Political Profile of President Barack Obama

On November 4, 2008, 47-year-old Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the United States, after a hard-fought two-year presidential campaign. He was sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. Fast Facts: Barack Obama Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama, IIKnown For: 44th President of the United States, in office January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017Born: August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, HawaiiParents: Barack Obama Sr. and Ann DunhamSpouse: Married on October 18, 1992 to Michelle Robinson, an attorney and Chicago nativeChildren: Malia and SashaEducation: B.A. in international relations, 1983, Columbia University. J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first black Editor of the Harvard Law ReviewMajor Accomplishments: First African American president, Nobel Peace Price (2009), Profile in Courage Award (2017), best-selling authorFun Fact: Obama is a Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears fan, and an avid basketball player Early Life Born Barack Hussein Obama, Jr, his father was a Kenya-born Harvard-educated economist and his mother was Ann Dunham, a Caucasian anthropologist. He was 2 years old when his father left the family. His father (deceased in 1982) returned to Kenya and only saw his son once more. His mother remarried and moved Barack to Indonesia. He returned to Hawaii at age 10 to live with his maternal grandparents. He graduated from the respected Punahou School with honors. As a teenager, he scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, and has admitted to dabbling in marijuana and cocaine. His mother died of cancer in 1995. Political Timeline Before entering politics, Obama worked as a community organizer and a civil rights attorney. In addition, Obama was a Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at University of Chicago Law School. In the early 90s, he aggressively organized one of the largest voter registration drives in Chicago history to help Bill Clintons 1992 election. Obama (D-IL) was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2004, after serving seven years as an Illinois state senator. In 2004, Sen. Obama also signed a $1.9 million deal to author three books. The first, The Audacity of Hope, discusses his political convictions. His 1995 autobiography was a bestseller. Barack Obamas voting record and stances as US Senator and Illinois State Senator reflect a practical, common sense progressive thinker who emphasizes increased support for teachers, college affordability, and restoration of meaningful federal support of veterans. As a Senator, Obamas areas of special legislative interest were in support for working families, public education, health care, economic growth, and job creation, and ending the Iraq War. As an Illinois state senator, he worked passionately for ethics reforms and criminal justice reform. Obama first rose to national prominence when he delivered an inspiring keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama declared his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency. On June 3, 2008, Obama accumulated enough Democratic convention delegates votes to become the presumptive party nominee for the presidential race. On October 9, 2009, the Nobel Committee announced that President Barack Obama had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The Obama Persona Barack Obama is an independent-minded leader with an even-keel temperament, charismatic speaking skills and a knack for consensus-building. Hes also a talented, introspective writer. His values are strongly shaped by his expertise as a Constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney, and by Christianity. While private by nature, Obama mingles easily with others, but is most comfortable addressing large crowds. He is known for being unafraid to speak and hear hard truths when necessary. Obama was named by Time magazine in 2005, 2007, and 2008 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Memorable Quotes You cant have No Child Left Behind if you leave the money behind. I do agree that the Democrats have been intellectually lazy in failing to take the core ideals of the Democratic Party and adapting them to circumstances.... Its not just a matter of sticking in a quote from the Bible into a stock speech. There has yet to be a serious conversation about health care on the floor of the United States Senate. As parents, we need to find the time and the energy to step in and find ways to help our kids love reading. We can read to them, talk to them about what theyre reading and make time for this by turning off the TV ourselves. Libraries can help parents with this. Knowing the constraints we face from busy schedules and a TV culture, we need to think outside the box here - to dream big like we always have in America. Right now, children come home from their first doctors appointment with an extra bottle of formula. But imagine if they came home with their first library card or their first copy of Goodnight Moon? What if it was as easy to get a book as it is to rent a DVD or pick up McDonalds? What if instead of a toy in every Happy Meal, there was a book? What if there were portable libraries that rolled through parks and playgrounds like ice cream trucks? Or kiosks in stores where you could borrow books? What if during the summer, when kids often lose much of the reading progress theyve made during the year, every child had a list of books they had to read and talk about and an invitation to a summer reading club at the local library? Libraries have a special role to play in our knowledge economy. — June 27, 2005 Speech to the American Library Association

The Major Categories Of Disorder - 1063 Words

Assignment 8.1 Casey N. Gary Concorde Career College Some of the major categories of disorder include the following: †¢ Anxiety Disorders †¢ Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders †¢ Dissociative Disorders †¢ Feeding and Eating Disorders †¢ Mood Disorders †¢ Neurocognitive Disorders †¢ Neurodevelopmental Disorders †¢ Personality Disorders †¢ Sleep-Wake Disorders †¢ Somatic Symptoms and Related Disorders †¢ Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders †¢ Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders Mood Disorders Mood disorders consist of a widespread range of mood issues, such as key depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder. Approximately 20.9 million American adults suffer from these disorders. Major†¦show more content†¦People with dysthymia can also experience episodes of major depression. Depressive disorders and major depressive disorder differ in severity and length of symptoms. Minor depression is defined by a period of at least two weeks of depression. Minor depressive episodes do not fully meet the criteria for major depression but can develop into major depression if left untreated. Other forms of depression exist as well. Psychotic depression occurs when psychosis, a complete break from reality, and depression are both present. Postpartum depression is sometimes experienced by new mothers. This form of depression results from physical and hormonal changes combined with the pressure of caring for a newborn. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that affects people during times of decreased sunlight, particularly in the winter months when the days are shorter. bipolar-disorderBipolar disorder is a dangerous and debilitating disorder that causes a person’s mood, activity and energy levels to shift unexpectedly. People with bipolar disorder experience severe mania, and they may or may not have episodes of depression. They usually have some periods of partial or full stability as well. Substance-Induced Mood Disorders The most common psychiatric co-occurring disorders are substance abuse and mood disorders. It is common for people with mood disorders to turn to substance abuse. The substance abuse, in turn, exacerbates

Should the goverment have a say in what we eat free essay sample

Should the government have a say in our diets, Many people will argue that it is freedom of choice to eat whatever you want but the government has a right to interfere with that freedom if it is infringing upon the rights of others. I am not saying that if someone is eating unhealthy it is going to eliminate another persons freedom but it does affect everyone in the nation. With a rising number of people with poor diets, the number of people suffering from obesity rises also. Obesity can cause a person many medical complications in their lifetime. These medical complications mean that there will be more trips to hospitals which can cause insurance rates to go up, affecting a large number of people. Obesity also causes other expenses for the nation such as needing to pay for larger seats, hospital beds, etc. to fit the rising number of obese individuals. We will write a custom essay sample on Should the goverment have a say in what we eat or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page And to all of you who say that Michelle Obama should mind her own business-you should be grateful that she is more concerned for your well being than you are for yourselves. And just so you know, go back to middle school history class-the First Lady doesnt make or pass the laws, Congress does. Should the government have a say in our diets, Many people will argue that it is freedom of choice to eat whatever you want but the government has a right to interfere with that freedom if it is infringing upon the rights of others. I am not saying that if someone is eating unhealthy it is going to eliminate another persons freedom but it does affect everyone in the nation. With a rising number of people with poor diets, the number of people suffering from obesity rises also. Obesity can cause a person many medical complications in their lifetime. These medical complications mean that there will be more trips to hospitals which can cause insurance rates to go up, affecting a large number of people. Obesity also causes other expenses for the nation such as needing to pay for larger seats, hospital beds, etc. to fit the rising number of obese individuals. And to all of you who say that Michelle Obama should mind her own business-you should be grateful that she is more concerned for your well being than you are for yourselves. And just so you know, go back to middle school history class-the First Lady doesnt make or pass the laws, Congress does.

Marfan Syndrome Essays (1425 words) - Rare Diseases,

Marfan Syndrome Marfans syndrome is a disorder of connective tissue. Marfans syndrome effects the skeleton, lungs, eyes, heart, and blood vessels. It can also effect men and women of any race or ethnic group. Marfans can have fatal consequences and outcomes. It effects one out of every thousand. Marfans syndrome damages the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and ocular systems of a patient. Without proper diagnosis and treatment, a person's life with Marfans syndrome could become endangered. Dr. Antoice Marfan discovered Marfans syndrome in 1896. Through the years the technology to increase the life expectancy of its patients has grown. It is the most common inherited disorder. Marfan syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder that affects the connective tissue. The connective tissue is the most abundant tissue in the body. It supports and protects many other tissues in the body. It is a vital component of all organs and gives strength to blood vessels. Marfan syndrome is linked to FBN1 gene on chromosome 15.6 Chromosome 15 contains a gene that codes for type I collagen receptors, cardiac and muscle actin.4 FBN1 encodes a protein. The protein is called fibrillin. This is essential for the formation of elastic fibers, which are located in the connective tissues.6 A decrease production of fibrillin causes the gene to mutate.4 Thirty percent of cases arise from the new mutation of the gene.1 Since fibirllin is present in so many structures of the body, clinical research of the disease varies with each structure.4 The degeneration of the elastin leads to aortic dilation or enlargement.1 Marfan syndrome's symptoms are mostly related with the heart. As a child, a marfan child's heart appears to grow normally. As time goes by the aortic root dilation is common and there is a rapid increase in aortic size. This causes an increase in heart complications. Marfan's patients have to undergo multiple and extensive surgeries. Doctors have to treat many heart problems with marfan patients. One is the treatment of ascending aortic aneurysm. This is an enlarging sac that is formed by local enlargement of the wall of the aortic artery. Another surgery used in treating this disorder is the replacing of a totally new aortic root with a composite valve. Marfan patient's heart undergoes valve prolapse and regurgitation. Regurgitation is the backward flow of the blood. This can be due to an imperfect closure of the heart valve. Another heart problem with Marfan patients is the dilation of the left ventricle. This can result in heart failure.1 [Beta]-blocker therapy have shown to slow the aortic dilation and prevent aortic dissection.5 The use of medication has lowered the arterial pressure, regular aortic imaging, and elective aortic repair of the heart. It also lowers blood pressure. The medication has prolonged the life expectancy of a Marfan patient by twenty-five years.3 A Marfan patient should follow the ?Three Goals of Medical Management.? The first goal is to ?prevent serious aortic complications by minimizing aortic wall stress.? The patient needs to avoid any stress. They should also avoid extensive exercise that could put more stress on their heart. Pregnancy for a Marfan patient is considered a ?high risk.? Pregnancy puts a demand on the cardiovascular system. Pregnant woman with Marfan syndrome should have an echocardiography every six weeks until birth of the baby. The second goal is to ?prevent bacterial endocarditis.? Patients should be provided with antibodies which helps control high-risk bacterial endocarditis. The third goal is to ?detect card iovascular manifestations early.? The sooner that it is detected the better chance of surviving and complications.5 Cardiovascular complications is the most leading cause of death among Marfan patients. Among cardiovascular complications, it is the aortic dissection or rupture that causes patients to die3. The reason for a decrease in life is caused by the progressive dilation of the aortic root and ascending aorta. This causes weakness of the blood vessels. The weakness leads to the aortic valve regurgitation and aortic dissection. Eighty percent of adults have aortic enlargements. Symptoms associated with aortic dissection are pain in the front or back of chest, or the abdomen. The pain is a severe midline pain. Small dissections of the aorta may be painless or unnoticeable.4 Despite the incredible improvements in the procedure to prolong life for

Comparison of Adjectives

Comparison of Adjectives Comparison of Adjectives Comparison of Adjectives By Maeve Maddox If memory serves, I was taught the rules for comparing adjectives in fifth or sixth grade: 1. Adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. 2. The comparative is formed with -er or more. 3. The superlative is formed with -est or most. 4. Short words like big and happy take -er and -est: big, bigger, biggest; happy, happier, happiest. 5. Long words, like beautiful and intelligent take more and most: beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; intelligent, more intelligent, most intelligent. This simplified summary applies in most situations. Fine-tuning comes with reading experience. Yet many speakers seem not to have learned these general rules for comparing adjectives: He’ll go out of his way to be nice to your friends and family so he can make a good impression on them, even if it’s only because he knows that’ll make you more happy. I am more strong than I have ever been and my clients are getting better results as well. It did make my lawn more green. product review How to make your company more green Let’s make the world more greener. Making cars more greener How to make your neighborhood more safe figuring out how to make low-income communities more safer for women. These quotations are taken from various blogs. One could say, â€Å"Well, these aren’t professional journalists, so why be so critical?† It seems to me that the general rules for the comparison of adjectives can be mastered by a twelve-year-old. Anyone who has completed eight years of formal education can be expected to have gotten the hang of it. But it is not only the amateur writers who get it wrong. The following is from a writer who has shared two Pulitzer prizes: [something to do with economics] is a more strong indicator.† Linguists might argue that dropping of the -er, -est forms is driven by the natural urge of the language towards grammatical simplification. Perhaps. But â€Å"more greener† and â€Å"more safer†? I don’t think that has anything to do with evolutionary simplification of the language. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of Rhyme15 Types of Documents20 Names of Body Parts and Elements and Their Figurative Meanings

Grammatical Error Definition and Examples

Grammatical Error Definition and Examples Grammatical error is a term used in prescriptive grammar  to describe an instance of faulty, unconventional, or controversial usage, such as a ​misplaced modifier  or an inappropriate verb tense. Also called a usage error. Compare grammatical error with correctness. Grammatical errors are usually distinguished from (though sometimes confused with) factual errors, logical fallacies,  misspellings, typographical errors, and faulty punctuation. Interestingly, many people  tend to view usage errors primarily as gaffes or potential sources of embarrassment, not as impediments to effective communication. According to an ad for an amazing book on usage, Mistakes in English can cause you embarrassment, hold you back socially and on the job. It can make you look awkward and hide your true intellect. (Note that in the second sentence the singular pronoun it has no clear referent. Many English teachers would regard this as a grammatical error- specifically, a case of faulty pronoun reference.)   Examples and Observations The expression grammatical error sounds, and is, in a sense, paradoxical, for the reason that a form cannot be grammatical and erroneous at the same time. One would not say musical discord. . . . Because of the apparent contradiction of terms, the form grammatical error should be avoided and error in construction, or error in English, etc., be used in its stead. Of course one should never say, good grammar or bad grammar.(J. T. Baker, Correct English, Mar. 1, 1901)â€Å"We believe, as do most linguists, that native speakers do not make mistakes.†(Peter Trudgill and Lars-Gunnar Andersson, 1990, quoted by Carl James in Errors in Language Learning and Use. Addison Wesley Longman, 1998) Garner on Grammatical Errors If descriptivists believe that any linguistic evidence validates usage, then we must not be descriptivists. Hardly anyone wants to be a nonjudgmental collector of evidence. It’s far more interesting and valuable to assemble the evidence and then to draw conclusions from it. Judgments. Rulings. To the extent that the masses want such reasoningas one could only wishit’s because they want to use language effectively. (Bryan A. Garner, Which Language Rules to Flout. Or Flaunt? The New York Times, September 27, 2012)Because grammatical may mean either (1) relating to grammar [grammatical subject] or (2) consistent with grammar [a grammatical sentence], there is nothing wrong with the age-old phrase grammatical error (sense 1). Its as acceptable as the phrases criminal lawyer and logical fallacy. (Bryan A. Garner, Garners Modern American Usage. Oxford University Press, 2009) Grammar and Usage Usage is a concept that embraces many aspects of and attitudes toward language. Grammar is certainly only a small part of what goes to make up usage, though some people use one term for the other, as when they label what is really a controversial point of usage a grammatical error. (Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., 2003) Error Analysis Error analysis, as a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach to error, provides a methodology for determining why a student makes a particular grammatical error and has been a potentially valuable borrowing from this field [research in second-language acquisition], one that could have altered the prescriptive drilling of standard forms which still comprises much of basic writing texts. Unfortunately, however, error analysis in the composition classroom has generally served to simply keep the focus on error. (Eleanor Kutz, Between Students Language and Academic Discourse: Interlanguage as Middle Ground. Negotiating Academic Literacies, ed. by Vivian Zamel and Ruth Spack. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998) The Lighter Side of Grammatical Error First mobster: Hey. Theys throwin robots.Linguo: They are throwing robots.Second mobster: Its disrespecting us. Shut up ayou face.Linguo: Shut up your face.Second mobster: Whatsa matta you?First mobster: You aint so big.Second mobster: Me an him are gonna whack you in the labonza.Linguo: Mmmm . . . Aah! Bad grammar overload. Error. Error.[Linguo explodes](Trilogy of Error, The Simpsons, 2001) Also Known As: error, usage error, grammar error or mistake, bad grammar

Global youth culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global youth culture - Essay Example These transnational corporations provide for a uniform ground and uniform commodities which the youth across the global divide can consume and share uniformly through media. Known for its historic architecture, Cincinnati is impacted by and impacts on global youth culture. The city of Cincinnati has sports teams that are identified by and supported by other youth from other nations. Cincinnati, for instance, is home to the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball in the Cincinnati Reds. The City is also home to the Cincinnati Bengals, a National Football League Franchise. Youths from other regions identify with sportsmen and women on these teams to which they may derive an identity or idea from. Youths may sport the sporting jerseys from these Cincinnati teams. The same can also be said of youths from Cincinnati who may identify with other sports teams and sporting heroes that may come from other regions. Through platforms provided by ICT technology, youths from Cincinnati can learn and follow their ideas and tastes. Cincinnati also hosts ‘taste of Cincinnati’, which represents the longest culinary arts festival in the US. This event is held annually in Downtown Cincinnati and attracts crowds of approximately 500,000 annually. The event showcases culinary delicacies from fine restaurants within the city while also highlighting local music talent. Through the event, the city gets to share its food culture with visitors from other regions of the country and the globe and may impact on their food preferences.

What effects does parental involvement have on low income families or Annotated Bibliography

What effects does parental involvement have on low income families or Does parental involement have an effect on educational achievement - Annotated Bibliography Example including economic demographics, genetic predispositions, overall intelligence, and social factors, like parental involvement. The latter is a fascinating element. A parent’s active involvement in their children’s schooling can have a profound positive impact. There is however, a balance that needs to be achieved; after all too much parental involvement can be detrimental, depending on how that involvement is applied. The articles reviewed for this discussion allow for a thorough and balanced perspective on the topic. These sources, as a whole, were not particularly difficult to obtain. Google search provided a number of online accessible journal sources, simply, by applying the keywords, â€Å"parental involvement and student achievement.† Combined together these sources give a broader area of research and contributes to understanding of the relevant facts and allow for an unbiased viewpoint to answer the applicable questions of this issue. This article intended to determine how relevant parental involvement, or lack of, truly has on elementary school age children in the 1st, 3rd and 5th grades. The authors propose that, although, the immense amount of research has shown that parental involvement is imperative, hugely impactful, and should be encouraged, most research cannot say with absolutely certainty that involvement effects overall academic achievement.(El Nokali, Bachman & Votruba-Drzal, 2010) There is a definite correlation between less â€Å"bad† classroom behavior due to parental involvement and can aid in social development, but not directly on academic achievement. This article is a very interesting source. It is useful in that it approaches the correlation between parental involvement and academic achievement with a skeptical eye. Parental involvement is important and should be recommended, but it may not be a guarantor that it will ensure a

Entire Course (Managerial Economics) Essay Example for Free

Entire Course (Managerial Economics) Essay Firm Objectives. Why do some business firms pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome while others focus only on profit maximization? Please, use a real company example to illustrate your points Decision Making Under Uncertainty. To save on gasoline expenses, Edith and Mathew agreed to carpool together for traveling to and from work. Edith preferred to travel on I-20 highway as it was usually the fastest, taking 25 minutes in the absence of traffic delays. Mathew pointed out that traffic jams on the highway can lead to long delays making the trip 45 minutes. He preferred to travel along Shea Boulevard, which was longer (35 minutes), but rarely had traffic jams. Edith agreed that in case of traffic jams, Shea Boulevard was a reasonable alternative. Neither of them knows the state of the highway ahead of time. After driving to work on the I-20 highway for 1 month (20 workdays), they found the highway to be jammed 3 times. Assuming that this month is a good representation of all months ahead, should Edith and Mathew continue to use the highway for traveling to work? How would you conclusion change for the winter months, if bad weather makes it likely for traffic jams on the highway to increase to 6 days per month? How would your conclusion change if Mathew purchased a new smart-phone app that could show the status of the highway traffic prior to their drive each morning, thus reducing the probability of them getting into a jam down to only 1day per month (where on this day, the app showed no traffic jam, but a jam developed in the meantime as they were driving along the highway). Economics of Risk and Uncertainty Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. A generous university benefactor has agreed to donate a large amount of money  for student scholarships. The money can be provided in one lump-sum of $10mln, or in parts, where $5.5mln can be provided in year 1, and another $5.5mln can be provided in year 2. Assuming the opportunity interest rate is 6%, what is the present value of the second alternative? Which of the two alternatives should be chosen and why? How would your decision change if the opportunity interest rate was 12%? Please, show all your calculations. 2. Volkswagen is considering opening an Assembly Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the production of its 2012 Passat, tailored for the US market. The CEO of the company is considering two potential options for the size of the plant: one is a large size with a projected annual production of 150,000 cars, and the other one is a smaller size plant, which is cheaper to build, but can only produce up to 80,000 cars per year. Depending on the expected level of demand for these cars in the US, Volkswagen has to decide which option is more profitable. The discount rate is 6% and for simplicity purposes, the CEO is only evaluating a two-year horizon. The initial factory setup cost, the expected demand scenarios, profit, and probabilities are shows in the below table. Calculate the Net Present Value in each of the two options. Which option should the CEO choose and why? Please, show all your calculations. 3. An angel investor is considering investing in one of two start-up businesses and is evaluating the expected returns along with the risk of each option in order to choose the better alternative. Business 1 is an innovative protein energy drink, which has ENPV of $100,000 with a standard deviation of $40,000. Business 2 is a unique chicken wings dipping sauce with an ENPV of $60,000 and a standard deviation of $25,000. a) Apply the coefficient-of-variation decision criterion to these alternatives to find out which is preferred by the angel investor, assuming that he/she is risk-averse. b) Apply the maximin criterion, assuming that the worst outcome in Business 1 is to lose $5,000, whereas the worst outcome in Business 2 is to make only $5,000 in profit. c) If you were the angel investor, what is your certainty equivalent for these two projects? Are you risk-averse, risk-neutral, or risk-lover? Week 2 Marginal Rate of Substitution. What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it diminish as  the consumer substitutes one product for another? Use examples to illustrate Demand Elasticity. Please, read the article Hainer, R. (2010), provided in the required readings section for this week. The tobacco industry is a prime example to consider when talking about price elasticity of demand. While nicotine use can be addictive for many users, it is not addictive for the so-called social smokers. What can we say about the price elasticity of demand for nicotine products (such as cigarettes, pipes, tobacco) in the group of nicotine addicted users, versus the group of social smokers? Can we say whose demand is likely to be more elastic? Why? Consumer Demand Analysis and Estimation Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. Roshima is researching universities where she could study for her MBA degree. She is considering 3 major attributes that she considers important in her choice: ranking, price, and location. The value she places on each attribute, however, differs according to whether she remains full-time employed during her studies or quits her job and focuses on her degree. If she continues to work full time and takes all her courses online, then ranking is the most important attribute, twice as important as price and three times as important as location. If she quits her job and attends school full time, then location becomes three times as important as ranking and twice as important as price. She is considering two universities, respectively, the MBA program at Arizona State University (ASU) and the MBA program at University of Phoenix (UOP), both of which are priced at approximately $25,000. She has rated each attribute on a scale of 1 to 100 for each of the two schools. a. Which of the two options should Roshima pursue of she wants to keep her full-time job? (Calculate the total expected utility from each school option and compare. Graph is not required) b. Which of the two options should she pick if she plans to quit her job and dedicate to her studies? c. Which option should she pursue if the probability of being laid off and unable to find a new job is estimated as  0.6? Show your calculations and explain your reasoning. 2. The demand function for Einstein Bagels has been estimated as follows: – 40.73Px + 84.17Py + 0.55Ax  where Qx represents thousands of bagels; Px is the price per bagel; Py is the average price per bagel of other brands of bagels; and Ax represents thousands of dollars spent advertising Einstein Bagels. The current values of the independent variables are , , and a. Calculate the price elasticity of demand for Einstein’s Bagels and explain what it means. b. Derive an expression for the (inverse) demand curve for Einsteins’s Bagels. c. If the cost of producing Einstein’s Bagels is constant at $0.10 per bagel, should they reduce price and thereafter, sell more bagels (assume profit maximization is the company’s goal)? d. Should Einstein Bagels spend more on advertising? 3. The consulting firm that you work for has been hired by the US Government to provide an independent analysis of the demand-side effects of a contemplated increase in the tax on gasoline. They provide you with a data set relating to the period 1962-1987, which they say contains valuable historic lessons relating to the impact of volatile pump prices due to the supply restrictions imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations that required car manufacturers to increase the fuel efficiency of the cars they sold, while at the same time Real Disposable Income (RDI) per capita was rising, the number of passenger cars (NPC) almost doubled, and inflation was pushing up the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Week 3 Relevant Costs. Two partners own together a small landscaping business in North Carolina, called Summer Lawn Care. They have been specializing in summer grass seeding, installation, and maintenance. Recently, the partners acquired special technology and know-how for winter grass installations and maintenance. They also added a tree cutting service as recent storms in the  area had caused demand for this service to soar. One of the partners insists that the name of the business should change to Lawn and Tree Care, so that it better reflects the range of services and, thus, generates more customer interest, and thus contracts. The second partner wants to keep the old name and argues, â€Å"We have already paid for business cards, vehicle paint, signage, and ads in Yellow Pages†. Evaluate the arguments of the two partners. Explain and illustrate their points by identifying the relevant and irrelevant costs for this decision. Contribution Analysis. Explain what is meant by â€Å"contribution analysis†. Carefully define the term and provide examples to illustrate it. Production Cost Analysis and Estimation Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. Jennifer Trucking Company operates a large rig transportation business in Texas that transports locally grown vegetables to San Diego, California. The company owns 5 large rigs and hires local drivers paid fixed salaries monthly, regardless of the number of trips or tons of cargo that each driver transports each month. 2. The Palms Dry Cleaning Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, faces a highly seasonal demand for its services, as the snow-birds retirees flock to Florida in mid-fall to enjoy the mild winter weather and then return to their main homes in mid-spring. Given this seasonality, Palms tries to keep the overhead costs as low as possible and therefore, often uses seasonal contracted labor to man its operations. The following table shows the labor costs in each month of operation over the past 12 months as well as the total number of garments that were dry-cleaned in each month. Palms pays fixed wages per hour to each employee, and we can assume that the costs of other variable inputs (such as chemicals, electricity, etc) have remained constant. 3. Over the past 12 months the Four Winds Novelty Company firm has recorded its internet sales (equals monthly output levels) and its monthly total variable costs (TVC) for a particular novelty item as shown in the following table. Sales have grown over this period with  relatively few shocks due to uncontrollable weather, political and sporting events. This online retailer carries no inventories; when it receives a pre-paid on-line order from a customer, it simply buys the product from a supplier and ships it out to the customer. Week 4 Strategic Behavior Oligopolies. An interesting example of strategic behavior comes from a 1997 article about Microsoft’s investment in Apple (New Straits Times, 1997). The article is included in the Required Readings list. Facing tough anti-trust scrutiny from government agencies, Microsoft provided financial support to Apple in order to ensure Apple’s survival and, therefore, to ensure that competitiveness in the industry remains. Moreover, the partnership with Apple provided an additional market for Microsoft’s products – the MS Office and the IE products were to be bundled with the MAC OS as one of the conditions for this financing. Discuss this case in the context of market structure and strategic behavior. What market structure do these firms operate in? Why did Microsoft need to preserve competitiveness in the industry? What was Microsoft afraid of in the event that Apple did not survive? Local Market Power. Bulls Eye department store specializes in the sales of discounted clothing, shoes, household items, etc. similar to the offerings at a regular Walmart or Target. Bulls Eye is the only department store in Show Low and the nearest other discount retailer is Target, located 49 miles away in Eagar. Bulls Eye, therefore, has some market power in its local area. Despite having some market power, Bulls Eye is currently suffering losses. An analyst at Bulls Eye is recommending to the manager to raise prices, so that profitability can be improved. The manager is unsure of this strategy as recent data points to increasing numbers of individuals shopping more and more. What are the pros and cons of raising the prices at Bulls Eye and would that strategy be profitable? Market Structures and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems. A small business which produces plastic vacuum-suction covers for round household dishes has  a monopoly that is protected by a utility patent. The market demand curve for this product is estimated to be: – 25P where Q is the number of plate covers per year and P is in dollars. Cost estimation processes have determined that the firm’s cost function is represented by + 2500Q -0.25*Q2. 2. Greener Grass Company (GGC) competes with its main rival, Better Lawns and Gardens (BLG), in the supply and installation of in-ground lawn watering systems in the wealthy western suburbs of a major east-coast city.Last year, GGC’s price for the typical lawn system was $1,995 compared with BLG’s price of $2,100. GGC installed 9,130 systems, or about 55% of total sales and BLG installed the rest. (No doubt many additional systems were installed by do-it-yourself homeowners since the parts are readily available at har dware stores.) Week 5 Good Will in Price Bidding. Sometimes, a bidder on a work contract may bid lower than what would maximize his/her profit from the contract and the reason for that is to create goodwill (to increase expected future business from the buyer). How would you value the goodwill that is obtained in this way? New Product Introduction. Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany owns the Alka-Seltzer, which was launched in 1931 and was meant for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, sour stomach, indigestion, and hangovers. The Alka-Seltzer Plus was a spin-off of the original medicine, meant to relieve colds and flu. The company has recently introduced a new and improved Alka-Seltzer Plus, as described in the TV ad: â€Å"The Cold Truth†, (please, watch the ad listed in the Required Readings) Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. Maxim Motronics A.G. have been marketing a new product in Europe that has achieved notable market success and it now plans to introduce this product into the United States market. Week 6 Game Theory and Strategic Behavior. Suppose that GE is trying to prevent Maytag from entering the market for high efficiency clothes dryers. Even though high efficiency dryers are more costly to produce, they are also more profitable as they command sufficiently higher prices from consumers. The following payoffs table shows the annual profits for GE and Maytag for the advertising spending and entry decisions that they are facing. Based on this information, can GE successfully prevent Maytag from entering this market by increasing its advertising levels? What is the equilibrium outcome in this game? Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Describe the circumstances under which a firm chooses a low-cost strategy to attain sustainable competitive advantage. What about the situations when a differentiation strategy is chosen? Provide specific real world examples. Focus of the Final Paper Research a specific company of your choice and identify some of the managerial decisions that were made over time and in response to changes in its market or competitive environment. Use the Ashford University Online Library and web-based sources for your research. At least three external scholarly sources must be used. Address all of the following areas: Describe the company and provide a brief history of its operations. Find or use graphs to illustrate its financial performance over the years. Identify any sources of risk or uncertainty in its operations. Do the financial reports indicate risky or uncertain activities or changes to the economic environment that ultimately appear to have affected the company’s financial outcomes? Be specific. Are there any government regulations that have affected this company’s operations domestically or abroad? Explain.

Heart of Darkness :: essays papers

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, achieved classical recognition for its depiction of humanity’s struggle to reconcile good and evil. From the very opening pages of the Bible man has wrestled with choice, opportunity, propensity and instinct. The knowledge of good and evil has surely caused us to die to simplicity and burdened us with the curse of self-awareness. At first it was a struggle for me to get from page to page because of Conrad’s intricate details. I was not accustomed to his unique writing style and I would often find myself lost in his descriptive language. I soon became frustrated with both the book and myself, which made it even more of a task to read. The devastating transition of Kurtz was the factor that awoke my interest. Kurtz, a highly respectable man full of talent and potential was taken over by the evil that stirred from deep within his soul. I found this change of character fascinating because of my interest in the field of psychology. I find the study of human nature intriguing, which attracted me to Kurtz. Conrad had made me wonder what made someone of Kurtz’s caliber change so drastically. I found myself relating this change in character to a personal experience. A year ago someone whom I knew and trusted betrayed me. I saw a side of her that I would have never even imagined was there. Something deep from within caused this person to hurt me, an evil that even she was not aware she possessed. This event in my life made me question what separates the weak from the strong, the good from the evil, or even Kurtz from Marlow? Kurtz’s transition from good to evil led me to the issue of nature vs. nurture. This question of whether hereditary or environment is responsible for the development of ones personality has been around for centuries, and still it remains unanswered. We have discussed this question many times in psychology. Some feel that your personality is reflective of your genetic makeup, and that personality will stay the same regardless of environment. Others are convinced that environment shapes personal characteristics. In The Heart of Darkness, Kurtz seems to have changed because of the environment. He was placed in an atmosphere where his evil instincts were able to take over. Heart of Darkness :: essays papers Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, achieved classical recognition for its depiction of humanity’s struggle to reconcile good and evil. From the very opening pages of the Bible man has wrestled with choice, opportunity, propensity and instinct. The knowledge of good and evil has surely caused us to die to simplicity and burdened us with the curse of self-awareness. At first it was a struggle for me to get from page to page because of Conrad’s intricate details. I was not accustomed to his unique writing style and I would often find myself lost in his descriptive language. I soon became frustrated with both the book and myself, which made it even more of a task to read. The devastating transition of Kurtz was the factor that awoke my interest. Kurtz, a highly respectable man full of talent and potential was taken over by the evil that stirred from deep within his soul. I found this change of character fascinating because of my interest in the field of psychology. I find the study of human nature intriguing, which attracted me to Kurtz. Conrad had made me wonder what made someone of Kurtz’s caliber change so drastically. I found myself relating this change in character to a personal experience. A year ago someone whom I knew and trusted betrayed me. I saw a side of her that I would have never even imagined was there. Something deep from within caused this person to hurt me, an evil that even she was not aware she possessed. This event in my life made me question what separates the weak from the strong, the good from the evil, or even Kurtz from Marlow? Kurtz’s transition from good to evil led me to the issue of nature vs. nurture. This question of whether hereditary or environment is responsible for the development of ones personality has been around for centuries, and still it remains unanswered. We have discussed this question many times in psychology. Some feel that your personality is reflective of your genetic makeup, and that personality will stay the same regardless of environment. Others are convinced that environment shapes personal characteristics. In The Heart of Darkness, Kurtz seems to have changed because of the environment. He was placed in an atmosphere where his evil instincts were able to take over.

Bmw Case

What was BMW’s motivation behind the idea of producing the films? BMW’s motivation behind the idea of producing the films was one to simply communicate, and focus on â€Å"what makes a BMW a BMW†. In fact, there was no product launch to advertise and BMW was able to use this time to shift its strategy from ‘push’ to ‘pull’. The goal of this advertisement was to â€Å"produce the most exciting, fun thing people had ever seen come out of their computer†. In terms of numbers, this campaign was used to maintain growth and sales, which had been growing excessively since 1992: from 60 000 units sold to 180 000 units (exhibit 1). In terms of target, BMW wanted to attract younger generations while still keeping its current target audience. This would enable the brand to increase the already high brand loyalty (44. 7%, Exhibit 8a), by getting customers from a younger age, and therefore following them throughout their lives. In terms of image, the goals of this campaign were to strengthen the company’s brand image in luxury segment, and differentiate it from other competitors. Who was the target market for the BMW Films campaign? With its campaign, BMW was hoping to reach customers between the ages of 25 to 44 who were new to the luxury car market, without affecting their current customer base, being 46 year old male, married with no children with a median income of about $150 000. This target audience was therefore well educated, two thirds were very active males engaged in sports and other activities. BMW wanted to target people who wanted a perfect product, stylish and which offered great driving experience. Last but not least, the target was highly attracted to technology, as the â€Å"Internet was used by 85% of customers before buying a BMW†; the films on the Internet therefore targeted perfectly these people. How successful has the campaign been? Why or why not? There are two ways of defining a successful campaign: the effectiveness and efficiency. In terms of effectiveness, it is important to compare the results according to the initial goals. Overall, the campaign was really successful: BMW sales increase by 12. 5% compared to 2000. Concerning viewers, films were viewed 11 million times in the first four months, and were seen by 1 981 049 people in total. The short films were recommended by 94% of the people who registered on the website, showing how incredible and successful the buzz was. Last but not least, two million people registered on the site after viewing the films and 60% signed up to receive newsletters and other information. In terms of numbers, this campaign was therefore obviously very effective: it was a tremendous buzz and gave the brand a â€Å"cooler† and younger image. Concerning target audience, in comparison with the overall goals, BMW was very successful here again. In fact, the median age of the people who registered on the website was 31, exactly in the target market goal. Moreover, the higher segments of viewers were in the range of 25 to 34 years old (35%) and between 35 to 44 years old (22%). These segments include both young people targeted by BMW and its current target market. 63% of viewers were educated and 68% of profile visitors owned non luxury makes, and were therefore new to the luxury segment. Here we can clearly see that all target objectives were reached by BMW. In terms of strategic goals, the company was also successful: it perfectly produced â€Å"the most exciting, fun thing people had ever seen†, and focused their message on what makes a BMW a BMW. Here is what a viewer said: â€Å"BMW lets the directors do whatever they want and they’re not constantly shoving the BMW logo in your face or anything†. Here again, BMW reached its entire strategic goal. Overall, the campaign was extremely effective in terms of achieving goals and communication to customers. Although effective, it is important to calculate the efficiency of this campaign. In order to do so, it is necessary to calculate the Cost per Thousand (CPM), and compare it to an ad airing during the super bowl. The calculations are detailed in Appendix 1. I have focused my analysis on the movies which aired on the internet, their costs of production and number of viewers, to compare it to the super bowl commercials. Overall, even without considering the costs of publicity (trailers on TV, print advertising) which reached $14 million, the CPM is way higher than for super bowl commercials ($ 7571 against $ 31. 25 respectively). Therefore, the efficiency of the BMW film series was low, as costs were way higher compared to the audience reached. In conclusion, this BMW campaign was very effective but not efficient. BMW should now focus on an â€Å"encore†. I believe that the company should create a DVD to give to dealerships in order to reach potential customers and already existing customers who didn’t view the movies. In addition to that, BMW should produce three to four new films with Clive Owen. This would enable BMW to answer the demands and desires of their customers, without disappointing them. When using A Brand New World, I believe that BMW was really able to create brand strength and not only brand awareness. This campaign really enabled the company to create an emotional attachment with both its customers and potential customers. Appendices Appendix 1: Cost per Thousands comparison |BMW FILMS ON WEBSITE |AD DURING SUPERBOWL | |Cost of production/ ad |$ 15 000 000 |$ 2 500 000 | |Circulation |1 981 049 |80 000 000 | |Cost Per Thousand (CPM) |$ 7571 |$ 31. 25 | Appendix 2: Target effectiveness, Example of non BMW owners reached [pic]

Starbuck’s FDI

1. Initially Starbucks expanded internationally by licensing its format to foreign operators. It soon became disenchanted with this strategy. Why? When Starbucks started its international expansion in Japan, it initially decided to license. As it is known licensing is â€Å"the method of foreign operation whereby a firm in one country agrees to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the licensor†[1]. Advantages of licensing are obvious: it is less expensive, less risky as the risk is held by licensee and it ensures additional profitability with less initial investment. However, licensing has disadvantages and for Starbucks the main disadvantages of licensing in Japan are: †¢ This strategy did not give Starbucks the control needed to ensure that the licensees closely followed Starbucks’ successful formula. Starbucks successful formula† refers to its basic strategy: To sell the company’s own premium roasted coffee, along with freshly brewed espresso-style beverages, a variety of pastries, coffee accessories, teas, and other products, in a tastefully designed coffeehouse setting and also providing superior customer service[2]. Starbucks found it necessary to successfully replicate the look, feel, and experience of an American Starbucks that is why Starbucks transferred American employees to the Japanese stores to help train workers in the Starbucks way. With licensing Starbucks had limited control of expansion rate. Simultaneously with entering the market in Japan, in US Starbucks developed new cold beverage (Frappuchino) with Pepsi, signed contract with Dreyer’s for making ice cream. However, the expansion rate in Japan was not controlled under licensing agreement as could be done in US and the realization of new products was slow in Japan. 2. Why do you think Starbucks has now elected to expand internationally primarily through local joint ventures, to whom it licenses its format, as opposed using to a pure licensing strategy? Joint venture is â€Å"an enterprise in which two or more investors share ownership and control over property rights and operation†[3]. In short, the advantages of joint venture are: the company can be more informed about the situation in the market and how the consumers respond to the products; the fixed costs for new product entrance are shared with the company; synergy effect can be achieved. The main disadvantages of joint ventures are that more capital investment is needed versus licensing; the financial losses and risks are higher compared to licensing; a potential conflict between partners exists. By using joint ventures Starbucks managed to share the cost and risks of developing its foreign markets with the licensee and at the same time to have higher control over the operations of the licensee. Another reason for expanding through local joint ventures was that Starbucks had access to local knowledge through the partner and can measure the process of product adaptation. Pure licensing did not give enough power to Starbucks to control which helped Starbucks to sustain competitive advantage. The pure licensing limits the important information about market situation in the country. 3. What are the advantages of a joint-venture entry mode for Starbucks over entering through wholly owned subsidiaries? On occasion, Starbucks has chosen a wholly owned subsidiary to control its foreign expansion (e. g. , in Britain and Thailand). Why? Entering a new market is always risky and is accompanied with huge costs. Using joint venture model allows Starbucks to have controls over those risks by sharing them with a local company. The advantages of joint ventures, if compared with the wholly owned subsidiaries, are the opportunities to share the costs and risks associated with entering and developing in the market, having access to greater resources as well as getting acquainted with the local market, its culture, characteristics with the help of the local partner’s experience and knowledge. An advantage of Joint venture is also the opportunity to widen economic scope fast; building reputation is often difficult, time consuming and expensive. At a joint venture, Starbucks has the opportunity to widen its economic scope without spending too much money and waiting for a long time[4]. With the Joint venture model, the local company also has incentives and motivations for the total joined success and growth. It would be much lengthier, difficult and expensive process in case of entering through wholly owned subsidiary. One more advantage of joint venture is still having large measure of control over the situation, even though the control is more limited if compared with a wholly owned subsidiary, however it gives the opportunity to have sufficient control over the local situation. A joint venture example of Starbucks is entering into a joint venture with a Swiss company, Bon Appetit Group, the largest food service company in Switzerland. The disadvantages of joint venture are the following: it takes time to build the right partnership relationship with another business, especially when the objectives of the two partners are not entirely agreed and communicated[5], or there are differences in cultural and management styles. Also control and decision making are sometimes compromised in joint ventures. Since there is an agreement that divides which one will take over a particular operation, the other may not be satisfied with how the things are worked out with another. This leads to another disadvantage of a joint venture. There would be no communication or agreement issues in case of wholly owned subsidiaries. Another disadvantage is that the profit generated in the local market is shared. There are several cases when Starbucks preferred a wholly owned subsidiary in the process of its foreign expansions. There were different reasons for making such decisions. One reason was if the country had appropriate operations up for sale. Such example was in Britain, when Starbucks acquired an existing coffee chain that was modeled after Starbucks. An American couple, originally from Seattle, had started Seattle Coffee with the intention of establishing a Starbucks like chain in Britain. The chain was already successful; some of the risks that would normally be associated with introducing a new concept to a foreign market were eliminated. The other reason of choosing a wholly owned subsidiary model would be if control was very important in the country of expansion or if the country didn’t have an appropriate joint venture partners which have prerequisites acceptable by Starbucks. In case of Thailand, Starbucks chose to shift to a wholly owned operation, after the jointed venture with Coffee Partners, a local Thai company, didn’t manage to raise capital from Thai banks for further pre-agreed expansion of Starbucks in Thailand. Thus by acquiring Coffee Partners, Starbucks had a goal to have more control over the expansion strategy in Thailand. 4. Which theory of FDI best explains the international expansion strategy adopted by Starbucks? Starbucks followed Internalization theory, which suggests that when licensing is difficult, foreign direct investment is appropriate. The theory was developed by Buckley and Casson, in 1976 and then by Hennart, in 1982 and Casson, in 1983. Initially, the theory was launched by Coase in 1937 in a national context and Hymer in 1976 in an international context. In his Doctoral Dissertation, Hymer identified two major determinants of FDI. One was the removal of competition. The other was the advantages which some firms possess in a particular activity (Hymer, 1976). [6] Advantages of Foreign Direct Investment are †¢ A firm will favor FDI over exporting as an entry strategy when transportation costs or trade barriers make exporting unattractive A firm will favor FDI over licensing when it wishes to maintain control over its technological know-how, or over its operations and business strategy, or when the firm’s capabilities are simply not amenable to licensing[7] This theory fits Starbucks wants to maintain product quality and brand identity in all countries it has internationally expanded, to be perceived in the same way in all cultures, and preserve taste preferences, work habits and ways of doing business all over the world.

The First Historical Hobby and Home Computers

The First Historical Hobby and Home Computers The first Apple was just a culmination of my whole life. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers In 1975, Steve Wozniak was working for Hewlett Packard, the calculator manufacturers, by day and playing computer hobbyist by night, tinkering with the early computer kits like the Altair. All the little computer kits that were being touted to hobbyists in 1975 were square or rectangular boxes with non-understandable switches on them,† Wozniak said. He realized that the prices of some computer parts like microprocessors  and memory chips  had dropped so low that he could buy them with maybe a months salary. Wozniak decided that he and fellow hobbyist Steve Jobs could afford to  build their own home computer. The Apple I Computer Wozniak and Jobs released the Apple I computer on April Fools’ Day 1976. The Apple I was the first single circuit board home computer. It came with a video interface, 8k of RAM and a keyboard. The system incorporated some economical components like dynamic RAM and the  6502 processor, which was designed by Rockwell, produced by MOS Technologies and cost only about $25 dollars at the time.   The pair showed the prototype Apple I at a meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club,  a local computer hobbyist group based in Palo Alto, California. It was mounted on plywood with all the components visible. A local computer dealer, the Byte Shop, ordered 100 units if Wozniak and Jobs would agree to assemble the kits for their customers. About 200 Apple Is were built and sold over a 10-month period for the superstitious price of $666.66. The Apple II Computer Apple Computers was incorporated in 1977 and the Apple II computer model was released that year. When the  first West Coast Computer Faire was held in San Francisco, attendees saw the public debut of the Apple II, available for $1,298. The Apple II was also based on the 6502 processor, but it had color graphicsa first for a personal computer. It used an audio cassette drive for storage. Its original configuration came with 4 kb of RAM, but this was increased to 48 kb a year later and the cassette drive was replaced with a floppy disk drive. The Commodore PET The Commodore PET–a personal electronic transactor or, as rumor has it, named after the pet rock fad–was designed by Chuck Peddle. It was first presented at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1977, and later at the West Coast Computer Faire. The Pet Computer also ran on the 6502 chip, but it cost only $795half the price of the Apple II. It included 4 kb of RAM, monochrome graphics and an audio cassette drive for data storage. Included was a version of BASIC in 14k of ROM. Microsoft developed its first 6502-based BASIC for the PET and sold the source code to Apple for Apple BASIC. The keyboard, cassette drive and small monochrome display all fit within the same self-contained unit. Jobs and Wozniak showed the Apple I prototype to Commodore and Commodore agreed to buy Apple at one point in time, but  Steve Jobs ultimately decided not to sell. Commodore bought MOS Technology instead and designed the PET. The Commodore PET was Apple’s chief rival at the time.   The TRS-80 Microcomputer Radio Shack introduced its TRS-80 microcomputer, also nicknamed the Trash-80,† in 1977. It was based on the Zilog Z80 processor, an 8-bit microprocessor whose instruction set is a superset of the Intel 8080. It came with 4 kb of RAM and 4 kb of ROM with BASIC. An optional expansion box enabled memory expansion and audio cassettes were used for data storage, similar to the PET and the first Apples. Over 10,000 TRS-80s were sold during the first month of production. The later TRS-80 Model II came complete with a disk drive for program and data storage. Only Apple and Radio Shack had machines with disk drives  at that time. With the introduction of the disk drive, applications for the personal home computer proliferated as the distribution of software became easier.

Definition and Examples of Primary Sources in Research

Definition and Examples of Primary Sources in Research In research  activities,  a primary source refers to information collected firsthand from such sources as historical documents, literary texts, artistic works, experiments, surveys, and interviews. It is also called primary data and is very different than a secondary source. The Library of Congress defines primary sources as actual records that have survived from the past, such as letters, photographs, or articles of clothing, in contrast to secondary sources, which are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened   Examples of Primary Sources [Primary sources] provide the raw data that you use first to test the working hypothesis and then as evidence to support your claim. In history, for example, primary sources include documents from the period or person you are studying, objects, maps, even clothing; in literature or philosophy, your main primary source is usually the text you are studying, and your data are the words on the page. In such fields, you can rarely write a research paper without using primary sources. (Wayne C. Booth et al. The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press, 2008) Chief Characteristics The chief characteristics of  primary sources are: (1) being present during the experience, event or time and (2) consequently being close in time with the data. This does not mean that data from  primary sources are  always the best data. . . . Data from human sources are subject to many types of distortion because of such factors as selective recall, selective perceptions, and purposeful or nonpurposeful omission or addition of information. Thus data from primary sources are not necessarily accurate data even though they come from firsthand sources. (Natalie L. Sproull,  Handbook of Research Methods: A Guide for Practitioners and Students in the Social Sciences, 2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 2002) Methods of Collecting Primary Data If the information you need is unavailable or hasnt yet been gathered, youll have to gather it yourself. Four basic methods of collecting primary data are field research, content analysis, survey research, and experiments. Other methods of gathering primary data include historical research, analysis of existing statistics, . . . and various forms of direct observation. (H. Dan OHair et al. Business Communication: A Framework for Success. South-Western, 2001) Secondary Sources and Their Bibliographies By identifying basic facts, such as year of construction, secondary sources can point the researcher to the  best primary sources, such as the right tax books. In addition, a careful reading of the bibliography in a secondary source can reveal important sources the researcher might otherwise have missed. (Alison Hoagland and Gray Fitzsimmons, History.  Recording Historic Structures, 2nd. ed., edited by John A. Burns. Wiley, 2004) Original Sources The distinction also needs to be made between primary and original sources. It is by no means always necessary, and all too often it is not possible, to deal only with original sources. Printed copies of original sources, provided they have been undertaken with scrupulous care (such as the published letters of the Founding Fathers), are usually an acceptable substitute for their handwritten originals. (E. J. Monaghan and D. K. Hartman, Undertaking Historical Research in Literacy, in Handbook of Reading Research, ed. by P. D. Pearson et al. Erlbaum, 2000) Finding and Accessing Primary Sources This one is entirely dependent on the assignment given and your local resources; but when included, always emphasize quality.  . . . Keep in mind that there are many institutions such as the Library of Congress that make primary source material freely available on the Web.  (Joel D. Kitchens, Librarians, Historians, and New Opportunities for Discourse. ABC-CLIO, 2012)

Fair trade provides no significant benefits. To what extent do you Essay - 3

Fair trade provides no significant benefits. To what extent do you agree - Essay Example mplishments, the structure by which Fair Trade aspires to attain its objectives is severely weak, restricting its market opportunities and the value it gives to workers and farmers. As such, some claim that fair trade provides no significant benefits. This essay argues that Fair Trade does suffer from internal and external problems, but that does not mean that it provides no significant benefits. There is a wide array of criticisms about whether Fair Trade accomplishes its objectives of raising living standards for the most underprivileged producers and other players in global trade. Basically, there is a major problem at the core of the present development and achievement of Fair Trade (Cole & Brown, 2014). So as to achieve dominant presence and significantly influence the market, Fair Trade advocates have to collaborate with major corporate players. These corporate traders usually pursue clearly different objectives and usually reluctant or unable to totally commit themselves to Fair Trade principles (Smith, 2013). For instance, Starbucks’s dedication to Fair Trade principles has been criticised. A small percentage of Starbucks coffee was fairly traded in 2007, but its brand image or corporate reputation became known as socially responsible immediately after declaring its involvement in the Fair Trade system (Cole & Brown, 2014). Since Starbucks is the biggest global coffee retailer, it is in charge of buying larger volumes of Fair Trade coffee than any other vendor. Nevertheless, a meagre portion of its overall coffee is Fair Trade. The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), tasked to give Fair Trade authorisation, was also criticised for not obliging major multinational companies (MNCs) to pursue or maintain higher ideals before granting them certification (Cole & Brown, 2014). Simply put, the increasing incorporation of the Fair Trade stamp without completely implemented Fair Trade ideals undermines the general objectives of Fair Trade principles and

Acc#5 Farm Financial Standards Council Model Case Essay

Acc#5 Farm Financial Standards Council Model Case - Essay Example GM has adopted traditional cost allocation system wherein the overheads are arbitrarily allocated to the products on the basis of the labor or machine hours. It produces only one product i.e. the corvette and as such apportionment of overhead costs may not be such a big problem except for the fluctuations of production volumes which may distort the contribution margin figures. John & Mary Farmer on the other hand produce two products namely: corn and soybean that too in two farms, for which there are a variety of cost drivers which have to be identified to diversified activities to estimate the differences in cost of production between farms and overall profitability between commodities produced in different years. While adopting traditional cost allocation system, as in GM, may be easier for accounting purposes, it actually does not serve the purpose of arriving at a specific cost structure especially when the direct labor component is in small proportion in the total production process owing to the present automation taking place even in the farming sector. 1. Overheads would have been charged according to the production volumes which may fluctuate from time to time. Hence, the accurate per unit contribution margin which is the basis for competitive managerial decisions in today’s world would be misguiding. 3. The products produced in the case study are corn and soybean that too in different fields of which few are owned by the firm and the others are taken on lease. With such diversified methodology of tie ups with different parties, if ABC is not undertaken, the differences in the production would not be useful in providing effective strategy to minimize risk associated with the business and enhance profitability. 4. With the growing mechanization even in the farm sector, the importance of direct expenses is shrunk day by day

No Country for Old Men Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

No Country for Old Men - Essay Example When he is having a conversation with anyone, the camera follows the other character mostly when he/she says something of value or to show what is the effect of Chigurh’s personality or speech on him/her. The character of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell also has a lot of strength. In my opinion, his character is second to Chigurh. His appearance is anticipated at any time because the movie opens up with him narrating in background voice. His first appearance is not shot from a lower angle or an angle that shows his importance. He is shot from a very common angle and his importance can be construed by his wife telling him to â€Å"be careful†. His answers to his wife show that he is an experienced Sheriff and has been in such situations a lot of times before. He can easily be shown as being tired of his job and feeling that he is not good enough for the police work anymore. The feeling of helplessness and knowing that he has a very limited capacity to do things has made him quite cy nical. The camera rarely leaves his face whether he is in a conversation or not. The camera has to be kept on him in such a way that his facial expressions and feelings are recorded properly. In a scene where his subordinate laughs at his remark, the camera still focuses on him a lot to show that he is not amused. The character of Llewelyn Moss can be regarded as the second most important character. If not, this character is very much poised with the character of the Sheriff. Although he runs away with the money that did not belong to him, he still manages to get the sympathy of the audience. Llewelyn told his wife that he â€Å"will return†. This makes the audience expect that he might survive at the end of the movie. But he is killed in the most common manner as any character in the movie does. It is surprising that some of the minor details of his activities are followed by the camera, but his killing is not shown, hence nil dramatizations in his death. Unlike, Chigurh, Ll welyn depicts a lot of feelings ranging from pain to the worry of his wife’s safety. He is also a compassionate person as despite knowing about the danger to his life, he takes water to the dying Mexican gangster/driver, albeit, he was too late. Prior to that, the camera focuses on him from the ceiling as he lies on the bed and records the feelings of restlessness that the thought of the thirsty Mexican brings to him. He is careful and as circumspect as his wits allow him to be but he makes some critical mistakes that lead to his death. The movie uses very less music and even the most intense moments are free from dramatic melody in order to depict reality. This has shown realism in the movie. â€Å"Critics and theorists have championed film as the most realistic of all the arts in capturing how an experience actually looks and sounds† (Giannetti and Leach, Page 3) The time when Chigurh asks the shopkeeper at the gas station to call the coin, it is obvious that he is w agering on killing him. This is a critical moment but no music is used. The sounds used are natural and real. In this movie, the rarity of music enables the audience to expect the un-expectable at any moment. In the beginning, when Lelwelyn walks to the scene of the crime and away from it, the contact of his feet with the ground can be heard very clearly. Also, the time when he is in the motel, the sound of the creak of the wooden floor due to

Wax Descartes And The Wax Example Philosophy Essay

Wax Descartes And The Wax Example Philosophy Essay Philosophers such as Rene Descartes have imagined ideas and scenarios in their heads regarding philosophy that have required something additional in order to be explainable. Often, philosophers will use an example to guide others through the idea. The example is usually a hypothetical, but sometimes an example will be demonstrated to ensure maximum impact. Descartes uses the Wax Example in the second meditation of Meditations on First Philosophy to explain why we as thinking things are able to know a thing even if it has been altered or changed in some way. To begin, it is essential that Descartes wax example be explained. Descartes examines a piece of wax, noting its properties. It looks, feels, and smells like wax. Descartes then holds the piece of hardened wax next to a flame and the wax melts. He observes the wax again after it has melted and notes that it smells, looks, and feels different than it just did, but it is still obviously wax. Even though the properties of the piece of wax had changed, we are able to conclude that an object is still an object even if it has gone through change. We rely on our senses to provide us with the information that allows us to determine what a thing is, and although our senses tell us different things, our minds are able to take that information and determine what a thing is. Therefore, there must be something inherently characteristic of that thing; otherwise we wouldnt be able to conclude what exactly it was because our senses can deceive us. Our senses are limited in that they strictly give us information about things; they do not interpret that information for us. We have to appeal to the mind every time we experience sensible objects. We constantly go to the mind to determine what the inherent quality of the thing is that makes it that thing. It is something that we cannot sense. There are two types of substances in our world; thinking substances and extended substances. Thinking substances are things in the mind and they do not physically exist. Extended substances are also known as material substances, and they are physical in their existence. The reasons that extended substances are called such is because the essential thing about those material objects is that they take up room and have mass, therefore extending in space. The qualities of substances are also important when it comes to determining what exactly a thing is. There are two types of qualities; primary and secondary. Primary qualities do not depend on the way one experiences an object. An object that has mass is always going to have mass, and your senses are not involved. A secondary quality does depend on the way one experiences an object. The information that your five senses detect will affect the way you see the qualities. A secondary quality could be how an object looks/smells/tastes/sounds/feels to you. Our conception of secondary qualities can sometimes be misled if we have misinterpreted a things primary qualities. If, for example, one was to take a hallucinogen and then observe a tree, one would still clearly see that the tree is made of matter and takes up space, but one might not see the tree as brown with green leaves, but rather as some sort of swirl of colors that is not a real representation of the object. The former is a prim ary quality and does not change even if we are experiencing it in an altered way, but the latter is a secondary and can change. The wax in question undergoes a change in all of its sensible properties, and even though all of its secondary qualities are telling our senses that it is no longer that piece of wax, our minds are able to determine through the primary qualities that it is still indeed a piece of wax. In this meditation, Descartes says, I do not grasp what this wax is through the imagination; rather, I perceive it through the mind alone. In saying this, Descartes is showing that it is our minds that are truly recognizing things such as the piece of wax. There are certain qualities and traits of objects that we link to them in order to classify them. What those traits are, are separate from the object itself; they are abstract and intangible. The platonic essence of an object is what our minds use to identify an object, not our imaginations use of our senses perceptions. Descartes is not actively feeling, smelling, and seeing the wax to determine that it is wax, but rather his mind is recognizing the platonic essence of the wax, identifying it even if it changes physically. Descartes second meditation is about more than just the wax example, but it is an important thing to be aware of, as it provides further evidence for his thoughts. Descartes says that he is a thinking thing. He determined that is something thinks, it exists- I think which means that I must exist. This holds true, because even if you were to say I talk, therefore I exist that could be your senses deceiving you; with I think, therefore I exist, thinking this is itself a thought, so there can never be any doubt as to whether or not I am a thinking thing. Descartes is showing us that there is a difference between minds and bodies, and that we know our own minds much better than we know any body, even our own. Through the use of the wax example, Descartes is able to explain the differences between thinking and extended substances, primary and secondary qualities, and that we have greater knowledge of minds than we do of bodies. Descartes second meditation relies on the discussion of the wax example to explain the significance of changes and how our senses and our minds can tell us two different things. In the end, it is our mind that is able to truly see the platonic essence of a thing and be able to identify it. Our senses have the ability to deceive us, making our minds the most reliable. Descartes has provided an explanation and example of his ideas, allowing us to see for ourselves what the mind and senses are capable of.

Oprah :: essays research papers fc

Oprah Winfrey's Biography Through the power of media, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As supervising producer and host of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she has entertained, enlightened and uplifted millions of viewers for the past two decades. Her accomplishments as a television pioneer, producer, publisher, educator and philanthropist have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today. Television Pioneer Magazine Founder & Editorial Director Producer/Actress Online Leader Philanthropist Television Programming Creator Cable Network Co-Founder Honorary Achievements TELEVISION PIONEER Oprah began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school. At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She then relocated to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the Six O'Clock News and later went on to become co-host of its local talk show, People Are Talking. In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the number one local talk show—surpassing ratings for Donahue—just one month after she began. In less than a year, the show expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It entered national syndication in 1986, becoming the highest-rated talk show in television history. In 1988, she established Harpo Studios, a production facility in Chicago, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball) to own her own studio. The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the number one talk show for 18 consecutive seasons*. Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., the show is seen by an estimated 30 million viewers a week in the United States** and is broadcast internationally in 111 countries. back to top MAGAZINE FOUNDER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR In April 2000, Oprah and Hearst Magazines introduced O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly magazine that has become one of today's leading women's lifestyle publications. It is credited as being the most successful magazine launch in recent history and currently has a circulation of 2.7 million readers each month. In April 2002, Oprah launched the first international edition of O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa, extending her live your best life message to another broad audience. In 2004, O at Home, a newsstand-only quarterly shelter magazine designed to help readers create a home that reflects their personal style, made its debut.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton was born Elizabeth Ann Bayley on August 28th, 1774 in New York City to wealthy parents. Elizabeth suffered many losses early in life starting with the loss of her mother when she was just three years old, and a younger sister two years later. She was raised Episcopalian by her mother and stepmother. Her father was a humanitarin who taught his daughter to love and be of service to others. Elizabeth had a great interest in reading and particularly liked reading the bible and scriptures in which she found great comfort.In 1794 at the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Seton and together they had five children. Four years into their marriage William's father died leaving Elizabeth and William in charge of caring for his many brothers and sisters. A few years after that, Elizabeth's father died. Not long after that, William's business began to fail along with his health. William and Elizabeth thought that a sea voyage to Italy would h elp him to feel better. William died while in Italy and Elizabeth became interested in the Catholic faith during that time to which she later converted.She felt a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin having lost her own mother at such an early age. To support her children Elizabeth opened a school for girls in Baltimore. After joining the Catholic Church in 1805 Elizabeth devoted her life to God's will for her. In 1809 she took her religious vows and became known as Mother Elizabeth Seton. She formed a community of sisters called the Sisters of Charity which included one of her daughters. Mother Seton died on January 1st, 1821 from tuberculosis the same thing that killed her husband.She was just 46 years old when she died. Elizabeth is known as the patron saint for the loss of parents. Her feast day is celebrated on January 1st. Mother Seton became the first american saint to be beatified in 1963 and then later canonized in 1975. Mother Seton told her follow sisters, â€Å"The fi rst end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will. †

Paradise Lost Essay

While contrasting the attitudes, and results of Jesus in the Bible, with the attitudes and results of Satan in the book Paradise Lost I discovered many comparing themes. The attitudes of Jesus that we find in the Bible are great examples for us all on how to live our lives, compared to the attitudes of Satan, whose life we may not want to follow in an example. Always when we understand Jesus’ true character, we find that Satan’s true character is the exact opposite of His. Pride is the interest of one’s own selfish needs, desires and not showing interests in everyone else’s needs and desires. The evidence of Satan’s prideful attitude in Paradise Lost is very relevant in Milton’s epic. Satan displayed â€Å"obdurate pride,† translated as stubborn pride, in Paradise Lost. Satan was stubborn in his ways, and would not relent or give in to living the life style of Jesus Christ’s. The antonym for pride is humility. Humility is the actions and thoughts of being humble and modest. Humility was a character trait that Jesus exemplified perfectly. In John 13 we find an example of humility; Jesus knelt down and washed His own disciple’s feet. Jesus did all this with a grateful heart and attitude of humility. Without happiness one cannot experience joy. When Satan was cast to hell he developed a strong hatred towards God. Paradise Lost described Satan’s attitude of â€Å"steadfast hate,† toward God and men. In contrast, Matthew 5:44 states â€Å"†¦love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.† Jesus modeled love daily in His life and also through His dying; He covered all our sins even though we were unworthy of His everlasting love. The final contrasting attitudes are rebellion, and obedience. In Paradise Lost Satan displayed the attitude of rebellion. This was seen when he said, â€Å"better to reign in hell, then serve in Heaven.† He was firmly stating that no matter what the circumstances he would no want to ever serve the Most High in His Kingdom.