Pros & Cons of Textbooks

The first popes of which were printed in 1454-1455. Only forty-eight original copies are known to existence, of which twenty-one are complete, Here Is a photo of a preserved Gutenberg Bible located at the New York library. Monsoons, 2011) In 2012, Steven Krebs author of The Printing Press states, â€Å"Printing facilitated the dissemination and preservation of knowledge In standardized form this was most Important In the advance of science, technology and scholarship. The printing press certainly initiated an â€Å"information revolution† on par with the Internet today. (Krebs, 2012) The ability to ass-produce and supply books led the world to formal schooling. Out of a demand for books that were specially designed for scholars, the textbook was created. The title of the first textbook used in American schools was â€Å"The New England Primer. † According to the Library of Congress. Books That Shaped America 1800 to 1850. â€Å"More than 6 million copies In 450 editio ns of the New England Primer were printed between 1681 and 1830. † (Rosemary Fry Polkas, 2014) Now two centuries later there is another Information revolution.The move to open-source material Is on Its way to the classroom. In addition, it will be accelerated by President Beam's push to invest in creating free online course as a part of his proposal to have digital textbooks in schools by the end of 2017. Textbooks have not gone the way of tablets yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced. Being students and having to purchase, carry, and use textbooks led to tonight's topic on the pros and cons of textbooks In the classroom. Textbooks are frequently controversial, are they up to date?Are they effective? Now its forms of presentation are subjects of debate. Five sections including the introduction, the pros for textbooks, the cons, followed with tonight's recommendation and lastly, a strong conclusion. At the end, you will learn the pros and cons of textbooks in the classroom and a detailed explanation of why our recommendation will make the most sense. Transition: The four pros in favor of the textbook in the classroom. L. The four pros of textbooks In the classroom. A. First, textbooks provide organized units of work.According to The Complete Idiots Guide to Success as a Teacher by Anthony Fredrick's, a textbook will give you all the Lana and lessons you need to cover a topic in some detail. (Frederick's, 2005) When you are a student or teacher In class, you can depend on your textbooks to have the right information needed to complete a lesson and pass a test. Teachers are able to focus on what or how their teaching because textbooks contains the tools that practices for students like linking the past and present, and recognizing cause and effect. B. Secondly, a textbook is very durable and dependable.Unlike tablets, if you drop your textbook there is no worry of it breaking. There are many varieties of textbooks. Wh en you read and learn from a textbook, you are more likely to remember that lesson later in life. According to Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook, the study of text structure has focused on how a reader builds cognitive representations from the text. In addition, studies indicate that using principle-first or textbook structure is more effective for long-term retention and understanding by novice readers. We are used to using textbooks. (Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, 1997) C.Next, children are more focused and have a positive outcome with textbooks. According to an article based on literacy issued by riff. Org, states that in 11,000 reports, children's book lending and ownership programs were shown to have positive behavioral, educational, and psychological outcomes. Children whom have access to print materials or textbooks reading performances are improved. Why? When children are provided with the right material or books it helps, them read better. With great er access to books, children are able to convey their enjoyment of books or academics, resulting of improved attitudes towards reading and learning. Mm Lindsay, 2010) D. The final pro about a textbook is if taken care of properly, a textbook will last for a very long time. One of the oldest multi-page books in the world is the Etruscan Gold Book. According to Winning Lane Books, the Etruscan Gold Book was discovered 70 years ago while digging off the Stratum River in Bulgaria. Monsoons, 2011) The estimated age of this book would be 2,763 years old. Textbooks are reusable and are handed from classroom to classroom. Transition: Now that you have heard the pros of textbooks in the classroom here is some of the cons. II.The four cons of textbooks in the classroom. A. Having textbooks in the classroom can have its downsides, such as having a limited source of information, the weight it bares on a student's back and cost. According to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Teacher by Anthony Frederick's, having a designated textbook per class only provides one perspective on a concept or issue. It is a sole source of information. How good is a mechanic if he only has one tool? (Frederick's, 2005) B. Next, another problem textbooks present are the weight that it bares on a student's back.An article posted in Kids' Health on icepack safety last accessed in June 2014 the weight from books in a backpack can compress the vertebrae in a child's growing spine and can lead to poor posture and back pain. (Dowdies, 2013) I found this fact especially concerning as a student who carries books back and forth from class. At times, I find myself hunched over trying to even out the weight of my books in my bag. Now imagine an elementary school student with his or her math book on that small body. Concerning right? C. Another default of having textbooks in the classroom is the impact on the environment.In an article posted in the Washington Post in 2010 by Stephan Lawman, appear . 1. 45 million tons of paper was used to produce textbooks. (Lawman, 2010) That's must continue to be â€Å"Green† in our way of living. D. Lastly, cost is a large drawback of textbooks in the classroom. According to an article posted on Scholastic Publishes Literacy Resources and Children's Books for Kids of All Ages composed in November of 2008, an average elementary book can cost more than $100. 00. (Rap, 2008) A very popular topic of conversation in politics is educational budget and how there Just is to enough money for schools.How are we to afford books that cost over $100. 00 each? In Florida, the average class size is approximately 25 students. That is $2500 for just one classroom. The real question we must ask ourselves is can we really afford books in the classroom. Transition: Now, in detail our recommendation for keeping printed textbooks in the classrooms and why it is the best option. Ill. Recommendation A. All of those cons can easily be countered with a simpl e logical explanation. Outdated source information is an invalid argument for most courses because codebooks are recycled every seven-ten years.How much has a pre-1900 history class changed in the past 10 years? Not much, because it would be impossible to changed what happened. In addition, for most basic science class, focus on the scientific laws has not changed in a hundred years. For more advanced and current classes online sourcing may be an additional layer for resources but the textbook still offers a good basis of information on the subject. B. Textbooks are long lasting and durable. They can fall from your desk or slip out of your hands and when it hit the ground it goes not crash or have a black out moment.You pick them up and they are ready to continue from where you left off. C. Back pain is a large problem in today's society however a type of eye fatigue or eyestrain commonly caused by computers is known as computer vision syndrome. It affects about 50%-90% of computer workers. (Eye Fatigue: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment) If students start using computers instead of textbooks, this could affect them too. D. Cost is a complaint many people have about textbooks, but E-Books are usually only $10 less than textbook form. That is cause most of the cost is writing and publishing not paper.E. After reviewing all the pros and cons, we are recommending that it is in the best interest of the students and the learning process to continue using textbooks instead of adopting different technologies. Textbooks were made to be in the classroom and should stay in the classroom. Transition: Thank you for listing to our recommendation for keeping textbooks in the classroom, here now is the final wrap up. IV. Conclusion A. Remember, that nothing on this planet is perfect; there will always be pros and cons of everything that exists.With that said there are pros and cons of textbooks, as many of you know. The pros of texts books are that material is well organized i n particular sections, books are durable and you do not have to worry if you drop it, textbook will last forever. The cons of textbooks are that it limits us to one source of information, textbooks are heavy, and that it cost a lot of money having to buy new textbooks for every class. B. Based on our group's personal experiences and our pros and cons of textbooks, we feel comfortable in recommending that keeping textbooks in the classroom is best.

Eharmony Examination

What kind of a platform business is the online personals market? What kind of network effects (direct, cross-sided, positive, and negative) does it leverage? How structurally attractive is it? The online personals market is a specific niche of social networking, and it is a sole-sponsor, proprietary platform business. In terms of network effects, it could be seen as a one-sided network (users can instigate an interaction, or can have someone else instigate an interaction with them), but is better described as a two-sided market with men on one side, and women on the other (with the exception of homosexual sites which are clearly one-sided markets). Within this, there are both direct and cross-sided network effects. For direct, there are small positive effects (as a man, you want enough men on your side to attract women on the other side), but primarily negative effects (the more people on your side, the more competition you will have finding a match). For cross-sided, there are positive effects (the more of the opposite sex there are, the more likely you will find a match), and negative effects (if there are too many people on the other side, it may be hard to search through the noise to find an actual match—not to mention that there can be liars, frauds, and other undesirable people on the other side of the network). To examine the attractiveness of the industry structure, a five forces analysis will offer us insight. First, we can consider buyers’ power. In this case buyers (prospective daters) do have some power in that there are a plethora of other options online (from Match to free sites), as well as any number of venues in the real world. However, since they are individual consumers, they do not have scale power and must accept prices. Further, there is an overall opinion that meeting the right person is very hard, and thus there is a significant willingness to pay for a quality service. Second, looking at the competitiveness of rivals, it is clear that there is a significant amount of competition (though concentrated within a few main players). Match is trying to copy eHarmony with Chemistry, and they have been increasing spend on advertising. Yahoo! also boasts a strong installed base that they can funnel into their Personals site. In addition, free sites keep everyone in check in terms of the amount they can charge. Nevertheless, the main players have demonstrated price discipline, as prices have remained steady or even risen (in the case of the competition). Third, the threat of new entrants is low / moderate. There are a hundreds of niche sites starting up every year, but for the most part, the built-in network effects of the three main players, as well as multi-homing costs, have kept the three leaders consistent over the years, and each year the vast majority of new sites fail. The biggest threat would be for a behemoth like Facebook to activate its users on a proprietary site, but so far this has not materialized for a number of reasons. Fourth, the threat of substitutes is always present. In addition to the numerous ways that people can meet partners in the real world, there are also real world match services that pre-date the internet (as well as the threat of new technology and innovations changing everything). However, for the time being, online personal sites are clearly the most efficient and affordable option for the masses. And lastly, there is really no bargaining power of suppliers. eHarmony controls all of its inputs. Thus, the sum of these parts leads to a pretty attractive industry. It is not a winner-take-all market (multi-homing costs, while present, are not overwhelming, and the case mentions that many people are members of multiple dating sites), but the significantly strong network effects and stability of a few main players lead this to be a profitable industry ( primarily for the incumbent leaders). What is eHarmony's competitive advantage? What differentiates it from its competitors? How does the company create value? What is the value proposition to the customer? What kind of customer benefits the most? Can we calculate the company's competitive advantage by relying on the equation of willingness to pay minus cost, as discussed in the Google versus Microsoft session? Is the competitive advantage sustainable? The main competitive advantages of eHarmony are in its ability to offer high quality customers (which is the really the â€Å"product† they are offering), and more accurate matches with superior ensuing relationships. Just as Google’s research and continual adjustments give it an advantage in offering more relevant searches, eHarmony’s research department has created a match algorithm that greatly outperforms the results of its competitors (and arguably the traditional methods of meeting, as well). Further, their long initial setup process serves to self-select only the most serious of consumers, which leads to an increased WTP of everyone who makes it through (and additionally, this has led to more women than men signing up—an extraordinary feat since women have been the hardest customers to acquire in the online dating world). The company differs from its competitors in its guided matchmaking (though Match has recently tried to copy this). Rather than allowing free range for the users to search through the database of potential mates, eHarmony first weeds out the non-serious and non-desirable applicants with its extensive questionnaire, and then uses its patented algorithm to find the best potential match. It takes this even further by then scrutinizing each potential match with additional questions before an actual interaction can begin, and this has ensured a much more accurate product than its competitors. The company creates value by doing a lot of the work for its clients. While the initial time investment (45 minutes) may be longer than the traditional model, it then provides the service of searching through the millions of potential matches. This not only proves to be a more accurate way to find dates, but also saves a great deal of time (where most online daters spend a 7 times as much time searching for a partner as they do interacting). And for men, who are usually fighting over a scarcity of women, they benefit from the majority percentage of women who have become the core of eHarmony’s paid customers. Thus the value proposition for the customer is: better matches (and better quality people) with a much smaller time commitment. The customers who benefit most from this are people who are serious about finding a person for a long-term relationship (rather than those who are just browsing, or hoping to have flings with as many people as possible). With eHarmony’s superior product, we can calculate that their competitive advantage? (WTP-Cost)eHarmony> (WTP-Cost)Chemistry. In this case, eHarmony’s average price (of the four options) is $37. 45 versus $34. 14 for Chemistry, demonstrating the increased WTP of their customers. Further, their advertising strategy (avoiding costly broadcast networks in favor of more cost-effective national cable buys) has helped to keep costs down significantly in comparison to its rivals. By building up network effects and switching costs (including termination fees and amount of time / information invested in their platform), this can be a sustainable advantage. But as with all social media, creating insurmountable switching costs is never really possible, and there is always a risk of new competitors or a game-changing technological shift. And the uber-popularity of sites like Facebook pose a significant threat, as they could integrate a sophisticated dating platform into their current offering, and instantly have hundreds of millions of potential customers at their fingertips. How much of a threat is Chemistry to eHarmony? How could Chemistry break eHarmony's network effects (direct and cross-sided)? As with Google’s search versus Bing, eHarmony is in a very advantaged and enviable position versus Match’s Chemistry offering. The eHarmony product is clearly superior, with the eHarmony benefitting from years of learning and tweaking their algorithm (again, similar to Google’s position). Further, their ability to point to the number of successful relationships they have continues to grow, and thus feeds the virtuous circle by attracting new customers. That said, Chemistry cannot be taken lightly. Match comes in with the deep pockets of IAC, and the ability to match any investment that eHarmony makes—and we have seen this recently with their increased marketing spend. As a latecomer, Chemistry comes in with the benefit of being able to ride on eHarmony’s coattails, learning from their success and mistakes and copying their offering. Further, most of what eHarmony offers while sophisticated, is not inimitable. In terms of ways that eHarmony can break eHarmony’s network effects, they can certainly subsidize some of the switching costs (leave eHarmony and your first month or two are free). Since women are the hardest customers to attract (and wherever they go, the men will follow), they could selectively subsidize the women—e. g. – women pay half price, and once they have built up a vast network of women, they would be able to charge a premium for the male customers. They could also beef up their offering so that they not only cover meeting people, but weddings, having children, and other stages of life that would enable them to extend their customers’ lifetimes (as eHarmony has considered). Another potential idea would be to create a network of niche sites all under the Chemistry banner where there would be sub-sites focused on a number of specific niches (based on lifestyle, religion, sexuality, etc. ) and allow people to join the main site, plus one or two of the niche sub-sites for free. However, most importantly Chemistry needs to dramatically improve its matching competency. As a latecomer facing a dominant incumbent, it has to offer better results than eHarmony if it’s going to break the network effects and challenge for the top position in the market. That is not an easy task to accomplish, and it will cost a lot in research (to improve their matching skills), and then marketing (to let potential customers know about their improved product). Due to resource constraints (and need for strategic focus), eHarmony can only pursue one of the options: how would you go about ranking their relative merit? Once you have done that, choose your top-ranked option and evaluate it. To evaluate the four options on the table for eHarmony, we need to examine their merits on a number of key dimensions. First, how does the strategy fit in terms of the company’s current competencies and competitive advantage? Second, how does it serve to bolster network effects and strengthen the relationship with the current core customers? Third, how well does it address the competitive threat? And fourth, how does it position the company for future growth opportunities? {draw:frame} Upon consideration of these dimensions, it is clear to me that the best option is to grow the new business of handling life transitions. This is the most comprehensive strategy in terms of addressing the various needs of the business. If this were a winner-take-all market, then defending the niche by rapidly increasing the number of paying members would be the correct strategy, but since multi-homing costs aren’t overwhelming, we’ve established that this is not a winner-take-all market. Expanding to medium-term relationships does offer the upside of immediate growth opportunities, but more importantly, it unravels the competitive advantage and value proposition of having top-quality, like-minded individuals who are willing to pay a premium for a better chance to meet a life partner (in some ways it is almost a different business). Lastly, geographic expansion seems perfectly poised for disaster. While it would be the best opportunity for growth in both the near- and long-term, it also goes against the competitive advantage of offering the best matches based on detailed knowledge and understanding of their consumers. To do it properly, they would not be able to transplant the knowledge they’ve gained in the US, but would need to start again with new research in each country they wanted to expand into which is not an efficiently scalable model. Thus that leaves us with expanding into the new business of handling life transitions. This offers the opportunity to have balanced growth—the lifetime of the customer grows from the â€Å"finding a partner stage† to a potential for many years or even life. It also allows the company to capitalize on and build on the goodwill that they earn from their customers when they provide a positive (and life-changing) match, and diversify its revenue stream from purely subscription based into a mix of subscription and advertising. Further, the ability to keep customers longer can help to bolster the network effects as the network becomes larger and offers more value. It also increases switching costs the more that one invests in building up a personal eHarmony ecosystem. In doing so, it addresses the competitive threat by beating the competition to further innovate and lock-in the customer base. And lastly, it builds on the current competencies and competitive advantages by leveraging the advanced research skills that are a large part of eHarmony’s success, with the collective R and knowledge serving as a barrier to entry for potential new entrants. In order to successfully execute this strategy, there will be the need for additional resources. However, this will not be overwhelming and can all happen with internal investment. They will only need to build out and expand eHarmony Labs to continue the expanded focus from forming relationships, to the ensuing events that occur in each relationship. With the project already underway and experienced research scientists already on the payroll, eHarmony is in a much better position to act on this than its competitors. There will some additional marketing and sales investment needed to attract new customers who are already involved in committed relationships, but the majority of its growth will be organic in that they will be able to keep their â€Å"matching services† customers for much longer, and greatly reduce the churn rate. In terms of the competitive threat, I believe this will be enough to stay ahead of Match / Chemistry, and Yahoo! (as well as other new entrants). The name of the game is bolstering network effects, switching costs, and multi-homing costs to carve out a significant and stable market share, and this strategy accomplishes all three. With more offerings, eHarmony should be able to capture more users (as well as keeping them longer) which will continue to feed its network effects. Additionally, having all of these services under the eHarmony banner will increase the amount of time and information supplied by the customers, and thus increase both switching and multi-homing costs. As a response, eHarmony can expect the others to copy, though eHarmony is far ahead and better positioned in this field, so this is not an immediate threat. Additionally, they may find pricing pressure as the ompetition resorts to more desperate measures of cutting price (since they will not be able to compete on the product). In regards to this, they need to be firm in their pricing, knowing that they have the superior product, and continue to build up switching costs to keep their customers captive for the long term. With a superior product and strong network effects in place, eHarmony can expect a profitable life in the near future. EXT RA CREDIT: â€Å"Yellow Submarine,† â€Å"With a Little Help from My Friends,† â€Å"Act Naturally†

Applied Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Applied Financial Management - Essay Example The financial statements provided a favourable picture of the organization which was not true as a result the trust of the shareholders was affected with the exposure of the accounting frauds and with the collapse of the company all the stakeholder of the company were hugely affected. Another major corporate collapse was the fall of HIH Insurance which also fell due to the non transparent financial statements. The fall of a company affects not only its members but to every stakeholders which includes the economy too. The two major collapses indicated the importance of the corporate governance. Every country follow one or the other system of corporate governance but with the increase of operation of companies in different countries, should the different system of corporate governance should be converged or not is a matter of question. In this project the concept of corporate governance including the different systems of corporate governance has been discussed. With the era of globaliz ation were different companies are operating around the globe; the topic of convergence of the different system of corporate governance has also been discussed. ... Corporate governance provides a basic structure to the organisation on how it should be operated. It contains the ethical standards which should be followed by the organisation. Corporate governance contains the process which the company follows, the customs and the policies which are adopted by the company. The corporate governance specifies the company’s accountability to the different stakeholders of the organisation. It establishes the relationship between the various stakeholders of the organisation. The stakeholders include the shareholders, suppliers, fund providers, customers, government and the society in which the business is operating. The stakeholders also include the internal members of the organisation like the management, board of directors, employees etc. Corporate governance is also related with the corporate social responsibility of the company. The corporate scandals and the collapse of the two different corporate giant as mentioned in the above part signifi ed the importance of adequate corporate governance. Every person whose interest lies on the operation of the company, directly or indirectly, is associated with the corporate governance. This makes the employees of the organisation also a member of corporate governance as they receive salary and other benefits for working in the company. The other members associated with the corporate governance are board of directors, managers, other company officials, auditors, shareholders, customers, suppliers and lenders. All these members are affected by the financial performance of the company. The corporate governance directs the management on the internal and the external factors of the organisation. The internal factors range from the remuneration, power, process of internal control

Control Processes of IKEA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Control Processes of IKEA - Essay Example Total Quality management and other control techniques have a direct impact on the personal and professional life of the people who get used to this drill. Control processes of IKEA A business comprise of different processes which are involved in manufacturing the products and services. All these processes are easy to design but harder to control when it comes to a streamline them in order to reach the end product. For this reason, the domain of operations management has been introduced which deals with overseeing, designing and redesigning of business operations in the manufacturing of the services or products. The basic aim of the operations management is to ensure that every business process is using the resources efficiently along with meeting the needs of the customers. IKEA has launched the modern furniture line which has taken the market since 1948. Since then, they have expanded their business throughout the world with an excellent control of the processes worldwide (Sanders a nd Reid, 2009). Following are some of the most important fundamental manufacturing process of IKEA: Developing end products by establishing customer requirements: IKEA established customer requirements before developing a product. ... Â  2) IKEA also consider the opinions of people using different brands in the same industry as it helps in launching and producing something new for the customers. 3) An aggressive approach to direct selling is also being used which helps in attaining the spontaneous feedbacks. 4) Advertising is also being carried out which is again the job of marketing department (Sanders and Reid, 2009). Translation of customer requirements into products Along with establishing customer requirements, IKEA also translates the needs into actual products. By the following innovation, IKEA has been able to launch a wide range of product line which might lead the company to drift from the actual requirements of the customers. For this sake, IKEA has prepared a product planning framework. Based on this framework, IKEA has developed a concept of IKEA Range which helps in producing low products with effective methods of production (Russell and Taylor, 2010). Four basic factors are considered in this trans lation process: 1) Profile 2) Design 3) Strategy 4)Functionality IKEA store design IKEA has taken the major furniture market due to its designer stores which are developed on the abstract of a real home. The real home and rooms inspire the customers that help them in choosing and purchasing the right products.

Psychology - organization and motivation Assignment

Psychology - organization and motivation - Assignment Example This downward flow of communication is used to let the workers understand their individual functions, to give and clarify instructions, and to give advices on how they can be most effective in their individual roles. It is also used to provide feedbacks on individual performances which can greatly help boost an employee’s determination to strive for perfection. On the other hand, employees also have an upward flow of communication where they can reach their managers, superiors and bosses. Through this communication flow, the workers provide a picture of how well the organization functions. It is where employees channel sentiments to their supervisors and employers. Their higher-ups in return take actions in resolving and improving these needs. Upward communication also shows how well the workforce understood the downward communication. It is a communication where the employee, managers, supervisors, and employers have an exchange of ideas and have a chance to contribute in making decisions. Having these forms of communication produces a more established workforce who is committed in doing their jobs. It is where a great employer- employee relationship is forged. Disregard any part of this two way communication and it will produce disasters. The organization will absolutely fail. It can result to an organization deviating from its goal and purpose, incompetent workers, unemployment, bankruptcy, and even death. In response to my peers’ responses, I would agree with both of them. For Kenneth, limited communication suffocates creative thoughts when the ability of subordinates to express themselves is taken away from them. This is true since it will make an employee feel unimportance and alienated. It is also true that lack of communication takes precious time, money and resources. On the point where bosses usually tells their managers what needs to be done, managers should have the ability to facilitate the ways and means to achieve that goal and

Grammar Lesson Plan - Future Progressive Tense Assignment

Grammar Lesson Plan - Future Progressive Tense - Assignment Example New Material Pointer: First orally then written Singular Plural He/she/it will be sleeping. He/she/it will be eating. Xavier will go to the beach next month. They will be sleeping. They will be eating. They will go to the beach next month. IV. New Material Transportation: Change sentences from future tense to future progressive aspect, first as a group and then individually. Illustration; -Xavier will go to the beach next month (future tense) -Xavier will be going to the beach next month. (future progressive aspect) -Janet will go to the prom next month. (future tense) -Janet will be going to the prom next month. (future progressive aspect) V. Rule Formation: Elicit from students What kind of tense is in these sentences? - He slept. - He will be sleeping? What does the future progressive aspect indicate about the verb? How is the future progressive tense formed? VI. Authentic material containing samples of new rule. Teacher made dialogue Narrative by some of the students on what acti ons they intend to complete in the future. The rule should be noted as; modal verb will + present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending).

Media and gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Media and gender - Essay Example This essay "Media and gender" outlines the gender stereotypes shown in various media resources and advertisement and also the impact of it on the society. Media is conveying such messages through such magazines, which are directing women to construct their identities and also adopt as per the lifestyle of role models, which are presented through online boards in the form of images and different celebrities. These are exhibited in such a manner, which project women to be known more as a form of sexuality. Sadly, women are seen on coverage in any sports event or field, which does not show women constituting sensuality. Hence, these are seen as exploitation of women as viewed by feminists who are basically the advocates to protect rights of women through a mass media. Most of the feminism revolves around the notion that women should have equal opportunities while establishing social roles. They also address and examine the construction of sex and gender issues and protect them against violent behavior in the society. A woman can be focused as a subject of feminism when a discussion is made which analyzes all the constraints which are causing its representation of its functions. The irony of the situation is that women themselves do not provide or symbolize themselves as an identity of feminist traits this identity is necessary which should have a representation specially in politics. While one is talking about identity it can either based on two things, sex or gender. Hence in order to have study of feminism both things are necessary in its construction. There is a need to preserve the identities and play an important role in politics and other visionary aspects of feminism. In the society in

Importance of Exercising Over Dietary Pills Essay

Importance of Exercising Over Dietary Pills - Essay Example The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations on dietary supplements are less strict compared to those applied on medication hence creating a loophole for unscrupulous dealers to make money while posing serious health effects to the users (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine 1). Transition- As evidenced above, dietary supplements may cause serious health effects on human beings if not carefully used. However, there is a simple solution to the problem. Many people have always pointed out the importance of physical exercises in healthcare management. Physical exercises help to combat some health conditions and diseases. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, physical exercises help to reduce the chances of getting heart diseases, certain types of cancer and osteoporosis (1). Therefore, implementing physical exercises will have several advantages to people as opposed to the use of dietary pills. Think about a healthy population without incurring excessive medical care expenditures. According to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, healthcare benefits associated with physical exercises are hard to ignore (1). This has several implications both nationally and at the individual level B. Closing statement- Therefore, I challenge all the listeners to consider using physical exercises as their healthcare management plan. This way, extra expenditure on medical costs and purchase of expensive dietary pills will be reduced significantly.

DIAGEO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DIAGEO - Essay Example 8,090. The operating profit of the company was ?2,443 million during FY2009, an increase of 3.1% over FY2008. The net profit was ?1,621 million in FY2009, an increase of 2.1% over FY2008 (Diageo - Annual Report, 2009). Diageo was created in 1997 as a result of the merger of Guinness and GrandMet (Diageo - Our History, 2011). Diageo rapidly expanded in next few years through both organic and acquisition channels. In 2001, Diageo also acquired the spirits and wine business of Seagram. In 2004, the company acquired Ursus Vodka. In 2005, Chalone Wine Group was acquired. Later, the company also acquired Bushmills Irish whiskey which included Bushmills' Distillery, which is amongst the oldest licensed distillery in the world. In 2006, the company made its first acquisition in China. The company bought a 43% stake in Sichuan Chengdu Quanxing, parent of Swellfun (Diageo - Our History, 2011). In January 2007, Diageo Asia Pacific was created to target a new geographic location. January 2007 ma rked the trial of new Guinness Red brand in 142 pubs in Great Britain. In February 2007, Diageo invested ?100million in expansion of its Scotch whisky operations in Scotland, in order to meet its future demand. In April 2007, as a part of brand extension, the company launched Johnnie Walker Blue Label and King George V Edition in duty free channels of Europe, the Americas & the Middle East. As a part of its global innovation strategy, the company made minor investment in Nuvo (brand), a new ultra-premium effervescent blend of fine French vodka, French sparkling wine, and exotic fruit nectar created by LLC (Diageo - Our History, 2011). In May 2007, the North American division of the company launched Smirnoff Source, a new premium malt beverage that combines pure spring water with alcohol. In Oct 2007, Diageo announced strategic alliance between Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Ciroc vodka. Under the terms of the deal, Combs and Sean Combs Enterprises took the lead on all brand management decis ions for Ciroc, while sharing in the future profits of the growth of the brand. In November 2007, Diageo invested ?5 million in J&B brand's package redesign to give it a more contemporary look. The new pack highlighted the brand's role as the ultimate party whisky with a design to party goers (Diageo - Our History, 2011). Diageo acquired Rosenblum Cellars in early 2008. In February 2008, Diageo and the Nolet Family formed a 50/50 company which owns the perpetual exclusive rights to sell market and distribute Ketel One Vodka (Diageo - Our History, 2011). In March 2008, Diageo, Heineken and Namibia Breweries reached agreement to form a new joint venture for their combined beer, cider and ready-to-drink (RTD) businesses in South Africa. In May 2008, Diageo reached an agreement to buy all the Constellation Brands' distillery and bottling facility at Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada. In the same month, Diageo made a capital investment of E650 million in a new brewing centre in Ireland to supp ort the growth and development of its global beer business (Diageo - Our History, 2011). Diageo also underwent a brief period of divestment, like that in 2003, which resulted into the selling of its Czech division, Diageo Ceska Republika, to Global Spirits. It also shut down its marketing subsidiary Nightfly (Diageo - Our History, 2011). SWOT ANALYSIS OF DIAGEO Strengths Weakness Wide range of Products Continuously Declining margins Market Leader    Opportunities Threats Ever growing presence in Asia-Pacific region Litigations

Bank Competition and Financial Stability Research Paper

Bank Competition and Financial Stability - Research Paper Example Cross-border mergers and entry of foreign banks into the developing countries have been consistent. Consolidation leads to efficiency and scale economy arguments, but accompanying it rises debates regarding the stability (Cooper, 2008). Economic Theory comes up with ambiguous results about the structure of the market and the competitiveness and stability of the banking sector. Empirical findings also provide similar ambiguous results (Beck, 2008, pp 1). There are basically two thoughts relevant in identifying the relation between financial stability and bank competition. One, the completion fragility view infers that any competition within the market will result in lowering of the profits for the firms since competition decreases market power. Two, the competition-stability view infers that as the banks become more powerful in the loan market, they keep taking higher risks (Allen & Gale, 2004). This paper will therefore offer a critical insight into understanding the key variables of the relationship between financial stability and bank competition. Stability and Competition Detragiache defines banking distress as when nonperforming assets reach a significantly large percent of total assets, emergency measures are taken to assist the banking system and large-scale bank nationalizations take place. Honohan and Laeven tell how the financial crisis have spread all over the globe where both big and small countries have been hit. Failures of large international banks, which have branches in the small countries, have affected the developing economies as well. Bank stability has been measured in terms of levels or closeness to bankruptcy. Researchers usually use the Z-score which is measured by the sum of capital asset ratio and the return on assets weighted by the standard deviation of return of assets (Beck, 2008, pp 4). Another measure has been the non-performing loan ratio as an indicator of fragility. Both exclude actual bank failures. Bank competition measures i nclude market structure measures such as Herfindahl indices and concentration ratios which are crude measures. Next, there is H-statistic which measures the reaction of input to output prices. Lastly, Regulatory framework indicators such as entry requirements, barriers and other restrictions allow indications competition (Beck, 2008, Pp 6, 7). Theoretical predictions Theoretical models have reported contrasting predictions on the bank stability and concentration. Most theoretical models avoid making distinctions between concentration and competition and resort to one to one mapping from market structure to competitive behavior of the banks. Under this we have two hypotheses. Competition-Fragility Hypothesis: Certain models infer that less competitive banking structures are more stable and fragility is prevented by the buffer generated by the profits. It also creates opportunities for additional risk undertaking (Beck, 2008, pp 7-8). In a competitive scenario with profits getting squ eezed, banks take to more risk undertaking resulting in greater fragility. On the other hand, under limited competition banks have greater profit opportunities and do not resort to additional risks (Allen and Gale 2000, 2004). Another scenario where competition can impact stability in the interbank market and payment system. Perfect competition prevents banks from providing liquidity to banks hit by temporary shortages.

Agriculture of Pakistan Essay Example for Free

Agriculture of Pakistan Essay Agriculture is a vital sector of Pakistans economy and accounted for 25. 9 percent of GDP in 1999-2000, according to government estimates. The sector directly supports three-quarters of the countrys population, employs half the labor force , and contributes a large share of foreign exchange earnings. The main agricultural products are cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, and vegetables, in addition to milk, beef, mutton, and eggs. Pakistan depends on one of the worlds largest irrigation systems to support production. There are 2 principal seasons. Cotton, rice, and sugarcane are produced during the kharif season, which lasts from May to November. Wheat is the major rabi crop, which extends from November to April. The key to a much-needed improvement of productivity lies in a more efficient use of resources, principally land and water. However, change is dependent on the large landowners who own 40 percent of the arable land and control most of the irrigation system, which makes widespread reform difficult. Assessments by independent agencies, including the World Bank, show these large landholdings to be very unproductive. Pakistan is a net importer of agricultural commodities. Annual imports total about US$2 billion and include wheat, edible oils, pulses, and consumer foods. Pakistan is one of the worlds largest producers of raw cotton. The size of the annual cotton crop—the bulk of it grown in Punjab province—is a crucial barometer of the health of the overall economy, as it determines the availability and cost of the main raw material for the yarn-spinning industry, much of which is concentrated around the southern port city of Karachi. Official estimates put the 1999-2000 harvest at some 11. 2 million 170-kilogram bales, compared with the 1998-99 outturn of 8. 8 million bales and the record 12. 8 million bales achieved in 1991-92. The government recently actively intervened in the market to boost prices and to encourage production. A major problem is that the cotton crop is highly susceptible to adverse weather and pest damage, which is reflected in crop figures. After peaking at 2. 18 million tons in 1991-92, the lint harvest has since fluctuated considerably, ranging from a low of 1. 37 million tons in 1993-94 to a high of 1. 9 million tons in 1999-2000. The 2000-01 wheat crop was forecast at a record 19. 3 million tons, compared to 17. 8 million tons produced during the previous year. This increase is due largely to favorable weather and a 25-percent increase in the procurement price to about US$135 per ton. About 85 percent of the crop is irrigated. Despite the record production, Pakistan will continue to be a major wheat importer. The government has imported an average of US$2. 4 million annually over the past 5 years. The United States and Australia are the major suppliers. Demand for wheat is increasing from Pakistans rapidly growing population as well as from cross-border trade with Afghanistan. Pakistan is a major rice exporter and annually exports about 2 million tons, or about 10 percent of world trade. About 25 percent of exports is Pakistans famous fragrant Basmati rice. Rice is Pakistans second leading source of export earnings. Private traders handle all exports. Pakistans main competitors in rice trade are Thailand, Vietnam, and India. Tobacco is grown mainly in the North-West Frontier Province and Punjab and is an important cash crop . Yields in Pakistan are about twice those for neighboring countries largely due to the extension services provided by the industry. Quality, however, is improving only slowly due to problems related to climate and soil. Farmers have started inter-cropping tobacco with vegetables and sugarcane to increase returns. About half of the total production is used for cigarette manufacturing and the remainder used in traditional ways of smoking (in hand-rolled cigarettes called birris, in water pipes, and as snuff). The share of imported tobacco is increasing gradually in response to an increased demand for high-quality cigarettes. Minor crops account for only 5 percent of total cultivated area; these include oilseeds (sunflower, soybean), chilies, potatoes, and onions. Domestic oilseed production accounts only for about 25 percent of Pakistan total edible oil needs. As a result, Pakistan spends more than US$1 billion annually in scarce foreign exchange to import edible oils, while its oilseed processing industry operates at less than 25 percent of capacity due to an inadequate supply of oilseeds. For 2000-01 total oilseed production was forecast to decrease 10 percent to 3. 6 million tons. The government has highlighted development of the oilseed sector as a priority. Pakistans fishing industry is relatively modest, but has shown strong growth in recent years. The domestic market is quite small, with per capita annual consumption of approximately 2 kilograms. About 80 percent of production comes from marine fisheries from 2 main areas, the Sindh coast east from Karachi to the Indian border, and the Makran coast of Baluchistan. Ninety percent of the total marine catch is fish; the shrimp which constitute the remainder are prized because of their greater relative value and demand in foreign markets. During 1999-00, total fish production was 620,000 tons, of which 440,000 tons consisted of sea fish and the remainder were fresh-water species. About one-third of the catch is consumed fresh, 9 percent is frozen, 8 percent canned, and about 43 percent used as fish meal for animal food. Livestock accounts for 40 percent of the agricultural sector and 9 percent of the total GDP. Principal products are milk, beef, mutton, poultry, and wool. During 1999, the livestock population increased to 120 million head. That same year Pakistan generated 970,000 tons of beef, 640,000 tons of mutton, and 190,000 tons of poultry. In an effort to enhance milk and meat production, the government recently launched a comprehensive livestock development project with Asian Development Bank assistance. Poultry production provides an increasingly popular low-cost source of protein. Modern poultry production is constrained by high mortality, high incidence of disease, poor quality chicks, and poor quality feed, combined with an inadequate marketing system. Frozen poultry have only recently been introduced. Forests cover an area of 4. 2 million hectares or about 5 percent of the total area of Pakistan. The principal forest products are timber, principally for house construction, furniture, and firewood. Many of the countrys wooded areas are severely depleted as a result of over-exploitation. The government has restricted cutting to protect remaining resources—though corruption often jeopardizes environmental efforts—and has lowered duties to encourage imports. Forestry production has since declined from 1. 07 million cubic meters in 1990-91 to 475,000 cubic meters in 1998-99. Pakistan imports an estimated US$150 million of wood products annually to meet the requirements of a growing population and rising demand by a wealthy elite.