sense of nervousness together with uneasiness when giving a speech and this can negatively affect students’ speech by making them seem unsure about what they are saying. The next factor resulting in students’ public speaking anxiety is Perfectionist with a mean of 3.13. Students who are considered themselves perfectionists tend to have a tendency to set standards that are so high that they either cannot be met, or are only met with great difficulty. Perfectionists tend to believe that anything short of perfection is horrible, and that even minor imperfections will lead to catastrophe. This is followed by the third factor which is Vulnerability. Factor vulnerability scored a mean of 3.13. This factor shows that students think about an upcoming encounter negatively and may intensify feelings of anticipatory anxiety associated with the encounter. Besides that, speakers’ will also have depressive thoughts about their speech and this may contribute to public speaking anxiety before, during, and after a speech performance which lead to them believing they will not succeed when giving a speech. Factor Lack of preparation is found to be factor number four with a mean of 2.93. The level of preparation determines the level of students’ success in giving speeches. Most students hardly prepare enough for their speeches. This is often because they do not start their preparation early as to why they resort to a last minute approach, which then lead to them feeling unprepared and unready for a speech. The final factor that leads to students having public speaking anxiety is Physical effects of speech anxiety with a mean of 2.89. Speech anxiety can overwhelm the senses, the thoughts, as well as the body. Some of the common symptoms of speech anxiety include shaking, sweating, butterflies in the stomach, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, and squeaky voice. The first factor which is Positive perceptions towards speech anxiety is not an underlying factor to students’ public speaking anxiety. This factor is actually the opposite of it. Positive perceptions towards speech anxiety factor scored a mean of 3.34. This proves that students’ public speaking anxiety is not that serious. However these students need improvement as it is hinted that students are still not that keen towards the importance of English speech proficiencies. More importantly, it is known that the students still felt uncomfortable and unsure of their own potentials and that that they are still not capable of handling themselves during speeches. Gender Differences in Public Speaking Anxiety On the other hand, to determine whether there is a difference in public speaking anxiety between male and female student, the mean value for PRPSA of each gender is distinguished. Results are as shown in Table 4.1. Table 4.1 The above table revealed that although both male and female students fell in the moderate level of PRPSA, female students tend to have a higher public speaking anxiety level as their mean value is bigger as compared to the male students. On Figure 4.1, it can be seen on which aspects students, whether male or female, face their difficulties when giving a speech. This figure is based on the factors that have been deducted from PRPSA. Figure 4.1 Despite the female students monopolizing all factors, there are some items from PRPSA that the male students scored higher mean values as compared to the female students. Examples of these items include; Statement 13: â€Å"I am in constant fear of forgetting what I prepared to say.† From the statement above, 28 out of 50 students agreed to it with 16 of them being male students. It can be concluded that male students experienced more anxiety compared to male respondents in terms of forgetting to say things they know even though the result is quite similar. Statement 30: â€Å"During an important speech I experience a feeling of helplessness building up inside me.† On the hand, 17 out of 50 students agreed to statement above with 10 of them being males students while the other 7 are female students. In this statement, it can be said that the male students can still be nervous and more anxious compared to the female students. For the gender differences in public speaking anxiety, it can be indicated that both male and female students are equally anxious when involve in giving speeches although the male students show less significant anxiety as compared to the female students. Correlation between Public Speaking Anxiety and Fear of Negative Feedback In order to determine the correlation between two variables and they are students’ public speaking anxiety together with their fears of negative feedback, Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient method is being used. Karl Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient In statistics, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) is a common measure of the correlation between two variables X and Y. When measured in a population the Pearson Product Moment correlation is designated by the Greek letter rho (Ï ). Whilst computed in a sample, it is designated by the letter r and is sometimes called Pearsons r. Pearsons correlation reflects the degree of linear relationship between two variables. It ranges from +1 to -1. A correlation of +1 means that there is a perfect positive linear relationship between variables whereas a correlation of -1 means that there is a perfect negative linear relationship between variables. A correlation of 0 means there is no linear relationship between the two variables. Correlations are rarely if ever 0, 1, or -1. The result of the correlation could indicate whether correlations are negative or positive. Mathematical Formula: The quantity r, called the linear correlation coefficient, measures the strength and the direction of a linear relationship between two variables. The linear correlation coefficient is sometimes referred to as the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient in honour of its developer Karl Pearson. The mathematical formula for computing r is: n = number of pairs of scores ∑xy = sum of the product of paired scores ∑x = sum of the x scores ∑y = sum of the y scores ∑x ² = sum of squared x scores ∑y ² = sum of squared y scores The strength and significance of the coefficient. The following general categories indicate a quick way of interpreting a calculated r value: Results for the relationship between public speaking anxiety and fear of negative feedback were displayed in a graphical representation Figure 4.2. From the table 4.2, it can be seen that the result showed a weak correlation between the students’ public speaking anxiety and their fear of negative evaluation as it only scored 0.256. This proves that the relationship between two variables is weak and not very significant. Table 4.2 Figure 4.2 The mean value for fear of negative evaluation score was 51.5. This demonstrates that the average for fear of negative evaluation level is in moderate level. However, out of 50 students that answered the questionnaire, 9 students fell on the high level for fear of negative evaluation, 27 students are on the moderate level while the remaining 14 students have low level for fear of negative evaluation as illustrated in Figure 4.3. Figure 4.3 The students average anxiety level also fell on the moderate level that is at mean value 106.02. From the 50 students that answered the questionnaire, none of the students fell in highly active category. Meanwhile, 94% of the students are in the moderate category while the remaining 6% are in the low category. This can be illustrated as shown in Figure 4.4. Figure 4.4

Using early warning scores in acute illness assessment

Using early warning scores in acute illness assessment This Assignment is in two parts. Part one will describe how I undertook a literature search on my chosen topic of using early warning scores in acute illness assessment. From this initial search and review of the literature I will select six articles and present them in an annotated bibliography. The purpose of this first part is to demonstrate my literature searching skills by identifying a suitable nursing topic and the key words I will use for my search. It will also demonstrate I can identify different types of literature sources like primary research studies, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, audits and general articles written about the topic I have chosen. . The second part of this assignment will identify a research based article from the six articles I have selected. Part one Topic: Using early warning scores to assist the nurse in identifying patient deterioration in acute illness Key words: cute care- Critical care- early warning score- vital signs Data bases searched: Cinhal; British Nursing Index Number of articles/ literature sources = 402 Six articles were chosen as follows: Article 1. Mohammed, MA (2009) Improving accuracy and efficiency of early warning scores in acute care. British Journal of Nursing. 18(1) 18-24 This article is a report on an experimental study to compare the effectiveness of hand held early warning computer system with the traditional pen and paper method Article 2. Johnstone C, Rattray J and Myers L (2007) Physiological risk factors, early warning systems. British Association of Critical Care Nursing. 12(5) 220-231 This article is a general article that provides background information on the topic of why early warning systems can improve patient care Article 3. Preston R M and Flynn D (2010) Observations in acute care; evidence based approach to patient safety. Britsh Journal of Nursing. 19(7) 442- 461 This is a narrative review of the literature on different issues affecting acute illness assessment and patient safety conducted by nurses in acute care. Article 4 Odell M (2009) Nurses Role in detecting deterioration in ward patients- a systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 65(10) 1992-2005 This article reviews primary research studies that were conducted between 1992 and 2006. Article 5. Hughes LL (2009) Implementing a patient assessment framework in acute care Nursing Standard 24(3) 35-39 This article describes a service improvement initiative to improve patient assessment using an early warning score system over a4 month period at a Hospital in Birmingham Artcicle 6 Wheatley I (2006) The nurses practice of taking level 1 patient observations. Intensive Critical Care Nurse 22(2) 115-21 This was a survey conducted to discover the nurses practices of taking clinical observations in acute settings. It uses an observation data collecting tool (words 470) Part 2 Critique of one article Wheatley I (2006) The nurses practice of taking level 1 patient observations. Intensive Critical Care Nurse 22(2) 115-21 Introduction The aim of this critique is to identify the stages of the research process in the above article by Wheatley (2009). According to Preston (2010), being able to critically read research based literature is an important skill in reviewing literature sources that are presented in all academic assignments. This activity is an opportunity to examine the strengths and weakness of a research study in relation to the research process steps ( Priest et al, 2007). The critique will consider the nature of the survey approach to research and to compare this to how Wheatley (2006) designed his project. As this article reports on a survey research study using an observational method, it is important to examine the key features of this research design. Therefore the strengths and weaknesses of the research process featured in this article will be discussed. This will include an appraisal of the sample size; data collecting tool and process of collection, the research findings and their relevance to nursing practice. This article reports on a survey type study that utilises an observation data collecting tool. According to Pollit and Bek (2010) surveys are used widely in health care research and are effective for examining a wide number of problems. In this article by Wheatley (2006), the survey is used to discover what nurses actually do when they conduct clinical observations in a medical ward setting. The aim and research questions he identified in the article are clearly written and follow a positivistic, deductive paradigm that is appropriate in a quantitative research study of this type (Gerrish and Lacy, 2006). According to Lobiondo-Wood (2010) a positivistic paradigm considers that what can be seen can be measured. The findings are always presented in number formats. In this article Wheatley (2006) is using an observational tool to view the conduct of nurses undertaking clinical recording of vital signs. This tool would have been structured so that identified behaviours could be investiga ted. Although the data collecting tool was not presented in the article it is clear from the discussion that the tool set about to observe the accuracy of nurses recording blood pressure, temperature, respirations and pulse. The tool also identified which nurses undertook this activity and the time that they took to complete a set of observations for each patient. Priest et al (2006) identify that all researchers need to plan their research studies on a sound review of the literature underpinning the research problem. According to Pollit and Bek (2006) the literature review will provide background information on the problem and will identify what research has already been conducted. In this article Wheatley has presented a review of the literature and it is clear that he has based his study on similar studies conducted in the past. His reference list provides a selection of different literature sources and includes 46 sources that are clearly focused on recording vital signs and 2 on research methodology. This clearly indicates that Wheatley (2006) has structured his study on a sound review of the literature. The sample size in a survey research study has to follow the nature of the quantitative, positivistic approach (Pollit and Bek). This means that the sample size must be large enough to represent the general population it is representing. In this article, Wheatley (2006) has reported on observing 20 cases of nurses conducting observations. This is a very small sample size and statistically would not be considered a positive representation of a good research plan to have such a small for a survey project. However, Wheatley (2006) clearly identifies the limitations this posed to his study and explained that the small sample size was a convenience sample that was appropriate for his planned study. According to Polit and Bek, (2010) a convenience sample is acceptable as it represents the whole population. In this case, Wheatley (2006) has included all the nurses who work on one ward and found that in 18 out of 20 occasions he observed, it was the machine that dominated the recording of pa tients vital signs and that the time nurses spent with the patient was dependent on how long it took the machine to do its job. In 16 occasions, nurses did not record the respiratory rate even when 4 patients were showing signs of respiratory distress like dyspnoea or coughing. Therefore, although 20 in a sample is not considered viable for a survey type project, the use of a convenience sample (Pollit and Bek, 2006) in this case, provides the reader with a strong indication that there are problems in how nurses undertake clinical observations as part of their acute illness assessment. However, for this finding to affect a change in future nursing practice more research using larger sample frames would be useful. The data collecting tool and how data is collected in a study (Priest et al, 2007), is also another important step to appraise in a report on a research study. In this article, Wheatley (2006) has designed an observation tool using structured observations that included time taken to record vital signs; which nurse undertook the assessment (ie qualified or HCA); whether a machine or hand/touch methods were used to record pulse and respirations in particular; how vital signs were recorded on the observation charts. According to Polit and Bek (2006) a good research paper will show the reader how they structured their data collecting tools. In this article, it is clear to see what was observed by carefully examining the graphs and table charts Wheatley (2006) presented in his findings section. At the top or bottom of each chart he writes what behaviour/activity was recorded in his findings. For example, one chart on page 117 has the title which nurses performed the observations and you c an see that of 20 only 2 observations were carried out by a qualified nurse. The other 18 were conducted by the HCA. What Wheatley doesnt do however in his article is consider if being observed in this study changed the nurses behaviour. Polit and Bek (2010) note that in observation studies bias can occur through the Hawthorne effect. This is an effect noted to occur when people realising they are being watched change their behaviour during that process. However, there is no indication this happened here and one can assume therefore, that the behaviour Wheatley (2006) observed was what would normally be expected in patient observation activities. When appraising research papers, Ryan et al (2007) say an important step in this process is to review how well the researcher has presented his findings. In this article Wheatley (2006) has utilised descriptive statistics in a clear format that is easy for the reader to understand. He has used descriptive statistics to convey the findings in simple percentage and number format. For example, it is clear to see that most observations are carried out by HCAs (n =18 or 90%). When numbers are expressed like this it clearly indicates the power of that finding (Polit and Bek, 2010). Another important finding is that in 4 cases nurses failed to record the respiratory rate even when patients were struggling to breathe. Although this is a small percentage (ie n = 4 / 20%), it is worrying to note that any nurse would fail to record the respiratory rate when a patient is clearly showing signs of distress. From these findings, Wheatley (2006) concludes that qualified nurses must take responsibili ty for taking and reviewing how vital signs are recorded in acute care settings if patient safety is to be safeguarded at all times. Overall, the article by Wheatley (2006) is a good example of a research project using a survey method approach to study. Despite noting a small sample frame that could indicate a bias to how the findings can be appraised, it is felt the findings are generally credible and should be appropriate to both inform nursing practice and promote patient safety in acute illness assessment. The steps of the research process are clearly identified throughout the article that demonstrates the researcher has understood how a survey research study should be competently planned for and undertaken and reported on. (TOTAL 1870 WORDS)

Which Paper Towel Works Best -- science

Which Paper Towel Works Best When you come to the paper towel aisle in the grocery store do you ever get frustrated and annoyed by all the brands to choose from? Every brand is telling you that they are the strongest and that their brand will absorb the fastest. Have you ever actually taken the time to figure out which brand is indomitable and absorbs the quickest? Well today I will fill you in on this mysterious secret and tell you not only which brand is not lying to you but also which brand you are getting your money’s worth and if paying that extra dollar is worth the name brand I think that the most expensive paper towel will be the strongest based on an ice cube suspended over a paper towel over a bowl held by a rubber band. The materials that I used in this experiment were six different bands of paper towels; Scott, Giant Eagles â€Å"Clean and Tuff†, So- Dri, Brawny, Viva, and Bounty. I also used twelve 88.7 milliliter dixie cups, 50 milliliters of red colored water and a freezer holding the temperature of a negative twenty degrees Celsius. In addition I used a plastic bowl with the dimension of 18 by18 millimeters. And finally I had a piece of elastic string. The procedure for my experiment was not too difficult it just took quite a bit of time. I started with a paper towel, an 18 by 18-millimeter bowl and a rubber band. I also had twelve 88.7-milliliter dixie cups filled with 50 milliliters of frozen, red colored water. The first step in this experiment was ...

New England Nun :: essays research papers

Q: New England Nun: Louisa’s Final Decision vs Individualism Theme   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louisa faced a tough decision when Joe Dagget returns home because it seems like whatever love she had for him before he left has faded and now she views her wedding as more of a chore. If she is going to marry someone, it shouldn’t be because of a decision made many years ago, it should be made because she truly loves that person and is willing to spend her whole life with him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order for her to marry Joe, she would need to devote her whole life and way of living to suit him and his needs. It seems throughout the story that she very much enjoys the way her life is right now. She enjoys being alone and doing things in a rather methodical way as opposed to having a husband to please and clean up after. It wouldn’t be noble for her to marry Joe and not mean it. Then she would suffer through the marriage, not being free to do what she really wants.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mary E. Wilkins used Louisa’s character to project the idea of Individualism. As part of the main them, Louisa goes through her everyday life, dependent on nobody but herself. She also shows her Individualism in the decision she makes to not marry Joe after she hears that he loves Lily Dyer. I think that all she needed was an excuse to get out of the marriage because she wasn’t really fit to be married and share her life with another individual, she was meant to live alone and fend for herself. Throughout the story, Individualism plays a huge role by describing how she has her own routine of sewing and cooking and using her best china to eat. She needs the help of noone and getting married would mean she has someone else to look after and would have to put her own needs second.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ending, in my opinion was a happy one because everyone got what the truly wanted out of it.