Investigation Of Pit Size Versus Larval Size In An Antlion Essays

Investigation Of Pit Size Versus Larval Size In An Antlion Senior Seminar 20 April 2001 Abstract The purpose of this study was to test whether there was a relationship between the size of an antlion and the size of its pit. Fieldwork was undertaken at UT's Brackenridge Field Laboratory in Austin, Texas. There we selected two aggregations of larval antlions from which to obtain the data. Pit diameter and slope were measured to obtain the pit volume. After pits were measured, larvae were collected and weighted in the lab with an analytical balance. Regressions of larval weight versus pit diameter, slope, and pit volume were obtained. All three variables showed significant coefficients of determination (R-squared * 0.7). These results are then compared to previous studies that found weaker relationships between larval size and pit size. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed. Introduction The antlion got its name from early European scholars who likened the insect to, a small creature, extremely hostile to ants. Antlion larvae are carnivorous predators that feed mainly on small mobile arthropods such as ants, as well as the occasional spider, beetle, fly, caterpillar, wasp, and mite that falls into its pit. Our research was conducted on the species Myrmeleon crudalis, which is from the order Neuoptera. This species lives preferably in sheltered, sandy regions and builds shallow, cone-shaped pits in the surrounding substrate. The larvae use these pits to capture their prey. The insect falls into the pit and is unable to climb up the loose sand on the sides of the pit. The antlion lies buried at the bottom of the pit and catches its prey with its strong, piercing mandibles. The larvae secrete digestive enzymes through the mandibular groove into the prey item. After the antlion sucks out the soft tissues of the prey, the exterior shell is discarded by actively pushing it out of the pit. Although M. crudalis is a pit-building species, not all antlion species build pits. Some species hide under debris, gravel, or wood and wait for prey to pass by in close enough range for capture. The lifecycle of the antlion involves many stages. Adults lay sticky eggs on sandy soil and the eggs become coated with fine layer of dust for camouflage. Larvae hatch from the eggs after few weeks and then undergo three instar stages before pupating. Larvae may even live several years before pupating - lack of food can lead to longer life-span whereas if there is abundant food supply, the larvae may mature much more quickly. The larvae pupate in the soil in a cocoon of sand and silky fibers. After approximately one month of pupating, the adults emerge from the cocoons. Adult antlions closely resemble dragonflies and damselflies, however, unlike the latter two, adult antlions are very weak flyers. During the day, the adults lie perched on camouflaging branches and are only really active in the evenings. The adults can reach approximately 4 centimeters in length, and they can have a wingspan of 8 centimeters.1 The life span of the adult antlion is approximately one month. The one month time span is just enough time for the adults to reproduce and begin the life cycle again. There are approximately 2000 different antlion species distributed throughout the world, however, antlions are mainly found in the warmer climates of Southern Africa, Australia, and the southern United States. The most common species are M. obsoletus in North America, and M. formicarius in Europe. M. carolinus is the most common species found in Florida and other southern states of America. Antlion larvae from the species we studied built conical shaped pits in the surrounding sandy substrate. Larvae build their pits in four steps. First, the larvae move in what appears to be very random, undirected movements just under surface of the soil. Possibly these movements serve to loosen the substrate or test the site for gravel obstructions. The antlion then proceeds to establish the circular boundaries and diameter of its pit. In the next step, the antlion spirals downward to deepen the pit. The antlion moves backward while displaces the sand by scooping it up with its head and mandibles and actively throwing it out of the developing pit. Finally, once the diameter

Understanding Mass Media and Mass Communication

Understanding Mass Media and Mass Communication Mass media refers to the technologies used as channels for a small group of people to communicate with a larger number of people. The concept was first addressed during the Progressive Era of the 1920s, as a response to new opportunities for elites to reach large audiences via the mass media of the time: newspapers, radio, and film. Indeed, the three forms of traditional mass media today are still the same: print (newspapers, books, magazines), broadcast (television, radio), and cinema (movies and documentaries).  Ã‚   But in the 1920s, mass media referred not just to the number of people such communication reached, but rather to the uniform consumption and anonymity of the audiences. Uniformity and anonymity are characteristics which no longer fit the way people seek out, consume, and manipulate information into their daily lives. Those new media are called alternative media or mass self-communication. Key Takeaways: Mass Media Mass media as an idea was created in the 1920s.There are three major forms of traditional mass media: print, broadcast, and cinema. New forms are being created constantly.The internet has changed the nature of mass media by creating consumers who control and even create media of their own, and producers who can more easily track consumer responses.Being a smart consumer of media means exposing yourself to a variety of points of view, so that you can become more adept at recognizing subtle and not subtle forms of propaganda and bias. Mass Communication   Mass media are the transport forms of mass communication, which can be defined as the dissemination of messages widely, rapidly, and continuously to large and diverse audiences in an attempt to influence them in some way.   Five distinct stages of mass communication exist, according to American communication scholars Melvin DeFleur and Everette Dennis:   Professional communicators create various types of messages for presentation to individuals.The messages are disseminated in a quick and continuous manner through some form of mechanical media.The messages are received by a vast and diverse audience.The audience interprets these messages and gives them meaning.The audience is influenced or changed in some manner.   There are six widely acknowledged intended effects for mass media. The two best known are commercial advertising and political campaigns. Public service announcements have been developed to influence people on health issues such as smoking cessation or HIV testing. Mass media has been used (by the Nazi party in Germany in the 1920s, for example) to indoctrinate people in terms of government ideology. And mass media use sporting events such as the World Series, the World Cup Soccer, Wimbledon, and the Super Bowl, to act as a ritual event that users participate in. Measuring the Effects of Mass Media   Research on the impacts of mass media began in the 1920s and 1930s, with the rise of muckraking journalism- elites became concerned about the effects of investigative reporting in magazines such as McClures on political decision-making. Mass media became a prominent focus of study in the 1950s after television became widely available, and academic departments dedicated to communication studies were created. These early studies investigated the cognitive, emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of media on both children and adults; in the 1990s, researchers began to use those earlier studies to draw up theories concerning the use of media today. In the 1970s theorists such as Marshall McLuhan and Irving J. Rein warned that media critics needed to watch how media affects people. Today, this remains a key concern; much attention has been paid, for example, to the impact on the 2016 election of false messaging distributed on social media. But the myriad forms of mass communication available today have also encouraged some  researchers to begin to investigate what people do with media. The Move to Mass Self-Communication Traditional mass media are push technologies: that is to say, producers create the objects and distribute them (push it) to consumers who are largely anonymous to the producer. The only input consumers have in traditional mass media is to decide whether to consume it- if they should buy the book or go to the movie: undoubtedly those decisions have always been significant to what got published or aired.   However, in the 1980s, consumers began to transition to pull technology: while the content may still be created by (elite) producers, users are now free to select what they wish to consume. Further, users can now repackage and create new content (such as mashups on YouTube or reviews on personal blog sites). The users are often explicitly identified in the process, and their choices may have immediate, if not necessarily conscious, impact on what information and advertising they are presented with going forward.   With the widespread availability of the internet and the development of social media, communication consumption has a decidedly personal character, which the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells calls mass self-communication. Mass self-communication means that the content is still created by the producers, and the distribution is made available to a large number of people, those who choose to read or consume the information. Today, users pick and choose media content to suit their needs, whether those needs were the intent of the producers or not.   Computer-Mediated Communication The study of mass media is a fast-moving target. People have studied computer-mediated communication since the technology first became available in the 1970s. Early studies focused on teleconferencing, and how interactions between large groups of strangers differ from interactions with known partners. Other studies were concerned with whether communication methods lacking nonverbal cues could influence the meaning and quality of social interactions. Today, people have access to both text-based and visual information, so those studies are no longer useful.   The immense growth in social applications since the start of Web 2.0 (also known as Participatory or Social Web) has made huge changes. Information is now distributed in many directions and methods, and audiences can vary from one person to many thousands. In addition, everyone with an internet connection can be a content creator and media source.   Blurring the Lines Between Producers and Consumers Mass self-communication can potentially reach a global audience, but it is self-generated in content, self-directed in its mission, and typically focuses on self-related information. Sociologist Alvin Toffler created the now-obsolete term of prosumers to describe users who are almost simultaneously consumers and producers- for example, reading and commenting on online content, or reading and replying to Twitter posts. The increases in the number of transactions that now occur between consumer and producer create what some have called an expression effect. Interactions also now cross-media streams, such as Social TV, where people use hashtags while watching a sports game or a television program in order to simultaneously read and converse with hundreds of other viewers on social media. Politics and the Media   One focus of mass communication research has been on the role that media plays in the democratic process. On the one hand, media provides a way for predominantly rational voters to obtain information about their political choices. That likely introduces some systematic biases, in that not every voter is interested in social media, and politicians may choose to work on the wrong issues and perhaps pander to an active set of users who may not be in their constituencies. But by and large, the fact that voters can learn about candidates independently is predominantly positive.   On the other hand, media can be leveraged for propaganda, which exploits cognitive errors that people are prone to make. By using the techniques of agenda-setting, priming, and framing, the producers of media can manipulate voters to act against their own best interests. Propaganda Techniques in Mass Media   Some types of propaganda that have been recognized in mass media include: Agenda-Setting: Aggressive media coverage of an issue can make people believe an insignificant issue is important. Similarly, media coverage may underplay an important issue.Priming: People evaluate politicians based on the issues covered in the press.Framing: How an issue is characterized in news reports can influence how it is understood by the receivers; involves the selective inclusion or omission of facts (bias). Sources DeFleur, Melvin L., and Everette E. Dennis. Understanding Mass Communication. (Fifth Edition, 1991). Houghton Mifflin: New York.  Donnerstein, Edward. Mass Media, General View. Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, Conflict (Second Edition). Ed. Kurtz, Lester. Oxford: Academic Press, 2008. 1184-92. Print.Gershon, Ilana. Language and the Newness of Media. Annual Review of Anthropology 46.1 (2017): 15-31. Print.Pennington, Robert. Mass Media Content as Cultural Theory. The Social Science Journal 49.1 (2012): 98-107. Print.Pinto, Sebastin, Pablo Balenzuela, and Claudio O. Dorso. Setting the Agenda: Different Strategies of a Mass Media in a Model of Cultural Dissemination. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 458 (2016): 378-90. Print.Rosenberry, J., Vicker, L. A. (2017). Applied Mass Communication Theory. New York: Routledge.Strà ¶mberg, David. Media and Politics. Annual Review of Economics 7.1 (2015): 173-205. Print.Valkenburg, Patti M., Jochen Peter, and Joseph B. Walt her. Media Effects: Theory and Research. Annual Review of Psychology 67.1 (2016): 315-38. Print.

Pronoun Case on ACT English Tips and Practice Questions

Pronoun Case on ACT English Tips and Practice Questions SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Pronoun case is a grammar rule that tends to be broken by most English speakers. Perhaps of more concern to you, questions that test your knowledge of pronoun case often appear on the ACT. Master this rule and you’ll be one step closer to mastering the ACT English section. There are multiple pronoun rules that are tested in ACT English. This one is relatively straightforward and tends to be tested less often than ambiguous antecedents or pronoun antecedent agreement. However, if you are aiming for that 30+ score, you should be ready if you encounter a pronoun case question. In this post, I’ll do the following: Explain the difference between subjects and objects. Give you a clear understanding of pronoun case. Offer strategies that can help you correctly answer pronoun case questions. Provide you with practice questions so you can test what you’ve learned. Quick Review: What's a Pronoun? A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The noun to which the pronoun refers is called the antecedent. Some examples of pronouns include I, he, she, it, me, him, her, their, we, andus. What Is Pronoun Case? Case refers to whether a pronoun is being used as a subject or an object. What Is a Subject? Simply, a subject is the noun that corresponds with a verb in a sentence. In a sentence in which there is an action, the subject is the noun that's doing the action. Here is an example: Dave likes techno music. Dave is the subject because he's doing the liking. In a sentence in which there's a description, typically using a form of the verb "to be," the subject is the noun that is being described. Check out this sentence: Dave is brilliant. Dave is the subject because he is the person who is brilliant. What Is an Object? An object is a noun that receives an action. An object can be a direct object, an object of a preposition, or an indirect object. This is an example sentence. The direct object of the verb is in bold: I opened the door. The direct object is "the door" because that is what I opened. Here is a sentence with an object of a preposition: Chuck spoke to his girlfriend. Chuck's girlfriend is the object because she is the person to whom he spoke. Also, an object of a preposition always follows a preposition. In this case, "girlfriend" follows the preposition "to." An indirect object comes before the direct object and indicates to whom or for whom the action is done and who is receiving the direct object. Here's an example sentence with the indirect object bolded: The government gave Matt a tax refund. Matt is the indirect object because the government gave a refund to him. He received the direct object.If you're confused by the concept of an indirect object, for pronoun case questions, just remember that the object receives the action, either directly or indirectly. Subject Pronouns Vs. Object Pronouns If a noun is being used as a subject, the noun can be replaced by a subject pronoun. If a noun is being used as an object, the noun can be replaced by an object pronoun. Here's a list of subject pronouns: SUBJECT PRONOUNS Here's a list of the object pronouns that correspond with the subject pronouns from above: OBJECT PRONOUNS If you understand everything up to this point, you're ready to take on pronoun case questions on the ACT. Here we go! Pronoun Case in ACT English The ACT tests whether you should use a subject or an object pronoun. You will be tested on the following subject/object pairs. I Vs. Me She, He Vs. Her, Him We Vs. Us They Vs. Them Let's go through the process of how to decide whether to use a subject or an object pronoun in a given sentence. ACT English Strategy Here are some example sentences demonstrating how subject pronouns can replace subjects and object pronouns can replace objects. Take a look at the following sentence: Nancy offered valuable guidance. Let's replace "Nancy" with a pronoun. First, we have to determine if Nancy is a subject or an object. What do you think? Nancy isthe subject because she did the offering. She did the action. Therefore, we must replace "Nancy" with a subject pronoun and the resulting sentence reads: She offered valuable guidance. You can't replace Nancy with an object pronoun. You can't write, "Her offered valuable guidance." That would be an example of a pronoun case error. Now we'll go through the same process with another example sentence: Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to Irene. To replace "Irene" with a pronoun, we have to determine if Irene is a subject or an object in the sentence. Well, in our example sentence, "Irene" is an object. Why? She is receiving what was given by the subject, and she is the object of the preposition "to." After replacing "Irene" with a pronoun, the sentence should look like this: Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to her. If we had made a pronoun case error when replacing "Irene" with a pronoun, the sentence would have read, "Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to she." This rule seems relatively simple, right? Subjects do actions. Objects receive actions. Well, we know the ACT likes to complicate the most basic sentences and truly test your understanding of a grammar rule. Pronoun case questions become more difficult in sentences with compound subjects and compound objects. The Same Rules Apply for Compound Subjects and Compound Objects Compound just means that two nouns are connected with the word "and." In a sentence with a compound subject, there are two nouns that serve as the subject. In a sentence with compound objects, there are two objects of the same verb. Here's another example sentence for you (I love examples!): Taylor Swift and Justinmet at Target. "Taylor Swift" and "Justin" are the subject. They are the people who did the meeting. They did the action. Now, let's replace "Justin" with a pronoun. We know that "Justin" is a subject so we have to replace "Justin" with a subject pronoun. Because I am Justin, this would be my sentence: Taylor Swift and I met at Target. If you were writing this sentence about me, this would be your sentence: Taylor Swift and he met at Target. That sentence probably sounds awkward to you, but it's grammatically correct. Most people would use the object pronoun and write, "Taylor Swift and him met at Target." That would be a pronoun case error. Remember, always follow the grammar rules and avoid relying on what "sounds right." Let's follow the same process with another example sentence: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and Justin. Again, we'll replace "Justin" with a pronoun. In the above example, are "Marc" and "Justin" subjects or objects? They're objects. They received the action. They were offered the bandana. Also, they follow the preposition "to" and are the object of the preposition. Therefore, we have to replace "Justin" with an object pronoun. Because I'm Justin, this would be my sentence: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and me. Many people think "Marc and I" would be the correct phrase for that sentence. However, that would be a pronoun case error. Remember, "I" can only be used as a subject and "me" can only be used as an object. If you were writing the previous example sentence about me, you would write: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and him. Because you are replacing an object with a pronoun, you have to use an object pronoun. The ACT tends to use compound subjects or objects in questions that test pronoun case because the correct answer often sounds wrong to us. So is there a strategy that enables us to more easily identify pronoun case errors in sentences with compound subjects or objects? Absolutely!! He didn't really offer me his red bandana. ACT EnglishStrategy If you see a compound subject/object, cross out the other noun and "and." For compound objects, the sentence should still be grammatically correct. Let's try this strategy with the previous example: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and me. This sentence probably sounds less awkward to you. Most likely, you would be able to identify a pronoun case error if you saw a sentence that read, "Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to I." If you do the same thing with a compound subject, the sentence will be grammatically correct if you also change the verb from plural to singular, due to subject-verb agreement. Keep in mind that the singular and plural forms of a verb can be the same. Now we'll use the cross-out method with a compound subject to help determine if there's a pronoun case error. Here's our example sentence: Him and Joe were talking to the cashier. After crossing out the noun and "and," we're left with "Him were talking to the cashier." Once we change the verb to singular, this is our sentence: Him was talking to the cashier. At this point, you can probably figure out if there's an error, but let's follow the rules. In the sentence, is "Him" a subject or an object? It's a subject because he was doing the action. Therefore, we must use a subject pronoun. After plugging a subject pronoun into the original sentence, this would be the correct version of the example: He and Joe were talking to the cashier. Now we'll apply what we've learned to a question from an actual ACT. Real ACT English Example So how do we determine if there is a pronoun case error? First, let's employ our strategy and cross out "and her cousin." We're left with "her had staged." Does that look right to you? Now, let's determine if "her" is a subject or object. Well, "her" should be a subject because she's doing the action. She had done the staging. Then, after we plug the rest of the compound subject back into the phrase with a subject pronoun, we have "she and her cousin had staged." The correct answer is C. Who Vs. Whom Occasionally, the ACT will also test you on whether to use "who" or "whom" in a sentence. These words are known as relative pronouns. Most people have no idea when and how to properly use "who" and "whom." Luckily, the rule is pretty simple. The word "who" is a subject pronoun and "whom" is an object pronoun. Here's a strategy to make life easier when answering questions involving "who" or "whom." ACT EnglishStrategy For pronoun case purposes, "who" and "whom" function like "she" and "her" (or "he" and "him"). The word "who" is a subject pronoun and "whom" is an object pronoun. To determine if there's a pronoun case error, replace "who" with "she" and "whom" with "her". If the antecedent is plural, replace "who" with "they" and "whom" with "them". If there's not a pronoun case error in the original sentence, the resulting phrase should be grammatically correct. Take a look at this sentence: Justin, who is too self-absorbed, always references himself in his example sentences. The sentence is saying that Justin is too self-absorbed and "who" modifies Justin. Justin is being described as self-absorbed. If we replace "who" with "he," the phrase would read, "He is too self-absorbed." The word "he" is being properly used as a subject. Therefore, there is not a pronoun case error and "who" is being used correctly. Here's another example: My mother, whom I admire, graduated from nursing school. In the above sentence, the clause with "whom" is stating that "I adore my mother." Because "whom" is modifying "my mother," let's replace "my mother" with "her." The resulting sentence should be grammatically correct if "whom" is being used correctly. After replacing "my mother" with the pronoun, we have, "I admire her." That's correct because the word "her" is an object pronoun and "her" is receiving the action in the sentence. Here's one final example using "whom" as an object of the preposition: To whom much is given, much is expected. Here, the sentence is saying that much is given to whom.If you replace "whom" with "her," â€Å"much is given to her† is grammatically correct. If the relative pronoun follows â€Å"to† or â€Å"for," you should always use â€Å"whom." Truth Now we can take what we've learned and apply those lessons to actual examples from the ACT. Real ACT English Example This is a real example from an ACT English section. Use our strategy and your knowledge of pronoun case to answer the following question: So here we have the phrase â€Å"friends whom have died." The â€Å"whom† refers to â€Å"friends," which is plural, and â€Å"whom† is an object pronoun. Therefore, let’s replace â€Å"friends whom† with â€Å"them† to determine if the sentence is grammatically correct. â€Å"Them had died† is incorrect; the pronoun should be in the subject form. â€Å"They had died† is correct. They did the dying. Therefore, we need to use the subject form of the relative pronoun. The answer is B, â€Å"friends who had died." Let's take a look at another example: In this sentence, â€Å"whom† refers to â€Å"Banneker’s grandmother† and the verb is â€Å"bought." This sentence is made a little more tricky because the prepositional phrase starting with â€Å"after† separates â€Å"whom† from â€Å"bought." However, this sentence is saying that she (Banneker’s grandmother) bought some land. However, â€Å"whom† is in the object case which is equivalent to â€Å"her." â€Å"Her bought some land† is obviously incorrect. The relative pronoun should be changed to the subject case. The answer is B. General ACT English Strategies For Pronoun Case #1: If a Pronoun is Underlined, Check for an Error in Pronoun Case If you see that a pronoun is underlined, check to see if there is a pronoun case error. #2: Determine if the Pronoun Is Being Used as a Subject or Object If the pronoun is doing the action or being described, it's a subject. If the pronoun is receiving the action, it's an object. Use subject pronouns for subjects and object pronouns for objects. Also, use the replacement strategy, if necessary, to help determine if a noun is a subject or object. #3: The Same Rules Apply for Compound Subjects or Objects If you see a compound subject or object, the sentence should be grammatically correct if you get rid of one of the nouns and "and." Change "Peter and I went to a baseball game" to "I went to a baseball game." The sentence is still correct, so if you see a compound subject or object on the ACT, use the cross out strategy to help determine if there is a pronoun case error. For compound subjects, also make sure that you change the verb from plural to singular. #4: If a Pronoun Follows a Preposition, It is an Object Pronoun Pronouns that follow prepositions, specifically "to," "for," or "between," should be in the object case. #5: Use the Replacement Strategy for Who Vs. Whom If you're trying to determine whether "who" or "whom" should be used, replace "who" with "he" or "she" for singular antecedents and "who" with "they" for plural antecedents. The word "whom" should be replaced with "him" or "her" for singular antecedents and "them" for plural antecedents. Finish strong! Additional ACT English Practice Question Hopefully, by this point you thoroughly understand pronoun case and how to correctly answer any pronoun case question that may appear on the ACT. I've created some realistic practice problems to test you on what you've learned. Remember to use the general strategies I referenced above. 1. After I woke up yesterday, my parents decided to take my brother and me to breakfast. A. NO CHANGE B. I C. we D. their 2. Despite her friends’ objections, her and George decided to go to Las Vegas to elope. A. NO CHANGE B. her C. she D. or her 3. Christopher Hitchens, whom was a prolific writer, ruffled a few feathers during his public debates and television appearances. A. NO CHANGE B. which C. that D. who 4. His boss told him that Jane and him would be given the day off tomorrow. A. NO CHANGE B. he C. his D. their Answers: 1. A, 2. C, 3. D, 4. B What's Next? Since you're all at various points in your ACT prep, read this article to find out when you should take the ACT. For those of you who are comfortable with ACT English but struggling with Reading, learn these strategies for the ACT Reading section. Read our staggering list of high quality ACT English prep guides here. Finally, for those of you who aspire for perfection, get advice on how to get a perfect 36 on the ACT. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

E-Commerce in Developing Countries Research Paper

E-Commerce in Developing Countries - Research Paper Example Different sectors including transportation, industries, technology, and entertainment greatly depend on internet applications. Various studies indicate that internet provides extensive employment opportunities to large number of people. Furthermore, internet has become the largest database in the universe. The most fascinating feature of the internet is that it acts as a platform for online trade or E-commerce. Today, many of the multinational corporations generate notable percent of their sales revenues through online business. II. Issues for developing countries a. Info-structure It seems that information structures used to build a website often become a constraint to E-commerce growth in developing countries. Sequences, hierarchies, and webs are the major information structures deployed to develop a website; and structures like hierarchies and webs are best ways to build and manage information databases effectively (Fresh Thinking Business, n.d). However, database management using such models requires in depth knowledge and greater efficiency. Obviously, developing countries may not have much fund to spend on infra-structure development as they need to address a series of other operational fund requirements. Moreover, those counties may lack adequate expertise to promote information structure development and this situation would adversely affect their internet usage practices. Experts reflect that many of the developing countries are still unaware of the necessity of structure development as they do not consider internet as a major contributor to their overall economic development. b. Legal and financial framework Evidences suggest that a nation’s legal and financial framework can have a greater impact on its E-commerce practices. Some developing countries believe that unrestricted internet access may negatively affect their national security and hence they ban some specific websites. To illustrate, China banned the social networking site facebook rec ently to maintain social peace and harmony. However, this move has affected the country’s E-commerce sector to a great extent since facebook was an important channel of business promotion in China. Nowadays, more countries are planning to ban some highly trafficked websites in order to avoid threats to national security. Such practices are more likely to impede online business growth since many of those websites provide people with a common platform to share their views and opinions regarding a particular product or service. As we mentioned earlier, developing countries with an unstable financial background cannot raise sufficient funds to foster IT development, which is essential to intensify E-commerce growth. c. Human resource Undoubtedly, human resource plays a pivotal role in determining E-commerce growth in developing countries. Although online business sector needs less number of employees as compared to traditional business settings, potential workforce is necessary f or E-commerce promotion. It seems that developing countries like India and China are blessed with potential human capital resources and hence they can employ skilled people and thereby generate huge revenues from online sales. In contrast, some other countries do not have adequate human resources and hence those countries employ the available workforce on industrial sectors. Obviously, this situation would impede the growth of E-commerce sector. It is also noted that

Explain a Marketing Concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Explain a Marketing Concept - Essay Example Customers often do not and cannot describe their needs precisely and it is a marketers job to find out the same. Gillette has been in the business of safety razors ever since 1904. It has been constantly innovating and offering new products as per the market needs. In the late 1980s, companys sales were languishing and market share plummeting. Company was quick enough to realize this and in 1990 launched a product called Sensor– an advanced twin blade shaving system. It was designed to have a pivoting head equipped with moving blades so as to adjust with facial contours. This new offering facilitated closer and smooth shave and thereby Sensor became an instant success for it satisfied markets one of the niche area. It is not surprising that Sensor captured 15% market in the razor and blade segment. Subsequently, Gillette also introduced the ‘SensorExcel’ for women to cater exclusively the women shaving needs. The company continued to offer innovative products such as Gillette Mach3 Turbo, Gillette for Women Venus in the shaving segment year after year to meet the needs of t he ever expanding market. Pencil cell market is huge and usual complaint is a shorter life span of these cells needing replacement quite often. Gillette realizing this drawback of existing product lines introduced high-tech alkaline batteries called Duracell Ultra having a life span much larger than conventional batteries. Needless to say that this new offerings in the name of Duracell became an instant success in the market place for many home gadgets such as digital flash cameras, cell phones, watches. Thus, Gillette is the classic example that offers new products through innovation to fulfill the needs of the consumers and the company’s continued business success proves that new offering to fulfill ever increasing consumer needs is the great marketing

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Example for Free

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Black Fly Beverage Company is a small beverage company based in London Ontario. The company has achieved recent success in the selling and promoting of their first alcoholic beverage, the cranberry/blueberry vodka cooler. The immediate success of this product presents two critical issues that the company must address. These critical issues are: †¢Black fly must expand its product mix in order to capture a larger market share in order to compete with larger established brands within the market place †¢Black Fly must also address capacity issues that will arise with an increase in demand or introduction of a new flavor Analysis. Current Situation Black Fly’s cranberry-blueberry vodka cooler has been well received by consumers due to its natural tasting ingredients and no chemical sweeteners producing a premium product different than existing similar beverages. The company now must take this opportunity to give their consumers another product to further explore the brand. Attempting to penetrate deeper within their current product will not allow its customers to further explore their favorite brand of vodka cooler. This will cause Black Fly to begin to lose their customers to other competing companies that offer multiple products and flavors (see exhibit 9). Black Fly also must also address the company’s capacity issues in order to allow them to meet the LCBO’s average order lead-time of seven days. At full capacity Black Fly is meeting the required lead time with minimal margin of error to account for delays, however, during the holiday season, which will occur as early as next month, the company will not be able to keep up with the increase in demand and will fail fulfill the LCBO’s order in time (see exhibit 7). Options The first option available to Black Fly would be to expand its product mix with the addition of a new flavor to compliment their existing cooler. The company will be able to take advantage of economies of scale through the current production; therefore a minimal cost of $30,000 will only be needed to cover development and merchandising fees. To cover this initial cost Black Fly will have to sell an additional 127 cases a month to break even, an increase of 10. 58% (see exhibit 2). It has been projected that adding another flavor to the product line could increase sales by 50 to 75 percent. This projected increase in sales would produce an annual expected ROI of 373% and 609% respectively (see exhibit 5). If however sales increased by only 10% due to the risk of cannibalization of their original recipe then the expected ROI would be -5% (see exhibit 5). This increase in sales however will put additional strain on the company’s current capacity (see exhibit 8). A second option to Black Fly would be the addition of a new specialty spirit-based product called â€Å"Spiked Ice†. This packaged ready to freeze cooler would be a non-competing product to the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. An advantage to this product is that there is no other product similar to it out in the marketplace. The LCBO has also committed to sell 8,000 cases of the product over the four summer months, which would produce revenues of $277,200 (see exhibit 3). Over this four month period this option will produce an ROI of 15% (see exhibit 6). To produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† the company however will have to purchase expensive machinery costing $500,000 and spend an additional $40,000 on merchandising and product development. To cover these costs Black Fly would have to sell an additional 7,585 cases of â€Å"Spiked Ice† (see exhibit 4). This may prove difficult as this new product is very seasonal producing higher sales in the summer months and potentially smaller sales in the fall and winter months, a time in which the LCBO has not committed to sell this product at this time. Another disadvantage to this option is the space that this new machinery would occupy in the already small warehouse. Black Fly’s current facilities cannot produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† and the original vodka simultaneously which would result in Black Fly loosing monthly revenues of $23,641 (see exhibit 1). Recommendation It is apparent that Black Fly must attempt to offer a variety of products to enhance its product mix and to keep current customers from trying other flavors offered by other competitors. At this time the best way to proceed with this will be to launch a new flavored vodka to compliment the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. The low initial costs and economies of scale gained through this option will allow Black Fly to introduce this new flavor quickly and efficiently to capitalize sales during the upcoming holiday season. To help address the concern of future capacity issues it would be recommended that Black Fly hire two more part-time workers and to run the production process seven days a week. This will be possible due to the expected high ROI associated with this option. This increase in production will allow the company to complete six full runs amounting to 3000 cases within the seven day lead time required by the LCBO ( see exhibit 10). In the future it will become necessary to upgrade to a larger facility and at that time it would be beneficial to begin producing â€Å"Spiked Ice†, however at this current time, given the company’s limited time in the market, it is suggested that Black Fly only pursue the launching of a new flavor. After the company has received sales from the holiday season the company will then be able to better address the possibility of relocating to a new warehouse and address their plans for â€Å"Spiked Ice† for the upcoming summer months.

Managing a Multigenerational Workforce Essay -- Business, Workplace Mo

The United States economy has experienced highs and lows throughout the years. These changes affect everyone in one way or another. The U.S. workforce is not exempt from feeling the effects of the economy. Many individuals across the nation have reassessed their career and personal goals due to financial hardships. One major trend developing is that individuals are beginning careers earlier, and ending careers later. The good old days of retiring at sixty-five are replaced with worrying about health care costs and retirements plans, with no retirement date in sight. Many parents are unable to foot the bill for their college-aged children, so the workforce has also seen a jump in young adults entering into the workforce. Nationwide, organizations are witnessing for the first time ever, four different generations working side by side. These generations have been labeled as the veterans or the traditionalist group (born before 1945), the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), and generation Y (born after 1980). As a manager it can be quite challenging to manage four different generations of workers. All four generations have different strengths and weaknesses, so it takes a great manager to merge all of them into one productive team. To be an effective manager of such diverse groups, it takes understanding and appreciating the qualities each generation offers. This review analyzes current research available describing the differences between each generation, how to motivate each generation, and how to effectively merge the generations into one cohesive group. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENERATIONS Currently, in the United States, there are over 1 million workers that are 75 years of age o... ...orce earlier it is a fact of life that managers will encounter a multigenerational workforce at some point. Organizations need to prepare management to be able to handle such diverse populations. It was somewhat surprising to review the literature, and discover most all researchers agree that different generations of employees have different needs and are motivated differently. It is important to note that while researchers agree about generational generalizations, they are just generalizations. A manager needs to be aware of the generalizations about each generation to help them understand, but be careful not to let it become a stereotype and affect the way they approach that employee. The main point is that every employee brings something valuable to the workplace, and managers need to be aware of how to utilize those strengths to the organization’s benefit. Managing a Multigenerational Workforce Essay -- Business, Workplace Mo The United States economy has experienced highs and lows throughout the years. These changes affect everyone in one way or another. The U.S. workforce is not exempt from feeling the effects of the economy. Many individuals across the nation have reassessed their career and personal goals due to financial hardships. One major trend developing is that individuals are beginning careers earlier, and ending careers later. The good old days of retiring at sixty-five are replaced with worrying about health care costs and retirements plans, with no retirement date in sight. Many parents are unable to foot the bill for their college-aged children, so the workforce has also seen a jump in young adults entering into the workforce. Nationwide, organizations are witnessing for the first time ever, four different generations working side by side. These generations have been labeled as the veterans or the traditionalist group (born before 1945), the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), and generation Y (born after 1980). As a manager it can be quite challenging to manage four different generations of workers. All four generations have different strengths and weaknesses, so it takes a great manager to merge all of them into one productive team. To be an effective manager of such diverse groups, it takes understanding and appreciating the qualities each generation offers. This review analyzes current research available describing the differences between each generation, how to motivate each generation, and how to effectively merge the generations into one cohesive group. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENERATIONS Currently, in the United States, there are over 1 million workers that are 75 years of age o... ...orce earlier it is a fact of life that managers will encounter a multigenerational workforce at some point. Organizations need to prepare management to be able to handle such diverse populations. It was somewhat surprising to review the literature, and discover most all researchers agree that different generations of employees have different needs and are motivated differently. It is important to note that while researchers agree about generational generalizations, they are just generalizations. A manager needs to be aware of the generalizations about each generation to help them understand, but be careful not to let it become a stereotype and affect the way they approach that employee. The main point is that every employee brings something valuable to the workplace, and managers need to be aware of how to utilize those strengths to the organization’s benefit.

The Impact Of The Revolutionary War On American

American Revolution was key factor for setting up elementary and long lasting change in the values of Americans. During the period 1775-1800, the revolutionary war played a vital role in the drastic change of American society in each of the following sectors: the American economy due to increased taxation and inadequate money, the American legal system with its establishment of the Electoral College and constitution, and finally; the American culture with its ideas related to racial and gender discrimination.Even though the revolutionary war lasted for only a few years, the Revolution itself lasted for more than a century and its impact can still be seen today. A lot of early settlers who had to go through great difficulties while distancing themselves from Britain for their freedom had a feeling of revolt. The revolutionary war greatly influenced the American society and finally resulted in an economically stable and independent country that has achieved victory in spite of facing m any hardships. Impact of American Revolutionary WarBy the time American Revolution came to an end, the American economy had extremely weakened because there was a dearth of currency and trade. This is opposite to the commonly held conviction that the economy of America flourished after the revolution due to the influx of taxes. Britain exported a huge amount of goods to American after the revolutionary war. This resulted in a great loss to the local American industries. Moreover in 1784, Spain blocked its Mississippi River to all of the American trade, and asserted for a part of land close to the Gulf of Mexico that had been actually allotted to America by Britain.Not to forget this piece of land was given up by Britain in order to persuade America to stop coalition with France. America was discouraged from stopping its nation because of the restive Indians, who were really encouraged to do so by France and England. The Indians held up to Britain as they thought that if they would w in in case, the development of America into the West would stop, and they would be able to save their Indian land. France claimed the money America had owed to France; nevertheless America was not stable enough economically to ay off their debts.America said no to pay back the taxes. Still in the war, America had made their own currencies and tax barriers, as a result of which extra taxes were not privileged to citizens. Most of the states of America were doubtful regarding the taxes on good from other states. In few of the states, a lot of farmers were losing their land because they did not have the funds for these taxes. This problem caused the well-known â€Å"Shays' Rebellion† in 1786, where citizens actually assaulted the tax collectors.The terror of that kind of cruel violent behavior persisted and aggravated the fear of society. Due to the debts from the war, the British government forced more taxes on its American settlers, firstly on sugar in the â€Å"the Revenue A ct†, then on all business deals involving paper in the â€Å"the Stamp Act†. Mostly in Virginia, people were protesting against these taxes. In 1764 the General Assembly officially concluded that only the Virginia House of Burgesses had the legal rights to tax the people o Virginia.The upcoming resolutions and sanctions welcomed each of the new taxes imposed. In conditions of lawful concerns, the American Revolution significantly affected the American society with the formation of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and other official documents, in addition to the foundation of the Electoral College. The founding of the recent American democratic system greatly relied on these precious papers. The new Constitution was commenced in 1789, this was the time when the population was increasing at an astounding speed and public was adhering to the laws.By 1791, America acquired a â€Å"Bill of Rights† that modified all the issues and is still followed today . Such official documents are still conserved today as they were prepared originally as the still have the same regard as lawful and ethical codes for society today. Due to the revolutionary war many people had to migrate to America and most of the early permanent colonists in America showed signs of preliminary hate for Britain when they went through the strenuous and lengthy migration to states. As the â€Å"Pennsylvania Packet† describes, America was the homeland of free people.Despite the fact that the document is partial, as the author conveys intense hostility for Britain, it has helped in explaining the nationalism of the settlers who preferred the idea of democratic system and wanted to be free from Britain's tyrannical rule. Conclusion The American Revolution had a greatly affected the American society in different ways. The war resulted in a weak economic system, suffering due to excessive migration of people to America, unemployment, taxes, debts and gender and rac ial discrimination.But with the help of great political leaders and national heroes America was able to form the basis for its current Constitution and legal values, and encourage women and other races to fight for their rights. The well established Constitution was the main pillar towards the regeneration and development of the state without which the survival would have been impossible. Endnotes 1. Ward, Harry M. Between the Lines: Banditti of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. , 2002), pg 311. 2. Kierner, Cynthia A. Southern Women in Revolution, 1776-1800: Personal and Political Narratives (Columbia, S.C. , 1998), pg 176. 3. Wood, Betty. Gender, Race, and Rank in a Revolutionary Age: The Georgia Lowcountry, 1750-1820 (Athens, Ga. , 2000), pg 121. 4. Coulter, E. M. American Revolution: The Story of the Growth of a Tradition,† GHQ 39 (June 2003): 118-51. 5. Davis, Derek H. Society and the American Revolution. Journal of Church & State, 0021969X, 2001, Vol. 36, Issue 4, pg 19. 6. Ibid pg 23-27. 7. Hahn, Steven. The Effects of American Revolution. New Republic, 00286583, 2006, Vol. 235, Issue 6, pg 12. 8. Ibid pg 15-18. 9. Gross, Robert. Origins Of The American Revolution.Virginia Quarterly Review, 0042675X, 2001, Vol. 77, Issue 1, pg 48. 10. Merrill Jensen, The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763-1776 (New York, 1999), pg 436-38. 11. Richard, Alden, The American Revolution, 1775-1783 (New York, 1997), pg 7. Bibliography Alden, K. A History of the American Revolution (New York, 1999), pg 325. Coulter, E. M. , American Revolution: The Story of the Growth of a Tradition,† GHQ 39 (June 2003): 118-51. Countryman, A. People in Revolution: The American Revolution and Political Society in New York, 1760-1780 (New York, 1999), pg 193.

Compare and contrast Charlie Gordon

Flowers of Algerian People are never happy with themselves we all have our imperfections and that's Just part of life. In the story â€Å"Flowers for Algerian,† Charlie Gordon has a mental disability and he wanted to be smart and for that he had to get an operation. Although he shouldn't have offered himself because before the operation he was happy, he worked at a factory, he liked his Job, he had true friends and fake friends Just like a normal person does. Having the operation Charlie cut his life short.Charlie should not have had the operation. Charlie had gone through a lot and he wanted to change. Charlie wanted to be smart, before the operation Charlie was gullible, his â€Å"friends† would make fun of him but he never realized it and he was happy. Charlie was smart in his own way but he never realized it because he was focused on being â€Å"smart. † After the operation Charlie was a serious person he understood everything his friends said. Charlie's beha vior changed he was more aggressive and he got fired.In conclusion, Charlie should not have had the operation he became aggressive, he scared people and got fired. Charlie was not as happy anymore, he was a serious person and he understood everything people said. Charlie wanted to be smart and never realized he was smart in his own way. Charlie should have never had the operation because he cut his life short, he was not happy, he was more aggressive but was giving up his life, and being happy worth It to be Intelligent.

Expressing an Opinion in German

Expressing an Opinion in German If youve got an opinion, the German language has a ton of ways to express it. Not all are as straight forward as Ich stimme zu  (I agree). Some are phrases and idioms you need to memorize to carry on a natural-sounding conversation.   Here are some common ways to your opinion in German.   Expressing Agreement and Disagreement Das ist zweifelhaft.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ   That is doubtful.Das stimmt (nicht).  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ   Thats (not) right.Da haben Sie (Un)Recht. –   You are (not) right.Das finde ich auch. –   I think so, too.Sie haben (nicht) recht. –   You are (not) right.Da bin ich ganz Ihrer(anderer) Meinung. –   I completely (dis)agree with you.Ich teile Ihre Meinung. –  I share your opinion.Natà ¼rlich/Selbstverstndlich (nicht)!  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Of course (not)!Darà ¼ber sind wir uns einig.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Were in agreement with that.Genau/Eben. – Exactly.Da stimme ich mit Ihnen à ¼berein. – I completely agree with you.Da muss ich widersprechen.  I have to disagree with that.Ganz und gar nicht.  Not at all/Absolutely not.  Keinesfalls. – No way.Auf keinem Fall. – Absolutely not.Wir sind damit einverstanden. - We agree on that.Ich bin fà ¼r/gegen ... – I am for/against ...Ich bin pro/contra ... – I am for/against ...D a liegen Sie và ¶llig falsch. – Youre completely wrong with that.So ein Quatsch/Was fà ¼r ein Blà ¶dsinn! – What nonsense/rubbish! Expressing Indifference Das ist mir egal.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Its all the same to me/I dont care.Es ist mir và ¶llig gleichgà ¼ltig. – I dont care at all.Das macht mir nichts aus. – It doesnt matter to me.Macht nichts. – Doesnt matter.Das ist mir wurscht. – I couldnt care less.Ich habe nichts dagegen. – I have nothing against it.Meinetwegen †¦ – As far as Im concerned ...Von mir aus †¦ - As far as Im concerned ...   Asking for Somebodys Opinion Was halten Sie von †¦? – What do you think of ...?Was denken Sie à ¼ber ....? – What do you think about ...?Wie ist Ihre Meinung à ¼ber ...?  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ What is your opinion on ...?Wie ist Ihre Ansicht à ¼ber ...? – What is your view on ...?Wie finden Sie ...? – What do you think of ...?Sind Sie der Meinung, dass ...? – Are you of the opinion of/that ...?Sind Sie der Ansicht, dass ...? – Are you of the view that ...?

Achieving Happiness

Nowadays we believe that if we are wealthy and have material possessions we would be happy and content with our lives. Is this really the case, how does money and materialistic items help us achieve happiness? If we look at celebrities, athletes, or individuals who possess large sums of wealth and material possessions we believe they are the happiest individuals; that they have everything and buy anything. However, are they really content with their lives? In Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project, she explains that to be happy it must come from inside oneself; you must do the things you love, have fun, freedom, be positive, and most important that inner drive to push you on the right track in becoming happy. Rubin realizing she was in danger of wasting her life gave herself a year to conduct a happiness project; to not only become happier, but also to be more satisfied and content with every life. Every month she completed a different set of resolutions to help her along the way. Nonetheless, Rubin was innately motivated to achieve true happiness and had that inner drive to change old habits and create new ones. Moreover, the methods Rubin used to become happy relates to Daniel H. Pink’s book Drive. Pink helps us understand whether or not happiness comes from outside sources or is it within oneself to make the change. His study on extrinsic forces such as money or material possession implies that these only keeps people happy for a short period of time; on the other hand intrinsic forces such as ones inner drive is a greater force than outside influences. Rubin also used intrinsic motivation to commit to her happiness project and commit to her daily habits. Charles Duhigg defines habit as â€Å" Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit explains how we human beings can change addictive habits or create new and healthy ones. Rubin created and changed habits such as, keeping a low temper, and having more fun. Her overwhelming happiness rubbed off on others and ultimately changed the atmosphere around her house and friends. This emotional contagion relates to Lauren Slater’s text book Opening Skinners Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century where she explains two cientists John Darley and Bibb Latane’s who conducted an experiment to test the reaction of a naive subject; and if that naive subject attempted to aid themselves or others when something disastrous or out of the ordinary occurred. Rubin’s intrinsic motivation based on Drive, her creation of her habit loop and changing of habits explained by Duhigg, and social imitation based on Darley and Latane’s smoke experiment motivated her to change her habits, and become happier and content with her life. Gretchen Rubin was a mother of two young beautiful daughters, seven-year old Eliza and one-year old Eleanor. She was married to a handsome man named Jamie who loved her as much as she did. Rubin lived in New York City and was a full time writer. However, one April morning Rubin was sitting on a bus looking through rain spattered windows when realized she was in danger of wasting her life. She did not feel happy; she had everything: a loving husband, a loving family, two beautiful kids, friends, wealth, but she did not feel happy. Rubin describes â€Å"I wasn’t depressed and I wasn’t having a midlife crisis, but I was suffering from midlife malaise† (2). This midlife malaise was a sense of discontent and feeling of disbelief that she could not do and accomplish anything. As a result of being frustrated and unhappy, Rubin started her own happiness project; every month she set out 4 to 5 resolutions she wished to accomplish by the end of the month for one whole year. These goals led her to intrinsically motivate herself to start a long and dedicated track towards happiness. During the month of January she was dedicated to boost her energy and vitality; she had five resolutions to accomplish during that month: going to sleep earlier, exercising better, organizing her entire house, tackling a nagging task, and acting more energetic. Furthermore, these resolutions had to rely on being intrinsically motivated to complete them. Pink defines intrinsic motivation as â€Å"that enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, namely how creative a person feels when working on the project, is the strongest and pervasive driver† (21). Her 2nd goal during January was to exercise better; however, her father used extrinsic motivation to try to make her exercise. Rubin says â€Å"with extrinsic motivation, people act to win external rewards or avoid external punishments† (22). As a result Rubin never became too fond of exercising on her own; only when someone forced her to she would. However, with this exercising goal, she inertly motivated herself to try to exercise every day; she did this to make herself feel better, boost energy, and look better. Studies show that when someone feels and looks better; they will be much happier with the way they look and feel. At the end of January Rubin was off to a promising start; she had been intrinsically motivated to become happier and rewarded herself with a check mark on her resolution chart, which made it easier for her to be motivated and stick with her happiness project. All the resolutions Rubin followed during every month were mostly habits that had to be developed. During the month of April, one of her resolutions was to sing in the morning. This was where instead of lashing out on her kids or husband as she used to do, she would try to sing their mistakes or complaints and make them laugh. This took extreme discipline for Rubin, because it was a habit of hers to attain a quick temper and lash out on her kids or husband. This is where the habit loop and golden rule of habit change comes into play. Duhigg defines the habit loop as â€Å"a loop which consists of the cue, routine, reward; cute, routine, reward becomes more and more automatic† (19). The cue is the trigger that tells your brain to go into instinctive mode and which habits to use† (19). Secondly, the routine is the action or addiction itself, it can be done mentally, emotionally, or physically (Duhigg 19). Lastly the reward is the pleasure and satisfaction in executing a habit. Rubin’s cue before her habit change was when her husband or kids complained about anything such as, when Rubin was changing Eleanor’s diaper and Eliza was complaining that she had not eaten her breakfast (Rubin 95). Her routine whenever this complaining occurred was lashing out or getting upset and lastly her reward was silence or the job getting done. According to Duhigg, the â€Å"golden rule of habit change is only achievable if you use the same cue; provide the same reward, but modify the routine to successfully change the habit† (62). Her new habit to sing in the morning changed her previous routine of lashing out to sing her child’s or husbands complaint and make them laugh and have silence. The cue was still the complaining and the reward was still silence or getting the job done. Rubin describes â€Å" One morning Eliza whined ‘why do I have to go to class today? I don’t want to go to tae kwon do ,’ I wanted to snap back, ‘ you always say you don’t want to go, but then you have fun,’ or ‘I don’t like to hear all this grumbling. ’ instead, even thou it wasn’t easy, I sang out ‘ I on’t want to go tae kwon do’† (96). This type of mentality in dealing with kids or spouses increases happiness and helps marital and child relations. This habit change allowed Rubin to not only deal with problems in a positive way, but also allowed her to spread happiness in an easy, but effective manner. Moreover, another habit that Rub in changed was during the month of June; she always had a problem with gossiping. However, one of her resolutions for that month was to stop gossiping all together. To obtain long term happiness, you must give up something that brings short term happiness; such as gossiping (Rubin 155). This short term happiness of gossiping is increasingly fun for social functions, but it is not a nice thing to do and whenever you say critical things about other people the spontaneous trait transference occurs. The spontaneous trait transference is a psychological phenomenon where people unintentionally transfer traits to the people who ascribe them (Rubin 156). For instance, if I was to tell Josh that Bill is ignorant; Josh would believe I was also ignorant. As a result Rubin wished to stop. Furthermore, her cue before stopping was an urge or a juicy story, the routine was talking excessively about it and lastly the reward was the happiness and satisfaction she gossiped. Moreover, she stopped her gossiping by replacing the routine with either walking away or defending the person individuals were talking about. Rubin shares an experience â€Å"I was at a meeting when someone mentioned of mutual acquaintances, ‘I heard that their marriage was in trouble. ’ ‘I hadn’t heard that,’ someone replied. So fill us in was the implication of her tone. ‘Oh I don’t think that’s true,’ I said dismissively. Let’s not talk about that was the implication of my tone† (155). Furthermore, two scientists John Darley and Bibb Latane conducted an experiment to test whether or not human beings are driven by social imitation. To test this they brought in three college students; two as actors and one as a naive subject and told them to fill out a questionnaire on college life. A few minutes into the experiment, nonhazardous smoke began to flow out from vents and captivate the room. The two actors continued to fill out the form, but the naive subject was more interested in the heavy smoke pouring out like cream. Slater describes â€Å"The confederates were instructed to keep filling out their forms, to display no fear. They did. The smoke started pouring like cream, coming faster, heavier, smearing the air and blotting out figures, faces. The smoke was an irritant and caused one to cough. Each time, the naive subject looked alarmed, looked at the smoke going from wisp to waft, looked at the calm confederates, and then, clearly confused, went back to filling out the questionnaire†(104). The results were extraordinary; the naive subject imitated the actors in the room, doing nothing about the smoke. Slater described â€Å"we are driven by imitation† (IDK). This experiment shows that we are driven by social imitation; copying other people to please ourselves and feel comfortable rather than feeling out of place. However, can this be related to happiness? Rubin described â€Å"a phenomenon called ‘emotional contagion’ is unconsciously catching emotions from other peoplewhether good moods or bad ones (127). Thus, social imitation and emotional contagion are the same; For example, we all have that friend that has a â€Å"contagious laughter†. Why do you think that is? Well, because of that friend’s continuous laughter, everyone else in the group may start to inexplicably feel the same way, sometimes without even realizing what is causing their reaction. During May, one of Rubin’s resolutions was to take time to be silly. Even though controlling her temper by singing complaints had done wonders, Rubin wanted even more happiness around her home. She wanted to create a happy atmosphere. One day while putting groceries away, Rubin used two clementine’s to make goggle eyes at her two daughters; not only making her laugh, but her whole family as well. Since, Eleanor and Eliza saw her mother laughing at her silly joke, they also joined in. This was exactly how the naive subject reacted when he saw the two confederates ignoring the smoke. Instead of reporting the smoke as an emergency, the naive subject also ignored the smoke. Moreover, social imitation or emotional contagion also played a role during the month of June when one of her resolutions was to make three new friends.

Crisis communicate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Crisis communicate - Essay Example The videos were watched by at least 1 million people all over the world until the videos were finally pulled out of the social media almost two days later (Jacques, 2009). Vice President of Corporate Communications, Tim McIntyre, carried out an analysis of the situation within the first 24 hours of the release of the videos and reached the conclusion that the videos were not a prank. This led to his communication, both externally and internally, with the concerned audience that included but was not limited to the security head, senior management team, and social media people. McIntyre collaborated with GoodAsYou.org, the consumer watchdog organization, that alerted the top management of Domino’s about the videos, that led to the identification of the workers as Michael Setzer and Kristy Hammond. Customer’s requests were started to be responded to by the company on Twitter by Tuesday. Common questions of the customers included whether the videos were released deliberately by the company or if the management was surprised at the release; why the management had not issued an official statement about the videos; and what would the management do about the whole crisis (Jacques, 2009). President of Domino’s Pizza, Patrick Doyle, officially recorded an apology by Wednesday which was uploaded on YouTube. The crisis was captured in case studies and articles by a host of bloggers and journalists over the following many days. This paper provides an analysis of the crisis communication strategies used by Domino’s Pizza after an unfortunate incident it experienced in 2009. The Arthur W. Page Society is charged with â€Å"embracing the highest professional standards; advancing the way communications is understood, practiced and taught; and providing a collegial and dynamic learning environment† (Arthur W. Page Society, 2015a). On its website, the Arthur W. Page Society enlists these