Wednesday, November 27, 2019

How to Grow a Big Alum Crystal

How to Grow a Big Alum Crystal Alum is found in the spices section of the grocery store. That little jar contains small white crystals that, with a bit of time and effort, you can grow a big alum crystal  that looks a bit like a diamond. This takes days to weeks. What You Need for Alum Crystals 1/2 cups hot tap water2-1/2 tablespoons alumnylon fishing linepencil, ruler, or knife2 clean jarsspooncoffee filter/paper towel Grow the Crystals Pour 1/2 cup of hot tap water into a clean jar.Slowly stir in alum, a little at a time, until it stops dissolving. Dont add the whole amount; just enough to saturate the water.Loosely cover the jar with a coffee filter or paper towel (to keep dust out) and allow the jar to sit undisturbed overnight.The next day, pour the alum solution from the first jar into the clean jar. You will see small alum crystals at the bottom of the jar. These are seed crystals that you will use to grow a big crystal.Tie nylon fishing line around the largest, best-shaped crystal. Tie the other end to a flat object (e.g., popsicle stick, ruler, pencil, butter knife). You will hang the seed crystal by this flat object into the jar far enough so that it will be covered in liquid, but wont touch the bottom or sides of the jar. It may take a few tries to get the length just right.When you have the right string length, hang the seed crystal in the jar with the alum solution. Cover it with the coffee filter and gr ow a crystal! Grow your crystal until you are satisfied with its size. If you see crystals starting to grow on the sides or bottom of your jar, carefully remove your crystal, pour the liquid into the clean jar, and put the crystal in the new jar. Other crystals in the jar will compete with your crystal for alum, so it wont be able to get as big if you let these crystals grow. Crystal Growing Tips You can use sewing thread or other string instead of nylon fishing line, but crystals will grow on the entire length of the submerged string. Crystals dont adhere to nylon, so if you use it, you can get bigger and better crystals.Alum is an ingredient used to make pickles. It makes them crispy.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

salutary neglect essays

salutary neglect essays Even as their first colonies were developing, Britain did not exercise as much control over them, as other nations had in their colonies. This occurred even more so as the colonies continued to develop. During this time Britain chose to pursue political and military undertaking away from the colonies, taking their attention off of the settlers in the Americas. This policy, later named salutary neglect by Edmund Burke, allowed the colonies to experience freedom from the control of England, leading them to develop the beginnings of their own representative assemblies, trade free of restraint from the mother country, and religious tolerance. Before England had established any colonies in the Americas, Spain and Portugal had done so. Spain and Portugal ruled their colonies in an authoritarian fashion, leaving no room for the settlers to have any control over themselves. The settlers had little to no representation in government and no say in public policy. This is what caused Englands colonies to differ from the others. The settlers in Englands colonies were partially self-governed, and had many freedoms that other settlers did not. One reason for this was that many of the English colonies began as private corporate enterprises and remained free from direct control by the English government for some time. Secondly many of the English settlers had participated in government at home and by virtue of the fact carried the tradition with them to America. This salutary neglect would go on to influence the development of society in America in several ways. Only a few years after Virginia was founded in 1607 by the English, the Virginia Company created the first representative assembly in colonial America. This assembly was named the House of Burgesses and represented many of Virginias counties and towns. Due to the lack of control by the English government, the settlers were able to create representation...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Dave and Buster's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dave and Buster's - Essay Example In various places, Dave and Buster’s restaurants are constantly packed with guests; both regular and new. While days are usually fun packed with events and activities, nights have proved to be busiest as most patrons have enough time to spend unwinding after work. The company’s revenues have grown significantly over the years. By 1998, its revenues topped 13.2 million US dollars and the company achieved an average growth of 6% from the previous year. As of 2008, the company earned close to 536.4 million US dollars in revenues and employed about 7,500 people in different states and locations. Many commentators have noted that Dave and Buster’s original concept of providing a quality environment for relaxing with food and drink was indeed brilliant. From an initial capital investment of three million USD, the organization has managed to grow and out do many of its competitors including Hard Rock Cafà © international incorporated and Planet Hollywood International Incorporated. The company has also managed to gain international presence by trading its concept with overseas organizations through agreements and area licensing. Apart from engaging in business generating activities, Dave and Buster’s contributes to the community. This it does by sponsoring different events including Bowling for Soup rock band concert tour, World Wrestling Entertainment, and Dave Bevan’s Children funds drive. The organization also encourages people to visit its venues by posting commercial adverts on several television networks.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Identification & Exploration of designated dimensions and impacts of Essay

Identification & Exploration of designated dimensions and impacts of the Millennium Centre, Cardiff, UK - Essay Example le region cannot be denied as the number of visitors has significantly increased due to the events (athletic, cultural, educational, artistic) that are organized in the Centre on a daily basis. Current paper examines the effects of the Centre’s creation on the socio-cultural, political and economic environment. The effects on the natural environment are also being examined in order to formulate a more complete assumption regarding the role of the Centre in the whole Wales region and the specific gains for the local society. Cardiff is one of Europes youngest capital cities but the history of the city dates back over 2000 years to Roman times. Today Cardiff is a vibrant, multi-cultural centre for education, business, sport and the arts. There has been extensive redevelopment in Cardiff over the past two decades but the city has managed to retain much of its style and architecture. The city is lively, confident and cosmopolitan with a good quality of life and a distinctive character. Located in the east of Wales, Cardiff is a very accessible city and has good road, rail and air links. The town is only 2 hours travel from London using the hourly high-speed train service [1]. The location of the town is being offered for the deduction of commerce and other financial activities as well as for the enhancement of the cultural level of the whole region as it can be considered as the most accessible town of the region. As a result any interested individual can access a specific cultural event easily, a fact tha t has led to the increase of the athletic, educational and all cultural activities in town mostly the last years. More specifically, the population of the town is around 300,000, which grows by 100,000 on "Big Event" occasions. For this reason the local accommodation offered to visitors has been located around the important cultural centres of the town which are the following: the Millenium Stadium (Rugby, Football, Speedway & Concerts), Sophia Gardens (Cricket),

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Postmodern Era of Graphic Design Essay Example for Free

The Postmodern Era of Graphic Design Essay The 1980s was characterized with the rise of eclecticism as an art trend. Style was no longer dictated by established rules but by the random convergence of different theories and practices. The aforementioned phenomenon, in turn, ushered the postmodern wave in graphic design. The liberal atmosphere that prevailed over their craft prompted many graphic designers to come up with more creative and daring works. In the late 1970s, some educators in the field of graphic design started questioning the rigidity and minimalism of graphic modernism (Heller 9). Graphic modernism, a graphic design trend that originated from Switzerland in the 1950s and the 1960s, placed emphasis on simplicity, universality, rationality, abstraction and structural expressionism (Heller 6). It was eventually became the standard style in several corporate and institutional design groups both in Europe and in the US. The academe soon followed suit – schools such as the Philadelphia College of Art, University of Cincinnati and Yale developed curricula that emphasized the prolonged study of abstract design and typographic form (Heller 7). In the process, graphic designers who worked outside the academic and corporate settings were alienated. Majority of these artists were strongly affiliated with the punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They expressed their adherence to punk culture through aggressive, destructive and uninhibited graphic designs. Some of them, however, combined the influences of punk culture and graphic modernism in their works, bringing about the era of postmodernism in graphic design (Raizman 360). British-born Neville Brody was one of the most well-known graphic designers who used this novel style. He parodied the uniformity and consistency of corporate graphics by experimenting with original lettering and trademarks. Magazines such as The Face later used his typefaces, paving the way for their development towards being able to convey moods and attitudes beyond the range of fonts available from foundries (Raizman 360). One of Brody’s typefaces, Industria (1984), was â€Å"a bold sans serif typeface with a combination of blunt rectangular positive and negative shapes and knife-edged terminations for a number of letters† (Raizman 360). Other graphic designers of the punk movement, meanwhile, made their works from found material. Using pictures and texts that were cut from old magazines and newspapers, they were able to come up with striking posters that conveyed entirely new messages (Poynor 41). This torn-paper collage approach to graphic design eventually became the springboard for the development of other forms of postmodern graphic design. Other graphic designers used loose, spontaneous brush strokes in their paintings in order to make them resemble torn-paper collages (Poynor 42). Some low-budget club promotions, meanwhile, gave existing art an edgy twist by deconstructing them (Poynor 38). The advent of computer technology in the 1990s and in the beginning of the 21st century further entrenched the era of postmodernism in graphic design. The availability of affordable (if not free) and user-friendly computer software can allow anyone to create striking graphic designs. With just a little creativity, even those who did not undergo formal training in graphic design can come up with works that can surpass even those of professionals. It would be fair to say, therefore, that postmodernism democratized the concept of graphic design. Without any rules to follow except his or her own, anyone can create an artwork using materials that are either affordable or free. The only factors that should be taken into consideration are individual creativity and imagination. Indeed, it is only human beings who put a limit to whatever they are capable of accomplishing. Works Cited Heller, Steven. The Education of a Graphic Designer. 2nd ed. New York: Allworth Communications Inc. , 2005. Poynor, Rick. No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2003. Raizman, David. History of Modern Design: Graphics and Products since the Industrial Revolution. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2003.

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Analysis of Antonio’s Character :: Antonio Sebastian Essays

The Analysis of Antonio’s Character The lines selected for analysis are Act II, Scene I, lines 277-291, when Antonio is trying to reassure Sebastian that killing his brother—the King of Naples—is a good idea and well worth the effort. As the reader knows, Antonio usurped his brother, Prospero, and became the Duke of Milan. This sets the stage for his attitude towards Sebastian’s wanting to kill his brother, King Alonso. Because of Antonio’s past actions he sees nothing wrong with getting rid of a family member for personal gain, but his reasons for doing so began at a young age and have been etched into his brain. Antonio’s psychological depth reveals that he is a man jealous of his brother’s rightful power, and stemming from that is his insecurity and lust for power wherever he may find it (in this case, having power over Sebastian). Antonio is not a good person, has few conscientious thoughts, and is now trying to convince his companion to follow his lead. If An tonio’s brother, Prospero, was to hear the selected lines, he would say that the only time Antonio thinks about performing acts that will get him power, by eliminating those who currently have it, is when it is to his advantage. He would say that Antonio devises plans to get rid of leaders when they are at a disadvantage, and he at an advantage, because he doesn’t feel that he could succeed otherwise—his insecurities kicking in. I don’t think Shakespeare agrees with Antonio, and there are two examples in the play to support that. In response to Sebastian’s question about whether his conscience would bother him after committing fratricide, Antonio replies, â€Å"Ay, sir, where lies that? If `twere a kibe / `Twould put me to my slipper†¦Ã¢â‚¬  meaning that if his conscience was a small sore on the heel of his foot (a kibe), it would drive him to wear comfortable shoes but it would certainly not disrupt his life or stop him from doing what he’s doing. This shows Antonio to be a cold-hearted man, one who is able to quiet that little voice inside his head and push it to the back of his brain and continue with his terrible acts. In the next thought, he says, â€Å"†¦but I feel not this deity in my bosom,† admitting he doesn’t feel the tug of a conscience in his heart. The Analysis of Antonio’s Character :: Antonio Sebastian Essays The Analysis of Antonio’s Character The lines selected for analysis are Act II, Scene I, lines 277-291, when Antonio is trying to reassure Sebastian that killing his brother—the King of Naples—is a good idea and well worth the effort. As the reader knows, Antonio usurped his brother, Prospero, and became the Duke of Milan. This sets the stage for his attitude towards Sebastian’s wanting to kill his brother, King Alonso. Because of Antonio’s past actions he sees nothing wrong with getting rid of a family member for personal gain, but his reasons for doing so began at a young age and have been etched into his brain. Antonio’s psychological depth reveals that he is a man jealous of his brother’s rightful power, and stemming from that is his insecurity and lust for power wherever he may find it (in this case, having power over Sebastian). Antonio is not a good person, has few conscientious thoughts, and is now trying to convince his companion to follow his lead. If An tonio’s brother, Prospero, was to hear the selected lines, he would say that the only time Antonio thinks about performing acts that will get him power, by eliminating those who currently have it, is when it is to his advantage. He would say that Antonio devises plans to get rid of leaders when they are at a disadvantage, and he at an advantage, because he doesn’t feel that he could succeed otherwise—his insecurities kicking in. I don’t think Shakespeare agrees with Antonio, and there are two examples in the play to support that. In response to Sebastian’s question about whether his conscience would bother him after committing fratricide, Antonio replies, â€Å"Ay, sir, where lies that? If `twere a kibe / `Twould put me to my slipper†¦Ã¢â‚¬  meaning that if his conscience was a small sore on the heel of his foot (a kibe), it would drive him to wear comfortable shoes but it would certainly not disrupt his life or stop him from doing what he’s doing. This shows Antonio to be a cold-hearted man, one who is able to quiet that little voice inside his head and push it to the back of his brain and continue with his terrible acts. In the next thought, he says, â€Å"†¦but I feel not this deity in my bosom,† admitting he doesn’t feel the tug of a conscience in his heart.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Federalism and Separation of Power

Democracy as a system of political administration has been termed over years as a product of several institutions working together to ensure the sustainability of an exclusive political system. Democratic institutions in a state are saddled with the responsibility of sustaining a nation’s democratic process such institutions like legislature, judiciary and the executive are the major institutions that guarantee efficiency in a democratic system. ( Ologbenla 1996) Basically, the legislative arm is the major institution that guarantees such because it represents the generality of the people’s interest.The doctrines of separation of power and checks and balances are two major tenets of democracy. Both doctrines provide basic principles that should be upheld in any democratic state. The adherence to these democratic tenets depends largely on the level of political adherence that follows the basic rules and regulations that guides the conduct of both the ruler and the ruled in an exclusive political community. Such rules and regulation are codified in a document known as constitution. A constitution is a legal framework that spells out the composition, function, and jurisdiction of government officials. Almond et al. 1966) It is a body of fundamental rules guiding the affairs of state. It states the relationship between the governors and the governed. Separation of powers is a doctrine propounded by Baron de' Montesquieu which stipulates that in order to avoid arbitrary use of power, power should be decentralised and shared among the organs of government such that no organ becomes too powerful. (Neumann 1949) The principle of checks and balances states that an organ of government should act as a watchdog on the other organs of government so as to curb their excesses.In a democratic system all governmental powers are derived from the constitution, it also spells out the functions and relationship of major governmental institutions such as the executive, judiciary and the legislature such that no organ of government can interfere in the affairs of the other. The constitution makes each arm of government to be an independent and coordinate unit, independent in terms of its sphere of influence and coordinate in its inter-governmental relationship with other arms of government.With cognisance to the American democratic structure, the constitution provides for separation of powers by stipulating the functions of the various arms of government and also the jurisdiction of the different tiers of government, whereby the executive cannot meddle in the affairs of the legislature and vice-versa. The primary function of the legislature is the making of laws ;( Easton 1961) it would be a total negation of the principle of separation of power if such function is being exercised by the executive.Although, the executive can propose a bill after much deliberation by the legislature can be passed into law but the power to make laws lie in within th e jurisdiction of the legislature. But in recent times the principle had been challenged due to the overwhelming power and personality of the executive. For example, President George Bush after the Sept 11 attack on the world trade centre proposed a bill to the congress to invade Iraq. Before the house could pass the bill he had sent troops to wage war in Iraq.This was contrary to the constitutional provisions which states that before United State would engage in a war it must be ratified by the congress in a joint session. Checks and balances on the other is to serve as a balance between the various organs of government in such a way that an arm of government serve as the watchdog over the other arms of government. (Neumann 1949) This function is majorly that of the judiciary this is the done through judicial reviews which help scrutinize both activities of the executive and the legislature.For this function to be performed to the optimum level there is the need for an independent judiciary that is free from executive manipulation. A bill is a proposed law that is not yet law until it is passed by the law making body in the country and received the executive or presidential assent. (Easton 1961) There are several stages that are involved in the passing of a bill before it becomes law. The first stage of the bill is the first introduction of the bill to the house. The introduction of bill could either be a private member bill or it originates from the lower house depending on the type of legislative chamber in operation.In a two chamber legislative house, bills originate from the lower house and are deliberated on in a joint session. This stage marks the first reading of the bill to the house. The second reading marks a stage where the bill is fully deliberated upon by lawmakers and it represents a crucial stage in the passing of such bill into law, because this stage determines whether such bill would become law. After the bill had successfully passed through the second reading then a committee would be constituted to critically examine and analyse the bill, give recommendations and possible impact of the bill if passed into law.This stage represents the committee stage. After constituting the committee, the next stage is the report stage where the committee presents their report to the house on the bill. After the committee stage the bill is presented to the lawmakers for adoption. It should be noted that at this stage the bill can still be rejected if the lawmakers refuse to adopt the bill by voting against it. But if the bill was accepted by the lawmakers then it can now proceed to the third stage which requires the president’s assent.If the bill passed by the legislature was not assented to by the executive, the legislature can constitutionally veto such bill into law after a period of 14 days. Federalism is a political system in which governmental powers are shared among the different tiers and organs of government such that each tier and organ is coordinate, independent, and exclusive in its own sphere of authority. (Leslie 1954) With reference to the debate on whether state power had been reduced or increased in a federal structure, cognisance would be given to emerging democracies mostly in third world countries where democratic structures are still growing.In Nigeria, state powers are gradually reduced as the constitution vested much power in the exclusive legislative list which only allows the federal government to legislate. (Ologbenla 1996) Matters such as currency, defence, health, mining, state creation, local government creation, boundary adjustment, leaving the state with little area to exercise its sphere of control. Unlike other federal structures like the United State of America where states have the autonomy on state police, the Nigerian federal structure did not provide for such provisions even at the agitation of states to have their autonomy on the issue.In 2003, the Lagos state gover nment embarked on the creation of local government which was later regarded as unconstitutional and led to a legal matter between the state and the federal government. (Tadese 2012) The judgement was later passed in favour of the federal citing that states do not have the constitutional right to create such establishment. In the American federal structure allows for state power to be shared between the central, state, and municipal governments in such a way that each state has its own constitution where it derives it powers from.Although when such laws clashes with national constitution the latter prevails. Federalism has been the major factor sustaining the democratic values as it has it functionality in both the principle of separation of powers and checks and balances which is maintained through the efficacy of institutions that guarantees a smooth democratic process.References Almond Gabriel, Gabber Powell. (1966). Comparative Politics: A developmental approach; Little Brown ; C o, Boston. Print. Easton David. (1961). A framework of political analysis, Yale University Press, New Haven. Print. Leslie Lipson. (1954). The Great Issues of Politics (5th edition) Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. Print. Neuman Franz. (1949). Introduction to Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws. Translated by Thomas Nugent: Halfner publishers, Chicago. Print. Ologbenla Derin. (1996). Introduction to political science, Olucity Press Limited, Lagos. Print. Tadese. Oyeniyi. A battle of legal supremacy; Lagos State faces FG on creation of local government. Vanguard Newspaper. Web 30 September 2012.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Nielsen’s Aperture Framings in Casablanca

In Casablanca, Jakob Isak Nielsen used staging and shot composition to further impose and show the viewer the important parts and details in a particular series of scenes or stories. In doing this, he focused on aperture framing. So what does Nielsen meant by `aperture framings` as he explained in the article? As I have analyzed the diagrams and comprehended the short definition, I think aperture framing is the picking of an important part in a scene and frame it into a more close-up and detailed shot for the viewers’ advanced understanding, even if logic and standards are violated on the part of the characters. According to the article, Nielsen’s aperture framing does more than filling out the composition and supplementing the series of shots. Aperture framing was said to have more important functions in the viewer’s understanding and perception of the obvious and concealed meanings and symbols in the movie. The aperture framing was said to help direct the viewers’ attention, evoke mood, and have metaphorical and thematic implications for the film. The diagrams and explanation of Nielsen provided me a clear understanding of how aperture framing performs the mentioned functions. Based on how I understood it, directing viewers’ attention is primarily done by the close-up, angled, and detailed frames produced by the aperture. Metaphors in aperture framing is done through focusing or framing the hidden extra-objects and compositions in the background or as formed by the main objects. Lastly, the aperture framing provides mood and theme for a particular scene through the use of some elements like darkness/brightness, lines, shades, colors, and basic composition techniques. Overall, these were done in Casablanca to give a more vivid, concrete, and imposing conveyance of important and usually unraveled meanings and stories.

Friday, November 8, 2019

marketing key metric engagement Essays

marketing key metric engagement Essays marketing key metric engagement Essay marketing key metric engagement Essay marketing key metric engagement BY pejaol August 8, 2007 Marketings New Key Metric: Engagement by Brian Haven for Marketing Leadership Professionals Making Leaders Successful Every Day For Marketing Leadership Professionals Marketings New Key Metric: Engagement Marketers Must Measure Involvement, Interaction, Intimacy, And Influence by Brian Haven with Josh Bernoff and Sarah Glass EXECUT I VES U M MA RY The marketing funnel is a broken metaphor that overlooks the complexity social media introduces into the buying process. As consumers trust in traditional media diminishes, marketers need a new approach. We propose a new metric, engagement, hat includes four components: involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence. Each of these is built from data collected from online and offline data sources. Using engagement, you get a more holistic appreciation of your customers actions, recognizing that value comes not Just from transactions but also from actions people take to influence others. Once engagement takes hold of marketing, marketing messages will become conversations, and dollars will shift from media buying to customer understanding. TABLE O F CO N TENTS NOTES 2 Does The Marketing Funnel Need An Upgrade? Forrester interviewed 20 vendor and user ompanies, including: Avenue A I Razorfish, Bazaarvoice, Biz360, Brandlntel, BzzAgent, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, Digitas, The Builders, MotiveQuest, Nike, Organic, Procter Gamble, Publicis Hal Riney, Reed Business, UGENmedia, Umbria, and Visible Technologies. Engagement: A New Perspective On Marketing The Elements Of Engagement Making Sense Of Engagement Putting It All Together 12 Engagement Enhances Customer Insight WHAT IT MEANS 13 Engagement Redirects The Marketing Trajectory Related Research Documents The Enterprise Marketing Software Landscape May 7, 2007 The Forrester Wave: Brand Monitoring, Q3 2006 september 13, 2006 Five Tips For Web Analytics Success June 2, 2006 2007, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester, Forrester Wave, RoleView, Technographics, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Forrester clients may make one attributed copy or slide of each fgure contained herein. Additional reproduction is strictly prohibited. For additional reproduction rights and usage information, go to www. forrester. com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect Judgment at the time and are subject to change. To purchase reprints of this document, please email [emailprotected] com. 2 Marketings New Key Metric: Engagement DOES THE MARKETING FUNNEL NEED AN UPGRADE? Traditionally, marketers modeled consumers decisions as they progressed from awareness through consideration, preference, action, and loyalty † through what is called the marketing funnel (see Figure 1-1). The marketers Job was to move people from the large end down to the small end. But now its time for a rethink, as the funnel has outlived its usefulness as a metaphor. Face it: Marketers no longer dictate funnel because: Complexity reigns in the middle of the funnel. Awareness is still important; you need to know that a product or service exists in order to buy it. And the marketers endpoint is still a transaction. But, in between, other factors such as recommendations from friends or family, product reviews, and competitive alternatives described by peers influence individuals. The funnels consideration, preference, and action stages ignore these forces that marketers dont control. Rather than a clean linear path, the real process looks more like a complex network of detours, back alleys, alternate entry and exit points, external influences, and alternative resources (see Figure 1-2). ? The most valuable customer isnt necessarily someone who buys a lot. In this socially charged era in which peers influence each other as much as companies do, good customers cant be identified solely by their purchases. l Companies also need to track individuals who influence others to buy. For example, a customer who buys very little from you but always rates and reviews what she buys can be Just as valuable as someone who buys a lot † her reviews might i nfluence 100 other people to buy your product. Tracking only transactions and loyalty at the end of the funnel misses this significant element of influence. Traditional media channels are weakening. Marketers continue to use mainstream media messages to move consumers into a consideration frame of mind. But passive consumption of media is waning. Individuals dismiss or ignore marketing messages in lieu of information available from an ever-increasing number of resources, such as product review sites, message boards, and online video. 2 Consumers force brand transparency. Marketing and public relations teams used to have the influence to spin a message in their favor when something went wrong. But in these days of snoring cable technicians caught sleeping on a customers couch, captured n video, and posted on YouTube or blogs blasting CompUSA for selling an empty box instead of a camera, spin is out of control. 3 Online social tools, coupled with increasing social behavior online, make it easy for the truth to come out. When companies try to spin the message now, they get caught in the act, only making the problem worse. 007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited Figure 1 The Traditional Marketing Funnel Fails To Model Complex Buying Paths 1-1 The traditional marketing funnel Eyeballs Awareness Consideration Preference Action Loyalty Buyers 1-2 Complexity lies at the center of the marketing funnel peer eviews Competitive alternatives Contributors Recommendations from friends 42124 User-generated content Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 4 Ma rketing complexity means that traditional metrics fail to capture the whole story. Online metrics like unique visitors to a Web site, number of pages viewed, and time spent per page mimic offline media metrics of reach and frequency. But these measurements dont indicate the engagement of an individual; they fail to capture the sentiment, opinion, and affinity a person has toward a brand as manifested in ratings, reviews, comments in blogs or discussion forums, or likelihood to recommend oa friend. ENGAGEMENT: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON MARKETING If the funnel no longer accurately reflects what marketers can influence, why do they still cling to it? Because they can measure it, which is reassuring, even if it no longer accurately reflects the real buying process. And, of course, there are no useful alternatives. We believe that marketers need a new approach to understanding customers and prospects. This new type of measurement † engagement † encompasses the quantitative metrics of site visits and transactions, the qualitative metrics of brand awareness and loyalty, and the fuzzy areas in the middle best haracterized by social media. Our definition of engagement includes four components (see Figure 2):4 Engagement is the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence an individual has with a brand over time. Figure 2 The Four Components Of Engagement INVOLVEMENT INTERACTION INTIMACY INFLUENCE What To Track Site visits Time spent Pages viewed Search keywords Navigation paths Site logins Contributed comments Quantity/frequency of written reviews, blog comments, forum discussions, and UGC Sentiment tracking on third-party sites (blogs, reviews, forums, etc. Sentiment tracking of internal customer contributions Opinions expressed in customer service calls Net Promoter (NP) score Product/service satisfaction ratings Brand affinity Content forwarded to friends Posts on high-profile blogs ecommerce platforms Social media platforms Brand monitoring Customer service calls Surveys How To Track Web analytics Engagement goes beyond reach and frequency to measure peoples real feelings about b rands. It starts with their own brand relationship and continues as they extend that relationship to other customers. As a customers participation with a brand deepens from site use and purchases (involvement and interaction) to affinity and championing (intimacy and influence), measuring and acting on engagement becomes more critical to understanding customers intentions. The four parts of engagement build on each other to make a holistic picture. Involvement. This component is the most basic measurement of engagement and reflects the measurable aspects of an individuals relationship with a company or brand. It includes actions like visits to a site or a physical store, time spent per page, and ages viewed. While this alone isnt sufficient, measuring these activities is critical because they are often the first point of interaction an individual has with a brand and are the foundation for making the connections to other metrics. 5 For example, Reed Business tracks visitors to its Web sites, the time they spend, the articles they read by category or channel, and pages they view per week (and across other time periods). This helps Reed Business distinguish between first-time and repeat visitors, and informs the company of the depth, frequency, and level of interactions of their isits, helping it determine its content agenda. You can use Web analytics services like Omniture, Web Trends, or Visual Sciences to measure these activities. 6 Interaction. This component provides the depth that involvement alone lacks by measuring events in which individuals contribute content about a brand, request additional information, provide contact information, or purchase a product or service. Where involvement measures touches, interaction measures actions. These include click- throughs, completed transactions, blog comments, social network connections, and uploaded photos and videos. Social media contributions increasingly play a role in calculating the value of a customer and are vital to tracking emerging behaviors. For example, PETCO tracks when customers browse and sort by top-rated items and then buy a product, allowing the company to identify the effect usergenerated content (UGC) has on purchases. You can use ecommerce platforms to provide transaction data, while social media platforms like Bazaarvoice and UGENmedia track actions like ratings and reviews, photos or videos uploaded, or connections made in social networks. entiment an individual holds for a brand. This includes her opinion, perspective, or passion for the brand as represented by the words she uses and the content she creates. Intimacy is the critical new component that sheds light on customers feelings about your brand (positive or negative), and, with new services, it can be tracked almost in real time, providing ample opportunity to correct a problem or seize an opportunity before it wanes . For example, Del Montes pet food division used Umbrias brand monitoring services to track online conversations about how owners perceive their pets, yielding fascinating differences † for example, Gen Yers think of them as 5 6 ccessories, Gen Xers think of them as family and worry about how to fit them into their busy schedule, and Boomers consider them people too. Brand monitoring firms like TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, MotiveQuest, Biz360, Umbria, and Brandlntel measure sentiment in online venues, including social networks, discussion forums, blogs, and video-sharing sites. Influence. This component looks beyond even sentiment to determine an individuals likelihood to encourage a fellow customer to consider or buy a brand, product, or service. Qualitatively, it includes brand awareness, loyalty, and the possibility of purchasing again. It also includes quantitative metrics like the Net Promoter (NP) score, measuring a persons likelihood to make a recommendation to a frien d. 8 Understanding your customers intention to return, repurchase, or recommend is critical to building a forward-looking profile of your customer. For example, Brandlntel tracked sentiment about the film Snakes On A Plane and TV series Heroes. Eighty percent of the conversation about Snakes On A Plane focused on the hype of the film and Samuel L. Jackson the actor, not his character, while Heroes conversations were all about the characters and the premise of the show. This is why Heroes is a hit and Snakes was a flop; Brandlntels studies show that people arent really engaged unless theyre talking about plot and characters rather than hype and actors. You can measure influence through opt-in surveys, mailed questionnaires, or customer service calls and phone surveys. With a new set of components † involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence † companies can integrate data from many sources to build the engagement profile, an aggregate description of the types and levels of engagement your customers exhibit. But with all this new data, what metrics matter, and how can you combine them? To understand how engagement affects customer value, consider these three customer scenarios that reflect different customers and how they approach one brand, an online retailer: Charlie: passive participant. Charlies Just not that into you. You see him on your site as an occasional visitor who does not recommend the brand and reads the company blog about gadgets but does not comment. Still, his behaviors on the site liken him to people who tend to have a favorable sentiment about the products theyre researching (see Figure 3). Since Charlie isnt a registered user, youll need to track his ctions on the site (pages viewed, time spent, etc. ) and measure the sentiment of the occasional anonymous content he contributes (comments, discussions, etc. ) as well as the sentiment on the sites and pages that refer him, tracked through browser cookies. In your analysis of engagement of visitors like Charlie, you would match their characteristics to similar users who are registered and, from that, extrapolate their loyalty and likeliness to recommend. Steven: semiactive participant. Steven is ready to be turned on to your brand. He visits the site in bursts surrounding product purchases, has become loyal, and writes highly nfluential reviews of the sports equipment products he buys, even though he feels that the product research tools and information are lacking (see Figure 4). For users like Steven, you should track activities surrounding purchases (before and after) and the time between a transaction and his review of the product. Measure the sentiment of product reviews, the actions taken after reading unfavorable content, and the influence his reviews have on other customers purchasing behaviors. You need to ascertain what motivates him to contribute content and try to encourage more of that ehavior. customers. She is an avid fan of the sites pet accessories, is a highly active visitor who recommends the site to every pet owner she knows, and actively contributes content to the sites online community, even though she sometimes posts negative comments about products after making customer service calls (see Figure 5). For zealots like Sarah, its important to track the quantity and frequency of reviews, profile updates, blog posts, forum discussions, and other content contributions. You should also measure the sentiment of her contributions and use surveys to keep a ulse on her affinity for the brand and intent to continue to participate. For some brands, it would make sense to start a brand ambassador program to draw users like Sarah closer to the company and energize their word-of-mouth. 7 8 Figure 3 Passive Participant PROFILE†CHARLIE Passive participant Reads and views others contribution Only participates on rare occasions Not registered on the site Involvement Interaction Intimacy Influence Text analysis shows that the few comments Charlie makes tend to show favorable sentiment Text analysis of the

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

PRINCIPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY Essays - Natural Environment

PRINCIPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY Essays - Natural Environment PRINCIPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY Hello everyone! I'm Yana and I'm Mary and today we are going to talk about principle of sustainability. I'd like to start with a short plan of our presentation. Plan: First of all, we'll talk about sustainability in general. After that we'll move on to definition of b usiness sustainability. And finally we'd like to give some examples. Please feel free to ask any questions at the end of our presentation. And let's get it started. Sustainability is concerned with the effect which action taken in the present has upon the options available in the future. If resources are utilised in the present then they are no longer available for use in the future, and this is of particular concern if the resources are finite in quantity. M aterials of an extractive nature, such as coal, iron or oil, are finite in quantity and once used are not available for future use. At some point in the future therefore alternatives will be needed to fulfil the functions currently provided by these resources. We will need alternatives to substitute these resources Viewing an organisation as part of a wider social and economic system implies that these effects must be taken into account, not just for the measurement of costs and value created in the present but also for the future of the business itself. Business sustainability we can define as four aspects which need to be recognised and analysed: societal inuence , which we dene as a measure of the impact that society makes upon the corporation in terms of the social contract and stakeholder inuence; environmental impact , which we dene as the effect of the actions of the corporation upon its geophysical environment; organisational culture , which we dene as the relationship between the corporation and its internal stakeholders, particularly employees, and all aspects of that relationship; nance , which we dene in terms of an adequate return for the level of risk undertaken. These four must be considered as the key dimensions of sustainability, all of which are equally important. Measures of sustainability would consider the rate at which resources are consumed by the organisation in relation to the rate at which resources can be regenerated. Unsustainable operations can be accommodated for either by developing sustainable operations or by planning for a future lacking in resources currently required. In practice organisations mostly tend to aim towards less unsustainability by increasing efficiency in the way i n which resources are utilised. Sustainability therefore implies that society must use no more of a resource than can be regenerated. And now let's move on to some examples. F or example, the paper industry has a policy of replanting trees to replace those harvested and this has the effect of retaining costs in the present rather than temporally externalising them. Similarly, motor vehicle manufacturers such as Volkswagen have a policy of making their cars almost totally recyclable. Faced with potential supply constraints, Nestle, for example, launched a plan in 2009 that coordinates activities to promote sustainable cocoa: producing 12 million stronger and more productive plants over the next ten years, teaching local farmers efficient and sustainable methods, purchasing beans from farms that use sustainable practices, and working with organizations to help tackle issues like child labor and poor access to health care and education. The mining giant BHP Billiton managed its exposure to emerging regulations by systematically reducing its emissions . And to sum up, we should say that s ustainable corporation needs to invest in all of its stakeholders in order to maintain and improve relationsh ips between the company and its stakeholders but that the investment in stakeholder relations is return ed to the company through being recycled. So a stakeholder who is well treated both receives benefit from the company and returns benefit to that company. For example, f irms that are sustainable have been shown to attract and retain employees more easily and experience less financial and reputation risk. These firms are also more innovative and adaptive to their environments. And also employees will work better when they recei ve better conditions; similarly , suppliers will reciprocate the receipt of good conditions while customers will pay

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Ontogenetic change in skull morphology and Mechanical Advantage in the Essay

Ontogenetic change in skull morphology and Mechanical Advantage in the Spotted Hyena (Crocutacrocuta) - Essay Example Adult spotted hyena have durophagy adaptations that include large jaw, adductor muscles, simplified and robust dentition, and pronounced sagittal crest. Feeding of weaning hyena was limited by morphology compared to adult resulting from the study of ontogenetic change in the skull and feed apparatus. The study is, therefore, aimed at establishing as whether feeding of young hyena was limited by the skull shape, skull size, and the mechanical advantage of jaw muscles. The study also seeks to enquire if feeding apparatus is slow in the spotted hyena compared with other carnivores not adapted for durophagy. Various materials and methods were employed during the study. For instant, during sampling, ontogenic series of individuals of age ranging from 2 months to 18 years of 68 spotted hyenas we sampled. Most of the samples were from the southwest of Kenya in Masai Mara Reserve. Their age was estimated depending upon the appearance. On the other hand, to quantify skull changes, ‘2D landmark-based geometric morphometrics was used. Three views of the skull were analyzed that involved lateral cranium, lateral mandibles, and ventral cranium. In the analysis of fused lateral mandible and cranium for adult hyenas, semi-landmarks were used which later digitized by use of ‘tpsDig’. In addition, superimposition was used to remove variations (Holekamp, Lundrigan, Tanner and Zelditch 354). The analysis of change in ontogenetic shape was done as well as analyzing the relationship between shape and size over a given period (Holekamp, Lundrigan, Tanner and Zelditch 355). The ontogenetic trajectories were determined if they differed significantly. As a result, the sample sizes obtained from a pair of bootstrap used varied with ages. On the other hand, size of the muscle and mechanical advantage was determined first using traditional methods. For instant, size of the adductor muscle was estimated across the zygomatic arches by maximum width. The mechanical advantage was

Friday, November 1, 2019

Slave Trade to America. Effects on Economies, Societies, and People Research Paper

Slave Trade to America. Effects on Economies, Societies, and People - Research Paper Example Thus, by 1610, very few colonialists were remaining due to the shortage of food and water. Precisely, only 60 of the first 214 were alive. (Littlejohn, 2003, P. 5) Despite this setback, the English colonialists were still convinced they could make Virginia prosperous. And thus the group of colonialists that followed was certain that there were unexplored metals and precious stones in the land. They therefore, aimed at identifying these precious minerals in Virginia. However, with time it became clear that Virginia did not have any minerals or metals. And therefore, the settlers had to identify some other means of survival. With other parts of America successfully dealing in Agricultural crops, the English colonialists also sought to try the same in Virginia. Tobacco farming was then started in the land and indeed it became a success to the Virginia Company. With the activity being so labor intensive, there was hence the need for more workers in the farms. The Englishmen offered to wo rk as indentured servants for a period of four to seven years in exchange for food, clothing and shipment to the New World. (Littlejohn, 2003, P. 6) Though the system of indentured servitude clearly exploited the workers, the white servants still accepted it in the hope for freedom and citizenship on completion of their contracts. With time, the system was not only being used in the farms, but also in construction, clearing of roads and timber cutting. Women could also secure jobs in households as domestic servants, but still under the same system. According to Rodriguez, (2007, P.87), the system of indentured servitude in America was to some extent a kind of slavery. This is because the servants were exploited by their masters and also faced many hardships during the contract period. Most of them were physically and sexually abused until they opted to run away. Running away would however, lead to severe consequences once captured. They would be beaten, branded and even jailed. Star t of Slave trade in America Then, in the year 1619 slave trade began in Virginia when a Dutch slave trader exchanged twenty African slaves for food. The Africans were taken as indentured servants at first but would later become slaves since even after the end of the contract they could not return to their home in Africa. By the 1920s, it became clear that the slave trade would be only option for the English tobacco farmers due to the high labor demand. (Wood, 2005, P. 4) This was due to the fact that the African slaves were much cheaper and easy to acquire as compared to the indentured servants. The slaves would only be provided with food water and shelter with no freedom promised as was the case in the indentured servitude. (Rodriguez, 2007, P.87) By this time, the transatlantic trade, which had started early in the century was booming, and thus English colonies did not have to suffer in search of a market for slaves. The demand for more slaves thus acted as a fuel to the slave tra de. The factors that promoted the slave trade of Africans in Virginia included: Availability or ready market: as mentioned above, the farmers did not have to travel all the way to Africa to purchase slaves; they could get them at the transatlantic slave trade. Racial differences also made the Africans more