Child Hunger

Ending Child Hunger in America Studies prove that children that do not have enough food to eat do not do as well in school, they are likely to be sick more often, they are less likely to graduate high school – which in turn will keep them from going to college and in turn will have a negative Impact on their economic future. If these things happen then In the future that child will have a harder time providing for their children, thus causing a cycle In the effects of hunger.For this reason, It Is our duty as a society to do everything we an to ensure that these children have the resources available to them so that they can have the tools they need to prepare themselves to be functioning members of society In adulthood. There are currently more than sixteen million children In America whose families struggle to put food on the table – that's one In five children In America. That number is astonishing. Millions of children In America are on free or reduced lunch plans at their schools; this allows them to have nutritious meal while at school.But what happens when they go home? What happens during the summer when kids are out of school for several months? Only one in seven children on free or reduced lunch plans receives summer meals. What happens to those other six children – who ensures that they have enough food to eat? The solution is simple – we need to end child hunger in America. There are many ways to do this. First, there are church programs locally that offer summer and weekend home meal plans to children that are on free and reduced lunch plans.One such church is Midtown Church in Benton, Arkansas. They're program, known as the â€Å"Backpack Ministry† helps to provide weekend meals and snacks to children throughout the community who otherwise would not have anything to eat. Secondly, these types of programs should be better advertised and more easily accessible to those who need them. Access to programs is of utmost importance when ending child hunger. Next, education is vital – the parent's of these children must learn and understand the effects that hunger can have on their children.They must be educated on good food hoicks for their children and what the best things they can give them are. They need to know where to go to get connected to the right people that can help them find access to these programs that are designed to end child hunger. Spreading awareness of child hunger can ago long way. If the public has knowledge of what the numbers look like in the world of child hunger, they would be more likely to take action. The public has a greater power than they realize – people have the power to promote change.

Nike Essay

1.What is the WACC and why is it important to estimate a firm’s cost of capital? Do you agree with Joanna Cohen’s WACC calculation? Why or why not? Answer: The cost of capital refers to the maximum rate of return a firm must earn on its investment so that the market value of company’s equity shares will not drop. This is a consonance with the overall firm’s objective of wealth maximization. WACC is a calculation of a firm’s cost of capital in which each category of capital is proportionately weighted. All capital sources – common stock, preferred stock, bonds and any other long-term debt – are included in a WACC calculation. All else equal, the WACC of a firm increases as the beta and rate of return on equity increases, as an increase in WACC notes a decrease in valuation and a higher risk. The WACC of a firm is a very important both to the stock market for stock valuation purposes and to the company’s management for capital budgeting purposes. In an analysis of a potential investment by the company, investment projects that have an expected return that is greater than the company’s WACC will generate additional free cash flow and will create positive net present value for stock owners. Thus, since the WACC is the minimum rate of return required by capital providers, the managers in the company should invest in the projects which generate returns in excess of WACC. We do not agree with Joanna Cohen’s calculation regarding the WACC from 3 aspects: 1) When Joanna Cohen computed the weights or proportions of debt and equity, she used the book value rather than the market value. The book values are historical data, not current ones; on the contrary, the market recalculates the values of each type of capital on a continuous basis, therefore, market values are more appropriate. 2) The cost of debt should not be calculated by â€Å"taking total interest expense for the year 2001 and dividing it by the company’s average debt balance. These historical data would not reflect Nike’s current or future cost of debt. 3) She mistakenly used the average Beta from year 1996 to 2001. The average Beta could not represent the future systemic risk, and we should find the most recent Beta as Beta estimate in this situation. 2.If you do not agree with Cohen’s analysis, calculate your own WACC for Nike and be prepared to justify your assumptions. Answer: 1)Weights of equity and debt: Market value of equity = Current share price x Current shares outstanding = $42.09 x 271.5m = $11,427.44m Due to the lack information of market value of debt, we could use the book value for calculation: Market value of debt = Current portion of long-term debt + Notes payable + Long-term debt = $5.4m + $855.3m + $435.9m = $1,296.6m We = $11,427.44m/($11,427.44m +$1,296.6m) = 89.81% Wd = $1,296.6m/($11,427.44m +$1,296.6m) = 10.19% 2)Cost of Debt: We can calculate the current yield to maturity of the Nike’s bond to represent Nike’s current cost of debt. Po=$95.6 N=20Ãâ€"2=40 PAR=$100 PMT=$100Ãâ€"6.75%/2=3.375 By using financial calculator: r=3.58%(semiannual) So Rd=3.58% x 2 = 7.16% 3)Cost of Equity: Use 20-year T-bond rate to represent risk-free rate, as the rate of return of a T-bond with 20 years maturity is the longest rate which is available right now. So Rf=5.74% Use a geometric mean of market risk premium 5.9% as Market Risk Premium As we mentioned in Q1, the most recent beta will most relevant in this respect, so we will use B=0.69 Re=Rf+B(Market Risk Premium) =0.0574 + 0.69Ãâ€"0.059 = 9.81% 4)WACC: Use tax rate = US statutory tax rate + state tax = 35% + 3% = 38% WACC=Wd x Rd x (1-T) + We x Re = 10.19% x 7.16% x (1- 38%) + 89.81% x 9.81% = 9.26% 3.Calculate the costs of equity using CAPM, and the dividend discount model. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each model? Answer: 1)Cost of Equity using CAPM: Market Risk Free Rate (Rf)= 5.74% (20-year yield on US Treasuries) Beta (B) = .69 (most recent beta used as most relevant beta to calculate Nike’s valuation) Market Risk Premium = 5.9% (Geometric Mean used as Historic Equity Risk Premium) Cost of Equity using CAPM = Re = Rf + B(Market Risk Premium) Re = 9.81% = 5.74% + .69(5.9%) Advantages: -CAPM includes systematic risk by incorporating Beta in the Cost of Equity formula. Using the stock’s Beta to calculate equity will provide a return rate based on how risky the stock is perceived by investors. The higher the risk, the higher the Beta will be and will result in a higher required rate of return on the investment. Systematic risk can’t be diversified away, while unsystematic risk can be diversified away by maintaining a diversified portfolio. -CAPM proves to be a better model than others such as the Dividend Discount Model, because the valuation behind CAPM is based on risk and rates of return while the Dividend Discount Model relies heavily on dividends and a growth rate. Disadvantages: -When using CAPM, it can be difficult determining the estimate of Beta. Different investments may involve different risks and the Beta used in calculating CAPM should reflect the appropriate amount of risk relating to the specific investment. -The risk free rates used in calculating CAPM are continually changing as with the values of the investments in the market which make up the market risk premium. The constant changes in the market can have negative impacts on the valuation of CAPM. -Another disadvantage in using the CAPM in investment appraisal is that investment appraisal is premised on a long-term time horizon, whereas CAPM assumes a single-period time horizon, i.e. a holding period of one year. While CAPM variables can be assumed constant in successive future periods, market reality often shows that this is not the case. 2)Cost of Equity using the Dividend Discount Model: Growth (g) = 5.5% Dividend (D0) = $.48 Share Price (P0) = $42.09 Cost of Equity using Dividend Discount Model = Re = (D0 x (1+g)/P0) +g Re = 6.7% = (.48 x (1+5.5%)/42.09+5.5% Advantages: -Using the Dividend Discount Model is very easy to calculate because the formula is not complicated. There are no real technical or difficult calculations involved with using this method. -The inputs that are used in the calculations of this model are market information and can be easily obtained. -The Dividend discount model attempts to put a valuation on shares, based on forecasts of the sums to be paid out to investors. This should, in theory, provide a very solid basis to determine the share’s true value in present terms. Disadvantages: -The Dividend Discount Model relies heavily on the growth rate to calculate the rate of return. If growth slows or becomes temporarily negative, it can result in calculations which may not truly represent future expected returns. -This model is calculated using dividends and can’t be used in instances where a company is not paying dividends. This is also a disadvantage for any investment without a reasonably constant growing dividend stream. -The Dividend Discount Model is very sensitive to minor changes in input figures. If the growth rate changes by 1 % the cost of equity will also change by that rate. -The Dividend Discount Model does not explicitly consider the risks which the company faces. 4.What should Kimi Ford recommend regarding an investment in Nike? Answer: In order for Kimi Ford to make a decision regarding an investment in Nike, she must compare an accurately calculated WACC to the sensitivity of equity  value to discount rate chart shown in Exhibit #2. The sensitivity chart in Exhibit #2 states that at a discount rate of 11.17%, Nike’s current share price is fairly valued at $42.09. If a discount rate were to be calculated below 11.17% then the Nike shares would be under-valued in the current market, but if their discount rate were higher than the 11.17% Nike share price would be considered over-valued when compared to the current share price. When we calculated Nike’s discount rate, we determined that their appropriate WACC should be 9.26%. Since this WACC of 9.26% is below 11.17%, we believe that Nike’s shares are currently under-valued in the market. We believe that Nike’s equity value based on the WACC of 9.26% should fall somewhere between $55.68 and $61.25. Kiki Ford should recommend adding Nike sh ares to the NorthPoint Large-Cap Fund based on our analysis. 03/03/2011 CASE OVERVIEW Kimi Ford is a portfolio manager at a large mutual-fund management firm called, NorthPoint Group. Ford is considering the addition of Nike Inc. to the Large-Cap Fund at NorthPoint Group. Nike’s share price has notably declined since the beginning of the year. Her decision whether or not to add Nike to the portfolio should be made by looking at the 2001 fiscal year end 10-K report. In 1997 Nike’s revenues plateaued around $9 billion while net income had fallen from around $800 million to $580 million. Also, from 1997-2000 Nike’s market share in U.S. athletic shoes fell from 48% to 42%. Supply-chain issues and the adverse effect of a strong dollar had negatively affected revenue in recent years. At the June 28, 2001 analyst meeting Nike planned to add both top-line growth and operating performance. One goal was to develop more mispriced ($70-$90) athletic shoes and the other to push its apparel line. At this meeting a target long-term revenue growth rate between 8%-10% was given and an earnings-growth target above 15%. After reviewing all the analysts’ reports about the June 28th meeting Ford  still did not have a clear picture of how to value Nike. Ford then performed her own sensitivity analysis which revealed Nike was undervalued at discount rates below 11.17%. WHAT IS THE WACC? A firm derives its assets by either raising debt or equity or both. There are costs associated with raising capital and WACC is an average figure used to indicate the cost of financing a company’s asset base. More formally, the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay to debt holders and shareholders to finance its assets. Companies raise money from a number of sources so the WACC is the minimum return that a company must earn on existing asset base to satisfy its creditors, owners, and other providers of capital. WACC is calculated taking into account the relative weights of each component of the capital structure which means it is the proportional average of each category of capital inside a firm. This rate, also called the discount rate, is used in evaluating whether a project is feasible or not in the net present value (NPV) analysis, or in assessing the value of an asset. WACC = [Wdebt * Kdebt * (1-t)] + [Wequity * Kequity] + [Wpreferred * Kpreferred] K = component cost of capital W = weight of each component as percent of total capital t = marginal corporate tax rate WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO ESTIMATE A FIRM’S COST OF CAPITAL? The cost of capital is an important issue from the perspective of management while taking a financial decision. We can list some basic issues related to the importance of WACC and its interpretation by firms: * The importance of the WACC is in its relation to the evaluation of projects. For a project to be feasible, not just profitable, it must generate a return higher than the cost of raising debt (Kd) and the cost of raising equity (Ke). WACC is affected not only by Re and Rd, but it also varies with capital structure. Since Rd is usually lower than Re, then the higher the debt level, the lower the WACC. This partly explains why firms usually prefer issuing debt first before they raise more equity. As part of their risk management processes, some companies add a risk factor to the WACC in order to include a risk cushion in their project evaluation. * The cost of capital is also important for the management while taking a decision about capital budgeting. Naturally, the project which gives a higher (satisfactory) return on investment compared to the cost of capital incurred for its financing would be chosen by the management. Cost of capital is the key factor in deciding which project to undertake out of different opportunities. * The cost of capital is significant in designing the firm’s capital structure. It will direct the management about adopting the most appropriate and economical capital structure for the firm which means the management may try to substitute the various methods of finance to minimize the cost of capital so as to increase the market price and the earning per share. * The cost of capital is also an important factor for taking a decision about the soundest method of financing for the company whenever the company requires additional finance. The management may try to catch the source of finance which bears the minimum cost of capital. * The cost of capital can be used to evaluate the financial performance of the top management by comparing actual profitability’s of the projects and the projected overall cost of capital and an appraisal of the actual cost incurred in raising the required funds. DO WE AGREE WITH JOANNA COHEN’S WACC CALCULATION? WHY OR WHY NOT? We do not completely agree with Joanna Cohen’s calculation of WACC. There are  several problems in her calculation; * In Cohen’s calculation, she used the book value for the weights of each capital structure component (debt and equity). Book value of equity should not be used when calculating cost of capital. Instead she should have calculated the market value of equity. Also, she should have discounted the value of long-term debt that appears on the balance sheet to find the market value of debt (even if the book value of debt is accepted as an estimate of market value). * Also, she should have considered the preferred stock while calculating the weights of the components of capital structure (the redeemable preferred stock is relatively small in Nike’s capital structure so it doesn’t affect the weights). * Another problem with her calculation is about the cost of debt. Cohen used a cost of debt which is even lower than treasury yield. In common sense, a company, even it might be a large AAA firm, should be risky than US government. Cost of debt should be calculated by finding the yield to maturity on 20-year Nike Inc. debt with current coupon rate paid semi-annually instead of by taking total interest expense for 2001 and dividing it by the company’s average debt balance. USING SINGLE OR MULTIPLE COSTS OF CAPITAL IS APPROPRIATE FOR NIKE INC.? Even Nike Inc. has multiple business segments such as footwear, apparel, sports equipment and some non-Nike-branded products (which accounts for relatively small fraction of revenues), we assumed Nike Inc. to have a single cost of capital since its multiple business segments are not very different and would experience similar risks and betas. WHICH EQUITY RISK PREMIUM SHOULD BE USED TO DETERMINE THE COST OF CAPITAL? For the cost of capital, the geometric mean is a better alternative to the arithmetic mean. Furthermore, the geometric mean is a more conservative  measure to use compared to the arithmetic mean. The average market risk premium has fluctuated by large amounts in short time periods from 1926-1999. 1926-1929 saw high market risk premiums; however, the 1930s and 1970s saw very low market risk premiums. Therefore, we use the geometric mean since it is a better measurement compared to arithmetic mean when the measured period is longer and contains more fluctuations. VALUE OF EQUITY, VALUE OF DEBT AND WEIGHTINGS OF EACH COMPONENT | Value(in millions $)| Weight| Current Portion of Long term Debt| 5.40| 0.04%| Notes Payable| 855.30| 6.73%| Long-Term Debt| 416.72| 3.28%| Total Debt| 1,277.42| 10.05%| Equity| 11,427.44| 89.95%| Table 1. The weight of debt and equity in total capital of Nike CALCULATION OF THE COST OF EQUITY UNDER DIFFERENT METHODS AND ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH METHOD 1. Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) Under CAPM we can find the cost of equity as; Ke = Rf + Betai * Equity Risk Premium The first issue is to find an appropriate risk-free rate. We think the 20-year yields on treasures would be the one because NIKE is assumed to be operated for such long time, according to the revitalizing strategy proposed by the management and the long-term debt issued. Next is to determine the beta. The historic betas has been generally decreasing, and we assume it is the market condition and management`s purpose that make NIKE to be a defensive company. Furthermore, we find that the competitors such as K-Swiss and Lacrosse also have beta less than one.  So rather than the average, we use the YTD beta into calculation. On the other hand, since the beta has been found to be on average closer to the mean value of 1, which is the beta of an average-systematic-risk security, we calculate the adjusted beta, giving two-third weight to the YTD beta and one-third weight to 1. Regarding the risk premium, we use the geometric mean since it is a better measurement compared to arithmetic mean when the measured period is longer and contains more fluctuations. Combining the above information, we calculate the cost of equity as follows: Using YTD Beta => 5.74% + 0.69*5.9% = 9.81% Using Adjusted Beta => 5.74% + [(2/3)*0.69 + (1/3)*1)]*5.9% = 10.42% Advantages: * It provides an economically grounded and relatively objective procedure * It concentrates on the systematic risk that investors can`t avoid, rather than unsystematic risk that can be avoided through diversification * It is suitable for company that doesn`t pay dividend * It is widely used. Disadvantages: * The assumptions may not be realistic. For example, investors may not be all risk averse and rational that holds efficient portfolio * Investors may concern more than just market risk. 2. Dividend Discount Model (DDM) Under DDM we can find the cost of equity as; Ke = (D1/P0) + g Ke = (0.48*1.055/42.09) + 5.5% = 6.70% Here we assume NIKE will pay dividend at constant growth rate of 5.5% which forecasted by Value Line, so we use the Gordon growth model to derive required rate of return. Advantages: * It is simple and widely used * Can be used to infer implied required rate of return * It is helpful to perform a sensitivity analysis on the inputs Disadvantages: * It is not suitable for company that doesn`t pay consistent dividends or the dividends are not tied to profitability * It is suitable for only matured company 3. Earnings Capitalization Ratio (ECM) Under ECM we can find the cost of equity as; Ke = E1/P0 Ke = 2.32/42.09 = 5.51% Advantage: * Simple Disadvantages: * It assumes the earnings would be the same in the future, which may not be true * It doesn`t take the growth of company into consideration. Cost of Equity| | | CAPM| | | | Risk-free Rate| 5.74%| | Equity Risk Premium| 5.90%| | Year-to-Date Beta| 0.69| | Adjusted Beta| 0.79| | Cost of Equity with YTD Beta| 9.81%| | Cost of Equity with Adjusted Beta| 10.42%| | | | DDM| | | | Current Dividend| 0.48| | Growth Rate| 5.50%| | Current Stock Price| 42.09| | Forecasted Dividend| 0.5064| | Cost of Equity| 6.70%| | | | ECM| | | | Consensus Earnings Estimate| 2.32| | Current Stock Price| 42.09| | Cost of Equity| 5.51%| | | | Build-up Method| | | | Risk-free Rate| 5.74%| | Equity Risk Premium| 5.90%| | Cost of Equity| 11.64%| Table 2. Cost of Equity under different methods WHICH RATE AS RISK FREE RATE IS BEST FOR NOTES PAYABLE AND LONG-TERM DEBT? For long term debt, the 20-year yield on U.S. Treasuries is best as the risk free rate. Considering the long time horizon of Nike, a 20-year bond is property. And also, it is comparable to the current 25-year bond which Nike issued 5 years ago. Although Nike’s current bond is 25 years, we could consider it as a 20-year bond issued this year, and use the current price to calculate the 20-year bond YTM. And for short term debt, because the note payable was a major portion in the debt structure, the 1-year treasuries would be preferred as risk free rate. COST OF DEBT CALCULATION FOR NIKE We could not agree with Cohen’s analysis. Because Cohen used a cost of debt which is even lower than treasury yield. In common sense, a company, even it might be a large AAA firm, should be risky than US government. First, Cohen’s emphasis that last year, the effective cost of debt of Nike was less than treasury yield due to its Japanese Yen notes. However, the rates of debt based on currency change are unstable and non-repeatable. We could reasonable consider that Nike’s last year’s low cost of debt is a kind of arbitrage by chance. Second, to calculate the cost of debt, market value of debt should be used rather than the book value used by Cohen. The market value of debt is compounded by the current portion of long-term debt, notes payable, and long- term debt discounted at Nike’s current coupon. Therefore, we would like to recalculate the cost of debt. Cost of debt was calculated by using the current liquidated 20-year bond of Nike, Inc. with a 6.75% coupon semi-annually. Then we obtain a cost of long term debt before tax as 7.17%, and cost of short term debt before tax as 5.02%. As shown above in Table 1, short term debt took a significant portion in Nike’s debt structure; therefore, we use a weighted cost of debt to combine both long term and short term debt effects as in following equation: Here is the weight of short-term debt, while is the weight of long-term debt. And both cost of short-term and long-term debt are after tax. Cost of Debt| | | Long Term Debt| | | | Coupon Rate| 6.75%| | Time to Maturity| 40| | Current Stock Price| $95.60| | Cost of Debt| 7.17%| | After Tax Cost of Debt| 4.44%| Short Term Debt| | | | 20-year Yield| 5.74%| | 1-year Yield| 3.59%| | Risk Premium| 1.43%| | Tax Rate| 38.00%| | Cost of Debt| 5.02%| | After Tax Cost of Debt| 3.11%| Final Weighted Cost of Debt After Tax| 0.36%| Table 2. Cost of debt WHAT IS OUR WACC CALCULATION FOR NIKE? Under different methods, we would obtain different cost of equity, then, definitely different WACCs which range from 5.31% to 10.83%. However, no matter which method we use, the stock price of Nike is undervalued currently. WACC| | | | Under CAPM with Adjusted Beta| 9.73%| | Under CAPM with YTD Beta| 9.18%| | Under DDM| 6.39%| | Under ECM| 5.31%| | Under Build-up Method| 10.83%| Table 4. Weighted Average Cost of Capital As shown in Table 5, the actual implied discount rate by current price is 11.17%, which is significantly beyond the range of WACCs we calculated and presented in Table 4. Therefore, in our analysis, Nike’s price would be considered as undervalued. Discount Rate| Equity Value| 8.00 %| $ 75.80| 8.50 %| 67.85| 9.00 %| 61.25| 9.50 %| 55.68| 10.00 %| 54.92| 10.50 %| 46.81| 11.00 %| 43.22| 11.17 %| 42.09| 11.50 %| 40.07| 12.00 %| 37.27| Table 5. Sensitivity test on WACCs RECOMMENDATION This graph shows the estimated value provided under different WACCs, and NIKE is currently trading at 42.09 with corresponding 11.17% WACC. So if the calculated WACC is below 11.17%, the estimated value would be higher than the current price and NIKE is undervalued; if the calculated WACC is beyond 11.17%, the estimated value would be lower than the current price and NIKE is overvalued. After adjusting the possible mistakes that Joanna made, the table shows the calculated WACC under each method: Method| WACC| CAPM (Adjusted Beta)| 9.73%| CAPM (YTD Beta)| 9.18%| DDM| 6.39%| ECM| 5.31%| Build-up| 10.83%| We can see none of them is above 11.17%, indicating NIKE is currently undervalued and Ford should add NIKE to the NorthPoint Large-Cap Fund. However, it is important to keep monitoring the revitalizing strategy that the management offered, since the future market condition may have huge impact on this strategy and hence, predicted future economic income. NorthPoint Group is a mutual fund management firm who has the preference on investing in Fortune 500 companies, such as EXXONMobil, GM, McDonald’s 3M and other large-cap. If we look back to a decade ago, the fund had performed extremely well compared to the market in general (we refer S&P500 to represent the market). Kimi Ford was the portfolio manager in NorthPoint Group, who was concerned about whether or not to add Nike, Inc. shares into her fund. Since net income and market share had been fallen from 1997, a new strategy was proclaimed by the Nike management team during the meeting held in June, 2001: First, highly priced products are no longer their only target, now they would develop the midpriced segment so that more customers will be able to afford it. Second, another way to boost the revenue is to focus on its apparel line, which they found out to be profitable. Finally, Nike needs to reduce its costs by exerting more effort on expense control. Company executives were optimistic about the long-term revenue, expecting an 8%~ 10% growths and earnings growth above 15%. Analysts had different opinion about the company prospects; Lehman Brothers suggested a strong buy while UBS and CSFB recommended a hold. Meanwhile, Ford wanted to make her own forecast so she developed a discount cash flow to determine that, at a discount rate of 12%, Nike was overvalued at its current price $42.09 and undervalued if the discount rate was below 11.17%. She asked her assistant, Joanna Cohen, to calculate the company’s cost of capital precisely. On the report, Joanna Cohen used WACC to calculate the cost of capital, where she adopted book values to obtain a proportion of 27% of debt and 73% of equity. For cost of debt, she took total interest expense divided by average debt balance which resulted lower than treasury yields. For cost of equity, she used 20-year Treasury bond as risk-free rate and 5.9% as market premium. Moreover, she divided each division by revenue, deciding to use one overall WACC. At the end, she came to a conclusion that the cost of capital for Nike, Inc was 8.4%.

Assess the Contribution of Functionalism

Functionalists view the family as an institution that is present in society to maintain social order and stability. Functionalist’s also view society’s functions very similar to that of the human body. The Brain in the human body is the organ that controls all other functions. In Society the Government is the main control over the country as a whole. The heart of the body is what keeps the body alive. In society the family is the heart. Overall if the family and heart is taken out, the body and society would collapse and die. Although both of these have necessary back-up systems, the society has the Army, Police services and Laws if the government should collapse. And the body has immune systems and antibodies to fight of any infections and diseases. Family is seen to be the key to society because it means reproduction to keep the society functioning. According to Functionalists the only family that would mean perfect functioning of society is the Nuclear Family. The nuclear family consists of a working man, a housewife, and children. The man is the breadwinner, he earns the money that the wife uses to buy food and necessities to help keep the family together. Functionalists views of this concept believe that heterosexual couples, adopted children and divorces do not fit into the smooth running of society. Murdock (1949) states that ‘The nuclear family is a biological necessity because it is universal’. What he means by this is that the main reason that reproduction of children is a necessity to society is because it is world-wide, it is happening everywhere and it can be found in all societies. Murdock also says that there is 4 key points. Stable Satisfaction of the sex drive (Less promiscuity), reproduction, primary socialisation and economic needs. Parsons extends on Murdock’s theory with the warm bath theory. This theory is based on how the family is seen to be a stress reliever. The man arrives home from work and is expected to be presented with a meal cooked by the wife. The family home is supposed to be a relaxed stress free environment for the man to wind down after a long day at work. Parsons also developed the functional fit theory which means a given family will fit the needs of the society in which it is found, for example, the extended family is only usually found in the pre-industrialisation period (according to Functionalists). And the Nuclear Family happens in the industrialisation period. The Nuclear Family is seen to be geographically mobile, higher wages also means socially mobile, and they are able to move up the social ladder. Parsons also adds to his theory the loss of functions; stabilising adult personalities and primary socialisation.

The difference between informative and argumentative speech Assignment

The difference between informative and argumentative speech - Assignment Example Whether argumentative or informative, all speeches have a purpose. There should be a reason why the speech is necessary and a desired outcome from the speech. Informative speeches are generally given as a form of instruction with the desired outcome to be something such as to have a more informed audience or to introduce a new idea. The fundamental goal of the informative speech is to â€Å"provide interesting, useful and unique information to your audience† (Writing @ CSU, 2010). The audience is often called together with the expectation of hearing a speech and the atmosphere is almost always relatively calm. This is not necessarily true with occasions in which an argumentative speech is called for. These speeches are given with the intent to convince the audience of a specific point of view. This type of speech may be a planned speech, a sales pitch or even an impromptu delivery at a political meeting in which the audience may or may not be calm and receptive. The desired ou tcome is to maintain or acquire supporters. The topics most often addressed by these types of speeches are another area in which the concepts might overlap but the focus is skewed. Informative speeches, for example, can be given about objects, processes, events or concepts. All of these can be covered by an argumentative speech as well. The difference is that the informative speech focuses on factual information about these things, offering ideas and proof that can be generally accepted as fact or the correct answer. Argumentative speeches often address these topics in ways that the conclusions reached are debatable – there may be more than one right answer. An example of this difference is an informative speech that instructs the audience about the specific features available on a new hybrid car against an argumentative speech about that same car that focuses on why those features are better than similar features being offered by another

Evaluating a Website Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evaluating a Website - Assignment Example It is for this reason that necessitates one to develop keen evaluation skills in order to discern the credibility of information presented. The website under scrutiny in this paper is owned by Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc whose content dwells on reproductive health issues. The organization brings together consultants and specialists in reproductive health to offer information and services to millions across the world. As their name suggests, the organization advocates for key rights of individuals irrespective of their income, race, sexual orientation, marital status, or age. In this manner, the organization prides itself in providing comprehensive reproductive health care services while preserving the clients’ rights and privacy. In addition, they host educational programs geared towards enhancing the concept of human sexuality in the society. To achieve these objectives, the organization consists of professionals and specialists in various disciplines within their scope of mandate. Among the specialists are doctors, policy experts, and educators whose advocacy and efforts has seen the organization thrive close to a century now. The incorporation of modern and inclusive methods that are facilitated by qualified personnel in reproductive health services provides a win for the organization. ... This presents a sharp contrast seeing how women receive comprehensive and structured healthcare options linked to the sites. In this sense, it is evident that the organization is targets women offering them solutions to possible conflicts that arise from sexual endeavors. Abortion is a service extensively covered by the website, an aspect that may be viewed negatively by opponents of the action to fuel the ethical debate. Information provided by the organization’s website suggests a hidden agenda considering the manner at which the service is detailed. The site cites abortion as a common occurrence in the United States, providing appalling statistics that can be viewed as advocating for abortion. The author suggests abortion as the most viable option while dealing with unwanted pregnancies in efforts towards achieving planned and sensible societies. The information provided is bound to raise concerns seeing that it appeals to those under the age of 18 to get relevant permissio n in accordance to the law (Planned Parenthoo,d 2013, par.4). This suggests that the organization can readily provide abortion services to the youth provided they meet legal requirements for the procedure. From the critics’ perspective, the organization can be demonstrated to advocate for abortion as a solution among minors, which encourages sexual relations among them. Regardless, the information provided by the website is fairly updated with the current year of publication and hosting. This is characteristic of credited organizations such as Planned Parenthood whose website’s content and publications are based on current research and standard operating procedures. Similarly, various aspects that require expounding on

What are the main differences in the organisation of the labour Essay

What are the main differences in the organisation of the labour process in Fordism and Post-Fordism Use a case study to explain your answer - Essay Example The job in the industrial units wasn’t very encouraging for the employees. The manufacturing procedure was not appealing for the workforce. Scholars were researching regarding innovative techniques which could raise the wealth and could build their nation stronger. Post-Fordism is founded on the supremacy of a flexible and enduringly inventive model of growth and it is based on flexible production, growing revenues for capable employees (Jessop, N.D.). This essay explains the various features of Fordism and post-Fordism Fordism is a model of Taylorism. Friedrich Taylor (1856-1915) talked regarding the significance of a balanced and capable organization of corporations by consistency of the manufacturing procedure. In Taylorism the executives had less understanding regarding the practical work involved in the production; consequently the executives had to be acquainted with how the manufacturing was planned. Taylor stated that the potential thinking ought to be separated from the shop and placed in the planning department giving responsibility to executive to work stringently executive in its character. The executives had to fix on what the employees ought to perform. This is the real meaning of Taylorism: the partition of thinking and doing. While an employee thought regarding his action he accustomed to it and tries to improve it. Human and machine has to be one with no sentiment for the employee that he is a kind of a robot. The scheduling department required to have a capable manufacturing procedure although workers wanted to have an excellent payment, not so much working hours and a good work environment. Ford accepted the significance of the relation involving employee and employer. He set up an eight-hour workday and offered improved payment for enhanced production. However these developments were prepared on a financial base to create improved earnings of labor (Beek, et al. N.D). Henry Ford was an accepted symbol of the change from

WHAT IS NOT PHILOSOPHY Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WHAT IS NOT PHILOSOPHY - Coursework Example However, philosophy does not seek such knowledge as a way of making man a better believer of God. Philosophy is not a quest for the supernatural (Vaughan, n.d.). It primarily deals with the search of knowledge for a better understanding and self-satisfaction. If it were a quest for supernatural, philosophy could focus on mystical issues such as magic, witchcraft, or even UFO sightings as a way of strengthening human believe in them. If a philosopher studies a mystical issue such as witchcraft, he does it primarily to answer whether witchcraft exists, how it feels to be bewitched, the power of bewitching, and what it takes to bewitch. However, the philosopher does not seek such knowledge as a way of doing witchcraft better or even proving that it exists. Philosophy is not a search for the meaning of life (Vaughan, n.d.). It does not attempt to explain why creatures live or their purpose in life. Philosophy tries to explain what life entails and how it differs from death. Philosophy tries to explain life in terms of existence, what it takes to exist, and how existence is ordered. Thus, philosophy does not attempt to provide the ultimate purpose of

East Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

East Asia - Essay Example Although China had also influenced the country through its Chinese characters and its culture, Asian culture in general was not new to the Japanese people. By this point, they found Western influence completely different and new from what they have grown to know. Furthermore, the Japanese were also fascinated with the inventions the West was able to popularize. This was the start of the Japanese culture of importing and â€Å"imitating† ideas, especially technology, from foreign countries. One of the popular phrases in Japan, â€Å"Wakon-Yosai† is derived from the word â€Å"Wa† which means â€Å"Japan†. â€Å"Kon†, which is another word for â€Å"Tamashii† or â€Å"spirit†. The word â€Å"Yo† means â€Å"western† while the last syllable â€Å"Sai† denotes its short form â€Å"Saino† or â€Å"Saikaku†, which means technique, skill, or ability. As a tribute for the knowledge and skills they have learned from the Westerners, they commemorated this phrase to denote â€Å"Western technique with Japanese mind†. It has also been reported that this word was also used during the Meiji Era. With Japan’s history speaking for itself, it can be clearly concluded that Japan valued its inherent abilities from the West with â€Å"open arms†. And because of their eagerness to learn cultures other than their own, it has created the Japanese culture of being the â€Å"master of imitation† or their mindset of continuous adaptation and utilization of modern technologies from outer cultures. This can be exemplified by the rapidly emerging technologies that were imitated by Japan, from digital cameras to photocopying machines, sound systems, computer softwares, and other electronic gadgets.

Real World Negotiation Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Real World Negotiation Paper - Assignment Example Additionally, the increase would also see my employer acquiring maximum and satisfying service from me. Informed by the fact that successful negotiation is mainly realized through proper preparations, possess effective communication skills, being able to control emotions and having greatclossing the deal skills, I embarked on the quest for having a salary increase. As part of my preparation to face her and negotiate for my salary increment, I prepared myself in various ways as I have discussed below: I started by preparing a logical argument and evidence that could support and make my claim logical. Informed by the fact that activities key during the preparation process include developing position of strength, and establishing a foundation for success and developing confidence, I chose to start my preparation by coming up with a very strong argument as to why I felt the urge to approach my employer and demand for salary increase and why I stood a chance to see my salary being increas ed without much objection. I went on to compose evidence that will support all my arguments although in order to make my demand reasonable and realistic. I also considered my argument to be the demand for the increase to be because of rise in the cost of living and the supporting evidence was that other employers within the region had seen their salary being increased, inflation had resulted to the fall of value of money which in turned had reduced my purchasing power and therefore the amount I was being paid did too little to satisfy all my needs, there was also a general increase in price of commodities which demanded for more money than I was earning before and finally that it was also meant to be a sign of appreciation to for the good job the I had been doing for my employee for so long. I also went on to consider the amount of salary increase that I expect. I went on with my preparation process of computing and coming up with an amount of money that I was to propose as my incre ment. I choose to come up with the maximum amount and reasonable amount of my salary increase that I expected from my employer and also the minimum amount that I was to expect in the course of the negotiation process. As part of my preparation I also choose to come with a formal letter and send it early enough to notify and prepare my employee over the setting of the negotiation date and this was also meant to prepare my employer psychologically over considering my pay rise. Since my employer was never around and were never met so easily, I also considered my grooming as part of my preparation. This was because my personal appearance and outlook was also to play an important at either building my reputation or destroying it. I also knew that smartness played a critical role towards boosting my confidence. During the negation day, all went well and as planned, the negotiation date was set in advance and in consideration to the schedule of both sides not interfering with the any of ou r activities. On the negotiation d

Project Managment Scheduling queastion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project Managment Scheduling queastion - Essay Example The expected time for an activity represents the average time it would take if the activity is performed over and over again. It is known empirically that the probability density function of activity duration closely follows a Beta distribution, which defines the following relationship (Heldman & Baca, 267) Standard Deviation is used for calculating the variability associated with the high degree of uncertainty in estimated time durations. The standard deviation is represented by sigma symbol ‘ÏÆ'’ and is calculated as The time analysis elements such as the forward pass (Early Start time ES and Early Finish time EF) and the Backward Pass (Late Start time LS and Late Finish time LF) are used to find the Critical Path. These times are calculated using the Expected Time (te) for the respective activity relative to the zero date (date when the project clock starts ticking) of the project. The Backward Pass Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) values are calculated considering that the earliest completion time of the project for the last activity and then working backwards towards the predecessors. For all the last activities, the LF will be equal to the respective EF value. Therefore, values of LF for the activities O, N, M, I and C are equal to the respective values of EF. The Critical Path can be determined by finding the Total Slack for each activity. Total Slack for any activity is the maximum time by which the start of an activity can be delayed without affecting the critical path. The path with the longest Expected time duration is the critical path. Activities on the critical path have slack as 0, since these activities cannot be delayed at all. Each path from the Start to the Finish node is defined along with the respective time duration. The Expected Completion Time (Et) for each path is equal to the expected duration of the constituent activities. For Example, A-E-H-K-I is calculated

Lab Report Banana Dna Essay Example for Free

Lab Report Banana Dna Essay DNA is organized into genes and stores genetic information. DNA molecules are long, slender molecules that carry the heritable information of organisms on to future generations. Because of their size, it is impossible to see a single DNA molecule with the naked eye. It would take about 300,000 DNA molecules side by side to make a bundle as thick as a human hair. When subjected to certain conditions, it is possible to collect â€Å"large† amounts of DNA to make it visible. As part of the chromosomes, the information contained in genes can be transmitted faithfully by parents through gametes to their offspring. For the gene’s DNA to subsequently influence an inherited trait, the stored genetic information in the DNA in most cases is first transferred to a closely related nuclei acid, RNA or ribonucleic acid. In eukaryotic organisms, RNA most ofther carries the genetic information out of the nucleus, where chromosomes reside into the cytoplasm of the cell. In the cytoplasm, the information in RNA is translated into proteins, which serve as the end products of most all genes. The process of transferring information from DNA to RNA is called transcription. The subsequent conversion of the genetic information contained in RNA into a protein is called translation. DNA molecule exists in cells as a long coiled structure often described as a double helix. Each strand of the helix consists of a linear polymer made up of genetic building blocks called nucleotides. There are four types of nucleotides which vary depending on the four nitrogenous bases of the molecule. The four nitrogenous are A(adenine), G(guanine), T(thymine) and C(cytosine). These comprise the genetic alphabet which in various combinations, will specify the components of proteins. It was established in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick that the two strands of their proposed double helis are exact complements of one another, such that the rings of the ladder always consists of either A=T, or G=C base pairs. This complementarity between adenine and cytosine nitrogenuos base pairs and between guanine and cytosine nitrogenuos base pase pairs, attracted to one another by hydrogen bonds, is critical to genetic function. Complementarity serves as the basis for both the replication of DNA and for the transcription of DNA into RNA. OBJECTIVES * To learn basic DNA extraction processes. * To properly and successfully extract DNA from banana using cell disruption and separation techniques. * To investigate the effect of temperature on DNA extraction from bananas. * To observe the extraction of genomic DNA from plant cells. * To understand how a buffer solutions disrupts the plasma membrane and releasing cellular components into the solution. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS PER CLASS * (60-70 oC) Water bath * 95% Ethanol * Extraction solution * Cheesecloth Ice chest containing ice PER GROUP * 40g Banana * 2 ziplock bags (Label ‘Extraction 1’ and ‘Extraction 2’) * 2 funnels * 2 test tubes * 50ml conical tube (2 pieces) * 500ml beaker (2 pieces) * Glass Rod (2 pieces) * Shampoo 4ml * Distilled water 40ml * Table Salt (NaOH) 0. 3g PROCEDURE (A) Extraction solution recipe: 4ml of shampoo was mixed with 36ml of distilled water. The solution was stirred well and slowly. The mixture was divided into two 50ml conical flasks (20ml each). The conical flasks was labelled S and SS. 0. g of salt was added into flask SS. The salt was dissolved by stirring slowly to avoid foaming. (B) Banana Extraction 1. A water bath was prepared. (60 oC) 2. 20g of banana was added into each ziplock bag labeled ‘Extraction 1’ and ‘Extraction 2’ 3. Extraction solution ‘S’ was added into ziplock ‘Extraction 1’ and extraxtion solution ‘SS’ into ziplock bad ‘Extraction 2’. The bag was closed with minimum content of air. 4. The bananas were mushed carefully to avoid the bag from breaking. The bananas were mashed for about 5 minutes. 5. The banana mixtures were cooled in the ice chest containing ice for 2 minutes. Then the bananas were mushed more. The banana mixtures were cooled, the mushed again. This process was repeated for 4 times. 6. The mixtures were filtered through cheesecloths. 7. Approximately 3ml of banana solution were dispenced into each test tube. 8. The test tubes were carefully handled to avoid shaking. Approximately 2ml of cold 95% ethanol was added into each test tube. 9. The test tubes were then observed. Result Photo 1: Test tubes containing solution S and SS CONCLUSION We manage to learn basic DNA extraction processes. We are able to properly and successfully extract DNA from banana using cell disruption and separation techniques. We succesfully investigated the effect of temperature on DNA extraction from bananas. We are able to observe the extraction of genomic DNA from plant cells. We understood how a buffer solutions disrupts the plasma membrane and releasing cellular components into the solution. REFERENCES: BOOKS: * Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, Lisa A. Urry, Michael L. Cain, Steven A. Wasserman, Peter V. Minorsky, Robert B. Jackson, Biology (8th Ed), Pearson International Edition: Pearson, Benjamin Cummings. * Peter J. Bowler (1989). The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society. Johns Hopkins University Press. * Pragya Khanna. Essentials of Genetics. I. K International Publising House. * Elof Carlson (The Unfit), Mendels Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press, USA * Benjamin Cummings(2005), iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach, Pearson; University of Chicago, USA

Business Proposal Essay Example for Free

Business Proposal Essay Used properly business proposals are tools that could easily double your hit rate on the business you pursue, substantially increase the margin on all the business you win, and bring existing and new clients back to you again and again. My focus throughout this entire business proposals post series is upon teaching you how to write excellent, winning proposals, step-by-step. Before getting into the other great resources here on business proposals, though, it’s important to be sure that when we talk about proposals — who uses them, why they are used, and how you will learn to produce â€Å"best of class† examples — that we are all thinking about the same thing. It’s important to be sure that we have a common answer to the question â€Å"what is a business proposal?† The Business Proposal – a Definition Anyone involved in modern solution selling need to be an expert proposal writer. A proposal is a lot like the artist’s sketch of a new building, which shows the general form of the proposed structure. It’s not intended to be a detailed floor plan (a specification), or a detailed blueprint showing electrical or plumbing arrangements (a design), nor is it supposed to be the final product. A business proposal is designed to describe — to an extent sufficient to sell the idea — the concept you are proposing to your client. There are many more grandiose definitions of just what a proposal is, but the following describes those everyday that make up the majority of proposals you’ll come across: ‘A written proposal is a selling document, a statement of your capabilities to address a given client requirement. A proposal says I can do what you want.’ The Winning Proposal – a definition A winning proposal, on the other hand, does not simply say, ‘Hey, I can do that!’ but rather: ‘Hey, I fully understand what you are trying to do, I have a much better understanding than any of my competitors, I have a better solution to your problems than anyone else, I can do a better of job of delivering the required solution, and at a more attractive cost than anyone else, and here’s why†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . A winning proposal is a genuine selling document. It is winning business proposals that this site will show you how to produce – step by step. What is a business proposal? By the time you’re finished with this series of posts you’ll agree that the winning business proposal is best friend to anyone trying to sell anything of value.

Business Ethics And Corporate Responsibility Marketing Essay

Business Ethics And Corporate Responsibility Marketing Essay Describe the basic features that distinguish the three traditional forms of business ownership: sole proprietorships, general partnerships and C corporations. ~Sole proprietorship is a business that is owned and managed by one individual. Earnings of the company are treated as income and debts that arise are personal debts. It is the most common type of business organization in United States. ~General partnership: In this type of business all partners have right to participate in management of the firm and share any profits or losses. There is no limit on number of partners but usually its two. ~C corporation is a legal entity, separate and distinct from its owners. Its owned by stockholders. Its mission and objective are established by board of directors and board of directors is selected by stockholders to protect their interests. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships and general partnerships. ~Both are easy to form, have tax advantages, and unlimited liability. ~General partnership has a stronger financial base than sole proprietorship. ~On the other hand, general partnership can be destroyed much easier than sole ~proprietorship because of disagreements between partners. ~ Another disadvantage in sole proprietorship is that workload and responsibilities are on one person while in partnership its shared. What advantages help explain why virtually all large companies are organized as C corporations? ~Corporations can raise huge amount of financial capital ~Its easy for stockholders to withdraw from ownership or sell shares of stock ~Stockholders have limited liability. They are not personally liable for the debts of the company. What steps are involved in starting a general corporation? ~Requires filing form called the articles of incorporation, with a specific state agency. ~Pay filling fees and establish corporate bylaws-basic the basic rules governing how a corporation is organized and how it manages its business. ~Companies also choose corporation friendly states, because not all states are friendly and charge a lot of money. How is a corporations board of directors chosen? Explain the role the board plays in a corporations management. ~ According to corporate bylaws stockholders elect board of directors that they rely on to manage company and protect their interests. ~Board of directors establishes the corporations mission and sets its broad objectives. ~Board of directors then assigns the chief of executive officer and other corporate officers to manage company. Explain how S corporations, statutory closed corporations, and nonprofit corporations differ from C corporations. ~S corporation: IRS does not tax earning separately, can have no more than 100 stockholders, each stockholder have to be U.S. citizen or permanent resident. ~Statutory close corporation: Doesnt have to elect a board of directors or hold annual stockholders meetings, number of stockholders are limited to 50, stockholders cant sell their shares to public without first offering to existing owners, not all states allow this type of corporation. ~Nonprofit corporation: Has members but not stockholders, cannot contribute funds to a political campaign, must keep accurate records, earnings are exempt from federal and state income, make tax deduction for individuals who contribute money or property. What are the three different types of corporate mergers? What is the rationale for each type? ~Horizontal merger: Combination of firms in the same industry. ~Vertical merger: Combination of companies with buyer-seller relationship. ~Conglomerate merger: Combination of unrelated companies. Compare an S corporation with a limited liability company. Why do you think limited liability companies are currently more popular than S corporations? ~While S corporation has limited numbers of owners, Limited Liability Company can have any number of owners. Unlike S corporation, owners of LLC can be foreign investors and other corporations. What is a business format franchise? What are the roles of the franchisor and franchisee in this arrangement? ~Business format franchise is an agreement in which the franchisee pays for the right to use the name, trademark and has to operate business according to the rules and principles of franchisor. ~Franchisor is owner and has to train and provide support franchisee; responsible for name brand recognition. ~Franchisee- has right to use franchisors name, trademarks, and patents; must follow methods and all the rules of franchisor; attend training meetings What are the main advantages and disadvantages of franchising arrangements for the franchisee? For the franchisor? ~Advantages for franchisee: less risk, training and support from franchisor, easier to borrow money from a bank ~Disadvantages for franchisee: Costs are very high, very little control, have to sell only what company sells, risk-not all companies live to their promises, growth challenges ~Advantages for franchisor: can expand the business to bring extra revenue without using own money. ~Disadvantages for franchisor: irresponsible behavior of franchisee cans cost companies success. Chapter Seven Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Economic Rocket Fuel: Review Questions Review the benefits an entrepreneur might seek in starting a new business. Which benefits are most appealing to you? Why? ~Greater financial success, independence, flexibility, challenge, survival. ~The benefits that appeal to me are independence, flexibility, and financial success. Do you recognize any of the entrepreneurial personality characteristics in yourselves? Which ones? Do you think its possible for a person to develop the characteristics that he or she lacks? Why or why not? ~Yes, I have few of entrepreneurial personality characteristics and they are self-reliance, confidence, energy, and tolerance of failure. ~I think it is hard but possible for a person to develop skills he or she lacks. It all depends on how bad that person wants to learn new skills that she or she doesnt have. What role does failure sometimes play in entrepreneurial success? What can an entrepreneur gain from failure? ~Entrepreneurs see failure as a chance to learn and succeed. Compare the opportunities and threats that small businesses face. Which opportunities are most compelling? Which threats are most intimidating? Why? ~Opportunities: Market niches, personal costumer service, lower overhead costs, technology. ~Threats: High risk of failure, lack of knowledge and experience, too little money, bigger ~Bigger regulatory burden, higher health insurance costs. ~Opportunity that compelling is personal customer service because with it small business owner can build personal relationship with a customer. Another opportunity that is compelling is lower overhead costs because no one wants to spend huge amount of money and wants to spend as less as possible. ~The biggest threat that is intimidating is high risk of failure. When someone starts a business, he or she wants to succeed and not to fail. People are scared of loosing even if they are tolerant to failure. Those that tolerant to failure dont give easily up like others do. Review the definition of niche marketer, and cite three examples of niche marketers. How has technology affected niche marketing? ~Market niche is a small segment of a market with fewer competitors than the market as a whole and tend to be more attractive to small firms. ~Organic cosmetics, Google, E-bay. ~Technology plays very important role today, because internet helped people to open new businesses and at the same time create more customers. It is good for businesses because they spend less money and grow faster. If you were to launch a new business, would you start from scratch, buy an established independent business, or buy a franchise? Why? ~I would launch a new business from a scratch. I know there are a lot of risks but I would want to be my own boss and make my decisions. How could you convince family and friends to support your new business launch? What kind of assurances would they need? What could you do to keep the funding relationships professional? ~First of all I would educate myself, learn from others, gain experience, and the most important create a business plan. Beyond personal resources, what are other funding options for small businesses? Why dont more entrepreneurs tap into these resources? ~Bank loans, angel investors, and venture capital firms. ~The reason that entrepreneurs are trying to avoid other resources besides personal is because they cause more headaches. Personal resources are probably the easiest to deal with. What are the key contributions of small business to the U.S. economy? Rank the benefits in terms of importance, and provide the reasons for your ranking. ~Small businesses play very important role in U.S. economy because they create new jobs, create new innovations at twice the rate of their big business counterparts, and they tend to find opportunities by offering products or services where big companies dont. What factors account for the dramatic differences in entrepreneurship rates around the world? Do you think entrepreneurship will continue to grow worldwide? Why or why not? ~Key factors that plays important role in different entrepreneurship rates around the world are national per capita income, entrepreneurs opportunity costs, and how much cultural and political environment supports entrepreneurs. Chapter Eleven Marketing: Building Profitable Connections with Your Customer Review Questions How does the American Marketing Association define marketing? How can marketers deliver value to their customers over the long term? ~The American Association defines marketing as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. ~In order to deliver value to customers over the long term marketers must to fill customers need and in the way exceed customers expectations. What are the four different kinds of utility that marketers can provide? Give an example (not from the book) of a product that delivers each type of utility. ~Form utility: iPhone ~Time utility: Walgreens 24/7 ~Place utility: Cafeteria on campus ~Ownership utility: Laptop What are the key categories of non-traditional marketing? Do you expect these areas to grow over the next decade? Why or why not? ~People, place, event, and idea marketing. ~I think that these areas will grow over decade because peoples interests change with each generation. Technology also changes and grows. How has marketing evolved over time? How have current events, economics, and culture influenced thinking about marketing? ~Marketing developed through different phases: production era, selling era, marketing era, and relationship era. ~During marketing era concept of marketing was born and now its growing more and more. Now, customer satisfactions became centerpiece of marketing. What are the key characteristics of a high potential target market? Is the biggest target market always the best? Why or why not? ~Size: need to have enough people to support business. ~Profitability: willingness of a customer to pay more than the cost of producing product. ~Accessibility: target needs to be reachable ~Limited competition: look for markets with limited competition ~I think that bigger market is always good because there are more people to support business and bring more profit to the company. Company can also use that money to build bigger target market by creating new products. What are the different ways to segment a consumer market? Does it make sense to use more than one segmentation variable? Why or why not? ~Demographic: dividing market based on peoples age, income, ethnicity, and gender. ~Geographic: dividing market into smaller groups depending where costumers live. ~Psychographic: dividing by groups based on costumer interests, values, attitudes, and lifestyles. ~Behavioral: dividing into groups based on how people react to the products ~It does make sense to use more than one segmentation, for example, demographic and psychographic. Describe the four elements of the marketing mix. What role does each element play in delivering value to customers? ~Product strategy: creating name, product image, package design, customer service, guarantees, new product development, and much more. ~Pricing strategy: price must be fair ~Distribution strategy: delivering a product to the right people, in the right quantities, at the right time and place. ~Promotion strategy: find effective way to promote product. ~All of these four elements play very important role in delivering value to customer. What are the five key dimensions of the marketing environment? How can marketers stay abreast of changes in each area? ~Competitive, economic, social/cultural, technological, political/legal. ~To stay on top of the things marketers must monitor each element of marketing environment and respond quickly and efficiently to change. Outline the steps in the consumer decision-making process. How can the marketer influence each step? ~Recognition: recognize need Information Search: previous experience with brands, family, friends Evaluation of Alternatives: price, quality Purchase decision: buys item because it was on sale and return policy is great Post purchase behavior: satisfied or not ~Marketer can influence each step by learning cultural, social, personal, and psychological life of customers. What are the key differences between primary and secondary data? Compare the benefits and drawbacks of each. ~Secondary data is existing data that marketers gather or purchase for a research project. Primary data is new data that marketers gather for a specific research project. ~Secondary data: Advantages- low cost Disadvantages- may not meet specific need, outdated, available to competitors ~Primary data: Advantages-customized to meet specific need, fresh and new, not available to anyone Disadvantages-more expensive Chapter Twelve Product Strategy: Delivering More Value Review Questions Review the marketing definition of product. Why do you think marketers define product so broadly? How does the definition of product affect quality? ~Product is anything that company offers to satisfy customers needs and wants; including both goods and services. ~I think marketers define product so broadly because it is made for one purpose only- to satisfy customer, whether its a good or service. So, when consumer buys a product he or she buys attributes associated with the product. ~If a product satisfies customer its good quality for that customer and if customer dissatisfied by product than its bad quality for him or her. Think of three different services that you use on a regular basis (e.g. a restaurant, a dental office). How does the service provider suggest in advance that the service will be high quality? ~Restaurant: advertisement, friendly staff ~Hair stylist: nicely designed salon, professional look ~Dental office: friendly and helpful staff Pure Goods Pure ServiceDraw a goods and services spectrum, and determine where to place the following products along the spectrum: a nightclub, a new motorcycle, a designer shoe store, an Internet search engine, a new snowboard, and a photography class. What are the reasons for your choices? new motorcycle designer shoe store internet search engine new snowboard night club photography class ~New motorcycle and snowboard are pure goods. ~Designer shoe store and night club are service with goods. ~Internet search engine and photography class are pure service. What are the marketing benefits of identifying the actual product, the core product, and the augmented product? ~Actual product: the actual product itself and its uniqueness ~Core product: satisfies customers needs ~Augmented product: additional good or service to sharpen competitive edge (warrantees, manuals, etc.) List five examples of products that are commonly purchased as either business products or consumer products. How would the classification impact the marketing strategy? ~Computer, phone, table, truck, cleaning service ~Consumer products purchased for personal use and business products purchased to produce another product or service. ~Consumer classifications are convenience product, shopping products, specialty, products, and unsought products. ~Business product classification are installations; accessory equipment; maintenance, repair, and operating products; raw materials; components and processed materials; and business services. Why are product line and product mix decisions so important? What are the risks of making poor decisions regarding these factors? ~Product line and product mix are very important if company wants to make good profit by making customer happy. ~Poor decision regarding these factors might cause company to loose its profits. Would it ever make sense for a firm to offer a new product line that they know would cannibalize an existing line? Explain your answer. ~I dont think it make any sense, especially if company knows that that new product line will cannibalize existing line why even create it. Company can loose a lot of money. Think of one of your favorite brand names. Does the brand name fit the characteristics of an excellent name? Do you think it matters? Why or why not? ~100% Pure. Yes, I think brand name fits characteristics of an excellent name because its short and easy to remember. ~I do not think its a must for a company to fit characteristics of an excellent name because another company I really like called Dr. Hauschka. The name is hard to pronounce and hard to memorize but I love Dr. Hauschka products. What are the three different levels of product innovation? Which is most common? Can a business survive long term with only continuous innovation? Why or why not? ~Discontinuous Innovation, dynamically continuous innovation, continuous innovation. ~I think that most common are continuous innovation and dynamically continuous innovation. ~I think it is possible to survive long term with only continuous innovation because the goal of it to create product better than competitor. For example, Lifeway kefir company its getting better and better adding more products different flavors and so on. What are the four stages of the product life cycle? How does product life cycle stage impact marketing strategy? ~Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline ~Life cycle help marketers plan effective strategies for existing products and identify profitable categories for new products. Chapter Thirteen Distribution and Pricing: Right Product, Right Person, Right Place, Right Price Review Questions Explain the difference between channel of distribution and physical distribution. ~Channel distribution is the path that a product takes from the producer to the consumer, while physical distribution is the actual movement of products that path. Explain the role of channel intermediaries in the product distribution process. Why is their role important? ~Channel intermediaries are distribution organizations that help to move products from factories to the consumers. How do intermediaries add value to the products they distribute? Find an example of a distributor that adds each of the six types of utility. ~They add value by reducing the number of transactions and the associated costs required for goods to flow from producer to consumer. Distributors also can add form, time, place, ownership, information, and service utilities. ~Wal-Mart What is the key difference between merchant wholesalers and agents/brokers? What are the risks and benefits of each approach for producers? ~Merchant wholesalers take legal title to the goods they distribute and reduce the risk for producer that the products might be damaged or stolen. Disadvantage for producers is that marketing strategies and pricing belong to wholesaler. ~ Agents and brokers dont take legal ownership of the goods they distribute. Since agents and brokers dont have legal ownership of goods, producers at higher risk, but they have more control over the product. Do you think that the shoppertainment approach to retailing will continue to grow? Why or why not? ~Yes, I defiantly think that shopping and entertainment approach to retailing will continue to grow because its more fun for people to go to places where they can have fun or their kids. Even if prices are going to go up, people will still to come to such places. Even I want to go to places like Hershey Chocolate World. Explain the differences among intensive, selective, and exclusive distribution strategies. Name an example of each that isnt listed in the text. ~Intensive distribution involves placing products in as many stores as possible or stores themselves in many locations as possible.(gas stations) ~Selective distribution means placing product only in preferred stores and establishing stores in limited locations.(Home Depot) ~Exclusive distribution means establish one retail outlet in a given area.(Ikea) Who benefits most from collaborative supply chain relationships? Explain your answer. ~Companies that specialize in helping other companies manage the supply chain. Many companies turned to supply chain to build a competitive edge but due to complication many firms choose to outsource challenge to experts. Why is price such a difficult variable for marketers to control? What factors must they consider in setting prices? ~Price is hard for marketers to control because people have limited amount of money, so they cant set high prices. The prices have to be as low as possible so that people would be willing to buy, but at the same time marketers, when determining the final price, must consider their costs, competitors, investors, taxes, and product strategies. ~Building profitability, boosting volume, matching the competition, creating prestige Driving volume is a key pricing objective for many businesses. Find an example of a marketer that uses each of the volume oriented pricing strategies. Do you think this approach is effective? Why or why not? ~I dont know any marketer that uses each of the volume oriented pricing strategies. I do not think that this approach would be effective. How does a breakeven analysis help marketers determine the best price for their products? What other factors should be considered? Why? ~Its a process that helps determine the number of units company must sell to cover all costs. ~At breakeven point company doesnt make any profit so, breakeven analysis helps marketers get a sense where are they standing. So, to make a profit company needs consider factors: raise prices, decrease variable costs, decrease fixed costs. Chapter Fourteen Marketing Promotion: Delivering High-Impact Messages Review Questions How has marketing promotion evolved over the past decade? How has technology contributed to the changes? ~Promotion is marketing communication that influences consumers by informing, persuading, and reminding them about product. The effective promotion builds strong relationship between customers and companies, drawing customers back to the company again and again. ~Technology has empowered consumers to choose how and when they want to interact with media. Why is integrated marketing communication such a challenge for marketers? How can marketers encourage teamwork and coordination? ~Because consumers combine messages from all sources to form unified impression of a product and marketer cant control every massage consumer sees or hears about their product. ~Solid teamwork must begin from the top. Everyone who manages the marketing massage needs to have information about the customer, the product, the competition, the market, and the strategy of the organization. When all parties have access to the same data, they are more likely to be on the same page. Do you think a rational or an emotional premise works better for marketing promotion? Why? Does your answer change across product categories? Use examples to support your perspective. ~I think that both rational and emotional premise works for marketing promotion, its just depends on the product. Its more interesting when both are there and people like humor. Why are the key risks and the potential rewards of product placement in both movies and television? Do think this promotional tool will continue to grow? Why or why not? What ethical issues have emerged as marketers explore new ways of grabbing consumer attention? Use examples to support your points. Do you think that cable television advertising spending will eventually eclipse network television advertising spending? Why or why not? Given that each type of media offers strengths and drawbacks, what factors should you consider in developing a media plan for a specific product? What are the advantages and disadvantages of publicity? Is it ethical for marketers to try to influence the media? Explain your answer. What are the six stages in the selling process? What role does each stage play? Which stage do you believe is most important? Why? How can you determine the right promotional mix for a specific good or service? What key factors should you consider?

Epilepsy Essay -- Neurology Neurological Disorders Essays

Epilepsy Epilepsy is a very common neurological disorder. Some reports estimate that five in one-thousand people suffer from this problem. Throughout history, people with epilepsy have been shunned or considered inferior. Even today, ignorance leads many people to treat the epileptic as "abnormal" or "retarded". Although the etiology of epilepsy is still not fully understood, it is quite treatable due to advances in modern medicine. Epilepsy is characterized by uncontrolled excessive activity of either a part of, or all of the central nervous system. A person who is predisposed to epilepsy has attacks when the basal level of excitability of the nervous system rises above a certain critical threshold. As long as the degree of excitability is held below this threshold, no attack occurs. Basically, epilepsy can be classified into three major types: grand mal, petit mal, and focal or partial epilepsy. Grand mal epilepsy is characterized by extreme neuronal discharges in all areas of the brain: in the cortex, in the deeper parts of the cerebrum, and even in the brain stem and thalamus. Also, discharges into the spinal cord cause generalized tonic convulsions of the entire body, followed toward the end of the attack by alternating tonic and then spasmodic muscular contractions called tonic-clonic convulsions. Often the person bites or "swallows" the tongue and usually has difficulty in breathing, sometimes to the extent of developing cyanosis. Also, signals to the viscera frequently cause urination and defecation. The grand mal seizures lasts from a few seconds to as long as three to four minutes and is characterized by post-seizure depression of the entire nervous system; the person remains in stupor for one to many minute... ...l. 16: S31-S38. Bleck, T. and H. Klawans. (1990) Convulsive Disorders: Mechanism of Epilepsy and Anticonvulsant Action. Clinical Neuropharmacology 13(2):121-128. Cohen, P. G. (1984) The Metabolic Basis for the Genesis of Seizures: The Role of the Potassium-Ammonia Axis. Medical Hypothesis, 13:199-204. Craig, C. R. (1984) Evidence for a role of neurotransmitters in the mechanism of topical convulsant models. Federal Proceedings, 43(10):2525-2528. Fisher, R. S. (1989) Animal models of the epilepsies. Brain Research Review, 14:245-278. Guyton, Arthur C. Textbook of Medical Physiology, 8th Ed. ,Saunders Co. (1991) p.663-665. W.B. Schmidt, D., C. Cornaggia, and W. Loscher. (1984) Comparative Studies of the GABA System in Neurosurgical Brain Specimens of Epileptic and Non-epileptic Patients. Neurotransmitters, Seizures, and Epilepsy II, p.275-283.

A Capitalist Economy vs Socialist Economy Essay -- Capitalist Economic

A Capitalist Economy vs Socialist Economy There are a variety of economic systems today, which can influence how prosperous we will be as individuals or as a group. Socialism is an economic system where the government will be greatly involved in the economy. In a socialist economy the government can control many industries, provide public institutions such as health care and education, and equalize incomes of the population. A socialist economy is one of low unemployment and stability, where the government sets production quotas and price regulation upon their perception of the needs of the economy. On the other hand, a capitalistic economy is an economic system where there is a very limited amount of government involvement. The capitalistic economy is based on the demand of consumers and the supply of producers. There is a great advantage of living in a nation where there is a low amount of government intervention in the economy, because government intervention reduces the freedom of markets, causes a slow growing economy, and exploits the consumers in the economy. Firstly, high government intervention reduces the freedom of the markets. When the government controls an economy, the population is taxed in order to fund national programs. Taxing the consumers of the economy will reduce the personal spending, therefore causing the economy to grow in areas of public service such as education and health care instead of technology and fashion. Furthermore, the industries in a social economy are directed by quotas, which is production targets set by the government. The quotas don’t often represent the need in the economy, therefore causing a surplus or a deficit of products, which leads to small profits.... ...ions placed on industries in a social economy will affect the price, variety, and quality of products produced in their economy. In conclusion, there is a great advantage of living in a nation where there is a low amount of government intervention in the economy, because government intervention reduces the freedom of markets, causes a slow growing economy, and exploits the consumers in the economy. Capitalism provides a marketplace where industries compete in order attract more consumers, therefore providing more efficient, qualitative and plenty of variety for consumers. This efficiency, quality, and variety will help the economy grow in whatever way it wants to, making capitalism the most flexible economic systems. The nature of human beings is, one is satisfied, when he/she has provided the necessities for himself first, then the people around him.

Essay --

Benchmark #2 Essay Mrs. Burns and Ms. Roche (English 2 Period 4) Christopher Conza January 15, 2014 In this poem called â€Å"Creatures† by the author Billy Collins there are three examples of figurative language helps convey the meaning that the author Billy Collins is conveying. The three examples of figurative language that the author Billy Collins uses are a metaphor, enjambment, and imagery. These three examples of figurative language help illustrate Billy Collins† theme in this poem called â€Å"Creatures† that he is writing because these three examples of figurative language help emphasize the theme of the poem. These three examples help emphasize this poem called â€Å"Creatures† meaning because it makes the theme of this poem have a deeper meaning. The theme of the author Billy Collins poem called â€Å"Creatures† is that the reader has to imagine In this poem called â€Å"Creatures† by the author Billy Collins there is a literary device called a metaphor when the reader is reading this poem. A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things without using the words like or as. In lines one (1) through...

Etta James Essay

Born as Jamesetta Hawkins January 20, 1938 in Los Angeles, California music legend Etta James came into this world. Etta’s mother Dorothy Hawkins was only 14 at the time she had Etta which was a factor of the young girl being moved around to foster homes multiple times. She never knew her dad and when vocal coach James Earl Hines took her in to sing at the church and teach her, he would sometimes get Etta out of bed and beat her to force her to sing for people. This is looked at to be the reason Etta never liked singing on demand. Etta moved to San Francisco where she created her first musical group named The Creolettes at the age of 14. Multitalented Johnny Otis found the girls one day singing at a nightclub and took the girls under his wing. Otis changed the Creolettes name to The Peaches, signed them to Modern Records, and changed Etta’s stage name from her birth name Jamesetta Hawkins to Etta James. Etta was a very spunky girl with an enormous attitude. When Georgina Gibbs covered James’ single â€Å"Dance with me, Henry† and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Etta was very angered. A similar incident happened when Beyonce Knowles, who portrayed Etta James in the 2008 movie Cadillac Records, performed James’ single â€Å"At Last† at the 2009 presidential inauguration ball. Etta expressed her distaste and anger at this at a Seattle concert. After James’ time with Modern Records ended in 1960 she then signed onto the Chess label Argo where she recorded her debut album At Last! Where her signature hit â€Å"At Last† was featured on. An interesting thing about her most popular song â€Å"At Last† that few people are aware of is that it was actually not her most rewarded piece of work. Etta James faced many obstacles throughout her life from being a foster child, facing a heroin addiction, and sadly suffering from Alzheimer’s and leukemia which eventually led to her death on January 20, 2012. Etta’s heroin addiction took a big toll on her career as she was in and out of rehabilitation centers during the early 1970’s. She avoided prison time when her husband and she were caught in possession of heroin and he took the fall having to serve a 10 year prison sentence. Etta was then forced to stay at the Tarzana psychiatric center for 17 months. Unfortunately her addiction was not conquered and she continued to battle it until she died. Etta James success was only later recognized in the early 2000’s where she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2003 Etta was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award and soon came out with a new album â€Å"Blue Gardenia† in 2004. Her second to last album â€Å"Let’s Roll† was released in 2005 and won her the Grammy for Best contemporary blues album. In May, 2009 at age 71 Etta James was awarded the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation for the ninth time! The very next year while she was touring, she was forced to cancel many of her shows due to her gradually failing health after it was revealed that she was suffering from Dementia and Leukemia. Etta released her final album in November 2011, which was critically acclaimed and soon after died two months later. After listening to the song â€Å"I’d Rather go Blind† you can’t help but have an appreciation for Etta. You can sense the despair in her voice like she really does not want that man to leave her. I love the way it crescendo’s or builds up the emotion throughout the song. I also love the song â€Å"I just want to make love to you.† The way she goes into her gravelly voice is really unique.

Long or Short Vacation

Name: Phan Thi Thanh Giang Email: [email  protected] com ESSAY 1 Topic: Some people believe that students should be given one long vacation each year. Others believe that students should have several short vacations throughout the year. Which viewpoint do you agree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice. No one can deny that a vacation has many benefits for students. In Viet Nam, it has long been a controversy whether give a vacation should be long or short. Most of students think that is great if they have several short vacations each year while others disagree. Both opinions have their own advantages and disadvantages.From my point of view, it is better to have several shorts vacations throughout the years. The reasons are as follows. In my personal experience, almost people like vacations especially students. Short vacations can help students decrease pressures or depressions from their overloaded study, hard examinations and parents’ desires had better than a long vacation. Speaking of study pressures, students always live in a tense state in which they have to cope with a plenty of continuous problems; a series of required knowledge they must study and a chain of examination they must take are ruining children’s pure mind day by day.To deal with this, one short vacation will be capable of giving a hand to the children who are in need of help to decreases these stresses. The students will have enough time to adapt to occurrence and balance their daily life, their academic study after sorrows. If there’s only one long vacation per year, the students will only have one chance to face one stress while continuous matters happen steadily during the terms. In addition, students can regain energy easier and better by several shorts vacations. Shorter vacations are more rejuvenating.During the year, I am able to take several short trips to smaller towns, beaches, mountains in the surrounding area of where I live and I feel so much more refreshed when returning to study after one of these short vacations. Similarly, with short vacations I am able to sometimes go by myself or take friends, so there is always a sense of variety with each trip. By contrast, one long vacation can be tiring and at times quite boring. Indeed, after a long vacation, it is so difficult to restart my studying with highest efforts. In almost cases, it takes long time to adapt to study environment.Finally, short vacations make both students and their parents arrange plans for entertain or travel easier than one long vacation. The parents can send their children to short-term holiday camps or just have them travel. Likewise, the students in university can take short tours to domestic vacation spots. Such travels cost less money and are more available than long tours. Take my relationship for an example. Last summer holiday, my uncle sent my cousins to my grandmother because he did not have time to care of them in approximated 2 mo nths. On the other hand, for one-month vacation, my aunt sent her son to â€Å"Army-term summer trip†.He said to me that the trip is the wonderful experience. The issue whether students should be given one long vacation each year or they should have several vacations throughout the year is the one that is open for debate. Although a long vacation has also some advantages, I think short vacation is better in many ways. Students have more chances to decrease pressures or depressions from their overloaded study, hard examinations and parents’ desires. They can also regain energy easier and better. In addition, short vacations make both students and their parents arrange plans for entertain or travel easier.

The Hobbit Book Report

This is a story about the adventure of a delightful little hobbit and how he found out who he was and what he really valued. At first, the little hobbit Bilbo was just a normal Baggins (a family name which stands for routineers and homebodies) who lived a peaceful life in a comfortable and quiet hobbit hole full of fine furniture, delicate ornaments and a lot of food. However, everything changed when Gandalf, an old wizard, gave him a visit and held and unexpected party in Bilbo’s hobbit hole with 13 dwarves who Bilbo had never met before. Gandalf invited Bilbo to a journey to the Lonely Mountain and to help the dwarves get back their treasure from the wicked dragon. The more Took part (Bilbo’s mom was a Took) of Bilbo’s characteristic was awaken and he, after a lot of hesitation because of being a Baggins for more than 50 years, decided to go with the dwarves. During the journey, Bilbo gave up all the things that he was used to and took granted for. Everyday, he slept on rocks and ate things like dog food; he rode on horses that was too high for him and tried his best to follow the dwarves’ pastes. At the beginning, the dwarves had many complains about bringing a hobbit with them as Bilbo always slowed down the whole group. However, clear transformations can be seen on Bilbo as time flouted. Even though he, sometimes, still missed his cute little hobbit hole and his afternoon tea, he learned to be an adventurer and to perform his duties as a member of the group. He saved the whole team by shouting to Gandalf and he even escaped from the Goblins by himself. He won the respect from the dwarves and finally fixed in. No one is unchangeable and that’s why we keep on trying new things. During this process of trying, we discover new interests, new goals and new capabilities. In this case, Bilbo transformed from a domestic little hobbit into a clever burglar and a resourceful companion. He found out that what he really valued was friendship, adventures and braveness but not an unchangeable life. Sometimes, we think we are satisfied with what we have right now because all the people around us all live identical lives. Whenever changes occur, we’ll start I believe that in somewhere deep inside us, we all crave for adventures, different lives and a brand new world.

Concepts of Health Promotion Essay

Health is defined as a state in which human needs are met in an autonomic way, and is not limited to the absence of disease or disablement (V. Henderson). Optimal health is a lively, self-motivated equilibrium of physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and social well-being. The concept of health promotion delineates the method of empowering people to increase control over, and to advance their own overall health. The main purpose of health promotion is to heighten people’s motivation to strive for optimal health, while assisting them in making lifestyle modifications that will help them advance their wellbeing to an ideal state. Modifications of the unfavorable way of living can be enabled through a combination of strategies and learning experiences that enhance awareness and rise motivation; most importantly, the change is made possible through the creation of opportunities that permit access to situations that make positive health practices an easy choice. Individuals and communities require a great deal of health education in order to achieve optimal health levels. The development of health promotion has allowed the nurse to reinforce the profession’s role on health promotion and disease prevention, propagate information that promotes an educated public, and assist individuals and communities to change established negative health behaviors. The nursing roles in health promotion vary greatly depending on the individual or group’s needs, and their level of readiness to take action toward lifestyle change and behavior modification. In order to be an efficient educator, the nurse has to perform a self-awareness assessment of own health beliefs and practices. In health promotion, it is of great importance that the educators live what they teach, hence becoming models of healthy lifestyle behaviors and attitudes. A nurse who will teach the importance of smoking cessation must not be a smoker; the reason is clear and obvious. Should the client learn that she smokes, he will lose confidence in her role of health advocate, and undervalue the importance of smoking cessation. The trust of the nurse-client relationship might be compromised, and the likelihood that the client will stop smoking will decrease significantly. An extensive approach of health promotion can be achieved through the nursing process including  assessment, diagnosis identification, planning, implementing, and evaluating outcomes. Even though the process is alike, the nurse gives emphasis to teaching the client accountability for self-care. After the client and the educator agree to the goals together, the health-promotion plans are established; thereafter, the client takes accountability for the success of the plans. A comprehensive assessment of the individual health status is fundamental to health promotion. The nurse has to take in consideration multiple factors, and collect significant data from the client’s milieu before beginning to design a plan of health promotion education. Some elements of assessment should include the health history and physical examination, physical fitness assessment, lifestyle assessment, spiritual assessment, social support systems review, health risk assessment, health beliefs review, and life-stressors review. Planning has to be done according to the needs, desires and priorities of the client. The client decides on health promotion goals, and the actions and interventions to achieve those goals. During the planning process the nurse acts as a resource person rather than as a counselor. The nurse provides information, highlighting the importance of gradual change, and appraises the client’s goals to ensure that they are realistic, quantifiable, and satisfactory to the client. Implementation is the â€Å"acting† towards behavior change. The nurse gives emphasis to self-responsibility for implementing the plan. Depending on the client’s needs, nursing interventions may consist of supporting, counseling, teaching, consulting, modeling, and enhancing the behavior change. The nurse has to offer ongoing and non-judgmental support that focuses on the desired behavior change. Moreover, the nurse will help the client identify his social support system, which is vital in the goal attainment process. Evaluation of the outcomes should not be sporadic, but rather done on a continual basis in shared collaboration of nurse and client. Evaluation is the time of celebrating successes, or a time when the client may choose to rearrange priorities, or adjust strategies. Health promotion aims a wide range of targets at different levels in the community. The huge benefits resulted from health promotion and disease prevention efforts make many realize that this domain of health care is  worth to be invested in. The focus is shifted evermore from the medical to the preventative approach, from treating the disease to avoiding the onset of it. Nurses have a fundamental role in health promotion by their position and interaction with the community. In acute care settings, they see the people at their toughest times of their lives. It is there nurses can assist patients make important informed decisions in regards to their health. The nurse has the role of assisting the patient in moving in the right direction on the health-illness continuum. Someone might argue that there is no more room for prevention once the illness occurred, but the truth is that there is always something to be prevented. For example, the patient who was admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis (without even knowing that he had diabetes) will need a lot of information and support on how to manage the disease and prevent complications. The nurse in the acute setting will begin the health promotion process for this patient, and furthermore refer him to diabetes specialists. Once the patient follows-up with them, the odds are that another nurse at the doctor’s office will continue the process of teaching the patient about the disease management. Disease prevention is included under health promotion umbrella, and consists of three levels of prevention: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The difference between them is determined by the specific point in time in the course of the disease progression when the health promotion is initiated. The primary prevention targets health promotion and protection before disease or dysfunction arise. It includes but it is not limited to immunizations, routine health check-ups, and risk assessments for specific diseases, family planning services and marriage counseling, health education on various threats to well-being. The main goal of primary prevention is to reduce the risk of exposure of the individual and the community to potentially harmful sources. In comparison, secondary prevention concentrates attention on a timely recognition of health issues and a rapid intervention to lessen health problems. Its main goals are to identify individuals in an initial stage of disease and to limit forthcoming disability. For example, a patient who experiences an acute heart attack can benefit from emergent cardiac stent placement. After this initial step of treatment, the patient will not only  need a continual adherence to the recommended regimen, but also making appropriate lifestyle changes in order to prevent further health problems linked to the initial cause of injury. Health promotion at the secondary level is very important because the patient who experienced a life-altering event may be able to return to prior level of quality of life, in conjunction with the appropriate lifestyle modifications. Some examples of secondary prevention are: teaching self-examination for breast and testicular cancer, yearly screening colonoscopy after 50 years of age, or yearly mammograms after the age of 40. At last, tertiary prevention places emphasis on restoration and rehabilitation with the goal of helping the individual to reinstate an optimal level of functioning. Chronic disease management is an example where tertiary prevention comes in to assist the client regaining control and quality of life to a certain extent, as permitted by the disease process. Education and support about managing chronic illness at home to prevent complications is part of the tertiary prevention. The levels of prevention can overlap in practice because same interventions can serve different causes. For example, if a person decides to follow the Weight Watchers nutrition plans to lose weight for the reason of increasing overall health and state of well-being, this will be primary level health promotion. On the other hand, if the same person decides to lose weight with the motivation to decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease, then it is considered a behavior of secondary level of prevention. In conclusion, health promotion is a vital component in society because it helps its citizens reach to a qualitative life. Without health promotion and disease prevention programs, mortality and morbidity would always be our next door neighbor. By health promotion we can see more people laughing, dreaming, and enjoying the excitement of life. References Bennett, C., Perry, J., & Lawrence, Z. (2009). Promoting health in primary care. Nursing Standard, 23(47), 48-56. Blacksher, E. (2009). Health reform: what’s prevention got to do with it?. The Hastings Center Report, 39(6), inside. Marcus, S. (2012). Poison prevention: engineering in primary prevention. Clinical Toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 50(3), 163-165. doi:10.3109/15563650.2012.658474 Kozier, B. (2007). Fundamentals of nursing: Concepts, process, and practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall Health.