Homework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Homework - Assignment Example The scientific method of geologists is to collect information, observe it , try a lot of different assumptions, read and discuss other peoples papers and grope their way toward greater certainty, or at least figure the answers with the best odds. The Canadian shield, is a vast stretch of land covering the North America covered with thin layer of soil. It is also known as the Laurentian plateau. It is a collage of structural provinces composed of igneous rocks which are of volcanic origin. The areas covered in the shield have a deep, common, joined bedrock region in Eastern and Central Canada and in the North covering Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean, and in the South covering part of USA. The Shield is one of the worlds richest areas in terms of  mineral  ores. It is filled with substantial deposits of  nickel,  gold,  silver, and  copper. Throughout the Shield there are many mining towns extracting these minerals. The Canadian Shield is a mosaic of structural provinces, each with characteristic internal structural trends and styles of folding. Volcanic eruptions and the movement of lava on the region lead to formation of folding on the surface. The Earths internal heat source provides the energy for our dynamic planet, supplying it with the driving force for plate-tectonic motion, and for on-going catastrophic events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This internal heat energy was much greater in the early stages of the Earth than it is today, having accumulated rapidly by heat conversion associated with three separate processes, all of which were most intense during the first few hundred thousand years of the Earths history: (1) extraterrestrial impacts, (2) gravitational contraction of the Earths interior, and (3) the radioactive decay of unstable isotopes. It is a theory that states that the Earth’s crust has been formed as a result of some worldwide occurring disaster, by some sudden, short-lived and violent sequence

Asylum Seekers - a Contemporary Social Issues in Australian Society Essay Example for Free

Asylum Seekers a Contemporary Social Issues in Australian Society Essay The Oxford English Dictionary defines asylum as the shelter afforded by a country to someone who has had to leave their country of origin due to danger from political or other reasons (Oxford English Dictionary 2012). Structuralism, according to Babbie (2006), is a theory supporting the establishment of communities of different cultures. This paper will discuss the concept of asylum seekers in Australia as part of multiculturalism within the global population flow and critically examine the roles and values of the Australian people towards â€Å"uninvited immigrants† and the policies in relation to the recent influx of asylum seekers. Specifically, this paper will first give an overview of Australians and asylum seekers, then discuss the history of asylum seekers coming to Australia and review the effectiveness of current policies in addressing the issues surrounding admission of asylum seekers. The paper will also examine the arguments and issues surrounding the policies for, and attitudes towards asylum seekers, as viewed through the lens of structural functionalism. Finally the paper will conclude with an overview of Australia’s current multicultural strategy for asylum seekers and what the future holds as globalisation increases. As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly challenged, constant changes due to globalisation and population flow affect Australia’s political, economical and social stance towards those seeking asylum (Jupp, 2007). The broader field of population flows and multiculturalism is the topic within which the issue of asylum seekers looking for entry into a multicultural Australia is contextualised. The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) is the main organisation nationally representing the settlement service division and has a close working relationship with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. SOCA states that a refugee is a victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 agreement concerning the Status of Refugees, of which Australia is a participant, whereas an asylum seeker has already sought protection from the government under international law and is awaiting a decision on their status. (SOCA, 2012). The current view of multiculturalism, and the approach to asylum seekers amongst Australians today, is still mixed (McMaster, 2001). It is difficult for some to accept what they perceive as outsiders queue jumping in to the system to obtain status. Multiculturalism is a vital element of the settlement procedure, assisting in establishing the best environment for settlement to occur (SOCA, 2012). To understand the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can only draw from media coverage or second-hand knowledge, if not personally experienced (Suter, 2001). Most will have fled from their homeland due to tyranny, warfare, or horrendous abuses of their human rights. As argued by Suter (2001), Australia has reacted with obstinacy over recent years with the growing arrival of asylum seekers from countries, such as Afghanistan in 2001, where the refugees were refused entry to Australia forced to relocate to Indonesia as the boat had initially foundered in Indonesian waters. International condemnation did nothing to soften the government’s stance and interestingly, most Australians, according to surveys at the time, supported the government’s hard line. The fear of invasion still seems pervasive amongst many (Suter 2001). The humanitarian element of protection is superseded by a fact that another person is attempting to get into the country and must be assessed. As SOCA states, the reinstatement of processing migrants off-shore will have a large impact psychologically on people who are vulnerable with a bleak and uncertain outlook surrounding their status in Australia. For those arriving by boat separation from their families is traumatic and the restoration of devastated families is a main element in settling successfully. Asylum seekers will need continued support from the community during difficult times of change while establishing a safer and more protected life (SOCA, 2012). It is significant that multiculturalism is a policy that recognises, and endorses, cultural diversity, not non-racism (Van Krieken, Habibis, Smith, Hutchins, Haralambos, Holborn 2006). Australia has received immigrants for many years, as Jupp (2007) discusses, emigrants from Europe arrived in 1788, opening the way for 160,000 convicts. The Immigration Restriction Act, introduced in 1901 named the ‘White Australia Policy’, was to prevent the admission of non- Europeans into Australia. As the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship state, Australia assesses claims made by asylum seekers under the Migrations Act 1988 and Migration Regulations 1994. There is also an independent review process for people who arrive by sea know as â€Å"irregular maritime arrivals† and asylum is granted on individual circumstances after thorough background checks, which in some cases take years. Whilst waiting for their status to be recognised, asylum seekers are required to remain in detention centres (Commonwealth, 2012). The statistics published by the Department of Immigration show that when the Refugees Convention was set up in 1951 around 1. 5 million immigrants existed worldwide. Towards the close of 2010 that figure had risen to 43. 7 million, comprising many refugees, some 15 million with over 838,000 seekers of asylum and 27million relocated from their country of origin (Commonwealth, 2012). Whilst it is difficult to account for exactly why people are displaced, a large number may be foreign students and people looking for changes in lifestyle, due to globalisation and easier forms of transport (Xu, 2007). There are still many people from war torn countries escaping from oppressive and deadly regimes looking for an improved lifestyle for their relatives and loved ones. (Lusher Haslam, 2007). Australia is a socially diverse country, which has grown to accept and embrace differing cultures. Race and racism were a fundamental part of the national Australian community, as in the case of the Aboriginal Australians, to be rid of those considered racially disagreeable, those who were not white. As Lusher and Haslam (2007) discuss, historically up to the First World War, the admission of Europeans to Australia was virtually unobstructed, so there was no motive to assess immigrants entering due to persecution in their country of origin. The Second World War saw the admission of many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany with Australia assisting in an international aid scheme. Following on from the ever-increasing influx of refugees, Australia was one of the first to sign the United Nations document on the Status of Refugees in 1951 (Jupp, 2007). From then on, Australia accepted some refugees, and rejected others. Australia’s policy on refugees has consistently formed part of its immigration policy. The first major modern controversy, which sets the scene for today’s issues, was in 1977 when a boat carrying Vietnamese refugees arrived off the coast of Darwin. The media then used labels, such as â€Å"queue jumpers† and â€Å"Boat people†, names that hold to this day (Jupp, 2007). Historical incidents such as this give a background to the treatment of asylum seekers today and what some might see as Australia’s contemptuous and cold-hearted management towards them. The numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is growing annually, as statistics from the Refugee Council of Australia show: five people arrived by boat during 1975 to 1976 compared to 4,730 on 89 boats during 2010 to 2011 (Refugee Council, 2012). Yon (2000) asserts that many Australians of â€Å"old† or white descent still do not identify with the multiculturalisms view of the â€Å"new† Australia. These fundamental ideas not only marginalise ethnic cultures, but also are destructive as they produce a situation whereby â€Å"old† Australians position themselves as being on the outside of a multicultural Australia. To assert that the legitimacy of the current Australian policy on asylum seekers is being questioned is understandable when viewed from a structural functionalism perspective. People with different cultural beliefs and values come together, particularly in the strained circumstances of asylum seeking; one party running for fear of their lives and Australian Immigration viewing this flight as another invasion (McMaster, 2001). Many, according to Tepperman and Blain (2006), believe that Australia’s multicultural policy should be restructured to accommodate the rapid advances in globalisation bringing together more ethnic cultures and be in line with assimilation of ethnic cultures whilst working towards a common goal. Current policies in Australia to assist asylum seekers are not effective in this age of globalisation, and should be focused on as a matter of urgency (Lusher Haslam 2007). On July 21, 2012 in The Australian, Cameron Stewart discusses that the government’s current policy on refugees and asylum seekers which has, until recently, been the one of the basic key stones of Australia’s commitment to human rights and is now in danger of collapse. The ineffectiveness of the current policy is highlighted by the inability of the government to prevent people smugglers bringing more boats to Australian shores, hence more and more people are arriving. But, the government continued to maintain a policy, initiated in 1996 by the Howard government, which set a cap on the intake allowed each year and which is currently much lower than the influx of new refugees to these shores (Stewart, 2012). The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (Article 13) declares people should be able to leave their place of origin with a right to decent health care, food, housing and a right to the safekeeping in areas of welfare such as unemployment, illness of death of a family member (Article 25). The UDHR also states (Article 2) that no one should be discriminated against based on of his or her viewpoint politically, or his or her status internationally (UDHR 2012, cited Xu, Q 2007). The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) advised Australia in April 2010 to seek out better options than the detention of asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The UNHRC is still in discussion with the Australian government on the best way to reduce the deferment of the mounting claims for asylum and compulsory detention, whilst concentrating on the wellbeing and health of asylum seekers in Australia (UNHRC, 2012). The theory of structural functionalism, argues that each of us is born, into set communal structures that have fixed behavioural expectations, which people generally do not contravene (Van Krieken et al, 2006). Social issues are approached scientifically assessing changes in urban growth, population flow to explain the structures underpinning society. As Bessant and Watts (2007) assert, structural functionalists focus on statistics of given situations, which are then used to describe the progress of and structure of social development and may help to create the basis of a policy on multiculturalism. Babbie (2010) posits that it is pertinent to understand how a person who once fitted in to a different society with different roles and functions may have difficulties initially, or if ever, adapting to the structure and function which makes up Australian contemporary society. It is therefore useful using the structural perspective, to assess the asylum seekers who may appear disruptive when placed for months in detention centres, as people who are displaced from their â€Å"norm† and are reacting against that displacement. Structural functionalism would be looking to understand why problems are occurring and what could be done to effectively integrate the asylum seekers into the Australian larger society, taking into account the adjustments that would be needed for those people to assimilate (Babbie 2010). According to Xu (2007), using the welfare benefit system is crucial for helping the acculturation and settlement of all immigrants. Yet as Xu (2007) notes, resentment amongst many Australian citizens is building towards asylum seekers as they often take low-paid jobs, out of necessity, which contributes to employment issues and a sense of insecurity for many indigenous and natural born workers. As a result, over the last 20 years Australia has moved its policy on immigration to focus more on assimilating asylum seekers and refugees with discussions about multiculturalism, and how that affects the native Australians, and less on the welfare of the immigrants arriving, sometimes under dire circumstances (Xu, 2007). In conclusion the analysis in this paper of the social issue of asylum seekers admitted into Australia suggest that many factors may disrupt feelings amongst native Australians, and unless handled sensitively the deep rooted fear of invasion, which still endures for many, will not go away (Jupp, 2007). Multiculturalism does not have the legitimacy it was trying to assume and marginalisation of asylum seekers still exists. As Bessant and Watts (2007) show when viewed through the paradigm of the structural functionalism theory, the current Australian policies on the treatment of asylum seekers create maladaptation and malignancies. An irrefutable fact exists, asserts Jupp (2007), which is globalisation. More people daily are coming to and from Australia and continually communicating with other countries and cultures. The frenetic pace of globalisation and the ensuing and inevitable cultural change in the form of assimilation is inevitable (Xu, 2007). The emphasis, according to Xu (2007) should be on a tactical approach that creates a long-term solution to prioritise the management and protection of asylum seekers across Australia, and adapting current policies on immigration to ensure that migrants skirting around current arrangements make no gain. The focus therefore should be on Australian observance of its international responsibilities concentrating on an improved policy for immigration, encouraging a reasonable and managed humanitarian programme which minimises fear and anxiety across all sectors yet creates an adhesive force for change.

War Changes Henry in Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage :: Red Badge Courage Essays

War Changes Henry in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage There have been many great war stories; one is The Red Badge of Courage (1895) written by Stephen Crane. This book is circled around Henry Fleming, a young man who wants to join the Union Army during the Civil War. The Civil War has been a great subject for many books, as it was a great changing point in American History that lasted for 4 years. The story is written about Henry Fleming, who wanted to join the Union Army for a long time, but his mother didn't want him to. The story lasts over a period of a few days, probably two. He grew up on a farm, in a rural area, where he was secluded from large areas, like many other soldiers who fought in the Civil War. He is usually a good farmer boy, who follows what his mother says. With no mention of his father in the story, he is most likely dead or he ran away. This makes Stephen Crane's writing look like many families today, where there is only one parent to care for them. He eventually signs up with the Union Army, without his mother's full support. On his way there, he is greeted by many others who say how he is so great for joining the army. He gets to the Army camp eventually, and everyone there is waiting in anxiety for a battle. Here he meets other soldiers, such as the "Loud soldier," and the "Tall Soldier." They talk about battles, and soldiers who run from war, comparing them to children and anything but men. This makes him think if he, if the battle gets too violent, will run. Eventually the first battle comes, and the first rush with it. He defends his position, and doesn't run away. But the second wave of attacks came, and he ran away as fast as he could. He meets up with a group of injured soldiers, when he remembers that he ran from battle. This made him ashamed of himself, even more when he has to lie about being injured. This shows how the writer likes to use emotions on the character effect the reader, some people might be mad he ran a way, others might be disappointed in him for it. Overtime, Henry has many bad experiences since he ran from the battle. He was injured when a bullet grazes the backside of his head, and he also suffers from extreme dehydration, but is saved by a military camp he came to.

Implications for a Better Education Essay -- Learning Teaching School

Implications for a Better Education We are all products of school. Chances are we have all been to school at least some point in our lives. Currently, every state in the nation has laws requiring attendance in school from kindergarten until a child’s eighteenth birthday. If we progress through the school system at an average one grade per year, a high school graduate has already spent thirteen years of their life in school. We spend a great deal of our adolescence attending school every morning, five days a week and don’t have much say in the matter. Day after day, we get up and get ready for school, not necessarily because we want to, but because it is what is expected of us. When we come home in the evening or afternoon, we open our books and do work, not necessarily because that is what we want to do, but because not doing so will count against us in the big point scheme of things. So what is it all for? Now that I am older and am well on my way to completing school, I can look back and int elligently analyze what school is all about, what its purpose is, where it succeeds and what its flaws are. The purpose of the public school system is to assure every child has the natural right to an education. But, what is education and how is school helping students to become well-educated people? When I ask myself, and others, what the term education means, the answer is positive collection of ideals. Education is about acquiring knowledge to promote intellectual and personal growth. Education is about acquiring information, learning new skills and developing already existing abilities. An educated person should be able to integrate information for different situations and adapt to new scenarios. An educated pe... ...s sure to be for the benefit of everyone. For every problem that our society faces today, through proper education, resolution is surely on the way. Bibliography â€Å"Blaming the SATs.† The Wall Street Journal 10 June 1999: A26. Glickman, Carl D. â€Å"Holding Sacred Ground: The Impact of Standardization.† Educational Leadership Dec. 2000/ Jan. 2001: 46-51 Transforming the Federal Role in Education. The White House. 17, Nov. 2002 http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/education/. â€Å"University Education Produces Measurably High Returns for Students, According to OECD.† Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Oct. 20, 2002. Nov. 22, 2002. . United States. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States. 121st ed. Washington: GPO. 2001

The Industry Structure & The Behavior of Firms in the PC Industry

In this paper I will discuss the industry structure and the behavior of firms in the Personal Computer Industry. The personal computer industry has five leaders: Compaq Computer Corporation (CCC), Dell Computer Corporation, International Business Machines (IBM), Hewlett-Packard, and Gateway, (Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). The PC industry, as discussed in the paper, is comprised only of home/business use machines, not mainframes, databases, or any kind of servers or super-computers. The PC industry is a fast-growing, consumer-based oligopoly. I will prove the latter through the use of industry characteristics and firm behaviors by giving an overview of each leading firm and their behaviors†, then by combining them into an industry analysis. The companies will be addressed from top leader to bottom. Compaq Computer Corporation,(CCC) is the current industry leader. CCC boasts a 1999 market share of 12. 8%. However, this figure has declined slightly from its 1998 share of 13. 4%. The dip is due to Dell Computer Corp. â€Å"s heavy presence in the small PC market, (Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). Compaq has a wide range of PC products from smaller, less expensive machines to more costly, high-tech systems. CCC has been most successful with their smaller machines, targeted to the home/family segment, because they are able to sell large quantities. However, Compaq has been unsuccessful in retaining customers because most of them were pleased with their smaller machines and did not upgrade to CCC†s more expensive, high-tech systems,(Hamblen 1-2). Customer retention has been a problem for the forty billion-dollar company, (Hamblen 1-2). It is my assessment that Compaq does still remain the leader because their products are very easy to buy for the uneducated consumer. You may simply walk into the WIZ or BEST BUY and there are five or so Compaq machines all competitively priced with a good range of attributes, usually not the best that a veteran user would require. For instance CCC†s newest product, the iPac, is a very simple-to-use, inexpensive machine. It is supposed to satisfy business workers† needs for a useful computer at low cost,(Wildstrom 1-2). Another problem in CCC†s not-to-distant future is their distribution costs. With the use of the Internet, competitors have been able to reduce and even eliminate distribution costs. To follow suit Compaq plans to increase direct sales in the future, according to Micheal Capellas, CEO (Hamblen 4). The future for CCC is quite hazy. Despite the sales numbers and the heavy bottom line, CCC†s stock price has sat down in the low $30†³s,(Hamblen 1). Competition is increasing daily and Compaq needs to distinguish itself in the marketplace. They†ve already experienced a decline in markets share, only they can change their fate. Dell Computer Corporation, the second leading computer manufacturer, began by selling PC†s directly to consumers. Their first customers ordered over the phone and Wold Wide Web. To this day Dell still has no brick and mortar retailers and does not distribute its product to resellers. In the business to business market Dell has excelled, but until recently, the profitable company was not so profitable in the home-user segment,(Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). The company†s new strategy, to gain market share, has proven very effective. Dell now posts a 62% gain in world wide PC shipments and a 2. 6 share-point gain from 8. 2% in `98 to 10. 8% in `99,(Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). Recently Dell†s presence has been felt in the growing PC market. This has forced competitors to be very careful about pricing in this highly elastic industry. Dell†s profitability is also notable, since it has minimal distribution costs and does very little advertising Dell is extremely profitable. However, rough times may be on the horizon for Dell. Analysts are worried because profit growth projections were cut at least 10% by CFO Thomas Meredith, who declared he is only trying to set more realistic goals and that the company will still post growth, (Burrows 1-2). Recently Dell has made some key moves that should boost revenues including beefing-up its web site and a joint venture with Internet giant AOL, (Money 1-2). Dell Computer Corporation is still a major player in the PC industry and will continue to be in the future. Unlike Dell and Compaq, IBM has not had extreme success in the PC market. It is known that leaders at IBM never believed that the PC would be an important device and that only a small portion of the population would ever own a PC. Obviously, they were very wrong. IBM has not done a bad job catching up to the pack, though; it now has the number-three market share of 7. 6%, (Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). IBM plans some new strategies after its low ranking in the PC market. This new strategy is to end all retail selling and go completely direct, IBM plans to sell its Aptiva system exclusively over the Internet in the near future, (Industry Survey, Apr. 000). This will lower costs and possibly increase the bottom line for the computer giant. Like IBM, Hewlett-Packard made one mistake and cost itself billions of dollars in revenues. HP is a large electronics conglomerate. HP manufactures everything from calculators to top-secret government appliances. For HP the PC market is one of many. Originally Hewlett-Packard was the standard in computer electronics; however, this is not reality today. HP†s reputation declined through the `80s and early `90s because of poor quality management. To regain the respect they had lost the marketing and engineering departments at HP worked their fingers to the bone to create a new image for the company. This was very effective; today HP owns a modest 6. 2% of the PC market and a very healthy reputation for quality PC†s and peripherals, (Industry Survey, Apr. 2000). HP has had some growth in the past few years but has failed to match the industry growth rates. The company†s years of poor quality put a considerable hurt on their future growth; while HP was busy filling in the hole it dug for itself, industry leaders like Compaq and Dell were basking in their success.

How to Get Reviews

How to Get Reviews I did one of my two-minute podcasts this week on collecting reviews for books, because my mailbox is swamped with articles, podcasts, blog posts, and queries to me on how to land reviews. Just this week I heard from an author friend of mine who just released two books in a series at once. . . and still has less than ten reviews on the two combined even after the publisher sent out hundreds (yep, you read that right) of review copies. Week before last, I posted a call for reviewers on my Facebook page. I have four books with less than 100 reviews (82, 64, 51, and 47 for my last four books), and my goal this year is to reach 100 for all my books. Yes, I read reviews. Do I let a one-star destroy my day? No. Frankly, I dont breathe easy until someone has left me a pissy review, just so its out of my system. As a matter of fact, Newberry Sin has a 4.9/5 rating on Amazon, with only one three-star review. No ones or twos. Beats me why someone hasnt bashed it yet. My editor says thats because theres nothing to bash, but shes just being sweet. Nobody writes a book everybody likes. But how to get reviews? You coordinate them. You are going to learn that there are bookstore people, library people, and Amazon people, and usually, the bookstore people dont post reviews on Amazon. The anti-Amazon people wont post reviews on Amazon. Therefore, people who are active online and make Amazon purchases constitute the preferred reviewer. (Of course, if someone you know has a review column in a major publication, A close second preferred reader is a strong Goodreads person. Do they make their reading choices based upon Goodreads? Then great. Ask away, though an Amazon person will most likely also post on Goodreads. I start with social media, setting a time period in which I am seeking reviews, making it somewhat of a big deal, like an event. I offer print or ebook. Some publishers no longer do print ARCs or review copies. They are indeed pricey, especially when many requestors do not follow through. However, be prepared to send out some print copies. Yes, the cost can add up. Take note of who is doing your reviews. The plus of asking on social media or having to mail/email copies of the books is that you have their contact info. You can then follow-up and ask if they received the book a couple weeks later. This is NOT so you can push them to review. NEVER push someone to review. However, if someone does not follow-through, you know never to send them a review copy again. Common sense without breaking any cardinal rules. After nine novels, I have a list of what I call permanent reviewers. Ill send them a copy of any new release because they always review. Sometimes I ask in FundsforWriters, and other times in my author newsletter C. Hope Clark (sign up at www.chopeclark.com). This past week I sent out 40 copies. Reviews are already coming in. And I thank them. . . gush over them. These people are golden and deserve to be treated accordingly. So, in summation. . . you build relationships. Receiving a free book isnt enough. Goodness knows there are too dang many of those out there to the point that isnt a big deal. Its the back and forth, the willingness to respect and converse with anyone, the manners to say please and thank you. Its being generous and grateful. Readers love helping you if they feel appreciated, and I feel pretty darn grateful for mine.

Review of Related Literature and Studies Essays

Review of Related Literature and Studies Essays Review of Related Literature and Studies Essay Review of Related Literature and Studies Essay ?This chapter presents a review of related literature and studies which the researchers found relevant to their study. Review of related literature and studies gives an overview of the past learning connected to the current field of study. Giving a summarization on previous studies that have a relative connection with student’s efficacy in living independently and level of parental dependence. Related Literature Self-efficacy is the belief in oneself that succeeding in any task possible (Bandura, 1994; Akhtar, 2008). Self-efficacy theory, also convey that these efficacy beliefs play a crucial role in psychological adjustments and problems, in physical health, also in professional and self-guided behavioral changes (Maddux, 2005). Bandura (1986,1994) stated that self-efficacy came from four sources the mastery experiences which means successes creates a strong belief in one’s capabilities and abilities while failures weaken those beliefs; the seco nd one is the vicarious experiences made by social models, an observation on people seen as a role model. The given efforts by the role models produces a strong belief to the observers that they are also capable of achieving success when they found similarities of belief in these idols this finding is supported by Schunk (1989) saying others that have similarity to you offer the best basis for comparison; another is verbal persuasion or also known as social persuasion, it is a way of strengthening a person’s belief that he is capable to succeed especially when people who 14 give word of encouragements like ‘you can do it’ came from people who have a big impact on that person like teachers, parent, and friends, words alone make a big influence on a person’s life; lastly is a person’s emotional and physiological states, this is a way of modifying self-beliefs of efficacy by reducing a person’s stress reactions and turning negativity into positi ve emotions because it is believed t

Egg in a Bottle Demonstration

Egg in a Bottle Demonstration The egg in a bottle demonstration is an easy chemistry or physics demonstration you can do at home or in the lab. You set an egg on top of a bottle (as pictured). You change the temperature of the air inside the container either by dropping a piece of burning paper into the bottle or by directly heating/cooling the bottle. Air pushes the egg into the bottle. Materials Peeled hard-boiled egg (or soft-boiled, if a yolky mess interests you)Flask or jar with an opening slightly smaller than the diameter of the eggPaper/lighter or very hot water or very cold liquid In a chemistry lab, this demonstration is most commonly performed using a 250-ml flask and a medium or large egg. If you are trying this demonstration at home, you can use a glass apple juice bottle. If you use too large of an egg, it will get sucked into the bottle, but stuck (resulting in a gooey mess if the egg was soft-boiled). We recommend a medium egg for most bottles. An extra-large egg gets wedged in the bottle. Perform the Demonstration Method 1: Set a piece of paper on fire and drop it into the bottle. Set the egg on top of the bottle (small side pointed downward). When the flame goes out, the egg will get pushed into the bottle.Method 2: Set the egg on the bottle. Run the bottle under very hot tap water. Warmed air will escape around the egg. Set the bottle on the counter. As it cools, the egg will be pushed into the bottle.Method 3: Set the egg on the bottle. Immerse the bottle in a very cold liquid. We have heard of this being done using liquid nitrogen, but that sounds dangerous (could shatter the glass). We recommend trying ice water. The egg is pushed in as the air inside the bottle is chilled. How It Works If you just set the egg on the bottle, its diameter is too large for it to slip inside. The pressure of the air inside and outside of the bottle is the same, so the only force that would cause the egg to enter the bottle is gravity. Gravity isnt sufficient to pull the egg inside the bottle. When you change the temperature of the air inside the bottle, you change the pressure of the air inside the bottle. If you have a constant volume of air and heat it, the pressure of the air increases. If you cool the air, the pressure decreases. If you can lower the pressure inside the bottle enough, the air pressure outside the bottle will push the egg into the container. Its easy to see how the pressure changes when you chill the bottle, but why is the egg pushed into the bottle when heat is applied? When you drop burning paper into the bottle, the paper will burn until the oxygen is consumed (or the paper is consumed, whichever comes first). Combustion heats the air in the bottle, increasing the air pressure. The heated air pushes the egg out of the way, making it appear to jump on the mouth of the bottle. As the air cools, the egg settles down and seals the mouth of the bottle. Now there is less air in the bottle than when you started, so it exerts less pressure. When the temperature inside and outside the bottle is the same, there is enough positive pressure outside the bottle to push the egg inside. Heating the bottle produces the same result (and may be easier to do if you cant keep the paper burning long enough to put the egg on the bottle). The bottle and the air are heated. Hot air escapes from the bottle until the pressure both inside and outside the bottle is the same. As the bottle and air inside continue to cool, a pressure gradient builds, so the egg is pushed into the bottle. How to Get the Egg Out You can get the egg out by increasing the pressure inside the bottle so that it is higher than the pressure of the air outside of the bottle. Roll the egg around so it is situated with the small end resting in the mouth of the bottle. Tilt the bottle just enough so you can blow air inside the bottle. Roll the egg over the opening before you take your mouth away. Hold the bottle upside down and watch the egg fall out of the bottle. Alternatively, you can apply negative pressure to the bottle by sucking the air out, but then you risk choking on an egg, so thats not a good plan.

Definition and management of service quality Essay

Definition and management of service quality - Essay Example According to the manager of the Chesthunt Hotel, service quality is based on the quality, customer satisfaction and identification of customer value as either important or very important or very important. Those companies that have high quality of services as well as goods had higher market share, higher return on investment and asset turnover than companies with perceived low quality.If consumers somehow become better customers -- that is, more knowledgeable, participative, or productive -- the quality of the service experience will likely be enhanced for the customer and the organization. Because it affects those factors, then it certainly affects customer satisfaction, the link of service quality with customer satisfaction, which is, the degree of fit between customer's expectations and perceptions of service.Based on the perception of the manager, customer criteria determine the definition of quality and the variables that affect perceptions of quality. They explained that variab les may change with circumstance, experience, and time. In addition, service providers may influence the variables that drive customer perception to service quality. The perception of the customers may also vary by circumstances, time, and experiences. He also explained that the total perceived value of a service comes from two sources. First, customers perceive value that originates from the service act itself; second, customers perceive value that originates from the quality of the service act. ... On the other hand, quality is much difficult to define as it depends on the perception of the consumer. Basically it is defined in terms of being transcendent, customer led, or value led. The provision of quality customer service is a multi-faceted concept as a number of factors must be met by the hotel in order to achieve it. To integrate quality in service provision, it is important that the hotel has the right skills, resources and values. As quality customer service is influenced by various factors, the involvement of both hotel management and the employees must be present; in the case of Chesthunt it has been made clear that training alone is not sufficient for service quality (Ghobadian,Speller and Jones, 1994,p. 43). The commitment, leadership and adaptability of the management towards change are also important for quality service. The values and skills of the employees on the other hand, must be prioritized as well. They must be given enough empowerment to contribute effectively towards customer satisfaction. The importance of quality in customer service has been recognized by Chesthunt hotel. The management of Chesthunt hotel have applied prioritized quality in customer services, resulting to positive business outcome. Customer satisfaction, loyalty, employee satisfaction and profit growth are some of the main advantages of this business practice. In order to cope with the present business challenges, Chesthunt hotel have implemented different strategies that will enhance their respective customer services. Consumer studies, trainings and application of information technology are some examples of the most commonly used strategies for customer services. Service delivery

Prosecutorial Misconduct Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Prosecutorial Misconduct - Research Paper Example Then, in the proceedings of the case, a prosecutor presents legal facts to the judge aimed at convincing him or her to prove the guilty of the suspect (Lawless, 2008). In a court case, therefore, the prosecutor ought to apply some professional moral codes in his/her course of prosecutions. Sometimes, the prosecutors can fail to reveal evidence that proves the suspects’ innocence since their motives are always to convict the suspects. Prosecutorial misconduct has been witnessed in many cases where the suspects who are innocent serve sentences in prison whereas the guilty ones are left free. Prosecutors should be charged in law courts in case they act inappropriately like when they are discovered harassing the defendant. In case the defendant is mistreated by the prosecutor in or outside the courtroom, he or she can seek disciplinary action or file a civil suit against the prosecutor. In a court case, the trials against the suspect can be politically motivated and this means that, consideration of such misconducts is important in order to find justice in that case (Siegel, 2010). Prosecutorial conducts can arise from misconducts in the courtroom, failure to reveal the evidence that favors the defendant and harassment of the defendant. These behaviors ought to be stopped since many innocent persons have served imprisonments supposed to be served by others. The criminal justice system ought to put in place some measures to curb such misconducts because they not only oppress the victims but also contributes to the loss of public confidence in the judiciary system (Lawless, 2008). Imagine a businessman convicted of murdering his wife and the judge passes 20 years sentence in jail. After 15 years, police investigation reports are revealed showing that the DNA tests of bloody clothing found on the crime scene matches with another man serving life imprisonment for other murder cases. In such a case, it seems that, either the prosecutor failed

Writer's choice Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Writer's choice - Coursework Example Then the next minute he says that Biff is not lazy, and this may be taken to mean that he still has hopes that his son would become rich and be successful (Hurrel, 1961). Another moment of confusion is when he calls the family car that he just finished paying for a piece of junk then later defines it as the best car that has ever been built. Clearly, he does not have a clear view of reality and what he wishes is very different from what is on the ground. He represents everyman in the sense that he wants success as other people have done before him. His view of success is distorted and has very high expectations for his sons. His sons have failed to meet his expectation making him a disillusioned man. Biff and Happy have very different characters and opinions of their father. Biff is disappointed in his fathers action. He appeared to be angry with him and disappointed in him. He once found out that his father was cheating on his mother and wanted to confront him. He feels that his father has very unrealistic expectations of him leading him to tell him that he is just an ordinary man living an ordinary life (Hurrel, 1961). He is very angry at his father for constantly talking about his disappointment in him while at the same time tries to please him. He feels that he has failed in getting the success that his father had instilled in him when he was young. ‘I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been.’ Biff, act II. He had hoped that he would pass his education and head off to college. However, this did not come to pass as he failed and ended up dong manual farm work that his father is very ashamed about. Happy has a stable job unlike Biff and his attitude towards his father and the entire family is to try to maintain happiness in all of them even if it means lying to them. He first tries to convince Biff to lie that he had gotten a business deal to their father. He treats his father better in that

Business and marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business and marketing - Case Study Example She carried out her research, came up with figures and statistics; on the strength of these, wrote a memo proposing that the vendors change their selling patterns. However, they mostly responded in a negative way and telling her, she does not understand their market while others did not even bother and her plan failed. Three months later she is told to redo the plan again taking to account the errors in the previous implementation, if is deemed feasible, she will be asked to implement it. This paper will examine why her first attempt flopped and how she must craft her second attempt if she hopes to sell her ideas successfully to the venders and implement her plan in the long run. Reasons of her failure can be attributed to several factors the most obvious one being the fact that she carried out most of her research and ignored or assumed the opinion and views of the ideas direct consumers who would benefit from its implementation. She gave little effort to boost awareness for her ideas, she worked alone and did not try to popularize or educate the field agents of the plans she had for them. By working exclusively, she locked out her beneficiaries from the planning session of the plans. She should have told them how they not only needed to change from small to big accounts but also how they should implement the change. While the logic behind her ideas is clear, she did not tell them which methods should be used to mediate the process and how they should vary their sales techniques to achieve her goal. Taking to account that every single of the agents has a unique marketing technique adapted to their individual tendencies and market situations, her memo was mostly too uniform to be practical. She assumed that everyone had small clients for the same reasons and they would get uniform benefits from making the shift. This explains why most of

Book Review of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay

Book Review of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Essay Example That is why he needs George to make sure that he does not get into trouble, or to get him out of trouble. George always knew of the social expectation and limitations of their status. And so, throughout the story, George and Lennie struggled against these social forces that block their dream of having a farm of their own. The dream of having their own farm symbolizes their dream of being free. The ending of the story demonstrates that not all dreams can be fulfilled, not because we stop doing something about it, but because there are certain social factors that cannot be easily defeated. Examples of these are discrimination, prejudice and assumptions. Steinback used Lennie’s character as the anchor of the story. The plot revolves around Lennie’s strength and love of soft things. It was Lennie’s love for soft things that led two friends to look for another job since they escaped their previous one. It was also Lennie’s strength and love for soft things that ended their dream of having their own farm. Steinback cleverly used Lennie’s weaknesses to strengthen George’s character. Because Lennie had a mental incapacity, George became the brain of the two friends. He became the one responsible for their actions. In the end, it was George who destroyed Lennie’s dream by giving him the freedom from the social restrictions placed on them. Steinback also created other characters to negatively and positively reinforce the main characters’ strengths and weaknesses. But more than that, he used them to reveal the picture of the human society, especially during those times. There was a lot of discrimination taking place. Particularly discrimination because of gender like of Curley’s wife, because of Crooks race and because of old age and handicap of Candy. Steinback’s story revealed the impact of discrimination on people and how this might lead to their own failures in life. He used his characters to define what he believed what was happening in the society without blatantly indicating what should and should not happen to amplify the discrimination. The plot is perfectly structured, in the sense, that it does not not confuse the reader. It is linear, meaning it tells the story of the two friends in a straightforward fashion. But Steinback’s style used the reader to interpret the story. While he told the story, he did not reveal the characters’ thoughts, only their actions and their words. The narration was initially introduced, but only to open the scene. It were the characters who described each other, who told the reader what was going on in the story. It did not divulge the secret thoughts of the characters, rather it urged the reader to dig deep within himself to understand what was going on in the story. The use of dialogues emphasized the real-like nature of the characters allowing them to breathe and live. The dramatic format how Steinback opened and closed the sc ene, like zooming in and out through the camera lens, highlighted the way how characters might have looked at their lives. The circular pattern of opening and closing scenes stressed that we continuously open and close our doors in our lives. And this also highlighted the need for people to accept and let go things that we couldn’t move on if we continue to stay in one position. Steinback also used foreshadowing, although maybe a bit too much, to emphasize connections between one scene to another. It was used to tie up the entire story together and without foreshadowing the story

Business and marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business and marketing - Case Study Example She carried out her research, came up with figures and statistics; on the strength of these, wrote a memo proposing that the vendors change their selling patterns. However, they mostly responded in a negative way and telling her, she does not understand their market while others did not even bother and her plan failed. Three months later she is told to redo the plan again taking to account the errors in the previous implementation, if is deemed feasible, she will be asked to implement it. This paper will examine why her first attempt flopped and how she must craft her second attempt if she hopes to sell her ideas successfully to the venders and implement her plan in the long run. Reasons of her failure can be attributed to several factors the most obvious one being the fact that she carried out most of her research and ignored or assumed the opinion and views of the ideas direct consumers who would benefit from its implementation. She gave little effort to boost awareness for her ideas, she worked alone and did not try to popularize or educate the field agents of the plans she had for them. By working exclusively, she locked out her beneficiaries from the planning session of the plans. She should have told them how they not only needed to change from small to big accounts but also how they should implement the change. While the logic behind her ideas is clear, she did not tell them which methods should be used to mediate the process and how they should vary their sales techniques to achieve her goal. Taking to account that every single of the agents has a unique marketing technique adapted to their individual tendencies and market situations, her memo was mostly too uniform to be practical. She assumed that everyone had small clients for the same reasons and they would get uniform benefits from making the shift. This explains why most of

Essay question Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Question - Essay Example iThe argument is however based on the fact that neoclassical economists claims or rather emphasize smith’s â€Å"invisible hand† while classical economists on the other hand think that smith clearly stipulates his programme for promoting the â€Å"Wealth of Nations† in the first sentence of his work. Smith uses the phrase â€Å"the invisible hand† in both theories under different context and each having a different meaning. Therefore, different interpretations of the phrase can be regarded as the source of conflicting ideas between classical and neoclassical economists. Moreover, various economists have advance theories that are in line with smith’s theory of wealth of a nation or contradicting theories thus economic policies are more of a battle field between neoclassical economists and classical economist who concurred with smith’s theory of an inquiry into the nature and the cause of wealth of a nation. Adam Smith’s work, â€Å"Wealth of Nations† is regarded as the perfecto of the theory of moral sentiments since it targets the problems of how people express their self-interests and their morality. He argued that a pin factory that employs division of labor is likely to produce thousands of pins more than a pin factory that each individual worker attempts to produce his or her own pin. Therefore he advocated for specialization and division of labor in production for efficiency. Adam Smith also emphasized on the importance of flexibility during transition from one phase of life to the other by developing institutions that are fit for that phase; and this therefore illustrates self-interest and morality in the society. Smith described people’s economic behavior as individuals who are guided by an â€Å"invisible hand†. He argued that production of high priced products in relation to production cost would induce individual production of this product

Patient Abuse in Nursing Facilities Essay Example for Free

Patient Abuse in Nursing Facilities Essay Patient abuse in nursing facilities is becoming more prominent. Abuse is not only physical, but emotional, sexual, neglect and financial exploitations. The elderly are the most vulnerable and least likely to complain, so unfortunately they are the targets. Most families research in depth about the nursing facility that they will place their loved one, in hopes that abuse doesn’t occur. Although the research is done, families should still look for signs and symptoms of abuse since they are leaving their loved one in stranger’s hands. According to (Center), A recent investigation concluded that employment checks do not always provide adequate protection against elder mistreatment. For instance, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services prohibit nursing homes from hiring persons with a prior history of committing abuse in a nursing home setting, but those who have been convicted of other forms of abuse like child abuse may still be hired. Some states require a criminal background check, while others do not. Even so, these checks usually do not uncover convictions in another state. Furthermore, in some states, non-caregiving staff such as maintenance workers and others without a direct patient care role do not undergo criminal checks even though they may have direct access to patients and patient areas. Understaffing is a common cause of nursing home abuse. When staff members become overworked, they may begin to lose their patience with the nursing home residents. In addition, understaffing leaves many workers unsupervised or untrained, which can lead to nursing home abuse. Still, physical abuse in nursing homes is illegal, and the owners of the assisted living facility can be held liable if a resident is subject to nursing home abuse or neglect. Sometimes, it is difficult to identify nursing home residents who have been physically abused. Very often, members of the nursing home staff will state that the residents injuries were the result of a fall rather than the actual causenursing home abuse. In addition, the staff member may bully the resident into agreeing with their story. Because detecting signs of physical nursing home abuse can be difficult, loved ones should pay careful attention when visiting the nursing home. Be aware of the common signs of physical nursing home abuse, including: unexplained bruising, cuts, sprains, fractures and broken bones and open wounds. In addition to physical signs, nursing home patients who have been physically abused may also show changes in their behavior. If the resident appears withdrawn, fearful, nervous or depressed, they may be suffering from physical nursing home abuse. The most common type of physical abuse is battery, which can include forcing the resident into restraints for no valid reason. Other forms of physical abuse in nursing homes include: overmedication, use of excessive restraints, chemical or physical, for no reason, burning, pushing, shoving, force feeding, hitting the resident with the hand or an object, pulling the residents hair and mishandling the resident when transporting them from beds, bathrooms etc ( (Morgan). According to (Emotional Abuse in Nursing Homes), Emotional abuse in nursing homes is not as overt as other forms of abuse. Regardless, the effects that emotional abuse in nursing homes can result in are damaging to the happiness, health, and other areas of that resident’s life. Not knowing what signs to look for can allow emotional abuse in nursing homes to continue. Often times, a resident thinks that telling someone about abuse suffered, including emotional abuse in nursing homes, will make them a burden to the family or they feel afraid of enduring an increased amount of abuse. If emotional abuse in nursing homes is occurring the family members should immediately notify the facility. The facility should amend the situation at once but if the emotional abuse in nursing homes persists, the family should take further action. The chances of the emotional abuse in nursing homes occurring to just one resident are very slim so other residents are probably suffering as well. Emotional abuse in nursing homes can include humiliation, harassment, threat of punishment, deprivation, and intimidation, as well as other behaviors. One of the most pervasive forms of nursing home abuse today is that of neglect. Nursing home neglect is too frequently overlooked and results all too often in a decline in general health and eventually the death of those elderly people entrusted to nursing home care facilities. The problem can occur anywhere and can take many shapes. What makes this particularly sinister is that it can be overlooked or ignored for so long. Even upon repeated visits to a nursing home, the signs of nursing home neglect can remain hidden. In order to understand the scope of the problem, it is important to know the different types of nursing home neglect and nursing home abuse. The most obvious, most egregious, and the first that comes to mind for many people is physical neglect. Unfortunately common in nursing homes today, neglect takes many forms, however, all of which are disturbing in their own right. Any of the following forms of neglect warrant contacting a nursing home abuse lawyer to bring justice to the victim of neglect, as well as make conditions safer for other residents (Center). According to (Financial Exploitation of Nursing Home Residents), Financial exploitation of the elderly occurs when an individual takes or uses the money or property of a senior for any wrongful use, or with the intent to defraud the elder. Senior citizens who live in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities can be victims of financial abuse by their direct caregivers or by the administrators of the nursing homes. Financial exploitation is defined as the wrongful use of an individual’s finances or property for another’s advantage. This can occur when residents personal or financial resources are taken from them without their consent, either because the residents were incapacitated and unable to give consent or because they were subjected to threats, intimidation, manipulation, and deception. Examples of financial exploitation include cashing an elderly person’s checks without authorization, forging a senior’s signature, stealing an older person’s money or possessions, or deceiving an older person into signing any contract, will, or other document. According to (Nursing Home Abuse), It is critical for every resident to understand their nursing home patient rights in order to successfully acclimate to the very different living environment of a skilled nursing facility. Patients and their families should become well versed in the policies and procedures inherent to life in the facility and must know exactly what they can and should expect when it comes to care and safety. In the US, the federal government and each state government have written legislation which guarantees each nursing home resident specific and general rights while under professional care. Most foreign counties have similar laws enacted to protect elders from abuse and neglect in nursing facilities, as well. When your loved one is placed in a nursing home, it is required that they are given a written bill of patient’s rights. It is recommended that the family and loved one go over this bill of rights in detail so they are familiar with the rights of their loved one. Most often, nursing home patients cannot defend themselves, due to several different reasons: physical health, mental health, social isolation or dependency issues. Unless someone comes forward for these patients, they won’t get help and no one is penalized for their actions. Many do not know how to report nursing home abuse, so they remain silent and struggle with their disturbing knowledge of the abuse or neglect. Once the repost is filed, the organization that is responsible, will investigate thoroughly and will hold the person/persons responsible for their actions. If you are a family member and suspect any minor abuse or neglect, it is always wise to report the activity to the nursing home administrator directly. Tell them that you have evidence of the abuse and that you intend to take this matter as far as it will go. Do not back down. If the infraction is minor and resulted in no real damage, then you may consider allowing them to discipline the staff member internally. Just be sure to watch out for any retribution which may come back to your loved one if the staff member is not fired. If the infraction is more serious or you do not feel completely confident that the matter will be settled in the best interest of your loved one, then take the concern one step further. Immediately call police and report the incident. Additionally, contact adult protective services, your ombudsman, your local nursing home regulatory agency and Medicare, if applicable. You might also consider consulting with a nursing home abuse attorney and filing a civil lawsuit (Nursing Home Abuse). Although abuse in nursing facilities is becoming more prominent, there are several things that family members can do to protect their loved one from being a victim from this horrible crime. The elderly are very vulnerable, but they do not deserve the abuse that the under paid, aggravated staff member may give them. If someone suspects abuse in a nursing facility, they should report it immediately. If not, this makes you just as guilty.

Celiac Disease Presenting as Unexplained Infertility

Celiac Disease Presenting as Unexplained Infertility Title- Celiac disease presenting as unexplained infertility and pancytopenia- A Case Report Abstract – Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine significant association with several extraintestinal features, such as reproductive disorders in women with undiagnosed celiac disease. Worldwide, CD prevalence is approximately 1%. Several studies suggest a higher prevalence of undiagnosed CD in patients with infertility. A 21 years old Indian woman who presented with history of primary amenorrhea, diminished secondary sexual character, asthenia, history of weight loss and chronic diarrhea. On admission her hemoglobin (Hgb) was 4.2 g/dL. Laboratory investigations confirmed a Immunoglobulin A (IgA) anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (IgA-tTG) was markedly elevated to more than 300 u/ml, colonoscopy was normal, Bone mass densitometry revealed osteopenia and hypercellular bone marrow on bone marrow biopsy. Celiac disease diagnosis was made multivitamins, mineral, intravenous iron replacement and gluten free diet replacement treatment was initiated. In order trilineage hematopoiesis, iron deficiency anemia, granulocytic hyperplasia and mild megakaryocytic hypoplasia. Both her platelet counts and white blood cell recovered uneventfully with continuing iron, calcium, vitmine D3 and folic acid supplementation. The possible mechanism for this phenomenon is discussed in this report. Introduction Celiac disease (CD) is a multifactorial chronic autoimmune systemic disease, triggered by gluten consumption in genetically predisposed individuals [1]. Classically the disease is manifested by symptoms of diarrhea, flatulence and malabsorption, however, it is also associated with variable systemic manifestations, including metabolic bone disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction and lympho-proliferative malignancies [2]. Worldwide, the prevalence of CD in the general population is approximately 1%; female: male ratio is 2 : 1 [3-7]. Several studies have confirmed the implications of celiac disease on the reproductive health of women. Celiac disease Development in cases of acute leukemia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from Human leukocyte antigen identical siblings who suffered from celiac disease [11,12]. We report the first case of celiac disease presented as pancytopenia with unexplained infertility in woman Case report A 21 year old Indian woman presented with primary amenorrhea, diminished secondary sexual character, asthenia, history of weight loss and chronic diarrhea. On admission her hemoglobin (Hgb) was 4.2 g/dL (normal range: 11.0–15.1 gm/dL), red cell distribution width (RDW) was 39% (normal range: 11.3–15.5%) and mean corpuscular volume was 63.6 fL (normal range: 79–97 fL). Reticulocyte count was low at 9000/mm3(normal range: 25–100 Ãâ€" 103/mm3), total iron binding capacity of 486 ÃŽ ¼g/dL (normal range: 250–450 ÃŽ ¼g/DL), percentage saturation of 5 and a ferritin level of 3/mcL (normal range: 150 – 400 Ãâ€" 103/ÃŽ ¼L), white blood cell (WBC) count was 3.2 Ãâ€" 103/ÃŽ ¼L (normal range: 4–11 Ãâ€" 103/ÃŽ ¼L) with 4-6 segmented neutrophils. On the bone marrow core sections ring sideroblasts was not found. Bone marrow iron store showed decreased amounts of storage iron. Total colonoscopy was normal. Upper gastrointestinal endos copy showed a loss of folds in the second part of the duodenum and a biopsy from the second part of duodenum showed intraepithelial lymphocytes, flattening of duodenal mucosa, lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in lamina propria, and crypt hyperplasia (Marsh class 3). Immunoglobulin A (IgA) anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (IgA-tTG) was markedly elevated to more than 300 u/ml. Bone mass densitometry revealed osteopenia. He was under observation in short intervals at the Oncology clinic with abnormal finding as hypercellular bone marrow on bone marrow biopsy. Celiac disease diagnosis was made multivitamins, mineral, intravenous iron sucrose complex given at a dose of 100 mg twice weekly. Replacement and gluten free diet replacement treatment was initiated. On day 14th of treatment hemoglobin increase upto 6.1 g/dL , WBC count to 6.4 Ãâ€" 103/mcL, and platelets were 195 Ãâ€" 103/mcL. We present the first case of celiac disease that presented as primary amenorrhea with pancytopeni a. Discussion – A patient came to medicine OPD presenting primary amenorrhea, diminished secondary sexual character, asthenia, history of weight loss and chronic diarrhea. However, celiac disease is also associated with variable systemic manifestations, including metabolic bone disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction and lympho-proliferative malignancies [2]. Given the extreme anemia and the marginal thrombocytopenia and leucopenia. In to improve erythropoiesis she was initiated on iron replacement therapy. Initially which led decrease in WBC counts and platelet. Even though iron deficiency is related with a reactive thrombocytosis [13], when the severity of the iron deficiency increases lead to normalization [14,15] and infrequently even decrease in platelet counts [16,17,18]. Still The precise mechanism of this is indistinct. Cause of pancytopenia in our patient may be related to decrease density of bone and increase free radical damage to hemopoetic stem cell in bone marrow. Extremely low levels o f estrogen hormone observed in our patient which is associated with bone demineralization and infertility, poor secondary sexual character in female. Conclusion Undiagnosed celiac disease is a jeopardy of infertility and pancytopenia. Pancytopenia may be due to decrease bone density result of that more exposure bone more ( haemopoetic stem cell) to free radical. Due to lack of proper nutrition, ovarian capsule could not protect newly growing follicle which lead to poorly development of estrogen hormone dependent secondary sexual character. Women seeking medical advice for this meticulous situation should be screened for celiac disease and bone density (DEXA scan). Adoption of a gluten-free diet could have a positive knock on fertility in such kind of patients. It may be a potentially modifiable (and treatable) risk factor. Futher, a large scale study prospectively study for bone density and ovarian capsule composition to evaluate association between celiac disease and infertility in woman, pancytopenia to clarify these hypothesis. References – Sà ¡nchez E, de Palma G, Capilla A, et al. Influence of environmental and genetic factors linked to celiac disease risk on infant gut colonization by Bacteroides species. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2011;77(15):5316–5323. 1b. Green PH, Cellier C. Celiac disease. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1731–1743. Rashtak S, Murray JA. Review article: coeliac disease, new approaches to therapy. Alimentary Pharmacology Therapeutics. 2012;35(7):768–781. Ravikumara M, Tuthill DP, Jenkins HR. The changing clinical presentation of coeliac disease. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2006;91(12):969–971. Rossi M, Bot A. Celiac disease: progress towards diagnosis and definition of pathogenic mechanisms. International Reviews of Immunology. 2011;30(4):183–184. Aggarwal S, Lebwohl B, Green PHR. Screening for celiac disease in average-risk and high-risk populations. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology. 2012;5(1):37–47. Megiorni F, Pizzuti A. HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 in Celiac disease predisposition: practical implications of the HLA molecular typing. Journal of Biomedical Science. 2012;19, article 88 Bargetzi MJ, Schà ¶nenberger A, Tichelli A, Fried R, Cathomas G, Signer E, et al. Celiac disease transmitted by allogeneic non-T cell-depleted bone marrow transplantation.Bone Marrow Transplant.1997;20:607–9. Borgaonkar MR, Duggan PR, Adams G. Differing clinical manifestations of celiac disease transmitted by bone marrow transplantation.Dig Dis Sci.2006;51:210–2 Schloesser LL, Kipp MA, Wenzel FJ. Thrombocytosis in iron deficiency anemia.J Lab Clin Med.1965;66:107–114. Dincol K, Aksoy M. On the platelet levels in chronic iron deficiency anemia.Acta Haematol.1969;41:135–143. Choi SI, Simone JV, Jackson CW. Megakaryocytopoiesis in experimental iron deficiency anemia. Blood.1974;43:111–120. Lopas H, Rabiner SF. Thrombocytopenia associated with iron deficiency anemia.Clin Pediatr.1966;5:609–616. doi: 10.1177/000992286600501008. Berger M, Brass LF. Severe thrombocytopenia in iron deficiency anemia.Am J Hematol.1987;24:425–428. doi: 10.1002/ajh.2830240412. Mubarak AA, Awidi A, Rasul KI, Al-Homsi U. Thrombocytopenia responding to red blood cell transfusion.Saudi Med J.2004;25:106–109.

Management Proposal :: Management Report Summary

Management Proposal Deep-well drilling has been around for centuries. Over the years, different techniques have been developed in order to improve the efficiency of drilling in a number of different geographical locations. Today’s deep-well drilling industry revolves around the use of bits. In order for this company to be proficient with time and money, it is essential to use bits that are tough enough to withstand impact, while at the same time still possessing a hard surface to protect it against wear. Case hardening will be the method of choice because of it’s well known ability to create the desired effects of hardness and toughness. Case hardening is a process in which low-carbon steel or iron is carbonized at the surface. The carburized steel part must be machined first in the soft condition, and then hardened by a case hardening treatment to create a hard outer layer. The type of heat treatment used will depend on the contents of the steel. A typical steel alloy for all-around structural purposes is composed of 0.35% carbon. For our case, we will use a chromium steel combination known as No. 5120, which is a much better quality alloy than carbon steel. The casehardened tool we seek to make will need to be able to withstand high stress impacts and have a hard durable surface to prevent the bit from breaking. Chromium-steel No.5120 is intended to fulfill these exact specifications. The desired levels of carbon and chromium are 0.20% and 0.75%, respectively. In order to accomplish this, the correct heat treatment must be applied. A proven affordable method of casehardening is gas carbonizing. The objective of gas carbonizing is to force a flow of carbonaceous gas between the two plates. The result is a penetration of carbon in less time. The plates are heated by electricity, which allows for a more uniform carbon penetration. The best-known carbon gas used for this process is carbon monoxide because of its ability to rapidly penetrate the metal. A side effect of carbon monoxide is an oxidizing effect that might harm the casehardened metal. To avoid this, the work is packed with wood charcoal in a cylinder. It is then heat ed to the carbonizing temperature and, a current of carbon dioxide is infused into the cylinder. After the metal has been gas carbonized between 1650 degrees F.

Marijuana: The Legalization :: social issues

Marijuana: The Legalization Their Side: After the sustaining vote in November of 1996 and coming into effect the beginning of this year, marijuana is now legal to medical patients in California and Arizona. Proposition 215 reads as follows: The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. (B) To ensure that patients and their primary care givers obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction. C. To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana. (Proposition 215 Section 11362.5) Of course, it goes on and breaks into fine detail into which I choose not to venture. To summarize it all, if you're sick, or think you are, your doc can get you some pot. Just like that. So what's so great about this? It supposedly brings relief to those with terminal illnesses. (Such were listed in 215) Cancer sufferers who are inflicted with nausea due to chemotherapy have reported that a puff or two of a marijuana cigarette relieves the pain. (Theorized after study by psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School) It has also been reported to relieve the pain suffered by AIDS patients. Despite all this great relief, one question remains unanswered, what about the side effects? Exactly how harmful and addicting is this stuff? MY SIDE: (the important stuff) My personal opinion: Marijuana should remain illegal because of the enormous side effects and addiction that results after using the drug. My first fact to back my opinion would have to be this, marijuana is what it is, a drug! You can't change that no matter how many people vote on it. Sure, there are prescription drugs on the market that are potentially dangerous but their effects are nothing compared to that of marijuana.

Bach (Acorus Calamus) Essay

Bach or Sweet flag is thought to have originated in Central Asia and probably indigenous to India, found common in areas that surround the Himalayas. As a result of cultivation, it has spread throughout the globe, found across Europe, in southern Russia, northern Asia Minor, southern Siberia, China, Japan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Australia, as well as southern Canada and northern USA. Calamus has long been a symbol of male love. The name is associated with a Greek myth on Kalamos, son of the river-god Maeander. In Japan, the plant is a symbol of the samurai’s bravery because of its sharp sword-like leaves. Teton-Dakota warriors chewed the root to a paste, which they rubbed on their faces. It prevented excitement and fear when facing an enemy. In Penobscot homes, the root was cut and hung up. Steaming it throughout the home is thought to cure sickness. have also been used as a thatch for roofs. Food and Flavouring: An essential oil from the rhizome is used in perfumery and as food flavouring, it has a fragrance reminiscent of patchouli oil. An essential oil obtained from the leaves is used in perfumery and for making aromatic vinegars. Insect repellent: The essential oil is also an insect repellent and insecticide. It is effe c t i ve a ga i n st houseflies. When added to rice being stored in granaries it has significantly reduced loss caused by insect damage because the oil in the root has sterilized the male rice weevils. All parts of plant can be dried and used to repel insects or to scent linen cupboards. Incense: The leaves and the roots have refreshing scent of cinnamon. They can also be burnt as incense. Medicine: In Ayurvedic system of medicine, the rhizomes of Sweet flag are considered to possess anti-spasmodic, carminative and anthelmintic properties and have been used for a number of beneficial reasons. Vacha is considered as a ‘sattvic’ herb which feeds and transmutes the sexual ‘kundalini’ energy. It is forms a popular remedy for cough and cold and also the other respiratory disorders like bronchitis. In raw form it is used as cough lozenge. Sweet flag provides aid to the digestive system and acts against flatulent colic, dyspepsia, and vomiting. Acorus calamus depresses central nervous system and is a well known ingredient in formulation for psycho-somatic disorders like epilepsy. The vapours of Sweet flag repel some insects. THE PLANT Sweet flag is a perennial, semi-aquatic and smelly plant, found in both temperate and sub temperate zones. It is up to 2m tall, aromatic, sword-shaped leaves and small, yellow/green flowers with branched rhizome. Plants very rarely flower or set fruit, but when they do, the flowers are 3-8 cm long, cylindrical in shape, greenish brown and covered in a multitude of rounded spikes. The fruits are small and berry-like, containing few seeds. CULTIVATION It’s a hardy plant found growing from tropical to sub-tropical climates. Plenty of sunshine should be available to the plant during its growth and after harvesting for drying the rhizomes. This species comes up well in clayey loams, sandy loams and light alluvial soils of river banks. The land should be ploughed twice or thrice prior to the onset of rains. Acorus is propagated through rhizomes obtained from earlier planting. The best time for planting is the second fortnight of June. The river or canal bank where the land is saturated with water is very suitable for its growth. Timely weeding and hoeing to control the spread of weeds and to obtain good yield is essential. After each weeding the growing plants are pressed down into the soil. After 6-8 months, in December, the lower leaves turn yellow and dry indicating their maturity. The field should be partially dried only leaving sufficient moisture for uprooting the plant. The uprooted rhizome is cleaned after washing with water and cut into size and fibrous roots removed. The cut rhizomes are dried by spreading under the shade so that the amount of oil present in it is not harmed. TRADE AND COMMERCE Sweet flag has been an item of trade in many cultures for thousands of years. Sweet flag forms a useful adjunct to other tonics and stimulants. Its domestic demand is quite large. As the production is much less in India, the internal market itself is highly potential. Importers, buyers within the country, processors, traditional practitioners, Ayurvedic and Siddha drug manufacturers throng the markets for procurement of this plant every year.

Netflix Strategic Management

| Netflix| Heather Murdock, Brian Wynn, Joseph Casey, Samuel Faulkner, Allen Porter, Josh Blum| | The University of Memphis| 4/13/2013| | â€Å"Netflix, Inc. is the world’s leading Internet television network with more than 33 million members in over 40 countries enjoying more than one billion hours of TV shows and movies per month, including original series. For one low monthly price, our members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen.Additionally, in the United States, our subscribers can receive standard definition DVDs, and their high definition successor, Blu-ray discs, delivered quickly to their homes† (SEC Filings, 2013). Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph established Netflix in 1997 in order to offer online movie rentals. In 1999, the firm launched its infamous subscription service that offered unlimited rentals for a monthly subscription, but it was not until the year 2000 that Netflix gave their firm a true comp etitive advantage when it implemented its movie recommendation algorithm. Within two years, Netflix made its IPO at a net value of $82,000,000 on NASDAQ.From the IPO to present, Netflix has amassed more than thirty-three million members. During this continual climb, Netflix opened its streaming service in 2007, created major partnerships from 2009 until 2010 which allowed for Netflix widgets on electronic hardware systems, and since 2010 has been establishing international operations in primarily English speaking countries (Company Overview: Netflix Timeline, 2013). Knowing the background of the company, the individuals responsible for managing the company can be discussed with an understanding of what they have achieved.At the center of everything, Netflix related is Reed Hastings, the Co-Founder, and CEO. Prior to Netflix, Reed founded one of the 50 largest software companies, Pure Software. Reed has additionally served on the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004. Reed’s long-term determination has resulted in the company’s endured success despite serious dilemmas. Kelly Bennet is the Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to Netflix, Kelly served as VP of Interactive World Wide Marketing at Warner Brothers for nearly a decade. Additionally, he has served executive positions in Dow Jones International and Ignition Media.Kelly’s wide range of media experiences has provided the company with the effective understanding of the company is marketing channels. Tawni Cranz is the Chief Talent Officer. Prior to Netflix, Tawni was the HR director of Bausch & Lomb. Tawni has worked with Netflix since 2007. Jonathan Friedland is the Chief Communications Officer. Prior to Netflix, Jonathan was the SVP of Corporate Communication for The Walt Disney Company. Before his executive position, he spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent and editor. Bill Holmes is the Chief Business Development Officer.Prior to Netflix, Bill served as Vice Presiden t Business Development & Strategy at DivX, Inc. Neil Hunt is the Chief Product Officer. Prior to Netflix, Neil served in various engineering and product roles at the software test tool companies. Bill has been with Netflix since 1999. David Hyman is the General Counsel. Prior to Netflix, David was the General Counsel of Webvan. David has been with Netflix since 2002. Ted Sarandos is the Chief Content Officer. Prior to Netflix, Ted was an executive at ETD and Video City. Ted has been with Netflix since 2000. David Wells is the Chief Financial Officer.Prior to Netflix, David spent six years in senior roles across Deloitte Consulting. David has been with Netflix since 2004. Finally, there is an illustrations board of directors who monitor Netflix to ensure that the executive’s vision for the company is aligned with the stockholder’s needs. The important individuals on the board of directors are Ann Mather, Reed Hastings, and Timothy Haley (Company Overview: Management, 20 13). The combined corporate experience of all the executive members has provided Netflix with an invaluable brain trust to power their dominant market share.Knowing who runs Netflix and knowing what the individuals share, as a common mission and value system, will help clarify the company’s situation in future paragraphs. Netflix does not have an official mission statement or series of values known to the public. However, the company hiring policy does list company culture qualifiers, which are rather similar to an ad hoc value system. In a company where efficiency and responsiveness is everything, Netflix does not carry very many policies or mission statement related items because they believe policies are largely ineffective at producing desired results.Their concept centralizes around the idea that the Netflix corporate brand sustains itself by creating the highest quality product and service with the highest quality employee. This undetermined result orientated mission st atement means that the employees and management hold a great deal of ethical and work autonomy. This autonomy has generated a clarified list of desired employee values: Judgment, Communication, Impact, Curiosity, Innovation, Courage, Passion, Honesty, and Selflessness (‘Top Reasons to Work at Netflix’, 2013).Knowing the motivation behind Netflix being a result oriented methodology, it will be relatively easy to understand the major goals of the company. The core strategy of Netflix is to grow their streaming subscription business domestically and internationally. Netflix has established streaming services to more than 40 countries outside of the United States. Netflix executives believe streaming content online is a large long-term growth opportunity. Due to an economy of scales, Netflix current controls the majority of the content streaming market.The other primary strategies for Netflix includes maintaining the highest customer satisfaction in the market, providing Ne tflix’ streaming service on every device, and transitioning a larger market portion into international markets. It is understandable why Netflix has been willing to venture into unexplored business ventures, such as the online content streaming, with full confidence that these new ventures will carry their company into the next generation of entertainment consumption mediums when you compare their ventures to their values and person-embodied technologies.Netflix’ intention to be usable on every device is the company’s stretch goal. The effort to become primarily a content streaming company is a long-term challenge due to the mentioned content licensing liability that would adversely affect the business if obstructed (SEC Filings, 2013). Regardless of any ambitions, there are difficulties that the company has had to face, forcing Netflix to change their long-term strategy. â€Å"Prior to July 2011, in the (United States) †¦ subscribers could receive both st reaming content and DVDs under a single ‘hybrid’ plan† (SEC Filings, 2013).The hybrid plan was broken into two different subscription services, and subscribers could choose which services interested them the most. That decision was an emergent strategy that developed due to the implementation of DVD kiosks by Red Box and Block Buster. The Stock peaked at an all-time high of 295 during July 2011, and the decisions resulted in an 80% loss in stock value (Yahoo! Finance Inc. , 2013). The company continued to recover with a primarily international and streaming strategy (SEC Filings, 2013). Netflix has successfully established itself in several related industries.They are a powerful online media provider and well as the leading online movie and game rental distributor. Several recent changes in these industries have occurred due to the competition of big business. Some changes have had a positive and negative effect on Netflix. On the political side, Netflix and other entertainment providers have benefited greatly from the U. S. Department of Homeland Security recent initiatives on the seizing of dozens of illegal streaming and torrent sites due to copyright infringement. Over the past several years’ websites such as torrentfreak, alluc. org, dvdcollect. om, and watchnewfilms. com have been seized or shut down by the U. S. government. These initiatives were a product of the growing concern of copyright infringement from the TV and film industry. Similar to the massive seizures of programs such as limewire and napster in the mid 2000 is forced by the music industry. This has also helped the Legal side of the industry that was much more complicated six years ago than it is today. Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and licensing have become easier to obtain for legitimate businesses due to the confidence and maturity of the industry as a whole.An unforeseen change in copyright law could have an effect on Netflix and its competitors. The econom ic factors that affect this industry are unclear. Logic suggests that entertainment spending would decrease during a recession due to a decrease in disposable income. However, DVD rentals have continued to grow. This may be because consumers are seeing DVD rentals and online streaming as cheap entertainment alternatives to their counterparts, such as visits to the movie theater or the purchase of an expensive DVD. The sociocultural factors that have affected the industry are mostly related to the advancement of technology over the last decade.Consumers are more tech savvy and thus are purchasing more products and services that enhance the speed, quality, availability, and price of what they watch. One demographic concern is the aging of the population. As baby boomers grow older they may begin to pursue less visual entertainment. There are no substantial ecological factors affecting this industry. The energy used to run the Netflix’ servers might be a concerning factor if not for the large reduction of domestic shipping and transportation that companies such as Redbox are using instead of streaming.If anything this industry’s emergence has had a positive effect on the environment because it is transforming what used to be physical product with a life cycle into timeless packages of data. The technological advances in video streaming since Netflix first decided to be an instant video provider are astounding. From what was just an emerging technology just a decade ago is now a major function of every major website in the world. The most significant entry into the market was actual TV networks designing their own websites for content streaming.Not only does this erase content that Netflix would be potentially able to offer their customers but also creates new competitors. In reference to Netflix’ other side of the business, there has been several changes in the way consumers rent DVD’s. Redbox has emerged as an industry giant by establ ishing kiosks all over the U. S. making DVD rental cheap and extremely hassle free. Traditional brick and mortar establishments are practically nonexistent due to the convenience and price of by-mail, kiosk, and instant viewing channels.The five forces model for Netflix is complicated because the DVD rental business and online media streaming are two very separate markets with different customers and competitors. The threat of new entrants on the DVD rental side of the company is not as great as it is on the online streaming side. DVDs are an older technology and a large amount of capital is required to enter this market. It is also difficult to classify exactly who and what Netflix’ direct competitors are as this industry is rapidly evolving and shifting. Netflix competes with companies on several levels of the video entertainment industry.Netflix and its competitors serve consumers on a number of alternative channels for in-home entertainment such as: brick and mortar renta l businesses, DVD vending machine services, DVD mail delivery, online rental, pay-per view rental, video on-demand services, online video purchasing, and brick and mortar retail stores. This collection of competition makes it difficult to assign a particular competitor to a specific strategic group. The threat of new entrants is low. Capital requirements to enter this industry are high and existing competition have established brands and developed unique echnology. The main concern for Netflix is if a large indirect competitor with recourses suddenly decided it wanted to enter the market. The power of suppliers is high in this industry. Netflix obtains its product directly from studios. A broken relationship could cost them an immense amount of viewing content and in turn provide their competitors with that same content. There are no viable substitutes for the content they purchase from the major film and television studios. Supplier can and are forwardly integration themselves into the industry.The most notable example of this is from the premium cable networks such as: Starz, Encore, Showtime, and HBO. These networks have all established their own premium sites for content streaming with a log-in available through a customer’s cable provider. The power of buyers is moderate to low. The customers are individual consumers so they do not present a great deal of buyer power as a purchasing group. However, Netflix’ revenue is obtained completely form individual customers that are price sensitive. As a whole they are not capable of backward integration which gives them only moderate power.The threat of substitutes is very high. There is an abundance of different channels a customer could go through to replace Netflix. Netflix customers could simply turn to Cable and satellite television networks, movie theaters, other streaming sites, free sites, rental kiosks and purchasing DVDS to replace Netflix. The switching costs are all relatively low. The riv alry among existing competitors is also relatively high and should only continue to increase. Partnerships are occurring throughout the industry that will put pressure on Netflix not only for its customers but also its content.Verizon is now partners with Coinstar’s primary subsidiary, Redbox, to launch their own on-demand video streaming site called Redboxinstant. Redbox will now compete with Netflix directly on both sides of its business. If Time Warner allows HBO to offer its website HBOGO to customers without a cable subscription then HBO will transform into a direct competitor of on-demand subscription. Amazon has jumped into the market with their launch of Amazon Prime. Users pay a yearly fee and have access to instant movies, television series, e-books, and a whole array of other value adding services.Wal-Mart has purchased VuDu, another streaming service that integrates into devices such as Sony’s Playstation 3 to provide instant viewing to subscribing members. Unlike other services Vudu offers titles available the same day they are released on DVD. Google, Apple, and BlockBuster have all also joined the market with their own version of on-demand entertainment. The competition remains high because these are all powerful companies with equal strengths striving for market leadership. Capabilities| Valuable? | Rare? | Costly to Imitate? Organized to capture value? | Competitive Advantage? | Mail-in DVD Rental| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Temporary due to product life cycle. Sustainable for now| Convenience| Yes| No| Yes| Yes| Sustainable/Temporary| Title Variety| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Sustainable| Online streaming| Yes| No| Yes| Yes| Competitive Parity/ Temporary Advantage| Instant queue | Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Sustainable advantage| Physical Distribution| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Temporary due to product life cycle. Sustainable for now| Strengths| Weaknesses| Opportunities| Threats|Instant queue system that makes movie recommendations to customers. | Potent ial liability for negligence, copyright, or trademark infringement. | Investing in viewing material and streaming content. | Changes in consumer viewing habits| Content can be accessed via hardware applications i. e. Xbox, PlayStation, Ipad, Wii. | Declining subscriptions to domestic DVD rental service. | Adoption and growth of internet TV. | Online subscription-based entertainment video market segment saturation| Brand awareness| Customer information could be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Future of the Consumer Electronic Ecosystem: â€Å"Internet on Every Screen†| Content providers refusing to license streaming content upon acceptable terms. | Largest collection of premium content. | Operational failure in any of the key systems. | International streaming segment represents a significant long-term growth| Changes in U. S. postal rates| Netflix is confident that expansion into more markets worldwide will help the business continue to grow. This is evident because Netfl ix cites its expansive reach as a major component of its success, as well as, an important factor in the company’s plan for the future.A goal promoted on the company’s investor relationship website is the intention to provide Netflix video streaming services to any and all screens with Internet connection. So far, the company has managed to reach subscribers in 40 countries while supplying a library of over one billion hours of video (Netflix). This wide reaching and easily available nature of this service has been the source of much of Netflix’ success since the company began. Based on the statements included with the Netflix financial releases, the company views an economic perspective of competitive advantage and the industry as a whole.This perspective is less focused on accounting ratios and data than the fundamental value-added philosophy. The main concern from this perspective is value creation. Netflix has added value to the videos they license by provid ing a convenient system for streaming the video to the end user and then made that system available to individuals worldwide. The availability of Netflix in so many areas is the primary method being utilized to capture the value already created by the working system born here in the United States. Netflix holds a primary concern in the continuous presence in the technologically developing areas of the world.In these areas, the economic value added to videos is great. Far from electronic stores and Hollywood, the ease and convenience of Netflix video providing service becomes more and more significant. Netflix respects this philosophy and has responded by continuing to advance into new areas around the globe (Netflix). Triple Bottom Line Netflix has differentiated itself from the competition in both video streaming and rental. Netflix began by changing the video rental market. It entered the industry with the plan to dispense movies across America directly to its subscribers’ homes.Not long after, Netflix began adding on online method of viewing video instantly. According to the company website, members can play; pause; and resume watching, all without commercials or interruptions. There are many video-streaming services available, most of which are free. Hardly any competitor can match Netflix’ boast of no commercials because of their reliance on ad stream revenue. Netflix also differentiates itself in that the software remembers your video selections. With this memory of video selections, it can then recommend new videos that you have not seen.The most notable form of differentiation in the video streaming industry is exclusivity. This deals with what video is actually viewable by the users. The provider makes video available legally by contracting with the rights holders of the videos. This severely limits free services already available because they centralize their business model on revenue through advertising. This issue may provide Netflix with its biggest advantage. Because Netflix charges its members a subscription cost, it can then use the greater funds to negotiate with video rights holders.While Netflix cannot be considered a cost leader when compared to the free video streaming services available, it still utilizes cost management to compete with other pay services that may try to enter the market and those already available. The company advertises that for one low monthly price, Netflix members can watch as much as they want, anytime and anywhere. This low monthly price is due to four factors. One, Netflix has already overcome the cost of input. This regards the substantial investment required to launch a video streaming program on a massive scale and complete negotiations with video rights holders.Two, Netflix is also developing its economy of scale. The Netflix streaming service is spreading into 40 countries, and each new market can be reached with already developed software and without having to invest in a completely new process. Three, Netflix is further along the learning curve than competitors. The company has been ironing out kinks in the video streaming process much longer than most competitors. Four, Netflix experience gives it a viable source of advantage against industry newcomers. Netflix’ competitive scope is very broad in the video streaming market.The company is working to reach any and all potential customers with an Internet connected screen. The American market is somewhat segmented between the more tech savvy video streamers and delivery service recipients. For its video streaming service, Netflix is approaching the market with a fast pace, expanding into most areas where internet is available. Netflix’ generic strategy is integration though it leans more towards service differentiation than cost leadership. It strays from a cost position due to the many free video providers already available online.However, other pay services have difficulty competing b ecause Netflix’ success with economies of scale and experience in the industry. Many factors differentiate the Netflix service from the rest of the market. These videos are available to members on-demand without commercials. Netflix also provides its members with video recommendations based on the customer’s past selections. Furthermore, Netflix has been successful at reaching more and more developing areas that are beginning to go online. In these areas, Netflix’ product has even more differentiation due to the low competitor presence.There are positives and negatives to the Netflix business strategy. The negatives begin with the cost of premium video rights. It is difficult to differentiate via better video because they will cost more to distribute. This causes trouble because it becomes a tradeoff between more exclusive video selection and cost management. All the while, free services are looming putting together more and more comparable video selections. The benefits of Netflix strategy stem from its heightened revenue when compared to competitors.Because Netflix charges members, it can spend more on rights to show videos, and its lack of advertising diminishes the threat posed by free services. With Netflix current cost structure, it can benefit greatly from spreading to the markets becoming available due to the expansion of the Internet. A key suggestion to made for improvement to Netflix’ business strategy would be to move along the productivity frontier towards differentiation and away from cost leadership. With a higher price, Netflix can provide better videos that are more exclusive.This is crucial in order to take advantage of the vulnerability of video limitation within the free video-streaming services. Netflix’ already industry-leading experience should put to use in maximizing the already unique service it provides. It is also possible that segmenting the video-streaming service could benefit the company by div ersifying its competitive position. Netflix could provide a free service, with commercials for revenue and limited video offerings. It could then simultaneously offer a low cost subscription with no commercials but limited video offerings.Its final offering could be a premium subscription with a higher price. This membership would benefit from the higher cost because it would have a greater variety of video offerings afforded by the new revenue. This option continues to differentiate Netflix’ service while still offering low cost options to the price conscious customer. It will be very important that any raise in subscription cost be met with identifiable upgrades to video selection in order to retain subscribers. Netflix Inc. is still very much in the growth stage of the ndustry life cycle. Currently the company seeks to expand operations in Latin American countries, Europe, and South America. Their international subscribers grew from 4. 3 million in the third quarter of las t year to 6. 1 million in the fourth quarter (Forbes, 2013). In fact, with all of the success overseas,  Netflix has actually started to slow their international expansion, so that they may better analyze new potential markets before officially entering. Netflix uses the advantages of its long tail business model to overcome problems like thin markets.Through online services, Netflix has risen above competitors like Blockbuster, with advantages like unlimited inventory space through digitization and its multiple process innovations (Parr, 2010). Including such advantages as being available on multiple platforms (mobile, Xbox, Apple TV, etc. ), and having the ability to quickly add or remove products from its database. The technology utilized by Netflix to stream its products to consumers on multiple platforms has expanded rapidly. The online streaming service from Netflix was introduced in 2007, and in 2010 Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy (Parr, 2010).The technology is so widespr ead and compatible a subscriber can view a program from their office computer, to their mobile phone, and then to their Blue-Ray player or tablet. The speed of diffusion in the movie/television industries was due to the advances in internet services, similar to what is occurring in the music and book industries. Netflix’ internet streaming service is currently the dominant technology on the industries S-curve today. The remainder of its DVD mail order service is in the decline stage, even though Netflix still holds on to that service.The biggest paradigm threat that  Netflix faces is the emergence of Redbox and the ability to stream movies and TV shows from other sources like HBO Go. Netflix has several trademarks and copyrights that it protects vigorously. Its advantages like online software and no late fees have given it quite the competitive advantage. Netflix has even filed a lawsuit against Blockbuster in recent years for copyright infringement of their new online serv ices (Sander, 2013). Vertical value chain: Stage 1 raw materials: Netflix receives most of its product through the production of outside film studios such as Warner Bros. Disney, Viacom media networks, DreamWorks classics, 20th television, Hasbro studios, Saban Brands, The Weinstein Company, Open Road films, Relative Media (Reuters, 2013). The contracts made with each studio provide Netflix with the physical inventory necessary to meet the demand of consumers, and the rights to digital streaming for its online services. Netflix also participates in this upstream activity through the production of their very own television series. Stage 2 Component and Intermediate Goods: Philips and Sony jointly manage the patent for optical media cd manufacturing (CD Manufacture, 2013).Although, in North America the patent is expired, so any cd production in Canada or the United States of America is not subject to license fees. However, worldwide the patent still applies, so licensing fees would ap ply on arrival to any merchandise shipped internationally where the patent is still in effect (CD Manufacturing, 2013). After acquiring DVD’s for the still remaining physical distribution side of the business, Netflix must then package the merchandise appropriately so that its logo and trademarks are clearly visible when received by consumers. Stage 3 Final Assembly:For Netflix this requires the challenge of taking its finished product and delivering it with convenience and ease to subscribers. Outbound logistics plays a major role for success in customer satisfaction. Netflix must keep executing well in the delivery of their physical products if it wishes to maintain a key provider in mail order services. Stage 4 Marketing and Sales: Netflix has several mediums it can use to reach consumers. Of these, television commercials, internet ads, newspaper/magazine ads, and even video game consoles are crucial ways Netflix reaches its consumers.Netflix also utilizes discounts as a w ay to attract new customers, mainly its one month free trial if offers to new users. Netflix is also implementing strategies where they are now starting to offer individual service so that customers may choose which service to pay for (Schneider, 2010). The new service will provide the option for consumers to choose between the DVD rental by mail or the online streaming services. Progress is still being made on a combination package for users that use both services. Stage 5 After-Sales service and support:For Netflix, service and support may be the most crucial part to maintaining its customer base. The challenge for Netflix lies in that it must provide service and support for two completely different services. For mail order customers, Netflix must provide expedient deliveries consistently and be able to handle issues such as lost deliveries and theft. Online streaming customers have their own range of service and support that is required to accommodate. For example, Netflix must h ave a wide selection readily available for its users, and it must constantly update their library with new material.Netflix must also rely on Amazon for this portion if their business since Netflix uses Amazon’s web services (AWS) for online streaming. Netflix has a unique vertically/horizontally disintegrated system. In the past Netflix has used several horizontal integrated techniques that have led to their success by acquiring multiple studio contracts and controlling industries that deal in video distribution (Schneider, 2010). It is dynamic in the sense that most of its products where manufactured, created, and marketed at some point through an outside entity.This creates a marketing advantage where several consumers already have developed favorites and genre preferences leaving Netflix with the task of compiling the merchandise needed for shipment related services and securing the rights with major film studios to stock their digital library for online subscribers on mu ltiple platforms. On the other hand, Netflix has begun to produce and provide some of its own programming, like their new hit series â€Å"House of Cards† (Funding Universe, 2013).This for many is ground breaking because it is the first television show to bypass the cable network system, and the entire first season is available for viewing instantly which is also unprecedented for a television series. It would seem that Netflix is moving to be more fully vertically integrated with the increase of success it is having from its own studios, but for the time being taper integration would apply with most of their digital products being produced from an outside source. The only acquisition that Netflix has had in the past 3 years is with a company that is named DreamBox Learning.Netflix has not been interested in growing based on acquisitions and mergers thus far in their venture. The acquisition of DreamBox Learning is thought to be a philanthropic move for Netflix due to this de al involving a partnership with the non-profit organization known as The Charter School Fund (Dreambox, 2010). Dream Box Learning is a company that makes interactive schooling software for kids of all ages. Netflix saw this as opportunity to distribute learning throughout school systems while also boosting the reputation of Netflix. The software is also in use for kids from kindergarten all the way thru the 12th grade.This investment made by Netflix gave DreamBox Learning the ability to reach more kids and wider range of students. Netflix has a couple over very strong strategic alliances; one of their top strategic alliances is with a company we all know very well, Apple. The availability of Netflix on the iPad and Iphones has helped Netflix gain more users who are looking to watch movies or download shows onto their devices. Along with these devices, Netflix is also available on the Apple TV device so that users are able to watch the movies directly through their TVs.Blackberry and RIM tried entering an alliance but were never able to finalize a deal. This would most likely hurt blackberry since the amount of recent users of Netflix is on the rise. Another strategic alliance you have probably seen with Netflix is the availability of it on your TV’s, DVD players and Blu-ray Players. These all work over hardwire or wifi network allowing you to view movies and shows via the Internet through your TV and or players. Netflix has done this to gain the people who do not want to wait on the videos to reach them through the mail.This is the latest technology which includes smart TV’s and Blu-ray players which both have apps pre installed on them so all you have to do is hook them up to an internet connection and you are able to view the movies or shows that you would like (HD TV Test, 2012). This was a great opportunity for Netflix to enter the apps game and really push them to the top. This alliance has defiantly helped Netflix get to their goal of milli ons of users by making it easier to get the movies right in your home without having to wait.As the TV prices have dropped recently and more people buying smart TVs this was a great move for Netflix to really get their name out to the people who had not previously used them. Netflix does not seem to be a company who has an alliance management origination but is just looking at technology and developing ways to enter the market all the time. They are always looking for new and improved ways to get the product into the hands of their users more effectively and efficiently. Netflix is a company that has spread its seed internationally they just recently expanded into Latin America.This was their first international release of Netflix and has proven to be a hard market to corner because of the competition that is out there (LA Times, 2012). Since then they have now emerged in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. They have also reached out to people in Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain. These markets, which already have companies supplying them with videos on demand, have proven to be harder for Netflix than originally anticipated. Is this going to discourage Netflix from entering the market in other countries is the biggest question people are asking right now.Growth in these regions has been slower for Netflix than anticipated and they are currently looking into new ways to distribute their videos in these countries. One of the main problems that Netflix has had in Latin America is that some of the DVDs were not carrying subtitles, making it undesirable for people to rent. In order to compete with their competitors in this market Netflix now makes sure that all of the movies or shows being distributed in Latin America have subtitles. So far, in Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain Netflix has been successful and is looking to spread out across Europe.The next question you ask yourself while doing research is how is Netflix going to reach the mar ket of China or Japan or when are they going to try. According to research, the time has not been much insight as to whether Netflix will even attempt to enter these markets. Just recently, the Chinese government launched a video service much like Netflix (Reuters, 2012). Trying to compete with the Chinese government is really going to be difficult and this might be one reasons that Netflix has decided not to enter those markets.Netflix is using an International Strategy based on the fact they have to have movies in different languages or with sub titles in order to reach these markets. They are doing their best to make sure that every market they enter is going to be a successful journey. This one of the main reasons people have stated they have yet to enter both the Japanese or Chinese markets due to the control the government has over what is entering their markets. The strategy has proven to be effective for Netflix and they have succeeded in the countries they have entered.The changes they have had to make in the markets show their willingness to succeed and just how driven Netflix really is. Netflix currently has two separate services that are DVD’s by mail and the online streaming of movies and shows. As of the fourth quarter of 2012, Netflix had 27. 15 million subscribers worldwide. Revenues for the Online streaming service were $589 million and $254 million for DVD’s by mail. However, the contribution profit/loss for the online streaming service was $-105 million and $125 million for DVD’s by mail.While the online streaming service brings in more revenue for Netflix, the costs of operating it surpass those of the DVD service. The DVD service has fixed costs, while the online streaming service must negotiate licenses with each individual company on a case-by-case basis. With this knowledge, it is obvious that Netflix must make a strategic change in order for the company to have a long life. The major issue the subscribers have with the online streaming service of Netflix is that it does not offer newer releases.If Netflix were to offer newer releases then they could then charge higher prices with justification and make more of a profit on the online streaming service. Considering the major competitors such as, Redbox and Amazon already offer newer releases, Netflix would need to make this change within the next year or they could go out of business. Netflix is collaborating with major media companies such as, Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate, and MGM, so they would be able to work out a deal with them in order to enact this change.Netflix has released statements about making this change and they say they do not want to offer newer releases and follow their competition (Daily Finance, 2012). The culture and values of the company is to have their low monthly rate of $7. 99 for unlimited streaming and they do not want to drive away potential customers by increasing the prices. An alternative for increasing the ove rall price would be to have tiered pricing where they can keep the original price but also have an option for newer releases plus the originals for either $8. 99 or $9. 99.This way they could still say that their prices start at $7. 99. This change could increase profits and bring in more subscribers. The resources that Netflix would need would be to have the rights to the majority of the new releases and the media companies, which is already in place. They have deals with some of the most known media companies in the business, so this would not be a problem for them. In addition, there would not need to be any new policies or procedures in order to implement this change. There are seven members on the Board of Directors, two of which are women.There are no minorities on the board. The CEO, Reed Hastings, is also the chairman and has been since inception. The largest direct shareholders of Netflix are all of the people on the Board of Directors. However, the largest institutional ho lders include Icahn, Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs. One of the latest legal issues Netflix has had has been a privacy violation of its customers. There was a class action lawsuit against the company because they were disclosing records of what the customers were watching. This is an ethical issue for the company considering it deals with a violation of privacy.Netflix made a $9 million settlement which resulted in a 14% decrease in the net income for the fourth quarter of 2012. The CEO, Reed Hastings, is not a Level 5 manager. He does not make good strategic decisions for the company or for the customers considering he is not willing to offer newer releases, which could eventually be what saves Netflix in the end. After all that has been discussed about Netflix, I would not invest in the company because the company could potentially not survive the next five years. Works Cited Company Overview: Management. (n. d. . Netflix. Retrieved March 8, 2013. https://signup. netflix. com/MediaCe nter/Management Company Overview: Netflix Timeline. (n. d. ). Netflix. Retrieved March 8, 2013. https://signup. netflix. com/MediaCenter/Timeline Yahoo! Finance Inc, NFLX: Summary for Netflix, Inc. – Yahoo! Finance. (n. d. ). Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Retrieved March 8, 2013. http://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=NFLX SEC Filings (Form 10-K). (n. d. ). Investor Relations: Netflix, Inc. Retrieved March 5, 2013. http://ir. netflix. com/sec. cfm Top Reasons to Work at Netflix. n. d. ). Netflix Jobs. Retrieved March 8, 2013. jobs. netflix. com/jobs. html Munarriz, R. (n. d. ). Netflix: No, We Won't Stream New Releases – DailyFinance. DailyFinance – News and Advice for a Lifetime of Financial Decisions. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from http://www. dailyfinance. com/2012/12/24/netflix-no-we-wont-stream-new-releases/ DreamBox Learning Acquired by Charter Fund in Partnership with Education Philanthropist and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings | DreamBox Learning ®. (2010, April 20). Intelligent Adaptive Learningâ„ ¢ | DreamBox Learning ®.Retrieved April 14, 2013, from  http://www. dreambox. com/press-release-20100420 Fritz, B. (2012, May 16). Netflix faces problems in Latin America – Los Angeles Times. Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from  http://articles. latimes. com/2012/may/16/entertainment/la-et-ct-netflix-latin-america20120516 Monday, R. C. , 2012, 1. J. , ; BST  , 1. p. (n. d. ). Netflix App Debuts On Samsung Smart TV Apps Store. TV Reviews – Best LED LCD, 3D Plasma ; Smart TVs. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from  http://www. hdtvtest. o. uk/news/netflix-app-samsung-smart-tv-201201161616. htm Zeidler, S. , ; Grover, R. (2012, June 28). China to launch Netflix-like movie service| Reuters. Business News – Indian Stock Market, Stock Market News, Business ; Finance, Market Statistics | Reuters India. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from http://in. reuters. com/article/2012/06/ 28/hollywood-china-jiaflix-idINL2E8HP1F420120628 â€Å"CD Manufacturing | Audio CD Manufacturing | CD Manufacturers | Music CD Manufacturing | CD Glass Mastering | Glass Mastered CDs | CD Pressing Services. CD Manufacturing | Audio CD Manufacturing | CD Manufacturers | Music CD Manufacturing | CD Glass Mastering | Glass Mastered CDs | CD Pressing Services. N. p. , n. d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. . FundingUniverse. â€Å"History of Netflix, Inc. â€Å" FundingUniverse. † Find Funding with Banks, Investors, and Other Funding Sources | FundingUniverse. N. p. , n. d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. . Parr, Ben. â€Å"The Fall of Blockbuster; the Rise of Netflix,