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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Federal Reserve Eco 372

Economic strategy can overwhelm some, but one who understands the idea of how money can stimulate or dissolve the economic market obtains an understanding of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a bank in which other banks loan and call upon when in need. The Federal Reserve Bank ensures all funds in Community and other federally accredited banks, also known as FDIC. Even though the Federal Reserve is a bank it is impacts the economic growth or decline in ways of monetary policy and stimulation or dissolve. The Federal Reserve Bank uses a tactic known as discount rate, which is the term used for the interest charged for loans by banks.When the discount rate is low, banks can increase the amount of loans offered, as well as lower the interest rate in their location. When the discount rate is high, banks will decrease the number of loans and raise the interest rates they charge. The Federal Reserve can use the power of the discount rate to increase or decrease the amount of mone y in circulation. Banks may even need to â€Å"share† the excess or surplus of funds in their reserves with another bank; this is known as Fed Funds. These funds carry an interest rate as well.The interest rate may be higher or lower depending on the Federal Reserve. The higher the interest rate the more likely a bank is wanting to loan to another bank. If it is lower the desire will be undesirable. The Discount and Fed Funds rate correspond, the Discount rate is normally set slightly below the Fed Funds rate in effort to increase the money in circulation. When the discount rate is above the Fed Fund rates then the money in circulation is decreased. The Federal Reserve Bank is located in each region to allow for an even distribution among the United States.Each of the Reserve Banks are governed by the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors who have been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board are then app ointed by the President from the confirmed members. The members’ term are each 14 years in length, with new members being nominated and confirmed every two years on even-numbered years. The Chairman and Vice Chairman will serve for four years in the respective title without affecting their member status on the Board.The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will assist in recommending stimulus programs when needed. These programs assist in building the economy without relying on the banking or finance industry heavily. Expansionary and Contractionary Fiscal Policy may also be needed when programs seem to be ineffective. After one has been able to learn the basics of how the Federal Reserve works then the process of understanding the measures needed to affect the economic outcome may become easier to understand. This process is done by the way of government involvement with the budget, fiscal and monetary policy.Each of the procedures are meant to assist in building the economic stability, and to help ensure the soundness of the United States currency. Every congressional budget planning session affects the need for the monetary policies for the Federal Reserve. After the Board of Governors is nominated and confirmed they are ready to get in and work on stabilizing the economy along with the monetary policies needed to build for the future. The Board of Governors will sit in position for 14 years, this will allow them to see and gain a better understanding of the true economic cycle.This will allow for a better gage on the flow of the economic path. After obtaining an understanding of the Federal Reserve, one will be able to identify and understand the measures taken to assist in maintaining the proper stabilization in which employment increases and the economic market is sustained by the open market. The open market is maintaining by the buyers and sellers in the economy. These are the businesses people work and shop at daily. The major focus on the econom ic model is the open market and this is apparent with the Federal Reserve and the tools for the monetary policy.

Friday, August 30, 2019

American Arbitration Association

The American Arbitration Association (AAA) focuses on providing organizations or individuals with alternative dispute resolution services. In the United States, American Arbitration Association provides people with administrative services. Arbitration is usually used to resolve commercial disputes and it can either be mandatory or voluntary. The association offers its services to people abroad through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.The administrative services that are offered by ICDR and AAA include, setting of hearings, providing settlement through mediation, providing the users with crucial information on dispute resolution options, and appointment of arbitrators and mediators. The American Arbitration Association in its work faces several challenges which need to be addressed in order to perform well. Introduction The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is an enterprise whose role is to arbitrate and to resolve disputes between parties.It was founded in 1926 af ter the Arbitration Society of America was consolidated with the Arbitration Foundation and the Arbitration Conference. It has the duty to administer arbitration proceedings and to provide alternative dispute resolution services to the people. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) embraces the dispute resolution processes and techniques that are applied outside the government judicial process (American Arbitration Association, Accessed on April 13, 2009).Through the AAA rules, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) is able to administer arbitration at an international level. The ICDR was established in 1996. In America, the AAA acts as the country's primary provider of arbitration and mediation services. The mediators who are employed in the institution are highly respected professionals who have great experience in industry and business law. The mediators are also highly trained in efforts to ensure that they provide high quality mediation services to address dispute s.The term arbitration is one form of alternative dispute resolution which occurs outside the court. This requires the parties involved in a dispute to be bound by the decision of the arbitrators. In addition, the American Arbitration Association provides its services abroad through the International centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). The AAA is engaged in efforts that aim at moving cases through mediation and arbitration in an impartial and fair manner. In this paper, the important role of the American Arbitration Association and the challenges it faces in its work will be discussed.Discussion Role of the American Arbitration Association The American Arbitration Association offers arbitration services to parties that may be in a dispute or experiencing a conflict. In the United States, the American Arbitration Association assists citizens to resolve disputes by administering arbitration proceedings. Through the proceedings, the association assists individuals or organizations wh o are involved in a dispute to solve it outside the courts.The case is usually reviewed and a decision that is legally binding to both sides imposed. An impartial adjudicator who is in charge during arbitration proceedings is expected to give his/her final decision which is final and binding. The American Arbitration Association benefits people or organizations greatly because it is often much faster in solving disputes as compared to litigation in court. This therefore becomes very crucial is saving a lot of time and resources that could be used in resolving a dispute in court.Because arbitration proceedings and award are usually non-public, the parties involved in a dispute can be able to resolve a dispute through confidential proceedings. Furthermore, business enterprises or organizations find arbitration more flexible and cheaper than court cases. In any arbitration proceedings, a contract need to be signed which includes an arbitration clause that names or acknowledges the Amer ican Arbitration Association as the organization that will be responsible for administering arbitration between the involved parties.The association has a primary duty to provide administrative support to the arbitrations when they are presented to a panel of arbitrators or a single arbitrator. Arbitrators who are chosen are selected in accordance with the agreement of the parties or in accordance with the association’s rules if the parties fail to agree (American Arbitration Association, 2006). The American Arbitration Association has a long history and great experience in providing people with alternative dispute resolution services.Another major role the AAA plays in resolving disputes is by administering cases starting from filing to closing. Administrative services are offered to both the American citizens, as well as those who are abroad through the International centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). Some of the administrative services that the American Arbitration Asso ciation and ICDR provide to the people include settling disputes through mediation, setting hearings, and the appointing the arbitrators and mediators who are in charge of cases that are presented.The association ensures that both mediation and arbitration cases are handled in an impartial and fair manner. To ensure that people are provided with effective alternative dispute resolution services, the American Arbitration Association is involved in the designing and the development of alternative resolution (ADR) systems for courts, unions, law firms, corporations, and government agencies. In addition, people who desire to learn more about alternative dispute resolution are able to receive training, education and publications from the association.Election services are also provided by the American Arbitration Association. The American Arbitration Association has shown its commitment to provide customer focused alignment of its resources by creating five divisions. These divisions incl ude the International, the commercial, state insurance, and construction and labor/employment/elections disciplines. These alternative dispute resolution disciplines encompass expertise in various and specific case loads (Lynch, 2001). This has made it easy for people to access necessary information about dispute resolution.The creation of the divisions provides customers with more customized services which can effectively address the specific disputes are presented in the association. The dispute resolution services that American Arbitration Association offers to the Americans involve construction, consumer, technology, employment, intellectual property, financial services, and health care and international trade conflicts. However, the association is not limited to addressing conflicts in these areas only.The alternative dispute resolution resources at the American Arbitration Association offer education and training services, the association’s rules, a panel of neutral med iators and arbitrators, as well as case administration services. These resources are utilized to ensure that real world and cost effective solutions are provided to the consumers, counsel, business, government agencies, and industry professionals (Brunet, 2006). Case administrations are offered by the American Arbitration Association in conjunction with its Dispute Avoidance and Early Resolution procedures and rules.The Arbitration and mediation procedures and rules are also offered. In case administration, a dispute resolution process begins with the filing of a case which is then followed by the selection of an appropriate mediator and arbitrator . The hearing of the cases then follow. A final decision is then made after the case hearings and then the case is closed. To assist with the case procedural elements, the association appoints skilled case managers. In addition, by providing clients with an AAA Arbitration map, the association ensures that the clients are guided through t he case processes, and advice given to them on the available options.The clients are able to benefit from the advice offered by the association on how to best manage the process by saving on time and cost. To choose a neutral for a case, a more customized approach by the American Arbitration Association provides customers with the association’s enhanced neutral selection process for large complex cases (LCC). The parties to the LCC are able to get access to five tools that based on the client-selected criteria enhance screening options. To win customer service, the association has put into place a case management team.In this approach, a case manager act as the primary point person who has the ultimate responsibility for a particular case that is given to the entire case management team. This has enabled the association to assure and give confidence to clients that cases are always addressed appropriately. In order to avoid and resolve disputes early before issues arise, the association provides customers with early dispute resolution services. The American Arbitration Association acknowledges that dispute is inevitable hence having proper mechanisms to avoid and quickly resolve disputes is crucial (Ury, 2000).The need to act proactively in providing formal dispute resolution treatments and avoiding disputes has made it necessary for AAA to develop early dispute resolution services. To assist the clients to be well prepared, to avoid, and to minimize challenges that result from disputes, the association offers various dispute avoidance and easily resolution services. Arbitration requires the involved parties to submit a dispute to impartial persons who offer an â€Å"award† which is the final and binding decision when an arbitration case is over. Awards are made in writing and are always binding to the parties.This varies with mediation in that, mediation facilitates negotiation and communication between the parties in dispute. A mediation proces s encourages the parties in dispute to voluntarily make decisions that will end the dispute. Mediation process is considered to be an effective way of resolving disputes prior to litigation or arbitration. The association provides its arbitration and mediation services by providing the AAA rules and procedures to govern ADR processes and to increase customer’s access to the associations’ well trained and screened neutrals.The association’s neutrals have great knowledge, skills, and experience in resolving disputes. The association has over 7, 000 neutrals located in various parts of the world, and their conduct is guided by the AAA code of Ethics. When parties file a case, then the association provides the parties with information about the neutrals. To ensure that all arbitration and mediation cases are fair, the association has developed rules that need to be followed to solve disputes in state programs, consumer, labor, employment and commercial disputes.The international division of the American Arbitration Association is referred to as the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). The establishment of the ICDR aimed at providing other individuals and organizations around the globe with services that the AAA was providing to the American people. Just like the American Arbitration Association, the ICDR has a primary responsibility to resolve disputes and to administer cases impartially. The ICDR has shown good organization and expertise in the administration of the international arbitration cases.The International Centre for Dispute Resolution has established cooperative agreements with various nations and institutions in order to facilitate the filing and hearing of arbitration cases (Christian and Gabriele, 2006). The ICDR has managed to do this by establishing agreements with 43 countries and 62 arbitral institutions world wide. The agreements allow the filing and hearing of cases to be done anywhere in the world. A case th at is filed based on ICDR international rules require case managers to start working on ways through which the client can be provided with up to date progress of the case.The case managers have great experience in dealing with overseas arbitration and mediation issues and are fluent in at least 13 languages. The centre has a world wide panel of over 400 independent mediators and arbitrators who have the primary responsibility of hearing and resolving cases. Each year, the ICDR handles several hundred multinational cases. The association has its offices in Mexico, Ireland, Mexico City, Dubai and New York. Through the American Arbitration Association national roster of Arbitrators and mediators, experienced and respected experts from the business and legal communities can serve the people.The association provides clients with information on alternative dispute resolution information through published books, periodicals, and on line courses. The American Arbitration Association book st ore offer videos of various issues about ADR and enhances all individuals' conflict management skills. Challenges facing the American Arbitration Association One major challenge that the American Arbitration Association faces concerns the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. The ICDR offers its service to many individuals and organizations all over the globe.In its work, the centre receives cases that aim at resolving international conflicts. In the contemporary society, international disputes keep on increasing as nations seek to achieve economic prosperity and political interests (Lynch, 2001). The ICDR has the mandate to administer the cases presented to it impartially and with fairness. Due to the sensitivity of international conflicts, the ICDR faces the challenge of how to resolve international conflicts or disputes in an impartial manner due to the factors that may a case complicated.The association has always asserted its commitment to fair and equal treatment of ind ividuals or organizations. In addition, the association is committed to ensuring that it continues to be diverse in opinion, its services, and its staff. The challenge is how to ensure that the association continues with its commitment to diversification. Furthermore, the association faces the challenge of how to effectively recruit professionals who will act as representatives at a global level, hire diverse staff, and nominate individuals from minority groups to leadership rules.In solving international conflicts, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution faces the challenge of giving a fair judgment in disputes that are politically motivated. Although the ICDR may resolve a dispute, lack of cooperation from one of the parties involved in the dispute is a great challenge when conducting case proceedings. When it comes to international disputes in the environment field, the ICDR faces the challenge of resolving disputes while at the same time respecting the involved nations, international and bilateral agreements that provide for the settlement of such disputes.Having states comply with the international obligations has become an important issue in international obligations. Conclusion The American Arbitration Association since its establishment has served people with dispute resolution services. The association has gained a lot of experience in providing alternative dispute resolution services to people world wide. Examples of these services include arbitration and mediation. Apart from providing its services in the United States, the association provides alternative dispute resolution services to people at an international level through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR).In addition, the association in efforts to provide high quality services to the customers has developed effective strategies through disputes between parties can be solved in a fair manner. Many people and organizations are now filing cases with the American Arbitr ation Association due to the benefits it has proved to offer to the customer. However, the association faces several challenges which it needs to address in order to serve the customers appropriately. References American Arbitration Association. 2006. ADR and Law.JurisNet, LLC Publishers American Arbitration Association. www. adr. org. Accessed on April 13, 2009 Brunet, D. 2006. Arbitration Law in America: A Critical Assessment. Cambridge University Press Christian, U. , and Gabriele, K. 2006. Arbitration and Mediation in International Business Lynch, J. 2001. â€Å"ADR and Beyond: A Systems Approach to Conflict Management†, Negotiation Journal, Volume 17, Number 3, July 2001, Volume, p. 213. Ury, W. 2000. The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop. Penguin Putnam. New York

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Research study on treatment for acute otitis media Assignment

Research study on treatment for acute otitis media - Assignment Example The sampling approach may however suffer from threats of unrepresentative sample but the researchers addressed this reliability threat through application of a large sample space. Implementing a double blind approach to the study is another measure that the researchers undertook to address validity and reliability issues, core to which is prejudice into bias. Double blind scope however eliminates such a prejudice from research participants and the researcher. Another measure that the researchers implemented towards ensuring validity and reliability was using an experimental design in which the difference between the experimental group and the placebo group validates treatment effect. Lack of such an experimental set up induces uncertainty as to effects of independent variable. In addition to the double blind approach, the researchers ensured independence of the study from their influence by contracting an independent party to implement the study, and initiative that managed researche r bias at the data collection process towards validity. use of an experimental design, application of a double blind approach, randomization, and using an independent party to implement the study are therefore measures that the authors undertook to address validity and reliability issues (Tahtinen et al.,

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

To what extent does the United Kingdom have a 2 party system Essay

To what extent does the United Kingdom have a 2 party system - Essay Example The description of British Government so far given has required frequent mention of political parties. The nearest approach to official recognition is in the rules for the formation of Committees of the House of Commons. Yet without them the whole nature of the Constitution would be changed and many of its conventions would become unworkable. The relations of Parliament to the Government on the one hand, and to the people on the other, are governed by the party system (Field, 1963). The essence of this system is that people who find themselves in agreement on major matters of policy should unite in organized bodies to secure the return to Parliament, and to other elected assemblies, of Members who will work for an agreed policy. Thus the party system plays a very important role in the political system of United Kingdom. A political party is more or well organized group of citizens who act together as a political unit. They share or profess to share the same opinions on public queuing and by exercising their voting power towards a common end, seek to obtain control of the Government. In a democratic form of government there might be several parties. And they work through their own ideologies. But in the case study of United Kingdom we find two major parties working and dominating the state politics. This influence or domination is called in terms of Political Science a "two party system". There may existence more parties known as minor parties who are always under the control of the major parties and this absolute domination paves the way of Dictatorship in the politics of UK. Although democracy prevails in UK but practice is not absolute because of "two party system" that is a time demand for amendment. And this is a severe fault of democracy, however this defect of democracy as well as British gov t. is aimed to evaluate in the thesis. 2. BI-PARTY SYSTEM BI-party system does not mean that a particular country has only two parties and there is no third party in it. It means there are only two major parties and the rest of the parties are less important. For example, there are more than two parties in England, viz.. Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Party, Fascist and Communist Party. But in politics, only two parties are important, i.e., the Conservative and the Labour Party. Sometimes the Conservative Party and at other times the Labour Party forms the Government. No seat has been obtained by the communist and the Fascist Party. In the House of Commons, the Liberal Party has only a few seats. Similarly in the U. S. A. though there are, many parties like the Communist Party, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, yet only Republican and Democratic Par-ties are important and they form the Government. The Communist Party has no importance in the politics, thus, there is a bi-party system in the Great Britain and the U.S.A. Where there is a multi-party system, there are more than two important parties in politics. This system prevails in France, West Germany, Italy and certain other countries of Europe. 3. POLITICAL PARTIES AND 2 PARTY SYSTEM IN UNITED KINGDOM (UK) The British parties have been inextricable entwined, cross-fertilizing each other with philosophy, policy, strategy and

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Riding around Denver Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Riding around Denver - Essay Example The city’s economy is based on the geographical position as a major connector of the transport system. This paper will determine the roles of minority groups played in the urban society, the aspects of technology that interact with an urban environment and how various aspects of Denver city change from the centre to the periphery. Denver is a city that is fast growing in Colorado. The local government has estimated that, by 2025, the metropolitan area is estimated to have about one million people. This is from the current population of 2.5 million. This is the most popular city within a radius of 550 that is centered within the city. According to American community Survey, that was conducted in between 2006-2008, depicted different percentages of racial composition. Whites make a larger percentage of the population of about 63.1% and Hispanic or Latino take 34% of the Denver population. The minority groups in this city include Asian, African American and Native America who take up a small percentage of Denver’s population. While the minority groups continue to form a growing portion of the population, especially in urban areas, these groups have not been included in the decision making process thus, leaving them under represented. The poverty statistics that have been associated with minority groups have affected their contribution towards the urban society. However, racial tolerance is becoming a clear trend in the American society.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Assignment 2 for CLS325 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment 2 for CLS325 - Coursework Example Essentially rooted in the attempt to achieve a more accurate definition, arguments have been pushed forward regarding the differences between popular culture and mass culture. Despite all these conflicting theories and subsequent debates, most of these theorists, with the exception of those who uphold post-modernist views, accept the fact that the cultural condition of an individual is reflective of social status. Culture cannot be detached from other material conditions that surround individuals and peoples. This is proven by the emergence of different and contradictory viewpoints on the definition of culture. Those who adhered to the concept that culture can only be attributed to the arts, customs, and refined manners of the elite in society are those who themselves belong to such a class. On the other hand, those who believe that culture is not exclusive for the rich are those who represent or who belong to the lower strata of society. According to Graeme Turner, â€Å"ideology n ot only produces our culture, it also produces our consciousness of our selves.† (British Cultural Studies 20) Ideology may be the most important factor for the development of culture. However, ideology or mindset is the sum or the combined product of all the material conditions that surround an individual. These material conditions greatly vary depending on the social status. In this regard, it is very likely that differences in opinions regarding culture would emerge. When elements or concrete forms of what is now known as popular culture began to emerge, the definition of high culture also became more pronounced. Such definition was apparently made in an effort to distinguish the culture promoted by the elite in society from the one embraced by those who belong to the lower classes. High culture is the label often used in referring to the works of classical literature, music, and other art forms. In fact, the theorists who uphold to this perspective call this as the ‘ real’ culture while naming that of the lower classes as popular culture. Such differentiation points out that â€Å"popular culture is a commercial culture, mass-produced for mass consumption† and that it is â€Å"supposedly consumed with brain-numbed and brain-numbing passivity.† (Storey 264) It may be true that this so-called popular culture has its weaknesses in terms of quality, as can be observed from its various material forms when compared with those of what the elite consider as ‘real’ culture. This perspective, however, definitely serves only the interest of the elite in society. It is clear that culture is the embodiment of the interests and aspirations those who defend and promote it. Therefore, by criticizing so-called popular culture, the elite may just be fortifying their stature in society. People belonging to the lower classes, on the other hand, may just also be asserting their own identity and relevance in society while they contin ue to embrace popular culture and promoting it among their ranks. However, notwithstanding the arguments presented in favor of its existence and the challenge that it poses to high culture, popular culture is also the subject of debates among those who accept its relevance. There are theorists who believe that popular culture does not really represent

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Dewey and the New Vocationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dewey and the New Vocationalism - Essay Example John Dewey argues that workers often become no more than "industrial fodder" in a society controlled by money interests. Denied access to information and accumulated wisdom, workers are disempowered and removed from the realm of decision-making. This reality holds dramatic implications for the health of a democratic society. One such issue in the early 1900s was the proposal that industrial education be provided for children leaving school at twelve or fourteen. The need for this education was manifest in the glaring unfitness of such boys and girls for the work into which nearly all of them went. Not being able to hold their jobs, they drifted from place to place where they learned nothing and where advance became impossible. Educators, social workers, parents, employers, and organizations such as the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education had long advocated vocational education for these children; more recently some state legislatures had taken up the matter. Dewey, having long recognized the need of industrial education, was one of its strongest supporters. Dewey aligned himself with those who favored a single, integrated system of education. He agreed that the dual system would involve costly duplication; that it would nullify much of what had been done in enriching and revitalizing traditional academic education by taking out of the traditional system those manual, industrial, and vocational activities just recently put in; and that it would tend to promote social cleavages among both children and adults. For Dewey: a society in which every person shall be occupied in something which makes the lives of others worth living, and which makes the ties which bind people together more perceptible...It denotes a state of affairs in which the interest of each in his work is uncoerced and intelligent...[19] Another concern of Dewey was that a narrowly conceived approach to vocational education would perpetuate social divisions and in a hardened form, for both the employers and the employees would be intellectually limited. This could leave the employer class confined to issues of profit and power, and the employee class concerned only with monetary return from their labor. This would involve a limitation of intelligence to "technical and non-humane, non-liberal channels."[20] http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/97_docs/marshall.html Dewey urged to adopt the integrated system already in use in some of the country's more progressive schools. The old time general, academic education is beginning to be vitalized by the introduction of manual, industrial and social activities; it is beginning to recognize its responsibility to train all the youth for useful citizenship, including a calling in which each may render useful service to society and make an honest and decent living. (1913, p. 144). (Morgan V. Lewis 2001) Everywhere the existing school system is beginning to be alive to the need of supplementary agencies to help it fulfill this purpose, and is taking tentative but

Apple Inc. Total quality managemnt Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apple Inc. Total quality managemnt - Term Paper Example Quality is can be defined as anything that is in accordance with the need of the time and up to the desired satisfaction level of customers and clients (Bose). Since the customers hold the position of pivot towards the success or failure of any organization, therefore definition of quality and its subsequent implementation is very vital for the survival of any organization. The total Quality management is a separate discipline in the field of management which if implemented in the appropriate manner ensures productivity and desired results. The scope of T.Q.M is very broad and it takes into account all the necessary components of the organizational structure and thereby highlights the areas of improvement and areas of strength. The concept of T.Q.M has introduced new dimensions in the field of management and industry businesses and it has ended the old culture of dependencies on each other. T.Q.M allows adoption of a framework which ensures independence of various components of the system. The prime goal behind the T.Q.M is increased productivity and customer satisfaction (Grigoroudis and Siskos). It provides a detailed descriptive method of adopting and implementing it. This concept is equally implacable to the services as well as product manufacturing industries. In recent times many industries have benefited from its implementation. Apple Inc being an international brand is no exception to this rule and the definition of quality and its implication equally applies to this organization. Apple enjoys the name of a market leader amongst its competitors. Whatever has been achieved by Apple Inc is the result of adherence to the total quality management. It has ensured that each of the three necessary components of the T.Q.M are present in the organization and its products (Blocher). Apple is confronted with continuous challenge in form of the block of competitors both in the domain of mobile phones and operating systems and computers. According to Wall

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Interpersonal Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interpersonal Communications - Essay Example (Guffey, 2006; Bonnet, 2000) The incident that I am going to cite here is actually observed by one of my friends in his internship at a software house last summer. My friend was there at the business analysis department and the incident took place in the same department. The incident shows that how the poor listening can lead to negative consequences. It was Friday morning, the weekend was about to start in few hours and was a signal of relaxation after the week long tiresome efforts of business analysis. The last task for the week that Ms. Jenifer Mitchells, the supervisor of my friend, had to make the last visit of the day to New Star and Company for the purpose of requirement analysis for the decision support system the Soft Tech, the company to which Ms. Jenifer belonged, was developing. This project meant a lot to the Soft Tech because New Start Company was a very big client for them. This was the first time Soft Tech was given any information system development project by New Star and Company, an organization dealing in logistics. On that day my friend also accompanied her. My friend told that he got a feeling that on one hand Ms. Jenifer is a bit in hurry for one of his personal commitments few hours later (she herself told this to my friend) that's why she wanted to end the meeting soon. Moreover, Ms. Jenifer was a fresh graduate of a renowned technical university with the gold medal. This, according to my friend, made Ms. Jenifer a bit arrogant. After reaching there, the formal introduction and greeting was done. Then the discussion moved to the main point that was business requirements. Since the new system that was supposed to be designed was the decision support system that would help the strategic managers and decision makers in resource optimization and the supervisor of my friend Ms. Jenifer had done her final year project on decision support system that is why she was not at all interested in listening what the customers want, rather time and again she used to start telling about her project and pra ising about it, trying to let the clients know that she is a gold medalist. According to my friend, when the customers were telling to her about their requirements, she was repeatedly looking at her wrist watch, probably that was giving a gesture that she is running out of time. Moreover she was not noting down their requirements on paper as much. When the reason for it was asked by friend, she said that she had done such project earlier too, so now doing such project again is not an issue for her, thus she did not need to note each and everything down on paper. It was suggested by the person briefing to us that we should conduct interviews from people involved in decision making who would be using the system that they develop so as to have the better understanding of what they exactly want. Ms. Jenifer was not interested in even that too. Finally the meeting ended with all 'hearing' but no 'listening'. On Monday when Ms. Jenifer came to work again, she presented the meeting report to her manager. Her

Friday, August 23, 2019

Drama 115 - Construct a Dialogue on Hamlet & Daly's, Under the Glass Essay

Drama 115 - Construct a Dialogue on Hamlet & Daly's, Under the Glass Light - Essay Example WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Argh. First of all my plays aren’t as pretentious as you’re making them out to be. During my time they were attended by many people from the lower classes. They were regarded as popular entertainment, while other playwrights like Christopher Marlowe were considered intellectual and pretentious, as you so politely indicated (Greenblatt). As for filler, the opening scene of Hamlet opens to a ghost sighting. A terrifying ghost sighting! The play is immediately in the thriller/horror genre, not like yours which just meanders around for a -- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Look I wrote long monologues because it allowed me to capture the character’s in-depth thoughts. This way I was able to explore aspects of the human condition that typical dialogue can’t attain. It was also the style of the time; sure I could have written realistic dialogue, but it wouldn’t have appealed to as large as an audience. I worked within the conventions of my time, but explored timeless themes. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Partially I wrote that way so my actors could learn their lines easier (Greenblatt). I also wrote that way because it more closely approaches the sonorous quality of music. This way my characters weren’t merely talking, they were singing to the essence of the heavens and human condition! AUGUSTIN DALY: Are you really this full of yourself? Your ego has been blow up beyond all proportion. You think you’re like God or something. Look, with my work I’m not trying to explore the meaning of life, I’m just trying to make a statement of society. Expose some hypocrisy. Maybe change some minds. AUGUSTIN DALY: You obviously don’t understand subtlety. So for instance, consider the scene when Pearl tells Ray that Laura was actually a poor pickpocket and instead got brought into aristocracy at the age of 6. AUGUSTIN DALY: So in this scene Ray, who had been professing his unending love for Laura just 2 minutes earlier, starts saying that he can

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Rape of the Lock Essay Example for Free

The Rape of the Lock Essay The Rape of the Lock is an outstanding mock- epic in the English Literature written by Alexander Pope. It is considered a humorous poem, as well as a combination of the classical models of epic and satire. Since the poem is based on an actual incident among Pope’s acquaintances, he is persuaded to write the story to mock his friends so they do not take the situation too seriously. Besides, the author focuses on the upper class in London, which seems to have lost the value of important matters. First of all, it can be said that the upper-class characters portrayed in The Rape of the Lock, especially Belinda, are mocked because it seems that they are narrow-minded as regards their ideas about the society where they live and they do not take into consideration important subjects. In the poem, Belinda is so concerned about her beauty that when the Baron cuts a lock of her hair she gets furious: â€Å"Then flashed the living lightnings from her eyes, / And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies.†(canto 3, lines 155-156). Belinda feels frustrated not only because she is humiliated in public, but also because being beautiful in that society means power. Her anger can be related to the fact that ladies used to devote much time to their beauty, spending hours at the dressing table; the â€Å"altar’s site,†(1.127). Apart from that, dancing and playing cards were major events to win the heart of a gentleman. Similarly, men had no concern with significant matters either as they were interested in being powerful, getting more money and flirting with ladies. The Baron, for example, the male character in the poem, feels victorious when he cuts Belinda’s lock: â€Å"`Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine, ´ / (The victor cried); `the glorious prize is mine!†(3.161-162). As the characters focus on trivial matters as if they are truly meaningful, their flaws and weaknesses are exposed in the poem. By means of exaggeration, the author pretends to make the readers laugh at their own defects to moralize some ideas in society. The pair of scissors given to The Baron by Clarissa is referred as â€Å"A two-edged weapon†(3.128) to make fun of the situation. In addition, the fact that Belinda’s hair is cut is not a serious incident but she is in despair since it is her valuable possession. In the poem, Clarissa states that although â€Å"frail beauty must decay, / Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn to gray,† (5. 25-26), it is important to keep a sense of humor. Similarly, The Baron is quite extravagant and exhibits a childlike behavior when taking revenge that he clearly proclaims: â€Å"So long my honor, name, and praise shall live!† (3.170). It is possible to observe that he is not able to accept the fact that he has been defeated in a game by a girl. Apart from that, the card game between Belinda and The Baron is perceived as a real battle between two armies, with â€Å"halberds in their hand† (3.42). As a conclusion, it is clearly shown in the poem how society has lost the ability to value what is really important in life. It seems that the characters cannot decipher between serious events and insignificant ones. The rape of Belinda’s lock of hair, for instance, is an unimportant incident since she could have experienced a worse situation. Moreover, it is worth analyzing this poem as it reflects how ridiculous any society can be when it takes into account events, which do not really matter in life. Individuals should open their eyes to be able to value simple things that happen in our daily lives.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Impact of Natural Disasters on the Economy of Pakistan

Impact of Natural Disasters on the Economy of Pakistan Natural disasters are an increasingly phenomena that we all evidently observe and identify that may have a direct bang on the interests of an area where it hits and also on explicit domestic meters in such areas. Depending of where we live, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, etc, are intimidation to living, belongings, industrious assets, and also can have an impact on societal pointers. The increasing occurrence of natural disasters is extremely interrelated to the increasing susceptibility of homes and communities in emergent nations, as earlier socioeconomic vulnerabilities may aggravate the shock of a natural disaster, making harder the course of revitalization (Vatsa and Krimgold, 2000). Therefore, the impact of such events could consequence in an instant raise in poverty and deficiency (Carter et al, 2007). The literature has been still conflicting to a few amounts. For example Benson and Clay (2003) have discussed that the long-standing shock on development of natural disasters is depressing, at the same time as Skidmore and Toya (2002) explain that such tragedy may upbeat impact development in the long run as there is a decrease to returns on physical assets but a boost in human capital, leading to advanced development. Strobl (2008) for the US coastal areas discover that tornados reduce countys development originally by 0.8 per cent, whereas getting your str ength back after in 0.2 per cent. This writer also figures out for Central America and the Caribbean that the impact from a critical cyclone is a diminution of 0.8 percent of development (Strobl, 2008a). The impact of a natural disaster may also origin discriminations. The poor, who undergo from profits rise and fall, and also have imperfect access to monetary services, in the consequences of a disaster may be extra flat to lessen use and have a declining upset in other domestic indicators as a result. Additionally, there are a many non poor, or close to be, who are not insured in opposition to such threats, and then may plunge into scarcity as result of recapitalizing when dealing with with the upset, depending the shock and probability of diminishing into scarcity of the original stock assets and coping means. Furthermore, susceptibility to natural disasters is a multifaceted issue, as it is strong-minded by the financial structure, the phase of growth, prevailing of communal and fiscal conditions, coping means, risk evaluation, rate of recurrence and concentration of catastrophes, etc. The impact on deprived ones could be losing contact with a few vital services, reversals in accretion of corporeal and human funds, and possibly an augment in child employment and unlawful behavior. Lindell and Prater (2003) summarize the significance of shaping the impact and the pretentious agents in natural disasters. First, that information is helpful for policy makers, as they can be acquainted with the need for peripheral support and which may be more efficient; second, definite sections of affected can be acknowledged, e.g. how low income families are affected; and third, it may be also practical for setting up assistance for natural disasters and the latent results. Overall, growing literature has emerged over the last few years on the macroeconomic and development impacts of natural disasters. Amusingly, there is as up till now no harmony on whether disasters are significant from a macroeconomic point of view, and two situations can be identified. The first believes natural disasters a hinder for economic development and is well symbolized by the following reference: It has been argued that although individuals are risk-averse, governments should take a risk-neutral stance. The reality of developing countries suggests otherwise. Government decisions should be based on the opportunity costs to society of the resources invested in the project and on the loss of economic assets, functions and products. In view of the responsibility vested in the public sector for the administration of scarce resources, and considering issues such as fiscal debt, trade balances, income distribution, and a wide range of other economic and social, and political concerns, governments should not act risk neutral (OAS, 1991). The other position sees disasters as entailing little growth implications and consider disasters and their reduction a problem of, but not for development (e.g. Albala-Bertrand, 1993, 2006; Caselli and Malhotra, 2004). These authors find natural disasters do not negatively affect GDP and if anything, GDP growth is improved (Albala-Bertrand, 1993: 207). This paper can be understood as an attempt at reconciling this body of literature. There are two entry points for the analysis. The first is to look at counterfactual vs. observed GDP, the second entry point is to assess disaster impacts as a function of hazard, exposure of assets (human, produced, intangible), and, importantly vulnerability. Overall, the evidence reveals adverse macroeconomic consequences of disasters on GDP. In a medium-term analysis, natural disasters on average seem to lead to negative effects on GDP. The negative effects may be small, yet they can become more pronounced depending on the size of the shock. We tested a large number of vulnerability predictors and found that higher aid rates as well as higher remittances lessen the adverse macroeconomic consequences, while capital stock loss is the most important predictor for the negative consequences. In July-August 2010, Pakistan experienced the worst floods in its history The floods have affected 84 districts out of a total 121 districts in Pakistan, and more than 20 million people one-tenth of Pakistans population More than 1,700 men, women and children have lost their lives, and at least 1.8 million homes have been damaged or destroyed (UN 2010, p.1). In attacking poverty in developing countries, due considerations need to be paid to the vulnerability of households against natural disasters. Poor households are likely to suffer not only from low income and consumption on average but also from fluctuations of their welfare once such disasters occur. These households are vulnerable to a decline in their welfare level because they have limited ability to cope with shocks and also they are subject to substantial shocks, such as weather variability (Dercon, 2005; Fafchamps, 2003). This concern has led to an emerging literature on vulnerability measures in development economics (Ligon and Schechter, 2003; 2004; Kamanou and Morduch, 2005; Calvo and Dercon, 2005; Kurosaki 2006a). We broadly think people as vulnerable when (i) they cannot mitigate income volatility and (ii) their consumption expenditure is volatile over time (they lack reliable coping mechanisms). Vulnerability is thus a forward-looking concept. As an example of low-income countries subject to substantial vulnerability, this paper examines the case of Pakistan. Pakistan is located in South Asia, where more than 500million people or about 40% were estimated to live below the poverty line at the turn of the century (World Bank, 2001). Economic development in South Asia has been characterized by a moderate success in economic growth with a substantial failure in human development such as basic health, education and gender equality (Dr`eze and Sen, 1995). This characteristic is most apparent in Pakistan (World Bank, 2002). Although the overall economic growth rates were improved during the 2000s, poverty reduction was slower than expected. Using a two period panel dataset spanning three years from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), one of the four provinces comprising Pakistan, Kurosaki (2006a) and Kurosaki (2006b) show that rural households were indeed vulnerable to substantial welfare fluctuations. Using a three-year pan el dataset from Pakistans Punjab, Kurosaki (1998) shows that farmers consumption was excessively sensitive to idiosyncratic shocks to their non-farm income. Similar findings have been accumulated for rural India as well (Townsend, 1994; Kurosaki 2001). The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the literature on the macroeconomic impacts of disasters and locates the proposed analysis within the disaster risk management paradigm. In section 3, we present the data and methodology used for projecting the economic impacts for a medium term horizon (up to 5 years after an event), as well as the regression analysis used for identifying predictor variables explaining potential impacts. Section 4 ends with a discussion of possible implications of our analysis. Literature Review The literature on impacts of natural disasters and economic effects is still inadequate and can be separated generally into three different categories. One part of the literature has focused on how several factors intensify susceptibility to natural events. They have maintained a natural vulnerability framework in view of climate change, deforestation and geophysical factors (McGuire, Mason and Kilburn, 2002), other than rising urbanization which brings ecological risks and exposure to threats from deficiency of sufficient urban development and dual political discourse (Pelling, 2003 and 2003a), or even environmental immediacy to exposure, access to property and public conveniences as well as political and social networks (Bosher, 2007). All these parts become a thread to population, their assets and possessions and their dynamic competence, becoming then an expected risk. And when such danger is realized, then it turns out to be a natural adversity (see McGuire, Mason and Kilburn, 2002). Although this thread of the literature distinguishes that such risk factors influence the impact of the natural tragedy, they just briefly point out essentially the number of losses, or some irregular overheads. A second thread of the literature spotlights on the impact of natural disasters on macroeconomic pointers. Auffret (2003) examined the impact of natural catastrophe on Latin America and the Caribbean, and figured out the impact very considerable, particularly for the Caribbean, where the explosive nature of expenditure is higher than in other parts of the world, where insufficient risk-management instruments have been available in the region. This part of the literature has been still conflicting to some extent. For example Benson and Clay (2003) have also explained that the lasting impact of natural events on economic development of any country is negative, while Skidmore and Toya (2002) reveal that such tragedies may also have a constructive impact in the future growth, resulting from a decrease to returns to physical assets but an enlargement in human capital. Strobl (2008) discovers for the US coastal counties that cyclones cut districts intensification at first by 0.8 per cent, at the same time as recuperating after in 0.2 per cent. This writer also figures out for Central America and the Caribbean that the impact from a unhelpful storm is a decline of 0.8 percent of fiscal increase (Strobl, 2008a). When investigating what extra features cut or amplify the impact of such natural tragedies on macro pointers, Kahn (2005) and Toya and Skidmore (2007) explain that organizations, top education and trade openness, in addition to well-built economic segment and smaller governments are significant aspects in shaping the impact that natural events have on growth at global level. The third tributary of the literature takes care of the impact and coping means for such tragic events generally at the domestic and township levels. At this point, natural adversities are upsets that family units have to face as they are unpleasant proceedings leading to a decline in earnings or utilization, and in addition a loss in industrious property. Alderman et al (2006) by means of data for family units in Zimbabwe spotlighted on height growth of kids as result of a deficiency and civil war in Zimbabwe, result that kids influenced by such upsets have less schooling and could have been tall; if not. Dercon (2004) focused on development in utilization amongst family units in chosen villages in Ethiopia, and did not discover that upsets have an effect in the diminution of assets. Carter et al (2007) examined the impact of droughts in Ethiopia and of cyclone Mitch in Honduras on development of belongings at the village level. For Ethiopia they uncover a model of assets leveling between low income family units, i.e. such families keep hold of their assets even they are little in phases where profits and usage drops off, for instance the big deficiency aroused. They discover for Honduran families that comparatively well-off families recovered earlier from the upset than short income households, and that a poverty corner is put below a specified point of income. Baez and Santos (2007) also examined the sound effects of Mitch on households pointers, discovering no outcome on school admissions of kids, but a noteworthy add to their labor contribution. Others have investigated how some coping methods inside families have an effect on revival from a shock resulting from such an adversity. De Janvry et al (2006) explains that uncertain cash transfer accessibility before a disaster provide as a shelter for those who are affected, while those dependent and helpless people utilize as coping method an add to child labor, and savings in food and school expenses. Alpizar (2007) also discovers that access to proper economic services takes the edge off pessimistic outcomes from natural disaster upsets for farmers in El Salvador, as it leads to further proficient production. On the other hand, a less urbanized region is the impact at local level. Yamano et al (2007) explain about industries and production. These writers makes use of region-wise data for employment and production, guessing that financial fatalities are not in proportion to the sharing of manufacturing activities and people attention, signifying that strategies to improve losses should be measured from a top order. Burrus et al (2002) also examined how low intensity typhoons can shock local financial systems from side to side interruption of actions. They exercise statistics from the local Chambers of Commerce surveys and as a result of their regularity the bang could be a decrease between 0.8 and 1.23 per cent of yearly production and up to 1.6 per cent of local employment. Though, there is a slit in the study of how local communal indicators are exaggerated by natural events. This is significant to bring to the front as the effects give the impression of being stretch around all unlike points, macro, micro and local, and how strategies to deal with those upsets can be premeditated in a good way. Whereas families emerge as the natural component of investigation for researching the consequences of natural disasters, it can also seem right to balance the study up as families react to risks are frequently influenced by the broader strategy framework. Certainly, households have substantial and insubstantial assets at their clearance, and their capability to preserve or gather together such assets in such situations will be produced by the arrangements and procedures for instance governance and institutional planning, broader strategies and open circumstances at metropolitan and district level. Additionally, the experience of family units to danger loss can and has been conventionally balanced up to top levels of aggregation (UNDP, 2008). It is the number of citizens situated in definite parts joint with the individual, material and ecological conditions of families and the regions where they live that forms their communal potential to deal with a natural disaster. For that reason, we refer to the community level of study while thinking of the inferences that dangers can have. Governments have a tendency to go on board in various approaches to deal with natural happenings. In the past, they have usually reacted through disaster relief, but more lately there has been a propensity to highlight cash transfers as well. Even if both methods are adopted extra efficiency could be consummate by adopting danger diminution and improvement means that deal with the structural aspects which make families more uncovered to natural risks. Having system in position previous to the awareness of dangers is primary. At the macro level, premature warning systems and the public disaster-preparedness agenda look as if mostly significant, so as sufficient economic assets to promote revival, over and above tax inducements for households or public to take on mitigation procedures. Another type of protecting the value of material goods at the macro level could be through financial diversification. Increasing primary, secondary and tertiary sector activities along with spatial activities in the economy, can offer an open pool to multiply the risk of anguish danger losses, and extra prospects to amplify and steady profits. Equally, the concentration of financial and sector-wise activities would be reliable with condensed capability of families to administer and react to natural disasters. Still, there is a set of insubstantial facts which might improve the family hard work to get through the outcome of natural vulnerability on them, just as adverse socio-economic opportunities. The political economy and organizational aspects of the situation where assets are positioned together with the system of belief, norm and ideas set in the activities of communities members might bear out elementary while utilizing and mobilizing assets for confronting disasters. If possible, one should be capable to clarify how civilization and supremacy provision come into play when they act together with the broader surroundings of risks, assets and wellbeing results. However, most of these features will be tough to get into work empirically for the period of our technical study. Flourishing coping against natural disasters is difficult to achieve in a situation of small efficiency, staled financial development, not having access to industrious possessions, deficiency of economic reserves and safety nets in place, and broad difference crossways geographic, financial, or tribal lines. Lack of health conveniences, remoteness and low rate of education may also complex these susceptibility. Consequently, the covariate life of various natural hazards and the policy-tempted macro circumstances upsetting the rate and likelihood of effectively coping with them might reflect unreliable welfare shocks across region and sub-region levels. At last, societies can make worse these natural, site and practice-specific aspects through not making any investment in substantial and communal infrastructure at the household and district level (roads and bridges). In case of rural areas, these deficiencies can be multifaceted by a high frequency of hazards because of being covered hazard-prone areas, extending the vulnerability of families to experience any losses. Although the impact a natural disaster is an outside factor, susceptibility of causes, making the shock of the event high or low, is not. Susceptibility to natural hazards is a composite subject, as it is determined by the monetary model, the phase of growth, current social and fiscal situation, coping means, risk evaluation, rate of recurrence and greatness of hazards, etc. Lindell and Prater (2003) summarize the significance of shaping the impact and the influenced agents in natural hazards. First, that information is helpful for policy makers, as they can recognize the need for outside support and which may be extra effectual. Second, exact sections of affected can be recognized, e.g. how short income families are influenced, uniqueness of regions etc; and third, it may be also helpful for setting up backing for natural hazards and the possible penalty. They also summarize how the impact of natural hazards should consider other means. One of the main questions concerning the impact of natural hazards on families or towns is how accidental they may be. Donner (2007) examined the effects of hurricanes in the US and figured out that the effects are not accidental, because some aspects such as ecological, society, demographic, and scientific, have an occurrence on the impact of such events. On the whole the flow of impact of natural hazards can be sketched as in Figure 1. figure1.PNG Figure 1. Model of Disaster Impact Other aspect is how establishment have defined practices concerning natural events and how they systematize help in the outcome can also be determinant of the crash. Such as, Peacok and Girard (1997) explain how the revitalization process after tornado in Florida was determined more by governmental obstructions rather than lack of resources. Limited Literature is available which studies the quantitative relationship between the economy and the natural disasters. Zarrar et al (2009) studied the impact of natural disasters on the Irans Gross domestic product. They adopted a auto regressive distributed Lag model in order to study the impact. The findings showed that natural disasters have negative impact on the GDP per capita and on Per captia investment. The result of the model test was that investment had a positive impact on the economy while negative impact on GDP from the damages from the loss of Physical capital. Macro economic variables determine the impact of these natural disasters on the long run economic growth. Aaron (2007) found that financial crises caused by these disasters hurt the long run growth through inflation. This inflation is the result of increased debt burden. Other reason for this inflation could be that central bank print excess notes to pay the external and internal debt. Also the tax collection is also affected which hurdles the government efforts in compensating the losses. However the loss in revenue is compensated by the help of the Loans and aid given by the international institutions. They include the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Union. These loans and aid influence the economic growth in the short as well as the in the long run. Pelling (2002) in his work identified that the most important macroeconomic impact of natural disaster can be studied by examining the inflation trends in the economy. More over the public expenditures by the government and the aid flowing as foreign direct investment influences the GDP growth rate. The used a comparative analysis technique of comparing different case studies to determine the macro-economic effects. These effects are measured by plotting the trends in GDP against macro economic factors i.e Inflation ,FDI and Loans. The literature review discusses the direct and indirect impact of economic variables on the economy. However in this research work only the impact of macro economic variables is studied. From the support of Literature review the macro economic variables which can be used to measure the quantitative impact of natural disasters on the GDP growth of Pakistan are Inflation, Internal and external debts, Foreign Aid and foreign direct investment flowing in the country. In next section of research we will take into account the above macroeconomic variables with the purpose of concluding the impact of natural disasters on the economy of Pakistan. Methodology Research Type In order to identify the macroeconomic effects of disasters, we suggest comparing a counterfactual situation ex-post to the observed state of the system ex-post. This involves assessing the potential trajectory (projected unaffected economy without disaster) versus the observed state of the economy. This contrasts with observing economic performance post-event and actual performance pre-event, as usually done in similar analysis. Our analysis requires projecting economic development into a future without an event. In short, the type of research would be purely Quantitative. Sources of Data Our two main sources of Data are: The open-source EMDAT disaster database (CRED, 2008) maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the Università © Catholique de Louvain. The proprietary Munich Re NatCat Service database. Data type and Research Periods Our sample consists of all major natural disaster events during 1950-2010. The sample is based on information from two databases and was compiled by Okuyama (2009) with the threshold for a large event defined arbitrarily to a loss exceeding 1 percent of GDP.One database is the open-source EMDAT disaster database (CRED, 2008) maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the Università © Catholique de Louvain. Primary data are compiled for various purposes, such as informing relief and reconstruction requirements internationally or nationally, and data are generally collected from various sources and, including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies. The other database is the proprietary Munich Re NatCat Service database, which mainly serves to inform insurance and reinsurance pricing. We focus on the monetary losses. In both datasets, loss data follow no uniform definition and are collected for different purposes such as assessing donor needs for relief and reconstruction, assessing potential impacts on economic aggregates and defining insurance losses. We distinguish between sudden and slow onset events. Key sudden-onset events are extreme geotectonic events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, slow mass movements) and extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, floods and winter storms. Slow-onset natural disasters are either of a periodically recurrent or permanent nature; these are droughts and desertification. We broadly associate the loss data with asset losses, i.e. damages to produced capital. This is a simplification, as indirect impacts, such as business interruption, may also be factored into the data. Yet, generally, at least for the sudden onset events, analysts generally equate the data with asset losses, and an indication that this assumption can be maintained is the fact that loss data are usually relatively quickly available after a catastrophe, which indicates that flow impacts emanating over months to years are usually not considered. Losses are compared to estimates of capital stock from Sanderson and Striessnig (2009), which estimated stocks using the perpetual inventory method based on Penn World table information on investments starting in 1900 and assuming annual growth and depreciation of 4 percent. Theoretical Framework and variables under consideration Theoretical Framework to be used in this essay to explain Economical Impacts on Pakistan due to Natural Disasters. Economical Impacts GDP Exposure Socioeconomic Susceptibility Direct Risks Produced Resources Environment Resources Human Resources Type of Hazard Physical Susceptibility Risk Management The literature on the monetary impacts explained can be associated with framework above. Independent Variables: Independent Determinants of such impacts and dangers can be renowned as: Hazard Variable: This variable is related to the type of Natural disaster/Hazard that jolts any part of Pakistan. Exposure: This variable deals with the geographical area and spatial scale of impact from the particular disaster. Economical Structure: This variable deals with the overall structure of the economy in the country and in particular region affected by the disaster (if needed). Development: This determinant deals with risks that might directly or indirectly affect the stage of the development of the country. Socioeconomic Environment: It is related to the current socioeconomic conditions in the country. Risk Management: This takes care of the availability of formal and informal mechanisms to share risks in a particular part of the country. The last four variables are related to economic susceptibility. Research Hypothesis H0: Natural Disasters do not have any significant negative follow-on effects on the economy of Pakistan. H1: Natural Disasters do have significant negative follow-on effects on the economy of Pakistan. Techniques We use autoregressive integrated moving average models, also called ARIMA (p,d,q) (Box and Jenkins, 1976) for forecasting GDP into the future after the disaster event. ARIMA modeling approaches are chosen because they are sufficiently general to handle virtually all empirically observed patterns and often used for GDP forecasting (see for example Abeysinghe and Rajaguru, 2004). While such a type of modeling may be criticized for its black box approach (Makridakis and Wheelwright, 1989), it here serves well due to the large number of projections to be made and the difficulty identifying suitable economic model approaches. The ARIMA process Recall, an autoregressive process of order AR (p) can be defined as x t = à Ã¢â‚¬  1x tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 + à Ã¢â‚¬  2x tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2 ++ à Ã¢â‚¬  px tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢p + ÃŽÂ µt A moving-average process of order MA (q) may be written as xt =ÃŽÂ µ t +ÃŽÂ ¸1ÃŽÂ µ tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 +ÃŽÂ ¸ 2ÃŽÂ µ tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2 +à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+ÃŽÂ ¸ qÃŽÂ µ tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢q and an ARMA(p,q) process, with p autoregressive and q moving average terms can be defined to be xt =à Ã¢â‚¬  1xtà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 ++à Ã¢â‚¬   p xtà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ p +ÃŽÂ µ t +ÃŽÂ ¸1ÃŽÂ µ tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 ++ÃŽÂ ¸ qÃŽÂ µ tà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢q Where à Ã¢â‚¬   and ÃŽÂ ¸ are parameters to be estimated and ÃŽÂ µ are white noise stochastic error terms. Now, let yt be a non-stationary series and define the first order regular difference of yt as Άyt = yt à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ytà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 or more generally using a back-shift operator denoted as Bk zt = ztà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢k yt B d yt Άd = (1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ) An ARIMA (p,d,q) model can then be expressed as yt q B t B B d à Ã¢â‚¬   p ( )(1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ) =ÃŽÂ ¸ ( )ÃŽÂ µ with B p à Ã¢â‚¬   p (B) = 1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬  1B à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   p and Bq ÃŽÂ ¸ q (B) = 1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¸1B à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¸ q Data Analysis The Box-Jenkins methodology (Box and Jenkins, 1976) is applied for determining the components of the ARIMA process; i.e. we test different ARIMA(p,d,q) models with p and q to be smaller or equal 4 (due to the limited amount of data) and estimate à Ã¢â‚¬   and ÃŽÂ ¸ using Maximum likelihood techniques and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) as well as diagnostic checks to detect a suitable model. The data requirements were set thus that at least 5 observed data points are needed for projections into the future. This is the smallest number of observations which are needed to estimate ARIMA (4,1,4) models (however, the majority of the sample (greater 90 percent) has at least 10 data points). Furthermore, all models are tested to be stationary (usually d=1 suffices to assure a stationary process) and all series are demeaned. To include uncertainty in the projections, also 95 percent confidence forecasts were calculated and analyzed. Forecasts into the future are performed with the selected models and then compared to the observed variables. Increases or decreases of GDP in future years are measured as a percentage increase or decrease to baseline GDP (i.e., baseline =100) which is defined to be GDP a year before the disaster event. Furthermore, the differences between observed values and projected ones are calculated and called Diff(t), which indicates the percentage difference between the observed and projected value of GDP in year t. We focus on projections with a medium term perspective (up to 5 years into the future). This limitation is due to important data constraints for the ARIMA models within

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Comparative Analysis of Nike and Adidas

Comparative Analysis of Nike and Adidas Adidas is the second largest company who manufactures sporting goods all over the world. It was established in 1920.The Original founders of Adidas were two brothers Rudolph and Adi Dassler .The companys first manufacture were slippers and after that they decided to make sport shoes which went so successful that it led them to open their own shoe making factory in 1926. Then it didnt look back and today it is one of the most successful company in sporting goods. Nike was initially started in 1962 as a blue ribbon sports. The founders of Nike were Bill Bower man and Phil Knight. Nike from its modest start grown as a sporting leader in sporting goods. It is also now recognised as world s leading manufacturer, designer, marketer and distributor. Market and Literature Review of Adidas and Nike Market Share and Sales In 2009, the Market shares of Adidas was 22% of the worldwide athletic footwear while on the other end the market shares of Nike was about 33 % . In 2009 the sales percentage of Adidas reported decline in profits. In last quarter of the 2009 its sales percentage was declined by 5 % which was because of their increase in marketing costs. While in 2010 the financial report shows that there is 15 % increase in their sale because of 2010 FIFA World Cup. On the other end the sales of Nike in the fourth quarter of 2009 was decreased down by 7 %. While the first quarter of 2010 shows 53 % increase in net income. Target Audience In case of target audience both Adidas and Nike have different target audience globally. The main target audience of Adidas are between 12-34 years consumers specially involved in sports. There are various sports which are targeted by Adidas that includes gym regulars, NBA players, Football etc and also the youth who believes in living a sporty life style. While Nike on the other end has very specific target audience .It focuses mainly on males and females, who are between 18 35 years old. As Adidas, Nike also focuses on football players under its target audience. Product: Adidas The products of Adidas are divided in to 3 Categories Adidas Performance Sports shoes, perfumes, eye wear Adidas Original Superstar Sneakers, Vintage Clothing, Adicolor Trainers Adidas Style Caps , Bags , Belts , Hand Gloves Etc Nike Nike Products Sports Shoes , Sunglasses, Trainers,BodyCare,Sneakers, Hoodies , Clothes ,Caps , Bags , Perfumes etc Price : Adidas There are various Pricing strategies which are followed by Adidas according to its product. But generally it uses Market skimming strategy, that is the price of the product depends upon its colour, look etc for example: white colour shoes of Adidas is more expensive than other colour shoes. Nike As compared to Adidas , the price of products of Nike are high. It adopts different and Competetive pricing startegy than Adidas, it is based on the basis of premium segment as target customers . Nike as brand has high premium , so the price of its products is high than adidas. Place/ Distribution Adidas The most basic distribution strategy adopted by Adidas is to concentrate resources at the place where most profitable customer segment is available. So for this purpose it opened its shops all around the world. It also focuses on offering total customer service at the place where customer goes to buy its products. In addition to shop, Adidas also gives online buying service. Nike Nike on the other end had a strategy of exploring the current and developing new market, so its shops are in nearly 200 Countries. Like Adidas, it sells the products to independent distributors, licenses and subsidiaries. Same as Adidas, it also sells its products online. Positioning Adidas Adidas has its own unique brand positioning in the mind of customers. For instance one of the images of Adidas is those who want to wear light shoe should go for Adidas, rather than going for other brands. Other positioning of Adidas in customers mind is basketball shoes , this is because generally basketball players wears it because of its unique design and light weight. NIKE Nike on the other end has image of an innovative company who focuses making new innovations and designing new style shoes. As Nike s one of the main target audience are football players its key positioning in customers mind is to provide competitive edge; help athlete to perform well. Recently in order to improve its brand positioning , it made a deal with NFL by paying 1 billion dollar (approximately) , Nike will produce all the on-field apparels , it will also produce game uniforms and other side line personal apparel and fan gear. Research Method Used and Its Limitation In order to carry out research there were two main methods used Primary and Secondary Research methods. To assemble primary data a questionnaire was designed which compares both athletic brand Adidas and Nike. Sample Size. 30 While to gather secondary data internet, magazines, annual reports of the company, articles were used. Manual Method is used to get output information after analysing data. Time Schedule Total estimated time used to complete this report will be 9 week. Limitations of Primary Data Collection Method 1. The first disadvantage of carrying primary research was difference in response. Each individual has its own view. So it was difficult to generalise the information. 2. It was time consuming, costly as it takes lots of time to find a respondent who can fill questionnaire. Limitations of Secondary Data Collection Method 1. It was difficult to find data from company s website as sometimes they might not say their weakness. 2. The person who wrote secondary data might be biased. 3. The sample used by a secondary person might be small. Analysis and Discussion Key findings of Marketing Strategies Adopted By Nike and Adidas after analysing Secondary data ; Adidas There are various promotional strategies adopted by Adidas which includes television, internet, billboards and magazines. Television Advertisement Analysis of TV ad Adidas uses different media vehicles which can pop up its advertisement on television; it uses various sports channels like Star Sports, ESPN. The recent Adidas original Ad has celebrities like David beck ham, Agnes den, they used Informative Advertising because the objective of the ad was to create awareness about the launch of its new star wars collection which includes cool, funky clothes and shoes for youth, so in order to attract them they used Musical Appeal to stir up the feeling of buying. It used Peripheral Cues because it might have thought people would not be able to process information that their new collection is very cool and stylish, and so they used fashionable celebrities like Beckham and Agnes to influence target audience attitude positively. According to me the message of ad was if one wants look modish and funky as David Beckham and Agnes then should go for this new collection of Adidas. Adidas uses internet in many ways to reach its target audience, it created its own website (adida.com) exclusive digital content where one can get all information about the company including company back ground, products, sales, new launches etc. Other than this recently adidas used windows messenger game platform in order to promote its Predator and f50 boots to the age group of 15-24 years old males. Which was most effective advertisement strategy as it helped the compnay to increase 14 % brand ratings by gamers.Additionally popup ads can also be found on yahoo , espn home pages etc . According to me , the objective of using internet marketing was to attract the younsters who spends more time online than watching TV. Outdoor advertisement The organisation uses various groundbreaking outdoor advertisement such as billboard soccers, expansive wall scrappers , topiary styled billboards etc. Recently in japan adidas came with unique outdoor adverisement concept where two footballers were hung wearing hearness and have to play football for 10 mintues. The objective was to grab the attention of the people towards the billboard and adidas was successful in doing that as shown in figure , traffice around that froze for about 70 mintues. Other extremely effective concept of outdoor advertisement was made in germany in 2006 during fifa world cup , a huge arc like structure with Oliver Khan s image was putted across the road , the objective of this concept was to grab attention of the vehicles passing by road and it was successful in doing this . Sponsership And Events In addition to these it sponserd soccerex football festival for 2010 football and has confirmed four year sponsership deal with it . The objective of the deal must be to promote its products in foot ball after successfully promoting it in NBA games .Aditionally adidas have agreed to make eight year sponsership with major league soccer the objective of adidas is in to promote its products as well as to increase growth of the league and insvesment for youth development . Adidas also uses various sales promotion startegies in order to increase its sales, one of the recent sales promotion strategies is adidas coupons and coupons code in which adidas distributes coupons through dealtaker.com in which if a customers code matches with the adidas code , discount up to 30% or more than that will be given by company on various types shoes. In addition to these it also cuts down the prices of product during special festivals and events in order to increase its sales or to finish the old stock . Other than this , adidas also uses various maganizes and newspapers in order to promote its products . Nike Nike uses different promotional strategies. It promotes its products by adopting endorsement focus scheme, creating a prevailing media existence, establishing flagship stores and use of magazines, billboards, mobile etc TV Advertisement For TV ads Nike uses various sports channels to promote its products by various celebrities like Ronald no, Renaldo, and Roberto Carlos. It mainly shows its ad during football games. Recent ad was a sort Comparative Advertisement because as the title describes Nike: My better is than your better, in this ad it shows all sports games like basket ball , baseball, Running etc and try to deliver a message that Nike products are best in every game whether it is basket ball , base ball , jumping . In order to grab attention and to stir up Emotional appeal it used Fantasy and surrealism because certain images shown create fantasy. While to stir up Rational appeal it indirectly compared it s products with other products, the ad might be effective as it shows and considers its products superior in every game as compared to other companys products. Internet Nike uses various online methods in order to promote its products. It has established its own website, where customers can get lots of information about the products and company. It also uses yahoo to promote its products, according to me the objective of using yahoo and other popup ads is to make youngsters who often goes online, aware about the brand Billboards and Magazines In comparison to Adidas, Nike uses different ways of billboard advertisement to promote its products, in recent times in Hong Kong to promote its Nike s T90, a series of black and white markers were posted in local Nike stores, subways, stations and also in magazines. These markers were a kind of 3D Window Display, and to watch it, customer need to text the key word displayed on the marker and has to download the Nike application. After the software is downloaded, if one points the camera on the markers, one can see virtual 3d Nike T90 boots. These types of billboard s were specially launched for the target market of Hong Kong who is found of latest technology. Other than this Nike uses ESPN magazines to promote its product. Key Findings of Survey (Questionnaire); Recent research founded that Nike scored low rates as compared to Adidas in terms of positioning; this is because they primarily focuses on men, only 10% of female supposed that they would buy Nike sneakers again, while rest of the women likes Adidas because it focuses on both men and women uniformly.(Referred To questionnaire) 40 % of respondents prefer and gave an average rate of 6.9 to Adidas because it is cheaper and lighter in weight. For example many of the samples said I would go for Adidas because they are cheaper and also I feel myself more comfortable in the products of Adidas, particularly youngsters who are fascinated in playing foot ball because David Beckham wears it. But on the other hand 60 % of entire sample likes and gave an average rate of 8.5 to Nike, out of which 40 % sample likes it and gave an average rate of 7 because they deem its shoes are good in quality, comfortable over long distance. While other 20 % likes it and gave an average rate of 7.5 because they feel Nike provides more variety of design in shoes than Adidas and they look more stylish. For example sample 4 said I like Nike because the products are very much cool and also there are various types choices available and various types of pattern and styles are available, So it looks that People are more concerned about qualit y and comfortableness than price, so by this it can recommended to Adidas to focus more on its quality. Out of total respondents, only 70% of respondents were able to give description of recent ad of two companies out of which 40 % of respondents described Adidass new star war collection, while other 30 % of respondents described Nike s War hawk Matt Scott s No excuses commercial. 30 % of total sample remembers and likes, TV ad of Adidas because they use well-known celebrities like Beckham, Messy, Kaka etc and they are more eye-catching. For example sample 21 Said the action it shows in its ad s add attract the viewers and also the style of showing the product was awesome. 70 % of overall sample remembers and likes TV commercials of Nike because every time they demonstrate foot ball game in a unique and a bit comical way. Some people remember it because they reflect that the frequency of Nike s ad on TV is more than Adidas. After analysing primary data it can be said that, respondents like Nike more than Adidas, and Nike s communication strategies are more effective than Adidas. Conclusion Based on above analysis following Conclusion can be made ; Both Nike and Adidas are following almost same types of promotional Strategies up to some extent, both benchmarks each other, both uses internet , billboards , magazines , TV advertisement to promote their products the only differences is that they both are using different celebrities to promote their products and they also follow different endorsement strategies ,Adidas focuses on sponsoring a team and various events, while Nike bulls its eye on various stars of football, basket ball, golf etc. The other difference is their advertising message; they both use same scoop and scale but try to communicate with different messages. While the target audience of both the brands are same as well as the brand building strategy adopted by both the company seems to be same. So both companies are investing more and more in their promotional strategies, to attract more customers and at last to expand their growth.

Monday, August 19, 2019

feminaw Feminist Reading of Kate Chopins The Awakening Essay examples

A Feminist Reading of The Awakening The Awakening is not new to me. However, in the class when I read it before the instructor refused to entertain a feminist criticism. The theory presented was that Edna knew what kind of man she was marrying and all these things she went through: her friendship with Madame Reisz leaving the house, entertaining her friends at the party, her situation with Robert and Arobin were all selfish efforts toward the ultimate freedom which is death. I feel Chopin faults Leonce as much as Edna for Edna's problems. He is a cold fish. He is controlling and he puts on a show for friends and neighbors "proving" he is a model husband which he is not. He is Creole and I think Edna, being as reserve as she is, is not the best mate for him. He possibly needs an outwardly passionate woman to keep him interested and alive as a husband. For a Creole he is reserve and he does not know how to respond to Edna's reserve. By the end of chapter V we know the Pontelliers have problems and we know Robert is sympathetic towards Edna merely because she is a woman and he likes women. We have also seen the "ideal" woman in the person of Madame Ragtignolle. Chapter VI is very different. Chopin lets us know that Edna has begun to realize her world and its relationships are less than desirable. She and Leonce don't have a happy, fulfilling marriage. She is not the mother-earth type and can not appreciate her children. Although, some of the problem here is because Leonce undermines her mothering efforts and has done so from the beginning. His mother epitomizes motherhood and no one can measure up. I doubt she would have been a demonstrative mother but she would have been a loving one. The last paragraph of Ch... ... the very end of the story just before Edna enters the ocean for the last time End watches the coast. There is no living thing all along the beach, but there is a bird, a wild free bird, with a broken wing who †was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water .† Even the wild birds need support. End had no support, just like this bird and her fate is the same â€Å"down, down into the water.†I’m hung up on the lack of communication between Edna and Leonce. I wonder if Leonce has a comparable story of misery. In the first several chapters Edna says four lines and they are in response to someone or something else. They are not ideas originating with her. Leonce’s words to Edna are aimed at control. He goes off to the hotel and says he’ll be back whenever This leaves her waiting for his next move, his next demand (request).

Sunday, August 18, 2019

breif explination of characters and themes of catcher in the rye :: essays research papers

Catcher in the rye Vocabulary 1. Fencing - The art or sport of using a foil, epà ©e, or saber in attack and defense. 2. Grippe - an acute febrile highly contagious viral disease. 3. Phonies - Something not genuine; a fake. 4. Ashamed - Feeling shame or guilt. 5. Compulsory - Obligatory; required: a compulsory examination 6. Peculiar - Unusual or eccentric; odd. 7. Descriptive - Involving or characterized by description; serving to describe. 8. Conceited - Holding or characterized by an unduly high opinion of oneself; vain. 9. Psychoanalyzed - To analyze and treat by psychoanalysis. 10. Halitosis - The condition of having stale or foul-smelling breath. 11. Moron - A stupid person; a dolt. 12. Suave - Smoothly agreeable and courteous. 13. Ostracized - To banish from society; to put under the ban; to cast out from social, political, or private favor; as, he was ostracized by his former friends. 14. Bourgeois - A person whose attitudes and behavior are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class. Questions 1. Why is Holden expelled from Pency? He flunks all of his classes, except English. 2. Identify the following characters and tell about Holden’s attitude toward them: Spencer: Holden's history teacher at Pencey Prep. Holden seems to dismiss his opinions because he is older and sick at the time. Ackley: Holden's next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Holden feels that Ackley is a phony because he lies about his sexual experiences. Stradlater: Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Holden calls him a â€Å"secret slob† because his one razor is very dirty. Holden also calls him a â€Å"sexy bastard† because he is well liked and experienced with girls. Sally Hayes: A girl who Holden has dated and known for a long time. He thinks she is â€Å"stupid† even though he says she is well read. He also calls her a phony quite a bit. Mr. Antonlini: Holden’s former English teacher at the Elkton Hills School. Holden seems to respect him and find him to be clever. 3. Which people in the novel does Holden like? Why does he like these characters and dislike others? Holden’s main distinction for liking or not -liking someone is whether or not he thinks they are phonies. Some of the characters he likes are his sister and brothers, Mr. Antolini, Jane and Carl Luce. 4. Holden has trouble communicating with adults. Pick three adults in the novel and show how Holden â€Å"miss-communicates† with them. Spencer: Holden doesn’t respond to his concern and lecture the way an average student would by listening, instead he starts thinking of how he’s in a robe and how he doesn’t’ like to see old men’s chests or having to be around someone with grippe.

Luddites, Neo-Luddites, and Technophobes: Confused by Technology :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Luddites, Neo-Luddites, and Technophobes: Confused by Technology   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In today’s fast-paced society, there are many who wish we could just go back to the â€Å"good ‘ol days,† a magical time, possibly in the fantastic cultural memory of the 1950s, where we weren’t surrounded by computers and pagers and cell phones and all manner of surveillance and recording.   Many say that these things add hassle to our lives, and that the digital revolution is simply incompatible with our analog minds and souls.   Such people are often condescendingly called â€Å"old fogies† when they are, typically, older, confused by technology, and fearful of change of any sort.   There are, though, hearty subcultures which embrace a return to a less complicated time with intelligence and reason, generally known as â€Å"Neo-Luddites,† after the early 19th century English protesters who destroyed industrial machinery.   This, however, is a misnomer, as the many groups claiming ideological ancestry seldom refer to anything other than the popular anti-technology belief.   And, while the wealthy industrialists put down the Luddite rebellion, their ideals have survived, and probably will survive as long as technology continues to be so totally complex and separate from nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The original Luddites were technological guerillas who, from 1811 to 1813, and sporadically in the next three years, broke machines (most often knitting machines) throughout Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leistershire, the three Midland counties in England, as well as starting riots and specifically terrorizing machine owners (Bailey 111-114, 18-19).   Machine-breaking was not a new form of rebellion, and the Luddites did little to modify it; there were many copycat breakings, but there were also many unconnected breakings, in the same time (11).   The chief distinguishing characteristic of the Luddites was their name, and that they had one:   rebelling â€Å"textile workers in the Midlands and north of England† used the invented name â€Å"Ned Ludd†Ã¢â‚¬â€-or â€Å"General Ludd† or â€Å"King Ludd†Ã¢â‚¬â€-in place of a leader, becoming known as followers of that name:   Luddites (x, 139). Sadly, the growing popularity of this name opened up a new area of problems.   The Luddites’ standard machine-breaking eventually inspired others to commit acts of violence in their name, which Luddite purists apparently detested enough to cease their breaking to prove the distinction (144).   Although in the thick of the machine-breaking fervor, though, there were many who took the chaotic opportunity to commit unrelated crimes in their name,