Individual Project ( Market Strategy) Research Paper

Individual Project ( Market Strategy) - Research Paper Example We have transcend our thoughts to finding bargains online, and that includes purchasing books at a deeper discount. For all the luxury retail offers, like browsing through the aisles of books neatly showcased for us to admire, and the sheer pleasure of physically opening the pages of a book to see the quality of your purchase, this dinosaur is a sad reality. Welcome to the world of e-books! Many e-book publishers in the states are receptive to lower cost output, without the revenue loss of returned print book inventory. Unfortunately, United Kingdom publishers do not express the same ideals as their American counterpart. They view the digital world of e-books as risky, with higher cost, and less opportunity in the long run. The transformation of e-books in the United Kingdom are slow. This fear is from the potential of revenue loss on hard book and paperback book sales. Yet the European industry needs to take a second look at their nearsightedness. Electronic devices are here to stay , and for good reason. Surely the initial cost for an e-book is worth the price, and the long term value it serves Page -2- is endless. Not only can you install more than one electronic book, you have a choice of font sizes as well. Just think, if you are an avid reader, you won’t have to make countless trips to the bookstore to purchase a hard cover book or a paperback. The e-book tablet is lightweight, smart looking, and cost effective for the long term. If the United Kingdom does not keep up with the future of new technology, there will be consequences down the road, both economically and environmentally. Let’s take a look at the environmental impact that hardcover and paperback books have on our eco-system. Although publishers are conscience of the paper mill effects on our depletion of trees, recycled paper for hardcover books and paperback books have become more popular over the last ten years or so. Waste Management landfills are increasingly having a negative i mpact, where the consumer is not mindful to recycling the books. We as consumers must think about the long term effects that paper has on our environment. There’s also the negative side to the handling and discarding of electronic systems in our environment as well. Lead and mercury breathes toxins into the air and water. That’s why we need recycled solutions for all electronics instead of shipping them to another country and destroying their home land with our waste. Technology is growing rapidly, and changing every day, so it is imperative for all of us to be responsible for the welfare of that change. The trends of advance technology go beyond the adult reader. Teenagers are getting the full grasp of e-book’s easy access, compared to print books. We will also see in the near future, that hard cover books will become obsolete in the classroom. Technology demands that reading behavior and patterns have to change. The higher margins set in the publishing industr y can only stimulate the market. Already the states see an upswing of e-book sales of 4% from 2009, and the percentage of sales continues to grow. Page -3- Price strategy as well as digital distribution, must be a long term goal in order for this new technology to work it’s way into the mass market. Fear of the unknown is hardly a matter of time. Hard cover books will continue to sell despite e-book distribution. But European Book Publishers, including the

Development Of Sentencing Policy In England Law Essay

Development Of Sentencing Policy In England Law Essay According to Andrew Ashworth (Sentencing and Criminal Justice, 5th Edition, Cambridge University Press (2010), p.77), section 142 of The Criminal Justice Act 2003 appears to embody the worst of pick-and-mix sentencing, and one which invites inconsistency. In the light of this statement discuss, and comment, on the aims and purposes of sentencing. To what extent are they a reflection of sentencing currently practised by courts? This essay seeks to consider the way in which the sentencing policy has developed under English law on the basis of the fact that many academics including Ashworth look upon the current system as being somewhat pick-and-mix illustrated by section 142 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. With this in mind, this essay looks to produce a discussion that is considered to be able to serve to provide an understanding of the aims of sentencing traditionally and as to how English law has looked to fulfil these aims and the extent to which they have proved successful in this regard. In considering the idea section 142 of The Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 2003 appears to embody the worst of pick-and-mix sentencing (Ashworth, 2010), it is necessary to appreciate how it may invite inconsistency by first discussing the aims of sentencing before looking to expand and focus this discussion upon the specific provision and related provisions. On this basis, it should be possible to then determine the extent to which these aims are a reflection of policies of sentencing currently practised by courts in the UK and their associated aims. Finally, this essay will then look to conclude with a summary of the key points derived from this discussion in relation to the remit of sentencing in the UK and as to how it is currently practised by domestic courts. When considering the different aims of sentencing there are significant rationales involved with the development of an effective policy focussed upon achieving retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, restorative justice, and incapacitation founded upon a specific offenders culpability that can prove complicated (Tonry, 2005). Nevertheless, such an understanding is ably supported by philosopher, Immanuel Kant (2002) to mark the beginning of modern theories of punishment as he argued the only morally legitimate justification for sentencing. Therefore, the key function of such policy is to look to ensure offenders receive the appropriate sentences to manage the apparent conflict that exists between individual liberty under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) 1950 (domestically implemented by the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998) and the interests of society as a whole (see, for example, Steel v. United Kingdom). However, it has proved difficult for an effective sente ncing policy to develop that is able to find a balance between the aims that have been recognised to account for goals of crime-prevention and the apportioning of punishment (Fraser, 2005). More specifically, government policy makers have sought to explain away major changes with a view to increasing public confidence (Home Office, 2002, p.13) because the criminal justice system domestically did not have the necessary credibility and legitimacy government policy makers felt was necessary to make punishments and sanctions for criminal activity more effective, certain, and consistent (Tonry, 2005). Sentencing policy in the UK has been largely explained by the fact that, for over a decade, government policy makers have explained away major changes as part of a larger effort to increase public confidence in the English legal system (Home Office, 2002, p.13). Prior to the making of these changes, it had been a traditional social belief this countrys criminal justice system did not have the necessary credibility and legitimacy government policy makers felt was necessary to make criminal punishments more effective, certain, and consistent to address citizens problems (Tonry, 2005). But, despite this clear need and the changes, it is arguable that sentencing has still become something of a pick and mix process aptly illustrated by section 142 of the CJA 2003 regarding the purpose of sentencing policy in the English legal system (Ashworth, 2010). Therefore, both the aims and purpose of the domestic system of sentencing has arguably been lost without set guidelines to follow in the int erests of fairness and consistency regarding the sanctioning of offenders because the current codification of the law is arguably too discretionary for the judiciary to utilise in keeping with the remit of their powers as it relates to making their decisions in any given case. Section 142 of the CJA 2003 recognises criminal courts need to consider the following purposes of sentencing (a) punishment; (b) the reduction of crime; (c) reform and rehabilitation; (d) social protection; and (e) reparation. As a result, unfortunately, it is arguable such a provision was always bound to lead to significant problems because it seems to require the judiciary to actively consider a variety of aims before then giving weight to one factor above all of the rest that they must consider to reach a decision (Ashworth, 2010). But such concerns regarding sentencing serve to detract from its aims that now arguably lack foundation since the Sentencing Guidelines Council has adopted section 143 as opposed to section 142 of the CJA 2003 to determine appropriate sanctions for criminal offenders (Tonry, 2005). Section 143 specifically provides, for the purpose of sentencing, the court must consider the offenders culpability in committing the offence and any harm which the offenc e caused, was intended to cause or might foreseeably have cause. Therefore, it has been for the Sentencing Guidelines Council to focus its attention upon the proportionality principle to determine what is required for the sentencing of individual criminal offences to be more effective (Von Hirsch Roberts, 2004). However, the policy of sentencing under English law still remains sufficiently uncertain so one is left to wonder what will happen if section 142 of the CJA 2003 is favoured when determining how the Sentencing Guidelines Councils Overarching Principles Seriousness (2004) is to be followed by the courts in deciding sanctions in any given case. This is because it has proved arguable that section 142 under the CJA 2003 has already given the judiciary too greater autonomy in deciding the sentencing of offenders in any given case regarding the appropriate sanction for the offence the defendant has committed where they are found guilty (Rex Tonry, 2005, Chapter 5). As a result, doubts have arisen throughout society about whether changes in sentencing would actually reduce crime when many people have sought tougher penalties to reduce crime rates through a system that expounded the virtues of deterrence and incapacitation to achieve the aforementioned aims of sentencing. At the same time, however, there is a need to appreciate the prospect for effective rehabilitation from the sentence that an offender is given has changed quite radically under contemporary law. This is because effectively targeted programs, as part of an offenders sentence, can serve to limit the probability of that individual then re-offending through the drug treatment, anger management, sex-offender treatment, and various educational and vocational-skills programs implemented to prevent further offences occurring in the interests of crime prevention within society (Gaes, 1999). By way of illustration, the Home Offices Halliday Report provided the foundation for a massive reorganisation of the English criminal justice system under the CJA 2003 so it was concluded if the [treatment] programmes are developed and applied as intended, to the maximum extent possible, reconviction rates might be reduced by 5-25 percentage points. (Halliday, et al, 2001, p.7) Therefore, a new approach to custodial sentences was proposed and endorsed totalling less than a year with three specific options available. The first is custody plus consisting of a maximum of 13 weeks in prison with the rest being made up by community service, whilst sentencing may also consist of a policy of intermittent custody that involves weekend imprisonment for up 51 weeks (sections 183-186 at CJA 2003). Finally, there is also the possibility of custody minus whereby the offenders sentence is suspended for a maximum of 51 weeks with community service carried out instead (Von Hisch Roberts, 2004). On this basis, the methods for dealing with minor criminal matters have taken on greater significance with the CJA 2003s enactment, since sections 22-27 now also supplement the existing system of cautions (under the Police Criminal Evidence Act 1984) with conditional cautions which may be given when the conditions set out are fulfilled (Ashworth Redmayne, 2005, Chapter 6). However, whilst the CJA 2003 has introduced a new mandatory minimum sentence of five years for possession of firearms without a licence under section 287, there has been a distinct lack of Court of Appeal guidance for the minimum sentence for domestic burglary (section 111 at Power of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000) but was not endorsed by the Court of Appeal (R v. Hoare) unlike, for example, guidelines on rape (R v. Milberry). Moreover, the CJA 2003 also eliminated the automatic life imprisonment sentence and absorbed it within the new dangerousness sentences (sections 224-236 Schedules 15 18 of the CJA 2003 because decisions like Stafford v. UK recognised the Home Secretarys power to set a minimum time for someone to remain in prison who is imprisoned for life (see also section 269 Schedule 21 of the CJA 2003). As for the matter of previous convictions impact upon sentencing individual offenders, where an individual has already been convicted of another offence they should be liable to a much stricter penalty for all offences they are convicted of thereafter because such convictions are illustrative of an individuals bad character in court proceedings to impact upon a given case (Choo, 2006, Chapter 8). However, the CJA 2003 have proved somewhat controversial to say the least because the precise moment of their coming into force has proved a matter of notable dispute (R v. Bradley) as well as the fact that, in a criminal trial, any evidence relevant to the case should be admissible (Rees Roberts, 2006). This proved necessary because it was previously largely understood under section 1(3) of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 the prosecution in any criminal case was unable to adduce evidence of a defendants bad character except regarding the offence a defendant was charged with unless it was co nsidered probative to the best interests of justice (Durston, 2004). But what Lord Wilberforce said in Boardman v. Director of Public Prosecutions (p.444) acted as a caveat in recognising the admission of similar fact evidence (of the kind now in question) is exceptional and requires a strong degree of probative force to be admissible prior to the CJA 2003. Therefore, the level of sentencing may then be determined fairly and consistently in keeping with the facts of any given case to provide sufficient sanctions in the best interests of justice for society as a whole (Fitzpatrick, 2006). In addition, the exclusionary rule previously emphasised as being of fundamental significance against the admission of previous misconduct and other evidence of bad character has now been largely abolished where it is found the matters to be considered are relevant to the issues at hand (section 101 of the CJA 2003). By way of illustration, under section 103(1) of the CJA 2003, the matters in issue between the defendant and the prosecution include: (a) The question whether the defendant has a propensity to commit offences of the kind with which he is charged, except where his having such a propensity makes it no more likely that he is guilty of the offence (Roberts, 2006). But whilst there is little doubt those who drafted this provision intended to make evidence of a defendants bad character admissible because it shows they have a general tendency to commit offences, there is room for considerable doubt about whether the provision achieves its aim (Withey, 2007). To conclude, policy makers under English law have sought to develop a system of sentencing that fulfils its recognised aims since the CJA 2003 has sought to provide for the achievement of higher levels of fairness in the decisions reached to prevent further instances of crime and act in societys best interests. This is because not only can an effective system of sentencing provide a deterrent for others in society, but this can also serve as a means of punishment and rehabilitation. However, whilst the CJA 2003s remit has been called into question because it would seem to give too wider discretion to the judiciary in looking to reason out their decisions, previous convictions must also now be taken into account in determining the level of sentencing for any individual found guilty of a criminal offence as an indication of bad character under the CJA 2003. But, to achieve a consistent and fair approach to the administration of justice through an effective sentencing policy, it is stil l necessary to adhere to the Act to come to a fair approach to sentencing and sanctions to punish and rehabilitate a guilty offender whilst also deterring others from carrying out similar offences.

Heart Of Darkness :: essays research papers

Heart of Darkness By: Joseph Conrad The novel Heart of Darkness, was written by a man named Joseph Conrad in 1894. Conrad was born December 3, 1857 into a family of polish decent in the northern Ukraine. The backgrounds of his family members consisted of a father that was an avid translator of Shakespeare as well as poet, along with a mother, that while was prone to illness still was well read and very intelligent. When Conrad was five, his father was exiled into a prison camp in Northern Russia for alleged revolutionist plots against the government. Due to the harsh conditions of the prison, Conrad’s mother died within three years and his father four years later. It was the death of his father that sent Joseph into a fit of melancholy, and it was within this sadness that Joseph turned to writing to ease his grief and carried his pain and suffering into most of his novels. After finishing his education in Krakow, Poland, Joseph went to sea, and from there sailed on and off for the next twenty years. These tw enty years were the basis if not the absolute pure nautical theme that flows throughout many of his novels. Stories such as Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness are based upon true to life experiences that Joseph had while at sea. Another unique aspect of Conrad’s writing, would be the lack of simple romance within all of his novels. This lack of emotional passion is most likely due to a drastic love affair when he was 17 that ended with an attempt to end his own life. Of Conrad’s many works some include Nostromo, Typhoon, The Secret Agent, and perhaps his most famous work Chance, which made him an instant celebrity within literary circles. From his world-renowned success, Conrad became very rich, and paraded himself as the typical aristocratic high-hat, and for the most part was allowed to play this role, until his death in 1524 from a heart attack. He died and was buried at his home in Canterbury, England. Within the actual story, Heart of Darkness, Conrad takes us into the mind and morals of a sailor named Marlow as he treks through the literal "Heart of Darkness." This actual land is found deep within the dark jungles of the Congo River region of Africa, and serves as the central setting for this story.

Chapter 25 The Egg and the Eye

Harry had no idea how long a bath he would need to work out the secret of the golden egg, he decided to do it at night, when he would be able to take as much time as he wanted. Reluctant though he was to accept more favors from Cedric, he also decided to use the prefects' bathroom; far fewer people were allowed in there, so it was much less likely that he would be disturbed. Harry planned his excursion carefully, because he had been caught out of bed and out-of-bounds by Filch the caretaker in the middle of the night once before, and had no desire to repeat the experience. The Invisibility Cloak would, of course, be essential, and as an added precaution, Harry thought he would take the Marauders Map, which, next to the cloak, was the most useful aid to rule-breaking Harry owned. The map showed the whole of Hogwarts, including its many shortcuts and secret passageways and, most important of all, it revealed the people inside the castle as minuscule, labeled dots, moving around the corridors, so that Harry would be forewarned if somebody was approaching the bathroom. On Thursday night, Harry sneaked up to bed, put on the cloak, crept back downstairs, and, just as he had done on the night when Hagrid had shown him the dragons, waited for the portrait hole to open. This time it was Ron who waited outside to give the Fat Lady the password (â€Å"banana fritters†), â€Å"Good luck,† Ron muttered, climbing into the room as Harry crept out past him. It was awkward moving under the cloak tonight, because Harry had the heavy egg under one arm and the map held in front of his nose with the other. However, the moonlit corridors were empty and silent, and by checking the map at strategic intervals, Harry was able to ensure that he wouldn't run into anyone he wanted to avoid. When he reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, he located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, â€Å"Pine fresh,† just as Cedric had told him. The door creaked open. Harry slipped inside, bolted the door behind him, and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around. His immediate reaction was that it would be worth becoming a prefect just to be able to use this bathroom. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored. Harry moved forward, looking around, his footsteps echoing off the walls. Magnificent though the bathroom was – and quite keen though he was to try out a few of those taps – now he was here he couldn't quite suppress the feeling that Cedric might have been having him on. How on earth was this supposed to help solve the mystery of the egg? Nevertheless, he put one of the Huffy towels, the cloak, the map, and the egg at the side of the swimming-pool-sized bath, then knelt down and turned on a few of the taps. He could tell at once that they carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed with the water, though it wasn't bubble bath as Harry had ever experienced it. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that Harry thought it would have supported his weight if he'd cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water. Harry amused himself for awhile turning the taps on and off, particularly enjoying the effect of one whose jet bounced off the surface of the water in large arcs. Then, when the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, Harry turned off all the taps, pulled off his pajamas, slippers, and dressing gown, and slid into the water. It was so deep that his feet barely touched the bottom, and he actually did a couple of lengths before swimming back to the side and treading water, staring at the egg. Highly enjoyable though it was to swim in hot and foamy water with clouds of different-colored steam wafting all around him, no stroke of brilliance came to him, no sudden burst of understanding. Harry stretched out his arms, lifted the egg in his wet hands, and opened it. The wailing, screeching sound filled the bathroom, echoing and reverberating off the marble walls, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as ever, if not more so with all the echoes. He snapped it shut again, worried that the sound would attract Filch, wondering whether that hadn't been Cedric's plan – and then, making him jump so badly that he dropped the egg, which clattered away across the bathroom floor, someone spoke. â€Å"I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you.† Harry had swallowed a considerable amount of bubbles in shock. He stood up, sputtering, and saw the ghost of a very glum-looking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. It was Moaning Myrtle, who was usually to be heard sobbing in the S-bend of a toilet three floors below. â€Å"Myrtle!† Harry said in outrage, â€Å"I'm – I'm not wearing anything!† The foam was so dense that this hardly mattered, but he had a nasty feeling that Myrtle had been spying on him from out of one of the taps ever since he had arrived. â€Å"I closed my eyes when you got in,† she said, blinking at him through her thick spectacles. â€Å"You haven't been to see me for ages.† â€Å"Yeah†¦well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Harry, bending his knees slightly, just to make absolutely sure Myrtle couldn't see anything but his head, â€Å"I'm not supposed to come into your bathroom, am I? It's a girls' one.† â€Å"You didn't used to care,† said Myrtle miserably. â€Å"You used to be in there all the time.† This was true, though only because Harry, Ron, and Hermione had found Myrtle's out-of-order toilets a convenient place to brew Polyjuice Potion in secret – a forbidden potion that had turned him and Ron into living replicas of Crabbe and Goyle for an hour, so that they could sneak into the Slytherin common room. â€Å"I got told off for going in there.† said Harry, which was half-true; Percy had once caught him coming out of Myrtles bathroom. â€Å"I thought I'd better not come back after that.† â€Å"Oh†¦I see†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Myrtle, picking at a spot on her chin in a morose sort of way. â€Å"Well†¦anyway†¦I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did.† â€Å"Have you been spying on him too?† said Harry indignantly. â€Å"What d'you do, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the prefects take baths?† â€Å"Sometimes,† said Myrtle, rather slyly, â€Å"but I've never come out to speak to anyone before.† â€Å"I'm honored,† said Harry darkly. â€Å"You keep your eyes shut!† He made sure Myrtle had her glasses well covered before hoisting himself out of the bath, wrapping the towel firmly around his waist, and going to retrieve the egg. Once he was back in the water, Myrtle peered through her fingers and said, â€Å"Go on, then†¦open it under the water!† Harry lowered the egg beneath the foamy surface and opened it†¦and this time, it did not wail. A gurgling song was coming out of it, a song whose words he couldnt distinguish through the water. â€Å"You need to put your head under too,† said Myrtle, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying bossing him around. â€Å"Go on!† Harry took a great breath and slid under the surface – and now, sitting on the marble bottom of the bubble-filled bath, he heard a chorus of eerie voices singing to him from the open egg in his hands: â€Å"Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you re searching, ponder this: Wove taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour– the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it wont come back† Harry let himself float back upward and broke the bubbly surface, shaking his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Hear it?† said Myrtle. â€Å"Yeah†¦'Come seek us where our voices sound†¦' and if I need persuading†¦hang on, I need to listen again†¦.† He sank back beneath the water. It took three more underwater renditions of the egg's song before Harry had it memorized; then he trod water for a while, thinking hard, while Myrtle sat and watched him. â€Å"I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground†¦.† he said slowly. â€Å"Er†¦who could that be?† â€Å"Slow, aren't you?† He had never seen Moaning Myrtle so cheerful, apart from the day when a dose of PolyJuice Potion had given Hermione the hairy face and tail of a cat. Harry stared around the bathroom, thinking†¦if the voices could only be heard underwater, then it made sense for them to belong to underwater creatures. He ran this theory past Myrtle, who smirked at him. â€Å"Well, thats what Diggory thought,† she said. â€Å"He lay there talking to himself for ages about it. Ages and ages†¦nearly all the bubbles had gone†¦.† â€Å"Underwater†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry said slowly. â€Å"Myrtle†¦what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?† â€Å"Oh all sorts,† she said. â€Å"I sometimes go down there†¦sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it†¦.† Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet. Harry said, â€Å"Well, does anything in there have a human voice? Hang on -â€Å" Harry's eyes had fallen on the picture of the snoozing mermaid on the wall. â€Å"Myrtle, there aren't merpeople in there, are there?† â€Å"Oooh, very good,† she said, her thick glasses twinkling, â€Å"it took Diggory much longer than that! And that was with her awake too† – Myrtle jerked her head toward the mermaid with an expression of great dislike on her glum face – â€Å"giggling and showing off and flashing her fins†¦.† â€Å"Thats it, isn't it?† said Harry excitedly. â€Å"The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and†¦and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But he suddenly realized what he was saying, and he felt the excitement drain out of him as though someone had just pulled a plug in his stomach. He wasn't a very good swimmer; he'd never had much practice. Dudley had had lessons in his youth, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, no doubt hoping that Harry would drown one day, hadn't bothered to give him any. A couple of lengths of this bath were all very well, but that lake was very large, and very deep†¦and merpeople would surely live right at the bottom†¦. â€Å"Myrtle,† Harry said slowly, â€Å"how am I supposed to breathe?† At this, Myrtle's eyes filled with sudden tears again. â€Å"Tactless!† she muttered, groping in her robes for a handkerchief. â€Å"What's tactless?† said Harry, bewildered. â€Å"Talking about breathing in front of me!† she said shrilly, and her voice echoed loudly around the bathroom. â€Å"When I can't†¦when I haven't†¦not for ages†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She buried her face in her handkerchief and sniffed loudly. Harry remembered how touchy Myrtle had always been about being dead, but none of the other ghosts he knew made such a fuss about it. â€Å"Sorry,† he said impatiently. â€Å"I didn't mean – I just forgot†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yes, very easy to forget Myrtle's dead,† said Myrtle, gulping, looking at him out of swollen eyes. â€Å"Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours and hours to find my body – I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom – Are you in here again, sulking, Myrtle?' she said, ‘because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you -‘ And then she saw my body†¦ooooh, she didn't forget it until her dying day, I made sure of that†¦followed her around and reminded her, I did. I remember at her brother's wedding -â€Å" But Harry wasn't listening; he was thinking about the merpeople's song again. â€Å"We've taken what you II sorely miss.† That sounded as though they were going to steal something of his, something he had to get back. What were they going to take? â€Å"-and then, of course, she went to the Ministry of Magic to stop me stalking her, so I had to come back here and live in my toilet.† â€Å"Good,† said Harry vaguely. â€Å"Well, I'm a lot further on than I was†¦.Shut your eyes again, will you? I'm getting out.† He retrieved the egg from the bottom of the bath, climbed out, dried himself, and pulled on his pajamas and dressing gown again. â€Å"Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?† Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak. â€Å"Er†¦I'll try,† Harry said, though privately thinking the only way he'd be visiting Myrtle's bathroom again was if every other toilet in the castle got blocked. â€Å"See you. Myrtle†¦thanks for your help.† â€Å"Bye, ‘bye,† she said gloomily, and as Harry put on the Invisibllity Cloak he saw her zoom back up the tap. Out in the dark corridor, Harry examined the Marauders Map to check that the coast was still clear. Yes, the dots belonging to Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were safely in their office†¦nothing else seemed to be moving apart from Peeves, though he was bouncing around the trophy room on the floor above†¦.Harry had taken his first step back toward Gryffindor Tower when something else on the map caught his eye†¦something distinctly odd. Peeves was not the only thing that was moving. A single dot was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand corner – Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labeled â€Å"Severus Snape†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦it was Bartemius Crouch. Harry stared at the dot. Mr. Crouch was supposed to be too ill to go to work or to come to the Yule Ball – so what was he doing, sneaking into Hogwarts at one o'clock in the morning? Harry watched closely as the dot moved around and around the room, pausing here and there†¦. Harry hesitated, thinking†¦and then his curiosity got the better of him. He turned and set off in the opposite direction toward the nearest staircase. He was going to see what Crouch was up to. Harry walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, though the faces in some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard, the rustle of his pajamas. He crept along the corridor below, pushed aside a tapestry about halfway along, and proceeded down a narrower staircase, a shortcut that would take him down two floors. He kept glancing down at the map, wondering†¦It just didn't seem in character, somehow, for correct, law-abiding Mr. Crouch to be sneaking around somebody else's office this late at night†¦. And then, halfway down the staircase, not thinking about what he was doing, not concentrating on anything but the peculiar behavior of Mr. Crouch, Harry's leg suddenly sank right through the trick step Neville always forgot to jump. He gave an ungainly wobble, and the golden egg, still damp from the bath, slipped from under his arm. He lurched forward to try and catch it, but too late; the egg fell down the long staircase with a bang as loud as a bass drum on every step – the Invisibility Cloak slipped – Harry snatched at it, and the Marauder's Map fluttered out of his hand and slid down six stairs, where, sunk in the step to above his knee, he couldn't reach it. The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open, and began wailing loudly in the corridor below. Harry pulled out his wand and struggled to touch the Marauder's Map, to wipe it blank, but it was too far away to reach – Pulling the cloak back over himself Harry straightened up, listening hard with his eyes screwed up with fear†¦and, almost immediately – â€Å"PEEVES!† It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch the caretaker. Harry could hear his rapid, shuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, his wheezy voice raised in fury. â€Å"What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll†¦and what is this?† Filch's footsteps halted; there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped – Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. Harry stood very still, one leg still Jammed tightly in the magical step, listening. Any moment now, Filch was going to pull aside the tapestry, expecting to see Peeves†¦and there would be no Peeves†¦but if he came up the stairs, he would spot the Marauder's Map†¦and Invisibility Cloak or not, the map would show â€Å"Harry Potter† standing exactly where he was. â€Å"Egg?† Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. â€Å"My sweet!† – Mrs. Norris was obviously with him – â€Å"This is a Triwizard clue! This belongs to a school champion!† Harry felt sick; his heart was hammering very fast – â€Å"PEEVES!† Filch roared gleefully. â€Å"You've been stealing!† He ripped back the tapestry below, and Harry saw his horrible, pouchy face and bulging, pale eyes staring up the dark and (to Filch) deserted staircase. â€Å"Hiding, are you?† he said softly. â€Å"I'm coming to get you, Peeves†¦.You've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves†¦.Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy, pilfering poltergeist†¦.† Filch started to climb the stairs, his scrawny, dust-colored cat at his heels. Mrs. Morris's lamp-like eyes, so very like her masters, were fixed directly upon Harry. He had had occasion before now to wonder whether the Invisibility Cloak worked on cats†¦.Sick with apprehension, he watched Filch drawing nearer and nearer in his old flannel dressing gown – he tried desperately to pull his trapped leg free, but it merely sank a few more inches – any second now, Filch was going to spot the map or walk right into him – â€Å"Filch? Whats going on?† Filch stopped a few steps below Harry and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make Harry's situation worse: Snape. He was wearing a long gray nightshirt and he looked livid. â€Å"Its Peeves, Professor,† Filch whispered malevolently. â€Å"He threw this egg down the stairs.† Snape climbed up the stairs quickly and stopped beside Filch. Harry gritted his teeth, convinced his loudly thumping heart would give him away at any second†¦. â€Å"Peeves?† said Snape softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hands. â€Å"But Peeves couldn't get into my office†¦.† â€Å"This egg was in your office. Professor?† â€Å"Of course not,† Snape snapped. â€Å"I heard banging and wailing -â€Å" â€Å"Yes, Professor, that was the egg -â€Å" â€Å"- I was coming to investigate -â€Å" â€Å"- Peeves threw it. Professor -â€Å" â€Å"- and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!† But Peeves couldn't -â€Å" â€Å"I know he couldn't, Filch!† Snape snapped again. â€Å"I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!† Snape looked up the stairs, straight through Harry, and then down into the corridor below. â€Å"I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch.† â€Å"I – yes, Professor – but -â€Å" Filch looked yearningly up the stairs, right through Harry, who could see that he was very reluctant to forgo the chance of cornering Peeves. Go, Harry pleaded with him silently, go with Snape†¦go†¦Mrs. Norris was peering around Filch's legs†¦.Harry had the distinct impression that she could smell him†¦.Why had he filled that bath with so much perfumed foam? â€Å"The thing is, Professor,† said Filch plaintively, â€Å"the headmaster will have to listen to me this time. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of the castle once and for all -â€Å" â€Å"Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist; it's my office that's -â€Å" Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He and Filch both looked down at the foot of the stairs. Harry saw Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight through the narrow gap between their heads. Moody was wearing his old traveling cloak over his nightshirt and leaning on his staff as usual. â€Å"Pajama party, is it?† he growled up the stairs. â€Å"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor,† said Filch at once. â€Å"Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual – and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off -â€Å" â€Å"Shut up!† Snape hissed to Filch. Moody took a step closer to the foot of the stairs. Harry saw Moody's magical eye travel over Snape, and then, unmistakably, onto himself. Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. Moody could see through Invisibility Cloaks†¦he alone could see the full strangeness of the scene: Snape in his nightshirt, Filch clutching the egg, and he, Harry, trapped in the stairs behind them. Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise. For a few seconds, he and Harry stared straight into each other's eyes. Then Moody closed his mouth and turned his blue eye upon Snape again. â€Å"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?† he asked slowly. â€Å"Someone broke into your office?† â€Å"It is unimportant,† said Snape coldly. â€Å"On the contrary,† growled Moody, â€Å"it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?† â€Å"A student, I daresay,† said Snape. Harry could see a vein flickering horribly on Snape's greasy temple. â€Å"It has happened before. Potion ingredients have gone missing from my private store cupboard†¦students attempting illicit mixtures, no doubt†¦.† â€Å"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?† said Moody. â€Å"Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?† Harry saw the edge of Snape's sallow face turn a nasty brick color, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly. â€Å"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody,† he said in a soft and dangerous voice, â€Å"as you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself.† Moody's face twisted into a smile. â€Å"Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye -â€Å" â€Å"Dumbledore happens to trust me,† said Snape through clenched teeth. â€Å"I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!† â€Å"Course Dumbledore trusts you,† growled Moody. â€Å"Hes a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me – I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?† Snape suddenly did something very strange. He seized his left forearm convulsively with his right hand, as though something on it had hurt him. Moody laughed. â€Å"Get back to bed, Snape.† â€Å"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!† Snape hissed, letting go of his arm as though angry with himself. â€Å"I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!† â€Å"Prowl away,† said Moody, but his voice was full of menace. â€Å"I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time†¦.You've dropped something, by the way†¦.† With a stab of horror. Harry saw Moody point at the Marauders Map, still lying on the staircase six steps below him. As Snape and Filch both turned to look at it, Harry threw caution to the winds; he raised his arms under the cloak and waved furiously at Moody to attract his attention, mouthing â€Å"It's mine! Mine!† Snape had reached out for it, a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face – â€Å"Accio Parchment!† The map flew up into the air, slipped through Snape's outstretched fingers, and soared down the stairs into Moody's hand. â€Å"My mistake,† Moody said calmly. â€Å"It's mine – must've dropped it earlier -â€Å" But Snape's black eyes were darting from the egg in Filch's arms to the map in Moody's hand, and Harry could tell he was putting two and two together, as only Snape could†¦. â€Å"Potter,† he said quietly. â€Å"What's that?† said Moody calmly, folding up the map and pocketing it. â€Å"Potter!† Snape snarled, and he actually turned his head and stared right at the place where Harry was, as though he could suddenly see him. â€Å"That egg is Potters egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter. I have seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here! Potter, in his Invisibility Cloak!† Snape stretched out his hands like a blind man and began to move up the stairs; Harry could have sworn his over-large nostrils were dilating, trying to sniff Harry out – trapped. Harry leaned backward, trying to avoid Snape's fingertips, but any moment now – â€Å"There's nothing there, Snape!† barked Moody, â€Å"but I'll be happy to tell the headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter!† â€Å"Meaning what?† Snape turned again to look at Moody, his hands still outstretched, inches from Harry's chest. â€Å"Meaning that Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that boy!† said Moody, limping nearer still to the foot of the stairs. â€Å"And so am I, Snape†¦very interested†¦.† The torchlight flickered across his mangled face, so that the scars, and the chunk missing from his nose, looked deeper and darker than ever. Snape was looking down at Moody, and Harry couldn't see the expression on his face. For a moment, nobody moved or said anything. Then Snape slowly lowered his hands. â€Å"I merely thought,† said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, â€Å"that if Potter was wandering around after hours again†¦it's an unfortunate habit of his†¦he should be stopped. For – for his own safety.† â€Å"Ah, I see,† said Moody softly. â€Å"Got Potter's best interests at heart, have you?† There was a pause. Snape and Moody were still staring at each other, Mrs. Norris gave a loud meow, still peering around Filch's legs, looking for the source of Harry's bubble-bath smell. â€Å"I think I will go back to bed,† Snape said curtly. â€Å"Best idea you've had all night,† said Moody. â€Å"Now, Filch, if you'll just give me that egg -â€Å" â€Å"No!† said Filch, clutching the egg as though it were his firstborn son. â€Å"Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeves' treachery!† â€Å"It's the property of the champion he stole it from,† said Moody. Hand it over, now.† Snape swept downstairs and passed Moody without another word. Filch made a chirruping noise to Mrs. Norris, who stared blankly at Harry for a few more seconds before turning and following her master. Still breathing very fast. Harry heard Snape walking away down the corridor; Filch handed Moody the egg and disappeared from view too, muttering to Mrs. Norris. â€Å"Never mind. my sweet†¦we'll see Dumbledore in the morning†¦tell him what Peeves was up to†¦.† A door slammed. Harry was left staring down at Moody, who placed his staff on the bottommost stair and started to climb laboriously toward him, a dull clunk on every other step. â€Å"Close shave. Potter,† he muttered. â€Å"Yeah†¦I – er†¦thanks,† said Harry weakly. â€Å"What is this thing?† said Moody, drawing the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and unfolding it. â€Å"Map of Hogwarts,† said Harry, hoping Moody was going to pull him out of the staircase soon; his leg was really hurting him. â€Å"Merlins beard,† Moody whispered, staring at the map, his magical eye going haywire. â€Å"This†¦this is some map. Potter!† â€Å"Yeah, its†¦quite useful,† Harry said. His eyes were starting to water from the pain. â€Å"Er – Professor Moody, d'you think you could help me -?† â€Å"What? Oh! Yes†¦yes, of course†¦.† Moody took hold of Harry's arms and pulled; Harry's leg came free of the trick step, and he climbed onto the one above it. Moody was still gazing at the map. â€Å"Potter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he said slowly, â€Å"you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snape's office, did you? On this map, I mean?† â€Å"Er†¦yeah, I did†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry admitted. â€Å"It was Mr. Crouch.† Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He looked suddenly alarmed. â€Å"Crouch?† he said. â€Å"You're – you're sure. Potter?† â€Å"Positive,† said Harry. â€Å"Well, he's not here anymore,† said Moody, his eye still whizzing over the map. â€Å"Crouch†¦that's very – very interesting†¦.† He said nothing for almost a minute, still staring at the map. Harry could tell that this news meant something to Moody and very much wanted to know what it was. He wondered whether he dared ask. Moody scared him slightly†¦yet Moody had just helped him avoid an awful lot of trouble†¦. â€Å"Er†¦Professor Moody†¦why d'you reckon Mr. Crouch wanted to look around Snape's office?† Moody's magical eye left the map and fixed, quivering, upon Harry. It was a penetrating glare, and Harry had the impression that Moody was sizing him up, wondering whether to answer or not, or how much to tell him. â€Å"Put it this way. Potter,† Moody muttered finally, â€Å"they say old Mad-Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards†¦but I'm nothing – nothing – compared to Barty Crouch.† He continued to stare at the map. Harry was burning to know more. â€Å"Professor Moody?† he said again. â€Å"D'you think†¦could this have anything to do with†¦maybe Mr. Crouch thinks there's something going on†¦.† â€Å"Like what?† said Moody sharply. Harry wondered how much he dare say. He didn't want Moody to guess that he had a source of information outside Hogwarts; that might lead to tricky questions about Sirius. â€Å"I don't know,† Harry muttered, â€Å"odd stuffs been happening lately, hasn't it? It's been in the Daily Prophet†¦the Dark Mark at the World Cup, and the Death Eaters and everything†¦.† Both of Moody's mismatched eyes widened. â€Å"You're a sharp boy. Potter,† he said. His magical eye roved back to the Marauder's Map. â€Å"Crouch could be thinking along those lines,† he said slowly. â€Å"Very possible†¦there have been some funny rumors flying around lately – helped along by Rita Skeeter, of course. It's making a lot of people nervous, I reckon.† A grim smile twisted his lopsided mouth. â€Å"Oh if there's one thing I hate,† he muttered, more to himself than to Harry, and his magical eye was fixed on the left-hand corner of the map, â€Å"its a Death Eater who walked free†¦.† Harry stared at him. Could Moody possibly mean what Harry thought he meant? â€Å"And now I want to ask you a question. Potter,† said Moody in a more businesslike tone. Harry's heart sank; he had thought this was coming. Moody was going to ask where he had got this map, which was a very dubious magical object – and the story of how it had fallen into his hands incriminated not only him, but his own father, Fred and George Weasley, and Professor Lupin, their last Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Moody waved the map in front of Harry, who braced himself- â€Å"Can I borrow this?† â€Å"Oh!† said Harry. He was very fond of his map, but on the other hand, he was extremely relieved that Moody wasn't asking where he'd got it, and there was no doubt that he owed Moody a favor. â€Å"Yeah, okay.† â€Å"Good boy,† growled Moody. â€Å"I can make good use of this†¦this might be exactly what I've been looking for†¦.Right, bed, Potter, come on, now†¦.† They climbed to the top of the stairs together, Moody still examining the map as though it was a treasure the like of which he had never seen before. They walked in silence to the door of Moody's office, where he stopped and looked up at Harry. â€Å"You ever thought of a career as an Auror, Potter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, taken aback. â€Å"You want to consider it,† said Moody, nodding and looking at Harry thoughtfully. â€Å"Yes, indeed†¦and incidentally†¦I'm guessing you werent Just taking that egg for a walk tonight?† â€Å"Er – no,† said Harry, grinning. â€Å"I've been working out the clue.† Moody winked at him, his magical eye going haywire again. â€Å"Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas, Potter†¦.See you in the morning†¦.† He went back into his office, staring down at the Marauders Map again, and closed the door behind him. Harry walked slowly back to Gryffindor Tower, lost in thought about Snape, and Crouch, and what it all meant†¦.Why was Crouch pretending to be ill, if he could manage to get to Hogwarts when he wanted to? What did he think Snape was concealing in his office? And Moody thought he. Harry, ought to be an Auror! Interesting idea†¦but somehow. Harry thought, as he got quietly into his four-poster ten minutes later, the egg and the cloak now safely back in his trunk, he thought he'd like to check how scarred the rest of them were before he chose it as a career.

Extended Definition of the Word Religious Essay

When defining a word, a simple step to take is get a dictionary and it will surely help someone whose problem is grasping for the meaning of a particular word. And as one reaches for a dictionary to determine a word’s definition, observation has to be taken with regards to the word’s denotation/s (direct meaning) and connotation/s (meanings which are implied), if ever these are included. In so doing, a proper grasp of the word will be obtained. The same basic rules will be applied by this writer to clarify on the meaning of the word â€Å"religious. † From its first meaning, to how it is being used by many nowadays, to how the Bible uses the word. Dr. Lisa Rowe Fraustino, an editor and a professor at State University of New York, said that the meaning of words changes over time. If one wants to find out what is the exact meaning of a term or an expression in a culture, the person needs to observe carefully how do the speakers/writers use it (Fraustino, 1998). Generally, the word religious is taken to mean of a person who is observant of a religion; a person who devoutly follows certain spiritual teachings of a considered sacred society (http://www. brainyquote. com/words/re/religious211796. html). This kind of definition is what people commonly apply to monks, priests, an ordained minister, and to those who are simply observants of certain religions. In recent years though, the word is acquiring an extended meaning. It can now be applied to just anything that characterizes rigidity. A doctor may advice a patient, who is borderline diabetic to avoid foods high in sugar content, and may tell the patient finally, to follow the advice â€Å"religiously. † This means, because of the urgency of the patient’s need to cut on sugar, to follow the order rigidly. If the person in this case, before being diagnosed as having too much high blood sugar, was naturally a type who has a liking for sweets, this time – as the doctor had given his professional advice – sweet foods must be reduced to tolerable measure, if not totally avoided. This is what the doctor means when he told his patient to keep his advice in a â€Å"religious† manner. Thus, today, the uses of the word religious have extended beyond its original meaning. Although it retains certain aspects of it, like the scrupulous observance of a devout person to his/her religion, the connotations now include anything that suggests strictness, and not necessarily commitment to a spiritual order. The general understanding that is retained by many about â€Å"religious† is most likely taken from the Bible’s portrayal of it in several passages found therein. For example, in the book of Acts 17:22 in the New Testament, Apostle Paul observed the Athenians to be â€Å"very religious. † The Apostle has used the word in its broad meaning, which includes allegiance to certain beliefs which are not necessarily of the same order as that of the apostles and the Jews. As long as there is a belief in the Supreme Being or beings, spiritual realities, and rituals, religion is present and its adherents can be described as religious. And so, the Bible, when speaking of being religious, it does not immediately mean â€Å"being right in practice of piety† before God. The reason for this is not difficult to see in other portions of the Holy Writ. The author of the book of James, which is also found in the New Testament, implied in his statement that there are two kinds of religion in the eyes of God: one is â€Å"useless,† and the other is â€Å"pure and undefiled† (Jas. 1:26-27). Even though the general meaning embraces any religion and religious order, every belief and practice, and it is true that the Bible itself attests to the fact that there many religions as well as different practices that humans observed even in the early times of the history of humankind, the Bible nevertheless distinguishes between true and false religion. There is true, as well as, there is false religion. Given the fact, however, that the word religious has already taken new forms of meaning nowadays, those who use the word loosely must note the differences of usage. Let us observe what the speaker means when he/she uses the word, because now, it can mean many other things. References: 1. Fraustino, Lisa Rowe. 1998. Word Usage (Study Unit), by Thompson Education Direct, 925 Oak Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania 18515. 2. Date Accessed: October 6, 2008. http://www. brainyquote. com/words/re/religious211796. html 3. The Holy Bible, New King James Version. 1982. Thomas Nelson, Inc

Effects of Television Violence essays

Effects of Television Violence essays What has the world come to these days? It often seems like everywhere one looks, violence rears its ugly head. We see it in the streets, back alleys, school, and even at home. In many peoples' living rooms there sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television, and the children who view it are often pulled into its realistic world of violence scenes with sometimes devastating results. A lot of research has gone into showing why television and the things that take place on the screen affect kids. Research shows that movies and TV are definitely a major source of violent behavior in children. The research proves time and time again that aggression and television viewing do go hand in hand. It is true that violence on the boob tube affects children. Some are try to find a solution for the problem; others ignore it and hope that the problem disappears. However, the facts are undeniable. The research has been done and the information has resulted out to one co nclusion: Television violence causes children to be violent and the effected for the rest of their lives. The research proved my hypothesis. Violent television viewing does affect children. The effects have been seen in a number of cases. The First case In Alabama, a nine-year-old boy received a bad report card from his teacher. He suggested sending the teacher poisoned candy as revenge as he had seen on television the night before. In California, a seven-year-old boy sprinkled ground-up glass into the lamb stew the family was to eat for dinner. When asked why he did it he replied that he wanted to see if the results would be the same in real life as they were on television (Howe 72). In New York, a boy broke into a basement. When the police caught him and asked him why he was wearing gloves he replied that he had learned on television the when you wear gloves you do not leave fingerprints. These are just a few cases I discovered of how te...

analysis essays

analysis essays We the people - How far should we take it. It is our government, our state, what the people say should be law, as long as certain inalienable rights are observed. In 2002, a referendum was placed on the Florida ballot stating the State would build a mass transit sytem "Bullet Train"..The destination would be from Tampa to Orlando. The next "leg" would be to Miami. Florida voters overwhelmingly passed the bullet train referendum two years ago. Now the legislators are trying to take it away. Are they not our elected representatives? Should they not heed the wishes of the people? Unfortunately, the Florida Legislature has not appropriated any money for this project. They have stated there is not enough money in the budget. They are trying to get it back on the ballot in hopes it will be defeated. Many mistakes were made in 2002 when the initiative was placed on the ballot. No funds were provided and those voting for it had no idea what it would cost the taxpayers. Now as the cartoon shows, the legislature is attempting to crush the "sand train." Both the legislators and the voters should learn a lesson - know what you are voting for and who you are voting for. The wave will crush the bullet train, but the concept could still be kept alive if the Florida voters are given enough information to vote intelligently. The young child in the picture illustrates the future that belongs to our youth. Should progress prevail or should we stagnate our human resources? Florida has a very complex governmental system. We must look at the responsibilities of the people and of our legislature. ...

Heat Capacity Definition in Chemistry

Heat Capacity Definition in Chemistry Heat Capacity Definition Heat capacity is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of a body a specified amount. In SI units, heat capacity (symbol: C) is the amount of heat in joules required to raise the temperature 1 Kelvin. Heat capacity of a material is affected by the presence of hydrogen bonds. The intermolecular forces make it more difficult to increase the kinetic energy and thus temperature of a material. This is why water, ammonia, and ethanol have high heat capacity values. Impurities in a sample also have a dramatic effect on heat capacity. Heat properties of an alloy can vary dramatically from that of its component elements. Trace amounts of contaminants in a sample can change its heat capacity versus that of a pure sample. Examples: One gram of water has a heat capacity of 4.18 J. One gram of copper has a heat capacity of 0.39 J. Sources Emmerich Wilhelm Trevor M. Letcher, Eds. (2010). Heat Capacities: Liquids, Solutions and Vapours, Cambridge, U.K.:Royal Society of Chemistry, ISBN 0-85404-176-1.Halliday, David; Resnick, Robert (2013).  Fundamentals of Physics. Wiley. p.  524.Kittel, Charles (2005). Introduction to Solid State Physics (8th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey, USA: John Wiley Sons. p. 141. ISBN 0-471-41526-X.

Solid Waste Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Solid Waste Analysis - Essay Example Moreover, the underlying question of whether or not all waste products are resources waiting to be used will be answered. Before delving into such a critique, it is necessary to understand that the current economic system is gravely different from even that which existed but a few scant years ago. This is the result of the fact that when one views the history of industrial creation within the world, raw materials were plentiful, cheap, and readily available. As a function of this, a particular type of consumer culture developed in which it was oftentimes more expedient and cheaper to purchase an entirely new product than it was to have the older one fixed. However, as resources have increased in price as a function of scarcity and increasing demands on consumer markets, the use and re-use of recycled material has become increasingly popular. The example that is used is the way that waste, formerly understood as worthless mass that must find a place to be stored, came to be something that was desirable and profitable for firms to seek to reclaim. One can of course consider that forms of plastic and metal would of course be something valuable to firms; however, biomass as well has the potential of generating profits for many firms (Middleton, 2008). Although it is interesting that the technology has increased in the way that it has, the fact of the matter is that it is the profitability of the waste that has driven companies and individuals to seek to extract it from refuse is the real motivating factor; not the desire to be more efficient or to reduce the impact on the environment. Although it is definitely a positive thing that the overall level of waste has been reduced, it would be premature to assume that the technology alone can solve the issue of waste within our current system. The fact of the matter is that the world economy has grown and continues to grow, world populations have grown as well and the overall level of waste that is being produced is incr easing each and every year. Due to the fact that the world currently has a much higher population concentration as well as a subsequently high level of consumer goods demanded, it is vitally important to consider the means whereby these needs and demands might continue to be met without the disastrous effects on the environment that previously have been engaged as a function of short sighted means of production and a complete lack of recycling. (Weitz et al, 2002). By pointing out high density populations as a prime example of the way in which an economic system can utilize waste to increase growth, the reader can use this as a powerful example for the way in which other entities and governments can engage the same idea to effect positive change and profits as well. Ultimately, the reader can understand that the changes in technology and economics have meant that nearly no form of waste is without a potential to be used in a profitable way. Although it is not possible to state that there will soon be a time in which nothing will be discarded entirely, the movement that has been experienced and exhibited within the past several decades illustrates the way in which interested parties can seek to increase efficiency and generate a profit based upon refuse that had previously been marked as a liability to the surrounding area (Wang & Nie, 2001). Although the discoveries and changes that have given to the system help the reader to understand the ways in which current technology has helped to reclaim a wide variety of man-made material from solid waste, there is also the unmentioned issue with relation to the

Strategic management paper III (Recommendations for OTD) Essay

Strategic management paper III (Recommendations for OTD) - Essay Example Employing such people would provide manifold advantages to the company. Firstly, it would enhance the image of the organization as a sociable organization which also takes care of the society. In addition to this aspect some other benefits of employing aged and disabled individuals would include the following factors, firstly it is generally believed that aged and disabled individuals are generally more loyal towards an organization and do not resort to changing jobs frequently. This assumes considerable advantage for organizations like One Touch Direct which operates in an industry segment which has considerably high attrition rates. Employing disabled and aged individuals would help in taking care of the problems of attrition. Secondly, employing this section of population would enhance the productivity of the organization. This is because aged and retired people have considerable experience in handling job responsibilities. Moreover it has been observed that due to age and experience these individuals have a better understanding of the business process and can deliver efficient results if they are provided with suitable guidance and training support from the organization. Thirdly, these individuals have a realistic growth aspirations, this is due to the reason that they have high levels of maturity which has been incorporated in their attitudes due to the years of experience of the retired individuals. Based on their real life experiences disabled and aged individuals have higher ability to manage crisis scenarios as compared to their counterparts and peers who are normal and lower aged. Fourthly it has been observed that consumers generally handle these kinds of employees with greater affection and respect as compared to the normal employees. This would enhance the customer experience as they would admire One Touch Direct’s strategy of employing such individuals. Finally legal and legislative advantages could

Law of Criminal Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Law of Criminal Evidence - Essay Example The prosecution already had evidence of his admission to the theft, which were strong enough to convict him. The evidential burden in this case had been brought forth due to the presence of the admission statements from the police interrogations. However, the prosecution would justify their evidential burden if the prosecutor gave more evidence linking Robert to the theft of the iPods. In Asif and Molly’s cases, the prosecution had the burden of proof. The standard applicable here is the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ legal standard1. Asif had been accused of stealing iPods and so was Molly. Although the evidential burden was represented by the presentation of witnesses who claimed that they saw Asif stealing the iPods, the evidential burden was yet to be depicted as far as Molly was concerned. There are no witnesses who associated that Molly had taken part in the theft. The prosecutor had the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt, to present evidence linking Molly t o the theft of the iPods. In the case of Bratty vs. Attorney General of Northern Ireland2, Lord Moris stated that a mouthy excuse should not be concluded as enough evidence to convict the accused. The manager’s allegations depicting that Molly and asif had taken part in the theft was not enough evidence. Robert’s own confession of his participation in the theft plays a major role in the evidence burden3. However, advising him that engaging a solicitor would lengthen the process was a misguidance.... In both cases, he had been deceived into the confession. Although this is a good defense, the prosecution might counteract this by arguing that the defendant did not have to worry about the involvement of the police and the court if he was innocent. The fact that he was afraid of the police and the court meant that there was something he knew about the crime, which he did not want to bring forward. Such claims would act as a disadvantage to Robert’s case. In other words, it would be hard to convince the jury to abandon the confessions made by Robert when he was interrogated by the manager and the police. Legally, the police had a right to advice Robert about his right to remaining silence. However, advising him that engaging a solicitor would lengthen the process was a misguidance. This is because they knew that he would eventually need one since they were sure that they he would be taken to court. On the other hand, the police might claim that they were simply using tactics t o make him tell the truth. The law gives accused individuals a right to silence when interrogated by the police. However, sections 34-39 of the 1994 act imposed limitations on this law. In the case of Rice vs. Connolly, it was held that individuals had no right to answer police questions if they are not arrested4. However, this section gives the jury the right to make adverse inferences as a result of the accused person’s silence. In other words, Molly was expected to mention that he was under duress when he performed the crime. Molly was expected to mention that Asif was mad and that he had threatened to break her legs she failed to carry out the act of crime. She should have further mentioned that the she was sure Asif would go ahead with his

Reward and Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Reward and Performance - Essay Example In contrast, survey carried out by Kenneth Kovach depicted that employee's ranked good wages fifth among their top ten job reward factors. Therefore, there appears to be a difference in ideology of what motivates employees (Kovach, 1995). Motivation revels when in an organisation considers all factors affecting performance. (Ruebusch, 2003). These factors include individual needs, nature of the job i.e. degree of job challenge and goal clarity, job design, job security, organisational climate, a sense of personal significance, stability of expectations, recognition, trust, honest communication, dignity and respect, as well as an equitable reward system which will be discussed in great detail in the proposed thesis. The exigency to motivate employees with desirable rewards has hitherto salvaged a significant level of importance; this is because rewards can serve as motivators but could also have negative reactions should that supposed merit falls below employee's expectations. Therefore, this thesis seeks to examine the impact of valued rewards on performance in the banking industry utilizing the expectancy theory and two factor theory of motivation framework, while introducing other factors that influence the activity levels of performance. From my critical research on the literature on motivation, as well as the growing need by managers to find solutions to the question how do they motivate employees, I discovered a few conjectures that need to be addressed and elaborated upon in this dissertation. One aim is to ascertain the impact of valued rewards on individual and organisational performance and its effect on productivity and profitability. Then, conjuring strategies that improvises and sustains performance through the establishment of feedback channels, employee training and a friendly work environment can provide a breeding ground for trust. The examination of other variables besides rewards that affect performance such as the aforementioned job security and recognition among others must be in order so that variables can withstand and make a difference through the test of time. Finally, the determination of what rewards employees consider valuable enough to influence behaviour will allow management to be very sel ective to rewards that can profit the workers. Business organisations still face a lot of difficulties in the area of employee motivation. This poses a dilemma for employees' control of other factors of production in order to achieve goals, greater productivity and higher profits. In order to motivate people you must appeal to their deepest desires (Ruebusch, 2003). Managers should not expect a standard compensation plan or incentive program to have the similar effect on every employee. To procure top performance, compensation plans and incentive programs must be deftly tailored to meet the specific needs of each employee because employees of different ages and generational cohorts have varying needs over time (Jeffords et al, 1997). It has also been observed that extrinsic rewards have effect on employees to work proficiently. Therefore, this study will provide managers within the banking industry with a deeper insight into the needs of today's employees and rein them towards other reward trends which appear to boost employee mo rale and productivity. As highlighted by Herrera (2002), managers need to be concerned of the creation of workplace culture that

British Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

British Studies - Essay Example I have particularly concentrated on material I found and consulted in the Maritime London Gallery (level 1 to level 3) Neptune Court) of the National Maritime Museum, where it is described in depth regarding the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th Centuries as well as the fishing trade and exploration conquests of the British Empire during that period. The Cutty Sark Museum on the other hand is solely devoted to this fabulous clipper which became world famous and brought Britain laurels both in terms of trade as well as a living example of the perfection of the shipbuilding efficiency of the British shipyards in that time. The British Empire or Pax Britanica as it was called after the Waterloo Battle in 1815, was led towards an explosion of trade by the sea. There were many factors that influenced the growth of trade in the British Empire during 18th and 19th Century. The most important was that during that period the British ruled the seas by controlling the majority of the key naval trade navigational routes and thereby enjoying total sea monopoly; which was also the main trade highway of the period. The British Empire’s control was so powerful that it was even able to control China from the outside without any actual administrational or colonial involvement. British merchant ships were trading on a regular basis with North America and West Indies (after the acquisition on Virginia in 1607 and Barbados in 1625) and by the end of the 17th century , a huge number of people (apprx 350,000) managed to emigrate across the Atlantic Ocean with these very ships. These people base helped to propagate and facilitate new markets for trade and commerce from England. In order to cope up, the British Empire became the leading shipyard industry in the world. (National Maritime Museum) This continued to be so till mid 20th century when the Asiatic shipyards took over by producing

Reward schemes tend to be the most effective way of promoting and Essay

Reward schemes tend to be the most effective way of promoting and achieving the aims of Ecotourism, Discuss - Essay Example Consequently, it is fundamental to agree on the most suitable ecotourism strategies and approaches. Ecotourism Ecotourism involves visiting pristine, fragile and natural areas that are not distorted by humans. Ecotourism is small scale and has low environmental impacts compared to mainstream commercial tourism. It also involves responsible travelling to natural sites with an aim of preserving the surroundings and improving the welfare of the local people residing in such areas. The main purposes of ecotourism in to volunteer, learn and personal growth of the participants (United Nations Environmental Program 2011, p. 1). Additionally, it minimises the negative environmental impacts that mainstream tourism causes. It also promotes the cultural integrity of the local people. The participants in the ecotourism industry participate in recycling, conserving water, saving energy besides creating economic opportunities for the local people (Kotas 2009, p. 53). Ecotourism existed because of the prevailing problems in the tourism industry. The interest in ecotourism is the need to conserve wildlife facing extinction. There have been increased cases of invasion of natural habitats for agricultural purposes, fishing, logging and hunting. Although many countries have officially reserved areas for conservation, they lack enough funds for protecting and managing them. Consequently, several destructive activities are happening in these areas. Consequently, ecotourism is interested in restoring the values and the genetic reservoirs of vital biological resources (Buhalis 2002, p. 1). Reward scheme A reward scheme is an arrangement that an organisation provides to clients and other stakeholders in its industry aimed at encouraging them to appreciate and take part in activities that improves their welfare and community members. The focus of any reward scheme is to prioritise initiatives for customer care, initiate corporate social responsibility and strengthen communication strat egies. Principles of reward schemes A reward scheme is hard to design and run because of the many challenges that characterise its execution. The challenges include the difficulty in getting tourists to sign up and join the scheme. It is also not easy to change the behavior of tourists towards this scheme because they focus on pleasure. However, it is necessary that an organisation follow several principles to ensure the creation of a comprehensive reward scheme. Organisations reward their clients differently based on the nature of clients and the organisation (Barbera & Dutta, 2008, p. 59). The initial standard is to ensure that the rewards currency is relevant to the organisation. An organisation must ensure that the rewards are directly linked to products and services. The perspective of the tourists must be the key driving force in such a situation. The second principle is to communicate the burn instead of the earned. One of the objectives of a reward scheme is to ensure that t ourists acquire points as they purchase the products and enjoy the services of their host organisation. These points are exchanged with rewards. Most tourists are not always aware of the exact worthiness the points earned. They are only concerned with the benefits from the points. This means that communication plays a fundamental role when distinguishing and empowering the tourists (Fennel2007, p. 93). An organisation can achieve

British Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

British Studies - Essay Example I have particularly concentrated on material I found and consulted in the Maritime London Gallery (level 1 to level 3) Neptune Court) of the National Maritime Museum, where it is described in depth regarding the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th Centuries as well as the fishing trade and exploration conquests of the British Empire during that period. The Cutty Sark Museum on the other hand is solely devoted to this fabulous clipper which became world famous and brought Britain laurels both in terms of trade as well as a living example of the perfection of the shipbuilding efficiency of the British shipyards in that time. The British Empire or Pax Britanica as it was called after the Waterloo Battle in 1815, was led towards an explosion of trade by the sea. There were many factors that influenced the growth of trade in the British Empire during 18th and 19th Century. The most important was that during that period the British ruled the seas by controlling the majority of the key naval trade navigational routes and thereby enjoying total sea monopoly; which was also the main trade highway of the period. The British Empire’s control was so powerful that it was even able to control China from the outside without any actual administrational or colonial involvement. British merchant ships were trading on a regular basis with North America and West Indies (after the acquisition on Virginia in 1607 and Barbados in 1625) and by the end of the 17th century , a huge number of people (apprx 350,000) managed to emigrate across the Atlantic Ocean with these very ships. These people base helped to propagate and facilitate new markets for trade and commerce from England. In order to cope up, the British Empire became the leading shipyard industry in the world. (National Maritime Museum) This continued to be so till mid 20th century when the Asiatic shipyards took over by producing

The Recent Expansion of Tesco into the US Case Study

The Recent Expansion of Tesco into the US - Case Study Example Tesco is based out of the UK, dealing mainly with grocery items and general merchandising retail chain. If the global sales and domestic market share of the company are taken into account then it is found that the company is the largest British retailer by far. The profit of the company exceeded  £2 billion for the year 2008 and it is believed that the profit will be much higher in the year 2009. The company mainly focuses on food and drink but it has also started dealing in clothes, financial services, internet services etc. The brand Tesco first appeared in the year 1924 when Jack Cohen supposedly bought a tea shipment from Mr. T. E Stockwell. The year 1929 marked the opening of a store in North London and the company rapidly developed from there on. The headquarters of the company was first established in North London in the 1930s. In the year 1932, the company became a private limited company, another feather in the cap of Tesco. The current success of Tesco is largely because of the favorable political climate, Tesco has managed to penetrate into nations which were previously considered difficult to penetrate into and this is certainly paved the way for success. Politically the organization has helped in solving the unemployment problem in the UK, the credit crunch has taken a toll on the employment rate but Tesco has still managed to provide job opportunities hence bringing down the unemployment rate in the UK. The EU laws largely favor Tesco, the EU laws tend to favor organizations that have a large presence in a country, Tesco not only has a large presence in the UK but it has also expanded rapidly in other countries as well and this has certainly worked to the advantage of the organization. The specialty of the organization was initially in drink and food business but the giants gradually decided to enter into consumer products like music players, CD players, computers and other products that sell like hotcakes.

Steps to Project Completion

Steps to Project Completion Problem Definition: The current system needs to be analysed to determine why a new system is needed for the current system. The analysist needs to discover what is needed to be added and why it is needed, this needs to be done as the developer will be unable to produce the needed product without this information, or they might develop something that is incompatible with the current system or add features that simply shouldnt be there are not needed. The analyst needs to define specifically what is wrong and what needs to happen, to do this there are several methods: One on One interviews, Mass surveys and simple observation of the current systems. Feasibility Study: Once the analyst is confident that they have discovered the problems and found all they need to know, then they need to determine whether or not it is feasible to actually take action to develop the product or not. Average questions that are asked during this stage are questions about the Cost, the possible Budget, will there be enough Time, does the company have the necessary Skills to develop it, does the company have the necessary Hardware to develop the product, do they have the needed Software to run the product and how much it would cost, will there need to be Training to run the program once made and would it be Technically possible to create. Systems Investigation: Once the management has listened to any alternate solutions that might be provided by the System Analyst and have decided to either commission the new product to be developed, or to make changes to a pre-existing product/system. During this phase, a very detailed investigation will be carried out to understand the current system and the proposed new system. With the current system, the analyst and developers will need to know how staff/ customers interact with it, how other systems interact with the current system, what is good about the current system and what could cause problems with the current system. With the new system, the analyst and developers will need to know what the new system/product needs to be able to do, how it is going to do this, what people want from it and how it should be incorporated into the system. To do this, the analysist would perform Face-to-Face Interviews with potential users of the system to see what they would like, perform obs ervation how users use the current systems to try to create a way to seamlessly integrate the new product into the current system so the users can use it with efficiency. Systems Design:Once the project manager and the client have agreed upon the requirements (Requirements Specifications) is becomes the time to define the project for its last few stages before the project enters development. This phase is called the Design phase, during this phase the project is designed in detail to ensure that the product will meet the users requirements. This involves Project Planning, System Requirements Specifications, the Data Dictionary and the Testing Documentation. Project Planning: This is about handling staff associated with the production of the product: how many are involved, where and when they are needed for the project. It would also include information about what resources they might need: computers, office spaces, soldering kits etc. it would also include the planning tools, which are used in this section such as Gantt Charts, Critical Path Analysis (CPA) and any Project Management Software. System Requirement Specification: This document will contain information such as the capture methods used to gather data for the system, any of the inputted data that goes into the system, any data that is outputted from the system, how the data is processed through the system. In addition, a record of the file structure for the data storage, how the UI (User Interface) is designed, how it interacts with the OS (Operating System) being used and the hardware that is going to be used on the new system. Data Dictionary: This defines Tables, fields, records and relationships, along with the constants, variables and data structures. As well as any validation that is required in the system along with any query structures. Testing Documentation: From the gathered information from the analysts, the developers will know what is expected of the final product; from this, they will be able to develop a Test Plan for the key parts of the product once developed, and more tests can apply later. Requirements Analysis and Specification: In this section, the developers would need to know all of the requirements that is needed in the final product and why. This includes what the final project should be what it should do, how it should do it and a business case stating whether it could be done on a budget with details stating how much it should cost. It also includes whether or not it is recommended to pursue this course of action or if it would be more beneficial to follow another course of action. System Development Testing: During this stage, the main development of the product takes place using the previously acquired information to correctly design the product. Normally, if possible, the project would be separated amongst several people or teams of people to allow for them to each work on parts of the project individually to help speed up the development. Once a functional version of the product is ready, the developers will run the product through a series of tests that have been made in the prior test plan document. By using this Test Plan, the development team can learn what works, what does not and what might need to be done to improve, refine or fix any issues that could be causing problems. System Implementation: This is when the product is implemented into the main system; to do this the developers will have previously designed to work with the main system. This is also when the product is put out for sale and is distributed to the client and other potential buyers or clients. System Maintenance: This continues for the lifetime of the product, any Technical Documentation that has been created previously including anything like the Test Log, Data Dictionary and the Project Planning for technicians to perform maintenance as needed. This will allow technicians to see what components of the product do what and use this to help solve any issues that might arise. Review Evaluation: Once everything is complete the Project manager will review how well the overall development of the product, see where things might have gone wrong or see what was handled better than other parts. From this review they will be able to see how well certain parts of the process and know what needs to be improved.

The American Revolution: Freedom for the White Man :: Essays on American Revolution

The American Revolution was a glorious war fought to free the American colonies from the British rule. Although we won that war, there were still many people who were not free from our rule. One group of people were the black slaves. The black people had many struggles to freedom which helped shape our American culture today. Three different periods characterized there struggles: the slaves before the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and during the civil rights movements. These three eras mark a pivotal point in the movement and advancement of the black race to social equality. During the time before the Civil War, it was not easy for slaves to organize and rebel against their slaveholders or whites in general. There were numerous laws that specifically took away slaves rights as men. Slaves also feared the whip and even death if they were to act out against their owners. The Declaration of Independence did not apply to many groups and the black race was one of those excluded groups. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"(Primus 295). Thomas Jefferson, having slaves himself, recognized the fact that he could not free the slaves himself in that document. It was difficult enough for him to get the Declaration approved by all of the colonies in itself. In fact the last man to sign the Declaration of Independence did not do so until the year 1778. The slaves were kept in ignorance of any knowledge which might have led to their freedom. Laws forbade reading and writing for slaves. They also forbade anyone to teach a slave to read. To keep the slaves obedient, slaveholders often made an example of a slave by beating him with the cow skin, or even killing him. "He[Gore] gave Denby but few stripes; the latter broke away from him and plunged into the creek, and, standing there to the depth of his neck in water, he refused to come out at the order of the overseer; whereupon, for this refusal, Gore shot him dead!"(My Bondage and My Freedom 122). This era was definitely a period were the black people had little voice in their future and society. Most people in the north felt differently however. These people were called the abolitionists, and they were dedicated to freeing the slaves. The southern states, strongly disagreed with their views and

The Death of Bloody Mary Tudor and Good Queen Beth :: essays research papers

" 'BLOODY MARY,' a sour, bigoted heartless, superstitious woman, reigned five years, and failed in everything which she attemptcd. She burned in Smithfield hundreds of sincere godly persons, she went down to her grave, hated by her husband, despised by her servants, loathed her her people, and condemned by God. 'Good Queen Bess' followed her, a generous, stout-hearted strong-minded woman, characteristically English, and reigned forty-five years. Under her wise and beneficent rule her people prospered she was tolerant in religion and severe only to traitors, she went down to her grave after a reign of unparalleled magnificence and success, a virgin queen, secure in the loyalty of her subjects, loved by her friends, in favour with God and man. " So we can imagine some modern Englishman summing up the reigns of these two half-sisters who ruled England successively in the sixteenth century -- an Englishman better acquainted with history-books than with history, and in love with ideas rather than facts. It is interesting, therefore, to pursue our investigations a little further, and to learn in what spirit each of these two queens met her end, what was the account given by those about them, what were the small incidents, comments, and ideas that surrounded the moments which for each of them were the most significant of their lives. Death, after all, reveals what life cannot, for at death we take not only a review of our past, but a look into the future, and the temper of mind with which we regard eternity is of considerable importance as illustrating our view of the past. At death too, if at any time, we see ourselves as we are, and display our true characters. There is no use in keeping up a pose any longer. We drop the mask, and show our real faces. We should expect, then, if we took the view of the ordinary Englishman, that Mary Tudor would die a prey to superstition and terror, the memory of her past and the prospect of her future would surely display her as overwhelmed with gloom and remorse, terrified at the thought of meeting God, a piteous spectacle of one who had ruled by fear and was now ruled by it. Elizabeth, on the other hand, dying full of honour and years, would present an edifying spectacle of a true Christian who could look back upon a brilliant and successful past, a reign of peace and clemency, of a life unspotted with superstition and unblameable in its religion, and, forward to the reward of her labours and the enjoyment of heaven.

Marketing Principles Assignment Essay

Introduction For this coursework assignment I will demonstrate that I required a good knowledge and understanding of the concepts and process of marketing by carrying out the task given. This will be showed with examples of theory applicable to a company of my choosing. For this task examples will be related to Apple Inc. organization. Incorporated in January 1977 as Apple Computer, Inc. todays Apple Inc. designs, produces and markets media and mobile communication devices, personal computers, portable media players and sells a variety of related software. Apple’s products and services include the iPad tablet computer, iPhone handset, Mac computer and iPod music mp3 player, the iOS and OS X operating systems. The company also sells and delivers music, movies, books and applications using the iTunes Store and Mac App Store. The company headquarters are located in Cupertino, California, USA. Worldwide there are 390 Apple retail stores with reported revenue in 2012 of $36.0 billion. Marketing wise the company is been voted many times as the winner of CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence. Apple’s three points marketing philosophy namely Empathy, Focus and Impute have made it possible for the company to become one of the world’s most valuable brands. Task 1 Task 1a. According to the American Marketing Association (October 2007) marketing is defined as â€Å" the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The CMA – Canadian Marketing Association defines marketing as â€Å" a set of business practices designed to plan for and present an organization’s products or services in ways that build effective customer relationships.† The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as â€Å" the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably† â€Å"Broadly defined, marketing is asocial and managerial process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return† (Hasell, 2012) These definitions show the importance of management in marketing and how important is for a business to know the consumers needs and wants. These definitions also show the importance of communicating a message to create the awareness that would create monetary value in return. The management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying the consumers’ needs and wants it’s called a marketing process. This process is made of four steps: 1. Analyze the company situation 2. Develop a marketing strategy 3. Make decisions in terms of marketing mix 4. And how to implement and control the marketing strategy. Examples of Apple Inc. marketing process: -Apple is using SWOT and PEST models to analyze the company situation. -Apple is targeting more the middle upper income professionals. -Apple builds up anticipation before launching a product. -Apple included a customer service phone number in the iPhone phone book for customer direct contact with Apple in case of technical problems. Task 1b. There are a few marketing concepts that an organizations can adapt. Each one of these concepts has advantages and disadvantages. These marketing concepts are: Product related – is when a company could focus on perfecting a product  and its quality. The disadvantage for being product orientated is that a company can lose site of what consumer may want and need when focusing on creating one perfect product. Production related – a company could focus on the mass production of a product. The advantage for being production-orientated is that a production line in place could bring more profit because of the low cost on producing the same product. Although low costs are possible because customers have different needs, changing the line for a different product it’s costly. Sales related – a company could try to focus on selling what it produces. The disadvantage is that the company does not know what the customers’ needs are. Market related – a company could focus on customer needs before developing a product. The disadvantage is that information could be obtained from customers who do not know what they need. With so much interest on what the customer needs, the product development can be overlooked. Societal related – a company could focus on the natural and social environment and the customer needs The disadvantage of being societal orientated is that it is rarely possible to satisfy all customers’ needs and stakeholders. The first three marketing concepts, product, production and sales, are focusing on the product. The last two concepts, market and sales, focus on the consumer. Although they all are focus differentiated, all five concepts have one single goal in common and that is to make profit. Market orientation is about collecting and dissemination of information from customers. Apple Inc. has adopted the market concept together with product orientation. Having adopted both orientation with emphasis on quality and future customers needs it allowed the organization to anticipate the need for a new product, set higher prices and make more profit. But being marketing orientated it is costly. A company has to invest in the development of the product, market research, in surveys, databases, analysts and product changes. Although it is costly to be marketing orientated there are benefits for adopting this concept. For example: – The Apple’s iPhone is at his fifth generation. Introduced in 2007, it was a product of innovation and market research. The development of the product took three years and with the collaboration between Apple and Cingular Wireless is  estimated to have cost $150 millions. According to Forbes magazine (08/2012) â€Å"†¦something that didn’t exist five years ago, has higher sales than everything Microsoft has to offer. More than Windows, Office, Xbox, Bing, Windows Phone, and every other product that Microsoft has created since 1975. In the quarter ended March 31, 2012, iPhone had sales of $22.7 billion; Microsoft Corporation, $17.4 billion.† Task 2 Task 2a. A business organization marketing decisions are influenced by macro and the micro environmental factors. Businesses can cover the inside factors with a SWOT model analysis and the external factors can be assessed by doing a PEST model analysis. The advantage of doing these analyses is the identification of opportunities and knowing where the organization is at that moment. Apple Inc. 2013 SWOT analysis: – Strengths: brand reputation and own retail stores. Combined with a strong financial performance and innovative capabilities Apple can be first on the market satisfying new customer’s needs. – Weaknesses. Apple products have higher prices. Conscious people my find them to expensive and competitors can take advantage of this factor. Recent changes in management could lead to misunderstandings between Apple In. departments and could slow down the process of making marketing mix decisions for the 4 Ps (product, price, place and promotion). – Opportunities. High demand for the iPhone 5 and the iPad products and the growth of tablet and smartphone markets. Competition mistakes like the Microsoft introduction of Vista software. Apple took full advantages of how bad was the Vista program having PC users downgrading back to XP and migrating to Apple. This can best be seen in the â€Å"I am a Mac I am a PC† ads (2006-2008). – Threats. New competitors like the Huawei in the UK phone market. Strong dollar will affect exports. Apple Inc. macro environment is analyzed using the PEST model (political, economical, social and technological). These are factors that the organization has little or no control over them and can either support or  hinder Apple’s marketing decisions. For example, in the case of the political factors a tax increase usually means a price increase. This will reduce the purchasing power of the consumer and subsequently reduce profits. Recession is an economical factor. The consumer buying confidence is usually low and high priced Apple products are seen more as a commodity than a necessity. Task 2b. Satisfying customers by treating them alike is rarely possible because they have different needs. Segmentation is about understanding and satisfying these needs by separating consumers in groups with the same needs. One of the advantages of segmentation is that the organization can position the product better within a chosen segment. Poorly done segmentation can group customers in the wrong segment. The bases for segmentation are demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioristic and geo-demographic. Some of the characteristics for demographic segmentation are sex, age, income, and education. Geographic segmentation is based on the location of potential customers. Psychographic is based on customers’ personality and lifestyles. Behavioral segmentation is based on the consumers’ actions. Geo-demographic is a combination of the geographical and demographical segments. There are three types of targeting methods and these are: Undifferentiated – for all publics Concentrated – focus on a specific group Differentiated – for different group types To recommend segmentation criteria and targeting methods for two different products I chose Apple’s iPod and the iPhone. For both products Apple Inc. should pursue the demographic and psychographic segmentation criteria. This will allow the organization to separate and target consumers based on the amount of money they have to spend and on what they would like to spend. – For the iPod (mp3 music player) Apple should pursue the concentrated method. This will allow them to focus on those customers who like to listen to music  on the go, organize songs and ultimately buy music for the iPod with the help of additional music platform like the iTunes. – For the iPhone, Apple should pursue the undifferentiated method. With so many different features the iPhone can be used by anyone for personal and business use. Task 2c. Buyer behavior affects how organizations market their products. Cultural, Social, Personal and Psychological are the four major factors influencing buyers’ behavior. To appeal consumers’ preferences, marketing mix strategies are developed by the organizations for the target market. Positioning is a strategy with what an organization can influence the buyer behavior. The strategy could include product use, product user, price, quality, product features, product class, competitors, benefits and cultural symbol. Apple Inc. products are perceived as high priced products with some buyers’ perception of them as over priced products. To counteract this perception Apple should reposition the iPod and the iPhone products using a strategy emphasizing products use, quality, performance and features. Task 3 Task 3a. To have sustainable competitive advantages Apple Inc. products development start with generating ideas. For example, the development of the iPhone product started with the idea of interacting with a computer without a keyboard. Usually a company can have many ideas for a product and screening them is necessary. Apple Inc. screens them through evaluations on the bases like the market needs, costs and resources. Apple market research concluded that the iPhone will have no competition for its features and the benefit will out way the cost of development. The next step of the product development was the physical transformation of the concept. Testing of the Apple products is done within the company using the employees. Normally companies test their new products with consumers but Apple prefers this type of testing because of the need of keeping the product features a secret from the competitors. After the evaluation of new ideas from the employees the iPhone was produced for the market. Task 3b. To make products available to the consumers Apple Inc. has three choices of distributions: 1) Selling directly to consumers. This channel of distribution is advantageous and a preference for Apple In. for the opportunities arising from interacting directly with the customer. Apple has their own retail stores with knowledgeable sales people who can make it very convenient for a customer to buy Apple products. Another way is selling directly through their website. Both options can be advantageously used for market research for better anticipation of new customer needs. 2) The second channel of distribution is selling the products through retailers. The advantage this channel provides is the promotion getting through retail advertisements. Many retail stores will place Apple products separately from the competitors in plain view for a customer to see it first and also use Apple products more for store advertisements. 3) This channel is selling through the wholesalers and retailers and is the least advantageous. For the last two channels (2 and 3) the disadvantage for Apple is that in both cases if the chain is disrupted, Apple products will not reach the customers. Task 3c. One of the most important elements of the marketing mix is Pricing. Pricing generates turnover for the organizations. The other 3P’s elements in the marketing mix are costs for the organizations. A number of pricing strategies can be adopted by an organization. For this task I have chosen to discuss three of them for their advantages and disadvantages. 1. Cost based price strategy is when a company sets prices based on the cost of the other 3P’s. The advantage of choosing this strategy is that because it’s the most realistic and the mark up its easier to set before the final pricing decision.. The disadvantage is that in a volatile industry where costs are always changing no set price can be set and the mark up is the final pricing decision. 2. Competition based price strategy is where a company can set a lower, the same or a higher price in comparison with competitors. The advantage is that a competitive lower price can be set to attract potential  customers. This strategy disadvantage is that it is unknown the production cost of the competitors and the company may operate at a loss. 3. Customer based pricing strategy is used when a company determines the price based on what is believed consumers are prepared to pay. The advantage of this strategy is that the price satisfies the customer price preference. The disadvantages with this strategy are that customers might give false impressions and the cost of production is knot known by them hence the company might run at a loss. Customer based pricing strategies are: Penetration Pricing – launching a low price product to increase market share Price Skimming – charging a higher price to maximize profits Loss leaders – a price set low to attract and encourage customers purchasing other products Predatory Pricing – setting a low price deliberately to restrict or prevent competition (in UK this type of price setting is illegal) Psychological Pricing – making the product believed to be cheaper than it really is. (Instead of  £1.00 it set at  £0.99) Apple Inc. uses the price skimming strategy. This strategy works for them because the company segments and target customers more effectively. The advantages with price skimming are that it creates the impression of prestige around Apple products and also in case of setting the price to high it could be lower easily. It also offers an insight on what the customers are willing to pay. Although this strategy has its advantages, in the computing and smartphone industry Apple has many competitors now and price skimming might be risky with the next product introduction. Consumers have many choices now and price preference is lower. Because of changes in consumers price preferences Apple Inc. should pursue the use of penetration pricing strategy in to attract new customers and increase the market share. Although the market share will increase the risk is that it is possible to still make lower profits. Task 3d. Promotion is one of the 4P’s and comprises of sales promotions, advertising, direct marketing, personal selling and public relations. These five elements make the promotion mix and are also known as the marketing communication elements. The usage of all five elements at one time is known as Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). To achieve and maintain long-term customer relationships Apple uses components from the IMC and the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) concepts. Advertisements and promotions are used to capture the consumer attention, his interest and desire to own an Apple product. Public relation is used to deal directly with customers about product issues. Apple uses direct marketing by emailing marketing messages on Valentines Day or Christmas to registered customers. Personal selling is used in Apple retail stores. Personnel can also inform customers about the products they inquiring about. One of the Apple sales promotions is â€Å" Buy a Mac and get a free iPod Touch†. Apple Inc. interest is to maximize the company impact on the consumer for maximum profits and the IMC concept is a very important tool in the company marketing strategy. Task 4 Task 4a. Known as the Four P’s, the traditional marketing mix basic elements are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The mix of these four elements done right will result in meeting its marketing objectives for a company and satisfy its customers. Factors like marketing is far more customers orientated now and in developed countries the service sector dominates the economic activity have contributed to the addition of new Ps to the traditional marketing mix. The additional three Ps are Physical Evidence, Process and People and together with the four basic elements make the 7Ps of the Extended Marketing Mix. To understand the relevance of the extended marketing mix to service marketing first one must understand the characteristics of service. There are five characteristics of service marketing and these are: 1. Intangibility – services cannot be seen, taste and feel before they are bought. 2. Inseparability – a service is produced and consumed at the same time. 3. Perishability – a product can be stored for future use whereas a service cannot. 4. Variability – service standard  will vary because of people. 5. Ownership – in comparison with a product a service can only be used and not owned. In service marketing the service is the Product and is intangible. Marketing Price, like product is also invisible. Place is where the service is consumed and unlike a product where it is found in retail stores, a service is found in accommodation places such as the hotels, restaurants, airplanes. Service Promotions can be an extension of the original service. For example a hotel may offer an extra night stay, discount prices for other services found within the hotel or outside but the original price offer is still the same. What is seen during the consumption of service is referred to as the Physical Evidence. Consumers expect a good standard and presentation of the environment where the service is consumed and businesses will focus on the quality layout presentation. How the service is carried out or delivered is the Process. In many cases process is associated with customer service. In the transport industry often carriers do lack on the quality of it because of delays that may or may not have to do with the employees. The employees are the People and final element in the extended marketing mix and are the ones delivering the service. The extended marketing mix its relevant to all businesses that give priority in meeting the needs of customers and its more particular relevant to the service industry. Task 4b. The seven marketing mix variables are highlighted above. The traditional 4Ps are for product marketing and all 7Ps are for service marketing. Two segments of interest for this task are the hotels in hospitality industry for their lodging services and the airlines in the industry of transport for their transport services. In the hotel industry, in terms of process and physical evidence, a regular room is provided for customer accommodation and the customer may have to pay extra for other services like a massage or a drink at the hotel bar. In terms of process apart from regular room cleaning sheets and towels and concierge services a customer will not get much else for his money. In comparison the business customer will experience something totally different. A Business may reserve the entire hotel or the best room with the best view, 24-hour room service, free access to the spa and other things considered luxurious. Although the product sold is the same for both C and B, because of additional services and a differentiated process, it differs and the price is usually the first one to tell which one is which. In the airline industry, businesses provide transportation in the economy class and the business class. In the economy class in terms of physical layout, after the journey some customers wished they left their legs at home and kids never existed. Whereas in the business class, a customer can park his car, watch his favorite movie while drinking champagne. Again the product has not changed because customers in the economy and business class are moved from point A to point B with the same airplane in the same amount of time. The understanding is that businesses can afford to pay more when it comes to buying services and airlines will charge more for extra. Task 4c. Globalization and Unions between different countries around the world have made it possible for national businesses to enter international markets. When entering the international markets businesses could find many opportunities but the challenges are different and on a higher scale than the ones faced in a domestic market. Domestic marketing is the production, promotion, distribution and sale of goods and services nationally while international marketing is the same but for customers needs in a global market. In the last quarter of 2012, domestically, Apple Inc. revenue accounted for 40 per cent with 60 per cent revenue from the international markets (Niu, 2013). 40 per cent revenue for Apple means that it dominates in the domestic market. This is possible for Apple because the company has to deal with only one set of customers on which it can concentrate more effectively. Other factors contributing to this positive revenue are that Apple uses of the same policies and strategies and requires lesser financial resources. The other sixty per cent revenue for Apple, thinking in term of global it is small revenue for the company. This has to do with the fact that international marketing is more complex and more risky. It requires more financial resources than domestic marketing. Internationally, Apple  Inc. has to deal with different markets, different languages and different types of consumers with different tastes. In countries with laws and regulations of their own, for Apple it is more challenging and requires more commitment from the company in applying the marketing principles. Conclusion In this coursework assignment I tried to my best abilities to demonstrate that I acquired a good knowledge and understanding of marketing principles by applying the theory to Apple Inc. by carrying out the tasks given for the assignment. Overall my understanding now is that marketing is with us every day, next to us and even in us people. Consciously or subconsciously we are marketing ourselves as individuals every day to others. Marketing has an impact on everything and it cannot be avoided. For businesses, marketing is a strategic war plan for getting peoples attention to maximize profits. In this war business tend to aim at peoples emotions. Marketing is a discipline and is defined by social participation. But the most important thing learned I believe is that consumers’ needs and wants are always changing and marketing needs to change accordingly. References American Marketing Association. (2007). Definition of Marketing. Available: http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Pages/DefinitionofMarketing.aspx. Last accessed 16th May 2013. Apple. (2013). Apple Info. Available: http://www.apple.com/about/. Last accessed 12th Jul 2013. Apple Press. (2012). Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results. Available: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/10/25Apple-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-Results.html. Last accessed 12th Jul 2013 Campbell, M. (2012). Apple to open up to 35 new retail stores in 2013. Available: http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/31/up-to-35-new-apple-stores-set-to-open-in-2013. Last accessed 11 Jul 2013. Canadian Marketing Association. (n/a). Definition of Marketing. Available: