Technological Advancements During The 21st Century Essay

Technological advancements have only since progressed and continued to do so. It is common to too see the common pedestrian either handicapped or accompanied by some sort of device which contributes to their overall ease of access. In this sense, technology has been an overall positive contributor to the welfare of humanity as a whole. In multiple regards has technology proven to be as such, for example, the modernization of the telephone system makes it possible for emergencies to be reported and save lives in exit gent circumstances. Flights can be booked via Internet jobs can be applied via internet. Internet is perhaps the most crucial technological advancement. However, if we delve deeper in the phycological of the this phenomenon, other problems may occur, especially in the human brain. Are we becoming Technological Zombies? The 21st Century has been the dawn of technology. In fact, access to computers and high-speed Internet connections are almost if not mandatory in this day and age. The world relies heavily on technologies, whether it is for school work, healthcare information, job search or even down to personal relationships, it is apparent and used everyday. However, does this make a person a technological zombie? Well, if anything technologies such as, computers, phones, tablets, laptops, and anything essentially via wireless have improved the way of living. Families can now contact distant relatives, finding jobs has never been easier andShow MoreRelatedAirpower And Its Effectiveness Against The Enemy s Fielded Military Forces1501 Words   |  7 Pagesstrategy. Airpower’s effectiveness in support of national strategy has significantly improved since 1945. The study of airpower exposed certain consistencies which have affected its effectiveness. The theory and practice of airpower fil led the past century with frequently persuasive victories coupled with a historical documentation packed with arguable failures. It is important to note that the effectiveness of airpower, as a military operational strategy, has triggered a debate among proponents andRead MoreIs It A Human Incubator For Viruses?968 Words   |  4 Pages When I was a child, my mother said, â€Å"If you don’t cry during your vaccinations, then I will give you a toy paper doll.† Thus, I did not cry at all when I got my shots done. I got what I wanted in addition to not becoming a human incubator for viruses when I got to school. These vaccinations were a requirement before a child could go to school to prevent any spread of illness. Practices like this and many other things in health gives the world less of a chance for a worldwide epidemic with equalRead MoreApplication And Cost Estimation Before Building Essay1058 Words   |  5 Pageshas to consider the scheduling and cost estimation before building. The behavior of the building during different climatic changes must also be considered. It should be able to withstand strong winds or very high temperatures. Throughout the years new designs for building have been invented and new materials have been discovered. Before man could build a house he lived in caves. Through the advancement of technology as he evolved, building became more appealing and better built. There is no doubtRead MoreThe Economy Is Making Progress Because Of The Mass Production Of Technology1363 Words   |  6 Pagescommunication easy. A challenge that humanity must face, is the skill of cultural diversity. 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These a re beyond the physical boundaries and independent of time zones. Grouping of social network, inclusion of digital games, use of e-textbooks, open source books, and open source applications are becoming fundamentals of the present-day classroom environment

Mgt 600 Essay - 629 Words

SAMPLE MGT 600 EXAM QUESTIONS, Fall 2011 Your examination will consist of two types of questions – short-answer (worth 40%) and application (worth 60%) essays. The type of short-answer questions you may see are given below†¦. Sample Short-Answer Questions: 1. How might self-efficacy impact the Pygmalion Effect? Explain. 2. What is meant by internal and external equity and how is each achieved in organizations? 3. Differentiate between (a) content, and (b) process theories of motivation. 4. In Equity theory, what are two possible outcomes/ratios? What can an employee do to deal with inequity when it occurs? 5. How does Herzberg’s view of satisfaction/dissatisfaction differ from traditional views? How is his†¦show more content†¦15. What is the Set-Up-To-Fail syndrome? (CP reading) What are the individual and organizational costs of the syndrome? How is it related to the Pygmalion Effect? 16. What is validity and how does it relate to personality testing? What is reliability? 17. Which performance measurement technique is most susceptible to perception biases and why? How might such biases be minimized? 18. Discuss how the Myers-Briggs assessment device might be used organizationally. 19. What are three necessary conditions to establish norms in the feedback process? (CP reading by Barnes) 20. According to the authors of â€Å"Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups,† teams are more innovative when they achieve participation, collarboration, and cooperation. How does emotional intelligence help to create such norms? 21. Discuss the fundamental attribution error and how it affects assessments of performance. 22. In the article, â€Å"Leadership Run Amok,† the authors note several downsides to a very high need for achievement. What are they, and what types of need profiles did the successful managers from IBM display? 23. Indicate how goal setting theory could be used to explain the results from failed organizational attempts to increase performance through performance based objective plans/targets? 24. What is the difference between internal and external attribution? Give examples of each. How do we ultimatelyShow MoreRelatedFinancial Management: Theory and Practice1399 Words   |  6 PagesFinancial Management Lecture 1- Introduction and Context 1Dr. Tarik Driouchi - tarik.driouchi@kcl.ac.uk Senior Lecturer- Financial Mgt. studies Office Hours [WBW4.15]: Thursdays 4-6pm A few words on the AAFM MSc†¦ Themes: Accounting Theory, Financial Accounting, Valuation, Corporate Governance, Financial Management Markets, Behavioural Finance Structure: Taught modules (term 1 2) + Dissertation (term 3) KCL Keats, KCL e-resources and QAs 2 Learning Objectives †¢ Main objectives Read MoreGhana Swot1392 Words   |  6 PagesGhana SWOT Analysis as a Potential Tourist Destination Todd Breen Applied Marketing Management MGT 541 September 06, 2012 I have read and understand the plagiarism policy as outlined in the syllabus and the sections in the Student Bulletin relating to the IWU Honesty/Cheating Policy. 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The Danger of Potent Ideology Free Essays

It is inevitable that great men who wield great powers are bound to be misinterpreted. History reveals that this inevitability is true to the most influential men of our time, from the bible’s Jesus Christ to Germany’s Friedrich Nietzche, two opposites who share the same fate. The radical ideologies that both men promoted have become the basis of infamous acts and beliefs. We will write a custom essay sample on The Danger of Potent Ideology or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example, the fatal extremist belief that Christians abhor homosexuality is highly in contrast with the teachings of Jesus Christ, who advocated unconditional love and forgiveness. The Superhuman theory of Friedrich Nietzche, on the other hand, has been erroneously used to foster the idea that a particular race of man, or a particular individual, is superior to others. This Nietzche philosophy was speculated to be internalized by Adolf Hitler himself, who orchestrated the largest mass murder in the history of the world, simply because he believed in the superiority of the German race. Thus, we can see in the examples of Jesus Christ and of Friedrich Nietzsche, that when men rise above the conventions and to the challenges in their time, they are not only bound to become legends, but also misinterpreted leaders. Martin Luther King: A Force Misinterpreted In the United States of America, one potent influence suffers the same fate. Considered the leader of the free world; this man had so much power that he heightened a revolution and compelled a nation to change its laws. He is Martin Luther King, Jr. In his article entitled â€Å"Martin Luther King,† popular civil rights journalist Jack E. White describes King as, â€Å"the right man at the right time,† for in a revolution that needed a fearless leader, King became the perfectly accurate answer; the right man for the job. The nation at the time was ripe with protests against inequality. America then was a country that subscribed to the apartheid ideology;     segregation of individuals according to skin color was viewed appropriate. Race validated a person’s worth, and King fervently disagreed with this belief. He mobilized the African-American community into launching non-violent protest against discrimination, one of which is the 13-month boycott of the Montgomery bus lines in Alabama, in 1955. The popular and immortalized story of Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress who refused to give up her bus seat for a Caucasian man prompted the boycott, but it was King who instigated and sustained the people’s resolve to protest. In 1957, King began organizing a network of African-American leaders and started facilitating non-violent protests in several communities. The awareness and significance of King’s cause heightened even more.   The most admirable trait King has demonstrated is his unwavering principle of non-violence, even when he himself had suffered through several acts of volatile violence, including the bombing of his home and unjust incarceration. Several communities and critics noted his incredible resilience and potent influence, and in the 1960s, he earned the recognition he so justly deserved. Time Magazine hailed him as its Person of the Year in 1963, and in the succeeding year, King was named as the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. However, King did not limit his cause to racial discrimination. He had far too much insight to narrow his perspective on one cause alone. Among the issues that he felt strongly about are the war in Vietnam and its accompanying factor, poverty.   By acting on these issues, Martin Luther King, Jr. became not just the leader of the African-American  demographic, but the most influential civil rights beacon who led the entire nation of America into a new light. Such a magnificent leader deserves a golden place in history, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is a figure truly well-placed not only in the annals of history, but in the hearts and minds of the American people as well. However, such a magnificent leader does not deserve a misinterpretation, and martin Luther King, Jr., is a figure highly misinterpreted. King’s impact today   extends only to African-American communities and engulfs only the issue of racial discrimination against African-Americans. Although this is a correct representation of King, it is a narrowed perspective of what he believed in, what he stood for, and what he fought and died for.  Ã‚   Jack E. White, in his article entitled, â€Å"Martin Luther King,† observes that: It is a testament to the greatness of Martin Luther King Jr. that nearly every major city in the U.S. has a street or school named after him. It is a measure of how sorely his achievements are misunderstood that most of them are located in black neighborhoods. Three decades after King was gunned down on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn., he is still regarded mainly as the black leader of a movement for black equality. That assessment, while accurate, is far too restrictive. For all King did to free blacks from the yoke of segregation, whites may owe him the greatest debt, for liberating them from the burden of America’s centuries-old hypocrisy about race. Thus, we can clearly see that the United States of America owes him the label of â€Å"liberator of all,† instead of the restrictive label, â€Å"liberator of the black race.† The American nation we have  today would have a very different face if King had not step up to the demands of his time, if he had not heeded the cry of the American people. Martin Luther King, Jr. freed America from the bondage of racial hypocrisy, and yet he is denied such a distinction by assigning him only to one cause, and only to one community. The earlier premise that Martin Luther King, Jr., is a highly misinterpreted leader is once again emphasized here. As a matter of fact, King had the intention of leading a protest march against poverty, an American plight that was not unique to a certain race. From the cause of racial discrimination, he moved to the cause of fighting poverty. However, before he carried out his plans King was gunned down in a hotel balcony in 1968. Thus, his distinction should not be narrowed down merely to a single cause. His widow Coretta Scott King perfectly validated her husband’s life and her husband’s cause by organizing the â€Å"Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change;† for it was the all-encompassing cause of social change that King believed in, stood for, fought and died for. Another misinterpretation of Martin Luther King, Jr. is the use of his principles and the use of his words to further racial issues grounded on a myopic perspectives.  Ã‚   One such movement that stands out from the rest, mainly because of its controversial nature, is the movement being led by Ward Connerly, an opponent of the government’s affirmative action policy. Connerly claims that his opposition against affirmative action is based on, and in parallel with, the advocacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. He asserts the erroneous interpretation that affirmative action is tantamount to racial discrimination. This claim is incredulous, since the affirmative action policy is aimed precisely to eradicate discrimination.   It is preposterous to conclude that the allocation of jobs minorities is equal with racial discrimination; it is even more preposterous that a magnificent leader such as King would even be associated with such an incredulous cause. In Respect to Martin Luther King’s Dream In these modern times, social change is a cry that resounds with so much fervor, and it is evident that so much has to be done to achieve the dream that Martin Luther King envisioned. King’s complex cause, social justice tied with economic justice, is a feat that requires internal and external changes within individuals, within communities, and the nation at large. It is worthy and important to note, however, that the United States of America has come a very long way indeed in terms of liberation from racial and social hypocrisy, and in this sense, we can say that King’s dream is slowly coming into reality. Racial discrimination, for instance, is now viewed as an abhorrent ideology, an unacceptable doctrine for the modern American. It is very much detested that whoever exhibits the slightest belief in it becomes an outcast in a nation of free thinkers, in a nation called the free world. The racist violence that was so apparent, so real, and so brutal in the past, prior to the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his civil rights cause, seems incredulous; it seems inconceivable that America has ever trodden such a path. The African-American race today, in fact, has earned a stellar place in America. Prominent names like talk show host Oprah Winfrey, professional golfer Tiger Woods, premier poet Maya Angelou, musicians Alicia Keys and Beyonce Knowles are influential figures in American society, admired by all races in America. Amusing Quotes.com lists this line from Chris Rock, a popular African-American comedian: â€Å"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, and the best golfer is a black guy.† Though this statement is intended not to be taken seriously, we see a tinge of reality in it: the reversal of stereotyped roles between a black man and a white man is an indication that America has greatly changed its racial perception about the African-American race. This, however, is just a small parcel of achievement in the social change King aimed for. Customer’s last name  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   6 The Martin Luther King Challenge The world today faces the Martin Luther King challenge, the challenge to forward the cause from racial equality to economic justice, and then elevate these to the international context in order to achieve international peace. Because the nation is merely in the first step, racial equality, it is quite obvious that we do have a long way to go. To take up and succeed in tackling the Martin Luther King challenge, we have to go back to his words, and one effective guideline that stands out from among his speeches is his advice to live a complete life. Seattletimes.com discloses the manner in which a complete life may be achieved, according to King: And there are three dimensions of any complete life to which we can fitly give the words of this text: length, breadth, and height. (Yes) Now the length of life as we shall use it here is the inward concern for one’s own welfare. (Yes) In other words, it is that inward concern that causes one to push forward, to achieve his own goals and ambitions. (All right) The breadth of life as we shall use it here is the outward concern for the welfare of others. (All right) And the height of life is the upward reach for God. (All right) Now you got to have all three of these to have a complete life. Such wise, potent words may ring empty if it is not heeded, and the free world, in order to fulfill the noble dream of Martin Luther King, must begin acting on this quest for completion. True, racial equality is a cause forwarded by this magnificent leader; but to say that it is the only thing he fought for, is very much restrictive. This is the ripe time for America and the world to truly understand his cause, and to truly act upon it. Works Cited â€Å"Chris Rock Quotes† Amusingquotes.com. 12 December 2007. â€Å"Friedrich Nietzsche.† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 10 December 2007. Kalish, Michael. â€Å"Friedrich Nietzsche’s Influence on Hitler’s Mein Kampf.† UCSB Department of History. 10 December 2007. â€Å"The Life of Martin Luther King Jr.† Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. TheSeattleTimes.com. 9 December 2007. White, Jack. â€Å"Martin Luther King.† The Time 100:The Most Important People of the Century. Leaders and Revolutionaries. 9 December 2007 How to cite The Danger of Potent Ideology, Essay examples

Coordination of Logistic Service Supply Chain

Question: Discuss about the Coordination of Logistic Service Supply Chain. Answer: Introduction: Treetop Forest Products Ltd is a well known sawmill operation company in British Columbia. This is a thirty years old company which has been recently updated five years ago. The main operation of this company is to cut the logs and make them into building grade timbers. The main departments of this company are boom, sawmill, planer, packaging shipping and maintenance. These departments work in different shifts. Treetop has won a lot of awards from its agents for the good quality of the packaging. But in recent two years, the company is getting complaints about the low quality of packaging and for this reason loosing the permanent customers. There are some reasons for this decline. The reasons are discussed below. According to the given details in the case study, the company has one general manager and 16 supervisors to supervise the overall operation of the factory. As it is given that there is different shift timing for different departments, each department has a supervisor for each shift. But the packaging department has no specific supervisor. The packaging department operates in two shifts i.e. morning shift and afternoon shift. The planer supervisor supervises the morning packaging shift and the sawmill supervisor supervises the afternoon packaging shift. On the other hand, the packaging department is situated in a different building from the other departments. For this reason, the responsible supervisors come to supervise the work of the packaging department very often. This is the major reason contributing to the decline of the packaging quality of the products (Arashpour et al. 2015). In a factor, there should be a constant supervising over the works of the labors. If the supervisor is around, the workers will do their job properly as they know that the supervisor is watching them. The absence of the supervisor in the packaging department has made the workers inefficient. They know that the supervisor is not going to come to supervise their work. Thats why they have started taking long lunch breaks and long tea breaks. These long brakes result in large amount backlog of finished products. The amount of backlog in afternoon shift is more than the morning shift. The reason is the distance of packaging department from the sawmill department. The distance of sawmill department is the highest from the packaging department. Due to this reason, the sawmill supervisor hardly visits the afternoon packaging shift and the workers take long brakes, do not do their efficiently take unofficial early leaves from the shift. All these reasons contribute to the increase of backlog finished goods in the afternoon shift. Workers from morning shift leave the backlogs for the afternoon shift; but in originally, the amount of work done in the afternoon shift is far less than the morning shift and the amount of backlogs are increasing in compounded manner (Cabitto, Lambruschini and Raggio 2015). The planner and sawmill department of the company has witnessed an increase in productivity in recent years where the boom, shipping and maintenance departments are on a stable growth. However, the packaging department has faces decline in production. For this reason, Treetop has taken some strategies. They have started overtime shifts on Saturdays and also overtimes before and after the shift time. They have also employed more workforces in the packaging department. But as per their recent time and motion analysis, all these measures have gone into vain as there is no improvement in the current situation. The situation as become worst. According to the company report, the extra 10% workforce accounted for 85% of the overtime wages, but the backlog is increasing in the same manner. The same reason is responsible for these damages (Liu, Xie and Xu 2013). The workers are getting more wages as overtime, but they are doing the same proportion of job as before, even less due to the lack of supervision. The par time workers who are employed in the packaging department are developing the same kind of habits. Another reason is the symptom is the lack of tendency to take corrective measures (Wei and Si 2013). As per the case, the supervisors know that the workers of packaging department are not doing their jobs properly; taking ling brakes early leaves, but still they are not informing the general manager of the company (Yu et al. 2014). From the above discussion, it can be said that the main reason contributing to the problem is the lack of supervision in the packaging department. On the other hand, the carelessness of the supervisors adds fuel to the issue. They all now the reasons for the problem, but still they are not taking any steps to correct it. As a result, the company is suffering from financial losses and loss of customers (PÅ‚aska, Cechowicz and Wolszczak 2013). References Arashpour, M., Wakefield, R., Blismas, N. and Abbasi, B., 2015. Quantitative Analysis of Rate-Driven and Due DateDriven Construction: Production Efficiency, Supervision, and Controllability in Residential Projects.Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,142(1), p.05015012. Cabitto, A., Lambruschini, P. and Raggio, M., 2015, May. Embedded system for supervision analysis and control of photovoltaic power plants. InSPIE Microtechnologies(pp. 95172M-95172M). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Liu, W.H., Xie, D. and Xu, X.C., 2013. Quality supervision and coordination of logistic service supply chain under multi-period conditions.International Journal of Production Economics,142(2), pp.353-361. PÅ‚aska, S., Cechowicz, R. and Wolszczak, P., 2013. Supervision of production of metal roof tiles.Advances in Manufacturing Science and Technology,37(4). Wei, F. and Si, S., 2013. Tit for tat? Abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors: The moderating effects of locus of control and perceived mobility.Asia Pacific Journal of Management,30(1), pp.281-296. Yu, H., Yun, L., Ying, Z., Zhu, Z. and Pingfeng, Z., 2014. Research on Ranking Evaluation Models of Safety Risk in Productive Enterprises based on the Perspective of Supervision.Procedia Engineering,84, pp.100-107.

Biography of Beryl Markham, Aviation Pioneer

Biography of Beryl Markham, Aviation Pioneer Beryl Markham (born Beryl Clutterbuck; October 26, 1902 – August 3, 1986) was a British-Kenyan aviator, writer, and horse trainer. Although she worked in several different fields, she is best known for being the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west. She wrote her own memoir, West with the Night, and was the subject of a best-selling novel. Fast Facts: Beryl Markham Full Name:  Beryl Clutterbuck MarkhamOccupation: Aviator and writerBorn: October 26, 1902 in Ashwell, Rutland, EnglandDied: August 3, 1986 in Nairobi, KenyaKey Accomplishments: The first woman to make a non-stop transatlantic flight from east to west and the author of the memoir West with the Night.Spouses Names: Jock Purves (m. 1919-1925), Mansfield Markham  (m. 1927–1942), Raoul Schumacher  (m. 1942–1960)Childs Name: Gervase Markham Early Life At age four, young Beryl moved to British East Africa (modern-day Kenya) with her father, Charles Clutterbuck. Beryl’s mother, Clara, did not join them, and neither did Beryls older brother Richard. As a child, Beryls education was spotty at best. She instead spent considerable time hunting and playing with local children. For a while, Beryl was happy. Her father Charles started a horse racing farm, and Beryl took to horse training immediately, establishing herself as a trainer in her own right by the time she was only seventeen. When Beryl was a teenager, however, her father fell on hard times. Charles lost his fortune and fled from Kenya to Peru, leaving Beryl behind. Never one to be down for long, Beryl took her career into her own hands. In 1920, at the age of eighteen, she became the first woman in Kenya to receive a racehorse trainer’s license. Romantic and Royal Entanglements As a young woman, Beryl was the subject of much attention. She married Captain Jock Purves at age seventeen, but the couple divorced soon after. In 1926, she married the wealthy Mansfield Markham, from whom she took the surname that she used for the rest of her life. Mansfield and Beryl had one son together: Gervase Markham. Beryl went on to have a complicated, often cold relationship with her son for most of her life. Beryl was often in the company of the â€Å"Happy Valley Set,† a group of mostly English, mostly wealthy adventurers who settled in Africa (specifically in the area that is Kenya and Uganda today). This group was notorious for its decadent lifestyle, reportedly indulging in drugs, sexual promiscuity, and extravagance. Although she was not wealthy or titled enough to truly be part of the group, Beryl spent time with many of its members and was influenced by their lifestyles. In 1929, Beryl’s affair with Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (the third son of King George V) became public. There were also rumors that she had been romantically entangled with his older brother Edward, who was an infamous playboy. (Perhaps these rumors about Edward and Beryl were an indicator of things to come: Edward’s proclivity for scandalous romances would eventually result in a succession crisis in the United Kingdom, when he chose to abdicate his throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.) Even though Henry was only a third son, the British royal family disapproved, and although the reason for Beryl and Henrys eventual parting was never known, it was widely believed that his family had split them up. Beryl earned a reputation for many affairs, which she typically ended when she tired of them. She reportedly treated her friends the same way. She may have had affairs with princes, but the great love of Beryl’s life was only minor nobility. Denys Finch Hatton, the second son of an English earl, was a big game hunter and daring pilot who came to Africa following World War I. Fifteen years Beryl’s senior, he had also had a long-term romance with Beryl’s friend and mentor Karen Blixen, who wrote the famous book Out of Africa about herself and Denys. As Karen and Denys’s affair hit a slow patch in 1930, he and Beryl fell into an affair of their own. In May 1931, he invited her to come along on a flying tour, knowing her burgeoning interest in flight, but she declined when her friend and flight teacher Tom Campbell Black urged her not to go, out of some unsettling instinct. Campbell Black’s advice proved life-saving: Denys’s plane crashed minutes after takeoff, killing him at the age of 44. Flight Career Following Denys’ death, Beryl pushed herself even harder in her flying lessons. She worked as a rescue pilot and a bush pilot, scouting out game and signaling their locations to safaris on the ground. It was in this capacity that she encountered more notable names, including Ernest Hemingway, who would later praise her memoir but insult her personally because she wouldn’t have an affair with him while he was on safari in Kenya. Beryl’s crowning achievement was her transatlantic flight in September 1936. Before then, no woman had ever flown a non-stop flight from Europe to North America nor flown it solo. She departed from the English coast and, despite serious fuel problems towards the end of her journey, made it to Nova Scotia. Upon achieving this dream, she was celebrated as a pioneer in the world of flight. In the 1930s, Beryl relocated to California, where she met and married her third husband, the writer Raoul Schumacher. She wrote a memoir, West with the Night, during her time in the United States. While the memoir was not a bestseller, it was well-received for its compelling narrative and writing style, as evidenced in passages like this one: We fly, but we have not conquered the air. Nature presides in all her dignity, permitting us the study and the use of such of her forces as we may understand. It is when we presume to intimacy, having been granted only tolerance, that the harsh stick fall across our impudent knuckles and we rub the pain, staring upward, startled by our ignorance. West with the Night ultimately went out of print and into obscurity, where it languished for decades until it was rediscovered in the early 1980s. Controversy has persisted to this day about whether or not Beryl actually wrote the book herself or whether it was partially or completely ghostwritten by her husband. Experts on both sides of the debate have presented compelling evidence, and it seems likely that the mystery will remain forever unsolved. Later Life and Public Legacy Eventually, Beryl returned to Kenya, which she considered her real home. By the early 1950s, she had re-established herself as a prominent horse trainer, although she still struggled financially. She slid into obscurity until 1983, when West with the Night was re-released and a journalist from the Associated Press tracked her down. By then, she was elderly and impoverished, but the publicity and sales around the book’s re-release was enough to raise her back to a comfortable lifestyle until she died in Nairobi at the age of 83 in 1986. Beryl’s life sounded more like the stuff of adventurous (and mostly male) aviators than of a lady of her time, and as a result, she was the subject of endless fascination. Although her scandalous and sometimes callous romantic behavior garnered a lot of attention, her record-setting flight would always be her legacy. When Karen Blixen (using the pen name Isak Dinesen) wrote Out of Africa, Beryl did not appear by name, but an avatar of her- a rough-around-the-edges horse rider named Felicity- did appear in the film adaptation. She has been the subject of multiple biographies, as well as Paula McLain’s 2015 bestselling fictional novel Circling The Sun. A complicated woman with a nearly unbelievable life, Beryl Markham continues to fascinate audiences to this day. Sources â€Å"Beryl Markham: British Author and Aviator.† Encylopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beryl-Markham.Lovell, Mary S.,  Straight on Till Morning, New York, St. Martins Press, 1987Markham, Beryl.  West with the Night. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1983Trzebinski, Errol.  The Lives of Beryl Markham.  New York, W.W. Norton, 1993.

We All Fall Down Essays

We All Fall Down Essays We All Fall Down Paper We All Fall Down Paper After the trashing of the Jerome household and the attack of their daughter Karen, the Jerome family knew their lives were never going to be the same. The purpose of composing a novel is to engage and entertain the responder through the use of a wide variety of forms, conventions and techniques allowing them to be drawn into completely different worlds. The novel We all fall down written by Robert Cormier and the song lyrics Cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin both present themes of redemption and fatherhood. Both composers use techniques such as effective punctuation, effective language and narrative perspectives to engage the reader. Throughout the novel We all fall down the theme of redemption is displayed through the narration of Buddy’s character. His continuous search for redemption becomes one of major concern. As one of the perpetrators in the trashing, he is always carrying a guilty conscience and the guilt of the trashing also undermines his relationship with Jane. Cormier constantly emphasises the trashing when Buddy and Jane are together causing Buddy to become evasive. â€Å"The first time Jane mentioned the word trashing, Buddy flinched; then turned away in self defence, his thoughts racing wildly as he anticipated what her next words would be. Buddy is continuously searching for redemption and asking for forgiveness, especially after Jane finds out about the invasion of her home. The use of similes and hyperbole reinforce the effect on Buddy when Jane told him she knew what he had done. â€Å"The impact of her knowledge struck him, like a giant mallet hitting a gong inside him, the vibration s echoing throughout his body. † This clearly and effectively illustrates the force of the consequences of his irresponsible act of violence in the beginning of the novel and the deception he has practised to cover up his guilt. Cormier has displayed a wide variety of conventions and features. Similarly, in Cats in the cradle, Chapin portrays the theme of redemption through the use of irony. At the beginning of the song, the son sees his dad as a role model and something he wants to become in the future. â€Å"I’m gonna be just like you dad† and by the end of the song, the father realises his son became just like him but unfortunately it’s not something to be proud of. â€Å"I said I’d like to see you if you don’t mind. He said I’d love to dad, if I can find the time. This is suggesting that the father is trying to make up for lost time but it’s too late as the tables have turned and that the son likely won’t have time for him. The novel presents a very dim view of fathers. Mr. Jerome fails to be a source of strength to his family after the trashing occurred. The invasion of his home defeats him and the result of that leaves him turning his anger in hi s daughter Jane. Mr. Jerome accused his daughter Jane of being the cause off the trashing as Harry Flowers stated that Jane gave him the key to the house. â€Å"For the first time since he arrived home, Jane’s father looked at her. Looked directly into her eyes, his own eyes flashing with-what? -anger? More than anger. She groped for the word and, to her horror, found it. Accusation. That’s what she saw in his eyes. † Cormier uses effective punctuation to show that Jane is looking for an answer. The use of one word sentences lets the reader know that she has found the answer. She feels shattered, anxious and the responder can empathise with Jane. Another example of an unsupportive father is Harry Flowers’ father. Harry doesn’t take responsibility for his own actions and relies on his father to pay his way out of his problems. His parents paid off the damages off the trashing and while doing so also paid off his son’s way out of responsibility. â€Å"When my father agreed to restitution, everybody went along, the judge and the cops The judge placed me on probation and my father paid up † Similarly, in Cats in the cradle, time changes and reverses the situation. Time has changed the attitude of the father towards his son. The first sentence of every verse shows that more time has passed therefore showing that the father isn’t on the receiving end of his son’s affection. My child arrived just the other day†, â€Å"My son turned ten just the other day†, â€Å"He came home from college just the other day†, â€Å"I’ve long since retired my son moved away†. This informs the responder that the father wasn’t there for his son overtime and when he was growing up. The emphasis on the line â€Å"When you comin home dad? † conveys the dangers of no communication and putting too much emphasis on work and money and not on spending quality time with the family. The structure of We all fall down is different from many novels. It doesn’t use chapters, but instead uses narrative perspectives and effective language to get across the themes and characters. This technique arouses curiosity and maintains the readers’ attention as it keeps them engaged and focused on what they are reading. There is a part 1 and part 2 which is a separation of some events that had happened. Part 2 is making right of what happened in part 1. The novel is told through the viewpoint of the three main characters Jane, Buddy and The Avenger. Each of them have a different perspective of the trashing and eventually these all come together. Throughout the novel Buddy’s language is colloquial slang and changes dramatically when talking about the effect alcohol has on him. His language becomes more educated and sophisticated. â€Å"Buddy discovered the marvellous methods of booze, the way it soothed and stroked, made hazy the harshness of things, made him – almost – happy. Languid, and feeling what the hell. † The use of commas engages the responder as it is a list telling the readers how happy alcohol makes him and they way it makes him feel. Cormier has used a broad range of different techniques and a unique structure to portray his themes and characters. Similarly, in Cats in the cradle, Chapin uses double narrative perspectives to present different points of view. It presents the words of the father and the words of the son who becomes just like the father, maybe worse as shown in the line â€Å"if I can find the time. † Through the texts We all fall down and Cats in the cradle both Cormier and Chapin use a wide variety of forms, conventions and ideas to draw the responder into the world of the texts. Through the use of techniques it is more evident how the themes of redemption and fatherhood apply in the texts and enables the responder to be drawn into distinctive worlds.

EXAM QUESTION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EXAM QUESTION - Essay Example The Hagia Sofia construction dates to the Byzantine period while the empire was under Justinian’s rule. Historically, the Hagia Sofia’s construction was targeted to honor the Byzantine art practitioners (Saoud, 2003). The building betroths the Byzantine artistic practices during the civilization period as the aspects present that period were incorporated in the construction of the ruins. The building’s height was unchallenged by many of the period’s architectural designs with many other artistic revelations from the Byzantine and Roman empires of the period including the use of circular domes on square buildings. Historically, the findings denote that the infamous empires embraced monumental artistic buildings through the established researches (Ashkan & Ahmad, 2012). The intensified research about the Hagia Sofia and the Pantheon indicate that the two buildings shared similar architectural designs, and the meanings. Therefore, the use of circular domes was a sign of power in the buildings’ constituent empires. The study’s findings imply that the use of unreinforced domes in the Pantheon building make it the tallest ancient structure at over 2,000 years (Ashkan & Ahmad, 2010). The opening of the Pantheon dome named â€Å"Oculus† appears at the height of 143ft above the square building (Ashkan & Ahmad, 2012). The several imperial palaces in the Roman and Byzantine empires and commemorative Roman columns along the ancient buildings are a significance of the artistic correlation between the Pantheon and Hagia Sofia architectures (Saoud, 2003). The evidence of water reservoirs and cisterns built in the two buildings comprise of expensive red and rare square tiles. The reportedly exotic materials depict the devotion that the two different empires adapted in order to construct the two monumental structures. Therefore, the two buildings’ architectures concentrated on the

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

Discussion Board 1-1 - Essay Example Examples of common tragic events that lead to crisis include and not limited to terrorism, suicides, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes, financial meltdowns, job termination and deaths. Crises have three main elements namely, stressor event, perception of the event and effects and inadequate resources or incompetent strategies to absolve the given problems. Usually, psychologists gain interests to study life events after realizing associated negative effects of the events on human survival. In the same manner, the interest to study crises related to their effects on human life. The objectives of such studies are to find reasonable and reliable interventions to avoid and suppress human suffering due to the tragic events. Ideally, crisis intervention strategies differ from other counseling therapeutic intervention in certain ways. Compared to other counseling therapeutic interventions such as Structural Theory, Cognitive Behavioral and Systems theory among others, crisis intervention can take place at any place and setting and can be formal or informal. For example, depending on the severity of a stressing event, counselors might find it necessary to start crisis intervention in a chaotic and disorganized environments such those just hit by hurricanes, suicides or serial shootings. This form of intervention sounds informal and may not work with other counseling interventions. Another difference between crisis interventions from other counseling therapeutic interventions is that many counselors with different expertise can work as a team to handle single case of treatment (Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2014). This is difficult especially with Structural, Systems and Cognitive Behavioral Theories that are mostly effective when implemented by single counselors. For instance, crises intervention for a tragic event such as earthquake that leaves people in various problems may need various expatriates in Cognitive Behavioral, Systems, Psychoanalytic, Experiential and

Sexism - Social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexism - Social work - Essay Example Religious writings the date back two thousand years ago illustrate how women were thought to be of no essence. 1 Timothy 2:16 â€Å" I permit no woman to teach or have authority over men. She is to keep silent.† Thus, the term sexism has been far more associated with discrimination against females. When society began to depict the roles of men as heads of nations and kingdoms, pioneers of expeditions and discoveries, brave heroes of war, engineers of technology and infrastructure, great thinkers and philosophers, etc., it unconsciously instilled prejudicial thoughts -- that there exists an inferior gender, the female gender. In the years to come, the â€Å"battle of the sexes† would not be limited to the male and female genders but to the transsexuals as well. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 2007) The rise of the feminist movement which began in the late 19th century of the western society was a result of years of suppressed freedom, restlessness, frustration and oppression. As women were labeled by men as the â€Å"weaker sex,† they were denied access to education, suffrage, political representation, employment and equality under the law. The clamor for change and equality became a resounding battle cry of the feminist movement. They protested about double standards dictated upon by society in which, they argued, were exclusively favorable to men. It is not surprising then how the movement has evolved through modern times. When once their sole purpose was focused on creating equal opportunity for women, they became hungry for dominance and authority by suppressing men and propagating negative views about them and thus, have become instigators of sexism as well. Transsexuals are also victims of sexism. They have been openly criticized as having gender identity disorders which are psychological in nature. They are often the recipients of verbal abuse and have been labeled as fags,

Approaches to Treatment and Therapy: Case Study

Approaches to Treatment and Therapy: Case Study Case Study 1 (Phillip) Background Phillip is displaying multiple adverse psychological symptoms that would best fit the diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Specifically Phillip is a compulsive washer as he maintains a high level of cleanliness, having showers up to three times a day. He also only eats frozen food in order to avoid contamination and organises his furniture, making sure that they are all perpendicular to the wall. These compulsions are repetitive, purposeful behaviours designed to prevent or reduce anxiety (De Silva, 2003). Some, if not most, of Phillip’s anxiety arises from the intrusive thought of stabbing his mother which has become a clinical obsession because he believes that the thought has personal significance and meaning. This may be because Phillip has an inflated sense of responsibility and so believes that he is responsible for preventing the intrusive thought from actually happening (Rheaume et al., 1994). This has led to Phillip avoiding people, his Mother especially, but this has only increased the frequency and severity of his compulsions. It appears that Phillip is stuck in a vicious cycle of his obsessions and his compulsions feeding off one another and so intervention will be needed in order to help him. Theoretical Framework There are two central aspects of OCD, the cognitive aspects which include intrusive thoughts, obsessions and cognitive distortions, and the behavioural aspect of compulsions. In cognitive theory, intrusive thoughts (e.g. I want to stab my mother) occur automatically and usually have no emotional significance but can take on significance, depending on the context in which intrusions happen (England Dickerson, 1988). Such thoughts are very common and have been reported to occur in almost 90% of the population (Rachman de Silva, 1978) but once an individual deems these thoughts as significant it can cause distress and the belief that they are personally responsible for preventing the thought from actually happening. The distress caused by high levels of perceived responsibility has been found in multiple studies (Shafran, 1997; Roper Rachman 1975) as obsessional patients felt a lot more uncomfortable performing checking rituals when they were on their own and calmer when the therapis t was there as the patient felt less responsibility. This sense of responsibility is associated with both worry (Wells Papageorgiou, 1998) and OC symptoms (Salkovskis et al., 2000a). Specifically, the lowering of responsibility is associated with a significant drop in discomfort and need to check (Lopatka Rachman, 1995). One explanation for inflated responsibility is the ‘thought-action fusion’ (TAF) theory which suggests that obsessions occur in people who believe that thinking about a disturbing event is the same as doing it and that having an intrusive thought is morally equivalent to acting on said thought (Rachman, 1993; Shafran, Thordarson Rachman, 1996). TAF is an example of ‘thinking errors’ outlined by Beck (1976) which are used by most people all the time but can be detrimental when thinking errors become central to thought processes (Nisbett Ross, 1980). The most prevalent thinking error in those with OCD is that having any influence over the outcome means that you are responsible for the outcome. Due to the distress caused by the appraisal of intrusive thoughts, individuals aim to neutralise the anxiety caused through mental reassurance and overt compulsions (such as washing and checking) (Salkovskis, 1985). However attempts to neutralise the thought can sustain and potentially increase responsibility beliefs and the occurrence of intrusive thoughts. A common type of neutralising behaviour which is present in Phillip’s case is compulsive washing. Almost 50% of patients with OCD are compulsive washers (APA, 1994) and it is even more common in childhood cases of OCD like Phillip’s with 85% of young patients displaying washing rituals (Swedo et al., 1989b). It has been suggested that one of the main attributes of compulsive washers is perfectionism (Tallis, 1996). Tallis claims that most compulsive washers do not exhibit such behaviour because they are concerned about contamination or illness, instead they are more concerned with maintaining their environment perfe ctly and thus feeling fully in control. Research has found that there is a significant link between perfectionism and OCD in general, not just in compulsive washing (Bouchard et al., 1999). As Phillip appears to be displaying the perfectionist personality trait, it is important to consider this in therapy. As perfectionism has been found to correlate with depressive symptoms (Enns Cox, 1999; Flett et al., 1991) it is possible that a negative mood may be a factor in Phillip’s thinking errors. The mood-as-input theory (Martin et al., 1993) suggests that people use their mood as a factor to decide whether or not they have completed a task. When people are in a positive mood they are more likely to take their affect as a sign that they are progressing in a task and achieving more (Hirt et al., 1996). Whereas those in a negative mood experience the opposite and interpret their mood to mean that they haven’t progressed enough and so must continue with the task (Schwarz Bless, 1991; Frijda, 1988). This may occur because people in negative moods have been found to process tasks more extensively than those in positive moods (Mackie Worth, 1989). This is a significant theory for Phillip’s case as individuals with OCD tend to use internal states that are difficult to achie ve such as ‘having a gut feeling’ to help them decide when to stop compulsive behaviour (Salkovskis, 1998). They therefore have stricter personal requirements for making decisions and so what should be an automatic decision becomes a strategic one and the strict criteria have to be met before anxiety is reduced and the compulsive behaviour can stop (Salkovskis et al., 2000a). Problem Formulation Phillip presents all of the issues outlined in the theoretical framework which will act as the foundations for intervention. Figure 1 shows the main aspects of Phillip’s case and highlights his rules for living and the cycle in which he is trapped. From the information given in Phillip’s case, it appears as though the bottom line of his psychology is â€Å"I have to have full control over every aspect of my life† which may have been caused by authoritarian parenting (Timpano et al., 2010) or childhood trauma (Lochner et al., 2002) which have both been found to significantly correlate with OCD symptoms. Whilst there isn’t enough information about Phillip’s childhood to speculate if such things have happened to him, these are factors to bear in mind during treatment. This strict bottom line in Phillip’s life has led to certain maladaptive rules of living including his perfectionism (control over actions) and inflated responsibility (control over thoughts and feelings). He also has a generally negative mood as an input to his thought processes because he can never fully satisfy the strict standards that he sets himself. Then, when Phillip was a teenager he began experiencing intrusive thoughts about stabbing his mother. Such intrusive thoughts are not usually enough to trigger anxiety but due to Phillip’s rules of living, he finds personal meaning in the thought and feels responsible for preventing the thought from happening. This triggers anxiety and so he seeks to neutralise the thought through compulsive washing, arranging furniture and socially isolating himself. When these neutralising behaviours reduce his anxiety it reinforces Phillip’s thinking errors, his rules of living and his bottom line. Thus, when his anxiety is triggered again he repeats the behaviour and so Phillip is trapped in a cycle of his compulsions and obsessions reinforcing one another. Figure 1. Problem Formation flow chart for Phillip Treatment Intervention Phillip’s treatment can start with cognitive therapy aiming to focus and modify his thinking errors and inflated sense of responsibility. At the same time as this Phillip can take part in group therapy designed specifically to treat perfectionists. After these treatments and once Phillip feels ready to, he can move on to exposure and response prevention (ERP) using virtual reality to simulate dirty and contaminated environments. This will help him to control his compulsions and get him out of the obsessive-compulsive cycle. For Phillip, cognitive therapy will start by focussing on the distinction between intrusive thoughts and his negative appraisal of those thoughts. As outlined by Menzies and de Silva (2003), this begins by asking patients to reflect upon the last time they had an intrusive thought and what their behavioural reaction was to this thought. Phillip will then be encouraged to recognise that it was not the thought itself that cause his subsequent behaviour but how he interpreted the thought. It is important that the client understands the distinction between his intrusions and their appraisal before moving on to further intervention as it may otherwise confuse them. Next, Phillip taught about how common intrusive thoughts can be, to help him dismiss any feelings of shame or guilt that he may be feeling. It is suggested by Salkovskis (1999) that patients should be encouraged to view intrusive thoughts as a potentially positive and useful occurrence that can help with problem solving and for esight. The goal of this is not to eliminate their intrusions but to help them feel more positive by normalising them. Phillip is also encouraged to modify his responsibility appraisals in order to reduce his inflated sense of responsibility. Van Oppen Arntz (1994) found that even when people with OCD understand how unlikely it is that their intrusive thoughts will become reality, they continue to show compulsive behaviours because they feel a sense of responsibility to stop it from happening. Van Oppen Arntz (1994) suggest creating a pie chart with patients that they can divide up to represent the importance of factors that may contribute to a feared outcome. Once Phillip assigns percentage values to each factor he will be able to visualise that his role of responsibility is much smaller than he originally thought. This technique will help Phillip to reassess the overestimation of his responsibility and realise the importance of other uncontrollable factors. Whilst undergoing cognitive therapy Phillip will join group therapy to help him with his perfectionism. Ferguson and Rodway (1994) outlined a group therapy programme for perfectionism based on cognitive-behavioural theory. This programme will aim to help Phillip understand the problems that can arise from perfectionism and what strategies can be used in order to change his perfectionist way of thinking. The therapy will also be based on the outline provided by Kutlesa and Arthur (2007) which applies a psycho-educational approach to perfectionism, using interpersonal theory (Yalom,1995) as the psychological component which will ask Phillip and others in the group to focus on the present rather than worrying about the future. The educational component will use elements of cognitive-behavioural theory (Ellis, 1991; Beck, 1993) to teach the group about the thinking errors involved in perfectionism and skills to cope with and change these thinking errors. Once Phillip has made progress in both treatments and feels ready for the next step he will move on to ERP as a treatment for his compulsive behaviour. Firstly, Phillip will be steadily and gradually exposed to environmental triggers. He will write a list of situations in which he could be contaminated, started with the one that makes him the least anxious and working his way up to the worst. Most ERP treatments ask participants to experience these situations either through images or in vivo but a new method of virtual reality (VR) is being used in the treatment of OCD and it has been found to be effective (Kim et al., 2009; Belloch et al., 2014). Using VR, Phillip will then be exposed to the items on his list one by one, experiencing each one repeatedly until anxiety is completely reduced and Phillip is ready for the next item. Another aspect of this treatment is response prevention which aims to help patients control their compulsions in advance of triggering events (Meyer et al., 1974). This involves strategies such as using alternative behaviours and modifying compulsive rituals which can be integrated into the VR exposure. This treatment aims to expose Phillip to his triggers in a safe way reducing his anxiety for those situations and learning to control his compulsions in the process. Evaluation Using cognitive and behavioural treatments together is crucial for Phillip’s intervention as they both deal with either the obsessions and the thinking errors or the compulsions but not both. If only one of these elements is dealt with then it is likely that the other will return. Whilst cognitive therapy has been found to be potentially effective on its own (Cottraux et al., 2001) studies have found that when ERP is combined with cognitive therapy it produces lower dropout rates, greater general coping and decreased obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Kyrios et al., 2001; Freeston et al., 1997). A major aspect of Phillip’s case that wasn’t dealt with in cognitive-behavioural therapy that was not covered was his perfectionism. Research has found that CBT doesn’t significantly reduce perfectionist symptoms (Egan Hine, 2008) whereas Richards etal. (1993) found lower scores on perfectionism and depression scales and increased levels of self-reported wellbeing and self-esteem in response to group therapy. The incorporation of VR is a modern approach to ERP but it is one that is becoming very popular in the treatment of many anxiety disorders (Kim et al., 2009) and has been found to be as effective as in vivo exposure (Belloch et al., 2014). One aspect that wasn’t addressed in Phillip’s treatment is that of his family. As mentioned earlier it is possible that authoritarian parenting (Timpano et al., 2010) or childhood trauma (Lochner et al., 2002) could be involved in Phillip’s case as these are common causes of childhood OCD. There are family-based therapies that are shown to be effective in these cases (Lebowitz, 2013) but there wasn’t enough information about Phillip’s family to make such assumptions. If, in therapy, similar issues are revealed then family-based therapy may be very useful for Phillip. Also, little attention was given to biological factors even though pharmacological treatments are very effective in the treatment of OCD (Abramowitz, 1997; de Haan et al., 1997). This is because it would only tackle Phillip’s symptoms whereas cognitive therapy with ERP and group therapy will help Phillip to understand his rules of living, his bottom line, and how to potentially c hange or cope with this. References

The Acceptance of Digital Art Essay -- Art Technology Essays

The Acceptance of Digital Art Digital art has a fifty-year history of innovation and experimentation with new technology. The Pioneers of digital art were not artists but people who were exploring new visions through computers and the writing of computer programs. According to the Digital Art Museum, which is a joint venture between London Guildhall University and two independent art galleries, digital art can currently be classified according to three phases Phase I of digital art was from 1956-1986. The Paintbox Era, the second phase, lasted from 1986-1996. Art software became readily available and attracted more artists to the new media. Especially useful was the paint program and devices such as the scanner and film recorder. Phase III, 1996-2006, is called the Multimedia Era because of the increase in technology and Internet access allowing the digital media artist interactivity with many art forms. The widespread availability of computers and software has allowed the digital artist to create distinct ive works of art. Digital art is able to combine and transform more traditional types of art such as painting, sculpture, photography, animation and filmmaking. Digital technology allows the artist to create and manipulate color, images, and texture, instantly. Images can be made to appear, disappear and even combine or morph. The technological aspect of digital art often leads to questioning of whether or not it can be considered art. Digital art has been accepted and embraced by the commercial and entertainment industries for many years, but is finding it much harder to become part of the fine arts community. Digital art has many hurdles to overcome before it will be fully accepted by the mainstream tradit... ...ises the use of computer technology for creative expression but the main purpose is to create something aesthetically pleasing. If history is any example, then the acceptance of digital media art will be slow. Vincent Van Gogh was considered such a poor artist that he could not sell a painting in his lifetime. The Impressionists in general were laughed at and considered to be untalented artists and refused admission in the important galleries and exhibition of their times. Now these artworks sell for millions and are treasured in many museums. Photography has taken 150 years to achieve respectability in the fine art field. This art form faced many of the same problems as digital media art, ease of reproduction, use of new technology, and seeming lack of skill. With art, sometimes only time can tell what will be truly treasured by the next generations.

Airline Regulation

Airline regulation has been a subject of debate for a long time now. This has been due to various views that have been expressed by various stake holders who hold that there are pros can cons of government regulation of the airline industry.This paper will try to look at various issues that surround the regulation of the airline industry by the government.            1.Is the regulation from the government necessary again?The regulation from the government is necessary at the airline industry. The reason as to why the government should regulate the airlines is because of lack of uniformity and decrease in quality of services. If the government could regulate the industry, this be avoided since there will be a fair playing ground in the industry. This would also encourage various airlines to concentrate on safety matters and equip the aircrafts with required systems by the law.According to Aarons (1996) the USAF B737-200 clashed killing all 34 on board and the sources say that the aircraft was not equipped with all systems required by the civil regulation, (FDR, CVR, TCAS 11or WDS AND GPS). If this aircraft was equipped with the above systems, the accident could not have occurred.         2. How far should the government go in tightening or loosening its control over the industry?The government should control only the fare and airport charges nationwide. This would help in unifying the great competition affecting smaller airlines from larger airlines. Some areas have few passengers than other areas and if an airline monopolize in those routes they may run at a loss.The government should standardize the charges depending on the weight of the aircraft and which airfield the airline is flying or operating from. The government should not be interfering with the airlines marketing strategy.   (Economic Council of Canada, 1999)         3.How have the events of the September 11 attack affected your decision on airline Regulation?After the September 11 attack, airlines were affected as many people feared to fly and the effects were felt in other areas as the incoming flights reduced drastically in fear of more attacks.  Through the government regulation, people were assured of safety as the government established a board to investigate the matters regarding the attack. No airline would claim to be safe than the other because they should all follow set rules. After the attack, only the strong/bigger airlines were able to ferry passengers in the country because they were able to make more flights in given period for they could afford to reserve some seats for security personnel, this favored them affecting smaller airlines.In one incidence, a passenger was found with a pistol on a flight to, the airline’s public relations manager said would take the matter to ensure that the security at the airport was tightened. (Air transport news, World Air news magazine february1994)        4.How do war and a weak economy change your perception of government regulation?When war engulf a country, there is a possibility of disruption of flight schedules which makes some areas becomes partially or completely inaccessible. If there is no government intervention, the airlines suffers losses.   But if the government regulates the economy may stabilize which comes as relief to the a ffected airlines.When the growth of the economy slows down and the strength of the currency weakens, cost goes up including fuel, the airlines fare goes up as a result. There is need for government regulation in this case in order to slow lower the cost of fuel operation.ConclusionPartial regulation by the government is important to put some kind of control in the industry. This would be in line with protecting the interests of the passengers and the interest of the airlines.ReferenceAaron, A. (1996). CFTI in Dubrovnik. Business & Commercial Aviation international, August 1996.Economic Council of Canada, (1999). Responsible Regulation. An interim Report, August 1999.World air news, (2004). Air transport news. February 2004.

Midwest High-Speed Rail essays

Midwest High-Speed Rail essays Where would America be without the train? The train and rail are as much a part of American heritage as the land itself. The train connected the east to the west. Trains ushered in the industrial revolution of the later 19th century. Trains not only ushered in industry, but also commerce America into the next century. The high-speed rail proposed to the Midwest will bring people in its cities closer together by the way of lowered cost and travel time. It will create jobs and help finance other important state programs with the revenue it creates. The beauty of the state will be preserved as it runs cleaner than other transits. When up and running theses trains will hopefully cut down the amount of travel on busy interstates which will further benefit our environment. Indiana should proudly be a part and share its weight of such an auspicious event. The question now is whether or not Indiana will help fund Amtrack's new train system. Under Amtrack's proposed plan, called the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MMRI), it has been projected that the total capital cost for their Midwest High-Speed Rail, is $3.5 billion. The proposed cost will be divided up by having the federal government contribute 80% of the capital cost, while then allowing the nine states to pick up the remaining 20%. With the nine states only having to pay 20% of a 3.5 billion dollar project cost how could any state pass up this chance. By the year 2010 the MMRI will be up and running and generate a projected total 471 million in revenue. The operation cost per year is only estimated at 347 million, which leaves each state with a nice 14 million to help finance new state project or older state project s that could never be worked into the budget before. Travel time is also a nice quality to the MMRI. What ever the travel time on other convectional forms of transportations will be cut down by at least 2 hours. A trip from Ch ...

Free Essays on Catch The Vision

Catch the Vision â€Å"I’m the child they stole from the sand three hundred years ago in Africa’s land.† -Langston Hughes Three hundred years ago in America before man could fly, women could vote or anyone ever walked on the moon, blacks were enslaved. They were brought to American in slave ships by the thousands. Their families were ripped apart, there way of life, their culture, everything the knew was taken away from them and they were cast into this strange new land. For the next two hundred or so years blacks in America were not free. During this time it was against the law to educate a slave for it was said that â€Å"an educated slave was a danger to society but an ignorant one was only a danger to himself.† But because they had a vision of freedom, for their children and their children’s children for generations to come, they kept fighting. After years of struggling blacks finally received their freedom, but no one ever said freedom meant equality. Blacks endured â€Å"separate but equal† laws that forbade them from attending the same schools, sitting on the same seats or e ven drinking from the same drinking fountains as whites. But thanks to the visions of some of America’s greatest hero’s like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and the warriors who became known as The Little Rock Nine the vision of equality became a reality. Today more than ever blacks in America are truly catching the vision. â€Å"Now through my children young and free I’m realizing the blessings denied to me† -Langston Hughes I come from a small family; it’s just my mother my brother and myself, my father left before I even remember. My mother has done her best to raise us. She never had a chance to go to college and is just now going back as age 40. She has instilled in my brother and me the importance of getting an education and how many of our people have died, endured ridicule and fought so that I can attend any institution I set ... Free Essays on Catch The Vision Free Essays on Catch The Vision Catch the Vision â€Å"I’m the child they stole from the sand three hundred years ago in Africa’s land.† -Langston Hughes Three hundred years ago in America before man could fly, women could vote or anyone ever walked on the moon, blacks were enslaved. They were brought to American in slave ships by the thousands. Their families were ripped apart, there way of life, their culture, everything the knew was taken away from them and they were cast into this strange new land. For the next two hundred or so years blacks in America were not free. During this time it was against the law to educate a slave for it was said that â€Å"an educated slave was a danger to society but an ignorant one was only a danger to himself.† But because they had a vision of freedom, for their children and their children’s children for generations to come, they kept fighting. After years of struggling blacks finally received their freedom, but no one ever said freedom meant equality. Blacks endured â€Å"separate but equal† laws that forbade them from attending the same schools, sitting on the same seats or e ven drinking from the same drinking fountains as whites. But thanks to the visions of some of America’s greatest hero’s like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and the warriors who became known as The Little Rock Nine the vision of equality became a reality. Today more than ever blacks in America are truly catching the vision. â€Å"Now through my children young and free I’m realizing the blessings denied to me† -Langston Hughes I come from a small family; it’s just my mother my brother and myself, my father left before I even remember. My mother has done her best to raise us. She never had a chance to go to college and is just now going back as age 40. She has instilled in my brother and me the importance of getting an education and how many of our people have died, endured ridicule and fought so that I can attend any institution I set ...

Role of HR and Social Media Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Role of HR and Social Media - Assignment Example Social media helps managers understand workers’ problems so that they can address at least what they can to optimize workers’ chances of retention. Social media helps managers clearly convey their policies regarding work ethics without the constraints of time and distance. Social media helps managers improve workers’ productivity by having them stay connected 24/7. The improved flow of communication and information at all levels across the organization also helps improve the workers’ productivity. Using such programs as Skype, managers can conduct meetings with the workers without having to make them spare some precious time from work to come to the meeting room. Many companies like Cisco have the trend to befriend the workers, peers, managers, and bosses at the social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. â€Å"Seven of 10 employees have â€Å"friended† their managers and coworkers on Facebook† (Gaskell). This helps them foster better re lations with one another and know one another

Analysis of Argentina Economic Recovery Research Paper

Analysis of Argentina Economic Recovery - Research Paper Example Resent observation made by IMF indicates that Argentina has been able to recovery from financial recession. This essay analyses Argentina’s managed floating exchange rate regime from the recovery of economic crisis to the Present. Economists have mentioned many factors that contributed to Argentina financial turmoil. Some economists have cited Argentina economic policies as a factor that contributed to financial recession (Hornbeck). Analysts have claimed that IMF had questionable policy advice and lending to Argentina because it overlooked risks that Argentina was likely to face (Saxton). It is apparent that numerous lending programs that international community gave to Argentina during the recession aggravated the problem. Economists believe that fiscal policies of Argentina plunged it into the financial crisis. Research indicates that Argentina had been using fiscal largesse to counter economic problems. In this case, Argentina printed currency to cover its monetary shortfa lls or applied other creative methods to expand its money supply. This policy led to indebtedness and high inflation. Argentina adopted convertibility fiscal policy, which controlled exchange rate against the American dollar. Research indicates that the policy worked well until 1995 when Argentina economic policies could not protect the country from economic depression (Akkerman & Teunissen). Analysts have argued that convertibility fiscal policy failed because the plan lacked thresholds required to contain convertibility plan at national and provision levels. Research indicates that Argentina’s debts grew from 30% to 60% (Saxton). The debt figures show records collected from 1995 to 2001. These changes led to overvaluation of Argentina’s currency, which affected Argentina’s competiveness in the world market due to reduction in its ability to export, which further plunged public revenue. With a strengthening dollar fiscal balances of Argentina deteriorated givin g room for regional trading countries a trading opportunity over Argentina. Commodity prices fell accelerating a fall in public revue. It is apparent that a fall in domestic trade triggers an increase in inflation level. Research indicates that Argentine fiscal deficit in 1993-2001 had an average of 1.3 percent of the country’s GDP (Weisbrot, et.al). Increase in fiscal deficit took place in 1998 when Argentina adopted joint action on recession, which focused on higher interest rates and revenues. Recovery plan from the financial turmoil meant that Argentina had to change to fiscal policies in order to meet challenges in the dynamic market. Argentina debt restructuring began in 2002 when Argentina negotiated with investors and IMF to cut down some of their debts (Akkerman & Teunissen). Negotiation did not yield much because IMF did not provide solution, which could leverage on Argentina’s economic turmoil. Argentina refuted its agreement with IMF and entered into one te rm agreement with SEC to settle debts of private creditors. The commitment made by Argentina to recover from debts that it had incurred got a backup from Argentine legislative move, which restricted Argentina from incurring more debts on better terms. Argentine government developed policies, which improved import substitution as a move to improve trade in the country. The central bank moved in to control

Outline presentation+PP presentation slides Essay

Outline presentation+PP presentation slides - Essay Example In the past, electronic cigarette has been seen as a media ploy. However, with technological change, it is possible to develop unique products and services. The E-cigarette is a product of innovation and intelligent product. The amount of money spent on cigarette has been increasing over time due to increasing costs of production. However, with the production of the E-cigarettes have been effective in reducing the cost of cigarette consumption (Malaval and Benaroya 89). The research by the Howie Zee, the average consumption cost reduces over year, and the graph below illustrates the changes in costs after the uptake of the new product. The results are based on the personal consumption rate of one pack per day The graph above illustrates the performance of E-cigarette compared to the tobacco cigarette which has been in use for a long time. However, the establishment of the e – cigarette brand has been poor due to poor investments over the years. Media use has improved the performance of the cigarette for the last decade with the main beneficiary being the Blu brand of E-cigarette. The blue cigarette has been developed with several flavors making it diversified with exceedingly many options. The product comes with seven flavors namely cherry crush, classic tobacco, Java Jolt, Magnificent Menthol, and vivid vanilla. Other flavors are peach schnapps and Pinna Colada. The variety offered makes the products better in providing options in the cigarette industry. The products do not have smoke, ash or smell making them valuable especially when used in public areas. The products contain rechargeable packs and the flavors are presented using cartridges in order to facilitate easy change of flavors (Preston 23). The flavor cartridge has great vapor and come with a single design, and each cartridge is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. In addition, the company obtains smoke juices, which are manufactured in Wisconsin and the flavors

How Hardy and Steinbeck treat the theme of outsiders in The Withered Arm and Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

How Hardy and Steinbeck treat the theme of outsiders in The Withered Arm and Of Mice and Men Essay Hardy and Steinbeck both use the theme of outsiders strongly in their stories. The term outsider means one who is not a member of a profession, party or circle or one not acquainted with or interested in something that is going on. A person can be an outsider for many different reasons for example loneliness, disability, gender, race, age, size and action. Steinbecks short story Of Mice and Men was set on a ranch in California during the American Depression in the late 1930s. The story is about two men Lennie and George. Lennie is mentally disabled so George looks after him. When Lennie and George first meet the bosss son Curley he immediately feels threatened by Lennies size. Lennie and George go and work on the ranch because they want to save up their money so they can buy a ranch of their own. As the story progresses 2 other characters, Candy and Crooks, become interested in their idea and ask if they can help out. Lennie is given a puppy by Slim (another worker on the ranch). One time Lennie is petting it and does not know his own strength and kills it. Curleys wife comes in and asks what is wrong he tells her what happened and that it only happened because he likes stroking things. She lets him stroke her hair because she thinks it is soft. Lennie gets carried away and wont let go. Curleys wife struggles so much that he breaks her neck. Lennie becomes so frightened that he runs away and just leaves the body. Curley sees his wife and says he is going to give Lennie a horrible death. George hears Curley and decides to kill Lennie himself quickly and painlessly. George finds Lennie and starts to talk about their dream ranch, he raises the gun and shoots Lennie in the back when he is not looking. Hardys novella The Withered Arm was set in England in the 1800s. It is about a woman named Rhoda who has a son with the owner of the dairy farm at which she works. But now the farmer does not want to know her and is married to a younger prettier woman. Rhoda wanted to know what the new wife looked like so she sent her son to go and see. The son came back and told Rhoda what she was like. Rhoda had a dream, she dreamt that Farmer Lodges new wife was sitting on her and she thrust her left arm with her wedding ring on into Rhodas face. Rhoda grabbed her arm and threw her to the floor. The next day the farmers new wife visited Rhoda and revealed to Rhoda some marks on her left arm. A few weeks later Gertrude (Farmer Lodges wife) came back to see Rhoda and showed her that the marks on her arm were getting worse. Months later Gertrude goes to see a conjuror who makes an egg mixture which shows Rhodas face and says that to cure her arm Gertrude must touch the neck of a man who has been hung before he goes cold. Rhoda and her son leave and were never seen leaving. Gertrude found out when the next hanging was taking place and she then travelled to the jail. After the hanging she was shown where the body was. As she touched the body somebody behind her screamed. Gertrude turned around and saw Rhoda and Farmer Lodge standing there. The dead boy was Rhodas son. A few days later Gertrude passed away with shock. There are four main outsiders in Of Mice and Men and also in The Withered Arm. The outsiders in Of Mice and Men are Crooks, Candy, Lennie and Curleys wife and in The Withered Arm they are Rhoda, Gertrude, Farmer Lodge and Rhodas son. Crooks is an outsider in Of Mice and Men because he is black and everybody else on the ranch is white so he is branded as different. A moment in the story where Crooks loneliness is shown is when Lennie comes into his room: You go on get outa my room. I aint wanted in the bunkhouse and you aint wanted in my room This shows that Crooks is not allowed to go in their rooms invading their private space so he does not want them coming in his room doing that, if he is not allowed to do it. An outsider in The Withered Arm Rhoda. She is and outsider because she has a son with Farmer Lodge and does not talk to any of the other workers at the dairy farm, so they think she is stuck-up: as the milkmaid spoke she turned her face so that she could glance past her cows tail to the other side of the barton, where a thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest. This is a part in the story where Rhoda is at work at the dairy farm and all the other workers are talking about Farmer Lodges new wife. Rhoda does not join in the conversation for obvious reasons, but as they talk the workers look over at her. Candy is another outsider in Of Mice and Men. He is an outsider because he is older than any of the other workers. A part in the story where Candys loneliness is visible is when his dog is taken from him and shot by some of the other workers because they are sick of the smell of it: Candy did not answer. The silence fell on the room againCandy lay still staring at the ceiling Candy did not want his dog to be killed because it was his friend, but when it is killed he feels lonely as if he has got no one left. Farmer Lodge is also an outsider in The Withered Arm. He is an outsider because he is older than any of the other workers and he is rich, which everybody else is not. When he marries his new wife Gertrude they see him as being lonely because he has married a younger woman. Curleys wife is an outsider because in Of Mice and Men she has just married Curley and moved to the ranch, which his dad owns. All the other workers think she must be lonely because she is always seen wandering around the ranch, she is never seen with Curley. Similarly Gertrude is an outsider in The Withered Arm because she has just married Farmer Lodge and moved to his home. When she comes home with Farmer Lodge everybody is talking about her Who is she? and What does she look like? so this must make her fell as though people are talking at her behind her back. In Of Mice and Men Lennie is an outsider because he has a mental disability and is looked after by George. He is also does not know his own strength and hurts Curley, this incident makes him feel more vulnerable to the other workers: Lennie smiled with his bruised mouth. I didnt want no trouble, he said. He walked toward the door In the same way Rhodas son is an outsider in The Withered Arm because he is dominated by his mother and at the end when he is hung, he is wrongly accused of something because of injustice: a young fellow deserved to be let off, this on does; only just turned eighteen, and only present by chance when the rick was fired This is the part in the story when Gertrude goes to see if there is any hangings happening the next day and is told about one, which is Rhodas son. The man who is telling her says he is innocent. Dreams are featured a lot in both stories. Lennie, George and Candy have a dream in Of Mice and Men to own their own ranch: Well have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens. Lennie and George at first are going to buy the ranch by themselves but then Lennie accidentally tells Candy, so George lets him help them. Curleys wife also has a dream to become an actress and be respected. In The Withered Arm Rhoda has a dream about Gertrude sitting on her with the wedding ring on: the young wife, in the pale silk dress and white bonnetthe figure thrust forward its left hand mockingly, so as to make the wedding ring it wore glitter in Rhodas eyesswung out her right hand seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm, and whirled it backward to the floor However in this story the dream comes true because Gertrude visits Rhoda and shows her the marks on her arm. In Of Mice and Men the style is mainly conversational, we learn about events through dialogue. Through language we can tell that the boss is aloof to the workers. The language is like a childs when Lennie is moving; he is described like an animal. This story is known as a novella. It deals with poor and working class people. In The Withered Arm the style is also conversational, we learn about Rhoda at the beginning through conversation. It is third person narrative and in the past tense. This story is known as a short story. Through language we can also tell that the boss is aloof to the workers. This story also deals with poor and working class people. The settings are very similar, as they are both set on a farm in remote areas of the countries in which they are set. The Withered Arm is set on a dairy farm in England but Of Mice and Men is set on a ranch in California.

Purchase decision of apartments in metropolitan India

Purchase decision of apartments in metropolitan India Factors affecting the purchase decision of apartments in metropolitan India Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the motivation behind Indian buyers when looking to purchase an apartment. The factors driving demand preferences for apartments are not well established and are difficult to measure, and often builders may not have an insight into what buyers are looking for. Design/methodology/approach The research in this paper is based on telephonic interviews and internet based survey with recent purchasers, who bought a home in the past 1 year and prospective purchasers looking to buy an apartment in the coming one year. They belonged to number of locations across all metropolitan cities of India Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. The data were analysed using factor analysis to identify the criteria in an apartment that buyers value the most. This research was done across all ages and irrespective of their intention of why they bought or if this was their first purchase. Further, Cluster analyses was used to determine clusters and one way Anova was used to determine the factors that hold different value to different clusters of people. Discriminant Analysis was used to determine any difference in behaviour of first time purchasers with others. Findings The findings in this paper revealed that issues signifying â€Å"affluence† accounted for approximately 27 percent of the choice of housing by Indian buyers to purchase apartments in metropolitan India. Also, Cluster Analysis revealed that demographically different set of buyers differ significantly in their attitude towards â€Å"Financial† factors. Discriminant analysis revealed that first time buyers give significantly more importance to â€Å"Financial† factors like â€Å"House price†, â€Å"Income† where they give much lesser importance to â€Å"Builder reputation† and â€Å"Status of neighbourhood†. Research limitations/implications The research in this paper is aimed specifically at Indians living in metropolitan cities only which may be very different from the rest of India. The majority of the respondents belong to Delhi, which may also bias the results. The majority of the data has been collected from an online survey which may reduce the validity of the findings. Practical implications If due consideration is given to the factors that buyers are most concerned about, builders of new apartment housing would be better equipped to meet this demand and maximise their profits. Builders will also be able to target buyers better by knowing the difference in preference of first time buyers to others. Originality/value This paper provides an invaluable insight into Indians concept of a suitable apartment in metropolitans. While important decision factors were determined for the entire population, further analysis was done to determine difference in issues felt important to first time buyers. Also, the most important factors were determined for different demographic clusters. Thus in this way, the transaction of purchasing an apartment was analyzed from several points of view. Keywords Consumer behaviour, Purchase, Apartment, India Paper type Research paper INTRODUCTION The Real Estate sector is important to the Indian economy. In terms of employment generation, it is second only to the agricultural sector. The housing sector contributes nearly 5% to Indias GDP. It is expected to rise to 6 per cent in the next five years. Property markets in India are recovering faster than those in the US and the UK. The sector is expected to attract around US$ 12.11 billion of investments in the next five years. Residential space comprises almost 80% of the real estate developed in the country. There is a shortage of 22.4 million dwelling units according to the Tenth Five Year Plan. 80 to 90 million housing units will have to be constructed over the next 10 to 15 years to rectify this, with the majority of them for the middle- and lower-income groups. It is for this reason that residential properties in India, particularly in Mumbai and Delhi, are viewed as very good investments as per a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Urban Land Institute, a global non-profit education and research institute. In the 2009-10 budget, a tax holiday on profits was granted to developers of affordable housing (units of 1,000-1,500 sq ft). This exemption was instituted for projects that started from 2007-08 onwards with a deadline of completion of March 1, 2012. US$ 207 million was also allocated to grant a 1% interest subsidy on home loans up to US$ 20,691 with the caveat that the cost of the home should not be more than US$ 41,382. This was expected to further help the housing sector. An apartment is a residential unit that forms a division of a building. It can be either owned or rented. Some people own their apartments together where each owns a part of the corporation which owns the flat. In condominiums, dwellers own the individual apartments and share the public environment. Living in apartments is gaining popularity in India. 217 townships across India are in the building plans for the Sahara Group. Their allure lies in the convenience that they offer in terms of safety and security and maintenance of utilities like electricity and water. A central maintenance system obviates the need for hiring outside help for minor problems like leaking taps or electric short circuits. Stand-alone homes also require incurring additional costs like buying/leasing land, licensing, duties, etc. Apartments enable maximization of space utilization and reduce demand on public resources. People are also able to avail of additional amenities like gymnasiums, swimming pools, etc. at affordable prices. There is a gap in the literature, however, with regard to the value drivers that dictate purchase decisions of residential property in the country. Similar studies exist for other countries but were found wanting in the Indian context, especially when it comes to apartments. Through this paper, we aim to do the very same, i.e. establish which factors dictate purchase decision and to what extent. We will also correlate these preferences with the demographic profiles and characteristics of our respondents and hence arrive at a greater and much deeper understanding of these issues. We see immense utility for our paper, especially for builders and property dealers who can use our findings in structuring their own business activities. RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Even though consumer behaviour is generally assumed to be an important part of real estate valuation, buyer preferences are generally not considered during the valuation process. It is basically reduced to the confirmation of a bid price which may or may not be met by the buyer. Efforts are being made to address this fault and many papers have been written on the analysis of motivations of residential property purchasers, attempting to explain them using models such as bounded rationality and hedonic pricing. Hedonic Pricing, or Hedonic Demand Theory as it is also known, decomposes the item of interest into constituents and evaluates the importance of each of them and their contribution to the overall valuation. These factors can be both internal characteristics of the good or service and external factors. In the case of real estate valuation, internal characteristics include layout, structure, etc of the property while status of neighbourhood, proximity to schools, etc are the exter nal factors. Factor Analysis enables us to do just that. It is a statistical method that reduces the number of variables by grouping two or more of them into unknown or hidden variables known as factors. Further analysis is then conducted by looking at the variation among these factors and evaluating their relative performance. These factors are taken to be linear combinations of the original variables plus error terms (Richard L. Gorsuch, 1983). â€Å"Factor analysis seeks to do precisely what humans have been engaged in doing throughout history that is to make order of the apparent chaos of the environment† (Child, 1990). It has great use in evaluating consumer behaviour. Charles Spearman is credited with its invention. He used it in the formulation of the ‘g Theory as part of his research on human intelligence (Williams, Zimmerman, Zumbo Ross, 2003). Over the years it has found uses in fields as diverse as psychometrics, marketing, physical sciences and economics. It can be used to segment consumers on the basis of what benefits they want from the product/service (Minhas Jacobs, 1996). It has evolved as a technique over the years, with many researchers working on fine-tuning and improving the analytical process. Bai Ng (2002) developed an econometric theory for factor models of large dimensions. It focused on the determination of the number of factors that should be included in the model. The basic premise of the authors was that a large number of variables can be modeled by a small number of reference variables. Marketing strategies based on customer preferences and behaviour often make use of this technique during the market research phase (Ali, Kapoor Moorthy, 2010) and while devising and changing the marketing mix (Ivy, 2008). Factor Analysis has also been used in ground water management to relate spatial distribution of various chemical parameters to different sources (Love, Hallbauer, Amos Hranova, 2004). The facility of segmentation that factor analysis offers has been extended to the real estate sector and all studies thereof. Regression analyses are subject to aggregation biases and segmented market models yield better results. This segmentation is done using factor analysis Watkins, 1999). Property researchers have also dedicated a lot of attention to researching the preferences of property buyers and identifying the drivers of property value. A study in Melbourne, Australia (Reid Mills, 2004) analyzed the purchase decisions of first time buyers and tried to determine the most influential attributes that affect the purchase decision using factor analysis. The research findings of the paper indicated that financial issues explain about 30% of the variance in the purchase decisions of first time house-owners. This related to timing, the choice of housing, and the decision to buy new housing. Apart from that the choice of housing is dependent on Site Specific factors (Location) and the decision to buy new housing is dependent on Lifecycle factors, such as family formation, marital status or the size of the existing house. Another study determined that brand, beauty and utility play a defining role in property value (Roulac, 2007). The findings of the paper explain why certain properties command premium prices, relative to other properties. It came to the conclusion that for value determination of high priced properties the overall perception of the brand is the most important factor followed by utility and beauty. Brand names are also very important especially in metropolitan markets as they add to the appeal, distinctiveness of the property. Another way to attract buyers attention is through the mix of neighborhood amenities offered (Benefield, 2009). Neighborhood amenities like tennis courts, clubhouses, golf courses, swimming pool, play park and boating facilities significantly impact property values. Xu (2008) used a hedonic pricing model to study the hous ing market of Shenzhen, China. He operated under the assumption that buyers consider property specifics and location attributes separately when they buy a home. The findings suggest that the marginal prices of attributes are not constant. Instead, they vary with the household profile and location. Cluster analysis involves the grouping of similar objects into distinct, mutually exclusive subsets known as clusters. The objective is to group either the data units or the variables into clusters such that the elements within a cluster have a high degree of natural association among themselves while the clusters remain relatively distinct from one another. Mulvey and Crowder (1979) presented and tested an effective optimization algorithm for clustering homogenous data. Punj and Stewart (1983) reviewed the applications of cluster analysis to marketing problems. They presented alternative methods of cluster analysis to evaluate their performance characteristics. They also discussed the issues and problems related to use and validation of cluster analysis methods. Ketchen and Shook (1996) chronicled the application of cluster analysis in strategic management research. They analyzed 45 published strategy studies and offered suggestions for improving the application of cluster analysis in future inquiries. They believed that cluster analysis is a useful tool but the technique must be applied prudently in order to ensure the validity of the insights it provides. Since Marketing researchers were introduced to discriminant analysis half a century ago, it has become a widely used analytical tool since they are frequently concerned with the nature and strength of the relationship between group memberships. It is especially useful in profiling characteristics of groups that are the most dominant in terms of discrimination. Morrison (1969) explained how discriminant analysis should be conducted using canned applications and how the effect of independent variables should be determined. However, care must be taken when applying discriminant analysis. The potential for bias in discriminant analysis has long been realized in marketing literature. Frank, Massy and Morrison (1965) showed that sample estimates of predictive power in n-way discriminant analysis are likely to be subject to an upward bias. This bias happens because the discriminant analysis technique tends to fit the sample data in ways that are systematically better than would be expected by chance. Crask and Perreault (1977) looked at the validation problems in small-sample discriminant analysis. Various research papers have studied the features that are evaluated while purchasing a home, how these features factor in terms of pricing the residences and how the home owners rate the various scales on importance. Such studies, however, were found lacking in the Indian context. This paper aims to understand the value drivers of apartments in Indian metros using factor analysis. The initial variables that we have considered are as follows Ø House Price This refers to the price/rent that is being charged for the apartment. The real estate market is often segmented using this variable. Ø Availability of Gymnasium, Swimming Pool and other sports facilities Many apartment complexes and housing societies offer recreational facilities to the residents to service their lifestyle needs. Ø Traffic This variable refers to the density of vehicular movement in the location in which the apartment is located. Ø Size of Individual Rooms The size of the rooms within the apartment is also an important factor. Some buyers prefer big, airy rooms while others might want smaller rooms. Ø Proximity to City This refers to the location of the apartment relative to the city boundaries, i.e. whether it is within the city proper or on the outskirts. Ø Ability to obtain Loans This variable stands for the ease with which the buyers can get loans, either through the builder or on their own. Ø Parking Space The availability of parking space is considered important by some consumers. Ø Exterior Look of the Apartment This refers to the faà §ade of the apartment, i.e. whether its attractiveness is a strong enough motivation. Ø Household Income The total income of the household often dictates the purchase decision of families. Ø Perceived Safety of Locality This is a big concern for some customers, especially single women and old people and may significantly influence the purchase decision. Ø Branded Building Components Some consumers may value an apartment more if it has branded fittings, furnishings, etc. Ø View from the apartment This can be an important variable for some customers. Ø Preference for Ground Floor This variable refers to the customers preference for the ground floor relative to other floors. Ø Water Supply This variable means to measure how important it is for the consumers that there is continuous, guaranteed and good quality water supply. Ø Structure This refers to the layout of the apartment whether it is a 2BHK or 3BHK, etc. Ø Status of Neighbourhood For some consumers, the reputation and social standing of the locality that they live is very important. Ø Proximity to Shops and Parks This seeks to measure whether proximity to these places is an important criterion for buyers or not. Ø Interior Design This refers to interior features of the apartment like flooring, lighting, balcony, etc. Ø Availability of Domestic Help This can be important consideration, especially for working couples. Ø Proximity to Schools and Offices This seeks to ask how important such proximity is to the buyer. Ø Builder Reputation Many buyers are heavily influenced by the brand name and reputation of the builder. Ø Monthly Living Costs Certain average monthly expenditure is incurred as living expenses. We seek to gauge the relative value of this variable. Ø Proximity to Public Transport, Major Roads, etc This refers to the accessibility of the apartment with regard to public transport and roads. Ø Power Backup Full power backup in case of power outages is frequently advertised by builders. Whether this actually influences buying behavior needs to be examined. Ø Proximity to friends/relatives homes This can be a big variable that dictates consumers in their decision-making process. Methods Sample The questionnaire was sent to people residing in Indian metropolitan cities. Out of the 172 responses received, 13 were rejected since the respondents had not purchased a property in a metropolitan city. Another 13 were rejected because either the respondents had not purchased the apartment in the last one year or were undecided as to when to purchase the property. Finally out of all the respondents 146 (84.9%) were identified. Measures The 25 variables were measured by a Likert scale with responses ranging from 1 (Very Low Importance) to 5 (Very High Importance). Analysis This study uses four tests to analyze the factors involved in purchase of an apartment. The first test conducted is the factor analysis which is used to club the variables in order to determine the purchase criteria of apartments. Thus, in this analysis the broad set of variables will be constricted to determine the smaller set of factors that can explain what home owners look for when purchasing an apartment. After this, a cluster analysis was conducted to determine the various clusters (groups) that exist within the demographic population. On the above said factor analysis and cluster analysis, a one way ANOVA was conducted in order to determine the order of preferences of each factors amongst such clusters. Finally, a discriminant analysis was conducted to identify factors that best differentiate the first time purchasers with others. Results The first test conducted was the factor analysis. Under this test, we followed the Principal Component Analysis method on the 25 variables to combine the correlated variables into factors. The KMO value calculated is 0.799 is above the suggested value of 0.5 which indicates that it is good idea to proceed with Factor Analysis. On the basis of the computations as represented in the Rotated Component Matrix (Table 1), the following factors were received: Affluence, Financial, location, lifestyle, Site-Specific. The variables were classified into a factor if their loading for the respective factor was greater than 0.4. Also, two other unnamed factors were received which remained so due to the fact that no factor can be formed between two variables. We have followed the Kaiser criterion (1960) of retaining only those factors that are greater than one. The initial research on 25 variables was reduced as the variables on domestic help, floor and proximity to friends/relatives was removed a fter the factor analysis was done. Domestic help was removed because it loaded on three factors (Financial, Location and Lifestyle) equally. Preference of Ground Floor was removed from the analysis as it showed a positive loading and negative loading on each of two factors which means that while some considered ground floor to be in consideration other considered the penthouse to be better. Proximity to friends/relatives was removed as it was the only variable in factor 6 (unnamed) and thus no factor can be made by one variable. The results of the Factor Analysis are as under: Rotated Component Matrix Variable Name Affluence Financial Location Lifestyle Site-Specific Unnamed Unnamed Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 Factor 6 Factor 7 Traffic 0.768 Gym/Pool/Sports Facility 0.755 View from Apartment 0.721 Builder Reputation 0.644 Parking Space 0.568 Status 0.513 Monthly Cost of Living 0.764 Household Income 0.735 Availability of Loan 0.691 Availability of Domestic Help 0.498 0.414 0.435 Proximity to Schools/Office 0.778 Proximity to Transport 0.607 Proximity to City 0.575 0.424 -0.401 Proximity to Shops/Parks 0.546 Interior Design 0.768 Branded Components 0.712 Power Backup 0.594 Structure 0.741 Size 0.580 0.598 Safety 0.549 Preference of Ground Floor -0.415 0.423 Proximity to Friends/Relatives 0.845 Water Supply 0.410 0.652 House Price 0.405 0.508 Exterior Look 0.426 0.405 -0.464 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. Rotation converged in 21 iterations. Table 1 Factor Loadings- Purchase of an Apartment Table 2 Factor Analysis Factor No. Factor Name Eigen Values Total Variance (%) Cumulative Variance (%) 1 Affluence 6.826 27.306 27.306 2 Financial 2.9 11.600 38.906 3 Location 1.835 7.342 46.248 4 Lifestyle 1.504 6.016 52.264 5 Site-Specific 1.447 5.788 58.052 6 1.129 4.516 62.568 7 1.059 4.236 66.804 The second test that was conducted was the Cluster analysis and has done to segment the respondents on demographic variables of Age, Gender, City and Number of members in the family. Squared Euclidean distance and average linkage hierarchical clustering method was used. At fusion coefficient value of 1.0, two distinct clusters were evident. On conducting a One way ANOVA to compare means with the demographic variables we observe that the two clusters are differ on the mean age with a significance of 0%. The first cluster consists of a younger population with an average age of 37 approximately and the s