Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Peer Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Peer Assessment - Essay Example My experience as a peer assessor was an eye opener. For the first time, I felt like I was not the one being reviewed, but I was reviewing other students' work. This gave me a sense of pride and courage and it also enabled me to see the big picture. In marking my classmate's papers, I no longer saw myself as a victim of marking but rather a victory. The peer assessment gave me an insight of one of the functions of our tutors, which is to assess the students' academic performance.   Our peer assessment was based on our assessment tests for all the units that we sat in the semester. The move was aimed at getting us to interact with each other while improving our leadership skills (Cottrell 2010). For the first time, my classmates and I felt some sense of responsibility for our education. It dawned on us that our education depends on us and that we are all equally talented when given a chance to review our peer's work. The assessment came as an encouragement to the not-so-good students that they can be trusted to assess even the brightest students in our class. Every student was assigned a paper to mark, and the tutor would guide us through the marking of the papers. The instructors used this opportunity to go through the questions with us, in an attempt to revise the paper. The teacher would guide us through, reading the questions aloud, and one after the other. He would then ask a classmate to provide the correct answer, and we would have a brief discussion on each issue.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Psychology and Scientific Method Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Scientific Method Essay There are many arguments that debunk the idea that psychology could ever be a ‘pure science’. In any event, psychology has been touted by many a philosopher as a pseudo-science. This is primarily because science itself has a fixed method by which they conduct scientific experiments. We discuss precisely what it is that makes a theory scientific, how theories can be related to evidence and the principal issues involved in evaluating a theory. We also look at what it is that a science of psychology should study. What aspects of psychology can be defined as scientific and what aspects are thoroughly based on conjecture? Can we really call psychology a scientific medium? The observable is what science studies. Freud was initially concerned with studying the unseen, while observing behaviors (Hays, 1964: 27). He believed that the insanity that is presented to the outside world was due to a complex internal mental mechanism (Hays, 1964: 27). However, Freud also fell short of one thing, hard evidence that these mental processes existed. Scientific method determines that there are 4 or 5 steps the researcher has to take in order to make the experiment valid in the eyes of the scientific community. Physics lecturer Jose Wudka states that these steps include: 1. Observation; 2. Hypothesis; 3. Prediction; 4. Test the prediction with experiment (Wudka, 1998). The last step may be that the prediction needs to be retested and the hypothesis revisited. If we take Freud as an example, his experiments were based almost entirely on observation with no empirical data to either prove or disprove his hypotheses. Theory remains just a theory until is proved as fact. Theories are therefore related to evidence in a crucial way. Firstly, there has to be evidence of something that can be studied: for instance in criminal justice we have a bullet cap left behind at a crime. This bullet may be lying in a certain way and with the added presence of gunshot residue (cordite) can help investigators to formulate a hypothesis about what happened with the particular crime. With the case of Freud for instance, we can observe behaviors of children or even adults, but we cannot say where it comes from without getting inside the head. This makes the evidence inadmissible and the theory remains just that – a theory. Secondly, evidence that is presented, has to be tested. This means that the evidence must relate to the theory it is trying to legitimate. In this case, the evidence either proves the theory or it forces the experimenter to return to the theory and rework it. A theory can be evaluated by means of this same testing procedure, key issues being predominantly about validity, verifiability and reliability. Take for instance the normal experimental procedure for empirical research that includes the presentation of a valid sample group that is anonymous and whose records are either thus or confidential. An example of theory testing in psychology that does follow the scientific method is that of medical and electrical testing. One particular research example in psychology is that of Electro Shock Therapy. In this case the treatment studied is reversed in that the EST was used to treat asthmatics, successfully. This case studied asthmatics brought in for EST after intense supervision prior to hospitalization. The patients were monitored before, during and after the treatment to see whether there is a relationship between hysteria and asthma (Cohen and Holbrook, 1947: 213). In this case the patients themselves provide the data necessary for testing the hypothesis. The hypothesis was that there was a relationship between hysteria and asthma. The results showed not only a relationship, but I significant reaction to Electro Shock Treatment (Cohen and Holbrook, 1947: 214). In other research, EST is studied for its effect on schizophrenia rather than the usual bipolar disorder. This research revealed that EST may be useful in the treatment of this psychotic illness. This especially when combined with medication (ScienceDaily, 2005). These research projects were conducted under strict supervision and with documentation the entire process. On the other side of the coin, there are arguments that also dispel scientific method. William McComas of the Rossier School of Education cites 15 myths about scientific method that he considers to be principal issues. In the scope of this paper we cannot discuss all of McComas’ issues but a few will be discussed. The first of these is that hypotheses become theories and then become laws. This is not always the case since sometimes the evidence does not uphold the hypothesis. He also says that theory is not always absolute. Theory can only be absolute if there are no exceptions and in psychology particularly, there are almost always exceptions. Science and scientific method are also not always absolute proof, nor does it always answer all the questions (McComas, 1998: 2-9). In tune with the fact that the evidence does not always support the hypothesis, science does also not always represent reality but functions as a model around which scientific developments can be made (McComas, 1998: 9-18). Furthermore and specifically in psychology terms, these theories are flouted by the presence of some elements in a patient that do not fit the ‘textbook’ description of a certain ailment. For instance, it could be said that most cases of borderline personality disorder come from upper to middle class sectors and develop this type of disorder as a textbook concern, not all BPD patients are upper to middle class. This is merely an example of the type of issue that faces the social sciences where individuals cannot be controlled in the way that plant slides or blood tests can be. The science of psychology is about people and the nuances thereof. It is aware that humans are temperamental and also subject to the actions of other people. This means that psychology can be studied as an observation, by viewing the behaviors of people and documenting them. Psychology cannot be studied in the same way as other sciences can be, despite the fact that in empirical sciences there are also issues of compliance. If we consider that communicable diseases such as HIV/Aids can be physically examined, that blood cells and antibodies can be made visible and studied in their physical form, psychology is not the same. Inroads have been made to attempt to clarify tests done decades earlier, such as Pavlov’s conditioning studies, but unless a method becomes available to view thought processes, these theories remain unproved. The visible is the first step to studying science, but psychology hits a wall after that. We know certain aspects of psychology, such as schizophrenia is as much a neurological disorder as a psychiatric one, but there are other psychological issues we do not know. This means that psychology has to be studied in a multidisciplinary way, rather than as purely scientific. In qualitative research as in quantitative, issues of evaluation are the same. In some psychiatric cases, a patient may also have medical problems, such as diabetes, epilepsy or malnutrition and these can be physically seen. There are indeed ways in which psychology fails the test of scientific method, and therefore falls into the category of ‘pseudo science’. However, there are issues in pure sciences that also fall short of the elitist idea of science. Films such Stanley Kubrick’s â€Å"A Clockwork Orange† explore the idea of experimentation with the human brain, but to undergo such testing even with the consent of volunteers, would be considered inhumane. It seems to be ethical to test chemicals on animals or to test explosives in remote areas, but not ethical to perform potentially dangerous tests on human brains. This leaves psychological testing with the likes of psychometric testing and theories, yet again. As discussed, scientific method is reliant on having the evidence to back it up, whereas psychological is based on assumption to a large extent. Psychological profiling is an example of this in that given the evidence presented, a criminal can be profiled by the marks he leaves behind. Seldom is this knowledge enough to prove someone is guilty of not.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Arthur Dimmesdale and John Proctors Guilt and Sin Essay -- The Crucib

Arthur Dimmesdale and John Proctor's Guilt and Sin Guilt is something that weighs heavily on the human soul. It incorporates itself in our dreams, our thoughts, and our actions. Everywhere we turn, it stares us blankly in the face. While it is unbearable to suffer, guilt is an emotion that reaffirms our humanity. Repentance of a particular guilt, being spiritual, physical or both, is evidence that we are beyond the baseness of our animal tendencies. This fact has not gone unnoticed to the many great figures of literature. They have explored the sentiments of guilt and repentance by exploiting the conscience of flawed characters. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne presented to the world Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a man suffering in a past sin. Likewise, in his play The Crucible, the great modern playwright, Arthur Miller, penned the character of John Proctor to allegorize the dangers of moral passivity. Their guilt and repentance were the primary causes of their â€Å"undoing†. Dimmesdale and Proctor were both martyrs to their sin. More specifically, they were both martyrs to the sin of adultery. Being a man of the cloth, this was especially painful for Dimmesdale. How could â€Å"a ruined soul like [his] effect toward the redemption of other souls?† (Hawthorne 182). As he confessed so mournfully to Hester, his partner in sin, â€Å"Canst thou deem it, Hester, a consolation, that I must stand up in my pulpit and meet so many eyes turned up to my as if the light of heaven were beaming from it†¦and then look inward, and discern the black reality of what they idolize?†(Hawthorne 182). He was so consumed by his hypocrisy that he turned to self-masochism as a means of escape. In stark contrast to Hester’s outward ... ...e†(Miller 22). All he wanted to do was get on with his farming and continue to live happily with his wife. It was only when the witch hunt directly affected him did he realize the gravity of his mistake. This was completely different to Dimmesdale’s seven long years of suffering. However, unlike Dimmesdale, when faced with the decision to confess and live or stand by his convictions and die, Proctor’s love for life interfered. He had so much to live for including his children and his livelihood. Only his honor steered him back to the importance of his cause. Arthur Dimmesdale and John Proctor were both martyrs for personal and societal guilt. They paid earthly penances and the final penance of death. Their â€Å"undoing† was a necessity for a society at the brink. Without their sacrifice, the society they lived in would have collapsed under its own weight.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Joe Dimaggio Essay -- baseball players

Joe DiMaggio   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joe DiMaggio was one of the best baseball players of all time. He set many records, including the longest wining streak in Major League Baseball history, it lasted 56 games. He came to America as the son of poor Italian immigrants, but grew up to be an American Icon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joseph Paul DiMaggio was born on November 25, 1914. His parents were Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio and Rosalie DiMaggio. He had three brothers and three sisters. His brothers were Michael DiMaggio, Tom DiMaggio, and Vince DiMaggio. His sisters were Dominic, Nellie, and Marie DiMaggio. His father was a fisherman, and his family was poor. They lived in an old, small shack. Vince DiMaggio dropped out of high school and turned his back on fishing. He worked at a fruit stand but still had a lot of talent in baseball. He was looked at by semi-pro teams like the Seals. Both of his older brothers played semi-pro baseball for over one hundred dollars a month. He joined the San Francisco Seals and played for them. Joe DiMaggio grew up in San Francisco and went to school there. He was not bad at school through his elementary year but when he got to high school he didn’t fit in. He was a poor son of a fisherman and his schoolmates were higher classed. He dropped out of high school in 10th grade. He worked as a truck loader, and he crated oranges and worked at a factories, but he was not satisfied doing these odd jobs for minimum wage. He thought that being his brothers Tom and Vince played professional ball for the San Francisco Seals he might be able to too. They played for over $100.00 a month. In 1932 he joined the San Francisco Seals. That year he played 186 games with the Seals. That is a huge amount of games for one season. Joe played for the Seals from 1932-35, but made a large impact on major league baseball scouts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In nineteen thirty-five, Joe DiMaggio was invited to go to spring training with the New York Yankees. He met the baseball player Lou Gehrig, and other great ball players. Jerry Coleman, the Yankee’s second baseman, said about Joe, â€Å"Nothing made Joe happier then to do well in a big series and help the club win. He was a winner in the finest sense of the word. He was simply the greatest ball player I ever saw and it’s not easy to carry that burden. Joe carried it with class and dignity.† When the Yankee’s left fielder, Charlie Keller met Joe, he said, â€Å"When... ...ll players of all time. Work Cited Page Internet sources: Vizzuso. Hall of Famer Biographies. [Online] Available http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CLASS/AM483_P7/projects/vizzuso/final.html, April 10, 2000. No author. National Baseball Hall of Fame-Joe DiMaggio. [Online] Available http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/dimaggio_joe.html, April 10, 2000. Book sources: Stout, Glen. DiMaggio, an Illustrated Life. New York: Walker and Company, 1995. Outline Joe DiMaggio Controlling Purpose-The purpose about this report is to tell about the life of one of the best baseball players ever, Joe DiMaggio. I- Early Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A.) Birth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.) Family   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  C.) School   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.) Elementary School   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2.) High School   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  D.) Jobs II- San Francisco Seals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A.) Getting There   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.) Career Stats for the Seals III- Yankees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A.) Early Career   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.) Team Leader   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  C.) Career Stats for the Yankees IV- Family Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A.) Marriage   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.) Marilyn Monroe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2.) Dorothy Arnold   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.) Children V- After the Yankees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A.) After the Yankees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.) Death   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Starbucks Target Market

?Starbucks Target Market Starbucks Target market is nine-to-five workers inurban centers and surrounding suburbs, but in general any age, and any person too. Their costumers identifying a clear Value proposal, because is best communicated simply when  some person had made the decision to drop into a retail store, stay awhile, and then share with co-workers the next day the experience had there. Howard Schultz said in his vision of Starbucks that â€Å"you get more than the finest coffee when you visit†¦ you get great people, first-rate music, a comfortable and upbeat meeting place, and sound advice on brewing excellent coffee at home. In positioning itself as a unique entity in a land with nothing similar, a Starbucks store was promoted to be â€Å"a place where you can sit back and be yourself. † The company vision included that â€Å"at home you're part of a family†¦ at work you're part of a company†¦ and somewhere in between†¦ † there is a Star bucks! So the Starbucks product, while ingrained in its coffee, is really the overall experience. The price of an actual brewed cup of coffee was consistent with the image of being â€Å"a notch above† or a â€Å"worthwhile experience†Ã¢â‚¬â€œhigher than most competitors. And the place where Starbucks offered its product was primarily its retail outlets. To experience Starbucks fully, one must go to an actual Starbucks location. In this respect, the location of a Starbucks relative to customer convenience was important, and Starbucks developed a â€Å"real estate opportunistic† attitude to address this–that is it did not necessarily wait for the ideal building or lot to become available, Starbucks was flexible in terms of retail space layout and design to fit the location convenience of its target market

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Peak flow measurement Essays

Peak flow measurement Essays Peak flow measurement Essay Peak flow measurement Essay There are many measurements available to monitor changes in breathing capacity. One of the simplest measurements used by doctors and patients would be the peak flow meter. A peak flow meter is a portable instrument that detects minute decreases in air flow, used by people with asthma to monitor small changes in breathing capacity1. The peak flow meter has two parts, a mouth piece and a meter measured in litres per minute (L/min). This type of measurement is used for diagnosis and self-management; it is very cheap and easy to manage by the patient. But unfortunately it is not very accurate as the meter only measures in every 10 L/min. There will be a greater inaccuracy to smokers since they have greater damage in there bronchioles. A peak flow meter will help the patient to tell what is going on in his airways rather than guessing the way a patient feels, also it will help whether the patient needs to change his treatment. Asthma is a medical condition which makes breathing difficult by causing by causing the air passages to become narrow or blocked2. The tightness of the air ways can cause one or more of the following symptoms: * Wheezing * Coughing * Shortness of breath * Chest tightness The narrowing of air passages is caused by airway inflammation (airways in lungs become red, swollen and narrow). Unfortunately the cause of asthma is not known, but there are factors which play a part in asthma. These include: * Genetic factors- Inheritance; * Environmental factors- Inhaling house dust mites, exposure to tobacco smoke, sensitive to animals, pollens, moulds and dusts; * Dietary changes- Higher salt intake, a lack of fresh oily fish etc. * Lack of exercise. There are few medicines used by asthmatic patients which help them when they are in extreme conditions and also when their vital capacity lower than before. The two main ones are bronchodilator is and inhaler which is blue in colour and is used for reversibility test. A bronchodilator widens the air passages of the lungs and eases breathing by relaxing bronchial smooth muscle3. The second medicine is prednisolone which is a synthetic steroid and is used in various compounds as an anti-inflammatory4. These two medicines are used respectively when the peak flow of a patient is lower than before. Therefore the reversibility testis used first. If this medicine does not breathing capacity to better, the patient will then need to use the steroid challenge medicine. Method When taking a peak flow reading I should: 1. Check the pointer is at zero and stand in a comfortable, upright position. 2. Hold the peak flow meter level and keep fingers away from the pointer. 3. Firstly take deep breath and then close lips firmly around the mouth piece. After that blow very hard onto the mouth piece. 4. Look at the point and record the reading. 5. Reset the pointer back to zero. Repeat this method three times and record the highest readings. Results My three peak flow results are 500 L/min, 520 L/min and 500 L/min. I have produced a histogram to show the distribution of the PEF of the whole class for males and females: PEF (L/min) frequency 300?Y350 1 350?Y400 4 400?Y450 5 450?Y500 2 PEF (L/min) frequency 450?X500 1 500?X550 3 550?X600 3 600?X650 3 650?X700 4 Average mean for males: 14/5 = 2.8 Average mean for females: 12/4 = 3 Percentage predicted for my results: 520/585 *100 = 88.9% Discussion My experimental procedure produced clear results although recording readings wasnt very accurate due to the inaccuracy of the meter. My own PEF results showed that it was lower than my predicted result, this is because I have asthma! But from my calculations measurements, I cannot prove that I have asthmas my percentage predicted result is greater than 85%. Therefore other measurements need to be used to help the detection of asthma. Comparing the histogram graphs for females and males it is clear that the males lowest peak flow value is greater than the females lowest peak flow value. Also the male distribution is negatively skewed and the female distribution is approximately symmetrical. This indicates in the male distribution that the PEF of most students lie to the right side of the histogram. This means that majority of males in the class are healthy, fit, have large lungs and do not have asthma. The female graph shows that the majority of students are in the range of 350?Y;450 L/min, this indicates that the female lungs are smaller than males lungs and therefore females vital capacity is lower. The average value for males is 2.8 which indicates that the average PEF value lies between 500?X;550, while the females average value is 3 therefore indicating that the average PEF value lies between 350?Y;400. This clearly shows that the average PEF value for males is greater than females. This is understandable, since on average males have larger diameter around the chest; also in the class the males are larger in size than females. Conclusion In general peak flow meter reading will vary according to age, height, gender and also it varies from person to person, as seen from the results, it is difficult to say exactly what a persons best peak flow should be. I conclude from results that males in my group have greater vital capacity than females. I was also aware that in my group, ages do vary from someone who is 30yrs and another who is 18yrs. This is one of the reasons why the histogram graph has large distribution between both genders. I believe, from what I was given, that the results I obtained are fairly accurate and it helps professionals to conclude whether a patient has air inflammation or not. Also helps the doctor to give the right treatments to the

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on U.S. Grant

The Rise of â€Å"Unconditional Surrender† Grant He sat opposite the impeccably dressed Lee, in plain clothes and muddy boots. His overall appearance did little to suggest that he was the highest ranking general in the union army. How such an unlikely hero attained this position then managed to outmaneuver the most talented general of both armies, is a question worthy of investigation. Ulysses Simpson Grant’s rise through the ranks of the union army was nothing short of remarkable. The following pages will reveal how Grant achieved that ascent, as well as providing a glimpse into Grant’s character, and war philosophy. The onset of the war found Grant working as a clerk in his father’s leather shop. Some viewed him as a failure, although it is apparent that Grant never saw himself in that light. A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, he entered the union volunteers a colonel. By a political fluke he was promoted to brigadier general, of which his father gave him some practical advice, â€Å"Be careful, Ulysses, you’re a general now: it’s a good job, don’t lose it†(Foote, Vol 1 196). Grant gained notoriety in the western theatre, where most of the fighting was waged for control of arteries of commerce, such as rivers and railroads. His first action would be at Belmont on the Mississippi River. Instead of a demonstration, as was suggested to him, he made an all out assault. They routed the enemy, then were surrounded by the enemy, then cut their way back out through the enemy. It was an indecisive battle but it decisively defined Grant as a soldier. He was calm under fire, poised, confident, and aggressive (Grant, Encarta). Ever eager to go on the offensive, Grant finally convinced his superior officer, Halleck, to permit him to attack Fort Henry, then Fort Donelson. The result was two impressive victories. The victory at Fort Donelson lifted Grant onto the national stage. An old friend of Grant’s... Free Essays on U.S. Grant Free Essays on U.S. Grant The Rise of â€Å"Unconditional Surrender† Grant He sat opposite the impeccably dressed Lee, in plain clothes and muddy boots. His overall appearance did little to suggest that he was the highest ranking general in the union army. How such an unlikely hero attained this position then managed to outmaneuver the most talented general of both armies, is a question worthy of investigation. Ulysses Simpson Grant’s rise through the ranks of the union army was nothing short of remarkable. The following pages will reveal how Grant achieved that ascent, as well as providing a glimpse into Grant’s character, and war philosophy. The onset of the war found Grant working as a clerk in his father’s leather shop. Some viewed him as a failure, although it is apparent that Grant never saw himself in that light. A West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, he entered the union volunteers a colonel. By a political fluke he was promoted to brigadier general, of which his father gave him some practical advice, â€Å"Be careful, Ulysses, you’re a general now: it’s a good job, don’t lose it†(Foote, Vol 1 196). Grant gained notoriety in the western theatre, where most of the fighting was waged for control of arteries of commerce, such as rivers and railroads. His first action would be at Belmont on the Mississippi River. Instead of a demonstration, as was suggested to him, he made an all out assault. They routed the enemy, then were surrounded by the enemy, then cut their way back out through the enemy. It was an indecisive battle but it decisively defined Grant as a soldier. He was calm under fire, poised, confident, and aggressive (Grant, Encarta). Ever eager to go on the offensive, Grant finally convinced his superior officer, Halleck, to permit him to attack Fort Henry, then Fort Donelson. The result was two impressive victories. The victory at Fort Donelson lifted Grant onto the national stage. An old friend of Grant’s...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A Guide to Ethnomethodology

A Guide to Ethnomethodology Ethnomethodology is the study of how people use social interaction to maintain an ongoing sense of reality in a situation. To gather data, ethnomethodologists rely on ​conversation analysis and a rigorous set of techniques for systematically observing and recording what happens when people interact in natural settings. It is an attempt to classify the actions people take when they are acting in groups.   Origins of Ethnomethodology Harold Garfinkel originally came up with the idea for ethnomethodology at jury duty. He wanted to explain how the people organized themselves into a jury. He was interested in how people act in particular social situations, especially ones outside of the daily norm like serving as a juror.   Examples of Ethnomethodology A conversation is a social process that requires certain things in order for participants to identify it as a conversation and keep it going. People look at each other, nod their heads in agreement, ask and respond to questions, etc. If these methods are not used correctly, the conversation breaks down and is replaced by another sort of social situation.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Impact of Politics on Business between Iran and United States and Dissertation

Impact of Politics on Business between Iran and United States and Russia - Dissertation Example This paper focuses on economical and political relations between Iran and United States and Russia and its impact on large and small businesses. It is proposed to conduct a research in order to determine the impact of politics upon the businesses amid the US, Iran and Russia. Correspondingly, the key objectives of the study will be as follows: †¢ To determine and identify advantages and disadvantages of political influence over the business activities †¢ To ascertain the importance of the political influence over business activities †¢ To explore the possible future prospects of the businesses among the US, Iran and Russia in relation to the impact of politics. businesses are required to perform their operations in adherence with social, political and environmental regulations for sustainability in the long run. The entire process of a business in the societal environment is to be governed by various legal frameworks and policies. Besides, the political trends in a nation are influenced by societal acts whether based on individuals, societies or businesses. The policies to maintain an equitable and healthy environment in the society are implemented by the government and political leaders influence the legal framework in which businesses operate and the market conditions as well. The political interfaces developed with the aim of restriction and flexibility may have an immense impact over the businesses, as these could benefits the businesses or may introduce an additional risk or threats.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Toll Holdings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Toll Holdings - Essay Example Toll manages a holding company’s administrative affairs and offers management services to its subsidiaries. The company also assists the board with financial support and control services. The major function of Toll Holdings is to supervise the whole group and its legal structure, financial and equity structures, and tax planning activities. In addition, the organization also deals with other activities including policy making, strategic planning, and marketing, recruiting personnel for senior management positions, approving investment proposals and budgets, and making ongoing evaluation of the group’s overall performance. Toll Holdings is one of the leading providers of integrated logistics services in the Asian region. Some of the principle activities of the company include freight forwarding services, temperature controlled transport service, container storage, warehousing and distribution, vehicle transport and distribution, wharf cartage, large scale liquid transpor tation, and contract distribution services (Toll Holdings Limited). Toll was founded by Albert Toll in Newcastle in 1888. For a long period after the foundation, the company mainly engaged in the transport of goods, especially coal, using horse and cart. Toll was sold to National Mineral Limited following the death of its founder, Albert Toll. Over the 1960, the company transported goods for diversified mining and manufacturing activities and hence the organization became the part of Peko Wallsend Group (Bidder’s statement). After two decades, the company was renamed as Toll Transport in 1985. In the next year, a management buyout team under the leadership of Paul Little and Peter Rowsthorn took over the Toll Transport. This management buyout can be considered as a milestone in the corporate history of Toll Holdings because the company grew dramatically since this buyout. Many of the innovative ideas put forward by Little and Rowsthorn benefited Toll to obtain a competitive edge

Strategic Human Resouce Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic Human Resouce Management - Essay Example The paper tells that a key component of any working and successful company is a fully established human resource department. This department has the sole responsibility to ensure the provision of the essential component of entrepreneurship, which is labor. The human resource department has the concern to establish organizational activity of bettering the overall performance of the personnel working in the organization. Management in its broad terms entails a critical review of the developments in the company or firm to establish the sections that affect the company growth Thus, with respect to the current developments in Cop Motor Vehicle manufacturers the observable decline in sales, in addition to other internal factors reflecting in Cop Motor Vehicle manufacturers need agent redress from the management. The firm deals with the production of vehicle brands and spare parts. The responsibility to make the key decisions regarding this firm rests on the position of CEO. However, the de cisions that affect the human resources in the firm requires essential evaluation from the human resource department, to establish the measures to address the cause of the decline in sales and losses the firm is facing. Notably, the developments are forcing the CEO of Cop Motor Vehicle manufacturers to take drastic measures on the programs established by the human resource management department to develop the workforce for better performance of the firm. However, before taking such a measure, it is essential to evaluate the consequential impact of this decision on the firm and its eventual performance. This entails evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the decision to cut on the expenditures of the company on employee training and development, as well as, the other elements associated with the decision. Cop Motor Vehicle manufacturers have over 40 hands-on employees, 4 supervisors, and heads of the various departments, in addition to Chief Executive Officer. The stakes in t he training program entail the various sponsors for the training, the development managers and the clients who are the employees. In this case, Cop Motor Vehicle manufacturers rely significantly on the role and input of the employees in the production process. Therefore, it is notable that sales decline are a result, which most likely emanates from the employees directly.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Evaluating a website as a source for learning history Essay

Evaluating a website as a source for learning history - Essay Example Should history websites be boring? This is the question that comes to mind after reading Lisa Richardson’s article. In attempt to be humorous, one can lose the traits of neutrality and objectivity that are crucial to academic work. The website chosen for analysis is http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/10/glenn-beck-hilarity.html and it was visited on the 24th of October 2013. It was particularly interesting because it focuses on one of the most controversial but continual aspects of US history; slavery. Not only is this piece deficient in terms of historical evidence, it largely focuses on the opinions of a media personality. Therefore, it is an unsuitable website for learning history because it prioritizes political shaming over historical accuracy. Website analysis Instead of dwelling on historical information first, the author starts with someone’s untruths and then uses some historical events to back them. This article mocks media personality, Glenn Beck, by a sserting that he was trying to make a spin on a historical issue that was known to all. According to the author, Glenn Beck alluded to the fact that liberals in the 19th century were slave supporters. She then adds that this was totally unfounded because conservatives were slave-owners. They had much to lose from the abolition of this practice, so they fought against the liberals in order to have their way. From the spin on this topic, one can deduce that the writer’s agenda is to portray conservatives as irrational people. The target audience also consists of liberals who would find an attack against conservatives quite palatable. This site, which is known as Opinion L.A. belongs to a number of bloggers with liberal leanings. If the writer of the piece was interested in disseminating historical truths, she would have started with facts and then alluded to someone’s rant about the same. Useful information is hard to find and buried in a plethora of attacks, but it stil l exists. As a historian, one would still find something useful in the site. The story highlights the political disagreements that were sparked by debates on slavery. It sheds light on why the institution was able to persist for a relatively long time. Consensus on the matter was simply not forthcoming. At least the website mentions the relationships between the state and its constituents especially when it wanted to restrict certain practices. This website thus highlights the nature of controversies that stemmed from political disagreements. It is possible to know these facts because a civil war arose from the differences. However, one would require a thorough knowledge of the events in American history to discovery these hidden truths. This article is slanted on one side to make it appear as though democrats were the progressive thinkers of their time. A number of persons disagree with this view because they believe that democrats only acquired a progressive incline after the 1960 s when it was necessary to do so. Furthermore, the author is bent on labeling historians either as liberal or conservatives. The following statement illustrates one of the assumptions made by the writer: â€Å"Conservatives, of course, were slave-owners and liberals were not. Conservatives in the 19th century believed in the tyranny of state government and liberals did not.   Everyone with a shred of understanding about American history knows that. We had a whole war over it.† (Richardson, 2009) In the matter of slavery, this dichotomy does not work well because several individuals had liberal views but did not support slavery. Conversely religious activists fought for abolition of slave trade even when most of their views were regarded as conservative. It is for this reasons that one would question the comments of the writer. She seems too intent on painting one side of the political divide as a change agent and the other as a forestaller. It would have been better for the writer to focus on events as they were rather than

Soccer, The Golden Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Soccer, The Golden Era - Essay Example The season went down well for months, and after it was over the approach changed and instead it was merged the selection of league (Mauricio 36). They were divided into A- League teams this league was named along Fifa’s recognition. In the same year, olympics took of, hosted by Atlanta, the men in the olympic did not perform well as it was expected, women performed their best and worn in the olympics that year. Then there after, it was soccer, this tournament had a huge number of fans from every corner of the world during the final day of the match. The success of the women in both games motivated the U.S organizing comittee that was taking care of the whole event (Richard 31). The organising body said, â€Å"it will be ready to support any games especially soccer, to improve the talents of people out their and also recognize were their is an effort made towards success.† Meanwhile, the world cup 1998, was about to kick of, and the qualifications were also in a process. The first time that U.S won, was back in the year 1977, this was the first time for U.S to qualify without involving Mexico (William 17). This was a success, and they had to work smart to make sure they retain the posion again. Some of the main team players were also from different states, but all determined to win in every game. FIFA provided coaches kits, and also playing grounds with large holding capacities, reason being the number of fans was growing at a high rate. In 1999, had considerable success stories, but in this same year women’s, soccer was set to begin (James 25). The women’s energy and the determination made people to have high expectations on them the team tied up for the first position before they were to go for the finals. The team, which was made up of youths, had a loyal fan base which was peaceful and also excellent sportsmanship, and respect. The team was the ambassador for young girls as their role

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Evaluating a website as a source for learning history Essay

Evaluating a website as a source for learning history - Essay Example Should history websites be boring? This is the question that comes to mind after reading Lisa Richardson’s article. In attempt to be humorous, one can lose the traits of neutrality and objectivity that are crucial to academic work. The website chosen for analysis is http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/10/glenn-beck-hilarity.html and it was visited on the 24th of October 2013. It was particularly interesting because it focuses on one of the most controversial but continual aspects of US history; slavery. Not only is this piece deficient in terms of historical evidence, it largely focuses on the opinions of a media personality. Therefore, it is an unsuitable website for learning history because it prioritizes political shaming over historical accuracy. Website analysis Instead of dwelling on historical information first, the author starts with someone’s untruths and then uses some historical events to back them. This article mocks media personality, Glenn Beck, by a sserting that he was trying to make a spin on a historical issue that was known to all. According to the author, Glenn Beck alluded to the fact that liberals in the 19th century were slave supporters. She then adds that this was totally unfounded because conservatives were slave-owners. They had much to lose from the abolition of this practice, so they fought against the liberals in order to have their way. From the spin on this topic, one can deduce that the writer’s agenda is to portray conservatives as irrational people. The target audience also consists of liberals who would find an attack against conservatives quite palatable. This site, which is known as Opinion L.A. belongs to a number of bloggers with liberal leanings. If the writer of the piece was interested in disseminating historical truths, she would have started with facts and then alluded to someone’s rant about the same. Useful information is hard to find and buried in a plethora of attacks, but it stil l exists. As a historian, one would still find something useful in the site. The story highlights the political disagreements that were sparked by debates on slavery. It sheds light on why the institution was able to persist for a relatively long time. Consensus on the matter was simply not forthcoming. At least the website mentions the relationships between the state and its constituents especially when it wanted to restrict certain practices. This website thus highlights the nature of controversies that stemmed from political disagreements. It is possible to know these facts because a civil war arose from the differences. However, one would require a thorough knowledge of the events in American history to discovery these hidden truths. This article is slanted on one side to make it appear as though democrats were the progressive thinkers of their time. A number of persons disagree with this view because they believe that democrats only acquired a progressive incline after the 1960 s when it was necessary to do so. Furthermore, the author is bent on labeling historians either as liberal or conservatives. The following statement illustrates one of the assumptions made by the writer: â€Å"Conservatives, of course, were slave-owners and liberals were not. Conservatives in the 19th century believed in the tyranny of state government and liberals did not.   Everyone with a shred of understanding about American history knows that. We had a whole war over it.† (Richardson, 2009) In the matter of slavery, this dichotomy does not work well because several individuals had liberal views but did not support slavery. Conversely religious activists fought for abolition of slave trade even when most of their views were regarded as conservative. It is for this reasons that one would question the comments of the writer. She seems too intent on painting one side of the political divide as a change agent and the other as a forestaller. It would have been better for the writer to focus on events as they were rather than

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Cultural Advertising (how culture influences advertising) Research Paper

Cultural Advertising (how culture influences advertising) - Research Paper Example The culture of most individuals is determined at their place of birth whereby they pick up the behaviors and mannerisms of those around them. This influences their general outlook towards life and the way in which they perform certain actions in their day to day activities. Culture differs in various elements; the most common is due to the location. Individuals in various continents have various distinct differences and these can be easily noticed. A clear example is the popularity of sports in various continents. In the United States, the most popular sports are American Football and Baseball, in India, the most popular sport is cricket while in Europe soccer is the major attraction. This therefore means that children born in these regions will find that their sporting culture is inclined to these particular sports and therefore they are most likely to follow these sports. The environment we are in is a major determinant of the culture that we will adopt. Culture influences the languages that we speak and the religious beliefs that we are subscribed to. There is therefore a direct impact on the products that any given individual will use by the culture in which they belong. Some religious sects restrict the use of modern technology by their members and as such it would be pointless to try and them electronic. This therefore implies that advertisers should take keen note of the various cultures around the world so that they know exactly which type of people use certain products. They can then target these people selectively with advertisements that cater to their exact needs. The end result is that there will be positive response from the market since their needs will be catered for (Mueller 2004). The goal of this essay is to find out how the advertisements differ from each other on basis of cultural values, are there any similarities also between TV

Personal Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Personal Responsibility Essay Personal responsible is linked to college success. There are two reasons for practicing personal responsibility. First, setting aside study time, but most importantly, increase ability to focus in classroom. Informal Outline: When enrolling in college, students need to practice personal responsibility. First they must be able to define personal responsibility and what meaning it will have on them during their college semesters. Personal responsibility involves an individual being held accountable for their own actions upon themselves and others. Further, personal responsibility being when you can cease placing blame upon others for your mistakes and when you quit blaming yourself. By achieving this you become honest with yourself, thus allowing yourself to move forward with your education. To be successful in college a key element is personal responsibility. Personal responsibility can be viewed as a key element because there are moments during college where students are or believe themselves to be failing and by taking personal responsibility for their actions they will build their self-esteem and accountability for their actions. The connection with personal responsibility and college success is dependent upon accounting for your own choices and actions. To ensure success in college, students need to establish guidelines. You must be able to stay focused during class time. By allowing yourself enough sleep the night prior to class, your ability to remain focused during class remains intact. Sleeplessness leads to your being inattentive and this can cause you to miss issues of importance during class time. Another element that can affect being focused is eating habits. Lack of food can affect your ability to focus during class time. Being focused in class allows you to hone your listening skills and take good notes during class. Another guideline which would allow success in college is setting aside study time. An example would be allowing yourself 30 minute breaks throughout the day. The location of where you study is of importance also. An example would be if you study in a crowded area, there would be too much confusion and interference which would affect your ability to establish good study habits. It would be preferable to set up study in a quiet and isolated area, thus allowing you to concentrate and focus on your studies. The above guidelines will help increase a students level of personal responsibility. It will also increase the students ability to achieve success throughout their college years.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Response of Blood Urea using RF Scalar Network Analyzer

Response of Blood Urea using RF Scalar Network Analyzer â€Å"2015 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India† Ingrid Anne P. Nazareth,  Rajendra S. Gad,  Sulaxana R. Vernekar,  Gourish M. Naik Abstract—Urea content in the human blood is an important parameter to monitor the healthy state of a human being. Normally a patient is sent to pathological laboratories for blood extraction to quantify the actual urea percentage. Although this method is accurate, it requires a lot of time and reagents. It also involves the fear of infection during the extraction of blood. The method described in this manuscript gives a simple technique based on RF response of urea in the human tissue. In this paper, laboratory samples of various urea percentages were prepared and their responses were measured using a RF dielectric loss cell. The setup consists of a signal generator and a spectrum analyzer connected in scalar network mode to measure the RF response from 10MHz to 500MHz. The results show that there is a linear relation between the dielectric loss and the percentage of urea in the sample. Keywords—Urea, Health, RF Spectroscopy, Multivariate Regression. Introduction Health is a condition of entire physical, social, and mental well being, and not exactly the absence of disease or infirmity.[1]-[3] Good Health or healthy living inhumans beings is the generally the normal condition of apersons body and mind, which means to be free fromillness,painor injury.[1] Health care providers promote good health in humans as well as prevent or cure health problems. A number of other factors like the â€Å"determinants of health† can also influence the health status of persons, which include lifestyle, background, social and economic conditions. High levels of stress can also affect health tremendously.[4] Health is often marred by illnesses and diseases sometimes curable, sometimes incurable.[5] The disease can affect any part of the body for which there are medications available accordingly. One of the most important organs are the kidneys in which urea is a primary components of urine which is filtered by them. The handling of urea by the kidneysis an important part of mammalian metabolism. Urea has various roles to play including thecounter current exchange systemof thenephrons which reabsorbs water and critical ions from the excretedurine and as a carrier of waste nitrogen. The conversion factor 0.028 g/mmol can be used to estimate the equivalent nitrogen content (ingram) of urea (inmmol).[6]Subsequently, 1gram of nitrogen is approximately equivalent to 6.25grams ofprotein, and 1gram of protein is more or less equivalent to 5grams ofmuscletissue. 1mmol of excessive urea in the urine, measured by urea concentration in mmol/l multiplied by urine volume in litres roughly equals to a muscle loss of 0.67gram in conditions of muscle wasting. Uraemiaor uremia which means urea in the blood can be defined as a surplus of protein and amino acid metabolism end products (urea andcreatinine) in the blood that is usually excreted in the urine.[7] Symptoms of uremia include fatigue, weakness, nausea and vomiting leading to loss of appetite,[8] muscle wasting, shallow respiration, metabolic acidosis, tremors and abnormal mental function. In case dialysis or kidney transplant is not carried out, uremia will lead to renal failure causing stupor, coma and ultimately death. [9][10]One of the Potential Uremic Toxins is urea present at high concentrations i.e. >300mg/dL or >50mmol/L. The effect of high uremic toxins are headaches, vomiting, fatigue, carbamylation of proteins.[10] The onset of uremia is untimely for people who have kidney disorder. People who are over 30 years old and have a kidney function below 50% (Glomerular Filtration Rate [GFR] from 50 to 60 mL) are inclined to have a high degree of uremia. Incidentally in the United States, around 8 million people have uremic symptoms with a GFR of Blood tests Primary tests performed for the diagnosis of uremia arebasic metabolic panelwith serumcalciumandphosphorusto evaluate theGFR,blood urea nitrogenand creatinineas well as serumpotassium,phosphate,calciumandsodiumlevels. Uremia will show high levels of urea and creatinine, high phosphate, normal or slightly high sodium, likely depressed calcium levels and elevated potassium. The physician will check foranemia, thyroid and parathyroid functions in a basic routine test. A warning sign of established renal failure is chronic anemia. Calcium abnormalities can be determined by the thyroid and parathyroid panels as they are related to uremia as longstanding or unrelated illness of calcium metabolism, as well as work up any symptoms of fatigue. B. Urine tests In order to determine urea and creatinine clearance, a 24 hour urine collection may be an alternative but not be a very precise test due to the collection procedure. Alternate laboratory tests, that should be considered for the presence of blood casts, pH and protein, areurinalysiswith microscopic examination.[12] Methodology The constituents like Urea whose frequency responses are to be measured are dissolved in a known quantity of distilled water. The multivariate and curve-fitting statistical applications can model the multi-frequency bio-electrical impedance spectrum to develop parameters to estimate body composition like Urea, Cholesterol, Glucose etc.[13] The principle behind the response of these constituents is based on absorption of EM energy by various molecular vibrations in the sample. Preparation of samples Urea ranges from 10-20 mg/dL. Average concentration of urea i.e. 15 mg/dL was used in the preparation of samples. The solution samples were prepared using double distilled water with half, normal, double and triple concentrations of urea. All the above said concentrations of urea were dissolved in 1 mL of Alcohol and 14 mL of water. Experiments were performed in fast sweep mode followed by the slow sweep mode. The experiment was repeated twice with a gap of one hour and two hours, to invalidate the environmental effect. Both the results were compared to the initial results and were found to be accurate with a slight error. Cell Design A cell was fabricated with a length of 12.5cms, breadth of 1cm and height of 2cms. The inside and outside of the cell was lined with a thin copper foil which was then grounded. In order to prevent external radiation, the cell was placed in an iron container which was grounded.[14] The tracking generator, cell and signal analyzer were fastened onto a wooden plank to prevent any displacements as shown in Fig. 1. The tracking generator used is the ‘Signal Hound tracking generator’ and the signal analyzer used is the ‘Signal Hound Signal Analyzer’. Impedance measurement Signal is injected at connector 1 at one end of the cell from the Tracking Generator and then transmitted through the liquid column and observed at connector 2 at the other end of the cell. Fig. 1: Experimental Setup Results By using the above setup, the typical graph is recorded as shown in Fig. 2. The RF spectra is shown from 10 MHz to 500 MHz continuously. . Fig. 2: RF spectra from 10MHz to 500MHz Though the graph shown in Fig. 2 for all Urea concentrations which have a behaviour similar to that of the RF response of water, there is a subtle change in the attenuation level for urea at some points and its neighbourhood, some of which are given in Table I. Though concentration 3Urea is the extreme level of composition in the human blood, yet it was taken for investigation to see the observable changes in the absorption pattern for urea concentration. Since the variation were observed at the frequencies given in the table, it is always possible to extrapolate the concentration of urea to other concentrations which are normally found in the human blood. The table given below is very important when the estimation of the urea has to be done more quantitatively using mathematical regression tools. One such method is called multivariate regression technique for which these frequency points and corresponding attenuation can be fed as variables and the estimation of urea can be done for unknown sample concentrations. The work is in progress. TABLE I Variation of Attenuation level of Urea in dB Conclusion The manuscript describes an experimental technique to determine the urea concentration using RF response cell. The results obtained in the experiment show that the technique is useful for determining unknown concentrations of urea in any given blood sample non-invasively. The results shown are for laboratory prepared samples with Urea as major constituent and not actual blood sample which contain over 100 constituents. The method can be extended further to incorporate other constituents and can be actually compared with blood samples. The technique is useful in estimating urea concentration using multivariate system approach which is a purely mathematical tool. The combination of this tool with the above findings can develop into a full fledge instrumentation for determining blood urea concentration non-invasively. Acknowledgment Since a scholarship for the above work was provided by the Goa University, author Ingrid Anne P. Nazareth wishes to thank them profusely. References Grad, Frank P. The Preamble of The Constitution of The World Health Organization.Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 80, No.12, 2002, pp: 981-982 Dictionary – Health.Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 21 April 2011. World Health Organization. 2006.Constitution of the World Health Organization–Basic Documents, Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006 Walter F. Boron â€Å"Medical Physiology: A Cellular And Molecular Approach† Elsevier/Saunders, pp: 837 Anuja Pandey, Sanjay Zodpey, Sunanda Shrikhande, Anjali Sharma, â€Å"Human Resource Capacity Building Initiatives for Public Health Laboratories in India†, Indian Journal of Public Health, Vol 58, Issue 4, October-December 2014, pp: 224-229 Jacki Bishop, Thomas, Briony, â€Å"Manual of Dietetic Practice†, Section 1.9.2 Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. p: 76 G.A. Martinez, â€Å"Measuring System of Urea in Blood by Application in Recirculation for Hemodialysis† in Treatment, Technical Problems in Patients on Hemodialysis, chapter 13, 2011, pp:215-227 Juan Jesà ºs Carrero, Pharm, Abelardo Aguilera, Peter Stenvinkel, Fernando Gil, Rafael Selgas, Bengt Lindholm, â€Å"Appetite Disorders in Uremia† Vol 18, Issue 1, January 2008, pp:107-113 Bishop, M.L. Fody, E.P. and Schoeff, L.E. â€Å"Clinical Chemistry: Techniques, Principles, Correlations.† 6th Edition. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. p: 268. Burtis, C.A.; Ashwood, E.R. and Bruns, D.E. Tietz â€Å"Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics.† 5th Edition. Elsevier Saunders. p.1554 Timothy W. Meyer, and Thomas H. Hostetter, â€Å"Uremia† N Engl J Med 2007; Vol 357, No. 13, September 27, 2007 ,pp:1316-1325 Uremia Workup. A Brent Alper Jr. Medscape. Accessed athttp://emedicine.medscape.com/article/245296-workup I.A.P. Nazareth, S.R.Vernekar, R.S. Gad, G.M. Naik, â€Å"An Algorithm for Estimation of Blood Cholesterol based on Regression Technique†, International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering (IJARCSSE), Vol. 4, Issue 8, August 2014, pp. 758-761 I.A.P. Nazareth, S.R. Vernekar, R.S. Gad, G.M. Naik, â€Å"Application of RF Spectroscopy for Blood Glucose Measurement† International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering Technology (IJECET), Vol. 5, Issue 7, July 2014, pp. 32-38

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Free Catch-22 Essays: The Character of Yossarian :: Catch-22

The Character of Yossarian in Catch-22 The main character in Catch-22, which was written by Joseph Heller in 1960, was Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Force during WWII. Yossarian's commanding officer, Colonel Cathcart, wanted a promotion so badly that he kept raising the number of missions the men in his squadron were required to fight. Yossarian resented this very much, but he couldn't do anything about it because a bureaucratic trap, known as catch-22, said that the men did not have the right to go home after they completed forty missions (the number of missions the Army demands they fly) because they had to obey their commanding officers. Yossarian was controlled by the higher authority like the doctors restrained Joe. The whole novel was basically about how Yossarian tried to fight catch-22. Yossarian can be seen as an anti-hero. Many of his actions could be considered immoral or cowardly. For example, in the hospital, he forged and tampered with letters he censored. Whenever he was overwhelmed by the horrors of war and by memories of his friends' deaths, he created symptoms that got him admitted to hospitals. He also made repeated attempts to be judged as certifiably insane so that he could be discharged. In the end, Yossarian deserted the Army and fled to Sweden, the only place he knew to be safe and sane. However, Yossarian also possessed traits we would expect to find in a hero. He was intelligent. For example, he knew enough about world literature to identify himself with heroic loners from all kinds of classics. He had few illusions, unlike Pip and Henry. For example, in cadet training, Clevinger thought Lieutenant Scheisskopf really wanted suggestions, but Yossarian knew Scheisskopf didn't mean it. He was respected, admired, and liked by others. For example, Dobbs would not carry out his plot to kill Colonel Cathcart unless Yossarian approved. Milo admired Yossarian and asked him for business advice. The chaplain also liked Yossarian enough no to speak up when he recognized a "Washington Irving" forgery as Yossarian's. In many ways, Yossarian was also a very moral person. For example, he turned down the hero deal (his irritated commanding officers offered to send him home as a hero if he would praise them publicly). He did not sleep with a woman unless he was in love with her, unlike Odysseus who was unfaithful to his wife in order to save him and his men.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Political Campaign Videos Essay

Shifts in the campaign films â€Å"The Sky is the Limit† by George Bush and â€Å"A New Beginning† by Ronald Reagan must have been very evident to expert media critics, but were not at all noticeable for average reasonable television viewers, making the films more effective materials in campaign. Let us first take a look at the campaign film of George Bush. The first of the film â€Å"A New Beginning† engaged the viewers to listen and take a look at Bush’ personal life. It contained clips of Bush’ father, mother and wife talking about him and that is where â€Å"personal† or â€Å"emotional appeal† comes in, because it was the family of Bush speaking. Bush’ parents talked about how loving and wonderful he is as a son. Even his love life was discussed by his wife, telling the audience that Bush is a type of person who keeps his words which he proved when he married Laura right away as promised. At this early part of the film, the film seemed to be just a simple documentary of George Bush’ personal life, until a clip of George Bush saying â€Å"I am the person who likes to smile† came in. He was saying that he likes to laugh, with his face extremely closed up while driving, followed by a very short clip showing himself laughing at a political assembly. This, then, is the start of political campaign and is also the first shift in the movie. The shift was made very subtly, though, because there was a mix of personal appeal and political campaign. The next clip was Carlos Ramirez talking about Bush being a person full of family values. While the topic was still very personal, the interviewee was a political person, Carlos Ramirez being the mayor of El Paso. With this, the combination of politics and personal appeal was created, signaling the second shift that was about to happen. This is indeed a clue that the next shift will be from personal-political to something that’s purely political. The third shift is marked by an interview with Ernie Ladd, a co-founder of a mentoring program for leadership called â€Å"PULL. † Ernie Ladd was talking about Bush’ performance as a leader. When the topic is about leadership, it clearly shows that the current focus of the clip was into politics. To soften the blow, Bush was shown on TV again, being back to a regular guy for another shot at personal appeal. Then again, it was still political because here, he was talking about change. At first, he was sympathizing over children who were coming from very difficult situations and comparing it to his wonderful life. He said he wanted to change this and make lives better for all children, while uttering the purely political line â€Å"This is the reason why I want to run as a governor of Texas. † The campaign, at this stage, is at its full swing. Another shift was created, but this time, there was an effort in emphasizing the goals of Bush in the elections. Phyllis Hunter, a representative from READ of the state of Texas, talked about changed which Bush caused in the state. She further explained the positive changes which took place in Texas which may not have been impossible without Bush. â€Å"She gave testimonials on how helpful Bush is as a person which can be seen through her exact words, I have seen a big difference since he has been governor of the state of Texas in the amount of supports that we have to help us as educators reach the standards. He said if you need it, we’ll get it for you. We have websites, we have grant programs, we have teacher training in the state of Texas, and we have George leading the way (Parmelee, 2003, p. 52). † From this point, the film became highly political because what were shown were purely campaign materials. There was Bush talking to kids while reading their letters to him, in which a letter even contained a wish for Bush to win. Here, Bush tells the kids that he hopes he wins, too. This campaign material was given drama and personal appeal when the kids were involved. Lastly, Bush was uttering the words â€Å"I’m confident I can do the job that people want me to do. I’m a proud member of my party, but I’m more than that; I’m an American. I love my country. I love what America stands for. I’m going to remind people that we’re lucky to be Americans (Parmelee, 2003, p. 52). † Ending the film is a song entitled â€Å"We the People† matched with a loud applause. Ronald Raegan’s film â€Å"A New Beginning†, on the other hand, starts with a footage of his inauguration. While uttering his constitutional oath, a montage of Americans leading a normal life was overlapping with his voice. His oath, then, functioned as a voice over to regular citizens who tended animals, tilled the lands, worked in offices, and the likes. It was indeed a technique that made the film strong because the film was able to make portray that the heroes of the United States are the Americans, and not Ronald Raegan himself. From this scene, a shift was made to Raegan talking about how he finds his job in the political arena, saying that â€Å"hearing honest views while having meetings† coming from the executive branch of the government makes him inspired as a political leader. After mentioning people from the executive branch, the film shifts to ordinary people again, giving testimonials on how they have learned values like patriotism, respect and pride because of Reagan. It was in the fourth shift when a sudden change can be noticed, because the music suddenly became dramatic, having the lyrics â€Å"Freedom, they can’t take that away, I am proud to be an American† as a contributing factor to the emotional appeal. This part extended to a few minutes (as long as the whole song) and converted the film temporarily into a music video until it was cut to a few clips showing Reagan’s trips to demilitarized zones in Asia. In this shift, the film showcased the military power of a country where Reagan shows how delighted he is to hear pride among soldiers. He then meets the soldiers from South Korea and greets then one by one with the words â€Å"I am proud to know you. † This way, he is sending the message that we should emulate his behaviour of acknowledging these soldiers or â€Å"heroes† everytime we see them. Testimonials from ordinary Americans are inserted again, in which everyone says that they get to spend more money and they can feel the progress of the economy since Raegan led the nation. The topic of inflation was also discussed, with statistics mentioned to prove that he is most concerned with inflation and security of elders. The music in this scene is lively and victorious, followed, again, by testimonials from other people. The most dramatic shift comes with the topic of the assassination attempt on him. This part was purely emotional and personal, sharing to the audience the moment he talked to the doctor and the doctor told him â€Å"God must be on your shoulder. † However, an abrupt change occurred when a sudden lively music entered the scene, showing again his trips to Asian countries. This time, he says that people go to the West, which shows that the West, then, provides future for the people. He says that Americans have a lot to offer, which brought a change on the clip by inserting a clip about the World War II veterans who risked and sacrificed their lives at Point d’Hoc. He tells us that men these days can be found in offices, stores, farms and shops as a result of a free society all because the military force helped the nation achieve it. After this, the film becomes political when Reagan started talking about reform, simplifying taxes and creating enterprise zones and business incentives. From this, he also talks about peace which he achieved because he is helping people. The film ended with the song God Bless The USA (Morreale, 1991, p. 84). The values common to these two films are pride, patriotism, generosity, leadership, spirituality and respect. What makes these films different are how these two define themselves. Bush defines himself as a person full of family values, someone who wants to make everybody happy, respectful of his parents, wanting to create change, full of optimism and reaching big dreams, in which his being a family-person and wanting to create change is emphasized. Reagan defines himself as a person who respects heroes, full of patriotism, prioritizes economy of the nation, advocates freedom, spiritual and a peace-lover. In this, his respect for heroes or military and his patriotism are emphasized. Musical scores that are lively and victorious support the progress, dreams and freedom the candidates are portraying in the film. The sentimental songs support the personal and emotional appeal of the film, which helped in making the audience feel what the candidates wanted them to feel. Visual images also had a role – American flags, innocent kids, boy scouts, soldiers, baseball, laughter, sunrises – all these promoting a positive vibe for their personality, making the candidates look as more positive individuals in front of the camera.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

How sharing of findings affects practice Essay

Serious case reviews and inquiries are required to identify how, when and why a child has died from abuse or neglect. These reviews identify the way in which organisations and local professionals have worked both together and separately to safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children and young people. These reviews also help to identify how these organisations could have worked better to ensure that this doesn’t happen again to another child. Victoria Climbie was born 2nd November 1991. She was brought to the UK in 1999 by her aunty, who the authorities thought was her mother, when she was 8 years old. She suffered 128 injuries from being beaten with sharp and blunt instruments and after Victoria’s post mortem was carried out, her cause of death was found to be hypothermia brought on by malnourishment and living in a damp environment with restricted movement. Victoria’s Aunty was arrested at the hospital on 25th February 2000 on suspicion of neglect. Victoria had been a part of multi agency child protection plan and had visited and been visited by multiple hospitals, social services teams, police and churches before her death on 25th February 2000 at just 8 years and 3 months old. All agencies involved were too willing to listen to her Aunties stories of incontinence, possession and behavioural problems. The social services teams didn’t even follow up a disclosure of sexual abuse towards Victoria with an investigation after her Aunty retracted the allegations she had made towards her partner. All agencies seemed very trusting of Victoria’s Aunty who was reinforced by her presentation and behaviour. She co-operated with meetings and visits from professionals, initiated communication with professionals and even responded positively to offers of help. After Victoria’s death all agencies that were a part of her short life within the UK were looked into and were found to be lacking in organisation, thoroughness and insufficiently focused on the child’s welfare. The result  of the Victoria Climbie case meant a review on the child protection plan. Practitioners have to be extra vigilant when working with children and have to ensure they follow correct procedures with regards to safeguarding and child protection. If a child discloses information to a member of staff they must record all information including the date and time that the child disclosed. This information will then be passed onto management who will contact and inform the correct agencies. 2.2 – Identify the policies and procedures required in the work setting for safeguarding children and young people. The policies and procedures needed within the setting for safeguarding children and young people are: Safeguarding and Child Protection This policy and procedure ensures the protection of the children within the setting with regards to disclosure, abuse and neglect. Practitioners must follow the correct procedure with regards to disclosures from children or incidents witnessed. All practitioners have a DBS check before being able to work closely with the children to ensure they are suitable for the position. Health, Safety and Risk Assessment This policy ensures that all health and safety matters are addressed within the setting so that the children are entering a safe and secure environment. Daily risk assessments are carried out to ensure that all hazards and risks are minimized or removed to ensure the complete safety of the children and young people within the setting and its outdoor environment. First Aid This policy and procedure ensures that practitioners within the setting are sufficiently trained to administer first aid to children, young people and other staff members. Following the correct procedure they must ensure that a first aid form is filled out including all relevant information with regards  to the child. Data Protection This policy and procedure ensures that all children’s and young people’s information is sufficiently stored within the setting. It also states that practitioners must not discuss nursery business outside of the setting.

Civilized or Uncivilized

Civilized or uncivilized Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities. —-Mark Twain In Montaigne's essay on Cannibals, those people living in the uncivilized societies are first referred to as â€Å"noble savages†. However, most Europeans, at that time, believed that the people without â€Å"the benefits of Christianity and civilization† can not be regarded as civilized or advanced. Montaigne holds his ideas and specifically illustrates the reasons of the social norm that uncivilized people seem barbarous are that they have received little molding from the human intelligence and are very close to their original simplicity.Montaigne also criticizes the barbarian actions of â€Å"civilized† European society such as torturing prisoners. He also branches out topic to valour and believes that true victory lies the prize of valour, not winning itself. Based on the ideas of Montaigne, â€Å"civilized† world is not as perfect as peo ple thought, and motivate readers to rethink what civilization is about. What I learn from that essay is that civilized people may sometimes have extremely uncivilized behaviors, and uncivilized people also have their civilized aspects.For those â€Å"uncivilized† people, in this essay, it is said that two things are the most important of their life which are â€Å"resolution in battle† and â€Å"affection for their wives†. Although their way of life seems limited, they live happily with their way of life. I admit their life are simple, but not uncivilized or barbarian. Their fighting is noble and disinterested because all they want to do is to show their valour which is also what people living in â€Å"civilized† societies want.However, we label them with â€Å"uncivilized† by reference to the laws of reason and social norms created by completely different cultures of us, and keep doing the barbarian behaviors which are not belong to our â€Å"pe rfect† society such as killing the innocent in order to develop new territories. The action of judging another culture â€Å"uncivilized† actually shows the weakness of â€Å"civilized† society. Therefore, the difference between both sides are not civilized or not, but the different cultures. All those different cultures make this world more colorful. Montaigne uses Plato's words in this essay to differentiate various societies or ations,which I agree with most part of those words. It is said that â€Å"all things are produced by either nature, or by chance, or by art; the greatest and most beautiful by one or other of the first two, the least and most imperfect by the last†. I agree that things are produced because of those three reasons, but I don't think any one is better than another, because everything has its own reason of existing. All the different cultures make up of civilization, therefore, as Mark Twain said, civilization is necessities no matte r they are necessary or not.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Business law - Essay Example Patients with red tags are immediately referred by Unit Managers to the Customer Relations Department who monitors their status and closely coordinates with the Accounting and Cashier Department for settlement and collection purposes. Once a patient has been classified as red tag, any procedure (therapeutic, diagnostic, laboratory, etc.) need to be immediately settled prior to the administration of the procedure, regardless of the necessity and the kind of the procedure to be undertaken. The rationale for this is to prevent further increases in the amount due to the hospital which might not be collected nor paid. The patient regularly needs any of the abovementioned procedures to monitor her health progress and to identify and assess whether present medications need to be adjusted (increase or decrease in dosage and frequency of administration). However, since this patient was already classified as red tag, and since the daughter still needs to look for alternative sources of funds to settle the staggering amount, the required regular procedures could not be undertaken. In this regard, in the capacity of the Unit Manager, an ethical dilemma needs to be resolved through ethical theories and analytical thinking for recommendation to higher management in the hospital. The hospital with medical and ethical responsibilities to their patients has to assess their red tag policy in terms of contradicting conformity to ethical standards. Given the scenario, the alternative courses of action, as recommended by the Unit Manager are available for both the hospital and the patient: (1) immediately transfer the patient to a room with the least cost (a ward or semi-private room) without compromising health benefits. By transferring the patient to a room with lower cost, all other hospital costs associated with the room transfer would be decreased; (2) seek the necessary financial assistance from health insurance (Medicaid,

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Abandoned Vehicle Problem Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Abandoned Vehicle Problem - Assignment Example This research paper explores statistical information and data to provide an overview of the situation by focusing on the information gathered from various cities across the Kingdom. Proposed recommendations provided in the research focus on the placement of environmental regulations, Environmental Management Systems (EMS), government policies and vehicle recycling systems to garner desired results. Furthermore, the negative effects of abandoned vehicles are also discussed and the environmental and economic sustainability of proposed recommendations is examined to draw appropriate conclusions. Introduction The issue of abandoned vehicles that are often left by their owners on a plethora of public sites has been a cause of major concern for law enforcement agencies and city administrations across the globe. This problem is most prevalent and its environmental, economic and social impact most visible in numerous developed nations. Much of the abandoned vehicles do not carry any sources of identification thereby, making it an impossible task for concerned authorities to trace back their owners. According to a report submitted to the UK parliament by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (2004: p46) the quantity of automobiles abandoned by their owners in the United Kingdom increased from 1500 to 2000 in period lasting from 2001 to 2003. However, it can be rightfully stated that the existing situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with regards to the problem under discussion is much worse. As per the statistics presented by Lt. Col. Zaid Al-Hamzi of Jeddah traffic department for 2011, the number of abandoned vehicles taken away from the streets of Jeddah during the year amounted to a staggering 2,836 automobiles (Arabia MSN). The gravity of the situation is defined by assessing the costs of vehicle abandonment that have to be paid for by society, which can be examined in the light of economic and environmental impacts of vehicle abandonment. Joyce and Milner (2005: p139) note that extensive ramifications of this issue include critical concerns regarding the safety of general public and the occurrence of criminal activities. Additionally, the difficulties associated with disposing abandoned vehicles must also be highlighted. These issues involve aspects related to the costs incurred on repair of roads and highways that are damaged due to the presence of abandoned motor vehicles and the expenses borne by administrative and law enforcement authorities in transporting said vehicles to designated locations or junkyards. In order to examine the problem of abandoned vehicles in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a comprehensive manner, this research undertakes the assessment of the topic by highlighting its core aspects. Therefore, the succeeding sections of the paper present a statistical overview of the issue in the nation, possibilities of resolving the problem, analysis of vehicle recycling systems, a thorough discussion of the negative effects of abandoned vehicles and the sustainability of proposed recommendations. Moreover, the concluding remarks of the study provide guidelines for directing the course of subsequent researches on the issue. Abandoned Vehicles in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – A Statistical Overview As identified in the preceding section of the paper, instances of motor vehicle abandonment are on the rise in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with 2,836 vehicles removed by the Jeddah traffic department in 2011 (Arabia MSN). An analysis of this statistic indicates

Monday, October 7, 2019

Human resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Human resources - Essay Example It is therefore imperative for HR management to be well versed with different versions of cultural values of the host nations so as to achieve desirable goals. Their policies are ought to be implemented in light of applicability to specific cultures and laws. There would also be need to attract, retain and motivate local people to improve the operations of an organisation in a new environment. It is significant to note that in industrialized nations such as the US, personal economic achievement is presumed to be the prevailing notion that drives people according to Carrel (1995). Employees are bound to be motivated by the gains they get from their work in form of salaries hence it would be recommended that a company entering such a market should also take into consideration the needs and aspirations of the peoples who live there. On the other hand, in the former Soviet Union, Asia and other European Nations the collective mental programming from decades of communism has taken a heavy toll on them, Chris Brewster (1996). Such mentality as, â€Å"why work hard when wages do not increase?† is very common. It can be plainly seen that the differences between socialist economies and free market economies are glaring and are of considerable significance for HR professionals. 4. The Human Resources Management (HRM) has a vital role to play in motivating employees in order to improve their performance as well as productivity within any given organisation. In view of this assertion, it can be noted that Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is perhaps the most appealing theories for Human Resources (HR), professionals. Thus according to Maslow, cited in Michael R. Carell et al (1995:206), â€Å"when a need occurs, motivational tension develops and is directed towards satisfaction of the need.† Thus the hierarchy comprises of five levels of needs which need to be satisfied as a way of motivating

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Urban outfitters budgets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Urban outfitters budgets - Essay Example expansion of the market will lead to application of new marketing strategies and employment of more workers, which will increase the wages and administrative expenses (Smith 2010). In marketing, control and evaluation is crucial because Urban Outfitters determines the performance and effectiveness of marketing operations. In measuring the performance of marketing information, control and evaluation provides useful information. Evaluation and control program in the marketing department provides the manager with output of the services and products. Evaluation and control can also help the company to know where to make improvement and the areas it has success. Through evaluation and control the business takes into account external conditions relating to marketing programs like customer feedback. The feedbacks help in determining employee performance. Through control and evaluation Urban Outfitters will be able to focus in all marketing areas (Smith

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Importance of institutional investors for financial markets Essay

Importance of institutional investors for financial markets - Essay Example Such funds are prepared to get reinvested so as to attain the benefit out from investments. There are different types of institutions that manage and organize investments (Davis, 2001). Such include pension institutions, insurance companies, savings institutions and foundations respectively. All institutions are important with respect to the area of finance they manage and deal with. It is their specialized skill which recovers the benefit from the investment, as they are more aware of the market trends and regulations than the ordinary man - â€Å"a common investor† (Davis, 2001). Institutional investments like pension funds have a great role in developing economies. Pension funds mount up the amount and number of investments attained by company employers in respect of their employees. The amount gets doubled and tripled after some time, depending on the rates on which it has been fixed, and adds a consistent share in the financial stock market until the policy gets expired. This is how regulations, policies and instrumentations of pension funds (institutional investment) retrieve the best outcome (liquid assets) for both investors and managers of the fund. The importance of pension institution funds vary with respect to the changing norms of countries’ markets. According to International Financial Services London (IFSL) 2004, UK projects an amount of $1,400 billion in the pension funds prospect, adding a major share in the UK’s financial stock market (BGL, 2010).... Such institutions are caretakers of others’ equities and private holding investments. The role of institutions is deliberate as they set a system of organizing, developing and managing respective funds. Such funds are prepared to get reinvested so as to attain the benefit out from investments. There are different types of institutions that manage and organize investments (Davis, 2001). Such include pension institutions, insurance companies, savings institutions and foundations respectively. All institutions are important with respect to the area of finance they manage and deal with. It is their specialized skill which recovers the benefit from the investment, as they are more aware of the market trends and regulations than the ordinary man - â€Å"a common investor† (Davis, 2001). Institutional investments like pension funds have a great role in developing economies. Pension funds mount up the amount and number of investments attained by company employers in respect of their employees. The amount gets doubled and tripled after some time, depending on the rates on which it has been fixed, and adds a consistent share in the financial stock market until the policy gets expired. This is how regulations, policies and instrumentations of pension funds (institutional investment) retrieve the best outcome (liquid assets) for both investors and managers of the fund. The importance of pension institution funds vary with respect to the changing norms of countries’ markets. According to International Financial Services London (IFSL) 2004, UK projects an amount of $1,400 billion in the pension funds prospect, adding a major share in the UK’s financial stock market (BGL, 2010). The contribution of pension funds is there for Germany and France

Friday, October 4, 2019

The strength of Ammonia Double Essay Example for Free

The strength of Ammonia Double Essay In this investigation I am trying to find out if doubling the strength of ammonia doubles the rate of its diffusion. There are a few factors that may have an effect on the results of this investigation. For example, the size of the test tube, the distances between each piece of litmus paper and the amount of ammonia on the wool. The longer or wider the test tube the more time it will take for the ammonia molecules to diffuse along the tube which would increase the time on the results table. A similar principle would apply to the distance between litmus papers. The ammonia is most likely to reach the litmus paper closest to it first and then to the second as it will take more time for the ammonia molecules to diffuse across the tube. Also each time the ammonia is applied to the wool it must be the same amount for every test carried out, otherwise the test would be unfair. This is because the amount of ammonia affects the speed at which the molecules travel. If too much ammonia is applied then the molecules would move faster along the tube, but if there is less ammonia the molecules would move slowly down the tube. Three additional things that affect the rate of diffusion of the ammonia include molecular size, temperature and the concentration of the ammonia. My investigation is aimed at discovering the effects of doubling the strength (concentration) of ammonia on the rate of diffusion. I think increasing the concentration of ammonia will decrease the amount of time it will take for the litmus paper to turn blue i. e. diffusion will be faster. However, decreasing the concentration of ammonia will increase the amount of time it will take for the litmus paper to turn blue i.e. diffusion will be slower. Doubling the strength of ammonia could have an effect on the rate of diffusion because it doubles the number of molecules, which collide more. Consequently, the particles in a gas will spread out and thus have greater space to move around more quickly and easily. This is how ammonia particles will look in the form of a gas as they collide and spread: To make this investigation a fair test, I am going to space out the litmus papers but not too far apart and evenly spread out each of the seven litmus papers I intend to use. I will also use the same volume of ammonia to make it a fair test each time. The concentration will, however, gradually be doubled. I will start with 0. 5% double it to 1%, 2% and finally 4%. To carry out this experiment using a stopwatch to measure how long it takes for each red litmus paper to turn blue. I will take 1 reading every time a litmus paper changes colour, which will result in 7 readings for every test. Then I will obtain the results taken by two other people in my team and average them out by adding the results up and dividing by 3. This will give me a reliable answer as to how long it took for each of the seven litmus papers to turn from red to blue. So the number of tests to be performed in total is 3 and so by multiplying 3 with 7 will equal 21 results being taken from 21 litmus papers changing colour. These results will be taken in seconds but I shall convert any that are given in minutes by the stopwatch, into seconds. OBTAINING EVIDENCE The table below show my results: The Concentration Of Ammonia Litmus paper no  To perform this experiment safely it was necessary that we wore goggles and used tongs to pick up the cotton wool that had ammonia on it. ANALYSING RESULTS/DRAW CONCLUSION I have drawn a graph on a piece of graph paper to show the pattern in my results. The pattern shows that as you double the concentration of ammonia, the quicker it takes to change colour from red to blue. This is because, as I had predicted, increasing the concentration also increases the number of molecules, which collide more. Consequently, the ammonia molecules spread out to make greater space to move around more quickly and easily. EVALUATING. The experiment appears to have been successful as I acted according to my plans and achieved the results I had expected. My results could be improved by carrying out the tests a few more times, in order to achieve more accurate results. I can conclude from my results that doubling the strength of ammonia doubles the rate of its diffusion. A pattern in my results also showed that a as you double the concentration of ammonia, the average time is twice as less. However, this pattern was not apparent when I increased the concentration of ammonia from 0. 5% to 1%. On that occasion it seems that the time had reduced by more than just a half. The reduction in time was usually approximately by half, but by drawing a line of best fit through my graph, it can be said that doubling the concentration of ammonia does double the rate of diffusion. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Patterns of Behaviour section. Download this essay Print Save Not the one? .

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Findings on marketing for Maxis

Findings on marketing for Maxis The objectives of this report is to present the findings of the strategic analysis conducted for Maxis company and recommend the key strategies that the organisation should embark in order to remain competitive. This report is also to allow us, Management of Strategy students to apply the fundamental concepts and skills of strategic management to a real-life scenario in order to get a better understanding. This practical approach of learning would allow us to gain better understanding compared to theoretical way of learning. Other than that, this assignment gave us the opportunity to demonstrate competency in both written and oral communication skills in formal business settings. Lastly, it helps us to gain more knowledge in create and integrate business knowledge, decision making, interpersonal, leadership and entrepreneurial skills in proposing strategies and evaluating them. This assignment is a really great opportunity for us to know more about outside world which is not in books . Scope This report shall cover the operations of Maxis company in Malaysia. In this report, all the significant information required for business and competitor analysis are included. It also contains the study of analysing an organisation, its industry, its closest competitors (immediate, impending, invisible) before devising several strategies for it to pursue, selecting the most appropriate strategy and outlining recommendations for its implementation in a formal business report which will also involve a formal business presentation at completion of these tasks. Limitations The limitations of this report are the short duration for the assignment to be completed. The short duration of this assignment did not permit us the time to conduct an interview with Maxis for more accurate information. However, we find information based on valid sources through online. Some information may be outdated with the current company situation so our knowledge of the current situation would not be as accurate as first-hand information. 2.0 Background to the organization Maxis Berhad, with its consolidated subsidiaries is the leading mobile communications service provider in Malaysia with over 11.4 million subscribers starting from 30 June 2009.  [1]  It is established in year 1993 and has been publicly listed in year 2002. The company started its operation in the year 1995. 012, 017 and 0142 dialing prefix is normally identified as Maxis dialing prefix.  [2]  The company mobile services are provided over different Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) such as 900 1800 MHz GSM band. As of July 2005, the 2100 MHz Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) band was used by Maxis. Other than that, Maxis is also the pioneered in the Malaysian market in delivering innovative mobile products and services. In July 2005, Maxis was the first to launch 3G services in Malaysia. In September 2006, Maxis became one of the worlds first to use High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), a high-speed enhanced version of its 3G network, to provide wireless broadband services. The 3G services coverage is up to 740 sites across Malaysia and still expanding now. The 3G services of Maxis enable the users to enjoy the internet access throughout Malaysia. Maxis was also the first operator to bring in and sell the Blackberry and Apple iPhone smart phones to Malaysia. Maxis was also the first to unveiled near field communications (NFC) service in Malaysia. Maxis vision is to bring advanced communications services to enhance its customers lives and businesses, in a way that is simple and personalised, by efficiently and creatively harnessing leading edge technology, and delivering a brand of service experience that is reliable and enchanting.  [3]   3.0 Situation Analysis Situation analysis is a systematic collection and evaluation of past and present economical, political, social, and technological data. It is aimed at the identification of internal and external forces that may influence the organizations performance and choice of strategies, and the assessment of the organizations current and future strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  [4]   3.1 General environment analysis General environment analysis includes factors such as demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, global and physical environment that generally affect everyone in an industry or market in a similar manner. 3.1.1 Demographic Maxis invested RM1.24 billion to upgrade and modernize their 3G network in year 2009 in order to increase the population coverage from 50% to 57%, which represents the single largest yearly deployment in Maxis history. In the first quater of 2010, Maxis mobile internet users grew from 1.2 million to 6.4 million which is a large increase in customers accessing the internet from their mobiles. The statistics showed that more than 50% of the Malaysias population is under the age of 25 years old, a sizeable number of whom enter the phone owning category each year. It is because the youth segments are now the largest and fastest growing segment. Maxis is a leading regional content player with 39.2% of non-voice revenue as part of mobile revenue and 7.1 million active mobile internet users, more than 50% of its customer base. As a result, Maxis became the most attractive in high-growth, low-penetration markets and diversifying the market base as well. http://i.pictr.com/rjw9vg6zsl.jpg http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRWQfeG7nn0fvz1I_YW6VQ53_r0iiRNNeY66EGgX0euoeEMUbQ-TA 3.1.2 Economic In year 2010, Malaysias economy was expected to grow. This improved outlook is expected to stimulate consumer and business spending for telecommunication services. Malaysias determine to achieve a broadband household penetration rate of 50% by 2010 for Maxis growth in the immediate future. The Malaysian telecommunications industry remains flexible even though the challenging global economic climate. In 2009, the overall growth of the mobile industry was satisfactory and the mobile subscriber penetration crossed 100%. The basic salary of the Maxis employees are fixed for the duration of contract. It can be reviewed into account the individual performance, the inflation price index, and information from independent sources on the rates of salary for similar positions in other comparable companies. Maxis is returning to list on Bursa Malaysia in November or December and its draft prospectus is posted on the Securities Commission website. Maxis was taken private in 2007 and de-listed from Bursa the same year. In a challenging global economic climate in year 2009, Maxis delivered another strong year. http://biz.thestar.com.my/archives/2009/11/20/business/p1-maxischt.JPG 3.1.3 Political/ Legal The government had chosen Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and Maxis Broadband Shd Bhd (Maxis) at 14th December 2010 to sign a landmark of 10 years agreement for TM to undertake the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) services to Maxis. As we know that, this project was able to offer more quality broadband services. Malaysia government limits the level of playing field for foreign players in the industry. The countrys major telecom players, Maxis and Celcom won the bid together with subsidiary of Time Dot Com and MiTV Corp for the 3G license. However, DiGi was not awarded a 3G license as it has a high foreign ownership. The Maxis website contents are owned or controlled for the purposes by Maxis or its content suppliers and are protected by copyright, trademarks and other laws. The compilation of all content on the website and the service are the exclusive property of Maxis or its content supplier and protected by copyright. Maxis also has a strict condition to avoid broadband user abuse, that is why Maxis specify that every customer must be at least 18 years old to be a Maxis customer. Sub-users under this age must have authorization from the account owner to access the Maxis Broadband service. Before using the Maxis Broadband service, the person must obtain permission from the registered customer. Customers also must not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any computer system. 3.1.4 Sociocultural Maxis provides guidelines for the manner in which all employees should conduct themselves at the work place, while performing their daily duties for Maxis and as a Maxis employee in order to provide better services to customers. Key factors of this growth included the availability of more advanced smartphone models in Malaysia and the strong growth of social networking. Maxis was the first to offer the popular iPhone to Malaysians, achieving annual targets, and it continued to boost the sale of BlackBerry phones. Maxis has Business Value Plus Plans for business people. Business Value Plus Plans have many ways to help save money when calling. Data Plans exclusive to iPad for iPad users to enjoy online entertainment with a much lower price. Maxis prepaid Hotlink come out with a new plan which is much cheaper than other competitors. Maxis focused on minimizing carbon footprint to care for the environment. As such, Maxis partners with Malaysia Airline Systems to reduce the impact to the environment, as well as an in-house recycling campaign. At their work place, efforts are taken to reduce wastage and disposal, reuse existing resources and recycle fully exhausted materials. 3.1.5 Technological Malaysia is set to get a HSBB internet support allowing fast internet access by utilizing fiber optic technology to transfer data. It will allow network operators to take part in and compete with each other in this new network. TM had already commissioned foreign major vendors to lead the project. RM11.3bil national HSBB project is a partnership between TM and our government to expand next-generation, high-speed broadband infrastructure and services for the country. As we know that, HSBB offers bandwidth at network speeds of 10Mbps and above, through fixed line only, as compared to regular broadband services which are delivered at network speeds ranging from 384Kbps to less than 10Mbps through fixed line which also known as DSL and wireless mode, such as 3G, HSDPA, WiMAX and WiFi. Maxis commercially launched the first-in-the-world contactless integrated mobile payment services that utilizes Near Field Communication technology, with partners Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch n Go to pay for purchases and transportation charges using mobile phones in year 9 April 2009. 3.1.6 Global Maxis brings excellent coverage in almost every corner of the country and their services are rapidly expanding. In addition to voice, GPRS and EDGE coverage, Maxis also offer Maxis 3G in Penang, Langkawi, Alor Setar, Kuantan, Genting, Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Kota Bahru, Ipoh, Malacca and Kuala Terengganu. In India, Global Communication Services Holdings (GCSHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian telco, Maxis Communications Berhad, has applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to increase its direct and indirect shareholding in Aircel from 26 percent to 73.9 percent. In year 2009, Maxis and the Western Union Company announce to launch of mobile money transfer service In Malaysia. It allows 11 million Maxis subscribers and 1.9 million foreign workers in Malaysia to send cross-border remittances directly from their mobile phones. 3.1.7 Physical environment The issues that Maxis concern is effective and efficient services, operating hours, and user-friendly facilities in order to improve the values the company can provide to its customers. Maxiss main challenge today is adapting well to a fast changing and often hostile environment of telecommunication industry. Things change very fast until the company is unable to cope with the rapid pace. As a result Maxis shifts at the top management team in order to tackle the changing business environment and global competition. As we all know that, the changes in Maxis is because of trying to deal with shifting market environment and to shift to the updated telecommunication technology, 3G. With the increasing demand for IT to achieve and support corporate objectives, IT department of Maxis must manage with a continuous barrage of changes such as changes in product requirements, technology, development processes, and deployment environments. As a result Maxis deliver newer technology assets and applications to their current customers and attract new customer base through proactive management of change. 3.2 Industry conditions (Porters Five Forces Analysis) Five forces which would impact an organizations behaviour in the market. Understanding the nature of these forces provides organizations the required insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998). 3.2.1 Threat of new entrants (high entry barriers) High capital investment for competitor entry into telecommunication industry. Companies in this industry incurred high fixed costs and spend fairly large amount of capital on network equipment and maintain development. Besides, technologies are also considered as barriers for new companies to enter the market. Maxiss reputation has been built around their superior customer service and quality network. Due to high expectations and standards that come with the Maxis brand it is not without reason that customers are more demanding of Maxis. As a result, Maxis always think that their business on being the customers first choice. Capital requirement usually build up a firm which is the high capability to compete in the industry. However, telecommunication is a high competitive industry in order to gain large market share. Therefore, new entrants have to ensure that they have ample financial resource to sustain in this industry. 3.2.2 Bargaining power of suppliers (high bargaining power of suppliers) Telecommunications industry in Malaysia is dependent on imports for the majority of its network components as most of the network equipment cannot be sourced locally. Maxis networks utilize standard equipment which is available from a limited number of suppliers. Most of the GSM equipment for Maxis mobile network operations is purchased from Motorola, Siemens and Trisilco Folec, and Maxis maintains close working relationships with its key network equipment suppliers. Since the suppliers of Maxis are limited, hence Maxis suppliers are powerful when the product they provide are differentiated or it has built up by switching cost. When there is occasional requirement by the buyers such as high investment in submarine fiber optic cable, and replace the copper cable and old satellite dishes that may provide reliable broadband connectivity. Maxis have high competitive environment causes existing entrants need to invest in high modernization technologies to enable the company to support and compete in this industry. Therefore, it is important for service providers to make sure the quality of the technology equipment. This makes the supplier group become more powerful. 3.2.3 Bargaining power of buyers (low bargaining power of buyers) In the era of globalization, advance of technology could increase the bargaining power of buyer, high available of information make it easier for buyer to evaluate sources of materials about telecommunication. There are many alternatives product such as fax, email, and internet which enhance the bargaining power of buyer to the mobile service provider. For the moment, high level of competition between the major telecommunication companies that exists in current market leads to low switching cost for the buyer to change their mobile service provider. Customers are highly price sensitive and easy to switch brand. It also means that customer will not be faithful to Maxis if they find out other brand provides better services than Maxis so they will change brand. As a result, this contributes to concentration of the buyers industry. Besides this, the buyers have high switching cost in this industry. As a result, the industry is more profitable when the buyers have low bargaining power which means the buyers are unable to affect the setting of prices in the industry. Maxis has came out with many Business Value Plus Plans for business people. It has so many methods to help save money when talking on the phone. Maxis wants to make sure that their customers can enjoy using Maxis services with a much lower price than other competitors. 3.2.4 Threat of substitute product (high threats of substitute) Maxis have many substitutes in the mobile industry. For instance, from traditional way which are using the letter, fixed home line telephone, fax and email to communication with other people till currently mostly everyone using broadband Internet services, which enable faster and always-on connection to the worldwide web, offer more promising growth potential. Furthermore, the pressure on the very low cost to use the phone calling via internet or communicate via online messenger had threatened the mobile industry. For example, nowadays many people use MSN, Facebook, and Skype to communicate rather than use their mobile. Threat of substitute product also will directly affect the profitability of Maxis. Substitute product is the product or services in other industries that is different from the existing product or services but serves the similar needs. Hence, threat of substitutes exists when a products demand is affected by the price change of a substitute product. This threat is supposed to be a strong point for Maxis because these substitute products such as letter or e-mail are unable to fulfill or completely replace the mobile services. 3.2.5 Intensity of rivalry among competitors (low intensity of rivalry) Telecommunication industry consists of only several mobile operators such as TM, Maxis, Digi, Celcom, Umobile and so on due to the entry restriction that imposed by the government. Profitability of the industry also affected greatly by the intensity of competition among existing competitors in the industry. Therefore, rivalry among competitors telecommunication industry in Malaysia is oligopoly structure nowadays and the level of competition in this particular industry is believed that to be low one. Maxis have two main competitors, they are Digi and Celcom. Cannot be denied that, Maxis lead the telecommunication industry. They largely compete on differentiate product and services on how to improve their features and implementing innovation to the customers. In addition, Maxis will definitely compete on the call rates, package price and so on with other two main competitors. Hence, Maxis try to gain competitive advantage through low call rate and price such as Youth Club. As we all know that Maxis, Digi and Celcom invested a lump sum of the money on advertising to promote their products and to attract more customers choose them. Summary of environmental scanning Basically, environmental scanning is about the careful examining of a firms internal and external environment for spotting early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence an organisations decision making process and its current and future plans. In the case of Maxis, they can spread and even penetrate into new market or other countries. Too much dependence on Malaysia as their main market is not enough in order to compete with its close competitors. Thus, Maxis can somehow implement its weakness into opportunities that might bring them into a new future plan. Plans such as adjustments to interconnect rates and ways to overcome the threats from its competitors are soon to be implemented. In the sense of customer care, lots of threats such as worms, Trojans, spyware and so forth would harm the special rights of customers as a Maxis user. Thus, Maxis requires certain software and devices so as to protect their customers from being tracked or harmed by unnecessary parties. Experts who can trace hackers or protect customers from being hacked are encouraged to stay in the management team in order to help overcome this threat. Although Maxis is the first telecommunication company to launch iPhone, the recent launch of Digis iPhone had posed further pressure on Maxis. In order to retain and attract more customers, Maxis would have to execute a better package with affordable rates for its users. Customer services must be improved to cater most of its customers needs. Also, they must keep upgrading their features or functions of its technological devices so as to lure more people in purchasing their products. It is normal to see some aggressive broadband promotions by wireless competitors. Therefore, Maxis must stand out as being more important than the rest to win over this challenging game. In addition to promotions, some other marketing strategies like collaboration with big companies in organizing an event, sponsorship from government agencies and what not can be carried out in order to gain good image from the public as a whole. 3.3 Description of key stakeholders Key Stakeholders are a subset of Stakeholders who, if their support were to be withdrawn, would cause the project to fail.  [5]   3.3.1 Capital Market Stakeholders Major suppliers of capital (e.g: banks) Shareholders Individuals, Bank/Finance Companies, Investment Trusts/Foundations/Charities, Other types of companies, Government Agencies/Institutions/Nominees In the company (Directors Interest in Shares) (Maxis Berhad Annual Report 2009, 2009) -Raja Tan Sri Dato Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda -Robert William Boyle -Dato Mokhzani bin Mahathir -Asgari bin Mohd Fuad Stephens -Eng. Saud Majed A. AlDaweesh -Dr. Fahad Hussain S. Mushayt -Ghassan Hasbani -Augustus Ralph Marshall -Chan Chee Beng -Sandip Das 30 Largest Shareholders (Maxis Berhad Annual Report 2009, 2009) 1. Maxis Communications Berhad 2. Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) 3. Employees Provident Fund Board 4. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera 5. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (U.S.A) 6. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 7. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Amanah Saham Malaysia 8. Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For Prudential Fund Management Berhad 9. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Amanah Saham Didik 10. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For J.P. Morgan Bank Luxembourg S.A 11. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For The Bank Of New York Mellon (Mellon Acct) 12. Malaysia Nominees (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad (Par 1) 13. Permodalan Nasional Berhad 14. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd BBH And Co Boston For Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund 15. Valuecap Sdn Bhd 16. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad A s 1Malaysia 17. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (U.A.E) 18. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Public Islamic Dividend Fund 19. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd TNTC For Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency 20. Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd Exempt AN For American International Assurance Berhad 21. DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad Exempt AN For Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad (MYET F-DJIM25) 22. HSBC Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd Nomura Asset Mgmt Malaysia For Malaysia For Employees Provident Fund 23. HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd TNTC For Mondrian Emerging Markets Equity Fund L.P 24. Cartaban Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd State Street For IS hares, Inc. 25. Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera 26. SBB Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) 27. CIMSEC Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd CIMB For Gegas Cekap Sdn Bhd (PB) 28. CIMSEC Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd CIMB For Tiara Gateway Sdn. Bhd. (PB) 29. Amanahraya Trustees Berhad Public Islamic Equity Fund 30. Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd ING Insurance Berhad (INV -IL PAR ) 3.3.2 Product Market Stakeholders Primary customers All users which subscribe Maxis line (either prepaid, postpaid or 3G) or buy the products such as Mobile Internet, Iphone, Blackberry, Android, Wireless and Wired broadband from Maxis. Primary customers for Maxis IP VPN (IP VPN, 2010) Customers Name Van Wijnen Groep N.V. Solvay Group Industry Construction Pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics Business Challenge Develop employee and customer satisfaction by establishing an ERP system and enhancing information flows through an improved private network. Facilitate business restructuring and support innovation. Network Solution Versatels IP VPN service is based on a Cisco MPLS network to provide a data solution that is managed end to end and gives excellent capabilities for supporting ERP. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ BT Infonets IP VPN service is brought over an MPLS network built end to end with Cisco equipment and possesses a Cisco Powered Network designation. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The service sustains Solvays global ERP and intranet developments. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The managed network offers a flexible and protected foundation for new services, such as voice and video over IP. Suppliers (Authorised Distributors, 2010) ZyXEL Communications Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd ZyXEL, founded in 1989 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is a pioneer manufacturer and supplier of DSL Customer Premise Equipment. ZyXEL is now worlds largest DSL router vendor and Europes second largest router supplier. In addition to its innovative products and solutions, ZyXEL has strong relationships with worldwide COE vendors such as Alcatel, Lucent and Nokia; ILECs such as Verizon and Chunghwa Telecom; international carriers such as France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica; ISPs such as EarthLink, Worldonline, Hinet, Seednet, Maxis and many others. Working closely with these and other partners, ZyXEL is committed to helping businesses succeed in the booming broadband market by providing them with value-added service and outstanding performance solutions at the most competitive price. Advanced Broadband Communications Sdn Bhd Advanced Broadband Communications Sdn Bhd is a newly formed company incorporated in April 2001. The company is a private joint venture, high-tech based company between Advanced Broadband Communication Sdn Bhd and Prestige Sierra Sdn Bhd. The company is 100% locally owned to provide total telecommunication solutions and services for both conventional IP Systems. The new technology that bridges conventional Circuit Switch communication to Internet Protocol (IP) communication. All IP-based solutions and services that will be developed and deployed by the company are targeted at business and personal users at all levels. Host communions Unions 3.3.3 Organizational Stakeholders Employees All employees who work under Maxis Managers (Malaysia Equity Research PP, 2010) Name Positions Sandip Das Chief Executive Officer Jean Pascal Emmanuel Dominique Van Overbeke Chief Operating Office Rossana Annizah binti Ahmad Rashid Chief Financial Officer Mark Guy Dioguardi Head of Network and Technology Stephen John Mead General Counsel Mohamed Fitri bin Abdullah Head of Enterprise Carrier Business Matthew Charles Willsher Chief Marketing Officer Azmi bin Ujang Head of Human Resources Chow Chee Yan Head of Internal Audit Chua Seok Theng Chief Information Officer Non-managers 3.4 SWOT analysis based on stakeholder groups 3.4.1 Capital Market Stakeholders Strengths Strong and competitive regional player. Association with MEASAT Satellite System. Weaknesses Depends too much on Malaysia as their main market. Opportunities Potential for triple play if tie-up with content provider/broadcaster, e.g. Astro. Association with Microsoft. Broadband market in Malaysia is growing. Wireless market in Asia Pacific has experienced a rapid growth. Threats Modifications to interconnect rates may pressure Maxis earnings as the company is a net receiver of calls. Regulatory framework. Mobile number portability in Malaysia. Intense competition from other telecommunication companies. 3.4.2 Product Market Stakeholders Strengths Premium branding and customer care persist to attract and retain subscribers. This is further followed by long term iPhone plans. Much broader 3G/3.5G coverage than Digi and similar coverage as Celcom. Largest subscriber base in Malaysia with c. 39% share. Largest postpaid subscriber base of c. 43% is vital to future market trend towards more postpaid subscribers. Its transparency and ability to deliver performance. Good loyalty programmes and perhaps the best family plan in Malaysia in our view. Weaknesses Maxis does not offer triple play of mobile, broadband and pay TV. Opportunities 32% of the Malaysian population is under 15 years old, which is a main target for broadband services over the next 15 years. New mobile devices, e.g. iPhone (4G) and recently launched iPad drive demand for broadband services. Under-served broadband population provides great growth opportunities. Selective enterprise opportunities as Maxis build backhaul capacity mainly for wireless broadband, thus it can target some lucrative enterprise businesses by using the same backhaul network. Threa