Geography Study Chart Places and Regions Essay

Studying the World Regions and Places units in your course Many students find the course content on world regions, countries, and places to be some of the most challenging material to learn. The combination of student unfamiliarity with the world regions and the large volume of information to be learned can be overwhelming. To help you organize your studies, keep in mind WGU’s intention behind this course, which is for competent students to have a strong grasp of the major human and physical geographic conditions that interact to shape our world. When you are studying world region, we want you to emphasize the 1) â€Å"big picture† of the geographic conditions in each world region, 2) the major countries of that region, and 3) how that region relates to the rest of the world. Creating a consistent framework for studying each world region may help you retain the knowledge you need to be successful in this course aspect. We recommend trying to identify the 2-3 most significant / most important physical, cultural, economic, and political characteristics that exist within each world region. We do not guarantee that you are only tested on those features, but the process of identifying the most significant characteristics from the broader range of information about each world region is an excellent study strategy that also will ensure you leave our course with a strong, general knowledge of the major geographic conditions around the world. You are welcome to use the grid, below, to help organize your study material.

Standardized Tests Have Been Criticized Education Essay

In California, appraisal of ELLs regularly occurs in order to guarantee that ongoing educational patterns are run intoing the pupils ‘ demands. Both province and local testing are of import because they non merely supply answerability, but besides show student accomplishment. When assessment portfolios are included, schools can place and run into the demands of a diverse pupil population that includes ELLs ( O'Malley & A ; Pierce, 1996 ) . The intent of the portfolio plan must be good established prior to its execution because the portfolio ‘s intent will find what type of work should be included. For illustration, if portfolios are to be used merely for schoolroom appraisal, they may so concentrate in merely one country of linguistic communication development, such as vocabulary. If, nevertheless, the portfolios are meant to demo an ELL ‘s growing in both English and the capable affair countries, so the portfolio should include illustrations of how good an Ell can utilize English in these countries instead than the content itself. For illustration, stuff gathered should demo how good an ELL has learned the scientific discipline vocabulary and semantics needed to understand scientific discipline books, non how good the pupil can execute a specific experiment ( Gomez, 1999 ) . Both the instructor and the pupils should make up one's mind what types of stuff to include in the portfolio. Including the ELL pupil in the decision-making procedure will offer more of a â€Å" buy-in † by the pupil. Furthermore, this will do the whole procedure more student-centered, which will motivate the pupil to take more duty for his or her acquisition. Reading – the appraisal of reading includes a broad assortment of constituents. Both the instructor and the pupil will desire a assortment of pieces of pupil work included. The instructor may desire to include: 1. ) Runing records 2. ) Reading stock lists, and 3. ) Similar steps utilizing ELL text. Cloze exercisings may besides be included that focal point on vocabulary and grammar. Cloze exercisings are particularly of import because they can show how good a pupil can foretell the following word when reading analogues degrees of proficiency ( Gomez, 1999 ) . A pupil might desire to take reading logs, book studies, and reading responses. Both the instructor and the pupil may desire to include storytelling that includes testing. Students must to the full understand that the instructor will be looking for betterment and higher reading proficiency to happen, and this must be apparent in the portfolio from the beginning to the terminal of the appraisal. The usage of rubrics and checklists will help both the pupil and the instructor. The pupil will profit when he or she understands the standards needed to carry through a undertaking, while the instructor will be able to supply more consistent scaling within the schoolroom. Writing – Of all the linguistic communication conventions combined, composing is likely one of the easiest to document in a portfolio scene. All types of authorship, including those that demonstrate grade degree proficiency, can be included in an appraisal portfolio. Furthermore, criterions established through published province models can include non merely drawings and simple linguistic communication exercisings for the early primary classs but besides diaries, essays, and more advanced research documents at the junior and senior high school degrees. Portfolios can be used to demo pupils ‘ growing in composing as their vocabulary matures. In add-on, many civilizations use different methods and signifiers of logic while supplying information and depicting things or state of affairss. This is easy recognized in a pupil ‘s authorship. This is particularly true for ELLs who are literate in their L1. Portfolios can besides measure an ELL ‘s proficiency and apprehension of composing conventions when grammar exercisings, spelling trials, and self-made lexicons are included ( Gomez, 1999 ) . In order to show growing, instructors must include composing samples from the beginning, in-between, and terminal of the term or school twelvemonth. Again, rubrics and checklists should be included to help both the pupil and the instructor. As mentioned earlier, both rubrics and checklists will do outlooks clear for the pupil, while leting the instructor to measure and rate more systematically within the overall schoolroom environment. Talking – Speaking is seldom included in portfolios because many instructors find it hard to recite speech production qualities. In add-on, many might reason that merely qualitative informations, instead than quantitative informations can be gathered to measure address. However, it is still possible to acknowledge growing in talking accomplishments if the instructor has identified speaking/speech ends. The instructor can measure a pupil ‘s address during either a study or presentation given before the category while pupils are working in braces or in a concerted acquisition environment. Again, both rubrics and checklists should be used by the instructor in order to show speech production accomplishments and growing. Listening – For the same grounds as speech production, many instructors exclude listening as an assessable constituent within a portfolio. However, with more easiness than is required for speech production, a instructor can measure hearing accomplishments through more assorted agencies. For illustration, pupils can be called upon to react to an unwritten presentation or narrative. Here pupils would compose the response after holding carefully listened to either a narrative or presentation. In this scenario, a â€Å" whole linguistic communication † attack would be employed to depict the cardinal points heard and understood from a presentation or narrative. Transcripts of treatments between other pupils could besides be included in a pupil ‘s portfolio. The Content Areas – Aside from the inclusion of the linguistic communication humanistic disciplines, instructors can besides profit by including work from the content countries. Teachers can take two attacks for the appraisal and the inclusion of the content countries in a portfolio. First, instructors may be concerned that their ELL pupils are able to use their linguistic communication accomplishments in the content countries. If this were the instance, so instructors should include illustrations that show how good any ELL pupil can utilize English in these countries. Here, instructors would concentrate on how good English is applied across the course of study instead than the content country itself. While many instructors have played down the inclusion of listening accomplishments within a linguistic communication arts portfolio, they would, on the other manus, be concerned their ELL pupils are able to understand unwritten instructions and accounts of math in English. To further this attack, an ELL instructor should teach his or her ELL pupils to take notes during a math instructor ‘s unwritten presentation/explanation of a math job. These notes would be gathered in intervals over clip from the beginning to the terminal of the term or school twelvemonth. On the other manus, and particularly in the upper classs, instructors may desire to concentrate on how good their Ell pupils are able to get the hang constructs in scientific discipline, math, and societal surveies. Rating and appraisal of a portfolio can be much easier in the content countries because there is frequently merely one correct reply in the scientific disciplines and math. Although multiple-choice inquiries often appear on a societal surveies test, frequently a richer apprehension of the topic ‘s content will be required, and consequently, must be displayed in either a short reply or paragraph length response. In this scenario, an ELL pupil will be required to non merely map good in English, but besides get competence in the content countries. Again, this divide between linguistic communication proficiency and capable affair competence narrows as ELL pupils matriculate toward the upper classs. In a math portfolio, pupils can include day-to-day work and undertakings separated over clip. Ideally, day-to-day work should besides demo how word jobs have enhanced problem-solving accomplishments. It is of import that self-assessment be included in a math portfolio. In a scientific discipline portfolio, an ELL pupil should include illustrations of his or her experiments, studies, and undertakings. A image accompanied with a brief account can be substituted whenever a undertaking or experiment is either excessively cumbrous or two lengthy for inclusion in a portfolio. Self-assessment should be used to demo the pupil how they have experienced growing and gained cognition in scientific discipline. Daily work separated overtime should be gathered that demonstrates how cognition has been obtained through a scientific discipline text edition. In a societal surveies portfolio, ELL pupils could follow the same format as they would for both a math and scientific discipline portfolio. They would, nevertheless, supply more written responses to information gathered from text and related articles. Reports and undertakings could besides be included in a societal surveies portfolio. Keep in head, nevertheless, that it is of import that the work be separated into intervals spaced over clip, from the beginning to the terminal of the term or school twelvemonth. By making this, an ELL instructor could break measure his or her pupils ‘ advancement in both the content countries every bit good as in English. As can be seen in a linguistic communication arts portfolio, the usage of rubrics and checklists are every bit of import for usage with content country portfolios. Whether or non an ELL pupil is schooled in a home room ELL category or a â€Å" pull-out † environment, it is still the duty of the ELL instructor to â€Å" shepherd † his or her pupils in both the linguistic communication humanistic disciplines and the content countries. For this ground, it ‘s imperative that ELL instructors retain an unfastened duologue and co-ordinate frequently with the content country instructors.Guidelines for utilizing portfolios.1. ) Determine the goals- ELL instructors and other module members must make up one's mind what types of information demands appraisal. Consequently, the instructors must acknowledge how the information can be provided. 2. ) Design the portfolio – Ell instructors and other module must make up one's mind what types of merchandises to be included in the portfolio. 3. ) Establish marking and rating standards – Both rubrics and checklists must be developed that support the criterions of public presentation, every bit good as promote acquisition and growing. 4. ) Establish and identify undertakings that support criterions and course of study – The ELL instructor and other module must aline assessment undertakings to their province ‘s model for content criterions. 5. ) Establish explicit standards that is student-centered – All stuff within a portfolio must incorporate pupil work that allows for self-assessment and self-reflection. 6. ) Elevate the importance of the portfolio – Students must acknowledge that portfolios represent the incarnation of their surveies. Portfolios should be contained in an attractive, yet lasting folder/binder. Portfolios should be housed in one distinguishable country of the schoolroom, surrounded by attractive, yet formal trim. 7. ) The assemblage and inclusion of stuff – The ELL instructor must denominate certain plants for inclusion in the portfolio. One must maintain in head that stuff should be included in intervals get downing from the beginning to the terminal of the term or school twelvemonth. 8. ) Self-assessment – Students should be able to reflect upon their work in order to place what they have learned, every bit good as what needs redress. Self-assessment should happen upon the completion of a undertaking, every bit good as in intervals in order to uncover growing. 9. ) Parental engagement – Parents must be kept good informed of portfolio assignments. In add-on, parents need to hold full entree to the portfolios contents, every bit good as to the progress/growth that each portfolio shows. Leting the pupils to take their portfolios place could be hazardous due to possible loss and/or harm. For this ground, the instructor must denominate certain yearss within the term or school twelvemonth for parents to physically see their kid ‘s portfolio. An surrogate means for portfolio reappraisal must happen when a parent ‘s agenda conflicts with a category visit. 10. ) Portfolios benefits toward larning and growing – A. ) A tabular array of contents must be included for organisational intents. B. ) A description of pupil advancement as it relates to each assignment ‘s standards, rubrics, and checklists, and this should happen throughout the term or school twelvemonth, marked at regular intervals that reflect the pupils ‘ ongoing phases of learning/growth. ( O'Malley & A ; Pierce, 1996 ; Gomez, 1999 ) Classroom clip and infinite for portfolios Teachers must acknowledge that portfolios follow pupils work, non frailty versa. That is, one should non schedule portfolio work every hebdomad on of any peculiar twenty-four hours. This is obvious for a figure of grounds. First, portfolios are intended to demo growing of larning over a longer period of clip ( term to term, or get downing to stop of school twelvemonth ) . Second, by adding material hebdomadal, both the instructor and the pupil will happen it hard to foreground growing. Third, frequently, blocks of instructions can widen over clip. If a peculiar twenty-four hours has been designated for portfolio work, both the instructor and the pupils might happen themselves halfway through a undertaking, therefore doing it hard to include that undertaking or separate a breakage point. On the other manus, the portfolio would go meaningless if the stuff were gathered indiscriminately. If the portfolios are meant to expose work from merely one category, so both the instructor and the pupils can hold more leeway make up one's minding how to divide and include pupil work. In this type of scenario, adding stuff to the portfolio monthly or quarterly would let growing to be observed. Aside from ongoing trials, monthly and/or quarterly inclusions would show how a pupil is bettering his or her grammatics, vocabulary, and eloquence. A instructor will hold to set his or her instruction calendar in order to conform to external timelines if the school or territory has mandated portfolios ( Gomez, 1999 ) . As mentioned earlier, portfolios should be housed in a peculiar country of the schoolroom, surrounded by attractive, yet formal trim. Attention should be made to curtail entree to portfolios. Students will break appreciate and work more responsibly when importance has been added to the portfolios. The location and design of the portfolio ‘s place should include an facet of formality. Therefore, promoting the portfolio ‘s importance in the eyes of the pupil. Parental engagement with portfolios Parental support and engagement is equivalent to any pupil ‘s acquisition. In respects to parents, all excessively frequently they are left unaware of the portfolios purpose, contents, ends, and ways for supplying appraisal. For this ground, it is imperative that the parents be included in the portfolio procedure ( Hill & A ; Ruptic, 1994 ) . Schools or instructors should denominate peculiar darks within a seven-day timeframe for informal presentations. Merely one dark would be necessary to go to, yet schools could break suit the parents ‘ agenda when offering a presentation on assorted darks within the hebdomad. The presentation should focus on on the intent and ends of the portfolio. Teachers can besides include the advantages, projected results, format, and features of a portfolio. By making this, parents will be better informed of the portfolios intent and procedure. By including parents, pupils will be better able to show the positive effects of their schooling. Parents will besides develop a deeper apprehension of how linguistic communication proficiency and capable affair competency develop over clip through assorted agencies of direction and stuff. Furthermore, parents will appreciate how their kids have developed, and will be more willing to back up a instructor ‘s agencies for direction and appraisal ( Tierney, Carter, & A ; Desai, 1991 ) . Student appraisal of personal portfolios One of the chief advantages of assessment Portfolios is that it promotes student self-evaluation, critical thought, and contemplation. Students, whether general or ELL understand their capablenesss, every bit good as what challenges them. Sadly, all excessively frequently, they are left out in the development of processs and patterns for the appraisal of their acquisition. Often, the patterns and processs that are employed to rate their acquisition rely straight on prescribed information or blink of an eye callback. Seldom do they rate what pupils understand about themselves and their acquisition. Seldom are pupils able to reflect on their acquisition and growing, and rarely are pupils called upon to utilize what they know by showing that growing and apprehension ( AMLE, 1999 ) . Leting pupils to take an active portion in the planning, preparation, and appraisal of the portfolio changes all of the above. Through pupil appraisal, pupils will hold the chance to link and do sense of their work and their acquisition. Students must be able to utilize their accomplishments and cognition, while showing their apprehension of issues and thoughts ( AMLE, 1999 ) . In a pupil led portfolio conference, both the instructor and the parents should sit-back and let the pupil to explicate their acquisition and how the stuff that has been included demonstrates their growing. Both instructors and parents can inquire inquiries, and of class offer counsel to the portfolios organisation, they would, nevertheless, want the pupil to presume full duty and ownership for the portfolio and its contents. Checklists, which will be described subsequently, offer yet another manner for pupils to pull off non merely their acquisition but besides their inclusion of stuff into a portfolio.

Making the redesign work this time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Making the redesign work this time - Essay Example All of these are dependent to a number of participators, namely: change-recipient, -implementer, -planner, and -administrator. Aside from the organizational sector, other sectors are also at play in the midst of change. They may include the social, economical and the political sectors per levels of community, public or private entities, and the regional and national authorities. Reacting to change was largely partitioned into two: through resistance or allegiance. The health care facility chooses the latter but is not ignoring the existence of the former. Rather, the facility wants to take these two into consideration in redesigning the existing patient care delivery, and understand better and evaluate the feasibility of applying the administration’s recommendation of employing universal workers. After Merge The merge had left the facility with a redundancy of several staff positions; thus, the consequent reduction of workforce. Existing issues had to override with the concern on coping with the loss of compartmentalized service providers. The primary issue involve is the fragmentation of patient care delivery which resulted to poor coordination between service providers within the facility. In a fragmented delivery system, inefficiencies include failure to assist the patients and their families in navigating through the facility’s health care system, lack of service provider-to-patient accountability, absence of feedback collection systems and feedback-based improvement schemes, not systematized clinical records, and higher emphasis on â€Å"high-cost, intensive medical intervention† against the â€Å"higher-value primary care† (Shih et al., 2008). Furthermore, the patients are well aware of these inefficiencies, having â€Å"frequently reported† the several instances of coordination breakdowns (How, Shih, Lau, & Schoen, 2008). Evidently, a fragmented system of delivery is not enough to achieve higher efficiency in delivering health care services. The assessment of the facility’s current system of patient care delivery

Industrial Process Control Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Industrial Process Control - Lab Report Example The controllers were analyzed in relation to how effective they were in ensuring optimization in the functioning of the industrial processes. The general realization is that the On-Off controllers were the least effective and were only applicable in few systems, the proportional controllers were found to introduce instability in systems, while the integral and derivative controllers were found to stabilize the amplitude and stability of industrial systems. Introduction The best way to attain control of industrial processes is to ensure that effective and efficient controllers are incorporated in the processes. One major aspect of consideration according to Patrick (2009), is to ensure that the controller is able to keep the processes within optimal working conditions and to be able to employ a corrective feedback mechanism. Competitiveness of industrial processes depends on their efficiency which ensures that a higher output is registered using a lower input. The objective of the exp eriment is to conduct an analysis on various industrial controls and techniques used in modern industries. The controller that was analyzed was an electrical air heater simulator. The experiment used a combination of PT 326 Feedback process trainer and the PCS 327 process controller. The experiment was divided into four sections where the first section consisted of a two-step closed control loop with the power button being turned on and off with respect to temperature at given values. The second experiment concerned the proportional control where the ability of the controller to maintain optimal levels with variations in measurements was observed. The third experiment involved the introduction of an external stressor to the system and then observing the response of ths sytem to the external stressor. The fourth experiment involved the application of several fundamental changes that the system might experience and observing the stability and response of the system to the changes. Lit erature Review The understanding of industrial processes has always been the key factor driving the design for instruments meant to ensure control of the processes. Technological advancements have always aimed at designing control instruments that improve the efficiencies of industrial processes with minimal supervision from technicians. According to Dunn (2009), the basis to any industrial control process lies in the instrumentation. Dunn outlines that the most common industrial processes that are usually controlled are temperature, pressure, distance, and rate of flow. Current approaches have been aimed at designing automatic controllers with the capacity of controlling simultaneously the most of the variables if not all while at the same time ensuring efficiency. Dunn defines process control as the automatic process that involves the sensing of variations in the process against a pre-set value and then providing accurate feedback to the control for effective adjustments to be mad e (2009). Therefore, a process control should incorporate mechanisms and gadgets that allow it to sense variations, provide feedback and implement corrective measures. The most basic form of a control system can be found in the On-Off control system. The system works on a simple procedure where with respect to any variations with regard to the pre-set value the system will either shut on or off. The best example is the water heater system controller. When the temperature of the heater goes above a pre-set temperature the system

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Marketing - Essay Example secondary type). The survey results truly fit my consumption preferences. I love to have variety of fast-foods and spend heavily on energy drinks specially the vigorously-imaged brands: Red Bull and Mountain Dew. I am greatly involved in the purchases of sports wears and trendy clothes. I prefer football Toes and bouncy basketball shoes over the light-weight running shoes. Nike’s achiever image and Adidas’ trendy and cool image fits my outfit choices. My interest in outdoor sports, visiting adventurous parks and venues as hiking places, and downloading & purchasing wide range of videogames reveal my sports- and adventure- oriented lifestyle. I am a regular reader of sports magazines mainly Adventure Magazine and Sports Illustrated. In terms of media choices, I watch sports channels mainly NBA, FIFA and car racing sports. I profoundly watch music TV channels and listen to radio music. My purchases heavily involve tickets for cinemas and music concerts revealing my intere sts in fast music and entertainment. I seek gadgets with enhanced music features and advanced tools. I am fond of buying high-tech products including iPod, iPhone, MP4 players, DVDs and DVD players, and video cameras.

Protagonists Sojourn in Self Awareness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Protagonists Sojourn in Self Awareness - Essay Example A different journey is realized when self-awareness dawns on the main character or protagonist. Self-awareness is the education of the mind and the soul. It is a very intrinsic process, which points to inner, spiritual growth of the character. It is based on human experiences. The things and events that are experienced are varied and they leave an impression on us directly or indirectly. In Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chaim Potok’s My name is Asher Lev and Jane Austen’s Emma there is an intrinsic similarity because the protagonists of the novels travel on a similar road of self-awareness. The authors have shown the journey of an individual towards self-awareness. For an evocative description the authors’ have used to numerous literary elements. The three authors whose works are being discussed here use a common theme as one of the significant literary elements. Figurative language like symbolism, similes and metaphors ensure a smooth flow between the stages of immaturity to maturity. The historical context of the novels is experimental in establishing the process of self-growth. All these elements have enhanced the simple lives and adventures of the central characters and have made the characters perfect examples of heroes and heroines in self-awareness theme based literature. Finn, Asher, and Emma all develop an insight while traveling the bumpy roads of experiences and adventures. Life experiences of Finn, Asher, and Emma put them on the path of self-awareness. There is a central connection of mental growth of the protagonist with everything they see, say, and do in the fictional narratives.

What are the key opportunities for the hotel sector to engage with Essay

What are the key opportunities for the hotel sector to engage with management consultants - Essay Example For making its business operation effective and efficient these hospitality companies hire management consultants for its different departments of its hotel business. Management consultant in hotel companies acts as a counsellor. The consultants provide expertise opinion about hotel operations, management and other professional activities. They provide guidance in various business matters for the development of the company. They analyze all the data hotel and builds strategies according to the situations. The management consultants make effective decisions in maximum utilization of the available resources of the company. High quality of consultancy services improves the business productivity and operations of hotels. They focus on various problems of the company and create a road map for achieving success by solving those problems. To expand and to gain competitive advantage a hotel can tap into several opportunity areas which can provide it strategic advantage. Although the hotels c an identify the opportunity areas in which it can develop itself, it will require the help of a management consultant to actually help it achieve its goal. The management consultant can help the hotel group by providing expert help in a particular area of concern. So the hotel industry in particular may have to hire several management consultants with each of them having expertise in a particular key area. For example for accessing opportunities in the technological area the hotel may seek the help of a technical consultant and for helping in human resource area the hotel may hire a consultant in the human resource field. In this report various key opportunities that the hotel industry can focus on and use the services of management consultants are elaborated. Some of these opportunities involve human capital, expansion in newer market segments, improving the service quality, technology, sustainability, online business etc. The hotel may hire the

Contemporary Irish Films Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Contemporary Irish Films - Essay Example This drama implementation on TV has contributed to the widespread and popularity of such true-to-life documentaries appearance in cinema tends to prioritise the creative influence of the film's directors. [Pettitt, 2000] Thus, making their films the tend to deal with the topics of abuse from the past; based on true stories they have their great emotional effect on the viewers, and uncover the real sense of the traditional social political and religious establishments which rules the life of people for a long time. That's why the real historical or fictional characters, or the images of the USA President appear to perceive the reality depicted in the film in a more deeper sense. Drama has also challenged viewers' minds by imagining events that could not be countenanced by factual television. Fictional representations, therefore, have played a major role in the maintenance and reshaping of perceptions about the Troubles and to this extent they have performed a political function. [Pettitt, 2000] The reports stay that the number of screens in Ireland has increased by 68% from 192 screens to 322 screens (during the period of 1991-2001), but the number of cinemas in Ireland has reduced by 15% from 81 cinemas to 69 in the same period. As for the contemporary Irish films, Pettitt who deals with the films after the 1970s, speaks about both the great thread posed by the influence of Hollywood - dubbed 'Californication' by Oliver St. John Gogarty three-quarters of the century ago - and the need for the resources that the American films companies can supply. [Pettitt, 2000] He also points out the fact that Irish cinema, for all its independence, hews fairly closely to the Hollywood formula followed everywhere from West Los Angeles to Bombay. According to Pettitt (2000), drama since the late 1960s has explored some of the deepest fears of those embroiled in conflict, but has not only reflected the political shifts in Northern Ireland. The political, security and legal apparatus of the British establishment has been most effectively critiqued at different junctures in the drama-documentary format. There has been a line of drama that has interrogated the problematic relationship of unionism within Anglo-Irish politics and the increasingly attenuated sense of Ulster loyalism. Fictional representations, therefore, have played a major role in the maintenance and reshaping of perceptions about the Troubles and to this extent they have performed a political function. [Pettitt, 2000] According to Crosson (2003), contemporary Irish film itself reflects the failure of Irish history to excite the imagination of Ireland's youth as effectively as the seductive depictions of America's past as medicated through the Western and gangster films. So that, films made in Ireland today reflect both these genres. The Irish cinema-going experience has come from Hollywood since in independence in 1922. [Rockett, 1991; p.19] The Irish Film Board has attempted to counterpart Ireland's huge dependence on imported film by supporting films made in the country and by Irish people. However, Ireland remains a substantial net importer of images, many of them

History of the world via its technologies up to 1492 Essay

History of the world via its technologies up to 1492 - Essay Example Amongst the most technologically advanced civilizations in the recorded history is the Ice Age Civilization. â€Å"The Jomon people †¦ survive as the Ainu of Hokkaido and northern Honshu, the northeasternmost Japanese islands. They were displaced by Yayoi invaders from Korea around 400 BC† (Smith, n.d.). Containers from the Jomon pottery happen to be the oldest known containers. They are thought to have existed 11600 years ago and thus, belong to the era before the culmination of Ice Age. Turkish were the oldest in Africa, Asia and Europe dating back to almost 10500 years. Making use of the water-tight Jomon containers, people found it easy to boil their food to get rid of germs and steam it. This made it possible for the Jomon Ice Age Civilization to enrich and diversify their diet with more nutritious and hygienic food including shellfish and steamed vegetables with large green leaves. They were aware of the positive effects of boiling the food on its hygiene and thus, people of the Jomon Ice Age Civilization boiled such foods like acorns to decrease their toxicity. Boiling the food also made it soft enough to be fed to toothless infants and old people. Hunting and gathering allowed the people of the Jomon Ice Age Civilization to dwell within and on the outskirts of their own villages without having to cultivate the crops. They did not have metallic tools for weaving or writing and the political fabric of their culture was very weak, yet it made little difference to them as they lived a very happy and fulfilling life without these things in their life. From the images and pieces of art belonging to the period of Ice Age, it can be inferred that the Ice Age Civilization might have been much more advanced in the sociological values as compared to all civilizations that have succeeded them until the present age. This can be estimated from the fact that the present civilization has just started to perceive the way quantum computers function, the reali ty levels linked with the Many-Worlds quantum theory. Owing to the unmatched spiritual and social advancement of the Ice Age Civilization, the construction of the Sphinx-Giza complex can be attributed to them specially because the homeland of African Abyssinian Highlanders is the only region which is thought to have sustained favorable climates between the 35000 years old Ice Age and the period 12000 years before today. Location of the Sphinx-Giza complex is the place where the African and Asian regions of the Ice Age Civilization meet each other. Modern age is characterized by the use of computers. Thus, computers, in different forms in the past serve as the common technological element between past and present. One of the very ancient astronomical computers in the astrolabe, that was used for solving intricate problems about the location of starts and Sun and determination of time. The most popular astrolabe produced in the history was the planispheric astrolabe which was used for projecting the celestial sphere upon the equator’s plane. Old astrolabes were made from brass. Little is known about the time when the stereographic projection transformed into what is called as astrolabe today. The treatise written by Theon of Alexandria in 390 is generally taken as a historic account of the subject in Middle Ages. Astrolabe was the computer of ancient times. The concept was

Case Study (Son of Sam) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Study (Son of Sam) - Research Paper Example He felt rejected because of it and he eventually became a loner. He was not a particularly handsome man and he was larger than all of his peers in school which added to his feelings of being an outcast. He did not do very well in school or in other activities, but he was able to do well in baseball. As a child, he acted out aggressively towards others and many experts felt this was because he believed his mother died in childbirth. Berkowitz’s adopted mother died in 1967 of breast cancer which sent Berkowitz into extreme depression and anger. His father eventually re-married a woman who did not get along with David and the couple moved to Florida leaving the son behind (Montaldo). After his father left, he went into military service. While there he would have sex with a prostitute and receive a venereal disease; this was his only sexual experience, according to Montaldo. By this time, Berkowitz was having paranoid delusions and creating fantasies about his life. By Christmas Eve 1967, he would find his first victim in a 15 year old, Michelle Forman who actually survived the attack. After this attack, Berkowitz left the Bronx and moved to Yonkers where the Son of Sam was created. Berkowitz would later state that he received messages from his neighbor’s dog named Sam to go and kill. Berkowitz was a loner and stayed away from people. He carried resentment and anger against women for rejecting him but he also had paranoid delusions. He also had obvious problems with women because they were his victims. He was shy and a loner which crated conflicts for him when approaching women (this is a supposition as to the reason why he began to kill women). Once he was in prison, he began to attend bible study and chapel services which brought him a set of friends. Binger (2011) states that he was able to transform his life once behind bars because of these services. Berkowitz began to have friends after his transition to

Investigatory Project Essay Example for Free

Investigatory Project Essay Soil is a complex mixture of inorganic materials with variable amounts of air and water. The inorganic materials includes clay, silt, sand, gravel and rocks. Soil is a variable mixture of minerals, inorganic matter, and water, making it capable of supporting plant life. But as the time passes by, problems arise in relevance to soil utilization such as erosion, floods, landslides and earthquake. So, the study of soil has been done by the land use planners to evaluate natural hazards and the soil capability through waste management, appropriateness for agriculture, wildlife, and for infrastructure. In India, Soil Erosion is among the leading areas of concern of the government. It affects cultivation and farming in the country in adverse and unfavorable ways. Soil erosion leads to deprivation of physical characteristics of soils and damages plants and crops. In India almost 130 million hectares of lands, that is 45% of total geographical surface area, is affected by serious soil erosion through gorge and gully, shifting cultivation, cultivated wastelands, sandy area, desserts, and water logging. Soil erosion by rain and rivers that takes place in hilly areas causes severe landslides and floods while cutting trees for agricultural implements, firewood and timber grazing by a large number of livestock ones and above the carrying capacity of grass lands, traditional agricultural practices, construction of roads, indiscriminate quarrying and other activities, have all led to the opening of hill-faces to extreme soil erosion. Soil erosion and desertification in the Philippines is greatly impacting the nation. 100 years ago at least 95% of the country was covered by lush rain forest. Over 15 years, from 1990 to 2005 the Philippines lost one third of its forest due to relentless logging. Although the desertification rate has dropped from 20% in the 1990’s to now a small percentage of two. Inhabitants of the Philippines have been around four thousand of years end with hundreds and hundreds of years of destructive agriculture.

Factors Affecting Purchase Of A Smart Phone

Factors Affecting Purchase Of A Smart Phone In this chapter, there are 4 independent variable and dependent variable. These variables are important to examine this research. These variables include brand name, features, price and quality. Besides, this chapter will be including the reading materials which are based on the topic of this research. The materials that included will be extracting from online journals, articles and magazines. The researcher gets the genuine journals from online databases, such as Emerald Intelligent, ScienceDirect , ProQuest Digital Dissertation Abstract and Google Scholar. The purpose of doing this research is to study the factors that affecting consumers to purchase Smartphone in Malaysia. Smartphone is getting attention from all segments of consumer today, but there must be some factor that will affect their behaviour before buying it rather than purchasing the normal basic cell-phone. According to Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010), the products brand name will influence consumers evaluation and then perceive different products offering which as a result will affect on consumers behaviour when purchasing products and understanding consumers behaviour is a decisive factor in the companies success around the world. Therefore, this research is to determine whether or not brand name will affect the Malaysian consumers when they are making their purchasing on a Smartphone. Feature has the strong ability to induce consumers purchasing decision. This explains that when consumers are purchasing any products, consumers will tend to make us of the products feature as a basis for evaluating a product (Puth, Mostert and Ewing, 1999). Features for Smartphone is not only one two three, it will depends on the users preference on what are their needs. Build-in camera is getting more focus from the consumer nowadays, mobile phone manufacturer tend to improve the camera and speaker in order to fulfil customers needs. Therefore, this research will have the intentions to find out if feature is the major persuasive factor that affecting consumer behaviour towards purchasing a Smartphone. Almost every advertisement accentuates on price, 90 percent of retailers in this market screen the prices of their competitors on a regular basis (Kenning, Evanschitzky, Voegl and Ahlert (2007). Kunal and Yoo (2010) shows that price has a positive impact on behavioral intentions. In other words, consumer will tend to have more purchasing intentions if the price is consumers perception and vice-versa. For that reason, this research will find out whether or not price will influence consumer heavily when they come to buying a Smartphone. According to Khanna, Vat, Shankar, Sahay and Gautam (2003), stated that none of the writers disagree that quality is one of the most crucial critical success factors in order for organizations to achieve competitiveness among competitors. They further interpret that quality had make the Japaneses automobile industry overtook the USAs during 1980s and become the biggest in the world though Japans automobile industry started several decades behind the USAs. In other words, quality is an important factor that consumer will put into consideration before making any purchasing decision, therefore, this independent variables is to find out whether or not it will have the same effect towards consumers in Malaysia when purchasing a Smartphone. All these variables are important because they are main factors that have positive related to the dependent variable. In this research, independent variables that would be focused on are brand name, features, price and quality. In excess of 1.3 billion people are using cell phone worldwide today while the year of 2003, an estimated number of 1,340,667 cell phone subscribers were being perceive worldwide, an increment from approximately 91million in the year of 1995 and 1.158 billion in the year 2002 of 53.49% of total telephone subscribers (Goggin, 2005). Besides, it was also supported by Gart-ner and Ahonen (2010), stating that more than 1.3 billion mobile phone handsets are being sold each year, and in the year of 2010, Smartphones made up almost 20% of that total (Gart-ner and Ahonen, 2010). Sales of Smartphones are escalating almost 100% per year, and is expected in the year of 2012 the total global sales volume is expected to surpass the sales of PCs (Gartner, 2010). C:UsersUserDesktop01.jpg Figure 2.1: Worldwide Smartphone Sales for the year of 2008. Source: Andreas Jakl, 2009. In the year of 2008, the highest worldwide Smartphone sales belongs to Nokia, 43.7% from the worldwide Smartphone sales in 2008 belongs to Nokia. In order for Nokia to be the leader of the market, there must be some reason behind. Regardless what the brand is, consumer will look at various points before making any decision. ). According to Kupiec and Revell (2001) the intention to purchase a product will be more depending on the scale to which consumers expect the product to reach their satisfaction level when they consume it. According to Yu and Tan (2005), in July 2001, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) of the Peoples Republic of China publicize d that the figure of its mobile phone users has achieved 120.6 million, which makes China the major mobile communication market in the world. This was supported by Bell (2006), the worlds current largest cell phone market belongs to the Peoples Republic of China. In Asia, the usage ratio of mobile phones in Hong Kong is slightly higher as contrasted with other Asian countries (Chan, and Chan 2008). Mobile phone penetration rate is ranked as the second highest in Asia Pacific (International Telecommunication Union, 2004). The consumer desirous for Smartphone is increasing dramatically and will move forwards annual sales wide-reaching from 131 million units in 2008 to over 300 million by 2013, according to market research company Parks Associates (Cellular-News, 2009). http://img.cellular-news.com/story/38286/Global_sales_of_smartphones_to_reach_310_million_units_in_2013_1.png Figure 2.2: The global Smartphone sales units (2008 2009) and predicted sales units (2010 -2013) The occurrence of economic recession in recent years does not seriously infected the industry, a report by Berridge (2010) stated that the industry was not really suffered that critically during the recession seeing that the sales for 2009 were down a bit at 1.15 billion units but that was not that far down from the 1.2 billion handsets whipped in year 2008. The constructive impact of communication is experience by more Nigerians in the past four years than they what they came across in the first three decades of self-government (Adomi, 2005). According to Myers and Shocker (1981), factors can be pigeonholed in many ways which comprises extrinsic and intrinsic. The extrinsic aspects that include physical prompt such as features and brand name (Olson and Jacob, 1972). On the other hand the aspect that did not consider as part of the physical of product includes price and quality (Olson, 1977). The mobile phone has become an indispensable tool that is found in all doctors pockets with the advancement of technologies, the phones have become more stylish over time, especially with the introduction of third generation technology in 2001(Dala-Ali, Lloyd and Al-Abed, 2011). This has immensely increased both the storage and also the speed of mobile phones. There are many third generation phones obtainable from the market; among the most well accepted are the Blackberry and the iPhone, given that the iPhone is a smartphone produced by Apple Inc. and was launched in the USA in June 2007 and since then over 33 million phones have been sold worldwide and the number of European iPhone users rose by 161% in the year running up to April 2010 (Dala-Ali, Lloyd and Al-Abed, 2011). 2.1 History of telecommunication If histories of media have their difficulties, there are uncharacteristic trials and description in seeking to devise histories of the newer media (Flichy, 2002). Mobile telecommunication technologies have matured in consecutive generations (Dunnewijk and Hulten, 2007). According to Goggin (2005) the mobile phone has been in development for at least fifty years regardless of the mobile phone relatively recent commercial availability and consumer adoption from the early 1980s onwards. It also recursively adopts and reconstructs lifestyle, anticipations, and cultural forms from two other technologies central to modernity, to be exact the telegraph and telephone (Goggin, 2005). The history of mobile telephone goes back to experiments in the US in the 1920s with radio telephony (Kargman, 1978 and Agar, 2003). The first mobile phones were usually car-bound and ATT launched in 1947 a highway service between Boston and New York after the success of first mobile telephone network in St. Louis (Agar, 2003). Eventually radiotelephony became so crammed full, in New York particularly, that the network operators used waiting lists while candidate customers waited hoping to be so lucky to get a mobile phone connection (Agar, 2003). By the year of 1950 there were still only fifty million telephones in use in the world (Goodman, 2003). Goodman (2003) also further stated that Japan was the first to adopt fixed line phone which is in the 1970s, the number was go beyond by mobile phone somewhere in year 2002, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) predicts that the figure will almost one in three in the year of 2005. In the year of 1996, Nokia introduced the Communicator, a GSM mobile phone and handheld computer which had a QWERTY keyboard and built in word processing and calendar programs that allows besides sending and receiving faxes, the 9000 could check e-mail and access the internet in a limited way (Farley, 2005). Whereas the first generation (1G) appeared in the 1950s, while the second generation (2G) or GSM technology is used extremely wide, but challenged globally by the subsequently (third) generation (3G) technologies. This sequence of generations is characterised by increasing capacity (higher transmission speeds) and richer content of the message. Further penetration of 3G depends critically on the integration of telecommunication services and multimedia services, which turned out to be more complicated than most experts predicted (Dunnewijk and Hulten, 2007). The fruition of Chinas mobile telecom industry since its inauguration in the year of 1987 and appears to be a multistage industrial development process with policy intrusion and market competition. (Siau and Shen, 2003, Maitland, Bauer and Westerveld, 2002, Barnes and Corbitt, 2003). The number of mobile subscribers in China had twofold each year from year 1994 to 2001, by the Q4 of 2002; China had 206.3 million mobile telecommunications subscribers and had become one of the most attractive spots for the international and domestic telecom operators, equipment and phone manufacturers (Yu and Tan, 2005). In addition, Bell (2006), stated that the worlds current largest cell phone market belongs to the Peoples Republic of China. In the mobile telecommunications circles, systemic improvement examples are the successive generations of first generation (1G), second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) systems and this revolution will affect not only our daily lives and the way business is accomplished (Siau and Shen, 2003, Maitland, Bauer and Westerveld, 2002, Barnes and Corbitt, 2003). Table 1: List of best selling brand, year of founded and homepage. Brand of Phone Year of Founded Homepage Nokia 1865 http://www.nokia.com/ Motorola 1928 http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/XP-EN/Consumer-Products-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ Samsung Mobile 1938 http://my.samsungmobile.com/index.jsp LG mobile 1958 http://www.lg.com/my/mobile-phones/index.jsp Palm 1996 http://www.palm.com/us/ HTC 1997 http://www.htc.com/sea/ Blackberry 1999 http://worldwide.blackberry.com/landing.jsp?regionId=22 Sony Ericsson 2001 (Joint Venture of Sony Corporation and Ericsson) http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/cws/home?cc=mylc=en Apple iPhone 2007 http://www.apple.com/iphone/ 2.2 Variables 2.2.1 Consumer Behavior Consumer behaviour can be defined as the acquisition, consumption and disposition of products, services, time and ideas by decision making units. While consumer decision making can be defined as a mental orientation characterizing a consumers approach to making choices (Lysonski, Durvasula and Zotos 1996). Value is created when a consumer is offered useful information and gains understanding, reassurance and/or hedonic fulfilment in the process (Grant, Clarke and Kyriazis, 2007). The value creation relies on an analysis of online consumer behaviour to determine which information sources and formats are most likely to meet their needs at a given point in time (Grant, Clarke and Kyriazis, 2010). #To make the decision of purchasing, consumers take into account criteria such as reliability, quality, price and convenience of the product (Sanlier and Karakus, 2010). In contrast to simple or routine purchases, complex consumer behaviour may involve an extended process with a range of activities, each of which presents different challenges for a consumer (Assael, Pope, Brennan and Voges, 2007).Analysis of consumer purchasing decisions is not uncommon and a body of knowledge has developed (Watson, Howard and Patrick, 2002).There are several models and theories which describe consumer behaviour from a specific perspective (Estri, Hassangholipour, Yazdani, Nejad and Rayej 2010). Among all these models, the purchase decision model helps to understand the relation between consumer behaviour variables better than the other models. According to Kim, Forsythe, Gu and Moon (2002), is been an ongoing marketing challenges for retailing in competitive global markets towards marketers to meet the changes of customer needs by providing the right products and services. A consumers decision-making style has been defined as a patterned, mental, cognitive orientation towards shopping and purchasing, which constantly dominates the consumers choices (Safirk Mokhlis and Hayatul Safrah Salleh, 2009). It is common knowledge that price influences a customers buying decision (Monroe, 1973). Intention to purchase depends on the degree to which consumers expect the product to satisfy them when they consume it (Kupiec and Revell ,2001). When a consumer wanted to make the purchase decision, they will pass through the process through recognition, search information, evaluation, purchase, feedback (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 1995). Therefore, the consumer will choose a product or brand to consume from various choice can get in the market. According to Bettman, Johnson and Payne (2000), different situation will be affect by different factors. Information overload also increase the complexity of the consumer behaviour towards purchasing a product (Bettman, Johnson and Payne, 2000). The information can be obtained by advertisement, display, brochures and etc. A study by Lynch and Srull (1982) suggested that decision-making can be categorized in 3 categories which are stimulus-based, memory-based and mixed. When consumer affect by the external information or factor can be category in stimulus-based. When consumer makes decision based on their memory or internal perception can be category in memory-based. The combination of this two is mixed. Consumer has different tastes, needs, motivation and lifestyle when they want to purchase a product (Chisnall, 1985). Some of them preferred high quality and willing to pay high price, some of them are not (Monroe, 2003). Furthermore, the consumer behaviour towards purchasing a product can be investigating through the consumer characteristics. It include Brand conscious, price conscious, quality conscious, recreation conscious, innovation conscious, confused by over choice, impulsive and brand (Leo, Bennett, and Hartel, 2005). Therefore, it is important to find out the relationship between those characteristics and the consumer purxhasing behaviour. 2.2.2 Brand Name In todays changing global environment, many businesses are facing increasing competition that forces them to seek for competitive advantage, efficiency and profitable ways to differentiate among them (Mei, Dean and White, 1999). Brand names are valuable assets that help correspond quality and suggest precise knowledge structures which related to the brand (Srinivasan and Till, 2002). Researchers have distinguished that brand name as an important tool in improving a products value (Dodds, Monroe and Grewal, 1991). According to Rotfled (2009), brand name is an exclusive and is to indicate product itself to the market. Besides according to the American Marketing Association, defined the brand as name, term, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition (Khasawneh and Hasouneh, 2010). Haigh (2007) has proposed three definitions: trademark is a logo with associat ed visual elements, brand is a trademark with associated intellectual property rights, and branded business covers the whole organization. According to Rao and Ruekert (1994), stated that one of the major objectives of a brand name is to provide information on the quality of a product. The value of a brand name adds to the product is named as brand equity (Farquhar, 1989). Developing brand equity is thought to be an important component of brand building (Keller, 1998). Brand equity is assumed to convey several benefits to a firm (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey, 2005). Brands might develop sustainable competitive advantage for firms (Aaker, 1989). As a result, if consumers perceive a particular brand favourably, then the firm may have a competitive advantage (Pappu, et. al, 2005). Brand name is lack of possibilities to establish in short term, in other words, is needed to develop in long term. More and more companies realized that one of their most priceless assets is the brand names that related with their products or services (Cornelis, 2010). In recent aggressive competitive market place, the most critical success element for companies is the brand name that were being used by a product, and further stated that the brand names are consider as the last source of differentiation for the companies products and services (Lim and OCass, 2001). According to Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010), the products brand name will influence consumers evaluation and then perceive different products offering which as a result will affect on consumers behaviour when purchasing products and understanding consumers behaviour is a decisive factor in the companies success around the world. Brand managers face a complex and multifaceted task in managing the meaning of brands on a global scale (Andrews and Kim, 2007). Why do companies develop their own brands? According to Thanasuta, Patoomsuwan, Chaimahawong and Chiaravutthi (2009), the presence of brands were to identify and differentiate the products or services between the companies or organizations. It was further stated that brand name can lend a hand to the brand itself to pass on the information and communicate to the market (Hoyer and Brown, 1990). Also pointed by researchers, consumer have an unlikely similar perception towards different brand and also have a diverse perception of the products attribute and quality (Srinivasan and till, 2002). Indeed technology is no longer a matter of haves and have-nots but of basic services versus advanced ones but as technologies mature and product features become more similar, consumers are often unable or unwilling to differentiate between brands on rational attributes alone (Temporal and Lee, 2001). According to Forsythe (1995), brand name will be the vital indications or an extrinsic cue (Olson a nd Jacob, 1972) that will lead consumer to make their purchasing decision when they are trapped in a dilemma whereby they need to choose between two products. When the intrinsic indicator recognition of the product such as price is missing, consumers will tend to recognize it based on the brand name of the products or services (Ahmed and dAstous, 1996). Since consumers will have the knowledge on the brand which will cause consumers to create a perception on the brand, therefore they are able to measure the level of preferences whether or not the brand is pleasing their requirement (Urbany, Dickson, and Wilkie, 1989). To endeavour with this situation, some precise and adequate knowledge on the brand itself is a pre-requisite for consumers (Ratneshwar, Shocker and stewart, 1987). According to Baltas and Saridakis (2009), usually those who are more particular on the products quality will be more expose to the affection of brand name. Brand extension is a strategy that many companies follow with the aim of benefiting from the brand knowledge achieved in the current markets (Aaker and Keller, 1990).When a new product is marketed under a well-known brand name, failure rates and marketing costs are reduced (Martinez and Pina, 2010). Benefits of a great brand include a short-term gain on recognition to long-term competitive advantage on loyalty, which are ultimately translated into revenues and profits. 2.2.3 Price Price has been observed as an important element affecting the diffusion of new products and services, but pricing of a new product or service is particularly difficult (Munnukka, 2005). Nagle and Holden (2002) stated that price can play a role as a monetary value whereby the consumers to trade it with the services or products that were being sold by the sellers. Price will always be the key concern of consumers before making any purchasing decision (Smith and Carsky, 1996). Price equality is a psychological aspect which is persuasive towards consumers reactions to price (Campbell, 1999). Prices are perceived to be inequitable; consumers respond unenthusiastically by stay away from transactions, contacts with the provider or even engage in penalizing actions such as boycotts (Homburg, Hoyers and koschate, 2005). If a transaction or a price is perceive as unfair by consumers, they will engage in disciplinary actions (Antje and Mark, 2010). They will avoid the transaction and do not buy at all. Besides, there is a positive relationship between individuals perception of fairness and their level of expenditures, and that consumers tend to spend more money with specific providers if transactions are considered fair (Daskalopoulou and Petrou, 2006).Oh (2003) found that buyers comparison of actual price against their internally held reference price seems to affect their subsequent judgments about price, quality, and value. Kunal and Yoo (2010) shows that price has a positive impact on behavioral intentions. Price is one tangible cue from which consumers form expectations. As a result, the elements of marketing play a more important role in services since consumers are more sensitive to cues such as price (Bitner, 1990). Voss, Parasuraman and Grewal (1998) suggested that the link between price and satisfaction. When the consumers are satisfied with the price, they will purchase the product. Furthermore, should be noted that consumers buy high priced brands (typically luxury goods), driven by either social adjunctive attitudes that seek design, image, or social status or value-expression attitudes that seek product durability or quality (Wilcox, Kim and Sankar, 2009). Conspicuousness (willingness to spend a great amount of money to demonstrate their social status) also plays an important role on brand purchases (Kunal et al., 2010). Wilcox et al. (2009) find that high-priced brands are highly related to consumer conspicuousness. Consumers looking for quality, status, self expression, and image will gravitate toward high-priced brands to fulfill their goals, the achievement of which can be signaled through promotional messages of conspicuousness and exclusivity (Kunal et al., 2010). The level of price is found to positively affect behavioral intentions mainly because price establishes image of the brand in the eyes of the consumers (Aaker, 1991). In a consumers heuristics, a high (low) price connotes a high (low) quality and image. For a conceptual convenience, there are two types of products by price: high-priced brands and low priced brands (Kunal et al., 2010). High-priced brands are brands on the market whose image is seen as the key factor. Consumers of these brands often purchase them mainly for image and are willing to pay a premium price for their perceived high quality and status, which make them price-inelastic (Bolton, 1989). Low-priced brands tend to be purchased for utilitarian value, with the consumer relying on the perceived value for price. Consumers would typically look for low prices of these brands or substitutes to get the best value (Kunal et al., 2010). Consumers tend to interpret higher prices with higher quality, and low prices are percei ved as an indication of inferior quality (Rao and Monroe, 1988) According to Thaler (1985), there is more than couple of brand of mobile phone that consumer will find in todays market, this will most likely influence the consumers indicator on the pricing that being sold. Price is no longer an element that can be ignore for investigation whether or not it is an crucial factor that affects consumers behaviour in products and services. Given an example, a customer is choosing either a offline and a online book store for books, the distance of the store will be the first consideration and then followed by the time needed for delivery and lastly the price of it (Karlsson, Kuttainen, Pitt and Spyropoulou, 2005). As seen, price is a vital issue that the consumers need count into consideration. Recently, most of the consumers are pursuing a high quality services, though service is an important factor, yet the unwillingness of consumers to pay for obtaining a higher level of service by sacrificing an extra amount can still be seen (Tse, 2001). On the oth er hand, price might not be part of their considerations especially when dealing with web shopping, which the major concern falls on convenience, security and store offer (So, Wong and Sculli, 2005). In addition, there is a positive relationship between price and quality (Etgar and Malhotra, 1981). It explains that most of the consumers will regard high price goods and services equals to high quality. Thus, if the price level is at a peak but the quality or features are comply with the consumers expectation; they might perceive as fair and are more willing to pay a at a higher price to owns a better quality goods or services (Monroe, 2003). Due to the price of a product has a key authority on the consumers buying decision (Evanschitzky, Kenning and Vogel, 2004), it is normal to concentrate on it. As a precondition to valuing a price as low, the consumer must have at least a vague idea of the normal price. Only if that idea of normal price is present consumers can assess whether or not the offer is a bargain. The marketing-mix instrument of price is currently used excessively to attract consumers to a particular product or store. According to Kenning, Evanschitzky, Voegl and Ahlert (2007) nearly, every advertisement emphasizes price that over 90 percent of retailers in this market screen the prices of their competitors on a regular basis. Price knowledge is a psychological construct that relevant to retailer success, since it influences both a consumers buying decision and the sales margin. At the same time, it can help the retailer to exploit consumer willingness to pay. The price of a product is one of the most important marketing-mix tools which are currently used excessively to attract consumers to a certain product or store (Evanschitzky, Kenning and Vogel, 2004). Price knowledge is a psychological construct that is relevant to the success of the retailer, since it influences a consumers buying decision. At the same time, it can help the retailer to exploit the consumers willingness to pay by using information about price knowledge for the pricing of products.

Evaluation of Digital and Online Marketing Technology

Evaluation of Digital and Online Marketing Technology Part A Question 1 I believe online marketing tools are part of the marketing mix as channels that can be made use of. There may be diverted focus in regards to digital marketing if it is just used for advertising or promoting a product/service online. Digital marketing can be used in multiple ways whilst we consider facilitating it in an organisations marketing communication mix, rather than focus on 1 form of the marketing communication mix. As technologies are on a rise and the attention span of users is declining, I would suggest investigating marketing tools to help advertising via online content behaviour, understanding ways to inform consumers about the product if for example they were to search a certain product. If we look at the amount of data mining, consumer purchase behaviour and so on via the internet. The organisation can use such data to tap into relevant information that would help accelerate their sales or avail specific products whilst understanding the demand exists. If we look at A mazon and Google, these two organisations tend to have a lot of digital marketing working very well for them, as they have put it into practice in collecting information and monitoring what they purchase and how they purchase it. With such tools an organisation can tailor advertisements towards the users, we can see it more like an On-Demand Advert which would then grab the attention of users who are looking for specific items. There exists many accelerated ways of marketing on the web, with the level of innovation we have adopted, web marketing made it simpler to facilitate the following: Public Relations Investor Relations Customer Service Prospect Qualifications Product Sales Customer Interaction and Feedback Internal Communications With that all being said, the digital world has opened up more opportunities for marketers as to understanding Buyer behaviour, Communicating frequently to the customer, Public relations and so much more. Marketers tend to consider digital marketing to be more time-efficient and is used by the masses, hence it makes it easier to capture a wider reach, whereas the ways they market or allow themselves to be seen by the consumer may need to change as to avoid the click-through behaviour of the customer. I agree that digital marketing will become critical tools in brand building and other forms of communicating to the consumer, mainly Customer Relationships. Marketers can evade ad-blocks and such, if they just spend a bit of time trying to learn a bit about the online content behaviour and yet look out for technologies out there such as Geo-tagging, proximity marketing and so on. Question 2 As a marketing manager, there are 5 steps to evaluating digital technologies: Step 1: I would evaluate the goals of the organisations digital marketing campaigns by understanding the number of social shares our posts are receiving, size of our fan base on social networks, the amount of times Nike is being mentioned on social media, look up the number of positive reviews found online via consumers, check the amount of online traffic we are getting on our webpage as well as how many times links are being diverted to our webpage from other social media outlets. If all these things were done by the previous marketing team, I would look at whether or not the targets are being met, if not I would then revise our goals as to accommodate our objectives. Step 2: I would re-assess the target market, if it is changed I will have to facilitate an information search as to have an idea of the demographics, interests and online activities that the consumers may have, this will allow me to achieve consumer profiling as to marketing reasonable content to them. Step 3: I would have to look at our online digital presence, this means I will have to see how well Nike is doing in the social online environment, are they active or passive when it comes to public relations and customer relationships. Are they utilizing everything the online world has to offer from technologies that can be feasible to adopt? Step 4: I would evaluate the types of messages Nike is communicating to the consumers in digital form. Are they sending the right message to the right consumer? Is the consumer understanding the message and acting upon it, positively or negatively? Step 5: I would evaluate the performance of Nikes digital marketing campaigns. How is Nike benefiting from such channels? Are we making a profit while keeping costs low? Is our rate of investment on digital marketing visible to us, and is it positive? Question 3 I would utilize almost all online marketing tools to allow the visibility of the new product. The common marketing communication tools will be put into effect, such as advertising, promoting the concept in various trade shows, speaking opportunities as to describe the product, joint marketing, co-branding and many more traditional ways that can be broadcasted online via online content ads, which are simple adverts that will pop up due to their relevance whilst consumers maybe be browsing for a new phone for example. Search Engine Optimization. Get the word out there, be noticeable via social outlets. Email marketing is one way to inform the consumers about the product. Google AdWords to help online advertising. Bloggers or social media influencers, by offering the phone for testing by wide reach blogger or youtubers as to mention your product or talk in more detail about it. Online retail stores, you can be selective as to who you wish to sell the new phone and when they can sell it, such as your own website, amazon and the likes of amazon. The strategy would start differing as adoption rates either increase or decrease, if they increase then the organisation will need to be and stay proactive whilst dealing with public relations, enhance customer services and promote customer satisfaction, if they decrease I would then suggest revisiting the product and re-examining the whole process of the marketing communication. Part B Question 1 I would particularly evaluate why should McDonalds introduce a vegetable burger to their store? I will need to define the problem and understand where the information search should start, before developing the needed research, once that is arranged then I would identify the research method. It will either be Primary or Secondary, or both. For this particular scenario, I will explore the secondary data at first since it is cheaper, faster and available whereas this may be biased. For example, in certain region McDonalds can idealise a target market for such a product, such as in place where there exists a great population of vegetarians in compared to non-vegetarians, and see if the product gains popularity, if so they can proceed in furthering the choices of products in different places as to cater to the groups of people who are vegetarian per se. Therefore, I would select Descriptive and Causal research rather than Explanatory research. Once I have found the relevant, impartial, accurate and current data I require, we can advise for testing of the product as to not waste much time in looking for primary data, when such data can be availed to us by promoting the product on trial basis and see how well it does.

Abortion Essay -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Abortion stops a beating heart†¦Ã¢â‚¬  vs. â€Å"Western philosophy’s idea of the autonomous self: the pregnant woman is in fact both a person in her body and a vessel. Rather than seeing both beings as alive and interdependent—seeing life within life—and acknowledging that sometimes, nonetheless, the woman must choose her life over the fetus’s†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Few issues have fostered such controversy as the topic of abortion. The participants in the abortion debate not only have firmly-fixed beliefs, but each group has a self-designated appellation that clearly reflects what they believe to be the essential issues. On one side, the pro-choice supporters see individual choice as central to the debate: If a woman cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, a condition which affects her body and possibly her entire life, then she has lost one of her most basic human rights. These proponents of abortion believe that while a fetus is a potential life, its life cannot be placed on the same level with that of a woman. On the other side, the pro-life opponents of abortion argue that the fetus is human and therefore given the same human rights as the mother. Stated simply, they believe that when a society legalizes abortion, it is sanctioning murder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pro-life activists would argue that the taking of a human life is wrong no matter what the circumstances or in which trimester it is done. The controversy over abortion has avoided the real issue facing today’s woman-her need to grow beyond stereotypes. Much emphasis is placed on pregnancy as a result of rape, even thought the statistics show only about 0.1% of all rapes actually result in conception. That means that a large majority of pregnancies that resulted in abortion were the result of free choice. The assumption is that a woman does not have control over her own body until after a male partner is finished with it. Only then does she here talk of â€Å"rights.† The term â€Å"pro-choice† evokes their sense of fairness, but what is really being considered is the killing of an innocent human life. Women are abandoning the abortion mentality because it weakens their greatest strength-creation. They are looking at responsibilities as well a s rights, choosing instead of reacting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pro-choice supporters argue that abortion should be viewed as a sometim... ... can say they will support whatever decision we want to make, but as selfish as this may sound, the bottom line is we are women faced with a decision that is all our own. â€Å"They (abortion opponents) talk like we make this decision so cavalierly. Yeah, right. Like they need to make us feel guilt. Like there isn’t plenty of that already.† Bibliography 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Abortion Beliefs That Are Neither Pro-Choice Nor Pro-Life†. Via the Internet: www.religioustolerance.org/abo_argu.html 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Abortion Facts You Should Know†. Via the Internet: www.adoptionwishes.com/abortionfacts.html 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alstad, Diana & Kramer, Joel. â€Å"Abortion As A Moral Act†. Via the Internet: www.rit.org/editorials/abortion/morality.html 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Howley, Kathleen. â€Å"When Men Support Choice†. Via the Internet: www.prolifeinfo.org/howley.html 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"RU486: A Psychological Nightmare for Women†. Headline News. The Washington Post. October 15, 2000. 6. Wolf, Naomi.†Rethinking Pro-Choice Rhetoric. Our Bodies, Our Souls†. The New Republic. October 1995.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abortion Essay -- essays research papers fc â€Å"Abortion stops a beating heart†¦Ã¢â‚¬  vs. â€Å"Western philosophy’s idea of the autonomous self: the pregnant woman is in fact both a person in her body and a vessel. Rather than seeing both beings as alive and interdependent—seeing life within life—and acknowledging that sometimes, nonetheless, the woman must choose her life over the fetus’s†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Few issues have fostered such controversy as the topic of abortion. The participants in the abortion debate not only have firmly-fixed beliefs, but each group has a self-designated appellation that clearly reflects what they believe to be the essential issues. On one side, the pro-choice supporters see individual choice as central to the debate: If a woman cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, a condition which affects her body and possibly her entire life, then she has lost one of her most basic human rights. These proponents of abortion believe that while a fetus is a potential life, its life cannot be placed on the same level with that of a woman. On the other side, the pro-life opponents of abortion argue that the fetus is human and therefore given the same human rights as the mother. Stated simply, they believe that when a society legalizes abortion, it is sanctioning murder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pro-life activists would argue that the taking of a human life is wrong no matter what the circumstances or in which trimester it is done. The controversy over abortion has avoided the real issue facing today’s woman-her need to grow beyond stereotypes. Much emphasis is placed on pregnancy as a result of rape, even thought the statistics show only about 0.1% of all rapes actually result in conception. That means that a large majority of pregnancies that resulted in abortion were the result of free choice. The assumption is that a woman does not have control over her own body until after a male partner is finished with it. Only then does she here talk of â€Å"rights.† The term â€Å"pro-choice† evokes their sense of fairness, but what is really being considered is the killing of an innocent human life. Women are abandoning the abortion mentality because it weakens their greatest strength-creation. They are looking at responsibilities as well a s rights, choosing instead of reacting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pro-choice supporters argue that abortion should be viewed as a sometim... ... can say they will support whatever decision we want to make, but as selfish as this may sound, the bottom line is we are women faced with a decision that is all our own. â€Å"They (abortion opponents) talk like we make this decision so cavalierly. Yeah, right. Like they need to make us feel guilt. Like there isn’t plenty of that already.† Bibliography 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Abortion Beliefs That Are Neither Pro-Choice Nor Pro-Life†. Via the Internet: www.religioustolerance.org/abo_argu.html 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Abortion Facts You Should Know†. Via the Internet: www.adoptionwishes.com/abortionfacts.html 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alstad, Diana & Kramer, Joel. â€Å"Abortion As A Moral Act†. Via the Internet: www.rit.org/editorials/abortion/morality.html 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Howley, Kathleen. â€Å"When Men Support Choice†. Via the Internet: www.prolifeinfo.org/howley.html 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"RU486: A Psychological Nightmare for Women†. Headline News. The Washington Post. October 15, 2000. 6. Wolf, Naomi.†Rethinking Pro-Choice Rhetoric. Our Bodies, Our Souls†. The New Republic. October 1995.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee Essay -- essays research papers

In a crowded city such as Manhattan, it was no wonder that a man like Jerry felt lonely. He was without a friend, a mother and father, and the typical 'wife, two children, and a dog,'; that many others had. Jerry was thrown in a world that he felt did not want him, and his human flaw of wanting to escape loneliness led to his tragic death. In Edward Albee's play, The Zoo Story, all Jerry wanted was to be heard and understood, and in the end, after sharing his life story with a complete stranger, he got his final wish - death. The Zoo Story not only tells of the alienation of man in modern society, but also reflects the philosophy of twentieth century existentialism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jerry made a conscious choice of wanting to end his life, while Peter, a man that chose to act as the 'guinea pig'; and stayed and listened to Jerry's story, made a conscious choice of picking up same knife that killed Jerry. Although it was Peter who held the knife that killed Jerry, it was Jerry who took the responsibility to - despite great effort and pain – 'wipe the knife handle clean of fingerprints'; to allow no trace of the murderer. However, although Peter escaped without responsibility, he had to deal with the guilt that it was him who held the weapon that ended the life of Jerry. Peter had to face the rest of his life being aware of how others lived, and how one can feel so indifferent to the world yet live in the very same part of the city.   Ã‚  Ã‚  &n...

A Winless Battle :: essays papers

A Winless Battle Sometimes in life, there are times when you are faced with a struggle and often times, no matter how hard you try to get yourself out of this struggle, you just can’t and you end up feeling as though you have lost the battle. In â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† by Tennessee Williams, there are four characters that really display this situation. Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch are the four characters that display this situation. In Tennessee Williams play, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† there are no victors, only victims. In this play, Blanche is the older sister of Stella and she comes to Elysian Fields to live with her sister because she has nowhere else to live because she was asked to leave the last town that she was living in because of the life that she was choosing to live there. Blanche also lost her family’s estate, Belle Reve. Therefore, she had to go to the last place that she could think of and that was the house of her sister, Stella. From the start of the play, it is imminent that Blanche is the victim of her own life, and not a victor. She first lost her husband when she was a very young girl because of the fact that she found out that he was gay. She was in love with this man and when she found out, she was just heartbroken. However, she didn’t want to tell him that she knew about his secret so she kept it a secret for a while. But then, one night while they were dancing, she all of sudden just came out and told him what she knew. He was so embarrassed by this tha t he ran out of the room and shot and killed himself. That is one of the battles that she was the victim of. Then when she loses Belle Reve and is forced to live in a town called Laurel, she chooses to live a life that she doesn’t want to. She forces herself into prostitution because she has no other way of making money to help support herself. During this time, she is living in a hotel called the Flamingo and many men are coming up to her room every night. This disturbs the peace within the hotel and when the hotel and the town of Laurel figure out what she is doing in the hotel, they tell her to leave the hotel and also the town because they don’t want anyone like her to be there.

Public Finance and Taxation Essay

There are varying definitions of what public sector economics is and what topics it covers. In a layman’s language Public economics is the application of economics to the activities undertaken by the state. Black et al. defines public sector economics as â€Å"the field of economics which studies the nature, principles, and economic consequences of government expenditure, taxation, financing and the regulatory actions undertaken in the non-profit making government sector†. Thus it looks at the efficiency of various approaches used by government in its day to day operations. For the government uses economic policy instruments which are designed to influence economic behavior in order to achieve certain outcomes. The government has various goals which it pursues they include; i) Macro-economic stability ii) Enhanced economic growth iii) Balance of payment stability iv) Income distribution. The ultimate goal of these policies is to improve people’s welfare. As already mentioned government uses instrument of fiscal and monetary policy to achieve its goal. The use of government expenditure and taxation to influence economic outcome is referred to as fiscal policy. Fiscal policy is often outlined through the annual budget which is presented to parliament every year. The budget outlines its objectives in the budget and how these are going to be achieved. On the other Monetary policy is aimed at influencing the supply of money and consequently economic growth. The central Bank is an independent arm of the state which is mandated with running the monetary policy. In Zambia, monetary policy is the responsibility of the Bank of Zambia. In public sector economics we study the impact of instrument of fiscal policy on economic efficiency. Instruments of fiscal policy include; i) Expenditure ii) Taxation iii) Financing iv) Regulations The first two involves the procurement and spending of the government funds on various programs such as public infrastructure, education, health and public security. Example the government collects revenue using tax and spends the revenue on education, health, roads etc. in economic terms the use of these two constitutes the direct mobilization and allocation of scarce resources. In contrast, regulation entails a law or administratively proclaiming an enforceable instruction that leads to a different allocation of private sector resources than would apply in the absence of government intervention. That is allocation resources are influenced indirectly. Example the government through the Environmental Council of Zambia has put regulations to curb environmental damage; this has lead to increased investment in environmentally friendly technology by private firms. This is something the profit seeking private sector would not have done if there was no government intervention. PUBLIC FINAN CE AND IDEOLOGY Opinions on how government should function in the economic sphere are influenced by the ideological views concerning the relationship between the state and the individual. Political philosophers have distinguished two major approaches. These approaches are the organic view and the mechanistic view of government. Organic View of Government In this view society is considered as a natural organism and the government is the heart of such an organism. Society is an organic whole, just as the human body. Each individual is a constituent part of the organism just like a body part. In this view an individual has significance only as a part of the community and the good of the individual is defined with respect the good of the whole. A person’s action is seen as important if it leads to the improvement of the wellbeing of society. In Plato’s view, ‘an activity of citizen is only desirable if it leads to a just society’. In this view, the goals of society are set by the state which attempts to lead society, toward their realization. The goals of society do differ from one state to another. For example Plato conceived that the goal of government was the achievement of a golden age in which human activities would be guided by rationality. In short society strived to achieve a state in which the decisions of all individuals and the state were rational. So society was support all activities which would lead to the achievement of this goal. In Adolf Hitler’s view, the state’s goal was the achievement of social purity. He envisaged the creation of a supper race. To achieve this goal the state supported all activities which were aimed removing human impurities. They include bizarre actions such as extermination of Jews, physically disabled people and invasion of all countries to ensure that his goals are achieved over the world. The Grand Ayatollah Khomeini argued that the goal of society is to create good believers. Thus all actions of individuals and the state should be aimed at creating a cadre of believers. Closer home, Kaunda envisaged that the goal of society was the attainment of a just society. He coined the concept of human centered development or Humanism. In this ideology he argued all the actions of individuals and government should be aimed achieving a society in which all persons are equal to each other. Proponents of the organic view argue that certain goals are natural for the societal organism such as pursuit of sovereignty over some geographical area. From a policy perspective, the organic view emphasizes combating poverty and equity issues notably redistribution of income as justification for government intervention. In addition, this view tends to support existence of a large government. That is government has a large part to play in of the nation’s activities. Mechanistic View of Government In this view government is not an organistic part of society, but it is a creation of people to better achieve their individual goals. Here government is seen as a reflection of individual preferences or tastes. In short, society is a mirror of individual wants and needs. In this case, government intervention is only justifiable if it leads to individual welfare maximization. An individual will only support a government if it helps him/her to achieve their individual goals. Example government should protect individuals from violence. To do so the individuals gives government coercive power. In Adam Smith view, Government should protect society from violence and invasion from other states. This view advocates for government intervention only to correct market failures and letting the market decide who gets what. In addition, the role of government should be limited to certain public works such as roads, bridges, sewer, and airports. These are infrastructures which make society function. There are several divergent views within the mechanistic view. Some of these are; i) Libertarians View which argue against any further role in the economy beyond providing justice and protecting individual liberty. ii) Social democrats believe that sustained government intervention is need for the good of individuals. These interventions can be as diverse as safety regulations at work place, banning racial discrimination, welfare payments to the poor. In totality, the mechanistic approach focuses relatively more on the efficiency of markets and economic growth. ROLE OF THE STATE 1. Equity and Efficiency Principles Pareto Efficiency-occurs when it is not possible to improve the welfare of some people without making the welfare anyone worse. An economic system that is not Pareto efficient implies that it is possible to change resource allocation without making any one worse off. Example if an economic system is not Pareto Optimal it is possible to increase consumption by one group and reduce for others without making them feel worse off. This is known as Pareto Improvement. Pareto improvement occurs when a change to a different allocation makes at least one individual better off without making any individual worse off. To make us under this lets assume that; i) There are two individuals A and B, ii) There are two goods X and Y, iii) There are two factors of production Labor (L) and Capital (K) iv) We assume that we have a static economy such that XA+XB=X and YA+YB=Y Exchange Efficiency or efficiency in consumption Efficiency in consumption is achieved when the marginal rates of substitution are equal for all persons; MRSXYA=MRSXYB The Marginal Rate of Substitution is simply the slope of indifference curve. ∆∆Y ∆X X MRS=-∆Y∆X If you have a utility function: uX,Y=U0 totally differentiating MUxdX+MUydY=0 MRSxy=-dYdX=MUxMUy In the Edgeworth box efficiency is achieved where the indifference curves are tangent; Lets pick a point such as ‘e’. At point ‘e’ it is possible to make person A better without making person B worse off. This can be done by moving along Indifference Curve no B2 to point d. At point‘d’ the welfare of person A improves because he moves from a lower indifference curve A2 to a higher indifference curve A3. The improvement for person A continues until point ‘c’ where the indifference curves are equal. At point ‘c’ it is not possible to make any Pareto improvement. At point ‘e’ we have MRSXYA>MRSXYB This also true for point ‘d’. This outcome of Pareto efficiency is only possible under perfect competition. This is because in perfect competition all consumers face the same market prices for these goods. That is they equate the marginal rate of substitution to the same price ratio. MRSXYA=MRSXYB=PxPy Each individual maximizes their utility function subject to the budget constraint. That they maximize the following function U0=uX,Y subject to I=XPx+YPy therefore the langrangian L=UX,Y+ÃŽ »(I-XPx-YPy) First order conditions ∂L∂X=MUx-ÃŽ »Px=0 and ∂L∂Y=MUY-ÃŽ »PY=0 MUX=ÃŽ »Px and MUy=ÃŽ »Py solving simultaneously we getMUxMUy=PxPy=-dYdX=MRS Therefore, each person will equate their MRS to the price ratio. Production Efficiency Production efficiency requires that the marginal rates of technical substitution are equal in the production of good X and good Y. That is MRTSLKX=MRTSLKY In the Edgeworth box this requires this occurs where the isoquants are tangent to each other. The marginal rate of technical substitution is simply the slope of the isoquant. K L U0 ∆K Given an isoquant QL,K=Q0 totally differntiating we get MPldL+MPKdK=0 MRTSLK=-dKdL=MPlMPK Lets have a factor Edge worth box to make our illustration easier. Remember from our study of micro-economics we defined an isoquant as a curve that represent the combination of labor and capital which give the same level of output. In the diagram below production of X uses labor from point X to the right and capital from X upwards. For good Y it is the opposite of good X. All points along XPY are Pareto efficient in the sense that it is not possible to improve or increase the output of good X or good Y without reducing either of them. To under this lets pick point ‘a’ which is not along XPY. This point is not Pareto optimal because it is possible to improve the production of X without reducing the output of good Y simply by moving along the isoquant no Y2 output of good X improves/increases to X2 from X1. Pareto efficiency is only possible under a perfectly competitive market system because all produces face the same factor prices (PK and PL). Thus Pareto Optimality condition reduces to: MRTSLKX=MRTSLKY=PKPL Proof: Q0=QL,K subject to C=LPl+YPy therefore the langrangian L=QL,K+ÃŽ »(C-LPl-KPk) First order conditions ∂L∂L=MPl-ÃŽ »Pl=0 and ∂L∂K=MPk-ÃŽ »Pk=0 MPl=ÃŽ »Pl and MPK=ÃŽ »PK solving simultaneously we getMPlMPk=PlPk=-dLdK=MRTS Therefore all firms will be minimizing their costs while facing the same factor prices. OVERALL EFFICIENCY This requires that the production possibility frontier (PPF) and the social welfare function are tangent. That is; MRSXY=MRTXY. X SWF PPF Y The PPF shows the maximum quantity of good X and good Y that can be produced using the existing technology and resources. An increase in the amount of labor and capital available or an increase in the level of technology will make the PPF to move outwards to the right. All points inside the PFF are attainable but not efficient and all points the right of the PPF are not attainable. To achieve, the Marginal Rate of Substitution for society (slope of SWF) must be equal to the PxPy and the marginal rate of transformation (slope of PPF) must be equal to the MCxMCy or resources must be fully utilized. In perfect competition, P=MC. Hence it is possible to achieve the following outcome; MRSXY=PxPy=MRTXY=MCXMCY. Thus a perfectly competitive outcome results into a Pareto optimal allocation of resources. It is important to note that Pareto optimal allocation may not be the best outcome in the sense that it does not consider equity. That is there is no equity consideration. Equity is the fair d istribution of resources in sources. There are two concepts of equity used in economics horizontal and Vertical Equity. Horizontal equity means that people in similar positions/situation must be treated equally. Example if two people have HIV and the same level of CD4 count they should have equal access to ARVs. The only condition is that they are positive and have the same CD4. Vertical equity means that people in different economic situations must be treated differently from a poor person when allocating resources. This is because treating them in the same manner is not equitable. MARKET FAILURE A market failure occurs when the market fails to allocate resources according the Pareto criterion. In other words, a market failure is a situation in which the market fails to allocate resources efficiently according to the Pareto Criterion. Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics Welfare economics is the systematic method of evaluating the economic implications of alternative resource allocation. It answers the following questions; i) Is a given resource allocation efficient? ii) Who wins and looses under various allocations? First Fundamental Theorem of welfare Economics- It states that if there is a perfectly competitive market and consumer tastes are convex then any equilibrium will be a Pareto optimal allocation of resources. In short, the competitive market allocates resources efficiently without any need for government intervention. Further, the theorem states that the price from the perfectly competitive market induces selfish individuals independently maximizing their welfare, to bring the economy to a socially optimal state. That is prices rise in response to excess demand and they fall in response to excess supply. Normatively this theorem says that use free market system to allocate resources. The Second Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics states that â€Å"society can attain any Pareto optimal allocation of resources by making a suitable assignment of initial endowment of resources and then letting the people freely trade with each other as in the Edgeworth box.† To help us underst and this lets relook at the contract curve which gives the Pareto Optimal outcomes.