Predictiveness and the Level of Processing Research Paper - 1

Predictiveness and the Level of Processing - Research Paper Example M, 27 September 2008). Memory does a very important job which is to remember and the same has some vital subdivisions such as attention, encoding, rehearsal and retrieval. It is believed that the durability of the memory depends on the functions of the depth of processing. Going by this statement it is believed that the deeper the functions of various processes which go on in human mind, sharper the memory. "Older adults typically experience two main types of difficulty with their memory; the first is memory for names, and the second is memory for details of occurrences. The difficulty with names sometimes generalizes to infrequently used words and to names of objects, but is most evident in names of people. The second difficulty shows itself in forgetting where a possession was left, in the source of newly acquired information, and in ''telling the same tale (at least!) twice'' (Koriat, Ben-Zur, &Sheffer, 1988). It is extremely important to know about the process of remembering because it is closely related to Predictiveness. In this regards the above information is very handy. "While information-processing models of human memory have been concerned largely with structural aspects of the system, there is a growing tendency for theorists to focus, rather, on the processes involved in learning and remembering." (Craik, Fergus I. M, 27 September 2008). So there is importance given to the process involved in learning and remembering these days, Predictiveness and the process of remembering go hand in hand, the rest of the paper will explain the same with the help of apt examples. Method An experiment will clear all the doubts related to this topic and the result of the experiment will provide an in-depth analysis on how Predictiveness effects the level of Processing. There are 132 students who are participating in an experiment to determine how Predictiveness affects the level of Processing. Of these 132 students no of female students are 82 with the mean age of 19.8, so the mean age goes to show that the experiment is conducted on young students to get the exact results. The experiment showed a Power-point presentation to the students, the presentation consisted of 40 sentences of which 20 were composed of Predictive sentences and the other 20 were Non- predictive sentences. These 40 sentences shown to the students did not have the last word, in other words the last word each sentence was intentionally left blank. The organizers of the experiment probed the students to think of the missing word. After sometime all the forty sentences were shown with the last word f or 2 seconds each. After the experiment the students were asked to take a recognition test and the test consisted of 80 different items. Of these 80 items 20 were Predictive were and 20 were Non- predictive words, the rest 40 were fillers, these fillers were included to get to know the result better. The result of this experiment is on the next page and the ambiguities regarding this topic will be settled after looking at the results. Results The

The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People Essay Example for Free

The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People Essay Some people call The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, one of the most important self-help books written in the past twenty years. Others say it is one of the best business books written recent history. Regardless of whether it is called a self-help book or a business book, it has been a wildly popular and profitable publication. Seven Habits has sold over fifteen million copies and has been on various bestseller lists almost continuously since its publication in 1989. Indeed, Coveys blockbuster book spent five consecutive years, 1991-1995, as Americas top nonfiction bestseller. Covey has deeply held religious beliefs. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons, which is reflected in his writings. There is a strong Judeo-Christian work ethic espoused and the concept of an individual taking personal responsibility for his or her own personal development, and the seven habits he refers to in this book bear a strong connection to the Mormon Churchs thirteen fundamental beliefs. Covey believes these seven habits of highly effective people can be learned and, conversely, old habits that promote ineffectiveness can be unlearned. A major issue in learning and adopting the seven habits of highly effective people, Covey opines in Seven Habits, is one of paradigm shifting. A paradigm is defined as a basic mental framework that strongly influences a persons ideas, beliefs and, therefore, actions. A person has paradigms about everything in life: what makes a good marriage, what is a good college, what is acceptable social behavior, and on infinitum. Until a person can shift from one way of looking at a problem, or situation, to another, he or she will be locked into old paradigms that can restrict new understandings and growth. Moving the United States Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security will require certain federal authorities to perform a paradigm shift from how they previously viewed the role and function of the USCG to a new way of thinking. Habitual ways of looking at paradigms create inflexibility in attempts at problem solving, management, an d leadership. Covey divides his seven habits of highly effective people into three interrelated categories; the first are habits of character, the second are habits of outward expression that lead to interdependence with others, and the last habit focusing on sustaining the growth process. This division becomes clear when he lists his habits. Habits of Independence: * Habit #1. Be proactive. Covey writes it is up to the individual to seize the initiative to use his or her resources to work toward goals. He speaks of a circle of influence and a circle of concern and postulates that worrying about things beyond your circle of influence is not productive, but working within your circle of influence is the best way to maximize your effectiveness. * Habit #2. Begin With The End In Mind. Covey illustrates this habit with a rather chilling question: What do you want people to say about you at your funeral? He then adds that you can aid your progress toward achieving your goals if you practice visualization, so when you finally attempt a task, you will have already done it countless times in your imagination. This is a method coaches have taught free throw shooters to practice for decades; visualize your stance, your pre-shot rituals and finally visualize the ball going cleanly through the net. Covey writes, We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective when we begin with the end in mind. * Habit #3. Put First Things First. This is a time management habit and Covey summarizes what he means by writing, Organize and execute around priorities. He develops a matrix where he divides all activities in four categories: In Quadrant I are things that are important and urgent. In Quadrant II are things that are important, but not urgent. In Quadrant III are items that are urgent, but not important. And finally, In Quadrant IV are things that at not important and not urgent. Habit #3, including Coveys matrix about time management, is the Golden Nugget of this book. Covey states that successful people keep most of their activities in Quadrant II because they can plan and prepare for future activities. Those people who constantly find their activities in Quadrant I will eventually burn out with excessive stress and strain because they are in a continuous crisis mode. Those individuals who find most of their activities in Quadrants III and IV are often out of control and dependant on others or institutions to help them live their lives. Covey believes that the term time management is actually a misnomer; that is, the challenge is not how to manage time, but rather how to manage ourselves. One of the central themes of the book is finding the correct P/PC balance. If we cannot manage ourselves, and our time, we will never be able to maintain proper Production. The P refers to production and the PC refers to production capability. He illustrates this P/PC dichotomy by using a machine as an illustration. If you ruin a machine twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year you will get great production initially, but eventually that machine will break down and be ruined or need repair. If, however, you run the machine on a regularly scheduled maintenance basis, you may not achieve the same production numbers as a machine being continuously used, but it will not suffer major breakdowns and over the long run the production will be greater. Habits of Interdependence. * Habit #4. Think Win-Win. This is a habit that encourages you to seek solutions of mutual benefit to all parties concerned, as opposed to win-lose situations where one person wins and the other person loses. Covey illustrates this habit by asserting that a powerful programming agent early in life is athletic competition where students develop a basic paradigm that life is a zero sum game; that is, if someone wins, someone must lose. To be truly successful, Covey writes, a person needs to know how to leverage the strengths of others and that is done not by creating win/lose situations, but rather seeking to create win/win situations. Indeed, he feels no deal is better than a non-win-win deal. * Habit #5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood. This is a communication habit that focuses on empathic listening skills. He asks how can you create win/win situations if you do not listen to the other person? Physicians diagnose before they prescribe. Top salespeople discover the clients needs before they offer a solution. Likewise, individuals need to exercise empathy; they must seek to first understand the other persons point of view before offering their own solutions * Habit #6. Synergize. Covey defines synergy as meaning the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He believes we need to value the differences between people and how they view the world and realize their paradigms might not be our paradigms, but they are equally valid for them. Once a person accepts the validity of seeking win-win solution, the habit of synergize or seeking cooperative teamwork becomes apparent. Synergy results from valuing differences and by bringing those differences together in the spirit of mutual respect. * Habit #7. Sharpen The Saw. In self-renewal, Covey cites four areas of our life that require constant attention: physical, mental, emotional-social and spiritual. He wrote that people get too busy producing or sawing and rarely take the time to stop and sharpen their saw or those four aspects of their lives. If they would take the time to stop and sharpen, the time they lost sharpening would be more than compensated by increased production. The example cited to illustrate this point is one of machinery. If a machine runs full throttle 24 hours a day for seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year, without time being set aside for maintenance, it will soon break under the stress and strain. If however, that same machine has a regular maintenance schedule, it could work indefinitely. Covey distinguishes something he calls the Character Ethic from the Personality Ethic. He believes Americans have moved away from embracing character ethics, or broad enduring permanent values such as honesty, loyalty and even the Ten Commandments, and turned towards Personality Ethics, where the emphasis is now on such items as how to dress for success, one-minute solutions and quick fixes. He feels the newer emphasis on personality focuses attention on short-term solutions whereas the attribute associated with the Character Ethic promotes healthier moral long-term solutions. This was my favorite part of the book because America truly has moved away from a Kantian moral absolutism thought process and has fostered more of a moral relativism approach. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People is a book that cannot be read one time and be fully understood. Each habit contains so much information and wisdom that it is virtually impossible to internalize what Covey is saying without reading and rereading each section. It is impossible to cite one item as the most important as related to leadership because they are inter-related. The one concept explained in this book that had the greatest impact on my life, to date, was Coveys discussion of time management. In high school, when my father first introduced me to this book, I was rather disorganized and somewhat chaotic in ordering my priorities. Although I had never read it, my father explained parts of the book well enough so that I could benefit from some of its knowledge. I distinctly remember filling out the time matrix chart introduced in Habit 3 and discovering most of my activities fell into Quadrant I. It was obvious I was not planning my activities, but rather reacting to events as they occurred to me. Subsequently, I have tried to keep my activities in Quadrant II, with varying degrees of success. As I move from the Academy into the non-academic world I believe Coveys admonition in Habit 5 to seek first to understand and then be understood will gain greater importance in my life. Realizing that my paradigms may not be someone elses paradigms, or my paradigms might have been right at one time, but the passage of time requires me to re-examine the conclusions I have reached, will be a prime requisite to effective leadership. I believe that Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders will be one of those books that will stay on my bookshelf for years to come and I will revisit it countless times to reread selected passages, not just to reinforce what I remember Covey saying, but to apply his timeless wisdom to new situations I encounter in whatever career I choose.

Smoking and Tobacco - Cigarettes Advertising and its Effects on Young Adults :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Tobacco Advertising and its Effects on Young Adults In this world there are many injustices that deal with our children. A main injustice is the advertising of tobacco directed to our youths. Every day 3,000 children start smoking, most of them between the ages of 10 and 18. These kids account for 90 percent of all new smokers. In fact, 90 percent of all adults state that they first start smoking as a teenager. The statistics clearly show that young people are the prime targets of tobacco sales. The head of these media companies are Marlboro and Camel. Marlboro uses a western character known as The Marlboro Man, and Camel uses the "smooth character" Joe Camel. Joe Camel who is shown as a camel with complete style has been attacked by many Tobacco-Free Kids organizations as a major influence on the children of America. Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia report that almost as many 6-year olds recognize Joe Camel as they do Mickey Mouse. That is very shocking information for any parent to hear. Children are attracted by these advertisements because they like cartoons, and they think that a cartoon is harmless and what the cartoon does is harmless too. There is so much cigarette advertising out there a child is sure to be struck by its attention. The companies deny that these symbols target people under 21 and claim that their advertising goal is simply to promote brand switching. Illinois Rep. Richard Durbin disagrees with this statement stating "If we can reduce the number of young smokers, the tobacco companies will be in trouble and they know it". The companies go toward a market that is not fully aware of the harm that cigarettes are capable of to keep their industry alive and well. When kids were asked why they started smoking, they gave two contradictory reasons: They wanted to be a part of the crowd. Children don't want to be left out, they want to be wanted. If their peers are smoking then they will want to smoke too. They also wanted to reach out and rebel at the same time. When children are told over and over by more authoritative people not to do something, then they are going to do it. They do this just to get back at the authorities or to satisfy their curiosity.

How market structures determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses Essay

3.1 Explain how market structures determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses There are different kinds of markets in different economies/sectors/goods. Accordingly, there are different kinds of output and pricing decisions which take place. Usually, output and pricing decisions are interdependent except for the case of perfectly competitive markets. In perfectly competitive markets, a single firm is so small compared to the market that it cannot affect the prices. In that case, it must take the price as given, and then decide the quantity to be supplied. Price in this market is equal to the marginal cost of production. In monopoly, however, things are different. The monopolist can change the prices, as it is the sole provider of the good and thus has the market power. But here also, if the price increases quantity demanded decreases. Therefore, the monopolist must take under consideration both the positive and negative effects of increase in prices. In another market oligopoly, pricing is a bit more complicated and it depends upon the strategic interaction am ong the firms. Market structure is the number of buyers and sellers in a market. There is different market structures such as Perfect Competition, Monopoly and Oligopoly and are discussed below: A place where different sellers of the same product then the firm’s price purpose and the output decision depends upon the demand for their products. In a competitive market buyers actually decide the price and firm take the output decisions as compare to the demand for the product because every firm tries to offer lower prices to their customer to increase their market share is known as Perfect competition. A scenario/market structure where a sole provider then price determination and output decision lies by the firm because in a monopolistic market the firm is the price maker and they can charge whatever price they want and customer have to pay because customers will not have the choice to buy somewhere else with a lower price, In Pakistan we can find such an example with WAPDA. This is known as a monopoly. Market structure where several sellers of the same products then the sellers have a bit of command over the price due to the ongoing rate for their products. For example they all charge the same price and then it depends upon the customers from whom to buy. Sellers may charge the same price but there will be difference in the way they advertise their products  and attract customers to purchase their products,; known as Oligopoly. 3.2 Illustrate the way in which market forces shape organizational responses using a range of examples Forces that determine the price level in the economy. Market forces can be a number of elements such as demand, supply, internal stakeholders, customers and suppliers. Two things can happen with the demand and the organizations are bound to give. If the demand for product increases the organization’s response for the increased demand will be they will hire more workers and will produce with full capacity. If the demand for the product decrease there will be decrease in cash inflow of organization due to which their costs will exceed than their profit. Organization response for such situation will be that they will cut jobs of their employees to cut their costs. Same as the demand two things can also happen with supply of the products. When there is increase in supply of products the demand will decrease while if there is a decrease in supply of the products the demand will increase. Employee is also the factor that can change the behavior of the organization. If government announces mini wage the organization must accept it and must pay their workers with a minimum wage. If do not pay it to their workers, their employees will leave their jobs and will work for other organizations. Every organization aim is to satisfy their customers with their products. If any organization producing fashion product but they do have continuous interaction with their customers as fashion changes after every specific time period the organization will lose their customers because they won’t be able to fulfill customer requirements and won’t be able to satisfy their customers with their products. An organization is dependent to its supplier and without supplies the production process is unable to run. If supplier increases price for the raw materials it will automatically increase the cost of production of an organization. 3.3 Judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behavior of a selected organization Political decisions also have an impact on business activities such as health and education for workers and the infrastructure of the economy. Nokia transferred one of its manufacturing facilities to India, it is important that Nokia have to follow all the rules in regulations set in India. The rules and regulations by India for Nokia may include that Nokia must be aware of the minimum wage, working hours per week and health and safety for workers etc. All the new  law and regulations by the government affect Nokia’s operations. Economic factors may include the economic situations as a whole. These factors include interest rate, exchange rate, inflation and economic development etc. Nokia’s Economic situation in Finland went to recession period once which decreased the level of income and resulted in decrease in demand for Nokia’s product. Due to an increase in costs Nokia cut jobs and unemployed some of their employees. Nokia must be aware of all such economic situations to be ready to handle them well. Social is about the society. Social factors may include change in taste, change in level of income, change in fashion etc. All the above factors affect the demand for the product; normally it happens with Luxury and fashion products. Nokia operates in all over the world with their products and consider the culture of every place they operate, now a day people want to have good looking and smart up to date pho nes, Nokia tries to be aware of every social trends in the society and come up with the demanded products by their customers. Technical; this refers to a change and development in the way of production, as new technology improved the quality of products, increase in productivity etc. Legal; the new laws applied on businesses by the government. Government passes different new laws after every specific time period which increases cost of the businesses. Such laws may include age discrimination, increase in minimum wage etc. For example, Apple operates where it is very difficult to have a product different from its competitors. Environmental factors include a change in weather, climate. Environmental changes affect businesses such as farming and tourism. Environmental factors are the external factors which firms have to consider due to a global change in the economy. Nokia must be friendly with their customers to operate in appropriate manner as they water proof cell phones, phones with a plastic body which can be unbreakable etc. Environmental Culture is the attitude, behavior and the knowledge in a society i s called the cultural environment. Cultural environment can be of two types: Internal Culture – Any attitude, behavior, action or policy developed among people in the company is called the internal culture of the company. Apples internal culture is that there is a team work system among employees and every employee has the freedom to give in input of their ideas for the success of the company. External Culture – company’s own mission and needs of the customers that the company  can quickly respond is called the external culture. Nokia’s external culture is that they give customers service to their customer as their first aim is the customer satisfaction and to achieve such satisfaction they always try to come up with high quality of products. Nokia always have an interaction with their potential customer to gain new ideas from them. Nokia always conduct their business in ethical, legal and socially responsible fashion.

“Tears, Idle Tears”

The speaker sings of the baseless and inexplicable tears that rise in his heart and pour forth from his eyes when he looks out on the fields in autumn and thinks of the past. This past, (â€Å"the days that are no more†) is described as fresh and strange. It is as fresh as the first beam of sunlight that sparkles on the sail of a boat bringing the dead back from the underworld, and it is sad as the last red beam of sunlight that shines on a boat that carries the dead down to this underworld. The speaker then refers to the past as not â€Å"fresh,† but â€Å"sad† and strange.As such, it resembles the song of the birds on early summer mornings as it sounds to a dead person, who lies watching the â€Å"glimmering square† of sunlight as it appears through a square window. In the final stanza, the speaker declares the past to be dear, sweet, deep, and wild. It is as dear as the memory of the kisses of one who is now dead, and it is as sweet as those kisses that we imagine ourselves bestowing on lovers who actually have loyalties to others. So, too, is the past as deep as â€Å"first love† and as wild as the regret that usually follows this experience.The speaker concludes that the past is a â€Å"Death in Life. † Form This poem is written in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter. It consists of four five-line stanzas, each of which closes with the words â€Å"the days that are no more. † Commentary â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears† is part of a larger poem called â€Å"The Princess,† published in 1847. Tennyson wrote â€Å"The Princess† to discuss the relationship between the sexes and to provide an argument for women’s rights in higher education. However, the work as a whole does not present a single argument or tell a coherent story.Rather, like so much of Tennyson’s poetry, it evokes complex emotions and moods through a mastery of language. â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears,† a particula rly evocative section, is one of several interludes of song in the midst of the poem. In the opening stanza, the poet describes his tears as â€Å"idle,† suggesting that they are caused by no immediate, identifiable grief. However, his tears are simultaneously the product of a â€Å"divine despair,† suggesting that they do indeed have a source: they â€Å"rise in the heart† and stem from a profoundly deep and universal cause.This paradox is complicated by the difficulty of understanding the phrase â€Å"divine despair†: Is it God who is despairing, or is the despair itself divine? And how can despair be divine if Christian doctrine considers it a sin? The speaker states that he cries these tears while â€Å"looking on the happy autumn-fields. † At first, it seems strange that looking at something happy would elicit tears, but the fact that these are fields of autumn suggests that they bear the memories of a spring and summer that have vanished, lea ving the poet with nothing to look forward to except the dark and cold of winter.Tennyson explained that the idea for this poem came to him when he was at Tintern Abbey, not far from Hallam’s burial place. â€Å"Tintern Abbey† is also the title and subject of a famous poem by William Wordsworth. (See the â€Å"Tintern Abbey† section in the Spark Note on Wordsworth’s Poetry. ) Wordsworth’s poem, too, reflects on the passage of time and the loss of the joys of youth. However, whereas Tennyson laments â€Å"the days that are no more† and describes the past as a â€Å"Death in Life,† Wordsworth explicitly states that although the past is no more, he has been compensated for its loss with â€Å"other gifts†: That time is past,And all its aching joys are now no more And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. Thus, although bot h Wordsworth and Tennyson write poems set at Tintern Abbey about the passage of time, Wordsworth’s poem takes on a tone of contentment, whereas Tennyson’s languishes in a tone of lament. â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears† is structured by a pattern of unusual adjectives used to describe the memory of the past.In the second stanza, these adjectives are a chiastic â€Å"fresh†¦sad†¦ sad†¦ fresh†; the memory of the birth of friendship is â€Å"fresh,† whereas the loss of these friends is â€Å"sad†; thus when the â€Å"days that are no more† are described as both â€Å"sad† and â€Å"fresh,† these words have been preemptively loaded with meaning and connotation: our sense of the â€Å"sad† and â€Å"fresh† past evokes these blossomed and withered friendships. This stanza’s image of the boat sailing to and from the underworld recalls Virgil’s image of the boatman Charon, who ferries the dead to Hades. In the third stanza, the memory of the past is described as â€Å"sad†¦strange†¦ sad†¦ strange. †The â€Å"sad† adjective is introduced in the image of a man on his deathbed who is awake for his very last morning. However, â€Å"strangeness† enters in, too, for it is strange to the dying man that as his life is ending, a new day is beginning. To a person hearing the birds’ song and knowing he will never hear it again, the twittering will be imbued with an unprecedented significance—the dying man will hear certain melancholy tones for the first time, although, strangely and paradoxically, it is his last.The final stanza contains a wave of adjectives that rush over us—now no longer confined within a neat chiasmic structure—as the poem reaches its last, climactic lament: â€Å"dear†¦ sweet†¦ deep†¦ deep†¦ wild. † The repetition of the word â€Å"deep† recalls the â€Å"depth of some divine despair,† which is the source of the tears in the first stanza. However, the speaker is also â€Å"wild with all regret† in thinking of the irreclaimable days gone by.The image of a â€Å"Death in Life† recalls the dead friends of the second stanza who are like submerged memories that rise to the surface only to sink down once again. This â€Å"Death in Life† also recalls the experience of dying in the midst of the rebirth of life in the morning, described in the third stanza. The poet’s climactic exclamation in the final line thus represents a culmination of the images developed in the previous stanzas. Tears, Idle Tears The speaker sings of the baseless and inexplicable tears that rise in his heart and pour forth from his eyes when he looks out on the fields in autumn and thinks of the past. This past, (â€Å"the days that are no more†) is described as fresh and strange. It is as fresh as the first beam of sunlight that sparkles on the sail of a boat bringing the dead back from the underworld, and it is sad as the last red beam of com/online/">sunlight that shines on a boat that carries the dead down to this underworld. The speaker then refers to the past as not â€Å"fresh,† but â€Å"sad† and strange.As such, it resembles the song of the birds on early summer mornings as it sounds to a dead person, who lies watching the â€Å"glimmering square† of sunlight as it appears through a square window. In the final stanza, the speaker declares the past to be dear, sweet, deep, and wild. It is as dear as the memory of the kisses of one who is now dead, and it is as sweet as thos e kisses that we imagine ourselves bestowing on lovers who actually have loyalties to others. So, too, is the past as deep as â€Å"first love† and as wild as the regret that usually follows this experience.The speaker concludes that the past is a â€Å"Death in Life. † Form This poem is written in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter. It consists of four five-line stanzas, each of which closes with the words â€Å"the days that are no more. † Commentary â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears† is part of a larger poem called â€Å"The Princess,† published in 1847. Tennyson wrote â€Å"The Princess† to discuss the relationship between the sexes and to provide an argument for women’s rights in higher education. However, the work as a whole does not present a single argument or tell a coherent story.Rather, like so much of Tennyson’s poetry, it evokes complex emotions and moods through a mastery of language. â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears,† a particularly evocative section, is one of several interludes of song in the midst of the poem. In the opening stanza, the poet describes his tears as â€Å"idle,† suggesting that they are caused by no immediate, identifiable grief. However, his tears are simultaneously the product of a â€Å"divine despair,† suggesting that they do indeed have a source: they â€Å"rise in the heart† and stem from a profoundly deep and universal cause.This paradox is complicated by the difficulty of understanding the phrase â€Å"divine despair†: Is it God who is despairing, or is the despair itself divine? And how can despair be divine if Christian doctrine considers it a sin? The speaker states that he cries these tears while â€Å"looking on the happy autumn-fields. † At first, it seems strange that looking at something happy would elicit tears, but the fact that these are fields of autumn suggests that they bear the memories of a spring and summer that have vanished, leaving the poet with nothing to look forward to except the dark and cold of winter.Tennyson explained that the idea for this poem came to him when he was at Tintern Abbey, not far from Hallam’s burial place. â€Å"Tintern Abbey† is also the title and subject of a famous poem by William Wordsworth. (See the â€Å"Tintern Abbey† section in the Spark Note on Wordsworth’s Poetry. ) Wordsworth’s poem, too, reflects on the passage of time and the loss of the joys of youth. However, whereas Tennyson laments â€Å"the days that are no more† and describes the past as a â€Å"Death in Life,† Wordsworth explicitly states that although the past is no more, he has been compensated for its loss with â€Å"other gifts†: That time is past,And all its aching joys are now no more And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. Thus, although both Wordsworth and Tennyson write poems set at Tintern Abbey about the passage of time, Wordsworth’s poem takes on a tone of contentment, whereas Tennyson’s languishes in a tone of lament. â€Å"Tears, Idle Tears† is structured by a pattern of unusual adjectives used to describe the memory of the past.In the second stanza, these adjectives are a chiastic â€Å"fresh†¦Ã‚  sad†¦ sad†¦ fresh†; the memory of the birth of friendship is â€Å"fresh,† whereas the loss of these friends is â€Å"sad†; thus when the â€Å"days that are no more† are described as both â€Å"sad† and â€Å"fresh,† these words have been preemptively loaded with meaning and connotation: our sense of the â€Å"sad† and â€Å"fresh† past evokes these blossomed and withered friendships. This stanza’s image of the boat sailing to and from the underworld recalls Virgil’s image of the boatman Charon, who ferries the dead to Hades.In the third stanza, the memory of the past is described as â€Å"sad†¦Ã‚  strange†¦ sad†¦ strange. † The â€Å"sad† adjective is introduced in the image of a man on his deathbed who is awake for his very last morning. However, â€Å"strangeness† enters in, too, for it is strange to the dying man that as his life is ending, a new day is beginning. To a person hearing the birds’ song and knowing he will never hear it again, the twittering will be imbued with an unprecedented significance—the dying man will hear certain melancholy tones for the first time, although, strangely and paradoxically, it is his last.The final stanza contains a wave of adjectives that rush over us—now no longer confined within a neat chiasmic structure—as the poem reaches its last, climactic lament: â€Å"dear†¦ sweet†¦ deep†¦ deep†¦ wild. † The repetition of the word â€Å"deep† recalls the â€Å"depth of some divine despair,† which is the source of the tears in the first stanza. However, the speaker is also â€Å"wild with all regret† in thinking of the irreclaimable days gone by.The image of a â€Å"Death in Life† recalls the dead friends of the second stanza who are like submerged memories that rise to the surface only to sink down once again. This â€Å"Death in Life† also recalls the experience of dying in the midst of the rebirth of life in the morning, described in the third stanza. The poet’s climactic exclamation in the final line thus represents a culmination of the images developed in the previous stanzas.

space invedares essays

space invedares essays BOOK REVIEW BY EITAN PEER Once again, Dorothy Woolfolk has outdone herself. In this magnificent book, another in the series of the Donna Rockford Mystery books, The author finds yet a new way to thrill and excite the reader. I couldnt stop reading because of the suspense. The story begins with peculiar events that happened in Bayport. No one knows the identity of a person that had wrecked a statue in the town hall, who painted a swastika in a familys door, or who set a baby carriage on fire. Meanwhile, we learn about the characters; Donna Rockford, a university student that is known for helping the Philadelphia Police in solving murder cases; Abbey Rockford, Donnas sister, who is graduating from Bayport High; and Nancy Gibson, the daughter of a U.S senator. On a hot night, after having a cookout on the beach near Nancy Gibsons home, she is found dead on a bulwark. A bruise on the back of Nancys head suggests she didnt drown. She was murdered! Almost Every character has a motive. Most of them envied her social status. On the one hand, she had a handsome boyfriend, which meant she was envied by other girls. On the other hand, girlfriends of other men envied her because many of them admired her. This fact keeps the reader puzzled about the identity of the killer. The story continues with Donna Rockfords investigation of the murder. Finally, she comes up with a plan. After looking for enough clues to solve the mystery, she lures the killer, and traps him. If you want to know who the killer is you will have to read the book yourselves! In conclusion, I think this is a great book to pass time with. I like referring to this kind of books as Flight books - books that are written in a simple manner, and are suitable for reading in a flight. I hope the next books ...

Service quality in hong kong restaurant The WritePass Journal

Service quality in hong kong restaurant Abstract Service quality in hong kong restaurant AbstractIntroductionLiterature ReviewMethodologyFindingsStaff:Information:Process:Food quality:Atmosphere:AnalysisConclusionManagerial implicationsRelated Abstract This report is to identify and examine the issues of service quality throughout restaurant industry. Personal survey was carried out in Hong Kong to collect positive and negative expediencies in restaurant. The personal survey categorised into five groups: staff, information, process, food quality and availability. The result will show a range of satisfiers and dissatisfies relating to the experiences in restaurant. Introduction Nowadays, many customers are more demanding on service quality in service industry such as hospitality and tourism. Since 1880s the service quality was began toward to the worldwide trend, many restaurant companies realised that a quality of food, in itself, is not guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (Van der wal et al, 2002). The purpose of service quality is to delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer expectation which is recognised as a multi dimensional construct (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). Service quality improvements will lead to customer satisfaction and cost management that result in improved profits (Steveson, 2002). Especially for customer service has major impact in service quality, customer service has become a unique component of both product and service sectors as well as the developments in information technology many businesses found that customer are being more demanding and knowledgeable. Not only has that, according to Moore (1987) s hown that many researchers had recognised that service quality could gain competitive advantages for company. Therefore, many companies are increasing attention to improve their service quality (Ghobadian et al, 1994). This report will investigate the levels of service quality in restaurants. It will examine the importance of service satisfaction and meeting customer expectations and studying the SERVQUAL model and the total quality management model. For the purpose of this study, the service quality in restaurants includes staff, decoration and layout, location, menu and information, food quality, hygiene and food process. Customer experiences in restaurant will be assessed by identifying the experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction by using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). Literature Review Furthermore, customer to customer experiences is getting more important in todays experience economy, in order make customers are staging memorable, special, and above and beyond service experiences plays an important role. These customer to customer experiences will help company gain a competitive advantage in the competitive service industry. There are many methods and models of evaluating service quality. SERVQUAL is a model that provides a technique for measuring and managing service quality, this has According to Parasuraman et al (1988) from Figure 1, SERVQUAL has five features dimension which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. These components are to measure the gap between customer satisfaction and expectation. SERVQUAL is assuming the service quality is critically determined by the disparity between the expectations and perceptions of the customer and the service actually delivered (Curry and Sinclair. 2002). In addition, service quality can be defined as the extent to which a performance of company meets a customer’s need or expectation (Wisniewski 2001). Consequently, these are to improve and provide service to customer and a strategy to be a loyalty and have a luxury experience at company. Moreover, ‘Service quality is a multilevel construct consisting of the aforementioned three sub dimensions’ studied by Brady and Cronin (2001). The first dimension is interaction quality, it is formed of attitude, behaviour and expertis e of the service provider. The second dimension is physical environment quality, it is formed of ambient conditions, design and social factors of the service facilities. Lastly, the outcome quality dimension is formed of waiting time, tangibles and valence. Secondly, Totally quality service (TQS) is a continuous improvement process, it involved leadership, measurement tools and organisational culture, it is the product delivered to the customer is a service rather than a manufactured object and customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal in both cases (Karen,1997). It is focuses on customer needs and expectations, the company should understand what customer needs and their expectations before designing and implementation, also in order to maintain the competitive edge, the company must to identify their customer’s needs and meet the customer satisfaction (Asher, 1989). In terms of restaurant, they need to understand their target customer eating behaviour in order to design the menu which suit customer expectation. Moreover, company having a good leadership system, an organisational culture and a team of good commitment employees would improve business process which result in improvements in service quality. This can be an improvement in service performance outcomes or cost based values, high levels of service quality will lead to high levels of customer satisfaction. Parasuraman et al (1991) conceptualised the Zone of tolerance theory and suggests that service quality perception are dependent upon consumer’s expectations. Company in order to understanding and measuring the satisfaction of customer, they used Critical incident technique (CIT), it’s provide a starting point and a process for advancing company through a learning experience (Davis, P J 2006). The CIT can provide a powerful data analysis tool to increase knowledge which is relating to company’s performance (Bitner et al, 1990). The purpose of CIT is to investigate any causes of the problem and then advance some solutions to address the problem. Grove and Fisk (1997) used the CIT to investigate how customers get along with each other in entertainment parks. They found that it is appropriate and reasonable behaviour in service situation as well as individual situation. CIT is a ‘story telling’ method which provides a variety sources of data by allowing respondents to determine which incidents are the most relevant to the phenomenon   being investigated (Grewler, 2004). This CIT method has been successfully used in many studies provides and justify of the methodology of this report. Methodology The primary objective of this study is to identify service experiences in restaurant industry. CIT is one of the popular research method in the service literature and it is especially useful when researching phenomenon (Edvardsson and Roos, 2001, Bitner et al, 1990). Furthermore, it involves a classification technique in order to analysis qualitative data. This research is based on face to face interviews with prepared questionnaires (Appendix 1). This is to collect the past experiences in restaurants from interviewers as well as the average spending in restaurant critical incident were gathered by asking interviewers to recall the most memorable experience of service quality they had in restaurant. The interviews were carried out in late March 2011 in Hong Kong, China. The reasons of chosen this place was because I am interesting the service quality in my home town as well as Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city that gathered al kind of different type of restaurants. Interviews were conducted in two days. The interviewers were picked up at random places around Hong Kong. This was to make sure the data I collect could be more accurate as I could. Findings A total of 55 results were collected from 40 respondents, 31 were female and 9 male. 29 respondents can recall their good experiences when they were in restaurant whereas 26 respondents can also recall their bad experiences when they were in restaurant. The results were sorted into 5 categories, these data would help readers to understand the main issues of service quality in restaurant industry. Staff: Satisfier- the staffs are quite friendly, well explained of the menu and also recommended their popular recipe for us. Satisfier- I am a vegetarian, the staff recommend some good vegetarian menu to us and she was very patient to answer our requires. Dissatisfier- the service performance was not as good as I expected, I waited 10 minutes till one of the staff came over or asking order. Information: Satisfier- the menu display very well and the picture of the recipe from the menu are almost the same to what we had. Dissatisfier- the restaurant is not easy to find and did not have many advert on magazine or official website. Therefore, it is not easy to find out more about the restaurant. Process: Satisfier- the process was very efficiency, from taken order fill the food delivery only took 10 minutes. Dissatisfier- I waited for so long till the food came, even though there were not many customers at that moment Food quality: Satisfier- the food taste very nice and well displayed. Satisfier- I am a big eater and the portion is huge which is suitable for me. Dissatisfier- the food was very expensive and did not worth for $1000 for four people. Atmosphere: Satisfier- the restaurant location was outskirt of town which was very nice and quiet as well as suitable for gather some friends for a chat and gathering or some business meeting. Satisfier- in the Valentine ’s Day, me and my girlfriend went to a restaurant, the lighting inside the restaurant was very romantic we had a good time at that restaurant. Dissatisfier- the tables were very close to each other, we felt very uncomfortable. There were too many people waiting for table so we can not stay in that restaurant for a bit longer. Analysis The graph shows the satisfaction of service quality in Hong Kong restaurants. The graph shows that the majority of customers are satisfied with the service quality of restaurant. For the most important is staff performance, 19 respondents can recall their experience of staff service quality, 12 of them are satisfied with the staff’s service, they think that staffs are friendly and introduce the popular recipe to customers. On the other hand, 7 respondents are dissatisfied with the staff’s service, they think that the staff have no manner and took long time to take order. These could shown that the staff’ performance are important and have a directive effect on total service quality. Many restaurant companies are trying to increase the attention to improving service quality especially staff performance, some companies consider service quality is more important than product quality as well as good service quality could improve sale performance and improve profit (Ghobadian et al, 1994; Stevenson, 2002). Customer satisfaction depends on worke rs in the restaurant team knowing their role and working to a common objective (Macanlay, S and Cook, S 1995). Customers think that uniformity is what customer service teams seem to strive for such as standard uniform to all staff and standard greetings, these could improve the company image and professional. Furthermore, restaurant manager should also set a clear service standards and objectives and monitor and jointly review staff performance. For example: how long it takes to process customer calls and orders, letters to customers conforming to company style, use of telephone greeting and handling customer complaints. Other than staff’s performance, food quality is essential in service quality to restaurant in order to be successful. It is because good food can keep customer return and building up loyalty. 10 respondents can recall their good experience of food quality, they think the taste of the food was very good and well display. Also, customers think that the size of the portion is important as well. However, 5 respondents could recall their bad experience of food quality, some of them think that the food was tasteless and other respondent had a experience that the food was over cooked. Food is the main element in restaurant as it is a purpose that customer coming for. Moreover, food quality is important to restaurant and also should exceed customer expectation. Restaurant should be knowledgeable of what the expectation is and what customer needed from the restaurant in order to provide the best food to their target customer, especially in Hong Kong, there are many different type of cu rry themed restaurants, they all had different target market of customers and loyalty, it is because the restaurant managers understand that different customer loves different taste and can not fulfil all customers’ taste. After food quality, process is also important to restaurant operation, its included how long it takes to deliver the food to customer and the whole experience in the restaurant, if the restaurant operation run smoothly, it could gain added value.5 respondents could recall their good experience in the restaurant, most of them were happy with the process and think they are very efficiency. However, 3 respondents could recall their bad experience of process in the restaurant. Most of them were not happy with the delivery time, customer waited over 20 minutes for the food and some of them respondents waited for too long for worker to come and take orders. The process and operation have to be efficiency in the restaurant, these could increase the customer cover in the restaurant and improve in sales. In addition, information is how customer receives news and information from restaurant, the picture and text of the food from the menu should be accurate to the real food. 4 respondents were satisfied with the information such as menu and leaflet of the restaurant. They think that the menu layout was clear and easy to look. Addition to the restaurant advertised on many food magazine which help customers easy to find the place and fully described what is the theme of the restaurant and what kind of food they do in the restaurant. But 3 respondents were dissatisfied with the information, mainly, they were not happy with the menu, they think that the menu was too simple and without the ingredient inside the menu could case misunderstanding, also the food was not accurate to the picture from the magazine. Information is important to restaurant because it involved the communication and relationship with customers, customers have higher expectations if the restaurant is on the magazine and well promoted. For the most important is the menu design, good menu layout and pictures could attract customer. Finally, atmosphere inside the restaurant has a direct impact to service quality, atmosphere is including the lighting, personal space and decoration inside the restaurant. 4 respondents could recall their good experience in terms of atmosphere in the restaurant, one of the respondent said the lighting is important if customer are couple for a special meal as well as decoration. However, only 1 respondent was complaining that the table cover was too close to each table which didn’t have enough personal space and can not relax during the dinner. Decoration and atmosphere are essential to restaurant, it can gives a good image to customer and added value to service quality. Conclusion This report has examined customer perceptions of service quality in terms of staff’s performance, process, information, food quality and atmosphere in restaurants in Hong Kong using the critical incident technique. Perceived service quality is highly subject to different people, there are many definitions of quality that emphasize this aspect of customer (Juran, 1974). However, there is always an improvement in terms of service quality. The result shown that the customers are more concern and recognise the important on service quality into five main areas: staff, process, information, food quality and atmosphere. The hospitality industry such as restaurant seems increasing to be acknowledging the message that quality is satisfying the needs and expectations of the customer (Lockwood, 1995). Moreover, it managing quality is a particularly difficult and complex problems, the restaurant needs to face the manufacturing problems of providing a high quality food to satisfy customer, it also needs to counter the problems of service delivery through the high level of interaction between staff and customer (Lockwood, 1995). The report shown that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the service quality, 64% are satisfied to overall service quality in the restaurant. Especially staff and food quality are the main concern and have a direct impact to service quality, 22 respondents were satisfied with these areas. However, there are 34% are not satisfied with overall service quality in restaurant and mainly 12 respondents were dissatisfied with the staff and food in restaurant. Which has told us that there are improvement in service quality in restaurant. Managerial implications The results of the report have shown that there are many issues should be improved by manager of restaurant operation and training. This report could provide opportunities to the restaurant management for improvement in order to gain more competitive advantages. It is clear that much dissatisfaction in staff’s performance and food quality. The respondents in this research though that these two elements are important in service quality. In terms of staff’s performance, in order to provide exceeding service to customer to meet their needs and satisfaction, management should provide regular training to employees. Also in the food quality, the front house staffs should always asking for opinion of food from customers and having regular meeting with kitchen staffs sharing the commends from customers, not only on food quality also on overall performance. For some chain restaurants, they standardise the food quality and staff’s quality, they set a standard of staff’s quality for staff to follow to guideline to serve the guest and as well as on food control. Process also need to be improved, management need to make sure that the operation runs smoothly and aiming for no mistake in any steps, efficiency service could satisfy customer. Atmosphere and information are based on their target customer, the management should be understand their customer interest and provide suitable environment for customer.

Nolo (Irregular Latin Verb) Definition and Use

Nolo (Irregular Latin Verb) Definition and Use Nolo, nolle, nolui - to wish not to Nolo is an important verb because the imperative is used to form negative commands. To say dont in Latin, you use the imperative of nolo. Indicative PresentSingular1 - nolo2 - non vis3 - non vultPlural1 - nolimus2 - non vultis3 - noluntIndicative ImperfectSingular1 - nolebam2 - nolebas3 - nolebatPlural1 - nolebamus2 - nolebatis3 - nolebantIndicative FutureSingular1 - nolam2 - noles3 - noletPlural1 - nolemus2 - noletis3 - nolent Imperative PresentSg. 2. noliPl. 2. noliteFutureSg. 2. and 3. nolitoPl. 2. nolitotePl. 3. nolinto Subjunctive Present Singular1 - nolim2 - nolis3 - nolitPlural1 - nolimus2 - nolitis3 - nolint Subjunctive Imperfect Singular1 - nollem2 - nolles3 - nolletPlural1 - nollemus2 - nolletis3 - nollent Infinitive Present nolleParticiple Present nollens, entis Malo and Nolo are based on Volo: malo magis volo and nolo non/ne volo Irregular Latin Verbs Eo - to goFio - to becomeVolo - to wishnolo, nolle, nolui to be unwilling and malo, malle, malui to prefer are similar.Sum - to beDo - to giveFero - to carryEdo - to eat

Management stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management stress - Essay Example During this stage of stress response, the brain will send an emergency signal to other body parts letting them know of the dangerous situation the individual is facing. The individual can either choose a fight or flight reaction. For example, during a bank robbery, an individual may decide to ‘fight’ the robbers or run away from the scene ‘flight’. In an organizational setting, this phase does not usually affect the performance of an employee. This means that too little stress is unlikely to have an effect on the productivity of employees (Quick, Wright, Adkins, Nelson & Quick, 2013). At this stage, an employee will attempt to resist the stressor. This process is initiated so that the individual can regain balance. It is at this stage that the body puts up a fight, and the human body is likely to achieve its maximum activity levels. The body digs deep into its reserve, and an individual usually feels under pressure and is usually very anxious. According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law curve, it is at this stage that employees in an organization reach their peak performance. This goes to prove that people will usually work their best when under pressure. However, at this stage an individual’s body is usually very weak and is vulnerable to diseases due to a weakened immune system. At this stage, the human body is no longer able to cope with the stress and the body’s adaptive mechanisms collapse. At this stage, the stress is too much, and the body is usually unable to fight with the stressor. At this phase, an individual is usually tired, broken and exhausted. An individual is likely to have sleeping problems, raised blood pressure, digestive issues and is also at a higher risk of suffering from heart disease. Additionally, the individual may suffer from serious conditions like memory loss, mental illness and impaired judgment. The individual may break down due to feelings of

Treaty of Versailles and World War II Coursework

Treaty of Versailles and World War II - Coursework Example Designed to ensure peace, the psychological effects on the German people as a result of these terms produced the opposite effect as Germany was tossed into economic ruin. The conventional wisdom has always been that it was the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles that created a political situation in which another war was almost inevitable. This conclusion is an example of the desire of humanity as a whole to reduce the most complex situations down to the simplest explanation. By insisently focusing on this one aspect of the history between the two world wars of the 20th century, the multiple lessons to be gained that could reduce that possibility of such a thing happening run the risk of not only being discounted but even denied. The complex mechanism of history that served to foment the unique conditions that led to World War II include factors as varied as the stock market crash of 1929 and its impact on the willingness of many to embrace extremist answers to crushing economic unce rtainty, as well as unexplained reluctances of the part of governments to recognize and control the growing threat of fascist authority and Germany's blatant violations of many tenets of the treaty. The substantial impact of the Treaty of Versaille should not be ignored, but under different circumstances it alone would probably not have been enough to create a situation of inevitability. What has become inevitable is that the terms of the treaty are blamed for creating economic fear and uncertainty in Germany that produced a psychological mindset in the nation that made them much more susceptible to the message of Hitler and the National Socialists. Lost admit this certainty of a correlation between divergent events, however, is that Germany was hardly alone in suffering devastating economic conditions during Hitler's ascension to power. The impact on the inevitability of World War II by the 1920 stock market crash thousands of miles away from Berlin cannot be underestimated (Redlich, 1999, p. 85). This event brought the boom market of the Roaring Twenties to an immediate halt not just in America, but around the world. While it is true that Germany suffered tremendously, so too were other major players in World War II affected. The greatest impact of the economic uncertainty engendered by the stock market collapse was not relegated to economic viability such as the inability to conduct necessary trade, but to political opportunism. The massive loss of jobs and income threw many people around the world into abject poverty, and with poverty comes despair, and with despair comes the willingness to look for an answer out. The Great Depression created the perfect opportunity for extremist or radical ideas to flourish. The 1930s saw the rise in power of proponents of both communism and fascism, each of whom promised a way out of hopelessness (Blum, 1998, p. 31). This hopelessness presented especially ripe opportunities for those who had been most devastating by the Treaty of Versailles and the loss of World War I. The fascists in Italy quickly gained support by appeals to nationalism by being quite capable of pointing the finger toward America and England as the cause of their misery. It was the rampant capitalism and the power of the banks and the blind greed that had thrown the world into turmoil. Promises of prosperity and the

Production And Perfect Competition - Megamergers and Oligopoly Coursework

Production And Perfect Competition - Megamergers and Oligopoly - Coursework Example The common market structure is either perfect or imperfect competition. Agricultural products are traded in a perfectly competitive market structure. For example, milk producers supply processed and non-processed milk products to the market for the consumers. The milk market is characterized by large of number of sellers and buyers who are involved in this exchange. In addition, the market is unregulated by the government hence a free-market with no government intervention. Owing to the large numbers of milk traders, the effect of a single seller/buyer may go unnoticed as each trader’s contribution is insignificant (Siegfried, & United States, 2010). Both the seller and buyer are price-takers in the market as the exchange price for milk products is determined by the market forces of demand and supply; therefore, each trader has limited influence on effective market prices (OaShaughnessy, 2005). The milk products traded in the market are homogeneous and undifferentiated. However, the sellers and manufacturers attempt to create a difference in the products through branding and packaging. Being a perfect competitive market, there are no barriers to exit or entry into this market. The buyers and sellers would leave or enter the market at will. Under this market, the milk products are similar in shape, size, quantity, and quality, hence, infinite cross elasticity of demand for milk products (OaShaughnessy, 2005). The buyers are therefore indifferent to all the milk brands and products in the market. Being a perfectly competitive market, milk market is characterized by perfect information symmetry. All the participants in the market have perfect information on all the prevailing market conditions, thus, no seller could benefit by charging abnormal prices for milk. Finally, the single unit price of the milk market is not affected by

Macroeconomics - Supply And Demand Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Macroeconomics - Supply And Demand - Term Paper Example Demand, in this context, refers to the quantity of goods and services, which are desired by consumers at any given time and price. For example, if the demand for Laptops is said to be higher than that of Desktops, it means that majority of consumers in the market prefer buying laptops over desktops and hence those businesses dealing with these items would have to consider stocking more laptops than desktops or otherwise risk making losses or minimal profits as a result of low sales. Supply on the other hand refers to the level at which producers avail their products to the market. In this context, if the supply of a commodity is insufficient, then it means that there would not be enough in the market to satisfy the quantities needed by consumers (Thompson 18). In this paper, I will discuss, in detail, factors that affect supply and demand for commodities. With regard to demand, I will discuss factors such as price, which will be explained through a demand curve in order to illustrate the law of demand, income, and future expectations, which will show that customers may refuse to buy commodities in large quantities if they are aware of a possibility of a reduction in price within certain duration of time. Tastes and preferences will also be discussed as having a short term influence on demand as they are subject to rapid change. Factors affecting supply as discussed herein will include prevailing market prices of commodities, illustrated through a supply curve, government policies and speculation. The law of demand states that the higher the price of a commodity, the lower the demand and the lower the price the higher the demand. It therefore goes without saying that price is one of the most important determinants of demand (Krugman 25). Consumers will always consider foregoing expensive items in their budget especially if there are substitutes, which are selling at a lower price or simply due to opportunity cost. For

The Antiquity of the American Concept of Evidence Essay

The Antiquity of the American Concept of Evidence - Essay Example Even though evidence principle is mostly the conception of common law juries, the United States organized these in 1975 and named them the Federal Rules of Evidence. Even though the federal law is valid merely to federal court cases, almost all states have used them, at times with differences, like their evidence doctrine (Hall & Clark, 2002, 281). Several current elements of American concept of evidence developed from antiquity, such as (1) original writing, (2) privileges, (3) policy-based exclusions, (4) rule 403, and (5) relevance. Due to the fact that written documents can be quite important to the result of court trials, and still can quickly be fabricated, the codes show a firm partiality for original documents. The law is disposed to give up evidence that it hopes to safeguard from admission in order to protect particular relationships (Hall & Clark, 2002). Some of the most common of such ‘privilege’ are discussions with one’s spouse, attorney, etc. (p. 28 1). Policy-based exclusions state that specific laws express social policy partialities to keep out evidence in particular circumstances despite of its relevance. Rule 403 implies that the most vital principle of exclusion of pertinent evidence grants wide judgment to judges to rule out evidence which, even though pertinent, does more to hamper than to promote logical judgment (Hall, 1989). And lastly, according to Hall & Clark (1989), relevance means that merely relevant evidence is acceptable, and relevant evidence is acceptable except if ruled out.

Human Nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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The Antiquity of the American Concept of Evidence Essay

The Antiquity of the American Concept of Evidence - Essay Example Even though evidence principle is mostly the conception of common law juries, the United States organized these in 1975 and named them the Federal Rules of Evidence. Even though the federal law is valid merely to federal court cases, almost all states have used them, at times with differences, like their evidence doctrine (Hall & Clark, 2002, 281). Several current elements of American concept of evidence developed from antiquity, such as (1) original writing, (2) privileges, (3) policy-based exclusions, (4) rule 403, and (5) relevance. Due to the fact that written documents can be quite important to the result of court trials, and still can quickly be fabricated, the codes show a firm partiality for original documents. The law is disposed to give up evidence that it hopes to safeguard from admission in order to protect particular relationships (Hall & Clark, 2002). Some of the most common of such ‘privilege’ are discussions with one’s spouse, attorney, etc. (p. 28 1). Policy-based exclusions state that specific laws express social policy partialities to keep out evidence in particular circumstances despite of its relevance. Rule 403 implies that the most vital principle of exclusion of pertinent evidence grants wide judgment to judges to rule out evidence which, even though pertinent, does more to hamper than to promote logical judgment (Hall, 1989). And lastly, according to Hall & Clark (1989), relevance means that merely relevant evidence is acceptable, and relevant evidence is acceptable except if ruled out.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 8

Assignment Example Agency Group 06. (2012, June 1). U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood applauds Ohio for enacting ban on texting while driving by. FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.terrehaute.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/ehost/detail?sid=b5787eb8-fbf3-43f6-8076-c13444f3497b%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=21&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mth&AN=32W2353416746 The author is anonymous, but he/she writes for the FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database. The source of authority of the writer comes from the credibility of the database. This database is accessible through EBSCOHost, which contains numerous credible articles and reports. The source has the general public as intended readers. The organization seems to have a single stance on the issue, although its reports can contain different viewpoints. The news article basically reported the support of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood for Ohio’s texting-while-driving ban. ... Hosansky, D. (2012, May 4). Distracted driving: Should driver texting and cellphone use be banned? CQ Researcher, 22(17), 401-424. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com.terrehaute.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/cqresearcher/getpdf.php?file=cqr20120504C.pdf David Hosansky is a staff writer for CQ Researcher. He is not an expert on automobile safety, although as a journalist who was nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize, he is a credible source of news information. CQ Researcher has an intended audience of educated readers. It presents detailed analyses of certain topics using diverse viewpoints. Hosansky does not offer any personal claim because he wants readers to decide on the merits of banning cellphone use while driving through providing opposing opinions from experts and stakeholders and providing studies and statistics. This writing is described as descriptive and unbiased journalism although it is clear from the tone of the writer that he does not support distractions to driving because of the costs to human life and properties. His stance is more objective than other journalists who either oppose or support texting-while-driving bans. The evidence is credible, accurate, complete, and relevant because of the diverse opinions and statistics used. I can use this article to support the claims on the negative effects of texting-while-driving. Park, A., Salsbury, J., Corbett, K., & Aiello, J. (2013). The effects of text messaging during dual-task driving simulation on cardiovascular and respiratory responses and reaction time. The Ohio Journal of Science, 111 (2-5), 42-44. Retrieved from

Accounting Materiality Case Essay Example for Free

Accounting Materiality Case Essay After the release of the SFAC No. 8, your definition of materiality has been brought into question. In the past, your rule for determining materiality was based solely on quantitative data, where an event was only material if its impact was more than a given percentage of the income statement amounts. Using a quantitative measure is effective because it keeps the process objective; however there are also times when the quantitative difference doesn’t adequately demonstrate the true effect of an action. For this reason, â€Å"materiality is an entity-specific aspect of relevance based on the nature [quality] or magnitude [quantity] or both items,† as stated in Q:11 of the SFAC No. 8. For The Framework Company each of the following closing entries must be judged on a case-by-case level on the parameters of whether it could influence decisions that our users make. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay 1)In this entry, the company is paying a fine of a foreign subsidiary. The amount is less than 3% of net income, making it quantitatively immaterial. The description of the case lists that after the fine is paid, business will go back to normal with only slight changes. However, this is qualitatively material because it shows that the company did something unlawful which makes users question the company’s integrity and ethical standards. 2)This entry shows an investment in an expansion of the company. The impact on the company amounts to only 4.3% of its total assets (it was predetermined that the bar for materiality is 5%) so it is not quantitatively material. However, in terms of this action affecting a user’s decision about the company, this entry is definitely material. It represents an expansion of the company which users can either see as promising for future growth or frightening because it’s a risky investment. 3)Generally a loss, no matter the size isn’t seen as material due to the fact that it tends to be a one-time thing, compared to an expense that occurs regularly. However, in this case the amount of the loss proves to be material both quantitatively and qualitatively. Its impact on net income is above the 3% predetermined materiality threshold, making it quantitatively material. Also, it was determined that more of these losses may be coming in the near future for this line and that it’s becoming more delinquent. These two qualitative aspects are very impactful for a user’s decision regarding the company because they show serious problems with one of the company’s most profitable line and puts huge question marks on the quality of the product. 4)In this entry, the management made the decision to self regulate based on a court case of a similar company. The amount of additional expense accounts for 4% of the net income, making it a quantitatively material. The main reason this decision is also qualitative is due to the fact that the additional $200,000 in expenses needs to be explained to the user to show that The Framework Company is being responsible and cautious by policing themselves. 5)The ruling in a litigation case is that The Framework Company owes credit customers 325,000 in damages, which is 6.5% of net income. The company plans to appeal the case and believes they have a good defense in that appeal. A large portion of their customer base was involved in this case, meaning if the ruling is overturned some of their customers could take their business elsewhere. That makes this entry both quantitative and qualitatively material. 6)This 200,000 dollar loan that didn’t show up in the financial statements would only increase the assets by 0.08%, making it quantitatively immaterial. This event is a one-time occurrence for the company, because the chance of a payment being â€Å"mishandled† should be small. Since it is a small portion of the balance sheet and is something that won’t frequently happen, this entry is quantitatively and qualitatively immaterial. Based on The Framework Company’s current accounting standards, this set of post-closing entries is quantitatively material because the sum of all the changes is greater than 3% of their net income and equal to 5% of assets. Even if the sum of the changes didn’t surpass the preset threshold, it would still be smart to report these entries based on the idea of conservatism. The accountants are responsible for the information released, so if they leave something out that a user would deem important, they are liable. So, when in doubt, it’s best to release the information. The SFAC No. 8 mentions a number of times that cases of materiality, such as this one, cannot be decided by a general set of standards. The concept of materiality is too difficult to restrain. Under our current system, the expansion branch (entry 2) would be considered immaterial due to is size relative to our total assets. However, this entry really is material because it means so much to the future of the company and that’s what financial report users are looking for. The only standard that can be set when dealing with materiality is does this entry â€Å"influence decisions that users make on the basis of the financial information† (SFAC No. 8, Q:11).

The Uses of Salt Essay -- Chemistry Salts Essays

The Uses of Salt Mineral halite, best known as common salt, has been one of the most abundant and used minerals over the centuries. It is essential for the human diet and is an important commercial chemical. Pure salt consists of two elements, which are sodium and chlorine [chloride]. Its chemical name is sodium chloride (NaCl). â€Å"In chemistry, common salt is one of a large number of electrolytic compounds classified as salts. The compound occurs as a mineral in the form of crystals and the forms of the crystals are generally cubic and are transparent.† (Encyclopedia Americana 163) Halite (sodium chloride) comes from the Greek â€Å"halos†, meaning salt and â€Å"lithos† meaning rock, and is better known as â€Å"rock salt†. Salt is produced by the evaporation of seawater, but the greatest proportion of salt produced is derived from rock salt and salt domes. Two ways to obtain these rocks are by mining techniques or by â€Å"solution mining, in which fresh water is pumped down into the dome and the dissolved salt solution pumped back up to the surface recovery.† (The Encyclopedia Americana 164) Salt plays many important roles in the human body system. Each human being needs approximately from four to eight ounces of salt. If this amount is not consumed or gained in some way, the human being could experience muscle cramps, exhaustion, convulsions, dizziness, and even, death in sever deficiency. Also, the digestion of food in the human body needs salt in order to function corre...

Medical Marijuana: A Safe and Effective Alternative Medication Essay

In today’s society, there are certain diseases that are debilitating and causing painful reactions to Americans throughout the United States. The patient with MS who cannot control the spasms created by their disease, the rheumatoid arthritis patient with pain so severe they cannot rest and nothing seems to be easing the pain. Then there is the AIDS patient who cannot eat, as they are so nauseated from the HIV medications that they are taking; these patients have just some of the disease scenarios that medicinal marijuana can help. Many people have long used marijuana for both medicinal and other purposes for many years. However, its modern use is a very controversial issue having both strong supporters as well as firm opponents. With all the clinical studies that have been done on marijuana it has been proven effective enough when compared to conventional treatments to overcome the fact that it is an illegal substance therefore, it should be legalized for medical purpose s. Marijuana has been found, through clinical trials, when used by MS patients or patients with spinal cord injuries that it can relieve spasticity, pain, and tremors. In the AIDS patient, marijuana has been found to quickly relieve nausea and vomiting at the same time increasing the appetite of the patient. This has helped significantly in those patients with AIDS –wasting syndrome. When this happens, the patient who has a lowered or nonexistent immune system becomes susceptible to increased risk of infection and muscle wasting, as they are unable to eat the needed proteins and carbohydrates to support recovery. As of today, 15 states have passed propositions that allow patients the use of medical marijuana. California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington... ...al Medical Marijuana Therapeutics and Research. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. Cohen, Peter J. "Medical Marijuana 2010: It's Time to Fix the Regulatory Vacuum." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 38.3 (2010): 654+. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Marijuana Facts & Figures." Michigan Health Go Local. MedlinePlus. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. "Study finds no link between marijuana use and death." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 26 May 1997: 3+. Academic OneFile. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. Ware, Mark A., Tongtong Wang, Stan Shapiro, Ann Robinson, Thierry Ducruet, Thao Huynh, Ann Gamsa, Gary J. Bennett, and Jean-Paul Collet. "Smoked cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized controlled trial." CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal 182.14 (2010): E694+. Nursing and Allied Health Collection. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

Global Warming and Human Population Essay

Forest loss is directly-associated with human population growth. In 1921 human population was 25. 13 crores and forests cover was 104. 05 million hectares. By 1989, forests cover reduced to 64. 01 m ha, while human population in 1991 reached to 84. 39 crores. Deforestation is due to diversion of forest land to agricultural land, river valley projects, roads, industiy and urbanization, transmission lines and activities like shifting cultivation, fuelwood and timber collection overgrazing fires and acid rains (vide Rana, 2006). Green wealth index (GWI) is an indicator of green wealth possessed by a State or Union Territory and Green Protection index (GP1) is a qualitative calculation of protection accorded examining forests cover, recorded forest area and protected area coverage. Andaman and Nicobar Islands are richest in their green wealth with GWI at 0. 747, while Sikkim for protecting its natural heritage ranks highest on GPI scale with 0. 903. All India GWI is a dismal 0. 193 (Ghosh, 2004). A total of 0. 397 m ha forests loss in Madhya Pradesh is recorded with tribal areas accounted for about 0. 219 m ha. And in Andhra Pradesh forest loss was about 0. 46 m ha in tribal areas. This trend continues in Northeast including Assam (State of the Forest report, 1999). Various ethnic groups practice various forms of agriculture as main stay of economy in NE region. Rice is major crop though maize and millets are grown. Traditional agricultural systems are Zabo, terrace construction and jhum or shifting cultivation. Zabo, an indigenous farming system of Nagaland combines agro-forestry and animal husbandry and is common to individually owned lands of about 2. 5 ha. For terrace construction, the area is cleaned by cutting and burning forest vegetation. Jhum cultivation is practiced roughly by 5 lakhs tribal families. A total land area of 4. 36 m ha is being affected by jhum cultivation, out of which 2. 7 m ha is in NE region. Jhum cycle has reduced to 4-5 years in Meghalaya, 5-10 years in Mizoram and Tripura, 6-15 years in Nagaland and Manipur and 5-10 years in Arunachal Pradesh. Such cultivation results in soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. In areas, where bamboos are cut and burnt, K- rich ash accumulates for jhum crop. This fallow land invites several weeds and it takes a very long time for soil, to support crop plant growth. Modern agriculture with longer cycles of 10 or more years and agro-forestry system are suggested for control of jhum (Sharma. 2004). Problems relating to use and conservation of natural resources in developing countries are qualitatively different than those of developed countries. In developed countries, the primary issue is protection of what remains in nature, but in India conservation of natural resources must necessarily consider the claims of human population on these resources for their sustenance and livelihood. Such population is dependent on forests and is among the poorest, as forests form life support systems for them. Any legal and administrative regime must aim to judiciously utilize these resources for addressing the concerns of livelihood while ensuring sustainability of their use (Hazra, 2002). Essay on Global Warming: Causes, Effects and Remedies Global warming is the greatest challenge facing our planet. It is, in fact, the increase in the temperature of the earth’s neon- surface air. It is one of the most current and widely discussed factors. It has far-reaching impact on biodiversity and climatic conditions of the planet. Several current trends clearly demonstrate that global warming is directly impacting on rising sea levels, the melting of ice caps and significant worldwide climate changes. In short, global warming represents a fundamental threat to all living things on earth. Global average temperature rose significantly during the past century. The prevailing scientific view is that most of the temperature increases since mid-20th century has been caused by increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations produced by human activity. Most scientists agree that planet’s temperature has risen 0. degree Celsius since 1900 and will continue to increase at an increasing rate. As a result, the world is getting warmer. The year 1990 was the hottest year in the last century. Together with 1991, the years of 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1989 have been measured to be the warmest six years in the last hundred years. The year 1991 was the second warmest year of the past century. The consequences of the rise in temperature is being felt all over the globe the findings of scientific research done in this field reveal that the temperature of the earth is likely to rise from 1. 4 °C to 5.  °C within a period of 100 years. Unfortunately, the imbalance which we have created between our life and earth is already showing the signs disasters in the form of flood, cyclones, landslides, tsunami, drought, etc. If the imbalance continues to rise, one day this will pose a question mark on the existence of this planet. Carbon dioxide (C02) which is an important constituent of environment is causing a warming effect on the earth’s surface. It increases the evaporation of water into the atmosphere. Since water vapour itself is a greenhouse gas, this causes still more warming. The warming causes more water vapour to be evaporated. The C02 level is expected to rise in future due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and landuse change. The rate of rise will depend largely on uncertain economic, sociological, technological and natural developments. Other gases such as methane, CFCs, nitrous oxide, tropospheric ozone are also responsible for global warming. Increases in all these gases are due to explosive population growth, increased industrial expansion, technological advancement, deforestation and growing urbanization, etc. Trees play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. They are the largest land-based mechanism for removing carbon dioxide from the air. Deforestation is checking these positive processes. It is the second principle cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation is responsible for 25 per cent of all carbon emissions entering the atmosphere, by the burning and cutting of 34 million acres of trees each year. Everyday over 5500 acres of rainforest are destroyed. As a consequence of massive loss of forests, global CO, levels rise approximately 0. 4 per cent each year, the levels not experienced on this planet for millions of years. As we know the forests are the great absorbers of CO. There is a close relation between global warming and population growth. Today the large population on earth is using the technologies which are destructive for the earth. Approximately, 80 per cent of atmospheric C02 increases are due to man’s use of fossil fuels either in the form of coal, gas or oil. A large portion of carbon emission is attributed to the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engine of vehicles. Vehicles with poor gas mileage contribute the most to global warming. Besides, the sulphur group gas is the most harmful for this. Its contribution is 30 per cent in global warming. This gas is also emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. Increase in global temperatures will cause rise in sea level. It will lead to melting of glaciers, changes in rainfall patterns, increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather. As per the latest survey report the rate of melting of glaciers has seen sharp increase in recent times. Even those glaciers are affected from global warming which have been considered permanent. The shrinking of glaciers is going to pose a major problem of drinking water. The sea levels as a result of melting of glaciers have risen from 0. 35 mm to 0. 4 mm. Scientists have warned in their reports that most of the glaciers will disappear within a period of 15 to 25 years. It will create problems of drinking water and food grains in most of the North American countries. India is not unaffected from it. The Himalayan glaciers have shrunk about 30 per cent after 1970. The rise in sea levels is a major cause of concern. A large number of cities located in coastal areas will submerge in the sea. Besides, many island countries will ultimately â€Å"lose their existence and will be washed away from the surface of the earth. The damage of rising sea levels is diverse. Buildings and roads close to the water could be flooded and they could suffer damage from hurricanes and tropical storms. Experts believe that global warming could increase the intensity of hurricanes by over 50 per cent. In addition, as the sea rises, beach erosion takes place, particularly on steep banks. Wetlands are lost as the level rises. Rise in atmospheric temperature will lead to the outbreak of airborne and water-borne diseases. It would also contribute to the rise in death caused by heat. The problem of drought would be frequent. Consequently, malnutrition and starvation will pose serious challenge before humanity. Global warming is a great threat to the flora and fauna of the earth. A large number of species of them may become extinct. The expanse of desert would increase. Low rainfall and rising temperature could add to the intensity and frequency of dusty storm. This in turn will immensely affect the quality of agricultural land, ultimately causing adverse effect on agricultural produce. It would have far-reaching socio-economic impact. In Indian context, the impact of global warming is a matter of grave concern. As is well known, India is mainly an agricultural country and agriculture here is gamble of the monsoon, e. . largely depending on rainfall. Though it is to affect the whole country, the worst likely impact would be on central and northern India which is high-yielding parts of the country. These are the regions which produce the largest agricultural yield. The rise in atmospheric temperature and fall in rain would naturally result in decline in crop production. Moreover, it would have great effect on biodiversity as well. The growing concerns over global temperatures have led to the nations, states, corporations and individuals to draw out a plan of action to avert the situation. As a result the world’s primary international agreement on combating global warming was reached in Kyoto in 1997 which came to be known as Kyoto Protocol. However, ten years have passed; the situation does not appear to be very changed. It seems that the member countries are not very serious about its devastating effects. In addition, forestation can be of great help in this regard. Planting more trees and reducing timber cuts worldwide will help restore the imbalance. Secondly, we must follow on environmental policy of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, i. e. promoting the reuse of anything. Thirdly, the use of fuel-efficient vehicles should be promoted as these vehicles have lower emissions of harmful gases. Fourthly, every individual should be aware of the importance of the protecting environment. Besides, eco- friendly technologies must be promoted, and must be substituted with the technologies which cause great emission of global warming gases. Public awareness campaign can be of great help in this regard because unless each and every individual is aware only governments’ effect cannot bring desired difference. Words Essay on Corruption in India (free to read) Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar Kautilya mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practised even in Mughal and Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it. Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i. e. bribery, without any regard to honour, right and justice. In other words, undue favour for any one for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving from their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from one’s duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams and scandals re various manifestations of corruption. Corruption is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. It is witnessed all over the world in developing as well as developed countries. It has spread its tentacles in every sphere of life, namely business administration, politics, officialdom, and services. In fact, there is hardly any sector which can be characterised for not being infected with the vices of corruption. Corruption is rampant in every segment and every section of society, barring the social status attached to it. Nobody can be considered free from corruption from a high ranking officer. To root out the evil of corruption from society, we need to make a comprehensive code of conduct for politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and such code should be strictly enforced. Judiciary should be given more independence and initiatives on issues related to corruption. Special courts should be set-up to take up such issues and speedy trial is to be promoted. Law and order machinery should be allowed to work without political interference. NGOs and media should come forward to create awareness against corruption in society and educate people to combat this evil. Only then we would be able to save our system from being collapsed.

Lessons to Sick Leave Essay

NOTE: This material is also available as a role-play (Exercise 29, Sick Leave). Instructors are advised to use either the role-play or the case, but not both because they overlap considerably. Choosing whether to use the role-play or case materials depends on your goals for the class and the level of sophistication and cross-cultural experience of the students. For homogeneous classes with little previous cross-cultural experience, one option is to use the case to teach the cross-cultural nuances of American-Japanese negotiations and to follow this with Exercise 28 (500 English Sentences), a role-play with many similar lessons to Sick Leave. Objectives This case is written from the perspective of Kelly, a 22 year old Canadian Assistant English teacher working in Japan. The root of the conflict in this case is a deep cross-cultural misunderstanding that has transformed into a much larger incident involving important intangible factors such as saving face and maintaining principles. Specific learning objectives include: 1. To understand how two parties have framed a conflict very differently in a cross-cultural setting. 2. To explore the differences between positions and interests in a cross-cultural negotiation. 3. To understand a conflict where the intangible factors are much more important than the tangible factors. Changes from 4th Edition There are no substantive changes from the Fourth Edition. Operational Needs Time Required 45-60 minutes for the case discussion. Special Materials None. Recommended Reading Assignments to Accompany This Case Reader: 5.1 (Brett), 5.2 (Salacuse), 5.3 (Senger), 5.4 (Koh). Text: Chapter 16 Case Overview On the surface, this case is very straightforward. Kelly, a 22 year old Canadian working as an Assistant English teacher in Japan, is sick with the flu, misses 2 days of work, and wants to claim these as legitimate sick days as described in her contract. Her supervisor, Mr. Higashi, insists that she take these days as part of her paid vacation days because that is the Japanese way. The sick leave conflict is symptomatic, however, of a much deeper conflict that Kelly and the other Assistant English teachers have with Mr. Higashi and the other Japanese English teachers. Dynamics underlying this conflict include face saving, adapting to a different culture, the meaning of contracts in different cultures, and the influence of reference groups on behavior. Background Preparation Students and the instructor should be familiar with cultural and business differences between Japan and North America. Dated, yet still appropriate, is Howard Van Zandt’s How to Negotiate in Japan, from the Harvard Business Review of Nov/Dec 1970, more current is Smart Bargaining by John Graham and Yoshihiro Sano, The Influence of Japanese Culture on Business Relationships and Negotiations by Naoko Oikawa and John Tanner Jr., International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, chapter on Negotiating with Foreigners by Nancy J. Adler, and Cultural Approaches to Negotiations: Understanding the Japanese by Brian Hawrysh and Judith Zaichkowsky. Teaching Strategy Kelly frames this negotiation as a right to have the sick leave, which is written into her contract. Mr. Higashi frames this negotiation much broader and wants Kelly to â€Å"fit in† at work and to be treated the same as Japanese workers. This situation is very representative of the types of conflict that occur in cross-cultural negotiations between Americans (rights based, contract as enforceable) and Japanese (relationship based, contract as beginning). On the surface, this is a very straightforward situation: will Kelly get her contractually guaranteed sick leave benefits or not? The cultural differences, however, make this a high stakes negotiation for both parties, in which the importance of the intangible factors far outweighs that of the tangible factors. Proceed by using the following questions to discuss the case: 1. What should Kelly do? Should she call CLAIR, or discuss this further with Mr. Higashi? 2. What is this dispute about for Kelly? For Mr. Higashi? In these types of conflicts is a compromise possible? 3. What are the tangible factors in this situation? What are the intangible factors in the negotiation? Is saving face more important to Kelly or Mr. Higashi? Why? Which are more important, the tangible or intangible factors? Is this true for both Kelly and Mr. Higashi? The discussion should conclude with a good summary about Japanese and North American negotiation styles and culture. When negotiating in Japan it is often important to give in for the sake of peace and harmony, or relationships may be harmed beyond repair. Deciding how to negotiate cross-culturally remains a challenge for every negotiator that negotiates across a border. One of the best pieces discussing this was written by Stephen Weiss (â€Å"Negotiating With ‘Romans’: A Range of Culturally-Responsive Strategies,† Sloan Management Review, 35, No. 1, pp. 51-61; No. 2, pp. 1-16) and a summary of this work makes a nice conclusion to the class. Final Note Although this exercise has been modified somewhat it is based on an actual situation that occurred in Japan (names and location have been changed). In the actual incident, â€Å"Kelly† received her sick leave but the relationship was seriously harmed and work became more and more uncomfortable. Kelly decided not to renew her contract, and left Japan at the end of the school year.