Equal Employment Opportunity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Equal Employment Opportunity - Essay Example 87). Diversity management is linked with growing organizational plans that value all individuals in the same way, not considering their distinctions. In controlling diversity, attempts are made by both the business as well as the persons in it to become accustomed to and acknowledge the value of diversity. Businesses can as well deal with diversity concerns in more limited techniques: (1) equal employment opportunity and (2) affirmative action. Equal employment opportunity (EEO) is a wide thought implying that persons must have equal dealing in every service associated activities. Persons who are sheltered under equal employment regulations are protected from illegitimate prejudice, which takes place as persons having identical traits are distinguished against because of that trait. Different laws have been passed to defend persons who share some particular traits, â€Å"such as race, age, or gender† (Smith, p. 102). Those having the elected traits are referred to as a seclude d group or as associates of a secluded faction. A sheltered group is made of those who come within a group recognized for defence in equal employment regulations and set of laws. Several of the sheltered groups, in the past, have been exposed to illegitimate bias. The reasons for protection that have been recognized by different centralized regulations are (1) cast, cultural basis, colour and creed (2) sexual characteristics (3) age bracket (4) persons with physical or psychological inabilities (5) armed forces experience and (6) religious conviction. For example, consider a company that is trying to be suitable for EEO policy has comparatively a small number of Hispanic executives. To raise the number of Hispanics, the company will employ and interview Hispanics who have minimum required credentials for the administration posts. What the company is offering is equal employment opportunity for competent persons to be considered for service. To remedy regions within which it seems th at persons in sheltered groups â€Å"have not had equal employment opportunities† (Burstein, p. 183), a number of companies have extended positive action approaches. Affirmative action takes place as companies recognize trouble regions, set objectives, and take constructive strides to assure equal employment opportunities for individuals in a sheltered group. Affirmative action concentrates on appointing, guiding, and endorsing of sheltered group associates where they are underrepresented within a company with respect to their ease of use within the labour markets from which hiring takes place. At times, companies have introduced affirmative action willingly, although many times companies have been obliged to do so as they are government service providers having more than 50 workers and more than 55,000 USD in government agreements yearly. When equal employment opportunity set of laws are talked about, perhaps the most unpredictable problems concern the approach that â€Å"a ffirmative action leads to quotas, preferential selection, and reverse discrimination† (Burstein, p. 201). Integral to the disagreement is the company’s part in choosing, guiding, and endorsing sheltered group associates as they are underrepresented in different professions within a company. Individuals who are not associates of any sheltered group have stated that there is inequity in reverse. This reverse bias may

PsychologyTransacial Adoption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

PsychologyTransacial Adoption - Essay Example These figures have grown substantially since those days and are likely to increase in the future. Evidently, such major sociological phenomenon could not but attract the attention of scholarly community. Research has covered the issues of ethnocentric bias, adjustment of adopted children, appearance discomfort, but largely focused on the problem of racial and cultural identity formation. The debate revolving around the question of whether White American parents should adopt children of different racial background was fueled by a position paper issued by the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). Simon and Alstein (1977) clearly expressed the negative attitude of the Association toward the problem of transracial adoption labeling the placement of African American children - the most widespread group of children waiting for adoption in the U.S. - with the Caucasian families as 'cultural genocide' (p. 202). The NABSW's attitude toward transracial adoption was brilliantly illustrated by the following statement: " Black children should be placed only with Black familie s for adoption. Black children belong, physically, psychologically and culturally in Black families in order they receive the total sense of themselves and develop a sound protection of their future The socialization process for every child begins at birth. Included in the socialization process is the child's cultural heritage which is an important segment of the total process. This must begin at the earliest moment; otherwise [Black] children will not have the background and knowledge which is necessary to survive in a racist society. This is impossible if the child is placed with White parents in a White environment" (Simon & Alstein, 1977: 50) Although the NABSW position expressed three decades ago was made in a seriously different environment characterized by higher degree of interracial tensions some of the key arguments on which it relied did not become outdated. Thus, several relatively recent studies have demonstrated that African American families are likely to have difficulties preparing their children to succeed in the U.S. society characterized by the residuals of racist attitudes toward representatives of the minorities. Racial messages from the authorities, lower expectations at school, and prejudiced attitude from the low-enforcement officers are often listed among the most essential factors of influence in this regard (Bradley, 1998; Robinson & Ginter, 1999; Tatum, 1997). Presently, the views expressed by the scholars and child support organizations regarding the issue of transracial adoption gradually shift toward a more positive stance. Thus, the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) that includes more than 400 Canadian and American child advocacy organizations believes that racial background and ethnicity do play an essential role in socialization of a child: a family of the same racial or ethnic background is preferable for a child in terms of developing a set of effective strategies to cope with the racist attitudes still adopted by many American citizens. However, the NACAC also believes that

Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Internal Controls

Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Internal Controls 1. Introduction In 2001, Enron reaffirmed that their previous financial report had to revise as accounting errors existed in their computer system. After that, Enron the largest US corporate with assets of $63.4 billion faced the end road of bankruptcy suddenly. Four thousand employees face losing theirs job and retirement pays (Benston, 2002). It is not merely one person can break a solid business structure. The result of investigation shows this case was a corporate scandal. The Enrons top executive empowered the employees to manipulate the stock price. As a result, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was legislated because of the fraud behaviors which created by Enron. President Bush described this scandal as the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the Great depression when he signed SOX Act (Hays 2003, cited in Eichar S. 2009, p.1). It seems likely that the weak internal control system were has ability to prevent the accounting scandal happening. Moreover, the top managers did not function effectively in order to monitor theirs companys financial condition as well as involving in accounting scandal. Another problem is that the managers ethics behavior needs to be tested and considered. The main purpose of SOX Act is to prevent a fraud such as Enron case happening again, whereas some people have the skepticism with SOX Act that can still work for modern corporation. This paper attempts to analyse that internal control was generally become more effective since the Enron scandal. 2. Accounting Information Systems The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) has a definition on internal control that as a process is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in effectiveness and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. (http://www.coso.org/resources.htm) When Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act (to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes, US congress) (SOX Act) has been signed in 2002, the concept of internal control has been carefully considered in information system improvement. The section 404 of SOX Act indicates that company has the responsibility to declare the assessment of internal control structure in each fiscal financial report. For an organization, an accounting information system (AIS) which is a key framework for information system plays an important role in organization, processing and management the process of transaction, which is a foundation for building information system in business (Moscove, 1999). Because accounting information system could bring benefit for computerized company. Not only can it control obvious audit trail (an obvious evidence to confirm the transactions accurately) for purpose of assurance and auditing, but also it has connecting general demand for physical protection of assets. Nowadays, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is used popularly after SOX Acts had announced. ERP system is built based on the advantage of accounting information system. According a research indicates that 80 percent of the fortune 500 firms have implemented the ERP system (SAP, 2005 cited in Brown Nasuti, 2005), because of the following benefits: accessing data in time, integrating the process of business operation and transferring internal information correctly. The SOX Acts requests the enterprises should keep going on evaluation of the management risk, ERP systems still has significant effect on collecting risk management data as companies used it (Brown Nasuti, 2005). Research (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008) shows the most important factor of internal control dimensions is the control environment: monitoring. There is a good example illustrates some main elements of internal control as using ERP system. Research (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008) finds some featu res of using ERP systems in Taiwan public companies and there are most important results tally with the purpose of internal control:(1) Establishment of IT organizations and their relations, (2) Integration and communication of financial information, (3) Development of IT strategic plans, (4) Management of information quality, and (5) Monitoring of operating procedures (pp. 104). This result is exactly integrated with the original definition of control environment by COSO: The Control Environment sets the tone of an organization, influencing the control consciousness of its people. It is the foundation for all other components of internal control, providing discipline and structure.(COSO, 1992 cited in Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008, p. 114) As the result, the primary task is making security for physical control, in order to process the internal control function effectively. In addition, the senior management support could be a main factor caused ERP and IT project implementation successfully. The second issue which should be considered for internal control is integration and communication of financial information. The ERP systems could support utilize IT to combine organizational resources and information about finance and accounting for companys operation strategies. Furthermore, the SOX section 404 has regulated the internal control leading to contribution of financial reporting (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao and Hsu, 2008). The company mangers not only could use financial information for evaluating their companies financial structure and the result of operating, but also public users have more confidence to invest these companies with their safety financial information. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the relevance and reliability of financial information. Today, firms should consider implementing a new concept of internal control monitoring (ICM) technology for purpose of support and facilitate internal control processes. There are two definitions that explain ICM function: ICM technology encompasses a range of control monitoring tasks, including the automation of routine control tests, enhanced risk assessments, evaluation and documentation of controls, and managing and communicating control assurance activities (COSO 2009 cited in Masli, 2010, pp.1103-1104) and The goal of ICM is to enhance the overall visibility of the organization to risk and performance through the effective use of technology (KPMG2008 cited in Masli, 2010, p.1104). Masli(2010) shows that most companies had imputed large-scale investment in IT development in the last ten year. Unfortunately, these funds were wasted, because some reasons caused the plan to fail, such as untrained workers can not fully use the leading software effectively and physical hardware inco mpatibility. Different than AIS and ERP system, the ICM concentrates on risk assessment and responds a message immediately if somebody intends to break internal control system. The ICM technology can link with other data of operating index. For instance, if the supervisor finds companies stock price has an unusual fluctuation in stock marketing, the monitoring system will respond to high executives and list the potential factors together. For these reasons, there is no question that the ICM technology can be used in every firm. 3. Organization of board of directors In Enron Company, the board of directors does not have responsibilities to detect the weak financial structure. Even though there were 15 members in the board of directors, they do not prohibit managers using high risk accounting standards, and ignore any potential because all members are. Furthermore, the each member had received more salary and owned high amount of Enrons stock (USA senate report). The board of directors could affect the quality of companies internal controls. First of all, one thing which has to be considered is the number of outside directors on the board of directors. Research (Beasley, 1996 cited in Yan, Jian Nan, 2007) suggests that the board independence does not usually lead to the problem of financial fraud. Then, other expertise indicates it is necessary to consider the number of directors in a board. Enhancing the board structure could reduce the likelihood of the business being exposed in weak financial system and improve the financial reporting rationality. Research (Dalton, 1999 cited in Yan, Jian Nan, 2007 p.308) states a large board has more expertise than a small one, and that it tends to be more effective in monitoring accruals. It seems that the phenomenon of weak internal control does not exist in a large board. Moreover, another expertise finds that the board size is beneficial for audit committee independence and a large board of director could have the effective audit committee as well as served high-quality audit services (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). It seems that there are more outside directors can enhance the quality of internal control, because their independence can not be affected by compensation such as the director fees and stocks. Under SOX, the primary issues of setting up the independent auditors could lead to the reliability of the internal control. The SOX section 301 requires that the audit committee has responsibility for ensuring the audit report and each member should be independent (SOX Act). From the Enron case, it is clear that the audit committees can enhance the financial report quality and offer effective monitoring censorship in internal control. An audit committee has some responsibility of such as: review of the internal audit department and the annual audit plan, evaluate of annual financial reports and the results of audit, criticize of the internal accounting controls, and security of business assets. (Steven T., 2005 p.58) Steven T. (2005) points out that companies have the reliable financial information, because their audit committees are independent. Then, if the members of audit committees have high financial background, it can find that these companies are unlikely to have problem of i nternal control and have more abilities to find the faults of internal control (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). One issue which should be considered the audit independence has a significant effect on disclosure of firms internal control problems. Because the fees are a potential factor to affect the relationship between auditors and client businesses, the auditors are more likely to ignore potential problems and issue an incorrect opinion on clients internal controls. Conversely, an expertise claims that there is no relation between non-charge services and independence. In order to maintain auditors reputation, they could provide high-quality service and prevent anyone doubted about their independence (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). It can be concluded that the independence for board of directors is more important than the outside auditors (Certified Public Accountant films). 4. Business ethics In this decade, the world economic system faces one big challenge that more and more frauds have happened in each year, such as accounting manipulations, and unethical behavior. The early law and legislation aimed at purpose of financial establishment and the security of the monetary system (Rockness, 2005). Consequently, the fraud scandals happened again and again. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has the function of providing a regulation for companies ethical behavior. The SOX section 301 has ruled on the responsibilities to the audit committee, because the audit committee plays an important role in board of directors. Analyzing recent ethical failures, one study (Lublin and Carms, 2003 cited in Rockness, 2005 p. 45) indicates the audit committee was directly involved, perceived as too closely tied to the corporation, or oblivious to financial reporting situations. In this way, the audit committee has to provide a mechanism which communicate the unethical behavior to companies employees and the external auditors. Additionally, it is obvious that SOX Act not only provides strict rules for business, but also giving guidelines for companies to establish the ethical atmosphere in order to maintain the high working performance. The SOX section 406 requires that public corporations should set up a code of ethics for senior managers, and moreover, they have to explain in annual report why not having code of ethic. The main purpose of code should be included: promotion of honest and ethical conduct, full and fair disclosure, compliance with laws, internal reporting for violations, and accountability for adherence to the code. (Securities and Exchange Commission, 2003b cited in Rockness, 2005, p. 46) In last two decades, most American companies have had an ethical code. Some of European companies also have accepted this trend. These companies have installed the codes to give theirs employees a guideline for work (Sobczak, 2003 cited in Stevens, 2007). According to one study (Kaptein, 2004 cited in Stevens, 2007) different countries companies have the different results, when those companies have implemented ethical codes. A study (Kaptein, 2004 cited in Stevens, 2007) finds that European codes concentrated on work environment are 50% that more than American codes. Conversely, the honesty was a significant issue for American codes (64%) compared with European codes (45%) and Asian codes (38%). It is clear that Americans organizations usually less concern fairness in the work. In the Enron case, it found that Enron were willing to offer high reward in order to motivate their employees to reach the business goal with the unethical behaviour. To summary all mentioned above, successful companies should have a unique ethic value that connected with business goals. These employees could use different business skills at work. It can be more flexible and adaptable without losing their important ethical values. The long term goal for businesses is that infuse a new thinking of purposeful task with the pure ethical values rather than pursuing the high income (Stevens, 2007). 5. Conclusion In conclusion, SOX Act makes the profound impact on internal control building and there are three aspects could explain why recent internal control is effective for the organizations. First of all, the role of accounting information system offer the important audit trail for accurate auditing and another benefit is protection for the physical assets. Moreover, enterprise resource planning software has an additional function which is risk management. Taiwans example shows that the ERP is linked with enhancement information quality and monitor the operating process and another function is it can integrate internal control with the communication of financial information for the operation strategies. Then, new trend is for implementation of the internal control monitoring combined with ERP system. It can ensure security of the information effectively and detect the unusual signal immediately. Secondly, the independent audit committee is an essential requirement for enhancing the financia l report quality and monitoring the internal control. More members in the board of directors could enhance the quality of audit committee and provide high-quality audit job for the companies. The last aspect is that the SOX Act has mentioned organizations should disclosure the code of ethics in financial report. It means the business have the responsibility for training the ethical culture to theirs employees. As discussed above, the SOX Act has ruled to make the internal control effective. It seems that the information system, managers structure and ethical concept have been improved and achieve the internal control effective.

Macbeth-Tragic Hero :: essays research papers

Macbeth-Tragic Hero   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As I finished reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare I realized the true reason that Macbeth is considered a tragic hero. Like all other tragic hero’s he had many good things going for him in his life before he messes with self- destructing things and threw it all away.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Macbeth had a great marriage, he was Thane of Glamis, the people and the king respected him and he was well liked. He was a generally happy person without much greed or jealousy in his life. This was until evil and the devil overcame him. He started getting greedy and wanted more. Once the thought of being king entered his head and once he shared that with his wife, there was no turning back. He was bound to destruction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Macbeth was weak because he allowed his wife saying that he was not a true man get to him. He had to prove to his wife that he was a man and his only way of doing that was through murder. Even though he had hesitations and second thoughts about it, he did it out of love for his wife and the possibility of his triumph; he may actually become king. He allowed this to become an obsession and he did end up killing Duncan, his king. This started him down the road of doom. He suddenly had a very evil streak that was never there before and this was revealed more often than ever. He began letting the evil take over and murdering more and more people thinking that he was only saving himself. What he did not realize was that he was only harming himself in the long run. He was driving himself mad and he was no longer himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Macbeth was just like other tragic hero’s such as Elvis Presley. Elvis had much going for him and he thought that the drugs and alcohol were helping him deal with his stress and fame but in the long run it killed him.

Mis “Myspace

What kind of databases and database servers does MySpace use? A database is an organized collection of data. A database server is a computer program that provides database services to other computer programs. In the initial phases, MySpace operated with two web servers (a computer application that helps to deliver web content that can be accessed through the internet) communicating with one database server and a Microsoft SQL Server database(as s database, it is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data requested by other software applications).But as the number of accounts started to increase to 500,000 in 2004 one database server wasn’t sufficient. MySpace then deployed three SQL servers database. Which one served as a master database, which received all new data and copied it to the other two databases. As time passed and the number of accounts grew to millions, the database servers where approaching their input/output capacity and causing MySp ace to add many cheaper servers to share the database load.Still having problems with overload, MySpace switched to virtualized storage architecture. In which databases write to any available disk, thus eliminating the possibility of an application’s dedicated disk becoming overloaded. In 2005 MySpace added more servers between the database servers and the Web servers to store and serve copies of frequently accessed data objects so that the site’s web servers wouldn’t have to query the servers with lookups as frequently. Why is a database technology so important for a business such as MySpace?Due to the nature of MySpace and because it mostly receive from and serves to its uses are data objects like pictures, audio files and video files databases technology is the only technology that accomplish the mission. Its database must make the objects readily available to anyone requesting access to an entity (person). Database technology cuts through many problems of tr aditional filing. Rather than storing data in separate file for each application, data are store as to appear to users as being stored in only one single location.How effectively does MySpace organize and store the data on its site? MySpace. com was one of the most popular social networking sites and experienced one of the greatest growths in the history. But unfortunately it wasn’t able to keep with its data storage and challenged technical letdowns that degrade web site performance and frustrated its rapidly expanding network users. MySpace used two Web servers communicating with one database server. It was adequate when the site had a small number of users who were updating or accessing database objects.Obviously that won’t work with millions of users. Unfortunately, MySpace kept overloading more frequently than other major Web sites. With a log-in error rate of 20 to 40 percent on some days, the site is not effectively organizing or storing data. What data manageme nt problems have risen? How has MySpace solved, or attempted to solve these problems? Some of the problems MySpace has encountered are inadequate storage space on its database servers, slow access or no access through its log-in application, and users’ inabilities to access data.Over the years, MySpace has attempted to fix these problems by adding more and Web servers and more database servers. Some were simply â€Å"added on† without restructuring the entire system to more efficiently use its hardware and software. Workloads were not distributed evenly between servers which caused inefficient use of resources. MySpace developers continue to redesign the Web site’s database, software, and storage systems, to keep pace with its exploding growth, but their job is never done. MySpace switched to a virtualization storage architecture which ended the practice of attaching disk dedicated to specific applications.

Night World : Witchlight Chapter 2

They'd gotten a dragon. Keller's heart was pounding. Somehow, somewhere, the people of the Night World had found one and awakened him. And they'd paid him-bribed him-to join their side. Keller didn't even want to imagine what the price might have been. Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard. Dragons were the oldest and most powerful of the shapeshifters, and the most evil. They had all gone to sleep thirty thousand years ago-or, rather, they had been put to sleep by the witches. Keller didn't know exactly how it had been done, but all the old legends said the world had been better off since. And now one was back. But he might not be fully awake yet. From the glimpse she'd had, his body was still cold, not much heat radiating from it. He'd be sluggish, not mentally alert. It was the chance of a lifetime. Keller's decision was made in that instant. There was no time to think about it-and no need. The inhabitants of the Night World wanted to destroy the human world. And there were plenty of them to do it, vampires and dark witches and ghouls. But this was something in another league altogether. With a dragon on their side, the Night World would easily crush Circle Daybreak and all other forces that wanted to save the humans from the end of the world that was coming. It would be no contest. And as for that little girl in there, Iliana the Witch Child, the Wild Power meant to help save humankind-she would get swatted like a bug if she didn't obey the dragon. Keller couldn't let that happen. Even as Keller was thinking it, she was changing. It was strange to do it in a public place, in front of people. It went against all her most deeply ingrained training. But she didn't have time to dwell on that. It felt good. It always did. Painful in a nice way, like the feeling of having a tight bandage removed. A release. Her body was changing. For a moment, she didn't feel like anything-she almost had no body. She was fluid, a being of pure energy, with no more fixed form than a candle flame. She was utterly†¦ free. And then her shoulders were pulling in, and her arms were becoming more sinewy. Her fingers were retracting, but in their place long, curved claws were extending. Her legs were twisting, the joints changing. And from the sensitive place at the end of her spine, the place that always felt unfinished when she was in human form, something long and flexible was springing. It lashed behind her with fierce joy. Her jumpsuit was gone. The reason was simple: she wore only clothes made out of the hair of other shapeshifters. Even her boots were made of the hide of a dead shifter. Now both were being replaced by her own fur, thick black velvet with darker black rosettes. She felt complete and whole in it. Her arms-now her front legs-dropped to the ground, her paws hitting with a soft but heavy thump. Her face prickled with sensitivity; there were long, slender whiskers extending from her cheeks. Her tufted ears twitched alertly. A rasping growl rose in her chest, trying to escape from her throat. She held it back-that was easy and instinctive. A panther was by nature the best stalker in the world. The next thing she did was instinctive, too. She took a moment to gauge the distance from herself to the black-haired boy. She took a step or two forward, her shoulders low. And then she jumped. Swift. Supple. Silent. Her body was in motion. It was a high, bounding leap designed to take a victim without an instant of warning. She landed on the dark boy's back, clinging with razor claws. Her jaws clamped on the back of his neck. It was the way panthers killed, by biting through the spine. The boy yelled in rage and pain, grabbing at her as her weight knocked him to the ground. It didn't do any good. Her claws were too deep in his flesh to be shaken off, and her jaws were tightening with bone-crushing pressure. A little blood spilled into her mouth, and she licked it up automatically with a rough, pointed tongue. More yelling. She was dimly aware that the vampires were attacking her, trying to wrench her away, and that the security guards were yelling. She ignored it all. Nothing mattered but taking the life under her claws. She heard a sudden rumble from the body beneath her. It was lower in pitch than anything human ears could pick up, but to Keller it was both soft and frighteningly loud. Then the world exploded in agony. The dragon had caught hold of her fur just above the right shoulder. Dark energy was crackling into her, searing her. It was the same black power he'd used against Winnie, except that now he had direct contact. The pain was scalding, nauseating. Every nerve ending in Keller's body seemed to be on fire, and her shoulder was a solid red blaze. It made her muscles convulse involuntarily and spread a metallic taste through her mouth, but it didn't make her let go. She held on grimly, letting the waves of energy roll through her, trying to detach her mind from the pain. What was frightening was not just the power but the sense of the dragon's mind beneath it Keller could feel a terrible coldness. A core of mindless hatred and evil that seemed to reach back into the mists of time. This creature was old. And although Keller couldn't tell what he wanted with the present age, she knew what he was focused on right now. Killing her. That was all he cared about. And of course he was going to succeed. Keller had known that from the beginning. But not before I kill you, she thought. She had to hurry, though. There almost certainly were other Night People in the mall. These guys could call for reinforcements, and they would probably get them. You can't†¦ make me†¦ let go, she thought. She was fighting to close her jaws. He was much tougher than a normal human. Panther jaws could crush the skull of a young buffalo. And right now, she could hear muscle crunching, but still she couldn't finish him. Hang on†¦ hang on†¦ Black pain†¦ blinding†¦ She was losing consciousness. For Winnie, she thought. Sudden strength filled her. The pain didn't matter anymore. She tossed her head, trying to break his neck, wrenching it back and forth. The body underneath her convulsed violently. She could feel the little lapsing in it, the weakening that meant death was close. Keller felt a surge of fierce joy. And then she was aware of something else. Someone was pulling her off the dragon. Not in the fumbling way the thugs had. This person was doing it skillfully, touching pressure points to make her claws retract, even getting a finger into her mouth, under the short front teeth between the lethal canines. No! Keller thought. From her panther throat came a short, choking snarl. She lashed out with her back legs, trying to rip the person's guts out. Afo. The voice didn't come in through Keller's ears. It was in her mind. A boy's voice. And it wasn't afraid, despite the fact that she was now scrabbling weakly, still trying to turn his stomach to spaghetti. It was concerned and anxious but not afraid. Please-you have to let go. Even as he said it, he was pushing more pressure points. Keller was already weak. Now, all at once, she saw stars. She felt her hold on the dragon loosen. And then she was being jerked backward, and she was falling. A hundred and ten pounds of black panther was landing on whoever had yanked her free. Dizzy†¦ Her vision was blurred, and her body felt like rubber. She hardly had enough strength to twist her head toward the boy who had pulled her away. Who was he? Who? Her eyes met blazing green-gold ones. Almost the eyes of a leopard. It gave Keller a jolt. But the rest of the boy was different. Dark gold hair over a rather pale and strained face with perfectly sculpted features. Human, of course. And those eyes seemed to be blazing with worry and intensity rather than animal ferocity. Not many people could look at an angry panther like that. She heard his mental voice again. Are you all right? And then, for just an instant, something happened. It was as if some barrier had been punctured. Keller felt not just his voice but his worry inside her head. She could feel†¦ him. His name†¦ Galen. And he's someone born to command, she thought. He understands animals. Another shapeshifter? But I can't feel what animal he turns into. And there's no bloodtbirstiness at all†¦. She didn't understand it, and her panther brain wasn't in the mood to try. It was grounded in the here and now, and all it wanted was to finish what she had started. She wrenched her eyes away from Galen and looked at the dragon. Yes, he was still alive but badly wounded. A little snarl worked out of Keller's throat. The vampire thugs were still alive, too; one was picking up the injured dragon and hauling him away. â€Å"Come on!† he was shouting in a voice sharp with panic. â€Å"Before that cat recovers-â€Å" â€Å"But the girl!† the second vampire said. â€Å"We don't have the girl.† He looked around. Diana was standing by a display of porcelain figures, looking just as pale and graceful as any of them. She had both hands at her throat and seemed to be in shock. The second vampire started toward her. Afo, Keller thought. But she couldn't get her legs to move. She could only lie helplessly and stare with burning eyes. â€Å"No!† a voice beside her said, out loud this time. Galen was jumping up. He got between the vampire and Diana. The vampire grinned, a particularly nasty grin. â€Å"You don't look like a fighter to me, pretty boy.† It wasn't exactly true, Keller thought. Galen wasn't pretty; he was beautiful. With that gold hair and his coloring, he looked like a prince from a storybook. A rather young and inexperienced prince. He stood his ground, his expression grim and determined. â€Å"I won't let you get to her,† he said steadily. Who the hell is this guy? Keller thought Iliana, pale and wide-eyed, glanced up at him, too. And then Keller saw her†¦ melt. Her drawn features softened; her lips parted. Her eyes seemed to quiver with light. She had been cowering away from the vampire, but now her body relaxed just a little. He certainly looked more like a champion defender than Keller had. He was clean, for one thing. Keller's fur was matted with her own blood and the dragon's. More, she couldn't help the little raspy snarls of rage and despair she was making, showing dripping teeth in a red-stained muzzle. Too bad he was about to be slaughtered. He wasn't a fighter. Keller had seen the inside of his mind, and she knew he didn't have the tiger instinct. The vampire was going to massacre him. The vampire started forward. And a voice from the front of the store said, â€Å"Hold it right there.†

Analytical Essay Sample on #8220;The Catcher in the Rye#8221; Holden’s Attitude to Life

Analytical Essay Sample on #8220;The Catcher in the Rye#8221; Holden’s Attitude to Life Holden’s attitude to life in general is a very confusing and indecisive one. His constant criticism and dislike for phonies joint with his strange ideas about life and the way in which it should be lived creates an image of a confused, uncorrupted and socially unstable youth of the time. He seems to think that he is the only person who can see, or who can be bothered to stop and see, that people are becoming mechanical in their following of the same old path of life that they know as the only way to live. He argues throughout the novel that these people are all fake and do not have any original ideas of their own. Throughout the novel Holden weaves a complex web of different feelings, attitudes and thoughts that can only be described as naively cynical. Holden’s attitude is negative towards all people who manage to enjoy the â€Å"phony† pleasures of life and live pleased that they have achieved the necessary. He feels this because he himself does not manage to fulfill the credentials needed to live this life both at school and outside. He does not contain any of the necessary qualities such as being an able sportsman, apt student or deadly womaniser. His attitude to society in general is a mixed one. He criticises everyone and not one person he writes of in the novel, other than his sister Phoebe, Allie and Jane, passes his approval. His attitude to society is actually quite realistic and normal for someone who takes the time to stop and see what’s actually happening. His views are consolidated from the experience he receives by living both the teenager at a respectable private school and the rich boy living almost on the streets. He experiences the dirty scheming mind of downtown New York as well as the uptown posh life of a well-raised prep school boy. He criticises everyone he meets on his pub-crawls around the New York bars and nightclubs. This is ironic in itself because he’s the young man with prospects drowning himself in his own misery and doing the best (unintentionally) to ruin his own life that could be perfect. Yet Holden knows that his life could be perfect but he is so persistent in not being the same as everyone else that he tries his hardest to ignore the opportunities for a perfect life given to him. His attitude towards women is a strange slightly old-fashioned one. He has the utmost respect for women and has difficulty acknowledging the maltreatment of them by other males. He tries to be friendly with most of the women he meets in the novel but often, as he always fears, he is rejected by them either on the account of his age or his strange behaviour. He attempts to get along with most of the males in the novel but finds it difficult at times as his super-critical assessment of people makes it difficult for him to get along with anyone. He befriends people that he feels sorry for such as Ackley, the pimply boy ostracized for being different. He does this because he can relate to him, as Holden knows well the feeling of rejection and loneliness. Holden’s mind is susceptible to change as whenever anyone makes him feel stupid, rejected or frustrated he immediately dismisses any good qualities he earlier graced them with. Everyone Holden talks about, other than Allie, Jane a nd Phoebe, has at least one flaw. In Holden’s eyes this makes them different to him, which translates to inferior at times. Whenever Holden is made to feel different, rejected or strange by anyone he becomes angry and frustrated. Holden feels strongly about certain identities that the people around him tend to assume. He indirectly creates an image of consumerism as an extremely negative part of the average American life, this is represented by his dislike of American status symbols (of prosperity) like the Cadillac, he believes that they should not represent a goal in ones life His ideas are not always right as he believes only what he wants and is not open to outside opinion and help. He generalises ideas about people; he says that people just want to take the easy and thoughtless option of following the ordinary cycle of life, he assumes that anyone who strives to own a Cadillac must be just another ordinary American with no original and thoughtful prospects in life.. It really displeases him when all people wish to achieve out of life are the material rewards, such as money, cars, houses and luxury goods. At times Holden makes it plain that he himself would like to enjoy this lifestyle and in some instanc es does. But I believe he only wants it because he knows he cannot achieve it and that really he feels no need to be the same as everyone else. This need grows from the way he has been made to feel that he is different in a bad way. He contradicts himself a few times in the novel but the main instance was when he wished everything to just stop and not become any worse that it was. His main reason for wanting the world to stop was driven by his protective feelings for his sister who he does not want to be corrupted by the evils in life. Holden really wants for her to retain the childish innocence that he loves so much. This wish for life to stop contradicts his beliefs that people should change the phony lives that they lead. Holden is an easy person to please. It seems Holden needs only small inexpensive things to please him. An example is the red hunting- cap he purchases when in New York. He buys the cap at a shop outside the station in New York directly after he loses all the fencing equipment on the subway. He does this because he believes even a small thing such as the hat can change him. It is a method of hiding from the humiliation or embarrassment he feels at any point in the novel. He uses it simply to hide when he gets into any situation he doesn’t like. This proves a weak point in Holden’s nature. He is actually very influenced by what people think of him and tries to hide when any negative views of him arise. This red hunting-cap manages to transport him from the mess of a life he leads to a different, better one. Another example of a significant item he owns is the mitt of his deceased brother Allie. This mitt that contains poems written by his little brother has a very signifi cant value to Holden. It is a sentimental item that Holden even uses as inspiration for an essay he writes for the ungrateful Stradlater. The mitt is very valuable to Holden as it contains all the memories of his much-loved brother Allie. Holden places only real importance to things that have sentimental value. While Holden insists that he places no importance on items of luxury he does seem to enjoy quite a luxurious life which in turn contradicts his basic beliefs. What Holden tries to prove to us in this novel is the importance of following ones own path of identity and being original. He, though, takes this to ridiculous lengths which remove all sense of sympathy we might have had for our protagonist, he is quick to speak, but much slower, he in fact ignores thinking when he can. From this we gather that thinking could prove fatal to Holden’s strong-hearted ideology.

Teacher who changed my life Essays

Teacher who changed my life Essays Teacher who changed my life Essay Teacher who changed my life Essay Teacher Life is unexpected experience, so full of surprises that nobody knows what will happen the very next moment, especially when you meet a person who has the ability to change your life in complete way. Most of us have met a teacher during our lifetime in school that made a difference and touched our lives in some way to make it better and to open our eyes for success. I remember when the first day of high school started. I was very nervous and stressed, scared to the point that I didnt want to be at the school. I had six classes that I had to attend that day. At the end of the afternoon, I walked in my last class and it was Social Studies. I usually dont like this subject but the teacher started to change the way I thought about social studies. Her name was Mrs.. Jennifer Smith she impressed me the way she was confident, and she told us about her story from high school to college and the success that she gained over the years of studying also the fears that she had. The bell rang, and the class is over. I stayed after class to talk to her about how I feel and how stressed I was about school. She was very nice and she welcomed me. She said Im here for you anytime . I introduced myself to her , and I told her how lonely I felt being in school and that I had no one to talk to which make me feel really awkward, plus that wasnt everything I was afraid of. I was worried about my classes too because they seemed a little hard. We talked for about an hour. She was a very good listener. She gave me a lot of advice that I needed at that time, and she told me to come to her whenever I feel like I need someone to talk to. I came back home really happy and confident. Everything I felt earlier had disappeared. My homework was perfectly done, and I was excited to start my next day of high school and meet Mrs.. Jennifer again. Years of high school was about to be over. Mrs.. Jennifer walked me to senior year even though I had one class with her. Through those three years she taught me a lot of stuff. She made from me a man for life, she opened my eyes for a bright future, and made me feel so special, but that wasnt everything. When senior year started, I were in need of help and I went to her. I wasnt sure if Im going right after I graduate from high school I will go right after to college and I really wanted to know if I did the right thing or not. She gave me the best words that actually convinced me to decide what I should do after graduation. She said through the years that I knew you, I have always seen you as a successful guy that has good head on his shoulders, I want you to go to college and prove to yourself and to me and everybody that you will never fail or take a step back Mrs.. Jennifer has changed my whole life, because of everything she did for me and that I actually listened to her advice. She played the part where I choose to attend college and look forward to be successful as I made a promise with her. Mrs.. Jennifer wasnt Just a teacher for me, but she was like a mother who really cares about her son, and she wanted to see me in a good place all he time where I can find the happiness and Joy in my life. Thats how I see her in my eyes. Maybe that could be Just a little about how I feel about her because she is indescribable person to me. I will never forget the experience that I had with her and what she taught me through high school years. Sometimes people appear in our lives suddenly, and they flip it upside down. They change us for better ones, and thats what Mrs.. Jennifer did for my life. I couldnt be more thankful than any day in my life for having her. She shaped my life in Just a way that should be shaped.

Article Critique

The association between suicidal ideation, friendships with delinquents, and social/parental connectedness in high-risk youth is poorly understood (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger, 2011). The participants include 2,598 pre/early adolescents, but no further information is described regarding the individuals. The results are included: After adjusting for demographic and mental distress factors, suicidal ideation was positively associated with having delinquent friends; yet, after factoring in substance abuse and mental distress, this was negative for males (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger). Furthermore, after adjusting for all factors (demographic, mental distress, illicit substance abuse, and peer/date violence victimization), suicidal ideation was negatively associated with school and parental connectedness, but a higher association did exist for females (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger). The significance levels are not reported. Future research is touched on in the conclusion; potential benefits may exist in increasing school connectedness and improving parenting strategies, especially for females, as well as the improving the violence and substance-abuse prevention strategies, especially for males, connected with delinquent peers (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger). After reading the entire article and re-reading the abstract, it remains clear and provides a good relevant description of the problem under study. The purpose is also clear. The specific hypothesis is not clearly stated, however. The research questions are not clearly stated, but can be interpreted. The review is objective and unbiased, but does not contain any alternative viewpoints. Methods The participants are identified: English-speaking students enrolled in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 at all 16 public schools within a school district (ranking among the 25 nationally highest in poverty, highest 15 in single-parent families, highest 10 in serious crime rates, and the highest 35 in unemployment rate). The number of the entire population is not stated here, but that only data from grades 7 and 9 are used in the study; (3,314 in 7th grade and 2,598 in 9th grade). The participants were selected for the study by voluntarily completing an anonymous self-administered 174-item questionnaire. 78% participated and each student received a $5 gift card for returning the parental permission form and another $5 gift card after completing the survey (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger). There is no mention of approval from the Institutional Review Board. The variables of interest included the following: friendships with delinquents, parental caring and supervision, social support, school connectedness, and number of perceived close friends. Each of the aforementioned variables were further divided as well. The outcome variable, suicidal ideation, was dichotomized: did or did not seriously consider attempting suicide within the 12 months prior to completing the survey. Three analyses were conducted: (1) basic descriptive analyses to characterize the population (including logistic regression to assess crude associations between each characteristic and the outcome variable; associations were reported via odds ratio); (2) logistic regression to determine the associations of each connectedness variable with the outcome variable, adjusting for potential confounding factors; and (3) interaction terms were added to each model-building step that adjusted for demographic actors between the main variables and the outcome variable by sex (Logan, Crosby, Hamburger, 2011). Enough information to replicate the design is not provided, nor is the data analysis plan. Results Descriptive results are reported in a table, including demographics. A lot of information from the tables is not described in the text, but the tables can be interpreted stand alone. The results are written in plain English: 17% had seriously considered suicide within the previous year; 71% had delinquent friends; 66% experienced peer or date abuse within the previous year; 53% experienced mental distress within the previous 30 days; 12% drank alcohol within the previous year; 10% used illicit drugs within the previous year; 80% felt connected to school; 70% felt they had moderate to high levels of social support; and 63% felt they had parents who cared about them and supervised their activities.

Complexities of the U.S. Financial System Research Paper - 1

Complexities of the U.S. Financial System - Research Paper Example Therefore, one way in which the financial markets affect the economy is through determining the flow of both savings and investments into the economy, a pattern which in turn determines the rate of economic growth. Therefore, the financial markets offers an opportunity for savings that have been made by individuals and other business entities to re-enter the economy through the sale of shares, bonds and other financial securities, thus allowing the economy to have a consistent flow of money, which then promotes economic growth (World Financial Watch, 2014). Thus, when the financial markets are not operating smoothly, the economic growth is deterred. On the other hand, one way in which the financial markets affects businesses is through the provision of financial capitals for the business to invest further and grow (World Financial Watch, 2014). Different businesse entities convert their financial worth into shares, which are then listed on the stock market. Additionally, business can form different nature of securities and trade them in the stock and security markets, in order to raise capital for the further investment. In this respect, the financial markets determine the capacity of businesses to raise capital, which in turn determines the level of investment by businesses and the consequent profitability (Metcalf, 2014). In addition, whenever companies and businesses wants to raise money directly from the public, as opposed to raising it from the investors, the businesses issue their shares as Initial Public Offer (IPO) directly to the public, so that they can raise more capital, while making the businesses public entities. This way, the financial markets provides a platform through which private businesses can convert into public entities, while also providing the platform through which the willing and able members of public can own some stakes in some businesses and companies of their choice

Muscles and the Skeletal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Muscles and the Skeletal System - Essay Example Muscles connect to the bones through tendons and these connect with other bones through ligaments at the joint. Slight muscle contraction can produce a wide movement (Gregory & Stewart, 2004). Skeletal muscles also maintain and produce body heat by squeezing the veins to help blood flow to heart. Signaling involves the nerve impulses travelling between the brains. Neurons consist of a cell body and appendages that transmit impulses. They act as conduits for signals throughout the nervous system. Nerve impulses are brief changes in the membrane, growing from the movement of ions across the plasma membrane. These potentials are achieved when the sodium-potassium pump in nerve tissues and the calcium pump in muscle tissues (n.d, 2012). Humans belong to the biological order Primates, which includes prosimians (before apes), tarsioids, and anthropoids. The fossil evidence available proves the evolution of these beings from an insect-eating mammal familiar to the modern-day tree shrew (n.d, 2012). Particularly, prosimians are small tree inhabitants and tarsioids are small primates with features those of the prosimians and the anthropoids. In evaluation of the article (n.d, 2012), the bodys complex mechanisms for maintaining homeostasis demonstrate themselves in the aspects of control and coordination. It is clearly remarkable to see how all body parts look after their functions and ensure safety for proper coordination and regulation of activities (Gregory & Stewart, 2004). n.d. (2012). â€Å"Muscles & Skeletal System.† Module 5: Movemennt, Coordination, Control, and Human Evolution. Retrieved on July 16, 2012:

UK National Health Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

UK National Health Services - Essay Example The UK National Health Services has long delivered care and public health programmes through primary care. The community oriented primary care based on general practice populations and other health workers has debatably been able to make a significant headway against all odds mainly because of failure of primary care population failing to assume responsibility and proactive ownership of the process involved in improving the health of the population. The ideal would have been tailoring the primary care according to the local needs to a personalized care. Despite predominantly biomedical and humanist orientation, general practice in the United Kingdom has long been infused with knowledge and skills traditionally associated with public health medicine. The philosophy involves protecting, maintaining, and generating good health through a combination of individual and family assessments and provision of a supportive environment. This policy, to be able to be successful, demands closer working relationships between the public and the professional and the system acting as an integrating catalyst between the two and the policies building the ground rules for close collaboration and exchanges. The clinician in this framework has essentially dual responsibility in the sense that he needs to devise and implement anticipatory measures to reduce the risk of a future illness within the guidelines of the framework as well as to treat the disease in case of an incidence. Assuming the responsibility of both community and clinical function is painstaking since this calls for establishment of a new alliance between the health professionals and patient population to co-produce health in a joint venture. Unfortunately even though, this is sound theoretically, practically, the market-oriented reforms in the health services in an attempt to redefine and strengthen the discipline of health services did not help much to improv e the perceived the decline in the quality of care. This happened essentially due to a fault in the framework itself. The desired result and improvement was never achieved since the internal market within the service framework tended to separate the roles of health authorities and practitioners. The public health professionals sought to develop strategic planning and purchasing functions within the health authorities mainly to remain in control as they were, and in contrast, the fund holders dismissed the constraining disciplines of needs assessment and service evaluations (Majeed, A., 2003). Child Health Services: It is important to consider child health services in the framework. It is an important indicator for quality of care services. United Kingdom health services pay particular attention to the children in need. Children in need are defined as those who will be unable to achieve and maintain a reasonable standard of health or those whose health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without services. This puts in place services for the children in need, for the children with disabilities, with family difficulties, and with poverty. Using school health as an example, the problems are known to be encountered liaising with the education

Changes must happen in both human eating habits and food cultivation Research Paper

Changes must happen in both human eating habits and food cultivation if the human race is to survive - Research Paper Example uding pizza and burger focusing mainly on takeaway food items, this in return result’s in harmful diseases in conjunction to obesity and poor eating habits and diet namely heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes as per US department of health and human services. In order to overcome these life claiming diseases it is important for people to alter their lifestyles eating habits and recognize the need for healthy diet. Conversely, comparing modern cultivation with traditional cultivation in today’s era the profit norm drives the mechanism of farming paying special emphasis on quantity of crops to be yield using pesticides and chemical fertilizers having implication on both ecosystem and human life, these crucial matters if not tend to than could lead to substantive impact on human lives (National Research Council , 1975). Firstly, poor diet associated with bad eating habits makes a human body more prone to being overweight and obese, according to W.H.O (World Health Organization) these traits makes a human body more susceptible to chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular heart diseases and cancer. People today should recognize the need to alter their lifestyle and incorporate physical activities and more importantly establish a healthy diet routine for themselves and recommend others as well by explaining to them the catastrophic risk on their lives which could be avoided by doing so (Counihan, 2013). Secondly, Stanford hospital USA suggest as per their research that alone in the United States of America obesity has doubled in children and tripled among teenagers since 1980, quoted as per research, that 15% percent of children aged six to 19 are considered overweight, adding to this that more than 60% of adults are either overweight or obese. As per WHO analysis, published on their website obesity was initially to be found more in high income developed countries but today this issue has widespread to developing medium income countries as well this

Summarize & Critic on Torah (Pentateuch) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Summarize & Critic on Torah (Pentateuch) - Essay Example The saga moves from beyond external conflicts- Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Issac and Moses to resolving internal conflicts - following covenants and commandments and resolving age hold human dissatisfaction with what is available, rebellion and ultimate salvation by entering the promised land. The compilation of Pentateuch was done by multiple authors and over a period of six centuries. Friedman presents evidence why he believes this is so; for instance Friedman provides evidence of "Doublets", which are variations of the same story with some facts similar and others paralleling the other instance of same story. Friedman cites specific couplets and verses where such synchronicity has occurred. On the other hand terminology used parallel that of the doublet which it has followed - same set of names fall into same doublet. Thus the text of the Pentateuch can be demarcated into following discrete divisions: J (Jahwistic), E (Elohistic), P (Priestly) and D (Deuteronomic). Within these divisions common names and sequence, presence or absence of events can be clearly identified. Even linguistic parlance within the above divisions is strongly indicative of separate authorships for each of the divisions. The events as presented within each of the div... Historical references within each of the divisions identify the approximate time frame and time period in which they were compiled or written. Friedman has exhaustively listed specific references from where the time frame can be elicited, he proclaims that Priestly text dates back to (715-687 B.C), whereas Deuteronomic dates to the era of reign of Josiah the great grandson of Hezekiah. The linguistic classification and analysis has also reiterated that Jahwistic and Elohistic belong to an earlier era than Priestly and Deuteronomic. As far as the relationships between the divisions are concerned parallels of events are so close between Jahwistic and Elohistic indicating that were probably edited together. In Priestly stories the differences between it and Jahwistic Elohistic report a contradiction of one event by the other presentation as possibly an attempt to explain the consequences after event has happened. Deuteronomic includes references to passages in other divisions indicating that it is more dated than others. Another factor determining completeness is cohesion of Jahwistic Elohistic - both together form a nearly complete and continuous story where as separately each is incomplete. Similarly Priestly also forms a nearly complete section on its own. This indicates merging of Jahwistic Elohistic earlier with addition of Priestly at a later date. It also shows different mindsets of the editors who combined the separate texts as heavy editing of the Jahwistic Elohistic sources seems to have been done in order to ensure good fit while Priestly's addition was without heavy source editing. There are also theories that such explicit divisions are

Critical analyse the paper's purpose Assignment

Critical analyse the paper's purpose - Assignment Example It then examines the causative factors using the hypothetical testing model before making recommendation projected to help educators curb the menace. According to Guo (2011), the key factors leading to plagiaristic behaviors include moral capability, awareness, and academic integration, accounting education, pressures, new technology, institutional support, cultural influences and demographic variables. These hypothesized factors were put into a conceptual model in order to test and ascertain or disqualify them as causative agents as well as to identify any connections among them through a series of questionnaires analysis. The questionnaire was divided in three sections depending on the hypothesized factors, extent of the plagiarism and the demographic factors relating to the respondents. The findings indicated a high degree of co-relation between the hypothesized constructs producing many statistically significant connections which were broadly consistent with the hypothesis. Never theless, research findings were surprising since new technology failed to relate to other constructs and the results were inconsistent with past studies creating a gap that needs to be addressed through further research (Guo 2011). Finally, the paper recommends that educators should take into consideration the effects of student’s cultural background on their propensity to plagiarize; in addition, to focusing on the ethic centric models of learning and integrate students into their academic life. The study sets out to examine students awareness of plagiarism and concludes that some of them ignore the concept altogether because they do not appreciate its gravity as an offence. While others use sources and share information among each other, but do not understand at what point using sources can turns into plagiarism (Granitz & Loewy 2001). Students who are not well integrated in the school system tend to plagiarize more often as an attempt to fit in the system. Moreover, variou s pressure thrust upon accounting students such as parental expectations, especially if they fund the student’s education my also increase a student’s propensity for plagiarism. Similarly, the rigours associated with accounting exams in the UK especially because of the many exam bodies tend to intimidate students and forces them to find easy way out through plagiarizing (Renard 2000). Analysing from a demographic standpoint, the study show that male students are more likely to cheat than female ones; additionally, high rate of plagiarism among students was suggested to be inversely proportional to age with younger scholars being more prone to cheating. Technology was also found to have a positive relationship with plagiarism owing to the wealth of data available on the internet, which students can access and apply in their work with hardly any reading involved. The solution to technology based plagiarism presents a complex situation despite the fact that the tools and software required to address the problem can be found in the same technology (Evans 2006). Currently, many institutions apply plagiarism-detecting tools like turnitin to ensure they police their students’ essays and discourage the vice (Mulcahy & Goodacrep 2004). Notwithstanding, students can still counter this by either using one of an assortment of online software that can paraphrase their essays and prevent detection through

Summarize & Critic on Torah (Pentateuch) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Summarize & Critic on Torah (Pentateuch) - Essay Example The saga moves from beyond external conflicts- Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Issac and Moses to resolving internal conflicts - following covenants and commandments and resolving age hold human dissatisfaction with what is available, rebellion and ultimate salvation by entering the promised land. The compilation of Pentateuch was done by multiple authors and over a period of six centuries. Friedman presents evidence why he believes this is so; for instance Friedman provides evidence of "Doublets", which are variations of the same story with some facts similar and others paralleling the other instance of same story. Friedman cites specific couplets and verses where such synchronicity has occurred. On the other hand terminology used parallel that of the doublet which it has followed - same set of names fall into same doublet. Thus the text of the Pentateuch can be demarcated into following discrete divisions: J (Jahwistic), E (Elohistic), P (Priestly) and D (Deuteronomic). Within these divisions common names and sequence, presence or absence of events can be clearly identified. Even linguistic parlance within the above divisions is strongly indicative of separate authorships for each of the divisions. The events as presented within each of the div... Historical references within each of the divisions identify the approximate time frame and time period in which they were compiled or written. Friedman has exhaustively listed specific references from where the time frame can be elicited, he proclaims that Priestly text dates back to (715-687 B.C), whereas Deuteronomic dates to the era of reign of Josiah the great grandson of Hezekiah. The linguistic classification and analysis has also reiterated that Jahwistic and Elohistic belong to an earlier era than Priestly and Deuteronomic. As far as the relationships between the divisions are concerned parallels of events are so close between Jahwistic and Elohistic indicating that were probably edited together. In Priestly stories the differences between it and Jahwistic Elohistic report a contradiction of one event by the other presentation as possibly an attempt to explain the consequences after event has happened. Deuteronomic includes references to passages in other divisions indicating that it is more dated than others. Another factor determining completeness is cohesion of Jahwistic Elohistic - both together form a nearly complete and continuous story where as separately each is incomplete. Similarly Priestly also forms a nearly complete section on its own. This indicates merging of Jahwistic Elohistic earlier with addition of Priestly at a later date. It also shows different mindsets of the editors who combined the separate texts as heavy editing of the Jahwistic Elohistic sources seems to have been done in order to ensure good fit while Priestly's addition was without heavy source editing. There are also theories that such explicit divisions are

Sports and animals Essay Example for Free

Sports and animals Essay This would explain the large quantity of participants remembering Uganda and chimpanzee, for example, as they are very infrequently used and may have stood out from the more generic words in the table. This may also account for why words like China, cow and swimming were frequently forgotten: they are neither very common nor uncommon in their usage in everyday life, nor are they stereotypical of their respective categories. What is meant by this is if the question was asked name a sport, it is unlikely that the answer swimming would be given, whereas football would be a more likely answer, despite swimming being a relatively common word to encounter. This builds on the idea of categories acting as recognition cues for subsequent words. Also interesting was the distribution of recalls by category: colours were recalled the most frequently (85/120), compared with sports and animals (both 77/120) and, least frequently, countries (64/120). There could be several explanations for this, but it appears to constitute primarily of two factors: the frequency of usage, and the size of the categories domains. For example, colours are frequently used words and there are relatively few words that fall under that category; sports and animals are also categories from which often-used words are drawn, but there are many more words that fit into them than there are for colours; and countries are less frequently-used words. Therefore, a decrease in common usage and an increase in size may lead to proactive interference, causing more confusion and, occasionally, incorrect words to be recalled. This is demonstrated, for example, in that the word America was recalled three times despite it not being on any of the lists (see Appendix 1). In the results from Condition B, there is also evidence that primacy and recency may have occurred. Respectively, green and dog are the first and last words on the grid, and they were recalled by 10 and 9, respectively, of the 10 participants in that condition. No such effect was found, however, in Condition A, suggesting that the order in which words are sequenced has little effect if there is a more significant method of organisation present (in this case, categories). These patterns indicate that organisation is the key factor in remembering information, but at any one time there may be several methods of organisation occurring simultaneously, such as the words semantic categories, the order that the words are written down, and the frequency of the words usage, among others.  This study did, however, have limitations; the most prominent of which is the potential lack of population validity as a result of the relatively small sample size used and the highly restricted age group from which participants were drawn. This could be overcome in future research by widening the target population and using a larger sample in order to identify trends in more detail. In terms of ecological validity, the study uses artificial stimuli to test memory, and naturally occurring stimuli could be used instead in order to observe the effects of organisation on learning in a natural setting and thus improve the ecological validity. There are implications of this study for many aspects of life which involve learning, but particularly education. It has shown that information is better learnt when organised, either upon presentation or as a mental process. The implication of this is that pupils and students may learn information more efficiently through teaching methods involving organising information into structures and providing tasks to do so if the information is not already organised. The former would provide explicit organisation, and the latter would allow individual pupils and students to find their own ways to learn greater amounts of information. Future research might aim to investigate further into the effects of categorisation. This could be done by using a larger list of words or by drawing words from more distinct categories, and observing if, how and how much participants categorise these words; and relating this to the amount of information they remember. A wider target population would also be beneficial. It is often cited that children learn information more efficiently than older adults, and giving participants from the two age groups the same task and comparing the results would provide insight into how the process of learning is different between them, if indeed it is different. To conclude, this study has found no significant effect of organisation of information upon the learning of this information, but organisation cannot be ruled out as a significant factor. It may be the case that organisation upon encoding, rather than presentation, is the factor that determines the storage of the information. This organisation may be in the form of categorisation, but individual differences exist with regard to how this information is organised. Other factors may be how commonly the information is experienced in the given context, and how many recognition cues are available for the information to be recalled. References BOUSFIELD, W.A. (1953). The occurrence of clustering in the recall of randomly arranged associates. Journal of General Psychology, 49, pp. 229-240.  BOWER, G.H., CLARK, M.C., LESGOLD, A.M. WINZENZ, D. (1969). Hierarchical retrieval schemes in recall of categorized word lists. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 8, pp. 323-343.

The Importance Of Environmental Scanning Marketing Essay

The Importance Of Environmental Scanning Marketing Essay Marketing oriented firms mostly focus on marketing planning method through which a thorough analysis of market environment is carried out to scan opportunities within market environments, audit the skills and resources of the firm needed to maximize these opportunities, formulating marketing objectives and designing how firm offerings will be positioned among consumer segments when targeting them, and subsequently developing plans to implement and control them to sustain competitive advantage ( Dibb and Simkin, 2008). history of Just Us! Cafes Just Us! Cafes a coffee Roasters Cooperative was co-founded by Debbie and Jeff Moore in the year 1995 (Just Us!, 2012). The cafà © whose headquarter is located in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, Canada was incorporated under the Cooperative Association Act as the first company (see Appendix 1) with a fair trade coffee roaster in Canada in 1996 (Just Us!, 2012). The vision of Just Us! Cafes is to be a market leader in fair trade business that stands for quality, fairness, professionalism and innovation while the mission of Just Us! Cafes is rooted in authenticity, cooperation, community, and justice (Just Us!, 2012). Just us! Cafes offers products include Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Sugar, and pastries. Just Us! has 4 Cafes in Nova Scotia, Canada located in Grand Pre, Wolfville, Halifax and Barrington Street (Just Us!,2012). Just Us! has received many awards such as EK chamber of commerce Award as a Best Large firm in Kings County (2000), Ethics Award (2005), Acadia University President Award for Entrepreneur (2005) etc (Just Us!, 2012). 1.0 Critical Evaluation of the Importance of Environmental Scanning. Environmental scanning is simply the method through which marketing environment of an organisation is been closely monitored and carefully analysed (Jobber, 2007). The importance of environmental scanning are; Provides an understanding of Consumers Choice Criteria Body shop (a cosmetic industry) in its environmental scanning through market research in Canada, identified that 34% of consumers use ethical behaviour of companies (in addition to quality of product) as their choice criterion upon which their buying decision is based (Strandberg consulting, 2009). In addition, the impact of firms activities on the ecological habitat of consumers has been another criterion employed by consumers in their buying decision as consumers in Canada tend to embrace moves that decrease Co2 footprint in their environment (Bonini and Oppenheim, 2012). Environmental scanning reveals a paradigm shift in consumers value, attitude and beliefs about products as ethical issues have become a yardstick in their buying decision. The need to be highly sensitive to rapidly changing specific and general business environmental factors is a pre-requisite to the survival of an organisation where a quick change in product/ service line must be matched with changing consumer re quirements (Goyal, 2007; Albright,2007; Jobber;2007). Helps in Identifying Business Trends and Opportunities In 2008 alone, products (such as Flowers, Cocoa, Coffee, Rice, Shea butter) that were fairly traded was said to be imported from 59 countries (Eric, 2012). It takes a thorough environmental scanning of Canadian market to obtain this useful information about the fast growing fair trade business in both the food and non food segment (for example, fashion industry). With environmental scanning, Just us! Cafes and its competitors (Kicking horse, Kraft foods, StarBucks etc) were able to capitalize on the fair-trade opportunities and thus get sensitized on the drastic changing needs and expectations of their consumers. Environmental scanning offered these market players qualitative and quantitative information about the needs of their consumers, enabling them to strategise on how these needs could be met and as a result the image of these organisations were improved through a clear definition of what they stood for in Canadian fair trade wholesale and retail market (Costa, 1995). This is a n evidence that environmental scanning is linked to improvement in organisational performance (Slaughter, 1999). Provides Basis for Segmenting Consumer Markets Part of the achievements of Cafes in Canadian markets attributed to environmental scanning is ability of these brands to segment their products and services effectively and efficiently well. For example, all brands of Cafes in Canada (Kraft foods, Just Us!, Kicking horse, StarBucks etc) have been able to adopt a behavioural segmentation in the consumer markets where fair trade is used in one way or the other to gain market share as consumers beliefs, values and perception are rooted in fair trade. Psychographic segmentation that entails the strategy by which consumers are grouped base on lifestyle and personality characteristics (Jobber,2007) has been exploited by brands where Just us! Cafes had been targeting young, well educated consumers that are willing to offer premium price for fair trade products (Ethical Consumer, 2011) while Kraft Foodservice are caught romancing college students (perceived to be part of socially and environmentally conscious customers) with its All Life 100 % Colombian coffee brand (Rain Forest Alliance, 2004). Brands utilise Profile Segmentation where geographic variables like areas local names and culture (Jobber, 2007) are been used to differentiate their coffee from competitors and thus adapting their services and products to customers taste and culture, and locating their outlets in close proximity to their target consumers. Helps an organisation to identify it shortcomings and address them Through environmental scanning, Just Us! Cafes has been able to identify emerging issues and conditions leading the company to a dead end. This led management of Just Us! to develop an organisational structure where roles are allocated to employees based on their competencies and skills (e.g. the need for Juliet to handle the marketing functions of Just us! Cafes) to be able to deal with emerging issues confronting Just Us! Cafes. Limitation of Environmental Scanning. However, environmental scanning does not totally lead to an accurate prediction of business future and it does not guarantee effectiveness as witnessed in situation where many competitors of Just us! Cafes located in the heart of Nova Scotia had to close down their businesses when they couldnt survive in the midst of heated competitions. But businesses should ensure frequent environment scanning so as to increase their sensitivity to environmental signals rather than relying on analysis of historical data or predicting how such data will change (Johnson et al. 2008). 1.2. Internal and External Challenges Confronting Just Us! Cafes. Internal challenges are issues that focus on resources and competence (capabilities) of a company, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of such company while external challenges are concerned with the external environment in which the company operates, predisposing its activities to threat or presenting it with opportunities ( Hill and Joney, 2008). SWOT analysis of Just Us! Cafes Strengths Just Us! Cafes brand over the years has successfully won strong customer loyalty with strong preference for its products, services, and what the business stands for in Nova Scotia (fairness, justice and quality). The founders of Just Us! Cafes (Jeff and Debbie Moore) have a sound background experience in social and community development well aligned with their humanitarian philosophy (people before profit) enough to equip them in fulfilling their business mission (quality, fairness, and justice). The products and services (that are fairly traded and F.L.O certified) which Just us! Cafes offer her customers are immensely differentiated from competitors and thus give Just Us! Cafes a crystal clear market advantage over all her competitors. Just Us! Cafes management has a deep understanding of it distribution channel and an intimate relationship with wholesale and retail stores (Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys). Just Us! Cafes is equipped with employees that are committed to delivering products and services in a manner that meets and surpasses consumers expectation. Just Us! Cafes operates in favourable locations that are in close proximity with her consumers such as Grand Pre, Halifax, Wolfville and Barrington Street as well as a very strong presence in 3 key universities of Canada in Nova Scotia. Weaknesses Inability or lack of capability of Just Us! Cafes to expand it business to new markets within Canada. Just Us! Cafes doesnt have enough financial resources and competence as compared to some of its competitors tapping into the fair trade market. Just Us! Cafes have 4 Cafes (Wolfville, Halifax, Grand-pre and Barrington Street) just in Nova Scotia province. This is limiting its ability to reach enough consumers with its fair trade products as compared to Tim Hortons and Second cup who have 170 and 360 stores respectively. In the area of advertisement, Just Us! lacks experience and expertise. The reduction of revenue and the inability to defend and extend their core business shows lack of a good business strategy. Just Us! is too dependent on stores like Loblaws (also Just Us! competitor) and Sobeys as its distribution channel in the retail market. Threats Just Us! could face scarcity of fair trade products as a result of wide swing in commodity market. Transporting fair trade products from developing country to Canada may be stopped due to the need to lessen carbon emission to the environment. If importation of fair trade raw materials are stopped, the fair trade mission and strategy of Just Us! will be in jeopardy. The fair trade and organic business of Just us! Cafes have become fiercely competitive as competitors struggle intensely to attract and retain consumers in order to benefit from the attractive fair trade market. Fair trade certification is not recognised by the government of Canada and as such, no government policy has being designed for it and thus resulting in unfair practices among Just Us! competitors who portray their products as fair trade when they are not in the real sense. Consumers preferences for Just Us! products is changing rapidly resulting in fast decline in new product life cycle. Opportunities Majority of consumers in Canadian market are interested in fair trade products, presenting huge opportunities for Just Us! to increase their revenue through fair trade. Consumers are willing to offer premium price for fair trade products of Just Us! if they better informed. There is an increasing trend in the number of fair trade farmers from developing countries and thus leads to availability of fair trade products. There are still wide gaps or opportunities to explore by Just Us! in the fair trade market if a right strategy is put in place. PESTEL of Just Us! PESTEL Framework (Political, Environmental, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental (green) and Legal) are external factors/challenges that is common to all businesses. Political In Canada, though government policies contain rules and regulations for activities concerning healthy lifestyle of citizen as well as environmental protection, policy for fair trade market has not been developed by Canadian government. For example, CISO (2012) stated that Canadian Federal and Provincial Agencies (CFPA) are guided by respective purchasing departments in their purchasing decisions. At Federal level, Public Works and Government Service Canada (PWGSC)-who have standing offers (open contract) for many goods and purchase them on behalf of other Department-, make green purchasing or recommendations to the department through their office of Greening government operations but their recommendations do not include fair trade products Evidence of lack of attention given to fair trade in Canada is shown in the table 1.1 below. This made it easier for Just Us! competitors who are not dedicated to fair trade (maybe due to cost associated with it) to portray their offerings to the market as fairly traded. Country Policy or Guideline Specifies Certified Fair Trade Canada Federal à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Policy on Green Procurement (as of April 1, 2006 for all federal departments) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sustainable Development Strategies (prepared by all federal departments every 3 years) and Departments Environmental policies and Departmental Performance Reports à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Environmental Petitions by Canadian Residents à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Department of Foreign Affairs Green Procurement checklist à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Department of Foreign Affairs Kit for Ensuring Green Conferences à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Environment Canada principles or practice on green purchasing, as well as a standard clause for product tenders and service contracts Provincial à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Sustainable Development Act (Manitoba and Quebec) and related Sustainable Development Procurement Policies Local à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ethical Purchasing Policies (Vancouver, Toronto, Black Diamond) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No (for Foreign Affairs, others unknown) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Yes (no for Toronto) Table 1: Examples of Relevant Guidelines and Policies that Encourage Social and Environmental Purchasing in Canadian Government Agencies (CISO,2012). Economy Between 2010-2011, Canadas GDP was said to have grown by 2.8% a year (which was more than economies of other rich country, most especially U.S). However, in 2012, Canadas economy has been discovered to have a slow GDP growth of 1.9% as a result of lower prices for Canadas resource exports, weak demand of its goods from Europe and its strong currency (The Economist, 2012). This has led to recession presently in Canada, preventing Just Us! Cafes from implementing her expansion strategy. Also, Recession in Canada due to decline in GDP could result in budget pressure and spending cuts leaving consumer with little or no disposable income to spend on premium fair trade products that Just Us! offers, since availability of consumers purchasing power absolutely relies on income, prices, debt and savings (Kotler and Keller, 2012). Social-Cultural Over the last 3 decades, the main driver of fair trade is expressed to be the highly growing trend of ethical consumerism (Burke and Berry, 1974, cited in Opal and Nicholls, 2005, page 23).Consumers values, attitude and lifestyle are rooted in high quality, ethically sourced and healthy products. The preference for these attributes has created a great opportunities for fair trade markets and thus resulted in a highly competitive fair trade market that is becoming too heated for Just Us! the early player. Technological. From between 2002-2008, there was no record that reveals that Just Us! Cafes integrated e-commerce into their customer service operation despite the fact that e-commerce that includes online service had been the major driver of supply chain in coffee industry in the 21st century. However, Just Us! has integrated e-commerce into their customer service operation where customers orders are received and fulfilled via e-commerce. Environment and Legal The current trend in Western Europe involves series of public actions (legal) to reduce Co2 emission to the environment, seeing majority of firms been taxed heavily on the basis of Co2 emission that their activities (majorly machinery) dissipate to the environment (co2gram/kilowatt/hour). However, opportunities abound for organisations that can reconcile profitability with the protection of their business environment (Kottler and Keller, 2012). But this trend towards greener activities is partly a threat to Just Us! fair trade as the need to source for raw materials locally rather than sourcing from distant developing countries (which is the basis of fair trade) to lessen Co2 emission to the atmosphere due to transportation is becoming an emerging issue presently. On the other hand, weather is becoming quite unpredictable and this is a threat to farm productivity. For example, the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) the worlds largest agricultural commodities traders recently got its net profits reduced by 60% due to a sudden drought in the U.S that hampered farm productivity (Financial Times, 2012). This can also pose threats to the fair trade markets, resulting in scarcities in the commodity markets, high prices for food and high cost of raw materials. Porters 5 forces for Just Us!. The Porters 5 forces as shown in Fig 1.1 below is used by businesses to indentify how profitable a particular business is (Johnson et al. 2008). Threat of New Entrants to Fair Trade Market There is a high threat of new entrants to the fair trade market with a growing trend in the demand for fair products. As a result of this, small, independent and well established cafes are competing with Just Us! as a result of this. Threat of Substitute for Just Us! products and Services As barriers to fair trade market are getting weaker, competitors are offering a similar fair trade product as Just Us! thereby presenting consumers with opportunities to replace Just Us! products if they do not meet their expectations. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The number of farmers producing farm produce has been reported to be growing. In 2008 alone, 59 countries have been reported to have supplied Canada. Thus, as the growing trend increases, the bargaining power of buyers becomes higher than the farmers. On the other hand, bargaining power is also dependent on the availability of produce. If there is scarcity of fair trade produce, then the bargaining power of farmers become higher. Bargaining Power of Buyers Logically, as barrier to new entrants gets weaker and threat of substitute get higher, end users may not be able to offer premium price for fair trade products of Just Us!. This gives consumers the ability to determine price. Threat of Rivalry Since competitors of Just Us! offer similar products to same group of consumers, competitive rivalry is certain. 1.3 Extent to which Challenges threaten the Future of Just Us! Up to a very large extent, challenges in the form of fierce competition (which is promoted by government policies), constant change in fair trade market (occasioned by rapid change in consumers preferences for coffee and other products) and lack of sustainable strategy of Just Us! to address these issues will lead to lower consumer base, reduction in market share and profit and as time goes on, Just Us! fair trade business will cease to exist in Canada. 2.0. Appropriate Framework of Analysis to Analyse Competitive Strategy Adopted by Just Us! In analyzing the competitive strategy adopted by Just Us!, marketing mix strategy (7Ps) will be adopted. Products: Just Us! satisfied the wants and needs of consumers with fair trade and organic products like Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Sugar, and Muffins. Just Us! adopted a distinctive product differentiation strategy through provision of fair trade and organic products to its customers that are willing to pay premium. Just Us! also have specialty products lines such as Coffee (Rwanda Cafà © Femenino, Tarrazu Honey, Mexican Morning, Wisdom, Rainforest Rhapsody, etc), Teas (Chai Tea, Early green, Darjeeling loose, Maritime Breakfast tea etc) that meet various tastes of consumers. Price: For all Just Us! fair trade products and added services (atmosphere adapted to consumers taste), a premium pricing strategy was adopted by Just Us! where consumers are charged for added value in form of organic and fair trade products provided to them. Place: With respect to place, Just Us! pursued an adaptation strategy where atmosphere of different locations (Wolfville, Halifax, Grad Pre and Barrington Street) were adapted to taste, culture of consumers and making it comfortable as incubator for developing relationships among consumers within their communities. Just Us! adopted two types of strategic alliance in a bid to make their products available to consumers and in a bid to expand. The two types of strategic alliance adopted were; a.Logistical Alliance: where Just Us! formed alliance with wholesales and retail outlets (e.g. Loblawas, and Sobeys), health food shops, churches, universities (Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Mary University etc) that offer logistical service to ensure the availability of Just Us! products all around Canada. b. Product and Service alliance: although this type of strategic alliance failed Just Us!, Just Us! had once partnered with a local businessman in Toronto as part of their expansion strategy into Toronto market. Just Us! also formed partnerships with Acadia Cinema Cooperative to use the cinema service as a means to sell fair trade products. Promotion: In a bid to promote Just Us! fair trade offerings, 10% of its profit was allocated for opening fair trade coffee museum where consumers are enlightened about the advantages of fair trade. On top of this, a non-profit organisation known as JUDES (Just Us! Development and Education Society) was developed to create awareness for fair trade and societal development. Just Us! through JUDES also used documentary and educational activities to enlighten social institutions on the importance of fair trade. Just Us! also used newspaper, magazines (student magazines and discount coupons), outdoor advertising (board in Grand Pre), point-of-purchase advertising (Valentine, Christmas and other seasonal events), internet (www.justus!cafes.com), sales promotion (reduced Christmas merchandise) and PR, events and sponsorship (during CEDIF meeting). People: through proper recruitment and selection process, Just Us! was able to attract talented staff and committed employees which were subsequently trained to deliver finished products (e.g. Coffee and Tea) in a way that expressed quality and care. Process: part of the process of Just Us! aimed at preserving and delivering fresh and quality coffee to her consumers includes roasting Coffee for example in small batches after which they were packaged in the plant and subsequently sent to consumers. Process of Just Us! also involves close supervision of coffee quality at every stage of the production process (from raw materials to finished products) Physical Evidence: This is essentially environment that surrounds the fair trade products and services that are offered by Jut Us! (Richard and Gilligan, 2005). This includes; fair trade coffee museum in Grand Pre, the brown coloured logo of Just Us! that differentiated them from competitors, coffee bean manufacturing plant in Grand Pre , Just Us! theatre, gift shops and other facilities and equipment (tangibles) that communicate message concerning fair trade that Just Us! stood for. 3.0 Strategic Options Available to Just Us! Despite the continuous growth of consumers in fair trade segments since 2008 (now around 44% of consumers in Canada), Just Us!, a distinctive fair trade food business that was incorporated under the Cooperative Act and certified by Fair Trade Labeling Organisation (FLO) has seen it growth slightly increased between 2008 to 2011 (Figure 1.1) in the midst of competitors (Kicking Horse, Tim Hortons, Second cup, Kraft, Nestle etc) that are not deeply committed and consistent to fair trade model witnessing a high revenue from the fair trade market. For example, between 2009 to 2010, sales revenue grew by 1.72% to $7,103,981 with an increasing cost from 4,257,282 in 2009 to 4,310,222 in 2010 (Figure 1.2). Figure 1: Revenue of Just Us! between 2002 to 2011(Just Us!, 2012) Figure 2: The End of Year Statement of Just Us! Coffee Roasters (Just Us!,2012). To address these problem, Just Us! can engage one of these options; Consolidation This is the situation where Just Us! can strategise on defending their existing fair trade products (coffee, chocolate, tea, sugar) in their existing market in the province of Nova Scotia (Wolfville, Barrington Street, Grand Pre, and Halifax) . According to Safah (2008), this non-growth strategy is aimed at maintaining the business status quo to protect a business status in its environment. Just Us! can achieve consolidation through either; Defending their market share: Through Customer Relationship Management (CRM) , Just Us! can build a protective wall around its customer base (Smith and Zook, 2011) through effective management of individual consumers information in order to maximize loyalty ( Kotler and Keller,2012). Just Us! should invest in communication technology where consumers database will be housed and used effectively. For example, automated greetings should be programmed to respond to any occasions consumers are celebrating. CRM management should go beyond business transaction to personal affection and care for consumers welfare. Through this CRM, Just Us! will be able secure their consumers. Even CRM can also be done through social media where Just Us! club can be formed for the purpose of a two-way communication between Just Us! and existing consumers. Downsizing or Divestment In Figure 1.2 above, cost of good sold, administration and members expenses all constitute a higher cost to Just Us! Cafes. Just Us! could seek to consolidate by pruning its staff size to reduce cost of human resources or it could hold on to 20% of Just Us! products that contribute 80% of its revenue while the rest are shed off the Cafes product line. For example in Table 1.2 below, between 2004- 2007, fairly traded Tea and Sugar (though sugar is perceived to have adverse impact on health and thus fair trade honey could be a good substitute) have been observed to contribute a less margin to revenue and hence less growth to fair trade market in Canada. So Just Us! could remove these products from it portfolio while they concentrate on Coffee and Cocoa. Growth 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total market share % market rank Cofee 41% 56% 61% 55% $ 9,083,836 80% 1 Cocoa 115% 96% 91% 0% $ 1,253,849 11% 2 Sugar 139% 158% 97% 63% $ 789,150 7% 3 Tea 54% 74% 68% 339% $ 173,642 2% 4 Total Revenue 49% 65% 67% 50% $ 11,300,477 100% market share % 100% market rank Table 2: The growth of fair trade products in Canadian Market Market Penetration. Just Us! could also increase sales of their current fair trade products in the province of Nova Scotia in which they are presently operating (Halifax, Barrington Street, Wolfville and Grand Pre) through winning competitors consumers by planning and implementing effective promotion or distribution strategy or they could cut prices of their products Promotion A good promotional strategy with an appropriate channel to reach target markets will be one of the appropriate methods by which Just Us! can attract competitors consumers. Through integrated marketing communication, Just Us! can better coordinate its marketing tools in order to deliver its social and environmental responsibilities, quality, fairness and equity message in a clear and consistent manner to all consumers. For example, Just Us! is the only Cafà © business that is incorporated under the cooperative act which seeks greater fairness and poverty eradication in developing countries and on top of this, all fair trade products of Just Us! were certified by Fair Trade Labeling Organisation. Just Us! could choose to deploy it resources towards creating awareness about what it stands for and this could stimulate interest, desire and repeated purchase of its products. The landing page of Just Us! site (www.justus.com) should be decorated with prestigious awards obtained by Just Us! to affirm what they stand for and this could lead to customer conversion upon arrival to the landing page. Just Us! should also use social media to communicate their messages while using emotional adverts on Tv and Radio station to preach fairness in addition to what JUDES does for them. For example, over 4 years, Cadbury Schweppes had attributed its high revenue to high expenditure on promotional efforts. Distribution According to Chopra and Meindhl (2007), distribution has been expressed to be the major driver of an organisations overall profitability since it directly determines both supply chain cost and consumer experience. The presence of Just us! in 4 places within the province of Nova Scotia alone is not an effective means of reaching potential consumers of Just Us!. Tim Hortons (170) and Second cup (360) within Nova Scotia have been able to decentralize their shops in every nook and cranny to better reach their consumers and increase response time and convenience and through this, they have been known as a quick service restaurant in Nova Scotia. There is no point in having good quality fair trade products without reaching enough consumers. Even if there is no fund to lease or build more cafes, Just Us! could form more partnerships (logistical or product and service alliance) with more retail and wholesale outlets in Annapolis, Pictou, Inverness, Yarmouth, Antigonish, Hants etc. For example, Sainsbury has emerged as market leader in UK grocery market due to its ability of Sainsbury to open more convenience stores all around UK. Pricing strategy Just Us! could also use price to penetrate and attract competitors consumers. Just Us! involving itself in a price war wont go too well for the Cafà ©. However, a psychological pricing strategy could be adopted to increase demands for its quality fair trade products. For example, Apple used price to penetrate the market when it launched its 3G iphone at a cheaper price ($199) as compared to its competitors that were offering $399 for 2G iphones (Jobber,2007) Market Development Market development is another strategic option that Just us! can explore to increase it market share by selling fair trade products to new markets beyond the shores of Nova Scotia or outside Canada. For example, in Vancouver and Black diamond, Just Us! can seek to expand their Cafes to these provinces where there are ethical purchasing policies that favour their fair trade business model (as indicated in Table 1) unlike Nova-Scotia. Mergers or acquisition will be a fast way through which Just Us! can sell its existing products to Vancouver and Black diamond swiftly. For example, Just Us! could merge with Earths Choice a fair trade coffee roaster business in Vancouver or Cinnamon spoon in Black diamond . Other