Appropriate Classroom Behavior Essay

Behavior is a choice, and a teacher’s role is to aid students when learning to make good choices. Inappropriate behavior is not acceptable. It should be followed by negative consequences and therefore be discouraged. When the teacher responds to different behaviors, either positive, or negative, it teaches the student something. School is a place where students are given the opportunity to learn and receive an education as well as socialize. Part of the learning process is interaction, however, it should only occur when the time is suitable. Being in the classroom should be considered a privilege. That privilege should only be given if a student’s behavior does not interfere with the ability of the teacher to teach effectively or the ability of other students to participate in classroom learning activities. Consequences should be given to individual students who choose to interrupt the teacher’s lesson or distract others. A whole class should not be punished but should be aware of how that behavior was not right. The behavior that took place last Friday was not acceptable and should not be tolerated.

Battle of Monmouth

June of 1778, General Washington is planning to attack General Sir Henry Clinton and his troops as they march from Philadelphia to New York. Washington sent 5,000 men with Major General Charles Lee to attack the British rear guard. Lee is forced to retreat, but Washington is ready for the British with the main army. In the end the both sides had claimed victory. Near Monmouth County Courthouse, the battle was fought on June 28, 1778. The weather was so hot on the day of the battle that many soldiers suffered from heat stroke.Many of Washington’s officers favored his plans to attack General Clinton, but Major General Lee was against it. Lee felt that after their alliance with the French, that they shouldn’t attack the British unless they have overwhelming superiority. Washington decided to send 4,000 men to attack Clintons rear guard, Lee turned down command of the force. After Washington raised the amount of men to 5,000, Lee demanded to be given command. Lee was given strict orders to hold a meeting to determine the plan of attack with his officers.During the meeting, Lee told the officers to be alert for orders during the battle instead of planning it out. When they encountered the British, Lee quickly lost control. After this the British moved to flank Lee’s men, when Lee saw this he ordered a retreat. Washington had been bringing the main army up when he saw Lee’s forces retreating. Washington located Lee and dismissed him after not receiving a satisfactory answer as to what had happened. Washington rallied Lee’s men and held off the British just long enough to set positions in the west. After fighting till sometime in the late afternoon, the British retreated.Washington hoped to pursue but his men were exhausted from fighting all day in the heat. The Battle of Monmouth was the last major battle fought in the north during the war. After the battle the British had held up in New York and focused on the southern colonies. Le e requested a court martial to prove his innocence from any wrong doings after the battle. Washington then filed formal charges against Lee, where he was found guilty and suspended. During the Battle a woman who was bringing water to American artillery men is said to of taken over firing for her husband when he had fallen.

Swot Matrix for Starbucks

SWOT matrixkey success factors for star bucksStarbucks has a strong brand name and its known international. Starbucks was the first coffee shop whereby high quality coffee and products at accessible locationsand affordable prices, provided a community to share in the coffee drinking experience| Strengths: * Brand recognition * High quality coffee * Business ethics * Location they are located everywhere| Weakness * Competition a lot of coffee shops are offer coffee at a lower price. * Overexposure star bucks Is obsolete according to some consumers. Too many products * Not enough marketing | Opportunity * Business leaders * New strategy * Expand franchise| Threat * Recession * Mc-cafe offers lattes and cafes at very cheap price with the same quality. * PLC is at declining stage. | 2. Generic strategy pursued at starbucks: Differentiation strategy Differentiation strategy star bucks offers high quality coffee that you cant find at other coffee shops. Starbucks spends minimal cost on mar keting although they have great market share due to the product differentiation star bucks has a unique line coffee shops so advertising is through a method called word of mouth.Their core competencies can be defined as high quality coffee and products at accessible locations and affordable prices, provided a community to share in the coffee drinking experience, and variety of choices. They also value ethics and good business practices. Starbucks provide a high quality coffee and unique experience in the convenience of a large volume of locations, which separates them from their competition ,the new instant coffee line is straddling differentiation and low cost- leadership.While it will be a low cost and convenient alternative to Starbucks regular coffee, it is still unique from other products in the market. The in-store gifts and brewing utensils are in the focused differentiation category as they cater to the coffee lover, and are unique items found only in the Starbucksstores. 3. strategic direction pursued by star bucks? Starbucks new strategy is to refocus on some of the areas that decrease risk and up front investment. Franchising, expanding products and selling at convenient stores not just coffee shops.This includes expanding foreign stores, with aid of partnerships that share risk and costs, selling whether its instant coffee and other products in retail and convenience stores, and reinvigorating the Seattle’s Best Brand coffee. 4. I would pursue cost differentiation since star bucks is already I would add a few new bistro’s or pastries or offer special deals that wouldn’t harm my profit margin but gain more market share. Starbucks doesn’t focus on marketing since the brand is already famous so by offering new flavors of coffee, pastries and beverages would attract attention. Swot Matrix for Starbucks SWOT matrixkey success factors for star bucksStarbucks has a strong brand name and its known international. Starbucks was the first coffee shop whereby high quality coffee and products at accessible locationsand affordable prices, provided a community to share in the coffee drinking experience| Strengths: * Brand recognition * High quality coffee * Business ethics * Location they are located everywhere| Weakness * Competition a lot of coffee shops are offer coffee at a lower price. * Overexposure star bucks Is obsolete according to some consumers. Too many products * Not enough marketing | Opportunity * Business leaders * New strategy * Expand franchise| Threat * Recession * Mc-cafe offers lattes and cafes at very cheap price with the same quality. * PLC is at declining stage. | 2. Generic strategy pursued at starbucks: Differentiation strategy Differentiation strategy star bucks offers high quality coffee that you cant find at other coffee shops. Starbucks spends minimal cost on mar keting although they have great market share due to the product differentiation star bucks has a unique line coffee shops so advertising is through a method called word of mouth.Their core competencies can be defined as high quality coffee and products at accessible locations and affordable prices, provided a community to share in the coffee drinking experience, and variety of choices. They also value ethics and good business practices. Starbucks provide a high quality coffee and unique experience in the convenience of a large volume of locations, which separates them from their competition ,the new instant coffee line is straddling differentiation and low cost- leadership.While it will be a low cost and convenient alternative to Starbucks regular coffee, it is still unique from other products in the market. The in-store gifts and brewing utensils are in the focused differentiation category as they cater to the coffee lover, and are unique items found only in the Starbucksstores. 3. strategic direction pursued by star bucks? Starbucks new strategy is to refocus on some of the areas that decrease risk and up front investment. Franchising, expanding products and selling at convenient stores not just coffee shops.This includes expanding foreign stores, with aid of partnerships that share risk and costs, selling whether its instant coffee and other products in retail and convenience stores, and reinvigorating the Seattle’s Best Brand coffee. 4. I would pursue cost differentiation since star bucks is already I would add a few new bistro’s or pastries or offer special deals that wouldn’t harm my profit margin but gain more market share. Starbucks doesn’t focus on marketing since the brand is already famous so by offering new flavors of coffee, pastries and beverages would attract attention.

Developing the movie Robocop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Developing the movie Robocop - Essay Example The essay "Developing the movie Robocop" talks about the overview of the film "Robocop" produced in 1897 by director Paul Verhoeven and of cinematic elements and styles used in this film. Apparently, Verhoeven presents an excessively commercialized future where the Detroit authorities are overwhelmed with crime in the city and decide to outsource it to a megacorporation, Omni Consumer Products (OCP). However, the megacorporation considers it more realistic to replace the settlement in old Detroit with a modern settlement which OCP refers to as Delta City. Due to the unfathomable number of crimes in the city and the regular killing of the understaffed law enforcers, OCP decides to take an initiative to end the crimes before starting construction of the new city, Delta City. However, the filming of the futuristic Detroit could be amended. It should have been filmed in downtown Dallas as the city had futuristic buildings even during the 1980s when the movie was being filmed. While Verhoeven’s movie was produced in the 20th century, it visualized the 21st century as evident when the director contrasts the successes of the inventions of Dick Jones and Bob Morton. During a meeting meant to strategize on the best way of curbing insecurity in the city, Dick Jones brings the idea of an ED-209, a law enforcement droid. Sadly, Verhoeven deliberately demonstrates the antiquity of the idea by allowing demonstration of the ED-209 to go awry through the deliberate killing of an executive.

The Changing Role of Women In Society Today Essay

The Changing Role of Women In Society Today - Essay Example The days when the woman stayed at home and depended on their husbands for household and family responsibilities are being replaced by the scenario where the modern woman has become an equal if not a better contributor in these and other roles that were deemed to belong to men in the past. The advance of education has made women become enlightened and visionary, thus discovering their potential and importance in society. Education has revolutionized women from the notion of only being involved in domestic chores to join their male counterparts in becoming doctors, engineers, Presidents and Prime ministers, mathematicians, economists, teachers, winners of educational and other awards among many other fields. Roles that were branded as only being suited for males like serving in the army, the building industry, the space program and others are seeing the inclusion of women who are handling them with a lot of capability. The past saw women who pursued a career or an education as strange or whose ability to raise up children was hampered, or it was assumed that her husband was not able to provide adequately for his household. This has changed dramatically as women have taken opportunities available to them. Today’s woman has become powerful, independent, competitive , strong and respected in society, and their contribution in society has been immense (Colombo, Cullen, and Lisle, 521). The running of households which was under the control of the husband is now a shared responsibility because the wife’s new status enables her to make a contribution both intelligently and financially, improving the running of the home in this regard. Each of the partners is able to positively impact on raising up children in an enlightened environment, guiding them in their career paths in a world where knowledge is increasingly becoming power.

Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Final Project - Essay Example The liquidity ratios assesses a company’s ability to meet short term obligations, profitability ratios helps in assessing a company’s profitability and solvency ratios helps in gauging a company’s ability to meet long term obligations. Ratio analysis helps in identifying various trends and helps in identifying potential strengths and weaknesses of a company. The following is the ratio analysis of MNQ Company: Liquidity Ratios: The current ratio is an indicator of company’s liquidity and helps in assessing the company’s ability to meet short term obligations. MNQ Company’s current ratio has remained under 1 for the 5 years from 2004 to 2008. This shows that the company is facing liquidity issues since the current liabilities are greater than current assets. The current ratio of the company increased in 2007 to 0.98 times and fell to 0.92 times in 2008 and the company has to make efforts to improve its current ratio. Moreover, MNQ Companyâ€⠄¢s quick ratio has also deteriorated to 0.69 times. Quick ratio also helps in assessing a company’s liquidity and deterioration in quick ratio further indicates that MNQ Company’s liquidity position has worsened in 2008. The cash ratio is the strictest measure of a company’s liquidity. MNQ Company’s cash ratio has remained stable from 2004 to 2008. Overall, the company’s liquidity position is not very healthy. Solvency Ratios: The debt ratio indicates a company’s ability to repay its obligations and specifies the percentage of assets that are financed with debt. The total debt ratio of MNQ Company has fallen from 64% in 2004 to 59% in 2008. This is a good sign since the company is reducing its reliance on debt. Companies that have high debt in their capital structure are very risky since most of the cash flows are directed towards debt servicing. But in the case of MNQ Company, the debt ratio has declined and the company has improved its ov erall solvency position. The times interest earned assesses the ability of the company to service the interest payments to its debt holders. MNQ Company’s times interest earned ratio decreased in 2005 but then showed significant improvement. Currently this ratio stands at 11 times and this shows good standing of the company in terms of interest servicing. The company’s EBIT has fluctuated from 2004 to 2008 which has led to fluctuation I the times interest earned ratio. However, MNQ Company has a high times interest earned ratio of 11 times which shows its strong ability to make timely interest payments to its creditors. Cash Coverage of the company is 18.57 times and has increased from 17.34 times in 2004. Cash coverage ratio also shows the company’s ability to pay the interest payments. MNQ Company has a high cash coverage ratio which shows that the company has significant resources to make timely in

Critical analysis of SECI Model of knowledge creation Essay

Critical analysis of SECI Model of knowledge creation - Essay Example Along with that, different types of strategies practiced by the team members to manage knowledge both within and outside the organization departments. Knowledge creation and sharing is essential for success in any organizational growth and development. Many organizations are now managing knowledge in innovative ways to increase productivity (Nonaka, 1990). As proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi, the SECI model is an exclusively influential model in the management of knowledge in communities and organization, just like its inventors constantly claim of its collective legitimacy. On the other hand, some contemporary literatures defy their judgment. This paper aims to critically analyse the effectiveness of the SECI Model of knowledge creation while continuing the discussion and exploring the limits of its applicability. Ikujiro Nonaka has been a great contributor to the SECI model of knowledge creation. He explained the various concepts of knowledge, both explicit and tacit. He focused on the way many western firms relied on the explicit knowledge concept. He partnered with Takeuchi and together they developed a SECI model that would go on to be an important aspect of knowledge creation. Initially, Nonaka (1994) proposed a two dimensional theory referring to creating knowledge. The establishment of social interaction became the first or epistemological dimension between tacit and explicit knowledge. In this case, individuals convert the original knowledge into various types, hence coming up with new knowledge. Conclusively, the author identified four different types of converting knowledge (Figure 1). These take account of Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization, which describes tacit to tacit; tacit to explicit; explicit to explicit, and explicit to tacit knowledge convers ion respectively. However, the

Organizational Planning Worksheet Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Planning Worksheet - Assignment Example Fortune 500 Company name National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) 2. The company’s internal and external stakeholders Internal stakeholder’s External stakeholder’s Employees Customers Managers Suppliers Executive directors Government Non-executive directorsSociety ShareholdersCreditors 3. Company’s mission and vision Company’s mission To serve as the best economical and safe operation national passenger railway system in the region. Company’s vision To equip the country with a transit option that is reliable, safe and affordable connecting all the major population centers. 4. Company goals At least one company goal that can be accomplished through a strategic plan To increase the company’s markets share in the region. To increase the size of the company by maximizing its wealth. At least one company goal that can be accomplished through an operational plan To be a more efficient transit option to the general public. To increase the safety procedures in the rail system company. 5. SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses The company is dominant in the market. Availability of financial limitations. The company offers unique services to the customers. The challenge of target market segmentation. The company operates in convenient locations and has local stops. The company has inadequate structure. Opportunities Threats The company has unique selling propositions such as having more destinations and affordable rates. The presence of discount airlines. The company has good pricing strategies such as the having steep discounts that targeting of niche markets. Private train firms provide stiff competition. The company gets federal funding by way of privatization. The presence of poor economic conditions.

Global Issues- THE USE OF MEDIA FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES Essay

Global Issues- THE USE OF MEDIA FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES - Essay Example Most of the Medias on the other hand claim that they are neutral; but all these claims lie on paper alone. In practice their neutrality seems to be only at the surface level. At the grass root level all the Medias has their own biases towards a particular political party or ideology. This paper briefly explains the use of media for political purposes. Most of the media are money making businesses. In business, the support of the politicians is immensely required in order to develop or sustain a business. Administration of a country is handled by politicians or political parties. Business on the other hand requires lot of administrative supports which is controlled by the politicians. So, politicians can create lots of headaches to the business. Thus the media industry or media business forced to bias towards a political party in order to receive favours from them. Politicians or political parties on the other hand, depend on the service of Medias to convey their ideologies, policies, vision or mission to the public. Medias can make or break a political party because of their immense influence upon the public. They can spread stories, real or fabricated ones to support or oppose the parties whom they support or oppose. Thus both politics and media are running hand in hand and both required the mutual support for attaining their objectives or goals. â€Å"After September 11, CNN ran graphics pronouncing "America under attack" and "War on America". When US forces invaded Iraq, the graphics were "Strike on Iraq" and "War in Iraq". These were simply dishonest terms. It was a "War on Iraq"† (Vanaik, 2005). It was well known to the world within hours from the 9/11 that it was a terrorist attack rather than a war. But CNN has given the headlines that â€Å"War on America† just to sensationalise the issue. CNN tried to over emphasise the issue in order to accumulate support for the future responses of America. On the other hand, while America has started war in Iraq, CNN

Correlation of the light scattering properties of transparent Dissertation

Correlation of the light scattering properties of transparent conducting oxides to PV efficiency - Dissertation Example As the results show that, there is a difference between the thicknesses of the two samples, the difference between thicknesses of the two samples is due to the passes, as 236 has 18 passes and 238 has 20 passes. The more the number of passes the more will be the thickness of the surface. At 870 nm wavelength of light, the transmission remains at 79.7%, Hf (Io) is 2.5%, Hf (T) is 3.1%, Hr (Io) is 1.9%, Hr (Sp) is 40.5%, Is remains at 2.8% while absorption is 15.5%. As the wavelength decreases to 627 nm, the transmission increases to 80.3%, Hf (Io) increases to 4.6%, Hf (T) increases to 5.7%, Is increases to 9.2% while Hr (Io) decreases to 1.4%, Hr (Sp) decreases to 13.0% and absorption decreases to 9.2%. As the wavelength decreases to 530 nm, the transmission decreases to 77.9%, Is decreases to 8.3% while Hf (Io) increases to 7.1%, Hf (T) increases to 9.1%, Hr (Io) increases to 2.1%, Hr (Sp) increases to 20.0% and absorption increases to 11.7%. As the wavelength decreases to 455 nm, the transmission decreases to 74.3%, Is decreases to 5.1% while Hf (Io) increases to 13.1%, Hf (T) increases to 17.6%, Hr (Io) increases to 4.2%, Hr (Sp) increases to 45.0% and absorption increases to 16.4%.... As the wavelength decreases to 455 nm, the transmission decreases to 74.3%, Hf (Io) increases to 17.8%, Hf (T) increases to 24.0%, Hr (Io) increases to 5.7%, Hr (Sp) increases to 59.0%, absorption increases to 16.1% while Is decreases to 4.0%. And for sample 238 Wavelength Transmission Hf (Io) Hf (T) Hr (Io) Hr (Sp) Is Abs 870 82.4% 2.0% 2.4% 1.5% 11.2% 11.5% 4.6% 627 81.1% 6.3% 7.8% 2.9% 28.6% 7.3% 8.7% 530 78.0% 10.2% 13.0% 3.4% 34.8% 6.4% 12.3% 455 74.3% 17.8% 24.0% 5.7% 59.0% 4.0% 16.1% B- Transmission as a function of wavelength: For sample 238, the transmission is directly proportion to the wavelength of the projected light. As the wavelength increases, the percentage transmission increases but a rapid increase in the percentage transmission can be seen by the projection of light from wavelength of 455nm to 627nm. But for the sample 236, the percentage transmission increases in response to the light projection having wavelength from 455nm to 627nm and from 627nm to 870nm, the p ercentage transmission decreases from 80.2% to 79.8%. The little decrease in the percentage transmission provides great characteristics to indentify the material. Figure show transmission with respect to wavelength for sample 238. Figure show transmission with respect to wavelength for sample 236. C- Summery The thickness of the thin film influences the percentage transmission. As the sample 238 has less thickness as compared to the sample 236. The efficiency in terms of percentage transmission for the sample 238 is more than the sample 236. With the help of optical scattering system, which utilizes different wavelengths of light to analyze the optical properties of the thin film, it

Capital from profit Essay Example for Free

Capital from profit Essay Describe the sources of internal and external finance, available to Barneys business.  There are two main ways that business can access financial resources:  1. Internal sources ( within the business)  This is the money you can get within the business:  Owners savings- I believe Barney has some money for himself if he is thinking to start a new business, because its the owners who are often invest in their company to cover the setting up costs. It might be the only source they available immediately for them as for sole traders like Barney, banks or other financial institution unlikely to offer a loan as there is too much risk involved, and if you have that kind of money it is really good for the business as you will not have to pay it back by monthly or pay an interest. Capital from profit- this will become available after the business set up and operating. Once they have run for certain time, they may make some profit to invest into the business to run or buy more stock or buy new machinery to grow the business  2. External sources (outside the business)  There are number of different external sources that business can get money from to help them to set up or invest in. Banks- they can offer loans, overdrafts and business account to businesses but you will have to have a good business plan to get it. Loans are not easy to get and might not be a good option for small business as you must pay it back with interest in certain amount of time and if the company goes down the owner will end up with huge debt. The choice I would suggest is the overdraft for him as it is flexible and you wont have to pay a penny unless it is used, there are some banks who offer interest free overdraft, if you can get it will be a win! Friends/Family- you can always seek for help from your friends and families and you can even offer them a share for return of their investment or just borrow some money from them to put towards the business if they are nice enough. I would say it is the best option of borrowing money as you dont pay interest and it is your family they will not give you to court unless you run with their money. Government grants- these are available from the EU, national/local government. A grant is money you can receive as a business man; a good thing about it is that you dont have to pay it back. If Barney falls under the age group of 18-30 he can get a low interest loan from Princes Trust.  (a) The purpose of budgets, and how they can be used to monitor and control the performance of Barneys business, including, the monitoring of actual performance against budget and the use of variance analysis. Budget is a written plan with spending which will occur and a revenue that is need in the future to cover these costs. The purpose of it is it gives you clear understanding of what to expect to spend/receive in the future (coming year) to prevent or act any crisis before it happens. It also can be used as a communication between the employees to understand the objectives of the business and work towards it. For owners they can see how well their managers managing the budget plan and performance of them.

Marketing Plan Chevrolet Essay Example for Free

Marketing Plan Chevrolet Essay A performance appraisal is a review and discussion of an employees performance of assigned duties and responsibilities. The appraisal is based on results obtained by the employee in his/her job, not on the employees personality characteristics. The appraisal measures skills and accomplishments with reasonable accuracy and uniformity. It provides a way to help identify areas for performance enhancement and to help promote professional growth. It should not, however, be considered the supervisors only communication tool. Open lines of communication throughout the year help to make effective working relationships. In Chevrolet each employee is entitled to a thoughtful and careful appraisal. The success of the process depends on the supervisors willingness to complete a constructive and objective appraisal and on the employees willingness to respond to constructive suggestions and to work with the supervisor to reach future goals. In Chevrolet it is important for them to give the satisfaction of their customers as part of their business. As the company needed employees who will help them in obtaining their goals, they make sure to have excellent agents or dealers to gain more customers in market. The services which they offer to their buyers are based to the performances of their car dealers and agents who sell their products. As having an integrated performance appraisal, the Chevrolet handle their employees with a synchronization on their management that will help them to comprise more strategies, goals of the company and the right plan for them to be marketable in their business. Chevrolet has their records of their sales on their cars and the level of performances of their dealers and agents. As managing a business that needed to sell in a high cost of prices but giving customers a satisfaction and good value of their products, the company needs to check and monitor the employee who sells and market the products. Periodic reviews help the supervisors of Chevrolet gain a better understanding of each employees abil ities. The goal of the review process is to recognize achievement, to evaluate job progress, and then to design training for the further development of skills and strengths. A careful review will stimulate employee’s interest and improve job performance. The review provides the employee, the supervisor, the Vice President, and Human Resources a critical, formal feedback mechanism on an annual basis; however these discussions should not be restricted solely to a formal annual review. Annually, the appropriate supervisor evaluates each employee’s performance. In the case where an employee has changed jobs part-way through the appraisal period, both of the employee’s supervisors during the appraisal period should submit an appraisal of the employee’s performance. During the performance evaluation process, the most recent job description on file with Human Resources will be reviewed and updated if necessary, by both the employee and the supervisor. The Chevrolet employees are reviewed for a salary increase, annually. The amount of the salary increase pool of funds is recommended by the administration and approved by the Board of Trustees. The method for allocating funds is based on rewarding meritorious performance. Merit increases will be awarded on a pay-for-performance basis and are based on individual performance. When used as intended, a pay-for-performance structure achieves the goal of rewarding truly top performers with merit increases that match their achievements and contributions. These bases of performances of the employees are one way of recognizing the job that they worked hard for the company. The company wanted to increase the level of good quality services for their employees for them to have the loyalty of their customers. This reward to their dealers and agents are persuading them to enhance the ability and performances in marketing their products. The goal of Chevrolet is to give satisfaction and needs to their customers and to their future buyers. The company’s Performance Appraisal can help the company to obtain the following objectives: To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salaries raises, etc and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job, to maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and development, to provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status, to provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status. It also serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees and to review and retain the promotional and other training programmes. It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified by following advantages: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programmes for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case. It can help in chalking out compensation packages for employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance Appraisal tries to give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which include bonus, high salary rates, extra benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit rather than seniority. The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps the supervisors to frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse strengths and weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps in framing future development programmes. Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the validity and importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be made in this regard. For an organization, effective communication between employees and employers is very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can be sought for in the following ways: the employers can understand and accept skills of subordinates; the subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in superiors. It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labor management relationship. It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees. All the above factors ensure effective communication. The Performance appraisal of the company serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance of employees, a person’s efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future. Life Cycle Costing The Life cycle costing is a method of calculating the total cost of a physical asset throughout its life. Life-cycle costing is concerned with all costs of ownership and takes account of the costs incurred by an asset from its acquisition to its disposal, including design, installation, operating, and maintenance costs. There are four major benefits of Life Cycle Cost analysis and it is evaluation of competing options in purchasing, improved awareness of total costs, more accurate forecasting of cost profiles and performance trade-off against cost. When the Chevrolet is planning the acquisition of a major asset, organizations spend considerable time and effort in making an economic evaluation of the initial (capital) cost. This evaluation typically considers the required size or capacity of the item, operating performance requirements, physical appearance or image projected, the capital cost, and alternative product options. The company future costs are less visible, as they are often â€Å"hidden† within general operating expenses, but they can have a significant impact on the future viability of the organization. The scale of these costs depends on the level and frequency of usage of the asset. There are also broader environmental implications that flow from the decision to acquire a major asset. Resources are used during the creation, operation and disposal phases, with the potential to affect environmental sustainability, and there may also be direct environmental impacts. The study of these broader issues is often termed life-cycle assessment. This guide does not specifically address these broader issues but they should be part of a complete assessment of the merit of a specific project. The determination of costs is an integral part of the asset management process and is a common element of many of the asset manager’s tools, particularly Economic Appraisal, Financial Appraisal, Value Management, Risk Management and Demand Management. Growing pressure to achieve better outcomes from assets means that ongoing operating and maintenance costs must be considered as they consume more resources over the asset’s service life. Both the capital and the ongoing operating and maintenance costs must be considered wherever asset management decisions involving costs are made. This is the Life Cycle Cost approach. Quality Costing Improving quality is considered by many to be the best way to enhance customer satisfaction, to reduce manufacturing costs and to increase productivity. Any serious attempt to improve quality must take into account the costs associated with achieving quality, since nowadays it does not suffice to meet customer requirements, it must be done at the lowest possible cost as well. This can only happen by reducing the costs needed to achieve quality, and the reduction of these costs is only possible if they are identified and measured. The identification itself is not straightforward because there is no general agreement on a single broad definition of quality costs. However, according to Dale and Plunkett (1995), it is now widely accepted that quality costs are the costs incurred in the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of a quality management system, the cost of resources committed to continuous improvement, the costs of system, product and service failures, and all other necessary costs and non-value added activities required to achieve a quality product or service. Measuring and reporting these costs should be considered a critical issue for any manager who aims to achieve competitiveness in today’s markets. These are costs that can be only estimated such as profits not earned because of lost customers and reduction in revenue owing to non-conformance. The importance of opportunity and intangible costs for quality costing has been recently emphasized in the literature. The practice of costing quality is the combination of two important elements: the first is to analyse the cost of each part of a process and identify areas where savings may be made; the second is the right first time approach. Of course people don’t just need to do things right, they need to be sure they are doing the right things. The aim of a quality costing process is to maximize quality while minimizing cost. A sound quality costing programme will measure the cost of quality; aim to control and reduce it; and, continually monitor it as a measure of progress. The process of quality costing is, on the whole, one of negative analysis instead of strengths, it looks for weaknesses. This may be a painful exercise, be prepared for that. But remember that by identifying costs you can take steps to reduce them. Ignoring ineffectiveness and poor quality is rather like the ostrich approach to management if I don’t see it, it won’t hurt me. It is useful to bear in mind that the best business with which to compare quality costs is your own. If you introduce quality cost measurement activities twice a year you will soon have data to compare. The Chevrolet cost categories in the quality planning is one of the most important and had prioritized by the company for them to achieved customer satisfaction. The company offer products with good materials to maintain the quality but with affordable prices. The company’s prevention costs support activities whose purpose is to reduce the number of defects. Chevrolet employs many techniques to prevent defects, for example statistical process control, quality engineering, training, and a variety of tools from total quality management (TQM). Prevention costs include activities relating to quality circles and statistical process control. Quality circles consist of small groups of employees that meet on a regular basis to discuss ways to improve quality. Both management and workers are included in these circles. An out of control process results in defective units and may be caused by a miscalibrated machine or some other factor. In statistical process control, workers use charts to monitor the quality of units that pass through their workstations. With these charts, workers can quickly spot processes that are out of control and that are creating defects. Problems can be immediately corrected and further defects prevented rather than waiting for an inspector to catch the defect later. Any defective parts and products should be caught as early as possible in the production process in the company. Appraisal costs, which are sometimes called inspection costs, are incurred to identify defective products before the products are shipped to customers. Unfortunately performing appraisal activates doesnt keep defects from happening again and most managers realize now that maintaining an army of inspectors is a costly and ineffective approach to quality control. Employees are increasingly being asked to be responsible for their own quality control. This approach along with designing products to be easy to manufacture properly, allows quality to be built into products rather than relying on inspections to get the defects out. Failure costs are incurred when a product fails to conform to its design specifications. Failure costs can be either internal or external. Internal failure costs result from identification of defects before they are shipped to customers. These costs include scrap, rejected products, reworking of defective units, and downtime caused by quality problem. This also experienced by the company and the more effective the companys appraisal activities the greater the chance of catching defects internally and the greater the level of internal failure costs. This is the price that is paid to avoid incurring external failure costs, which can be devastating for the company. When a defective product is delivered to customer, external failure cost is the result. External failure costs include warranty, repairs and replacements, product recalls, liability arising from legal actions against a company, and lost sales arising from a reputation for poor quality. Such costs can decimate profits. External failure costs usually give rise to another intangible cost. These intangible costs are hidden costs that involve the companys image. They can be three or four times greater than tangible costs. Missing a deadline or other quality problems can be intangible costs of quality. Internal failure costs, external failure costs and intangible costs that impair the goodwill of the company occur due to a poor quality so these costs are also known as costs of poor quality by some persons.

Investing in property shares

Investing in property shares http://ezinearticles.com/?Pros-and-Cons-of-Indirect-Investingid=1506834: Investing indirectly means purchasing shares of companies that hold large portfolios of securities on behalf of their share holders. Indirect investing is a great opportunity for those who are willing to start investing with a small amount, having no previous knowledge or experience of stock markets ups and downs. You can decide if indirect investing is the right choice for you after examining the following features. The advantages associated with investing in property shares is that investors gain from greater liquidity since property company shares are publicly traded and the time taken to buy and sell these shares is far shorter than the time taken to buy and sell real property. Investors can create diversified property portfolios of property company shares at relatively low costs and in most cases, buying into diversified property portfolios in acquiring those shares. Transaction costs are lower than direct purchase. Finally since the price of publicly traded shares are known at any given time, there are no uncertainties as to the value of them. This is a contrast to direct investment with the buying and selling of real property, whereby it can take a matter of days to establish the values. Possibly the biggest advantage of indirect investment is the expertise and high standard management that comes along with investing in indirect property investment vehicles, as far as someone who knows little about property investment is concerned. Property investment companies have experts specializing in investment analysis and portfolio management and these companies will always stand a better chance for positive yields as compared to a common man who barely knows about financial markets. Furthermore another advantage with indirect investment vehicles is the opportunity for the investor to capitalise on discounts and premiums, especially in the case of close-ended funds. The net asset value of investment companys share keep going up and down based on companys performance and these shares are not always traded on net asset value. If sold at a price lower then net asset value, these are said to be sold at discount and if the price is higher then net asset value, they are selling at premium. This provides an opportunity to earn, even when the Net Asset Value has not changed. Neverthless there are disadvantages to investing in property shares. Firstly, the prices of property shares move up and down with the stock market, as such they are more voliatilie. Between 1970 and 1992 the annualised standard deviation of UK property shares was 27 per cent compared to 11 per cent for direct property as measured by the Jones Lang Wooton Index (Barkham and Gelthbner, 1995). It should be noted that when the impact of gearing was removed form property share prices and when the JLW series desmoothed, the standard deviations were much clooser in magnitude. Since according to finance theory, risk-adjusted returns should equalise, property companies should offer higher average performance to compensate investors with this volatility. Secondly another disadvantage is that since property companies are taxed on their profits , their is no full tax transparency . As such tax-exempt investors such as pension funds are unable to claim back corporation tax. A notable disadvantage of investing in indirect property vehicles is that although mutual funds are managed by qualified professionals and experts, no expert can guarantee a profit on every investment made. There are many uncontrollable variables involved and then there is always a chance of unpredictable happening, normally referred to as the great unknown. Mutual funds can be divided into different categories on basis of risk, for example hybrid fund being less risky while specialized stock funds falling in the high risk high return category. Another disadvantage is the charges involved in buying into property shares, trusts and funds. Investment companies do not provide the high quality portfolio management services for free. This can off putting to the would be investor because they also have to pay additional charges associated with dealing through a broker as most property investment companies do not offer direct purchase plans. Also, most of these companies run excessive marketing and sales campaign because of competition. Some part of this expense is also charged from investors, known as sales load. In addition, another disadvantage is the lack of control that the investor has in guiding their investments. This can be off putting to a investor who wants control and they have to alternatively rely fully on the companys management decisions regarding investment. Another shortcoming is that investing in property shares, trusts and funds are not guaranteed by any government body or authorities nor do they provide any specific protection. The shareholder has little influence over the acquistion and disposal decisions made by the company, nor overfinancing decisons (the amount of borrowing -gearing or leverage and the issuing of new shares which dilute the value of existing shares). Since share prices should reflect judgements about the quality of management, the equity markets provides some form of discipline. The shareholder may also find it difficult to obtain full information on the property assets and development schemes of the company, particularly where there exist complex own ership structures with joint ventures and off balance shet holdings. The advantages of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are alike to that of property shares in terms of lot size, liquidity, public trading and price information, with the added advantage of tax transparency. As many researchers have pointed out, there has been an explosive growth of the REIT market. For example the market capitalisation of the industry has gone from $1.88 billion in 1972 to $44.31 billion in 1994 for the total index with a substaintial amount of that growth in the equity index (without healthcare). Also the breakdown between two types of REITs in the index was as follows: 205 equity REITs with a reported value if $62.06 billion (70.4 per cent of total assest value); 32 mortgage REITs with a reported value of $21.78 billion (24.7 per cent); and 23 hybrid REITs with a reported value of $4.34 billion (4.9 per cent). This boom in the market was a direct result of the 1986 Tax Reform Act that allowed greater management flexibility and established a less restrictive tax environment as such more tax transparency, creating the conditions for growth in the REIT market. However, in common with property company shares, REITs exhibit higher volatility than the direct market. The advantages of investing in Property Unit Trusts and Managed Funds is that they offer relatively low unit costs , allowing investors to acquire an interest in a diversified property portfolio without excessive commitment of capital. However there are potential disadvantages in terms of lack of management control and illiquidity. In theory, there is some liquidity in that units may be redeemed on a monthly basis. In practice, in a poor market or when a when a high proportion of units are attempting to sell, the manager may defer redemption. Furthermore, the spread (gap between unit purchase and redemption prices) tends to increase when there is selling pressure, harming performance. Finally, since selling pressure tends to occur in falling markets, sales take place in poor conditions and are, in effect, forced rather than open market sales. These disadvantages temper the benefits in terms of lot size and diversification. The disadvantages of conventional debt instruments such as mortgages, mortgage debentures and bonds is that the lender as a investor cannot benefit from any growth in rents and capital values: there is downside, but no upside risk. The risk-adjusted return will, therefore, change with conditions in the property market. Innovative forms of debt funding have similar characteristic. Deep discount bonds are sol below par (that is, at less than their face and redemption value) so that the investor obtains capital growth on redemption. A number of hybrid debt-equity instruments have been developed which enable the investor to participate in market performance. Since convertible mortgages are loans secured on a property (or, possibly, a portfolio of properties). The lender has an option to convert some or all of the loan into a direct or indirect equity interest in the property. Thus, the lender can benefit from greater than anticipated growth in the property market. The borrower can benefi t from lower interest rates or from the lender permitting a higher loan to value ratio, thus reducing the borrowers own equity input. Furthermore there are tax and accounting advantages in participating mortgage structures for both the borrower and the lender, whereby the lender receives a premium related to the sale price (or agreed valuation) at redemption. However, a legal problem the fact that the lenders call option acts as a clog the equity of redemption, preventing a borrower from clearing debt and thus owning the asset unencumbered has, at the time of writing, not been decisively resolved and has been the subject of Law Commission deliberations in the UK. The principal advantages of property derivatives relate to their low unit costs , the ability to gear up investment and the ability to gain exposure to the property market without incurring high levels of specific risk (for example, a PIC enabled an investor to track the IPD portfolio then valued at some  £40bn) for just  £250,000. However, there are a number of drawbacks. These include questions about the information content of commercial property indices, lags in the publication of the indices and the fact that the investor is buying into average performance and cannot hope to outperform the market. he key condition for successful development of property derivatives is the establishment of an active secondary market. This requires sufficient market capitalisation, investors prepared to trade actively in the market (as opposed to buying the initial offering and holding it to redemption) and, critically, differences in opinion as to future trajectories of the underlying assets o r index. There must be buyers and sellers. Once established, it is possible that price movements in the derivative market will, as in other capital markets, have implications for pricing in the underlying direct property market. The introduction of UK REITs means small investors are now able to invest indirectly in a truly diversified property portfolio, buying low cost and easily tradable units, instead of having to purchase, say, entire properties. A major advantage of UK REITs is their tax-efficient nature. Investors avoid the double taxation that any investor in property company shares faces, as tax wont be payable on rental or capital gains earned within a REIT (as the REIT organisation is exempt from corporation tax on qualifying property income and gains). Investors will only be liable for the tax due on income received as dividends. Because UK REITs pay out such a large portion (90%) of their profits in dividends, theyre also particularly attractive to small income-seeking investors. Without the challenges associated with the current double taxation regime, UK REITs may differ from existing quoted property companies in that their prime focus may be less about capital growth than maximising shareholder dividends. They are able to meet the needs of the property investment market and the small investor in that they offer regular and potentially high-yielding returns. Also access to property investment for small investors is for minimal outlay as such there is less exposure to their investments. It offers portfolio diversification for investors and as such more leverage against risk. Buying into REITs offers a more attractive form of diversification than by buying into a wider range of bonds or equities simply because they have a higher correlation with diversification than equities and bonds have (reita.org, All about REITs) Liquidity easy to buy/sell Lower transaction costs compared to buying property directly (stamp duty on direct property is up to 4%, whereas buying shares in a UK REIT will only be subject to stamp duty of 0.5%)Access to property investment in a variety of sectors and geographical locations Strong corporate governance. The major concern about investing in REITs as a means of gaining exposure to the commercial property market is their correlation to equities. Because REITs are stock market listed companies, the performance of their shares is inevitably affected by the performance of the market. In the short-term, ie over periods of less than 18 months, the performance of REITs shares is likely to be more closely correlated to that of other shares than it is to that of commercial property. Having said that, commercial property, whether direct or indirect, should be considered for long-term investment rather than short-term speculation. Like any investment, the value of a REIT can go down as well as up and past performance isnt necessarily an indicator of future performance. If you are looking for advice on where to invest, Reita would always recommend seeking independent financial advice from an investment professional.

Womens Studies Essays -- Analysis, Evelyn Nakano Glenn

Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and of Ethnic Studies at Berkeley, University of California serves as Founding Director of the University’s Center for Race and Gender (Glenn 2). It is a leading American center in the study of intersectionality amongst genders, class social groups, institutions and race. Her scholarly work includes focus on the dynamics of gender, race and the prevailing processes of inequality and exclusion in class structures in the social setting. Her earlier work included the documentation of neglected women employed in the domestic services sector, due to their skin color (race) and that of women holding clerical posts. This led her into historical research on the issue of gender structure and race in the structural makeup of the local labor markets and hitherto consequences of the American labor market on the positions of the workers. This included the forms of resistance/ self-preservation available to them. She has al so engaged in the comparative analysis of gender and race in the construction of citizenship and labor across the United States of America. Her upbringing greatly influenced her critical thinking and perspective of the world, due to her racial background and the situation of the time. In the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor tragedy, her parents were among thousands of other Japanese Americans imprisoned in American internment camps. The war pitted the Axis powers against the Allied forces, with the latter eventually emerging the victors. This shaped the political and philosophical thoughts of the time with Liberalism emerging as the dominant theory of the time. Others that were to subsequently emerge were in one way or the other linked to this thought with some aspec... ... same character traits. Proper and sequential legislation addressing these issues should be passed based on them either as a grouping or in their individual aspects. This is to ensure better understanding, appreciation and acknowledgement of every human being that composes the global community. In conclusion, Evelyn Nakano Glenn’s scholarly work includes focus on the dynamics of gender, race and the prevailing processes of inequality and exclusion in class structures in the social setting. She considers Liberalism, as a political thought, entails the plurality of actors in the international political arena and Republicanism as an Ideology that is embraced by the citizenry of a republic. This has been exemplified by the widely held ideal of the American â€Å"worker citizen† as being the twin attributes of ‘whiteness/ blackness and ‘masculinity/feminism.

Robotics :: essays papers

Robotics Mechanics Introduction What is mechanics? If you've ever been around a physics teacher or engineer, they are always talking about mechanics, and its seems that no one really understands what mechanics really is. Quite simply, mechanics is the knowledge of design and construction of machinery. In robotics, this translates into the physical construction of the robot. Since every game is different (thus requiring different mechanical solutions), this section will be an introduction of the different options for robot construction available to the Robotics Team through the kit of parts from F.I.R.S.T. as well as the basics of mechanical design/planning. Before we begin, it is time for the one rule: There is only one real rule which should be followed regardless of the situation: Whatever I say is okay and whatever you say is okay. Repeat it with me: "Whatever I say is okay and whatever you say is okay." The important thing to remember is that we are all on a team. There is not one person on this team whose ideas are more valid than another's. Every single person has the right to express their ideas and every person should respect that right. I think everyone will agree with that, so I'll stop preaching. Where do we start? Traditionally, robot construction proceeds as follows: †¢ 1. Develop and Decide on Strategy Since every year the game changes, the primary task after the kickoff in January is planning the actual strategy for the team. This generally involves brainstorming in little groups and then presenting each strategy to the collective group. Then, pros and cons will be weighed for each strategy and then a strategy will be selected. From this strategy can be developed necessary task for our robot to execute, which leads to an actual working design of the robot. Before we move on, everyone should understand that no one is always correct. The very nature of any engineering project (including this one) makes it impossible for a single person to design the best project. That is why it is necessary to have a lot of people brainstorming together on the same project. More people also make troubleshooting a lot easier, so it is important to not only question your own ideas, but also those of others. Actually, please, please, please ask questions. In fact always question. There is no design which is perfect and no idea which is flawless. Continually question, dissect, take apart, stare at every single part of the robot.

Akai MPC2000 (MIDI PRODUCTION CENTER) Essay -- essays research papers

AKAI MPC2000 MIDI PRODUCTION CENTER   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The following is a summary of the advanced features of the AKAI MPC2000, which include a built in sampler, sequencer and more. Here is a detailed general description of the AKAI MPC2000. Large 248 x 60 dot LCD display with graphics. 6 functions keys under the LCD display provide various functions on each page. Built-in 1.44 megabyte floppy disk drive to store both sequences and sound data. Built-in SCSI interface for storing data to external hard disk. Here is a detailed description of the AKAI MPC2000’s built in sampler. 16-bit, 44.1kHz stereo sampling High capacity sound memory: 2 megabytes standard (22 seconds mono or 11 seconds stereo), expandable to 32 megabytes with SIMM memory. Digital sampling input for direct recording from digital sources with IB-M208P board. 128 sounds (samples) may be held in memory at one time. 32 simultaneous playback voices. The envelope or filter can be set for each sound. Optional multi-effects generator EB16 for versatile effects. Sample files may be loaded from AKAI S1000 and S3000 disks. IB-M208P (optional) enables you to mix and output internal sampler sounds from 8 individual outputs. A maximum of 24 programs (sound assignments and sound parameter settings) can be created. A selection between poloyphonic (multiple sounds are overlaid when the same sound is played continuously) or mono (the second sound silences the first). It is possible to stop the playing of a so...

Examine the language Essay

A soliloquy is during a play when an actor will speak his/her thoughts out loud to the audience. The actor will usually stand-alone on stage but if another actor is on stage they will go on with what they are doing. The purpose of a soliloquy is to help the audience understand the imagery. Shakespeare used soliloquies for the audience due to them going to listen to a play instead of watching it as we do today. Throughout the play Shakespeare’s soliloquies are full of contrasting images. These images mostly are contrasting themes from the play, in this case Love which is Romeo & Juliet’s love for each other, Hate between the families of Montague’s & Capulet, Violence fighting between families, Young Ideas which is Romeo & Juliet want to marry for love and not suitors chosen by their parents, Traditional Values the arranged marriages. In the soliloquy beginning † Well Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night. † Romeo describes death. Romeo describes that he wants to join Juliet in death. The imagery created by Shakespeare is revolting during this soliloquy. There is a large contrast from the middle and near the end of the soliloquy. Romeo goes and bys poison from the apothecary. An apothecary is like a morgue. This image of death describes and implicates the theme of death running through the play. There is a large similarity between the soliloquy starting â€Å"Well Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night† and â€Å"Villain and he be miles asunder. † It is in â€Å"Villain and he be miles asunder† Juliet show to her family that she is upset over the death of her cousin Tybalt due to Romeo killing him, but infact she is more upset due to Romeo being banished from Verona. And in â€Å"Well Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night† Romeo is very upset due to him thinking Juliet is dead. This is dramatic irony because the audience know that she is not dead. This Make it standout how important love is in the play. In the soliloquy â€Å"My only love, sprung from my only hate† is a common soliloquy for the rhyming couplet. A rhyming couplet is when the last two words in each line rhyme. This Happen in this soliloquy. In this soliloquy Juliet says, â€Å"My only love, sprung from my only hate† What she means is that Romeo is a Montague and she is a Capulet. There has been a grudge between the two families for years. Juliet means she loves a member of the Montague family, which is supposed to be her enemy. In most of the soliloquies there is a lot of reparation. One example is Juliet says before she drinks the friar’s potion, â€Å"dash out my desperate brains† and then Romeo talks of â€Å"desperate men†. The reparation shows how desperate the situation is in their lives. In the last scene in of the play there are 2 touching soliloquies. The main one is from Romeo. He starts â€Å"how oft when men are at the point of death† He is talking about the meaning of death parting lovers in this soliloquy. The other is from Juliet saying about Romeo being taken from her. so she takes his dagger so she can join he love in heaven.

Discipline – Necessary or Not

Disciplining a child entails directing and teaching him or her proper behaviors and acceptable morals. Effective disciplining is all about training a child to act responsibly and practice self control. Discipline is about rewarding and punishing accordingly. It is necessary to discipline children so as to be able to guide them through the loops and turns of life. This discipline should however be within the acceptable parameters (Coloroso, Barbara, 19). Disciplining children has a number of benefits to kids.Through disciplining, children are taught on the appropriate morals that will enable them interact well with the rest of the society. Studies have shown that the kind of the upbringing a child receives from home has a bearing on the type of characters that one exhibits in the society and in later life. Though bad behaviors in kids are not necessarily out of bad parenting, the kind of discipline that one receives will determine to a great extent personal interactions with the rest of the society (Van Zeijl, Jantien; Mesman, 628). Disciplining children is important if a child is to achieve set objectives in life.Children have to be taught a lot of things in life and this cannot be achieved without proper discipline. Aristotle once said that the mind of an individual immediately after birth is like a tabula rasa, clean slate. The mind then is filled with knowledge as the child grows. Disciplining a child then makes him aware of what is good and what is inappropriate. It directs him t the right path arming him with useful knowledge. It helps them to learn how to obey the rules set in the society and by the government. Within the society, people operate under certain framework of set rules.A child who is disciplined and taught how to obey rules will enjoy useful interactions with the rest of the society. It is important that a child be taught how to obey laws and authority. Disciplining a child though does not always turn out well especially if the inappropriate tactics are applied. Parents are in a dilemma over the best strategy to raise and discipline their kids. Some parents scold and spank their children while others just talk to them in the hope that they will change (Williams, Joseph E, 26). Debate has always ranged over the benefits of spanking kids as a form of punishment.This however has been found to be more of retrogressive to a child’s development. Children may end up becoming too timid and submissive (Galivan, Janice, 38). Disciplining children may result to them becoming retroactive than proactive. Disciplining is times a ‘quick fix’ to problems. Children will tend to behave well in the presence of their parents but get out of control when such a cocoon is broken Disciplining kids may also result to a low esteem. It may create a feeling of inadequacy especially in handling important responsibilities as such kids may be used to supervision.This mostly affects kids brought up in highly authoritative environme nts (Leung, Debbie W. ; Slep, Amy M,. 525). Disciplining children however is necessary if children are to develop well. Kids need a guide to direct them towards the proper paths in life. They need to be taught about the societal expectations, good morals and the appropriate attitudes in life. They have to be shown the boundaries in life, acceptable manners and the expected responsibilities. This cannot only be done through observation, it requires firmness.

Marketing Influence Essay

Thesis Statement. Marketing affects one’s everyday life in the sense that it influences people decision making as well as their consumption preferences. This paper illustrates how marketing affects one’s life but it also explains the fundamentals of marketing which product design, packaging, trademarks, branding, pricing, distribution, communications. Introduction Marketing can be viewed as the process where organizations collect their resources to match the ever changing needs of their consumers. Consumers are very important as they determine the mere existence, survival and growth of any organization. Marketing is also viewed as the manner in which organizations address the issues surrounding their markets. (Geoff L and Frank W, 12). The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as the management process that identifies, anticipates and supplies the customers’ requirements efficiently and profitably. For effective marketing to take place clients or customers must be given priority.    Marketing is a vital or rather a very important aspect in ensuring the survival of any business. The major aims of any business are to ensure survival, profits and growth. Marketing comes in handy to ensure that businesses attain this objectives or goals. Marketing entails various activities like accessing customer wants through intensive market research, analyzing those needs and establishing a way forward in ensuring that those needs are satisfied. It also entails the designing of products, price determination, distribution, distribution strategies and effective communication to both potential as well as the current customers. (Geoff L and Frank W, 52). Many businesses have emerged today and competition is high for almost all businesses. There is higher supply than demand and businesses have to undertake intensive marketing if they are to survive. Marketing involves advertisement, effective research promotional sales and direct sales. The role of marketing should not be left entirely to the marketing department of an organization or company if is to be successful. Effective research entails the thorough establishment of what the target population expects from the organization and trying to find out if the organization is actually satisfying those needs. Here, the company identifies its stand or position in satisfying consumer’s needs. The questions that emerge include where the company is, how it got there, where it intends to reach and how it plans to get there. It is very important that effective research is carried out as it provides accurate information on consumer behavior, which is very important in the decision making process. (Geoff L and Frank W, 35). Accurate information would mean that quality decisions can be reached at and this is good for business. Another advantage of marketing research is that through it an organization can identify possible potential markets which it can exploit to increase its competitiveness in the market. Through research a firm can access the market trends and this is very vital in ensuring that effective and timely decisions are made. Marketing research reduces the costs that an organization could have incurred in its operations as it can exploit the accurate information provided to make effective decisions. Without the research organization risk making incompetent decisions based on trial and error basis and this can see them incur high costs of operation. Market research can be carried out through interviews either sent by mail or via telephone. It can also be through a face to face interviewing. Marketing must be effective in the sense that it has to produce tangible results. It must also be profitable, integrated and strategic. The marketing management process entails the analysis of a company’s current position, its objectives or goals and how it plans to achieve the objective set. Implementation must follow so as to attain the set objectives. (Geoff L and Frank W, 10).   It is critical that market planning is carried out as it ensures that the aspect of the future is incorporated in the marketing process. Planning works to ensure that there is effective coordination among an organization’s departments. It is easier to control or monitor the progress as development of performance standards are easy to establish. Planning ensures that the unforeseen events are provided for effectively and the chances of success are higher when there is effective market planning than where it is lacking.   An organization must also be very critical in ensuring that it responds affectively to criticisms so that it neutralizes would be negative effects of the media might have against it. An effective marketing mix creates a positive impact in the market. A marketing mix focuses on product, pricing, promotion and placement of the product in the market. (Ross D, 89) Strategies adopted must always be consumer oriented and the organization must be focused in ensuring that there is high accessibility in the market. Placement or location of a business affects the sales that it makes and it therefore becomes very critical to ensure that effective research is taken. When determining the location important aspects like the demographics of the area are very important. A strategic position is an easily accessible one where many people can be able to reach at or where customer exposure is maximized.    Product design Product design identifies the perfect or ideal shape that a customer would prefer the products appear like. Products or services produced must be customer oriented. Organizations must produce those products that are of much value to their target buyers. They must also exploit their competitors’ weaknesses or shortcomings by producing products with what they simply do not offer. Customer needs are affected by the various factors like culture and effective or intensive market works to establish this.   Communications   Ã‚  Communication is a very vital aspect in the marketing process of any business or organization. It involves the dissemination of information about products or services that an organization produces. Vertical communication which means up and down the hierarchical ladder in an organization must be enhanced so that important decision making is not tampered with.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Good relationships or cooperation with the other departments is critical. The human resources for instance affect the efficiency in marketing. This is because it is responsible for the provision of personnel that will be required to work in the organization. If it provides experienced and qualified staff the chances of the marketing process yielding positive effects are high. The finance department is important in allocating the finances needed to make marketing a success. The production is also critical in the sense that it has to ensure that there is no deficit between the demand created and supply. It is its responsibility to make sure that successful marketing is not challenged by insufficient supply in the market.   On establishing the existing potential customers an organization has to go the extra mile of identifying their current and future needs before selecting or establishing the most appropriate means of satisfying those needs. After this they communicate to the customers on the strategies that they have established. (Geoff L and Frank W, 78). In her interview, Cisco’s Luanne Tierney argues that communication must be effective if marketing is to be a success. Good communication must be in existence within an organization both internally as well as externally. (Roy Young). On conducting the market research effective communication must be ensured between the market researchers and organizations decision makers. Good communication must also exist between organizations their customers. The establishment of an IT department can help improve an organization outward or external communication. By exploiting the Internet, an organization can establish a website where all information on their products or services is easily accessible. E- Marketing can be very effective in increasing the organization’s sales. It can also ensure that there is quick response to customers’ queries and this has a positive effect in the marketing process. Online shopping has gained popularity and most organizations can use it to increase their sales. It has the economical advantage over other forms of marketing. Where an organization offers wide and exhaustive information on the products that it produces more customers are likely to be more attracted and this works to increase the sales. Establishing personalized services is also an important way of ensuring that an organization registers increased sales. Communication refers to the manner by which meaningful information is exchanged. Effective communication ensures that there is a two way flow of information to ensure that there is a quick response or feedback. Noise or distractions must be evaded as much as possible as they hinder effective transmission of important information. To reduce the disruptions marketers can hold meetings in conference facilities. They can also be keen when advertising so that they do not place their adverts next to their competitors as this can confuse their target population.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Giving allowance for feedback is important in establishing how the audience decoded the information conveyed. This provision can be through the use of phone calls, e mails and internet chats all of which offers swift responses. Branding,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Product branding is also very important in the marketing process. It is appropriate for marketers to be very creative when branding their products. Before making the final decision regarding the brand that is to be used it is appropriate to carry out effective research so as to fulfill the customers’ needs. (Geoff L and Frank W, 100). Research can help an organization decide if it would be appropriate to invent new brands and it also helps in deciding the factors that ought to be addressed, enhanced or changed. Research can also establish if it would be economically viable to introduce two or more line of products or one would be enough. (Anholt S, 56).   Pricing   Ã‚  The price attached to any good or service reflects its value in the market. Pricing affects the product position in the market and is a critical issue due to the direct it has on demand. It also affects the other marketing mix for instance the product features, distribution channels as well as promotion.   When determining the price of a new product it is important that an organization carries out an effective market analysis, segmentation and targeting. Costs incurred both variable and fixed also ought to be incorporated when determining the price. It is also appropriate to estimate a demand curve and try establishing where the equilibrium price would be. Prices cited by their competitors must also be considered so at not to negatively affect the sales.   Price determination depends on the strategy that an organization opts to use or apply. An organization may decide to use premium pricing where by its prices are relatively higher compared to their competitors but their products must be of a better quality. For this strategy to succeed, effective research must have established that the target population needs quality products so badly that it would not shy away from purchasing quality goods at a higher price. (Geoff L and Frank W, 87). Penetration pricing can also be applied as a pricing strategy. Here, an organization lowers the prices of its new products or services on entry to the market but with an intention of increasing it overtime. The logic behind this approach is to first attract as many people as possible and after earning their loyalty it deems difficult for them to stop consuming this products. Good quality products are not likely to register reduced sales even if the initial prices were to be increased overtime. Some organizations can be compelled by the nature of the products they are dealing with to use the economy approach method of pricing. This approach ensures that the prices offered at the market are relatively low. The use of price skimming could also be applied where prices are high at the first entry into the markets but gradually these prices are reduced. This approach can best suffice among those goods that are affected by fashion or fads. Customers are willing to pay much money for them immediately they hit the market but as time goes on the willingness to pay declines.   Psychological pricing can also be applied with the aim of capturing customers who are responsive to emotions and not rationality. Price variations can also be applied as a price determination strategy. Prices offered can vary depending on the time of the day where for instance the prices in the morning or weekends can be lower than in the evening and during the weekdays. Offering discounts can be done selectively depending on time. (Geoff L and Frank W, 88).   Captive product pricing can also be applied especially where an organization in question deals with complementary goods. As the price of one product rises its complement price can be lowered to appear attractive. The reduced price will increase the demand for the product but consumers will be compelled to buy the other product regardless its price as they are used together. Geographical pricing can also be applied where proximity of distance influences or affects the price of goods and services. Transportation costs incurred can see to it that the prices of same products vary from one region to the other. Pricing can also be in response to the prevailing economic situation or market trends. Good pricing is also important in maintaining sustained growth as it makes customers come back. Promotion,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Promotion entails the use of various methods by an organization or firm to reach at its targeted audience providing it with the appropriate information geared at achieving its set objectives. The main aim or promotion is to educate or inform the target population of the products that it offers. Marketing promotions activities aim at enhancing an organizations position in the market in terms of the sales made. Organizations are also keen to promote loyalty to ensure sustained or long term positive relation ships with their customers. The making of promotional decision depends largely on the audience that an organization is targeting. The population could be specific or it could be mass oriented. Methods of promotion include advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling.   Even the firms that are well known for a history of producing quality products, marketing is still an important aspect. Promotion acts as a pillar to the success of some high profile companies.   (Need Coffee). Companies like McDonald despite attracting many customers for their good quality products and its strategic position still finds it important to conduct promotions. It uses a ‘spokesman’, Robert, the cartoon like character who brings laughter to children who are the organizations target market. The use of cooperative marketing where organizations merge in their efforts to advertise their products can also place an organization at a strategic position in the market. (Need Coffee).   Advertising,   Advertising entails the use of mass media to convey important information regarding the products or services that an organization offers. Effective advertising offers two way communications where an organization is keen to respond and monitor the needs of their customers. Advertising can be through the use of t shirts, caps which act as walking bill boards this is mostly appropriate to the small businesses. The use of trade shows and trade fairs is appropriate as they ensure the accessibility of many customers or new contacts within a short period of time something that could not have been difficult to attain without them.   When advertising the marketers must be very keen to ensure that there is effective communication. Understanding the target population’s culture would be critical because culture affects the way people interpret symbols, words and sounds. It is also the role of marketers to identify their target population before they can decide the means of advertisement to use. Advertising can be carried out through the radio or television. Using celebrities in advertisement has a positive effect in as far as increased sales are concerned.   Sales,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Sales promotion involves the application of short term techniques as incentive for people to consume the products or services that an organization offers. This way the organization aims at increasing its sales and consequently its profit levels. Sales promotion could be the use of retail coupons that are valid for a specified period of time and customers must use them within the stipulated time span.    Marketing public relations   Ã‚  Public relations also known as publicity is a form of promotion that uses a third party to convey desired information regarding the products or services that an organization produces. Through the public relations an organization is able to communicate its positive features to the public.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Personal selling is another form of promotion where personal contacts are made to in promoting the sales of an organization products and services.   Packaging   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     According to Giles in What’s packaging design? the major reasons for packaging in marketing is to enhance appearance, protect product and facilitate distribution. (Calver G, 43). Packaging is also a vital aspect in ensuring the successful marketing of a product. Products that are packaged in attractive packaging will generally register increased sales. In determining the packaging to apply firms or organizations ought to ensure that the packaging protects the product in question. It ought to meet the environment standards set so that the organization or firm does not face conflicts with the authorities. Again it should be safe enough not to harm the customers. The cost aspects must be incorporated so that the organization does not incur losses. A good packaging must be convenient when distribution is being carried out. It should not be too bulky.   Marketing affects ones everyday life as it is very influential in determining a consumer’s decision making. On a daily basis one encounters or has to come across advertisements on the bill boards, televisions and the radio. The initial encounter precipitates the interest to acquire more information on the products or services in question and this leads to the search for more information on them which can be through the Internet. Attractive prices encourage impulse buying which is to the advantage of the businesses or firms. Effective marketing ensures that instant decisions are made that enhance the sales a firm makes. Works Cited: David Frederick Ross. Distribution: Planning and Control : Managing in the Era of Supply Chain. 2004. Springer Publishers. P 89 Geoff L and Frank W. The Official CIM course book: Marketing Environment, Marketing In Practice and Marketing Fundamentals. 2007. p 10-200 Giles Calver. What is Packaging Design? Essential design handbooks. Rotovision Publishers. 2003. p 43 Simon Anholt. Brand New Justice: How Branding Places and Products. Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers. 2005. P 56 Need Coffee. 2007. McDonald’s Strategic Marketing Mix. Retrieved on 20th June 2008 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/263943/mcdonalds_strategic_marketing_mix.html?page=3 Roy Young. 2008. Marketing Champions: Interview With Cisco’s Luanne Tierney. Retrieved on 20th June 2008 from http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/marketing-champion-luanne-tierney-cisco-interview-young.asp

Curriculum Strengths and Weaknesses

The curriculum that I have chosen is the K-12 Physical Education curriculum of a school in the United States. The strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum were assessed and are explained below. Besides this, recommendations are also provided for improving the physical education curriculum of the school. Strengths and weaknesses of the school physical education program The school-community environment was examined and the quality of the environment was considered to be moderately strong. The awareness of the mission/philosophy statement of the school is strong, but the classroom instruction does not seem to be integrated with the mission/philosophy statement of the school. The curriculum should be integrated to help the â€Å"students see and make the connections between and among subjects† (ETIM, 2005). The school environment is strong. There is general concern among the staff for the welfare of the students but more should be done to strengthen the student assistance program to help students at risk right from the elementary level. Students who have motor and fitness requirements besides emotional and other special needs are considered as at-risk students. There is strong recognition of student achievements but there is lesser recognition for the achievements of teachers and administrators. There is a need for recognizing quality teaching and this is one area where there is scope for a lot of improvement. Parent involvement is very strong and there is enough opportunities for parents to be involved in the activities of their wards. But there is scope for improvement in this area too, because getting parent input on their ward's development in a frequent and systematic manner. This is required especially in the school's curriculum, recognition and evaluation areas. There is scope for improvement in the communication and evaluation categories. The quality of communication needs to be improved especially at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The communication between classroom teachers and the physical education instructor needs to be improved. An effective communication program that highlights the activities and achievements of the physical education program is very much needed to gain much needed support for the physical education program. The goals and objectives of the school physical education program needs to be clear and as such it should improved. A clear program and instruction objectives is necessary to organize, implement and evaluate the quality of the K-12 program. If the goals and objectives of the chool physical education program are clear then designing high-quality instructional material and its evaluation becomes much easier. Also, the reports of the evaluation can be sent to the students, parents and others who are keenly involved in the development of the physical education program. There is also a need to implement, monitor and refine the school physical education curriculum to make it consistent with the resources available within the community. This is needed to eliminate redundancy and to promote a K-12 program that supports sequential learning. The secondary physical education service for students with special needs is very strong in the school overall, but there is scope for improvement of this service at the elementary school level. The quality of physical education for special students has to be improved at the elementary school level. There is scope for improvement of the program evaluation, implementation and dissemination needs for the K-12 physical education program in the school. Staff should concentrate more on improving the physical education program in the school because â€Å" a quality physical education program focuses on physical development, while integrating emotional, social and intellectual components† (Klungseth, 2009). Classroom instruction and class management are moderately strong but it should be improved to the level that it becomes absolutely strong. Currently, classroom instruction and class management are negatively impacted by the size of the class, the bigger the class the poorer the classroom instruction and class management, this situation should change. The certification process for physical education instructors should be tightened especially for activities that are considered high-risk activities. Also, the variance in qualification should be reduced for staff members in the school and it should be effectively streamlined. Staff development programs should be improved and there should be periodic evaluation of the staff. There should be involvement of the physical education director in monitoring physical education instruction, and there should be a clear role for a physical education coordinator. Information for garnering support for the physical education program should be provided to administrators by the physical education staff. The physical education facilities need to be upgraded. Currently they appear to be outdated, over-utilized and poorly maintained. Inadequate facilities can lead to injuries and poor physical education instruction. If facilities are inadequate then larger classes would thoroughly expose this problem. Poor facilities are the cause of less funds and decreased student enrollment. Student records in the physical education planning process needs to be automated. Currently the availability of equipment for this purpose is reasonably strong along with the availability of equipment for safety and medical records categories. Safety should be a top priority issue for the school, emergency action plans have to be drawn up with emergency first aid kit, telephones and supplies being made available at each teaching station. Teachers should be provided with student health information so that students are not put at risk by the physical education regimen. There is a need to improve the safety practices at the school that reduces risk to the well-being of students. Recommendations to improve the school physical education program The safety practices at the school needs to be improved, the safety practices should â€Å"recognize the risk and safety factors associated with regular participation in physical activity† (Griffey, Housener, 2007). There should be emergency action plans, telephones and first aid kit installed at all teaching stations. The process for getting student medical and health records should be improved. Staff development programs should be put in place especially in areas where there is need to improve safety practices. Proper processes and procedures should be developed for continuous evaluation of the physical education program. The program evaluation should lead to a proper assessment of the specified objectives of the program. The physical education program has to be implemented fully at all grade levels and to this extent additional physical education teachers need to be hired. Also, the standards set by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) should be implemented in the school. The NASPE standards â€Å"inform the teachers of the primary outcomes to be achieved in physical education at each grade level† (Lund, Tannehill, 2010) The goals and objectives of the physical education program needs to be implemented through the design of a curriculum framework. The framework should state the goals and objectives clearly and speak about the role of a comprehensive physical education program, besides, the program content should be matched with the local resources and prioritized based on the objectives of the program and the importance of the program content. Also, the program content should be in synchronization with the K-12 curriculum. The physical education program results should be summarized and provided as feedback to all stakeholders concerned besides this, adequate funds should be obtained for creating physical education facilities and for the purchase of equipment to be used at the facilities to enable the smooth implementation of the physical education program. Committees should be formed to monitor the implementation of the physical education program and to suggest and implement improvements where ever needed in the physical education program. References ETIM, J. 2005. CURRICULUM INTEGRATION K-12 – THEORY AND PRACTICE. University Press of America, Maryland. Griffey D. C. , Housener L. D. 2007. Designing effective instructional tasks for physical education and sports. Human Kinetics. Klungseth S. 2009. A comparison between public elementary physical education programs in South Dakota and the STARS criteria for high quality physical education programs. ProQuest LLC. Eisenhower Parkway, Ann Arbor, MI. Lund J, Tannehill D. 2010. Standards-Based Physical Education Curriculum. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC, MA 0 1776, USA.

Achilles Anophtheis (Achilles revisited) Essays - Achilles, Opiate

Achilles Anophtheis (Achilles revisited) The director walked onto the stage, gingerly adjusting his radiation mask in order to fit the microphone beneath it. His nervous cough boomed through the hall. After shuffling the papers on the podium before him, he began. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen of the Pre-Apocalypse Archaeological Society. We have called this session to impart to you a matter of the utmost importance, a discovery of the highest order. As you are aware, our teams have only recently been able to sift through the debris of the razed cities of our belligerent predecessors, thanks to the efforts of our colleagues at the Physical Research Society who, with the aid of Allah, have made our task infinitely easier with the invention of a radiation suit which allows our field workers to work even in areas of the highest radiation concentration: the cities of what was formerly the United States of America. The discoveries are literally pouring in, and we have our hands full simply cataloguing the numerous finds. Our first find was a small rectangular object, containing a spool of thin ribbon, which one of our historians identified as what was known as a cassette. Simply put, it was a device on which sounds could be recorded. From its small size, our historian conjectured that it was of a type designed for recording the human voice rather than music. Armed with this belief, we managed to convince the Censor Society to allow us to reconstruct the primitive machine to play back the message we hoped it would contain. They agreed; on the condition that we did not do so until they had a chance to screen it for the negative influences that caused the downfall of the last corrupt civilization. They duly approved it and we are now ready for its first public presentation. "Before we begin, I would like to explain some of the terms used in the recording, for those of you who lack the benefit of an historical training. The tape is evidently the recording of a psychologist. You are all aware that the sacrilege which led to the destruction of the Nuclear Age was primarily caused by the decline in religious belief and values. A psychologist was the person who supplanted the role of the confessor in this blasphemous time. He labored under the delusion that the immortal soul was accessible on a scientific, human level; and, like most of the scientists of the day, impiously discounted Allah as an unnecessary complication. We found an infamous saying which pervaded much of the Pre- Apocalypse literature: 'Religion is the opiate of the people'. Well, psychology became the new 'opiate of the people.' The patient with whom the doctor is dealing with in the recording, has been identified as a prominent businessman of the day. He is what was called an arbitrageur. A man who specialized in dealings on their stock market, a term I am sure all of you are familiar with. In any case, an arbitrageur bought and sold companies for a profit. In the few pieces of literature we have been able to recover, it seems that such men were regarded as the heroes of their age. I refer of course to the numerous copies we have of the autobiographies of Donald Trump, Robert Campeau and the like. Evidently the culture considered these books to be of great importance, for we found huge amounts of them in large buildings. This was apparently for safekeeping since the storage facilities were located well away from the centres of attack in the event of a nuclear war. The periodicals of the day also reflect the reverence in which these men were held, as they are frequently mentioned. It is another mark of the degradation of the society that the primary estimate of a man's worth became the amount of money he earned. It is difficult in this holy age to conceive of such blasphemy, but it is necessary that we do so in order to avoid the same traps into which they fell. We have managed to reconstruct the scenario as far as was possible, but we endeavored to retain all of the original conversation in addition to our own narration. I don't think that there is anything further that you need to know about the recording, except perhaps that it appears to be incomplete. I would ask that you remain as silent as possible, because the tape is of very low quality and the accent is very difficult to understand. If you are having trouble,