Monday, September 30, 2019

Film Music: Gabriel Oboe (From the movie “Mission”) Essay

Theme –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Student will watch a video clip from the movie â€Å"Mission† How do musical media impact on the scene of the movie? What is the message the composer tries to give in the scene of â€Å"Gabriel Oboe†? Objective Information What are the four traditional instrument families (Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, and Percussions)? Please name the instruments in each traditional family. How does each instrument family phonate? Listening to â€Å"Peter and the wolf†- How does this particular instrument represent each character in the story? Skills Identify by sound and classify the instrument families used in the scene of the movie? Write a short poem or a short story and choose an instrument then improvise a short musical piece that connects the poem or short story. Essay Question (40-points) 1.)   Please answer the following question after watching the scene of â€Å"Gabriel Oboe† in the movie. How does the music have the power to communicate with people and changing people’s minds? And what are the messages the composer try to give from his musical media in the scene? (Minimum 150 words) Short Answer Question/Listening Section ( 8 points- each) 2.) What are the four traditional instrument families? (2 points x 4 ) —————-,   ——————, ——————-, —————— . 2.)   What instrument family did the composer use in the beginning of the â€Å"Gabriel Oboe’s scene† (Before the solo oboe)? __________________. Multiple Choice (4-points) 4.) Which instrument is not included in the woodwinds family?____. Oboe Clarinet Violin Flute Matching (20-points each) 5.) Match correct instrument into the each traditional instrument family String __ A. Cymbals Woodwinds __ B. Trumpet Brass __ C.   Oboe Percussion __ D.   Cello 6.) Match the correct instrument to each character in â€Å"Peter and the wolf†. Grandfather__ A. Flute Duck __ B. Clarinet Bird__ C.   Oboe Cat __ D.   Bassoon

Sunday, September 29, 2019

“Death Penalty” Pros and Cons

â€Å"Death Penalty† Pros and Cons Francisco X. Lendor Introduction to Criminal Justice (1102 CCJS100 4021) Due on: Tuesday, March 26, 2011 â€Å"Death Penalty† – Pros and Cons History over the years has taught us of many different ways on how to control or punish people who don’t follow the rules and laws imposed by society and courts. These are adopted by society to establish behavior standards. Whether some of them are effective or not, these must be respected in order to not fall into a severe punishment like the death penalty. Aâ€Å"The enormity of killing one’s fellow man with premeditation is the principal reason for the existence of the death penalty. † Throughout history, death penalty has been debated in many different ways. Groups protesting bring up their point of views with their pros and cons to defend their position in favor or against this punishment. A perfect example of why some groups oppose to this penalty is discussed in articles 1â€Å"Anti-death penalty groups raising money for exonoree Anthony Graves†, by Diane Jennings, and in 2â€Å"Testimony to begin today in death penalty trial of man accused of killing wife, stepdaughter and showing stepsons their bodies†, by Jennifer Emily. In the first article, a group from the Texas Moratorium Network was raising money to help, in this case, Anthony Graves. Graves spent 18 years in jail for murders he never committed, and was finally released from the â€Å"death row† from Texas after prosecutors declared him innocent. On the other hand, on the second article, Gary Green was facing a final decision to be convicted of capital murder in Texas. After stabbing his wife, he killed her 6-year-old daughter and proceeded to show their bodies to his stepsons. Jurors in this case were to decide Bâ€Å"whether to impose a death sentence or send him to prison for life without parole. † Death penalty brings positive and negative contributions to society. Even though, there have been a lot of proven mistakes when imposing it, and it still shows to be unsuccessful on removing evil from society. One of the pros death penalty contributes to society is that it deters some population from committing murder. It also gives peace of mind to the victim and their families and puts an end to the crime. Also, the fear of the highest form of punishment will keep potential victims alive. Sometimes families of the victims begin their healing process once the murderer is put to death. Politically seen, it also gives pride to politicians and some others may even secure their â€Å"positions† by taking a well known murder case to a closing point. Proponents of the death penalty say Câ€Å"it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. † They also argue that Dâ€Å"retribution helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy. † But it comes to the fact that these arguments just help them justify their support to punishment, while it is still not supported by a majority. Society still has a lot of issues against the death penalty. One of the most commonly questions people ask themselves is; what would it accomplish to put someone on death row? If the victim is already dead, you cannot bring him back. It is not true that the opponents feel â€Å"fear of death† will prevent one of committing murder. Statistics show that most of the murders are done on the heat of passion when a person is unable to think rationally. Therefore, how can one think of fear in the â€Å"heat of passion? † Opponents also argue the fact that there have been a lot of cases where the person being convicted was mistakenly accused. Worse than that, many have often been mistakenly killed due to the capital punishment process, and it is often inconsistently and arbitrarily applied. For Christians, a perfect example of a person driven to the death row being â€Å"mistakenly accused† was Jesus. Legitimate murderers, in the bible, were granted freedom and forgiveness, but Jesus was convicted, accused, and finally killed. This argument is mostly used by religious activists and protesters against the death penalty. People with deep-rooted belief to religious viewpoint often defend the right to life above any punishment that will threaten or jeopardize it. Based on the information published in both articles resumed above, and over the internet, I conclude that death penalty is not a deterrent, as violent crime rates show to be consistently higher in death penalty jurisdictions. Whether you are a hardened criminal or a government representing the people, killing another human being is wrong. It is wrong from the eyes of the â€Å"justice†, and so it is wrong viewed from the eyes of God or the â€Å"Supreme Being† in which we believe. Keeping killers off the streets for good through the Life Without Parole (LWOP) also prevents re-offending without having to harm murderers’ life. As Voltaire once wrote; Eâ€Å"let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a good living lesson. † BIBLIOGRAPHY . UMUC Library: Guide to Criminal Justice  Resources—UMUC Article: Anti-death penalty groups raising money for exonoree Anthony Graves, by Diane Jennings – Reporter of Dallas Morning News UMUC Library: Guide to Criminal Justice  Resources—UMUC Article: â€Å"Testimony to begin today in death penalty trial of man accused of killing wife, stepdaughter and showing stepsons their bodies†, by Jennifer Emily – Reporter of Dallas Morning News REFERENCES â€Å"CITED† TIME in Partnership with CNN (online): http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905684,00. html 2nd paragraph of: UMUC Library: Guide to Criminal Justice  Resources—UMUC Article: â€Å"Testimony to begin today in death penalty trial of man accused of killing wife, stepdaughter and showing stepsons their bodies†, by Jennifer Emily – Reporter of Dallas Morning News 2nd paragraph of: http://deathpenalty. procon. org/ 2nd paragraph of: http://deathpenalty. procon. org/ http://www. deathpenaltyinfo. org/

Friday, September 27, 2019

Employee Voice Mechanisms and Their Outcome Essay

Employee Voice Mechanisms and Their Outcome - Essay Example The paper tells that employee participation is the extent to which the employees are involved in the decisions of the company. This might include joint meetings, bargaining as a group and representation of workers on the board, but all the power lies with the management only. Therefore Rose comments that Employee voice covers, "a wide range of processes and structures which allow and even empower employees, directly or indirectly, to contribute to decision making within the organization". Further, into it, the discussion will cover aspects of voice mechanism in detail and how the current methods of voice have changed. Also, the various outcomes of such voice mechanisms for the workers will be dealt with. Finally, Legal changes and methods of improvement will also be discussed. In the early part of the twentieth century, the management of the working class by F.W. Taylor took a very controlled approach, particularly in the field where the workers had to be divided into their specializ ations. To keep a check on the functioning’s of these employees the management engaged a number of hierarchical roles of authority so as to maintain discipline, order, efficiency and to inculcate within them a sense of duty and not to oppose the management in its decisions. Increased competition and technological complicacies require higher skills and a commitment strategy. So accordingly nowadays, the workforce jobs are designed to include the functions of the firm and include severe of planning. The focus shifted from self to the performance of the team, that is, shared goals and technical know how. Standards need to be improved by and by and the company considers the efficiency of the group. Also very important is the matter of giving the employees an assurance or a security that they would be heard on various issues.

A College Degree Should Not Be This Difficult Essay

A College Degree Should Not Be This Difficult - Essay Example Her family, lacking a tradition of higher education, can't help her seek out a college or encourage her in her quest for help. Her situation is further complicated by a high school that has failed to adequately prepare her for the required entrance exams and college level courses. For thousands of seniors like Shelia, college is a dream that will never be realized. The difficulties of access, expense, and preparation have become more than just obstacles, they have become barriers that have left a college education out of reach. To assure that all students have an equal opportunity for a college degree, the process needs to be made less difficult.The most important tools an incoming college student can possess are attitude and motivation. These are only acquired by years of planning by the family for the student's eventual enrollment. Contacting schools, selecting a proper program, and preparing the student to move away and get an education may not be forthcoming from a family who has never experienced attending college. These students will have difficulty when they are faced with a new environment, new experiences, new cultures, and a lack of adequate expectations. Families that fail to encourage college will produce poorly motivated students that won't be able to develop the attitude necessary to succeed in college.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Essay Example In addition to that, the fair – trade movement promotes securing the rights of the marginalised sectors from the developing nations (EFTA, 2006). Indeed, the fair – trade movement has been one of the most constant and most unwavering criticisms of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) policies of deregulating barriers to trade. It is the case that the effectiveness of both the World Bank and the IMF are criticised because of its failure to further stand for the concerns of the developing world, including the interests for greater equity in trade (Share the World’s Resources (STWR), no date). Nonetheless, both these Bretton Woods Institutions together with the fair – trade movement are supposedly means to reduce the poverty occurring globally. With the contextualisation of the background of this research investigation, basically, the paradoxical function of fair – trade movement is observed. ... On the one hand, another vantage point proposes that this fair – trade does constitute a real alternative to the â€Å"Washington Consensus†. Given this contradicting points of view, this paper considers the need to critically review, analyse, understand and explain what really the role of the fair – trade it serves. Meanwhile, this paper mainly delves at discussing the function of the fair – trade movement in relation to World Bank and IMF. In order to further understand the focus of this paper, it intends to specifically obtain the following information. First, it points out to establishing what the functions of the World Bank and IMF are. Second, it seeks to grasp an understanding of the Washington Consensus. Third, it wants to analytically determine how the fair – trade movement is currently doing between the developed and developing nations. Through rooting out and analysing such data, it can finally discuss whether fair – trade is an ex tension of World Bank and IMF’s policies or if it constitutes a real alternative to the Washington Consensus. It is the case that there have been so many attempts in stating and assessing the functions and aims of fair – trade, World Bank, IMF and Washington Consensus in the context of development. It is in this regard why this paper is of significance. This paper is of importance because development is so much a relevant concept not only in the field of sociology but really in every part of the world especially that of the developing ones. By means of development, fair – trade, World Bank, IMF and Washington Consensus are really opportunities to achieve development especially among the disadvantaged nations. Review of Related Literatures This section of the paper will first present a

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century Essay

How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century - Essay Example How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century In America, there have been drastic changes regarding the gender roles, notably in the last century. Such changes in the gender roles have affected the American society all round, starting from homes, schools, workplaces and even the government. Most of these changes have seen the female gender become more and more empowered and greatly involved in all issues of the society, which were previously reserved for men. Consequently, the gender constitution of workplaces and schools has changed, having more of the female gender being incorporated in areas that were previously dominated by the male gender only. While such changes have been welcome by many in the society, there did not lack some quarters from which resistance was experienced. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the resistance, the change in gender roles in the American society has occurred anyway. Then right to vote is one such change in gender roles that has occurred in the American society, in the last century. Previously, starting from the colonial times, women were not allowed to vote. However, this changed in 1920, with the 19th amendment to the US constitution, which allowed all genders to be involved in voting, without any discrimination, based on their sexes. This right was fought for by women parties and associations such as the Women suffrage and the National Women party, which sought to have women allowed to vote. The fight for the right to vote was speed up by the World War I, which was referred to, as the war for democracy. After the war ended, women undertook several protests to have them indulged in voting. Although, their protests were ignored for duration of six months, consistency in agitating and protesting eventually made the government agree to consider their grievances (David, 113). Eventually, the government agreed on the 19th amendment, which allowed wo men to be involved in voting, for all elective posts, both in the government and other organizations. This has acted as a major step towards enhancing equality for all genders, in matters to do with decision making, as earlier, only the male gender would be involved in such decision making, thus instilling their will on the female gender (Bailey, 36). The right to vote has allowed women not only vote for the members of the male gender, but also the female as well. This has allowed them get involved and represented in all spheres such as political, religious, social, and economic. Another major change in the gender roles is the roles played by women in the workplace currently, compared to the past centuries. There has been a great increase in the number of women at the workplace, who accounts for 47% of the entire American workforce currently (David, 65). By the year 1995, the percentage of women who were working away from their homes had increased to a tune of 76%. By the start of t he 20th century, women were not expected to be working and as such were meant to remain at home and undertake the domestic duties such as caring for children and performing other domestic chores such as cooking and washing. However, with increased access for education by the female gender, their

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Social services bureau and the youth commission to the White House- Essay

Social services bureau and the youth commission to the White House- Juvenile Justice - Essay Example This article will analyze the various strategies proposed by drug control experts at the opening of the hearing. The panel experts suggested that money be used in hiring new law enforcement agents who will patrol the country’s boarders targeting large drug dealers and making drug raids here and abroad. This policy will demand new tough measures like mandatory waiver of drug dealers to the adult court system, strict punishment for drug possession and sale as well as imposing death penalty on for drug related gang killings. The police executives need to know that they can make more arrests than prosecutors can prosecute. However, arresting remains the most effective way of keeping drug traffickers afraid of the police arrests (Taylor, 40). More money should be channeled to the police departments and particularly to the anti-narcotic unit. The money will be used in establishing special drug forces that will particularly deal with the threatening drug market. These operators will perform the role of patrolling within the country borders and in the country. The officers will patrol all the drug prone areas like the poor cities. Patrolling will also involve police check on those goods brought into the country and on the goods exported. This will limit the imports and exports thus reducing illegal drug trade. Increasing the money spent on drug trafficking is because few resources tend to limit the operations of the narcotic enforcement. Success in the patrolling operations depends on the amount of resources channeled by the government into the narcotic unit (Taylor, 310). Narcotics law enforcers need to be empowered to become expressive in law enforcement. The worse situation of drug trafficking that exist in the country needs more resources to be devoted in the sector. These resources include more employees’ operational tasks that will deal with the street dealers. The

Monday, September 23, 2019

Congress and Presidency in the United States Essay

Congress and Presidency in the United States - Essay Example The federal government of the United States is divided into three branches that are intended to perform separate functions independently. These branches are the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. However, the legislature is more powerful since it has the role of oversight and making laws that affect the operations of the arms of government. The president, on the other hand, is the head of state and plays a significant role in the coordination of the executive to deliver its mandate to the citizens. Therefore, there is a dependency created by the Congress and the presidency, and they share legislative powers (Dewhirst and Rausch, 2009). While the doctrine of separation of powers was intended that the three arms act autonomously, it has turned out over time that it is a system of shared powers. According to Richard Neustadt, a president is a person trusted by the public to offer viable solutions to problems. Thus, he or she should work not as a master, but as a coworker with the elected leaders in the Congress (Lee, 2012). In this regard, the primary duties of the presidency are to persuade the Congress to legislate on crucial matters. Similarly, the Congress also depends on the president to signs bills into law, thereby making the sharing of power more conspicuous. Nevertheless, there are constitutional provisions that allow the Congress to pass bills into laws. For instance, if the president fails to sign a draft bill in 10 days, it automatically becomes law.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Swot Analysis Example Essay Example for Free

Swot Analysis Example Essay The S.W.O.T Analysis outlines the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that I face at the moment. Hopefully at the end of the year I will be able to look back on these and think of how I have improved. My strengths all seem to come from learning through my Diploma level of Btec Graphic Design. Studying Fine Art and Graphics has allowed me to generate and develop ideas through sketchbooks. In these subjects I have used photography and photoshop to an beginner/intermediate standard, I also invested in a 13 MacBook Pro by Apple which I love. It helps me generate art pieces that has received a lot of compliments. In Graphics, I have had to reflect on ideas so that I could meet the mark scheme. I think my passion for learning comes from my attitude in high School, I was brought up in a positive environment with lots of encouragement that helped me a lot with school. I may not have had the best grades, but I have always had an enthusiasm to learn and especially for art. When I come up with an idea I dont really see any ways of improving them. This needs to change during the year, I need to learn to develop properly otherwise my ideas are not going to be fully realized. In the next 3 years I am going to have a lot of opportunities, mostly set by the university and others I have to set up myself. Live projects are going to give me a good idea about how to deal with clients and what their feedback is going to be like. Student life is going to help me socially, might make me a bit more confident in myself and help me over come my shyness and the fear of speaking in front of crowds which will then help my work. I feel that maybe, if I let these threats get out of control, it will affect my performance when working. The idea is to recognise these threats or fears and control them in order to produce my best work.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

1984 First Five Chapters Summary Essay Example for Free

1984 First Five Chapters Summary Essay Readers are introduced to Winston Smith, his living situation which although called Victory Mansion is not lavish; it is a run-down apartment complex. Readers are also introduced to Big Brother, the government’s authority figure and figurehead for the Party. The telescreen always watches its Party Members, looking for traitors among them. Winston brings out a journal, out of view of the telescreen, because it is considered an act of rebellion against the Party. He writes about the films the Party makes, the dark-haired girl from work and O’Brien, someone he believes is against the Party. Winston believes the Thought Police will knock at his door, but it turns out to be Mrs. Parsons, his neighbor. Winston helps her with the Parsons’ plumbing and her children accuse him of thoughtcrime. Her children are upset that they couldn’t go see the public hanging. He goes back to his apartment and hides the journal. Winston then dreams of his mother and a sinking ship that he feels responsible for. He then dreams of a Utopia free from the Party where he is with the dark-haired girl from work. He wakes up to a whistle for the â€Å"Physical Jerks†, the Party’s regulated physical exercise. Winston is yelled at from the telescreen by the exercise manager. After the â€Å"Physical Jerks† Winston goes to work at the Ministry of Truth where he updates Big Brother’s orders and Party Records so what Big Brother says is always true. He makes up a story about a fictional person, Comrade Ogilvy, as a ideal Party Man who died. Winston then meets up with Syme, another Party member who revises the Newspeak dictionary. Syme talks about the aime of Newspeak is to erase words. Winston knows the Syme will be vaporized because he is too intelligent. Parsons, Winston’s neighbor, visits Winston to get their apartment’s dues. Parsons laughs about how his children treated Winston the previous day. The Ministry of Plenty announces an increase in production but Winston knows the increase is actually a lie. Winston believes he is being watched by the dark-haired girl, who he thinks is a Party agent. Chapter 1-5 Responses 1. I like Winston so far even though he seems very weak, which is just a result of the Party’s oppression. The Party seems to be everywhere, impacting everyone. 3. The movie, The Truman Show, is based off of the movie 1984 in the way that someone is controlling and watching over the protagonists lives. They have no privacy or choices. 6. I was very surprised that the exercise manager called out to Winston. Up until that point I believed the Party always watching was a scam to making people follow the Party. 7. I would like the next chapter to develop into Winston investigating the Party and trying to rebel more against them.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II) and Its Adaptation for Iranian Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability Bakhtiyar Karami, Mojtaba Gashool, Shoaib Ghasemi, Hamid Alizadeh Abstract The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II)in a community population in Iran. The Iranian version of the MESSY-II was administered by interviewing care staff of all children and adolescents (n = 355) with administratively defined intellectual disabilities (IDs) living in Tehran,Esfahan, Karaj Kordistan. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of the subscales as well as the proposed two factor structure of the original MESSY-II. The present study demonstrates that the three subscales are highly similar constructs across different language and cultural settings, and that the MESSY-II is applicable in research on populations with varying mental functioning, diagnoses, ages, and living arrangements. Keywords: Social skills, Assessment, MESSY, Rating scale, Factor structure Introduction The development of social skills is an important process in young childhood and adolescence. Deficits present in childhood that are left undetected and/or untreated can lead to increased problems into adulthood (Greene et al., 1999). In addition, impairments in social skills may be related to larger problems such as developmental disability, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior, and other mental health problems (Davis et al., 2011; Lugnegard, Hallenback, Gillberg, 2011; Mahan Matson, 2011; Matson Wilkins, 2009; Worley Matson, 2011). Social skills deficits may occur as a result of these disorders or as part of the disorders themselves. As a result, identification of social weaknesses is essential for providing treatment and improving prognosis and quality of life. Identifying social strengths is also important for treatment and can guide clinicians to use assets that the child already possesses to help improve the areas of defi cit. The assessment and training of social and adaptive skills is important for a number of reasons. First, social and adaptive skills deficits can compromise successful transition from institutional to community living (Jacobson Schwartz, 1991; Doll, 1953). Second, deficits in these areas may contribute to the etiology of psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems (Borthwick-Duffy Eyman, 1990; Matson Sevin, 1994). Finally, social and adaptive deficits often persist in living areas where the philosophy of care consists of passive learning rather than active treatment (Matson Hammer, 1996). The MESSY (Matson, 1988) was developed in 1983 for assessing the social skill deficits of children aged 4 to 18. The original normative sample at the time was based on 744 typically developing children in Northern Illinois (Matson, Rotatori, Helsel, 1983). The initial items included in the measure were based on a review of standardized measures, including items that addressed social behaviors. Two independent raters then selected the items believed to fit the definition of social skills. These 92 items were then administered to 422 children (self-report form) and 322 teachers (teacher-report form) twice, at a 2-week interval. Test-retest reliability was conducted and items with Pearson’s correlations greater than .50 and .55 for the self- and teacher-report versions, respectively, were retained. The results yielded 62 items for the self-report form and 64 items for the teacher-report form. Original tests of reliability and validity indicated strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability andadequat convergent validity (Matson et al., 1983). The MESSY has been translated into nine other languages and researched internationally: Spanish (Mendez, Hildalgo, Ingles, 2002), Chinese (Chou, 1997), Japanese (Matson Ollendick, 1988), Dutch (Prins, 1997), Hindi (Sharma, Sigafoos, Carroll, 2000), Hebrew (Pearlman-Avnion Eviator, 2002), French (Vertà ©, Roeyers, Buysse, 2003), Turkish (Bacanli ErdoÄÅ ¸an, 2003), and Slovakian (Vasil’o (Bacanli BaumÄÅ ¸artner, 2004). In addition, the MESSY has been researched with various populations, including children with hearing and visual impairments (Matson, Heinze, Helsel, Kapperman, Rotatori, 1986; Matson, Macklin, Helsel, 1985; Raymond Matson, 1989) , intellectual disabilities (Matson Barrett, 1982), anxiety disorders (Strauss, Lease, Kazdin, Dulcan, Last, 1989), depression (Helsel Matson, 1984), bipolar disorder (Goldstein, Miklowitz, Mullen, 2006), and autism spectrum disorders (Matson, Stabinsky-Compton, Sevin, 1991).2222 However, there is still no agreement about which factorial structure best explains the data because the results of former studies showed a different number of factors and different arrangements of items. Thus, the objectives of the present study are to examine the psychometric properties of the MESSY for the first time in an Iranian sample and to compare the results to foregoing studies with the MESSY in other socio-cultural contexts. 1. Method 1.1. Participants Thirty hundred and fifty five 355 (223 male, 132 female) participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. Their ages ranged from 3 to 26 years, with a mean age of 11.34 years (SD = 3.87). According to clinical practice in Iran, the participants were classified into having a mild (40.8%), moderate (47.0%), severe (11.3%), or profound (0.8%) level of mental retardation. The most frequent diagnoses were Down’s syndrome (53.8%), autism (20.8%), mentally retarded (16.9%), and 8.5% of the individuals were reported to have other disorders. 1.2. Measures Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II; Matson et al., 2010). The MESSY-II is a social skills measure for a broad range of children, ages 2–16, based on observations of both appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors. This measure is a renormed version of the original MESSY, which was designed to assess social skills in children ages 4–18 (Matson, Rotatori, et al., 1983). The original scale had two different forms: a self-report form and parent/teacher report form consisting of 62 and 64 items, respectively. At present, the MESSY-II only has one form, which is a parent/caregiver report form. During the renorming process it was decided that social skills would best be examined through parent/caregiver report as opposed to self- report due to difficulties with poor insight in the populations frequently administered the MESSY. Also, since the measure’s  utility has largely been clinic and community focused, there is a decreased need fo r a teacher report form. The MESSY-II has 64 items identical to the original MESSY parent/teacher report form, which are each rated on a Likert-type rating scale from 1 (‘‘not  at all’’) to 5 (‘‘very much’’). Recent studies indicate that the scale has strong psychometric properties including internal consistency, and convergent and divergent validity (Matson et al., 2010). Although the original MESSY parent/teacher report form yielded a two factor structure (i.e., Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness scale and Appropriate Social Skills scale), the factor structure of the MESSY-II has yet to be established. 1.3. Procedures The participants for this investigation were recruited throughout the children adolescents who enrolled in exceptional children schools. We first select 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan randomly and then separate a list of exceptional children schools in this 4 state. After permission from authorities (Misinstry of Education in each city), the head teachers were contacted in order to coordinate the data collection processes. Then, after training the head teacher about MESSY-II in an agreed date teachers were asked to complete a paper and pencile version of the final draft of the Iranian version of MESSY-II for each student while one of us (AMo) was present in the agreed school for any possible help or inquiries. Data collected in about 1 month. 1.4. Data Analysis In order to determine the factor structure of the MESSY-II, an exploratory factor analysis with Principle axis factoring was used on the 64 items of the MESSY-II. Given the likelihood of correlations among the underlying constructs of the factors, an oblique promax rotation was used (brown, 2006). The optimal factor structure was determined via examination of the scree plot, and comprehensibility of factors (zwick velicer, 1986). Items with factor loadings greater than .30 were retained for each factor (kline, 2000). Internal consistency of the factors was examined using Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach, 1951) and the 0.70 criterion for adequate reliability (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). 2. Results Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution for the MESSY-II. The total variance accounted for by the two- factor model was 41.43%. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness factor accounted for 29.37% of the variance. Appropriate Social Skills factor accounted for 12.6% percent of the variance. The correlation between two factors was moderate r= .410. Two items (i.e., item 20: Is afraid to speak to people; and item 46: Feels lonely) did not meet the criteria of .30, and were removed from the measure. Table 1 lists the factors and corresponding items. Next, internal consistency was examined for the two factors of the MESSY-II using Chrobach’s alpha. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness had an internal consistency of .950 (M=70.58; SD=24.87), and Appropriate Social Skills had an internal consistency of .952 (M=75.64; SD=24.91). corrected Item-total correlations were considered for each of the retained factors to determine if the removal of additional items was warranted due to coefficients below 0.30 (Field, 2005). Item total correlations of Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness subscale ranged from 0.42 (item 15) to 0.70 (item 9, 17, and 52). item total correlations of Appropriate Social Skills subscale ranged from 0.37 (item 19) to 0.77 (item 41).since no item on any of the scales had a correlation of less than .30 and, therefore, all items were retained following the two items that had been removed during the exploratory factor analysis. 3. Discussion Impairments in social skills are a defining aspect of developmental disabilities, and deficits in these skills can affect the ability of children, adolescents, and adults to progress in other areas across the spectrum of development. Furthermore, social deficits are major risk factors for challenging behaviors (Farmer Aman, 2009; Tenneij, Didden, Stolker, Koot, 2009), and similarly, they can compound problems of psychopathology (Brim, Townsend, DeQuinzio, Poulson, 2009; Matson, Dempsey, Rivet, 2009; Niklasson, Rasmussen, O ´ skarsdo ´ ttir, Gillberg, 2009; Rose, Bramham, Young, Paliokostas, Xenitidis, 2009). For these and other reasons, the development of measures of social skills is very important (Matson Boisjoli, 2009a, 2009b; Matson Dempsey, 2009; van den Hazel, Didden, Korzilius, 2009). The purpose of this paper then, was to determine the factor solution of a measure used to assess social skills, the MESSY-II in Iranian population (Matson et al., 2010). The original MESSY was initially developed nearly three decades ago, but recently renormed (see Matson et al., 2010). Exploratory factor analysis of the MESSY-II yielded a three factor solution. Two of the factors were consistent with inappropriate social skills while the other consisted of items relating to appropriate and adaptive social skills. The data were collected as part of an epidemiological research program including all children adolescents with administratively defined ID living in 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan. Overall, the results showed that the internal consistency of the Iranian MESSY-II is in line with previous research on the MESSY-II and that the proposed two-factor model had an acceptable fit. This study showed satisfactory cultural adaptation, reliability, content validity and factor structure for the Iranian version of MESSY-II. However, considering the study limitations, the findings should not be generalized. In general this instrument will be a valuable teacher/parent reported measure for the evaluation of social skills (Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Appropriate Social Skills) among children adolescents with mental retardation in Iran and other Persian-speaking countries. Table 1: Factor structure of the MESSY-II Item no. Factor 1: Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Factor 2: Appropriate Social Skills 1 Makes others laugh .484 2 Threatens people or acts like a bully .770 3 Becomes angry easily .688 4 Is bossy (tells people what to do instead of asking) .541 5 Gripes or complains often .638 6 Speaks (breaks in) when someone else is speaking .702 7 Takes or uses things that are not his/hers without permission without permission .535 8 Brags about self .576 9 Slaps or hits when angry .753 11 Gives other children dirty looks .677 12 Feels angry or jealous when someone else does well .615 13 Picks out other Children’s faults/mistakes .561 15 Breaks promises .464 16 Lies to get what he/she wants .537 17 Lies to get what he/she wants .734 21 Hurts others’ feelings on purpose .587 22 Is a sore loser .601 23 Makes fun of others .616 24 Blames others for own problems .619 29 Is stubborn .703 32 Thinks people are picking on him/her when they are not .517 35 Makes sounds that bother others .548 36 Brags too much when he/she wins .526 38 Speaks too loudly .532 43 Always thinks something bad is going to happen .427 48 Gets upset when he/she has to wait for things .450 52 Gets in fights a lot .736 53 Is jealous of other people .467 57 Stays with others too long (wears out welcome) .529 58 Explains things more than necessary .376 60 Hurts others to get what he/she wants .746 62 Thinks that winning is everything .483 63 Hurts others’ feelings when teasing them .759 64 Wants to get even with someone who hurts him/her .717 10 Helps a friend who is hurt .672 14 Always wants to be first .585 18 Walks up and initiates conversation; .470 9 Slaps or hits when angry .340 25 Sticks up for friends .608 26 Looks at people when they are speaking .759 27 Thinks he/she knows it all .316 .493a 28 Smiles at people he/she knows .586 30 Acts as if he/she better than others .675 31 Shows feelings .659 33 Thinks good things are going to happen .474 34 Works well on a team .834 37 Takes care of others’ property as if it were his/her own .767 39 Calls people by their names .607 40 Asks if he/she can be of help .811 41 Feels good if he/she helps others .839 42 Defends self .598 44 Tries to be better than everyone else .741 45 Asks questions when talking with others .671 47 Feels sorry when he/she hurts others .589 49 Likes to be the leader .381 .468 a 50 Joins in games with other children .767 51 Plays by the rules of a game .812 54 Does nice things for others who are nice to him/her -.362 .712 a 55 Tries to get others to do what he/she wants .354 .368 a 56 Asks others how they are, what they have been doing, etc. .579 59 Is friendly to new people he/she meets .713 61 Talks a lot about problems or worries .312 .433 a References Kline, P. (2000) an easy guide to factor analysis. Routledge,: London. Nunnally J. C. Bernstein I. (1994) Psychometric Theory. McGr59aw-Hill, NewYork, NY. Zwick, W. R., Velicer, W. F. (1986). Comparison of Five Rules for Determining the Number of Components to Retain. Psychological Bulletin, 99(4): 432-442. Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: Guilford Press. Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: Sage Publications Inc Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334. Davis, T. E., III, Hess, J. A., Moree, B. N., Fodstad, J. C., Dempsey, T., Jenkins, W. S., et al. (2011). Anxiety symptoms across the lifespan in people diagnosed with autism disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 112–118. Lugnegard, T., Hallerback, M. U., Gillberg, C. (2011). Psychiatric comorbidity in young adults with a clinical diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 1910–1917. Greene, R. W., Biederman, J., Farone, S. U., Wilens, T. E., Mick, E., Blier, H. K. (1999). Further validation of social impairment as predictor of substance use disorders. Findings from a sample of siblings of boys with and without ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 349–354. Mahan, S., Matson, J. L. (2011). Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders copared to typically developing controls on the Behavioral Assessment system for children, Second Edition (BASC-2). Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 230–236. Matson, J. L., Wilkins, J. (2009). Psychometric testing methods for children’s social skills. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30, 249–274. Worley, J. A., Matson, J. L. (2011). Psychiatric symptoms in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder: An examination of gender differences. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3, 1086–1091.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Strategic Analysis of Ryanair Essay -- European Carriers Business Airl

1 INTRODUCTION The aim of this report is to carry out a strategic analysis of Ryanair. This will involve investigating the organisation’s external environment, to identify opportunities and threats it might face, and its strategic capability, to isolate key strengths and any weaknesses that need dealing with. Finally, a SWOT analysis will be carried out to assess the extent to which Ryanair’s strategies are suitable to what is happening in its task environment. Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-fares, no-frills short-haul carrier. The organisation was founded in 1985 as a conventional airline but re-launched itself in 1990/1991 as a low-cost carrier, replicating American Southwest Airlines’ business model. Since then Ryanair has grown substantially and successfully. The company currently has 146 routes to 84 destinations in 16 countries, and carries more than 15 million customers annually. Ryanair aims to be Europe’s largest airline in 8 years (www.ryanair.com). 2 ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT This is a crucial part of a strategic analysis because ‘†¦organisations do not exist in a vacuum, they are part of a complex world’ (Bowman 1987:61) and many factors can influence operations, beneficially and unfavourably. However, these can be difficult to comprehend due to their complexity, diversity and fast changing nature. Necessarily a number of techniques have been developed to facilitate the process and to ‘†¦contribute to answering the key managerial question†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢of what ‘†¦opportunities and threats might arise in the future’ (Johnson & Scholes 2002:99). 2.1 PESTEL analysis This identifies the main micro-environmental influences by classifying them into six groups: Political, Economical, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal. By applying this framework to Ryanair it is possible to summarise the key forces in the general environment (see appendix A) likely to present opportunities and threats to the organisation (Johnson & Scholes 2002). Political  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ËœSaturday May 1 will mark one of the most important days in recent European history’ (http://europa.eu.int). The continent will see the biggest expansion of EU to date when ten states become new members. For Ryanair new markets will open which suits its growth plans (www.ryanair.com).  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stansted airport, owned by BAA, is one of the most rapidly growing airports i... ...al Times Gow, D. (16/02/04)’Ryanair plans zero frills and fares’, The Guardian Hotten, R. (13/03/04) ‘No-frills deal has impact on bmi’, The Times Insley, J. (18/01/04) ‘Happy New Year for second homes’, The Observer Insley, J. (08/02/04) ‘You can make it if you try’, The Observer Newman, C. (03/12/03) ‘Travellers face big rise in air passenger levy’, The Financial Times Pratley, N. (05/02/04) ‘Clipped Wings’, The Guardian Tait, N. (03/12/03) ‘Ryanair in court over wheelchair fee’, The Financial Times Tran, M. (03/02/04) ‘Ryanair’s airport subsidies’, The Guardian Wright, R. (01/12/03) ‘BA threat to sue if Stanstead gets runway’, The Financial Times PESTEL ANALYSIS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  APPENDIX A Political  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The expansion of the European Union (EU) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BAA’s proposed Stanstead expansion ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CAA’s new regulations on airport charges Economical ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  High oil prices Sociocultural ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Increasing second-home ownership ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Europe’s increasingly ageing population  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Technological ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New satellite technology Environmental ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Global emissions-trading scheme Legal  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The European Court of Justice ruling Strategic Analysis of Ryanair Essay -- European Carriers Business Airl 1 INTRODUCTION The aim of this report is to carry out a strategic analysis of Ryanair. This will involve investigating the organisation’s external environment, to identify opportunities and threats it might face, and its strategic capability, to isolate key strengths and any weaknesses that need dealing with. Finally, a SWOT analysis will be carried out to assess the extent to which Ryanair’s strategies are suitable to what is happening in its task environment. Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-fares, no-frills short-haul carrier. The organisation was founded in 1985 as a conventional airline but re-launched itself in 1990/1991 as a low-cost carrier, replicating American Southwest Airlines’ business model. Since then Ryanair has grown substantially and successfully. The company currently has 146 routes to 84 destinations in 16 countries, and carries more than 15 million customers annually. Ryanair aims to be Europe’s largest airline in 8 years (www.ryanair.com). 2 ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT This is a crucial part of a strategic analysis because ‘†¦organisations do not exist in a vacuum, they are part of a complex world’ (Bowman 1987:61) and many factors can influence operations, beneficially and unfavourably. However, these can be difficult to comprehend due to their complexity, diversity and fast changing nature. Necessarily a number of techniques have been developed to facilitate the process and to ‘†¦contribute to answering the key managerial question†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢of what ‘†¦opportunities and threats might arise in the future’ (Johnson & Scholes 2002:99). 2.1 PESTEL analysis This identifies the main micro-environmental influences by classifying them into six groups: Political, Economical, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal. By applying this framework to Ryanair it is possible to summarise the key forces in the general environment (see appendix A) likely to present opportunities and threats to the organisation (Johnson & Scholes 2002). Political  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ËœSaturday May 1 will mark one of the most important days in recent European history’ (http://europa.eu.int). The continent will see the biggest expansion of EU to date when ten states become new members. For Ryanair new markets will open which suits its growth plans (www.ryanair.com).  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stansted airport, owned by BAA, is one of the most rapidly growing airports i... ...al Times Gow, D. (16/02/04)’Ryanair plans zero frills and fares’, The Guardian Hotten, R. (13/03/04) ‘No-frills deal has impact on bmi’, The Times Insley, J. (18/01/04) ‘Happy New Year for second homes’, The Observer Insley, J. (08/02/04) ‘You can make it if you try’, The Observer Newman, C. (03/12/03) ‘Travellers face big rise in air passenger levy’, The Financial Times Pratley, N. (05/02/04) ‘Clipped Wings’, The Guardian Tait, N. (03/12/03) ‘Ryanair in court over wheelchair fee’, The Financial Times Tran, M. (03/02/04) ‘Ryanair’s airport subsidies’, The Guardian Wright, R. (01/12/03) ‘BA threat to sue if Stanstead gets runway’, The Financial Times PESTEL ANALYSIS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  APPENDIX A Political  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The expansion of the European Union (EU) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BAA’s proposed Stanstead expansion ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CAA’s new regulations on airport charges Economical ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  High oil prices Sociocultural ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Increasing second-home ownership ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Europe’s increasingly ageing population  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Technological ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New satellite technology Environmental ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Global emissions-trading scheme Legal  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The European Court of Justice ruling

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology Essay -- Graduate Admi

A Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology    I intend to receive a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational psychology and I am interested in Central Michigan University because it offers applied practice through field experience and organizational internships. I have been told by many professionals that Central Michigan has excellent faculty and research facilities, as well as, provides a very thorough and effective foundation for work in the field. I intend to pursue a career in applied research and organizational consulting, therefore, these qualities are imperative to myself and my career.    Initially I plan to gain practical experience in the field through employment with a consulting firm. My long range objective is to acquire a teaching position with a college or university, while continuing research and consulting endeavors. It is my intention to contribute empirically based findings to the Industrial/Organizational psychology field through my research and practice. I also hope to be a strong influence and encouragement in students' lives through my contac...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

A Sorrowful Woman

Gail Godwin beckons a woman to know herself as a woman and not as mere in a relation to other in her much thought provoking story, â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman†.Michael Meyer said that, † Goodwin selects several key events that e place over a period of year to show us the slow decline of the Woman in her role as wife and mother.†(geocities.com, online).Marriage calls upon woman to obey and serve as a traditional good wife and mother but at the cost of her individuality, which made our protagonist to take life on a very pessimist note. We find woman in a â€Å"Sorrowful Woman† as totally tired of her relationship as a mother, a wife and of her life. Godwin says,   â€Å"The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to ever see them again† (Gail, 35).This story was initially titles â€Å"Sorrowful Mother†, as whose obsession of motherhood was putting question on her individuality. But it is not a story of only mother but the question o f independent identity and individuality of all women. This dilemma brought them onto the verge of depression and ultimately their downfall. Therefore it is not the Sorrowful mother but A Sorrowful Woman.WORKS CITED Godwin, Gail. â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† in Dream Children. Ballantine Books, 1996. Micheal Meyer, A Plot, Sorrowful Woman, Online, 22th May 2008 Available at http://www.geocities.com/davidjohntoth/102/plot.html  

Monday, September 16, 2019

Buyer decision process Essay

Marketing Thoery & Practice Q.13 What is meant by the ‘buyer decision process’ ? Explain the process , relating it to an individual’s purchase of a new digital camera. 1 . Introduction: When a person makes a decision to buy something, basically, the product he want to buy is useful for him and he need it. Then he will go to find the â€Å"information† about that kind of goods from every seller and different brands. After he collect the information from ads, magazines, his friends, or mass media, he will think about that, compare the qualities, prices, services†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦between different sellers or companies, decide which brand of the product he gonna buy. Finally, he will choose the most preferred brand to buy. After he bought the product, as a marketer, do not forget the last part of â€Å"buyer decision process.† : Post-purchase behaviour. The reaction of customers are very important for a company . What are the buyers thinking about the products , it’s satisfied or dissatisfied, even the reputation of one company are all depends on â€Å"Post-Purchase behaviour.† So , the stages buyers pass through to reach a buying dcision are : Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Need recognition; Information search; Evaluation of alternative; Purchase decision ; Post-purchase behaviour. â€Å"Clearly, the buying process starts long before actual purchase, and continues long after. Marketers need to focus on the entire buying process rather than on just the purchase decision. But in more routine purchase consumers often skip or reverse some of these stages.†( Kotler Brown – Marketing 6th edition . ) 2 . ‘Buyer Decision Process’ : At the beginning of year 2004, Tony decided to buy a digital camera for taking photos during his journey around Europe. There were lots brands of digital cameras on sell at that time. He had to make a decision between them. 2.1 Stage 1 Need recognition Tony wants a digital camera to take photos during the way for personal using. Therefore the demands of functions are just enough for satisfy the individual need. The digital camera need to have the basic function the normal camera has and the price should be not too expensive, it’s better if the quality of pictures are more clearly, the speed faster and the design novelty. From this stage, the marketers should research the information that what the consumer need. It could become the target for a company who want improve the skill of their producing, for less risk , they need to follow the â€Å"Marketing Concept† , outside-in perspective , focus on customers . 2.2 Stage 2 Information search The science today is developing all the time , people need the cameras have more technologies in them . Digital camera could satisfy the demand of customers by it’s bigger LCD screen; transiting photos to computers from the camera; colorful display; faster speed; innovative features †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and also, all of these become the objective of the camera companies. There are lots goods from different camera companies such like Canon, Sony, Kodak, Olympus, Samsung†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ could be chosen by Tony. As most customers, Tony ringed his friends, asked how was the opinions and knowledge of the brand of the product from them, read some news about digital camera from magazines and newspapers, found some information through the internet, even go around several camera shops†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦At last, he limited the scope he the researching. He found two type of cameras which are fit for him. They are Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1(Sony DSC-T1) and CANON IXUS430(Canon S430). Sony Canon We can see, in the business world today, â€Å"a company must design its marketing mix to make protects aware of and knowledgeable about its brand.†1 It’s very important for a company to know what the consumer thinking about their products and even the repute of them. If they didn’t advertised the produce, they may loss a lot of business profit because the complete ignorance of the customers. 2.3 Stage 3 Evaluation Of Alternatives The two digital camera companies all have high quality and good faith, the price of Sony DSC-T1 is 550 dollars, however the original price of Canon S430 was 620 dollars, now they are on sell just 520 dollars. Canon has a 1.5†³ LCD screen, Sony is 2.5†³ LCD display; The speed of Sony DSC-T1 is 15^1/5300 s, and the speed of the Canon is 15^1/2000 s; Canon camera has the USB input to connect with computers, but no memory stick. There are both USB input and memory stick on Sony DSC-T1. The weight of Sony is 180g, and Canon is 185g. For the people who buy the Sony camera, they retain the right to exchange the goods with any fault whenever they want in one year. There’s a only half a year’s warranty to Canon S430. But, If Tony decides to buy the Canon S430, he could also get a free camera handbag from the company. For personal use, the warranty of the company is the most important, which means to a company, service marketing is very important. Sony may win Canon by this factor. But also, Tony need to compare the qualities of two brands of cameras. He never mind how big the screen is, any of these two is ok for him. Because it’s a individual purchase, he just wants the speed of the camera enough to take normal photos, if faster, that’s better. Tony need the camera could connect with his computer, that he could keep the photos and fix them by the program in his computer and send them to his friends and relative. If the camera has memory stick is more useful. â€Å"Sony† is lighter than â€Å"Canon†, Tony could get more convenience from Sony camera. However, the price of Sony is 30 dollars more than Canon. 2.4 Stage 4 Purchase Decision After he compare the conditions above carefully, he made a decision to buy Sony Cyber-shot DCS-T1 camera. But it’s still not the last decision he’s made. â€Å"Two factors can come between the purchase intention and the purchase decision.† Maybe his friend doesn’t like the brand of â€Å"Sony† but â€Å"Olympus†, or at the same time, the price of another digital camera from Olympus has dropped down to 490 dollars and also has the similar effect as the two camera we’ve talked before. He may change his mind and buy the Olympus camera. 2.5 Stage 5 Post-purchase Behaviour After all of 4 stages before, Tony bought the camera which he decided to buy – Sony Cyber-shot DCS-T1, It seems like, he has already finished his buying process, but not really. The last stage of â€Å"Buyer decision Process† is very important. If Tony is satisfied by the camera he bought, he may advertises to his friends and suggest them to buy this brand of products (not just camera) and he will trust this company and buy this brand of product again. However, if he finds the quality of the camera is not as good as what he wants, he will also complain how bad the product is to his friends and relatives. There’s not just one customer dissatisfy like Tony, the company will lose million dollars of profit. Therefore, companies should pay attention to the â€Å"Post-purchase process† . The reputation of the company is depend on this stage. It could help the marketers get more customers and business profit. When some customers want to buy some goods, maybe there’s not all the stages during the process. They may skip or reverse some of the stages. Just like Tony, If he is satisfied this time, the next time he want to buy a walkman, or digital TV, or DVD player, he may skip of the second stage(Information search) and the third stage(Evaluation of alternatives). And also, for the next time, he reverse of the stages. the last stage(Post-purchase behaviour) come after the first stage(Need recognition) before the forth stage(Purchase decision). 3 . Conclusion : The â€Å"Buyer Decision Process† is the process when the customers making decision to buy something. It useful for customers to get the goods they really need and fit for the value. Also it’s the most common way of purchasing goods. On the other hand, the process is very important for marketers to improve their producing skill and get the information of how customers feel about their products. If marketers follow the process and satisfy the customers, they will be successful in their business. 4. Reference : 1. Marketing, 6th edition, Kotler Brown. 2. Law in Commerce, 2nd Edition, Brendan Sweeney & Jennifer O’Reilly. 3. http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_t1-review/index.shtml 4. http://www.dpreview.com/

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Week Assignment

However, each company must access their unique situation and environment to determine if IT outsourcing is the method going forward. There can be immense fiscal and operational benefits, but also significant risks. Factors for Outsourcing The most obvious factor in whether or not to outsource is cost. Companies are driven by profits. If the cost of outsourcing ammonium's the Return on Investment (ROI) then it is unlikely executive management would consider the option. However, in today's environment companies like Amazon are able to achieve vast efficiencies by consolidating massive resources into a globalInfrastructure as a Service (alas) capability. Services like SAWS can establish thousands of virtual servers within an hour. All within Amazon's mature, secure, and stable environment Another factor for outsourcing is, in by doing so, allowing a company to focus on its core competency and not be burdened by IT requirements. Additionally, companies like SAWS provide robust, scalable, and leading edge capabilities that would be, for most, excessively burdensome to plan, implement, maintain, and operate. However, though SAWS can deliver organizational requirements to the majority of potential customers, some are more feasible than others.Big data companies which have massive analytics requirements need customized server configurations to attain deliverable efficiencies. Though Amazon and others have made strides in accomplishing just that, they cannot compete with a costly in-house implementation. Risks in Outsourcing Companies like Amazon have changed the thinking paradigm of risks associated with outsourcing IT. Not even 5-10 years ago companies were concerned with risks such as quality of services, reliable ¶y', and excessive dependency. Today the environment differs significantly. Companies sign up with Amazon in search of reliability.Quality of service is impeccable and Amazon institutes a fee for service marketing platform so companies only pay for what t hey use. However, there are other risks that cannot be overlooked. One of these key risks is security. Though Amazon likely has a healthy security posture, due to their immense success, has also become a key hacker target. Storing all company data to an external vendor must make management a little uneasy. Corporate intellectual property and the trust of a company's customers can be shaken by one significant breach. Is it worth the risk?Outsourcing Costs Services like Amazon have made it increasingly attractive to consider outsourcing with their fee for service model. In a server brutalized environment CHIP cores, memory, and storage is shared. SAWS only charges customers for what they use. In the contrary, in an in-house solution, the costs don't stop when operations do. There are reoccurring costs associated with power, facilities, support contracts, etc. All these costs vanish when utilizing an alas capability such as SAWS. Not to mention a reduction in staff as robust IT staff w ill no longer be required if there is minimal infrastructure to support.Implications of Outsourcing IT If the decision is made to outsource IT, it would alter the face of the organization business structure as whole groups may be removed. Internal IT operations impact almost every facet of an organization. Finance and HER need to support the additional IT staff and IT operational costs. Fewer individuals typically reduce liability risks associated with general operations. Security needs to be enforced in data centers and other highly sensitive IT infrastructure areas. The need for a CIO and/or COT would be somewhat reduced.Lastly, the need for an IT tier 3 and above staff could be potentially completely eliminated. Outsourcing IT would create a lean organization focused on its core competencies and more likely to attain that elusive competitive advantage in its marketplace. Outsourcing IT is here and it's here to stay. Companies will find it more and more difficult to be competitive in a market where your competitors are not burdened by IT requirements. Cost, efficiencies, and strategic vision are several of the many factors to consider with IT outsourcing. Week Assignment With respect to the tasks and duties of the administrative anager, the successful candidate is responsible for maintaining administrative staff through recruitment, selection, organization, orientation, and constant training; maintaining a secure and safe job environment; initiating and developing opportunities for employee growth and development; accomplishing employee resu Its through effective communication of job expectations, timely planning, continuous monitoring, and periodic appraisal of job results; provision of coaching and counselling services for the employees; overseeing of discipline matters within the organization; and initiating, enforcing, and coordinating organizational olicies and vital procedures. In addition, s/he will ensure strong labor relations and employment conditions, maintain records, prepare reports, compose correspondence, and develop budget recommendations for personal services and capital outlay.To execute the abovementioned duties with ease, the admi nistrative assistant will require various technological tools and equipment. In this regard, s/he should be well versed with use of laptop computers, personal digital assistants, multi-line telephone systems, and photocopying equipment. In addition a suitable candidate should be onversant with the technology that is essential for this occupation. This includes accounting software, spreadsheet software, electronic mail software, enterprise resource planning software, and desktop publishing software. Besides having essential technological competencies, a suitable administrative assistant should be knowledgeable in different areas and have diverse skills and abilities.In this regard, s/he should have knowledge of the principles of personal as well as customer services, clerical systems and procedures, English language, mathematics, economics and accounting, omputers and electronics, personnel and human resources, and sales and marketing. Fundamental skills for this job occupation range from active listening, effective coordination, time management, and speaking to critical thinking, sound judgment, effective decision making, and negotiation. Essential abilities entail oral expression, inductive and deductive reasoning, speech recognition and clarity, oral comprehension, written expression, and problem sensitivity. With respect to educational requirement, an ideal candidate should have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or any other related field.Recruitment Method The process of recruiting employees gives human resource managers an opportunity to reach out to prospective staffs and select suitable candidates for any job occupation. There are various ways that can be used to advertise the abovementioned post and select a suitable candidate to fill it. According to Gatewood, Field and Barrick (201 0), employment agencies locate and screen candidates on behalf of the employers. They use accredited procedures to choose suitable staffs and present them to employers within the shortest time. using this, employers are able to access individuals that ave sufficient relevant skills in a timely manner. Relative to this is employment of online recruitment companies or job banks.Gatewood et al (2010) ascertains that there are various online recruitment companies that give employers an opportunity to advertise emergent job opportunities. ikewise, this approach enables employers to find suitable candidates quickly and cost effectively. In addition, employers using this strategy connect with applicants from diverse backgrounds. They are able to choose experienced candidates whose qualifications are consistent with their job specifications. Assessment Methods As indicated earlier, successful organizational wellbeing relies on the effective performance of its human resources. Ma and Allen (2009) posit that to ensure recruitment Of competent staff, it is vital to understand employee behavior.Presumably, behavior influences attitudes and decisions of staffs in different ways. Psychometric tests can be used to evaluate qualified candidates to determine and understand their individuality. Results of these measurement tools are imperative for predicting employee behavior and maximizing their value with respect to job performance. From the job description, it is pparent that the administrative assistant will interact with fellow employees as well as clients at different levels. Effective performance requires high level commitment and relevant and sufficient competencies including strong interpersonal skills. Employee behavior has direct impacts on his or her mannerisms and general wellbeing.Upfront determination of this enables employers to optimize staff performance by providing suitable opportun ities for empowerment, growth, and development in a timely manner. Another ideal employee assessment method in this context would be use of oral nterviews. The interview strategy is important for generating vital information pertaining to the attitudes, skills, and behaviors of employees (DeCenzo, Robbins , 2012). Using well-structured and customized interview schedules, employers lure the staffs into providing a wealth of information about their abilities, opinions, and experiences. Using this information, employers are able to make vital decisions regarding ideal job placements, resource allocation, and strategic planning. Week Assignment He's bursting with excitement about everything the â€Å"new world† has to offer. He literally tells everyone in England to make the voyage. But that each parish, or village, in Cite, or Country, that will but apparel their fatherless children, of heritage or fourteen years of age, or young married people, that have small wealth to live on; here by their labor may live exceeding well: provided always that first there bee a sufficient power to command them, houses to receive them, means to defend them, and meet provisions for them. † (52) Smith is incredibly passionate about the land here, and obviously thinks it has more to offer than England. However, he also urges the English that they need a vast array of occupations here to truly thrive.He also tells them that they, too, will succeed. â€Å"Carpenters, Masons, Fishers, Fowlers, Gardeners, Husbandmen, Sawyers, Smiths, Spinsters, Tailors, Weavers, and such Like The Masters by this may quickly grower rich. † (52) On the other hand, William Bradford writes in â€Å"Of Plymouth Plantation† how remarkably dangerous the trip across the water actually is. The footnote to the first portion of the first sentence refers to a ship going down and everyone having to move themselves and their possessions from the Speedwell to the Mayflower.Not everyone survived the crossing; one seaman and one passenger died while at sea: â€Å"There was a proud and err profane young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty, able body, which made him more the haughty; he would always be contemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with grievous execration's; and did not let to tell them that he hoped to help cast half of them overboard before they came to their Journeys end, and to make merry with what they had; and If he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly.But It pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of whi ch he died In a separate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. † (54) I can about being seasick ends up the first to perish on the sea. Was it Just an ironic work of fate, or was it karma? Bradford writes in quick detail about the storms they faced and survived, which landed them in Cape Cod. He details one of the storms where they had to drift and could not sail onward. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull in a mighty storm, a lusty young man called John Holland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a sell of the ship, thrown into sea; but it leased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length. † (55) Bradford continues in his book about how they found a place to reside, but it wasn't without worry. The Pilgrims had to be extremely careful any time they went out to hunt or gather food and water, any time they explored a new territory, and any time they slept!The weather was turning cold, and they needed food and a place to build homes. They came across an abandoned Indian dwelling and took what food they found. â€Å"Which, they digging up, found in them divers fair Indian baskets filled with corn, and some in ears, fair and good, of divers colors†¦ † (60) After their dinghy was fixed and ready for shallower waters, they â€Å"found more of [the Indians'] corn and of their beans of various colors. † (60) If the Pilgrims hadn't come across the Indian's corn and beans, along with the seeds, they would have likely starved.It took them a month to find a decent place to settle and make camp, and an additional 10 days to actually get to the area free from Indians and start building. They had started exploring the lands on November 1 5th, then â€Å"On the 1 5th of December they weighed anchor to go to the place they had discovered, and came within two leagues of it, but were fain to bear up again; but on the 16th day, the wind came fair, and they arrived safe in this harbor.And afterwards took better view of the place, and resolved where to pitch their dwelling; and the 25th day began to erect the first house for common use to receive them and their goods. † (64) While on the Mayflower, there were Pilgrims (those who made the passage for religious reasons) and Strangers (those who came for business). The Pilgrims came together and wrote he Mayflower Compact, which is widely believed to have been the foundation of our Constitution. After this they chose, or rather confirmed, Mr.. John Carver (a man godly and well approved amongst them) their Governor for that year. † (65) Our excerpt of Bradford book concludes with their first Thanksgiving. They had a small harvest and started bracing their houses against the coming winter. The Pilgrims that survived the trip and the illnesses after coming to land were â€Å"well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. † (66) Week assignment Pornography degrades values that are held in high regard in a society. Pornography ought to be recognized as a form of free speech. And B B and C Question 8. 8. Which statement might be used to argue that pornography ought to be extensively regulated? (Points : 1) Pornography demonstrates realistic forms of sexual intercourse. Pornography provides enjoyment to millions of people. Pornography denigrates women. Pornography creates realistic perspectives about healthy relationships. None of the above Question 9. 9.Which statement might a libertarian most agree with? (Points : 1) The state should be responsible for the welfare of its citizens. The state should be allowed to restrict freedom whenever it deems it necessary to do so. Tate should restrict freedoms based on the greatest happiness of the citizens. The state should only be allowed to restrict behavior that harms others. None of the above Question 10. 10. John Stuart Mill would most agree with which statement? (Points : 1) The g overnment cannot limit freedoms of the citizens without circumstantial evidence.The government can only limit freedom when people's actions would harm themselves. The government can only limit freedom when people's actions would harm others. The government cannot limit freedoms of the citizens without forensic evidence. Study all 40 terms Study O Terms only Most philosophers believe that intentions are important when Judging the morality of an action, but for utilitarian the sole criterion is the action's consequences. True Which of the following expressions would you be most likely to hear utilitarian using to Justify their actions? The ends Justify the means. † Which of the following factors should be taken into consideration when performing Bantam's utilitarian calculus? The intensity of pleasure. 1 . In the early sass during times of revolution, rape, rampage, and chaos in certain areas of the world, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy supplied its nuns with birth control pills. The reasoning was that, although the church opposed use of the Pill, the risk of rape and resultant pregnancy was so great as to override religious objections to the Pill.This Justification illustrates what sort of ethical system? Utilitarian Regarding the confinement raising of chickens for food, Jeremy Beneath would most likely argue that it is Not morally acceptable because chickens experience pain. According to utilitarianism individual happiness is the highest moral good. People achieve happiness by pursuing their rational self-interests. Therefore, people ought to pursue their rational self-interests. False Which of the following did Mill regard as our most important moral duty/right?Malefaction Suppose that an anti-abortionist assassinates an abortionist, claiming that, â€Å"The end justifies the means: It is better to kill one human now, than to allow that person to kill many humans (perform abortions) in the future. † This assassin's reasoning adheres to whic h ethical system. To a rule-utilitarian, we should in any particular situation, follow the rule that in mineral brings about the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Utilitarian would support voluntary euthanasia, especially when the pain in a person's life outweighs the pleasure that he or she derives from living.According to which ethical system does the rightness or wrongness of an act depend on the act itself and not on its consequences? Deontological system Ethnologist S. Book suggests that, although lying is generally wrong, there may be isolated cases where the duty to lie conflicts with the more important duty to protect innocent human life. In these cases, lying may be morally Justified. This view will lead to the notion of: Prima facie duties. The development of proper self-esteem (the duty of self-improvement) in Demonology requires that we: Cultivate the good will.Which of the following, according to Kant, is a characteristic of moral maxims and duties? They are u niversally binding. According to prima facie ethnologists, a moral duty is binding unless it: Conflicts with a more compelling moral duty. Dry. Jack Sovereign has assisted numerous people in committing suicide, each of whom felt that his or her life was no longer worth living because of disease, disability, r terminal illness. Which of the following people would be most likely to disapprove of Dry.Asseveration's actions? Emmanuel Kant The categorical imperative requires us to: Always treat persons as ends-in-themselves. Identify the philosopher who said: â€Å"so act as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end in itself, never as a means only. † Emmanuel Kant. â€Å"Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law,† is an ethical principle advocated by: Cant's demonologies. Week Assignment However, each company must access their unique situation and environment to determine if IT outsourcing is the method going forward. There can be immense fiscal and operational benefits, but also significant risks. Factors for Outsourcing The most obvious factor in whether or not to outsource is cost. Companies are driven by profits. If the cost of outsourcing ammonium's the Return on Investment (ROI) then it is unlikely executive management would consider the option. However, in today's environment companies like Amazon are able to achieve vast efficiencies by consolidating massive resources into a globalInfrastructure as a Service (alas) capability. Services like SAWS can establish thousands of virtual servers within an hour. All within Amazon's mature, secure, and stable environment Another factor for outsourcing is, in by doing so, allowing a company to focus on its core competency and not be burdened by IT requirements. Additionally, companies like SAWS provide robust, scalable, and leading edge capabilities that would be, for most, excessively burdensome to plan, implement, maintain, and operate. However, though SAWS can deliver organizational requirements to the majority of potential customers, some are more feasible than others.Big data companies which have massive analytics requirements need customized server configurations to attain deliverable efficiencies. Though Amazon and others have made strides in accomplishing just that, they cannot compete with a costly in-house implementation. Risks in Outsourcing Companies like Amazon have changed the thinking paradigm of risks associated with outsourcing IT. Not even 5-10 years ago companies were concerned with risks such as quality of services, reliable ¶y', and excessive dependency. Today the environment differs significantly. Companies sign up with Amazon in search of reliability.Quality of service is impeccable and Amazon institutes a fee for service marketing platform so companies only pay for what t hey use. However, there are other risks that cannot be overlooked. One of these key risks is security. Though Amazon likely has a healthy security posture, due to their immense success, has also become a key hacker target. Storing all company data to an external vendor must make management a little uneasy. Corporate intellectual property and the trust of a company's customers can be shaken by one significant breach. Is it worth the risk?Outsourcing Costs Services like Amazon have made it increasingly attractive to consider outsourcing with their fee for service model. In a server brutalized environment CHIP cores, memory, and storage is shared. SAWS only charges customers for what they use. In the contrary, in an in-house solution, the costs don't stop when operations do. There are reoccurring costs associated with power, facilities, support contracts, etc. All these costs vanish when utilizing an alas capability such as SAWS. Not to mention a reduction in staff as robust IT staff w ill no longer be required if there is minimal infrastructure to support.Implications of Outsourcing IT If the decision is made to outsource IT, it would alter the face of the organization business structure as whole groups may be removed. Internal IT operations impact almost every facet of an organization. Finance and HER need to support the additional IT staff and IT operational costs. Fewer individuals typically reduce liability risks associated with general operations. Security needs to be enforced in data centers and other highly sensitive IT infrastructure areas. The need for a CIO and/or COT would be somewhat reduced.Lastly, the need for an IT tier 3 and above staff could be potentially completely eliminated. Outsourcing IT would create a lean organization focused on its core competencies and more likely to attain that elusive competitive advantage in its marketplace. Outsourcing IT is here and it's here to stay. Companies will find it more and more difficult to be competitive in a market where your competitors are not burdened by IT requirements. Cost, efficiencies, and strategic vision are several of the many factors to consider with IT outsourcing. Week assignment Pornography degrades values that are held in high regard in a society. Pornography ought to be recognized as a form of free speech. And B B and C Question 8. 8. Which statement might be used to argue that pornography ought to be extensively regulated? (Points : 1) Pornography demonstrates realistic forms of sexual intercourse. Pornography provides enjoyment to millions of people. Pornography denigrates women. Pornography creates realistic perspectives about healthy relationships. None of the above Question 9. 9.Which statement might a libertarian most agree with? (Points : 1) The state should be responsible for the welfare of its citizens. The state should be allowed to restrict freedom whenever it deems it necessary to do so. Tate should restrict freedoms based on the greatest happiness of the citizens. The state should only be allowed to restrict behavior that harms others. None of the above Question 10. 10. John Stuart Mill would most agree with which statement? (Points : 1) The g overnment cannot limit freedoms of the citizens without circumstantial evidence.The government can only limit freedom when people's actions would harm themselves. The government can only limit freedom when people's actions would harm others. The government cannot limit freedoms of the citizens without forensic evidence. Study all 40 terms Study O Terms only Most philosophers believe that intentions are important when Judging the morality of an action, but for utilitarian the sole criterion is the action's consequences. True Which of the following expressions would you be most likely to hear utilitarian using to Justify their actions? The ends Justify the means. † Which of the following factors should be taken into consideration when performing Bantam's utilitarian calculus? The intensity of pleasure. 1 . In the early sass during times of revolution, rape, rampage, and chaos in certain areas of the world, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy supplied its nuns with birth control pills. The reasoning was that, although the church opposed use of the Pill, the risk of rape and resultant pregnancy was so great as to override religious objections to the Pill.This Justification illustrates what sort of ethical system? Utilitarian Regarding the confinement raising of chickens for food, Jeremy Beneath would most likely argue that it is Not morally acceptable because chickens experience pain. According to utilitarianism individual happiness is the highest moral good. People achieve happiness by pursuing their rational self-interests. Therefore, people ought to pursue their rational self-interests. False Which of the following did Mill regard as our most important moral duty/right?Malefaction Suppose that an anti-abortionist assassinates an abortionist, claiming that, â€Å"The end justifies the means: It is better to kill one human now, than to allow that person to kill many humans (perform abortions) in the future. † This assassin's reasoning adheres to whic h ethical system. To a rule-utilitarian, we should in any particular situation, follow the rule that in mineral brings about the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Utilitarian would support voluntary euthanasia, especially when the pain in a person's life outweighs the pleasure that he or she derives from living.According to which ethical system does the rightness or wrongness of an act depend on the act itself and not on its consequences? Deontological system Ethnologist S. Book suggests that, although lying is generally wrong, there may be isolated cases where the duty to lie conflicts with the more important duty to protect innocent human life. In these cases, lying may be morally Justified. This view will lead to the notion of: Prima facie duties. The development of proper self-esteem (the duty of self-improvement) in Demonology requires that we: Cultivate the good will.Which of the following, according to Kant, is a characteristic of moral maxims and duties? They are u niversally binding. According to prima facie ethnologists, a moral duty is binding unless it: Conflicts with a more compelling moral duty. Dry. Jack Sovereign has assisted numerous people in committing suicide, each of whom felt that his or her life was no longer worth living because of disease, disability, r terminal illness. Which of the following people would be most likely to disapprove of Dry.Asseveration's actions? Emmanuel Kant The categorical imperative requires us to: Always treat persons as ends-in-themselves. Identify the philosopher who said: â€Å"so act as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end in itself, never as a means only. † Emmanuel Kant. â€Å"Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law,† is an ethical principle advocated by: Cant's demonologies.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Privacy and Social Networks Essay

â€Å"Privacy seems to encompass everything, and therefore it appears to be nothing in itself† (Solove, 2008, p. 7). It is an oversimplification to define privacy as all what an individual owns. With the evolution of new technologies nowadays, it is very hard to define privacy because it varies from one person to another and from one culture to another (Solove, 2008). With the rise of social networks during the last decade, new views about privacy started to emerge due to its special mechanism in sharing information. Social networks enable users to instantly share information, thoughts, photos, products and videos with the many users in the network at once. Unlike other means of communication, the information in social networks can spread to hundreds of users in seconds. Then, the users who received the information may share it among their network, and then further to other networks, which will end up in spreading the information to millions of people in no time, just like a chain reaction. This new mechanism of sharing, which is becoming faster every day, raised new concerns about privacy among individuals and organizations. In spite of all these concerns about the personal privacy on the social networks, social networks websites are the most visited websites in the internet. For example, Facebook has reached 901 million monthly active users in April, 2012 (Hachman, 2012). Although social networks enables an easy sharing of private information about individuals or low profile information about organizations, individuals and organization should not be afraid of using social networks due to privacy concerns, and instead they should be more public and utilize the social network. Being public and open to the world is better than being private and closed because it enables people to learn from others personal experience. Naturally, any individual or organization benefits from communicating with others. Nevertheless, communication with others, regardless of the mean of communication, usually involves giving away some private information to the other. However, social networks empowered the world a new mean of communication that benefits all the users in the network by sharing private information. For example, an individual can share some previous experiences such as overcoming an illness, eating habit, or making a project. Being afraid of sharing experience, because of privacy, would only deprive others from benefit of these experiences. According to Tapscott (2012): Fully 20 percent of all patients with the fatal disease ALS share intimate information about their treatment and condition on the network PatientsLikeMe. com. And tens of thousands of others with rare diseases who use that website report that sharing has helped them better manage their illness. Because the social network enabled them to share information about their medical conditions, which is very private information, they supported each others with valuable information about their disease and inspired each others with their experience. Social networks enhanced collaboration, which in return brings benefits to all individuals, at the cost of personal information. Some may argue that because of posting private information on social networks, some employee may suffer from being fired from or being denied for a job. In other words, social networks negatively affect employment because they allow the employers or managers to access an employee’s or a job applicant’s private data. For example, Andrews (2012) states in her book that a high school teacher, called Ashly Payne, was asked to resign because she uploaded a photo of her on Facebook drinking an alcoholic drink even though it is legal to drink in her country. She also claims that employers â€Å"will not hire someone whose Facebook page includes photo of that person drinking or in provocative dress† (p. 122). However, the information on social networks could not be used against an employee or a job applicant because it is considered unethical and illegal. First, it is unethical to judge a worker from the personal aspects rather than working skills. Besides, Jarvis (2011) defines privacy as â€Å"the ethics of knowing† and publicness as â€Å"the ethics of sharing† (p. 110). Therefore, it depends how the individual interpret others information. On the other hand, employers can also look into a job applicant’s profile in a social network to see his/her previous experience in work. Second, it is illegal to make ecision on an employee or a job applicant based on social networks personal information. Furthermore, this act is considered discrimination and the company can be sued for this action (Waring & Buchanan, 2010). Therefore, employees and job applicants should not be afraid of posting information in social networks. Social network is a safe place to share private information with others. The main issue is that private data on the social network is accessible anytime and anywhere. Without a doubt, the privacy of individual’s profile data in the social network should be protected to make the network a safer place for sharing. Therefore, many social networks provide powerful tools to control the access on private information. First, social networks do not grant access to other users profile data anonymously. In order to access any data even if it is public, the individual needs gain the social networks trust by registering an account in the social network. This enables the social network administration control over the social network. Second, the user can choose who is able to view his/her profile private information and what information others can see. For instance, the user can block accounts, specify groups and set privileges. Third, social networks also provide a help center to report abuse of the services such as spamming, bullying or hateful speeches. The social network administration can stop any account permanently or even take legal action if an individual is reported abusing others privacy. Finally, most social networks provide a parental control to help parents control how their children use the social network. Since social networks rely on the trust between the users, these tools does not only make a social network a safer place, but also trustworthy. Richters and Peixoto (2011) performed a research to show the transitivity of trust in social networks. They found out that people decide who to trust based on other peers who trust. To emphasize this to the topic, users trust only specific users over their private information and thus they trust the social network. Conversely, trusting the social network increases the trust among the users. In addition, trustworthiness implies a social network safety, which in return means users being more comfortable sharing their information using the social network. For example, one of the reasons that made Facebook the most successful social network is the trustworthy of the users. According to Jesdanun (2006, as cited in Fogel & Nehmad, 2009), because Facebook was only restricted for students, the users felt safer to share data through the social network. Nowadays, Facebook is open to the public, but they are very strict in term of network safety. In fact, Fogel’s and Nehmad’s (2009) research statistics showed that â€Å"those who had social networking profiles had significantly greater mean scores†¦ indicating that they believed Facebook is a more trustworthy social network† (p. 175). For any social network to be successful, the social network has to maintain the trust of their users through the safety of the social network. Therefore, social networks are trustworthy over the users’ private in the social network. Despite of these control tools, some may argue that social networks still a potential threat to the users’ privacy. For instance, many believe that social networks made a fertile ground for identity theft and stalking. People usually fear the technology; because social networks are also considered one of them, every possible problem falls under the umbrella of privacy concerns on social networks. Privacy, however, is not only controlling the data access, but also controlling how it is used or interpreted (Boyd, 2010). Let us discuss these problems one by one. First, identity theft occurs when someone steals someone’s secret information and pretending to be that person. According to Jarvis, â€Å"[the identity theft issue] is less an issue of privacy than larceny† (2011, p. 96). Assuming it is an issue of privacy, suppose someone hacked someone else’s account or page on a social network, thus accessing or using the victim’s information. Should this be considered the social network fault? The user, the victim, probably did not take security precautions to protect what he/she considered a private data. Additionally, the social network provides tools to retrieve, to report or to suspend a stolen account. Second, stalking is obsessively observing an individual’s behavior or information. Unfortunately, stalking can mostly be from those who have access to the profile information such as friends and coworkers. However, it still depends on how they interpret the information. For example, if someone knew that his friend is getting divorced, he decides whether to support him, help him, or stand against him. Social networks’ databases do not only contain data about their users, but also how the users interactions with the social networks and other users. Therefore, the data in social networks are very valuable as some refers to it as â€Å"the new oil†. Social networks use these data, through data mining, to improve its services and to gain revenue. Most social networks gain revenue from targeted advertising. For example, if a user often reads about cars, or writes posts related cars, the data mining system is going to assume this user is interested in cars. Therefore, the social network shows that user advertisements related to cars within the user’s living area. Social networks created a new marketing option that helps the companies to expand their production and services (Andresen, 2011). On the other hand, data mining and targeted advertisement raises new privacy concern in social networks. For example, some users may feel uncomfortable when these advertisements are based on some information that were marked as private, a personal chat with a friend for instance. However, data mining and targeted advertising does not violate privacy laws or ethics. According to Seltzer research in data mining ethics (2005) â€Å"like most statistical methodologies data mining by itself is ethically neutral† (p. 1441). This is mainly because the data mining process is carried on by computer programs, which will not interact with these data the way a human would. They will not develop any judgment or feelings about the user no matter how sensitive the data is. Moreover, social networks provide advertisers with anonymous statistical data. In other word, advertisers do not know the identities of users in the statistics provided by the social network. In conclusion, social networks are new powerful tool for communication with the others. The data on the social networks are can easily be accessed anywhere and anytime, and therefore this created a controversial debate between privacy and the social networks. However, being afraid of using social networks would have only deprived the benefits of using these tools. Besides, employees and job applicants should not be afraid of using social networks because their information in social networks could not be used against them as it is considered illegal and unethical to be used against them. Nevertheless, social networks provide powerful tools to control over the user’s private information, thus implying that the social networks are trustworthy over private information. In sprit of all privileges control tools, many people believe that the social networks can cause problems such as identity theft and stalking. However, these problems are not necessarily due to social networks, but instead it is due to how people interpret the information in the social networks. As a result the, the user should be more careful when posting a sensitive data and think before sharing any information. Finally, because social networks databases contains tremendous amount of data, social networks created a new form of business using these data while protecting the identity of the data. Therefore, individuals and organization should not concern privacy when using social networks and utilize its benefits.