Trading Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trading Techniques - Essay Example The day-trading technique involves the strategy of taking a position in the market so that the return against the trading could be optimised at the end of the day. In this technique, the day trader focuses on the movement of the share price throughout the day. The positions taken in the day-trading technique is only for a few seconds or minutes. The trading of shares and the returns and risks related to the trading of the share are realized at the end of the day. The position of share trading is not carried over to the next day (FAMA, 1970, p.385). Thus in the day-trading technique, the trader could determine the net position of profit and loss on a daily basis. The swing trading technique requires the trader to identify the trends of the share price movements of the stocks. The swing in the share prices over a particular range could be identified to be favourable by the trader in which the trader desires to maximize the returns of the stock with the swing of the increasing share prices (JEGADEESH and TITMAN, 1993, p.68). The technique of swing trading is not a speedy process of trading as the trader holds the stock positions for days and weeks as per the analysis of the swing movement of the share prices. The effective implementation of swing trading techniques helps in the growth of equity base. There are various types of swing trades. The swinging stock price may depict up swings which reflect increasing prices of stocks, down swing which reflect declining prices of stock, short swing movements and the long swing movements. The position of the stocks is held by the trader based on the anticipation of the swing movement of the share price s (LO and MACKINLEY, 1988, p.48). The trend trading is another technique where the trader determines the movement of the share prices in the long run. The trend trading techniques is a simple technique of optimizing the returns from the ongoing fluctuation trend of the share prices and anticipation of how far

het reisgedrag van de nederlanders

het reisgedrag van de nederlanders Het reisgedrag van de Nederlanders Nederlanders staan er om bekend dat je ze overal tegen komt, in dit opzicht zou je zeggen dat er een bepaald reisgedrag typerend is voor Nederlanders. Toch is dit wel het geval, ook Nederlanders hebben een aantal belangrijke overeenstemmingen wanneer het gaat over hun reisgedrag. In dit deel van het adviesrapport zal u dit kenbaar gemaakt worden. Hierbij word gebruik gemaakt van betrouwbare bronnen die u terug kunt vinden in dit document. Vakantieparticipatie De duur van de vakantie Bestemmingen binnenland Bestemmingen buitenland Vakantieparticipatie Opvallend is dat een hoog percentage Nederlanders op vakantie gaat. Zowel voor korte vakanties (2 tot 7 dagen) als lange vakanties (8 of meer dagen). Dit percentage komt neer op 82% (2008). Dit percentage is erg stabiel het verschilt namelijk slechts 1 procent als u kijkt in de periode van 2003 tot 2008. Dit percentage komt neer op 12,5 miljoen Nederlanders die jaarlijks op vakantie gaan. Hoewel wintersport de laatste jaren steeds meer in opkomst is blijft de lange vakantie in de zomer favoriet onder de Nederlanders. Het aantal Nederlanders dat in 2008 op wintersport is gegaan bedraagt 5,1 miljoen tegenover 10,0 miljoen zomervakanties. Hierbij gaat het wel om vakanties die 5 of meer dagen duren. Korte vakanties daar in tegen worden meer gedaan in de winter. Een belangrijke toevoeging hieraan is wel dat de winter periode 7 maanden (oktober april) duurt en de zomer periode slechts 5 maanden (mei september). De duur van de vakantie Een gemiddelde lange vakantie in 2008 duurde 12 dagen. Buitenlandse lange vakanties duurden gemiddeld 3 dagen langer dan binnenlandse lange vakanties. Korte vakanties duurden gemiddeld iets meer dan 3 dagen. Hierbij was bijna geen verschil tussen het gemiddelde van binnenlandse en buitenlandse vakanties. Bij het lezen van deze statistieken is het echter wel belangrijk dat u zich realiseert dat zowel de dag van vertrek als de dag van aankomst bij de duur van de vakantie worden gerekend. Zo worden korte vakanties vaak in het weekend doorgebracht. Tijdens de deze vakanties moest er natuurlijk ook een overnachtingsplaats gevonden worden, hiervoor boekte Nederlanders voor lange vakanties in totaal 253 miljoen overnachtingen. Meer dan de helft van deze overnachtingen vonden plaats in het buitenland. Op alle bestemmingen overtrof de zomerovernachtingen die van de winter. De meeste overnachtingen tijdens lange vakanties werden gemaakt in Frankrijk (17%), Spanje (11%) en Duitsland (9%). Bij korte vakanties waren de resultaten van het onderzoek anders. Hier vonden de meeste van de 70 miljoen overnachtingen plaats in Nederland. Zowel in Nederland als in het buitenland waren er weinig verschillen in het aantal overnachtingen in de winter en de zomer. Bestemmingen binnenland Door de statistieken van het ContinuVakantieOnderzoek van TNS Nipo hebben we tijdens het onderzoek een goed beeld gekregen van het Nederlandse Reisgedrag in Nederland. Het toeristengebied Veluwe en Veluwerand blijkt in 2008 met 12% het meest bezochte gebied door Nederlandse vakantiegangers. Daarna komt met 11% de toeristen gebieden Groningse, Friese en Drentse zandgronden en Noordzeebadplaatsen op de ranglijst. Opvallend is dat het laats genoemde gebied de laatste jaren wel steeds minder Nederlandse toeristen trekt. Trokken ze in 2003 nog 1,3 miljoen Nederlanders, nu is dat nog slechts 1 miljoen binnenlandse toeristen. Hieraan kun je zien dat de bosrijke gebieden meer in opkomst zijn en juist de water (zee, rivieren en meren) gebieden minder interessant worden. Dit word ook beaamd door de volgende statistiek. Hierin staat de ontwikkeling van het aantal bezoekers in de periode van 2003 tot 2008. http://www.cbs.nl/NR/rdonlyres/8665248B-16B7-4C08-B980-4159B7AE0F6F/0/2008g72pub.pdf Grafiek binnenland verdeling overtypen/invoegen!

The Future of Education Essay -- Teaching Education Essays

The Future of Education In about thirty years, I will probably be sending off a child of my own to a university. There will be many changes in the way a public university will operate in three decades. These changes will be similar to the ones that occurred from the time my parents attended college to the time that I am now furthering my education at college. The same basic format of living on campus, going to classes, and partying will be followed, but getting the instruction and getting to college will go on in a different manner. The main areas of change that I foresee will be in the process of how students get to college, on-campus living, and the most, in use of technology. More and more students are now pursuing a post-high school education. This is going to be a continuing trend that will be made possible by increasing efforts from high schools, federal, state, and local governments, and the universities themselves. High schools will create more college preparatory curricula that will reach all students so that they will have the opportunities to apply and be accepted to a university. With an increased number of applicants, universities will have to build more residency halls, and create more classrooms and resources to accommodate the larger amounts of students. Universities will offer a wider scope of types of scholarships and financial aid to make sure they can reach every prospective student in need. The governments will also have a larger quantity of revenues that will be used for educational purposes including various kinds of grants, scholarships, and loans to meet all students’ needs. There will be larger push on the whole from the public to assist students further their education instead of goin... ...rking out of problems. Technology will never replace the university wholly either. There is an additional education to just academics and athletics that takes place on a college campus. Many lessons and experiences that are crucial to life are found in the university. These changes are the same that my parents are seeing now as they watch me attend the same university from which they graduated. I imagine similar changes will be seen by my children sixty years from now, when they possibly send off their own children to a public university. In general, public universities will always be in a campus setting, with old buildings and large classes, but the campus and classes will change in the same ways they have already been changing. Works Cited Hanck, J. Andrew. â€Å"Future of the University† Carroll, J. Ryan. â€Å"How My Children Will Get Their Education†

Organizational Ethics Essay

In the industrial era, organizations have created untenable problems for moral experts by becoming bothersome illustrations of the dynamic social processes that defy attempts to apply traditional moral theory and detached philosophical wisdom. Kaufman (1973) observed that bureaucratic managers often privately approve of behavior that they acknowledge publically as illegal or unethical. Expectations for loyalty to the organization and for obedience to managerial direction set the a priori guidelines for moral conduct, and a given organization can develop and impose its own form of influence on the individual with an organizationally specific moral order that can seem to pre-empt external social order. Organization members can defy common social or religious morality when they are acting on behalf of the organization and feel justified in doing so because their behavior is judged within the context of the organization (Jackall, 1988). Yet, employees rarely exhibit unacceptable behavior in society that is acceptable inside the organization’s boundaries. Society holds the organization accountable as a rational actor, but rarely are the individuals actually responsible for creating organizational outcomes entailed in that accountability. Modern understanding of ethics emphasizes the behavioral aspects to the extent that the words ethics and morals are commonly used interchangeably by philosophers to refer to behavioral standards, codes of conduct or principles upon which these standards and codes are based. But, the different words imply different things. According to Bauman, ‘ethics is something more than a mere description of what people do; more even than a description of what they believe they ought to be doing in order to be decent, just, good – or, more generally, â€Å"in the right†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (1994: 1). All organization members make decisions, the collective manifestations of which fall into certain patterns that result in more or less consistent outcomes. The exploration of these patterns can be conducted using political frameworks. Deetz has asserted that organizations make most decisions regarding the use of resources, the development of technologies, the products available, and the working relations among people’ (1992: 3). While it can be argued that a substantial portion of industrial technology is developed at the behest of the military, it is clear that organizations have taken on many roles heretofore expected of government. Deetz further suggested that the state’s power is restricted to crude guidance through taxation and regulation. Philosophical Aspect of Organizational Ethics The examination of contemporary nature and functioning of organization could be considered in terms of Aristotle’s philosophical system. Clearly the structure of society Aristotle had in mind when he wrote The Politics (Aristotle, 1962) was something completely different than the structure of industrial society. However, it may be possible to speculate on how he might have applied his fundamental principles of governance to modern times. Aristotle would certainly not regard a large and pluralistic country such as the USA or any industrial European country as the equivalent of a city/state (hereafter referred to as a polis – a political community). A polis, he said, ‘must have a population large enough to cater for all the needs of a self-sufficient existence, but not so large that it cannot be easily supervised’ (1962: VII, 4). It is doubtful even that he would regard the USA as culturally homogeneous enough to provide support to a polis similar to that provided to Athens by Hellenic culture. He might, however, consider an organization to be a form of polis. If so, then there would be implications for what we regard as organizational ethics. To begin with, Aristotle advocated slavery as an important economic tool for support of the polis. While we in industrial society believe that owning people is immoral, we have no moral problem with the concept of the organization owning’ an employee for a specified period of time each day. Substituting the words supervisor for master and subordinate for slave, the characteristics of this intermittent ownership are scarcely discernible from Aristotle’s slavery: the master/slave relationship is a reciprocal relationship united by a common interest (they cannot do without each other); above all subordinates must be obedient – not being obedient is grounds for termination; subordinates must perform only tasks specified by their supervisors and not other tasks; subordinates may not slack from performing these tasks; subordinates must perform these tasks when ordered to perform them and within the time period allotted; and, except under certain conditions, subordinates may not supplement their work with activities of their own choosing. Many employers feel justified imposing restrictions on personal relationships, and on affiliations with other organizations. Slavery was not only important economically for Aristotle, but it represented the natural order of things: ‘He that can by his intelligence foresee things needed is by nature a ruler and master, while he whose bodily strength enables him to perform them is by nature a slave’ (1962: I, 2). The organizational chart is a sophisticated method for establishing, conventionalizing and validating the master/slave relationship. Because Aristotle considered business to be a ‘household’ activity and not a political activity, it is tempting to consider the organization as a representation of Aristotle’s household, which is the repository of slavery. Aristotle defined the polis in a number of similar ways, but we can accept that it is ‘a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good’ (1962: I, 1). The purpose of the polis is of supreme importance in distinguishing it from other social entities; ‘the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims, and in a greater degree than any other, at the highest good’ (1962:1, 1). The purpose of an organization is, or should be, much more than simply serving customers and making profits (Deming, 1986). The organization is defined by its constitution, and it has a number of specific characteristics. For one, it is of a manageable size, as alluded to above. For another, it has a limited membership of citizens: ‘We do not for a moment accept the notion that we must give the name citizen to all persons whose presence is necessary for the existence of the state’ (1962: III, 5). States have little in common, so in each case the citizen is defined by the constitution. Aristotle would limit citizenship in a number of ways, but he defined a citizen as One who has the ability and the chance to participate in government’ (1962: III, 5). In a truly democratic organization (which Aristotle would not recommend) that might include all employees. In an ideal organization, Aristotle would limit citizenship to managers – what he would call an aristocracy. The constitution of an organization is defined by its charter and its strategic and operating plans, the sum of which include its mission, its standard operating policies and procedures, its organizational chart (structure) and its personnel manual – covering all three of the elements cited above. Deming (1986) would suggest that the constitution of an organization provides for its ‘constancy of purpose’ – the point of being in business in the first place. There are basically three types of organizations: (1) monarchies, run by entrepreneurs or autocrats; (2) aristocracies, run chiefly by some combination of boards of directors, executives and organizational managers (this type has many varieties); and (3) democracies, run by some constitutional form of employee consensus. Determination of a specific organization’s type for the purposes of measurement should be guided by some assessment of attitudes toward the supervisor/subordinate relationship from both sides of that relationship. There were many beloved masters in the history of slavery. True democracies will have few, if any, symbols used to determine and to enforce differences in status, and will have institutionalized methods of achieving consensus. Two essentials for the state (1962: VII, 4) are a supply of labor, and a territory. The workforce supplies the labor for an organization, and the territory is defined by organizational boundaries, assets and market share. Additional essential parts (1962: VII, 8) include (a) food – the sustenance, in the case of organizations we can cite products (profits? ) as that which sustains the striving for goals; (b) tools and crafts – the technology used to make products; (c) arms – for protection and acquisition of new territory, provided for organizations by marketing and legal departments; (d) wealth – capital; (e) religion – that which guides normal behavior and explains the unexplainable; and finally that part which is most essential (f) a method of arriving at decisions about policy and about right and wrong – defined by the constitution. Organizational Ethics: Contemporary View Ethics are sources of identity and motivation for mature individuals, representing some sense of prevailing telos. A person develops an ethic by learning cultural convention and then modifies what has been learned according to insight and personal experience. The point is often taken for granted; a good deal of that which influences the development of an ethic is not likely to be grasped consciously by the individual. Ethics establish states of existence for individuals that make them, for example, more or less predisposed to accept or reject authority and supervision of their activities. Ethics induce people to seek out the association of others who share similar ethics. Organizations, to varying degrees, represent political associations and opportunities for political activity that cannot otherwise be experienced or constructed by individuals within the greater society. While conventional knowledge holds that organizations are narrowly purposeful and rationally managed entities, research reveals processes that can best be explained as political activity (Barker, 1994; Jackall, 1988): (a) functional groups compete for ascendancy of ideas, influence and resources, which is characterized by conflict; (b) the level of power and influence of any one manager depends upon that individual prevailing in conflicts regularly; (c) the corporate and bureaucratic structures are set up by and for those with the most controlling power; (d) success or failure of managers has little to do with actual accomplishments, but rather with arbitrary perceptions of one’s ability by others and with supportive alliances (that is, success and failure are socially defined, not empirically measured); (e) truth is socially constructed and the organization mobilizes to support manufactured reality promoted by those in power; (f) uncertainty in the organization and in managem ent processes facilitates redefinition of organizational reality; and therefore, (g) decisions are based in political agreement, and agreement is based in comparative power and influence. Jackall found that the moral system for managers in bureaucratic organizations includes some of the following principles: (a) striving for success is a moral imperative; (b) rising stars serve to validate the moral system; (c) criteria for success are bounded by the system and can be based in illusion rather than in reality – success is often the result of taking credit for the good and avoiding blame for the bad; (d) self-control, and not necessarily rule-following behavior, is a moral imperative; (e) morality is determined by flexibility and adaptability to changing political realities, and not by strong convictions; (f) bad things must be covered up or reframed in order to protect the system; and, (g) morality is a matter of survival and gaining advantage. For the citizen of this polis, morality has different implications than it does for those we may call employees, which Aristotle might recognize as slaves. While all employees may be initiated as organizational members, only a select few will undergo extensive initiation to achieve the status of citizen. In the General Dynamics study, employees at lower levels of the organization expected their quality of life to improve as a result of the Ethics Program (Barker, 1993). The failure of their expectations to be realized was commonly attributed by them to immoral behavior on the part of managers. These employees had not been indoctrinated into citizenship. Most never would be. Consequently, they understood the basic customs that govern the masses, but not the protocol of the political elite. Middle and senior level managers at General Dynamics, who were citizens, commonly viewed the Ethics Program as simply another political obligation. Instead of an opportunity for improvement, most managers experienced the program as yet another uncertainty to be managed in their quest to succeed. Their conformance to the rules established by the program was established by the constitution, and their experience of justice was directly related to which of their behaviors were measured and rewarded by the polis. Supervisors were citizens-in-training, and were caught between their understanding of the desires of employees for improved quality of life and their realization that the political goal of the program was to improve customer relations with the Navy in particular and with the Pentagon in general – that is, to improve the quality of life for citizens and not necessarily for the masses. The decisions of the polis were governed by the need to survive and to protect territory. The welfare of the masses was secondary to this goal, and was considered ultimately irrelevant should the polis fail. Organizational Ethics: Gender Aspects Diversity in the work place is among the issues important to contemporary business concerns. Diversity itself is a large agenda, within which issues of inclusion, personnel advancement, and appropriate work relationships for all employees emerge. The ability of all employees to work in ways that build upon their competencies, to allow them to advance for the betterment of the corporation, and to provide and contribute to the individual’s best advantage are important for management. Recent reports suggest that firms illustrating diversity through company-wide inclusion are more competitive in the current marketplace (Gilbert, 1999). When sub-groups of employees, such as males and females within a corporation, are revealed to have quite differing perceptions of their work life, however, it garners the attention of management. There is always the possibility that such differences highlight other potential problematic areas such as discrimination, harassment, or ceiling effects that will ultimately emerge, thereby reducing a company’s competitive edge. From the critical point of view, gender as it pertains to ethics is one aspect within the larger context of business ethics. One reason to focus on this question is the increasing attention given to diversity in the work place (Gilbert, 1999). There is also an increase in the number of women in the work force, women entering business schools, and women in management positions. Additionally, there is a suggestion that women, in general, are more ethical than men (Clark and Barry, 1997). Several studies examine the differences between men and women in business. These studies involve, for example, students, managers, and professionals in business endeavors. One assumption that is explored is whether females have a greater propensity for ethical behavior than males. In a study of attitudes of practitioners regarding ethical judgment, females are found to adopt a more ethical stance than their male peers (Weeks, 1999); findings that support an earlier study on gender related to business intent and judgment (Robin and Babin, 1997). In the latter study, there is no difference on ethical judgment between male and female professionals in business. Schminke (1997) reports that male and female managers do not differ on their underlying ethical models, but they differ in the manner in which they evaluate others. Another report from these data reveals that men and women are different in business and non-business settings regarding their ethical decision models (Schminke and Ambrose, 1997). In a study among undergraduate business students, males and females offer different perceptions of a just society (Prasad, 1998). Studies of ethical climate and gender reveal that female business students are significantly more predisposed to a positive ethical climate than are male business students (Luthar, 1997). Lastly, a study exploring differences of male and female managers reveals that in some situations females are more ethical, but in others they are not (Hoffman, 1998). Another dimension of organizational ethics that has been examined involves behavior surrounding the reporting of a co-worker for an ethics issue. Gender and supervisor support are two variables found to be related to willingness to engage in external whistle blowing in business (Sims and Keenan, 1998). Females are more willing than males to participate in whistle blowing in their place of employment. In summary, the results of studies in business ethics that examine differences between males and females reveal mixed results, but the predominance of findings suggest that females are more predisposed to ethical situations than are males. The results are true both for students and for employees in business.

The Return: Midnight Chapter 2

Elena couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds. When she came to, everything was the same – although she wondered how she hadn't lethal y cut her own throat on the knife. She knew that the tray with the dishes and cup had gone flying into the darkness in that first instant when she couldn't help flinging out her arms. But now she recognized the grip, she recognized the scent, and she understood the reason for the knife. And she was glad that she did, because she was about as proud of fainting as Sage would have been of doing it. She wasn't a fainter! Now she wil ed herself to sag in Damon's arms, except for where the knife was. To show him that she was no threat. â€Å"Hel o, princess,†a voice like black velvet said into her ear. Elena felt an inner shiver – but not of fear. No, it was more as if her insides were melting. But he didn't change his grasp on her. â€Å"Damon†¦Ã¢â‚¬ she said huskily, â€Å"I'm here to help you. Please let me. For your sake.† As abruptly as it had come, the iron grip was withdrawn from her waist. The knife stopped pressing into her flesh, although the sharp, stinging feeling at her throat was quite enough to remind her that Damon would have it ready. Substitute fangs. There was a click, and suddenly the room was too bright. Slowly, Elena turned to look at Damon. And even now, even when he was pale and rumpled and haggard from not eating, he was so gorgeous that her heart seemed to plummet into darkness. His black hair, fal ing every which way over his forehead; his perfect, carven features; his arrogant, sensual mouth – right now compressed into a brooding line†¦ â€Å"Where is it, Elena?†he asked briefly. Not what. Where. He knew she wasn't stupid, and, of course, he knew the humans in the boardinghouse were hiding the star bal from him deliberately. â€Å"Is that al you have to say to me?†Elena whispered. She saw the helpless softening in his eyes, and he took one step toward her as if he couldn't help himself, but the next instant he looked grim. â€Å"Tel me, and then maybe I'l have more.† â€Å"I†¦see. Wel , then, we made a system, two days ago,†Elena said quietly. â€Å"Everyone draws lots for it. Then the person who gets the paper with the X takes it from the center of the kitchen table and everyone goes to their rooms and stays there until the person with the star bal hides it. I didn't get the lot today, so I don't know where it is. But you can try to – test me.†Elena could feel her body cringing as she said the last words, feeling soft and helpless and easily hurt. Damon reached over and slowly slipped a hand beneath her hair. He could slam her head against a wal , or throw her across the room. He could simply squeeze her neck between knife and hand until her head fel off. Elena knew that he was in the mood to take out his emotions on a human, but she did nothing. Said nothing. Just stood and looked into her eyes. Slowly, Damon bent toward her and brushed his lips – so softly – against hers. Elena's eyes drifted shut. But the next moment Damon winced and slid the hand back out of her hair. That was when Elena gave another thought as to what must have become of the food she had been bringing to him. Near-scalding coffee seemed to have splashed her hand and arm and soaked her jeans on one thigh. The cup and saucer were laying in pieces on the floor. The tray and the cookies had bounced off behind a chair. The plate of steak tartar, however, had miraculously landed on the couch, right side up. There was miscel aneous cutlery everywhere. Elena felt her head and shoulders droop in fear and pain. That was her immediate universe right now – fear and pain. Overwhelming her. She wasn't usual y a crier, but she couldn't help the tears that fil ed her eyes. Damn! Damon thought. It was her. Elena. He'd been so certain an adversary was spying on him, that one of his many enemies had tracked him down and was setting a trap†¦someone who had discovered that he was as weak as a child now. It hadn't even occurred to him that it might be her, until he was holding her soft body with one arm, and smel ing the perfume of her hair as he held an ice-slick blade to her throat with the other. And then he'd snapped on a light and saw what he had already guessed. Unbelievable! He hadn't recognized her. He had been outside in the garden when he'd seen the door to the storage room standing open and had known that there was an intruder. But with his senses degraded as they were he hadn't been able to tel who was inside. No excuses could cover up the facts. He had hurt and terrified Elena. He had hurt her. And instead of apologizing he had tried to force the truth out of her for his own selfish desires. And now, her throat†¦ His eyes were drawn to the thin line of red droplets on Elena's throat where the knife had cut her when she'd jerked in fear before col apsing right onto it. Had she fainted? She could have died right then, in his arms, if he hadn't been fast enough in whipping the knife away. He kept tel ing himself that he wasn't afraid of her. That he was just holding the knife absentmindedly. He wasn't convinced. â€Å"I was outside. You know how we humans can't see?†he said, knowing he sounded indifferent, unrepentant. â€Å"It's like being wrapped in cotton al the time, Elena: We can't see, can't smel , can't hear. My reflexes are like a tortoise's, and I'm starving.† â€Å"Then why don't you try my blood?†Elena asked, sounding unexpectedly calm. â€Å"I can't,†Damon said, trying not to eye the dainty ruby necklace flowing down Elena's slim white throat. â€Å"I already cut myself,†Elena said, and Damon thought, Cut herself? Ye gods, the girl was priceless. As if she'd had a little kitchen accident. â€Å"So we might as wel see what human blood tastes like to you now,†Elena said. â€Å"No.† â€Å"You know that you're going to. I know you know. But we don't have much time. My blood won't flow forever. Oh, Damon – after everything†¦just last week – â€Å" He was looking at her too long, he knew. Not just at the blood. At the glorious golden beauty of her, as if the child of a sunbeam and a moonbeam had entered his room and was harmlessly bathing him in light. With a hiss, narrowing his eyes, Damon took hold of Elena's arms. He expected an automatic recoil like the one when he'd grabbed her from behind. But there was no movement backward. Instead there was something like the leap of an eager flame in those wide malachite eyes. Elena's lips parted involuntarily. He knew it was involuntarily. He'd had many years to study young women's responses. He knew what it meant when her gaze went first to his lips before lifting to his eyes. I can't kiss her again. I can't. It's a human weakness, the way she affects me. She doesn't realize what it is to be so young and so impossibly beautiful. She's going to learn someday. In fact, I might accidental y teach her now. As if she could hear him, Elena shut her eyes. She let her head fal back and suddenly Damon found himself half-supporting her weight. She was surrendering al thought of herself, showing him that despite everything she stil trusted him, stil †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦stil loved him. Damon himself didn't know what he was going to do as he bent toward her. He was starving. It tore at him like a wolf's claws, the hunger. It made him feel dazed and dizzy and out of control. Half a thousand years had left him believing that the only thing that would relieve the starvation was the crimson fountain of a cut artery. Some dark voice that might have come from the Infernal Court itself whispered that he could do what some vampires did, ripping a throat like a werewolf. Warm flesh might ease the starvation of a human. What would he do, so close to Elena's lips, so close to her bleeding throat? Two tears slipped from under the dark lashes and slid a little way down her face before dropping into golden hair. Damon found himself tasting one before he could think. Stil a maiden. Wel , that was to be expected; Stefan was too weak to stand yet. But on top of the cynical thought came an image, and just a few words: a spirit as pure as driven snow. He suddenly knew a different hunger, a different thirst. The only place to ease this need was close by. Desperately, urgently, he sought and found Elena's lips. And then he found himself losing al control. What he needed most was here, and Elena might tremble, but she didn't push him away. This close, he was bathed in an aura as golden as the hair he was touching gently at the ends. He was pleased himself when she shivered in pleasure, and he realized that he could sense her thoughts. She was a strong projector, and his telepathy was the only Power left to him. He had no idea why he stil had it, but he did. And right now he wanted to tune into Elena. The wench! She wasn't thinking at al ! Elena had been offering her throat, truly surrendering herself, abandoning al thought but that she wanted to aid him, that his wishes were hers. And now she was too deeply enmeshed in the kiss to even make plans – which was extraordinary for her. She's in love with you, the tiny part of him that could stil think said. She's never said so! She's in love with Stefan! something visceral answered. She doesn't have to say it. She's showing it. Don't pretend you haven't seen it before! But Stefan – ! Is she thinking about Stefan in the slightest right now? She opened her arms to the wolf-hunger in you. This is no one-day stand, no quick meal, not even a steady donor. This is Elena herself. Then I've taken advantage of her. If she's in love, she can't protect herself. She's stil a child. I have to do something. The kisses had now gotten to the point that even the tiny voice of reason was fading. Elena had lost her ability to stand. He was either going to have to put her down somewhere, or give her a chance to back out. Elena! Elena! Damn it, I know you can hear me. Answer! Damon? – faintly. Oh, Damon, now do you understand – ? Too well, my princess. I Influenced you, so I should know. You†¦? No, you're lying! Why should I lie? For some reason my telepathy is as strong as ever. I still want what I want. But you might want to think a minute, maiden. I don't need to drink your blood. I'm human and right now I'm ravenous. But not for that mess of bloody hamburger you brought me. Elena broke away from him. Damon let her go. â€Å"I think you're lying,†she said, meeting his eyes directly, her mouth kiss-swol en. Damon locked the sight of her inside the boulder ful of secrets he dragged around with him. He gave her his best opaque ebony stare. â€Å"Why should I lie?†he repeated. â€Å"I just thought you deserved a chance to make your own choice. Or have you already decided to abandon little brother while he's out of commission?† Elena's hand flashed up, but then she dropped it. â€Å"You used Influence on me,†she said bitterly. â€Å"I'm not myself. I would never abandon Stefan – especial y when he needs me.† There it was, the essential fire at her core, and the fiery golden truth. Now he could sit and let bitterness gnaw at him, while this pure spirit fol owed her conscience. He was thinking this, already feeling the loss of her dazzling light receding when he realized he no longer had the knife. An instant later, horror just catching up with his hand, he was snatching it from her throat. His telepathic blast was entirely reflexive: What in Hell are you doing? Killing yourself because of what I said? This blade is like a razor! Elena faltered. â€Å"I was just making a nick – â€Å" â€Å"You almost made a nick that spurted six feet high!†At least he was able to speak again, despite the constriction of his throat. Elena was back on stable ground too. â€Å"I told you I knew you knew you'd have to try blood before you'l try to eat. It feels as if it's flowing down my neck again. This time, let's not waste it.† She was only tel ing the truth. At least she hadn't seriously hurt herself. He could see that fresh blood was flowing from the new cut she'd so recklessly made. To waste it would be idiotic. Utterly dispassionate now, Damon took her again by the shoulders. He tilted up her chin to look at her soft, rounded throat. Several new ruby cuts were flowing freely. Half a mil ennium of instinct told Damon that just there was nectar and ambrosia. Just there was sustenance and rest and euphoria. Just here where his lips were as he bent to her a second time†¦and he had only to taste it – to drink†¦ Damon reared back, trying to force himself to swal ow, determined not to spit. It wasn't†¦it wasn't utterly revolting. He could see how humans, with their degraded senses, could make use of the animal varieties. But this coagulating, mineral-tasting stuff wasn't blood†¦ it had none of the perfumed bouquet, the heady richness, the sweet, velvety, provocative, life-giving, ineffable attributes of blood. It was like some sort of bad joke. He was tempted to bite Elena, just to skim a canine over the common carotid, making a tiny scratch, so he could taste the little burst that would explode onto his palate, to compare, to make sure that the real stuff wasn't in there somehow. In fact he was more than tempted; he was doing it. But no blood was coming. His mind paused in midthought. He'd made a scratch al right a scratch like a scuff. It hadn't even broken the outer layer of Elena's skin. Blunt teeth. Damon found himself pressing on a canine with his tongue, wil ing it to extend, wil ing it with al his cramped and frustrated soul to sharpen. And†¦nothing. Nothing. But then, he'd spent al day doing the same thing. Miserably, he let Elena's head turn back. â€Å"That's it?†she said shakily. She was trying so hard to be brave with him! Poor doomed white soul with her demon lover. â€Å"Damon, you can try again,†she told him. â€Å"You can bite harder.† â€Å"It's no good,†he snapped. â€Å"You're useless – â€Å" Elena almost slid to the floor. He kept her upright while snarling in her ear, â€Å"You know what I meant by that. Or would you prefer to be my dinner rather than my princess?† Elena simply shook her head mutely. She rested in the circle of his arms, her head against his shoulder. Little wonder that she needed rest after al he'd put her through. But as for how she found his shoulder a comfort†¦wel , that was beyond him. Sage! Damon sent the furious thought out on al the frequencies he could access, just as he had been doing al day. If only he could find Sage, al his problems would be solved. Sage, he demanded, where are you? No answer. For al Damon knew, Sage had managed to operate the Gateway to the Dark Dimension that was even now standing, powerless and useless, in Mrs. Flowers's garden. Stranding Damon here. Sage was always that blindingly fast when he took off. And why had he taken off? Imperial Summons? Sometimes Sage got them. From the Fal en One, who lived in the Infernal Court, at the lowest of the Dark Dimensions. And when Sage did get them, he was expected to be in that dimension instantly, in mid-word, in mid-caress, in mid – whatever. So far Sage had always made the deadline, Damon knew that. He knew it because Sage was stil alive. On the afternoon of Damon's catastrophic bouquet investigation Sage had left on the mantel a polite note thanking Mrs. Flowers for her hospitality, and even leaving his gigantic dog, Saber, and his falcon, Talon, for the protection of the household – a note doubtlessly pre-prepared. He had gone the way he always did, as unpredictably as the wind, and without saying good-bye. Undoubtedly he'd thought that Damon would find his way out of the problem easily. There were a number of vampires in Fel ‘s Church. There always were. The ley lines of sheer Power in the ground drew them even in normal times. The problem was that just now al those vampires were infested with malach – parasites control ed by the evil fox-spirits. They couldn't be lower in the vampire hierarchy. And of course Stefan was a complete nonstarter. Even if he hadn't been so weak that trying to change Damon into a vampire would have kil ed him; even if his anger over Damon's â€Å"stealing his humanity†could be assuaged, he would simply never have agreed, out of his feeling that vampirism was a curse. Humans never knew about things like the vampire hierarchy because the subjects didn't concern them – until suddenly, they did, usual y because they had just been changed into a vampire themselves. The hierarchy of vampires was strict, from the useless and ignoble to the fanged aristocracy. Old Ones fit in that category, but so did others who were particularly il ustrious or powerful. What Damon wanted was to be made a vampire by the kind of women Sage knew, and he was determined to have Sage find him a vampire lady of quality, one who was real y worthy of him. Other things tormented Damon, who had spent two entire sleepless days pondering them. Was it possible that the white kitsune who had given Stefan the bouquet had engineered a rose that turned the first person to smel it permanently human? That would have been Stefan's greatest dream. The white fox had listened to days upon days of Stefan's ramblings, hadn't he? He'd seen Elena weeping over Stefan. He'd seen the two lovebirds together, Elena hand-feeding a dying Stefan her blood through razor wire. Fortune only knew what ideas that fox had gotten into his furry white head when he'd prepared the rose that had â€Å"cured†Damon of his â€Å"curse.†If it turned out to be an irreversible â€Å"cure†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ If Sage turned out to be unreachable†¦ It suddenly broke into Damon's thoughts that Elena was cold. It was strange, since the night was warm, but she was shivering violently. She needed his jacket or†¦ She's not cold, the smal voice somewhere deep inside him said. And she's not shivering. She's trembling because of al you've put her through. Elena? You forgot all about me. You were holding me, but you completely forgot my existence†¦ If only, he thought bitterly. You're branded on my soul. Damon was suddenly furious, but it was different from his anger at kitsune and Sage and the world. It was the kind of anger that made his throat close and his chest feel too tight. It was an anger that made him pick up Elena's scalded hand, which was rapidly turning scarlet in patches, and examine it. He knew what he would have done as a vampire: stroked over the burns with a silky cool tongue, generating chemicals to accelerate the healing. And now†¦there was nothing he could do about it. â€Å"It doesn't hurt,†Elena said. She was able to stand now. â€Å"You're lying, princess,†he said. â€Å"The insides of your eyebrows are up. That's pain. And your pulse is jumping – â€Å" â€Å"You can sense that without touching me?† â€Å"I can see it, at your temples. Vampires,†with vicious emphasis on what he stil was, in essence, â€Å"notice things like that. I made you hurt yourself. And I can't do anything to help. Also† – he shrugged – â€Å"you're a beautiful liar. About the star bal , I mean.† â€Å"You can always sense when I'm lying?† â€Å"Angel,†he said wearily, â€Å"it's easy. You are either the lucky holder of the star bal today†¦or you know who is.† Again, Elena's head drooped in consternation. â€Å"Or else,†Damon said lightly, â€Å"the entire story of the drawing of the lots was a lie.† â€Å"Think what you like,†Elena said, with at least some of her usual fire. â€Å"And you can clean up this mess, too.† Just as she turned to leave, Damon had a revelation. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers!†he exclaimed. â€Å"Wrong,†Elena snapped. Elena, I wasn't talking about the star ball. I give you my word on this. You know how hard it is to lie telepathically – Yes, and I know that therefore, if there's one thing in the world you'd†¦practice†¦at†¦ She couldn't finish. She couldn't make the speech. Elena knew how much Damon's word meant to him. I'll never tell you where it is, she sent telepathical y to Damon. And I swear to you that Mrs. Flowers won't either. â€Å"I believe you, but we're stil going to see her.† He picked Elena up easily and stepped over the smashed cup and saucer. Elena automatical y grabbed his neck with both hands to balance herself. â€Å"Darling, what are you doing – ?†Elena cried, then stopped, wide-eyed, two scalded fingers flying to her lips. Standing in the doorway, not two yards away from them, was petite Bonnie McCul ough, a bottle of Black Magic wine, nonalcoholic but mystical y exhilarating, held high in her hand. But as Elena watched, Bonnie's expression changed al in an instant. It had been triumphant joy. But now it was shock. It was disbelief that couldn't hold. Elena knew exactly what she was thinking. The whole house had devoted itself to making Damon comfortable – while Damon stole what rightful y belonged to Stefan: Elena. Plus he'd lied about not being a vampire anymore. And Elena wasn't even fighting him off. She was cal ing him â€Å"darling†! Bonnie dropped the bottle and turned, running.

The Royal Tennenbaums essays

The Royal Tennenbaums essays From the quirky yet comical mind of Wes Anderson, comes a film about a dysfunctional family that tries to make amends with the downfall and corruption that erased the dreams of a nuclear family. Andersons two previous cult classics Bottle Rocket and Rushmore failed to ignite at the box office but received impressive reviews. The Royal Tenenbaums is certainly not a film for everybody, but theres no doubt that its a dazzling original piece of work. Wes uses offbeat eccentricities, damaged characters, and a bizarre yet profound comedy that comes along all too rarely. He may have created as close to a musical as you can get with out any characters busting into song or choreographed shuffles. It possesses a certain fantastic beauty that is only attainable in fantasy, yet has all aspects that would classify this movie as fiction. This movie will leave the viewer like a wallflower at a high school prom. We want to desperately be apart of its perspective of New York City but we are also awar e of the utter fakeness of it all. The main theme of The Royal Tenenbaums is how an incompetent father, who was separated from his family for nearly twenty years, tries to make up for his lack of concern and misery that he has brought to his children. Wes Andersons grew up in Houston, Texas. While attending the University of Texas at Austin, he met actor/writer Owen Wilson who helped him write the screenplay to The Royal Tenenbaums. The idea for this movie was partially biographical with the aspect of the family situation, but generally everything else was made up by the two unpredictable, cock-eyed geniuses. In the very beginning of the movie, Anderson wants you to believe that the film is an adaptation of a book with the same name. As viewers, we obtain his book at the library, watch as its dated, and embrace its plastic cover even though we know it will never truly be ours. Wes spent years getting all the research and p...

The Male Child Professor Ramos Blog

The Male Child It was a sunny afternoon on 21st of April 1986; I was on my way home from school when I suddenly notice a group of people in front of our home in Lagos, Nigeria. Moving closer, I noticed my Aunt was dancing and singing in our native dialect. Suddenly, my younger sister appeared and ran towards me shouting â€Å"Mummy gave birth to a baby boy†. I ran inside the house to see my Mum and my little brother, I smiled and thought to myself that finally I have a brother just like my friends. My mum and Dad had nine children, eight daughters and one son. The male was the only son and the last child of the family. The reason why my parents decided to have so many children was the search for a male child. In Africa, a male child is considered very important because he, as they put it, will be the one to carry on the family name and legacy. If a woman cannot give birth to a male child for her husband, then she won’t be accepted by the husband’s family and the husband will go out and marry another wife that will bore him a son. Before the birth of my brother my mum went through a lot of maltreatment from her in-laws. They come to the house and threaten here with all sorts, like telling her that they will kick her and her daughters out of my father’s house or they will tell her that they will marry another wife for my dad. We the children were not treated differently, they will look at us scornfully as if we were the cause of us been born as girls. They hurl insults at us, calling us different names. They wanted my father to have an heir of his own. They always say, â€Å"Girls don’t inherit their father’s properties†. My mum was always unhappy each time she gets pregnant and gives birth to another girl child. She was desperate for a son because my dad already got 2 women pregnant in his search for a male child. he wanted a son desperately. Unfortunately, both women gave birth to girls. After the birth of my brother, there was happiness and peace written all over my mum and dad. A very big party was thrown to celebrate the birth of an heir to my father. My father was proud to show off his son to all his friends. He was the happiest man on earth. Years after the birth of my brother, my dad treated my brother differently from the rest of us. If my brother doesn’t like a food that was being cooked, then they will have to cook his own type of food separately, of which we the girls didn’t have such privileges. My brother gets away with a lot of things, like sneaking out of the house with my dad’s car and getting into an accident with it. He wasn’t scolded for it, but if any of the girls seek permission to use his car, the answer is always a big â€Å"NO†. He attended a private school while the rest of us went to government public school. This reminded me of my friend’s dad that would rather send his male children to school and tell his daughters that school is not for girls. He will tell them that a woman’s place is in her husband’s house. All his sons went to school and got good education while his wife struggled to educate her daughters. He says his daughters will leave his home eventually when they get married and change their names from his to that of their husbands. So, it’s a waste to spend money in educating them. Today, all his daughters are professionals in their fields of study. He is so proud of them now that he doesn’t hesitate to tell whoever bothers to listen how proud he is of them. We weren’t allowed to bring boys home, my mum kept telling us that it is wrong to have male friends before marriage because a girl should keep herself pure and prepare herself for her wedding night. This is not the case with my brother, he brings his female friends’ home and my mum cooks for them and laugh with them. Despite the gender inequality been practiced in my home, my sisters and I got the quality education we wanted .Today we are all graduates and doing very well in our Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the author of We should all be feminist said â€Å"And then we do a much greater disservice to girls, because we raise them to cater to the fragile egos of males. We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten the man. If you are the breadwinner in your relationship with a man, pretend that you are not, especially in public, otherwise you will emasculate him.† This explains a society where a female is only to be seen dressed beautifully for her husband and not to be heard. A society whereby a female is not given same opportunity as a male. A society that needs recues from been gender bias. Gender equality has taught me that though physically we are different, intellectually, innovatively and creatively we are the same. Presently, we have a lot of females going into professional field that was once termed the male domain. Today, we have female professors, neurosurgeons, engineers, even female astronauts etc. Gender inequality is still a major issue around the world. Female are still considered lesser than men, they earn lesser than their male counterpart at work. Female child education in some part of Africa is still lacking. Females are underrepresented in politics. There is need for reorientation of people to start viewing women and men has equal in all areas of life. There is a saying in my country that goes like â€Å"What a man can do, a woman can do twice more†.

How Do You Become a Pharmacy Technician

How Do You Become a Pharmacy Technician a pharmacy technician is responsible for assisting the pharmacist on duty to help patients or customers and fill prescriptions. you’ll need a keen eye for detail, a great deal of patience, and training that covers basic pharmacology, medication dispensing, and an understanding of pharmacy law and ethics. education and trainingyou will need a high school diploma or a ged equivalent to qualify for on-the-job training- many aspiring pharm techs find getting such  training is easier after post-secondary training at an online certification program or vocational school, community college, or technical institute. it may take anywhere from 3 months to a year.vocational school and community college coursework will emphasize commonly used mathematics, chemistry, and medication orientations to familiarize aspiring pharm techs with names, side effects, interactions, and dispensing protocols. some training programs even offer internships for hands-on experience, a great way to get to kno w a pharmacy before committing to the 6 year process of becoming a pharmacist.certificationsthe pharmacy technician certification board (ptcb) requires you to have a diploma and pass a certification exam. the national healthcareer association (nha) requires you to be 18 years old and have a high school diploma, a formal training program, and a year of work under your belt.you’ll be required to re-certify every 2 years because of the rate of change in healthcare policies and advances in the field. pursuing 20 hours of continuing education will keep you up-to-date. many pharm techs report that this process of staying current (along with the patience of keeping up with a busy pharmacy) are the most challenging parts of the job.employersmost pharm techs are found in hospitals, retail pharmacies, assisted living and education institutions, and veterinary offices. the bureau of labor statistics predicts employment growth of about 20 percent for the field through  2022- faster tha n the average growth rate for all occupations. those stats amounts to  70,700 new positions to be filled during that period.here are some of the biggest current employers in the field:salarythe average salary is $38,600 nationally, with rates increasing with seniority, specialty certifications, and competitive institutional pay scale policies. the metropolitan areas that offer the highest compensation are all located in california, including the metropolitan areas of oakland, napa, san francisco, san jose, and madera.sample job postingpharmacy technician,   orlando, flunder the direct supervision of the pharmacy services call center supervisor, the pharmacy call center technician is responsible for providing knowledgeable and courteous customer assistance and response to members, providers, and pharmacy call center technician inquiries.position qualifications/requirementseducation and training:  high school diploma or the equivalentexperience:  2 years pharmacy technician ex perience in a healthcare, long term care or retail environment; minimum 35 wpm typingrequired experience:  pharmacy tech, high school, national pharmacy technician certification: 3 yearslicenses, registrations or certifications:  national pharmacy technician certificationprincipal accountabilitieshandles calls and correspondence regarding pharmacy issues from providers/physicians and members. documents calls in inquiry tracking system. facilitates problem resolution and acts as customer advocate.performs initial research of pharmacy issues. reconciles plan information utilizing department-generated procedures and reference materials. utilizes internal pharmacy systems to update, modify and extract member information.assists network pharmacist in processing prescription claims. reviews claims for accuracy and adherence to contract guidelines maintained.assists with entering prior authorizations when required; provides follow up assistance for prior authorization requests, follows up with requests from physicians for denial letters, provides assistance in gathering historical claim information as required.discriminates between routine and significant matters; apprises management of issues which can negatively affect service and business. identifies provider/physician/member issues and refers to appropriate departments.maintains a balance of productivity, quality, and timeliness of job accountabilities.demonstrates flexibility and cooperation when faced with changing priorities to meet shifting needs.creates and supports an environment which fosters teamwork, cooperation, respect, and diversity.assists with training of new hires. attends required training as requested. develops and maintains desktop procedures.apply here: pharmacy technician

Islamism and Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Islamism and Terrorism - Essay Example This paper seeks to refute this controversial claim by supporting that Muslims are not terrorists. Undeniably, there have been extreme cases of terror attacks in different parts of the world. Most of these terrorist attacks, if not all, have been associated to Islam. Islamic terror group referred to as al-Qaida supposedly did the infamous September 11 attack. However, controversy theories have refuted these claims and posited that the September 11 attacks were conducted out of the realms of Islam. Terrorism refers to acts of violence or otherwise that are meant to pressurize a ruling regime to act in favor of the terror instigators. Although the definition of terrorism varies widely, it can be generally agreed that terrorism has a political orientation. Most of the terrorist attacks that have happened in recent times have been directed towards political leadership regimes. Terrorism may be a physical act such as the September 11 attack or it may be non-physical such as cyber terroris m. Largely, physical terrorism has been associated with radical Islamism. Whenever there is a potential terror threat, Muslims are always the first prime suspects. Actually, a large number of Muslims have been questioned or detained in various parts of the world as being suspects of terror. On the other hand, the Muslim community has heavily contested involvement in terror activities claiming that it is in fact against their religious beliefs. According to the Muslim community, Allah is against killing of innocent people. Indeed, â€Å"Terrorizing innocent people is not acceptable in Islam, it is totally against the religion† (Abdullah, 2007). More notably, the jihad is also not holy although it is justified. They believe that the world is supposed to live in peace and harmony despite the differences in religious affiliations. Muslims contest that most terror instigators hide behind the curtains of Islamic religion to pursue their inhumane interests. Although they support mar tyrdom and jihad, they are solidly unified against terrorism. However, the characteristics of radical Islamism are quite similar to characteristics of terrorisms and perhaps the primary reason why the controversy over the relationship between Islam and terrorism exist so strongly. Therefore, differentiating between radical Islamism and Islamic terrorism becomes difficult. Despite the similarities between them, terrorism and radical Islamism are certainly different. Accordingly, radical Islamism is not democratic in nature and does not, in any way take advantage of political or democratic loopholes in the society to express their dissatisfaction. Instead, radical Islamism seeks to express their faith in religion by use of religious platforms and means. Their acts are religiously propelled and as such do not use terrorism as a means of communicating their dissatisfaction. This concludes us that neither Islam nor radical Islamism is synonymous to terrorism. Even the violent activities of radical Islamism do not count towards terrorism. The two oppositions on clarity of definition of the term terrorism make the issue complicated. However, there is overwhelming evidence supporting that Islam is indeed not synonymous with terrorism. More clearly, Islam is not associated with terrorism. According to leaders of North American Islamic organizations â€Å"As American Muslims and scholars of Islam, we wish to restate our conviction that peace and justice constitute the basic principles of the Muslim faith. We

Grusendorf v Oklahoma City, 816 F. 2d 539 (U.S. Court of Appeals for Essay

Grusendorf v Oklahoma City, 816 F. 2d 539 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit 1987) - Essay Example The Supreme Court observed that only personal rights that can be deemed important in the concept of ordered liberty are included in this guarantee of personal liberty( Ducat, 2009).The Court outlined the current reach of these freedoms as embracing personal decisions relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing and education. The defendant argues out that the law used to judge him was not applicable and did not match with his case (The federal reporter, 1987). To resolve the issue of whether or not Grusendorf’s rights of liberty or privacy were violated by the non-smoking regulation, it is instructive to study the Supreme Courts approach in Kelley v. Johnson. The case is similar as this one though the plaintiff there was a police officer rather than a firefighter and claimed a fourteenth amendment right to grow a beard rather than a right to smoke a cigarette (Bureau of National Affairs , 1995). A review of the record suggests that the district court found the defendants disputes influential. The defendants moved for an award of attorneys fees and submitted briefs in support of it, together with affidavits from their attorneys detailing their fees. Bowers v. Hardwick said that the federal courts should not take an expansive view of their authority to discover new fundamental

Internet commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Internet commerce - Essay Example The orders are taken in seconds and customers want the overnight fulfilment of the order. The new concept of just-in-time ordering impacts the whole supply chain starting with the end customer through the manufactures and suppliers. Because the number of orders varies every day, there is an opportunity that one supplier might wrongly predict the demand and run out of one of the components. The lack of some part leads to the break down of the whole system. Unfortunately, most of the companies heavily advertise their products and do not realize that the component shortage leads to the loss of existing and potential customers because they are not able to satisfy the demand they had stoked. The shortage issue is especially critical for the popular products. Taking into account the example of PlayStation2 many of the potential customers were willing to buy the product but could not find it. As the result, they have switched to other brands. As the study has proved, one week delay in delivery leads to 5 percent probability of order cancellation. It is especially important for the large companies to retain customers because the struggle for market share is very intense. ... Importance of manufacturer/supplier communication In order to solve the above problems it is vital to get wired tightly with the suppliers, thus the suppliers should at least know what the manufacturer knows. For example, if the demand in the last two days has increased significantly, it is a good idea to contact the supplier and share this information. If such communication and information sharing occurs regularly, the suppliers are able to get ready for unexpected demand growth better. The close communication helps to deal with the demand decreases as well. Sometimes the surplus of product leads to even greater loss of income become these products have to be kept somewhere. Fortunately, most of the products sold through internet do not spoil over time and have extended warehouse holding. For example, if there is the surplus of MP3 players, the warehousing costs will be significantly lower compared to the holding of TV sets. At the moment, the communication between manufactures and suppliers is quite limited and suppliers are not able to handle the huge unpredictable number of orders from manufactures selling via internet. Partially, this shortage of products is the result of the poor communication - the suppliers do not get enough information from manufactures. It is easy to take a lot of orders, however, the manufacturers are slow to deal with the supply. For some reason companies are not willing to adopt new methods of managing supply and continue forecasting based on the historical principles and the judgment of the sales people. Nevertheless, the monthly planning is not useful any more and causes

Coursework for Empirical Methods of Economic Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

For Empirical Methods of Economic - Coursework Example Figure (1) Ignoring the age variable will result in direct relationship of number of years of education completed with the amount of wage earned in a month. Therefore, the direct relationship is shown as follows: Figure (2) ii) Referring to equation (1) specifying a linear function of wage, with respect to age and education, if Ey is kept constant, i.e. number of years of education remain same, then the direct relationship of wage (Wt) and age (At) will be determined. The specific organizational principle will be applied here, i.e. the experienced workers will be enjoying more wages than those who have lesser experience, and the variable for counting the experience is the age of the workers. The more the age, the more will be experience of the workers, and hence they will enjoy larger amount in terms of their monthly wage. Keeping the education years (Ey) constant, and allowing the wages to change at a different rate, with respect to change in the age of the workers, the graph would still show a direct relationship between Wt and Ay, as follows: Figure (3) As shown above, the education variable is kept constant, and even then the wage will increase as the worker’s age increases. ... In this case, the figure (1) can again be considered, where the wages will increase depending upon the increase on the wage as well as the age. The only exception in this section and the previous one is the dependability of age of the worker on his age, whereas both were independent in the former approach, but the results will be the same whether the age factor is going to depend on education years or not, because the wage factor is going to change depending upon the change in age as well as education years altogether. Q (b). For the equation used in question a(i), the data is put in the EViews, and the estimates have been made about the relationship between the wage, age, and education years. The following graph will be showing a relationship of the three variables provided in the equation 1 given above. Figure (4) The figure shows that the data given in the excel sheet provides a direct relationship between the wage that is calculated on the basis of the ages and educational years of each of the workers working in the company. The blue lines highlight wages, red age, and green lines show educational years in case of first model discussed above. The wage will rise whenever the educational years, or age, or bother together will rise. Concerning the second model made in an answer to the question (a) above, the changes in wage were made as a direct function of the changes made in the age of the workers, and it was supposed that the educational experiences were either kept constant or had been ignored, and a direct function was applied on the age and its change on the wage of each of the worker. The graph given in figure (5) below will

Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Information System - Essay Example The people who create a software system are in immense pressure to come up with the software at a lowest possible cost (Dahanayake). The pace of the advancement in software engineering has increased so rapidly that the best practices that were known by the individual in creating a software system has deviated and has changed too fast. This is because in Information technology industry every time something new turns up and it is becoming difficult for the professionals in coping up with it. Most of the software systems are developed through an integrated channel of customer feedback and this makes the task more difficult for them to create exactly the same software system that is demanded by most of the customer (Downes). While creating software system there has also been some legal consequences in the issuance and the protection of the licenses. Bigger firms often negotiate for the software license due to the poorly defined law of license, which adds up more difficulties for the firms. The companies are struggling to survive in the market and they are relying on their professionals to get them a competitive advantage in the market which puts more stress on these experts which forces them to make decisions that are unlikely to favor the company while fulfilling customer’s demands (Downes). More often while creating a software system; the biggest problem is the lack of understanding the software system regarding both the managers and the information technology expert who are leading the development effort. To create software system one should analyze the software components because otherwise some software’s are known as ‘spaghetti code’, which are unstructured and complex. This gives rise to the quality and time tradeoff and affects the growth of the company. Some software’s are made for a particular environment

Talkshows in America (infuence they have on people) Essay

Talkshows in America (infuence they have on people) - Essay Example But then these shows or discussions could only be attended by a group of people living in the proximity of the places where those meetings or discussions were arranged. And contrary to what is today, earlier people from other parts of the world were not aware of such events or discussions, as there was no medium through which others could witness these events. But with the invention of Television and Radio, the world came closer, and people from all over the world could hear them on Radio or see them and hear them on Television. In the early twentieth century, Radio was the only medium of entertainment. According to the historian, Wayne Munson, the first ever Talk Show was broadcasted on Radio over WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts in the year 1921. It was related with farming. Usually experts conducted such talks and the purpose of arranging these programs was for educating the audiences. The hosts of these shows took the audiences in altogether different world of knowledge and entertainment. One Mr. Alexander Woolcott on WOR in New York shared his experiences of the different kind of people he met and the books he read, on the radio. Thus, at that time, hosts were the people who spoke and the audiences listened to what they said. Audiences were passive listeners and there was no one to one interaction between the host and the audience. But in 1930's there was a sudden change and the audience became an active member of these shows. In a radio program hosted by Houston called Vox Populi, a recorded intervie w of a man on the street was broadcasted. Thus audiences were enthralled by this innovative idea of involving audiences in the program, which thereby increased the popularity of that program. Thus many other producers too were inspired by this idea and they too copied the same. This is how the audiences were also involved in the programs. It was for the first time in the program of Barry Gray on WMCA that a phone call was received while the program was on air. Thereafter, 'audience request lines' were developed and the novel idea of playing music on the request of audience was implemented. (Ellen Hume - Talk Show Culture) In the year 1948, after the invention of television, people began to enjoy the audiovisual programs. It was during this time that people could actually see their favorite celebrities talk on the shows. Talk show, was a program on television, wherein a certain group of people came together to discuss certain issues. It was conducted by a host and different people who were experts in that particular field were invited on the show. The host before conducting the show prepared the outline of the program keeping in mind the public interest. And he invited the experts who could speak on this topic very well and who could answer the questions of the spectators satisfactorily. The show was generally interactive. The concept of Talk Shows was an outcome of the fusion of news and entertainment. It was informative as well as entertaining. In a talk show the host asks questions to the experts and they answer those questions. Sometimes if a small group of experts are invited then there is a group discussion on certain topics. With every expert or participant giving his personal opinions, the spectators can make a study of that particular topic from different angels. The topics selected for Talk Shows are mostly sensitive or have great

Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Information System - Essay Example The people who create a software system are in immense pressure to come up with the software at a lowest possible cost (Dahanayake). The pace of the advancement in software engineering has increased so rapidly that the best practices that were known by the individual in creating a software system has deviated and has changed too fast. This is because in Information technology industry every time something new turns up and it is becoming difficult for the professionals in coping up with it. Most of the software systems are developed through an integrated channel of customer feedback and this makes the task more difficult for them to create exactly the same software system that is demanded by most of the customer (Downes). While creating software system there has also been some legal consequences in the issuance and the protection of the licenses. Bigger firms often negotiate for the software license due to the poorly defined law of license, which adds up more difficulties for the firms. The companies are struggling to survive in the market and they are relying on their professionals to get them a competitive advantage in the market which puts more stress on these experts which forces them to make decisions that are unlikely to favor the company while fulfilling customer’s demands (Downes). More often while creating a software system; the biggest problem is the lack of understanding the software system regarding both the managers and the information technology expert who are leading the development effort. To create software system one should analyze the software components because otherwise some software’s are known as ‘spaghetti code’, which are unstructured and complex. This gives rise to the quality and time tradeoff and affects the growth of the company. Some software’s are made for a particular environment

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 48

Assignment - Essay Example nalysis is to find an experience or idea that is vital in providing me with a new perspective about different situations of my life especially managerial issues. In analyzing the events and concepts, I will be able to get meaning and connection by evaluating the impact a story, concept, suggestion or idea has on my personal life. Physical, spiritual and mental impacts are aspects that operate under the law of cause and effect,† and these effects are vital in the personal analysis. The result of a persons thoughts can be manifested in the short term, a factor that makes this law effective in the analysis. Therefore, the law of â€Å"cause and effect† is very important as it helps one to become conscious at making decisions through experience, and learning vital aspects of ones lives. Information and different ideas can be found either in the library or in the internet. However, I choose the latter as it is readily available at any time of the day. As I own a computer, it is easier for me to get information at any time of the day. Moreover, there are relevant numerous resources that expound on various scenarios that company experi ence. This provides a perfect platform for relevant knowledge. The resources I utilize from the internet must be of recent and able to provide numerous scenarios that give different viewpoints. Therefore, different meanings can be deciphered from different aspects of our lives. However, the route to personal meaning is a very hard task, which requires time and different tools of analysis. In scrutinizing various resources on managerial issues, I am able to deal with any situation that I experience. Consequently, the knowledge on managerial capabilities and issues leads eye-opening facts about an individual, which he/ she was not aware. Ideas and stories are concepts that are connected at various levels, and through capturing, sharing, analyzing and articulating the various aspects of the ideas, we are able to make a personal analysis of

Surface Modification of Titania Experiment

Surface Modification of Titania Experiment 1.4  Surface Modification of Titania and its requirement: The chief active fields of research in non-homogeneous photocatalysis with semiconductor particles is development of a system that is capable of using the visible sunlight to degrade inorganic organic contaminants. The total photocatalytic activity of a particular S/C system for the discussed purpose is measured by various factors.The major factors include semiconductor stability, photocatalytic efficiency, process, response of wavelength range and selectivity of products . Modifying the surface of the semiconductor can surmount the limitations and drawbacks of a particular semiconductor as a photocatalyst for a particular use. Various benefits of modifying and changing the surface of titania have been studied. Below is the list as discussed before: (a) Inhibiting recombination by increasing the charge separation and therefore the efficiency of the photocatalytic process; (b) Changing yield of the particular product. (c) Increasing the wavelength response range (i.e. excitation of wide band gap semiconductors by visible light); and 1.4.1  Metal Semiconductor Modification The photocatalytic process is changed after the addition of the noble metals as the surface properties of the semiconductor are modified. The metal generally enhances and changes the output of a particular product . The rate of photocatalytic reaction is also altered by the metal. Besides, there is also a chance that addition can change the reaction products also. The electron will migrate to the metal where it gets trapped after the excitation and as a result of this migration , the electron-hole recombination is inhibited. The movement of negatively charged electrons to the metal particles has been confirmed by various studies showing there is a reported reduction in photo conductance of metal which has been deposited on the semiconductor compared to no reductionin photo conductance of the bare semiconductor particles. The hole becomes free to diffuse to the surface of the semiconductor particles.The oxidation can take place on the surface of the semiconductor. Besides, the metal has also got its own photocatalytic activity. Hence, the metal actually alters the photocatalytic properties of the semiconductor by altering the distribution of electrons. The Fermi levels of the two align in such a way which causes the electrons to flow from the semiconductor to the metal as the two species come together in contact. This reduction in electron density in the semiconductor leads to increase in the hydroxyl group[14]. This in turn alters the photocatalytic process on the semiconductor surface. The modification (electronic) of the semiconductor surface using metal deposition has witnessed with many noble metals such as gold, silver and platinum. 1.4.2  Modification of Titania by Noble metals like Silver: Ag has been deposited onto TiO2 in most of the studies asit is more cost-effective than other noble metals such as gold and platinum. Moreover, the Ag nanoparticles also have an intrinsic ability to stop and prevent the growth of bacteria. Also is has a very effective photocatalytic ability at the nanoscale [15]. Ag has formerly been added to TiO2 nanoparticles, TiO2 nanofilms and on TiO2 nanorods. Various studies conducted by Li et al have reported that Ag-deposited TiO2 anatase nanoparticles have shown an improvement in the photoresponse compared to that of anatase bare TiO2 nanoparticles [16]. Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite films has also been used and have showed an increased photocatalytic activity compared to the non-modified material. In fact, UV-illuminated Ag–TiO2 nano-composite films have been found out to be up to 6.3 times more effective at photo degrading MO than are UV-illuminated bare TiO2 films [17]. Plasmonic photocatalysis has lately been anticipated to increase and extend the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 to the visible light range (400nm-800nm). The plasmonic photocatalysts are different combinations of noble metal nanoparticles and semiconductor nanoparticles. The semiconductors nanoparticles absorb UV / visible light. Noble metal nanoparticles usually have very strong absorption in the visible region of solar light due to localized surface plasmon resonance commonly known as LSPR. If this energy of the absorbed visible light by the noble metal nanoparticles can be exploited to improve the reaction rates of photocatalysis, then the semiconductor/metal system is known as plasmonic photocatalyst. There’re different mechanism for plasmonic photocatalyst to enhance and extenf the photocatalytic performance to visible light range of the solar spectrum: Coupling of noble metal nanoparticles directly with the semiconductor nanoparticles .This will lead to transferring of the photogenerated electrons or holes (due to the LSPR absorbance present in the metal nanoparticles) to the semiconductor, thereby enhancing the photocatalytic performance of the semiconductor [18] . One thing that shall be kept in mind is that the direct contact of semiconductor with noble metal may also lead to back transfer of charges from the semiconductors to nanoparticles of the noble metal. The transfer of the absorbed energy by the noble metal nanoparticles to semiconductors via radioactive route using the localized interaction of the LSPR-induced improved localized elec. à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ eld with semiconduuctors. [19]. Ag−TiO2 composites have been extensively studied prepared by a lot of methods. Loading of Ag nanoparticles on the surface of TiO2 is done via dià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬erent techniques. Photocatalytic activity enhancement has been reported with these samples of Ag−TiO2. But because of the fact that most Ag is present on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles, the exposed TiO2 surface area to illumination is reduced. It must be noted that the interface between Ag and TiO2 is also limited. Hence, in order to assist the charge-transfer process, we must maximize the interface between Ag and TiO2. We can also achieve a better design by simply mixing Ag NPs to TiO2 structures. This has been successfully done using the sol−gel method [20,21]. But there is a drawback of the sol−gel method as it typically needs precursors and therefore may have organic residues in the samples. Hence, in order to achieve a very good control over the structure of samples, we must make Ag−TiO2 p orous nanostructures directly through physical methods. Also it must be stated that silver metal deposition is of considerable interest because of it excellent potential applications.. There are a lot of applications of silver in the medical field and in the anti-microbial field. This has led many researchers and scholars to develop and synthesize silver deposited titania coated sanitary wares [22], food preparation surfaces, air conditioning filters, medical devices etc. Ag traps the excited electrons from TiO2 and also leave the holes behind for the degradation reaction of organic species .Furthermore, it also results in the extending the response of wavelength in the visible region [23–25]. Ag nanoparticles can also facilitate in the process o electron excitation by creating a local electric field [26]. The plasmon resonance effects in Ag nanoparticles show an enhancement in this elect. field [27]. The effect of Ag deposition on TiO2 on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by UV irradiation was studied by Chao et al. [28] (using the sol–gel method) .T hey found that silver promotes also leads to the anatase to rutile phase transformation, which may be credited to the increase in specific surface area. This increase in the specific surface area causes the enhancement in photocatalytic activityand the electron–hole pair charge separation. Au/Pt deposition onto TiO2 nanoparticles has also reported an increase in the photocatalytic reactivity of TiO2. Yu and coworkers reported an enhanced photocatalytic reactivity micro-spheres of Au/TiO2 nanocomposite compared to bare TiO2 microspheres and Degussa P25 TiO2 nanoparticles [29]. In addition, the UV-illuminated nanofilms of titania surrounded with Au nanoparticles have also shown a better photonic efficiency than the UV-illuminated bare TiO2 films [30].

Mother Night Essays -- Literary Analysis, Kurt Vonnegut

Life is a Snake which Bites its Tail Vonnegut uses the cyclical nature of life to counteract the perceived definitive nature of it. Vonnegut believes that all real life events, history, and time are circular; they have no determinable beginning or end. Each of Vonnegut’s novels stresses the notion that life is cyclical. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut states that time, â€Å"Is a serpent which eats its tail† (205). This imagery shows Vonnegut’s depiction of time as a circle. According to Vonnegut time has no beginning, middle, or end, thus it is impossible to depict it in any linear form. In Slaughter House Five, Vonnegut introduces the Tralfamadorians concept of time, which emphasizes the cyclical return embodied in Billy’s time travels (Wayne D. McGinnis, 118). Vonnegut believes that people perceive life in terms of an old fashion story book, â€Å"With leading characters, minor characters †¦ and a beginning, middle, and an end† (215). However Vonnegut proves in his novel, Breakfast of Champions, that this is certainly not the case. He states, â€Å"I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. Nothing would be left out† (215) and that is exactly what he does. Vonnegut believes that â€Å"People have this illusion that when beginning, middle, and end are strung together in one story, a causal and teleological development is implied, and the identification of the cause driving events is what gives meaning to the story† (Daniel Cordle). Vonnegut’s goal is to eliminate this illusion and attempt to prove to his readers that it is not the structure of time or events which gives meaning to the story, it is all the moments combined which give the story its meaning. Just as Von... ...ally rescued by his â€Å"blue fairy god mother† right when he finally accepts his fate as a war criminal. Vonnegut’s use of irony, exaggeration and ridicule in Mother Night is constant throughout the book, from beginning to end, this novel is told in Vonnegut’s unique satirical tone, which he uses to expose and criticize people’s stupidity and willingness to conform and throw their ideas out the window for the sake of survival and acceptance. Literary critic Peter J. Reeds states that Vonnegut’s â€Å"painful comic rendering of the form acknowledges not just the suffering that existence may impose, but the essential absurdity of the situation in which its randomness and incomprehensibility frequently place us† (37). The comedy in Vonnegut’s fiction is meant to express the depths and tragedies of the world in a way which is bearable enough for the reader to comprehend.

Racism In Huck Finn Essay -- essays research papers

The conflict between society and the individual is a theme portrayed throughout Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Huck was not raised in accord with the accepted ways of civilization. Huck faces many aspects of society, which makes him choose his own individuality over civilization. He practically raises himself, relying on instinct to guide him through life. As portrayed several times in the novel, Huck chooses to follow his innate sense of right, yet he does not realize that his own instincts are more moral than those of society. From the very beginning of Huck's story, Huck without a doubt states that he did not want to conform to society; "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me... I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied"(Twain, 2). Miss Watson lives with Huck and she is always picking at him, trying to make him become conventional. According to the essay, The Struggle to Find Oneself Huck has become so used to being free that he sees the Widow Douglas' protection solely in terms of confinement. She doesn’t let Huck smoke when he wants and she is always nagging. "Miss Watson would say, "Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry;" and "Don't scrunch up like that, Huckleberry -- set up straight;" and pretty soon she would say, "Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry -- why don't you try to behave?"(Twain, 3). We get the feeling that Huck is an individual, a person who is indepe ndent and has the willingness to live a life free of complications. According to Ryan Schremmer’s essay Examination of Freedom as an Overall Theme in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the theme of freedom is shown in Huckleberry Finn, which parallels to his distancing from society: One of the most prominent and important themes of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is freedom. Freedom not only from Huck's internal paradoxical struggle in defining right and wrong, but also freedom from Huck's personal relationships with the Widow Douglas and his father, as well as freedom from the societal institutions of government, religion, and prejudices. When Pap returns for Huck, and the matter of custody is brought before the court, the reader is forced to see the corruption of society. The judge rules that Huck belongs to Pap, and forces him to obey an evil and abusive man. One... ...n of his father's sickness when seeking help. These men are not hesitant to hunt slaves, yet they refuse to help a sick man. Huck's acceptance of his love for Jim is shown in chapter thirty-one. Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson to return Jim, yet he ends up ripping the letter and wishes to free Jim. "'All right, then, I'll go to hell'- and he tore it up." Here, we see that Huck concludes that he is evil, and that society has been right all along. Huck doesn’t realize that his goodness comes from within. He doesn’t become aware that those inner qualities are not paralleled to external behavior. If Huck was to catch on that he would be eager to change how society functions instead of running away from it. Huck acts as a much nobler person when he is not confined by the hypocrisies of civilization. Throughout the story we see how he distance himself from society and creates his own world in which he follows his own feelings of what’s moral and honorable. From the beginning of the story we see his instinct come into play and how it affects his decisions throughout the story. He almost always goes his own way, makes up his own mind, and lives by his own standards.

Kotu Fashion Accessories Shop

Vietnam was positioned in 23rd among 30 countries for owning one of the most attractive retail markets globally. The total retail value for clothing and accessories sector in Vietnam was 7. % and held 72. 9% of share in 2009. From 2004 to 2009, there was a growth in the number of clothing and accessories retailers in Viet Name. As predicted in 2010, the number of goods and services would grow 18-19% in 2011.Along with this growth, the rate of retailing goods in 2011 was quite slow compared to previous years due to a decrease in consumption and economic difficulties. However, retailing market like accessories and clothing markets still continued to be the most attractive market ever. According to the Global Retail Development Index (201 1), clothing and accessories retailing is a attention business in Vietnam and stands at a vital position in the market, which influences not only private retailer but also the government's attention.The government has tended to pay more attention to th e local retail market. To be more specific, they have encouraged people to increase the use of local products, which urges the local market to improve. For instances, many campaigns were emerged by the government with the purpose of developing the industry potentially such as the recent campaign named Vietnamese people buy Vietnamese goods'. According to Ministry of Industry and Trade (2010), a report in September ‘Industry and Trade' in 2011 showed that in the first 9 months of 2011, the total sale of goods and services rose more than 17%.Nevertheless, this was still a low percentage compared to previous years, which tended to grow more than 20%. In 2010, the total retail grew to 24. 5% compared to previous year. This shows that Vietnamese demands for accessories have been rising and are more likely to be an upward trend. Hence, the opportunities for an accessories retailer to enter the market and increase the number of customers are very significant. RESEARCH QUESTION How ca n SOOT Shop attract more customers and increase the number of loyal customers?METHODS In order to effectively respond to the team's research question, the research team have examined both primary and secondary research. For primary research, in order to clearly understand the shop owner's problems, on 6 March 2013, the research team visited and had an interview with the owner of SOOT Fashion Accessories Shop, Mrs.. Maim Then Then (See Appendix A). On 5 April 2013, the research team visited Qua Tang shop, one of the most popular accessories shop among the area to observe ND compare SOOT Shop with its neighboring competitors.In addition, the research team visited a competitor's accessories page named V;C on 5th April 2013. Furthermore, a survey was conducted randomly including 10 males and 10 females respondents on 10 April 2013 (see Appendix C). The data was clearly identified with a table of survey results, proportions, bar graphs and pie charts. Finally, on 14 April 2013, the team members had met with Ms. Unguent NCO Line, an online shop owner who has five years experience in doing Internet advertising (See Appendix B).Then, he research team interviewed the expert Do Truing Tuna, an owner of a grocery shop on 15 April 2013 to find out more about special offer strategies (See Appendix B). And on 12 April 2013, the team interviewed Mrs.. Cacao HTH Hung, the owner of Gardenia Hotel in Dalai City about her specialize on membership program (See Appendix B). For secondary research, the research team have searched on REMIT Online Library, government documents, and Google Scholar to find out about the possible problems as well as solution regarding social networking sites, special offer and loyalty program.Figure 1 . Gender of respondents FINDING Social Networking Sites (An) In the interview on 6th March 2013,the owner of Soot shop, Ms. Maim Then Then claimed that she would like to increase the number of customers by using Faceable which she has not had any experienc e in the previous time. Based on the survey that the research team conducted on 10 April 2013 on randomly adolescents a young adults (See), seven out of ten respondents research on Faceable before purchasing (See). On 14 April 2013, in a meeting with Ms.Unguent NCO Line, an online shop owner has five years experience, emphasized that social networking sites are opportune for business to increase customers (See). After researched and visited on a competitor's accessories page named V&C on 5th April 2013, the research team noticed that they often stay online to quickly answer customers' question about the products and have separated albums for each kind of products. Bankcard (2011) indicates social networking sites help to connect nodes and branches.The author states that social networking sites contribute to increase sales, services and brand the products as a major hub. According to the Thou Tree News (2012), there was a growth of approximately 200% from 2. Million to more than 8. 5 million in the number of Faceable users in Vietnam. Unguent (2012) adds that the majority users' ages in 2011 are from 15 to 34 years old which is similar to the target ages of the business. Unguent also represents that Faceable has the highest rate of number users and a large gap comparing to Vietnamese social networking sites in 2011.Special Offer (That) Ms. Then, owner of SOOT shop states during the interview on 6 March 2013 that she has considered using special offer to attract more customers to her shop (see Appendix A). A survey was conducted on 10 April 2013 (see Appendix C), in which 9 UT of 10 respondents would choose to buy goods from accessories shop, especially, which offers them several gifts or discounts. 50% of those like to make purchases on special days if this shop offers ‘5-10%' discount and another 50% refers buying if the shop applies ‘buy 2 get 1 free' (see Figure 1).The expert Do Truing Tuna, a owner off grocery shop states in the interview on 15 April 2013 that special offer is a sales promotion tool which is extremely important for any small business, as it can help the business gains its reputation, prestige and therefore, attracts more customers to grow the profits (See Appendix B). According to David K and John M (2000), special offer is a tool to keep loyal customers and satisfy new customers. The authors claim that a retailer can apply special offers for different customers by recognizing loyal or new customers digitally via Kiosks, Internet and mobile devices.By using it, business can conceive different offers for different customers based upon their historical purchases and preferences. On 5 April 2013, the research team visited Qua Tang shop, one of the most popular accessories shop among the area, which also is a strong competitor of SOOT shop (see figure 2). The team found out that Qua Tang hop offers discounts and other sales promotion strategies frequently. For instance, the shop offered ‘buy 2 get 1 free in the woman day last month and it was high appreciated within new and loyal customers (see Appendix C).According to Wend (2012), some small businesses are now considered special offer through email marketing promotion as an effective way to get more attention of the customers. Special offer can be a way to motivate customers to buy products, it can be occurred with many forms as well, for instances, ‘buy and get discount on the second product', ‘buy one get one free' and free shipping. In order to create an efficient email advertised offer, Wend mentions four advices.Firstly, a business should understand the need of the customers and offers them products with perceived value. Secondly, business has to be well defined their goals, why they do an offer. The reason they make the offer should not be because their competitors do. Thirdly, firms should be clear about their ability, which meaner that they have to make sure they can afford the offer. Finally, a successful busi ness should think about partnering with a non-profit making organization in order to position the business's name in the mind of customers.According to Jim (201 1), some businesses have mistaken the true meaning of special offers, which caused irreparable damages to a company's reputation. He expresses some main ideas help firms to understand more about special offer. One of the most common mistakes that most of small business makes is training the marketplace to wait'. For example, a seminar business applies an early-bird discount to persuade customer to book promptly although customers still buy tickets with the actual price. Then, when the seminar' s date gets close, he offers X% to sell his tickets quickly.Eventually, the business loses it reliability. Secondly, Jim found that famous brand companies are often successful with their special offer strategies. The reason is that big companies often spend quite a long time for their wide research and receives advices from their profe ssionals. Membership Card (HTH) Ms. Maim Then Then, the owner of SOOT Shop stated in an interview on 6 March 2013 that she wants to apply sale promotion strategies, which can effectively attract more customers and improve the shop's loyal customers (See Appendix A).The research team's survey on 10 April 2013 shows that 9 out of 10 respondents are attracted to the idea of having a membership card for an accessories shop (See Figure 3) and they would like to make more purchases if the shop provides promotions (See Appendix C). In an interview on 12 April 2013, Mrs.. Cacao HTH Hung, the owner of Gardenia Hotel in Dalai City, implies that membership card is one of the most important promotion tools to keep the loyal customers on track (See Appendix B). However, there are many firms failed to run the customer loyalty programs effectively.She also states that in order to run the customer loyalty programs efficiently, businesses should do surveys and market researches on customer urchin's behaviors and then create an adequate reward for loyalty. According to Dowling and Uncles (1997), a European investigators researching business-to- business marketing in the sass stated that a firm is mostly profitable from their loyal customers. This is because of seeking more profits by lower servicing costs, less price sensitivity and suggestions passed on to other potential customers by loyal purchasers.On 5 April 2013, the research team visited Qua Tang shop, one of the strongest competitors of SOOT Shop and noticed that Qua Tang Shop has paid special attention to improve their customer loyalty programs such as patronage rewards and membership cards. They offered membership cards with different colors and designs aiming to different valued cards. According to Little&King integrated marketing group (n. D), businesses should be aware of the mentality â€Å"one product fits all† because not all of the customers' needs and wants are always the same.Therefore, a hierarchy of valued consumers should be released such as diamond, premium and gold membership cards. Furthermore, ‘lapsed' members, who signed for a membership card, but only use it for one time and never use it again, are also problems dealing with membership cards and challenging almost all genuineness. If the shop provides membership cards for those who will probably ‘lapsed', the shop will not only waste their efforts to maintain the customers, but also suffer from loss of resources such as the cost to make the membership card.According to a survey of professor Worthington (2009), although membership cards often attract widespread customers' interests, they are still likely that it has a large amount of ‘lapsed' members. There is no accessible information that could show the percentage of membership cards that are ‘lapsed' or ‘active'. Nevertheless, professor Worthington survey outcomes indicate that the most frequent reason for not participating in membership p rograms are not attracted by the prizes and a slight rate of people who cited ‘privacy' reasons.RECOMMENDATION Social Networking Site (An) On the survey conducted by the research team, nine out of ten respondents like purchasing accessories on Faceable. The expert, Ms. Unguent, said that having an efficient controlled Faceable page could help to increase the number of customers. Noticed by the research team, the competitor, V&C shop, also had a Faceable page, which had well decorated picture albums and quick service.Bankcard (2011) asserts that by directly using a social networking site and connecting with the customers could collect positive reviews and high reputation as return since customers feel that their feedbacks are important and they are cared. The Thou Tree News (2012) reports that the number of Vietnamese Faceable users increased of around 2 times within one year. Unguent (2012) adds that the significant Faceable users' age are from 15 to 34. Therefore, Soot shop s hould create a Faceable page, which is easy and inexpensive, to increase the potential customers.The expert, Ms. Unguent, advised that the shop should have 2 Faceable pages, which are a personal page and a fan page. The shop can update the information and pictures related to their products, notes, and feedbacks from customers and use the personal page to share this information and add friend. In this way, the shop can be active in increasing the number of users they want to transfer information because users do not randomly like the page unless the shop has a big brand name or high products' prestige. Ms.Unguent also recommended not tagging the customers in the pictures to avoid disturbing them, except the owner's friends if they do not mind. Ms. Unguent added that the pictures should have clear descriptions and be similar to the products because if the products and picture are not matched, the shop could lose their prestige. The most impressive aspect on the competitor's Faceable p age is they have separated albums for each kind of products; this could help customers to save their time for searching purposes. Soot shop should consider this aspect.The most important thing that V&C shop cannot efficiently manage is that there are many other shops' advertising on the page and the host also updates personal statuses and emotions. This could get bad reputation in return and the customer could click on the other's pages, as a consequence, they might lose their customers. Hence, Soot shop should not post any personal activities onto their business pages. On the survey administered by the research team, service is the most importance to the female customers and the second importance to the male customers.In addition, the competitor shop also has the order service for the products that they do not have. Therefore, Soot shop should try often stay online to quickly response to customers. Their strength is to make handmade accessories hence producing stuffs that customers order is also possible. Special offer (That) The research team administered a survey and pointed out that there are 9 out of 10 respondents would like to buy products from accessories shop where offers them gifts or discounts (See Appendix C).Half of the respondents like to make purchases on special days if this shop offers ‘5-10%' discount and another 5 respondents refers buying if the shop applies ‘buy 2 get 1 free' (See Appendix C). The research team observed a well-know accessories shop named Qua Tang, which is one of a SOOT shop's competitor. Qua Tang implements sales promotions strategy frequently to acquire more customers. The latest is ‘buy 2 get 1 free' offers on woman days and it is widely popular among the area. According to Wend (2012), special offer through email marketing promotion is now extremely important to small business.She informs that special offer indeed can be an effective way to prompt customers to buy products. In order to attract custome rs by special offer, Wend argues that a firm has to understand the need of customers and offers them products with appropriate value. Moreover, business needs to know their specific goals and abilities to make a healthy offer. Jim (2011) states that not every business understands clearly the true meaning of special offers, which leads them to several inevitable losses. He mentions an example regarding to his one customer that losses its reputation due to misunderstanding of special offer.According to David K and John M (2000), special offer is an efficient strategy to fulfill loyal customers' and new customers' expectation. The authors infer that a retailer can know more about customer's buying powers and preferences using modern tools such as Kiosks, Internet and mobile devices in order to manage different offers for each group of customers. The positive aspects of special offer are obvious; every customer refers to receive discounts and gifts when they make purchases. Thus, if SOO T shop wants to increase the number of first-time customers and preserve the number of membership, sales promotion as special offer is essential.However, special offer is quite popular among other accessories shop, many competitors also apply special offer to attract more customers such as Qua Tang shop. Therefore, SOOT shop also has to make sure the reason for offering, who to offer, what and when to offer. For example, shop can offer ‘5% discount' for new customers and ‘10%' discount for loyal customers on special days such as Valentine and Mother days. In addition, in order to prevent unnecessary losses, Ms. Then needs to know clearly the ability to offer.If she offers a product value 10,000 vend and sells it 12,000 vend after discount, she would be suffered because she still has to pay money for employers, electricity, and many other fees. Membership card (HTH) A survey released by the research team on April 2013 indicated that 90% of respondents are interested in ha ving a loyalty card for a fashion accessories shop (See Appendix C). Mrs.. Cacao HTH Hung, the owner of Gardenia Hotel in Dalai City, mentions in an interview on 12 April 2013 that one of the most significant promotion tools to maintain the loyal customers is offering membership cards (See Appendix B).Nonetheless, there are not many companies can succeed in implementing the loyalty programs. She goes on to suggest that considering the evaluation of customer purchasing behaviors and then generate the accurate rewards of loyalty are the most important factors to maintain loyalty customers. Dowling and Uncles (1997) refer to a research, which was found by European researchers studying business-to- easiness marketing in the sass. The research claimed that loyal customers are the main contribution to a company's profit.It is due to its lower expenses by lower servicing costs, lower advertising costs and advices passed on to other potential buyers by loyal purchasers. It will cost much mo re to persuade a new buyer to make a purchase in the shop than to make a current shopper to purchase again. Hence, SOOT shop should focus more on their current customers and often remind them about the shop through providing promotions and running membership programs. The research team visited one of the competitors, Qua Tang shop, on 5 April 2013 ND noticed that Qua Tang Shop has fully concentrated on improving their membership programs.They provided different colors and designs cards, which distinguished between levels of card members. Little;King integrated marketing group (n. D) states that companies should notice the mentality â€Å"one product fits all†, because there are always differences between every customer's needs and wants. Therefore, a hierarchy of valued consumers should be released such as diamond, premium and gold memberships. Thus, SOOT shop should apply membership cards to its customers (See Figure 3). The differences between membership cards allow the hop to serve a certain type of persons based on their standard of membership.To illustrate, the system can automatically find the names of customers, their mobile phone numbers, email addresses and save their previous purchases when they use their membership cards to make a purchase. Through that process, the shop can easily classify the customers' interested items and clothes in order to introduce different kinds of items, clothes to different types of customers. In addition, the shop can efficiently inform different types promotion information to different types of buyers through their mobile phones or email addresses. One of the difficulties of providing membership cards is ‘lapsed' membership card. Lapsed' member meaner customer who applied a membership card and only use it for one time. According to a survey of professor Steve Worthington (2009), it always has a large amount of ‘lapsed' members in every business. There is still lack of available information that could show the percentage of membership cards that are ‘active' or ‘lapsed'. Yet, professor Worthington examinations results imply that the most common reason for not taking part in membership programs are because they are not attracted by the rewards and a small proportion of respondents who cited ‘privacy' reasons.Thus, SOOT Shop must be aware of their responsibilities to its consumers in satisfying the redeemable prizes and customers' information to remain customers' beliefs. In order to do so, firstly, SOOT Shop should pay more attentions to members who ‘lapsed' through classifying members' last purchases. And then try to find out the customers' reasons of not taking part in the membership programs. Finally, inform different types of promotions to different customers. For example, a shop finds out that a small umber of their customers quit being the shop's loyalty customers because of the low membership cards' benefits.The shop may apply different type of promo tions to those particular members. The shop may send a message to those customers that they fortunately won a randomly contest of the shop and they will receive double points in every purchase by membership card. CONCLUSION In conclusion, SOOT accessories shop should apply the use of social networking sites such as Faceable in order to attract more customers. It should consider launching a Faceable page, which has well decorated products' albums and information because Faceable takes no cost to create and advertise.It also should strike up friendship with Passbooks users to advertise products widely. Moreover, it should stay online over time to answer customer's questions and feedbacks. By that way, customers will probably feel that they are respected and it helps the shop to improve its reputation. The shop also has to make sure that the quality of products is similar to the pictures that it has on Faceable to earn customer's belief. However, SOOT shop should manage to avoid irrita ting people by tagging them every hour with pictures.In addition, most of people like to make purchases when there is a discount or gift offer. Thus, SOOT shop should apply special offer to get new customers as well as to preserve loyal customers. Nevertheless, other accessories shop also apply special offer, so SOOT shop should be considered when applies this sales promotion tool. To be more specific, SOOT Shop should clearly understand the reason for making the offer, who to offer, what and when it should offer. SOOT shop should not forget their ability to make an offer because if it gives customers more than what it can afford, the shop will face difficulties.Furthermore, SOOT shop should be concentrated on keeping loyal customers by reminding them via membership programs because it will save the services and advertising costs. Providing membership cards have different colors and designs can help SOOT shop to easily classify each type of customer through their names, phone number s email addresses and purchasing powers. Therefore, the shop would be able to know more about customer's wants, interests and preferences. One of the difficulties of membership program is that there could be many ‘lapsed' membership cards.Unguent NCO Line, who has a successful online cosmetic shop named Rim Catnap Skincare, to ask for comment on my recommendation for the business that my research team currently working on. An: Hello Line. Thank for spending time to meet me. I'm An from research and report writing class. As I told u before that today I want to interview you for advice on my project. Ms. Line: Hi An. So how far have you been doing? And which problem that you want me to give advice on? An: Ah. The business that I'm working on is a clothing accessories store. The owner wants to increase the amount of customers.The subtopic I'm doing is social networking sites. However it seems totally new to the owner, her shop doesn't even have a Faceable page which is now quite familiar to the teenagers and young adults. Ah one more thing, teenagers and young adults are her target customers. That's why I suggest her to have one. Ms. Line: Oh I see, you are right that Faceable is now getting more popular and it can help to increase sales. But let me ask u this, have u ever been tagged by an online shop in its pictures. An: Yeah, a lot. Ms. Line: How do u feel about that? An: A little bit annoying.At First, I Just ignored them, but there were many notifications and that disturb me. Therefore, if any shop tags me, I will block them or report as spam.. Ms. Line: So why do you suggest the owner to have a Faceable page? An: Ah I'm going to ask her create a fan page. Can you tell me how to increase the â€Å"like†? Ms. Line: k, because she and I work on different kinds of business so you may apply in some ways but not exactly the same k? I suggest having 2 pages, one is a personal page and one is a fan page, because the customers do not randomly like your page unless you have a big brand name or prestige of your product.An: can you please explain in more details? Ms. Line: for the fan page, you update all the product' details there such as pictures, notes, feedback from customers, etc. For the personal page, all you have to do are adding friends and share what you have updated on the fan page. Because the customers are afraid to be annoyed therefore we have to be active by adding friends with them and remember not to tag them, I think you already know why, huh? Maybe you could tag some of your friends if they don't mind. And sharing the stuffs that you updated on fan page that mean the information is transferred to the users twice.An: Ah I got it. Ah I also want to recommend on the pictures that she is going to post on Faceable, it must be clear, close enough to see what the product made from. What else do you think I should suggest her? Ms. Line: ah it's good to do that but you should put the description for the pictures, because pi ctures sometimes are not clear and that could cause misunderstanding about raw materials. Ah it reminds me that the real products and pictures have to be the same because you may lose prestige if the products look different.You could describe in the pictures that the products may slightly different because of the light. And you could also create an album of customers wearing your products on Faceable, which could help to increase the loyal customers and increase sale from your customers' relatives since the products is ore reliable when it is introduced by friends. If you are lucky, your customers could be some hot girls or models etc. , you know, stuffs are worn by beautiful girls maybe look more beautiful (laugh) and their fans could come to buy as well.An: k, it sounds good to me. Thank you very much for meeting me again. I would go back to work on the recommendation. If there is any problem, don't you mind if I call you to ask? Ms. Line: Call me as soon as you have questions. I' m very glad that I can help you. k see way. An: Thank you. Audio script of the interview on 11 April 2013 with Mr.. Do Truing Tuna, owner off rockery shop for over 20 years to ask for some advices for the business That: I m working on a small accessories shop and I intend to ask you some advices for my sub topic which is special offer.Tuna: so its about loyalty program? That: yes and also attract first-time customers Actually, I plan to recommend this shop to apply discount on special days like Valentine and Woman days, specifically, ‘20% discount', what do you think? Tuna: well, on special days? Mum†¦ I think that it s not a good idea. Firstly, every shop especially small shop should not apply more than 5 to 10% on special days because they can ell more of their products within those days; some shops don't even have enough stuff to sell, so why then they apply discount?Why do you choose special days to offer? That: I think that special offer will attract more customers, maybe new customers. Many people don't usually buy products unless it is special days. Those days, they are encouraged to buy something for their friends and family right? Then I think I can focus on new customers Tuna: I think that you should balance between loyal and new customers, I mean it s more about services. If you offer discount for ewe customers the same amount you offer for the old one, they must be upset. Why don't you separate the offer?I mean decide different offer for different customers? For example, offer 5% for first time customers and 10% for old customers. That: but how can we realize who is the new and who is old customer? Tuna: I think the shop should have been applied some of the other sale promotion tools which can help you to recognize customers such as membership card. There are many way to recognize them, I suggest you to research more about how to realize customers digitally through the internet since the internet is necessary for all the business.